JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
SPRINGWOOD
SATURDAY, 21 MAY 2022
SUBJECTS: Election; Economy.
JOURNALIST: Shadow Treasurer, how are you feeling?
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: It's going to be a long day, a long and rainy day. Typically, at this point of election day, we're worried about sunburn, but not today. There's a really important choice at this election - a better future under Labor or three more years of Scott Morrison. I've been heartened by the response that we've been getting to our message so far. People don't want another three years of the same. They don't want another three years of a leader who goes missing when they need them, never takes responsibility, but always takes the credit. It's time for a new Labor Government under Anthony Albanese, and a better future for Australia.
JOURNALIST: Mr Chalmers, how much comfort do you take in the latest polls showing you're holding steady as far as your lead's concerned.
CHALMERS: None.
(LAUGHTER)
CHALMERS: The polls have been notoriously inaccurate in recent elections, and so we don't get carried away when they're good and we don't get carried away when they tighten. Our job is to convince everybody who comes through these gates at schools around Australia, that a better future is possible but you've got to vote Labor if you want it.
JOURNALIST: How confident are you that you're going to be Treasurer after tonight?
CHALMERS: I would love to be the Treasurer of this country but that is now in the hands of the people, and that's as it should be. I'm one of those people who gets quite sentimental about election day, emotional about election day, because it is a massive democratic exercise. In a great country like ours the people get to choose their government and if I can serve the Australian people after tonight I'd be very proud to do so.
JOURNALIST: As Shadow Treasurer, the costings that come out on Thursday - an extra $8.4 billion in deficit - now you've seen the reaction to that at the booths after that announcement, are you confident that it's the right call?
CHALMERS: Of course. People have said to us they want to put an end to the rorts, and the waste, and the economic mismanagement, which has seen a trillion dollars in debt and nothing to show for it. They know that the difference between our responsible investments in child care, and cleaner and cheaper energy, and training and universities, are what this country and what this economy needs to get it growing the right way and to get real wages moving again. The defining moments in this campaign have all been around skyrocketing inflation, falling real wages, and a trillion dollars of debt but not enough to show for it. The economy has been absolutely central to this campaign, and people are supportive of Labor's view that we can put an end to a decade of waste and rorts. This is not Liberal Party money in the Commonwealth Budget, it belongs to the Australian people and it needs to be invested wisely on their behalf, and that's what we intend to do.
JOURNALIST: You're one of to Labor's most senior MPs up here - and I say that in terms of experience, not in terms of your age - but do you think Labor has done enough across the board to break down the LNP fortress?
CHALMERS: Time will tell. As a Queenslander born and bred - I actually grew up about five or six hundred metres that way - I know as a Queenslander that we have to work twice as hard for every vote. It has been historically difficult for us here, but we picked amazing candidates, and we laid out an agenda for a better future for Queensland, and we've done the work. People will make their views known here in Queensland. Anthony Albanese has a genuine affinity with Queenslanders - he believes in us, he listens to us, his policies are all about a better future for our great state and I hope to see that recognised at six o'clock. Thanks very much, everyone. I really appreciate it, thank you.
ENDS
