TRANSCRIPT: TV INTERVIEW - SKY NEWS - 20 MAY, 2021

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS
THURSDAY, 20 MAY 2021

SUBJECTS: Wages; vaccine rollout.

LAURA JAYES, HOST: Let’s go live now to the Shadow Industrial Relations Minister, Tony Burke, he joins us from Melbourne. Tony Burke, good to see you. I mean, it's no surprise, we saw this data yesterday. It's, you know, even further depressing in terms of the data we've seen over the last couple of years. But how do you fix it?

TONY BURKE: Well, if I start with this: it's not a recovery if people's wages are effectively going backwards. So if you look at that application referred to from the ACTU, of the 3.5 per cent - that simply says don't go backwards, because that’s set at the exact rate that CPI is running at. And so if the recovery is doing well enough that JobKeeper and a whole lot of other supports can be withdrawn, surely the recovery is doing well enough so that workers, particularly workers on the minimum wage, get a share of what's happening. And we've got to remember as well, for the economy, we are going to be more dependent on consumer spending than we've been at any time in living memory. And there is nowhere in the wages across all the different levels of wages in the country, there's nowhere where you're guaranteed it comes back as consumer spending the way you are for people who are on awards are on the minimum wage. So the first thing that the government could do, would be to advocate for an increase to the minimum wage, which they haven't done. They could advocate a dollar figure, which they haven't done as a government. They've got all the resources of Treasury to be able to work that through. We've got business either calling for a pay freeze or arguing for a 1.1 per cent increase. That means people's wages go backwards. That's what that means. And how is that a recovery?

JAYES: Has Labor made a submission to the Fair Work Commission?

BURKE: No, no, we did in previous terms. This term we haven't and largely that's on advice, some of which came from the Productivity Commission, in terms of what are the submissions that the Fair Work Commission takes account of. They don't effectively – a submission from an Opposition is not on the list of submissions that they effectively take account of, but a submission from government is. And that's why it's one letter one submission from the government that could make a difference here. But instead, they've gone the opposite way. And they're, what they're advocating in there, is for the commission to take a very cautious approach. Now, some of the companies that are advocating for a pay freeze are companies that earned huge profits off the back of the JobKeeper. So it was good enough for them to make huge profits off the back of JobKeeper and pocket that money. It's not good enough for a small percentage of that to find its way through to their own employees? I get that businesses will always be wary of how much extra they pay their workers, but they all want their customers to have more money to spend. And the only way you do that is through these national cases.

JAYES: Ultimately, it is up to the independent body and I take your point about how a government might be able to influence that decision, but it is up to the independent body. But look, you've been talking about wages growth for quite some time and going into an election either this year or next. It'll come sooner rather than later. How would Labor fix this?

BURKE: Oh, a few of the policies that we've talked about before: same job, same pay. It's not just in the coal mining industry. It's not just in the meat processing industry. Only two days ago, I met with workers here in Melbourne, from the security industry, from warehousing and from manufacturing. All of them had examples of labour hire coming in at lower rates of pay than what the workers they’re working side by side get. And the labour hire people being called casual, but on a lower hourly rate. This is a straight rort that’s driving-

JAYES: Isn't that just one small sector? I mean, how do you do it across the board?

BURKE: Yeah, well, can I say, I thought it was a much smaller sector. When we first started talking about this, I was only referring to coal mining in Queensland. I'm astonished at how broad this is now. The simplest way to do something across the board is the Fair Work case that’s on right now. That's the simplest way to do something across the board. And the government's refusing to do that.

JAYES: Well the unions have suggested that perhaps the government should give the public sector a wage rise and corporate Australia might see that as their cue. Do you agree with that?

BURKE: That's one of the levers available. And we've said that we'd be a model employer in government. But one of the extra things that’s in some ways even more powerful is in your procurement policies, you prioritise and you take account of the security of the workforce when you're doing your procurement policies. Why does it make a bigger difference? The answer is really simple. Because companies in wanting to bid will make sure they are looking after their workforce with pay increases and secure jobs to get a better chance of getting a government contract. And that'll affect their entire operations. But you know, all of these measures, they all come back to a difference between us and the government, which is we want to get wages moving. They want to hold them back. The budget said that, and you know, we've spoken before about the “deliberate design feature” of low wages growth, yeah, but no matter which way we take the quote, it is what they've delivered.

JAYES: Alright, I know you’ve got a plane to catch so I want to ask you about not just the vaccine rollout, but the fact that in this country at the moment, we don't even have guaranteed freedom of movement in our own country. How does that sit with you, and where's the leadership?

BURKE: I'm quite worried that we're going to see, after all the hard work that Australians have done keeping the virus out, locking down, all the things that we've been through over the last 12 months, and Victorians have been through more than anyone else in the country. I’m worried that after all that work, the rest of the world will open up before we do because they’re doing the vaccine rollout better. And, you look at some of the shifts that people are talking about in the United States and other countries that were way behind us. If the vaccine rollout keeps going so slowly in Australia, then a whole lot of the things that we would presume will happen with freedom of movement, we’ll get nothing for all the work we put in over the last 12 months in terms of being able to open up again.

JAYES: If you get vaccinated, should all the premiers agree that you can travel without the threat of lockdown?

BURKE: Well, I would have thought that's where the health advice would land. And, you know, I'm not going to give the health advice. But you know, it would have to be the case logically, that if people are vaccinated that creates a greater opportunity for people to be able to move. And the vaccine hesitancy that's been reported over the last few days, I'm really worried about. You know, this government has spent more than a billion dollars on advertising campaigns. They don't hesitate to run really slick marketing, if it's something that they think helps Mr Morrison's job. This is an advertising, marketing, public interest campaign that will save lives. And when I saw the transcript of the Prime Minister this morning on 2GB being quite relaxed about whether or not the vaccine rolls out more slowly or whether or not people are hesitant to get it, that we've got plenty of time. Well, I don't think we'll be feeling that way as we watch the rest of the world open up faster than us.

JAYES: Indeed, well, you're getting a plane, that's nice that we can still do that these days. So we'll let you go and get that Tony Burke, thanks so much for your time.

BURKE: Great to be back, Laura.

ENDS