SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER
MINISTER FINANCE
MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE
MINISTER FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICES

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
ABC NEWS BREAKFAST
WEDNESDAY, 2 APRIL 2025

SUBJECTS: Wages; Australia-United State Relations; Cuts to Health and Education.

JAMES GLENDAY, HOST: And there's a national election campaign on, which you will have noticed, and so let's get some more on that now. Because following the Reserve Bank decision, there's a whole lot of different things going on. The threat of Trump tariffs again. The Finance Minister, Katy Gallagher, joins us now from the National Capital. Minister, good morning.

SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Good morning, James.

GLENDAY: Your government wants an above average inflation pay rise for low-paid workers, the lowest paid in fact. How much above inflation should it be?

GALLAGHER: Well, James, we haven't nominated a figure, but what we have put in our submission is that that the Fair Work Commission consider an economically sustainable wage increase for minimum wage earners. These are people on the lowest incomes, and we know that they deserve a pay rise. We've got wages moving again in this country and there's no reason why minimum wages shouldn't get a part of that. The Fair Work Commission obviously considers all of this, but as a government we have – one of our key economic priorities has been to get wages moving again after they'd fallen so much under the Coalition. And we're seeing that and there's no reason why those lowest paid shouldn't get a good pay rise as well.

GLENDAY: There was a huge – for political junkies, you'll know, it was a huge part of the 2022 election campaign. Are we talking 3 per cent, three and a half? I'm curious why you wouldn't just say, look, this is about how much above inflation we think this wage should be.

GALLAGHER: Well, in all of our submissions, we haven't directed or tried to provide a single number to the Fair Work Commission. We put our arguments in our submission.

GLENDAY: Do you have a view though? Do you have a rough view personally?

GALLAGHER: Well, look, I think it's very clear that when we've had pressures on households that minimum wage earners, those earning the lowest feel that the most. And when we are seeing wages move, we're seeing inflation come down and we're seeing relatively low unemployment, much lower than we've seen in comparable countries, that minimum wage earners should be considered against that backdrop. And the Fair Work Commission will do that. But what minimum wage earners need to know is the Government's on their side and wants them to get a decent pay rise. And that's of course in stark contrast to what our political opponents would argue and have argued when they've been in government.

GLENDAY: Yeah, we might ask about what their position on that is later, obviously we're going to see some business groups who are opposed to this. I just wanted to take you to the United States. A lot of eyes are going to be on Washington this week, particularly tonight. There are suggestions that the Trump administration might target farmers in the next lot of tariffs. Would that be the sort of thing that a friendly country would do to us?

GALLAGHER: Well, I think you've been hearing the Prime Minister and others speak about this. We don't think tariffs are the right way to go, if that's where America goes. Obviously, we've been putting our arguments through our diplomatic channels and putting those arguments very strongly. We know that the US administration will make an announcement in the next 24 hours, but we certainly don't think global trade disruptions and these kinds of policy approaches are good for the world economy and they're not good for us here, but we'll argue in our national interests. That's what the Prime Minister has been very clear about. We'll continue to do so, and we'll make it very clear that there's things in this country that happen that don't happen in the US like the PBS, like biosecurity, which are not up for any negotiation at all, ever.

GLENDAY: I'm just curious about this. I mean, senior ministers have been at pains – and senior members of the Opposition – to not to directly criticise the US President. Canada, which is having an election, has taken a totally different approach and has been very blunt declaring that the old bilateral relationship it had with the US is now over. Why isn't the government coming out and being much more strident? Do you fear extra backlash, extra tariffs?

GALLAGHER: Well, I think we are being very strident. We are acting in the national interest. We have said these are policies that we don't support. We are arguing our case very strongly and we will continue to do so. We are here for – we are serving the Australian people and the policies that we advocate and the comments we make will always be in the national interest. That's today, but it'll also be tomorrow whenever we have this decision out of the US.

GLENDAY: The Treasurer yesterday called Peter Dutton ‘DOGE-y Dutton’. Now, for the uninitiated, that seemed to be a reference to Elon Musk’s government efficiency push in the US. I'll let the audience judge the quality of the Labor Party's nicknames, but why are you so keen to continuously link Peter Dutton with the US President?

GALLAGHER: Well, I think, and we've seen it in a number of examples where we are seeing a bit of a cut and paste from some policies that are being implemented overseas, particularly in America. And whether you want to say the DOGE playbook or some of the ideas that others have had in America, we are seeing that play out here. Whether it be cutting the public service, cutting the Education department, cutting Medicare through the Health department, slashing work from home, which is a real feature of modern working families. This has all been stuff that's been run overseas, and we are seeing it play out here.

GLENDAY: Peter Dutton said, though he'll stand with the Government resisting these tariffs as well. Is this a moment where both major parties need to stand up to the US and say, hey, we absolutely disagree with your approach here?

GALLAGHER: Well, there's two different things going on there on the tariffs. You would expect every political leader in the country to stand up and advocate in Australia's interest, and so I think the fact that Peter Dutton is following the Prime Minister on that isn't surprising. But these other issues, the attacks on work from home, the abolishing of the Education department, the cutting back of the Health department, and thereby Medicare, these are all ideas that we've seen play out overseas. 41,000 public servants cut and pretending that that's not going to impact on services, that's just a load of rubbish. But it's obviously something that they've been following overseas, and they think they'll give it a crack over here. Our argument is that that's not right for our country. It won't work and people will be worse off under that approach.

GLENDAY: Alright, Katy Gallagher, we appreciate your time. I will point out he hasn't said he wants to abolish the Education department but thank you very much for joining News Breakfast this morning.

GALLAGHER: Thanks, James.

ENDS