Interview with Greg Jennett, ABC Afternoon Briefing

GREG JENNETT, HOST: Murray Watt, thanks for joining us once again on Afternoon Briefing. Why don’t we start out on the jobs figures today. Unemployment held steady at 4.1 per cent in October. There was some solid job creation behind that. I’m wondering if it’s still the Government’s expectation though that we’ll likely see an uptick in unemployment before households are to get any interest rate relief?
 
MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS: Yeah, well thanks Greg. Good to be with you here from Perth. You’re right, we did see some very pleasing figures on the jobs front today, with another modest increase to the number of jobs that have been created. So, what we saw was that in the month of October another 15,900 new jobs were created right across Australia, and that takes the total of new jobs created under the Albanese Government to 1,056,000 – so over 1 million new jobs created under our Government since we came to office. And that’s the largest number of new jobs that have ever been created by any government in a single parliamentary term in our history.
 
Obviously, it’s a more modest figure than what we’ve seen in previous months, and I think that is an indication that the labour market is starting to soften. I think one of the important things about this – and I know there’s huge interest in interest rates, Greg – but what we’ve been able to do is keep creating new jobs while at the same time driving inflation down and see wages going up as well. You would have seen the figures that came out yesterday that show we’ve recorded four consecutive quarters of real wage growth in Australia. So, all of those things I think are really important for Australians who are dealing with cost-of-living pressures at the moment. And the fact that we have been able to drive jobs up, wages up and inflation down, I think, is a really important testament to the responsible economic management that we’ve undertaken.
 
GREG JENNETT: All right. Thanks for raising wages, because I was keen to discuss wage expectations. We’ve seen some very large public sector wage claims in the states, especially at the moment, a record New South Wales police wage deal, double-digit claims being pressed by nurses. Those figures run well above current inflation and projected inflation. Do you believe, Murray, that they’re sustainable?
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, I think what we’re seeing, Greg, is that there is an element of catch-up in some of the wage deals that unions and workers have been negotiating both in the private and the public sector. I know there has been a lot of attention on yesterday’s data showing that we were starting to see public sector wages increase at a higher level than the private sector, but we need to remember that that’s the first time in four or five years that public sector wages have been growing faster than in the private sector. And similarly, even in these jobs figures that I’ve been talking to you about today, about three-quarters of the new jobs that we created in our first two years in office were in the private sector. So I’ve seen some of the Opposition figures kind of out there sneering about public sector wage rises and public sector jobs. The reality is we’ve seen jobs growth and wages growth in the private sector as well.
 
You know, we’ll always keep an eye on the kind of wage deals that are being negotiated in both the public and the private sector. But I think the reality is that Australians have been doing it really tough over the last few years, and we make no apologies for the fact that we’ve got wages moving again. It contrasts very starkly with what you see from Peter Dutton and the Coalition. Only yesterday he was on ABC Radio refusing to rule out changing our laws to make it easier for bosses to unfairly dismiss their workers. He’s opposed every single one of our workplace reforms that have improved wages and conditions, and he’s already promised to scrap a range of the changes that we’ve made that are leading to people having higher wages and more jobs and more secure jobs. I think right now is the worst possible time to be talking about cutting people’s wages and conditions, and yet that’s exactly what we’re getting from Peter Dutton and the Coalition.
 
GREG JENNETT: All right. We’ll try and pin them down on some of their plans, which also seem to include some public sector job cuts in the federal public service. But leave that with us, Murray Watt, we’ll take that up with the Opposition when we get the chance.
 
Can I take you to the social media ban proposed on children under the age of 16? Peter Dutton did express a desire today that this be passed in a bipartisan fashion before the parliamentary year is out this year. Does that mean you as a government will prioritise the social media ban for passage, including in your chamber, the Senate, in this final sitting fortnight?
 
MURRAY WATT: Yeah, well we’re obviously still finalising the legislative program for the final fortnight, Greg. But we’ve made very clear that we’re keen to make these changes as quickly as we can. I think the vast majority of Australian parents support these changes being made to provide some limitations on the ability of kids to be unfortunately influenced in a very negative way from social media. Michelle Rowland, the Minister responsible, has made some announcements, of course, as well about imposing a duty of care on the social media platforms. They do have a responsibility for the kind of content that they’re allowing to proliferate, and is very damaging to young Australians in particular.
 
I’m a little concerned that while we see Peter Dutton make these comments that he wants to see a bipartisan approach, he’s got senators from his own party out there undermining what we're trying to do. Senator Alex Antic, who Peter Dutton has allowed to be number one on their Senate ticket in South Australia, is expressing concerns about age limits. Matt Canavan from my home state of Queensland is making similar types of comments. So I think Peter Dutton has got some work to do to actually make sure his own senators and MPs are supporting this before he talks about anyone else.
 
GREG JENNETT: All right. To be fair, though, unlike Labor caucus rules, Liberal and National backbenchers do have that right to cross the floor or express a contrary view, don’t they?
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, they do, but I do think is it a worry that we increasingly see some of the extreme fringe of the Liberal and National parties try to hijack the public debate on these types of issues, whether it be about social media rights, these are the same senators who currently have a bill before the Senate that is about restricting abortion rights for women as well. I think it’s a dangerous trend that we see from Peter Dutton’s Coalition that we do have these quite extreme views being pushed by members of his own team.
 
GREG JENNETT: All right. Noted. And, look, just on prioritisation, what will the Government prioritise as must-pass legislation in the Senate? I know you haven’t finalised the list, but what stands out in your mind?
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, clearly, Greg, the social media reforms that we’re talking about but also some of the changes that we want to get through to deliver more housing for Australians. That is a huge priority for us. You’re well familiar with the fact that, for many months now, the Coalition and the Greens have teamed up to delay and block our Help to Buy legislation. You know, we keep putting up options and trying to get them through parliament. They’re about building homes. You see Labor trying to build homes and you see the Coalition and the Greens blocking homes being built. So that will be a huge priority for us in the next two weeks.
 
But we’ve obviously got a range of other matters there to do with environmental reform, the online social media matters as well. I think it’s going to be a pretty big last couple of weeks, as they always are.
 
GREG JENNETT: Somehow I’m certain of that, too, Murray Watt. We’ll be watching with close interest from close range here in Canberra, I promise.
 
Look, as a fellow Queenslander from Kevin Rudd’s home state, I really do need to ask you about his position and tenure there in Washington DC. More quotes are coming out of the back catalogue of Kevin Rudd, highly critical of Donald Trump. Now that Dan Scavino has been named as Deputy White House Chief of Staff, isn’t it foolish of Ambassador Rudd to think that somehow he might be able to tough this out?
 
MURRAY WATT: No, I don’t think so, Greg. I mean, I think any fair observer can see the incredible job that Kevin Rudd has done as Australia’s Ambassador to the US in the time that he’s been in there. He obviously developed very strong links with Joe Biden’s Democrat administration, but he’s also developed very strong links with the Republican establishment over there as well and some of the people who are now very close to Donald Trump. He’s arranged really important meetings for a number of my colleagues with people who are now going to be serving senior positions in the Trump administration. That’s what good ambassadors do. You know, obviously, it's a matter for Australia who we decide to have as our ambassador to another country, and I think Kevin has done a terrific job of preparing our government for whatever kind of administration we saw come through the recent election. And I think we’re well-positioned to be able to deal with Donald Trump’s administration due to Kevin’s work.
 
GREG JENNETT: And were other Ministers or the Cabinet consulted on that decision to not scrub Kevin Rudd’s social media account of this critique of Donald Trump until after the result became clear? I’m wondering who was behind that decision.
 
MURRAY WATT: Look, I’m not sure about that, Greg. But what I would say is that, you know, while Kevin Rudd has made comments in the past about Donald Trump, they’re not very different to comments that have been made by a range of Opposition senators – James Paterson and others as well – even JD Vance, Donald Trump’s very own Vice President, has made some comments about Donald Trump in the past. I think everyone can move on from that, and what’s important is that Kevin continues to advance Australia’s interests. That’s what he is doing every single day.
 
GREG JENNETT: All right. Let’s see what the days ahead bring and, indeed, the final sitting fortnight of the parliament, as we’ve already discussed. Murray Watt, you’ve got some travel to do, so we’ll thank you and say farewell.
 
MURRAY WATT: Thanks, Greg. Good to see you.