Interview with Anna Henderson, SBS World News & the Australian Treasurer The Hon Dr Jim Chalmers MP.

Subjects: Budget, economy, migration, stage three tax cuts

JANICE PETERSEN:

“Returning to our coverage of the Federal Budget now, and the Treasurer says that increasing migration will be central to the nation’s economic success.”

HENDERSON:

“Given we have these labour force shortages at the moment why isn’t your Government putting more focus on immigration as a solution here, because wouldn’t that actually drive down inflation?”

TREASURER CHALMERS:

“I think it’s an important piece of the puzzle. We see migration as a very important part of our economic policy. It’s not a substitute for training more people for more opportunities here as well. It should be complementary and not at odds, and that’s how we see it.”

“The fastest growing area of spending is actually the interest bill on the trillion dollars of debt we’ve inherited. But beyond that, aged care, health care, NDIS and defence, these are all areas we want to invest in, and we want to get a good bang for buck in”

Interview with Anna Henderson, SBS World News | Treasury Ministers