Andrew Giles:
It really is an extraordinary privilege to be back in Queensland at this extraordinary business, this extraordinary local success story, with Rowan Holzberger, Labor’s candidate for Forde, and, of course, my good friend, the Treasurer, the person who lives and breathes this community in absolutely every sense, the Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
What we’ve been seeing today is a great story and a great example of a business that’s doing everything right, a business that tells the story of the Albanese government’s approach to skills and training, which is all about partnerships and purpose. And that’s what we’ve heard today from the owners of this business, who’ve built an incredible business from a small shed in Rocklea to what we’re seeing today with a vision even, I’m told, which extends all the way to my hometown of Melbourne in the near future.
They’ve done that by doing something that’s absolutely vital, by recognising that our country’s and this great state’s greatest asset is its people.
They’ve invested deeply in skills and training with a big partnership with TAFE Queensland to ensure that everyone who works in this business has a qualification. And that means a lot. It means that everyone is valued, and everyone sees that they’ve got a chance to progress.
It means that every person here feels a part of something bigger, and to hear stories from people like Erica and Junior, who are doing that Cert III that has transformed their career and their sense of themself is absolutely inspiring, and that’s really what we are about. Because what this has done for this business is boost productivity, the key challenge that I know the Treasurer is focused on every day across our economy.
It’s also critically built a safe business. I’ve been really concerned about the challenge for trainees and apprentices to feel safe at work, and for their parents too, for young people thinking about taking this on board.
It’s a key focus for my work and for all skills ministers around the country to build safe workplaces, and this is a great example of how we go about doing just that.
It’s also about investing in skills and training, and that is one of the key differences between us and the Liberal Party led by Peter Dutton, a Liberal Party that cut $3 billion from skills and training, leaving us when we came into government with the worst skills crisis in 50 years, the second worst across every advanced economy, versus the Albanese government, which is committed to investing in people and building strong partnerships with businesses and workers, underpinned by a belief in public TAFE, and, of course, the promise of Free TAFE, which has already enrolled more than half a million people, giving them skills they want in areas they need.
And with that, I might hand over the local member, the Treasurer, to say a little bit more about this and a few other things too well.
Jim Chalmers:
Thanks very much, Andrew and Rowan, it is a real pleasure to be here at All Purpose Transport.
I wanted to thank Belinda and the 2 Pauls for hosting us, but also for the belief that they show in Junior and Erica and Sam and Dom and the trainees and workers that we’ve met here at this pretty amazing place here in the most important electorate in the country.
This is a really important part of the local economy in our community. It’s where a lot of the arterial roads intersect. It’s become a real logistics hub, and that makes it a very important industrial hub for South East Queensland.
So I want to thank All Purpose Transport for the jobs and opportunities that are created here for local people to secure really great, well paid jobs and the training that they need to turn their aspirations into progress and into reality. We’re very grateful for that.
I wanted to pay tribute to Andrew and before him Brendan O’Connor for the billions of dollars that the Albanese government, under Anthony’s leadership, is investing in skills and training, and particularly Fee Free TAFE, which is a real passion of ours and a real priority of ours.
Fee Free TAFE is how we help trainees and workers secure great jobs with decent pay.
Our government is all about more Australians working and training, earning more and keeping more of what they earn.
The trainees and workers we’ve met here are really some of the inspiration for the Albanese government’s efforts when it comes to getting real wages moving again and making sure that every Australian taxpayer gets a tax cut to help with the cost of living.
The workers and trainees here, and in businesses right around Australia like it, are our inspiration when it comes to the progress that we’ve made on wages and also tax cuts, such an important part of the way that we are helping people deal with cost‑of‑living pressures, which we know are still being felt around our communities and around our country.
Younger workers are the biggest beneficiaries of the progress that we’ve made on wages and tax.
Some of the workers here, who might be at entry level wages, are getting a tax cut which is 5 times bigger than they would have got had we not made the politically contentious decision that we made this time last year to give every Australian taxpayer a tax cut, and that is in many ways why we did it, to make sure that everyone gets a tax cut, rather than just people who are already on higher incomes.
Our government is all about making sure that younger people, in particular, people on modest incomes, are the biggest beneficiaries of the progress that we’ve made together on wages and tax.
More younger people training, more Australians working, more people earning more and keeping more of what they earn so they can retire with more as well.
This is, in many ways, the reason for being for this Albanese Labor government.
Now tomorrow we get an update on the jobs figures in our economy and whether the unemployment rate ticks up a little bit in this week’s numbers or not, we have already made really remarkable progress in our jobs market.
Under this Albanese government, more than a million jobs have been created, and unemployment is low.
Those million jobs are actually a record for a single term of parliament. More jobs created under Anthony Albanese Prime Ministership than in any single term of the parliament in the past.
What this shows is we have found a way to get inflation down and wages up and preserve so many of the gains that we have made together in the labour market. So many other countries have paid for progress on inflation with recessions or with higher unemployment.
What we’ve been able to do in Australia is better than that. We’ve got inflation down from its peaks in 2022 to a fraction of that. We’ve got wages growing. We’ve got tax cuts flowing in to workers pockets at the same time as we have been able to maintain some pretty remarkable gains in the labour market.
That’s our objective, we can get on top of this inflation challenge without sacrificing too many jobs. Not every country has been able to do that, but we have shown that we have been able to do that.
As we think about the economy in 2025 and the months and years ahead, the biggest risk to household budgets, and to the economy more broadly, is Peter Dutton and the Coalition. We know they’re a risk because we know their record. Peter Dutton came after Medicare as Health Minister. Coalition governments always try to push down wages. They didn’t support our efforts on cost‑of‑living‑relief and their nuclear insanity will push electricity prices up, not down.
Australians can’t afford Peter Dutton and the Coalition. They can’t afford to be made worse off by a Coalition led by Peter Dutton, who will come after Medicare and wages, who haven’t wanted to help with the cost of living, and who will push electricity prices up.
Unfortunately, just today, we’ve got 2 new examples of the risk that Peter Dutton poses to household budgets.
The first one was Coalition members saying that they want to come after superannuation. That should send a shiver down the spine of every Australian worker.
This Coalition government has come after super before, and they will come after superannuation again.
Workers’ superannuation is not safe from the Coalition.
They want people working longer for less pay, and they want people retiring with less super, and that will be an issue at this election.
They’ve let the cat out of the bag, Members of the Coalition, in saying today that they want to come after superannuation.
They want workers to retire with less. We want workers to retire with more. We want people earning more and keeping more of what they earn. Our opponents want people working longer for less pay and retiring with less super at the same time.
The second example was the finance spokesperson from the Coalition was given multiple opportunities on TV today to come clean on the $350 billion in Coalition cuts.
The reason that the coalition have not come clean on those $350 billion in cuts is because they would be diabolical for Medicare, for pensions and payments and veterans, for housing and also for important investment in TAFE and training as well. As Andrew said, last time they were in office, they cut $3 billion from skills and training. They will cut billions from training again if they’re given the opportunity.
Peter Dutton and the Coalition need to come out today and clarify whether Fee Free TAFE will continue if they win office this year, or whether it will be one of the $350 billion worth of cuts, secret cuts that they have been planning but won’t come clean on.
The difference between Labor and the Coalition on training is the Coalition sees investment in training as wasteful spending. We see it as a crucial investment in building Australia’s future and making sure our economy has the skills we need, and that workers like these have the great jobs and the decent pay that they need and deserve so that they can provide for their loved ones.
This really crystallises the choice at the election. Anthony Albanese and Labor providing help with the cost of living, investing in training and building Australia’s future, or Peter Dutton and the Coalition, cutting training, making people worse off and taking Australia backwards as a consequence.
Happy to take your questions.
Journalist:
On superannuation, correct me if I’m wrong, the calls within the Coalition have been to bring it down from 12 to 9 per cent. Would that 3 per cent not come back into their wage?
Chalmers:
Not necessarily, there’s no requirement that that be the case. And the issue here is that the Coalition want people to be paid less while they’re working, and they want them to retire less when they’re not working anymore. They’re not talking about a trade‑off. They’re talking about pushing wages down, as Coalition governments always do, and they’re talking about hacking into and undermining super, which coalition governments always do as well.
They don’t believe in superannuation, and people would be worse off as a consequence. They want people retiring with less when they retire and they want them earning less when they’re working.
Journalist:
Would you expect the private sector to sort of take over some of that heavy lifting of creating jobs from the public sector?
Chalmers:
We’ve made it really clear on a number of occasions that public investment has played a really important role keeping the economy ticking over the last year or 2, but we want to see strong and sustainable growth in our economy, and the best kind of strong and sustainable growth is private sector led, and we’ve made that clear on a number of occasions.
It’s why so much of our economic policy is about supporting investment, attracting and incentivising investment. Whether it’s a Future Made in Australia, making ourselves indispensable to the global net zero transformation, whether it’s tax breaks for small business, so much of our agenda, our competition agenda, our agenda around productivity, and the work we’re doing with the Productivity Commission, that is all about recognising that the best way to make sure that our economy is more productive and dynamic is to invest in people, like what’s happening here.
We’ve seen really quite remarkable productivity gains in this place, not because they’re trying to make people work longer for less, or hack away at their pay and conditions, which is the Coalition way, but by investing in people, training and skilling people for the jobs of the future. That’s how we make our economy more productive, and that’s how we ensure that the private sector takes its rightful place as the main generator of growth and prosperity in our economy.
Journalist:
You’ve spoken about the job creation under the Albanese government, but what are you expecting from tomorrow?
Chalmers:
Tomorrow we’ll get another monthly update on unemployment. Unemployment is currently 3.9 which is pretty amazing given everything that’s coming at us from around the world when it comes to our economy.
What we’ve demonstrated is an ability to get inflation down from higher than 6 per cent and rising under our predecessors to with a 2 in front of it now, but to do that in a way that preserves these remarkable gains that we’ve made in the labour market, keeping unemployment low and creating more than a million jobs.
Not every country has been able to do that as I said before. Some countries have paid for progress on inflation with huge contractions in their economy, recessions, backwards quarters, we’ve been able to avoid that. A number of other countries have seen increases in unemployment, we’ve been able to avoid that so far.
So whether or not the unemployment rate ticks up a little bit tomorrow, what we have been able to demonstrate as a country, not just as a government, but as a country together – employers, employees and governments – is an ability in Australia to keep unemployment low at the same time as we get on top of inflation, and those are the outcomes that we seek.
Journalist:
How concerned are you that the falling Australian dollar will affect inflation or delay an interest rate cut?
Chalmers:
We’ve all seen in our economy in the last little while that the dollar has come off a bit. It’s trading the last I looked this morning at 61.9 cents. That’s a bit lower than it has been towards the end of last year.
It’s not the only thing that determines inflation in our economy. It’s not even the only global factor that determines inflation in our economy, and it’s certainly not the only thing that the Reserve Bank takes into consideration when they determine interest rates. I don’t give them free advice or predict or pre‑empt decisions taken independently by the Reserve Bank, but their major focuses are inflation and unemployment, typically, as they are asked to focus on.
The reason our dollar has come off is really a combination of the global community’s views on China, weakness in China, often our dollar is seen as a proxy for what’s happening in China, combined with people’s expectations on interest rates in the United States. It’s not an indication on its own of what’s happening in Australia. It’s a relative measure that takes into consideration what’s happening in those 2 massive economies.
That’s why what Peter Dutton has been saying about this is so ridiculous. Now Peter Dutton wants you to believe that we are responsible for what’s happening in the Chinese economy or what’s in the American economy. That’s why he has no credibility when it comes to the economy.
Inflation was higher than 6 and rising when we came to office. It’s now got a 2 in front of it, and that’s another demonstration of the progress that we’re making together.
You think about the economy that we inherited 2 and a half years ago – inflation was much higher and rising, interest rates were already going up, real wages, real incomes, living standards were falling, there was a trillion dollars of liberal debt with almost nothing to show for it, deficits as far as the eye can see.
We’ve made good progress since then – inflation has more than halved, real wages, incomes and living standards are growing again, everyone’s getting a tax cut, help with their electricity bills, 2 surpluses, a $200 billion turnaround in the budget, less debt.
All of these things are an important demonstration of the progress that we’ve made. We know that people are still doing it tough. We know that inflation is still a feature and a factor in our economy, but we’ve made some welcome and encouraging progress cleaning up the mess that we were left.
Journalist:
On Peter Dutton, do you think it’s acceptable for Labor candidate Ali France to run a fundraiser called potato nights in Dickson.
Chalmers:
I’m not sure exactly what you’re referring to there. My focus is on the cost of living and on jobs. And I think when it comes to the contest between Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton – Labor and the Coalition – we want that contest at this election to be a policy contest, and it will be a choice.
It will be Labor and Anthony Albanese helping with the cost of living, investing in skills and training and opportunities and building the future of this country and its economy, or it will be Peter Dutton who went missing when people needed help with the cost of living, who left behind a mess in the economy, who would make people worse off into the future and who would take Australia backwards.
Those are the major issues at play in this election campaign, and those are the issues that the government certainly is focused on in our candidates as well.
Journalist:
What do you make, though, of accusations from both sides that already there’s personal attacks being slung from both sides, and the election hasn’t even been called yet?
Chalmers:
Peter Dutton being one of, if not, the most divisive character that’s run for Prime Minister in this country, means it’s a bit rich for him to be calling the waah-mbulance about reflections on his time in office.
Peter Dutton has been a very divisive character for a long time, but our focus is not on that. Our focus is on the cost of living.
He always wants to divide people and pick fights over culture war issues because he can’t defend his record on the economy in office.
He can’t defend the fact that he voted against or didn’t support the help we’re providing people with the cost of living, and he can’t defend the fact that his nuclear insanity would push electricity prices up for every Australian household. Those are the issues that we want to be focused on.
We want to be focused on people in communities like this one. We want to be focused on the economy and the cost of living. That’s certainly my focus, even as the Opposition Leader tries to drag us into all kinds of other culture wars and other kinds of issues, because he doesn’t want to talk about the economy because he’s got no credibility.
Journalist:
Treasurer, you’re a senior federal Labor member. In terms of the election ahead, Queensland’s had a bit of a rough time for Labor. Electorally, how do you –
Chalmers:
I noticed that too. It’s been hard yards for us in Queensland, and we need to turn that around.
Queensland has a big voice in the Albanese cabinet – myself and Murray Watt, and in the Ministry, more broadly, Anika Wells and Anthony Chisholm.
Queensland and Queenslanders have a big say in the Albanese government and in the Albanese ministry. Anthony Albanese himself is such a frequent – he engages with us in Queensland so frequently, he’s like an honorary Queenslander, but we know that it’s been hard yards for us.
Electorally, we don’t hold enough seats in Queensland. We need to hold more, and we will do our best to deliver a better outcome on that front, recognising that we have underperformed here for a little while now.
Journalist:
The Prime Minister, when he came into office, promised more respectful debate. This fundraiser – for example – where it’s poking fun at someone’s appearance. Do you think that’s holding up to that promise of positive tone?
Chalmers:
You won’t hear me doing that. I’m more focused on what Peter Dutton would do to working families than anyone’s appearance. So you won’t hear me poking fun at anyone’s appearance.
My focus, as you’ve heard today, is on jobs and cost of living, living standards, the economy. These are the things that I’m focused on. And I think we should all be focused on those things. Certainly the government is, certainly the Prime Minister is, and all of his ministers – that’s our focus, even as our opponents try to drag us into all kinds of different places.
Journalist:
You’re the most senior Federal Labor MP here in Queensland. Surely you have some responsibility in holding that tone here. Do you think Ali France should change the name of the fundraiser?
Chalmers:
First of all, I think Ali France is an absolutely outstanding candidate and an even better human being, absolutely outstanding. I’m not aware of all the details of what you are putting to me today, but I know that Ali France’s focus is on the cost of living, and I know that the good people of Dickson on the other side of Brisbane deserve a local member that doesn’t go missing when they’re under pressure, like Peter Dutton went missing.
Don’t forget when the people of Dickson were under extreme pressure – and are under extreme pressure in their household budgets – Peter Dutton called for an election over the tax cuts. He didn’t support our help with electricity bills or so many of the other ways that we’re providing cost‑of‑living help, and that’s Ali France’s focus, on providing cost‑of‑living help, building a great future for the people in that wonderful part of the world. That is overwhelmingly her focus as it is our focus.
Journalist:
You’re familiar with this stabbing, I assume, at Ipswich, allegedly by a 13 year old. Perhaps you’re aware that Coles have now taken knives off the shelves. You can’t go buy a knife. What do you make of that? What world are we living in, where, where Coles is taking the knives off the shelf because kids are allegedly stabbing people?
Chalmers:
I think it’s terrifying. It’s terrifying, and you can understand at times like this, when people are focused on and concerned about their personal safety – whether it’s companies like that one, they will find a very willing partner in the Albanese government when it comes to investing where we need to to make people safer.
Community Safety is a very, very high priority for this government, for its ministers. People have a right to expect that they can be safe when they’re doing the shopping and where we can play a helpful role in making people safer, of course, we’re prepared to do that.
Thanks very much. Thank you.