E&OE TRANSCRIPT
SUBJECTS: Youth crime rates in Victoria; RBA’s July rate decision; wage growth
SARAH ABO, HOST: Welcome back. Alarming new figures have revealed the severity of Victoria's youth crime crisis, with assaults and robberies committed by children as young as 10, surging 142% over the past decade. Joining us to discuss today's headlines is Minister for Government Services and the NDIS, Bill Shorten and Liberal MP Dan Tehan in beautiful Hamilton in Western Victoria. Thank you both for your time today. Now, Bill, we're talking about kids as young as 10, between 10 to 13 years of age. It's pretty hard to comprehend that these guys are performing such heinous crimes.
BILL SHORTEN, MINISTER FOR THE NDIS AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES: Yeah, some of the material that I read was really shocking, which does then go to the issue how do we stop these kids from doing that? It's still an overall a small number, but it's serious if it happens to you. And I think that's why the Victorian Government and I stress it's a State Government matter, but Victorian Government is looking at different ways of intervention rather than the status quo because the status quo isn't working as well as it should. So, we've got to try some new ways of early intervention, so kids who've got very bad circumstances don't get in the treadmill of jail or, you know, juvenile correction and jail.
ABO: It's a massive issue across the state. But what we're seeing in Victoria is, these numbers are absurd, and especially when we're thinking about what's happened to these children that may be causing them to behave in this way. Dan, it's getting worse. These crimes have spiked almost 150% in the past decade, as we've said. And a key takeaway is that a lot of these are repeat offenders.
DAN TEHAN, MEMBER FOR WANNON: It is. And it does require a whole of government approach and all levels of government. I had the Shadow Minister for Youth in Hamilton last night and we did a community forum. And the clear take out from that is, is that we need all levels of government working together with the community to deal with this issue. We've got to deal with the issue of social media, the fact that they commit these crimes and put it on social media is abhorrent and we have to be able to deal with that aspect of it. But we've also got to make sure that we can intervene early when there's mental health issues. We've got to make sure the supports are there. It's really about bringing all levels of government together and the community together to deal with this because it's not working. And here in Victoria it's getting worse.
ABO: Yeah, absolutely. Dan And I guess, Bill, when we're thinking about these figures in relation to how the public is going to react, do you think that the Victorian Government should perhaps reconsider the increase in age of criminal responsibility? They're looking at making it 12 by the end of next year and then 14 by 2027. Should they reconsider that given these numbers?
SHORTEN: Well, perhaps I could give you a different way of viewing what's happening, which is we currently have the current laws in place and they're not working. So perhaps borrowing from what Dan said, we need a whole of government response with the community. I agree with what Dan said about social media –
ABO: But we’re talking about repeat offenders here, so they're not learning. You know, the numbers of offenders have actually decreased, but the repeat offenders have increased.
SHORTEN: To put in a simple sentence then, if you talk about repeat offenders, repeating the status quo won't give you a different result. So maybe we do need to recognise the latest in evidence and science. These kids come from dysfunctional homes. That's no excuse for violence. Make that very clear. No excuse. But if they're repeat offenders, just keeping the system as it is with the level at 10, that's not working, is it? So, I think it is prudential to see, what are the other ways we can intervene. Once these kids get into a cycle of repeat offending, they go to, if they end up going to juvenile corrections, we're training them for life. So, I think isn't it time to break the mould?
ABO: Yeah, I'm just not sure a lot of Victorians agree with you there, Bill. But anyway.
SHORTEN: Yeah, but let's not sneer at the evidence. Repeating the same experiment and expecting a different result. Wasn't that someone's definition of insanity?
ABO: Millions of Aussies will wait with bated breath today. Economists still split down the middle over whether or not the RBA will hike rates for a 13th time since May last year. Bill, people are being forced to forego basic essentials. They're trying to find this money wherever they can. We're talking about thousands, tens of thousands of dollars in some cases. It can't go on for much longer. Has the government exacerbated this by arguing for wage growth here now?
SHORTEN: First of all, the wage growth is well below inflation. The argument that when inflation is going up, wages shouldn't even go up by a portion of the increase of inflation is further starving people and making life hard for them. The reality is that what's driving inflation, there's a fair bit of the inflation caused by international factors, and what we want to do is through investing in cheaper childcare from 1st of July through cheaper medicine, also modest improvement in wages, that at least provides a little bit of buffer until the inflation surge peaks. And what is good is inflation last month was down to 5.6.
ABO: What do you think, Dan? Has wage growth exacerbated this situation and should the RBA be giving families a break today?
TEHAN: Look, all the decisions the Labor Government have been making unfortunately aren't helping the RBA with their job. We've had 11 rate rises now under Labor and they haven't got their spending under control. They're not making the right policy decisions that are leading to a lower inflation environment. And you're absolutely right, families right across the nation are hurting as a result. What we need is the government doing the things which help and support the RBA to keep interest rates lower, to get interest, to get inflation down. And we're just not seeing it from this Government. They're spending. They're not spending in ways which is productive, which in ways helps the economy deal with inflation. And as a result, Australian families are hurting and they're really hurting, and they will be waiting with bated breath today to see what the Reserve Bank does. And my hope is that the Government learns that it's got to help the Reserve Bank keep inflation down and interest rates low, not make its job harder.
SHORTEN: So, let's be frank, inflation was down last month from its high, but I'm pretty sure, Dan, that Sarah just asked you two things. Do you want the RBA, what do you hope they do? And secondly, do you think that the wages increase is driving inflation? Now, we all want to make, we all fingers crossed, hope the RBA doesn't increase today. Let's be brutally honest. We all hope that. But what about wages? The Libs sort of want to have a bet each way. You just blamed Labor. Do you think wages should move? Do you support the latest wage increase, or do you think it's too much?
TEHAN: Well Bill, I'll say this about wages. What you've just admitted is that wages aren't keeping up with inflation. Now, before the last election, you said that you would see real wages growth, that people would see a real increase in their real wages. That isn't occurring under you. So, you're getting your policies wrong. You're spending more. No, I listened to you. You listen to me. You're spending more. You're not dealing with wages. They're not going up. They're going down. And Australian families are hurting as a result. So, everything you promised before the last election about wages going up and people's cost of living being dealt with isn't working.
SHORTEN: So, was that a yes, or no? Do you support the wage increase?
TEHAN: Well, you’re in government, Bill.
ABO: Ohhh, was that a yes or no, Bill? Maybe you should listen to that as well. You politicians don't know what yes and no is.
SHORTEN: No, that’s not fair. Sarah, it’s a straight question.
TEHAN: I'll tell you; I'll tell you what, Bill, this is an important point -
SHORTEN: The Libs, now the Libs are criticising us because wages aren't increasing higher than inflation. You can't be half pregnant. Dan, you're for it or against it.
TEHAN: No, no. Yeah, Bill, what you can be is you can have real wages -
SHORTEN: It’s a biological miracle.
TEHAN: No, you can have real - no, Bill, you hear me out, right?
SHORTEN: I am!
TEHAN: You can have real wages growth in a low inflation environment. We're not getting real wages growth. And look what you're doing to exacerbate it. Bringing 1.5 million people into this country this year and over the next four years, which is just going to exacerbate this even further, just drive inflation even higher.
ABO: All right, guys…
SHORTEN: Okay. Thanks for clearing that up, Dan...
ABO: Took a took a while for things to heat up, but we got there. Guys, we got there and just as we did, we ran out of time. Thank you.
SHORTEN: Biological miracles...
ABO: Thanks for joining me in studio. And Dan, good to see you. All right, Karl, over to you.
KARL STEFANOVIC, HOST: I think Bill is right. To be fair, you can't be half pregnant.
[ENDS]