SUBJECT | Industrial Relations Legislation, Scott Morrison and Victorian Election | 28 November 2022
DANICA DE GIORGIO: Joining me now live is Shadow Immigration Minister Dan Tehan. Dan Tehan, good morning; thank you for joining us. It looks like Labor’s Industrial relations bill will be legislated this week. Are you satisfied with the concessions agreed to?
DAN TEHAN: Well, they're all a bit strange, but I can understand one of them. David Pocock has decided that we need to set up a welfare committee to look at welfare. Well, that's one of the things that we're sadly going to see as a result of these IR changes. We're going to see more people on welfare. If you make the industrial relations systems more complex, you put extra costs and burdens on small businesses; in particular, you sadly are going to see the unemployment rate go up, and you're going to see more people on welfare. So I'm assuming that's the explanation as to why David Pocock wants to set up this welfare committee because we're going to see more people on welfare as a result of this bill.
DE GIORGIO: Tony Burke says that wages will start getting moving quite quickly under this legislation. Do you agree?
TEHAN: Well, why in the budget did they forecast that real wages would go down? I mean, that is there in the budget for the next two years: real wages are going to go down. Sadly, what we're going to see as a result of these IR changes is industrial action going up. We're going to see more strikes. We're going to see more turmoil, more regulation when it comes to businesses, in particular small and medium-sized businesses, that's going to be the result of these changes. The government didn't consult properly with the business community, in particular the small business community, and they haven't listened to what the business community have been saying about what these IR changes will bring about. And, in particular, they're going to bring about more cost and more regulation for small and medium-sized businesses, and that's the last thing they need at this moment.
DE GIORGIO: All right, I want to move on now. On Friday, a report into Scott Morrison's secret ministries was released. It could really only be described as a scathing review. Were you surprised by its findings?
TEHAN: Well, we do need to make sure that we've got transparency. We've been very clear about that and what the government could have done five months ago was to put the legislation through which would make the changes which would ensure that there is transparency around ministerial appointments. Now, what the report did last week was back up what the Solicitor-General had to say a few months ago. The thing we now need to do is just put the changes through to make sure that there will be transparency when it comes to ministerial appointments. There's bipartisanship when it comes to that, and I can’t understand why the Government hasn't acted yet. That's the strange thing about this. We're ready to support those changes so bring them on. Let's get it done, and let's make sure in the future, there will always be transparency around ministerial appointments.
DE GIORGIO: Did Scott Morrison do the wrong thing?
TEHAN: I think he did do the wrong thing, and I think in hindsight, obviously, the pressures of the pandemic and, in particular, the way that the health pandemic laws worked and the power that they gave to one minister, the health minister, meant that he made a decision which he thought was right at the time, which was, I think, wrong, that we need to change that. We do need to make sure that there was - and there will be - full transparency. So let's get on and do it. I think it's important for the Australian public that they know whose ministerial responsibilities belong to which individual. And I think we can clean this up very quickly and then get on and address the issues that need addressing, like the cost of living relief for Australian families.
DE GIORGIO: Just on the Victorian election, what are the lessons in your view for the Liberal Party?
TEHAN: Well, we have to become much more professional at fighting campaigns and ensuring that we're holding the Government to account, but also making sure that we're preparing to put a compelling case to the Victorian people. And there are three areas where we've got to get much better; we've got to make sure our volunteer wing, our administrative committee all that functions and leads to the type of members of Parliament that we need. We've got to make sure that our parliamentary team is united and focused on putting a case to the Victorian people as to why they should be elected as the next government in Victoria. And then we've got to make sure that our professional wing, our secretariat, has the best people in it who can give the best advice as to how we can campaign and campaign successfully to win the next Victorian election. Now that's going to require a lot of hard work. It's going to require a unity of purpose. The new state president Greg Mirabella is very determined to see that happen, and we've got to make sure we work with him, with the new Victorian Liberal Party leader, and ensure that the team at the secretariat, the professional wing, also have all the resources and the support that they need to make us the most professional political team in the country - that should be our aim.
DE GIORGIO: Okay. Well, a lot of lessons to learn and a busy week in parliament, Dan Tehan, we have to leave it there.
