Interview - Today Show

KARL STEFANOVIC: The Labor Party's dangling cost of living carrots and voters faces ahead of Pauline Hanson's press club address announcing a pay increase for childcare workers and 137 new Urgent Care clinics. Education Minister Jason Clare joins me now live from Melbourne. Jason, good morning to you. How are you doing?

JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: G'day, mate. I'm doing pretty well.

STEFANOVIC: You look tired. Is Pauline Hanson keeping you up at night?

CLARE: Mate, I thought I looked blue. Very blue, too blue, can't you tell?

STEFANOVIC: Oh, yeah, here we go. Look, you are running all over town. Are you trying to steal some of the spotlight away from One Nation?

CLARE: You know, we take this very seriously. There's a lot of Aussies that are doing it tough and when people are doing it tough, you know, messages like messages from One Nation can appeal to lots of Australians. And the alternative; the Opposition's a smoking mess at the moment. Effectively One Nation is taking over the Liberal Party. It's the Liberal Party with a different logo. All the policies are pretty much the same. They'd oppose what we're doing today, which is pay rises for some of the lowest income workers in the country. You know, they oppose the changes we've made to make it harder to sack people. They oppose free TAFE, you know, to train more tradies out there as well.

STEFANOVIC: Fire the Liar has been a breathtakingly effective campaign.

CLARE: Well, has it? You know, we don't know. Ultimately, they can raise more money by just picking up the phone and ringing Gina Rinehart than through the money they've raised here.

STEFANOVIC: Do you just want to pick up the phone to the unions?

CLARE: Well, you know, we seek funds to run for election from lots of different people, whether it's the trade union movement or from other punters out there.

STEFANOVIC: Let's not go down the whole donations thing, you know what I mean? Because it's a dark chasm that you've got a lot to answer for as well.

CLARE: Bottom line, mate, is we take it seriously, right? You know, there's a lot of Australians doing it tough. That's why the tax cuts on the 1st of July are important. That's why pay rises like this are important. Increasing the minimum wage is important. It's why the changes we made to cut petrol excise are important. You know, petrol prices are actually a bit lower today than they were when the war started, which is a good thing. And that's why increasing paid parental leave is important as well. That extends to 26 weeks on the 1st of July. That'll help a lot of new mums and dads. But the other big thing out there is housing. You know, you've got to admit that there's a lot of young Australians who are giving up on the great Australian dream, who think that they might have to rent for the rest of their lives. You know, that's not good enough. When we were in our twenties, the cost of the average house was about four times the average salary. Now it's about ten. In Sydney, it's maybe twelve or even higher. That should tell you that the system's broken. It's only the Labor Party that's saying we want to do something about it. It's One Nation and the Liberals who want to defend the status quo.

STEFANOVIC: It doesn't really help, does it, when Treasury doesn't know the revenue windfalls for CGT and negative gearing. But I guess you don't care about that.

CLARE: Well, look, if they made mistakes, they've got to fix it. What I want to do, what we want to do is fix the housing system, make it easier for young people to be able to buy their first house. System's not working the way it should at the moment. It's only the Labor Party that wants to do something serious about it.

STEFANOVIC: Ok, just on this wage increase for early childhood educators, what happens after that additional 18 months?

CLARE: Yeah, mate, this is the trifecta. It does three things. One, it locks in a pay rise for some of the lowest-paid workers in the country who do some of the most important jobs in the country. But it also helps to keep price rises down for about a million parents who've got kids in childcare. In order for the centre to get the money, they've got to limit the amount that they increase fees by. And it does a third thing. The centre won't get the money unless they meet the minimum safety standard. Now, about 95 per cent of centres at the moment meet the minimum safety standards. I want it to be 100 per cent. I reckon any parent watching right now would say, well, that's what we expect, it's what our kids deserve. And so that's what will happen here. In order to get the money to pay your staff more, the centre has to meet the minimum safety standards. And after all the sickening and horrific things that we heard last year, I reckon most people watching today would say, well, that should be the case.

STEFANOVIC: You've done good work in that field, that's for sure. Will you be watching Pauline today?

CLARE: Well, maybe. I'll be getting on a plane back home to Sydney to sit on the lounge with the nine-year-old and hopefully he'll have a few fingernails left at the end of the game.

STEFANOVIC: Good to talk to you, mate. Thank you.

CLARE: Cheers, mate.