Chalmers urges opposition not to treat productivity roundtable like ‘extension of question time'

The Guardian

a day ago

Jim Chalmers has warned the opposition will have no credibility with voters or key economic decision makers if it plays politics at next month's productivity summit and has called on the Coalition to work with Labor to boost growth and prosperity.
The treasurer said the summit would be organised around themes of resilience, productivity and sustainability, chosen to reflect the dramatic challenges facing Australia today, including the technological shift, the energy transition, geopolitical shocks and demography.
Chalmers said the shadow treasurer, Ted O'Brien, and the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, faced a key test with the 19-21 August talks at Parliament House, which will consider tax reform and ways to lift living standards.
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'If Ted O'Brien comes to the reform roundtable and treats it as an extension of question time, I think that will go down pretty badly in the room,' he said.
'I think a lot of the commentary, whether it's from Ted O'Brien or Sussan Ley, I don't think they are by their nature constructive, collaborative types.'
The Reserve Bank governor, Michele Bullock, will address the first day of the talks, followed by productivity commissioner, Danielle Wood, and Treasury secretary Jenny Wilkinson. Already the government has invited trade unions, business groups and sought submissions from regulators and government departments.
O'Brien will represent the opposition at the cabinet room table.
The summit will guide Labor's second term agenda, which will include skills, the net zero energy transition, workforce pressures and the care economy.
Chalmers said he believed regular economic volatility and uncertainty for governments and decision makers had replaced structural predictability to become business as usual.
He made the comments in an interview for Guardian Australia's Australian Politics podcast, released on Tuesday.
O'Brien told the podcast earlier this month a stronger economy was critical to helping households.
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'Without a strong economy, Australia will become a poorer, weaker and more dependent nation,' he said.
The treasurer will meet G20 finance ministers in Durban, South Africa, later this week, with US President Donald Trump's growing trade war and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and Europe set to dominate talks.
Chalmers is expected to hold one-on-one talks with counterparts from the UK, Canada, Japan, Germany and Indonesia while at the summit.
'The best defence against all of this uncertainty in the global economy, all this unpredictability and volatility which comes from either the trade tensions or conflict in the Middle East, conflict in eastern Europe, the best defence against all of that is more engagement, not less,' Chalmers said. 'More diverse markets, not less diverse markets, and also more resilience in our own economy.'
'Obviously trade will be a big part of the story, supply chains, critical minerals, how we get capital flowing more effectively in the global economy. These are the sorts of things that I expect to be talking with them about.'