Podcast: Budget beyond the numbers with Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers

In this special episode of Policy Forum Pod, we are joined by the Treasurer, the Hon Dr Jim Chalmers MP, who talks about the values behind the May budget.

The Pod was recorded live in front of an audience at the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy on May 31^st, 2023. The Treasurer gave a short speech highlighting the nine ways to unlock the budget, before he sat down for a one-on-one conversation with Crawford School Director Professor Janine O’Flynn.

Following this, an ANU panel of experts from the Crawford School of Public Policy answered questions about the longer-term impacts of the budget.

Panel members were:

Sharon Bessell, a Professor of Public Policy and Director of both the Children’s Policy Centre and the Poverty and Inequality Research Centre at ANU Crawford School of Public Policy. She is also the co-host of the Policy Forum Podcast.

Frank Jotzo, a Professor of environmental economics at Crawford School and Head of Energy at the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions. He’s been involved in policy advisory on climate change and energy transition and has been a senior author with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Professor Peter Whiteford works at the Crawford School of Public Policy and is a member of the Interim Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee. His research focuses on social security policy in Australia and internationally.

Dr Siobhan McDonnell, a lawyer, anthropologist and economist who has spent over 25 years working with Indigenous people in Australia and Oceania on land rights, gender, and climate change issues, including as a climate change negotiator for various Pacific governments.

Dr Michael Di Francesco, an Associate Professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy with research and teaching interests in public financial management. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Australian Journal of Public Administration.

Kristen Sobeck, a Research Fellow at the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute. Kristen undertakes research on various Australian tax and transfer policies using administrative data and formerly worked for a decade as an economist at the International Labour Organisation.

Podcast co-host is Arnagretta Hunter. She is the Human Futures Fellow at the ANU College of Health and Medicine, a cardiologist, physician, and a Senior Clinical Lecturer at ANU Medical School.

Show notes / The following was mentioned during this episode

Brawler statesman: Paul Keating and prime ministerial leadership in Australia – Jim Chalmers (2004)

Capitalism after the crises – Jim Chalmers (2023)

Placido Domingo speech from Paul Keating

Tim Watts on Q&A

NZ living standards framework

Joe Hockey liters or leaners

The Choice: Violence or Poverty – Domestic Violence and its consequences in Australia today by Dr Anne Summers AO (2022)

Bob Hawke Election speech on no child being left behind (1987)

Poverty In Australia 2022: a snapshot

AUKUS Nuclear-powered submarine pathway (2023)

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