KARL STEFANOVIC:
The Treasurer joins us now from beautiful Brisbane. Treasurer, good morning to you.
JIM CHALMERS:
Good morning, Karl. How are you?
STEFANOVIC:
It looks pretty bleak out there.
CHALMERS:
It's pretty grim today here in Brisbane - an absolutely stunning day, absolutely fantastic.
STEFANOVIC:
All right Easter's over, it's time now for you to resurrect the Budget - you got any miracles in mind?
CHALMERS:
The Budget is 4 weeks away today, Karl, and I think as you rightly pointed out in your introduction, the global situation has become a bit more complex and a bit more uncertain. So I will be joining my colleagues and counterparts from around the G20 and the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank later this week in Washington DC and the whole point of that visit is to take the temperature of the global economy at a really key time as we put the finishing touches on our Budget.
STEFANOVIC:
Okay, something's got to give though right? I think everyone's reining in their spending. What about the government?
CHALMERS:
I think the Australian people understand that we've got a lot of pressures on the Budget, whether it's the cost of servicing that trillion dollars in Liberal debt, whether it's health care costs, the NDIS, aged care, defence - all of these are putting pressure on the Budget. And so what we need to do is to work through all of those pressures in a methodical way, make sure the Budget is as responsible and sustainable as it can be, and that's the work that's happening right now.
STEFANOVIC:
What single measure will there be in the Budget to control your spending?
CHALMERS:
I'm not going to announce the Budget this morning but we've made it pretty clear and I think we've shown in the last Budget in October that we are prepared to trim spending where that's necessary - something like $22 billion in savings in the last Budget compared to zero savings in the March Budget from my predecessors. And so we have shown a willingness to do that. We have indicated we will be trimming spending further in the May Budget but that's so that we can make room to fund the things that we value whether it's health care or aged care, the NDIS, protecting our borders and our national security. These are important priorities for a Budget, which will be responsible and sustainable in the context of these difficult global conditions. One of the defining influences on the Budget in May will be the uncertain global conditions and what that means for inflation and cost of living and interest rates here at home. We know that people are under pressure, the Budget is under pressure as well, and we'll strike the right balance as we go about dealing with those challenges.
STEFANOVIC:
Are you going ahead with stage three tax cuts, though?
CHALMERS:
They'll be in the Budget in May, Karl. As we've said before, our position on those stage three tax cuts hasn't changed. What we will be doing is trying to provide our cost-of-living relief in other areas, including a bit of help for people with their energy bills - that's a high priority, that will be a centrepiece of the Budget when it comes to cost of living.
STEFANOVIC:
Okay, many Aussies are still being hit hard by, as you say, the cost-of-living crisis. Power is going up and winter is coming so it's going to get even worse. And even the small businesses I spoke to over the weekend, the Easter weekend on the Sunshine Coast, they're doing it really tough. Is there going to be relief at all for small businesses?
CHALMERS:
Yes, we'll be including small businesses in our plans to take some of the sting out of these higher energy costs. And so they will be included in our assistance package in the Budget from these electricity prices. I know as well that a lot of small businesses are under pressure from those high energy prices. I wasn't far from you at Easter time - I was at Maleny just up the road from you. And obviously a lot of small businesses you talk to are facing a similar set of issues and we're aware of that, we get that and we'll try and provide a bit of help where we can.
STEFANOVIC:
Okay, you'll be heading to DC, as you say with Philip Lowe. What kind of security will you provide people? There's every chance we might get another interest rate rise just before the Budget, which for a lot of families would be catastrophic.
CHALMERS:
I think everybody acknowledges, including the Governor of the Reserve Bank, that when interest rates go up, it does put additional pressure on families, which are already doing it tough and homeowners who are already doing it tough. I think that's well understood. Obviously I'm not going to get into pre-empting future decisions of the independent Reserve Bank. I've got my own job to focus on and that's the Budget in four weeks’ time.
STEFANOVIC:
You'll be sitting next to him up the back of the Qantas jet. Surely that's the time when you go `you know, Phil, cut us a break'.
CHALMERS:
I think as you would appreciate Karl, and certainly as the Governor would appreciate, I don't give him free advice. Phil and I have got a good working relationship. I understand he's got a job to do and he understands I've got a job to do as well.
STEFANOVIC:
Your other mate, Dan Andrews in Victoria - you know, everyone's got a mate that asks him for a loan. It could be for the Capalaba dogs on the weekend. You know you're never going to get the money back. Well, you know Dan's absolutely stuffed up the budget in Victoria and he wants a loan from you. Are you going to give it?
CHALMERS:
Look, I think state budgets right around the country, not just in Victoria, are under pressure and so is the Commonwealth Budget. And so what we're trying to do is work together with the state and territory governments - Labor and also the Liberal government in Tasmania - to work in a really cooperative and collaborative way to try and deal with these pressures that we're all facing at the same time as we provide high quality services to people.
STEFANOVIC:
He's got a bad credit rating.
CHALMERS:
Well, his budget is under pressure - there's no doubt about that, but so is mine and so are a number of the other state colleagues. And so what we do is we try and work with people rather than against them and we've got a lot of agreements coming up in the course of the next year or so we'll work with the Victorians and with others to try and land them.
STEFANOVIC:
Good to talk to you, Treasurer. Safe travels.