Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Shadow Finance spokesperson Senator Jane Hume says the Federal budget has failed to help the family budget and ease cost of living pressures

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Shadow Finance spokesperson Senator Jane Hume says the Federal budget has failed to help the family budget and ease cost of living pressures · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We've certainly been going through the federal budget this morning,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: speaking much earlier on the show about some of the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: different wins I guess you'd say for the Northern Territory
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: when it comes to infrastructure, but some of the serious
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: concerns still from a lot of Australians and from a
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: lot of you here in the Northern Territory when it
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: comes to cost of living. Now joining me on the
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  Speaker 1: line right now is Senator Jane Hume, who is indeed
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the shadow Finance Minister.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Jane.
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  Speaker 3: Great to be with you, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for your time this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Jane, from your perspective, do you feel as though
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  Speaker 1: this budget's gone far enough to try to lower the
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  Speaker 1: cost of living for Australians.
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  Speaker 3: Well, this budget really was a test for the new
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  Speaker 3: Labor government. It was a test to see whether it
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  Speaker 3: could build on the strong position that it inherited from
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  Speaker 3: the Coalition. You know, unemployment rates lower three percent and
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  Speaker 3: going down, a triple A credit rating, economic growth going up.
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  Speaker 3: And it was also a test to see whether they
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  Speaker 3: could address this cost of living crisis. It's bearing down
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  Speaker 3: on all Australians right now. But Labor failed that they've
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: failed it wholeheartedly. They did absolutely nothing to assist your
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  Speaker 3: family budget. There is no credible plan in the budget
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  Speaker 3: to deal with the source of inflation. Not the sametimes
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  Speaker 3: with the source of inflation and help families deal with
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  Speaker 3: that immediate cost of living pressure. They actually said, embedded
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  Speaker 3: in the budget that your cost of living is going
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  Speaker 3: to go up, that your electricity bills and your gas
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  Speaker 3: bills are going to go up, but your tax payments
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: are going to go up. The government spending is going
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  Speaker 3: to go up, but that employment will go down. Around
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  Speaker 3: one hundred and forty thousand people are going to lose
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  Speaker 3: their jobs next year, and that real wages are also
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  Speaker 3: forecast to go down, not just next year but for
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  Speaker 3: the whole term of this government. So this is a
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  Speaker 3: really high taxing, high spending budget and it really does
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  Speaker 3: go little to help you and your family get ahead
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  Speaker 3: of the curve.
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  Speaker 1: Jim, what do you make of Jim Chalmers obviously saying
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  Speaker 1: that they've got this five point plan for cost of
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  Speaker 1: living related cheaper childcare, expanding paid parental leave, cheaper medicines,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: more affordable housing, and getting wages moving again. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: I think that that last point's the hardest one. How
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  Speaker 1: exactly are they going to get wages moving again?
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  Speaker 3: Well, this is the thing. Getting wages moving again takes
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  Speaker 3: more than a wish. You know, you've got to be
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  Speaker 3: able to really back it in with high productivity and
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  Speaker 3: economic growth. And there's really nothing in this budget to
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  Speaker 3: improve the productive capacity of the economy. Those five points
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  Speaker 3: that Labour said were going to reduce the cost of living,
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  Speaker 3: most of them don't even kick in for the next
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  Speaker 3: two years. And the problem is Australians need help with
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  Speaker 3: the cost of living right now. Childcare reform is fantastic,
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  Speaker 3: that'll make childcare cheaper, but the problem is really not
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  Speaker 3: only affordability, it's accessibility. Where are these you know, where's
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  Speaker 3: this demand going to go? Because there's particularly regional communities
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  Speaker 3: are really struggling to find accessible childcare and you know,
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  Speaker 3: paid parentally. Well, that sterrific if you're in the first
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  Speaker 3: six months of having a baby. But for most Australian people,
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  Speaker 3: for most Australian families, there's very little in that five
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  Speaker 3: point plan that will make a difference today.
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  Speaker 1: Now for the Northern Territory, there is quite a bit
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  Speaker 1: in it for us when it comes to infrastructure. Two
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  Speaker 1: point five billion dollars towards key infrastructure projects, along with
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  Speaker 1: some more housing investments in remote communities and more places
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  Speaker 1: for territorians at university. We do still have issues though,
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  Speaker 1: like with workforce. You know, we hear it pretty regularly
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  Speaker 1: on the show, people saying to us and businesses saying
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: to us, you know, Katie, we need help to try
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  Speaker 1: to get workers into jobs and to try to attract
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  Speaker 1: people to live here.
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  Speaker 3: Well, and that's exactly right. And because we're now forecasting
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  Speaker 3: there's going to be job losses right around the country,
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  Speaker 3: this is going to have an effect on where the
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  Speaker 3: businesses reinvest and whether they can grow and whether they
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  Speaker 3: can employ people where people are needed. We already know
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  Speaker 3: that there are job shortages in things like childcare, like
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  Speaker 3: age care, and yet this budget is essentially planning to
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  Speaker 3: have these industries filled miraculously magically, somehow over the next
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  Speaker 3: couple of years. And while there's some really good infrastructure
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  Speaker 3: investments certainly being made in the Northern territory, I've got
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  Speaker 3: to start questioning some of the other choices of infrastructure
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  Speaker 3: spending over I'm from Victoria. One of the commitments that
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  Speaker 3: we've made in this government was two point two billion
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  Speaker 3: dollars of taxpayers money to a suburban rail loop, which
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  Speaker 3: is a commitment of the Andrews Labor government down there
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  Speaker 3: five weeks out from an election. Now, Labor did say
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  Speaker 3: before the election that they were going to make sure
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  Speaker 3: that every dollar that they spend was quality spending and
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  Speaker 3: that was going to be the difference between the Labor
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  Speaker 3: government and a Coalist government. Well, quite frankly, the suburban
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  Speaker 3: rail loop hasn't even been through infrastructure Australia. The cock
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  Speaker 3: benefit analysis doesn't stack up, and the Victoria Victaire and
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  Speaker 3: Order to General said much so that really you know,
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  Speaker 3: belies that proclamation by the Labor government prior to the election.
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  Speaker 3: But it's not a surprise because you know, hey, prior
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  Speaker 3: to the election they also said they were going to
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  Speaker 3: bring down electricity prices by two hundred and seventy five
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  Speaker 3: dollars and they've certainly renegged on that energy prices are
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  Speaker 3: going up fifty percent electricity fifty percent, gas forty percent.
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  Speaker 3: And they also said that Australians would be better off
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  Speaker 3: under a Labor government, that they would feel it in
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  Speaker 3: their bank accounts. Well, I think that there's a few
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  Speaker 3: Australians out there that are feeling in their bank accounts,
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  Speaker 3: but not the way that Jim Chalmers said they were
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  Speaker 3: going on.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Jane, one of the areas it was certainly not
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  Speaker 1: not seeing it in our bank accounts is when it.
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  Speaker 2: Comes to the cost of petrol.
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  Speaker 1: And there's on flow in so many different areas, particularly
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  Speaker 1: in regional parts of Australia and places like the Northern Territory,
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  Speaker 1: in more remote areas of the territory. But what we've
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  Speaker 1: now learned through the Australian Financial Review, they're saying that
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  Speaker 1: costs could jump by forty cents a later within a week,
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  Speaker 1: potentially skyrocketing some of those prices around Australia's major eton cities.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Now they're talking sort of two dollars fourteen prices. When
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  Speaker 1: it comes to unlettered we're already incredibly high at this
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  Speaker 1: point here in the territory. Do you think that more
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  Speaker 1: could have been done around petrol? And I know that
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  Speaker 1: obviously the Coalition had announced or did have the fuel
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  Speaker 1: excise in place.
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  Speaker 2: It was incredibly expensive.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know whether that could have continued on, But
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  Speaker 1: could we be doing more in this space?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think there's certainly more that we can be
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  Speaker 3: doing to tackle the cost of living more broadly, Yes,
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  Speaker 3: you're right. When the Coalition was in government and the
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  Speaker 3: cost of living pressures began to bite, our response, particularly
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: to the increased petrol crisis because of the crisis in
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  Speaker 3: the Ukraine, was to temporarily reduce the excise. That was
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  Speaker 3: one cost of living measure that we implemented. Now Labor
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  Speaker 3: decided not to continue with that for their own reasons.
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  Speaker 3: They had advice that suggested that that was not the
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  Speaker 3: best solution. But if that wasn't the best solution, what
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  Speaker 3: is the best solution? Because reducing pressure on interest rates
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  Speaker 3: and inflation through careful budget management isn't what they've done.
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  Speaker 3: In fact, we're saying debt and deficits blow out across
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  Speaker 3: the next teen years, and clearly reducing into electricity prices
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  Speaker 3: and gas prices isn't. It isn't something that they've been
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  Speaker 3: advised to do, because they're predicting fifty forty percent rises
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  Speaker 3: in electricity and gas, so they're really not tackling supply constraints.
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  Speaker 3: They're not tackling red tape, you know, they're actually increasing
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  Speaker 3: union action, which is going to be a cost of
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  Speaker 3: small business. I'm struggling to see where it is that
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  Speaker 3: they are helping out with the cost of living for
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  Speaker 3: ordinary australiums.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Joan Hume, you've given people a bit to think
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  Speaker 1: about there, the shadow Finance Minister. We really appreciate your
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  Speaker 1: time this morning. Thanks so much for having a chat
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  Speaker 1: with us.
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  Speaker 3: Great to be with you, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.