Speeches
Remarks - Rappville Public School
13 October 2019
Rappville, NSW
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much Gladys and thank you very much and to the Mayor and all of the other officials who are here with us, my colleagues who are here. Kevin Hogan the local member for Page, Michael McCormack the Deputy Prime Minister is here with me today, as is David Littleproud who is the Minister for responding to natural disasters at a Commonwealth level. But I think I want to just simply want to echo what Gladys has said in thanking this amazing community. The community that rallied together the other night so calmly and so effectively saved lives. There's no doubt about that.
Much has been lost in this community and as I've spoken to some of you and I've looked at the wreckage a lot has been lost. And for that, there's going to be real grief and profound sorrow. But when I see kids with their grandparents, when I see daughters with their fathers and the look between them and the look between the eyes of the community members here there is something that has not just survived this fire but has thrived through this fire. And that is the tremendous spirit of this community. And that is what is above and beyond everything else.
The support will come from the State and Commonwealth agencies, the payments particularly on disaster allowance, that starts on Monday. And I urge you to work with Kevin, the state members here to ensure that you're getting access to all of those supports because they are all coming. I've stood in a lot of disaster areas - too many frankly - as a Prime Minister and have known how those payments have been come and followed. There have been issues with assessment time, there are issues on insurance - all of that is still to be worked through and that will be hard. But the thing that will sustain you is what I've seen amongst all of you here today and we should be very appreciative, I think, of each other and the care you have shown to each other.
So we'll be here in the same way as the state government is. The services are being coordinated through the state government. I want to thank all the volunteers in particular. I want to thank particularly the cleaner of the school here that ensured it was kept unlocked on the night.
[Applause]
This will always be the centre of this community. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to come and spend some time with you. And we will be here again and we'll see how the community stands up again. But just as I said, I've stood in the middle of disaster zones of places like this in the past. I've also been there and stood there on the other side. I had one happen in my own community, it was in Sydney. It was a tornado that went through Kurnell and I saw similarly homes which were completely destroyed and ones standing next to them were untouched. And that community is strong today. And this community will be strong again. Thank you.
[Applause]
Remarks - Bankstown, NSW
Bushfires in NSW and QLD
9 October 2019
Bankstown, NSW
PRIME MINISTER: On a separate issue today I just want people to know, particularly those in northern New South Wales near Casino where up to 20 homes have been lost overnight, that our thoughts are very much with those communities and the emergency service workers and the others who are providing support today. But while that fire which has taken a terrible toll has eased, there remains very real pressures and very real dangers in Queensland where fires are also burning as well as in the Northern Territory, and in Western Australia, and so my encouragement to people would be to be looking very closely, and listening very carefully, to the warnings and other instructions that they may receive from time to time. These terrible events are events that our emergency services, fire authorities and others train for, and prepare for, and are resourced to be able to respond to these events but as always in these cases there is a tremendous volunteer community response that goes in to support families, and individuals, as they are dealing with the stress of these times and particularly those who have lost so much overnight. And so we thank those who are getting around them today, families and friends communities, as well as those who are there to provide other professional services. Of course we would expect the insurance companies to play their role in these circumstances and those responses will come in place I think we would expect very swiftly as well. So for now though our thoughts are with those who have lost a great deal, fortunately there's been no loss of life which is something always to be thankful for but there are remaining very serious threats today in those locations I’ve mentioned to you. For those communities around Casino it’s going to be a very tough day but know that Australians are with you. Thanks very much.
Remarks - Quickstep Factory Opening
9 October 2019
Bankstown, NSW
Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much it's a great pleasure to be here and can I acknowledge of course Melissa Price the Minister for Defence Industry and she's just returned from the United States and she's been doing some tremendous work there as an advocate for Australian industry, particularly of course the Australian Defence industry, which you've just heard this is a very strong focus for our government. Can I also acknowledge Tony Quick and Mark Burgess and all the management staff here at Quickstep and can I also acknowledge any serving members of the ADF and veterans who are a part of the crew here. Jobs, jobs, jobs that's this is about. Jobs that are well paid, a part of a vibrant manufacturing industry in Australia where we make things in this country. And we're respected for what we make in this country. I've recently returned from the United States, as has Melissa. That is the biggest investment partnership we have as a nation. Around $1.7 trillion invested in each other's economy. But also a relationship, the strategic dimensions of which in keeping Australia safe keeping the United States safe, providing a stable and peaceful world, where that agenda completely aligns with the investment and manufacturing and jobs agenda that both countries share.
Days like today help keep our economy strong and they help keep people in jobs and create more jobs, many more than 200 jobs here at this incredible plant standing in this $7 million room which is going to create even more jobs and further enhance the reputation of Australia as a great manufacturer, as a smart manufacturer, as an innovative manufacturer, as a manufacturer that can be depended upon in one of the toughest supply chains there is anywhere in the world. You know, if I was a pilot walking around this facility, I’d feel pretty good knowing the level of precision that is being exercised here and researched and innovated to ensure the proper workings of those strike fighters which those pilots will climb into and put themselves at risk for all of our security and for all of our defence. This really is an amazing success story for Australia, in seven years Quickstep has gone from a W.A. start-up, to a business that now employs 230 people. We're investing some $200 billion dollars as a government in the future of our defence forces. And we're doing that, raising our defence spending as a share of GDP to 2 per cent. And we will achieve that next year. Well ahead of schedule. Which means that Australia carries its own weight when it comes to our own strategic responsibilities, our own alliances, our own partnerships and the role that we play to ensure a stable and peaceful region, and to do that you've got to have the capability to back it up, and that's what's being built here. I want to congratulate Quickstep for the wonderful role they have played in demonstrating our capability and building that capability. They are a vital part of the Joint Strike Fighter program of which Australia is heavily invested and involved in. And it's not just about Quickstep, more than 50 Australian companies are part of the F 35 Joint Strike Fighters program global supply chain. Standing here in an Australia business where 230 people work, where we're expanding the capability of that business based on the investment, not just of the company themselves, but joint investments of the US and Australian governments I think speaks volumes about why I was in the United States and why Melissa was there. We were there because of this incredible relationship which is creating Australian capability, increasing the number of jobs both now and in the future but also playing a very significant role in ensuring the capability of our Defence forces and the interoperability that occurs between the US and Australia. Over the life of the F 35 capability Australian industry is expected to secure $5 billion dollars in contracts supporting around 5000 highly skilled Australian jobs. The reason I get particularly excited about our defence industry program, which Melissa leads, is because it's not just building the capability of our Defence forces, it is showcasing and developing the capability of our advanced manufacturing sector. That's what it's doing. It is rolling out new jobs new capabilities, new opportunities, new relationships, new respect for Australia not just in the United States but all around the world. And that's going to be a real source of opportunity for Australia in the decade ahead.
The global economy keeps changing. But what we're seeing here is a demonstration of the ability to adapt to that change and to meet it. And to better others in how we go about doing that. So to everybody at Quickstep, this really is a tremendous day for you I know you're enormously proud and what you've been able to achieve, and talking to your staff and those who've been involved in this project are rightly feeling pretty pumped, I think, about what you've been able to do here. But as Australians, I think you should feel even more proud of what you’re part of, and I know you are. And so it's very pleasing to be here with Melissa, to be here to open this particular facility. And I look forward to opening more. Not just here but in many other facilities around the country. This shows what the alliance is all about at the end of the day. Not just about our joint security, but our joint prosperity and how we work together to realise these opportunities together. So congratulations. Thank you for the opportunity for Melissa and I to be here and I look forward to pulling the curtain!
Speech - Lowy Lecture
“In our interest”
3 October 2019
Sydney Town Hall, NSW
PRIME MINISTER: Acknowledgment of Gadigal, service men and women and veterans.
Your Excellency Margaret Beazley AO QC, Governor of NSW and Mr Dennis Wilson
Our 25th Prime Minister, the Hon John Howard OM AC
Sir Frank Lowy - Chairman of the Lowy Institute
Michael Fullilove - Executive Director of the Lowy Institute
Colleagues, friends, ladies and gentlemen
It’s an honour to be giving this lecture which bears the name of a great Australian – Sir Frank Lowy.
When we see your name we’re reminded of what is possible in Australia.
You had nothing, yet you built an Australian empire that reached far beyond our shores.
Above all, your name and life reminds us that our most valuable inheritance is always found within, in our character.
And we should acknowledge on a night like this, it’s a character that owes so much to your own father.
A man who suffered to death at Birkenau because he would not be parted from his tallit and tefillin.
What character, what faith. Because of that example, his son became a blessing to our nation.
While your childhood was darkened by the Holocaust, your eyes have always remained defiantly bright with hope for the future.
In your speech last year for this Lecture you said “the list of our blessings is long” … and that you believe Australia has never been in a better position to influence international events, and to benefit from them.
I believe that too.
Tonight, it is a great privilege as Prime Minister to deliver this lecture, named in your honour.
As a politician, my instincts and passions have always been domestic.
Despite my activity of the past year, I am not one who naturally seeks out summits and international platforms. But as Prime Minister you must always be directed by the national interest.
As has been the case for Prime Ministers past, so much of Australia’s future right now is being shaped by events and relationships beyond our borders.
Australia cannot be an indifferent bystander to these events that impact our livelihoods, our safety and our sovereignty.
We must, as we have done previously, cultivate, marshal and bring our influence to bear to protect and promote our national interests.
Tonight I would like to talk about the new and challenging world that Australia faces. And how my government is responding to these challenges.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are living in a world in transition that former US Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, has described as “an unusually delicate moment in time.”
A new economic and political order is still taking shape.
We have entered a new era of strategic competition - a not unnatural result of shifting power dynamics, in our modern, more multi-polar world and globalised economy.
It is a time of technological disruption, some of which is welcomed, some resented and feared.
A time when global supply chains have become integrated to an unprecedented degree, and more of our economies are dependent on global trade than at any other time, including the major economic powers of the United States, China, Japan and Europe.
There is both the promise and the threat of automation and artificial intelligence.
There are fears, overstated in my opinion, of technological bifurcation – a sort of economic ‘Iron Curtain’ coming down.
It is also an era of continuing security threats from terrorism, extremist Islam, anti-semitism, white supremacism, and evil on a local and global level.
An era where pragmatic international engagement, based on the cooperation of sovereign nation states, is being challenged by a new variant of globalism that seeks to elevate global institutions above the authority of nation states to direct national policies.
Of polarisation within and between societies.
An era in which elite opinion and attitudes have often become disconnected from the mainstream of their societies, and a sense of resentment and disappointment has emerged.
An era of insiders and outsiders, threatening social cohesion, provoking discontent and distrust.
Whether directly or indirectly, these changes impact Australians.
On our jobs, what we earn, our living standards and the essential services we rely on, that depend on a strong budget and strong economy.
On our environment, our oceans, our coasts, our grazing and pasture lands, our water resources, our soil, that depend upon our practical conservation.
On our safety, that depends on our national security, afforded by our alliances, our defence, diplomatic and intelligence capabilities, our adherence to the rule of law and our ability to enforce the law.
On our freedom, that depends on our dedication to national sovereignty, the resilience of our institutions, and our protections from foreign interference.
Dealing with uncertainty is not new.
This is not the first time our children have grown up in a time of global tension and disruption. This is a context and perspective I fear is too often missing in our contemporary discussion of global issues.
My generation grew up under the threat of nuclear Armageddon, hoping as Sting put it, that “the Russians loved their children too”.
My parents’ generation grew up during the greatest global conflict in world history, including the Holocaust, the invasion of what was then Australian soil in New Guinea, the bombing of Darwin and Japanese subs in Sydney Harbour sinking ferries.
My grandparents grew up during the war to end all wars, where every neighbourhood knew the cost as 60,000 Australians were killed out of a population of not even five million; who then went on to endure the Great Depression, before backing up to fight to defend our freedom in the Middle East and the Pacific.
Those generations recognised the challenges of their time, and responded with a practical resilience, optimism and resolve, rather than the anxiety inducing moral panic and sense of crisis evident in some circles today.
And at every stage Australia has played its part as a force for good, in partnership with those who shared our outlook and our values.
The key to progress was individual, like-minded sovereign nations acting together with enlightened self-interest.
The Marshall Plan.
The rebuilding of Japan.
The Colombo Plan.
A co-operative and respectful internationalism.
On occasion these efforts were forged through international institutions established to serve the states that formed them.
On other occasions, the work was done by looser coalitions of partners.
But in all cases, it was the principled actions of nation states, most often led by the United States, binding together the liberal democracies of the western world.
And in all cases these actions were underpinned by common values that anchor these societies.
As I recently reminded the United Nations General Assembly, these shared values filled the vacuum to win peace, provide stability, achieve prosperity and extend liberty essential for the human spirit to thrive.
We can never be complacent or take comfort that such achievements are permanent. They require eternal vigilance.
To preserve this legacy in the face of the uncertainties of our modern world, we must approach the future with the same optimism, confidence and resolve, of previous generations, and through our commitment to the values and beliefs that have always guided our way.
The approach my Government is taking to these challenges is straightforward.
Know who we are and what we stand for, and allow this to guide our constructive engagement in and expectations of our international cooperation, including global institutions, and ensure that our national interests remain paramount.
Build a strong open economy at home, connected to global prosperity, enabling our capacity to protect and pursue our national interests.
Know where we live and work to promote stability, prosperity and engagement in our region by championing the common interest of sovereignty and independence as the natural antidote to any possible threat of regional hegemony.
And maintain our unique relationships with the United States - our most important ally - and China - our comprehensive strategic partner - in good order, by rejecting the binary narrative of their strategic competition and instead valuing and nurturing the unconflicted benefit of our close association.
Knowing who we are and what we stand for is as true today as it ever was.
We will continue to bring clear objectives and enduring values to our international engagement.
Freedom of thought and expression … of spirit and faith … of our humanity, including inalienable human rights.
Freedom of exchange, free and open markets, free flow of capital and ideas.
Freedom from oppression and coercion, freedom of choice,
These have never been more important.
And they are under threat, not just from the direct challenge of competing worldviews, but the complacency of western liberal democratic societies that owe their liberty and prosperity to these values.
Australia does and must always seek to have a responsible and participative international agency in addressing global issues. This is positive and practical globalism. Our interests are not served by isolationism and protectionism.
But it also does not serve our national interests when international institutions demand conformity rather than independent cooperation on global issues.
The world works best when the character and distinctiveness of independent nations is preserved within a framework of mutual respect. This includes respecting electoral mandates of their constituencies.
We should avoid any reflex towards a negative globalism that coercively seeks to impose a mandate from an often ill defined borderless global community. And worse still, an unaccountable internationalist bureaucracy.
Globalism must facilitate, align and engage, rather than direct and centralise. As such an approach can corrode support for joint international action.
Only a national government, especially one accountable through the ballot box and the rule of law, can define its national interests. We can never answer to a higher authority than the people of Australia.
And under my leadership Australia’s international engagement will be squarely driven by Australia’s national interests.
To paraphrase former Prime Minister John Howard, as Australians, ‘we will decide our interests and the circumstances in which we seek to pursue them.’
This will not only include our international efforts to support global peace and stability and to promote open markets based on fair and transparent rules, but also other global standards that underpin commerce, investment and exchange.
When it comes to setting global standards, we’ve not been as involved as we could be.
We cannot afford to leave it to others to set the standards that will shape our global economy.
I’m determined for Australia will play a more active role in standards setting.
I have tasked the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to come back to me with a comprehensive audit of global institutions and rule-making processes where we have the greatest stake.
And I want to send a message here tonight that we will be looking to tap Australian expertise as part of our efforts.
Ladies and gentlemen, the foundation for robust and credible Australian engagement abroad is a strong economy at home.
Without a strong economy, we cannot protect the living standards of our people.
Without a strong economy we cannot keep our people safe, protect and preserve our environment, guarantee the essential services Australians rely on and invest in national defence and global order.
That’s why bringing the budget back into balance and keeping that way is so important.
A strong budget is a cornerstone of Australian sovereignty in an uncertain world.
We are one of only ten nations with a AAA credit rating from all key rating agencies.
At the same time, we are pursuing the most ambitious trade strategy in Australia’s history. One in five Australian jobs is now dependent on trade.
We have concluded, or are negotiating, trade deals with 17 out of our top 20 trading partners.
We are working towards an agreement with the EU.
And we stand ready to swiftly secure a trade agreement with the United Kingdom as soon as they are in a position to do so. Post Brexit, the UK will become an important partner and voice in the advocacy for our rules based trading system and the benefits of open and fair trade.
In the last six years we have secured duty-free or preferential access for our exporters to an extra 1.7 billion consumers.
70 per cent of Australia’s two-way trade is now covered by our trade agreements, up from 26 per cent when the Coalition was elected in 2013.
Today’s trade data confirmed once again the longest run in consecutive monthly trade balances in 45 years. And for the first time since 1975, our current account is in surplus.
We are working to revitalise and modernise the global trading system. To ensure it matches the speed of change in E-commerce and embraces the opportunities of the digital economy.
At home we are lowering taxes, removing the burden of over-regulation, embarking on overdue structural reform of our vocational training sector to ensure we are meeting the dynamic skills needs of our growing economy. And we are building the transport, energy and water infrastructure our economy needs to grow.
This is all part of the comprehensive national economic plan we are implementing to keep our economy strong.
Ladies and gentlemen, of course our approach to the world is shaped by where we live.
We are an Indo-Pacific nation.
We are playing our part to build a secure, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific of independent, sovereign and resilient states.
We have started with our Pacific Step-Up.
Australia’s national security and that of our Pacific family are intertwined.
This is a practical partnership supporting economic stability and prosperity, and strengthening security and resilience.
Our relationships with other nations in our region are flourishing.
We have concluded a landmark economic partnership agreement with Indonesia and aim to introduce implementing legislation next week.
And I look forward to attending the inauguration of re-elected President Widodo later this month.
In August we further strengthened our relationship with Vietnam, a nation of real consequence in our region.
Last year we elevated our relationship to a strategic partnership, reflecting our shared strategic interests and determination to expand cooperation even further.
ASEAN is at the core of our conception of the Indo-Pacific.
Next month we, our ASEAN partners and other nations in the region hope to conclude the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, embracing 16 economies with a combined population of 3.5 billion and combined GDP of US$25.7 billion.
The special importance of this agreement is that it will draw India more substantially into the Indo-Pacific economy.
India is a great success story of our region. A land of durable institutions and shared values.
A natural partner for Australia.
So I am honoured to accept the invitation of my friend Prime Minister Modi to visit India in January, including to deliver the inaugural address at the Raisina Dialogue.
The visit will be accompanied by a business delegation that I have invited Ashok Jacob, Chair of the Australia-India Council Board, to lead. This will bring Government and business together to pursue our India Economic Strategy that has captured the attention of our Indian partners and must now be realised.
My visit will be another step in cementing India in the top tier of Australia’s partnerships.
Last week we took another step, when Foreign Ministers of the Quad countries - the USA, Australia, India and Japan - met in New York.
This is the first time the Quad has met at Ministerial level.
Our Government has worked patiently to restore trust and confidence following the Rudd Government’s policy to disconnect from the Quad.
I am pleased we have been able to restore this important forum for Australia and the region.
It is a key forum for exchanging views on challenges facing the region, including taking forward practical cooperation on maritime, terrorism and cyber issues.
It also complements the role of ASEAN and ASEAN-led architecture.
This has been achieved with Australia’s steadfast friendship and support from Japan, which is broader and deeper than ever before.
Japan is our Special Strategic Partner, our second-largest trading partner and a fellow ally of the United States.
Prime Minister Abe is not only a great friend of Australia, but also one of the region’s elder and most eminent statesmen.
That’s why I am also pleased to accept Prime Minister Abe’s invitation to visit Japan early next year.
And I also intend to put more effort into our relationship with the Republic of Korea - building on our significant trade, energy and infrastructure ties.
I met again recently with President Moon. We agree that our relationship has significant further potential, including in hydrogen, critical minerals and security.
I would add that the Indo-Pacific would be even stronger if Japan and the ROK can overcome their recent tensions.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I can report from my most recent visit to the US at the kind invitation of President and Mrs Trump, that the state of our relationship is strong.
Our alliance with the United States is our past, our present and our future.
It is the bedrock of our security.
And it’s one that we contribute to as we undertake the greatest peacetime recapitalisation of our Defence Force ever and increase spending on Defence to two per cent of our GDP.
Deep US engagement in the Indo-Pacific is essential for maintaining stability and prosperity.
But even during an era of great power competition, Australia does not have to choose between the United States and China.
China is our Comprehensive Strategic Partner.
The strategic importance of our relationship is clear.
China is a global power making significant investments in military capability as a result of its extraordinary economic success.
It is the major buyer of resources globally.
It is having a profound impact on the regional balance of power.
It’s now the world’s second largest economy accounting for 16 percent of world GDP in 2018
The world’s largest goods exporter since 2009 and the world’s largest trading nation since 2013.
The world’s largest manufacturer.
The world’s largest banking sector, the world’s second largest stock market and the world’s third largest bond market.
And the world’s largest holder of foreign reserves.
We have benefited from China’s economic rise, just as China has benefited from Australia’s reliable supply of high quality energy, resources, agricultural goods, and increasingly services.
China has in many ways changed the world, so we would expect the terms of its engagement to change too.
That’s why when we look at negotiating rules of the future of the global economy, for example, we would expect China’s obligations to reflect its greater power status.
This is a compliment, not a criticism.
And that is what I mean when describing China as a newly developed economy.
The rules and institutions that support global cooperation must reflect the modern world. It can’t be set and forget.
In conclusion let me simply say that we will continue to stand up for Australia. Will defend our reputation. Will defend our interests, our jobs, our living standards, our environment, our cohesive and tolerant society, our kid’s opportunities for the future.
We will strive to protect the promise of Australia to every Australian.
A promise that was made to a young Frank Lowy to enable him to become everything that he could be. That promise is now being kept to millions more Australians who have come to Australia to make a contribution and not take one, to respect our laws, our unique lifestyle and freedoms. And who along with our resident population continue to make our nation the envy of the world.
How good is Australia Sir Frank, and may it ever be so.
Thank you for your attention.
National Statement to the United Nations General Assembly
25 September 2019
New York City, United States of America
Much has changed since the United Nations was established.
Australia was there in the beginning. And we are here today because we continue to believe that differences can be resolved through dialogue and mutual respect.
Because we believe that an international rules-based order is essential for global stability, security and prosperity.
Because we know that you can’t have prosperity without peace.
The world today is complex and contested. Many fatalistically see a polarised world where countries feel pushed to make binary choices. Australia will continue to resist this path.
Australia will continue to seek to honestly maintain our great alliances and comprehensive partnerships in good repair, from our great and powerful friends to our smallest Pacific Island family neighbours.
Approaching its 75th anniversary next year, the UN must reform and evolve to respond effectively to the challenges of the 21st Century.
And to fulfil its core mandate, the UN must be ever mindful of the principles and values that have always been foundational to the UN’s efforts.
Peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with international law. Respect for the sovereignty and independence of all states. Open markets that facilitate the free flow of trade, capital and ideas. Freedom of faith, freedom of expression. Respect for human rights, and combatting disadvantage, discrimination and persecution based on disability, gender, religion, sexuality, age, race or ethnicity.
These are the liberal democratic values which underpinned the UN at its inception. These are Australia’s values. We believe they should remain the guiding principles and values for the UN into the future.
The alternate path of lowest common denominator transactionalism and relativism is a dead end.
The UN is the prime custodian of the rules-based order. It is also the custodian of mechanisms for dialogue and adjudication which buttress them.
It has a challenging task ahead of it.
For Australia’s part, we will continue to practice what we preach.
Last month, Australia ratified a maritime treaty setting out a new sea boundary with Timor‑Leste.
This followed the first-ever conciliation initiated under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
This demonstrates that the UN and its norms are central to a cooperative rules‑based approach to global challenges.
In the Pacific, we are also stepping up.
Australia is the single largest development partner for Pacific Island nations.
This is an instinctive response for Australia, consistent with our clear national interest and our commitment to our Pacific family, our vuvale, our whanau.
Our goal is simple - a Southwest Pacific that is secure strategically, stable economically, sovereign politically and sustainable environmentally.
The UN’s work in partnership with Australia has also helped to build a more sustainable and resilient Pacific: to support local climate change actions and resilience, to strive for gender equality through the empowerment of women and girls, to support continuing improvement in health outcomes and to bolster regional peace, including through the Bougainville Referendum Support Project.
Today I want to take the opportunity to speak about Australia’s response to the great global environmental challenges.
Firstly how Australia is acting to protect our oceans.
Australia is an island continent.
Australia has the world’s third largest maritime jurisdiction, stretching from the great Southern Ocean to the vast Pacific and Indian oceans.
Over 85 per cent of Australia’s population lives within just 50 kilometres of the coast.
Australia’s Indigenous peoples have been linked to the land and sea for more than 65,000 years.
Our oceans connect Australia with the world. Ninety nine per cent of Australia’s trade by volume is carried by sea. By 2025, marine industries will contribute around $100 billion each year to our economy.
Our prosperity and security rely on the established laws that govern freedom of navigation, be it in the Strait of Hormuz or closer to home.
Protecting our oceans is also one of the world’s more pressing environmental challenges.
To protect our oceans, Australia is committed to leading urgent action to combat plastic pollution choking our oceans; tackle over-exploitation of our fisheries, prevent ocean habitat destruction and of course take action on climate change.
Scientists estimate that in just 30 years’ time the weight of plastics in our oceans will exceed the weight of the fish in those oceans.
Recently, I announced that Australia will ban exports of waste plastic, paper, glass and tyres, and we anticipate that starting in 2020. That’s about 1.4 million tonnes of potent recyclable material.
Australia is also leading on practical research and development into recycling - turning recycled plastic and glass into roads, manufacturing 100% recycled PET bottles and capturing methane and waste to create energy.
New technologies are coming on line with the potential to recycle used plastics into valuable new plastics - creating a circular plastics economy.
These include innovations like ‘bioplastics’ - compostable plastic replacements and technologies like the ‘Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor’ - an innovative Australian designed technology that converts end of life plastics into waxes, diesel and new plastics.
These innovations show us a truly circular economy is not only possible, but is achievable. And it’s of course, essential. And Australia intends to do more.
Australia will invest $167 million in an Australian Recycling Investment Plan.
Our focus is to create the right investment environment so that new technologies are commercialised - preventing pollution from entering our oceans, and creating valuable new products.
Australia supports the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy and we are working through the International Maritime Organization to address the way shipping contributes to plastics pollution in our oceans.
Australia supports the G20 work on marine plastic debris and the Osaka Blue Ocean Vision led of course by Prime Minister Abe.
We welcome the contributions and leadership from business and the private sector to address these challenges, including Australia’s own Minderoo Foundation. Industry led mechanisms for investing in new recycling technologies and mitigating plastic waste in rivers, beaches and oceans on a global scale is absolutely essential.
We must also act to safeguard the sustainability of our fisheries. This means cracking down on illegal fishing.
There are too many nations standing by while their nationals are thieving the livelihoods of their neighbours.
Australia is acting not only in our own interest but helping Pacific Island family to reduce illegal fishing which depletes the fish stocks Pacific Islanders rely on for jobs, revenue and their food security.
We have also worked together with Indonesia, and I congratulate President Widodo, we have been co-committed to an action plan to combat illegal fishing in Southeast Asia and thank Indonesia for their regional leadership.
And we are working with regional organisations to improve fisheries governance.
As well, we are providing patrol boats to 13 countries supported by aerial surveillance through our Pacific Maritime Security Program in Pacific Island nations to help them police illegal fishing in their waters.
We are leading efforts to preserve natural habitats and biodiversity, including through partnerships with other countries to protect migratory birds and their habitats.
And we have worked hard to prevent commercial whaling and to end whaling in the Southern Ocean.
Australia set up the International Partnership for Blue Carbon in 2015 with the aim of protecting and conserving mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
And our Great Barrier Reef remains one of the world’s most pristine areas of natural beauty. Feel free to visit it. Our reef is vibrant and resilient and protected under the world’s most comprehensive reef management plan.
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has found that Australia’s management of our reef is ‘highly sophisticated’ and is considered by many as the ‘gold standard’ for large scale marine protected areas.
Australia’s $2 billion Reef 2050 Long Term Sustainability Plan is based on the best available science and draws on 40 years of analysis, underpinned by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
Australia’s continued support for reef, coral and water quality science will ensure that the Great Barrier Reef remains one of the best managed World Heritage sites in the world.
Now, Australia is also taking real action on climate change and we are getting results.
We are successfully balancing our global responsibilities with sensible and practical policies to secure our environmental and our economic future.
Australia’s internal and global critics on climate change willingly overlook or perhaps ignore our achievements, as the facts simply don’t fit the narrative they wish to project about our contribution.
Australia is responsible for just 1.3 per cent of global emissions. Australia is doing our bit on climate change and we reject any suggestion to the contrary.
By 2020 Australia will have overachieved on our Kyoto commitments, reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 367 million tonnes more than required to meet our 2020 Kyoto target. Now there are few member countries, whether at this forum or the OECD who can make this claim.
Our latest estimates show both emissions per person and the emissions intensity of the economy are at their lowest levels in 29 years.
In 2012, it was estimated Australia would release some 693 million tonnes of emissions in 2020. As of 2018, this estimate has fallen to 540 million tonnes.
Australia’s electricity sector is producing less emissions. In the year to March 2019, emissions from Australia’s electricity sector were 15.7 per cent lower than the peak recorded in the year to June 2009.
While we are a resource rich country, it is important to note that Australia only accounts for around 5.5 per cent of the world’s coal production.
Having met and we will exceed our Kyoto targets, Australia will meet our Paris commitments as well and we stand by them.
We are committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.
This is a credible, fair, responsible and achievable contribution to global climate change action. It represents a halving of our emissions per person in Australia, or a two thirds reduction in emissions per unit of GDP.
At the centre of our domestic efforts is a $3.5 billion Climate Solutions Plan that I successfully took to our recent national election – supporting practical projects like capturing methane from waste, revegetation of degraded land and soil carbon.
Through our Climate Solutions Plan, we are supporting the transition to renewable energy – with projects such as Snowy 2.0, the largest pumped hydro station project in the Southern Hemisphere.
And we are investing significantly in research and development to use the best science and business expertise to commercialise new renewable technologies and integrate renewables into our electricity grid.
Australia now has the highest per capita investment in clean energy technologies of anywhere in the world and one in five Australian households has rooftop solar systems.
In 2018, $13.2 billion was invested in clean energy technologies in Australia. This builds on the estimated $10 billion invested in 2017.
We are also doing the right thing by our neighbours.
We recently committed to invest a further 500 million Australian dollars over five years from 2020 for renewable energy, climate change and resilience in the Pacific.
We have decided to invest this directly from within our international overseas development programme, rather than through additional budget commitments to the Global Green Climate Fund.
This enables us to target our support directly to Pacific Island nations, ensuring they receive this support more directly, in a more timely and targeted fashion.
At the same time, it provides greater transparency, fairness and accountability to Australian taxpayers who rightly demand attention and support from Government to address challenges at home, in particular bosting drought resilience through our investment in our national water grid infrastructure.
Australia is also committed with other countries to the Montreal Protocol, an agreement that will help protect the world from ozone depletion and combat climate change.
Under the Montreal Protocol, Australia will further accelerate its efforts and will use 60 per cent less HCFCs than permitted. I can proudly inform you that Australia is on track to fulfil our commitments and I urge all other countries to fulfil their commitments.
All of this adds up to significant and comprehensive action by Australia in response to the world’s greatest environmental challenges.
Australia is under no illusions about the challenges the global community confronts in the years ahead.
Today I want to reassure all members that Australia is carrying its own weight and more, just as we always have.
We are a generous nation playing our part in securing our shared future.
Reforming the rules of global governance, setting common standards to ensure global connectivity in the future, preventing conflict, building the capacity of developing nations, supporting essential health projects, protecting our oceans and taking action on climate change and getting results.
Like many leaders here, I get many letters from children in Australia concerned about their future.
I take them very seriously and I deeply respect their concerns and indeed I welcome their passion, especially when it comes to the environment.
My impulse is always to seek to respond positively and to encourage them. To provide context, perspective and particularly to generate hope.
To focus their minds and direct their energies to practical solutions and positive behaviour that will deliver enduring results for them.
To encourage them to learn more about science, technology, engineering and maths – because it’s through research, innovation and enterprise that the practical work of successfully managing our very real environmental challenges is achieved.
We must respect and harness the passion and aspiration of our younger generations, we must guard against others who would seek to compound or, worse, facelessly exploit their anxiety for their own agendas. We must similarly not allow their concerns to be dismissed or diminished as this can also increase their anxiety. What parent could do otherwise?
Our children have a right not just to their future but to their optimism.
Above all, we should let our children be children, let our kids be kids, let our teenagers be teenagers - while we work positively together to deliver the practical solutions for them and their future.
I am confident, once again, that Australia stands with you and together we have the wit and the capacity to surmount the challenges that come our way. Just as those who have come before us in this place have done, consistent with the values that have made that possible.
I thank you for your attention.
Speech and Q&A, American-Australian Association Reception
23 September 2019
New York, United States of America
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much. Well look, thank you for that wonderful welcome Jenny and I are thrilled to be here. The roll has been called so I don't think I'll go through all that again, but I’ve got to say it is particularly good to have Marise Payne here with me together here at the UN Marise and I really enjoy working together particularly in the important work of Australia's international relations. And she's doing a great job so it's great to see her in action here at the UN as well and so Marise, tremendous, and particularly on this occasion because it's felt like a bit of a tour with Joe on this occasion. I want to acknowledge Joe again, and in this city. Having been able to do it in Chicago and of course back in Washington, but here Joe as well, thank you for the great job that you've done and to acknowledge Melissa as well. She's been a great, great support and partner to you in this, in this very important job that you've done here in the United States and you've just done a fabulous job. Can- Ross and Nick are here, is Ross Vasta here?
UNKNOWN SPEAKER: You’ve got him working.
PRIME MINISTER: I've got him working! Ross is at work. Fantastic. Well Ross and both- Nick [Champion] are here representing our parliament here at the UN and it's great to have them in New York and observing all that's going on and particularly travelling to New York which I'm sure they’re starting to get very familiar with. Craig thank you for having us here and thanks for the [inaudible]. That's great and that’ll always go down well with AAA people there's no doubt that. This is my third time at the AAA, last two occasions on addressing the AAA have been slightly more formal occasions when I spoke as Treasurer on several occasions on previous visits so it's a great pleasure to come back here tonight as the Prime Minister and to basically talk a little bit about what we've been doing the last few days and why all of that is so incredibly important. But before I do that I think it's important to acknowledge the important work of the AAA. AAA has been around for 70 years. When Keith Murdoch, journalist and entrepreneur and patriarch of that Murdoch clan founded it here in New York in 1948, America and Australia were not even formal allies at that point when the AAA was established. But we were already old friends having served side by side since the first of those conflicts back in the First World War, and in every single one since. This morning I told the story when I was in Chicago of how this all began with Alfred Deakin writing off then Teddy Roosevelt saying I really think you should include, you should really include Australia in the great tour of the Great White Fleet that went all around the world. And it was the Secretary of State who had advocated that he take up Prime Minister Deakin’s call because he could see how important it would be for America to have relations and have a presence right throughout the Pacific. That was understood by Alfred Deakin at that time as well. So you know where we are today and the relationship we have today stands on the shoulders of so many that have gone before. Who could always see the great potential and the great strategic significance of this partnership but it's always been underpinned, it's always been underpinned by those incredibly fantastic values and beliefs that bind our countries together. Those beliefs now could not be more important. In Washington the other night there was a few of us gathered at Blair House and those beliefs, it has been a great joy to be able to come and celebrate as part of the events that have taken place over the last few days. What am I talking about? Entrepreneurship. The value of enterprise. The importance of free markets, the rule of law, the great victories of liberal democracy over generations. You know, we can take all that for granted today. We can sit back and see the world in which we live in which peace has been secured at a great price and incredible great international institutions have been established as a dividend of that peace to preserve what was supposed to be all of those great freedoms and liberties that came at such a great price. I sometimes worry that we've become a bit too familiar with the peace that was so hard fought and so hard built upon after the Second World War. We can become a bit familiar with it and then we can lose sight of it, of the foundations that provided it. That's why this is important to reflect all these things through the AAA because the things that are shared most between Australia and the United States is not just $1.7 trillion in investment between both countries, of which Anthony Pratt is the great champion of now, and the most significant demonstrator of it - 27 states. Amazing. Incredible. 27 states. And his business now shared between the United States and Australia where he's taking the- he learnt it all in Australia. He's changing America in the same way that he's done that in Australia. It's not just 1.7 trillion dollars in investment. It's just not the best trade deal the United States has with any other country of anywhere in the world. Because they don’t pay tariffs on anything that comes to Australia so it’s the best deal they have, a trade surplus they've enjoyed since the Truman administration. It's not just all of that and the defence size, it is the beliefs that underpin our two great democracies and I think that's why there is so much engagement. You’re going to go invest. You’re going to go and participate. You’re going to go and be involved when you get each other and you understand each other and you believe the same things. So these ties that we have are constantly reinforced every time we do business with each other. Every time we do an exercise with each other. Every time that students engage or are engaged in a research project. 40,000 research papers published last year between Australia and the United States, 40,000. It's incredible. It's amazing, why? Because we think the same way, we look through the world- to the world through the same lense. And that's why you come along tonight, fighting the New York traffic to be here. To be part of the AAA and understand its significance. That's what was seen all those years ago when the AAA was brought together and that's what has brought us back here tonight. That's what was celebrated for those of us who had the great, great privilege to be in the Rose Garden in the White House the other night. And we could be overwhelmed with the moment and we could reflect on what is clearly a wonderful and early understanding that the President I've been able to establish. But it's not about that, it's actually far more than that. It's about what began back in 1908 and was continued all through time now by people coming and being part of this relationship as you have this evening. And that will continue into the future and more importantly it must. Because we know what we believe is the hope of the world, at the end of the day. It really is. And if we don't believe that then I'd be surprised. And we’ve got to stir that up you know. Between Australia and the United States. We've got to stir that belief up. We've got to celebrate it. We gotta acknowledge it because it is the light. It is the thing that has ensured this wonderful advancement that we've seen in the western world and what liberal democracy has brought. And we should showcase it and we should celebrate it and most importantly we should stand up for it and seek to profess it and encourage others to go down a similar path. As I conclude, and I’m happy to take some questions, I want to- is AB here tonight Joe?
JOE HOCKEY: He had to go back to DC.
PRIME MINISTER: He had to go back to D.C. Well AB Culvahouse is our new ambassador, in Washington it’s great working with him. It's great to have John Berry here tonight. He does a great job with the AAA. He did a tremendous job as the Ambassador to the United- from the United States to Australia, and we all got to know him quite well when he was there and really great Christmas events. I remember one night I had to chase a certain Senator down to one of the parties you ran down there because I needed their vote that night. And I secured it by the way. I heard, he’s at the US ambassador’s residence! So I jumped in a comcar and got down as quickly as I could where my spies told me he was very much at the buffet. Anyway. John thank you for the great work you do for the AAA. Like everyone in this room tonight John sort of has a bit of a foot in both camps. As a proud American but also someone who loves Australia very much. And I couldn't think of anyone better to be so thriving at the level you do, the partnership we have here, so all of those who are involved in the exchange programs also, we want to celebrate you and what you are doing. And we look forward to so many more coming in your footsteps. But for now I think that's really what I wanted to say here tonight. The commerce, the education, the science, the research, defence, all of that is the product of what we believe and we must constantly go back to what we believe and reinforce that to each other and celebrate it in doing things that we do. Thank you so much for your attention.
Q&A
So do we have any questions for the Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: Except for Nick- he gets that chance in Parliament.
[Laughter]
QUESTION: So you were Treasurer and you know a bit about the banking system in Australia. I work a lot with the banks in Australia, they’ve been through a fairly rigorous process over the last couple of years. Do you think, are they coming out of it in a good condition do you think? Do you think the financial system is better off for it?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah. Well, what our banks went through was different to what the banks went through in the United States. But the non-financial factors were really drawn into question. There was no way, there was never any issue about the rigour and the soundness of our banking system. We have, I would argue, the best banking system in the world, the most resilient, the most the most strong. I mean that's a key factor. Leveraged a bit- quite substantially I’d say, on the Triple-A credit rating that Australia holds which we are only one of 10 countries that do hold. So there was never any question about the robustness of our banking and financial system but there were questions about some of the conduct and that conduct was obviously something that needed to be addressed and I think on the other side of what's been happening over many years now particularly the banking executive accountability regime and a range of other reforms that have been brought through and now flow through after the royal commission and there's a very extensive implementation process that we're now engaged in, and consultation with, and the Treasurer is leading that and that will be important. One thing we have to be careful of though is as important as all of that is, we need our banks to keep lending. We can't be scared of our own shadows in our economy and this is very important. The animal spirits of our economy and the role of the banking and financial system in, to extending credit and the role I think of a lot of the new financial players in Australia- as Treasurer I was incredibly excited about what was happening in the fintech space, Australia's a leader in FinTech and I think we're really quite ahead of the pack in so many ways in that area and some of the work that we did announce recently where we are putting two billion dollars into supporting the securitisation to broaden the market for a lot of the finance that some of the FinTech players could access for then, their new platforms for small businesses I think is really important. I mean, capitalism needs to be fuelled and it needs the support of a healthy and vibrant banking sector which can, you know lean into that. And while it's important to address those sort of conduct issues with the banks we must be very, very careful that we don't lead our banks into a place where they’re being overly sheepish and that can really cut off the opportunities that we would otherwise have. That's where the jobs are going to come from. We're in Chicago today and we're at that 1871 initiative, not for profit there, and there is a lot of great Australian businesses that were involved in that and plenty of good ideas but if they don’t get access to capital well they're just going to be a story in a bar saying I had this great idea and it didn’t really go anywhere. It goes somewhere when someone puts some money down and that's something that's so important so I'm, our Government is going to work very hard to ensure that we continue to encourage our banks not just to do the right thing but by their customers as they must and should, but also to make sure they continue to lean into the economy.
QUESTION: Mr. Prime Minister thank you for joining us. My name is Kylie. Very glad to have you here tonight. What an amazing week you must have lined up. What topics are you most excited to tackle, and what do you think the biggest changes are going to come for us in the next year or so?
PRIME MINISTER: Great question, Kylie that’s a great Australian name. It's, well the topics we've already been into over the last few days, and that's everything from the indo-pacific to what we're doing in the Southwest Pacific strategically as part of our alliance and we’ve spent quite a bit of time on our Defence partnership. Critical Minerals and the supply chain, that we want to be able to establish with not just the United States but other key partners whether in Japan or Europe or other places. It’s important both for our minerals industry but it's important strategically. Frontier technologies, AI, and the future of frontier technologies and ensuring again that we're part of that process and what's happening in quantum computing at the moment. We had Michelle Simmons with us at the White House the other night in the Rose Garden a former Australian of the year. She was the smartest person in the room, there was no doubt about that, no one sought to contend for that position against Michelle Simmons. Those issues and ensuring that Australia is at the forefront and working with the United States and other partners to see those sectors develop, very, very significant. But as we come here, I mean the issues I'll be highlighting on Wednesday when I speak at the General Assembly is both the environmental and commercial issues that sit around a circular economy. Australia is taking action on climate change, as we should, we’re a country that meets our commitments, makes commitments meets them, has the programs in place and has had a lot of success in meeting our climate emissions reduction targets- 2020 next year. Kyoto targets we’ll smash it, three hundred sixty seven million tonnes. We will exceed the targets that have been set but there is a lot of incredibly urgent, immediate and short to medium term issues, which we also must address and that is in particular in the area plastics recycling and Anthony and I were having a great chat about this yesterday. Down at his new plant and we had a great chat about the cost structure of the supply chain of plastics recycling and there are a lot of challenges in all that. And we have to be able to try and smooth that process out so we can do with plastics what Anthony is doing with paper. In Australia what's 80 per cent- 80 per cent of recycled paper into cardboard in Australia you know what it is for plastics? 12 per cent. So you know we’ve got to get that number up. And that requires technology. But the other thing that's going to require is a commercial industry that actually does it. This shouldn't be a government industry. I mean it’s not with Anthony, it certainly not a government industry in your case, and it can be a viable, sustainable, big job creating, employing industry where it’s our waste, our responsibility and we can make that happen and where there is some further research that needs to be done into technologies then let's bring our best minds through our research institutions and others in CSIRO and the universities and Dan Tehan was just on the phone to me today talking about another project that he's been able to identify through the grants process that we’re already doing, how some of this could be converted into fuel and to energy. This shouldn't be, it doesn't require government in the middle of this and run all this with all sorts of committees and all those sort of things which we often see at the buildings a bit further down the road, what it just needs is industries that have the opportunity to invest as Anthony's business has done to transform the sector and I have every confidence that that can happen and I want Australia to be at the vanguard of leading an industry-led approach to a circular economy, not a government regulatory approach to that. I mean industry has the wit and the capital to do it and to make a dollar out of it, and once we’re making a dollar out of it, you won’t stop us.
QUESTION: Hey my name’s Will Marshall, I'm from Planet Labs. We build satellites. I was really excited to hear about your announcement just about NASA and taking part in the moon mission. I do firmly believe we should be spending most of our energies taking care of this planet but I think it's pretty exciting to inspire the next generation with plans to do science and exploration on other planets too. I know a lot of exciting stuff is happening in the commercial space sector now. It's really quite a Space 2.0 as we call it. And in some senses that could lead some of those efforts or at least be a strong partner. Have you thought about how Australia might capture some of that or help bring innovation in space to Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I'm so pleased you asked me that question. We made the announcement when we're in Washington that we're going to invest 150 million dollars in the Australian space industry. This is I think for some been a bit misunderstood back in Australia when we made this announcement. We're not sending a cheque to NASA. NASA doesn't need a cheque from Australia. The American government does not need a cheque from Australia. What this is about is getting in on the ground floor. And Joe was saying this to me today, I mean imagine if Australia had been on the ground floor of the iPhone, had Australia been on the ground floor of any of the major technologies that have come out of Silicon Valley and places like that. And made sure we were just right in there, ground floor. That's what we're doing on this. We're investing 150 million dollars through our own space agency in businesses and in people and technologies and capability in Australia. So Australian businesses and Australian scientists and others, can be part of what's going to happen here. And you know we’re going to look after this planet. We’ll learn things about what's happening other places about how to do that. And you know we don't know what we don't know, when it comes to these things. That's the great excitement of space exploration. So what this is about is jobs. It's 20,000 jobs. We're going to have in our space industry by 2030 and a 12 billion dollar industry by 2030. So that's worth investing in. Now we know there are a lot of challenges in our economy with jobs right across from one end of the country to the other. And we know we've got a lot of challenges like with drought at the moment. We're investing to help our farmers to deal with drought and our rural and regional communities, hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars directly going in support. But we've put aside 150 over the next five years to ensure that we can get in on this. And just like the Honeysuckle project of many years ago beaming those- the most famous images of all human history I would say, went through Australia and went- and inspired humanity for generations and people like Dr Andy Thomas ended up in space himself as a result and I suspect the same will happen now and we're to see that- we're gonna see the first woman on the moon, and that's going to be exciting and Australia wants to be part of that and we want to create jobs as part of that, in Australia.
Leaders' Dialogue on Strategic Responses to Terrorist and Violent Extremist Narratives
23 September 2019
UN Headquarters, New York
Thank the panel before us for their leadership on this issue.
So we all know more than we ever wanted to know about terrorism. In our part of the world together with New Zealand, that was brought home to us in a very real sense very recently. In Australia we’ve averted 16 separate attacks through the outstanding work of our agencies in recent years.
And we now face a new threat as we all know, to peaceful societies. And the terrorists and violent extremists are weaponising the internet by spreading hate.
And we have a simple rule that says that our expectations of behaviour in the physical world should be the same as our expectations for behaviour in the digital world. Similarly the rules of the physical world, should equally apply in the rules of the digital world. There should be no leave passes or different tolerances for different types of behaviour along the lines that exist in real space. So we cannot allow the internet to be weaponised by violent extremists.
The terrible events of Christchurch has united Government, industry, and civil society to make sure that this can never happen again. God forbid it does. It’s exposed significant shortcomings though, the events in Christchurch, in industry and government responses which we now all addressing.
The industry is taking steps to prevent this foreign content being streamed and uploaded, re-uploaded on digital platforms. And it must. This hadn’t been the priority before. But I'm glad it is quickly becoming one now.
Through the shared terrorist violent extremist Christchurch protocol, government and industry will now work in lockstep to respond to a live-streamed attack. That’s good. And we endorsed these guidelines and strategy.
We also have a role to play in combatting the shared global challenge. That is why in support of our close neighbour and friend New Zealand, Australia led the G20 Leader’s statement on preventing exploitation of the Internet, terrorism, and violent extremism. I want to thank, in particular, the President of the G20, Shinzo Abe for allowing that to be part of the meetings in Osaka.
In our neighbourhood the ASEAN Regional Forum. They called for change and to meet citizen’s expectations that they would be protected from online harms. And to deliver on the commitment to provide regular public reporting of the Christchurch Call.
Australia, New Zealand and the OECD are developing voluntary transparency reporting protocols on the major platforms. This will set the first global reporting standards for industry to meet. And I welcome the support of all of those who have sought to shape these protocols.
We'll start by delivering a benchmark to practice. Defining metrics and creating a common network so that we can measure progress and take action together. These are the practical steps that are necessary.
And I think there is a widespread agreement about the need to take action. But we've got to keep checking up on ourselves to make sure it actually happens. Or we’ll let down everybody outside this room who depends on it.
In Australia we're working with industry to combat violent extremist content including introducing new criminal offences to ensure that it is expeditiously removed and reported to the police.
The industry built this new digital world and we have to work closely with them to ensure we can deal with the technologies that can help protect us from this digital world as well. Without the industries deep and engaged involvement in this, as committed to solving this problem as they are to pursuing the commercial objectives for which they were formed. Then it will be very difficult to overcome.
One thing is clear though, digital platforms must not be used to facilitate terrorism and violent extremism. Our shared sense of humanity must and will prevail. And the rules of the physical world must apply in the digital.
So Australia stands with all those here today, to expect the public trust in the digital environment continue. Thank you.
Chicago Council on Global Affairs
23 September 2019
Robert R. McCormick Foundation Hall, Chicago, USA
Thank you very much Ivo and thank you all for coming out here this morning. The Council is a 98 year old organisation, and it’s stood for the opportunity to come and hear from a perspective and today I come from the Australian perspective and to contribute some of our thinking on what is a very complex world at the moment and where Australia sees its role in it and particularly our relationship with the United States. And so this is a great opportunity, there’s a whole bunch of things going on in New York at the moment but I know there’s a lot of things going on here in Chicago so we wanted to be here in Chicago to be part of this discussion here as well and it’s wonderful to be here and to address this body. I want to thank Ambassador Hockey for being here and Ambassador Culvahouse for being here, they’ve been doing a great job in managing the relationship that we have with AB down in Canberra and Joe who’s been here now for some years and he’s been doing a great job. And David Bushby who’s our new Consul-General and he’s just taken up the role here very recently in Chicago and looking forward to the great work he’s going to be doing.
It was a little over 120 years ago that Teddy Roosevelt gave a memorable speech titled ‘The Strenuous Life’, many of us in politics know it well. It was done at the Hamilton Club, which is just a few blocks from here in Chicago. And on that day in April 1899, he told his audience that “the twentieth century looms before us big with the fate of many nations.” He said that “if we are to be a really great people,” the United States, “we must strive in good faith to play a great part in the world.”
He added: “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though chequered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”
Now he preached not a life of ease but one of strenuous endeavour. In Australia we put it this way, “If you have a go, you should get a go” and that is a theme that I have used to describe my own Government’s approach to encouraging Australians to pursue their own individual aspirations. I am sure TR would probably not mind that reference. Without a spirit of enterprise, of endeavour, of aspiration, no nation will deliver security, economic prosperity and national unity to its people.
And a guiding principle of mine is that regardless of our ability, our size or our circumstances, we are here to make a contribution, not just take one. That is actually what fairness means in Australia. The principle of mutual obligation and it applies at nations’ levels as well.
It’s also how we approach our alliance relationships, how we build a strong economy and a secure nation, how we provide for our families and enable them to contribute to their communities as well. So against that backdrop, I want to cover three themes.
First, I want to spell out what our approach as a nation is of strenuous endeavour – and what that means for the great alliance with the United States.
Second, I want to explain what it means for the approach that we will take to the new and more challenging global environment that confronts us all.
Third, I want to talk about Australia’s place in the global economic landscape; how we are ensuring that Australia is well-positioned to succeed in what is a rapidly changing global economy.
Now the importance of our alliance on this first point was set out in 1908, when our nation as a Commonwealth was only 7 years old, Australia’s second Prime Minister Alfred Deakin defied our principal ally, Great Britain at the time, and wrote directly to President Roosevelt, inviting the Great White Fleet to visit Australia. Deakin wrote that “no other Federation in the world possesses so many features [in common with] the United States as does the Commonwealth of Australia”.
President Roosevelt’s Secretary of State Elihu Root, strongly recommended that Australia be added to the fleet’s itinerary. He told the President: “The time will surely come, although probably after our day, when it will be important for the United States to have all ports friendly and all causes of sympathy alive in the Pacific”. That was a long-sighted view and it’s proved to be true.
The fleet certainly received a friendly welcome in the port of Sydney which is Joe and my hometown. On 20 August 1908, it is said that well over half a million Sydneysiders turned out to watch the arrival of the fleet. We saw at the Pentagon just this week a shot of that scene. Now that is quite a turnout for a city whose population at the time was only 600,000. That’s a big crowd. It was the largest gathering yet seen in Australia, far exceeding the numbers that had celebrated even the foundation of our Commonwealth as a nation just seven years before.
That visit was the beginning of a strong and enduring partnership between our nations and we have been alongside the United States in every conflict since.
We have always been prepared as Australians to make a contribution to that alliance, not just take one. You do that over 100 years and more and your alliance only gets stronger and stronger to the point where it is today. And public support for our alliances is incredibly strong. Your Council’s own survey as we were just discussing outside, of public attitudes to foreign policy published earlier this month found support for America’s security alliances has never been higher. And we welcome that.
You can be assured that we are determined to continue to expand and strengthen our alliance.
On this visit, we have agreed to increase our co-operation in space research. Now this isn’t about writing cheques to NASA or anything like that, this is about Australia as a Commonwealth investing in our own businesses in Australia, our own capability in Australia, to create jobs in Australia, in our space industry so our space industry can participate in the noble and visionary project of the return to the moon. Not about writing cheques to NASA, NASA’s got plenty of cheques, but the Australian industry needs to develop and frankly it’s about 20,000 jobs in Australia and turning an industry into Australia into a $12 billion industry by 2030. And so that industry in Australia can partner and participate with commercial partners here in the United States.
We are also working together to build an integrated supply chain on rare earths and critical minerals; this is both a strategic as well as an economic issue for Australia, essential for our defence and high technology applications. And we are deepening co-operation on so-called frontier technologies that will shape the global economy for decades and beyond. Very much in both our national interests.
We are substantially increasing our economic, security and infrastructure co-operation in the South West Pacific. We are modernising our alliance cooperation arrangements. The bottom line is that when we made a commitment to the alliance, we meant it and we will never take it for granted because there is a temptation and a great danger in complacency around alliances. To welcome the protections provided by them but not necessarily the obligations. It is a temptation that our nations have meticulously resisted and continue to.
We are committed to working with the US internationally because we agree it has borne too many burdens on its own. Australia will continue to pull its weight. We look to the United States often but we don’t leave it to the United States. We do not opt for the grey twilight. We do not shrink from strife. The challenges of a changing world are things we confront.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are grappling with the end of one era now and really what is the dawn of another.
Like TR more than 100 years ago, we confront a changing economic order and transformative technological change. This isn’t fresh news. Like TR, we should approach this challenge with confidence, resolve and clearly articulated principles to guide us. And this is the central focus of what my Government and Australia is doing in the Indo-Pacific.
It is the region where we live, it’s our neighbourhood. It’s the region that will continue to shape our prosperity, our security, our destiny and, increasingly, our global balance of power.
Our engagement with the Indo-Pacific will be shaped by five key principles. Firstly, a commitment to open markets and the free flow of trade based on rules, not power. Respect for sovereignty of nations, their independence, irrespective of their size. From the smallest Pacific nation to the largest economies in the world.
A commitment to burden-sharing with strong and resilient regional architecture. Respect for international law and the peaceful resolution of disputes. And a commitment to work together to resolve challenges of common interest including particularly on our oceans – we’re the biggest island continent in the world, our oceans impact heavily not just on our economy, on our security, but how we do life in Australia and always have not just in modern times but going down in over 60,000 years of the oldest living culture in the world, our Indigenous Australians. Oceans, climate, illegal fishing and plastics pollution. Practical issues that need addressing.
We also need to work together to find ways to reduce trade tensions that have developed over recent years.
China’s economic growth is welcomed by Australia and we recognise the economic maturity that it has now realised as a newly developed economy. This was the point of the world’s economic engagement with China. Having achieved this status, it is important that China’s trade arrangements, participation in addressing important global environmental challenges like the ones I just mentioned, that there is transparency in their partnerships and support for developing nations, all of this needs to reflect this new status and the responsibilities that go with it as a very major world power.
The world’s global institutions must adjust their settings for China, in recognition of this new status. That means more will be expected of course, as has always been the case for nations like the United States who’ve always had this standing.
So it is also true that China’s economic expansion was made possible by the stability underwritten by US strategic engagement and the international community who built the global trading system and welcomed China’s accession to the WTO.
We should remember that it was 75 years ago - at Bretton Woods - that the United States led the way in the creation of financial institutions and economic forums that established equitable rules to stabilise the international economy and remove the points of friction that had contributed to two world wars.
That was the dividend of peace. And investing that dividend of peace in a new world order. And I agree with the assessment made in the President’s 2017 National Security Strategy that while the global economic system continues to serve our interests, it needs some reform. We cannot pretend that rules that were written a generation ago remain appropriate for today. Why would that be true in this area and not in any other?
It is clear that global trade rules are no longer fit for purpose. In some cases, the rules were designed for a completely different economy in another era, one that simply doesn’t exist any more. In other cases, our rules are not comprehensive. And it is clear that our rules are not keeping pace with technological change that is happening at an unprecedented pace. But we do need the rules, we do need the rules. A study by Accenture estimated that digital commerce now drives 22 per cent of the world economy, you know these figures. A separate study by McKinsey Global Institute showed that data flows grew by a factor of 45 in the decade to 2016.
But there are many existing obstacles and many emerging barriers to the expansion of the digital economy. Left to proliferate, such barriers will distort and choke the global economy and the great benefits that have flowed to all nations. That’s why Australia is taking a leading role in developing e-commerce rules at the WTO. That’s a practical thing to do.
There is a broader imperative at work. We must demonstrate that collectively we have not lost our ability to adapt and adjust our trading system to new realities.
When there were 144 members of the WTO, the Director General at the time likened the WTO to a vehicle that had one accelerator and 143 brakes.
We cannot allow that to continue. We can no longer move at the speed of the lowest common denominator. It is time for the system to catch up with the world. And we intend to help that process in a practical way, making our contribution based on our experience and I’ve got to say we’re positive about it. The world has just reached a change point, that’s all. There’s no need to catastrophise it, there’s a need to understand it to adjust the institutions and the rules to accommodate it. There’s no need to engage in a heavily polarised debate on this issue, there’s a much more practical issue at the heart of all this and we just have to reset to ensure that can provide the same peace and stability and prosperity that will last. We’re totally up to it, we still have the wisdom and capability to achieve it and so Australia won’t be a bystander in that process, we’ll be involved. We’ll be rolling our sleeves up, we’ll be playing our part and just in case you think we’re doing that because we’re terribly friendly and wonderfully affable people, which we are, the real issue is it’s in our national interest.
The reason we’re here today is it’s a great Council, it’s a great institution, I’m here today because one in five Australian jobs depends on trade and our connection with the rest of the world depends on that. I’m here today because of what’s happening with plastics in our oceans is bad news for our local environment in Australia so we need to do something about it. I’m here today because of our friends in the Pacific, our family in the Pacific, people are stealing their fish, that’s got to stop if they want to have a secure future for their families and their people. And these issues are the things we need to move the dial on.
Ladies and gentlemen, moving onto the third point I want to talk about today, TR was right when he said in this city 120 years ago that “no country can long endure if its foundations are not laid deep in the material prosperity that comes from thrift, from business energy and enterprise.”
The Australian government understands this point very acutely. My government is unashamedly pro-growth. Every time the issue of inclusive growth comes up I say we’ve got to have growth first for it to be inclusive.
And there is a simple reason for it. Without a strong economy you cannot provide your citizens with the living standards they aspire to, the essential services they rely on, the protection and conservation of the environment they live in and the security under which they wish shelter.
That is why my government will always seek to promote and reward enterprise and aspiration and I think this is one of the great connections between Australia and the United States and we’ve talked a lot about growth on this trip.
The Australian economy is now in its 29th year of uninterrupted economic growth, that’s a world record. I think it’s one of our nation’s greatest achievements if not our greatest achievement. Since 1992, Australia’s economy has grown faster than any other developed country.
We are determined to build an even stronger economy. Most recently we have legislated A$158 billion in personal tax cuts because we believe Australians should keep more of what they earn and that acts as an incentive for them to get out and realise their aspirations.
And record tax relief for small and medium businesses similar to what you’ve achieved here in the United States.
This year our budget will be in surplus for the first time in 12 years. The Ambassador knows a lot about that too he did a lot of the heavy lifting as part of our government in its early days. We will eliminate net debt within a decade. Our AAA credit rating remains in place despite the tremendous shocks we’ve had to our economy. The most significant, and I’m not talking about the GFC, I’m talking about the end of the mining investment boom ripped $80 billion of capital investment out of our country and that sent a shock through the system far greater than the global financial crisis which was of more acute effect in the north Atlantic. In Australia the big hit to our economy actually came through that event and we retained our AAA credit rating through that process, one of only ten nations in the world to achieve this outcome from all key rating agencies.
We are pursuing the most ambitious trade strategy in Australia’s history. In the last six years we have secured duty-free or preferential access to an extra 1.7 billion consumers. Seventy per cent of Australia’s two-way trade is now covered by free trade agreements, up from 26 per cent when our government came to office in 2013.
We have concluded or are negotiating trade agreements with 17 of our top 20 trading partners. Australia gets it. You don’t get rich in Australia selling things to yourself, you’ve got to take it off shore, you’ve got to take your economy off shore and you’ve got to look out for prosperity and we’ve been doing that for a long time. That’s why we’re negotiating an ambitious FTA with the European Union, and hope to commence negotiations with the United Kingdom as soon as it leaves the EU.
These efforts are paying dividends. In the year to June 30, Australia recorded a record trade surplus of around A$50 billion, that’s three times larger than the previous record. Despite global headwinds, Australia has recorded 19 consecutive monthly trade surpluses and I hasten to add the United States continues to enjoy a healthy bilateral trade surplus with Australia of some A$29 billion in 2018 and just in case you were wondering, the US has had a trade surplus with Australia since the Truman administration. So there is no better deal than the one the US has with Australia, not a tariff on anything that comes in, that is the gold standard of trade relationships that set out I think where Australia sits in the economic landscape in the United States.
So ladies and gentlemen, our strong economy means we can plan for the future and we will maintain a defiant optimism in the complex and often confusing world that is out there. Why? Because we know who we are, we know what we’re about, we know what our principles are, we know who our friends are, we know who our partners are. We’ve got a clear plan and we want to work with everybody but we’re very clear and consistent we hope in our communication and in the way we follow through and how we live out our values and our relationships with other nations.
This investment means we can continue to meet commitments to our alliance partner. That we can play our part in particular.
We are building a stronger Defence Force by restoring Defence funding to 2 per cent of GDP by 2020-21. That will make us, by the way, the second of all five eye countries, it’ll make us greater than the United Kingdom and will make it also greater than Japan and it’ll also make us greater than Germany. And we embarked on the largest regeneration of the Navy since the Second World War, investing A$90 billion to invest in 57 new vessels mainly in Australia. And this is part of a broader A$200 billion defence capability upgrade that we’re doing.
We rely on the United States for a large share of this equipment. Australia spends over $A4.4 billion on US military hardware annually. That’s more than $A12 million per day. It means we are one of America’s most interoperable allies and most trusted I would say.
We are modernising our national infrastructure to ensure our economy is even more efficient and more productive. We are investing A$100 billion in nation-building infrastructure over the next decade. That’s a plan that others can invest in as well. Our plan will bust congestion, improve the lives of Australians, speed up supply chains and ensure our products reach global markets on time. We are building a new Inland rail network and a new airport in Western Sydney. And co-located with the new airport, the new Western Sydney Aerotropolis will become a global hub for sectors including defence and aerospace, freight and logistics, agribusiness, pharmaceutical industries and biotechnology.
As we expand our economy and make it more productive, we will continue to be open to foreign investment. The United States is by far the largest source of investment in Australia and the largest destination of Australian investment.
More than a quarter of all investment in Australia originated in the United States - nearly A$940 billion. US majority-owned affiliates in Australia employ 310,000 Australians, paying nearly $30 billion in wages and salaries annually. That’s why we’re here – it’s about jobs, it’s about wages for Australians.
It’s not one-way traffic. Australian investment in the United States is also growing strongly. Yesterday, with President Trump, I participated in the official opening of a new Pratt Industries manufacturing plant in Ohio – the largest new factory in the United States since President Trump was elected. And last month, Bluescope Steel, a great Australian steel company, announced a $1 billion expansion of its North Star steel mill in Delta, Ohio. These projects are the practical evidence of an ever closer economic relationship between our two countries. And there’ll be more as there’ll be more investment from the US and Australia.
So our great partnership, ladies and gentlemen, was started and cemented in the presidency of Teddy Roosevelt. A presidency that left an indelible mark on America and defined its place in the world. Our shared temper of mind and our capacity for strenuous endeavour have consolidated that friendship.
We think in similar ways. We share an instinct to ‘have a go’. And a reflex to support those who have that go so they get that go.
It is evident in the strength of our alliance. It is evident in the strength of our shared commitment to embracing the challenges of the new global order. And it is evident in the strength of our economies and our determination to improve the lives of our peoples.
Thank you so much for your kind attention.
MODERATOR IVO DAALDER: Well thank you that was terrific. It’s refreshing to start a Monday morning with defiant optimism, we’re not used to that these days, but it’s great to have. Also we really appreciate what you said about the alliance, it’s important to note our forces have been fighting alongside each other for over 100 years in every single war including for the last 18 years in Afghanistan, a remarkable testament to the strength of the alliance.
We have about 10 minutes so I’ll get to some of the questions from the audience, the first one though I want to get to is Ohio, we’re in the Mid West we’re in Chicago, it’s important the trade relationship you mentioned with the United States is really important, where do you see the future growth potential in that relationship between the United States and Australia, in particular how do you see the Mid West playing a role?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I think in the two examples I outlined in terms of Australia’s big investments whether it’s Bluescope or what Anthony Pratt has been doing down there in Wapakoneta, there you go I got it right this time, that speaks I think of the ingenuity of Australians to understand where the opportunity is. You know I talk about Anthony’s business, they’re in 27 states now, what Australia has done in the recycling of paper and the mills process and the technology they built there through Pratt Industries in Australia, he’s basically brought that model to the United States where the level of recycling is much, much lower. So his business in Australia is probably about half the market in Australia [indistinct], in the United States it’s about five. But they have the technology and the know how to turn that into something much greater than that and they’re doing something much different to everybody else but they’re also doing something quite important environmentally as well. I think Anthony wouldn’t like me to describe him as a sort of environmental warrior although they’re the outcomes they’ve achieved, but his business model is just good for the environment, that’s where I think he’s really merged these things/
So why am I telling you this story? I’m telling you this because Australians are quite innovative investors, we deal with great technology in Australia to solve some of these big challenges. My own government is going to focus very heavily on the technology around waste management. It’s our waste it’s our responsibility, it’s a very practical that I want our government and our country to pursue but it’s going to create a lot of jobs too, it’s going to create lower cost industries for Australia and it’s going to create a clear environment so it’s just win win win.
So where we can see those opportunities, and I think there are a lot of those across the United States and we can bring a lot of that know how from what we’re doing in Australia here to the United States, and similarly I think the partnerships we can have in the agriculture sector, the ag tech sector, the fin tech sector, I mean the entire Mid West so much of its primary industries depends on this new technology, I mean technology is going to shape a lot of the opportunities here. Farming practices are going to change.
In Australia at the moment we are going through one of the worst droughts in memory but the resilience…drought is not a new thing in Australia and so our farmers have had to, by sheer will and necessity of the environment they live in, have had to develop some of the most advanced farming practices in the world. So there’s a great deal to learn off each other and I’m sure David will be exploring all of this in his new role as Consul.
MODERATOR: You talked about China, you described China as a success in fact off our policy, I think most people would agree with that but we are at a stage where there is debate certainly in the United States about the meaning of that success. So in our own opinion polling we find a very divided public between those who think China’s role and emergence in world power represents a critical threat to US security and those who say no actually it’s something that we can deal with. How would you describe the future strategic relationship [indistinct] China?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I think the first thing to do is acknowledge that Australia and the US come at this from a different perspective. We have a trade surplus with China, you have a trade deficit, and quite a significant one and so that is I think going to affect the lens through which you see China and its economic success, I suppose. From Australia’s point of view, the engagement with China has been enormously beneficial to our country and that’s what led us to develop the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership we have with China, the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement which was quite revolutionary [indistinct] and we want to see that continue.
The fact, as I was arguing in my presentation, has taken us to a place where China has a resource and capability that it never had before and it has invested a great deal of that in its own strategic defence and its capability and that obviously presents a different calculus to the Indo Pacific than existed 30 years ago. And so that’s why I just encourage everyone who’s engaging in this issue to sort of step back and appreciate the history of what’s happened here and to have a bit of, I think, confidence and optimism that there are options and there are ways that we can manage this into the future. The world can have two very large economies and they can be mutually beneficial but the point is we’ve got to go for the gear change now. It won’t continue to work if we try to force it into the old model and the old rules and understandings that have been there before that have led us to this point. They have served their purpose and now we need to find a new way of this working. So that’s why I’ve been quite supportive of the President trying to strike a new deal with China, there’s some serious issues which have to be addressed in that trade relationship. Issues which once addressed will also benefit Australia. Issues on forced technology transfer affect Australian companies too. IP issues affect Australian companies too. And there are global responsibilities on the environment and the other things which Australia is very invested in and everybody needs to pull their weight on that so with great economic power comes great responsibility and we need to step up and gear change.
MODERATOR: You described the centrality of Australia in at least the bilateral relationship, maybe together with Japan, one of the countries that has an extraordinarily important relationship with China and an extraordinarily important relationship with the United States. Is there a role for Australia either alone or perhaps together with one or two other countries to try and figure out a way that we can build a relationship between the United States and China that benefits both and also Australia? Is there something that you can do proactively?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course, and we’re doing it. It’s part of the reason for being here but it’s also important we work through things like the East Asia Summit, the close relationships as you say with Japan, with Indonesia with whom we’ve just completed a comprehensive partnership with them, and also with India as a major and a strongly emerging economy in the Indo Pacific region. So [indistinct] a small country, but one that is greatly respected and has I think very interesting insights into this [indistinct]…gave a very impressive overview when he spoke at the Shangri-La Conference earlier in the year. But the thing about the Indo Pacific, and Australia is no stranger to this either, our objective here is pretty straightforward, we want to be independent sovereign nations and to be able to get on and do what we do and run our countries the way our people choose to and that’s what is prized. And I find there a great complementarity of nations in the Indo Pacific. We all have our different histories, we all have our different ideologies or philosophies or systems of government, this is why I’m always encouraged by the ASEAN nations – a more eclectic group of nations you couldn’t find but we’ve been working pretty closely together for 45 years and I think that shows the attitude of the Indo Pacific and that is why ASEAN has been very much at the centre of how we look at the Indo Pacific and we enjoy that relationship.
So understanding that nations in the Indo Pacific who simply want to be independent and sovereign I think is the basis for great engagement and a coalition of positive intent.
MODERATOR: I know we’re out of time so I’m going to ask one soft ball question, which is coming at you from our audience, what do you believe Australia or Australians do better than any other nation or that the United States should bring into this country?
PRIME MINISTER: What do we do better? Look there’s heaps of things we do better. We’re going to have to push our flight back.
I’ll tell you what’s most important I think, I think what Australia really brings to the table is we’re a massively optimistic people. We’re a glass half full country. We’re a country that has achieved amazing things and we tend not to crow about it, we’re quite understated. But we’re a very strong and resilient country proud of what we achieved and what we’re doing in the world and most importantly to lift living standards for our own people.
We’ve got our challenges as I said, the drought at the moment is breaking the nation’s heart and while I’m a long way away from home this is something I’m getting regular reports on and I’m looking forward to getting home and getting out in those rural communities where they’re really hurting. But despite droughts, despite floods, despite wars, despite economic challenges, despite being a long way away from the rest of the world where [indistinct] has catered for centuries, we have prevailed and succeeded. And why? Because we have a go, and we get a go and when we do that I think we add something very special to the world.
MODERATOR: Mr Prime Minister I can’t think of a better leaving point than that optimism, that’s a great way to end, we really appreciate you coming.
Remarks, Factory Opening
22 September 2019
Wapakoneta, Ohio
Thank you. Well thank you Mr. President, Donald. It's wonderful to be here with you in Ohio. G’day Ohio How are you? You good?
Can I also acknowledge veterans who are here today. Put your hand up if you're a veteran here today. Thank you for your service.
Not just to the United States but to the great alliance between Australia and the United States.
Senator Rob Portman, Jim Jordan, it's great to see you guys here today. Ambassadors’ Hockey and Culvahouse you guys are doing a tremendous job.
But to Anthony Pratt and the whole Pratt Enterprise here and Ed, well done on a fabulous investment and project here.
It's great to be here and now, it's great to be here in Wapakoneta. Is that right? Is that close? Wapakoneta.
Now you think I'd do a little bit better than that. Now I understand from meeting the Aussies who are already here, are down the front here- Andrew, Brian, Alan, Edward, Martin. They're all here.
And they told me this is called Wapak, is that right? Here you go. Wapak.
But you'd think I'd get it a bit better because we've got Wagga Wagga, Wollongong, Wallerang, Wangaratta, Warrnambool, Woolloomooloo.
So you know, Wapak- that fits right in. This is a bit of Australia right here in Ohio. I reckon. There's a bit of Australia here.
Now as the President was saying the economy is so important. If you don't have a strong economy, well there's so many other things you can't do. You can't invest in the things that matter to people. People don't get jobs, and to have a strong economy and what we're seeing built here is just so exciting.
The President and I are here today because we believe in jobs. We believe in the way that jobs transform lives. How jobs give people choices. People are raising families, doing the right thing, building their communities, putting their kids through school, helping their neighbours, putting aside money for their retirement.
Jobs is what creates those choices and opportunities. So what we're celebrating here is jobs.
Now there's a very famous American that's come out of this wonderful town. You all know who it is, Neil Armstrong. A great American.
And unemployment in the United States has not been as low as it is since Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
That is an amazing achievement Mr. President.
The lowest unemployment rate we've seen in United States for a very, very long time. And the reason it's happening is because people are investing. They're investing in policies that are reducing taxes like they are in my own country. They're investing in policies which is seeing their economies grow and people can see things happening and they want to be part of what is happening.
And that's what Anthony has seen right here in Ohio. Anthony is a wonderful Australian who's taken a good company to a great company. You might say a company as strong as steel to a company as strong as titanium, Mr. President.
This is a great Australian who is building an even greater company. And a company that is investing both in United States and of course in Australia. Twenty seven states he now is in. 70 factories.
But the thing about Anthony, which is true of all Australians, is we keep our promises. When we make a promise we keep it, when we make a promise to be in an alliance we keep that promise, and Anthony promised that he would invest in the United States with the election of the President and the jobs that are here are because this man keeps his promise.
So Mr. President thanks for the opportunity to be here today.
Thank you for the opportunity for Australia and the United States to work together in the way we do, not just an alliance based on security and our defence forces but an economic partnership where together we're making jobs great again.
Cheers.
https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42430
Remarks - Australian Embassy
21 September 2019
Washington DC, United States of America
PRIME MINISTER: Joe, to you and Melissa and your family it's wonderful to be here with you. And I really wanted to start off today on behalf of Jenny and I but not just us two but all of us from right around Australia to say thank you to both of you for what has been an outstanding ambassadorship that you've led here in Washington for Australia. When Joe came here, and the relationships which he's established here, the initiative around the Hundred Years of Mateship, this is, those of you know is 100 per cent Joe. It is it is how he looks at life, it's how he looks at the world, how he looks at others. It's about friendships, it's about personal connections.
And what you've been able to do with 100 years of mateship, mate, has been absolutely extraordinary and I think it's been a lesson to right across our missions all around the world that I had, we had all the Heads of Missions down in Canberra recently. And I was talking to them I said you guys are in the people business. You're in the business of getting on with other people and ensuring that we have great relationships with other people all around the world, it's because it's through those relationships that our heads of mission our ambassadors our High Commissioners form that we're able then to pursue through those very important personal relationships the broader policy agendas and alignment of our interests and even dealing with the odd difficult issue things like this.
And where you invest in those relationships then then you can be a great success as an ambassador. And so Joe you've taken that a whole new level. You've set a great bar for others to follow and I want to thank you and Melissa for the tremendous job you've done, but particularly with this Hundred Years of Mateship and you know when we've come here and I welcome all of the guests who are here but particularly the members of the cabinet who are here I can see Secretary Lighthizer down there and others who are here today. We really appreciate you coming and we were completely overwhelmed by the response that we've had. And in particular standing there yesterday morning on the South Lawn with the President.
And to be able to look out at around 5,000 people there seeing them waving Australian and US flags with both hands not just holding an Australian flag or some holding U.S. flag they were holding both and they're waving both and to see that as an Australian Prime Minister standing next to a US President, it just said everything about the nature of the relationship that we have.
But to see that topped off last night in what was the most magnificent, spellbinding, magical night crafted out of the imagination of Mrs. Trump. She was, wasn't she Jen, she was across every detail of last night and from the very touching remarks that the President made, referring to my great great aunt. I heard the start of the poem and I said that's, that's aunt Mary's poem! I'll have to tell him that when he's finished. And he ended up telling me so you know that's the sort of detail that shows an affection, it just shows a closeness and then to finish off, so I was already a bit weepy after that. And then at when Waltzing Matilda played.
That was just something that any Australian I think, although there was quite a few Americans who had been overcome by the emotion of that moment, I was overcome by it. It was great. And so I think that said it all about the relationship that we have together. And so we come here together this afternoon in a very Australian way around a barbecue and a few drinks and amongst friends and enjoy each other's company and in the spirit of mateship and that's really what this relationship is and that's how we'll keep getting stronger and stronger and stronger. And but the thing you know, politics is a, can be a really rough business.
But the elegance of politics I think the highest form of politics is when you're able to speak very clearly about the things you believe in and in this visit the President I've been saying the same things. Our belief in free markets, our belief in the power of the individual, our belief in peace and in liberty the rule of law, you know the things that have made the world the safe place that it is and has been since the end of the Second World War and together we've been building that. And these are things that sometimes we can take for granted. We can take for granted freedom of religion, we can take for granted any number of things. Things that have been so important that Australia and the United States have worked so closely together to create this peaceful, liberal democracy that we both enjoy and that we're keen for others to understand and be able to enjoy as well.
These things are important in the world today and Australia and United States stand together for these things and we will always stand together for these things. So this afternoon I think we can celebrate that, we can enjoy it and we can have a few drinks and we can get to know each other even a bit better more, we are going to plant a tree which is gonna be great. Which I understand is already planted. Joe was out there with a shovel this morning. Fantastic. So let me just conclude by saying thank you all for being here this afternoon.
And I want to, I want to finish where I began and that is to thank Joe and Melissa, Ambassador Hockey and Mrs. Hockey for the wonderful, wonderful job they've done here for Australia in the United States. You'll miss them, I'm sure, in this role in particular and it'll be our gain because we're going to see a lot more of them back home in Australia and when they return, and the things that they do back in Australia I'm sure they’ll do tremendous things. But what you've been able to do here Joe has been truly extraordinary and a grateful nation thanks you. All the best everyone cheers.
Remarks, Lunch Co-hosted by the Vice President and Secretary of State
20 September 2019
The Benjamin Franklin Room, US Department of State
SECRETARY OF STATE POMPEO: It is in fact that it is my great honour and privilege to welcome you Prime Minister Morrison to the State Department. You hosted, along with your beautiful wife, hosted Susan and me just last month in Sydney it was spectacular. For our next meal in America I want you to come out to the real outback in Kansas. Where the people much like all across America are kindred spirits with you all. Yeah we're both Continental democracies that show the values of freedom and liberty and of human rights. We're both Pacific nations settled by two explorers, pioneers and rebels from the old world. As Mark Twain once said he said after a visit to Australia quote "You have a spirit of independence which cannot be over praised." We Americans like our independence an awful lot too. And although the Aussie press in the room. I promise you I'm not siding with Republicans are the monarchists here. That's your business you all pick it. And throughout history our shared values and interests are brought us together time and time again we we fight alongside each other in the Battle of Hamel and Midway at Guadalcanal and Korea and in Vietnam. And in Afghanistan as well. And we have much more to achieve together in the years and decades ahead. And certainly our effort to achieve peace and stability throughout the Indo-Pacific region is something that we will work closely together. So at this time. If I might I'd like to offer a toast. When General Douglas MacArthur spoke to your parliament at the height of World War II. He spoke of adding yet another link to the long chain of friendship. Which brings our two nations together. So here he is to that long and unbroken friendship, Cheers. Mr Vice President.
VICE PRESIDENT PENCE: Prime Minister Morrison. Mrs. Jenny Morrison. Secretary Pompeo. Attorney General Barr. Secretary Azar. Alex Azar. My friend. Other members of the cabinet and distinguished members of Congress who join us today and to the entire Australian delegation. It is Karen and my honour. To join the Secretary of State and Mrs. Pompeo to welcome you here to the State Department for your very first state visit to the United States of America. And we've had the great privilege to spend time with you in Australia as well and enjoyed enjoyed your and Jenny's hospitality. And while in the first instance you did not seek the office you now hold when the time came around to seek it you did seek it. And so allow me on behalf of all my fellow Americans to congratulate you on your success in the May elections. Mr. Prime Minister the people of Australia, said yes to your leadership. You were elected as a voice for the quiet Australians which if you'll permit me reminds me of someone who was elected to represent the forgotten men and women of America. And so you have. Begun your career. And I know I speak on behalf of that President when I say what a great honour it is to have you here. In our country and here in our nation's capital today. To celebrate as President Trump said today the unbreakable bond between America and Australia. A bond rooted in eternal ties of history, culture, and tradition. And today. I truly believe that as our two countries meet as you so eloquently put it, we are on the dawn of a second century of mateship. For more than a hundred years, hundred and one to be exact. We have grown together. We have fought together. And freedom has prospered beneath the American flag and the Australian flag. But the relationship between our two countries is is diverse and important and nowhere is that more growing than in the bustling commerce between our two nations, today we're proud to say the United States is the largest investor in Australia and you mentioned that in the Oval Office you're meeting with the President today. It makes our country the largest foreign employer in your country. But we're also very grateful that Australian companies employ more than seventy four thousand. Americans, and exports to Australia support more than a quarter of a million Australian jobs. The economic ties and the bonds of commerce have never been stronger between the United States and Australia. But it's about more than commerce and business. The relationship between Australia and the United States is also characterized by our mutual commitment to freedom. And our shared values. And I know I speak on behalf of the President and the Secretary of State. When I say how grateful we are for the strong partnership that Australia has provided to the United States in our shared commitment of a free and open Indo-Pacific. I promise you the United States of America will continue to stand with Australia and all freedom loving nations for an Indo-Pacific where independent nations can boldly pursue their own interests. Respect their neighbours as equals where societies beliefs and traditions can flourish side by side in a spirit of liberty. And we'll continue to look for new and renewed ways to build on that cooperation. We'll stand with you to uphold freedom of navigation in the seas and in this freedom of the airwaves in the skies. And let me also say as chairman of the National Space Council which President Trump recently reconstituted after 25 years of dormancy, how refreshing it was to hear you reflect on our shared aspirations to for renewed leadership in space. We are indeed as you said Mr. Prime Minister, we are going back to the moon and then to Mars and America and Australia we'll go together once again. So we have, we have security interests in common we have commerce interests in common. But clearly as I reflected when Karen and I visited Australia the first time just a few days before Anzac Day. The greatest ties that bind our two people are the ties that have been forged by the men and women who fought and died shoulder to shoulder in the defence of freedom. For more than 100 years. The sons and daughters of both our lands have fought together in every major conflict to defend our shared ideals from the Coral Sea to Kandahar our friendship has been forged in the fires of sacrifice even today in Afghanistan, Australian and American soldiers stand together. And as the president said. Together our people have laid down their lives to protect our civilization from tyranny. We've battled together against the menace of fascism, communism, radical Islamic terrorism. And let me say in the faith tradition that you and, you and I share. That ours is a nation that knows a no greater love has a man in this, than he should lay down his life for his friends. For more than 100 years it is that shared sacrifice that holds us most closely together and I promise you Mr. Prime Minister the American people will never forget Australia's fallen and never failed to honour their sacrifice along with our heroes for our freedom. So with gratitude for the extraordinary and historic alliance between the United States and Australia and for all that has meant to the world and with a confident hope that we have only begun to explore the depths and bounds of prosperity and security that can be derived from this extraordinary mateship. I'd like to invite everyone to raise a glass along with me and the Secretary of State and the prime minister. To you Prime Minister Morrison, to Mrs. Morrison to all the Australian people. And I will offer a toast with the blessing that you inscribe at the bottom of a letter that you sent to me not long ago, on behalf of the American people we toast and we pray. May the Lord bless you and keep you and all the good people of Australia. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you, May the Lord turn his face toward you and your good people and ours. And give us peace. God bless Australia and God bless America.
PRIME MINISTER MORRISON: Well Mr. Vice President, Mr. Secretary, Karen, Susan. It is a great pleasure for Jenny and I to be here with so many other Australians who I see here in the room and I see so many familiar faces. You pay us a great honour. Both the Secretary and the Vice President have showed great friendship towards me and to Jenny particularly since I've come into this role. I like the Mikes, I like the Mikes. I can tell you that for sure. And no it's not just me, Ambassador Hockey and Melissa is here with us today. I, particularly in this room I want to acknowledge the tremendous work that Ambassador Hockey has done in this tremendous relationship. Thank you Joe. There's no better there's no stronger nor any deeper relationship than that exists between the United States and Australia at the heart of our deep and abiding friendship are the values and beliefs that net us together. It was just over half a century ago that Australia's longest serving Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies the founder of the party that I lead today, said Australia and America are warmed by the same inner fires. He said this, we worked for the same kind of free world. We live in freedom. And we'll accept no other life. We govern ourselves in democracy and will not tolerate anything less. We cherish liberty and hold it safe. Providing hope for the rest of the world. We were born in the same era, sprang from the same stock and live for the same ideals. Australia and America share an affinity that reaches to our souls. Australia is a reliable alliance partner. But we are also a reliable economic partner as well as the Vice President said. As a trading nation. We know we don't get rich by selling things to ourselves. We know the benefits of open markets transparent rules and the importance of a level playing field. We've always looked beyond our shores for our prosperity. Our ambitious trade strategy is delivering dividends. We've posted a record yearly trade surplus of around 50 billion dollars Australian in the past year three times larger than our previous record. One in five Australian jobs depend on global trade. When people ask me why do you go here? Why do you go there? And leave our shores? One in five jobs in Australia depends on us doing just that. This makes us a champion for the economic success of other nations as well as our own. Because then we can do business with them. The US knows the value of the products and the smarts of our businesses have to offer here in the United States, the US has also benefited as we have significantly from our bilateral trade. And have enjoyed a trade surplus with Australia since the Truman administration. The US enjoys a higher merchandise trade surplus with Australia than with any other G20 nation. And U.S. exports enter Australia tariff free and quota free. And you can't get a better deal than that. So we're very happy to be the gold standard of U.S. trade partners anywhere in the world. Together we've invested some one point seven trillion Australian dollars in each other's economy with the United States being the single largest direct investor of any investor in our country, and more than a quarter of Australia's investment that goes beyond our shores goes here into the United States. Trade surplus or deficit, Australia will always keep our doors open because we back ourselves. Supporting that global trading system is therefore critical to our economic success and our future. And that's why we want to work closely and I thank the Vice President I think Secretary Pompeo. Because we want to work closely with the United States who is the architect of that system to ensure that the system keeps pace with the modern digital economy, is updated to provide a level playing field between established, developed economies and those that are newly established developed economies and to protect the IP of businesses in a highly competitive global marketplace. The rules have got to reflect the changes that have happened around the world. Trade and international engagement is the bulwark against global conflict. This was the post-war vision of the nations led by the United States that won the great peace. And this hasn't changed. But it won't be enough. Together we know that peace and stability cannot be taken for granted. Working together our democracies have been the ballast in unstable times and places guaranteeing safety and security to vulnerable people. As Australians it has never been our response to say this problem is too big, or our circumstances are so trying, that we should leave it to our great and powerful friend. We have never left it to the United States. Ours is not the journey of a free rider on the sacrifice of our friends. Nor will it ever be. Our defence spending will reach two per cent of GDP next financial year. That's up from just 1.56 per cent just six years ago which was the lowest level it had been since the Second World War before the Second World War. At that level we are second only to the United States of the Five Eyes nations, and greater than those much larger nations like Germany and Japan. We take our responsibility in our own neighbourhood very seriously and our Pacific step up which I want to thank the vice president for his keen interest both in that partnership that we are forging in the Pacific. But his commitment and interest and passion for the Pacific. We talk about it as our Pacific family, our Vuvale, if you're in Fiji, our Fanau if you're in Polynesia, To promote shared prosperity. Independence and sovereignty. In the broader Asia Pacific we have forged deep friendships with partnerships over decades with our ASEAN neighbours, with India, and Japan, Korea and we share a comprehensive strategic partnership with China our single largest trading partner where we have had success with partners in our region it has always been built on mutual respect for sovereignty and independence and to celebrate their economic success. It has also been made possible. By our alliance with the United States and your presence and engagement in our region which is so important because it provides the necessary stability in our region to pursue these relationships. Sustained US and economic and security engagement in the Indo-Pacific has never been more necessary. Beyond our region. We share a commitment to the sovereignty also and prosperity of Israel. For 70 years and especially recently we have in Australia together consistently advocated for the nation of Israel and for a peaceful future for the region. Most recently under my government we have taken an even stronger stand. Against the biased and unfair targeting of Israel in the UN General Assembly together with the United States and Mr. Vice President we will continue to do so. Australia may not be America's most powerful friend. But we are certainly as I said this morning your most sure and steadfast. We have just celebrated a century of mateship and at the dawn of a second century of mateship we draw strength from what we have achieved together so far. We commit to modernizing our alliance for the times and challenges we now face and we renew our belief in the values that will always sustain us in this endeavour. So let me also propose a toast. Not just to the Mikes, but to the Commonwealth of Australia. But importantly to these United States of America. And to the better world we have always believed in and toil together to achieve. God bless America.
Remarks, Ceremonial Welcome
20 September 2019
Washington D.C, United States of America
As I just said to the President, thanks mate.
Mr President, Mrs Trump, honoured guests, distinguished guests, friends one and all, here in this land of liberty. Thank you Mr President and Mrs Trump for the honour you have bestowed on my country here today with this extraordinary welcome.
Jenny and I bring with us, and our delegation, the amity, the thanks and respect of 25 million Australians – for this great country of these United States of America.
Fifty years ago another Australian Prime Minister visited the White House and he said, “there are too many bonds between our two countries for any Australian Prime Minister to feel that he is a stranger.”
So once again as another Prime Minister returns, as a friend, to celebrate with you Mr President one of our oldest and dearest friendships. It is wonderful to be here.
Australians and Americans understand each other like few other peoples, and it is true that you and I have established a very early understanding for which I’m grateful.
No two peoples in the world make better friends easier than ours.
Your respect for Australia, Mr President, your personal encouragement and the example afforded by your passion for what makes America great, makes ours a very easy connection. For a century, as you have recounted, we have done what true friends do - stick by each other.
Ronald Reagan spoke of the “truths and traditions” that define the United States. Australians share these truths and traditions. We see the world through the same lens, from the cornfields of Le Hamel to the jungles of South East Asia and the Pacific to the dust of Tarin Kot and now even, the waters of the Strait of Hormuz, Australians and Americans continue to stand together.
I am reminded of the story of a young American soldier in the First World War calling out to Australian soldiers for help to attend to the wounded and an Australian soldier replied in the notorious blunt language of soldiers which I will censor here. He said, “Sure, Yank, I’ll go. We’re in this…thing together!”
Mr President, Australia may often look – he’s a New Yorker!
Mr President, Australia may often look to the United States but we have never been a country that has been prepared to leave it to the United States. We don’t, that’s not our way. We pull our weight. Like you, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour our found in our willingness to stand for what we believe.
We believe, as Teddy Roosevelt declared, that national strength is found in the ability of citizens to live out their lives with “self restraint, self mastery, common sense, the power of accepting individual responsibility” and the ability to act “in conjunction with others” and with “courage and resolution”.
We believe in the capacity of enterprise and free markets to create wealth and lift all – and for free and fair trade to bring nations closer together.
We believe “that governments derive their power from the consent of the governed” and that the ballot box and democracy is the surest foundation for peace and security.
And we believe in the rule of law and freedom of association.
These beliefs spurred this country to build a mighty canal; stood up to fascism and militarism; rebuild the modern world after winning a great peace; inspired the fascination, wonder and joy of the world’s children through a little mouse who could whistle a tune; who took humanity to the moon and indeed we’re going back again; tore down a wall that separated liberty from oppression and imagined, engineered and built a world that has connected humanity in a way that we now can’t imagine living without.
America reminds the world that it can be done. How great is America?
The world is a better place because of this country living out its moral purpose.
A world not just more secure, but more prosperous as well.
The new economies of the world, lifting hundreds of millions from poverty, do so because they first saw the United States define a century and do that first and then invited and supported them to follow.
Mr President, I know that the leaders of more powerful nations will indeed visit this home known throughout the world and will be welcomed as friends. But you won’t find a more sure and steadfast friend, a better mate, than Australia.
It is a coincidence of history that on the very day Pearl Harbour was attacked, Australia gifted a 99 year lease to the United States to build its embassy on our capital.
And 60 years later, as the President has remarked, on September 11, another Australian Prime Minister John Howard was here in Washington at our embassy – and he invoked our treaty with you – and pledged our country to stand with you against the architects of terror as we do to this day.
When President Reagan welcomed another Australian Prime Minister on this lawn he reminded us “liberty is not an inevitable state and there is no law which guarantees that once achieved it will survive”.
So we pledge ourselves here at this dawn of a second century of mateship, between our nations, to renew and modernise our Alliance for a new century; to continue to be vigilant and strong – and to build the economic strength that our world needs that contributes to the peace and prosperity of all.
Whatever lies ahead in this century, I know that Australia and the United States will go on to meet it with the same courage, the same daring, the same unbreakable bond that has defined the first century of mateship.
Mr President and Mrs Trump, thank you again for welcoming Jen and me here, and here as true friends.
May God bless you, may God bless the good peoples of the Commonwealth of Australia and these United States of America.
Speech, State Dinner
20 September 2019
The Rose Garden, The White House
PRIME MINISTER: Well he got me, Dame Mary, my great, great aunt would be very, very proud.
Mr. President, First Lady Mrs. Trump, thank you so much Mrs. Trump for the amazing night you've created for us here.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends, Jenny and I are truly grateful for this wonderful honour and the hospitality that you Mr. President the First Lady have extended to us and to our country.
As we join you here tonight, in the home, your home, and that of the American Presidency.
This of course was once the home of President Teddy Roosevelt who I've always greatly admired. He was also a New Yorker, he was also unconventional.
He was no captive of the establishment. He was also accomplished. Indeed some might say a maverick. He was his own man. He was a do-er and above all he was inspired by the great character of the American people. There is nothing he believed his nation could not do.
And this is the heart of American greatness. Mr. President, your belief in America and its people echoes this great spirit of that great president.
And it's backed up by your life's experience and the passion and work of your Presidency.
And Mrs. Trump, your kindness, warmth, and quiet grace in the welcome to Jenny and I and especially here tonight has been very special. And as Jen has said, very sweet.
General Washington once said it is infinitely better to have a few good men than many indifferent ones. But the same is true of the friendship of nations.
Australia will never be accused of a indifference in our friendship to the United States.
And tonight Mr. President we are reminded that the United States feels the same way especially under your leadership.
I've noticed tonight the Marines who are on duty tonight, and I thank you for your service. But not just to the United States but to our alliance as well.
In 1943 the US Marine 1st Division was engaged in the first ever large scale U.S. offensive against the Japanese at Guadalcanal. At the same time Australian forces were in New Guinea also locked in the fiercest of some battles against the Japanese.
We both prevailed each doing our bit. Each carrying our own weight.
When the US Marine 1st Division arrived in Melbourne after six months of heavy fighting they were welcomed with a rendition of the Australian fake anthem Waltzing Matilda.
More than 75 years later the first division still plays Waltzing Matilda whenever they ship out.
It's true Mr President, we have been in a lot of battles. But we have also stood together to realise the dividend of peace. Prosperity that comes from our embrace of enterprise and free markets and the rule of law. Our great immigration societies, education, liberal democracy and a commitment to the fulfilment of human potential.
This has been importantly included in our work together to expand the frontiers of science, technologies, and exploration.
To reach into space as we first did together 50 years ago.
When you launched, and we kept Apollo 11 in contact through the honeysuckle project, with earth and we beamed those most famous of images of all time to an enthralled and inspired humanity.
Events that no doubt inspired a young Andy Thomas from Adelaide who's with us here tonight to launch into space on the Endeavour. Almost 30 years later. And now we hope to do this again under the vision of your Presidency, Mr President.
Our generation and our times call this great republic and our great Commonwealth to live up to the calling of young free nations to continually point the way to freedom.
In Australia we are reminded of this friendship by the great spire with the eagle atop that looks out across our nation's capital in Canberra.
And earlier today we gifted a bronze statue of Les 'Bull' Alan, an Australian soldier carrying a wounded Marine off the battlefield on steep slopes in New Guinea in 1943 for is gallantry he was awarded the US Silver Star and the Military Medal whilst fighting alongside US troops.
Mr President we would be honoured if you would permit Australia as a gift to erect a life-sized memorial of this image here in Washington, at a place of your choosing, as a constant reminder of our dedication to our American friends and the bonds we have formed.
But for now ladies and gentlemen please join me in a toast.
To 100 years of mateship, and to 100 more.
To the people of these United States to the President and his magnificent First Lady.
And may God bless America.
Remarks - Arrival at Joint Base Andrews
19 September 2019
Maryland, USA
Here we are the land of the free, the home of the brave.
We just heard there are no two anthems that you'll hear anywhere in the world when played together that talk about freedom and liberty and all the things we hold dear as Australians.
Someone said to me many years ago that if you want to celebrate anniversaries, it's not just a matter of the years rolling by. You've got to invest in those relationships. You've got to take care and you've got to tend them and it is a great honour and privilege that Jenny and I and our delegation come here at the very gracious invitation of President Trump and Mrs. Trump to do something very important.
Firstly, to honour and celebrate 100 years of mateship and I particularly want to pay tribute to Ambassador Hockey and the tremendous work he's done in his tending of that relationship here in this country and that celebrating of that hundred years of mateship.
But it's also about laying the foundation for another hundred years.
And whether it's on our defence relationship, our security relationship, our economic relationship, our partnerships around the world whether in the Middle East or closer to home in the Indo-Pacific, all of these things go together to have one of, I think, the best relationships of any two nations anywhere in the world.
There are many larger, I suppose, more powerful friends than, America has, but they know they do not have a more sure and steadfast friend than Australia.
And so I'm looking forward to spending time with our American friends here over the next few days and celebrating our tremendous relationship.
Thank you very much.
Remarks - Bilateral Meeting with Prime Minister Bainimarama
16 September 2019
PRIME MINISTER MORRISON: It's wonderful to welcome you here to Australia as a Guest of Government it is wonderful to stand by your side this morning as we were receiving the Federation Guard and to be able to inspect the guard during those most important places in Australia looking out on the War Memorial. As Prime Minister to be able to welcome you here in this special way and to acknowledge the great friendship that Australia and Fiji has, the great friendship that you and I have built up. It was a great pleasure to be Australia's first Prime Minister to go to Fiji on a bilateral visit which I must admit at the time was a surprise to me that it had taken so long. But as you said and I remember on that night many invitations have been offered and this one has been accepted and I was very pleased to accept it and join you and Mary in Fiji but today to be able to welcome you here and to be with you yesterday, I think has been very special. As part of our Vuvale partnership and the work that we begun when I was in Suva with you and that we will bring to completion today after this meeting as we sign the Vuvale partnership. The thing I love about how we've expressed it, it's a term of intimacy, it's a term of family, and that's very much always been the basis of our relationships. The people to people relationships, the strategic relationships, the economic partnerships, they're not new they go back many many many generations and for whatever other complexities there are in the world today, one certainty is the relationship that exists between the people of Australia and the people of Fiji. And I think that will always endure the, it is just too familiar. It is too close and and it will always be enduring so I want to thank you and all of your delegation a very very large delegation who's been able to come to Australia. I look forward the discussions we’re about to have on many issues and thank you for the discussions that we have just had between us ourselves as leaders. I want to thank you for your leadership in the Pacific. The Pacific is a place that we have great passion about and particularly with yourself as a key leader in the Pacific and standing up for the Pacific and the interests of the Pacific peoples not just the peoples of Fiji. I think has shown tremendous leadership and we want to acknowledge that here as well. So I look forward to those discussions and I I thank you for accepting our invitation to be here on this occasion. It's a very important day, I know, in our relationship but also between our two countries. Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER BAINIMARAMA: Thank you Mr Prime Minister [inaudible] for the hospitality that was extended to myself and my delegation since our arrival. I would also like to thank the man and women of the Australian defence force, our Fijian community in Sydney, the congregation of the Horizon church. Thank you sir. And the coaches and staff of the Fijian rugby team for helping set my visit to Australia off to such a wonderful start. Not that we did- well that they- drew a pitch. But Prime Minister, I look forward to advancing the era of respect and openness that has and must continue to define engagement between our governments. We've already had the chance to speak one on one and talk through some pressing issues ahead of this official bilateral meeting. Neither of us are [inaudible] speaking our minds or struggle with saying exactly what we mean. And I believe we both hold a clear view all of our priorities and a shared understanding of how we can live up to the high aspirations of the Vuvale partnership. In Fiji vuvale, as you may explain, means family and few words resonate more deeply in the hearts of our people. For Fijians the bond that binds families together is a sacred, unbreakable connection. It's about more than being good mates to one another. It's about the vuvale connection demands a level of understanding here, to unprecedented in the allegiance between our governments but which has been long evident in the genuine affinity shared by the Fijian and Australian people. Members of any family are entitled to their disagreements. No one expects that our differences can be resolved quickly or easily. But we must never falter in forging common ground and common ground is what I intend to seek in our discussion on the issues that impact the lives of Fijian Australians and all Pacific people this morning which the Prime Minister's- and I said to you before we came in I was hoping that I'd be at the grounds watching the Fijians kick the Welsh up. Unfortunately for me. But you'll be coming to Fiji at the same time and I hope to be there to reciprocate this wonderful visit that you've hosted for us.
Statement On Indulgence - R U OK? Day
12 September 2019
Mr Morrison: (Cook—Prime Minister and Minister for the Public Service) (14:00): I rise to acknowledge that today marks R U OK? Day, a national day of action on suicide prevention. R U OK? Day was actually started by friend of mine many years ago, Gav Larkin, who I went to school with. We lost him to illness some years ago, but I'm sure he'd be incredibly pleased with the way that this has taken off over all of these years. It's built around a simple expression of empathy and support for our fellow Australians, which comes naturally to us all. It's all about extending a hand. You never know the difference it could make to somebody in their hour of need.
Most weeks I, like many in this place, receive letters from Australians who all too often recount the tragedy of losing a family member or a friend to suicide. You hear stories from parents who talk about how their young kids in their teens and their early 20s are attending the funerals of their friends. It breaks your heart and you wish you could go back in time—something you might have said; someone you might have reached out to; something you might have noticed. More than half of all Australian adults have had a direct experience of this; that's how many people personally know someone who has died by suicide.
R U OK? Day is a time to restate a commitment which I know is shared across this chamber. It's a clear statement of the government to all Australians everywhere that we are progressing a towards-zero goal, with our commitment to mental health and our suicide prevention plan, which we are pleased to have the support of the entire House for. As important as these services are, it's actually the human connection that in so many instances will make that difference. A conversation can make a difference. It can save a life. The four steps of R U OK? Day, I'm sure Gav would have me say, are: ask, 'Are you okay?'—don't be afraid to ever ask that question—listen to the answer carefully; encourage action; and check in afterwards. Friends and family can make all the difference, but you have to be willing to ask, 'Are you okay?'
Remarks - Prostate Cancer Foundation BBQ
11 September 2019
Canberra, ACT
PRIME MINISTER: Well thank you very much for the opportunity to be here once again at this wonderful event. To the Cancer Foundation CEO Jeff Dunn, its Chairman Steve Callister, to the co-chairs of the Parliamentary Friends Warren Entsch and Jason Clare who've been doing this for many years now.
Can I thank you Entschy and Jason for your commitment to this important event each year but also the ongoing campaign and as you could see in what has just been talked about in terms of the nursing for those suffering prostate cancer the message is getting through, the message is getting heard, and the message is being responded to.
Can I also acknowledge Chris Bowen who is here today as the Shadow Health Minister and it is true to say that this is a bipartisan multi-partisan initiative when it comes to issues of this nature.
It's great to see Jim Lloyd here a great friend of obviously the Coalition but Jim is a living reminder - a living reminder, with the underline on living reminder - of the importance of getting the testing in place and getting the awareness levels up. And I want to thank Jim also for the great job he’s doing over a long period of time to raise awareness of these issues.
Most people here, and I can say honestly at this gathering, it is a gathering of people no doubt with strong and loud opinions and this group pipes up on pretty much everything. But one thing that we often don't talk about is our own health.
Blokes, in particular, are very shy about talking about their own health. But that is changing and this initiative today is one of so many that happens in so many parts of the country which is changing that and I think blokes are listening more to those who they owe the great privilege to be loved by. Their families, their friends, their kids who are impressing upon them the need to take their health as seriously as they take the health of all of their family members and all the ones they love so seriously.
And so we gather here today I think in a growing acknowledgement that that message is getting through. And I particularly want to thank the Prostate Cancer Foundation for bringing us together today. One of the most vital steps in tackling any disease is awareness.
Around 19,000 men have been diagnosed with prostate cancer just this year and this risk increases with age. One in seven blokes will be diagnosed during their lifetime. But the good news is that the survival rates are high. 95 per cent will survive to at least five years, and in my own Dad's case, it's been well over a decade. And we give thanks for every single day that Dad is with us.
There are 200,000 men and more living with a diagnosis of prostate cancer. And the diagnosis is not a death sentence if you get on to it early and if you get the right treatment. So getting that testing is so important and it's a lot less uncomfortable than it used to be.
We're all going to learn a lot more about that today and whilst today is about conversations and awareness, I also want everyone to know that the Government is backing more research and more treatments.
Earlier this year we announced $800,000 for research into how prostate cancer spreads and can become resistant to normal treatments and this is important work. And late last year we gave $12 million to establish the Prostate Cancer Research Alliance which is bringing researchers together to stop prostate cancer progressing and improving treatments and life expectancy for men with advanced cancer. So we're doing our bit and there will always be more to do.
But the message today is pretty simple, blokes - don't muck about with your health. If like me, you've hit the big 50 then you’ve absolutely got to get on to it straight away and must be getting on to it much sooner than that.
Go and talk to your doctor. I did that last Friday as part of my usual check-up and did the usual thing in making sure that these issues were totally sussed out. That's what we all should be doing on a regular basis. Go to your doctor, know the risks, get the test. Treat it like your life depends on it. Because it does. And it's important that we appreciate that.
And if you can't do it for yourself, do it for your family, do it for your kids, do it for those who love you. Because you know how much you love them.
And you should understand that they love you just as much, and they want you around for as long as possible.
Thank you very much.
Condolence - Jim Forbes
10 September 2019
Dallas, United States of America
Mr Morrison: (Cook—Prime Minister and Minister for the Public Service) (14:00): I move:
That the House records its sadness at the passing on 10 August 2019 of the Honourable Dr Alexander James Forbes, CMG, MC, a former minister and member for Barker, and place on record its appreciation for his remarkable public service and tender its sympathy to his family.
Alexander James Forbes was a soldier, a scholar and a statesman. He was the last surviving Liberal minister of the Menzies government and one of our last links to that big-hearted generation of World War II veterans who returned home to serve the citizens of Australia in this parliament. He was born in Hobart in 1923. Jim Forbes was educated at Knox Grammar School in Sydney and St Peter's College in Adelaide. His youth was interrupted, as so many of his generation, by war. After graduating from Duntroon Military College, he enlisted on 15 December 1942, the day before his 19th birthday.
In 1943 he was in Darwin when it was under attack, and on June 1945 Jim Forbes was awarded the Military Cross for his service in the South Pacific. His father was Brigadier Alexander Forbes, who had received the same award in the First World War and his brother, Lieutenant Patrick Forbes, would receive it during the Korean War. This may be the only instance of three members of an Australian family being awarded the Military Cross in three consecutive wars. That is remarkable service from a remarkable family.
On returning home from the war, Jim Forbes left the Army to pursue further study. He completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Adelaide and went to Oxford, where he earned a PhD. It was at Oxford that he married the love of his life, Margaret Blackburn. She is the daughter of one of Australia's most remarkable soldiers, Arthur Blackburn, an Anzac who landed at Gallipoli, a VC recipient and a Second World War prisoner of war. Margaret and Jim had five children and were married 67 years.
Jim Forbes entered this parliament as the member for Barker in 1956. He would be re-elected seven times. He would serve as minister in five different portfolios under five different Prime Ministers. Sir Robert Menzies appointed him Minister for the Army and Minister for the Navy. Menzies's view of Jim Forbes was unequivocal; he described him as a very great man. In this position, Jim Forbes brought the controversial policy of national conscription to cabinet in 1964. This was a decision that will be debated throughout the ages. His argument was that conscription through a lottery was fairer than a voluntary army, where the burdens fell on some groups more than others. What we can say, more than half a century on, is that Jim Forbes never asked a young Australian man to do what he himself and his family had not done.
Later, Jim Forbes would serve in the Holt, McEwen and Gorton governments. However, it was as immigration minister in the McMahon government that Jim Forbes drew the attention and ire of his kids, something that I think none of us in this House ever want to do. Jim's daughter Emma was a teenager at the time and had taken little interest in her father's career. All that changed when he deported British rock star Joe Cocker for possessing marijuana. Emma would later remark:
… can you imagine being a teenager in 1972 and your father has just thrown Joe Cocker out of the country?
Jim Forbes retired from parliament at the 1975 election, but he continued to serve his party and nation. Over the next decade he would serve as a federal president of the Liberal Party and the chairman of the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories. He also served on the Council of the National Library, including as its chairman.
But war and politics had taken their toll on this great Australian, and in his retirement Jim realised it was time, in his words, 'to catch up with normal life'—to do the sorts of things that the average person does. So he reconnected with old friends. He played golf and he gardened. He surrounded himself with books and family. He said, at the age of 90, 'I have now arrived at the point where I feel normal.' There is hope for us all! To mark that milestone, there was a family celebration and he was asked to say a few words about his life. On that day, he didn't speak of war or politics, or the honours that he had received. Instead, he simply turned to the woman he loved, raised a glass and said, 'To Margaret'. It's his love that endures.
Jim Forbes lived to the age of 95, and is survived by his much beloved wife, Margaret, and his children Sarah, Emma, Alexander and David, as well as nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. What a marvellous life! We send them our deepest sympathies as we remember the life of an honourable and brave Australian.
Keynote - Master Builders Australia National Leaders' Summit
10 September 2019
Canberra, ACT
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much, Denita. It's great to be here with you and I want to thank you for your leadership when it comes to the thing that matters and creating jobs in this country. I want to talk a bit more about that but can I start off by acknowledging the Ngunawal People and their elders past, present and emerging. Can I also acknowledge any members of our Australian Defence Force or any veterans who are with us here today and simply say thank you for your service. Can I thank the building industry too for the great job they do in employing veterans in this country. You are a key part of the initiatives that we have to ensure that we're getting our veterans into work and you understand their skills, you understand what they have to offer which is just simply outstanding. I want to thank all those in the building construction industry who are giving our veterans a go. I know they are transforming your businesses and doing wonderful things. So thank you very much.
To Denita, to Hedley Davis the President of the Master Builders, and to all of the building and construction leaders who here today. You’re about jobs and that's what I'm about. We do the things that create jobs. I want to thank you for the jobs you do create and that you will create, more importantly, in the future. I want to acknowledge that one of the reasons I'm standing here is because of your contribution to this important national task. And I want to thank you also because the Master Builders is not a shy organisation. It's an organisation that speaks its mind. It's an organisation that speaks clearly and it stands up for the things that they believe in. You have done that when it comes to issues of negative gearing that the Labor Party sought to change at the last election. You've done that, particularly to highlight the terrible impact that could have had on our residential housing markets and the residential building industry. How it would undercut home values, how it would push up rents and it would hit 1.3 million mum and dad investors. The MBA wasn't shy about those things. It wasn't about politics or partisanship or anything of that sort. It was going to have a serious impact on the residential building industry in this country and so you spoke out and you stood up and I know a lot of the flak you copped from it as individual builders in your communities and you got a fair bit of lip, I would have thought, around the place because of the fact that you actually stood up for what you thought would be good policy. I want to thank you for showing that strength. I think it is a real positive thing that there was one organisation in an industry body that was prepared to call these things out and I appreciate that very much.
But that wasn't the only thing. You stood up when it came to Labor's policy to ban and abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission. Why? Because you know what it would do to your industry. You know what it would do to jobs. You know what it would do to investment. You know what it would do to people who want to work in the industry. It was in your industry's interests to ensure that there is the rule of law on building sites in this country. So you spoke up for it, as I expect you to, and equally, where there are issues that our Government is engaged in, I'm sure if you have different views to us on this you will similarly speak up and as you should. I don’t have any problem with that because I know when the MBA is raising issues, they're raising it from the perspective of their members and that's as it should be on every occasion.
Since the election, we’ve gone further with introduced legislation to give courts more power to deregister law-breaking unions and officials because we believe that sort of lawlessness has no place in the Australian building construction industry. That lawlessness puts up the cost of building hospitals, it puts out the cost of building roads, it actually takes jobs away from Australians looking to work in the building and construction industry. So I'm not surprised that you remain passionate and strident advocates for the rule of law in your industry because that is the industry in which militant unionism has been the most thuggish, has been the most lawless. And you've been at the coalface of that struggle for a long period of time and I thank you for your strength.
On the issue of jobs, 1.2 million Australians work in building and construction. One in 10 workers, the third largest employing industry behind retail and health services and there are trends we can be encouraged about. Construction is projected to record employment growth of 10 per cent over the five years to May 2023 and I'm thrilled about this because our Government is all about jobs. With help from industries like yours, we’ve created 1.4 million jobs since we were first elected six years ago and we made a commitment at the last election to create 1.25 million more new jobs over the next five years. But we will only achieve that with you if you, if your industry is in position to go forward and get things done and employ people and take up new projects. And that will include some 250,000 jobs for young Australians.
Almost three-quarters of Australians today aged between 15 and 64 have a job. It has never been higher than that in Australia's history. This is the biggest job performance of any government at any time in this country. More Australians are in work today, not just in actual numbers because population is higher, but as a proportion of the working-age population than ever before. A lot of things have happened in the last six years, but none put a bigger smile on my face than young people in jobs. Last year, more than 100,000 Australians aged over 55 got a job. So it's not just young Australians getting more work but it’s Australians of all ages getting work, getting jobs. And when someone has a job they have choices, and you're in the business of giving people choices by ensuring they have jobs.
Last week we also received the national accounts for the June quarter and it does show that Australia continues to grow. Now, we want to be growing higher than the level it is today but we're all very aware of the headwinds and the challenges that our economy faces today. Whether it's the global headwinds that we're all very familiar with or it's the domestic ones, particularly in relation to how issues of national disasters and drought has impacted on our national economy. But despite that, we continue to generate jobs as an economy. We continue to grow as an economy. We're in our 29th year of economic growth. I saw it reported the other day when they were talking about the difficult circumstances faced on the other side of the globe where they've had negative quarters of growth. Whether that's in the United Kingdom or Germany or parts of Scandinavia or even closer to home here in Singapore. They look at Australia now as an economy that has remarkably not experienced these things for a very long time and we're intending to keep it that way by having the right policy settings in place.
When we put the Budget together last year it wasn't a surprise to us that these were the challenges that we were facing. When we put the Budget together the previous year and the year before that, Budgets where we have put together packages and plans to reduce taxes, to increase our spending on infrastructure. Most recently to lift our investments in skills. Since the election embarking on a deregulation agenda again in a new wave of initiatives that has been commenced under Assistant Minister Morton working with the Treasurer. Expanding our trade opportunities. All of this was being done because we know and understood the economic challenges Australia is facing. So it wasn't our plan, knowing all that, to put a higher tax burden on the economy. That wasn't happening. It wasn't our plan to take away the rule of law from the building and construction industry or give more power to military unions to undermine the performance of the building and construction industry. That wasn’t our plan but it was certainly our opponent’s plan. When we fashioned this year's Budget it was done to address the circumstances that we indeed now face and we will continue to implement that plan to ensure that our economy remains strong.
But there are other parts of that agenda like the digital economy which I think is really transforming our economy and will have major impacts on productivity into the future and particularly in the building and construction sector. And I know from my experience working around this sector for a very long time, issues of payment security and payment is a big deal. And the cash flow that comes from those issues is the difference between your subbies or indeed your own principal’s industry builders getting through one quarter or not. And so the digitisation of our payments system is a fantastic way to ensure that we can speed up the payment times that occur particularly in your industry. And at the same time improve the integrity of payments within the building and construction industry. This is a major productivity booster. The new payments platform which is already up and running - I'd be encouraging you to get your members on it for no other reason than if you’re on it and the person you’ve got the contract with is on it then there's no excuse for you not to get paid quicker. The Government has moved to 20 day payment terms, encouraging the states to come down to the same level. In New South Wales they're doing the same thing. We want to see payment cycles come down. I want to see the acceleration of cash digital timers within the economy because I know that that can create greater confidence and give greater headroom to businesses to be able to invest, pay their staff and make plans for the future. And I think this is a big, big challenge for us.
Now, in our program you'll be very aware of our big commitments to infrastructure and that infrastructure plan is over $100 billion strong. Almost half of that will be spent in the next four years. Around $10 billion of that will be spent this year. So when it comes to actually bringing forward infrastructure spending in Australia, you had me at hello. Because we're already doing it. We've been doing it now for some years with this program. At the last Budget, we increased it from $75 billion to $100 billion and from the day after the election, pretty much, I've been sitting down with Premiers and making sure that we're working with them to bring these projects on as quickly as we can. Now, of course, we're partners in these projects and we work with state governments in providing them with the resources to get on with those projects. That's why I'm pleased with the relationships that we have, particularly in New South Wales and indeed Victoria. So there's nothing partisan about it. I will work with anyone who wants to build stuff and get on with building stuff. And so the other day we made our announcement regarding the extension of funding for the Monash Freeway. Earlier in that week were out with the New South Wales Government at the Western Sydney International Nancy Bird Walton Airport and some $600 million dollars in works that were going into civil works and earthmoving works for construction of that airport. You're very familiar with all the other infrastructure that sits around that major project.
But it's not just that – there are 30 carparks in Melbourne we’re building and I want to see those built soon and built fast and that's what Alan Tudge is working with the Victorian Government on at the moment about to get as many of those projects happening as soon as we can. A lot of our congestion-busting projects in our metropolitan areas are just like that. But then you go out in the rural parts of the country and we've put a million dollars into every single shire and council that was affected by the drought. Why?
Because we wanted them to spend it on projects like the sort of projects that many members of those subbies or others who work to you are actually involved in to ensure that we kept the skills up and we kept the volume of work occurring in those regional areas.
So there is a very big, there is a very big infrastructure agenda. The tax cuts which we took to the last election, which Labor resisted, fought against, opposed, and then pretended support in the Parliament. Those tax cuts came out in July, and Australians will decide how they spend that money. That's up to them. But we believe people should keep more of what they earn, we believe you should keep more of what you earn, in what you do every day. That's why we've reduced taxes for the vast majority of businesses in this country because we know the money's better off in your hand than being sent here to Canberra or indeed anywhere else. But these projects will create jobs. Western Sydney Airport alone 11,000- and it's just the airport, I'm talking about the aero-tropolis, or the things that sit around that, that’s just 11,000 jobs there and 28,000 jobs ongoing with these projects. The Melbourne Airport rail-link $5 billion, the biggest game changing city building infrastructure project that Melbourne has seen in generations. Now why do I talk about in those terms? I mean not everybody here is involved in rail construction between, for a project like that there’ll be many builders who are involved in civil construction there’ll be builders involved in residential construction, commercial construction. When you have that link going up through sunshine with, what I call the quick-link, how others want to describe it that's up to them.
It’s got to be a quick link. Then those projects transform cities, they open up opportunities for commercial development they actually change the way cities operate. They create new hubs for employment. These projects whether it's Melbourne airport or whether it's Monash freeway. So people will get home sooner and safer, or to work for that matter sooner and safer or the Western Sydney airport or the North-South Link in Adelaide. These projects create opportunities for people to go invest in cities and in regions all around the country.
One of the other things we're working hard on is I want to see more tier two and three contractors in these big projects, and I commend the work that Michael McCormack has been doing working with the inland rail, in breaking these projects up into smaller contract sizes. And I commend the work that Gladys Berejiklian’s done in New South Wales with the Pacific Highway breaking these projects down. And when I last met with Premiers and Chief Ministers we talked about this at some length because there are very practical issues here. We don't have the depth of big head contractors in this country, we are investing a lot of funding in infrastructure at the moment and that has been necessary. I remember when I first spoke to Phil Lowe about these issues many years ago when I was Treasurer we agreed it was important to really invest in the infrastructure pipeline in this country and wherever possible bring it forward. So these discussions are not new. That's why we've been doing it, but making sure that these big projects can spread to other smaller contractors relieves some of the price pressures, some of the cost pressures. Now you still can have materials issues, that's that's just a natural thing particularly in the big metro areas which we have to contend with, but that doesn't mean that tier two and three contractors can't play a bigger role and provide greater competition in the procurement process that the states are involved in. And then again the smaller projects, be they a few million bucks on car park projects and things like this and local parts of our major cities, they're projects equally that I think can make a big difference and we're really excited for how they can be positive. Now two areas where we're particularly focused on at the moment when it comes to productivity that I think really impacts on the building sector.
Is the first one is, is the work we're doing on deregulation and what we did some years ago is we went and basically cleared out the equivalent of the back room in the in the office. a whole bunch of derelict regulation and legislation it was all out there. It mean you couldn't use that room anymore. But the removal of it was necessary.
But we understood that that didn't have the profound impact on reducing costs of regulation that I know business is hungry for. So we've commenced a new process since the election which Ben Morton is leading and he's already met with state and territory planning ministers and building ministers, as has Karen Andrews and she's working through those issues as well.
And what this is about, is looking at particular activities. So what is the regulatory anatomy of, to take one of the industries we're particularly interested in and that is the agribusiness industry, of which building is, the great thing about the building industry is they're pretty much connected to every single part of the economy there is. You’re building- everyone needs stuff built. And that's what you guys do. And when looking at these areas we're going okay. Someone wants to make an investment in building these businesses. What's all the regulation state, federal, local that applies to that entire timeline from the idea, through to shovels in the ground, and then actually completion of the project and looking at the things that cause the biggest delays. So it's not necessarily sometimes about how how much regulation you get rid of, although that's important. It's about which regulations you get rid of because there are some things with just slow the whole thing down.
And you know who knows what those things are? You do. Because you deal with it and it's important we then engage as heavily with the sector through the leader and your state counterparts to ensure that we can start chipping away and making some big differences in this regulation area. Now when I discussed this with Premiers and Chief Ministers they got it they did understand that at a macro level the importance he's had to supporting increasing productivity within their economies. So I look forward to the progress we're making there.
But the other area where I want to make a big difference is skills.
Now you've told us that you've often finding it hard to get the right people when you have a vacancy to fill particularly those of you who are working in the Eastern states. So we're supporting skills development in the construction industry in a number of ways. One of those is a $9.2 million apprentice training alternative delivery pilots program.
And I was pleased to see the Master Builders Australia took part in that and they received $1.84 million to lead one of those pilots which I understand was recently completed, the MBA pilot was focused on training to help young people get apprentice ready and there were hundreds of participants including secondary students and recent school leavers. Almost half of them took up further study for industry employment including apprentices and so on. That's a result and it's potentially life changing for those young people. We're creating 80,000 additional apprentices over the next five years in primary skill shortage areas through a new apprenticeship Initiative program. And we're also looking more broadly at a vocational education system and the Joyce review which is well known, I know, to the media but also to many who work in the sector.
Again an area where we can transform the funds that we invest in vocational skills training in this country actually do the most important thing. Someone gets trained with skills that a business needs in their business. That's what the ruler has to go- that's the ruler you have to put over every reform or change initiative when you look at vocational education training and that's the ruler I put on it. We hear the frustration and the Joyce review actually found this when they went and had a look at it. Young people and their parents frustrated that what they were paying for in training was not giving them skills that actually made them employable, an industry frustrated as- that what they were investing in for skills was not giving them the people that they needed. Now there were lots of trainers that were happy. There was lots of money moving around. There were lots of buildings and institutions that were, you know. But the point is getting someone trained with a skill that someone else needs, and that's the clarity I want to bring to what we plan to do in skills and I think the Joyce review has given us a really good pathway. And again I want to thank the Premiers and Chief Ministers for the early discussions we've had about this. We all know that the current system is not working. There’s a lot of money going into it and people coming and saying you need to invest in more skills. I'd be happy to invest more in skills but I'm not going to invest in dud projects that aren’t working. I'm not going to pour more money into a bottomless pit. That's not taking anyone, anywhere and I would think that industry will say the same.
You're investing in it too, you need people that you know can turn up on the job and add value each and every day. And there's nothing that I know thrills you more and I know this as a local Member of Parliament from southern Sydney in particular in the Shire, when I'm talking to people who’ve been builders, they don’t tell me about what they've built over the course of their career, particularly when you talk to a retired builder down at the football or wherever. They talk about the people they learnt with, the people they employed, the families that they had, the weddings they went to, they talk about the communities they created, and the love for what they did, they wouldn't want to do anything else. And it's tough and it's hard work, and it's got a lot of risk but often times the thing that keeps people in it, is the sense of responsibility that you have to the people you take risks to employ and you want to make sure that they can do well in life. And so our skills system needs to back that up but so does our safety and that's something I know the building industry is very committed to. Safety on the job and the safety that we build. We're taking a leadership role to address some of the extremely concerning building failures and issues we've seen in relation to non-compliant use of combustible cladding, the national construction code restricts the use of combustible cladding on high rise buildings and the states and territories are responsible for enforcing it. But that doesn't mean there isn't a role for the Federal Government. The Minister for Industry Science and Technology, Karen Andrews, has been facilitating cooperation with the states and territories as chair of the building Ministers Forum and in July it was great to see all building ministers agreed to a national approach on implementing the Building Confidence Report and establishing a dedicated team as part of the building, the Australian Building Codes board. See when it comes to solving these sorts of problems, everybody's got to do their job. There's a great temptation on these issues to try and manage upwards.
I'm a believer in the federation, always have been. I think states have important responsibilities and important roles and jobs to do, so does the Commonwealth Government. And so when issues occur that fall within the state domain, well I expect them to do their job and they should expect me to do what is the Commonwealth’s responsibility. But just shifting things between Commonwealth and state because of feeling of frustration because the State Government won't move. That's not the answer. We just have to get state government’s to move in those situations and through this process that's been occurring. And I think we're in a much better position today than we were some months ago in addressing those issues in the industry. But everyone has to take responsibility for their bit and be honest with each other and work together as a team. And that's how I think we continue to take the industry forward. So we're very aware of the pivotal role that you all play in our economy and we want to ensure that that continues.
We want to ensure that we have the right settings in place that enable you to employ people and get on and do what you love doing. I assure you that we will continue to listen carefully, because you do speak with an industry voice, an industry voice that is about your industry's interests not about any political parties interests, it's about your interests. I've always known that from the MBA and I’ve had an association going back well before I ever entered politics, be very forthright in the views that you put forward and you're always prepared to sit down and talk through difficult issues whoever you need to do that with. I want to thank you for your candour in doing that. I want to thank you for the strength that you've shown. But most importantly I want to thank you for the jobs you create. Let's go and create a lot more.
World Suicide Prevention Day Breakfast
10 September 2019
Canberra, ACT
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much Nieves, and to all the colleagues that are here today, thank you for being here also.
But can I start by acknowledging the Ngunnawal people, and their elders, past, present and emerging.
Can I acknowledge any veterans here today, any serving men and women in our Defence Forces.
I’ll often start a set of remarks by making those acknowledgements but today it’s particularly poignant because we know in both of those communities, in our Indigenous communities, in our veterans communities, that suicide has touched them in a way that is disproportionate really to the rest of the country. And so it is particularly poignant today to acknowledge them here at this important event.
Nieves, thank you for your welcome here today. Can I also thank Julian and Mike for their leadership of this group, we are all here, not from any stripes of politics today, we're all here in one cause as Nieves has said.
And I particularly acknowledge Greg Hunt, my colleague and friend over many years for whom we share a passion in this area. Can I acknowledge Chris Bowen as well and the work that he's doing.
I get a lot of letters. We all do. All parliamentarians do. I probably get a few more than I used do these days.
I got one that was very upsetting recently. Jenny and I went to a wedding of a friend in Western Sydney a few years back, and as is the case I was Treasurer at the time, there's lots of photos, there's lots of selfies. And I had a photo, Jenny and I with a beautiful young family and two kids, and recently I had a letter from the mother in that photo.
The beaming teenage boy in that photo, Luke, had taken his own life in the past year and she'd written to me to tell me about it. When you look at the photo, there's no tell tale sign, there's nothing. A beautiful young boy there with a beautiful family. He was 17.
More than half of all Australian adults personally know someone who has died by suicide and can tell a story like this. This is a curse as I've described it on our society. That reaches into families, it reaches in to communities and it's indiscriminate. And it causes carnage, hurt, pain, loss, for those left behind.
And today we gather together I think in a united purpose to break this curse of suicide on our country to take back the lives that would be touched by this in the future.
It's hard to know of any other more important project that we have than to protect the lives of our people. But it does involve coming together as we are this morning. It does involve doing everything in our power that we can think of to help Australians who are at risk to come out of the shadow of suicide and to be able to see brighter and better days. To have the care and support of family or friends of community of the person sitting next to you on the bus or the train or wherever it is, and to simply be able to extend that hand of support so people know that they are not alone.
R U OK day's coming up soon. R U OK was started many years ago by a friend of mine who we lost to cancer. We went to school together. And that is a very simple Australian act of just extending a hand, and you never know who you might extend that hand to and you never might know the difference that that will make. But what I love about R U OK day is it is just a simple expression of empathy and support for our fellow Australians.
Julian’s right, as a government we have set ourselves a very bold goal, a towards zero goal when it comes to suicide prevention because what other goal could you have?
Zero is the only option that you must work towards as a government. Now that doesn't mean we're unrealistic about the challenges. We are not unrealistic about what the results may well be. But we are determined, and I believe all of the Parliament is determined. When I discuss these matters with the state and territory Premiers and Chief Ministers they are also determined, and it's a topic which can unite us all. So that's why over half a million dollars has been put into youth mental health and suicide prevention.
The largest suicide prevention strategy that a government has undertaken in this country, to strengthen the headspace network, and to focus on Indigenous suicide prevention in particular, and early childhood and parenting support to help build up the resilience and the awareness.
$375 million to expand, improve that headspace network, $34 [million] on the Indigenous programs, Indigenous youth suicide prevention, support for Indigenous Leadership that delivers culturally appropriate trauma informed care. $12 million to support Australian parents and their children in a range of initiatives that help parents recognise when their children are struggling and improving their mental health skills and training in schools. $15 million to create a new national information system to ensure communities and services can respond quickly to areas affected by a high incidence of suicide and self-harm.
And Greg the work that he did with Pat McGorry when there was that suicide cluster up in Northern New South Wales, it just goes to show that with good evidence and good information and people who are prepared to step up and work together and make a difference, then it can, you can you can impact on this area and we must continue to.
20 new headspace sites for rural and regional Australia and new mental health telehealth services funded through the NBS is very important in regional communities, particularly those who are suffering, they're affected by drought presently and there is of course additional resources going into supporting the mental health of Australians living in drought affected communities. Mental health and wellbeing projects funded through our $1.25 million community health and hospitals program, and $22.5 million in youth and Indigenous health research projects as part of our $125 million dollars, million mines mission into mental health research.
More than 3000 Australians took their own lives by their own hand in 2017. It's a leading cause of death of young people, and although we know that's too high, the high number of suicides are in fact amongst middle aged men over, and men aged over 85.
Our plan reflects the broad spectrum upon which this curse impacts on Australia and someone who's leading that charge within our government as a very well respected practitioner in this area is our national suicide prevention advisor Christine Morgan who I believe is here of course today.
She has a big job, and she needs all of our help because it's her job to get all of us to work together and to focus on this goal and working with Nieves and her team and all the commissions and all the community leaders, every sports coach, every school teacher, every one you can find, every parent, to be able to work together to address these terrible, these terrible things that are happening.
Experts at Lifeline, headspace, beyond blue the many professional services all working together to take on this important national goal.
So it is a big job. But it's a job that we can't look the other way from. It's a job that we can't acknowledge needs to be done.
It's a very difficult issue to talk about. It stirs up all sorts of terrible emotions amongst us because the reality of what we're facing.
So I want to thank everybody who’s joined here in this room today and well beyond this room, and to any of those Australians out today who are feeling isolated.
Any Australians who are out there feeling under the pump. Any Australians out there who are struggling with mental health issues.
There is an Australian who will reach out their hand to you.
You are not alone.
And we can be there for you.
And we want to be there for you.
Thank you very for your attention.