Doorstop interview: $65 billion tax gift to multinationals and millionaires

JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison inhabit an entirely different planet to the millions of Australians who are either unemployed or underemployed or insecure at work, or whose wages aren't keeping up with living costs.

 

Turnbull and Morrison are so out of touch that they want a round of applause when we have 730,000 Australians out of work and, for those in work, we have record low wages growth and more precarious working conditions as well. These characters are so out of touch that they want the Australian people to believe that if you give more tax breaks to millionaires and multinationals and make everybody else pay more, then somehow we will get economic growth in this country and in this economy.

We won't get the growth we need in this economy by showering largesse on the top end of town at the expense of middle Australia and somehow expecting it to miraculously trickle down to those who work and struggle. We won't get economic growth in this country by attacking people's wages and working conditions, attacking their capacity to spend in the shops and invest for the future, and provide for their family. We won't get economic growth in this country by cutting education and training and smashing opportunity and making our economy less productive as a consequence. 

 

What Scott Morrison has shown again today is that he just doesn't have a clue. He's spectacularly out of touch of the reality of the people-facing parts of our economy. He does want a pat on the back today for favouring the top end of town over middle Australia. He wants a pat on the back today for those 730,000 unemployed Australians. It does show just how spectacularly out of touch he is. He does not have a clue about the reality of the economy.

 

What we need in this country if we want economic growth, is to invest in people. We need to not attack their wages. We need to make the tax system fairer. Scott Morrison's recipe is a recipe to do entirely the opposite. Scott Morrison's recipe is a recipe for less growth and more division when what we desperately need in this country is more growth and less division.

 

JOURNALIST: Do you believe that some companies are using labour hire firms to drive down wages and conditions?

 

CHALMERS: There's absolutely no question that some companies in this country are using labour hire to drive down working conditions and wages. It's a growing problem and it’s a very concerning problem. The vast majority of Australian companies do the right thing in this economy, and we applaud them for the decisions they make and the people they hire. But it does remain the case that in some circumstances companies are getting around collective bargaining by encouraging only a small amount of workers to get into enterprise bargaining and then using a larger labour hire workforce to undercut wages and conditions. This is a very troubling thing. Brendan O'Connor and Bill Shorten and others in federal Labor are very concerned about this. We've had a lot to say about labour hire and we'll have more to say in the future.

 

JOURNALIST: Will Labor legislate to change the Fair Work Act to restrict the way labour hire firms operate?

 

CHALMERS: Brendan O'Connor has indicated that he is prepared to consider more legislative changes to make our working conditions fairer in this country. Labour hire is a growing area of concern for us in federal Labor. There's no question that there are some practices that are emerging that are undercutting people's wages and conditions. That will always be a concern to federal Labor under Bill Shorten and Brendan O'Connor and others, and so we've indicated we'll have more to say. We've already put on the table some measures which we think, in terms of disclosure and transparency and other measures, would be helpful in that regard, but there'll be more to say and do in the future.

 

JOURNALIST: On foreign policy now, yesterday the US revealed a new national defence strategy that prioritises the threat posed by powers like China and Russia. Does Labor agree that China could pose a threat (inaudible)?

 

CHALMERS: The document that was released by the Americans was a very important one. I think all around the world people are paying a lot of attention to that important document. It does spend some time dealing with the American relationship with China and Russia and other countries as well, as our own foreign policy whitepaper did, which was released late last year. We study the American document very carefully as the Government does. We make the point that we are already, as a country, spending a lot on defence; an increasing amount on defence. We've always done our part and played our role in the region and we expect the Government to take their decisions in the national interest. It's for the Americans to judge their national interest in relation to those countries that you mentioned.

 

JOURNALIST: You just touched upon this then about increasing defence spending. Would a Labor Government consider doing that, given Australia is facing increasing (inaudible)?

 

CHALMERS: Australia already spends a substantial and growing amount on defence. That is well known and well documented. We're always conscious of the need to make sure that our defence forces are appropriate for the times and make those decisions in the national interest, whether it's decisions about overall funding, whether it's decisions about specific investments in defence and also the strategic considerations. But we do already spend an enormous amount on defence and a growing amount on defence, and that needs to be factored into the national debate about our future investments too.

 

JOURNALIST: Just on tax cuts again, sorry. What would it take to get Labor on board with the Government's proposed company tax cuts?

 

CHALMERS: We've made it very clear for some time now that we're not in favour of a $65 billion gift to the biggest multinational corporations and the big banks in this country. We think that this is an extraordinary waste of money. When we've already got a Budget which is busted, this is a Government that wants to shower that kind of largesse on the top end of town and we think that's an absurd proposition. Our priority shouldn't be giving bigger tax breaks to multinationals and millionaires. Our priority as a country should be investing in people; not cutting their wages, but investing their capacity, investing in their education and training, and making the tax system as fair as it can be for middle Australia. Unfortunately, this Government under Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison takes an entirely different approach. Their approach is to shower tens of billions of dollars on the top end of town. They want us to believe that that will miraculously trickle down to everybody else. That's not been the experience here or around the world. Their recipe is a recipe for less growth and more division. We need more growth and less division.

 

JOURNALIST: Just finally, Darren Chester, the former infrastructure minister has criticised the Community Development Grants Program, and says there's too little transparency with how it's administered. Do you believe it's simply being used as a slush fund?

 

CHALMERS: I think Darren Chester has made an important contribution to the release of that information, which shows that overwhelmingly the money was going to the Government's political prospects rather than necessarily the best projects for the nation. So I think we should take seriously what Darren has had to say. We always need to make sure that we have the maximum transparency in Government decisions. It's the allocation of taxpayer money. It's not the Government's money, it's taxpayers' money. We need to invest it and allocate it wisely. The more transparency we can have around that, the better. There will always be a need for local projects and they should be funded. They should be carefully considered and funded, but they need to be done in a way that the Government has confidence, that those investments are being made because they're the right investments, and not just because they prop up the very thin and slender margin that the Turnbull Government has in our national Parliament. 

 

Thanks very much.