Media Releases
Stronger action against terror content
30 June 2019
Prime Minister, Minister for Communications Cyber Safety and the Arts
Major social media companies will take further steps to stop the publication of violent terror content in response to the Morrison Government’s social media taskforce to keep Australians safe online.
The commitments from the Australian Taskforce to Combat Terrorist and Extreme Violent Material Online the Government set up following the Christchurch terrorist attacks will see tighter monitoring and controls on live streaming and a simulation exercise to further test social media companies’ capabilities.
The action comes following the G20 Summit and world leaders’ strong message to technology companies to take action to prevent the exploitation of the internet for terrorism and violent extremism.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his priority was to keep Australians safe.
“Social media companies need to step up and recognise their responsibilities to ensure their platforms are not being weaponised by violent terrorists and extremists,” the Prime Minister said.
“We’re doing everything we can with new laws and tighter controls at home and with our international partners to stop social media platforms being abused.
“Social media companies are on notice. If they don’t deliver on their commitments, we will move to legislate and do so quickly.
“To keep all Australians safe we must prevent the use of online platforms by extremists, like what was filmed and shared in Christchurch.”
The Taskforce was formed following a Summit on March 26 convened by the Prime Minister, with members from Facebook, YouTube, Amazon, Microsoft and Twitter, along with Telstra, Vodafone, TPG and Optus.
The report identifies nine areas of agreement, including prevention; detection and removal; transparency; deterrence; and capacity building.
These areas build on and extend the commitments already made by industry and Government following the attacks, including to;
Develop and report to Government on technical measures to proactively stop terrorist and extreme violent material from being disseminated on their platforms;
Identify, fast-track and report to Government on appropriate checks on live-streaming to reduce the risk of users spreading terrorist and extreme violent material online;
Implement visible and intuitive user reporting mechanisms and introduce accelerated review for live-streamed content flagged as terrorist or extreme violent material;
Improve transparency of the platforms’ ongoing efforts to combat terrorist and extreme violent material on their platforms through regular public reporting at least twice yearly;
Ensure that account management practices and policies can be enforced against those who exploit platforms to disseminate terrorist and extreme violent content;
In consultation with other members, work to strengthen the work of the industry-led Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), including the creation of an online toolbox for smaller online services to access support to effectively prevent, detect and respond to online terrorist and extreme violent and actively make these solutions accessible to smaller online services
Run a ‘testing event’ in 2019-20 managed by the Australia-New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee that simulates a scenario to gauge the capability of the industry and government.
This action also advances the principles and actions stipulated in the Christchurch Call to Action, which was developed by the New Zealand Government and has the support of some 18 countries, including Australia, as well as the major digital platforms.
Australian internet service providers (ISPs) have also committed to continue to work with Government on effective content blocking arrangements on terrorist content
Minister for Communications Paul Fletcher said the members of the Taskforce worked collaboratively over the last three months to deliver this report to Government.
“We are grateful for the spirit of cooperation and goodwill displayed by industry and commend them for reaching a consensus on actions,” Minister Fletcher said.
“This work is only part of the Government’s broader online safety agenda.
“This Government has placed Australia at the forefront of international efforts to keep our citizens safe online.
“In 2015, we established the world’s first Children’s eSafety Commissioner and legislated a take-down regime for cyber-bullying material targeted at Australian children. In 2017, the Government expanded the eSafety Commissioner’s remit to include all Australians, and introduced a civil penalty regime for image-based abuse.
“Since then, the Government has provided additional funding for programs to support online safety for vulnerable Australians, teachers and carers of children under five, and for non-government operators providing online safety and training projects, bringing our investment in eSafety to over $100 million over the next four years.
“We have committed to introducing a new fit-for-purpose Online Safety Act, and will strengthen the penalties for online harassment and abuse,” Minister Fletcher said.
“We will also work with states and territories to develop a nationally consistent approach to combatting criminal cyber-bullying and online harassment.”
Doorstop - Osaka, Japan
29 June 2019
Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for his presidency of the G20. As I said earlier this week in Sydney, Prime Minister Abe is not just an outstanding leader in his own country, but he is deeply respected as one of the… our region’s, but in the world's, real statespersons and he has done an extraordinary job here which is not surprising. Shinzo Abe is a great friend of Australia. And it was in that spirit that I particularly want to thank him for the opportunity that he gave to us following the terrible terrorist attacks in Christchurch, that we were able to bring forward the proposal for the statement that was agreed by all G20 countries today. That wouldn't have been possible if that opportunity hadn't been extended to us by Prime Minister Abe, and so I'm very grateful for that. And at a meeting where there were many other issues, obviously, he understood the importance of this in the context of the many other things we're pursuing. And so I'm very pleased that we were able to achieve that. I've already been in contact with Prime Minister Ardern, who was very pleased to hear that has taken place and it sends a very clear message, I think, to those companies that have created what are remarkable technologies - technologies that are changing the world for the better. At the G20 we affirmed how important that was, and that we want to see all of that continue and that we are for an open web. And we are for all of those things but we cannot allow these new tools to become deadly in the hands as weapons of terrorists. And that position is understood. I think the way we have pursued this was to keep it very focused on what it was trying to achieve. We didn't broaden it out. This was about simply trying to ensure that we all were agreed that the internet should not become a weapon of terrorists. And this sends a clear message, and the impetus of this is to say to the companies, ‘You have the technology, you have the innovation, you have the resources, and now you have the clear communicated will of the world's leaders that you need to apply that to get this right.’
Now, Australia has completed its first stage of its Taskforce report which we will be releasing shortly. I'll be sharing that with the other G20 members, purely for their information. I think there are some very good suggestions about what they might want to consider, and certainly it is what Australia is considering and implementing, and we've taken action with our existing legislation and I think this provides the right framework now. Global leadership, domestic action. It's now up to them to take their actions to protect not only all Australian citizens, but citizens all around the world from the internet being used in this way.
At the broader G20 meeting, we're pleased that both China and United States this afternoon were able to regather the ground that had been lost since Buenos Aires. That's very welcome, and I'm hopeful, based on what they've expressed after that meeting, that they can now take that forward. There's obviously a lot at stake. I'm pleased that that was acknowledged and understood by China and the United States. Not only I but many, many others have been making exactly the same point in concert. And so I think people leave Osaka pleased that we're able to get to that point.
At the same time, much else what was happening in activity with so many other partners. It was great today to have meetings both with Indonesia, with India, with Vietnam, and of course the EU. I mean, we just don't stand still while the major two biggest powers in the world sit and have their conversations. We get on with what we're doing. And that meeting with the EU, very important this morning. We’ve really pushed on the timetable there, elevating our relationship with Vietnam, re-commencing the work with both India and Indonesia after all of our elections, and we can just get on with that and those relationships couldn't be better. The only thing, I think, that Prime Minister Modi and I disagreed on was who was going to win the World Cup and our positions on that were entirely predictable.
JOURNALIST: Sorry, just on the social media front. You’ve expressed your view. What concrete actions do you now expect from the social media companies?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, exactly what I said. To use their algorithms, to use their technology, to use their investments through the GIF CT Organisation to increase its resources. And so there was greater collaboration and standards across these platforms, which prevent the uploading of this material, which prevent its sharing, and which identifies and ensures its removal.
JOURNALIST: How big a coup is this for Australia and for your personally that you were able to do this?
PRIME MINISTER: It is not about Australia or about me at all, it is about the victims of the Christchurch terror attack, and we all remember that day. I know I do, and I think it was the most practical thing that, as cousins of New Zealand, that we could do. We attend this forum, this was something we could do, not just for New Zealand, but for Australia as well. We’re all at similar risk, and so it was just simply Australia acting in accordance with our responsibility.
JOURNALIST: On trade, Prime Minister, is it your understanding that the US has given an undertaking not to proceed with the next round of tariff increases, and what sort of practical reliefs does that buy Australia’s economy and others in the region, if that is the case?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I have seen the same statements as you have, and they are the statements as I understand them. In our press conference yesterday, I put it in fairly mathematical terms - it is the difference between the 3.6 per cent global growth and 3.1 percent global growth, and that is significant. So I thank also the IMF for informing the G20. They do outstanding work and we thank them for that, because I think that provided the right context for the discussion. And so as I said yesterday, one in five Australian jobs is related to trade. That is what it is about. Having modern rules that support trade, having modern rules that mean that people go and invest in companies that trade overseas, develop new markets, support new products, put the investment in, take the risks. You're not going to take that risk going beyond Australian shores, if you're not sure about the arrangements you have to deal with and the rules that are going to apply. You want those rules to be certain, and so this increases certainty, which encourages investment, which creates jobs.
JOURNALIST: But isn’t the outcome of this meeting on trade, Mr Xi and Mr Trump, more of the same? Therefore aren’t we still on track for the 3.1 per growth, instead of the 3.6 per cent?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, no, their assessment was based on the implementation of those additional tariff measures, that is what brought it down to 3.1 per cent, that is the difference. So look, it is a moving situation, you always in these environments are seeking to get the better outcome. And I think there is a better outcome, or certainly a better outcome than I anticipated and indeed, the participants in the bilateral relationship would expect as well.
JOURNALIST: Did you get a moment with Vladimir Putin at all, even for a moment, to pressure him over MH17?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I didn’t.
JOURNALIST: Was that a disappointment, were you hoping to do that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we are pursuing that matter directly with the Netherlands through the proper legal process and we are not backing off that one inch. And the Netherlands Prime Minister will be out in Australia later this year. I had many discussions with Mark about that, and we are as one.
JOURNALIST: We supported the British and others when they… over the Salisbury incident, the poisoning incident by expelling diplomats. Are you seeking, or are others in your ministry, seeking support from our like-minded allies like the US, the UK, to take similar measures against Russia, to pressure them over MH17?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the channel we're working down at the moment is the legal channel we’re doing with the Netherlands and that is our focus right now.
JOURNALIST: Just on the EU trade deal, it was meant to be fast tracked, it was meant to be completed before the change of the Commission, the President, which is taking place. You hoped to have that concluded by the end of the year, is that likely to happen or is that a bit ambitious given that there is now political change taking place in Brussels?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we should be ambitious about it, and we are being ambitious about it. We are going to work to an ambitious timeframe on it. Those changes may not see personnel changes until quite late this year, and so that does provide a window of opportunity and it is a window we hope to walk through.
JOURNALIST: Have you spoken to Alek Sigley’s family and can you can give us an idea of what is happening behind the scenes to find him?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I will just be measured in what I say, because that is all about using the best opportunities we have right now to inform ourselves about where Alek is and what his safety is and where he is being held and in what conditions. I have had direct contact with the family. I do not really want to go more in to it than that. But my concern is simply for his welfare, and I have had this discussion with numerous leaders over the last few days. They have come up to me, I have gone up to them, and we have had nothing but overwhelming support and offers of cooperation and assistance to be able to both locate where Alek is, and then to be able to take what actions we can to bring him home.
JOURNALIST: With Mr Trump going to the DMZ tomorrow, Is an opportunity for the Americans to make some representations on the Australian Government’s behalf?
PRIME MINISTER: All I would say, Mark, is that we're going to work with everybody to secure Alek's safety. And the best way we can do that is doing it quietly, effectively, working with our partners. This is not allowing this to be taken up into other agendas, it is not about that. It is simply, to me, about Alek's safety.
JOURNALIST: Back on the EU trade deal, can you just go through what are some of the last remaining sticking points there? Is it still the geographical…?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the GI is a significant issue and we are dealing with that right now. And then there is a process of receiving a market access proposal, and we set out pretty clearly today what our expectations are about the ambitions of that. And we're making progress.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what do you make of Japan's plans to resume commercial whaling on Monday?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, Japan is well aware of our position on this, and we’ve communicated that before. I have communicated that to Prime Minister Abe.
JOURNALIST: During this trip?
PRIME MINISTER: I welcome the fact that they are not doing anything in the Southern Ocean now, that is a welcome development. I am not going to allow our relationship with Japan to be defined by this issue. This is actually an issue that had been addressed in our previous bilateral, and has been an action that has been in the works for some time, both their commitment to withdraw from where they are, what they were doing in the Southern Ocean and what they will continue to do now. They are aware of our objections. But I must say, I'm not going to allow it to define our relationship.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, did you speak to President Widodo about the next steps of your… deepening that relationship?
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely we did, and we’re both very excited about it. Obviously the next step is to have ratification of [inaudible] which we're both working to do. We’ll do that over the course of this parliamentary year, in what will be a very packed legislative program from here to the end the year, beginning on Tuesday with tax cuts.
JOURNALIST: On trade, is it possible to say that Australian jobs are safer as a consequence of the outcome of this meeting?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, I would, I would. Because of what the alternative was. I mean, these things always have to be assessed against what the alternative track is. The alternative track, coming into this meeting, was far less positive than the one I think we have emerged with, and that is welcome. Is there a lot more to do? Of course there is, and what particularly I am pleased about is we have set up a whole range of new opportunities. I’m particularly excited about opportunities with Vietnam. I will be there in August, and there is a real enthusiasm both from the Vietnamese side and ours to elevate that partnership. I mean, they are a country that is going through rapid development, and that comes with some wobbles and it comes with the need to support and our (inaudible) programme is actually designed to increase their ability to enable their growth, to implement their agreements, and so we are for a prosperous, successful Vietnam and that will be in our interest too. So I’m excited about that. The India relationship is a really positive one, there is a real axis, I think, between India, Indonesia and ourselves. We are very plugged in - India and ourselves - to what is happening in ASEAN and want to see that continue. Australia is a good friend of ASEAN, we’re a good friend to these countries and this meeting has been a great opportunity to both refresh and reinforce all of those relationships, including those with our great and powerful friends. Thanks very much.
Global step forward on terror content crackdown
29 June 2019
Prime Minister
Global leaders have raised the bar for social media companies in the fight to crackdown on sharing terrorist content.
Australia has been working tirelessly since the horrific Christchurch terrorist attacks to send a clear message to internet companies, together with our international partners, about the special responsibility those companies have in the fight against terrorism.
Today’s joint statement from the G20 Leaders’ Summit is an unprecedented coordinated effort and show of unity in the fight against terrorist and violent extremist content shared online.
It is a clear warning from global leaders to internet companies that they must step up. It builds on the Christchurch Call to Acton and affirms our commitments as governments to follow through with practical efforts to prevent something like that ever happening again.
We will also share the insights and successes our governments have each taken to combat terrorist and violent extremist content online such as the laws the Australian Government has delivered. In recent days many other leaders have referenced those laws as a gold global standard. We have also agreed the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism needs to be strengthened.
The world’s citizens rightly have high expectations of internet companies that they must not let their platforms be exploited.
It is time for them to act.
Throughout the development of this statement I have been in regular contact and working closely with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. I would also like to personally thank Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for his strong support of our efforts to develop this statement as host of this year’s G20 after I wrote to him following the Christchurch attacks. France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the UK’s Prime Minister Theresa May have also delivered valuable support to build consensus for this global action.
Together, we are committed to tackling terrorist and violent extremist content in all its forms, on every platform, to keep our citizens safe.
Doorstop - Osaka, Japan
28 June 2019
PRIME MINISTER: ...Uninterrupted economic growth that we cannot take for granted and without which we cannot do the things that we want to do and continue to do, whether it’s in health, in education or the National Disability Insurance Scheme, supporting our action on climate change. All of this is made possible by ensuring we keep our economy strong, that’s why it sits at the heart of our agenda as a Government and will continue to. And so being here today, as part of this forum, joined by Minister Cormann and Minister Birmingham, to be advancing Australia’s interests in trade, advancing Australia’s relationships that support that trade and the rules-based system that underpins all of that trade is incredibly important. Our winemakers exporting wine, our educational institutions welcoming international students, tourism businesses welcoming tourists up in North Queensland or over in Western Australia or down in Tasmania. All of this depends on productive relationships, a global trading system that has clear rules that means that people can invest with confidence, whether it’s in Australia or elsewhere.
It also is a recognition that Australia is an open economy. Our success is also impacted by the health and wellbeing of the broader, global economy and this is why we’re keen advocates of ensuring that where there are tensions and where there are issues that we play a constructive role to ensure that they can be resolved. But also having a clear-eyed understanding about where things are at and the responses and actions that we need to take as a Government to put Australia in the best possible position. So while we acknowledge and recognise that there are genuine and serious and real tensions in the biggest bilateral relationship in the world today - between China and the United States - that doesn’t mean we sit there and wait for that to come to some form of resolution. We seek to inform those discussions through our relationships, but equally we just get on with it in the many other relationships we have. And two of the biggest running right now for us and for this here is the RCEP arrangement that sits principally driven out of ASEAN, as well as our efforts to land an agreement with the EU.
Now, continuing to be active on these other trade agendas, while at the same time appreciating what the impact is with the biggest bilateral relationship having tensions and what that means for the global economy, are the practical things that we do to respond. And so that’s why we're here. It’s about jobs, it’s about those watching from home in Australia, it’s about your job and it’s ensuring that your job can be in the most strengthened position it possibly can, through an Australian economy that is open, seeking out, taking opportunities to secure Australia’s economic future.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, it looks like we’re still in the same stalemate we were in in Buenos Aires back in December. How much more serious is the situation now than it was six or seven months ago, in terms of the impact globally and on our domestic economy if there is no resolution tomorrow?
PRIME MINISTER: Well. I think it would be unrealistic to expect a resolution tomorrow. But the short answer to your question, Phil, is it is more important, it’s more serious and, in fact, the IMF today reminded G20 members of how serious. It’s the difference between 3.6 per cent and 3.1 per cent in global economic growth on their assessment of the potential impacts of the implementation of further tariffs measures. So that is a serious measure. There is some influence and input we can provide to that. We were doing that last night and again I was doing that today in the brief conversation I had with President Xi. But the broader conversations are also incredibly important. The other 18 economies that sit around the table and well beyond the G20 as well. The meeting I had today with the Prime Minister of Thailand, who not only is important in that capacity, but also leading ASEAN this year and that ASEAN forum sitting at the heart of the RCEP agenda is incredibly important. I am very encouraged, whether it is from my meeting with Japan yesterday with Shinzo Abe or others, the keenness to see the RCEP agenda progressed.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you had an opportunity to speak with President Xi this morning, what did you talk about?
PRIME MINISTER: We talked about the tensions that exist in the (China - US) bilateral relationship and as I said last night to the President, the impact that that issue being unresolved has on the broader global economy. The comment isn’t made as a criticism, it is just made as a candid observation and I am not the only one making it who is here. There is a strong awareness and realisation about what this means, but ultimately it is for those two parties to resolve the issues. I tried to describe it today in my interventions in the forum that what we are seeing here is the global economy at a new threshold, and the need for global trading rules to be modernised to just get that. I mean, there is no point going around pointing fingers. The simple fact is, over the last 25 years and longer, the global economy has transformed and the systems that were built to support it need updating and modernising. That is no one's fault, it is just a need.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister you appeared to be deep in conversation with Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron ahead of the plenary session and they’re backing your initiative on social media. Who else have you managed to talk to about that and what is your best case scenario for the outcome this afternoon?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, whether it’s today or tomorrow, I do greatly appreciate the support from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Macron, but more broadly there has been very warm support for what we’ve been doing. I particularly want to thank Prime Minister Abe, who has obviously encouraged me to pursue this in the spirit of unity, which he is keen to characterise these meetings, and that is exactly what we have been doing. It is important to be clear about what we aren’t doing as well as what we are doing. What we are not doing is seeking to constrain free speech. It is not about that. It is about the internet being weaponised by violent terrorists, in the same way that they can pick up a more standard weapon. This is now part of the armoury of terrorists, and the G20 has an opportunity to send a very strong signal about that to those who govern the internet, which is not countries, ultimately, it is the companies that established the platforms. And we believe in an open and free web, we do not want to change that. But while we celebrate the technology and its positive applications, what happened in Christchurch in March was a chilling wake-up call to how these important platforms can be weaponised by the most heinous evil.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the deep concerns about Iran are part of the backdrop of this summit. Within a few days, according to independent experts, Iran will exceed the cap on enriched uranium under its nuclear deal from 2015. You’ve expressed concern about that deal in the past.
PRIME MINISTER: I have.
JOURNALIST: And last December you said there were going to be further measures that Australia would take, as well as supporting international efforts. Do you think Australia needs to do more now to make sure Iran honours that deal and if so, what will the options be?
PRIME MINISTER: We want to work with those that are direct participants in that arrangement, first of all. I have had my reservations about that arrangement but, frankly, it is better than anything else that is out there was a conclusion of our review. But that certainly wasn’t an endorsement of it being a wonderful agreement. The President of the United States uses different language to describe it. So to that extent, I think we had a bit of a shared understanding of its limitations. The greatest criticism against it is that it is quite limited in what it seeks to do and it leaves open a lot of activity for Iran. Last night we obviously had a discussion about that situation, but it is very premature for that to have extended to roles Australia might play. We are not in that territory and no requests were made. We are not anywhere near that stage, but there is, I think, a clear objective here from the United States which we would support and that is to get them back to the table, to get a tighter set of controls and conditions in place. That is good for world peace, it’s good for stability of the region and we support that.
JOURNALIST: Numbers out today show the Budget is back to balance [inaudible] of May and we’ll be back in surplus by the end of the financial year. A lot of that built on the back of coal and iron ore exports. Do you see any overlap with what is going on globally with the Chinese relationship? Are you confident [inaudible] the export markets safe from all this?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, first of all I am not over-reading those figures today and neither is Mathias or Josh. There is still another month to go and there’s been some, there’ll be considerable payments in June. We have just concluded two agreements on the NDIS with Victoria and with Queensland. Queensland has only been arrived at in the last 24 hours, and that involves payments in the June month. So I don’t think we should over read into those figures today. I would say the reason the Budget is in such a good position is because we have been creating a thousand jobs a day, which is people actually paying taxes rather than receiving welfare payments. And, no doubt, there has been an assistance at the margin that has come with where commodity prices are at and they’ve obviously been for iron ore quite strong. That is not something I’m going to complain about, but it also means that you can’t take any of this for granted. Yes, I welcome all that but at the same time the long term position of the Budget is going to be supported by the economic policies that we have put in place and will continue to put in place.
JOURNALIST: Is there any indication yet whether Alek Sigley has been detained in North Korea?
PRIME MINISTER: I haven’t got anything further on that for Alek, and my thoughts are with him and his wife, who is Japanese, here in Tokyo, and his family. Obviously there’s been contact between DFAT and the family. I have had the issue both raised with me last night and today by other leaders and I have raised it with them as well, those who particularly have insights and abilities to assist us and those offers of assistance have been very genuine. But I must say my… our key focus at the moment is to ascertain precisely where Alek is and in what circumstances, and that is the focus of the efforts of our officials and our partners right now.
JOURNALIST: Have you raised this with President Xi today?
PRIME MINISTER: It wasn’t a matter I discussed with him, no, in the short time we had available, I didn't have that opportunity. But I’ve discussed it with many other leaders.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister just on Iran again, in the past Australia has escorted ships in the Middle East when there have been concerns about piracy. We’ve seen threats to oil tankers in that region. Would there be any role for Australia perhaps in escorting oil tankers in that region, is that something Australia could do to help?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not getting into hypotheticals on this. At this stage, there has been no request for that and we have no plans for that. We'll monitor the situation closely. It's not unheard of to have Australian frigates in that part of the world engaged in Maritime operations. That is not unheard of but for the precise operations you are talking about, that would require a different analysis.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said you spoke with President Xi and you have expressed concerns about the trade situation. What did he say to you in reply to that and last night you said that you were optimistic, there was a sense of determination that President Trump was keen to resolve this issue. Did you have the same level optimism and sense of determination from President Xi today?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, there is obviously a determination to resolve it. But I am not naïve about the difficulties of that occurring. The fact that they’re engaging is positive, but I'm similarly aware that there are very real, substantial and difficult issues to be resolved. And I set out a lot of those in a speech I gave earlier this week. Those same points I made this week, are being made and have been made by other leaders. I was talking to President Widodo today and they have been quite forward leaning on the issues of WTO modernisation here at this meeting and the paper that they’ve prepared, and that’s welcomed. I think there is just a frustration, we all know what needs to happen in terms of these WTO rules. And the WTO have been seeking to provide some guidance about how that occurs. I mean, what we want to see right now, practically, is we want to see the text in relation to fisheries distributed and then see if we can make progress on that by the end of the year. We want to see the industrial subsidies discussions continue. We want to see next year the agricultural issues put back on the table and for those to be addressed. So our focus is a very practical one.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said it’s unrealistic to expect a final deal tomorrow. Is it realistic though, are you hopeful there might be a pause in the cycle of tariffs? That they might come up with a short-term end to that?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm simply going to wait and see, Kieran. They’ll meet. As I said coming into this meeting, things retreated from where they were at post-Buenos Aries. That is disappointing, and it does require them to come a bit of distance, I think, to get to where you are talking about. And I hope they do. But that means that will either happen or not happen. What we have to do is continue, I think, in the advocacy we are making, but also not stand still. With the TPP, I mentioned how former Prime Minister Turnbull kept going when it came to the TPP, despite the fact that the United States took their decision - which wasn’t a surprise, they went to an election. They said they weren’t going to do it, fair enough, no judgement, and the door remains open in the way the TPP was pursued. What we're seeing now with RCEP is a similar opportunity for the region to pursue that as a clear sign that they can do what they choose to do, they are all sovereign states. But as a region, we will continue to pursue these multilateral opportunities. Why? Because they are in our interests.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Prime Minister Abe said that he harbours grave concern for the current situation on trade. Is your language that strong on that? And also, was the meeting with Xi Jinping, would you describe that as positive? Did you have a positive interaction?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah look it was, I would. He took the opportunity to remind me that he has been in every state of Australia. He retains a genuine, I think, interest and affection for Australia. I think Tasmania features pretty heavily in that too. We talked about Tasmania. So at that level… the other thing we talked about was - as I have discussed on other occasions - the significant people to people relationships now that exist between Australia and China, which add a whole other dimension to the relationship. And I think that's a positive element to the relationship. It’s not a leverage point or anything like that, it just shows that there is a greater connection and where connections are great between peoples, then the opportunities, I suppose, to have arrangements that reflect that culture is a good one. So I remain positive on both of those, but our position is what we are seeking to do, is to be very clear about what our interests are, what our decisions are, the reasons for them, to do that in a respectful and an engaging way and to have the consistency and the patience to pursue a longer term relationship. And that is exactly what we are doing. That doesn't come at the expense of other relationships. If anything, what all of this demonstrates is why Australia has to be out and about as much as possible, engaging with as many countries as we can, to secure as many opportunities as we can. I mean, 76 per cent of our merchandise trade now is covered by trade agreements, we’ll get that to 90 (per cent) by 2022. Thank you very much.
Interview on Sky News
28 June 2019
KIERAN GILBERT: Prime Minister, thanks so much for your time.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, Kieran.
GILBERT: The President last night said that his administration is very good to its allies. That's not quite right though, is it? Particularly in the context of trade, where his trade war with China is adversely affecting countries like this and like ours.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's important that it's resolved, and I welcome their sort of steely determination to see it resolved. But the issues at the heart of this tension are quite legitimate. I mean, we're talking about issues around intellectual property, technology, forced transfer, industrial subsidies. I mean, these are big issues. The point I made in the speech earlier this week was the world's economic growth and development, whether it's in China or other places, have got to a particular point where a lot of these agreements and multilateral institutions are creaking to deal with that change.
And so it's a new threshold, and so that means there's a lot of stuff to work out. And that's why meetings like this, I think, are very important, because one in five Australians' jobs depends on trade. We get by by selling things to other people in other places, and so having clear rules for that and not being passive in those discussions is very important to Australia, which is obviously why I'm here.
GILBERT: Are you more optimistic after last night's dinner or are you more pessimistic about the prospect of a deal between those two great powers?
PRIME MINISTER: Well look, I'm just as assured about the determination to get one. And you know, the fact that they're talking, I'll always be… I think I'll always be positive. But, you know, we got close in Buenos Aires last year and what followed from that, the position has obviously fallen back from that point. So I hope they can get back on track.
But what that also means is, let them go and do that, and the rules and the conditions for doing that. We need to engage with the rest of the countries in the region and within the G20. I mean, we're pursuing a trade relationship with the EU, and we've got the RCEP agreement, which combines about 15 or so nations here and in Asia. These are important agreements as well. So, there's not only just one show in town. There are many other shows, and we're very much plugged in to all of those.
GILBERT: Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary, says they're 90 per cent of the way there in terms of the deal. How much of it does, in your view, come down to both sides needing to save face? In simple terms, because of all the rhetoric they've put around it.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's always the case. I mean, there's nothing, I think, special about this particular deal when it comes to those issues that plays into any sort of international understanding, particularly with players of this size and scale. So, look, I think there's a common view from those who deal with both at a whole range of levels because it's not just about trade. I mean, we have comprehensive relationships with China as well as we've got longstanding alliances with the United States, and so I think we can speak openly to both. And as countries like Japan can, Indonesia can, and many others and that's what happens here.
GILBERT: The Japanese Prime Minister raised the young Australian student Alek Sigley with you during your bilateral. Obviously it's a sensitive issue in this country, they've had experiences where people have been detained. It's obviously attracting regional attention now, that story.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, well I'm very concerned about it, and for Alek. I'm concerned about it for his family. What's at stake here is the welfare of an Australian citizen, and so we're working hard to know exactly what we believe may have taken place and to confirm those arrangements and we're working with our partners to do just that. But my principal concern is the welfare of an Australian.
GILBERT: Particularly in the context of the… people are making the parallels with Otto Warmbier, that student in 2016 who was detained.
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I think it's important in these situations not to go, you know, too far down the track. At the moment, we're seeking to establish facts, and then once you do that then you're in a better position to help Alek.
GILBERT: Just a couple of quick ones from home. Do you - because this is something you spoke very strongly about during the election campaign in that Sky News People's Forum with my colleague David Speers in Brisbane - you were asked about religious freedom. Do you think Israel Folau has been persecuted for his religious views?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this issue has been running for some time. What I'm keen to ensure is that for your religious views in Australia, that you can get about them peacefully, that you shouldn't feel intimidated about them. I think what we saw in the election was that - and prior to that - are people having a sense of discomfort even just expressing their views when it comes to their religion. And not just the Christian faith, many other faiths as well.
I mean, religious freedom is one of the cornerstones of what we are as a country. And it's important our laws reflect that. Now we committed to put in place a Religious Discrimination Act. We're going to do that. We're working very hard on that right now. But I want to progressive in a very cooperative way. I don't want religion in Australia to be an issue of conflict. The whole point of religion is actually that it's something of peace, and it's a very important part of Australians' lives. And I want to see us progress this debate in a very constructive way, not based on conflict.
GILBERT: The Maronite Archbishop said to you, didn't he, that they left regions - many migrants to Australia - to get away from that sort of thing.
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely, and we want to ensure that people can just feel confident and peaceful in expressing their faith, raising their families in their faith and that is totally achievable. The Attorney and I are working on that even as we speak, and I'm looking forward to being able to bring that forward. But as I say, not in a way that is confrontational, not in a way that is even controversial. A way that is just sensible and practical.
GILBERT: It's hard to be not controversial, though, in this space. Because I guess the other question is will people… will your new religious laws prevent people being sacked because of their religious views? That's a threshold question.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the laws will come forward and I think that'll be the time for that debate, and there'll be a period of time for consultation as well. And I seek to work with the Opposition. As I say, I don't want to see this become an issue of partisan conflict or more broadly. This is about a foundational, I think, freedom that Australians should enjoy. And I think we should find a very practical and co-operative way forward.
GILBERT: On a lighter note, just to finish. It looks like the President might be coming to Melbourne in December for the golf.
PRIME MINISTER: You played your own hand in that, KG. Last night, you were quick off the mark.
GILBERT: I'll get the cheque from the tourism bodies.
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you know, the formal invitation is being sent to the President to join us for the President's Cup and we'll see. I mean, he seemed pretty interested last night. I mean, I'm sure, you know, he could do a patch on the commentary there as well. His encyclopaedic knowledge of the game is very strong.
GILBERT: He loves it, and you might have to do a bit of a freshen-up too.
PRIME MINISTER: I'll go to school on that.
GILBERT: He'll be down there. Thanks so much for your time. Appreciate it.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, Kieran. Good to be here.
Statement - Retirement of the Governor-General
28 June 2019
This week is Sir Peter Cosgrove’s last as Australia’s 26th Governor-General.
On behalf of the Government and people of Australia I thank Sir Peter and Lady Cosgrove for their service over the last five years.
Sir Peter has been one of our most approachable Governors-General.
Australians from all walks of life felt like they knew this Governor-General. It didn’t matter if it was a palace or a pub, Sir Peter would shake your hand, look you in the eye and start a conversation.
Sir Peter concludes a lifetime of public service to Australia.
He commenced his studies at the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1965 and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in 1968. He led the INTERFET peacekeeping mission to East Timor in 1999 and rose to Chief of the Defence Force in 2002. General Cosgrove retired from the ADF in 2005 after 40 years’ service.
Sir Peter has always taken an active role in supporting, encouraging and engaging with the men and women of the Australian Defence Force.
General Cosgrove’s initial retirement in 2005 was interrupted with a request to oversee the rebuilding after Cyclone Larry, as well as various community and business appointments, and culminated in him being asked to be Governor-General in 2014.
For the past five years, Sir Peter and Lady Cosgrove have served Australia with distinction.
Over the course of his time as Governor-General, Sir Peter and Lady Cosgrove visited over 200 local communities across Australia. One third of all their activities have been in regional and rural communities. They have even visited inmates in our prison system.
Their Excellencies have made a particular effort to engage with young Australians. Last year, 25,000 school students visited Government House and most had the opportunity to ask questions of the Governor-General. Sir Peter is the first Governor-General to regularly Skype with classes in remote schools.
Australia is grateful for their commitment to our country over a lifetime.
Jen and I wish them a long, happy and uninterrupted retirement.
Interview on ABC News Breakfast
28 June 2019
GREG JENNETT: Good morning Prime Minister. A bit of a late night last night. In a meeting that ran overtime with President Trump, who did most of the talking, him or you?
PRIME MINISTER: It was a very congenial discussion and it reflected the strong relationship we have as nations, but also a great relationship which I think is really forming between the President and myself and my team. His whole senior team was there as well, which was very important. We were able to go around the grounds on a lot of the issues.
JENNETT: You have been very up-front with your concerns over the trade dispute with China. Did you leave the meeting with any greater confidence that a resolution is going to be found soon, if not here in Osaka then very quickly?
PRIME MINISTER: I think there is genuinely a commitment to seek to resolve these issues, but also a determination by the United States that the serious things that sit at the heart of this are very real and cannot be dismissed, and I made similar points in the speech I gave earlier this week. But for Australians, we are a trading nation. One in five jobs are dependent on trade. That is why events like this are important. Not just dealing obviously with the United States, but also the many other participants.
JENNETT: Did you think the President appreciated the collateral damage, as people describe it, for Australia if this drags on?
PRIME MINISTER: I think they are very focused on getting this issue sorted and that is where a lot of their efforts are going. And so long as they are on that track and as long as the discussions continue, then I will always remain optimistic. But I think it is also an opportunity to reflect on what the broader opportunities are in the region and our trading partners throughout the region are all here as well. So there is a great opportunity on that front.
JENNETT: Separate to the US-China dispute, there have also been drums beating out of Washington that Australia's own exemption on steel and aluminium tariffs might come back into play. Did you get any reassurance from the President that they will not be touched?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, well we discussed that last night and the President in fact while the cameras are on made a few comments to that effect as well. We are working through some particular issues on that matter right now, but we are both very confident about the way we are handling it. That is the point of dinners like last night - the relationship is so good that you can work this stuff through.
JENNETT: There has been reporting in the US that the hard-line taken by America towards Huawei and 5G networks might become a bargaining chip in this trade dispute. If the President bargained that away that would leave Australia in a difficult position, wouldn’t it?
PRIME MINISTER: I think we are getting into some pretty hypothetical territory there. I mean, the decisions we have made about our sovereign interests, our national security, have been made independently on our own terms and one of the things you’ll see from us is I have been very consistent on these matters and very patient about these matters. People know where we stand. We are respectful of all our other partners, particularly China, when it comes to this issue and look forward to positive relations with them as well.
JENNETT: As a trusted ally, the President has been flagging the potential for military conflict with Iran. Inevitably that would raise questions about potential Australian support or involvement. Was that sought or discussed in any way last night?
PRIME MINISTER: It certainly wasn't sought. Obviously we talked about these issues and we have been watching them very closely as well, but there are no requests and at this stage I think those issues are a bit premature. But we are obviously concerned. We will obviously work closely, but any request like that will be dealt with in the normal way.
JENNETT: You wouldn't be ruling it out?
PRIME MINISTER: We would deal with any specific request from an ally such as the United States very seriously and on its merits.
JENNETT: Elsewhere on security, we have got the Australian Alek Sigley missing, unaccounted for at least, at a critical time when it looks like President Trump might want to bring Kim Jong-un and his regime back in to some sort of dialogue. Firstly on what you know about Mr Sigley, is there any further information that you have been able to obtain about his welfare?
PRIME MINISTER: Nothing further from last night that has already been reported. It is very troubling and concerning to me and I'm sure to his family as well. The expressions of support and assistance that have come from other nations I have met with while I’ve been here has been very welcome. We will continue to focus very sharply on that and seek to clarify what exactly has occurred and then take steps from there.
JENNETT: With whom have you discussed it and whom will you discuss this matter with here in Osaka?
PRIME MINISTER: This matter has been raised with me just as an expression of support and sympathy and a concern about the welfare of an Australian citizen. I appreciate that care and support.
JENNETT: So diplomatically you won't be seeking the support proactively of other countries? They are raising it with you?
PRIME MINISTER: They have raised it in the spirit of friendship with Australia, but we need to determine the facts and we need to determine the specific circumstances that are involved here.
JENNETT: Do you see any suspicion in the timing because of what I mentioned previously which is some momentum to bring the Kim regime back into dialogue?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm just interested in the welfare of an Australian.
JENNETT: We also heard the President, in the short period that cameras were in the meeting room last night, at least playing with the idea that he might come to Australia for a golfing tournament, you rate that as a real possibility?
PRIME MINISTER: I think there is a reasonable chance. He is obviously a passionate follower of the sport and the tournament is actually named after the President, so I think it would be great for Melbourne and it would be great for the tournament. We have certainly issued that invitation for him to join us for what should be a great time.
JENNETT: Would you throw on a parliamentary speech as well or something along the lines of a state visit as well as the golf tournament?
PRIME MINISTER: The President is always welcome in Australia.
JENNETT: Today, further discussions in the G20 proper, who do you intend to speak to?
PRIME MINISTER: We have meetings right across the board, whether it is the President of France or later today I will be meeting with the Prime Minister of Thailand, and we will be dealing with issues around the East-Asia summit and the RCEP agreement is a very important agreement I think right now. We are hoping to conclude that by the end of the year. There are meetings coming up in Beijing on that. That is one of the main game issues on trade for us right at the moment and we are very focused on that. So there is a range of meetings right across the board.
JENNETT: Just finally, domestically Prime Minister do you have a book left in you over the events of last August. Seems everyone else has one?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm a reader, not a writer.
JENNETT: Any thoughts on the reports that the Prime Minister at the time, Malcolm Turnbull, may have sought to raise with the Governor-General the constitutional eligibility of his challenger, Peter Dutton - was that a proper course of action?
PRIME MINISTER: Ancient history.
JENNETT: Nothing - were you aware of that at the time?
PRIME MINISTER: All of that is ancient history.
JENNETT: Prime Minister, I know you have a big day in Osaka, we will leave it there.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much.
Interview on Channel 7 Sunrise
28 June 2019
MARK RILEY: Quite the high-powered dinner party last night, and a diplomatic coup for Scott Morrison. What was your message to Donald Trump last night?
PRIME MINISTER: The message that we received and we were providing was one of close friendship. The United States sits at the centre of our relationships all around the world, and has for a long period time, and it was great to meet again and to reacquaint that friendship. But also the ties between the countries could never be stronger. That is very important for Australia, it always has been.
RILEY: We’re friends, and friends can talk frankly. Did you talk frankly about China?
PRIME MINISTER: We of course talked about the global trade tensions that are there and the impact that has more broadly on the global economy, and of course what that means for Australia. And so we’re obviously urging that they are able to resolve these issues. But it’s important to note they’ve got some fair dinkum issues they are trying to sort out. So that’s going to take a lot to work through. They will seek to do that, I am very sure of that. But they are things that do have to be sorted.
RILEY: Did you come away from that meeting with any greater optimism that Donald Trump and President Xi might reach some sort of resolution here?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think I walked away with the view that this is going to be tough, because there are some very serious issues that they’re trying to resolve. But that is what this gathering is about. As long as people are talking I think that is a positive thing. But it means that our relationships, both with the United States and China independently of each other will remain very important, and we’ll obviously be continuing to pursue that very strongly.
RILEY: No bilateral meeting with the President Xi here, are things with China a bit strained at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I wouldn’t describe them in that way. There are plenty of other summits in the back end of this year and I am sure we will have the opportunity to catch up. We are always at that table. Our position on many of the issues that go to that relationship are always very clear. Our patience, and strategic patience I would describe it as, and consistency is very important. We are very supportive of China's economic growth, I made that point this week. It is the biggest economic miracle of the last 100 years and that has been great for Australia. So we don’t have to choose, we just work constructively with everybody.
RILEY: I don't think Australian families really quite understand the detail of what is going on here but they know it is not good. What are you going to do to protect them from this trade war?
PRIME MINISTER: Well again, by not being bystanders, by engaging with the key principles, but also working with all the other key nations as part of the G20. I mean, I had a very positive meeting with Shinzo Abe, who is a great friend of Australia. We sit in very similar situations, where we manage economic and broader relationships with both countries. So to be able to swap notes with countries in similar positions is very helpful.
RILEY: Prime Minister, is there any update on Alek Sigley missing in North Korea?
PRIME MINISTER: No, there is not. I can confirm that he had been originally in South Korea as part of the University of Colombo plan, but no, we have not been able to establish any further details this morning. It is obviously very concerning and other leaders have noted and raised it with me, and I think there is a lot of sympathy for our position and people are very happy to work with us to get to the bottom of what has occurred.
RILEY: Will we see Donald Trump in Australia soon? Did you invite him to the Presidents Cup golf?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, I did. It would be great for him to come along, I think he’d have a great time and would really enjoy it. But yes I did, and I hope he will be able to come for the Presidents Cup, given it is named after the President.
RILEY: That’s right, and do you think he might come?
PRIME MINISTER: I think there is a chance of it, at both levels. Both at a personal interest level obviously, but also… I mean, what last night said is that we could not be closer. We are seen as their principal ally, particularly in the region, in South East Asia and the South West Pacific. The work that we are doing also on the Pacific, I spoke a lot about the work we’re doing with Pacific nations, and they are very supportive of that too.
RILEY: Just watch out if he asks you for a game of golf while he is here, because he is a bit of a shark apparently.
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER: Look, the only Sharks I’ll follow are the ones that play down at Shark Park.
RILEY: We know your Sharks.
[Laughter]
Statement - G20 Leaders' Summit
27 June 2019
I will travel to Japan from 27 to 30 June for the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Osaka.
There are gathering clouds in the global economy and this weekend’s Summit is an important opportunity to reinforce the value of free trade and global engagement.
As our government has said before, that is the surest path to stability and prosperity.
Last year, the G20 sent a strong message of support for World Trade Organization (WTO) reform and I will be working to progress that agenda. We need to mend the rules-based trading system.
The G20 is a key forum for addressing the pressures the global trading system faces.
Another key priority for Australia will be how the international community can cooperate to keep violent and extremist content off social media and the internet following the horrific terrorist attacks in Christchurch.
Together, we need to raise the bar for what we expect of social media and internet companies.
During Australia’s G20 presidency in 2014, we prioritised addressing infrastructure needs. I welcome Japan continuing this legacy through emphasising responsible infrastructure governance. We need infrastructure investment that is sustainable, transparent and meets the genuine needs of businesses and communities.
I will also encourage G20 leaders to meet the 25x25 goal set in Brisbane in 2014. This goal was a promise leaders made to reduce the labour market participation gap between women and men by 25 per cent by the year 2025. Australia is on track to well and truly meet this commitment and I will be encouraging other leaders to drive global progress.
I also look forward to supporting Prime Minister Abe in his leadership of this year’s G20, particularly his efforts to share the benefits of new technology widely by ensuring open data that we can all trust.
This year’s G20 Summit will give all leaders an opportunity to work through all of these priorities in partnership.
Asialink Bloomberg Q&A
26 June 2019
QUESTION: The last time we spoke it was on the eve of your first summit season and in Buenos Aries there was a temporary truce between the US and China and the world breathed a sigh of relief. Since then, as you point out, things have gotten a whole lot more adversarial. What would be your message when you meet with Presidents’ Xi and Trump this time?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, just as I’ve outlined it, and that is that this is the defining bilateral relationship. Not just in the global economy, but obviously more broadly than that. That independent sovereign states that sit around the G20 table, we will continue to do what we do. Perform our responsibilities, engage with each other, and respect our various relationships and partnerships. But ultimately, the context in which we do all that is very much determined by the strength of that relationship and its efficiency and that there is a broader global interest that they’re a beneficiary of, that there’s a bigger dividend beyond the deal between the United States and China that they benefit from by ensuring that this can be landed. Now, I’ve always been quite an optimist. I was an optimist on this going into Buenos Aries, it is my natural disposition and I remain of that disposition. That doesn’t mean that I’m not cognisant of the risks. Of course they’re there. But we do need to be able to move forward on this., I welcome the fact that in Buenos Aries they were able to start a conversation, it’s moved back since then, you’re right. But here’s another opportunity I think to re-engage it. But I think it’s important for both to come to the table, recognise that there are some genuine issues. We can’t deny those, they have to be acknowledged, and that’s why I sought to that again today and we are looking at them to put that broader global economic interest to the fore, which is what the G20’s all about by the way. It’s not the G2, it’s the G20 and for those two nations to create a context for a broader global prosperity of which they will be key beneficiaries. They will benefit more than anyone, anyone by the global economy getting stronger.
QUESTION: It’s not the G2, but having said that going into Buenos Aries there were a lot of concerns that we were not even able to get a communique that everyone was happy with and in the end I believe certain stronger language on trade was dropped largely because of the US. I’m wondering if you take a step back and we look at this not just about trade because I think it’s uncontroversial that more trade, fairer trade is good for everyone, it’s win-win. If you look at this as the key strategic battle of our time between an old superpower and a rising superpower that spans not just trade but geopolitics and security all aspects of diplomacy, are you still as optimistic?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we’ve seen this before and it’s been mishandled in the past but I have greater faith in our ability to move on from these things in the past. In my presentation I was quite specific about the global leadership provided by the United States in creating a post-world, Second World War environment that led to the greatest economic expansion the world has ever seen, and within that occurred arguably, if not unarguably, the biggest economic miracle we’ve ever seen. So there is too much at stake. And call it my sort of great faith in vested interest, but the vested interests action will also determine this is sorted. And I’ve always held the view that the US leadership - and I would certainly hope and expect the Chinese leadership - can see the merits in landing this, and it may take longer than we’d hoped, but so long as we’re always making progress then I think that is cause for optimism.
QUESTION: What does Australia do in all of this? There’s lots of concerns that at some point and it’s already happening in some, depending on who you speak to, that Canberra’s being forced to choose between our strongest, most powerful traditional ally and our greatest trading partner. So how do you deal with that pressure and what is not taking… sitting back and letting collateral damage happen?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I reject that suggestion. I reject the requirement to participate this in a binary way. I think it’s a false framework and it’s not helpful. It’s driven by a demand to see every issue in term of conflict rather than resolution. And I think Australia and my Government is going to be very positive in rejecting that dynamic. Because I don’t think it’s helpful. I don’t think it’s a helpful analytical framework. I don’t think it’s a helpful commentariat framework. Yes, it gets people excited about the possibility of conflict - or interested is probably the better way, rather than calling it excited - and that can generate interest. But what we’re interested in is having a peaceful and stable world and I think when those sort of frameworks are imposed on you as a sensible, mature, reasonable nation, then you call them out. Which is what I’ve just done. So many times I pick up various analyses which talk about the inevitability of where this is and I find that fatalism very unhelpful, certainly to Australia’s interests but more broadly. We are more capable of more than that. How do I know that? Because of our history, particularly post the Second World War. It demonstrated… I mean, we honestly don’t reflect enough on how much was achieved. I’m not kidding when I say when I’m sit there next to the German Chancellor, having spent time also with Prime Minister Abe and seen what the world has achieved when it put its mind to it. When it can actually see past just its own interests and see the bigger picture. It’s happened before. It’s also been ignored before and we know where that ends I don’t think anyone wants to go there.
QUESTION: We know that relationship with Beijing have been strained in recent years, do you see that improving? Do you see sources of tensions continuing?
PRIME MINISTER: You mean between Australia and China? Yes, I see that improving. And we’re very happy for it to improve. We have record levels of trade, we have records levels of engagement, and I stress again that there are 1.2 million Australians of Chinese heritage here in Australia. It’s a very large diaspora and it is one that’s been here for a very long time and played an enormously important role in Australia’s development and a big part in Australia’s outlook. The Chinese Australian community through its entrepreneurialism, through its hard work, it’s commitment to family - these values which have been the bedrock of our country’s success are closely associated with our Chinese diaspora community of citizens in Australia. So I think that provides the foundation for something absolutely magnificent.
QUESTION: The G20, as you head off to Osako, is founded against the backdrop of containing the Global Financial Crisis, stronger together, if you will. Are you realistically optimistic that something can be achieved over the next few days, given that things both economically and in terms of the global growth trajectory as well as the geopolitical front have significantly worsened over the past year?
PRIME MINISTER: I think it will help, and that’s the point of the G20. Sometimes these global multilateral forums seek too much from themselves, and they build up architectures and bureaucracies and agendas that frankly can sometimes distract them from what their key goal is, which is actually to come together at this senior level. You’re right, it started out as a Finance Ministers’ forum and I had the privilege of participating in that as a Treasurer for three years. And we can look back at what was achieved post the GFC through the combination of efforts by both senior bankers and nations sat around the G20 table and I think they can be pleased with what was achieved. The G20 achieved, I think, a great deal in that process. But its virtue is its existence. It doesn’t need to have, you know, long running agendas. That’s, I don’t, think its purpose. Its purpose is to be able to deal with these issues as they arise, provide a framework to do that. Obviously these meetings provide lots of opportunities for other bilateral engagement and that’ll occur this weekend and I’m looking forward to that. So I’m always optimistic and positive and hopeful when people are meeting. So this weekend is another good opportunity for that. So it will help the process. Will it resolve it? I doubt it. Though I certainly think and expect and will be working to ensure that it helps it.
QUESTION: You spoke about this idea of a decoupling, and it’s an interesting one that eventually if this tussle turns into something longer term between the US and China that we might end up with two separate systems for technology, for trade, those are really part of the main spheres. Where does Australia end up in the middle of that and does there need to be more of a coherent, I guess, group strategy between Asian nations, we know the likes of Japan and South Korea are just as concerned, if not more concerned, about being caught up in the middle.
PRIME MINISTER: I mean, Kevin Rudd, I mentioned two other former Prime Minister’s today but I thought Kevin made some really interesting observations about this the other day, particularly when he juxtaposed decoupling against some of the Cold War rhetoric and I thought his analysis was pretty sound. The decoupling is an observation that I think many are making, but what we’re largely talking about is infrastructure, which has no moral quality. This is… everyone in China does not have to have…
QUESTION: The ban on Huawei though, that has a moral aspect to it?
PRIME MINISTER: I wouldn’t cast it is that term, no. What I’m saying is that everyone in China doesn’t need to be on Visa and Mastercard, and everyone in the United States doesn’t need to be on WePay in order for them to do business with each other. They can have different systems and that’s fine, so long as you have an overarching global trading system and an overarching global international system, whether it’s through [inaudible] or these types of arrangements then all these systems can talk to each other. I mean, China has a completely different payment platform to Australia. As it does with Vietnam, as it does with Canada and the United Kingdom. They’re all different. This is just infrastructure, this is just railroads in a different form, and what matters is the overarching connecting infrastructure that enables these nations to do business. So again, the leap that is always made, ‘Oh they have different payment systems, that’s a sign of division and tension.’ It’s such nonsense. It’s just nonsense. They’re just different systems, they’re allowed to have different systems and they do that for any number of reasons and that’s OK. So we just don’t have to leap these are expressions of hostility, they’re not.
QUESTION: There’s infrastructure but there’s also the intangible, that I think some would argue is even more damaging and that’s the impact on sentiments, on animal spirits, on the lack of certainty that investors have.
PRIME MINISTER: I’d agree with that. And that’s the points I’ve been making and I made this point on Monday in the speech I made in Perth this is why I’m highlighting this issue today. I mean, it was only a few years ago and it was actually in China I remember at the Finance Ministers meeting in the G20 at Shanghai and I remember it was the IMF making the point that the suppression or slow growth of merchandised trade was one of the biggest issues affecting the global economy at that time. Now, that wasn’t because of the issues that I’ve talked about today, that was because of a whole range of other issues and so that was seen as the key stat that really needed to be moved, the thing on the dial that we really needed to move. Now today, that is being impacted more by these tensions and political, not partisan, political factors and that has a real impact on the economy. That’s why it’s so important that this gets sorted. Because it is dampening consumer confidence, it is dampening business confidence, it’s inhibiting investors from looking out and seeing how they might apply their capital. Now that’s very important to Australia it is one… arguably, it’s the biggest economic risk Australia faces, is that broader outlook, and that’s why I’m making these points. Because it’s in Australia’s interests, Australia’s economic interests, to put it more bluntly - jobs, incomes, wages, buying homes, starting businesses that depend on a more positive outlook at that level. And so that’s why we will seek to do what we can to encourage resolution.
QUESTION: We talk at length about really Australia being really the golden child coming out of the GFC, 28 years now without a recession. There’s criticism that’s come from good luck rather than good management, and it’s hard to deny it’s come from a -
PRIME MINISTER: When things go badly it’s never bad luck. In the analysis, is it?
QUESTION: The China growth stories is a big part of that and that’s remarkable that most economists would say not something we’re likely to see repeated in our lifetimes, so what are the new drivers of growth and is Australia well prepared for that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, yes is the short answer to that. Whether it’s at the same proportions or not only time will tell. I mention a lot about ASEAN. I mean, when you think about ASEAN and its constituent members and you think about some of the smaller nations and those who are going to develop and hopefully will - nations like Cambodia, like Myanmar - I mean, the potential there is quite significant. There’s obviously some big hurdles there to overcome but the potential in particularly the ASEAN region for significant growth and development is very strong. We’ve always understood that, we’ve always understood for decades. Our engagement with Asia did not begin just recently, it goes back a long way. I just had the opportunity more recently to reflect on and read through John Howard’s book on the Menzies era, and I commend those chapters that talked about the early initiation that occurred soon after the Second World War. Overcoming very significant local and domestic anxieties about our engagement with Asia but that government pressed on and all governments since have, and I think that has developed and understanding and an awareness and preparedness in the Australian economy to engage with those high growth areas of the global economy. And that’s why I think we enjoy the relationships we do in all of those countries today, and to look into furthering that into the future. So that global outlook… I mean, we’re up to around over 70 per cent now of our two way trade covered by trade agreements. It was 26 per cent when we came to government a little while ago, five and a half year ago and that’s going to get to 90 per cent by 2022 and that’s going to be a big part of our preparedness. Lowering the tax burden in Australia, both on small and medium business and on individuals, is going to be an important part of that process. Our infrastructure development that the deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack leads, that is a key part of our plan. The deregulation initiative that I announced on Monday, that will be a key part of ensuring that there is no sclerotic impact on how we attract investment. I mean, attracting investment now I would argue is Australia’s biggest objective because that’s what drives the jobs, and we need to create more jobs because I said on Monday, the natural rate of unemployment which is the full employment rate now is believed to be closer to 4.5 per cent unemployment rather than 5, and that means more jobs have to be created to keep the tension in the cord in terms of wages. And so my key focus and the focus of the Treasurer and the entire team is creating the jobs, and that requires investment to flow, projects to hit the ground and that’s why these broader global issues are so important.
QUESTION: And a significant part of that is obviously, as you mentioned earlier on in your answer, multilateralism in trade which for a while there had sort of fallen out of vogue if you will in favour of bilateral agreements. You talk about the TPP from which the US has spectacularly withdrawn after many rounds of negotiations, you talks about RCEP which is a China led initiative.
PRIME MINISTER: I’d say ASEAN but -
QUESTION: Is the sort of viewed as taking a side?
PRIME MINISTER: No, why would it?
QUESTION: It’s very unlikely that the US would return to the TPP or return or return or join RCEP, whereas there’s talk about China eventually joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership
PRIME MINISTER: This is my point, I don’t understand why… that’s a very binary way to look at it, and that’s my point. We’ll be part of RCEP, we have a free trade agreement with the United States. I didn’t find it particularly surprising that the United States pulled out of the TPP because that’s what the President actually took to his election, but what was important about our response was that we kept going. We did so with New Zealand, we did so with Japan and I think that was one of Prime Minister Turnbull’s achievements, was seeing that through and I pay great credit to him for that, as I do obviously to Tony and what he was able to do with Andrew in terms of the agreements. So we pursue all of these things not thinking, “Well, the great powers will have their view and their participation.” Good for them, and we welcome their involvement when they want to do it and when they don’t want to do it, well, they’ll make that decision for their own interest. But our interest is we’re into all of them. Stand still with us for five minutes and we’ll do a trade deal with you. Here is the next one. UK post-Brexit. Our future has always been - not that we’ve always acknowledged it for a long period in our history - but it’s always been true. Investment, immigration, trade. Why we’re 28 years of uninterrupted economic growth, there’s three pretty big reasons.
QUESTION: You complimented before one of your predecessors. Kevin Rudd was one of the biggest criticisms of the current Government, the Turnbull Government not having a coherent comprehensive China strategy, has that changed?
PRIME MINISTER: I don’t know, you’ll have to ask him. I’m sure he’s always up for a comment.
QUESTION: I’ll wager his view hasn’t changed, but has the strategy changed?
PRIME MINISTER: Has our strategy changed? I think we’ve continued to maintain quite a consistent position on all of these questions, and I would say across governments and across the partisan divide. It’s always been our interest to engage since that process began with China, and we’ve all sought to add to that, to greater or lesser effect. We’ve all sought to add to ASEAN. What I found particularly encouraging when I was at the East Asia Summit and it was the ASEAN plus Australia meeting, and Martin was there, was ASEAN’s respect for Australia as not being a fair weather traveller. We’ve always supported ASEAN, we’ve always been a part of it, we’ve always encouraged it, and I think that - I would hope - that when governments have been in power, they’ve always pursued that. So there’s been a consistency, and I’ve always believed that there’s been a much greater consistency than, at least in a commentary sense and often within Australia, than it’s given credit for.
QUESTION: Studies have shown that there’s been a growing level of distrust in Australia in regard to doing business in China and the relationship with China. Does that make it difficult for your government to be able to navigate these murky waters?
PRIME MINISTER: I think that’s a normal function of a lot of the things that I’ve spoken about today. I mean, if you go back many years ago and when a lot of the new issues that are coming into the relationship that make some of these issues difficult, that’s to be expected. They’re getting more multifaceted, they’re getting more complex, new technologies, all of this mean there’s more questions to respond to an answer in the relationship and you’ve just got to keep going back, I think, to the fundamentals of the relationship. And this is why again in relationship to China, I stress the people to people links. The people to people links between Australia and China today are greater than they have ever been before. 1.2 million Australians of Chinese heritage in Australia, that is a very sizeable connection and the yearly connection, whether it’s in visitation or in education or the many other literatures. This goes well beyond government’s talking to each other, this going to something quite different and that’s why at the end of the day that provides, I think, a very strong ballast for the relationship and something for both countries, both governments, to reflect on and ensure we’re doing the right thing with their aspirations.
QUESTION: The stepping up in the Pacific has been characterised by some as being one way to try to contain or assert greater control over China, which itself is trying to assert greater control within the Asia Pacific to counter the US traditional influence in the region. Do you think that’s a fair characterisation?
PRIME MINISTER: No I don’t. Again because it fails the test I’ve put today that seeks to solely explain our actions in this binary way. Why are we involved in the Pacific? Because they’re our family. I’ve had a lot of engagement with people in the Pacific over a long time, and it’s been a great privilege to be doing that now as Prime Minister. We owe a debt, particularly to our Pacific family and no greater than Papua New Guinea, that is incapable of expression. In one of our darkest hours they were the most compassionate and real friends, and that creates a special responsibility that goes so beyond this binary prism that frames things today. This is where we live. The interconnectedness between Melanesian and Polynesian and other peoples and Australia goes back and has a rich history. We simply want them to be independent and successful, have good health and better living standards and be able to just get on with their lives as they seek to and be able to do that free of influences. I think when Pacific nations look to Australia - and New Zealand as well I’d argue - they just see a friend who wants the best for them. We aren’t new to the Pacific, we didn’t all of a sudden just decide we want to be in the Pacific in the last couple of years. We’ve been there for a very long time.
QUESTION: So why now? Why now with the increased infrastructure investment, the increased…
PRIME MINISTER: For all the reasons I just said. Because that’s out responsibility and I want to see us meet those responsibilities. It’s, as my officials and staff know, it is a burning passion that I have for the Pacific.
QUESTION: You spoke about the importance of human agency in the speech, of self-determination, if you will. I’m wondering how that applies to what we’ve seen recently in Hong Kong. Should Australia be taking a stronger message to Beijing about how it handles these things?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we’ve made our comments and I think they were appropriate comments. And others have made their comments as well and that’s Australia’s position, and we will obviously always continue reserve the right to express our views from time to time. As obviously China reserves their right to express views on things in Australia, and that happens and that never causes me any offence. That’s, I think, part of the give and take of relationships and I don’t think that’s uncommon. I think what’s important though is ultimately you’ve got to respect each other as independent, sovereign nations. That’s as true between Australia and China as it is between Australia and New Zealand. Granted, our differences with New Zealand tend to fall more on the sports field than anywhere else, but occasionally we might have a different view on lamb, and sports and how things like this are treated. This is what I’m seeing as I look across the Indo-Pacific. Countries with very different systems, very different histories, different webs of alliances and partnerships and trading relationships and capabilities. But you know what they all have in common? They all want to be independent sovereign states, being who they are, finding their own way and being able to do that successfully in the future living happily with everyone else. That’s the basis of the partnership and coalition that Australia is happy to be part of and to seek to try foster.
WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry Q&A
24 June 2019
RICK NEWNHAM: I want to ask you about election night, it’s around about 8pm on election night, you would have been watching results coming in from around the country, and you would have realised that the swing was on and that you were likely to have been elected, your Government would be re-elected but you needed WA to bring it home. In that moment, how glad were you that you fixed the GST?
PRIME MINISTER: Very. Very, but for a whole range of different reasons. We worked closely with the Chamber, and really with the whole team here, to fix what was a difficult problem that hadn’t been addressed for a long period of time. So it want just about fixing the GST and not just about fixing it, from a broken [inaudible] it was about a Government that was prepared to take on difficult challenges, and we did, and we worked together and we got it done. I think what that said more broadly was about the nature of our Government, and how we can apply ourselves practically, but more important than that it shows that when we all work together and we have great support from Western Australians more broadly, but equally we work together with other states as well and we worked through those issues that they were raising and we just made our way through it. We also took our time, and this was a process that took several years, as you particularly know, and so when we were given the time and space and the cooperation actually to apply ourselves to what was a difficult policy change, we got the result. You know, in the throw away society that we often have these days where people want economic reform and drive through, you are taking away the opportunity, I think, to make some longer term changes. So I think that's just how we have to approach not just economic reforms into the future... I mean, Australians are very wised up to this whole idea of reform. It can be a fairly frightening word, productivity can be a very frightening word. Often times I think Australians hear, whether its business or politicians or economists or others and they hear productivity and they think, “Oh that means for me, they're going to pay me less to do more.” No. It is about earning more from actually having to put in the same effort, that's what productivity actually produces and so I think as we talk about these changes we have to constantly reassure Australians that the changes we are seeking to make are about boosting their incomes, by making our economy even more competitive, even more open, and that the opportunities that are out there, that are in our ability to deal with the many challenges that come our way. So I was very happy. I was particularly waiting, as soon as it got to about 8 o’clock, I don’t know how many times I hit the refresh button on Swan, Steve, but it was getting a good workout.
NEWNHAM: How important will business organisations like the Chamber of Commerce and others be to making that case nationally for reform?
PRIME MINISTER: No one who has an interest in this can afford to sit on the sidelines and expect others to do the heavy lifting. I think this is what the GST issue demonstrated. We all put our shoulder to the wheel together, dealt with the issues that came up together. In this job I get a lot of helpful advice, and that's great, it’s well intentioned, it’s well meaning, and a lot of it’s pretty good, and you listen to that. But you’re also looking for partners, and I think the Chamber here in my experience, and I don’t just say this here by the way, I say in other parts of the country, the Chamber has demonstrated, I think, a way it should be done, to just work constructively with Government. I know you do the same thing with State Government, a different political colour, but it’s about the issue you’re working on and once you commit to something we know that the Chamber is not going to wander away.
NEWNHAM: So you’ll be heading to the G20 later this week, and meeting a raft of world leaders. One meeting that’s watched particularly, or speculated about particularly, is Xi and President Trump. How important is that meeting, and are you worried about a full blown trade war between those nations and its impact on Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well of course I’m very concerned, as are I think all leaders that sit around the G20 table, of the impact that the trade tensions are having on the broader global economy. Because I said in my presentation, the fundamentals more broadly are quite sound, right, I mean far more sound than they were when I was sitting around the Finance Ministers’ table at the G20 a few years ago when we were very concerned about the very slow growth that we were seeing emerge in Australia at the time, and that we saw this as a key thing that really needed to be turned around in the global economy Now the only sort of barrier to that is actually political. And I don’t mean in a partisan sense, I mean by the actions of these key players in at this stage not being able to resolve some pretty significant issues. Now, what I’ve sought to do is, and I think it's not reasonable for Australia or any other country to be drawn into that dispute. It’s between China and the United States and I think we all believe that we’d like them to resolve this as quickly and as effectively as they can. Now, whether that occurs at this G20 meeting or soon after that, we’ll see. There were the same hopes and I held them when we went to the Buenos Aires meeting last year, which looked promising at first but ultimately didn’t get there. So we’ll continue, I think, to just press the urgency of the need for this to be resolved. Because it is impacting on confidence, it is impacting on investment. It the same time I think that’s why it underscores the need for Australia to reassure investors about the stability that we have and the outlook that we have and the presentation I provided today is intended to make it very clear that our Government is very much about welcoming investment, driving investment, doing what we can to facilitate and ease the process, so if that capital is looking for other places to go then it’s always very welcome here.
NEWNHAM: Top question on Slido is from Warren Pearce from AMEC and it goes with your announcements today. And his question is, the WA Government and many state governments are developing climate change policies. As this is a federal responsibility, what is your advice to these governments?
PRIME MINISTER: On climate change policy? Look, I’d say this - the election, I think, affirmed the clear demand by the Australian people that Australia continue to take action on climate change. It wasn’t an election about to take or not to take action. Both sides of politics put forward plans to take action on climate change. Those who think it was a repudiation of that I think have misread what occurred at that election. We put forward a very credible plan to address climate change. With Melissa, and with Angus Taylor, and the point about it, it’s a very practical issue. There are targets, you set them, and then you have programmes to meet them. You count the cost of doing that, and you weigh that up as part of your broader economic and environmental balance of policies. Now as early as I think, Melissa I remember it was February we presented that down in Melbourne and we set it out, tonne by tonne, how we would achieve it. And so I think that is the certainty that’s required. What's the target? Now our target hasn’t changed, it’s been I think 26 per cent ever since it was first set under the Abbott Government. Maintained under Malcolm Turnbull’s Prime Ministership, and maintained under mine. So that 26 per cent has not altered. The debate is between 26 per cent and 45 per cent, and what Labor were unable to do during that election was to spell out what the cost of that was, and how they were going to achieve it. So not surprisingly, no one bought that pup at the election. Now, we must continue to take action on climate change and we will. But I think Australians will know that we’ll keep a healthy balance in how we go about that. So we are committed to it, and we are committed to the plans we’ve laid down. And we will work closely with the states and territories in what they do to also meet those goals.
NEWNHAM: To go to your income tax cuts that you took to the election, what impact do you think the economy... it would have on the economy if those aren’t passed in full? How do you think Labor’s going to play it in the sitting week?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the impact would be obvious, it would be a real blow to consumer confidence. As I said, the tax cuts that are available in that first phase are the equivalent of 225 basis point rate cuts, and I think that does respond very well, I think, to the... I wouldn’t call it the challenge, but I’d call it the invitation by the Reserve Bank on government policy more broadly, I meet quite regularly with the Governor, and the Treasurer meets even more regularly, and we’ve always understood that to drive the economy to the place we need it to go and in some difficult headwinds that we need the infrastructure, we need to be opening up your trade, you need to be dealing with our regulatory barriers, you need to do all of these things, that’s the bit we have to do because there is a limit to what monetary policy can do. And when you sit around the G20 table, particular with Finance Ministers, I think is one of the real virtues of the G20 because it originally started as a Finance Minister’s initiative, you also have all central bank governors there and they have been making the point for some years now that monetary policy can’t do it all, it has to roll, and the stability that has come out of the Budget reforms and all of these things has been very positive to inoculate the financial system from the types of risks that we saw in place, you know, a decade ago. But on the economic reform side, we need to continue to do the lifting.
NEWNHAM: So you’re saying the RBA have been suggesting they can’t do it all on their own [inaudible] the government’s got a pretty good balance sheet, pretty low cost of borrowing, would you consider further infrastructure spending to pick that up even more in the future?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there’s one part I missed out in response to your question, what will Labor do on tax cuts. Well, look I think they’ll continue to make excuses, they’ll continue to tear themselves apart over this. And all they’re saying to the Australian people is that they haven’t listened to the one-in-a-hundred year message that they’ve just sent them. So I don’t think... Labor sees tax cuts as a cost, but you pay tax to the government. It's a cost that you pick up. We don’t send you the money. You send us the money. So when you get to keep more of it, that's you keeping your own money. And I think Labor has always struggled with this idea. When I was Treasurer, I abolished the word ‘tax expenditure’, I never liked it. Because a tax cut is just Australians keeping more of what they earnt and that they are not then obliged to pass on to the Government, which means they will spend it themselves, on what they think is most important. Labor always thinks that your money’s better off in their pockets, so they can spend it plus a bit more and drive us into debt. So that’s where I think Labor are still wrestling. They don’t get the aspiration side of what the package is about, they don’t get the fact that making a change to reduce the 32.5 cent tax rate down to 30, you know, for people earning between $45,000 and $200,000 is a significant change, but fiscally it has to be absorbed over time and that’s what we’ve done with our three-stage plan. First, we legislated the first part of that three stage plan a year ago, and they said they were never going to support that either, but the Parliament did and we’ll continue to work closely with the Parliament. But at the end of the day I would hope that Labor would, you know, have a conversation with reality and come to the table and do what Australian’s have asked them to do. Now on the other issue of infrastructure, we’ve already got a hundred billion dollar plan. There are right now more projects than you can literally poke a stick at, and the projects that we now must focus on are the ones that are there. So the focus of our infrastructure programme is very much on implementation. We’ve got a very big pipeline of projects and now it’s just about execution and that’s why I’m meeting with the Premier today and meeting with the Premiers’ of New South Wales and Victoria as I will with Queensland and SA and Tasmania and so on. It’s important that we now just get it done. And so if anything, it’s not about increasing the size of the envelope, it’s just about increasing the capability for these projects to roll out. That’s where I’d say the focus is on to. We’re not in want of more projects, I think, what we’re in want of is increasing our capability to actually get them happening.
NEWNHAM: So I said this would be a wide ranging interview, did you enjoy the State of Origin last night? Obvious question really given the outcome, but can you see it being Perth being a permanent fixture?
PRIME MINISTER: Well the first part of your question is an obvious answer, I had a wonderful time. Commiserations to Queensland, but no doubt they’ll come back as strong as they always do in the decider in Sydney in a few weeks time. I had the opportunity last night to meet with players from both of the teams and I have no doubt, looking at that steely determination in a few of those Queenlander’s eyes last night, that they’ll be back with interest in a couple of weeks. And my Blues with Freddy will have them more than ready. But for Perth I thought it was a spectacular event, even with the weather I thought it was great to have a record crowd there at the stadium. I mean, this is a tremendous legacy of Colin Barnett that he’s left to this state and I pay tribute to him for that and Perth now has, I think, a very righteous claim as being an events capital of Australia and it will continue to compete strongly with the other cities in Melbourne, and Sydney, and Brisbane, and Adelaide, and so I think you’ve made a huge claim last night and the fact that so many east-coasters came across and to see all of those supporters there last night fully engaging and Western Australian’s embracing it. I mean, the numbers... I was talking to Cam Smith last night, a Queensland Origin legend, and we were talking about how much it felt like the first time Origin went to Melbourne and the way the city, even though it wasn't a rugby league city, embraced the game and embraced the event. So the event is not just about what happens in the stadium on the night and how good the fixture is. It’s the leadup to the week, it's the atmosphere that's created and the buzz around the city and the media coverage and all that, that’s what creates, I think, a great vibe and I thought Perth delivered that in spades.
NEWNHAM: I’m going to acknowledge the Opposition Leader Liza Harvey is here today and her role in getting that built.
PRIME MINISTER: You did Liza, that’s a tremendous legacy.
NEWNHAM: One last question, and we’re almost out of time, it’s about the importance of delivering on election commitments now you’ve won the election. It’s a particular commitment in the seat of Pearce, and I know the Attorney-General is here today. I’m not sure if you’re aware Prime Minister but the Attorney-General committed to getting a tattoo if his margin increased, and it did, and I just wanted to let the Attorney-General know that we’ve got a tattoo artist waiting outside in case he hasn’t, and do you think it’s an important commitment to deliver on Prime Minister?
CHRISTIAN PORTER: PM, I already did it.
PRIME MINISTER: There you go. He’s already ahead of the curve. Christian is always ahead of the curve.
PORTER: It was a core promise.
PRIME MINISTER: On the serious issue of the commitments we made during the election, obviously in Steve’s electorate and the other things we committed, this is an important part of the compact that you have. The commitments that we made during the election were carefully considered, and the core job that I’ve given to all of our members, and Vince Connolly, I’m not sure if Vince is here, the new member for Stirling, all of our members, their job is to make sure that our Government delivers these on the ground and they will be the shepherds of that process in terms of their own electorates. And they know they can walk in to my door anytime if any of these projects are falling behind the timetable. We made those commitments and when you make them, you keep them. I made a commitment to fix the GST and we did. You can expect the same sort of follow through from my Government on these electorate level commitments as you can on the big ticket items.
Doorstop, Perth WA
24 June 2019
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it’s a beautiful day to be here in Perth. I want to congratulate first of all Perth for putting on such a great display, despite the weather, for their first hosting of the Origin match. It was wonderful to see Perth in full events mode and it wasn’t just, as I said inside, the match itself which as a New South Wales supporter, I was obviously pleased with the result, but it was the whole week. When I spoke to the players, others involved in the event, they were just so thrilled about the way the week had run and I thought it was a great tribute to Western Australia.
But today, my focus was very much on the need to get on with the job of driving our economy forward. As I have been saying for a long time now - unless you have a strong economy and doing all the things that are necessary to build our economy for the future, that your ambitions in areas of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, hospital funding, schools funding, all at record levels, needs to continue the tending of our economy, to ensure that we continue to commit and implement on all of those plans, as we certainly will. A key part obviously of our economic plan is the delivery of income tax relief. Not just today, but into the future as well, so Australians know that the more effort they put in, the more opportunities they take, the more they'll be able to retain of what they earn. That's what tax relief is all about. It's all about backing Australians, that they are in a better place to decide how their money should be spent, how they should invest it, than governments. That's why we're such keen supporters of tax relief, both today and in the future. Cutting the income tax rate from 32.5 cents to 30 cents in the dollar for people earning between $45,000 up to $200,000 is an important change for the future, to banish the bandit of bracket creep - which the Labor Party is still wrestling with itself over - making sure that bandit can keep coming and taking from Australian's hard-earned.
So there is a clear challenge - Labor have suffered the worst primary vote in an election in 100 years. It's a one-in-100 year message from the Australian people that they should be backing aspiration. The Liberal and National Parties have always backed aspiration. That's where we're leading when it comes to delivering tax relief to Australians. And Labor has been dragged kicking and screaming to the table on this issue and so the test is there for them today. Their Shadow Cabinet is meeting. They should listen to the voice of the Australian people, which I thought was very clear on this point, and they should support the changes that the Government has set out. We'll be putting that Bill into the Parliament just as we put it to the Australian people, just as we outlined it in the Budget. We have been very clear about where we stand on this issue. Where Labor sits on this issue is a complete mystery. And the conniptions they have been through over recent weeks, only underscores the fact of why they can't be trusted on these issues. But we’ll get on with the job.
Also it's great to be here in Western Australia. Later this morning I'll be meeting with Mark McGowan. We'll obviously be talking about the $8 billion of infrastructure projects we're committed to here in the West. We got a good partnership, I think, on these projects and it's important that we get down, I think, to having common understandings of timetables and schedules and getting these projects rolling out on the ground. That's the thing that is needed to ensure that we get things moving, particularly here in the Western Australian economy. These infrastructure projects, which we're committed to heavily, the state government is committed to heavily, I think are a very key ingredient of ensuring the Western Australian economy now really does return to strength. There's great opportunity for that. We're seeing improved signs, particularly in the resources sector, and we want to see that flow through in these infrastructure investments, they will be very important.
So I’m looking forward to that meeting. We have a good working relationship with the Western Australian Government and I'm looking forward to furthering that over the course of this term.
JOURNALIST: Are you being tempted to bring your construction projects forward to boost the economy?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we already have, I think, a very comprehensive timetable and scope of works of infrastructure, whether it's here in Western Australia or elsewhere around the country. And to the point where I think we have really started to hit our heads on the ceiling on the available workforce and companies and others to actually deliver this on the ground. That's why it's important to set these priorities, bring forward the projects you can get moving most quickly. They really fall into that category of the urban congestion-busting projects we talked about. And those are things you can move ahead quite readily with. The larger big projects, they obviously have a lot more planning work to be done. But it is about, I think, sitting down with the Premier and making sure we’ve got an alignment of what our expectations are, what the timetables are, what the priorities are, and I think we'll have a good shared understanding of that.
JOURNALIST: What about industrial relations reform, how expansive do you think that might be during this term?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, under our Government, the days lost to industrial disputes has fallen by 40 per cent compared to what it was under the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government. So the changes we have been making in this area, and there's more changes we want to make - I referred to those in my presentation this morning - there is still a strong agenda of legislative change that we want to make, and we'll be presenting that again to the Parliament. So, you know, Anthony Albanese he can jump up and down about John Setka all he likes, but the real question is will he actually support legislative change to make sure that thugs in militant unions have no place in the union movement? They still take the militant union's money, they still take their resources at the elections, they still jump to the tune of their factional delegates at party conferences. So, you know, John Setka is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to militant unionism in this country. And so if they're serious about this issue, and if they want to return more, I think, to the pragmatic approach that we saw during those Hawke-Kelty sort of days, then it is incumbent upon them, I think, to support what I think is responsible pragmatic reform in that area. And Christian Porter, he'll be speaking to employees and employers across the states and looking to find practical things that can be done to ensure there's a shared workplace. As I go around small and medium-sized businesses, which are largely non-unionised workplaces, I mean, I bump into people and I say, "How long have you been there?" They go, “I’ve been working here twelve years, eighteen years, seven years.” These are businesses where there's cohesion, where there's a shared understanding that the success of the enterprise is their success. I'm keen to see that collaborative, common effort that we see in those businesses writ large across the Australian economy. I'm quite certain that we can find ways to achieve that with the flexibility that today's workers demand.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, should states be setting their own emissions target reduction schemes?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, all I know is that when any target is set that is not responsible and there are not clear policies and mechanisms that achieves it, all it tends to do is crush business and investment confidence and cost jobs. So I think we should all be working together to create jobs, not cost them. And the Government sets our overall emissions reduction targets. Ours have been consistent for many years now. What's more important is we're meeting them. Our 2020 targets, we will not just meet, we will exceed by 369 million tonnes of abatement, and similarly we'll meet our 2030 targets. So I think, you know, we all agree we need to take action on climate change, and we're taking responsible and effective action.
JOURNALIST: What's the plan for rehabilitating [inaudible] the children you repatriated to Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I can confirm that the Government has been working closely with international agencies and our partners overseas to repatriate eight young Australians, and that has been a very sensitive operation. I particularly want to commend Marise Payne, the Foreign Minister, and our DFAT officials, I think, for the excellent work that they have done. I set some clear markers for this before the election to our officials and that was Australians was not to be put in harm's way. That we would carefully consider each and every case. There is no blanket policy here, every single case is assessed on its merits. There are a range of processes that one has to go through. Most significantly, the whole issue of identity. But these are not matters that government agencies are unfamiliar with. We have kept a very low-key approach to how we have been addressing this issue. That has been in the interests of the safety of those involved and those who are assisting us in this task. The opportunity now is for these young children who are coming back to Australia, they can't be held responsible for the crimes of their parents. I mean, the fact you would take a child and put them in a conflict zone like this is despicable and I find it disgusting. But the children can't be held responsible for that. And where we have carefully considered their cases, then we have taken action to safely repatriate them and we'll consider any other such cases, particularly in relation to the security issues. But as you rightly nominate - when they come back to Australia to ensure there's the support within the community, and the programs and services that means that they can fully integrate into a happy life in Australia, that's what we want for these kids. They have got off to a horrible start in life as a result of the appalling decisions of their parents, and they'll find their home in Australia and I'm sure they'll be embraced by Australians and as a result of that embrace, I'm sure they'll live positive and happy lives.
JOURNALIST: When will they return and what will happen to them? In regards to Yasin Rizvic's children, they reportedly have no family in Australia, so how will they be resettled?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not going to go into individual cases, I think we need to protect the privacy of the families and the individuals and timetables around these issues are things we will keep close to the operational arrangements that have been put in place. It is sensitive, it is delicate. I think Australians would agree that we need to show compassion in the cases of these children, but at the same time, Australians would equally expect the Government to exercise all the care that is needed to ensure the security issues are well addressed in the decisions that we have made. That's what we have done.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just quickly on Israel Folau, do you support GoFundMe’s decision?
PRIME MINISTER: I think that issue has had enough oxygen. Thanks.
Bob Hawke Memorial Service
14 June 2019
Australians all let us rejoice for the life of Robert James Lee Hawke.
AC, father, husband, son, friend, grandfather, colleague, passionate Australian, the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia.
Firstly, I'd like to thank Blanche and the Hawke family for their generous invitation to take part in today's memorial service. Jenny and I thank you.
Unlike those who will follow me today, and although we did meet on a few occasions, I only knew Bob from a distance.
But in that way, I can reflect and share with you the common remembrance and speak of the affection he inspired from millions of Australians who only knew him in this way.
So today, I come to speak on behalf of a nation Bob Hawke loved and that deeply loved him in return.
It was a great romance, played out in the shopping centres with journalists tripping over cables, sporting ovals, grandstands, schools, town halls, beaches, parks, outback stations and, of course, Indigenous communities all around the country.
It was a passionate and affectionate relationship between Bob and the Australian people.
They knew each other well.
They forgave each other’s shortcomings.
They understood each other’s virtues.
There was trust, there was faith in each other.
There was also sorrows born and joys shared, great passions, and disappointments.
Destiny was always Bob Hawke's friend, but it was never a passive or easy relationship.
He never hid himself from us.
He let us see all of his complexity - all of it - and that's what Australians loved about him.
Our 23rd Prime Minister was a proud and faithful son of the Labor movement, and he became one of the proud fathers of our modern Australia.
Today, we will rightly honour his many achievements for our economy, for our security, for Indigenous Australians, for our society, and Australia's place in the world.
And as a Liberal, I'm honoured to acknowledge these achievements, as I know others would be.
On many occasions - admittedly not all - our party was pleased to partner in many of the changes Bob was able to bring about. But he led them and that will be forever to his credit and his Government.
The 80s in Australia will always be the Hawke era, and it is a rich legacy for Australians.
But grand accomplishments are not the worth or measure of a human being.
Rather, a life is measured by its love - love given, and love returned.
As Australians - all as he coined the phrase, forever in our national anthem as we've sung - we thank Bob Hawke for loving Australia and loving Australians with every fibre of his being, with every measure of his enormous enthusiasm, with every meed of his great intellect, with every laugh, every tribute, every tear and every moment of his great devotion.
Bob Hawke loved our country and we are a better nation for it.
In his passing, we honour and give thanks for a great Australian patriot.
On behalf of Australia, I extend to his widow Blanche and his family our deepest sympathies as a nation, as well as our thanks for sharing him with our country and caring for him until the very end.
We also remember the legacy of the late Hazel Hawke, and we thank all of Bob's family for the sacrifices they made as Bob pursued his public service in service to us all.
So Bob, your record is honoured, your legacy is secure and your country will be forever grateful.
May he rest in peace.
Doorstop, Burwood NSW
11 June 2019
DR FIONA MARTIN, MEMBER FOR REID: Welcome to Burwood Girls High School. I'm Fiona Martin the Liberal Member for Reid and it's wonderful to be here this morning and to hear about the wonderful work of batyr, an organization that fosters resilience in young people and teaches young people to reach out, to speak up to help each other and to support each other to combat mental health issues in young people. And as a psychologist, I am very proud to be part of a government who invests so much in mental health services, and I'm going to hand it over not to the Honourable Scott Morrison, Prime Minister. Thank you very much for coming to Reid.
PRIME MINISTER: Well thank you Fiona. It's great to be here with Greg Hunt the Health Minister, and it is wonderful here at Port Phillip High School. And particularly to be here and to have been part of the work of batyr, which is reaching out to young people all across the country to raise awareness of mental health issues amongst young people. And to help connect them to each other into the services that are available. To build resilience and to support them as they grow and they develop and they take up their place outside of school and out there in the community. And it was a real privilege to listen to the stories and to hear of the tools and the devices that are made available and that's why, as part of our more than half a billion dollar program to combat youth mental health issues and particularly youth suicide, we've included that $2.78 million dollars to support the work of batyr.
What I'd really like to commend - and Sebastian is here who founded batyr - and all of those who work in this programme is how well it connects to the many other services. Here today we talked about the Headspace services that are available not far from here in Ashfield, which I visited with Fiona just some weeks ago when we launched this particular overall package on mental health for young people. And so connecting up to those services and being aware of the symptoms and signs in others and being attentive that, to listening, and to showing that community support, is a big part of how we will address and combat this issue of youth suicide. But it also goes to the combating issues and dealing with issues of mental health more generally in our community. And not only is it an urgency issue to address the issue of youth suicide in our country, which I've described as a curse, and a curse that has to be broken. But also it's important we address these issues, whether they exist in Indigenous communities, where we know the issue is particularly prolific, but also in the mental health of our veterans, and the very concerning situation of the mental health challenges faced by our veterans. And there are significant services that are provided, whether it's in mental health support to young people, or to people in Indigenous communities, or indeed our veterans.
But still it is the case that people are taking their own lives and are finding the stresses and strains and the mental health issues that they're combating too much. And so as Australians, it's our job to reach out to them and ensure that they can connect to those services, and that those services are in the places and are delivered in a way that can make a big difference. You know, for all of us if we're sick physically, if you walk into a doctor and you've got chest pains and a sore left arm, you know you've got to get help. You know that you're not well and you'll reach out to find those services. But when it comes to mental health, sometimes we're unaware of those signs and we're unaware of those signs in each other. And so it's important we're alert to those and in the same way we would reach out and seek to connect with health services when we're suffering from a physical health condition, we need to do the same ourselves and for each other when it comes to mental health. And I want to commend Greg Hunt for the great work he has done in pulling together our mental health package for young people, and particularly addressing youth suicide. I ask Greg to make a few comments and then we're happy to take some questions. Greg.
THE HON GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: Thanks very much to the Prime Minister, and Fiona, and to everybody here today. Today is about hope. It's about saving lives and it's about protecting lives. What we saw with the stories of Liv, and Malaika, and Josh's words, was reaching out to these magnificent young women and saying mental health and suicidality can strike any one of us. Any one of us, anywhere in Australia, at any time. It's part of being human. It's not just part of being young but it's particularly something that can affect young minds and young lives. And so the work of the batyr is part of a much broader plan. It’s part of a youth mental health and suicide prevention plan which is aimed at saying to each of these magnificent young people your lives matter and you can seek help. What you're going through is normal. It can affect you, any of us. In our family, it was my mother who battled with a crushing illness. But each of us knows that what we're going through can be immensely painful, but we're not alone. That's the message today. We are not alone. And so by supporting batyr as they move from face-to-face to also being able to provide online resources, is about saying there's a much broader national plan; for youth mental health, for suicide prevention, for mental health, and whether it's Lifeline, whether it's the work of headspace, whether it's the work of Beyond Blue, or batyr - we're here to help, we're here to provide the support, but above all else, when you see the stories of Liv and Malaika, you see courage and you see a pathway that each of you can follow when you most need it.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Greg. So, happy to take questions. Why don't we start with the issue we've come here to talk about today but happy to obviously go to other matters.
JOURNALIST: Do you need to take a step back and take a deeper look at youth mental health through some sort of inquiry or commission?
PRIME MINISTER: Well there has been a large amount of work that's been done. We currently have a Productivity Commission inquiry into the broader mental health challenges underway at the moment and that will report back in the middle of next year. But working with my ministers and many of my members in the government, including Fiona, we are upgrading our plans in this area leaving no stone unturned. To ensure that not only that all the services are there where they need to be, but there is an outreach capability to connect people to those services. When we were at the Ashfield Headspace a few weeks back, one of the key points that was made to me by the young people who were working there that a big part of their job now is outreach. To be out there in the shopping centres, in the sporting fields, in the communities reaching out to young people, just like batyr is here in terms of connecting people's services. So there are a large array of services out there, and we need to make sure that they're up to standard. But the real challenge is connecting people to those services and assisting them to understand when they need that help. And that's where a lot of our focus will be and we'll continue to put the investment in and leave no stone unturned. And I've got to say, particularly also in relation to veterans.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, nobody is above the law, as you have pointed out. How do you tolerate a situation where the Solicitor General in his written advice says there is ‘some risk’ that your Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton is not eligible to be in the Parliament as there are constitutional questions? Are you going to resolve that question about Peter Dutton by sending it to the High Court?
PRIME MINISTER: No, look I don't accept that there's any issue in relation to Mr Dutton. Those matters have been addressed in the past and they are resolved. So no, I'm not troubled about those issues.
JOURNALIST: Should John Setka resign?
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry?
JOURNALIST: Should John Setka resign?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course he should and he should have a long time ago. But I can tell you… I mean, they can root out one Labor thug in the union movement, but there's plenty more where John Setka came from. Because the CFMMEU is one of the most litigated against and charged unions in the country. Their charge sheet is longer than your arm. And John Setka is just one of many.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] meeting with Ita Buttrose this afternoon, what are you seeking to achieve from that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well this is a scheduled meeting with Ita. This is the first meeting we've had post the election and it was actually scheduled before more recent events. So, I'm sure that Ita and I will have a broad ranging conversation about how what she's been doing since taking on the role of Chair of the ABC. I was absolutely thrilled that Ita took up my invitation to Chair the ABC, and one of the reasons why I asked her to do that job, is because I know that she will speak frankly and candidly, and that she will lead strongly. And so I look forward to our regular conversations.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the array of so called congestion busting projects that were promised in the lead up to the election - is it fair that your Government is judged on delivering those?
PRIME MINISTER: Well of course, on all of our commitments. And that's why I've already met with the Premiers of both Victoria and New South Wales to ensure that we can move quickly to be delivering on these projects. And so we've got a process in place to do just that.
JOURNALIST: So which projects do you plan to roll out and when?
PRIME MINISTER: Well all of the ones we announced during the election.
JOURNALIST: Do you have any concerns by the statement from Senator Patrick that he feels that there was an attempt to intimidate him by the Home Affairs Secretary Mike Pezzullo?
PRIME MINISTER: I do find those things concerning, and the Home Affairs Minister and I have discussed that and the Home Affairs Minister has had an appropriate conversation with the Secretary.
JOURNALIST: Has he reigned in the Secretary, is the purpose of that conversation?
PRIME MINISTER: I have given you my answer.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will you support a parliamentary inquiry into press freedom?
PRIME MINISTER: Well what I'm going to do on this issue is listen carefully. I think we have to keep these matters in perspective. The laws that were introduced more recently were not the ones that were the subject of the recent [inaudible] They were the subject of the laws that were in existence back in 2013. And so there are additional protections that have been built into those new laws, and I think it's important that we honour two principles, and that is that no one's above the law - as Hugh has just reminded us - and that also, that press freedoms are central to our democracy. And if there is a suggestion, or evidence, or any analysis, that reveals that there is a need for further improvement of those laws, well the Government is always open to that. But it's important that we honour both of those principles and I intend to proceed calmly, and soberly, and consultatively.
JOURNALIST: Do you believe there needs to be better whistleblower protections?
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, I couldn’t hear you Hugh.
JOURNALIST: Do you believe there needs to be better whistleblower protections, particularly in the public service, when you situations where public servants can face lengthy times in jail for what might be called ‘good faith’ whistleblowing?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is something that is that is regularly looked at, Hugh, and in the course of looking at any of these issues that's something that would be a topic of review. But it is also important that we balance the issues of; national security, the primacy of our laws, and that no one stands above them, whether they're politicians, or journalists, or editors, or anyone else. And that the Rule of Law applies to everybody in this country, and I think Australians fully understand that and they expect great things of all of us, whether politicians or media alike, and we need to live up to those standards.
But today, what I'm talking about here, is the Government getting back to work on delivering on our commitments. And those commitments, most significantly, were in the area of taking action on youth mental health and suicide prevention. This is an important part of what will be our Government's focus over the next three years. This is one of those essential services that Australians rely on, and we all have a role to play in looking after each other when it comes to our mental health, and making sure that we're connecting each other to services where they are needed, and keeping an eye on each other, and asking that simple question as we do each year, ‘Are you OK?’ And are following through as good communities do. Thank you all very much.
Online funding support for batyr youth mental health
11 June 2019
Prime Minister, Minister for Health
A leading youth mental health initiative is set for a $2.8 million boost from the Morrison Government to expand its interactive school based programs through a new digital storytelling platform.
The funding injection for batyr backs their innovative preventative mental health work by helping further enhance and expand batyr’s online presence to support youth mental health and suicide prevention through safe and effective storytelling in schools.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said early intervention was absolutely critical to helping young people with mental health issues with an estimated one in four young Australians aged 16 to 24 experience mental illness in any given year.
“This is a program for young people, designed by young people,” The Prime Minister said.
“This will help batyr deliver front-line services and coordinate the right interventions for at risk young people.
“batyr and their approach is part of our vision for tackling the mental health challenges facing young Australians that is a key focus of my government.”
batyr was launched in 2011, after founder Sebastian Robertson experienced the frustration and isolation of living silently with mental ill health whilst at university.
Sebastian recognised that it was time to have open honest conversations about mental health with young people, and founded the organisation, naming it after batyr, The Talking Elephant from Kazakhstan.
Minister for Health Greg Hunt said young Australians face many challenges and Government funding will provide a significant boost of support.
“There are more pressures on young people today than ever before and we are committed to ensuring young Australians can get information, advice, counselling or treatment, when and where they need it,” Minister Hunt said.
“I want our young people to know they are not alone on their journey, and that batyr is there to help deliver quality frontline support and coordinate the right interventions for people who are at risk.”
The Liberal National Government is prioritising better mental health for all Australians with a record $4.9 billion expected to be spent on mental health this year alone.
The Morrison Government’s $503.1 million Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan is the largest suicide prevention plan in Australia’s history and focuses on expanding the headspace network, Indigenous suicide prevention and early childhood and parenting.
The Government’s strong economic management ensures the continued record investment of funding into vital health initiatives including mental health, life-saving medicines, Medicare and hospitals.
ABC News with Greg Jennett, Singapore
7 June 2019
GREG JENNETT: Well Prime Minister it’s been quite a trip, as Churchill might have said, from the old world back to the new here in Singapore today. As you reflect on it, is there anything different about this – your first travel as Prime Minister in this term – do you feel, in your engagements, you’re anymore legitimised by your election win on the 18th of May?
PRIME MINISTER: Well no doubt there were some surprised members of the international community, and pleasantly surprised too, which was very generous and very nice but the work continues and there’ve been quite a few elections this year amongst the major democracies and so I think we’re getting to the backend of that phase of those elections. So it means that the second half of this year and going into the G20 Summit in June in a few weeks’ time, that provides a good opportunity I think for us all now to get on with some major issues. I mean, there’s still the election in Canada later this year, that’s the next major one.
GREG JENNETT: So you’re saying there are some surprised people out there, you encountered-
PRIME MINISTER: Well there was in Australia too.
[Laughs]
GREG JENNETT: The Queen. Your encounter with her was your first in any capacity in public life. I know there are meant to be some restraints on what you say about those engagements, but it might have been relevant, mightn’t it, to offer some reassurance the churn, the recent churn, Her Majesty has witnessed in Australia’s leadership, theoretically obviated somewhat now by new rules?
PRIME MINISTER: Well that wasn’t a matter we discussed but I mean, this is a Queen that has dealt with every Prime Minister since Sir Robert Menzies in the Australian context and every one since Sir Winston Churchill in the UK so she’s spent a lot of time with a lot of Prime Ministers over the years so it was a great privilege to meet Her Majesty and for Jenny and I to go to Buckingham Palace but what I think was more significant was the next day we were there for the commemoration of the D-Day landing and of course that was something the Queen lived through as a young woman. I noticed when we were there the next day, her engagement with the ceremony was quite significant and clearly had a great personal meaning for her as well as a national one, and a global one. She is one of the most, if not the most extraordinary person-
GREG JENNETT: By definition it must have an impact on her far greater than any other current crop of leaders.
PRIME MINISTER: No doubt, and having lived through it and importantly everything that’s happened since. A key reflection around D-Day was the peace was won, the liberty from tyranny was won. But then prosperity was then built like the world had never seen before off multilateral, global institutions being formed around trade, the IMF and others, and this set up a rules-based order that has been so successful. It was a reminder that it’s important we keep that rules-based order up to date because if we go back to the causes of the Second World War, there’s the obvious ones, but ensuring there’s an economic inclusiveness in the global order, that there are rules-based systems for engaging with each other on trade and other economic engagements is incredibly important, they have to be up to date. Which is what Prime Minister Lee here in Singapore was saying a week ago.
GREG JENNETT: Do you make that comparison cognisant, aware of the importance of that comparison I suppose, do you see the risks in the current tensions playing out in our region as great as the build-up of pressures back in the last century?
PRIME MINISTER: I wouldn’t be rushing to that conclusion but I think it’s important to simply make the observation these trade tensions are having a very negative impact on the global economy, there’s no doubt about that and it’s important in our national interest and I think in the broader interests of the global economy that they be resolved in a positive and constructive way and that’s what we’d be encouraging both of the principals to achieve.
GREG JENNETT: It certainly has been a constant theme of your travels these last six days but while you were away it also demonstrates itself back at home with weaker, much weaker than anyone was talking about during the election campaign, growth of under two per cent, will you, frankly, surprised by that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well no I wasn’t because we had a very strong quarter coming out of the through year figures and that was a quarterly figure of over one per cent that dropped out of the start of the through year figure so I was anticipating there being a lower through year figure but the quarterly figure that just came out was actually higher than last quarter and I think there has been some uncertainty in the Australian economy particularly this year and now that the election is over and there’s some certainty about economic policies going into the future, I think we’ve already seen an initial positive response to that and we need to get on with it to ensure that is maintained and continues.
GREG JENNETT: There are a couple of remedies you’re obviously pointing to there obviously that $1000 worth of tax cuts if you can pass them, a 10 year pipeline of infrastructure projects, but what if that’s just not enough to stimulate a faltering economy? What more are you able to do within the remit you’ve got to manoeuvre?
PRIME MINISTER: I would say that we’ve got a clear plan, we’re going to implement that plan, we’ll be putting that plan in full to the Parliament but the Coalition has never let Australians down, I believe, in taking the economic decisions that are necessary to ensure we strengthen our economy into the future. And so we will keep close watch on these issues but right now the focus is on implementing the plans as we set out in full at the election and any frustration of that, I think, would be very disappointing to the Australian people who’ve said very clearly that want the Government to get on with their plans, to back aspiration in Australia and to put those tax measures in place and the many other issues we took to the election.
GREG JENNETT: So just to clarify, there is a preparedness by you if necessary to do more?
PRIME MINISTER: We have always done that. I mean that’s not news, that’s nothing novel-
GREG JENNETT: But you are hinting to some degree, wouldn’t you say-
PRIME MINISTER: …pragmatic. We’re a Government that believes in ensuring that we have a strong economy because without that you can’t pay for pensions, you can’t pay for affordable medicines, that was my entire point during the course of the election campaign. So we will always be taking decisions that strengthen our economy and that’s why you have Budgets, that’s why you have Budget updates at the end of the year, they’re your opportunities to constantly scrutinise how the policies are working and what other measures you may need to take. I mean, there’s nothing remarkable at all about that.
GREG JENNETT: In all of your travels this week you’ve been emphasising themes and values to do with openness, transparency, the importance of democracy, and yet playing out at home – you’re well aware by now – has been great controversy about these leaks investigations. The ABC, your own captain’s pick chairwoman in Ita Buttrose has said today she’s gravely concerned, a career-long journalist described these as unprecedented. Your response to the ABC Chairwoman?
PRIME MINISTER: Well Ita always said that she’d speak her mind and that’s why I picked her and that’s why the Cabinet endorsed that because she is someone who will speak her mind and she’s raised these issues and her concerns with the Minister and I’m sure when we meet, which is not too far away, she’ll reflect similar sentiments. But what’s important here I think is two things. The Government is committed to press freedom, of course we are. Second, the Government is absolutely committed to ensure that no one’s above the law. What has occurred here is understandably causing anxiety but at the same time we need to keep this in perspective. The raids that took place, took place under the laws that were actually in place well before the changes that the government made. Point one. Two, the raids were undertaken using a warrant. You know, to get a warrant, you’ve got to see a judge and so they were made consistent with the law. So I think Australians carry these two things closely, they believe strongly in press freedoms – as do I – but they also believe no one’s bigger than the law. I’m not, you’re not, no one is.
GREG JENNETT: You use the word ‘anxiety’, does it go any deeper than that though? Do you believe if it continued at the current breaking pace, there are a few afoot and there have been in fact for a year or so, leaks investigations, that there may be what they call a ‘chilling effect’ on the exposure of actions even decisions that governments are making or actions that have been taken in the past?
PRIME MINISTER: No look we will deal with this matter soberly and calmly and these are investigations and these are investigations that are being undertaken by the Australian Federal Police. They’ve been commenced on the referral of senior public servants. Such referrals are not extraordinary in these circumstances and it’s actually up to the Federal Police as to what actions they take and what investigations they pursue. So the suggestion that somehow, that has been implied, that government ministers were somehow involved in this is simply not true. This is the simple outworking of the legal system where a serious matter of complaint has been raised with police. The police are conducting an investigation and that’s the point of the process we’re in now. So I think we’ve got to be careful not to get too far ahead of ourselves in making analyses of what the implications of this are at this point. Let’s just allow the AFP to continue their investigation and I’m sure they will advise when they’re at the next stage.
GREG JENNETT: And are you prepared to allow pieces to land wherever they may in these inquiries if they continue into the future? The reason I ask is it’s not unprecedented in Australian Government history that very occasionally the source of classified leaks might be from the Ministerial Wing at Parliament House at different points in our future.
PRIME MINISTER: Well no one’s above the law. No one’s above the law. But I’m not going to get into the process of second guessing where things go. I don’t think that’s very helpful. And I don’t think it’s helpful to speculate on these things at this point-
GREG JENNETT: But you see the point of the question? Where do these things stop?
PRIME MINISTER: Through the successful or otherwise conduct of the investigation and they’ll have a finding and that would be a matter that would either be taken forward by the DPP or not and in the case of journalists in particular there are specific protections built into the law for journalists. Specific protections that no one else gets. Journalists get them for a very important reason because of freedom of the press and so that is what is also available so that’s why I think it’s important, Greg, that we allow this issue to run its course in accordance with our laws. If there are deficiencies in that process, then the Government always looks at these things. But at this stage I think it’s a little early to be making those sorts of judgements.
GREG JENNETT: I know you’ve got to get a plane back to Australia but just finally on that, you’re suggesting are you, that if there were a need for a legal remedy, let’s say a change to the Crimes Act, you’d be prepared to look at it? Some people are arguing for instance the offence of receipt of classified documents, not the leaking of them but the receipt of them, could be expunged, could be removed.
PRIME MINISTER: I think it’s very early, I think it’s too early to be getting into those discussions. I think there’s a process that is underway, I have no intention whatsoever of interfering in that not only because it’s the wrong thing to do it’s also a crime and I think it’s important to allow the AFP to continue to do their work professionally. I’ve made it very clear to editors that if there are any complaints that they have to make about the way the investigation has been conducted they’re always free to raise those issues. Of course they are, and they’re matters that can be directly raised with the AFP as well. But I think we just need to allow this process to run to its conclusion. It has been running, as you know, for some time and this is a matter that goes back well over a year.
GREG JENNETT: Which raises the question ‘why now?’ I suppose you’re going to say you don’t know.
PRIME MINISTER: Of course I don’t. I’ve no involvement in the operational nature of those investigations, in fact, nor should I. The AFP have explained those matters I think very clearly. But there is no connection with the Government about how they conduct- and that would be irregular if there was.
GREG JENNETT: There may be a bit more to play out on that issue but you can deal with that when you get back to Australia. Thanks for your time this afternoon here in Singapore.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks a lot, Greg, it’s been I think a very successful visit but we’re back at work and getting on with it.
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.
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.
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.
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.