SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER
MINISTER FOR FINANCE
MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MINISTER FOR PUBLIC SERVICE
MINISTER FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICES
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
4BC BRISBANE
FRIDAY, 21 FEBRUARY 2025
SUBJECTS: Interest rates; cost-of-living renewables; nuclear; thanking public servants in Queensland; Federal Election.
PETER FEGAN, HOST: With the 2025 federal election fast approaching, the stakes are high. Voters want to know where their money is going or has gone and how the Government plans to manage the economy. Minister Katy Gallagher has been at the forefront of key financial decisions shaping policies that affect Australians every day. And joining me in the studio is the Minister for Finance, Katy Gallagher, a very good morning to you.
SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Good morning.
FEGAN: Let’s clear it up. It’s a silent G in your name, isn’t it?
GALLAGHER: It is.
FEGAN: Yes.
GALLAGHER: Like if you put a G in your surname like that, you’re asking for it to be pronounced, right?
FEGAN: Yeah, but where did all this start?
GALLAGHER: I don’t know, it’s just the way it’s always been. It’s always been mispronounced. I don’t even notice anymore.
FEGAN: Now, you would be the busiest minister in the Federal Government. You’ve got Minister for Women, you’re the Minister for Government Services, Minister for Finance, Minister for Public Service, you’re the Manager of Government Business in the Senate, Vice President of the Executive Council. That’s busy.
GALLAGHER: That’s a lot of titles.
FEGAN: That’s a lot of titles. Let’s talk about Finance, though, and I want to kick off with the rate cut we recently had. We had Jim Chalmers on the program on Wednesday morning and look, the overwhelming sentiment from my listeners was, rate cuts are fantastic for mortgage holders, but we don’t have, unfortunately, an overwhelming amount of young mortgage holders at the moment. And they were more concerned about grocery prices, fuel prices, they were more concerned about school, education costs and all the rest of it. As Finance Minister, leading into the next election, what can you promise us in terms of getting our bills down?
GALLAGHER: So, completely understand that feedback you’d be getting from your listeners. I think a lot of people have welcomed the rate cut and I think the message it sends is that we’ve got this inflation challenge under control to the point that the Bank feels able to cut rates. And the message I guess, as that translates into other costs, is that some of the elevation in those costs, like fuel and groceries and energy bills, has been due to high inflation. So, one of our key challenges because inflation was rising when we came to government, was how do we get it under control while providing cost-of-living help without adding to inflation. So, you can’t chuck money out the door because that would have an inflationary impact. But we can do things like we’ve tried to do with energy bill relief, with investments in Medicare and childcare and medicines, so it’s sort of a more controlled way of helping people. But the job isn’t done, there’s more to do.
FEGAN: You’ll be a big part of the Budget coming up in March, it’s going to be very difficult for you and for Jim Chalmers to be able to present a budget that has advantages for Australia in terms of handing out more money, because if you hand out more money, inflation is going to go through the roof. So, look, I know you’re probably not going to give too much away, but what are just some of these promises that you’re going to be giving to Australians?
GALLAGHER: We haven’t changed our strategy. When we came to government, inflation was a real problem, and we’ve worked for the last two and a half years to get it under control and at the same time we have provided cost-of-living relief where we can afford to do so and where it doesn’t add to inflation, and you’ll see us doing more of that. It’s a balance, right? So, in the ERC, in the room where Jim and I sit with other ministers, we’re weighing up a whole range of competing pressures, really. And the Budget is, I guess, the end of all those decisions. And it’s not easy. People would understand, when you’re trying to manage all your own expenses, there are trade-offs and the thinking you put behind it is the same with the Federal Budget.
FEGAN: And energy, it’s a mess at the moment. And I don’t think, Minister, and I know you’ll defend it, but I don’t think you can sit here and tell me this government has been proactive when it comes to energy costs. I mean, yes, we were promised this $275 in relief, the state government has offered us quite a fair amount of relief, a lot of people listening to me this morning will say and will agree with me when I say you guys have dropped the ball on energy big time.
GALLAGHER: I guess what we’ve done is try to provide energy bill relief with those bills where they’ve gone up, but at the same time, we are in the middle of a huge transition -
FEGAN: But we were lied to, though, Minister. The $275 rebate was a lie. It’s a broken promise.
GALLAGHER: Well, that was based on modelling that was done in 20-
FEGAN: 2022?
GALLAGHER: 2019, 2020, it was before the election, and it didn’t take into account that we were going to have a land war in Europe, which has put a lot of pressure on energy prices and global inflation.
FEGAN: But the promise was made in 2022, irrespective of any war, we were told in 2022 there’d be relief and we didn’t get it.
GALLAGHER: Well, we have provided relief through energy bill relief, we’ve provided two rounds of that for households and small businesses. And people have seen that on their bills over the last 18 months. But at the same time, and the whole world’s going through this, is transitioning to new forms of energy. And you’ve seen that with some of what we’ve been doing in Whyalla, with some of the investments there is to try and support that transition. And it’s hard work, but we’ve got huge opportunities here with particularly in Queensland, the amount of sun you guys have, as someone that comes from Canberra. You know, there’s huge natural benefits for us that will definitely bring down people’s bills. And that’s why so many people are whacking solar on the roof, because they can see the benefit that comes with seizing that kind of free energy into their household systems.
FEGAN: It is a mess, though. Nuclear on the Coalition side of things, I mean, they’ve presented a plan. We don’t truly know the cost and I’ve been very critical of the Coalition. I think they made us wait too long to let Australians know, considering that they’re going to wear this to the election, that’s going to be their policy, nuclear energy. But I have to say, renewable energies, and I’ve got to say this personally, from somebody, as a voter, not in my job, just as an Australian, I don’t trust Christopher Bowen. I’m sorry, I just don’t trust him to deliver me anything on energy. I think there’s people within your Cabinet that are better placed and I reckon 99.9 per cent of people listening to me this morning, regardless of what side of politics they’re on, would agree that Chris Bowen is not to be trusted.
GALLAGHER: Well, I wouldn’t agree with that characterisation of Chris. Obviously, I work really closely with him. He’s got a big job. It’s big changes that are happening across the energy market. We inherited a mess, essentially, where a lot of work hadn’t been done. He’s been cleaning it up. And really, the future in energy is renewables with firming gas. And you know, getting that balance right and making sure we support households with that change is a big challenge. I think the thing with nuclear–yeah, you’re right, we’ve got no budget costings. The promise on nuclear is for something in the 2040s that would actually in the end only deliver 4 per cent of the energy -
FEGAN: But we need to do something, though, and I don’t think renewables can supply 99 per cent of the grid. I know we’re going to have to have a small version–I mean, I’m a former coal miner, Minister, so I’m a big fan of coal. So I think, don’t get me wrong, renewables–I have listened to the argument on renewables and I think there is some great merit in it. I’ve listened to the argument on nuclear. Both, I would still put coal above, right? I still think coal is the way to go. I think we should pump more money in and try to clean up coal. But in terms of renewables and nuclear, it doesn’t seem like we’re going to fill the grid with either-or, but a lot of experts are telling us–there’s arguments on both sides, right–but a lot of experts are telling us that nuclear, particularly in America, has worked. It’s working in Europe, it’s working in other parts of the world. Why is Labor so insistent that this won’t work here?
GALLAGHER: I think you’ve seen nuclear be a future of other countries’ energy systems for some time, and they often are quite different to Australia. Like in Europe, they don’t have the sun and some of those great opportunities that we have here. I mean, I know that Peter Dutton often quotes Bill Gates, but Bill Gates recently said, why would you do this in Australia when you’ve got this kind of natural resource here. And yeah, we’re going to need gas and we’re going to need coal for a while. That’s clear. We follow the experts at AEMO, the Australian Energy Market Operator, and they provide very clear advice about what our energy mix needs are and that includes, you know, coal, although that tapers off, gas as a firming fuel to make sure we’ve got that firming source, and renewables that can–and you know, our grid is changing, and the world. And we need to kind of be a part of all of that. But yeah, I mean it’s not unusual as you’re going through these big kind of economic changes for people to have questions about it. But we follow the advice and the science and what that’s telling us is we’re on the right path and you know, I just think Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan, if you can call it that, is just–I see it as a bit of a fantasy. I can’t see how you can build 7 nuclear reactors around the country in 2040 that ultimately will require a lot of people switching their solar off -
FEGAN: The states aren’t on board.
GALLAGHER: The states aren’t on board. But what he’s not saying is for people who’ve invested in solar, you’re going to get nothing out of that now. Big problem.
FEGAN: We’ve got a premier here who thinks hydro’s the way to go. There is such a divisive amount of, you know -
GALLAGHER: Well, hydro’s a renewable.
FEGAN: Yes, but when it comes to energy, it’s like the states aren’t aligning with the country. Anyway.
GALLAGHER: Well, it doesn’t need to be, it has -
FEGAN: But you guys at the end of the day could put your foot down if you want.
GALLAGHER: Well, I thought at the end, in 2022, when we came in, that was at the end of the climate wars, we would track on. Now it’s become politically contested again federally, so it will be an issue at this election. But I think outside of Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan, I think the states and territories and the Federal Government are aligned on what needs to happen, and we’ve got a big hydro project happening down in Tassie–sorry, in the Snowy Mountains –
FEGAN: Snowy Mountain Hydro, yeah.
GALLAGHER: Yeah, Snowy Hydro. And that’s going to be incredible. I’ve done a tour of that. Kind of hard to get your head around what’s happening there.
FEGAN: Kind of hard to get your head around it when we’re still building it, but anyway.
GALLAGHER: Well, we’ll have to take you on a tour down there because it’s pretty incredible.
FEGAN: I would like that. I would like to have a look at it. Now, can you let me in on a secret, what are you doing in town?
GALLAGHER: Well, love Queensland, it’s getting a bit chilly down south. No, that’s not the reason. Because I’ve got the new portfolio of Government Services, I wanted to go and visit some of those flood affected areas. I’ve been in Townsville, then I popped up to Cairns, and just to thank the Services Australia staff who were working in those areas and providing relief to communities. Public servants often get a bad rap, but when you actually see what they’re doing up there, it’s really impressive.
FEGAN: Now before I let you go–that’s my one minute warning–but before I let you go, very, very quickly, there’s been some criticism of the boss lately, and that is that he, instead of concentrating on cost-of-living, there’s an election coming up, he was sort of more talking about his wedding. Is that a good look?
GALLAGHER: Look, I saw those media reports, but I work with him every day and it’s cost-of-living front and centre for him. It really is. He is solely focused on that. But we’re really happy. Most people should be pretty happy he’s got someone that he’s found and he’s committed to -
FEGAN: Are you invited to the wedding?
GALLAGHER: I don’t know.
FEGAN: Very quickly before I let you go, I’ve got 20 seconds, Jim Chalmers has just texted in, he said he doesn’t mind if you tell us when the election is.
GALLAGHER: Is that right? Well, I was trying to catch up with Jim. He’s in Adelaide.
FEGAN: Is he not taking your calls? You heard it here first.
GALLAGHER: I said mate, and he goes, I’m in Adelaide. I went okay, well I won’t see you. Working. We’re always working.
FEGAN: Alright Minister, nice to have you in the studio and we’ll chat before the election.
GALLAGHER: Nice to be here, thanks.
ENDS
