PETER STEFANOVIC:
Well, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is set to call for moral clarity as he condemns anti‑semitism after a rise in hate speech. It's continuing right across the country at the moment. Joining us live now is the Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones.
Stephen, good to see you. Before we get to the RBA, I just do want to get a comment on this. So, you've got the Prime Minister as well as the Opposition Leader, they'll be together this morning at Melbourne's Holocaust Museum. But is there a need, in your view, for, as Peter Dutton will say today, unqualified condemnation of anti‑semitism that's rising right across our nation?
STEPHEN JONES:
I think you've seen the Prime Minister and senior members of the government do that consistently since the horrible attacks by Hamas on the Kibbutz in southern Israel close to a month ago now. I don't think there's been any lack of moral clarity, any lack of condemnation. So, to be clear, the entire Albanese Labor government condemns anti‑semitism with equal force. We condemn Islamophobia. The great thing about Australia is we've brought to our country people from every nation on earth, or faiths or religions or races, and we live in harmony. There's no place for it here in our country, and we condemn it abroad as well.
STEFANOVIC:
You've got politicians in their electorate offices being targeted. Just last night, you've got protesters, more than 20 of them, who are rounded up at Port Botany. Stephen, they were trying to stop an Israeli ship from coming to shore. I mean, what are your thoughts on that?
JONES:
Look, again, echo the words of the Prime Minister, who for well over a decade now, has condemned these sorts of protests. We are capable in this country of saying we condemn anti‑Islamic and anti‑Israeli, anti‑Jewish sentiments in this country. There is no place for either of those sentiments. No place at all. People are entitled to protest, but we do it peacefully. And as the Prime Minister, as the Foreign Minister, as the Deputy Prime Minister, and numerous backbenchers, and everyone from the Attorney‑General and many others have said that we have a role to ensure that we create the environment for peace in our community. As political leaders, we don't want to be inflaming or encouraging these sorts of events that create discord in our community.
STEFANOVIC:
Okay, Stephen, pretty stark warning from Michele Bullock yesterday. Wages growth not sustainable without a lift in productivity. Now, as most of us know, productivity has been flat for a long while now, so it feels like another increase to the rates is coming. Do you agree?
JONES:
Look, we know that Australians are doing it tough, and we know that right around the world, uncertainty, supply chain constraints, and the decisions of the oil producing nations to restrict supply is having impacts internationally, and they're flowing through here to Australia. They are having an impact on inflation, no doubt about that. In the area of wages, our government is committed to putting in place the sustainable measures that will shift productivity. That's why we've gone back to the skills agenda. In fact, one of the first things we did when we came into government was to bring together leaders from around the country at the National Skills Summit to say, we aren't going to shift the productivity dial unless we shift the skills dial. This has to be a Team Australia moment and it's why we need to invest in skills and ensure the businesses are investing in skills as well. This is the thing that's going to shift productivity in this country and that's what we're focused on. Together with the work that my colleague Ed Husic is doing around the National Reconstruction Fund, to ensuring that we are investing in the new capital as well, which is going to drive productivity over the decade.
STEFANOVIC:
You can't deny, though, can you, that life has become more and more expensive for folks since you've been in power?
JONES:
I'm not going to – let me answer the point like this,
STEFANOVIC:
But that's true. That's a true point.
JONES:
We know that Australians are doing it tough. I said it right up the front.
STEFANOVIC:
Sure, sure, sure. But wages are going up and that's good. But inflation is higher, which means, on the whole, we're going backwards.
JONES:
We're a part of the global economy and every country around the world is going through this, Pete. Our job in Australia is to ensure that we don't make a bad situation worse, which is why we're focused on fiscal restraint, banking over 80 per cent of the new revenue that's come through, to ensure that we don't make the inflation problem worse by pouring more money onto the fire. Which would make more pressure on the Reserve Bank to jack rates up. So, we're doing our bit as a responsible government to ensure that we manage the budget well, first budget surplus in over a decade. The others talked about it, we've done it. And it's an important part of our fiscal and economic strategy to drive down inflation, at the same time ensuring that we're working on those capacity constraints. So, we've got skills moving, we've got productivity moving again through those important and targeted investments.
STEFANOVIC:
Stephen Jones, thank you.