Tom Oriti:
Treasurer, good morning. Thanks for being with us.
Jim Chalmers:
Thanks very much, Tom.
Oriti:
We’ll get to the jobs figures in a moment, but I just, if you don’t mind, want to get you on the ceasefire deal first. A long time coming but those developments overnight, I mean, it now seems as though it’s in limbo, Israel accusing Hamas of backtracking on parts of the agreement. Do you think that we are genuinely seeing the first steps towards the end of the conflict here, or is that now looking a bit pre‑emptive?
Chalmers:
I think like the rest of the world we’re monitoring the situation very closely, very carefully. I think this is a very important development, it’s got a lot of possibility, but we need the agreement to stick, and that means that all sides need to adhere to the terms of the agreement. Too many innocent lives have already been lost. Too much blood has already been shed and so we need this agreement to stick. So it will be a nervous couple of days as we monitor the situation very closely. We want peace in the Middle East to be enduring, not fleeting. We don’t want the announcements of the day before yesterday to be a sort of glimmer of hope which is quickly dashed. And so like everyone else, we’re monitoring it. We need to see all sides stick to the terms of the agreement so that we can end this horrible bloodshed and end the loss of innocent lives.
Oriti:
Just on the domestic front, another alleged anti‑Semitic attack last night in Sydney – 2 cars set on fire in Dover Heights. The Opposition Leader has criticised what he has described as a lack of leadership from the Prime Minister on this issue. I mean, is the anything more the government can do here to prevent these attacks, because they don’t appear to be stopping.
Chalmers:
First of all, Peter Dutton should stop trying to politicise these disgraceful acts of anti‑Semitism. It is completely and utterly unacceptable, these anti‑Semitic attacks that we’re seeing. There has been a troubling rise in anti‑Semitism, and it is the responsibility of leaders to try and bring people together, not try and exacerbate the divisions that exist in our society or politicise them.
From the government’s point of view – and here I pay tribute to the Prime Minister – appointing the envoy to advise us on these issues, extra funding, for safety – particularly at Jewish sites, funding the Holocaust museum to inform people about the history here. But there’s been a disgraceful, unacceptable rise in anti‑Semitism. We’ve seen a bit more of that in Sydney overnight. We need to stamp it out wherever it exists, and the government is playing a role in that.
Oriti:
Okay. Now, to issues back home – issues I’m sure you’re keen to discuss today – the unemployment rate. It’s risen to 4 per cent – more Australians looking for jobs, which is an important caveat there. I wonder, though, Treasurer, if this is a bit of a double‑edged sword, the Reserve Bank meeting in February. I mean, if we’re seeing that strength in the jobs market, it’s tightening up, it hardly provides the case for an interest rate cut now, does it?
Chalmers:
Low unemployment is good news, not bad news. And the really heartening aspect of unemployment staying incredibly low in our economy is that we’ve managed to deliver 1.1 million jobs under this government, we’ve managed to keep unemployment very low at the same time as we’ve got inflation down and wages up. And that’s really the defining story of the Australian economy right now – inflation down, wages up, unemployment low. All 3 of those things are very good things.
We’ve actually got the lowest average unemployment of any government in the last 50 years. And that’s a good thing because it means more Australians working, earning more and keeping more of what they earn because of our tax cuts. That is overwhelmingly heartening and encouraging and good news, not bad news.
Oriti:
Indeed. And you seem happy about these figures, but is it – just back to my question though: I’m sure you would like to see an interest rate cut ahead of the next election. By the way, we invite you to share with our viewers on News Breakfast when that election date might be. But is it fair to say, though, that the jobs data we’ve seen this week, it doesn’t really create the case to cut rates now to support the economy?
Chalmers:
I try not to give free advice to the independent Reserve Bank or predict or pre‑empt the discussions that they’ll be having towards the middle of February. They’ll take the jobs numbers into account. They’ll take the quarterly inflation number’s that we get in a couple of weeks into account as well. I’m not going to give them free advice about that.
But what we have seen and what is self‑evident from the facts is we’ve been able to keep unemployment low at the same time as we’ve got inflation down in a very substantial and a very sustained way. When we came to office inflation was higher than 6 per cent and rising, it now has a 2 in front of it. And what that shows us is that Australia has avoided the situation that some other countries have been unable to avoid. Other countries have paid for progress on inflation with recessions or with negative quarters of growth or with much higher unemployment. And in Australia we’ve been achieving the trifecta – inflation coming down very substantially and in a sustained way, wages up and unemployment low. We’ve shown that that combination is possible. And so the Reserve Bank when they meet, they will consider all of those things and they’ll come to a decision independently about interest rates.
Oriti:
Treasurer, just on the reshuffle that we heard about yesterday, Bill Shorten in some of his parting words he said that he was confident that the NDIS would be in safe hands under a Labor government. Do you think the disability community would see it that way now we no longer have a dedicated NDIS minister? It all seems to be consumed into this mammoth Social Services portfolio.
Chalmers:
First of all I pay tribute to Bill Shorten. He’s a friend of mine but much more importantly than that he’s been an amazing servant of the Australian people for a very long time, a big believer in the NDIS, as is Amanda Rishworth. And I think it’s a terrific appointment to put Amanda in charge of the NDIS. She’s already been working on a number of the issues associated with the NDIS, and so I think it’s a terrific appointment.
And this is a good chance as well to shout out my colleague Anika Wells, elevated into the Cabinet. You can never have too many Queenslanders, and so another Queenslander in the Cabinet is a good thing. But Amanda Rishworth’s appointment is great too. And I think the sector, the disability sector, will find in her a very effective, very willing, very dedicated advocate for them and for the NDIS.
Oriti:
Okay, Treasurer, thank you very much for joining us this morning.
Chalmers:
Thanks, Tom.