Peter Stefanovic:
Joining us is the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers. Treasurer, we were going to talk about economic matters, but this is pretty major breaking news this hour that Canada, as I mentioned, becomes the third major country in a week to make moves to declare a state of Palestine. Let’s just start off, first of all, with your reaction to that.
Jim Chalmers:
First of all, obviously the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister will respond in due course formally. But from a personal point of view, I welcome this momentum, this progress that’s been made in the international community. From an Australian point of view, recognition of the state of Palestine is a matter of when, not if. And so in that light, this progress, this momentum that we’re seeing is welcome, but it’s also conditional.
As Prime Minister Carney said, as Prime Minister Albanese said, we need to make sure that there’s no role for Hamas in any future leadership. We need to make sure that the hostages are released. And so our support is conditional on meeting some of those, overcoming some of those obstacles. But from an Australian point of view, it’s a matter of when, not if. And this progress and this momentum in the international community, from my point of view, is welcome.
Stefanovic:
Ok, so on that question of when. When would it be announced then would it be, as the UK, France and now Canada have said, be at the UN General Assembly in September? Is that the timeframe that Australia might be looking to declare?
Chalmers:
We’ll make our own decisions about that. I think there are good reasons why the Prime Minister yesterday at his press conference about this was reluctant to put a timeframe on it. We do want to see those obstacles overcome. But we also see recognition of the state of Palestine as an important step towards a two‑state solution, as the best pathway out of this enduring cycle of violence.
And most importantly, so that Israeli families and Palestinian families can raise their kids in peace. That’s what this is all about. There’s a lot of discussion with our counterparts. There’s a lot of momentum and progress, obviously, in the international community. And the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, the Cabinet and others in our government are obviously considering the best way forward. The Prime Minister didn’t put a timeframe on that yesterday. And so I won’t be putting a timeframe on it this morning.
Stefanovic:
Okay, I mean, there’s so many questions to be worked out too. I mean, what even does a state of Palestine look like at the end? All of that I’m sure would be worked out. But I mean, back to this question and I’m wondering if you have a view on it, is Hamas then rewarded for all of this, if all of these countries are now giving them a state for what’s happened?
Chalmers:
No, I don’t see it that way. I think there’s certainly appetite in the global community, you heard it from Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Albanese, to ensure that the hostages are released and that there’s absolutely no role for Hamas in the future leadership of a Palestinian state. This is obviously a key consideration for all of the like‑minded countries in the world who have been working through these issues in conjunction with us to make sure that Hamas is not rewarded, to make sure that Hamas has no role.
Stefanovic:
Okay, let’s go on to the economic matters of the day. Treasurer, just following the inflation data from yesterday, it’s continuing to prove that it’s within the RBA’s target range. Does it also say to you that the RBA should have cut at its last meeting?
Chalmers:
I’m not going to second‑guess the decisions that the Reserve Bank takes independently. I’m not going to make predictions about what they might decide in their meeting in a couple of weeks’ time either. But it is incredibly encouraging to see this powerful demonstration of the progress that Australians have made together in the fight against inflation. To see inflation come down, quarterly terms, monthly, headline, underlying, goods and services, tradable, non‑tradable. All of those measures of inflation came down in the numbers yesterday. That’s why they were so welcome. And if you think about that in the context of what’s happening in the world, we’ve got inflation going up in the US, the UK, Canada and New Zealand, but falling here in Australia.
We’ve made this progress on inflation without paying for it with substantially higher unemployment. We’ve got real wages growing again. So, we’ve got a lot going for us but we’ve got more work to do as well. The global environment’s uncertain. We’ve got persistent issues in our economy. Growth is softer than we would like it to be and people are under pressure still, we understand that. That’s why we’re rolling out more cost‑of‑living relief this month.
Stefanovic:
Okay, legislation for your super tax has been pushed beyond next month’s productivity roundtable. Is there potential here to soften your proposal or does this, you know, provide some kind of cover for you to stick to your plan?
Chalmers:
We’re proceeding with the policy that we announced 2 and a half years ago. When it comes to the queue of legislation in the parliament, we made it really clear that our first priority was student debt relief, protecting penalty rates, making medicines cheaper, making it easier to crack down on childcare centres which aren’t up to scratch. Those have been our legislative priorities in the first couple of weeks of the parliament.
We only just came back. And so that reflects the delivery of the things that we took to the election. But we announced this superannuation change more than 2 years ago. We intend to proceed with it and we’ll legislate it when the parliamentary schedule allows.
Stefanovic:
When do you expect to catch up with the Greens over that?
Chalmers:
Obviously, we’ve had a pretty full book the last couple of weeks. I’ll engage with the Greens. They’ve been very constructive about it publicly, and so we’ll get together with the Greens on this and other legislative priorities as well.
For example, we’re introducing legislations for payments reform into the parliament today, so we’ll engage with the Greens when we can. Parliament sits in a few weeks after this. We’ve got the Economic Reform Roundtable between now and then, and that’s really my focus.
Stefanovic:
Just on that. I mean, there’s an interesting submission from Business NSW in the AFR today. It says if folks want to work from home, then they should forgo penalty rates and other allowances. Do you think that would help business productivity?
Chalmers:
First of all, it’s not the first time the business community has made that point. And, again, the government’s got a position on work from home, which is that we think, within reason, it’s a force for good in our economy. It means that more people can work and make a contribution and make our economy more productive in more flexible ways. And so we’re very supportive of work from home.
There will always be views about the industrial relations arrangements around that. But we see work from home as an important way for more people, especially people with families, to work, to earn more and keep more of what they earn. We don’t see it as an opportunity to wind back their pay and conditions, and I think the business community knows that.
Stefanovic:
That’s the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers. Appreciate it, Treasurer.
Chalmers:
Thanks, Pete.