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RUBY:

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

Right now - business and union leaders are meeting with the government in Canberra, and could make decisions that would see big changes to pay and conditions. The Business Council of Australia and Australian Council of Trade Unions agreed they both wanted paid parental leave extended from 18 to 26 weeks. But whether it happens, how it happens and how it’s paid for – are up to the government to figure out, and there could be political challenges ahead.

Today, columnist for The Saturday Paper, Paul Bongiorno, on The Jobs Summit – and whether it can deliver.

It’s Friday, September 2.

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RUBY:

Paul. We're in the middle of the government's much touted two day jobs and skills summit. And in the lead up to this, people have had all kinds of things to say that it's a stunt, that it won't make any difference to industrial relations reform. But tell me what the Albanese Government says that it's trying to do here.

Archival Tape – Anthony Albanese:

“That's my great hope that this jobs and skills summit marks the beginning of a new culture of cooperation, a new focus on working together to deal with the urgent challenges that our economy is facing.”

PAUL:

The two day summit, which began on Thursday, is seen by the Albanese Government as a first step for industrial relations reform.

Archival Tape – Anthony Albanese:

“We have not gathered here to dig deeper trenches on the same old battlefields. Our goal and indeed our responsibility, all of us, is to carry the conversation to the common ground where the work is done and the progress is made.”

PAUL:

Big questions on the workplace and jobs from skills training to immigration, paid parental leave, reform and union bargaining power. Well, they've all been largely neglected, according to Labor, for almost ten years of Coalition government.

Archival Tape – Anthony Albanese:

“The Australian economy is not some abstract concept removed from people's lives. It is about them; Australians. Australian workers are our economy.”

PAUL:

And the summit is bringing together around 140 delegates, including major business association chiefs, union leaders, but also policy experts, federal and state ministers and representatives of community groups. Anthony Albanese sees this summit as a focal point and a foundation to set the agenda for workers and business.

Archival Tape – Anthony Albanese:

“Every Australian holds a stake in the outcome of our discussions. Every Australian deserves our best efforts to seek consensus, to achieve progress…”

PAUL:

He believes what's good for the workers should also be good for the employers. In fact, it's a guiding light he's followed during his senior political career, and it's allowed him, according to his colleagues, to establish good relations with a range of business leaders.

RUBY:

But that is a real challenge, Paul, isn't it? Because unions and business owners, they don't exactly have the same view when it comes to things like pay, conditions, skills, immigration. And so for this to work, the government needs everyone to not only come to the table. They also need a buy-in, and they need a commitment that this summit will actually be a genuine process. So have we seen that in the lead-up?

PAUL:

Well, Ruby, I think we got an indication from the fact that, for example, on Tuesday morning, Jim Chalmers held a Zoom conference with one set of key stakeholders who were to attend the Jobs and Skills Summit to discuss these issues. That particular morning he met with the Business Council of Australia. Chalmers, as Treasurer, has had a lot of similar meetings with stakeholders to lay groundwork for this summit. In fact, he's lost count of the number of times he's had these personal if virtual engagements with Australia's business and other leaders. By Thursday morning, the Business Council and Australian Council of Trade Unions released their shared policies and they included the need to extend paid parental leave, reform migration skills list and set up an authority to support the clean energy transition.

RUBY:

It is interesting that Chalmers has been getting that message from business groups, Paul because the Opposition have largely been ridiculing the summit and calling it a stunt, haven't they?

PAUL:

Yeah, that's right. And really early on after the election, shadow treasurer Angus Taylor demanded an invitation only to be overruled by his leader Peter Dutton, who dismisses the whole exercise as a stunt. A criticism not shared, interestingly enough, by his coalition partners in the Nationals.

Archival Tape – David Littleproud:

“I don't intend to let the opportunity go by to prosecute the case for regional Australia. I want to actually be pragmatic. I've had my hand out on a number of issues to this government and try to be constructive in opposition. But I will be there to make sure I prosecute that case and if I don't, I'll go swinging with Peter Dutton…”

PAUL:

But their leader David Littleproud, committed to attending and in fact, like the other non-government politicians who are there, has made sure he's had his say.

Archival Tape – David Littleproud:

“As much as I'll have to hold my nose, I'm going to take this opportunity with both hands and try to get this government to understand they need to listen to regional Australians, listen to farmers and not just unions…”

PAUL:

But in particular its Liberal hardliners who have not enjoyed watching the warmth in negotiations between employer groups and the unions. The Deputy Leader, Susan Leigh, in a speech last week said business groups risked being used as props for Labor's jobs summit.

Archival Tape – Susan Leigh:

“It's not good enough for the people that are actually looking for those actions from the government. What's going to happen in my business? What's going to change in my working environment so that I can actually make use of some initiatives?”

PAUL:

Well, for their part, some business groups have been unimpressed by this approach from the Liberals. Some in the audience for Leigh’s speech told government ministers in their pre-summit confabs they couldn't believe the Liberals decided to sideline themselves from the action.

RUBY:

Right. Okay. And so with the Opposition sidelined then, but unions and business actually at the summit as we speak, what have we seen so far? What kinds of agreements are being reached and could they really change the workplace for people?

PAUL:

Well, there has been real movement on industrial relations, gender pay equity, outlawing wage theft, Labor hire, fee free TAFE and additional university places. These are all big areas of policy covered at the summit. Skills shortages and increased immigration are listed for Friday. Already, though, there's acknowledgement from all sides that more needs to be done to ensure upping the intake is not a substitute for training Australians. And that's a challenge as much for business as all levels of government. And the Treasurer foreshadowed his October budget will be heavily focussed on cost of living relief, which would also go to meeting job market shortfalls. He's singling out childcare as a game changer that would enable people to work more and earn more.

Archival Tape – Jim Chalmers:

“Well, the budget will have some cost of living relief, but it will be familiar to people because it's what we've committed to and announced already. So there'll be cost of living relief in childcare, for example, which will be a game changer for Australian parents…”

PAUL:

And that raises hopes its start update for Labor's childcare subsidies could be brought forward from next July to January, though Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth has worries about not having enough trained early educators ready to meet a dramatic increase in demand sooner. Well, the three major employer and business groups, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Australian Industry Group and the Business Council, are now calling for a continuation of strong consultation across the community. They accepted there were clear limits to the breadth of the consultations possible at the summit. But look, Ruby, nobody can pretend it's going to be all harmony and light after the love-in at the summit. Real differences and conflicting interests remain. And in fact are deep-seated; as deep-seated as the challenges Australia is facing when it comes to jobs and wages. But the Prime Minister says for the first time in a long time he believes we will be moving to agreement on how to solve these problems rather than arguing who's to blame for them.

RUBY:

We'll be back in a moment.

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RUBY:

Paul. We've been talking about the jobs summit, and I suppose the hope is that what comes out of it sets a blueprint for reform. But you're saying that it's not all going to be sunshine and love ins after this between business and unions. So how does it seem to you that the government will settle those differences?

Archival Tape – Jim Chalmers:

“Let me tell you, putting together an invitation list like this is not the easiest task that we've ever undertaken, and it's a difficult balance to strike…”

PAUL:

Well, Chalmers was not expecting the summit to reach total agreement, and that's influenced him not putting out a regular post-summit communique, you know, filled with flowery language.

Archival Tape – Jim Chalmers:

“Have we got it perfectly right? Who knows. But we've got a good representative cross-section of the Australian economy and the Australian community, and we can't lose sight of the bigger picture here, which is trying to find some common ground about our big economic challenges.”

PAUL:

Instead, the Treasurer is opting for a practical outcome. He's looking to put out two lists: One is a list of immediate actions where there's sufficient common ground, he says, to move forward together immediately, or at least by the end of the year, then there's a second list where there's sufficient common ground to do more work on the issues. These might then inform what he puts in his October budget or in the Employment White Paper. But Ruby, it will be a long road ahead. And business groups flagged that they believe discussions after the summit could be even more crucial than what's being said in the room now to address the outstanding issues on the agenda. Well, something Albanese knows all too well, and he's keen to keep these discussions going.

RUBY:

And Paul, of course, it's all well and good what the summit comes up with. But if we're going to see change on the gender pay gap or on wage theft, then we're going to need to see legislation, aren’t we? And for the government, that means either coming to some sort of deal with the opposition or negotiating with the cross-bench and the Greens, doesn't it?

PAUL:

Quite right. And the first to remind everyone of that is the Greens leader, Adam Bandt. He says whatever is put to the Parliament will need their support in the Senate. And he says the Greens won't be a rubber stamp for government side deals with big corporations. And Ruby, Bandt goes further, saying when any proposals hit the Senate, the Greens will push to change the law to guarantee wage rises.

Archival Tape – Adam Bandt:

“We are in an inequality and a wages crisis at the moment. And the cost of living is going up and wages aren't. And it is particularly hitting the people who work in low-paid areas, and that is in many instances predominantly women…”

PAUL:

He says the Government should treat low wages, especially in the care economy as urgently as they're treating skills shortages. But Labor sees Bandt's ultimatum here as grandstanding. The care economy is dominated by female workers and the government, besides committing to gender pay equity, has already signalled it's up for higher wages for those in aged care. And Albanese is well aware if the Fair Work Commission grants rises, his government will be called on to foot the bill. You know, it'll be yet another impost on the already heavily indebted budget.

RUBY:

Yeah, we know that the budget is in need of repair, Paul, and Jim Chalmers has foreshadowed that Labor's going to have to claw back money somewhere. If the Labor Government is going to spend money in the form of wage rises or investment in skills training, then it will have to find a way to pay for it. And there have been a lot of questions this week about whether the smartest way to deal with it would be to cancel the stage three tax cuts legislated by the former government but still not implemented. Isn't that the simplest solution for Labor's budget challenges?

PAUL:

So Ruby, these tax cuts to personal income are scheduled to start in the 2023/24 financial year and they'll cost the budget $243 billion over the decade after they're introduced. It is an eye watering figure and could go a long way to help Labor make inroads paying the trillions dollar in debt they've inherited. But Albanese is resisting any change to his pre-election promise not to cancel them. Labor did try to scrap stage three in 2019, but when their amendments went down, we reluctantly voted for all three stages. But the pressure to scrap them is building exponentially. Parliamentary Budget Office analysis for the Greens found that the richest 1% of Australians will get as much benefit from the stage three tax cuts as the poorest 65% combined. Nobody earning under $45,000 will get any relief, while those earning $200,000 or more will get a $9,000 sugar hit. So, 40% of taxpayers will miss out. That's millions of voters whose anger is sure to be stirred up by the welfare lobby, the Greens and the high profile independents. You know, as political booby traps go, Scott Morrison couldn't have said a more lethal one. But there will be pressure on the Libs over this too. Though, Ruby, as the saying goes, in politics and indeed in life; Always put your money on the horse called ‘self-interest’.

RUBY:

Paul, thank you so much for your time.

PAUL:

Giddy up, I'm out of here! Bye!

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RUBY:

Also in the news today…

During the first day of the Jobs and Skills Summit, the Labor government committed to changing the fair work act. Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke announced the government’s intention to immediately move towards ensuring stronger access to flexible working arrangements and unpaid parental leave, as well as tronger protections against adverse action, harassment, discrimination.

And…

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was met with student protesters at the University of Sydney yesterday, after appearing to give a speech at the law school.

According to student media, the in-person speech was cancelled and moved online.

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

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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