Bridget Brennan:
Good morning to you, Treasurer.
Jim Chalmers:
Good morning, Bridget.
Brennan:
You would be really concerned about what’s happening in North Queensland, as a Queenslander, there are just so many communities in a very difficult position right now.
Chalmers:
Queenslanders are tough and resilient, but these are anxious days in North Queensland and Far North Queensland. Really that stretch all the way from Mackay to Cairns and some of the inland communities as well. Australians are there for each other in difficult times like this, and the government is there for them as well.
I’ve already spoken to our Emergencies Minister, Jenny McAllister, this morning. The rivers are still rising, roads are cut, electricity and water supplies are affected. And so we’re working very closely with the Queensland Government to provide the assistance that people and communities need in that wonderful part of Australia. The Defence Force is already helping in and around Townsville. We’ve already provided some military helicopters to help reach isolated communities. And the assistance payments are flowing as well, and I’d encourage people to check their eligibility if they’re in an affected community.
Brennan:
You must be concerned about the frequency and severity of these natural disasters and what are your plans for mitigation and preparation for these communities. We’re also seeing fires here in Victoria, over in WA. What’s the plan in terms of making sure communities are ready for these events into the future, Treasurer?
Chalmers:
It’s true that, I think Queenslanders in particular, but right around Australia people are no strangers to these sorts of natural disasters. Unfortunately, they are becoming more frequent and that’s why we have tried to reorient funding. Not just providing support for response and recovery, which we continue to do, but also investing in mitigation, in some of the ways that you’re intimating in your question, Bridget.
So there has been more investment in mitigation. We’re always up for a conversation with the states and territories and local governments about how best we go about that. But we have made more money available for that, because in addition to responding, making sure people are safe, in addition to investing in communities, helping them recover and rebuild, we also need to make communities more resilient, and that’s what we’re doing.
Brennan:
Treasurer, I’ll just let our viewers know, we’re just seeing live pictures of the Prime Minister arriving for that church service this morning in Canberra.
Any indication yet for Australians of when they’ll be going to the polls? When are we going to hear, Treasurer?
Chalmers:
First of all, you guys are the reason I’m not at church this morning, you’ve got me out of church, you and James. And you’d have to ask the Prime Minister on his way in. The election date will be determined by the PM. I’ll continue to work hard on my job until the election is called.
And when we call the election, the choice will be really clear. We’re helping people with the cost of living, building Australia’s future, our opponents would make people worse off and take Australia backwards. That’s the choice no matter when the election is.
Brennan:
All right. No job for us there this morning. Well, the former US Ambassador, Arthur Sinodinos is worried that Australia may be unable to escape a second round of tariffs in this term of the Trump administration. Many members of the business community are concerned. What’s the case, Treasurer, that you’ll make to Donald Trump to ensure that Australia isn’t in the firing line?
Chalmers:
First of all, I mean these are big developments out of the US, but they’re not a big surprise. These changes were flagged in one way or another during the election campaign. And we won’t be immune from escalating trade tensions around the world. But we are confident that we can navigate these changes coming out of DC. We are well‑placed, we are well‑prepared.
And the main points that we’ve been making to our American counterparts is ours is a very different economic relationship than what the Americans have with some of these other countries that have been the focus in recent days.
The Americans run a trade surplus with us, they have done since the Truman administration I think in 1952, a substantial trade surplus. Our relationship is mutually beneficial, and all of the conversations that we’ll have with our American counterparts will be about making sure that this really key economic relationship continues to be beneficial to both sides.
Brennan:
We had the Business Council of Australia on the program a little earlier, and I asked them what they thought, I asked Bran Black what he thought about the Coalition’s policy to provide tax‑free lunches to some small businesses. He says there’s a strong basis for providing any kind of support to small business in this environment, in this economic environment. What’s wrong with that policy, Treasurer?
Chalmers:
We’ve found other more responsible ways to support small business, with energy bill relief, with an instant asset write‑off to make it easier for them to invest in their own business, with help with cyber security, competition policy, all of these ways that we are responsibly helping small business, because we’re big supporters of the sector.
What Peter Dutton is proposing is very different. Peter Dutton wants the workers of Australia to pay for long lunches for bosses, and the bill will run to billions. We now know from the Treasury costing that what Peter Dutton is proposing will cost $1.6 billion a year, but could cost more than $10 billion a year.
Now this is why he hasn’t come clean on the costs or what he would cut to pay for his long lunches for bosses policy. That’s because it would absolutely smash the budget. He hasn’t told us how he’d prevent it being rorted, and that’s because the Liberal Party is the party of waste and rorts, they’ve learned nothing, and the taxpayers of Australia would pay billions of dollars for their irresponsibility.
Brennan:
The Coalition says that it will provide costings before the election, and also there were some figures from the Parliamentary Budget Office; there were some reports that the figure was much lower. Why the discrepancy between Treasury and the PBO?
Chalmers:
That’s for Peter Dutton to explain. If he’s got a costing on this policy, he’s either been unwilling or unable to release it. Either he didn’t know how much this policy cost when he announced it, or he didn’t want Australians to know how much it cost.
We’ve released this costing because we think it’s important that Australians understand the risks to the budget from what is being proposed in Peter Dutton’s long lunches for bosses policy. And if they’ve got a different costing, they should release it.
The costings done by the Treasury are very conservative, they’re based on the fact that eligible businesses would only claim about an eighth of what they’re entitled to; that’s how you get $1.6 billion. If they claim everything they’re entitled to it would be more than $10 billion a year.
And again it comes back to the choice at the election. Labor is for tax cuts for workers and responsible help for small business. The Liberals are for taxpayer‑funded long lunches and entertainment for bosses. They won’t tell us how much it costs; they won’t tell us how they’d prevent it from being rorted. They’ve had all sorts of different things to say about who’s eligible and what’s eligible, they weren’t able to clarify that, and so we’ve taken the necessary steps to provide more information to the Australian people.
Brennan:
Okay, Jim Chalmers. If we let you go now you might make it in time for church. Thank you.