JIM CHALMERS:
These new inflation numbers show that we’re making welcome progress in the fight against inflation, but we understand that people are still doing it tough.
When we came to office, inflation was 6.1 per cent. Monthly inflation is now 3.5 per cent. Monthly inflation, underlying inflation, non‑tradable inflation are all going down in these new numbers today in encouraging ways. Monthly inflation has gone from 3.8 to [3.5] per cent – still too high but heading in the right direction. That is a 4 month low. Trimmed mean underlying inflation has gone down from 4.1 to 3.8 per cent. That’s a 6 month low. Non‑tradable inflation has gone from 5 per cent to 4 and a half per cent.
Our policies are helping put downward pressure on inflation. The Bureau of Statistics is making that clear again today. But it’s important to remember when it comes to the energy rebates, that the Commonwealth part of those rebates has only rolled out in WA and Queensland in the data that we get today. And that means more help is on the way. This is a promising result and our policies are helping, but we need inflation to moderate further and faster.
This is an encouraging result, it’s a welcome result, but we know that people are still under pressure. That’s why our number one focus is rolling out cost‑of‑living relief in a meaning and substantial and responsible way. Our primary focus is cost of living and the fight against inflation. Peter Dutton’s primary focus is on dividing people. That’s all he knows and all he does.
What we see in these numbers today is welcome and encouraging progress in the fight against inflation. But because we know that people are still doing it tough, we’re maintaining a focus on rolling out this cost‑of‑living relief. And we can see from this ABS data today that our policies are helping.
Over to you.
JOURNALIST:
Well, the Coles and Woolworths results are out, both uplifting profits in their supermarket divisions. Do you think they’re price gouging?
CHALMERS:
What we’ve seen in some of those numbers in the last couple of days is that some of the prices for groceries have been coming off. And what we’ve demonstrated over recent months is a willingness to ensure that families and farmers are getting a fairer go from the supermarkets. Whether it’s our new merger laws, whether it’s our policies on the Food and Grocery Code, whether it’s empowering the ACCC to get to the bottom of the pricing practices of the major supermarkets, we have shown a willingness to be tough on the supermarkets. They are profitable but we also want to make sure that people get a fair go, whether you’re a family or a farmer. And that’s why we’re acting on a number of fronts to help ensure that that’s the case.
JOURNALIST:
Are you concerned after the rallies yesterday that other unions could support the CFMEU, and it could hurt your chances at the election?
CHALMERS:
We don’t see it in those terms. I think it’s really clear after the very serious allegations made against leaders of the CFMEU that we need to clean up the CFMEU, and that’s what we’re doing. And people have got a right to protest and we expect there to be blowback when we put a union into administration as we have. But we aren’t taking a backward step when it comes to cleaning up the CFMEU. And that’s because we want the CFMEU to go back to its primary purpose, which is representing workers in the construction sector and keeping them safe. I think what we’ve seen with some of these allegations is that the focus too often has been elsewhere.
I’d say this about the union movement more broadly: unions are overwhelmingly a force for good in our society and in our economy, and the union leaders that I work with are overwhelmingly good, honest, decent people. And what we’ve seen from the CFMEU in recent times isn’t consistent with that. That’s why we must clean up the CFMEU and that’s why we are cleaning up the CFMEU.
JOURNALIST:
You mentioned Peter Dutton again, and obviously your speech on Monday night has been well reported.
CHALMERS:
Yep.
JOURNALIST:
Particularly the issues about accusing Mr Dutton of dog whistling on issues of visas for Palestinian people.
CHALMERS:
Yes.
JOURNALIST:
What’s your own view on whether people who have expressed rhetorical support for Hamas, whether they should be issued visas to come into Australia?
CHALMERS:
I’m very happy to come to that specific question, but before I do, I want to say something about the speech that I gave on Monday night.
The speech I gave on Monday night, 90 per cent of it was about paying tribute to the memory of John Curtin and talking overwhelmingly about cost of living and the future of our economy. The speech was about 22 pages long, I think a tenth of it, roughly, or less, was about Peter Dutton. I think I mentioned John Curtin by name about 3 times as many times as I mentioned Peter Dutton by name.
But I don’t resile one bit from the remarks that I made about Peter Dutton on Monday night. Peter Dutton is a divisive figure, and I believe he is too divisive to be the Prime Minister of a great country like ours. Divisiveness is his defining and disqualifying characteristic. And when most people look around the world and see the divisiveness in politics overseas, they want to reject it, and he seems to want to embrace it. And so, the point that I made then, and the point that I’m making again today, is that our focus is on the cost of living and the fight against inflation. His focus is on dividing people. And that’s because that’s all he knows and it’s all that he does. And I believe that that is a disqualifying characteristic – a defining and a disqualifying characteristic when it comes to Peter Dutton.
Now, on your specific question, I have the same view that others have expressed. I have complete confidence in our security authorities and agencies, in particular the Director‑General of ASIO, Mike Burgess. I’m not going to detail or second guess the way that they do their important work. And again, I think it’s important here we don’t fall for Peter Dutton’s trap. He wants to undermine confidence in our national security because he has no policies or credibility on the economy. And he’s trying to distract from what I think is the main game, which is cost‑of‑living pressures and the fight against inflation. And what these numbers show today is that we’re making welcome and encouraging progress in the fight against inflation, but people are still doing it tough. And that’s why our cost‑of‑living help, which Peter Dutton didn’t support, is so important.
JOURNALIST:
Treasurer, is the inflation rate falling fast enough?
CHALMERS:
We’d like inflation to fall further and faster, and we expect it to. What we’ve seen in this data today is really quite welcoming – quite welcome and quite encouraging, because it shows that monthly inflation headline, underlying and non‑tradable, has all gone down in July, and that’s a good thing. But we know that people are still doing it tough.
The key reason why the government’s primary focus is on the cost of living is because we know that people are under the pump. That’s why there’s a tax cut for every taxpayer, energy bill relief for every household, cheaper medicines, cheaper early childhood education, help with rent, and also getting wages moving again. Because inflation is still sticky and stubborn in our economy, but it’s coming down, and that’s what we saw in today’s figures.
JOURNALIST:
How do you think the RBA will interpret this data?
CHALMERS:
I don’t like to speak for the Reserve Bank. They undertake their considerations, and they take their decisions independently. And that’s as it should be. What the Reserve Bank Governor has previously said is that our 2 surpluses are helping in the fight against inflation. And what the Bureau of Statistics is saying again today is that our cost‑of‑living policies are helping as well.
Now, I see there’s a bit of commentary about the energy rebates part of that in particular today, and I wanted to make a few points about that.
First of all, the Coalition doesn’t support us helping people with their electricity bills. Let’s be clear about that. And they describe it as artificial. Anybody who describes helping people with their energy bills as artificial is horrendously out of touch. Our focus here is on helping people who are doing it tough. And it’s also important to remember, when you look at these numbers today, that underlying inflation came off as well, measured by trimmed mean inflation. That came down as well, which absolutely torpedoes this argument that it’s only the energy bill rebates which are pushing inflation down. They are helping, but remember as well, as the ABS says today, that the Commonwealth rebates in this data have only started rolling out in WA and Queensland. So, for most of the country, help is still on the way when it comes to electricity bills.
So, a bit of perspective about that. There’s nothing artificial about helping people with their electricity bills. Underlying inflation is coming down in these figures. Electricity would have come down a little bit, were it not for Commonwealth and state rebates. It’s coming down more than that. So, our policies are helping, and that’s deliberate and that’s intentional. But underlying inflation is coming down too.
JOURNALIST:
I’ve got another question from my colleagues in Canberra.
CHALMERS:
No worries.
JOURNALIST:
You saw a spate of vandalism on MP’s offices, including Labor ministers and MPs, by pro‑Palestinian protestors, particularly during June. Is there, given the crisis that we’re seeing in the Middle East, is there any justification for that level of action?
CHALMERS:
No, I think it’s a disgrace. I think some of the vandalism that we’re seeing, some of the intimidation that we’re seeing, is disgraceful. And I’ve made that clear on other occasions as well. You know, peaceful protests are fundamental to our democracy, but they’ve got to be peaceful.
I encourage people to spare a thought for those dedicated staff who are in electorate offices to help people: to help people access pensions, to help people navigate the migration system, to help veterans, to help people with a whole range of government services and entitlements and pensions and payments. These people care deeply about our communities, they care about our country. They work around the clock, in many instances, trying to help people, and they deserve better than that.
I think some of these attacks that we’ve seen in recent times, the unlawful attacks, whether it be vandalism or in other ways, it costs taxpayers money and it stops Australians getting the help that they need. And there are a whole range of reasons why we’d prefer to see that these protests were peaceful, rather than the kind of vandalism we’re seeing too much of.
JOURNALIST:
On the issue of international student caps announced yesterday, that’s obviously a big industry for Australia and an important economic driver. Have you got any concern about the impact that cutting those – putting caps on the number of students coming in will have on the Australian economy?
CHALMERS:
First of all, I acknowledge today, and I’ve acknowledged for some time – international education is a really important industry in our national economy. I am a big, big supporter of the services and the education provided by our universities and TAFEs and other training institutions. This is a really important part of our national economy. It’s a big earner. And what we’re doing here is managing the foreign student intake in a methodical and a responsible way, in a reasonable way. Now, obviously, we take seriously the issues that are raised with us from different parts of the education sector. And Jason Clare is obviously doing a wonderful job in that regard. We support the industry, but we need to manage it in a way that is methodical and responsible and reasonable, and that’s what we’re doing.
JOURNALIST:
Treasurer, one in 4 workers have been shortchanged on their superannuation in retirement. Will the government introduce legislation to crack down on this problem?
CHALMERS:
Yeah, this is a huge challenge in the superannuation system. Too many Australian workers are missing out on billions of dollars of super that they’ve earned. Super is supposed to be compulsory, not optional. It’s called compulsory superannuation for a reason. And too many people are missing out and they are poorer in retirement as a consequence.
One of the things that is most important in this regard is that we legislate our plans for payday super. One of the big motivations of the changes that we want to make to payday super is to crack down on the inexcusable unpaid superannuation problem that we have in the system.
We are strengthening superannuation across the board. We’re paying the super guarantee on paid parental leave. Very proud of that. We’re introducing payday super to try to avoid this challenge of unpaid super, and we’re making a whole bunch of progress in a whole range of areas as well. Too many people are missing out on the superannuation that they need and deserve and are entitled to, and we are working to address that.
Thanks very much.