NATALIE BARR:
Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, good morning to you Treasurer.
JIM CHALMERS:
Good morning, Nat.
BARR:
What do you say to families like the Mackleys, who can no longer afford to pay their mortgages?
CHALMERS:
Well, we understand that a lot of Australian families are under the pump and part of the reason for that is these interest rate rises, which began before the election last year and continued afterwards. And what I say to that family and to families doing it tough right around Australia, is that the Government's number one priority is to provide this cost‑of‑living help, to roll out this cost‑of‑living help, at the same time as we take our responsibilities when it comes to the fight against inflation. We're rolling out this cost‑of‑living help, we're getting the budget in much better nick to take the pressure off inflation, we're investing in the supply side of the economy. We're making some progress when it comes to inflation moderating in our economy, but it's still too high. And that means that we will continue to work as hard as we can around the clock to take some of the edge off these pressures that people are feeling.
BARR:
Okay, so calls to the national debt line are now up 30 per cent, people are putting their household costs on credit card and Buy Now Pay Later – and one in 10, 11 people are selling their houses within two years of buying them and they're making a loss. So what exactly is your cost‑of‑living help to those people?
CHALMERS:
We're acting on a range of fronts simultaneously, whether it's making early childhood education cheaper, whether it's Commonwealth Rent Assistance, whether it's making medicines cheaper, and making it easier to find a bulk billing doctor. We've got electricity bill relief rolling out right now, to take some of the edge off these higher electricity prices. Really right across the board, we're acting in a responsible and a methodical way to take some of the edge off these cost‑of‑living pressures that people are confronting, which we understand are putting them under really quite substantial pressure. We're doing that without adding to inflation. We're seeing inflation come off a bit, but we do understand that it is still too high for too many people and that people are doing it tough. That's why the Government's number one priority is rolling out this cost‑of‑living help.
BARR:
You mentioned child care, and that is one of the main pillars of your Government. A survey out this morning by Parenthood says more than 90 per cent of parents have experienced an increase in child care costs because their subsidy is being eaten away by increases from centres. What are you doing about that? Because parents aren't winning here.
CHALMERS:
A couple of things about that – and obviously, we take very seriously the input from the Parenthood, it's a first class organisation – and we pay close attention to these kinds of contributions that they make. The first point is that something like 1.2 million Australian families will be better off as a consequence of our early childhood education, our cheaper child care policy, which is rolling out right now – it began last month and that is important. Secondly, when it comes to these price rises in the system, we've got the ACCC doing a piece of work for us so that we can properly understand what is driving these cost increases, and to make sure that they are above board. We want to see Australian families get the maximum benefit from the billions of dollars of cost‑of‑living help that we are providing. And it's not just good for families, as important as that is makes it easier for people to work more and earn more if they want to, but also good for the economy. So a really important investment and we want to see it flow into the pockets of Australian families.
BARR:
On interest rates, do you expect Philip Lowe to whack them up on his way out today?
CHALMERS:
As you know, Nat, we have this chat from time to time, and I never pre‑empt the decisions taken independently by the Reserve Bank Board. That's for them to contemplate today when they meet. My responsibility, and I take this responsibility, is to roll out this cost‑of‑living relief to get the budget in better nick and take the pressure off inflation, and to invest in some of these supply side issues which have been pushing up prices in our economy. We're making progress on that front. I'll leave the decision of the independent Reserve Bank to them.
BARR:
What did you say to him at your last meeting in June?
CHALMERS:
That wasn't the last meeting – I met with him on a number of occasions in the last couple of weeks in India at the G20. I talk to him frequently. But a couple of weeks before I took my recommendation to Cabinet that we appoint Michele Bullock, the next Governor of the Reserve Bank, I went and sat down with Phil in his office as you would expect me to do. And I was up‑front with him and said that the decision would be taken by the Cabinet, but that my recommendation would be that we would appoint Michele Bullock. I think it speaks volumes about Phil, the way that he has carried himself since then. And he goes with the Government's respect and gratitude and he goes with dignity – and I think we've seen that.
BARR:
Treasurer, thank you very much for your time.
CHALMERS:
Thanks, Nat.