Interview with Aaron Stevens – 4RO Breakfast

AARON STEVENS, HOST: Pleasure this morning to be joined by Labor Senator, Murray Watt. Hi, Murray.

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS: G'day, Aaron. Good to talk to you again.

AARON STEVENS: Fantastic. Plenty to talk about. Starting with, look, cost of living pressures are really starting to bite in Central Queensland. Is the Government doing enough?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, look, there's no doubt that whether we're talking about Central Queensland or anywhere else in the country, cost of living is really hard for people and has been for quite some time now. You know, we've had the global inflation surge which has really affected every part of the world, including right here in Queensland. But what we've been doing as a Government is both trying to lift wages for people, after 10 years of those wages being held deliberately low by the Coalition, we're now starting to see wages grow again, which is fantastic to see. But also, of course, we've delivered huge amounts of cost of living support, whether it be the tax cuts that we rejigged to benefit more low and middle income earners, the cheaper childcare, cheaper medicines, the energy bill relief, a range of different things that we've done. But we recognise that despite all of that, things are still tough for people, and as a Government, we've got to keep working hard to fix that for people.

AARON STEVENS: Absolutely. I mean, it doesn't seem to be working. We've got, I'm hearing stories around Rockhampton, in particular, of Christmas parties being cancelled, of, you know, spending being down significantly. I mean, we, it looks like we're in for a tough Christmas.

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, I think that's probably right for many people, Aaron. And as I say, you know, as a Government, we absolutely recognise that as much as the wages are rising and that cost of living support is being provided, that doesn't mean that people are on easy street. As a Government, we've got to remain humble about these things and got to remain focused on doing what we can to help people. On the wages front, it was really pleasing to see, even last week we got some new figures through from the Bureau of Statistics which showed that since we came to office a bit over two years ago, every single industry sector has seen average weekly earnings increase. And some sectors they've been increasing by well over 10 per cent in places like tourism and hospitality, mining, manufacturing, a lot of those kind of industries that we see a lot of in Central Queensland. And as I say, that's a deliberate choice that we've made as a Government is to change our workplace laws so that wages are growing again. What we've done is that you would have heard about the Same Jobs Same Pay laws. I think we've talked about that before, Aaron, which has made a really big difference in the mining industry, for example, and a range of other changes that we've made to the laws. I've got to say, every single one of those changes was opposed by Peter Dutton, people like Michelle Landry and Matt Canavan. So, you can only imagine how much things would be worse for people if those guys had got their way and stopped those increases to wages that people are depending on.

AARON STEVENS: But they're being counted by interest rates. And still, I mean, you know, big questions about which way interest rates are going to go in 2025.

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, there's no doubt that those interest rates have really made life hard for people. And, you know, I'm a well-paid individual, Aaron. I'm not going to complain about my circumstances, but I can see the impact on my mortgage, and I can only imagine how much tougher it is for people who are getting paid a lot less than me. It's tough for people out there. What we've tried to do as a Government is try to come up with a situation where we can get wages growing again, which we now are, that we can get employment growing again, which we are. We've also created over a million new jobs since coming to office, which is the most that we've ever seen in any single parliamentary term from any government in our history. So, more jobs and low unemployment is still there. But at the same time, of course, we've more than halved inflation from where it was when we first came to office. When we were elected in May 2022, inflation was running at over 6 per cent and it was rising and kept rising for quite a while after we took office. It's now less than 3 per cent and it's falling. So, you know, as I say, I don't want to pretend that things are perfect for people out there, but there's a range of indicators that show that things are starting to get a little bit better. But I recognise there's more work to do.

AARON STEVENS: You get a sense though, we're starting to move into election mode. Is the Government nervous?

MURRAY WATT: Look, yeah, I think every government is always nervous heading into an election, Aaron, and, you know, we don't take this for granted. Obviously, the polls are very tight at the moment and the election could go either way. And that's why it's going to be really important for us to get out there and argue the case that, as I say, that as tough as things have been for people that we've had Australians back by delivering that cost of living relief and getting wages moving again. But also, I think what we'll be doing is asking people to think about who they think they'll be better off under in three years’ time. And as I say, what we can do is compare the wage growth that we've been able to do as a result of our changes to the laws which Peter Dutton opposed, those tax cuts and the cost of living relief that we provided, which Peter Dutton and the Coalition opposed. And even before the elections started, we've seen Peter Dutton and the Coalition say that if they're elected they'll start unwinding some of the changes we've made to workplace laws which will actually see pay be cut and people lose their conditions. And I suppose in the end what we'll be saying to people is at a time that people are doing it really tough, it would be even worse under the Coalition. So, we'll be getting people to focus their minds, and we'll have to obviously come forward with some good policies of our own. So, you know, I like election campaigns. I like being out there on the road and making the argument and the good people of Central Queensland will make their choice after that.

AARON STEVENS: Well, you know that it's going to be tough in Central Queensland, especially after the state election. I mean, what do you make of those results right across CQ?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, Central Queensland obviously is a difficult area for Labor. For some time now the seats based in Central Queensland have been held by the LNP and the results in the state election do make it tougher for Labor. There's no doubt about that. You know, I mean we obviously held onto the seat of Gladstone with Glenn Butcher, which was great, but lost Rockhampton unfortunately. And I think it's no secret that state Labor struggled a lot more in regional Queensland than it did in the south east corner. So, I think as I say, what we've got to do is put forward the policies that Central Queenslanders can see a future for themselves in. I've mentioned the wages issues, and we'll campaign on that. But also, things like Medicare, you know, what I've always found is that when I'm in regional Queensland, having bulk billing and having good health services is really important to people and things like the Medicare Urgent Care Clinic that we've established in Rockhampton and providing more incentives to doctors to bulk bill is starting to see bulk billing rise again for the first time in years. So, I think that Labor will have a decent story to tell people in Central Queensland about the work that we're doing to try to shield them from some of those global pressures that are impacting on people, but also trying to boost the local area with good health services, good schools, good roads, as well as those tax cuts and better wages.

AARON STEVENS: You sound like you're in election mode. What about the Newspoll that's come out this morning labelling our Prime Minister weak?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, I mean, I know that's the line that Peter Dutton has been using for some time now and it's no surprise that people have heard that. But look, as someone who works with him quite a bit, nothing could be further from the truth. The Prime Minister has taken really strong action on a range of fronts to try to help Australians and help Queenslanders. It was the beginning of this year that he made what was a really difficult call to change the way the tax cuts had been structured. When Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton were in government, they were promising tax cuts that were only going to benefit the highest income earners in our country. And frankly, most of them would have been in places like Sydney and Melbourne. And Anthony Albanese had the guts to stand up and say this needed to be changed and we needed to direct those tax cuts to people on middle and low income earners, and there's a lot more of them in regional Queensland than there are millionaires. So, I think there's been some good examples we can point to where he's actually been really strong about saying what's right and who needs that help. You know, I'll leave it for the polls to sort of say what they want about how people feel about that. But as I say, I think we'll have a good platform to take to the next election and hopefully we'll see that rewarded in places like Central Queensland.

AARON STEVENS: Hopefully you can have a break across Christmas and the new year before getting into election mode fully in 2025.

MURRAY WATT: Looking forward to it, Aaron. I'm planning to have a couple of weeks, just not too far away at the beach and recuperate and back into it next year. I hope you get a good break along with your listeners, mate.

AARON STEVENS: Murray, have a fantastic Christmas, talk in 2025.

MURRAY WATT: Sounds good. Thanks, Aaron.