ANNA HENDERSON:
Treasurer, thanks for joining SBS.
JIM CHALMERS:
Thanks Anna.
HENDERSON:
For someone thinking about whether they can pay their bills this week, what’s in this Budget for them?
CHALMERS:
Well, I’d say to the people who are under pressure, we understand these cost‑of‑living stresses and strains that you’re under, and more help is on the way in this Budget.
HENDERSON:
You maintain that this energy bill relief, $300 per person, no matter their income, from the wealthiest to the poorest in the country, will not fuel inflation. But economists are already suggesting that they disagree with that. Why – why don’t you agree with the economists?
CHALMERS:
Well, there’s not a unanimous view amongst economists. There very rarely is, and there isn’t on this occasion. You know, the very clear advice that we received is that a combination of our cost‑of‑living policies, particularly our energy bill relief and our rent assistance, will put downward pressure on inflation without adding to inflationary pressures elsewhere in the economy. There will always be a range of views about that, but we’re pretty confident we got it right.
HENDERSON:
The suggestion is that an interest rate moderation would follow. And so, if this doesn’t unfold the way you are hoping it does, what do you think that the Australian public will say?
CHALMERS:
I think people understand that we’re doing our best to get on top of this inflation challenge, which is absolutely punishing people around the kitchen tables of this country. You know, we understand people are under pressure, more help is on the way in this Budget.
HENDERSON:
How many people have to lose their jobs in order for us to achieve this inflation forecast?
CHALMERS:
Well, what we’ve – what we are attempting to do and what we’ve been able to do so far is to see inflation come off substantially at the same time as we maintain pretty low, a pretty low unemployment rate.
HENDERSON:
There is, there is a difference, though. Do you know how many people end up in the unemployment queue to get there?
CHALMERS:
Well, even as the unemployment rate ticks up a little bit in the Treasury’s expectations, in the forecasts I released tonight, we will still be creating extra jobs in our economy. So, the unemployment rate goes up a little bit, but we are creating more jobs for people. And that is consistent with what we’ve been able to achieve so far. We’ve created 780,000 jobs under the life of this government as inflation has moderated and that shows that we can be attentive to the labour market at the same time as we get on top of inflation.
HENDERSON:
The Future Made in Australia policy, for it to work, people have to want to buy Australian solar panels at a premium, so would your government consider putting a tariff on Chinese solar panels.
CHALMERS:
Primarily, this is not just about solar panels. It’s about this vast industrial and economic opportunity presented to Australia and Australians by the global transformation to net zero. And that’s why we want to attract more investment. We want to give a tax break for production in areas like renewable hydrogen and processing critical minerals, because the future of our economy is a combination of these industries in the Future Made in Australia policy and the care economy and in the Budget there’s investments in both those sets of industries.
HENDERSON:
Can you say hand on heart that people’s living standards have improved under your government?
CHALMERS:
I can say hand on heart that every minute that we have been in government has been about helping to ensure that people can earn more and keep more of what they earn, we’ve got real wages growing again, because that’s the best way to turn around this challenge that we have with living standards and particularly with inflation.
HENDERSON:
We thank you for your time again. Look forward to seeing you soon.
CHALMERS:
Thanks very much, Anna.