Speeches
Press Conference with the Attorney General
13 December 2018
Prime Minister, Attorney General
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you for joining us today, I’m joined by the Attorney General to announce two important decisions the Government has made that I believe are absolutely central, along with so many others, to the proper functioning of the successful modern democracy in which we live. The first of those is the Government's response to the religious freedoms report that was undertaken by Phillip Ruddock and his panel. The second is to announce the establishment of a Commonwealth Integrity Commission. Let me deal with each of the issues in turn and I'll ask the Attorney then to do likewise in some detail for these announcements.
There is no more fundamental liberty that any human being has, than their fundamental right to decide what they believe, or not believe, for that matter. To have a religious faith or not to have a religious faith and of that religious faith, what particular religious faith they may wish to pursue. Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam, but equally within all of these religions we know there are different aspects of the way people practise those faiths.
What you believe should always be a matter for you and it has always been very tightly identified with who you are as a person. It has been one of the key issues of identity going back centuries, this is not a new thing. What people believe has always determined, in so many ways, what they're about. As I say, whether it's to believe in a particular religious faith or not to. These equally I think, go to who people are and they should be able to get about that, free of harassment or intimidation or discrimination in any way, shape or form. Just as you should be able to do depending on your sex or your gender or sexual identity or your ethnicity or any of the other protections that currently exist in our laws today. Anti-discrimination is an important principle in a modern democracy and so it’s important that that principle of anti-discrimination and the protection of people's religious liberty are addressed in this country. There is some unfinished business that we’re seeking to address in the announcements that we're making today and I want to thank Phillip Ruddock for the recommendations that they've made.
The protection of religious freedoms is therefore synonymous with our identity and it's particularly so and relevant in Australia, because in our incredibly diverse multicultural society, 70 per cent of Australians identify as having a particular religious belief. Now, much has been made of the fact that the 30 per cent of those who don't, has been growing. That is, I think, a description of the diversity that exists in Australian society. But let's not forget 70 per cent actually do identify with having a particular religious faith. But if you look at some of our largest, our most long-established, as well as some of our most recent arrivals to Australia, the proportion of those in those communities expressing an identification with a religious belief, is far higher. 95 per cent of Indian-born Australians, Greek Australians, Filipino Australians, over 90 per cent of Italian and Lebanese Australians identify with having a particular religious faith - and those faiths are many, Hindu, Christian, Muslim - across each of those nationalities.
So if you support an open, tolerant, multicultural Australia - and we are the most successful immigration country, immigrant country, in the world, daylight second - we have shown the world over centuries, as we've continued to improve, as we've continued to strive to ensure that we protect the social cohesion that has gone along with the most successful immigration programme that any country has ever run - that we maintain those protections of tolerance and respect.
So if you support a multicultural Australia, then you'll be a supporter of religious freedoms. You'll understand that religious faith is synonymous with so many different ethnic cultures in Australia. You can't know where one stops and one starts, it's a way of life and that way of life is part of a harmonious Australian culture overall, it’s critically important for our continued success.
We know that not all Australians share the same religious beliefs and we know that the religious composition of Australia is changing. That's fine, of course it's fine. It's part of a modern society that respects and tolerates each other. But I do know this; that Australians are substantially united, that all beliefs and all Australians, including not having a belief, should always be respected deeply by each and every citizen.
Now, the protections that we're announcing today, that we intend to introduce, they're not about protecting any religious institution, they're not about protecting any individual religion. In fact, they're not about those religions. It's about protecting Australians and an Australian’s right to believe in what they want to believe. Those individual Australians, if they're of faith, or not, but who just go about their daily lives - quietly, they don't seem to impose their religious beliefs on others, they are a guide and a light to their own lives, how they want to raise their families, how they live in their communities - these protections are about them. They’re about their right to choose. They’re about the choices they want to make for them and their families and their communities, choices that they believe makes them stronger, equips them better to deal with the many challenges that life brings them. So it is important, it needs to be protected and that is the basis upon which we asked Philip to go and look at these issues, to consult widely, as he did - Christian may speak more about that - and to listen.
So, we have listened, we have heard and we believe there are three things that fundamentally need to be done.
The first of those is what I'd call administrative tidy-ups. I mean there are some things in our laws which frankly, have just got a bit outdated. I don't think we're as offended today by the blasphemy of sailors that we once probably were over 100 years ago. So, laws against blasphemy in the Maritime Act probably need to be updated and I don't really say this flippantly. Our laws always have to be updated to reflect where we are today. There are a range of issues that we need to address; there are a range that deal the Charities Act and things like that, which are sensible. I would describe them as low-hanging fruit, just things that should be completely uncontentious and enabling this to go forward.
There are also the issues that we've sought to try and address in recent weeks through the Parliament and regrettably, we've been unable to do that. As you know - and my offer still stands - that if the Parliament were to be able to have a conscience vote for all members of the Parliament to resolve the issue on the Bill that I sought to put forward, it does three things. It protects students from discrimination on the basis of their sexual identity, it ensures that schools can have reasonable rules, and it ensures that religions can teach according to their faith. Then, I think these are three commonsense principles that I'd be more than happy for the Parliament to be able to debate and vote on, on the free conscience of every single member. So that offer stands.
But what we are proposing in relation to those issues and the broader employment issues, is there is a requirement under the Fair Work Act that these matters would be consulted on with states and territories and the response from the Government will be to refer those matters off to a process where the Australian Law Reform Commission, who would report in the second half of next year and bring forward some further recommendations about how they might be addressed.
The third area is to really address this fundamental issue of anti-discrimination and ensuring we complete the work. That is, to establish a Religious Discrimination Act and to appoint a Religious Freedom Commissioner within the Human Rights Commission. The latter will be particularly responsible for issues around collecting information and understanding the issue more fully, working closely with communities, as well as engaging in education programs and the like.
The protections that have been afforded to ensuring anti-discrimination against a person on the basis of their religion or choice not to have a religion, would be set out in the same way that those anti-discrimination protections already exist in relation to other issues such as ethnicity, gender and so on. The Attorney can go into that.
Now, on the second matter, on the establishment of a Commonwealth Integrity Commission, this is an exercise we embarked on in January of this year. We haven't kicked up a lot of dust about this because we've just been working on it. We think it is always important to raise the bar and maintain the bar to ensure the public can have confidence in the integrity of Commonwealth public administration. These are sensible changes we're outlining today. They learn the lessons, I think, from many of the failed experiments we've seen at a state jurisdiction level. I have no interest in establishing kangaroo courts that frankly have been used - sadly too often - for the pursuit of political, commercial or bureaucratic agendas in the public space. I think those exercises have sought to undermine public confidence, not improve it. They have not added to the integrity of public administration and they've become playthings of the usual actors. That’s not what we're about.
We're about having a robust, resourced, real system that will protect the integrity of Commonwealth and public administration. Now it is true to say that when this comes to these issues, Australia is a long way ahead and in fact leads the world when it comes to protecting the integrity of our administration. We are a standard-bearer in this area and what we're announcing today I think will enable us to continue to play that role. We will continue to be a model.
We have looked at all the alternatives and we believe that this is the best way to achieve this. It is the most sensible, measured, carefully considered way to address these issues. We're not interested in jumping on a bandwagon or anything like that, so that’s why we've been quietly getting about this work since January of this year.
We actually have a formal, carefully considered proposal, unlike the Labor Party who are yet to even define what on earth it is they're talking about. This is a real proposal, with real resources, real teeth, but one that I think protects our Commonwealth public administration from the weaknesses of many other systems.
I'll hand to the Attorney to go over those matters, thank you for your attention.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL, THE HON CHRISTIAN PORTER MP: Thank you PM. Perhaps if I start with the Religious Freedom Review, today of course, we'll be releasing Phillip Ruddock's full report, a very fulsome and detailed response by the Government to that report. It's probably notable that there were 15,000 public submissions to that process, 90 consultation meetings. The panel report - I think when you read it you’ll agree - is a balanced and sensible document, as you'd expect from the quality of the people who delivered that document. Essentially, the Ruddock Report concludes that we now in Australia have an opportunity to better protect freedom of religion and a means of doing that. They suggest in many of their recommendations what that means, what that methodology of better protecting religious freedom will be. You'll see from the recommendations that Phillip Ruddock has produced, that some are legislative, some are administrative and policy-based. As the Prime Minister has noted, we've responded in three stages, if you like. We've accepted 15 of the 20 recommendations directly. A final five we agree with the principle underpinning those five recommendations, but they will be the subject of a referral to the Australian Law Reform Commission that I'll speak to in a moment.
The first stage of response, as the Prime Minister noted, is to immediately move to legislate in a general omnibus bill, some fixes to some problems across the statutory landscape at the Commonwealth level. The types of things that are recommended there, I don't expect will be particularly contentious, but things like amending the Charities Act to make it clear that the advocacy for the traditional view of marriage can't be a disqualifying purpose. So, charities can keep that view of marriage if they wish to and still be a charity. Clarifying in the Marriage Act that religious schools can't be compelled to have their facilities used for same-sex weddings, really rather simple things in line with other amendments that have already happened.
There are also important administrative issues. The Commonwealth will take a lead role in developing a set of model guidelines which will be meant to, after consultation with the state, have a consistent national framework that explains to parents what their rights, responsibilities and duties are, when they want to withdraw a child from a part of education at a school that might contain moral or religious matters that are contrary to the doctrine of that family. So these are matters that we'll move on directly.
Secondly, there will be the drafting of a Religious Discrimination Bill and I'll come back to that in a moment. Thirdly, five recommendations, which are recommendations one, five, six, seven and eight - which effectively pertain to this central issue, as to how you best balance, with respect to schoolchildren and teachers at schools, the rights of religious schools to maintain conduct and teaching in accordance with their faith, but also ensure that there is not discrimination against teachers or students.
Now, with those five recommendations, the Ruddock Report itself suggests a potential way to draft going forward to better balance those two competing rights. Of course the Prime Minister, with respect to schoolchildren, has produced a bill and offered a conscience vote which is another way of balancing those rights and one that we as a Government think is a very appropriate way. But it's quite clear that there is an inability of Parliament to resolve this issue. The concept that we have landed on here, is to move those five recommendations around those two central principles after consultation with the states and territories on terms of reference, to the Australian Law Reform Commission, so people who are expert and knowledgeable in matters of drafting can produce specific drafting that may be capable of bipartisan support.
Had the process that we'd followed earlier been successful, that may not have been necessary. But that is an excellent institution. It's also notable that the Ruddock Review recommendations go to finding better balances between those two competing principles, not merely in Commonwealth law - so in our Sex Discrimination Act - but also in the Fair Work Act and also in the state variants of anti-discrimination legislation. So, if we can come out of an Australian Law Reform Commission process with a better way of balancing those two competing principles that works consistently across the states, the territories and the Commonwealth, then that will be a very good outcome. This I think is the appropriate mechanism to try and drive that outcome forward.
It's also notable that this touches on the Fair Work Act which requires the Commonwealth, if there are any potential changes to that piece of legislation, to consult with the states.
Then finally, the Religious Discrimination Bill, which we are well-advanced on the drafting of and which we would have out early next year, so that people can see it. The architecture for discrimination legislation in Australia is well-known, it's not overly complicated. An attribute is defined - such as age or race or sex or disability or, in this case, the adherence to a religion or the right to not adhere to a religion - and then certain prohibitions are placed on people in terms of their treatment of other Australians based on that attribute. So you are protected from discrimination because of that attribute and then there are certain exemptions drafted as is appropriate. I don't think that that would be a very contentious bill, necessarily, it follows a very standard architecture. But what the Ruddock Report said, is that there is a need for such a bill.
I would put it to you all this way. In Australia at the moment, if you're invited to a function at Parliament and at entry to the room of that function, you were denied entry because of the fact that you had a disability or because of your race, or because of your age, or because of your sex, that would be unlawful. But if you were turned away from that same room because of your religion, that would not be unlawful in Australia. So this, if you like, is the fifth and final pillar of an overarching architecture that prevents discrimination for Australians, directed to Australians, based on attributes which should never be the basis for discrimination.
So if I can leave that summary just there, of the religious discrimination issues and just move on to the Commonwealth Integrity Commission. There are quite large amounts of material that are now available on my Department's website and we have hard copies to distribute to you here. That's the result, as the Prime Minister noted, of work that commenced in January.
If I could describe that work this way; the first step that we took in assessing whether a Commonwealth Integrity Commission was necessary and if so, how it should be designed and operated, was to completely process-map all of the integrity arrangements that exist at a Commonwealth level. You'll see that process map. What that process map said to us was that whilst the present multiagency response - where a variety of agencies respond to integrity and corruption issues across the public sector in different parts of the public sector - that there was something missing. That something was a single, dedicated, specialist and peak body to investigate criminal corruption across the public sector. So we have created that body, a model for that body and that is what we are going to describe very briefly now.
The Commonwealth Integrity Commission would have two divisions; a law enforcement integrity division and a public sector integrity division. So there would be a Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner, a Public Sector Integrity Commissioner and an overarching Commonwealth Integrity Commissioner. The Law Enforcement Integrity Division is, in effect, an enlarged variant of a present body which many of you will be familiar with is the Australian Law Enforcement Integrity Commission. Now, that body operates very well. It has jurisdiction at the moment over the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, the Australian Federal Police, AUSTRAC, Department of Home Affairs, and some parts of the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources. This part of the new Commonwealth Integrity Commission will be an enlarged ALEIC and that side, the law enforcement division, will have additional jurisdiction over the following bodies; the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, the Australian Tax Office and the entirety of the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources. The point being, that the very, very substantive powers that ACI has are appropriately tailored to the fact that it is investigating the investigators. But when you look across the public sector, there are a range of bodies, whilst not necessarily traditionally viewed as law enforcement bodies, that have many of the attributes of law enforcement bodies. The powers of the ATO to investigate, for instance, are very, very serious. So having that organisation and other quasi law enforcement organisations brought into the jurisdiction of a Law Enforcement Integrity Division, which will be better equipped and better resourced, but operate to the same jurisdictional standards and with the same powers is one half of this organisation.
The other half of the organisation will be the Public Sector Integrity Division. That will cover the rest of the public sector, including all departments, agencies, their staff, parliamentarians and their staff, staff of federal judicial officers, as well as Commonwealth service providers and recipients of Commonwealth funds. So that is to say, organisations like the NDIS, organisations that contract with the government. That is obviously, as you'll see from process maps that we’re able to provide to you, a very large number of people where there will be coverage. The Public Integrity Division will investigate allegations of criminal conduct and corruption in the public sector. It will not investigate non-criminal misconduct.
The way in which the Public Sector Integrity Commission half of this organisation will work is to investigate, pursuant to existing known standards of criminal offences in our Crimes Act and Criminal Codes, that relate to corruption. An important part of this process will be that we will update and modernise those offences, include new offences and create a new division in Chapter 7 of the Crimes Act, so that all of the offences - which we might broadly describe as corruption offences that apply to the public sector - are in one place, are well known, have high visibility and have been refined and improved for modern purposes. So, for instance, we are intending to create a new offence of “aggravated corruption by a public sector official,” which would in effect be repeated offending of other types of corruption than exist in the Criminal Code. We would also create a new “failure to report corruption” offence. We would also look at an aggravated offence which involved “corruption and corruption offending pursuant to known offences by senior members of the public service”.
The Public Sector Integrity Division of this new organisation will have slightly different powers to the law enforcement side of the organisation, noting that they are investigating different types of behavior in different types of organisations at varying degrees of severity. There is an enormous amount of detail that will have in a written form available to you and I would just leave and end this part of the presentation by noting that the detail that you have in front of you, I think, indicates a sober, cautious, detailed process which asks two questions; “Is such a body able to make integrity better, rather than worse at the Commonwealth level,” and; “How does that body operate inside an already relatively well-functioning structure?”
I would just ask you to look at the detail that you're being provided with today and compare it to Labor's approach; which is a press release which they say was the result of 12 months’ work and consultation that tells no-one in this room anything, of any detail, about what it is that they would propose.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Christian and to re-enforce that point, both of these announcements that we’ve made today, that are central to our functioning as a successful democracy, have been the product of a long process of careful consideration. There's substantive detail for you now.
So happy to take questions, can we deal with religious freedom and then we'll deal with the integrity commission and then we can deal with the other issues, just to make sure we're staying in the same subject areas.
JOURNALIST: On religious freedom Prime Minister, if these changes are so important as you have said, why has your Government sat on the Ruddock report for seven months and why are not proposing to take any legislative action until after the election?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, wrong on both counts. First of all, I have been Prime Minister for four months, just under that in fact, and so I can only take responsibility for my actions when it comes to dealing with this and we’ve been taking this process, this report, through our process as a Cabinet, considering it carefully to make the announcement we have today. These are serious issues and we have had a full and frank conversation as a Cabinet, as a team, to come to the decision we have today. We will seek to legislate these matters, particularly in relation to firstly the tidy-up issues and also a Religious Discrimination Act, if we're in a position to do so and gain the support for it, very happy to.
Let's take one at a time, there's a lot of people here.
JOURNALIST: Just on that as well, is the a reason you're not looking to legislate until after the election? Is it because you see this issue as a distraction leading into the election when your main issues are -
PRIME MINISTER: I am looking to legislate before the election.
JOURNALIST: Okay.
PRIME MINISTER: I’m looking to legislate before the election, I'd happily deal with it. Whether it's the issue of discrimination against gay students and the reasonable rules on teaching according to faith, I was happy to have that in the Parliament last sitting fortnight. Bill Shorten wouldn't agree. He wouldn't agree to give his own members a conscience vote on the issue or agree to the legislation. I'm happy for us to advance a Religious Discrimination Act and also to deal with the other legislative matters before the next election. I would hope that they would have the support of the Labor Party to support not just religious freedoms, but also multiculturalism in Australia.
JOURNALIST: Is there any evidence that the religious of freedoms that you're seeking to protect has been denied by any school?
PRIME MINISTER: By any school? What I’ve seen, let me answer more broadly as well in terms of schools. For those who think that Australians of religious faith don't feel that the walls have been closing in on them for a while, they're clearly not talking to many people in religious communities or multicultural communities in Australia. I remember a conversation I had with one such community in Western Sydney and they said they left where they came from, to come to Australia because of religious persecution in the countries they were living in, only now - they feel - to be potentially facing the same sort of limitations to how they practice their religion in this country. That made me incredibly sad; that one of the great liberties Australia has always been known for - at perception and indeed in their mind in fact - is being curtailed. I don't think that's something I should allow to stand.
JOURNALIST: Do you have any examples of that?
PRIME MINISTER: I have many, but I mean that has been the experience relayed to me by people in these communities all around the country, as it has been relayed to Philip Ruddock in the process of consultation he went through. What I do also know is that there's not one religious school that I'm aware of who would seek to expel any child on the basis of their sexuality. Nor is there any threat of that occurring to my knowledge, but I still agree that should we be able to agree and have that matter dealt with in the Parliament in the process I have described and I'd be happy to do so.
So religious freedom, I mean, why in this country should it be - as Christian said - illegal for someone to turn someone away because of a disability, or their gender, or their sexual identity, but it's okay to turn someone away because of their religion? I mean, how can we allow to stand in Australia? That shouldn't be happening here.
JOURNALIST: If you’re seeking to legislate this before the next election, do you believe that this could be a vote-winner for you?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't care, it's the right thing to do.
JOURNALIST: You say these protections are about the people who don't seek to impose their religious beliefs on others, the ones who don’t. What about those who might seek to impose their religious views on others, even those within their own community and their own families, are there protections against those who would seek - ?
PRIME MINISTER: It's protection for people for what they believe or choose not to believe, Hugh. The point I'm trying to make is that the vast majority of Australians who go about their religious faith, do so in a very peaceful way. Their faith means a lot to them and their religious practice means a lot to them. And they feel that the walls are closing in on them a bit and I want to make sure they don't feel like that and they can get about their lives, their faith and their religion - or the reverse of that if they choose that. I mean it's a free country, it's a free society. People should be able to proclaim what they believe and discuss it in an open forum, like on any other issue. It shouldn't be a taboo topic in Australia.
We're a free society, you can talk about whatever you like. But what I am saying is there is a mainstream majority of Australians for whom religion is an important part of their life and they want to just be able to get on with it and live their lives in accordance with that and not have the Government start telling them where and when they can go, what they can say and how they should raise their children, how their kids should be educated. They just want to be able to choose the life they’ve chosen that's what I'm standing up for.
I think people know what I believe on this. I have been very consistent on this issue for over a decade in public life. This is not a new issue for me, it's an issue of long-standing conviction. It’s not about any one religion. I have always understood that anyone's religious belief in this country is only as protected as another person's religious belief.
ATTORNEY GENERAL: Could I just add to that. Legally what discrimination legislation does, is offer protection “from”; from the harsh or unfair treatment of another person or body against the individual based on their attribute, their race or their sex, or in this case their religion. In terms of examples, I mean, that example I gave of someone being turned away from a room that they were invited to because of their religion, happened here in this state. It happened here.
PRIME MINISTER: It happened in Parliament House.
ATTORNEY GENERAL: We’ve got examples of Baptist care organisations in Queensland, in their management, putting a view to their staff about what the result of the plebiscite on same-sex marriage should be or how people should view marriage, just in the same way Qantas did to its’ staff. Yet that Baptist care organisation’s executives are brought into proceedings at law in Queensland. There are examples of people having Facebook conversations with their work colleagues where they put a view in favour of traditional marriage being sacked and having to run unfair dismissal cases against their employer. So this offers those people the same protection that they would have, if that discrimination had occurred based on their race, or their sex, or their gender.
JOURNALIST: PM, if a Muslim woman goes into a bank now or a courtroom with a full face niqab or a Muslim refuses to stand for the anthem or refuses to stand for a magistrate or a judge, that is now protected under your proposal?
ATTORNEY GENERAL: All discrimination legislation defines the attribute, then sets out the things that can't be done to the person because of their attribute. Then we'll set out a variety of exemptions. Of course the reason why we will have a draft exposed, is to stress-test that set of staged statutory proposals. But in the sort of circumstances you're talking about, there are always limits and exemptions. I would think it would be very much the case that a judge would still have the ability to call a person into contempt in a court if that person did not obey a lawful direction of a judge.
JOURNALIST: On gay students, you pledged to action on that issue this year. You are the Government, you control the House of Representatives and you haven't attempted to legislate?
PRIME MINISTER: I have.
JOURNALIST: Well you could have brought the legislation up -
PRIME MINISTER: I have attempted to legislate and Bill Shorten refused to give a conscience vote to his members to do it. He refused to support the legislation. So I have attempted to legislate. I said it wanted to do it in a bipartisan way, I said I wanted to do it in good faith. The Labor Party played politics with it. They broke that commitment, they broke the way which I said would be a fair way deal with it. I don’t want to play politics with this issue. I'm happy to have the Parliament to decide it and I couldn't tell you what the numbers would be ultimately, on how that bill would go. But I'm quite happy to let all of my members, as their leader, vote their conscience on this issue. The question for Bill Shorten is, why is he not prepared to do it? Why is he prepared to whip the votes of members in his own Party, in his own caucus, to force them potentially to go against their conscience on these issues? I'm not going to do that to my members.
So I reject absolutely the idea that I have not sought to follow through on the commitment I have made. I absolutely followed through on that.
JOURNALIST: Then why not put legislation through the Parliament?
PRIME MINISTER: I already answered your question.
JOURNALIST: A slight detour, on the confessional seal, you want a unified approach from the states on that. Are you satisfied that, where the states are headed in terms of a priest being forced to, you know, give up information they’ve learned from the confession?
ATTORNEY GENERAL: That's gone to the council of attorneys-general. As you know it's largely a state issue, because it's an interface with state criminal law. The ACT have the laws entirely as you described. The Northern Territory has also, or is just about to legislate. It appears to me that process is moving forward, albeit not incredibly swiftly, but it is moving forward.
JOURNALIST: When will the review be completed?
ATTORNEY GENERAL: The second half of next year is our anticipated timeframe.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, another matter. There is a lot of concern being expressed about suppression [inaudible]. Can you reassure the Australian people that the criminal justice system is doing what it should be doing at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll refer you to the Attorney General.
ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, suppression orders are a matter for the courts. I don't have detailed knowledge - not having been sitting in that court at the time - as to what the basis and the reasons for that suppression orders were so I'm just not qualified to give you that answer.
JOURNALIST: The Ruddock Report didn’t recommend creating a religious freedom Commissioner, so why has the government decided to do that?
ATTORNEY GENERAL: The view that we took is that if you take this seriously, that when you have a piece of discrimination legislation, that it is wise and very useful to have someone in the Human Rights Commission who is for all intents and purposes responsible for the conduct of Australian affairs and for the consideration of matters pursuant to that legislation. So it seemed to us to be a logical connection to the commitment to actually legislating this area.
PRIME MINISTER: We’ve had a good run around this park for this one, we'll move to the Integrity Commission.
JOURNALIST: No, on the Integrity Commission, if I may. Couple of questions, will [inaudible] where this will capture, just to be clear, does it capture elected officials and will it act retrospectively, so a perciveid corrupt action was happening today, might be captured by a Commission that is not legislated until the future?
ATTORNEY GENERAL: It will not operate retrospectively. If we might offer a view from the Government - retrospective criminal law is probably the most serious and unwarranted thing that any government anywhere, in any democracy can do. So we're not doing that here.
But in answer to the first part of your question, it would cover elected officials, so parliamentarians, ministers. The way in which the body would operate is that you'll see with the multiagency framework that there are already a whole range of institutions that deal with different parts of the public service. So for instance, an organisation that this Government created, the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority looks into expenses and issues in respect to parliamentarians. If that body for instance, in the course of one of its’ inquiries, found something that it considered might constitute criminal corruption, they would refer that matter to this new body, who would take over the investigation of that matter. So this is a system of referral inside the multiagency framework that presently exists.
JOURNALIST: What protection will whistleblowers and journalists receive under the Integrity Commission?
ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, there's been some steps forward recently on the whistleblower issues in federal politics. Obviously in the drafting process here and we'll consult heavily, that is an issue as with Parliamentary and legal privilege, that final detailed drafting needs to be landed on.
But we want to do three things with each of those issues; not abrogate legal or parliamentary privilege and ensure that there's sufficient protection for whistleblowers. But that's part of the detailed drafting process.
JOURNALIST: Can I ask on an unrelated issue?
PRIME MINISTER: On the commission?
JOURNALIST: No.
PRIME MINISTER: Let's stay with commission, I'm happy to come back to it.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned a “kangaroo court” can you expressly state whether you think the NSW ICAC is a kangaroo court?
PRIME MINISTER: All I can say both as a resident of New South Wales and having watched this over a long period of time, there's a litany, a litany of cases there, which didn't come close to best practice. The way that it has been used here in New South Wales, as a tool to pursue any number of different issues, the rules that sit around access to information, puts information into the public - and frankly on occasions acting outside its own rules, it would seem - how it's released information, it has been the lesson in what not to do.
ATTORNEY GENERAL: I might just add to that, this body is one of referral from existing multiagency approaches. It is not a body that will conduct public hearings and it will not write reports where it makes findings of corruption on a piece of paper against an individual. It is an investigative body with serious investigative tools, that is well-resourced, specialised and the peak body for building briefs against people who have acted corruptly and moving those briefs to the DPP. The reason for that, if I might just give you these words from Brett Walker SC, he said: "We should no longer be told that an individual has engaged in corrupt conduct, let alone that he or she has been found to have done so because their conduct involved the commission of a criminal offence. No other agency briefing a prosecutor or committing a charged person for trial simply informs the community that the person in question is a criminal. That would be a very serious kind of misinformation in a society still attached to the notion of a fair trial before conviction." So this is not a show-trial body.
JOURNALIST: So it will effectively operate in secret? How is that open justice, justice being seen to be done?
ATTORNEY GENERAL: An investigative body necessarily investigates in a non-public way which is very different from operating in secret. But where is justice done in circumstances where someone is investigated by a body pursuant to rules of evidence which no one here would accept are orthodox and then simply makes a finding against that person? For instance, in many matters here in New South Wales, it’s had those findings overturned by the High Court.
JOURNALIST: Will the evidence that is gleaned from the inquiry be able to be used in a court of law against that person?
ATTORNEY GENERAL: Yes, I mean the purpose is to be able build a brief to establish criminality beyond reasonable doubt.
JOURNALIST: Because in ICAC, you don’t need, you’re not allowed to use that evidence?
ATTORNEY GENERAL: This is going to be bound by the rules of evidence so that you are building briefs. Our view is, the best way to combat corruption is to undercover it, investigate it and prosecute it.
JOURNALIST: I know you said you have been working on this since January, but you will be accused of only acting on it now because of the pressure from the crossbench. How do you respond to that?
PRIME MINISTER: The way I respond to that, I don’t think those accusations are being made impartially. I mean we have been working on it since January, they're just the facts. Australians can probably see from the detail of our response today that this has not been done in a hurry. This has been done after long and careful consideration. I really want to commend the Attorney Christian Porter, for the extraordinary work he has done here and his Department as well, that have pulled this together.
This is a very complex issue. It's a very serious issue. You can't deal with it in a press release which you pretend is the result of a year's worth of work. If that's the best the Labor Party can come up with a year's worth of work, well, I think that says a lot about how they consider this serious issue. I mean, what you got here is a serious response from a serious government.
JOURNALIST: Can I ask, just a quick response, if I can. Overnight, quietly, Cardinal George Pell has resigned from the Vatican, his career there now appears to be at an end. Would you make a comment about that career both here in Australia and in the Vatican?
PRIME MINISTER: No I wouldn't. Thank you.
Opening Remarks, COAG - Adelaide
12 December 2018
PRIME MINISTER: Can I start by first of all acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and acknowledge elders past, present and future. Welcome Gladys, good to see you. Can I also thank Steven Marshall, Premier of South Australia, for hosting us here in the wonderful state of South Australia. It was great to be with Steven earlier this morning for our announcement in relation to the Space Agency. So congratulations on that. Can I also congratulate Dan on his re-election as Premier, a very significant win and congratulations to you and your Government and the swearing-in of your ministry, looking forward to working with you, as I am with everyone, as always, as we work through a pretty packed agenda today.
Our agenda today covers the full, I think, spectrum of issues of most concern to Australians. Whether it's on how we manage population, how we support small business, how we deal with domestic violence. Also moving on from the work which was done at the Drought Summit - and I particularly thank all the Premiers and Chief Ministers who I know at a busy time for you came along to the Drought Summit which was very significant and that work has been rolling on since then through Major General Day and Minister Littleproud and we have an important item on the drought today and I appreciate all the work that's gone into that. And of course the usual topics around health and education.
But also, in the second half of today, focusing on the issues of national security and that national security, I think, spans the full spectrum of whether it's keeping in the first part of our agenda items today - our kids safe, whether it’s online from bullying, or keeping Australians protected and safe from terrorism, and that is the full span of our duties to keep Australians safe. I want to thank the all Premiers and Chief Ministers for the strong resolve there has been for excellent working relationships between the Commonwealth and the state and territory governments on these issues. We may have our differences on many things, which has been part of the Federation since Barton and Deakin got together. But that said, when it comes to national security, the working relationship, not only at a political level but amongst our agencies. Whether dealing with the Bourke Street terrorist incident recently in Victoria or working with the Queensland Government when it came responding to recent bushfires - I'm looking for Anastasia, here she is - more recently, our agencies work extremely well together and as we particularly approach what will be, I think, a very challenging bushfire season ahead, there will be a need for continued close planning and preparations which I know is occurring. So with all of that, I propose we get on with it and thank the media for their attendance.
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.
Address, GFG Alliance
10 December 2018
PRIME MINISTER: It’s great to be here in Whyalla - a city with a great future.
[Applause]
It’s tremendous to be here with my good friend Steven Marshall. Can I acknowledge the leaders of the Opposition who are here today, particularly Bill Shorten who is here federally. To Senator Anne Ruston, to my good friend Rowan Ramsey, the federal member. Can I also acknowledge Councillor Claire McLaughlin, your Mayor, and of course Sanjeev Gupta and Mengxing Zhang. It’s wonderful to be here with you all. I'll have a little bit more to say about Sanjeev in a few more minutes. But I also must acknowledge another very special guest in today’s crowd - Santa Claus here. There he is. Santa, say hello, there he is. Thanks for coming, Santa.
As I said, Whyalla is a city with a future. And it was 55 years ago another Prime Minister came to Whyalla. It was Bob Menzies, and he was here at an old-style public meeting, it may as well have been here in this very park. And someone called out to him, "Have you got any shares in this enterprise?" And he turned to them and said, "I've got shares in Australians Unlimited." The same is true today. When I’m asked if the Commonwealth has shares or interest in what's happening here in Whyalla or indeed throughout regional Australia and our economy I say, absolutely, we do. Because the stronger economy that we've been building for the last five years isn't just about a stronger economy in the triangle of Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. It is about a stronger economy that we want to reach into every singing part of this country. That means right here in Whyalla.
That's why several years ago when Arrium was in deep difficulty, we were happy to step up and provide the support which led ultimately to Sanjeev's company coming and making the investment that they did. Which I note they did without any asks or without any guarantees. But ensuring that we got to that point, that we put in place the contracts for the rail service and ensuring that we delivered the regional jobs program and not too far from here as well, investing in the regional economy. Our work as a national Government is to ensure that Australia is efficient, that we are productive, that we are competitive, that we can mix it and Whyalla certainly can.
Bob Menzies' vision of Australia Unlimited with its economy continues to be realised here today. There are parts of this country that have great natural advantages, proximity to markets, particularly our Asian markets and large populations. Here in Whyalla there is proximity to the resources. But you're also supported by other things I believe. That is lower taxes to ensure that we have energy policies that support the investments that need to be made here. Good sound [inaudible] policies. Ensuring we have great relations in our workplaces. That we don't have conflict in our workplaces but we have harmony, people working together for the common enterprise and ensuring we have laws to support that. More than in any other part of Australia this will make a difference I believe.
That's why we're all here to talk about Whyalla today. The viability of what we do here depends on all other parts of our economy working together and supporting the investments that are being made here. Almost 1.2 million jobs created in the last five years, 100,000 just in the last 12 months for young people, and we've seen that here as well. Like Menzies said, we are a shareholder here of what's happening. The future of Whyalla is jobs, it's investment, it's families, it’s stronger communities that are supported by a stronger economy. By a State Government that is turning this state around. I particularly want to acknowledge Premier Marshall for the inspired confidence that we're seeing now again in the South Australian economy. South Australia now has the highest level of business confidence in eight years. This is the turnaround state in South Australia, and this is the comeback city of Australia, when we're talking about Whyalla. And I've got a keen interest in comebacks. I've got a keen interest in the turnaround story that we're seeing here in South Australia. Just like you believe, I believe that our economy will continue to underwrite communities in regional Australia, including here in Whyalla all around the country.
Here in Whyalla with Sanjeev Gupta and CFG we know of another leader who knows how to turn things around. He's done it before as we know in other parts of the world. He and I had a long conversation a few weeks back and he told me that story of how you rebuild, of how you bring people together, of how you set out the vision for the future, and that's what he's doing here in Whyalla and with his investments. He has the tool kit to do it. He hadn't come here asking for anything but at the same time we'll work closely with them as put forward their plans and their proposals, working closely with the Marshall Government to ensure that we can realise the opportunities here in Whyalla. He brings an entrepreneurial spirit. He's defied the critics and he's backed himself with his own cash and his own credibility to come here and make this work. And so what he announces here today, significant transformation of the steelworks, some $600 million which will make it vastly more efficient and competitive secure the roughly 2,500 jobs that rely on that investment, and a potential new nextgen mega steel plant.
This is big stuff. But you have got to start from where we are right now, putting those building blocks in place of turning around the profitability of the plant, of getting the workforce and the management working together, as I know you have, and the sacrifices and commitments you've made to make this work. Everybody pulling together to make this work. A steel plant producing with state of the art technologies that include the best environmental safeguards. Sure, there are still plenty of hurdles to clear and they're big ones. They're big ones. But this is the comeback city of the Australian economy and this is the turnaround state of South Australia. I every have confidence, with the continued support of Rowan Ramsay here, as your local member, who has been a champion for ensuring that the Commonwealth Government has been playing its part in every single element of what's been happening here, will be able to see this through.
It's a win for Whyalla. It's a win for South Australia. And it's a win for Australia. And a stronger economy for Australia. A stronger economy that guarantees and then delivers the essential services that is you rely on. Whether it's the upgrade of the school, whether it's the support of the hospital or yesterday, when I was able to announce $110 million to ensure that Medicare services are available for Australians some 30,000 every year, with eating disorders, something that I know is the worry of every single Australian parent.
We can do that because of a stronger economy. And what you're doing here, Sanjeev, what you're doing here, Whyalla, is making our economy stronger, so we can make Australia stronger, and make Australia the great country it is and always has been. Thank you very much.
Press Conference - Butterfly Foundation
9 December 2018
CHRISTINE MORGAN, CEO BUTTERFLY FOUNDATION: I would define as probably the most momentous day for eating disorders.
I begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we stand – the Cammeraygal People – and pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and future. Butterfly’s board members, represented today by Professor Susan Paxton and Catherine Happ, and I welcome our distinguished guests: our Prime Minister, Scott Morrison; Minister for Health, Greg Hunt; Doctor Sarah Maguire; Doctor Teresa Anderson, who is the CEO of the Sydney LHD and – sorry, Sarah is the Director of InsideOut Institute; Jana Pittman, ambassador for InsideOut; Lucy Brogden, who is the Chair of the National Mental Health Commission; Trent Zimmerman and Andrew Wallace; and those of you who have walked this journey with us.
I acknowledge each person with us today who has a lived experience of an eating disorder. Fiona and Judy; we remember in particular, Tess and Alana, and we have the reality of Tess with us today. We lost them to these terrible illnesses, but their beauty and their passion for every aspect of life has embedded in us an absolute commitment to fight. Bronny, Maddie, Jana, Fiona, Cath, Kelly – we think of those who are still fighting and those who have recovered. And we just know that we can’t give up at any point in time. Recover is possible and it’s the right of anyone with an eating disorder to recover, however torturous the journey. Paul and Mary, we hold onto memories of dark days and dark nights that drove us to look overseas for a new way of treatment, and which inspired us to push the frontiers here in Australia.
Before I invite our Prime Minister to speak, I would like to pay tribute to a special man. He’s someone with a very big engine between his ears, he thinks in terms of solving problems. However, he also has a big heart and he’s gifted with the ability to hear the voice of those in need. Without his willingness to listen the voice of lived experience and his commitment to eating disorders and finding a way forward, we would not be here today. He is passionate, he is tenacious, and he is a game-changer. Minister Hunt, thank you for listening.
[Applause]
I would now like to invite our Prime Minister Scott Morrison to address us.
[Applause]
PRIME MINISTER: Well Christine, thank you very much for the privilege of being here today with you and can I echo what you’ve just said about Greg. And can I welcome everyone who’s here today, but particularly those of you who have the lived experience of this.
Today is a very important day. For many it will be difficult because a reminder of any of these things is hard, and I was just looking at the photo of Tessa, the first time I’ve seen a photo. And I’ve just met Fiona and we’ve just spoken and, as a dad, as a fellow Australian human being, these stories are just so hard. That I’ve never met a braver mum – there are a few other brave mums here. I’ve never met braver people than those I’ve met this morning, who are living with this and fighting it defiantly. And as a result, what other response can we provide when you look into this issue, as Greg has, but to respond as I am announcing we are today. Listening to Jana’s story as we sat in the other room – we all know her in very different capacity, and we’ve all been very proud of her in that capacity. But in this capacity I’m most proud of Jana. Most proud of your struggle and your fight and your defiance and your success and the example that you’re showing to other Australians, particularly given your role.
And to Kelly, who I’ve had – where are you Kelly? They’re over here. We had a good chance to chat today – he’s also a dad, too – and to share our stories and his, and his fight. And again, a braver, more courageous group of Australians you won’t find. And to Butterfly Foundation and Butterfly House, here in particular, which has been the angel in the midst for them, that has come to them and provided that connection for them. That’s been tremendous. We’ve talked a lot today about what we’re announcing. We’ve also talked a lot about what more is needed into the future. I particularly want to make mention of Andrew Wallace, who’s here today, whose own family – Andrew is a Member from the Sunshine Coast up in Queensland – and he and his wife and their family have also lived through this experience.
And so this is something that I think touches all Australians in one way, shape or another. Whether you’ve had a direct experience or through a friend or through family or whatever the experience might be, you know it’s important. And one of the things we have to do is raise the level of awareness about this and the understanding that it is real. It’s real. And whether you’re a clinician or whether you’re a sporting coach, or whether you’re a mum or a dad or a friend or whatever, we need to understand that it’s real. And the best way I can do that and Greg can do that, as Health Minister, he started us on this journey some time ago. Well over a year ago. And those in this room have been going on a journey for a lot longer. And that’s why, today, we are announcing that $111 million will be applied to ensure that this is a Medicare item, this is a Medicare–scheduled item, to ensure 60 different procedures, both dietetic and psychological, are included in the system. And that’s going to help, we estimate, around 30,000 Australians a year, every single year, which is, Christine said, that is a game-changer.
But, it is just part of the game. There is so much more that we will need to do and I’m very conscious of the respite support needed for parents as well, and the family support. The bravest of families are those who deal with this, and regrettably and sadly, there is the tragedy of losing a family member. But there is also the tragedy of families just being broken apart under the pressure, and Australia is stronger when our families are stronger, Australians are stronger when our kids are stronger, and Australians are stronger when we’re reaching out and helping each and every one of those Australians deal with the things that they’re dealing with – through no fault of their own. These things, just they come, they hit you, and the resilience and the strength of Australians to respond to these as families, as communities, as friends, as institutions like we’re in here at Butterfly, is truly inspirational. And so, we’re pleased to do our bit. We’re pleased to step up and do our part, and I’m so pleased that Greg, who’s an outstanding Health Minister, has seized on this and listened and made it happen, working with all of those who provide care in this area.
And so well done, Greg, but more importantly to everyone who is here and everyone who will benefit in the future: we wish you well and we want to do everything that we can to help you be – you’re already strong – but to let your strength carry you through what is a very difficult time for you. And so, we’re very pleased to make this announcement today, we look forward to its implementation, working through with all the various groups that will be involved. We look forward to listening more about how those treatments are progressing and how that’s going and what the response is, and what more needs to be done. Because whatever more needs to be done, will be done. That’s our commitment. That’s what we’re going to do: keep listening, keep acting, keep hearing.
So, on that note, I think I’m now handing over to Greg, who can go into a lot more of the detail. But well done, mate.
[Applause]
THE HON GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: Thanks very much to Scott, and I say Scott, because first and foremost today you’re a dad. And today is a day about mums and dads, sons and daughters, friends and family.
To my colleagues, Trent and Andrew, who have been such advocates in this space. To Christine, to you; to Susan from Butterfly; to Lucy from the National Mental Health Commission and the Chair; and then Doctor Sarah Maguire. But especially, to all of those who’ve been on the journey. To Fiona – you’ll tell your story soon – but when you told me it had the impact. To Kelly and to Cath and to Fiona, the other Fiona Wright, who’s also here; and to everybody. Today is about saving lives and protecting lives. Today is about real hope for people with eating disorders. This is the day where Australia says: we hear, we get it and it will never be the same again. And so, this journey has had so many different people involved in it, people who have talked and spoken, who have been affected. My own staff from day one said: this is our chance. It’s something that had affected our office, our staff, so many people that I’ve known. But more than a million Australians have some form of eating disorder – anorexia, bulimia, purging – and we believe that the number might be even higher, and the research will give us better and stronger advice on that front. Yes, we’ve made important steps so far. We’ve supported what happens with ED Helpline, with an additional $1.5 million.
We’ve supported the National Eating Disorders Working Coalition with over $2.5 million, and we’ve supported the trials on the Sunshine Coast, both of the first residential facility, as well as the precursor to this program, with almost $5 million. But following the advice of the group led by Susan – Professor Paxton – the Australian Government, as Scott has announced, will create the first ever dedicated Medicare service for people battling eating disorders. Yes, it’s $111 million, but it’s not the money. It’s the hope and the service and the recognition and the support – that’s what matters. And, just talking with Jana before, her journey and how she had to suffer in silence. What we hope now is that people will not only have the services, but they’ll have the space to seek that support. They’ll know that the country believes, and we are sorry that for so many people they had had to suffer in silence. But now we offer this support on a scale unprecedented.
We’re also providing $4 million to the InsideOut Institute for their work through the University of Sydney in research and translating that to better treatment and better diagnosis. It’s immensely important work, Sarah. And then, finally, I’m both delighted but a bit guilty, I have to say Susan, in announcing that the new CEO of the National Mental Health Commission will be Christine Morgan from the Butterfly Foundation.
[Applause]
I’m a little sorry, Susan, because we’ve poached the best and the brightest. Blame Lucy – she helped head hunt Christine. But what this will do is it means that the CEO of the National Mental Health Commission will have the best possible understanding of eating disorders – a condition which has the highest mortality rate amongst all of the mental health conditions – and her task will be to bring this group and others together to translate what we’ve done here, to turn this into a ten-year national strategic plan for managing and treating and diagnosing eating disorders.
Thank you to everybody for being here today. I particularly want to thank Scott, who helped make the funds available, both as Treasurer, and helped make sure, as Prime Minister, that this came to fruition as early as it has.
[Applause]
CHRISTINE MORGAN, CEO BUTTERFLY FOUNDATION: Thank you, Minister.
It truly is a ground-breaking day. I’m not going to cry …
[Laughter]
… I don’t cry, much. And congratulations to our wonderful colleagues at InsideOut Institute for doing… for receiving something that’s really going to shift things also. Sitting alongside Professor Tracey Wade, who is representative on Million Minds, and I think: let’s combine the power of research to really hit this. We were saying to the Prime Minister and to the Ministers, who have heard this from me many times before, but when you look at this illness and the fact that there’s definitely that genetic vulnerability there, we know that significant shifts in nutrition, that significant shifts in weight loss changes the brain, and when the brain is changed, those neural pathways are changed. It is not a simple matter to move out of it. And the longer it goes on for the more hardwired the brain becomes and the more treatment we need.
So, to bring together, today, in Medicare – which is the foundational piece of Australia’s public health system – a dedicated number for eating disorders, just to validate, to validate is so much to be able to say not only: oh, no, it’s not an illness; yes, it’s an illness and it’s an illness that needs its own treatment. The secondly, and I find this absolutely ground breaking, is we have said for a long time – and this is an evidence base that we’ve been working on through the National Eating Disorders Collaboration – and I want to press the pause button and say: Professor Phillipa Hay, you have led us in the NEDC since 2009 and step by step by step we’ve been building that evidence base. Tracey’s been alongside and along with Susan and others. And we know, we know, that you need to integrate medicine with psychological, psychotherapeutic and with the food. And you can’t- eating disorders isn’t about the food, but you know what? You can’t do it without the food. So Gabby, President of ANZAED, dietician – you’ve been able to lead the charge to get dietetics right at the core front of what we need. And that is amazing.
So we now actually have – it’s like a plait and how strong it is when it’s a plait – that you bring those three together. Somebody can go to a primary health physician and they will say: eating disorder, there’s a pathway, there’s a pathway. And then, then to know that it’s not only the evidence-based modalities of treatment but it’s the evidence-based dosage. So, no longer do we have those heartbreaking stories of Australians who have stopped treatment after the ten sessions, or those who didn’t even find a dietician because their GP didn’t really stop to think: maybe if I call this a complex illness and look under the lid of a chronic complex case I might pluck out from Allied Health five dietetics; that’s not exactly an open way. That person can now get evidence-based dosages – forty psychotherapeutic, 20 dietetic, with a GP or a paediatrician along the way.
Now, there’s a very special person in this room – I’m naming a lot of people, I know – but there is, and I have to, I have to, because the only reason we have got this here today is because of the collective work of everybody right across the sector. And I think that’s an incredible learning I’ve had over the last ten years, is that the collective voice of individuals – and really stopping and having our own – well I call them discussions, debates, some of those things we’ve pounded out between us – but it’s meant that at the time those of us who have gone down to see Greg in Canberra have been able to say: we know we’re carrying the sector behind it. The reason we actually were able, whilst this lengthy process – lengthy? Gosh, of Medicare. Lengthy – and I’m saying that with an inflection in my voice – because when I first heard that a clinical working group was being put together, the Department said to me: oh this takes about two to three years. And when we first went to see Professor Robinson when he received that letter from Greg in May 2017 to say: you’ve got to look at this, obviously it’s going to take years.
And, no, didn’t take years. But, but, you wouldn’t want anything less than this. Due process has meant that that working group has had to meet overtime in order to formulate the evidence base that could go up to the Minister so that he could put this in place. You can’t truncate that too much, but we have such a committed Minister that, June this year, he said: okay, let’s take that model. And he heard the fact that the model was based on very broad consultation right across the sector. We had over 300 health professions contribute by way of the survey. We had over 700 people with the lived experience talk about the cost of eating disorders. We had an expert advisory group led by Susan that actually walked through it, and we consulted with anybody and everybody. So we knew that model was what was needed.
And so we had a Minister that was committed to actually trial it up on the Sunshine Coast and actually say: how difficult is this going to be to put in place? And let’s evaluate it. We’re evaluating it with the Thompson Institute, but also with Tracey at Flinders University, to actually bring that together and to get that research going. Now, at this point I do press the pause button again because there is a person in this room who, without her skill, her ability to hear a complexity of detail, crunch it down into something, make sense of it, come out with a model, come out with standards, we actually wouldn’t have that substance to work with. So, Leslie, I am paying you full tribute. You have translated the complexity into something that we can then take and implement. So, thank you, on behalf of so many.
[Applause]
And I also want to acknowledge that in the room today – and I think this is wonderful – we have Belinda Caldwell here, who’s representing families, representing the capacity of F.E.A.S.T, and Ethra, you’re representing Families. And we have two other really special colleagues – and I think this is not uninteresting that their names have now become very similar – we have Belinda Challis from Eating Disorders Queensland and Jennifer Beveridge from Eating Disorders Vitoria. And I’m just going to put something on the table here, Minister and Prime Minister. We talk about the challenges of COAG at many different levels. I think actually in this room we might have the beginnings of a little COAG model that actually works.
[Laughter]
So let’s do it for eating disorders, shall we? So, to each and every person in this room – and I am really sorry if I have missed out anybody – but so many people have contributed to this. And actually, sorry, one thing I have forgotten to say just in that space of the states, and I want to pay enormous tribute to this, because we now look at her in her national role with InsideOut. But Sarah Maguire absolutely has led the charge in New South Wales at a state level, and the work that she has done, along with Teresa, in the state level and implementing the New South Wales plan is, I think, showing the way. So, I know we now see you in your national role, and fantastic to have you there, but what you’ve done for the state is incredible. So on behalf of so many – on behalf of so many – can I congratulate each and every one of you. But I come back to saying that the single most important voice has been the voice of the lived experience, and over those ten years, particularly on those days when it’s been particularly difficult to get going, often it’s the day I will receive a phone call from someone. I’ll have an opportunity to stop and talk, and for each and every person whose allowed me, trusted me, enough to hear your voice and allowed me to walk alongside you with a little bit of the struggle, can I say that that actually has made all the difference in the world.
There’s a long way to go, but boy, I think the planets have realigned. I think, today, it is a seismic shift. On behalf of all of us, thank you, Minister, and thank you, Prime Minister. And I would now like to call on my colleague Sarah to come and speak to us.
[Applause]
DR SARAH MAGUIRE, DIRECTOR INSIDEOUT INSTITUTE: Thank you so much, Christine, and congratulations.
What joy. I’ve been working with families and with people with this illness for so many years, and my overwhelming feeling today is one of joy. That they have been seen, that they have been heard and they have had a Government that has made them a national priority. Prime Minister Morrison, Minister Hunt, Christine, distinguished guests, Jana, our ambassador, Andrew, Trent, this is a historic turning point for people with eating disorders, their families and loved ones in this country. The tragedy and devastation of an eating disorder on a young person’s life and that of their family is often immeasurable, and when they encounter a health system that is under-resourced and unresponsive, their desperation is magnified. Isolation and years of struggle follow. This landmark enhancement to treatment and research will begin the much-needed reversal of this situation nationally. We applaud and thank Prime Minister Morrison and Minister Hunt. We will always remember that it was you that turned the tide.
We are all aware that for too long there has been chronic underinvestment in clinical care, research and translation in eating disorders, despite the unacceptable mortality rates and the personal cost to those who live with it. Today is a huge leap forward. Million Minds marked the first time that eating disorders has been listed at the national level as a priority for competitive research funding – a long time coming. Together, today, with the announcement of funding to support InsideOut as a national research and translation centre, and the much-needed reform of Medicare, we are finally on the right path. Christine, Susan and the team at Butterfly have advocated tirelessly for these changes and we are very proud to share this moment with them.
It was an honour to serve on the Eating Disorder Working Group, along with other people in this room, who were also on it and made those recommendations – Bronny Carroll, Phillipa Hay and others – and we are just honoured and very grateful that the Government heard those recommendations and so swiftly acted.
Minister Hunt has been our first consistent ear and champion in Canberra. He has made it his business to leave treatment and research for eating disorders substantially better than he found it, and he and Prime Minister Morrison have certainly done that. At InsideOut, we are very fortunate to enjoy the backing of Sydney Local Health District, led by the inspirational Teresa Anderson, and the University of Sydney. In particular, the team at the Charles Perkins Centre, led by Professor Steve Simpson, where our Institute is housed. This partnership between the health system and university allows for the Institute to genuinely work at the nexus between research and clinical care. We really are driven to improve what the clinician delivers, and therefore what the patient and family receive. And that is the yardstick by which we measure ourselves. If we have not changed what the patient receives then we have changed nothing.
Today is a great day of change for patients and for families. The Government have now created the framework for appropriate doses of community care to be delivered to people with these illnesses. And now, it is our job at InsideOut, with the money that the Government have given us, to translate evidence-based practise into care to ensure that those NBS items are informed by the best evidence, the best new treatments, and that clinicians delivering those rebated sessions are trained and equipped to deliver evidence-base care, resulting in the best outcomes and recovery rates. And InsideOut is committed to doing this, along with our partner organisations in every state. I agree with Christine, we need to build a national coalition. We need to work as a group to ensure that evidence is translated into practise in every location.
We are proud to be identified – beyond proud – to be identified and funded as the bridge between research and clinical care, driving innovation, developing better treatments, and driving those treatments into everyday practise. Through our research stream, our suite of evidence-based workforce training programs, and with this funding to develop strategy structures and novel mechanisms to ensure translation, we will improve outcomes for people with this illness and reduce unnecessary deaths. There is much work to be done but today is one of gratitude and celebration.
On behalf of the people and families that we serve, we thank you sincerely.
[Applause]
CHRISTINE MORGAN, CEO BUTTERFLY FOUNDATION: Thank you, Sarah. And now I guess this is probably the most important part of our time today, which is to hear from those with the lived experience. And I hold on here and I take my hat – which I’m not wearing – off to our wonderful founder, Claire Middleton, who set up Butterfly with a vision of representing the voice of the lived experience. So, first cab off the rank for that I think, Jana. We have never had somebody with a public profile who has been prepared to represent this illness. And In fact, I remember it was one of the things that the Minister asked me back in May 2017 was: where are your public faces? And the stigma that has gone with this illness for so long, the misunderstanding that people have about it and the fact you can’t judge it by physical appearance, have been just such barrier. And I think you’ve just broken through that barrier for us, so please come up and join us.
[Applause]
JANA PITTMAN: Thank you, everyone, and thank you to the Prime Minister, Minister Hunt, the Butterfly Foundation and InsideOut Institute, which I am a very proud ambassador for. And you are right, and I have to say my heart is going at 100 million miles an hour and I’m fighting back the tears, because I am extremely nervous to be talking about my experience on such a public forum, but I am such a public figure, and you’ll hear the slight movement in my voice. But I thought I might actually take you back on a journey with me in 2007 so that you can actually experience what it felt like at the time for one of the episodes I actually went for. So here we go.
In 2007, the World Championships in Paris, and in front of 80,000 screaming fans, there I was in the green and gold tracksuit. I had just won the World Title. Our Aussie anthem is playing in the background. Our little flag’s way above everybody else. We were literally on top of the world when it comes to track and field in sport. It was the second time I had won a world title like this. In fact, it was only seven months after I had had my beautiful little boy, so I should have been in the most incredible place you could be. It was actually only 12 months before the Beijing Olympic Games and I was odds on favourite to win. But very few would know how I’d spent the night before and the many nights prior to that – pinching my waist and not knowing if I was going to be good enough to win, because I was so afraid of the outcome, so afraid of being too fat, so sure I wasn’t disciplined enough to deserve the medal that would soon hang around my neck.
I remember standing vividly, looking in the mirror critiquing everything that I saw and being so ashamed with guilt and anguish and self-loathing that I wasn’t prepared to race. And it took a lot of effort to get my coach to give me that confidence to run the next day, afraid to take my tracksuit off, that I’d be judged for the body that was behind the Australian flag. In fact, it got to a point that night that I was so overwhelmed by fear and anxiety and the self-loathing that I went: oh stuff it, who cares? I went down to the dining room and ate everything I could get my hands on, everything. All the desserts, all the food you could possibly think of. And then it set in – the guilt, the fear, the shame, and I spent at least an hour or two hugging the toilet bowl trying to rid myself of that pain and guilt. But no one would know, would they? Because the following day I stood up in front and represented my country, won that gold medal and became the world champion. And that’s all we saw – the press conferences, just like this, champagning down on us for how wonderful we are as Australians.
So I hid that guilty secret for years and years and years. Thirteen years of bulimia, of my parents going through that agony with me. And it took me a long time until I actually sought treatment, because I was so afraid of what people would say. I was already labelled drama-Jana, let’s be honest, and what would have this done: if I had of come out and admitted that I was a failure on this point? But that’s the point: I wasn’t a failure. I still achieved through it all and I’m now open to talking about this message and sharing it with young girls and boys around Australia so they do not have to go through the same experience I did.
This can affect anyone. It doesn’t matter how successful or how great you are. I’m one year away from becoming a doctor, and every day I still get plagued with that little voice. I can hand-on-heart say I haven’t had an episode like that for a number of years now, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t call on Sarah occasionally and say: oh my god, I need a little bit of a chat on the side, and she’s just decided she’s coming over after this conversation then talking to me for an hour, I can guarantee it.
[Laughter]
But sadly, it’s too common in sport – where our bodies are on show regularly – and dancing and in any types of environment where someone may comment on your body and that might be that tiny trigger. It’s also been in my family, so the genetic component is really strong. And I have two beautiful little daughters who I watch with an eye. And in fact, Sarah and I were just talking – my son made the first comment a few weeks ago, saying he feels fat and out of shape, and I’m thinking: oh my goodness, we’ve got to protect everyone in this country. But with over 1 million people suffering on so many different levels it might be, to my extent, it might be to someone who’s just having a little bit of a negative voice in their head; we have to help everyone so that it doesn’t escalate out of control, because some, as we will hear soon, do take their life.
And something that with this new, incredible budget that you’re bringing out, will make a real difference and stop that from happening. So now, almost as a doctor, I’ve seen how effective good medicine and psychological treatment can make an enormous difference in people’s lives. But you have to be able to afford it and have access to it and believe in the system. And that’s what you, the Prime Minister and Minister Hunt and the Government, are now doing. You’re helping legitimise, destigmatise and give hope to millions. It will do this by giving the much needed funding for Medicare, but also continue the research that InsideOut Institute is doing, both into research around the disorder, but also in translating that into actually good medical practice.
I am so, so lucky to be out the other end. Don’t get me wrong, as I said, there are still a few days where I have a few mishaps, but with good help, patience and education my future feels very, very free. The meaningful steps taken today will not just trickle down to patients; they’re going to cascade, so that families don’t have to go through what you did. On behalf of all the people who have suffered this, I want to say thank you. Thank you for believing in us and making a difference, and you’ll see how incredible this gift will be. Thank you.
[Applause]
CHRISTINE MORGAN, CEO BUTTERFLY FOUNDATION: What an ambassador. Thank you. Thank you.
And now for another story. And, Fiona, as we go into your story, I’m also going to just mention again, Judy, who lost Alana. And one of the fights that we had – and boy, you were a warrior woman with this one, Judy – was she fought through the Coroner’s Court to make sure that for the first time ever the death certificate would mention the cause of death as being anorexia nervosa. It’s not on the death certificates because what’s on the death certificate is the physical cause – whatever that may be. And, Judy, that was a game-changer too. Really sad, but I guess it showed that out of horrible things, you showed me you can pluck something. And another real warrior woman – another real warrior woman – is Fiona.
Fiona, actually, I am still going to own the fact that you were the inspiration that got us to Minister Hunt. You were behind our MAYDAYS 2017, and MAYDAYS 2017 is when we got into Minister Hunt’s office. So, you began a journey with us and you said to me: I have to someone turn Tessa’s life around into something that can be heard. So, how about coming and telling us?
[Applause]
FIONA RYAN: I don’t want to talk to you today as politicians and important guests and members of the press. I just want to talk to you as parents and family members. I’m not an expert about eating disorders, I’m just a parent with a painful story, so I’m going to tell it to you.
If you’re a parent you know that you’d do anything for your kids – go to hell and back, as they say – and that’s where I’ve been for the last ten years. It all started when Tess developed an eating disorder when she was eleven. She’d just started going to school… getting ready to go to high school and she wanted to get fitter and healthier, and I thought that was a good thing. We can all do with a bit more exercise and a bit less junk food, so I supported her, and it wasn’t until a few months later at Easter time that I started knowing that things were getting out of hand. She was becoming obsessed with what she ate and how much she exercised, and I knew then that something was wrong. My husband and I started to look for help but we couldn’t find anything that would cut off this disease before it got started.
The next months were filled with fighting to find somebody to help us. We heard things like: just go home and tell her to eat. Oh wow, I wish I’d thought of that.
[Laughter]
Or, give her a few chocolate bars and a milkshake and she’ll be fine. A number of people made it very clear that they thought I was an overly anxious mother and that Tess was just a naughty girl, a manipulative teenager. Nothing could be further from the truth. Each week, things were getting worse. She was eating less and exercising more and we couldn’t stop her. And I know many of you will be thinking: for God’s sake, woman, just stand up and be parent and make her eat. And I know you’re thinking that because many people told me that. But it’s not that easy. We tried everything we could to make her eat. We sat with her, encouraged her, enticed her with her favourite foods, stopped her from going to the gym, playing sport, gave her consequences when she did the wrong thing. None of it made any difference. We offered rewards for her when she did the right thing and punishments when she didn’t, but nothing worked. All she wanted to do was lose weight. Nothing else mattered.
She fell away from her beautiful friends and isolated herself. She became secretive and depressed. She went from being a sensitive, sweet, kind young girl to being anxious, agitated and aggressive. Within months, she was eating almost nothing and I was beside myself with worry, but she didn’t look emaciated so very few people thought there was anything wrong with her. In the end, I took her to my local hospital and in an emotional meltdown I told my story. The doctors were very sympathetic but said there was nothing they could do until she was critically ill – come back then – and go home. I refused and I stood in the emergency department crying for five hours until somebody found Tess a bed and a paediatrician to work with us. By the time we got Tess’s illness recognised, she was so severely ill that none of the intervention strategies worked. They were impossible to implement and totally ineffective.
Our lives for the next five years were the stuff of nightmares. There were times when Tess would not eat anything, not a crumb, not even a sip of water would pass her lips. We would be discharged from hospital, go home and spend hours and hours trying to convince her to just have the smallest morsels of food and water, without any luck. Within 36 hours, we’d be back in emergency with a dehydrated and critically ill child. Once we were told not to leave the table until she ate something, so we sat there for ten hours encouraging, cajoling and threatening, but with no result. And after a few hours’ sleep and another ten hours at the table we were again driving back to the hospital.
There were times when Tess was compulsively exercising, and to make sure this didn’t happen she was not allowed to go anywhere without Bruce or I. We had to follow her around the house. I spent weeks sitting on the floor in our hallway so that she could move from room to room and still be seen. I stood in the bathroom when she showered, I made her keep the toilet door open when she went there, and I even slept in the bed next to her to make sure she was not waking up in the middle of the night to exercise. When Tess started to eat it was excruciating. Something inside her was telling her she didn’t deserve to eat, so every bite was mental anguish. She understood all the rational arguments that she needed to eat, but she was terrified. She had to eat six times a day – breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, supper. She would dread each meal and regret each bite. It might take an hour to support her through the meal and then we would be up to preparing for the next one. Every day was hour upon hour of food and anxiety and argument, and it was our whole family’s life.
No one but Bruce or I could help her eat. No regular person would think to check her pockets and sleeves for pieces that she spat out if you glanced away from her. No one would imagine you might have to make sure she scraped down her bowl for every crumb of muesli, or to look under her tongue for that last piece of toast. So for five years, we juggled life so we could be there for every meal. We took long service leave, carer’s leave, leave without pay, we went part time in our workplaces and we went into debt to make sure we did what we needed to keep her alive. We got a mental health plan for Tess and for her ten visits to the psychologist were finished before the beginning of term one. So we paid for the other 42 visits a year ourselves. Because her illness created all kinds of physical problems we visited dieticians and physios and felt like it was an endless round of doctors and medicos and bills and worry. You can’t truly understand what living with an eating disorder is like until it comes to your house and the snippets that I’ve shared with you today just brush the surface of our experience. But I want you to understand that our family often felt like we fought on two fronts. We fought an eating disorder and we fought the system in order to get recognition, support and treatment that Tess needed.
I think I need to build up.
Tess spent almost 200 days in hospital. She tried family-based treatment, day clinics and outpatients, and in the end we were all drowning – Tess, her twin brother, her sister, my husband and I – we were all going under. Tess was trying hard to get well. She fought bravely every day but the disease was too much for her and for us as a family to manage on our own. We were physically, emotionally and financially exhausted. And finally, at the age of 17, my beautiful Tess took her life. I know that Tess felt guilty that her illness had affected our family to such an extent. I know that she worried about her twin and how our family was coping. I know she felt like a burden on us. I don’t know if the changes of which have been announced here today could have saved Tess, but I do know that being able to get help from Medicare would have meant more than just financial support to my family. It would have shown us that we weren’t fighting alone, that people recognised and understood how devastating eating disorders are and were willing to support us as we struggled to keep our daughter alive.
There’s still a long way to go in the treatment of eating disorders. We need more education for doctors and hospital staff so they understand the complexities of these issues. We need treatment options and respite care for families and we need a mental health and physical health system that is going to work together to provide the best quality care. But the steps which we’ve announced today take us closer to a future where no family needs to feel like they’re fighting alone.
On behalf of all the homes where eating disorders exist, I say thank you to the Minister for Health, Greg Hunt. To the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and to all those people who fought to get eating disorders recognised and supported, thank you.
[Applause]
CHRISTINE MORGAN, CEO BUTTERFLY FOUNDATION: There are no words, there are no words. I know your deep faith and you were given the strength to speak today, and thank you that you were and that you did. And I think at this point I’m just going to through it back to our Prime Minister and Minister to take questions.
[Laughter]
All yours, guys.
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I’m happy to take questions but after what we’ve just heard, I hope Australians heard it too and I’m sure they have, Fiona, for Tess. And we’re just so pleased that we can recognise eating disorders and the illness and the family-breaking curse that it can be. And we’re going to fight it, we’re all going to fight it, and you’ve incredible courage today. I think you’ve taken up that fight on all of those who have suffered’s behalf. So, happy to take questions, but I would like to do, though, if it’s okay with the media – can we just take questions, please, on these issues? And I will do a press conference, don’t worry, outside on other things. But right here and now, particularly with Christine here and InsideOut here and everyone else here, if there are questions you’d like to put about the initiatives we announced today I’d be very happy to take them.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, this is a question about [inaudible]. Are there any plans to increase the rebateble sessions for mental health…
THE HON GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: So, these initiatives have come out of the experts in eating disorders and also the Medicare taskforce. I have said to Professor Bruce Robinson that as they assess other mental health items, if they believe that more needs to be done, they just recommend it and we’ll do it.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] there’s an item number for eating disorders to help with this whole issue of reporting statistics. So, cause of death?
THE HON GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: Yes well, I think it’s a very important part of this is, first and foremost, it’s treatment, but it’s also about recognition and acknowledging, exactly as Scott said earlier. And that will help with the collection of greater detail. We think that the figure of over a million may be an underrepresentation and we need more evidence. Part of Sarah’s job, part of Tracey’s job with the Million Minds mental health research mission is to get to the heart of the true extent of the challenge.
PRIME MINISTER: Can I just stress again, this is not capped. The estimate of 30,000 is just an estimate of 30,000. If it’s more than that, well, it’s more than that. And it’s all supported, it’s all funded.
Well, it only remains for me to thank you, Christine, for hosting us all here today and also to commend you on your appointment as Chief Executive to the Mental Health Commission, and Lucy, thank you for the great work that you do there, and such a good hire too.
[Laughter]
We’re very pleased about that, so I want to… on our behalf, thank you for your kind words of appreciation, but look, this is why we do this job. This is why we do this job. This is why, as a Government, we work hard to put ourselves in a position where we can do this. This is what it’s for. This is why we want the Budget to be strong. This is why we want the economy strong, so we can do this. This is what it’s about for us.
CHRISTINE MORGAN, CEO BUTTERFLY FOUNDATION: Thanks you.
THE HON GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: Thank you.
[Applause]
CHRISTINE MORGAN, CEO BUTTERFLY FOUNDATION: Thank you, and can I invite everybody out to the courtyard for some refreshments? Some chats - exactly, Judy, just to relax a bit. So, thank you. Let’s go out the front. Thanks.
2018 Valedictory
6 December 2018
Mr Morrison: (Cook—Prime Minister) (15:44): Well, ho, ho, ho, Mr Speaker! It has been quite a year for all of us—for every single member of this House and the other place. All of us have the opportunity to serve here because of the great love and affection that comes from our families, and when we leave this place we will go and be with them. We will have the opportunity to spend the most joyous time of the year with them and be with our families for Christmas and New Year's and share stories, experiences of the year and our reflections, but, most of all, just hold each other in our arms. It will give us an extra opportunity, as we go into next year, to remember those fond times that we have had over the Christmas break.
I particularly want to be mindful of those who will not have such a merry Christmas and those who will be under great stress and strain, because I must reflect on the fact that the issue this year that I believe was most penetrating, most humbling and most significant was the day we stood in this place and offered the national apology to the victims of sexual abuse. It was a day that I think the Leader of the Opposition and I will certainly never forget, and I hope it's a day that those who suffered that abuse will also never forget. It can't change what happened. As they go through their Christmas and holiday period, there won't be the same warm smiles for many of them. There will be the same confusion. There'll be the same sense of hurt and damage and things that they will never feel they can get over.
So I would suggest that, as we go off to our break and spend our time with our families once again, we think of them and think of what they're going through over these periods, because we know that, at Christmas and holiday periods, for those of us who are blessed—as I have been with Jen and the girls and a wonderful family—this is the most joyous time of the year. For others it's a time of terrible isolation, a reminder of the things that really make life so hard for them. That's why I'm so thankful for the services, like Lifeline and others, who will be there for them and who will be turning out and volunteering on Christmas Day all around the country and serving Christmas cheer to others.
Christmas is a religious season. It is a reminder of our Lord who came into this place and brought new hope but, most of all, a message of love. In that message of love, there are so many Australians who take the opportunity—and God bless them for doing it—to go out there and extend that love and care to their fellow Australians and try to ease what might otherwise be an even more difficult day. So we thank those volunteers who will be doing that this Christmas, and we thank them for doing it each and every day of the year. We hope that, through their comfort, they will bring some measure of joy to others over the Christmas period.
I also thank all of those of our Defence Force who will be serving far away from this place—and, indeed, here in our own country—and will be away from their families. They might be at sea. They might be serving in Afghanistan or other places in peacekeeping missions around the world. We are mindful of the service and the sacrifice that they are making on our behalf, and we send them our best. We will always seek to do our best for them in this place and at every opportunity we have.
We think of those who are serving as volunteers on our beaches, in the rural fire services and those out there caring for our community over the holiday season. With the fires still burning up in Queensland, thankfully, their intensity has diminished. Just during question time I received advice that there are fires burning in South Australia right now. The warnings have not escalated to a high level at this point, but it's just a reminder.
As I've said in this place, we are going into one of the most difficult fire seasons for many, many years. So, as we go around the many Christmas events and other things we will have in our electorates and communities over the next few weeks, all of us will have the opportunity to remind fellow Australians to have those conversations as communities and families and at the street parties to say: how will we work together; what will we do? Make sure that the first conversation you have about evacuation or responding to an emergency is not when it's happening for real and you have to make those choices. I would encourage all of us to be out there carrying that message to everyone over this Christmas season. Whether it's our police officers, our firefighters, our nurses, our doctors or others who will be out there providing care, we thank them all for their service over the course of the last 12 months. They are called to do what they do in their vocations, as we do here, and we thank them for the great work they do.
I extend to the Leader of the Opposition, his family and his wife, Chloe, all the best for the Christmas period. I hope they have a great break. I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his personal kindnesses to Jenny and me. And I thank Chloe for her kindnesses to Jenny; they are able to take refuge in each other's company on occasion when we are attending various events. We appreciate them and we wish them all the best. And I extend that to all the members of the opposition and, of course, all the members of my own wonderful team on this side of the House. I also extend it to the Leader of the National Party and to the Treasurer, as well as to Senator McKenzie, the Deputy Leader of the National Party in the other place. To the Leader of the House—what would we do without the Leader of the House! He completely embodies a sense of Christmas cheer and is an adornment to the House—I wish you and your family all the best for Christmas.
To the leadership in the Senate—Senator Cormann and Senator Birmingham—and to Senator Wong and the team in the Senate, I wish you all the best for your year. I thank very much the Chief Government Whip and the deputy whips. Well done, whips, for working so well together with the whips from the opposition and ensuring we get about our business and work through the important work of the parliament. I thank the Clerk of the House, David Elder, and all of your team—the deputy clerk, Claressa Surtees, and the clerk assistants. I thank the Serjeant-at-Arms, James Catchpole, and his team for the work they do.
I thank the House Parliamentary Liaison Officer, Anne Dowd, and her colleagues Luke Bulow and Tim Moore. From my own department, I thank Secretary Parkinson and all of his team—as I'm sure my colleagues in the executive would want to thank all of their department secretaries and all of those who work principally here and in and around Canberra. As a result of the policies of our government, a lot of them are working outside of Canberra these days, which is a good thing. I wish all of them the best for Christmas and I hope they can enjoy their time off so they can return refreshed for what will be a very busy year next year.
I also thank all of our staff. We had the opportunity last night as a coalition to thank all of our staff for their great work. I thank the attendants of this place. I thank the Federal Police and the security and support staff who look after us all and keep us safe. In my own office we have three cleaners—Lucia, Anna and Maria—who would be known to most people around this building because they've been here a very long time. Anna and Maria are sisters, and they have worked in the PMO since Prime Minister Hawke. They are loud and joyous and wonderful, and there is bipartisan agreement that we love them very much.
Ms Plibersek interjecting—
Mr Morrison: I've got to note the interjection from the member for Sydney. Seriously, can you leave it alone when I'm trying to thank them? It's the valedictories, for goodness sake! Just put it aside for five minutes.
Ms Plibersek interjecting—
The Speaker: The Deputy Leader of the Opposition!
Mr Morrison: I was just about to say, Mr Speaker, that earlier this week they lost their mother. I know we would all like to send our love and prayers to two sisters who have become part of the soul of this building. To them we extend our condolences, and our thoughts are with them at a difficult time.
I want to pay tribute also to Laura Gillies, who is the executive assistant to the Serjeant-at-Arms. Laura is about to retire. She has worked for the Department of the House of Representatives for over 33 years. She joined the service of the parliament in Old Parliament House when Bob Hawke was Prime Minister. She has seen everything in this building—and she has seen a lot over the last 10 years! On behalf of the government, I thank you for your service to Australia.
Christmas is a very joyous time, and we know it can be tough for many others. Those who it will be particularly tough for—as it has been for many years now, particularly in Queensland—are the communities that have been affected by drought. Whether up in Quilpie—and the Tullys—or anywhere else across the country, I think one of the most generous things we've seen from fellow Australians this year is the way that they, whether they're schoolchildren or seniors groups, have reached out and wanted to help our rural and regional communities, our farmers. And it is not just the farms but the communities, the shops, those who work in the schools. For all of those communities, Australians reached out and had their back this year. We're very pleased to be doing many things to help and support them at this time, but we pray that they'll have a wonderful Christmas, and I'll certainly continue to pray for rain for them. I suspect that would be a great Christmas prayer, as people go about their Christmas Day, that day of religious celebration. I think it would be a wonderful thing for the nation to join and pray for rain.
Mr Speaker, may I wish you also a wonderful Christmas, and your lovely family. We'll look forward to working together again next year as part of your parliamentary family you preside over—
An honourable member: With great distinction!
Mr Morrison: Yes, with great distinction and—
Mr Frydenberg: Great poise.
Mr Morrison: Great poise—yes, thank you, Treasurer—but also a great sense of spirit and a sense of humour, which I'm sure is well received by those who look in on these broadcasts. You very much are in control of this House, Mr Speaker, and we commend you for the way that you've done that, with great integrity. You really do bring a great authority to this House, and the House is incredibly well served by you. So, to all colleagues, I again extend my best wishes, from Jenny and I and our family, and may God bless you and yours.
The speaker: I thank the Prime Minister. The Leader of the Opposition on indulgence.
Press Conference with the Attorney General
5 December 2018
Prime Minister, Attorney-General
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks for coming together everyone, I’m joined by the Attorney General. Several months ago I said that I wanted to deal with the issue of discrimination against children in schools and I do. I’ve been seeking to do just that ever since I said that. In dealing with that issue, when I wrote to the Leader of the Opposition just over a month ago, I said I wanted to do it in a bipartisan way. I said I didn't want this to become a political football, which meant we needed to work through some very sensitive issues and there are very sensitive issues that surround this discussion. There is the very real issue of discrimination, against anyone, but particularly children. There are also the very real and principled and conscience issues that relate to issues of religious freedom. That religions can be religious, that they can teach their own faith, that religious schools can be religious schools.
So we have been seeking to address that. I put forward amendments through the Attorney, who met with his counterpart, they were rejected. So we put another set of amendments when the Parliament was last sitting and we heard nothing back from the Labor Party, until last week when the Shadow Attorney-General appeared in the media. That was disappointing, as you've heard me say, because I was hopeful we would be able to reach a resolution and deal with it in a bipartisan way which, as I said, I think would send the appropriate message; that we all agree that there should be no discrimination against children.
Remember the fact that there can be, is a result of the laws that the Labor Party introduced when they were in government. They put these laws in place and so the amendments that would be needed would be to Labor's laws, that allow such discrimination.
It's disappointing that we have been unable to reach agreement between the parties, but I'm prepared to give it one more go. Yesterday, I wrote, again, to the Leader of the Opposition and put forward a proposal that did three things; the complete removal of the ability to discriminate against students based on gender or sexual orientation or relationship status or pregnancy. Secondly, a clarification that in deciding whether a school rule - a reasonable school rule, that's reasonable - the Human Rights Commission and courts should take into account the religious nature of the school and whether the school considered the best interests of the child. And three, a clarification that nothing in the Act prevents a religious school teaching in accordance with their own religious beliefs. That is an amendment - that third one - that was actually supported as a second reading amendment by the Labor Party in the Senate.
These should be uncontentious principles; the removal of discrimination and the upholding of religious freedom.
I'm prepared to move that Bill in the House today, that Bill, which does those three things. It would require a 76 vote majority. I'll suspend standing orders to bring that vote on. If the Labor Party and Bill Shorten are prepared to back this Bill, we will vote for it today and we will get this done. They're the three things it does.
Now, so far, the Labor Party have not been prepared to agree to those three principles together. If they can't agree to do that, I'll make him another offer; I'm prepared to have this dealt with as a conscience issue in my Party. If he's prepared to do the same thing, then where the parties have been unable to agree, let's take the parties out of it Bill. Let's let the elected members of the House of Representatives just decide. I'll move this Bill as the member for Cook, not as the Prime Minister and I'll participate in the debate, just like anyone else and I'll vote my conscience in that debate.
But I actually think there's a better way first. This is a good Bill, it actually does what I think Australians would expect us to do; look after kids for who they are, but also ensure that in this country, religious freedom still means something.
So I hope that they will accept that offer and at the very least that if they're not prepared to accept this Bill as a Party, that they should let their Members decide. Because I know, you all know, that there are Members of the Labor Party who would happily support these principles. Their leader should let them decide it, in the same way that I as the leader of the Liberal Party am prepared to let my party decide it; individually, as conscience voting members.
Now, the Attorney is here to take any questions that you have on the process that he's been engaged in or on the specific details of this Bill. But I just say, I meant it when I said it. I want to resolve this, but it's got to be done reasonably and fairly. It's got to take into account all the serious issues that are there and I think that's a pretty fair statement of them. I think we should just get on with it.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister does your position on having a conscience vote here as a principle, extend to other areas of religious freedom, discrimination? Is this the approach you would like to take?
PRIME MINISTER: I take these matters one at a time, David. On this issue that we have in this Bill, what could be more a matter of conscience than this? I mean really, I think that's fair enough. I think the parties could decide it, but if they can't, then let's just let every Member of the House, every Member of the House vote their conscience?
JOURNALIST: But doesn’t the same principle of conscience apply to teachers and staff in schools, as it does to children? Children grow up to be teachers and staff.
PRIME MINISTER: This is a Bill. If it's a conscience Bill, this can go into the House and people can vote their conscience, its very simple. I said I would deal with the issue of children in schools, that's what I said I would deal with, that was the commitment I made. That's what I'm following through on.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said before that there are Members of the Labor Party that you believe would support this proposition in a conscience vote. Is the corollary of that there are Members of the Government who may not support the Government's position?
PRIME MINISTER: If there's a conscience vote, it's a conscience vote and I'm happy for that to be the case. But I'm offering it as a bipartisan deal, on a conscience vote. I think Members should vote their conscience on this. I don't think that they should, on something as fundamental as what someone believes as a matter of religious faith, that that should be whipped against them, against their will.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you still intend to respond to the Ruddock review with a proposal for a Religious Discrimination Act by the end of the year? Further to David Speers’ question, are you setting a precedent for a Religious Discrimination Act to be a conscience vote in the Parliament as well?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I don't think I am and our response to the Ruddock report will be done before the end of the year.
JOURNALIST: There have been some complaints Prime Minister, from Labor, that moves by the Centre Alliance could actually make this more -
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, I couldn't quite hear you over the noise.
JOURNALIST: We've heard from Labor this morning that moves by the Centre Alliance could actually see some of these religious discriminations wound up and actually be more draconian. Have you seen that, is it something you're concerned about?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I'm interested in this Bill, that's the Bill I'm putting forward. That's the Bill that I’m supporting, that's what I'm proposing. It solves the problem and I propose we get on with it. One at a time.
JOURNALIST: On the third step of that Bill I think you said nothing stops schools teaching in accordance with their faith. Can you give us an example of what it would allow, that third leg and what it would prevent?
PRIME MINISTER: Well all religions have their teachings, they’re based on their religious texts and they should be able to teach those texts in accordance with established religion. That's all it means.
JOURNALIST: Can you spell it out, what sort of practices for example?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, come along to Church with me on Sunday and you'll be able to hear.
[Laughter]
Or go to the mosque on a Friday night or go to the synagogue on a Saturday, go to the Buddhist temple, go wherever you like. People, you know, they're allowed to teach their religious texts. They're allowed to teach their religious faith and why would we want to curtail that in a free country like Australia? Why would you want to do that?
JOURNALIST: Does that override the other two elements of this latest version, a third provision for the ability to teach in accordance with faith? Does that override the other measures to deal with discrimination?
PRIME MINISTER: On discrimination, discrimination is against a person for who they are, taking an action - and Christian might want to comment on this - on who they are. No Australian frankly, because of their sexual identity or their sexuality, their faith, their race, their ethnicity, should be discriminated against - that's my view - because of who they are. But it's not unreasonable that if you go along to a synagogue or a temple, or you go to a church or a mosque, that someone would actually teach what that religion teaches.
JOURNALIST: It’s where those two rights come into conflict Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: I don't see how they do, I don't see how they do. Because take, for example, a reasonable rule in a school which says you go to chapel on Tuesday morning. That applies to the child whether they are gay or not gay. It has no bearing on their identity or their sexuality whatsoever, it's a general rule which is applied equally to everybody, it doesn't discriminate.
JOURNALIST: How about if they’re teaching that it’s not okay to be gay?
PRIME MINISTER: They would have to establish how they’re linking that to their religious teaching, I mean the religion I follow teaches love.
JOURNALIST: Do you accept that some religions do want to teach that?
PRIME MINISTER: These would be matters - and Christian may want to comment - that sets a reasonable test that would be established here in the law. Those decisions would be handed to courts to determine these issues, which I think is reasonable and I think is fair. I mean we have the rule of law in this country and it should prevail both in the courts and in the Parliament.
JOURNALIST: But it's your Bill, you're a legislator. You've got it there, it's got "Bill" written on it and your name. So what's your view?
PRIME MINISTER: On what?
JOURNALIST: Well, should any religion be able to teach in their schools, that it's not alright to be gay?
PRIME MINISTER: My understanding of my faith and other religious teachings goes to people's behaviour, not who they are -
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] that it's not okay to live a gay life, is that right then, to have a gay relationship?
PRIME MINISTER: No, look these are matters would be dealt with by courts in specific circumstances so I'm not getting drawn into that debate. As they are now, these issues are settled in courts and Christian may want to elaborate and comment.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, isn’t this the point, you'd be aware of what it says in Leviticus, so certainly there are provisions in the Bible which do talk about relations between men and other men -
PRIME MINISTER: There’s two testaments, not just one. Religious teaching takes into account all of those and the overwhelming message of the religion that I follow is one of love and I believe love and peace is the underlying principle of all religions. That's why they've had such a positive role in the development of civil society over centuries. But Christian may want to comment on the specifics.
THE HON CHRISTIAN PORTER MP, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The three changes are very simple. They work together in concert. The third of them that you’ve focused on is a clarification that nothing in the Act would prevent a religious school teaching in accordance with their own religious beliefs.
The first point I’d make that that is an amendment that Labor has already agreed to. They have already agreed to that amendment. It is, in actual fact, a status quo amendment. Religions all across Australia teach in their congregations, in their churches, in their synagogues, obviously in accordance with those religious beliefs. Those beliefs vary quite markedly from religion to religion, from church to church and from place to place.
At the moment, the state of the law is that if someone believes they've been unfairly treated or there's some speech that should be unlawful or that there's some discrimination complaints being able to be made, all this does is clarify that status quo, given there is a very significant rebalancing in the Act that's going on by the removal entirely of section 38.3 which is the first part of this bill, which would be complete removal of any ability to discriminate against any student based on their gender, their sexual orientation, their relationship status or pregnancy.
So the third of these changes is a status quo change which the Labor Party have already agreed to by adoption of the amendment at the second reading stage.
JOURNALIST: But isn't the point of legislating here trying to clear up whether it's okay for a religious school to teach that it's not okay to be gay?
PRIME MINISTER: Let me give you a less controversial example okay? In some churches according to some religious faiths, they believe in Tithing. They actually believe that you would tithe a percentage of your income to support the church you go to. Now in other Christian churches, they don't teach that. It should be okay to teach those sorts of things in your school, if that's the religious practice of your school. People might say, well, you're discriminating against people who don't want to do that. Well, no. I don't think so. It's a common religious teaching that can find its’ root in a religious text and it's reasonable for it to be taught.
So, look, I've got to go and do the Prime Minister's Literary Awards, but let me just finish where I started today; I want to get this sorted, I believe we can. This is a very simple Bill that will achieve it. I would be happy to introduce it with the support of the Labor Party today, to suspend standing orders and get on with it.
If they're not prepared to support this Bill, fair enough, that's been their position until now. Let's just have a conscience vote for everybody and let's just get it decided so we can all go back home at the end of the sitting period having this matter determined once and for all.
JOURNALIST: PM, just [inaudible] we've now gone from “who can be in schools”, to “the teaching of religions” that we’re on a collision course between the secular world and the religious world and this is part of that slope?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what better way to resolve such a tension than let every single Member of this House of Representatives vote their conscience and sort it out?
Thanks very much.
Address, Official Opening of the Howard Library
4 December 2018
Prime Minister: Well thank you very much. I cannot think of too many greater honours for a Liberal Prime Minister, frankly, to be here today to open this library with Mr Howard. I still feel like I have to call you that.
[Laughter]
And I know you’ve been generous over a long period of time in inviting me to be a lot more informal.
Today I’m not going to, I’m going to be very formal, because this is a very important occasion.
So to the Honourable John Howard, to Mrs Howard, and the entire Howard family who is here today - particularly the latest addition, only six weeks old.
To the Speaker, my good friend Tony Smith, Rector of UNSW Michael Frater, Daryl Karp the Director of the Museum of Australian Democracy, David Fricker the Director-General of the National Archives. Members of the Parliamentary Team, past and present who are here today.
Of course Phillip Ruddock here today. Colleagues past and present.
I love going back to the places which form your experience. You go back to your old school, where you went to university, the beaches you swam at as a kid, the places that framed who you are.
And you reflect on the memories of those places and the lessons that you learnt.
John Howard loves this building.
It was in this building that he gave his maiden speech to Parliament.
It was in this building that he attended his first Cabinet meeting in the Fraser Cabinet.
It was in this building that he attended his first Partyroom meeting.
It was in this building that he delivered his Budgets, and his replies to Budgets, the first of them.
It was in this building that the political crucible that formed who I would argue to be our greatest Prime Minister of this country and only with the exception, I’m sure he would agree, because as a Party’s founder we always refer to the great Sir Robert Menzies.
But in modern opinion, and in the modern Liberal Party, we have always very much looked to John Howard and this was the crucible in which his political character and who he became as a great Prime Minister was formed.
It was a crucible formed here dominated by Sir Robert Menzies, the founder of our party, who dominated this place for so long, where so much of the history of our modern Federation has played out.
And in this building, you can still hear those stories of all those years. The Lyons - Joseph and Enid.
Of course Sir Robert. Chifley and his pipe. Curtin. A great constitutional crisis – Fraser, Whitlam.
And in this very hall, the flag-draped coffins of prime ministers lay in state.
This is a very special place in our country’s history.
For 61 years, this building was the home of our democracy - from Prime Ministers Stanley Bruce to Bob Hawke.
In 1988, I understand John Howard didn’t really want to move from this Parliament House he liked it so much, he preferred the intimacy of this chamber.
But when he left here, he had still not risen to the office of Prime Minister.
As an Opposition Leader packing 14 years of memories and paper into boxes - he would not have necessarily imagined what was before him.
But he knew what would always guide him.
It was a time when the very future of the Liberal Party was being questioned, and the usual premature eulogies were being offered about the then John Howard, as he was known when we were leaving this building.
But through the tumult, Lazarus emerged, with that triple bypass. Cannier, sturdier and even more resilient.
I must admit while John Howard has laid claim to the biblical Lazarus, I prefer to take my inspiration from Peter: “Upon this rock, I will build my broad church”.
[Laughter]
Which he did, as a leader of our great Party. A broad church which he has always respected and always honoured.
As we know, the man who never quite subdued this building would subdue the one up the hill. And boy did he.
Within weeks of becoming Prime Minister he would be tested, as Prime Ministers always are, by events well beyond their control, with a massacre at Port Arthur.
And along with the Opposition and the States, and Tim Fischer, who I know he always acknowledges so keenly in those events, he’d deliver comprehensive gun control laws that to this day are the envy of the world.
A truly magnificent achievement in a moment when leadership called on him and his response was loud and clear.
He’d be tested at home, of course, with family illnesses. Family has always been at the bedrock of the Howard belief.
There would be other days of testing.
September 11, as he stood in the very city that was under attack with our greatest ally. Not once, but twice in Bali as well. Timor. Iraq. Afghanistan. Our borders, protecting them, together with Phillip and the other Ministers all those years ago.
Through it all, John Howard never found wanting.
Keeping us safe and secure at home, keeping us prosperous in a dynamic and changing world.
Paying off the debt, balancing the Budget, delivering surplus after surplus with Peter Costello. The AAA credit rating. The tax system transformed, taxes cut in 2000, 2003 and 2007. That’s the legacy. Real wages increased by over 21 per cent. 2.1 million jobs were created, unemployment falling from 8 per cent to 4.1 per cent.
There were the major investments in health, in education and the welfare safety net which was designed to provide a hand up, not a hand out. Our great belief that the best form of welfare is a job was inspired by Prime Minister Howard.
And incrementally, he transformed workplace relations passionately and patiently over his entire parliamentary service, reflecting a modernising Australia, a more flexible Australia, a dynamic workplace.
He left office as the darks clouds of the GFC were forming, but it was the ‘Howard inheritance’ that protected Australia from the ravages of a worldwide recession.
The strength of prudential controls, the buffers that were built in good times.
Another biblical analogy - Joseph putting the stalls into the silos to prepare for the years that would follow. That is the Howard legacy.
And that inheritance continues. This Government is seeking to emulate the achievements of that government.
Budget repair, jobs growth, a strong economy. Our country is strong and we are committed to make it even stronger.
Coalition Governments, as inspired by the Howard Government, keeping our country prosperous, keeping Australians safe, keeping Australians together.
Throughout his Government, John Howard was steadfastly supported by a fiercely loyal and loving family.
In 2007, John Howard completed his innings after 11 and a half years as Prime Minister. In the modern political era, that is truly inspiring, and I’m sure at times exhausting.
But warriors see no shame in fighting to the end. He left nothing on the field, nothing. As Menzies said back in Albury, you fight for what you stand for ‘until the bell rings’. And that has always been the Howard ethos.
Ladies and gentlemen, beyond a land, beyond traditions, a nation is a shared story, a shared history.
A history that defines its beliefs and characteristics.
Our prime ministers, the choices they make, are part of our history. So it’s a delight today to open this Library.
It is not the first repository of prime ministerial papers and decisions. Australia’s first prime ministerial library was the John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library at Curtin University in Perth, established in 1998. And we have many significant prime ministerial collections, institutes and centres too, right across our nation. The Whitlam Institute at Western Sydney University and the Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre at the University of South Australia. And of course, the Robert Menzies and Malcolm Fraser Collections at the University of Melbourne.
And so with this Library, with my alma mater the University of New South Wales in a partnership with the National Archives of Australia, this will allow researchers and the public to reflect on such a significant prime ministership.
All of these collections are far more than repositories of old speeches, furniture, pamphlets, maps, handwritten notes. I remember one day when I went to see Mr Howard in his office in Sydney and the collection was all on the table in the boardroom and he was delayed and I spent a bit of time reading over a few old Budgets. I was Treasurer at the time. And now all those documents are here for others to enjoy in the same way I was able to on that occasion.
When we read these documents, when we see these objects, we will remember and we will re-imagine. We extend our national understanding of civic life and most importantly, we see that no government was perfect.
We see that mistakes are always made, but the lessons are always to be learned.
So what are the lessons of John Howard? John Winston Howard. Resilience. Perseverance. Conviction, more than anything else. And I might add, courtesy and respect.
Laurie Oakes, I think, said it once, I’m not sure if he was trying to be kind or not, you never always knew. He said, “Mr Howard has made every conceivable mistake an Australian Prime Minister can make. But he only made them once.”
Because he would always learn and he would always grow and he would always build and he would always move forward. That’s why he is the example to modern Liberals and indeed Prime Ministers. We can only dare to walk in shoes so large, but we will with his great inspiration.
So Mr Howard, I thank you for your friendship and advice over a long period of time, and to Mrs Howard as well. You’ve really been a blessing.
But most of all I thank you both for your lifetime of service to Australia which continues enthusiastically and passionately.
It is right that your records now reside in this building that you loved so much, and that is a landmark to our country’s great democracy.
It is an honour and delight to be here today for this purpose.
I’m reminded of another text which basically says, “Well done good and faithful servant.”
It is an honour and a delight to open the Howard Library. Thank you.
Press Conference with the Treasurer
3 December 2018
PRIME MINISTER: Before we get into the events of this evening, can I just say again that we continue to stand with all of those in Queensland as while we’re here, they continue to deal with heartbreaking conditions and fire. We maintain a close watch in what is occurring there and we continue to provide them with every assistance possible. The Deputy Prime Minister toured the region, as you know, on the weekend and he’s been able to update me today after my return from the G20 in Argentina. We’ll continue to take those reports.
But to the events of this evening. Australians have the very reasonable expectation that when they elect a government, when they elect a Prime Minister, then they should be the ones that determine if that Prime Minister is to not continue in that office. Tonight our Party made an historic decision, it is the biggest change to how our Party deals with these issues, in 74 years. We understand, our entire Party, the frustration and the disappointment that Australians have felt when governments and prime ministers that they have elected under their authority, under their power, has been taken from them with the actions of politicians here in Canberra. We’ve seen it on both sides of politics and the Liberal Party has done it also as you all know. We understand that frustration, we understand that disappointment, we acknowledgment it and we take responsibility for it.
Tonight the Liberal Party in acknowledging this, has made a decision. That decision is that an elected Liberal Party leader who goes to the election, wins that election and becomes Prime Minister, they will remain Prime Minister for that full parliamentary term. They will not be able to be removed from that office. The only safeguard that is put in place is the very high bar of a special majority; that for that rule to be changed, it would require a two thirds majority of the parliamentary Party. Now in my experience around this place, such a majority is rarely if ever achieved when it comes to these matters. What this is doing is, the parliamentary Liberal Party acknowledging that it’s own conduct over this period of time needs to be changed. It needs to be changed by that Party limiting itself. Of course the Liberal Party remains sovereign in how it makes these decisions and it has elected tonight, it has determined tonight that it has listened to the Australian people. It is willingly and enthusiastically putting this constraint to return the power of these decisions about who is Prime Minister in this country, to the Australian people.
As I said, this is the biggest change to how our Party deals with these matters since Robert Menzies first established the Party 74 years ago. The scale of that change I think reflects absolutely the deep reflection of our Party on these events and our deep commitment to giving the power to the Australian people. So, when you go to the next election and I lead the Party to the next election together with Josh, if you elect the Liberal Party, I will be the Prime Minister, I will remain as Prime Minister. I’ll continue to serve as Prime Minister, implementing our plans for the stronger economy that Australians rely on for the essential services that they need. That has been our record as a Government over the last five years; delivering a stronger economy that is guaranteeing those services. We are making great progress and we have got a strong plan that will ensure that we can protect the standard of living that Australians have today. But even more than that, that we can ensure they can realise the opportunities that they want, for them, their businesses, their families, their communities over the next decade. The economy that they live in, the stronger economy that they will live in over the next decade. The stronger communities that we want them to live in over the next decade, the stronger country, nation – safe and secure – that they and their families want to live in over the next decade.
So that’s what we’re offering. This is the team, this team elected is the team that will continue to govern Australia, that’s the choice and I want to thank my colleagues tonight for the strong trust and faith that they have put in us to take this forward and to have it resolved in the timely manner that it was done this evening.
I’ll ask Josh to make some comments as the Deputy and then we’re happy to take some questions.
THE HON. JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER: Thanks Prime Minister. The changes in Australian Prime Ministers over the last decade has diminished the Parliament and it’s representatives in the eyes of the public. The Liberal Party has listened to the Australian people and the Liberal parliamentary party has responded tonight. The Prime Minister we take to the next election will be our Liberal Prime Minister after the next election. The Prime Minister received very strong support from the colleagues tonight and the issue was discussed fully. There were a number of constructive contributions and we have agreed on a way ahead. Our focus is on the Australian people, continuing to deliver them good government and the services that they need and deserve.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister it was John Howard who said that leadership was the gift of the Party Room. Doesn’t this actually undermine that gift, by potentially entrenching a leader that the Party Room doesn’t want?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I discussed this proposal with John Howard directly and we’ve been working on this for a little while. Let me just outline the process to you. The leadership team of the Liberal Party tasked the Party Whips to consider this matter and bring forward a proposal that could be considered by the Liberal ministry – which occurred this evening. Then, that went forward to the Party Room in that process, as they went through that, I’ve consulted with the former Prime Minister. I’ve always shared his view that the leadership of the Liberal Party is the gift of the parliamentary Party, that has always been our principle since we were first established, so therefore the parliamentary party is sovereign and that’s why it’s been the parliamentary Party that has voluntarily and enthusiastically said; “We are going to put this rule in place, we are going to put this condition in place.” So they’ve done that out of their own authority and that’s why it respects the principle that Mr Howard had always pursued and that I’ve always pursued. As a result I’ve been pleased to have the support for this measure.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister two questions if I may, at what point did you come to the conclusion that the rules must be changed and also, can you confirm that Tony Abbott in the Party Room tonight supported this and called it “atonement”?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I can confirm that the former Prime Minister did support this measure and I had the opportunity to discuss it with him and the former deputy leader as well, before it was taken to the Party Room tonight. I think it was important to show that respect to former leaders that continue to serve in our parliamentary Party and I did just that. Tony and I, I’m very grateful for his strong support tonight.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: This is a matter that I have always had a view now for some months that would need to be addressed and certainly need to be addressed before the Parliament rose at the end of the year. James - just to help you before you lose your voice from all the shouting.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, this could conceivably, as I understand it, lead the country to a situation in which we have a Prime Minister that is supported by only 35 per cent of the Liberal Party Room and 65 per cent want them to go?
PRIME MINISTER: Well it’s two thirds, which is -
JOURNALIST: Yeah just under. Is that wise?
PRIME MINISTER: What this is doing is putting the power of the decision of who elects Prime Minister’s back in the hands of the Australian people.
JOURNALIST: But were a Prime Minister to lose by - well, were a Prime Minister not to have the majority of the Party room behind them? On what basis can we - ?
PRIME MINISTER: I think Australians will very much support the fact that the Liberal Party recognises that they’re the ones who should be in charge and -
JOURNALIST: That remains to be seen though.
PRIME MINISTER: That our focus will be on them. Look, it does remain to be seen, James. That’s why we’re being very clear to the Australian people tonight, that we have listened to them and we have acted consistent with what they expect our behaviour to be. And we have taken the decision to put these constraints in.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, could rule this be overturned by a simple majority?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Why not?
PRIME MINISTER: It requires a two-thirds majority.
JOURNALIST: To overturn the rule?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes that’s right.
JOURNALIST: Does this apply to you know or only if you win the next election?
PRIME MINISTER: It only applies to leaders who successfully contest an election.
JOURNALIST: Will you stand down if you lose the election?
PRIME MINISTER: After every election, then the Party always elects its’ leader.
JOURNALIST: Does this rule apply to opposition leaders?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: So it only applies if you’re the Prime Minister. What is the rule if you are opposition leader?
PRIME MINISTER: The same rules apply as exist currently and there’s a reason for this. See, this is what we’re seeking to do here. We respect the fact - and I think this has been the great anguish of the Australian people, as they’ve seen this happen in both the Labor Party and the Liberal Party where they have seen these changes – and they’re sick of it and we’re sick of it and it has to stop. That’s why we’ve put this rule in place; if they elect a Prime Minister by electing a Government then they should have every reasonable expectation that that’s what should remain.
JOURNALIST: Did you push for a 75 per cent rule?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I did not.
JOURNALIST: Does this apply to the Deputy, by the way?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, are you saying that it was the wrong thing to do to get rid of Malcolm Turnbull, are you saying, or are you happy to benefit from this rule?
PRIME MINISTER: What I am saying is the Liberal Party has listened to the Australian people about it’s behaviour on this issue over a long period of time. This has happened on too many occasions, that’s the reflection of the Liberal Party. We’re listening to the Australian people and we’re siding with their judgement.
JOURNALIST: Was it a mistake to get rid of Malcolm Turnbull?
PRIME MINISTER: Everyone just settle down, it’s late in the evening. I don’t know what you guys have been up to. You’re very spirited.
TREASURER: They are spirited, it’s beer o’clock.
JOURNALIST: You said you discussed the matter with former Prime Ministers, did that include Malcolm Turnbull?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ve only consulted members of the parliamentary Liberal Party -
JOURNALIST: What was the percentage of vote tonight?
PRIME MINISTER: This was carried by consensus, that’s the way our Liberal Party Room works.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: Can everyone stop shouting?
JOURNALIST: You previously said that regulating for culture is never effective when you were asked about this leadership change rule. So what has changed since when you said that?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ve reflected deeply on the wishes of the Australian people and what we’ve got here is form following function; that is that the cultural change that we’re achieving as the leadership of this Party, is being reflected in the conventions that we will now follow going forward.
What this is … see we could come here and we could say; “We are a united Party,” and we are, and we are. But this is a demonstration of that, this is a practical demonstration of it to the Australian people, that we mean it. That we’re fair dinkum about it. That’s why the Party has made this change. This was not the proposal of one individual.
JOURNALIST: Why did you consult with John Howard but not Malcolm Turnbull?
PRIME MINISTER: Because John Howard has been a longstanding, if you like, governor of the conventions of what occurs in the Liberal Party. He is also the longest-serving leader of the Liberal Party and frankly there is no one living today who has greater experience of the Liberal Party as a leader than John Howard. So I don’t have any reservations about acknowledging his special status.
JOURNALIST: Did you agree to a March 2 election, which today Malcolm Turnbull said you had agreed to, a March 2 election under his Prime Ministership? Is that right?
PRIME MINISTER: The calling of an election is a matter for the Prime Minister and that is solely within their domain. So that is a matter for the Prime Minister of the time.
JOURNALIST: You said you supported a March 2 date though? Is that correct or is he lying?
PRIME MINISTER: I’m not going to go into private conversations other than to say it’s the prerogative of the Prime Minister to call the election date. They consult with many people and what position they may take from time to time will depend of the political circumstances at the time and those political circumstances changed dramatically.
JOURNALIST: Can I ask you Prime Minister, two questions; firstly, did anyone speak against this motion in the Party Room and secondly, if these rules were in place in August, you would not be Prime Minister. Why can the Australian people take you seriously when you say that you are changing the rules when if these rules are in place, Malcolm Turnbull would still be Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: What we’re doing, what we’re addressing, is what we believe has been a weakness in the way that these issues have been conducted.
We’ve addressed it and we’ve fixed it.
See, this is my record in Australian politics; if I see a problem, I seek to fix it. As leader, I was elected to address issues and to ensure we can carry forward our Party to a successful election next year and between now and then, a lot of things are going to take place. There will be more policies announced. There will be a Budget that the Treasurer will hand down that will be in surplus, the first time that’s happened in more than a decade. I look forward to seeing that Budget handed down, because it will demonstrate very clearly to the Australian people what they would put at risk, what they would put at risk; the strength of our economy that Medicare depends on, that affordable medicines depend on. The strength of our Budget that comes from that strong economy, they would put all of that at risk with a Labor Party who are proven failures when it comes to managing the economy and managing a Budget.
Now, it’s important that Australians understand full well that where they have been frustrated with us, we have listened and we have acted. That is what our Party has done tonight.
JOURNALIST: Were there any arguments put against the proposal and what were they?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I’d say that the Party Room discussion tonight was basically that everyone was prepared to support the will of the Party Room tonight -
JOURNALIST: And the arguments against though?
PRIME MINISTER: Well that’s a matter for the Party Room. But I can say the response to this was overwhelmingly supportive.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, whose proposal was this? Was this your proposal?
PRIME MINISTER: As I outlined before, the proposal came forward from the Party Whips, this was not a proposal that came forward from me as the Party leader. I put in place, with the leadership team, a process to have this resolved that could have the whole Party –
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: That process involved the leadership team, then the Party Whips who recommended two thirds.
JOURNALIST: So there was no discussion of 75 per cent?
PRIME MINISTER: There was a discussion of a range of thresholds and the Party Room settled and I called it at two thirds and that was the recommendation originally from the Whips.
JOURNALIST: Is this an endorsement of Labor’s leadership rules?
PRIME MINISTER: No, theirs only requires a 50 per cent change, to change their rules. So this says that if you elect a Liberal Prime Minister, there is a strong guarantee from the Liberal Party tonight that you can be assured that a Liberal Prime Minister will stay in office. The Labor Party only needs a 50 per cent plus one change.
JOURNALIST: Why did Julie Bishop come late? Was she told?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes she was.
Remarks, G20 Summit - Buenos Aires
30 November 2018
PRIME MINISTER: G’day everyone, it’s good to be here in Buenos Aires. This is my third visit to Buenos Aires as part of the G20, this year of course in my new capacity for the leaders meetings. I just want to assure Australians thought that in the air on the way here, we’ve been kept up to date on the very significant threats that have been emerging up in Queensland with the bushfires. We know that there are a number of the fire warnings that have been downgraded but we’re in for some pretty heavy weather on the weekend, some very extreme weather on the weekend. I just continue to counsel all Australians in the affected areas to be listening to the warnings and acting on the advice and taking care and looking after each other. I continue to thank all those who have been fighting those fires - around 119 as I understand - and whilst some of those warnings have gone down, we’ll be watching those circumstances very, very carefully. So while I’m here of course the Deputy Prime Minister is in Australia and of course the Treasurer will be there also.
In terms of arriving here at Buenos Aires, I come here as Australians always do to any meeting, we always come optimistically. With the issues to be addressed, they’re obviously trade, very central to that. Australia has always been a successful trading nation and that’s how we’ll continue to ensure the prosperity for our own people. But it’s not just for our people; all of the G20 nations have benefitted so significantly by their exchanges in trade with each other and we all want to see that continue. So I’m optimistic about the way that particularly the major economies here will hopefully be able to make some progress. I believe that both China and the United States are very keen to see a more open trading environment around the world, and more trade all across the world and particularly between their two nations. We all benefit from that. I think this will be a good opportunity over the course of the next two days to re-assert our commitment to these principles of trade and encourage all of the nations here to get on with that job. Because it’s what drags people out of poverty, it’s what gives people choice in life and that will be our focus, as it always is, at these important events.
Thanks very much.
Statement On Indulgence - Natural Disasters
29 November 2018
Mr Morrison: (Cook—Prime Minister) (14:00): I rise on indulgence to update the House on the storms and the bushfires. The storms were in New South Wales, of course, and the bushfires are in Queensland.
As we know, Sydney and other parts of New South Wales are mopping up after a major storm—one of the worst in Sydney's memory. The storm system that moved across greater Sydney yesterday brought about 200 millimetres of rain, more than one month's average in a single day, as well as damaging winds, hail, severe thunderstorms and hazardous surf. Roads were closed due to flash flooding, fallen trees and landslides, and in Western Sydney a number of vehicles were trapped in floodwaters. There were blackouts and school closures as well. In total, 18 floodwater rescues took place, with the New South Wales SES receiving 2,063 requests for assistance. The Central Coast, and I know that the member for Robertson would be concerned here, and the south coast region, so the same for the member for Gilmore, were also hit by this system.
Three deaths have been attributed to the storms. This is a terrible tragedy. One of those deaths was an SES volunteer who was responding to the storms—out there helping others when he lost his life. He was a volunteer with a young family. It is truly heartbreaking and our thoughts are with his family at this terrible time for them. Nine people have also been injured, including two police officers—again, selflessly serving and out there for all of us.
I have spoken with Premier Berejiklian and conveyed the Commonwealth's willingness to assist as and when is needed. There has been no formal request for assistance from New South Wales at this time, and I want to commend the New South Wales State Emergency Services and other authorities for the tremendous work they've done in supporting their citizens.
While these events have unfolded in New South Wales, Queenslanders have been facing challenges of a very different kind. Major bushfires are burning—more than 105 active bushfires and grassfires—and extreme conditions are expected to continue in the northern and eastern parts of the state over the next seven days. The Bureau of Meteorology has assessed that the current conditions are easing, which is welcome. However, they remain concerned, as winds are set to increase this afternoon.
As well, forecasts are for severe to extreme heatwave conditions from Cooktown to Gladstone and extending into Central and north-western Queensland over the next seven days. Emergency warnings are current for fires burning at Deepwater and seven watch-and-act fires are burning across the state, and also one advanced fire. I should also say that there is an emergency warning at Captain Creek.
Evacuation centres are open at Rockhampton Showgrounds, the Central Queensland University at Rockhampton, Miriam Vale, Gladstone and Sarina. To those Australians in these areas, or who face similar warnings in the days ahead, I simply say this: please take the advice you are given. You can rebuild a home, but you cannot rebuild a lost family. It's now time to listen, to stay calm and to put those you love first.
I commend the response of Queensland authorities. That tremendous response is being bolstered by support from around the country—New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria and Western Australia. Tasmania is also in the process of sending assistance. Their contribution is being coordinated out of the State Disaster Coordination Centre in Brisbane.
I can report that I have continued to keep in contact with Premier Palaszczuk and that the Commonwealth disaster assistance plan has been activated. This is the formal mechanism which creates an open channel between the Queensland state government and the Commonwealth for Queensland to seek assistance in any range of areas from the Commonwealth.
The ADF are providing support, as required, and stand ready to respond to any request that is put to them, according to their capabilities, from the Queensland government. That includes, currently, the refuelling of firefighting aircraft out of Amberley. In the last 24 hours we have responded to a call for such assistance, from the Queensland government to help the Gladstone local government area, and this is what we will continue to do in the days and in the months ahead.
Earlier today the Deputy Prime Minister and I, with the Assistant Minister for Home Affairs, attended the Crisis Coordination Centre here in Canberra, where we were further briefed on both of these situations. Our emergency services around Australia are doing tremendous work. Our state governments are doing a tremendous job, whether in Queensland or in New South Wales. I commend Premier Palaszczuk and Premier Berejiklian on the work of both of their governments.
The members for Capricornia and Flynn are not here today; they are with their communities in Queensland, as is Senator Canavan. They attended the local disaster management meeting in Rockhampton overnight. They are a vital conduit between the Commonwealth and these communities. I know there are other members here in the chamber who represent these communities, like the member for Leichhardt, the member for Wide Bay and other members. They, I know, will be keen to get back to their communities. Everyone is lending a hand and stepping up. Mates are helping mates. They're stepping up, they're reaching out and they're helping and comforting those in need. That's the Australian way.
I conclude with these remarks. This is going to be a tough summer ahead for all of us. This is the brief and the warning we've already seen from Emergency Management Australia. There is currently material being prepared by Emergency Management Australia that will be available to all members which will assist them in working with their communities to ensure that they can provide any role they can in supporting their communities to prepare for the summer season ahead of us. It may well be that more homes will come under threat, and we pray they will not be lost; that more hectares could be ravaged, and we pray that that won't happen; and that more lives could be affected, and we'll pray and do everything we can within our power to ensure that that does not occur. To those affected already: on behalf of this parliament, I offer our thoughts, our prayers and the support of 25 million people who will stand with you for as long as it takes.
Press Conference - Queensland fires
28 November 2018
Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Emergency Management
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you for coming together. You probably would have just had the opportunity to see the briefing that was provided by Premier Palaszczuk in terms of the very concerning events that have been unfolding in Queensland over the last few days and they have certainly intensified over the course of today. As you just would have heard, we expect that continue certainly over the next 24 hours and indeed, potentially over the next 7 days. Earlier this evening, we were briefed, the Deputy Prime Minister and I, by the Director General of Emergency Management Australia, Bob Cameron, who was able to update us on this situation in Queensland and to particularly draw our attention to of the what is more than around about 115 fires that have been burning and three that are of particular concern. The Deepwater fire and the Ambrose fire and what is now being referred to as the Gracemere fire.
What’s also important to note is the quite serious set of weather conditions that has been giving rise to what we are seeing. Very low levels of humidity and record maximum temperatures which has been occurring for the past few days. This is very unusual, we are advised, and there is about a 4 to 8 per cent… sorry an 8 per cent average above, and 8 degree average above what we’ve seen and expect to see over the next four days and we expect to see a severe and extreme conditions be in place across all of eastern Queensland over the next 7 days. Wind changes, all of these things are occurring and it’s important that we keep a close eye, as the authorities are in Queensland. I want to commend the Queensland response. I’ve spoken to Premier Palaszczuk on a number of occasions today and to offer all forms of support that are available to her from the Commonwealth. And what I think is important to note has been the incredible response provided to Queensland from states and territories all around the country. The firefighting response has been provided by the civilian fire authorities, whether it's from New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Western Australia. New South Wales is actually sending more tomorrow, and they have been joining the Queensland effort and a very coordinated effort which has been run out of Brisbane from the state Disaster Coordination Centre. We have activated the Director-General of emergency management Australia, has activated the Commonwealth Disaster Assistance Plan. That is the formal mechanism by which it creates an open channel between the Queensland State Government and the Commonwealth to seek assistance in any range of areas from the Commonwealth.
Now, in terms of the ADF, the support that has been provided to date has been out of Amberley and providing refuelling capacity. New South Wales, by the way, has seven aircraft up in New South Wales, and, of course, the ADF are providing assistance as required there. As the Emergency Management Minister, the Assistant Minister for Home Affairs was pointing out today as well, the financial assistance has been triggered through the joint disaster recovery funding arrangements. They've been activated, particularly in areas of Gladstone, and that provides financial support for personal hardship and distress and to assist in a number of the counter-disaster operations that have been provided by the Queensland Government.
The messages that I think are important to Australians today, and particularly Queenslanders, up in north Queensland, and central Queensland, is to simply take the advice. You can rebuild a home but you can't rebuild a family, and there is, I think, a very clear set of warnings that have been provided and it's time to listen to those plans, stay calm and gather your family together. And the evacuation centre in Rockhampton for Gracemere, but it's not only Gracemere that's impacted by those orders that are in place and those emergency evacuation arrangements that are in place. But I'd be calling on people to respond calmly and to make their way to Rockhampton where there'll be support and there'll be assistance available to them. I know that will be very distressing to them and their families but know this - the entire country is coming to your aid. The entire country is there to help in this time of great need. And the members for Flynn and the members for Capricornia will have left the Parliament together with Senator Canavan and they're returning to their electorates to provide what support and comfort they can and assistance.
I have no immediate plans, nor does the Deputy Prime Minister, to visit the area. The advice to us is that we need people to focus on the firefighting effort and the firefighting response, so we will continue to monitor and manage things from, in terms of the Commonwealth's response here from Canberra, and working closely with Emergency Management Australia. I want to thank all of those who have taken the journey, all of those who have stepped up today, all of those who have reached out to friends, family, to comfort one another. All those who are working up there in Rockhampton tonight, all those who are working wherever they are tonight to provide the level of response that Australians would expect in a situation like this.
Before I throw to the Deputy Prime Minister, it has also been a very difficult day in New South Wales today. In Sydney, we have seen today heavy rains, flash flooding, damaging winds, severe thunderstorms, hazardous surf and hail in Sydney and the Central Coast. There has also been [inaudible] that been required to be activated at this point, we'll obviously be staying in close contact with the New South Wales State Government in terms of any assistance that they may require. So our thoughts are also with all of those affected by those quite extreme conditions in New South Wales today. We'll be there to support you as well in every way that is appropriate in those circumstances. So with that I might hand to the Deputy Prime Minister. Thank you.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER MICHAEL MCCORMACK: Thank you, Prime Minister, and Senator Reynolds. This is a very difficult day for Australia, particularly for New South Wales, particularly for Queensland, and as the Prime Minister has indicated, Michelle Landry the Member for Capricornia, Ken O’Dowd the Member for Flynn and Senator Matthew Canavan, Minister Canavan, have returned to Queensland to be with their people to offer what support they can. It's important that we do stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder with our friends, with our neighbours, at this time. But most importantly, as the Prime Minister said, for those people in the affected area, be as safe as possible. Please listen to the local emergency authorities. They know best. If they ask you to leave, then please do so. As the Prime Minister has just said, you can always rebuild a home, you can't replace loved ones. I can't stress that enough. The authorities have said it. Please listen to them. They know the conditions on the ground. They want you to act with calmness but certainly if you need to leave then please do so and listen to them. Many cane farms have been razed. The villages of west of Mackay, Eungella and Finch Hatton have been evacuated. They’re only small, tiny specks on the map but those people, they have homes. They're wonderful little communities and they've had to evacuate. So we think of them at this time. Our thoughts are very much with them. Of course, for all of those people who are evacuated, there will be support services available, and I reiterate again, don't panic, just take the action necessary. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. Did you want to offer anything in terms of emergency management?
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT MINISTER LINDA REYNOLDS: Thank you, Prime Minister. As the Federal Emergency Management Minister, it's my responsibility to ensure that all Commonwealth agencies work together and provide all the support required to Queensland, and when requested, New South Wales. The emergency management, EMA, has already responded and they are working very closely with the Queensland authorities in their special operations centre. Our Commonwealth crisis coordination centre has been activated and we are doing everything we can now to ensure that the Queensland authorities get all the emergency assistance they need with emergency services support, with firefighting resources and particularly now working with the Queensland Government to ensure that all of those families and men and women who have been affected and lost property and have nowhere to go tonight have the food, the clothing and the shelter that they require. The Commonwealth will then, of course, work with the Queensland Government over the coming days, months and possibly even years to make sure that all the support that the Commonwealth can muster goes to support these people. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. Well thank you Linda, we don't have anything further to add at this point. I mean, obviously operational control in relation to this... these emergencies is being handled both in Queensland and New South Wales. So for operational details I'll have to refer you to both of those centres to get the latest updates. But we thought it was important to give you an update in terms of the Commonwealth's response tonight. I'll be taking further briefings in the morning at the centre here in Canberra, and will provide further updates in terms of any further response, whether it’s from the ADF or any other parts of the Commonwealth as and when is required. Thank you all very much.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Annual Dinner
28 November 2018
PRIME MINISTER: It’s wonderful to be here with you and I’ve got a lot of colleagues who are here tonight and if I was to read them all out, we’d be here all night. So I want to give them a general shout-out, as well as to other parliamentary colleagues who are here and my Ministerial colleagues. It’s good to be back here again, I was here last year and when I was here as Treasurer I said to you; “You’ve got to vote for the economy. You’ve got to focus on the things that are going to do the right thing for the economy”. That doesn’t mean you’re partisan or anything like that, but you run businesses and what’s good for the economy is good for business. So it’s important to back the policies and it’s important to back those who are putting in place the policies that are good for the economy. Now why is that important? Many years ago people used to talk about strong economy management. The Coalition is very good at it.
Peter Costello was Australia’s finest ever Treasurer. Kelly O’Dwyer is here, she worked with Peter, we both worked with him when we worked in the treasury portfolios together. We often seek his counsel. Our finest ever Treasurer produced outstanding economic management. But it’s not something you just put on a wall, a strong economy and go: “Well gee, isn’t that lovely, we’ve done terribly well for ourselves, let’s pat ourselves on the back.” For me and for my team, a strong economy is not an end in its own right. It’s the essential thing that this nation requires in order to deliver the services the infrastructure, the thing that matter to Australians. That’s what it’s for. That’s it’s utility, it’s not some sort of academic exercise. It’s not some economists picnic, it is what is absolutely essential for those of us who serve in public life, go into public life for. To ensure that Australians can have the services and the infrastructure, the opportunities that they rely on.
And you create it; businesses represented here and well beyond this room, you create the economy that enables us to pay for affordable medicines. Spinraza is a drug that deals with spinal muscular atrophy. We listed that in this year’s Budget, saving kids lives. That’s what a strong economy does. We’re going to invest $30 billion more in hospitals over the next five years. That what a strong economy does. $37 billion more in schools around the country, a 65 per cent increase in per student funding. Backing in independent schools, non-state schools, state schools all of them, that’s what a strong economy does. It is helping Australians realise their opportunities.
Fiona Simpson is here tonight, $7 billion in support for our farmers and rural and regional communities in response to the drought. You can’t do that if you don’t have a strong economy. Its doesn’t happen and you don’t create a stronger economy by killing it with taxes. That’s what I said to you this time last year. You don’t do that, you cannot have a stronger economy, an even stronger economy, if you take a wet blanket of higher tax and throw it over the top. You’ll douse it, you’ll frustrate it, you’ll suffocate it, you’ll switch it down, you’ll turn it off. When you do that, they you cannot deliver on the essential services and the things that really, really matter to Australians.
Now, some will tell you: “Oh, we can pay for that with higher taxes.” It’s a false economy, it’s a false economy. You turn the taxes up, you turn the economy down, a zero sum game, it’s a trick, it’s a lie. Lower taxes, that’s what produces a stronger economy.
You know, I was up in Darwin recently and I spoke to the Chamber up in Darwin and I talked about our plan. I said; “Our plan for creating this stronger economy was about tax relief to encourage and reward hard-working Australians, whether they’re running their own businesses running their own farms, whether they’re hard=-working wage earners, we’ve legislated tax relief for all of them. $144 billion worth of personal income tax relief legislated through the Australian Parliament.
Now, if you tell Australians that you get to keep more of what you earn - because it’s their money by the way and it’s your money, running a small family business - you are able to keep more of that and invest it back into your business, more of what you earn is what you get to keep, then that can only be supporting what is going in and around the economy. If floats everybody’s boat, it lifts everybody up. That’s why we believe in our heart of hearts as Liberals and Nationals that we need to ensure that we keep taxes down. Because we believe that Australians should keep more of what they earn.
They have worked hard for it, you’ve worked hard for it, why should you give more of it to me?
People say: “Oh, you need to pay higher taxes so we can pay for hospitals and we can pay for schools and we can pay for affordable medicines”, well I’ll tell you how we pay for that; we pay for that by the economy being stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger.
See, we are delivering all of those things at record levels and not in increasing your taxes. In fact we are cutting your taxes, because that is what we believe as Liberals and as Nationals. We believe in having a stronger economy, not being an end in its own right, but we believe in what it can produce.
How we can make the economy stronger, that focus on a stronger economy is getting the Budget back into balance. I announced this week, yesterday, that we will deliver a Budget on the 2nd of April. Josh Frydenberg will be the most successful Treasurer since Peter Costello.
[Applause]
I suspect he won’t be recognised by Euromoney, to his great disappointment.
[Laughter]
Apparently delivering surpluses is not what Euromoney recognise as being the essential ingredients for being the world’s greatest treasurer. But I’ll tell you what; he will be the next Treasurer to deliver a surplus in this country and the last one was Peter Costello. Now, I will tell him I gave him a bit of help. And I’m sure he will make mention of it or else –
[Laughter]
But the Budget is coming back into balance and that has been hard work, really hard work. Hard decisions, getting expenditure under control. The lowest growth in public expenditure growth in more than 50 years - that’s fair dinkum more than 50 years - we have constrained expenditure growth, we have constrained growth in taxation we have put a cap, a speed limit on taxes. You know, if you’re serious about controlling expenditure in this country you’ve got to be serious about controlling taxes.
I have sat round and chaired ERC for many years now. The best way to control how much people spend is making sure you only take in what you need and that’s what we’re doing as a Government. We’re keeping taxes under control, we’re keeping expenditure under control and it is bringing the Budget back into balance. Next year we are hitting surplus again and that’s a great achievement. It means that the Western Australia Chamber of Commerce and Industry – who I would argue have had the most successful lobbying efforts over the last few years, I don’t know whether you give out a prize within the Chamber for these sorts of things –
[Laughter]
I tell you they made their case and they convinced me. The reason they convinced me is that it was important and it’s been enabled by a strong economy and getting our Budget back into balance, that we can finally fix the unfairness that existed with how the GST was distributed across our states and territories. Western Australia was held back for too long and we’ve been able to fix that without holding or taking any from any other state or territory in the Commonwealth. Why? Because we have managed the economy well, we have managed the Budget well.
So we are guaranteeing that funding for schools and hospitals and essential services. We have record investments in infrastructure. I’ve got to say one of the proudest days I have had as a Member of Parliament, as a Minister, as Prime Minister, was to turn the first sod of Western Sydney Airport. I have been involved in that issue for decades and it’s now happening, because of a government that decides it is important to build things, that build our economy. People have talked about it -
[Applause]
Give yourselves a clap, you’re all part of it. People talked about this for decades, but as a Government over the last five years we set about doing it and ensuring that the top sod has been turned on Western Sydney Airport. That is now reality which is transforming Western Sydney, Craig Kelly will know this, out in Liverpool Western Sydney University has built their vertical campus in the middle of Liverpool. It’s the biggest training centre for nurses anywhere in New South Wales. The reason they decided to put it in Liverpool, which is a city which is transforming before your very eyes - it reminds me of Parramatta 25 years ago - they decided to put it there, because of the Western Sydney Airport. Because of what was happening in Western Sydney, because of the investment in infrastructure that our Government had put in place. That led them to make that investment and then others made investments and then others make investments. You know how it works, that’s how an economy grows and that’s why we’ve made those investments in infrastructure, the Inland Rail, the list goes on, the North South Corridor, the M1 up in Queensland, the new water pipe line up in Townsville. All of these infrastructure investments are designed to do one thing; Grow our economy. We want to have an industrial relations system - which I know Kelly O’Dwyer belives passionately in - which does not set employers against employees. I joked the other day - but it is not a joke it is a serious deal – that Labor’s industrial relations policy is a throwback to the 1970s. It was written by people with flares and long hair.
[Laughter]
This is a policy that will divide workers and their employers. You know, when I walk into businesses, particularly small and medium sized businesses I see people working together. That’s what I see. I see people who want to work together. I see people that have arrangements that enable them to all benefit from the success of the organisation, of the enterprise. That’s a healthy workplace and that’s what we want to see. We want to see Australian work places working together, employers, employees, managers all of them understanding that the way you get ahead, is not to pull some down and lift others up, but everybody gets ahead. That’s our vision for workplace relations in this country.
The result of our plan is pretty straight forward; we’ve got growth running at over 3 per cent. It’s got a 3 in front of it. We have got unemployment down to 5 per cent. 50,000 less people are unemployed today than in the last election. Over 100,000 Australians, young Australians, have got a job last financial year the strongest grown in youth employment in Australia’s economic history. How many weddings have you been to, how many bar mitzvahs, how many christenings, how many 21sts have you been to as business employers, as owners, of your staff? How many weddings and how proud were you when you looked at those young people that you gave a job to? How good is that? I mean you’re in it to make a living, but you’re passionate about what you’re doing and how you change lives, when it comes to how you run your business. That’s what small and family businesses are all about and that’s why we back small and family businesses. That’s why we see small and medium sized family businesses as being the engine of our economy.
Michaelia Cash is here tonight and she is responsible for that portfolio and she is doing a stunning job and together with Josh Frydenberg and Kelly we have been working on some packages and some plans to further support small and family businesses in Australia.
You already know that we’ve reduced taxes, as we were doing before, to 25 per cent and we have brought that forward. You already know that we have extended the instant asset write off. You already know that we have lifted the small business definition from $2 million to $10 million, so you get access to pool depreciation and GST on a cash basis and things like that. You already know about that, that stuff we’ve already done that has encouraged small businesses all around the country.
On that alone, the biggest support for small and family businesses from any government in generations, true to the Menzies foundations of our party as Liberals, supporting those small and family businesses. But in recent months I’ve decided as Prime Minister that we need to go even further. That we need to give even more support for small and medium family sized businesses across Australia.
The first one deals with cash, getting paid. Cash flow always starts with getting paid. If the invoices you issue are not being paid, that hurts your business, that makes it harder for your business. Businesses, small businesses should never be treated as a bank by governments or large businesses. We should all pay on time.
[Applause]
I am pleased to say that our Government has been working to do just that. 97 per cent of Australian Government bills under $1 million are being paid within 30 days and we are taking this down to 20 days by the 1st of July 2019. I’m also taking payment times to COAG in just under a month, to encourage all states to catch NSW where they’ve gone to 20 days for those payments, where we are also going. I want State Government and Commonwealth Government to pay small businesses on time and recently when I spoke at the BCA dinner, I talked about their supply code. Qantas is here tonight, Trent is here, they are part of that. They’ve got 13,000 small businesses that are part of Qantas’ supply chain. They have signed up. That’s at 30 days, I’m hoping not just Qantas, but the whole lot will go down to 20 days as well. What we have said is that anyone who wants to work with the Commonwealth Government, you’ve got to agree to those terms as well. You’ve got to pay businesses on time, because the quicker the money moves around, the better the economy does, it’s just common sense. So we are working to deliver that.
We are also requiring that more businesses with a 100 million turnover, that’s 3,000 business to publish information on how they pay their small businesses. I want to see the score board. You need to see the score board if you are a small or family business. Who are the big businesses that pay on time? Now we already know that there are large businesses that are already dropping - as a result of what I announced only a week ago - their payment terms from 90 days in regional areas of Australia particularly Queensland, down to 30 days. That’s a big shift, that is a big shift and it is called leadership. It’s called leadership when you say as a Government you’re going to do it and you expect others to do it as well. We are already seeing others follow and we appreciate that. But there is more than that. You need to get access to capital, you need to get access to finance if you are a small and family business. So we are setting up the Australian Securitisation Fund, $2 billion to invest in deepening the capital base, the finance base for new lenders in the marketplace to be able to source their finance at a lower cost so they can lend it on to you, at a lower cost.
We need more competition in our banking and financial system, we want more of these new lenders, who get small business, who don’t say to you; “Give me your house and a mortgage over your kids and all the rest of it, and we’ll give you some money if we feel good about it.”
No. We want to see all these other businesses who are getting out there and establishing new payment models, new systems, new fintech companies who are going to go out there and they need to access lower cost finance to deliver that to you.
And we’re backing that in with $2 billion investment in the securitization market to ensure that is freed up.
We’re also working to establish with the banks the Australian Business Growth Fund modelled on the UK experience. Now that fund, together with the small business finance arrangements actually work together, as we’ve seen happen in other places.
Getting access to the capital, which can then be backed up by the access to the finance. Then, you’re realizing the ambitions the you have for your business.
But it’s not just about that. It’s about tax complexity and red tape.
Now, it may be a dry topic but if you’re running a small and family business, it’s a critical topic. As well as putting more incentive in the tax system, we’re working to ensure that it is fair, not only when it comes to the design, but to the implementation of the tax system.
As a former Treasurer I know the good work the ATO do. Now, I know there will be at least 200 stories in this place that won’t be that flattering to the ATO, but I suspect there will be some that are. Their job is to ensure the integrity of our taxation system, so we can deliver the essential services that all Australians rely on.
Taxes should be lower, but everyone should pay them. That’s also a rule I think it’s good to follow and the ATO seek to ensure that occurs.
But I understand the concerns, as does Michaelia, of small business when it comes to dealing with the ATO. There is no denying the complexity involved and we are focused on reducing that complexity. We know you’re focused on running your business, not studying the Tax Act or sifting through rules and determinations. The ATO recognises this too and they have taken steps – you’ve got to give them this - to improve the way they work with over 3 million small businesses.
They’ve opened up more lines of communication with their after-hours call back service, gone out into the business community with their roadshows and they’ve looked at their debt collection and penalty relief processes. Small business interactions with the ATO should be smooth and the vast majority are. Ideally once you’ve lodged your return, paid your tax bill, or received the refund that you are entitled to, that should be it. But for those who experience an audit or a dispute we understand the impact this has on you and your business. It can be stressful, intimidating and confronting and you will rack up some expenses when you deal with this. Under our Government, you’ll be able to deduct those expenses. Under the Labor plan, you won’t, it’ll be capped so if you’ve got a big fight with the Tax Office, your legal expenses will not be deducted over a certain amount. But those who experience an audit, we understand how it can impact you and while there are many good things the ATO does to make the process easier, we need to do that. The dedicated complaints hotline for small business, independent reviews of audits before they are finalised, advocates to support vulnerable and unrepresented taxpayers through the objections process and independent ,trained mediators to resolve cases.
But there is more that we have to do. That’s why I’m announcing tonight that we will be establishing ten new tax clinics, in conjunction with major and regional universities, to provide free assistance to small businesses and individuals with disputes with the ATO. These tax clinics will ensure small businesses in need have access to specialist advice from tax practitioners and students in the field on a pro bono basis.
The Government will also be reviewing the avenues through which small businesses are compensated if the ATO’s handling of the case causes an economic or personal loss. The review will be run out of the Department of Finance and they will report back in the new year.
A small number of cases go through the ATO’s disputes process all the way to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Tonight, I’m announcing a range of measures to make this path towards resolution easier. Our Government will establish a small business concierge service within the Small Business Ombudsman’s office, to provide support and know-how about the AAT process before application. We’re creating a dedicated Small Business Taxation Division within the AAT, so small business will have a case manager supporting them throughout the entire process, a standard application fee of just $500 and decisions fast-tracked to within 28 days of a hearing.
This is just another step the Government is taking to ensure a level playing field for small business. It’s proof that we’re on your side, when it comes to what we want for you small businesses.
[Applause]
We want small businesses to succeed. Of course that’s in addition to the many other measures that we’ve announced, that include raising the thresholds for asset financial reporting, through from 25 to 50 on consolidated revenue, $12.5 to $25 million of assets and 50-100 employees. That means 2200 companies won’t be required to complete those annual asset financial reporting arrangements, saving $80 million in red tape costs over the year, which we think is a good thing.
Now finally, it’s also about the people who work for you and the skills that they need. Those skills are also key to the economic futures of Australians in a modern economy. We know the strength and dynamism of our economy has increased demand for new skills and a higher level of skills over someone’s entire working life. Providing a skilled workforce, especially for small businesses, depends on the vocational education and training sector, it comes not just from our universities. We believe in this form of education. We believe it equips Australians and it’s not just about training school-leavers to attain employment. It’s about ensuring people can update their skills throughout their entire working life. So in the VET sector, to be able to respond and adapt to future demands for higher skills, changing industry composition and structural change especially in regional and rural Australia and people working longer and in varied roles over the course of their working lives.
We need to strengthen our VET system, not simply as an economic imperative but to ensure Australians are equipped for the workforce of the future.
So tonight, I’m announcing that the Government has commissioned an important review of our vocational education sector in Australia, which will be conducted very promptly and quickly to make sure we’re training the right people for the right jobs in the years ahead. Now the person I have asked, with Michaelia Cash, to do this job has pretty good experience in doing it from across the ditch. Steven Joyce the former New Zealand Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment and was also the former Minister for Finance in New Zealand. He will bring a fresh perspective on what is needed here and what we can do here, based on his extensive and successful work and reforms that he put in place in New Zealand.
He is the architect of those reforms to their apprenticeship and industry training system and was one of the most senior and most successful ministers in the Key Government in New Zealand. We’ve asked Steven to consult widely and I’m sure ACCI will be very involved in that process and that is the task that he has. The Review will have a particular focus on ensuring Australian businesses have the skills they need to support their business growth.
The Review will build on the work Minister Cash is already leading, including the reforms to the Skilling Australians Fund. That fund, some $1.5 billion, supports state and territory governments to increase apprenticeships and every single cent of that fund, every single cent will be spent on vocational education and training in this country. Even where some states and territory governments – as is the case in Victoria and Queensland - where they haven’t signed up to that. That’s disappointing, that’s unfortunate and I would still hope they will look carefully at this arrangement with the Skilling Australians Fund and sign on to ensure they are getting the access to those funds to deliver the programmes that are important in their states and territories. But every single cent will be spent, of that Skilling Australians Fund, in vocational education and training in Australia.
But there’s one thing further I’m announcing tonight which will be supporting apprentices in Australia; I’m pleased to announce that we will be expanding eligibility of the Support for Adult Australian Apprenticeships Initiative, so that it will include apprentices aged between 21 and 24. Previously this initiative was only available for those 25 and older, but given that adult apprentices, for wage purposes, are now defined as being over 21 years of age this has left those between 21 and 24 at a disadvantage. This will mean about 12,500 adult apprentices over the next three budget years will be supported by a one-off $4,000 payment. We are doing this because getting young Australians to learn skills for meaningful employment is not just something that helps the economy; it’s something that can change people’s lives and ensure they’re on a path to a better life.
You know, under our Government we have reached the point where we have the lowest level of welfare dependence of the working age population, in more than 25 years.
[Applause]
That’s what turns a budget deficit into a budget surplus. It’s the old 12 point turnaround; you stop them scoring at the other end, your end, and you score down the other. You get someone who was receiving the welfare payment and you turn them into a taxpayer with a job. That’s what our Government has been doing and these initiatives I’ve been announcing tonight are all about that.
So I’ll conclude where I started; all of this is about building a stronger economy. Why? Because that’s the only way you can look Australians in the eye and say: “I’m going to fund your hospital, I’m going to fund your medicine, I’m going to fund your school, I’m going to fund the Disability Insurance Scheme.”
We’re going to make Australia stronger and you do that with a stronger economy. You can’t do it with higher taxes. You do it by encouraging the people who are in this room, the people who run businesses all around the country in our cities, in our suburbs, in our rural and regional areas all around the country. That’s how you create a stronger Australia and that’s what our Government is delivering, by focusing on delivering the stronger economy.
Thank you very much.
[Applause]
Press Conference with the Treasurer
27 November 2018
PRIME MINISTER: Since the Parliament last met, it’s been a busy time. A Drought Summit Action Plan has been put in place, including moving forward with a $5 billion Drought Resilience Fund, a Drought Future Fund, we're working through that even as we speak. Support for veterans, whether it's ensuring they get the recognition that they deserve and the respect that they deserve or supporting them to get into employment after their time of service, has been completed. Major infrastructure announcements from one end of the country to the other, whether it’s down in Geelong or up in Darwin, across in Townsville, important water infrastructure, the Gold Coast light rail, the Bundaberg-Hervey Bay regional deal; investing in the critical infrastructure and services that our country needs and demands to supporting our growing economy.
The Pacific ‘step up’ programme that I announced up in Townsville at Lavarack Barracks and then had the opportunity to discuss with our regional partners, and allies and others, which just had such a strong response particularly from our Pacific Island family. Showing the leadership that is necessary in our region as well as working with other countries like New Zealand, the United States and Japan to ensure that we are looking after and working with those who live as part of our Pacific family.
In small business and family business, we have made major announcements which demonstrate that our Government has been the strongest backer of small and family businesses that we've seen in generations, absolutely in tune with the great Liberal tradition. The Australian Business Securitisation Fund is ensuring that small businesses get access to the finance and the capital that they need to back in their businesses, so they don't have to go only on the terms that the big banks want. So that there is more competition and they can get a fair go than when they have a go, which is an important Liberal principle.
Cutting red tape, $300 million worth for small business, that the Treasurer announced and getting small businesses paid on time, so small businesses are not used as a bank by big businesses. We're moving on it. We're taking our payment terms to 20 days and other state governments are as well - particularly New South Wales, which I commend them for - and at COAG this year as I said at the recent Business Council of Australia address, I want businesses to come with us on that journey too. I want other state governments to come on that journey, to make sure that small businesses get paid on time.
It’s a huge deal for them. It’s one of the most important things any of us can do; to can make sure the small and family businesses get the go they work hard for. The Women's Economic Security Statement, in particular providing the flexibility in terms of how paid parental leave is operating in this country, giving women, giving families more choices about how they manage their work-life balance and how they manage bringing up young children.
A new population policy framework, which I'll be taking to the states when COAG meets later next month. Responding to the India Economic Strategy. Just as recently as last week a huge new opportunity as well as concluding negotiations on the Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement.
Toughening up our stance when it comes to keeping Australians safe, whether it's radical Islamic terrorism, or ensuring that we can cancel the citizenships of those who have violated absolutely the gift provided to them, whether by birth or otherwise, when it comes to their citizenship of this country.
Now, that's just since we rose in Parliament just four weeks ago. Our Government is getting on with the job and our plan for a stronger economy is working. Josh can elaborate on that in just a second, but that plan for a stronger economy is what delivers the essential services that Australians rely on. Without a stronger economy, you can't make pledges about hospitals and schools, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, on affordable medicines, Medicare.
Those promises are worthless if you cannot manage a strong economy.
Our Government has been overseeing the management of a strong economy. Unemployment remaining at five per cent. The strongest growth in youth jobs in Australia's economic recorded history. Jobs growth of over a million since we first came to Government, ahead of time, of what we promised and importantly, bringing the Budget back into balance.
When we were elected in 2013, we said we would get rid of the carbon tax and we did.
We said we’d stop the boats and we did.
And we said we would bring the Budget back into balance and we are.
What I'm here today to announce is that before we go to the next election, we will be handing down a Budget and it will be a surplus Budget. It will be a Budget which is the product of the years of hard work of our Government, of successive treasurers and prime ministers, that has ensured that we have stayed on track to deliver a balanced budget, a surplus budget which is what we promised the Australian people we would do.
We've been delivering on our commitments as a Government. We've been getting things done. We can be trusted to run Australia's Budget and trusted to oversee a growing economy.
We've been investing in more services; record investments in hospitals, in schools, in disabilities, in affordable medicines, making life-changing decisions for Australians all around the country.
All of that has been made possible by ensuring that we focus on a stronger economy and we're doing it without increasing taxes. Labor will make lots of claims, but they're making those claims on the back of putting a higher tax burden on the Australian economy, which will suffocate growth, which will suffocate jobs, which will ensure that they don't have the wherewithal to deliver on the essential services that Australians rely on.
A stronger economy is not a prize you put on the shelf and admire; for Liberals, for Nationals, a stronger economy is how we deliver on the infrastructure, the services, the hospitals, the schools, the affordable medicines. That's how we do it. That's why you can trust the Liberal and National parties to be able to deliver on those essential services, because we are the ones who believe that the stronger economy is the ticket to achieving that, not higher taxes.
I'll ask Josh to make a few more comments on that. Later today we'll be tabling the sitting schedule which will make this all very clear. The Budget will be handed down on the 2nd April next year. There'll be a MYEFO in the normal course of events before the end of this year and I'll ask Josh to address that now.
TREASURER THE HON JOSH FRYDENBERG MP: Well thanks, Prime Minister. Yes, the MYEFO be on 17th December, which will be proceeded by national accounts.
The Australian economy is growing. The Australian economy is strong. The Australian economy is performing well. That's the view of the Reserve Bank of Australia. That's the view of the International Monetary Fund. That's the view of the OECD.
We're growing at 3.4 per cent through the year, the fastest rate of growth since the height of the mining boom.
We have created over one million new jobs and since we last met, unemployment has stabilised at five per cent. At the same time, wages have started to grow with the biggest jump in wages in three years, with the Reserve Bank of Australia saying that is a trend that will continue.
Our AAA credit rating has been reaffirmed by Standard & Poor’s and by Fitch. We're one of only ten countries in the world to have a AAA credit rating from the three leading agencies.
And as the Prime Minister said, the benefit of a strong economy is that you can provide the essential services, the defence, the border security, the infrastructure, the disability support, the things that Australians need and deserve. The Australian economy is not an end in itself; it's only a means to an end, which is to support Australians in every corner of our great country.
The next election will be a stark contrast. A contrast between a Coalition Government, which is growing the economy and has an economic plan that is working and is for the future; and the Labor Party, who wrongly believe you can tax yourself to prosperity. $200 billion of new taxes on everything from your income and your business, to your hard-earned savings and to your home. In fact, their plan on negative gearing will see that every Australian who owns their home, it will be worth less. And every Australian who rents their home, their rent will end up paying more.
So don't risk it with Labor.
The Australian economy is heading in the right direction and our economic plan is working.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister will the election be in May?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'll let you guys do the maths.
JOURNALIST: In April?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll let you guys do the maths. There are options available to the Government, there are always options available to the Government, to call the election, as you know, any time between now and to have a half Senate election and a House of Representatives election concurrently, that would have to be conducted by the 18th of May.
JOURNALIST: So you want to have a Budget before?
PRIME MINISTER: It is absolutely our intention to have the Budget before the election and to deliver a surplus budget. A surplus Budget that we promised we would deliver. A surplus Budget that we will deliver and only a Coalition government would have been able to deliver; because it is only through the hard work of the last five years that has put us in the position to be able to have a surplus Budget, a surplus Budget which the Labor Party would have trashed in a heartbeat.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] forecast of [inaudible] balance of that plus $2.2 billion. Are you saying that would be the surplus?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there's no change to the projections in terms of when we anticipate the Budget going into balance. There'll be a MYEFO which will update those figures and of course, there will be a Budget which will update those figures.
JOURNALIST: So you’re saying the surplus will be in 2019/20?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the figures will be outlined at the MYEFO.
JOURNALIST: I’m not after the figure, I’m just trying to get - you’re setting out –
PRIME MINISTER: No, no what I'm saying is there's still further work to be done between now and MYEFO. We'll update all the figures. In the most recent Budget we said that the balance would be achieved in 2019/20. We will be updating that in MYEFO and of course there will be another update in the Budget of this year for the current year, as well as for next year.
JOURNALIST: So could the surplus be this financial year?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm just saying there will be those two statements. Wait to see those two statements. I'm not suggesting anything either way on that, Michelle. I think the projections have all been fairly clear and if we’re in a position to announce something different, we would be.
But in the Budget this year, we said that the balance would come forward a year earlier to 2019/20 and we're absolutely on track to achieve that. We'll have more to say about the progress on that and the numbers at MYEFO first and then obviously the Budget that follows.
JOURNALIST: Treasurer, you would have seen iron ore and coal prices fall over the last fortnight, down substantially [inaudible]?
TREASURER: Well historically, we've been pretty conservative with our commodity forecasts, as the former treasurer, now Prime Minister, knows.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah.
TREASURER: We'll take the usual approach to those forecasts.
PRIME MINISTER: We've had a very modest forecast when it comes to those prices and we're still well above - even with those changes - still well above, remembering we had a forecast in there I think of around about 55 and that was going back to the 1st of July this year. So our forecasting on commodities has proved to be very conservative.
JOURNALIST: PM, the latest figures show that there’s about $9 billion extra coming into federal coffers Assuming you can still get into surplus, there'll be a bit of excess. What will be your priorities?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we'll be outlining the Budget, in the Budget. We'll be outlining the decisions we've made between now, the Budget and MYEFO at the time of MYEFO. We've already made a number of announcements in that regard. We made announcements like I just indicated prior to taking questions; what I said was, we have been investing in infrastructure. We've been investing in services. We've been ensuring we maintain our trajectory back to a surplus. That has always been a core focus of our fiscal strategy over the last five years. We're achieving it.
See, these improvements in our Budget have not happened by accident. Whether it’s been the decisions we've taken on spending which means our spending growth has been at the lowest level of any government in more that 50 years. So, we have exercised spending restraint in terms of the growth of expenditure. We've also exercised restraint when it comes to taxes, we have put a speed limit on taxes.
Labor has removed the speed limit on taxes. Labor will tax it until they break it. That’s their plan when it comes to taxes.
So the next election is a choice between a stronger economy - to pay for the hospitals and services and education and schools and border protection and defence, that Australia needs - or higher taxes. We can deliver it on the basis of a stronger economy and we can do it while keeping taxes under control. Labor ‘s policy on taxes is; “Let it rip.” They will let the taxes rip on every single taxpayer, every single business, every single saver, every single retiree. They will let taxes rip.
JOURNALIST: You’re here, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Prime Minister -
TREASURER: Deputy leader. [Laughs]
PRIME MINISTER: He's a humble Treasurer.
TREASURER: That’s right.
JOURNALIST: A humble Treasurer, sorry, and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party. You’ve [inaudible] quite strong in the Liberal Party [inaudible] that result. What do you say to those Liberal voters who turned against the Liberal Party this time, to get them back before the federal election? What do you say and the Prime Minister, the same, what do you say to people around the country who are Liberal Party voters who might be feeling the same way?
TREASURER: Well as Matthew Guy said, it was a state election fought on state issues and it's worth remembering that we've lost five out of the last six state elections in Victoria, at the same time as we've won four out of the last six federal elections.
My message to those people in, obviously my electorate and beyond, is that the benefits of a strong economy that we have helped create, are delivering the services that they rely on. The better infrastructure spend, the education and health spending. The work that we are doing to cut taxes, which we've actually legislated, both for households and for small businesses. That’s the traditional thing that the Liberal and National parties do; we cut taxes and we create jobs and that is a proven record.
As for Daniel Andrews, well, he reminded people of some of the things that he had achieved in his time. We're going to be reminding people of the things that we've achieved.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will there be sufficient time before you call an election for Bill Shorten to get a right of reply and do you want Parliament to pass appropriation bills before you call an election?
PRIME MINISTER: We'll deal with the normal Budget week in the way budgets are always handled. So yes I would anticipate that the Leader of the Opposition would make his reply in the normal way.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] comments in your meeting with Victorian colleagues yesterday that Liberals were seen as anti-women, homophobic, climate-change deniers?
PRIME MINISTER: That's not our view and it’s also not Kelly’s view that that’s what the Liberal Party is about. What we're about is the Women's Economic Security Statement which is what Kelly O'Dwyer handed down. I mean Kelly O'Dwyer, when it comes to women's superannuation, when it comes to women’s employment, when it comes to women in small business - female participation in our workforce is at record levels. The gender pay gap under the strong economic policies that we've been pursuing for the last five years, has contracted to it’s lowest level in many, many years, in many, many years.
So what we're doing is getting on with the job of delivering the services that are necessary for families and particularly women and families, to make the choices they want to make. The child care change that we made, that came in on the 1st of July are actually reducing the cost of childcare. On top of that, what they're also doing, is giving women and particularly women and families on lower to middle incomes, the opportunity to keep their children in child care for longer. No longer do they hit that cliff in about March when the rebates run out. They have the certainty to be able to have their kids in child care and make those plans and make those choices. As I've gone around child care centres all around the country, the response from the staff in those child care centres as well as the parents is; “This is giving us more certainty. We can actually make decisions. We can actually plan.”
I remember when we first brought in those reforms - I was the Social Services Minister at the time - we called it Jobs for Families. Because that's what it was doing; it was giving women choices that they didn't have before. So our record is one of increasing women's economic participation, increasing their opportunity to save more and deal with the changes in the normal course of life and family life and to give them greater choice about how they have economic participation into the future.
I want to commend Kelly O'Dwyer for leading the charge. She has done it as Minister for Women, both as a treasury minister and colleague of mine when I was Treasurer and now in the important role of industrial relations. So she's championing the cause of women and we will continue to speak of the important things we are achieving for women and families.
TREASURER: Can I just add to that, can I just add to that. David, I'm a proud dad of a young daughter and Scott, the Prime Minister, is a proud dad of two young daughters. We want our Party to provide the best opportunity for our daughters.
PRIME MINISTER: That's right.
TREASURER: And it is. So we are part of a party that believes in their aspiration and their hope. So this view that some in the media are trying to promote, is wrong. The reality is our Party will deliver the best possible outcomes for my daughter and Scott's daughters.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much.
Statement On Indulgence - Melbourne attacks
26 November 2018
Mr Morrison: (Cook—Prime Minister) (14:02): Thank you, Mr Speaker, for your indulgence. On Friday, 9 November, a lone Islamic extremist launched a terrorist attack in Melbourne. The terrorist thought his actions would divide us and frighten us. Instead, he met the will and resolve of Melbourne and Melburnians: two brave police officers who stepped up and confronted the terrorist; bystanders who refused to be cowed; first responders who put themselves in harm's way; and every part of government, state, federal and local, standing as one.
In a moment, a great city understood a simple truth: we are stronger together because we have each other. That strength is needed to deal with the grief, and we grieve for who and what was attacked on that day. We grieve for Sisto Malaspina, known to many in this place, a man who in so many ways embodies everything marvellous and wonderful about this great country; a man who came to this country as a young man and brought with him his Italian joy and an unquenchable openness of heart. We think of his family and we grieve with his family. Our thoughts go to those injured and those who are struggling with the violence they encountered on what should have been any other lovely day in Melbourne.
That day, everyone was tested and no-one was found wanting, particularly the two police officers, who thought they were going to attend a traffic incident. Having met with both of them and their families, their families have every right to feel very proud of those two police officers, as we do today—one very early in their service and one very experienced in their service. As the son of a policeman, I could only look into the eyes of his children and see that same pride in their eyes for their dad. They should always feel incredibly proud—as should all children of police officers around the country feel proud of the great service police officers provide to our country, in our cities and our rural and regional areas.
We can be proud of everyone acting as one on that day, the unflinching resolve of 25 million people. Sadly, we know enough about our modern world to know that we will be tested again. Last Tuesday, the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team arrested and charged three men for undertaking preparations for a terrorist attack. I applaud the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team for thwarting their heinous plan. ASIO has no information to indicate any further related threat following from this incident. Our overall threat level remains unchanged at 'probable'. This means, sadly, that there are groups and individuals with both the intent and the capability to conduct a terrorist attack on our soil, so we must remain vigilant.
Since September 2014, our law enforcement and security agencies have undertaken 15 successful counterterrorism disruption operations in response to potential attack planning here in Australia, and they should be commended for doing so and thwarting those attacks. Ninety-three people have been charged during 41 counterterrorism operations. The Commonwealth is working closely with the states and territories to combat these threats. Though we will do everything—everything—to keep Australians safe, we must accept that being part of a free society means that what is targeted is our very freedom. The government has responded to the emerging threat. Since 2014 we have invested an additional $2.2 billion in keeping Australians safe and have passed 12 tranches, with the support of this House and the other place, of counterterrorism legislation.
We are a free people from many nations and many faiths. In this House I want to thank and acknowledge the many brave and passionate Australians in our Muslim community for their leadership and their courage in speaking out against the things which would seek to corrupt their very religion and put their own families and their own communities at risk. These are brave Australians who deserve our support, and they have mine. Last week, I met with leaders from our Muslim community, and I'm committed to working with all in the community, in partnership with them, to tackle violent Islamic extremism.
These have been testing days but days of strength as well. Last week, Melbourne and Victoria grieved at Sisto Malaspina's state funeral. I was pleased that Jenny was able to attend on that day, representing me, along with Assistant Minister Steve Irons. The Leader of the Opposition was also there, as many were. In cabinet that day we paused for a moment's silence during the funeral, and at the Ethnic Business Awards we also paused to celebrate an incredible life lived.
As I've reflected on the events of recent weeks I've been reminded about a small thing, which I remarked on at the Ethnic Business Awards the other night, that Sisto said when he was interviewed a few years ago. As those of Italian heritage will verify, if coffee has a spiritual home, it is in Italy. In Italy they follow a bible when it comes to drinking coffee. Italians usually don't drink cappuccinos after midday, I'm told, and it is unthinkable to have one after dinner. But in Australia Sisto didn't follow those rules. He'd say, 'People should drink their coffees how they like it; the way they like it, when they like it.' It might sound like a small thing, but that respect for others—the tolerance and the acceptance of difference—is the foundation of modern Australia, the most successful immigrant country in the entire world. It is something we should be very proud of. Sisto got it. He lived it. He displayed it. He demonstrated it. Though his life was taken from him in that terrible terrorist act, he overwhelmed it and conquered it through the life that he lived and the freedoms that he enjoyed.
It is a sad day, as we pause and reflect here again today, but it is a day when we can think about his great achievements as a migrant who came to this country and fulfilled every moment of freedom he had to make Australia a better place. We thank him and we thank all of those who stood as one on that day.
Press conference with the Minister for Home Affairs
22 November 2018
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you for coming together. I’m very pleased to be joined by the Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton. We will always as a Government do everything within our power to keep Australians safe and we will never rest when it comes to looking at things we can do to make Australians more safe than they are now. Making a number of announcements today that have been determined by the Government that we believe will further strengthen the Government’s position to do just that, to keep Australians safe. And particularly to keep Australians safe from the threat of terrorism.
Being an Australian citizen is a privilege. It is a privilege that carries with it expectations on those who hold it. People who commit acts of terrorism have rejected absolutely everything that this country stands for. They have rejected the beliefs of this country, the values of this country, they have disrespected every other citizen who shares that privilege of citizenship with them. The stripping of Australian citizenship from dual nationals engaged in terrorist conduct is a key part of our response to international violent extremism and terrorism. Since the amendments to the citizenship loss provisions of 2015, dual nationals with Australian citizenship have been automatically ceasing if they engage in terrorism offshore.
I can confirm that these actions have been taken in relation to a number of individuals. But when the legislation was introduced by the Minister into Parliament, some of the passing threats to the security and safety of our community came from those engaged in terrorism and it is appropriate that we seek to modernise these provisions and take further steps where we believe they are necessary to firm up these powers to ensure the necessary deterrent response is an place. So there are a number of things we are proposing to do and we will seek to legislate these at the earliest possible opportunity.
First of all, we will seek to introduce legislation before the end of 2018 to enable the Minister to strip an Australian citizen of their citizenship, or anyone who is convicted of a terrorism offence in Australia. There will be no condition on the length of sentence, they would only need to have been convicted of a terrorist offence. It currently requires that there be a sentence of imprisonment of six years. We will be removing that requirement. It will only be if they are convicted of a terrorist offence. We believe the current wording of the law is unrealistic and it needs to reflect what is the genuine threat that has been posed by those engaged in this activity.
Secondly, the standard by which the Minister will be determining issues of dual citizenship will be changed, to ensure that the Minister will only need to be reasonably satisfied that a person would otherwise have another citizenship, which is a change from the standard that exists today. We will be reviewing all the onshore and offshore cases in relation to these matters.
The third action we are going to be taking is to deal with the threat posed by those Australians who have travelled into the conflict zone, returned foreign fighters. This was a matter that was discussed during the recent East Asia Summit and has been a constant topic in our dealings and working with other countries in this area. It remains a threat to the region and of course to Australia. We are determined to deal with those individuals who have done this as far away from our shores as is possible.
So we will be introducing a scheme based on the scheme that exists in the United Kingdom for Temporary Exclusion Orders. Those Exclusion Orders would enable the Minister to impose a condition on the control, return and re-entry into our community of Australians who have been in conflict zones like Syria. It will enable the Minister for Home Affairs to impose an Order for up to two years on Australian citizens of counterterrorism interests who are located offshore. It would be a criminal offence for them to return to Australia, unless a permit of this nature is provided - that is the Temporary Exclusion Order. Once the person is back in Australia it would impose controls on them to mitigate the risk to the community, such as reporting to police, curfews, restrictions on technology used and the like. Failure to comply with the terms of that Temporary Exclusion Order, would be also an offence and subject to penalties for that citizens.
These actions we are taking are designed to ensure that we have the powers that are necessary, in the toolkit, to ensure Australians are kept safe. But also, it's to protect the integrity of Australian citizenship. Terrorists, terrorists have violated everything about being what an Australian is all about. It's a crime against our country, not just against other citizens. This is something that can't be tolerated and permitted, and for those who would engage in this sort of activity, if they have citizenship elsewhere and we have reason to believe they do, well they can go. That is our clear message.
I will pass over to Peter to talk about the operational elements of this. I also want to stress in relation to the matter that he raised during the course of this week on the Government’s Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment Assistance and Access Bill which deals with the authority to deal with encrypted communications. Now this is a Bill that is before the Parliament that I want to see passed in the next fortnight. We know from the matters that are currently under investigation, the ability for our authorities to have these powers, to engage and intercepting these communications is incredibly important. Now it is with the Committee currently, and I would urge the Committee to complete their review as quickly as possible. Our police, our agencies need these powers now and I would like to see them passed. In fact, I would insist on seeing them passed before the end of the next sitting fortnight. Peter.
MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS, THE HON PETER DUTTON MP: PM, thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, all of us of course were shocked by the graphic scenes in Bourke Street in Melbourne. As we know, three men are alleged to have been involved in planning for a terrorist event, they have been arrested in Melbourne in the last 24 hours or so as well. Their intent was to, we allege, obtain a semi-automatic weapon. Now we haven't seen an incident like that in our country. Man Monis was a terrible event but we haven't seen the sort of incidents that we’ve seen in Paris and elsewhere in our country and we never do. And this Government has been able to work very well to support the agencies. I have praised the ASIO officers, the AFP and state officers for the work they do every day to keep us safe.
But this threat is very real. We know that we have now been able to thwart 15 attempted terrorist attacks, seven have got through tragically and we have had significant numbers of arrests since 2014 when the threat level was elevated. We are finding that many of the individuals of concern are people who have at some point, had Australian citizenship conferred on them, or they have been born here as second or third generation members of families that have migrated earlier. And so we are dealing about the issue of Australian citizenship and how we treat those people, as the Prime Minister points out, who have betrayed their country. Who have surrendered what it means to be an Australian citizen through their actions, seeking to blow up or to cause harm to other Australians is unacceptable of course.
So what we have been able to do through the legislation so far, and I can update the figures today, is to increase the number of cancellations from six to nine. So nine people now who have had their Australian citizenship through their own actions, revoked, and this is an important step we make today. We have legislation that needs to be approved, and the areas that the Prime Minister has pointed out will go to improving legislation.
So again, we call on the Committee to deal with that, to examine what the Government will be putting forward very shortly, and it is important that we get these matters, these amendments, these improvements to legislation through the House as quickly as possible. Because we want our authorities who are dealing with 400 high priority cases now to have every tool available to them. The temporary exclusion order as it operates in the United Kingdom is an important power. When you have Australian citizens, as I say, whether it is third or second generation, or by conferral going overseas to fight and then seeking to come back, we need to have a better structure about that arrangement. People need to know if they are coming back into our country, and they breach the orders put in place, then they faced a serious penalty when they get back here. It is unlawful under the legislation as it operates in the UK for those people to come back in an unmanaged way, without it being agreed between the Government and the individual in certain conditions.
So that’s where it’s at. Just to finish very quickly, the encryption bill is certainly a high priority for the Government as the as the Prime Minister says. I have written to the chair of the committee and I would call on all members of the committee to do whatever they can to deal with this matter in an expeditious way. Because we do want to arm the police with the ability to look at these encrypted messages. At the moment many of these people are using encrypted messaging apps and police are dark to those messages and the exchange of that planning. That is unacceptable in the current threat environment.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister can you just confirm, is this just the dual citizens? What about those extremists who have been charged with terrorism offences that are born in Australia, what will you do with them?
PRIME MINISTER: Well if they are born in Australia, that doesn’t mean that they are not dual citizens as we have learnt. There are many Australian citizens who were born in Australia who can have citizenship by descent and under other circumstances and where the Minister is reasonably satisfied that it would be the case that they would be dual citizens for the purposes of taking the actions that would be available to the Minister under these provisions, which means that there would be stripped of their Australian citizenship.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister what process will the Minister have to undertake to strip citizenship?
PRIME MINISTER: He would have to undertake the test of reasonableness and there will be the normal natural justice processes that would apply to their circumstances. But what’s important here, is that the test is one that where it was in the Minister's belief, for example, that where somebody was born in a country where being born in a country automatically confers a right of citizenship, that would be sufficient. That would be sufficient, or there is a clear citizenship right by descent and the law is clear about that, well that would be sufficient. There will be no need to go around looking for paperwork. This would enable the Minister to act.
Now there are safety provisions that already exist within the legislation that enable any such matters to be addressed. In many cases here, we’re talking about people that would be convicted of offences and they would be residing in jail at that time and that will provide an opportunity for us to address matters there. But that said, we believe it’s necessary to ensure that these powers can be applied in a broad array of circumstances and paperwork can’t be an excuse for that, somebody being subject to these issues.
JOURNALIST: Have you spoken to Bill Shorten and when will you be introducing these [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: The Minister will be undertaking briefings with the Opposition in the normal way. I anticipate he’ll introduce particularly matters that relate to the dual citizenship cancellation and this new test as soon as possible, so that will be in the next sitting fortnight. The Temporary Exclusion Order may take a little longer but if they can be expedited sooner or on a better basis, then we will move on it.
JOURNALIST: You’ll also be meeting with Muslim leaders today, will you be explaining this to them and what do you expect their response to be?
PRIME MINISTER: Those meetings are private. I’m not intending to go into the details of those discussions.
JOURNALIST: Can I just ask you on an important issue of the day. In relation to the Kogarah sexual assault of a seven year old girl, New South Wales Police have today admitted that they should have informed the state parole board here that he had breached that parole. As a father yourself, how does it feel to you that this man was on the streets?
PRIME MINISTER: It’s abhorrent. I am appalled and I am sure that those, whether it’s in the New South Wales Police or elsewhere, they would be equally appalled. I know they will be doing everything they can to remedy the situation, as I’m sure the Premier is. It’s matter of state jurisdiction as I’m sure you appreciate, so I don't intend to have much more to say than that. But as a dad, how would you expect me to feel? Just like any other dad, I'm just appalled.
JOURNALIST: On the topic of terrorism, on what grounds would you actually seek to deport an Australian with alleged extremist links?
MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS: In terms of the conviction aspect, at the moment there is a requirement for somebody to have been convicted to six years imprisonment or more. We propose to reduce down to on conviction of a terrorist related offence. So that is the change in the threshold if you like, that would bring more people into scope, including people who have been charged now, including that some prospectively that may be charged as well. I think frankly that reflects what most Australians would believe; that if you’re convicted in our courts of a terrorist-related offence, you can expect to leave our country.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: We’ll just stick to national security for the moment. Happy to come to other matters.
JOURNALIST: How many of the current, existing deportation laws, do they pose a risk as it stands now?
MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS: Well, we have had a look at a number of cases, frankly, which we think should come within scope and don't, under the existing legislation. The existing legislation obviously was crafted by the Joint Committee and the Government implemented the recommendations of the joint committee. We have had a look at the way that has worked in the last couple of years and there are some people that I think pose a serious threat to the security of this country, who shouldn’t be here. Who, if we possibly can, we should deport them. Our country and Australians would be safer if we did that. So that’s the motivation here. We need to keep Australians as safe as possible. We have all the requisite protections in place, but the reality is that the law needs to be updated. Our Government now has introduced 12 tranches of updates to our national security legislation. Similarly with the encryption Bill, ASIO and the AFP are telling us that that is a very important measure to get through the Parliament. That’s why we need the Joint Committee to deal with it very quickly.
Instead of opposing it, Mr Shorten should support it and hopefully we’ll get it through the Parliament as quickly as possible.
JOURNALIST: In regards to the encryption bill, the intel committee passed recommendations that are being put forward [inaudible], by moving this so quickly and truncating the hearings are you jeopardising the possibility to in fact improve the Bill?
MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS: No we’re not and again, there has been a period of time where committee meetings have taken place, witnesses have given evidence, including the Director General of ASIO and the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police. As I say, the evidence there is overwhelming that we need this change. We cannot have paedophiles or terrorists using encrypted messaging apps. In the case of paedophiles, directing sex scenes that are being streamed into their bedrooms and providing that instruction through an encrypted messaging app. That’s not the purpose of encryption. Encryption has an important place in our society and the privacy requirements are always important, always will be important. But we are in a situation where we have terrorists who are using encrypted messaging apps to plan attacks and ASIO and the Australian Federal Police have no sight of that. It’s unacceptable, particularly given the current risk environment.
PRIME MINISTER: Now, I have to have an engagement with the President of India, so I’m happy to address any other issues.
JOURNALIST: Just really quickly, Bill Shorten is offering to sit down with you and talk about the National Energy Guarantee. This is your policy, you applauded it, it passed the Coalition Party Room, is it now the case the Morrison Government is standing in the way of bipartisan energy policy?
PRIME MINISTER: Let me make a couple of comments on what Bill Shorten has announced. This is a throwback; a throwback to the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd failures of their time in government. Let’s remind ourselves of what he’s announced today; a 45 per cent emissions reduction target, and a 50 per cent RET, which on the current work is five times worse than the carbon tax that was put in by the Labor government when they were last in place.
Secondly, the ramping up of expensive subsidies, paid for by higher taxes. Another example of what was done under the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government. And can everyone remember the last time the Labor Party, when they were in government, tried to put something in your house, the insulation bats? What we have got here, is we have gone from “pink batts” to “pink batteries”. They never learn from their mistakes, the Labor Party. What we have here is a repeat of the same failed approach to policy that we saw from the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd Labor government five or six years ago. They have not learned from their mistakes.
Frankly at the end of the day, I don't know how out of touch Bill Shorten can be, but if he thinks a family here in Sydney with two people learning about $90,000 a year can somehow have a lazy $10,000 laying around to go and buy one of his pink batteries, and somehow they will be able to afford to do that when they’re actually keeping the pressure on to just pay for the electricity bills as they are, I can’t understand how he thinks he’s in touch with the real cost pressures facing Australian families.
This is just a reheat, a throwback, to the same failed approach that we saw from the Labor Party last time they were in government. They have learnt nothing. They have learnt absolutely nothing. And if you couldn't trust them to put pink batts in your own roof without setting it on fire, I wouldn’t be trusting Bill Shorten to put a big battery in your house either.
Thanks very much.
Address to the Australian Financial Review India Business Summit
22 November 2018
PRIME MINISTER: Well thanks very much to the Australian Financial Review. It’s great to be here and a very warm welcome once more to Your Excellency Mr Ram Nath Kovind, President of the Republic of India. Your Excellency, it’s a pleasure and a great privilege to have you visit Australia. Australians have spent a bit of time in recent years thinking about our history, especially our military and war history, as we’ve commemorated the centenary of the First World War.
That terrible war, so early in our nationhood, the heroics it produced and the devastating loss of 62,000 Australian service personnel is etched in our national psyche. Gallipoli is a touchpoint for Australians as we reflect on those times. What is not widely known, but should be, is the contribution of Indian soldiers to the Gallipoli cause. They numbered 5,000 men and they served alongside our troops.
Battalions of professional soldiers, including Sikh infantry units and mule drivers from Punjab. Diggers sent home photos with their new Indian mates. Later in the war, at least a dozen Indian soldiers actually served as ANZACs – as members of the Australian Infantry Force. It is to those men, Your Excellency, that a local community in Cherrybrook, here in Sydney, decided to fund and build a memorial to the Indian soldiers who joined the AIF. That new memorial, was officially opened just 12 days ago – the High Commissioner helped officiate.
As much as anything, that small community memorial, speaks of the deepening affection between our two countries, people to people linkages. It is an irony that our peoples have been ahead of governments. They have understood the shared enterprising spirit; the willingness to accept each other on the basis of who we are rather than on the basis of class; a devotion to family and community; and to what we call in Australia a ‘have a go’ approach to life.
Our cultures might be different, but we believe in similar things. We believe of the supremacy of the ballot-box in our national life; in the rule of law; in institutions that safeguard rights; and the responsibility of free people to build a better world. And we believe in the rights of nations to live free and not under the controlling hand of others.
So today, while I wish to talk to you about a new chapter in the story of Australia and India – it’s an old book. We’ve been friends for a very long time.
Australia, like the rest of the world, marvels at the transformation of India that is occurring before our eyes. The facts are compelling. India is already the fastest-growing large economy in the world. Within two decades, it will become the world’s most populous country. In just seven years’ time, one-fifth of the world’s working age population will be Indian. Twelve years from now, it’s expected that one quarter of the world’s university graduates – one in four – will have been educated in India’s higher education system.
Our history and future is interwoven because of the deep-ties between our peoples. 700,000 people of Indian descent call Australia home – the fastest growing diaspora in our proudly multicultural nation. More than 87,000 Indian students are enrolled at our educational institutions and we welcome more skilled migrants from India than any other nation.
Though so different, we understand each other. Australia and India are both proud democracies, with the shared belief that the way to create the fairest society is to ensure a more prosperous society.
And we know that you do that by keeping our economies growing. Our economic ties saw two-way trade between Australia and India hit $27.5 billion last year. That only portends more opportunities for the citizens, exporters and investors of both nations.
That’s why the Government commissioned the India Economic Strategy. The report by Peter Varghese, a former High Commissioner to India and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Secretary, sets out a roadmap for the Australia-India economic relationship to 2035, with recommendations for how to boost our trade relationship threefold and Australian investment in India tenfold - an ambition that would bring India into the top tier of our economic partners, where it should be.
Our Government has endorsed the Strategy, including 10 short-term and 10 long-term priority recommendations and we have agreed to an initial implementation plan across government. We will build on that plan over the life of the Strategy.
We are prioritising four key sectors: education, resources, agri-business and tourism. Education is our biggest area of partnership, with outstanding opportunities to take it further. We’re already working to reposition Australia’s education brand to appeal more broadly to Indian students – including the introduction of a new one-stop shop digital education hub bringing together everything there is to know about studying in Australia – and increasing our digital and social media presence. The Minister for Education Dan Tehan will champion these initiatives, in line with a key recommendation of the strategy.
Resources Minister Matt Canavan and Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud will champion the implementation on resources and agriculture initiatives, with Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Simon Birmingham focusing on tourism.
My Government is driving new efforts to attract visitors from one of the fastest-growing outbound tourist markets in the world, reflecting a key recommendation of the India Economic Strategy, we’ve already taken steps to make that easier. Just a few months ago we updated our air services agreement with India to increase the number of direct flights to Australia. So it will be quicker and easier for Indians to travel to Australia and it will also be easier for Australians to explore the true wonder of the world that is India.
Now coal is our single biggest export to India — worth more than 9 billion dollars in 2017. It’s been a great partnership since coal was first exported from Newcastle to Bengal in 1801. Australia can be proud of the contribution our resources sector has made to India’s extraordinary development, and demand for our resources is likely to grow further to fuel India’s growth. But there’s scope for much closer collaboration. We want to work more closely – using the expertise of our mining services sector – to help develop India’s own significant resource deposits. So in accordance with the India Economic Strategy, we will be boosting our support for the Australia-India Mining partnership at the Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad and establishing a Consulate-General at Kolkata.
But none of these initiatives can exist in isolation. We need to work together with business to bring the opportunities to life. The 2019 Australia Business Week in India will be a big part of that and I want state governments to get on board and look at how they can convert their relationships with India into real commercial partnerships. I want to see a big push on increasing our business community’s comprehension and grasp of India.
Agri-business is also essential to the way ahead. I’m not going to pretend that Australia and India have always seen eye-to-eye on agriculture. It’s a critical sector for both our countries, but that doesn’t mean there’s not plenty we can do together. We’re working towards establishing an Australia-India Food Partnership that strengthens engagement between our agriculture industries, and we’re creating a new diplomatic position at our embassy to focus on that work. Working more closely together means a more consistent and cooperative trade relationship, opening up new opportunities for Australia’s farm sector.
So those are the big four — education, tourism, resources and agriculture.
Over the next few weeks and months we’ll be announcing more initiatives in these areas, as well as in other sectors such as energy, health and financial services. Some of that extra effort will be around boosting the investment relationship. That includes a MoU between Austrade and Invest India that commits to promoting stronger two-way investment – that is being signed during the President’s visit. That’s a leap in the right direction. In most of our economic relationships with Asia, investment lags behind our trade in goods and services. With India, we can break new ground. We both have world-class businesses, adherence to the rule of law and we share language. That makes India an attractive investment destination for Australian businesses.
I’d like to see it on our top three within 20 years and it’s great to see companies like Enzen Global Solutions, based out of Bangalore, opening an Australian head office in Adelaide and creating 100 new highly-skilled jobs in the next couple of years.The benefits of investment go both ways.
Friends, I spoke a little earlier today at an event in Parramatta about my own journey into the intricacies of Indian cuisine over recent years. There’s a lot of love in our house during Morrison family curry nights; family, friends, laughter, jokes, stories, and curry, the essence of life.
But I am not the first Australian Prime Minister to have a love of India. Our second Prime Minister Alfred Deakin travelled to India before he entered national life. He fell in love with India and wrote two books about India before he became prime minister; the complexities, contradictions, colours, faiths, architecture and vibrancy of India captivated him. He returned to Australia as an evangelist for the opportunities for India.
Like others before him, to use his phrase, he ‘spread his sails to catch India’s breeze’, and Deakin had a message for Australia in his book Temple and Tomb in India, published 125 years ago, he wrote:
“What can we know of Australia if we limit our inquiries within our borders, to the neglect of our relations far and near and of those Asiatic empires which lie closest to us, with whose future our own tropical lands may yet be partially identified”.
He then went on to write; “the distance which separates us…is being steadily diminished between us, year by year.”
Your presence today Mr President confirms that early hope of one of our nascent prime ministers. We are fulfilling the hope of times past and embracing a future which will deepen further the ties between our two peoples.
Thank you for your presence today.
Remarks with His Excellency Ram Nath Kovind, President of India
22 November 2018
PRIME MINISTER: Namaste.
[Applause]
Well it’s wonderful to be here and to Your Excellency, Mr President Ram Nath Kovind. The Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne is here, Parliamentary colleagues who are joining us here today, present and former, I can see you over there, it’s great to see so many of you coming out today. Lord Mayor, ladies and gentlemen, it’s an honour to welcome you here to stand beside the President on Australian soil for such a significant occasion, the unveiling of this commemorative statue of Mahatma Gandhi, the great soul.
As you can see from the crowd here Your Excellency, we in Australia are delighted to be hosting you here. Like Prime Minister Modi, whom I had the opportunity to meet with just a week or so ago in Singapore, you are a leader who exemplifies that great achievements are possible through sheer determination and hard work. From your humble origins you became a lawyer practising in India’s highest court and now you hold your country’s highest office. Your achievements resonate with Australians because we too believe with hard work and reward for effort, you can accomplish anything, regardless of your circumstances.
Your Excellency, as we discussed this morning, Australia is a great multicultural story. We are a people of great diversity, of acceptance, a people that believe in securing our opportunities - making our opportunities and seizing them. We are a people who seek to understand, we are a people who seek to respect all others. This is how we live. We believe if you have a go, you’ll get a go. That’s the fair go in Australia. And no part of our community exemplifies that more than the Indian-Australian community, whether that’s here in Parramatta in the centre of Sydney or elsewhere around the country.
When I was at Diwali out here a couple of weeks ago, I told the story that Australia’s multiculturalism, Australia’s great success story as the best and most successful immigration country on earth, was like a good garam masala. It brings together all the great spices. The cloves, the black cardomom, the green cardamom, coriander seeds, all of this, comes together – the cumin, don’t forget that. It all comes together. Have any of it on its own, it doesn’t taste as good. You blend it together, and that’s what Australia’s like.
[Applause]
So we come here today Mr President, Your Excellency, here in Parramatta, a very fitting place to honour a man who brought such light to our world. Mahatma Gandhi, spiritual leader and the father of India’s independence, showed the world that the power of weapons and violence are no match for the strength of peace, non-violence and tolerance. Australia also, our instincts are always towards peace. He believed in the preciousness of human dignity and stood in the face of all that might denigrate him, especially violence. When India lost the architect of her freedom in 1948, Australia mourned also, not just because the world had lost a great and wise man, but because Gandhi’s ideals were our ideals, as Australians. He sought lasting peace over momentous violence and that’s an idea that transcends creed, culture and oceans.
As the news of his death spread across Australia, the reaction was swift and heartfelt. Hindu seamen prayed and played the sitar and tabla. In St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne, the Anglican congregation offered this prayer:
"Hear the cry of India, bereft of that leader whose frail person so often stood in the gap, whose life was devoted, even unto death, to his country's cause."
At the MCG, India’s Test cricket team observed a minute’s silence before play began, along with the Australian team led by Donald Bradman. And in our nation’s capital, flags were flown at half-mast. Prime Minister Ben Chifley sent a solemn message of condolence to the first Prime Minister of independent India, Prime Minister Nehru saying Gandhi would “be remembered in Australia as a man who worked for the good of humanity and the ways of peace.” And indeed he was and is.
Australian Prime Ministers from Menzies to Turnbull have laid wreaths at Gandhi’s memorial in Rajghat and paid their respects. But we can honour him right here now in Parramatta too, when we stop to reflect at this beautiful statue. As the world marks the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth, he truly lives on. For his message is not a whisper from the past, but a teaching embedded in the hearts of millions around the world.
And so I want to thank you once again, Your Excellency, for visiting Australia and for sharing this moment with the many Indian-Australians of the Indian diaspora and Australians all, we gather here today. Today, the bonds of friendship between Australia and India draw closer and tighter still and we thank you for coming and sharing this important moment for our community today.
Thank you.
Address to the 2018 Ethnic Business Awards
22 November 2018
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much Joseph and to Angela as well, to Major General Michael Jeffery and Mrs Jeffery. To my Parliamentary colleagues Christopher Pyne, the Minister for Defence, David Coleman, the Minister for Immigration, Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship. I know that gig pretty well and so does the fellow down here, Phillip Ruddock who I acknowledge as well, and so does Tony Burke who is representing I’m sure the Leader of the Opposition, representing him here tonight and to Anthony Albanese who has been a friend of these awards as well for many years.
It’s great to be here for Jenny and I, to be here again together this evening. We have been a friend of these awards and of course Joseph and Angela for many, many years and I have addressed this gathering before in different roles. But I’ve got to tell you to be able to address you tonight as Prime Minister is very special because there are - I’ve just noticed that Zed Seselja is here tonight, it’s good to see you here as well Zed - there are many great things about being Australian and to have the great privilege to lead Australia and to be able to say you are the Prime Minister of the greatest and most successful immigration country on earth I think is very special. Because that is who we are. This country is an immigration success story without parallel anywhere in the world and we should be enormously proud of what we have all achieved over generations and generations. The Australia we all love and share is an immigrant country.
I am the son of an immigrant many times removed. My forebears came under the compulsory immigration plan of the British back in the 1780s. But you know their story wasn’t that different - well apart from serving a sentence for the first ten or so years. But they went out to Richmond and Windsor and they married in Sydney, they started a business, it was an agricultural business, they stared a farm and built a life for themselves out of what was extraordinary adversity and each generation after that sought to build on that and make their way and build this country. The story is no different if you turned up ten generations ago or you turned up ten days ago. It’s the same story and we have been telling that story as a country for a long time, unless you are an Indigenous Australian, who we acknowledge tonight and elders past and present and into the future. We have all come from somewhere else at some point and that’s what actually bonds so much of us together because that is our story.
Over the last twenty years, our population has grown by some six million people. About as many as was there when our Federation was formed. Half of that growth, more than that in fact, has been the result of immigration. So it is integral to our Australian success story as a people, as a prosperous people as a positive outward looking people, it’s who we are. It is integral to our economy, it’s integral to our identity and it is who we are.
And it did not happen by accident. This is very important. This idea that Australia would be an outward looking immigrant society was not born in the post-war period. Henry Parkes, the Father of Federation, said this in the 1800s; he said that he hoped Australia would become a nation that would gather “all the fruits of the culture of the world,” and that those who adopt our land would serve it “with a patriot’s love”.
I think if Sir Henry Parkes could have projected forward tonight and seen the fruits of the culture of the world celebrated here tonight, he would be feeling pretty happy with the vision that he saw all these years ago in this very city. Because it is our experience and I have been reflecting a lot on it in the last few days, the last couple of weeks. I have thought about it as I reflected on the life of Sisto Malaspina. Sisto told people he could vividly recall the day he arrived in Australia 54 years ago in October 1964. After almost a month at sea, his two older brothers were waiting for him at Station Pier in Port Melbourne. There was a warm reunion and then Sisto slid into the car for the drive to his brothers’ house in Essendon. The first Australian he met was a man named Jim. It wasn’t Bruce, it was Jim and after welcoming Sisto to Australia, Jim got straight to business. He said, “Now, young man, you are in Essendon. You are in Australia. You must follow and barrack for Essendon.”Is there a more Melbournian way to welcome to Australia than that? That was the start of Sisto’s love for Australia – and the Essendon Football Club.
Sisto’s story of moving to Australia was like so many others. He was the baby in his family – in Italian, of course, Sisto means sixth-born. With his brothers and sisters, he grew up in a small town in Northern Italy, where his parents owned a restaurant. As soon as he turned 18, he followed in his brothers’ footsteps. He packed his bags, farewelled his family and friends - a story familiar to many people in this room - and migrated to Australia. Sisto’s first job was here in a factory recycling tyres. But within a decade, he had taken the reins of Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar, an Italian café on Bourke Street. Inch by inch, day by day, year by year, he turned it into one of Australia’s and Melbourne’s greatest institutions.
He was known for saying: “Here we give you more than food. This is your home away from home.” And it is more than a café, it’s more than a business. It’s a more than a Melbourne community icon, it is one with a global community reputation. Its’ proprietor, Sisto Malaspina, became a living legend - until one moment. Sisto was unique. But the richness and generosity of his heart that he brought to Australia surpassed that. It was so typical of the hundreds of thousands who have made their way to our land over many years.
People who have created businesses, worked hard, raised families and looked after each other, came to make a contribution not take one. And in that moment Sisto was taken from us by the hand of something that has no place in this country. What triumphed was not the hand of evil, but the love and the passion and the heart of a great Australia - that conquers these things every time.
That’s why Australia and what Australia is about, conquers every time. What you have done, what you have worked for, what you have achieved is the best of Australia. It conquers all those things that would seek to undermine this country.
That’s what we celebrate tonight; we celebrate these stories, caring, compassionate, generous stories, hardworking stories, vibrant personalities, vision. Migrants, arriving here like Joseph, with a suitcase full of dreams. Pursuing those dreams enriching Australia’s society, the Australian economy, Australian lives, the heart and soul of our nation. What I talk about is, “a fair go for those who have a go”. That’s what fairness in Australia means and that is no better demonstrated than the migrant communities of Australia and the ethnic communities of Australia.
So today, we are the most successful immigration country on earth, thanks to Sisto Malaspina and all of those who have walked in his shoes or will walk in his shoes in the future. Tonight marks 30 years of the Ethnic Business Awards and it’s so wonderful to see the evolution of the awards over that period of time Joseph and your life’s passion in your post business career, shared by Angela.
It’s also wonderful to see these Awards over many years have now embraced our First Australians, our Indigenous Australians and celebrated their tremendous success stories as we create the connection between Indigenous Australians and the rest of us who came. We have the connections and values and aspirations and I think that’s also what this night celebrates. There is a spirit of entrepreneurship sweeping across so many Indigenous communities and it is fantastic to know that is being recognised tonight. I honour it and want it to be part of that force and that change and that passion that continues to encourage you on. In doing so, I also want to encourage and thank Joseph and Angela for founding these awards and all those who have worked with Joseph and Angela over these years to make them the success they clearly are.
We of course as a Government are committed to seeing businesses succeed. People who take risks and succeed, people who put it all on the line for our great nation to succeed, to employ young Australians. Nothing better than seeing a young Australian getting a job. It changes their world, changes their life, changes their future and so that is what we celebrate tonight.
I congratulate all of the nominees for all the work you have put in. I hope you will enjoy celebrating the night and celebrating all the nominees tonight. Some will win and some will come back and win next time. We have seen that before haven’t we Joseph? Because you stick at it and you succeed and we have seen it and so I hope you do have a very pleasant evening.
I want to close tonight by turning back to Sisto once more. If coffee has a spiritual home, well, Italy might just pip Australia .In Italy, they follow a bible when it comes to drinking coffee. Italians usually don’t drink cappuccinos after midday and it is unthinkable to have one after dinner. But guess what? Sisto disagreed with such hard and fast rules. He’d say: “People should drink their coffees how they like it, the way they like it, when they like it.” It might sound like a small thing, but that respect for others and tolerance and acceptance of difference is the foundation of modern Australia. I wonder if you will just join with me for a brief moment let’s just remember Sisto.
[Pause]
So congratulations on everything you do. My hope is that our wonderful shared story of harmony, of success of prosperity as a diverse but united people will continue well, well, well into the future. Thank you and enjoy your coffee.
Address to the Business Council of Australia
21 November 2018
PRIME MINISTER: Well thanks Grant. No pressure then, eh? I hope you make a great presentation Josh after your next Budget. Expectations are high mate, but at least you’ll get to be the first Treasurer in some time to announce a surplus Budget. That’ll be a very important day for Australia, a very important day for Australia.
Thank you very much Grant, thank you very much members of the Business Council, all of those who have come together here tonight. I think Grant summed it up pretty well actually. It’s about the economy, it’s about growth. You know, in 2007 and Stephen Harper will know - let me about Stephen Harper for a second. Stephen Harper is part of a pantheon of great centre-right leaders in global politics. Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, John Howard, Shinzo Abe, John Key, Stephen Harper. It’s a pretty good list and he sits comfortably in that list of great leaders who have informed, I think, the prosperity of the world for a very long period of time.
I was at APEC on the weekend and we were reflecting on the fact that since the early 1990’s a billion people have come out of poverty, in the world. They didn’t get there by higher taxes, by the way. They didn’t get there by increased Government regulation. They didn’t get there by bigger sized Government, they didn’t get there by any of those things. They got there because businesses invested and employed people, trade was liberalised and people were lifted out of poverty like at no point in human history.
The world has never been more prosperous than it is today.
The world has never been more connected than it is today.
The world has never had more opportunities than it has today and all of that is true for Australia as well. So in following on in the footsteps in the pantheon of great centre-right leaders, of which Stephen joins us here tonight, our Government sits in exactly the same space.
When I first ran for Parliament in 2007, our economy was performing strongly. John Howard and Peter Costello had lead a highly successful government. We talked about the strength of the economy and how much had been achieved, as I have just been doing, globally. And we forgot to mention something; that is the economy is not an end in its own right. A strong economy is not something like a strong Budget, that you put in the trophy case and you look at it admirably and pat yourself on the back and go; “Isn’t that marvellous. We’ve got such a strong economy. Look at all those wonderful charts, all those lines heading in the right direction.” None of that means anything.
A strong economy is important because it pays for hospitals. It pays for schools. It pays for affordable medicines. It pays for a strong defence force. It protects Australia’s sovereignty, it pays for stronger borders, it pays for childcare. It pays for the disability support pension. It pays for the aged pension. It pays for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
A strong economy delivers higher living standards for Australians all around this country. That’s why we believe in policies that drive a stronger economy.
As much as I enjoyed my time with Governor Lowe every month, sitting and poring over the charts - he knows as we would talk endlessly about the strength of the economy at that level - he and I both knew something that was more important than the charts we were looking at; that is what a stronger economy was enabling us as a nation to do. You’ve only got to look around the world where you see countries that have had the same opportunities as us, the same natural resource endowments, same patterns of people. Poor governments and poor policies have left them destitute. It’s a terrible shame, it’s shocking, it’s heartbreaking.
When Australia eclipsed that record of 27 years of economic growth, I remember giving the presentation to the National Accounts and I didn’t mention it at all. Made no reference to it. One of the journalists said to me; “You made no mention of the fact that this has been the longest running period of growth in Australia’s and indeed global recorded economic history.” I said; “No, because not all Australians have felt it yet.” And until they feel it and until they benefit from it, I won’t rest and our Government won’t rest.
The stronger economy has to reach every Australian and it’s not going to get there by going slow on growth. It’s not going to get there by doing things that will hold growth back, that will hold businesses back, that’ll hold investment back, that’ll hold the passion and entrepreneurialism of Australians back.
You don’t get a fairer society by making it a poorer society.
You don’t make some people do better by pulling others down.
As Grant said; more for all. That’s the objective, that’s why we believe in a stronger economy. It’s not an economic argument, it’s an argument about people. The economy supports our society and our people. That’s why we believe in a stronger economy.
There are two ways people think you can pay for Medicare, but only one of them works. You can pay for Medicare either by running a stronger economy - which is what we’re doing, that’s why we can guarantee Medicare, I can look every mum, every dad, every child, every pensioner, in the eye and tell them that you can trust me on Medicare and you can trust Josh, you can trust Mathias, because we know how to run a stronger economy.
Now our opponents think you can do this by putting taxes up. It doesn’t work. It’s a big wet blanket on the economy. It retards growth, it holds the economy back. The revenues don’t go in the same direction and you can’t make that promise. It’s a false promise.
So I tell you this tonight because I want you to understand why I want a stronger economy. I can tell you what we’ve been doing - and I will in a second - as to what we’re doing to create a stronger economy. But I want Australians to know, between now and the next election; why do we want a stronger economy and why should they want a stronger economy? Because you know, after a generation of Australians have known nothing but economic growth, perhaps it’s time to remind them.
I remember when I left university. I walked into a decade of difficulty. I walked into a recession. It didn’t matter whether you had a university education or a trade or whatever it was. A million people out of work.
I never want to see that happen in this country ever again.
Sometimes I hear the policy wonks go on and they say; “Oh, you know what this country needs is a good recession. That’ll teach them.” What a dangerous idea is that? How can you love your fellow Australians if you want to lump a recession on them, for goodness sake. Never on my watch, I don’t want to see my kids live through a recession. I did, my grandparents, worse. I want prosperity for this country and my family and my kids and my community, from one end of the country to another. And I know you do to.
So it’s so important at this next election, all of us in this room who understand the value and the importance of a strong economy to our nation’s future, that we carry that message. We have to value it. The Economist article made the point. Maybe it’s time - as the world has marvelled at what we’ve achieved - that we take a refresher course as to why a stronger economy is important. We should, and over the next while, between now and the next election, that’s what you’ll be hearing from us. Why a stronger economy guarantees the essential services, the essentials of life, a job, a house, a pay-cheque, investments for the future, medical care, schools, pensions. They’re the essentials Australians rely on and that’s why we will continue to fight for policies and implement policies that are designed to do that.
So what have they been, you say? From the day we were elected, we got about it; lower taxes. We’re a Government that has delivered lower taxes. Lower taxes for small and medium-sized businesses, lower taxes for households and families. Under our legislated personal income tax plan, Australians will not pay - 94 per cent of them - will not pay a marginal tax rate higher than 32.5 cents in the dollar. Law, legislated, done. That means, for most working Australians over the next decade, they will not experience bracket creep. The more they earn, the better they’ll do, the more they get to keep. More is not taken away from them as they do better. You don’t have to pull them down the better they do. You let them get on with it and keep more of what they earn.
We’ve put a speed limit on taxes, 23.9 per cent. That’s important. You know if you want to control expenditure in this country - I’ve learnt something very important - don’t give people any money, particularly the ministers who are here tonight. They like to spend money and Josh and I and Mathias know all about that.
If you say to your Government; “You’ve got a blank cheque on how much tax is going to come in”, guess what they’ll do? They’ll spend it.
If you control how much you’re prepared to tax the economy, then you can keep expenditure under control as well.
Our Government has the lowest rate of growth in public expenditure of any government in this country in the last 50 years and more. We’ve got a cap on how much we’re prepared to allow the economy to bear, on tax. Because we know that if you tax this thing too much, it will slow growth and we’ve put that discipline in ourselves.
Now you know, we undertook every effort to see broader-based reform of how much tax businesses paid in this country and we fought the fight for over two years. We took it to the last election, we got a mandate for it and we were able to achieve it, 25 per cent for businesses up to $25 million. Now we’re happy to achieve that. We’re happy to achieve that. But what you do know is our disposition will always be to ensure that people get to keep more of what they earn. Because that is what provides the incentive in an economy. That is what provides the drive in an economy. That’s what creates and fulfils the aspiration that has driven our economy for hundreds of years.
So lower taxes, investing in critical infrastructure. I was at the Bradfield Oration the other night. You think back to the big projects, the Harbour Bridge and things like that. Well today’s big projects are there. Western Sydney Airport, Tullamarine Rail, the Inland Rail, the North-South connector, Snowy 2.0. We’re a Government that is investing and driving big infrastructure projects. Just announced, in the large water infrastructure fund, the $200 million pipeline up in Townsville. Major infrastructure projects which are connecting communities, connecting markets to farms, to factories, connecting workers to their places of employment, increasing the efficiencies of our urban areas, increasing the productivity. An infrastructure plan; roads, railways, airports, ports, energy infrastructure, the works. All of that is designed to create an investment climate in this country which drives more investment.
We’re expanding our markets, as Birmo knows, the Minister for Trade. From day one, we started doing that. I’ll never forget the first Cabinet meeting, we sat down and Robby came and he set out the trade agreements we were going after. And there was the usual discussion, trade is not always that popular, from a political point of view. There are still some who hold that view, there are still some who will resist trade, as our opponents have every step of the way. But we’ve fought for it and we’ve achieved it and you know today, as Australian households are $8,500 better off every year, every year, because of the trade liberalisation that has occurred over the last generation, in real terms.
Trade has delivered increased prosperity and an increase in the living standards of Australians. That’s why we went after the China Free Trade Agreement. That’s why we went after the Japan Free Trade Agreement. That’s why we went after the Korean Free Trade Agreement. That’s why we went after the TPP-11. That’s why we’ve just concluded discussions on the Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement.
If you stand still long enough, our Trade Minister will seek to do a deal with you on the spot, because we believe in trade.
[Laughter]
Yeah, down on Table 6, you’re in a lot of trouble. We believe in trade, we’ve always traded in this country. We’ve always looked beyond our shores for our prosperity and we’ve always realised it. Our Government believes in that. Trade has been a cornerstone of our economic success.
We’ve got a broad-based industry strategy which doesn’t dis, doesn’t dis out traditional industries. I like mining, I think mining is good. I think mining has produced enormous prosperity for this country. And one of the most disturbing things I heard recently, was when I was in Western Australia and I was sitting down with the mining industry and they told me that young people don’t want to become mining engineers anymore because they don’t think it’s a future for them, because apparently mining is a negative industry for Australia. I don’t believe that. I think mining is a good industry for Australia. I will say it here in Sydney, I’ll say it in Townsville, I’ll say it up in Gladstone, I’ll say it up in Western Australia, I’ll say it all over the country. You’ll hear the same message from me about the economy, wherever I am in the country. I won’t tailor my message to the audience as many of you probably know, particular after that post-Budget speech. I won’t, because I believe it’s good for the country.
Agriculture is good for the country and we’re going to continue to ensure we do the right things through trade and our environmental policies which ensure we develop agriculture in this country. But we’re also looking forward and supporting the development of new industries that has enabled our economy to transition.
Our Defence industry spend has been one of the key instruments by which we have been able to enable our economy to transition. As we’ve seen the motor vehicle industry recede we’ve seen a defence industry supply chain built up around this country and it doesn’t matter where you go. You have Penguin Composites down there in northern Tasmania, making the bonnets of armoured vehicles. They used to make kayaks. Or if you’re out with the switch-makers out in Queanbeyan or you’re up in north Queensland around the docks or over in Western Australia over in Henderson. Our Defence industry investments have provided a platform for the transformation of our industries and kept people in jobs.
Equally in this year’s Budget, I outlined our support for the medical industry, whether it’s in clinical trials or new medical instrument technology, these are important areas of development. Our services industries and human services, in aged care, aged care training, our education sectors, our tourism and hospitality sectors, all of these going forward - where are jobs? They’re largely in those human services sectors. But I can tell you that in manufacturing they’re doing well too. 86,000 jobs, 86,000 in the past year have been created in the manufacturing sector. That is, the number of jobs in manufacturing is the highest level since 2010 and in 17/18, growth value add in the manufacturing sector grew by 3 per cent, the fastest increase in a decade. So don’t let anybody tell you that manufacturing is dead in this country, it’s not, it’s just changing. It’s running and it’s driving prosperity for this country. So in all of these sectors and the financial sector, in fintech as we continue to become a world-leader in what is occurring in that sector. We’ve got a great story to tell.
A cooperative workplace is what we want. How on earth do you run a strong economy when you’re setting your employees against employers and you want to run an adversarial system? I mean what sort of an idea is that? How do you pretend to lead a country that you want to divide, in it’s very workplace? The Labor Party’s policies will take our industrial relations system to a throwback to the 1970s.
I mean industrial advocates will have to get around in flares and long hair to match the policy time zone -
[Laughter]
Of where Labor wants to take industrial relations in this country. You’d all remember it back then; the fruit rotting on the wharves. The mining suppliers that couldn’t be relied on with our major markets, our mining industry was held back and the resources sector. You all remember the strikes, teachers going out. That’s not the vision for Australia our Party wants for the economy. We believe in cooperative workplaces. You know, when I go around particularly small and medium-sized businesses, I see the cooperation and collaboration and the model for the way our modern workplace should be like. People understand that the success of the enterprise is their own success as well, that’s how we see the future of industrial relations in this country, not a future of conflict. Not a future of division, not a future of entrenched divisions. We need to fight to ensure that doesn’t become the reality.
And a balanced Budget as always, the Budget will be back in balance next year, after more than five years of very hard slog to get it back there. Now, that is not just something to put on the shelf, that is something that will enable us to continue to invest in the services, in the future growth of our economy and the standard of living for Australians all around the country. That’s our plan. We’ve been delivering on our plan, we’ve been rolling it out for five years and we’ve been getting results. Growth with a three in front of it, that’s what I want to see. Unemployment at five per cent, that’s what we have delivered. The strongest growth in youth employment of over 100,000 in 2017/18, the strongest growth in youth employment in Australia’s recorded economic history. How good is that?
You know, if you’ve got a young person in a job by the time they’re 24 – I know this from being the Social Services Minister, Paul Fletcher is here, he knows about this – if you do that, then that’s what I call in rugby league a 12 point turnaround. You stop the opposition story – that is the opposition of unemployment and putting someone on welfare – and you score at the other end, which is putting someone in a job. Because if they’re in a job by that time, they do not get conditioned to living a life on welfare. You want to know why our Budget is turning around? Yes, there’s been improvement Grant you’re absolutely right, in corporate revenues and increased profitability. It’s welcome, we welcome it, it’s fantastic. But it’s also because people have been going from welfare recipients, to taxpayers.
That’s how you turn a Budget around.
That’s how you turn an economy around.
That’s what has been happening in our economy.
So, we’ve seen employment growth. We’ve seen record employment growth. We’ve seen our manufacturing sector doing well as I’ve mentioned. We’ve seen our export sector continue to drive forward. Services exports up 8.8 per cent and we’ll continue to see that happen so long as we keep the focus on growth.
One area I wanted to touch on before I leave you tonight is, you know, the economy is a positive ecosystem, businesses large and small are connected together. Peter Strong is here tonight from the Council of Small Business organisation, as is Michaelia Cash. They both understand that if big business does well, small business does well, if small business does well, big business does well. This is an important connection, we’re all part of the same supply chain. It’s important that works really, really well. That’s why we’ve done the thing that I’ve said.
Increased investment in small business through the Instant asset write off. The small business turnover threshold raised from $2 million to $10 million. Reducing the reporting burden of small and medium-sized business by doubling the ASIC financial reporting threshold. The establishment and getting access to capital through two initiatives, working with our financial institutions to create the Australian Business Growth Fund modelled on the UK experience and a $2 billion investment we’re putting into the securitization market for small business loans, which will enable greater competition in our banking and finical system and get more money that will drive the growth of small and medium-sized businesses into the future. Employee share schemes, which are freeing up and giving more opportunity for employees in small and medium-sized businesses to understand how they can benefit by the growth of the enterprise they’re part of. Angel investing tax incentives which is enable start ups to get off the ground and of course, the capital limited partnerships for early stage venture arrangements which are equally drawing capital into that sector, some $270 million of increased investment coming in. All of that is great. It’s part of our commitment to small and family businesses.
But you know another thing that really makes small businesses light up, is when they get paid. When they get they paid and when they get paid on time. You know, if you don’t pay them on time, it slows the whole show down. You know, in the economy the money has got to move. If you slow it movement down, everything slows down, everybody pays for that. In our economy particularly with the digital economy, as they know at MYOB, these things can move a lot faster than they used to. And they need to, it’s an important productivity driver to ensure that small business is not used as a bank, you know what I mean? If you’re not paying on time, you’re borrowing money from them. If you’re not paying on time to each other, you’re borrowing money from someone else. If we all – government, large business, small business – if we’re all paying on time and we all pay more quickly and we put in place the systems and the procedures to do that, the entire economy does better.
Technology is speeding it up, payment times are improving. Bills though are still paid 11 days late according to the latest data from Dunn & Bradstreet. While we’re seeing signs of improvement - late payment times are reducing 25 per cent in 17/18, that’s welcome – there are still late payments. This might seem a rather micro part of our economy, but I’ve got to tell you it’s incredibly important. Cash flow for businesses is incredibly important and speeding up the payment times is an important, practical way of how we can improve the performance and productivity of our economy.
Trade between small and medium and large businesses totals about $550 billion a year. Healthy cash flow is critical to these businesses. This issue is being consistently raised with us of course, by small and medium businesses, particularly with Michaelia as she’s travelled around the country. For many months people are working already and completed payment terms are being pushed out to 60, 90 and 120 days in some cases. Even loans are being offered to cover extended payment terms. So; “I’ll loan you some money, while I don’t pay you.”
Now, that is not a positive policy in progressive, forward-moving economy.
Michaelia has taken up this important issue and has tasked the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell to once again look at it through the 2017 inquiry into payment times and practices. There has been over 1000 responses to that in just the past few days, to give you an idea of how hot this issue is.
This time last year, in the Government’s response into the Ombudsman’s inquiry, we made it clear that we would be carefully monitoring our progress and we’ve been improving. But I want to pay tribute to the BCA for their Australian Supply Payment Code. That has been an important step in changing the payment culture of businesses particularly large businesses in Australia. However it is true – and I was taking note of all of logos up there Grant – there are 139 members of the BCA who have signed up to the voluntary code. Congratulations and well done to you. It currently has 80 signatories though, of those 139 members and so there many more that need to sign up. So, we acknowledge the work you do and we encourage those who haven’t signed on, to sign on.
In our case, we pay our bills on time and are committed to reducing those times further. Our Pay On Time survey showed that Commonwealth agencies paid 97 per cent of their invoices under $1 million within 30 days. The results also show that we’re on track towards our commitment to pay our invoices within 20 days, by 1 July 2019. Over 70 per cent of all invoices under $1 million were paid in 20 days, over 10 percentage points on the year before. And although Commonwealth agencies are performing well, there is room for improvement - until we’re at 100 per cent, I won’t be happy, Mathias won’t be happy, we won’t be happy - because we want businesses to get paid so they can get on with running their businesses. We’re making good progress, working now with our New Zealand counterparts and stakeholders on e-invoicing. We see this as a clear advantage and once implemented, we aim to reduce our payment times for small businesses using this method, just down to five days, just five days.
All levels of Government should set the standard. Now, while all states have clear commitments to pay invoices within 30 days, we think they should do better too. The one state leading the way - which Mike Baird will be pleased to know - is New South Wales. In August they announced they were cutting their payment times for small business down to 20 days by the end of this year. And that was just the start of further commitments to take these payment times down to five days by the end of 2019. Well done to the NSW State Government and we’re challenging all states and territories, this is where I like to see competitive federalism actually help to ensure that that becomes the standard. That’s why I’ll be putting payment terms for state governments and territory governments and the Commonwealth Government on the COAG agenda when we meet in Adelaide in just under a month’s time. I’ll be challenging all the states and territories to match up to the lead that New South Wales has been showing and that we’re also showing in reducing our payment terms to 20.
We’re committed to levelling the playing field and with more transparency for small business and we’ll also, I announce tonight, be developing an annual reporting framework requiring large businesses over $100 million in turnover to publish their payment information. I want people to know who to do business with and people should do business with people who pay on time. They should know who they are and they should be able to make those judgements and I’d like to see that as a positive incentive for businesses to pay more readily. It will cover 3,000 of the largest businesses in Australia, including foreign companies and government entities. Small business will have more transparency, allowing them to do business with better payers. Large businesses will get the benefit of their suppliers and their customers knowing that they play fair and they pay on time.
We are committed to using every available lever to support businesses by pursuing these processes across the supply chain and so we’ll also deliver a new government procurement connected policy, which will require those large businesses seeking to tender to have satisfactory payment times in line with the Government’s pay on time policy of 20 days. So if you want to do government work, you’ve got to pay your suppliers and you’ve got to pay your contractors on time within 20 days. They’re the standards we’ll be requiring of those who want to work with the Government.
We will do more to help small business compete for government contracts also, in addition to the Government’s existing 10 per cent procurement commitment to SME’s. The Government will set a new 35 per cent target for SME participation in contracts up to $20 million. A stronger small and medium sized business sector is good for the members of the BCA in this room. It means you’ve got dynamic, innovative, agile, responsive members of your supply chain.
I always remember talking to Alan Joyce and he talks about thousands upon thousands upon thousands of small and medium sized businesses that makes QANTAS the best airline in the world. It’s not just the people that work for QANTAS - and I love them because I have more QANTAS employees in my electorate than any other electorate in the country, love QANTAS, love QANTAS.
[Laughter]
But QANTAS is made great not just by the people who work directly for them, but for all those people and all those business who drive their supply chain for a great airline. All the large businesses are the same. You are great because of the people you work with, the people who work for you. You know that and I think it will be a major boon for our economy if we just set those standards and meet them. Work with all those businesses, give them the headroom, give them the space they need. Give them that cash-flow advantage. Give them that sense of confidence, that shot in the arm to see the money go into the account when they go and check it, and they check it pretty often as you know. I think that will make our economy stronger.
It may seem like a small thing to maybe those who are listening tonight in some way, shape or form. But it’s going to make a big difference and the reason I have decided to raise that with you tonight is because it takes these things to make a stronger economy. It takes a Government that actually understands that access to finance, that reducing regulation, that reducing taxes, that increasing payment arrangements to be supporting cash flow of businesses across the supply chain. We get it, that that’s what makes a stronger economy. And why do we want to do that? Because if I’ve got a stronger economy, if we’ve all got a stronger economy, then we all have the essential services that make us the greatest country on earth. That’s what the next election is going to be about. I’m not going to give you the other side of the partisan speech which will talk about our opponents. There will be plenty of time for me to do that.
I simply ask you one thing tonight; stand up for a stronger economy. Stand up for a stronger economy. What we’re doing is to make our economy stronger. A stronger economy is good for your bottom line, it’s good for the dividends, it’s good for the profits, it’s good for employees, it’s good for communities. There’s a choice at this next election; a stronger economy, or higher taxes. I know which one I’m backing, and I look forward to your support.
Thank you very much.