Jim Chalmers 2022

JIM CHALMERS:

Thanks for coming down, everyone. I wanted to touch on 3 things briefly, and then obviously happy to take a heap of your questions. I wanted to touch on the G20 meetings last week in D.C., the Queensland election, and also, obviously, the inflation numbers that we’re getting later this week.

In an increasingly uncertain and unstable global economy, the Albanese Labor government’s responsible economic management is Australia’s best defence.

Economies around the world have slowed due to global uncertainty, higher interest rates and persistent inflation, with around three‑quarters of OECD countries experiencing a negative quarter of growth in the past year.

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:

A quarter century ago, the G20 was formed because deepening connections between our markets and our people made our economies more dependent on one another and there was no shortage of challenges for us to manage together.

Since then, the G20 has done some of its best work in crises.

JIM CHALMERS:

It’s been a very productive, very fruitful couple of days here in Washington DC, almost 30 engagements over less than 2 days. The central message from my discussions here is that there’s a lot of volatility and a lot of vulnerability in the global economy right now.

TOM LOWREY:

JIM CHALMERS:

Growth in the Australian economy has been soft, certainly softer than we would like. But I think it’s important to remember that most of the OECD has had a negative quarter or worse in the course of the last year or so, and Australia has avoided that.

SONALI BASAK:

SARAH FERGUSON:

The world’s finance ministers are in Washington, DC for G20, World Bank and IMF meetings as the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine continue to cause global uncertainty. Treasurer Jim Chalmers joins me now from Washington, where it’s just after 4:30 in the morning. Treasurer, thank you for joining us, and especially so early.

The Albanese Government’s responsible budget strategy has seen Australia become one of the top ranked economies in the world for fiscal management in 2024, according to figures released by the International Monetary Fund.