CANBERRA, ACT, May 13 -- The Treasurer of Australia issued the following transcript:
Note
Subjects: 2026 Budget, Queensland infrastructure, housing
Steve Austin:
Well, Jim Chalmers delivered the Budget last night. It's where he gets front row billing if you like, ahead of the Prime Minister. Jim Chalmers' electorate is here in Queensland, Rankin, based around Logan City. Queensland's Treasurer David Janetzki says.
[Excerpt]
David Janetzki:
Queensland is doing plenty of the heavy lifting and yet the federal government has really now underfunded roads and rails and various other aspects, whether it be the NDIS or health and housing.
[End of excerpt]
Austin:
So let's test that. Last night Jim Chalmers was not representing Queensland, even his own electorate Logan, but representing Australia. Jim Chalmers, morning to you.
Jim Chalmers:
Good morning Steve, how are you?
Austin:
I'm very well. It was your fifth Budget. When did you get to bed last night, may I ask?
Chalmers:
I wasn't too bad last night. Usually the prep in the lead-up to the Budget is worse on that front. Only a few hours sleep most nights, but last night was before midnight and that's a good outcome.
Austin:
Must be a first.
Chalmers:
It's rare, yeah.
Austin:
Bill Shorten earlier this week said he was ahead of his time. You look like you've delivered Bill Shorten's 2016-2019 agenda. Did you consult him in pulling this Budget together?
Chalmers:
Not directly, but obviously over the years we've had different conversations about the policies we took to the 2019 election. There are important differences to what we announced last night. But I've got a lot of time for Bill. I consider Bill to be a friend, obviously and I've said publicly since then that my job isn't to kind of re-prosecute the 2019 elections to try and make the right decisions for 2026 and for the future. And that's what we've done.
Austin:
I've spoken with Queensland's Treasurer, David Janetzki, who's also the Minister for Home Ownership in this state. And I asked him what he saw in the Budget papers last night. Let me play you what he said around a change around road funding.
[Excerpt]
David Janetzki:
So, last night it was confirmed that the federal government would tip into - roughly $800million, $812million into an upgrade at the Gateway in Dohles Rocks Road. Now that is in fact a 50:50 split. But because of the deal on the Bruce Highway, it should be 80:20. So the federal government, you know, have backed out on that and that was an 80:20 funding deal, that particular aspect. So the Budget last night did confirm in fact that now the federal government breached that 80:20 agreement. So we're going to have to go back to the drawing board.
[End of excerpt]
Austin:
Jim Chalmers, why did the federal government change the agreement?
Chalmers:
What a load of rubbish, Steve. I think David knows that what he's saying isn't true. We did an 80:20 deal on the $7.2billion contribution we made to the Bruce. Subsequent to that, we made an additional announcement which they understood to be 50:50. That was communicated to them, as I understand it by the Commonwealth Infrastructure Minister. So it's not true what David is saying and more broadly, it's not true what you read in The Courier Mail today either. For people who are tempted to think that funding for Queensland has somehow gone backwards in this Budget, Queensland is actually getting more funding in the infrastructure investment program than any other state or territory-
Austin:
In which projects, can you name the projects for me?
Chalmers:
Well, this new investment in the Bruce is part of it, the Olympics are a big part of it as well. But I want to be clear about this Steve, because respectfully, you cut me off. Over the forward estimates and over the 10-year pipeline of the Infrastructure Investment Program, Queensland is getting more funding than any other state or territory. Queensland's getting $16.9 billion in this infrastructure investment pipeline over the forward estimates. Over the 4years from 2026, Queensland's provision is more than a billion dollars higher. Over the 5years from last year, an additional $3.7billion.
These are all of the different ways Steve, that I can make it very, very clear to your listeners in case they're tempted to believe David or the Courier Mail today. Queensland is absolutely front and centre when it comes to infrastructure investment. Whether it's the Olympics, whether it's backing the Bruce with billions of dollars in investments. We understand that Queensland is a massive contributor to the national economy and that's why we're investing so much in infrastructure there.
Austin:
So can you assist me. Other than the Olympics, which projects - which infrastructure projects in particular are you investing more money in?
Chalmers:
There's a little bit of extra money for the M1, a small amount. There's much more money for the Bruce, the 800 million or so that we are talking about now. And there are other projects too. I don't have a list to read out to you Steve, but there's a number of projects which added up mean that Queensland is getting more money than anyone else when it comes to that infrastructure pipeline.
Austin:
Federal Treasurer, Jim Chalmers is my guest. What about your electorate, Rankin? Anything in the federal Budget for your electorate, Jim Chalmers?
Chalmers:
Well, there's that little bit of extra money for the M1. Not as much as we would like or that locals would like, but we continue to invest in the M1. I think the big ticket items have been budgeted for, and those are things like the Olympic Stadium in Logan Central. That's been in the Budget for a little while now, and that's part of billions of dollars that we're pouring into Queensland when it comes to preparations for the Olympics.
Austin:
My guest is federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers. So on the issue of housing, you've now made the famous change to your absolute rock-solid commitment that there won't be any changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing. You've now backflipped on that. Do you want people to use property or housing as an investment? By the looks of things, you don't want that to happen?
Chalmers:
Well, we obviously don't give people investment advice. You're right that we've come to a different view in some of these contentious policy areas. And the main reason that we have is because it's increasingly clear that even with all of our efforts on building more homes, it's still the case that too many people, and especially young people, are locked out of the market. I think you and I have talked about this on other occasions through the years. The tax changes are about levelling the playing field for first‑home buyers versus people who might already own multiple homes. And by levelling the playing field, we hope to make it easier for more people to get a toehold in the market.
Now, we are at the same time respecting, recognising the decisions that people have taken here. We're not making judgements about how people have done well. We want more people to do well. But the current intersection of the housing market and the tax system makes it too hard for people to get into the market for the first time. That's why we're making this change.
Austin:
We are the fastest growing state in Australia. I think the interstate migration in particular is absolutely superheating the housing market here. House prices have skyrocketed, including your electorate. The average house price is $1.1million. How does this Budget cool that down or curb a deeper housing crisis?
Chalmers:
We put some figures out with the policy change that we announced last night. We got Treasury to do some modelling and what they expect is house prices will continue to rise, but a little bit more slowly, about 2 percent more slowly than they would otherwise. If you apply that to the median house price, I think it's about $19,000 or something like that. So, we're not targeting a particular price or a particular price outcome with this policy.
What we are trying to do is to make sure that there are more affordable options for people to get into the housing market for the first time. We all know about first‑home buyers rocking up to auctions and being outbid by people who might already own multiple properties. We're trying to level the playing field at auctions and otherwise so that people can find these more affordable options at the same time as we're building a heap more homes. Even the net impact of all of the policies we announced on housing last night in the Budget is to build tens of thousands of extra homes.
Austin:
75,000 over a decade, apparently?
Chalmers:
Well, the 75,000 is how many people will get into the market for the first time. Extra people into the market for the first time because of our policy. The different number is how many new homes we expect to build from the combination of all of our housing policies in the Budget - that's about an extra 30,000. So it measures 2 different things.
Austin:
Why then do you think the Master Builders Australia's Chief Executive says the Budget should have had a greater focus on boosting housing supply if what you tell me is correct?
Chalmers:
Well, of course they would. The Master Builders want to see more building and so do we, and our policies reflect that. Overwhelmingly, our housing policies now tally up to something like $47billion of investment just under the life of our government, including another couple of billion in the Budget for the kind of small scale infrastructure that will bring more projects online, supporting local governments and state governments to get more housing built more quickly. And so overwhelmingly, the government's focus is on supply, so is the Master Builders.
There will always be people who want us to do more. There will always be people who would rather we leave the existing arrangements in housing and tax completely as they are - the defenders of the status quo. But we think the status quo is busted when it comes to housing and tax. And the reason we think that is because too many people, particularly young people, just can't get a crack in the housing market. And that's what necessitated the policy change that we announced last night.
Austin:
Negative gearing changes come into effect today. So what can't I do today that I could have done yesterday? Jim Chalmers.
Chalmers:
Well, you can continue to negatively gear a property that you already had. And if you buy a property between now and the 1st of July, 2027, you can negatively gear it for that period before it changes on the 1st of July 2027. And you can continue to buy and negatively gear new properties from here, because what we want to do is to say if you want to negatively gear, you've got to make a contribution to this housing supply effort. And so people who are negatively gearing now can continue to do that. People who buy an existing property between now and the middle of next year can negatively gear it for that short period.
But the most important thing for people to understand, particularly people who think they wanted to have this opportunity to negatively gear a property, you can still do that if you buy a new property. If you're genuinely adding the housing supply, you can negatively gear into the future as well. We think that strikes the right balance, recognising and respecting decisions people have already taken and changing the arrangements going forward so that if you wanted to negative gear, you've got to make a contribution to there being more housing in our community, you can negatively gear a new build.
Austin:
Have you got time to let me take one quick listener question? Have you got 60seconds?
Chalmers:
Sure. Yeah, let's go.
Austin:
Okay. James of Mount Gravatt East, tell us your concerns. James, morning.
Speaker:
Good morning Steve and good morning Treasurer. Look, the concerns I have is around where your forecasted inflation numbers are for next year and what that really means to - well, to people with wages and interest rates. I'm a mortgage holder, still got $300,000 to pay off. I've got 3 adult kids who are still living at home. They're 20, 22, 24. So very much in the, where are they going to afford somewhere to rent, when they're going to be able to afford something to buy. When I see media reports this morning about inflation next year being 5, if fuel has a big impact, you're talking about 7per cent. It's going to be a real kick in the pants for people like myself who still have a mortgage.
Austin:
So the worst is yet to come James, is what you're worried about? The worst is yet to come?
Speaker:
Certainly.
Austin:
Jim?
Chalmers:
Thanks James. Great spot, Mount Gravatt East as well, appreciate you calling in. A couple of things about that. First of all, we do think that what's happening in the Middle East will push inflation higher. We do think in our, or Treasury thinks in its forecast in the Budget, that it will hit about 5 percent about the middle of the year and then trail back to the target band next year. And so obviously that is more inflation than we want in our economy. We had some pressures before, but really the main driver of the extra inflation is the war in the Middle East and I do understand why that is concerning to people. It's concerning to us too.
That's why the Budget takes the inflation challenge so seriously, it's why it's so responsible. It saves more than it spends, gets the deficits down and gets the debt down every year, the forward estimates. So inflation is one of the primary challenges that we are addressing in this Budget because these global developments are pushing up prices. So I share James' concern about what's happening with inflation and we're responding to that. More than acknowledging that, we're responding to that in the Budget.
Now, when it comes to James's adult kids, the concern that people have in the community, you'd get this Steve, all the time I reckon, on your talk- and text‑back, is people have a real concern about future generations being able to get into housing. Really that's one of the major genuine concerns and anxieties that we're trying to address in this Budget.
If you strip away all of the politics and all of the usual argy-bargy in Canberra, what we're trying to do here is to make sure that people getting a fair go in housing isn't just a feature of our history, our past, but it's something that people can look forward to into the future. And we've taken some political risks to make these changes. We know that they'll be contentious. We know that we will get feedback about it. A lot of people would prefer that we maintain the status quo. But for kids like yours, James - adult kids wondering how they're going to get a crack in the housing market, the Budget is in lots of ways for them.
Austin:
I appreciate you giving me more time than we thought. Jim Chalmers, thanks for your time.
Chalmers:
Thanks as always Steve. All the best.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
