KARL STEFANOVIC:
Let’s go straight to the Treasurer, now Jim Chalmers, who joins us on a cold morning in Canberra. Treasurer, did you enjoy that?
JIM CHALMERS:
I loved it, yeah.
STEFANOVIC:
All right. I’ve got a Dorothy Dixer for you first up, but would you mind repeating after me: Karlos, there will be no early election.
CHALMERS:
You ready?
STEFANOVIC:
Yeah.
CHALMERS:
Karlos, I’ve learned not to repeat after you. I’ve known you long enough to know never, ever, ever repeat after you, Karl.
STEFANOVIC:
All right, all right. Will there be an early election?
CHALMERS:
No, that’s not something we’re planning for. Not something –
STEFANOVIC:
No, no, no, no, you can’t say that either because you’ve got form with no planning and then doing stuff.
CHALMERS:
Well, I tell you what, I’m working towards an election next year.
STEFANOVIC:
Okay.
CHALMERS:
My understanding, my intention is that we go on the usual time frame. That’s certainly how I’m operating.
STEFANOVIC:
Okay, you may not know. Look, I know you don’t like some of my characterisations, you’ve told me that over the years, but the reality is families and businesses are being brutalised by cost‑of‑living pressures right now despite all that you’ve announced. Things aren’t going to better for them this year.
CHALMERS:
I think I’ve been pretty upfront in saying that I understand and agree that people are getting absolutely hammered by cost‑of‑living pressures and that’s why we’re rolling out so much cost‑of‑living help this week.
You know, this week every taxpayer gets a tax cut. Every household gets energy bill relief –
STEFANOVIC:
– take a drink, I’m making the Treasurer sweat.
CHALMERS:
Every taxpayer gets a tax cut this week. Every household gets energy bill relief, cheaper medicines, pay rise for people on awards, more paid parental leave. And that’s because we don’t just understand that people are getting hammered by cost‑of‑living pressures, we’re responding to it, we’re doing something about it.
Our opponents would rather we did nothing, but we think by helping people with these cost‑of‑living pressures we can make things a little bit easier for people. We can ease some of these pressures that we do understand people are under.
STEFANOVIC:
If the Reserve Bank meeting minutes are anything to go by, if we’re heading for an interest rate rise, that is not going to be good news for you at the ballots.
CHALMERS:
I think people have got different interpretations about those Reserve Bank minutes that came out yesterday, and again I don’t make predictions about decisions they take independently.
My job is to focus on this fight against inflation. You and I have spoken about it a heap of times on your show. Getting the budget into surplus is part of that effort. Rolling out this cost‑of‑living relief in a substantial and meaningful but also a responsible way, that’s part of us doing our bit to get on top of this inflation challenge.
Inflation’s higher than any of us want to see it but it’s much lower than it was when we came to office and our policies are helping.
STEFANOVIC:
You’ve got to be nervous about it?
CHALMERS:
I understand the responsibilities on us, and you know me, Karl, I take my job really seriously and so when inflation is higher than we’d like, of course we take that seriously. That’s why we’re doing so much about it.
STEFANOVIC:
Okay. Fatima has left the Labor building, hasn’t she?
CHALMERS:
I don’t know about that. I mean she’s certainly chosen to sit herself outside the obligations that all of the rest of us sign up to. We’re a party of progress, not protest, we believe that we get more done collectively than individually. That’s been one of the reasons for our success over a really long period of time.
The path that Fatima has chosen has been chosen by her, not for her, and my hope is that we can welcome Fatima back into the fold at some point when she’s prepared to be subjected to those obligations that all the rest of us have signed up to when we become Labor members and senators.
STEFANOVIC:
It doesn’t seem like she’s going to play ball. What’s interesting is the Future Made in Australia goes to the Senate today and you’re a man down. How she’s going to vote?
CHALMERS:
It won’t hit the Senate today, it’ll hit the House of Representatives today. Really proud to introduce that legislation ‑‑
STEFANOVIC:
– it’ll hit at some point –
CHALMERS:
– about A Future Made in Australia. It will hit the Senate at some point, and she is abstaining this week, as Fatima has made clear, and so that will have an impact on votes in the Senate, I’m not pretending otherwise. But in this particular case it’ll come in a bit later on.
STEFANOVIC:
Okay, just one more try at this. Albo isn’t going to NATO because of the optics when an early election is announced.
CHALMERS:
Anthony’s not going to NATO because we’ve got to balance all of the various opportunities that he’s got to engage with world leaders. I mean we can’t forget, Karl –
STEFANOVIC:
– isn’t going to NATO engaging with those world leaders?
CHALMERS:
He’s got other opportunities later in the year and he’s got to balance all that.
STEFANOVIC:
Okay.
CHALMERS:
But also don’t forget, Karl, the last 3 Liberal Prime Minister’s didn’t go to NATO, and they sent more junior people than we’re sending. We’re sending the Deputy Prime Minister and the Defence Minister to a Defence conference.
So I think that’s more than appropriate, and I think Richard, as always, will do a great job for us there.
STEFANOVIC:
Is he taking his golf clubs?
CHALMERS:
I don’t know about that, I doubt it. I think he’d be working around the clock in our interests and the rest of us will be working around the clock to roll‑out this cost‑of‑living relief and build a Future Made in Australia and all the things that are the government’s priorities, domestic and international.
STEFANOVIC:
Good to talk to you, Jim, as always. Thank you.
CHALMERS:
Thanks, Karl.