‘Check the numbers’: Jim Chalmers calls out Tim Wilson over productivity claims

Treasurer Jim Chalmers blasts Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson about his productivity press release. “I’m told that the Shadow Treasurer put out a press release today talking about productivity … he said that productivity is down five per cent since this government took office,” Mr Chalmers said during Question Time. “I checked out that number … it turns out that the five per cent number that the Shadow Treasurer is using includes the March quarter of 2022 … we were elected in May of 2022. “Productivity in the March quarter of 2022 fell by 2.3 per cent, and that was the biggest fall in productivity in more than 40 years. “It always pays to check the numbers.”