Radio interview, 6PR Mornings, Perth, with Gary Adshead

GARY ADSHEAD, HOST: Murray Watt is the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations federally, and he joins me on the line. Thanks for your time, Minister.

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

GARY ADSHEAD: Now, obviously, one of the key ingredients to people's cost of living issues at the moment is wages and where they are at because of other issues around interest rates, et cetera. You are pretty good - feeling pretty good about the latest wage price index?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, it's a really good point you just made, Gary. Obviously, as a government, we've been doing everything we can to drive inflation down and it's now halved compared to what it was when we first came to office. We've provided a lot of different cost of living relief to people as well. But making sure that people's wages keep rising is so important for people to be able to stay afloat at the moment. And, yes, we had some really good figures come through yesterday that showed that for the fourth quarter in a row, so for an entire 12 months in a row, we've seen real wages increase, which is another way of saying that wages in Australia are rising above inflation and have done so for 12 months in a row.

So, you know, we recognise that it's still really tough out there for a lot of people but making sure that people's wages are rising is important, and that's a direct result of some of the changes that we've made to Australia's workplace laws. So, it's good to see that happening.

GARY ADSHEAD: Unemployment rate sitting at 4.1 per cent. You know, again, that is an encouraging figure, isn't it right now? People keep talking about headwinds that might be coming and we'll get to that in a second in relation to the US, but right now that unemployment figures okay?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, that's right, Gary. And again, those figures just came out this morning, actually, and they show that, you know, because of the decisions we've made about getting the budget in better nick, investing in our skills, investing in our businesses, we do keep seeing jobs growth growing. The figures that came out today show that it was just short of 16,000 new jobs created in Australia last month alone. And what that means is that since we came to office, we've actually created over 1 million new jobs, and that's the most that have ever been created in one parliamentary term under any government. So, as I say, you know, important figures, and it's not just about statistics, it's about what it means for people's lives, that they've got a job, they've got a better chance of getting a job, that they're earning good money. And, of course, that's pretty different to what we see on offer from Peter Dutton and the Coalition, who have already made promises about cutting some of the workplace rights that we provided. And you know, right now, when a lot of people are doing it tough, the worst thing you could possibly do is talk about cutting wages and jobs. But that's exactly what Peter Dutton and the Coalition are talking about.

GARY ADSHEAD: Alright, who's going to win the argument, though? Because as you know, we do talk about cost of living, cost of living, cost of living, right? You've got the Opposition who say that they're in a good position to be able to tell the public of Australia that you are not better off under Labor. What do you say to that?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, well, I guess that'll be a matter for the Australian people to decide when they vote next year. We'll obviously respect the decision that people make, but what we'll be saying going to the election is that through some incredibly tough global times, you know, a worldwide inflation surge, broken supply chains out of COVID, all sorts of other trade disputes that have been going on and wars overseas that have impacted on Western Australia, as they have the rest of the country, Labor has had people's back. You know, we've changed the laws to increase wages, we've delivered a lot of cost of living relief, change those tax cuts around so they weren't just for higher income earners, they were for lower middle-income earners as well. But also, I think what people will be asking themselves when they vote next time is, you know, will I be better off in three year’s time under Labor or the Coalition?

And as I say, Peter Dutton and the Coalition have already said they're going to cut Same Job, Same Pay laws, they're going to cut casuals rights even. Just yesterday on the radio, he refused to rule out changing the laws to make it easier for bosses to unfairly sack their workers. And as I say, you know, at a time when people are doing it tough, what Peter Dutton and the Coalition are talking about is making things worse. And that'll be very different to what Labor will be offering at the next federal election.

GARY ADSHEAD: I don't know if you picked up on this, but our state government yesterday announced a program to try and encourage more people, more workers to come to WA, particularly tradies, because we've got a massive shortfall and we talk about home building and the need for that. We're giving a $10,000 incentive for people to come here and do those jobs. How do you feel about that?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, look, I support any action that Roger Cook and his government are taking to try to fill the skills gap that you've got here in WA. I've spoken directly with Roger Cook and some of his ministers about this issue and, you know, your economy in WA has been really performing strongly. And, you know, while at one level that's a terrific thing, it is hard to get those skills that people need.

You might have seen also this week, our Skills and Training Minister, Andrew Giles, was in Perth with Roger and his team announcing more investment in training for people to go into construction work with our free TAFE program. So, you know, again, we're doing what we can in Canberra to try to fill these skills gaps, but I'm very comfortable with Roger Cook and his team making those sort of decisions as well.

GARY ADSHEAD: Even if we're sort of, you know, putting that money on the table to get them away from other states that might have exactly the same skill shortages?

MURRAY WATT: Well, I think what we'll probably see is different states do different things to attract people here. And having spent the day here in Perth, you've got a lot going for you, haven't you? It's a glorious day out there and lots of great opportunities for people to get a job. House prices, while they are continuing to go up here in WA, are still comparatively good with some of the eastern states, but, you know, my state of Queensland will no doubt have a crack, as will in NSW as well. But look, it just shows that everyone is looking for more skilled workers and again, that's one of the reasons why we're investing in that Free TAFE scheme.

You might have seen Anthony Albanese made a commitment about a week ago that if we're re-elected, we will lock in Free TAFE into the future. It's already providing hundreds of thousands of Western Australians and Australians overall with the skills they need for free to get those jobs. You know, it's an important cost of living thing as well as it is to get those skills where we need them.

GARY ADSHEAD: Now, you can deal with things close to home, but of course, in the US now, with the re-election of Donald Trump as the President, of course, that formally happens in January, could all of the work that you're talking about that you're feeling good about right now be upended if Donald Trump enters a trade war, a tariff war, with China?

MURRAY WATT: Well, you've probably seen some of the comments from Jim Chalmers and the Prime Minister in the last few days that have indicated, you know, we are keeping a very close eye on the policies that Donald Trump and his administration plan to bring in, you know, Australia is a country that benefits from free and open trade, Western Australia probably more than most other states, very export oriented economy, whether it be mining, agriculture, services, education, all those kind of things. So, we very much support countries being able to trade with each other. And that's a position we'll keep putting to the Trump administration.

We want to make sure that our economy keeps growing and that's why we don't support the kind of tariffs that have been talked about, because historically they actually shrink economies, and they cost jobs. So, look, we'll keep making those points to the new administration, but you will have seen there's already a fair bit of work going on to build that relationship so that we can have that kind of dialogue in the future.

GARY ADSHEAD: Do you know whether or not the PM has been satisfied with the conversation he's had with the President-elect at this stage in terms of exempting Australia from those tariffs?

MURRAY WATT: Well, it's obviously early days and there will need to be more discussions, but you would have seen the PM had a really positive discussion with incoming President Trump about these issues. I think Donald Trump himself described Australia and the US as perfect friends. So, I know there's a lot of commentary out there at the moment about how our government will be able to work with his administration. But all of the early signs I think are quite positive.

GARY ADSHEAD: And that's despite the issues around Kevin Rudd? I mean, it seems extraordinary. I mean, your average punter says that Kevin Rudd to stay there, given the comments he's made about Trump in the past, is nigh on impossible. So, why persevere with that rather than rip the band aid off now?

MURRAY WATT: Well, I guess a couple of things, Gary. You know, obviously Australia, we make our decisions about who should be our ambassador to different countries. We don't have other countries sort of determine that for us. But also, I think to be fair, Kevin Rudd has done a terrific job while he's been the ambassador, not only to build really good relationships with Joe Biden's administration, but also to start building those relationships with people likely to be appointed under Donald Trump. A number of my colleagues have had recent very senior meetings with people who are now taking very senior positions in Donald Trump's administration. Kevin was the one who made that happen. So, I think he's really gone out of his way to build a very positive relationship with Donald Trump and his administration. And look, you know, as for things that have been said in the past, I think if you look pretty hard or actually you wouldn't have to look hard to find things that even JD Vance, as the Vice President, said in the past about Donald Trump and Liberal Party politicians here. I think we can sort of look forward and build that kind of positive relationship that we all want to see in the future.

GARY ADSHEAD: So, Donald Trump can be a forgiving person, can he?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, I reckon. I reckon. I mean, you know, there's a lot of things get said about a lot of people. But, you know, I'm sure Donald Trump will do what he sees as the best for his country, and we'll keep doing what we can see is the best for our country as well.

GARY ADSHEAD: All right. Thanks very much for joining us, Minister. I'll let you go.

MURRAY WATT: No worries. Gary, good to talk.