JOURNALIST:
Treasurer, first up, can I get your reaction, Dan Walton has just resigned as the National Secretary of the AWU. Could I get some reaction to that?
JIM CHALMERS:
Dan Walton is a terrific guy. He's someone I've worked really closely with. He understands the national economy and the place of Australian workers in it. I spoke to him this morning about it. I'd rather he didn't leave frankly. I think he's one of the better leaders in the broader Australian community. I'll miss him in that role, but he's a friend of mine despite his support for the Sharks, and we'll continue to be friends. It's a big loss to the AWU and to the labour movement more broadly. He's someone I've got a mountain of respect for, and it's a shame to see him go.
JOURNALIST:
There's always been a thought he'd make an ideal Labor politician.
CHALMERS:
He would do an ideal job of whatever he turned his mind to. He is genuinely one of the really enlightened leaders in our broader Australian community. He's been wonderful for the AWU. He's been someone whose advice I've relied on really heavily over a long period of time. I talk to him incredibly regularly, including today, and I'm really sad to see him go.
JOURNALIST:
One last one. You talked about the reforms of Paul Keating, and your admiration for that. We've seen glimpses of it so far. Is it really going into the next election that we see the rubber hit the road, as it were?
CHALMERS:
We're ambitious for Australia, and we're ambitious for the Australian economy. And what we've been able to do in this Budget is lay the foundations for future growth and prosperity and get the Budget on a much more sustainable footing. At the same time, as we recognise that we can make the most of these big shifts in our economy: the energy transformation, adapting and adopting technology, getting the skills mix right, getting migration right, the changes in our industrial composition. All of these things are absolutely crucial to whether or not we succeed or fail in the defining decade ahead. We’ve made some good progress in our first two budgets, and there's more work to do. Thanks.