Australian news and politics live: Albanese considers attending NATO summit, could meet Trump ‘within days’

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has defended Australia’s investment into defence after calls to lift it amid a tense global environment.

Among the voices questioning Australia’s current spend of 2 per cent of GDP has been US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, who has suggested it should be lifted to 3.5 per cent.

“We are already substantially increasing our defence investment,” the Labor Minister said.

“We are talking about tens of billions of dollars in extra investment in the coming years because we recognise how important it is.

“To go from 2pc of the economy to 2.3pc of the economy by the early 2030s represents a very substantial increase in our Budget for defence spending.

“I understand the risks and the threats.

“Now, of course, our partners would like us to spend more on defence. It’s not unusual.

“When it comes to our American partners, again, that’s the message they’re taking to all of our friends in the world, not just us.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says legislation after the upcoming productivity round table “won’t be off the table”.

The Labor Minister said he didn’t want to pre-empt how the meeting would play out, but he would act if there was a consensus for it.

“It’s difficult to pre-empt the steps that go beyond ideas that people bring to the round table,” he told the National Press Club.

“It depends on the nature of the ideas. It might not be feasible or wise to wait another two or three years to pick up and run with them.

“Let’s see what people propose. Let’s see what the nature of the changes are before we make some of those decisions.”

Addressing the housing crisis in Australia, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has admitted that there are challenges to achieving Labor’s 1.2 million home creation target but labelled it “not impossible”.

Housing was one of the key issues Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised to act on at the 2025 Federal Election, and he visited numerous housing construction sites to unveil pledges.

By June 2029, Labor has promised to support the building of 1.2m homes, and 55,000 social and affordable homes.

Dr Chalmers said he and Housing Minister Clare O’Neil were working hard to address the issues.

“We recognise we need to build more homes sooner,” he said.

“We have always acknowledged - Clare, her predecessor, certainly from my point of view - that the 1.2 million homes is a very ambitious target, deliberately so.

“And it will be hard to get there, but it’s not impossible to get there.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers hasn’t made it clear if he’ll invite the Opposition to his upcoming productivity roundtable in August.

National Press Club president Tom Connell asked if members of the Coalition would nab one of the few seats in the Cabinet room, which only holds about 25 people.

Connell: “The small room you alluded to - does that mean no room for the Opposition?”

Chalmers: “We’re finalising the invitation list. But we haven’t finished the work on that.

“There will be opportunities for the Opposition to be constructive, whether they’re inside the room or not inside the room. I think, regardless of the final invitation list, it would be a very good thing for Australia if we all did take a constructive approach to it.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has set some ground rules for his upcoming productivity round-table, saying there will be a test for those who want to participate.

He told a National Press Club address on Wednesday that he wanted to put responsibility on everyone to find a consensus on a “practical, pragmatic and problem-solving middle ground”.

“We want to encourage participants to build broad Coalitions on changes that cross the metaphorical aisle,” he said.

“We want people at the round table to meet the three tests.

“First of all, the ideas should be put forward in the national interest.

“Secondly, ideas or packages of ideas should be budget neutral at a minimum, but preferably budget positive overall.

“And thirdly, ideas should be specific and practical, not abstract or unrealistic.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has shared further details about his upcoming productivity roundtable while speaking at the National Press Club.

Anthony Albanese had unveiled plans for the roundtable at the same forum last week.

He said the discussions will be held over three days, from August 19-21.

It will be held in the Cabinet room, meaning it will likely only host about 25 people, and will be kicked off by the PM.

“It won’t be another huge summit. It will be a small group with a targeted agenda,” he said.

“There will be a mix of government, business, union and civil society representatives and experts.”

The Productivity Commission’s ongoing investigation into productivity in Australia, which has been laid out in interim reports into five key pillars they explore, would help inform the talks.

Dr Chalmers told the Club he’s invited Reserve Bank of Australia governor Michele Bullock to attend.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has flagged budget sustainability measures as being a focal point of the second-term Albanese government.

He said he and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher had made progress but needed to do more.

“We took meaningful action on structural pressures. We found $100 billion in savings. But the job’s not finished there,” he told the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.

“Of the six biggest structural pressures on the budget… are care-related: Health, the NDIS, aged care, and early childhood education.

“To deliver higher living standards for our people, we recognise three blunt truths - our budget is stronger, but it’s not yet sustainable enough.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has called for an end to the “cancerous” back and forth between vested interests in his bid to shake up the Australian economy and deliver much-needed productivity reforms.

In an address to the National Press Club, Dr Chalmers said the country needed an “environment conducive, not hostile to reform”, and called on the media to stop running the “rule-in-rule-out game” on policy, and confirmed tax reform was on the agenda.

“Limiting ourselves to ruling things in or out forever has a cancerous effect on policy debates. “It can rob an informed and modern country like ours of the flexibility and maturity to respond to big challenges,” Dr Chalmers said.

“A related problem is that too often, the loudest calls for economic reform in the abstract come from the noisiest opponents of actual reform in the specific.

Let’s see what we can do together if we reset and renew the national reform conversation.”

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Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said cutting red tape and fast-tracking approvals will be on his agenda this term.

Dr Chalmers said the Club Labor’s flagship ‘Future Made in Australia’ Act would help simplify doing business and create a better environment for investors.

“We’re working to attract more investment to deepen the capital base of our economy,” he said.

“Our Future Made in Australia is part of that, but we’re also strengthening, streamlining and speeding up project approvals.

“After our first term, more than double the rate of foreign investment approvals, and 50 per cent more environmental approvals are now being processed on time.

“But again, we do know that there’s more to do. And that’s why we’re standing up a single front door to help get major transformational projects off the ground more efficiently as well.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has urged Australia not to be scared of productivity as he unashamedly places it front and centre of this second term agenda.

Dr Chalmers sent the message in a National Press Club on Wednesday after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently used the same forum to reveal plans for a productivity roundtable in August.

He said lifting productivity is about “empowering workers” and making the most of our human capital through targeted interventions, not threatening jobs.

He said he wants it to “lift the potential of the people and our economy”.

“Too often, it’s seen as a cold, almost soulless concept, when it’s really the best way of making people better off over time, creating more opportunities, making our economy and our society more dynamic.

“Almost every comparable country has the same challenge. Our own productivity problem hasn’t been with us for a couple of years - it’s been with us for a couple of decades.”