22 May 2023
E&OE.
Kieran Gilbert
Joining me live in the studio now is the Shadow employment and Attorney General Michaelia Cash. Great to see you as always. In terms of the voice, we’ve seen the steady decline in support, 62 before Christmas down to 58, too, I think it was 53 in the Newspoll, is it your sense that this fall will continue?
Senator Cash
Well, when you go out and you ask Australians, what do they know about the voice, they can’t tell you. The one thing I say to all Australians is this – if you don’t know how the voice is going to work, vote no. Why? Because it’s risky, it’s unknown, it’s divisive, and it’s permanent. If you don’t know, vote no, and more and more Australians are happily admitting they just don’t know because Mr Albanese has been deliberately light on detail.
Kieran Gilbert
Those in support of the voice would say that they’re just about to crank up their campaign for the Yes Vote, is there the chance though, that they will be able to shift momentum back? Well, a lot of you know, corporates, sporting organizations jumping on board.
Senator Cash
I have to say, I think sporting organizations, quite frankly, should stick to playing sport, and corporate organizations should stick to running their own businesses. This is a decision for the Australian people. The more the sporting organizations, the more the big corporates step up the more people are starting to ask why? Again, we have a very, very simple message for the Australian people. If you don’t know how the voice is going to work, vote no. It is risky, it is unknown, it is divisive, but it is also permanent.
Kieran Gilbert
On the issue of the same job, same pay. I know that immediately we’ve seen some pushback today, from the likes of the Master Builders, Minerals Council of Australia, outsourcing jobs, a big part of things like resources, how big is the pushback going to be?
Senator Cash
Well, let’s be very clear, Kieran, what is this actually all about? Despite the weasel words by Tony Burke, this is all about the Labor Party and the unions hating any form of work that cannot be controlled by them. So in relation to, same job, same pay.
Kieran Gilbert
But just to pick up on that. Aren’t they talking about gig workers, people like Uber drivers?
Senator Cash
That’s in relation to employee like, this is all about saying to independent contractors, and to the self-employed, we can’t control you, and on that basis, we’re going to get the Fair Work Commission to set minimum conditions for you. Believe you me, if they cannot be controlled by the unions, they want to decimate that type of work. People are independent contractors, and self-employed people for a reason, they want to set their own terms and conditions. People work in labour hire, and that is less than 2.3% of the total employment in Australia because they don’t want to be permanent employees. But Kieran, I’d say this to you, with in excess of 400,000 job vacancies and unemployment, even though it did tick up, still at record lows, if people want to be permanent employees, they can go out and get a job. But the people Labor are targeting other people who value flexibility, they value working on different projects different sites…
Kieran Gilbert
Minister Burke says they are consulting though.
Senator Cash
Oh please, consulting, it is sham consulting. It has become more and more obvious every day. The Australian Labor Party have an agenda, that agenda was written for them by the union movement. They do sham consulting, look at multi employer bargaining, that certainly wasn’t raised before the election, but it starts on June the sixth.
Kieran Gilbert
Michaelia Cash, I know you’ve got to go, appreciate your time.
Senator Cash
Great to be with you
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