with

SENATOR KATY GALLAGHER
SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE
SENATOR FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

and

THE HON BILL SHORTEN MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE NATIONAL DISABILITY INSURANCE SCHEME
SHADOW MINISTER FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICES
MEMBER FOR MARIBYRNONG 

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
CANBERRA
THURSDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2019
 
SUBJECTS: Final Budget Outcome; Liberals underspending on the NDIS; Economy; unemployment and underemployment; Election review; ‘Quota girls’ comments; Responsible stimulus.

JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: The defining feature of the new budget numbers today is a $4.6 billion underspend on the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The Morrison Government is propping up their budget by short-changing Australians with a disability. The Morrison Government is propping up the budget by making Australians with a disability wait longer for the care that they need, and deserve, and were promised. Even with a $4.6 billion underspend on the NDIS, and high iron ore prices, and a low dollar, and billions of dollars in extra taxes, the Government still has a budget in deficit. 

The Government has nothing to crow about today. Josh Frydenberg shouldn't be patting himself on the back for these numbers today. The Government needs to bring forward a plan to turn around the floundering economy. We've got the slowest growth in this economy for the 10 years since the Global Financial Crisis. Wages are stagnant. Household debt is at record highs. Living standards and productivity are in decline. And today we learn as well that unemployment is rising and we've got the most Australians underemployed, looking for more hours of work, than we've ever had in the history of this country. 

The Government has nothing to crow about because these budget figures today show that much of the improvement comes from Australians with a disability not getting the care that they were promised. It's a reflection of a high iron ore price, a low dollar, and billions of dollars of extra taxes as a consequence. The Government needs to bring forward the MYEFO to fix their forecasts and responsibly fund a plan to turn around the economy and to safeguard it from global risks. You're going to hear a bit more from Katy Gallagher, and then Bill Shorten on the NDIS, and then we'll take your questions. 

SENATOR KATY GALLAGHER, SHADOW FINANCE MINISTER: Thanks Jim. Look, I want to make just a couple of comments about some commitments this Government made when they came to office. And if we go back to those days, they promised a budget surplus in the first year and every year after that. Well these figures confirm that this is the sixth consecutive budget deficit that this Government is delivering. So they fail on that.

The other commitment they made when they came to Government was that they were going to get debt under control and what these figures confirm today is that debt has increased by $200 billion since they came to Government and in these figures net debt's sitting at $374 billion, and gross debt sitting at still over half a trillion dollars. So on those two measures alone, this Government continues to fail against the tests that they set themselves. 

But overall when you look at the numbers and the rhetoric from this Government and the defensive response from the Finance Minister today, numbers and budgets at the end of the day are about people and we see again this significant underspend in the botched rollout of the NDIS. Whilst it looks like numbers on this page the reality is, that means people out in the community are getting less service, less access to service, and continue to suffer under this Government. I'm going to hand over now to Bill to say a few comments about that.

BILL SHORTEN, SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE NATIONAL DISABILITY INSURANCE SCHEME: Thanks. Good afternoon everybody. I think families and people with disabilities are going to be furious to discover that they are subsidising the Government's budget. Today's revelation that the Government has ripped people with disabilities off by $4.6 billion by tightening the taps of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, it's a national shame, it's a disgrace. The fact of the matter is that the Morrison Government is balancing its books on the backs of Australians with disabilities and their loved ones. 

You just have to talk to any family in Australia. They're waiting to get their wheelchairs. They're waiting to get their frames. They're waiting to get their vehicle and house modifications. And now they know why they've been waiting too long. It's because the Government is keeping the money which rightfully should go to Australians with disability and their families. I'll hand back to Jim to take questions. 

CHALMERS: Over to you.

JOURNALIST: I suppose the first question, just maybe Bill, are you implying that the states are not doing their job on the NDIS rollout as well?

SHORTEN: No. What I'm saying is that the NDIS is constipated. The money is meant to be there and getting out to the people. Mr Morrison struts in Parliament and says, oh listen it's a demand driven program and the reason why we've been able to pocket $4.6 billion is because the demand isn't there. Well that's just a lie. The reality is the demand is there. Go and speak to people in your own communities. People who'll be watching the news or reading the news today. They'll be furious. The reality is that in the last 10 weeks I've travelled all over Australia, it's been a jaw dropping experience to realise that people are waiting 12 months, two years, for a wheelchair. And at the same time the Government says, no problems here we'll pocket the money. 

So the problem lies in that the NDIA, they haven't had a CEO for 120 days. The Minister, Minister Robert, he had legislation in the House. He was too busy to come down and back in his own legislation. You know, so this Government is disinterested. The NDIS is adrift. It's doing some good things but there's too many people missing out and now we know where the money is. Josh Frydenberg is getting up and giving himself a pat on the back with Mathias Cormann. They've got the money, people disability say, why do they have it? Why can't we have some?

JOURNALIST: Mr Chalmers, Wayne Swan has commented on the election result again. He said negative gearing was popular and we should keep it. He's also said that Labor should keep the economic agenda broadly. Is he right?

CHALMERS: Look, Wayne's made a couple of contributions to the Party review and the election review that the Labor Party's undertaking. Others have as well and everybody's entitled to their opinion. We've said repeatedly that we'll work our way through the tax policies that we took to the last election as part of working through all of the policies we took to that election. My view is we need to hear the message that was sent to us on Election Day. We need to learn the lessons of the results of that election, whether it be in our communication, our campaigning, the policies that we took to the election, and I think it's just self-evident that the policies that we take to the 2022 election won't be identical in every single way to the policies that we took to 2019 election. We've made that point repeatedly and that's our position. 

JOURNALIST: When you say every single way, because he's not suggesting that either. He's talking more broadly, that the policies, the tax and spend policies, were right. Do you think - will you be lower taxing and lower spending? Is that the direction Labor needs to head?

CHALMERS: Look I don't expect any Australian thinks that we should have a settled policy agenda on those questions, that you're fine to ask from time-to-time. Nobody expects us to have a settled position on all of those policies, not even about four months from the last election, with almost three years to go until the next election. We will take our time to work through that policy, all of our tax policies, all of our other policies, and our objective is to find ways to deal with the challenges that we've identified over the last six and a bit years and to find the best possible way to address those challenges. I think it's inevitable with the passage of another three years that the policies that we take next time won't be identical in every way to the policies we took to the last one. 

JOURNALIST: Aside from the issues with the NDIS, do you accept the Government's shown good fiscal discipline to get the budget moving in the right direction?

CHALMERS: No I don't think there's anything in these budget numbers today for the Government to give themselves a pat on the back about. The defining feature is the underspend on the National Disability Insurance Scheme. There are also big improvements to the budget off the back of much higher than expected iron ore price,  much lower than expected dollar. That feeds through to higher company profits, billions of dollars in extra revenue and flows through to the budget bottom line. So if you look at the main drivers of the improvement in the budget today I think it's very clear. It's a combination either of the Government getting the NDIS so horribly wrong, and a lot of factors outside the Government's control.  I said I'd go over here first and then I'll come back.

JOURNALIST: What do you make of Bridget McKenzie's comment that Labor women are quota girls because they might only be there because of quota? 

CHALMERS: I think I might let Katy answer that question.

GALLAGHER: Thanks Jim. A couple of points to those comments. I mean, I think, the first one is they're very unfortunate comments to make. I think the insinuation is that Labor women are less than other women in this Parliament. We have particular affirmative action rules in our Party. I reject that completely.  I also think it's really unfortunate when you get a senior female member of Parliament attacking other female members of Parliament. I think that the best outcome is when women work together, to stand together, to seek equality in all areas of life including public life. I think the third point I'd make, the numbers speak for themselves. It's not the Labor Party who has a problem with women representation in the Parliament. We've got 44 female members of parliament in the Labor Party and the Coalition have 28. So again I think on those grounds we can reject the position that position that Bridget McKenzie has put, and would put every single female member of our caucus up against any member of the Coalition, male or female on merit. They are there on merit, they contribute and they are an important part of this Parliament and they shouldn't be denigrated by senior women of the Coalition. 

JOURNALIST: Mr Chalmers can I ask you, what weight do you attach to a budget surplus? Is it more important than household spending increasing?

CHALMERS: As it stands the Government doesn't have to choose between a budget surplus or doing something responsible and affordable to turn around an economy which is floundering on their watch. They like to pretend, this Government, that it's some kind of false binary choice between a surplus or doing the right thing by consumption, wages, employment, and the like. What these numbers actually show today - and the improvement in these numbers shows – is that the Government can afford to do some responsible stimulus to get this floundering economy moving again without jeopardising the surplus. They should stop pretending that it's a choice between one or the other. As it stands right now we have not come to that choice and I think when you look at business investment at its lowest levels since the early 90s recession, you look at the unemployment rate rising again today, underemployment, stagnant wages, slowest growth for 10 years since the GFC - the economy is crying out for a change of course. 

All we're calling on the Government to do is to have a plan to turn the economy around. Just crossing their fingers and hoping for the best and patting themselves on the back for six years, now into their seventh year and their third term, it hasn't worked. It won't grow the economy. It won't get the jobs growth and the wages growth that we desperately need in this economy to get the place moving again. So they should stop pretending that there's this false choice. They don't need to make that choice. There is room in the budget to pick up any or all of the suggestions that we've made in good faith in the interests of the national economy.

JOURNALIST: Just to be clear, are you saying that there's absolutely nothing good, nothing good at all, in this set of numbers?

CHALMERS: I'm saying the budget improvement is welcome but it's not a consequence largely of good actions from the Government. The point that I'm making is, the two big drivers - and you've all looked through the numbers now, and Shane's memorised the numbers by now - you've all seen them and the two big drivers: the underspend on the NDIS and a dramatically bigger tax take which comes in part from the higher iron ore price and the lower dollar. 

I invite any of you and I invite the Government to point out where they think the high iron ore price because of dramas in Brazilian mines is anything to do with Josh Frydenberg's economic management. That's the point I'm making. The improvement in the budget is welcome. It means there's no excuse not to do something to turn around the economy, to come up with a plan to responsibly and affordably stimulate the economy. The improvement is welcome but the way that they've got there is a combination of bad faith with Australians with a disability and good luck when it comes to the iron ore price and a low dollar. 

JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE] jobs  - good news or bad news?

CHALMERS: Obviously we want to see as many Australians as possible employed, and the unemployment rate today ticked up. Underemployment - the number of Australians who are looking for more hours in the workplace who can't find it - is at record highs today and so even in the labour market we've got rising unemployment, we've got record high underemployment. These are challenges which cannot be left unattended any longer. 

JOURNALIST: Do you think the economy is slowing in part because the Government has actually tightened fiscal policy from a deficit of ten bill to balance?

CHALMERS: I think largely the economy is slowing because the Government doesn't have a plan to turn things around. I think the way that I would come at your question Shane is to say this: clearly fiscal and monetary policy is not acting in concert and the Reserve Bank couldn't be any clearer either through their actions to cut the cash rate to 1 per cent - a third of what it was during the GFC when the Liberals said 3 percent was emergency levels, now 1 percent. The Reserve Bank can't do it all on their own and we need to see a responsible and affordable package or plan brought forward by the government so that fiscal policy can help monetary policy do the job. 

The Governor could not be clearer. We're running out of runway when it comes to interest rate cuts. We need the Government to lift a finger to help get the economy growing again. Their absence of any plan, their absence of any action, is one of the reasons why we've got the slowest growth we've had for a decade.

JOURNALIST: Chalmers, I know it's a bit difficult to come up with sort of a plan on your side but when you talk about responsible stimulus, can you give us some sort of quantification of that?

CHALMERS: There are at least half a dozen things that the Government should be contemplating.

JOURNALIST: In terms of billions of dollars or that sort of thing? 

CHALMERS: They can pick up any of these six ideas that we've proposed and they can cost them and they can be done responsibly and affordably. They can bring forward part of their stage two tax cuts. They can fund a responsible increase in Newstart. They could bring forward some infrastructure spending. They can have an incentive for business investment. They could have a wages policy. They could have an energy policy because the absence of an energy policy has been a handbrake on growth in this economy for too long. 

There are so many things the Government should be contemplating. Instead they give press conferences patting themselves on the back for short-changing Australians with a disability and they pretend that everything's hunky dory in the economy. Walk down any main street in Australia. See the for lease signs. Ask the retailers how they're going. Ask the workers whether they've got a decent pay rise. I think when you get the answers to those questions and the contrast between that and what the Government wants to pretend about the economy you can see why so many people will conclude that the Government when it comes to the economy is hopelessly out of touch. I'll take one more question.

JOURNALIST: Would you support the bringing forward stage two of the tax cuts if it impacted the surplus? Would that be something you would, you know, the surplus gone, you wouldn't criticise them about that if they were to do that?

CHALMERS: Clearly it would come at a cost to the budget but the argument that I've put is that it's possible for the Government to pick up and run with any combination of those ideas that we've put forward in good faith without necessarily jeopardising the surplus. We haven't called on them to junk the surplus. We don't think they should. We don't think they need to. For the time being they have choices available to them. They're not taking those -not picking up and running with those ideas because they don't have a plan to turn the economy around. They just cross their fingers and hope for the best and that's not good enough. Thanks very much. 

ENDS