TRANSCRIPT: TV INTERVIEW - SKY NEWS - MARCH 11, 2021
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS MORNING BRIEFING
THURSDAY, 11 MARCH 2021
SUBJECTS: JobKeeper; aviation; arts and entertainment.
LAURA JAYES, HOST: The Government is announcing a package for the tourism industry, what does the Opposition think? Well let’s bring in Tony Burke, he is the Shadow Industrial Relations Minister. Tony Burke thanks so much for your time. You're in Melbourne this morning, there’s not much for Melbourne or Victoria in this package, per se - but what do you think of the announcement about these cheap flights and Government subsidised flights, and also these interest free loans, a good idea?
BURKE: We’ll look at it constructively. And I suspect there's no doubt there's some parts of Australia which will benefit from this. The thing that we need to remember is the context in which this is being announced, is the government getting rid of JobKeeper at the end of the month. And there are a large number of people in the tourism industry, in fact the majority of people in the tourism industry who are in destinations that are not covered by today's announcement. For them, the support for their jobs falls off a cliff at the end of the month. And so we'll be constructive. And we'll look at the project as far as it goes. But you can't get away from the fact that what the government has now done, while they say it's a sector package, they've chosen destinations. And there are workers…
JAYES: So is it too Queensland heavy? I mean, Queensland's effected by the international market the most it would seem and the data seems to back that up. But are you saying it's too concentrated on Queensland?
BURKE: Look the problem that it has is that they're abolishing JobKeeper, that's a problem. So you can certainly target that -
JAYES: But doesn’t this replace that?
BURKE: Depends on where you live. But for most of Australia, it doesn't replace it at all.
JAYES: Who do you think missed out?
BURKE: In the tourism industry it doesn't replace it at all. I heard an interview this morning from one of the major hotels where they were saying that 60 per cent of the stock that they're dealing with is in major cities that are not covered by this at all. Now, behind every one of those locations are people's livelihoods, are people's jobs. And while the economy is recovering, that's no compensation to the individual who has been told today that because you work in the wrong part of Australia, the government's going to allow your job to fall off a cliff at the end of the month.
JAYES: So perhaps there should have been more of a concentration on central business districts and some of our major cities, is that the big blind spot?
BURKE: The blind spot is finishing Jobkeeper. They could have easily, in a targeted way, extended Jobkeeper. They could have if they wanted to say they're doing something for specific industries, they could have extended it for those industries. But instead, they've just decided to get rid of JobKeeper altogether. And we can't pretend for a minute that what is announced today replaces the support for jobs that collapses at the end of March.
JAYES: Interest free loans?
BURKE: Look, we'll have a look at the detail, we'll see how they work. The challenge with interest free loans at the moment is it always it involves businesses taking on extra credit. There'll be some that are in a position to do it. But after the year that a whole lot of businesses have been through you can imagine that there'll be a lot of businesses that will be viable, completely viable, if they can make it through to the end of the year, when international borders hopefully are fully open again. That you say to those businesses, our answer for you is to take on more debt. That's a really big call for a lot of businesses and some of them, there are a large number of them just won't be in a position to be able to do that. Interest free helps you for a period but you've still got to pay it back at some point.
JAYES: What about the arts, international students?
BURKE: Well, in terms of the arts first of all, Laura, they have been completely abandoned today. Every single challenge that is hitting the tourism industry is hitting the arts and entertainment industry in the exact same way. And I'm worried we're going to see happen in the next few months, is we're starting to see venues go. Now, every time a venue goes that is a structural part of the industry that is incredibly hard to get back. And to give you an extent of how extreme this risk is becoming with venues. Even the venue that Paul Fletcher went to last year to announce his live music package has announced today that it's closing. So 505 in Sydney, the one that the minister chose to claim here's our support package that will fix everything - they're closing. And they have put down in writing today, that a critical reason for them closing is JobKeeper ending before the restrictions are lifted. JobKeeper was established and they were eligible for it because it was an act of government that meant, for good public health reasons, that meant they weren't allowed to operate. Well, that decision is still there. They still can't fill the venue. There's nothing wrong commercially with their business model - government restrictions are preventing them and government support is disappearing.
JAYES: Yeah, that's a real concern for the arts sector. We might follow it up with that particular studio that you mention. Tony Burke we’ll have to leave it there. We'll speak soon.
BURKE: Great to be back.
ENDS