SABRA LANE:
Jim Chalmers, thanks for joining AM. The LNP Queensland victory – what are the lessons for Labor, federally, 6 months out from an election?
JIM CHALMERS:
It was a decisive victory for the LNP in the end, but not unexpected. Before I answer your question, I want to say how much I enjoyed working with Steven Miles and with Cameron Dick and what was, I think, a really good government. But we congratulate the incoming Premier and the incoming Treasurer and we’ll work closely with them as well on behalf of the people of Queensland. There are always lessons from elections like this, but there are differences as well. In this case, they’ve been in government for almost a decade. We’re in our first term, but you can always learn from these kinds of outcomes. We can always do better and we’ll go through the results with that in mind.
LANE:
Labor lost support in regional areas and in outer suburbs, that must be a concern?
CHALMERS:
Every good government needs to govern for the whole place, and we knew that before Saturday. And I think one of the interesting elements of the election is the different kinds of results in different parts of the state but even there it’s not entirely consistent. I represent an outer suburban community and on current numbers it looks like we’re holding all 6 of the 6 state seats within my federal electorate and so what that tells us is if you work hard on behalf of the regions and the suburbs and the cities, if you take the right decisions for the right reasons and you represent people well, then you’ll be rewarded for it.
LANE:
Federally, Labor has just 5 of 30 seats in Queensland. The party needs to win more seats in Queensland to offset expected losses elsewhere. Are the Green seats are Brisbane, Ryan and Griffith in play, given what’s happened to that party’s vote?
CHALMERS:
I think so. We were intending on targeting those seats even before Saturday’s state election. We think you’ve got in Griffith a Greens member that wanders around with the CFMEU and who teams up with the Liberals in the Senate to vote against more investment in housing and so that was our intention before Saturday to target those 3 Green seats in and around Brisbane, but not just there. We obviously have understood for some time that we need to do much better in Queensland, and that’s very clear.
LANE:
Cost of living is cited as a factor. Is the federal government considering more relief for vulnerable families or are you mindful that more relief would mean the Reserve Bank of Australia would be less likely to cut official interest rates anytime soon?
CHALMERS:
You definitely have to recognise that balance, and we have been doing that. We’ve got our own approach already rolling out. We’ve got tax cuts, energy bill relief, cheaper medicines, cheaper early childhood education and care, rent assistance, we’ve got wages growing again as well. We’ve been coming at this from every conceivable angle, but also every responsible angle and budget repair has been a big part of that. And that’s why the international community has recognised Australia as having now one of the 3 strongest budgets in the world. We were number 14 when we came to office, so we’ll continue to be responsible. The election won’t be a free‑for‑all of public spending, but we’ll help people with the cost of living where we can and we’ll do that in a responsible way.
LANE:
The mid‑year budget update is less than 2 months away. Could we expect more relief for vulnerable families then?
CHALMERS:
We’re working through our options, obviously, for the mid‑year update and for next year’s budget as well. But I make the same point – we’re already rolling out very meaningful, very substantial, but very responsible cost‑of‑living help in all the ways that I’ve just run through. That’s been our number one priority, the cost of living, helping people where we can, but doing that recognising the pressures on the budget and the fight against inflation.
LANE:
In practical terms that could help vulnerable people, food producers say millions of tonnes of food are wasted each year, that they could be donated and given to charities if there were tax incentives for that. A bill is currently before the Senate. Would the government like to see that happen?
CHALMERS:
We’ve seen some of those ideas before. They’re always welcome, particularly when they come from terrific organisations like Food Bank and others. They do great work and that’s why we support them. I think there’s been something like an extra $170 million provided by our government for food relief and other related programs. A lot of these charities can access tax breaks already for things like transport, but we will continue to listen to their ideas and where we can be more helpful, obviously, we’ll look to do that.
LANE:
Australia’s quarterly inflation data is due out on Wednesday. We might see the lowest reading in 3 and a half years. And finally, within the Reserve Bank’s target range of 2 to 3 per cent, if it is within that range, does that mean that the cost‑of‑living crisis is over?
CHALMERS:
I don’t think so. We recognise people are still under pressure, but we are making very welcome, very encouraging, very substantial progress in the fight against inflation. We’ve seen underlying inflation come down for something like 6 quarters in a row and when we get those new numbers on Wednesday, whether they are in the low 3's or the high 2's, what it will show is that we have halved inflation since we came to office. Inflation was 6.1 per cent when we were elected, it will be around half of that on Wednesday if the economists’ expectations come to fruition. That will show that we’ve made good progress but we don’t pretend that getting those inflation numbers down, even though we’ve been able to get them down substantially, we know that that doesn’t mean that the pressure is suddenly eased or lifted.
LANE:
You’ve come from meetings in Washington. The US Election is just over a week away. Is Australia planning contingencies should Mr Trump win and impose new trade tariffs?
CHALMERS:
First of all, it’s not specific to any one American political party or presidential candidate. I think countries around the world, when there’s a U.S. presidential election, when there’s going to be a change of administration under either scenario, work through the different issues and what it means for them. We’ve been doing that, that’s not, I think, especially controversial. We don’t engage in the domestic political debate in the US. It’s a matter for them, who they choose to lead them. But what we’ve been doing is working out what it might mean for Australia and I think that’s just being diligent.
LANE:
Many countries are retreating to protectionism. Some argue that the government’s Future Made In Australia policy is a form of protectionism.
CHALMERS:
I don’t agree with that. I’ve written a piece in the Financial Review about that today because I am worried about that interpretation. I think it’s wrong. Australia is a big beneficiary of global markets and we need more engagement with the world, not less. And that’s what our policies like the Future Made in Australia is all about. Our Future Made In Australia policy is all about becoming an indispensable part of the global net zero transformation, becoming part of these supply chains which will dominate the future of the global economy as everyone tries to get to net zero. That’s what Future Made in Australia is all about. And what we want to see in the world is a recognition that open markets that can deliver prosperity, trade wars can be costly, and that’s the point that we’ve been making.
LANE:
Dr Jim Chalmers, thanks for talking to AM.
CHALMERS:
Thanks so much, Sabra. All the best.