Laura Jayes:
I want to go live now to the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Housing, Michael Sukkar. Michael Sukkar, good to see you.
Minister Sukkar:
Hi Laura.
Laura Jayes:
What do you put these protests down to? It comes at a really fragile time, I feel like, for Melbourne in particular.
Minister Sukkar:
Well look, Laura, there’s obviously no excuse for violence protests and the scenes that I saw yesterday and that all Victorians saw, were really quite disgusting. I think it’s very clear that this is a subset of the CFMMEU. I think the protestations from some of the union movement today that these aren’t their members really doesn’t pass the pub test. They’re very clearly CFMMEU members and it’s very, very disappointing but the worst thing about it – to be frank with you, Laura – is that today, 320,000 law abiding, hardworking members of the building and construction industry are not allowed to go to work because of the actions of a small, violent minority within the CFMMEU who were violently protesting yesterday. I don’t think it’s fair that you punish the apprentice carpenter on a building site out in Frankston or the bricklayer on a building site in Ballarat because of some union members and some union thugs who were protesting yesterday in Carlton. Punishing all of those people for the actions of a tiny, violent minority is not the right answer.
Laura Jayes:
Daniel Andrews pulled the trigger on shutting down a $22 billion industry yesterday. It seems to have been brought forward by these violent protests but it seems it was being contemplated even before then because of a spread in infection on some building sites. Is the threshold for shut down too low?
Minister Sukkar:
Well look who really knows, Laura, what was being contemplated beforehand. I think it’s very clear that this decision, which was made at 10 pm last night, a lot of tradies that I know would’ve been in bed by then getting ready to wake up the next day to go to work and only finding out when they woke up that they were not entitled to go to work so it’s quite a chaotic decision making process. I think it’s very clear that this was a very hasty decision based on actions from members of the CFMMEU. I mean we all remember, anybody that has watched these things over the years, remembers the very violent blockade and protests that were going on at the Grocon site in the Melbourne CBD. So sadly…interrupted.
Laura Jayes:
This is different isn’t it, Michael Sukkar? I mean we saw these protesters targeting John Setka himself yesterday.
Minister Sukkar:
Oh yeah, Laura, this is obviously a very different set of circumstances. What I’m saying is we’ve seen scenes like this before from the CFMMEU unfortunately. For years we’ve been calling on the Labor Party to stop accepting donations from the CFMMEU, stop accepting their support every election campaign. I mean Penny Wong for example, is still a member of the forestry division of the CFMMEU. We’ve been saying for years the Labor Party should separate themselves from this organisation. I think Victorians and Australians saw yesterday – really in a confronting way and a really sad way – why we’ve been calling on them to separate themselves from that union for so long and sadly today, 320,000 people – who need to pay their mortgage, who need to put food on the table, who have projects to complete, have first homebuyers that they’ve been building homes for, people renovating their homes – all of their lives will now be disrupted seemingly due to retaliation against these very disgusting and violent protesters. I don’t think, again, that you punish the law abiding majority because of the actions of this very, very rogue and disgusting group of violent CFMMEU members.
Laura Jayes:
It’s an interesting position for a Labor premier in Victoria to be in but did Daniel Andrews make the wrong call?
Minister Sukkar:
Well, Laura, I don’t think that you punish 320,000 people based on the actions of these violent protesters. As I said, let’s think about the examples. The apprentice carpenter in Ballarat or the apprentice electrician in Lilydale who live, in many cases, pay packet to pay packet. They now are unable to go to work because of a retaliation against these CFMMEU members. I was disgusted by these scenes. Sadly these scenes are unfortunately things we’ve seen before from this union but you don’t punish the majority for the actions of this tiny minority. I don’t think that’s proportionate. You deal with the problem, you deal with the trouble makers, that’s what should happen. Don’t punish law abiding Victorians because, Laura, as you know, Victorians are some of the most locked down people in the world. Everyone’s worn down. This has been a very arduous pandemic for Victorians. Obviously the second wave last year with the catastrophic failures of hotel quarantine that Victoria faced. Victorians have suffered a lot and now 320,000 people have been told they can’t go to work because of some CFMMEU thugs who were protesting yesterday.
Laura Jayes:
Well I want to ask you about that as well because the protesters have gathered in large numbers once again and these picture on our screen that our viewers are seeing are live. These are live pictures, we are talking about hundreds of tradies and union members and members of the public protesters who are gathering here today. We don’t know what cohorts they come from but they are there in large numbers today. We saw one protester just throw a bottle at police. Police are now looking more active and alert than they were just ten minutes ago. We’re talking about mounted police, riot police with shields are now on the streets and they are ready for anything to kick off. It does feel like that it is hearing down the road that it did yesterday as well, Michael Sukkar. Now, I know you can’t see these pictures but I just want to ask you whether you can help us understand – the rest of the country understand – what environment this is happening in. You mentioned 230 days of lockdown in Victoria. A roadmap to so‑called freedom that has been released that doesn’t see any freedom for five weeks. You’re still living under curfew. Has all of that contributed in some way to what we’re seeing? This is not the first protest we’ve seen in Melbourne?
Minister Sukkar:
Yeah, Laura, there’s absolutely no excuse for this behaviour. I recall when the pandemic first commenced and we had a Black Lives Matter protest, I was very critical of that and I’ve been critical of every protest since. This is not the time for people to be gathering together and protesting in this way. Absolutely not.
Laura Jayes:
But is there some introspection, is there – at a leadership level – are people 18 months into a pandemic so frustrated – particularly in Melbourne – about decisions made whether it be on vaccines, whether it be mandates, whether it be lockdown and curfew. Is there some shared blame here?
Minister Sukkar:
Well, Laura, I suspect that you’re onto something. I think the roadmap that was announced by the State Government was really deflating for a lot of people because it really took the most conservative interpretation possible of the National Plan which meant Victorians who have already suffered some of the longest lockdowns in the world, are facing lockdowns even further and harsh restrictions thereafter. There didn’t seem to be a particular convincing explanation for that. I have no doubt that all of those factors play into this but again, Laura, we can’t excuse violent protests. What we can though say is that law abiding citizens on building sites hundreds of kilometres away from where this protest is happening, should not be forced now not to work because of the actions of these people. Let’s remember, Laura, yesterday I only watched about a minute of this but in the minute that I watched, John Setka said ‘what do you want me to do? Do you want me to shut down the industry?’ The violent protesters seemed to shout ‘yes, they wanted the industry shut down. So it seems as though these protesters have got what they wanted which was to shut down the industry. Now I think that is, again, punishing the law abiding majority because of the actions of these people and they’ve got what they wanted – a shut down in the industry – I think is absolutely terrible for all those people out there who will now suffer for at least the next two weeks while they’re unable to earn a living. I’ve even had cases today, Laura, of people – because of our lockdown rules – not being able to live in their own homes when critical renovations are being undertaken. They are now in Airbnb’s and other temporary accommodation and their homes are no longer being worked on. So what do they do? They’re scrambling now to try and extend their accommodation because their homes aren’t habitable. So the consequences of this decision made at 10pm last night don’t just hit the 320,000 workers and their families in the industry but all of their customers, the people who are relying on the industry to build their new homes, to renovate their home. This is very deflating. As a Victorian I’m very sad about seeing this today because, for whatever reason, the decision making and the lockdowns that we’ve faced in Victoria have put Victorians in a position where everyone is feeling very worn down but what’s gone on.
Laura Jayes:
Michael Sukkar, thank you for your time this morning.