Australian Treasurer Travels Across the Country to Sell the Budget

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers speaks at a press conference inside the Budget lockup at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on May 9, 2023. AAP Image/Lukas Coch

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers is touring around the country to persuade Australians about the benefits of his second budget amid lacklustre support from the public.

The treasurer is set to visit five capital cities to speak to business groups, unions and communities, with Sydney being his first destination.

This comes after the Labor government outlined a $14.6 billion cost-of-living package in the 2023-2024 budget, which has stoked fears about worsening inflation.

“Our budget sees people through difficult times and sets our country up for the future. It helps Australians doing it tough and makes significant inroads in cleaning up the mess we inherited from the Coalition,” Chalmers said.

“We understand that people are under the pump. My job this week is to tell more people how our investments in the budget can help.”

At the same time, Chalmers did not explicitly reject the Opposition’s proposal to raise the working hours limit for people receiving the JobSeeker support payment.

Following the budget’s release, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has called on the government to increase the maximum number of working hours for JobSeeker recipients instead of lifting the base rate of the support payment by $40 (US$26.7) per fortnight.

Under the current policy, JobSeeker recipients will have their payments reduced if they earn more than $150 per fortnight.

“We think the better approach is to allow people on the JobSeeker payment to work, say, five or 10 hours a fortnight,” Dutton said.

“It would give them a lot of extra money in their pocket compared to the $40 that the government is offering. We want to get them off welfare and into work.”

Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton during a visit to A.H.Beard bedding manufacturer in Padstow, Sydney, Australia on May 2, 2023. AAP Image/Nikki Short

In response, the treasurer said the Opposition’s proposal was already included in the government’s examination of employment strategies as part of the preparation for a white paper to be released later this year.

“Getting more people into work was already a central feature of our economic plan before Peter Dutton started scratching around for something to say in the budget week,” he said.

“These sorts of issues are the sorts of issues that ... we would ordinarily contemplate in the usual business.”

Treasurer to Talk with States on Housing Fund

Meanwhile, Chalmers has expressed willingness to work with state governments to increase funding for housing.

The treasurer said the government was open to negotiations with states and territories on the issue.

“Obviously (I’m) not going to pre-empt the conversations that we have with the states and territories or to nominate a number. We’ve indicated that we will be extending it. We'll work in the usual collaborative and cooperative way,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“It wouldn’t be the best negotiating tactic to nominate a number today, but we said we’re prepared to extend it.”

Chalmers’ remarks come as the government’s signature $10 billion housing fund suffered a setback after the Greens and the Coalition blocked a vote on the housing fund legislation in the Senate.

This caused the debate on the housing fund to be delayed until the Senate returns in June.

The treasurer said the Greens were playing politics by blocking the legislation.

“Labor and a number of the crossbenchers are trying to build more social and affordable homes in our communities, and some parties–the Liberals and the Greens–are saying that they will vote to prevent that,” he said.

“It’s time for the Senate to end its political games and get on board.”

2022-23 budget papers are handed out to members of the press gallery at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Oct. 25, 2022. Martin Ollman/Getty Images

However, the Greens believed the fund was insufficient to address the housing crisis and called for a rent freeze.

“Labor’s housing bill doesn’t guarantee a cent in funding for public and affordable housing and does nothing for renters in the middle of the worst housing crisis we’ve seen in generations,” Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather told reporters.

“Every week they don’t act, another renter will be evicted because they can’t afford a $150-$200-a-week rent increase.”

Low Public Support for the 2023-2024 Budget

A Newspoll conducted for The Australian newspaper found that around one-third of the respondents believed the new budget would be good for the economy, while 28 percent disagreed and 39 percent were unsure.

While the public approval for the 2023-2024 budget was higher than the 29 percent support for Labor’s previous budget, it was still below the historical average.

In addition, 39 percent of the people surveyed believed the budget would add pressure to inflation, while 33 percent expected no impact, and 11 percent thought there would be some improvements to the inflationary situation.

Nevertheless, only 35 percent of the respondents believed the Coalition could deliver a better budget.