Press conference, Perth

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS: Well, thanks very much for being here today. It's an absolutely glorious day here in Perth, and it's been an absolute pleasure to speak at the Australian Workers Union National Conference being held for the first time here in Perth. And as you can see, I'm joined behind me by several of the delegates to this conference. Australia's working people coming together to talk about what they want to see from their government to ensure that we keep delivering more jobs, better jobs, better pay, more secure jobs and safe workplaces. So, I very much thank Paul Farrow and the whole team here at the AWU for giving me an opportunity to talk today about some of the changes the Albanese Labor Government has been making which are delivering more jobs, better pay, more secure jobs, and safer workplaces. It's very timely to be having this discussion because today we saw new figures that demonstrate the strength of the Australian economy despite the very difficult global economic conditions that we continue to face.

Today, we saw new figures that show in the month of October the Australian economy created 15,900 new jobs right around the country which continues to add to the Albanese Government's record of already having delivered one million new jobs since we came to office about two and a half years ago. The total now that we’ve created since coming to office is just touching on 1,060,000 new jobs created in Australia since we came to office, and that is the largest number of new jobs that have ever been created in a single parliamentary term in Australia's history. No government in Australia's history has created more new jobs in one term in office than the Albanese Labor Government has done. And of course that's been with the support of Australia's employers, unions, and workers, and I really pay tribute to the incredible effort of Australia's employers, unions, and workers for creating those new jobs despite those incredibly difficult global economic conditions that we continue to face here in Australia. 

I can take you through some of the other statistics if you are interested, but we see that of the over 1 million new jobs created the majority of them are full‑time jobs, and it's also pleasing to see the unemployment rate today stay stable at 4.1 percent which is where it's been for a little while now. So, as you can see, this is the direct result of the responsible economic policy being led by the Albanese Labor Government, which is creating more new jobs, wages going up, more secure jobs and also at the same time driving down the level of industrial conflict in our workplaces. This is a result of employers, unions, and workers working together under Australia's labour cooperative workplace laws, and it's really pleasing to see that take effect.

Now that stands in stark contrast to what we continue to see from Peter Dutton and the Coalition. Only yesterday, Peter Dutton was being interviewed on ABC radio and refused to rule out making changes to our workplace laws that would make it easier for bosses to unfairly dismiss their workers. Simon Birmingham, their leader in the Senate, has also talked about the cost of living relief that the Labor Government has provided as being a travesty. Well, I reckon if we talked to some of the workers I'm standing with here today they wouldn't say it's a travesty to be receiving really important cost of living relief from their federal government, and I think they would agree that it's important that people are being able to get new jobs and better pay while they're at it.

We saw yesterday some really pleasing wages data which shows that we have now achieved four consecutive quarters in Australia of real wage growth. For an entire year in a row, we have seen wages for Australians rise at a higher level than inflation, and that again is a direct result of the changes we have made to Australian workplace laws. So, it's very clear that under an Albanese Labor Government, Australian workers will earn more and keep more of what they earn, and it's becoming clearer by the day that under Peter Dutton people in Australia will be working longer and getting paid less. That is not the Australian way, and that is not what Labor intends to provide. I'm happy to take any questions on that or other matters.
 
JOURNALIST: Minister, Australia is projected to have the second highest inflation rate in the developed world next year. Is that strong wage growth and continued tight labour market contributing to that?
 
MURRAY WATT: No, I don't think it is. I mean we have often made the point that in Australia our inflation rose later than it did in other parts of the global economy. So, it's no surprise that you do see other nations who had higher inflation than Australia and whose inflation rate started rising earlier than in Australia, it's no surprise to see it starting to come down a bit earlier in those other countries as well. But I think what the figures that we've seen over the last couple of days show is that because of the Albanese Government's responsible economic management we're able to see inflation falling while at the same time jobs are being created and wages are rising. And that's a terrific thing for all of those Australians who are dealing with those cost of living pressures.
 
JOURNALIST: How will your government exactly tackle inflation in the pre-election Budget in March?
 
MURRAY WATT: By continuing to do the sort of things that we've already done. Inflation has more than halved since we came to office. When we came to office the inflation rate we inherited was over 6 per cent and it was rising. Now, it's below 3 per cent and it's falling. And that's been as a result of our economic policies, running up two consecutive surpluses, something the Liberals and Nationals were never able to do, while also providing that important cost of living relief that is actually helping reduce inflation levels – things like providing energy bill relief, cheaper medicines and cheaper child care. So, we'll keep taking steps to drive inflation down while making sure that we provide important cost of living support for Australian workers.
 
JOURNALIST: You talk about growth in jobs, and you used the words "secure jobs." In terms of the long term and the long‑term planning, are you worried about jobs in the sheep industry with the loss of truckies, loss of community jobs in pubs, for example? We are talking about long‑term here today, what about long‑term?
 
MURRAY WATT: No, I've always said, whether it be in my previous role as the Agriculture Minister or now in my new role in the Employment and Workplace Relations field, I'm confident that we can work as a Federal Government with the Western Australian Government and the industry to make sure that the transition towards more on shore processing of sheep here in Western Australia is a success for everyone involved. I've made the point to you before that over the last 20 years we’ve seen the collapse of the live sheep export trade and at the same time we have seen a massive growth in the amount of processing of sheep here on shore. So, I think that as a result of this transition we will actually see more jobs created here in Western Australia – in processing, in the truckies who are needed to transport sheep to abattoirs and things like that. So, I know that Minister Julie Collins is now doing a great job working with Western Australian Government and industry to deliver that.
 
JOURNALIST: You talk about transition, that transition doesn't happen overnight. What’s – now people are losing jobs, secure jobs as well, people are leaving the sheep industry, and that money probably won’t come until July next year as well. So, what's the support now?
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, as you know, Minister Julie Collins has reached an agreement with the Western Australian Government to start getting that support flowing. I know that she has reached agreements about getting grants out the door as quickly as possible. And we want to work with the industry, we have always said that we want to work with the industry to make sure that this is a transition that works successfully that creates more jobs and better wealth for Western Australia just as we have seen occur in other states that have got out of live exports as well.
 
JOURNALIST: They don't want the money, they want their jobs, their jobs in the industry. What's your point on that?
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, as I've said, we have always been confident we can work with the industry to make sure that we see more jobs in the sheep industry here in Western Australia, just as we've seen more jobs in other states which eventually got out of live exports as well.
 
JOURNALIST: Just more broadly, is Federal Government spending in the public sector propping up jobs figures?
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, I make no apologies for the fact that our government is investing in really important services like the NDIS, aged care, and early childhood sector. Those are really important jobs that provide critical services for everyone in our community. So, yes, a Labor government is going to invest in those areas. But I think it's also important to note that 75 per cent of the new jobs that were created in our first two years were actually private sector jobs. So you've got Michaelia Cash and Peter Dutton running around sneering at public sectors jobs – they’re sneering at nurses, at aged care workers, at early childhood workers, the very people that we need to make our society function. I'm never going to sneer at those kind of workers while I'm also going to be working hard for the private sector to keep delivering more private sector jobs.
 
JOURNALIST: Peter Dutton says the Liberals are the party of lower taxes and rates, what do you say to that?
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, I think if you look at the statistics, you'll see that John Howard was the highest taxing Prime Minister Australia has ever had. I mean, Peter Dutton just can't seem to make up his mind whether he supports more tax cuts or not. I saw the comments he made yesterday which suggested he's walking away from his previous comments about tax cuts. I mean, this is a bloke who when we brought our tax cuts plan that was all about making sure that more money went to low and middle income earners rather than high income earners, Peter Dutton said that he wanted to have an election on it. He was all over the shop when we made our commitment about changing those tax cuts to support working Australians, and now he's all over the shop about what his own policy is going forward.
 
JOURNALIST: Minister, the AWU conference this week has accused resource giants of showing contempt and hostility towards the rights and demands of Australian workers. Do you agree with that charge?
 
MURRAY WATT: No, well what I've done in this conference today is address the importance of the mining industry to Western Australia and to its workers. And the speech will be distributed shortly, and I'll invite you to have a look at what I said. Our government absolutely understands the importance of the mining industry to Western Australia and to our national economy. And our view is that when mining workers are doing well, the Western Australian economy does well and the national economy does well. Now, we have seen a range of claims made by Michaelia Cash and other people that the changes we have made to workplace laws are harming the mining industry. The problem for Michaelia Cash is the facts don't back her up. As I said in my speech today, the collective bargaining changes that we've made that will require BHP to negotiate affect about 1,800 of their 14,000 strong Pilbara workforce. That's hardly going to cripple BHP or the mining industry here in Australia. The changes we've made to multi-employer bargaining – so far there's only one deal being agreed to even start in the mining industry under those changes. And our Same Job Same Pay laws are making sure that labour hire workers in the mining industry are actually finally getting paid the same rates as the direct employees. So, there's no evidence whatsoever to show that the changes that we have made are crippling the mining industry. What they're doing is putting more money in the pockets of Western Australian mining workers, and that's good for the local economy and it's good for our national economy.
 
JOURNALIST: Tania Constable from the Minerals Council of Australia has said that you've stripped away the choice to engage directly with employers and that that will have a devastating impact on the WA economy. What's your response to that?
 
MURRAY WATT: Well, I respectfully disagree with what Ms Constable has had to say about that, and again, I made the point in my speech that the Business Council of Australia, which represents the largest businesses in our country, including many of our largest mining and resources employers, they have recognised that enterprise bargaining or collective bargaining actually works for workers and for businesses. And you know, it's a funny thing, but I'm a Labor politician. I believe in the rights of workers to collectively bargain rather than have to bargain on their own individually with a large multinational employer. Any enterprise bargaining needs to have the majority support of workers and that's what remains under our laws as well.
 
JOURNALIST: Should Wayne Swan go as Labor President?
 
MURRAY WATT: No, I don't believe so. I mean these obviously are matters that are now being investigated and are going through the courts. It's probably not appropriate for me to comment on those, but I don't believe that Wayne needs to go.
 
JOURNALIST: What about Kevin Rudd. Is the government just delaying the inevitable with his posting?
 
MURRAY WATT: No, again, I fully support Kevin Rudd as Australia's Ambassador to the US, and I think he's done a fantastic job while he's been there. Not just dealing with the Biden Democratic administration, but in building incredibly strong links with a possible incoming Trump administration, and it was a good thing that he did that. I know that Kevin Rudd has arranged some really important meetings for a number of my senior colleagues who have been in the US recently. Those meetings have been held with people who are very close to Donald Trump, and I think that demonstrates the great work that Kevin Rudd has done as Australia's Ambassador.
 
JOURNALIST: Can I also get the AWU Secretary's response to Tania Constable's claims that the unions involving in the Pilbara is going to have a devastating impact on the WA economy?
 
PAUL FARROW, AWU NATIONAL SECRETARY: Look we've heard the mining companies and people like Tania huff and puff for quite some time right? It's a bit of a fear campaign that unions have the ability to collectively bargain on behalf of employees. The minister touched on it, that we're not talking about a great number of people. I have been here at this conference listening to people in the mining industry that have seen the decline of full‑time workers with shift to labour hire to purely avoid paying the same wages so it's great to have a government that backs workers with legislation like Same Job, Same Pay, so that when we are closing those loopholes to make sure that workers are paid the same amount of money for the same job and when it comes to ‑ I think it's worthwhile explaining as well that we've recently had to launch a calculator for wages so that our members can get on to a web page and share their details as to what they're actually getting paid so they can see and compare what wages they receive to compared to their fellow workers, because there's been laws in legislation that stop them from talking to their fellow workmates about how much they get paid. So, that is the regime under individual contracts where people can be working next to each other and not know what they're getting paid. We are now seeing workers that have worked in Pilbara for a long periods of time, to be on less wages than people that are coming in for the first time ever. So having a collective agreement is about making sure that wages are fair, that wage increases are fair. Now, we're not talking about companies that are doing it tough. We're talking about companies that are making billions of dollars of profits and we're not asking for much, we're asking for a fair, reasonable wage increase that is transparent that is the same, the workers get paid the same as the people standing next to them.
 
JOURNALIST: What did the union mean when it warned that workers are becoming radicalised?
 
PAUL FARROW: Well we're a cooperative union. We work in many sectors across this country. Workers today don't want to be on strike, don't want to be engaged in industrial action. I don't know any workers that enjoy fighting with their employer. They want to go to work, work safe, be well‑paid and go home. They don't enjoy going to work to fight with their employer, but if the employer sets the scenes where they don't want to negotiate with them, where they refuse to negotiate with them, where they want to have individual arrangements that means that they're on different wages and conditions then it really sets the scene for workers to have no choice but to stand up and fight. So, if they want to avoid that radicalisation of their workforce, then the best approach is to act in a co‑operative manner and I think the reforms that the Labor government have brought in are really focussing on that, the industry and workers in unions had to work in a tripartite manner to address these issues, if you don't then we end up with no choice but to end up fighting them. What we are really fighting about is fairness and decency, and like I said before, we're not talking about companies that are doing it tough. We are talking about the very big end of town and the distribution of a small amount of wealth to their workforce.