Treasurer Jim Chalmers has told ABC’s Q+A he does not believe Australia is headed for a recession, despite a worsening global economic outlook.
The Treasurer appeared opposite host Stan Grant as the only guest on Thursday night and was questioned about the lack of help the Budget offered to Australians struggling with the soaring cost of living as inflation and interest rates rise.
However, when asked by audience member Anam Khan if Australia was headed back to the dark days of the 1990s, Dr Chalmers played down the risk of a recession.
“It’s certainly not the Treasury’s expectation in their forecasts that we will go that way,” Dr Chalmers said.
Jim Chalmers faces a round of quick fire questions. #QandA pic.twitter.com/FZVrCrbwji
— QandA (@QandA) November 3, 2022
“Europe will and the UK will. Other countries are at risk as well. And we won’t be completely immune from that.
“When the global economy turns down substantially, as it did almost 15 years ago, as it did a couple of years ago, we can’t completely escape the consequences of that but … I don’t expect us to go into recession.”
Those comments are in line with what Reserve Bank of Australia officials said in September, however, Dr Chalmers was challenged by Mr Grant that he did not really know if the nation would avoid a recession.
Dr Chalmers repeated his claim that it was unlikely but said that, if Australia did not get inflation under control, then a recession could be more likely, while also warning painful times were still ahead.
“Our economy will slow quite substantially next year as a consequence of the global downturn, the impact of higher interest rates, and some other issues as well,” he said.
“Over the next six, 12 or 18 months, we are in for some very tricky terrain from a global point of view. And we will feel the impact here.”
Energy regulation by Christmas
Some of that pain was indicated by the RBA on Tuesday as interest rates rose another 0.25 percentage points and a warning came that inflation would hit 8 per cent by the end of the year, before gradually falling back to a little above 3 per cent in 2024.
Should the government be applying greater pressure on energy companies to provide households with cost-of-living relief? #QandA pic.twitter.com/TiIACxVyrB
— QandA (@QandA) November 3, 2022
While interest rates are rising rapidly, so too is the cost of energy, and audience members demanded to know whether the government had formulated a plan to tackle the issue, after the Budget failed to do so in a meaningful way.
One audience member said they had just paid a $1600 energy bill and, when asked if it would get worse, Dr Chalmers said yes before citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a reason.
It was put to him by Mr Grant that, that as an answer, was not good enough, which led to Dr Chalmers saying a plan was being formulated and would arrive by Christmas.
“That’s my intention,” Dr Chalmers said on the Christmas timeline.
“There are three paths: the first is something in the tax area, the second path is around subsidies … whether that be to people or to companies, and, thirdly, whether there’s some kind of change in regulation that can bring the price down.
“Our preference is to do something with regulation.
“The work that I was doing even up to coming on the show, is to see, with other ministers … and the prime minister, whether there’s some kind of intervention that we can make to keep these prices down.
“That’s our preference, but we don’t want to rule out subsidies or tax.”
Dr Chalmers also said that the government was considering price caps in the energy market before being asked if Labor would still honour its election promise of a $275 reduction in power prices.
He again turned to the war in Ukraine as a reason things have become more expensive and said the 2021 modelling that promise was based on was for a short war in Europe.
Republic on the government agenda
While the bulk of the episode focused on financial issues, the Treasurer put the issue of Australia becoming a republic back on the agenda, when asked about it.
Whose face would Jim Chalmers like to see on Australia’s next five dollar note? #QandA pic.twitter.com/lqXB4MH66K
— QandA (@QandA) November 3, 2022
With Queen Elizabeth II having died and King Charles III the new monarch, he said the republican issue was back on the agenda and that the government would push for it after a Voice to Parliament referendum had been settled.
“The first thing that we need to do is a Voice to Parliament,” Dr Chalmers said.
“When we achieve that together, then we need to move on to a republic.
“I cannot believe that a country like us, in this day and age, couldn’t see itself with one of our own as our head of state.
“I think that’s so important. It’s one of the reasons why I’m here in the first place — but first, the Voice to Parliament.”
2020 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
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Has far as power prices go WHY haven’t the power companies stated why the prices have to go up? All other companies have to prove their price increase to the authorities I believe. I cannot see how prices have to go up 50% and not be justified. No one has said anything about why prices have to go up so high.
The energy crisis could be alleviated by the use of nuclear energy. This source of energy would make use of existing generation structure associaated with coal and gas sysstems. the cost of neclear enargy is approxomately half that of the preent sysstem and is only prevented by the stubborn opposition of the present government.
I am still wondering why we have this total unjustified panic on climate control. We, in the world situation, produce just over 1% of the so called pollution and most of that is from nature. It is only because of the fanatics that hysteria is created and consequently to gain fame and importance you end up the the following the herd. I mean, some clown recently when commenting on the floods in an area, said “it is the worst in history”. The kind of comment that sucks in the other attention seekers. If I had responded to the statement made the question would be “Are you over 4.5 million years old?”.
Anyway instead of power prices increasing in large lumps and to avoid overload and blackouts in this country the sensible option is to continue using our current power stations. Surely investigation and investment in developing the current coal power stations to burn a lot more cleanly. Anyone who thinks that we will solve the world’s climate control is spending too much time on the wrong drugs.
Until the likes of China, India and a pile of other countries make moves to reduce pollution we are currently making stupid restrictions to cater for minimal pollution. If you have any interest in history. the current so-called climate caused floods and bush-fires have been happening for ever and will continue to do so – they are cyclical so don’t create false panic by blaming climate control. Even in our short time we have been record keeping we can go back to worst calamities in the past.
Don’t continue following the excuse or a Prime Minister in New Zealand. Her actions on climate control are purely attention seeking. It appears she likes being on the world stage. The New Zealand Prime Minister is putting through legislation to virtually wipe out farming in New Zealand by taxing (or whatever means) to cut down/out cattle and sheep farting. This will close down a large number of farms and dangerously ruin one of that country’s main incomes. She says it is following the United Nations climate policies but completely ignores that the UN had in their policies state that nothing in relation to climate control must affect food production!
Well done NZ Government
ronloby 4 November 2022 at 6:57 pm
As far as power prices go WHY haven’t the power companies stated why the prices have to go up? All other companies have to prove their price increase to the authorities I believe. I cannot see how prices have to go up 50% and not be justified. No one has said anything about why prices have to go up so high.
This muppet is probably hoping to find a plan in his christmas stocking, fat chance, hopeless muppets running this country and who would believe anything said on Q&A, this show has long ago lost its credibility. Far more important issues and all they can talk about is the voice and republic.