Sky News PM Agenda
E&OE
DAVID SPEERS:
Social Services Minister Scott Morrison, good afternoon to you. The last couple of days in Question Time Labor have been well targeting some of the language used around this so I want to give you an opportunity to clear this up. When you did say the other day that “in many cases I think it is a rort,” what were you referring to?
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well there is a big difference, David, between people legitimately claiming payments under an existing scheme – the Government has no issue with people who are doing that. What I am referring to is the Labor/Union scheme that was set up. A Labor/Union scheme that basically allows for an unfairness to be committed on taxpayers, but also an unfairness which is committed on employees who are not working for large public sector organisations, or indeed large corporates who don’t get the benefit…
SPEERS:
Who’s done the rort though? What were you talking about?
MINISTER MORRISON:
The Labor/Union scheme that was set up was set up to provide big subsidies to State and Federal Government employers and large companies.
SPEERS:
But you voted for it though didn’t you? Didn’t the Coalition back it?
MINISTER MORRISON:
We’re fixing it and we’re fixing it because we need to do two things: it needs to be fairer and we need to deliver the savings to the Budget. Now this measures itself will deliver around $1 billion to the Budget and around 80 per cent of that saving is coming from those who are on more generous schemes than the Labour/Unions scheme and they will only now, from July of next year – so it doesn’t affect any existing mothers…
SPEERS:
That’s a good point.
MINISTER MORRISON:
It doesn’t affect any existing mother’s, it doesn’t affect any expectant mothers, it affects families with children being born after July of next year. So what we are doing is we are saying for those parents if you have a more generous scheme funded by your employer, a large public sector organisation, which is 60 per cent plus of the cases, or a large company like Woolworths or Coles Myer or someone like that the taxpayer is not going to subsidise that more generous scheme. We are going to focus our scheme on those who don’t get it.
SPEERS:
But I’m just wondering about why you’ve now suddenly declared it a rort when you voted for it in Opposition, it’s been in place about five years and even as we have just heard form Josh Frydenberg some of your own colleagues have been double-dipping on this as well. Why have you now suddenly described it as a rort?
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well David, we are not having any issue with those who are legitimately claiming payments from this scheme. That’s not the point. The point is what we see as an unfairness in this scheme which we have identified and we addressed in this Budget and we are saving taxpayers $1 billion in the process. We are doing it by saying to say someone who is a mid-level public servant earning $130,000 a year they are going to take a Paid Parental Leave payment of around $30,000 and then on top of that get a further $11,500 from the taxpayer. That’s what we are putting an end to.
SPEERS:
You’re not accusing any of those public servants, the federal police, the defence personnel, the nurses, teachers et cetera of doing anything wrong?
MINISTER MORRISON:
No, never have, never suggested it. That’s just verballing from a desperate Labor party who have no ideas, no ideas – something that will be displayed again tonight from Bill Shorten.
SPEERS:
The wrong doing was the then Government putting this in place?
MINISTER MORRISON:
This is a Labor/Union deal that they’ve put in and you always know when you’ve touched a raw nerve with the Labor Party because they react like they have on this one. They’re upset about the sweetheart deal they put together with the public sector unions.
SPEERS:
Shouldn’t you have called this out at the time, five years ago? Instead of voting for it?
MINISTER MORRISON:
I’m the Minister for Social Service now, I have responsibility for it and I’m calling it out in this Budget.
SPEERS:
Alright because your predecessor Kevin Andrews seemed quite comfortable with this arrangement just last year after coming into Government he even said “the Government doesn’t intend to displace existing Paid Parental Leave schemes provided under industrial agreements. Employers will be allowed to continue to be allowed to determine their own policies including offering top-ups to attract staff.”
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well we are improving the scheme even more now by making it fairer and making it fairer not just for those employees, remember 92 per cent…
SPEERS:
The point I’m making is he didn’t think it was a problem…
MINISTER MORRISON:
No, let me finish David. 92 per cent of employees who are unaffected by this actually work in the private sector. They’re the ones who weren’t getting it before and now they are getting it. What we are saying is that we have no intention here of going around subsidising large employers, Coles, Woolworths, those types as well as the banks, as well as large state government organisations and indeed the Commonwealth public service to subsidise their more generous schemes. It’s the smaller businesses and their employees that we’re being fair to here, the ones that public sector unions don’t seem to be that fussed about.
SPEERS:
Look and that’s a good point, small businesses and taxpayers – often small business don’t have these sorts of schemes in place. Can I turn to what you expect will be the consequence of this amongst private employers will Coles, Woollies, Myer the big companies – do you expect replace the eleven weeks that you know if some workers are going to lose their – with a more generous scheme of their own? How do you expect them to respond?
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well that’s up to them. They are entering arrangements with their own employees it’s not for us to dictate that to them, but it’s also not for the taxpayer to subsidise them to do it as well. They will enter into the arrangements they consider appropriate with their staff. If that’s what they wish to do, and I encourage them to do it, there’s nothing the Government is doing here to stop employers be they in the public or private sector from offering more generous arrangements. They can do that and good luck to them if they do. They will do that for their own reasons but the taxpayer shouldn’t have to be subsidising those big large employers to do that where our focus is is in the interest of the taxpayer and in the interest of employees who don’t get access to these schemes. That’s who we we’re helping. Remember it’s all based on need in social services, not entitlement.
SPEERS:
There are a couple of people who have raised this with me, what are new mums expected to do after getting the 18 week minimum Paid Parental Leave scheme? The baby would still presumably be too young to go into a child care centre, is there any thought around support for them or is that something they need to factor in off their own back?
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well the interesting thing is David the scheme that is currently in place that Labor and the Unions put together actually hasn’t increased the amount of time that parents are staying home with their children beyond 18 weeks. So the scheme actually isn’t delivering that outcome, that’s what the evaluation report found on this issue. As a result I don’t think its achieving what you have suggested it is or particularly the Labor Party has suggested it is. As a result that seems to an obvious place to make a saving when the policy as speculated isn’t achieving the goal it was set up to achieve. It’s just helping public sector unions.
SPEERS:
Now your Child Care Package, very few on that one, really seems to be criticising the idea of helping out low and middle income families more with greater levels of support for child care. There is argument around how to pay for it. We’ll hear from Bill Shorten perhaps tonight on what he wants to do to be able to deliver this. If for example the Productivity Commission’s recommendations were picked up to be able to take some money away from high income earners in terms of their child care support is that something you would be open to?
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well no one has even suggested that David. This…
SPEERS:
The Productivity Commission has…
MINISTER MORRISON:
The Jobs for Families Package is delivering support right across the board and increased support because it recognises the role child care support does have to help families, women be in a job, stay in a paid job because that’s what they want to choose to do in those circumstances. Now what the Labor Party has to decide is if they want that scheme how are they going to pay for it? We’ve made it very clear how we are going to pay for it but the Labor Party seems to think they can spend more money but not have to save any money and that’s Bill Shorten’s big problem, he can’t add up and he can’t balance it. New taxes, more taxes, particularly his big bad super tax is not the way to support these sorts of new investments. You have to save money Bill you can’t just go around spending other people’s money.
SPEERS:
Well we will see what he comes up with in the Budget Reply tonight. Social Services Minister Scott Morrison thanks for talking to us this afternoon.
MINISTER MORRISON:
Thanks David, good to be with you.