Media Releases
Australian Space Agency to Adelaide
12 December 2018
Prime Minister, Premier of South Australia, Minister for Industry Science and Technology, Minister for Cities Urban Infrastructure and Population
Australia’s Space Agency will be located in Adelaide, reinforcing South Australia’s long-standing contribution to the nation’s space journey.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said South Australia was a key hub for innovation and the technology industry, making it the ideal home for the new Agency.
“Australia’s space industry is set to hit new heights,” the Prime Minister said.
“This Agency is going to open doors for local businesses and Australian access to the US$345 billion global space industry.
“Our government’s $41 million investment into the Agency will act as a launching pad to triple Australia’s space economy to $12 billion and create up to 20,000 jobs by 2030.
“This Agency is part of our plan for a stronger economy for South Australia and the country which is about delivering long-term, high-wage, high-skills jobs.”
The Agency, to be located at Lot Fourteen at the old Royal Adelaide Hospital site, is also key to the new Adelaide City Deal, with a Memorandum of Understanding signed today by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and South Australian Premier Steven Marshall, aimed at turbo-charging Adelaide’s economy and driving long term investment in the city.
Premier Marshall said long-term investment in Adelaide and its space sector would drive entrepreneurship and innovation while enhancing the city’s liveability.
“South Australia is the ideal location for the Australian Space Agency with a range of local space industry businesses already established here as well as a rapidly growing defence industry sector.
“Establishing the headquarters of the Australian Space Agency in South Australia will launch our space and defence sectors to the next level.
“I look forward to working with the Federal Government, industry and our education sector to capitalise on this incredible opportunity for our state.”
Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews said Adelaide was selected to host the Agency after putting forward the strongest case.
“South Australia is already home to more than 60 organisations and 800 employees in the space sector and this decision builds on the very strong technology and defence presence in the state,” Minister Andrews said.
“Australia’s science, research and technology sectors are key in improving the competitiveness of Australian businesses – and only under our government’s strategic and strong economic management can these flourishing sectors continue to expand.
“We are committed to growing Australia’s space sector, and our Government is also investing $260 million to develop world leading satellite capabilities, and to significantly increase GPS accuracy in our cities and regional areas.”
Minister for Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population Alan Tudge said the redevelopment of the old Royal Adelaide Hospital will harness Adelaide’s greatest strengths – its cultural depth, research excellence and commercial potential.
“The Agency location and the Adelaide City Deal will align to allow better management of population growth and city planning,” Minister Tudge said.
“This will ensure jobs, infrastructure, services and public spaces are in place to create a faster-growing, productive and liveable Adelaide.”
“City Deals are about all three levels of government working together to drive the local economy and we are already see many cities benefitting from these deals including Darwin, Townsville, Launceston and Western Sydney.”
The Australian Space Agency will be located in Adelaide by mid-2019 and is set to employ 20 full-time equivalent staff in Adelaide.
Additional information about the Agency can be found at www.space.gov.au. More information on the City Deal is available at https://citydeals.infrastructure.gov.au.
$1.25 billion to improve the health and care of Australian patients
12 December 2018
Prime Minister, Minister for Health
The Liberal and Nationals’ Government will improve the health and care of patients right around Australia with a guaranteed $1.25 billion boost to health services.
This will provide more doctors, more nurses and more services in every state and territory.
This is the tangible benefit of strong economy and it’s why we are so committed to keeping our economy strong.
The $1.25 billion Community Health and Hospitals Program will fund projects and services in every state and territory, supporting patient care while reducing pressure on community and hospital services.
Under the program, our Government will partner with communities, states and territories, health and hospital services and research institutions to provide additional funding in four key areas:
Specialist hospital services such as cancer treatment, rural health and hospital infrastructure
Drug and alcohol treatment
Preventive, primary and chronic disease management
Mental health
The new program will complement our record investment in public hospitals.
Our funding for public hospitals will more than double from $13.3 billion in 2012–13 to $28.7 billion in 2024–25.
This is record public hospital funding delivering more doctors, more nurses and more services.
Our new five year National Health Reform Agreement will deliver more than $30 billion in additional public hospital funding from 2020–21 to 2024–25, taking overall funding during this period to $130.2 billion.
Three Liberal and three Labor state and territories have already signed up to the new agreement, accessing record funding.
A strong economy enables the Liberal and Nationals’ Government to invest in even more doctors, nurses and public hospital services – benefitting patients across Australia.
This is further supported by our record investment in Medicare, provision of medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to make them affordable for patients, and the breakthrough medical science occurring through the Medical Research Future Fund.
Doorstop - Adelaide, SA
12 December 2018
Prime Minister, Premier of South Australia, Minister for Industry Science and Technology, Minister for Trade, Minister for Trade Tourism and Investment, Minister for Cities, Minister for Cities Urban Infrastructure and Population
THE HON STEVEN MARSHALL MP, PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Good morning. Honestly, it doesn't get any better than this for South Australia, to have the Prime Minister here, having Minister Karen Andrews here to announce that the National Space Agency will be coming to Adelaide, will be coming to South Australia. This is just fantastic news. I want to thank the Prime Minister very much for this great opportunity for our state. I particularly want to thank and acknowledge the work of the Minister, Megan Clarke, who is the first head of the National Space Agency for Australia and of course everybody who has been involved in this incredible bid, this very compelling bid.
Because it is fair to say every other state in Australia has got a capability in space, every other state would like to have had a national space agency headquartered in their state. But South Australia has won it, we put in a very compelling bid. We will make Australia proud with a fantastic facility here on lot 14. Just a year ago, this was a functioning hospital, our major hospital in SA. Now it is being transformed into Australia's most exciting innovation precinct and having the innovation associated with a space agency here will just give it a massive boost. This place will absolutely go through the roof. I want to acknowledge, in particular, the work of Andy Thomas, Australia's first NASA astronaut for his great advocacy to set up a National Space Agency. He and Andrea Boyd, Michael Davis, fantastic support for this. It has been incredible.
Of course, we have just also signed an MOU. This is something that Minister Tudge and the South Australian Government have been working on for some time. It is all centred around this incredible precinct. We couldn't be happier. Ladies and gentlemen, the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Steven. This is what vision looks like. What we're doing right here. A vision that saw this site, not as a block of flats for the future, but a vision from a Premier that wanted to transform this site into a job magnet and for some of the most exciting visionary jobs you can think of. Working in high technology, working in the space agency, working in the future of Australian science and technology. This is what vision looks like. When we first started discussing this and we were putting out all of the states, Steven Marshall had one message when it came to the Space Agency which was "Beam me up Scotty". That is what he wanted to see and that's what we've done.
THE HON STEVEN MARSHALL MP, PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Thank you very much.
PRIME MINISTER: So as a Premier and Prime Minister, we will go where no Premier or Prime Minister has gone before when it comes to the Space Agency here in South Australia. But I want to commend South Australia on their bid and I want to commend all the other parts of the supply chain of the space industry in Australia. This is a $4 billion industry in Australia and by 2030 we’re taking this to a $12 billion industry. And at the heart of driving that change is the $41 million investment right here in the National Space Agency here in Adelaide. This is the turnaround state, it’s been turned around by Premier Marshall and we are backing in the plans that he has to ensure a stronger economy here in South Australia.
You know, in the last 12 months, 86,000 manufacturing jobs have been created in Australia. The future for manufacturing in Australia is a bright one, and one in eight jobs under the previous Labor Government at a federal level in manufacturing went. They vanished. And our Government in the last 12 months - 86,000 manufacturing jobs. And the way you keep that success going is by making these types of investments. By supporting, of course, new technology industries, but also continuing to support traditional industries. Just this week, the Premier and I were in Whyalla and we were talking about there, with Sanjeev Gupta, about transforming older industries into steel manufacturing plants there and that means you can have both. You can have your new technology industries, which we’re investing in here in this space agency, and you can be bringing along your traditional sectors. Here, talking to the businesses located already here, looking at ways that they can improve the production capacity of our agricultural sector using space technology.
So it is about agriculture, it is about resources, it is about manufacturing, and it also is about new technology. So I think it’s a very exciting day for Australia, as Karen will outline in just a few moments, about how this space agency fits in with the future prosperity of Australia. Unless you have a strong economy, you cannot invest in the things that really deliver for Australians.
Today I’m also announcing that we’re putting $1.23 billion extra into community health and hospitals right across the country. That $1.25 billion is going into cancer treatment, it’s going into drug rehabilitation, it’s going into access to clinical trials, it’s going into mental health right across Australia. So this is a significant investment over and above the existing massive investment, around $30 billion over the next five years, that we’re putting in Australia’s hospitals. The reason we can do that, the reason we can turn up here today, is because we have been running a strong economy. Because the Budget that we’ve been managing and repairing over the last five years will be back in balance, will be back in surplus on the 2nd of April of next year when we down the first Budget surplus in twelve years. That’s what strong economic management delivers, that’s what good Budget management delivers. You don’t want to put any of that at risk by going off on any other tangent. We’ve got the plan to deliver a stronger economy, which means strong industries and it means the services, the essential services like health, that Australians can rely on. So from here, I think we’re handing over to Megan? Sorry, Karen is going to tell us more about how the Space Agency fits into the overall plan and well done Karen for bringing this to fruition with the Premier.
THE HON KAREN ANDREWS MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Thank you, Prime Minister, I’m delighted to announce that the Australian Space Agency will be headquartered here in Adelaide. And I’m actually so excited that I very nearly lost my voice so just bear with me. There’s some very compelling reasons for the Agency to be headquartered here in Adelaide. South Australia was in fact the start of the space journey here in Australia. About 50 or so years ago the first satellite was launched from Woomera and since that time there has been a number of advances in the space sector, culminating to date with where we are standing here now which is Lot Fourteen where the Space Agency will be headquartered, along with other space-related businesses. There’s already as strong presence with space-related businesses here in South Australia. There’s about 60 companies currently working in space-related industries, employing about 800 people. We’re planning to grow the space industry, not just in South Australia but right across Australia.
So the Coalition Government invested $41 million to establish the Australian Space Agency. The sector is worth globally about $345 billion US. The Australian slice of that currently stands at $3.9 billion and there are about 10,000 people nationally employed in space-related industries. Our plan is to grow that by 2030 to a $12 billion industry employing an additional 20,000 people. So the Space Agency being headquartered here amongst other space industries is an opportunity for the ecosystem that is already being developed here to grow and mature and puts us in a very, very good place to get an even larger slice of the global market for space-related industries. So I’d like to invite the head of the Australian Space Agency Megan Clarke to maybe say a couple of words and add to that, but congratulations to South Australia.
DR MEGAN CLARKE, HEAD OF AUSTRALIA SPACE AGENCY: Thank you very much Minister and thank you very much Prime Minister and Premier. Today we’ve got lift off of the Australian Space Agency in Adelaide. Fantastic. This is going to be a wonderful home. We’re here to transform and grow the Australian space industry across the nation. This will be a door for us for our international partnerships, national coordination and international partnerships are absolutely key to our success. I was explaining to the Prime Minister, we’re already getting the support from around the world and from industry. We’ve got a pipeline over the next three years of over a billion of capital being invested into the space industry. Half a billion of that is inbound capital coming in from industry and from other space agencies around the world. It is a fantastic day, we’re looking forward to our new home in a really exciting precinct. This is going to be a hotbed of creativity and thank you so much for your support Prime Minister and for your investment, we really appreciate it.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Megan, and to Karen. Now, all of this is happening at a very exciting part of South Australia which the Minister for Cities, Alan Tudge, has been working closely with the South Australian Government for some time. As we’ve just said, we’ve just signed an MOU around that city deal here in Adelaide and I know that. I’ve got all the SA members here with me this morning from our Federal team right across the state. That’s how… this isn’t just about Adelaide. What’s happening here is good for the whole state and that’s why I’m joined by so many of my South Australian colleagues here today. But I’m going to hand it over to Alan to talk a bit more about the City Deal of which the Space Agency now forms a central part.
THE HON ALAN TUDGE, MINISTER FOR CITIES, URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE AND POPULATION: Thank you Prime Minister and Premier and colleagues. We’ve signed the MOU today for the City Deal and this deal will be one of the best in the nation because it’s centered on this precinct which will become one of the greatest hubs of innovation in Australia. And what that means is it will drive the jobs of the future so there’s opportunities for more South Australians to work here, to live here, more opportunities for young people so they can stay here rather than having to go to the east coast for other opportunities. It’s also going to help overall with population growth into South Australia, which of course is one of the ambitions of the South Australian Government here.
We want to support that. So there’s three elements to the MOU which the two leaders have just signed. The first is around this precinct, and it’s around innovation and job creation. The second is actually outlining a framework for how we can support population growth in South Australia. As I mentioned, this is one of the strong aspirations of Premier Marshall and we want to back him in. This is also going to be discussed by leaders at the COAG agenda today. And then the third theme of the MOU is around culture and the arts. Again, part of that will be based right here, but we also want to support other initiatives in Adelaide and South Australia in order to build on already the fantastic reputation which South Australia has. Again, that can be a jobs booster because it brings in tourists into this state.
Together, through this city deal, it will be one of the best in the nation. And I think it’ll be a real driver for growth, for liveability, for culture in this state, support the aspirations to growth the population, support the aspirations to grow the economy and make Adelaide an even better place to live.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much Alan. Ok, we’re happy to take some questions. Why don’t we focus first as usual on the order of the day, then happy to take other questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what gave South Australia the edge? Was it the Andy Thomas’s, the Jim Wally’s, the Pam Melroy’s, the Steven Marshall’s, or was it just because we’re here?
PRIME MINISTER: Steven Marshall.
[Laughter]
I’m not kidding, it’s Steven Marshall. It’s all of the others, as you say, but Steven’s vision for this site and for South Australia and for how the Space Agency just power charged that vision was central. We got it, we understand what he’s trying to do and I talk about ‘you have a go, you get a go’. Well that’s what’s happening for South Australia, that’s what we’re doing here. Steven Marshall is having a go for South Australia and he’s getting a go from us by backing his plans and his visions in. I started out with my comments today, “This is what vision looks like.” When people talk about vision, this is it. When you have a Premier and Prime Minister coming together to see a place transformed and to ensure you’re putting in investments and the capabilities that bring that to reality. So it is very exciting today, but it is a great win for vision today and a Premier with a big vision.
JOURNALIST: Are you going to have a lot of other miffed Premiers by this announcement?
PRIME MINISTER: No, the good news is that around the country… take the defence industry. Take the other city deals we have going on. We’re backing in states plans all around the country and it really is a matter of horses for courses. And that space industry has a supply chain that spans the entire country and so the headquarters of the space agency is here but its reach is beyond South Australia. So you know we’ll create that conglomeration of leadership for this sector. But like we see in the defence industry and the procurements that we’re seeing in place there, the biggest in generations, since before the Second World War. I mean, that is transforming our manufacturing industry. It’s no accident that we have 86,000 manufacturing jobs created in Australia last year. Anyone who thinks manufacturing doesn’t have a future in Australia - there are 86,000 reasons why that’s not true under our Government. And that’s just in the last 12 months. Because we have a vision for how manufacturing will be successful in the future. I mean, we were just in there recently and looking at how Boeing was investing in one of the key projects here. Now Boeing’s biggest presence outside the United States is in Australia. And the reason… I was at Boeing earlier in the year. The reason that is true is because of our people and our capability and our ability to adapt technology and get things right. And that’s why the Space Agency here will also be successful in Adelaide.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, initially there was talk about a headquarters and then nodes throughout the country, is that still… are there going to be nodes?
PRIME MINISTER: No, the Space Agency will be here.
JOURNALIST: Everyone else misses out?
PRIME MINISTER: No, because as I just said, the reach and leadership that will come from the Space Agency here in South Australia will impact right across the country. I mean, this gives a real focus, this gives it a real critical mass. We didn’t want to diffuse the potential here in South Australia. We wanted to maximise the potential and the better South Australia and Adelaide Space Agency does here, the better all the other states and territories do.
JOURNALIST: It’s fair to say that people think of space agencies, they think of rockets going into space. Obviously that’s not going to happen here, but what is the core role of the Agency? What is it actually going to do?
PRIME MINISTER: Look I’m probably going to ask Karen to address that, because...
THE HON KAREN ANDREWS MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Well you can’t rule anything out at this point in time and there are already satellite launches that are happening in Australia as well. So the opportunity to grow the sector here is immense. So one of the key roles of the Australian Space Agency is to develop opportunities for the industry. $345 billion US is in the space sector and we want a significant share of that here in Australia. So with the Australian Space Agency headquartered in Lot Fourteen, surrounded by other space-related industries, we’re actually giving it the best chance to maximise the opportunities to grow the sector. So certainly launch is part of our capability, we’re already setting up strategic alliances with other nations as well. We will continue to build and grow the sector and who knows where that might take us.
PRIME MINISTER: And Birmo, Simon Birmingham is here. Now as you know, Simon is not just a passionate South Australian, he’s also our Trade Minister. And Simon just might want to comment on how this capability will be able to showcase Australia’s broader capabilities when it comes to selling Australia overseas and how important this is for that.
SENATOR THE HON SIMON BIRMINGHAM, MINISTER FOR TRADE, TOURISM AND INVESTMENT: Sure PM. This is such an exciting proposition in terms of Australia’s ability to stand tall on the world stage, generate the type of investment in Australia that Dr Megan Clarke was talking about before. We’re seeing already more than half a billion dollars’ worth of investment coming into the space businesses of Australia. Yes, we’re putting a space agency here in Adelaide. But surrounding that, here in SA and right around the country are hundreds of other business, ultimately thousands of other businesses, that are going to be part of the global supply chain space industry, and from that they will spin off and they will be doing more in the defence industry, they’ll be doing more in agriculture and other traditional sectors which become ever more reliant on new technologies to make sure their productivity is at the top of the world class. And what’s really exciting here is that we see from this small investment, and it is a relatively small investment, government is able to leverage hundreds of millions of dollars of additional private sector investment that’s going to sustain jobs here in SA, right around the country and help us sell our wares to the world.
JOURNALIST: Can we hear more about this city deal, about who is going to be involved, how long it’ll run for and...
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
JOURNALIST: I don’t mean to be selfish but how much money are we going to get?
[Laughter]
THE HON ALAN TUDGE, MINISTER FOR CITIES, URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE AND POPULATION: So today is the next step in the city deal, which is signing the MOU. And in that MOU it outlines the broad principles and the broad themes upon which the final document will be built. And in that final document, which we hope to sign early next year, again between the Prime Minister and the Premier. It will also outline our federal funding financial contributions as well as the state. There will be federal contributions toward that city deal and it will support those three themes that I was articulating before.
Now in terms of the longevity of it, that will be determined, but all of these city deals are long-term plans, at least a decade, sometimes more.
PRIME MINISTER: But obviously $45 million straight up here today with the Space Agency. Any other questions?
JOURNALIST: Premier [inaudible] jobs for the agency?
PRIME MINISTER: Because it’s growing the entire industry around the country. That’s the point that Simon was just making. To lead this industry forward, to take it from $4 billion in turnover to $12 billion requires integration, collaboration and centralisation at times where capital is being focused to develop new innovations to realise the opportunities that other companies want to bring from all around the world. This is a leverage point, this is a catalyst, that’s what this does, that’s its whole point. It’s to be able to infuse the rest of the Space Agency to centre on Australia, to realise the potential that’s here. And the potential is limited only by the imaginations and the efforts of those that are in the industry. This is not the… the Chief Executive of the Space Agency is not the Chief Executive of every single company who is actually involved in the space industry. They’re the ones who will be investing the capital, they’re the ones who will be realising this and the Government is playing its role by coordinating and providing the leadership to grow the industry.
JOURNALIST: Just one for the Premier. Premier, now that the Space Agency is going to be based here, what else will a South Australian Government be doing to try and foster the growth in this industry?
THE HON STEVEN MARSHALL MP, PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: This is a critical industry for us in South Australia. I’d like South Australia to be known as the defence and space state. We’ve got plenty of other industries that do well but this is a real point of difference with other states around Australia now and just as Federal Government investment in the defence sector has created many, many South Australian businesses, we’ll be doing everything we can within the state government to do precisely the same here with the space sector. So the Federal Government is putting in money, we’ll be working to develop that ecosystem of smaller and medium sized businesses around the great opportunities. And look, just since stories went up online last night, I’ve been contact by people from right across the world, excited about the potential for right here in Australia, in Adelaide, on Lot Fourteen.
JOURNALIST: How big a role has Andy Thomas played in developing all that?
THE HON STEVEN MARSHALL MP, PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Andy Thomas was involved right from the get-go. He sat down with the Federal Government and he talked about the need to have a national space agency. The importance of how this would drive innovation right across the Australian economy. Because there’s this enormous technology transfer from the space sector to virtually every other sector of our economy. He was great, he explained it in a logical, calm way. He did sort of needle us a bit because he said, “You know, we’re the only OECD country in the world that doesn’t have a space agency, get on with it.” And he continued to advocate. But as I said, so many other people were involved in that. Jim Walley, Pam Melroy, Andrea Boyd, Michael Davis, Nicola Sasanelli, so many people from right across this state, right across our nation, all getting on board to make sure that we have a national space agency in Australia as the first sort of priority and then of course we’re putting in our very, very best bid to bring that space agency here to Adelaide.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I ask you a few questions about your health announcement.
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
JOURNALIST: Is today’s health announcement [inaudible] restore funding [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: Well we’ve never accepted that lie by Labor, and I know Labor Premiers will make that point. But the truth is, over the next four years, we’re offering an additional $1.25 billion… well not offering, we’re putting in place, the reality happening. An extra $1.25 billion into community health and hospitals. That’s actually $500 million more than the Labor opposition have pledged over the next four years. So what is means is because of our strong economy, our fiscal management, we are investing more in health and hospitals than at any other time. And this is the best set of funding that any set of Premiers have ever seen.
JOURNALIST: And how many projects will be chosen?
PRIME MINISTER: Well we’ll work together with the states and territories about how we pursue these projects. But the money is there. As I said, it’s focusing on cancer treatment, drug rehabilitation, access to clinical trials and importantly, focusing on mental health which is wherever I go in the country, there is an increasing awareness of the need to do more and be more places when it comes to supporting mental health. Now the Premier and I, the last time I was down here in South Australia with Nick, was we were announcing the extra $50 million just over that for HeadSpace. So we’re a Government that is committed to better mental health for Australians. Over the weekend, I was able to announce $110 million which is going to ensure Medicare supported treatments for eating disorders. Now that is a ground-breaking decision by our Government and I know it’s been welcomed by those who have got the lived experience of living with eating disorders and their families, as well as frankly every parent in the country, me included, for whom this is a source of constant anguish and concern. So these are the investments that you can make when you’re serious about health, and you can only make them if you’re serious about a stronger economy.
JOURNALIST: What decision has the Government made in relation to Israel’s capital?
PRIME MINISTER: When I’m in a position to make that announcement, I will.
JOURNALIST: Do you know about talks involving getting Craig Kelly to run for the Nationals before you [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: No, that’s irrelevant.
JOURNALIST: Is there going to be any announcement of delivery between the states and territories [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes there will be.
JOURNALIST: Can you elaborate on that?
PRIME MINISTER: I will once we’ve had COAG today. But I send my best wishes to the Canberra press gallery for their questions this morning. And we’re about to go off to COAG, it’s great to have COAG here in the turnaround state, the action state, the space state, with Steven today and he’s hosting his colleagues here today. Today's COAG meeting is going to be important. A big part of today's COAG meeting is focusing on national security today and the Premiers and I and Chief Ministers had dinner last night and we are all very much in agreement about the need to reassure all Australians than when it comes to national security, and that national security just doesn't involve counter-terrorism and dealing with organised crime, it involves dealing with all those things. But it also involves keeping Australians safe as we move into what could be one of the most difficult bushfire seasons we have seen in a long time and there are items on the agenda today around the national security agenda which is focusing on emergency management and how states and territories work together on that. And I’ve got to say that whether it was dealing with the Bourke Street attack, whether it was dealing with the Queensland bushfires, the relationship that exists between the states and the Commonwealth in dealing with national security has been very, very strong. We are going to reinforce that today. There is no greater responsibility I have as Prime Minister than to keep Australians safe.
Today's agenda is very heavily focused on that agenda and we are looking forward to confirming further actions in that space today. And on top of that, dealing with the other matters which deal with health and education but, as Alan was pointing out, another important issue we're dealing with today is population management across Australia. In a state like South Australia, you want more people. In Adelaide you want more people. In states like New South Wales and Victoria, we need to manage that growth because the congestion impacts in Melbourne and in Sydney are affecting the quality of life for our citizens and residents in those cities. And so what I'm calling on the states and territories to do is to work closely with the Commonwealth to ensure we better manage how population is growing in Australia, that it is going to the places we need it to go, where there are the jobs and opportunities and where things are we're hitting our head on the ceiling, that we can temper our population growth in those parts of the country to protect the quality of life of our residents in those major cities. That will be a big arrangement.
The other one is great news for small business today. The Commonwealth is already taking our payment terms down to 20 days for small businesses. I called on all the States and Territories to move in that direction and I'm looking forward to their support for that today on their timetables. The New South Wales Government is moving already on that issue and I welcome that. So I think whether it is on drought, whether it is on payment terms for small business, managing population growth, keeping Australians safe and of course the $1.25 billion extra we're putting into health and hospitals in this country as a Government, means that we're a Government getting on with it and we're certainly getting on with it in South Australia. Thank you.
Doorstop - Whyalla, SA
10 December 2018
ROWAN RAMSEY, MEMBER FOR GREY: They eyes of Australia are on Whyalla today. Not surprisingly, we’ve got the Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison and the Premier of the State Steven Marshall here. Thank you both for being here. Senator Anne Ruston is behind me as well and other dignitaries. This is a big day for Whyalla. For the last 15 months, the steelworks in Whyalla have been own by GFG Alliance Sanjeev Gupta, right behind me, and today he announced that Whyalla is to have a longer life. A new steel plant, reinvestment. Council made a series of announcements about new hotels, solar farms. There is a lot happening around Whyalla, it’s a great day to be here, it’s a great place to be after some fairly tough times a couple of years ago. Things have really turned around and I have to say, from my behalf to the Prime Minister to the previous Prime Minister, to the Cabinet. Every time that I banged on the door and said, “We need help in Whyalla.” We have received it. Whether it be the ordering of the new rail, Tarcoola Line, the commitment to the inland rail, the anti-dumping legislations that were changed, or the beneficiation plants. At every turn, the Commonwealth Government has been there, I expect that to continue. I’m going to hand over now to the man of the day, Sanjeev.
SANJEEV GUPTA: This is a very humbling and very exciting day for me. Lots and lots of hard work, especially over the last 15 months since we bought the business. There’s been countless, countless nights, late nights and long days where the team has worked hard. There has been many, many different options considered [inaudible] is what I’m pretty proud of. Australia needs a [inaudible] it’s a country that still has a lot of building to do to provide the steel for that and be able to provide rail for our railroads which continue to grow. So I’m very excited, I’m very honoured, I’m very humbled to see the quality of leadership and support which we’ve received both from our leaders and politicians and also our partners from different ends of the world. I’m thankful to them, thank you.
JOURNALIST: Mr Gupta, how long will it… or what’s the timeline for this next generation? When will you sort of be able to say this [inaudible]?
SANJEEV GUPTA: The net gen work has already actually a lot of work has already happened and we have now today what we signed is the full engineering study which costs tens of millions of dollars which [inaudible] will undertake together with [inaudible]. That is expected to take 6 to 12 months. So let’s say 2019, by the end of 2019 we will have full bankable project which we will then look for partners to fund and then from then, if we start then, another 3 to 4 years. So this is a 5 year project.
JOURNALIST: Mr Gupta can you please direct your answers down this way. And do you plan on hiring any other staff members, any extra staff?
SANJEEV GUPTA: A new project of course, it’s a massive undertaking that will have thousands of new next generation staff members. But the transformation project is what actually is equally important and I sort of… that’s why I distance the two. Because the transformation project is now, the next gen is next gen. So while that is very exciting and I’m very, very passionate about it, what is more important is that we keep going on the last 15 months of work which has been focused on the transformation project, the new mill, the PCI plant and there’s several other ancillary projects which are being finalised now. The total spend on the transformation is over $1.3 billion. So that’s what’s really critical and important now for us for the next two to three years and for the next gen project.
JOURNALIST: Have you spoken to the staff about whether or not they’ll get the money back on their salaries they gave up when the plant was in administration?
SANJEEV GUPTA: All in good time. As soon as the mill starts making money, which is the plan - all in good time.
JOURNALIST: Thanks Mr Gupta. Prime Minister, I know you’re pressed for time…
ROWAN RAMSEY, MEMBER FOR GREY: I’m just going to… thank you Sanjeev. I’m just going to ask Steven Marshall to say a few words to you as well and I didn’t realise she was on my list but the newest Mayor of Whyalla, Claire McLaughlin. Thanks Steven.
STEVEN MARSHALL, PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Thanks Rowan. I’m very excited to be in Whyalla, I know the Prime Minister is very excited to be in Whyalla because this place has a fantastic future. It’s had a great history, now what it’s got is a great future and that’s great news for the people of Whyalla. But people of the Upper Spencer Gulf, and quite frankly, the people of our state and our nation. We really want to thank and acknowledge the hard work of Sanjeev Gupta, the GFG Alliance and the management team and the work they’ve put in over the last 15 months to come up with this incredible transformation agenda for this very important city in our nation. Now the State Government of course is backing this, we’ve got $50 million that we’re going to put towards the transformation. $100 million going to a brand new school and also $200 million going into state-wide upgrade of traineeships and apprenticeships. We’re backing Whyalla, we’re backing manufacturing in South Australia and we thank the Federal Government for all the work that they’re doing to make sure that this becomes a reality. Ladies and gentlemen, the Prime Minister of Australia, the Honourable Scott Morrison.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Steven. It’s great to be here in the comeback city of the turn-around state in South Australia under your leadership, Steven. It’s great to see the renewed confidence that is coming into the South Australian economy and it’s great to see the can-do spirit here in Whyalla.
It was just over two years ago when as Treasurer, working with the then-Prime Minister and Rowan Ramsey and the team here, that we were going through the very difficult administration process. And at that time we stepped up with around $50 million in loans, we stepped up with the rail steel project to ensure that there was the suppliers there and the businesses there that enabled the steel plant to be able to continue. And now we're gear-changing again and it's great to see that gear-change happening under Sanjeev Gupta. We're going into the next phase, the transformation of the plant, which will mean it has a long-term future. That investment is absolutely necessary to secure that and the confidence that Sanjeev has shown in this steel plant, in the workers of this steel plant and the capacity of this town and this wonderful city demonstrates I think what can be achieved. When you’re coming back from where they have come back from, I think it’s a remarkable achievement.
But I think everybody knows here the hard work that’s ahead, the challenge that's still ahead and that's why we will continue to be here, Rowan and I and the entire federal team, working shoulder-to-shoulder with Steven Marshall and the South Australian Government and Sanjeev to ensure that we continue to see the success of this project. There is a lot of work to do on all that but we believe in the future of Whyalla. It is the come-back city in the turnaround state and we look forward to that being realised in the months, in the years, in the decades ahead. We're committed to Australian industry and we have been doing that, whether it is our anti-dumping laws that we've put in place. We haven't been talking, we've been doing when it comes to what has been necessary here in Whyalla, making sure the support was there to make sure we could get to this day and we will get from this day to the next day with that same attitude of just getting on with it and doing it. Thanks very much.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, is it a potential concern with so much foreign investment, we've seen various people make presentations today, is that a sovereign risk in some was for Whyalla and Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I don't believe so at all and I approved Sanjeev's application as Treasurer at the time. I mean, Australia has always drawn capital from overseas for over 200 years. We've always had an excess of opportunities over investment capital in this country. That has always been the case, and we have the strongest rules in place you could imagine to ensure that any investment is happening in the national interest. And transforming the Whyalla steelworks - I could not think of something more in the national interest than that to secure the future of this city and the workers and the families and the community that live here.
JOURNALIST: That was a last-gasp rescue mission…
PRIME MINISTER: No, it was an investment in Whyalla's future by somebody who believes passionately in it. That’s what it was. And when I see someone who wants to do that, why wouldn't you want to back them in?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, did today’s announcement by My Gupta also reinforce that renewables are the way forward for Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well there is always a mix and we support renewables, obviously, and we've been the supporter of the projects like the pumped hydro project, we stepped in on that several years ago. It is not a choice between them. You actually have to embrace both. They're all part of the energy mix. But it's important to realise that you continue to need reliable power supply, not just intermittent supply to ensure the future of Australia’s industry. And Labor's 45% emissions reduction target, as the Business Council of Australia has said, is an economy-wrecking target. I mean, we have a sensible target, it's 26 per cent, we’re going to meet it in 2030. We've met Kyoto 1, we’re going to meet Kyoto 2 and that is recognised. But you have to be sensible about it and get the balance in this right. We've got sensible emissions reduction targets, we’ve got $15 billion of investment going into renewable power right now, so there is no shortage of that investment going in and you know what the great thing about it is? It no longer needs, into the future, the high-cost subsidies that it used to. It is actually making sense all on its own as an economically viable investment. That's where you want these things to get to. You want them to stand on their own two feet, so how good is that? So a combination of renewables and reliable power generation, sensible emissions reductions targets, meeting our environmental commitments, that is the package we're offering and have always offered.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, we wouldn't let a Chinese company build our 5G network, so are there any security concerns with letting a Chinese company building possibly the world’s largest steel plant?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you have any message for the people of Whyalla who have been waiting a long time to see some investments like these here in the town?
PRIME MINISTER: Congratulations and thanks for keeping the faith in Whyalla and to be hanging in there. We have been hanging in there with you. I mean, this has been one of the most difficult periods in Whyalla's history, these last three to five years, and they've had strong support from our Government, they have had strong support from the Marshall Government, they've had strong support from investors now coming in and seeing the potential. And it just goes to show, you know, the comeback can happen and they've stuck in there, and if you believe in it passionately and you know what you are on about and you believe in the future you are trying to create, well then that comeback is always possible and that's what we keep believing in for Whyalla and that's what Stephen has brought to the state of South Australia. I remember before the state election, I remember the doom and gloom that sat around the business community here in South Australia. And everybody had written South Australia off. And under Steven Marshall, he is turning it around, and under our collective leadership here with Rowan we are turning around Whyalla and with Sanjeev coming in with the critical investments to make that happen that's why I think people in Whyalla today have every right to have a smile on their face.
JOURNALIST: After another poor poll result, is MYEFO your last chance to cut through and get your message through to people?
PRIME MINISTER: MYEFO is going to demonstrate our Government are the responsible economic managers. We promised to bring the Budget back into surplus and that's exactly what we're doing. We promised to create a stronger economy and that's exactly what we're doing. We promised to create over a million jobs and that's exactly what we've done and we promised to invest in the essential services Australians rely on whether it's hospitals, or schools or infrastructure and that's exactly what we've done. So it's around five or six months to the next election and Australians will have more than enough time to weigh up these alternatives of the higher tax, weaker economy approach of Bill Shorten, or the lower taxes and the stronger growth that pays for Medicare that is being provided by my government.
JOURNALIST: So it is not going to be the last roll of the dice then?
PRIME MINISTER: I will let commentators make up whatever stories they like. What I know is our vision for Australia is a stronger economy that pays for Medicare, that pays for hospitals, that pays for schools, that pays for the important infrastructure that Australians rely on. That's why I believe in creating a stronger economy. It's not something you put on a trophy on a shelf, it's something that actually delivers the things that Australians desperately rely on. Like affordable medicines. I mean, we saw under the Labor Government when their Budget fell to pieces they couldn't afford to list important affordable medicines on the PBS. That's what's at risk when you play around with a stronger economy which we're creating.
JOURNALIST: Can you still justify replacing Malcolm Turnbull considering you’re doing worse in the polls now than when he was there?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll let commentators go on all about that.
JOURNALIST: It’s a fair question though, isn’t it?
PRIME MINISTER: And that's one for commentators to muse on, not Prime Ministers.
JOURNALIST: You keep talking about Whyalla and South Australia being the comeback city. I’m guessing given the polls today you’re hoping for a comeback?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'll take Whyalla as my inspiration.
JOURNALIST: So is March now definitely off the table?
PRIME MINISTER: I said the Government will run its full term. I’ve never said anything different to that. I said we're bringing down a surplus Budget on 2nd of April. The first surplus Budget in 12 years. The first in 12 years. That's what a strong economy and strong economic management and strong Budget management delivers. That's why we can fund Medicare. That's why we can fund affordable medicines. That's why we can fund hospitals and schools at record levels. And that's what we'll continue to do by striving to ensure the strongest economy possible. And that stronger economy is a reality here in Whyalla because of the great investments that have been made under our Government and the Government of Steven Marshall. Thanks very much.
Landmark Medicare support for Australians living with an eating disorder
9 December 2018
Prime Minister, Minister for Health
The Liberal and Nationals’ Government will help tens of thousands of Australians living with an eating disorder to access life-saving treatment with a landmark $115 million package.
For the first time, those Australians with severe eating disorders will now be able to access a comprehensive treatment plan under Medicare.
Patients will be able to access up to 40 psychological services and 20 dietetic services each year, under Medicare, from November 1 next year.
Eating disorders have one of the highest mortality rates of any psychiatric illness, with anorexia by far the deadliest mental health condition in Australia. There are around 1 million Australians living with an eating disorder.
This $110.7 million investment into Medicare will benefit around 30,000 people each year living with these debilitating disorders, helping them to get better and stay out of hospital.
This will undoubtedly save many lives.
Eating disorders can be debilitating for both men and women of any age and this illness is one of the many nightmares parents have for their children.
It can strike and tear apart any home as it tries to rob the life and spirit of those dear ones afflicted.
It is only right that we recognise these debilitating conditions within our Medicare system.
We have worked closely with medical experts and key stakeholder for many months to achieve this outcome and we thank the independent Medicare Benefits Schedule Review Taskforce for their work, following our request for a review last year.
Our Government will also provide $4 million to the InsideOut Institute for Eating Disorders.
This funding will support new research into better treatment and care for people living with an eating disorder condition.
Our Government is prioritising better mental health for all Australians with $4.7 billion expected to be spent on mental health this financial year.
Nothing is more important than keeping Australians safe and keeping families together.
This is also why we are so committed to keeping our economy strong. Because without a strong economy and getting our Budget back into balance, we can’t make these important decisions. This is why a strong economy matters.
And it is this strong economic management that ensures we continue to invest record amounts of funding into vital health initiatives including mental health, life-saving medicines, Medicare and public hospitals.
Failure of UN General Assembly Resolution on ‘Activities of Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza’
8 December 2018
Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs
Australia supported this UN General Assembly Resolution to condemn the egregious and ongoing violent acts of the terrorist organisation Hamas and to restore some balance in the United Nation’s consideration of Israeli-Palestinian issues.
Hamas and other militant groups’ conduct in Gaza is confrontational, violent and provocative.
They endanger the lives of innocent people and indiscriminately target civilians.
Hamas’ actions are egregious, reprehensible and profoundly against the cause of peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Australia condemns Hamas’ activities in the strongest possible terms.
While a simple majority of countries voted in favour of the Resolution [Yes 87; No 57; Abstain 33] the failure of the international community to condemn Hamas, a terrorist organisation, with the requisite majority in the UNGA is appalling.
Australia’s principled position in the United Nations has been consistent.
Australia supports a two-state solution that allows Israel and a future Palestinian state to exist side-by-side, in peace and security, within internationally recognised borders.
However anti-Israel bias and unbalanced language in resolutions, combined with failure to make any progress towards a two state solution raises real questions about the efficacy of the status quo approach to resolving and addressing these issues.
Interview with Samantha Armytage, Sunrise
7 December 2018
SAMANTHA ARMYTAGE: Prime Minister Scott Morrison joins us now from Canberra, Prime Minister good morning to you.
PRIME MINISTER: G’day Sam.
ARMYTAGE: Now have you simply held off the inevitable here before the Christmas break? Is the Government facing a defeat in the House of Reps on this when Parliament returns in February?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I don't believe so. I know Labor and others kept pushing that around all week but that’s not what happened this week. They always talk quite a big game, but what we did yesterday is ensure the passage of important national security legislation to make sure that terrorists and organised criminals and paedophile rings will not be able to use encrypted communications like WhatsApp and applications like this to plot their evil schemes.
That was my objective for this week. I wanted to see those laws passed, they were passed. We had to drag Labor kicking and screaming to the table but they were shamed into passing it last night and I'm pleased they did.
ARMYTAGE: You’ve been described as ruthless in getting that legislation through last night, these encryption laws were passed without any proposed amendments being made. Will the Government look at introducing any amendments when Parliament returns?
PRIME MINISTER: The Opposition wants to move some amendments and they’ll be able to do that when Parliament returns. That’s up to them. But we believe those laws were absolutely necessary and the amendments that we put through to the Bill yesterday reflected what had come out of the Joint Parliamentary Committee process. So they were the amendments that were agreed between the parties and we did have to work very hard to ensure that they were passed yesterday, because they were being delayed and used as a tactic to try to get the Government to water down our border protection laws and there’s no way I will water down our border protection laws. But Labor and the Greens joined forces yesterday to do just that. I mean in the last three months I have got over 100 children off Nauru, so that Bill was not about children – that Bill was about trying to end offshore processing.
Labor and the Greens have made it clear that they are voting and voted against offshore processing, which protects our borders.
ARMYTAGE: Ok, let’s move on. Barnaby Joyce is calling for an end to the ban of spouses working for parliamentarians. We’d only just forgotten about Barnaby’s issues and he’s reminded us. Barnaby says it would help to protect relationships in Canberra. Would you ever consider reversing the ban that was introduced by Tony Abbott?
PRIME MINISTER: No, we’ve got no plans to do that Sam. The arrangement has been in place as you know, for five years, a bit more than that. So no, we’ve got no plans for that.
ARMYTAGE: I would have thought that the wives would like a break from some of you sometimes.
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER: Fair call.
ARMYTAGE: Or the husbands, equal rights. Ok, now Fairfax is reporting this morning that Border Force is slashing staff numbers at airports over Christmas, because of a budget blowout. Are you concerned about that, will Christmas travellers face delays and could this affect who is coming into the country over the Christmas break?
PRIME MINISTER: No and no. That’s just more storytelling in the media, that’s not what is happening.
ARMYTAGE: So there is no numbers being slashed?
PRIME MINISTER: No, not on frontline services or anything like that, so there’s no need for concern on those matters. Those issues are well in hand. It’s often put about at this time of year, those sorts of stories. But no, people can continue to travel as they should and enjoy their Christmas travel. I wish them very safe travel over the Christmas period. Be safe on the roads and don't forget also, we’re going into a very tough bushfire season, so it’s a good time for families to talk about how they would respond and should be preparing. Have a great time over Christmas but be safe.
ARMYTAGE: Yes alright and as we are all heading for holidays, it is time for everyone to reflect. It's been a tough year for the Government, the leadership circus, the citizenship debacle, the flip-flopping over climate policy, party disunity, defections. What’s your New Year’s resolution Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, apart from trying to master the chicken biryani - that’s a big objective of mine, I've always found that dish one of the trickiest to do – but of course it’s to ensure the economy remains strong, that I keep Australians safe and that I keep Australians together. That’s the mission I set out when I became Prime Minister just over three months ago. We’ve got to keep our economy, keep it strong, that’s what delivers the jobs, the health services, Medicare, hospitals. That’s where the money comes from to support it. Our economy is strong and we have a plan to make it even stronger. That’s why we will be seeking the support of the Australian people to ensure that we can keep doing that job, to keep them in jobs.
ARMYTAGE: Ok, if we don't see you before then, Merry Christmas. Thank you for your time Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Sam and to everyone there also Merry Christmas and happy New Year.
Interview with Deborah Knight, Today Show
7 December 2018
DEBORAH KNIGHT: Scott Morrison joins us now. Prime Minister, good morning to you.
PRIME MINISTER: G’day Deb.
KNIGHT: There wasn't much festive cheer among politicians when you wrapped things up yesterday. It felt again like the focus was more on tactics and point-scoring than actually getting things done.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, something very important did get done. As you said, the encryption bill passed yesterday. This was very important legislation to give police and security agencies the ability to get into encrypted communications. Things like WhatsApp, things like that which are used by terrorists and organised criminals and indeed paedophile rings to do their evil work. So I was very, very determined to make sure that was passed yesterday and Labor had to be dragged to the table. I'm pleased they finally were there and I’m pleased we were able to get those bills passed and they backed down and backed the Government’s laws.
KNIGHT: Well the cyber laws passed but you did leave a lot of unfinished business. Why didn't you extend the sitting time of the House beyond the 5pm knock-off to deal with the asylum seeker issue?
PRIME MINISTER: Because that was not a bill and they were not changes the government was prepared to accept because it is watering down Australia's border protection. I mean, yesterday Labor and the Greens combined together in the Senate to vote to abolish off-shore processing as we know it. That would be a great risk to Australia's borders. There is no way the Government is going to give any aid or comfort to that. I mean, in the last three months we got over 100 children off Nauru. There is less than 10 there and there will be only about six in the weeks ahead, and there have some specific circumstances relating to them. Labor was trying to bring people from Manus Island, not families, not mums and dads, not kids. They were trying to bring in, in one case, 150 people who haven't even been found to be refugees and turn our off-shore processing into a transit lounge. It is showing Labor's true colours on border protection. They never believed it. They just say they do. That's why they can't be trusted on it.
KNIGHT: Isn't the reality though that you did face the first defeat of Government legislation in the House in 90 years. You were just avoiding humiliation here weren't you?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I mean Labor were saying that and a lot of people down here were saying that. They are always cocky about these things, they’ve been cocky about a lot of things over the past fortnight. Apparently there were all sorts of bills and all sorts of motions that were going to pass but none of it happened. The Government was able to confidently maintain its position in the House of Representatives as we have for the last three months. So all the doomsday scenarios that were put about by the Labor Party to undermine confidence, they were all proven to be false and Labor failed on every occasion and the Government prevailed. And we have got on with the job of running a strong economy and keeping Australians safe. That's what we will continue to do next year.
KNIGHT: And in the meantime though there are people's lives here hanging in the balance. We have sick asylum-seekers on Nauru and Manus Island, children. What will happen to them if they need medical evacuation between now and when Parliament resumes?
PRIME MINISTER: That is simply not true. All the children who have had medical-related issues for transfers have been transferred. 100 children have come off Nauru in the last three months. The Labor Party are putting this about. It is just simply not true. When it comes to the others on Manus or Nauru, we have doctors, we have medical staff in place. And where these issues are raised, transfers do take place. In some places people are transferred to Taiwan or Port Moresby for medical treatment and they receive it. So what is being put forward by the Labor Party and the Greens is an attempt to end off-shore processing as we know it, and that puts the boats back on. That means we go back to the horror we saw before we came to Government that our policies, combined temporary protection visas, off-shore processing and turning boats back where it is safe to do so. That’s what stops the boats and keeps them stopped. Labor is opposed to temporary protection visas, they will roll that back. And now they are now opposed to offshore processing, they confirmed that yesterday. They are a risk to our borders.
KNIGHT: Prime Minister, you have though just delayed the inevitable here, haven’t you? When Parliament does resume you won't have a majority. It is simply a case of if the bill didn't pass yesterday it is not going to pass again when you resume simply because of the numbers.
PRIME MINISTER: Well I'm sorry, you must know the Parliament better than I do.
KNIGHT: I can see the numbers and you don't have a majority.
PRIME MINISTER: No, but nor have we had for the last three months yet we continue to pass legislation, we continue to ensure we maintain the passage of matters through the House. There are a lot of big claims being made here by the Labor Party and commentators and so far none of them have come true. None of them have come true and we will continue to work amicably and professionally with the Parliament to ensure that the Government is able to get on with our agenda, which is to make our economy stronger and keep Australians safe. That's what we are doing. All the big stories that say it is all falling over, that's not true because it hasn't happened.
KNIGHT: One of the big claims made by Labor yesterday in the wake of your very fiery press conference yesterday, you did launch a pretty scathing attack on Bill Shorten. They claimed you are looking desperate. Are you desperate?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I was very determined that I wasn't going to let the Labor Party undermine our border protection laws and play politics with national security and not pass a bill that will give police the powers to ensure paedophiles and terrorists and organised criminals could get away with using encrypted communications. So yeah, I was pretty determined yesterday and I do think Bill Shorten is a threat when it comes to our national security because he has to be dragged kicking and screaming every single time you try and get these things done. You don't try and play politics with these things and yesterday that's exactly what they were doing. I'm pleased we were able to stare them down and ensure that the passage of the Bill was achieved.
KNIGHT: Now in other news, Barnaby Joyce has made a call for the end to the parliamentary ban on spouses of MPs working in their partner’s office. Do you think you’ll overturn that, is it a good idea?
PRIME MINISTER: No, we won't be changing that.
KNIGHT: No changes? Because it is tough for politicians isn’t it, when you are away from your loved ones.
PRIME MINISTER: It is.
KNIGHT: But you are sticking to that ruling?
PRIME MINISTER: That's right.
KNIGHT: Ok. Now earlier this week you overhauled Liberal Party rules to make it harder for an elected PM to be turfed out from the top job. You consulted with former leaders John Howard and Tony Abbott on this one. Why not Malcolm Turnbull?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I consulted with Tony. He is a member of the Parliamentary Party. As you know Malcolm is no longer a member of the Parliamentary Party. He decided to leave and he said he was getting out of partisan politics. I'm respecting that decision he made. John Howard is the greatest living Prime Minister and certainly from the Liberal Party's point of view, and I would say more generally. But John is someone who has always been an esteemed elder of our Party and someone I have often looked to in these types of things. So he stands alone when it comes to the Liberal Party.
KNIGHT: Well Malcolm Turnbull said he was going to get out of partisan politics but he doesn't seem to be doing that. He is really speaking out against the Party. It is causing enormous damage to you and your chances of re-election. Is it safe to say he is not on your Christmas gift list?
PRIME MINISTER: I wish him a very Merry Christmas, and Lucy and all the family. I will leave those things up to him. I will always treat former prime ministers from whatever party with the respect and courtesy that they have earned and deserve.
KNIGHT: Well we wish you are your family a very Merry Christmas and a nice break I suppose from the bitterness of Parliament. So thank you very much for your time again this morning Scott Morrison.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks Deb, and can I just say to everyone stay safe over Christmas. We are going into a very dangerous bushfire season this year. So please take the opportunity to talk about your own plans and how you deal with the issues if you find yourself in that position. All the authorities will be out there working closely together, the plans are in place. But we know what it can be like over summer and this year is going to be particularly tough. Stay together and say safe. God bless and have a very happy Christmas.
KNIGHT: Good on you. Thank you again for your time.
Radio interview with Alan Jones, 2GB
6 December 2018
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning Alan.
JONES: Prime Minister I hope it’s the last time I have to mention two words to you. One is Malcolm, the other is Turnbull. But you were unfailingly loyal to Malcolm Turnbull and that loyalty has cost you, in the eyes of the electorate. They’re wanting you to completely break from the Turnbull model, if there was such a thing. But I don’t need to remind you, this is the man who since you became leader suggested Peter Dutton be referred to the High Court, refused to campaign for Dave Sharma in Wentworth, attempted to embarrass you over the Israeli embassy issue, followed an Instagram campaign dedicated to unseating Tony Abbott. And the public now are calling him, the correspondence to me and in social media is overwhelming. Just a simple question and then we’ll get onto other stuff – have you told Malcolm Turnbull to move on and let you get on with the job and give the loyalty to you that you gave to him?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I haven’t really had anything to say to him for some weeks actually, Alan. There hasn’t been much contact. I’ve been pretty focused on the job that I’m focused on and I’m sure there has been a lot of messaging going along in those directions. But you know, as Prime Minister, you always seek to treat others with respect and courtesy and I will always extend that courtesy particularly to former Prime Ministers whoever they are.
JONES: There’s talk of a humiliating defeat today for you and a vote is going to take place in the Parliament in what I might loosely call the Phelps Bill. The woman’s been there for five minutes, at the same time, look, to put this simply, is this … Labor and the Greens are now voting to say if you’re on Nauru or Manus Island, you can come to Australia on the advice of two doctors. Is this starting up the people smuggling trade here? Is Labor opening there door? This is a powerful political point for you.
PRIME MINISTER: Yes it is, that is exactly what it is. I mean, Labor, as we know, would always get rid of temporary protection visas. That’s something I had introduced, restored, when I was Immigration Minister. Remember we had three key components of what we did to stop the boats – temporary protection visas, offshore processing, and turning back boats. They’ve already said they’re not going to do temporary protection visas and in this Bill today, they will be abandoning offshore processing as we know it. It is a green light coming from Labor teaming up with the Greens to basically completely crumble offshore processing in this country and they’re doing it for one pathetic reason – to try and play some games in the House of Representatives. It shows a complete and total lack of commitment in the need for strong border protection in this country. They wonder why they let 50,000 people in on 800 boats – because of this. They don’t believe in having stronger borders. This is an absolutely destructive and irresponsible, reckless move by the Labor Party and it tells you everything you’ve always known about them and border protection. They cannot be trusted. They are weak as when it comes to border protection.
JONES: You and Tony Abbott were responsible for turning back the boats. I’m quite surprised that a Party trying to win Government would play to the strengths of its opponent. This is a powerful point for you. Just for our listeners to understand simply, Labor and the Greens today will, it is said, team up with key independents to allow refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island to be transferred to Australia on the advice of two doctors. So the old people smuggling trade will be smiling, won’t they?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh they’ll be smiling and they’ll be hoping there’s more to come.
JONES: Will you lose this vote? Is it clear that you’ll lose the vote?
PRIME MINISTER: Not 100 per cent clear, and that’s… you know, we’re in a minority government, so we’ll be working hard to try and defeat it. But the other thing to bear in mind in all of this is that the Labor Party think they’ve got this election in the bag. This is on this side of the election, in opposition. Imagine what they’d be like on the other side in Government. This is a team of people who let 50,000 people in on 800 boats. 1,200 people died. 6,000 people went into detention. Now, they can’t kid themselves that this about getting children off Nauru. There are only ten children on Nauru. Only ten. There are four of those children who actually don’t wish to leave.
JONES: There’s 65 medical officers on Nauru isn’t there?
PRIME MINISTER: Exactly. Exactly.
JONES: Has Kerryn Phelps ever been to Nauru?
PRIME MINISTER: Not to my knowledge, no. And there are people voting on this Bill in the Senate who have offered briefings to from the security agencies and they have refused them.
JONES: Isn’t it offensive to the people of Nauru, to the Nauruans, to start telling the world that everyone who is living there is unsafe, unhealthy and uncared for?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes it is terrible offensive and it’s actually potentially racist. This is why I have never understood why Australians would be so disrespectful to Nauruans, but we’re not talking about kids here. What we’re talking about is single adult males, some of which won’t even be refugees, sitting over in Manus Island and we’re not talking about, you know, people you’d happily have just come and live next door -
JONES: Well it is the psychology of it as well as well as the asylum seeker trade see a window now to get into Australia now via the back door, that is the psychology of it.
PRIME MINISTER: You look for the weakness.
JONES: That’s it, absolutely.
PRIME MINISTER: And the weakness is Bill Shorten. The weakness is Bill Shorten on the economy. The weakness is Bill Shorten on taxes and the weakness is Bill Shorten on higher electricity prices. I mean Bill Shorten is the weakness.
JONES: Can I just take another Labor point and I want to thank you on behalf of people in Queensland who are writing to me because you have announced a fire fighting package and just for the benefit of our Queenslanders who are listening right across Queensland, $11 million to be spent leasing large planes to be used as water bombers in Queensland they will come from interstate and this will help save Queensland from repeat devastation like they have faced in the last weeks, six million spent on developing a new national fire danger rating system which will help log fires. Now can I tell you what is happening in Queensland this morning, they are up there saying farmers and they have taken to social media and they are saying it is the Labor government’s laws which makes it almost impossible to remove growth which creates more fuel for bushfires now I know James McGrath yesterday moved a motion in the Parliament to recognise that state government laws prevented land holders from safe guarding their property and the motion was beaten. Now isn’t this a manifestation of stupid Labor policy again? What can you do about it? Farmers want to remove stuff that makes bushfires less likely and Labor are saying no you can’t touch it. I know it is your land but you can’t touch it.
PRIME MINISTER: It’s outrageous and the native veg laws in Queensland are exactly that and I remember I was up in Rockhampton last year and these same issues were being raised. The Queensland State Government is negligent when it comes to how they are handling these native vegetation laws and I know that Matt Canavan has also called for an enquiry into fires so these issues could be addressed and they should be.
JONES: And the other side of the coin as you would be aware the same farmers who are facing drought want to feed their cattle on mulga and the government is prosecuting them for using mulga to keep animals alive.
PRIME MINISTER: I saw that when I was out in Quilpie that time Alan and they took me all through the mulga issue there, and yes these laws are basically undermining the livelihoods of people living in rural Australia and they are doing it all at the behest of those who are having the soy lattes in inner city parts of the country.
JONES: Absolutely.
PRIME MINISTER: So I agree that is not how it should be run, there should be that enquiry that Matt is calling for. There should be an inquiry into every major fire like this.
JONES: Please do something, I mean these people are desperate now, they are saying on the one hand we get burnt out and we can’t stop ourselves from getting burnt out next time.
PRIME MINISTER: These are very valid points.
JONES: Okay just as a former Treasurer this is a very big issue and they are writing to me again today, Christmas time coming. These draw down rates there is talk today that there may be a cut in interest rates be that as it may interest rates are at an all-time low and yet for people who have got their own superannuation funds that try and stay off welfare the draw down rate if you are under 65 is 4% but just take that cohort of 65 – 79 they have got take 6% draw down 6% of their funds, now they are not getting that amount back in the investment so they are having to draw down the capital is there any way in which you can have a look at revising these draw down rates which have been in, I don’t know since Bill Shorten was the Finance Minister and did nothing.
PRIME MINISTER: They get looked at every six months so I’ll have a chat to the Social Services Minister and they are reviewed on every occasion. As people will know with your superannuation, you don’t just live off the earnings you live off the earnings of the principal, that is the whole point of regulation but those draw down rates are looked at regularly.
JONES: Well they are too high.
PRIME MINISTER: There are big changes in economic events so that is always a reason to have another look.
JONES: So they should be changes consistent with interest rates shouldn’t they?
PRIME MINISTER: We can have another look.
JONES: So I can raise that with you next year.
PRIME MINISTER: Sure
JONES: Good on you. Energy prices, I won’t go on because we have done a lot on that but I will raise this point, you with your Energy Minister Angus Taylor, the single shareholder of the fourth biggest energy company in the country, this Red Lumo, Snowy Red Lumo, it has got about 1.1 million customers so if you want to reduce electricity prices why don’t you start with those 1.1 million households and direct the energy retailer, which you own, to do it immediately.
PRIME MINISTER: Well we did. We have done it. They were one of the ones who dropped their prices.
JONES: [Laughter] Is anyone listening? Not to the… I mean prices have gone up 52% in the last 12 months.
PRIME MINISTER: They have just announced discounts and changes to their prices they have done it in the last 3 weeks.
JONES: Right, so do I check up and see whether you got this right?
PRIME MINISTER: I can send you the details of what the changes are.
JONES: I would like to see the details, my understanding is that hasn’t happened.
PRIME MINISTER: I’ll send you the details, I’ll have Angus to send it across to you.
JONES: Good on you please do, just for the benefit again of our listeners, Red Lumo is owned actually by the Government, the Energy Minister on behalf of the Australian people. It has got 1.1 million customers. Prime Minister, on this question of encryption and the encryption Bill. Everybody is opposed - and you know that – to terrorism and pedophilia and these abominable crimes. No one should be able to operate technology in such a way that they can escape appropriate punishment for these crimes. But can I draw your attention to the outstanding Professor Codevilla who is the Emeritus Professor of International Relations at Boston University, who in the last 48 hours has written and this is also related to his book which is called To Make and Keep The Peace. He warns that fears over homeland security have created a government octopus, it sucks up vast resources, while curbing civil rights and empowering government bureaucracies largely because he calls it: “a therapeutic reluctance to identify Islamist enemies and take the focus off the narrow measures needed to protect society from them”. He says: “Instead of focusing on what we know to be the source of the trouble,” your encryption legislation “allows police and intelligence agencies access to everyone’s messages, demanding that we believe that any amongst us is as likely or not to be a terrorist”. So to paraphrase Professor Codevilla, in sum it demands that Australians trust each other less than ever, that they trust the authorities more than ever. Do you understand that point?
PRIME MINISTER: I understand the point but I mean no one has been more forward-leaning in calling out the causes of terrorism that we’re seeing in Australia and that is almost overwhelmingly, radical extremist violent Islamic terrorism, that’s what it is. That’s why we spend so much energy working with communities to counter radicalism and to ensure that we’re reducing the threat. The other thing you need, the other tool you need is to be able to get access to these encrypted communications. Ten years ago –
JONES: But many people have encrypted communications in relation to their bank accounts.
PRIME MINISTER: Well that’s of no interest to the authorities. What they’re interested in is –
JONES: How do we know though?
PRIME MINISTER: Because of the warrants that will be required and where their focus of attention is.
JONES: Well just explain to our listeners how then you would get access to an encrypted message, what do you have to do first according to your legislation, because none of us have seen this legislation I might add.
PRIME MINISTER: Well the agencies have got to go through the courts with the normal warrant process which would enable people’s communications to be accessed. Now the sort of people we’re looking for are the people who are engaged in these sorts of activities; people who are engaged in organized crime, people who are engaged in running pedophile networks. I mean these are the people who use these encrypted messages to avert being picked up by police.
JONES: So they can’t automatically go to messages, to encrypted messages, which people use as I said for the bank accounts?
PRIME MINISTER: No of course not.
JONES: They will have to go to?
PRIME MINISTER: It’s done through the normal warrant process.
JONES: Right. But say there’s an utterly discredited outfit like the NSW ICAC, have added jurisdiction expanded to include terrorism?
PRIME MINISTER: No, no ICAC aren’t involved but the Police are. The argument that was being had with the Labor Party was the Labor Party weren’t going to let the Police have access to this and that would have been ridiculous. I mean what often happens when you’re countering terrorism is that the police will be focusing on an organized crime investigation and they’ll pick up something there which will link them to a possible terrorist investigation –
JONES: So you’re confident that privacy matters will be respected in this legislation, you can give the voter out there that assurance.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah absolutely.
JONES: Because on the one hand, they do want, because they understand what you’re saying about terrorism and pedophilia and so on, so they don’t have a problem about that –
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely Alan and I mean these laws are used to catch the scum that try to bring our country down and we can’t give them a leave pass. I do get a bit irritated when, you know, what sound like very sophisticated arguments basically at the end of the day become a shield for the nastiest pieces of work –
JONES: For this to continue –
PRIME MINISTER: …you could think of.
JONES: Okay, now look the other thing you’ll be well aware of and that is Senator Jim Molan. John Negroponte, later the US Deputy Secretary of State wrote to John Howard because Molan, a general, was the most senior officer in any allied force in combat since the Vietnam War. Negroponte wrote to John Howard as Prime Minister and said: “Molan has made history and helped reshape the Middle East”. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross from Australia, the Legion of Merit by the USA and the Liberal Party don’t want him, they put him in an unwinnable position. This has angered people enormously, you’d be aware of that, what of the future, what can you tell our listeners of the future of Senator Jim Molan?
PRIME MINISTER: Well as you know Jim stood for that preselection and -
JONES: It was factionalised and stacked against him.
PRIME MINISTER: It was the largest preselection I think that has ever been held.
JONES: He spoke brilliantly.
PRIME MINISTER: There were over 500 people. There was a whole bunch of people sitting in the very conservative part of our Party who didn’t show up and that’s a bit strange as to why they didn’t show up and vote for Jim on that.
JONES: So you understand that this is our fastest growing demographic the over 65s, 250,000 military veterans and they are angry. What’s his future?
PRIME MINISTER: Where there’s an opportunity for Jim to continue to serve I’m sure he’ll put his hand up for something.
JONES: But will you put your hand up for him?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I was the one who introduced him into the Liberal Party Alan.
JONES: We’ve been beaten by time, we could talk til’ midday. Look, thank you for your time.
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I’m a big supporter of Jim, but he’s got to be elected in accordance with the Party process.
JONES: And he’s got to meet the demands of the factions, you know that. Look thank you for your time, happy Christmas and good luck. You’re going a good job, keep at it.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much Alan and Merry Christmas to all of your listeners as well.
Boosting firefighting capabilities and community preparedness
5 December 2018
Prime Minister, Assistant Minister for Home Affairs
The Liberal and Nationals Government will invest $26 million to boost aerial firefighting capabilities across Australia, support a new national fire rating program and extend funding for a community alert system.
Our funding will help support Australians confronting the challenges of natural hazards and reduce the impact they have on our communities and the economy.
We will also deliver funding to states and territories for a range of national emergency management projects and natural disaster resilience initiatives.
Funding will address urgent critical emergency capabilities including:
$11 million for the National Aerial Firefighting Centre, delivering more large specialist firefighting air tankers to communities across Australia, bringing our total contribution to $25.8 million this financial year.
$2 million to support the national Emergency Alert SMS system.
We will also fund projects to improve preparedness of our communities including:
$5.85 million to implement a new National Fire Danger Rating System to help fire authorities communicate bushfire risk to the community by drawing on data such as diverse vegetation types, national fuel load, weather conditions, and the latest developments in fire behaviour science.
$5 million to establish the Prepared Communities Fund to support high-priority state or territory initiatives that improve community preparedness and resilience, including bushfire shelters in high risk communities.
$1.5 million to expand a Public Safety Mobile Broadband trial across Australia during 2019 and establish a National Project Office to implement this technology.
$750,000 to review new and emerging telephone-based emergency warning technologies which will support the introduction of a new Emergency Alert warning system by developing and testing options for the future of this capability in Australia.
We cannot always prevent natural hazards, but we can prepare for them and ensure that we are able to respond in the most effective way.
Since 2013, the Liberal and Nationals Government has invested more than $130 million in initiatives to prepare our communities against natural disasters.
Prime Minister's Literary Awards
5 December 2018
Prime Minister, Minister for Communications and the Arts
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Minister for the Arts Mitch Fifield today announced the winners of the 2018 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards at a ceremony at Parliament House.
Winners across the six categories received one of the most prestigious literary awards in the country, sharing in $600,000 in prize money.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Government was proud to support Australia’s outstanding authors through the Awards, now in their 11th year.
“Australian authors and poets tap into our country’s rich experiences and creativity. The winning books reflect our diversity as a nation,” the Prime Minister said.
“I congratulate all the winners and those shortlisted for this year’s Awards.”
Minister Fifield said the Awards were one of the ways the Government is working to grow and strengthen Australia’s vibrant literary sector.
“Australian literature helps us to understand who we are as a nation and our place in the world. With more than 500 entries this year capturing a broad range of themes, the judges had the difficult task of shortlisting just 30 titles.”
The 2018 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards winners are:
Australian History: John Curtin’s War: The coming of war in the Pacific, and, reinventing Australia, volume 1, John Edwards, Penguin Random House
Fiction: Border Districts, Gerald Murnane, Giramondo Publishing
Young Adult Literature: This is My Song, Richard Yaxley, Scholastic Australia
Children’s Literature: Pea Pod Lullaby, Glenda Millard and illustrated by Stephen Michael King, Allen & Unwin
Poetry: Blindness and Rage: A Phantasmagoria, Brian Castro, Giramondo Publishing
Non-Fiction: Asia’s Reckoning: The struggle for global dominance, Richard McGregor, Penguin Random House UK.
For more information about the winning authors visit: www.arts.gov.au/pmla
Doorstop, Wamboin NSW
5 December 2018
Prime Minister, Assistant Minister for Home Affairs
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it’s great to be out here today with Assistant Minister Reynolds and also the Commissioners from the New South Wales and the ACT Rural Fire Service. Doctor Fiona Kotvojs is the Liberal Candidate for Eden Monaro and it’s great to be here catching up with our firefighters from the Brigade here and all around these districts who’ve been up fighting fires in Queensland. It has been some relief to see the reports come in over the last few days, Linda has been up in Queensland last weekend and to see that those warning levels have come down and the worst of those events are now behind us. But we still remain active, there are still almost 90 fires still burning in Queensland but those alert levels have come down. But whether it was at Deepwater or other parts where we’ve had firefighters who have been up there supporting that effort. I want to thank them all very much for their service, their volunteer service, I stress, and the promptness in the way the NSW and the ACT Brigades responded to the call from the Queensland Government and to ensure we were able to deploy and address what was an incredibly serious situation. While there have been tragedies in Queensland at the same time what was able to be achieved and the risk that we’re able to mitigate, as Linda saw first-hand, was quite an extraordinary effort.
We're facing another very difficult season, right around the country in those conditions. We need Australians to focus on this. Yes, coming into Christmas we're thinking about holidays, our kids are finishing up school and there's a lot going on. But we need to be thinking as communities, as families, as individuals, about our state of preparedness for the fire season that is ahead. It will be a very difficult one and so the Minister and I are very keen to raise the awareness of these threats that are before us coming over the summer season.
It also means we need to be able to respond and we need to be able to continue to invest in the capability and that’s why I’m pleased today that we are investing $26 million in improving the capability nationally to fight these fires, but also in the systems and preparedness and communications backing that enables us to address this threat as well. So $11 million of that $26 million is going into the National Area Firefighting Centre, delivering more specialist large firefighting air tankers to communities across Australia. They’re the big tankers that were being used to drop on those fires up in Queensland and this is increasing the amount of capability we have in that area, to ensure that can be deployed. There’s also $2 million to support the national emergency SMS system and there is work being done, almost $6 million, for the National Fire Danger Rating System and Linda can take you through greater detail on that. $5 million to establish the Prepared Communities Fund, that’s to support high-priority state and territory initiatives that improve community preparedness, which is exactly what we’re wanting people to be doing as we’re going into the season and hopefully they already have. There’s $1.5 million to support the Public Safety Mobile Broadband trial and $750,000 to review new and emerging telephone-based emergency warning technologies.
So, we want to use all the assets and resources at our disposal to keep Australians safe. Our priorities as a Government; keep our economy strong, absolutely, that enables us to make these investments. To keep Australians safe and whether it’s safe from bushfires or safe from terrorism or safe from organised crime or any of these things, that is our objective and that is our mission as a Government. We do that with the volunteers that are represented here, the professional agencies around the country and one of the most rewarding things that we saw in responding to the Queensland fires was the teamwork. The teamwork between Commonwealth and state and territory agencies right around the country. So, I want to commend the Commissioners, particularly, for their leadership in coordinating that support and delivering that support.
Linda, I’ll ask you to make a few comments and then I’ll ask the Commissioners also.
SENATOR THE HON LINDA REYNOLDS, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS: Thank you very much, Prime Minister. What we saw in Queensland on the weekend is the absolute best of all Australians. When nature throws its worst at us, we always see the best in Australians and what has happened in Queensland is no different. I’d also like to extend my thanks to all of the 500 volunteers from around the country including some of the men and women here from the ACT and New South Wales who have just returned from Queensland.
But up in Queensland with the Deputy Prime Minister, we saw first-hand the importance of these programs. I’ll never forget the stories and seeing the look on the faces of people in Eungella whose homes and town was saved by the NSW 737 flying over and stopping the flames roaring up the mountain, the rainforest mountain. So these programs are very important. We’ve had 40 of our national aerial assets in Queensland ranging from helicopters through to the new 737. So as part of this package the Commonwealth will be providing $11 million to enhance the availability of aircraft around the country. We’re also providing $6 million for the National Fire Rating System which was developed in the 1960s and we’ve seen from the extreme bushfires again in Queensland that we do need to rethink our ratings systems so that will be a priority. We’re also putting money into communications, SMS and broadband messaging systems to make the best use of current technology and to make sure that we can get out as many messages as possible. We’ve got $5 million of that for local programs, priority programs for facilities like this here in Wamboin, for priority projects. So one stands in mind as an example – up at Eungella, we met the Queensland Remote Area Tracking Service. Two men had set up this organization to help and build telecommunications that can cope in emergencies in the mountainous area. So what we want to do is provide opportunities for local volunteer firefighters and also SES staff to get the equipment and the services that they need.
I’d finish off, Prime Minister, by saying to all Australians that firefighting and disaster management and relief is a shared responsibility. State and territory governments always have the primary responsibility for responding to these disasters but the Commonwealth is doing everything it can to make sure we assist state and territory governments and I think what we’re seeing here in the Queensland response is the very best of all of us, states, territories and the Federal Government working together. But I’d say this too to Australians; that you also have a responsibility. We saw in Queensland that householders got very little notice in areas where they were not expecting to be subject to bushfires so it is absolutely critical that every family in the country makes sure that the first conversation you have about emergency evacuation is not when you’re doing it for real. So, Members of Parliament have been given more information about disaster relief arrangements in Australia but every family needs to discuss what you’re going to do. Do you stay, do you fight, do you understand what the alerts mean and do you know what you’ll take with you? Thank you.
COMMISSIONER FITZSIMMONS: Thank you, Prime Minister, and look, we certainly are most appreciative and very much welcome today’s announcement. We know particularly with the large air tankers that it’s a bit like insurance. We want to have them here and we hope that we don’t have to use them during the fire season but as we’ve seen in recent years and as we’ve seen only in recent weeks, we’ve seen four of the large air tankers out of New South Wales rapidly deployed to assist our colleagues in Queensland. The good thing is they’ve got a capability and a capacity unparalleled to our historical firefighting environment. They were able to leave Sydney in less than two hours, they were integrated, fully loaded into firefighting operations up on the coast around Rockhampton in Queensland. Working in partnership with the Commonwealth and our interstate colleagues, accessing military bases, accessing funding, accessing personnel and expertise is very much a manifestation of the sorts of initiatives being announced here today by the Prime Minister. And we know that this funding boost will give us surety, give us confidence that we can have these high capacity assets here for the duration of what is continuing to be a longer season, right from the beginning of the season, right through to the end of the season and having a concentrated capability in the middle of the season. Working in partnership with the ACT and our colleagues around the country just in the last couple of weeks, we’ve sent just over 600 people into Queensland to provide assistance. We’ve sent eight aircraft, we’ve sent 24 firefighting trucks, we’ve got a few hundred personnel rotating through again over the coming days. With the conditions easing, it looks like a number of our crews might be stood down into the weekend, but it is an example of how investment and how commitment can make a big difference particularly to those who are finding themselves exposed to risk, like we’ve seen in Queensland in the last couple of weeks.
The outlook for the coming months as the Prime Minister indicated, is for a difficult fire season and much of the eastern seaboard through New South Wales is expecting above normal fire conditions as we head into the balance of this season and we know with the sort of assets available, with the sort of commitments around and the capacity to draw on our neighbors from right around the country, we’re going to be confident that whatever comes up, we’ve got the best-trained, the best equipped, better equipped and better trained than ever before in our history, to help respond to what mother nature might offer this season.
COMMISSIONER LANE: Thanks very much, Prime Minister, just to echo Commissioner Fitzsimmons’ comments there, it’s been a very challenging season already, at the commencement in Queensland and we’re going to see that across the rest of the nation. While some parts of the country have received welcome rain over recent weeks, there are plenty that are still in dire drought conditions and that will cross over into bushfire conditions as we come south, as the season continues from Queensland through New South Wales and into Victoria over this coming summer. So this announcement by the Commonwealth today is very welcome. Traditional funding for aircraft capability is always very helpful but on top of that, the additional money to support the ongoing research into improving our National Fire Danger Ratings and enhancements to funding to allow for even better warnings and alert systems are also very critical to us as a nation. So these are the things we work together as states and territories with the Australian Government on. It’s a welcome announcement here today.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much and we’re happy to take some questions on that and then deal with other matters if you’d like to but I won’t trouble the Commissioners with those questions. So questions? Well, it seems like we’ve been very comprehensive, that’s excellent, thank you very much, Commissioners. Happy to take other questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on energy policy, your big stick policy is opposed by Labor, the cross bench and industry, what do you say to industry that is crying out for investment certainty?
PRIME MINISTER: What we’re delivering is a clear message which says electricity prices have to come down. We need to ensure that the laws balance things up for the consumer. We’re on the side of the customer and we want them to have lower electricity prices. And we believe that the laws and the powers should be in place so big electricity companies can’t do the wrong thing by them. That’s what this is about. We’re voting for it, Labor is voting against it. Labor’s voting against it. They’ve picked the side of the big electricity companies, we’ve picked the side of the consumer.
JOURNALIST: Are you confident the encryption laws will get done this week?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I hope so, I said that was a key priority and overnight we’ve been able to make a lot of progress and I’m pleased that Labor is coming to their senses on this. I’m frankly surprised it’s taken this long but if they have, good.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, are you concerned and perhaps embarrassed to learn that Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten have been discussing energy policy to, you know, discussing the NEG?
PRIME MINISTER: I’m not aware of the content of their conversations other than to the best of my knowledge some well wishes to Malcolm from Bill after Malcolm left the job as Prime Minister. And I wouldn’t find a conversation like that extraordinary, just a personal well wish. In terms of any other type of conversation, I haven’t seen any suggestion that there’s been anything other than that.
JOURNALIST: Malcolm Turnbull has urged you to revive the NEG considering that you did support it. Can you rule out, even after the election, trying to pursue that policy once more?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the NEG is not being pursued by the Government and it wasn’t being pursued by the Government prior to the change of Prime Minister. This is what the NEG is. The NEG, as the former Prime Minister said, it’s just a mechanism. It’s like a glass. What matters is what you put in it. Now, if you put a 45 per cent emissions reduction target in the NEG, it puts power prices up. What Bill Shorten wants to do is have a legislated 45 per cent emissions reductions target, and that will put power prices up and we don’t support that. We don’t support legislating that commitment. We will meet our 26 per cent commitment, that hasn’t changed. None of that has changed. We will have met Kyoto 1, we will comfortably meet Kyoto 2, and we will be on track to meet our 2030 target as well. So we’re committed to emissions reductions, we’re committed to getting greater contracted reliable energy into the market and that is the exact same policy we’ve pursued previously with the reliability guarantee through the states and territories. But the NEG is not the deal. What matters is what the emissions reduction target is, and a 45 per cent emissions reduction target is a job-destroying, economy crunching, reckless target that will make our economy weaker. And that’s why we don’t support it.
JOURNALIST: But why can’t you keep your 26 per cent target and still consider reviving the NEG framework?
PRIME MINISTER: Because it’s not necessary, it’s not necessary. And we’re not pursuing it and it’s not our policy.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what do you make of the Energy Council of Australia saying that your energy policy is trying to push prices up? What do you make of those comments?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I disagree with them. I’m not surprised that the energy sector would not be happy about the Government increasing the powers of the customer in the market which will hold them to account. I’m not surprised that the big energy companies are squealing because, as a Government, we’ve decided to stare them down. And that’s what I’m doing. That’s what our Government is doing, and the Labor Party is not standing up for customers. They want to line up with the big energy companies. Now, already as a result of staring the electricity companies down, around almost 500,000 Australians are getting a better deal. They’ve started to drop their prices. See, I think the laws are stacked against the customer in the energy market and that’s what has caused and allowed those prices to go up amongst many other factors. And I’m seeking to right that balance and to stand up for the customer, and if the Labor Party doesn’t want to support me, well, shame on them. Absolutely shame on them.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, why did you save Craig Kelly?
PRIME MINISTER: Good question. There were four incumbent members, four incumbent members that I believed it was important for the Party to re-endorse at the next election. As the leader of the Parliamentary Party, it is my job to maximise the Party’s chances and standing at the next election. And we’ve got four incumbent members, members who have been on the ground, members who are well respected by their communities. They present the best opportunity to ensure the re-election of the Government. And so as the Party Leader, I’ve made it pretty clear. I wanted them endorsed and I wanted them on the ground, fighting the next election, not getting distracted by anything else. That’s my main mission, that’s their mission, and as leader, I made a call, I said I want them endorsed and the Party backed me and I appreciate their support.
JOURNALIST: What about Jane Prentice and Jim Molan?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I wasn’t the Prime Minister at the time of Ms Prentice’s preselection. So I can’t make any comment about that, that matter was dealt with many, many months ago. What we’re talking about with the four members I sought their immediate re-endorsement is they were lower House members. They were contesting lower House seats. Like Dr Kotvojs here, she’s contesting a lower House seat. You form Government by having the best members and candidates on the ground in the House of Representatives and that’s where my focus is to ensure the re-election of the Government. I know one or two things about elections, I’ve run a lot of campaigns myself and what you need is to have the best people on the ground and an incumbent member of Parliament who has been doing a great job, which all of those four members were, and are, is the best opportunity and the best foot forward we have to put at the election and that’s why they have my backing and that’s why I made it very clear to the Party that I wanted to see them endorsed so that we can just get on with it.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on submarine contracts quickly. Has Defence during negotiations offered the French submarine builder an extension on the time of the submarine project and also the cost of those submarines?
PRIME MINISTER: I discussed the SPA with President Macron when we were in the G20 and we are now very close to finalising those arrangements and so these things remain on track.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I’m not aware of that matter, only to say that I have been in direct discussion with the President of France, we are very close to finalising the SPA and those issues remain on track. I mean, there’s a report I understand on the ABC this morning. The Defence Minister will make a response to that and my understanding is that he has great concerns about the accuracy of that report.
JOURNALIST: There’s a group of student climate action protestors heading to Canberra today to try and meet with you. Will you meet with them?
PRIME MINISTER: I am. I’m meeting with some members from my own electorate, which you’d expect me to do, both as a local members and a Prime Minister. I’m always happy to listen. I respect everybody’s views. That’s the thing. We don’t always have to agree on everything, you know, but we do have to respect each other and we do have to take each other views seriously. And whether that’s talking about climate or whether it’s talking about energy or it’s talking about the other difficult issues we’re dealing with in the Parliament this week. You’ve got to respect everybody’s views. You can’t run their views down because they have them. And I do listen, but that doesn’t mean we always agree. But I always respect. Thanks very much.
Condolence - George HW Bush
3 December 2018
Mr Morrison: (Cook—Prime Minister) (14:01): I rise on indulgence to acknowledge the passing of the Hon. George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st President of the United States. George Bush lived a remarkable life. He was a congressman, the first American Envoy to China, Director of the CIA, Vice President of the United States, President of the United States and father of a president. George Bush was a great friend and true friend of Australia, from his days as a serviceman in the Pacific theatre to his time as President working with Prime Ministers Hawke and Keating on the formation of the modern APEC.
He was part of what was to become known as the greatest generation—the generation of men and women who fought and served during the Second World War to provide the world that we have today. He joined up on his 18th birthday and became America's youngest naval aviator. He completed 58 missions. In 1944, on a mission to attack a Japanese stronghold, his Avenger was shot down over the Pacific. He ejected from his burning plane and miraculously was picked up by a US submarine, the USS Finback. The silent price of war escapes no man or woman, and late in life the former President admitted that every single day of his life he thought about the two crewmates who did not survive that mission.
His life experience during the Second World War deeply influenced his thinking as president. It guided his values and tempered his hand towards prudence. When Kuwait was invaded by Iraqi he saw parallels with the 1930s and famously declared, 'This will not stand,' and it didn't. With a UN mandate he drew together a 32-nation coalition to expel Iraq from Kuwait. Australia proudly contributed to this coalition that freed Kuwait and restored the international order. He showed incredible international and personal leadership. He resisted the calls that America chase Saddam Hussein all the way to Baghdad, because he did not want to be a conqueror or an occupier.
Under his watch the Cold War ended without a shot, the Soviet Union was disbanded and the Berlin Wall fell, not from a barrage of tanks but from the hand picks of thousands of citizens. When the wall fell, President Bush was criticised for understating the triumph that it surely was, but he was prudent again, knowing the risk to Gorbachev being overthrown by hardliners.
He was a man who embodied the best of public service. George Bush and Bill Clinton fought a bruising campaign in 1992, yet Mr Clinton arrived in the Oval Office to find a letter from his predecessor, as is their custom, that said: 'You will be our President when you read this note. Your success now is our country's success.' In the years that followed, they became friends. In time, his son George W Bush would even refer to President Bill Clinton as 'his brother from another mother'. When President Bush passed, his family had a code word to let each other know what had happened. It was 'CAVU'. Throughout his life, he kept that word on his desk. It stands for 'ceiling and visibility unlimited'. And he once wrote to his family:
CAVU was the kind of weather we Navy pilots wanted when we were to fly off our carrier in the Pacific. We had little navigational instrumentation, so we wanted to CAVU—"Ceiling and visibility unlimited."
… … …
… because of the five of you … whose own lives have made me so proud, I can confidently tell my guardian angel that my life is CAVU; and it will be that way until I die—all because of you.
We remember today the late Barbara Pierce Bush, his wife of 73 years—perhaps President Bush's greatest achievement. And we extend to President Bush's children—George, Jeb, Neil, Marvin and Dorothy—and his extended family our deepest condolences.
On the weekend, I had the opportunity to pass the condolences of our nation directly to President Trump, who, when I met with him, advised me that President Bush was very, very gravely ill and close to death. Indeed, the next day that proved to be the case. We have no greater friend than the United States. We have no greater ally. We have been together for a century and more. It is a bond that is built in what we believe and the sort of world we want to live in. George Bush personified that vision and those beliefs as much as any other great President of the United States could have. We thank him for his friendship, we thank him for his service and we pray for his family. May God bless America.
The Speaker: The Leader of the Opposition, on indulgence.
Doorstop, G20 Summit
2 December 2018
PRIME MINISTER: First of all, can I congratulate President Macri for chairing a very successful G20 Leaders Summit over the last few days. You would have seen the communique that has been released which covers off on all of the matters that were able to be addressed over the last few days.
I want to come back to those in just a few minutes but before I do that, for domestic purposes I have been keeping in very close contact with Australia regarding the bushfire situation in Queensland. The Deputy Prime Minister, along with Assistant Minister Reynolds has been visiting the fire-affected areas in central Queensland and north Queensland, around 100 fires continue to burn. We’ve had 600 –or thereabouts – firefighters out there, some who have been fighting these fires for days now, five days with very little rest at all. As you know, we’ve had firefighters coming from right around the country to assist in these efforts and I want to thank them most sincerely for their bravery, for their courage and for their tirelessness as they’ve gone about protecting communities. To date, despite the very sad loss of a young man, 21 years old, who died while clearing a fire break west of Rockhampton, so far I think the efforts have been extraordinary and we’ve been able to minimize the damage. Of course it is still a very difficult situation and people’s lives have been very significantly disrupted by the evacuations and the other actions that have had to be taken. We ask for continued patience, not just while the fires are being fought of course but for many, many days ahead as there will be clean-up work and the restoration work that will obviously have to follow. Now, severe to extreme heatwave conditions are forecast for Sunday right across central and northern Queensland and over the interior regions. Severe fire weather are forecasts at Maranoa and Warrego, in the Darling Downs, to Granville and winds are forecast to increase so we are still expecting many more days of very difficult conditions in all of these areas. So I continue to ask Australians in those areas to continue to take the appropriate advice and just remember, as always, to look out for each other particularly with these heatwave conditions. That may not result in fire directly but that will particularly for older Australians, those who are frail, there is a need to ensure that we’re keeping an eye out for each other, we’re looking after each other in what’s sure to be a very difficult period of time. So, I want to thank particularly the Queensland Government for the work they’ve been doing, as well as Emergency Management Australia who have been working closely in managing these issues.
Turning back though to the G20, or before I do that, let me also say we also mourn the passing of President Bush. I had the opportunity to forward a note of condolence to the President today expressing our country’s sincere sympathies both to the American people as well as to the Bush family. President Bush was a great friend to Australia, he was a great friend to democracy, a great friend of freedom and he had advocated and fought for these things all of his life, from his time of service to his country and to freedom during World War 2, all the way through his public life and of course his service as President. He was a great friend to Australia and he’ll be truly missed by his people, but also by all friends of his nation, which Australia is. So, we express our sincere condolences to the American people and the Bush family.
In terms of the outcomes here, international trade and investment have been, once again, affirmed here at the G20, in particular in par 27 of the communique. These were the very words that Australia has been seeking to ensure were confirmed in the communique, which speak very directly to our interest. See we have come here to secure jobs for Australians. One in five jobs in Australia is trade-related, that’s why we’re here. The stronger economy that comes from an open trade outlook means jobs for Australia’s livelihoods for Australians and a stronger economy that delivers the essential services Australians rely on. It was a recognition, as it says, of the contribution of the multilateral trading system provides, but acknowledges that the system is falling short of its’ objectives and that there is room for improvement and there is need for necessary reform of the WTO to improve its functioning.
Now today I had the opportunity to meet with the Director General of the WTO as well as a series of bilateral meetings. I’ve just concluded one with Chancellor Merkel and prior to that having meetings with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, as well as the Prime Minister of Great Britain earlier this morning and the President of the EU. At each of these meetings, there was a strong resolve to ensure that we preserve the rules-based order for multilateral trade. Australia is a great beneficiary of that process and what I’ve seen in these meetings, which is an improvement on where we were a few weeks ago, is a greater articulation of the more specific issues that require being addressed as we improve the world trading system. That represents an acknowledgement of issues being raised, whether it’s by the United States or China or others, including ourselves, about how that system needs to be modernized and how that system needs to deal with unresolved issues that have held the global trading system back. Also today in our meetings with particularly the European nations – I caught up yesterday with the President of France – has been our focus on the EU Free Trade Agreement. Now, this is the next premier league deal, free trade deal. We’ve been successful in securing the arrangements, obviously, with China, Japan and Korea and the EU free trade agreement which we began negotiations on earlier this year, today received a very strong accelerator. We met today, Minister Cormann and I, with our counterparts and we were able to agree on the need to accelerate the development of the EU free trade agreement and we’re looking forward to that advancing promptly now in the months ahead. While I can’t give a specific timeframe of that, that would be unfair to those officials who I know are already working very hard to progress it very quickly, the machinery of these arrangements will work at particular speed. There is no doubt about the political commitment and resolve to address those issues. It was important to have the opportunity to talk with the European leaders, they will form part of that agreement ultimately with the EU. In my discussions with Prime Minister May, obviously we gave her every encouragement and every support in what she is seeking to achieve in the Brexit arrangements. That arrangement, if unsuccessful could have very significant implications more broadly on the global economy in Europe and the UK, particularly for the UK. That’s why we want to see those arrangements successful, but that’s a matter ultimately for the Parliament of Great Britain and we’ll see how those issues play out. The Prime Minister is very keen once we get to the end of March, for Australia and the UK to be able to start moving forward on an agreement between the UK and Australia. There was also very strong interest shown in Great Britain joining the TPP. This is something that was first discussed many years ago between Phillip Hammond and myself when he was Chancellor and I was Treasurer. We spoke about whether they might be able to participate in the TPP and that’s a ready-made agreement which would offer a lot of opportunities for the UK to take and also I think, add to the great momentum that is building around the TPP.
So with that introduction, one last thing I’ll mention is, like I said yesterday, our Pacific ‘step up’ initiative received very strong support also from the European nations I met with today, particularly Great Britain but also France indicated that yesterday and also the EU. Our Pacific ‘step up’ provides the opportunity for alignment, and for Australia’s leadership to align the existing contributions and investments that have been made around the sort of strategic investments Australia is pursuing through that Pacific ‘step up’ initiative.
JOURNALIST: Mr Morrison you describe that, almost, breakthrough on paragraph 27, but the commitment to trade in this communique is nowhere near as strong as last year’s which had such language as “fighting protectionism”. There was a lot of debate in the lead up to this one about “free and fair trade”, none of those words appear in this one. Is this a case of one step forwards, one step sideways?
PRIME MINISTER: No I don’t think that at all Phil, I think that’s a very incorrect way of looking at it. The discussion and language of previous communiques I think we’ve moved on from. I think there’s a willingness - as I said yesterday, I don’t think anybody is about protectionism. The allegations that have been made against the United States about protectionism, I don’t buy. What we’re trying to achieve here is a modernizing and an improvement of the world’s trading system. That’s what the communique reflects. So no, I wouldn’t take that interpretation at all, I think this is actually a sign that we’re moving on from those ideological discussions into quite practical discussions about how we make the world trading system modern and better. The Director General of the WTO was pretty clear; they’re ready to get working, they just need that further political leadership to allow them to start doing that. When I met with him today, we just worked through some practical issues that will help achieve that. One of the things they have been impressed with has been Australia’s work on e-commerce and setting out new rules and new ways to ensure consistency of how you engage in e-commerce. Australia is a world-leader when it comes to the rules that we’re seeking to set out.
JOURNALIST: So you don’t think the words “free and fair trade” should have been included?
PRIME MINISTER: I’m very happy with the words that are here, these are the words. I mean I was reading these words out in the first session of the open session of the G20, so these were words that had been worked on going into the G20 and I think I’m very pleased to see that we’re understanding firstly that trade is an engine of growth, productivity, innovation, job creation and development. It’s an acknowledgement of the economic virtues of trade. It then goes on to reassert the importance of the multilateral trading system, the rules-based system, acknowledging that there are weaknesses in that system and that they need to be reformed to fix them. So I think this is a very practical to-do list.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister what do you see as the finish line for tonight’s Trump-Xi dinner, or what do you need to hear after the dinner to say it’s a success from Australia’s point of view.
PRIME MINISTER: Well as long as they’re talking and as long as they’re identifying the practical things that now need to be addressed, then I think that’s always a positive thing. I think it’s unhelpful to impose unrealistic expectations on these meetings and so as long as they’re in a room and addressing the fundamental issues that they have, well that’s better than the alternative.
JOURNALIST: You don’t expect much Prime Minister, from the sound of it.
PRIME MINISTER: It’s for them to determine what they’re going to do Tim, they’re the ones in the room. They’re the ones that are going to be discussing what the issues are between their two economies. We would say – and I’ve made this clear over weeks now – that the tensions between the G2 run very real risks to the global economy. The IMF has estimated those tensions could cost global growth as much as 0.7 per cent growth a year. That’s serious and I think both leaders have a very good understanding that it’s important these matters be resolved. What they do is between them.
JOURNALIST: Did you say that directly to Donald Trump?
PRIME MINISTER: I did.
JOURNALIST: Did he give any indication at all that he’s heading in that direction? That he’s likely to be able to break the impasse?
PRIME MINISTER: I think he very much wants to break the impasse and I think ultimately he wants to be able to come to a new deal. I think that’s been his whole point.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister ideally though, you say you’d like both China and the US to drop the tariffs [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: I’d like them to sort out their differences and enable both countries to move forward and continue to trade happily and prosperously.
JOURNALIST: In a practical sense, do you want them to drop those tariffs?
PRIME MINISTER: I want them to be able to resume open trading relationships. Of course I do and I’m not alone in that, I’d say every economy represented here wants that. It’s a statement of the obvious, nothing remarkable about it.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister in your discussion with Theresa May, did you address this [inaudible]? This summit marks the end of all your international consultations on the matter, I assume [inaudible]? Can you bring the public into your current disposition, having consulted so widely and also, give us some insight into Prime Minister May’s attitude?
PRIME MINISTER: We had the opportunity to discuss this issue, not just with Prime Minister May but in many of the leaders meetings I had over the course of the East Asia Summit and APEC as well. When the Cabinet has concluded its deliberations on the issue drawing on the inputs that we’ve had not just from these meetings but direct engagements with each of the administrations, then I’ll make that decision public.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister one of the other moments of this summit, in Middle Eastern affairs is that televised moment between Vladimir Putin and Mohammed bin Salman from Saudi Arabia. I know that the murder of the journalist Khashoggi is on the agenda for Theresa May for her discussions with the Saudi Arabian Prince [inaudible]. Is that an issue that Australia has a view on?
PRIME MINISTER: We denounce it and we call for those responsible to be brought to justice.
JOURNALIST: And has that come up in any of your discussions here in particular?
PRIME MINISTER: It has.
JOURNALIST: And would you want to elaborate on that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there’s not much more to say than it has come up in the general session.
JOURNALIST: Just back to Brexit, has Prime Minister May expressed a view on the embassy proposal?
PRIME MINISTER: We discussed a whole range of issues.
JOURNALIST: We’ve seen President Xi today has had about eight different bilateral meetings, it’s been joked about, being the Xi-20 Summit. Being so prolific in holding these bilaterals, how hard is it for you to talk about free trade when so much of the focus is on China and Chinese influence?
PRIME MINISTER: Well it’s very easy, it’s what we believe in. We’ve come here seeking to champion the cause of free and open trade because that’s what makes Australia a prosperous country, when one in five jobs are the result of trade. I think the fact that we’re moving ahead with the EU Free Trade Agreement is a demonstration of our commitment and despite the fact that there may be issues between some economies, the rest of the world was getting on with free and open trade because we know it’s what delivers the prosperity for our countries. Now, whether it was a discussion I had with Mark Rutte today from the Netherlands or others, we’re all committed to it. We’re getting on with it. We’re going to keep getting on with it and that’s why we’re hopeful that the US and China will be able to make progress on their issues, but that doesn’t stop the rest of the countries getting on with what is in their economic interest. That’s what we’re doing.
JOURNALIST: You talk about getting on with it, but there’s been about 165 different outcomes on trade since the G20 was founded and compliance levels for countries like Argentina are 35 per cent or less. How can you say that free trade is happening, it’s still an ideological debate isn’t it?
PRIME MINISTER: It goes back to when APEC started. I mean APEC has seen tariffs fall about 16 per cent, or 6 per cent on average. We’ve had 1 billion people come out of poverty since 1990 in our own region as a result of greater trade. You know, if anyone can’t see the benefit of trade in our own region, and what is a continued, great prosperity they must be reading different economic statistics to the rest of us.
We continue to make progress. That’s why you have these meetings. You make progress or seek to make progress every time we meet and I believe at this meeting, again, we’ve made progress. Sometimes the progress is made simply by bringing issues to a head as occurred at APEC. The issues of difference were brought to a head and a very clear light was shone upon it and I welcomed that development as well, because when we’ve come here to Argentina, I think there was an even greater resolve to ensure that we achieved the consensus we did on these issues.
JOURNALISTS: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: You missed out yesterday.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, one on domestic politics. Julia Banks has said that she’s willing to send Dutton to the High Court. This is, you’ve said that [inaudible] other people have constitutional issues [inaudible]. Are you willing to do that and does that include Julia Banks herself, given that she [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: The issues that are germane to the case you raise are different to those that –
JOURNALIST: In general terms?
PRIME MINISTER: That were relayed to Ms Banks. So no, we have not suggested that. There are three other House members that have the same issues that have been suggested about Peter Dutton, so any principled position, any consistent position, anyone seeking to be truly fair about this would apply the same rule to all of those members. The Government isn’t seeking to refer any of those members, but if the Parliament sought to do so, then it would only be the principled thing to do to apply the same treatment to all members similarly affected. But we might finish on something that has to do with being here in Argentina?
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] World Trade Organisation [inaudible] architecture by which such things are usually resolved, what about, I just wonder how would you say progress has been [inaudible] between this year’s G20 to this year’s G20? The language there, do you think it’s going to keep markets open? [Inaudible] continue to fight protectionism, confirms the government’s [inaudible]. If the system was working, [inaudible] President of the United States be using the WTO to resolve these differences with China?
PRIME MINISTER: The argument is, as this communique illustrates Chris, is that the architecture of the WTO needs modernizing in order for it to address the very issues you’re talking about. That’s why I think where we got to today is an improvement on where we were last year. This is the post-ideological position on trade, this isn’t about those sort of ideological positions; it’s about, okay, we get it, trade is a good thing, we all want it, that’s where we all want to end up, so how do we get there? We need to tidy up some things at the WTO, we need to modernize it, we need to deal with some unfinished business of issues that have caused great frustration to some of the biggest trading players. That’s what they’re resolving to do, so as always, I’m an optimist.
Cheers, thanks a lot.
Doorstop, G20 Summit
1 December 2018
PRIME MINISTER: You cannot but appreciate how important it is for Australians to have a strong economy - as we do - because that is not only recognized, I believe, by Australians but it is recognized by the many other countries that sit around the G20 table and more broadly. Australia’s strong economy is growing at 3.4 per cent, with unemployment at 5 per cent. But not just that; the fact is that female participation in our labour force is at record levels and the gender pay gap is well below the average of the countries that sit around this table and it is at historic lows for Australia.
So it shows that we’re not just able to have a strong economy, but we’re successful in having a strong economy that is reaching more of its population that you see in many of the countries if not all the countries that are represented around the table here at the G20 and other forums. You come and you see and you realise and you’re reminded that a strong economy can never be taken for granted because there are plenty of economies that sit around this table that are weaker. That means we can never take that for granted because it’s that strong economy that is delivering the essential services that Australians rely on. It’s the strong economy that means we can invest in the infrastructure, that it continues to bolster up the performance of our economy all around the country. We are a big country geographically, like many of the other countries that are represented here and so that means we need to continue to focus on the things that grow our country.
There is much discussion about inclusive growth but you can’t have inclusive growth without growth, so continuing to focus on the things that lift our economy up. Also then at the same time, ensuring that it can be spread as far and wide as possible is really our goal. So this is why the Liberal and National parties and I as Prime Minister will never rest when it comes to the issues of keeping our economy strong and why there are always risks of going down alternative paths on the economy. Because that can make our economy weaker and put at risk the services and the future and the economy that Australians would live in over the next decade. We are indeed a very fortunate nation but we’re also a country that has made the most of our opportunities and have ensured that we’ve had a strong programme of economic development, of fiscal management that leaves Australia in, relatively, a very strong position to the rest of the world. So here I’ve had the opportunity to further those discussions. Obviously trade has been a key focus of ours. Australia has always been the most active and the most vocal of advocates for trade because it has made us a prosperous people. We know you don’t get rich selling things to yourself. We have always sought to follow that experience and these meetings have been an important opportunity to re-state that and encourage further reforms to the world trading system to ensure that we keep our rules-based approach to trade but at the same time we modernize those rules that reflect what’s happening in the digital economy.
The digital economy opens up so many opportunities for people who do struggle to participate, but now can in a digital world. Whether they’re people with a disability or females who have been frustrated at getting involved in the workforce and the list goes on. The digital economy is getting a lot of attention here and what we’ve always argued is that the digital economy needs to be accessible and it needs to have a policy environment around it which continues to protect consumers while ensuring that they can also have access to the growth and the economic opportunities that come with it. So there’s been a lot of very useful discussions, I’m happy to take questions on them but the key point is this; Australia has a strong economy, we must never take it for granted.
JOURNALIST: Mr Morrison, two questions. One, following your talks with Mr Trump did you relay to him privately as you’ve been saying publically, about your wish for the outcome of tomorrow night’s meeting with President Xi? Secondly how did you go with President Macron on submarines?
PRIME MINISTER: Let me start with the second one first. We made a lot of progress there, the SDA is progressing extremely well and we’ve agreed that we can elevate that up to leader level to ensure that it’s finalized in the near term. We anticipate that occurring. There’s been excellent engagement between the Ministers, Pyne and Parly which has gotten us to where we are today. So I’m very pleased about how that’s progressing, it’s a huge project, it’s important for both countries for the next 50 years. So, we’re getting very close to finalizing that arrangement.
Now with President Trump, it’s the same point that I’ve made with him and Vice President Pence and as I’ve had the opportunity to do with the open sessions as well; that is, we are friends. But we, like all the other countries here know, that tensions between the G2 have a big impact on the broader global economy. The IMF has estimated this to be potentially about 0.7 per cent of growth in GDP on the global economy. Now this is stating the obvious and that’s why I’m pleased, from where we were say two weeks ago when we were at APEC, I think there’s been some positive movement and some more positive discussion I think between the two largest economies. Which is showing greater recognition of the issues they’re seeking to resolve.
JOURNALIST: There’s a huge China presence here, as there was at APEC and so there is obviously discussion about the reach of Chinese power now. Did that come up at all in the discussion with Mr Trump, not just on trade but China’s strategic power?
PRIME MINISTER: Not so much related to that, but we obviously had a very good discussion about our Pacific ‘step-up’ programme and our joint efforts in the South West Pacific. We were able to talk briefly about our impending cooperation under the PNG-led initiative at Lombrum and more broadly our work in the ADO space, such as the electrification initiative which we announced in Port Moresby. But, the broader cultural, strategic, educational, diplomatic engagement across the south west Pacific and how that is linked up with other partners – my meeting with President Macron also dealt a fair degree with that territory as well, with the south west Pacific and there was a very strong interest, for obvious reasons. I mean they have a strong presence in the south west Pacific themselves. So, then together with whether it’s France or Japan, the United States, ourselves, there is a college of countries there who are very happy to work together in terms of how we can support our family and friends in the Pacific. But I also made the point quite plainly that where there are projects where we can work cooperatively with China in the area, we will.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] discussions you had over trade, do you feel more optimistic after having discussed that with Mr Trump, that he and Xi will actually come to an agreement of sorts, when they meet?
PRIME MINISTER: Whether they come to an agreement tomorrow really only they can discern that. But both, from the meeting I had with the President and the Vice President two weeks ago, the suggestion that the path the United States is pursuing has a protectionist motivation, I think is false, that has been confirmed to me on a number of occasions now and it stems back to the time when I dealt with Secretary Mnuchin; they’re looking for a better arrangement. They’re looking for trade over the next 20 to 30 years which is better than it has been in the past. So this isn’t about shutting all trade down, this is about coming to a new set of arrangements and we’ve got to bear in mind that the challenges at the WTO are two-fold. There is resolving a set of unresolved issues between these large economies but there is also the challenge of the WTO’s rules actually embracing and being modernized to deal with the new economy. Both of those issues are important and both of them can slow down trade. So this is about where data centres can be located, how data can move across borders, things like this. I mean they’re not part of any of those old rules really and that’s why the TPP-11 – which is something that Prime Minister ABE, who I also had the opportunity to have a good discussion with this morning – we often highlight the TPP-11 because it shows how you put a modern trade agreement in place. There was discussion also about services and things like this, so the trade discussion was very alive. I don’t think it’s surprising that there will be tensions from time to time as you try to transition from an old economy to a new economy. Some of the old rules were a bit clunky, they need a service.
JOURNALIST: Did you say to President Trump you’d prefer not to see the next stage of tariff increases that are slated for January 1?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I continue to highlight, as I always have, that the trade tensions are not good for the global economy. We all know that, but that’s just a statement of the obvious and it’s echoed by all countries, but done so in a friendly way. It’s just that there are issues they’re seeking to resolve. I think there’s growing acknowledgment that there are genuine issues that have to be resolved and it’s only for them to resolve them.
JOURNALIST: Did you talk about the possibility of shifting the Australian Embassy to Jerusalem?
PRIME MINISTER: No, that didn’t come up today. I’d had that discussion with Vice President Pence as so in the time we had available today, that had been well traversed in my previous discussion but we did talk about the Iran nuclear deal and I was able to advise him that we have a without-prejudice process underway currently and we both share concerns about the threat of the financing of terrorism and to ensure that nothing we’re doing here is providing opportunities for that.
JOURNALIST: Are you any closer to [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: The timetable hasn’t changed.
JOURNALIST: Was there any response from Mr Trump on your comments about the without-prejudice process on Iran?
PRIME MINISTER: He very much welcomed the fact that as a friend and an ally, we are always to look at these things. I mean they had raised the point about whether this is fit for purpose, whether it was a good deal and there are many things that sit outside the deal and that’s been one of our concerns and one of the reasons I raised my concerns and initiated the process we’re now involved in.
JOURNALIST: How would you describe your personal relationship with Mr Trump and do you think there’s any chance he might visit Australia in the next six months?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I wouldn’t say in the next six months. No, we’ll be a bit busy in the next six months in Australia so we’re not anticipating that and he’s certainly got a full deck of things to deal with in the United States. But look, Australia and the United States have the longest running Alliance of any countries in the world today, going back 100 years. So you’d expect regardless that there would be a strong relationship to build on and I was happy to play my role in that today and it was a very easy and affable connection.
JOURNALIST: Mr Morrison, Mohammed bin Salman has come to be a controversial figure [inaudible]. Have you picked up anything amongst fellow leaders of officials that there’s a reluctance for Saudi to host the G20 in two years? Has that come up at all?
PRIME MINISTER: That issue has not come up, no.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, forgive me for being churlish but has the issue of leadership at all come up in your discussions with Mr Trump?
PRIME MINISTER: Well they have their inquiries and when you describe the parliamentary system, it’s a foreign system to presidential systems, but it’s readily understood.
JOURNALIST: Has the President asked what happened to Malcolm Turnbull?
PRIME MINISTER: We just ran through what the events were there.
JOURNALIST: The President said that you’ve been doing a good job in the time that you’ve been Prime Minister, that you’ve been doing things that people have wanted to have done and that’s why you were sitting in the seat that Malcolm Turnbull probably would have been sitting in today. What did he mean by that do you think?
PRIME MINISTER: Look he didn’t make any specific reference to it when we met other than, I think, to acknowledge what I’ve already run through, some important issues we’ve been talking about today; whether it was how we’re dealing with issue on Iran, we also talked about and he updated me on the situation in North Korea, the Pacific ‘step up’ that we’ve under taken has been a very big initiative and that’s been very warmly welcomed in the United States. So Australia getting on with the job basically, that’s what people expect of us regardless of what is happening, that we don’t get distracted, we keep focused on the things that matter. And in our relationships, we ensure that we’re always delivering on that and staying in close contact with our partners and allies.
JOURNALIST: On trade Mr Morrison, the nervousness about tomorrow. The markets are nervous, you’re nervous, other leaders are nervous, what’s your benchmark for success tomorrow? Is it the language of the communique, is it agreement between Trump and Xi to sort of sit down and smoke the peace pipe? What would you consider a success or otherwise?
PRIME MINISTER: Look I’m not having expectations. I think that doesn’t assist, particularly when we’re not directly involved in what needs to be resolved between those two countries. But in terms of what is coming out of the G20, I am encouraged I think by the more constructive language we’re seeing being shared around particularly between the major economies which is very acknowledging of the importance of trade, the importance to deal with modernizing the rules that sit around it and reinforcing the need for there to be rules and this as something that needs to be progressed. So I think there’s some positive language, it’s being discussed along those lines and I think that’s an improvement from where we were a few weeks ago.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned before the trade rules [inaudible] the WTO. Does Australia have a firm position on how to reform those WTO rules, because, are we backing the US on some of the changes they want or some of the changes –
PRIME MINISTER: Well they’re involved in the process with the EU and Japan and ourselves. They’ve had some involvement with that but that EU-Japan process is one that we’ve participated in and been supportive of. I think that’s sort of starting to build a bit of a consensus.
JOURNALIST: You said that the trade war didn’t come from a protectionist basis necessarily. Did Donald Trump seem to confirm to you that this trade war is an active, sort of, trying to force China into a better deal for the US?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that phrase was never used -
JOURNALIST: Well okay, but did he seem to confirm that?
PRIME MINISTER: What he confirmed is what I think he’s been saying publically and what I’ve been interpreting the US position to be and that is, they’re looking to have some issues resolved that have long been unresolved and that at the end of the day, what this would result in is a stronger, more open, fairer, freer trade system with a strong rules-based order.
I mean the US built the multilateral rules-based order for trade and that has been, with few exceptions, one of the greatest contributors to prosperity in the post 2nd World War environment. I mean they were architects of this and I don’t think it’s surprising that as the architects of it, if they feels there’s deficiencies with it, over time, that they want to see them addressed. Now in the past they’ve sought to take a fairly orthodox approach to achieving that. I think that what we’ve seen more recently you wouldn’t describe as orthodox, but that doesn’t mean the objective isn’t the same.
JOURNALIST: You were quite sympathetic to the US position in this trade discussion and all of that, one of the issues that Donald Trump raises often is intellectual property theft. Now, is that an issue you’re sympathetic -
PRIME MINISTER: It’s an issue for Australia.
JOURNALIST: Precisely, so what do you think, do you think China has to answer for -
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think these are issues that need to be resolved. You know, I’m not making any allegations one way or the other but what I am saying is it’s an important issue particularly in a new economy. When you’ve got ICTIP and these sorts of issues and how that’s transferred and how it’s dealt with, where data centres are and how data moves around, these are the lifeblood of the new economy. So it’s important that if the world is going to realise all the benefits of this new digital economy, then there needs to be some sensible rules that protect propriety and intellectual property in these situations. So that’s, I think, not an unreasonable position at all, I think it’s a fairly obvious one.
JOURNALIST: Does China specifically need to do more?
PRIME MINISTER: I think these are issues that need to be resolved within the global trading system. I mean it can apply potentially anywhere but the point is that there needs to be common rules and a way to commit ourselves to those rules so we can have them resolved when there are disputes. Whether it’s frankly on IP, or whether it’s on sugar subsidies, both of them have real interest to Australia. It’s important that we have a system that enables us to resolve them, that’s why I’ve made the point in the sessions a few times; just over a decade ago, a decade ago I should say, the G20 was instrumental in restoring global financial stability at a time when it was at its most weak point in decades. The G20 was extremely effective in not just making those changes, but then following those changes through. Now ten years on, there’s a new threat to the global economy and it is resolving unresolved issues between some of the biggest economies in the world and modernizing the global multilateral trading system. That is something of a task and I think there’s a strong acknowledgement of that, I mean pretty much every intervention that you’ve heard at the G20, that point has been made over and over again.
I mean the G20 is fundamentally an economic and financial forum and this is the place where the importance of resolving these things needs to be agreed. Then that provides, I think, very clear running rules for the economies to go and resolve any matters they have outstanding.
JOURNALIST: PM are you hoping – I saw you have a quick chat with President Xi [inaudible]. Did you manage to [inaudible] were you hoping to try and get a more substantial [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: Well no, we don’t have any plans for that. We had a brief chat as I did with him in Port Moresby. But as you know, we had a very extensive meeting with Premier Li Keqiang in Singapore, that’s where we really covered the bases quite significantly. He had been fully briefed on all of those when I saw him in Port Moresby but it was again, a very positive and cordial exchange which demonstrates that what we’re doing is, we have friends, partners, trading partners all around the world and it’s our job to advance Australia’s interests. To try to ensure that as one of the most consistent and long-term advocates and practitioners of global, open trade, that we keep that policy direction on course. I mean I referenced again the fact that over the last 20 years, $8,500 in real terms, higher per household of income as a result of the trading arrangements we’ve had over that period of time. Since the early 90s, one billion people no longer live in extreme poverty in our region. These are significant. One in five jobs in Australia are down to trade. I mean that’s why we’re here. The hospitality is pleasant and we appreciate it, but that’s not why we’re here. We’re here because by advocating to ensure that these trade rules are in place and we’re moving this agenda forward, that creates jobs in Australia. That supports the stronger economy that I spoke of when I first came to the lectern. The stronger economy is what delivers for Australians the households, their jobs, their services, their Medicare, their affordable medicines. A weaker economy won’t do that, only a stronger economy will do that and we’re here, Mathias Cormann and I, to ensure that we’re doing everything we can globally and in our engagements, whether it’s the G20, APEC or anywhere else, to preserve those opportunities for Australia, for the economy we want Australians to live in over the next decade. We want it to be stronger, not weaker. That’s why we’re here.
Thank you very much.
Condolences for President George Herbert Walker Bush
1 December 2018
On behalf of the Government and people of Australia, I convey my deepest condolences to the American people on the passing of the 41st President of the United States of America, President George Herbert Walker Bush.
The President’s life was one of service, to his country and to his family. A member of the Greatest Generation, he was the last veteran of World War II to be elected President of the United States. In the course of his extraordinary life he was a navy aviator, businessman, Congressman, Ambassador, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Vice President and President. He was a beloved son, brother, father, grandfather and of course, husband to the wonderful, late Barbara Bush.
President Bush was the embodiment of the values of the United States, standing up for what was right and fighting throughout his life for freedom from tyranny and oppression in any guise. In fighting for these values so cherished by both our nations, he was a true friend to Australia and it was Australia’s honour to host him at the Australian Parliament in 1991.
The President’s civility, charm and warmth endeared him to his nation and to people everywhere, making him loved as much as he was admired and respected. We join with the American people to mourn his passing.
Doorstop, Canberra
29 November 2018
JOURNALIST: Do you have any issues with the way Malcolm Turnbull has conducted himself since you took over the leadership?
PRIME MINISTER: No I don’t provide any commentary on that. We stay in contact.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how relieved were you after that phone call with Craig Kelly yesterday when he told you that he wasn't going to go to the crossbench?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I wasn't considering the option that he was and that's never been the subject of our conversations.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, would you have any consideration about Ben Roberts-Smith, the developments today that the AFP is investigating him over allegations of war crimes. Do you have any response to that?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I absolutely, like I think all Australians, respect the enormous contribution that Ben Roberts-Smith has made to his country and as I do for all Australians servicemen and women and where there are formal processes that are underway, I'll respect those processes. I'm sure all Australians will.
JOURNALIST: You're flying off to the G20. What is the message that you would send your backbench colleagues, all of your colleagues, about loyalty while you're away?
PRIME MINISTER: What all of my team are talking about and as we have been all this week and as I will continue to from this day all the way to the next election, and that is a strong economy is what guarantees the essentials that Australians rely on. And we have the runs on the board and we have the - I believe - the trust and confidence of the Australian people to be the ones who are better able to manage that economy into the future. That's what guarantees Medicare, that’s what guarantees things like MS research. You can only do that if you're running a strong economy and you can only do that if you can manage a Budget. Now, we know how to manage money in the Liberal and National Parties, we have demonstrated that. You’ve asked the question, now let me answer it. What I'm saying is, is that we're putting down a Budget next year. That's what we're focused on.
JOURNALIST: With respect you’re not answering the question.
PRIME MINISTER: That will be the first surplus Budget that we have seen in 12 years and that's what pays for things like MS research. That's what pays for things like life-saving affordable medicines for Australians. So that's what we're focusing on. That's what we're doing. That's what we're delivering and that's what I'll be taking to the next election. The next election will be about who can run that strong economy to deliver the essential services that Australians rely on and it's a choice - it's a choice the Australian people will be able to make and they can either choose Bill Shorten who wants higher taxes or they can choose me and the Liberal Party and the National Party which will keep taxes down and grow that economy can which gives then the essential services they rely on.
JOURNALIST: Do you think - are you still confident that you can move to ban discrimination against the kids on the base of their sexuality before the end of the year?
PRIME MINISTER: That really is a matter for the Parliament and I have sought to deal with this in a bipartisan way. I have put forward two proposals to seek to deal with this in a bipartisan way and I'm disappointed that the Labor Party has sought to politicise this issue and play political football with it. I remain of the view I would like to see this matter addressed in the same terms I set out some months ago.
JOURNALIST: So in the spirit of bipartisanship, what do you make of the legislation Labor has taken to the Senate?
PRIME MINISTER: Well that's different to what we proposed to them and we heard nothing from them for over a month until one of them, the Shadow Attorney-General, decided to go and do an ABC radio interview. I don't consider the way they’ve handled that in the spirit of, I thought, the bipartisan approach that I had offered. So I found that disappointing. Our proposals are very clear and we would seek support for those proposals that we put forward.
JOURNALIST: Are you disappointed not to be meeting president Trump at the G20?
PRIME MINISTER: Watch this space as he would say. Thank you.
G20 Leaders Summit
29 November 2018
I will travel to Argentina from 30 November to 1 December to participate in the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Buenos Aires.
The G20 has a track record of bringing advanced and emerging economies together to bridge divides and shape the rules that govern our economic interactions.
My priority for this year’s Summit will be building on that record with other leaders to find a constructive way forward on global trade.
A strong multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organisation at its’ centre has helped underwrite regional and global economic stability and prosperity.
This is critically important to Australia as an open, trade-reliant economy – our continued growth and prosperity depends on it.
I am pleased that this year’s Summit includes a focus on the future of work and how growth can be shared across populations.
I will take the opportunity to highlight how innovation has been at the centre of growing Australia’s economy and how increasing women’s economic security and participation is essential to raising living standards. That’s why Australia introduced the gender participation goal during our 2014 G20 presidency, of reducing the gap between female and male participation by 25 per cent by 2025.
I look forward to meeting with my fellow leaders at the Summit to discuss these important issues and strengthen our engagement at what is a critical time.
A stronger voice for Science and Technology
28 November 2018
Prime Minister, Minister for Industry, Science and Technology
A new science and technology council announced today by the Liberal National Government will create jobs and drive economic growth.
The National Science and Technology Council will take the place of the former Commonwealth Science Council as the peak advisory body to the Prime Minister and other Ministers on science and technology.
It will focus on the key science and technology challenges facing Australia, ensuring the Government receives the best independent advice possible.
The Council will identify Research Challenge projects and oversee horizon-scanning reports into long-term science and technology priorities, providing expert advice on issues such as health, emerging technologies and education.
These changes will enable a stronger voice for science and technology in the national conversation, ensuring deeper engagement with Government and industry in the policy process.
The Prime Minister will be Chair of the Council, the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews as Deputy Chair, with up to six scientific experts to be appointed. Australia’s Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel AO will continue as Executive Officer and the Chief Executive of the CSIRO, Dr Larry Marshall, will also join as an ex officio member.
The Coalition recognises the importance of science, research and technology in improving the competitiveness of Australian businesses and driving new jobs, which is why we invested $2.4 billion in the 2018/19 Budget and why we are increasing funding to our world-class research agencies like CSIRO over the next four years. This builds on our regular annual investment of around $10 billion in science, research and innovation. This $2.4 billion Budget funding includes $41 million for the establishment of the Australian Space Agency, which will allow Australia to tap into the $US345 billion global space industry.
The Coalition Government is also increasing investment in priority areas, including medical research, through the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF). MRFF investment is increasing by over $1.9 billion over the forward estimates. This means more funding for genomics, rare cancers and diseases, and chronic conditions like diabetes.
Only under the Coalition Government’s strategic, rational and strong economic management can Australia’s burgeoning science, technology and health sectors continue to steadily expand and create more local jobs.
Radio interview with Alan Jones, 2GB
28 November 2018
ALAN JONES: Prime Minister good morning.
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning Alan. Bit wet in Sydney today?
JONES: Very wet even in your Shire. Can I just ask you then about that; when are people going to wake up to this hoax? Flannery was made Australian of the Year. He said because of global warming, Sydney dams could be dry in as little as two years. Global warming, he said, was drying up the rains and the city would face – I’m quoting him exactly – “extreme difficulties with water.” How much evidence do you need before it’s demonstrated that these people are talking rubbish?
PRIME MINISTER: Well look Alan, we take reasonable and sensible policies in terms of managing our climate. That’s what you do, that’s what all Australians largely believe in. They just want us to look after the place. They want to ensure that we’ve got responsible policies, that we don’t go and blow up our economy basically, with reckless targets and going out on the fringes and on the edges, when it comes to this. They just want the government to be sensible when it comes to climate policy and that’s what we’re doing. That’s what we’ll continue to do.
But you know, we’re a country that deals with extremes of weather, we always have. I mean we’ve got bushfires burning across Queensland, there are 88 bushfires burning across Queensland at the moment, Deepwater, Finch Hatton, places like this. Those communities are under a lot of pressure today and obviously we’ve been watching that very closely and we’re providing support to the Queensland Government where they need it. I know New South Wales firefighters, they’re up there supporting their Queensland colleagues. So there’s a lot of things going on, but people in Australia who are dealing with some real, significant things
JONES: I know, but I suppose what people are asking now is that – there’s this ridiculous Paris Agreement, they’re going to be meeting in Poland in a couple of days time and government ministers, those who are signatories to the Paris Agreement, we’re one of them, are going to agree on rules for the implementation of the Paris Agreement. That will mean $100 billion being spent, going to a whole heap of developing nations. I mean why are we there?
PRIME MINISTER: Well Alan we’ve had this conversation.
JONES: We have.
PRIME MINISTER: Many times on your program. The Government has a 26 per cent emissions reduction target. We set it as a Government, we set it. I was in the Cabinet, Tony Abbott was in the Cabinet, Malcolm Turnbull was in the Cabinet, we were all in the Cabinet.
JONES: But only if the rest of the world did likewise, that’s why you agreed.
PRIME MINISTER: No, sorry Alan I was there, we agreed on 26 per cent. It was middle of the pack, it was an achievable target and it’s not going to put up prices. Its not going to do any of that. We’re not signing up spending more money or sending it offshore or doing any of that. We’re just going to meet the commitment we said we’d meet and that’s what I think Australians expect us to do – to live up to our commitments. That’s what we are as a Government, that’s who I am as a Prime Minister; I make a commitment Alan, I keep it.
JONES: Right well then where do you stand, what comment would you make about the energy policy announced by the Labor Party last week, which says that they’re going to go to 50 per cent renewable energy and a 45 per cent emissions reduction target. How many people is that going to put out of business? How many people is that going to put in the dark?
PRIME MINISTER: It’s going to be a wrecking ball through our economy. I mean this is the thing, a 45 per cent emissions reduction target is reckless. Its going to wipe out industries. It’s going to wipe out the Boyne Island aluminum smelter, it’s going to wipe out jobs from one side of the country to the other. It’ll put up electricity prices, it’s an electricity tax. That’s exactly what it is and that’s where the difference is. That’s where the different is, this is a reckless climate policy that is driven by ideology, not driven by common sense, not driven by just being sensible about these things, and measured. It’s driven by ideology that the Labor Party has bought hook, line and sinker. They’re going to drive a wrecking ball through our economy and make the jobs that we’ve been creating, a million and more jobs over the last five years, 100,000 youth jobs in the last 12 months, the strongest youth jobs performance ever in Australia’s economic history – that’s what Labor would put at risk with these reckless targets.
JONES: Okay well just let me ask you this, because I thought this was a significant comment which was made in the wake of Victoria. Not that I believe, and I’ve said this publically, that there’s any correlation between what happened in Victoria and what will happen at a federal election, the circumstances are entirely different. For a start, it’s the prosecution of policies. You’ve got a fair stack of them that you can be proud of. Nonetheless it may well be in light of what we saw there - and let’s face it for the last 36 years, Labor have been in power in Victoria for all but three – is there an emerging and disturbing development that the voter wants government to spend and let someone else worry about debt? How do you prosecute that case?
PRIME MINISTER: Well the public want two things Alan, they want the economy to be strong so they’ve got a job and they want to be able to have the services they rely on delivered, like Medicare and all the rest of it. That’s what the next election is going to be about; a clear choice between me and Bill Shorten of course, I made that point in the Parliament the other day, but it’s about the Australian people ultimately. We’re saying we can deliver the hospitals and the schools, Medicare, the affordable medicines, the pension, all of these things without putting up people’s taxes. Bill Shorten just wants to –
JONES: Nevertheless, when he says in that energy policy; “Oh, you’ll get a $2,000 subsidy for households to install a battery,” …
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, after you’ve spent $10,000 to $20,000 on a battery. Because there are so many families out there on the sort of incomes who can just have a lazy $10,000 to $20,000 lying around to go and buy one of those Elon Musk batteries. I mean how out of touch can you get. I mean I said it the other day; this is going from pink batts to pink batteries. We saw all of this from Labor last time. The policy that we saw from them last time when they were in Government, they’ve learned nothing in the last six years. But the other thing they haven’t learned is that the way you pay for hospitals and schools is not by putting up taxes. You pay for it by running a strong economy, which is what we’ve done. That’s why the Budget will be in balance next year.
JONES: You see in 2007, you had Costello and Howard who had given tremendous levels of economic growth and everyone thought: “Oh, this is automatic, this is automatic. Let’s give the other bloke a go, c’mon” you know, “Time for change, Kevin 07”. And we got Kevin and we got Julia and we got Kevin again and now you mob have got to sort of try and mop it all up, how do you win that argument that there is a very high risk? That this stuff is put at risk?
I thought your answer in relation to that, in relation to the Victorian election was – I’ll just take you through this – I thought there was a very good answer by you if I might say so, in Question Time. Because you were asked about the whole business in Victoria, what happened and so on and you said that you congratulated Daniel Andrews. You said: “I did it because in Victoria, an incumbent Premier, who has been presiding over a strong economy which has enabled him to deliver services and infrastructure which the people of Victoria have clearly respected, a Premier who is favoured over his opponent, has been reelected. So an incumbent Government, running a strong economy, with a preferred Premier and delivering services and infrastructure for the people that they’re intended to serve.” And you said – it was quite clever – “Who does that sound like? Our Government is running a strong economy. Our Government is delivering infrastructure and services the Australian people respect and want more of”. That case has got to be prosecuted.
PRIME MINISTER: That is exactly the case and I believe that is what happened in Victoria. I mean what Bill Shorten is proposing Alan, is radical change to our economy. Radical change to our industrial relations system. Radical change to environmental policies. Radical changes to our social policies. And I don’t think Australians want that change, that’s why it’s so important that my team, the Liberal team, the National team, have to band together. And that means our supporters listening to this program right now, we can’t be going on about ourselves. I mean that is just unacceptable because there is too much at risk. That is the risk of a Shorten-led government who will seek to change it all.
Do you remember how Peter Garrett said back before 2007, he let the cat out of the bag. Kevin Rudd was trying to pretend that he was John Howard lite. No way, no way, he said he’d “change it all,” and Labor did change it all from 2007 and Bill Shorten will be worse.
JONES: I hate to give this oxygen but I have to ask you the question because it’s driven me nuts to read all the rubbish yesterday. But there is a report this morning that Julia Banks told the crossbench – I mean this is a woman who wasn’t even a member of the Liberal Party, she became a member of the Liberal Party around preselection, she’s a one stop shop and she’s gone - but she has told the crossbench about her defection weeks before announcing it to the House of Representatives. Did she tell you?
PRIME MINISTER: No, no she didn’t and of course that’s disappointing as all of our colleagues were disappointed.
JONES: How do you think all those Liberal who manned the booths and worked their butts off, how do you think they feel?
PRIME MINISTER: I think they feel the same way Alan, I think they feel the same way and they’d be entitled to think that. But you know we’re not going to stop Bill Shorten becoming prime minister by sitting around and being disappointed.
JONES: [Laughs]
PRIME MINISTER: We’re going to stop him by actually getting out there and prosecuting the case. And we took that case to the last election about the stronger economy, getting unemployment down to five percent, making sure we got the Budget back into balance. I mean we’re a Government that has achieved everything we said, from stopping the boats, to getting the Budget back in the black. That’s what we’ve been doing. Now we’ve got to get out of the way of our own message here and make sure we can get that clearly to every single Australian; that what Bill Shorten is proposing – his negative gearing abolition, his increase in capital gains tax, the retiree tax which will hit women 30 per cent more than it will hit men, and the Labor Party think they’re for women, give me a break.
JONES: Well you just mentioned before, social policy. Because we could talk for hours and perhaps we should – I might trip you up here. The ALP conference is going to discuss a list of 33 gender labels that could be used on birth certificates and passports. Do you know what a person who calls himself or herself “omnigendered”, do you know what that means?
PRIME MINISTER: No idea.
JONES: I see. What about “neutrios”?
PRIME MINISTER: No, clueless on that too.
JONES: No and “demigendered”?
PRIME MINISTER: I dunno. It always sounds like an alphabet -
JONES: Sounds like a what?
PRIME MINISTER: An alphabet.
JONES: Yes. Well, omnigender means all genders are the same. Neutrios means you don’t have any gender and demigender means well, you might be one or you might be the other. Now it’s not laughable is it, this stuff is on the move.
PRIME MINISTER: Well I called on Bill Shorten the other day after there was that ridiculous vote in the Tasmanian Parliament.
JONES: Supported by a Liberal.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, one Liberal who was the Speaker, but not by Will Hodgman’s Government.
JONES: Will she be run out of the Party?
PRIME MINISTER: Well that’s not how things happen in the Liberal Party as you know Alan. The Labor Party runs people out for expressing their view, the Liberal Party has never had that approach. But that was not the view of the Hodgman Government and they certainly opposed it. But I called on Bill Shorten to make it Labor Party policy at a federal level and for him to go to that federal conference and put an end to all this nonsense. It was ridiculous.
Now I know Alan and you would know too that there are Australians who at birth and for physiological reasons there are genuine issues here that we should respect -
JONES: Definitely, absolutely.
PRIME MINISTER: And everyone thinks that. I mean Australians are fair-minded people.
JONES: Absolutely.
PRIME MINISTER: But we’re not mugs and we don’t have to spend our time, you know, getting drawn off into these things every other day.
JONES: That’s going on in the classroom though.
PRIME MINISTER: It’s not going to keep unemployment down, it’s not going to make sure we keep the Budget in the black, it’s not going to pay for one extra hospital or one extra school. That’s what I’m focused on and if the Labor Party wants to run around at their federal conference talking about these things, it just tells all Australians that they have nothing in common with the rest of Australia.
JONES: Okay just one final thing before you go. You made the statement about small business, we know it’s the engine of national economic growth and so on. But many of them out there just wait and wait and wait for their bills to be paid. They’re treated as rubbish.
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
JONES: Now what can you guarantee small business can look forward to if you achieve this business, you say you’re going to shame big business into paying small business on time -
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah there’s three things we’re doing. First of all we’re taking our payment terms from 30 days down to 20 days, that’s what the Commonwealth Government are doing. We’re already meeting 30 days, we’re going to take it to 20. I’m calling on all the state governments when we meet at COAG, that all state governments do the same thing. Credit to Gladys Berejiklian and Dom Perrottet in New South Wales, they’re getting it to 20 days. The third thing is I want to see all the big businesses sign up to the Business Council’s payment code. That’s at 30 days and I think they should match us at 20 days as well. We cannot treat small business like a bank for governments and for big businesses, they should pay on time. I mean the technology is in place now and I’d encourage all small businesses to get online with the online payment systems. The technology is there now and if you get onto those systems there is no reason why people can’t pay you within a couple of days.
JONES: Good on you. Good to talk to you, thank you for your time.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks Alan.