Sky PM Agenda with David Speers
E&OE
DAVID SPEERS:
Minister thanks for your time. Firstly on the work for the dole changes the government is seeking, are you having much success with the crossbench in seeking winning approval on this?
MINISTER ANDREWS:
We’ve just started some preliminary discussions with the crossbench Senators. We’re starting from the point of view that there is a principle here, and that is that if you are under 30, if you’re capable of working full-time, you don’t have parenting responsibilities, you’re not a disadvantaged stream three or four jobseeker. So effectively you can work thirty hours or more a week, then the expectation is that you should be working, but if you’re not working well then you should be in training so you can get a job in the future. This is important because one of the consequences of the ageing of the population is over the next ten years a net contraction in the growth of the workforce and therefore we may have higher unemployment that we’re on at the moment but the longer term trend is needing to find workers.
DAVID SPEERS:
Well part of the proposals from the government is to deny under thirties in the category you mention there, deny them the dole for six months. There’s been outcry from business groups as well as social welfare groups, is the government willing to compromise on this?
MINISTER ANDREWS:
Well as I said we’re having preliminary discussions at the moment, and we hope that people can agree with the principle. The principle is you want people in work, you particularly want young people in work, we know from a whole lot of studies and experiences that if people are not in work and on welfare, they’re more likely to stay on welfare, and therefore we want a trajectory towards work rather than one towards a lifetime on welfare. If we start with that principle then obviously we can have some discussions about how you implement it.
DAVID SPEERS:
And could that include a more limited period without welfare support, like a three month instead of six month period?
MINISTER ANDREWS:
Well I’m not going to foreshadow where we might end up because we’re dealing with a variety of parties, but I think if we can agree with the principle then we can have some talks about the detail.
DAVID SPEERS:
You are willing to give some ground?
MINISTER ANDREWS:
Well I’m obviously willing to get the principle entrenched, and the principle is if you are under thirty and not in work and not in training well then you shouldn’t just be saying well that’s fine, let you go. You know you can’t, people under 30 should know that the obligations, the mutual obligation in terms of the welfare you receive is that you put something back and what we really want is for young people to be putting something back in the sense of having the skills and the education to get a job. It’s important for them, it’s important for their families and it’s obviously important for the national economy.
DAVID SPEERS:
Do you accept the point that many have made though, it could only make matters worse for some young people in that situation denying them the dole for six months?
MINISTER ANDREWS:
Well if you look at all the exemptions David, ah it’s essentially the people who are capable of working full-time. So if they’re in a difficult situation, if somebody said oh well what about someone who is a homeless job seeker, well they’re a stream three or four job seeker so they would be exempted from this. So we’re trying to fashion this in a way which is clearly targeted at people who should be working and if they’re not working they should be in education. This is an earn or learn provision not an earn or starve provision.
DAVID SPEERS:
Alright so you are absolutely committed to that principle?
MINISTER ANDREWS:
I don’t think there would be too many Australians who don’t believe the principle that you should be in work or training is important.
DAVID SPEERS:
And can I ask about the somewhat related idea from the Government of the 40 job applications a month, is that still part of the Government’s policy?
MINISTER ANDREWS:
Well as I understand that proposal from Senator Abetz and Minister Hartsuyker is that this was up to 40 jobs a month. Now this is an exposure draft on the next Job Services contract which is out there. There’s consultation on that, there’s feedback on that and when we look at all of that obviously we’ll come to a decision on what is appropriate.
DAVID SPEERS:
But as someone who also has responsibility for looking at the welfare side, people in that situation do you think they can really complete 40 job applications a month?
MINISTER ANDREWS:
Well as I said I understand it to be up to 40 so that will depend on the circumstances of the individual, but we’ll get some feedback on that. For some people obviously they can do that for others it may not be the situation, but again let’s go back to the principle if people are not employed then we want them to be looking for work, and the surest way of getting a job is to apply for one.
DAVID SPEERS:
And can I ask about the changes you proposed to family payments and pensions, well are you seeing any progress with the crossbench on these reforms, the changes in the indexation?
MINISTER ANDREWS:
Yeah well once again it’s very preliminary at this stage. What we’re doing with pensions is again a reflection of the ageing of the population, we’ve got this huge exodus of the baby boom generation over the next ten or fifteen years from the workforce into retirement which means in another decade after that they are going to be moving into old age. So we’ve got to be able to pay for this and we’re in a situation where we’re already behind the eight ball with galloping deficits and huge debt on the trajectory we’re on at the moment.
DAVID SPEERS:
You say though you’re in preliminary stages of negotiations, we’re four months since the Budget was handed down.
MINISTER ANDREWS:
Well that’s a bit misleading in the sense David that we’ve only had two weeks of the new Senate, now in the third week of the new Senate.
DAVID SPEERS:
Why do you only have to negotiate when the Senate is sitting?
MINISTER ANDREWS:
Well we can but obviously these things come up to the Senate bill by bill, proposition by proposition, and that’s the way in which it tends to go. I mean we’re dealing with not one homogenous group of Senators. Let’s remember that if the Labor Party agreed to some of this then it would go through but they’re just in denial mode at the present time. So we’re dealing with a variety of groupings of Senators and obviously that takes some time.
DAVID SPEERS:
But four months on you’ve had little progress?
MINISTER ANDREWS:
No we’ve done well and we’ve got the carbon tax off the books, we’ve stopped the boats.
DAVID SPEERS:
I’m talking about these Budget measures.
MINISTER ANDREWS:
Well we’ve got a Senate Committee still to report on these so this is in the line of things that we’re doing at the moment. As you know we’ve been pushing to get rid of the mining tax which we’ve promised to do. There are other measures there as well, so we’re just doing this in a calm, cautious and methodical manner. I remember the ’96 Budget, I think it took about nine months to get a lot of the measures from ’96 through the House. You talk about welfare, measures that were introduced in 1998 didn’t pass the Parliament until 2004, so you know it’s a bit of false idea that somehow this has all got to be done overnight. We will continue to…
DAVID SPEERS:
It could take some years?
MINISTER ANDREWS:
Well I’m not saying it will take years but obviously I’m saying that we will just continue to carefully prosecute the case for what we need to do and explain why we’re doing these things which is important and a large part of that is about two things, well three things really. The fact we’ve got an ageing population we have to meet that challenge, secondly we’ve got this huge deficit and debt and thirdly we’ve got this great transition going on in the economy from the construction phase of the mining and resources industry through to the production phase. Those three things mean we have to meet the challenges associated with them and that’s why we’re doing these things.
DAVID SPEERS:
Kevin Andrews thank you for your time.
MINISTER ANDREWS:
My pleasure David.