BYNER: Prime Minister, welcome and it's good to talk to you, because it's the first time I've spoken to you since you've been PM.
PM: Well thanks very much. It's good to be on the program and good morning to all your listeners here in beautiful Adelaide
BYNER: Tell me what you're doing in South Australia.
PM: Well here today, I'm talking about skills because one of the big challenges we face is to make sure we've got enough skilled workers out there in the economy.
It's one of the big pushes on inflation and because we've inherited an inflation rate running at 16 year highs from the previous government, we've got to do everything we can to try and bring those inflationary pressures down. One of the way in which you'd do that is to expand the number of skilled training places out there in the economy, and if you keep inflationary pressures down it helps also keep downwards pressure on interest rates as well.
So that's what I'm here to do and what I'll be announcing very soon here in Adelaide is that we'll be calling for responses from registered training organisations to take up 20,000 new training places which will go online from us as of 1 April, one month from now.
BYNER: Now Kevin, Prime Minister, the one thing that concerns me about traineeships is that there has not been a very effecting auditing process in the traineeships to deliver actual qualifications at the end of their time and I am sure you have heard the scuttlebutt, and I think it is more than scuttlebutt but I will call it that for the time being. That a lot of people who are employed under traineeship organisations end up sweeping floors or making sandwiches and not getting much skill but providing cheap labour. Are you mindful of this as you announce these extra places?
PM: Entirely, because what we have got by way of feedback from business is that what people want is not just certified training places, that is where people are trained and then obtain a proper certificate-level recognition of the skills that they have obtained, but they are, in particular what business are looking for is for higher level certificate training as well, level two certificate, level three certificates, and the
Because people just don't want more people in their workplaces, they want more skilled people in their workplaces. That's why the emphasis of this program of ours, which is a phase one roll out of what will be 450,000 additional training places over time. This 20,000 and the 450,000 will be focussed at those higher level, certificate level training places.
BYNER: And these are going to be audited to ensure that they don't just become cheap labour?
PM: Our intention, clear cut, is to make sure that we produce people with proper certificates which then become tradeable by them, those people in the workplace, so that they get better paid jobs and the needs of business are met as well. And overall, in economic terms, to do what we can to keep inflationary pressures under control given that inflation as of when we took office was running at a 16 year high.
BYNER: Look, I think the intent Mr Prime Minister is laudable but I made the point that it is going to be up to the state government isn't it, to audit these positions to ensure that they deliver what you want them to?
PM: Well we will be working in partnership with various levels of government and with various levels of government and with registered training organisations to make sure that these are properly delivered. Leon, you have been around for a long time, so have I. Are there are going to be some problems at the edges of all this? Of course, you are going to find some example where I hasn't worked properly. But if out of these 20,000 additional training places which we are putting online, really within three months of taking office, to do something concrete to help employers and employees out there. If we manage to help a large number of employers and employees this way, then we will have been doing a good thing. I can't guarantee that every one of them is going to be perfectly delivered. Life is not like that.
BYNER: No, well I am not asking you to make sure that every one, but I think at the moment there are a lot of jobs out there. I meet so many people on my travels who are on traineeships and I ask them what they are doing, sweeping floors, making sandwiches. I am sure they, see we allegedly have in training between 25,000 and 30,000 people annually. And I wonder if we have actually sufficiently trained them in areas where they are required, we shouldn't have the shortages we have got. So that's why I will make the observations.
PM: Well I think the Federal Government department concerned is very, very determined to ensure that these registered training organisation deliver certificate level training through these extra 20,000 places which we are putting out. We call them, we are calling this the Productivity Places Program because quite apart from the individual employees and their legitimate desire to get better skilled and better paid jobs, quite apart from the legitimate interests of employers, which is to fill the gaps in their businesses, we have got this overriding concern as well which is, what do we do to fight the fight against inflation, in order to keep downward pressure on interest rates.
Because, we inherited some real problems on this score when we took over the government at the end of last year.
BYNER: Alright, quickly, health insurance companies are being asked to please explain. I noticed that Nicola Roxon has said, ‘nup you are not going to get your four per cent'. They are going to go back to the drawing boards. Reason given by the Feds, well it's going to adversely effect struggling families. I mean, that almost goes without saying. What is your observation on the push by health insurance companies to lift their premiums?
PM: Well each of these has got to be justifiable and I entirely support the statements made by the Health Minister Nicola Roxon on this. Working families are under financial pressure. Whether it is the cost of their mortgages, whether it is the cost of rents, whether it is the cost of childcare, whether it is the cost of groceries and whether it is the cost of petrol.
And what we therefore believe is that when it comes to health care costs, what we need to do is to do what we can to help relieve some of those pressure so when the health in insurance companies come and ask for an increase like this, the Minister is doing exactly the right thing in subjecting that to the highest level of scrutiny.
BYNER: Alright
PM: There is no silver bullet with any of these things. But can I say, on petrol for example, after 11 or 12 years of complete inaction on this, within three months we have appointed a petrol commissioner. And the intention there is to ensure that we have got a rolling cop on the beat to make sure that the petrol companies are being competitive and that motorists are not paying one extra dollar more than they need to be paying when it comes to that task of filling up at the bowser each week.
BYNER: Prime Minister, just quickly and I thank you for your time taken out before your commitments here in South Australia. Got to ask about the Murray. When is push going to come to shove where you are going to be a situation where you are going to have to sit down with Mr Brumby and the Victorians and say, come on guys, it will be this, or else.
PM: Well, someone said recently that the problems with the Murray have been brewing for about 100 years in terms of water allocation between the various states. The previous government basically ignored this one for the better part of 12 years. We have been in government now for a couple of months. Climate change and water minister Penny Wong, who is a South Australian, has already had negotiations with the Victorian government. They continue.
We need to get a good outcome here for South Australia.
BYNER: Are you putting a time line on it?
PM: We are going to act as quickly as we can to deliver this outcome. But let me tell you it is high on our list of priorities. Can I say also when it comes to the Murray Darling though, part of the challenge also lies in making sure that we start to buy back some of these water entitlements.
BYNER: Absolutely
PM: And after the previous government sat on their hands on this for 12 years, what have we done? Within a couple of months of taking over, we have begun a process, through a $50 million program to buy back water entitlements.
BYNER: Well we are going to need to spend a lot more than that but that's a start, but I agree with you.
PM: It's a start. But after 12 years, the previous government did nothing. We have started within two months of taking over. The negotiations with Victorians I fully concede, are tough, they are going to be demanding but we are determined to get an outcome which is for the long term benefit of South Australia. I am acutely conscious of the water challenges here. I have had so many briefings form people down here about the state of stress the Murray is in, and therefore, this is going to require action on multiple fronts and buying back water entitlements is part of it. Dealing with the outstanding objections of the Victorian government is another part of it, but we are not going to let this one go. It's core business for us as the new government in Canberra. It's core business for the people of South Australia.
BYNER: Kevin, thanks for joining us and I hope you achieve everything you want in South Australia.
PM: Looking forward to it Leon and it's good to be back.