Speeches
Press Conference - New South Wales Rural Fire Service Headquarters, NSW
22 December 2019
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning everyone. I want to thank first of all the 3,000 men and women who are out there today here in New South Wales who were out there yesterday, the thousands of men and women around Australia, not just here in New South Wales, up in Queensland, down in South Australia where it's also been a difficult week, down in Victoria, all those that have come from other states - Tassie, the West, the ACT, up in the Territory. I want to thank those who have come from overseas - the Americans, the Canadians, our Kiwi cousins, those who have come to support us in this hour of need. I particularly want to thank Commissioner Fitzsimmons and the amazing team he leads here in New South Wales and for the opportunity to be briefed this morning. I want to commend the Premier, who I have been speaking to over the course of the last week, and for the tremendous job she's been doing with her team here in New South Wales to respond to this disaster, this threat, that is ongoing and has been going for many, many months now. A few months ago I was up in Canungra when the first of these dreadful fires started to appear. It continued down through Rappville as the Premier and I stood together in that devastated community. When we got out to Wilberforce just a few weeks ago, up in Queensland and here we are again today following the terrible tragedy that occurred earlier this week. Andrew O'Dwyer and Geoff Keaton. Their families, Melissa and their little daughter Charlotte, 19 months. Jessica and their 19-month-old son, Harvey. When our volunteers go out there, they do it for so many reasons, but I can't help but thinking that one of the most important things that inspires them is their love of family - family is community and they were out there defending their community on that fateful night. And Jenny and I, our heart broke when he heard of their terrible loss and their great sacrifice and I just want to extend to them our great sympathies, our love and support. They're getting tremendous support from their Rural Fire Service family out there at Horsley Park and from the broader families of the firefighting communities around the country. What we, the rest of us, can offer them is our honour, our acknowledgment, and our respect for what they have done for all of us. There are over 100 fires active in New South Wales today and many of those are quite serious, but I do remind people that there are also severe fires in South Australia and in Victoria. I spoke to the South Australian Premier last night when I arrived back in Australia to get an update and there's been loss of life there and there are fears for others. We have heard further news this morning of people missing, an individual missing out in Lithgow where the fires also have raged overnight. No-one wants to be out there fighting these fires, no-one wants these fires to be happening at this time. But when those fires do occur, as they have for a very long time in this country, then those who have - there's over 200,000 of them in Australia - who have signed up and said, put their hand up to be there to defend their communities, then they go out and they do this work and they do it on behalf of all of us and they're getting tired and they're getting fatigued because this has been going for a very long time and this is one of the key issues I have been in discussion with the Commissioner about this morning and also with the Premier and I know that Minister Littleproud, who joins me here and I thank him for that, David, and the work you have been doing, and the Deputy Prime Minister during my absence, we will continue to look at all of these issues as we go forward. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service and all the fire services across Australia will continue to get everything they need from the Commonwealth. As you know, the operational response to these disasters is delivered and is run at a state level, but with great Commonwealth support. In talking to the Commissioner, I want to acknowledge what he has acknowledged - and that is as we face these fires at the moment, I want to assure Australians of this because I know people are anxious and I know people in some places are rightly fearful of what is literally at their door, and the haze and the smoke and all of these things heighten that anxiety as you think about your kids and your family and you can see the red tinge at night if you're close enough, but our fire services in Australia are the best in the world. The response to these disasters, these fires, is the best in the world. This is a time when Australia should be very, very proud that we have the best-resourced, most-coordinated, best-equipped fire services of any nation on earth to deal with this. And that's because as a country, we're used to dealing with fires - admittedly and very rightly this season is much more lengthened and started a lot earlier and there isn't the respite rains that we can that we can expect any time soon and that is making this season harder than many we have seen in a long time. But it is also true that after every fire, we sit down, we learn the lessons and we make sure we're better prepared next time and that's what's happened on this occasion. The coordination is seamless between not only the states and the Commonwealth, but between the states and overseas jurisdictions as well. Our defence forces are deploying wherever they're called upon and particularly now as you look at the burnt-out vast territories across particularly here in New South Wales, but in other states as well, there is wreckage to clear, there are trees to remove, there is access that needs to be provided to people's properties and businesses and homes, and that's the work that our defences force can, are and will continue to play and they have been doing it since September - airlifting, ensuring they're providing night flights for recognisance, and providing that heavy support that is needed, that is backing in and complementing the amazing work of our firefighters. There's some 70,000 registered firefighters here in New South Wales alone. That's bigger than the entire size of our defence forces and reserves. So we're talking about an enormous force that has drawn together here in New South Wales and that's about a third of the national force. So they will continue to get everything that they need and I have run through some matters this morning with the Commissioner and I have been speaking to the Premier as well - there will be a COAG meeting in March and at that meeting, as always, I have already put on the agenda the response capabilities for future disasters and lessons, of course, will be learned by these responses but I do know that the response you're seeing right now is informed by how this work has gone on each and everyday since the last fire. I mean, Emergency Management Australia which is the Commonwealth agency responsible for our engagement, both in drawing in the ADF and the other systems of support, including the important income support, later today I'll be announcing with the Premier further disaster assistance payments into new areas of affected areas as these payments have been rolling out. So you have members of government services Australia who are out there making sure people get their payments and their support. That will continue to rollout and we - Emergency Management Australia does this job 365 days of the year. I appreciate that when things get as anxious as they have become, then people will think, you know, what's been prepared? Is anything happening? Or have they thought of this? I understand that those anxieties are positively meant and are natural. But I want to reassure you that these - our officials, our commissioners, our firefighters, both those professionals who are paid and those who are unpaid, they are doing this year-round to prepare for events just like this. And that is why this response is something where we're seeing the best of Australia, not the contrary. Following on from that public anxiety, there is also been other issues that have been raised, not just about the response and the resources which I think I have addressed, but also around issues of climate policy. It has always been the case - our Government has always and I have always acknowledged the connection between these weather events and these broader fire events and the impacts globally of climate change. It's one of many factors as I have said. The drought conditions have certainly been a big contributor in terms of the dryness of the fuel load. There are also many other issues as you would be well aware and they'll all come under scrutiny as we prepare for what needs to happen next time - issues of management in national parks of fuel loads, issues of back-burning and managing native vegetation and building codes and all of these sorts of things, ensuring that our communications programs are important. I mean, there are some fires that have been started by just carelessness. Others sadly have been the result of direct arson. Many have been created by dry lightning strikes. And understanding all of that it will be important as we move through to the next phase. There is no argument, in my view and the government’s view, and any government in the country, about the links between broader issues of global climate change and weather events around the world but I'm sure people would equally acknowledge the direct connection to any single fire event is not a credible suggestion to make that link. We must take action on climate change and we are taking action on climate change. At the last election I said we would, I said we would meet and beat our Kyoto targets, I said we would meet our Paris commitments in a canter and we will. We welcome the record investment in renewable energy technologies and at the same time we welcome the fact we are pursuing our climate policies while getting electricity prices down as the ACCC noted today with a $65 reduction as a direct result of the policies we put in place to get power bills under control in this country. And we will do it without destroying the economy or job destroying reckless targets. We will do it with sensible target to get the balance right. That is what I promised Australians when we went to the last election and that is what I am committed to doing. Two other points. I have obviously returned from leave and I know that has caused some great anxiety in Australia and Jenny and I acknowledge that. If you had your time over again and the benefit of hindsight we would have made different decisions. I am sure Australians are fair-minded and understand that when you make a promise to your kids you try and keep it but as Prime Minister you have other responsibilities and I accept that and I accept the criticism and that is why Jenny and I agreed it was important that I returned, particularly after the terrible tragedies we saw late this week. I get it that people would have been upset to know that I was holidaying with my family while their families were under great stress. They know that I’m not going stand there and hold a hose. I am not a trained firefighter nor am I an expert like those in the next room doing such an amazing job. But I am comforted by the fact that Australians would like me to be here simply so I can be here alongside them as they’re going through this terrible time. And I say to those Australians who I caused upset to, and I apologise for that. It is important I think when you confronted with these things you front up and are honest with people and that is what I am seeking to do now. The time for that discussion is over. We need to focus on what is going out there today. Let me finish by saying this, and I apologise for the lengthy nature of my remarks this morning, it is time to be kind to each other. This is not a time for division, it is not a time for argument, it is not a time for partisanship, it is not a time for point scoring. It is a time to support people who have an important job to do, to give them the space and time, to give them the support they need. If people have something they want to contribute, that is fantastic and I want to thank all those who turned up to fire stations and made donations and you may want to think of dropping off some toys for the kids of the firefighters who may not have had time to go out and buy some this Christmas because they have been too busy. These are things that people can do constructively. Australians, we need to rally together. The time for argument is not now. That is not to say there is no time to talk about important issues like climate change, of course there is and we are talking about it. But let's do it in a way that does not distract from the very immediate need of protecting people's lives, protecting their property, honouring those who are out there doing everything they can. And so I simply ask people, particularly this Christmas time, to reflect on that, to come together to support each other and to focus on the things we need to do now and on the other side of these fires, Australia will prevail. We always have. Australia is the most amazing country on earth. How do I know that? Because I see what is happening out there right now on those fire fronts and in the communities that have suffered terrible loss. That is why Australia is the best country in the world and that is the country I am proud to lead. That’s the country I know we all support and that’s the cause to which we all rally now and focus on supporting efforts of Australians.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister where have you been and why was it a secret?
PRIME MINISTER: I was in Hawaii, with my family, a trip I planned some six weeks ago - seven weeks ago in fact and when I take family leave, it is a private family time.
JOURNALIST: But you’re sorry for taking leave- though you knew about these catastrophic fire conditions that were coming, we’ve known about them for a couple of weeks now. Are you sorry to the residents in those areas?
PRIME MINISTER: I already said that.
JOURNALIST: You are sorry?
PRIME MINISTER: I already said it.
JOURNALIST: Do you accept that the release of the information about this was handled poorly and the public deserved to know who was leading the country?
PRIME MINISTER: The Deputy Prime Minister was the Acting Prime Minister and on each time I have taken private family leave as Prime Minister I followed exactly the same process. There was no change. On my earlier leaves no statement was issued when I took private family leave and no objections were raised by the press on those occasions but it is certainly something we will rectify for next time.
JOURNALIST: Why were the Deputy Prime Minister’s office referring questions to your office about who was in charge, why couldn't they simply say I’m acting?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I’ll leave those matters for others to deal with, these are not the matters I am focused on now, I don’t think they’re things that Australians are worried about, they’re worried about what’s happening in the fires and the support necessary to support those out there today. I understand there is media interest in the engagement of briefings between my office and the gallery and those sorts of things, I get that. There have been lessons learned this week and they will be employed for next time.
JOURNALIST: You were critical of the Victorian Police Commissioner when she went to dinner during the Black Friday disaster, should you not be held to the same standard?
PRIME MINISTER: I have already made a number of comments today, as you know, where I think I have held myself to that same standard. Equally I would note that I am not the operational leader of an emergency service or police force. I am the Prime Minister. And as Prime Minister I was kept regularly - and sought to be kept regularly updated on the events. The Acting Prime Minister was in full control of what was occurring ably supported I must say by Minister Littleproud. The Premier was leading, obviously the governance of the operational response here in New South Wales, and I have been in contact with the Premier and so all of these arrangements were in place to ensure that I could continue to do and fulfil my responsibilities, but I understand and the reason I have returned is out of a deep respect and sympathy for those Australians who were tragically killed a few nights ago. That demanded my attendance here, I believe, out of simply a respect and sympathy for them and what they were going through and that is why I have been very pleased to return. That is a decision that Jenny and I took together and we told the kids about it, but I think Australians are fair-minded about this. They know at the end of a difficult year people go on leave and they know that when dad makes a promise to their kids they like to keep it. And I think where events were late last week was not where they were today so I think it would be unfair to say the events in very recent days where the same is as a week or so ago. Nevertheless, I understand the anxiety and why people have been upset by this and that is why I am pleased to be back and front up.
JOURNALIST: Just on the issue of climate change, the Government has been criticised for using carryover credit. You personally have been accused of making light of the issue by bringing the lump of coal into parliament. Going forward after these fires can we see a change of tack from your Government, a more genuine commitment I guess to making Australia a responsible global actor in its commitment to reducing carbon emissions?
PRIME MINISTER: Well people can expect my Government to do what it promised to do, what we took to the last election. I know there are some who tried to make political points and score points over these issues in the midst of these disasters and that is disappointing. I will do what I said I would do because that is how I am with the Australian people. I said we will meet our 26 per cent emission reduction target. Emissions per year today under our Government are on average 50 million tons a year less than they were under the previous government. Emissions have fallen the last two years. Emissions are lower than at any time they were under the previous Government. We have had record investment in renewables in Australia and now, thankfully, as a result of policies the Government has put in place we are also getting electricity prices down, some $65 a year. And on top of that we’ve been doing it without embracing the reckless job destroying and economy crunching targets that others are seeking to force upon us. I don't think that is a balanced approach. We will continue to take a responsible approach to taking action on climate change. We are taking action and we will continue to take action. We are part of a global action and the commitments we have made, we are meeting. We are meeting and we are beating. So I don’t accept the suggestion that Australia is not carrying its weight. We are carrying our weight. We are meeting and beating our targets and there are very few countries who can say that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said you have learned some lessons from this past week. What are those lessons?
PRIME MINISTER: I think I have already outlined them in my earlier remarks.
JOURNALIST: Michael McCormack said yesterday he believes the Government needs to do more on climate change, do you think he’s referring to what you’re referring to or do you think he is actually saying that separate target should be made?
PRIME MINISTER: He is not making that point at all, he’s making exactly the same point I make. The Kyoto targets that were set by the previous Labor government, when we came to government there was the projections were that we would miss those by some 700 million tons. Now we're going to beat them by 411 million tons. And I would hope that not only will we meet and I'm sure we will, our Paris commitments but we will beat them too. And there is a long time between now and 2030 and we will continue to refine our policies because we're serious about taking action. But what we will not do is act in a knee-jerk or crisis or panicked mode. A panic approach and response to anything does not help. It puts people at risk. Not just their livelihoods but if you walk out there into that control room you will not see people panicking, you will see people being very professional, very focused on the job they have, talking to each other in a very professional way and getting the job done. Government is the same thing. Whether it is taking action on climate change or it’s ensuring that, as the midyear economic statement shows, that the Government is on track to achieve a surplus or the further job creation that you saw in the past week. Over 100,000 jobs created since last election. You get these results by being calm and by being stable. And having clear goals and having the policies in place to achieve them. Whether that is on taking action on climate change or job creation or ensuring that we get our welfare system targeted to support those who need it most, or dealing with the environmental challenges of waste management and plastics and any of these issues. Mental health challenges, the Government is addressing. On all these issues the government has clear plans and a clear approach to deal with them and is doing it in a very patient and in a very applied and professional way.
JOURNALIST: Labor wants compensation for the volunteer firefighters. Is that something you will look in to?
PRIME MINISTER: I’m not aware what the specific proposal is that Labor are proposing or what costings they’ve prepared on that basis. I will take that where it is. But these are things that the Government has been considering, in the first instance of course these are matters for state governments, the Rural Fires Services and the fire services around Australia are run by state governments so it is not for the Commonwealth Government to step in and make decisions about that. But these are things that I think can be contemplated. But I very much want to do that in consultation with the state and territory governments. As I said to the Commissioner Fitzsimmons today, whatever they need, whatever they think they need to bolster support, sustain the operations that they are running, they simply need to ask. And they will get that support. I think there are immediate issues that need to be addressed there with the rural firefighters, particularly as they’re getting into areas of terrible fatigue now. Particularly when you go up to the mid north coast where I was in Taree, they have been fighting fires for a while now and they are still going. Thankfully, as I was briefed this morning, those parts of the state are more under control today than they were when I was there not that long ago. But these are the many issues that I think we need to understand. Let's not forget, there are 210,000 rural firefighters around the country and there are thousands of surf-lifesavers who will be patrolling our beaches, those who are volunteering on meals on wheels and carers and others. Australia is a magnificent country because it does have that volunteer spirit. And Australia relies on that volunteer spirit and we celebrate it and we rightly do so. And where there are ways that we can further support that volunteer effort then we are very open to considering this. Let me say one thing, all our firefighters are professionals. They are all professional at what they do. They are well-trained and they are very good at what they’re doing. One of the things we focused on this morning was ensuring how we can better supplement the clearing work and the other things that need to be done in those areas that have been ravaged by fires and ensuring that we can get even more prompt defence support into those arrangements. There has been defence liaisons here in these headquarters now for a long time as there has been in Queensland other places and ensuring that we can get that support to supplement what is done at a local level as well through the state government. The defence forces are deployed, are being deployed, those defence force members who are firefighters are out there fighting fires, just like any other employee would be. They are not in their platoons, they are in their brigades.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, with so many crises affecting different states in Australia at the moment, do you think you have shown the leadership the Australian public expect of you during this bushfire crisis?
PRIME MINISTER: This has been going on for a long time, this has been going on since September and on each occasion I have been here, whether it is up in Rappville, or whether it’s been in Wauchope, or it’s been in Taree or Canungra or out at Wilberforce just a couple of weeks ago. Not on all occasions have I gone and been there with a travelling media team. I have been there on occasions just in a low-key way talking to those who are in incident control rooms and it would seem that whether it’s myself or others there will always been criticism made but what I have confidence in, and I will always have confidence in is in the fair-mindedness of the Australian people and as I said before, I take responsibility for my own decisions and I take responsibility for those I’ve made in relation to my family and more broadly in terms of my leadership responsibilities for the nation and that’s why I’m here. Thank you all very much.
Press Conference - Melbourne, VIC
12 December 2019
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you everyone for joining us today. I’d like to deal firstly with the matters regarding the New Zealand volcano tragedy, as well as the national disaster, the fires that are occurring across the country.
If I could first start with the issue of the terrible events that have been unfolding in New Zealand this week. I've been in contact with Prime Minister Ardern over the last few days, including again this morning. I want to start by just extending our deepest sympathies and concern and love to all of the families and all of those who have been affected by this. And it's obviously added to by the uncertainty and the frustration in being able to gain access, obviously, to the volcano and the Prime Minister has confirmed to me again that it is still a very dangerous place and that is obviously hampering the recovery effort but, of course, we have to be mindful of the safety of those who would be undertaking that recovery effort. But we know, with quite a number of persons still on the island understood to be deceased, that we will just have to be patient, while circumstances are continually reviewed, that will enable getting access to the island.
But just to confirm for you a number of processes that are in place at the moment and where people are. I can confirm, and as you know it is our practice only confirmed the names of those who are deceased once we have gone through two processes. One is an identification process, and also one involves engagement of the families and I can confirm that Jason Griffiths passed away yesterday in New Zealand. He had been evacuated and he passed away with family members present yesterday. And we send our deep sympathies to all the family and friends of Jason.
We will have within the next 24 hours, only 1 Australian who will remain hospitalised in New Zealand. We have already completed 5 medical evacuations to hospitals in Australia, there will be another 7 evacuations of Australians back to Australian hospitals over the course of the next 24 hours. Sadly there are 10 further Australians who are missing and presumed deceased. That is the total of the 24 Australians that I noted recently, the other day, who were caught up in visiting the island on that day. There are also 4 permanent residents who we have been able to identify have been caught up in this, these events. There is one who continues to be hospitalised, there are two who have passed away in hospital, and a further one permanent resident who is missing and presumed deceased.
In the days ahead, there will be worse news. Based on what I’ve just relayed to you. I want to thank all of those who have been involved in supporting the families and the friends of those who are missing and presumed deceased, I want to thank all of those who have been working in the New Zealand hospitals and those burns units providing the amazing care and support and I want to thank our Defence Forces for the role that they have been playing in evacuating those Australians in hospital back to Australia where they can be closer to family and where they can get the ongoing attention and care they will need. They will have difficult rehabilitations as a result of their injuries in many cases. I want to thank again Prime Minister Ardern and New Zealand Police for the cooperation there has been between New Zealand authorities and Australian authorities, and commend Minister Payne for the work that she’s done together with High Commissioner Forsythe and our Consul-General in Auckland for the great work they’ve been doing in assisting with the effort which is quite a considerable one in ensuring people are kept informed. We know there are frustrations with information, in these circumstances you can never have enough information when you are concerned about the safety and the wellbeing of one of your loved ones. DFAT and our officers there are doing everything within their power to provide as much information as they can.
In the days ahead there may be the opportunity for that recovery operation to be in place, and when that occurs there will be the very grim task of identification and the further news that will follow from that.
So I thank people for their patience, I would continue to urge caution and sensitivity in the way that these matters are reported and, of course, we will continue to confirm information when we're in a position to do so. But our thoughts and our love go to all of those family members and friends who are dealing with this terrible news and the anxiety for those who are not yet to be able to get a formal confirmation of what has occurred to their loved ones.
More broadly, as this is a difficult week, as fires burn around the country. We have severe fire danger ratings today in New South Wales, in the Northern Territory, in Queensland, and in Western Australia. Of course, the worst situation is in New South Wales, where there are 130 fires that continue to burn across the state. Total fire bans have been issued for three fire areas today and more than 2.7 million hectares have been burnt since the start of this year, and during the 2019-2020 bushfire season, with a fire perimeter totalling some 19,235 kilometres. Five evacuation centres are currently activated. There are 36 local government areas in Queensland today, where there have been local fire bans issued. There are emergency warnings in Western Australia and there is one fire that is on a watch and act basis. The Government has been working closely, as part of the national coordinated effort, to address the national disaster of these fires.
Now, I'm often asked about the issue of declaring a national disaster. As many Australians would know - and the disaster categorisation is actioned by state governments. That's what occurs under state legislation. Of course, this is a national disaster. We all understand that. And in the states, there have been various declarations that have been made which activate particular actions and powers and authorities to respond to those and that includes the actions and coordination of federal authorities.
We all know this is a national disaster and we knew this was going to be a very tough fire season when we went into this season. We also know that there are many contributing factors that relate to these fires. The drought is obviously - and the dryness of the bush is the biggest factor and we all know, as I acknowledged earlier this year in February, that climate change, along with many other factors, contribute to what is occurring today. But let me be clear about this - climate change is a global challenge. Australia is playing our role as part of this global challenge. In fact, today, I can tell you that emissions from Australia are lower today than at any other time than before we came to government. In fact, they're around almost on average 50 million tonnes lower per year now than they were under the term of the previous government. And we'll continue to meet our commitments when it comes to Kyoto. We will over exceed on Kyoto by 411 million tonnes. We have our Paris targets, which we are absolutely committed too as well. And Minister Taylor has been in Madrid in recent days working through those commitments as part of those global undertakings that we're involved in. We're also working closely with our Pacific family, both to join in the actions that we're undertaking, as well as significant investments we're making in terms of climate change resilience within our region.
So we are taking action. But what I've noticed on the ground in terms of these fires is that the way that it has brought Australians as a community together. Certainly these broader global issues are relevant. But at times like this, Australians must come together. I know as a Sydneysider - I'm here in Melbourne today - I've lived all my life, pretty much, in Sydney, and the haze that has come from those fires, I know has been deeply troubling to Sydneysiders. It's been deeply troubling to families and kids, who've never seen this before. And I can understand that is deeply unsettling to a lot of Australians, particularly those who are living in Sydney. But I want to reassure, I want to reassure Australians, that the country is working together, the country is coming together to deal with the firefighting challenge that we have.
Today, we have announced a further $11 million that we're putting into the aerial firefighting fleet. That is on top of the $15 million that we already put in on annual basis. This has been done as a result of the engagement we've had with the states and territories through that nationally coordinated process. Recently, we had a meeting of the state and territory ministers with Minister Littleproud, to deal with what the additional needs were. There are increasing cost pressures on some of these aviation assets and there is also the need to have the ability to concurrently deal with multiple fire threats around the country. So we have responded to that advice that has come up from the fire chiefs. The decision was not taken recently. It was taken over the course of preparing for the midyear update and in response to the requests that had been made.
The Commonwealth, the Federal Government, is responding to all of the needs that have been presented to us by our state and territory authorities. We have over 200,000 registered firefighters in this country. That is an enormous, an enormous national resource, which we value greatly. They are supported for their equipment and needs by our state and territory governments. And that is where that support is provided. And they deal with the Commonwealth for broader nationally coordinated efforts.
I also want to stress that our Defence Forces have been actively engaged in supporting that firefighting effort for months, for months. I was in Canungra a few months ago, where there were fires up in Queensland, and we were there in the operation centre, in the Canungra base. That's where the Blackhawks - I think it was Blackhawks at the time - were operating. I'm happy to stand corrected on the precise nature of where those helicopters were operating from, conducting night flights at other times during other fires, providing assistance and developing fire breaks, providing the catering and logistics and airlift support, working in closely as part of the operation centres that are fighting these fires. So I want to assure Australians I know that it is troubling and it is concerning, but what we must do is focus on the coordination of the effort, getting the resources where it needs to get to, while the loss of homes and certainly the loss of life has been very distressing, I can assure you that if it were not for these nationally coordinated efforts, particularly since the Black Saturday fires down here in Victoria, and what has been learned from that, thousands of more homes would have been lost in these fires and I fear many more lives would have been lost as well.
So I know it's concerning, but I would encourage Australians to come together, to provide that support that we're all providing, governments at all levels, local governments, state government, Federal Government, communities, all working together to support that firefighting effort, and we all have a role to play and I'll finish on this. I want to thank again the employers who are enabling those firefighting efforts to be put in place by our volunteers. And they are making their commitment through enabling those firefighters to be out there in their community and I thank them very much for their sacrifice in this great national effort. Happy to take questions on those matters and then we'll move to the other matter which I'll ask the Treasurer and the Minister for Communications and the Arts to join me.
JOURNALIST: We’ve seen firefighters have to crowd fund to get breath masks to fight fires. Do you think Australians really care whether the Federal Government or state government really fund that? Shouldn’t a government step up and fund those, that equipment?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I've been seeking to get some validation of those reports and they're matters that I've raised directly through my office with the New South Wales Government. Of course, that type of equipment is provided by the state government and I would expect that these sorts of needs would be met out of those resources and they should be. I have noticed that over the course of these fires, and on social media, there have been lots of things - I'm not necessarily talking specifically about this - but there are lots of things that are said and one of the issues that I've engaged with when I've gone into these incident response and control centres is what they often have to do is counter a lot of the misinformation and a lot of the commentary that has been provided on social media which can cause unnecessary anxiety in communities. They actually have crack teams which are actually just dealing with countering misinformation on social media on fires. That's why I encourage people, when you're dealing with issues of fires, best to go to the confirmed sources, which are through the various state government agencies and that brilliant Fires Near Me app which has been operating in New South Wales and keeping many people safe. So every single resource that has been sought from the states for fighting these fires, we have been meeting and we will continue to do that through the nationally coordinated approach.
JOURNALIST: Jason Falinski is backing Matt Kean's call for practical and ambitious action on climate change. Isn't this is a sign members of your Government are dissatisfied with the current response?
PRIME MINISTER: No. I know that all of my Government is focused on taking action on climate change. Because we should be. And we are. What is a pleasing thing is that, as Minister Taylor has been there at the recent meetings in Madrid, that we have being able to talk about exceeding our Kyoto targets by 411 million tonnes of carbon emissions abatement. And we have targets and we're meeting them. We have new targets for 2030 in Paris, which we've kept to and we're committed to and that we will meet and we are committed to taking action on climate change. What I would say, though, is that, as I think scientists have observed, and we should recognise, is that climate change is a global issue. Australia is 1.3% of global emissions and in New South Wales I think it's less than 0.5% of emissions, and so any suggestion that the actions of any state or any nation with a contribution to global emissions of that order is directly linked to any weather event, whether here in Australia or anywhere else in the world, is just simply not true. We take action as part of a broader global effort, which Australia is doing. As I said, our emissions reductions, our emissions that are generated in Australia, are around 50 million tonnes lower on average under our government than what we inherited. So we are taking action and we should take action and we will continue to take action and that's what our government is committed to.
JOURNALIST: Which hospitals are taking burns victims from New Zealand, and how many victims per hospital?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there are hospitals across, they're in New South Wales. They're also in South Australia. I don't want to go into the details of those hospitals, because I want to protect the privacy of those persons who are receiving that treatment and the families that are providing support and visiting them. There have been cases where, frankly, there has been media interest in hospitals, seeking to gain access to hospitals. That's already occurred in New Zealand and I wouldn't want to see a repeat of that here in Australia.
JOURNALIST: Just back to climate change, the New South Wales Government will reportedly increase its greenhouse reduction targets. Are you open to doing that at a federal level?
PRIME MINISTER: We have our commitments. We've always been very clear about our commitments. We have a positive program on reducing emissions and we have a positive program on growing our economy and we are achieving both of those.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the American Ambassador says that Chinese agents are operating on Australian soil. How prolific are the activities of Chinese spies and agents in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, as I was only announcing with the Minister for Home Affairs, Australia is leading the world in terms of ensuring that we have the right safeguards for countering foreign interference from wherever it might come. And indeed, jurisdictions, including the United States, have been incredibly impressed and this was the subject to some of the discussions I had when I was in the United States at the regime we've been able to put in place, both in terms of our laws, our agencies, our intelligence, our resources. No country is better equipped or better resourced or better and able to deal with any of these types of threats that Australia has. And we're staying with... we're ensuring we're staying ahead of the curve on these issues. We understand the threats and they come from any number of sources and it's important that we have the regime in place in order to deal with that and we do.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on the question of bushfires and climate change, going back to Matt Kean’s comments. He has said this is not normal and doing nothing is not a solution. Why do people…
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, I couldn’t hear the rest of the question.
JOURNALIST: The point is, this is not normal.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, I heard that.
JOURNALIST: The rest of the question is why do people in your own party think the Coalition is doing nothing?
PRIME MINISTER: They don’t think that. I don't think that's what the Minister in New South Wales has said. And I think it would be wrong to mischaracterise his comments in that way. The New South Wales Government is pursuing their policies. The Commonwealth government is pursuing ours. We took those policies to the last election. I remind you, that is a 26 per cent reduction. And that's the global commitment we've made for Paris. We made. In fact, it was the Labor government that made the commitments for Kyoto. And when we took over back in 2013, we were seven hundred million tonnes behind in our projections when it came to meeting those Kyoto 20 targets. And now we will exceed them by four hundred and eleven million tonnes. Now, I would say that is actually getting a lot done. And we will continue to get a lot done through our climate solutions fund. We will continue to work to reduce our emissions, as we should. But what we cannot say, what no one can say is those programs of themselves are in any way directly linked to any fire event. I know because I'm a Sydneysider and I know how unusual it is to see that haze across my city. And I know how distressing that has been, particularly for young people who wouldn't have seen that before. And so that is why I think it is important to have a sense of calm about these matters and calm on the basis of information which says Australia is reducing our emissions, Australia is taking action. Australia is getting results. And it's important that at a time like this of natural disasters that Australians focus on coming together and not seeking to drive issues of conflict and issues that can separate Australians at a time when we all need each other.
JOURNALIST: On the emissions targets, there's a chance that Australia use of carryover credits will be ruled out at the next COP meeting. What's your back-up plan to bring emissions down if we don't get to use those carryover credits?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, again, I think the way you've presented the issue is incorrect. Because the issue of carryover credits that’s been discussed in Madrid has actually been about trading credits with other nations, old credits. And that is the issue that concern has been expressed about in Madrid and that does not apply to what Australia's practice is. Australia is in the enviable position, unlike most countries, where we actually have exceeded on our targets. It's a bit like saying that if you get ahead of your mortgage, it doesn't count. Australia has got ahead of its mortgage on emissions reduction and our commitments that we made for Kyoto 2020 and we're ahead of that and I think that's a good thing and what we inherited was, we were well behind on the mortgage when we came to government when it came to Australia's carbon emissions. We've got ahead of it now and I think that's great and it's my ambition to ensure we continue that trend.
JOURNALIST: In light of all the bushfires you're talking about, how can you say it's great that we've achieved this, when it's clearly not great.
PRIME MINISTER: You'd have to be clearer. I don't understand your point.
JOURNALIST: OK. Do you acknowledge that the bushfires are linked in some way to climate change?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course I have, I have all year.
JOURNALIST: OK, well how can you declare as great our achievements so far in view of what's happening around the country?
PRIME MINISTER: What I'm saying is that Australia is meeting and beating our emissions reduction targets and our emissions are around 50 million tonnes lower on average over the term of our government than what we inherited. We need to reduce emissions and that's what is being achieved. What I've also said, John, is even that achievement, even that achievement, cannot be directly linked to a reduction or an increase in the risk of bushfire in Australia, because climate change is a global phenomenon. And to actually link those two things - which I don't think its right to do - as the question sort of implies - I think is to misconstrue it. Of course we should be taking action on climate change as part of a global effort, and we are. But that global effort has, and those global results more broadly, are contributing to greater risks of events like this. That’s why we'll continue to take action and particularly do it in concert with our Pacific family, and build their resilience as well, as we are doing in this country. The fires are of great concern. We have seen many fires in Australia before and there have been plenty of reports about the history of these things in the past and I don't need to remind Victorians about that, because what's been more than a decade, but the wounds are still very real here in Victoria for those catastrophic events. But as always, Australians must band together and we must focus on the effort that needs to be put in on the ground now and that has my absolute focus and the focus of all the Premiers, leading states, that lead the response. I'll be seeing the New South Wales Premier tomorrow. I'm seeing the Victorian Premier this afternoon about a number of issues and my reason, amongst many, for being in Victoria today. And we'll work closely together. That's the assurance I'm seeking to provide Australians. I know it is upsetting. I know it is concerning and particularly when you're living in a city which has a haze that some may never have seen before. But I want them to be assured the country is working together. Australia's amazing volunteer resource is being drawn on and heavily, but it is always overcome. Australians are overcomers and we're unifiers.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what are you hoping to get out of your meeting with Daniel Andrews this afternoon? His Government’s just presented their mid-year economic update and they’re calling on more stimulus from the Commonwealth, to do more to boost economic growth here in Victoria?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I look forward to discussing further projects that we can carry forward. I mean I announced just recently over half a billion of projects that we're bringing forward. We'll have further discussions about everything from Melbourne Port Rail and a range of those projects. Indeed, there are some that we would still like them to bring forward. And the Minister for Urban Infrastructure, Alan Tudge, my Melbourne eyes on this Melbourne problem, has only this week- in recent days I should say, met with Jacinta [Allan] and they're progressing issues of projects there. We're enjoying, I think, a very productive partnership on infrastructure with the Victorian Government and I look forward to continuing that in my discussions with the Premier this afternoon. We've brought forward $3.8 billion worth of infrastructure projects into the forward estimates. $1.8 billion this year and next year. So that's effectively over the next 18 months and we've got $9 billion of additional investment going into the National Disability Insurance Scheme this year and next year. We've got $6 billion extra going into hospitals and schools, this year, next year. $2 billion extra going into aged care, this year, next year. The Commonwealth is putting a significant investment - and that's not to mention the big investments we're making in defence procurement all around the country which has been incredibly important in regional areas as well where those projects are being managed. We'll continue to do that and I look forward to his suggestions because each time we've sought to bring projects forward, he's been very cooperative and I hope he will continue to be and as I’m sure he will be when we meet later today!
JOURNALIST: Will you bring up the East West link? And the money you’ve still got –
PRIME MINISTER: Our commitment to the East West link remains but the Victorian Government don't wish to pursue that project. So I think we're at a bit of a stale mate on that, but our commitment remains.
JOURNALIST: If they won't pursue it, will you unlock that money for other projects?
PRIME MINISTER: People know the accounting treatment of those funds. It would be new funds if that project was to commence.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister just on climate change, you said there's a global effort, but Australia ranks last in the world on climate policy in a new global index. Isn't that an indictment of your Government's response?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I completely reject that report. We don’t accept that.
JOURNALIST: You don't accept the report?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Why not?
PRIME MINISTER: Because I don't think it's credible.
JOURNALIST: It's not credible?
PRIME MINISTER: No. OK, I might move because I’ve had my Minister’s –
JOURNALIST: I want to ask one more question.
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
JOURNALIST: You sort of said that young people in Sydney hadn't seen a haze like that over the city before. Do you remember that in your history?
PRIME MINISTER: I do remember hazes from the past. I do remember Sydney being ringed by fire in my lifetime. I remember as a young fellow being down at the beach and seeing smoke all around as I looked back out from the surf across the sand and I've seen it before. Maybe not quite the haze that I saw on Sydney Harbour. But, you know, we've seen terrible fires. I remember, when I was a kid I remember the Blue Mountains, the big fire back in the late seventies. And I remember the convent just out of Lawson, which was lost I remember on that occasion. And those fires were horrific. Absolutely horrific. We've seen what is, I think, concerning about these fires and we've seen fires come early in the season, too. When I was out at Wilberforce on the weekend getting an update on the mega fire just north-west of Sydney and speaking to the Commissioner when I was out there and speaking to other locals and I asked them about that and they said, yeah, we've seen early fires before. The challenge is that these fires have been now going for some time and that is causing a lot of fatigue. And I know that has the keen attention of the commissioners on how the firefighters are getting their rest periods. And that's why we appreciate the supplementary resources of people coming out of New Zealand and Canada and the United States and in those states that aren’t facing the extreme conditions that the New South Wales, in particular, and Queensland. We're getting that wonderful support. I mean, this time last year, it was New South Wales firefighters going to Tasmania and that's the wonderful nature of this coordinated effort and that's what I'd stress. There is an extraordinarily coordinated effort between all of our fire chiefs, between all of our state and territory resources. There are established protocols for making requests, acting on those requests, whether they're fiscal or whether they're resources or people or airlifts or defence force engagement. All of this is happening. All of the things that you would expect indeed to be happening is happening. And and we thank all of those for their amazing effort in addressing the great risk, which is a natural disaster. Of course it is. And we will continue to respond to it on the basis of it being exactly that.
So I'm going to ask now if I could be joined by the Treasurer and the Minister for Communications and the Arts. We would like to make a statement on our response to the ACCC report in relation to digital platforms and I want to thank the Treasurer and the Minister for their significant work. And I also want to thank the ACCC and Rod Sims for the great work the ACCC has done.
The global economy, the world is changing because of the revolution that is taking place with the digital economy and digital technology. At a recent speech I gave to the Business Council, I talked about the digital economy and how I want Australia to be in the leadership pack, if not even at the front of that pack, when it comes to our success in the digital economy. And that means we need to modernise our regulatory environment. That means we need to understand the digital economy and the operation of digital platforms in our economy and in our society in a way better than any other jurisdiction. I want us to be the model jurisdiction in the world for how we are dealing with digital platforms, social media platforms, and I have a simple rule and that the rules that exist in the real world need to exist in the digital world. If it's a wrong thing to do in the real world, then it's a wrong thing to do in the digital world. And you would have seen that over the course of the last year, the Government and I have been taking a lot of action in this space, whether it's to deal with e-safety in the protection of children when it comes to what occurs on the Internet, whether it's the response that we led following the terrorist attack in Christchurch, which we took to the G20 and got the world's biggest economies to agree on the need to send the digital platforms a clear message that we cannot allow the Internet and the digital world to be weaponised by terrorists.
What occurs in consumer law, what occurs in competition law, what occurs in taxation law should occur in the digital world as much as occurs in the real world. And so that's what guides us and for Australia to be successful as an economy in the next decade we need to be leaders in this space. And that means our regulatory environment needs to be agile. It needs to be targeted. It needs to be effective in a way that at once it protects the very important things that we must protect from privacy to the safety of our children at the same time as realising the benefits to our economy that comes from these digital technologies. So we want our cake and we want to eat it when it comes to digital in Australia. We want the benefits and the public and our economy and our companies have every right to expect the protections that they would otherwise have in the real world.
So it was as Treasurer, I commissioned the ACCC to to undertake this work. This work done by the ACCC is world's best. The number of people from around the world who have raised with me the excellence of this report and the insights that it contains into digital platforms done by the ACCC I think is a testament to Rod Sims and his team and I'm very proud of the work they've done. So it's now for us to then take their work and bring it forward. And key to that is building further the capability of the ACCC to be a world leader in this space in terms of how regulations should be structured to get the twin outcomes of protections and economic supercharging from this technology, as well as the commercial arrangements that need to be fostered between our traditional and new media that exists to enable the benefits to be realised. The regulatory environment and the deregulation that potentially needs to occur to get a level playing field and the protections that need to be in place for people's privacy in this new world. We have regulation and systems that were written for an analog economy, and I want Australia to be one of the most, if not the most, successful digital economy in the world.
So our response is all about that. That means jobs. That means incomes. That means an income for Australia, which supports the essential services Australians rely on. We must be successful in this digital world. We can't be afraid of it. We can't pull the doona over our head and pretend it's not there. We have to deal with the challenges it presents and the opportunities that are there for us to take. So I'll hand over the Treasurer and the Minister for Communications and the Arts to run through our response. Thank you, Josh. Thank you very much.
THE HON. JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER: Thank you, Prime Minister. It’s a pleasure to join you and the Minister here today. The digital world is the new frontier and what happens in the digital world affects everything we do from our personal interactions to our commercial relationships and the companies that have come to dominate the digital world are among the most powerful and valuable in the world. More than 17 million Australians use Facebook every month. More than 90 per cent of the searches online are using Google. And we know that in the Australian online advertising market, excluding classifieds, for every $100 that is spent, $47 is spent with Google, $24 with Facebook and $29 with the other parties. And it was in this context that the then Treasurer and now Prime Minister commissioned the ACCC to conduct this groundbreaking review, a review that made a series of recommendations, 23 in total, across better consumer outcomes, competition law, privacy and media regulation.
Now, that report, as the Prime Minister said, is world-leading and we want to stay ahead of the game and ahead of the pack. So I just want to touch on two particular recommendations that we are accepting that are within my portfolio. The first is that we will be setting up a dedicated unit to focus on the digital platforms, within the ACCC. Now, we are allocating $27 million to this task and this unit will monitor the sector. It will enforce the rules and it will conduct further inquiries as directed by the Treasurer. And the first inquiry is into the adtech market, the advertising online market, which is the technology that determines the advertisements you see online and this was a particular recommendation of the ACCC. The second recommendation that we will be accepting in my portfolio is that we will be requiring the digital platforms to enter into a voluntary code with the media companies. Now, this code will cover such things as how revenue is shared, how content is accessed and presented, as well as getting forewarning about changes to algorithms that go to how the content is ranked online. The Government will be seeking an update from the ACCC on the development of these voluntary codes by May and we are expecting that a voluntary code will be entered into by November. If no voluntary code is satisfactorily entered into, the Government will move forward with a mandated regulatory outcome.
So the companies are on notice. The Government is not messing around. We will not hesitate to act. And what we are seeking to do here with the acceptance of a number of the recommendations in Rod Sims excellent report is not only to minimize the harm but to maximize the opportunities for all Australians and for the economy as a whole.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, Paul Fletcher. Thank you, Paul.
THE HON. PAUL FLETCHER MP, MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS, CYBER SAFETY AND THE ARTS: Thank you, Prime Minister. Thank you, Treasurer. Of the ACCC’s 23 recommendations, one that's of great importance within my portfolio is that we move to harmonise media regulation. Now, as the ACCC noted, this is a big job that needs to be done in stages. But fundamentally, the point they're making is that we've got a set of businesses that are using technology that's been around for a long time. And we've got a new set of businesses that are using much newer technology, competing for the same audiences, but facing very different regulatory environment. So we've committed that we’re going to commence a staged process towards an end state of platform mutual regulatory frameworks covering both online and offline delivery of media content to Australian consumers.
Now, the ACCC, as I mentioned, noted that this is a big job and it needs to be done in stages. So we've committed that our first stage is going to focus on two issues and work on these two issues will commence in 2020. The first is developing a uniform classification framework that would operate across all media platforms. The second comes to the question of Australian content. We're going to examine the extent of Australian content obligations on free to air TV broadcasters, and that includes drama and children's content, and whether there should be Australian content obligations on the new subscription video on demand or [inaudible] services. And we're also going to look at other aspects of the policy framework to support Australian film and TV content. We'll be asking the Australian Communications and Media Authority and Screen Australia to prepare an options paper for issue early next year and we'll use that then as a basis for consulting with the industry. I've mentioned these first two key issues that we’ll kick off with. In the next stage we seek to look at other issues, such as the regulation of advertising but we’ll say more about the timing of that next year. But I'd envisage that that work would be getting underway as well before the end of next year.
So very significant recommendations by the ACCC in terms of our media regulation and we're announcing a staged programme in response to that with two areas that we're focussing on initially on classification, Australian content.
PRIME MINISTER: Questions on this matter?
JOURNALIST: The ACCC is right now suing Google… taking them to court. Google and Facebook have repeatedly shown that they're not prepared to follow laws in our country or other countries. Is a voluntary code really going to cut it?
PRIME MINISTER: Let me make two responses to that. First of all, as a country, we have already acted and demanded their attention when it comes to terrorist content and we have led the world in that and I can assure you that that has got their attention. When it comes to getting them to pay tax, and in particular abolishing the low-value threshold for large platforms, for Amazon, and you'll recall Amazon said they were going to leave the country, never to return. They are back within months. And we held firm when it came to standing up to those companies, as we have on keeping our children safe, dealing with the threats of terrorism on the Internet and indeed, as it will be in this case, ensuring that our companies get a fair go in the digital economy. And as the Treasurer said, our preference is for them to sit down and work out these new commercial rules between them, which would be binding upon them once the code has been established. But I want to report back in May and I want to see how it's going and I want this thing done by November. But I can assure you the backstop is there. If I don't think this thing is tracking and the Treasurer doesn't think it's tracking and the Communications Minister, a mandatory code will happen.
JOURNALIST: It's over two years since you first commissioned the ACCC report. Your Government has been looking at it for six months. A lot of the decisions are to take for more reviews over the next 12 months. When is his country going to see action on this issue?
THE HON. JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER: Thanks, John. As you would know from your own company, they had an opportunity to put in a submission. So we actually held a public consultation process. So I don't know if you’re speaking for your own company's experience, but I know that they said... they wanted to have the opportunity to comment on this final report. It was an 18 month report and as you know, we are leading the world and by now moving to this voluntary code and, indeed, as the Prime Minister has indicated, possibly a mandatory code. We do need to go through that process because we are driving evidence-based policy. This is properly considered. These aren’t knee jerk reactions, these are getting the best and the brightest minds that the ACCC has brought together to produce a world-leading report. And when you are talking about putting in place state of the art regulatory frameworks, you need to get it right.
JOURNALIST: Who will lead the ACCC unit?
THE HON. JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER: Ultimately, it is accountable to Rod Sims as the head of the ACCC. Now, he already has put together a pretty strong team who worked on this report and he'll continue to work to build it. But it ultimately is under his leadership.
JOURNALIST: Treasurer, can I just confirm, are you accepting all 23 recommendations and does this mean the digital platforms can be subject to the same laws of defamation contempt that the mainstream media is?
THE HON. JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER: We're not accepting all the recommendations and we've set out in our response which ones we're acting on immediately, which ones we're engaging in further consultation on, which ones we know want. There's a couple in Paul's area where we're not moving forward, so I'll let him explain it as well as this issue in relation to defamation.
THE HON. PAUL FLETCHER MP, MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS, CYBER SAFETY AND THE ARTS: Let me pick up the question about defamation. Work in that space is being led by the Attorney-General and he's working with his state and territory counterparts, recognising where primary responsibility for defamation law sits. So that's the work stream that our Government has underway on that front, working with state and territory governments and attorneys general. And in relation to one of the areas that we've chosen not to take up the agency's recommendation, well, that was a recommendation for effectively a code governing takedowns in relation to infringement of copyright. I think we consulted widely with industry on views about that particular recommendation, I think it is fair to say there was certainly strong agreement as to the nature of the issue and our Government is certainly concerned about whether the digital platforms are facilitating content being displayed which infringes the copyright of owners, be they Australian media business and Australian creators or others. But the view we got quite strongly from many across the sector was that they didn't feel that particular regulatory tool that was recommended, was fit for purpose.
PRIME MINISTER: But that was for traditional media operators.
THE HON. PAUL FLETCHER MP, MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS, CYBER SAFETY AND THE ARTS: Indeed. And so we certainly recognise that remains an issue.
PRIME MINISTER: The principle is what I outlined at the start and this is what all of this is working to. It's not about trying to regulate a sector, because, as you know, my Government is about deregulating the economy where we can and getting rid of unnecessary regulation. As I said, as part of our economic plan at the BCA speech I gave earlier this year. This is about ensuring and a whole new area of our economy operates on the same rules as the physical economy. So whether it's defamation, whether it's copyright, whether it's these sorts of issues, we have to work to establish the same norms and the same expectations and the same requirements in the digital space that applies in real space.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, President Trump responded angrily when France introduced higher taxes on Facebook and Google. Do you expect any blowback from the White House to your response to the ACCC inquiry?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you’ve said that this information had caused you some issues in getting the right information out on bushfires. Obviously, that was part of this inquiry. Has this gone far enough to tackle fake news?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the problem with fake news is that when it's put out there in the first place and that's the problem of digital platforms and things like this, that people can gravitate on that. And it's important that that is extinguished by getting the right information out there. So in the case of the fires, that's required a very proactive effort from our agencies. And this is why it's important that you have, you know, the rules that govern the real world also governing the digital world. It's not an easy thing to do because it's an evolving technology. In my engagements around the G20 table, but more importantly, with the digital platforms that have sought to engage with that process that we commenced, and it commenced many years ago when we started championing the role of ensuring multinationals pay their tax and digital platforms, digital companies have been offenders in this area, quite significantly. And so I've been dealing with this issue back as a Treasurer through to now and what's important is that you've got to work with these companies because they're basically inventing this economy every single day. And they can't operate like they're out in the Wild West and the rules don't apply to them. They can't operate on a business model which is the absence of any sort of regulatory world that applies to them. That is not a reasonable expectation on their part and my invitation to them has been to work with us because one way or another, we're going to put this in place. I'd rather do it with you so we can make sure we get the advantages of the digital economy while also getting the protections in place. And look, I've met with a lot of them recently when some of their most senior executives have been out in Australia, I've also met with them when I've been in the United States and I think that's changing. But to go to an early questioner’s point, it changes because governments say we're not going to put up with this and you're going to have to come to the table and increasingly, I'm finding that they are doing that, but they've got a bit more distance to travel.
JOURNALIST: One of the recommendations in the ACCC report was around sort of changes to the acquisition laws. But one thing, in particular, they pointed out was advance notice on any acquisitions from the big tech companies of local players. What is your take on that? Is that one of the ones that you're not proceeding or will that fall under the new sort of ACCC unit?
THE HON. JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER: No, that is actually one that we focused on implementing and and getting more information to the ACCC. There is also some more broader merger law changes that we're going to consult further. But as the Prime Minister has indicated we want to work with the industry, both some of the traditional media companies, as well as these new digital platform companies with the ACCC as being the cop on the beat has been the effective regulator to ensure that our regulatory framework is fit for purpose. This is all about staying ahead of the game. This report has put us in the position, Prime Minister, to be world-leading in this regard. And as the Prime Minister has indicated in a number of speeches and indeed our policies are also capitalising on the digital economy. We want Australians to get the best out of the digital economy.
JOURNALIST: You talk about innovation in this sector. Could you list the amount of innovation we've had from Google in the last two years?
PRIME MINISTER: What do you mean?
JOURNALIST: Well, innovation. I'm not sure that we've seen any innovation from Google apart from working out better ways of getting our information and how to make money from it.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'd say that the advance in digital technology, the ability to access information and the ability to turn that information to things of real value is the defining element of the digital economy. And obviously, they've played a huge role in that globally.
JOURNALIST: But I said in the last two years, what?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that has continued, John, as you’d know, and if it wasn't continuing, then the share price would look very different to what it is today if they weren't able to continue to build their models and their products and their services. That obviously has an impact on the global economy. But what I want to ensure, and this is my whole point about technology and you were there at that speech, so you'll know what I said. Australia's advantage in this area is we're good adopters of this technology. We don't have to invent it, although we're capable of it and I'd like to see that. But where Australia will be successful in the digital economy is that we will adopt it and apply it and immerse it into our business models better than any other country in the world. This is why we're close now to completing the first e-commerce agreement with Singapore. This is why that's what we're pursuing in our engagements with other countries around the world. It's the sort of thing that I'll have the opportunity to talk with Prime Minister Modi about and Prime Minister Abe. I'm with them in January. The changing of the world's rules and Australia's rules to position our companies to be immersed in the digital economy is huge. And for small businesses in particular and for regional parts of the country and even for small countries in our region. It's a massive change and so we've got to understand it. We've got to put in place the right protections for consumers and for companies to be able to access it and to deal with imbalances in market power. And, you know, we've seen this through other major iterations of technological revolution in the past, whether it's been from electricity or steam trains, for goodness sake. And this is another iteration of that in the global economy. And on each occasion, countries have had to do their own work, but also work with others to modernise their regulatory regimes. As I said, we've got to regulate and enable a digital economy and at the moment, too much of our settings are on analog and we'll make that switch and we're leading that switch.
Just on one other issue before I go, to a matter that you raised earlier in relation to equipment for firefighters. Commissioner Fitzsimmons has responded to that issue, I understand, and said he's not sure why they are doing that. “We supply breathing masks,” he says, “to firefighters like they do with all other basic equipment”. That the RFS, I'm advised, provides disposal masks that are certified and fit for purpose. And the P3 masks by design in most cases interfere with the correct fitment of goggles, helmet and flash hood, as it's known, as well as the retaining the metabolic heat by the volume of the firefighters face being covered and this contributes to heat exhaustion. So there's a lot of technical specifications about the equipment that's provided to firefighters. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service, the ones that actually define what that equipment should be, and they're the ones that provide it. And so if you need any further details from the Rural Fire Service in New South Wales, I'm sure Commissioner Fitzsimmons will only be too happy to facilitate an answer on anything further you need.
And the other thing I should have mentioned, too, in response to an earlier question, I talked about what we're doing with emissions reduction and the discussion that Minister Taylor was able to have in Madrid. The other thing he's been able to stress, I think, very importantly, is Australia is in the leading pack when it comes to renewables investment in the world today. So whether it's on renewables or reducing emissions, Australia is meeting our goals and beating our goals and I think that is something that can be of real encouragement for Australians today as they do look out on that haze, as they do look out on the terrible fires they’re seeing and know that Australia has a plan. We're meeting that plan and in a lot of cases, we're beating that plan. Thank you all very much.
Press Conference - Sydney, NSW
10 December 2019
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning everyone. Before we go to the subject of today’s media conference for which I am joined by the Attorney-General I just want to say that there is no further information that I have to add to the media conference I held earlier this morning with the Minister for Foreign Affairs at Kirribilli, regarding the terrible tragedy that has occurred in New Zealand. But our love continues to go to all those families who have been affected by this and also our thanks to the many Australians, but of course, the many New Zealanders who are there caring for Australians and their families as they go through what is a very anxious and what is a very difficult time. I particularly want to thank those media outlets who have taken on my request from earlier today and as we continue to work through these details, the Government will only be releasing information that we are able to confirm and I would continue to caution against any speculation on any of the details unless it has been confirmed.
Moving from that rather sombre and very upsetting and sad note, the purpose of asking you here today is to provide you with an update on what we are doing in relation to the Religious Discrimination Act. You will have noted just over a week ago I indicated that we would be issuing a further and final exposure draft to the earlier draft that had been released and had been the subject of consultation. We will be releasing that second and final draft today and to provide the opportunity for further consultation over the course of the summer and the Attorney-General will be able to go into those details in just a moment.
What people believe in this country or don't believe when it comes to the big questions of life, which is really what religion and faith is all about, is such a personal matter. It is hard to imagine something more personal and in our country, these beliefs and non-beliefs for that matter, are an expression of the liberty to which we all hold dear in countries such as Australia, but especially Australia. I gave a commitment that we would ensure that people would not be discriminated against in this country, as a basis of their religious beliefs or non-beliefs. And we have been going through a process, a patient process, a process that I want to be unifying and to be inclusive, to ensure that we enshrine these protections for Australians going forward into the future and that we do that on a platform of tolerance and inclusion that brings people together around these big issues. So I want to thank the thousands of Australians who have engaged in this process to date. I want to particularly thank the Attorney and his team and those who have been working on this to produce both the first exposure draft and now this second exposure draft. This is an intricate process. We are taking it step by step. I want to thank those faith leaders and those more broadly across the community who have been urging us not to rush this but to ensure we take the time to get it right.
There has been a lot of very good faith engagement in this process and I really appreciate it. There were lots of suggestions that this would be a divisive debate and I don't believe it has been and I don't believe it needs to be. I think there are some important principles here that the Attorney has been able to identify in partnership with all of those who have participated in this consultative process and I'm very much looking forward to this next round of consultation so that when we do get to a position where we are able to bring a bill into the Parliament and then seek to pursue that through both chambers that we will do so in a way which I would hope would be in a very unifying expression of our country's firm belief in religious freedom and that, of course, applies to those of no faith or positions or positions of faith. It is a multicultural society, the diverse nature of the beliefs that we hold as Australia is a key part of who we are as a country and this is another initiative, I think, to provide a bulwark to ensure that these important elements of our society are protected into the future. So I thank the Attorney for the work he has done and the processes he leads. I would be encouraging all those who have engaged with us, they will see that we have listened very carefully to that first round of consultation, listened very carefully, and you will see that reflected in the draft released today. But I would be engaging everyone again to look at that and provide further comment and I would be extending the same invitation to those involved in the political process. All parties across the Parliament, across the chambers, engage in this process now. Don't leave it to the Parliament. How about we work together to try to get a bill that we can get into the Parliament and proceed with to ensure that that can be done in a very inclusive way. I advised the Leader of the Opposition as I was briefing him on other matters today, as you would understand in relation to the incidents in New Zealand, that I would be releasing that draft today and that would be a matter for them obviously to consider in their caucus us and their processes.
But with that, Attorney, thank you very much for the work you have done and why don't you take us through the changes and where we go to from here?
THE HON. CHRISTIAN PORTER MP, ATTORNEY-GENERAL AND MINISTER FOR INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS: Thank you, PM. I am going to describe 11 changes to the draft bill and these changes are the result of a lot of stakeholder engagement. We had over 90 two hour sessions with 90 different individual stakeholders. We have read and considered an enormous number of written submissions and distilled those down to these 11 essential changes of the bill.
The first of the changes relates to clause 11 of the bill, which is a very important clause of the bill. That is the clause of the bill that provides that what we define as ‘religious bodies’ do not discriminate by decisions made on the basis of faith to establish an exclusivity to those religious organisations. So because this is a bill which changes the starting position to make discrimination on the basis of faith unlawful, there has to be an exception to that starting position to allow churches and religious organisations to discriminate on the basis of faith because that's what makes them churches and religious organisations. So the changes with respect to section 11 are that previously we had not allowed preference based on faith for religious charities, whose dominant purpose was commercial. It was pointed out to us that that was probably unfair on a range of organisations who arguably have a large commercial purpose but are clearly religious, like St Vincent de Paul and others. So we've included a definition of a public benevolent institution, which is an entity that's known in the charitable space, so that will ensure that organisations like St Vincent de Paul can make decisions in areas such as staff based on the faith of that organisation. We've also made it very clear for the purposes of section 11 that where we say that it is not discriminatory for religious organisations to make decisions based on faith, we want to make it clear that that means a religious organisation as we've defined it can preference a person of their own faith in a number of circumstances, but most notably for employment. So something that is a religious organisation, a church or a religious educational institution or St Vincent de Paul, they can make a decision based on faith, which might mean preferring someone of their own faith in an employment position. We've also included in section 11 an additional definition of the types of things that religious organisations can do, which would not give rise to a discrimination claim, and we've extended that out to things that they might be able to do, actions that they might need to take to avoid injury to the religious susceptibilities of adherence of their faith. That is a phrase that is used elsewhere, particularly in the Fair Work Act and has operated very well for a number of years. So they're changes to section 11, which is a very important operative clause of the bill.
The second change is that religious hospitals, aged care facilities and accommodation providers will be able to take faith into account in their staffing decisions and again it will be quite clear that when we say they can take faith into account with respect to their staffing decisions, that will mean that they can, in many given circumstances, prefer to employ someone of their own faith, if that's what they consider is in the best interests of their organisation.
The third change is that religious camps and conference centres will be able to take faith into account when deciding whether to provide accommodation. They'll also need, though, in making those sort of determinations to ensure that they have a publicly available policy which sets out the circumstances in which they'll hire their facilities out or in which they will decline to hire them out, but we're making it clear that religious camps and conference centres will be able to take faith into account in determining whether or not to hire out their facilities. The employer conduct rules you'll recall, these are the rules that apply to the situation where someone may say something which we’ve defined as a statement of religious belief, effectively outside work hours, and if they do that and there's an employer conduct rule that seeks to prevent them or punish them for doing that, then the organisation, if it's a large business, will have to show that they've endured financial hardship to show that that is a reasonable thing for them to do.
There's a technical change to that provision, which just defines when it is that this is an active clause and the definition is that when the thing said, the statement of religious belief is said other than in the course of the employee's employment. So it's meant to capture the fact that this is something said in the person's spare time but it's also a definition that we've tweaked to ensure that we're not causing any problems for organisations, large organisations or indeed small organisations in terms of their occupational health and safety requirements at things like office Christmas parties, which some people may take the view are either in or outside work hours. So we've adopted the definition used elsewhere in industrial law which is ‘other than in the course of the employee's employment’. So that's the fourth change.
The fifth change is to extend the operation of our employee conduct rule, so again this is the rule that places a burden of proof on a large organisation to show that if they want to stop someone from saying something, which is a statement of belief in their spare time, that they have to show there's undue financial hardship. We've extended that clause and an operation of a very similar clause to qualifying bodies. So these are the types of bodies that allow for a doctor to qualify to practise as a doctor or a lawyer to qualify to practise as a lawyer and those bodies will not be able to impose a rule, like a social media code of conduct, that restricts people from making statements of belief in their personal capacity unless that rule is an absolutely essential requirement of practising for that qualification or profession. So it will not be the case that a Legal Practice Board would be able to threaten the removal of a legal practice certificate or discipline a legal practitioner because in their spare time on social media or elsewhere, they say things which are statements of religious belief.
The sixth change is with respect to the provisions in the bill that are meant to support and protect what are already existing conscientious objection processes. Now, we've listened to a range of people who've put the view that those could be more tightly drafted and having listened to those views, we are making sure that it is quite clear in the bill that someone has a right to conscientiously object and an employer rule which seeks to diminish that right to conscientious objection is not going to be reasonable in most circumstances, but we're also making it absolutely clear that the conscientious objection of a medical professional has to be to a procedure, not to an individual person. So that makes it absolutely clear that this is not meant to, in any way, enshrine any form of discrimination. What it is meant to do is protect people who establish and communicate a conscientious objection based on religious grounds to undertaking a certain procedure.
The seventh change is that there is a provision now in the Bill which, again, was based on a range of submissions that considered it necessary to protect associates of people of religion. Now, this is actually quite important, and it borrows from language in other discrimination bills, but it extends the protection to not be discriminated against to a person, say, for instance, who is married to a person of faith. So we want to make sure that the starting position in Australia is that a person of faith won't be denied entry to a club or prejudiced against in employment or in any other setting set out in the legislation, but equally, we don't want the partner, wife or husband or spouse of a person of faith to also ever receive that sort of discrimination. So that's the associate's clause.
We have - based on some legal and technical advice - fine-tuned the definition of vilify. That is relevant to section 8 and 42 of the bill, which protects statements of religious belief, but doesn't protect statements that vilify and we have clarified that vilification in that context means a statement that would incite hatred or violence.
We've also placed in as the ninth change an objects clause which just expressly makes clear that all human rights have equal status under international law.
The tenth change is a change of technical drafting, but an important one. In section 11, which I've described previously, there is a measure, an action by a religious organisation is not going to be discrimination that might otherwise exist under the terms of this act, but the measure is, is the action of the religious organisation and we have definitions of that, is the action done in good faith and is it reasonably in accordance with the doctrines and tenets and beliefs of the religion? For clarification in this version of the bill, we have made it clear that the test of reasonableness here is a test from the perspective of the average person of the same religion. So, if you like, the denomination, the sect or stream or tradition of the religion in question - that is the basis upon which the conduct will be assessed as reasonable or unreasonable in terms of its linkage back to the doctrines of that particular sect or stream or tradition of a religion.
And the final change, number 11, is that the protections in this to religious activity and belief are only protections to lawful religious activity and belief which means that if a Commonwealth law or a state law has the effect of discriminating in some way against a particular religion, that is nevertheless a good law. In the first draft of the bill, that principle extended down to the level of council bylaws and a view was taken based on the many submissions we had that that was just unnecessary in all the circumstances.
So there are 11 changes. They represent listening from all sides of this debate. So there are changes that have been suggested by human rights and LGBTI groups. There are changes that have been suggested by faith groups. They are represented in the final draft that is now available. And there is an extra period of consultation, which will be conducted much in the same way as the first period of consultation. But these changes don't change the operation, the objectives or the overarching structure of the Bill. They improve a range of very important clauses and they are certainly, at least, substantive enough to warrant this extra period of consultation. So the people who have suggested changes can see whether, to their best assessment, the drafting that we have now adopted meets their needs and represents their concerns.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. Questions?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said the delay was about getting it right. What were you getting wrong?
PRIME MINISTER: It's about getting it right and I'm so pleased that we've had so much engagement, some 6,000 individual submissions coming through for us to consider. I think that process showed we were getting it right and we could get it even more right by continuing that process and improving the Bill and the way that the Attorney has just outlined I think demonstrates that. I'm very pleased with the way that this process is unfolding. I'm pleased with it because people are engaged with it. I'm pleased with it because it's actually, I believe, trying to bring us together to a point that we'll be able to progress this bill in the Parliament and that's why I would want to provide further opportunity for that engagement before it goes into the parliamentary phase of what we're doing. This Bill reaches out across all Australians and we're providing more opportunity for them to continue to engage to get it into a more refined position. It's the case with any change you're making, the first 80 per cent is fairly straightforward in many cases and just working through the last 20 per cent means you've got to continue to work that bit harder to make sure you get it absolutely right and in the best possible position.
JOURNALIST: Mr Porter, can you just clarify - a statement made at a Christmas party, how would this Bill affect a controversial statement made at a Christmas party?
THE HON. CHRISTIAN PORTER MP, ATTORNEY-GENERAL AND MINISTER FOR INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS: Well, it would depend on whether or not a Christmas party is in the context of work and that would depend on how it's organised and when it was held and who organised it. But that particular change you're talking about is simply meant to ensure that we're not cutting across any of the occupational health and safety requirements of an employee. So the terms we've used are that the statement of religious belief, which activates this protection, is something that is said other than in the course of the employee's employment. In most instances, something said at an office Christmas party would likely be in the context of someone's employment. But, of course, something said at home or posted on Facebook on Saturday afternoon is going to be clearly outside the course of an employee's employment. But not every Christmas party, depending on the circumstances, is going to be in the course of employment.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, it appears that faith-based groups have got their way with a lot of these changes. Have you done anything to ease the concerns of minority groups such as the LGBTQI groups?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll allow the Attorney to talk about that but the point here has just been to listen and we've been listening to everybody. And the practical issues that have been brought up through the consultation process, I think, have been very productive in making sure that this is a very practical bill that deals with the everyday experience of how religious organisations and people of faith in this country go about expressing and conducting their faith. And we've sought to do that in a way which doesn't cut across the broader rights and liberties that exist for all Australians. Because this is a Bill for all Australians. This is a law for all Australians. I mean what I have noticed, and been really encouraged by - whether people are of a religious faith or not of a religious faith, there is a very strong view that religious faiths should be respected in this country, regardless of whether you hold one yourself. And so I would say that this process that we're engaged in is very much respecting that broader view and the sort of changes and the sorts of things we're seeking to achieve will gain that support because it is based on this principle that Australia is a country of respect and of tolerance and the liberties that we have also come with responsibilities and I think when you look specifically at how there have been definitions provided for things like vilification and things of that nature, then we're providing the context and the clear instruction around what those responsibilities are. Christian?
THE HON. CHRISTIAN PORTER MP, ATTORNEY-GENERAL AND MINISTER FOR INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS: I mean, the consultation process and the results of it haven't been all one-way traffic, if you like. Maybe the best example is the conscientious objection clause. Many medical professionals across Australia conscientiously object with regularity, sometimes they do that pursuant to a state law, sometimes they do that pursuant to an obligation of their own, sometimes they do it because their ability to do it is set out in AMA documents and medical practitioner documents. So the conscientious objection procedures are meant to say that where people conscientiously object, an employer shouldn't be able to prevent that conscientious objection unless it's absolutely necessary. And what LGBTI groups and a range of other groups said was that perhaps the list of medical professionals to whom that extra protection was applied was too broad. We’d drawn that list from a standard definition of Commonwealth law. We put that suggestion from LGBTI groups to faith groups and would you believe there was a degree of coalescence and agreement between those groups that probably that clause was applied too broadly. Equally, LGBTI groups said it wasn't, they considered, clear enough from the drafting that that conscientious objection had to relate to a procedure rather than an individual person.
PRIME MINISTER: And appropriately.
THE HON. CHRISTIAN PORTER MP, ATTORNEY-GENERAL AND MINISTER FOR INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS: We took that back to faith groups and they said well we never want the ability to conscientiously object with respect to individuals, but only with respect to medical procedures. They're two examples. And as the Prime Minister said, these represent largely improvements of principles in clauses and drafting in the Bill. Some things we deliberately said we would have to wait until consultation to finalise. For instance, we didn't have a perfect understanding of the operation of religious aged care facilities and you'll see in this Bill we've protected the ability of religious aged care facilities to hire in accordance with faith. The reason we went to that extent, but not provide an exception to have patients brought in according to faith is because religious aged facilities said they don't do that. And of course, when they gave us their best evidence of what they actually do, we took that to other LGBTI groups, so this has been a truly balanced and iterative process.
JOURNALIST: What would you say is the most significant of the 11 changes that you’ve made?
THE HON. CHRISTIAN PORTER MP, ATTORNEY-GENERAL AND MINISTER FOR INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS: I think section 11 is a very, very important part of the bill and there are four changes to section 11. But when you, for the first time, at Commonwealth law, establish a new starting position - which is that a person shouldn't be discriminated against based on their faith in a range of circumstances in their employment, in joining a club, in qualifying for a profession - like all other pieces of discrimination legislation, you need one big exemption to that to allow religious groups to function. So it's not dissimilar to the fact that in the sex discrimination act if you were to have men's and women's only clubs you need an exemption, but that problem is a much broader problem to solve for religious organisations. So I think extending the definition of religious organisations out to public benevolent institutions, extending the definition of the actions that can be undertaken, which are not discriminatory to those which might be necessary to prevent offending against the susceptibilities of religion - I think these were important additions to the drafting. They support a general principle that was in the drafting, but they have been the result of faith-based organisations communicating to us in a real-world day-to-day basis what their organisations do and how they operate. And I think that they're the most important changes.
PRIME MINISTER: The changes, I think, have brought to light, I think, the broader positive contribution that religious organisations play in our society. The faith and activities of these religious organisations is not just going to church on a Sunday and singing a few hymns. There is an involvement in the community, in the provision of very important services, whether they are aged care services, whether they're health services, whether they're childcare services. And these organisations are very much intertwined with the life of their communities and a big part of why they do that - in fact, the overwhelming reason for why they do that is an expression of their religious faith. And they wish to maintain the ethos of what they would understand to be the success of their commitment in that area, by being able to pursue those activities consistent with their faith and their religion.
JOURNALIST: Is it just a reality that you won't please everyone on this? There is going to be people who object to whatever you put up?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh look that is the case with almost every issue you deal with in public life. This is why I'm so positive about this because the way people have engaged with this - and this is not a binary proposition - this is, I think, a unifying proposition and it's unifying around the principle point, which is that people's belief - be they to have or not have a religion - is not something upon which any Australian should be discriminated against or be prejudiced against. This is an important part of our society. I think that is broadly accepted in Australia. I undertook that we would bring this in and that's exactly what we're doing and we're going to do it in a way which I think brings people together, not the opposite.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister on the bushfire crisis today, will you be coordinating a national response as was suggested by Malcolm Turnbull last night?
PRIME MINISTER: We already do. I think one of the great encouragements that I've seen through this process is we've had a nationally coordinated operation through all of our state and territory fire chiefs and services now for some time. We have a national capability that has developed, particularly in the aerial firefighting assets. I said this morning there's 111 of them and the Commonwealth puts $15 million a year into that and we put an additional $11 million this year in, in response to what we knew was going to be a very difficult fire season. There is already a nationally coordinated effort. That was one of the things that came out of the Black Saturday fires many years ago. And that nationally coordinated effort, which is from the Commonwealth's point of view, pursued through emergency management Australia, and the control centre there is also bringing in the involvement of the Australian Defence Force and the many other agencies of government. It brings in the Department of Social Services and Services Australia to ensure that payments are made on the ground and those things are connected up. And this is as important in bushfires and in floods or in other areas of national disaster response. The highly coordinated nature of how our state and territory jurisdictions work together during these bushfires has been an inspiration. The Chiefs work closely together. They have a direct line to me. They have a direct line to the Premiers. And the Premiers and I discuss these things regularly. It was only just a couple of weeks ago that our Minister, David Littleproud, was convening the meeting of all of his colleagues in the states and territories to pursue this nationally coordinated arrangement and this is one of the reasons we've been able, I think, to respond to what has been one of the most serious fire seasons we have seen so far.
JOURNALIST: On calls for that national coordination that is occurring now to be led at a higher level within the Federal Government...
PRIME MINISTER: It's led by a Cabinet Minister who reports directly to me and I deal with it directly with the premiers of the states and chief ministers of the territories. I don't think it can go any higher than that.
JOURNALIST: But these calls were still being made as late as yesterday. Do you think that national coordination is happening adequately? There are a lot of concerns about how long volunteer firefighters are supposed to continue volunteering without pay. They're crowd-sourcing funds for water and food and resources on the ground. Do you think there is more that the Federal Government can do?
PRIME MINISTER: The State Government gets everything they request from the Commonwealth and there is a national coordinated process for requests to be made up to the Commonwealth for that assistance, whether that is of a logistics and support arrangement, whether that is of the ADF's assistance. I mean the ADF have been directly providing and assisting, whether in providing accommodation, logistics support and other, you know, personal needs that have been needed across the firefighting operation. So no, I don't share that view because I know what the practice is and I know what the experience is and I know what's happening on the ground and I know that whether it's the ADF or any other agency of the Commonwealth, all of those agencies, our efforts have been channelled and coordinated into the direct planning and response of the state and territory agencies that are fighting those fires on the ground. That is what is set up. That is what was set up. That’s what was intended to be set up and that is what is operating and I'm pleased with the way those arrangements are being worked out and if there is any other matter that would need to be addressed, it would be raised with the Commonwealth, because there is a direct line to make sure that happens.
JOURNALIST: Do you think volunteer firefighters - should we be looking at starting to pay them?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have a volunteer firefighting force across the country which numbers in the, you know, the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands. And that also includes those who come in from other jurisdictions. It is a standing volunteer force. And these are matters that are considered from time to time but this is why I am so appreciative of the commitment made by employers to support that volunteer effort. The volunteer effort is a big part of our natural disaster response and it is a big part of how Australia has always dealt with these issues. We are constantly looking at ways to better facilitate the volunteer effort, but to professionalise that at that scale is not a matter that has previously been accepted and it's not a matter that is currently under consideration by the Government. But as is the case with all fire events, or as is the case with all flood events and other natural disasters, this actual nationally coordinated effort is designed to constantly look at those issues, post these events. And the recommendations come forward from the chiefs, those directly responsible for fighting these fires and coordinating resources. And you're right, these fires have been going on for some months now and when I was speaking with the commissioner on the weekend out at Wilberforce where we have the mega fire in the north-west at the moment, we were talking through the crew rotations. And the fact is these crews, yes, they're tired, but they also want to be out there defending their communities. And so we do all we can to rotate their shifts to give them those breaks but equally they, and in many cases, you've got to hold them back to make sure they get that rest. And I thank them all for what they're doing, particularly all those who support them.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, at the climate conference in Madrid overnight, climate advocate James Bhagwan a clergyman as well, he referenced the photo of you holding up the lump of coal in Parliament and said that every lump of coal is a nail in this country’s coffin. He’s also referenced the Good Samaritan bible story saying some nations were claiming to be part of the Pacific family but were leaving their neighbours out in the road dying, do you have any response to that?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't share that view. But I respect all the views that come through from our Pacific family and I discuss these issues with our Pacific leaders on a regular basis. No government has done more to engage the Pacific than our Government. No government has done more. And we have the hard conversations with our friends and we also have the hard conversations about how we can support them in what they're doing. Australia's economy and its success has ensured that we've been able to provide unparalleled support to the Pacific of any country in the world and we are their partners. Why are we their partners? Because we are family. And one of the things that happened more recently is that I had the opportunity to take Pacific leaders through what Australia is actually achieving and I was able to address the many misconceptions that some had had about Australia's achievements in reducing emissions. Now, more recent information since that only confirms Australia's position. Emissions have fallen for the last two years. Emissions today are lower than at any other time during the time of the previous Labor government. Emissions reductions for the Kyoto targets mean Australia will now beat our target, not by 367 million tonnes, but by 411 million tonnes. Now, there aren't too many countries in the world that can claim that. See, there's a lot talked about this issue, and there's a lot of agendas around that issue, but the practical achievement of Australia in this area is very clear. We meet and we beat our targets when it comes to emissions reduction. We consider them carefully. We don't make them lightly and when we make them, we are committed to meeting them and whether it's Paris or whether it's Kyoto, Australia will meet its commitments and that is what I've been able to assure Pacific leaders of and I've been able to demonstrate that through the evidence of what our programs are delivering on the ground. John?
JOURNALIST: Just a question just on this subject. Malcolm Turnbull also said last night that the Coalition is incapable of dealing with climate change because its right-wing treats it as an issue of religion or belief and that is nuts. What's your response to that?
PRIME MINISTER: Our policy is sensible when it comes to addressing and taking action on climate change. Our actions on climate change are getting the results they're intended to get. That is reducing emissions and meeting our targets. And the policies that we're pursuing, I believe, capture, I think, that sensible centre and that sensible centre that understands that we need to balance both meeting the needs of sustainability in our environment and ensuring that we meet the economic needs of our nation. This is why we rejected Labor's 45 per cent emissions reduction target, because it was an economy-wrecking set of targets. We believe - and are proving - that you can be responsible on emissions reduction, and you can be responsible on managing your economy and the livelihoods that depends on that economy. Now, this is not a new view for me. This is a longstanding view of ensuring that we get the right balance on these issues. People know where I stand on these issues, they know clearly where I stand. I don't go changing my mind on these things because I know how important both of them are and the policies that are pursued by our Government achieve both of those and I think Australians take some comfort in the certainty and consistency of our views particularly now where I note that I don't know what the Labor Party believes anymore because they change their view and they have so much different views on these issues. They were apparently all terribly committed on this issue and now they are prepared to change that view. I don't know what the Labor Party thinks anymore, whether it's on climate change or anything else. They seem to be just saying things that people want to hear. They look up their location services enabler and if it says they are in North Queensland, they say one thing and if they are in Melbourne they say something else. Australians know they always get the same message from me on this wherever I am in the country, and I think that gives them some certainty. Thank you very much.
Press Conference - Kirribilli, NSW
10 December 2019
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, everyone. I'm joined by Foreign Minister Senator Payne. Today is a very difficult day for Australians and was indeed yesterday for our cousins across the Tasman in New Zealand. I have been speaking with Prime Minister Ardern over last night and again this morning, and the news we feared would be very difficult, and it is proving to be so. Yesterday, there were 24 Australians enjoying a wonderful cruise in New Zealand, taking in those sights together, enjoying life, a peaceful time. They were aged between 17 and 72. And they took the option of a tour to White Island which many Australians have done in the past, and indeed I have on an occasion many years ago.
The eruption that took place on that day, we know, based on the reports that we have received from the Prime Minister, we can confirm has taken at least five lives. Of the 24 Australians, we have been able to ascertain overnight and this morning that 13 of those Australians are hospitalised across multiple hospitals in New Zealand. There are 11 Australians that are still unaccounted for, and that we fear of the five deceased persons, that three of those, up to three are Australians, but that is not yet confirmed. I would ask that the media refrain from speculation about the identities of any persons that are still unaccounted for in New Zealand. Our authorities are working closely with the New Zealand authorities to be able to identify all of those people who are currently in hospital, some of them have very serious injuries, and our consular officials and the Foreign Minister will speak to this in a moment, are either there at those places or on their way there, and we would like to be able to deal directly with the families without there being the further anxiety caused by the identification of individuals who are still unaccounted for, or indeed who are hospitalised, so we can deal directly with those families.
But with 11 Australians unaccounted for, three of those are feared to be amongst the five that have already been identified as deceased. This is a very, very hard day for a lot of Australian families whose loved ones have been caught up in this terrible, terrible tragedy. Can I also confirm that after speaking with the New Zealand Prime Minister that the operation has moved into recovery phase. There were four helicopters that were there as part of the recuse operation and assessing the scene, as the Prime Minister confirmed earlier, that were able to take a reconnaissance of the Island at that time and as New Zealand police said last night, there is not considered to be anyone on that island that remains alive. The officials and authorities in New Zealand today are taking advice of the various experts as to when they might be able to go back to the Island to undertake a recovery operation, and they are still working through those details this morning. Can I also note that an AFP forensic DVI assessment team, which will include police from the New South Wales Police force, will be on its way to New Zealand today and are working closely with New Zealand officials.
I want to thank the New Zealand Government and Prime Minister Ardern. I want to thank all of those who risked their lives yesterday, put themselves in harm's way to protect others. These horrible incidents are always accompanied by incredibly selfless acts. And equally I want to thank all of those in the medical teams who are there caring for Australians right now in New Zealand hospitals. Some of those Australians will be a long way away from loved ones and they will be there on their own, and unaware of what has taken place because of the nature of their injuries. So I want to thank Patricia Forsythe our High Commissioner in New Zealand and all of her team that are either there and working through the night and are getting to those Australians to give them every support that they can provide and provide the linkages back to family to keep them informed of what is going on. I also want to thank the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line for their cooperation and their assistance overnight. They have been highly cooperative in seeking to locate all Australians and so we had the details we needed, including passport information and so on, which meant we could ensure that we could track down people as quickly as we can.
But I fear there is worse news to come over the course of perhaps today or over the next few days. This is a terrible tragedy. A time of great innocence and joy interrupted by the horror of that eruption and I would ask again that we refrain from any speculation about individuals at this time so we can ensure that we can contact and deal directly with families to ease what will be a highly anxious and highly upsetting time for them. Marise?
SENATOR THE HON. MARISE PAYNE, MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND MINISTER FOR WOMEN: Prime Minister, thank you very much. I want to first of all express our deepest sympathies and thoughts to all of those who are affected and who have family and friends who may be affected by this awful tragedy. As the Prime Minister has said, we have at least 13 Australians in hospital and 11 Australians unaccounted for and we do expect the news on that to be very, very sobering in the coming days. I have been in contact with my counterpart, Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and thank New Zealand very much for the rescue efforts that have been made in extraordinarily difficult circumstances in the last day. The Australians who are hospitalised are located in multiple hospitals around New Zealand, in Waikato, in Christchurch, in Middlemore in Auckland, in Tauranga and in Hutt Valley. All of those hospitals will be visited or have been visited by Australian consular staff from both the High Commission and the Consul-General in Auckland and we will be sending additional consular support for those Australians affected and their families to New Zealand from today. The DFAT officials are working very closely with Royal Caribbean who are, of course, also in direct contact with the families.
I really want to reinforce the Prime Minister's statement around the necessity to protect the privacy of families while these difficult processes of exactly understanding who is where and endeavouring to make identifications goes on. It does not help to speculate at these times, and it is very, very difficult for the families. For those Australians who do have concerns for the welfare of friends and family who they believe may have been in the region, of course, the first thing to do is to endeavour to contact them directly, but in the event that you are unable to do that, and if you do believe that they were on the Royal Caribbean cruise at this time, then it is appropriate to contact Royal Caribbean on their 1800 number which is 1800 754 500, and further if you are unable to make contact in that way and you are sure that your friends or family were on the cruise, you are able to of course contact our Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135. 1300 555 135.
The challenge for the next few days is supporting those Australians who are so badly injured in hospitals across New Zealand, supporting their families and supporting the families of those who remain unaccounted for. We will be working closely with New Zealand authorities and with Royal Caribbean to provide any support that we can, and we will ensure that all assistance is provided to them and to their families. Thank you, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: So we are aggrieved and we send our love to all those families and to all those individuals in hospitals today and again to our New Zealand friends and cousins and Prime Minister Ardern, we thank you for the great spirit of support that you have been providing to us here and the constant updates that we have been able to receive over this period.
Also today, as we can see here, standing on the lawn in Sydney, there are fires across Australia today, particularly here in New South Wales with a mega fire to our north-west which I had the opportunity to be briefed on on the weekend when I visited Wilberforce and the control centre there. But up in Queensland, in Victoria, in South Australia, there are heatwave conditions here on the east coast today. I would just ask, as always, these fires have been going on for months now, not just weeks, and to continue to follow the instructions of fire authorities in your respective states, to be aware of the information that has been provided. I can reassure everyone that the nationally coordinated effort and the specific state efforts which are leading the response in each of their jurisdictions has been incredibly professionally deployed. The ADF continue to support the efforts of our response by the states and territories. Where I was at Wilberforce on the weekend, there were ADF people involved there, they’re involved in everything from the airlifts, surveillance, they’re involved in clearing areas . They are doing their job, the firefighters are doing their job. We have over 110 - in fact, 111 aircraft that are part of an aerial firefighting fleet which is supported by the Commonwealth and states and territories as part of the nationally coordinated effort. Emergency assistance payments have been running now for some time and I must say I have been incredibly impressed by the coordination, the coordination that has occurred between our states and territories, with great support from those from overseas. We've had firefighters here from New Zealand, from Canada, from the United States, and they will be out there assisting in so many different roles again today.
So I would ask people to take great care and to follow the advice and the warnings that have been provided and to stay safe and to exercise appropriate judgement, particularly with fire conditions being the way they are today. Our thoughts are with all of those who are out there doing their job today. I also want to thank all of the businesses that are supporting our firefighters and other volunteers to be out there today. Your contribution to this effort is as great because you are enabling those firefighters to be out there and volunteers to defend their communities, which is where they want to be, and your support for them is greatly appreciated. Happy to take a couple of questions.
JOURNALIST: Just with the injuries that people have in hospitals, what sort of injuries are we seeing?
PRIME MINISTER: At this stage, it is still too early to tell. There are a number, we know, that are in critical conditions. Obviously there are burns issues, quite severe burns issues, and that's why they are in so many different hospitals because they have been taken to the various burns units across New Zealand. But the full details of all of their conditions is not yet known and that's what consular staff are tasked with today and it's why additional staff are going over to New Zealand. I should note also there are two consular staff that have been in the Incident Control Centre in Whakatane from last night and have been directly involved in being able to receive information and again I thank Prime Minister Ardern for the swiftness she ensured that Australian officials were engaged in that process.
JOURNALIST: Just with the other nationalities, how many were residents in Australia?
MINISTER PAYNE: Well, there are a number of other nationalities involved, but these are matters for the identification processes and the location processes of people and I don't think it's possible to speculate at this point.
PRIME MINISTER: The New Zealand Government will speak to any other nationals, but as I said, there were 24 Australians who were there as part of that tour group on that day, which is the majority of the people who were on that island as best as we can determine on that day, particularly there as visitors and their visit turned to horror. Ok. Thank you very much.
Press Conference - Canberra Airport, ACT
6 December 2019
PRIME MINISTER: I’m pleased to be here with the Home Affairs Minister, Peter Dutton, and the Commissioner of the AFP. But before I speak about what we're here to announce today, there are almost 100 fires burning across New South Wales today. And I would again thank all of those authorities in New South Wales that are out there ensuring that people are being kept safe. I particularly want to thank all of those who are fighting fires today and all of those who are supporting people to be fighting those fires today, whether it's those who are battling [inaudible] and supporting in the operation centres or indeed all those employers who enable those who are volunteering today to be out there helping to keep their community safe. Whether it's up in the Central Coast, where we’ve seen, or just out of south west Sydney or other places. I mean, the haze in Sydney is obviously something that has been very distressing to people. This bushfire season is proving to be very, very difficult. And we've seen the bravery on display on every single day. So I want to thank all of those. So I just ask those people in New South Wales to check on that ’Fires Near Me’ app, an incredibly invaluable tool. I think it's been such a great support to people to know where the fires are and how they can react to those and what they should be doing. The information provision is part of it I think, and it’s been outstanding. So I commend the Rural Fire Service in New South Wales in particular for the great work they’re doing. We're all with you today.
But here today, we're here to announce a further step in our most important job, of any government, and that is to keep Australians safe. And here we are doing that through rolling out 135 new officers right across nine airports across Australia with new equipment, new training, new support to be able to respond to, to deter and take charge of incidents at our airports in response to threats that present. The new equipment you've just seen on display and this is being supported by the new powers that we've been able to take through the Parliament to ensure that our police, those who are charged with protecting the safety of all of those going through our airports, which is not just, of course, Australians, but the many visitors we have to our country, that they are in the best possible position. This trial has already been running for a period of time, both here in Canberra and up in Brisbane. We'll be rolling out in the new year into Sydney and Melbourne and ultimately across these nine different locations. We are world leaders in this area and I want to commend the commissioner on the great work the AFP has been doing and his predecessor as well who have been working on this program. We are world leaders in this area. And we look at the best experience around the world to ensure we're deploying what we need here on the ground to keep people safe. And so as people move around, they will see these officers appearing more and more around our airports. And I would hope that that gives people a great sense of reassurance. They are there to protect the public, the travelling public. And I also want to thank Minister Dutton, on the great work the Home Affairs Department does to support, ensuring not just that they've got stronger powers, more resources, and there's never been any doubt about the commitment and dedication to the job of the tremendous team at the AFP. So with that I’ll ask the Minister, to take you through more of the operational detail, and I’ll ask the Commissioner to do the same.
THE HON. PETER DUTTON MP, MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS: PM, Thank you very much. Thanks very much to Commissioner Kershaw for being here today as well. Thank you to Canberra Airport for hosting us, obviously there has been a trial both in Brisbane and in Canberra, and [inaudible] for the short barrelled rifle and an enhanced presence of police who have capacity to detect incidents, particularly those where firearms are involved. Where there might be the use for canine- dogs for example, so there's a lot of opportunity, right on cue as Mark says. A lot of opportunity for us to really enhance the security settings at our airports, because we know that for whatever reason terrorists will always look at airports as a target point. And I want to say, as the Prime Minister pointed out, to all those that are travelling this Christmas through our airports to be reassured by the presence of these officers, I want to say thank you very much to the Australian Federal Police officers here with us today, the PSOs, the specialists, particularly the canine handlers, those that are involved in bomb detection et cetera. They are world leaders. And the level of professionalism and the skill that they have and that they bring to their job should make Australians feel safe. And it's only two years ago as we know where we had an incident where terrorists attempted to take an explosive device onto an aircraft destined for the Middle East. And if that A380 had of blown up, of course, it would be an absolute disaster. And that's what we seek to avoid every day at our airports, we’ve got an investment now of $107 million dollars to provide support and training for those officers and again I repeat, thanks again to the Commissioner for his leadership for the organisation and ask him to say a few words now.
REECE KERSHAW APM, COMMISSIONER OF THE AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE: Thank you Minister. First, I would like to thank the Prime Minister and the Minister for this significant investment in ensuring that our nine designated major airports across this country are safeguarded and also secure from public order. This specialist capability will include up to 17 teams across Australia, the specialists in training in particular in our protection operation response team will be trained in rapid assessment, in hostile reconnaissance and including the deployment of the short barrel rifle, which I want to reassure our community out there travelling through these airports this is a positive step toward ensuring we have the capability to respond to any major incident. In addition, these teams will include a canine capability, which will include identifying explosive devices and firearms and other technology that we’ll be deploying at the airports. It will ensure that our mission remains the same as it is now, that we are, to make sure that we have a safe environment in these airports and ensure the safety of Australians and the public as they move through this airport environment.
JOURNALIST: PM, this is a 2018-19 budget allocation, why has it taken 18 months to roll out 135 police officers if the threat is so present?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I'll ask the Commissioner to talk about the roll out of the program, and the initial funding as it was provided. There was also the additional powers that we've created in the legislation which followed that. And the trial has been in place and ensuring that we get this absolutely right. And the training is in place and the officers are being recruited and it is rolled out around the country. And I’ll ask the Commissioner to add further.
COMMISSIONER KERSHAW: Thanks Prime Minister, yes, the training- given it is specialist training, it takes a while to actually gear up to be able to deliver that. It takes up to two weeks just for the short barrel rifle, we also we also have our rapid appraisal. So there's a number of blocks of training that have to occur. In addition, we're trialling the model in Canberra and Brisbane to make sure that when we roll out, it's fit for purpose.
JOURNALIST: Were there any concerns raised during the trial from members of the public about the presence of these weapons?
COMMISSIONER KERSHAW: That hasn't come to my attention. And again, it's a good thing for our front line. We need to make sure that we are able to respond to a critical incident. And just our friends over the ocean there- that officer that was able to take down Tarrant, had an M4 on him. And arguably was able to resolve that peacefully. These are a preventative tool as well as one that we can protect our officers and the members of public.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, to a lot of Australians this might look like they're going to face an increased risk at the airports and that you're responding to it. What's your advice? Is security risk levels at airports increasing? Is it stable, what’s your latest advice?
PRIME MINISTER: Well today’s announcement doesn't reflect a change to the alert and risk level that’s in place. But what it does recognise is an understanding of the new world, which we all live in today. And I think all Australians understand there needs to be a heightened sense of security, particularly at places like airports, as we've seen in many other places at public gatherings. This is common sense. This is understanding the world in which we live, and trying to make sure that the Australians and the travelling public from overseas and visitors are kept safe. And so the message here is that we are very much looking to continue to stay ahead of these issues. There are many things that have been done, but to be able to thwart the number of terrorist incidents in Australia that's been achieved by our AFP and ASIO and our other agencies I think is a tremendous endorsement of the fine work that they do. This is just a further extension of that. We've got to give our enforcement agencies, the powers, the resources, the tools, the training and the leadership to keep Australians safe. That's what we're doing here. And it's something we do carefully. And we do that in a way which I think brings the public along with us as we've done.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, for 15 months work, Scott Cam’s being paid about $350,000 dollars…
PRIME MINISTER: Why don’t we just stay on the issue of the day, I’m happy to deal with other issues as always but at that time I might excuse the Commissioner when we talk about other matters. Are there any other questions that are relating to today's announcement?
JOURNALIST: I just had a question in for Cairns, how the roll-out is going to work in 2021 at Cairns airport?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah sure, I’ll let the Commissioner answer your question.
COMMISSIONER KERSHAW: It will work.
MINISTER DUTTON: I might just add, he’s not normally as brief as that- so what people will see in Cairns and at the other 8 major airports is a specialist unit of police keeping people safe at airports. So there will be the short barrel rifle. But there will also be a greater presence of the canines, as well as the specialist officers that can deal with the threat of a bomb or an explosive device threat. So people in regional areas, including Cairns, will see that roll out progressively and as the Commissioner rightly says, it will work.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister just on other issues?
PRIME MINISTER: Ok, thank you very much, Commissioner. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
JOURNALIST: So according to AM this morning, the peak body for Indigenous prevention of family violence, the National Family Violence Prevention and Legal Services Forum, is going to be defunded in June 2020. Do you think that that is the right decision?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there are always issues of ongoing funding going right across the budget from 2020-2021 [inaudible] with those matters in the normal way.
JOURNALIST: Scott Cam paid $350,000 for 15 months work, does that pass the pub test?
PRIME MINISTER: Look I make no apology for trying to get young people in particular into trades. This is a massive issue which is going to affect Australia's productivity. We need to get young people understanding the opportunity there is of taking on trades and skills education and so they can see the wonderful economic opportunities that would be there for them by going into those areas. Now, this is a challenge. And so we're going to enlist every single opportunity, every single resource we can to get that message across. And Scotty Cam is a successful tradie and he can make that message very clear. Now, we make no secret about the fact that he wasn't doing it as a volunteer and he has done this work for previous Labor governments as well. So, look, this is about getting young people into trades. And he’s a high profile person involved in the media industry. And you have to meet the market.
JOURNALIST: One of the biggest sticking points PM with the New Zealand offer to resettle refugees is that refugees who resettle there could come straight back across the ditch under the Trans-Tasman arrangements. Behrouz Boochani is in New Zealand at the moment and he’s applied for asylum previously, Minister Dutton said that if he was granted asylum in New Zealand he wouldn't be allowed back or wouldn't be allowed into Australia. Why can you block Behrouz Boochani but you can't block any of the other asylum seekers or refugees?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the government's position on the issues of people being able to come across from New Zealand under those circumstances are set out in the legislation that we’ve put into the Parliament. And we’ve sought to put into the parliament and have passed. But right now that that is not a matter that we're currently progressing.
JOURNALIST: A report to the UN climate conference is saying that there’s pretty dire predictions for reef tourism due to climate change, you comfortable with the cooperation with the Queensland Government and the level of funding currently available to protecting the reef against climate change?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've made record investments in the Reef, and in particular record investments in the science that supports the management of the reef. The other thing that is fantastic is we've seen a 411 tonne [inaudible] we will now beat out Kyoto 2020 target, not by 367 million tonnes. We will beat it by 411 million tonnes. In the last two years we've seen emissions fall and emissions are now at a level lower than at any time under the previous government since we were elected, and so our policies to take action on climate change are getting results. We meet and beat our Kyoto 2020 targets even by more than we had said before. And we will continue to progress those initiatives because taking action on these issues is incredibly important and we're following through on the policies we took to the last election. And we're getting the results we said we would get at the last election.
2019 Valedictory
5 December 2019
Mr Morrison: (Cook—Prime Minister and Minister for the Public Service) (16:50): Between this time last year and this time this year, a lot's happened. Of course, we had the general election, and the people of Australia had their opportunity to make the most important decision they make every three years, in terms of who comes into this place and represents them and forms government. Once again, this year, they exercised their judgement. All of us who were returned to this place came back with a great sense of humility and gratefulness for the opportunity we have to serve in this place—first and foremost, as the member for our electorates. Whether in my own in Southern Sydney, the electorate of Cook—taking in the southern parts of St George and Sutherland shire—or elsewhere around this country, our first opportunity, our first privilege, our first duty is to all of those in our electorates, and we say a very grateful thanks to all of them for returning us to this place to represent them and do our very, very best. Since that general election, the government has been hard at work, as I've mentioned in various responses and statements in this place and others, and I don't intend to go over those matters, because this afternoon is about something very different.
I did, however, want to acknowledge the great challenges that Australians have faced, particularly natural disasters. The year began with the devastating bushfires in Tasmania and Victoria, and it went through to the unprecedented flooding in North Queensland. None of us can—and I certainly can't—get out of our heads the image that was displayed of that railway line up in North Queensland, where we saw the water, over a 48-hour period, deluge that part of our continent. But in what must have felt like a heartbeat, in the space of just 24 hours, those wonderful Australians went from the relief and joy of seeing rain fall to tears and devastation as they saw generations of their efforts literally washed away. Of all the things that have happened this year, and there have been so many—we've walked onto firegrounds and sat with those who have been affected by these terrible fires across the year—it is very hard for me to get out of my mind being up there in North Queensland with those families. We have them still in our thoughts and in our actions today, and we continue to stand with them as they rebuild. In the great natural disasters that we see in this country we always see the greatness of Australians—their resilience, their tenacity, their care and their love for each other. At the worst of times, we see the best of Australians, and we saw that in North Queensland.
We have seen one of the worst droughts on record, impacting some 40,000 farming families in rural districts across the country. This fire season alone, six Australians have already, tragically, lost their lives to fires that have torn through millions of hectares across four states and claimed hundreds of homes. These events remind us that, while 'the lucky country' remains the lucky country, it's no passive moniker. It is one that is built and earned by the strength, character and resilience of our fellow Australians. Our first defence in everything is the strength and character of our people, our brave and selfless firefighters, our emergency services personnel. Indeed, today is International Volunteer Day. We reflect on those and we thank them very much for their wonderful service to our country.
We think of our service men and women, who also turned up in support of their fellow Australians through all of these disasters, and our communities: the businesses who let their staff go and volunteer. For a business owner in a regional area of the country, in a rural area of the country, it's tough enough, but they're the ones also who have to carry the burden, carry the weight and enable their staff to go and be there for their community, and they are equal in their service for providing for that. We have seen neighbours coming together—strangers coming together and acting as neighbours—and now they count each other as friends, as they've come through fire and flood and drought. Everyone has played their part.
As well, with Christmas almost upon us, we remember those who, for whatever reason, are doing it tough. The Leader of the Opposition and I were at the Kmart Salvos event just outside my office recently, and the Leader of the Opposition, rightly, referred to those who are going through terribly difficult times for economic reasons, or those who are affected by homelessness, or those who are affected by domestic violence. Any number of reasons will mean that, as we go into this Christmas season, once again, there are many Australians for whom this will be a very difficult time. Again, it'll be those fellow Australians who reach out to them and seek to provide them with support as they work through their terrible difficulties.
There'll be those who'll be alone or will be bereaved. There'll be those for whom there will be a missing place at the table, and that will be tough. They will reflect on wonderful memories, hopefully, of those times that they were able to share together. That's what families and friends do: they help each other deal with the challenges of life. There will be those who will be confined to hospital, those struggling on farms, those who battle difficulties that are insurmountable, it would seem. I ask every one of us—and it's an appeal I make to all of us—to look out for those who are less fortunate and to look out for one another, particularly over this summer season, and to keep safe on the roads, to exercise patience and care. You don't need to get there as quickly as you often think you do. We can get very busy at these times, and we know what can occur on our roads and the terrible tragedies that can unfold.
So, I would ask everyone, as we go about what hopefully is a very happy time and one of reunion with many family and friends, that we all make sure that we turn up safely and enjoy that experience. To Lifeline and all our other great services and volunteers who know they'll be reaching out on Christmas Day, because they do it every year: thank you for serving up that Christmas cheer. Thank you also, from all Australians, to the surf lifesavers who'll be on our beaches—looking after not just Australians but also the many visitors who'll be here and are often put at so much risk, unaware and unfamiliar with the dangers that can be in our waters—and to doctors, nurses, the ambos and the emergency and essential services workers who will give up their family time on Christmas Day and beyond to ensure that the rest of us can have a happy and safe holiday period.
In particular, as we come together with family, let us also reflect with gratitude on the serving men and women of our defence forces—some 1,500—who are around the world serving in so many different capacities, separated from their loved ones by the call of duty and because of their passion and love for their nation, whether at sea, in the air or on land, in Afghanistan, the Middle East or the many missions in other parts of the world, or keeping our borders safe closer to home, and those serving in our diplomatic service. We thank them, and we wish them a very merry Christmas.
We stand by our veterans community, also, remembering the depth of their sacrifice and responding to it with respect and strong and ongoing support. It is also fitting at this time of year to extend to the Leader of the Opposition and his family my very best wishes for Christmas and the holiday season, whether he'll be watching re-runs of old footy games and things like that—who knows, but I do hope he has a wonderful Christmas and holiday period with his family and a bit of time of rest. We'll all be back here again next year and ready to serve our constituents and play and perform the important roles that we do in this place. So, I hope he has a great break. I also want to acknowledge his predecessor, the previous Leader of the Opposition, the member for Maribyrnong, who served in that role. I wish him, Chloe and all of their family a very happy Christmas and a safe and pleasant new year. Menzies would often say of Curtin and Chifley, 'opponents but not enemies', and I believe this is true. That is the spirit in which these messages are sent. To all the members of the opposition: I wish you all the best for a happy and successful break.
To my own team: when you leave this place and go home to your families, you can be immensely proud of everything that you've achieved this year. You have my grateful thanks. When I took on the role of leadership of the parliamentary Liberal Party and then, together with the Deputy Prime Minister, stood before you, I said, 'You've asked me to lead and I've asked you to follow,' and you've paid me the greatest honour in your decision to follow. Together we have been able to achieve something quite extraordinary, but, as I said on election night, the victory was not ours; the victory was of those Australians who put their great faith in us. My proudest moment, though, was the day after, because it meant we got to get on with the job, and that's what we'll continue to do.
I also particularly want to extend my best wishes and appreciation to my Deputy Prime Minister and my coalition partner, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, and his wife, Catherine. They are great friends, and he's not a bad cricketer either—based on his own report! It has been a true joy to be able to lead a government together with a man as decent as Michael, and I wish him and Catherine well. They have been together for such a long time and they're such an example to us all. Indeed, as I look forward to my 30th wedding anniversary in January, I think you and Catherine have been such a wonderful blessing. You are on 33 years, so I don't know if we'll ever catch you, but we'll get close every year!
To my tremendous deputy, Josh Frydenberg, deputy leader of the parliamentary Liberal Party and Treasurer: thank you very much, Josh. Bringing down a budget—your first budget—is a very significant thing to do. For all of those who have had the great privilege of standing at this dispatch box to set out the expenditures of the government, its fiscal settings and the things you're able to achieve through strong financial management, it is a great honour. For Josh—the member for Kooyong, I should say, but with some indulgence from you, Mr Speaker. For the Treasurer to be able to come and to do that this year and do it in such fine style, I know he is looking forward to the next one more, having achieved a first surplus and able to announce another one. I know you'll do a tremendous job.
To the deputy leader of the National Party, Senator Bridget McKenzie—
Mr Frydenberg interjecting—
Mr Morrison: There he is. His ears were burning!
To the deputy leader of the National Party, Senator McKenzie: I thank you also, Bridget, for the tremendous guidance and support you have given to our leadership team, your passionate support for regional Australia and for ensuring we are always very familiar with the challenges that are being faced in rural and regional Australia.
To our newly minted Leader of the House: thank you for saying yes when I asked you to take this job. There he is. We honoured the previous Leader of the House—largely at his own direction!—when we put his picture up on the wall. I haven't checked to see if he is still standing there in front of it admiring it, but he certainly did for some time the other night! And so he should, because he was an adornment to this House. For the new Leader of the House, I also want to thank Christian for the enormous workload he takes on as our Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations. That of itself is an extraordinarily large task and, for backing that up with the incredible work that is required to move the government's business through this place and to ensure we can continue to deliver for Australians, I thank him very much for his great service both to our government and to our parties.
I also thank, of course, our leadership team in the Senate, Senator Cormann and Senator Birmingham. Senator Cormann has got quite a high strike rate when it comes to ensuring the passage of the government's legislation, and I thank him for the way that he's engaged with crossbench members and wish all of them also the very best, as I do the crossbench members here, for the Christmas season. I thank them for their dedication.
To my own team: I thank my chief of staff, John Kunkel. Thank you for your support, John, and the great work that is done by you. Thank you for your leadership of all of my team, which is so important to the running of the government. I want to thank all the hardworking and committed staff of coalition members, and we had the opportunity to thank them all last night. But can I also say to the opposition members and all of their staff that I wish them, also, all the best for Christmas and the holiday period.
Can I thank the Chief Government Whip and the deputy whips for ensuring we stay on track, but not just for that. I'm sure the Leader of the Opposition would know, from the role of their own whip, that they play such an important part and work closely together between opposition and government to ensure not just the smooth running of this place but the pastoral care that is provided to members of this parliament on both sides of this House. I want to thank the whips and their deputies, both from the government side and from the opposition side, for the great work they do.
To the Clerk of the House: congratulations on your appointment. It's wonderful to see our first female clerk here—not just that, but someone of immense capability. We loved those earrings yesterday, and these ones are just as good; they're right in the Christmas spirit! We wish you, your family, the Deputy Clerk and all the clerks' assistants who support them well. To the Serjeant-at-Arms, James Catchpole, our thanks also go to you. From my own department, thank you to David Belgrove, Anne O'Connor and Sue Klammer who work in the legislative team and who have been a great help to me and my staff.
To the House Parliamentary Liaison Officer, Charlie Higgins, and the rest of the team in the Table Office and the First Parliamentary Counsel, Peter Quiggin PSM and his team, our deep thanks. I'd like to make special mention of Debbie Arnold, who is leaving us as the Senate Parliamentary Liaison Officer and has been instrumental in helping my staff and me to program the government's agenda in the other place.
Other long-serving staff who retired this year, as we noted, are: David Elder, the former Clerk here for 38 years; Trish Bicket from the Table Office, 34 years; Laura Gillies, 34 years; James Rees, 28 years; Onu Palm, 23 years; and Anthony Overs, 17 years. It is clearly a vocation, and one taken very seriously by those who serve this parliament, and we thank you.
Thanks also to all the attendants in this place. To Luch and the whole mob: thank you very, very much. You're always a great encouragement and have been over many years. Whichever side of the House you sit on, there's always the great warm smile and friendly attendance that we get from you. We also thank, of course, all the Federal Police, security, those in catering, Library, Hansard and support staff who make the institution run so smoothly. Mr Speaker, we thank them, through you, for their great work.
In last year's valedictory, I mentioned Luzia, Ana and Maria, who are the three cleaners from my own office who have been working in this building for a very long time. They really do have a way of just lighting us all up. Ana and Maria are sisters. At this time last year, it was very tough. They had just lost their mum. But recently we were able to share together a much brighter moment—a wonderful morning tea celebration for Luzia's 30th anniversary of service in this building to many Prime Ministers over a long period of time. I know she would have been held in as much affection by my predecessors as by me and my own team. It was lovely to meet Luzia's husband, Marcelo, their children, Marian, Lucia and Isobel, and their grandchildren as well. It was a wonderful day. Next year we will be celebrating Ana's 30th anniversary milestone as well. She's a wonderful personality. She's the only person in the world who I understand called Mr Howard 'Pumpkin'. I want to, again, congratulate all of them and thank them.
On a sadder note, this year was a year we lost two of our nation's finest leaders and statesmen. It was a privilege to join with the Monash Foundation in honouring the scholarships that were awarded in their honour. To the late Bob Hawke and to the late Tim Fischer, and to all of their families: we want to acknowledge your great service to our country. Our country is so much better for the extraordinary contribution that they were able to deliver in their service, and they have set a standard for us all to seek to attain. Their passing reminds us of what politics is truly all about—serving honourably and courageously the Australian people.
Finally to you, Mr Speaker, Pam and all the family: have a wonderful Christmas. You continue to serve us and keep this show on the road in this parliament with great dignity, and you do it with a wit and a candour and an affection for which I think people around the country have got to know you well over many years now in this role. There have been many great Speakers, Mr Speaker, and I have no doubt you are one of them. I think, over the course of your time as Speaker, you will certainly stand out amongst them, if not above them all. It's a great privilege every time I see you in that chair, because I was so pleased to support you going into that chair and you have not let this House down on one occasion—not on one occasion. We thank you very much for all the work you do to maintain the spirit of this House and its important work.
Along with all of those good wishes, Mr Speaker, of course, it has been an adventurous year, it has been a dramatic year, it has been a year of a general election, it has been a year of achievements, it has been a year of disappointments for some, but it has been a year in which the great Australian spirit has showcased itself again: to itself and to the world. This really is the greatest country in the world in which to live, and whatever difficulties are before us or whatever challenges are in front of us, the one thing we can always say with a full heart is: it's great to be an Australian. Merry Christmas, everyone.
Remarks, launch of the Kmart wishing tree appeal
4 December 2019
PRIME MINISTER: The Salvo's together with Kmart is the longest running Christmas appeal, and it's a great opportunity at this time of year, for everyone to put aside the many things that can distract us. But also, it's a time of the year when, so many Australians have faced so much hardship this year and I particularly want to thank the Salvos for the work that I've seen them doing out there supporting our fire fighters, responding to floods, this is the territory of the Salvos, it's been your mission and it's been your absolute devotion for so many years over your entire history. And I want to thank all the members of the Salvos of all the churches all around the country and for the way they reach out to our community, and I want to thank Kmart too for the partnership you've had together. I'm hoping Kmart's going to have a very busy Christmas, and I'm sure they will. And I want to thank everyone for bringing your gifts here today and for me, it is a Go Country for Christmas which has been a wonderful initiative which has been supported by politicians here and that's something to keep in mind as we go into this break and people can take the opportunity wherever they can, maybe where they're getting their Christmas presents from, you can go to Go Country for Christmas. You can find out all about that, which I know Michael and I have. So I'm going to put mine under the tree. It's going to take Anthony a little longer I suspect, because he's brought the whole caucus' with him. I'm not referring that to caucus in the trolley's, it's their gifts on behalf of the generosity of the Caucus that is in the trolleys. And I want to thank all those, there have been quite a number of events and functions that we've been hosting at the Lodge and here over the last week or so, and so the tree here and the tree at the Lodge is getting very, very full. And I think that's tremendous. Some 8 million gifts, 8 million gifts have been put under the trees around the country as part of this wonderful partnership between Kmart and Salvos. So God bless you, and thank you, and wish everyone a very merry Christmas.
Remarks, Launch of the Surf Life Saving Summer Season - Parliament House, ACT
2 December 2019
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much Graham, and it's a great pleasure to be here with Jason Falinski and Matt Thistlethwaite, who are the co-chairs of the Parliamentary Friends of Surf Lifesaving and also to you Shane, thank you for the opportunity to be with you here today.
Also, I'm particularly grateful to the surf lifesaving movement today. It is true I’m Vice-Patron of the Surf Lifesaving Australia, but also the Sydney branch and my local clubs down in the Shire. But yesterday I completed my first one kilometre ocean swim and I was closely shadowed by the surf lifesaving movement on every single floating craft you could imagine.
Last time- when Prime Ministers venture into the surf, it hasn't always ended well. And so on this occasion, I can report the Deputy Prime Minister was able to stand down after me emerging from the water successfully.
And I want to thank all of the crew down there in North Cronulla on the weekend for what was a tremendous weekend for the Cook Community Classic.
But I tell that story because as we come into summer, as Graham said, Australians gravitate to the coast. It's part of our lifestyle. It's who we are. It's what we love. And it is ingrained in our psyche as much as the birthplace of the western interior are also, in terms of our outback.
So is also the beach and the coast and our coastal life and it is our surf lifesaving movement that through their dedicated service, not unlike the service we see from our rural firefighters who are out there as we speak today, particularly down there on the south coast of New South Wales. All those other volunteers with emergency services. And you move around our community and work so selflessly.
The surf lifesaving movement is no different to that and their courage and their bravery is significant.
30 people who still get to walk in the front door at home that night after being down in the surf because lifesavers rescue 30 people every single day.
30 people who still get to tie their kid's shoelaces or laugh with their friends or hold hands with their partners, if you saved 30 lives a year that would be remarkable. But 30 lives a month, or a week would be incredible. But 30 lives a day, saved by our surf lifesaving movement is absolutely extraordinary.
And we thank them very much for their service. As I said, there are four great clubs in my community but my colleagues who are represented here today know of all the great clubs in their community, it's not just a place where they save lives, but they draw the community together with a great spirit.
Every year around 180,000 people from around Australia give up 1.3 million hours to keep watch over our beaches.
When I attend the local AGM’s at my local surf clubs each year, the report we long to hear every single year is that on our beaches, no lives lost. Now, that is not the case on every beach around Australia, sadly.
But when we can turn up at our AGM’s each year for our local surf clubs and they can proudly state that, it is extraordinary. And, you know, it doesn't happen by accident. It really doesn't. And I want to draw attention to one particular local little hero who I think speaks volumes about our local surf lifesaving movement.
And his name's Max Taylor. Max saved a man's life on Wamberal Beach on the New South Wales Central Coast back in March. It was late afternoon and a newly arrived tourist was taking his very first swim, since landing in Australia.
He got caught in a deadly rip current and was heading out to sea. And if anyone's ever been caught in a rip, you'll know how terrifying that can be. Max heard the man's cry for help when there was no one around. So Max paddled out on his surfboard to reach him. The conditions were difficult and the swimmer was 150 metres from the shore. When Max finally reached him, the swimmer was panicked and exhausted. So Max offered him his board. They then began the long and tiring journey back to the shore. Max was huffing and puffing a bit, but he pushed the heavy board back to the shore with the person he was rescuing. Now, Max was 11 years old, 11 years old, a nipper from the local Wamberal surf life saving club.
And all of you who are members of the surf lifesaving movement will know heaps of Max’s. I certainly know them from my local clubs and the bravery those young kids show. And as they grow older, they're still doing it well into their senior years.
And Max's local member, Lucy Wicks said we're enormously proud of Max and indeed we're proud of everyone who gets out there and volunteers their time and energy to keep us safe.
Unfortunately, not every rescue ends that way. And I want to acknowledge two other heroes, Ross and Andrew Powell, father and son. One report described them as two peas in a pod. They were members of the Port Campbell Surf Lifesaving Club in Victoria. They lost their lives in rough surf, trying to save someone not far from the Twelve Apostles. And we remember them as well today and their incredible bravery and their sacrifice. And we remember what they lived for. That higher purpose. That higher purpose is beautifully summed up by a man who witnessed one of the most stunning large scale rescues in surf life saving history in our country.
It was that famous day in the late 1930s when there were three huge waves rolled into Bondi, sweeping hundreds of people off a sandbank and into a river.
More than 200 people were rescued that day and five lives were lost.
And one of the witnesses later said it is the most incredible work of love in the world. Going into the water without a moment's hesitation, risking their lives and all for love.
So I want to say thank you very much, for everyone across the surf lifesaving movement, whether those who have, into their tenth year of patrols, and having never missed one. Those who have been around for 50 years. And I presented those medals to those members of surf clubs, for those who are just joining, those going through nippers, those who are supporting in an administrative capacity on the local club boards and committees. Those, the gear stewards, those checking everything's in order. Those who are involved in the training of our young people and those doing their bronzes all the way through the movement.
You keep Australians safe and you do it as one of the most wonderful traditions of our country through the surf lifesaving movement.
Thank you so much for your service.
And to those heading towards our beaches this summer, maybe not today. But those heading towards the beach this summer, as I certainly will, swim between the flags, familiarize yourself with the conditions, and make sure you take instructions from those wearing those red and yellow caps. They're there for you to keep you safe. And so you do your job by keeping them safe, by following their instructions.
Thank you very much.
Remarks, Launch of Friends of our Pacific Family - Parliament House, ACT
2 December 2019
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you, David, can I first of all acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, elders past, present and future and acknowledge any veterans who are us today and thank them for their service.
Can I also of course acknowledge you and Anthony Albanese, who is here I just saw him just a second ago. It’s great for us both to be here together with the many parliamentary colleagues who are also here today, and are an important part of this initiative. And members of the diplomatic community, the Fiji delegation led by the honourable Alexander O'Connor. Can I particularly give a fond greeting to all the Pacific church leaders who are here today. I think that's just absolutely tremendous. And of course, to Tim, who is here today thank you very much for your involvement in these initiatives.
Can I say that people understand that I have a deep passion for our Pacific family. And it goes back a very long time. And I'm so thrilled about the way that we've been able to work together with our Pacific family to address so many of the challenges that they face in each of their own countries. And this is not a new thing, Australia has been a great friend and a close friend to the Pacific over a very long time.
And I know that in my own extensive travels in the Pacific, not just as Prime Minister but well before then, that this is well understood and deeply valued. And this initiative that we're launching today, I’m pleased to launch is part of that step-up, that we're engaged in in the Pacific.
We have already taken many steps in the Pacific. But this most recent one over these recent years and in stepping up again goes beyond just what the government does. And I think one of the most exciting things about this new initiative is it is engaging I think all Australians in this process. And the fact that it is now engaging the parliament in this process on a bipartisan basis, a multi-partisan basis indeed, and the relationships that can be formed directly between our parliamentarians and parliamentarians who operate under very similar systems throughout the Pacific. And the exchange that can take place there, I think is a very important part of that relationship building that takes place. We have a unique history with the Pacific. Not just in times during the Second World War, but over a long, long period of time. But it's very difficult, I think, for us as Australians to go beyond and I'm sure, I notice Ambassador Culvahouse here as well here today.
It's very difficult for us to go beyond the great debt we owe to our friends in the Pacific for the way they stood with us, and by us and cared for us and particularly our serving men and women during those darkest of times. That is a debt that will never be repaid and that will be a debt that we carry with us, but we carry it with us gladly.
Out of respect for our Pacific brothers and sisters, the other important part of the relationship, which is reflected here by the attendance of church leaders, is there's a great community of faith, which I know a lot about across the Pacific. It's one that I enjoyed from a very young age.
And nothing stirs my heart more to hear a Pacific choir, whether it's in Samoa or whether it's in PNG or in Fiji or the Solomons. And I got to say, Prime Minister Mr Sogavare, has got a pretty good voice.
And it's even better, as was an occasion I had many years ago, younger when Jenny and I were in Fiji and were attending a conference of Pacific Church leaders in a particular mission, and we had them all in the one place all singing at the one time.
And I'll never forget that. But what it reminds me of, seeing you here today. Is that is another great point of connection in the Pacific community, of Faith, there exists a great point of connection. And then, of course, there’s sport and there’s rugby league and all of those things.
I note that Fiji coming into the Metropolitan Cup I think is next year will actually be sitting under the Shark’s banner this year so there you go. I'm sure I'll get up to a few games and see them play. When they come into that competition.
But these are the friendly links. There are a lot of strategic links where we're working together on security issues. There is the humanitarian links that we work on when we're dealing with health challenges, when we're working, one of my proudest is the Prime Minister's XIII when I go to PNG or Fiji or any of these places. The message they carried, both the men's and women's team carry a message about opposing domestic violence and raising these issues throughout the Pacific community.
And so whether it's on disaster relief and preparedness for disaster relief, the work that we're doing in Fiji and establishing a base for disaster response, which I visited just recently, there is an engaged day to day relationship. And of course, on the defence side of things where we support those who engage in peacekeeping operations around the world.
So it's a deep, it's a rich, it's a very faithful, it's a very loving relationship that exists amongst our vuvale, our family across the Pacific. And we are very, very pleased that you've both taken this step to form this group, which will ensure that those connections now speak to the relationships between our parliamentarians and you create a new community amongst our parliamentarians. So I'm very pleased to launch this initiative.
And thank you very much for it being another important component of the Pacific Step up. Thank you.
Photo source - Associated Press
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.