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  • 8/24/2023
Australia's staring at an unbroken run of deepening deficits each and every year, as governments grapple with swelling spending across the next four decades. The gap between rising costs, and taxes that don't keep pace, is at the centre of the federal treasury's latest 'intergenerational report' and if it's not addressed, Jim Chalmers could become the only treasurer to have posted a surplus in over half a century.

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00:00 An intergenerational ambition.
00:03 I want him to be living in a world that's kinder, not only between ourselves but also
00:10 kinder to the environment.
00:12 Baby Kazoo will be 40 years old when today's forecast could become reality.
00:16 A lot of jobs that exist now didn't exist when I was young, right?
00:21 So it's really hard to imagine him doing a job that is available now.
00:29 As our population ages, this will create some challenges as well.
00:33 Challenges to our budget and challenges to growth.
00:37 Forty years ago, Australia was a young country, with the bulk of the population aged 40 or
00:42 under.
00:43 Forty years from now, it'll be a different story, with far more older Australians and
00:47 fewer younger people working to support them.
00:50 Living longer comes at a cost.
00:52 Healthcare spending is forecast to more than triple by 2060.
00:56 Australia isn't just getting older, it's getting hotter.
00:59 And a lot rests on how fast emissions can be cut.
01:02 The IGR makes clear the costs that could come with rising temperatures, the impact on specific
01:07 sectors like agriculture and tourism.
01:10 Even if warming can be limited to two degrees or less, crop yields across the country will
01:15 fall.
01:16 At three degrees, it's a sharper drop.
01:18 At more than four degrees, it's a rapid decline.
01:21 Australia stands to lose, and lose much more than many other countries.
01:27 One outcome is all but certain.
01:29 Budget pressure is bound to build, with fewer younger people paying tax and more older people
01:34 needing care.
01:35 We are really asking the next generation to pay twice for that ageing population.
01:41 This report rings the same alarms as the five before it.
01:44 To maintain standards of living, the economy needs to be more productive and taxes should
01:48 be updated.
01:50 Means one thing, actually doing it is something different altogether.
01:53 Jim Chalmers hints he's up for reform, in his own time.
01:57 We've made our tax reform priorities clear and that journey's not finished yet.
02:01 Big changes to look after the little things.
02:04 Hopefully I will be happily retired and if you let me, I want to be spending some time
02:10 with you still.
02:11 Yeah?
02:12 Maybe dinner once a week?
02:14 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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