Interview with Tom Connell – Sky News

TOM CONNELL, HOST: Let's get more from the Labor side of things. Joining me live is Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Murray Watt. Thank you for your time. We heard a lot from Labor around those first two budget surpluses. Now, 10 years of Budget deficits. Does this show, in terms of what matters here - the structural deficit, that has not been fixed by Labor?

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS: Well, G'day, Tom. Good to be with you, probably one last time for the year. Look, I think anyone can see the effort that the Treasurer, the Finance Minister and our whole Government have gone to since coming to power to try to turn around the terrible budget situation that we inherited from the Coalition.

And what you've seen today is that despite very challenging economic times brought to us globally, we have managed to turn around the budget by $200 billion compared to what we inherited from the Coalition. There were significant challenges to the budget when we came to power, but even over the last 12 months, there's been a number of our Ministers who've worked hard to bring in structural savings to spending that was rising at an unsustainable level. I'm thinking of people like Bill Shorten in the NDIS, Anika Wells and Mark Butler in the aged care portfolio. So we have done the hard work to try to make some of those large spending items more sustainable and that is one of the reasons that we've been able to turn around the budget position overall so much compared to what we inherited.

TOM CONNELL: Mm, but you say that, as I said, 10 years of budget deficit - so some structural savings, but more structural spending. That's where we're at. There is a significant budget structural deficit remaining, isn't there?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, well, we will obviously keep working on those structural issues around the budget, but I think the challenge now for Peter Dutton and Angus Taylor is to make very clear to Australians what exactly they will cut. If they have an issue with the budget figures going forward, is it Medicare they're going to cut? Is it the veterans’ payments that we've finally fixed? I mean, this is one of the other issues that we've had to deal with the budget is actually allocating money to deliver the services that Australians expect under the Coalition; veterans had to wait inordinate amounts of time to qualify for their payments. We have allocated more staffing to clear the backlog of those very well-deserved payments. And that, of course, has increased the amount of payments that are going to veterans. And I think all Australians would think that that's a good thing.

So, as I say, I think for Peter Dutton and Angus Taylor, the challenge for them now is to say if they think the budget needs fixing, well, what are they going to cut? Is it going to be Medicare? Is it going to be school funding? Is it going to be the NDIS or aged care? There are no easy answers here and it's about time that Peter Dutton and Angus Taylor made that clear.

TOM CONNELL: They'll be outlining that, I'm sure, as we lead up to the election and we might find out what the $5.5 billion is that's been squirrelled away from Labor as well - I won't even bother asking, I know you won't tell me, and that's fair enough in this situation-

MURRAY WATT: Well you would have seen Jim Chalmers make the point, Tom, that that's a significantly lower amount in the pre-election MYEFO than what we saw from the Morrison Government. It's very normal for governments to hand down MYEFO with amounts of money held back for announcement at a later date. And that's what we'll be doing in the new year as well.

TOM CONNELL: Is that just a bit of a post-Australia Day sweetener then? Should we be talking about that rather than some sort of ‘election war chest’ - is the cliche I thought about banning on the show but I'm just saying it now anyway.

MURRAY WATT: Not like you to use cliches, Tom! No, look, I mean, obviously we'll make those announcements at a suitable time. You know, in the run up to Christmas we've really said now what we're going to be saying for this calendar year. In terms of the announcements, I think we've made some really strong commitments to things like Free TAFE and made that an enduring commitment. Again, something that Peter Dutton has said that he will cut if he is elected. Because they literally say that if you don't pay for something, you don't value it. That's the position we've seen from the Liberal Party. That would actually make it even harder for employers to get the trained workers that they need. But there'll be more for us to say in the new year as well.

TOM CONNELL: Qantas compensation; this chapter comes to an end. Do you think anything would happen differently next time around the way the workers were treated during the pandemic?

MURRAY WATT: Well, I certainly hope that Qantas and all big Australian companies have learned the lesson of being found by the High Court to have illegally sacked 1,800 workers and outsourced them simply to cut their wages bill. It's the actions of companies like Qantas and big mining companies and other big businesses around Australia that led Labor to commit to bring in our Same Job, Same Pay laws. And what that means is that big companies can't simply bring in labour hire at lower rates and conditions as a way of undercutting the wages that they have already agreed to pay their direct employees.

So, I certainly hope that Qantas has learned that lesson. I think we've seen some encouraging signs from the new CEO, Vanessa Hudson, that she's determined to forge a better relationship with unions and her workforce and also with their customers than what we saw under her predecessor. But of course, those Same Job, Same Pay laws would go under Peter Dutton and the Coalition if he wins the election. And it's a reminder that people's wages are in danger if we see a change of government.

TOM CONNELL: Labor likes to talk about workers getting what they deserve, keeping more of what they earn. What do you make of Cbus and having this? They call it partly a day of strategic planning, but the evening was a party, drinks and everything else that goes with it. The total cost, $387,000. They claim this money was being spent in members' interests. Do you think that's accurate?

MURRAY WATT: Well, it's certainly up to Cbus to be able to justify that expenditure to their members. As a government we absolutely expect superannuation funds to use every single dollar that they have in their reserves for the benefit of their members. We have an independent regulator in place who's got the ability to scrutinise the actions of superannuation funds. And I'm not going to prejudge what that regulator may have to say about these kind of things. But it is important for Cbus and all superannuation funds to be able to justify their spending, whatever that activity is.

TOM CONNELL: Are you comfortable with an increased spotlight on this? That perhaps in the past this was able to fly and it was all just made one, sort of, day. But in the future have your strategic planning day, have that paid for and then if you want to have a birthday bash, that shouldn't be members’ money.

MURRAY WATT: Well again I think it's really a matter for the management and board of Cbus to be able to justify that expenditure rather than for me to be telling them what to do. They're independent bodies but they've got to be accountable to their members and I would expect Cbus to be able to justify that expenditure along with anything else that they use members money for.

TOM CONNELL: Alright. That time of year, you're up in Queensland, you're sticking there for Christmas? I know I spoke to you once and you said your home had no air conditioning but enough natural airflow. What's your Christmas break going to bring?

(laughter)

MURRAY WATT: That's still an ongoing debate in our household, Tom!There are some members of the household who'd love to have air conditioning, and I have some sympathy for that position, but not everyone agrees with that. We do rely on ceiling fans, but I can tell you it's pretty muggy here in Brisbane today. Very much looking forward to Christmas, as I'm sure all of your team and viewers are. It's obviously a great time to catch up with family, and I'm looking forward to spending a little bit of time at the beach before what will no doubt be a hectic 2025.

TOM CONNELL: It will be. Murray Watt, appreciate your time. We'll catch you again next year.

MURRAY WATT: Thanks, Tom. Have a great Christmas.