Joint Press Conference, COAG
12 December 2018
PRIME MINISTER: Well thank you for joining us. What we are going to do to start off this press conference following the COAG meeting today is we’ve agreed to a revised National Drought Agreement following on from the Drought Summit held a few months ago. So I am now going to sign the National Drought Agreement and I will pass it to my colleagues. I thank them for their support, particularly at the Drought Summit itself and the follow up action which has been put in train.
I don't think we will sit here in silence. I will make some, as I understand is the custom, opening remarks, and then pass to Andrew Barr and then to colleagues to make some comments following today’s meeting. What I'm pleased to report today is the meeting of COAG was able to make progress on all items on our agenda today. I want to thank Premiers and Chief Ministers for the good-faith way they have come to Adelaide. I want to thank of course Premier Steven Marshall for hosting us in Adelaide, it has been on great display, Steven, and it’s been tremendous to be here and part of the very exciting things that are happening in South Australia. Particularly happening here in Adelaide following our announcement earlier today.
I also want to thank... thank them for their constructive contributions on all the issues that we were able to deal with today. There has been a very big focus at this meeting on keeping Australians safe. And I think a shared message we want to send to all Australians regardless of where you are in Australia, that be absolutely assured, that at a Commonwealth, state and local level, all agencies of government will do everything we can to keep Australians safe. That is whether keeping children safe online, keeping Australians safe from the threat of terrorism, keeping Australians safe in the face of major physical hazards, such as bushfires and floods, all things of that nature. That we are all working extremely well together, we have the opportunity to be briefed on a whole raft of national security issues today, and there was a very strong and common resolve, and an appreciation I think, from all of us of the working relationship that has developed over many years in addressing these issues.
On particular matters of cyber security, on organised crime, on foreign interference, the public safety mobile broadband network - we were able to make progress on all of these issues, agreeing new principles and working protocols to ensure the best management of those issues. But on top of that, most importantly I want to thank all members for their contribution as we move forward to the fourth round of the domestic violence initiatives and program, I want to thank Libby Lloyd, and Maria Hagias who joined us today and provided us their update on the work that is continually needed, in all of our jurisdictions, to keep women and children and all those affected by domestic family violence safe. And we were able to agree new ways forward, and as we go into next year’s Commonwealth Budget, we will be looking for what more we can do, certainly not taking a step back as we go into the forward chapter of our cooperation on addressing domestic violence.
On cyberbullying as well I want to thank Premier Palaszczuk for leading the work there and we have agreed today that it is important for victims of cyberbullying there is an ability to have the right to be forgotten online. We need to make sure that as we do this that we do not provide a loophole for those who might be engaged in all sorts of nefarious activity, that our agencies would want to pursue. But we want to ensure that doesn’t just apply to young people, as Premier McGowan made the point, they have the right to be forgotten and they do not have to live their lives with the issues of things that have happened online to them, with bullying, are there for all-time. We already have through the e-Safety Commissioner, a number of measures which address that already. This will take that to a new level. So I thank again Premier Palaszczuk for that work.
Those were the issues we were able to address on national security and keeping Australians safe. But we were also able to make, I think, important progress on the issue of population management. I want to thank Premier Berejiklian for suggesting that this be put on the COAG agenda, we agreed this should be a standing item on the COAG agenda. And the Council of Federal Financial Relations, also known as the Treasurers meeting, will take the workforce role of reporting to leaders on how we are working together to better manage population growth between the states and territories and the Commonwealth. We agreed to work towards the establishment of a population management national framework, which would seek greater sharing of information to inform annual migration programs, infrastructure programs, investment in services, in hospitals and schools, greater data sharing, better identification of skills needs and across the country. And all of that is designed to protect the quality of life that Australians have, to grow our economy and ensure we get the growth where we need to have that growth. In some states that is an absolute priority, but in our larger cities we are able to better manage that growth, deal with congestion issues, and to protect the quality of life of residents who live in those cities as well.
On drought, as I have just noted, we have just signed the new intergovernmental agreement which follows on from the work of the National Drought Summit. Also great news today for small business. We have all agreed that we should move towards 20 day payment terms for small businesses. Already a number of jurisdictions have moved to that, it will happen on the 1st of July next year and each of the jurisdictions will be reporting at what date they will move to the target of a 20 day payment timeframe for small business. This will keep money moving in our economy and I think it will be an example to large businesses in particular - do not use small businesses as a bank. They should be paid on time and they should be paid promptly. 20 days should be the maximum, not the standard. There is the technological capabilities to address that in shorter time frames and I would encourage all businesses to be using the digital financing arrangements and accounting arrangements which will enable more prompt payment.
We had a very good discussion on early childhood education. The Commonwealth has the current universal access agreement in place to the end of 2019, and we will continue to address onward arrangements for that through the normal budgetary cycle. But I think there was a very shared agreement by all jurisdictions of the incredibly important role for early childhood education plays, particularly for addressing children with disadvantage, and that disadvantage could come in many forms. It could be economic, it can be physical, it could be geographical. We share the view and Commonwealth shares the view it is an important intervention that can really change our young people’s lives.
On health, I made the announcement this morning there will be 1.25 billion dollars of additional investments that will be spent through the states and territories from the Commonwealth in addition to the hospitals agreement that we already have before the states and territories, for which the majority have signed. That agreement will deal with cancer treatment, it will deal with drug rehabilitation, it will also deal with mental health, and access to clinical trials. And so we welcome the states and the territories to deploy that additional investment and that’s $1.25 billion that we’ll see over the next four years over the Budget cycle.
And finally, and I think we would all agree, easily the most importantly and actually the most importantly, we’re very pleased to issue the statement today on the Closing the Gap refresh. I want to thank very much the Indigenous peak groups for their close cooperation and partnership on working together to ensure that the Closing the Gap goals that we are setting we are not imposing, but we are developing together in partnership with Indigenous communities. That these are goals that are equally owned and therefore we’re equally responsible for. And I want to thank again those Indigenous groups and particularly there are people here with strong support and participation in that process. Obviously we will continue that consultation but I think that we have made a step forward.
So across a whole range of issues today, important I think to the lives of all Australians. From keeping them safe, keeping them together. Whether it’s dealing with the issues of social cohesion or dealing with the very significant economic issues around population management and getting small business on the front foot, making our economy stronger, we’ve made great progress today and I thank my colleagues from the way they have engaged in those outcomes and I’m happy to pass on to them each for comment, starting with the Chief Minister of the ACT Mr Barr.
ANDREW BARR, CHIEF MINISTER OF THE ACT: Thank you Prime Minister and thank you Premier Marshall for hosting us today in Adelaide. Can I begin with an observation that today’s agenda wasn’t particularly controversial at the areas the Prime Minister has highlighted in his remarks. We have seen reasonably strong progress in advancing the agenda in each one of those areas and speaking on behalf of all states and territories as chair of the Council of Australian Federation we are pleased there has been focus on a number of these items.
I would particularly like to comment on the population policy question. This is one that is very significant for our nation and one that the approach the Prime Minister is taking could perhaps be described as modelled on the Canadian federation model, we collectively think is a good approach. Although there are differences amongst the states and territories in relation to where population should be distributed around the country, there is a strong view that there's a good role for the states and territories to play. So we welcome that.
From an ACT perspective, I want to make a clear statement of values that we think it is very important that Australia maintain a strong migration program. This is very significant for the social, cultural and economic development of our nation and for many jurisdictions around the country. There is a need for increased population to drive economic activity, but also to diversify the social and cultural base. In the national capital we will always be a proud refugee welcome zone and we will always be a jurisdiction that welcomes and values new migrants and international students for the role they play in our community.
We think it's very important that as we manage future population growth that there is a strong focus on infrastructure investment and that we work closely with the Commonwealth and between jurisdictions to ensure that we can build the infrastructure ahead of time for the anticipated population increases that are coming and will be driven both by natural increase, by internal migration within Australia and by a strong migration program. And a practical example of that - and I want to acknowledge the New South Wales Premier here - is the importance of growth of regional cities within New South Wales and the Canberra-Sydney rail line is a very practical example of a transport infrastructure project that would assist in taking pressure off Sydney, would support the growth of the broader Canberra region and is one that we very strongly support.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Andrew. Premier of New South Wales, Premier Berejiklian.
GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN, PREMIER OF NSW: Thank you, Prime Minister. It's fair to say it was a very comprehensive agenda and a lot of goodwill in the room and I think we have made good progress on key issues affecting all of our citizens across the nation. And in particular I did want to thank the Prime Minister and all of my state and territory leaders for their support in advancing the development of a holistic population policy for the nation and that it will be a standing item on future COAG meetings. And I that's important for all of us to have a greater say in those issues because at the end of the day it's when the states have good input into what our needs are, into the process and proper planning can happen. So I do want to thank the Prime Minister for extending that important initiative.
In addition to the other issues around security, cyberbullying, all issues affecting our citizens. The progress made today was quite outstanding in terms of the number of issues that were covered. And I think that all of our citizens in each of our jurisdictions will feel well served by the agenda and the conclusions we've reached today from a very comprehensive agenda.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks Gladys. Premier Andrews?
DANIEL ANDREWS, PREMIER OF VICTORIA: Thanks Prime Minister. Can I thank both you and Steven for what's been a productive meeting here in Adelaide. I just want to highlight a couple of points. Firstly, I think today we've agreed on the clearest link ever between a proper population policy and a proper conversation and agreements about the infrastructure that we need. We've agreed today in the clearest terms perhaps ever between state, territory and the national government that infrastructure and managing population growth are essentially the same issue. Not too far away from that we're on the journey I think to a similar agreement about hospitals and schools and some of the other basic services. That's really important and we're pleased to be part of that process and we'll provide as much information and as much coordinating material as we can towards better outcomes.
On family violence, which has been a priority for our government and indeed I think for everybody sitting at this table for a long time now, I want to thank the Prime Minister, particularly to matters that I had raised a couple of years ago, which had not been looked upon favourably. The Prime Minister has agreed to have a look at, particularly through the Medical Benefits Schedule Review, potentially a pathway for women and children to have a more discreet avenue in order to get the care and support from their GP that they need. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to advance that.
In terms of Closing the Gap, I think we have kind of got off course a little bit but now there is a really meaningful opportunity for a partnership the likes of which we've not seen before. Where we actually let Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians lead the discussion, determine the outcome, own the outcome. And I think we'll see much better results because of that. That self-determination is what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs is all about or at least should be and I want to thank the Prime Minister for having got that back on course where there was every prospect that we would not be able to move forward in such a productive way.
Finally, can I just indicate to you that I took the opportunity on behalf of all Victorians to thank the Director General of ASIO, the AFP, all of our partners. We've had some terrible incidents, both tragedies but also some other incidents that have been foiled in recent times in my capital city and we very much value the partnership, the sharing of information, the arrangements, the architecture that we have in place with all of our partners. They in every way are all about keeping Victorians safe. So it's been a very productive meeting and I've been very pleased to be part of it.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Premier Andrews. Premier Palaszczuk.
ANASTASIA PALASZCZUK, PREMIER OF QUEENSLAND: Thank you, and from the outset I wanted to and did officially thank all of the Premiers and First Ministers for the outstanding cooperation from all states and territories during the unprecedented fires that we had in Queensland. And I echo that and of course we'll reciprocate any help that's needed in the future in other states. So thank you for that.
Once again, a very productive and I really thank the Prime Minister and all of the Premiers and First Ministers for due consideration about combating cyberbullying. I think that's a really important issue with families especially impacting on young children out there across our nation. And the right to be forgotten is something that we do need to investigate and we have agreed to do further week into that. So I think from a point of view that families who have children that are experiencing really bad forms of cyberbullying, whether it's at home or at school, that right to be forgotten is going to be very important and we will be following that up.
Then of course there was issues around health and education. I think Queensland shares New South Wales' views that we will continue to negotiate especially around education but in relation to health, we still do believe that we are owed some back pay and we'll make sure that our families do get that. And then finally I just wanted to say thank you very much to everyone for agreeing to have the next COAG meeting in Queensland.
PRIME MINISTER: In July.
ANASTASIA PALASZCZUK, PREMIER OF QUEENSLAND: Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Premier Palaszczuk. Can I go to Premier McGowan.
MARK MCGOWAN, PREMIER OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Thanks, Prime Minister. And can I welcome you and Premier Marshall to your first of these events. And whilst you might not realise it, you're very fortunate that at this first one of yours it's the first one in a long time the GST issue has not…
PRIME MINISTER: I got that sorted before I came.
[Laughter]
MARK MCGOWAN, PREMIER OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA: …has not been mentioned. Has not been mentioned. And my good friend here the Premier of Tasmania has been very warm and congratulatory towards Western Australia on our success. So, look, the principle discussion was around population. Obviously each state is different. We had a presentation from one of Australia's premier demographers who pointed out some of the growth in various cities and states and how uneven it's been due to a range of factors. He also pointed out that Sydney and Melbourne in some point in the future, in 2050 or thereabouts, are predicted to hit 8 million people. So obviously there's a need for careful consideration of our nation's population growth and calibrating it to ensure that each state's needs are taken care of.
Obviously in a West Australian context we've had some issues with the economy being very strong and then not so strong and the population moving up and down accordingly. And so therefore the way forward to ensure that each state has its opportunity for input and our individual circumstances being taken into account to a greater degree is great. And obviously making sure that infrastructure spend and service delivery spend, in particular from the Commonwealth's work in conjunction with that is very important. And so I pointed out the fact that we're going to have Infrastructure WA put in place relatively soon. And working in conjunction with Infrastructure Australia to make sure there's proper provision of infrastructure in Western Australia.
The discussion around domestic violence was very important and the most important thing for me is once again domestic violence, women and children in particular, is elevated to a national issue and continues to be nationally focused. And I think that's probably a change on what was the case a decade or two decades ago. So continuing discussion and emphasis on all governments at all levels, working on that issue cooperatively, is very important.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Premier McGowan. To our host, Premier Marshall.
STEVEN MARSHALL, PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Thank you very much. I don't know what's gone on at these COAG meetings before but I’ve certainly enjoyed today. It started with the signing of our City Deal in Adelaide and the announcement by the Prime Minister that South Australia won the bid to host the National Space Agency here in Adelaide, followed by the privilege and the pleasure to host COAG in Adelaide today. It's been a full agenda, as the other speakers have made very clear.
Can I thank the Prime Minister for the very significant increase in federal health funding which was announced today at COAG. That is very welcome. I echo the thoughts of the other members regarding the domestic and family violence prevention agenda item. We were very pleased to co-host the summit in Adelaide in October, with the Commonwealth. And we received the statement from that summit today which will inform the fourth action plan. So we're looking forward to that.
And I too would like to just lend my support to the population arrangements that are being considered at COAG. I think it's very clear now that we have a very different approach to issues regarding population state by state. There is no cookie cutter approach. And I think what we can do now is all work collaboratively towards a good strategy, a positive strategy, which is going to ensure that we get population growth exactly where it's needed in Australia going forward.
Can I also say that last night was an opportunity for the Chief Ministers, the Premiers and the Prime Minister to get together. I was very pleased to present all of those in attendance with a quality pair of South Australia's RM Williams boots. So I'm really looking forward to getting up to Queensland next year. We might get a celebratory pair of COAG thongs from the Queensland Premier or maybe something else. Who knows? But it's been fantastic. It's a surprise. Looking forward to it already.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much Steven Marshall. To the veteran, Premier Hodgman.
WILL HODGMAN, PREMIER OF TASMANIA: Prime Minister, thank you. Colleagues, delighted to be in Australia's second most picturesque capital city. And to be part of what was undoubtedly one of the most cooperative and collaborative COAG meetings that I've been at. And I've been to a few. This was one where I think Australians can be confident that we spent all of our time talking about how we can improve the lives of our citizens and the prospects of our states, territories and those who have elected us into office.
And we touched on some really important areas that go to supporting those most vulnerable in our community. Whether it be women and children fleeing family violence, our Indigenous communities, drought affected communities, including in Tasmania. Today was very much a positive example of governments coming together to talk about positive outcomes and how we can improve the lives of those who put us into office. As Tasmania's economy, the fastest growing economy in the country continues to expand, there's a demand in our state for sustained population growth. And I'll be calling on Tasmanians to do their bit but also for us to work collaboratively with the Commonwealth so that we can find the skills base needed to support that strong economic growth in our island state.
There's a lot to be looked forward to in the health space and I look forward to our colleagues, ensuring that we're on a sustainable funding pathway for our health system as we see increased demand and pressures in our health system. It's a critical issue for our state. And a lot of very positive announcements today to make our communities even safer. No state or territory is immune from the threat of terror, or behaviours in our communities that affect our citizens. So to collaborate efficiently and effectively to strengthen and protect our communities was another important outcome. So Prime Minister, congratulations on a very efficiently run COAG meeting. A lot achieved, and I look forward to us all being back at our next COAG meeting next year.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Premier Hodgman. Chief Minister Gunner.
MICHAEL GUNNER, CHIEF MINISTER OF THE NORTHERN TERRITORY: Thank you, Prime Minister. There were a number of issues on the COAG agenda today that were important to the Northern Territory. I think the best way to sum it up is that in recent times we've had some excellent wins, working in partnership with the Australian Government. We've had some productive conversations today and there is more to be done.
First to population. We want more people to call the Northern Territory home. To speak as a champion of the north, for the top of WA, all the Northern Territory and the top of Queensland, we produce half the nation's exports from 5 per cent of the population. More people equals more jobs. This goes to having a vision for this nation, to having a better, stronger, more resilient diversified economy. This is good for all of us. We know the Prime Minister recognises this. We produced our population plan earlier this year and thanked the Prime Minister for his support. This week we saw the second addition of our migration agreement that goes to providing more people to the Northern Territory. This is good stuff. But we need to do more and I look forward to working with the Prime Minister on that.
On Closing the Gap, we have to do this in partnership. We know that. We can't close the gap unless we do it in partnership with Aboriginal people. I thank the Prime Minister for his work over the last few days to bring that agenda back on track. I do believe, as the Prime Minister and Premier Andrews said, that we have a moment now, an opportunity, to really deliver this with Aboriginal people but we've got to do it with Aboriginal people by listening to Aboriginal people. We can't afford to have this go off the rails again. I think the wording of what we're doing so far on Closing the Gap is good but we have to talk funding at some stage. I know the Northern Territory, maintaining our current level of services, is not going to be enough to close the gap. The Prime Minister has recognised this. We've had some excellent conversations with the Prime Minister, starting from when he was Treasurer. We have our remote housing agreement, for example. The Australian Government has put in $550 million over five years to match our $550 million. We're in negotiation now to see whether it's delivered by us or by them but it's a good win for remote housing. But there is still more to be done. We had the $60 million Barkly regional deal done this week. I thank the Prime Minister for that. So I know there's recognition from the Australian Government about what is needed to be done to close that gap and that's some of the work that still needs to be carried out. So I thank the Prime Minister for what's been a very good COAG but as always there's more work ahead of us.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much Chief Minister Gunner. And finally, from the Australian Local Government Association.
MAYOR DAVID O’LAUGHLIN, PRESIDENT OF THE AUSTRALIAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION: Thank you Prime Minister, and thank you all for a cooperative COAG meeting and in particular the commitment across all jurisdictions to early childhood education and care. Notwithstanding the jurisdictional responsibilities are still to be finally settled, there's a commitment to honour that area of work that needs to be done. Local governments are particularly sensitive in regional locations to the funding around this issue because often our councils are the only provider of childhood education and care and preschool, given the private sector is not active in many regional cities and towns. So we’re very conscious about that so funding can keep going forward.
Closing the Gap is an important issue for many of our communities. We have some councils that are entirely comprised of Indigenous members and others that represent majority Indigenous communities. They'll be very interested in the commitment to consultation in this latest agreement. But they'll be looking for economic benefits. Every one of those activities in Closing the Gap will involve employing people, specialists, who will want to be part of that. They will want to see economic benefits flow to their own communities and not just people coming out of metro areas to service them, whatever their needs might be.
In terms of population, there's no doubt it seems every Australian has an opinion on population. Be it pressures on infill, be it something being built next door to them in a metro area, be it fringe areas of the city being developed and farmland being consumed, be it those fringe suburbs being developed but the jobs are nowhere near them or regional towns and cities that don't have the pressures of infill but they have all the infrastructure there, the road, health and sporting infrastructure but their populations are declining and they are in desperate need of more people. We would really welcome this national discussion around population levels, around how the interplay with integration will impact on that, how the distribution across Australia is different to many other places and varying needs of even suburb to suburb across this great country. Very pleased that councils will have the opportunity to participate in that debate through the Australian Local Government Association.
And just finally on the commitment to ending, eliminating or certainly reducing domestic violence, we’re very committed at the local government level to this cause as well, and we do see that gender equality is a huge need to fill across Australia. We’re very committed to making sure that our young women and young girls can engage in sporting activities. We’re committed with the Commonwealth with their local sporting infrastructure [inaudible] to build change rooms for girls and women in emerging sports. In fact, women are doing incredibly well worldwide in what used to be the domain only of blokes. They're immense heroes to our young women and young family women as well. In terms of gender equity, I just wanted to note that in 1919 was when Susan Grace Benny was elected to the office of council in Brighton, a southern coastal suburb here in Adelaide. She was the first woman elected to any level of office in the country. It marks 100 years next year. Despite our best efforts in local government, we are still at only 35 per cent female representation in local government. So I just think we just have to speed this up somehow. I don't know how. But 100 years to get to 35 per cent doesn't look good for us getting to 50 per cent. I’m committed, as is the sector, to improving that election by election, state by state, territory by territory. And finally, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. Thank you for your patience.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, thank you very much. I know colleagues have some planes to catch but happy to take some questions before we depart.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, apart from managing the skilled migrant intake, do you have any idea of the sorts of what the states and territories want in terms of a number of migrants? Is that higher or lower [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, one of the things that we identified today is the need to have better, ideally real-time, assessment of skills needs and that those skills needs in each of the jurisdictions are forward looking. One of the challenges of the skills list is it can be a bit of a rear-view mirror looking at what the skills needs are. And Premier Berejiklian I think made this point very well today, that this is an area where we need greater input from the states and territories. And not just at a state-wide level. We need to know how many more engineers you need in Whyalla. Or Newcastle. Not just in New South Wales or South Australia. This needs to be a lot more micro than it is. That is beyond what the Commonwealth is in a position to be able to do. And so working closely with the states and territories to better define what they are going forward because the jurisdictions represented here have a plan for how they want to grow their state. In South Australia they have a huge vision about how they want to grow their defence and space industries. That's going to require particular people to achieve that. And so we want to work closely with them to make sure that happens.
In terms of overall numbers, what was very clear from Professor McDonald's presentation today is that the population story is a very complex one. And what we need to understand as a Commonwealth is how the population movements will impact on each and every state. And that's why from the end of January, we will be getting additional information coming from the states and territories about carrying capacity, skills needs, things of that nature. Now I've already remarked that on a permanent level that I would expect to see the numbers fall more at a cap to where about they're running currently, which is around 30,000 less than the current target of 190,000. I haven't seen any information to date that would really change that.
But we need to remember what Professor McDonald did some years ago for the Immigration Department. He focused today on net overseas migration. Net overseas migration is the combined impact of permanent migration and temporary migration. And two-thirds of that inflow is in the temporary space, not in the permanent migration space. And he's recommended that for- to maintain per capita GDP growth, that you would need a net overseas migration rate of somewhere between about 160,000 to about 210,000. Now currently we're on the upper end or just above that. And so you can maintain that per capita GDP growth if you remain in that sort of a sweet spot. And so I think that was very useful work that was done by Professor McDonald all those years ago and I haven't seen anything since then that I think would contradict that as a safe range.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just picking up on those comments, so therefore do you support lowering the annual immigration target to say, 160,000 or thereabouts?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm waiting to see the work that is done and the input we get from the states. In the address I gave, the Bradfield address I gave in Sydney, I think I left a pretty good hint that where it's currently running, which is well below the cap, may well be where we end up.
JOURNALIST: Are you saying you want more skilled migrants than perhaps [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: What I'm saying is the current permanent intake is running at about that. That's where it's running now. We've been running below the cap for a number of years.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: Professor McDonald hasn't made a recommendation about what the intake should be and nor have I asked him to.
JOURNALIST: But he did say that migration levels should remain the same.
PRIME MINISTER: Well he's entitled to his view.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: We'll listen to all views as we frame the migration intake for next year and that's the process I've invited the states and territories to participate in at a level that I don't believe they've ever been invited to participate in before. I think that's the point of what we've agreed here today. There has been, I think, a disconnect between the setting of these intakes and the planning and population work which is done at a state and territory level. This is the connection I'm seeking to make and I'm just so pleased that my colleagues sitting around the table have agreed that's absolutely necessary.
JOURNALIST: Premier Andrews, what was your reaction to when the Government’s population expert said, “Infrastructure is a better solution to migration problems than cutting the immigration rate?”
DANIEL ANDREWS, PREMIER OF VICTORIA: I think that building new infrastructure is always a good thing to do. As the Premier, as the recently re-elected leader of the nation's fastest growing state, with the biggest infrastructure agenda we've ever seen, of course I would agree with that. I think that we don't want to be looking at a smaller Victoria or a smaller Australia but we do have to look at investing in the things that make the biggest difference - road and rail, hospitals and schools. And today I think there was a real sense of agreement that all of those things have to be considered as one set of issues. You can't really separate any of those. They're all part of the same challenge. That was what I took out of the very detailed presentation and the lengthy discussion we had.
JOURNALIST: Premier Palaszczuk, what was your reaction to the [inaudible]?
ANASTASIA PALASZCZUK, PREMIER OF QUEENSLAND: I think he made some really good points about how more migration can go out to regional centres and we have a decentralised state. But he also said if the current birth rate of 1.8 births per family continues and with the retirement of the baby boomer generation, we do need to get skills not just from Australia but elsewhere. So it has to be maintained, if not increased. That's what I got out of the presentation.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister...
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, one at a time. Over here.
JOURNALIST: How long are you expecting this process to take? Because as lots of states come back with their new targets, there will be more work required.
PRIME MINISTER: This is an ongoing item on the COAG agenda. I mean, population management is a core task of all the governments you see represented here, including local government. And so this will be an ongoing issue and the next decision that has to be made, at least in terms of immigration, is what the annual intake cap will be for the 2019-20 year. And that decision is taken in the Budget every year. That's always been the case. So what I've sought from the states and territories is input and framing the intake and that cap for the next year.
JOURNALIST: Premier Marshall [inaudible]
STEVEN MARSHALL, PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: It's fundamental to our growth agenda as a state. We've been becoming a smaller and smaller influence on the federation. We lose a seat at the upcoming election. That's completely unsatisfactory as far as the new government is concerned. We want to grow our population. We want to switch off the tap of young people leaving our state every single year and to other jurisdictions. That's a big part of it. More international students. But we also want targeted skilled migration to fill skills gaps that exist. Those skill gaps are really driving a hand brake on our productive capacity as a state and they need to be addressed. We really welcome this grown up, sensible, collaborative discussion and we look forward to having our data into the Commonwealth as a matter of emergency.
JOURNALIST: Premier Berejiklian, how do you get international students to regional NSW? Is there any concern that [inaudible]?
GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN, PREMIER OF NSW: Certainly, that was one of the five or six points I raised in terms of the things we need to look at into the future. I think there is enormous potential for us to grow our regional communities through encouraging students. We never want to be in a position to suggest that there's certain locations only that people can go to study. Imagine having incentives for students to study in our regional communities and actually grow our regional communities and have university towns. I think that’s a very positive possibility. But that is something that requires Commonwealth and state cooperation given the overlap between university policy and also state policy, which is precisely why I think today's discussion on population policy has been so critical. And in all of the conversations we've had, whether it's infrastructure, whether it’s regional growth, whether it's projections, each of us have certain unique circumstances to our state. We've never actually taken a holistic view of how we manage this across the nation. That's why I'm quite excited by the fact we can have now input into the skills we need and also have forward projections from the Commonwealth with a 3 or 5 year timeframe potentially with what things are looking at so we can plan. And also the greater acceptance that we need to align our infrastructure spend. In New South Wales we'll be spending nearly $90 billion in four years which is huge infrastructure alone. It's unprecedented anywhere in the nation. But we’re still only playing catch-up and that’s why I feel so strongly about this issue because this is where I think all of us can support each other in terms of our own ambitions for our state.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: The decision is always taken in the Budget. So the decision will be in the Budget as is always the case. That's why we're keen to have that input coming in from the end of January. As you know we’ve brought the Budget forward because of the electoral timetable for next year. So that is why we're seeking that information a little more urgently. And so we look forward to getting that done. But look, it's an ongoing- population management is the day job of everybody who sits at this table across all the various things we've got to deal with. I suppose now that we've been able to demonstrate we can solve big problems like the GST, we can probably seek to work together to solve another big problem like how we manage population.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Mr Barr reflected on the fact that this was a non-controversial COAG agenda. Does that [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: It was an outcome. We had a very good meeting and people were constructive and we got a lot done. Which I think should be the agenda for every COAG meeting. It’ll certainly be my task…
JOURNALIST: But no controversial issues...
PRIME MINISTER: Well I’d say health, early childhood education, Closing the Gap, national security, drought, population management. I would say these are pretty big issues and we all got around them today. I started the meeting off by saying let's get it done and we did.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: We still have two remaining but we'll continue to work on those in both education and health.
JOURNALIST: What’s the crux of the new drought agreement?
PRIME MINISTER: It largely does a number of things. It tries to focus incentives more on drought resilience and so where we're trying to in water infrastructure and things of that nature, longer-term drought planning, it provides for greater accountability and information sharing about what we're learning around drought and reporting up through our officials so we can better coordinate our drought planning. These were the things that came out of the Drought Summit. There were many other programs, like the $5 billion drought fund and the on-farm rebates which some states have and some states don't, but the Commonwealth has stepped up in those. And I am pleased to say that we now have over 80 of those councils that have now applied and are very well advanced in their applications for the one million per shire in drought affected areas in those shires and local government areas. I'm very pleased and thankful to all those areas for really stepping up in getting that program running. I think this is going to make a very big difference to those communities. Particularly as they're coming into Christmas and they'll be able to see those projects rolling out. Some of them already are and I think that's a very welcome boost. As I know Gladys would know for drought affected communities, as would Anastasia n Queensland, but as we know the drought is also impacting into Victoria. And into South Australia. And getting it in front of the issue on drought, as you know, was one of my most, if not the most, important priority when I came into the role of Prime Minister. And to see this sort of followed through in this, securing that agreement today, I'm very pleased and thankful to my colleagues. But the work continues out there where I know communities going into Christmas will be doing it tough this Christmas. But I think they'll be encouraged that their governments have responded. Their communities have responded. And those communities far away from them also have stepped up to help them as well. I want to thank them for that. Last one.
JOURNALIST: When will the details of the Israeli embassy decision be made public?
PRIME MINISTER: When I announce them. When I announce them. So thank you, all. Merry Christmas. Have a happy and safe New Year.
