Interview — Triple M Coffs Coast, Australia Today with Steve Price
STEVE PRICE:
The Prime Minister’s speech featured the employment figures. The Employment Minister in the Federal Government is Stuart Robert. Minister, thanks for your time.
MINISTER ROBERT:
Steve, great to talk to you as always.
STEVE PRICE:
A three in front of it on employment – is that doable?
MINISTER ROBERT:
Absolutely. The Prime Minister set a goal for the second half of next year. If you think about unemployment now- sorry, second half of this year. Unemployment now, 4.2 per cent and coming down. The biggest skills agenda in living memory - 220,000 trade apprentices, highest number since records were kept in ’63. And an economy that’s growing as we seek to invest in it. Absolutely doable.
STEVE PRICE:
I was speaking earlier to the man who would be Treasurer if you were to lose the next election, Jim Chalmers. He said you have to dig down into those employment figures to get a clearer picture. And indeed, under employment people who are working minimal hours are included in that figure. Is that a fair comment?
MINISTER ROBERT:
The unemployment figures, Steve, had been constant, the way we've generated those have been constant for decades. So we take the numbers- we've always taken the numbers at face value. We know the unemployment numbers factor in everything from full-time, part-time, the gig employment. We also capture under employment, youth employment participation rates to get a fulsome picture of the employment market. But with 270,000 jobs on offer right now, the Skills Commission tells us, and people speaking about skills shortages, those numbers are real and we are seeing unemployment coming down.
STEVE PRICE:
That should drive some wages growth - the lack of numbers. We’ve got an employment shortage in terms of the workforce. Every shop I go past, same for you I'd imagine, Stuart, has a sign out the front: staff wanted. Will that drive wages growth? Or is there some government policy that can finally give Australians some more money in their pocket?
MINISTER ROBERT:
You'd have to think there would be some wages growth that grows out of greater competition for labour - I think that's a reasonable statement to make. A lot of inertia, of course, in the wages market in Australia, by virtue of the way the industrial umpire’s very centralised in the Fair Work Commission, and how the award structure and enterprise bargaining agreements and the like work. But I think that's a reasonable statement to make. The bottom line is, if you want a job there are jobs right now. The Internet Vacancy Index, the index the National Skills Commission use to give us a feel for where this sits, shows an extraordinary amount of work. Goodness, my 14-year-old son got his first job with his first application, with no skills. There is enormous amount of work available.
STEVE PRICE:
Yes, I think I could go and work in three coffee shops in my local community as a barista. But I don't even know how to make coffee, but I reckon I’d get the job.
MINISTER ROBERT:
Well, my 14-year-old is working as a trainee barista in a coffee shop - never bought a cup of coffee in his life, but he's willing to work hard and a great attitude, and he's being trained and everyone’s super happy. Never been a better time to get a job.
STEVE PRICE:
That's the positive side of it. You're also Minister for Small and Family Businesses. They're doing it extremely tough. Two years of declining revenue, many of them have gone out of business and won't be coming back. How are we going to resuscitate the small business sector and get it back up and running, presuming that we get through Omicron more quickly than we perhaps think.
MINISTER ROBERT:
Indeed, Steve. The pandemic continues to throw up interesting approaches, and we have to respond to them daily. The great thing about the small business community - and I'm from a small business family - is it responds to a growing economy, and it responds quickly. And we're going to see economic growth this year, and the Reserve Bank Governor will speak about this today. Very strong growth, north of 3 per cent. As the Treasurer said yesterday, $424 billion on the nation’s- in cash on the nation’s balance sheet and personal bank accounts. There's a lot of consumption there that's pent-up, and Australians are looking for opportunities to spend and do the normal things they do in life - and that's where small business benefits strongly. Long as we stay away from lockdowns at the state level, we’re getting our kids back to school - four million of them over the next two weeks - we'll see consumption come back strongly, and that's when small business does well.
STEVE PRICE:
As you say. you're from a small business family. Would you, if you were running a small business these days, be fearful, if you had borrowings, about interest rate rises over the horizon?
MINISTER ROBERT:
I'd be thankful that interest rates are the lowest they've ever been, cash rate at 0.1 percent, which has been extraordinary. Again, the Reserve Bank Governor will speak about that today in terms of his forecast for when interest rates will start to move. But right now, the Reserve Bank Governor’s saying that's not on the horizon, which is pleasing for businesses. And of course, there's so much there for small businesses in terms of government policy - the tax rate at 25 per cent; the loss carry-back in terms of getting cash back from the ATO from previous losses; there's the small business loan scheme in terms of being able to loan at heavily subsidised rates to build your business strongly; and of course, the instant asset write-offs. So there's a lot of program at that tax level to help small business, at this time, really grow.
STEVE PRICE:
You pestering Josh Frydenberg to do more for small business in the budget?
MINISTER ROBERT:
Well, I won’t ruin Josh's thunder in terms of where the budget’s going, but Josh is very focused on small business. He, like the rest of the Morrison Government, understand, Steve, that small business is the power house – it employees almost 50 per cent of all Australians. In corporate terms, it's 99 per cent of all companies, which gives you an idea of how strong it is. And small business is essential. The small business will always have this Government's attention at the highest of levels - always has and always will.
STEVE PRICE:
Take that as a yes. We saw yesterday, and I think it would be fair to describe you, Minister, as a good friend of Scott Morrison's. Is that fair?
MINISTER ROBERT:
Yeah. Scott, the Prime Minister and I are joined together. We've lived together for a long time. He's an extraordinary human being.
STEVE PRICE:
Were you then surprised to see those text messages, as reported yesterday, describing- Gladys Berejiklian describing your friend as a horrible, horrible person? And I think worse, the reply to that text message suggesting from an unnamed Federal Minister in Cabinet, that Scott Morrison is a complete psycho.
MINISTER ROBERT:
Well, as someone who knows the Prime Minister better than almost anyone, that's not the person I know. It's completely alien and foreign, and I don't believe and discount it completely. My understanding is Ms Berejiklian has come out to say she doesn't recall any of those comments. Scott is an extraordinary leader, Steve. He has led our nation through a pandemic that no one can foresee, to the point where Australians stand in one of the highest vaccinated, lowest unemployment, more Australians in jobs now than pre-pandemic - a boast that no other country really on earth can claim. All of that through the Prime Minister's leadership, and the great will and grace and courage of the Australian people - that speaks volumes to the person that Scott Morrison is.
STEVE PRICE:
Just finally, the election will be, whether we like it or not, it will be an election based somewhat on the cult of personality. Do you think the Prime Minister has take - had some bark taken off him with things such as the French President calling him a liar; and, people blaming you and your Government for the rollout of the vaccines? I mean, surely that is going to come into it, and the polls are showing that that might be the case.
MINISTER ROBERT:
Elections are always tight. The election will not be a referendum of one person. The election will be a choice between two people, two leaders, the governments they profess to lead, and the policy steps they’re taking forward. The great thing, Steve, about the Australian people is they know that – they know that they’ve got a choice. And as they get closer to the election, Australians tend to focus a bit more on that choice and who is best to lead their country.
Do you want a proven team that has guided the nation through one of the most difficult periods post-war and done it, internationally comparison wise, so well? Or do you want an unproven team, under Mr Albanese, of flip-flops? They’re the options. It's a choice on two competing teams. And I'm looking forward to drilling and driving in the Government's achievements make that choice very acute to the Australian people.
STEVE PRICE:
Thanks for being generous with your time. Great to catch up again.
STUART ROBERT:
Steve, always great to talk.
STEVE PRICE:
Good on you. There is Stuart Robert, who of course is among other things, the Employment Minister, and will be in the middle of that election campaign.