Sarah Abo:
Treasurer, good morning to you. So this deal already looks to be under threat and it doesn’t seem to have stamped the anti‑Semitism we’re seeing here. There was another attack in Sydney overnight.
Jim Chalmers:
Like the whole world, we’re watching and monitoring the situation with this ceasefire deal. We want to see a ceasefire, we want to see the release of hostages, we want to see the aid flow properly and so it will be a nervous couple of days. We desperately need to see all sides of this agreement stick to the agreement and adhere to its terms. Too many innocent lives have been lost already, too much blood shed, too many families destroyed and we need to see an end to it. The peace needs to be enduring, not fleeting and so – like everyone else around the world who cares deeply about the very concerning developments in the Middle East – we’ll be monitoring in the next couple of days very closely and carefully.
Karl Stefanovic:
There is a perception, Jim, that state Labor in New South Wales and the federal Labor counterparts haven’t done enough to stop anti‑Semitism.
Chalmers:
I think we’re doing what we can genuinely. We absolutely unreservedly condemn these disgraceful attacks and these disgraceful incidents, including the one overnight which was incredibly troubling. The reason why we’ve been doing a whole range of things – appointing the envoy, funding security at Jewish sites, funding the museum to try and educate people about the horrors of the Holocaust and anti‑Semitism – is because we do understand there has been an unacceptable rise in anti‑Semitism and these kinds of violent acts which flow from that. That’s completely unacceptable to us. We condemn it unreservedly and we do what we can to try and stamp it out, whether it’s state governments or the federal government, we’ve all got an interest in showing leadership here, and we are.
Abo:
Yeah, probably a little bit more needs to be done, Treasurer. But let’s move on now and look at the economy. Mortgage holders are being warned the latest job figures still aren’t enough to cut rates. The mixed messages are relentless and so many are struggling.
Chalmers:
I think the heartening thing about yesterday’s strong jobs numbers is it shows we can make this really substantial and sustained progress on inflation and get inflation down at the same time as we can keep unemployment low. It’s overwhelmingly good news in our economy that we’ve got inflation down and wages up, kept unemployment low, created 1.1 million jobs, not every country has been able to do that, a lot of other countries in order to get their inflation down they’ve had recessions or their economies have gone backwards or they’ve paid for it with much higher unemployment. We’ve avoided that. We’ve got that trifecta of lower inflation, higher wages and very good employment outcomes. That’s overwhelmingly a good development because it means more people are working, more people are earning more and because of our tax cuts more people are keeping more of what they earn.
The Reserve Bank will weigh up the labour market, the jobs market. They’ll weigh up what’s happening with inflation, which has been very encouraging in recent months and they’ll come to a decision independently when they meet towards the middle of February.
Stefanovic:
All right. So no rate cut before the next election. How much does that bite Labor?
Chalmers:
Well, it remains to be seen. Again, I’m not going to predict or pre‑empt decisions that the Reserve Bank takes independently. I’m not going to give them free advice. I think factually what Australia has been able to demonstrate is that we haven’t needed much higher unemployment in order to get inflation down. And the Reserve Bank will focus on that. They’ll weigh all of that up – inflation, jobs, what’s happening around the world – and they’ll come to that decision independently. I’m not going to give them advice about that or try and politicise that. I’m focused on my part of this. I take responsibility for my part of this which is to continue to see inflation down, wages up and to maintain these extraordinary gains that we’ve made in our jobs market.
Under our government, Karl and Sarah, under this Albanese Labor government, we’ve had the lowest average unemployment of any government over the last 50 years and we haven’t achieved that instead of getting inflation down, we’ve achieved that as well as getting inflation down and that’s why yesterday’s numbers were so heartening.
Stefanovic:
I mean, you sound like the party’s leader this morning. I note with interest, too, Jim, I checked on Sportsbet, as I’m prone to do on a Friday –
Abo:
Yes, he is.
Stefanovic:
– and you’ve rocketed up to number one as the next Labor leader. Are you eyeing off Albo’s car park or what?
Abo:
Look out.
Chalmers:
No, I’m eyeing off the car park at Underwood Park. You’d know Underwood Park, Karl, from your time in Queensland.
Stefanovic:
Gee, it’s a nice car park.
Abo:
Very leafy.
Chalmers:
It’s a beautiful car park here in Logan City. Obviously, my job is the Treasurer, that’s the job I want and I want to continue to try and do the best I can, not just for the government, not just for the Prime Minister, for the Australian people more broadly.
Stefanovic:
Good to talk to you, Treasurer.
Abo:
Thank you, Treasurer.
Stefanovic:
Appreciate it.