Prime Minister
DAVID KOCH: The Prime Minister Scott Morrison joins me now. Prime Minister good morning to you.
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning David.
KOCH: Bob Hawke was the last to really bring significant industrial relations reform. How critical is it that we take this opportunity?
PRIME MINISTER: Well these are, these are very difficult times. We haven't seen something like this out of wartime. And so that requires us to do things differently. And one thing we have not been doing well I think for some time is getting people together around these issues. People have got to put down their weapons here and focus on creating jobs. I mean for too long, this industrial relations process has been a very combative field and we have had employers on one side in one groove, and employees on the other and they haven't joined across. If we are going to create jobs, if we are going to come out of this crisis stronger, if we’re going to stop people from losing jobs, then we have got to get this sorted and the only way we’re going to get that happening is we get people in a room and get them to put behind them the way that we have dealt with these issues in the past and try some new thinking.
KOCH: Okay, Bob Hawke, of course, came from a union background and that was a big advantage in the Accord, you are a conservative. When you met Sally McManus during the week, the boss of the ACTU, was she sceptical or enthusiastic?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I think we are both realistic, and we are approaching it in good faith. And employer organisations are doing exactly the same thing and I welcome all of their support on all sides of this debate to actually get behind this. Because it is about creating jobs. We may have differences on many areas of policy but I can tell you one thing I think we all do believe in, and that is we need to get people back to work, we need to create these jobs again. And just like with the National Cabinet, when people have a very clear purpose and job making is the purpose here, then I think we can focus the discussion, that’s the rule over which we put everything. Is it going to create a job or not? Or is it just carrying on and kicking down the road the same old tired industrial relations arguments that have been there for decades? So it’s got to be a circuit breaker.
KOCH: It is the time to strike isn’t it with these hard decisions. The National Cabinet has proved a great blueprint. So, but bringing bosses and unions together, they will be in a working party recommending things to you will they, and then you make the decision?
PRIME MINISTER: That is right. And as I said yesterday, they may make progress, they may not. I hope they do, and I think everyone is going into this hoping to make progress. And hopefully that can resolve some of these thorny issues that have been around for a long time. Where people haven’t been able to give ground, but when you have got an economy like where ours is right now because of the pandemic, now is the time to put what doesn’t matter aside and focus on the things that do matter, and that is making jobs.
KOCH: Are you seeing this position right now, almost a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make structural change across the board? Because while the Accord is a first step, your wish list is extraordinary. You want reform in trade, the economy, federation, open banking, the digital economy and the tax system? You’re going for the lot?
PRIME MINISTER: We have got to. Well, we have to. Because our economy hasn't seen this since the great depression. If we're going to come out of this stronger, which I believe we can, then these are the things that many have been in the too hard basket for a long time. And so we have to take this opportunity where people can focus actually on the bigger picture, on the national interest and not just on their own specific interest and be able to put those things aside, and agree to some things to really get the country moving again, because we need to do it. If we don’t do it then we won’t see those jobs come. Another thing I spoke about yesterday which I know is important to Australians all over the country is getting the skills training they need. You know the people getting the training need to get the training and the skills that people want to employ and that the businesses need. I know parents who have got young people going through this process get very worried and stressed about whether the training their kids are getting is going to equip them for a job. And people going through later life, where they’re having to change jobs, and many will be doing that now because of these hardships, their training has to be right. And the way we fund it and the way we prioritise it and the things we are training people in, we need to do that better and that’s another big part of the changes I announced yesterday.
KOCH: But the Opposition says that you’ve got rid of 140,000 apprentices over your time?
PRIME MINISTER: That is just not true. The Labor Party, look you know what, I am not really that interested in what the politics of this is. And the Labor party will whine and they’ll make their jibes. That is the stuff we have got to change. We have got to actually now just focus on what people need and that is getting the jobs. No points scoring anymore, none of that, it has got to be about the jobs and that is why, this is not a political process. This is people coming together from different perspectives who actually have one thing in mind, and that is to make the business work so people can get paid and people can get jobs. And if there is no business, there is no job, everybody loses. And right now we are seeing too many businesses close, we need to keep them open so they can create those jobs. And that means changing the way we do things in the workforce.
KOCH: Okay, so the so-called Accord is the first cab off the rank. What is the next one? How far down is tax reform? Governments of all persuasions have talked about tax reform. We have had so many enquiries it is not funny, and we have not done much?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, David the first thing I would say is that the income tax changes we have already made will mean that we will abolish an entire tax bracket and 94% of Australians will pay no more than a marginal rate of tax of $0.30 cents in the dollar, that’s what we’ve already legislated so I wouldn’t call that nothing. But the broader point, and the same thing we have been doing for small business taxation and instant asset write-off, all of this is important. But the tax system has to generate and support investment and jobs. There’s lots of people with a lot of ideas on tax, but again the focus here has to be about jobs. There is a Budget in October, there is time to work through a range of issues and we are putting everything back on the table here and looking at it from previous reviews because you have got to look at it with fresh eyes in this new context we’re in and this new economy which is under incredible pressure, and so we will be looking at those issues. I mean, energy is another one. The Energy Minister only last week outlined the technology roadmap. The National Cabinet is meeting on Friday again this week and we have already started talking about some of the Federation reforms that are potentially possible and we’re working together on those. You mentioned open banking, that is something we have already moved on and it needs to accelerate. How small businesses, in particular, as you know, can access finance and capital and credit for their businesses so they can employ people, another critical part of the economy. So yes it is a broad agenda, we have got to take the opportunity of this time because we have to, because otherwise, people are going to find this hardship go on for longer than it needs to, and we have got to stop people losing jobs and we have got to get people back into them.
KOCH: Yep, Prime Minister I know you have got to go, appreciate your time. A big agenda, hopefully you can pull it off. We need it. Thank you for joining us.
PRIME MINISTER: Well thank you very much, David. Appreciate that.