Global economic uncertainty the main priority: Chalmers

Freshly re-elected Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the "immediate focus" of the government is tackling global economic uncertainty because of US President Donald Trump's tariffs.

Speaking with the ABC after the election win, Chalmers said he is particularly focused on how the trade war ramping up between the US and China will impact Australia.

"Clearly, that's the immediate focus. I think one of the reasons why we got this big majority [in the election] is because people recognise that if you wanted stability while the global economy was going crazy, then a majority Labor government was the best way to deliver that," Chalmers said.

"Our agenda is really clear. We have to build more homes now, we've got to get this energy transformation right, we've got to do more to embrace technology, particularly the AI opportunity.

"There's a huge agenda there for us and what our agenda boils down to is obviously weathering and withstanding this global economic uncertainty in the near term but also making sure that we make the Australian people the primary beneficiaries of all of this churn and change that we're seeing in the world."

Chalmers added that the direct impact from Trump's tariffs is "manageable and relatively modest" but acknowledged that there is a "huge downside risk" in the global economy.

"I think what's happening, particularly between the US and China does cast a dark shadow over the global economy, and we're not uniquely impacted by that, but we're really well placed, we are quite well prepared because of the progress that Australians made over the course of the last three years. So, we go into that with a sense of, we're realistic about how this could play out in the world, but we are optimistic about Australia's place in it," Chalmers said.

"... we need to have the ability, and we will have the ability, to manage that uncertainty at the same time as we roll out our domestic agenda, Future Made in Australia, housing, energy, technology, human capital, competition policy."

As for domestic policies, Chalmers said the government is focused on revitalising productivity through the national regime for occupational licensing, changes to non-compete clauses and reviving national competition policy.

"We commissioned from the Productivity Commission five big pieces of work on the main drivers, the main pillars of productivity in our economy. We'll see that in the third quarter of this year, I'm looking forward to receiving that because we've got an agenda on productivity, but we can do more, and we will do more," he said.

"[Our] first term was primarily inflation without forgetting productivity, the second term will be primarily productivity without forgetting inflation.

"Human capital, competition policy, technology, energy, the care economy, these are where we're going to find the productivity gains, and not quickly, but over the medium term."