CANBERRA, ACT, Feb. 3 -- The Treasurer of Australia issued the following transcript:
Note
Subjects: Sarah Court appointed new chair of ASIC, interest rates, inflation, responsible economic management, cost-of-living relief
Jim Chalmers:
I know you want to ask me about some other matters, but I wanted to begin by saying this about our appointment at ASIC. The government is really proud to be recommending the appointment of Sarah Court as the new Chair of ASIC.
Sarah has been an excellent Deputy at ASIC and will make an outstanding Chair. Her record over the last 15years or so of working with our key economic regulators has been all about lifting standards and protecting consumers and making sure that corporate Australia is well regulated. So, I'm really proud to be announcing Sarah Court's appointment today.
The government is also proud that this now means that 4 of our major economic institutions are being led by women for the first time in their history; ASIC, the Productivity Commission, the Treasury and the Reserve Bank are all led by women for the first time in their histories, all appointed by this Albanese Labor government.
So I really welcome the opportunity to appoint Sarah Court as the new Chair of ASIC.
I also wanted to thank Joe Longo for his extraordinary service to the corporate regulator as chair. Joe's got a few more months to serve yet and finishes up at the end of May. Sarah kicks off on the 1st of June, as I understand it. We thank Joe, and we welcome and congratulate Sarah on her well deserved appointment.
Now, when it comes to the meeting of the Reserve Bank today, there are good reasons why Treasurers don't make predictions or pre‑empt decisions taken independently by the Reserve Bank and its board.
Regardless of the outcome today, this government is focused on the cost of living and housing, and on the economy more broadly.
Our political opponents are tearing themselves apart, but we're not distracted by that. We're focused on the cost of living, they're focused on themselves. They are divided, divisive and in disarray, but we won't be distracted by that. We're focused on the main game.
We know that even though Australians have made a lot of progress in our economy over the course of recent years, we know that there are still inflationary pressures in our economy, we know that people are still feeling those pressures but more than acknowledging that, we're acting on that. We're rolling out cost‑of‑living relief, 2 more tax cuts, and we're also managing the budget in the most responsible way that we can.
Because of our efforts, the budget is more than $233billion stronger than when we came to office. We delivered 2 surpluses, we got spending as a share of the economy from almost a third to closer to a quarter, we got real spending growth down to a fraction of where it was running under our predecessors, we've found $114billion in savings, we've paid down more than $170billion in Liberal debt.
So, we've made a lot of progress in our economy, but we know that there are still pressures. We've made a lot of progress in our Budget, but we know that there's always more work to do.
This inflation challenge will be one of the 3 main factors as we put the finishing touches on the Budget over the coming months. Dealing with these inflationary pressures, addressing this long‑standing productivity challenge in our economy, and also making our economy more resilient in the face of all of this global economic uncertainty.
Happy to take a couple of questions.
Journalist:
Do you take any responsibility for inflation being higher than expected?
Chalmers:
I take responsibility for all aspects of my job, including my part in the fight against inflation but more than that, we're taking action. We know that Australians are under pressure, that's why we're making their medicines cheaper, it's why there's more bulk billing and Urgent Care Clinics, it's why we're providing student debt relief, it's why we've got the budget in much better nick than we inherited from our predecessors. All of that is about managing the budget responsibly in the context of these inflationary pressures.
Now that inflation number last week didn't come in that much higher than we expected, but it came in higher than we would like. Some of those factors were temporary, like holiday spending, the withdrawal of state energy rebates, but there are some persistent pressures there as well, and that's our focus.
Journalist:
You've said those temporary aspects, holiday spending, withdrawal of energy rebates. Weren't those aspects predictable, and couldn't action have been taken to mitigate that impact?
Chalmers:
We have been taking action on the cost of living. We've been rolling out cost‑of‑living help that our opponents opposed in their usual way, rolling out tax cuts that our opponents opposed in their usual way. And so, we've been taking action on the cost of living, including new initiatives which rolled out just last month, and new tax cuts which will come into being on the 1st of July this year, and then the 1st of July next year as well.
And similarly, when it comes to budget repair, this is a government which has very substantially improved the budget position since we came to office, and including in the most recent update only a couple of months ago.
In December just gone, we delivered the most responsible mid‑year update on record. There were $20billion of savings, our policy decisions were a net positive to the budget, we banked all of the upward revisions to revenue and that's the kind of economic responsibility which is unrecognisable to our predecessors who left us inflation higher than 6percent and galloping, they left us a mess in the budget, and they took to the last election a policy for higher income taxes, higher electricity bills, bigger deficits and more debt and that's why nobody takes them seriously on the economy anymore.
Journalist:
What about taking action to specifically get that inflation number down, such as cutting government spending?
Chalmers:
Well, we've found savings in all of our budget updates, and people should expect to see more of that in the May Budget as well. Katy Gallagher and I have handed down, I think 7 budgets or budget updates, and the defining feature of all of those updates has been responsible economic management, including savings and reprioritisations, banking most of the upward revision to revenue, and you see that in the fact that we delivered a couple of surpluses for the first time in 15years or so, and the budget position is dramatically better than when we came to office. And so that will be an ongoing focus of the government, not a new focus. We've worked very hard over the course of 3 and a half years to get the budget in better nick to pay down that Liberal debt at the same time as we roll out cost‑of‑living relief, because we know that people are still under pressure.
Journalist:
You've referred to cost‑of‑living actions already being taken and the work that's already been done to repair the budget. What new measures is the government looking at off the back of this latest inflation figure?
Chalmers:
What we've seen is we've shifted from temporary payments, like electricity bill rebates, to a bigger focus on permanent cost‑of‑living relief in areas like the tax system. And so, people can expect another tax cut in July, and they can expect another tax cut after that the July after.
This is a government cutting income taxes to take some of the pressure off people so that people earn more and keep more of what they earn. That's been a central feature of our economic strategy, and so people can expect 2 more tax cuts, and they can expect the Budget to be focused on this inflation challenge, focused on our productivity challenge and also focused on all this global uncertainty.
Journalist:
And just on the India-US trade deal, your thoughts on that, and particularly the impact that that could have on the Quad?
Chalmers:
Oh look, I'll leave you in Don Farrell's capable hands for discussions of that. Our relationship with India is really important, and we put in a lot of effort to make sure that we're maximising that relationship to make sure that Australians are beneficiaries of the immense economic opportunity that India represents.
We know that there's a lot of churn and change in the world, particularly as it relates to trade policy, and different countries are coming to different conclusions about that and taking different steps about that.
But from Australia's point of view, India represents an enormous opportunity for us. We are maximising that, and part of the reason for that is because of Don's good work.
Thanks very much.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
