Minister Rishworth on the Today Show with Sarah Abo

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

Topics: CFMEU; Budget; Iron Ore; NDIS legislation; Indexation

SARAH ABO, HOST: Welcome back. Well, after days of negotiations, Labor and the Coalition have put the final nail in the CFMEU's coffin, striking a deal which will force its construction divisions into administration for up to five years. Joining us to discuss today's headlines is Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth and Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie. Good to see you both. Amanda, I'll start with you. The Coalition came to the party to help you pass this legislation. It was long overdue, though, wasn't it, to act on the ingrained behaviour we've allegedly seen?

AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES: It is good that the legislation's passed. This is the strongest possible action that we can take and make sure that we're able to stamp out some of this really horrific behaviour that we've heard of. I am pleased that the Coalition actually came to the party. It's disappointing it took them so long. But I think we can now get on with the job of cleaning up this union so that construction workers actually have a union that properly represents them.

SARAH ABO: Bridget, why did it take a while? What were your main concerns? Because obviously the building industry has now welcomed it. Things can hopefully return to normal. And, unsurprisingly, the union is unhappy with it, saying it's shameful.

BRIDGET MCKENZIE, NATIONALS SENATOR: Which means we got the balance right. I think it's fantastic that the Labor party adopted many of our recommendations to toughen the legislation and the administrator's role, so that apprentices aren't locked in sheds on site and the administrator can get in place and get going on addressing criminality within the union movement. We know it's going to take more than three years to get rid of the mafia off construction sites. That was always a reality and unfortunately, it did take more time than it should have for the Labor party to get on board, but thankfully, that's passed. Now. And now we need to look ahead. What measures do we need to put in place so the 'sons of Setka' don't rise again in the construction industry as we've seen before. And that means I reinstating the tough cop on the beat and also passing integrity measures which we put bills into the parliament yesterday and look forward to the Labor party continuing to support us.

SARAH ABO: There are a lot of insidious tentacles to the CFMEU.

BRIDGET MCKENZIE: Absolutely.

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, Bridget talks about the tough cop on the beat. Unfortunately, all these incidences and alleged bad behaviour actually occurred while there was this tough cop on the beat. So, it wasn't doing its job. We've got to look at solutions here and actually what will make a difference rather than just throw around rhetoric.

SARAH ABO: Well, let's hope it takes less than three years to see a bit of a difference, but it's good that something's happening. Moving on, an imminent plunge to the price of iron ore is set to expose underlying problems with Australia's finances. A number of business groups and economists are calling for immediate action. What are Labor's next steps here? We've become so reliant on natural resources.

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Firstly, I would say that this is a reminder that Australia is not immune from global economic volatility. And, you know, we, as a Government have been preparing for that. We've put budget settings in place to make sure that we do prepare for that. I would say that we've been very focused on bringing back budget surpluses. We've had two back-to-back budget surpluses, something that the Coalition could not achieve in ten years, even though they had the mugs to try and prove it - it didn't mean that there were budget surpluses. But going forward we do have to pay attention to the Budget and budget repair. And of course, we have a bill in the parliament around sustainability of the NDIS. And what we've had is the Coalition delay and vote against it. This is something that could go to putting the NDIS on a sustainable footing. But we've just seen the Coalition play politics with it.

SARAH ABO: That is the issue, Amanda, isn't it? I mean, there does need to be some bipartisanship, some cohesion here because there is a lot of stuff that needs to be fixed out of Canberra, particularly the NDIS. Bridget, Amanda's just touched on there as well?

BRIDGET MCKENZIE: Absolutely, Sarah. I mean, what the last couple of budgets have exposed is that iron ore, gas, coal receipts have actually covered up the fact that Labor has been spending more than we're actually earning structurally in the Budget and in those long-term things like aged care, like the NDIS and others, and that's the spending that we need to get under control…

AMANDA RISHWORTH: [Interrupts]… pass the bill.

BRIDGET MCKENZIE: Otherwise, inflation keeps. Inflation is staying higher for longer than it needs to be here at home. And that's what the Reserve bank Governor has been trying to tell state and Federal Labor governments in her recent public iterations. So, what this drop in iron ore prices has showed and exposed is that we do have a structural problem with the Budget long term and that's what Labor needs to get under control.

AMANDA RISHWORTH: I'll be really clear. The issues around ageing and paying for aged care and the NDIS are not new problems. They existed under the Coalition government. We're trying to…

BRIDGET MCKENZIE: [Interrupts]… you ratcheted up the spending.

AMANDA RISHWORTH: Oh, Bridget. We are trying to fix it. And you are standing in the way with blocking bills in the parliament, including putting the NDIS on a sustainable footing. You've delayed that bill.

BRIDGET MCKENZIE: Amanda. Amanda. The Budget papers don't lie. You've added $315 billion of additional spending…

AMANDA RISHWORTH: As you know, that is indexation to the pension…

BRIDGET MCKENZIE: [Interrupts]… no it's not, no it's not.

AMANDA RISHWORTH: It is indexation to the pension…

BRIDGET MCKENZIE: [Interrupts]… it's not.

AMANDA RISHWORTH: It is Bridget, so don't mislead the public. Or announce the cuts you're going to make.

SARAH ABO: All right, look, I always enjoy having a chat with the both of you. It's always robust and I welcome it every time. We have sadly run out of time, though. Thank you so much for joining us today. Enjoy the rest of your day.