Jim Chalmers
Rankin · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“It's why we have delivered and are delivering an ambitious budget defined by reform and resilience and responsible economic management. We've been delivering for the Australian people while the member for Hume has been destroying the Liberal Party. We've been delivering for Australians. He's been destroying the once great Liberal Party.”
“I acknowledge the member for Gellibrand and thank him especially for his work on Asian capability and the big report that he has just released as the chair of the education committee. Today is obviously a very important day.”
“We don't just acknowledge those challenges; we are addressing them. That's why we are delivering more tax cuts for Australian workers, more pay rises for people on awards and the minimum wage and a fairer tax system for first home buyers.”
“It's because every time the Australian people need them to vote to help them with these real pressures that they face, they vote to make things worse rather than better. They leave this parliament today more divisive and more divided than ever. We leave this parliament today delivering for the Australians who sent us here.”
“On Friday, we learned that the deficit for the year just finished will be smaller than anticipated at budget time, and we know from the AOFM this week that our debt will be $200 billion less than the trajectory we inherited from those opposite. If those opposite had their way, there'd be bigger deficits and more debt.”
“The member for Macquarie is a wonderful representative of workers and small businesses and families in her beautiful part of Australia. Today is a really important day, as the Prime Minister said a moment ago. We are delivering tax cuts.”
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“I knew that the mighty Broncos were a chance on Sunday when the member for Hunter confidently tipped the Melbourne Storm! I thank him for that, and I thank him for the question. Responsible economic management is a defining feature of this Labor government. You can see that in the final budget outcome, which was released just last week. In dollar terms, our government has presided over the biggest ever positive improvement in the budget in a single parliamentary term. In just three years we've overseen a $209 billion improvement in the budget bottom line.”
“Also on the agenda are faster approvals, harmonising regulation, boosting housing supply and taking the time to get road user charging right. The meeting's all about working together to make our economy more productive and more resilient, because we know that's the best way to lift living standards in every state and territory in the Commonwealth. I look forward to speaking with the state and territory treasurers tomorrow on all of these important issues. It's an important demonstration of the reform effort that is going on this side of the House to sustain the progress that we've been making together in our economy.”
“That's a good example of us keeping the reform wheels turning. But also, tomorrow, I'll be convening the state and territory treasurers. That's all about advancing our economic reform roundtable consensus together and recognising that if we want a more productive economy, the states have got a big role to play. So many of the productivity levers exist in the states, and that is why we work so closely with them and why tomorrow's meeting is so important. Tomorrow, we'll be progressing our single national market policy and lifting the ambition of our national competition policy. A big focus will be cutting red tape and making it easier for skilled workers to go where they're needed most so that tradies can save time and money.”
“We got new data today showing there was also solid consumption growth in July. All of this puts us in good stead for the global uncertainty which surrounds us and the big economic challenges which confront us. We know that there's more work to do, that people are under pressure and that the global environment is unpredictable. We know our economy needs to grow more strongly, and, for that, it needs to be more productive. We've made good progress, but we know there's more work to do. In that context, I welcome—in the last 1½ hours or so in the Senate—the passage of the government's payments reforms. These payments reforms are all about modernising our payment system and making our economy more productive as a consequence. These changes are about a payment system which is seamless, safer, stronger and better suited for the times.”
“Thank you to the member for Brisbane for the tremendous contribution she's already making to this place as a new, recently elected member. The national accounts this week were a really welcome reminder of the progress that Australians are making together in our economy and the stronger economy that this government is helping to deliver. We saw a substantial pick-up in economic growth, better than most economists expected. We saw more proof that the private sector recovery that we've been planning for, preparing for and hoping for is gathering pace. We also saw, as we heard in the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relation's answer a moment ago, that we're getting incomes up and seeing that reflected in consumption as well, and that's an important driver of growth.”
“The big story in the national accounts today was the pick-up and the recovery in the private sector in particular, and this is the recovery in the private sector that we've been planning for and preparing for and, frankly, hoping for. To see the private sector make the contribution to growth in the numbers today again was very welcome. The reason why the private sector is recovering, the reason why that's feeding through to the biggest contributor to growth in the quarter, which was consumption, is that this government has worked diligently every single day to lift wages and lift incomes in our economy. That's what's driving the improvement in growth in the numbers that were released today. Consumption is recovering in our economy because incomes are recovering in our economy.”
“Thanks to the new member for Bullwinkel for her important question and for all of her work in this place already as a new member of parliament focused on the most important issues. The numbers we got today in the national accounts were very encouraging, and they were very welcome. The numbers came in better than what almost all economists were expecting today. We saw growth in the quarter of 0.6. We saw through-the-year growth of 1.8. That beat expectations on both fronts, and that's a very good thing. Our economy is gathering pace and it's gathering momentum. We have seen in the data released today for the June quarter a very welcome and a substantial pick-up in growth in our economy, and that's important.”
“He has said publicly, I believe, that we'll be releasing the risk and adaptation work this month, September of 2025, and when that happens I'll be part of that because we've worked very closely together on it. And, when we release that important work, I'll welcome the contribution from the member for Warringah. These are important issues, and they do have a lot of economic consequences attached to them.”
“Thank you to the member for Warringah for her important question. The exposure is substantial, and that's why it was part of the discussions at the Economic Reform Roundtable. It's why we had the Conservation Foundation there, it's why we had Ken Henry there—for that and other reasons. It's front of mind for the government. I've been working very closely with the Minister for Climate Change and Energy on the risk and adaptation part of our climate change agenda. You're right to point out that it has very close alignment with all of our broader economic considerations as well. I've spent a lot of time with the minister on this question.”
“Already, in the last couple of weeks, we have taken action on some of the consensus that was reached there, on speeding up housing approvals, accelerating EPBC reform and abolishing nuisance tariffs. If you look at our economy and you see the national accounts tomorrow, it is looking more and more like the soft landing that we have been planning and preparing for in our economy. But we know that there's more to do to ensure that we turn our recent progress on the economy into higher living standards for our people into the future. That's this government's focus, even if it's not the focus of those opposite.”
“Thirty-two economies have gone backwards at least one-quarter in the last three years, but we aren't one of them. Growth is not as strong as we would like, but continuous economic growth in the circumstances we see around the world over the past three years is welcome. Our progress gives us a decent foundation to deal with the uncertainty which still surrounds us and the challenges which still confront us. We're working hard as a government to give people help with the cost of living—making medicines cheaper, cutting student debt, boosting wages and cutting taxes. But we know that there is more to do because people are still under pressure. We know that we have to make our economy more productive and resilient and our budget more sustainable. That was what the economic reform roundtable was all about.”
“Economists expect that overall economic growth picked up a little bit in the June quarter, but not a lot. The private sector is expected to be the primary driver of growth because public demand was flat. We know that already. We'll see what the rest of the numbers say tomorrow, but we already know that, since this government was elected, inflation is down. We've delivered two surpluses. We got the strongest real wages growth in five years. We've got recovering living standards. Interest rates have been cut three times in six months. And we've got the lowest average unemployment of any government in the last half a century. Now, we are one of only half a dozen economies, advanced economies, that have grown every quarter for the last three years.”
“Thanks, Mr Speaker. I know the member for Solomon won't mind, and I hope you won't mind, shouting out to my colleagues from the Queensland parliament who are up there, particularly my local member, Mick de Brenny, and my great mate Linus Power. The reason I raise the Logan members is that our community is getting a hard time on My Kitchen Rules right now, as I understand it, and, on behalf of the member for Logan, the member for Springwood and the member for Forde, we say to Lauren and Lilli: we are right behind you; we love our community and we believe in you, and you'll do a great job on our behalf. Tomorrow, we get the national accounts for the June quarter. That quarter was defined by extreme volatility on markets because of announcements about tariffs out of DC.”
“It means we will have removed around 1,000 tariffs over two years, streamlined approximately $23 billion worth of trade and saved Australian businesses $157 million in compliance costs each year. We've made a lot of progress in our economy together. We know that there is no shortage of challenges. There is more work to do, but already we are implementing some of the broad consensus achieved at the economic reform roundtable. (Time expired)”
“We've got a big productivity agenda focused on skills and technology and energy and competition policy. We've added to it since the reform roundtable as well. We're blitzing the approvals backlog to approve 26,000 homes. We're pausing and streamlining the National Construction Code. We've fast-tracked the legislation to get the EPBC laws right as well. We're also abolishing another 500 nuisance tariffs, on top of the 457 we already abolished. These nuisance tariffs can often do more harm than good in our economy. That's why we've slashed more tariffs in two years than any Australian government in two decades. This is about cutting red tape, easing the compliance burden on businesses, boosting productivity and getting costs down in our economy.”
“In fact, 32 out of 38 OECD nations have had a negative quarter of growth over the last three years, but Australia's economy has continued to tick over. We know, in acknowledging that our economy has continued to tick over, that, in most of the countries with which we compare ourselves, that has not been the case. But we would like growth in our economy to be stronger. There has been an absence of strong growth in our economy, and that's because our economy is not productive enough. That's what a big focus of the Economic Reform Roundtable was in Canberra in the last couple of weeks. When it comes to productivity, our focus is on productivity because that is the best way to turn the progress that we've already made in our economy into sustained increases in living standards and real wages over time.”
“Thank you to the member for Boothby, who has got one more question than the shadow Treasurer today in question time and focused on a really important issue and a timely one. On Wednesday, we will get the national accounts for the June quarter. We already know that, since this government came to office, we got inflation down, we got the debt down, real wages are growing, unemployment is low and interest rates are falling. But there is no shortage of challenges in our economy, and we expect to see some of that in the June national accounts, which reflect that period of extreme volatility and uncertainty following the announcement of the tariffs in the United States. Our economy over the last three years has continued to grow, and that makes us one of a small number of countries in the OECD for which that is the case.”
“I want to be really clear and say that the very last person on earth that I will be lectured by about energy prices is the member for Fairfax. The last people who took the member for Fairfax seriously on energy prices used to sit over there, and now they watch question time from home. That was the madness of the nuclear meltdown that the member for Fairfax was responsible for, and the pure madness of it was that he wanted to waste hundreds of billions of dollars building nuclear reactors that would push energy prices up, not down. We saved the Australian people from his madness.”
“If they have their way in the Senate tonight, there'll be 80,000 fewer homes in a country that desperately needs them. They wasted a decade, and we're trying to make up for lost time. We put to the people at the election more homes and smaller deposits. Those opposite put fewer homes and higher prices. Their madness in the Senate shows that they have not learned a thing. They have not changed a bit. All they have is the same nasty negativity that Australians rejected in May, and that will cost our country tens of thousands of homes.”
“That's still too high, but it would have been 5.1 per cent were it not for the changes that we are delivering to rent assistance. Construction costs grew 0.4 per cent in annual terms. They were growing 19.4 per cent when we came to office. Through our $43 billion Homes for Australia plan, we're investing more in this challenge than any government in the nation's history. We're blitzing the approvals backlog, building more homes, pausing and streamlining the code, fast-tracking assessment of more than 26,000 homes and bringing forward our five per cent deposits for first home buyers. We now know, though, that, in the Senate, those opposite are going to try to disallow our build-to-rent reforms that the industry think will deliver 80,000 new homes. This beggars belief, but it's true to form.”
“It's come down substantially under this government, and interest rates have come down three times as a consequence of that. As I've said before—I think I said it during question time this week—and as the Reserve Bank governor said, we know that the monthly inflation figures can jump around a bit. They're less reliable than the quarterly figures. They don't compare the same basket of goods and services from month to month. In this case, the volatile and one-off factors include the timing of the energy rebates. But underneath the headline figures today there were some very encouraging signs on housing. Rental growth was lower because of our boost to Commonwealth rent assistance. Rents rose 3.9 per cent in the year to July.”
“Can I salute the influential role that the member for Reid plays in in the delivery of our cost-of-living assistance and also our housing policy. New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics today showed that headline and underlying inflation ticked up in July, but they were still well within the Reserve Bank's target band. This makes it the eighth month in a row that headline inflation and underlying inflation have come in either within or below the Reserve Bank's target range. Even though these numbers came in a little higher than market economists expected, they are a reminder that inflation has more than halved since we came to government. When we came to office, those opposite left us monthly inflation at 6.1 per cent and absolutely galloping.”
“Blitzing the backlog, pausing the code and streamlining environmental assessments will all help to clean up the mess that was left to us by those opposite. When it came to housing, they had a wasted decade of missed opportunity and warped priorities. We are turning that around. We're seeing some progress. We know we've got more to do.”
“Cost growth in construction has also moderated substantially. That part of the CPI grew 0.4 per cent through the year. It was growing 19.4 per cent when we came to office. So we're investing more in this challenge than any government in the nation's history. We've added to that plan in the past couple of days. We are blitzing the approvals backlog. We are building more homes. We are pausing and streamlining the National Construction Code. We are fast-tracking assessment of more than 26,000 homes. Today we've announced that we are also accelerating our reforms of national environment laws. We will introduce legislation here before the end of the year to deliver this. The reform roundtable has provided important consensus and important momentum around these next steps.”
“But just today the Reserve Bank released their meeting minutes from August, which said this: Dwelling investment was showing clear signs of strengthening. As the PM said a moment ago, there are a number of ways that we are seeing this progress. Building approvals are up almost 30 per cent compared to a year ago. When we came to office, they were going backwards by 20 per cent. Dwelling commencements are up 17.3 per cent in annual terms. They were falling 28.5 per cent when we came to office—the biggest fall in two decades, under those opposite. Dwelling investment is now growing at 5.6 per cent. It was going backwards by 5.1 per cent when we came to office. Importantly the key driver was investment in new builds, which rose 6.3 per cent, compared to falling 8.4 per cent when we came to office.”
“(): I thank the wonderful member for Macquarie for her important question. Housing is a big focus of this Labor government, and it was an area where much welcome and meaningful progress was made at the Economic Reform Roundtable last week. I pay tribute to the Minister for Housing again for the work that went into that and the work that has followed that as well, because the housing challenge was ignored in a wasted decade of missed opportunities and messed-up priorities under our predecessors, where they racked up mountains of debt and deficits and still made no meaningful investments in addressing this housing challenge. We're working very hard to turn that around. We've seen some progress, and that's welcome, but we know that there is much more for us to do to hit our ambitious targets.”
“The most recent data showed us that much more than half of government board positions are now held by women—the highest level since reporting began in 2009. And I know that the member for Mackellar cares deeply about diversity when it comes to government appointments. I wanted to say it's a source of considerable pride to me as Treasurer, and to this government, that in the Treasury portfolio for the first time there's a woman as the head of the Reserve Bank; for the first time, as the head of the PC; for the first time, as the head of Treasury.”
“And we provided critically needed resources to underfunded areas of the Public Service, like processing the backlog of veterans claims. I pay tribute to the minister for that. Now, all of this is part of our ambitious agenda, and we did, as the honourable member said, ask Lynelle Briggs to review the arrangements for appointments to Public Service boards as well. We asked Lynelle Briggs to provide us with advice on clarifying the role of public sector boards and the skills we need on those boards, how board members should be identified and recruited and how we improve the diversity of board membership, and here we have been making very substantial progress. We've improved public sector board diversity since coming to office.”
“Thank you to the member for Mackellar for the opportunity to answer this question on Minister Gallagher's behalf. I'll begin by saying that the government has a broad and ambitious Public Service reform agenda. It is about transparency. It is about making sure that we make the best appointments that we can, as a government, as well. The Briggs report is an important part of that work, but it's not the only part of that work. In our first term we improved and reformed the Public Service, to boost its capability, its integrity and its performance, after a wasted decade under the coalition defined by robodebt. We established the National Anti-Corruption Commission. We've strengthened protection for whistleblowers. We embedded stewardship, as a core value of the Public Service, into law.”
“We know that the economy is finely balanced between the progress that we have made as Australians and the more productive economy that we need to see in the future to sustain that progress in living standards. Those opposite always want to talk our economy down. When they talk our economy down, they talk the Australian people down as well. Under this government, we have come a long way together. We are focused on delivery. We're considering the next steps in a collaborative way because we know that the best progress that we can make is the progress we make together. You can see that inflation, interest rates, real wages and low unemployment— (Time expired)”
“Remember that real wages were falling fast when we came to office. On the Thursday of that week, unemployment ticked down and we learned that around 25,000 new jobs were created in the month of July. Under this government, it remains the case that average unemployment is lower than for any other government in the last 50 years. Last week, we saw confidence lift substantially and the stock market crack 9,000 points for the first time ever. We know that there is much more work to do. We know that people are still under pressure. We know that the global environment is uncertain and that growth in our economy is softer than we want it to be. There are persistent structural issues which we are paying attention to.”
“That monthly figure usually bounces around a bit, but anything in the twos will be a handy reminder of how far we have come since the days of inflation higher than six per cent and rising when we came to office. That progress on inflation has given the Reserve Bank the confidence and the comfort that they needed to cut interest rates not just once, not just twice but three times, all in the space of six months. When interest rates were cut a couple of weeks ago, it kicked off probably the best three consecutive days of economic news we have had for some time. On the Tuesday, interest rates were cut. That provided welcome relief to millions of Australians with a mortgage under pressure. On the Wednesday of that week, annual real wages grew for the seventh consecutive quarter, the strongest real wages growth in five years.”
“There's no member of this House more in touch with their local community than the member for McEwen. I thank him for his question. Since this House last met, we have had some important reminders of the progress that Australians are making together in our economy. We have spoken a lot about housing today and we did yesterday as well. A really important part of that recent progress has been made on interest rates. When we came to office, interest rates were already rising because inflation was much higher than it is now and it was rising fast. Now, inflation has fallen substantially and in a sustained and welcome way. We'll get more monthly inflation data on Wednesday.”
“From time to time, when cases like this pop up, we make sure that we take them into consideration to make sure that the FIRB system remains as good as it can be.”
“What we are doing is making sure that our foreign investment arrangements keep pace. Obviously we see these sorts of cases pop up from time to time. We spend time analysing those cases and working out whether a change is necessary. But, overall, the FIRB system is robust. We have made some recent changes. They've been about quickening the pace of approvals. There are some historical cases like this one which pique our interest but are not inconsistent with the arrangements set up by those opposite. So my commitment to the House and more broadly is to continue to make sure that the arrangements are the right arrangements to protect our national interests. We do have a robust foreign investment screening regime. That's very important. That's the way that we build trust to attract the foreign investment that our economy needs.”
“Thank you to the Leader of the Nationals for his question. I think, as he and the House know, Australia welcomes foreign investment, but it has to be in our national economic interest. There are strict rules and thresholds that apply to people purchasing agricultural or commercial land in Australia. These are enforced—again, as he knows—by the foreign investment decision of the Treasury. We allocated another almost $16 million in the 2024 budget to enhance this kind of monitoring and enforcement and also to strengthen and streamline the system. The settings and thresholds in this case are applicable to private investors from the United States. They were established by our free trade agreement which was entered into by the coalition 20-odd years ago and that remains the case today.”
“We've been able to make some good progress cleaning up the mess that was left to us by those opposite; they left us a trillion dollars of Liberal debt and huge deficits as far as the eye could see. We turned two of those Liberal deficits into two substantial Labor surpluses. We will stack up our record on responsible economic management against those opposite's any day, and I hope that these questions continue. When I was told that the member for Fairfax gave a speech about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , I confess that the word 'Wonka' was almost the word that came to mind!”
“I'll give you three numbers. Under this government, we've banked about 70 per cent of upward revision to revenue. Under those opposite it was about 40 per cent, and under Howard and Costello it was 30 per cent. What that tells the House and the shadow Treasurer is that we banked most of the upward revisions to revenue and they spent most of it. That's why their fiscal rules in office weren't worth the paper that they were written on. They failed every single test that they set for themselves. They said they'd deliver surpluses, and they went none for nine—complete doughnuts when it comes to surpluses. We delivered surpluses in our first two years in office. What matters here is the fiscal rules and also outcomes.”
“We have engineered the biggest positive turnaround in a budget in nominal terms in the history of the Federation. We have banked most of the upward revisions to revenue. We found $100 billion in savings. We have limited real spending growth to 1.7 per cent. We've got debt down by $177 billion. That means $60 billion less debt interest that Australians have to pay. We have debt to GDP down from 45 under them to 37 under us. Those opposite had fiscal rules which weren't worth the paper they were written on. They said there'd be surpluses. There were only deficits. They said they'd save upgrades. They spent most of them. They said they would reduce payments. Payments went up. They said they would reduce debt. Debt doubled even before COVID, never ever forget. They went to the election with higher taxes, bigger deficits and debt.”
“Those rules are to improve the budget position, and we have. They are to get debt down as a share of the economy, and we have. They are to bank up with revisions to revenue, and we have. We have fiscal rules in our budget and we have been complying with our fiscal rules. There are always a range of views about how to update those rules. Those views are welcome. We consider our fiscal rules before every budget. Those rules are important, but what matters more than that are the outcomes. Here's the difference between this side of the House and that side of the House and the reason I am so delighted that the member for Fairfax has asked me this question. On our watch, we have turned big Liberal deficits into substantial Labor surpluses, the first surpluses in almost two decades.”
“I was hoping he would ask me that because it gives me the opportunity to remind the House that the three fiscal rules that those opposite took to the election were (1) higher taxes, (2) bigger deficits and (3) more debt. Those were the fiscal rules that those opposite took to the most recent election and so the dishonesty and the hypocrisy at the core of that question is astonishing, even by their low standards. It shows that they have absolutely no idea and absolutely no shame. It wasn't even four months ago that they took a policy for higher taxes, bigger deficits and more debt to the most recent election. What matters here when it comes to fiscal rules is the outcomes. In office, they failed every single test that they set for themselves. We have fiscal rules to guide us in the budget.”
“We're focused on delivering the agenda that we took to the election. But we know that the best way to work out the next steps in our economy and in our country is to do that in our usual considered, consultative and collaborative way, because we know that the best progress we can make, whether in housing or in the economy more broadly, is to make that progress together.”
“The Economic Reform Roundtable was a really cherished opportunity to sharpen our focus, to share our ideas, to build some consensus and to build some much-needed dimension in our economy. Ten reform areas were agreed as priorities: (1) housing, as I said; (2) a single market in the federation; (3) simpler trade and tariffs; (4) better regulation; (5) faster approvals; (6) AI as a national priority; (7) attraction of investment; (8) skills; (9) tax; and (10) modernisation of government. From these directions, we are already working up urgent actions, like those announced yesterday by my colleagues, and there is more to come. We have been making progress in our economy. We've seen that in the inflation data. We've seen it in interest rates coming down and real wages growing. We have an agenda.”
“We are blitzing the approvals backlog and we are building more homes, and there was very strong support for this urgent action at the Economic Reform Roundtable. It's a very good example of the consensus and the momentum that we were able to build there in really important areas. Housing was a key consideration, but it wasn't the only focus. More broadly, we know that the best way to grow living standards over time is to make our economy more productive and more resilient and our budget more sustainable. We also know that the worst decade for productivity growth in this country was the 2010s, under those opposite. And we know that weak productivity growth has been part of our economy for the last couple of decades, not just the last couple of years, and it's a challenge shared around the world. It will take time to turn it around.”
“The member for Calwell brings so much to this place, and we're really looking forward to working with him on the cost of living, on housing and on the economy more broadly. Housing approvals in our economy are up by almost 30 per cent since this time last year. That's a good reminder of the work we are doing and the progress we're making, but we acknowledge that we've still got a very long way to go together. We know it still takes longer to approve a house than to build one and that there's more to do to hit our ambitious housing target. That's why the announcements we made yesterday and today are so important, especially when it comes to approvals. I pay tribute to the housing minister and the environment minister for yesterday's announcement in particular.”
“I pay tribute to former Treasurer Swan and former assistant Treasurer Bowen for legislating the increase in the superannuation guarantee. This government oversaw the 12 per cent superannuation guarantee, and that was what Paul was talking about when he put that statement out. I won't be taking lectures on superannuation from those opposite. They hated superannuation from John Howard on. We believe in superannuation, and that includes making sure that the concessions are sustainable. (Time expired)”
“We speak about this matter from time to time. We speak about a whole range of matters from time to time, and I value the engagement. The reason this is so important, and the reason this rare question from the shadow Treasurer is so unfortunate, is Paul put out a statement talking about the balance that people have in their superannuation—because he was rightly celebrating the fact that this side of the House is delivering a 12 per cent superannuation guarantee. The reason that's so important is, at every single turn, those opposite have tried to diminish and undermine superannuation. Superannuation is one of the great public policy triumphs of this country, and we are very proud of it. It took three Labor governments to get superannuation from nine to 12 per cent—Paul Keating's government obviously played a decisive role.”
“What that tells us is that they haven't listened, they haven't learned and they haven't changed. They weren't listening to what the Australian people told them on 3 May. When it comes to Paul Keating—first of all, as the Minister for Climate Change and Energy reminds us, you should hear what Paul Keating thinks about you lot. That's the first point. The second point is that I think it's a matter of public record that I value my relationship with Paul Keating. He's someone I've known for a long time and he's someone that I continue to admire. It's possible to admire Paul Keating and to respect Paul Keating and to occasionally have a different view to Paul Keating. That's what's happened on this occasion. I've said that publicly on a number of occasions. I mean no disrespect to Paul when I say it.”
“I was beginning to wonder where the shadow Treasurer had got to, so I welcome his question today about these changes. His question has a number of important elements. First of all, I want to remind the House that when it comes to the changes that we are proposing to superannuation, this side of the House is cutting taxes for 100 per cent of the 14 million Australian workers in the income tax system, while that side of the House wants to go to the wall for half a per cent of people who already have more than $3 million in superannuation, so there is a difference here between this side of the House and that side of the House. They wanted to jack up taxes on every single Australian taxpaying worker, but they will go to the wall for half a per cent of people, some of whom have hundreds of millions of dollars already in superannuation.”
“It would be pointless if that were the case. And we don't expect to solve every single problem in our economy in three days—some of these problems have been building for three decades. But we do expect the roundtable to help set some general directions and to pitch up specific ideas. There will be more work for the government to do after the roundtable and in advance of the next budget. We have made good progress together in our economy as Australians. We do have a big agenda we're rolling out. This government figures the best way to work out the next steps is to do that together, and that's what the reform roundtable is all about.”