KARL STEFANOVIC:
Welcome back to the show. We’re joined now by the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, live from Canberra. Now, Treasurer, good morning to you. Thanks for your time this morning, a bit happening. Should the CFMEU be deregistered, given the allegations against them? It’s abhorrent.
JIM CHALMERS:
Of course it is. And that’s why the Industrial Relations Minister, Tony Burke, is looking at all of the options, including that one, and he will take the necessary action. I think what we’ve seen in the revelations over the weekend and in that good work by the journalists involved, I think we’ve seen some absolutely horrific behaviour and we will do whatever is necessary to clean it up.
STEFANOVIC:
Okay. So, will you stop taking donations from them?
CHALMERS:
I think, as Tony made clear yesterday, and as I make clear again today, there are good reasons why ministers don’t get involved in those sorts of decisions which are taken by party organisations. Our focus is on dealing with and addressing the issues that were raised in those stories over the weekend.
I think if you take a step back for a moment, Karl, you know, overwhelmingly, the trade union movement is a force for good in our society and in our economy. And union leaders, in my experience, are overwhelmingly good and decent people who want to get good outcomes for their members. And I don’t think you could say either of those things about the CFMEU under John Setka, and so we will take whatever steps are necessary to clean it up.
STEFANOVIC:
You were on air yesterday when Donald Trump was shot. It’s still absolutely shocking, isn’t it?
CHALMERS:
Oh, it’s horrific. You know, we’re relieved that former president Trump is okay. Hearts go out to the family of the man whose life was lost in the crowd. I think we’ve seen politics get uglier and more polarised and unfortunately, more violent. And I think a lot of people around the world and around Australia are worried about those developments.
You know, we can’t see this extreme polarisation, this extreme violence, be normalised in democracies around the world. We’re supposed to settle our differences with votes, not with violence. And what we saw yesterday was completely abhorrent in that regard.
STEFANOVIC:
You worried about it happening here?
CHALMERS:
I think right around the world, and indeed right around Australia, there is some concern, I think, which is held in the broader community and concern that I share about some of this violence, some of this extremism that we have seen sort of growing in democracies around the world, including our own. And so, yes, I do share those concerns.
We need to be able to disagree in a peaceful way. We need to be able to settle our differences with votes, not violence. Democracies are supposed to help us kind of moderate and mend our differences, not exaggerate and horrify them. And that’s what we saw, unfortunately, in Pennsylvania yesterday. It’s what we saw on the steps of the Capitol on January 6. And we’ve seen in other parts of the world as well. And that can’t become the normal way that we conduct ourselves in democratic politics around the world.
STEFANOVIC:
Okay, just finally and quickly, the budget looks a little better in terms of the surplus.
CHALMERS:
Yeah, the surplus is coming in a bit bigger. This could be the biggest back‑to‑back surpluses on record. We expect a surplus in the middle teens of billions, and the difference is not actually more tax revenue. It’s about less spending. And those 2 surpluses, which would be the first back‑to‑back surpluses in almost 2 decades – the first back‑to‑back surpluses in about half a dozen treasurers.
It’s really important in the fight against inflation that we are managing the economy in the most responsible way, delivering those surpluses and providing cost‑of‑living help. Something like 750,000 people will get a tax cut today. About 9 million have already got theirs already, and 2 million more in the next fortnight or so. And that’s just one of the ways that we’re helping people with these cost‑of‑living pressures, but doing it in a meaningful and substantial way, but in a responsible way as well, in the context of handing down a couple of surpluses already to help us in the fight against inflation.
STEFANOVIC:
Good to talk to you, Jim. Got to run to the news. Thank you.
CHALMERS:
Thanks, Karl.