Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister
DANICA DE DIORGIO, HOST: Welcome back to the program. Well, the Government’s IR reforms are expected to pass the lower House this week, but key crossbenchers in the Senate are warning Labor they’ll need to split the bill apart to get support before the end of the year. Joining me now live is Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Patrick Gorman. Thank you for joining us this morning. The Government has made some concessions. Are you going to have to make more, though, to get this bill across?
PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: What we’ve done is we’ve introduced the legislation to the House of Representatives. We’ve got a committee process that’s looking at this legislation. Minister Tony Burke has been meeting with a range of representatives from business, unions, civil society. And what we’ve shown under the Albanese Government is that where there are good ideas, where there are sensible improvements, we’re open to that. That’s been something we’ve done on a range of pieces of legislation, including on climate legislation. But what we do want to see is get to get wages moving again. This legislation, the entire package, is all about giving people secure jobs and better pay. And we think that if we can get this through at the end of the year, that will be welcome news for millions of working Australians.
DE DIORGIO: Are you rushing this through too quickly, though? The crossbench is saying they want you to split this bill apart. So, what are the chances that you’re actually going to make this Christmas deadline?
GORMAN: I have great confidence in the processes that are underway in terms of making sure that there is a proper parliamentary process where there’s committee scrutiny. We’re already seeing those crossbenchers engaged very deeply on the details, so they have had time to get across it and to see what is at stake here. And what is at stake is whether or not we find a path to get wages moving again for millions of Australians. What we know is, when we look at the enterprise bargaining system for people in aged care, child care, it’s not delivering the sort of outcomes that we need. And what we also know is there are a range of overdue reforms when it comes to things like properly prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace. This Bill acts on all of that and I think, again, there will be millions of working families in Australia who will welcome this legislation being the law of the land come Christmas this year.
DE DIORGIO: Business is angry, particularly when it comes to bargaining arrangements. The Farmers’ Federation was on Sky News this morning saying that this will actually have an impact on Australia’s supply chain. How will Labor ensure that there are no unintended consequences of these reforms?
GORMAN: A range of lobbying advocacy groups will put their views forward. And again, I know that a range of Ministers, including Minister Tony Burke, have been meeting with those stakeholders who have views about what should happen. But ultimately we can’t accept that situation as it is today is acceptable. Wages haven’t been moving for many years. Our enterprise bargaining system is not working for a large range of workers. We have things where at the moment it’s illegal for people to share their pay, to share the fact of how much they take home each week. We have a situation where we don’t have gender equality as an explicit object in the Fair Work Act when the independent umpire is making those decisions. So, it is urgent. And again, I don’t think anyone can credibly stand up and say that the system as it is today is working well and that we shouldn’t change it.
DE DIORGIO: I want to move on to another matter now. Tony Abbott, the former Prime Minister, is calling for a return of compulsory national service. Now he says that school leavers should be forced to spend up to twelve months giving back to their country. Is he right? What do you think?
GORMAN: Look, I’m a bit sick of the Liberals, when they’re in office, bashing up on young people by making university harder to get into and TAFE more expensive. I’m sick of them in Opposition then coming out with ideas such as this. And I expect better from a former Prime Minister. Young people do so much for our society. I was at the Tasmanian of the Year Awards for Australian of the Year last week and Meriem Daoui, who won the Young Tasmanian of the Year, has done so much in terms of fundraising. You see these inspiring young people everywhere. I think people like Tony Abbott, who again, as a former Prime Minister, has seen the best of young people in Australia, should actually go out and celebrate the great work that young people do, rather than get the stick out and say, we’re going to tell you you’re not doing enough, we’re going to tell you that you’ve got to go do something else. This guy started the assault on young people when it came to increasing their HECS fees and dismantling our university sector. I think it’s a cheap headline from someone who fails to invest in young Australians.
DE DIORGIO: What about a small period of volunteer work, though?
GORMAN: Young people do volunteer. We’ve seen that over recent years. If you look at some of the things that young people did during the Pandemic, where they were the ones who were going out volunteering to help their elderly neighbours, making sure that we had community groups were able to continue to function, helping with the tech where you had community groups who didn’t necessarily know how to connect people online. I say thank you to the young people of Australia. They invest in themselves through education. They invest in our communities through a range of community activities. I see that in my electorate of Perth all the time. Young people getting out there, making a difference. I don’t know what planet Tony Abbott is on on many occasions. And this is another one where I think he’s just seriously out of touch.
DE DIORGIO: An interesting debate. Patrick Gorman. We have to leave it there. Thanks for joining us.
GORMAN: Thank you.
