Interview with Sally Sara, RN Breakfast, ABC Radio

Subjects: Labor National Conference, paid prac, ALP draft platform Sally Sara: Jim Chalmers is the federal Treasurer and joins me now. Treasurer, welcome back to Jim Chalmers: Thanks for having me back on, Sally. How much do you get involved in these delicate discussions ahead of the conference?

I get involved in the policies in my own area. I think every Cabinet minister’s involved in some of those sorts of discussions. But I think what the National Conference reflects is that Labor’s a grassroots party, it’s a key reason why we were formed, it’s why we’ve endured, and you can see that reflected on the conference floor.

And today’s a big today, because today’s all about delivering real change in an economy that works for everyone, and in the face of accelerating change and intensifying global and generational pressures with a big focus on the cost of living. And that’s why the Prime Minister’s announcement today is really important, because it is about the cost of living, and in his speech, he’ll be announcing that we are extending the Paid Prac program.

You’d remember that this is how we help, whether it’s nursing, midwifery, teaching students with the cost of living while they do these prac placements. It’s been a really important and successful policy, and today we’re extending it to more students in the health sector in particular; physio, psychology, pharmacy and a whole range of other parts of the health sector as well.

This is how we help with the cost of living, we help train more health workers and we also strengthen Medicare at the same time by helping people who would otherwise have to give up shifts in order to do these prac placements. Treasurer, in your view, what is the greatest single challenge the Labor Party is facing right now? Well, we’ve got a series of serious challenges in our economy.

I think every developed economy around the world is dealing with these intensifying global pressures against the backdrop of some very substantial generational challenges too – the AI revolution, the energy transformation, the changes to our industrial base, the ageing of our population, the fragmenting of geopolitics, all of this presents parties of the sensible centre and the centre left, parties like the Australian Labor Party, with a series of very serious economic challenges, and in our political system in Australia really it’s only Labor which is working through and addressing these challenges in a methodical and a measured and in a mainstream way.

From an electoral perspective, how significant a challenge is One Nation electorally now for the Labor Party? We don’t lightly dismiss the challenge posed by, whether it’s the Liberals and Nationals or One Nation. In our political system we don’t take the outcome of future elections for granted.

It is the case that we’ve got a strong majority in the House of Representatives, but politics is volatile, and at a time when we do have these intensifying pressures, at a time when there is accelerating change in our community, in our economy and in and around the world, we understand that that creates some legitimate anxiety about what the future holds for people, and sometimes that encourages people to consider political alternatives, and so we don’t lightly dismiss any of that.

More than acknowledge that, we’re acting on those very real pressures, those very real anxieties that people feel, including in some of the areas we’ve already talked about, like AI, like the energy transformation and some of these other economic challenges. The ALP draft platform includes the quote, ‘Labor will ensure that Australian people receive a fairer return from their natural resources, including through appropriate taxation arrangements’.

Do you accept that the word ‘fairer’ is a call for the government to revisit the way it taxes gas? Well, a couple of things about that. First of all, not just in the Labor Party but in the Australian community more broadly, people do have strong views, and varied views about this issue.

I understand that, I acknowledge that. When it comes to the appropriate taxation arrangements, this is really behind the important changes I made to the PRRT a couple of years ago to make sure that we are getting a fairer return sooner from the offshore gas industry that helps fund Medicare and tax cuts and all of the rest of it. And so from my point of view, I’ve put a lot of time and effort into making sure that we are getting a fairer return.

Now, the other important part of that motion that you’re referring to talks about making sure that we balance that with our other responsibilities as a reliable international supplier, and that’s part of the government’s focus as well. So I do expect this issue to come up through the course of today, it has come up before, it comes up broadly in the Australian community, but it’s important to remember that the government has taken important steps to make the taxation of natural resources fairer, and we are focused on a number of things, including our international responsibilities, but as well as that the Gas Reservation Policy which means reserving more of our gas for domestic use.

Some of the news of the day today, The Australian has reported this morning that the federal government knew that Australian‑born Dr Tareq Kamleh, who became an Islamic State fighter and was presumed dead, was still alive and in an Iraqi jail, and he may now seek to return home. Is that report accurate? I’m not aware of every detail of that report, obviously, I’ve had it referred to me.

The government hasn’t and won’t be providing any assistance to any Australian who made the choice to join a terrorist organisation. We’ve been really clear that for some individuals in this cohort, returning to Australia would mean facing the full force of the law. Did the government know that he was alive and in prison in Iraq?

Well, to be upfront with you, Sally, the only details I have are the details in the story, I haven’t been involved in any of these sorts of considerations as Treasurer. In a separate issue, the government has refused a visa to an ex‑ASIO source who’s trying to give evidence to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. If the Royal Commission wants to hear from this witness, why is the government standing in the way?

I wouldn’t describe it exactly like that, Sally. It’s up to the Royal Commission to determine who they speak to, it’s up to them to work out the best way to speak with them if they need to. But for all of the usual reasons, I obviously wouldn’t go into the specifics of any one visa application as Treasurer.

On separate issues, Treasurer, the conference that’s happening today, previously the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, more than a decade ago himself made a passionate dissenting speech on the issue of boat turn‑backs. Do you think that open disagreement is healthy for the party, or is it better to present a united front? I don’t necessarily think it’s an either/or.

What we do in the Labor Party and we have done for more than a century now is respect and recognise the key role of the grassroots of our movement and that has involved over a really long period of time now, older than federation, the Australian Labor Party has taken its role as the grassroots party very seriously, and that means from time to time people bring to conferences like this one a range of different views.

I think that’s a good thing. At the end of the day, as important as the platform is, the policies of the government are determined by the Cabinet, but the grassroots process that feeds into our platform development is very important to us, it has been for a very long time, and I hope it continues to be for a long time as well. Treasurer, thank you for joining me this morning.

Thanks so much, Sally. That’s the federal Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, there.