JIM CHALMERS
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
TODAY SHOW
THURSDAY, 28 APRIL 2022
SUBJECTS: Triple whammy hitting Australians – interest rate rises in the near future, skyrocketing costs of living and falling real wages; Inflation figure adding the pain being felt by Australian families; Labor’s Economic Plan; Scott Morrison always wants to take credit but never wants to take responsibility; Preferences.
ALLISON LANGDON, HOST: The nation's inflation rate is soaring to a 21 year high. For more, we are joined by Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who joins us in the studio. Jim, nice to see you this morning.
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: Good morning, guys.
LANGDON: Does this play to your advantage?
CHALMERS: We don't really see it like that. This is going to be a very difficult period for people, they're already being punched by that worst combination of prices going through the roof, real wages that are going backwards, and now they're going to have to cop an interest rate rise as well. A lot of people are not just not getting ahead, they're falling further and further behind and that's of concern to us.
KARL STEFANOVIC, HOST: I wanted to know, what would Labor do today that would actually have a real impact on the prices. You mentioned the prices going up. When would it have an impact because you have no real, direct impact on wages?
CHALMERS: Well, there's at least three things that you can do. When it comes to the here and now, we supported the Government's cost of living measures in the Budget. But really all they do is they take this big problem for one side of the election and park it on the other side of the election. You need something after these cost of living measures run out. So we've got a plan to make child care cheaper - substantially cheaper - we've got a plan to get power bills down,. When it comes to wages, there's a minimum wage case underway right now, clearly, that needs to take into account the skyrocketing costs of living. We want to train people so they can grab those higher wage opportunities. We want to change child care so people can work more and earn more if they want to.
STEFANOVIC: I think the pitch is that you directly impact on wages, but you don't have that direct impact?
CHALMERS: But there's things you can do. Child care is a big part of it, because working more and earning more is obviously good for wages. There's a lot of opportunities coming as the economy recovers, you want to train people for the good high wage opportunities. You need to obviously do things like deal with the gig economy, there are some issues there undermining wages. We need to support these wage cases in the care economy - aged care in particular, but also the minimum wage case. So there are things that government can do. It's right to focus on wages, because that shocking inflation number that we got yesterday was the highest in more than 20 years, since the GST was introduced. That is hard enough as it is, but we've got a government which has been coming after people's wages for the best part of a decade and that turbocharges the problem.
LANGDON: I think everyone agrees - we've seen strikes over the last couple of weeks, that especially our frontline nurses deserve a pay rise, and our teachers deserve a pay rise - but you've got this problem of what's now being asked. It's just going to add to all that inflationary pressure, so what do you do about that?
CHALMERS: Well, it depends what else you're doing in the economy. We want there to be responsible, sustainable, wage rises, which take into account the fact that real wages are going backwards under this Government, so people are falling further and further behind. But what you need to do elsewhere, is you need to increase the capacity of the economy so it can grow without adding to these inflationary pressures. Cleaner and cheaper energy is a big part of the story. Training people for these skills shortages, big part of the story. Fixing childcare, as I said. Investing in the digital economy, and the NBN, the care economy, advanced manufacturing.
LANGDON: But how do you then pay for something like a big-spending promise, like childcare? We heard yesterday, you talked about $5 billion in budget saving, I mean that doesn't even cover what you're going to spend on childcare?
CHALMERS: Well, a bit of perspective on the child care policy, which is an investment. It's an investment. It makes it easier for people to pay the bills, but it also helps grow the economy, so it's an investment where you get a dividend from it. We are proposing to invest less in child care then the Government wasted on these submarines that will never be built. They wasted at least $5.5 billion on these submarines, our child care policy costs $5.4 billion, so that gives you a sense of perspective. What we did yesterday, when we released our Economic Plan, is we said that somebody has to take seriously the fact that we've got a trillion dollars in debt and not enough to show for it. We proposed some changes to multinational taxes, and to trim Commonwealth spending on contractors and consultants in the public service, to make a start on dealing with this legacy that we would be left with if we won the election.
STEFANOVIC: Inflation's, what, just a tick over 5%. In reality, that taken over a 12 month period, it's probably up around 7% or 8%. Given the Reserve Bank can also control inflation with higher interest rates, do you believe they should have acted earlier?
CHALMERS: I don't get into second guessing the Reserve Bank and neither would Josh Frydenberg. There's a convention in the political system that the Reserve Bank is independent, they make their decisions and they defend their decisions and they’re capable of speaking for themselves. Clearly now, all the analysts and all the commentators think there'll be an interest rate rise. If it's not next Tuesday, it'll be at the beginning of June. Everybody expects that now, and that will add to the pain. This is a triple whammy - skyrocketing inflation, falling real wages and rising interest rates will make it that much harder for Australians who are already doing it tough enough. This can't be the thanks that they get for everything that we've been through together the last couple of years, and this is the legacy of Scott Morrison's economic mismanagement. He wanders around the country saying that his big strength is the economy, his record tells a very different story.
LANGDON: We know that Anthony Albanese, your leader, is coming out of isolation tomorrow. Nice to see that he's made it through COVID okay, but this week has sort of proven that you haven't needed him.
CHALMERS: I think it's going to be great to have him back, it's going to be terrific to have him back on deck. In his absence, we've done our best. We've showcased our team. A whole range of colleagues have been out and about selling the Labor story. Yesterday, Katy Gallagher and I released our economic plan that we were talking about a moment ago. The pandemic has taught us to prepare for any eventuality, and we were prepared for it. And one of the great things about Albo is that his leadership style is to build a team, and lead a team, and you've seen the team over the last week.
STEFANOVIC: I mean, the Party is doing terrific without him, that's how well he's built it.
CHALMERS: I think he's built a team which is capable of filling in when he's off with COVID.
STEFANOVIC: Just quickly, Pauline Hanson's preferencing Labor in Tassie. She's had a few choice things to say and dirty deals with the devil - Jacqui Lambie and the Liberals. Getting her preferences, jumping into bed with Pauline, is that something you want to be associated with?
CHALMERS: No, we're not doing any deals with Pauline Hanson. Historically, that's been one of the stands that we've taken. We don't control the preferences that come to us, but we don't do deals with her.
STEFANOVIC: You won't take them?
CHALMERS: Well you can't decide whether to take them or not, people will preference whoever they want when they get into the privacy of the polling booth. Preference negotiations are not part of my wheelhouse, I've been focused on the economy.
STEFANOVIC: Good to see you.
LANGDON: Who'd have thought that One Nation could win Labor the election, I know he won't say that.
STEFANOVIC: He's not going to say that.
(LAUGHTER)
CHALMERS: We're trying to win it in our own right.
(LAUGHTER)
STEFANOVIC: Good on you Jim, thank you.
ENDS
