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RUBY:

From Schwartz Media I’m Ruby Jones -this is 7am.

The Labor Government’s workplace reform package, which it promises will increase wages, has passed the Lower House. But it may struggle to get any further - to pass the Senate.

There’s frustration mounting between crossbenchers, unions and government ministers – and that’s threatening to derail the most important reform package this government has put forward.

But instead of the dispute paralyzing the whole of Canberra, something else is happening…

Today, columnist for The Saturday Paper, Chris Wallace, on a new season for politics.

It’s Friday, November 11.

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RUBY:

Chris, let's begin by talking about the tensions in parliament this week. Because on the one hand you have the Labor Government continuing to try to push ahead with its agenda, while the Opposition attempts to press it on issues of cost of living. So how has that been playing out?

CHRIS:

Well, the atmosphere is very positive. Ruby, I've got to say. Parliament is really in Labor's hands now.

Archival Tape – House Speaker:

“Questions without notice and the call to the Honourable, the Leader of the Opposition.”

CHRIS:

So, opposition Leader Peter Dutton has told his troops to keep their questions as he describes them, “tight”.

Archival Tape – Opposition Leader Peter Dutton:

“Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Prime Minister…”

CHRIS:

Opposition questions are always short, extremely pointed and designed to corner the Government on the issues it should be uncomfortable about in the Opposition's view. Inflation. Mortgage rates. Cost of living. The outlook on people's cost of living pressures generally.

Archival Tape – Opposition Leader Peter Dutton:

“The question was very tight. How much will wholesale electricity prices need to fall to deliver the promised $275 reduction in bills for Australian families? It couldn't have been any tighter than that, Mr. Speaker, and the Prime Minister should be asked to answer your question.”

Archival Tape – Sussan Ley:

“How can the Prime Minister seriously suggest that life is cheaper under Labor? Why won't he say sorry for yet another broken promise?”

Archival Tape – Opposition Leader Peter Dutton:

“Will the Prime Minister apologise to families and businesses like the one Louis and Tess run, for not delivering on his $275 commitment to cut electricity prices?”

Archival Tape – Angus Taylor:

“There is a very clear question whether the Prime Minister will take responsibility for his failed budget.”

Archival Tape – Aaron Violi:

“Prime Minister, under your budget, how much will gas prices go up by?”

Archival Tape – Opposition Leader Peter Dutton:

“Can the Prime Minister just provide a straight answer?”

CHRIS:

It's going for the government on what it sees as are its weak areas in terms of delivering on economic promises. So, in theory it should be working and it's an attempt to stop what you often see opposition's doing, which is asking woolly questions which go nowhere and you know, to that extent, good on Dutton for having a go.

The thing is you've got an Albanese Government front-bench that's really in full stride now. Ministers have settled in, they're confident in their portfolios.

Labor ministers are easily batting away these questions and it's all been done with quite a lot of good humour. Anthony Albanese, for example, managed to land one on Opposition Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor.

Archival Tape – Angus Taylor:

“My question is to the Prime Minister before the election. Before the election the Prime Minister promised Australians cheaper mortgages. Can the Prime Minister inform Australians how much the cash rate has increased since May 21?”

CHRIS:

So Angus Taylor has the difficult job of trying to segue from not very credible Energy Policy Minister in the Morrison Government to being shadow treasurer in the Dutton Opposition. It's a really big opportunity for Angus Taylor and he's one of the favoured sons of the New South Wales Liberal Party, former management consultant. In theory he should be a strong candidate as Shadow Treasurer, but he's really falling flat in Parliament despite his best efforts.

Archival Tape – House Speaker:

“The Prime Minister. I call the Prime Minister.”

Archival Tape – Prime Minister Anthony Albanese:

“I'll ask the Treasurer to answer the question. But we're not going to take lectures from the lightweight on the hill over there.”

Archival Tape – House Speaker:

“Order. Order.”

CHRIS:

It was pretty funny. It's riffing off Ben Chifley classic line about, you know, the Labor Party is the light on the hill. So Angus Taylor as the lightweight on the hill is the kind of branding that could well live on in this Parliament to Taylor's detriment, because Albanese has really put his finger on something there that does seem, in many people's view, to be less than meets the eye with Angus Taylor.

RUBY:

Right and you say the Albanese Government is in full stride. So what is it that is actually getting done in Canberra, Chris, run me through it.

CHRIS:

The degree of productivity is quite extraordinary from this Government. We're used to seeing the coalition apply Band-Aids or, you know, gaslight various issues in contrast over the last week it's literally hard to keep up with all the things that Labor is doing. So just just run through a few.

The consultations on how to limit looming energy price hikes are really intensifying. There's an enquiry into Australia's appallingly managed immigration system, it's been announced by Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil.

The use of self-managed superannuation funds as havens for huge cash stashes has been flagged for reform as a possible revenue raising measure, but also because it's perverted the original purpose of the superannuation scheme, which was to provide all Australians with modest, adequate pensions in their old age. Not to be havens for hundreds of millions of dollars.

Richard Marles, the Defence Minister, announced an enquiry into the work arrangements of ADF staff when it appeared that former RAF pilots had been selling their expertise to the People's Republic of China.

Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy said this week that there was actually a national interest case for energy market price intervention because of the Ukraine war's impact on prices and profits that he said were, quote, ‘well beyond the usual bounds of investment and profit cycles’.

Now, at any point in Australia's economic history, it's pretty unusual for a Treasury Secretary to speak publicly in such a progressive direction, and you just wouldn't have seen that under the previous Government.

There’s this air of possibility in this Canberra spring of real change, not just being possible but actually seriously underway.

RUBY:

Okay, so it sounds like there's a lot going on at the moment, Chris, but the biggest and probably most contentious reform that the Government is working on right now is changes to industrial relations. So can you tell me about that, about what the Minister, Tony Burke, is trying to do and what he said this week?

CHRIS:

Tony Burke is really in the negotiation of his life over this new industrial relations bill. Labor cannot get any legislation through the Federal Parliament unless it has the support of every Green in the Senate, plus one more Senator. Now it's expected that in the life of this Parliament, Independent ACT Senator David Pocock will be that extra vote. Sometimes it might be Jacqui Lambie from Tasmania. But there's an expectation that David Pocock would be more on the progressive side of the slate on things like climate policy obviously, but also on things like equity and this industrial relations change by Labor is all about equity, it's about getting wages moving again. And multi-employer bargaining is an important part of that.

So Tony Burke is still struggling to get the numbers. He's tweaked the bill a couple of times to try and get Pocock or Lambie across the line to support the bill.

So far he's been unsuccessful in that and the pressure's going to really increase on Pocock I think.

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Archival Tape – Bill Shorten:

“These laws are designed to try and get wages moving again for millions of Australians who for many years have had small pay rises, if none at all. A lot of women in Australia haven't had a proper pay rise in a long time. The enterprise bargaining system, which is meant to deliver wages, hasn't been working.

So when you've got inflation running at 7 per cent and wages moving just north of 2 per cent, why is it that the people who are well paid in the Senate are telling Australian workers they've got to wait even longer for a modest pay rise?”

RUBY:

Chris, pressure on the crossbench is going up as the Government tries to get its industrial relations reforms over the line. And to that - we've heard Bill Shorten accusing David Pocock - or crossbenchers like him - of hypocrisy, saying they’re being well-paid members of the Senate, telling workers that they have to wait even longer for a modest pay rise.
So, when Shorten says that is he in line with the rest of the party on this, or is this a sign that this issue could spike tension within - is there any risk of disunity in the party if the issues around industrial relations don’t get resolved?

CHRIS:

I don't think so. I think generally overall, the government is maintaining a really positive, polite, respectful stance towards the independents every single time an independent asks a question in the House of Representatives each minister always makes a point of thanking them for their engagement on substantive issues and highly likely to be the same with Labor toward Pocock in the Senate.

But Pocock really does have to explain his odd position on this. He's either for the suite of decent policies that make life better for Australians or not. So I think a little bit more of a tickle up for him is not out of order. And if Bill Shorten was once sent out to do it, will that make sense.

Archival Tape – David Pocock:

“This is really big, important legislation, and it's important that we ensure it is as good as it possibly can be. I'm not here to be a rubber stamp. I'm here to work constructively and to ensure that we get this right and to ensure that we have enough time to get this legislation right.”

CHRIS:

Labor this week very much focussed, especially in Question Time, on the gender dimensions of this. That points out that if you're a bloke in a traditionally male industry, you've got access to multi employer bargaining authority. But if you're in a feminised industry, you know, one of the caring industries where women are concentrated, you don't. So not supporting this bill does leave women, especially in those low, low wage, feminised parts of the labour market at a continuing disadvantage. And the pressure's really coming on Pocock to speed up his considerations in the interests of equity in the labour market, especially, especially the low-wage earners and women.

RUBY:

And of course, Chris, the Labor Government is very keen on getting this IR policy done and dusted because it’s looking ahead, isn’t it? We know the Labor party are looking at industrial relations and the changes they might be able to make there to form part of their case for re-election for a second term, don’t we?

CHRIS:

That's true. And of course, you only get to make good changes stick if you get re-elected. And this was the theme hammered by ALP National President Wayne Swan last weekend at the Queensland Labor Conference. Very interesting speech. Ruby.

Swan made a real call to arms to grow the Labor Party, for Labor people to keep the party connected and focussed on the bread and butter issues that most people are now desperately focussing on. How do you pay your mortgage? How do you pay your rent? How do you find a place to rent? How are you putting food on the table? Are your wages ever going to rise? It's a terrifically interesting speech. Swan is basically taking a a Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs approach to politics and saying while Labor stays close to these really core bread and butter issues, then it's going to get re-elected and it will be able to keep addressing so many other areas up the hierarchy of needs that voters don't get to think about unless those basic needs are satisfied. Of course, that does slam to a hard shut down when you lose office and the Government has a very slim minority. I think listening to Swan's counsel on this would be very wise for the Government.

RUBY:

Mmhmm. And turning ahead, Chris. Anthony Albanese is about to fly to the G20 over the weekend. So what can we expect there, particularly when it comes to our relationship with China?

CHRIS:

Anthony Albanese will be hoping for a really substantive discussion with Xi Jinping in a one-on-one meeting. Should that happen because Australia does need a reset with China, it needs to get beyond the crazy machinations of the hawks around the place who seem pretty desperate to rattle their swords and head down the martial path.

Australia historically has had good relations with China and I think Albanese is keen to get things on a positive note again while not paying due attention to things like the ex-ADF personnel being used by the Chinese to help train their people. And that's perhaps not a helpful story to have broken in the run up to this, but it won't derail the substance of the discussion between Albanese and Xi.

Australian trade relations, Australia's interest in China doing better on climate policy. There's a lot of common ground where Australia needs to positively engage China and encourage it on the road. That's helpful not just to us but to the world. So it’ll be interesting to see how that goes.

RUBY:

Chris, thank you so much for your time.

CHRIS:

Pleasure.

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RUBY:

Also in the news today…

An Indigenous man has died in custody in Far North Queensland.

On Wednesday, the 51-year-old was taken into custody by police and held at a watch house in Cape York, before being found unresponsive in his cell, according to authorities.

The death will be investigated by the Police’s Ethical Standards Command.

And…

Mark Zuckerberg has announced he will slash 11,000 staff from Meta, the parent company of Facebook.

Zuckerberg described the layoffs as, quote: “the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history”.

He also said he took responsibility for his decision to increase staffing at the company, in the expectation there’d be growth in revenue after pivoting the business toward the metaverse – something he now conceded had not happened.

7am is a daily show from The Monthly and The Saturday Paper. It’s produced by Kara Jensen-Mackinnon, Alex Tighe, Zoltan Fecso, and Cheyne Anderson.

Our technical producer is Atticus Bastow.

Brian Campeau mixes the show. Our editor is Scott Mitchell. Erik Jensen is our editor-in-chief.

Our theme music is by Ned Beckley and Josh Hogan of Envelope Audio.

I’m Ruby Jones, see you next week.

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