PM: I'm here with Senator Jan McLucas in Townsville. We're at Town High and you can hear the sounds of the school in progress behind us.
I've come to this school today to speak to some of the senior students about our plans to tackle climate change. These are people who within a few years, a couple of years, will be in our workforce and I wanted them to have the opportunity to ask questions about our plan to put a price on carbon. This will matter for their future, because our plans are all about ensuring that when they are the workers of tomorrow, our nation is securing a clean energy future.
I'm also here with Senator McLucas to make some announcements about investments in local road funding. I had the opportunity to come to Townsville the day after the cyclone, today it's a very different place. But of course across North and Far North Queensland and we are continuing to invest, to help people repair the damage that came with Cyclone Yasi, so I'm pleased today that I am able to announce a $155 million injection into road funding for North Queensland.
This new road funding is directed at the repairs we need because of the damage from the cyclone. As roads are being repaired, they will actually be repaired to a better standard, to make them more resilient for the future. This will make a difference for around 2000 kilometres of road, and it will make a difference in supporting jobs, 570 jobs, as these road works are rolled out.
We have wanted to work with the people of North and Far North Queensland from the day the cyclone came and we've wanted to work with the people of Queensland since the first days of the flooding. In order to do that we have made savings in the Federal Government budget and we've also won the argument about having a flood levy.
I wanted to make sure that we could properly fund the reconstruction works in Queensland. It wasn't east to ask people to pay a flood levy, but it was the right thing to do so that Australians around the nation could contribute to rebuilding here.
So, we have continued to work with people here through emergency payments initially, through road works, through rail works, through necessary reconstruction and now we are in a position to do some more, to repair 2000 kilometres of road.
So, it's great to be here today, a great opportunity. I also, here today, want to reinforce to the people of this part of the world, that as we go about pricing carbon, putting a price on carbon pollution, I see huge opportunities for the people of Queensland. There's literally no better place to seize a clean energy future than right here in Queensland; with abundant sunshine, and the ability to attract investment into the clean energy projects of the future.
We are investing in one of those projects, $460 million for a project in Chinchilla called Solar Dawn. If it was constructed today it would be the biggest solar project in the world. I think this is a demonstration of the kind of clean energy future that can happen right throughout Queensland. Putting a price on carbon, investing $10 billion in our Clean Energy Finance Corporation, and more than $3 billion in a new agency called ARENA, so that we can do more research and work in the innovations of the future that will bring us clean energy. It is the right thing to do for the nation but it's of particular benefit right here in Queensland.
Of course, as I've talked to people, people have asked me, as around 500 big polluters pay the price of their pollution, what will it mean for me and my family? There will be some price impacts, less than a cent in a dollar and people will see tax cuts, family payment increases and pension increases. People earning less than $80,000 a year will see a tax cut and the vast majority of them will see a tax cut of $300. Pensioner households will come out, on average, $210 in front, and people with kids will see increases of up to $110 in family payments. People can find out what it means for them and their family by looking at the cleanenergyfuture.gov.au website where they will be able to use a household estimator to generate the results as to what their family will get in tax cuts or increased payments.
So, it's a great pleasure to be here and I'm very happy to take any questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how is your relationship with the Premier today, given that she actually prefers Kevin Rudd's abandoned scheme over yours?
PM: On the scheme that I announced two Sundays ago, first and foremost it's better for Queensland, better for Queensland because of the $10 billion investment in the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, there's no better place for a clean energy future than right here in Queensland. The opportunities are almost endless, and the package I announced does come with this huge new ability to turbo-charge our clean energy future. It also comes with tax reform, and that's good for Queensland. Many parts of Queensland, we have a small business economy, in many parts of Queensland people are making decisions about taking up some work, casual work, part time work, some more work. Through our tax package that comes through pricing carbon, we will be tripling the tax free threshold from $6000 a year to $18,200 a year. And what that will mean is a million Australians will come out of the tax system, they won't have to do tax returns anymore, easier for them, easier for the businesses that employ them and they will better see the rewards of work.
JOURNALIST: But how does it make you feel when our Queensland Premier is out there criticising your tax?
PM: Well I'm very happy to be speaking to everyone about the benefits of this package for Queensland, standing here in this wonderful sunshine, just reinforces there's no better place for a clean energy future than right here in Queensland.
JOURNALIST: Is she trying to distance herself from yourself given the late polls recently?
OM: I think I understand that people whether they're the State Premier or whether they're kids here in this school at Town High will have questions and want information, and of course we'll sit down with the Queensland government and provide it.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, where exactly is that borrowed money going?
PM: I can take you through that, we've got the Bruce Highway between Townsville and Home Hill, there's five sites there, an 80 kilometre section; that's a $19.5 million investment. The Flinders Highway between Townsville and Pentland, eight sites across a 150 kilometre section, $30 million. There's the Gregory development road, there's six sites there, a 50 kilometre section, that's $48 million. And then there's three sites to the west of Townsville a 40 kilometre section with a $20 million investment.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister is this actually new money or is this part of the counter-disaster funding that already exists?
PM: Well this is an announcement that of the package we put together and funded, that out of that package, this allocation will be made. This funding flows on the basis that three quarters of it comes from the Federal Government, one quarter of it comes from the Queensland Government.
Earlier this year I took the decisions, the hard decisions to make available more than $5 billion for reconstruction work, in order to do that I had to take some tough decisions to make savings on the Federal Government's budget. And, I had to take a tough decision to have a flood levy, to ask upper income earners to contribute right around the country, to reconstructing here, in Queensland.
People would recall it wasn't popular at the time, it was contested at the time; it was bitterly opposed by the opposition, but it was the right thing to do so that there is money available for making announcements like the announcement I am making today.
JOURNALIST: What I'm driving at is this money that councils already knew was coming?
PM: No, this is newly announced.
JOURNALIST: Alright.
PM: Thank you.
JOURNALIST: What about the areas of Ingham and Cardwell, I mean; they go under, those towns, at the drop of a brick- (inaudible)
PM: Well, we'll continue working to invest in roads and rail. Already, major investments have been made in roads, to get over the damage that's been done. This is not the first road investment that's been made since the dreadful summer we lived through. So we've been investing in bringing roads back up to standard, in getting rail up and running again; this is a further development on top of that.
JOURNALIST: And how long will it take for these repairs to get underway?
PM: Well, we'll be happy to get it underway as soon as possible; we'll be looking to local companies, to regional companies to get involved in doing this work. We'll also be looking to state wide Queensland companies. So we will want to get it underway as soon as an appropriate work force and company can be found to start the various parts of work.
JOURNALIST: Given the level of spending and, the fact that as you say, the tax was very hotly contested, can you afford to have another, if we have another Yasi, can the country actually afford it?
PM: Look, I think I've shown by doing what I did earlier this year against bitter opposition from Tony Abbott that I'm always prepared to take the tough decisions that are right for the nation's future. It was a tough decision to ask people to pay a flood levy, it was bitterly opposed in the Parliament, I made the decision and then pushed through with that decision because it was the right thing to do by the people of Queensland.
And I did consistently say to Tony Abbott, I didn't understand why he thought a levy was good enough to pay for his election promises but he wasn't prepared to support a levy to rebuild Queensland. I decided to have that levy, and it has made the necessary funds available.
JOURNALIST: I guess what I'm getting about, would you put a levy on the levy if we went through another summer like we had?
PM: Well I'm certainly not making predictions about living through the kind of summer we just saw. And, let's remember how extraordinary that summer was. How extraordinary in the life of our nation, the most costly natural disaster in economic terms, that the nation's ever seen.
So, it was appropriate given that huge devastation through floods and cyclone, to take the tough decisions necessary to rebuild.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how are you going to win back the votes after the live cattle export decision and then back flip? It seems you have lost quite a few up in North Queensland, up in Hewenden, Richmond and Mount Isa.
PM: Well there was, your terminology is not right. There was one decision taken, and one decision pursued. And that decision was, having seen the graphic images of animal cruelty shown on Four Corners, that if we were going to have a long term sustainable trade in the live cattle industry to Indonesia, we needed to get animal welfare standards right.
So, one decision taken, one decision pushed through. The way in which we pursued that decision was to work with live cattle industry, and now we do have the regulatory framework where people in the live cattle industry can get export permits, as long as they can show transparency and accountability. They can track where cattle are going and they're auditing the animal welfare standards, and Indonesia is prepared to grant the import permits.
So, it was only one decision, the decision to get animal welfare standards right, that's the decision that's been delivered. For the industry, it was a vitally important process, because for the industry to have a long term future, you know the next five, ten fifteen, twenty years. For the industry to have that long term future, animal welfare standards needed to be got right. He worst thing for industry would have been to have this problem now, not get it right and then in two years time we have another problem, and a year after that we have another problem, and five years afterwards. So we've worked to get animal welfare standards right.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, are you concerned about the breach of security at Rockhampton airport yesterday?
PM: Any security breaches, obviously, do concern me and the responsible Minister, Minister Albanese, but we do have good airport security standards in Australia.
JOURNALIST: Is anybody concerned about these activists? I mean, damaging military helicopters.
PM: Well there's concern in terms of any security breach, but we do have good standards of airport security and, obviously, good people are on the job to advise government about what else may need to be done.
JOURNALIST: The carbon tax is proving a pretty tough sell with the adults, how is, I guess, the next generation of voters going?
PM: I think they were interested and asked a number of questions, some very, very smart and perceptive questions and that's a great thing. I always like talking to young people. They've got a view about the world, a view about their future in it, so I enjoyed the conversation today.
JOURNALIST: Your visit here is quite unexpected today, as far as business leaders are concerned. Was it, in a way, to beat Tony Abbott's announced visit on Sunday?
PM: Well I'd actually have to say I wasn't aware of that, so you've brought some news to me.
No, we intended to come to Townsville and I did ask Senator McLucas to bring some business people together and I had the opportunity to talk to them this morning.
JOURNALIST: You said you'll wear out the leather on your shoes, at what point do you say everyone knows about it, and now we can put the issue away for a while?
PM: Of course the ordinary business of government continues to go on. So as I'm around the country talking to people about pricing carbon, all of the work we need to do to keep our economy strong, to make the right decisions, to spread opportunity around our nation are still being worked on and taken. I will keep talking to people as long as there are questions that people want answered.
JOURNALIST: What do you believe are the hard questions that news Limited have to answer?
PM: I dealt with that yesterday.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you have a message for the Appleby family whose son died playing a rugby match in Brisbane?
PM: Well, the death of any young person is, obviously, tragic and for a family that's grieving my best wishes are with them, and heartfelt wishes.
Thank you very much.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: We were chatting before, Jan and I have been chatting, and having had that chat we should say one thing while we're together. Jan's been talking to me about how many Australians she knows and right around our country people are getting some very late nights watching Cadel Evans, and so as that moves to its final stages over the weekend, best wishes to Cadel Evans as he gets the rest of the journey. So, like every other Australian, particularly Jan, I'm saying Go Cadel.
JOURNALIST: Will everyone get the day off on Monday (inaudible)?
PM: I think I will refer that to former Prime Minister Bob Hawke for you. Thank you.