JOURNALIST: Can I just ask you a very important question first up on jobs and yours in particular. Let's talk about Mark Bishop and Alan Griffin, have you spoken to them, do you believe the (inaudible)?
PM: I'll let the ex-Labor politicians and the commentators all chatter about that, the focus here is on Australian jobs, jobs today and the jobs of the future.
JOURNALIST: Do you think that's all it is, just chatter?
PM: I'll let the people who do all the commentary on the 24 hour TV worry themselves about that.
JOURNALIST: On the Jobs Forum today, the industry, the unions were calling for an inquiry into manufacturing, is this the Plan B and will it produce what, possibly an inquiry would have?
PM: Every day we've been in Government we've been working on jobs and we've been working to make sure that we not only protect Australian jobs today but we've got the jobs of the future. I want to, in this resources boom, make sure we share the benefits of that boom around the nation and I want to come out of the resources boom with a more diversified economy than we went into it, not with less diversity. That means that we do have to address the pressures on areas like manufacturing and Australians are living through those pressures, they know about them, it's not an academic debate.
Now we've already done a number of things but today is about learning where to next, what else we can do to build on what we've already put in place to achieve a clean energy, high skills, high value-add future for the Australian economy.
JOURNALIST: Can we expect a concrete announcement?
PM: Well let's go through the Jobs Forum, but I think what you've seen over the Tax Forum and into this Future Jobs Forum today is that it is always worthwhile getting people together with their diverse views, having them come round a table and have a genuine discussion about issues. It worked in the Tax Forum for the matters that you saw announced by the Deputy Prime Minister last night, we're going through a similar process today.
JOURNALIST: You seemed to be quite upbeat and optimistic in your opening address despite the softness in those various sectors that you spoke, is that correct?
PM: I am very optimistic about the Australian economy. Optimistic because of the resilience we showed during the global financial crisis. Optimistic because we live in the region of the world that is growing and is not only driving today's resources boom but will drive a consumption boom, the provision of things to a hugely growing Asian middle class over the next decade and beyond.
We're talking about growth of 1.2 billion people in the Asian middle class by the end of this decade, there are huge opportunities. Now every era of opportunity also comes with challenges and we face those challenges today in areas like manufacturing, but as we've heard in the opening session, we can ensure we have a manufacturing future, we're going to have to innovate, we're going to have to go up the value chain, we're going to have to focus on skills, that's what Government policies today are already about, but the Future Jobs Forum is about working through how we can build on those policies.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister you said this morning, I think you said this morning that the business tax changes, the losses write off and so forth, you'd have those in the May budget next year but the threshold lifted, the $21,000 threshold - is that also going to be in the May budget do you envisage or are you-
PM: As we made clear yesterday we will make that as our first priority move in personal tax reform when budget circumstances permit but what I can certainly tell you about time frames is on 1 July next year the tax free threshold will be tripled from $6,000 to $18,200 and then we have identified as our first priority in personal tax reform going the rest of the way to $21,000.
JOURNALIST: PM, just quickly, do you have any comment on the death of Steve Jobs - Apple CEO. It is confirmed that he has passed away.
PM: I've been saddened to hear that news, I mean here we are at a Future Jobs Forum and the jobs of the future are going to be shaped by innovation and we hear the news of the loss of an incredible global innovator. I mean it's not too much to say he literally changed our world. All of us would be touched everyday in our daily lives by products that he was the creative genius behind. So this is very sad news and my condolences go to his family and friends.
Thank you very much.