PETER STEFANOVIC:
Joining us live from Canberra is the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers. Treasurer, good morning to you. You've got that agreement that's already been reached between big business and the unions on workplace relations and moves to overhaul the BOOT. So, how will you ultimately decide to make that BOOT simpler?
JIM CHALMERS:
First of all, I'm just so encouraged, Pete, by the progress that's already been made at the beginning of this Jobs and Skills Summit. We have got realistic expectations about finding common ground, but we've been really encouraged, really excited, frankly, at the spirit with which people have arrived here in Canberra to see where we can find common ground, whether it's in industrial relations or in some of the other important challenges in our economy.
And so, we will work together with the employers, with the union movement, to see where this agreement can bear fruit in terms of changes to our industrial relations regime. It's agreed almost across the board that our enterprise bargaining system is not working as anybody would like it to, and so this agreement and these principles from the ACTU and the Business Council of Australia, I think, kicked this Summit off in exactly the right tone.
STEFANOVIC:
You didn't want to move on the better off overall test, so what's behind that? Is it an example of the flexibility you're willing to show here?
CHALMERS:
We're genuine about bringing people together. We want to bring people together around these big economic challenges and one of the most heartening aspects of the lead‑up to this Jobs and Skills Summit is not just the ideas that have been put to government, but the work that's been happening between different parts of the economy to see where they can find common ground and bring it to this Jobs and Skills Summit. We've seen that this morning already with the ACTU and the Business Council of Australia. I think that augers well for the next two days. We are cautiously optimistic that we can proceed and progress on that front, but hopefully a handful of other fronts as well.
STEFANOVIC:
Okay. Well, IR and bargaining agreements aside, the overwhelming message that's been relayed to me on this program has been we need more migrants and changes to visas and visa processing, so we know a big part of the problem already. Why not just get cracking on that now?
CHALMERS:
First of all, it is agreed, I think, and understood right across the board that we've got labour shortages and skills shortages, and we are up for a genuine conversation about how we make our migration settings more appropriate to those economic conditions. But also, if we are going to increase migration, we need to make sure that it's not a substitute for training Australians for opportunities. We need to make sure that we have places for people to live, and these are all the important considerations ahead of us over the next couple of days. But I think everybody is up for a responsible conversation about how we get those migration settings right. Everyone I talk to around Australia, employers in every corner of Australia, say that they're having trouble finding people, and we want to help.
STEFANOVIC:
Well, the Master Builders have said they need 500,000 workers at the moment. David Littleproud has said that some 120,000 workers are needed in the agriculture sector. Whatever migration increase we settle on, is it still going to be short?
CHALMERS:
We'll conclude a view on the migration settings, hopefully, with some broad consensus over the next couple of days, but our objectives are pretty clear here. I think people know where we're coming from. We're up for a conversation about migration. These labour and skills shortages are really serious, but we want to make sure it's not a substitute for training people.
One of the big problems we've got in the economy, Pete, is that when we've got unemployment in welcome ways at this historic low 3.4 per cent, we've still got a whole bunch of Australians who are locked out in one way or another from those opportunities. So, we want to reattach people to opportunities in the economy. We want to make sure that as our national economy grows, people actually benefit from it in terms of decent pay and good secure jobs. So that's another thing we will be very focused on.
STEFANOVIC:
Okay. Well, one of the points that's been put forward, and has done for a while, from the Opposition is to get pensioners working for longer without that eating into their tax benefits. Is that something you would support?
CHALMERS
: First of all, if they thought it was a good idea, they would have done something about it over the decade that they were in office. What I've said is that we had a good look at this in Opposition and subsequently, and we do have an open mind for a sensible, affordable policy in this area. We want to see if there's an appetite for more older Australians to work maybe a day or two extra, if they would like to. We have been working through the options and talking with the various groups, including National Seniors and others, to see if there’s some progress that can be made here. I suspect it to come up over the next couple of days and we've got an open mind if we can find a good way to do it.
STEFANOVIC:
We've spoken about a few issues just in a short space of time, Treasurer, but these are long‑term solutions, aren’t they? Is there any short‑term fix here?
CHALMERS:
I think there will be some steps that we can take more or less immediately, certainly this year, to try to fill these skills and labour shortages. For example, the Immigration and Home Affairs Ministers have said repeatedly that they want to try to find a way to get through that visa backlog because there are workers waiting in a queue there. There are other steps that we might be able to take. What we want to do tomorrow afternoon, if all goes well – and we've got realistic expectations about the contentious issues before us the next couple of days - but ideally, we'd come out tomorrow afternoon with a list of steps where there's sufficient ground to move ahead on more or less immediately, then obviously there will be a list of things that will require further work.
STEFANOVIC:
Just a final point on that then, so who decides this? Is it you, the Prime Minister, members of the government? Are you there with a notepad? Do you talk about it afterwards and say, “well, this works, this doesn't work and we're going to make an announcement at the end of what we're going to proceed with” or not?
CHALMERS:
There will be an element of that, but I think one of the other heartening things about it, Pete, is it's not just what government can do. A lot of the groups and people who are milling around behind me about to get started - they have brought their own suggestions and their own ideas about what they might be able to do in their own workplaces or in their own jurisdictions, and I think that's really heartening too.
People understand that our economic challenges are so serious and so confronting that we will only rise to this occasion if we work together, and there's a general understanding about that across the board. Government has a big role to play here, but it's not the only role to play.
STEFANOVIC:
Treasurer Jim Chalmers, busy morning for you, I know. Appreciate your time. Thank you. We'll talk to you again soon.