Interview with Lisa Millar - ABC News Breakfast

E&OE Transcript 

LISA MILLAR, HOST: Back home here in New South Wales, CFMEU Assistant Secretary, Michael Greenfield, has resigned as investigations into the union continue. We've got the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Murray Watt, joining us from Parliament House. Minister, good morning to you. Thanks for coming on the show.
 
MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS: No worries, Lisa. Good to be with you.
 
LISA MILLAR: You still don't have the support you need for your legislation yet. Why have you felt the need to push ahead with this bill to bring in the administrators, and what's it going to achieve?
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, I think any reasonable observer, Lisa, would agree that serious action needs to be taken about the problems in the CFMEU construction industry, and that action needs to be taken urgently. That's why we did introduce legislation into the Senate yesterday which would enable me as the Minister to determine if it's in the public interest to appoint an administrator to that division of the union.
 
You will have seen over the last couple of weeks, I did give the union a deadline to consent to an application currently before the courts to have an administrator appointed. They haven't yet consented, and I always indicated that if they didn't consent, we'd be moving ahead with legislation.
 
So now, really, the issue is for the Coalition and the Greens to decide whether they are serious about cleaning up this union and will support the Government's legislation or whether they just want to continue engaging in political and delay tactics.
 
LISA MILLAR: Well Sarah Hanson‑Young was on the program just a moment ago, and she said that the legislation was only tabled yesterday. They want to take a look at it, they want to see what amendments the Government is putting forward, but that there's no way that the Greens in any way are accepting of what has gone on on these work sites allegedly from the CFMEU.
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, I mean it's up to the Greens. If they actually are serious in saying that they don't think that kind of conduct is acceptable, they have an opportunity now to join with the Government and pass this legislation to do something about it. We're ready to debate this legislation today. Every day that we have to delay is on the heads of the Coalition and the Greens. I think all Australians want to see action taken.  We want to make sure that we have a strong and effective union in the construction industry to represent workers in that industry, but it's got to be a clean union, and that's what this legislation is all about delivering.
 
LISA MILLAR: Michael Greenfield, the Assistant Secretary in New South Wales stepped down yesterday. His father, Darren, the Secretary, is still there. Both have had allegations put to them, which they have denied, but how much more of a clean‑out does there need to be?
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, at a minimum, I can't understand why Michael Greenfield's father, who is the State Secretary of the New South Wales branch does not stand aside as well given that he is currently facing charges of corruption. Of course, those charges have to be considered by a court, but it's unacceptable for someone to be in that kind of a position facing criminal charges and remain in office. But these problems go well beyond the New South Wales branch, and as I say, if our scheme of administration can be appointed through this legislation, then it would enable a much wider reform of the CFMEU construction division and remove a number of office bearers and officials from the union who've been causing trouble and criminality and violence and thuggery for far too long.
 
LISA MILLAR: Can I just turn to another subject that a lot of people are getting pretty agitated about, is this idea that there won't be a total ban on the gambling advertising. Your colleague, Bill Shorten, last night on Q&A was pretty firm about it and said that in a way it was a need to assist the free‑to‑air media to ensure that they continue existing. Is that a good enough reason?
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, I think we do need to take a balanced approach to this issue, Lisa. I'm a father, I see gambling ads on TV a lot, I'd like to see something more done about it, and I know that's what my colleagues, Michelle Rowland and Amanda Rishworth are working on right now. But we do need to recognise that it is an important revenue source for free‑to‑air TV at a time when it's under immense pressure from social media. It's also an important revenue source for sporting codes, and that's why we are taking the time to think this through properly and come up with a workable solution that takes all of those issues into account.
 
LISA MILLAR: But the inquiry that Peta Murphy led revealed that a partial ban was not workable, that was not a way to go. So isn't this a slap in the face of her legacy, and all the work that she has done to now say, ‘Oh OK, yeah, we're not going to go with that’?
 
MURRAY WATT: Look, I have an immense amount of respect for the work that Peta Murphy did, she was a terrific colleague, a really intelligent person who considered these issues very deeply. She and her Committee did put forward some recommendations which we are now considering. We haven't made decisions at this point in time. We are consulting with all of the stakeholders who've got an interest in it, and I'm confident that the ministers responsible will be able to put forward a balanced approach that does something about this issue while recognising some of the other impacts that it would have.
 
LISA MILLAR: OK, your colleague, Bill Shorten, certainly had a few things to say last night on Q&A, just before you go, he also commented about the RBA saying there should have been more criticism at the time, more criticism now of the RBA having said that interest rates would stay low and wouldn't increase before 2024 when in fact we saw the exact opposite. Do you agree that the RBA should have come in for some more heat?
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, the way I'd put it this way, is that I think it's a good thing that the reforms that Jim Chalmers has driven to the RBA structure do enable the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia now to be much more publicly accountable for their decisions. I think it's a good thing that they do those regular press conferences and explain to people the basis of their decisions, and that does enable a good debate about whether decisions are the right ones or the wrong ones. So, you know, I'm not in the habit of criticising or commending decisions of the Reserve Bank given it's an independent authority, but I can that public debate fostered by that accountability is a good thing.
 
LISA MILLAR: Murray Watt, always good to have you on the program. Thanks for your availability.
 
MURRAY WATT: Thanks, Lisa.