LAURA JAYES, HOST: Let's bring in the Assistant Trade and Manufacturing Minister, Tim Ayres. We can test some of these questions on you to see if the government has some answers here. $3.6 billion dollars spent here. These are measures apparently taken in the budget not yet announced. But this is all coming in the context of the RBA saying they're a little bit worried about the level of government spending. 

SENATOR TIM AYRES, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR A FUTURE MADE IN AUSTRALIA AND TRADE: Well, let's look at this measure in particular. $3.6 billion there. What it does is put the wages of childcare workers up by 15%; 10% in December, 5% next year. $150 wage increase for childcare workers. We've already put childcare costs down by 11%. This will cap future increases so that parents' benefit. Childcare costs are a significant part of the cost-of-living equation for suburban families and regional families. It's good for productivity in the economy because it enables workforce participation and childcare workers, who are early childhood educators, that means more childcare workers, but it's good for little kids too. Laura, this is the kind of quality spending. We've turned a $78 billion Liberal deficit and deficits as far as the eye could see, a trillion dollars in debt when we came to government, nothing to show for it, into back-to-back Labor surpluses and the quality of our spending is good for the economy and good for productivity. 

JAYES: Okay, so you're saying the quality of the spending makes it non-inflationary, really? 

AYRES: Well, this measure, let's focus on this measure and there are plenty of others. 

JAYES: [Interjecting] Less than $3.6 million in worker’s pockets to spend in the economy. 

AYRES: It improves workforce participation. Downward pressure on inflation through that aspect of the measure alone, downward pressure on costs because it caps price rises; but also sits against a backdrop of an 11% reduction through Labor's cheaper childcare measures. 

JAYES: [Interjecting] But isn't it only over the next two years? So, you're just delaying the effect? 

AYRES: It's a long-term structural reform in the provision of early childhood education, in the interests of improving the amount of childcare workers, wage justice for a mostly (almost exclusively) female workforce. More than 90% of the workforce are women. It's good for the quality of our childcare system, improves workforce participation and productivity. That's all good for putting downward pressure on inflation and it deals with the cost-of-living pressures that families have now. 

JAYES: Productivity is still not great; you'd know that, and this government hasn't done all that much to boost productivity. Yes, this will happen in this sector, but I mean, it works at odds against things, like the right to disconnect laws and people still being able to work from home. I mean that's where the effects are really made, aren't they? 

AYRES: Well, quite the contrary, Laura. Let me talk about the aspect I'm dealing with here today. I’m on the Gold Coast with the Taiwan Australia Business Chamber, talking to the investment and business community here about investment in Australia's manufacturing capability. There is an intense level of interest from that business community and that investment community. I'll be in Gladstone later this afternoon. Now, you wonder if productivity in the economy... 

JAYES: [Interjecting] Now if you want to talk about productivity, you could do something about the CFMEU right now. 

AYRES: Future manufacturing is how we lift productivity in the economy. We've got a vision and a plan to make Australian manufacturing more competitive. That's where the big structural change is, so we're dealing with the here and now with the cost-of-living issues, more work to do, but we have halved inflation, and this announcement today; a very significant impact for ordinary households. We're shaping the future economy so that it's more productive and there are more good jobs, particularly in the outer suburbs, in our great industrial regions like Central Queensland, where I'll be tomorrow. 

JAYES: Tim, just because you say it, doesn't make it true, and productivity is a massive problem here and, yeah, doing deals with Taiwan on critical minerals is all really great, but you got to look across the board, particularly in the housing sector. I mean, the CFMEU are not contributing to great productivity in this country, nor are some of the rules that are in place for workers across the board – right to disconnect, work from home. I mean, they seem to be working at odds with each other.  

AYRES: Two parts to that question. Firstly, on productivity - we came to government after a decade of the lowest productivity growth in history. 

JAYES: [Interjecting] Sure, but you’ve been in power for years now. Come on. 

AYRES: We are putting big structural measures in place, including Future Made in Australia, that will lift productivity. Childcare reform that will lift productivity and workforce participation. We've got the settings right and we're doing it. All we've got from Peter Dutton and Angus Taylor is a sort of negative press release machine, no plan for the future, just talking Australia down. That's all that we're hearing. 

JAYES: [Interjecting] Sorry to interrupt you, but the PM is on questions now, so we're going to have to go back there. Congratulations on your new job, and let’s go to the PM. 

ENDS.