2HD Breakfast with Richard King
Topics: Unemployment rate, apprenticeships, aged pension, Federal election, Hillsong Church, 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games mascot, floods in New South Wales
RICHARD KING:
Joining me now, he'll be visiting Newcastle and the Hunter Valley today, is our Federal Minister for Employment, Workforce Skills, Small and Family Business, and also present wearing another couple of hats – Acting Minister for Education and Youth. The man with many hats on is Stuart Robert, and he's on the line. Good morning, Minister.
MINISTER ROBERT:
Richard, how are you?
RICHARD KING:
I'm well, thank you. And yourself?
MINISTER ROBERT:
Every day couldn't be more of a blessing. How good is the weather?
RICHARD KING:
[Laughs] Well, yes, more rain on the way, unfortunately, which is not good news, but it's pretty good at the moment thankfully. Now the reason, firstly, for your visit to Newcastle and the Hunter Valley today, Minister?
MINISTER ROBERT:
Well I've been here many times and great opportunity to come back post-budget to chat to apprentices and tradies and business owners, and get a bit of a feel for how they're going employing staff. What changes we've made over the last 12 months especially, and, how they're impacting employment. Because unemployment here is down to 3.7 per cent. It's quite extraordinary.
RICHARD KING:
Well, just on that. The forecast is that we’ll reach full employment in the not too distant future. What exactly does that mean, full employment?
MINISTER ROBERT:
The economically technical term is the Non-Accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment, the rate where your unemployment level comes to a point where inflation doesn't break out or is about to break out – so, non-accelerating rate of inflation. We think that’s about 3.7 per cent for the country, which is where you are right now. So I'm sitting in Newcastle as we speak, and we are at full employment here.
RICHARD KING:
All right, so the suggestion is, with full employment, obviously more people in the workforce, you know, people who are looking to employ people, there’s a little bit more competition, therefore, wages increase. But I notice in the budget that it's expected inflation will increase at a rapid rate, or a more rapid rate than wages; wages not really expected to increase in a significant way for two or three years. Is that a correct interpretation?
MINISTER ROBERT:
You know, there's a fair bit of inertia in the Australian wages market. Inflation is been driven by two things; if you look at the December quarter with the headline rate of 3.5, it's driven by fuel prices and it's driven by the supply chain challenges, a lag from COVID impacting on housing. Now, of course, we're seeing fuel prices move forward because of, frankly, the war in Europe, which is staggering - who would’ve thought we'd have a war in Europe again? Not since 1945. But again, you've seen prices moderate. I saw prices coming down across the Central Coast down to $1.75. But it's that war that's driving the price of fuel. And of course, fuel touches everything because everything runs on trucks in Australia. But that will moderate in time, and that's where the budget forecasts will see inflation peak at four and a quarter and come down.
RICHARD KING:
Well, nice to see. I always keep an eye when I'm driving into work, which is usually around four o'clock in the morning - petrol prices down. And I actually saw 91 this morning for, I think, it was $1.73, which is good. I hope it keeps going down. Back to the budget and the reason for your visit here and apprenticeships. Tradies were big winners in the budget, and billions in funding to help tradies complete, well, apprenticeships, and rewarding employers who hire them.
MINISTER ROBERT:
Oh Richard, I've said it many times – the Morrison Government is the best friend the tradies ever had. And the more I speak to them, the more it's true. Chatting with Elicia yesterday from Terrigal Electrical - second-year apprentice bought on because of the Government's Boosting Apprenticeship Commencement program. We've announced, of course, we'll continue that program. We’ll be paying for 50 per cent of the first-year salary through to the end of June - that'll see 35,000 more tradies. We've already got 220,000 which is extraordinary. And here on the Central Coast in the seats of Dobell and Robertson, 2,800 tradies – 22 per cent higher than when we came to office. And we've continued to pour money in to get those tradies opportunities, get them into a job and get them moving.
RICHARD KING:
Right. We heard earlier this morning on this program from Ian Henschke, who's the Chief Advocate for the National Seniors Australia, suggesting that we take on board a trial which has been working very successfully in New Zealand. Those on pensions, older age, getting back into the workforce and not having their pension- well, not be penalised. Do you think that might be a good idea and we should trial it here? They reckon that 65 to 75 per cent of workers over in New Zealand that are on a pension, 43 per cent of them are back in the workforce. Do you think we should trial something like that here?
MINISTER ROBERT:
Well, we've already- normally if you're working as a pensioner, you can go to zero rate, and after 13 weeks you lose that - we've extended that for two years. So, if you’re on the pension you can go and work right now and your pension will go to zero rate, because you can't sort of work and earn an income, plus keep a tax-free income on the side in terms of the pension. So, the opportunity that that two-year without losing your pension is important. Of course, there's the work test, which allows you to work ostensibly a full day without losing your pension. But they’re the initiatives the Government's worked on to try and get a workforce moving and driving. But we're very much spending the effort and the dollars and cents in skilling and training. That's why there's $3.7 billion there for the new skill agreement to see 800,000 more Australians trained and into work. Because we've still got 600,000 Australians are on the JobKeeper payment - they're the ones we really want to train and skill and get into the workforce.
RICHARD KING:
7:46 am. My guest is Stuart Robert, Federal Minister for Employment, and there's a great long list - you wear plenty of hats these days, Minister. The- are you going to give us a scoop? The election, when can we expect the announcement as to when the election will be held? Surely it’s got to be pretty soon.
MINISTER ROBERT:
I just- I think, Richard, you'd have to suggest that if we've- the election needs to be done by the end of March- sorry, the end of May, and it's a 33 day campaign. So therefore you can expect an announcement any time between now and about, oh, I don't know, 25 April.
RICHARD KING:
Alright. Well, here in New South Wales, the pre-election drama – well, the expectation is it may be resolved today. I mean, you don't have candidates in several key electorates yet, but hopefully the way will be cleared today. Maybe the PM announcing the election date? And I believe there's a court case, isn't it? New South Wales Liberals not happy about the way that the process is now going to be determined by the PM and the Premier alone. And do- where do you stand on that? Do you think that the membership should be allowed to preselect who their candidates are?
MINISTER ROBERT:
Democracy is a wonderful thing, Richard. But sometimes it can look a little untidy, and that’s fine. That’s a great thing about Australia, in that people have a say. Then there’s arbitrators, and in this case courts - they’ll make decisions and then we’ll move on. I tend to stick, when it comes to party politics, to my state which is Queensland – and our state is in a very good place.
RICHARD KING:
The PM has moved on from Hillsong Church. He seems to have, you know, gone out of his way to distance himself. I know you’ve been a- well, I don’t know whether fan is the right word, of Hillsong Church. Are you two distancing yourself from the church?
MINISTER ROBERT:
I’ve never been to Hillsong as a member of their congregation. I’ve been to their conferences…
RICHARD KING:
Yes.
MINISTER ROBERT:
… because they’re world class in what they do. And it’s a movement, and it’s music - I think it is extraordinary. But, there are standards required of leaders, and those standards should be accepted by all of our leaders in our community. I think the church has been fairly open and transparent about that, and has made the necessary steps.
RICHARD KING:
Being a Queenslander, there was a lot of discussion yesterday, even though it’s a long way off – 10 years and a bit. The mascot for the Brisbane Olympic Games. Do you have any thoughts on what the mascot should be? There were- we had a number of calls yesterday. Somebody- a number of people suggested the ibis. I don’t even think the ibis is a native animal. Koala was a strong one. Emu’s. Goannas. Any preference for a mascot for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games?
MINISTER ROBERT:
Well, we’re not going with an ibis – that is just a bin chicken.
RICHARD KING:
[Laughs] Yes.
MINISTER ROBERT:
And the last thing we want is a bin chicken. When we had the Commonwealth Games we had Borobi, which was the first time Australia had ever used the koala in any of our symbols, which was extraordinary at the Commonwealth Games. I think we should double down for the Olympics. We should take a leaf from the great work of the Gold Coast and go with the koala.
RICHARD KING:
Right. Dominic Perrottet, New South Wales Premier, announced a $20,000 for those who are uninsured to help them get back into homes and rebuild and recover. The Federal Government doesn’t want to chip in on that. But, the recovery from the floods is all- obviously, front and centre of everything. A lot of criticism of the Government for inaction on floods. Do you think that’s warranted? Well, particularly from a New South Wales Upper House Member – and we’re talking about state government here – Catherine Cusack. And in fact, she’s decided to leave Parliament over the Federal Government’s inaction on floods.
MINISTER ROBERT:
The- we’ve put over $2 billion now into the flood response. I was the first Minister in Lismore, on that first Friday, to get there, and seeing Services Australia as the first delivery operation. We’ve paid over $1.3 billion to well over a million Australians in emergency payments – that was done in the first week or two. This response to this flood is the fastest there’s been of any emergency, frankly, in the history of our country. So, no. I don’t accept the criticism at all.
When it comes to housing, domestic housing, it’s always been a responsibility for state governments. And where the Federation works really well, is when there is clear demarcation of who’s got responsibilities for what. So, Premier Perrottet has quite rightly stepped into his responsibility for housing. And we’re stepping into ours which, in terms of providing support for flood mitigation emergency payments for citizens, and, of course, support to industry. So, the demarcations are quite clear. Levels of the government are working very, very well together.
RICHARD KING:
Thank you very much for your time this morning, and enjoy your day in our neck of the woods in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley, Minister.
MINISTER ROBERT:
Looking forward to it. It’s a great part of the world. Looking forward to meeting up with hundreds of great tradies – all of who are benefitting, Richard, I think, from the best friend they’ve ever had, called the Morrison Government. Talk to you soon.
RICHARD KING:
Thank you, and enjoy your day. That’s our Federal Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business, and also at the moment, Acting Minister for Education and Youth - they wear plenty of hats don’t they - Stuart Robert.