TRANSCRIPT: DOORSTOP INTERVIEW - SYDNEY - NOVEMBER 28, 2020

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
SYDNEY
SATURDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2020

Topics: Parliament, IR reform, jobs, delivery rider deaths, Australians stranded overseas, wine exports, Labor heartland.

BURKE: First of all, Parliament goes back for the final fortnight of the year on Monday. When we go back it'll be the first time the Prime Minister will appear via video-link and we've agreed with the government to have a procedure that allows that to happen so that'll be there. There's still discussions with the government to try to make sure that every elected Member of Parliament now has a way of being able to vote, obviously while still making sure we observe the social distancing rules.

The thing that will happen in this final fortnight though is the government will finally introduce its changes to industrial relations law. Our test when we look at these proposed laws will be really straight forward. Do they deliver on decent wages in secure jobs? That's the test. Now because the government has had the process of the working groups, where employers and unions have been at the table, if the legislation is based tightly on those working groups, and I'm confident that's what we'll get, and we'll end up with something that after an inquiry process will find its way through the Parliament next year. But it is on the government to make sure that they follow their own process with the working groups they've set up, and it's on the government to make sure that the new industrial relations legislation delivers secure work with decent pay.

The other issue, given what has happened in the last couple of weeks, that they cannot ignore and they need to make sure is part of this legislation, is a response to what we have seen with the lack of safety for riders working for apps like Uber Eats. People want the technology and the convenience of the different ways that you can now order on your phone. But we want the convenience and technology, without the exploitation. What we've seen for delivery riders is third-world working conditions in a first-world country. And that can't be acceptable. Now during the week I put forward some proposals about extending the role of the Fair Work Commission - that's one way of dealing with it. We'll have an open mind if the government comes back with a different way of dealing with it. But what the government can't do is just ignore this. We have had five people die while riding in delivery services. Five deaths, two in the last week. It can't be considered acceptable for people to be working at such low rates of pay, below what any award would allow, simply because this is new technology. We need to fix this and it can be fixed and I don't want to see a summer of more deaths on the road. And I want the government to respond, because we cannot accept the argument where somehow we apply the same rules to genuine independent contractors that we apply to somebody on a working visa who has bought a second-hand bike to get some extra cash when they have got no other means of support. So that has to be part of what the government brings forward in its legislation in the next fortnight.

We also are nearing some critical dates on the Prime Minister's announcement. Mr Morrison announced that the stranded Australians overseas would be home by Christmas. Now unless they're going to spend their Christmas Day in Australia still separated from their loved ones, locked up in hotel quarantine, that means December 11becomes the critical date. Mr Morrison announced stranded Australians would be home by Christmas. He needs to deliver on that. Australians are sick to death of Mr Morrison making announcements that he never delivers on. And this is critical for what sort of Christmas Australians families get in a few weeks' time.


The final issue I've been asked to raise, not my portfolio now but certainly was my responsibility back when I was Agriculture Minister. Back then Australia was too tied to just one market in our win industry - and it was the UK market. I was part of making sure we opened up to the Chinese market as well and that we moved up a few price points from where we'd previously been. Now the government needs to be expanding our market reach again. And they have no plan to get us into other wine markets. If you don't have a plan for export markets you don't have a plan for jobs. The wine industry employs people - it's not just the people who grow the grapes, it's also the people who work in distribution, it's the people who work in production, it's the people who turn those grapes into some of the best wine in the world. If you don't have a plan for those markets you don't have a plan for jobs, and at the moment this is another area where Mr Morrison doesn't have a plan for secure jobs throughout Australia and right into the regions. Happy to take any questions.

REPORTER: Do Chinese tariffs on Australian wine make that whole market unviable to Australian producers?

BURKE: You need to make sure that you have a number of export markets. Managing the China relationship responsibility is critically important. But it's also the case for any industry that you never want to be too beholden to a single market. And it's the government's job to help industry spread its risk. Now the government clearly doesn't have a plan to do that. When Labor was in government we did have a plan and we did that. And it makes sure that you're never beholden to the whim of your relationship with one country if you have effectively spread your risk. If you don't have a plan to spread your risk then one country is always able to have a deeply significant impact on jobs in Australia.
REPORTER: You're saying the government could handle its relationship with China more effectively but what can be done right now to help Australian wine producers.

BURKE: The thing to be done right now is to make sure we're getting into as many markets as possible at the best price points possible. The way the wine market works, once you go down a few price points you have a permanent hit on the reputation of the product. It's been a lot of work for the wine industry to move up into higher, premium valeu markets. For a long time we were selling wine really cheaply into the UK and that was the main way we were exporting wine. We've moved up price points. Unless the government has a plan to spread our risk now, you run a different risk. You end up with too much supply on the market with not enough demand and we move down in the market. That's not just something that hits one cycle. That's a permanent hit and a long-lasting hit to your wine market. So the best thing the government can do right now is to spread that risk, to be getting us into additional markets and there is no evidence Mr Morrison has a plan at all.

REPORTER: Are these trade disputes going to keep escalating? Are you worried about any other Australian products?

BURKE: Australia is an export country. That's what we are. Australia relies on its export markets. So what we are seeing with wine at the moment is effectively a bit of a canary in the coalmine on the significance of Australia's risk management in export markets. You need to be able to sell to as many customers as possible. You need to be able to find Australian products in as many markets as possible. That way you lower the risk. There's no business that just booms endlessly in the one suburb and says we'll never open up anywhere else because we're getting a good price here. You spread your risk in as many different places as possible. The government has no plan to do this. They have simply directed our exporters to wherever the highest prices of the day are and haven't been doing to work to constantly spread the risk. You want us to be in as many markets as possible. Why? Because if you're selling the product you're keeping the profits in the businesses which means you can deliver on the Australian secure jobs. The government's lack of a plan has a direct line to insecurity at work for Australians.

REPORTER: (inaudble)
BURKE: I'm not going to talk down individual commodities or individual products. But effectively, if you are an exporter at the moment, you want the government to have a plan to spread the risk for exporters across the world. And they don't.

REPORTER: And is Federal Labor suffering an identity crisis as suggested by Chris Bowen.

BURKE: That's not what Chris is saying. At all. I know Chris well and he has made a really important point today. Sometimes when people want to talk heartland they just talk one part of Australia. As a Labor Party, whenever we have had a pathway to government it's because we've been speaking for all Australians. Like Chris Bowen I'm also a creature of the suburbs. And it's important that whenever we talk about Labor heartland that the needs of the people in the suburbs, and in particular their needs for well-paid secure jobs are never forgotten and I'm glad Chris is making that contribution today. Thank you.

ENDS