CANBERRA, ACT, Dec. 14 -- The Treasurer of Australia issued the following transcript:
Note
Subjects: mid-year budget update, government employee expenses, cash mandate
Andrew Clennell:
Joining me live from his electorate is the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers. Thanks for your time, Jim Chalmers. Let's start with the fact that your counterpart won't be here when you deliver this statement next week; he's in the US. Are you surprised by this?
Jim Chalmers:
I am a bit surprised by that. But I'm not going to take a shot at him. There must be a good reason for this. It would be really strange, if not unprecedented for the Shadow Treasurer to go on holidays during the mid‑year budget update, particularly when we've said for some time now it w...