TRANSCRIPT: DOORSTOP INTERVIEW, 10 DECEMBER 2020

E&OE

Subjects: New South Wales Safer Roads Program; Cashless Welfare Debit Card; COVID-19 vaccination; industrial relations; trade with China.

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Good morning, all. Last Parliamentary sitting day for the year and I’m really delighted to announce that we are investing with the New South Wales Government $398 million for safer roads. This Safer Roads Program is going to ensure that for the 59 projects, they could potentially save 590 lives, create 950 jobs in the construction of these road projects. And whether it’s the Newell, whether it’s the Princes Highway, whether it’s the New England Highway and many other highways and byways across the State. I’ve been working hard with Paul Toole, the New South Wales Regional Roads Minister, to ensure this roll-out is going to happen and happen soon so that we get that stimulus, we get those jobs. And I know that during the Budget process, of course, $2 billion was put into road safety, road safety upgrades to roads that we want to get people home sooner and safer. And of course, this Christmas with so many Australian families being reunited for the first time since probably last Christmas, that’s going to be so imperative.

JOURNALIST

Deputy Prime Minister, on the Cashless Welfare Card, is there any evidence that it’s actually having a positive effect?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Absolutely. And for those communities where it has been trialled, those were communities which asked for it. And for those families they’ve seen –

JOURNALIST

Not all of them did, though.

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Well, if you let me answer the question. They have seen – they have seen food on the table. They have seen better outcomes. They have seen less domestic violence. And so for those families, it has been of benefit. And so many, so many families, so many women have actually benefited from the roll-out of this Cashless Debit Card. And it’s seen people who sometimes have been on welfare for a long, long time actually get into work because they’ve had the impetus to do just that. They’ve had the enthusiasm and for the first time, they’ve seen better outcomes in those communities.

JOURNALIST

Then why isn’t there empirical data to back that up?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Well, there is data to back it up and there’s also that anecdotal evidence. And I know that certainly as a Member of Parliament who goes out and seeks the views of my community, as do other Members of Parliament, they have heard those harrowing stories where people have been the subject of domestic violence and yet, despite that, they’ve seen since the roll-out of the Cashless Welfare Debit Card, they’ve seen better outcomes for their families. It only takes to save one life to make these sorts of things worthwhile. And we want to make sure that people can live in their own communities, in their own houses, safer. And that’s what it’s all about.

JOURNALIST

Deputy Prime Minister, we’ve seen overnight some concerns with a couple of patients in the UK or nurses who’ve taken the Pfizer vaccine jab. They’ve had some adverse reactions to it. Are you concerned that this could fuel concern among the anti-vax crowd in Australia and indeed the anti-vax crowd within your own Government?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

There’s always going to be anti-vaxxers but, yes, two cases. As I understand, those two cases did have ongoing allergic reaction difficulties throughout their life. And so yes, two cases, but how many non-allergic reactions were there? You know, we need to weigh it up with the full weight of statistics, not just pick out the two who have had allergic reactions. And that’s why I’m sure the UK health authorities and officials who are managing this will do it in the best possible way. They’ll learn from this and certainly, they’ve been advising people who do have ongoing allergic reaction difficulties perhaps to think [inaudible].

But in Australia we’ll make it freely available. We’ll work, as we have done right the way through 2020, with the best possible medical advice. And to that end, Paul Kelly and Brendan Murphy have been magnificent. And we thank them. There’s many Australians this Christmas who’ll be sitting around the table, they owe their lives, they owe their health to those two magnificent men. And of course, the AHPPC and all other health officials right throughout the country, so many workers, so many frontline medical personnel, have actually gone to work and faced those risks and we thank each and every one of them for getting Australia through this.

We’ve done magnificently well this year compared to other countries. Yes, there will be 908 families who will mourn for a loved one who’s not around their Christmas table this year and that is very sad. But when you compare Australia to what’s happening overseas, we’ve done so, so very well.

JOURNALIST

Just on industrial relations, how concerned are you that employers could potentially – well, employees could be worse off?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Even Paul Keating’s come out and said that the better-off-overall-test, the BOOT test, is very, very complex and should be revisited, in fact, scrapped. We have been working very well with unions this year. I know Attorney-General, Christian Porter, has been working well with Sally McManus and others in the unions to ensure that as many workers got back to their jobs through the COVID-19 crisis. I mean, the unemployment queues overseas are way, way longer than in Australia.

So, we’ve done very well to manage that situation but we need to make workplaces and workforces more flexible. We need to make those hours available. And certainly, with the casuals, they are being provided, where possible, those permanent hours. We’re working through that. There’s many advantages to this legislation for workers. We want to see as many people getting into work as possible. In regional Australia at the moment there are 54,000 job vacancies just there for the taking.

So, I say to people worried about not having a job, worried about not having the hours that they’d like, have a look at regional Australia. They’re not just jobs in agriculture and mining. Many, many well-paying jobs in many other sectors of the economy and they’re there for the taking for you right now.

JOURNALIST

So, is it better to have Australians in jobs if that means that they’re in jobs with lower wages?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Well, it’s not going to be about lower wages. We’ve got the highest minimum wage in the world. It’s about making sure that there are jobs there and making sure that businesses have the confidence to employ more Australians. That’s why we’ve got the wage subsidy for apprentices. That’s why we’re putting so much money into skills. That’s why we’re boosting manufacturing. That’s why we’re getting agriculture up to the $100 billion that we want to by 2030. That’s why we’re investing in mining. That’s why we’re doing all of these things – to make sure that our regions and our cities are what they can be and our businesses can be their best selves. And that’s why we’ve got the instant asset write-off, the wage subsidies. That’s why we’ve got the lowest tax rate we’ve had since 1940 – so that business have the confidence to take that risk, to back themselves, to employ more Australians so that they can pay higher wages.

For the first time for many years our wheat farmers, which you mentioned in particular, are having a bumper harvest. They’ve not had a bumper harvest for some time. And now the prospect of a bumper harvest and of course, much of the wheat is off in south-west New South Wales and elsewhere, now they face the grim prospect that this could well be a problem because of what’s happened overnight and in previous days with China.

But we will work through the World Trade Organisation, we will work through our diplomatic organisations and make sure that if we can, of course, diversify our interests and our trade interests as well. Let’s not forget that we have as a nation since coming to Government in 2013, we have made sure that we just haven’t placed all our eggs in one basket. We do have many, many trade opportunities right across the world and we produce the world’s best wheat and the world’s best food and fibre.

JOURNALIST

China continues to say it is Australia who has to do more for mutual respect and co-operation. What do you think that means and do you think it is Australia’s responsibility?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

The list of grievances, I mean there’s not one that we would back track on. Let’s face it, we are our own sovereign nation and we will always defend our rights and what we do as a Government.

JOURNALIST

So you think China is after Australian sovereignty?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Well, look, it’s a difficult situation. So we will work through it in a calm, pragmatic, diplomatic and patient way.

JOURNALIST

Final Parliamentary sitting day of the year, when you look back on 2020 in this place, reflections?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

We kept Australians safe when other nations in the world, COVID-19 just ran rampant. And we thank Australians for that. Yes, we put the assistance measures in place. Yes, we put hundreds of billions down to ensure – hundreds of billions of dollars – to ensure that jobs were maintained, that the economy kept humming along. It’s been a very, very difficult year, a challenging year for many Australians. But I say thank you to those Australians, particularly those in regional Australia, for continuing the wheels of agriculture and mining to ensure that we still have those exports, to ensure we still have those balance of payments going. Without regional Australia, Australia would be in a more difficult position right now.

JOURNALIST

Cashless Welfare Card, the trials of that has been extended. Are you disappointed you couldn’t make it permanent?

MICHAEL McCORMACK

Well, it’s been extended, so that’s good. The communities have asked for the Cashless Welfare Debit Card. They’ve asked for it. And so, in those communities we’ve seen better outcomes, better lifestyle outcomes for families and that’s important. We’ll continue to work through it.

JOURNALIST

People are labelling it racist.

MICHAEL McCORMACK

It’s not racist. The communities have actually asked for it. And what it’s done, it’s provided better options, better lifestyles for those families who’ve been on it. And you know, I stick by it.

JOURNALIST

Do you still want to make it permanent though? Would you still be happy to see it become permanent –

MICHAEL McCORMACK

We’ll work through it. Thank you very much.

Shane Manning