HOST:
To look at the Government's economic approach I'm joined this morning by the Assistant Treasurer, David Bradbury. David Bradbury good morning.
BRADBURY:
Good morning Marius, good to be with you.
HOST:
Good to have you. I suppose the broad point that is being made by the Treasurer is that New Jersey, the lyrics of Bruce Springsteen, are a warning, but Australia's not New Jersey, never has been, isn't heading that way.
BRADBURY:
Look, I think the Treasurer has been very clear on the issue around the extent to which Springsteen has been an inspiration and an influence on his thinking, and it's not just about any particular song. What it is about is some of the universal truths that underpin the writings and the songs that Springsteen was about. For the Treasurer it's about, and I think that this is very much at the heart of the Government's economic policy, and I think most Australians' sense of concern and commitment to an egalitarian country.
HOST:
But this egalitarian commitment is what the Treasurer is claiming is the Labor Party's approach, the Party's birth right, but in fact, when you at Australia's economic record, the same prosperity for all workers has been delivered by Coalition Governments. Equity is not a Labor trademark.
BRADBURY:
I think that certainly can be contested. I know that there are some articles out there in the paper today but that can be contested. What I would say -
HOST:
Well, if you want to contest it, can I put a view from someone you probably don't disagree with entirely, Paul Keating. Let me just quote briefly from him: ‘In the great burst of American productivity,' Mr Keating said last year, ‘between 1990 and 2008, of that massive increment in national income, none of it went to wages in the United States. By contrast in Australia, real wages over the same time had risen by 30 per cent.' That's between 1990 and 2008, 18 years, 11 of them under John Howard, and Paul Keating points to the contrast between Australian equity and distribution of wage increases in contrast to the United States.
BRADBURY:
And that is because of so many of the Labor reforms that Paul Keating and Bob Hawke and their Governments implemented.
HOST:
And the Howard Government, they were there for 11 years.
BRADBURY:
Well, can I make this point: if we want to talk about equity and we want to talk about egalitarianism, one of the issues that the Treasurer has brought into very sharp focus has been the issue of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax. Now I might add, throughout the period you just cited, for a large part of that we had a Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, it was introduced by the former Labor Government, retained by the Coalition Government, now we have sought to introduce a mining tax. It's been a matter of some controversy. Mr Abbott is of course very different to the Mr Howard that came into office in 1996 and retained some of those important reforms. Mr Abbott is out there suggesting that he would be ripping away the mining tax. Now I can't think of a better symbol in terms of the current economic debate, of the difference between the Parties, and this very much shines a light on the fact that as a Party we are about not just growing the pie, as important and as central as that is, and that's much of what Paul Keating was suggesting, but it's about making sure that all Australians get their fair share of the growth and prosperity that we do achieve and deliver in this country.
HOST:
Okay, let me ask you about that growing pie. There's a report out today, it was commissioned by your Federal Government on Fair Work Australia. This is the industrial relations set of laws that is being criticised by employers as stamping on productivity. The report out today says it's working okay, no big changes. Is that the Government's view? No big changes to Fair Work Australia?
BRADBURY:
Well, the Minister, Minister Shorten, will be releasing the review later today and I'm not going to jump in ahead of him. This is an important body of work that's been undertaken here. But let's just step back for one minute and have a look at what we're facing in the Australian economy, yet the Fair Work Act has been in place, it's been in place for a number of years now, and what has been the story of the Australian economy since the time that it's been in place? We all remember the history of this, that the Labor Government came into power, repealed WorkChoices and put in place a fairer system of work laws. But in that time, our economy, and let's not forget we had the Global Financial Crisis, our economy is 10 per cent larger today than it was pre-GFC. No other major advanced economy comes close.
HOST:
So it sounds like from that assessment, Fair Work Australia in your mind, working pretty well, if it ain't busted don't fix it.
BRADBURY:
Low unemployment, contained inflation -
HOST:
Can you just address Fair Work Australia though?
BRADBURY:
Let's address the question of inflation. If anyone wants to have a look at the history of debate around centralisation, decentralisation of wages policy in this country, one of the critical considerations has always been wages growth. We've got contained wages growth, contained inflation, but we also see that productivity has been increasing. In Australia we see there has been about a third of industrial disputes under the Fair Work arrangements than what we saw when Mr Howard was in office, so there are a range of factors here that point to continued success underpinning our economy all through a period where we had the Fair Work Act in place. But of course we've undertaken this review because we want to assess how these laws have been working in practice and to the extent that there are any refinements or any changes needed then of course we'll be sensible in considering that. But I think an important point to make is that the Australian people know where we stand when it comes to workplace relations. Mr Abbott's hiding his policy, it's about time he came forward and told us whether or not he's about taking us back to WorkChoices or whether he has some other alternative plan.
HOST:
David Bradbury, thanks for your time this morning.
BRADBURY:
Good to talk to you Marius.