Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Matt Hepworth spoke with Senator Sam McMahon

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Matt Hepworth spoke with Senator Sam McMahon · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Mix one O four point nine dot com DOTU for
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  Speaker 1: all the latest news and information. Now three sixty with Katiewolf.
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  Speaker 1: Everyone is listening Mix one oh four point nine one
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  Speaker 1: hundred percent ant.
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  Speaker 2: Matt Hepworth filling in for Katie Wolf this morning. Will
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  Speaker 2: Federal Parliament resumes today and live on the line from
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  Speaker 2: Canberra is Northern Territory CELP. Senator Sam mcmahton, Good morning.
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  Speaker 3: Senator, Good morning Maddie.
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  Speaker 4: How are you good?
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  Speaker 3: Thanks Sam?
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  Speaker 2: Before we get into business, tell you what bit fresh
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  Speaker 2: in canber there. I think I read it was minus
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  Speaker 2: three overnight.
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  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, certainly feel it, that's for sure.
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  Speaker 2: Oh how do you go as a territory goal hitting
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  Speaker 2: those temperatures?
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  Speaker 4: Well, I really only hit them when I sort of
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  Speaker 4: go from the accommodation to the car. Really, because I'm
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  Speaker 4: sort of from during center estimates. From seven am through
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  Speaker 4: to midnight, I'm cooped up in Parliament House.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been nice and toasting in there. I'd imagine
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  Speaker 2: in more ways than one you'd said it not me.
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  Speaker 2: As we mentioned though, Parliament resumes again to day. It
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  Speaker 2: sounds like there's some federal government tax changes to seniors
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  Speaker 2: and territorians.
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  Speaker 3: With another job. Can you tell us more about it.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, Look, the proposed changes for seniors was something that
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  Speaker 4: I put to the Prime Minister and also to Minister
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  Speaker 4: Ste Robert when he was up, and that would involve
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  Speaker 4: allowing pensioners to work additional hours without it affecting their pensions.
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  Speaker 4: This will be a temporary measure due to the worker shortages,
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  Speaker 4: particularly in agricultural, tourism and hospitality industries, and would allow
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  Speaker 4: those pensioners who wanted to do some extra work, particularly
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  Speaker 4: some of our gray nomads who are traveling around the territory,
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  Speaker 4: to be able to do extra hours without it affecting
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  Speaker 4: their pension, which they can work very few hours at
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  Speaker 4: the moment. So that's a proposal that I put to them.
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  Speaker 4: There was quite a bit of interest shown in that,
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  Speaker 4: and I'm actually meeting with the trend We've had a
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  Speaker 4: few casual chats about it, but I'm meeting with him
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  Speaker 4: while I'm down here to propose that further.
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  Speaker 2: It's something that really hasn't been spoken about a lot,
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  Speaker 2: trying to fill this job shortage that we hear so
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  Speaker 2: much about in the Northern Territory at the moment, particularly
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  Speaker 2: the tourism and hospitality industry. I mean, there's all this
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  Speaker 2: talk that normally it would be backpackers or people from
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  Speaker 2: overseas that would fill this market, and everyone's kind of
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  Speaker 2: scrambling now to find a solution. But gray nomads is
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  Speaker 2: something that really probably hasn't been brought into the conversation much.
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  Speaker 4: No, not really. I mean, look, I managed to get
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  Speaker 4: the cap on international students working hours raised, so that
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  Speaker 4: was sort of the first thing to do to help
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  Speaker 4: out with these worker shortages in these industries, and this
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  Speaker 4: is my next proposal from that. Probably a slightly more
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  Speaker 4: complex to get through, but I mean it seems to
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  Speaker 4: me and to everyone that I've proposed it to to
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  Speaker 4: be a no brainer. If the gray nomads are around,
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  Speaker 4: if they want to do some extra hours, we should
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  Speaker 4: be letting them. It's a win for everybody.
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  Speaker 3: What's the feedback being like from seniors.
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  Speaker 2: Have you engaged with the Kota, the counsel of the
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  Speaker 2: aging up here or anyone like that.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, no, not formally. I've had a lot of informal
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  Speaker 4: chats and I haven't had any negativity from the people
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  Speaker 4: I've spoken to. Obviously, it's voluntary. We're not, like, you know,
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  Speaker 4: putting them into played labor or anything. But you know
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  Speaker 4: a lot of them do want to do a few
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  Speaker 4: extra hours and if they want to earn a little
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  Speaker 4: bit of extra money and help with our labor shortages.
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  Speaker 4: I can't see any negatives, and nor can any of
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  Speaker 4: the people that I've proposed it to or spoken to
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  Speaker 4: about it.
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  Speaker 2: How quickly could we see these changes made? It sounds
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  Speaker 2: like the barrier at the moment is around that threshold
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  Speaker 2: of the fact that it would cut into their pension.
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  Speaker 2: If the government's willing and the Treasurer and the Prime
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  Speaker 2: Minister are on board with this, how quickly could we
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  Speaker 2: see it change.
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  Speaker 4: I believe it could change very quickly, you know, within
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  Speaker 4: a manner of a week or two. That'll be part
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  Speaker 4: of my discussion with the Treasurer as to what actually
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  Speaker 4: needs to happen from his point of view. But yeah,
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  Speaker 4: it could happen very quickly. And as it did with
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  Speaker 4: the international students, you know, we just lifted the cap
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  Speaker 4: on the hours that they could work, so this could
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  Speaker 4: happen very quickly. Now, the proposal to change the taxation
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  Speaker 4: on people who are working a second job is going
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  Speaker 4: to be a lot more complex because that's going to
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  Speaker 4: involve changes to the Taxation Act, so that would take
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  Speaker 4: a lot longer and be a lot more complex. I'll
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  Speaker 4: also mention that to the Treasurer, But I don't see
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  Speaker 4: it as being a very quick or workable solution at
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  Speaker 4: the moment.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I guess the problem would be, is we
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  Speaker 2: need something pretty quick in immediate.
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  Speaker 3: Look at our tourism season up here.
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  Speaker 2: We're already in the peak of it at the moment,
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  Speaker 2: and I guess if it's something that's going to take
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  Speaker 2: more than probably the next four or six weeks, then
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  Speaker 2: it's as something that's probably going to be a solution
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  Speaker 2: for next year's job shortages or beyond.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah. Correct, we need something quickly. You know, we need
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  Speaker 4: it for our egg industries, we need it for our
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  Speaker 4: tourism and hospitality industries. And you know, as you say,
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  Speaker 4: we're already well into our tourism season and operators are
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  Speaker 4: just getting absolutely smashed, which is great, it's a good
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  Speaker 4: problem to have, but they don't have the staff to
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  Speaker 4: adequately service the demand.
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  Speaker 2: I do believe there's some federal government initiatives at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: They're encouraging people to move to the Northern Territory to
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  Speaker 2: fill some of these job vacancies can do you know
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  Speaker 2: anything more about that at all?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah, mate, Look that's a pretty it's a pretty good,
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  Speaker 4: pretty generous initiative. The federal government is providing up to
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  Speaker 4: nine thousand dollars to people to relocate to the Northern
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  Speaker 4: Territory to take up an ongoing job. So if you're
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  Speaker 4: a job seeker, if you know, anyone's sitting in Brisbane, Sydney,
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  Speaker 4: Melbourne and they're looking for work and they're unemployed, they
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  Speaker 4: can get up to nine thousand dollars to come up
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  Speaker 4: to the Northern Territory. It's pretty generous incentive.
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  Speaker 2: And is that just the Northern Territory or is it
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  Speaker 2: other parts of regional Australia as well?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's other parts of regional Australia. And it also
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  Speaker 4: is a three thousand dollars incentive if you move to
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  Speaker 4: another capital city, but up to nine thousand if you
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  Speaker 4: move to a regional area. So you know, as that's
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  Speaker 4: going to encompass most of the Northern Territory, it's a
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  Speaker 4: pretty good.
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  Speaker 2: Offer, certainly is Senator. If I can just change pace
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  Speaker 2: a little bit. Over the weekend we heard reports that
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  Speaker 2: Opposition leader Leah Finocchiario's chief of staff, Tim Dixon, has
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  Speaker 2: nominated for Senate pre selection. Others include Alice Spring's deputy
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  Speaker 2: manager Center Price and Defense, and tees Linda Fasildein. Sam,
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  Speaker 2: will you be seeking pre selection as well? And are
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  Speaker 2: you worried about all this competition from other candidates.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, Maddie. Obviously as a sitting senator, I will be
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  Speaker 4: seeking pre selection to continue on in my role as
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  Speaker 4: a c orp senator. And no, I'm not not worried
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  Speaker 4: at all. This is the beauty of a liberal democracy
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  Speaker 4: that we live in, is that, you know, anyone can
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  Speaker 4: put their hand up and seek pre selection. And the
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  Speaker 4: thing that we need to keep in mind too, is
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  Speaker 4: that there are two Senate spots, So I'd be worried
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  Speaker 4: if no one else had stuck their hand up. So
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  Speaker 4: I'm very glad that people willing to put themselves forward,
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  Speaker 4: and certainly of all those three people that have been
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  Speaker 4: mentioned so far, I would be more than happy to
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  Speaker 4: have any one of them as number two on my
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  Speaker 4: Senate ticket.
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  Speaker 2: Is it a point of contention within the party at
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  Speaker 2: the moment, No, not at.
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  Speaker 4: All that I've heard, not at all. You know, we're
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  Speaker 4: glad that we're getting quality people putting their hands up
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  Speaker 4: for election. You know, we're going to have an election
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  Speaker 4: coming up, possibly later this year or early next year,
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  Speaker 4: and it's really heartening to the party and for the
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  Speaker 4: Party that we're having quality candidates willing to put the
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  Speaker 4: hand up and take on a job.
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  Speaker 2: What's the word on the ground in Canberra about an
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  Speaker 2: election date.
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  Speaker 4: At the moment, The word is it's going to be
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  Speaker 4: early next year. But obviously that's the decision for the PM,
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  Speaker 4: and he will make that decision known to us when
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  Speaker 4: he's ready, but he's certainly saying early next year. Talk
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  Speaker 4: is probably mark April at the moment.
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  Speaker 3: Very good.
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  Speaker 2: Now, I'm just finally sending to anything else we should
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  Speaker 2: know about in Parliament this week.
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  Speaker 4: Look, I mean, we've got a lot going on in
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  Speaker 4: budget estimates. I mean, that's what I'm doing at the moment.
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  Speaker 4: Obviously the Senate is very tied up in that and
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  Speaker 4: there's going to be a lot discussed. I mean, it
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  Speaker 4: was a good budget I think by everyone's reckoning of it,
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  Speaker 4: and we'll be having a look at that in a
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  Speaker 4: lot more detail, and obviously all the opposition parties get
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  Speaker 4: to ask questions. We also get to question the departments.
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  Speaker 4: There's certainly quite a few questions that I'll be asking
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  Speaker 4: on behalf of the Northern Territory, so you think it
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  Speaker 4: can be very busy two weeks.
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  Speaker 2: Just finally, Senator, I forgot to ask before, when will
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  Speaker 2: we hear those candidates finalized for preselection.
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  Speaker 4: That's set down for the twenty sixth twenty seventh of June,
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  Speaker 4: where the COLP will hold its Central Council and it's
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  Speaker 4: expected that pre selection will take place there and the
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  Speaker 4: candidates will be announced as soon as that has taken place.
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  Speaker 2: Very good, Well, we know you are very busy in Canberra.
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  Speaker 2: We will let you get back to it. Northern Territory
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  Speaker 2: CLP Senator Sam McMahon, I thank you so much for
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  Speaker 2: your time this morning.
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  Speaker 4: No way, thanks Maddie,