TRANSCRIPT: INTERVIEW ON MORNINGS WITH GARETH PARKER, 6PR, 5 OCTOBER 2020
9:13AM
E&OE
Subjects: Budget, Border Closures;
GARETH PARKER
A big week for budgets. There’s stimulus money for apprentices. There’s lots of money for infrastructure and tax cuts are going to be on the agenda too. The Deputy Prime Minister is Michael McCormack. Michael, good morning.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Hello, Gareth.
GARETH PARKER
This is a big week for the country, isn’t it? There’s a lot riding on this Federal budget that Josh Frydenberg will hand down tomorrow.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
It’s been described as the most important budget since World War II.
GARETH PARKER
What’s the strategy?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
The strategy is all about three things – jobs, jobs and jobs. We need to create the environment in which businesses feel comfortable to put on that apprentice and that’s why we’ve put money on the table – and big money, too – to support those businesses putting on a trainee, putting on an apprentice. And that becomes available from this week. We’ve put in place measures to ensure that with JobKeeper we connected – all the way through – those workers with their employer and we’ve certainly made sure that for those who fell through the cracks and perhaps for the first time, Gareth, found themselves on the welfare queues for the first time in a long time or the first time ever in their working careers, that they had a bit of dignity with making sure that they had money on the table and being able to get through this situation.
Pleasingly, 700,000 of those people who were identified as being either out of work or lost considerable hours back when the pandemic first hit have been re-engaged. And pleasingly, the Regional Australia Institute has identified 45,600 jobs in rural, regional, country and coastal and even remote areas that are available right now across all sectors of the economy. So there are jobs out there and that’s why we’re also backing those regional areas and metropolitan ones, too, with an infrastructure budget tomorrow night.
A lot of money in infrastructure and for WA, there’s going to be $1.1 billion of additional money, 21 new projects and nine existing projects – shovel ready. We want to put more money into them and we want to put more workers on site. And it’s not just, I’ve said this a lot of times, it’s not just the hi-vis people who are on the end of a shovel or moving around a big excavation piece of equipment, it’s actually the little cafes nearby which are selling more bacon and egg rolls, it’s the accommodation place which is housing these workers. Everyone wins.
GARETH PARKER
So we’ll talk more about the road projects in a moment, but with apprenticeships, the things that businesses have been telling us on this program is that they just need confidence to be able to ride out the sort of ups and downs of the economy to try and make sure they can see those apprentices through. They understand that young people are the future of their industry, but it’s difficult for them to sort of have the surety that they’re going to be able to get them through this four-year process.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Look, I understand that and that’s why from today employers of any size, industry and location, they can sign up new apprentices and trainees and claim up to half of their wage capped at $7,000 a quarter until September 30, 2021. That’s a good incentive. And, you know, having been in a small business previously I understand that wages and people are one of the biggest components if not the biggest component of your profit and loss statement, of actually, you know, whether you’re going to make a quid or whether you’re not. And so the subsidy, it’s going to cover wages paid from 5th October 2020 right through until the end of September next year. So, apprentices and trainees who lost their job through the COVID pandemic, they may also be eligible for the wage subsidy. And whether it’s manufacturing, housing, construction, mining, arts – whatever sector it is – this new wage subsidy gives businesses the certainty to hire and as you say, confidence. Because that is the key to small business success.
GARETH PARKER
The road projects, $1.1 billion. And there’s a whole range of them, we don’t need to go through them individually. But there is evidence in this State that the construction workforce is pushing up against its limits, particularly given some of the mining expansions that are happening too. Are you confident that there will be the right people who can actually do these jobs, in an environment where for now the border, the State border, remains closed?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, absolutely I do. I take confidence from [inaudible] who admittedly was managing a road project in far off Tasmania, but he said to me when I put that very question to him one day on a work site he said, “Well, we create. We generate from within. We train here in the Apple Isle because we can’t rely on getting workers from the mainland to Tassie.” So the same principle applies to WA. We want those construction companies to generate from within.
You’re right, mining has taken a bit of an upsurge and you know, an increase in the July quarter. That’s great news. That’s great news for the resources sector and of course, WA very much leads the way in that regard. And whether its resources or whether it’s agriculture, those two sectors alone have done still extremely well despite the COVID downturn. They’ve done extremely well at employing people, at generating wealth and making sure that balance of payments is what it needs to be. They’ve actually cushioned Australia’s economy from the effects of COVID-19. Yes, I appreciate that, with a building upsurge not just in WA but throughout the rest of the country and of course, with WA’s borders closed it may prove a little difficult to get those people straight off for shovel-ready jobs, but this is what’s necessary and this is what’s happening.
GARETH PARKER
The expectation is that there will be some sort of bring forward of the personal income tax cuts that were previously announced, accelerate those. There’s a debate going on about whether that actually means that middle and, particularly, high-income earners spend that money to stimulate the economy or save that money. What guarantees that they spend it?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, we don’t tell people what they should do with their money, but guaranteed they probably will. When shops reopen and borders – border closures are a thing of the past, hopefully very soon – you know, people will start to travel again. It’s getting into the warmer months and people will want to go on that very, very well-earned holiday. They’ll want to get to some of the great spots in WA and elsewhere in the country and so they’ll spend their money.
Yes, you’re right, perhaps one thing that COVID has done, it’s actually enabled people to save a little bit more and a little bit harder and that’s not such a bad thing either when you consider personal debt and household debt. It’s not such a bad thing that that is lowering, but we also obviously need to have cash flowing throughout the economy, tap and go and all the rest and I’m sure that’s going to be getting a good workout in the months ahead, particularly, as you say, with the tax cuts and it’s up to Labor to support those.
GARETH PARKER
When should Mark McGowan reopen the West Australian border to low-risk states?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Well, that’s a matter for Mark McGowan but we would say straight away. I see that Michael Gunner, the Northern Territory Chief Minister, is going to open it up to regional Victorians. From November 2 those regional Victorians are going to be allowed into the Northern Territory. And that’s money that WA doesn’t want to miss out on because of course, the Northern Territory is a great place to go with all the sites to see – Kakadu and Uluru and Darwin and et cetera, et cetera. You know, there’s opportunities there for WA which I’m sure the Premier doesn’t want to miss out on either. And so, there’s the ability to be able to do that very soon and he should do it very soon because the constitution doesn’t allow for borders to be shut. These lines on a map don’t help our Australian economy and particularly at a time when our aeroplanes need to get back in the air so that we get jobs returning on to the ground. As far as the aviation sector is concerned, we need these border closures removed.
GARETH PARKER
It’s likely that Ben Wyatt, the West Australian Treasurer, will hand down a billion dollar-plus surplus on Thursday. Is the State Government doing enough to support the economic recovery with its spending, do you think?
MICHAEL McCORMACK
I think every government aims to have a surplus budget and we were so close to having one in May this year when the coronavirus hit. But I think most Australians would generally look at any government in Australia today bringing down a surplus budgets and scratch their heads and wonder how is that possible? Particularly when a state government is announcing a surplus budget when you’ve got the Federal Government already has invested and contributed and spent $314 billion on the coronavirus. I think there’s the obligation for states, particularly a state about to announce a surplus as big as the one you’ve just said, to have done a little bit more.
GARETH PARKER
Okay, Michael McCormack, thank you very much for your time.
MICHAEL McCORMACK
Thanks, Gareth. Any time at all.
GARETH PARKER
The Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack.
ENDS 9:22AM