with
NITA GREEN
SENATOR FOR QUEENSLAND 

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW
CAIRNS
TUESDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 2020
 
SUBJECTS: Digitalisation announcement; Federal Budget; JobKeeper Cuts; Social Housing; Plastic Pollution; the Morrison Government’s Lack of a Jobs Plan.
 
NITA GREEN, LABOR SENATOR FOR QUEENSLAND: Today marks one week until the federal budget will be handed down in Canberra and this is a really important time for Far North Queensland. I wanted to talk to you about what I'll call for from the federal budget for this region and for Queensland more generally. We know that yesterday's JobKeeper cuts will have a devastating impact on businesses here in Far North Queensland. The Government has made these cuts, without replacing them with a jobs plan for Far North Queensland so what we're looking for in this budget is that plan. A plan to support local jobs and local businesses, right here in places like Cairns.
 
We're also making sure that the federal budget doesn't just support Cairns itself, but the broader region of Far North Queensland. We know that the Leichhardt electorate particularly goes all the way up to the Torres Strait. So we'll be looking in the federal budget to make sure that any jobs plan is a plan for this region, not just this city, because we are all connected together.
 
What we know about this Government is they're very big on the announcements, but not so good on the follow up, or the delivery of those plans. We need this federal budget to be more than the press release, and to be plan for jobs. Unfortunately, we've got examples of this right here in Cairns including the indigenous housing announcement before the last election. A $105 million investment was announced to big fanfare, press releases from Warren Entch and from the Indigenous Affairs Minister, but that money has not been delivered to people living in Far North Queensland. We know that only $5 million of that $105 million has been delivered to the state government at this time. Those people are still waiting during a health crisis and a pandemic for that funding to be delivered. We also know when they made announcements about the Australian Recycling Investment Fund, when they declared “war on waste” and the federal government was going to use this funding to deliver better outcomes when it came to plastics and waste. But what we now know is that not a single cent of that hundred million dollars has been spent.
These are examples after examples of the federal government, making announcements, sending out press releases, but not delivering the money, the funding and services that we need here in Far North Queensland to be able to recover from this economic crisis. So what I'll be looking for in this budget isn't just press releases but a plan for jobs, and not just announcements, but the follow up, that is so sadly always missing from Scott Morrison and Warren Entsch. Thank you.
 
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: Thanks very much Nita. We're spending the day consulting with local workers, businesses and communities about what this part of Australia needs in order to recover strongly from this deepest recession in almost a century. There will be no national recovery without a recovery in regional Queensland. If we want the national economy to recover strongly in the regions we need Far North Queensland to be a big part of that story.  It is now a week until the federal budget and still Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg can't tell us why they are withdrawing support from the economy without a jobs plan to replace it. The economy is far too weak and the labour market is far too weak for these premature cuts to JobKeeper which will do damage to communities like Cairns and the Far North Queensland region.
 
Today we've seen another announcement from the Prime Minister and Treasurer, this time about digitalisation and technology in the economy. The way that Australia adapts to and adopts technology will play a crucial role in the future of our economy. We need to make sure that as technological change happens in our economy that people are equipped to keep up with that technological change, and make sure that they can benefit from it, rather than be its victims. It's incredibly important that we get digitisation right and that we get technological change right so that technological change can work for people and not against them.
Today all we've got is another recycled announcement of old investments. It speaks volumes about how bereft this Government is of new ideas to deal with the new reality of this recession. Today's announcement just recycles announcements made as far back as three years ago. Announcements, spin and marketing won't get the economy growing again. Only a jobs plan will. All of these announcements without follow through will do nothing for Australians who are struggling in the teeth of this deep and damaging recession.
This is a Prime Minister who chases headlines but doesn't chase jobs. This is a Prime Minister who is always there for the photo op but never there for the follow up. This is a Government responsible for Robodebt, the humiliation of the NBN, the COVIDSafe app, and also the census fail. This Government doesn't have a good record when it comes to technology and digitisation. What we need to see here is a comprehensive jobs plan, not just more announcements, more spin, and more marketing from the Prime Minister and the Treasurer. The budget a week from today needs to have a comprehensive jobs plan, not just all recycled announcements from 2017 and 2018.
 
Before we take your questions I wanted to acknowledge today is Police Remembrance Day. We wanted to acknowledge all of those who serve our community via our police forces including those who make all kinds of sacrifices to keep us safe and especially the families of police officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. We acknowledge them today and we acknowledge them every day.
 
JOURNALIST: What would you like to see in the budget specifically for Far North Queensland?
 
CHALMERS: What we need to see for Far North Queensland is a comprehensive jobs plan, which recognises that this is among the hardest hit communities in Australia from this recession. What we need to see is not the premature withdrawal of JobKeeper payments which are doing so much to support workers, small businesses and communities in Far North Queensland. We need to see investment in social housing, we need to see investment in infrastructure, we need to see investment in the care economy. There are opportunities in health and education. Right across the board what we need is a comprehensive strategy for jobs, which recognises that Cairns and Far North Queensland is doing it really tough. We should acknowledge that not all parts of the economy will recover at the same time, some parts of Australia are doing it tougher than others. That's why it's mad to withdraw JobKeeper here without a jobs plan to replace it.
 
JOURNALIST: What would a comprehensive jobs plan look like?
 
CHALMERS: We need to see investment in the local community, in local jobs and as Nita said, we need to see investment in social housing. We need to see investment in infrastructure and in the care economy. We need to make sure that we continue to support workers and small businesses in particular. We spent time yesterday with tourism operators who are responsible for some of the fleet of boats that go out to the Great Barrier Reef. Some of those boats have been sitting idle for six or seven months. This community has more to lose than most from the premature withdrawal of JobKeeper, and the absence of proper jobs plans. A proper jobs plan would include social housing, infrastructure, the care economy, health and education, and making sure that we can support people through this difficult period.
 
JOURNALIST: The Member for Leichhardt said they would look at giving maybe a tailored approach to areas like Cairns or the Hinchinbrook area to give them more support with JobKeeper. Would you back that?
 
CHALMERS: Warren Entsch is notorious for making big announcements and then not following through. We've seen that again and again as Nita said. Warren Entsch is the poster child for a Government which makes announcements, but doesn't follow through. Plenty of photo ops but not much follow up. Unfortunately what that means for an important part of Australia like Cairns and Far North Queensland is that they are left in the lurch by that approach. Scott Morrison, Josh Frydenberg and Warren Entsch are leaving this community out and leaving this community behind by making these big grand announcements, and then not following through.
 
JOURNALIST: What's wrong with the digital funding package? $20 million being given to small businesses surely a lot of people will benefit from that?
 
CHALMERS: Obviously digitisation, and how we adapt to and adopt technology is absolutely crucial to the future of this local economy and to the broader national economy, and we will work through the details of what's been announced. If there are parts of it which are worth supporting we will support it. But I think we are within our rights to point out we've had a number of announcements in this area before. Most of the money committed today was actually proposed in 2017, 2018 and 2019. So the point that we're making is yes this is an important area of policy. Yes, we need to get this right, but just recycling old announcements won't get us there. Recycling old announcements, is no substitute for a comprehensive plan for jobs which we need to see in next Tuesday's budget.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you think that will be the reality as we move towards a digital future with COVID businesses not really going back to normal for years to come potentially, it makes sense to bring something like this into Australia?
 
CHALMERS: We have seen an acceleration of digitisation and we have seen the acceleration of technological change as people's work changes because of the impacts of this coronavirus and what's happening in the economy. We acknowledge that and we acknowledge that this is an important area for Government to step in. The point that we are making is that recycling old announcements is no substitute for a proper plan for jobs. We've seen the Government stand up before and make these grandiose statements and then not followed through, we need to see these statements actually follow through. We need to see real assistance provided to real people and businesses in real communities. Just standing up every day or two in a courtyard in Canberra and announcing multibillion dollar packages or re-announcing them won't get the jobs that we need in communities like this one.
 
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
 
CHALMERS:
There will be thousands of businesses in Far North Queensland and around Australia who are trying to make do in very difficult circumstances, acknowledging that there's been a lot of technological change, there are opportunities in digitisation, there is also enough in that change to make sure that the onus is on us, the responsibility is on us to make sure that technological change works for people and not against them. A lot of business and a lot of workers are relying on us to get this right. I'm not convinced that recycling old announcements will do that. What we need is a comprehensive plan. We need new ideas to reflect the new reality that this is the worst recession in almost a century and just dusting off all the announcements pulling them off the shelf from years ago, won't get us the kind of comprehensive jobs plan that we need.
 
ENDS