Subjects: The economy; Labor’s broken promise on electricity prices; first sitting week of the 47th Parliament; NRL.
CHARLES CROUCHER
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles joins us now in the Today studio, great to have you here. As well as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in Brisbane. Good morning to you, Peter. Richard, though, we will start with you.
On election night, the PM promised that no-one would be held back and no-one left behind. Two months later, the Treasurer’s telling us to prepare for tough medicine. Did you write cheques during that campaign that the economy simply cannot cash?
RICHARD MARLES
No, and one of the points that needs to be made is we can’t repair nine years of damage in nine weeks. What we’ve had is insipid productivity growth over the last decade, and that’s what we’ve got to repair. Obviously, we are facing a climate where there is rising inflation, but we’ve already acted. We’ve seen minimum wages increase significantly, we’ve got a whole lot of policies in place to get productivity back into our economy. Skills, making sure that we get greater participation in the economy through cheaper childcare, turning science into jobs through the National Reconstruction Fund and even this week we’ve introduced legislation to establish Jobs and Skills Australia. So, whilst this isn’t going to happen overnight, the job has already started, but we’ve inherited a mess and that’s what we have to deal with.
CHARLES CROUCHER
I think everyone would understand this is going to take time, but when it comes to wages, we’re talking about 2024. Can people hold on for that long, given this was an election promise that real wages would start rising?
RICHARD MARLES
Well, I mean, we’ve got a couple of issues here. We’ve got inflation rising significantly, and the reality of that means that it is a challenge in terms of real wage growth, but what we’ve got to do, off the back of there being no real wage growth over the last 10 years, is to get growth back into the economy. We are starting to do that already, with minimum wages, and we are going to build productivity back into the economy, as I say, through things like skills, through getting more technology into the economy and we started the job of that and that’s how we get to the path of prosperity. But it’s almost a decade that the last team were in government, and during that time, we saw insipid productivity growth, and that’s why we have a real problem with flatlining wages, which is what we’ve inherited.
CHARLES CROUCHER
So, Peter, how much of the blame do you accept?
PETER DUTTON
Well, a couple of points here, Charles. I think the public’s going to get sick of Richard Marles and Anthony Albanese constantly talking about the previous government. They’ve been elected. Get on with it. We’ll help them through what’s a difficult time. In the United States and in Europe, they’re talking about a very deep recession. The war in Europe obviously has a very significant impact, and thank goodness the Coalition was in government for the last nine years, dealing with the Budget, making sure that we had an unemployment rate at a 50-year low. We turned the Budget around by $100 billion. Yes, there’s a lot of debt out of JobKeeper but without JobKeeper, thousands of businesses would’ve closed and hundreds of thousands of people would’ve lost their jobs. We saved 800,000 jobs. So, instead of complaining about what happened last year or the year before, get on with the job and if Australia avoids a recession – which I desperately hope we do – it will be because of the work that we’ve done over the course of the last 10 years. So, stop talking the economy down like Richard is and Jim Chalmers is. The fundamentals of our economy are strong. We want to support families. Cost of living is very high and inflation is a huge problem, but constantly talking down the economy for political reasons by a new government is just going to make a bad situation worse.
CHARLES CROUCHER
Do you think Joe Hockey was talking down the economy when you took over the Treasury benches and he spoke about a debt and deficit disaster when the debt and deficit was so much smaller than it is today?
PETER DUTTON
Well Charles, I just think if you look at what we were able to do in terms of budget repair, as John Howard did when he came in after Paul Keating, we were able to pay debt down, we were able to get back to a balanced Budget position. If we hadn’t done that, the fundamentals of the economy wouldn’t have been strong enough to deal with the reality and the shock of COVID. And who knows what comes next? This is why you’ve got to be very careful about the economic settings. We know traditionally Labor just can’t manage money or the Budget. But seriously, this is a very difficult time. In the US, they’re talking about double-digit inflation; in Europe, the prospect of a broader war in Eastern Europe and all of that has an impact, as we’re seeing at the bowsers or when you go to the grocery checkout you’re paying more and more. And on electricity bills, this Government promised they’d go down by $275. The Prime Minister confirmed in Question Time this week, that Labor will break that promise. So, we want to do whatever we can to support the Government and to talk up the economy and to help families and small businesses, and this Government is still in the last election campaign, bagging the last government. Just get on with it and we’ll provide you with the support that you need.
RICHARD MARLES
Well Charles, getting on with the job is exactly what we’re doing, which is why we argued for a wage increase, in front of the Fair Work Australia, something that the former government did not do. As a result we have seen minimum wages go up really significantly.
CHARLES CROUCHER
Just on that, does that electricity price guarantee still come in?
RICHARD MARLES
We’ve made it really clear that we are going to act on climate change in a way which gets more renewables into the electricity grid. The real thing now is that renewable power is cheap power and we’ll see electricity prices come down.
CHARLES CROUCHER
I want to ask you both about the Manly jersey debacle that played out this week. Seven players refusing to play last night. Those same players now say they will wear them next season if they’re consulted. What did you make of all this?
RICHARD MARLES
Well, what Manly were trying to do is to see sport be more inclusive: to embrace more people within our community, and obviously other sports do this and do it with success. You know, there are obviously people who have deep religious convictions. It’s appropriate that they are consulted and worked with to make sure that there’s not controversy around this thing, that it’s actually something, a moment which is celebrated. But I think we see what Manly’s trying to do, and we see other sports do it, and it is really important that sport occurs in a way which is embracing and encourages people to play it.
CHARLES CROUCHER
Peter, if your Broncos were to put this idea out there, would you support it?
PETER DUTTON
Yes, is the short answer, Charles and I think, frankly, Richard nailed it in his answer just then. There are obviously lessons to be learned by Manly in terms of consultation with their players. People have got that deep religious belief which you can support, or you don’t support; you believe it, or you don’t. But that’s their belief and you respect somebody for that belief. But equally, I think the lessons have been learned and what started as a really nice gesture – one of inclusivity and a strong message of support to young kids and young supporters of the NRL – backfired and it’s been very messy. So I hope that, as Richard says, the lessons are learned and we learn that lesson before next season. And let’s get on with footy. The Broncos, of course, Richard, I don’t know if you’ve heard of the Brisbane Broncos, but they’re going to win the premiership this year…
CHARLES CROUCHER
The Treasurer might mention them.
RICHARD MARLES
Well maybe Peter and I will both be celebrating at the end of September.
CHARLES CROUCHER
That’s right, Geelong look good as well.
Gents, one parliamentary week down in the new roles. Congratulations, and thank you for being part of the programme.
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