Chalmers Itching to Make Economic Case for Labor

Chalmers itching to make economic case for Labor Andrew Tillett Federal Political Correspondent Jun 2, 2019 — 6.14pm Newly appointed shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers is "spoiling for a fight" on the economy with the Morrison government and declared coal will continue to play a crucial role for the nation's fortunes. In an interview with The Australian Financial Review to mark his elevation, Dr Chalmers promised respectful and open-minded engagement with the business community but refused to be drawn on whether Labor would support all three tranches of the government's income tax cut package or the fate of contentious policies on franking credits and negative gearing. New Labor leader Anthony Albanese's first shadow ministry saw Bill Shorten handed the National Disability Insurance Scheme portfolio while former NSW premier Kristina Keneally will take on the tough task of shadowing Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton. Climate change and energy spokesman Mark Butler kept his job, prompting suggestions Labor may not radically redraw its climate policies, which include a 45 per cent emissions reduction target and 50 per cent renewable energy target and support for a market-based mechanism to cut greenhouse gases. Dr Chalmers, 41, will be supported by two left-wingers in Labor's economic team, former ACT chief minister Katy Gallagher in finance and Stephen Jones as shadow assistant treasurer and financial services. Arguing "growth is not exactly thick on the ground at the moment", Dr Chalmers said this was reflected in the "people-facing" elements of the economy. "There is certainly a weakness in the economy and we've seen that in slowing growth, stagnant wages, weak consumption, weak investment, poor confidence and slow productivity. That flows through to the budget," he said. "We are spoiling for a fight on the economy because we think the government has talked the talk on the economy but not walked the walk." Dr Chalmers said Labor could not "pretend away" the shellacking it received in coal mining-dependent regions in his native Queensland at the election and would listen to and learn from voters. "Coal will play an important role in the medium term, even as we transition to cleaner forms of energy" he said. "Coal is a crucial part of the Queensland economy. The fact that a number of Queenslanders rely on coal for employment is not lost on me." On the controversial Adani mine proposal, Dr Chalmers said he did not believe it would be a feature at the 2022 election campaign, saying if it cleared environmental and commercial hurdles, it would go ahead. Dr Chalmers said Labor would consult over its policies but refused to say what might happen to its plan to scrap cash refunds for excess franking credits, which the opposition argued was unsustainable but was blamed as a reason for Mr Shorten's defeat. "We don't intend to finalise policies 15 days from the last election when we've got another 1000 days or so to go to the next one," he said. "We will take our time to go through each of our policies, work out which ones we want to keep, which ones we want to discard and which ones we want to improve." With Finance Minister Mathias Cormann reaffirming on Sunday the $158 billion income tax cut package would not be split, Dr Chalmers said the government was more interested in having a political argument with Labor rather than delivering cost- of-living relief for low and middle-income earners. He said Labor would support the first round of tax cuts meant to start from July 1 but would seek advice whether the second and third stages, which don't take effect until 2022 and 2024, were affordable "One of the important factors that we will take into account is whether or not it is responsible to commit such a big sum in tax cuts when the global and domestic economies are so uncertain and we don't know the condition of the budget at the time," he said. Asked about Labor's attacks on the "top end of town", Dr Chalmers said the language used was a matter for each person but he had gone out of his way to build "networks and relationships" with business. "I've discovered if you approach business with an open mind, their door will be open to me, just as my door is open to them," he said. Labor's Right faction had demanded the home affairs portfolio in a bid to ward off attacks that it was weak on border protection and national security. But Mr Dutton immediately seized on Senator Keneally's appointment, saying "there couldn’t be anybody less qualified" to take on the job given her views as a media commentator when she wrote she had an "instinctive dislike" to boat turnbacks and thought asylum seekers should be brought to the mainland. .

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