WEBVTT - Jim Chalmers defends his budget 0:00:01.280 --> 0:00:09.559 I'm Ruby Jones and you're listening to seven AM. For 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:12.280 two decades we've had a tax policy that pushed up 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:17.480 house prices, gave landlords huge advantages, and ultimately created an 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:21.520 intergenerational wealth divide. A week ago the government said it 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:24.319 wanted to do something about that and announced changes to 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:28.160 negative gearing and capital gains tax. But the budget hasn't 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:30.960 gone down well. For some it doesn't go far enough 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:33.920 to make a real difference to the housing market. For others, 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:37.520 particularly in business, changes to capital gains go too far. 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:47.080 Today the Treasurer Jim Chalmers defends his budget. It's Thursday, 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:55.920 May twenty one. Treasurer, welcome to seven AM. It's great 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:56.680 to have you on the show. 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:58.600 Thanks very much, Ruby, thanks for having me back. 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:01.360 So it's been just over a week since you release 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:04.160 the budget and fair to say a lot of people 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:07.200 don't like it. Pole suggests that more than half of 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:10.759 Australians believe that your changes will make them worse off. 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:14.280 It was given the worst approval score since nineteen ninety three. 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:16.760 You've already own a home, or an investment or an asset. 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:19.160 This budget doesn't really affect them, so why would they 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:21.200 ever sell their asset, you know, and then for new 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:23.560 buyers it's like now I lose those benefits if I 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:23.960 buy it. 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:26.520 I'm terrified though over the future it doesn't seem to 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:27.280 be getting any better. 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:28.679 I'm a single one on a pension. 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:29.640 There's no way for me. 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:30.200 To own home. 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:32.959 I don't understand how this is going to free out 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:36.760 properties for the younger generation, because as an investment property 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:40.920 owner myself, I'm going to either hang on or sell 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:41.360 it for more. 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:43.480 I think it will take a lot so treasure. 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:46.240 It's not going well, where do you think you've gone wrong? 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:48.640 Well, first of all, I think it's important to acknowledge 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:52.400 that when you're making a significant change, a controversial change 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:56.400 to the tax system, and obviously not everybody is going 0:01:56.440 --> 0:02:00.520 to be supportive of that. We had realistic expectation when 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:04.000 we came to these views expressed in the policies in 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:07.920 the budget, that they would be contentious, and so I 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:11.679 think in the midst of a pretty full on scare campaign, 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:13.560 in the midst of a big global oil shop which 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:16.639 is putting extra pressure on people, and in a budget 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:19.639 which is full of hard decisions rather than handout, so 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:22.880 I think the kind of reaction is not especially surprising. 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:25.359 Our job is to try and do the right thing 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:29.160 for the right reasons, even if it means paying a 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:30.520 short term political cost. 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:31.520 In the polls that you. 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:34.040 Reference, I want to talk in a bit more detail 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:38.760 about the changes to negative gearing. So existing investors are protected. 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:42.160 They'll keep the old arrangements, which means that the impact 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:44.880 of this is going to be limited, especially in the 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:48.520 short term. So how worried are you that you've taken 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:53.120 this big political hit for a policy that really only 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:55.000 nudges the housing problem. 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:57.240 Well, first of all, I thought it was really important, 0:02:57.320 --> 0:02:59.840 or we thought it was really important that we wreck 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:03.680 ignize and respect investment decisions that people have taken already, 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:08.040 and so that's why there's those transitional arrangements in negat gearing. 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:11.440 So if you're negatively gearing now, you can continue to 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:14.600 do that. It's important to remember there as well, that 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:18.720 at some point properties become positively geared, and so some 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:22.200 of those investments will exit the negative gearing system, and 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:24.280 if you want to make a new investment, you can 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:26.400 negatively gear a new build. So we think that's the 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:30.440 right balance encouraging people to invest in more housing, supplier 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:37.040 recognizing and respecting the decisions that people have taken already. Now, obviously, Ruby, 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:38.760 there's going to be some people who think we should 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:41.200 have gone further. There will be some people who much 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:44.000 prefer the existing arrangements. They might be doing well out 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:47.400 of the existing arrangements. Our job is to try and 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:49.640 strike a series of fine balances, and I think we've 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:52.840 struck the right one because this is all about housing. 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:55.880 This is all about recognizing that the way that the 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:59.960 housing market and the taxism intersex is working to get 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.920 that have shut out a whole generation of Australians from 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:06.560 from home ownership and from aspiration more broadly, and so 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:09.560 that's why we've taken these difficult decisions. There will always 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:15.240 be strong views about policies like this, big economic reforms 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:19.400 like this, but we're prepared, as I said before, to 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:21.880 wear some of that criticism if it means getting too 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:22.520 the right outcome. 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:24.360 We didn't want to be the government. 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:27.960 That left that can signed another generation to being locked 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:30.520 out of housing because of the way that the tax 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:32.360 system and housing market is broken. 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:35.000 Sure, but it's a modest increase that we're talking about 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:38.960 when it comes to new homeowners seventy five thousand households 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:42.520 over ten years. But there are millions of young people 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:44.800 who say that they can't get into the housing market. 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:47.680 So is there a part of you that wishes that 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:51.560 you'd gone further, perhaps abolish negative gearing altogether. 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:55.039 No, I'm pretty confident in the balance that we struck, 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.599 and you know, not everybody would agree that it's a 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:00.960 that it's too modest to change. 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:03.400 As I said, there's always a range of views about it. 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:08.680 Seventy five thousand households which were rental households becoming homeowners. 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:12.159 I think that's a substantial number, and it's also not 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:14.719 the only thing we're doing in housing. The budget had 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:18.559 important steps on youth homelessness. It had billions of dollars 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:22.040 of investing in more housing supply, as well as making 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:25.560 the tax system fairer for younger people who work and 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:29.440 also in the housing market. So across the board, we're 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:31.679 doing a lot on housing and we think it will 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:34.400 shift the needle on a problem which has been a 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:36.719 really difficult problem, not just in our economy but in 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:38.039 our society for a long time. 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.080 Now, more than forty business founders have written to the 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:44.920 Prime Minister urging him to walk back controversial capital gains 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:48.159 tax changes that could hit them when they decide to sell. 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:50.599 And one of the other big criticisms that you're facing 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:53.360 at the moment is around the impact of the capital 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:57.159 gains tax discount changes on business. So there is this 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:00.919 growing campaign from the business community. There's been burrel memes, 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.599 there's a joint letter from forty young founders who say 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:09.200 that this is an aspiration ambush that's going to affect 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:13.680 every growing business in Australia because if we tax risk 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:15.679 taking in the same way that we tax ordinary income, 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:17.440 then we left with the question why take the risk 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:19.920 in the first place. So when you were designing these 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:23.120 changes to capital gains, why didn't you limit it to 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:24.839 just property, Well. 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:28.240 Because we didn't want to replace one big distortion, which 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:31.400 has been turbo charging house prices, with another distortion. 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:33.200 You know, there was a. 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:36.160 Big policy mistake made about a quarter of a century 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:39.120 ago by Howard and Costello when they changed these arrangements 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:41.520 away to what we are proposing now. Away from what 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:46.040 we're proposing now, it made an investment in established housing 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:48.640 way more attractive, and so we saw the decoupling of 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.360 house prices and incomes around the turn of the century 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:53.960 and which we're trying to fix that, and not by 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:58.160 replacing one distortion with another distortion. But the really important 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:01.719 thing to understand about that, Ruby, is if you look 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:04.960 at a twenty year period in between when that policy 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:08.440 change was made, on average, what we saw is that 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:12.520 investment in established housing was overcompensated for by the old arrangements, 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:16.120 and investment in shares and medium density units and a 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:19.800 whole bunch of other types of assets was actually under compensated. 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:24.680 So by removing this distortion, we hope to rectify that. 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.480 Now there is a campaign being run. I understand that 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:31.000 there's also unfortunately a fair bit of misinformation being pushed 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:34.600 around by our political opponents. You know, the forty seven 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:39.160 cent campaign, for example, pretends that there's no CGT discount anymore. 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:42.400 That's obviously not true. We're just calculating the discount differently. 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:45.640 There's a whole bunch of exemptions for small business. There 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:50.880 actually four different exemptions, carve outs and concessions for small business, 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:52.760 and all of them are staying in place. And so 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:55.880 my job, one of the reasons why I'm grateful for 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.120 this opportunity, Ruby, is to point out where there is 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:02.040 misinformation about the changes that we're we're actually making it 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:04.680 easier for people to make an investment based on good 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:07.600 economic outcomes and not just the distortion introduced into the 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:10.040 tax system in nineteen ninety nine. 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:14.800 And you've spoken about having further consultations these exemptions. So 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:18.760 is there more on the table here exemptions being considered 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:19.680 for startups? 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:22.480 For example, we are talking with the startup sector. 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:25.800 We actually began those conversations before the budget, and we 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:28.040 made it really clear in black and white in the 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:31.640 budget papers themselves that we understood that when it comes 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:35.959 to calculating the cost base for startups that they are 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:37.880 a bit of a different case. And so we were 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:40.960 doing some private consultation before the budget and now publicly 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:43.480 I've done a bit of that myself. My department, the 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:45.880 Treasury Department's been doing that in a more formal way 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:48.280 to see if we can find a way through which 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:51.320 recognizes first of all how important startups to our economy, 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:54.679 providing that dynamism in our economy which we really cherish 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:58.080 and value, and making sure that we can recognize that 0:08:58.120 --> 0:08:59.880 startups can be a bit of a different case in 0:08:59.880 --> 0:09:01.679 the tax system. So if we can find a way 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:05.079 through there that would be good, but those conversations that 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:06.960 consultation is still happening right now. 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:11.720 Still to come is the government using gas industry figures 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:13.760 to justify its decision not to. 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:14.840 Introduce a gas tax. 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:26.360 You've introduced a gas reservation policy, but not a stronger 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:30.559 gas export levy. And there is again another very strong 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:34.480 online campaign around this, around the need for a gas tax. 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:37.240 No significant additional funding for nature. There is absolutely no 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:39.200 way labor can deliver on their promise of knowing your 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:40.520 extinctions with this level of funding. 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:42.800 Our entire budget on nature is less than a week 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:44.600 of what a gas export tax would bring in. 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:47.880 We don't have a shortage of supply. We have a 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:50.600 glut of greed. We maybe ed you sick. 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:53.360 And others have also argued that Australia just isn't getting 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:57.240 a fair return from gas exports. So I mean, couldn't 0:09:57.280 --> 0:09:58.680 the budget have used that money? 0:09:59.000 --> 0:09:59.960 Well, there's a bit of a tick up. 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:03.480 I've been prt receipts in the budget, but I understand 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:08.120 that people have got strong views about taxing the gas 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:11.400 companies more. I introduced some reforms in our first term 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:14.800 in office so that the gas companies we're paying more 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:17.800 tax sooner. But again I acknowledge that people would prefer 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:20.440 we go further, and some people would prefer we go 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:24.400 much further. I get that, I understand their arguments. From 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:26.840 our point of view, we think there are good reasons 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:29.960 to prioritize that gas reservation policy that you're right to 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:33.359 point to in your question, which is all about decoupling 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:37.280 the Australian gas market from the roller coaster of international 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:40.600 prices so that we can get more supply at cheaper 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:44.800 prices for Australian industry. That's the first thing. But the 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:47.720 second thing as well is we've got to make sure 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:51.240 that we can secure this these two way supply arrangements 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:55.880 with our refining partners in Asia, and so we prioritize 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:58.880 those two things. And again I understand that's contentious. I mean, 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:03.480 you do pay very close attention to the arguments being 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:07.920 run about different gas tax arrangements. But those are our 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:10.240 two priorities for the time being, and I think they're 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:11.400 really important priorities. 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:13.960 In the lead up to the budget, when this idea 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:16.920 of a gas tax was being canvassed, your government was 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:19.960 hosing down calls for it by saying that the gas 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:23.520 industry already pays twenty two billion dollars in tax. 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:27.559 Well, look, they pay around about twenty two billion dollars 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:30.000 and importantly as well, and I. 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:33.360 Noticed that figure, that twenty two billion that actually comes 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:35.920 from the gas industry. They are quite proud of it. 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:39.440 So why was the government taking the lobby group's word 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:42.760 for how much tax they pay. I mean, you're the treasurer. 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:44.920 So have you asked Treasury about that figure? 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:45.480 Yeah? 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:48.320 I think that was just our way of reminding people 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:50.840 that the PRT is not the only tax that the 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:51.760 gas companies pay. 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:52.240 I know that. 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:57.720 Again, I know it was controversial when those figures were announced. 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:01.080 The figures I focus on in the PRRT went up 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:03.360 a little bit in the budget, but again I acknowledged 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:06.079 that for a number of a lot of people who 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:08.160 might be listening to us or watching us today, I 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:11.199 acknowledge that people would prefer us to go further. I've 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:14.080 tried to explain why we've got these two other priorities 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:16.240 at the same time. As the PRRT has gone up 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:18.400 a bit, I know that people would like it to 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:19.200 go up by much more. 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:23.760 You've spoken about people feeling disconnected and disregarded by the 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:27.320 political class and anxious about the lack of opportunity that 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:30.440 they see for themselves, and you've said you want to 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:33.679 address those concerns. That's part of what this budget is 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:37.000 about for you, addressing people's fears for the future. A 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:41.120 week on from the budget, it doesn't feel like that's working. 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:45.560 So do you think that you've underestimated people's grievances? Do 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:47.000 you think that you still are? 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:47.640 Well? 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:49.480 I'm not sure. I think about it exactly like that. 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:56.240 I mean, I take the feedback inherent your question seriously, 0:12:56.400 --> 0:13:00.240 but I don't think anyone expected a week or week 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:04.280 and a bit after the budget of any budget, that 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:06.959 people would necessarily that there would be some kind of 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:10.080 unanimous agreement about it. Obviously, these things are big and contentious, 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:13.679 they're controversial. But that point that you made at the 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:15.079 start of your question is really. 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:18.000 Important to me. I look around the world and I. 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:25.360 See whole generations or whole cohorts of people who are. 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:25.920 Feeling disconnected and disregarded. 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:28.160 I think this is a big, serious question for all 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:30.559 of us, not just in our economy, but in our society. 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:34.520 More importantly, this sense of people feeling like the economy 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:37.360 is working in somebody else's interests and when you try 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:40.360 and change that or address that, try and avoid that 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:42.760 situation in Australia that we're seeing in other parts of 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:46.000 the world, there will be resistance to that. We're seeing 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:48.679 that resistance play out in some of our newspapers, we're 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:50.840 seeing it in the language of our opponents. But that 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:53.960 doesn't mean you shouldn't try. And when I look around 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:56.560 the world and see the way that communities are fracturing, 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:01.640 particularly in an intergenerational sense, I take responsibility for trying 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:05.000 to address that, even if it means that we cop 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:07.400 a bit of political turbulence or a bit of grief 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:09.560 or a bit of feedback about it, or even these 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:13.280 misinformation scare campaigns, I think it's worth it to try 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:15.440 and avoid the situation that we're seeing around the world. 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:15.600 Now. 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:18.120 Not everybody sees what's happening around the world and wants 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:21.080 to take a different path to that. Some people, including 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:24.160 our opponents, they want to kind of copy the very 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:27.040 divisive politics that we're seeing in other parts of the world. 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:28.880 I don't want to, and I think that one of 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:32.760 the reasons people feel disconnected and disregarded is because of 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:34.640 this sense that the economy. 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:35.320 Doesn't work for them. Anymore. 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:37.640 And that's why we're taking some of these difficult decisions, 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:40.600 particularly in the housing market and where it intersects with 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:42.760 the tax system, because we care enough about it to 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:43.680 do something about it. 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:47.160 Treasure At, thank you so much for your time. 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:48.360 Appreciate it. 0:14:48.440 --> 0:15:00.000 Ruby, thank you. 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:03.320 Also in the news, health officials across the country are 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:07.240 working to control Australia's largest ep theoria outbreak on record. 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:10.480 More than two hundred and twenty cases have been recorded 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:13.360 across the country so far this year, with the vast 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:17.480 majority in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Diphtheria is 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:22.119 a contagious bacterial infection that's preventable through vaccination, and authorities 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:25.760 say crowded living conditions and low immunization rates in remote 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:29.920 communities of fueling the outbreak, and Australia's Special Envoy to 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:33.720 combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, is calling on the federal government 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:37.760 to respond to his recommendations to combat Islamophobia in Australia. 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:40.840 Following a deadly shooting at a mosque in the United States, 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:44.120 three people were killed at the Islamic Center of San Diego, 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:48.360 with authorities saying the two teenage attackers had expressed broad 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:53.000 hatred towards different religions and races. Their writings also reportedly 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:56.360 referenced the twenty nineteen christ Church Mosk attack, in which 0:15:56.440 --> 0:16:00.400 fifty one people were killed and another forty shot. Alex 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:03.360 says Australia cannot wait for a christ Church style attack 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:07.640 before taking action on Islamophobia. I'm Ruby Jones. This is 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:08.320 seven am. 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:09.120 Thanks for listening.