JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
TODAY SHOW
MONDAY, 13 DECEMBER 2021
SUBJECTS: The big reunion as Queensland’s borders reopen; Vaccine protests; Anthony Albanese in Queensland; Queensland and the election; MYEFO; Josh Frydenberg always takes the credit but never takes responsibility.
DAVID CAMPBELL, HOST: The Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers is in Brisbane waiting for those planes to come in. And in Sydney Nova's Michelle Stephenson. Jim, I'll go to you first. 141 days in the making, as a Queenslander are you ready for this? I mean, there's going to be a lot of emotional scenes this morning.
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: Absolutely David, this is the big reunion. We get the opportunity to welcome back family and friends from south of the border. It's an exciting day, I think it is going to be a heartwarming day. People have been separated for a really long time now. It looks like it's going well so far - touch wood - on the border there. People are being patient, the police and other officials are doing a terrific job as they always do. I think we need to remember though here in Queensland, as welcoming as we intend to be today, we do need to brace ourselves for some more cases. People need to still get vaccinated, we've still got every fifth Queenslander unvaccinated, every fourth Queenslander here in my suburbs and neighbourhoods around Logan City. So we need to still get vaccinated, we still need to check in, we still need to do the right thing by each other, but a very exciting and very welcome day, the big reunion.
CAMPBELL: It'll be interesting to see how that goes Jim, because I think that what happened in Victoria - and certainly what we saw in New South Wales - is that once the virus, the Delta virus or in this case potentially the Omicron virus, comes into the community people start to go we need to get vaccinated now because it gives a sense of urgency to it. I'd hope that's not the case, I would like to think that people out there are getting into it really quickly before you know the south hits.
CHALMERS: Absolutely. We’ve done really well here. It's a tribute to Queenslanders in particular and also Annastacia Palaszczuk and her government. Queensland has done incredibly well throughout this pandemic but we can't be complacent about it. We have to get those vaccination rates way up, closer to what we're seeing in the other states.
CAMPBELL: Michelle though, it's a really beautiful day, not only for Queensland, but for the rest of us who miss our families.
MICHELLE STEPHENSON, NOVA NEWSREADER: Yeah, I know. I have family up in Queensland, I have my parents up there. My mother has been in and out of hospital. So personally, it's been really tough because, you know, and this is what a lot of people talk about when they talk about families and missing loved ones, it's when something that could perhaps go wrong, you're on the edge of your seat. Like, do I have to do two weeks in hotel quarantine? I mean, at the end of the day, I understand why these borders had to close, but we're talking about Queensland, during the course of the pandemic, around 435 days it was closed all up. Now, that's a really long stint. A lot of family separated. A lot of time spent away from loved ones. And a lot of stress and anxiety around it. So I think this is a great day but let's hope that this continues. Let's hope we see no more borders. Let's hope people can continue seeing their loved ones when they want to see them.
CAMPBELL: Of course people there showing their vaccination going over the border there, you can see that on the screen. All this joy, all this love that we're feeling here this morning - compare that to the anger we saw again on the weekend, demonstrators taking to the streets of our major cities in their hundreds, maybe thousands. Yet again protesting against the vaccine mandates. Jim, I can't believe this is still happening. I know they're in the minority but they're still loud. But what do you think that most Australians out there are feeling about this? They're shutting down businesses and cities. I mean, do you think that Aussies out there have just had enough?
CHALMERS: Absolutely. I don't think these protests represent mainstream Australia at all. We see that in the vaccination rates that we're getting in Melbourne, in Sydney, in other parts of the country. I think most people recognise that if you want freedom, freedom stems from doing the right thing by each other. We live in a community and we have responsibilities to each other. If you think about that Melbourne protest in particular, to put it into perspective, many multiples - 7, 8, 9, 10 times as many people competed in the Melbourne Marathon events on the weekend then participated in those rallies. I think that's a bit of a reflection on the tiny, tiny sliver of Australian society who wants to engage in those kinds of protests. Most people want to do the right thing by each other, and that's terrific.
CAMPBELL: I think a lot of people out there Michelle, have been really patient and empathetic about people who've had hesitancy, who have been doing things like been led down a path they've had to come back to or had their work affected by this. But after a certain period of time you've got to go, guys enough’s enough.
STEPHENSON: Yeah, look, I have a couple of friends who are vaccine hesitant. Let me tell you, it is one of those things that's quite divisive amongst friendship groups. You try to be calm and patient and talk to them, but what we see a lot is, you know, a mistrust in media. I call it Trumpism because we've seen with like, you know, that when they get together for these protests, they're carrying Trump flags. So I think what we've seen is this idea of Trumpism that's kind of bled out across the world, that they believe not to trust the media, not to trust the government. And it's kind of caused a lot of dissent amongst people. But s Jim said, look, it is a minority. It's not a lot of people, but they are quite vocal.
CAMPBELL: The sad part of it as well - you were saying Trumpism, Michelle - is that a lot of these people we know, we read in The Age on the weekend, they are being ripped off by the people organising it, because these people organising it are making money.
STEPHENSON: Oh, they're making millions off it. We’ve seen antivaxxers make so much money off this. They treat it as a business and, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if the people who are running these things were actually vaccinated. Because a lot of these people don't believe in these causes, they just believe in stirring up some trouble.
CAMPBELL: Alright, now let's get on to Queenslanders returning home because we just saw Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese at the airport. Guess what, the pollies are coming Queensland, it's not just the tourists. The Australians today saying the sunshine state will become a vital battleground between the Prime Minister and Anthony Albanese. Jim, what do you think? Is Queensland going to decide the election?
CHALMERS: I think so, I think there's no way that we can win the election without doing better in Queensland. I think we've recognised that for some time. The other mob won 23 out the 30 seats here at the last election. In my view, they take the place for granted, all Queenslanders get for that is skyrocketing cost of living and declining real wages. We can do better here. The good thing about Anthony is he doesn't just show up when there's an election on, like the other guy. He's an honorary Queenslander, he's been coming back and forth to Queensland when he's been able to the whole time I've known him for almost 20 years. He's an honorary Queenslander, he knows the place like the back of his hand, he has a real affinity with Queenslanders, and I think that's what we'll see between now and the election, and hopefully beyond with an Albanese Labor Government.
CAMPBELL: How good is it Michelle, as a journalist you can talk about the election for the next five months.
(LAUGHTER)
STEPHENSON: I just can't wait to talk about something that is not COVID. It's so exciting! It's so exciting! No, as Jim said, I think the last election, Queensland really showed up to the polls and really showed what they wanted, and they decided the election. So it'll be very interesting for Labor, I know they have to win back a fair few seats, and the pandemic has not helped. These borders being closed, people haven't been able to get up there and just get out and into the community. So I think it's going to be a very interesting few months, I'm looking forward to talking about it.
CAMPBELL: Jim, just quickly before we go. We have the Treasurer on very shortly, no doubt with a big smile on his face. $103 billion budget turnaround paving the way for pre-election tax cuts. So Jim, here's your chance to say congratulations, well done Josh Frydenberg. You can say it right here on national TV.
CHALMERS: I think he does a good enough job congratulating himself!
(LAUGHTER)
CHALMERS: He wants a big pat on the back for getting his numbers wrong by $100 billion. He didn't take responsibility for the downturn, now he wants to take credit for the recovery. We want the economy to recover strongly. That means the Budget will recover as well, but we've still got that trillion dollars in debt because the budgets full of all those rorts and all that waste. We can do much better than that. We want the Budget to recover, but it's still not in very good shape. If you've got the Treasurer on later on, he will take credit for all of this but he didn't take responsibility when the economy was bleeding two or three billion dollars a week because the mistakes that the Government made on vaccines, and quarantine, and all the rest of it. So let's have a bit of perspective, let's have a good recovering economy. It's got to be the right kind of recovery. It's not a recovery if ordinary working people are falling behind because their costs of living are skyrocketing and their real wages are going backwards.
CAMPBELL: You might be in Brisbane but you've still got the spirit of Canberra in you this morning.
(LAUGHTER)
CAMPBELL: Michelle, good to see you. Jim, thanks so much for your time.
STEPHENSON: Good to see you, bye.
CHALMERS: Thanks for having me.
ENDS
