JOURNALIST:
The Australian Future Leaders Foundation has had its funding scrapped. Why is it not value for money as you stated before?
JIM CHALMERS:
This grant obviously doesn't pass muster, and we took the time to look into the $18 million, which was proposed here. And we can't see that it delivers value for money, and so that grant won't be proceeding. It won't be proceeding with the $18 million in funding, or the ongoing funding after that. Our responsibility is to go through the budget line by line, to make sure that there's genuine value for money, and we couldn't see value for money here.
JOURNALIST:
The RBA Governor will give a speech today talking about the state of the economy and forecasts, he got it badly wrong last time, last year. Do you have confidence that he will get it right this time?
CHALMERS:
Like a lot of Australians, I'll be listening intently when the Governor makes some remarks later today. But I think he takes these decisions with his board independently, and it's not for me to second guess or to take pot‑shots at him. He's capable of explaining his own decisions and his own language and the decisions taken by the board. Australians are doing it really tough, as these interest rate rises start to bite. They do tighten the screws on household budgets. And they are some of the cost‑of‑living pains that people are enduring right now.
JOURNALIST:
Is the RBA review, looking at Philip Lowe's position and the position of the board?
CHALMERS:
Not specifically, the Reserve Bank review, which I set up not that long ago, it's not about personalities, it's about making sure that we have the right institutional settings, the right kind of board composition, and the right kind of framework and objectives for the Reserve Bank, to take these really consequential decisions about people's interest rates, and to perform the other functions of the Reserve Bank. And so my Reserve Bank review is not some kind of witch‑hunt. It's not about taking shots at anyone. It's about getting those institutional settings right so that we've got world's best practice, when it comes to putting together interest rate decisions. I've recently met with the review panel, and they will shortly be releasing an issues paper to help guide the discussion. We've got a wonderful panel looking at some really important issues. And I look forward to receiving the fruits of that work.
JOURNALIST:
The Opposition keeps on saying that you guys spoke a big game about cost‑of‑living pressures and relieving it during the election. And they keep on saying 'where's the plan', 'where's the plan?' Can you detail a plan?
CHALMERS:
First of all, these characters were in office for the best part of a decade. And they spent their time deliberately suppressing wages. And that's why we've had big reason for these cost‑of‑living pressures, because we've had almost a decade now of wage stagnation, so that Australians who work hard are falling further and further behind. I cannot remember a less credible, less coherent, less convincing economic spokesperson than Angus Taylor. I encourage you to listen to his conversation with Patricia Karvelas this morning. He can't tell us whether he thinks our childcare policy should be earlier, later, or not at all. He demanded an invite to the Jobs Summit and then wasn't allowed to go. He's had train wreck after train wreck, after train wreck. These characters were in office for the best part of a decade. We've been here for about three months now, we are responsibly implementing our cost‑of‑living relief in a way that delivers an economic dividend, and doesn't put extra pressure on the Reserve Bank. We are leveling with the Australian people about the complex combination of challenges that we've inherited in the economy. And one of those is providing cost‑of‑living relief, which isn't counterproductive, which doesn't make the important work of the independent Reserve Bank harder. That's the task that we're engaged in. And we won't be distracted by the incoherent rubbish that Angus Taylor and others are talking about.
JOURNALIST:
Will there be any cost‑of‑living relief in the Budget, over and above what's already out there?
CHALMERS:
The Budget is not finished yet. We've still got 6 or 7 weeks to go. We're meeting the Expenditure Review Committee, in some cases late into the night, earlier this week. But I think Australians should expect that our priority in the Budget is to implement the cost‑of‑living relief that we have announced, game‑changing investment in childcare, which will ease cost of living pressures and deliver an economic benefit, cheaper medicines, cheaper TAFE, cheaper electric vehicles, and just as importantly, getting wages moving again, in our economy. That's how we responsibly deal with these cost‑of‑living pressures, and you'll see that in the Budget.
JOURNALIST:
And those difficult decisions will lead to austerity measures.
CHALMERS:
I'm not in the cart for the kind of harsh austerity that we've seen around the world, in recent years, in recent decades. I'm for getting value for money to improving the structural position of the budget over time. And to make sure that every dollar we spend from a budget, which is heaving with a trillion dollars in Liberal Party debt, gets a genuine dividend for people, for people in their household budgets and also for the economy more broadly. I think Australians understand that there's a lot of debt in the budget, and that we will do what we can for them. But we do that within the constraints of responsible budget management. The Budget that I hand down in October will be a responsible budget, which provides reasonable cost‑of‑living relief for people, invests in the future of the economy, and starts to deal with these rorts and these wastes that we've inherited from our predecessors.
JOURNALIST:
The Greens want the RBA Governor to go now, do you support him staying in the role until at least next September?
CHALMERS:
I support the important convention that the independence of the Reserve Bank shouldn't be interfered with by politicians. And I think that's an important convention. And I'm not going to take pot‑shots at the Governor of the Reserve Bank, my job, my responsibility is to give them the right institutional settings to come up with the right decisions for the economy, and for the Australian people. That's my focus. Phil Lowe is capable of defending his own decisions and his own comments. I think he can do that free from the kind of political interference, which should be avoided.
JOURNALIST:
For the no‑cash handouts, the budget problem there is, I suppose, it would just push up inflation wouldn't it, if you went down that path?
CHALMERS:
We're leveling with people about that potential consequence. We want to provide cost‑of‑living relief in a way that's responsible and has an economic dividend, because we don't want to force the Reserve Bank's hand. We don't want to make the important work of the independent Reserve Bank harder. We want to provide cost‑of‑living relief in a way that doesn't add to inflationary pressures in our economy. And that is one of the complex balances that we're trying to strike in this Budget. Our economy grew relatively strongly, grew solidly in the June quarter. And we're pleased about that, but we are clear‑eyed too, about the challenges in our economy, rising interest rates will slow the economy, the global situation has deteriorated. There are still big issues in our supply chains, including labour and skills shortages, a big focus of the Jobs and Skills Summit. So those sorts of areas are where we're focused on. I don't think anybody thinks that the economy has become easier to manage since those June quarter numbers. We take responsibility for doing what we can and influencing what we can. That means cost‑of‑living relief. It means dealing with issues in supply chains. It means investing in the future of the economy, and it means making sure that we get bang for buck in the Budget. Thanks very much.