Doorstop - Burswood, WA
16 March 2022
SENATOR THE HON. MICHAELIA CASH, ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Well, ladies and gentlemen, good morning, and it is great to be here today at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia breakfast joined by, of course, my Western Australian colleagues Linda Reynolds, Melissa Price and Ben Morton. But the man we are here to see is, of course, the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison. It is great to have our Prime Minister back in Western Australia, as he said this morning at the breakfast, he has been a long time visitor to our state, even before he went into politics. And now that the borders have reopened, it is great to have him back on the ground and certainly at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Breakfast this morning.
The Prime Minister reminded us all, governments don't create jobs. Businesses do. Employers do. Governments put in place policies that under Scott Morrison and his team, enable businesses to prosper, to grow and create more jobs for Australians. And certainly, we're able to highlight today that economic support for businesses in Western Australia that the Morrison Government provided throughout COVID 19, over $14 billion of federal support was provided to Western Australians, whether it be by JobKeeper, by JobSeeker or other policies that were put in place to ensure that Australians maintain that connection with their employer. But of course, we're also able to talk about the return of the fair share of GST to Western Australians. We can never forget that our Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, was the Treasurer at the time that the GST deal was sealed, and it wasn't just about delivering a fair share of GST back to Western Australia. It was about bringing all the other states in Australia with us, and we were able as that strong WA federal team to do that. And again as the Prime Minister said today, this is not a one off. This is a deal that is signed, it is sealed and it is delivered. And in 2019/20 and 2021/22 alone, Western Australia, as a result of the GST deal, has received almost an additional $5 billion. It's $5 billion we did not have before we returned WA’s share of GST back to them and over the next forwards, we can look forward to as Western Australians around $2.6 billion each year that we would otherwise have not received if it was not for the Western Australian Federal Liberal team, and at that time Scott Morrison, as our Treasurer, now as our Prime Minister working with us to deliver this deal for Western Australia.
And of course, two major announcements have been made whilst the Prime Minister has been on the ground in Western Australia, which again just go towards backing Western Australians each and every step of the way. And of course, yesterday, out at Henderson, an investment of up to $4.3 billion in Western Australian shipbuilding with our first dry dock. And then today at our breakfast, critical minerals. As we know Western Australians, we want to be front and centre of any investment in critical minerals, and the Prime Minister today was able to make some incredibly important announcements. So it is great on behalf of the Western Australian federal Liberal team to have our Prime Minister Scott Morrison back in Western Australia and Scott over to you.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you, Michaelia. It's tremendous to be here with so many of my Western Australian team and many more like Ken and others are out there right now, Vince Connolly and so many others, Andrew Hastie who I was with yesterday, who did a great job here from Western Australia and Michaelia, you've made the right point and that is because of my Western Australian team and because of the closeness of the Western Australian team of Liberals that form our government, we've achieved a lot for Western Australia in just the last three years. Just the last three years, including the pandemic, we've delivered an extra $20 billion to support Western Australians through this crisis that some more than $14 billion directly in economic supports and economic support through JobKeeper and cash flow assistance and all of those measures. There's been over $800 million directly that we've put in to support the WA health response through the 50/50 partnership on hospitals and the many other measures from vaccines to mental health. And then on top of that, the $5 billion, the $5 billion that has been delivered already in the additional GST that has come through the fair GST deal, which I initiated, which I legislated as Prime Minister with the full support of my Western Australian team, but not just my Western Australian team, because we were able to carry our whole team, our national team, not as some favour to Western Australia. It wasn't about a favour to Western Australia, it was about fairness for Western Australia, and that fairness was in the national interest and we took that on and we succeeded. And Western Australia now going forward is $2.6 billion on average, better off every single year in additional payments being made to ensure GST is a fair deal for WA, that’s some $13 billion over the next six years. That's more money for hospitals, it's more money for schools, it's more money for police and nurses and teachers. That is what that GST fair deal means for Western Australia, and I think it's going to continue to make a big difference. It's not a one off. It's a forever deal for Western Australia that we've secured and that we've legislated and it will never, ever change under my government. We built it. We'll keep it because we know how important it is.
But that's not the only way we're backing in Western Australians. As Michaelia has just said, we understand that Western Australia is a powerhouse of the Australian national economy. One of the important reasons why Australia has fared better than all of the G7 nation economies, the most advanced economies in the world during this pandemic, with 260,000 more people employed after the pandemic than we had before. And the fact that we've saved 40,000 lives in Australia, including here in Western Australia, one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, and Western Australia now leads that pack across the country and that we can say that under the global index, Australia is the second most prepared country in the world for pandemic preparedness. All of this has happened by backing Western Australians in Western Australia's economy being such an important part of the national economy. The unemployment here in Western Australia has already gone below four per cent, and that's going to happen for the rest of the country under our economic plan.
But one of the ways you achieve that here in Western Australia is you're serious about backing in the resources industry, in the mining industry here in Western Australia. Now we don’t just say that as Liberals, we mean it, whether it's our agreement with the Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan, we wanted to change the Environmental Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act, the EPBC Act, to ensure that it was simpler, that it was fairer, that decisions could be made quicker and investments could flow into Western Australia. The Premier and I agreed that we had to do this, and so we put the legislation forward. Labor and the Greens opposed it at a federal level. Federal Labor under Anthony Albanese is not the same as state Labor under Mark McGowan. There are two very different animals, and we've worked very closely with Mark McGowan here in Western Australia to deliver and support the path he has been on and to ensure that the economic dividend, especially in our resources sector, continues to be realised.
And we've done the same with our defence industry investments. Just in the last two days yesterday, $4.3 billion up to that and investment in the dry dock facility we discussed yesterday. Today, more than $400 million investment in realising Australia's critical minerals and rare earths industry, and that's especially here in Western Australia. Two companies specifically benefiting from direct support to ensure that they can realise their potential. This is how you grow a strong economy. This is how you get a strong economy for a stronger future. And in this election, that is the choice. The choice is who can best manage our economy going forward, who can best manage our national finances. It is our government that has kept our Triple-A credit rating throughout the pandemic and over our entire time in government, and we've done that by making sensible, responsible decisions and you'll see that in the budget in a fortnight's time. Sensible, responsible decisions, but at the same time, address the need to grow our economy and support Australians with the cost of living pressures that they are facing. The budget will be there to support Australia's ongoing recovery, but not just that, but to build our economy for the future in the same way we have, which has made Australia one of the most resilient economies in the world through this crisis. And that is in no small part due to the very outstanding efforts here in Western Australia. Happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you have spoken about the importance of your West Australian team. Is your friend Ben Morton, he's standing behind you, going to still be a part of that team after the Election Day or is he going to the lose his electorate?
PRIME MINISTER: I have great confidence in Ben in his seat. Ben has done outstanding work in his seat and he's best placed to go out there and advocate that. And will and I have absolutely no doubt that he will be supported because of the work that he has done and what he's been able to deliver everything from support to basketball stadiums to ensure that the support is happening in apprenticeships and trainees and mental health support and hospital and health care support throughout his electorate. So we have the record of delivering these things when we've got record levels of health and hospitals funding. Our hospitals funding for Western Australia since we've come to government has increased by over 80 per cent, over 80 per cent. Now that is almost double what the increase has been at a state level. So we've been delivering for Western Australia from GST to hospitals to pandemic support, to backing in the important industries that create the jobs here in Western Australia. And if you're by choosing and choosing to re-endorse Ben Morton as the Member for Tangney, you're choosing to endorse and support these outcomes that they know that they've been experiencing.
JOURNALIST: The latest polling suggests Tangney is in danger. If you lose four seats in WA, it's going to be very hard to retain government, isn't it, if you lose WA?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this only highlights the importance of the choice between the Australian people. Now, Western Australians know that it was our government that delivered the fairer GST deal. It's our government that has supported the resources industry. It's the Labor Party that didn't move on GST when they had the opportunity. We did. It's the Labor Party that has not backed the resources industry here in Western Australia at a federal level. The state level, very different, state Labor completely different to Albanese Labor at a federal level. It's not the same thing. At the next election, whoever you vote for, Mark McGowan will be the Premier the next day and if we're returned at the next election, I will continue to work closely with the Western Australian Premier to get the right outcome for Western Australians and the national scene as well, and we've been a good partnership to that end. But what you would have if the government is not returned is Anthony Albanese as the Prime Minister of this country. Someone who has never held a financial portfolio in all of his time in government, never done a budget, never held a national security portfolio. And this is someone who is seeking to be Prime Minister at a time when we face the biggest global shocks not only to our energy economy, but also our broader global economy and the national security challenges that we face in terms of what has occurred all [inaudible] in Europe. But most significantly, here in the Indo-Pacific.
Now we've demonstrated the experienced steady hand on economic management and national security. These are things that Labor often pretend to but never deliver on. And probably the best example of that on national security is if we kept defence spending as a share of the economy on what was set up by Labor when they were last in power, which was the lowest level since before the Second World War, then there would have been $55 billion less invested in our Defence Forces from that day to this. $10 billion less in this year alone. So you can't claim to have the same views when it comes to national security when you've done that. You can't claim as Labor does that you have the same experience on managing the nation's finances when they, we've already demonstrated, would have spent $81 billion more during this pandemic than the government. That's not how you keep a Triple-A credit rating in the middle of a pandemic.
Labor knows how to start spending, but they never know how to stop. We knew we had to spend during the pandemic to get the economy through, but we also know when it's the responsible time to stop that and start returning the fiscal management, the money management of our economy and of the government back to more normal settings. And the Treasurer will have a bit more to say on that.
JOURNALIST: The National Security Committee is meeting today. Is there any consideration being given to sanctions on China, for its silence over Russia?
PRIME MINISTER: One thing that has disturbed me from the outset, apart from the obvious in terms of Russia's violent and illegal invasion of Ukraine, has been the chilling silence that we saw from China. And I think there is a real lack of transparency in the relationship between China and Russia. Now, at a time when the rest of the world is applying sanctions to Russia and seeking to impose a heavy price on them for their violent and aggressive actions, China actually relieved trade restrictions or trade measures on Russia on wheat, for example. Now that sends a terrible message. China seeks to present itself as playing a positive role in global affairs to maintain peace and stability. The lack of transparency in relationship with Russia is a great concern in our region, not just to liberal democracies. And I think it's time for these sorts of issues to be made clear.
JOURNALIST: Is there potential for sanctions on China for its silence?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we will move in lockstep with our partners and allies on these issues, and the United States has made some very clear statements about this and we support those statements. We support those statements and we support them because we think it's important that the whole world comes together to put an end to this terrible violence and aggression by Russia in Ukraine. There is no there is no equivalence, as China has seemed to have present between the claims of Ukraine and Russia. There is no equivalence. The rest of the world is not gone anywhere to suggest that. And I have been concerned that there has been some implicit support that has been there for the claims of Russia in Ukraine by China. I don't agree with that. Australia doesn't agree with that. Our partners and allies and liberal democracies around the world and Europe and other places in North America do not agree with that. And so I think it's very important for China to be very transparent about what is their relationship with Russia, what is their relationship with Russia when it comes to throwing them an economic lifeline during this global crisis? And potentially what, if any, support has been discussed for military support for Russia? Because that would be an abomination.
JOURNALIST: What do you say to claims that Kimberley Kitching was bullied by members of the Labor Party before her death?
PRIME MINISTER: These are very distressing claims, and I don't think they can be just dismissed. But more significantly, I feel terribly for Kimberly's family that at the time that when they are grieving so badly and her close friends and there she had close friends on both sides of the aisle and her funeral will be next week, as I understand it. I know there will be many Coalition members there as well. Kimberley Kitching was unique. She was a true patriot, and the reason she had so many friends on our side is because she stood up very strongly for issues of our national security and sovereignty. And she worked closely with members like Andrew Hastie here in Western Australia, who became a good friend of Kimberly. And so these reports of her treatment are not ones that I can confirm, obviously, as the leader of the Liberal Party, but there are certainly things that I would expect not to be dismissed and to be taken very seriously and addressed.
JOURNALIST: Should the Labor Party launch an investigation?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I'm going to leave those matters to the Labor Party. I deal with matters in our party, both as the leader of the parliamentary party and as the Prime Minister, but I don't think they can be dismissed. They obviously need to be addressed and particularly out of respect for the late Senator Kitching and, of course, her family and her friends. But my main message is to them, it is just a terrible shock. It was a terrible shock to us all that it was like when we lost our dear friend Don Randall many years ago here in the West, almost in very similar circumstances, and died of a heart attack while he was in his car. And for many of us, it brought back those memories as well. So I do understand how so many in the Labor Party would be feeling at the moment. But these are the stories that have come forward. They have come forward from the Labor Party and the union movement. And clearly, they need to be addressed. And I'll leave that to the leader of the Labor Party to address.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] has warned against a cash flush in the upcoming budget to avoid furthering inflation. Is that something you're considering and will it be a more reserved budget outlook?
PRIME MINISTER: I think we have to be very careful about those issues and that's why we have to take responsible decisions and always have. The reason we've kept our Triple-A credit rating in Australia is because ratings agencies have understood what we were doing in our budgets, that they understood that we'd been targeted. And this is one of the key principles that we articulated at the start of the pandemic. We said we would be targeted in the supports that we provided, that they would have a start date and they'd have a stop date. That there'd be a pathway in and there'd be a pathway out. And we were very clear about that. And the Labor Party, they opposed us on that. They said they supported JobKeeper, but then they attacked us when we turned it off. And if it had been left to the Labor Party, they would have spent $81 billion more during the pandemic on these measures. Now, to give you an understanding of the scale of that, that is almost three times what we spend on Medicare every single year, and this is the risk that Labor presents. They know how to start spending, but I don't know how to stop because they aren't able to accept that responsibility for financial management. People know Labor can't manage money. We've seen it every time. And in this pandemic, our government has both done what we've needed to do to support the economy, so it had its strength to rebuild after the pandemic. But now that process is well underway that we continue to must be targeted in the things that we do, so we don't add to those inflationary pressures. And the headline inflation in Australia was running around at 3.5 per cent, about 2.6 per cent on underlying inflation. The average under my government, by the way, is around 2.1 per cent. Now what we're seeing overseas inflation over five per cent in the United Kingdom and approaching eight per cent in the United States. And so managing inflation is incredibly important, and that means a lot of this election because inflation rising means higher interest rates and high interest rates for the millions of Australians for whom that is a major part of their of their weekly budget.
And so as we go into this election, there are many, many pressures and who's best able to manage inflation? Who is best able to manage the pressures on rising interest rates? Who's best able to manage the budget and ensure that we get our economic supports right? And particularly here in the West is who's going to support the resources jobs? Who's going to support the mining jobs and stand up for the mining industry here in Australia, like the Liberals and the Nationals here across the country? Because that's what we've always done. Thanks very much everyone.
