James Glenday:
Well, for more on this story, we’re joined now by the federal Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, who is in Parliament House in Canberra for us this morning. Jim, welcome back to News Breakfast.
Jim Chalmers:
Thanks very much, James.
Glenday:
This is slightly outside your portfolio, but I just wanted to start on the algal bloom, if we could. Now, the Prime Minister is going to be visiting South Australia next week. Murray Watt is here today. Should this state be expecting more financial assistance?
Chalmers:
Obviously, this is a very serious event what’s happening in South Australia. And we’ve been working closely with the South Australian Government, the Malinauskas Labor government. We’ve jointly funded already a $28 million package, which is partly about science and research, it’s also partly about the cleanup. But the reason Murray Watt is there today is because he’s taking a very important, very decisive step, which is to see whether the damage which has been done to the marine life in that part of Australia warrants a change to the threatened species list.
And so this is a very, very important step that Minister Murray Watt is taking today. He’s been down there a number of times. We’re working very closely with the state government and with the state authorities to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to respond to what has been a devastating event for the marine life in that part of Australia, but also for local people in South Australia.
Glenday:
We were at a community forum last night with the Premier Peter Malinauskas. There’s been a lot of debate here about whether or not this should be declared a natural disaster. The government’s got a pretty clear position on that, saying that the requirements aren’t quite met. However, this is, this threatened species list review is pretty similar to what was done after the Black Summer bushfires. Is that how you view this crisis, as something akin to a massive bushfire?
Chalmers:
There are different elements and there’s a very specific definition that you’re referring to. But whatever you call it, it hasn’t prevented us from providing resources, as I said, a jointly funded $28 million package. It hasn’t prevented us from doing all of the work that Murray leads in his portfolio. There have been a number of discussions across government about it. So, whatever the formal definition is, we’ve been very clear, we’ve been very forward leaning, working with Premier Malinauskas and others to do the right thing here.
Glenday:
Just before, just one more on this, if I can. We’re going to be speaking to Murray Watt later on the program, but just to your portfolio specifically. There were a lot of questions in this community last night about climate change. Are you going to have to be setting aside more and more money in the budget for climate mitigation measures and also climate response measures in the future?
Chalmers:
I think that’s the unfortunate reality of climate change we’ve seen in recent budgets, and no doubt that will be the case in the future as well. Funding mitigation, funding adaptation, these have been priorities of our government and governments before us, no doubt governments after us as well. Climate change is obviously a very serious threat to the world, to its ecosystem, and we’ve shown a willingness to respond decisively across a whole range of different programs, some of which are funded in the Budget.
Glenday:
All right, just to your portfolio. There was some good news yesterday for people with a mortgage, with the RBA cutting interest rates, but that will, of course, likely see home prices rise even more. Is the Albanese government wedded to keeping generous tax breaks for property investors like negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount?
Chalmers:
Let’s not skip over the good news, James, in a rush to try and find bad news in what happened yesterday. Yesterday’s outcome was a really welcome decision by the independent Reserve Bank. It meant that there’s been now 3 interest rate cuts in the space of 6 months, the lowest interest rates now for more than 2 years. That is overwhelmingly a good thing because it puts more money into the pockets of millions of Australians who need and deserve this cost‑of‑living relief. So, overwhelmingly, a good announcement yesterday from the Reserve Bank.
When it comes to the tax policies, you and I have talked about them before. We haven’t changed our policies or our positions when it comes to those tax proposals that people put to us from time to time. No doubt people will put to us those ideas to us again in and around the Economic Reform Roundtable next week. We haven’t changed our position there. We have got a very big, broad, ambitious housing agenda, which is about building more homes, because that’s the best way that we provide more affordable options for people who are trying to get a toehold in a difficult market.
Glenday:
So, just to housing specifically, there are some headlines out today about productivity and sluggish productivity in Australia. If an investor buys an existing house and prices out a young family and then they sell that house a couple of years later for a profit, is there a productivity gain for the Australian society, or would that money be better off spent and invested in a company that makes inventions that makes us more productive as a country?
Chalmers:
First of all, I don’t see it as an either-or. We’re investing in industry, we’re investing in the housing sector, in more modern methods of construction, which will make housing more productive, prefab homes and the like. And so we’ve shown a willingness to support industry, to invest in industry, to try and make our economy more productive. We’ve already got a big agenda when it comes to productivity across skills and energy and technology, our competition policy, but we need to do more. That’s very clear.
We’ve had a productivity challenge in our economy for a couple of decades now. It is a global challenge, as the Reserve Bank pointed out yesterday. We’re rolling out a big agenda and the best way to work out the next steps is to do that together. And that’s what the Economic Reform Roundtable next week is all about, making our economy more productive. Because by doing that, we can build more homes, we can lift living standards and make people better off.
Glenday:
The message is pretty clear. You’re keeping the capital gains tax discount and negative gearing for now. I just wanted to ask, did you have to, did you have a chat with the PM? Did he tell you to try to manage expectations about what might come out of this summit?
Chalmers:
We talk about the summit all of the time, and the way that that’s been characterised in your question and in this morning’s media is not quite right. I think people would expect the Prime Minister and the Treasurer to talk frequently, and we do. And we speak about the Economic Reform Roundtable, we speak about our economic plans and our economic agenda more broadly, and we’re making good progress together as a government as a consequence. We saw some of that progress yesterday with that third interest rate cut in the space of 6 months.
We’re working closely together to get inflation down, to keep unemployment low, to keep real wages growing, and we’ll get more wages data later this morning, which will go to that. And so we speak all of the time about all of those issues, including, obviously, the Roundtable.
Glenday:
Just lastly, Jim, do you expect to introduce a road user charge for electric vehicle drivers?
Chalmers:
We haven’t landed a final position on that. But we’ve been saying now for the best part of a year or 2, that we’re working with the states and territories in our usual considered, consultative way to see if a change needs to be made there. But we’ll take the time to get that right. The timing is not determined. But we are doing a lot of work behind the scenes with the states, the territories, the stakeholders.
My colleague, Catherine King, has been engaging with her stakeholders as well. Because there’s a long term issue in the tax space when it comes to internal-combustion engines coming down and electric vehicles going up, what that means for the fuel excise and funding of roads. And so there’s a longer term issue that we need to address there and we’ll take the time to do that consult on that and get it right.
Glenday:
Just to press you on that, that sounds like a yes; that sounds like this is coming, just, it’s a matter of timing.
Chalmers:
We’re doing a lot of work. We haven’t landed a position on it. We haven’t landed a final position on it in substance or in timing. But as I’ve said now for I think a couple of years, but certainly since before the election, this is something that we’re working with the states and territories on. We’ve been upfront and public about that.
Glenday:
Alright, Treasurer Jim Chalmers we do appreciate you joining News Breakfast this morning.
Chalmers:
Thanks very much James, have a great day.