Thread by @iMusing

good morning☀️happy Sunday! Today on #Insiders are TSP chief political corro Karen Middleton, ABC journo-at-large Fran Kelly, and Guardian Aust politics corro Sarah Martin. The interview is with Skills and Training Minister Brendan O’Connor.

opening spiel is a rundown of jobs summit announcements, including “no quick fix on wages”. Speers highlights the skilled migration intake, TAFE places and working pensioners. #Insiders

we are then told “the tone” matters as much as concrete outcomes. Last week we were told that real outcomes matter more than talkfest announcements.
This type of coverage is about media asserting control over public perception. #Insiders

the montage soundtrack is Dolly’s Nine to Five. It is all jobs and skills summit clips. Coalition sulking does not get much of a look in, as it shouldn’t. #Insiders

#MakingNews is also skilled migrant intake, plus student visas and targeted degrees - nurses and IT. The proposal to increase Maternity leave, up from 18 to 26 weeks; and investigation into tiktok data harvesting. #Insiders

Speers editorialises that some things got done and there are more things to do. Standard fence sitting from the ABC’s most overexposed gallery journalist. #Insiders

panel. Middleton opens with an approving summary of the summit and how it was run. She says there is good will all round. Speers says the Nats leader sat there with “sleeves rolled up” the whole time lol #Insiders

clip on womens unpaid/underpaid work. The usual female head count narrative that passed for feminist analysis in this show. Favourable comparison to Hawke era Accord negotiations - one woman - and 50% women this year. #Insiders

“pressure on the government” to bring forward the higher child care subsidy, says Kelly, like there is “pressure” to repeal Morrison government tax legislation. Clip of Gallagher on PPL and the trillion dollar debt. #Insiders

women are sick of the rhetoric, says Martin, and she notes the distinction between citing public spending as an investment vs a cost. One has productivity dividends, explains Martin, the other is an up front cost. Per political rhetoric, she says. #Insiders

there are child care deserts, says Kelly. She says the impact on families deciding who will work and how much work they do. You have to have the workforce, says Kelly, on early childhood education and aged care nurses too. #Insiders

the changes have to be meaningful, says Kelly, citing the number of migrant workers filling feminised industry workforce shortages. Speers asks Martin for her verdict on talkfest v concrete outcomes. She says Albanese managed expectations very well. #Insiders

talking has got to happen, says Kelly. She says Morrison should have spoken to the women at #MarchForJustice. She cites Benson “reporting” that if McManus likes it we hate it. That Littleproud attending was a contribution in itself (such a low standard). #Insiders

quote from Westacott cited by Middleton. Something about how not talking leads to misunderstanding. Clip of Dutton demonising unions. I will never get past a Queensland cop presuming to point the finger on thuggery. #Insiders

interview opens with shoutouts to O’Connor and Speers’ dads. O’Connor spells out how wages are not getting a share of productivity and are not causing inflation - profits distributed to bosses and shareholders are [paraphrased]. #Insiders

the minister calls Coalition scare mongering on bargaining power “hysterical”. Speers wants to speculate about hypothetical future strikes again this week. Well employers have the power to lock workers out, says O’Connor. #Insiders

so, strikes. That’s a yes, insists Speers. We have the lowest rate of industrial action in decades, says O’Connor. Opt in to industry-wide bargaining? O’Connor says the tone of the summit will inform negotiations on opt-in. #Insiders

lmao clip of Michaela Cash. The minister wrote to the FWC and Perottet or Senator Cash or someone is upset about it? I missed this story. Something about a tug boat dispute. Speers persistently puts the Cash position. #Insiders

was the letter about the NSW rail dispute? This is something Burke said to the FWC in writing, apparently. O’Connor says it is about drafting legislative amendments on workers bargaining parameters [paraphrased]. So coincidence, says Speers. #Insiders

skilled migration. Will the threshold be increased? O’Connor says it is not about displacing local workers. He thinks the cap should be higher. You obviously think it should be 65,000 days Speers. There are worker shortages in different sectors, says O’Connor. #Insiders

TAFE. There are five guiding principles to work with the states and territories who deliver vocational training, says O’Connor. Employers are crying out for skills. Why bosses refuse to train their own future staff to create profits is not asked. #Insiders

the reforms have to be fit for purpose to suit students, employers, skills, says O’Connor. Apprentices, says Speers. A third do not complete, worse in the regions. Maybe conditions are garbage? Bosses want more public money for private profits here too [paraphrased] #Insiders

people with disabilities, and the address by Dylan Alcott to the summit. O’Connor says there are opportunities for people who have been “locked out of employment for years”. He cites disabled people and “First Nations”. Employer ableism and racism are not mentioned. #Insider

back to panel. Speers says he will start with industrial relations, then skilled migrants. Middleton talks about the Coalition position on IR and says who is in charge and can gain politically; cynicism is valid; policy settings are not that different. #Insiders

clip of Burke on the BOOT and Martin says there will be push back as the legislative changes are drafted. She points to underpaid workers in feminised industries. #Insiders

the Greens are against changes to the BOOT? Kelly says every party in the parliament has their strategy, their corner. She cites McManus on setting up a framework for better pay and conditions for care workers, who are mostly women. #Insiders

the [award] system as currently designed does not work, says Middleton. It does not work for small business with no HR department, says Kelly. There is downward pressure on wages of low paid workers, we agree, with nobody naming the source of this pressure. #Insiders

the figure since 2013 is 52,000 for skilled migrants? I think that is what Martin said. She links this to “downward pressure” on wages too. Stop no word on the desire of bosses to allocate income to profits over wages. #Insiders

additional investment in housing infrastructure, says Martin. We need more workers, says Kelly, people are seeing their local cafe closed a few days a week. Not to mention childcare and aged care says Speers #Insiders

the new agency Jobs and Skills Australia. They did it in the pandemic, says Kelly, yet it seems to go round and round. The apprenticeship attrition rates are shocking, says Speers. The pay and some of the treatment also shocking, the panel agree. #Insiders

tax reform. Prof Garnaut suggested a mining tax at a dinner. The “pressure” on the federal government to repeal Morrison government tax legislation is again prosecuted. The timing is terrible - before the next election, says Martin. Yes, by design. #Insiders

the legislation was only ever designed for Morrison to have something to campaign on in 2019 - ad give the media a hook to campaign for him - and to booby trap an incoming Labor government so is redundant already. Mission accomplished. #Insiders

they [Labor] hate them [the Morrison tax policy], agree the panel. They are passionate about Voice to Parliament, about integrity commission, but not these. Clip of Albanese in 2019 saying Labor supported the legislation because stimulus. Which is trickle down nonsense. #Insiders

“the media” will jump on them for a broken promise, agree four press gallery journalists on the public broadcaster. The Coalition will pounce on anything that looks like a promise broken or even a promise bent - Martin, I think. #Insiders

obligatory reference to L-A-W law tax cuts, a thirty+ year old anachronism. #Insiders

#TalkingPictures with Andrew Meares is up. Mearsey is a back to you Mr Speers man.

https://twitter.com/insidersabc/status/1566213199464128513

Middleton is asked about the “grant” by regulation to a shell outfit signed off by the GG. With $15 mil up front and $4 mil annually in perpetuity. She says it has an ED but no website, and is registered as a charity. That the reg creating the grant can be disallowed. #Insiders

#FinalObservations 1 is Kelly on a new Womens leadership vehicle, with Sam Mostyn and Danielle Wood, among others. #Insiders

#FinalObservations 2 is Martin saying there are no bids in the auction to play tennis against Albanese at the Lodge. #Insiders

#FinalObservations 3 is Middleton on changes to disclosure requirements - was it for charities - I missed the detail. She says Labor campaigned heavily on transparency and let’s not make transparency a broken promise. #Insiders

the outtake is former DPM McMickMack not exactly mastering a bucking bronco. Absolute clownery. #Insiders

this has been another edition of watching #Insiders so you don’t have to👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼

tip jar here: paypal.me/IngridMM

paying forward this week. Please consider sharing and contribute if you can🙏🏼 gofundme.com/f/brotherboy-n…