Interview with Rachel Mealey, ABC Radio
RACHEL MEALEY, HOST: The federal government will throw another $630 million into the pot to help fund pay rises for health, disability and community service workers. It comes on top of a $3.6 billion boost to child care workers' pay that the government has already underwritten. Last year, the Fair Work Commission found that work in female-dominated industries had been historically undervalued. Amanda Rishworth is the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. She joined me earlier. Minister, thanks for speaking to AM.
AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS: Great to be with you.
RACHEL MEALEY: Firstly, as we've just heard, doctors are warning Australia's health system is unprepared for the growing number of older patients arriving in emergency departments, as elderly and frail patients are left in hospital corridors as they wait for a bed. How are we going to staff a system that's already under strain?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, look, obviously, there are, of course, challenges that we need to address. And our government is working very closely with state and territory governments. We've struck a record hospital deal of $25 billion of funding to our hospitals. But of course, we're making huge investments in aged care as well, supporting people to stay at home, investments in more aged care beds. So this is a challenge. We've all got to work together. We've got to make sure we're training our care workforce to provide that care. And part of that is making sure that, for example, our aged care workers are paid appropriately. We know since that decision of increasing their pay has come through that we've seen more retention, for example, in continuing to work in aged care. So we've got to continue to work really hard, provide the dignity for older Australians. It is an ageing population and we'll continue to work very hard to make sure they get the type of service that they deserve.
RACHEL MEALEY: You're promising extra money now, an extra $630 million to help fund those pay rises. Will it be enough?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: What we're announcing today is that health and community and disability workers, they have been awarded pay increases by the Commission in recognition that their work has been undervalued for too long. From the Commonwealth's perspective, we fund a lot of those services and supports. And we're stepping up today and providing the money to top up funding to help these organisations continue to deliver the service and pay those pay rises.
RACHEL MEALEY: Inflation's running at 4%. Does throwing an extra $630 million out there for pay rises just add to that inflationary pressure?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, first I would say that actually ensuring people get paid appropriately for the work they do and making sure that people get decent wages is something that our government believes in very strongly. Now, I need to be very clear that the comments by the RBA do not suggest that wage rises are putting extra pressure or some unreasonable pressure on inflation. There's no evidence of that. And so this is a really, I think, important principle that this work has been undervalued and we need to ensure people get paid appropriately.
RACHEL MEALEY: But regardless of how noble the cause, shouldn't we just be in a blackout zone where we don't hear from you about announcements like this one today, announcing pots of funding for different areas of the economy? Shouldn't the government purse be snapped shut?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, firstly, I would say that we are taking a responsible approach to budget repair. We have been making sure that we are banking extra revenue, we're making responsible decisions when it comes to programs and government spending. But I think, quite critically, when it comes to people getting the pay they deserve, that is critical. And I think what the Fair Work Commission found is that for many, many years, the essential work that these workers do, providing support services to people experiencing family and domestic violence, responding to, for example, some of the most vulnerable people in our community and meeting those needs, that they haven't been appropriately remunerated. So the decision has come down by the independent Fair Work Commission. What we're saying is we will fund and top up so that these people can get paid. This isn't a decision made by government about these pay increases, but we do not want there to be a gap in services. And I think that's what the community would expect, particularly in some of those essential services.
RACHEL MEALEY: Minister Rishworth, thanks for joining AM.