PM: Today in Canberra, some 200 businesses and organisations have come to the nation's capital to help plan the implementation of the Government's $42 billion Nation Building and Jobs Plan. And only Mr Turnbull is standing in the road.
200 businesses and organisations determined to act in the national interest to support jobs and to build long term infrastructure, only Mr Turnbull stands in the way. This Government's nation building and jobs plan, that will support jobs in every community around the country and will improve every primary school in the country, and give a tax break that every small business could benefit from.
More than 200 organisations have come to the nation's capital today because they want to support local jobs and national jobs at a time of national and international economic emergency.
The Master Builders' Association, the Housing Industry Association, the Business Council of Australia, the Council of Small Business, the National Farmers' Federation - all these organisations want to act in the national interest and so do we.
And again, only Mr Turnbull stands in the road.
What's clear from my meetings so far today with these Australian businesses, small and large, and from those representing the social housing sector and of course the broader education sector, is that they all have projects ready to go.
They all have projects which are shovel-ready. What's standing in the road of those projects beginning is Mr Turnbull. There are school halls and libraries, public housing, the insulation of home projects ready to go, ready to start, creating jobs and preparing for the future.
Only Mr Turnbull stands in the road.
Therefore I would say to Mr Turnbull and the Liberal Party, get out of the road of the Government getting on with the job of nation building and supporting jobs at a time of national economic emergency.
When we have organisations such as the International Monetary Fund, the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Australian Industry Group saying loud and clear to governments like Australia that it is time to act through stimulus and where necessary to borrow for that stimulus, that is counsel enough for this Government to get on with the business of doing it.
And again I would say to Mr Turnbull, it's time to get out of the road.
What is the alternative plan that's being advocated here? I don't know. All that it is, it seems to me, is rank political short term-ism and opportunism, driven by the internal dynamics of the Liberal Party.
Well this, Government has an agenda and a strategy to see Australia through this economic crisis, it is time Mr Turnbull got out of the road. The rest of the country, from every school community, from the small business community, from the mainstream business communities of businesses large, wants the Government to get on with this task. We intend to do it.
Questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can you explain, or Treasurer how you decided that the lowest paid Australians, those million or so plus earning less than $11,000 per year, wouldn't get the workers' bonus. Aren't they the people who are most likely to spend it and stimulate the economy?
SWAN: It is not true to say that there is a huge number of low paid Australians who are not receiving support through either the payments that we made, through the economic security package back in last December, or through this package, through this Nation Building and Jobs Plan.
It is true that the tax bonus only goes to those who had a tax liability in the 07/08 financial year. So if you paid one dollar of tax in that year, you receive the tax bonus. Effectively what that means is that if you take into account the LITO, it will be paid to people, people will be paying tax over about $11,000 per year.
So the group you are talking about are under $11,000 a year. Many of them will receive payments, will receive payments through the measures contained in the Nation Building and Jobs Plan.
Let's just look at the figures. The total amount here in terms of direct payments is $12.7 billion, less than two thirds of that is the tax bonus alone. More than a third goes to low and middle income households who may not be eligible for the tax bonus.
There is monies being paid to people through training allowances and so on, on Newstart. There are people on parenting payments who are receiving this, and there are people who will receive payments through the back to school allowances. So a very large number of people will be receiving support who may or may not receive the tax bonus.
And if you look at both packages, the economic security package, which came down in October and payments were made in December, and this package, something like 95 per cent of singles and families will have received a payment.
JOURNALIST: But Mr Swan, the Government's immediate problem is that the crossbench senators and the Greens are already expressing concerns about the stimulus package, that there's not enough for low income people, nothing for the unemployed and (inaudible)?
SWAN: Look can I just say, all the efforts of this Government, from day one, have been directed towards assisting people on low and middle incomes. The tax changes last year, from the 1st of July, were directed to lower income earners who had been left behind. If you look at the structure of the payments that were there in the October package, they overwhelmingly went to lower income earners, and most particularly to support people with families, and with children.
So this Government has put in place over the last 12 months very substantial assistance to people on low and middle incomes and that flows again, as I have just explained before, in this package.
So I think the package has been misrepresented by some, I don't know why. But I would like to make this point, it's a very important one.
Without the support of the Liberals, the vital nation building investments contained in this package and in payments which will go to people on low and middle incomes are at risk. And I think it's been made very clear by evidence before the Senate, last night and this morning, that if people muck around with this package in the Senate, they will delay vital payments to Australian families and delay vital investment which will support jobs.
Now this morning, we've heard from a lot of people and we're going to hear from the business community in a little while, but it's pretty apparent for the Prime Minister and I from our discussions this morning that a lot of jobs out there, particularly in the construction industry, depend upon the speedy passage of this legislation.
What Malcolm Turnbull is doing is playing with fire and playing with people's lives. A stimulus is needed now, the Treasury Secretary made it very clear last night why that was the case. The Government has acted and the political game-playing of the Liberals is putting all of that at risk.
PM: Two quick points in addition, on lower income earners. $6 billion in social housing, the largest single injection of national funding in social housing in the history of the Commonwealth. Point one.
Point two, on the question of, I think you said before, the green credentials of what is being done, $4 billion in investment in the insulation of homes. Many of the homes not currently insulated are those often owned by lower income people.
These are two important points and to back up something the Treasurer just said about jobs, the Housing Industry Association said this in the morning session, they are desperately concerned about builders losing their jobs now because they have no confidence that new projects are flowing through. This is what the industry has told us this morning. They therefore said that from their industry's point of view, getting the passage of this through the Senate is of critical importance to maintaining sufficient confidence to keep those built businesses running.
JOURNALIST: Are you the guys playing politics here? The Liberals have made their decision. It's clear they're not going to support this. Shouldn't you be dealing with the minor parties instead of trying to score points against Malcolm Turnbull, this is clear?
PM: It is time for the Liberal party to demonstrate some national political leadership. This is all about the Liberal party's internal dynamics. It's got nothing to do about the policy merits of the argument. Let me go back again to the arguments which were occasionally deployed in this debate over the last two days in this building.
If you have the International Monetary Fund, a well-known front for international socialism, if you've got the Business Council of Australia, another front for international socialism and communism too I presume, and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the AIG, a bit suspect, if they're all out there saying that the responsible thing for any government to do under these circumstances is to borrow in order to stimulate the economy now, I would suggest that it is a mainstream economically conservative course of action, which it is.
The alternative is in fact not only radical, but opportunist. And I would say to, to go to the core of your question, I would say to Mr Turnbull, it's time for him to reconsider his position because the national interest demands it and the jobs of people, hanging and swinging in the breeze in the construction industry, depends on him showing some leadership.
SWAN: I just want to add to that, and it will probably go to the question you're about to ask. The only certainty of this legislation passing in a speedy way and delivering payments to families and low income earners and starting the critical investment is if the Liberal party votes for it. Everybody in this room would be familiar with the passage of legislation for last year's budget, and the hurdles that it had to go through in the Senate and all of the speculation there was about where minor parties and Greens would vote.
I say to you, there is no certainty that all of the minor parties and Independents will vote for this legislation and therefore no certainty, without the Liberal party's support, that this will pass in a speedy way. But we will talk to the Greens and to the minor parties in a constructive way.
But our imperative, and it's in the national interest, is to make sure the legislation does pass in a speedy way so we can deal, so we can deal with this economic slowdown that has been imposed on us, not by a legislative timetable in this country, but by events right around the globe.
And that is what is driving the need for this legislation to pass, and I can't believe the Liberal party could be so reckless as to encourage uncertainty about the passage of this legislation given the importance of confidence, given the importance of confidence in the current circumstances in which we find ourselves buffeted by the rest of the world.
JOURNALIST: Mr Swan, how many low income workers do you think will miss out on direct payments under your package, and are you prepared to talk to the Greens and the Independents about extra payments for them and the unemployed?
SWAN: We are prepared to talk to the minor parties in a reasonable way. But what we are delivering here is very substantial payments to people on very low incomes. Let's make no mistake about this, no mistake about it at all - very substantial payments.
Payments which for the first time for example, are like our package at the end of last year, will go to low income singles without dependents, as well as couples without dependents. So there is a significant payment going to a lot of people on modest incomes, and we are delivering it this way, as the Tax Commissioner would have testified I'm sure when he was before the Senate Committee, because it can be done now. The earliest any payment can be made in the tax system is in April. And it is being done this way for administrative simplicity. To meet the needs of the time.
PM: And speaking of the needs of the time, the industry groups await us. We're late for them and I'm sorry we were late for you. Thank you.
[ends]