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Speaker 1: Hello, my name's Santasha Nabananga Bamblet. I'm a proud or

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Speaker 1: the Order Kerni Whaltbury and a waddery woman. And before

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Speaker 1: we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I

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Speaker 1: would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land

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Speaker 1: of which this podcast is recorded on a wondery country,

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Speaker 1: acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming

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Speaker 1: through as this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing

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Speaker 1: and the storytelling of you to make a difference for

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Speaker 1: today and lasting impact for tomorrow.

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Speaker 2: Let's get into it.

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Speaker 3: She's on the Money, She's on the Money.

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Speaker 4: Hello, and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast

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Speaker 4: that translates government budgets into information that you are actually

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Speaker 4: going to be able to understand. If you felt like

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Speaker 4: you need a politics degree just to understand if the

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Speaker 4: budget this year is good or bad, or you're sitting

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Speaker 4: there like, wait, what is a structural deficit? And why

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Speaker 4: should I even care? Or maybe you're just wondering cool,

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Speaker 4: but does any of this actually help me or benefit me?

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Speaker 4: My friend, you are in exactly the right place. I'm

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Speaker 4: Victoria Devine, the one that's here to ask the real questions,

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Speaker 4: cut through the spin and make this budget makes sense

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Speaker 4: for real life. And today, which is actually the day

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Speaker 4: after the big budget announcement, I'm doing a very special

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Speaker 4: recording from Parliament House in Canberra. But I'm not doing

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Speaker 4: it alone, which would be a little bit sad. I

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Speaker 4: am joined by someone who helped shape this year's federal

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Speaker 4: budget from the inside. Senator Katie Gallagher is the Minister

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Speaker 4: for Finance and the Minister for Women, and she's here

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Speaker 4: to chat with us about what made it into the budget,

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Speaker 4: what didn't make it and what it actually means to you. Katie,

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Speaker 4: welcome to She's on the money. Thank you so much

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Speaker 4: for having me on. It's very exciting. It is, honestly

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Speaker 4: for me career highlight. Guys, I'm in parliament. Baby Victoria

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Speaker 4: would be shaking.

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Speaker 2: In her boots right now.

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Speaker 4: First of all, I'm just going to start this off

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Speaker 4: assuming that a lot of my community haven't dipped their

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Speaker 4: toes in the political waters yet. And I have seen

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Speaker 4: questions in my community of Victoria. What's the difference between

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Speaker 4: the Minister of Finance and the treasurer, How does that

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Speaker 4: relationship work and what are the different roles.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so that's a great question. Really Jim and I.

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Speaker 5: So, Jim Chalmers is the Treasurer, I'm the finance minister.

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Speaker 5: We work very closely together on all matters relating to

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Speaker 5: the budget, but really on all matters relating to economic

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Speaker 5: policy as well. But if I could sort of simplify

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Speaker 5: it down, I think really Jim is the lead economic minister.

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Speaker 5: He's in charge of economic policy across the country, revenue,

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Speaker 5: all those big kind of nationally important things. And I'm

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Speaker 5: responsible for the money, like where's the money coming from?

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Speaker 5: Where are the savings? More of like the accounting book

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Speaker 5: keeper part of the business. So are you in a

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Speaker 5: nitty gritty I am like, I'm gettings.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you're in the one. I want that role. I

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Speaker 2: don't want to be treasurer. I want to be nosy.

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Speaker 2: I know, well the.

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Speaker 5: Treasure has a lot of responsibilities. He's busy, but he

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Speaker 5: can be nosy and give him the highlight I can

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Speaker 5: and love. They have my fingers really in every single

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Speaker 5: thing that happens across government. So I know what's happening

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Speaker 5: in other minister's portfolios. I know what policy is being

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Speaker 5: developed up. Yeah, it's a very interesting role, but I'm

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Speaker 5: kind of yeah, it really suits my personality, which is

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Speaker 5: naturally nosy.

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Speaker 4: O me too, like I don't want to be part

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Speaker 4: of the drama or the gossip, but I actually would

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Speaker 4: really like to know what's going on, just committing me

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Speaker 4: in the loop, Like if you give me a budget

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Speaker 4: or a spreadsheet, I will do a little bit of

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Speaker 4: a nosey into what that means and how that works.

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Speaker 4: You are also, in addition to being the Minister for Finance,

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Speaker 4: you are the Minister for Women, which I think is

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Speaker 4: so special and so cool. But let's wrap it back

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Speaker 4: to the budget. Was this a good budget for women?

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Speaker 1: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: I think so.

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Speaker 5: You know, we've worked hard on it. There's some really

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Speaker 5: good and important big announcements for women, but it shouldn't

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Speaker 5: be seen in isolation of the other three budgets we've

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Speaker 5: done where we've tried to shift the dial for women

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Speaker 5: as well. I think, you know, like for the last decade,

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Speaker 5: really I feel like women's policy had really been a

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Speaker 5: bit more of an afterthought. It wasn't kind of central

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Speaker 5: at the table, kind of a front of mind. And

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Speaker 5: you know, putting me as Finance Minister and Minister for

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Speaker 5: Women means the Minister for Women is at every kind

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Speaker 5: of decision of the budget and that helps, plus helps

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Speaker 5: having a PM who wanted me in that role because

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Speaker 5: he wanted women's policy right at the front and center

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Speaker 5: of And it helps enormously to have a Treasurer who

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Speaker 5: doesn't need convincing that women's economic equality, you know, getting

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Speaker 5: a fair deal for women is actually a national economic priority,

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Speaker 5: like it's good for the economy, and so I don't

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Speaker 5: have to convince anyone on that, and that's made a

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Speaker 5: big difference.

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Speaker 2: To what we can pull off.

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Speaker 4: And I feel like that is obvious, Like I feel

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Speaker 4: like you have had so much pull and have I guess,

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Speaker 4: garnered so much respect for that because it's obvious there's

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Speaker 4: a team. It's obvious that people are backing you to

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Speaker 4: go through this and you're not having to fight to

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Speaker 4: go No, do you know that this is also important?

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Speaker 4: And I, as a female or seeing that this year's

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Speaker 4: budget has had to walk, I would say a fine

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Speaker 4: line between helping people and then making sure we're not

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Speaker 4: fueling inflation. How in your role, how do you actually

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Speaker 4: make that balance work? How are you looking at inflation

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Speaker 4: but then also going oh, honestly, we're in the middle

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Speaker 4: of a cost of living crisis, and we want to

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Speaker 4: help people, but sometimes too much help actually sends it

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Speaker 4: the wrong way. Yeah, and I think part of the

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Speaker 4: challenge for people has been, like in the GFC and

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Speaker 4: in COVID, when there was sort of an economic crisis

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Speaker 4: or you know, something that we needed to a shock,

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Speaker 4: an economic shock, the response was to hand out money,

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Speaker 4: so we got money to keep the stimulate the economy.

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Speaker 4: The issue with the inflation shock is that.

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Speaker 2: It's the opposite response.

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Speaker 5: You've got to work out how to calm down demand

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Speaker 5: in the economy, and I think that's been part of

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Speaker 5: our challenge is you know, people saying, well, I'm under

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Speaker 5: a lot of pressure. What are you doing for me now?

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Speaker 5: And why aren't I getting the support that perhaps I

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Speaker 5: got in the GFC, etc. You're right, it's a real

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Speaker 5: balance and we've had to find ways to help people.

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Speaker 5: But doesn't add to the inflation challenge. So it's not

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Speaker 5: simply like sending a check out in the mail or

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Speaker 5: something like that, which happened in the GFC.

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Speaker 2: It's more about Okay.

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Speaker 5: Well, let's take some pressure off your energy bill so

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Speaker 5: you're not out with more money in your pocket. But

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Speaker 5: it's reducing your costs in another away. And so you know,

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Speaker 5: we've made a lot of progress on inflation. It's come

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Speaker 5: back towards ben In this budget it shows that it's

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Speaker 5: coming back in sustainably into the normal range six months earlier,

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Speaker 5: which is really good news. But we also recognize people

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Speaker 5: still under pressure, and that's why we have to try

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Speaker 5: and find ways to help. Yeah, and I think a

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Speaker 5: lot of people don't understand that balance. They go, well,

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Speaker 5: why aren't they throwing more at this? You really have

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Speaker 5: to step back and look at the bigger picture or

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Speaker 5: the bigger umbrella to be able to understand. Okay, well,

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Speaker 5: if we actually just lined your pockets like we did

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Speaker 5: in the GFC, we're actually stimulating the economy, and a

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Speaker 5: growing economy means inflation is going to increase the cost

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Speaker 5: of eggs. And like, it all comes back to that

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Speaker 5: and goes all right, well we could help you here,

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Speaker 5: and I love that you're like, Okay, well, let's look

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Speaker 5: at the energy bill side of things.

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Speaker 4: Let's actually take the pressure off while not hopefully stimulating

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Speaker 4: the economy in that way.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: I feel like there's been a lot of commentary, as

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Speaker 4: there always is when a budget happens, right.

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Speaker 2: I think the budget is exciting, but the.

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Speaker 4: Day after the budget is more exciting because all of

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Speaker 4: the commentary comes out, all of the articles are online.

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Speaker 4: Every man in his dog has an opinion. Yes they do,

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Speaker 4: and I love it. Again, I'm nosy, so I'm reading

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Speaker 4: and devouring absolutely every part of it. In your view,

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Speaker 4: what was this year's most misunderstood part of the budget?

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Speaker 5: Well, to be honest, I have not even had time

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Speaker 5: to read much about what people are saying about the budget.

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Speaker 2: I had a whole flight here. I come up later.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, because, like you say, actually budget days more controlled

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Speaker 5: for us, Like because we've got the lock up, We've

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Speaker 5: got the set press conference, then the budget speech in

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Speaker 5: the evening, and then we do a few late press conferences.

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Speaker 5: But not a lot of people have read the detail.

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Speaker 5: But come Wednesday, yeah, everything's unleashed people, you know, stakeholders

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Speaker 5: are having their two cents worth, Economists are out with

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Speaker 5: all the big answers usually and a lot of free advice.

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Speaker 5: What's been the most misunderstood? Well, I think think for us,

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Speaker 5: you know, we feel very strongly Jim and I that

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Speaker 5: we've put together a budget that's right for the times.

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Speaker 5: Like right for the economy, and our thinking has been

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Speaker 5: about that, not about politics. And I think there's been

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Speaker 5: from what I've seen, a lot of commentary saying, oh,

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Speaker 5: this is just a political budget, you know, to get

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Speaker 5: to the other side.

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Speaker 2: Of an election, because we're on the eve of an election.

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Speaker 5: And I know from the sort of tens of loads

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Speaker 5: of hours that we've sat in the ERC room that's

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Speaker 5: not the case. Like we look at all what's happening

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Speaker 5: in the economy, where are the areas of pressure, how

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Speaker 5: can the government help, And we've made decisions we think

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Speaker 5: in the national interests. But I think there's a lot

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Speaker 5: of cynicism about politicians and politics and motivation. But yeah,

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Speaker 5: I really think that if this wasn't an election year,

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Speaker 5: we would still be handing down this budget.

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Speaker 4: That's good to hear because I feel like so much

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Speaker 4: of the narrative is, oh, it's a political budget. They're

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Speaker 4: going to announce it in the next six weeks, so

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Speaker 4: they're trying to appease everybody, and you just go that

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Speaker 4: actually wouldn't help their narrative. Let's say it comes back

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Speaker 4: in and labor stays in. It actually doesn't help to

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Speaker 4: just be political and say all these things that kept

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Speaker 4: you in because you're going to be held to those

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Speaker 4: standards as.

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Speaker 5: Well, right, yeah, exactly, exactly. I mean this is a

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Speaker 5: priority for the next twelve months, not for the next

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Speaker 5: six weeks. And I think governments have a responsibility to

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Speaker 5: make decisions. Every decision we make is in the nation's interests,

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Speaker 5: regardless of whether you've voted for.

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Speaker 2: Us or not.

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Speaker 5: I mean, you know, we're responsible, and we've tried to

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Speaker 5: do our best. I think, as you say, kind of

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Speaker 5: navigating that inflationary environment with really sensible and good and

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Speaker 5: responsible assistance to help people, like medicare like hex step relief,

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Speaker 5: cheaper medicines, like putting it all of that out in

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Speaker 5: a way that doesn't put cash in people's pockets and

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Speaker 5: fuels the inflation challenge, because in the long run, that

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Speaker 5: makes everybody poorer. And that was the real challenge I

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Speaker 5: think we've dealt with the last three years.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely.

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Speaker 4: The privilege of interviewing lots of people in business, and

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Speaker 4: I was having a beautiful conversation with someone this morning

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Speaker 4: about how sometimes when you get to a certain level

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Speaker 4: in business or in politics, people stop seeing you as

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Speaker 4: human and think that maybe you are this all magical

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Speaker 4: beast that somehow knows absolutely everything. I would see that

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Speaker 4: as a pretty big responsibility, right, Like I would feel

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Speaker 4: like the weight of the world was on my shoulders.

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Speaker 2: Yes, like that is a lot.

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Speaker 4: How do you from a more personal perspective, how do

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Speaker 4: you deal with that? Because I'm in awe. I'm like,

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Speaker 4: this woman is the coolest, Like she is the Minister

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Speaker 4: for Finance, not only that, the Minister for women. I

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Speaker 4: think that there has been so much done, but then

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Speaker 4: people are vocal. That would be really hard. I get

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Speaker 4: one Instagram message if someone saying that my hair doesn't

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Speaker 4: look good, and I'm like, oh, maybe I'll cry under

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Speaker 4: the table. How are you dealing with not just commentary,

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Speaker 4: but knowing that that is a big responsibility. Yeah.

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Speaker 5: I think that's been a really big adjustment for me

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Speaker 5: into this role. Really felt it, and I think it's

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Speaker 5: probably I sort of take the mystery away from it.

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Speaker 5: It's like every job. I think when you come into

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Speaker 5: a new job, you feel the weight of the responsibility.

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Speaker 5: You don't want to mess up. There's things that you

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Speaker 5: didn't know about the job that all of a sudden

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Speaker 5: are part of the job, and over time you adjust

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Speaker 5: to that and you get better at it, and so

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Speaker 5: I feel like, you know, when people go, you know,

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Speaker 5: tell me what your job's like, I feel like saying

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Speaker 5: to them what it's probably very like yours. You know,

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Speaker 5: every prosice, there's planning, there's teams to work with, deadlines

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Speaker 5: to meet.

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Speaker 2: I'd have time for lunch, exactly.

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Speaker 5: And I think mine's a little bit different and it's

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Speaker 5: more public and more contested at times, but other than that,

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Speaker 5: it is like every other job. And I am like

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Speaker 5: every other woman going to work. I've got kids at home,

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Speaker 5: I've got a dog that needs walking, I need groceries

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Speaker 5: that need buying. You know, I have the same anxieties

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Speaker 5: as everyone else. You have to push away imposter syndrome

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Speaker 5: and think, oh my god, am I really up to this?

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Speaker 4: You're telling me at this level you still have imposter syndrome.

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Speaker 4: I think everybody else is in a lot of trouble.

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Speaker 5: And I'm much better at it than when I was

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Speaker 5: younger in my career, where I really kind of was

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Speaker 5: looking around going does everyone know that I'm here and

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Speaker 5: responsible for things? Whereas I'm much better now. You learn

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Speaker 5: that as you get older, But I still feel like,

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Speaker 5: you know, I guess For me, it's part of taking

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Speaker 5: the job seriously, not thinking that I've got all the answers,

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Speaker 5: being open to advice, being careful and thoughtful about how

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Speaker 5: you make decisions. But it's not a job for everyone.

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Speaker 5: I don't think and on the social media stuff, I

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Speaker 5: just don't look at it because or when I do,

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Speaker 5: I delve in and then I'm like wow, I'll straight

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Speaker 5: back out again, like okay, because one I feel like

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Speaker 5: engaging with people and going that is totally not true

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Speaker 5: and there's no point.

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Speaker 2: There is no points, So.

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Speaker 4: You can't change the opinion of somebody who's already decided

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Speaker 4: what theirs is and is quite adamant with that, and

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Speaker 4: that's okay with that is a hard pill to swallow.

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Speaker 4: Let's get back to the questions, because I could talk

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Speaker 4: about stuff like that for ages. This budget has a

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Speaker 4: twenty seven point six million dollar deficit, and there's lots

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Speaker 4: of commentary.

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Speaker 2: I'm telling it.

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Speaker 4: We can talk about it later, but there's lots of

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Speaker 4: commentary in the media about this and the government's forecasting

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Speaker 4: more for years to come. For our community, who is

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Speaker 4: sitting there trying to budget for their own lives, that

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Speaker 4: honestly sounds quite scary like billions. What do you mean

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Speaker 4: even a million is out of reach? Can you explain

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Speaker 4: why a deficit in government spending might actually be okay? Yeah, so,

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Speaker 4: I mean this is part of my job to try

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Speaker 4: and explain this. And there's a lot of you know,

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Speaker 4: obviously this is a contested political environment, so there's a

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Speaker 4: lot of oh my god, there's deficits and the rest

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Speaker 4: of it. It's important to use the budget to support

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Speaker 4: the economy at different times, and so particularly coming through COVID,

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Speaker 4: the former government really lean in and borrowed a lot

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Speaker 4: of money to try and get people through through job

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Speaker 4: Keeper and other big payments like that. And what that

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Speaker 4: did to the budget was it forced the budget into

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Speaker 4: a pretty significant deficit. And it's important that you do

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Speaker 4: that because we actually avoided a recession. People maintain their jobs,

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Speaker 4: people were supported with social security payments. The media doesn't

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Speaker 4: like that part though, No, they don't know, they don't

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Speaker 4: like mind.

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Speaker 2: It's not as exciting to talk about, that's right. But

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Speaker 2: if you didn't do it.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, we would be in trouble because that government made

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Speaker 4: us go into a recession. Yes, so you're not going

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Speaker 4: to win here. I'm so sorry to.

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Speaker 5: It, you know, well, I feel like part of my

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Speaker 5: job is to tell a broader story, to say the

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Speaker 5: budget needs to lean in when government investment is needed,

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Speaker 5: and then as you get through an economic shock, the

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Speaker 5: private sector returns, usually because they withdraw during economic shocks.

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Speaker 5: They return and they take over their rightful place in

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Speaker 5: the economy. And the government can withdraw and not entirely

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Speaker 5: because we pay, you know, all those payments to families

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Speaker 5: and childcare subsidies and all our investments in other areas

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Speaker 5: as well, but it means you don't have to lean

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Speaker 5: in as heavily and you can take a step back,

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Speaker 5: and then you can repair the budget, which is what

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Speaker 5: we've been doing over this term where we've got more

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Speaker 5: revenue coming in than expected, we pay down debt, we

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Speaker 5: lower the deficits, and that's what we've been doing. But

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Speaker 5: you can't just flick the switch off, because if you

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Speaker 5: tried to get into surplus immediately, and we have delivered

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Speaker 5: two surpluses because we got more revenue and employment remained

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Speaker 5: really strong, so we were able to deliver those, but

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Speaker 5: going forward it would mean some pretty significant cuts that

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Speaker 5: people would really feel right now. And so it's sort

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Speaker 5: of my calm, methodical approach. We repair the budget over

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Speaker 5: time and you bring the budget back into balance, and

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Speaker 5: that's completely appropriate and really part of pretty standard economic theory. Yeah,

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Speaker 5: I was explaining it in more I guess relatable terms

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Speaker 5: to someone.

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Speaker 2: Is that not the other day?

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Speaker 4: No, it totally was relatable, But I was trying to like, go,

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Speaker 4: we've got good debt and we've got bad debt, and

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Speaker 4: sometimes we have to take on some bad debt to

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Speaker 4: actually project ourselves forward, Like sometimes we have to take

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Speaker 4: a step back and get a mortgage because we don't

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Speaker 4: have the amount to purchase in full.

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Speaker 2: Nobody does.

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Speaker 4: But sometimes we need funding and the deficit is kind

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Speaker 4: of like, all right, well we can't afford house, but

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Speaker 4: we really need this and we're going through this process.

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Speaker 4: And I think that just understanding that a deficit doesn't

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Speaker 4: mean that you're going to be in deficit forever. No,

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Speaker 4: there's strategy, there's planning. I think it makes me feel

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Speaker 4: a lot lighter about it. I go, oh, okay, so

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Speaker 4: we're not absolutely burying the economy. It's actually strategic and

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Speaker 4: there was a reason for this.

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Speaker 5: That's right, And you can't just spend irresponsibly and go

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Speaker 5: who cares.

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Speaker 2: You know who cares about the bottom line? We do,

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Speaker 2: We totally do.

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Speaker 5: But you've got to be kind of practical about the

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Speaker 5: expectations of what you're going to fund and how you

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Speaker 5: fund it. And the other thing I'd say is you've

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Speaker 5: got to look at the Commonwealth has a lot of

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Speaker 5: assets as well, like we've got a very good balance

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Speaker 5: sheet from which to borrow against and debt for us

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Speaker 5: is come a pretty low interest rates and things like that,

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Speaker 5: and we can deliver other outcomes by borrowing to invest

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Speaker 5: in things. And that's your good dip bad tinker on

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Speaker 5: the same page about that, I do like the concept

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Speaker 5: of investing. I've heard that Katie.

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Speaker 4: We're going to go to a really quick break, but

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Speaker 4: guys stick around because when we come back, we're going

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Speaker 4: to get into the stuff that hits a.

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Speaker 2: Little bit closer to home.

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Speaker 4: Tax cuts, we're going to touch on grocery bills, energy rebates,

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Speaker 4: and whether this budget actually is going to give you

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Speaker 4: any breathing room. Don't go anywhere, Welcome back. We're here

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Speaker 4: at Parliament House with Senator Katie Gallagher, the Minister for

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Speaker 4: Finance and the Minister for Women, and we're going to

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Speaker 4: dive into a few things parts of the budget that

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Speaker 4: the community really want to understand. But Katie, in the

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Speaker 4: middle of the break, you were like, I want to

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Speaker 4: talk a little bit more about women's health.

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Speaker 2: I'm really passionate about it. Let's do that.

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Speaker 4: I mean you were touching on it before. I feel

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Speaker 4: like we moved off it. Talk to me a little

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Speaker 4: bit more about women's health and why it is so important. Yeah, well,

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Speaker 4: this is a really big part of this budget. So

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Speaker 4: each budget we've been trying to work through priorities for women,

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Speaker 4: so women's wages, women in work, early education, and care,

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Speaker 4: age care, all those kind of areas, and we keep

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Speaker 4: doing that. But Jed Karney, who's the one of the

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Speaker 4: Assistant Ministers for Health, has done this huge piece of

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Speaker 4: work looking at how the health system works for women

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Speaker 4: or doesn't work for women, and she found through her

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Speaker 4: work some really you know, amazing things like the no

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Speaker 4: oral contraceptive pill had been listed on the PBS for

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Speaker 4: the last three decades, none of the new menopause treatments

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Speaker 4: had been listed on PBS, and women were paying out

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Speaker 4: a pocket because you know, many of those treatments are

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Speaker 4: better for you, have less side effects. It makes sense yeah,

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Speaker 4: and so like this is part of having women involved

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Speaker 4: in politics. When you have enough women involved in politics,

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Speaker 4: things like contraception, menopause, endometriosis, pelvic pain, IVF all those

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Speaker 4: things start being considered as priorities. And this budget deals

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Speaker 4: with all of those in a pretty comprehensive way. Lists

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Speaker 4: all the new some of the new medications like Slender

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Speaker 4: for the oral contraceptive pill, and a lot of new

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Speaker 4: menopause treatment for women of my age going through that,

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Speaker 4: and also training up and helping healthcare professionals actually treat women,

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Speaker 4: you know, making sure the NBS allows doctors to insert

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Speaker 4: IUDs without women paying those huge out.

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Speaker 2: Of pocket costs. It's wild.

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Speaker 5: All of that it's in this budget, and it's a

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Speaker 5: big investment, almost eight hundred million dollars it costs. But

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Speaker 5: the health system, because you know there hasn't been a

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Speaker 5: lot of women in politics, has gone under recognized for

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Speaker 5: too long, and you know, this budget fixes that and

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Speaker 5: so hopefully women will be saving hundreds of dollars.

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Speaker 4: Now, I have a question that's sidelining that it's on

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Speaker 4: the same track. And you've probably heard this from a

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Speaker 4: plethora of women before, but so many women go to

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Speaker 4: the doctor and then have their pain or their symptoms dismissed.

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Speaker 4: They go and obviously it is so fantastic to have

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Speaker 4: more funding, but you know, is funding enough to get

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Speaker 4: doctors and healthcare providers to start taking women's issues seriously? Yeah,

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Speaker 4: that's I mean, that's a different size, right, Yeah, And

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Speaker 4: it's so many of us that have gone shocks have

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Speaker 4: been patted on the head and told well, yeah, no

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Speaker 4: neurofen and lie down, you'll be fine.

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Speaker 2: So this, yes, it does. It has a component here.

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Speaker 5: One of the elements which Jed started and we're building

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Speaker 5: on it is these indo and pelvic pain clinics which

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Speaker 5: are actually staffed by specialist gps who are aware. You know,

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Speaker 5: I visited one, I think in Melbourne and it was

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Speaker 5: amazing just talking to the doctors, talking the women who

436
00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:55,640
Speaker 5: use the service, the kind of care that they are getting,

437
00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:58,520
Speaker 5: the recognition that their pain is not in their head,

438
00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:01,600
Speaker 5: and also that they're something that you can do about it.

439
00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:04,880
Speaker 5: Even changing your diet can help people who.

440
00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:09,080
Speaker 4: Don't know if you haven't got access to those doctors exactly. So,

441
00:22:09,359 --> 00:22:11,640
Speaker 4: you know, simple changes that can be made for more

442
00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:14,800
Speaker 4: complex people. You know, you might be a referral to

443
00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:17,840
Speaker 4: a specialist whatever. So we're opening some more of those

444
00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:20,040
Speaker 4: and I just think they'll become a feature of the

445
00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:21,680
Speaker 4: health landscape.

446
00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:21,959
Speaker 2: As it should.

447
00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:23,760
Speaker 4: And like you're the Minister for Women, I don't have

448
00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:26,760
Speaker 4: to convince you, but I'm just in the background cheering

449
00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:29,320
Speaker 4: you on, being like, yes, Queen, that is exactly what

450
00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:31,560
Speaker 4: we want to see. I'm going to pivot because I

451
00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:33,440
Speaker 4: know that they don't have a heap of time left

452
00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:37,040
Speaker 4: with you. In the Treasurer's speech, he mentioned that we

453
00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:40,800
Speaker 4: are going to be putting some more accountability onto supermarkets

454
00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:42,560
Speaker 4: when it comes to the cost of living and the

455
00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:45,199
Speaker 4: cost of groceries, which I know is going to appeal

456
00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:47,560
Speaker 4: to my community because I think that's where most of

457
00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:50,720
Speaker 4: us are starting to tap our cards and feel the pain.

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00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:53,000
Speaker 2: Right, So that sounds.

459
00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:57,320
Speaker 4: Great, but how does that actually translate to dollars at

460
00:22:57,320 --> 00:22:59,720
Speaker 4: the checkout? When are people going to start to feel

461
00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:02,879
Speaker 4: the impacts of this budget and the conversations that are

462
00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:04,280
Speaker 4: being had at the checkout?

463
00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:04,959
Speaker 2: Yeah?

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00:23:05,119 --> 00:23:07,320
Speaker 5: No, I completely understand that. I do the shopping in

465
00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:09,960
Speaker 5: my household too, and sometimes you just go what when

466
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:13,520
Speaker 5: you look at a price of something in the supermarket. So,

467
00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:17,199
Speaker 5: particularly over the last couple of years I reckon. So

468
00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:19,639
Speaker 5: a couple of things there. The HBLEC has done a

469
00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:21,720
Speaker 5: piece of work. It's found that we've got a highly

470
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:25,240
Speaker 5: concentrated grocery market, so we have the two big players.

471
00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,520
Speaker 5: We'd like more competition, so there's some effort going in there.

472
00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:30,720
Speaker 5: We've got Aldi and they made a difference when it

473
00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:33,119
Speaker 5: came in, but we need to make the system more

474
00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:36,199
Speaker 5: competitive so that there's other players that feel like that

475
00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:39,280
Speaker 5: they can compete. So part of it's making sure that

476
00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:41,600
Speaker 5: system's right. We've also got this and I know it

477
00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:44,399
Speaker 5: sounds probably doesn't sound real for people when they're going

478
00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:47,040
Speaker 5: around with their trolleys and looking at the prices, but

479
00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:50,760
Speaker 5: there's a mandatory code of conduct being put in place,

480
00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:54,920
Speaker 5: a mandatory food and grocery code which actually sets out

481
00:23:55,600 --> 00:24:00,439
Speaker 5: some pretty clear rules about how supermarkets are to behave.

482
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:05,040
Speaker 5: We're also attaching multimillion dollar penalties to that. Now there's

483
00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:07,840
Speaker 5: been a voluntary code, but many people who work in

484
00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:10,960
Speaker 5: this space or say voluntary codes never do anything. So

485
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:15,320
Speaker 5: we've made it mandatory law and we've significantly increased the penalty,

486
00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:18,679
Speaker 5: so it actually if they breach that code not going

487
00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:21,240
Speaker 5: to be a work. Yeah, it's not going to commercially

488
00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:23,840
Speaker 5: work that, and it kind of assists with, you know,

489
00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:26,000
Speaker 5: some of the complaints we've had from farmers who feel

490
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:28,720
Speaker 5: like that they can't raise a complaint if they're being

491
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:32,080
Speaker 5: treated badly by one of the supermarkets. They can now

492
00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:34,879
Speaker 5: make an anonymous complaint to the A Triple C and

493
00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:37,720
Speaker 5: have that investigated so they don't have to fear retaliation.

494
00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:39,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've all it's really important.

495
00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:43,440
Speaker 5: Yeah, massively important, because yeah, it's all about power, and

496
00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:45,919
Speaker 5: when you've got a concentrated market, we know where the

497
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:49,160
Speaker 5: power sits. The other thing I'd say, and it's good

498
00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:51,919
Speaker 5: if people take a look at it. We've funded Choice

499
00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:56,040
Speaker 5: to basically do a series of you know, shopping basket

500
00:24:56,320 --> 00:25:00,480
Speaker 5: assessments and publish that. So where is the cheapest basket

501
00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:03,240
Speaker 5: of goods and who's offering it? And they publish that

502
00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:07,080
Speaker 5: now and it's free for everybody. And I think, you know, again,

503
00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:10,240
Speaker 5: it might not change things overnight, but I think that

504
00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:13,840
Speaker 5: transparency and accountability and consumers have a lot of power

505
00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:17,400
Speaker 5: here too to kind of take the time if they can,

506
00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:19,840
Speaker 5: to work out where they shop and what they shop for.

507
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:22,320
Speaker 5: And you know, there'll be more to say on this.

508
00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:25,280
Speaker 5: I think because it's not a finished piece of work totally.

509
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:28,000
Speaker 4: My last question, because I am very aware that we

510
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:31,840
Speaker 4: are time limited. Labour's said that this budget is about

511
00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:35,520
Speaker 4: responsible spending, and I feel like we're all being very responsible,

512
00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:39,320
Speaker 4: like we are pinching our pennies, which makes total sense

513
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:40,920
Speaker 4: in an inflation environment.

514
00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:43,800
Speaker 2: But for someone in my community who might be.

515
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,199
Speaker 4: Skipping meals or spending sixty percent of their income on

516
00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:50,639
Speaker 4: their rent, I feel like sometimes that doesn't feel like

517
00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:55,520
Speaker 4: it's enough. How do you define responsibility in that context

518
00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:58,360
Speaker 4: and how do you balance what the economy needs versus

519
00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:00,439
Speaker 4: what the people needs? And I guess that it's very

520
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:02,720
Speaker 4: nicely back around to what we were saying before, where

521
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:04,679
Speaker 4: you know, sometimes we can't just put money in your

522
00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:07,600
Speaker 4: pocket because it would grow the economy and that is

523
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 4: literally the exact opposite of what we want to.

524
00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:12,240
Speaker 2: Occur right now. Yeah, no, exactly.

525
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:16,320
Speaker 5: So I think budgets are often seen in isolation, so

526
00:26:16,359 --> 00:26:18,679
Speaker 5: they think, oh, that it's only the new things that

527
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:21,800
Speaker 5: are funded in this budget, where they actually, you know,

528
00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:24,159
Speaker 5: have money running through the year on year from what

529
00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:26,600
Speaker 5: we did last year to you know, what will happen

530
00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:30,320
Speaker 5: next year. So firstly, I'd say we've tried to look

531
00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:32,399
Speaker 5: at all of the ways that we can help people,

532
00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:36,000
Speaker 5: particularly on low and fixed incomes. You know, for example,

533
00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:38,919
Speaker 5: with renters who have been feeling the pinch. You know,

534
00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:41,399
Speaker 5: part of the issue is the supply of housing, so

535
00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:44,040
Speaker 5: we need to build more houses now that you know,

536
00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:46,840
Speaker 5: for a person right now, they'll say, oh, well, that's

537
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:48,800
Speaker 5: not going to help me right now. So then it's

538
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:52,480
Speaker 5: things like rent assistance and increasing rent assistance, which we've

539
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,200
Speaker 5: done in two budgets, So we're trying to come at

540
00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:58,119
Speaker 5: it each way, but without adding to inflation, and that

541
00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:00,879
Speaker 5: has been tricky. The government is a big player in

542
00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:03,280
Speaker 5: the economy. If the government pours a whole lot of

543
00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:06,960
Speaker 5: money into an economy at a time when inflation is high,

544
00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:10,119
Speaker 5: that hurts everyone, but it most hurts though. I was

545
00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:12,600
Speaker 5: on low and fixed incomes who don't have a lot

546
00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:16,280
Speaker 5: of discretionary use of their money. They spend almost all

547
00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:20,919
Speaker 5: of their money just to keep up with living costs. Basically,

548
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:24,480
Speaker 5: a budget is really about striking that balance and also

549
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:28,280
Speaker 5: accepting that this is a point in time. In a

550
00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:31,200
Speaker 5: normal year, we finish the budget and we pretty much

551
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:34,080
Speaker 5: go into what's called the mid year Economic and Fiscal

552
00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:36,720
Speaker 5: update or commonly known as my EFO. If you hear

553
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:40,640
Speaker 5: that word like, we usually start my EFO maybe three

554
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:43,960
Speaker 5: weeks after we finished the budget, so it's a continuous process.

555
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:47,600
Speaker 5: It never finishes and so there's always room for new ideas.

556
00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:50,760
Speaker 4: I love that, Katie. Thank you so much for your time.

557
00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:54,200
Speaker 4: This has been an absolute privilege and getting to sit

558
00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:56,320
Speaker 4: down with you, especially after budget night.

559
00:27:56,600 --> 00:27:57,480
Speaker 2: I am very.

560
00:27:57,320 --> 00:27:59,840
Speaker 4: Grateful because I am absolutely certain that your inbox is

561
00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:02,880
Speaker 4: on fire. I haven't even looked at it may don't

562
00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:05,720
Speaker 4: very right, but thank you for having me on. It's

563
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:08,080
Speaker 4: so great to be able to try and explain what

564
00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:09,199
Speaker 4: we're doing, what we're up to.

565
00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:11,520
Speaker 2: You are so welcome anytime let me know.

566
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:16,120
Speaker 4: And that's a wrap on our special budget episode recorded

567
00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:19,800
Speaker 4: right here in Parliament House. A massive thank you to

568
00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:23,040
Speaker 4: Senator Katie Gallagher for sitting down with us, especially after

569
00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:26,560
Speaker 4: budget night when I am absolutely certain that her inbox

570
00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:29,600
Speaker 4: is on fire. So if you're walking away from this

571
00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:32,920
Speaker 4: episode feeling a little bit clearer, a little bit more empowered,

572
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:36,200
Speaker 4: or even just like someone finally explained what a structural

573
00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:37,600
Speaker 4: death as it actually is.

574
00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:39,000
Speaker 2: My friend, that's a money win.

575
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:42,760
Speaker 4: If this helped do not Gate keep share it, save it,

576
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,560
Speaker 4: and hit subscribe so you're always across the stuff that

577
00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:54,960
Speaker 4: actually affects your wallet. Did I shared on She's on

578
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:57,880
Speaker 4: the Money is generally nature and does not consider your

579
00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:02,920
Speaker 4: individual circumstances. All the Money exists purely for educational purposes

580
00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:05,280
Speaker 4: and should not be relied upon to make an investment

581
00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:08,240
Speaker 4: or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a

582
00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:09,600
Speaker 4: financial product, read.

583
00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:12,800
Speaker 6: The PDS TMD and obtain appropriate financial.

584
00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:14,160
Speaker 4: Advice tailored towards your needs.

585
00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:18,480
Speaker 6: Victoria Divine and Sheese on the Money are authorized representatives

586
00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:22,240
Speaker 6: of Money Sherpa pty Ltd a BN three two one

587
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:26,280
Speaker 6: six four nine two seven seven zero eight AFSL four

588
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:33,760
Speaker 6: five one two eight nine