E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
BRISBANE
SUNDAY, 12 APRIL 2020

SUBJECTS: Easter; Impact of Coronavirus on the economy; JobKeeper legislation; Australian Government debt; Universities announcement; Australians stranded overseas.

JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: It's Easter Sunday today and for a lot of Australians, it will be a strange and unusual Easter. A lot of us managed to still hold the Easter egg hunt but many of the other traditions that we've come to enjoy on the Easter long weekend are not possible this time around. We think in particular of Australians of faith who are accustomed to practicing their faith on Easter Sunday. We know that for a lot of people it will be difficult to be disconnected from parishes and congregations this time around.

As hard as it been for Australians to stay home this weekend, spare a thought for those Australians for whom that is not an option. There are so many Australians who are putting their own health at risk to make sure that we can stay healthy, safe and fed. We think pf them on this Easter long weekend. It's been hard for a lot of people to stay home this weekend, but a lot of Australians don't have that option. They're doing the right thing by us, making sure that they are working in many cases around the clock to keep us healthy, to keep us safe and to keep us fed.

For a lot of Australian workers and for a lot of Australians more broadly these are extremely uncertain and extremely anxious times. This crisis is having a massive impact on our society and our on our economy.

That's why we did welcome the Government's change of heart when it came to wage subsidies. We were very pleased to see legislated during the week the JobKeeper legislation which is a wage subsidy that will make a real, positive difference to millions of Australian workers. We welcome the Government's change of heart. We welcome their wage subsidy policy. Now it's an opportunity for them to make a good policy much better. The JobKeeper package is a good package for Australian workers but too many Australian workers have been left out or left behind. The Government has an opportunity to make that good policy that much better. We want to see more Australian workers maintain a connection with their employer. That's what the whole policy is about and if that's true for some workers it can be true for more workers as well.

This weekend, Josh Frydenberg had an opportunity to include more workers in the JobKeeper scheme but unfortunately he didn't grasp it. He had the opportunity to do the right thing by more than a million Australian casuals and by temporary workers as well who can't get home, and unfortunately, he didn't grab that opportunity. He alone has the power now to decide who has access to the JobKeeper payment and who is excluded from it. The only thing standing in the way of a JobKeeper payment for more than a million workers is the Treasurer's signature. 

This morning on the Insiders program, the Treasurer said that he has the power to change the rules for unforeseen circumstances but that's not true. He has power to change the rules overall to determine who has access to the JobKeeper payments. These are not unforeseen circumstances. These workers are not being excluded by accident; these workers are being deliberately excluded from the JobKeeper payment.

Josh Frydenberg's position will see even more Australians join the jobless queues in the coming months when so many of those job losses could have been avoided. When we see a spike in unemployment in the next couple of months, remember that Josh Frydenberg had the opportunity to prevent some of those job losses by exercising his powers on behalf of casual and temporary workers and that he didn't exercise those powers. It's not too late for him to change his mind and for the Government to change course. 

The other development today is, of course, the announcement on universities. We've been saying for some time that universities are amongst the hardest hit by this health crisis and they desperately need the support of Government. Universities are big employers, big exporters, they train our health workforce, and they're doing so much of the research which will be important to combating this virus. Universities are absolutely critical at all times, but especially at times like these. We do want to see them supported. We will examine the detail of what the Government has announced today. If the detail stacks up then we will welcome any steps to support a really key sector in these extraordinarily difficult times. 

The highest priority in the Budget is to support people, organizations, businesses and communities through a really difficult period. That comes with a massive price tag but so long as that money is responsibly spent, it finds its target, it saves lives, jobs and communities then that money will be well spent. When the debt is finally repaid, we need to make sure that the burden of that does not fall disproportionately on the most vulnerable people in our society. Before long the conversation will turn to how this Government repays its record amount of debt. Debt was already at a record before the crisis hit and now, of course, with all of this incredibly important and worthy spending, debt has skyrocketed. When the conversation turns to how that debt is repaid, we want to make sure that the most vulnerable Australians do not carry a disproportionate burden of that effort. 

This Easter is an opportunity to reflect and this crisis is an opportunity to rethink. It has made us all rethink what we consider essential, what kind of work we consider essential and what we can absolutely not do without. It's made us rethink things like self-sufficiency and security. This weekend should also be an opportunity for the Government to rethink its very good policy on JobKeeper payments to expand it to all those casuals and all those temporary workers who've been left out. 

I've had one question sent to me, which I'll deal with now, and it's about Australians stranded overseas.

There has been some welcome progress made on Australians who have been stranded overseas. For too many Australians though, whose flight options or bank balances have disappeared, the Government needs to do more to try and get them home. Too many Australians have found themselves stranded overseas. Their flight options, their bank balances have dried up. They're counting on the Government to do the right thing here and to help get them home. There has been some progress, but not enough. There has been some progress, but there's been too many delays. Other countries are doing more to bring their people home in these difficult and uncertain times. We've seen people doing it really tough right around the world, including some of those people stuck in India in recent weeks. As a country, we can and must do more to get them home. Too many people have seen their options dry up and it's the Government's responsibility to help them out.

Thanks guys.

ENDS