Interview with Pablo Viñales - ABC Afternoon Briefing

PABLO VIÑALES, HOST: Amanda Rishworth was named as the new Employment and Workplace Relations Minister following a Cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier this week and has been busily reading up on her new portfolio ahead of the award wages announcement today. She joined us earlier. Amanda Rishworth, welcome to the program and congratulations on the new appointment.

AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS: Thank you very much. It's really wonderful to be here with you.

PABLO VIÑALES: Let's get straight into your new portfolio. The Federal Government has recommended the Fair Work Commission award an economically sustainable real wage increase to Australia's award workers. So, last year the Fair Work Commission granted a 3.75 per cent increase. How much of an increase is economically sustainable do you think now?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: What we've got to do and what we've done is delivered on our election commitment, which was to put a submission into the Fair Work Commission. Of course, the Fair Work Commission will make an independent decision, but what we're saying is that many of our low paid workers are still feeling cost-of-living pressures and that's why we would like to see a real wage increase. But obviously that needs to be done in the context of economic conditions. And so we put forward, a very principled position that there needs to be a real wage increase for Australia's lowest paid workers because they are doing it tough, still under cost living pressures.

PABLO VIÑALES: So, the Government obviously, as you say, pushing for a wage increase above inflation. So, what do you say to employer groups like the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry that are pushing for an increase of around 2.5 to 2.6 per cent? They point to steep rises in costs for businesses. Is that adequate?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: I would say any party is able to put an application into the Commission. From the Government's perspective, we want our low paid workers to know we've got their back. When you look across the economic conditions, we see historically low unemployment and we're also seeing inflation coming down into the reserve bank band. So, we do think there is a case for a real wage increase to our lowest paid workers, but that will be a matter for the Commission.

PABLO VIÑALES: Do you think the economic conditions we're seeing in Australia are looking more promising for a sustainable wage growth in the years ahead? Obviously, we are seeing inflation coming down. Do you think workers can feel confident in that?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: What I would say is that there have been some pleasing numbers coming out this week, economic numbers. We've seen real wages grow again with the annual wage increase at 3.4 per cent, which is higher than CPI. We've also seen one of those historically Low unemployment numbers at 4.1 per cent. And we've seen significant jobs growth in the March to April month, over 89,000 jobs added to the economy and of course, inflation reducing. So, this is promising, but we do know that people are still doing it tough. And that is what our Government has been absolutely focused on through the election period. But now we're in Government again on how we reduce those cost pressures on people and how we support people with cost-of-living.

PABLO VIÑALES: How much uncertainty or concern do you have when you look at the economic outlook? It's looking very uncertain on the global stage and whether that could obviously impact inflation here and therefore these sort of projections or these hopes that you have around a real wage increase.

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Obviously, we are not immune to global factors. Partly we've seen as a result of this global inflation environment that have an impact on Australia. But our Government is doing absolutely everything we can to make sure that we're putting downward pressure on inflation but also supporting people with cost-of-living. And that's exactly what this submission to the Fair Work Commission is designed to do. But we're not immune, but as a government, we're working every single day to support Australians with some of these cost-of-living pressures acting responsibly. By making sure that we keep being responsible around our budget settings and really continuing to put that downward pressure on inflation, we're seeing inflation come down and we'll continue to obviously monitor the global results.

PABLO VIÑALES: Now, last month we also saw the Fair Work Commission recommend pay rises of up to 30 per cent to hundreds of thousands of early childhood workers and health professionals. It's in response to trying to address the gender pay gap in highly feminised industries. And it's been seen as a landmark decision. Is this one you welcome?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: We certainly welcome the work done by the commission when it comes to reducing the gender pay gap. This has been a significant issue and is why the government put gender equality as an object of the Fair Work Act. Of course, when it comes to early childhood educators, as a Government have already taken steps to look at how we can better remunerate early childhood educators through our worker retention payment that has been operating since the December. But we certainly have been very focused as a Government on how we reduce the gender pay gap and will continue to do so.

PABLO VIÑALES: What do you say to some of the private health operators that argue that this would blow out costs for smaller clinics, it could lead to job losses and higher fees for clients that are worried about having to pass this down?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: This Fair Work Commission decision is now being consulted on. But more broadly, as a principle, reducing the gender pay gap is a really important issue in this country and something that our Government has taken very seriously. We are seeing, for example, when it comes to the jobs figures from March to April, of the new jobs created, 65,000 of those were taken up by women. Reducing the gender pay gap is really important, not just for those women, but for our economy as well. So, look, obviously that is a decision for the Fair Work Commission, but as a broad principle, we certainly are very committed to how we reduce the gender pay gap.

PABLO VIÑALES: In your new portfolio, what is the aim for you in trying to achieve in this position? You spoke about the gender pay gap. What else do you hope to achieve?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: First and foremost, my commitment is about making sure we fulfil our election commitments. And the first of those was to put a submission into the Fair Work Commissions award wages decision. But addition to that, we've been clear that we want to legislate to protect penalty rates in awards. That was a key commitment during the election. And also, to ban non-compete clauses for low- and middle-income earners which is holding back workers being able to move to other employers and to be able to earn more money, it's holding wages back. And so that is also a real priority of mine.

PABLO VIÑALES: Minister Rishworth, just before we let you go, I want to ask you on Labor's planned extra tax on superannuation savings for people with savings worth more than $3 million, we have seen some backlash, not just from the opposition, but from a number of teal independents that say that this will have unintended consequences. The Treasury insists that the Government will push ahead with this. What do you say to some of those concerns that this will unfairly impact self-managed retirees?

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, what I would say is that our proposal is to reduce what are generous tax concessions for balances of over $3 million. This affects only a very small proportion of the vast majority of people will not be affected by this. But this is a responsible measure to ensure that we get the balance right for everyone. But what I would say is that there will still be tax concessions. So, it's the responsible and responsible pathway to take. And this is and the method we're using was recommended by Treasury in terms of how we proceed with this.

PABLO VIÑALES: So, there's no room for negotiation here. The Government's going to go ahead with this.

AMANDA RISHWORTH: This has been on the table for some time, and we will continue to prosecute the case that this is a reasonable change to our superannuation system.

PABLO VIÑALES:  Amanda Rishworth, thank you so much for your time.