Jim Wilson
Now, I’ve got high hopes for the upcoming jobs and skills summit next week, but if the unions have any sway whatsoever, watch out. Have a listen to this absolutely insane idea by Unions New South Wales. Now, this is the same mob in cahoots with our militant trade union shutting down our railways,.Check out what they want Anthony Albanese to do for them. They’ve laid out a proposal, which would force workers who choose not to join a trade union to pay possibly hundreds of dollars in fees because they’re apparently, quote, “free riding”. Well, the unions claim these non-union workers benefit from the union’s deals with employers, so therefore, they should pay up. I mean, I know this is the year of the strike, but these people are out of control. The policy document handed to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ahead of the skills summit says, quote, “The free riding must stop.” Excuse me, what? Prime Minister, my advice for you is to rip this ridiculous idea up on the spot. If you don’t, well, it will be a dark stain on your Prime Ministership. But last time I checked, isn’t it a choice whether or not to join a union? Well, not according to Unions New South Wales. Let’s bring in Shadow Employment Minister, Michaelia Cash, who joins me on the line. Senator, thank you for your time.
Senator Cash
Great to be with you, Jim.
Jim Wilson
I nearly fell off my chair when I read this in The Daily Telegraph today. Unions New South Wales want a mandatory fee for non members in certain trades. What’s your reaction to this?
Senator Cash
Well this is stark raving mad. But on top of that, as you rightly pointed out, it would trash the fundamental right of Australians having freedom of association. These people are not free riders. They are people like you and I who exercise their right not to join a union, and they should never be forced to join one. This is yet another proposal, and there’s a few that we can talk about, that’s back in the Dark Ages, somewhere this country never wants to go again.
Jim Wilson
Is it just more union bully tactics and thuggery aimed at those who aren’t interested in joining up as a member?
Senator Cash
Look, I think Mr. Albanese needs to stand up and start acting like a Prime Minister of this country and clearly show the Australian Labor Party are not beholden to the unions in Australia. But the issue they have is this: money comes in via the unions and policy goes out. Labor needs to start putting the needs of Australians before the needs of out of touch union leaders. But unfortunately, as we know, they’ve demonstrated time and time again, they will put the wishes of their union diners first. But to suggest that these people are free riders is an absolute disgrace.
Jim Wilson
Would a proposal like this, Senator, but even legal?
Senator Cash
I think the first thing you do if Mr. Albanese was to say “we accept that”, that is exactly right, is to challenge it. There is a fundamental right of all Australians to have freedom of association. It is something that we hold near and dear as Australians and for the unions to say “we are going to trash that”, “we are going to force you to join the union”, “we are going to take your money”, then quite frankly, that’s back in the Dark Ages and it’s somewhere this country does not want to go again.
Jim Wilson
What are you expecting from the jobs and skills summit? Are you worried with proposals like these that some of the more militant unions will try and hijack the debate?
Senator Cash
I think they’ve already tried to hijack the debate, because you see Mr. Albanese, every time he stands up, has an opportunity to say to the Australian people “this is an outrageous demand and I can assure you we will not be accepting it”. But what he says each time is “we’ll consider it at the job summit next week”. Well guess what? Unions have a significant presence at next week’s jobs summit. I think you’ve got Sally McManus, you’ve got Michelle O’Neil, you’ve got the CFMMEU, you’ve got the Transport Workers Union. The list goes on and on and on. This is nothing more and nothing less now than the unions showing Australians they control the Labor Party. And as I said, money comes in by way of donations and policy goes out. The most obvious example being the abolition of the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
Jim Wilson
Now you just mentioned the ACTU, Sally McManus, who’s calling for industry wide bargaining agreements giving staff the same pay and conditions regardless of the size of the business. What do you think of the idea?
Senator Cash
Well, again, if you want Australia to return to the 1970s where economy can be brought to a standstill at the whim of the union leadership, well guess what? This is the way to do it. And again, Mr. Albanese, the man who is now the Prime Minister of Australia, should stand up today, front the Australian people and say, “this is nothing more and nothing less than a shameful power grab by Labor’s union paymasters, and guess what? We are going to reject it”. But again, that’s not what he does. He stands there like a mute, in total silence, because yet again they’ve demonstrated time and time again, they will put the wishes of their union donors first, not the Australian people.
Jim Wilson
I’m chatting to Shadow Employment Minister, Senator Michaelia Cash. I’ve got to ask you about this proposal for skilled migrants be paid a minimum wage of $91,000 a year. Surely that’s not realistic, is it?
Senator Cash
Of course it’s not realistic, because Australia already has a system whereby those who come into this country as skilled migrants have to be paid what is called the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold. And that is set and looked at each year. If you want to ensure you kill skilled migration into this country, yet again, capitulate to the union’s demands. But we have a situation in Australia, where we have record low unemployment. You now have businesses who cannot properly open, who cannot undertake the shifts they want to undertake, because they cannot get access to the labour they need. Very simply a business that has to close because they cannot get access to the labour they need, employs no one. Mr Albanese again, he doesn’t need, Jim, a jobs and skills summit to tell him what the blindingly obvious is. Let’s get migration moving again in this country, but on top of that, as you know, Peter Dutton’s also put forward a proposal, the Veteran and Age Pension Work Bonus, allowing our veterans and age pensioners to work an additional day without affecting their pension. Mr. Albanese could do that tomorrow. And yet what does he say? Well, we’ll leave it to the jobs and skills summit.
Jim Wilson
Ok, I want to ask you about the Royal Commission into the Robodebt scheme. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says the inquiry is unnecessary and simply designed to damage the Coalition. What’s your view?
Senator Cash
Well, again, this Royal Commission has been set up to achieve the political objectives of the Labor Party. These matters were addressed and resolved in 2021 by the courts. But what I would say is this, given that it was Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek who launched automatic data matching in 2011, the terms of reference must include Labor’s time in the portfolio when this situation first started. And if the terms of reference do not include that, well then it’s very clear to the Australian people. This is nothing more and nothing less than a political witch hunt. And Mr. Albanese, he’s spending more time, as we know, on so many issues looking in the rear vision mirror when he needs to start governing Australia.
Jim Wilson
But in fairness, yes, Labor did set up the scheme, but they set it up with human intervention involved. The Coalition settled many of the complaints, the scheme was ended, and tragically people took their own lives because of Robodebt. Surely that needs to be investigated.
Senator Cash
It was investigated, the matters were addressed and resolved in 2021 by the court. That is very, very clear. And even both Bill Shoretn and Tanya Plibersek back in 2011 themselves said words to the effect of “if people fail to come to an arrangement to settle their debts, the government does have a responsibility to taxpayers to recover that money”. This has been addressed as it should have. It has been resolved by the courts, and as such, if Anthony Albanese wants to do this properly, he gets to look at the entire scheme from the setup of this process going forward. Other than that, it is just a political witch hunt.
Jim Wilson
But you could see though that human intervention shouldn’t have been removed?
Senator Cash
Again, these matters were addressed and resolved in 2021 by the courts, and obviously, there were some incredibly tragic circumstances. I am not going to try and deny that to you. But when you look at what is happening now, a Royal Commission, the terms of reference for the Royal Commission should include the examination of the history and the evolution of using the ATO matching data. That’s what it should look at, between income reported and eligibility for welfare entitlements. Bearing in mind that ATO data matching has been used for decades, in fact, I think when you actually look at how far this goes back, it could be around 1992, by successive governments. But again, I don’t know what further questions Mr. Albanese says needs to be answered because these matters were addressed and resolved in 2021 by the courts.
Jim Wilson Senator, as always, thank you for your time this afternoon.
Senator Cash
Great to be with you. Take care Jim.
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