TRANSCRIPT: TV INTERVIEW - SKY NEWS - FRIDAY, 24 JULY 2020

E&OE TRANSCRIPT 
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS WITH ANNELISE NIELSEN
FRIDAY, 24 JULY 2020

SUBJECTS: Industrial relations.

ANNELISE NIELSEN: Joining us live now is Shadow Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke. Thank you for your time. What do you make of the government's argument that it's better to have people in jobs with these very provisions than no job at all?

TONY BURKE: Well I actually don't think that's a choice that we're facing. The choice that we're facing at the moment is whether or not businesses that the government has decided no longer require support see an attack on job security for the workers who are there. That's what's at stake here. The concept of making sure that you negotiate with your employer to be able to keep jobs going is something that's already always been allowed under the Fair Work Act. Workers and unions and employers have been doing that for years. So if the government thinks that's the choice, they don't understand the legislation they're dealing with. What we did a few months ago was on the basis that JobKeeper was being announced, and that the government was putting such a direct level of assistance into wage subsidies which we'd been calling for, we allowed there to be some changes to make that work. That's what happened. And part of those changes were to allow an employer to give a fast direction to keep people in work instead of it being a negotiated outcome. What the government is now saying - 

NIELSEN: Well one of the issues from the government's perspective is that this is unprecedented, the pandemic we're facing, and they need people to be able to adapt their business quickly. Would this not allow employers to be able to move people where they need them quickly?

BURKE: I'll tell you what it would allow. It would allow a business that has not only recovered but is in fact doing better – maybe because one of their competitors has fallen over – a business that is in fact more profitable than it was a year ago, will be able to say to its full time workforce, you're now working part-time. No right to negotiation, no mutual agreement. This is the power that the government wants to simply hand to employers. At the exact same time that people need job security more than ever, at the exact same time that we need people to have the confidence to start spending in the economy, the government is launching a direct attack on job security for people who are working in businesses that are no longer stressed. Now it's an extraordinary announcement that Josh Frydenberg made yesterday and I hope it's not long before the Government backs down that claim. To think that a business that is not only in as much stress but could in fact be even doing better - and the government still wants them to be able to attack the rights of the workforce. It's an extraordinary announcement yesterday and it's certainly not something we'd be able to support.

NIELSEN: Well we’re standing by for the Treasurer speaking at the Press Club today as well, I'm sorry Tony Burke but we are going to have to leave it there. But thank you for your time.

BURKE: Great to be able to talk to you.
 
ENDS