Press Conference, Singapore

7 June 2019

Prime Minister, Prime Minister of Singapore

PRIME MINISTER LEE:  Prime Minister Morrison, ladies and gentlemen, good morning to all of you. Personally, I once again welcome the Prime Minister to Singapore, and his delegation. He was last here in November for the ASEAN-related meetings, and I’m very happy that he’s made Singapore the first country in Asia to visit on his first overseas trip and soon after winning the Australian federal election, for which we congratulate him. 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON: Thank you.

PRIME MINISTER LEE: I’m happy to take stock of our excellent bilateral relationship with the Prime Minister today. We’ve made good progress in implementing our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the CSP concluded in 2015. Last year our bilateral trade grew by one quarter, year on year, and I hope it will continue to grow to the upgraded FTA which came into force two years ago. Tourism has grown substantially too. There are 1.1 million Australians who visited us last year and about 400,000 Singaporeans who visited Australia. So, that’s a thriving business.

We appreciate Australia’s generous support for our military training, including in New South Wales, the Prime Minister’s home state. Prime Minister Morrison and I hope to take our relationship further, to jointly developing military training areas in Queensland, and look forward to finalising this agreement through a treaty this year. We welcome Australia’s increase of the work holiday visa program spaces for Singaporeans from 500 to 2,500.

I raised with Prime Minister Morrison two items which we have agreed to do under the CSP. One is to conclude an open skies agreement and the other is to update our avoidance of double taxation agreement which is celebrating its Golden Anniversary this year because it was concluded in 1969, and has long since been revised. Under the CSP, we had agreed to do both of these by 2022. So I told the Prime Minister that I hope our officials can begin discussions on these subjects soon.

We also explored other areas of, new areas of collaboration, for example in cybersecurity, for security in the digital economy. Discussions on the digital economy are still at an early stage but there is scope to deepen our collaboration particularly in areas like e-invoicing, digital identities, e-payments and artificial intelligence. The two of us have asked our trade ministers to lead these efforts and to find ways where we can break new ground and report back to us by October this year. This would pave the way for a new form of economic engagement and trade.

We also exchanged views on regional and global issues. Australia is already firmly linked to the regional architecture as an ASEAN dialogue partner and a member of the East Asia Summit. I welcomed Australia's continued deep engagement of the region and thanked the Prime Minister for Australia's firm support for ASEAN.

Australia is one of a few countries with whom we meet at the leaders’ level every year. We are natural partners – Australia and Singapore. We see eye to eye on many issues including the importance of an open rules based and inclusive multilateral trading system. I've enjoyed good relations with every Australian Prime Minister who has been my counterpart, and I fully expect to continue to do so with Prime Minister Morrison.

I'm happy that we are able to meet so early in his new term to give fresh impetus to our relationship and look forward to working with him and his Government to strengthen our relations further. Thank you.

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON: Thank you very much Prime Minister.

[Applause]

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON: Well, thank you very much Prime Minister. On behalf of my delegation, thank you for your very warm welcome here this morning, and for the opportunity for us to meet as part of our comprehensive, strategic partnership. It is a very significant partnership and holds a very special place for Australia in our engagements with countries around the world. I was also pleased to be here in the ASEAN region, and particularly with Singapore, so soon after our recent election. My presence here today with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Trade, Investment and Tourism is a strong signal about where we see our focus from an external affairs point of view.

During this visit, this overseas trip I should say, that has also involved us attending the D-Day ceremonies in the United Kingdom. But importantly before that visiting the Pacific. And so whether it's the Indo-Pacific specifically here in Southeast Asia or in South West Pacific, it is my Government's intention to be very, very focused on where we live, and the countries with whom we live in this part of the world.

And I want to thank you Prime Minister for your strong leadership on the on the major issues that are confronting our region. In particular I want to commend you on the presentation you made last Friday at the Shangri-La Dialogue. I thought it provided some incredibly useful insights that Australia shares and I believe others share also, and provided, I think, a very great deal of clarity on the way that independent sovereign states, particularly in the Pacific, can go forward in engaging with the challenges that are present.

I'm also very excited that we've been able to make progress already on the digital economy agreement that we're working towards, and I'm looking forward to our trade ministers reporting back to us, as you say in October, and hopefully be able to make significant progress before the end of the year. The digital economy is going to be so critical to our productivity for our economic growth, and this election of working in this area, I think is important as it is a demonstration of the close working relationship our two countries have. We continue to make progress on our defence arrangements; and the work is being done in Shoalwater Bay, and we look forward to that program continuing to progress; and hosting Singapore; forces coming to trade in Australia; at a whole new level, they have for many, many year, and this provides a whole new dimension to that partnership. So our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership works across so many areas, whether it's tourism, whether it's, as you say, security and counterterrorism, whether it's in the space of addressing strategic challenges in the area.

And finally I want to commend you for the leadership role that you've been playing with ASEP. Australia remains absolutely committed to working with Singapore to see ASEP completed on the timetable that you have outlined and we spoke of when we were here last year. And we will undertake our efforts to that end. And we see whether it's ASEP or our involvement through the TPP, or the many other agreements we're working on, as a demonstration of while there may be challenges in the great powers, and how they’re seeking to conclude their arrangements, other sovereign independent states are getting on with the business of trade, and investment, and cooperation, and partnership, in this region, and Australia is very pleased to be doing that with Singapore, our Comprehensive Strategic Partner.

PRIME MINISTER LEE: Thank you.

MC: Thank you, Excellencies. We will now take a few questions. First from Singapore media. [inaudible] from CNN.

JOURNALIST: Good morning Prime Ministers. Thank you.

PRIME MINISTER LEE: Good morning.

JOURNALIST: How confident is Singapore and Australia that ASEP talks may conclude soon, given you know, the urgency to rising trade protectionism?

PRIME MINISTER LEE: Well, we’re reasonably confident that with sufficient political will and the willingness to make difficult trade-offs, it’s possible to conclude the RCEP by the end of 2019. It's a key priority for all of the RCEP participating countries. The leaders of these countries last met in November, when we announced that the negotiations had made substantial progress in 2018, and also expressed a strong political commitment to push for the conclusion of the negotiations by end 2019 under Thailand's Chairmanship. I think it's important because concluding the RCEP this year will send a strong signal to the business community that our region is open for business and has continued, committed to continue operating on the basis of an open, free and rules-based environment. So we'll continue to work closely with our partners and particularly with Thailand, which is chairing ASEAN this year, as we will try our best to achieve the target.

MC: Prime Minister Morrison, do you have anything to add?

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON: Only to say that ASEP, I think very much, acknowledges the need for an open architecture on trading arrangements in our region. It's something that Australia is very supportive of hence out comments that we want to work with Singapore to ensure that we meet the timetable the Prime Minister has set out.

This is an important opportunity. It has had some frustration in terms of the many electoral cycles of its partners, particularly over the first half of this year. But with much of that now completed, I think there is a very good opportunity for considerable focus to be placed on this and to meet that timetable. We think it's a very important agreement for our region.

MC: Thank you. Mr Greg Jennett from ABC.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Lee in your Shangri-La speech which Mr Morrison has cited, you listed many stresses and strains between the US and China – and you included in that 5G technologies. Now Australia is unique in seeking to ban the state-owned corporation Huawei from its network. Singapore appears, correct me if I'm wrong, to be somewhat more pragmatic. So my question is why is your Government less concerned about foreign state interference in your future networks here? And Prime Minister Morrison did you seek to persuade Prime Minister Lee, that what is in the interests of a Singaporean company in Australia, should also be in the interests of Singaporean companies in Singapore?

PRIME MINISTER LEE: I stated my position on 5G last week at the Shangri-La Dialogue. After my speech, there was a question to this and I gave it a full answer. If you look it up, you'll see what I said. I don't know if it is helpful to compare relative degrees of concern about foreign interference. We're all concerned about foreign interference in our domestic politics, and in our networks. The question is what degree of risk you're prepared to take. What is an effective measure to counter this? And what's the best way to proceed? And different countries will make their own assessments. Each one has to come to its own conclusion. And we respect each other's conclusions, and decisions, and actions. These are sovereign choices which are the responsibilities of the governments to keep. So we will look at this very carefully. We will value network resilience, network security. We value also vendor diversity, and we want to make sure that we have a system which serves a purpose and meets our interests. And, it is a right choice for Singapore, and that’s what we will do.

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON: I think Greg, it’s important not to over interpret Australia's decision. Australia, we made our decision in accord with our own interests and our own challenges and we made it for Australia - without the involvement of any of any other third parties in coming to that view. And so similarly, we don't see it as our role to be involved in the decisions of other nations on these issues. Whether it's here in Singapore, or indeed in the United Kingdom where I recently was, or anywhere else. These are sovereign decisions to be made by independent nations in accordance with their own national interests and the challenges that they face. The 5G is an incredibly important platform for the success of our economies into the future. And the sheer scale and scope of the technology means that we have to be very mindful of other security interests, not directed to any particular nation at all, for that matter. And that's the nature of the decision that we took. So, we, when asked, are always happy to go into some of our own analysis as to how we make our decision. But the decisions of others is completely and entirely up to them, and we do not see it as our role, whether here in Singapore or anywhere else, as being an advocate for a decision one way or the other.

MC: Thank you. [inaudible]. Thank you. 

JOURNALIST: Good morning, Prime Ministers. My question is for PM Lee. We understand that the Australian Government has passed a very strict anti-foreign interference last year to combat the threat of external political meddling. My question is, is there anything we can learn from the Australian experience as we as we make our own tougher on laws against foreign interference? Also another question for both prime ministers is, is there any scope for us to expand our bilateral cooperation in these areas?

PRIME MINISTER LEE: Well, foreign interference is a significant threat for all countries, because it can severely disrupt the functioning of our democratic political systems. And so we are all watching one another: what measures we are taking; what we can learn from what other people do.

Singapore is particularly vulnerable because we are a multiracial, multi-religious, and race, religion, and identity can easily be exploited by foreign parties as fault lines to disrupt and weaken our society – as indeed has happened in the past, long before the internet got invented, repeatedly. But the internet and social media have now provided new tools for foreign parties to conduct hostile information campaigns to reach a large domestic audience very quickly, very cheaply, and under the cover of anonymity. And so it's that problem has morphed and become much more serious. Our current thinking is broadly aligned with Australia's approach, and that is to detect early, to expose such an effort early. And we want to put in place safeguards and disclosure requirements at all the likely entry points, funding key leadership roles in organisations, all mass information or disinformation campaigns on the social media. So we want to be able to detect as early as possible attempts by foreign actors to manipulate information online to sway public opinion. And we need to develop responses to digital age tactics, such as the use of bots, to occupy mind space through sheer volume. And at the same time of course we need to build up the ability of Singaporeans to discern and respond appropriately, to resist foreign interference. Through educating the public and working with our media to call out falsehoods, disinformation and half-truths.

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON: Independent, sovereign states throughout the Asia-Pacific, indeed throughout the Indo-Pacific; respect for them, and ensuring that internally they're able to maintain their independence and sovereignty, is incredibly important for the stability of our region. And that's why measures such as these are so important. And so we will each take actions that we believe are appropriate in our own settings. As Australia has, and indeed as Singapore does. We do share many experiences though with Singapore. We are both as countries host to ethnic diasporas from many places. And I think a key issue for us both, and for Australia in particular, is engaging with those communities. Across all of these communities in Australia, they’re always Australians first. And happily so. Our migrant communities have come from all around the world, and they've come to Australia to realise their aspirations. And we celebrate that with them. And to ensure that they can continue to enjoy that freedom, and enjoy pursuing those aspirations, it's important to have appropriate protections in place, which we believe we do. But we watch these very closely and we seek to learn from others’ experiences. But I conclude where I started, I mean our vision for the region, which we share with so many partners, I’m sure including Singapore, and this is why we so much enjoy our association with ASEAN, is ASEAN is a grouping of fiercely independent, sovereign states. And very keen to remain so and we very much support that.

MC: Thank you. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42289

More work and holiday visas available to Singaporeans

7 June 2019

Prime Minister, Minister for Immigration Citizenship Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs

More young Singaporeans will be able to study and fill critical labour shortages in Australia under expanded visa arrangements announced by the Prime Minister today in Singapore.

From 1 July 2019, the number of Work and Holiday visas available to Singaporean citizens aged 18-30 will increase from 500 to 2,500 per year.

The expansion follows changes to the programme announced in November 2018 to assist farmers and regional businesses fill critical work shortages. These are positions that are unable to be filled domestically.

While on their first visa, Singaporean nationals may undertake specified work in regional areas to become eligible for a second Work and Holiday visa and extend their stay. From 1 July 2019, the option of a third year stay will also be available to them if they undertake six months of regional work in their second year in Australia.

The Work and Holiday visa requires first-time Singaporean applicants to hold or be studying towards tertiary qualifications and to speak a functional level of English.

Australia and Singapore have had a Work and Holiday visa arrangement in place since August 2017. In its first year of operation, 446 Work and Holiday visas were granted to Singaporean citizens, fostering closer ties and people-to-people links between young adults from our two countries. These ties and links are expected to grow under the expanded arrangements announced today, providing tangible long-term benefits for Australia.

Australia’s Working Holiday Maker program currently has arrangements in place with 42 countries, across the globe.

The number of places available to Spanish, Israeli, Peruvian and Chilean nationals under the program have all recently increased. For Spain an increase from 1,500 to 3,400 places (December 2018), for Israel an increase from 500 to 2,500 places (December 2018), for Peru an increase from 100 to 1,500 places (January 2019) and for Chile an increase from 2,000 to 3,400 places (February 2019).

We look forward to welcoming more young Singaporeans to Australia and continuing to strengthen our bilateral relationship.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42287

Doorstop interview, Portsmouth, UK

5 June 2019

PRIME MINISTER: It’s a great honour and a privilege to attend today’s commemoration here as a guest of the British Prime Minister and of course to join Her Majesty and other world leaders who are here today.

It was very moving and I think a very personal ceremony in telling the personal stories, and to be able to afterwards go and speak to veterans, who were there on the day; 19-year-olds, 21-year-olds, on ships and planes and landing craft. Those memories of that day are still very vivid in their minds.

It’s a great privilege to speak to any veteran, but on this particular day of historical significance, and for Australia to be represented here as forming part of that allied force that set out from here and secured peace and generations of prosperity, building international institutions that secured that peace and prosperity over so many years. It's important that we reflect on that, understanding the causes of the forces that brought the world to that point at that time to make sure that in today's world, as we were just discussing at a meeting with leaders who were here today, that we ensure those lessons are never lost. 

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the ABC raid [inaudible].

PRIME MINISTER: Well first of all, let me say that my government is absolutely committed to freedom of the press. Secondly these are matters that were being pursued by the AFP operationally at complete arm's length from the government, not in the knowledge of the government, not at the instigation of government ministers. 

These were matters that have been referred to the federal police some time ago, last year, proceeding even my time as coming to be Prime Minister. They were referred by department heads, not by Ministers. And then it is a matter for the federal police to make judgments about how they proceed. 

Matters are referred to police on a regular basis and it's only the federal police that ultimately then makes decisions about how they proceed with those investigations and it would be entirely inappropriate for the government of the day to be interfering in those.

And that has led to the raids that have taken place on two very separate issues, unrelated. And of course for raids to take place there needs to be warrants. And they were obtained in the normal process, there are checks and balances around that. So look I can understand why these issues can cause great anxiety, particularly for members of the press, but more broadly. 

And it’s important I have been in discussion with editors today, and others, and they have expressed their concerns to me on these issues. And I think it’s important we just pause and as these issues are worked through in the days ahead that if there are any issues that we have to address then I am open to discussing those. But at the moment what we are dealing with is two separate investigations following a normal process and any suggestion that these were done with the knowledge of or with the instigation of government ministers is completely untrue.

JOURNALIST: Do you believe that we should reconsider the laws that have led to this scenario?

PRIME MINISTER: I think it would be premature to be drawing those conclusions at this point.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you seem very relaxed about the fact that we seem to be taking tips on media freedom from China?

PRIME MINISTER: Well I don't understand the point you are making, maybe you should be a bit clearer.

JOURNALIST: Well do you believe that this is an Australia you are happy to be Prime Minister of, where the press is treated like this?

PRIME MINISTER: Well as I said, I believe firmly in the freedom of the press, I believe firmly in our laws and our laws being upheld and no one is above the law. No one is above the law. And it’s important that law enforcement authorities conduct themselves in accordance with the rules that govern their behaviour. As the Prime Minister that is something I will always seek to ensure is done. If there are issues regarding particular laws they will be raised in the normal way that they should be in a democracy, and they are matters I am always open to discuss as any Prime Minister would be.

But I think it’s important to understand what is occurring here and this is a process of investigations being pursued by an independent law enforcement agency and they are acting in accordance with the laws that govern their behaviour. And that is done at arm’s length from the Government. This is not a matter that has been directed or in any way involves government ministers and it would be inappropriate if it did.

JOURNALIST: Were you made aware of the raid?

PRIME MINISTER: After they had taken place.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how do you reconcile with the fact that you want freedom of the press but the current laws don't allow that?

PRIME MINISTER: Well I think that is a very strong statement to be made on the back of two raids and which the consequences of and what is learned from those and the application for the laws is still undetermined. 

JOURNALIST: Would you agree that two raids in two days is not a great look for press freedom? 

PRIME MINISTER: I can only make the observation that the raids that took place occurred in accordance with Australia’s laws and in accordance with the Australian Federal Police that acts independently of government ministers doing their job. So whether it’s the police investigating potential acts in other areas of criminality or in this area, that’s the job of our police forces. What we are seeing here is the working out of an investigatory process and the gathering of evidence on a particular matter that they are pursuing. The nature of their investigation and the nature of their inquiries, at an operational level, and I am not obviously privy to that and nor should I be.

JOURNALIST: Is it at all uncomfortable for you on a day celebrating freedom of democracy to have these stunning images in Australian newsrooms and beamed across the world? It does seem like quite an unusual juxtaposition.

PRIME MINISTER: I can only refer you to what I’ve just said, and Australia is a place where the rule of law stands and no one is above it, and the way that our laws are enforced and upheld is by the actions of independent law enforcement agencies acting in accordance with the statutes that govern them. That’s what happens in democracies and that’s what’s happening in Australia. 

JOURNALIST: Do you believe we need to change those laws?

PRIME MINISTER: Well I’ve already commented on that, I’m open to having discussions about concerns that have been raised and we would consider that in relation to any issues that are raised with us.

JOURNALIST: Do you believe that journalists have the right to protect their sources and that whistle-blowers have a right to protection?

PRIME MINISTER: I believe in freedom of the press. 

JOURNALIST: Mr Morrison, can I ask you about your trip here? You met with Emmanuel Macron. You met with Theresa May. What was top of the agenda for those meetings?

PRIME MINISTER: Well there were a number of issues that we have discussed and the most significant one has been my recent visit in the Pacific and the Step Up program because we work together on so many projects in the Pacific. Both France and the United Kingdom are very active with their aid programs and their development programs, and infrastructure programs. And it’s important that we work closely together to align those activities, and work together as we always have. So there was a lot of interest in how Australia is pursuing that and Australia has been active in the Pacific for a very, very long time and we will continue to be and we want to work closely with our partners in how we go about that.

JOURNALIST: Have you spoken to Mr Macron about the submarine issue, the cost issues and the time issues?

PRIME MINISTER: Well we discussed the program today and it’s on track.

JOURNALIST: You mentioned yesterday the tariff war between China and the US, putting the livelihoods of millions at risk. Did you raise this issue with President Trump at all?

PRIME MINISTER: Well we didn’t have a bilateral meeting today, we exchanged a few remarks – friendly remarks – as you do at these types of events and we have a very strong relationship with the United States, but it is a general topic of discussion, that this issue as I said yesterday, is having an impact on the global economy. It’s in the interest of all states, all nations, that this matter is able to be resolved in a positive way and it will enable our trading system to continue and make very – what I think are constructive and positive comments about how we need to ensure that the multilateral institutions that govern world trade are modernised – and the United States has some very legitimate concerns about how those rules are operating, and particularly when it comes to protection of intellectual property and they raise a lot of genuine issues. But equally we need to work within the rules-based system because that is what has been very important for Australia and other trading nations like Australia. And we want to see that continue. And there’s a lot of support for that.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, when there are sensitive raids, such as on the ABC, it’s not unknown that the relevant Minister would be advised ahead of time. Did that happen?

PRIME MINISTER: I refer you to Mr Dutton’s statement. And I refer to the AFP’s statement which makes it very clear that Mr Dutton was not advised in that timetable that you’ve suggested and nor was I.

JOURNALIST: Do you think he should have been?

PRIME MINISTER: Why?

JOURNALIST: What about these Department Heads?

PRIME MINISTER: You’re putting the position to me. So I’m wondering why you think he would be?

JOURNALIST: Well, there’s a discretion in these cases. And there are important principles at stake here. You yourself have said that you believe in the freedom of the press.

PRIME MINISTER: Are you suggesting the government should be interfering with police investigations?

JOURNALIST: I am suggesting that perhaps this whole incident could have been managed better.

PRIME MINISTER: What you’re suggesting is that ministers should be involved in operational issues in police investigations. I don’t think that’s a very good idea. 

JOURNALIST: Can you see how raids would have been intimidating to journalists or their sources?

PRIME MINISTER: That’s what I said earlier. I can understand, particularly for the journalists involved, this would have been very upsetting and a very anxious and concerning event – of course it would be.

JOURNALIST: What about their sources? Journalists have thick skins. Do you think this is about intimidating them from coming forward?

PRIME MINISTER: That’s a suggestion you’re making. All I know is that the AFP are pursuing an investigation independently under their authorities created by statute and it’s their job to do that consistent with that statute. And they are conducting investigations each and every day, all the time, and they have their standards and rules for conducting those investigations, and I’d expect them to uphold those. And so where there are any concerns about how anything has been conducted or how they’ve handled these matters, and if there are any complaints to be made, then those complaints should be raised with us and we could look at those.

JOURNALIST: Do you support whistle-blowers coming forward if there is someone who is in a position that feels they need to be compelled to get something out?

PRIME MINISTER: Australia’s a free country and that freedom was hard won, and not least by the events we were here to commemorate today. But part of that freedom ensures that we all operate according to the rule of law. And that rule of law and its enforcement and its management are all part of those processes and it’s our job to ensure that they’re upheld. I do appreciate why there is great anxiety, the Opposition has sought briefings on these matters and they’ve been provided immediately.

The Opposition has sought briefings on these matters and they’ve been provided immediately and those issues have been addressed with the Opposition.

And so we will continue to manage this issue sensitively.

But at the end of the day it’s important that I think Australians understand that this is not a matter that has been pursued by the government’s ministers.

This is a matter that has been pursued at arm’s length by an independent law enforcement agency.

It was not referred by government ministers or at their direction. It was referred by departmental secretaries.

And that is the process that departmental secretaries follow where they believe that there have been potential breaches. And that’s why the AFP is the agency that then investigates those and they are the ones who decide how they carry matters forward.

And for government ministers to be placed in the middle of that, I think would be very troubling, and that is what has not occurred here.

JOURNALIST: You saw Mrs May, can you explain what you spoke to her about?

PRIME MINISTER: Yes I did. Well I congratulated her on first of all bringing all of this incredible event together today, and the British Government for doing that. And I wished her all the best in her future, and she is always welcome in Australia from Australians. And I’ve enjoyed my working relationship with her as did my predecessor.

So I wish the UK Conservative party all the best as they go through their process.

And there are some very significant issues here to be resolved, and I have no doubt that they’ll get about that as quickly as they can. It’s another area of instability, obviously for the global economy, but particularly in this part of the world needs some resolution.

Now the fewer uncertainties there are in the global economy, whether they’re trade tensions between great powers or unresolved issues in relation to Brexit – economies always work better where there’s greater certainty. I would simply just like to see, and I’m sure many other countries who are here today, to see that certainty improved. Because that is what will lead to a stronger economy, and that is what will lead to better outcomes for our citizens.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42286

Doorstop Interview, London

4 June 2019

QUESTION:​ Prime Minister, what are your thoughts on the raid this morning?

PRIME MINISTER: It’s an ongoing matter for the AFP, they’re the best to comment on that matter.

QUESTION:​ ​Is the Australian Signals Directorate story about how it’s going to be spying on Australians actually going ahead do you actually support that plan?

PRIME MINISTER:​ Look, I don’t make comments on security matters.

QUESTION:​ ​Mr Morrison with respect I understand it is an operational matter but the New York Times is reporting on this, CNN is talking about this, about an issue of Australian freedom of press, democracy, you know freedom and democracy is a thing you touched on today?

PRIME MINISTER: ​I believe in them very strongly and the AFP conducting the investigations that they do on their own initiative and they are the ones that should be commenting on their investigation not me.

QUESTION:​ ​Why did this happen after Mr Dutton was appointed as the Home Affairs Ministers again?

PRIME MINISTER: Again, no. These are matters for the AFP and not the government.

QUESTION:​ ​Do you believe that Australian journalists have the right to report on national security issues?

PRIME MINISTER: Australia believes strongly in the freedom of the press and we have clear rules and protections for the freedom of the press. There are also clear rules protecting Australia’s national security and everybody should operate in accordance with all of those laws passed by our parliament.

QUESTION:​ [INAUDIBLE] powers Mr Morrison?

​PRIME MINISTER: I support the powers that the agencies have under our laws.

QUESTION:​ ​​Does it bother you the look of police raiding journalists homes?​

PRIME MINISTER: ​It never troubles me that our laws are being upheld.

QUESTION:​ ​The journalist’s underwear draw was raided as well and there were cook books looked at is that too far?

PRIME MINISTER: I couldn’t comment on that, that’s what you are putting to me. But these are maters for the Australian Federal Police and you should direct those questions to them.

QUESTION:​ ​Many companies have been asking for years for journalists to be exempt from some of these laws. What is the Government’s view on that?

PRIME MINISTER: We have no plans to make any changes to existing laws.

QUESTION:​ ​On Huawei Prime Minister, would it be the correct move for all Five-Eyes countries to adopt a consistent approach to blocking Huawei’s involvement in 5G?

PRIME MINISTER: The matter when we considered it was done in accordance with Australia’s national interest and based on our own considerations. It is a sovereign matter for each and every government to make decisions in relation to its own national security and that would be the case for any one of the members of that group or any other nation.

QUESTION:​ We obviously made the decision for a reason though, if another one of our Five-Eyes partners allowed this company to be involved with a 5G network would that threaten potential intelligence sharing?

PRIME MINISTER: ​It matters for other sovereign governments, it is not a matter for Australia to be providing that advice. It is a matter for them to make their sovereign judgements about their sovereign interests.

QUESTION:​ The way we share information though they would get access to our information, if Huawei is a risk with our 5G network wouldn’t it be a risk if a partner had it in their network?

PRIME MINISTER: There is a lot of what you said that is argumentative and I would simply say that these are matters for the decisions of national sovereign governments in accordance with their own interests.

QUESTION:​ ​​You have concerns about Five-Eyes arrangements though?

PRIME MINISTER: ​No.

QUESTION:​ You have warned about the risks of this increasing trade war between China and the US. Would you be calling on the US to call off the tariffs?​

PRIME MINISTER: What I have stated is that it is in the interests, not only for Australia, but many, if not all, the independent sovereign nations, particularly from the part of the world we are from in the Indo-Pacific and more broadly that these issues are resolved and they are resolved well and positively has always been my hope as an optimistic Australian that is what can be achieved.

QUESTION:​ Will you be telling President Trump to basically back off when you see him possibly in the next day or two?

PRIME MINISTER: ​I will simply make the same comments which I have always made. Which is - I think that it is in everybody’s interest for these matters to be resolved. But they are matters to be resolved between those two countries.

QUESTION:​ Do you have any indication of who hacked the Australian National University?

PRIME MINISTER: You would have to talk to the ANU about that.

QUESTION:​ ​​But are you aware of any concerning reporting?

PRIME MINISTER: No, you would have to talk to the ANU – it is am matter that related to their cyber security.

QUESTION:​ ​Just on boats. There is a story today about a boat rescue coming from Sri Lanka, there have been a couple of instances in the last month, what is the reason for that uptick?

PRIME MINISTER:​ Well all I would say is that Australia’s borders are always secure under the government I lead.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42285

Statement, London

4 June 2019

I’ve just been in contact with Chief Minister Gunner and the Commissioner in the Northern Territory. This is a terrible act of violence which has already, I’m advised, taken the lives of four people. There are a number of other casualties but the details of that are still not yet confirmed. This is a matter that will be obviously directly managed and dealt with by the Northern Territory Government and I want to thank the Commissioner and Chief Minister Gunner for the way that they are working with the Commonwealth authorities. Particularly I just want to extend my deep condolences and sympathies to all the people of the Territory and particularly in Darwin. This is a very tight knit community and I know they will be rocked by these events. Our advice is this is not a terrorist act. There is nothing to suggest that is the case whatsoever. The true motivations of this criminal and violent act will become better known. There is a person, I understand, that is in custody and they will work through those normal processes but in the meantime I think it’s important everyone in Darwin, everyone in the Territory understands that the thoughts of Australians wherever they are, whether they are as far away as I am today or closer to home, they will be thinking about their fellow Australians in the Territory.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42284

Doorstop interview Honiara, Solomon Islands

3 June 2019

PRIME MINISTER: Well it’s my great pleasure to be here with my wife Jenny and Alex Hawke, the Minister for International Development and the Pacific and the Assistant Defence Minister, to hold meetings today with Prime Minister Sogavare and his senior ministers and advisers. And I want to thank them very much for their very warm welcome here in Solomon Islands.

Australia has a very special relationship with Solomon Islands and that relationship goes back generations of course, and we were reminded of that earlier today when we laid a wreath at the memorial for the HMAS Canberra, going back into the Second World War. And most recently, since 2003, as leading the international team through RAMSI has restored peace and stability in Solomon Islands, and laid the foundation for what has been a very significant election here post-RAMSI with the election of the new Prime Minister. This election was the ultimate test, if you like, of the success of RAMSI in that those elections were able to be held in a peaceful way and then in response to some unrest that followed, the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force were able to address that challenge of the public disorder and ensure that the democratic outcome of that election was sustained. And now we have a government that has been established, and it is my great privilege to be able to congratulate the Prime Minister on his election, but also to congratulate today the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force for the great work that they did working with many others, including our own Australian Federal Police, who have been working so closely together. So this is a relationship that is not just in the current, it’s a relationship that goes back generations, and particularly over the last two decades where we have played a central role. And so it is not surprising that in Solomon Islands, we are welcomed as family, not just as friends, not just as partners, but very much as family. And that is the spirit in which we come here today. To continue that partnership, to continue that family partnership. Now, Solomon Islands, is our third largest recipient of overseas development assistance from Australia and those programs go across the broad nature of relationship; health programs, education programs, in justice and law and order programs, and importantly in economic development and infrastructure. And the discussions that we’ve had today, we’re able to confirm that over the next decade a quarter of a billion Australian dollars be dedicated to infrastructure projects here in Solomon Islands. Now this is important because having secured the stability it’s now time to really build into the economic success of Solomon Islands. A peaceful, independent, sovereign, economically-sustainable and successful Solomon Islands is in the region’s interests. It’s in the Pacific’s interests. It’s in certainly Solomon Islands interests, and it’s very much in Australia’s interests as well. We’re there to assist with that goal. That is the nature of the relationship. It is about ensuring a peaceful, independent, sovereign Solomon Islands. As is indeed our objective, for all of our Pacific family, right across the region and that is the objective of our Pacific step-up program. We are not new to the region. Not by any stretch. We have been investing and partnering for many, many years. But in coming here today and in the visits I held before the election, this was signalling a new level, a ‘step-up’ as we’ve called it to those relationships, adding a whole new layer and giving a real priority to where Australia’s focus is, which is in the Indo-Pacific and particularly in the South-West Pacific, through the Pacific step-up program. We also announced today in our discussions a $2.7 million program, which is the labour mobility program, ensuring that the Solomon Islands are in a position to better access those schemes. There has been, as we’ve seen with other nations, in recent times some blockages in terms of getting the appropriate certification and other things that need to be done to facilitate people taking up the opportunity from Solomon Islands through the labour mobility scheme. Labour mobility is a key priority for the Sogavare Government, and so they were very pleases that we could have those discussions today and put in place another layer of that economic development that would be so important.

Now the relationship goes beyond the economic, you joined us this morning for part of the sports program here. Later today I’ll be meeting with church leaders, which is another important part of the depths and breadth of our relationship, and I’m looking forward to that. But I particularly want to thank the Police Commissioner here, Commissioner Varley. He has done an outstanding job in leading the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force; an Australian here, and that’s part of our program, part of our support, and that’s proven to be a very successful part of our partnership. And so I really do want to commend them, congratulate them on what’s been achieved here. It has been hard won over a long period of time. Australia has been there throughout that period of time. And we will always be here, as family to support Solomon Islands in their national interest objectives.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the United States says that China is undermining regional stability by trying to convince nations like the Solomon Islands to cut ties with Taiwan. Does Australia agree with that?

PRIME MINISTER: Well unlike others, ourselves and Solomon Islands for that matter, are not viewing our relationship in those sort of binary terms that others are from well outside. I think we gotta be careful not to see what are ongoing and upgrading relationships here for Australia and the Pacific through those binary terms of the United States and China. They have their interests in the region, as do others. Our relationship with the Solomon Islands, our relationship with the Pacific transcends all of that. And I think there is a great risk and a great danger in an analysis that only can see the world through such a binary prism. I certainly don’t. Australia certainly doesn’t. Australia welcomes the economic growth and advancement of China; with their economy, their record in lifting people out of poverty is second to none. It is one of the most extraordinary achievements of the modern world and something they can claim due credit for. So whether it’s their success, our longstanding relationships with the United States, these are relationships we continue to pursue enthusiastically. For us, it is not a binary prism through which we see our involvement.

JOURNALIST: With the China Taiwan issue discussed with Prime Minister Sogavare, and what did you advocate to him? (Inaudible)

PRIME MINISTER: Well decisions on those issues are entirely the province of the Government of Solomon Islands. They are an independent, sovereign country, who will make decisions in their national interests. And our relationship, our family relationship, with the Solomon Islands is to support them in the decisions that they take as an independent, sovereign government. And so, they will work through their process on that issue. It is not our place to provide advice or guidance on those decisions. We will assist them with any questions or other issues they want to raise with us, because that's the nature of our relationship. And the Assistant Defence Minister and Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Alex Hawke, will be present right across the Pacific to provide support and assistance. But the goal is independence sovereignty and economic sustainability. And where we're able to encourage decisions made in that context that doesn't undermine those things and that’s positive for the region.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you talk about China lifting the middle class out of poverty, but you’ve also got to [inaudible] in detention camps and the Defence Minister say that Tiananmen Square was a correct decision. Australia certainly couldn’t possibly condone that?

PRIME MINISTER: Well that has been the position of the Chinese Government for a very long time. That's not a new position that's been articulated and the Foreign Minister has made comments on that today. And I endorse those comments. And in the course of the next few days the government will express its views through the Foreign Minister on that matter. There are certainly challenges in all of our relationships and there are issues that are raised within those relationships in a respectful way. As part of, I mean we have a comprehensive strategic partnership with China. We have our single largest trade agreement with China. They are single largest trading partner. We have a deep, there are 1.2 million Australians of ethnic Chinese heritage. So this is a, this is a broadening and increasingly deeper and more complex relationship that goes well beyond the economic. But similarly we have a relationship of longstanding with the United States on all the same sort of levels.

JOURNALIST: Is that going to be a hard balance given what we're seeing in the region? And given the comments from the officials in the US?

PRIME MINISTER: I think it's very important for countries like Australia and other independent sovereign states in this part of the world in the Indo-Pacific to maintain a very keen focus on their perspective and insights into the world and not be drawn into this binary analysis that others might be. I thought that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong gave a very insightful presentation last Friday in Singapore – a very insightful presentation from an Indo-Pacific perspective, and there are many insights there that Australia would share.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what do you think is the greatest security threat facing this region?

PRIME MINISTER: I think what we've been focusing on has been the most significant and that is to ensure the continued civil peace and stability, particularly with the more recent history here in Solomon Islands. I mean, the stand-up with the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force I think has been a significant success and 70 officers a year are being sworn into that service I think is extraordinary. When I was in Vanuatu early this year there was around 20, 25 I think from memory, who were sworn in each year. It's obviously a small country, but ensuring that there is the capability within their civil police and others to maintain the stability of these countries; similar challenges which we've been working with Papua New Guinea for a long time. That is the basis for building the prosperity of their people. And that's why we've put so much of our effort, and the Australian Federal Police does an extraordinary job in training and mentoring and support. But this is a two-way street. I was I was talking to a senior member of the police force here last night. A female senior member who is now mentoring Australian officers back in Australia. This is a two-way street. Challenges that are dealt with here, public law and order, are not what you might see in Australia on a regular basis. And so there are lessons that our Police are learning from the experience of our Pacific family. And so this is very much developing into that two-way relationship of those issues.

JOURNALIST: Broadly speaking in the region is there a single security issue that stands out from your Government’s perspective? 

PRIME MINISTER: We've set all these issues out in the White Paper.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, so the United States is our closest ally. They’re saying very clearly that Chinese coercion in the Pacific is a problem, and very clearly any moves by China to coerce nations like the Solomon Islands, away from Taiwan, would undermine stability. Are you saying that we don’t agree…

PRIME MINISTER: I’m saying that’s their commentary.

JOURNALIST: What’s Australia’s commentary?

PRIME MINISTER: I’ve already made it.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I ask briefly about the recalibration of [inaudible] program in the Solomon Islands. Money being taken out of what we’d call traditional aid and being ploughed into infrastructure increasingly. What’s the rationale behind this? Is it [inaudible]…?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I wouldn’t share your analysis on the recalibration. We have always been involved in infrastructure. And we continue to be very heavily committed to health and education. Heavily committed to health and education. Not just here in Solomon Islands but across the Pacific. And we have partnerships with countries whether it's Japan, United States, New Zealand, China, across the Pacific where we're pursuing those objectives. The purpose of our programs is based on the shared objectives with the (inaudible) country. And so the programs we work up are done in consultation and partnership with the Solomon Islands. Understanding their priorities, understanding where we can bring technical expertise and experience, and applying those to the needs that are here. Now those needs change over time. Here in the Solomons a big focus of our investment has actually been on the law and order side, for very obvious reasons. But as that continues to improve then that frees up opportunities to do other things. But right now having one if you like the civil peace, a very important priority we discussed today is to really do what we can to improve living standards by boosting the sustainability of economic growth here. That is really the objective, because with that economic growth, comes a greater capacity to invest in health and education. That's as true in the Solomon Islands as it is in Australia, which is the point I was making throughout the entire election campaign. You've got a stronger economy. You can invest in schools and hospitals, and your own civil peace, and that's what we want to see here – that’s what an independent, sovereign, sustainable Solomon Islands looks like. It looks like a country with what has already proven in this most recent election to be a stable democracy. With a good level and a very good level of civil peace. But now it's about building the rules and the pillars of economic growth for the future.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the White House is considering tariffs on aluminium imports from Australia. Were you aware of that? And does it show the escalating trade war between the US and China could have an impact on us?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have an arrangement with the United States and we are working within that arrangement and working closely with the US officials in the White House on all of those issues.

JOURNALIST: On the visit by the Chinese ships, that wasn’t publicly flagged, it was a bit of a surprise to everyone as they came steaming through the heads. Can you tell us about that and when did you know about that?

PRIME MINISTER: We’ve known about that for some time. And this was an arrangement it was a reciprocal visit because Australian naval vessels visited China. This was a program of a reciprocal visit. They were returning from counter drug trafficking operations in the Middle East. And that is a further demonstration of the relationship that we have, and this had been in train for some time. So it may have been a surprise to others, but it certainly wasn't a surprise to the Government.

JOURNALIST: The timing is interesting on the anniversary of Tiananmen massacre. Do you see that as problematic at all?

PRIME MINISTER: No. I think in his reading into timings, is could be subject to a bit of over-analysis.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you’re obviously bucking the trend but an Australians Prime Minister hasn’t been here to the Solomon Islands since 2008. Is that embarrassing for Australia?

PRIME MINISTER: Australia's certainly been here. There's no doubt about that. And, but it is true that as Prime Minister, I had the first bilateral meeting in Fiji – of any Australian Prime Minister. Same is true in Vanuatu. I'm pleased to be here today. It was Prime Minister Rudd who was last here. And it was Prime Minister Howard that was Prime Minister when we took the leadership of the RAMSI initiative. So there's never been a lack of interest I think from Australian Prime Ministers in Solomon Islands. And I'm pleased to be here at this level. And I know Minister Hawke will be pleased to return on many occasions to work through our program of support and assistance.

JOURNALIST: Yesterday, the former Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands…

PRIME MINISTER: I met with him.

JOURNALIST: Said he thought the Pacific Step-Up by Australia’s anxiety about China, as well as a desire to help the region deal with its challenges. Do you share that analysis? Is it disingenuous for Australian officials and Australian leaders to pretend that China plays no role (inaudible)?

PRIME MINISTER: Well I’m a pretty straight-up sort of person. And the reason I'm here is because I value the relationship of Solomon Islands. Because it is an important part of our region. And this relationship predates and will post-date all of those sort of binary considerations. We're here because we are family with the Pacific. And as Prime Minister I made it clear before the election that I wanted to make this a mark of our Government, that we were keenly interested, at a very deep level, about this relationship. You know Australia can have views and opinions on places that are far beyond our shores. And then there are places that we can make a material difference to people's lives. And Solomon Islands is one such place. That's why it is our third biggest recipient of overseas development assistance because we can make a tangible difference to the living standards of people living in Solomon Islands. That's what it's about. Thank you.

JOURNALIST: Can I ask Minister Hawke about your priorities in the role in the Pacific? How you see Australia’s role in the Pacific family? 

MINISTER HAWKE: Well, thank you. As the Prime Minister has just said I'm very pleased to be appointed to this role and that our first visit, the first visit of Prime Minister Morrison, a re-elected Prime Minister, is to the Pacific. I mean you've seen our Defence Minister in Singapore. You’ve seen our Foreign Minister in Fiji. And you have us here in the Solomons. You couldn't put a higher priority on our region, than what this government is doing, what the Prime Minister is doing in our region. Obviously what the Prime Minister has said our regional priorities are, the Prime Minister’s priority, is the step-up program. The work we're doing, the partnership we've had with countries like the Solomons for so many years now. We are here today. We met with the Prime Minister and his wife and we visited the war memorials reflecting on a period where Australians, we lost 74 Australians on the HMAS Canberra. I mean we've been here a long time and we've been with our family a long time in this neighbourhood and treating our family right and making sure we have a good neighbourhood is our priority.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, and we can’t be late for a family lunch. So, thank you.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42283

Honiara

3 June 2019

Thank you Prime Minister (Sogavare). And thank you very much for your welcome and on behalf of our delegation, and my Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Mr Alex Hawke joins me, also on his first visit in this capacity to the Pacific.

To come over to the Solomons is incredibly important given the length of our relationship, and the importance of that relationship.

Can I congratulate you on your election as Prime Minister and can I also congratulate the Solomons on the elections. We were very pleased to play our role, amongst others, in supporting the conduct in those elections, and it would be the first post-RAMSI, and I think it speaks volumes about the track that the Solomons is on and we welcome that. 

Our objective as we’ve just discussed, whether it is here in the Solomons or more broadly, is for the peaceful independence and sovereignty of all Pacific Island nations. This is what we celebrate. This is what we wish to continue to encourage and provide whatever humble assistance or support, technical or otherwise, that we can to assist the sovereignty and integrity of all Pacific Islander states, and to address the many challenges that are present in our region.

And for the family relationship, that family relationship is one that truly does seek to protect the independence of each member, regardless of where they exist.

To that end, we’ve together invested a great deal in the stability and peacefulness in the Solomons. And that peace and stability, now gives rise to the opportunities for prosperity in the Solomons.

That is why our program, through the High Commissioner, and the work of that they do here, we very much want to continue to invest in that development of the Solomons and the Solomon’s economy, the living standards here, and education and health services to further build that prosperity.

Over the next decade, we’ll invest particularly a quarter of a billion Australian into infrastructure with more important cooperation, we look forward to those projects we will be able to pursue, and I know there are quite a number we just already discussed. But bringing that prosperity is something that we’re very keen to pursue and grow that relationship a bit further to follow. 

So thank you very much for your welcome.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42282

Joint Statement

3 June 2019

Prime Minister, Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare met today in Honiara to celebrate Australia and Solomon Islands’ partnership as ‘true wantoks’.

As two proud sovereign nations in the Pacific family, Australia and Solomon Islands enjoy a close friendship and a shared history that was further strengthened by our partnership in the 14-year Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI). As Solomon Islands celebrates the success of its first democratic election since RAMSI, Australia stands proudly as a partner and a friend.

Consistent with the Australian Government’s enhanced Pacific engagement, Australia and Solomon Islands will continue to work closely together to boost our engagement by strengthening community bonds and tackling common challenges. 

We will work together to enhance economic growth and development in Solomon Islands. Australia will establish a bilateral infrastructure program, worth up to A$250 million in grant financing over 10 years. The program will support key national and economic infrastructure and will complement the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific.

Australia will partner with Solomon Islands to commission a scoping and cost-benefit assessment of the national transport core (NTC) initiative, which would connect 74 per cent of the population and 37 constituencies in its first 10-year phase and ultimately link all 50 constituencies and 100 per cent of the population by 2035. Australia will also support the build of a new Prime Minister’s Office/Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade complex. Australia will work on an initial design for a new, modern building to meet Solomon Islands vision of a transformed Honiara CBD.

Solomon Islands recognised the crucial importance to the country’s economic future of sound management of its mineral wealth, and to that end committed to enacting reforms that will ensure global best practice in the governance and regulation of the mining sector.

Working together to enhance opportunities for labour mobility delivers benefits for both Australia and Solomon Islands. Labour mobility helps fill labour shortages in rural and regional Australia while helping Pacific workers develop valuable skills and take up work opportunities. To ensure that the opportunity to work in Australia is available to all Solomon Islanders – including those in remote provinces and rural areas – Australia will provide A$2.7 million over three years to deliver additional support for recruitment and mobilisation of Solomon Islands workers to Australia.

We agreed on the importance of holding commercial operators to account for the oil spill caused by the wreck of the bauxite mining ship MV Solomon Trader in Rennell in February. We will raise the lessons learned from this near miss at the upcoming Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting, to start discussions to progress reform in both shipping practices and mining governance in Solomon Islands and the Pacific.

In line with our bilateral security treaty, we commit to deeper cooperation on defence and security. Australia is providing technical assistance to help Solomon Islands develop a border security strategy, which will be used to inform possible future collaboration in this area. Australia is also pleased to provide infrastructure and communications upgrades to existing police outposts in the western border region. This support will be provided in accordance with the Solomon Islands’ three-phased approach to strengthening surveillance, response capability and protection of the country’s western border.

The links between our communities, including our religious, sporting and cultural institutions, are the crucial, enduring ties that bind us to each other. Australia is pleased to announce additional funding of A$260,000 for the ‘Get into Rugby’ Plus Program, which will initiate a women’s/girls’ Rugby 7s competition and develop highly trained coaches who can facilitate equal participation of boys and girls in rugby.

Australia will also assist Solomon Islands to develop its elite athletes through supporting elite sports training in Australia, as well as strengthening in-country capability to provide such training for a select number of Solomon Islands’ athletes to prepare for the 2023 Solomon Islands Pacific Games and the refurbishment of classrooms to help accommodate athletes and officials in 2023.

As part of the Pacific Churches Partnership initiative, we are pleased to announce that Australia will work with Solomon Islands churches across denominations to strengthen ecumenical exchanges with Australian church partners.

Recognising the importance of education, today Solomon Islands, Australia and New Zealand launched the Extraordinary Learning Resources Project at the Bishop Epalle Catholic School. The project is the most ambitious book distribution project ever undertaken in Solomon Islands, and will distribute over 580,000 books to boys and girls across the country.

Australia will continue its investments in the health sector and will work with other partners to support Solomon Islands in its endeavour to eliminate malaria by 2030 and to halt and reverse the non-communicable disease crisis in the country by 2030. Solomon Islands confirmed its commitment to maintain government investments in health, education, including by meeting agreed national recurrent budget allocations.

Together we will continue to exchange views, discuss our mutual priorities and monitor progress and implementation through regular high-level consultations between our two countries.

Through these initiatives and more, Australia and Solomon Islands will build on our strong relationship, and work together to make the Pacific region secure, prosperous, and stable.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42281

Visit to Solomon Islands, United Kingdom and Singapore

27 May 2019

A key part of getting the Government back to work following the election campaign is re-engaging with our neighbours, partners and allies around the world. That is why next week I will travel to Solomon Islands, United Kingdom and Singapore from 2-7 June.

My first overseas visit following the election will be to a key member of our Pacific family, Solomon Islands, which is one of Australia’s nearest and most important neighbours.

I will be accompanied in Honiara by the Minister for International Development and the Pacific Alex Hawke. This trip will show our Pacific Step Up in action.

The Pacific is front and centre of Australia’s strategic outlook. I look forward to meeting with Prime Minister Sogavare as we set out a partnership of deeper engagement and build on the family and community bonds Australia shares with the Pacific.

During my visit to the United Kingdom I will represent Australia at the 75th anniversary commemoration of the D-Day landings. I will pay tribute to the service and sacrifices made by Australians, and those from allied nations, in preserving our freedom, values and way of life. D-Day symbolises our commitment to standing together to meet the challenges Australia and our international partners face.

The visit to the United Kingdom will also be an opportunity to meet with other leaders to build support for our proposed G20 initiative to stop terrorists exploiting the internet and social media. Following the shocking terrorist act in New Zealand in March, we must do what we can to ensure it does not happen again.

My Government is strongly committed to deepening Australia’s relations with Southeast Asia. I look forward to meeting Prime Minister His Excellency Mr Lee Hsien Loong again in Singapore for our Annual Leaders Meeting. I will be joined by the Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne and the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham and our focus will be on enhancing the excellent economic, security and strategic cooperation between our two countries.

Australia and the world face uncertain times and global economic headwinds. Our engagement with our family and neighbours and international partners is more important than ever.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42278

Press Conference, Canberra

26 May 2019

PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon all. Last Saturday week, the Australia people elected us to get on with the job, get back to work and get about the task of supporting them to realise their aspirations in life, what they want to achieve for themselves, their families and their communities. Since last Saturday night that has been the task that I’ve been focused on with the Deputy Prime Minister. Today I am pleased to outline to you the new Ministry following the election last Saturday week. This Ministry brings together the experience of those who have been serving in roles across the Government for many years now, some more recently, and it brings together some new members who will bring their skills, experience, passion and energy to the Government, as we set about the task of realising the aspirations for all Australians. The Ministry will be tasked to deliver on the commitments we set out in the election. To deliver 1.25 million new jobs over the next five years. To maintain those Budget surpluses, that deliver the first surplus that we announced in this year’s Budget. To keep it there and pay down the debt. To deliver that tax relief for family and small businesses all around the country. To guarantee the funding for services that Australians rely on in the essential areas of hospitals, roads and schools, affordable medicine and to deliver those services, making them accessible to all Australians. And of course to keep Australians safe, keep our borders secure and to keep Australians safe including in the online world.

The Ministry that I announce today maintains the record representation of women in Cabinet for an Australian Government, with seven female members of our Cabinet. It will include the first ever female Minister for Agriculture, Australia's first ever Agriculture Minister who is a woman. Marise Payne will add to her role and responsibilities, the role of Minister for Women. Australia will also have the first Indigenous Cabinet Minister in Ken Wyatt, who will take on the role of Minister for Indigenous Australians. I also note that Ken will be supported by a new national Indigenous Australians agency that will be set up within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet portfolio and that will provide a direct report to Ken in this important area of responsibility. A key focus for all of my team will be on lifting and improving service delivery for all Australians, for services that Australians rely on. I spoke about it when I brought together the heads of the public service. I want to see congestion-busting not only on our roads and across our major cities; I want to see congestion busting when it comes to bureaucratic bottlenecks and regulatory bottlenecks, so Australian can get access to those services in a more timely and efficient way for them, making better use of technology and better integrating service delivery across portfolios. The goal is to make it easier to deal with services that Australians rely on. And so today we will also be establishing a new organisation called Services Australia, built on the Human Services portfolio. Services Australia will pick up it’s lead from a similar organisation established by the New South Wales Government called Services New South Wales, which I think has been a very important reform in New South Wales and made dealing with government much easier. That’s what we want government to be for Australians, we just want it to be much easier. There are services they rely on and we want them to access those services, as easily as they can and in as informed a way as possible. It’s also about driving better use of information technology and apps that can assist Australians to better access services they need. In that portfolio I’ll be appointing Stuart Robert as the Minister for Government Services in Cabinet. I will also be appointing Stuart to the very important role - and an issue that is very dear to my heart – that’s the National Disability Insurance Scheme. He’ll be the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and he’ll be responsible, together with myself of course, to ensure that we reach that goal that we set of 500,000 Australians who will be able to access the services of the National Disability Insurance Scheme over the next five years. It’s a very big social reform, it was begun by our predecessors and has been committed to by our Government. It’s fully funded under our Government and the work of ensuring that it meets the needs of all Australians who live with a disability and their families, is critically important. It’s got to be made easier. It’s a very targeted program. Every single Australian with a disability needs a bespoke approach, their challenges are different and they must be recognised as different. You can’t take a cookie-cutter approach to this, you’ve got to [inaudible] each individual member and we need to have a system that can address that.

Moving more broadly, the economic team of course will be led by Josh Frydenberg as Treasurer together with MathiasCormann as Minister for Finance. Within the Minister for Finance responsibilities, that will include what were formerly the responsibilities of the Special Minister for State. They will be taken within Minister Cormann’s portfolio responsibilities and it will be their job to continue to keep the Budget in surplus and ensure that we deliver on those tax cuts for families and small businesses. They will be supported by Michaelia Cash in the portfolio of Minister for Employment, Skills and Small and Family Businesses. Michaelia’s job is to work with the rest of the team to deliver those 1.2 5 million new jobs right around the country over the next five years. The Employment Services portfolio that was previously held by Kelly O'Dwyer, that Employment Services function will go into that new Department of Employment, Skills, and Small and Family Business. Michaelia Cash will be supported by Steve Irons as Assistant Minister for Vocational Education, Training and Apprenticeships. Steve was an electrician, Steve knows what it’s like to get a trade and help people get trade qualifications. He understands the needs of small businesses who want to take people on with trades, as apprentices. I look forward to the great work Steve will be able to do in that portfolio. Christian Porter of course will be Attorney General and Manager of Government Business in the House. He will also take on the responsibility of Minister for Industrial Relations. That will include creating fairer workplaces and enforcing the rule of law in industrial relations, particularly through the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

The Deputy Prime Minister of course will continue in his role in delivering our $100 billion national infrastructure programme which is central to our economic plan. This will include the National Water Grid for which he will have direct responsibility and he will be supported by Alan Tudge who comes into Cabinet and will continue his work in the portfolio he was serving in previously as Minister for Population, Cities and Urban Infrastructure. The economic team will be supported also by Michael Sukkar who comes into the ministry as Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Housing. He will have particular responsibility for the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme which we announced and committed to during the election, as well as more affordable housing. Jane Hume will come in as Assistant Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and fin tech, Financial Technology. Karen Andrews will continue as Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, working closely with industry stakeholders to create more and better paid jobs and harnessing the great opportunities that are there in science and technology for our industries. Matt Canavan will continue in the role of Resources and Northern Australia. Paul Fletcher will take on the job of Minister for Communications and Cyber Safety and the Arts. I’ll come to the roles that were formally performed by Mitch Fifield and what we have planned for Mitch in the months ahead. Returning to the rest of the Ministry, in social policy Anne Ruston will be elevated to Cabinet and will take on the job of Minister for Family and Social Services. She will also perform the role of Manager of Government Business in the Senate. She will be supported by Luke Howarth who comes into the assistant ministry as Assistant Minister for Community Housing, Community Services and Homelessness. Greg Hunt will lead the charge on our plan to combat youth suicide and youth mental health in this country. He will do that of course as Minister for Health, where he’s done an outstanding job. Greg will pull together an implementation forum of the nation’s experts in coming months, dealing with both youth and Indigenous mental health issues and working through our plan to deliver that on the ground. Greg will also take on the role of Minister Assisting myself for the Public Service and for Cabinet, Greg will play a key role in assisting us with our response to Thodey Review as well as playing a broader strategic role in policy development across the Government. Dan Tehan will continue his role as Minister for Education, it’s his job to deliver those programmes we have fully funded and conclude arrangements with the outstanding states and working closely with them to that end. Richard Colbeck will take on the job in Ministry of Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians and as Minister for Youth and Sport. His job will be to ensure there’s a strong voice for issues facing both younger and older Australians, across the country, particularly when we’re deal with the Royal Commission into aged care quality and safety, as that continues in the years ahead.

In the area of national security and defence, Minister Payne will continue as the Minister for Foreign Affairs and as I said, she will take on the role as Minister for Women. Former Army Services Brigadier Linda Reynolds takes on the role of Minister for Defence, which I flagged before the election. Peter Dutton continues in his role as Minister for Home Affairs and Simon Birmingham in his role as Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. You know all know our passion for the Pacific ‘step up’ program, a very important program in Australia's national interest. I am elevating the role of the Pacific and International Development portfolio to Ministry level and that will be taken on by Alex Hawke, who will become the Minister for International Development and the Pacific and Assistant Defence minister. That will ensure we’re able to integrate everything from our role in our international development program and defence initiatives throughout the Pacific, to ensure that we’re working closely with our Pacific family, our whanau or vuvale across the region. I thank Alex for taking on that role, it will be a very significant role for Australia's future and I think he has exactly the skills to ensure we’re able to deliver. In the Environment, Sussan Ley will take on the role as Minister for the Environment, with a focus on practical and local environmental outcomes as well as waste reduction and recycling. She will be assisted by Trevor Evans who will have a particular focus on waste reduction and local environmental management. Angus Taylor will continue as Minister for Energy and his portfolio will take on the further role of Emissions Reduction; responsibility in particular for meeting the 2030 emissions targets and the Climate Solutions Fund. Warren Entsch will also be appointed in the only of our special envoys, Warren will take on the role as special envoy for the Great Barrier Reef. Warren has a passion across a whole range of issues in relation to the Reef, as you know, he’s the Member for Leichhardt, returned once again and he has a particular passion for oceans policy and the impact of plastic on our oceans. I discussed Warren working in with our Minister and Assistant Minister in both those respects. I should mention that Melissa Price will be taking on the role of Defence Industry Minister, the Minister for Defence Industry, forming part of that defence team. She will also be joined in the defence team by Darren Chester who continues in his role of Veterans Affairs and Defence Personnel.

Now, after consulting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs I intend to recommend to the Governor General that Arthur Sinodinos be appointed as Australia’s next Ambassador to the United States of America and I intend to recommend to the Governor General that Mitch Fifield be appointed our next Ambassador to the United Nations. They will both be exceptional representatives of Australia and our countries interests abroad will be well served in those roles. Both senators have made an enormous contribution in the public service both were given the opportunity to continue to serve in the Ministry. They have chosen to take on these new and very exciting roles.

So our Government has a broad agenda to deliver. We are a Government that is back at work and the Ministry will be sworn in on Wednesday. The Party Room comes together on Tuesday, Cabinet will meet on Wednesday. We're back at work, implementing our agenda to keep our economy strong, to guarantee the essentials that Australians rely on, to keep Australians safe and to keep Australians together. I look forward to working with my new team.

JOURNALIST: [inaudible] you mentioned the Minister for Agriculture was a woman, you didn’t mention who that would be.

PRIME MINISTER: Bridget McKenzie, Bridget McKenzie as the Minister for Agriculture, I'm sorry.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister on your agenda, [inaudible] review into the retirement income system, pensions, superannuation, the whole direction [inaudible]. Will franking credits be part of that review?

PRIME MINISTER: I’ll come back to that because Michelle was asking me about the Nationals. The list has been circulated, or it should be distributed as we speak. But just to go over the other Nats positions in the ministry; it’s Mark Coulton, he takes on the role of Local Government and Decentralisation and Regional Services and continues in the role of Assistant Minister for Trade and Investment. Michelle Landry continues in her role as Assistant Minister for Children and Families and Andrew Gee continues in his role, so many of the Nationals are continuing in their former roles.

JOURNALIST: And David Littleproud?

PRIME MINISTER: David Littleproud is taking on Water Resources together with Natural Disaster and Emergency Management, he’s also taking on the role of Rural Finance and has continuing responsibilities on drought. As we moved around the country, what is very clear is that the impact of natural disasters and emergencies are very connected in a lot of our rural and regional communities. David has done an extraordinary job in the work we’ve done with drought and in assisting me particularly where I’ve been most recently in north Queensland with the Livestock Recovery Agency that we’ve established there. David has shown a real talent I think in getting in and solving problems on the ground as we seek to have recovery and assistance put into place in these areas of Australia. David I think will do an astounding job in each of those capacities, as he has been doing -

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister just on the inquiry into the retirement system, will that be broad-ranging and will it encompass franking credits? Can [inaudible]?

PRIME MINISTER: I’m not making announcements today, but our response to the Productivity Commission will be handled by the Treasurer with support from the Assistant Minister for Superannuation.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister why was Melissa Price moved from the Environment portfolio?

PRIME MINISTER: Melissa and I discussed her role, she asked to be given a new challenge and I was happy to give her one.

JOURNALIST: So she was doing a good job in Environment?

PRIME MINISTER: She’s going to do a great job as Defence Industry Minister.

JOURNALIST:  Prime Minister just on Arthur Sinodinos, Donald Trump has asked his Attorney General to investigate Australia role in sparking the 2016 FBI investigation into links between the campaign and Russia. Can you tell us; was Australia part of any conspiracy to launch that investigation?

PRIME MINISTER: I don't plan to make any comments on ongoing investigations.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister will you outline a sort of timetable from here? When will the swearing in happen, when will Parliament be recalled?

PRIME MINISTER: I said earlier the Ministry will be sworn in on Wednesday. We are awaiting advice from the AEC as to when the return of writs will be provided. That at present they’re saying that’s the 28th of June and there’s a possibility of that occurring earlier. That presents different opportunities for when might be able to recall Parliament.

JOURNALIST: Just of the Senate vacancies for Arthur Sinodinos and Mitch Fifield?

PRIME MINISTER: There are no Senate vacancies at the moment.

JOURNALIST: Yeah, when he leaves - ?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, let me be very clear about this process. We would make a recommendation at an appropriate time in the future to the Governor General, about who would serve in these two roles. So as a result, when that occurs, at that time, then that is a matter that any possible Senate vacancies will be considered.

JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] Jim Molan to take that spot?

PRIME MINISTER: In the event that there would be a selection in New South Wales or Victoria, they would be matters for the New South Wales and Victoria division.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister just on Angus Taylor’s role, Josh Frydenberg in the Turnbull government had Energy and the Environment, so he was responsible for emissions reductions as well. They were then separated under you, it seems they’ve kind of been brought back together, is that a fair way to say it?

PRIME MINISTER: If you look closely at the Climate Solutions Fund and the other initiatives related to meeting our emissions reduction targets – it’s Snowy 2.0, the Marinus Link, the Battery of the Nation project - these projects fall very much into the role of Energy infrastructure that Angus is closely associated with. So it made, I think, a lot of sense to bring that under the same banner. Angus has a lot of experience in dealing with these issues, a lot of technical knowledge on these issues and I think that will ensure these matters are well integrated.

JOURNALIST: Is there unfinished business though, when it comes to getting emissions down in the energy sector?

PRIME MINISTER: No, we’ve set out our plan before the election as to how we meet our 2030 targets, and in fact, we were the only Party at this election that did. I mean we still don't know what the cost of the Labor’s proposal was and the election is over! Maybe next leadership will tell us. I don’t know and maybe they’ll tell us how they’ll meet the 45 per cent emissions reduction target. I don’t even know if that’s still Labor policy, but they don't have any leaders at the moment so we wouldn’t know.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister on your Pacific ‘step up’, we’ve seen that PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill [inaudible] your response today?

PRIME MINISTER: First of all can I just say ‘thank you’ to Peter O'Neill. I have worked with Peter in three different portfolios, I worked with him as the Minister of immigration, I worked with him as the Treasurer and I worked with him as Prime Minister. Peter has been a passionate servant of his country, and I think that was best on show when he led and chaired the APEC meeting in Papua New Guinea, which I attended last year. That was a great moment of great pride for Papua New Guineans and I was so proud of the way Peter conducted himself and showed great – the Maori would say māia - and while that’s not a Melanesian word, it’s one that would be well ascribed to him. The processes of succession there are still in train and I won’t make any formal comment on who may now take that role and how Peter O'Neill now proceeds, but PNG is our closest friend and neighbor. There is just a small body of water that is between us and PNG and we have a special relationship with Papua New Guinea and always will. I will look forward to working with the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea in the same way I have enjoyed such a strong friendship and relationship with Peter O'Neill. My simple message to Peter O'Neill - and I look forward to passing this on soon personally - is thank you. Thank you on behalf of Australia for your friendship.

JOURNALIST: PM on the economy, do you think the bottom has been reached in the property market?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I’ll let others speculate on property. I think, without going back into the issues of the election, what I do know is had Labor's very negative property and housing taxes come into being, then there is only one way that people's house values were going to go. Now, we will continue with our sound economic management and I’ll leave it to others to make commentary on the movements in property markets.

JOURNALIST: PM on Mitch Fifield did he choose not to not sit around the Cabinet table and be ambassador to the UN instead?

PRIME MINISTER: Yes he did. As I said, it was Mitch's call about what he wanted to do, I would have been very happy for Mitch to continue to serve in Communications and the Arts. I think Mitch has done an outstanding job in what has been a very difficult task in the NBN. And Paul Fletcher comes to this role no stranger to these issues. He has deep experience when it comes to ICT in this country and I think he will be a great successor to Mitch and he’ll do an outstanding job and I thank Mitch for the great job he has done.

JOURNALIST: Did Michael McCormack choose the people to put into the portfolios the Nats were allocated?

PRIME MINISTER: Yes though he obviously consults me as Prime Minister.

JOURNALIST:  But he actually chose -?

PRIME MINISTER: This is the way our relationship works, he makes those assessments.

JOURNALIST: Can I just clarify on the tax cuts, so if the Government won’t split the Bill and it looks like Parliament is not going to come back until after July 1, is there any concern that the offsets, the expanded offsets for low to middle income earners are not going to get through?

PRIME MINISTER: We’re putting our entire tax plan to the Parliament. We just put it to the people of Australia. It’s a plan for aspirational Australians. It’s a plan for tax relief not just now but into the future. If the Labor Party has learned nothing from this election, if their takeout of this election is they should be denying Australians their aspirations, well I think that’s a sad indictment on the Labor Party and it says they weren’t listening to the quiet Australians last Saturday when they spoke up and they seem to be not listening and I would say that they should endorse these measures because they’re good measures. They’ll be good measures for the Australian economy, they’ll be good measures for jobs, and they’ll be good measures for confidence in the Australian economy as we face what are some difficult headwinds into the years ahead. This is an important program of tax relief out over the medium term and it was put to the Australian people as a package, so it’ll be put to the Australian Parliament as a package and I would urge all the Members of the Parliament to listen to the Australian people.

I think their view and their voice was very clear and based on what they’ve asked me to do, they’ve asked me to get back to work and get on with the job and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

Thank you very much.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42277

Ministry

26 May 2019

Australians have re-elected our Government to get back to work and get on with the job of delivering for all Australians as they go about their own lives, pursuing their goals and aspirations for themselves, their families and their communities.

My Government’s new Ministry brings together the experience and stability of service in key portfolios, while bringing in new members that will add their own experience, skills and passion to the job ahead.

My new Ministry will be tasked with delivering our commitments to:

1.  Create 1.25 million more jobs over the next five years

2. Maintain budget surpluses and pay down debt

3. Deliver tax relief for families and small businesses

4. Guarantee increased funding for schools, hospitals, medicines and roads

5. Keep Australians safe, including online, and keeping our borders secure

The Ministry maintains record representation of women in the Cabinet, including Australia’s first female Minister for Agriculture, Bridget McKenzie, while Marise Payne adds the role of Minister for Women to her responsibilities as Minister for Foreign Affairs. Australia will have its first Indigenous Cabinet Minister in Ken Wyatt as Minister for Indigenous Australians. Ken will be supported by a new National Indigenous Australians Agency, attached to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

A key focus for all of my Ministers and their Departments will be lifting performance on government service delivery. This will include congestion busting on regulatory and bureaucratic roadblocks, making better use of technology and better integrating service delivery across portfolios. The goal is to make it easier to deal with and access the Government services Australians rely on. Ben Morton be Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Stuart Robert joins the Cabinet as Minister for the National Disability and Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and Minister for Government Services. A new Services Australia agency will be established, along the lines of Services NSW, to drive greater efficiencies and integration of Government service delivery and making best use of technology and digital applications.

Top of the list for improving services will be ensuring we deliver on the National Disability Insurance Scheme, working to our goal of the NDIS supporting 500,000 Australians by 2024/25. The NDIS is a major social reform and there is much work to do to improve the delivery of these services on the ground.

Our economic team will be led by Josh Frydenberg as Treasurer and Mathias Cormann as Minister for Finance; delivering Australia’s first Budget surplus in 12 years and tax relief for hard-working Australians and their families.

They will be supported by Michaelia Cash as Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business in fulfilling our pledge to create 1.25 million more jobs over the next five years and will be supported by Steve Irons as Assistant Minister for Vocational Education, Training and Apprenticeships. Christian Porter will take on the role of Minister for Industrial Relations in addition to his duties as Attorney-General, to create fairer workplaces and enforce the rule of law through the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

The Deputy Prime Minister will continue in his role delivering our $100 billion National Infrastructure Programme, including the National Water Grid, supported by Alan Tudge, who has been promoted to Cabinet, to continue his work of congestion busting in our cities and implementing our plan for Australia’s future population.

The economic team will also be supported by Michael Sukkar as Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Housing to implement our First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, as well as more affordable housing and Jane Hume taking to the role of Assistant Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and Financial Technology.

Karen Andrews, as Minister for Industry, Science and Technology will work closely with industry stakeholders to create more and better paid jobs in traditional and emerging industries, and to continue championing science, technology, engineering and mathematics as key career paths for women.

As the Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt will be focused on delivering our Closing the Gap refresh, in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and the states and territories.

As the National Broadband Network nears full roll out and social media becomes an even more prominent front in the fight to keep Australians safe, Paul Fletcher, as Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts brings extensive experience and insight to the task.

In social policy, Anne Ruston has been elevated to Cabinet as Minister for Family and Social Services and Luke Howarth as Assistant Minister for Community Housing, Homelessness and Community Services.

As Minister for Health, Greg Hunt will lead the charge on mental health, in particular combating youth suicide. In coming months he will lead an implementation forum of the nation’s experts to deliver on the government’s youth and Indigenous mental health initiatives.

I will also appoint a Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians and a Minister for Youth and Sport in Richard Colbeck who will ensure there is a strong voice for the issues facing younger and older Australians, particularly as the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety continues.

Dan Tehan, as Minister for Education, will have a laserlike focus on boosting the outcomes of Australian students, working closely with early childhood educators, states, territories and tertiary education providers.

Australia’s regions have suffered through fire and flood in recent months and David Littleproud as Minister for Water Resources, Drought, Rural Finance, Natural Disasters and Emergency Management will serve as an important voice for our regional communities at the Cabinet table. Matt Canavan as Minister for Resources and Northern Australia will continue our government’s work to support our mining and resources industries and help develop Northern Australia.

Our experienced foreign affairs and national security Ministers in Marise Payne as Minister for Foreign Affairs, former Army Reserves Brigadier Linda Reynolds as Minister for Defence, Peter Dutton as Minister for Home Affairs and Simon Birmingham as Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment will help guide our country through the uncertain times and global economic headwinds. They will be supported by Alex Hawke as Minister for International Development and the Pacific and Assistant Minister for Defence helping drive our Pacific ‘step up’ agenda.

Sussan Ley will return to Cabinet as Minister for the Environment with a focus on practical and local environmental outcomes as well as waste reduction and recycling, assisted by Trevor Evans. Angus Taylor will continue as Minister for Energy and his portfolio will take on Emissions Reduction to ensure we have a strong focus on lowering Australians’ power bills and meeting our 2030 emissions targets. Warren Entsch will also serve as Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef.

After consulting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, I intend to recommend to the Governor-General that Arthur Sinodinos be appointed Australia’s next Ambassador to the United States of America and I intend to recommend to the Governor-General that Mitch Fifield be appointed our next Ambassador to the United Nations. They would be exceptional representatives of Australia and our country’s interests abroad. Both Senators have made enormous contributions in their public service and were given the opportunity to continue their service in the Ministry and Cabinet.

My Government has a significant agenda to deliver and we are ready to get back to business. I have high expectations of my Ministry and clear goals for each of their roles.

It is important for the future of our country that we meet those goals and deliver for Australia.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42276

Doorstop, Queensland

24 May 2019

Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister

PRIME MINISTER: Well it's great to be here with the Deputy PM Michael McCormack and it's great to be out here in Burke and Wills. It was tremendous to be in Cloncurry last night where I was able to meet with the North Queensland Livestock Industry Recovery Agency and to be able to speak with a lot of locals and here today at the Campdraft, it's a great opportunity to hear back from people how everything is going. We were out at Gypsy Plains this morning with Jacqueline who I introduced people at the campaign launch a little while ago, to see the transformation in the time since the dreadful floods.

A key reason for coming here today with Michael is to just remind the country that there's still a lot of work to do here. There's still a long road ahead and we've had the election and that's had a lot of focus and attention and rightly so. We’re very grateful for the tremendous support that both Michael and I and our parties have received from the Australian people, to get on with the job.

Getting on with the job means getting here. This is a job that needs to get done and the Authority is doing a terrific job rolling out what now will be $300 million worth of grants, which will be there for rebuilding, restocking, replanting, enabling people to move on and get back up on their feet. It's being supported well by organisations like QRIDA and others, where we're working in lockstep to make sure that we really just do rebuild this incredibly important industry and way of life up here in north Queensland. This is what we were elected to do; just to get back to work and get on with it. I want to thank particularly Shane Stone and all of his team and the board members and just the community, for the way that they have responded and they've got around each other. For their optimism and for their resilience and their determination.

When you come here you can only just be filled with pride and admiration for these wonderful Australians. This is such an important way of life in Australia and we're going to make sure that continues. So we'll get around a bit more today and we'll get a bit more feedback. The programme that we’ve set up here with Authority is to be listening all the time, to be responsive. Shane and his team spend an enormous amount of time on the road getting around and listening to people and making sure that our programs are hitting the mark. So far I think Michael, that’s the feedback we're getting; that it is hitting the mark. At a time when people really needed the government to be here, we have been here. Being here has been a great encouragement to people and it's enabled them to get on with the work that they've been doing.

I mean last time I was here there were carcasses on the ground, the smell was overwhelming. Those carcasses have now been disposed of, that was a brutally hard job. Now we were going to the rebuilding phase and we’ll be there for that. So that's  why we're here; to listen and to monitor progress and we're here because we're back at work.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister reports this morning that three orphaned Islamic State children will soon return to Australia, can you give us an insight into what involvement the Australian Government has had in that process and what condition these children can expect when they do return?

PRIME MINISTER: No, I'm not going to get into commentary on what are very sensitive matters. These are issues that really do fall under the banner of national security in how they handled. I don't want to put at risk, or compromise the safety of anyone. I certainly won't be doing that in relation to any Australian officials or others who are engaged in these issues. It's a very sensitive matter and we'll continue to manage and manage it very carefully. It's important that we don't compromise anything.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister what's your message to the Queensland State Government on the Adani mine at the moment?

PRIME MINISTER: Get on with it. I mean regardless of who is proposing a mine or what the mine is, it just should comply with the relevant regulation and legislation, like any other project. People should have the certainty about those processes being followed and not being delayed. So that's what should happen. They have a decision to make, they're the authority on these questions and they should make those decisions.

I was talking to Prime Minister Modi last night to congratulate him on his election win. He was kindly returning the favour and India is going to be an incredibly important investment partner for Australia. It's a two way street. India will be an enormously big trading partner for Australia in the future and what does concern me, has been the commentary particularly that came from the Labor Party on this, about the concerns that it was an Indian company. I mean, what on earth has that got to do with it?

They're a company that is investing in creating jobs and they should be subject to the same rules as everybody else and treated with the same respect as anyone else.

JOURNALIST: We hear this morning that Anthony Albanese wants to split up the tax cuts that the Coalition is offering and they will agree to the first tranche but block the second. What's your response to that?

PRIME MINISTER: Well Labor haven't learned the lessons of last Saturday. I mean Bill Shorten did exactly the same thing, this is just Bill Shorten, you know, in a different shirt. I mean did he not get the message from Australians that they want a government that backs aspiration? Legislation that backs aspiration? Tax relief, we took to the Australian people. It sets out a plan over the next seven years and that's what Australians voted for on the weekend. It seems that Anthony Albanese is no different to Bill Shorten.

JOURNALIST: Just finally on a local question if I may, we heard from farmers this morning and last night that they've just suffered through floods and now they're facing the prospect of returning to drought by year's end. When will your Government introduce a comprehensive drought policy and will you keep on a drought envoy? Do you envisage that being Barnaby Joyce?

PRIME MINISTER: Well matters regarding personnel I’ll be dealing with later, but we have a comprehensive drought policy. We had the comprehensive Drought Summit and we have over $6 billion that has been committed to actually dealing with the drought. We have a Drought Fund that we tried to get through Parliament and the Labor Party opposed it. So the only Party in this country that doesn't have a drought policy, is the Labor Party – I’d add a few more actually, the Greens and a few more.

But we have a drought policy and we’ve been managing that policy, both Michael and I at the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister level and right across our ministry because it affects so many different portfolios. So we'll continue on with that.

Great to be here, cheers.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42280

Radio interview with Alan Jones, 2GB

24 May 2019

ALAN JONES: Prime Minister good morning.

PRIME MINISTER: Good morning Alan, how are you?

JONES: Listen, you might have got up on Saturday, but the team didn’t.

[Laughter]

PRIME MINISTER: Well, everybody up here in Cloncurry is pretty pleased, we were having a really great get together last night and that's where I am today. I'm out meeting with some of the station owners and the graziers and pastoralists. I’m up here with Shane Stone and the Livestock Industry Recovery Agency, just getting a bit of feedback on how their programme is going, but they've had it pretty tough up here. But they’ve been very appreciative of the way that the Government has responded and the programmes we're delivering, just to rebuild this amazing, wonderful part of Australia.

JONES: It is a beautiful place. I was there as you know recently, in Julia Creek while you were shearing sheep in Dubbo. But look, it is tough isn't it?

I'm just wondering, when you noted that an area as big as England was underwater up there - I think politics is a bit like playing football; it’s no use having possession if you can't use it. In politics, now you've got this magnificent endorsement by the public. You would know, they're saying to you now; ‘Listen we've got to harvest some water, we've got to provide cheap electricity. We need dams and coal fired power stations’. What do you say to people who are saying that to you?

PRIME MINISTER: The National Water Grid, that's what I say. That the programme we’ve got and that's going to involve building more dams of course. The programme that is running all around the country and that's what Michael heads up. We’ve already got one of the biggest ones of those, already underway up this way actually at Hughenden, that process has already begun. So that is a big part of the challenge in this term, to deliver on that national water grid and take it where it needs to go.

JONES: Just explain that, I mean that's political talk, you understand that but just explain to people out there that are suffering drought that west of the Great Dividing Range they see all this water going into the ocean in Western Australia, north west Queensland, north east Queensland, Clarence River. You’re talking about the ‘National Water Grid,’ how will that provide and guarantee certainty of water supply to areas west of the Great Dividing Range? If they've get water, they could feed Asia.

PRIME MINISTER: Well it’s dams and water infrastructure, simple as that. It’s dams and pipelines, water infrastructure throughout the country. There has been a lot of work being done by our agencies in identifying the priorities and now is the time to get on and start building it. 

JONES: See, last week – the reason I'm asking, I’m not trying to put you on the spot here, you've had a hell of a six or seven weeks - but last week nine Murray Darling irrigators launched a $750 million class action in the New South Wales Supreme Court, accusing the Murray Darling Basin Authority of grossly negligent mismanagement causing them economic loss. Basically, this is this release of water for “environmental flows” taking water from farmers, such that the government water buybacks now are about 13 billion or ‘thirteen thousand million dollars.’ The farmers have been deprived of their water. Now they're saying - and I'm saying too I think - that water management in this country is a disgrace. Something has got to be done about this, isn't it?

PRIME MINISTER: Well the Murray Darling Basin Plan is a very complicated arrangement.

JONES: Yes it is.

PRIME MINISTER: It’s the only arrangement we have and it’s finely balanced between the interests of a whole range of stakeholders and four different states. It has a bit of the balloon about it; you push it in one direction and it pops out the other. So it isn't just a simple matter of being able to turn the tap on and everyone does Ok, particularly in drought. So it is a very complicated issue, but it's not one that I'm about to go and rip up and throw away, without understanding what all the full consequences of that are. At the moment, the consequences of doing something like that could be absolutely diabolical for everyone. So we're going to continue, we have to continue to improve these things Alan, but at the same time we can't be reckless about it. We've got to be careful not to be sentimental about it. There are a lot of people's livelihoods -  and I've spoken to those farmers down there on the Murray where they've got a different set of challenges to those who are further down, where you get into South Australia and then there's the issues up in Queensland. So there's a lot of competing interests and it's  just not a simple issue.

JONES: Not but you see, what I suppose I’m saying to you, is that if outfits like Libya - and we used to laugh at Colonel Gaddafi and they said you know, he was hopeless - but if Libya can water Tripoli and Benghazi from the desert by building pipelines which shift water, why can't we?

PRIME MINISTER: Well of course we can Alan and that's what the National Water Grid programme is all about. That's what we've got the opportunity to really make a lot of headway on in this term and it’s  something that Michael McCormack and I will be pushing very strongly to achieve.

I had all the public servants together yesterday in Canberra and told them a couple of important things. One is, their job is not just to do the big things well, but do the little things well, the things that people rely on; returning the phone calls, making sure their services are being delivered, make sure the payments turn up on time.

JONES: Good on you.

PRIME MINISTER: All of those sorts of things, but when it comes to the big things it's about getting these big projects actually happening. I told you and I talked a lot in the campaign about congestion-busting infrastructure. I want a bit of bureaucracy congestion-busting too when it comes to getting a lot of these things going. That's important for investors who want to invest in Australia and it’s future, but it's also important to get these projects delivered on the ground, whether it's the National Water Grid or whether it's the East West Link or whether it's the Rail Link out there into the Western Sydney Airport.

All of this is important. I'm just keen to get off on the right foot and make sure that these things are being delivered on the ground. No shortage of things to do, but we’re up here in north west Queensland and we've got $300 million that are going into this region in grants - not loans - in grants, which is going to restock, rebuild and replant all the way across north western Queensland. There's still an enormous amount of work to do. I mean basically the topsoil is gone and that means a lot of the green you're seeing up here, isn't the sort of green you want, it's not of the quality that you want to see. So there’s a long way to go and there's a lot of rebuilding, but that's going to happen in partnership. With the feedback I had last night at the Cloncurry Bowls Club - which is a pretty good litmus test I’ve got to tell you, there was a lot of people there last night, I think the whole district had come together - they were really pleased with the way that all government agencies are working together and the way the banks are working in as well. So there's a lot of positivity despite the hardship and despite the challenge. So it's a matter of maintaining that into the future.

So I'm very proud of people in north west Queensland. They are incredibly resilient, I'm very proud of the work that Shane and the Livestock Industry Recovery Agency is doing up here. It's breaking through all the bureaucratic rubbish. They report directly to me and they're getting things done. 

JONES: Good on you. Look, I can't possibly articulate - and I hope you've gained this response as well - but what has happened since Saturday night is quite unbelievable. The level of hope and relief amongst Australians worldwide and Australia-wide and the sense of gratitude that they feel towards you for the campaign that you mounted, that you ran and that you won, that gratitude is unbelievable. There are people listening to me who would be glad that I'm talking to you. On their behalf, wanting to say thank you a million times. It's just, people feel as though they've taken their country back and you talked about the quiet Australians. I said before the election; ‘Look I know that you're frightened to speak, you don't answer polls, you've just got a piece of paper and a pencil on Saturday - go in and mark it for Australia’. They did it and they're deeply grateful to you, you must understand that.

PRIME MINISTER: Well that’s very kind Alan I want to thank all your listeners for that. I have had, well, it’s been quite overwhelming frankly, since Saturday night for Jenny and I've. It's lovely what they've said about Jenny too. The whole country loves her almost as much as I do, almost as much as I do.

[Laughter]

She’s isn’t here with me sadly, she’d be taking the kids to school.

JONES: Taking the kids to school, Ok. Now stay away from the barbecue, because you’re a crook cook.

[Laughter]

Now listen, travel safely and we'll talk to you again soon.

PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Alan.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42275

Interview with Paul Murray, Sky News

20 May 2019

PAUL MURRAY: Prime Minister congratulations.

PRIME MINISTER: Thanks Paul, it's great to be back at work.

MURRAY: And that's it – straight in, straight away, no days off, you’re back here. Why did you win?

PRIME MINISTER: Because of, I've called them quiet Australians. They’re just Australians going about their lives every day, and decided that their job, their economic future, the choices they wanted to make, were more important. My pitch to them was; ‘I think your choices and what you want to do with your life, is also more important’. The Government should be there to provide support the essential services the NDIS, the health and hospitals, schools. But ultimately Australians need to be the ones who make the choices about their lives and not have those made by governments.

So I said, this idea of; ‘Give us all your money and we’ll solve all your problems,’ I don't think Australians agree with that and I think that's what they said on Saturday. So very much that’s what it was about, about them, I think, saying; ‘Our choices are the ones that are important, not those that people want to make for us.’

MURRAY: Who is a quiet Australian? What's an example of one that either you know in your life, you met on the campaign trail, who do you mean when you say quiet Australians?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, so many Australians and they're so diverse. It's the mum who is raising young kids and caring for an elderly parent and the whole family is looking to them and it's all on them. They haven't got time for anything else and certainly not themselves, because they're just constantly serving everyone else all the time. It's the family who has got a small business that their parents started and they've inherited it. On a property out there in rural Australia, the next generation or the generation after that, on the land. It’s dads going to work every day, coming home and greeting their kids and just wanting that little bit more time with them that they don't get at the moment, because they're working hard. They've got things they're paying for and mums doing exactly the same thing. It's also young people, starting an apprenticeship. Gav was a bloke I met up at Purcell Engineering in Gladstone and I said; ‘So how long have you been working here?’ And he said; ‘It’s just four years.’ I said: ‘Have you got an apprenticeship?’ He said; ‘Yep.’ I said; ‘Have you got long to go?’ He said; ‘Six months’ and he had his job there when he finishes. He's a quiet Australian. It's disabled Australians and their families and their carers and others, who just want to go. To be able to try and live life like everyone else. So the stories are myriad, migrant families, you know. In this election, I think one of the reasons seats like Banks and indeed Chisholm, seats like Reid, these are highly multicultural community seats. The thing about migrant communities I believe, is they're aspirational. They didn't come here to take something. They came here to give something, to make a contribution with their lives and set up opportunities for their kids. So we were talking to them about keeping more of what they earn, investing in the essential services, keeping our immigration system with integrity which they have benefited from and want to see others do, but in the right way. Speaking to the aspirations of Australians. It's every Australian, I suppose.

MURRAY: I love saying this; the pundits, the bookies, the polls, the psychic animals, were all wrong.

[Laughter]

What did they not see? I mean there were those of us that did see, but what did that wider class not see?

PRIME MINISTER: Well the bubble certainly popped on Saturday night. But it didn't for most other Australians. I mean so many Australians we just talked about, the quiet ones, they're not that engaged in politics all the time, they're not looking for the government to come and tell them how they should live their lives.

So there are some I think, who have that view and they're entitled to that, that's fine and what a lot of what the debate was about, was those sorts of issues. But you know, I had a very clear job to do when I took over the prime ministership last year. I knew that we'd been doing good things as a government, but people were frustrated with what had happened in terms of changing of leaders and all those sorts of things. People were rightly pretty peeved about that and they wanted to be assured that that wasn't going to happen again. That's why I moved fairly quickly to ensure that for our Party that that wouldn't happen again. That was important. But when it came to it, there was a clear path to us being able to win this election. It was a very narrow one. It was a bit like walking along the edge of a razorblade for eight months, it required the discipline of the whole team. So I think when people could see just how disciplined our team had been over that eight months and how much we’d worked together - and there were quite a few setbacks along the way - I think as we have begun, so we will continue.

Now with this fresh opportunity at this election, you know, I was meeting with my leadership team earlier today and we were talking it through. You know, we're all back at work today of course. It was that sense of discipline and unity we've all been able to have again. It’s filling us with a lot of enthusiasm about having been able to get to this election and be successful. Look what we can do now, as a united, stable team.

MURRAY: This is it. I mean look, I always love that the day after the election, we’re the very same people who the day before the election were; ‘This is going to happen because of this issue, this issue, this issue.’ Then when it works out differently, well, now; ‘It's all about this this and this’. I think it's 100 per cent what you identify as the quiet Australians wanting to be left to build the best life for themselves.

PRIME MINISTER: So they don't want; ‘A pay rise, but someone else has to lose their job’. That's not what they want. They don't want these, what John Howard called, class wars. Today they don't want to see those divisions. I think a key point is wanting Australians to disagree better on a lot of these issues as I've said on a number of occasions. It was a victory for the quiet Australians, not for the Liberal Party or me personally. It wasn't actually about politics, it was about them sending a very clear message that; ‘We want to remain in control of our lives’.

So those out on the extremes of politics I think will try and verbal what has happened quite a bit. I won't be allowing that to happen. I think at this election I've been able to connect with Australians in a very personal and special way and it's very humbling. For Jenny and I, it was the same for my colleagues, they shared their aspirations with us and said; ‘We trust you with them, so get back to work and make it happen’.

MURRAY: And certainly in that last week I've noticed an awful lot; ‘I'm not going to be distracted, I'm not going to be distracted, I'm not going to be distracted’.

PRIME MINISTER: Yep.

MURRAY: Now that you have this majority government, now that you have a clean three years leadership rules have changed, personalities have changed - those that have either lost their seats in Tony Abbott or those that bailed and either helped a bit or didn't help at all - but you, when you walk back into that Party Room see a very different picture than the one you had to manage in the last little while. What is your message to them, about how to interpret this election?

PRIME MINISTER: Well it's the same as I've just said. But importantly, from that time when I took over the leadership last year, I said; ‘You've elected me to lead now, now follow please’. And they have. My style of leadership, to keep people together, is not to run off to the left and run off to the right and seek to placate. Just to let them know very clearly where I stand, where they're all welcome to join me. That has been my approach over the last eight and a half months, it’s not in any way to say what my Party is, which is a very broad church. That's fine, that's okay. Different perspectives, different walks of life, that's actually what makes the place vibrant.

But when it comes to the centre of our Government, that's where we all meet. That's where we all combine. That's why it's important for me I think, as the leader and as Prime Minister, is to hold that middle ground and ensure that’s where the direction of government remains. As I've begun, so I will continue. As I said in my last address to the Press Club before the election, that I really did burn for this opportunity to just continue to serve in the way we have. So continuing to bring the Party back to those core ‘whys’.

I mean, we had we had been a very competent Government. We were good managers. You know, we were there with the calculators and the competency and I think, like engineers. Fantastic. But what Australians were saying to us I think, was; ‘Tell me a bit more about the why you want to do that’. And I've spent the last eight and a half months doing that. About what fires me up? Why we want to cut taxes? Because we want people to keep more of what they earn, because we believe their money is better off in their pocket, with their decisions rather than that. You know, higher taxes means we think the government knows what to do better with your money, than you. That's just a fundamental philosophy I have.

So tax is not just for accountants, it's for everybody. Because it tells people who the government trusts.

I said before the election; I trust you, I back you, that's why I'm asking you to back me and they did. It's a very humbling thing and so that's why I think now, Australians just want the politicians that go back to work. They don’t want to see the ads for a while.

MURRAY: Just shut up for a while.

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah just; ‘Go and do your jobs. We're going to go and do ours’. That's exactly what I'm going to do. There's a lot of work to do and we're getting about it straight away. We hope to convene the Parliament again as soon as we can. We obviously have to wait for the writs to be returned and there's a formal process for that at the moment. That's not looking until very late into the back end of June. So that really does make very narrow that opportunity to do it before the 30th of June. I think that's very unlikely, with the advice I've received. But on top of that, there's a minister to swear in and we'll be doing that in due course, I’m not making any rushed judgement there. There are other issues to determine before that, the counts have to be finalized. We’ve got to respect that process. So we're back at work, but we're not in a hurry on a lot of these decisions. We'll make them in the patient, steady way that I think people have sort of come to expect from me.

MURRAY: Is tax and tax cuts, because of that timeline, the first thing you have to do in the Parliament? 

PRIME MINISTER: Yes. Yes and there are also some administrative things that we can do which we're taking advice on now, to ensure that that becomes effective particularly for those that kick in on the 1st of July, pretty much to ensure that is achieved. But that is it because at the end of the day, that's really what the election was all about. Not in terms of the technical issue of the tax cuts, but that's my way of saying; ‘I said I trusted you’. That's the piece of legislation which says I trust you with your own money, I want you to have more of it. That's what speaks to aspiration.

There are so many more things. There’s setting up of course the Home Loan Deposit Guarantee with the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation. You know my commitment to the NDIS and I know people's frustrations with that. We will be I'll be working on that, I just had a meeting about it now before this interview. The issues around youth mental health and getting that programme of combating youth suicide and getting those individuals together. I've already been talking to the head of the North Queensland Livestock Recovery Agency and making sure that the work that we set in train there before the election is hitting the ground and the way we need it. So the drought and the floods still very much foremost in my mind.

MURRAY: Of all of the strange things that are the unique experience of being the Prime Minister on election night; is there a sound, a smell, a word, a hug that you can instantly remember and is going to sear in as a great moment from that night? 

PRIME MINISTER: Oh it was the hugs with the girls and Jenny and soon after I walked down from the stage I saw my father in a wheelchair, I hadn’t seen my father in a wheelchair before. He's quite a immobile now, but to see him there, I mean he was my inspiration firstly for entering politics, he was a local mayor and local councilor. From Dad I always got the truism of politics that all politics is local, unless you're making a difference to people on the ground, then what's the point. The overwhelming feeling I had on that night was, in the campaign there was a lot of talk about Australia and a lot of negative views about where Australia was at. But I believed absolutely that Australians always believe Australia is the best country in which to live. Now I’ve gotta say; ‘How good is Australia?’ That's how people feel about it. Sure, they always want it to be better, that's why it is so good. Just because people want it to be better, doesn't mean they think it’s bad.

MURRAY: Correct.

PRIME MINISTER: It means they have always have aspirations to make it better. I believe at the election, that's what I was seeking to connect with. Whether it was J-Rod down in Launceston, who was one of the most champion people I met during the campaign. He’d be a local legend there forever now. But there was another bloke I remember, I talked to you about Johnsy at Sporties down at Launceston.

MURRAY: Was that the mullet?

PRIME MINISTER: No, J-Rod was the bloke with the mullet. There may well be a secret section now in the Australian honours list for the best mullets in Australia. 

[Laughter]

But so, John is a tough teacher, he's a builder teaching young kids their trade. He's got young kids and there he is, making his life in regional Australia. Legend at his local footy club, ruckman in his 30s, wants to play into his late 30s I said well, Gal mate, he’s playing and he’s thirty nine. That club atmosphere, that was one of the nicest nights of the campaign. I enjoyed it quite a lot actually, they had to drag us out, because that was just regional Australia at it’s finest.

MURRAY: Amazing and you’ve got a newfound penchant for bingo calling?

[Laughter]

Apparently something I wasn't aware of but Ok, if you’re into that. Also I've got to say congratulations; I think you're the first Prime Minister to be cheered at the footy in a very long time. That must have been weird? The footy team you've loved for a long time at the home ground, they gave you a shout.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, it was special. I want to thank them for the shout out down there and for the announcement and the crowd response. It was very nice, particularly as also we left that night and people were lining the sides of where we were leaving. That was a pretty special moment, because as I said yesterday before I went to church with Jen; my local home community is everything. So many of the values of my local community are what I try and bring to the job. Whether it was the job of the Immigration Minister or Social Services, as the Treasurer  or indeed Prime Minister, it's the it's the values of my community that I love so much and they’ve backed me so strongly, over so many years. It was nice to be home yesterday and to be able to spend that time with my home community

MURRAY: Alright final question, there is an awful lot of new blood that enters the Parliament and there's a lot of impressive young women who are joining the party from day one.

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, we’ve got Dr Katie Allen who has come in, Dr Fiona Martin and Professor Celia Hammond and Angie Bell up there in Moncrieff, we've got some great women. Then you've got Nicolle Flint who's done a great job down there in south Aus and I mean, she had the weight and might GetUp! and the unions against her. I always get quite puzzled, I mean it's okay for Getup! and it's okay for the unions to spend large amounts of money attacking and harassing the Liberal Party or the Nationals, but if anyone else does it, apparently it's a travesty to democracy. But you know, elections are keenly contested. I’ve got to say I think there was an element in this campaign - and I think Bill mentioned it as well - there was an element in this campaign that I wouldn't like to see ever again. There was some real nastiness and it was mainly done by, I would say, those outside the major parties.

MURRAY: Yep.

PRIME MINISTER: It was the third party activists and things like this that I found a bit distasteful. 

MURRAY: Well even last night, there was a One Nation van that was set on fire apparently, by someone to do with the Greens.

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah. This is, you know, I think not Australian.

MURRAY: Agreed.

PRIME MINISTER: I would hope that – look, I’ll make this point. We must disagree better. It’ll be my job as the Prime Minister over the next three years to try and lead that discussion in a better way; that we can disagree on things, but at the same time be able to work together. That's certainly as I said the day I became Prime Minister, I want to keep the economy strong to guarantee those essentials, I said I want to keep Australians safe, but I want to keep Australians together. Because when we're together we're strongest. And when my Party which has come together, we've shown that's when we're our best.

So we start this term I think, full of full of juice, full of energy, with a refreshed mandate for the Australian people. We said what we're going to do in the Budget, we laid it out all. That's what we're going to do, people know what we're going to do.

So we're just going to get about it and everyone else can get back to work and go back to the footy or go back to their families and focus on what's important to them. I'll make sure I'm looking after the things that are important to them from the government

MURRAY: PM, congratulations. Thank you for being so available to us during the campaign, we look forward to that in the next little while and well, nothing is inevitable

PRIME MINISTER: Good on you Paul.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42274

Radio interview with Alan Jones, 2GB

20 May 2019

ALAN JONES: The Prime Minister of Australia, good morning to you. I don’t know what to say to you, is congratulations enough?

PRIME MINISTER: It's a very humbling thing Alan. As you know for anyone to be elected as Prime Minister in this country, it’s a great honour. It's a very humbling experience and it's one that has just got me very focused on the job ahead. Getting back to work this morning and getting about the task. 

JONES: You spoke - look I'm speaking on behalf of millions of Australians and I don't care if I embarrass you - you spoke splendidly on Saturday night. Absolutely splendidly, off the cuff, no script, away you went. That was after I might add, you didn't do too badly at bowls I see.

[Laughter]

You did all right. I thought the drop kick wasn't too bad. I thought the soccer goal was quite fair. You're a pretty crook chef but you seem to do Ok. And you had said to me last thing on Friday, what did you say? The Sharkies what?

PRIME MINISTER: The Sharks always find a way to win.

JONES: They didn't!

PRIME MINISTER: They didn't on Sunday actually, I was there, but it was that same spirit on Saturday night. 

JONES: Yeah, it's very refreshing isn't it, to know that the public when pushed to the limit are capable of making their own judgments?

PRIME MINISTER: Well this is what I was talking about on Saturday night. This wasn't about me or the Liberal and National parties, it was about quiet Australians as I referred to them, just out there, saying; ‘We just want you to do your job. We'll go and keep doing ours. There are some things we want you to focus on and you've talked about those and we appreciate that. Lower taxes, ensuring we're investing in the hospitals and services and just taking action on the things we need to. But we don't want to have this sort of country where we try and hold some people down, to lift other people up. We don't want to set people against each other. We don't want to have that politics of division.’

Today as we know, we start out again, the Government in our third term. I think they just want to see us get back to work. They don't want to see politics in their face or anything like that. They’ve had their say they've made their decision. Now they expect us to get on with it so they can get on with their lives. 

That's what the quiet Australia have said and I’m going to honour that.

JONES: Yes, I know you will. By the way this success derives significantly from your capacity to prosecute the case in very simple language. But at the same time, even when it came to the debates we were told you were beaten in every one of them. I just wonder what exactly what the agenda was there. You're going to have to contend now with a very powerful -

PRIME MINISTER: Well, one thing about that. John Howard reminded me over the course of the campaign, he said; ‘I only won one debate, in 1996, the second one’.

JONES: I know.

PRIME MINISTER: And he served as our second-longest prime minister. So it’s interesting, in the campaign, what people think are ‘the’ things.

JONES: Yes, I mean the left haven't finished though. They've told everyone that they're ‘morons’ now for voting for Morrison. The stuff out there… are you confident you've got this job to bring people back to the fold? There was some ugly stuff in relation to many of your candidates, I mean Greg Hunt copped it. Andrew Hastie copped it. Tony Abbott copped it. Josh Frydenberg copped it.

We've got to do better though, haven't we in terms of conducting elections in a civilised way? It's easy to disagree that's fine, but you don't have to do that violently, do you?

PRIME MINISTER: We've got to disagree better Alan. I gave a speech before the election down at the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce and I made this point. Yeah, we can disagree about many things, we all have different views. I heard your introduction just coming into this interview; you know, we're all sort of ‘biased’ one way or the other, because we all have a view about things one way or the other.

JONES: Yeah absolutely.

PRIME MINISTER: But that doesn't mean it that justifies the sort of impolite at best and at worst, quite violent behavior we've seen. One of the reasons I've been so outraged by the farmers’ properties being invaded, is because it’s the most extreme version of that. I mean Ok; you've got a different view about being a vegan. I've got nothing against vegans, that's fine. Everybody make your own choices. But just because you think that, it doesn't give you a right to disrespect others and to go and charge onto someone else's farm.

I remember I was out at Dubbo with Michael McCormack, we were announcing one of our Ag policies and I’ve come across this rather disturbing statistic, which said that 40 per cent of primary and secondary school kids, believe farmers were harming the environment.

JONES: Right, right.

PRIME MINISTER: I just went; ‘What is going on?’

JONES: Well, it’s happening in your classrooms.

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, so ensuring that we teach everyone –

JONES: You would be staggered - I mean you're too busy - but you would be staggered if you saw my correspondence in relation to what is happening in university lecture theatres, I can tell you. But you and I and everybody, we are the subject. No academia, we are the subject. We are and the things that are said about you in the lecture theatres of Sydney University and about me, are unprintable, unprintable.

PRIME MINISTER: Well the personalities have got to come out of it. There are legitimate debates to be had and we prosecute those. But I think, that discourse of civility. We're a great country and we're good people and we really do like each other. We all come together around many things and it's usually sport, but it'd be good to come together around a lot more and when we do disagree, that we just do it in a more Australian way.

JONES: Can I ask you one difficult question or two.

PRIME MINISTER: Sure.

JONES: Will you be building a dam and harvesting water?

PRIME MINISTER: Well I was talking to Bob Katter yesterday and we’re already building one with Bob up in Hughenden. We've got that major water fund which I want to see us actually get on and do some things with. I mean, we've had it there for a while. It was under administration there and there wasn't too many dams being built. Michael and I are very keen to see that agenda prosecuted.

JONES: And you’ve heard Barnaby Joyce nominate the number of families who have had their power disconnected, because they can't afford the bill? We need coal fired power, are you going to give a commitment to that?

PRIME MINISTER: Well Alan, we set out all our energy policies at the election, that's what I'm going to do. I mean, it included a continuation of coal fired power as part of the baseload power in Australia, it also included hydro, it included gas, it includes all of these all around the country. So there's no change to our policies there. What I took to the election, is what I'm going to do.

JONES: Are you going to get a rest between now and cranking it up again? 

[Laughter]

PRIME MINISTER: Unlikely, but you know me I've always got plenty of energy. The Australian people as I said last week and on the night; they really do find me up. I was down as we're leaving the Sharks game last night - which was a bit disappointing on the result, but it was lovely to have the reception from the local crowd there - they were lining the sides of the street as I left. They gave me a good cheerio and I really thank them for that. That was a very special moment with my local community.

JONES: Well people are very grateful to you. Proud yes, but very grateful. Because the economic suicide note was written, but you managed to rip it up.

PRIME MINISTER: Well Alan, there weren’t too many people eight months ago who thought this was achievable .

JONES: No!

PRIME MINISTER: You one of them.

JONES: Thank you. I was sure it was.

PRIME MINISTER: There were others like Paul Murray and a few others who did understand that.

JONES: Yes! I used to send this bloke texts to say; ‘You can win this!’

[Laughter]

PRIME MINISTER: And you educated me about Winx.

JONES: I did.

[Laughter]

PRIME MINISTER: Didn't know much about Winx eight months ago, didn’t know much about the horses but now –

[Laughter]

JONES: It’s become a metaphor, a metaphor for the occasion. Good on you, you go, well done. Congratulations, very proud of you.

PRIME MINISTER: Thanks a lot Alan and thanks to all your listeners and to all those who were out there supporting us on the weekend. Now, we’re going to govern for everybody. 

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42273

Terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka

22 April 2019

Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs

Australia is deeply shocked and saddened by the horrific terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka.

Sadly our High Commission in Colombo has today confirmed that two Australians were killed in these attacks, and two Australians have been injured.

Our hearts go out to their family and friends at this very difficult time. Out of respect for the privacy of the family, we will not provide any further comment at this time.

We have both been in contact with our counterparts, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana, today to convey Australia’s deepest condolences and to offer any support that they may require.

Australia stands with the people of Sri Lanka as they continue to come to terms with this senseless and barbaric attack. The Australian Government utterly condemns all acts of terrorism and violence.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has updated its travel advice to Sri Lanka to “Reconsider your need to travel”. Travellers are encouraged to go smartraveller.gov.au for the latest information and advice. 

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42270

Media Statement - Sri Lanka

21 April 2019

The Australian Government condemns these further terrorist attacks that we’ve seen, bombings in Sri Lanka of Christians as they went to worship on Easter Sunday and bombings in hotels, all coordinated as part of a deadly terrorist attack.

Sri Lanka hasn’t seen this form of violence since 2009 when the hostilities ceased in that country and there are many Australians who are regularly travelling in Sri Lanka. Our mission in Colombo will be following through on the safety of those Australians. I would encourage any Australians who have any information about their family or their friends who may be travelling in that area or who are seeking further information, to call the 1300 555 135 number and pass that information on to them.

We’ve been in contact with our mission staff in Sri Lanka and been able to confirm their safety. But as I said, there are many Australians who do travel in this area and the information that is coming out of Sri Lanka is very confused at this point, as you’d expect it to be after such an horrific incident. But there are reports of 138 deceased and over 400 injured.

As the day passes and the night passes, as we move into the next few days I’m sure the information will become even more sickeningly real. The devastating nature of this horrific attack on innocent lives simply going about their day, going to worship on the holiest of days on the Christian calendar, is just absolutely devastating.

So I reach out particularly to our Sri Lankan community here in Australia and I know they will be feeling it very deeply. To the beautiful people of Sri Lanka, Australia sends its heartfelt sympathies and our prayers and our support - and our offer to do whatever we can to support you in this terrible time of need. The information at this stage is just too inconclusive to provide further details. But as further details are received, obviously we’ll be looking at them carefully. I’m being kept up to date regularly on events, particularly as they may apply to Australians who may be in the area. I’ve ensured that the Leader of the Opposition has been fully briefed also this evening, we’ll be keeping them advised of developments as they proceed.

But at this time, at this time as Easter Sunday draws to a conclusion here in Australia, our heart goes out to those Christians and all of those other innocents who have been slaughtered today in this horrific terrorist attack. We still don’t know what or who was responsible for this or what their motivation was, but we do know that innocent lives have been stolen once again. Our heartfelt sympathies go out to all of those who are bereaved tonight, us included as we just share their sorrow.

Thank you. 

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42271

Boosting health services in Tasmania

10 April 2019

Prime Minister, Minister for Health

The Morrison Government is investing almost $92 million to support better health care for all Tasmanians, improving waiting times for elective surgery, boosting mental health and maternity services and increasing cancer diagnosis scans.

The Tasmanian Health Plan also provides greater support for Tasmanians in rural and remote locations while increasing a wide range of vital services, from GPs to hospital care and specialist health services.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said this investment would improve the health of all Tasmanians.

“Our strong economic management means we can provide record investment in Medicare, public hospitals and medicines, delivering more doctors, more nurses and more services to Tasmanians.”

“We can deliver this record investment in health without raising taxes for hard-working Tasmanians.

“We will invest $34.7 million to reduce surgical waiting times by providing an additional 6,000 surgeries and endoscopies and for primary care support for Tasmanians in rural and remote locations through TazReach.”

$10 million will support the Menzies Multiple Sclerosis Flagship Program to improve the quality of life for the more than 25,000  Australians living with MS by conducting research into cures and prevention of the disease.

$10 million will be invested in a new residential eating disorder clinic in Hobart, to provide in-patient specialist care for people experiencing eating disorders.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said around one million Australians live with an eating disorder, which is a complex condition with a high mortality rate.

“This treatment option will be an Australian first, providing diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders across the state, through training, education and advocacy,” Minister Hunt said.

“Eating disorder patients will also benefit from our historic decision to provide Medicare benefits for up to 40 psychological and 20 dietetic sessions per person per year.”

$10.5 million will be provided for a new walk-in mental health centre in Launceston, providing an environment where people can receive psychological, counselling or other mental health services without a prior appointment.

The centre will cater for people in crisis as well as those at risk, providing an alternative to the hospital emergency department.

$3 million will fund two new diagnostic mammography units, one in Hobart and one in Launceston.

These new machines will ensure that Tasmanian women do not have to wait to obtain x-rays to check their breasts for cancer. Earlier diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer can save lives, especially for women over 40.

A further $400,000 will support upgrades to new birthing suites in Launceston General Hospital to better support women giving birth.

In Tasmania, funding for public hospitals will increase from $425 million a year (2018-19) to $525 million (2024-25) under a new agreement with the Tasmanian Government, which has primary responsibility for public hospitals.

This is in addition to the $730.4 million we provided to support Mersey Community Hospital.

Our Tasmanian Health Plan will result in new health initiatives, new infrastructure and new medical research, with real benefits for the people across Tasmania.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42265

Radio interview, LAFM

10 April 2019

ROB FAIRS:  It’s wonderful to welcome the Prime Minister Scott Morrison live in the studio. Welcome to the programme how are you doing?

PRIME MINISTER: I’m doing great Fairsy and thanks for having us in here today. It’s great to be back in Launie.

FAIRS: It’s nice to see you down here. Let me ask you off the top, hey, you’ve really got in and met some of the locals, including I believe one of my favourite places, Sporties last night? Is that true?

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, we were at Sporties last night with Johnsy who cleaned me up on the pool table, he’s a bit of a local legend there as I understand. It was great to spend some time there last night, just chatting with people with Bridget Archer, our Liberal candidate here in Bass. But I also got down to do my laps yesterday at the Launceston Aquatic Centre and so a big cheer to all the kids out there at the South Esk Swimming Club, the national swimming club of the year back in 2015, they proudly proclaimed. So it was nice to meet all of them, you guys keep swimming. A lot of local champions down there at that pool.

FAIRS: Ariarne Titmus of course, a Tasmanian local really kicking serious backside nationally and internationally too now, which is wonderful. Alright Prime Minister, there’s a lot to get through and I know your time is tight and I really appreciate you popping in.

But let’s start off with Bass, starting off with Bass because obviously to retain power this is one of the seats that you’re going to have to win. A recent poll showed it was neck-and-neck, so that gives you a lot of heart. Announcement-wise with the election, May 18 is being thrown around. Now that’s going to put me out because that’s when my charity fundraiser is. So thank you with that today, but is that the date that you’ve decided on?

PRIME MINISTER: People won’t have to wait too long to find out. But obviously, there were three dates, the 11th, 18th and 25th  and those options are now narrowing, so I don’t think people will have to wait too much longer. Yeah, the election will be in May and we’ll call that in the not too distant future.

But here in Bass, I mean, the number one stand-out reason for supporting us here is Bridget Archer. She is a first-class candidate, she has been great over there as a local Mayor and I think that she’s really going to bring a lot to the job. She’s got a great heart and passion, she’s a mum raising a lot of kids. She’s really juggling and doing it all and I’m just thrilled to have her in my team. But we’re backing her up with great policies. The thing I love about coming down to Launceston more recently, particularly over the last few years, has been just how positive people are. I mean the northern Tasmanian economy has really, really turned around.

FAIRS: Yes.

PRIME MINISTER: And you can just feel it. I mean just talking to people at Sporties last night, talking to local tradies, talking to people in the building and civil construction industry. I met a couple last night that has moved down from Melbourne, they’re working down here and I’m sure they’ll start a family here. These are the choices people are making about northern Tasmania and what is making it happen is the strength of the economy and the great partnership I think, that we’ve formed here with Will Hodgman. The State Government, the Commonwealth Government, working together to get people into trades, to get the projects moving. We’ve got to keep this going and I just found the optimism here the last few years, coming down here, intoxicating. It’s tremendous.

FAIRS: I totally agree with you Prime Minister on that for sure. There are a lot of concerns as we know, health being one of them. Now you’re announcing or going to announce today I believe, a $92 million package?

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah that’s right. It’s going to focus on elective surgery, it’s going to focus on mental health care, maternity services, breast cancer diagnoses. These are the priority issues and its’s a range of initiatives. A new birthing suite here at the Launceston Hospital, further across the north we’ve got a new linear accelerator machine at Burnie, that’s so breast cancer patients will save $1,500 on MRIs and PET scans that are now covered by Medicare. We’ve got $4.5 million going into cancer infrastructure. We’ve got an additional 6,000 surgeries and endoscopies that are going to be provided under a $20 million services and infrastructure plan. There’s going to be here a new adult mental health centre here in Launceston and mental health is a huge priority for me. Many people will know in the Budget - and if you didn’t then this will be good news for you - $461 million is being invested in tackling youth suicide and the youth mental health challenge in this country. It’s the biggest package of measures a Government has ever handed down to really take on these issues.

Greg Hunt is here with me today in Launceston and he’s really been championing that cause. More Headspace centres around the country, we made announcements last year for more Headspace centres and we do know that turns things around for young people. So we’re going to keep investing in the mental health of our nation, starting with our youngest, but all the way through. As I said, a mental health centre here and we’re also going to have one treating eating disorders, which is another priority. I mean, I’m a parent and what parent with kids going into teenage years - or even sadly sooner now - isn’t that just your worst nightmare? So together, we can confront all that.

But you can’t do it unless you’ve got a strong economy and that’s what is so exciting about northern Tasmania. It’s economy is going forward and we’ve got to keep that going.

FAIRS: Prime Minister, one thing, looking at this in a nutshell; aged care. We’re an ageing population, it’s a sector that I believe from personal experience is drastically underfunded. There is so much that needs to be done there and well, what about that? I mean, are there plans in place for that or are we focusing on that?

PRIME MINISTER:  The Government has been putting a $1 billion extra into aged care every single year, $1 billion extra. We do have an ageing population and a priority for us particularly over the last 18 months has been has been in-home care places.

Now we’ve put in another 40,000, including the most recent announcement in the Budget, for in-home care places. What that does is two things; the first thing it does is preserve the choices of Australians as they age. They can stay at home. That’s where so many of them want to choose to be so you can be there for the grandkids birthdays, you know, people can still come round, you can stay in touch with your friends, be in your community. This is what people want and we’re doing that with the in-home care places. We’ll continue to invest $1 billion every year.

Of course there’s the Aged Care Royal Commission that I announced last year and that is to confront the challenges that we do have in the aged care system and we need to build that culture of respect for older Australians, not just in our aged care system but more broadly.

FAIRS:  Prime Minister, cost of living. In a recent poll, it’s come out on top as the key election issue. It’s a massive problem and down here a lot of Tasmanians are struggling, battling to make ends meet and it’s getting worse and worse. I notice, one of your ideas and plans was a feasibility study in the Basslink Connector for example, with the Battery of Nation type scenario. So with investment like that, is this something where that sort of thing can turn around and become cheaper and stuff? But that’s a long way off, what about Tasmanians that are battling today?

PRIME MINISTER: Tax cuts, that’s what. We’ve already legislated our first tranche last year and we’ve taken more tax cuts for this year. I mean NATSEM the independent economic modeller has already said that someone on average full time wage will be $1,000 better off under our plan, than under Labor’s plan.

We believe that people should keep more of what they earn. Labor believes they should increase taxes by $200bn over the next 10 years.

Then there’s their emissions reduction policies that they can’t even explain, about how much that will increase costs. If Bill Shorten can’t tell you what his vehicle emissions standards - his car tax - is going to cost you, for the car that he’s going to make you buy, then don’t vote for him. If he can’t explain it, if he doesn’t understand it, how does he expect you to understand it? And he wants you to vote for him.

On cost of living issues, because of Labor’s reckless emissions targets - I mean, we’ve got our target, it’s 26 per cent and we’ll meet it just like we met our Kyoto 2020, we take this issue seriously. But Bill’s policy, he can’t even explain what it’s going to cost you. I mean in that policy, businesses are going to have to spend $35 billion to $36 billion buying international carbon credits from goodness know where overseas. It’s just $36 billion going out the door and for what? That’s $36 billion that could be invested in higher wages, investing in companies, growing their markets, putting new investment into their businesses. He’s just going to put this enormous slug on our economy and it’ll slow it down. The northern Tasmanian economy is getting ahead, forestry industries, tourism industries, we passionately support these and you’ve mentioned the Marinus Link. I mean this is a big project for Tasmania’s future; $56 million to get the planning phase of that underway and done, so we can get in and invest in having that Link put in.

Yesterday we announced $17 million for a skills package for Tasmania, specifically to ensure that Tasmania is battery-ready, with the skills they will need to deliver on that project. So we announced that yesterday and I think that it’s great to get those Tasmanians with the skills they’ll need to ensure that we can deliver on that massive Battery of the Nation project that Will Hodgman and I are just so excited about.

FAIRS:  Prime Minister, I did ask my listeners to submit questions.

PRIME MINISTER: Sure

FAIRS: Just to put to you to get a response from you and I know that time is flying, so I’ll keep it as short as possible. One of them is talking about the NDIS. Now this listener applied for it in January, was told it could be accessed by February, yet still no response, still waiting to hear back. She’s provided all the necessary paperwork and documents and can’t access the help she needs. She’s very, very ill and that’s just one. The NDIS is very a big issue.

PRIME MINISTER: The NDIS is a massive social programme, it’s the biggest change since Medicare. We’ve got 10,000 people, 10,000 people working either within the NDIA or ancillary services working to solve all of those problems. We’ve got over 70,000 people accessing services that never did before and so this is just a very big project. Yes, we agree, it’s a very hard programme to implement and we’re going to keep on making it better year on year on year on year. But I make you this absolute commitment - and it’s not just a commitment, it’s in the Budget and it’s fully funded; the NDIS will get every cent that it needs. It’s a completely demand-driven program and we’ll see that demand increase. It already has been at record levels and it’ll continue to grow.

Just last week I announced the Royal Commission into disabilities, to address very similar issues that we’ve seen in the Aged Care sector. People with disabilities experienced some horrendous things and we’re going to shine a light on that. I think that will also improve the culture of respect, whether it’s in the workplace, whether it’s in healthcare, whether it’s in any part of our society. For people living with disabilities, we’ve got to make their life easier and we recognise the contribution they want to make and we’re going to facilitate that. We’re 100 per cent committed to it, it’s a very difficult programme and we’re getting on with it and we’ve got a lot pf people working on it.

FAIRS:  Prime Minister bulk-billing, that’s another one. There’s basically no bulk-billing doctors here in Launceston and in fact probably across northern Tasmania. Hardly any, which is a real issue because a lot of people cannot afford to pay to see the doctor.

PRIME MINISTER: Well we have record bulk-billing rates right across the country.

FAIRS: Not here

PRIME MINISTER: Well, it’s bulk-billing right across the country and including right across northern Tasmania that we’re achieving these rates, that’s the information that I have. We’re achieving those bulk billing records.

Medicare has never been stronger under our Government. We have increased funding to Medicare by 27 per cent and the Medicare Guarantee fund continues to put in tens of billion in every year. So we’re delivering on that and we’ll continue to deliver on it.

FAIRS:  So there’s no issue with bulk-billing in your opinion?

PRIME MINISTER:  What I’m saying is we’ll continue to ensure that we deliver on this. It’s always going to be a challenge around the country, but what I’m saying is, at the last election, Bill Shorten said that we were going to sell Medicare. I mean it was an outrageous lie. This is what you’ll hear from Labor at this election; you’ll hear lies and higher taxes. That’s what Labor is offering at this election. Lies about what the Government is doing, not telling you the truth about the higher cost-of-living that you will face under their higher taxes and their reckless emission targets. Which means that you will pay for more for everything, whether it’s your car, whether it’s your electricity bill, whether it’s your private health insurance. Whatever you have to pay for, it’ll cost more under Labor.

FAIRS: Prime Minister very quickly, this is another question. Daniel thanks for this one; “When the Libs took power 6 years ago they were claiming a budget crisis when the debt was around $250 billion. Now the debts is more than double in your time, but it’s not a crisis, when you’ve promised that you would not increase it?”

PRIME MINISTER: Well, when you’re in deficit your debt goes up and it has taken us the last 6 years to get the Budget out of deficit and get it back into surplus. I mean that was the legacy the Labor Party they left us.

When we came into Government debt was growing at 30 per cent every year. That’s stopped now. What we’re seeing now is, over the next four years, we will reduce the net debt of the country by $50 billion or just shy of that. That’s what happens, you get the Budget back in the black, which we’re now in. And it’s a reminder; last time the government of the nation went to the Labor Party back in 2007, we went from a $20 billion surplus to a $27 billion deficit in the space of one year. We have been paying that back ever since. It has taken us more than a decade to get the budget back into surplus. It just goes to show; you vote Labor once, you pay for it for a decade. That’s what it means when it comes to the economic management of the Labor Party and I think Australians understand that.

They have had too many goes at managing the nation’s finances and they’ve stuffed it up too many times I think, for people to give them any credit that they know how to manage money. And if you can’t manage money, you can’t pay for Medicare, you can’t pay for hospitals. You can make all the promises you like, but when you look in the wallet, it’s empty.

And you know what Labor does when their wallet is empty? They go and look in yours. That’s why they increase taxes on all Australians.

FAIRS: Prime Minister in saying that, in the polls it shows  if an election was held now you’d be wiped out. The only shining light is your popularity, obviously  over Bill Shorten as preferred Prime Minister. What, this is your opportunity to very quickly  say why you deserve, because you’ve had the revolving door of Prime Ministers, you’ve had total disasters, you’ve had in-fighting, you’ve acted like infants,  school kids a lot of the time with all this battle and stuff. So why should people give you another chance and vote you back into power?

PRIME MINISTER: Well I think it’s pretty clear since we’ve come to Government, we’ve got the Budget  back into surplus. We’ve reduced unemployment to levels we’ve not seen in a decade. We’ve created jobs particularly for young people and our economy is moving forward. As I said, here in northern Tasmania it really is a strong economy, it’s central to everything. The IMF today is talking about a such more difficult global environment. Now is not the time to hand the economic wheel over someone in Bill Shorten, who doesn’t know how to drive an economy. That is what will put your future at risk. That is what will determine your ability to deal  with cost of living pressures, a Government that knows how to run the economy, knows how to manage finances, versus and Opposition that every  time they’ve been in government, they’ve  always stuffed it up, when it comes to programs and the  Budget. You can’t get the healthcare you need, if you don’t have a government that knows how to manage money. Now, we’ve demonstrated that and the record speaks for that.

I think Australians are focused on the future and they’re focused on who is best able to deliver that strong economy and strong Budget that can invest and guarantee the funding for the essentials services they rely on. That’s the Liberal and National parties, that’s who it is.  Our record is there and they know they can trust it, they’ve seen it here with Will at a state level and they’ve seen it with us at a Commonwealth level. If you want to keep that going here in northern Tasmania, well the way to do that is to keep the ScoMo and Will show going.

FAIRS: Alright well Prime Minister Scott Morrison thank you so much for your time, really appreciate you dropping in.

PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. 

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42269

Doorstop - Ulverstone Tasmania

9 April 2019

Prime Minister, Minister for Small and Family Business Skills and Vocational Education

GAVIN PEARCE, LIBERAL CANDIDATE FOR BRADDON:  G’day everyone I’m Gavin Pearce the Liberal candidate for Braddon and I’m honoured this afternoon to welcome back to Braddon the Prime Minister and also today, Senator Michaelia Cash on a blustery day in Braddon. I was just speaking with the Prime Minister not long ago and wind is not only good for a hard-hat but it’s also good for generating electricity. The Prime Minister is right behind Braddon, he understands that we’re not just an exporter of the world’s best agricultural and horticultural products, we’re not just the exporter of wood chips and other forestry products, but we’re also makers and we’re also innovators. In order to do that, we need manpower and we need skills, we need innovation. So that’s what the purpose of today’s announcement is. So without further ado I’ll hand over to the Prime Minister now. Prime Minister welcome to Braddon.

PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much Gavin, it’s great to be here at Ulverstone and it’s great to be here with another great employer here in Tasmania. This is a business that builds things, this is a business that has fixed bridges, built roads, repaired rail lines and has been working hand-in-glove with Tasmanian hydro in what is and will be in a much more significant way in the future, the Battery of the Nation, through the partnerships we’re putting together with the Tasmanian State Government, with Will Hodgman.

Last time I was in Tasmania we were announcing the Marinus Link Project, working together on the Battery of the Nation project, to build this very significant project into the future and to make it work. Yes, we have to have the Marinus Link interconnector, which we announced funding for, to develop the business case and move forward on that project. Yes we need the vision of the Tasmanian State Government to actually take the Battery of the Nation project forward. But what we also need is the workforce and the companies and skills to build this project.

Today, we’re announcing $17 million for a Tasmanian-specific skills program which will work outside the existing skills partnership we have with Tasmania, to identify and develop all those additional skills that are needed in quite specific areas, to make this project a great success. We aren’t just committed to supporting the interconnector, we’re committed to working together with Will Hodgman and the State Government here and the businesses and construction industry here in Tasmania, to make this project a reality. It's incredibly important for Tasmania.

As Gavin said, this is a part of Australia in northern Tasmania that is well-known for agriculture, well-known for tourism, well-known for it’s forestry industry, we support all those industries incredibly strongly. But it is also known for these civil works and it’s also known for the great work that will be done in building this Battery of the Nation.

So the Budget we announced last week was all about creating skills. 80,000 new apprentices and I am joined by some apprentices here and we have been meeting apprentices all around the country. 80,000 new apprentices in key skill areas and that is picked up in the new investment we’ve made in last week’s Budget, it’s picked up in the Skilling Australians Fund which we commenced in the Budget last year and the partnership agreement we have with the State Government. The $17 million we announced today goes above and beyond that, to make sure Tasmania has the skilled people it will need to make this Battery of the Nation project a reality. So we’re really excited about it and every time I come here to talk about this project, I get another sense of it’s great potential and how it’s reaching out and touching the economy of northern Tasmania and how good that is for jobs.

Since we were elected, unemployment has come down in Braddon. It has come down and it’s going to keep coming down. 1.25 million jobs around the country is what our economic plan is going to continue to deliver. Tasmania has been the turnaround state. Population growth is actually moving forward now and for that economy to keep going forward, it needs projects of this scale and this size and the investments in skills and in young Tasmanians and Tasmanians right across their working life, to be given the skills to be a great success. So I’ll ask Michaelia Cash to speak a little bit more about that and then we’ll take some questions on that project and anything else you’d like to discuss.

SENATOR THE HON MICHAELIA CASH, MINISTER FOR SMALL AND FAMILY BUSINESS, SKILLS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION: Thanks Prime Minister and it’s fabulous to be back in Tasmania, in northern Tasmania in particular with our candidate for Braddon Gavin Pearce. I was here recently and it was all about a small business announcement, we had a small businesses in Tasmania and we were talking to the thousands of small businesses in Tasmania about the policies that we’ve put in place to back them, whether it’s lowering their taxes, or increasing the instant asset write-off.

Today we’re back in Tasmania and we’re talking skills - the skills that our businesses need to ensure they can undertake the work we need them to undertake and employ more Australians.

As the Prime Minister said, this is a $17 million investment specifically in Tasmania. We want to ensure that young Tasmanians have the skills that industry tells us they need, so that they can bring projects like the Battery of the Nation to life. So this $17 million investment is part of our energizing Tasmania investment. We’re going to work specifically with the Hodgman Liberal Government and industry to identify the priority skills needs for Tasmania. We're then going to ensure that young people wanting to study in these priority skill areas, are able to do so without any upfront fees. That’s going to be on average around $4,500 per young Tasmanian, a cost they’ll no longer incur. We’re also going to ensure that they have up to $1,000 to pay for their non-tuition costs, for example books that they may need. So this $17 million is all about ensuring the Tasmanian Government and the Tasmanian people have the skills they need to ensure that this project, the Battery of the Nation, can come to life.

PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much Michaelia. This is part of our plan for a stronger economy. Australia is the best place to live and to raise a family, but our future depends on ensuring we continue to build our economy - to secure our future and to guarantee the essential services that Australians rely on. The health system here in Tasmania is dependent on a strong economy.

Higher taxes don’t solve that problem, that just slows the economy down and means you’re not in a position to fund affordable medicines and things like that in the future. Higher taxes has never been the answer to any problem. The answer to ensuring we can deliver the health services, the education, the things Tasmanians rely on, is for Tasmania to stay on the great path it’s on under the Hodgman Government, that is making their economy strong and is going well. We are backing them in, it’s a great partnership.

JOURNALIST: Is this dependent on the federal election result?

PRIME MINISTER: This is in the Budget, this is in the Budget papers and the funding is there. The only risk to this would be a Labor government that would reverse it. But this is a decision that has been taken and it’s in the Budget that was handed down last week.

JOURNALIST: These funds will only be available for people wanting to go into specific skills, it won’t be for all trades?

PRIME MINISTER: The Skilling Australians Fund – Michaelia might want to speak to this as well – that is already funding the additional training arrangements for the traditional skills and things like that. On top of that, we also have the apprenticeship program we announced, the half a billion dollar skills package in the Budget last week, which goes to a range of different apprenticeships which will also, I think, be of great input here in Tasmania. But what we’re announcing today goes above and beyond that. It goes to these broader-ranging skills and to ensure there’s zero fee participation and to ensure we can invest and recruit those Tasmanians to come and be part of making these great projects a reality.

MINISTER FOR SMALL AND FAMILY BUSINESS, SKILLS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION: In Australia, it’s not a “one size fits all” country, the skill needs in Tasmania given the Battery of the Nation project, are fundamentally different to my home state of WA or even up in Queensland. So this is all about ensuring that as a Federal Government, we’re working with the Tasmanian Government, so the Tasmanian people, young Tasmanians in particular, have the skills that industries here in Tasmania say they need to ensure that projects like the Battery of the Nation absolutely come to life.

JOURNALIST: What skills specifically are they for Tasmania, that are lacking here?

MINISTER FOR SMALL AND FAMILY BUSINESS, SKILLS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION: This is done through our national partnership agreement with the Tasmanian Government that will commence in 2020. Those skill will be identified by sitting down with industry and with the Tasmanian Government and seeing what skillsets are required. So it could be a project management skill,  it could be in building and construction, it could be an entire course, it could be one or two units that a person needs to up-skill and continue undertaking the job they’re doing. But that’s something we’ll be working out with the Tasmanian Government and in particular with industry, because industry themselves know the skills they need.

PRIME MINISTER: It’s a very customised plan. We have a plan to keep our economy strong and we have a plan to keep the Tasmanian economy strong. We have a Tasmanian economy plan of which this is a key component. The Battery of the Nation is a very important part of Tasmania’s future, particularly for northern Tasmania. But not only that, it’s about keeping our traditional industries strong. It wasn’t that long ago we were here together, talking about what we were going to do with our forestry industry up here in northern Tasmania. So we have a very clear plan to keep the Tasmanian economy strong and I could not hope for a better partner in achieving that than the Premier Will Hodgman.

JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] allocated for a second interconnector?

PRIME MINISTER: Well this is what the business case does. The business case, we wouldn’t be doing the business case on the second interconnector, if we weren’t serious about actually following through and implementing that. What the interconnector business case already - from the work that has been done, - indicates is that it will be a very viable project. But it’s the ‘how and where and at what scale’ and the financing structures that can be used to bring it about and ultimately the participation of other partners, that make it a reality.

But this project will be a goer. It’ll be a goer and will benefit not only Tasmania, it will be a project that benefits all of Australia. I mean Tasmania will be charging up the rest of the nation, Tasmania will be making a contribution here to the rest of the economy. That’s why we’ve been settling those quite specific arrangements for how it would be structured and how the finance would be done, which means that those who would be benefitting from it, carry the financial cost.

JOURNALIST: Mr Morrison I understand that [inaudible] the same [inaudible] so are you going to be funding that?

PRIME MINISTER: That’s the same answer to the question that was just put. We would not be doing the business case and putting investment into the Marinus Link project if we had no intention of then following through with a positive result. There are many different ways you can finance that and that’s what that business case will actually best identify, the best way we can make that project a reality. Because you’re right, it’s not just the hydro project. I mean, there’s are 400K in power just sitting there, which is not going anywhere. We need it to get across the Bass Strait, we need to it power up Victoria. If that would’ve been in place previously, Victoria would not have suffered the brownouts they did recently.

JOURNALIST: Today’s announcement, you said you’d be having a discussion with the Tasmanian Government, so has Tas TAFE been involved in that?

PRIME MINISTER: That’ll be done by the Tasmanian Government, to the extent to which they’ll bring in other partners. That’s up to them, but really it’s about the industry. They’re the ones who are going to build it, Tasmanian Hydro is who we have to talk to through that process, to make sure we’re identifying the skills need. Now the company we’re standing with here today, they’ve already been involved in doing a lot of work with these hydro projects. They’re very familiar with these sites, whether it’s the businesses here or around the state, understanding the people they will need. In many cases, it’ll be people who already working for these company that need to do additional training in other areas, adding to their skillsets. So this really is about upgrading and everybody benefitting from this investment in their skills. We are investing in the people to build the projects, that’s what we’re doing here today, particularly in Tasmania.

JOURNALIST: Just moving on Prime Minister?

PRIME MINISTER: Before we go into other issues, we’re joined by some great people from VEC, so if we’re going to move to political issues, I won’t draw them into those things. So I want to thank you very much and good luck, thanks for joining us today. Or any questions for VEC?

JOURNALIST: Can I just get a general comment, yeah, what do you think of today’s announcement, how will that help you in the skills shortage you face?

LINCOLN BROWICH, GENERAL MANAGER VEC CIVIL ENGINEERING: I think any investment in training is welcome in the state. We invest heavily in our apprentices and I think we’ve had 200 per cent increase over the last four years in apprenticeship uptake, so any additional funds most certainly allows us to invest in our people and invest in growth. So it allows us to grow our business and working partnerships, with our key partners in the state in key infrastructure projects that we do throughout the nation.

JOURNALIST: What skills do you think Tasmania is lacking?

LINCOLN BROWICH, GENERAL MANAGER VEC CIVIL ENGINEERING: I’d prefer not to go into that.

PRIME MINISTER: They’ll be working closely with us to identify those, thanks very much, thanks for being here. Okay other questions for the day.

JOURNALIST:  Malcom Turnbull said you can’t wave off the revelations about Peter Dutton’s private [inaudible] as the bubble and the buck stops with you. What are you going to do?

PRIME MINISTER: Well I’ve spoken with Peter Dutton about this and there are no issues here that trouble me at all. I mean there’s no suggestion that Peter, in any way shape or form, has a sought or been provided with any benefit here. The individual we're talking about had his visa cancelled while he was out of the country, by Peter Dutton's Department. So if the object was foreign interference, well, the exact opposite is what has occurred.

Peter Dutton has been in the vanguard of ensuring that we’ve been putting foreign interference arrangements in place and in the Budget that we handed down last week, there was about $36 million which has been invested in the agencies that Peter Dutton has responsibility for, to counter foreign interference.

I think this is in stark contrast with the Labor Party and Senator Dastyari. Senator Dastyari, or former Senator Dastyari I should stress, had to resign in shame because he had been intoxicated by that interference. So if anyone has any questions to answer on this issue, it’s the Labor Party. The Liberal and National parties have actually put these arrangements in place. So no, I have no concerns and as a result I’m happy to move on.

JOURNALIST: Have you sought an explanation from Mr Dutton?

PRIME MINISTER: Yes, I have and I’m very satisfied.

JOURNALIST: About how he came to be in a lunchtime meeting with [inaudible]?

PRIME MINISTER: Members of Parliament have meetings with people all the time, the suggestion here is that something inappropriate was done. There’s no basis for that whatsoever, absolutely none. In fact, if you look at what actually has occurred in the Government's handling of this individual's case, we cancelled his visa. I mean, I don’t think that was a solution he was looking for, do you? He was seeking as I understand it, to try to gain citizenship in Australia. Our Government not only didn’t provide him with citizenship, we cancelled his visa so he cannot return to Australia. That was done by an agency under Mr Dutton's responsibility. So I think the actions here speak far louder and the actions here are that we’ve acted against foreign interference in this country. Not just by having the laws in place, but by acting on those laws and in last week’s Budget, by investing in the agencies which protect Australia from foreign interference.

By contrast the Labor Party, through the former Senator Sam Dastyari, took this same individual, put him in front of an Australian government logo and ran an ad for him. I mean that’s what I call foreign interference.

JOURNALIST: So what do you make of Malcolm Turnbull’s advice then?

PRIME MINISTER: I don’t make anything of it.

JOURNALIST: Was the Environment Minister ever pressured to get those Adani agreements done, will this free you up in your decision to call the election? And you’re a religious man, does Easter factor into any plans for an election date?

PRIME MINISTER: Let me say a couple of things about the last issue. On Easter Sunday and on Easter Friday and on Anzac Day, the Liberal and National parties won’t be running any political advertisements if we’re in an election campaign at that time.

I understand the Labor Party have said they won’t do it on Good Friday and Anzac Day as well and I think I welcome that. I would ask them to extend that to Easter Sunday. That’s sort of the whole point of the Christian Easter celebration, frankly, Easter Sunday. So I would welcome their support on that as well and I would expect they’d do that in good faith.

On the other matters that you raise, the Environment Minister has made a decision, as I said she would all along, based on the best environmental science advice. She has been waiting to receive that advice from Geoscience Australia and the CSIRO. Both of those organisations, together with the Department of Environment have made recommendations that this further matter that required consent from the Commonwealth, could be considered. She has made her decision on that, consistent absolutely with the environmental science advice and the scientific advice that has been provided by those agencies and her own Department.

Now I note that Mr Shorten is happy to say - while he’s up in central Queensland today - that he’s happy to abide also by the advice of the scientists. I’ll wait to see whether he says the same thing when he’s down in Victoria or elsewhere in the country. I’m not surprised he’d be happy to say that up in central Queensland. But when it comes to the Liberal and National parties, we’re happy to talk about our primary industries in the same way wherever we go around this country; we are for our primary industries, whether it’s in agriculture, forestry, fishing or mining. In all of these places, we know the jobs that they produce and we know that you need to continue to stand by these industries.

So I welcome the fact that Mr Shorten has said, Bill Shorten has said that he will be supporting that decision of consent. But let's see if he can say the same thing in Melbourne, as he says in Gladstone.

I know that the Environment Minister has conducted herself in the way you’d expect her to do, to go through, follow the process to the letter and make sure that before she made any decision, that she was completely satisfied and had all the information she believed she needed to make that decision. Which is exactly what she did and I know Melissa pretty well, she’s a pretty tough Western Australian.

MINISTER FOR SMALL AND FAMILY BUSINESS, SKILLS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION: Absolutely.

PRIME MINISTER: I’ve got another tough Western Australian behind me and they just stay focused on what their job is and what their responsibilities and their accountabilities are. I want to thank Minister Price for the very good job she’s done in managing her responsibilities and exercising them the way she has. Thank you very much, everyone, great to be here.

JOURNALIST: When are you going to call the election?

PRIME MINISTER: It’ll be in May, we’ll call it in April.

https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42267