Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks to the member for Bass for her question but also for the way that she represents her Tasmanian community in our team and in this place. Australia has got lower unemployment and stronger growth than most of the major advanced economies. We've got faster jobs growth and less debt than all of the major advanced economies, and our economy hasn't gone backwards in any quarter under this government like theirs have. But we do know that we've got three big pressing and persistent challenges, and they are an uptick in inflation, decades of underperforming on productivity and also this extreme global uncertainty.

We know that the best way to deliver higher living standards for more people is to lift the speed limit on the economy so it can grow faster with lower inflation. That's why economic reform will be a central feature of the budget in May. Already, we're getting the budget in better shape. We're rolling out tax cuts to help with the cost of living. We're reforming our economy to make it more modern and competitive, and we've taken substantial steps already with the biggest competition policy reforms in 50 years, FIRB reform, payment system reform, abolishing non-compete clauses, federation reform through the Productivity Fund, energy market reforms, reforms to income tax, the PRRT and multinational taxes, and we've abolished nuisance tariffs. Even in the few months since the reform roundtable, we've sped up approvals, paused the construction code, legislated better environmental approvals, passed a better regulation bill to cut red tape, processed hundreds of ideas for better regulation in the finance sector and released a national AI plan, as well as started another round of tariff and FIRB reform. So we've made some progress, but we know that there is more work to do. This is a government which is working together and is focused on inflation, productivity and global uncertainty. And that's what the budget will be about.

Those opposite, at a time when we have these pressing and persistent economic challenges, are in complete and utter shambles. They haven't changed a bit since they came after Medicare and pensions in government and still never delivered a surplus in nine attempts. They haven't learned a thing from an election where they ran on higher income taxes, bigger deficits and more debt to pay for nuclear reactors. As I said a moment ago, two members were more responsible for that election debacle than anyone—the members for Fairfax and Hume. That's why flicking the switch from the member for Farrer to the member for Hume will make their lack of economic credibility worse, not better.

We saw in the election campaign and we've seen in the last few days that the member for Hume is not very good with numbers. We've seen that again this week. They are divided. They are divisive, but we are not distracted. We will maintain a focus on inflation, productivity and global uncertainty, and you'll see that in the budget in May.

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