Q&A Daily Telegraph Bush Summit
18 July 2019
Prime Minister
BEN ENGLISH: I might just kick off with a question. The House Select Committee is on this… at first blush a very welcome move. I think the question weighing on everyone's mind here today is, is there going to be a meaningful outcome of today or is it just going to be a sound bite and we all pat ourselves on the back and then it's out of sight out of mind for the next 12 months? The ultimate accountability comes at the next election, and rural and regional Australia is notoriously unforgiving for people who do forget them, and I think your speech was very welcome in actually mapping out a vision for the next four years. But what does success look like when you go to the polls in terms of the state of rural and regional Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well in response I'd say this - we don't come here with a blank sheet of paper. We don't come here with nothing happening. We all know that to be true. There are a litany of programs and supports and measures and activities that are taking place as we speak right across the country. And one of the things that we've particularly been seeking to do in the last 12 months is increase the responsiveness.
Because while we're here talking about drought in western New South Wales, in northern Queensland - which is close to where Matt is from - on the other side of the range there we're talking about the worst flood they've seen in generations, that wiped out generations of herds in the space of 48 hours. And that same weather event affected the Townsville side of that range. And one of the things we worked very hard on was ensuring that the responsiveness and turnaround of getting that cash and assistance and support and getting the bureaucracy out of the way was done very quickly and very effectively. And we set up the North Queensland Livestock Industry Recovery Agency which Shane Stone is leading and they're doing a fabulous job. So I think a lot of it has to do with the responsiveness and getting things out there, making sure these programs are hitting the deck. There is no shortage of all of these programs. There's heaps of them. The challenge is to connect people to them and ensure that they're very tailored to the needs they have.
So what does success look like? Well, you know at a supernatural level it looks like rain, but that's not something we have direct control over it or any control over. But what success looks like is building resilience. Success looks like on-farm water infrastructure being supported through the programs we've put in place. Success looks like the mental health workers being in place in community and connecting to people out on station and ensuring that we are not experiencing the suicide rate and those sorts of mental health problems.
One of the encouraging things about what we're seeing up in North Queensland... I mean, when these things happen people want to know you're there and if you're not, that can only compound the broader impacts of these disasters. And so the different types of these disasters that occur, what occurred in North Queensland was very sudden. What's been happening with the drought has been happening for a long time. So success looks like region's continuing. And so the House Select Committee, what I want it to do is actually find those success stories and to have that as encouragement. Because rural Australia is not broken, and I think it's very important that the message from this Summit is that the bush is not broken. The bush is surviving and the bush will thrive and the bush will do better because of the collective efforts of everybody who's involved and their persistence and the things that are done to enable them.
So that's what it looks like. It means that we're continuing to go ahead. So I do want to strike an optimistic note here today. And I think it's important that we do. The bush is not broken, the bush has a huge future. And people should remain and we should be backing them in to do just that.
BEN ENGLISH: Yeah I'm just going to open it to the floor. If I could see some hands. While I’m doing that, just a quick one - the Murray-Darling Basin Authority. We're in a situation where a lot of observers are saying that perhaps there needs to be a pause on the flows to South Australia, for example, to supply water to people who desperately need it right now. Is there a moment where you need to have a pause in arrangements that have been put in place before this crisis emerged?
PRIME MINISTER: Well when you get in a car, you look at what's in front of you. You’ve got a steering wheel, you’ve got a brake, you’ve got an accelerator, you might have a clutch, particularly out in the bush you probably do. Certainly wouldn't have one in the Shire or the city too often I suspect these days. But you've got to use the tools you've got, and the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is the tool we've got. And the Murray-Darling Basin Plan some might describe and be very critical of it, and I know there are plenty of criticisms of it. But we need to appreciate the fact that it sits within a crucible of agreements that were made between states 100 years ago and the Commonwealth has no power to override the obligations that sit within those state agreements. So South Australia has their deal. Victoria has their deal. New South Wales has their deal. And the Commonwealth can only act on the basis of what they had all agreed.
And so anyone who thinks that the Commonwealth has some magic wand which sort of says this can happen or that can happen I think, should read the history of the Basin Plan and what's happened in the Basin a little more carefully. We will continue to make that Basin Plan work as effectively as we can. Some might say it's the worst agreement they've ever seen. I'd say if that's your view, that's only true except for all the other alternatives. It is the plan that we have, it has bipartisan support and we will seek to make it work as effectively as we possibly can. But we absolutely understand - and Michael knows this very well coming from the districts affected - that is it is having a very significant frustration for people, particularly in times of drought.
But I also acknowledge it's not just the drought that causes those frustrations. Those along the Murray particularly understand that, and I get that as well. So if states are prepared to actually completely revisit what their entitlements are from the deals that were struck 100 years ago, well, other things can be done. But I have seen no willingness from any states to revisit their rights under that agreement and that means the Commonwealth will continue to work within the plan that we have. Which I must say, despite its critics, has achieved quite a lot. And I think the impact of the drought has obviously exacerbated the concerns that exist around the agreement.
BEN ENGLISH: All right. Show of hands. The gentleman over here.
QUESTION: Thank you Mr Prime Minister and Daily Telegraph thanks very much for organising the summit for the day. PM, thanks for your address. I think in respect you have missed the urgency of the point that we're here today. Where there are farming communities in trouble today. We need help today. To the New South Wales Farmers, I say to them, we do want subsidies. We do need assistance. Any assistance from government is a subsidy. Get over it. Yes, it's a good investment by government to invest. So as we are here to produce that $100 billion a year in the future. Every three to six months we go through a seasonal change and we're going through one right at the moment. The banks will be telling you that. We’re right on the cusp of action required now. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: In my remarks, I've talked very much about the here and now and the here and now is why Farm Household Allowance is delivering what it's doing. And the here and now is why the mental health officers are out there in place. The way we respond to droughts as part of an agreement we have between the states and the Commonwealth, and the split is basically like this: We look after people and their income support, the states look after the ag side in terms of any decisions they make about direct payments to farm businesses and so on. So I'll leave it to John to talk about what the State Government is doing when it comes to direct assistance to farmers, and there'll always be those discussions about subsidies and things like that, when in particular we were dealing through the Drought Summit at a national level when it came to things like fodder subsidies. One of the problems was if you start throwing fodder subsidies in, it just ends up putting the price up for everybody and then that's impacting the ag sector even more broadly.
So you know for every action you take you've got to think about what the other implications are right across the ag sector which as a national government, a federal government, we have to do that. But I absolutely agree about the urgency. That's why we've done what we've done. The first day on the job for me as Prime Minister was about the drought, and it's been that way ever since. So this is why on things like the Farm Household Allowance we haven't stopped. We keep seeking to improve it. We seek keeping to make it more accessible. We’ve changed the asset limits with. We’re now looking at a four in ten proposal which I think we will make a decision on relatively soon. This is all about ensuring we can get the money into the towns. The million dollars for every single shire and getting it out the door immediately and which Bridget in her former role was directly responsible for. It was all about doing that. So we'll keep doing that. And that's to address the here and now. But I should say that the message I've also had back from farming communities, agricultural communities, grazing communities all around the country is, you know, don't just look at the here and now - look to the future as well. And we're seeking to do both.
BEN ENGLISH: All right, the gentlemen right here.
QUESTION: Angus Edwards, Bathurst Business Chamber. Mr Prime Minister, the last time we met I think you'd just finished a white knuckle round ride around Mount Panorama in October. But I just wanted to ask about you raised connectivity and when I went to school there was nothing west of Cleveland Street in my mind then before I moved to Bathurst. How do we persuade people in the city that there is something beyond the Blue Mountains? And in terms of connectivity, which you raised, how do we get a better road across the mountains? How do we get water? How do we get internet? How do we get all those things that businesses in the city take for granted, yet we need to thrive out beyond the Blue Mountains?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, a couple points. First of all, I addressed a number of those on infrastructure and telecommunications in the formal part of the speech and that will be there as part of the record and I refer you to that. Our population management strategy, we’re the first government to actually have one and that involves using our migration program, both on a temporary and permanent basis, to ensure that we are getting people into the places more often than we currently are into rural and regional locations where there are the services and where there are the opportunities and the jobs to support that.
So our migration program is being recalibrated to do that. That can be done within state level, particularly in the work that we do with the state government in the migration agreements that we have with the states, but it's also to make sure that people go and live in South Australia and they go live in the Northern Territory and Tasmania and places like that where there are a lot of opportunities. And as a national Prime Minister that's obviously a core objective for me as well. So the migration program has been real calibrated do that.
But you've got to have the jobs for that to work and that's why it's so important that you do continue to get a diversity in your regional economies. And that's why mining and resources, for example, or, I mean it’s a great piece, Ben, you had in today's Tele about the hub that has been set up here in Dubbo by, you'll have to remind me of the of the young woman's name who's come back from Silicon Valley and setting up that here and getting people involved in digital business?
BEN ENGLISH: I’ll look it up.
PRIME MINISTER: I mean, that sort of diversity and ensuring that we're taking those opportunities and the connectivity achieved, that I think is really important. One thing you'll never get from me or our government is when people, whether they go out in caravans or convoys or whatever it is coming, telling you how you should live what industries you should depend on, what jobs you can have, what lifestyle and way of life you can have in rural and regional areas. That won't be happening on my watch. We want to see regional economies diversify, and whether that's in the minerals sector, the resources sector, whether it's in the digital economy, whether it's in the services sector, tourism and so on. I mean the fact, Warren, that everybody knows the Dubbo Zoo is in Dubbo that's a good thing. I don't know where else it’d be.
[Laughter]
But ensuring that is understood I think is an important part of the plan. So I know regional economies around the country are doing all of these things. And some have got bigger challenges than others. But the key is having a diversified economy. But the agricultural sector, I think, will always provide a mainstay. So we make sure that's sustainable and it has a long term future. And then all of this goes over the top. But you've got to deliver the infrastructure and services to achieve that, and under the arrangements we have the states we're delivering that.
BEN ENGLISH: Well I have a question over here, this gentlemen here. Red tie.
QUESTION: Thank you Prime Minister. Richard Forbes from Rural Aid. I just wanted to congratulate you on the, I guess, the quickness with which you made the announcement in North West Queensland, because I was up there at the time and it was very much appreciated. I guess I wanted to talk a little bit about the symbiotic relationship between farming communities and rural communities. We do a lot of work in the town community space. There seems to be a gap in research in terms of some of the commentary made about regional Australia which a lot of the reports that I've read include everything outside five major cities and Canberra. Eighty five per cent of the population live within 50 kilometres of the coast. So there seems to be a gap in what's going on in rural Australia, not necessarily regional Australia, because the regional Australia research includes coastal towns and coastal cities. So how do we know exactly what's going on in small and medium sized towns in terms of population decline, small business decline, the lack of teachers, the lack of doctors. Because I think a lot of people in this room would argue that in those small and medium sized towns there is a real lack of essential services. So I think a lot of research needs to be done in those towns, not necessarily the regional centres, because they are a local ecosystem. Farmers rely on those small towns and vice versa. What's your view, I guess, on supporting the survival of small and medium size rural towns?
BEN ENGLIGH: Can I just add to that, I ran into a fella out the front who said that he's in a town out further West. He has to go for hours to see a dentist. Four hours one way, four hours back. Is that sort of exemplify what you're talking about?
QUESTION: Exactly.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, a couple of points. First of all, I agree with you on the research side of things. That's why when I was Treasurer myself and Fiona [Nash], who is here today, and we did that together when she was Minister for Regional Development. We commissioned the Productivity Commission to actually do that work on rural and regional Australia, on regions, and there’s quite a wealth of research that was pulled together in that in that work. It’s the other reason why the House Select Committee going out and I'm sure we'll hear that fairly clearly and bring back recommendations about how that can be addressed. I'm quite sure on a bipartisan basis. It's also why population management is so important. Because the services follow the people. It actually works the same way in cities. If there are, you know, X number of kids in a school in New South Wales and it's around the 100 mark or less, well that school is probably going to get some changes based on the state government policies. That same principle applies more broadly across the state. John would be better placed to respond to those specifics. But getting people and getting the economies right and getting the people actually is what further assists in dealing with the services.
This is why I've been saying for years now, but particularly as Prime Minister, the economy is actually what fuels the services. It's what pays for the services, it actually enables the services. Whether it’s the National Disability Insurance Scheme or whether it's dental services for seniors or whatever it happens to be. You must have that economy that underpins these things. You can't take it for granted. And so why - and we won't by the way - you know, you can stand by or others could stand by and see the basis of regional and particularly rural economies being undermined, particularly in the resources sector. It beggars belief and that's not our view. This is why I say I won't have people coming from the cities in the relative economic comfort that they have going out and telling the bush what industries they can survive on. No way. That is about as much your dental services as it is as about your job and having population that follows those economies is important.
I'd also think you've made an important distinction between rural and regional. And I note today is about, I’m seeing, supporting rural Australia on the banner over there. The regional debate is different entities and places. It is about places down on the coast. It is on the north coast of New South Wales, it is up on the Sunshine Coast or the far north Queensland coast. That's a very different set of circumstances to going out to Cloncurry and Julia Creek or going out to Ballarat and places like that in Victoria or Gippsland.
BEN ENGLISH: Alright, we've got time for one more question. This lady right here.
QUESTION: Thank you very much. It's fantastic to be here and hear you speak today about some of the wonderful things that we possibly can be looking forward to in the future. The million dollars that went to local government areas was really appreciated in many areas and I would just like to ask that if there is any more funding going to local government that it can be invested in road infrastructure. The local government area where I live, my understanding is they’re $3.5 million behind on road maintenance and we can't get any improvements done while they're so far behind in maintenance. They need some help. The ratepayers aren't able to contribute that much money but we certainly need some improvements in rural road infrastructure. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks for that comment and that encouragement. It also goes to the answer to the previous question. What do we think about supporting those communities in those difficult times? Well, a million dollars to every council was the answer to that question in the most immediate of circumstances and why did we do that? Because when you get an agricultural sector going into decline, you need the local towns to have a momentum of cash that's going through the economy of these local towns. It's one of the other reasons why we were always encouraging people from the city for whom with, amongst whom – I genuinely believe quite a deep empathy with the struggles of people facing in the bush. And that's why you had local schools running their stalls and raising money and doing all that and sending it out. The concern I think of the charitable sector and particularly in the towns was that there was a displacement effect that could potentially happen with all of this. And people would buy their tin peaches and all these sorts of things in the city and send them out. No, they didn’t need that, they needed the money spent in the towns. And so we sought to do that with that million going into each council heavily focusing it on projects. That's what we wanted. That are going to happen now and it could and can and I would argue I think there's a very good argument for it being on that road maintenance in particular because that keeps the locals who are working on those projects busy and spending money in the towns and supporting the families. Equally, many of those people working on those jobs are primary producers themselves and are doing that as part of their income diversification. I mean, when North Queensland was going through severe drought many years ago and my uncle’s place up in Greenwood and Longford, he worked on the railroad for years and years and years when there was virtually nothing coming out of his property. So those projects I think are massively important for providing, if you like, a stabilizer to those local and regional economies so we'll obviously be looking about what more we need to do in that space. And we do want to see the council spend it on things that generate local economic activity. We want the charities and the support that they provide delivering support that doesn't undercut or undermine the local regional economies. You want the supermarket, the petrol station, the newsagent, the hairdresser, the local Vietnamese restaurant or whatever it is to continue to be doing well when you've got the agricultural cash coming out of the town for that period of time. Now that can be done for a while and will be but ultimately the medium to longer term goal is to actually get the ag cash coming back into the towns.
BEN ENGLISH: Well, thank you very much for this, for your presence here. It's real, it's tangible and it’s meaningful but in order to ensure as you've said that there's actually long term benefits, we'd like to see you back. So can we count on you to come to the 2020 Bush Summit?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll always be back. Always happy to. Whether I'm coming out of the Sydney bubble as Warren described it or I should, having coined the term, Warren, on Canberra Bubble, I noticed that you'd left journalists in Canberra out of the definition of who's in the Canberra bubble. I can assure you they very much inhabit that space as much as anyone else.
BEN ENGLISH: Except for The Daily Telegraph.
PRIME MINISTER: I think your journalists live out of the area. So anyway I’d love to be back and congratulations, Ben. I think it's a great initiative and, you know, I commend you on that and the rest of the work you'll do here today. It's about just getting on with it. That’s what we’ve got to do.
BEN ENGLISH: Can we all please thank the honourable Prime Minister Scott Morrison?
[Applause]
[ENDS]
