Bridget Brennan:
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers joins us now from Brisbane. Good morning to you, Treasurer. We’ll get to the inflation figures released yesterday in a moment, but first can we just get your reaction to this alleged antisemitic attack overnight in Maroubra where graffiti has been sprayed on a school?
Jim Chalmers:
Good morning, Bridget. Unfortunately we’re having to respond to another disgraceful act of antisemitism, and if you combine that development with the revelations in the last day or so of this planned mass casualty event, you can see that some of the fear that Jewish Australians have is not unfounded.
There is absolutely no place for violence or for antisemitism in a country like ours and that’s why we’re working closer than ever with police and other authorities to make sure that we stamp out and root out this antisemitism, which is unfortunately becoming a feature all too frequently in our communities.
Brennan:
With a caravan full of explosives discovered and an alleged antisemitic message contained within that caravan, Treasurer, do you fear we could see a deadly attack in the coming weeks and months?
Chalmers:
This is exactly why we’re working so closely with the police and the other authorities, and I pay tribute to the police for containing that threat, and arrests have already been made.
We know from the counter‑terrorism teams that they consider this to have been a potential mass casualty event. That is obviously an extraordinarily serious development, and again this is why we’re working so closely with them and with the states and territories.
There is a lot of fear in the community right now, we understand that, and when we see developments like this we know that that fear is not entirely unfounded. And so, we are making sure that whatever can be done will be done, and we’ll be briefed on this later this morning.
Brennan:
We understand the Prime Minister and the Premier were briefed on this alleged attack, or this planned attack, some days before the public came to understand what had happened. Can you outline, Treasurer, why you think that was? Did the public need to have more information about what was planned?
Chalmers:
Look, Bridget, I’m reluctant to wade into that. I don’t like to go into the processes that are available and the briefings that are available to the prime ministers and premiers. I think there is good reason to be cautious and conservative about that.
From my point of view, I’ve been focused on the economic issues, but I will have the opportunity to be briefed on these developments with some other colleagues today. I’ll let the Prime Minister and the Premier talk to the sorts of briefings that are available to them.
Brennan:
Okay. Could you let us know whether or not National Cabinet will meet again on this issue and whether or not you think additional steps need to be taken to ensure the Jewish community feels safe right now?
Chalmers:
First of all, I mean obviously if there are additional steps that need to be taken we’ll take them. Obviously, we will. We’ve shown a willingness to do that in the way that we’re already working with police and authorities and states and territories, the extra resources, the special operations that have been set up. All of that has been about doing as much as we can. If there’s more that can be done of course we’ll consider that.
When it comes to the planning and scheduling of National Cabinet, again that is in the hands of the Prime Minister and the Premiers, and I’ll leave you to them on that front.
Brennan:
What are the inflation figures, the latest inflation figures telling us, Treasurer?
Chalmers:
Those inflation figures that we got this week were very encouraging because what they showed is that inflation has come down by more than what was expected and more than what was forecast.
We’re making really substantial and now quite sustained progress in the fight against inflation across all of the fronts that we measure. Headline inflation was in the lower half of the Reserve Bank’s target band, underlying inflation came down as well.
That all augurs well for the progress that we’re making together as Australians. And what we’ve been able to do collectively is something that other countries have not been able to do. We’ve got inflation down; we’ve got wages up and we’ve kept unemployment low at the same time.
Now most of the major advanced economies have now got higher inflation than us. In the US it’s not just higher, it’s rising. And what that shows is that Australians are making some really quite encouraging progress together.
Brennan:
Yeah, but I guess a lot of Australians would be at home this morning thinking, ‘It does not feel like encouraging progress in my household, I’m not necessarily focused on other economies, I’m focused on my household budget’, and for a lot of Australians they’ve just not seen any relief in the past couple of years. Are you worried they’re going to punish you for that at the ballot box?
Chalmers:
First of all, I totally understand the sentiment that you have just described, and one of the reasons why we’re not getting carried away by these encouraging inflation numbers is because we know that cost‑of‑living pressures haven’t disappeared, but they’re easing.
We know that people are still under pretty substantial pressure in their household budgets, and we know that even when these national economic numbers get better and better, we know that that doesn’t always automatically translate into how people are feeling and faring in the economy. So that’s why we’re not getting carried away by it. We know the cost‑of‑living pressures haven’t disappeared, but they have eased quite substantially now and that’s a good thing.
Brennan:
Obviously inflation has been a persistent challenge for a number of months, as we’ve just been talking about. Do you see a future where we are going to see prices fall in a significant way? And would you expect that we’ll see a rate cut now?
Chalmers:
Ordinarily in a healthy economy there’s a little bit of inflation but not a lot. The Reserve Bank doesn’t target zero per cent inflation, they target between 2 and 3 per cent inflation.
I’m reluctant to predict or pre‑empt the decisions that the Reserve Bank will take independently, including in their meeting towards the middle of February. They are independent and I respect their independence.
What I try and do is to focus on our job, focus on 3 things overwhelmingly. Getting inflation down where we’re making good progress, getting wages up and keeping unemployment low. Not every country’s been able to do that. It’s encouraging that we have been able to do that so far. The independent Reserve Bank will weigh all of that up and come to its decision and announce that decision towards the middle of February.
Brennan:
Okay, Jim Chalmers, thanks very much for your time on the program this morning.
Chalmers:
Thanks Bridget.