JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
PRESS CONFERENCE
SYDNEY
THURSDAY, 29 APRIL 2021
SUBJECT: Budget
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: Thanks for the opportunity to say a few things about the Treasurer's about face in his speech this morning about the budget. We hear all kinds of things from this Treasurer in advance of budgets, but what matters here is the government's real record on jobs, which is a record of job insecurity, wage stagnation and underemployment. What matters is not the fancy spin, and the slick marketing that we hear in scripted speeches from the Treasurer. What really matters, is all of that job insecurity, and underemployment, and stagnant wages, that we've seen from this government for eight long years now.
This is the same guy who printed the back in black mugs. These are the same people who said that debt when it was $200 billion dollars was a disaster, but now that it's heading north of a trillion dollars, is manageable, and prudent, and sensible.
Of course now’s not the time for austerity, that's been clear to the rest of us for some time. It's remarkable that the Treasurer hasn't knocked austerity on the head before now. Of course, the government should be more ambitious on full employment, again we've made this point repeatedly for some time now, but the Treasurer does not have a plan to deliver on this commitment to full employment. This Treasurer thinks he can spin and grin his way to full employment when what we really need here in the Budget is a plan to actually achieve it.
This speech, once again, is all about politics and not economics. What this speech is saying to the Australian people is that there will still be austerity, there will still be budget cuts, but the Australian people have to wait until the other side of an election to find out what they might be. All this speech does is push budget nasties from this side of the election to the other side of the election. There will still be deep and damaging cuts to the budget from this coalition government, but the Australian people won't know what they are until we get through the election. And that is a risk to people who don't know where those cuts will be coming from.
It wasn't that long ago that this Treasurer said that his unemployment target was just under 6 per cent, and now he's been forced to say that it's something more like 4.5 per cent. This is an admission that the Treasurer has been wrong all along. This is an admission that up until now the Treasurer has got his budget strategy wrong.
This is a Treasurer who got his forecasts wrong, he got his budget strategy wrong, and now he's been forced into this humiliating about face in this scripted speech today.
Australia is emerging from the deepest, most damaging recession that we've seen in this country for almost 100 years. Recovery from this recession is welcome, it's expected, it's pleasing, but it's also uneven, and patchy, and uncertain. We still have almost two million Australians who can't find a job, or can't find enough hours to support their loved ones.
The economy and the budget are improving despite the government, not because of the government. The credit for this economic recovery belongs to the Australian people, who've done the right thing by each other to limit the spread of the virus. The recovery in the budget is due to a range of factors, including that extraordinarily higher iron ore price that our exporters are receiving for their commodities.
The recovery from this recession would be stronger if Scott Morrison wasn't completely stuffing up the vaccine rollout. The Budget would be in much better nick if this Liberal government hadn't sprayed around money on waste, and rots. The Budget would be in much better condition if we didn't have sports rorts, and dodgy land deals, all that money spent on marketing, and political advertising, and market research, and billions upon billions of dollars given in JobKeeper payments to companies which were already profitable and didn't need assistance.
After eight long years of this Government, the Budget, the week after next, can't be another missed opportunity to invest in people, and their jobs, and the future of their families. It needs to be an opportunity to make the necessary investments in employment, to have an actual jobs plan, and not just this slick marketing spin that we've heard today. What we desperately need to see in this recovery is Australians able to get ahead, to find work, and to find the hours that they need, so they're not left behind as we recover from this deep and damaging recession.
JOURNALIST: Can I ask you Mr Chalmers, coming back to that strategy which he's announced to lower unemployment to below five, does that make sense?
CHALMERS: Well, he doesn't have a strategy to get to full employment. He said today that his old unemployment target of just under 6 per cent is now more like 4.5 per cent but he hasn't told us how he will get there. So what this means today, is he's admitted that his old budget strategy was wrong, but he hasn't told us how he will make it right, how he will create those jobs, to get us closer to full employment. To the rest of us it's been clear for some time that now's not the time for austerity, and that we need to get closer to full employment, so that we can get that upward pressure on wages that Australians desperately need, so they can get ahead and provide for their loved ones. The Government does not have, and has not announced today, a credible plan to get there. Instead, we've got all of the usual marketing, all of the usual spin about jobs, when the government's real record on jobs, for eight long years now, has been stagnant wages, underemployment, and job insecurity.
JOURNALIST: Do you think though that going under 5 per cent is achievable?
CHALMERS: We've said for some time that we need to do much better than just under 6 per cent. We've seen, of course, the Reserve Bank and others say that for full employment most likely has a four in front of it rather than a five. And we've been saying for some time that it's more appropriate that we are more ambitious on full employment. That's been obvious to us for some time. So, to that extent, we say welcome to reality, to the Treasurer. Obviously, we need to get closer to full employment if we care about wages growth. One of the reasons why we haven't had sufficient wages growth in this country for eight long years now, is because we've been nowhere near full employment. There's been underemployment and job insecurity, and that's made it harder for Australians to get ahead.
JOURNALIST: So how would you go under 5 per cent? What are your strategies?
CHALMERS: Well, we've already announced a number of positive alternatives. Anthony Albanese has made announcements, for example, about modernising the energy grid and making sure that we can transmit cheaper and cleaner energy. That's part of the story. We've made announcements about apprenticeships on government projects. We've made announcements about childcare investment. We've made all kinds of positive suggestions, which the government should pick up and run with if they're serious about growing the economy in a broader, and more inclusive, and more sustainable way, so that we can get unemployment down closer to full employment, and so we can get those wages outcomes that Australians desperately need and deserve.
JOURNALIST: So what rate would you see that, when the moment comes, that we can see inflation rising and wages rising, what actual rate do you see for unemployment?
CHALMERS: The Reserve Bank, and other credible economists, have made it clear, that full employment in this country more likely has a four in front of it, than a five in front of it. And we agree with that analysis. Clearly, the unemployment rate, which has been in the fives, for much of the time that this government's been in office, has not been enough to deliver the kind of wage outcomes that we want to see for people. And so, clearly, it's better than that. The government today has said that their unemployment target is no longer just under 6 per cent, that it's something more like 4.5 per cent. Many of us have been making that point for some time.
JOURNALIST: One of your colleagues, Katy Gallagher, has said that childcare is one of the big issues. What do you think about that? How will that help improve the unemployment rate?
CHALMERS: Well, as always, Katy is absolutely bang on. I mean, one of the big challenges that we have in this economy is making it easier for people to participate in work, whether it's taking on extra hours, whether it's taking on extra days, or returning to work after a baby's born, these are some of the big challenges in our labour market and in our economy. We won't fix the Budget, unless we fix the economy. We won't fix the economy, unless we make it easier for people to find work and to participate in work. And that's what our childcare policy is all about.
There's lots of speculation that the Government might be dragged kicking and screaming to a policy on childcare. Once again, it's been obvious to Labor and to the rest of the country for some time now, that childcare is a pressing issue in our economy. We've already put forward a proposal to address that issue. The Government has sent up all kinds of smoke signals, let's see what they actually announce.
JOURNALIST: Is that an acknowledgment that women were the ones to suffer the most from last year's recession? And what other measures could we see to lead women toward more secure employment?
CHALMERS: Well, obviously, we'll make our own proposals between now and the election. Clearly, this area is a very high priority for us. We've already said, when it comes to childcare for example, we've already made that a massive priority, and the announcements that we've made. Clearly, this recession, and its aftermath, has been a very difficult time for all Australians, but particularly for Australian women. We already had issues of dire financial insecurity before the pandemic, and many of those issues have been turbocharged by the pandemic, and by the recession. So, any responsible government needs to make Australian women a priority in their Budgets. We've already demonstrated that we're prepared to do that. The Morison Government has not.
JOURNALIST: And can you step through more of the skills gap that we're seeing? Some sectors of the economy, young people, for instance, not able to get jobs, yet we're seeing some employers wanting people. How do we address that skills gap? And what do you call on the government to do with the upcoming Budget?
CHALMERS: Well, this is yet another demonstration of the patchiness and the unevenness of this recovery from recession. The fact that there are some issues around finding workers in some part of parts of Australia, at the same time as we've got almost two million Australians who can't find a job or enough hours at work. We need to get much better, as a country, at matching people with job opportunities. We need to make sure that our workers can be more mobile than they are. We need to make sure that people can grab those opportunities. Obviously, as we work on our policies between now and the election, we'll have more to say about that. Thanks very much.
ENDS
