good morning from unceded Darug lands☀️this Sunday on #Insiders are Guardian politics corro Amy Remeikis, 9fax columnist and former Labor staffer Sean Kelly, and murdoch foreign affairs writer Greg Sheridan. The interview is with federal Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers.
opening spiel: hopes fade of wage rises says Speers, based on a plea from the RBA governor, who spent the last seven years calling for wage rises and for the federal government to #RaiseTheRate. #Insiders
what Albanese is not saying - a specific wage rise beyond the 5+% for workers on the minimum wage - and where he is going - to patch up relations with France (not said: which were trashed by Scott Morrison) and to shake hands with Zelensky. #Insiders
the montage is on wages. Multiple clips of Dutton, fabricating career aspirations for Sally McManus, making speculative statements about wages and inflation presented as fact. Soundtrack is Kate Bush. #Insiders
#MakingNews is cross benchers on their publicly funded staffing levels and more coverage of what Peter Dutton says. Speers editorialises that RBA guv Lowe is worried and quotes McManus on “boomer fantasy land”. #Insiders
wages - which have been falling throughout the Coalition years, by design, to very little media concern - is the big story. Kelly points to the problem of discussing wages caps but no cap on profits. #Insiders
asked how the government will deal with falling interest rates, Remeikis says there are more fiscal/monetary levers than wages and interest rates. She canvases super profit taxes on very profitable businesses and free childcare. #Insiders
non-discretionary price increases are at 6.6% says Remeikis. She sets aside the political optics and puts the focus on real world impacts on affordability of basic items. Also her top is resplendent 🤩#Insiders
we go to Sheridan who also makes speculative claims presented as fact. He says stimulus does not solve stagnation. The relevance of this claim is not explained. Kelly says we are long way from that point. Indeed. Greg. #Insiders
the boomer fantasy land quote, again. There are some unions pursuing wage rises, says Speers. Duh. Kelly says that is a negotiating position. He is reluctant to “parse the words” of Lowe and says Lowe is being cautious but his words are deliberately misinterpreted. #Insiders
clip of IR minister Burke. Remeikis says yes the government does want to see wages growth because the conditions are hard and price increases are unaffordable for many. Supply chain issues and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. #Insiders
take a breath, says Remeikis, also reining Sheridan in on his stagflation comments. It is not the 70s, she says. Step through this, suggests Remeikis, and again puts the focus back on people doing it hard. Union power has been decimated she adds. #Insiders
in his usual fashion, Sheridan flogs his stagflation horse despite both other panellists pointing out its irrelevance. #Insiders
interview. Chalmers says we want strong sustainable wage growth backed by a better trained more productive workforce. He calls the minimum wage increase “very welcome” #Insiders
the October budget will be focused on economic growth and sustainable wage growth because workers are facing difficult cost of living conditions. He says wages have been stagnant and real wages have been falling and workers need and deserve wage increases. #Insiders
Speers wants a figure and a date - what percent wages increase and when, he asks. Chalmers bats that away. He says the difference between the current and firmer government is between sustainable wages growth and falling real wages. #Insiders
inflation will be higher than predicted by the RBA before the election, says Chalmers, and Speers repeats his question about when? Chalmers says he hopes inflation “will begin to moderate” next year and Speers says so hopefully this term of parliament? #Insiders
now we are quoting Peter Costello on the RBA and interest rate settings. Chalmers says he is not going to take shots at Lowe and the economic institutions serve the economy well. He is learning the lessons from stability and volatility in monetary policy, says Chalmers. #Insiders
still trying to set up a Treasurer v RBA guv frame, Speers asks whether Lowe will be re-appointed. That is more than a year away, says Chalmers. The RBA review will include gender equality considerations he says. #Insiders
what about a union representative on the RBA Board? Chalmers does not support standing positions and has an open mind. Speers quotes former RBA guv Bernie Fraser on McManus as opposed to “some academic pontificating” (Chalmers has a PhD) #Insiders
are the books as bad as you have been saying? Chalmers says he has to account for volatility in commodities prices, and review budget claims by the previous government such as covid hospital expenditure. #Insiders
the budget is in big structural deficit and they inherited a trillion dollar debt which is increasingly expensive to service, says Chalmers. What about the stage 3 tax cuts then? Their priority is multinational tax and the rorts and waste, says Chalmers. #Insiders
he wants a resilient budget that is as forward looking as the Australian people, says Chalmers. Asked about the putting pensioners to work brain fart from the opposition, Chalmers says well they could have done that in government if that’s what they wanted to do. #Insiders
the cross bench staff allocation. It was a surprise to Chalmers that some backbenchers get twice as many staffers as others, he says. He does not think it is reasonable for one backbench MP to get twice as many staffers as the backbencher next door. #Insiders
they get one senior staffer, in recognition of their workload, says Chalmers and the government will be investing in the parliamentary library as well. #Insiders
back to panel. The backbench staffing allocation is first up. Remeikis says the cross benchers do have a massive workload and Senators especially have to scrutinise legislation (for the horse trading factor, paraphrased) #Insiders
what about extra staffing at centrelink, says Remeikis. And the passport office. And aged care. When it comes to federal government staffing numbers there are priorities beyond the parliament, she says. #Insiders
you’ve been a staffer Sean, what do you think? He says cross benchers work hard and so do shadow ministers. He runs thru the numbers and says staffers are overworked and says parliament has an unhealthy work culture. #Insiders
Sheridan is “completely with the Albanese government”🙃he says there is profligate waste around federal parliament and more staffers for cross benchers gives them a electoral advantage. #Insiders
clip of NSW Treasurer Matt Kean saying he is spending a record amount on pre-election handouts [paraphrased]. Will this be inflationary? asks Speers. Well yeah says Sean, and explains the political strategy. #Insiders
NATO and Albanese overseas. Sheridan says Albo is right🙃to go to the summit and his travel has been important and Australians criticism of his travel is provincial and Remeikis says are you sure it is Australians or perhaps it what oppositions say #Insiders
this is a smoothing over and a re-set, says Remeikis. France is a significant [colonial] power in the region [the pacific] and “we did screw it up” - meaning the Morrison government did screw it the AUKUS announcement and French sub deal up. #Insiders
the French are the most important military power in Europe after Britain, says Sheridan. He says Albanese is unlikely to re-open negotiations with the French. Will Albanese pop by to say hi to Zelenskyy? Speers thinks so. #Insiders
clip of a Chinese official, I missed who sorry. The point is about trade sanctions and bilateral relations. Sheridan says the Albanese government has got the tone just right🙃without retreating on the substance. #Insiders
the Liberal Party. Apparently Dutton has doubled down on rejecting the 43% emissions reduction by 2030 policy position. What’s going on? Speers asks. The same thing as is always going on in the Liberals and Nationals, says Remeikis. Diabolical politics, she says. #Insiders
if we want to talk economics we have to talk climate and fossil fuels and affordability of heating and what👏🏼more👏🏼do👏🏼they👏🏼need👏🏼to👏🏼know👏🏼👏🏼says Remeikis of the Queensland LNP who lose support whenever they reject 2030 targets. #Insiders
clip of Birmingham. On Morrison “giving up the teal seats” at the 2022 election, Kelly says Dutton has pretty much said yep, let’s give up on those seats. Sheridan says there is nothing in it for the Coalition to support legislating a 2030 target. #Insiders
#TalkingPictures is with Benjamin Law and hosted by Mark Humphries. Ben is a back to you Speersy man.
https://twitter.com/insidersabc/status/1540846048712839168
#FinalObservations 1 is Sheridan on defence capability and a building a conventional sun here. #Insiders
#FinalObservations 2 is Remeikis on the housing crisis and policy failure around AirBnb and social housing and free public money for landlords [paraphrased]. If Albanese’s mum was going thru the system now she would be living in her car, says Remeikis. #Insiders
#FinalObservations 3 is Kelly on the Vic Treaty Commission, which he says has elements of Treaty Truth and Voice. He notes only one Liberal voted against (disgraced former shadow AG Tim Smith) and thus bipartisanship is possible. #Insiders
the outtake is a clip of Scott Morrison at a bowling alley. #Insiders
this has been another edition of watching #Insiders so you don’t have to👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼
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