PM: It's been great to have the opportunity to address the Western Australian Labor Party Conference and it's been great to be here in Western Australia. I came today to the Western Australian Labor Party Conference with a very simple message: I respect the voice of Western Australia and I have been listening to it.
That's why I have reshaped our Minerals Resource Rent Tax so that we can work with the great resources industry of this State and better tax and get a fair share for Australians from the mineral wealth within our grounds.
I've also listened to the voices of Western Australians on how best to provide health care and I'm pleased that we've entered into a health care agreement that will also bring this State into new arrangements that make available new resources, more doctors, more nurses, more local control and a lot less red tape.
And I've also listened to the voice of Western Australia on the distribution of the GST and that's why I've initiated a review so that we can work our way through to a new historic arrangement for GST distribution, which understands growth states like Western Australian.
As Prime Minister I'm determined that I make the right decisions for the nation's future. The right decisions like putting a price on carbon, the right decisions like assisting families through tax cuts, family payment increases and increases in the pension. We will be ensuring that when we announce all of the details of pricing carbon, we will announce all of the details as to how we will assist Australian families.
Standing here today Labor is the only political party with a plan to put a tax on pollution and to use that money to give tax cuts to Australian families. We're the only political party with a plan to put a tax on pollution and to use that money to assist pensioners. We're the only political party with a plan to put a tax on pollution and to use that money to assist those who receive Family Tax Benefit, in order to care for their kids.
Now, I get the opportunity as Prime Minister to travel the length and breadth of this great nation of ours, I get to meet a lot of people, I get to see a lot of things, but I can certainly tell you on thing - I've never seen a dollar appear out of thin air.
So, when you are going to spend money, you need to know where that money is coming from. Money doesn't grow on trees; we've got to make sure that the Federal budget is in the right shape to come back to surplus in 2012-13, as promised.
As we tackle climate change, price carbon pollution, reduce carbon pollution, we will assist Australians through tax cuts, pension increases and increases in family payments.
I'm very happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Can you go any further than that and give us any figures on how much pension will be increased and any of those sort of things?
PM: All of the figures will be announced when we announce the final details of pricing carbon and when we announce those details families will be able to sit and work out for themselves what the tax cut means for them, what the increases in family payments mean for them, what the increases in the pension mean for people who rely on the pension.
This will be a plan that takes money from polluters and gives it to Australian families. That's the right thing to do to tackle climate change and the right thing to do to assist Australian families. This won't be a scheme where we are pretending somehow money just magically appears out of thin air.
JOURNALIST: When do you expect to actually release those details then?
PM: We're working hard and with a lot of good will through the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee. We want to get all of the details right and we're working hard through the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee to discuss all of the details.
I want to get this information to Australians as soon as I can. And yes, as we're making these decisions there are some tough choices. There's no way that you can lead this nation and not make tough choices, and we will make some tough choices.
We've had to do that in the recent budget in order to get the budget to surplus in 2012-13.
We've had a debate in this country arising from the budget, some people have said that
$150,000 a year for a family, is that rich? Some people have said that. Well I certainly don't believe it is rich, but I also think you've got to make the tough choices about where assistance should properly go and whilst I understand people who earn over $150,000 a year feel cost of living pressures, there are other Australians who are doing it more tough and we will be directing our focus to assisting Australians who need that assistance the most.
JOURNALIST: What did you make of Tony Abbott's announcement this morning about cutting income tax?
PM: Well, money doesn't grow on trees. You don't wander round and see dollar coins somehow magically appearing out of thin air in front of your eyes.
You've got to know where the money is coming from. So, it's one thing to say ‘gee, you'd like to spend a lot of money', it's another thing to say where it's coming from.
When we price carbon we'll know where the money's coming from, it's coming from the 1000 biggest polluters in this country and that money will be used to cut tax, to increase family benefits and to increase pensions, as well as to protect Australian jobs and to fund programs that tackle climate change.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you take some responsibility for Eric Ripper's very low showing in opinion polls?
PM: Eric Ripper is doing a great job here, a courageous job leading the Western Australian Labor Party. He was a great Treasurer of this State, he's certainly someone who knows from having to slave over the State's budget that money doesn't appear from thin air.
We've got work to do in this State; Eric's got work to do in this State. We're full of Labor determination and courage and we'll get about doing that work.
JOURNALIST: He also knows that many of your policies are actually hurting him, has that been conveyed to you at this conference?
PM: I'm very happy to go through my policies for Western Australia. As Prime Minister I wanted to settle what had become a very divisive debate about the resources super profits tax and I wanted to work in consultation with Western Australia and the resources industry here and I have.
We've worked through, reached an agreement and now there's the draft legislation for everyone to see.
And then I was concerned as Prime Minister that people in Western Australia weren't going to get the benefits of our new resources and our new reforms into health. I've made sure we've got an agreement with Western Australia, so we get to give Western Australia more doctors, more nurses, more money, more local control and less red tape.
And I certainly heard from Western Australia that people feel that the current GST arrangements aren't fair, so I've acted to have a review of those arrangements, because I want Australians here and around the nation treated fairly when it comes to distributing the GST.
And I'm very pleased that we are continuing record investments into infrastructure in this place, in Western Australia we know that with the resources boom this is a State hungry for infrastructure and we want to feed that hunger. We also want to make sure we're bringing new skills and new opportunities here and that's what our measures in the recent budget were all about.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will you be providing compensation for producers affected by the live export ban, you did seem to be flagging it (inaudible).
PM: We'll have some things to say in coming days about working with the industry affected by the live export suspension to Indonesia. I did discuss this matter with Premier Barnett yesterday.
Of course Premier Barnett said to me that we needed to work to resume the trade as quickly as possible and I said to Premier Barnett that's music to my ears, because that's exactly what we are working to do - to get the trade back up as quickly as possible, whilst we have appropriate arrangements for animal welfare.
We've got to get this right, Australians don't want to see animals treated the way we saw animals treated on that 4 Corners program. People who work in the cattle industry don't want to see their animals treated like that. I want this industry to have a long term strong future, so we've got to get the animal welfare arrangements right now.
We're working to do that as quickly as possible, so we can get the trade recommencing as soon as possible. I'm on exactly the same page as Premier Barnett on this question.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Labor Party today are expecting to reinstate their ban on uranium mining, your Resources Minister has made his views pretty clear on this, do you think that's economically responsible?
PM: Clearly debates will happen inside the Western Australian Labor Party Conference I've just addressed and that's a good thing. Labor's a party of government and a party of ideas.
For the Government I lead, we see the opportunities in mining uranium, where that occurs obviously involves State governments because they properly are the level of government with responsibility for planning and land use, but we see opportunities in mining uranium and that is happening in other parts of the country.
JOURNALIST: There are motions here today also contradicting your policy on asylum seekers, the deal with Malaysia, and also gay marriage. Is the divide between WA Labor and Federal growing?
PM: I think you'll find that around the country, whether it's here in Western Australia or in other places, Labor Party members come to Labor Party conferences full of ideas and wanting to have their say and that's a good thing.
People become active and decide to go and join their Labor Party branch down the street, or get involved through one of our Labor Party groups, because they're full of ideas about the nation's future. I want people to join Labor full of that enthusiasm and to get into a conference and have their say.
But my responsibility as Prime Minister, whether motions are being passed here in Western Australia, or whether it's Queensland, or anywhere else, is to make sure I'm making the right decisions for the nation's future.
The transfer agreement with Malaysia is the right decision for our future, it will break the people smuggler's business model, that's what it's aiming to do, take away from people who ply a very evil trade the product that they sell. So, we will continue to pursue that agreement with Malaysia under the Bali framework.
Now, I know many people are also concerned that we do the right thing as a humanitarian nation. We've been a generous country, resettling refugees, and through the scheme that we are determined to put in place we'll take 4000 more genuine refugees from the front of the queue in Malaysia.
JOURNALIST: It's not a done deal though is it?
PM: We are in very advanced discussions with Malaysia and of course we went to Bali when the region came together a little bit earlier this year and struck a regional framework, under which the agreements with Malaysia are being pursued.
JOURNALIST: New York has just legalised gay marriage, is Australia behind the times?
PM: We'll make our own decisions in this country, based on what's right for Australia. My views in this area are well known.
Thanks very much. Thank you.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just quickly, there's an energy drink called Cocaine on sale in Perth delis. Is that something you would look at under Federal labelling laws?
PM: On these questions, of course, on the technicalities, I'm always happy to look at the technicalities, but it does concern me that a drink would bear that kind of name.