Speeches
Zionist Federation of Australia
21 November 2019
Sydney, Australia
PRIME MINISTER: Well friends, Jeremy, thank you for those incredibly kind words.
Before I make some other acknowledgements, can I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land of the Gadigal people, their Elders past, present and future and can I thank you for your acknowledgement earlier of them and their incredible place in our great national life.
Can I acknowledge also, as is always my habit, to acknowledge any veterans or serving members of the Australian Defence Forces and say thank you for your incredible service.
Your Excellency Mark Sofer, Ambassador to Australia from Israel, to Jeremy Leibler to Richard Balkin, to Gusti, thank you so much for your kind words and making such a special effort to travel this incredibly long way to be here with us tonight.
To Amira Aharonovich, Director-General of the Jewish agency to Israel, to my parliamentary colleagues who are here, to Dave Sharma, the local member, and a wonderful and great friend of the Jewish community not just here but all around the world and acknowledging given his outstanding service as Australia's Ambassador.
My great friends who have come a long way. It's great to see Solly and Mrs Lew here tonight, thank you so much for coming up and to Mark who's here and to John and everyone and Stephen, it's quite an honour for them to come along tonight.
I'm a bit overwhelmed particularly by you making that effort and I thank you very, very much.
Josh sends his apologies, he can't be here tonight. That's the only apology I'm aware he's giving for tonight. He will take up other matters. He wishes he could be. He's home with Amy and the kids and he's been working hard so I gave him a leave pass to go home tonight. But I know he would very much like to be here.
Gabrielle, who is here with us and Reverend Nile who is here as well who's here, a great friend of Israel, as well. It's wonderful to have you here with us.
You try and do things a little bit better. My father, as I've shared, I remember at Stephen’s house some time ago, he was the former mayor of Waverley and had a lot to do with the establishment of Moriah College.
Now, I could say tonight it's great to be here at the Sydney Boy's High School reunion to many of you, but he was made and honoured by the Jewish community in Waverley many, many years ago and for you to honour me tonight is very special.
It means a lot to me and it meant a lot to my father who is under the care of the wonderful staff at the Royal hospital not far from here at this moment. He hasn't been well for some time and he's getting such wonderful care, and when I learned from my brother that's where he was going to be looked after I smiled because I know how much he's loved within the Jewish community here in Sydney and he's in great, great hands.
I'm also very humbled to follow my predecessors from both sides of politics.
From Bob Hawke whom we lost only this year, to John Howard, an absolutely staunch friend of Israel and from who I've taken so many lessons and who has instructed me so much in my own [inaudible] in this area and, of course, Julia Gillard as well and you've honoured her, and it is a privilege to follow her in this way.
The rollcall of recipients points to an unshakeable nature of the relationship that exists between Australia and Israel.
Israel is the polaris star above the cut and thrust of the things that we deal with on a daily basis. It's a beacon of democracy. A country governed by the rule of law with a free press infused with a multicultural character and aligned with our great ally, the United States.
Not too many of them in that part of the world.
Like us, Israel grapples with its arid natural environment, an ancient land. And seeks to build a strong economy - and is very successful at it - based on research and collaboration and a highly skilled citizenry.
Friendships have ebbs and flows, but the friendship between Australia and Israel has not had ebbs and flows; it's been a steady course of endearment.
I'm mindful we're celebrating that 70-year anniversary and it's an appropriate time to reflect on our friendship particularly tonight and in reflecting we go back to the terrible days of World War II.
There was no nation of Israel, instead broken and scarred Jewish people were scattered around the world and the horror on show was seared in our consciousness.
It was in this setting that Australia chaired the 1947 UN committee that voted in favour of dividing the territory of mandated Palestine.
That same year we became the first country to cast a vote in support of the partition plan as we've been reminded tonight.
With the benefit of hindsight as I remarked on the 70th anniversary it was not an obvious choice to make at the time.
Today it is, but at the time, no. These things are rarely simple at the time, but Australia lifted up thine eyes and saw a nation which in the words of the then Prime Minister "could be a force of special value in the world community".
We know that to be true.
At a global level - and I know it to be true at the local community level, as well.
Two years later in 1949, Australia officially recognised the new state of Israel and presided over the vote which formally committed Israel to the UN.
We are proud of what we did then and we remain so proud today.
We stood up when it mattered then and now.
Israel can always depend on Australia.
We believe in the nation of Israel.
We believe in its right to exist in peace, within secure internationally recognised borders, and we will say so for as long as we have breath.
And we continue to advocate for a peaceful future for the region which is what Israel so desperately desires.
To this end we have a long-standing commitment to UN peacekeeping operations.
One example being the UN truce supervision organisation. We participated in the UNTSO since 1956, our longest commitment to any operation now, we have 13 ADF personnel there right now.
We're also taking a strong stand against the targeting of Israel and the UN General Assembly, as we were saying before.
The UN was born out of the horrors of World War II, born out of an ethos of ‘never again’, but all too often an institution born in the same way, that's supposed to do so much good has allowed anti-Semitism to seep into its deliberations, all under the language of human rights; and we're not buying that, my government is not going to buy that.
Our government is not going to buy that.
And this is why, because we know the character of our friend Israel and we will defend it.
We stand with our friends and under this government, that is what will occur.
We've set up a trade and defence office in West Jerusalem to deepen ties on trade, defence industries, investment and innovation.
Our bilateral trade is now more than $1.3 billion a year and we are now collaborating in areas ranging from food and water security, to science and technology, and clean energy.
We're working with our Jewish friends in the critical area of water management and Israel has virtually drought-proofed its cities and I'm delighted the NSW Government recently signed an agreement on water cooperation with Israel's minister of natural infrastructure, energy and water.
We're all learning through each other. One area where we stand together in particular is standing against extremism, in all of its forms.
In March, I spoke at the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne.
It was just a few days after the horrific attacks in Christchurch; and I took the opportunity to speak about the nature of extremism, because I knew it was something the audience knew too much about, and in too personal a way.
And I said that extremism is an inability to tolerate difference.
I said we can disagree, but we must learn to disagree better.
To feel threatened by those who don't share one's world view, that's what it is, and it takes many forms.
It can be religious, it can be secular, it can be political and, sadly, we live in a world where this inability to tolerate difference is becoming more prevalent and there have been attacks on mosques and Islamic cultural centres in New Zealand, Canada and Afghanistan and on churches in Sri Lanka, Egypt and the Philippines just to give a few of the many examples, and I know that grieves the Jewish community as much as it does the attacks that occur on the temples and, of course, a new round of the age-old scourge of anti-Semitism has found expression in attacks on synagogues in Pittsburgh, in San Diego, Copenhagen, in Harlem, a Jewish museum in Brussels, a Jewish supermarket in Paris and there are too many more places.
And sadly, we see and hear of anti-Semitic instances occurring in our communities. We can't pretend it's not happening here. It is. You know better than I do.
We've seen Swastikas daubed across political material, anti-Semitic graffiti scrawled on a Jewish-owned cafe and reports of children being harassed because they are Jewish.
I know what my Jewish colleagues faced in the last election and on a daily basis, it would, seem now.
I regularly get messages from Josh when he shares with me the things that are happening in the community, in the Jewish community and in many cases directly to him and colleagues like Julian Leeser here in NSW.
It is shameful, absolutely shameful. These incidents, they just have no place in Australia. They are so foreign.
It's like the country just wants to eject it out of its system, but yet it persists; and that's why we must remain so vigilant about these things.
We can't be casual about these things.
We can't overlook it or just pretend.
We can't mistake the ignoring of these things with grace, because they're two different things.
Grace is what I've so often seen in the Jewish community.
The responsibility we have as Australians, first, is to maintain the standards that we set and apply them in these areas.
I said in March, an attack on one faith is an attack on all. An attack on innocence and peace, is an attack on us all who love peace and innocence.
That's why after Christchurch we expanded our Safer Communities Fund in priorities of religious schools and places of worship.
It's why we have continued throughout this program some $70 million grants in 2016 and we're adding another $58 million to that program over the next four years.
I wish that others saw our synagogues and churches and temples and mosques just simply as places of worship, which they are, places of community, places where women and men and children can just seek to find peace and solace and be better people, reflecting on themselves and how they can contribute to their communities and the welfare of others, better neighbours.
So, our pledge to keep you safe and to call out extremism in whatever shape or form it may take, whether it's on the right, whether it's on the left, whether it's religious or whether it's secular, it's ugly and it has no place here.
In Australia, I want people of faith and people of no faith to be able to live out their chosen beliefs and to safely navigate the contour of their lives as they see fit.
Throughout the history of our modern settlement we have witnessed a tremendous Jewish exceptionalism in our country and I often speak of my ancestors who arrived here on the first and second fleets, not by choice.
But they weren't alone, because on the First Fleet were 12 of the finest Jewish colleagues. In time, they built a Jewish community that added something absolutely rich to our country.
During the Great War, 200 Jewish Diggers lost their lives fighting for Australia and another commanded our forces. After the Second World War, Australia offered a home to more holocaust survivors per capita than any nation other than Israel. So proud of that.
Jewish Australians make up less than half a percent of our population, but they have made a remarkable contribution to our national life.
The roll call - Sir John Monash, Sir Isaac Isaacs, Sir Zelman Cowen, Sir Frank Lowy, John Gandel Governor Linda Dessau, the others I've mentioned here – Mark, Solly and everyone - thousands more who in their own way have sought to do mitzvot and be a light unto the nations.
Jewish people have served in the most senior positions ranging from Governor-General, Chief Justice, Commander of the Australian Corps to the Head of State and now Federal Treasurer, and there's only one high office that a Jewish Australian has not held, but Josh says he knows a way to fix that. You really should have come, Josh.
Jewish Australians can be so proud of men like Josh and Julian, my colleagues who embody so much of what our country can be, and more broadly the Jewish community is the most important link that we all have with Israel.
It's where my relationship with Israel began, with my Jewish mates who I went to school with, who I played footy with, who I spent time with and enjoyed very, very much. It has long underpinned the partnership and it will continue to.
So I'm very pleased that the Israeli president Reuven Rivlin has also said he will visit Australia next year and we look forward to welcoming him and this will be the first visit by an Israeli head of state in 15 years, and we're very much looking forward to welcoming him and I am very much looking forward to take the many invitations I've had to return to Israel, and I look forward to doing that as soon as I possibly can and once things are in a position where someone can issue me that invitation.
Otherwise I'll just have to get on the boat as I do!
I thank them both for the kind wishes they've sent through Jeremy tonight.
Finally, may I express my gratitude to the WZO and the ZFA, the Zionist Council of NSW for bestowing this prestigious award on me and all of your kindness for being here tonight to be part of this.
As I said, it means a great deal.
I visited Israel long before I entered Parliament and like so many, I feel that deep familiarity.
You cannot walk on that land without it sinking into you. You can't.
The bible stories I learned as a child that mean so much to me today, that my parents and grandparents read to me and lived out in their own lives.
Israel has a place in my heart, a place that deserves peace and prosperity, worthy of the faiths and cultures that have grown out of our Holy Land.
In accepting this award, I see it as another manifestation of the friendship between Australia and Israel.
In standing true with Israel, I just see it as doing my job as an Australian Prime Minister.
That's what I believe is expected of an Australian Prime Minister and it is my great thrill to be able to perform that role, my great personal thrill, and so it's nice to get an award for doing your job, but what it really is about I think is a celebration particularly of my role as Prime Minister of the tremendous relationship there is between the two countries, and that will remain.
We are a steadfast friend, since its modern creation, to Israel, and our commitment remains as firm today as it was 70 years ago, if not deeper and stronger.
Thank you so much.
Photo source - Associated Press
Speech, Business Council Of Australia Annual Dinner
21 November 2019
Sydney, Australia
PRIME MINISTER: Well thank you very much Tim.
I’ve got to say it’s great to be back here for a second time.
Can I congratulate you Tim on your election today as President of the Business Council of Australia, working with Jennifer.
Can I congratulate you also Grant on your Chairmanship of this organisation over many years, we’ve worked together in portfolios both in Treasury and as Prime Minister and I want to thank you for the very productive and very honest and very candid way we’ve been able to work together and I want to thank you for your passion for the BCA and taking on that leadership role at the time that you did.
I think you’ve felt the affection and the appreciation of the room tonight and I think that’s well earned.
Can I also acknowledge Andrew Mackenzie tonight, and leading the big Australian is a big job. And you’ve done a fantastic job Andrew and we’re very thankful.
Josh Frydenberg’s here with me tonight, the Treasurer, he’s particularly thankful for the job you’ve done. Along with JS sitting next to you.
But thank you Andrew, you’ve led our big Australian with great success and you’ve made it bigger, and I know it will only go from strength to strength under the new leadership.
Can I also acknowledge the Gadigal people tonight – elders past, present, and future.
Can I acknowledge any veterans who are in the room tonight and thank you for your service on behalf of a very grateful nation.
And can I thank all of those who’ve not only been out there fighting fires, whether in New South Wales, or Queensland where I was earlier today at the Central Response Agency up there in Brisbane, but can I thank all the businesses that have been allowing and supporting those firefighters and all those other volunteers for going out there and fighting those fires as volunteers.
They are fighting those fires or they’re working in the canteens, or they’re working in the incident response centres, or they’re involved in any number of tasks. But the businesses who support them are equally engaged in the great work that they’re doing. And I want to thank them also for their great contribution to their community in this important job.
This year’s election was a vote for stability and certainty in uncertain times.
I’m joined by a large number of my colleagues and I’m not going to call the role tonight, just to acknowledge all distinguished guests who are with us.
But that is what it was about, for me and my team.
A vote for staying the course on a policy agenda that has worked to rebuild our nation’s finances, to retain our AAA credit rating and start paying down our debt, so as not to further burden future generations.
I appreciate Tim’s point about the surplus.
The point of a surplus, is to pay down our debt. It’s not extra money that just lies around, or falls down the back of the couch, has no purpose.
Its purpose is to reduce the more than $19 billion the Commonwealth pays on interest each year on the debt that has been built up, as Josh knows, from 12 years of deficits.
By working hard to get the budget back into surplus and keep it there, we can now pay down that debt, and are.
And we can increase our resilience for the future.
Labor would have us blow the surplus as they did last time, and add to this debt. This will only erode the Government's ability to deliver on something I hold very dear, guaranteeing the essential services that Australians rely on.
Fixing our finances has been achieved at the same time as rewarding aspiration and enterprise in our economy through once in a generation tax relief, two successive Budgets, allowing Australians to keep more of what they earn.
And it has been delivered alongside the most ambitious international trade strategy in Australia’s history.
We’ve gone from 26 per cent when we were elected, of our trade coverage- two-way, by free trade agreements, to 70 per cent. And we’re going for 90.
And at the same time, we have delivered the biggest rebuild of our defence force capability since the Second World War, we’ll hit two per cent of GDP next year, and we are rolling out major projects across the country as part of our $100 billion transport infrastructure programme rolling out over 10 years.
And we are guaranteeing the essential services Australians rely on, with record funding, not reduced- record and increasing funding, in health, in education, in disability services, in child care, in aged care. All critical areas of need that Australians are relying on us to deliver.
So tonight I want to lay out again how, as a country, under our Government we will continue to successfully navigate the uncertainties of the global economy.
And I want to start by affirming our strong belief that Australia has an undiminished capacity to grow our economy and succeed in today’s global environment. And that achieving this growth remains our priority task.
But as I discussed last year, growth is not an end in its own right. Our economy is about people. Not dollars and cents.
Their jobs, their independence, their aspirations, their health and education services, their security. Financial, personal, national.
When we downplay the importance of economic growth in our national policy settings and are prepared to trade it off as some sort of expendable, we do our people a great disservice. We take from them and we take from their future.
Sure, you know as well as we do, and Australians know there are headwinds and there are challenges, globalisation, trade tensions, geo-political instability, digital disruption and climate change. Challenges are not new, even existential ones. Their existence is no cause for crisis settings.
A panicked reaction to contemporary challenges I believe, would amount to a serious misdiagnosis of our economic situation and our great opportunities.
A responsible and sensible Government does not run the country as if it is constantly at DEFCON 1, whether on the economy or any other issue.
It deals with issues practically, soberly. As you would in your businesses.
I’ve got to say, the appetite for crisis, so popular amongst some these days, on so many issues, reflects an immaturity demanding urgent action regardless of the consequences. Because you know when there is a crisis, you don’t have to dot your i’s and cross your t’s. Urgency takes over reason.
What you get, when you govern like that is the fiscal debacle we inherited that was rendered by the Rudd Gillard Rudd Labor Government that we are still paying for to this day, and our political opponents continue to promote.
If Australians wanted to elect economic panic merchants, then they wouldn’t have voted Liberal.
Our Government will foster the stability and certainty necessary in both our political and economic systems to support jobs, to grow our economy, to protect our environment, to deliver world class services and enable individual Australians and their families to plan for their future with confidence.
They’ve had enough of all the drama.
Let me focus briefly, first on the near-term economic outlook.
Global growth has slowed as you know, as trade tensions, geo-political uncertainty and financial stability concerns have weighed on production and investment around the world.
This of course has led the IMF and World Bank to scale back their global growth outlook. As the Governor of the Reserve Bank who is here tonight and I welcome him as well, Phil, is well aware of these trends.
That said, the growth outlook for Australia’s major trading partners sits above these more general global trends.
Central banks, ours included, have taken interest rates to historic lows in response to below average growth and an extended period of low wages growth and low inflation. These are not uncommon in the developed world today, Australia is not in isolation in these areas.
As mentioned, we’re also seeing the effects of prolonged drought across large parts of regional Australia – our farm GDP declined by 8.3 per cent over the past year.
But notwithstanding all of this, our economy has continued to grow.
Not all advanced economies, or those in our region, can tell that story. Germany, Singapore, the US, South Korea have all recently experienced negative quarters.
Yet so far this year, this calendar year, our economy has grown by 0.5 per cent in each of the last two quarters. And the central case forecast from the IMF, OECD, RBA and Treasury is that the economy will gradually pick up from here, and jobs growth will remain solid.
Against this backdrop, it would be reckless to discard the disciplined policy framework that has steered us through many difficult periods, and I’ve got to say most recently and significantly the end of the mining investment boom, which posed an even greater threat to our economy than the GFC.
It is because of this framework that Australia compares so well internationally against those who have allowed taxes and spending as a share of GDP to rise.
The US deficit was up 17 per cent in 2018 to $US779 billion dollars, 3.9 per cent of GDP. Italy’s government debt is 127 per cent of GDP with through the year growth running at 0.3 per cent. Norway has a revenue to GDP ratio of 55.3 per cent; France, 53.5 per cent, both with lower growth rates than Australia.
Treasury’s latest economic forecasts show our Government returning the budget to surplus this financial year.
This will be a significant achievement from where we started. It is the product of difficult and disciplined choices over six successive Coalition Budgets.
While returning the Budget to surplus we have been making the right choices to re‑shape the Budget to better support the economy, now and over the medium to long term.
Our first act after the election was to legislate our seven-year personal income tax plan, starting with immediate tax relief for hard working Australians. Now this relief built on a previous iteration of that planned the previous year, in the 2018-19 Budget, as well as the reductions in tax for personal income tax there was taxes in that year for small and medium sized businesses through a lower tax rate and of course the instant asset write off which continues to this day.
At $19.5 billion over four years, the structural tax relief delivered in our first week in parliament was nominally equal to almost the entire once off cash payment stimulus provided by the Rudd Government during the GFC within a year, but it didn’t have the associated ill-discipline and wasteful impacts of Labor’s poorly targeted measure.
When combined with the structural tax relief provided in the 2018-19 Budget, it is estimated the single year impact in 2019-20 alone of both our tax changes this year is more than $7 billion. More money back in people’s pockets.
These initiatives were part of an ongoing broader structural change to our tax system enabling Australians to keep more of what they earn, this was not a desperate, one off, short-term sugar hit or panicked crisis measure, here today, gone tomorrow. But you pay for it for a decade.
Our response to the economic challenges our nation faces has been structural investment in Australian aspiration, backed by responsible economic management.
As expected, some recipients took the opportunity to increase their spending immediately, others took the opportunity to pay down their debts. Why shouldn’t they, it’s their money. That was the point, backing the decisions Australians wanted to make about their own money.
The result of stage one of our most recent personal tax plan increased the purchasing power of low and middle income earners – both now and into the future.
Stages two and three of our plan, as Tim said, fully legislated will see 94 per cent of taxpayers facing a marginal tax rate of no more than 30 cents in the dollar, including the full abolition of the 37c tax bracket. That’s big.
Our commitment to a tax to GDP cap of 23.9 per cent, when our friends in Norway are North of 50, our speed limit on taxes as I’ve described it, provides the fiscal anchor for a more competitive tax system and, when combined with the fiscal goal of maintaining the budget in surplus, this provides a steady discipline on government spending.
But this is not the only action we have taken.
Shortly after the election, I wrote to all state and territory leaders and I asked them to identify the infrastructure projects that could be accelerated.
I’m pleased to announce that as a result of that process we have been able to bring forward $3.8 billion of investment into the next four years, and that includes $1.8 billion to be spent both this financial year and next year. Not on the never, never, this financial year and next year.
This will support the economy in two ways – by accelerating construction activity, supporting jobs in the near term and by reaping longer term productivity gains sooner.
Every state and territory benefits, with significant transport projects to be accelerated in all jurisdictions – all within our $100 billion ten-year infrastructure investment plan on the way.
This bring forward of investment is in addition to the new infrastructure commitments we have made in drought-affected rural communities since the election, through the Roads to Recovery Program, the Building Better Regions Fund and our Drought Communities Programme.
Since the election alone we have announced around $1 billion in grants and other payments, not loans, grants and other payments to support rural communities and on top of that, $1 billion further in access to zero interest loans for both farmers and agricultural small businesses.
So taken all together, the Government’s actions since the election - legislating the tax cuts, the bring-forward of infrastructure investment and additional drought relief – this has provided significant near-term additional support, this year and next year of $9.5 billion to the economy at a challenging time. We didn’t race it, we planned it. We got it ready, we dotted our i’s, we crossed our t’s. And it’s not ready to go.
This does not include, I should also note, the significant budgeted ramp up in important Government expenditures in health, education, disability services and aged care.
This year and next year an extra $6 billion on top of the Budgets will be spent on health and education, $2 billion extra will be spent on aged care and with 170,000 new participants estimated to come into the NDIS, and Minister Robert’s here tonight, expenditure on that programme will increase by $9 billion this year and next year.
So that’s a lot of investment. That’s a lot of targeted, well thought through expenditure. All being done with a surplus Budget paying down the debt, and as Josh said on Budget night, no new or increased taxes.
That's what responsible economic management delivers as a dividend.
To continue to secure Australia’s future economic prosperity over the next decade and beyond, we need to do more though to lift our growth potential and performance.
We can’t rest.
Productivity though, I want to stress, because it’s a frightening word to many Australians, productivity is not about paying people less to do more, productivity is about enabling people to earn more from what they do every day. That’s how I measure it. And that’s what our productivity agenda is all about.
I believe there is considerable untapped potential in the Australian economy that can propel this next wave of prosperity.
New technologies changing what is produced, how products and services are produced and where they can be produced. These are opportunities up for grabs, but also new challenges and risks come with it.
The new global economy has disrupted traditional ways for countries to become prosperous.
Instead of moving up a value-add chain based on fixed areas of comparative advantage, countries now look to find their place across different sectors in a rapidly transforming global supply chain.
The disruption age and the greater complexity of modern goods means that research, design, and maintenance are coming to matter more than ever than production. Automation has slowed the relentless search for people willing to work for ever-lower wages.
Greatly diminished communications and computation costs mean the best firms can now reach wider markets, and integrate themselves into business production from further away.
Marketing, management and technical know-how for goods or services can be delivered from anywhere in the planet, including and especially right here in Australia.
And when our countries grow richer, as we have, but not just us, throughout our region there’s a rising middle class. Services are hard to replace with robots as those economies seek more of these services.
Tradable services that use technology to deliver increases in productivity that lift wages, in areas like medicine, higher education, finance, business services. Non-tradable services are more likely to lift jobs, into caring for disabled, human services, supporting older Australians.
The trends that I’ve just described play to the strengths of Australians.
We have a highly educated workforce, sound legal system, strong economic institutions, deep and stable capital markets, one of the best banking systems, if not the best in the world. A modern digital economic infrastructure most recently evidenced by the new payment [inaudible] – as well as access to the fastest growing markets in the world, with the deals to back that up, where we have a strong record of achievement.
So let me touch on now a couple of elements of our economic plan, and how we are going to work to make the most of these advantages.
Our Government’s goal is for Australia to be a leading digital economy by 2030. Our degree of success will be critical to income growth and job creation over the next decade and beyond.
Our extensive policy agenda encompasses digital access, connectivity, consumer data and competition policy, government service delivery and skills development, trade and global e-commerce governance, as well as the necessary focus on security and privacy concerns.
We have already had some big successes in the Parliament. Introducing a world-first, a new world-leading Consumer Data Right will give customers more control over their data, they’ll get the value from it, because it’s theirs. Empower them to compare and switch between products and services and encourage competition. Consumer Data Right is a key building block for a truly advanced digital economy. And we’ve got one.
We are starting with Open Banking, which will launch next year, and supported by initiatives such as comprehensive credit reporting. We will expand this framework across multiple sectors, including in energy and telecommunications, leading to better prices and more innovative products and services because consumers will be at the centre.
Next year we will conclude our first e-commerce trade agreement with Singapore and we are leading the way in framing new e-commerce trade rules for the WTO.
We are transforming the delivery of government services through the new Services Australia, making more government services easily accessible online and improving the digital experience. We working on our side of things, we want Australians to spend less time dealing with paperwork, in long lines at shop-fronts or waiting on the phone.
To propel our ambition to make Australia a leading digital economy by 2030, I have established a Digital Technology Taskforce within the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet working across all government departments to deal with this business.
Becoming a leading digital economy doesn’t mean though, let me stress this, becoming a leading digital economy doesn’t mean that we are trying to create the next Silicon Valley here in Australia. And it doesn’t mean that we want to walk away from our traditional industries and jobs. Quite the opposite.
We must play to our strengths.
Australia is a predominantly services, resources, advanced manufacturing and agriculture-based economy – this is where our natural endowments and comparative advantages lie. This is where the majority of our job and income creation will continue to come from.
What we need is for a greater proportion of our businesses in all sectors of the economy to apply the digital technologies at the frontier. I want to see all Australian businesses using the best tools for the job, have the best people for the job, whether these tools are physical or digital. This is as much about a local plumber or a small manufacturer as it is about a tech start-up at a warehouse somewhere.
Operating at the technological frontier in the digital world is a necessity for our trade exposed sectors to keep pace with global competition.
And we know this. Andrew and JS know this, our mining industry is amongst the world’s most efficient and profitable because of its application of leading edge technologies.
They’re tech businesses. Very profitable ones. Very successful ones. I’ll take that.
Technological leadership is less evident in some non-traded parts of the economy or those sectors that are protected from competition by regulatory frameworks. The evidence also shows that big businesses are generally faster adopters of new technologies than smaller businesses.
Yet there is strong evidence that a relatively modest investment by small business to acquire the skills and adopt one of the many products that now exist to digitise their back office functions, book keeping, purchasing, paying employees and scheduling shifts can drive enormous efficiencies in both time and cost.
Research by Alpha Beta shows the average Australian small business only spends around $5,000 per year, or less than one per cent of their revenue, on technology. This is an issue.
The same study reveals that small businesses in the top quartile of digital technology investment have revenue growth around 3.5 per cent higher, and employment growth 5.2 per cent higher, than those in the bottom quartile.
Now when I was Treasurer I asked Mark Bouris to examine what small businesses needed to do to drive their uptake of digital technologies and not surprisingly Mark told me that small businesses don’t come to government for ideas on how to transform their businesses.
Rather, they look to similar businesses that have made a successful digital transformation or to the advice of successful business people, including those with whom they have established business relationships.
Now big business has a role to play here. Many of you provide services to small business or have trusted supplier relationships with small business owners. You have a stewardship over important supply chains.
My challenge to BCA members here tonight is to consider how you can help small businesses make the digital transformation that will set them up for success. Which will set you up for success.
Digitise your supply chain. That’s something you can do. Now it will support strong and stable business relationships and, ultimately, it will be good for the whole economy.
Now we’re doing our bit, our position as a major purchaser of goods and services by undertaking practical measures that encourage small business to adopt new digital technologies.
We talked last year about paying small businesses quicker and I welcome those figures Tim that’s a great success, and to Jennifer as well.
A recent example is our commitment to pay invoices to small businesses that use e-invoicing, not 20 days, within 5 business days, 5 business days. That’s where we are going now, a year later. Cash flow is king for any business – particularly small business – so this is an enormous incentive for small businesses to switch to e-invoicing.
Cash flow and payment times was a major theme as I said last year, now whether it be government, large business or small business – if we have the systems and procedures in place to pay on time and pay more quickly, well everybody wins, everybody wins.
Another part of our economic growth, and I appreciate your patience tonight, because I’ve got a fair bit to say about where we’re taking this economy and this is the right audience, I want all Australians to understand another part of our growth plan is to remove the regulatory barriers and bottlenecks that prevent Australians from investing and creating jobs.
Now it’s not particularly sexy stuff for the newspapers but I tell you what, it’s incredibly important in driving down the costs of doing business in this country.
Recently when I was at the inauguration of President Widodo for his second term it was the only thing he spoke about, was cutting the costs of regulation in his economy.
So since the election, working with Josh as Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg as Treasurer, Ben Morton my Assistant Minister has led the revitalisation of our deregulation agenda.
I want to thank the BCA for its contribution to defining the priorities of our Deregulation Taskforce.
And after just a few months we are already making real progress.
Our initial priority areas have been, reducing the regulatory burden on food manufacturers with an initial focus on exporting – you want to do dereg, you’ve got to get in to the detail. You got to get right under the hood.
Secondly, making it easier for sole traders and micro-businesses to employ their first person; and thirdly getting major projects up and running sooner. We’ve been working away on that since I announced this process back in July [inaudible].
Currently, fewer than 1 in 10 food manufacturers are exporters. And through a package of measures, the Government will make it easier for food businesses to export.
Firstly, a new trade information service will make it easy for businesses to find the information they need about how to export, practical information, and connect them with the many support services there to help them be successful. With speed to market critical for food exporters, we will also make the Trusted Trader programme and Known Consignor border facilitation programs more attractive to food exporters. Get them into these important programmes.
And we will modernise the export certification process, to a state-of-the-art digitised system to reduce the paperwork, save businesses time and reduce overseas border delays.
Getting more Australians into work has been a signature achievement of our Government.
Each year, around 150,000 sole traders and micro businesses employ someone for the first time – it’s a big step. It’s bold, it’s courageous and it’s nation building.
Employing your first person is an indication of success and a desire to grow. Yet it can be frustrating to put it politely, and time consuming. The owner of one IT start-up reported to our Taskforce that it took them two months to work through the regulatory steps in taking on an employee for the first time.
The Government will make it easier for small and micro businesses to employ people by developing a single, online employer service that will guide businesses on all the things they need to do – reducing time, costs and risks.
To further encourage business formation and to make it easier for business to interact with government, we also going to modernise Australia’s business registers, which I know has been a great source of frustration.
The new business registry system will upgrade and consolidate 32 separate business registers into a single system, allowing businesses to view, update, manage and maintain their data in one location and to transact with government in one place. This investment will form the backbone of further business deregulation initiatives and service delivery enhancements.
Now the third area of our regulatory congestion busting agenda is getting major projects off the ground sooner.
Again, we have taken on board what businesses have been telling us.
Environmental approval processes for major projects are overly complex, duplicative and they take too long.
As in other areas, digital technology gives us the opportunity to make these processes faster and simpler.
Our Government is taking the first step towards a nationally consistent digital environmental assessment and approvals regime.
We will partner with the Western Australian Government to develop a system that will reduce approvals times, allow project proponents to submit a single application via a single online portal, track its progress and access a database of biodiversity studies relevant to their project.
I want to recognise the role companies such as BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue have played in the development of the biodiversity database.
It takes approximately three and a half years for a complex major project to navigate the State and Commonwealth environmental assessment process. It's estimated that this timeframe could be reduced by between 6 and 18 months through the better use of technology.
So that’s what we’re going to do.
These announcements focus largely on helping businesses navigate existing regulatory environments they operate in.
We know there is a much bigger task out there. And the Taskforce will report back in the new year on initiatives focused on regulatory design and reduction and will move into other sectors as well.
Now as I announced straight after the election, the Minister for Industrial Relations Christian Porter is undertaking a comprehensive and methodical ‘fresh look’ at the operation of our industrial relations system.
The discussion papers being released by the Minister provide the opportunity to bring forward evidence on aspects of the IR system holding back growth and high-wage jobs.
There is a persuasive argument that greater flexibility in the length of enterprise agreements can play an important role in attracting investment in major infrastructure, resources and energy projects. With approximately $250 billion of new project capital in the investment pipeline - with the potential of more than 100,000 new jobs - it’s hard to deny the scope for shared gains for companies and their workers.
Similarly, I would hope we can make progress on reducing the system’s overall complexity. While the number of awards has reduced, it appears that they have not become simpler – indeed many believe that they have become more complex.
And the degree of administrative clutter associated with the compliance regime and the enterprise bargaining process can also detract from business improvements that can arise from working together for mutual benefit and ensuring that people get paid what they should be paid.
Provisions that add unnecessary clutter to agreement-making and award compliance have been identified in past reviews of the Fair Work Act, including under the former Labor Government. But I again underscore the obligation on the business community and I welcome Tim’s offering to marshal the evidence and make the case for change.
Strong engagement is also needed on skills. I welcome Tim has highlighted that at the top of the BCA agenda. And we share this commitment.
We hear loud and clear the message from business – that our Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector is not meeting your workforce needs.
I’m not going to throw more money into a system that is not working, we are going to fix the system so we can invest better in it.
Informed by the outstanding report delivered by Steven Joyce, Commonwealth and state and territory governments are working constructively, they are working together to develop and implement our reform road-map. And Minister Cash will be meeting with her state and territory counterparts this Friday to advance that agenda.
Similarly, there is much more we will achieve through greater collaboration on a practical environmental agenda with the business community.
Taking action on climate change to meet our responsible emissions reduction targets, not economy destroying ones - establishing a world leading waste management sector, reducing plastics pollution in our oceans, realising a sustainable and truly circular economy, protecting and improving our soils, delivering sustainable management of our water resources and our waterways, developing new energy sectors such as Hydrogen as well as progressing major energy projects like Snowy 2.0 and Battery of the Nation.
Through these initiatives and more I have no doubt we will demonstrate to the world that it is possible to solve local, national and global environmental challenges, without sacrificing livelihoods and jobs in our traditional industries and regional communities, while creating new economic opportunities to support future jobs.
That’s our plan.
And I look forward to the opportunity to go into these issues in greater detail on other issues on another occasion.
So ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for your patience. Our economic plan backs our traditional strengths and it seeks out new opportunities in these more challenging economic times.
Lower taxes.
Reducing the cost of doing business by cutting red tape and getting rid of costly and unnecessary regulation.
Equipping Australians with the skills they need and the skills for businesses who employ them to be successful.
Building the infrastructure our economy needs to grow. To get people home sooner and safer.
Expanding our export frontiers and immersing our companies in new global supply chains. Particularly in our regions.
Making sure our businesses are positioned to get ahead and not get left behind in a global digital economy.
And aligning and better focussing our efforts in research, science and technology to accelerate and commercialise the advances we make.
Combined with our strong and disciplined budget management, led by the Treasurer, our plan will continue to support a stronger economy to guarantee the essentials Australians rely on.
Now is time to once again demonstrate our irrepressible optimism as Australians, declaring our confidence in our future, through our actions. To stick to the plan. To invest. To employ. And to work together to meet and beat as we will, as we have always done as Australians, the challenges that are ahead.
That’s the optimism, that’s the stability, that’s the certainty that Australians voted for on May 18, and that’s what we intend to continue to deliver, as promised.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Photo source - Associated Press
Remarks, Australian War Memorial
18 November 2019
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Brendan for that introduction and in particular for honouring Brett, and remembering Bree. Brett and Bree’s son Ziggy goes to school with my daughter and I remember when Brett was killed, it made me reflect deeply that someone in my own community who had fallen, a family that was terribly bereaved, that in today’s society these events occur but when we think back to the Second World War and the First World War, they were a multiple daily event.
I am pleased that it’s no longer a daily event, but each and every case and on each and every occasion it happens, it is as deeply grieving, it is as deeply impacting, and leaves that deep scar.
Scars are physical reminders or memories of what has taken place and particularly for Sharon to share, of the lives that had been lived, not how they were ended necessarily, but how the lives were lived.
So it’s a great pleasure to be here today with you Brendan, to Kerry as well, I want to thank you for the tremendous work you do and the Minister Darren Chester, and Shayne the opposition spokesperson, representatives of all the Forces here particularly the Chief of the Defence Force Angus Campbell.
Can I also acknowledge the Ngunnawal People, their elders past and present and emerging, but can I also acknowledge our serving men and women who are with us here today and all of our veterans and say, as I always do, thank you on behalf of a grateful nation.
I like to speak of Australia as a promise.
A free nation that allows its people, quietly going about their lives, to realise their simple, honest, decent aspirations.
In Australia, you are rewarded and respected for your efforts, and your contribution. Regardless of who you are - your age, your religion, your ethnicity, your gender, your sexuality, level of ability, your income. It doesn’t matter.
25 million of us can live out that promise today because of those who serve today and who have served on our behalf. And part of our promise is to them: is to honour their service, to remember their sacrifice and their lives, and to stand with those who return. It is a promise that is both of memory and of memorial.
Memory of keeping our commitments – that’s the foundation: to the health, the well-being, the family support, training for new jobs and support for our veterans.
And memorial - to honour the sacrifice, as this memorial does, the courage, the life, and the loss.
But memory and memorial are intertwined.
Before I speak of this memorial, let me speak of our living memorial, and memory for our veterans of today.
Last year, we committed $11.5 billion in benefits and support to our veterans and their families.
We have overturned a century of outdated processes and systems, so veterans and their families can get the support they need when they need it. But there is more to do. And I particularly want to acknowledge the work of the Chief of Defence Force in leading so much of this change.
Part of that support means we are now offering free mental care for anyone who has served a day in the ADF. This funding is uncapped and is demand driven. We are providing some $200 million annually to support the mental health needs of our veterans. Again, uncapped, demand driven.
There’s support for families. There’s training. There’s re-skilling. There’s jobs programmes. And importantly today, we are preparing for those who serve in our Defence Force for their post-service life from the day they start their service which is an important initiative of our Defence Force today.
These are big challenges. They are hard issues. They’re soul-wrenching.
We so often feel that we don’t measure up to the mark and that is true. But that cannot prevent us from doing all we can within our power and our resource to ensure that we do the best by those who have served us, both in uniform today and when they leave that service.
So we keep our promise to veterans, to their families - and to those who have never returned.
I spoke on ANZAC Day about the mortally wounded soldier on the battlefield of Pozieres who asked Charles Bean “Will they remember me in Australia?” And our answer is yes, and always yes. And this Memorial is a reminder of the answer to that question. That remembrance is found in families sharing their stories, in communities undertaking commemorations, and nationally, here at this great Memorial. It’s found around us in the names in bronze on the Roll of Honour, the artefacts, the diaries, the photos, the uniforms and histories; as well as the tears, the memories, the tender touches and poppies that bring a nation’s love and honour to this place.
Here in this place is the soul of our nation.
Conceived on the French battlefields of the First World War, and built while the Second World War raged, this place was never a tribute to war. It was always a memorial to the fallen. An honouring of endurance, sacrifice, loyalty, mateship and courage, of devotion. It recorded and does record great deeds. And it stirs us to think about the countless sacrifices and deprivations that will only ever be truly known by those who endured them.
Over the years, it has become a place of pilgrimage. A place for families to remember loved ones with graves far way, or who have no graves at all. A place for veterans to find solace and reflect. And a place for new citizens and younger Australians to learn about the sacrifices that have been made for all of our freedoms.
In its lifetime, the Australian War Memorial has seen a number of expansions and evolutions. When it opened its doors on Armistice Day in 1941, most of its artefacts were from the Great War. After the Second World War, its collection almost doubled. And so, within a few years of its genesis, it was time to expand.
Sadly, the story of Australians at war did not end there — and it still has not ended. Over the years more space was needed. More plans were made. We needed to house the stories of Korea and Vietnam, of peacekeeping operations, and of this century’s wars.
Just over a year ago, I announced a new expansion to the Memorial, so we could add the service Australians have given in Somalia, Rwanda, Cambodia, the Solomon Islands, East Timor, Iraq, Afghanistan, Northern Iraq and Syria. And so today we turn another page in telling this incredible story. Today is the next phase of the Memorial’s plan, and the opening of the public consultation process for the design of the New Anzac Hall, glazed courtyard, and the Southern Entrance.
This is the largest re-investment in the War Memorial since it was opened in 1941, and not before time. All of these works will involve veterans. All of the major construction tenders will include a criteria to employ or engage veterans or their families. A vital new chapter.
When this Memorial first opened, its driving force was Charles Bean. In 1948 he wrote: “Here is their spirit, in the heart of the land they loved; and here we guard the record which they themselves made.” It was true then, and it will remain true throughout the years to come. Bean was indeed the father of this Memorial.
But today, I also want to acknowledge that we have had a successor here worthy of his grand vision and passion for this special place.
He has been I think a very appropriate and dutiful heir of the inheritance of being a director of this Memorial.
Brendan, as we all know, is retiring as Director at the end of the year.
He has been a truly great director.
And I’m sure none of us would say there’ll be one greater than Charles Bean, but Brendan stands amongst the greatest.
He brought the Memorial closer to so many people.
It’s not just the plans that we announce today which will tell the stories as he said of our generation, it’s not just the building, it’s just not the exhibits, it’s the way he connected this place to the people of Australia.
Every time I come here and I see the visitors, I see the young children, I see those in wheelchairs who are barely able to be mobile. And there the touch is.
There’s a human element to this Memorial now that I’m not sure we’ve known in the same way we do today.
And for that Brendan we are truly grateful for your leadership.
This work is best typified in the words of a veteran called John Ainley.
Who served in Special Operations Command.
He’s stood at the foot of C-17 ramps and farewelled mates back home.
Like so many who have served, he doesn’t live in Canberra.
But here - in the stillness and quietness - he visits, and he takes it all in and he remembers.
He recently wrote to the Memorial, saying he wanted to thank Brendan for “his service and devotion through many years of public service...and his dedication to the memory of our Fallen”.
John Ainley is right.
So thank you Brendan for everything you have done for our veterans, as a Minister for Defence you had a keen insight into your duties when you came into this role, and here as we stand outside Poppy’s place, I know how meaningful that is to you and your time as Minister for Defence.
And here you have been able to honour not only his but all of our fallen members in a way in which our nation owes you a great debt.
But here it’s not just to praise obviously the work of the Director of the Memorial, it is to praise all those who’ve served.
I look forward to taking my own children, my grandchildren one day perhaps through this new area of the memorial so they can hear your stories, hear the stories of the lives, exchange those with others they’re standing in the memorial with.
Go to the Last Post ceremony that has been instituted here and just reflect.
Australians will always be Australian so long as they remember this place.
And the remember those who have given them the best title anyone could claim to have, and that is of being Australian.
Thank you.
Remarks, Qantas Centenary Launch
15 November 2019
Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much, Chris. Can I acknowledge the Gadigal people, elders past, present and emerging and any veterans who are here with us today. Can I particularly acknowledge also Alan Joyce and say welcome home. Thank you for flying Qantas. To Richard Goyder, a great champion of Australian business, a great business leader and now as Chair of Qantas. To Anthony Albanese, the Leader of the Opposition who shares a passion for this airline like I do and we're both pleased to be here together to mark this important day. George Brandis, our High Commissioner, I've never seen you look that good getting off a flight that long, George, great to see you. To Ross MacDiarmid also, CEO of the Royal Australian Mint who has played a special role here today in the way we'll be celebrating this important hundred years. And Michael Daley, state member for Maroubra, Council members and the Mayor of Longreach.
But more importantly, to all the employees of Qantas who are here today, a big welcome to you and I'm so pleased to be standing here with you, meeting so many of you and seeing your great enthusiasm. There are 1,800 Qantas employees - I’ve got to say, this is a bit like an electorate visit for me because there are 1,800 people who work for Qantas who live in my electorate in southern Sydney. So to all of those of you, a special welcome here today. A few Sharkies fans and St. George fans amongst them, I suspect as well.
But wherever you live and you're working for Qantas, you're working for one of the biggest employers in the country. Some 28,000 employees and their families rely on this amazing Australian airline. It's more than a brand. It's more than a list of destinations. Since its start, Qantas has always been a reflection of who we are as Australians. Reliable, dependable, innovative, outward-looking, confident about who we are and our place in the world. It is no wonder that when people think of the images of Australia, particularly from overseas, it is the Qantas kangaroo that they think of so often when they think about Australia. And it's not just because it's a great airline. It's also because Qantas has always encapsulated not only the brand of its airline, but the brand of Australia as well. The two sit so neatly together. And of course, Australia sees itself as part of this bigger world. And why wouldn't we be such a bridge? After all, we are the most successful multicultural and immigrant nation on earth today and you can see that in the Qantas staff who can communicate in some 54 different languages around the world as part of this great airline.
For the last century, Qantas has been an integral part of our journey as a nation. Today we are revelling in the possibilities of Project Sunrise. And I think for so many Australians, it's the optimism of Qantas, from its first days to this, always seeing the opportunities going ahead before them and chasing them with such passion that I think inspires Australians so much. It cost 244 quid to fly to London back in the 30s - half a year's wages. 19 hours, today it's been done. It took 269 hours or more on those four flights over 12 days. You hopped on five different types of planes operated by three separate airlines, and it included train links through the French and Italian countryside. And by the end, you felt every single one of those 12,754 miles. Today, we have seen the world shrunk by what Qantas has achieved here in this amazing flight and where they're looking to go in the future.
But on a day like today, we're also reminded of Qantas's origins. I remember one of my first flights as a young fellow was with my brother and we flew out to Cloncurry on what is now Qantas but was then Australian Airlines, stopping down at every single town along the way. But it is in that town of Cloncurry where the Reverend John Flynn is remembered in a wonderful little museum there in the town of Cloncurry and the launch of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. During the Second World War, Qantas helped evacuate civilians from Singapore. The Skippy Squadron took our troops safely to and from Vietnam. You helped evacuate Darwin during Cyclone Tracy. After the 2002 Bali bombing, you sent nine special flights flying in medical supplies and returning some 5,000 Australians, including some of our worst burns victims. And this week, as Richard remind us all, you helped move 1,200 brave Australian and overseas firefighters around our country along the New South Wales and Queensland districts to ensure that they could get out there and fight some of the worst fires we’ve ever seen in this country.
So Qantas is the best of Australia and they're always there when we are facing our most difficult and worst of circumstances. And so we thank you very much for that ongoing service to our country. At one of those times, there was the catastrophic mechanical failure on a flight carrying 440 passengers and 29 crew, Flight QF32 back in November 2010, from London to Sydney via Singapore. And Captain Richard de Crespigny was asked where did his thoughts and faith turn on that remarkable day? He said, “They turned to the elements of resilience in my airline. We repeatedly trained people to produce the most fantastic crews and support organisations in the world. I'm incredibly proud of all the teams in my airline.” He said, “That got all those passengers, not just down on the ground but home.” He said, “That is not luck. My airline has spent the money and we've done the hard work.”
So that is Qantas at its best even in the most difficult time. And to you, Alan, and to all of your amazing employees and I know all of the subcontractors as well, those small and medium-sized businesses who make Qantas a great airline as well, we thank you very much for everything. So happy birthday Qantas, and good luck with the next speaker who has to speak over that.
Remarks, Crisis Coordination Centre
12 November 2019
Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: I'm here at the Crisis Centre of Emergency Management Australia and this is where we're pulling in all the various information that is coming in from across the country. But obviously the vast majority of that is coming in from New South Wales. We're still a long way from being out of the woods on this one. And the front, which is coming up along the southern coast of New South Wales, will be making up through those areas that have been deemed catastrophic today.
What I've been particularly impressed by over the last few days has been the level of preparations that have been put in place to prepare for this day. Whether it's ensuring the kids are home from school today, which removes just one other variable that can be in play in a time of a catastrophic fire, through to the preparing plans that individuals and their households have been going through. I want to particularly commend the New South Wales government and Commissioner Fitzsimmons for the great work that the Rural Fire Service is doing in New South Wales. They're working in very close cooperation, whether it's with our, of course, with our team here and Rob Cameron leading up the team here, but engaging with our Defence Force. Our Defence Force have been at the ready. They've already been supporting with a range of different tasks, largely in airlift tasks. But their assets are available and they're to be called in by the New South Wales authorities as soon as they need to. I've been in regular contact with the New South Wales Premier today, and they're leading this effort, of course, and they're very aware of the readiness of other authorities to come and assist.
I want to thank, particularly today, all those employers out there today who have allowed their employees to be out there fighting these fires and providing other forms of volunteer support that have been necessary. Those fires, particularly, as you can see up on the mid coast area and further north, they are ferocious fires and people have been out there for some days now. And I want to thank all of those employers today who let their employees go out there and serve their communities. Those employers, particularly small and medium-sized businesses in these regional areas, they're carrying a bigger weight today so our volunteers can go out there and fight those fires. And they are as much a part of this effort as everybody else and I want to thank them for doing that. And so as the day progresses and as we go into the days ahead, this coordinated effort will continue and I think Australians should feel very confident about the way that these agencies have learned from the horrific fires of the past, in particular Black Saturday and the level of technology and intelligence and information sharing, the relationships that have been formed is ensuring we're getting everything to where it needs to get to as soon as it needs to get to.
But we're up against something big today, as you can see. And so I'd caution everybody to stay in close contact with the information services, the Fires Near Me app, which is available from the Rural Fire Service, is an outstanding app providing the warnings, telling you what you need to do and where the fires are. Stay in contact with that. Make sure your plans are in place and you're listening to the radio or the other forms of access you have to information to help you make good decisions and keep safe yourself. Look after each other. Be particularly aware of those who are less able or invalid or of advanced age who are in your community. You know where they are. They live in your street. And let's all look after each other today.
Particularly, I want to thank the great work being done by volunteer firefighters, the emergency services and all of them supporting them in their courageous efforts today. This will go on for some time and the resources will be there to continue to support that effort for as long as it takes today.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, have you spoken to Barnaby Joyce today and what did you make of his comments?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I haven't had the opportunity to speak to him today. And look, I would just simply say this - I think it's important that at moments like this, everybody take it down a few notches. What matters is people who are in need and ensuring the operational support is there for the services they need to ensure that we can address this crisis. There are plenty of opportunities for people to say things about any number of other issues on other occasions. But right now, what they want to see is Australians coming together. So I would urge people, let's just focus on what we need to focus on right now. There are plenty of other topics for other days, but today let's just focus on those who need it most. They're not helped by this type of argument that is going on. That's not something that I think is really helping the situation. It's certainly not something that I would or have been seeking to engage in and the reason for that is simple. It's not because all of these issues aren’t important. It's because people need to know that we're focused on their needs right here and now and the operational support they need.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister will be directing or asking Michael McCormack to discipline Barnaby Joyce?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I've said all I need to say on that issue. I think everybody - everybody - there's been a lot of provocative comments made over the last few days from all sides of this debate. And I find it very unhelpful and I don't think it's particularly helpful to those who need to know that we are 100 per cent focused on the supporting effort to where they are in their moment of crisis. That's where my mind is. That's where my head is. That's where the Premier's mind is and that's where the Premier’s head is. And that's what they need to be assured of. And I can tell you, I'm not taking any interest in all of those other distractions. What I'm focused on is what the operational support needs to be at a Commonwealth level and to support our state partners in New South Wales and Queensland.
JOURNALIST: There has been inflammatory rhetoric around this but Barnaby Joyce is a member of the Coalition. What did you make of his remarks specifically and what will be done about it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think these are very unhelpful. But again, I'm not going to be distracted by debates happening between politicians. The last thing that people in real need and urgent crisis need at the moment is hearing politicians shout at each other. It's completely unhelpful. And it's not something that I'm practising. It's not something the Premier is practising. There is a time and a place to debate, you know, controversial issues and important issues. Right now, it's important to focus on the needs of Australians who need our help. They need our support. They need our practical assistance on the ground. They're getting it. They're going to continue to get it and that's who I am focused on. Thanks very much.
Address, 2019 Australian Mental Health Prize
6 November 2019
Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you, Ita. Before I do that, I promise I won’t to delay you long before announcing the recipients of the awards tonight. If you'd forgive me to say just a couple of things.
Firstly, in appreciation to the traditional custodians of the land the Bidjigal people, elders, past, present and those who are emerging. And also any veterans who are with us here today and those who have served our Defence Forces. Particularly pertinent today, Christine and I this morning met with the parents of brave men who'd taken their own lives after serving our country during their service. And we owe them everything as a country.
To the Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor and members of the faculty who are here with us and particularly to you, Ita. One of the reasons I asked Ita to take on the job of being the Chair of the ABC is not just because of her outstanding success and career in journalism. It's because she's always had a broader view of the country and understood the many challenges the country has faced. She's written about them through initiatives such as this. She has invested heavily in helping Australians understand who they are and the challenges they face so thank you very much, Ita, for your continued work, particularly in this field.
Can I also acknowledge Lucy Brogden who is here and other members of the advisory board working together with Christine. You do a tremendous job and we really appreciate what you do. And I know there are other members of the board here as well. It's great to be back here as alumni, of course, Chancellor. Back then, I knew I wasn't the smartest person in the room and today I know that's also true.
[Laughter]
But it is the 70th anniversary of the University of New South Wales, and I congratulate you all on that achievement. But I can add a few more. The Foreign Minister is an alumni, Marise Payne. The Minister for the NDIS and Government Services, Stuart Robert, is also an alumni. I suspect there may be one or two others. So the University of New South Wales has a great place in the hearts of our Government, as I'm sure it does right across the Parliament.
The issue of mental health is a very personal one, I think, to all Australians. And the nominees who are here with us today know that better than any of us. And can I congratulate all of you on the work that you do and the leadership that you show. I am the son of a policeman, the brother of a paramedic and the brother-in-law of a firie. And so I have somewhat of an insight into the lives of those who work in those services and as first responders. Most recently, when I was in Christchurch, where I was there to attend the memorial service after the terrible terrorist attack there, I spent some time that day with the first responders to that event. An absolutely horrific scene. And whether it is in the stress and strain of an event like that or just the daily life and stress and anxieties, as the Professor was explaining to us and people walking into emergency rooms, I describe suicide as a curse on our society and a curse that we must break as a society, as a community and all of our finalists tonight have been applying themselves to that very task and I'm grateful for the work that you do. We've heard the statistics we know, in particular, veterans are 2.2 times more likely to take their lives. We know that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are also especially vulnerable. We know that young people and we know that a whole range of discrete communities within our broad society are vulnerable. We've heard from the Productivity Commission and we're fashioning our response now.
But I find it very hard to go past the personal when thinking about mental health issues. I remember I was quite young, I was nine, I think I was, and my father came to talk to me about an older boy that my brother and I knew had been part of a youth organisation that my father had been running for many years. And I knew him but I can't say I knew him well. He was much older than me. But he came to tell us that he had taken his own life and he jumped off the Gap. And this was my first encounter with suicides as a young person and it stuck with me ever since, because in my own head, in my happy childhood in a loving home, I could never contemplate a set of circumstances or a feeling of such desperation that could lead you to that decision. And I still find it incredibly difficult, as I'm sure you do, too. But you have a much greater understanding of these things because this is the field you work in. But it is just the sheer desperate sadness and coming to terms with that which just focuses my attention and that of our Government more broadly. That this is something we just must try everything we can and this is the task that I’ve given Christine. If you think you've got a hard job, she has one of the hardest there is but has a great passion for it. Because there are new things we can try, there are new models we can work, there are many things to learn, there is greater care that we can provide, there is more research to understand where the vulnerability points are. And we’ve been doing a lot of that work. And I hope that what we're doing and what we will do will lead to those situations not presenting themselves for our fellow Australians where they make that choice.
I get a lot of letters from people, I get about three thousand a week in emails. A father of three children, he's my age. He wrote about the loss of a child in a car accident and then another child, a suicide months later. A teenage boy who wrote to me and came out to me in the letter he wrote to me and told me about the anxieties and fears that he has. A lovely couple who I met at a wedding Jenny and I out in Penrith and we had a photo together with their whole family and her mother wrote to me about a year later to let me know the young boy in that photo had taken his life and now they’re trying to cope with that. Farmers, people living in rural districts and communities as they battle through the drought or the floods covering them in north Queensland. Small business owners suffering under tremendous stress. One of the things we recently announced in our small business package was to provide mental health support to people who are in small business.
There are so many of these and you know the stories. We have a Royal Commission, which is proceeding in Victoria. I've spent quite a bit of time with the Premier there about how we can align the various initiatives that we're involved in together, supporting various community organisations that have such a role to play, whether it's men's sheds or tradies from the whole program in regional Victoria or other critical support that we provide, particularly in the new facilities we’ve provided up in the Sunshine Coast of Queensland. We've committed already some $5.3 billion in mental health services this year alone, over a half a billion for our youth mental health and suicide prevention plan, the biggest one this country's ever embarked on. Our investment in youth mental health aligns with the Productivity Commission findings that mental illness tends to first emerge in younger people with 75 per cent mental illness manifesting before the age of 25. $110 million to support young people experiencing psychosis, expansion of headspace centres to 153 across Australia with great input from Professor McGorry. A renewed focus on rural and regional communities. $34 million for Indigenous Youth Suicide Prevention, establish a national plan for culturally appropriate care that is particularly focussed on the terrible tragedies we're seeing up in The Kimberley. The Medical Research Future Fund is investing in important research in this area. But I’ve got to tell you, things like Batyr take my breath away when I see what they do in communities. One of the other programs we funded was in the Smiling Minds program, which I think is a tremendous thing to help build the resilience of younger people, which we have to invest in, in preventative mental health programs, which I think is so important.
So what I can tell you and what I can commit to you, there's plenty of other things that they would like me to say tonight. But really what I wanted to say to you above all is we're very committed to this and we're very personally committed. There is absolutely no politics in this at all. There is strong support for this across the political divide. We all look at these statistics, but more importantly, know our own stories of people we know found in garages with belts around their, with young kids. We all know these stories and they just keep bringing us back, I think it makes us so determined to continue to focus on the actions we need to take as a community, as governments, as researchers, as scientists, as clinicians, as community leaders, as sports coaches, as whoever needs to be there to make the difference.
So I want to thank you for making a difference, all of you, and particularly our nominees. And I want to thank you not just for the efforts that you've already made, but I know the efforts you're going to continue to make and make a real difference in the lives of Australians. And together we will break this curse on Australian society. And will not only do that, but we will therefore become, I think, a role model to the rest of the world that is struggling with the same challenges. And Australia can provide a new way forward and leadership and provide people with that hope, which so sadly on these occasions when they take their own life, they have lost all.
So with that, thank you, and I'm pleased to announce the recipients of tonight's awards. They are - and there are two - Joe Williams and Christine Morgan.
[Applause]
Christine and Joe, I'll leave it to you.
Address, Dedication Service at the Hellfire Pass Memorial
12 November 2019
Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, particularly to any veterans who are here today, serving men and women of our Defence Forces, can I acknowledge you especially and simply say thank you for your service from a grateful nation.
I feel very humbled to be here today for this resealing of this time capsule. This time capsule is a promise - a promise to remember and a promise to honour. We remember and honour the 300,000 slave labourers from across Asia, deprived of liberty and who suffered so much, and the 90,000 of them who perished. We honour the 61,000 Allied prisoners of war, whose war required them to face more than they could ever have imagined and we today could never conceive.
And we hold dear to our heart the 13,000 Australians who were prisoners, and one in five of whom never returned home. There is much in life that fades and dims with time, but the enormity of the Thai-Burma Railway, the scale, the ferociousness of the cruelties and the inhumanities, as well as the corresponding fortitude and courage and comradeship that can never dim, and it must never dim. We remember the whippings, the beatings, the stonings, the bare feet, the ragged clothes, the filthy rations, the physical devastation, the mental torture, the deprivations, the humiliations.
The author Cameron Forbes called the unrelenting work, hunger and fatigue ‘a journey towards disease and death’. Yet it was the inhumanity of it all that made the humanity of others who suffered under this shine so clear. A Thai shopkeeper, Boonpong, and his wife Boopa - despite the threat of death - smuggled medicines, medical supplies and goods to prisoners along the railway. Unknown and brave Thai people who took on the work of angels by leaving hard-boiled eggs on the riverbank, risking their lives for people they did not even know. And then there were the slave labourers and prisoners of war who stood with mates and strangers and supported each other throughout the crimes and cruelties of their oppressors.
The late Tom Uren described the defining ethos - a member of our Parliament, Tom – as, ‘The fit looking after the sick, the young looking after the old, and the rich looking after the poor’. Tom was a close friend and mentor of the Leader of the Opposition today, Anthony Albanese, and travelled here, Anthony, with both Tom and another amazing gentleman I'll refer to shortly.
‘Even the humblest of men had quite a lot of God in them’, said Weary Dunlop, and despite it all, there was hope and the goodness that defied the cruelties lived on. I had the privilege of knowing Sir John Carrick, a survivor, just as Anthony knew Tom. John and Tom knew each other well from those days and since. We have lost them both now. I was fortunate enough to call him a strong mentor, as indeed former Prime Minister John Howard could in an even more intimate way. I would always go and sit with John in his small apartment towards the end of his life when I was a director of our Party, and I'd always leave filled with his wisdom and his kindness. He had a grateful wisdom, a generosity of spirit, which was anchored in kindness. At John's funeral recently, mourners recalled that when it came time for the POWs to finally go home, Sir John told them to put all of this behind them, what occurred to them. All the horror, all the awfulness, all the deprivations, all the pain, and he said, 'You are young men. Go back and live your lives in a positive way.’
And despite the traumas and the sicknesses and the nightmares, that's what they endeavoured to do. And they did rebuild their lives, so many of them. They took up jobs, they opened shops, they opened hardware stores, they raised families and they prevailed. A spirit that the fires of hell could not vanquish. So today, in this important ceremony, we honour them all, not just those who are part of our country and its soul, but the shared humanity that suffered along the way. The capsule we seal today will be opened in 2042 and formally presented to the Thai people. It will be a gift from our heart and our soul to yours, the Thai people. It embodies our relationship with Thailand today, a relationship based on warmth, trust and respect, and may I say how wonderful it is to have the Royal Thai Armed Forces with us today also. Your presence symbolises the deep and longstanding operational cooperation between our two nations in so many places in the world today.
So that message that will be sent in 2042 is not just the message of the relationship today, but also a message of thanks for the kindnesses that were extended to our Australians all those years ago. So we remember, we honour all who suffered and lost so much. We give great thanks that good prevailed over evil in those times, and may we remain ever vigilant to ensure that it does today and in the future and we rededicate ourselves to live lives worthy of those who faced the cruelties of Hellfire Pass and the Thai-Burma Railway.
The best way we can say to those who sacrificed so much - thank you for your service - is for us today and in the future to live lives worthy of their sacrifice.
Lest We Forget.
Address, Australian-Thai Chamber of Commerce Business Breakfast
4 November 2019
Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much, Allan, for that introduction. The only way I can top that is to give the entire speech in Thai – that’s not going to happen.
[Laughter]
But it’s wonderful to be here. Your Excellency, Deputy Prime Minister, Ambassador, Wayne Williams the President of AustCham here in Thailand.
I will give it a crack though [inaudible] so forgive me for any mispronunciation.
Sa-wat dee krap. Pom roo suek yin dee yang ying tee dai maa nai wan nee.
[Applause]
Now, like me, if you didn’t understand that, what I meant to say was ‘G’day, I’m delighted to be here today’.
I want to thank everyone for joining me here at the hotel this morning.
This hotel was, of course, Siam’s… this place was the first capital of Siam and the name means ‘dawn of happiness’ I am told.
Given you’re up early for this business breakfast this morning, and we’re all fired up with ideas and coffee, the name I think seems pretty apt.
Former Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies, the founder of the party I lead today, once said, ‘It's a good thing to be a friend by treaty, but it's a better thing to be friends in the heart, in the spirit and in the mind.’
He was actually, when he said that, talking about Thailand.
The occasion was a State Banquet at Parliament House in 1962.
I’d hazard a guess, and Minister Birmingham is here with me this morning, that it was nothing as grand or as impressive as the banquet we enjoyed last night as the guests of the Thai Government at the ASEAN Banquet. That was, I would daresay, the best beef green curry I have had in a very long time. And it was very hot.
[Laughter]
But at that State Banquet, the guest of honour were His Majesty the late King Bhumipol Adulyadej and Her Majesty Queen Sirikit.
Earlier, thousands of people had filled the streets to cheer their arrival, and the Royal Australian Air Force Band had welcomed them by playing works composed by the King, who was a keen musician and jazz aficionado.
The visit had only just begun, but already the warmth and affection were very obvious.
At the dinner, the King exhorted the assembled dignitaries to think of Thailand - and this is very important for an Australian audience - not as the ‘far East’, but as the ‘near North’.
Remember this was the 1960s, and this was not necessarily the way Australians looked at the world at that time. We certainly do today. We understand our geography very well.
And the King followed up that visit by sending his son, the Prince - now his Majesty the King - to Australia to study at the appropriately named The King’s School in Sydney.
The school magazine from 1971 includes these words of reflection from their royal pupil, which may resonate with some of the Aussie expats here:
‘The word ‘Australia’ is no longer just a word, but brings up memories of gum trees, wattle in bloom, dust, floods, suburbs, outback mineral resources, and Australians.’
His Majesty later underwent military training at our prestigious Royal Military College at Duntroon, where he coincidentally was in the same governing class as our Governor-General His Excellency David Hurley, before heading to Perth to train with the Special Air Services Regiment.
I’m informed by the Ambassador that His Majesty speaks very fondly of his time in Australia, and I must say the feeling is very mutual.
I’ve discussed this with Governor-General and he has many fond memories.
This year, Australia also had the honour of welcoming Her Royal Highness the Princesses Sirindhorn and Chulabhorn.
Australians love Thailand.
We have all travelled here, many of us, for different reasons and in different ways. Each year, some 800,000 Australians come here to experience this beautiful country and its beautiful people.
And I’m delighted that we’ve recently agreed to increase the number of young Australians and Thais who can visit each others’ country under our Work and Holiday Visa Program. This will increase from 500 to 2,000 places, a significant increase.
I can think of plenty of young Aussies who will be thrilled to take up an opportunity just like that, because of their love for this country.
The genuine affection and care was on full display during last year’s rescue of the Wild Boars from the Tham Luang cave.
When all 12 boys and their coach emerged safely from the cave, carried by steady pairs of hands from around the world, millions of Australians shared Thailand’s exhilaration and relief for these young boys and their families.
Likewise, we shared Thailand’s deep sadness at the loss of former Thai Navy SEAL, Lieutenant Commander Saman Kunan.
Australia was proud to bestow bravery honours on the Australian rescuers who risked their lives to save others.
Cave divers Richard Harris and Craig Challen were named our Australians of the Year for their efforts. And I’ve got to say, it was a pretty big field.
It was a very strong field and to recognise that act of bravery on their part and the ingenuity and skills that they were able to bring to that very challenging situation and that is was exercised not on our own shores but on foreign shores I think says something very much and we honour them as our Australians of the Year, that we see ourselves as a nation as people with commitments that go beyond just our own waters.
Our two nations have been through a lot together - times of celebration and sadness, joy and collaboration.
We do share a similar outlook.
We believe in strong and transparent rules, in fair and open competition, open markets and free trade.
Those key tenets that our countries share are vital to our economic futures. In Australia, one in five of our jobs relies on trade.
Now, Australians often ask me why are you at this Summit, or at that Summit, or travelling here or there.
There is a very simple answer - one in five Australian jobs depends on our trade.
We have never been a country that has seen our future economically as selling things to ourselves. You don’t get rich selling things to yourself. And Australia has always had, right from its very beginnings and indeed from ancient times in Australia, with Indigenous Australians, has always had an outward look to the rest of the world as to how we can engage.
We have shared interests in a stable, peaceful, prosperous and independent Indo-Pacific region, and we work closely with our partners, particularly here, our ASEAN partners and Thailand - in promoting regional stability and prosperity.
We’re committed to working together on education, on tourism, on defence, on intelligence, on security, on combatting terrorism, on transnational crime, on removing plastics from our oceans and better managing our waste for the future.
This is a deep and very full bilateral relationship between Australia and Thailand and it is strong and it is getting deeper.
Our trade has more than doubled since free trade agreement between Thailand and Australia came into force in 2005, under my predecessor John Howard, to reach more than $25 billion last year.
There’s an increasing footprint of Thai investment in Australia, as Thai companies seek to expand their global interests, develop supply chains, enhance competitiveness, and bring Australian industry expertise into their domestic operations.
Linfox is here today, Bluescope is here today, many other Australian companies who have positioned themselves here well and are respected and are making a contribution as part of those supply chains that I refer to.
The investment is in sectors vital to Australia’s economy.
There’s a big presence in energy-related companies. Think of Banpu, which owns Centennial Coal in NSW. Ratch Australia, which churns out almost a gigawatt of power via its gas stations, and wind and solar farms right around Australia, from Kemerton in WA to Mt Emerald in Queensland.
Thai investors have also contributed to the success of our tourism sector - think of Minor International, which operates a portfolio of more than 50 hotels in major cities and regional areas under the Oaks brand.
Thai investment is also found in Australian sugar, oil and gas exploration, the dairy sector and in the manufacturing of automotive parts.
The fact that we’ve seen so many Thai companies expanding their Australian business interests through re-investments is a sign of long-term investor confidence in our economy.
Thai investment is creating jobs in Australia. It’s creating prosperity in Thailand. This is a win-win arrangement.
Australia is doing the same by investing here.
Our investors are attracted here because of the scale of the local economy, the regional links, the long-term growth trends and the competitive costs of doing business.
While traditionally it’s been seen as an attractive manufacturing base, in the past five years there’s been a big increase in Australian investment in the services sector and in the digital economy.
Today, the picture looks like this - we’ve got more than 200 Australian companies here, many of which are with us in this room today, including more than 30 manufacturing firms along the Eastern Economic Corridor, Thailand’s Special Economic Zone.
I’ve already mentioned Linfox, but there’s Blackmores, there’s ANZ, Bev Chain, Visy, Meinhhardt, ARB, Air International and of course Qantas, and many others are investing in transport services, education, resources and energy, food, consumer goods, agribusiness, manufacturing and automotive sectors.
We’re linked up. That’s my point. Our economies are interconnected and have been for some time and those connections are getting stronger.
Not just out of a sense of affinity, but out of a clear sense of commercial interest.
And that is building those supply chains and welding them together in a very practical way and we want to see this continue.
We’re very proud to be partnering with Thai institutions to give people the chance to fulfil their career aspirations.
A good example of that is ANCA. ANCA is in the advanced manufacturing sector.
Their highly technical machines produce critical components that are used across a huge range of sectors – medical, aerospace, telecommunications, IT, wood-working and automotive.
ANCA recently signed an MoU with the Institute of Field Robotics at King Mongkut’s University of Technology in Thonburi to produce more highly-skilled workers in the fields of research, design and new product development.
The company also runs apprenticeship centres in both Melbourne and Thailand.
Bluescope Steel is also doing some great work with upskilling the construction sector workforce.
It has invested around $5 million in training initiatives, including two mobile training trucks that travel across Thailand’s 77 provinces, equipping local builders and construction companies with the skills they need.
Over the past six years BlueScope has trained more than 10,000 people across Thailand.
Australian investment is also helping train pilots and chefs.
All of this is supporting the Thai Government’s 20-year economic plan to transition Thailand’s economy, or ‘Thailand 4.0’ as it’s known.
We stand ready to work with Thailand on its economic and reform challenges which, with the right policy settings, can help Thailand realise its potential as an engine of growth for the region.
I know the Deputy Prime Minister, I was very pleased to meet with today. In fact, he shared a story with me which shows that Australia has played quite a unique role in current Thailand politics.
It was actually at the ASEAN Summit which was held in Sydney, where the Deputy Prime Minister and the Prime Minister of Thailand actually first met. It was at our invitation that we invited the now Deputy Prime Minister to Australia for that event and they saw each other across a crowded room.
[Laughter]
And they were able to meet, and here they are now, working together as Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. Australia, the great matchmaker of regional politics.
[Laughter]
But it was tremendous to meet with you, Deputy Prime Minister, today. He has a background in business. He knows what it is like to value a strong economy and how a strong economy creates jobs, that it improves living standards. It means that you can afford to deliver important health services, which the Deputy Prime Minister and I were discussing in part of our meeting this morning and the further partnerships and cooperation between Australian companies and service providers and the needs here.
Remote telehealth we were talking about today, an important issue here in Thailand, but equally, a very important issue in Australia where we have quite a lot of expertise.
I also want to mention how fantastic it is to see Thailand’s strong commitment to conclude a modern, high-quality Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
This is something that of course Australia, Thailand, Japan, many other nations have been working closely together on and we hope to make further progress on that while we are here over the course of this Summit.
This is important for jobs in all of our countries, it’s important to integrate those supply chains to make them more effective which expands even further the prosperity that’s there for all to share.
RCEP countries together represent almost half of the world’s population and almost one-third of the global economy.
Through this partnership, Australia aims to provide the certainty that investors need by securing commercially meaningful outcomes for goods, services and investment.
It will ensure modern rules address contemporary business priorities and enable business to tap into regional value chains.
So many of our trade arrangements from many years ago were set in a different time and a different economy.
But here, in south-east Asia and particularly with our partnerships with ASEAN and Thailand and others, we’re able to put in place new rules that reflect the modern economy, the new economy. The economy that our children will grow up in and seek to find their prosperity in the future.
It will create further opportunities. Australia is also a strong supporter of Thailand signing up to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership also.
This was the biggest trade deal since the birth of the WTO and a positive affirmation of what we can do by working together and it has the potential to deliver substantial commercial opportunities for Thai businesses at a time of great economic turbulence.
It would also be an important signal if they were to move forward of Thailand’s commitment to further trade liberalisation, so I hope for further news on that front.
As we look ahead from here, I see plenty of scope to augment our thriving bilateral trade and investment relationship with Thailand.
We can further support Thailand’s 4.0 agenda in areas like digital capabilities, smart cities, energy, education, funds management and health.
We can make the most of opportunities to work together in sectors, such as supply chain investments, agrifood and renewables.
And we can further improve our trade architecture, whether through building on our own free trade agreement with Thailand, or the CPTPP.
As Prime Minister Prayut once said, ‘What we do today will become tomorrow’s history. Therefore, we must make the best of today, so that ten or twenty years from now we will be remembered for our actions.’
That’s what we have the opportunity to do today while we are here at this ASEAN Summit and the East Asia Summit.
This is why Australia has been the best friend of ASEAN - 45 years we have stood alongside ASEAN to support the independence and the sovereignty, the economic development and the boosting of living standards with our friends right across the ASEAN member countries.
It is a truly wonderful relationship where we absolutely respect each of those country’s abilities and passion and ambition to see the best for each of their own economies and each of their own countries.
And we just want to partner with them and that’s what we’ve done. That’s what our presence here today, I think, reflects and more than that, the actions that we’ve undertaken together whether multilaterally as part of ASEAN or bilaterally in terms of the direct relationship that we have as two governments between Australia and Thailand.
But beyond that, the commercial engagements which are represented by the Chamber here this morning and how that work is the real substance of the relationship.
That’s what works out of the frameworks that we put together as governments and enables business to go forward.
And so whatever sector it might be, Australia at present has got some challenges in terms of our agricultural sector but I was very pleased to hear the reports of rain overnight. Very encouraging, we know that that rain of itself is not drought-breaking but I would say that it has been a tremendous encouragement to those western districts of New South Wales who have been particularly looking forward to that.
But our agricultural sector, despite the fact that we face droughts and floods, continues to be strong, like all sectors of the Australian economy, and we continue to prove to be an outstanding partner whether here in Thailand or anywhere else.
And we know that by continuing to forge these partnerships it is great for Australian jobs but it’s also great for the wellbeing of our partners as well.
Our partnerships are based on us both winning, and that has always been our record of engagement and there is no better example of that than what we’re doing here in Thailand.
Thank you so much for your attention.
[Applause]
Address, 2019 Queensland Resources Council Annual Lunch
1 November 2019
Brisbane, Australia
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much, Macca, it’s tremendous to be here with you and so many of you. So many Queenslanders, I’m sure many from far beyond the borders of Queensland as well. Can I particularly acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we gather today, the Turrbal people, and their elders past, present and emerging. And can I thank the resources industry for employing and giving a livelihood and a future and a vision for our Indigenous people right across Queensland. Can I also acknowledge any veterans who are here, as is my habit, or any of you who may be serving in the Defence Forces and simply say to them on behalf of a grateful nation - thank you for your service. And, again, can I thank the resources industry, particularly here in Queensland, for employing so many of our veterans. Those who have acquired tremendous skills in their service of our country, and are finding themselves now continuing to do great work in the resources industry here in Queensland. Can I acknowledge in my state and federal colleagues who are here, Peter Dutton, John McVeigh, Andrew Wallace, Terry Young. Great to have them here. They are an important part of our big Queensland team, both within the Cabinet and more broadly across the government. They are doing a terrific job. Can I also acknowledge and welcome Deb Frecklington. Deb is doing a tremendous job, leading the LNP here in Queensland. I said last night - forgive me, it was a party gathering - I said, ‘How good is Queensland? How much better would it be if Deb Frecklington was Premier?’
[Applause]
I, of course, acknowledge the chief executive of the QRC, my very good friend and colleague Macca, as I know him, and I'm sure all of you know him. I thank him for the service to this industry. It has extended over a long period of time, both in government and out of government. And he really does have a deep passion for the resources sector and particularly here in Queensland. But can I also acknowledge Georgie Somerset is here, who leads AgForce. I will talk a bit today about our traditional sectors and how important they are. I think it is great, Macca, that you and Georgie are here together, because it is important both sectors, and how much they actually work together across our community, across Queensland, and indeed right across the nation.
Now, what I hoped to speak to you about today - some of which has been reported in the papers - that's alright - welcome to the Courier Mail. Good to see them here.
[Laughter]
In our sector of the resources industry, it has almost the doubled the value mining exports and mining’s share of our GDP. And here in Queensland, mining and energy have added almost $670 billion to the state economy over the last 10 years. I can't sum up this sector's contribution here better than what has already been done and the figures that are released today and that you have available on the placements in front of you. One in every $5 for Queensland's economy, one in every seven jobs. There was a lot of talk a few years back about the end of a boom, obviously they were referring to the mining investment boom. And whether that would mean a hard landing for our economy. Of course, $80 billion in mining investment taken out of our economy at a very sensitive time and we have been dealing with that for some years now. The fact is minerals and energy export earnings are now at record highs. In the last financial year, it is estimated they topped $275,000 million or roughly 60 per cent of Australia's total exports of goods and services. They are expected to add another 7 billion in the next year. So nothing more clearly defines a Liberal Nationals Coalition government than our strong, full-throated support for traditional industries like mining. How good is mining for Australia?
[Applause]
The backbone of so many communities in regional Australia, the source of jobs, economic livelihoods, and dignity - dignity - for thousands of hard-working Queenslanders. The sources of taxes, royalties, so vital to the government services that we all rely on, and as Queenslanders rely on right across this great state. Funding for teachers, nurses, police, infrastructure, all this and more depends on a strong, competitive, mining industry, not just in Australia, but in this state, in particular, here in Queensland. And more recently, the gas industry has provided an important alternative source of income for so many Queensland farmers, including those doing it tough through the drought as Ian referred to.
The Coalition, we have always believed in playing to our strengths, not undermining our strengths as a nation. And unquestionably the resources sector is a foundational strength of the Australian economy. Now, we're not just saying it now, as Ian pointed out, we've always said it. We've always believed it. We've always backed it up with policies that recognise and value the resources sector. I see our opponents in Labor have been on a bit of a tourist run lately. All of a sudden can't wait to get the high vis vests on and visit some coal mines. But I can assure you if they ever get back into power with the policies they have for our mining industries, then the tourist attraction is all that the mining industry is going to be in the future. It will be an historical relic. It will be a museum, not a powerhouse of economic resource and prosperity for this great state. The great myth that still resides in certain quarters is Australia's mining is the past, not the future. Somehow not sufficiently sophisticated or complex enough for modern economic sensibilities that you will find in the goats cheese circle of some parts of our capital cities.
[Laughter]
This is complete economic fiction. But worse, it is a dangerous fiction. It overlooks what we need to know to be the facts and what are the facts. Australia's mining industry is at the global frontier when it comes to productivity. Technological innovation, attention to safety, environmental management. I was recently in the United States, this was one of the many issues the President raised with me, how successful our resources sector had been, particularly in relation to the safety of our people who work in the resources sector and saw Australia as a place to be learned from when it came to the resources sector. An industry categorised – characterised I should say - by rigorous planning, robust science, and sensitive exploration, an industry that values its workers and their futures, and including the long-term sustainability of communities. There's engagement with our Indigenous peoples and their incalculable cultural legacy for all Australians. There's the strong contribution of the sector towards environmental protection and rehabilitation. For example, the Bush Blitz partnership between BHP, the Australian government and Earth Watch. Since 2010 the program has discovered more than 1,600 new species of plants and animals across Australia.
This is a sector that takes a view of our natural wealth far broader than just a single bottom line. Deep commitment from our government, my government, to see the success of our resources industry continue. That's why we have put a great deal of thought and policy rigour into the future of the sector. In February, we released our national resources statement. This is a dedicated reform agenda for resources, developed a year - after a year of close consultation with industry. Our goal is to have the world's most advanced innovative and successful resources sector, one that delivers sustained prosperity and development for all Australians. And I want young Australians to know this. I want them to know that they can choose a career, a life, a livelihood in the resources sector in Australia, in Queensland, in Cloncurry, wherever you happen to be. I hear a lot about progressivism at the moment. It sounds like a lovely word, you can cuddle up to it, it’ll give you a nice warm glow. I will tell you what it means in hard political reality. Those who claim the title want to tell you where to live, what job you can have, what you can say, and what you can think and tax you more for the privilege of all of those instructions that are directed to you. I am very concerned about how this new form of progressivism - a Newspeak type term - intended - intended - to get in under the radar, but at its heart would deny the liberties of Australians and particularly in this state of pursuing the life they want to live, the town they want to have, the jobs they want to pursue, and the futures that they have decided for themselves.
So, our statement sets out clear goals for the next decade and beyond. We want to deliver the amongst globally attractive and competitive investment destination for resource projects. There's nothing more frustrating than hearing about delays to investment and jobs due to long approval processes and the Commonwealth government has played its role in those frustrations. This week, we announced a review of the EPBC Act - an important opportunity to look at how we streamline regulatory processes while still protecting our environment. The Productivity Commission is examining the wider regulatory environment in the resources sector to ensure it is both efficient and effective, meeting the needs of the industry and the community. It will report back to government in August next year. These initiatives sit alongside the deregulation agenda being led under the Treasurer's direction, Josh Frydenberg, and being run by my Assistant Minister, Ben Morton from WA, aimed at tackling regulatory barriers to activities, including vital infrastructure investments. At the same we want to develop new resources industries and markets, we have invested over $100 million in the ‘Exploring for the Future’ program. This is about getting world-class geoscience science information and a new understanding of available resources, particularly across Northern Australia.
Our forthcoming national hydrogen strategy and collaboration with the United States on critical minerals will also open up new opportunities for this sector. Later this month, Queenslander - most importantly in this room - and Resources Minister Matt Canavan and the Trade Minister – forgive him he is from South Australia but he’s going to do a fantastic job together with Matt on this - will attend a high level dialogue in the United States to deliver a detailed joint US-Australia joint action plan on critical minerals agreed during my recent visit to Washington where we met with the President over this very issue as one of the most important items we discussed. We want to encourage new technologies and approaches, especially when it comes to getting better environmental outcomes. Australians have led the way on mining innovation for years now. There are huge opportunities to create the next generation of technology, not just in extracting and processing, but in measuring climate impacts, and in mining that other massive underexplored stream, data.
Critically, we're determined to preserve and create well paid secure jobs in Australian mining and to ensure there is a pipeline of skilled workers to take them up. Young Australians, as I said, need to know there is a great future in mining. That's why we have committed $30 million during the recent election to a new Central Queensland University School of Mines and Manufacturing. This builds on our comprehensive $585 million skills package and the important work undertaken by Steven Joyce, laying out a road map for the modernisation of Australia's vocational education and training sector. We need to train the people for the jobs we know that you are going to create and industries right across this country. It is a grand national project. Michaelia Cash is leading this vital reform effort on behalf of our government, working with all stakeholders, including state and territory governments. I want to thank all state and territory governments, including here in Queensland, for the way in which they engage with us on this matter of skills reform. A critical focus is ensuring employers and individuals ‒ those who demand the skills ‒ are in the driver’s seat of the national training system. There are many fine training providers, public and private, but the reality is we will not succeed with the same old supply-driven model of training.
As part of our VET modernisation agenda, the Government has announced pilot Skills Organisations in two industries of high skills demand: human services care and digital technologies. The first of these obviously highlighted in the most recent devastating but, sadly, not unsurprising report - interim report - we received from the Aged Care Royal Commission. The skills organisations that we are establishing will give target industries more say in developing targeted training products and the opportunity to trial new ways of working within the VET system. It's an amazing notion. Hold on. Someone will get trained in the skills they need to do the job that the employer wants to give them. I know it's a crazy notion. But that's not what the system is doing at the moment, and that is what the system must do. That is the marker I've laid down in terms of what the measure of success is for our VET sector. I want parents to know that when their kids go to training they are going to get the skills that they need to put them in a job for the rest of their life. It is a system that will continue to train and retrain them over the course of their professional lives, which means they can fulfil their hopes and aspirations for the future. And I want businesses to know that there's a pipeline of people right across their working lives that can continue to adapt and transform and to be able to make meaningful and significant contributions to their businesses. So that's why I'm pleased today to announce a third skills organisation pilot in the mining industry. We know that mining is a high-skill, high-wage industry, and this is a further statement of our confidence, of my confidence, in mining's future. It also recognises mining's critical role as a creator of job opportunities in regional and remote Australia, especially for Indigenous Australians. As I said, we want to be the world's number one investment destination. That is about much more than what we have got in the ground. It's about our whole business ecosystem. And, indeed, the wider cultural context in which is resources industry operates. But there are some challenges we need to overcome. Sensible policy settings, the quality of our resource endowment, the skill and innovation of our workforce and the support of local communities are necessary but not sufficient conditions for the success of the resources sector.
There are new threats to the future of the resources sector that have emerged. A new breed of radical activism is on the march. Apocalyptic in tone, brooks no compromise, all or nothing. Alternative views not permitted. A dogma that pits cities against regional Australia. One that cannot resist sneering at wealth-creating and job-creating industries, and the livelihoods particularly of regional Australians, including here in Queensland. Agriculture, mining, oil and gas production. Sectors that just happen to produce more than 70 per cent of our export income. Sectors that invariably rely on the industry and enterprise of blue-collar workers, as they would have been known. Sectors that have been abandoned by Labor that was founded in regional Australia to represent those workers. Labor's Deputy Leader recently said this, Richard Marles, that traditional Labor voters felt the party looked down on blue-collar workers, especially in coal mining regions of North and Central Queensland. Well, I wonder where they got that impression from? After all, it was Mr Marles who himself said the collapse of the coal industry would be a good thing. It was the Labor Treasurer of Queensland, Jackie Trad, who basically said it was time for everybody to get out of the coal industry and go do something else. We're not interested in closing down the mining industry, but building it up. The scale of condescension we have seen could hardly have been higher. But I'm pleased to confirm that as the recent federal election demonstrated, the majority of Australians understand and value the importance of the resources sector, the contribution it makes, and the need to have balanced policies that can secure both our economic and our environmental future. The vote on May 18 was an affirmation of an Australia where the contribution of rural and regional Australia and the great industries that it hosts, particularly here in Queensland, including mining and of course agriculture and others, is respected and recognised. But despite the election result, we must be vigilant in responding to these new extreme versions, in all of its manifestations of environmentalism.
Ladies and gentlemen, there should always be a place for peaceful protest. Of course. It is one of our democratic principles. But in Queensland and elsewhere, one variant of this new absolutist activism, anarchism, is testing the limits of the right to protest. The right to protest does not mean there is an unlimited licence to disrupt people's lives and disrespect your fellow Australians. There is also a related and coordinated campaign to disrupt the commercial operations of resource companies by trespassing on their property, by vandalising property or by seeking to delay construction of essential infrastructure. There is no place for economic sabotage dressed up as activism. But there is a third and even more worrying development. An escalating trend towards a new form of secondary boycotts in this country. This is a trend with potentially serious consequences for our economy, and particularly our regional economies. Environmental groups are targeting businesses and firms who provide goods or services to firms they don't like, especially in the resources sector. They are targeting businesses of all sizes, including small businesses, including contracting businesses here in regional Queensland. Businesses providing well-paid jobs in Rockhampton, Mackay, Bowen and Townsville. It is a potentially more insidious threat to the Queensland economy and jobs and living standards than a street protest. Some of Australia's largest businesses are now refusing to provide banking, insurance and consulting services to an increasing number of firms who just support through contracted services to the mining sector and the coal sector in particular, which is the nation's second-largest export sector. I think some of our largest corporations should listen and engage with their quiet shareholders, not just the noisy ones.
When Australian corporations deny services to other Australian companies under pressure from these activist groups, there are only two inevitable outcomes. One, Australian business does less business, and the other, Australian business is forced to acquire goods or services from an alternative overseas supplier at a higher price. I accept that the government, of course, cannot force one Australian company to provide a service to another. But will this trend extend to other sectors that have a significant carbon footprint? Will we start to see similar boycotts of on and offshore gas projects and power generation? When are they coming after the abattoirs? The airlines? Is that the sort of economy that they see in the future? And we're prepared to allow to occur? Is that the sort of country we want? Of course not. Let me assure you, this is not something my government intends to allow to go unchecked. Together with the Attorney-General Christian Porter, we are working to identify a series of mechanisms that can successfully outlaw these indulgent and selfish practices that threaten the livelihoods of fellow Australians, especially in our rural and regional areas and especially here in Queensland. Now, we will take our time to get this right. We will do the homework and we're doing that right now. But we must protect our economy from this great threat.
This isn't about democracy. People have the right to protest. But Australia is a country where we respect each other and we seek to do no harm to others in our community and undermine their livelihoods and their choices. We're a tolerant, engaging, inclusive country. And we're not one that has truck with others seeking to enforce and dictate and impose their choices on others by seeking to undermine the industries upon which those other Australians depend on for their livelihoods. So, be assured, we are on the job on this. I look forward to making further announcements on this as we progress further.
So, ladies and gentlemen, the resources sector is one of Australia's great national assets and strengths. As a country, you don't walk away from your strengths. You don't get intimidated out of your strengths by some people gluing themselves to goodness knows what.
[Laughter]
You play to your strengths. You recognise your strengths. A strong and growing resources sector is an essential element of my economic plan for Australia's future, and the jobs of Australians, both today and the future, that depend on it. The resources sector has given life to regional cities and communities across our great nation. From Ballarat, the Bowen Basin, Broken Hill, Mount Isa, Karratha and Kalgoorlie. It has shaped the contours of our development, the design of our inland railways and almost every port in the country. It has provided long-term benefits for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities throughout the country with local jobs and opportunities for development. It's been a plain stay of the Australian economy for almost two centuries. It has helped us through many difficult times, including the global financial crisis a decade ago. I want you to succeed and I want you to succeed big. I want Queensland to succeed and I want it to succeed big. And for that, you need a strong resources sector. Because that means a stronger Australia. Thank you for your attention.
[Applause]
Address, Tom Hughes Oration Dinner
30 October 2019
Sydney, Australia
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much, Julian, for that very kind introduction. It was very generous. Thank you very much for those words. It's great to be here with you. I'm here today to give the vote of thanks for Katrina's [inaudible].
[Laughter]
Now that I don't have to tell that ET story. Thank you, Katrina, for having us here and hosting this very important oration this evening and I'm very pleased to be here to be part of it. Tom, for you and all your family, it's tremendous to see you and I look forward to this evening and have been for some time now, since [inaudible] first invited me. You are a great Australian and so to be here with members of your own family as well to pay tribute is a great honour for me. Can I acknowledge the Gadigal people also, the Eora nation, elders past and present and emerging. In addition to that, can I also acknowledge the veterans in the room. I can see one over there Jim Molan. There he is.
[Applause]
And also, of course, Tom Hughes and I will come to that very, very shortly. But certainly any other serving members of our Defence Forces. We have the nation we have today because of those who served and particularly in that way and we should be grateful and I do say thank you for your service. I'm honoured to be invited to deliver this address tonight. It was established in 2017. And my distinguished predecessors Malcolm Turnbull and John Howard both have taken the opportunity to deliver this address in the past.
Now, of course, Tom's connection to Malcolm is well known, Malcolm being his son-in-law. But what may be less well known but certainly not less well known to Tom is that John Howard was indeed his first campaign manager when he ran for Parliament back in 1963 where he was the candidate at that time for the electorate of Parkes. Tom was 40, John was 24. The Labor incumbent was a fellow called Les Haylen and he had held the seat of Parkes, as it was then known, for 20 years.
Now, Tom pulled off what was described and thought of at the time as a surprise victory. Political miracles are not new, are they, Tom?
[Laughter]
But back then the pundits couldn't blame the polls for falsely setting their expectations as they have it these days because seat by seat polls didn't exist back then. But John Howard knew about Tom what others hadn't appreciated taking up that job. And that was Tom was a very serious candidate with real gravitas and presence. He was the real deal, as we might say today.
John Howard would later describe Tom at that election as a candidate right out of nationalsecurity central casting and this is what I want to talk about tonight. Tom had served in the Air Force during World War II, spending his time scuttling German U-boats in the English Channel on behalf of the allied forces. In his maiden speech he recalled having enjoyed what he described as a relatively lucky and safe war. Yet the awarding of the Legion of Honour by the French Government for his role in the invasion of Normandy suggests that Tom has probably somewhat underplayed the bravery of his service. This was very characteristic of his generation, our greatest ever generation of Australians.
Having played his role in securing our peace and defending our liberties, as part of that great generation Tom brought to his public life his role, a very special insight andimportance to Australia's national security. But also as one of Australia's sharpest, most passionate, deepest thinking legal minds he also understood that to protect our national security, you must also value and preserve the freedoms you are seeking to protect and of course in doing just that.
So tonight I want to talk to you in honour of that - how we as a Government have been seeking to practically do that job as a Coalition as we have been now for just over six years since we were first elected back in 2013. Now, during that time I have had the great honour to serve as a member of our national security committee and I have served there in- under two of my predecessor in Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott. And I have served on that committee longer than anyone in our government over these last six years.
And in serving my predecessors in my role, I saw very clearly from them, as it was clear courtesy of John Howard also and a lot of other Australian Prime Ministers, that the first duty is to keep Australians safe. Much of what we have done over the course of these last six years was done under the watch and under the leadership of my predecessors in Malcolm and Tony. And they deserve great credit for the tremendous work we've been able to do over that time. There has been a clear line that extends over that period of six years and it's something I'm very pleased to be now leading over this last year and continuing, I think, the legacy that has been laid down.
More than a half century on since Tom first joined the Parliament, threats to our nation today may be different in character but certainly very real. And so our responsibility as a government remains the same to ensure the security of our citizens. Keeping Australians safe and secure is not just about the geopolitical tensions of our time but it's more than that. As Liberals we understand that security must recognise the rights and freedoms of individuals and that it’s best grounded when we understand the values and democratic beliefs that is so essential to those liberties.
These values, these beliefs, they guide nations just as they do individuals. They are principles that inform our conduct. Lighthouses in rough seas and stormy weather, as a liberal democracy, Australia is defined by these. Adherence to the rule of law. Upholding the democratic principles. A deep respect for citizenship. Sovereignty of the people through mediating and governing institutions that exist at the people's pleasure. By tolerance and a culture of mutual respect. And not just high sounding words. They matter greatly to our daily lives and I have no doubt this audience understands that well.
We have an Australian nation of which we can be very proud. We are a people relatively free of the prejudices that divide so many other nations. We give ourselves a hard time about this but that's how we enable ourselves to maintain such a high standard when it comes to these things. Free of the prejudices - race, religion, gender, sexuality,disability, political views, any other attribute or identity. We are a nation who lives with all of these issues quite harmoniously, particularly [inaudible] with countries with whom we deal.
And that's why I'm so resolute about calling out extremism in whatever shape or form it may present itself in any of these areas. Whether to the right, whether to the left, secular or religious, coordinated by a group or carried out alone. It's also why I'm always happy to call out identity politics. Because I don't see Australia as a nation of tribes. Being Australian is always enough. And it's a great privilege to call ourselves Australian.
So our strength and security is ground in that great democratic and humanitarian equals that broadly governs the attitudes and values and actions of our people. At the same time, though, of course we can't be naive about the world in which we live in which these things are not all shared. The global environment is increasingly challenging and there areserious threats. A range of hostile actors is intent on undermining our democracy in numerous ways - terrorism, malicious cyber activities, interference in our institutions and in the comfortable bonds that exist between us all. Our global environment is deeply affected by the acceleration and pace of technological change. Advances in 5G, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, all of this underpins our future prosperity but we cannot be blind that this new and complex technology, we cannot be blind to the challenges that it poses for our security as well. Australia's intelligence, security and law enforcement agencies as well as the Australian Defence force are at the front line of our efforts to navigate these challenges and keep Australians safe. They serve us well and deserve our absolute respect. In such an environment, keeping Australians safe starts with ensuring that those who defend us have the resources and capability they need to do the job.
Our $200 million investment in improving the capability of the ADF is underway. Next year we will meet our commitment to increase the Defence Force budget to two per cent of GDP. As well, we've made ongoing investments in our national security and intelligence capabilities. In the last Budget we announced almost $1.3 billion in national security initiatives. That's why you need a strong Budget. This includes some $513 million for the AFP. We are also working with ASIO to ensure it has the capabilities it needs to meet an increasing and evolving threat environment. This funding builds on earlier initiatives. In particular, we established the Department of Home Affairs, something I worked very closely with my predecessor Malcolm Turnbull on, to improve coordination between Australia's immigration, border protection and domestic security agencies.
We also set up the Critical Infrastructure Centre which works across government and with industry to manage the national security risks arising from foreign involvement in our critical infrastructure and we created the Office of National Intelligence to make sure our intelligence community is prepared for the challenges of the future, including theopportunities and risks of new technologies. And we will soon finalise a review of the legal framework done in our intelligence community, equally as important. Leading that review is Dennis Richardson, the former Secretary of both Defence and DFAT. The review is about ensuring our intelligence laws are as clear, coherent and as consistent as possible.
We are also strengthening our cyber capabilities. In 2016, Malcolm delivered the landmark cyber security strategy. I remember being there on the day. This invested $230 million to foster a safer internet for all Australians. Since then we've opened the Australian Cyber Security Centre as a single point of cyber expertise. We've also formed the joint cyber security centres across the country to work more closely with industry and we created a 24/7 Global Watch to respond to critical cyber incidents.
All this paints a picture of a strong progress and decisive action. The threats we face have shifted significantly and they will intensify as we become more connected and we need to keep responding in this way. That's why we are now delivering a new cyber security strategy next year building on all the work that has been done. We are also investing $156 million to grow Australia's cyber security workforce to counter foreign cyber criminals and provide cyber security training to small businesses, older Australians and families. Cyber crime affected almost one in three Australian adults in 2018. And cyber incidents cost our businesses billions every year. So we do need to work together, governments, businesses and individuals to increase our resilience. The threat of terrorism, of course, remains a very real concern. While the territorial defeat of the Daesh caliphate and the death of Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi are significant, the threat of Daesh remains. We have to remind ourselves why Daesh is a threat to the world and why those who would fight or have fought with them are a threat to everything we hold dear. This is a group whose violence and depravity is an offence to all who believe in the dignity of humankind. Home grown terror cells and lone wolves and returning foreign fighters all continue to pose risks. We are doing everything we can to combat this. We are constantly reviewing our national security and counter terrorism laws to ensure our law enforcement and intelligence agencies have the powers they need to prevent attacks.
Since 2014, we’ve passed 18 tranches of legislation to do this. These cover everything from temporary exclusion orders to continuing detention orders for high-risk terrorist offenders, to enhancing the ADF's ability to support State and Territory's responses to terrorist attacks. We've also strengthened the security at our airports and set up programs to counter radicalisation and we are working with international partners to cut off the supply of financing for terrorism. And we are working with international partners on thatcontinually now.
We are hosting an international conference on counter terrorist financing in Melbourne just next week and this conference will be an opportunity to bolster global action on this agenda. But the achievement I think we can take most comfort from is that since the national terrorist threat level was raised in September of 2014, our security agencies have disrupted 16, 16 major terrorist plots on our soil. [Applause] Hundreds of Australian families still have loved ones with them because of the dedicated work of our security agencies. You may not know many of them. They are not household names, those who serve in those agencies. But I do. I know them. I work with them. And they are incredibly brave Australians. They do an extraordinary job and we all owe them a great deal. Of course, we can't completely eliminate the risk of terrorism. We all know that. But we can mitigate it and we will continue to do everything we can to keep Australians safe from terrorism.
And we can't allow ourselves to be intimidated by it either. I remember soon after Malcolm became Prime Minister, one of the things he did was he caught the ferry to work because he always used to do that and still does, but the point was he wanted to demonstrate to Australians that they should get on with their lives. And I think that is exactly what we should do. We should prepare, we should plan, we should resource, we should do all of these things. But one thing we should never do is be intimidated by them. The best way to counter that terrorist threat is to be who we are and proudly be who we are. We are also committed to take on the terrorist and violent extremists threat [inaudible] to exploit to the internet for these evil purposes. Of course, the internet is vital to our prosperity but it is being used by those also to try and do us harm. We cannot let it become an ungoverned space where terrorists plan and broadcast attacks. This came into being in stark relief with the terrible atrocities that occurred in Christchurch. Now, we acted swiftly in response. This was a case where the internet was weaponised by the terrorist.
And our action was to sign up to the Christchurch Call to Action and work closely with our Kiwi cousins. We brought together social media companies and internet service providers – could say we summoned them. I will with say diplomatically we organised a meeting. And then we set up a taskforce to combat terrorist and violent extremist content online. We passed new laws to send the message that live streaming of violent crimes is unacceptable.
Since April our eSafety Commissioner has also issued 16 notices against eight items of online content showing violent terrorist acts. This includes violent footage of shootings, beheadings, torture and murder. In the majority of cases the items have already been taken down or restricted for Australian users. We've also taken the agenda global. Soon after that attack I got in touch with Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan who was chairing the G20 in this past year, and asked for this matter to be put on the Osaka agenda, and it was.
At that Osaka meeting for the first time, it is no easy thing to get 20 nations to agree, but we did on a very comprehensive statement. We sent a very clear message that the biggest economies in the world were not going to tolerate large internet-based companies allowing their technology to be weaponised by terrorists and they either got it sorted out or we would sort it out for them. At the G7 Summit in France where we were invited to participate because of our initiative in this area, we partnered with New Zealand and the OECD to develop a common global standard for online platforms to report on how this progress was being achieved to de-weaponise the internet and this will provide a global report on how platforms have been removing the content, holding them to account to ensure they do not provide this haven for terrorists. At its best the online world is a place to share knowledge, to celebrate diversity of views, build relationships and that's fantastic but at its worst in the hands of evil it can do destructive and terrible things.
All of us need to stay safe online but children are especially vulnerable to exploitation. We must do everything we can do to protect them. In June 2014, we passed under Malcolm’s leadership, what was known as Carly's Law, named after the 15 year old Carly Ryan who was murdered a decade ago by a predator posing as a teenager. Carly's Law makes it a crime to plan to harm a child under 16 and in particular targets predators who misrepresent their age. It's a testament to Carly's mum Sonya who has worked tirelessly to shine a light on this issue. And in September we also passed a law to provide extra protections for children and address operational challenges that authorities are facing in regard to emerging forms of child abuse. The new law has already led to three arrests. And I call now on the Parliament to pass our sexual crimes against children and community protection measures bill. This will address inadequacies in the criminal justice system relating to sexual abuse of children.
We are also investing in other initiatives. We are providing $69 million to the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation. And $10 million to charities like the Carly Ryan Foundation to develop tools to protect children online. Our eSafety Commissioner is a world first and is evolving to the online challenges we face. The Commissioner provides the resources parents need to talk to their children about online safety and has toughpowers to take down cyber bullying content. And we've also introduced a civil penalty regime for image-based abuse online.
Extremists always target difference and seek to scapegoat others. Sadly, we live in a world where religious institutions and places of worship are being targeted. We know the stories. A mosque in Christchurch attacked during Friday prayers. An Easter Sunday massacre in churches throughout Sri Lanka. A synagogue in Pittsburgh attacked during a Shabbat service. And a new round of anti-Semitism that has even targeted the good man, Julian Leeser, who hosts us here this evening.
It's why after the Christchurch massacre we did expand our Safer Communities Fund to give priority to religious schools and places of worship. I can't think of anything else more sacred other than time we spend with our family, of humbly going to a place of worship to seek out the solace and solemnity of pursuing a faith, only to have all of that attacked and shattered in an instant.
The fund has already provided $70 million in grants since 2016 to keep these places of worship safe. And we’re adding $58 million more to it over the next four years to keep doing that job. Of course, I wish we didn't have to do this. I wish that others saw our churches and our temples and our mosques and our synagogues and other places of worship for what they are, places of community, places where women and children, they seek safety, solace and support that we all as Australians can be in these places and contemplate how we can be better citizens, better fathers, better parents, better sons, better neighbours. So we must protect people of all faiths and those with none, because we should all be free to be ourselves with our beliefs and walk safely through the contours of our lives. That's the peace that Tom fought and his generation.
Our strong national borders are also vital in ensuring our national security protects all Australians. Our success as a migrant nation rests on a social compact that the public support will support a sizable immigration and humanitarian intake so long as we run our immigration properly and our borders are secure. Since 1945 in particular we've opened our arms to more than 7 million migrants. We are immeasurably richer because of this. We are the most successful immigration multicultural nation in the world today. Not arguably - we are.
[Applause] As I said when I was Immigration Minister, our border is not just a line on a map, it's actually an asset. It holds economic, social and strategic value for our nation. Our border creates the space for us to be who we are and to become everything we wish to be as a nation. That's why in coming to government, working closely with the Prime Minister at the time and Jim, I should say, that we took the action that was difficult and hard but necessary to stop the scourge of people smuggling, to stop what was happening on our borders.
The images of what we saw under the previous government are too horrible to recall but they were forever in our minds as we worked through those difficult months in the early part of our government to ensure that there would be no repeat of it. Since then, 800 people from 34 boats have been stopped coming to Australia. Another 80 attemptedventures have been disrupted. We've closed 19 detention centres. We've removed all children from offshore detention as well as onshore detention. And until quite recently we have been able to ensure that the full integrity of all of our border protection regimes and legislation has been able to maintained since it was first established when we designed Operation Sovereign Borders over six years ago.
Earlier this year during the uncertainty of a minority Parliament for the Government, one of those laws was changed and we intend to have that fixed before the end of this year. But border protection doesn't end with stopping people smuggling. It also means protecting Australians from organised crime. Although organised crime is often based offshore, its impacts are felt in our communities. That's why we've launched a National Strategy to Fight Transnational and Organised Crime. We've also provided a $94 million funding boost to the national Anti-Gang Squad in last year's Budget. We introduced a national approach to strip criminals of their illegally attained wealth no matter what jurisdiction they operate in. But there is a lot more to do. For example, our Transport Security Serious Crime Bill is currently before the Parliament to stop criminals who have been convicted of serious crimes from having access to sensitive areas in our airports and ports.Now, Labor have actually opposed this, no surprise to me. I hope there is some time for reassessment of their view, that they will reconsider. But our view is clear. There is a choice, you back the people protecting our families and you give them the powers and resources to do their job and you ensure in the administration of law enforcement that is done in according to the liberties and values and principles of who we are as a nation.
Tonight I've spoken about the threats to our national security and our work to ameliorate the threats which we face today. I also want to say a few words about a defence we don't often talk about, and that is the Australian people. Tom is one of the last parliamentarians who served in World War II who are with us still today. People from all walks of life who interrupted their own lives, risked their lives indeed, and in the worst of cases and so many lost their lives because they believed in a country bigger than themselves.
I was reminded of that last week when I met Ken and Tina Boden, the parents of Kirsty Boden. I presented them with Kirsty's posthumous Florence Nightingale Award, an award of the international Red Cross, together with the British High Commissioner. Kirsty, as you may know, was a nurse. For many years she volunteered at the Tama Surf Club and also in Vietnam helping children with disability. She was an adventurous traveller who wanted to see the world. As I discovered last week, she was also a wonderful daughter and a joy to all who loved her. In June 2017 she was enjoying the next chapter of life. She was living in London and went out to dinner with friends. At 10.07 pm there was a deafening crash. A white van collided with a railing. It was a terror attack. Kirsty didn't need time to deliberate, to ponder or to ask what she should do. She acted with her instincts. She told her friends, "I'm a nurse, I have to go and help. I need to see if they need help." As she tended to a wounded victim she also became a victim of terror.
She is known as the Angel of London Bridge. The best of our Australian humanity taken from us by the worst that humanity can produce. Eight innocents fell that evening, including another Australian, 21 year old Sara Zelenak. Sara's family have shown their own strength. Her mother Julie and stepfather Mark have established Sara's Sanctuary in her name, a charity which provides support those suffering from traumatic grief as a result of a sudden death.
Our country, like all countries, will always face threats. As a Coalition government we will always do everything we can and I hope tonight I've been able to set out exactly what we have been seeking to do. Many of these measures you may have known about or may not. But we should never forget that a country that produced great men like Tom Hughes and that produces amazing women like Kirsty Boden and the families like Sara Zelenek's family, that in this asset we have an enormous capacity to face these things and not be intimidated by them.
I sometimes wonder, you know, when I grew up, we grew up with the threat of the world being blown to smithereens through a nuclear holocaust. When my parents grew up, they lived through World War II and ferries being sunk by Japanese subs in the Harbour behind us. And in Tom's generation, the greatest generation of Australians, those and those before him who grew up during World War I lived through the depression and then went on to fight and defend Australia's liberty and give us the peace we enjoy today.
I ask ourselves to look at their example, understand how they looked at these threats but walked into them in the great Australian spirit of irrepressive optimism and a passion and belief in our nation. We need to reflect more on these things as we think about the threats we face as a nation. We should feel great about who we are as a nation. There are many threats and existential challenges that we face in today's generation. But we should face them with the same optimism that Tom's generation did and draw strength from their example and not be intimidated, and talk positively to our kids about their future in this country. I worry when kids growing up today are concerned about thinking the world will end in years. I do worry about that. We've got to take the action we need to address the policy challenges of our age but we owe it to our children as Australians, as our previous generations have, to give them the sense of optimism and purpose that will see them carry forward in the same way that Tom's generation did.
So we are a people, a country of good, decent Australians. But when required, incredibly brave as well as Tom has demonstrated throughout his life. That's why we will always, in my government and the government I've been proud to serve in now, draw on the great example of Tom to ensure that we continue to keep Australians safe because there is no greater responsibility and no greater privilege. Thank you very much.
Remarks, HMAS Sheean return
26 October 2019
HMAS, Western Australia
Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: Well as we said downstairs, it is a great thrill for the Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds, and I to be here today, to be visiting with you on your return and particularly to be joined by Vice Admiral Noonan, the Chief of Navy, and Captain Doug Theobald, Commander of Submarine Force; Commander Darren White, Commander of HMAS Sheehan.
The reason we have come here today is to say something quite simple but something incredibly important, on behalf of the Australian people. And that is to simply say thank you for your service. The service that you’ve rendered in your most recent service, is incredibly valuable as you know and as I know, and as the Minister knows. It is a silent service the Submarine force, the general public have never been in a position to be able to appreciate I think the full details of what you’re able to do for your country, but you haven’t joined up to participate in these types of operations for parades, you’ve done it because out of a deep sense of duty, both to your fellow men and women of the Navy and the ADF more broadly, and out of a great commitment to your country. This is a calling that you have chosen to take up. And you’ve had the great privilege in most recent times to be able to go out and fulfil that calling on behalf of your fellow Australians. We just simply want you to know, that in all of the decisions that we make, in all of the careful considerations that we put around the various operations and the missions that we consider, that we – at all times – of course, consider the welfare of all of our serving men and women. And not just while they’re on deployment, and not just while they’re training for the deployment, when they return, and at some point in the future when you may choose to do something else, to ensure that your service is always respected and always honoured.
And so, with those simple remarks, it’s been a great thrill to come back here today to HMAS Stirling and to simply say to all of you, on behalf of all Australians, thank you so much for your service and I trust that, I know you’re already have spent some time at home with family again since you’ve returned, but I also know from a few of the chats that we had down below that you’re also looking forward to the next opportunity to serve your country on deployment again. So thank you very much, I’m going to hand over to Linda to say one or two things and then we’ll go from there.
Remarks - Prime Minister XI Morning Tea
24 October 2019
Canberra, ACT
Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much, Richard, and thanks to everyone who is here. Can I also acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, elders past and present and future and can I acknowledge any veterans who are here and any serving members of our Australian Defence Force and thank them for their service. Richard has already acknowledged, of course, the players and the captains and coaches and my colleagues, the Deputy Prime Minister who was an absolute cricket tragic, still playing and his last grand final was just this last season completed. I'm sure he'll be backing up again. So I'm qualified to carry some drinks today, he's actually qualified to do a bit more than that. So it's great to have the Deputy Prime Minister here.
It's also great to have the Attorney-General here. Christian Porter is also another great cricket tragic in our parliamentary ranks and I know he wouldn't miss out on this and it's great to have you here as well, Christian. This Prime Minister’s XI match has a tremendous heritage going back to 1951 and it has always played an important role in the annual cricketing calendar. And it's always been an opportunity for experienced players to show their leadership and to share their skills and for new and emerging players to come into the ranks and show the selectors what they're capable of as we're going into a new season.
This is a very strong squad which I'm pleased to have worked with Cricket Australia, but I've got to say they've done the heavy lifting. I was very happy to approve the roster, as I'd call it in my favourite code, but it is a very strong team of youth and experience and to have Dizzy, Jason Gillespie, coaching the team for the first time this year. He needs no introduction to any cricket audiences anywhere in Australia or around the world for that matter. And Jason, it's wonderful to have you as part of the squad this year coaching and to have co-captains for the first time also this time with Peter and Dan, it's wonderful to be sharing this opportunity with both of you.
But I've got to tell you, there's a bit of a record to follow. George did a great job last year as our captain, ensuring it was the first time the PM's XI had won for quite a few years when we had the game against South Africa last year. So, no pressure, but I'm sure you'll do a fantastic job and you’re up against an incredibly strong team from Sri Lanka this year.
It's also great to see this year going to a T20 format. I think that's going to be great for the cricket-watching public here in Canberra. I was talking about it on radio, local Canberra radio this morning [inaudible] and here in Canberra, it'll be one of two fixtures that they'll have played in this wonderful part of Australia. And so it's a great opportunity for people after work tonight to come down to Manuka and enjoy what I think will be a tremendous match between these wonderful and highly-strength teams. We're obviously going into a three match T20 series a with Sri Lanka, which I think is going to be tremendously exciting and I want to thank all the Sri Lankan players and the captain and everyone for being here and being part of this important match, but also what I know will be a very exciting series coming up and will lead into a great series with a matches also with the touring teams from Pakistan and New Zealand and with the Kiwis playing those big matches both on Boxing Day and the New Year's Test up in Sydney. That's going be a tremendous summer of cricket.
Of course, to Peter, we welcome him in his capacity as being part of the wonderful Ashes squad, which has brought home the Ashes to Australia and retain those. And we thank all of that team for the wonderful efforts they put in over there in the United Kingdom. But to all of the players who are going out there today, and I've got a particularly mentioned Daniel Fallins from the Sutherland Shire District Cricket Club. I’ve got to say, there is one requirement in this team, that there must be someone from Sutherland on each occasion and we’re pleased to see that. He certainly got there on merit and I'm really pleased to see, I'm sure [inaudible] will also be pretty happy to see you playing out there this evening.
It's also great to see those who are backing up again this year. Jason, from New South Wales, Jason Sangha, and you were part of that winning team last year and we're looking forward to seeing a great effort from you this evening. Can I also make mention of our female cricketers as well. Now, the Governor-General has a female team and that's his province and I think that's a fantastic part also of our cricketing calendar. But I want to acknowledge our female cricketers, the Southern Stars who recently won their three game one-day international series and a three-game T20 international series against Sri Lanka. And they have set a new world record for the most one-day international wins by a women's team in a row, which is 18. And to see the great strength of our women's game in cricket as we're seeing in so many other sports codes at the moment is just wonderful to see. And it's making these great codes, whether it's cricket or other sporting codes, accessible to women. As Richard knows, it's something we want to encourage right across the country. That's why we're putting serious investments in the changerooms at local sporting fields all around the country to make them accessible both to men and to women, to boys and to girls. And so they can look up at the players we're seeing here today, whether it's the Australian players or to the Sri Lankan players or in our men's teams or our women's teams and they can see themselves in their mind's eye, whether it's the baggy green or anything else, and see themselves doing that one day. And we want them to look up to that with some aspiration.
So I want to congratulate you all for your efforts to get to where you are today, in both the Australians PM's XI team and the Sri Lankan squad. Lasith, again, I want to thank you for bringing all of your team out and I wish you all the best for the series. I know you always enjoy your time when you're here in Australia and the relationship that Australia has with Sri Lanka is a very important one and we are great partners in so many areas and we have a deep respect and love for the people of Sri Lanka which I know that the people of Sri Lanka understand when it goes right back to the terrible events of the tsunami many years ago you know where the Australian people were in and most recently with the terrible events that occurred during the Easter attacks you know how Australians poured out their heart to the Sri Lankan people, not only here in Australia, but right across Sri Lanka. And we know that that's still a process and we want everyone back in Sri Lanka to know that Australians are very much with them as they continue to go through that difficult time. To the 4,000 Sri Lankans odd who lived here in the Canberra, come out tonight and support your boys and to all those Australians who can make their way out after work tonight. Maybe if you're in the public service, the boss will give you a bit of an early leave pass so you can get to the ground early, like William.
[Laughter]
And we look forward to a wonderful night of cricket. Thank you all very much
Address - Australian Migration and Settlement Awards
23 October 2019
Canberra, ACT
PRIME MINISTER: Well it’s great to be here, it’s great to see you again Rhys, great for us to catch up, thank you for stepping up and being here this evening.
Can I also acknowledge the Ngunnawal people tonight, their elders past and present, and future, can I acknowledge if there are any members of the Australian Defence Forces here tonight, any veterans who may be with us and simply say to you on behalf of a very grateful nation, thank you very very much for your service.
And our migration community over generations have made up those numbers certainly, those who’ve served in uniform to defend the very country that they’ve come to call home. And so particularly tonight, those members of our Defence Forces those who’ve served, as veterans, who’ve come from other places and called, not only this nation home. But then turned up to defend it as well in our uniform. Thank you so very very much.
To Innes, I thank you for your leadership of the council, Carla you have been doing a fabulous job, I remember many years ago when I was in opposition and I was working in these areas and was working with you when you were working in one of the Ministerial offices at the time, you’ve showed a, I think, commitment to this area of work in Australia’s nation-building which is outstanding. I reckon the OAM is a pretty good call.
To Peter Scanlon, Peter is an extraordinary Australian. I’ve known him for many years. He’s tried to convert me into a North Melbourne supporter in the past, with some success to the extent that it’s extracted a sympathy whenever North Melbourne is playing.
But it’s been the work that The Huddle has done down there in North Melbourne which is world-leading and nation-leading. And I remember one of the first times I visited, and I was so excited about what was being achieved there and we talked before about the [inaudible], and that’s true all around the country. So Peter, thank you for your tremendous philanthropic leadership in this important area.
David Coleman is here tonight as Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services, and Multicultural Affairs.
As are my Cabinet colleagues, Anne Ruston as Minister for Families and Social Services; and Stuart Robert who’s the Minister for Government Services and NDIS; Michael Sukkar is here, as Minister for Housing and Assistant Treasurer, Senator Kenneally is here as Shadow Minister for Immigration, a role I know well from times past.
And I know Anthony will be joining us in the near-future and I think it’s great that we can come here tonight as this event always has been, we’ve been coming here for many many years, a bipartisan affair as we really celebrate the things that make Australia so strong and Andrew Giles I understand is also here as the Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs.
Paris Aristotle is here, he’s a great mate, he’s been doing tremendous work in the settlement services area, over a long period of time; and Joseph Assaf. I suspect I’ll see many of you Monday night for the Ethnic Business awards which is Jenny’s favourite event of the year as we see the amazing work that is done by ethnic business leaders in our country, creating jobs and the stories are just sensational.
But tonight is a celebration of Australia’s migration program and Australia’s settlement.
And we are, and give yourselves a round of applause, we are the most successful immigration, and multicultural nation in the world.
[Applause]
Some may say that’s debatable, I don’t agree. It’s not debatable, it’s an established fact.
And tonight we acknowledge the work, and honour the work you do to make sure that remains the case, assisting new migrants to settle, and refugees to settle in our country successfully; to promote greater understanding within the community of the migration program; of fostering partnerships across government, corporate Australia and the community sector so services make a real difference.
All this means Australians are kept together, which is our goal. Our national unity.
Please, never lose sight of what an impact of what you do, does for our nation.
It builds a strong and cohesive Australia.
Because when you organise an English language conversation club at your church, or local café, or host welcome barbeques for new arrivals in your community, or hold networking events at neighbourhood art and craft groups, or help migrants with job and rental applications or with the paperwork for school enrolments, what you’re doing and so much more than that has ripple effects far beyond the level of that one individual for whom you’re changing their life.
You’re knitting Australians together, you’re strengthening the bonds that actually bind us all as Australians, and that means we all benefit.
All Australians.
Regardless of our background.
And when our local streets and towns feel vibrant and welcome and comfortable; when we connect together because we recognise our similarities and what we have in common and our great passion for this wonderful country, with ease and mutual respect, this is why we can make that claim.
That’s harmony and that’s cohesion – quietly at work within our community.
And that’s why, as I said, we are the most successful multicultural and immigration society in the world today.
Now we’ve long understood that our nation is greater because of the ideas, and ambitions and energy and dedication and sacrifice of immigrants to our country.
And you know what, if you’re not a first Australian, you’re an immigrant. It’s just an issue of timing.
Our story has three chapters as a nation:
The chapter that we acknowledged at the commencement of tonight’s proceedings, of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples — including those who left us long long long ago, and whose stories are still unfolding, and the contributions of those who will emerge in the generations to come is truly exciting.
Then of course there was the chapter of the arrival, of the settlement period, of the British and the democratic institutions that were brought to Australia that we rely on to this day.
One of those arrivals, he wasn’t a £10 Pom, he didn’t pay for the privilege, it was compulsory, was my fifth great grandfather, William Roberts, who came here on the Scarborough in the first fleet, for stealing £5 and some yarn valued at nine shillings; and he married my fifth great grandmother Kezia Brown, who came here on the Neptune, the second fleet, for stealing clothing from her employer.
We’ve all come from somewhere else at some stage. It’s just a question of timing.
And the stories of immigrants whether those of my great-great, many long times, grandparents, who are married at St Phillips in Sydney and carved out a future for themselves and their family in what was a difficult environment in what is now western Sydney.
That story, although it is historical, is not different from the second chapter of immigration in this country.
Where people have come, from all corners of the earth – a chapter bursting with dreams, daring and ambition.
They too found difficulties and challenges, and felt a long long way away from what was familiar.
The Afghan cameleers who explored our brown outback, and the Japanese pearl divers who fanned across our blue oceans, and the Chinese who panned for gold.
The migrants who escaped horrors of Europe as Rhys was saying, to work on the Snowy Hydro. Seventy years ago, we celebrated just in these last few weeks.
The post-war new Australians whose hands built the West Gate Bridge and so many roads, railways and ports.
And are doing again today.
They broke new ground – literally and figuratively.
And new migrants continue to do so, until now, and beyond.
We have in Australia a lot to offer.
And in return, our migrants have had a lot to give, coming to make a contribution, not seeking to take one.
That’s why our migration program will always be valued. And why I always will value it.
It’s why we must ensure it continues to receive stewardship of the highest order.
Our approach to regional migration, I think is a good example, and something Minister Coleman has been taking a strong lead on.
Regional visas form a central element to our broader Population Plan - a plan geared to easing pressure on the big capitals while supporting the growth of those regions that want more people.
Like those from Shepparton who I was meeting with today.
Shep has been an extraordinary, I think example of what can be achieved in regional migration in this country.
As you know the Government, we have a permanent migration program of 160,000 places, and within that cap, now 23,000 places for regional visas up from the 18,000 places that we established before.
Because we put a priority on regional settlement.
We are seeing very positive results, with more than 6,350 regional visas granted already in the first quarter of this program - an increase of 124 per cent compared with the same period last year.
I think this is great!
And we are well on track to meet that 23,000 regional visas by the end of the program year.
But Ladies and Gentlemen, migration is only successful if we continue to build the community trust and support for it to really work, as everyone I think here tonight understands.
Public confidence in our migration program is one of the great achievements of modern Australia, and the surveys that Peter has been supporting for many many years, Peter Scanlon, demonstrate that.
It’s been upheld though by some important foundational pillars: a skills-based migration program, at its heart. And a strong border protection framework which gives Australians confidence, as Secretary Pezullo said, the rest of the world wants what we’re having. When it comes to our migration program.
They, I can tell you as I move around the world today, people understand the success of migration in Australia and the arrangements we put around it, and they want to know how we do it.
And on settlement services, as we were hearing before, not just world standard, it’s the best in the world. There is no one who does settlement services, in the world today, better than Australia.
And these things provide the assurance that the program is there to serve our national interest and to add value, but one point I think Innes would agree with me on, in addition to what I’ve said, a skills-based program, a strong border protection framework so people can know that the program is working in the national interest.
There’s another one we’ve got to do better at.
To support social cohesion, public interest, in supporting migration.
And I want to spend a few minutes if you’ll indulge me to talk about that, and that is the capacity of our national training system. Our vocational education and training sector. To train Australians for the jobs of today and tomorrow.
See, people support our migration program, and they also want to see Australians go into those jobs. And they understand that when we’re training Australians for the jobs that we need, they understand that our opportunities are greater than that. And we need the migration program to continue to support it.
We don’t want people to think that we need a migration program because we’re not training Australians well enough. We want them to know both!
That we are training Australians to the best that we can to make sure that they’re having those opportunities, and indeed the second generation, the children of migrants and great grand children of migrants, but then others will come because so great is the opportunity here in Australia that we will continue to have that invitation to skills and migration throughout the world.
So the quality of our skills training is vital to maintaining public confidence in our migration program.
There are around 4 million VET students in Australia. Some 20 per cent of those students come from homes with English as a second language.
These are Australia’s future plumbers, builders, nurses, computer technicians. They deserve the same first-class education as students at our best universities.
And we need to fix our skills system.
There’s an obvious thread connecting the skills Australia is producing and the skills that we seek from overseas.
And that’s what I hear from business leaders, from small business, and others who are looking to get people into a job, and to get Australians into a job.
The VET sector is complex, it’s difficult to navigate, and it is not producing enough people with the right skills that businesses, industry and the economy need.
There are many excellent VET providers, don’t get me wrong. TAFE amongst them. But the overall system is not keeping pace with the needs of these individuals and businesses that employ them and a changing economy.
We’re too slow at identifying the skills Australia needs now, and what we’ll need in the future. And too many Australians are locked out of the labour force due to a lack of relevant skills.
And that leads to the skills shortages which are holding businesses in Australia back from employing so many more.
And it means we’re at risk of not preserving the hard-won public confidence in our migration program – which relies on skilling our workforce at home, even as we seek skilled people from around the world.
So we’ve got to honour that compact. Too much is at stake.
We need a system that simply focuses on getting people the skills that are needed today that employers are wanting to employ people with.
We need a system focused on those who are the beneficiaries of the program, not the providers of it.
I’m not that fussed, through which chain of delivery the training comes. Public sector, private sector, there are great operators in all of these sectors.
But I don’t want them to be focused on them, I want them to be focused on the skills we need and the businesses that are going to employ those people.
That’s why we commissioned Steven Joyce prior to the last election to undertake a root-and-branch review of our vocational education and training system.
The background to the Joyce recommendations is a new era of technological change transforming the nature of jobs.
We know the labour market is continuing to shift towards higher skilled jobs. Emerging technologies, the internet of things, AI, automation are driving a shift from routine to non-routine, cognitive jobs.
Yet what’s not been fully appreciated is the central conclusion of his report.
It’s a misconception, he argues, that university education is the only or even the most suitable stream for learning the skills Australians need to succeed.
“If anything,” he says- and I quote, “it’s likely that vocational and work-based training will be more important in the future as technology-driven changes to jobs and tasks need to be quickly transmitted across industries and around workplaces.”
So these are real opportunities for Australians of all ages, of all backgrounds, if we get this right.
And I want to thank particularly the state and territory Premiers and Ministers, who have engaged with the Commonwealth on this task. Putting politics aside. Understanding the real weaknesses in the system. And joining up together in a real federal effort, to have a good go at ensuring we get the changes we need to make.
We know that among the areas of most acute skills shortage are technicians and trades workers, ranging across construction trades, electricians and automation trades workers.
We are also facing higher workforce demands across the disability, aged care and child care sectors.
According to Deloitte, growth in demand for good VET qualifications - advanced diploma, diploma and certificate III and IV qualifications, is expected to outpace growth in supply over the next five to ten years, leading to a tightening skills market.
So in the Budget this year, we made significant investments to improve the architecture of the VET system and to position it as a modern, agile alternative to classroom-based education.
We’re working as I said with the states to achieve all of that, moving people into great jobs. And we must all pull together and do the hard work to deliver better training.
So that’s how we keep our promise to the Australian community – by making all of these pillars, you might say well why has he come here tonight to talk about VET? We’re all sort of involved in settlement services, and we’re all here involved in assisting migrants to come to Australia. And that’s great! But what I need to be focused on as a Prime Minister, with my Ministers. Is not only ensuring that we continue to support those important services, as David is doing such an excellent job of doing, but it’s not just about saying we believe and know that Australia is the best immigration country in the world today, it’s about doing the things that make sure that Australia stays that way.
So maintaining that discipline, and that targeted focus on skills based education and training, maintaining that focus on ensuring that the skills migration is the heart of the program, and ensuring that we run a border protection regime that gives Australians confidence about the whole scheme, so it can continue to perform is very important.
So tonight, we are paying tribute to all those who are making such a tremendous contribution to our multicultural nation.
And again thank you to the Migration Council of Australia for your continued guardianship of Australia’s extraordinary multicultural and migration success.
And I want to congratulate all of tonight’s nominees and all recipients for bringing strength, and character and unity to our nation.
Thank you.
Address - Prime Minister's Literary Awards
23 October 2019
Canberra, ACT
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much, Paul, for your introduction. Can I also acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, their elders past, present and emerging. Can I also acknowledge any members of the Australian Defence Forces and veterans who are with us and say thank you for your service.
Can I thank Annabel who makes any event one that we always begin with a smile - often at our expense.
[Laughter]
But it is always one with a smile and done with a generous nature. And an author, of course, in her own right, of which my wife is a keen fan of, consuming not only her books but what she writes about in her books, particularly the recipes. And so I am very grateful for your work, Annabel, in particular.
It’s wonderful to be here to celebrate these Literary Awards, the Prime Minister’s Awards. Last week, I was celebrating the Prime Minister’s… It’s a division.
[Laughter]
To be continued.
************
[Applause]
Congratulations, Meredith. I was going to say that you’re on my reading list this Christmas. I’m looking forward to delving into your great work.
But as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by the bells, you are the nation’s storytellers. And in that job, it is not just the responsibility that you have to tell your art but there is a leadership role that you play in what you do as our nation’s storytellers.
And it doesn’t matter if those stories are works of fiction, non-fiction, history, poetry, any of these. Children’s books, young adult books - all of these are so instructive in our lives.
I think I reminded this audience last year that there are three books that never leave my consciousness. David Malouf’s The Great World, Peter Carey’s Illywhacker, and Kate Grenville’s The Secret River.
These are books - we’ve all read many books - but you know there are some that just hover over you and linger throughout your experience, and these are three that have always informed mine.
Now, Annabel rightly said that this is a… or Paul did, that this is a generous prize in terms of its prize money, but those who are involved in these great works of leadership in writing, I know you don’t do it for the money.
The reason I know that is because in our own family, and this is probably the reason why I haven’t sought to go on to literacy sort of heights, Annabel, is because the bar has been set pretty high in our family with Dame Mary Gilmore, who was my great-great-aunt.
And what I can tell you is that while she may not have left a great estate for the family in terms of her material wealth, she left this country a great estate in terms of her body of work. And it’s a great privilege for us today to share in her work and her estate, I’m told through my family, was around about 12,000 quid when she left.
She lived in a small apartment on Darlinghurst Road in Kings Cross. Her place was just above the Kings Cross Station and my father, who was a police officer, a beat police officer at the time, would go and visit her quite regularly. She wasn’t wealthy, she wasn’t an A-lister, but her poetry touched people and she touched this country and she touched its soul.
Recently, when I was in the United States and the President was giving a toast to Australia, he started reciting a poem and it was Dame Mary’s. And I thought, well, I’ll have to remind him after he’s finished that this was actually my great-great-aunt and it was something that he already knew of.
And that fact that her stories and her poetry had reached well beyond our shores I thought was great for Australia because she was so passionate about Australia. I can assure you that Dame Mary and I probably would have had one or two political arguments if she were around today. She lived in a different time and there are different challenges but I know this - she was very passionate about her country, as all of you are.
And the great list of names who are part of our great tradition - Henry Lawson, Banjo Patterson, Judith Wright, Les Murray, Miles Franklin, Tim Winton, Kate Grenville, Patrick White, Bryce Courtney, Colleen McCullough, Paul Jennings and the great Charles Bean our great war historian.
But it’s also how it affects our daily lives with our families. And Jenny has done an extraordinary job in our family, from the very early stages of our children, of investing in them the great mind-broadening activity of reading. She was reading to them before they could even speak and she used to read every night and I would join her when I would have the great opportunity to be there.
And so they’re great, avid readers today. I was just talking to my youngest daughter Lily this morning and she was telling me - I didn’t need to ask, she just told me - about the latest book that she had picked up and it was about a dog that lives in a hotel in Melbourne. It’s actually a true story, ‘The Adventures of Mr Walker’, and she was really excited about getting home to read it tonight.
And that’s why you do what you do because it’s opening minds, it’s exciting the passions, it’s unleashing the creative spirits of Australian all around. You don’t have to be an author to get it, you just have to be a reader, I think, to get it, and in so many ways with those things.
Next time I come back I promise to talk about the prizes!
[Laughter]
************
So this is a speech in three acts.
[Laughter]
And I just was literally coming to point of saying thank you to all those who have been nominated. Thank you to all of those who have supported those in their tremendous work. No writer works without a muse or those who support them through what is a very difficult and emotional process and an incredibly taxing intellectual process as well.
I was reading this week about some of the processes people go through to try and crack through when the block hits and as you’re seeking that inspiration. People go for a walk or go to the pub or do whatever they need to do.
But I want to thank you for your perseverance in going through to produce the magnificent works that you have done for our nation.
Can I also thank, as Annabel did, the judging panel as well. This was a tough call with all of these works so thank you very much for the effort that you’ve invested in paying great respect to all of these authors who you have treated with great sensitivity and care and respect in the way that you’ve assessed their works. You would acknowledge, I’m sure, all of their great contributions, as do I.
But, as is always the case with awards of this nature, one is singled out. And you’ve already heard from Meredith and I think that this is… I couldn’t agree more with what you were saying as I heard you just from the wings there. Bringing and shedding light, I think, to expose myths and at the same time focus these important discussions where they need to. So I am genuinely looking forward to having a good read of your work over the Christmas break.
So with that, I want to congratulate everyone for being a part of this. I want to thank Paul for his work and his Department’s work and how they have worked to ensure they have been able to bring this day together again this year.
And without further ado, let’s hand out some more awards, Annabel.
Address - Anniversary of National Apology to victims and survivors of institutional sexual abuse
22 October 2019
PRIME MINISTER: Mr Speaker I move that the House commemorate the anniversary of the National Apology to the victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.
Mr Speaker, I join with all in our Chamber today, I join with the Leader of the Opposition, I join with all of those across the country as we mark the first anniversary of the Australian Government and Parliament’s Apology to the victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.
I remember that day incredibly well. It is burned in my memory forever. And I remember on that occasion speaking of those around the country for whom they still would not be able to get out of bed without the horrific memory of what they have lived with ever since those un-utterable things were done to them all those years ago, or even most recently.
And so we come again today and as we commemorate this day, they, the survivors, are the ones we have in the front of our minds and deep in our hearts.
And we also remember those for whom it was just too much. And they are no longer with us.
A year ago our nation said sorry.
I described it as a sorry, that we dare not ask for forgiveness. A sorry, that does not insult with an incredible promise. A sorry, as if we lie just prostrate before those to whom it’s offered, with nothing to say other than to reflect on the terrible events that had affected their lives.
We acknowledged a national trauma, a national trauma that was hiding in plain sight.
The silenced voices, and what I described as the muffled cries in the darkness. And the never-heard please of tortured souls. That is still true today.
Ritual crimes of sexual abuse, committed by enemies in our midst. Enemies that all too often cloaked their evil in the roles where they should be trusted more than any: teachers, priests, pastors, coaches, and counsellors.
Because they held positions upon which our society deemed respectful, they were believed. A survivor named Ann said “my mother believed them rather than me”.
As a parent, those words still just make me shudder.
Our apology, that brought all parties, all people in this place, together in this House – was one of our most difficult moments, but always the Parliament at its best. And I particularly want to thank the then-leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten, for his partnership on that day. For sharing and carrying that burden on behalf of this Parliament with me on that day as we stood in this place as we spoke to those who stood, sat I should say, silently up on the chairs and around the galleries and those whom are back here today, and as we went out on to the lawns also, and when we went into the Great Hall. So thank you Bill. Thank you very much.
We both can tell those stories, and I met Aunty Mary Hooker a Bungelong women, who last year was on the lawns of Parliament after the Apology. I remember as I was reminded of that event today, and she told me she gave evidence at the Royal Commission because she said, the truth needed to be told. Now Auntie Mary, she passed away almost two weeks ago. And until the time of her death, she had on the television in her home, a photo of the two of us from that day. It wasn’t about any one Prime Minister, it was about what that day meant to her, and how that at least provided what we did in this place a year ago, some measure of solace.
The apology required us to confront a question. A terrible question, too horrible to ask even: why weren’t the children of our nation loved, nurtured and protected?
So we said sorry.
For the hurt and the horrors.
For the violation of dignity and self-worth.
For what was done; the acts- too unspeakable
And then sorry for what was not done, and should have been. As we looked the other way instead of helping or intervening.
Sorry to the families who were forever scarred or destroyed.
Sorry to those who weren’t believed.
Our failure as a nation was catastrophic and inexcusable, and no apology can undo it.
Yet we apologised because we should, and we must’ve. And I’d like to think of it as an on-going and continuous apology.
I agree with the survivor who said, “child sexual abuse is not just a crime against the person, but is also a crime that attacks the social fabric of the nation.”
And in these acts, the fabric of our society was rent.
And our apology was just one humble but important step in trying to mend it.
On this day one year ago, we paid tribute to the thousands of people who came forward bravely and with the courage to tell their story to the Royal Commission.
There weren’t just a few – the numbers make you shudder, 17,000 came forward and nearly 8,000 recounted their abuse in private sessions of the Royal Commission.
A year ago, we pledged that we would report back, I pledged we would report back to the Australian Parliament, to the people on the progress we are making on the implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission.
Because it’s only actions now that can prove the worth of our sentiments. And that is what today is the opportunity to do, but in providing these introductory comments I think it’s important for us to go back to where we were a year ago and just simply allow the horror of those events to impact us with a heavy blow.
Mr Speaker, the Government will continue to report annually on this progress as we should, of the Royal Commission’s 409 recommendations, the 84 regarding redress have been addressed, through the implementation of the National Redress Scheme.
The Commonwealth has a further 122 recommendations that we are working on, either wholly or partially with our state and territory colleagues.
I’m pleased that work on these recommendations is well advanced. Around a third have already been implemented and the remainder are well underway.
The Commonwealth has also taken on a national leadership role for more than 30 additional recommendations that were primarily addressed to the states and territories, and we’re working closely with those states and territories on these matters.
We tabled the first Annual Progress Report last December and we’ll continue doing that each year for five consecutive years. But frankly as long as it takes.
All states and territories also published 2018 Annual Progress Reports and will also provide annual reporting.
This year we have also encouraged a further 42 non-government institutions whose conduct was called into question at the Royal Commission to report on their actions and to change their practices.
The public accountability across governments and non-government institutions is crucial and vital
Mr Speaker, one year on I can report that the National Redress Scheme has been operating for just over a year and is giving survivors access to counselling and psychological services, monetary payments, and, for those who want one – a direct personal response from an institution where the abuse occurred.
So far, more than 600 payments have been made totalling more than $50 million, with an average redress payment of $80,000.
More than 60 non-government institutions, or groups of institutions, are now participating in the Scheme, and that represents tens of thousands of locations across Australia where this happened.
And there are other institutions who have though, chosen not to join.
Perhaps, captured by lawyers, legal advice, perhaps deaf to the cause of justice.
All they are doing in not joining this, is doubling down on the crime, and doubling down on the hurt.
And so to them I say, who have not joined, join.
Do the decent thing, do the right, do the honourable thing.
It’s not just what survivors expect. And their families and the families of those who did not survive, It’s what every, decent, honest, Australian demands.
And we, in this place, all as one demand as well.
I also acknowledge that the Redress Scheme needs to do better in supporting survivors.
The rate of response it is not good enough and it must improve.
Applications haven’t been processed as fast as I want them to be.
That is why earlier today Minister Ruston announced a further investment of $11.7 million in the National Redress Scheme to improve its operation and better support survivors.
The funding will support case management of applications to reduce the number of different people a survivor may be required to deal with while their application is being processed.
It will also allow the Government to hire more independent decision makers to finalise applications as quickly as possible.
On the 5 March 2019, the Government committed funding of $52.1 million also to boost support services for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse:
This funding will support 34 existing agencies to June 2021 as well as five additional providers to offer Redress Support Services to survivors in remote and regional areas, male survivors, survivors with a disability and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander survivors.
The Royal Commission made many recommendations for the Australian, State and Territory governments to work together to prevent the horrors of the past from occurring again.
One of those was a National Strategy to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse.
I can report that all governments are currently working on a 10 year strategy.
Over 350 consultations have taken place as part of that work.
I expect it will be released in coming months.
As recommended by the Royal Commission, the strategy will include education and awareness-raising; improved support services for victims; initiatives targeted at offender prevention and at children with harmful sexual behaviours; and, improved information sharing, data and research.
We’ve also been working with our state and territory colleagues to enhance Working With Children Checks in line with Royal Commission recommendations.
We’re closer to our goal of making the standard of checks consistent across the country, and have started rolling out a database to be able to share this information more easily.
This database will also allow agencies that issue these checks to be aware of whether an applicant has been refused a check in another jurisdiction.
In response to the Royal Commission, the Parliament has recently passed the Combatting Child Sexual Exploitation Legislation Amendment Act.
This Act introduces new ‘failure to report’ and ‘failure to protect’ offences, much needed for Commonwealth Officials who have care, supervision or authority over children.
It strengthens laws for forced marriage and for overseas child sexual abuse committed by Australian citizens and residents.
To address challenges facing our law enforcement agencies, the Act also strengthens child sexual abuse material laws, including in relation to material accessed online.
The Act also amends Commonwealth laws so they are no longer using the term ‘child pornography’, an outdated phrase that did not reflect the heinous criminal acts depicted in child sexual abuse materials.
We’re close to finalising our Online Safety Charter, which sets out the Government’s expectations, on behalf of the Australian community, for social media services, content hosts and other technology companies.
Businesses that interact with children in the real world have to meet high standards of safety, and digital businesses should be treated no differently.
The charter is due for release by the end of this year.
The eSafety Commissioner is making the online environment safer for children by developing resources for Australian schools and organisations to provide best practice online safety education.
The Royal Commission produced some ground-breaking research work on the nature and scale of sexual abuse in Australia.
And we want to build on that work.
And that’s why we’ve announced Australia’s first National Child Maltreatment Study.
This will be the most comprehensive study of its kind undertaken anywhere in the world.
We’re establishing a National Centre for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse.
The Royal Commission recommended the National Centre should:
raise awareness of the impact of abuse,
increase our workforce’s knowledge and their competence in responding to victims and survivors, and
coordinating a national research agenda.
The Government has committed $25.5 million over five years to establish that centre and I’ve asked all states and territories to contribute also.
We’ll be consulting on the scope, functions and governance arrangements in coming months.
The Royal Commission also found that more needs to be done to ensure that places where children and young people meet are safe.
So I was pleased earlier this year when COAG endorsed the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.
There are ten principles, and they include things like making sure that organisational leadership take responsibility for child safety; staff and volunteers are properly trained to care for our children; and that children are taken seriously.
All Government agencies are implementing these principles.
We’re also working with state and territory governments to get them implemented consistently across our nation.
We also want, organisations that work with children to adopt these principles so they can guide their decision making and how they operate.
Mr Speaker earlier today Minister Ruston handed over to the Parliament the parchment etched with the Apology’s wording.
It will now take its place in the Members’ Hall, along with other items that tell some of the stories of our nation.
It’s not one of the pretty stories. It’s not one of the stories we can be proud of, only one that we can be deeply ashamed of.
The oak table used by Queen Victoria when signing the Royal Assent that enacted Australia’s Constitution is there.
The Yirrkala Bark petitions are there.
But also, are the apologies made to the Stolen Generations; to the Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants; and for the forced adoptions.
These items of ceremony, struggle and suffering sit in the symbolic heart of our Australian Parliament, on public display because that’s who we are as a people. We do confront the ghosts and horrible deeds of our past, because it’s right to do so. But we also do it as a living memory to us all that we should never see them repeated. And for it to be here in this please, let it be a remembrance for us. Let it call us to account. Because these things are part of our national story, and we’ve got to own all our stories to be a complete people.
Many of the survivors, Mr Speaker, who gave evidence to the Royal Commission were asked to share a message with the Australian people about their experiences as part of this display and more than 1,000 Australians have done so.
One of them, whose name is not known, wrote to us and said, “Let our voice echo”.
Well it does Mr Speaker. In this chamber today, and may it ever be so.
May all those brave voices continue to echo. Let it bounce but not just that, permeate into how we remember what they have told us.
They are believed, we said a year ago. We believe you. We still believe you. We will forever believe you.
And we are sorry as we said a year ago, and we remain sorry.
Remarks - Deepavali Celebration Function
21 October 2019
Canberra, ACT
PRIME MINISTER: Once again, Namaste.
[Applause]
The High Commissioner, fellow Members of Parliament, in particular Josh Frydenberg the Treasurer is here from our Cabinet, as indeed of course is Alan Tudge, a member of our Cabinet, and David Coleman, our Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs amongst many other things and to all the colleagues who are here from all sides of politics, can I welcome you all.
Friends, for more than fourteen years, the doors of this Parliament have been thrown open to celebrate Deepavali.
And this is getting bigger and bigger every year, like everything in India does.
[Laughter]
We have lots of great events in this Great Hall but the best events are the ones where the community is involved and I get to wear something like this.
[Applause]
The turnout tonight is wonderful and there is a great spirit about the gathering we are having here this evening. And we join with hundreds of millions around the world participating in this 2,500 year old festival of faith.
A wonderful celebration of light over darkness.
Of knowledge over ignorance.
Of good over evil.
I said in a similar gathering here in this Parliament a week ago, a Prayer Breakfast, and I talked about the importance of faith in people’s lives.
And I said that faith wasn’t about piety. Faith was about understanding our human frailty.
And in that understanding of human frailty, we are connected all to each other in our vulnerabilities.
And so when we understand that, we do pray for knowledge over ignorance and we do pray for light over darkness and we do pray for good over evil, which this wonderful celebration is about.
More than 700,000 people of Indian descent now call Australian home. Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Muslims amongst many others.
It is our fastest-growing diaspora in Australia and it is a community that has given so incredibly much to Australia.
India is the world’s biggest democracy and it is one of the greatest beacons of light to democracy and we are pleased to see a wonderful powerful economy being built on such a strong, democratic foundation.
There is so much we share together - democracy, language and even a national day. The links and history between our peoples are great, through both peace and war.
We are the most successful multicultural country on earth in Australia.
[Applause]
And as I often talk about in functions like this, there are many metaphors which are given to explain multiculturalism in Australia.
But the one I like best is garam masala.
[Laughter]
Garam masala, that better? Getting there?
Getting the cloves, the cardamom, you put it all together. You have one of them on their own - rubbish.
[Laughter]
It doesn’t leave a good taste in the mouth.
But when you blend them all together, you taste them, you grind them up - wow.
[Applause]
And that is the fragrance that comes from Australia’s multicultural society, of which those of Hindu faith and the Indian national people have come here representing so magnificently.
But there is more to acknowledge in this relationship.
We often speak of the 26,000 Australians who were casualties at Gallipoli.
But what we don’t often speak of is the 1,400 Indians who fell, and the more than 3,500 who were wounded in that battle, side by side with our ANZACs.
Last year, a small community in Cherrybrook, in Julian Leeser’s electorate, and he’s here. No one is more committed to this relationship than Julien, I can assure you, because he’s actually learning to speak Indian. Congratulations.
[Applause]
And they raised the funds to erect a memorial to the Indian soldiers who joined the AIF.
I’m reminded of the story of the Garhwal Rifles – Indian troops who served on the Western Front.
They suffered through all the horrors and hardships of trench warfare in the Great War.
On Christmas Eve, 1914, they were dug in near the French village, a small little French village of Neuve-Chapelle.
And then something odd happened.
The guns fell silent and music could be heard from the German lines and we know the story of Christmas carols.
It was the Christmas Truce – a spontaneous act of peace and compassion seen up and down the Western Front.
The Indians looked on as the Germans began to place small candle-lit trees along their trenches.
And while that reminded those of the Christian faith of Christmas, the lights reminded those of the Hindu faith of Deepavali.
This was a story and an experience which is often remembered amongst those of the Christian faith when they look back at that time.
But here was an engagement with another faith, a little piece of home, far away on a foreign shore, in a foreign war.
And so the guns would remain silent on that Christmas Day.
And so light, for that short period of time, did prevail over darkness.
Good did prevail over evil.
And there was a Deepavali message we can all embrace regardless of whatever faith we have.
So I wish you all a very happy and joyous and prosperous Deepavali.
[Applause]
It is a wonderful time for family, it is a wonderful time for friends and community to reflect on the wonderful life that those who have come to Australia over many generations or more recently and the contribution that you’ve been able to make and that we can celebrate together.
But best of all, it’s a wonderful time of celebration and some really good food. Enjoy.
[Applause]
Remarks - Lunch with Australian and Indonesian Business Community
20 October 2019
Australian Embassy, Jakarta
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much Gary. And I can thank you and all of our incredible Commission staff here at Jakarta for the tremendous job you do in managing what is such an important relationship for Australia. You bring incredible experience to the role and we rely on it so much in our understanding of things on the ground here. Not just from your own experience but of course your ability to bring such an incredible crowd here today, on a day which is a significant one for Indonesia and I’m sure there are plenty other events going on today as there should be. It is a tremendous day for Indonesia and the fact you’ve all chosen to be with us here today I think says a lot about how you see our Commission here in Jakarta and in Indonesia and that also I think through the regular reporting and advice that we get from Gary enables us to get a very good handle on what’s happening here on the ground. And it’s particularly great to see so many here today, not just Australian expats, who you know, you can never keep them away from a barbecue any day. But to see so many of our Indonesian National friends here with us today. Can I acknowledge the presence of the KADIN, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry led by Rosan Roeslani, thank you very much. Can I also acknowledge APINDO, the Indonesian Employers Association led by Hariyadi Sukamdani. Did I get that right? Almost. Almost. I had a lot of small cards for this evening. And of course the Indonesia Australia Business Council led by former Ambassador to Australia, Hamzah Thayeb. As well as the distinguished CEO’s and present Commissioners from the business community. It’s true I used to be in tourism so it’s only appropriate that I say it’s wonderful to be in wonderful Indonesia which I understand is the new slogan used by Indonesia. And it’s an honour for me to attend of course the inauguration this afternoon on the Jenny and the President Widodo, who is a good friend, he is a good friend of Australia, he’s a tremendous friend to Australia. But he’s also a good friend of mine. And of previous Prime Ministers as well, Prime Ministers Abbott and Turnbull who had an outstanding relationship and we appreciate that very much. And the time we have been able to spend together over a period and the achievements that we have been able to progress with. He’s a close partner as is Indonesia. In his own life he’s achieved incredible things having come from humble beginnings to the very highest office. He’s achieved something important for Indonesia’s democracy I think, he has in his own story demonstrated what is possible to every single little Indonesian boy and girl in that true tradition of democracy that wherever you’re born, wherever you are, whatever your background, whatever your up-bringing that you can indeed rise to be the President of this great country. And I think that is one of the big things that we’ll be celebrated again on this second occasion of his inauguration. And as a friend I am so pleased to be here with Jenny and join Iriana as well this afternoon to celebrate his great achievement in his re-election. I’m a big fan of re-elections, I think they’re great.
[LAUGHTER]
[APPLAUSE]
He’s achieved a lot, social and structural infrastructure, airports, seaports, highways, underground metro rail here in Jakarta. And when any leader is elected for the first time they usually get a honeymoon and when they get elected a second time the people generally say well let's just get back to work. And that’s exactly what he’s doing. I know he’s been visiting areas hardest hit by the fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra. And I do want to express our deepest sympathies for the people of those provinces and for the nation of Indonesia. Sadly on too many occasions I text my friend Jokowi and simply to say I’m so terribly sorry to hear of this terrible event or that terrible event, natural disasters and he’s always so kind in his messages back to me. And so appreciative of the fact that Australians would be mindful of the things that Indonesia are facing from one moment to another. It’s such an extraordinarily large country and covers so many different places within this incredible country. And he’s a President that I think very much is wanting to transport himself to so many parts of the country at any one time and I got to say he did that literally at the last election with his holograph. There are only two people I know who have done that in an election campaign, President Widodo and Prime Minister Modi who I understand he got the idea from, in his first one. But both leaders of countries that are trying to connect with people in so many different parts and to use that technology I think says a lot about him that he wanted to reach out. And he wanted to connect with people right across this country. It was also with some shock, some real shock that we learnt of the terrible stabbing of the Coordinator Mr Wiranto last week and that was very upsetting and I’m pleased to know that, have told me today, that he’s making a good recovery and equally on that occasion we passed on immediately our deep concerns. Not just obviously about the fact that such an attack could have occurred but indeed happened in relation to the Coordinating Minister. He has been at the forefront of our cooperation with Indonesia on counter terrorism and we continue to have our thoughts with him. Now we are great neighbours, we are longstanding partners, we are old friends. It’s amazing Australia can have such a close relationship with a country who we rarely play in sport. It’s usually often goes with some of the relations we have we tease each other as those in Great Britain would be teasing us over the rugby this week. It says a lot that this is a relationship we have that goes well beyond those sorts of things. There are other points of connection which draw us together. From the sailors of the Makassar who traded with indigenous Australian communities 300 years ago, to Australia's support after the Second World War for Indonesia’s independence, 2019 the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations. I was relaying today to President Widodo that the mere sight of the new capital that he’s seeking to establish, I relayed to him that that’s where my grandfather was at the end of the Second World War serving with the 7th AIF. And we shared some stories about that part of Indonesia and Borneo and the role that our own forces played in liberating this part of the world all those years ago. But for one simple purpose, to see the country become what it is today and to be able to be here and celebrate such a wonderful day as we are. There are so many different parts to our relationship and it’s a warm afternoon and I don’t want to play you long by running through all of them because you know them well. Let me just say this, last time I was here it was to secure a vital agreement to our comprehensive strategic partnership which we signed on that occasion. And even since then there have been doubters and those who would say that it wouldn’t come to this time, it wouldn’t get to this point, we wouldn’t be able to finalise the text. But I can tell you, tomorrow morning in the Australian Parliament at the House of Representatives, it will pass the House of Representatives it will be ratified by our House of Representatives and it will soon go after that, to our Senate where it will be also ratified by within the next few weeks. It has gone through our Parliamentary Committee process, through our standing committee on treaties and has received a strong endorsement, as it should, as it should. Because the overwhelming benefits of this arrangement see both of our countries open up to each other even more, is what’s so critically needed at this point in time. Indonesia and Australia’s economic relationship is underdone, it really is. And we need to remedy that. I’m talking to the people under this beautiful canopy this afternoon who can change that, who can change the dynamic and ensure that we are getting beyond those that are getting the essence when it comes to investment decisions and engagements between our countries, between business partners and looking at new projects and the projects are right across the great spectrum. Whether it’s in our education sector which is so important presently to our relationship. We already have Australian tertiary institutions who are present here and we want to see more. I know the President wants to see that too. And the skills partnership that we are developing between Australia and Indonesia is absolutely critical. In tourism, in healthcare, aged care, telecommunications, energy, infrastructure, mining of course. Of course. And other professional services. Right now Australia this is the most popular destination for Indonesian students with almost 20,000 Indonesian students enrolments in Australia this year. And I think we will see more of this open up in the years ahead. So this afternoon I simply want to say to you, thank you for being the true believers in this relationship because you wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t been. You’ve been here working away looking at the Australian expatriates who are here and those in the Indonesian community here, you’ve been working away with this relationship for some time with the hope and the vision that at a point we would reach this stage of the relationship. Well I can tell you, we are here. We are here. But the journey does continue on from this point of view, from this point on. And it’s a relationship which just isn’t about our economics. One of the other things I absolutely prize in our relationship with Indonesia is the leadership they provide within the Indo-Pacific region. Indeed it is the very Indonesian concept of the Indo-Pacific which is now driving the Indo-Pacific agenda. And President Widodo has been so central to that being conceived and then championed. It is an idea, a notion, a conception that has been supported strongly, passionately by Australia, led by Japan and now India and other parts of the Indo-Pacific. And it’s an Indo-Pacific notion that is based on the idea of independent sovereign nation states running their own show. Seeking to lift the living standards of their people. Opening up the interaction between economies but at all times retaining sovereignty over what goes on and how they run their own countries. And that is a respect that I think is borne out of the ASEAN concept, an ASEAN concept that Australia has been a partner with for 45 years and a great advocate for it and we see ASEAN at the centre of our engagement with the Indo-Pacific. President Widodo and Indonesia are leading peers within the Indo-Pacific. Whether it’s their understanding of the importance to keep freedom of navigation, freedom of overflight, ensuring there are open routes for trade and commerce, ensuring the peace and stability of the region by working together with partners to provide balance and stability which affords every single nation their sovereignty and their independence. Indonesia, I find in the middle and at the centre of every one of these conversations and standing right beside them making the same points is Australia. So I want to thank you all again for being here this afternoon. Sausages are on. Please enjoy.
Address - Prime Minister's Prizes for Science Awards Dinner
16 October 2019
Canberra, ACT
PRIME MINISTER: Well thank you very much for the introduction and can I start also by thanking Auntie Violet for her wonderful welcome to country. And can I also acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, elders past and present and of course emerging like her young little granddaughter and the many others that form part of her wonderful extended family. Can I also thank and acknowledge the many colleagues who are here this evening from both sides of the House. And of the Senate of course. From all sides of politics. Because when it comes to the issues that we're celebrating tonight I think it is all about celebrating you, and we come together in this great building, our parliament, our people’s place. That we all together acknowledge your tremendous efforts but particularly to Karen Andrews, the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, and Dan Tehan, the Minister for Education, Anne Ruston the Minister for Families and Social Services, and Brendan O'Connor the Shadow Minister for Science and the Shadow Minister for Employment and Industry. Together with the many senior officials here tonight and in particular I acknowledge Dr Alan Finkle who I absolutely thoroughly enjoy working with and the tremendous job he does and the many others who were here this evening.
It is 20 years since these awards were first inaugurated and I'm sure amongst all of you here tonight the reason you have been able to achieve so many things in your scientific career is because of the mentors that nurtured you along the way. And so it is humbling to be here tonight to present, as Prime Minister, these awards that were inaugurated by one of my great mentors, John Howard, when he initiated this all those years ago together with the scientific community. It's great to celebrate the place of science in our national life. Now I'm sure one of the reasons John did that all those years ago is it's not a bad thing for politicians to understand in a room like this, that they're not the smartest people in the room. Sometimes they like to think they are, and the good ones know they never are. And when I look out at this room, there'd be no contest with the incredible array of talent and ability that is assembled amongst us all this evening.
Now all of you will have your favourite scientist I have no doubt, tonight I want to start like I did last year because you know I'm a great admirer of the scientist and explorer Captain James Cook and next year marks the 250th anniversary of Endeavour’s voyage to the Pacific, a voyage in 1770 which was a truly momentous event and in its time it was like going to the moon. Maybe that's why NASA, and I particularly want to acknowledge Dr Paul Scully Power who is here this evening, our space industry ambassador, was why NASA named a space shuttle after the RMS Endeavour and carried in the cockpit, a wooden fragment of the Endeavour. The Voyage of Endeavour added enormously to the world's knowledge and navigation, geography and science. And it is in that age old human quest to know more about the world that we honour, and we have long given up the flawed idea as Aunty Violet reminded us, that Cook discovered Australia. It was well discovered well before that. And for tens of thousands of years, she says she knows, you're absolutely right Aunty Violet. But Cook’s voyage did connect ‘Terra Australis’ to the rest of the world in the truly literal sense he put the continent on a map. And only because he was able to chart it himself and he was a man of enormous abilities, with many of his maps still being used into the modern age, pre-settlers. But he was also an illustrator of truth. He certainly endeavoured to be. But the advancement of nations and the advancement of science are intertwined, and of all the challenges of our time.
It's the science challenges that are ones that most inspire us and assist us. Cyber security, soil degradation, water management, plastics as we were just hearing in our oceans, drought mitigation, climate change, economic competitiveness, technological innovation, energy security, defence capability, disease management, and there’s a much longer list than that as you know, what you do is central to the advancement of humankind. But it's also very essential to our advancement as a nation. Your success in Australia's advancement are also intertwined and we are seeing this in so many ways. I was fascinated to see a recent study that found that the most common degree for ASX top 50 CEOs in Australia today is now a science degree. Not management, not economics, thankfully not even law! It was science. And as a - bachelor with a degree in applied science, social science, economic geography, I’m pleased to count myself a humble member of a much more advanced community. Science is all about asking questions as we heard, as we were listening to those nominees tonight- testing assumptions, critical thinking, and as those who work in the lab know it's all about sheer doggedness and determination and persistence. There's a lot of perspiration in the determination of science and these are skills we need now more than ever in a new era that we find ourselves in, an era of great technological advancement and change, and enormous opportunities but also enormous risks, enormous ethical challenges for us to navigate together.
What you do is so important to our economy, it’s science and technology that is now driving our global economy. The jobs of the future and the jobs of today. Lifting the living standards of your fellow Australians. Every one of my Ministers understands this. The centrality of science to the challenges our country faces. Minister for Health Greg Hunt knows how critical advancements in pharmaceuticals are to the lives of hundreds of thousands of Australians and that is why he's added over 2,100 new or amended medicines and treatments to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme worth more than $11 billion dollars. We created a $20 billion dollar Medical Research Future Fund a major injection of medical research funding on top of our longstanding commitment through the National Health and Medical Research Council. The Minister for Water Resources knows how vital science is to water management and protecting our waterways from the ravages of drought. At the same time combatting the curse of salinity and that's why we've committed some $3.5 billion to dams, weirs, pipelines. We're going to use the best available science to determine where and how our water resources can be sustainably developed through our new national water grid authority. And in this drought the Murray-Darling Basin and the other parts of the country which are under enormous strain, are benefiting from all the work undertaken over the past decade making the most efficient use of water. The Minister for Environment Sussan Ley knows that it's only the application of science that will protect our Great Barrier Reef. And the Minister for Agriculture knows that soil degradation is becoming a major impediment to productivity in agriculture and that's why we're investing $40 million in important research on how to lift soil performance and bring soil science into broader farming communities, and along with the Assistant Minister for waste reduction and environmental management the Minister for Environment is taking an active interest in what is happening to our recycling and plastics in our oceans. Already we’ve committed $100 million dollars to support the manufacture also of lower emissions and energy efficient recycled products. And another $20 million dollars to fund new and innovative solutions to plastic, waste and recycling. The Minister for Home Affairs is overseeing a $230 million investment in cybersecurity with a further commitment of $156 million to grow our cybersecurity resilience and workforce. While the Minister for Defence, and Defence Industries also know how important science is to ensure that we can rebuild the capability of our defence forces to where it once was with our $200 billion dollar rebuild of our Defence capability. But as Karen knows, our Minister for Science, science sits with industry because the collaboration between researchers and business is so vital to industry and jobs and we see this clearly in our work to expand our footprint in the space industry. Space is a $345 billion dollar global industry. And it's why we've established the Australian Space Agency and recently announced a further $150 million dollars to invest, not in NASA, they’ve got enough money, to invest in the Australian space industry.
[Applause]
Australian businesses, in an R&D partnership that will see Australia very much, and these businesses and the scientists we have here connected up and part of the supply chain which is going to take NASA's mission to the moon and Mars. So again we see this great intersection of science, innovation, the economy. That's why I've asked the Industry and Education ministers who are here with us tonight to explore how we can better align the work of research and business sectors around our national priorities, to bring these streams together to see a new level of collaboration. I've got to say the biggest frustration I have in this area is the lack of collaboration. It doesn't not exist, but it can exist at such a greater level between our scientific community, between our academic community, between our business community, and ensuring that these are aligned. And I've had some incredibly useful and exciting conversations on this with Alan Finkel who is as passionate a believer in this as any.
But tonight we're going to celebrate some, and honour, some great scientists, but before I do, in conclusion let me do this, I want to honour one- who is not here tonight, but we should acknowledge and that is Emeritus Professor Jaques Miller from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. The professor is a former winner of the Prime Minister's Science prize back in 2003. And when I was recently in Washington on the very same morning that I was on the South Lawn of the White House, Professor Miller was in New York being awarded the Lasker prize. He shared the prize with an American, Professor Max Cooper and their work separately changed the course of immunology. Professor Miller's ground-breaking discovery on the function of the thymus paved the way for critical research into vaccine development, organ transplants, identifying and treating auto immune diseases, and immunotherapy to treat cancer. The Lasker judges said his discoveries had ‘launched the course of modern immunology’. That is extraordinary. And for an Australia to be achieving that at such an international level can only fill all of our hearts with pride. Discoveries that have launched the common course of modern immunology. That's an incredible achievement. And I know Sir Gustav Nossal was proud of him too, like Professor Miller, Sir Gust was a migrant to Australia and they both attended the same primary school and medical school just a year apart from one another. Sir Gus said that Professor Miller's work had influenced most of the work on immunology that has gone on in Australia for decades. Professor Miller's award confirms to me and the world that we are certainly a nation of excellence, achievement and stature, in the great world of science, we’re still a nation where a young kid coming to Australia without a word of English, growing up here, learning here, mentored here, can literally change the world through science, and the people around the world aren’t just noticing, they’re benefitting, no matter where you call home. We're all safe. We're all healthy. Because of the work of Australian scientists and researchers, and that's what we gather together to celebrate in honouring you this evening.
So to all of tonight's nominees, congratulations on your nominations. I know that through the sheer exhilaration of the work you do. You have already in your own mind, achieved the great satisfaction of the discoveries and progress and research that you've undertaken. I know you don't do it for prizes but it's not bad to come up and get one. And for it to be acknowledged. And for it to be acknowledged here in this place. And so, for the same reasons that John Howard stood in this same place 20 years ago, I'm pleased to stand here tonight and acknowledge your contribution, and say thank you on behalf of a grateful nation.
National Farmers’ Federation 40th Anniversary Gala Dinner
Connecting With Regional Australia
14 October 2019
You know, one of the first calls I made when I became Prime Minister just over a year ago was to Fiona.
I was pretty honest. I said, look: I might not know one end of a sheep from the other. I might have more expertise with the plate than the paddock. But I know how important our farmers are.
I want to listen to them. I want to learn from them. And I want to walk with them.
Before I’d even sworn in my Cabinet, I was on a plane up to Quilpie to listen to Annabel and Steve Tully on their property Bunginderry in western Queensland! The Tully family has been there since the 1850s and is still there.
I went up there as a suburban boy from Sydney.
It wasn’t the first time I had been in such places. But what I saw and what I heard has stayed with me as I prepared and set the course for our drought response.
While I saw the ravages of the drought and the toughness of life on the land, I also saw the optimism of the people living that life. Their resilience and hardiness. Their hope and courage. And the strength of their close-knit communities across the generations.
Since then I’ve continued to make a priority of listening to the stories of so many more – in places like Dubbo in central NSW and Stanthorpe in southeast Queensland and Burnie in northwest Tassie.
They’re not just growers and graziers. They’re scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs. They work with cutting-edge technology. They study weather patterns and adapt to shifting global markets. They are the frontline of conservation and land management.
That’s why our farmers and graziers are amongst the best in the world.
Australian agricultural producers have a bright future.
They produce more than 90 per cent of our domestic food. Few countries can boast that.
And this supports hundreds of thousands of local jobs. And generates tens of billions of dollars in exports for our nation.
This industry has a strength in its diversity - the size of our continent means that different parts of regional Australia will be experiencing different growing and trading environments than other parts of our country.
It means even with drought, this past year, agriculture contributed $58 billion to our economy.
Regional Australia is a vital part of Australia’s economic landscape. And that is why we are now bringing together our plan to ensure our agricultural sector becomes a $100 billion sector by 2030.
This plan is focused on ensuring that our farmers have the tools they need to capitalise when times are good, and the hand-up they need to get through the tough times.
Right now, our immediate focus and priority is on dealing with and responding to the devastating drought.
Following the National Drought Summit we held a year ago, we have been rolling out the national drought response plan that was produced from that Summit, with the strong endorsement and support of the NFF.
And we have been doing so consistent with the revised National Agreement with the States and Territories on drought that set out clear responsibilities between each level of Government.
Under the agreement, the Commonwealth is responsible for looking after our farmers through the Farm Household Allowance, the Future Drought Fund (to enhance drought preparedness and resilience) and providing incentives for preparedness through taxation concessions, Farm Management Deposit Scheme and concessional loans.
States and Territories are responsible for animal welfare and land management, including through transport subsidies for fodder and water, and capacity building programs to improve business skills.
No drought response plan can make it rain. Nor can any drought response make life as it was when the rain used to fall. Droughts are hard and take an enormous toll, as this drought continues to.
Our job is to seek to support, sustain and build resilience in the face of this awful drought. This will not mean that rural and regional communities will be relieved of all the awful burdens of drought, nor will it mean that farming and grazing families, and those in the towns also impacted, will not have to make hard decisions about their futures.
This includes, as it always does, farmers and graziers deciding to choose a different life. Only they can decide this for themselves. Our job is to help them make the best decision for them and their families future.
And there will not always be agreement about what the right responses are. There is often disagreement, including within rural communities themselves about appropriate responses. This is why it is important to listen.
Anyone promising you different outcomes, simplistic solutions or creating expectations of unrealistic outcomes, is not being honest with you. They are leading you on, and making your burden even harder to carry. I won’t do that. I will listen, speak honestly and take all actions we can to ensure our efforts are both practical and effective.
So far we have committed more than $7 billion in measures at the federal level. While the biggest component of this is the Future Drought Fund, it is also important to note that around an additional $300 million was spent last year, with the same planned again this year and next year also.
It’s either already out the door, going out the door or budgeted to go out the door in real spending to support our drought response plan.
Our drought response plan is clear, and it has three pillars - immediate action for farmers and graziers, support for the wider rural communities, and long-term resilience and preparedness.
Our plan has also been informed through the extensive consultation, feedback and advice from our former Coordinator-General for Drought, Major General Stephen Day, earlier work of Barnaby Joyce as the Drought Envoy.
First, in the here and now, we’re looking after our farming families.
In particular, the Farm Household Allowance is providing much-needed money to farming families – over the four years of payment households receive around $105,000 to put food on the table, fuel in the car, and for essentials like clothing.
Last year $114 million was spent on the allowance, supporting about 6,500 families, more than three times the $33 million the year before.
FHA is for all farmers in hardship, including drought.
We recently conducted an independent review of the allowance to see how it could still be improved.
So we have moved to make it a 4 in 10 year payment, relaxed the assessment rules to better reflect how farm businesses are run and lifted the threshold for off farm income and assets to ensure those farming and grazing families taking action to help themselves are not penalised for their efforts.
And we continue to simplify the application process.
This week I’ll be introducing the first package of legislative changes to improve FHA.
And our approach is not to set and forget – with the drought continuing, we will continue to listen and refine our approach and provide assistance that’s needed when it’s needed.
We’ve also put more rural financial counsellors to work to help farmers with financial planning and help them make well-informed decisions about their futures.
I was chatting with one of them in Dalby on Queensland’s Darling Downs last month. And I can tell you that they’ve been a Godsend in drought-affected areas.
We’ve invested $25 million to help our farmers combat pests and weeds; $2.7 million to improve regional weather and climate guides; and $77.2 million for Bureau of Meteorology radars.
We built the National Drought Map - all of your drought data needs are in one place. Where to find mental health support, state drought declared areas and where assistance is available.
We funded the National Farmers’ Federation to develop a new online FarmHub that provides a single, trusted point of access to information and services.
And we have $1 billion available in concessional loans through the Regional Investment Corporation. These loans help farmers prepare for, manage through and recover from drought.
There are $75 million in taxation measures - including accelerated fodder storage asset depreciation.
The Government is also supporting farmers through the $50 million Emergency Water Infrastructure Rebate scheme. Already more than 2,100 farmers have access these rebates.
And recognising the prolonged drought is also taking its toll on permanent horticulture plantings, on 4 October we expanded the rebate to also provide support for de-silting and new bores for growers of permanent plantings like apples, stonefruit, avocadoes and grapes.
But the drought’s impact isn’t only felt on farms.
Spending also dries up in regional towns, threatening the prosperity of local businesses.
That’s why the second pillar of our plan for drought is about community.
We’re stimulating local economies by giving $1 million each to councils in drought-affected areas, and this means over 120 councils, all of whom have shown some signs of drought, can undertake practical projects for their communities.
Like the Dubbo Regional Council that used its funding to improve water supply in Stuart Town, put in shades at the local livestock markets, and install a disability-friendly public toilet in the CBD.
These projects help keep the local economy moving.
Importantly, where possible, these projects are using local labour and local suppliers to ensure the economic benefits are felt locally.
Farmers are among the most resilient people I know; but ongoing drought can hit them hard.
We have to help as much as we can with the mental health issues that accompany this.
So we’re providing $30 million for targeted mental health support in drought-affected areas plus more than $50 million funding for major charities – like The Salvos and Vinnies – to assist rural Australians in desperate need with up to $3,000 in individual support payments.
But our farmers also need to prepare for the future because this drought won’t be the last.
So the third pillar of our strategy is about long-term resilience.
Its centrepiece is the Future Drought Fund that was passed into law in July.
The Fund starts with an initial $3.9 billion investment, growing to $5 billion over the next decade.
This will provide a sustainable source of funding to improve drought resilience and preparedness.
When it does rain we need to make sure we have water storages in place to help drought proof us for the future.
Yesterday, I was at Dungowan Dam near Tamworth where the Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and I announced a $1 billion package for major investments in water infrastructure in NSW.
Together, we are spending $650 million to upgrade Wyangala Dam, as well as $480 million for the new Dungowan Dam.
These are great examples of a state government partnering with us to deliver water infrastructure.
I’m pleased the Queensland Government has now also given the green light to Emu Swamp Dam. But I want them to get on and build it.
The local farmers have been pushing for this for a long time – in fact, they’re tipping in $24 million of their own money alongside the $42 million we’ve committed and up to $18.6 million from Queensland.
Reports suggest that water from a new dam could boost farm revenues by up to $75 million every single year.
So it sounds like a good investment to me!
In total, the Federal Government has now committed about $1.5 billion for 21 water projects across Australia.
These projects include:
Dams, like the Dungowan Dam I announced yesterday - a new 22.5 gigalitre dam;
Pipelines like the $20 million South West Loddon Rural Water Supply Project in Victoria that will include 88 km of pressurised pipeline to connect the Wimmera-Glenelg system in the west with the Goulburn system in north-central Victoria, 272 km of trunk mains pipeline to provide the core supply system; and 862 km of pipelines to provide access from the trunk mains to individual properties; and
Irrigation schemes like the $25.27 million project in Scottsdale in Tasmania. This project includes a 9,300 megalitre dam, a pump station, a mini-hydro power station that’s estimated to generate 623 kWh/ML; and, 92 kms of underground pipeline network, delivered under gravity pressure.
And there are still 50 more projects on the table – and we need all the states to get on board.
Much of the potential for growth in agriculture will come from more irrigation.
So making sure we have enough water is essential if agriculture is to become a $100 billion sector.
To make sure we’re building the right infrastructure in the right places at the right time, we’ve set up the National Water Grid Authority.
It began operating this month and will work with the states and territories to develop a national plan for investment in water infrastructure and identify a pipeline of projects.
This will deliver a more coherent approach to water infrastructure across the country.
And it will ensure our investment decisions are based on the best available science. It means having the first national plan for Water Infrastructure and supporting investment in that infrastructure like never before.
Dams and pipes will sustain our farms and our towns - and increasingly, we are going to find them powering our towns and cities as well.
And for those areas for whom the curse of drought was overtaken by the inundation of floods, in North Queensland, they know the swift response that was set in train by our Government to provide them with the confidence to rebuild.
Generations of effort and achievement washed away in 48 hours. How cruel was that? But we have had their backs.
To this end I wish to acknowledge the tremendous efforts of the North Queensland Livestock Industry Recovery Agency, led by the Hon. Shane Stone and all involved in getting that region back on its feet.
While the drought is biting, and floods have decimated herds, the sector remains strong and has a strong future.
Agriculture is a key pillar of the Australian way of life and the economy.
In fact, the total value of our agricultural production is currently almost $60 billion a year.
That’s 50 per cent more than a decade ago, even though we’ve been in drought for much of that time and even though trade tensions have impacted the value of our exports in the past year.
This is a real achievement. But I know we can do even better.
Our vision is for Australia to exceed $100 billion in farm gate output by 2030.
This is a bold vision. But it’s an achievable one. And a vision first outlined by the NFF.
The Agriculture Minister, Bridget McKenzie, will work with industry to develop the Agriculture 2030 plan to help the industry realise its vision.
There are enormous opportunities for our agricultural industries in the years and decades ahead!
The world’s population is expected to be 9.7 billion by 2050 and global demand for food is expected to rise by 54 per cent between now and then.
Much of this growth will come from Asia where the rising middle classes are seeking quality food.
Australian agriculture is well placed to meet this demand.
We have a reputation for quality, safe and sustainable products.
Our trade deals with China, Japan and Korea have already opened up large markets.
And we’re working on more trade deals to provide the best opportunities for our exporters.
Right now, we’re looking to ratify a trade agreement with Indonesia – the world’s 7th largest economy by purchasing power – and this would lower tariffs for producers of grains, beef, dairy and horticulture.
I’m also determined to secure a trade agreement with the European Union.
With over 500 million consumers, the EU is a huge potential market for our agricultural exports.
Many of our products are currently shut out of this market or can only come in in small quantities.
A trade deal would secure greater access for our exports to this $17 trillion market. And it would make a big contribution to the agriculture sector reaching its $100 billion goal by 2030.
And Post-Brexit, there will be a UK trade deal too.
The Government is investing in a range of other policies to help the industry achieve our $100 billion goal.
We’re making new investments in research and development – like a $35 million investment for a new Queensland-based research centre that will help future-proof farmers’ crops from drought.
We’re supporting the adoption of cutting-edge technologies – like drones that provide data on crop management – with the full adoption of digital agriculture potentially yielding $20 billion by 2050.
We’re building roads and rail networks, including inland rail, to help our farmers get their products to markets faster, and we’re removing red tape so it’s easier to transport farm equipment around the country.
We’re tackling the pests and weeds that cost our farmers billions of dollars a year.
We will keep farmers safe from protests and farm invasions through new anti vegan-terrorist laws. They don’t like being called vegan-terrorists, so let me say it again: vegan terrorists.
We’re also working with the industry to make sure it has the skilled workforce it needs.
And we’re improving the management of our soils and native vegetation.
Former Governor-General, Major-General Michael Jeffery has been re-appointed as the National Soils Advocate.
While we have areas of highly fertile soil, overall our soil is poorly structured and affected by salinity.
Our farmers are the stewards of this precious resource.
With around 60 per cent of our land used for agriculture, they are at the forefront of managing this vital asset on behalf of the rest of us.
We must support them in this so agriculture continues to prosper and provide for all Australians.
I made a decision early on to do my best to keep in contact with the families I’ve met in regional Australia.
Having spoken to hundreds of people in our regions over the past fourteen months, the difficult thing I struggle with - is knowing that no matter how hard you work, no matter the passion and diligence, there is so much about agriculture that is outside of our control - but we support each other because that is what we can do.
And with the hope of an optimist we look forward to, for those of us so minded we pray for, and as always together we plan for better days, to secure not just the economic future for our agricultural sector in Australia, but the way of life it has supported since our modern nation began.
Remarks - National Prayer Breakfast
14 October 2019
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much and can I thank you and particularly members of the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship, the chairs do a tremendous job and I want to thank them for pulling this together today. Can I also thank the Governor-General, His Excellency, and Mrs Hurley for being with us here today and for that wonderful address that we’ve just heard. It encourages us all. It’s been absolutely tremendous. Selina, thank you also for your wonderful Welcome to Country. Thank you also to all those who offered such wonderful prayers here this morning, they were truly moving as we covered such an array of topics. Whether it was the drought impacting our country from right across our eastern states, whether it’s the natural disasters of which the Governor-General was reminding us all. Just yesterday I was with the Premier of NSW in Rappville, a very small little community in Northern NSW that has been absolutely devastated by the fires that ripped through and surrounded their community and our prayers must also be with them and all of those affected by all of the natural disasters which in this country we face with great frequency.
But I particularly have been asked to come along here today to do something very specific and that is to launch this publication, which is on your tables, ‘Amen: A History of Prayers in the Parliament’ which has been pulled together by the PM Glynn Institute, with great support from the Australian Catholic University. I want to thank them very much for pulling this together. Looking at how prayer forms such a part for the people of the world. And in a few short hours here in this place, as we gather here this morning around a prayer breakfast, we will come into the Parliament in both Chambers and we will acknowledge the first Australians, and their custodianship and stewardship of this land over generations, and then we will pray. I think that’s a good way to start the Parliament each and every day and may it always be the case that that’s how we commence our time in Parliament.
Because for me prayer... I suppose I should particularly say in this room, if anyone else believed in miracles I think they’d be here, you get a pretty good response. But I often talk about miracles being founded in prayer and recently I was in the United States - and I welcome Ambassador Culvahouse here this morning - and I was there with Jenny, and I can report that Jenny and I did meet at a Christian camp. We were very young [inaudible] and we were there, and as we were heading into the South Lawn of the White House, I turned to Jenny and said, ‘We’re a long way from the Central Coast now, darling.’ But while I was in Washington we went along to a wonderful church there, the National Capital Community Church, the Church of Pastor Mark Batterson and there’s a whole range of campuses there. He’s written a wonderful book on prayer which they gave me and I’ve been reading it since I’ve come back and where he talks about the only prayers that you can be assured are never answered, are the ones that are never prayed. I think that’s true and it’s a reminder of the importance of prayer.
What I like about prayer and what is so important about us coming together in our Parliament and praying, is prayer gives us a reminder of our humility and our vulnerability, and that forms a unity. Because there’s certainly one thing we all have in common, whether we sit in the green or red chairs in this place, or anywhere else, and that is our human frailty. It is our human vulnerability. It is one of the great misconceptions, I think, of religion that there’s something about piety. It is the complete reverse. The complete reverse. Faith, religion, is actually first and foremost an expression of our human frailty and vulnerability and an understanding that there are things far bigger than each of us. And so when we come together in prayer, we are reminded of that, and we are reminded that the great challenges we face in this world are ones that we need to continue to bring up in prayer. And that is what we do each day as we come together as a Parliament and that’s why I am particularly pleased to launch this publication here today. A reminder to each and every one of us, of the importance of understanding our vulnerability as human beings and the need to actually come together in an understanding of that vulnerability and then humility, as the Governor-General has reminded us, going about addressing those issues in weakness it says, we are made strong, and the acknowledgement of that is what we do as we come together each day in the Parliament.
So I want to thank everybody for the opportunity to be here today with you and to join with Anthony who is here. This is not a place for partisanship, this is a place of unity, commonality around these very principals. So I particularly want to thank the PM Glynn Institute for the great piece of work they’ve done in officially launching this this morning and let’s read it carefully and there’s a wonderful section in here which talks about the daily ritual, I won’t read it out, but I can tell you the page 21, it’s a good reminder that after the quietness and stillness of prayer, the chaos and disorder sometimes follows - let that not be the case this week. All the best, thank you very much, God bless.