JIM CHALMERS
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
TODAY
MONDAY, 25 APRIL 2022
SUBJECTS: ANZAC Day; Anthony Albanese; Labor’s Powering Australia plan.
HOST, ALLISON LANGDON: Joining me now Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers and 6PR’s Gareth Parker who's in Perth. Nice to see you both this morning. And Jim, how wonderful is it to see crowds back at services.
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: It is terrific, Ally. It's just wonderful to see people gather. Our dawn service was really well attended this morning. The march here at Springwood will be as well despite the rain. You can see people getting a brew behind me already getting ready for the big march in our local community. It's just terrific. And it's an opportunity, obviously, for all of us to reflect on how we build a country which is worthy of the sacrifices that people have made for us.
LANGDON: And look, no restrictions for most services right around the country except, Gareth, in your state. Perth this morning, it's invite only - you'll be remembering your grandfather today from where?
GARETH PARKER, 6PR PERTH: Yeah, as so many will. The dawn service is still about an hour away in the West, it'll be at Kings Park at the State War Memorial, it has been capped to 500. Honestly, it was more a logistical issue than a restriction issue that the rules would permit a bigger crowd but that change happened too late for the RSL to scale it up to the usual 20,000 or 30,000 that they would like to in ordinary time. So it will be scaled back a bit. But there'll be so many suburban dawn services right around Perth - and indeed country towns right around Western Australia the length and breadth, and I think we've seen the innovation of these driveway dawn services too which I think will continue on. So we're looking forward to that and we're broadcasting on 6PR the dawn service from King's Park which starts at about five to six local time, so it's gonna be a big day.
LANGDON: It will be a big day. Jim, the RSL does fear that as the years go on, and more of our veterans pass on that this is a tradition that will fade. But in what Gareth was saying there: over the past couple of years, the driveway services, I don't know, I almost feel like the fact that we're having crowds come back this year, that it is more important than ever, and that we understand the significance more than ever.
CHALMERS: Completely and I'm a bit more optimistic about it, because I feel like the crowds are just as big as they've ever been, certainly today at the dawn service here in Logan City they were. And I feel like there's a real intergenerational aspect to it: the school kids that gather, the local sporting groups, you see the little tackers with the medals pinned really proudly on their chest. And so I feel like this was a commemoration which will only increase in value over time rather than the other way around.
LANGDON: And I think too - our soldiers and troops returning from Afghanistan, Iraq and more recent conflicts, my brother in law being one of them who has done several tours of Afghanistan - this day is incredibly important to them. And one of the things we've been talking about today too, Gareth, is that many of our older veterans have been called on to help the younger comrades and to look after their mental health, which is such an important issue right now, isn't it?
PARKER: Well, it absolutely is. I reckon it was 10 years ago that a former SAS leader in this state, now turned West Australian politician, Peter Tinley, told me that we needed to be careful and mindful of the mental health of the generation of Australian troops who had gone through Afghanistan and also Iraq. And he predicted what he called a tsunami of mental health challenges that would arise. And I think sadly, he was spot on. And so that has become a theme. Back in the World War Two generation it was sort of silent and not spoken about and not dealt with. And it was kind of understood by everyone that you just didn't bring up these things. I think our understanding has changed. And I think there's evidence, good evidence, that if you can have conversations about these sorts of things and try and deal with the trauma, then perhaps those years post service become just a little easier. So I do think that the current generation of armed services personnel do feel that Anzac Day is incredibly important. And I think that there's renewed interest from people in family histories as well. I mean, there was a time where every Australian knew someone who served. That's perhaps not as much the case now. But people are going back into the family histories, grandparents, great grandparents even, to keep the stories of the service of the ANZACs alive.
LANGDON: I know today too, that Scott Morrison and Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles will be attending a service in Darwin, which is just about to get underway. But of course, because this is all happening, we've still got an election going. There are live pictures actually from Darwin now where Deputy Labor Leader Richard Marles is speaking, because, of course, Anthony Albanese is halfway through his isolation. While it's all happening, Jim, the PM has been out front and centre on the campaign trail promising what works out to be about $833 million a day to the electorate. So, Jim, some of your colleagues, I reckon, have been more comfortable out front than others and just looking at Richard Marles there. I mean, he's had a rough few days, hasn't he?
CHALMERS: I missed the last part of your question, Ally.
LANGDON: Which was the important part. I said that Richard Marles - he's had a rough few days, hasn't he?
CHALMERS: Oh, no, I don't think so. I think everybody stepped up in Anthony's absence. We have individually and collectively done our best to fill the temporary void left by Anthony being laid up with COVID like tens of thousands of other Australians. The pandemic taught us to prepare for every eventuality, and that's what we did. And so we've stepped up, it's an opportunity to showcase the whole team, which is what we've been doing. Leadership is partly playing the cards that you're dealt, it's dealing with adversity, it's being there for people, it's taking responsibility. It's working hard to bring people together every day, all of those things are Anthony's attributes, you're seeing that now. He's almost halfway through this seven day period. And so he'll be back before long and in his absence. We're all doing the best we can.
LANGDON: Australia has missed him, they'll be happy to have Albo back on the campaign trail. Jim, you seem to be flip flopping on coal though, that backfired on you last election.
CHALMERS: I don't think we are at all. Now we had a policy out there for almost six months now that people want to ask us questions about, which is fine by us. Our policy is not about abandoning our traditional strengths in areas like mining, it's about leveraging them and maximising them. And that's why our modelling of our climate change policy says that the five out of every six of the more than 600,000 jobs which will be created by our Powering Australia Plan will be created in the regions. And that's because we have an opportunity now, to add cleaner and cheaper energy to the energy mix. We said that for not just the last six months, but for a long time. Now our modelling bears that out. We're happy to talk about it every day.
LANGDON: So Jim, why is Richard Marles had such a problem answering that question?
CHALMERS: I don't think he did. Ally, in these press conferences, what typically happens is whoever's at the microphone, they throw to whoever is best place to answer the question. That happens when leaders are there, it happens when deputy leaders are there. In Question Time, we ask Scott Morrison questions about the economy all the time, which he flicks to Josh Frydenberg, which seems to pass without comment. So it's entirely usual, for that kind of thing to happen. And just to give you an insight on on how that happens, usually before you do a press conference, you'll have a chat with your colleagues. And I usually put my hand up to answer the climate change questions if Chris Bowen is not there, because it's an area of policy passion and interest for me, and that's what happened. He threw the question to me, which is entirely normal. I answered it fully and completely. I don't know what the fuss is about.
LANGDON: Gareth, what do you say to that? Because I know we've just had the mining giant Adani come out accusing Labor of saying one thing to the coal communities and another to the rest of the country. But just in response to what Jim just said?
PARKER: Well, I don't envy Jim and his colleagues on either side of the political divide having to answer the questions from the likes of us without any preparation at a moment's notice. But this is an election campaign. The light burns brighter and the tolerance for I guess, mistakes as we've seen, is less and less and less. So these can become defining moments for voters who want to feel that their elected representatives or the people who want to be their elected representatives are right on top of their game. So it's back to the the bullpen session, back to the drawing board and more preparation required for everyone. But I'm not, no one's suggesting it's easy. But that's what we're here for.
LANGDON: And I tell you what, you just get a bit uptight, don't you when you're watching it and you see it happening. But, look, Anzac Day guys - a bit of two-up, a bit of two-up at the pub, Jim?
CHALMERS: Oh, I'll be at the pub. But I won't be partaking today. Probably not two-up either. But the Greenbank RSL puts on a great show around lunchtime after the ceremony mid morning, so I'll be there - an opportunity to say to all of those who served and sacrifice just how much they mean, not just to our national story, but to our local communities as well.
LANGDON: Well done. Gentlemen, appreciate your time this morning.
ENDS
