JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN

 

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
TODAY SHOW
WEDNESDAY, 30 MARCH 2022
 
SUBJECTS: Federal Budget; Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells; Passing of Shane Warne. 
 
KARL STEFANOVIC, HOST: This Budget is all about winning your vote come election time. Let's discuss with Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers in Canberra, and host of 2GB Drive Sydney Jim Wilson who’s here in Melbourne. Good to see you Jimmy. Jim Chalmers, first up now, did you watch nervously last night as the election slowly slipped away from you?

JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: Of course not, Karl. I think people will see through this Budget like they see through this Prime Minister. They know it's an act of political desperation. They know that Scott Morrison woke up at some point in the last few weeks and realised he had to call an election soon and so he better get the shovel out, and that's what he's done. But there's no plan beyond May in the Budget. The Budget should be about plans for the future as well as easing cost of living pressures, but this Budget doesn't really see beyond the next six or seven weeks.
 
STEFANOVIC: You must have a litany of reasons to say no to so much of what happened last night. What exactly will you stop from happening?
 
CHALMERS: I think the big issue with the budget really Karl, was what happens after May. It's not necessarily a matter of picking apart some of this cost of living relief. I think that will go through the parliament, if not today, then tomorrow. We've said for some time - I think I said to you on Monday - we'll be up for a cost of living relief in the context of people's real wages falling. People do need a bit of help. Our issue is really what's not in the Budget beyond May - no plan to grow the economy in a way that works for everyone. Whether it's cleaner and cheaper energy, or skills, or childcare, or the digital economy, or a future made in Australia, all of our economic plans – and that's because the Government's temperamentally incapable of seeing beyond May. They’ve got this act of political desperation, they've whacked it on the credit card, but there's nothing beyond May to give people a sense of where the economy's headed, what's the role of the Government in that, and how we can do better?
 
STEFANOVIC: Jim, seems to be going right the economy?
 
JIM WILSON, 2GB: Well it is considering what we've come through. We’ve had two years with a pandemic. And I think you look at unemployment, obviously, you know, with a three in front of it. Well, it's said that’ll have a three in front of it. So I think generally speaking, yeah. The deficit. I mean, we've got a trillion dollars in debt. So I mean for whoever's going to be Treasurer beyond May and beyond the election, whether it's Jim Chalmers or Josh Frydenberg, I mean, they've got their work cut out as far as the debt’s concerned. But what other choices did the Government have? As far as what we've been through, then go and have JobKeeper, JobSeeker. I mean, these are extraordinary, extraordinary times and extraordinary circumstances. I think the Budget last night, is it enough to actually convince the Australian people to go and vote for the Coalition and give them another term? Not sure about that. But I think, considering all things, cutting the fuel excise had to happen. So, we could save something like 22 cents a litre, which I think is a good thing.
 
STEFANOVIC: How effective is that going to be in the long term? 
 
WILSON: Well, it's for six months. You're exactly right, Karl. And I think the other thing is to let's see if the fuel companies actually pass it off, that's a big thing as well. So the Government’s saying it’ll be monitoring and putting the pressure on fuel companies, but I think, generally speaking, for low and middle income, you know, that the offset of the tax breaks. I think, for the seniors, the one off payment. You know, I think considering all things considering, the debt, I think it's the best it could do. Is it enough to convince the Australian electorate to give them another term? Not convinced.
 
STEFANOVIC: Jim, you've been left with a beautiful present. If you win office, obviously, you're going to have to put the excise back on fuel. How soon will you do that?
 
CHALMERS: I think no matter who wins the election, people should expect that the excise goes back on in September. That's what the legislation will say. I think that's one of the motivations behind what they've done. Frankly, they've taken a big problem that exists before the election, they've pushed it to just the other side of the election. No matter who wins, they’re going to have to deal with it. I think Jim Wilson was right. There's a trillion dollars of debt in the Budget, the question is whether we've got enough to show for that. I think not. There has been a lot of rorts and wasting taxpayer money in the budget. If there hadn't been so much wasted, we could have had more room to support people with the cost of living pressures and to invest in the future. So I think there are significant issues in the budget, still. No government's actually gone to an election with a worse set of books than this one will be going to this election. It's the most wasteful government since Federation. And I think that will be an election issue.
 
STEFANOVIC: What would you do today, to ease cost of living? Because I'm not sure that anything in the budget was going to ease inflation. But what would what would you do to ease it today?
 
CHALMERS: I think the big gap was in childcare policy. You know, if you think about the pressures on families, you know, petrol is a big part of it. But so is groceries, building materials, rent, childcare, and all the rest of it. Our policies are about getting childcare bills down, A big part of the story. Our policies are about getting energy policies down as well. And so we would have liked to have seen more ambition on those two policies, at least in the budget that was handed down last night. The government doesn't go down that route, doesn't want to go down that path. If we're elected, we will.
 
STEFANOVIC: But you're happy to spend more than the government?
 
CHALMERS: We've said there's other areas of the budget, Karl, that you could trim back to make room for some of these investments. You know, when economists look at this budget, you know, one of the big defining features is that it doesn't have a lot of quality spending. There's that trillion in debt, that Jim Wilson mentioned. And we don't have enough to show for it because the spending hasn't been responsible enough or high enough quality. And so we want to shift the emphasis in the budget…
 
STEFANOVIC: But you're not going to reduce the debt, you're only going to add to it right?
 
CHALMERS: No, we're saying there are other parts of the budget where you could trim. You know, the government spends billions of dollars on contractors and consultants, there's an opportunity there. There are other opportunities as well to trim spending where there's been the most egregious waste. So we want to reprioritise the budget. We want to make high quality spending a feature of the budget, it has been missing for the best part of a decade.
 
STEFANOVIC: Okay, there was a, last night in Parliament, an extraordinary moment with an outgoing liberal Senator absolutely unloading on the PM, take a look at this.
 
CONCETTA FIERRAVANTI-WELLS, LNP SENATOR: In my public life, I have met ruthless people. Morrison tops the list, followed closely by Hawke. Morrison is not fit to be Prime Minister. And Hawke certainly is not fit to be a minister.
 
STEFANOVIC: Jim Chalmers, there's something very special about friendly fire before an election isn't there?
 
CHALMERS: Well, there's a pattern here, Karl. The people who work most closely with the Prime Minister and know him the best, trust him the least. Senator Fierravanti-Wells is not the first to make that point. And if you can't trust him to deal with his long term senators in a trustworthy way, you can't trust him on wages, or the budget, or cost of living, or all these other issues that he's now pretending to care about, because he's got to call an election in the next fortnight.
 
STEFANOVIC: Everyone sees through that one, don’t they?
 
WILSON: Well, the onus is on both sides of the political aisle, if they want a safe workplace and to improve the culture of the place. I've been saying this for a long time on the program, the last couple of weeks, that there’s very serious allegations involving the late Kimberly Kitching. The onus is on Labor as well to say, right, they were very serious. It's about culture and the serious allegations against three of their most senior women. They're denying the bullying allegations but at least have a proper inquiry. Yeah, there seems to be one rule for Albo and Labor and a different set of rules for the Coalition. So let's just clean up the place, improve the culture and that's the vital thing.
 
STEFANOVIC: Yeah, big day here. We are out of time, but it's going be a special evening, isn't it?
 
WILSON: Yeah, I'm going be here tonight. And I think it's going be a very special evening. I think it's a celebration of an amazing life. And I knew Shane for the best part of 30 years and his family will be here. They'll unveil the grand stand in his honour. Yeah, you're going have Sir Elton John. You'll have Chris Martin from Coldplay, Ed Sheeran with a special video tribute. I mean cricket legends will be here. Yeah, it's going to be a two and a half hour service from seven o'clock tonight, here at the MCG. You can get a lot of it at the SCG as well. Yeah, a really special moment and that statue behind you right now. There was only one Shane Warne.
 
STEFANOVIC: They’re inviting everyone to wear their World Series cricket gear. So you’ll dust them off?
 
WILSON: I've dusted them off. I’ve got the cheese pizza ready to go as well as the baked beans.
 
STEFANOVIC: I love it. It’s my kind of day.   
 
ENDS