NATALIE BARR:
Under Labor's changes, someone on the average wage of $73,000 will get a tax cut of one and a half year, while someone earning 100,000 will get a cut of more than $2,000. A family on an average household income of $130,000 will get a combined cut of $2,600. Joining me now is the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers. Good morning to you, Treasurer.
JIM CHALMERS:
Good morning, Nat.
BARR:
You're giving a lot more Australians a tax cut, but you had to break a big promise to do that. Do you care about that?
CHALMERS:
Of course, Nat and what I say to your viewers is that the government has come to a different view, we're being upfront about that. We're not pretending otherwise, but we've come to a different view because we found a better way to provide more cost‑of‑living relief to more people without putting upward pressure on inflation. We know that decisions like this, which are contentious, they will always have their supporters and their detractors. There will always be people more interested in helping the Coalition than helping middle Australia but our job is to take the right decisions for the right reasons and when we come to a different view, as we have here, to front up and explain why.
BARR
. So, the Opposition is saying the election was won on a lie. You repeated that lie more than 70 times. The newspaper headlines this morning are screaming this government lied. Are you betting that once people have more money in their pocket, they'll forget about that lie?
CHALMERS:
Look, we're putting the people before politics. Obviously, the Coalition and its allies will play the usual kind of mindless, nasty, negative politics about this.
BARR:
Is it mindless though, because it's true, isn't it?
CHALMERS:
Our job is to try and get more cost‑of living relief out to more people. You don't need explaining to you, Nat, that your viewers are under cost‑of‑living pressure and we don't just acknowledge that we're doing something about it. What these tax cuts that the Prime Minister will detail today are all about is bigger tax cuts for middle Australia to deal with the cost‑of‑living pressures that they are under. So it's going to be good for people, the politics will take care of themselves, it's also going to be good for the economy, as the Treasury advice that I release later will show.
BARR:
So, do you think that you found a sweet spot here and it's going to be difficult for the Opposition to argue that someone earning over $200,000 should get a tax cut of more than four and a half thousand dollars?
CHALMERS:
First of all, Nat, I think it's important to remember that every taxpayer gets a tax cut under our plan and we are still lifting the top tax threshold in this country. People on good incomes will still get a decent tax cut from what we are proposing, I think that's important. What we're trying to do here is not set Australians against each other, that's what the Coalition does, everybody will get a tax cut still. There's a bigger emphasis on middle Australia, a bigger tax cut for middle Australia to deal with these cost‑of‑living pressures that people are under. The politics will obviously be a feature here but primarily this is about people and this is about economics.
BARR:
Yep. It's about money and people need it and they're hurting. But the bottom line here, at the end of the day, is you have broken a promise. People say you have lied. How can people trust politicians again?
CHALMERS:
Because you build trust by showing leadership and you show leadership by taking the right decisions for the right reasons in the interests of the people even when the politics of that can be difficult. When you come to a different view, as we have, you be upfront about that and you come on programmes like this one and you explain why the position that we're putting forward today is so much better than the one it replaces because it means bigger tax cuts for more people who are under pressure. It's better for middle Australia, it's better for cost‑of‑living, better for women and workforce participation, better for nurses and truckies and teachers and police men and women and, it's better for the economy as well. So, we've come to a different view, we're not pretending otherwise. We're explaining why we have and the main reason we've come to a different view is because we can provide more cost‑of‑living relief to more people in middle Australia.
BARR:
And now it's up for Australia to decide, you're right, Treasurer, thank you for your time today.
CHALMERS:
Thanks for your time, Nat.