MATT “MACCA’ Maccarthy, HOST: New South Wales, Senator Tim Ayres joins us. Instead of our Monday chat, it's a Wednesday chat. Tim, how are you this morning?
SENATOR TIM AYRES, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR A FUTURE MADE IN AUSTRALIA AND TRADE: Yeah, G'day, its hump day, Macca. Nothing like a bit of Tom Petty. I love Tom Petty. He is fantastic.
MACCA: Absolutely, certainly is not hump day for me, mate. Some of us are working seven jobs at the moment just to try and combat the cost of living, and certainly seven days a week, if we're only working a couple of jobs. And I'm on that list at the moment. I'll get to inflation figures very shortly, because the latest stuff comes out today. But mate, the first one I want to mention, CFMEU. We've heard words in the national news such as admin and corruption. These are some pretty strong words.
AYRES: Yeah, that's right. So, the federal government had to take action here in relation to one division of that union that is the Construction and General division of that union. And, you know, I think Australians would all agree, including almost all union members, that these kind of allegations about bikies being engaged in construction, about thuggery in some of the branches of this union, they are unacceptable. The leadership of the union has been, at best, unable to deal with these questions in the state branches, and so this is a big step for the Federal Government to put this union into administration, but it is the right thing to do. The objective here is to end up with a union that is run by its members, that is tough and effective, because you need a tough and effective union in construction, but a union that serves the interests of its members and has got good governance and decent standards.
MACCA: I guess what doesn't serve the members is when the construction workers all sort of walk off the site, Tim, and leave the houses unbuilt for a period of time until this is sorted. Federal Government obviously looking at this one with a microscope. What are the next steps?
AYRES: Well, it's been tough, determined action here that is supported by most unions across the country, because they recognize that it's the right thing to do to fix this union that needs to be fixed, and that means there's an inevitable reaction as the leaders of the union in the states try and associate their own interests with the interests of the union and pretend that this is about the union being under attack and members been under attack from the federal government. Nothing could be further from the truth. The government is taking firm, decisive action to clean up the union, and that is in the interests of construction workers. It is in the interest of the members of that union, but it's also in the interest of the industry, more broadly, to have a clean, effective union. There was some disruption yesterday - people have got a right to demonstrate in Australia, but right now, the CFMEU is under administration. Nothing that happened yesterday and nothing will happen to disturb that basic fact. It's under administration until the administrator is done their work, tidied the union up, make sure that it's properly democratic, that it's acting in the interests of its members and that'll be good for the construction industry. It'll be good for construction workers and for Australia. As you say, we've got a lot of work to do in construction. We're going to build 1.2 million homes. We've got to make building homes more efficient and effective, and we've got to look after construction workers in the process. Good wages in construction are a good thing. Safety is vitally important. That means a good, strong, effective union.
MACCA: Their jobs, tricky enough, as it is with inflation. At the moment, I just want to run one of the factors by you. Obviously, quite a few factors to inflation. Let's look at the rent situation, housing affordability. So, the landlords have to pass these costs on. When the rents go up, the goods and services that we're paying then means we're paying more on a gross dollar value, meaning that the spending is up. And because the spending is up, inflation is up, meaning the RBA then turns around and says, okay, we need higher interest rates to try and bring back inflation. So, the landlords have to increase their rents again because of the higher interest rates. Mate, we're going around in circles. Nothing's getting achieved, and I can't see us busting inflation anytime soon. Yet, we're saying we need 2.5 million houses built here and there, and looking to knock down racetracks in and around Parramatta or Rose Hill or whatever, to put more houses up. How the hell are we going to do it if we can't afford it?
AYRES: Well, let's take that in parts. You're right that if we don't act on inflation, it feeds on itself. Higher prices lead to higher prices. That's why the federal government's playing its part here - in fiscal terms, two surplus budgets. We've turned liberal deficits into Labor surpluses with some discipline and focus on the budget, but we're also providing cost-of-living relief to households, and you know that is supporting higher wages, tax cuts for every Australians, supporting lower prices for medicines, downward pressure on childcare, the list goes on, but the government's doing its part here.
Budget surpluses to put downward pressure on inflation and measures in the budget to support households and we've seen inflation go from a number that had a six in front of it, six and a bit per cent now to three and a bit per cent. So there has been progress.
Inflation has substantially moderated. There is still more work to do. And as you point out, you know, Australians are doing it tough at the moment, off the back of ten years of the lowest wage growth and lowest productivity growth in our history.
But now households are facing elevated prices for more than 18 months now, the federal government is doing its bit. The Independent Reserve Bank is responding to these developments and has responded by putting interest rates up. I don't want to offer commentary on what the Reserve Bank should do next, but obviously that has a very difficult impact on households, but it is all pointed in the same direction, to put downward pressure on inflation. We'll see new CPI figures out today. Obviously, there'll be a lot of interest in that. I don't want to offer commentary on figures I haven't seen yet. We’ll see them later on today. But inflation has substantially moderated from the highs that it was at when we took office. We've got more work to do but, but we've made very significant progress on the housing question, Macca, that you raised at the end, there are going to be all sorts of opportunities to build more houses. We've committed ten billion [dollars] to the Housing Australia Future Fund. There's a total $30 billion package there to support the housing industry to build houses for Australians right across the country. Housing shortages are an issue in regional Australia as much as they are in the big cities. We are absolutely focused on that. We haven't set a low target. We've set a high target, and we're going to work with the housing industry, builders, constructors, developers and the public sector to make sure we build more homes right across Australia, and the government's committed to that. On the other side of ledger, the libs and nationals want to cancel those schemes. If Peter Dutton gets into government, they're all gone. We're back to where we started on housing for Australians again. That's not fair. It's robbing the future for Australians, robbing young people of opportunities for a roof over their head. We will fight that all the way through the election. We are determined to meet our commitment to the Australian people, to build more homes every single year that we're in government. We're not going to waste a moment, and housing affordability is the number one issue for most Australians, particularly young Australians.
MACCA: All right, Tim, we'll have a go at Peter Dutton when it's his turn. At the moment, you guys are in power. One question I do have for you is, and I'm getting a lot of calls at the moment, people saying, mate, last quarter power bill was, you know, $900 or this time last year was 900 bucks. Now it's closer to $1,500. I've noticed $300 on average, thereabouts, being given back to Australians from the government on their power bills. But I've noticed an average increase of 500 bucks, mate. So, what we're taking from the left hand or giving in the left hand we're taking back from the right hand. Is that real relief?
AYRES: Yeah, three points here. First of all, of course, these increases in energy prices are tough for households, but they're also tough for business. They started with Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. That's where prices and electricity have started to spike. The government has got two things in play here. One is the action that we have taken to put caps on the price of coal and gas have had a big impact on electricity prices. They have still gone up, but they have not gone up as far as they would have been had the government not taken action here.
What the Australian energy market operator demonstrates is that is that prices would have gone up well north of 15% had the government not acted here. Caps on coal and gas were opposed bitterly by the Liberals and Nationals, but they have had an impact. But as you say, prices have still gone up. We're not doing what Angus Taylor, the then Energy Minister did before the election, which was to hide upcoming price rises. To keep them a secret until after the election. We're being transparent here, doing the right thing on power prices, and we are delivering for households a $300, as you say, rebate to support households who are paying these bills. It's also important, Macca, that people shop around too. Put pressure on your retailer. What they call the loyalty tax, where people stick with the same retailer year after year and end up paying more because of it. Got to keep your eye out if there is a better deal. Finally, in the long term, the only way we are going to keep downward pressure on electricity prices is by fixing the big challenges that we've been left in the electricity system. With ten years of disinvestment, four gigawatts of capacity went out, only one gigawatt went back in. So, there's less electricity to supply and demand equation here. More than a dozen power stations announced their closure under the Liberals and Nationals, coal fired power stations. They did nothing about it. The energy system was left adrift. We are investing in new transmission and investing in the cheapest, most reliable form of energy that you can get that is the medium term and long-term fix. Right now, appreciate tough challenges for households, and we are doing our very best here to offer the kind of relief that's going to make a difference for ordinary households and for business and for manufacturing.
MACCA: There's been talks recently in the news Tim, about Albo calling the election. What's the news?
AYRES: Well, the news is Macca it's not up to me to call elections. It's a matter for the Prime Minister, and one day he'll jump in the car and head over to the Governor General’s to call an election. I don't think that's going to be anytime soon. We are really focused as a government on doing our job. The election is very likely to be in the first half of next year. We are, and I know that the Prime Minister is; what he said publicly is what he says privately as well, that that Australians expect governments to run close to their full term.
It is ultimately a matter for him and him alone. And I expect that that we will be working right through all of this year and into early next year, on delivering on our commitments. For Australians and for me, that is principally about the Future Made in Australia, the biggest pro-manufacturing package in Australian history, bringing investment from the world's best manufacturers here in Australia to capitalize on our natural advantages, our fantastic mineral resources, and rather than exporting raw product overseas, processing and manufacturing more of it here in Australia, in our regions, creating good jobs and training opportunities for young people in regional Australia. That's what I'm focused on. Election dates [are] a matter for the Prime Minister, Macca, and I'm pretty confident we'll be coming back to these issues week after week over the course of the rest of this year and into next year.
MACCA: Bring Ford and Holden back. I'll give you the answer, bring Ford and Holden back and putting it outback Northern Territory or outback Queensland where we've got plenty of space to kill two birds with one stone, plenty of water under that ground not being used, big pipelines. Away we go and we're back to building things in Australia. Tim, that's how easy it is.
AYRES: Well, its mashed Australia's manufacturing capability when Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey forced the auto industry offshore. I know as a person who's worked as a union representative right across Australian manufacturing how much damage that did, not just for the workers who lost their jobs, but for what it did for Australian training and apprenticeships and engineering, for our industrial capability more broadly, right, whether you're in the defence industry or aerospace, in mining or engineering or wherever, you would always find somebody who'd done their engineering or their training at Ford or Toyota or Mitsubishi. And by smashing that industry, they undermined Australia's interest. They made us poorer and less productive. It's done untold damage, which they laughed about at the time because the ideology of the Liberals and Nationals is all about just letting the market rip, not, thinking about the national interest here, and that's what they did. Now, our job here is, yes, jobs in the north, absolutely crucial, minerals processing. We have got the world's best solar reserves here in Australia, and we've got the minerals under the ground that the capacity for us to be exporting zero emissions on to the world, rather than iron ore. So going up the value chain that brings enormous economic prosperity and investment opportunities for Australians and good jobs, but it's good for the planet as well. Mate, this is the strategy of the Albanese government. The Future Made in Australia is to make sure that investment happens in Australia rather than happening offshore. And it should happen in Australia, because we've got the comparative advantage. The only resource we don't have in Australia is time to waste. That's why I'm so opposed to what Peter Dutton is doing here, whether it's on nuclear or on cancelling the Future Made in Australia project. It undermines Australia's comparative advantage and robs young Australians of their future.
MACCA: Just before the news, Tim, only got about a minute, so I'll get a quick answer off you. Got the Labor t-shirt on. What do you say to those who believe Albo is a one term Prime Minister?
AYRES: I'm very confident that this bloke is the right leader for Australia right now and into the future. He's got good Australian values. He's focused on two things, the here and now, dealing with cost-of-living pressures, but also making sure Australia's got the economy and the manufacturing that we need for the future, and focused, dead set focused on the national interest, not on partisan politics. He's the right leader for Australia. He's the right Prime Minister at the right time, and I'm very confident that we'll win that argument as we're as we're heading into the election, but we don't take it for granted.
MACCA: Senator Tim Ayres, thank you for the yarn, we'll talk to you next week.
ENDS.
