Nat Barr unleashes at Jim Chalmers on Sunrise: ‘It’s a disaster right now, you know that’

Sunrise host Nat Barr has slammed Jim Chalmers for claiming Australia’s aged care sector could soon be the best in the world despite a critical shortage of workers.

The 2023 intergenerational report released on Thursday reveals that economic growth will be slow over the next four decades compared to previous ones.

According to the report, the national disability insurance scheme, defence, elderly care, health and public debt will be the biggest budget constraints over the next 40 years.

The NDIS cost $35 billion in the last fiscal year and is on track to top $50 billion by 2025/26, exceeding Medicare’s annual cost.

“How are we going to be able to pay for all these things, things that an aging population will need more than ever?” Barr asked the treasurer on Thursday.

Dr Chalmers said Australia had had the opportunity to experience “dramatic growth” in the care and support economy.

“These are great pressures on the economy, but also great opportunities for Australia. If we train the workers, we can be the best in the world,” he said.

“By placing care at the heart of what we do and also at the heart of our industrial base. »

‘Can we? Can we be treasurer? Because we cannot recruit enough senior care staff, we cannot fund the NDIS; it’s a disaster right now, you know, Barr interjected.

“We cannot afford to fund the NDIS and the health sector. Ask anyone. So how are we going to do this in the future if we can’t do it now?

Dr Chalmers said migration would play a role in bringing in more older care workers.

“One of the reasons I am publishing this intergenerational report is that it challenges us to ensure that we can find and train the workers needed to be able to fund these services,” he said.

“Already in our first two budgets, we have made substantial progress in improving the budget so that we can fund the things we really value in society in the future.

“We know where the world is going, we want to make Australians beneficiaries, not victims, of a world of churn and change and that’s what this is about today.”

It comes as Dr Chalmers says corporation tax reform is not on the government’s agenda amid growing calls for bold changes to tackle the government’s struggling budget ‘Australia.

This year’s intergenerational report found that the critical mineral sector is set to grow as the world moves towards net zero emissions by mid-century.

Global demand is expected to increase by 350% by 2040, allowing Australia to take advantage of a booming industry with its vast reserves of lithium, nickel, zinc and bauxite.

Australia’s exports of key minerals are set to double over the next five years, but the Treasurer is facing calls for more ambitious tax reform.

Dr Chalmers said the government was making significant changes to the tax base, although he called the changes “modest”, as it worked to boost offshore gas revenues and recoup the money from large retirement balances.

“They’re helping us improve the budget,” he told ABC’s 7:30 a.m. show.

“They will allow us to save on interest payments over the intergenerational reporting period, they will…replenish our buffers against this global economic uncertainty.”

The superannuation is also expected to protect the budget from an aging population, with an asset pool of $3.5 trillion meaning fewer Australians will benefit from retirement.

But the government is also preparing to increase spending on health, defense and interest reimbursement.

“You need to look at the whole tax system and your tax base needs to be strong enough to fund the kinds of services that people depend on, especially as our people live longer and healthier lives,” Dr Chalmers said. .

But he ruled out any changes to the overall corporate tax rate, even though the composition of Australian tax revenue will change in the future as money from excise duties on cigarettes and fuels dries up.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said ahead of the intergenerational report that current economic conditions were unsustainable.

“We are currently facing huge challenges facing Australian households and small Australian businesses. We need a government that strikes the right balance and is sufficiently focused on these crisis issues,” he said. told ABC TV.

“Since we have been in government, we have seen a productivity gain of about 11 percent. Over the past 12 months, we’ve seen labor productivity decline by 4.6 percent, which is totally unprecedented if you look at the data.

Following his comments, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told business leaders in Sydney that the government needed their help to meet critical future targets on climate change, skills and jobs, technology, manufacturing and gender equality.

“I can assure you, my colleagues and I, that we are not asking for your advice for the sake of appearances,” he said at the Business Council of Australia’s annual dinner.

“We do this because we want you to be involved in the design and the details, because that’s how we get the most out of programs and policies.

“And that’s how we achieve change that lasts, that lasts, that becomes a driver of success in our economy.”

Greens leader Adam Bandt has also called for a progressive tax package, saying it could pump up to $1 trillion into government coffers over the next decade to tackle intergenerational inequality.

The money would come from a tax on corporate and mining super-profits, ending fossil fuel subsidies, offshore gas tax changes, reducing negative leverage and the abandonment of the third-stage tax cuts.