TRANSCRIPT: DOORSTOP INTERVIEW - SYDNEY - TUESDAY, 31 MARCH 2020

E&OE TRANSCRIPT 
PRESS CONFERENCE
SYDNEY
TUESDAY, 31 MARCH 2020

SUBJECT: Coronavirus; wage subsidy.

TONY BURKE: For a couple of weeks now the Labor Party has been calling for the Government to introduce a wage subsidy. The ACTU led by Sally McManus and Michelle O'Neill has been making the same call. And business in increasing numbers has joined the same call that we needed a wage subsidy. We needed it for a really simple reason. It would keep people's relationship to their employers at a time where otherwise you're going to see mass dislocation. The Government have now made that decision and Labor welcomes it. When you call for something that would change people's lives and the Government then comes forward and makes that decision then you can only welcome it, and we do. And when Parliament resumes we'll be doing what we can to make sure that this is implemented as soon as possible.

It's also a vindication of the approach that we've adopted to these issues. Anyone who questions and has questioned whether or not we were doing the right thing, pushing for the Government to do more, yesterday confirms the approach led by Anthony Albanese has been spot on. The right approach for Australia. It is true if this had been done when we were first calling for it there are hundreds of thousands of people who might not have had their lives turned upside down over the last two weeks. But we're there now. And that's good. We’ll look at the legislation, we’ll look at the detail. We won't be holding this back but if there are areas where, on the basis of the detail, things can be improved then certainly we'll look at that. People at the moment are having an eye to what this means for the full range of casual workers, what it means for businesses that employ a large number of casual workers, and of course what it means for businesses that rely on the workers who go through a range of visas. So we'll look at all of that detail.

Conversations with the Government have now commenced about when Parliament might resume. That timetable will be largely determined by when the legislation is ready. But when the legislation is ready to go Labor is ready to make sure that the Parliament is able to meet and we can get this done. The final thing that I'd say with respect to my own portfolios is there will be large sections of people who are involved in the arts and entertainment industries that this doesn't reach. There are some sections of the economy that can only be helped during a period of massive dislocation by a package direct for that industry. And we continue to call on the Government to do just that.

JOURNALIST: So is Labor suggesting also that casuals who have worked with a firm for a period of less than 12 months, should they be eligible for the Jobkeeper subsidy?

BURKE: The issue that you raised there about casuals who have worked for less than 12 months is an issue that's being raised with us by both workers and by businesses, I have to say, who rely on a workforce like that. Today I'm not going to start picking the package apart. A very large number of Australians are better off as a result of yesterday's announcement. We'll work through the detail and the issue of casuals who haven't been employed for a full 12 months, and businesses that rely on that workforce, that’s one of the issues that we'll be looking at really carefully. But today, having called for something that the Government was ruling out as recently as last Friday, I just want to make clear the extent to which Labor is welcoming this and wanting to see the passage of legislation.

JOURNALIST: So Jim Chalmers also appeared to mention the May 1st date of the delivery of payments is potentially an issue. So does this mean that Labor wants that date brought forward. And have they asked the Government to look into this?

BURKE: On the issue of those payments, you'd have to go to Jim Chalmers on that I'm not across that detail I’m sorry. Was there a question on the phone? We're just checking before we stay here in the room.

JOURNALIST: Paddy Manning from The Monthly here Tony, if I could ask you a question.

BURKE: Sure Paddy.

JOURNALIST: There was some commentary last week that what we saw was a decisive break in the bipartisanship because Anthony Albanese came out and said that the priority should be health and then economy in that order, and that this was a break with the Government. Can you please reflect on that?

BURKE: Well they're not mutually exclusive. It's not like you look after the health issues and then separately you look after the economic issues. The best thing you can do to have a strong economy is to have a healthy Australia. And that's why if you get the health response right here then the economic response becomes a much easier pathway. And I was with Anthony at that presser here in Sydney that day and that was the exact focus that we were making. If you pigeonhole the two you can you can miss the point a bit in the sense that the best thing for the Australian economy will always be a healthy nation and focusing on getting those health calls right is critical to making sure that we end up with the best economic response as well.

JOURNALIST: Labor wouldn’t seek to campaign on the basis that the death toll was too high from coronavirus surely?

BURKE: I think if anyone right at this point is thinking about the next election then they're missing the point. The nation's in a crisis right now. And our role, entirely, is to make sure that when the Government puts forward something that's good that we are there to make sure it can happen as quickly as possible. And where we can see gaps, like we did with the wage subsidy, we argue it, and when the Government says no that won't happen, we keep arguing it. We keep making the case so that both for business and for workers we can get outcomes like we got yesterday.

JOURNALIST: Brett Mason from SBS, sorry to jump in. The new world we’re living in. Quick question, on working visas and the Jobkeeper payment. There is a special exemption for New Zealanders on the 444 visa. Do you think that should be broadened to other nationalities, particularly workers from the Pacific. And just a second question on Australian citizens and residents who are overseas. We are seeing some deteriorating things in India and Peru for example, should more be being done to get those Australians home quickly and safely?

BURKE: Penny Wong has been working constructively with the Government on trying to make sure that we can get the best possible outcome for Australians overseas and that constructive work is exactly what needs to happen. The people working in DFAT and working at the different posts have a challenge quite different to what their normal work has been. And so we're working constructively with the Government and Penny Wong is leading that. In terms the part of your question that goes to the different visas beyond New Zealanders. They’re some of the issues that we'll be working through in consultation over the coming days and weeks. We need to get the legislation and we're also getting comments back from business and workers very quickly about who might be missing out and what might need to be done there. So we reserve the right to deal with all of those issues, but I don't want to step away from the fact that today there is an announcement made yesterday that we've been calling for that will change hundreds of thousands of lives, and that will make the Australian economy one that is much better able to get moving again on the other side of this crisis. We called for it, the Government's done it and we welcome it.

JOURNALIST: So in terms of having a strong economy, I guess one consideration is also the debt that Australia will be in once this assistance package finishes. It could reach one trillion dollars. So what sort of timetable is realistic for the repayment of a debt of that size and what are your thoughts around the debt of that size?

BURKE: The gravity of the fiscal decisions that are being taken right now is huge. What needs to be remembered is if you don't take them, it ends up costing the economy more. The decision yesterday is extraordinarily expensive, but makes a real difference to how quickly the economy should be able to pick up on the other side. The one thing I'll say about the fiscals is we should forever now put into the bin the arguments that the Government has been running against Labor since the Global Financial Crisis. If you help a nation through a crisis and you shield a nation from mass unemployment during a crisis the nation is much better off from that point on. And you know I wish there was a circumstance other than what we've had to go through for the Government to be forced to recognise that. But that is certainly the takeaway message, that if you don't make these decisions it ends up costing you even more.

JOURNALIST: Tony I have a question, Trudy from Sky News. Is Labor supportive of Virgin’s push to get the Federal Government to provide a $1.4 billion bailout for the airline?

BURKE: Aviation is an industry critically effected by what's going on around the world right now. And we want to make sure that the essential structure of the aviation industry, in terms of competition, in terms of its reach into the regions, is still there on the other side of this crisis. Now Catherine King has been working constructively with the Deputy Prime Minister on this issue. Effectively, there are there are different ways of doing it. It can be done through a line of credit, it can be done through an equity injection. Labor’s supportive of the different approaches. The objective is to make sure that on the other side of this crisis we still have the same structure in terms of regions, in terms of competition within aviation.

JOURNALIST: So on that topic, so does Labor not think that Australia could be well served from a monopoly airline operator with appropriate regulation and price controls?

BURKE: No. When I talk about structure we're talking about the competition that's there at the moment as well. And we've been supportive of whether it be equity injection or line of credit, for those sorts of options to be available to the Government and Catherine King has been advocating that.

JOURNALIST: And if one airline gets a payment, should all airlines?

BURKE: I won't get into the hypotheticals about what different ways the Government might do it. The objective from Labor is we do not want to see on the other side of this crisis there being a fundamentally different structure to the aviation industry in Australia. Okay? Thanks for your time.

ENDS