JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS BUDGET SPECIAL
TUESDAY, 11 MAY 2021
SUBJECTS: Federal Budget; debt and deficit; vaccinations debacle; tax offsets; foreign aid
KIERAN GILBERT, HOST: With me is the Shadow Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, it looks like a Labor Budget, where do you go in criticising it?
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: I don't accept that. I mean I think that's the Government's intention to try and cobble together all of these political fixes to try and get them through the election and eliminate some of the differences between Labor and Liberal, but they're still important differences between the parties. We wouldn't have racked up $100 billion in new spending, a trillion dollars of debt and still had hardly anything to show for it. There's still differences in cleaner and cheaper energy, social housing, skills and education, there's a range of differences still between the parties.
GILBERT: Now, the Treasury assumption is that every person who wants it will have their vaccination, both jabs by the end of the year, is that realistic or a pipedream?
CHALMERS: No, there's more weasel words in the Budget than that, there is a plan to have a plan by the end of the year. It still doesn't assume that the economy opens up until the middle of next year. So the Budget doesn't come clean on the costs and consequences of Scott Morrison's vaccinations debacle. We needed to know when Australians are going to be vaccinated, not these weasel words and we needed to know what the consequences of them getting it so badly wrong so far have been.
GILBERT: When should the international borders reopen in your view?
CHALMERS: Well, it all comes back to the vaccinations and one of the big problems with Scott Morrison making an absolute mess of this vaccination program and abandoning the targets, and these weasel words in the Budget, is you can't have a first rate economic recovery with a third rate vaccination rollout, and that's what we're seeing. So we want to see the economy open up, that's the best way to protect and secure people's jobs. But unfortunately the government's fallen over at that hurdle and there's nothing in the Budget tonight which convinces us otherwise.
GILBERT: There's no national quarantine facility announced, do you see that as an opening to say, okay Anthony Albanese gets out there on Thursday, your Budget Reply and commit to building one in Toowoomba, northern Victoria?
CHALMERS: Well, we've already called for a quarantine facilities to be built. There's also nothing…
GILBERT: It formalises it as a policy.
CHALMERS: There’s nothing in Budget about manufacturing vaccines as well. We've said it, we've had a lot to say about this.
GILBERT: Actually there is, there is a, they haven't given the detail of it but the mRNA, they've said that they've got an idea.
CHALMERS: No detail.
GILBERT: Yeah no detail, but they've, they've done that on commercial in confidence basis.
CHALMERS: Put it this way, Kieran, they've spent $100 billion, they've racked up a trillion dollars in debt, and still said nothing about quarantine which is one of the biggest economic challenges that we have right now, the fact that they haven't taken responsibility. So that's just another example…
GILBERT: Why don't you do it, you can just say, yep, we're going to build it.
CHALMERS: Well, you’re welcome to, you'll be watching closely on Thursday night when we respond to the Budget and outline some of our priorities, I'm not going to do that here tonight. But the point I'm making is, massive missed opportunity, this is a marketing exercise done for political reasons, they're racked up a trillion dollars in debt, $100 billion in new spending and there are still a whole range of missed opportunities including on quarantine.
GILBERT: The low income tax offset, is that something that should be permanent?
CHALMERS: Well, I think you're right to point that out, the fact that under this government tax relief for low and middle income earners is temporary, but tax relief for the highest income earners is permanent, forever. All the government has done today is extend from one side of the election to the other side of the election, a tax break for low and middle income earners.
GILBERT: Are you saying you’d make it permanent? That measure?
CHALMERS: We will consider all of the income tax measures together, we'll have something to say about between now and the next election, but I think Australian people need to understand as the government crows about these tax cuts, all they've done is guarantee a tax hike after the election, and that's just another example of why this is all about marketing, mismanagement and missed opportunities, it's a set of political fixes to get them through an election, not a plan to get people into well-paying jobs.
GILBERT: It sounds like you want to keep that as a permanent measure or something similar?
CHALMERS: I'm not going to speculate on it but we need to consider all of these issues together and on income tax, tonight, when we look at what the government has done, we're entitled to point out tax breaks for low and middle income are temporary, for the highest income earners it’s permanent.
GILBERT: And I'll ask you the same, just quickly, yes or no, foreign aid, would you increase it?
CHALMERS: Well, let's have a look at what we inherit from the government, we're still going through all of the numbers in the Budget. People know we're committed to foreign aid.
GILBERT: Jim Chalmers, I appreciate your time.
CHALMERS: Thanks, Kieran.
ENDS
