CANBERRA, ACT, June 26 -- The Treasurer of Australia issued the following transcript:
Note
Subjects: tax reform passing the parliament, Venezuela earthquakes, tax reform
Melissa Clarke:
The most significant change to the tax system in decades has now passed the Australian Parliament. Labor's changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing, packaged together with a tax cut for income earners and an expanded instant asset write off for businesses, were secured with the support of the Greens. The government says it's a victory for workers and first‑home buyers, while the Opposition describes it as a dark day for Australians.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers joins me in our Parliament House studio. Jim Chalmers, thanks for speaking with AM this morning.
Jim Chalmers:
Nice to see you, Mel.
Clarke:
Now, just before we get onto the tax changes, the earthquake in Venezuela we just heard about. Is there any information you can provide at this point about what the Australian Government knows?
Chalmers:
This is obviously a horrific natural disaster and our hearts go out to all of the loved ones of all of the victims. Obviously, there's a long period of rescue and recovery and rebuilding. We don't have a diplomatic presence in Venezuela, we don't have an embassy. At any one point there's very few Australians living there or travelling there. But if anyone is worried about a loved one, I'd encourage them to get in touch with the consular assistance line at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Clarke:
We'll keep an eye as that continues to develop and we get more information. Back to the events in Australia in parliament, we've seen the tax changes now pass through both houses of parliament. This is the main architecture for your reform package. Is this mission accomplished for you?
Chalmers:
There's more work to do on the other significant elements of the tax reform package. But as you rightly pointed out in your introduction, we see this as a win for workers, for first‑home buyers, for future generations. It's a win for workers and first‑home buyers because we're cutting taxes for workers in this legislation that was passed. We're making it easier for people, especially young people, to get a toehold in a difficult housing market. And we're making the tax system fairer by better aligning the tax treatment of labour and asset income. It's the most important part of the most ambitious tax reforms in more than a quarter of a century.
Clarke:
You've had to make a lot of changes in the last week and a half or so. Some of them have been political concessions to get it through both houses of parliament. But some of them have been dealing with, perhaps, some unexpected consequences. Is that a product of rushing this too quickly? Couldn't you have spent longer making sure that all the loopholes have been considered, all the potential consequences had been factored in?
Chalmers:
It's not unusual when you're doing big tax reform like this that there'd be consultation and that there will be multiple pieces of legislation. If you think about tax reform under John Howard's government, on a couple of occasions they had something like 30 different pieces of legislation. We were very upfront at Budget time that there would be more consultation and there would be multiple pieces of legislation. But this first one, this first piece of legislation, contains the core elements. Now, when it comes to -
Chalmers:
There will be subsequent pieces of legislation to implement other parts of the tax reform package and also when it comes to the implementation details - that's not unusual. Now, when it comes to passage in the Senate, the Coalition parties, in fact the 3 right wing parties, give us no choice but to negotiate with other parties in the Senate. When the Coalition vacates the field on economic reform we need to do what we can to get it through the Senate. We're pragmatic about that and there's no one party that controls all of the numbers in the Senate, so some of the implementation details we announced this week just reflect the reality of getting something through our parliament.
Clarke:
Now, winning over votes in the chambers is one thing, but getting broad acceptance from the public, particularly in the longer term, is important here. This might be a bit of a milestone, but for a lot of Australians it's seen as a broken promise. Could this just be a millstone that's around your neck in 2years' time when you go back to voters and ask them to trust you and they look back and say you didn't abide by the promises you made at the last election?
Chalmers:
I genuinely understand that in our politics some people will want to focus on that element of it. But I think the substance of what is changing here is more important. We are delivering cost‑of‑living help and we're delivering real change via the tax system. When you do that at every point in the history of this country, when there's economic reform and especially tax reform, that is contested.
You asked me about the longer‑term view that people will have. It is my view that every time there's tax reform, people say the sky will fall in, people say that it is disastrous. But typically what happens in time is people look back on big tax reform and wonder what all of the fuss is about. I'm confident that will happen again.
Clarke:
Do you think this anger will be forgotten?
Chalmers:
Over time, because it's the substance that matters. The substance of this is dealing with issues in our housing market, which have locked young people out for too long. It would have been easier for us to leave everything exactly as it is. We didn't want to kick the can down the road because doing that would have locked more generations of Australians out of this difficult housing market. That's why we took action. Yes, it's politically contentious. Yes, it's contested every day. But it's worth it because it's the outcomes that matter.
Clarke:
Jim Chalmers, thanks very much for speaking with AM this morning.
Chalmers:
Thanks so much, Mel.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
