Jim Chalmers has laid into “Peter Dutton’s Coalition of cuts and chaos” in a heated televised debate with Angus Taylor, who took aim at a Labor party he claimed had overseen the “biggest collapse in our living standards in history”.
The treasurer and his counterpart went head-to-head in a debate hosted by Sky News on Wednesday night, answering questions on US tariffs, the cost-of-living crisis, energy and housing.
Chalmers pitched his party as cutting taxes, helping with the cost of living and making the economy more resilient, saying “if you’re under the pump, Labor is doing more for you to help with the cost of living in an enduring and meaningful way”. He repeatedly criticised the Coalition, claiming they were proposing lower wages, higher taxes and “secret cuts” to pay for nuclear reactors.
Taylor, meanwhile, asked Australians who they trusted to manage the economy and claimed Chalmers was overseeing a “lost decade”.
“We’ve seen in the last three years Australians have got poorer, and it’s clear that Australians can’t afford another three years like the last three – and yet that is exactly what Labor promises in their own budget,” Taylor said.
The Coalition’s plan was to “beat inflation by cutting waste and slashing red tape”, with Taylor saying “you don’t need a bigger team to have a better team”. He also said he would aid growth by backing business and investment, boost energy supply, fix housing for young Australians and deliver 25c off per litre at the bowser.
Both acknowledged the “uncertain” global situation facing Australia, with Chalmers backing prime minister Anthony Albanese’s approach of engaging with the world – including the US.
“We’ve got a prime minister standing up for and speaking up for Australia, and we’ve got an opposition leader and an opposition which is absolutely full of these kind of Doge-y sycophants who have hitched their wagon to American-style slogans and policies – and especially cuts – which would make Australians worse off,” Chalmers told Sky News host Ross Greenwood.
Greenwood asked Taylor if a Coalition government could secure a phone call with Donald Trump and lift the tariffs.
“We did last time when we were in government … we will again,” Taylor replied.
Taylor also guaranteed spending on essential services, including health and education.
Taylor and Chalmers traded barbs during the debate, with Chalmers accusing Taylor of being evasive and using “made-up numbers” to attack Labor’s economic credentials, while Taylor asked Chalmers if he would apologise for overseeing the “biggest collapse in our living standards in history”.
Chalmers pointed to Labor’s planned cuts to income taxes, funding for Medicare and housing goals, which he compared to what he claimed would be “higher income taxes and lower wages” under the Coalition.
“That’s not an economic plan. That’s an ambush,” he said.
“We get to decide whether we go to the world more resilient under Labor or more vulnerable under the Coalition.
“And Angus’s inability to come clean on his secret cuts to pay for his nuclear reactors has made the choices really clear – whether we build on the progress that we’ve made together, or whether we take Australia backwards.”
