PM: Well first of all, if I could thank all the Premiers and Chief Ministers and the head of the Australian Local Government Association for coming to Canberra, the nation's capital, at short notice to deliberate on and agree on a new national partnership for the implementation of the Government's Nation Building and Jobs Plan.
Today, the governments of Australia have agreed on an implementation arrangement for dealing with this new national Nation Building Plan and Jobs Plan. And the reason for that is that all governments across Australia are engaged with how do we best respond to the global financial crisis which has become a global economic recession and therefore impacting employment right across Australia as well.
I would congratulate the Premiers and Chief Ministers for the goodwill that they have displayed. Not just by being here at short notice but also in the practical arrangements which I'll go to in a minute for the implementation of this plan.
$30 billion of the Nation Building Plan, almost, goes to infrastructure. And the implementation of a lot of that infrastructure depends on getting it done by our partners in State and Territory governments. That's why this meeting today has been important. It reflects the urgency which the Government and all governments attached to dealing effectively with the crisis.
For nation building to work, it's got to be translated into real projects on the ground and translated onto the ground quick smart. Therefore what we've done today is agree on a timetable for implementation for what will be the single biggest school modernisation program of the Commonwealth in the nation's history.
What we've been discussing today are those projects which are shovel-in-the-ground ready. We're also looking at those which will take a little longer to make sure they are properly prepared.
For the school modernisation program, affecting 7,500 primary schools, we have divided that into three rounds. First round of which will involve 20 per cent of the entire program, and for that first round we have agreed that construction will commence by June of this year. It may be, in the case of certain States and Territories, that construction can commence earlier than that. This is important. Then the subsequent two rounds will be agreed in the period later in the year, but all to be rolled out over the course of '09 and '10.
Having a clear and agreed construction timetable, which you will find detailed at Attachment A of the communiqué today, has been an important part of the detailed work we have done together. Round one - 20 per cent of schools. Round two - 40 per cent of schools. Round three - 40 per cent of schools. And with construction to commence no later in the case of round three by 1 December 2009, and for those projects to be completed by no later than March 2011.
That deals with the primary schools program. We've also agreed on a timetable on the implementation of the secondary school modernisation program for new science wings and for language laboratories.
We've also agreed, as you would see at page 13 of the communiqué, on implementation timetables for the social housing program, as well as on page 14 of the communiqué for the rollout of the Commonwealth's new investment in black spots, boom gates and repairing regional roads. That's on the timetable. And we've agreed on that after detailed discussion among it. And the reason for that detailed discussion is that it's got to be real and practicable, though all this is ambitious.
In my original discussion with the Premiers and Chief Ministers at the beginning of the meeting today, I said that we were in uncharted, unprecedented times. This is going to require us cracking heads, knocking skulls together to make sure it all happens on the ground quick smart.
It won't be just business as usual for our bureaucracies. We are in a national economic emergency and we're going to have to all roll our sleeves up and take a direct, personal, and rolling interest in the implementation of this. Which goes then to the question of machinery.
We've also agreed on an arrangement whereby there will be a Commonwealth Coordinator-General, who will have responsibility for oversight for that entire program. The Commonwealth Coordinator-General will be Mr Mike Mrdak, who is currently Deputy Secretary in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, a senior and professional public servant who has some 20 years experience in the Department of Transport within the Commonwealth bureaucracy and is known to many of his state colleagues.
In each of the program areas, the Commonwealth will nominate also coordinators for the overall national effort. This structure will be mirrored at the state and territory level as well. There will be a single Coordinator-General in each State and Territory jurisdiction, and as appropriate separate program coordinators in the three to four program areas, and arguably four to five program areas depending on what the Commonwealth does longer term on long term infrastructure.
Therefore, putting that altogether, what we have done today is a very practical piece of work for the nation. What we put out two days ago as this $42 billion Nation Building and Jobs plan for Australia, is to reduce the impact of a global economic recession on the Australian economy, on families and jobs. But the practical work has been to agree a timetable and to agree a machinery to make sure it happens on the ground.
I say again as I said at the outset, I want to see our schools right across the country become new centres of economic activity as we all deal with the challenge which the global economy has presented our nation with.
Finally, we also agreed as Premiers, Chief Ministers and myself as Prime Minister, that when the next Council of Australian Governments meets in the months ahead, at the top of our agenda we'll be dealing with the whole question of the problem of unemployment, the problem of labour market programs, the proper coordination of Commonwealth and state labour market programs, so that what we do to deal with the problem of people losing their jobs right across the country is dealt with in the most seamless and sophisticated way possible. We are now engaging our officials in preparation for that meeting. If I could turn to Anna now for comment, and then over to you for questions.
PREMIER BLIGH: Thank you Prime Minister. These are extraordinary times and they are times that demand action, action that has confidence, courage and conviction.
In our view, the package announced this week ticks all of those boxes. We are confident as Premiers that this package will actively stimulate the construction industry in each of our states, thereby protecting jobs and securing family incomes.
We also believe that this can and will be delivered faster than you would normally see these programs rolled out. But it can only be delivered if all sides of politics, and all levels of government work together. What we've seen here today is an unprecedented level of cooperation between the Commonwealth and the state governments where we put aside our old ways of doing business, and cut through, guaranteeing that these programs can and will be delivered with a degree of speed that is required.
What we've seen today is a commitment that no bureaucratic hurdles, no red tape, no delays in the approval, the acquisition of land or the procurement processes will get in the way of these funds getting to the front line as quickly as possible in every part of our states. Every Premier and First Minister has been able to confirm that they have lists of schools ready to go and will now work with the Commonwealth to make that happen.
These are as I said unprecedented and extraordinary times, and the Premiers and First Ministers stand ready to answer the call that is being made of them.
PM: Before we take questions, I just again say this and pass my thanks to my colleagues. It is been good and necessary in the national interest for governments both federal and state from all sides of politics, to work together in the national interest in response to this international economic crisis. For the benefit of members of the parliamentary press gallery, Question Time has been delayed until 2.30. So I just draw that to your attention in terms of the time available for your questions.
Over to you.
JOURNALIST: Mr Rudd, has money been allocated amongst the States on a per capita basis?
PM: The money will be distributed according to each of the programs which means that if you look at the allocation for primary schools, it goes down to the number of primary schools and the population density of those schools. It will be allocated on that basis. And as that represents some 15 or close to $15 billion of the program, that's what will happen there.
On the details of administrative arrangements for each element of this Nation Building Plan, it is inevitable that's going to have to be nip and tuck on the way through. We're doing something huge, unprecedented and there's going to be always problems in implementation. Let's just ‘fess up to that from day one. That's why we've established flexible, high level and empowered officials, coordinators-general, to make sure it happens but with a sufficient flexibility at the edges to make sure that it gets done.
JOURNALIST: You indicated the other day you'd have a zero tolerance approach to any of the states of withdrawing their own funds so that they can use yours. What kind of commitment have you demanded and have you -
PM: Well that is reflected in the Communiqué and in the agreement that we have just signed, and it is of the type that I described the other day. The encouraging thing from the colleagues is that no one was scratching their heads saying, how can I weasel out of this or weasel out of that.
I think there's a great sense across the nation that this is, these are unprecedented times, and we have all got to pull together and make this work on the ground.
The Commonwealth, for us, we have not been engaged in this level of intensity of activity, of program delivery, of construction, since post war reconstruction really. And that is why this takes such a huge amount of cooperation and I am pleased that none of the colleagues have indicated any predisposition to withdraw effort in these areas.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will this agreement that you have signed today stand if details of the package are amended in the Senate?
PM: This program, this, I should say, National Partnership Agreement remains rock solid. I expect the Senate to pass this package.
JOURNALIST: Further to Matt's question, because you have been given some lists of projects that can go on straight away, presumably these were projects that the States were going to do anyway - I see you shaking your head, Premier - but can you, if that is the case, then can you make sure, how can you make sure that that money that has been put aside in capital expenditure is shifted elsewhere?
PM: There is a process which we have agreed on which is reflected in the Communiqué, I am going to turn to my colleague from Victoria, to give you a case study, if you like of the sort of projects which John has been talking about this morning.
But just before doing so, the Treasury, this is the machinery point, the heads of Treasury's commonwealth and state, are going to benchmark now through a process which is outlined in the agreement what the States and Territories are committed to doing now in each of these areas across the forward estimates, okay, so it is going to be a completely transparent benchmark.
Therefore, and that committee of heads of Treasuries will be the monitoring agency in terms of any breach, advertent or inadvertent, of that principle.
The overall principle remains, there will be no substitution of effort in these areas, we are on about adding to the national cake.
PREMIER BRUMBY: Thanks Prime Minister, and just if I could, to give you an example on that, what we have agreed today is that going forward, what the States will spend for example in education is what was in their forward estimates, what they are were going to spend plus what we are receiving from the Federal Government.
So if you take our State: next year, we were going to spend $350 million on education. You add that with the, let's say $500 million which might come through from the Federal Government, our spend would need to be $350 plus $500 equals $850 million.
So in all areas of Government, that will be the same, and as the PM has said, we've signed up today to strict accounting protocols, opening up our books, so that the Federal Government can see what is in our forward estimates so that all of this is additional effort.
What the extra money does, if you look in our case, we've quadrupled our spending on schools but we've still got a backlog. We have still got a backlog in the primary sector, there is still more we would want to do in the secondary sector.
So what this enables us to do, in partnership with the Prime Minister, is to bring forward a huge number of school projects and get them up, get them underway, get them generating jobs, without delay.
So I have said to the Prime Minister today, we have got projects next week which we can announce, combined state and federal funding projects in the schools area. This is projects which are fully planned, community consultation, ready to go.
All we have got to do is let the contract, and those projects are somewhere between $200 and $300 million. So you know, all of the things the states have wanted to do in recent years, we have been held back by the previous Federal Government. You know we haven't seen money from the Federal Government for infrastructure in the best part of a decade.
And so as the PM has said, we have got $30 billion worth of funding running through. $15 billion of it alone, $14.7 in education. This is the biggest boost which the Federal Government has ever given the states for infrastructure, and so we will utilise it and the trick here is to turn this into projects, quickly.
And ditto can I say, in social housing in Victoria, we have got 377 social housing projects. Again, site procured, community consulted, all ready to go. And with the Federal money that has been agreed to today, we can go out to tender with those, literally, within the next two weeks, select the builders and have people employed in jobs.
And can I just conclude on this, this is the most important thing about this package. You know, because of the strong fundamentals in the Australian economy, and the fact we have come through last year in pretty good shape, but what is happening internationally is a wave that is about to break over Australia. And we spent a couple of hours this morning going through all of the latest economic data and information.
So we have been well positioned, but when you have got your six major trading partners all in recession, when you have got the US declining by two per cent, when you have got Britain declining by what, four, five per cent in the next year, this will break over Australia.
And so this package, it is a fantastic package, you know it is such a timely package, it will get the construction industry up and underway and generating jobs, just when we need it.
And from the States' point of view, can I say, we haven't had such good news since the last COAG meeting.
You know, it is a great injection, well we haven't, when we got great Commonwealth/State agreements on health and education, and now to get this boost, and what it means for the average Victorian, what it means for the average Australian, it means jobs.
You know, it means certainty. It means confidence, it means security. So it couldn't be better timed and our commitment is to hit the ground running and deliver these projects.
PREMIER RANN: Can I say on behalf of the smallest state, for us this is very important. We guaranteed the Prime Minister a six-pronged increase in our own infrastructure funding compared to seven years ago under our predecessors.
And that is guaranteed with or without the extra federal money that we strongly welcome. But what this allows us to do in South Australia, and we are calling a summit, of every school principal, every school council chairperson, in just over a week from now and bringing them in and we are giving them a couple of weeks of to come in with a series of projects that we can back with this money from the Federal Government.
So we are appointing a Coordinator-General straight away. We also have $200 million worth of school maintenance projects ready to go right now. So what we are doing is offering to the Commonwealth, a slate of projects, small and big that can start straight away, in fact many of them can be starting in the next few weeks.
We set up our own School Pride initiative a few years ago so we have got a template of how we can roll out projects to improve our schools, but also employ local contractors and local people.
I think there is an absolute feeling amongst all of us, that we face is the economic equivalent of war in terms of global financial crisis about to roll over us and we are absolutely united in wanting to make sure we defeat that.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) the next COAG meeting is still going to include the possibility of ticking off on those big infrastructure spending items under the Building Australia fund, and given that you said it is also going to be targeted at unemployment and the labour market, can you tell us your current thinking on the arguments for and a permanent increase in Newstart?
PM: Let me do the second part of your question first and then come back to long term infrastructure.
The colleagues and I, led by Julia Gillard the Deputy Prime Minister, have been working our way through this again in recent days. We are going through a whole range of options, dealing with kids just coming out of the schools system, who are going to find it difficult entering the labour market, dealing with the challenge of people who are in jobs who may lose their jobs, the geographical concentration of that, the adequacy of the information flow, and the adequacy of supporting labour market programs for all the above, and the existing social security network as well.
All these things are being worked through but we have not reached any finality on any of this yet. As I have said, I think in previous discussions with you in recent days, we have to try and get this as right as possible. The value of the conversation with the colleagues today from the States and Territories is a strong willingness on their part to calibrate their education, training and labour market efforts with ours.
What often confuses people and I fully understand why, if you lose your job or you are worried about your son or daughter leaving school and where do they go, it's the plethora of information, often not properly coordinated, from various levels of government about what is available.
How do we actually break that down? This is what we are working on.
On the first part of your question which deals with long term infrastructure, we are waiting on the deliberations of infrastructure Australia in March.
I will work out with the colleagues, the timing of the next COAG meeting. I have indicated dealing with the challenge of unemployment will be high on its agenda.
On the question of long term infrastructure, we will work out between us, between now and then, how that is best deliberated, once Infrastructure Australia comes down with its recommendations.
So on the inclusion of it, on the next COAG agenda, we haven't reached finality on that yet. So that is a direct answer to your question.
JOURNALIST: Mr Barnett, do you feel a little bit conflicted, given your federal counterparts have described this spending as excessive, as irresponsible, as driven by panic?
PREMIER BARNETT: No I don't. And can I just say that the document that we have just signed, the national partnership agreement is essentially about the education funding for schools and the social housing components and I strongly support those.
And I, certainly as far as Western Australia is concerned, will ensure that that money is spent quickly, and well spent.
And one of the points that has come out this morning is the importance I think of using that to improve the quality and standards of education and to make sure that they are facilities that go into schools where the need is greatest.
So I am quite happy about that. As far as housing is concerned the West Australian Government announced on Monday that we would commit to 1,000 additional units of public and housing for Government employees in country areas and would ensure that that will not be sort of, sliding under this Commonwealth funding.
So look, the total value of that is around $22 billion. Now, Malcolm Turnbull obviously is debating the package, as he should, and I assume that will happen in the parliament over the next few days, next few minutes, or hours.
JOURNALIST: What about the cash bonuses aspect of it? Does the WA economy need that injection as well?
PREMIER BARNETT: Well I will be quite honest, I am less enthusiastic about that component of the package than I am about the housing and education components but the part that affects this agreement and the part that West Australia and other States and Territories have a say in, is basically the housing and educational part. And we have agreed to deliver that in conjunction with existing programs in the States.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PREMIER BARNETT: Look I am not going to tell people that they can't get a payment. That is not something that concerns me in my role as the Premier of Western Australia. But you know if you ask me about my levels of enthusiasm, they are high on housing and education. Maybe a little bit less enthusiastic on some of the other parts. But that is not my issue, that is the Prime Minister's issue and Malcolm Turnbull's issue as Leader of the Opposition.
JOURNALIST: Mr Rudd, just one question away from the economy involving the West Gate Bridge tragedy of Darcey Freeman. The outpouring of emotion has prompted her relatives today to call for an annual children's day, much like Mother's Day, to be held around January 29th, close to her death.
Should we have an annual children's day in Darcey's memory? And Mr Brumby, if I can get your response to that, and whether or not you would like to see an inquiry into the authorities' handling of the matter following criticism from relatives that there was a lack of response from them leading up to her death.
PM: I think this tragedy has been gut wrenching for the entire nation. People have been really affected by this. Anyone with a touch of humanity in them finds this just unspeakable. And you just recoil in horror at all of this, just recoil in horror.
When I was just about to walk in here, I was actually told about this proposal for a national children's day. And I'm told there could be all sorts of technicalities associated with it, and I don't know really what the processes are. But I support the idea. Let's see what the community has to say in the discussion which will happen.
But I think this is, this has affected everybody, and out of such an appalling tragedy how do we turn it to good, cause people to reflect on the protection of little ones? I think it's a good idea.
PREMIER BRUMBY: We have, we have in Victoria, I think it's the first week in October, we have a Children's Week, and I think as part of that it also coincides with International Children's Day. And you know, I'd like to hear what the community says as well.
I think as the PM has said, if we can turn this horrible tragedy into something which is more positive, that will be a great outcome for the community. Perhaps it's the way in which we run Children's Week, perhaps it might be an element of Children's Week.
But I think in terms of the, the way the year's structured, this event there, it marks International Children's Day as well, that's probably I think a good time to do this, but I think we'll hear from the community about that. And you know, if there's good debate about this, I think the better, that's a healthy thing for the community.
On the issue of the authorities, I don't have information on that. The preliminary information I've got is that there's no record of any contact with the authorities, that's the preliminary advice I've got, but obviously if I get subsequent advice to that I'll advise you.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, state government tax revenues are deteriorating even more rapidly than the Commonwealth's. Was there any discussion this morning about the possibility of Commonwealth support for State Governments in terms of filling their deficits with borrowing?
PM: I think there's a rolling discussion as you'd expect to be normal between state treasurers and state treasuries on all those sorts of matters, that is normal, that is appropriate, and that is how it's unfolding.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, two points. The House this morning passed your package in toto. How important is that vote? And the Senate's decision to delay the package for consideration for a week, will that impact on the timing of the bonus payments for families?
PM: I've been in here all morning with my colleagues working on the implementation of the stimulus package. And I'm sure I'll apprised soon on what's going on in other places both the Senate and beyond.
It is critical that we move heaven and earth to make sure these payments reach families as quickly as possible. It's critical that we implement the programs which have been referred to here in schools.
And I would just say to everyone who's a member of parliament in this place, whatever their politics, is to rise to the national interest here and get this investment and the support for families out the door where it can do some good now.
As I believe both the Premiers of Victoria and South Australia indicated before, the challenge coming to us from the international economy is washing over our shores. Remember at the end of last year there was debate about whether we had acted too early in support of stimulus then. I say if we roll the clock ahead in three months time, I wonder where we would be had we not acted both then and now.
So I think it's time for people to push their political disagreements to one side. This is really important stuff. As I've said before, I cannot, nor can the Commonwealth nor can any government remove or eliminate the impact of this global economic recession on Australian households and on unemployment. I cannot eliminate that, I cannot remove it, but I can reduce it and these are all part of practical measures to do that.
Ladies and gentleman, I've got to go and get ready for Question Time. Thank you very much.
[ends]