Doorstop - Jakarta, Indonesia
1 September 2018
PRIME MINISTER: We’ll go to questions fairly quickly but it has been a very brief but, I think, a very rewarding visit here in Indonesia. The hospitality and welcome that I’ve received from the President and the other senior members of his government has been quite overwhelming and I think that’s a testimony to the strength of the relationship and of the great and hard work of our embassy officials here and, of course, the former Prime Minister and the former Foreign Minister – Julie Bishop and Malcolm Turnbull. This has been a very seamless transition in securing this agreement, which is very important for Australia, and I want to thank everybody who’s been involved in making sure that we’re able to move very quickly to have this achieved and we look forward to the agreement being signed, as I have said, later in the year. It was also a great opportunity to meet President Widodo. He is as Malcolm promised me a very amiable fellow. He’s a very easy fellow to have a chat with. We swapped pictures of kids and dogs and we talked curries – he’s just a very easy fellow to get along with. No surprise why people feel so affectionately about him here in his country. But we’ll be heading from here back out to the airport, heading home, it’s Father’s Day tomorrow. Looking forward to that, seeing the girls – as I’m sure all fathers are – so, kids, be good to your dads tomorrow and dads always be good to your kids.
QUESTION: Prime Minister, what will the free trade agreement mean for everyday Australians and their cost of living?
PRIME MINISTER: The free trade agreement – and it’s more than that, it’s not just a trade agreement, this is a partnership that goes well beyond that. And it sits with all the other agreements we’ve done – whether it’s with China or Japan or Korea, the TPP – all of this is meaning that Australian companies and the people who work for those companies can get a better go in the international market and for Australians that means more growth in the economy. When there’s more growth in the economy then that means better services for Australians. It also means that when you’re getting rid of tariffs, you’re basically taking taxes off things that are being bought in Australia and our key imports that come out of Indonesia – particularly petroleum and furniture and things like that and wood and even footwear – these are things that will no longer have these tariffs on them and many more.
It also means that between our two countries, there will be a lot more exchange, particularly in the area of education and training. Australians are the best trainers in the world. We’re fantastic at training in everything from training people on aged care through to hospitality management and, certainly, in formal security arrangements we’ve been outstanding trainers in the military in particular which is not obviously subject to this agreement. Our training of those in overseas deployments for foreign countries has been extraordinary. So, we’re a great trainer of people and that builds capability here but it also is an important source of revenue for those training institutions.
QUESTION: PM, this trade deals removes a lot of the red tape that exists between the two countries and facilitates trade. From the Indonesian side, one piece of red tape that does remain is the basic visitor visa that people apply to come to Australia, which is what presumably this deal is designed to do. It costs a couple of hundred dollars, it asks questions like, ‘Have you committed genocide? Are you a war criminal? Are you a sex offender?” It runs to 13 pages long. Is this something that Australia would now consider streamlining? Removing some of this red tape in the future, given how important this relationship is to both nations?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, not just for Indonesia. I mean, the short answer to that is yes. But our comprehensive visa system is one of the most important elements of why we have such a successful immigration program. So, you need a visa to come from everywhere – even, technically, from New Zealand – and what we are doing though is streamlining that process. When I was here some years ago as Immigration Minister, that was a topic of conversation then and there have been improvements since then and I believe there will be more improvements. There are matters that have been brought forward to me which further uses and enhances the technology that is available to us to make sure that our visa system ticks all the right boxes but can tick boxes in a way using the technology that is available to us today which means for visitors or businesspeople or others, you can have both now. You can have the comprehensive visa program and you can have seamless travel. These things are now within sight and so that’s the sort of technology and processes we’re investing in.
QUESTION: PM, how do you convince your opposite number that you’re not just a stopgap Prime Minister for the next seven or eight months?
PRIME MINISTER: These things are based on relationships. I’ve been part of this Government for the last five years and now I have the privilege to lead this Government and our relationship with Indonesia, and in particular with President Widodo, has been a relationship of our Government and that continuity has been assured and achieved here during this visit. Now, we’re all politicians, we all face elections. He’s facing one next year. I’m facing one next year. So we all understand the volatilities of politics and you know, we talk about them too, politician to politician. I’ll be returning to Australia to demonstrate to Australians that I have that plan for an even stronger Australia, an Australia where we keep our economy strong to guarantee essential services that Australians rely on, that keeps Australians safe and just like they’re doing here in Indonesia, keeping our country together, keeping Australians together. Now, that is something that falls to me to convince the Australian people of which I will do every waking hour that I have and, I suspect, a few that aren’t waking as well.
QUESTION: Prime Minister, on the issue of keeping Australians safe. Have you been briefed on the apparent terror threat on the lives of the former Prime Minister and former Foreign Affairs Minister? If so, what can you tell us about it and how much does it concern you?
PRIME MINISTER: It concerns me and, of course, as Prime Minister, I’m receiving briefings all the time and you wouldn’t expect me to go into the details of those briefings ever and I’m sure you didn’t expect me to read you in on this one Tim.
QUESTION: You did receive a briefing on it?
PRIME MINISTER: I receive briefings constantly, constantly on these issues. I particularly want to congratulate the New South Wales joint counter-terrorism team, which not only brings together New South Wales law enforcement agencies but also Commonwealth agencies as well. They’re a tight team and they’re working very closely together and what we’ve seen on occasion after occasion is our security agencies thwart these. Now, as we know, this is a lone wolf action from this individual which has been caught in a very early phase. That’s what they’re about, and you know, the way that they’re able to do their job is because of the resources and support they receive, the cooperation that is now second nature and thirdly, it’s because the relationships that they have with the communities and the tools that they have to gather the intelligence which enables them to keep us all safe. So this is another example of how our policies, our support, our initiatives to keep Australians safe continue to work.
QUESTION: Mr Morrison, you said you’re looking forward to heading to the other diplomatic summits this year like ASEAN. We understand that Donald Trump, the news from the White House is that he won’t be attending, are you disappointed you won’t get to meet him face-to-face and what kind of impact will that have on the ASEAN Summit?
PRIME MINISTER: I spoke to President Trump, as you know, last weekend and we had a good chat about all of these issues. We indeed did speak about APEC as well and the forums in our region. I anticipate seeing him when we go to the G20 in Buenos Aires later this year so that’s where that opportunity will first present itself. Vice President Pence is a good and decent man and speaks with the authority of the President and I’ll be looking forward to seeing him in all of those fora. This back-end of the year is a busy schedule. These events oppose the midterms there in the United States and those events would have seen him out of the country for quite a period of time and, at the end of the day, while this has been a very important visit for me to be here in Indonesia so quickly, my first responsibilities are back at home and I’m sure the President has similar views in terms of where his first responsibilities lie.
QUESTION: Can I ask you just briefly about unions on the home front? You often talk about increasing salaries. They’re beginning a door knocking campaign to try and boost wages. I imagine you’d welcome that but you’re probably a little sceptical at the same time?
PRIME MINISTER: I don’t understand why the unions are wanting the Government to put taxes up. I mean, maybe they could go door to door and tell people that the Labor Party wants to put taxes up every day. I don’t know why the unions want taxes up. If they want people to keep more of what they earn, why do the unions want to increase taxes on Australians? Whether it’s on personal taxes, whether it’s on businesses – small and medium sized businesses – I mean, the unions and the Labor Party have one answer to every question: increase your tax and put their hand in your pocket.
QUESTION: Can you tell us more about the security agreement next week at the Pacific Islands Forum? What is the agreement that is going to be signed?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ll leave that to next week and I’ll address that at that time.
QUESTION: PM, it seems that there’s uncertainty with European MPs about the Government’s position on the Paris Climate Accord. Do you think a free trade deal with the EU has been put at risk by some of the uncertainty around that given your colleagues want the Government to pull out of it?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I think that’s a complete furphy. Let me be clear about this. Australia’s commitments to the Paris targets haven’t changed. We stand on our record when it comes to these things. Australia stands on its record. I mean, we hit our first target, exceeded it by 128 million tonnes. We’re on track to meet our second Kyoto target and exceed it by 294 million tonnes. Australia has committed to our targets and we’ve been hitting them so our record is clear, our consistency of position is clear and Australia’s position on this is specific to Australia. We’re not in some sort of unders and overs game with a whole range of other nations where some are higher and some are lower. No, we stand alone in what we say and Australia’s got a good track record and we stand on our record.
QUESTION: PM, do you think James Ricketson was spying on the Cambodian government?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I don’t think commenting on these matters is helpful to the individuals involved. Australia will continue to provide all support, as you would expect in this case, and as I said yesterday, that’s where our focus is.
QUESTION: So you won’t say either way, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: I don’t think commentary on these things ever helps these cases, ever.
QUESTION: Prime Minister, just in terms of back to when you spoke about the volatility of politics. Was a bit of a white elephant at the coffee shop, I’m guessing, yesterday. What did the President say to you about events in Canberra and how did you explain the unexpected transition of power?
PRIME MINISTER: I had spoken to President Widodo earlier in the week and we talked about coming up and he was really thrilled and pleased that I was going to come up and no, it was actually quite an easy conversation. It may be a surprise to you but politicians around the world are used to volatility in politics and we’ve had some in Australia which you know my views about. I was very disappointed and distressed at the events as I know all Australians were at that time but we also know that when we take on these responsibilities you have to just move forward, bring your team together, which I’m working to demonstrate to the Australian people. I want to bring Australians together and keep Australians together but they need to know that first up, I need to bring my team together and that’s what we’re rapidly doing.
QUESTION: Prime Minister, you say you were distressed at the events but I don’t think you’ve said yet what you actually plan to do to prevent a repeat of the events. Do you plan any reforms of the Liberal Party or broader political reforms that will stop you being as the Jakarta Post quotes “a revolving door Prime Minister”?
PRIME MINISTER: You can’t regulate culture and it’s culture – whether it was in the Labor Party or in other political parties – that lead to these types of events and so, I’m going to be focused on building, once again, a positive culture amongst our team. We are very aware, as a team, of the great challenge that is before us but we also don’t resile from it because we know how it important it is. As a Government, we have been able to deliver strong economic growth, over a million jobs, overwhelmingly a majority of which were full-time jobs, we have been able to secure agreements with our trading partners around the world, we have embarked on an infrastructure program which is dealing with everything from Tulla Rail to Western Sydney Airport and, of course, the iconic project from the previous Prime Minister at Snowy 2.0. The M1 in Queensland, the works that we’re doing in metropolitan transport over in Western Australia. Look, we have a strong record as a Government of achievement. What we have to demonstrate to the Australian people is that we are coming together, 100 per cent focused on them and we will continue with those plans that I’ve outlined. I mean, it’s pretty straightforward, a stronger economy, Australians safe and keeping Australians together. That’s what a Morrison Government stands for.
QUESTION: Mr Morrison, a week ago you took over the Prime Ministership. Yesterday you were receiving a full ceremonial welcome at the Presidential Palace here in Indonesia. What was going through your mind when you were on the red carpet inspecting the ranks with President Widodo?
PRIME MINISTER: The people of Australia. It’s a great privilege to serve and this is an important relationship. People who know me well, some of you know me quite well, you know how focused I am on the job and that’s my responsibility and that’s my very pleasant duty.
[INAUDIBLE]
PRIME MINISTER: Fire away.
QUESTION: Julie Bishop has indicated she will recontest her seat. Is this something she has spoken to you about and what’s your reaction?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, she has and we spoke about it after the change last week and I welcome it. I think, great! I think it’s fantastic to have Julie in our team and I look forward to continuing to work with Julie. I think it’s absolutely tremendous. Let’s not forget that what we’ve been able to achieve here these last couple of days was set up by the great work of Foreign Minister Bishop and Prime Minister Turnbull. I was pleased that I was able to come here under, what you rightly say Tim, were pretty turbulent circumstances and to be able to restore and re-establish that trust and that continuity so we can go forward with this and I think this is a really good example of, despite the dramatic events of over a week ago, my Government is at work and getting on with it and I’m looking forward to getting home and continuing that job back in Australia and I’m also looking forward to Father’s Day. Cheers.
