Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joins me now. Good morning, Prime Minister.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Good to be with you again.
MACDONALD: Good to have you on. It’s the day we can disconnect from work. So, who can turn off their phones, stop reading their emails from today after they finish their job?
PRIME MINISTER: It is indeed. We want to make sure that just as people don’t get paid 24 hours a day, they don’t have to work for 24 hours a day. So, this is about more secure work. It’s a bit of common sense, really, is what it is. This applies from today for large employers. Small businesses don’t kick in for another year, but it is a common sense definition, basically, for some jobs. Obviously, people like mine, I’m on call 24 hours a day. But for many Australians, I think they’re getting frustrated that they’re expected to be on their phones, their emails, all of that, for 24 hours a day. It’s a mental health issue, frankly, as well, for people to be able to disconnect from their work and connect with their family and their life is what this is about.
MACDONALD: Yeah. And do you think, what kind of impacts – I think it’s very difficult to sort of separate out often mental health issues. But what kind of impact do you think being on call all the time and always wired in to work and be available does have on our mental health? Do you worry about that with Australians?
PRIME MINISTER: I certainly do. It means you can’t relax. You can’t be sitting there watching the footy on a Friday night without thinking that you’re potentially going to have to check your emails and check what’s going on. So, all it does, to be clear as well, in spite of some of the scare campaign from the Coalition, I noticed Jane Hume was on TV this morning. She actually said that adding rights, more rights for workers, for something that is just part of a normal working relationship is “unreasonable”. Well, I’ll tell you what is unreasonable. The idea that people should be on call 24 hours a day. So, it just stops being punished or penalised for not being on call 24 hours a day. It won’t stop messages being sent. Of course, you can’t stop that –
MACDONALD: But you won’t get punished if you don’t respond. I mean, that’s what the Opposition is saying. But the Business Council is concerned that it will damage productivity at a time we need to have a more productive economy.
PRIME MINISTER: You know what it’ll do? It’ll boost productivity.
MACDONALD: How?
PRIME MINISTER: Because when people are actually loyal to their employer and focused on what they should be doing and not being distracted during 24 hours a day, but focused on eight hours a day, or if they’re working longer hours than that, longer. You’ll get a more productive workforce. The idea that you should be on call at 10 o’clock at night if you work a 9am to 5pm job isn’t reasonable and that will lead to better relations in the workplace. It will mean that employers and employees have to have a common sense conversation about what’s reasonable and what’s not reasonable, and that will lead to better workplace relations.
MACDONALD: And what about casuals? They can still be contacted to do shifts that are needed.
PRIME MINISTER: Sure, of course. And they can choose to go into work, but they can’t be told – well, take a reasonable example. If someone is working part time at the local supermarket and they want to go in and do an extra shift because someone has not turned up or someone’s called in sick, you know, that’s fine, that’s up to them. But they can’t be told “no, you didn’t answer the call to work on Sunday when we texted you on Saturday night at 11 o’clock, therefore I’m not going to give you any shifts and I’m going to penalise you in the workplace.” It will operate in a really common sense way, I’m certain of that, because good employers have good relations with their employees. But what it will do is take that pressure off people to be constantly checking their devices. It is a scourge in so many ways. There’s a debate, of course, about young people and the impact of social media. Well, the impact of devices making us accountable 24 hours a day is something that’s having an impact on our lives. And public policy must adjust to new technology so that it works in the interests of people, not so that it becomes a rock around our neck, tied to us.
MACDONALD: Well, John Howard talked about us being more relaxed and comfortable. Do you think this right to disconnect will make us calmer and happier?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that’s the objective here, is for a bit of calming, would be a good thing. Taking away people’s anxiety if they don’t answer every phone call or text message or email at whatever hour at night. And so many people – look, anecdotally, you would know people, you might be one of them, who, you know, is checking their emails 24 hours a day, not getting proper sleep, not getting a proper opportunity to relax. And that’s why this is important. It’s part of our focus that we have on better workplace relations. We have, of course, given a tax cut to every taxpayer. Real wages are increasing because we are focused on helping Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn. But we’re also focused on there being good workplace relations between employers and employees.
MACDONALD: Ok, just a couple more questions before I let you go. The CFMEU is now threatening a court action, disaffiliation from the Labor Party altogether. Will that be a blow to Labor?
PRIME MINISTER: No. What else is new? When I expelled John Setka from the Labor Party, he took us to court. He then appealed the court decision. Fully expected. That’s business as usual from the CFMEU.
MACDONALD: He said on Channel Seven last night that you were trembling in a lift with him.
PRIME MINISTER: Nonsense. I didn’t watch the interview and I don’t know why they gave him airtime. It’s a decision for them.
MACDONALD: Are you worried about the wipe-out in the Northern Territory election of Labor? The Chief Minister even lost her seat.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, congratulations, firstly, to the new Chief Minister, Lia Finocchiario. And we certainly thank the outgoing Chief Minister, Eva Lawler, for her service. But when you have law and order issues, which are the responsibility, of course, of the Territory, they were front and centre of the election campaign. And you had another factor, is that if you have three Chief Ministers in two years, which is what occurred, then you have that sort of disruption as well. That’s hardly conducive to saying that you’re a stable government. But we, of course, will have a look at any implications which are there, but we will work constructively with the new Northern Territory Government.
MACDONALD: All right. Well, I thank you for your time this morning.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Sarah.
