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ANGE:

From Schwartz Media, I’m Ange McCormack. This is 7am.

At the height of cost of living pressures, Australia’s corporate giants like Coles and Woolworths have been posting record profits. For many Australians, it’s a stark contrast to their own working lives: wages aren’t rising fast enough; casual and gig economy workers are especially feeling the pinch, and they’re struggling with poor conditions. The government has a plan to improve casual and gig workers’ pay and rights… but not everyone is happy about it.

Today, columnist for The Saturday Paper Paul Bongiorno, on what the government has unveiled – and whether it’ll shake up the workforce.

It’s Friday, September 1.

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Audio Excerpt – Reporter 1:

“Many CEOs are loquacious at the moment and you can't blame them. Some of the nation's biggest companies racking up billions in profit. But you're paying for it.”

ANGE:

Paul, in the past week or so, Australia's most well-known companies have been posting their profits. Woolworths, Qantas, Coles, they've all recorded billions of dollars in profits. Can you tell me a bit about the timing of these record announcements and what the reaction has been in Canberra?

PAUL:

Well, there's no doubt that supermarket profits are soaring. We saw Coles’ annual profits were $1.1 billion.

Audio Excerpt – Reporter 2:

“It seems the cost of living crisis has been very good to Coles, the supermarket giant posting a net profit of more than a billion dollars today.”

PAUL:

Woolworths, their main competitor, was more than $1.6 billion...

Audio Excerpt – Reporter 3:

“Woolworths has lifted its profit nearly 5% during the financial year after the supermarket chain raised its prices by more than 6% over the same period.”

PAUL:

…And Qantas recorded $2.47 billion in profits.

Audio Excerpt – Reporter 4:

“Of course, Qantas is the big one to go there. It posted a record underlying profit of $2.47 billion before interest and tax, its first full year profit since COVID.”

PAUL:

And I think why those headlines are hard to swallow - for me, but for most Australians, I think - these companies have all been accused of price gouging. Woolworths and Coles, increasing food prices, Qantas, for international and domestic flights.

Audio Excerpt – Reporter 5:

“It's really interesting, the only winners here are the shareholders of organisations like Woolworths and Coles and those big supermarkets. I think a lot of people in the street would just be going, well, how come I'm paying, you know, X amount of dollars for, I think pears especially now up 18%.”

PAUL:

So there is certainly a question of fairness and it's fuelling public resentment. There's also a question of timing. Seeing companies like Qantas and Woolworths take home huge profits while people struggle to pay for groceries and have to shelve the idea of even going on holidays. Well, it's a slap in the face and it smacks of corporate greed in the extreme. And even though the government is in the midst of the voice referendum campaign having launched the date, if I can put it that way, all of this certainly hasn't gone unnoticed in Canberra.

ANGE:

And as you say, these profits are coming at a time when Australians are under a lot of financial stress and pressure. Just how big is the gap between how fast corporate profits are growing and how fast Australian wages are growing?

PAUL:

Well Ange, data from the Centre for Future Work shows that 69% of higher inflation in Australia was caused by higher corporate profits. Basically, corporate profits are rising faster than wages. And if you remember the Albanese government when it came to power last year, it made a promise to drive greater wage growth. It's already been doing that through things like its submission to the Fair Work Commission to raise the minimum wage and funding wage increase for aged care workers and care workers and through introducing in its first tranche of reforms multi-employer bargaining. But now the government has a plan to broaden the way it's dealing with the issue of wages. Next week, Tony Burke, the relevant Minister, will introduce into Parliament a new package of its industrial relations reforms. The Government says it wants to close the loopholes that undercut wages and give more rights to Australia's casual workers and gig economy workers. Tony Burke's leading this and he launched it at the National Press Club yesterday.

Audio Excerpt – Tony Burke:

“Thanks so much, Laura, and thanks to the National Press Club for having me here and acknowledge..."

ANGE:

Yeah, I'm keen to know more about this push from the government. Can you talk to me about what Tony Burke's bill is and what he's hoping to achieve?

Audio Excerpt – Tony Burke:

“Your rents, not your rents, are not casual, your bills aren't casual. Feeding your kids isn't casual. None of your liabilities are casual.”

PAUL:

What Tony Burke's hoping to achieve is probably summed up in what it’s called - this bill, it's called ‘Closing the Loopholes’ bill.

Audio Excerpt – Tony Burke:

“This year's legislation doesn't reach into every workplace. It deals with the loopholes that undercut wages and conditions and closes those loopholes.”

PAUL:

So this is the second tranche of industrial relations reforms and they are going to address wage theft and insecure work.

Audio Excerpt – Tony Burke:

“It is and should be a criminal offence for the worker to be taking money from the till. But it is not a criminal offence in most of Australia for the employer to be taking money from the wages. That loophole needs to be closed out.”

PAUL:

The government and indeed the unions particularly are well and truly aware that these whole sections of the casualised workforce and gig economy are being exploited simply because they've fallen through the cracks of the Fair Work Commission and indeed of industrial law.

Audio Excerpt – Tony Burke:

“Someone delivering pizzas on the back of a bike is not running a small business. They are a worker with very few rights and depending on their app they'll get different levels of treatment. We want them to have some minimum standards…”

PAUL:

A big target is gig workers like Uber drivers and food delivery riders. Burke says if workers are not employees rights such as sick leave, annual leave and minimum rates fall off a cliff. To quote him.

Audio Excerpt – Tony Burke

“ …because, while we all love the technology, it's got to be possible to have 21st century technology without having 19th century working conditions.”

PAUL:

Under the bill. Platforms and workers could apply to the Fair Work Commission for minimum standards orders tailored specifically for their work.

Audio Excerpt – Tony Burke:

“The employee gets the most rights. The independent contractor gets a right against unfair contracts. But that's it. And halfway along for gig workers, we establish a set of minimum standards for them.”

PAUL:

Gig workers will also be protected from unfair deactivation. You know, it's a curious way of putting it. It shows that these workers really are treated as robots and not human beings. They're deactivated. They're not sacked. Well, they'll have the right to ask the Fair Work Commission to resolve disputes. It also includes reform to the way the gig economy works.

Audio Excerpt – Tony Burke:

“ We’ll no longer have a situation where some of the more reputable apps are being undercut by other apps that emerge on the market that are putting people into unreasonably poor remuneration and unreasonably unsafe working conditions.”

PAUL:

This is a rather large agenda that the Coalition and business accuses the Government of doing the union's bidding, but it's certainly addressing real problems in our wage system that have seen wages fall and workers conditions well binned.

Audio Excerpt – Tony Burke:

“Closing these loopholes will change their lives. And that's the debate that starts on Monday.”

PAUL:

But the government doesn't have the parliament's full support on this one. Tony Burke may win over many voters especially those struggling in the insecure workforce. But there's plenty of people against this idea, too, particularly the coalition and its business mates.

ANGE:

So, will this bill be successful? That’s after the break.

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ANGE:

Paul. We're talking about the government's plan to increase wages and improve rights for casual workers. The support from unions and workers for this idea. But IR reform is always controversial. What are the criticisms of this bill?

PAUL:

Well, nine business groups leaked to The Australian newspaper earlier in the week that the changes were, quote, even worse than they feared. Now, this is the standard knee jerk reaction. You've got to remember that the people, the executives running these business groups well they're highly paid and they sing for their supper. They have to show their members that they have their interests front and centre. Well, Burke told the National Press Club on Thursday that Michaelia Cash, well, she warned his first set of reforms on multi-employer bargaining and other things they would close down Australia. But the Opposition's credibility was certainly damaged in light of the results. Labor had the best employment record of any government in its first year and days lost through industrial action actually fell. Burke added I'm not sure how Michaelia Cash builds to a crescendo from there.

ANGE:

And Paul, the Government doesn't need the Coalition's support on this. They need the Greens plus a couple of crossbenchers in the Senate to pass it. So what's the likelihood Tony Burke gets his way and can get these changes through without any roadblocks?

PAUL:

Well, Burke hopes to get his bill through the Senate by the end of the year. He is open to further scrutiny in the Parliament and that was at the request of the independent Allegra Spender in the Lower House. And it's in line with undertakings he's given to the critical vote of David Pocock in the Senate. And you might remember, Pocock did support the last batch of IR laws last year after securing some changes, and Burke signalled he is open to changes that he finds improve the bill.

ANGE:

Right. And we know that the voice referendum is the major focus for the Government. But Tony Burke announces changes the day after we all learn the date of the referendum. Can you tell me a bit about the Government's strategy here? What message is it sending by pushing these reforms in the middle of a referendum campaign?

PAUL:

Well, the government wants to show it's not distracted. This is not a federal election. It's not in caretaker mode. It has to get on with the job of governing the country. Albanese says that he and his ministers want to show they can chew gum and walk at the same time. They can deal with the issue of constitutional recognition and getting on with issues like the cost of living crisis and the Prime Minister, in fact, during the next six weeks of the campaign, he'll be actually out of the country attending important summits in Asia, the G20 and the ASEAN summit. The government is also pursuing issues of cost of living, particularly when it comes to energy and electricity. And there was an announcement on that yesterday by Chris Bowen, the relevant minister. So, well, will it all work? Who knows? People will certainly start taking more notice of the referendum, but nothing will stop them taking notice of how hard it is for them to pay their bills.

ANGE:

Paul, thanks so much for your time today.

PAUL:

Thank you, Ange. Bye.

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ANGE:

Also in the news today,

The ACCC has launched action in the Federal Court alleging Qantas engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct. The competition regulator says Qantas sold 8,000 flights to consumers that had already been cancelled. Qantas has previously denied it engaged in the practice of selling flights that were no longer scheduled.

And…

Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen has confirmed a multi-billion dollar blowout in the cost of the Snowy hydro-electric scheme, after reports emerged in the press earlier this week. He said the project would now cost $12 billion dollars, when it had originally been costed at only $2 billion, when it was first announced in 2017.

7am is a daily show from The Monthly and The Saturday Paper.

It’s produced by Kara Jensen-Mackinnon, Zoltan Fecso, Cheyne Anderson, Yeo Choong, and Sam Loy.

Our senior producer is Chris Dengate. Our technical producer is Atticus Bastow.

Our editor is Scott Mitchell. Sarah McVeigh is our head of audio.

Erik Jensen is our editor-in-chief.

Mixing by Andy Elston, Travis Evans, and Atticus Bastow.

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

I’m Ange McCormack, this is 7am. We’ll be back again next week.

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