Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThe 2020s are a defining decade in terms of setting us up for the future, but also a dangerous decade, so the IGR will help paint a picture of our understandings in the 2020s about how the world will play out in the coming decade,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He pushed back against claims his government was not acting boldly and quickly enough to lift the economy\u2019s productive capacity, saying the breadth of Labor\u2019s agenda was under-appreciated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m impatient for reform, but I\u2019m not impetuous about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On the prospect of a major tax reform proposal in time for the next election, Chalmers said Labor was working on a substantial agenda already, including from last year\u2019s productivity round table and Friday\u2019s announcement of an independent review of thin capitalisation reforms. The rules are designed to prevent companies claiming excessive debt deductions to minimise the tax they pay in Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe take decisions collectively in our government, and any steps beyond that will be consistent with the directions that we set at the reform round table, which were around intergenerational fairness, attracting investment and making the system simpler,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there are responsible steps that we can take beyond that already very substantial agenda, and if we can afford to do that, obviously we\u2019re open to ideas. But decisions about any further tax reforms, whether it be in this May budget or subsequently, will be, as they always are, a matter for the cabinet to determine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Figures on Wednesday showed inflation had jumped to 3.8% in the year to December, from 3.4% the month before, strengthening expectations of a Reserve Bank rate rise on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The return of high inflation threatens to hijack Labor\u2019s second term economic agenda in the short term, but Chalmers said he remained focused on longer-term challenges around productivity and intergenerational inequity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government\u2019s priorities [are] dealing with this inflation challenge, turning around a couple of decades of underperforming on productivity, [and] making our economy more resilient.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re interested in building more homes for people. You know that the housing market is really one of the defining elements of this big intergenerational challenge that we have in our economy and in our society, and so those are the sorts of lenses through which we view the preparations for May.\u201d<\/p>\n
Divisive politics are anathema to economic progress<\/p>\n
Chalmers said Carney\u2019s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos was a reminder decision makers in Australia should not be \u201cnostalgic\u201d about the past, especially after economic shocks including the Covid-19 pandemic and the global financial crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe point that Carney is making goes beyond trade policy changes out of [Washington] DC, it captures the whole shebang,\u201d he said, pointing to Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, \u201ca more assertive China\u201d and Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we work across the board in the service of our interests. We work with our allies, like the US, big economies like China and increasingly, middle powers like Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chalmers said there was an \u201cextraordinary\u201d level of interest in Australia from global investors, which he said reflected the potential for Australia to prosper despite the rupture in the global economic order.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are increasingly seen as this island of stability and opportunity in a sea of risk and uncertainty.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got so much of what the world needs. We\u2019ve got the stability that the world is hankering for, and that makes us more attractive. And there\u2019s economic opportunity in that for Australia, for our workers and businesses and investors, and we intend to make the most of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carney is scheduled to address the Australian federal parliament in March.<\/p>\n
Despite polls showing One Nation has a record-high primary vote of 22%, Chalmers told Guardian Australia support for rightwing parties was fracturing, pointing to the split between the Liberal party and the Nationals. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019re splintering, and obviously the divisive politics of the three far-right parties in Australia risk making the intergenerational challenge worse, not better, because divisive politics are anathema to economic progress.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jim Chalmers says the May budget will help tackle inflation and strengthen the economy against shocks from Donald…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-444298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}