TRANSCRIPT - SKY NEWS ON THE HOUR 2PM WITH TOM CONNELL

PAUL FLETCHER MP

Shadow Minister for Science and the Arts

Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy

Manager of Opposition Business in the House

TRANSCRIPT

SKY NEWS ON THE HOUR 2PM

31 AUG 2023

TOM CONNELL: Joining me now is one of her colleagues, Shadow Government Services Minister Paul Fletcher. Thanks for your time. Just clarifying, will you be actively campaigning against the Indigenous Voice to Parliament?

PAUL FLETCHER: Well, Tom, I support the Liberal Party's position, which is of course we recommending that people vote no. So that's the position I'll be taking. As you would expect me to do as a Liberal Party member and frontbencher,

TOM CONNELL: That's the position. But what about actively campaigning? You're out there trying to convince people wearing a t-shirt maybe, or is it a quieter approach?

PAUL FLETCHER: Look, I'll be working to advance the Liberal Party's position on this issue as on the whole range of issues that we deal with. Of course, my portfolio responsibility is including the digital economy. So one of the things that I'll certainly be joining my colleagues in the fight against is these terrible changes that Tony Burke is trying to make. The man who described the gig economy as a cancer and the arrogance of that, when you look at the choices that millions of Australians have made to use services over platforms like Airtasker or Airbnb or specialist disability services like Mabel, a disability support platform, all of these are under threat because of this extraordinary attack on on the digital economy and on digital platforms that have been very popular for Australians as consumers. But also many Australians value the flexibility to provide their services over those platforms. So look, there's plenty going on and of course cost of living is a huge priority. So on all these issues, including the voice I'll be putting forward, the Liberal Party's position.

TOM CONNELL: All right. A relatively neat pivot there. So it does limit it. To sort of wonder, though, is your point here. There are a lot of other issues going on. You you share the belief of your party, albeit this is not going to be something that's going to be front and centre for you for the next few weeks, that that is the referendum.

PAUL FLETCHER: Look, ultimately we what we're about in the Liberal Party is responding to the needs and preferences of the Australian people. Now the number one issue that I detect amongst my constituents is cost of living. This is a very potent issue right across our nation. We've seen 11 increases in interest rates under this government from a Prime Minister who promised that mortgages would be cheaper under him. They promised that they would be there would be lower energy prices, $275 price cut, but of course, all my constituents have seen is increases in energy prices as people around Australia have seen so these are the issues that are top of mind for the Australian people. When I speak to my constituents, I certainly don't detect amongst many of them that the voice is a top of mind issue. People are concerned about cost of living and the impact on their lives, and these are the responsibilties of a government to address the priorities of the Australian people and of course the job of a government. You've got to deal with a lot of issues and a lot of fronts. Government's complicated, but that's the task

TOM CONNELL: It seems that the PM will be dealing with a few other issues at the same time, but I think it's going to be wall to wall voice stuff. You mentioned the IR changes or alluded to them before around the digital economy. What do you make of the broad view of the government that so-called gig workers and let's talk about a specific occupation. It's a bit easier. So someone that's driving for Uber, they can earn very low salaries per hour and that can be something that isn't just a once off. It can happen quite regularly. Do you think it's fair enough to enact some changes around this? Consumers might pay a little bit more, but someone as a result can actually earn a living. Is that a fair enough principle to be guided by?

PAUL FLETCHER: I think what we've got here is government that in this area, as in so many others, is responding to the preferences of the union bosses. Let's remember only around 8% of Australian private sector employees are union members. And so the agenda that is very important to Mr. Burke and his colleagues because the labour boss or the union bosses control their preselections is not what's necessarily in the best interests of Australians. Now if there are specific issues of course, about workplace safety, those need to be specifically addressed, nobody is questioning that. But what we're seeing here is a very broad legislative framework that will in many ways impede the innovation and the creativity through which services are delivered to Australians and services are provided by Australians who earn money doing so over digital platforms. And that's been a major change in our economy over the last 10, 15, 20 years. The fact is the union bosses would prefer a 1950s style regulated economy. This is a government that says it supports innovation, but it's going in precisely the wrong direction on these issues.

TOM CONNELL: Okay. I think it's very you singled out the safety aspect, but what's your view around the pay aspect? Do you think it's just that it should be a case of let the market decide? And if people are working for these services, whatever hourly rate they end up with, they don't have to keep working. If they don't want to. Is that the is that your view on it in terms of principle,

PAUL FLETCHER: The point I would make is that there are many different kinds of digital platforms, but what they are effectively is marketplaces where those who want to sell goods or services come together with those who wish to purchase them. Or it might be renting on a short term or a long term basis. But transacting, the labour Party is inherently hostile to the notion of people being contractors, people being business people. They want everybody forced into a particular rigid framework work and that is not consistent with the preferences that Australians have displayed in the way that they want to take advantage of the flexibility in many of these platforms.

TOM CONNELL: You're entitled to say that. I'm just trying to clarify your position. You're saying if the rate of pay was so dire, people wouldn't do it. Let the market decide.

PAUL FLETCHER: What I'm saying is that the innovation we've seen with digital platforms has been a positive development for our economy. We know that digital technology allows for increased productivity and we know Australia has a serious productivity problem. The intergenerational report released by the Treasurer the other day reminded us of that fact and what this Government is doing is imposing onerous new regulation and restrictions and barriers on the digital economy that is going in the wrong direction when it comes to productivity, but it's also flying in the face of the choices that Australians have made, both as providers of goods and services over platforms and as consumers of them.

TOM CONNELL: Now I'm just going to switch on the last topic and be rather indulgent here. I've seen endless headlines around Services Australia over the years and wait times and so on. I must admit I managed to avoid too much involvement but spent five days just being able to have the honour of holding on the line. Otherwise they'd say No, you can't even hold. And then two hours on hold and then got the wrong information. Is this just sort of the service Australians are resigned to? As I said, I never saw good lines under the Coalition. It doesn't seem in a good way now. What's broken around this whole system that is vital for so many Australians

PAUL FLETCHER: If you look at the objective data, things like on average, how long people wait when they make a call to Services Australia before they get to speak to a human, those numbers have blown out under this government, under Bill Shorten, as Minister. He's taken a number of actions which are ill judged for example, he booted out the outsourced call service provider Serco. Now I've got no particular brief for Serco, but the fact is that specialist firms of this kind are widely used by private sector businesses and by government. When I was minister for Social Services and had responsibility for the NDIS at that time, call hold times were terrible and the board of the National Disability Insurance Agency made the decision to bring in Serco and call hold times improved materially. So now what we are seeing from this government is a lack of focus on the service experience that people have when they deal with government. What we need is the same kind of focus on the citizen as customer, that we saw under the NSW Coalition government with Victor Dominello as Minister and service NSW. And you saw things like the complete revamping of the front of house premises, but also improved digital channels, improved call centre experience. Okay. That's what we need to see. We need to see a focus on a better customer service experience. It is going in totally the wrong direction under Bill Shorten, who's more interested in just scoring political points frankly than in the customer experience of citizens

TOM CONNELL: Out of time, we might delve into it again. It just strikes me it needs modernising. The only way to get in touch with them is public tweets. Not even such things as live chat you can usually do. Anyway, that's enough about my life. Paul Fletcher, thank you for your time. We'll talk soon.