CANBERRA, ACT, June 2 -- The Treasurer of Australia issued the following transcript:
Note
Subjects: wages, national accounts, housing investment
Jim Chalmers:
Well it's an important week in the parliament. This week is all about higher wages and lower taxes for workers and a fair go for first‑home buyers.
Our economic plan is all about lifting wages, cutting taxes, making it easier for first‑home buyers to get a toehold in the market.
Our opponents have a very different strategy. Our opponents' strategy is to talk down the economy, to talk up division in our society and to vote against tax cuts and housing once again.
In the last term the Coalition voted against tax cuts and they voted against housing and they are going to do so again this week. These characters have not changed a bit and they haven't learned a thing from the last election when they last opposed tax cuts for workers and housing for Australians.
And today we get a really important decision from the Fair Work Commission. The Fair Work Commission will make that decision and announce it in the usual way, but the Albanese Labor government has made our views very, very clear. Workers on the minimum wage and on awards need and deserve a decent sustainable real wage increase.
In the decision today, we desperately need to see a real wage increase for millions of Australians on awards and on the minimum wage.
Now under this Albanese Labor government we've already seen the minimum wage go up by something like $9,000 a year, and we need to see it go up further today.
The best way to help working people with the cost of living is with higher wages, lower income taxes, because that's the best way to ensure that more Australians earn more and keep more of what they earn, and that's this government's reason for being.
So a really important week in the economy: higher wages, lower taxes, a fair go for first‑home buyers. We'll also see the national accounts released tomorrow and we don't want to pre‑empt those numbers.
In these circumstances anything with a 2 in front of it, annual, would be a good outcome given what's coming at us from around the world.
These are very uncertainly global economic conditions, but Australia has relatively strong economic foundations. We have our share of challenges in our economy, and we've made that clear; the Budget's about addressing those challenges. But we also have sturdy foundations from which to face this very serious global economic uncertainty which is made much worse by the war in the Middle East.
As I've said before, Australians didn't choose the circumstances of this war, but they are paying a hefty price for it. That's why it's so important that we see the minimum wage and award wages go up today, it's why it's so important that we're cutting taxes for millions of workers once again, and why it's so important that we're making it easier for first‑home buyers in a difficult housing market.
I'll take 3 questions. We'll start with Amanda and then yourself, and then one more after that.
Journalist:
The RBA has said that- from some documents that have been released- they've said that the housing policies of the Labor government have added- not really added to supply that much and they've also potentially increased prices, particularly on the lower end. What's your response to that, given that the policies are not really doing what you're saying they're doing.
Chalmers:
Well, we've taken additional substantial steps since then. In our first term we were playing catch‑up on housing because our predecessors had neglected housing for the best part of a decade.
So we've got this primary focus on supply. You can't build 1.2million homes overnight, it takes time. But we're investing now $47billion in housing and we're making the tax system and the housing market fairer for first‑home buyers.
So I've seen those stories, but we have taken very substantial additional steps since then.
Journalist:
Just on that, bank officials also noted that key government levers affecting housing have not changed including migration policy. Is that one lever that could be pulled to help this situation?
Chalmers:
Well, we've got net overseas migration down 45percent from its peak at the same time as we've seen commencements and approvals and housing investment all go up.
Now don't forget when we came to office net overseas migration was surging at the same time as commencements and investment and approvals were all falling.
If you look at commencements, for example, they're up 26percent in the most recent data, they were falling 28percent when we came to office.
We've got net overseas migration down 45percent from its peak, and so on both of those fronts we've made some meaningful-
Journalist:
But officials said it hasn't changed, so what's the discrepancy?
Chalmers:
Well, I've explained to you what's happening with the numbers when it comes to housing and when it comes to net overseas migration-
Journalist:
Why are officials saying that though?
Chalmers:
Well, you have to ask them. We have changed in meaningful ways some of the levers when it comes to the migration system. There are some additional reforms in the Budget, but it is a fact, not an opinion, that net overseas migration is down 45percent from its peak, commencements are up 26percent over the last year, they were falling 28percent when we came to office. Those are facts, not opinions.
Journalist:
Treasurer, what's your advice to Australians who have bought under the 5% Deposit Scheme who are now worried if we do see some of the property price falls forecasts that they'll go negative equity. Have you blindsided them a bit? Should they hold on to their investments?
Chalmers:
Well, housing's a long‑term investment, and you don't make decisions about housing based on short‑term fluctuations in prices or even in auction clearance rates. And the assumption in the Treasury documents provided with the Budget is that house prices will continue to grow but a bit more slowly.
And what this is all about is making sure that there are more affordable options available particularly for first‑home buyers. And for too long in this country, first‑home buyers have been rocking up to auctions and being beaten out by people who have already got 5 or 10 or 15 established homes.
And so the difficult, decisive steps that we are taking in the Budget, politically contentious as they might be, are all about making it easier for first‑home buyers.
For too long we've had this broken status quo in this country where the intersection of the tax system and the housing market has locked too many Australians, and particularly young Australians, out of housing. And so we are changing that.
And it's not the only thing that we're doing. If you just look at what we're doing this week alone, higher wages and lower taxes for workers, a fairer go for first‑home buyers in the tax system. So we call once again on the Coalition to learn from their past mistakes, to vote for tax cuts, to vote for a fair go for first‑home buyers.
Now of course they'll have all kinds of stunts in the parliament when they're asked to make that decision. They've already got more than $110billion worth of uncosted, unfunded commitments just over the forward estimates, and well over half a trillion dollars over the medium term.
We call on them to do the right thing by Australia's workers. This government is cutting income taxes 5 times in 3 different ways The Coalition is voting for higher taxes on workers who desperately need some cost‑of‑living relief through the wages system.
Thanks very much.
Journalist:
Thank you.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
