JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS FIRST EDITION
THURSDAY, 13 MAY 2021
SUBJECTS: Budget 2021; Labor’s Budget Reply.
PETER STEFANOVIC, HOST: Joining us is the Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Jim, good to see you. Thanks for your time as always. Because of the pandemic we appear to be living in this economic bizzaro world at the moment, where the Government hands down a Labor-like Budget. Is your alternative guide to continue the theme and go with something more fiscally conservative?
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: Well done getting a Seinfeld reference in first up, Pete that was well played.
STEFANOVIC: (laughter)
CHALMERS: I think it's a Liberal budget in this important regard - workers actually go backwards. The core of the Budget is a cut in real wages for Australian workers and I think that makes it a Liberal Budget.
Only a Liberal Government could spend $100 billion in one night, rack up a trillion dollars in debt, and still have workers go backwards. So I don't accept the political analysis about the similarities here. The big difference there is on wages.
When it comes to tonight, I think one of the defining features of the Budget was that there was a deficit of vision. And I think what you'll see from Anthony Albanese tonight is some of that vision and leadership that was so absent from the Budget on Tuesday night. We need to make the economy stronger after COVID-19 than it was before, we need to make sure that people can actually get ahead in this recovery, that they get a slice of the action, that they are not left behind. And those are the sorts of things that Anthony will be talking about tonight.
STEFANOVIC: But when it comes to your spend is Labor boxed in here, because you can't go lower and if you go higher than that's just going to arouse suspicions?
CHALMERS: We'll do what's right for the economy and what's right particularly for Australian people and Australian workers in the economy. As Anthony has said a number of times we want the economy to work for people, not the other way around. And what that means is getting the Budget settings right so that it fits the times.
Our criticism of the Government isn't just the kind of dumpster fire of hypocrisy and inconsistency around debt and deficit, our criticism of the Government is that within that trillion dollars of debt there's all these rorts that they've accumulated over the last eight long years. And in the Budget is 21 different slush funds to get them through an election. I think we can spend money more effectively than the government. We measure that effectiveness by what it means for more jobs, and more opportunities, for more Australians.
STEFANOVIC: And increase taxes?
CHALMERS: Our priority is jobs. There will be at some point, people will have to consider things like multinational taxes, both sides of parliament will need to contemplate whether that system can be fairer. Obviously, the Government's got built-in, more than three years down the track now, some tax cuts which overwhelmingly favour the highest earners. We'll have a look at all of those sorts of things but our priority is supporting the economy by supporting people and their jobs. That means making sure that we can get wages moving again because if we don't then the recovery won't be worth it for too many people.
STEFANOVIC: Labor voted for those tax cuts. Do you support those stage three tax cuts still?
CHALMERS: The important thing to understand, Pete, is that all three stages of the tax cuts were put into one set of legislation. We didn't have the option to choose one or the other and so what we did was, we said that our highest priority is getting tax relief out the door and into the pockets of low and middle income earners. We've been consistent on that throughout. We do think that middle Australia deserves tax relief. We said at the time, and we've said ever since, that it didn't make a lot of sense for the Government to commit tens-of-billions-of-dollars to the highest income earners some years down the track. Our view has been vindicated by the fact that the Government, since making that announcement, has racked up that trillion dollars in debt. We'll weigh up all of those sorts of things. We'll do the right and responsible thing but given those tax cuts don't come in for more than three years now I don't understand why the Government is in such a rush to make those sorts of commitments.
STEFANOVIC: Sounds like you're gonna bin it, Jim.
CHALMERS: I wouldn't say that necessarily, Pete. The Government's out there today, think of it this way, Pete: the Budget was only handed down two days ago. The Government is already running around talking about the Labor Party. The Budget sell mustn't be going too well. These tax cuts don't come in for three years. I'm not in a rush to conclude a view on those tax cuts. Our priorities are people on low and middle incomes. Our priority is supporting people's jobs. The Government built these tax cuts into the Budget more than three years down the track now, they've racked up a trillion dollars. We have to weigh all of that up. That's the only right and responsible thing to do.
STEFANOVIC: What about the Low to Middle Income Tax Offset? Would you like to make that a permanent feature?
CHALMERS: Again that's something that needs to be considered as part of this broader consideration of tax relief. Obviously, we wanted to see it extended in the Budget. It made no sense for middle Australia to get a tax hike in this Budget. All the Government's done is delay that until the other side of an election. These additional tax cuts for low and middle income earners are temporary but the big tax cuts for the highest income earners are permanent and forever. We'll consider all of those sorts of things. Again, we need to be responsible with the Budget, we need to be cautious in the commitments that we make, we'll need to come up with our priorities and get the sequencing right. Income tax is part of that thinking.
STEFANOVIC: But if that was a permanent feature, then that would blow out the debt even more, right?
CHALMERS: Well it depends what else you are doing in the budget, Pete. You need to look at the Budget in its entirety. At the moment we've got this trillion dollars in debt, $100 billion dollars in new spending, we don't think there's enough to show for that because there's a lot of rorts and wastage which is weighing down the Budget. And so you need to consider all of this together. We would make our commitments more responsibly, we think we would get more bang for buck for the sorts of commitments that we make, certainly prepared to stack our commitments up against a record of sports rorts, and dodgy land deals, and all the rest of it.
STEFANOVIC: Is public housing going to be a feature in tonight's Budget Reply?
CHALMERS: I'll leave the Budget Reply to Anthony. I encourage your viewers to tune in. I think people understand, for some time now, we've said that social housing and public housing should be a priority. But I'll leave any further discussion of these kinds of policies to Anthony. He's got a big speech tonight. It's an important speech, and he'll do it well.
STEFANOVIC: Okay, just finally, on this news that the Government has struck a deal with Moderna overnight, some 25 million vaccines, what do you make of that?
CHALMERS: It's been obvious for months to the rest of us - to you, Laura Jayes has been talking a lot about this, to us in the Labor Party, really right around Australia - everybody has understood for months, and months, and months now, that the Government didn't have enough deals. So to the extent that they've done another deal, obviously, that's welcome. But I think it has been a debacle throughout because they didn't do enough deals.
The Budget was an opportunity for the Government to come clean on the costs and consequences of the mess that the Prime Minister has made of the vaccination rollout. Instead, we've had four different Ministers say four different things about when Australians will be vaccinated. Another deal is a good thing, but it doesn't really make up for the shambles that the Prime Minister has made of this vaccination rollout.
STEFANOVIC: And just a last one, Jim. There's this report out of the Herald Sun this morning it's got 14,000 Australians who have been able to leave the country once since the pandemic began, some as many as five times. What sort of concerns would you have about that?
CHALMERS: I haven't actually seen that story in the in the Herald Sun. Our issue with the movement of people is really about the families in the quarantine system on the way back in. I'm happy to read that story and come to a concluded view.
STEFANOVIC: All good. Jim Chalmers, Shadow Treasurer, appreciate your time as always, good to chat, we'll talk to you soon.
CHALMERS: Appreciate yours, Pete. Thanks very much.
ENDS
