HOST: Good morning, Prime Minister.
PM: Good morning. Great to be back in Tassie today.
HOST: Now, the latest EMRS poll in Tasmania shows that the state Labor Party is at 23 per cent and the Premier's rating isn't that much better, and, of course, as you know, this is after a 12 per cent swing against Labor in the March state election, so given that the Labor faithful seem disenchanted, what does federal Labor have to do to retain Tasmania in federal parliament?
PM: The key thing for the Australian Government is to keep the economy strong and also to provide a fair go for all Australians and all Tasmanians. What does that mean specifically in Tasmania? Well, keeping the economy strong means building our infrastructure for the future. That's why we're putting out a National Broadband Network. Mr Abbott said he'd scrap that. This is already under build, currently, in Tasmania.
Secondly, it means basic stuff like better health and better hospitals, and that's why we've agreed on a national health and hospitals plan, funded nationally, run locally, in order to deliver better services for people on the ground across regional, rural and metropolitan Tasmania. These are the things we've committed to. This is what we're going to get on and do.
HOST: One thing about helping out ordinary Australians here in Tasmania, a topic taking over the headlines, is forestry, and there's about to be a full-scale review of the industry and I understand that the Premier is speaking to the federal Forestry Minister, Tony Burke, today. But what confidence can you give the hundreds of families that are doing it tough that are part of the forest industry here in Tasmania? What confidence can you give them today that your Government can be relied upon for support?
PM: Well, let's go to, let's cut to the chase about jobs. First thing I'd say is that every worker deserves maximum security when it comes to their jobs. That's why the Australian Government intervened in the global financial crisis with a massive investment in stimulus to keep the wheels of the economy turning.
For example, I'm in north-western Tasmania today. We've invested, in the last 18 months or so, some $280 million in order to keep the wheels of the economy going. That's all about protecting jobs.
But the other thing is this - also in north-western Tasmania, I was there recently with Sid Sidebottom announcing a further package of investments in local support for business. I was recently, for example, at a local business which is manufacturing various forms of industrial material. Those sorts of investments are exactly what we need to get on doing.
And, finally, when it comes to the forestry industry, we've always believed in getting the balance right, and I know Tony Burke has worked very closely with the forestry industry in Tasmania to make sure we continue to get that balance right, as well.
HOST: Do you think the workers at the paper mills on the north-west coast, where they're closing down and many people have lost their jobs, do you think that they might be feeling the balance is right?
PM: Well, this is a difficult time for many, many industrial plants across not just Tasmania but elsewhere in the country. That's one of the reasons why we're seeking to reform the economy nationally, through our changes to the taxation system to bring down company tax lower.
On the individual circumstances in those companies I cannot comment, but I what can say is that we're out there, for example, job-generating in Tasmania at present through not just stimulus but also laying out the National Broadband Network, which is involving a lot of people and a lot of work on the ground, individual infrastructure projects with local authorities right across Tasmania, and on top of that creating jobs, too, through our support for particular businesses to help them expand, and I've seen so many good examples across the north recently.
HOST: Well, I'm sure people won't knock spending on infrastructure. In the forestry industry, for example, there's a lot of infrastructure already here, there are a lot of families that have outlaid a lot of their own money for the equipment that they've got on the ground, which is laying idle at the moment, so how can your Government support them?
PM: Well a key challenge is to make sure at the level of national Government, as I said, that we're keeping the economy strong, that we are protecting jobs by investing in infrastructure, and by making sure that we continue to roll out our stimulus payments. You ask particularly about circumstances on the ground, and right now in Tasmania we're making a very big investment in local schools. In fact right across, say, north-western Tasmania, we're investing nearly $100 million in nearly 139 different projects at 63 schools. That's all about providing jobs for construction, jobs also for tradies, jobs also for those in the support industries. Example, food and local restaurants et cetera, to keep the wheels of the economy turning off the basis of that big investment in schools.
So whether it's schools, whether it's infrastructure like broadband, or whether it's also the infrastructure we're doing with so many local regional councils, that's how we're seeking to make a difference, to create new jobs, to support businesses building new jobs, and also supporting those workers who are displaced out of existing jobs.
HOST: Prime Minister you're on your way to Burnie today for a Community Cabinet, what topics do you think will be the major focus today?
PM: I believe that every time I've been down to Tasmania in recent times, and this will be my third or fourth visit to the north west since I've been Prime Minister, the key question there is always the economy and jobs, that's number one, and we've been talking a lot about that in this interview. But the other is about delivering on our local health and hospital services, and what I'll be doing with Sid Sidebottom in Burnie is turning the sod on the Burnie GP Super Clinic, that's all about providing flexible health services out of hours for local people.
Also we've got a Community Cabinet at the Parklands High School tonight, and we're looking forward to getting on with the business of talking to the local community about their further needs as well. It's part of keeping in touch with the people of the north west as we go through difficult and challenging economic times.
HOST: Prime Minister thank you very much for your time, I hope you enjoy your trip to Tasmania.
PM: Always good to be back in Tassie.