PM: Can I start by saying a very big thank you to Silvia and the team here at Dyesol, for making me so welcome today and for taking the time to explain to me what they are achieving here, and by letting us take this tour, they're giving us a sneak peak of what our clean energy future can look like.
A lot of Australians are thinking about a clean energy future. They know that putting a price on carbon will drive us towards that future, and they are wondering what that will look like.
At the same time, many Australians are concerned about the future of manufacturing and we have been responding to that, including by announcing my taskforce on manufacturing yesterday. Here today we can get a sense of both that clean energy future and what the future of manufacturing can look like.
Australians are very familiar with seeing solar panels on roofs - that happens in homes, it happens in businesses. What we're looking at today is the work leading to the next generation of solar technology, where you won't have a roof and a panel on top of it. Instead, you will have a dye which is part of the roofing material which is collecting the sunlight and turning it into energy.
The applications for this are amazing, mind-boggling, and really without limit. We can talk about cars being painted with a dye that can collect solar power to help power the car. These are the kind of applications coming from the work here. It's a new future in clean energy and it can also be a new future for Australian manufacturing, as things we make, like roofing materials, can have this innovation embedded in them.
So, a very big thanks to Dyesol for showing us this work here today.
Coming here today is on a day when we have had the Investor Group on Climate Change, a body that represents four major international investors in a clean energy future, a body which has at its disposal some $20 trillion, talk about the positive investment opportunities that can come in Australia from having put a price on carbon.
This investor group representing $20 trillion of assets sees the economic opportunities right here in Australia which will come from putting a price in carbon. That interest from international investors, as well as looking at this innovative work today, is telling us the story of what a clean energy future can look like and how that clean energy future can be seized by putting a price on carbon.
Unfortunately, Tony Abbott is a risk to this future. Businesses this week have said that his reckless attempts to create negativity, to wreck this clean energy future, are putting at risk future investments and putting at risk Australian jobs.
Mr Abbott is in the business of creating the maximum uncertainty now, and that has direct consequences. It's like rolling a wrecking ball through the creation of this clean energy future. Businesses are pointing to the risk that the uncertainty generated by his statements causes.
His statements are causing uncertainty and that's a direct risk to jobs. His statements are causing uncertainty and that's a direct risk to investment. His statements are causing uncertainty and that's a direct risk to power prices.
At the same time as he causes that uncertainty, we've had a modelling organisation that he himself has described as reputable and professional verify that carbon pricing means that an average household will be better off, that the flow through impact from putting a price on the big polluters will be $8.50 a week, whereas the benefits received will be $10.90 a week, that almost 70 per cent of households will be better off.
Now, this information from a modelling organisation Mr Abbott has described as reputable and professional puts a lie to his scare campaign on cost of living - a complete lie to that scare campaign.
We are very determined that we seize the clean energy future represented by the great research happening here, and right around this country scientists and researchers working with Australian businesses are designing that clean energy future for us.
But to make it happen we need to put a price on carbon; to make it happen we've got to make sure that Mr Abbott's wrecking strategy comes to an end. And the great irony of this wrecking strategy is Mr Abbott is engaged in wrecking now, even as he and his team prepare to back flip on their promise to repeal carbon pricing.
Mr Abbott is wandering around saying he will repeal a price on carbon, but at the same time his environment spokesperson, Greg Hunt, has announced that if they're ever a government they'll have a white paper on repealing the carbon price. That's political code for getting ready for a back down.
So, all of this negativity is in pursuit of absolutely nothing. If Mr Abbott is ever elected as Prime Minister of this country he will not repeal the price on carbon, but his wrecking strategy and negativity now has a cost in Australian jobs, investment and potentially power prices.
I'm happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: What would you have Tony Abbot do? He's the Opposition Leader and you're blaming him for the uncertainty, but isn't the uncertainty caused by the situation in Parliament at the moment?
PM: No, it's not. It's caused directly by Mr Abbott's statements. That's what business is pointing to. Reputable businesses this week, like Virgin, like AGL, have directly pointed to Mr Abbott's statements.
This legislation has gone through the House of Representatives. It will go through the Senate. Parliament will have played its role and done its job. Mr Abbott is out there with these wrecking statements because he wants to cause the maximum amount of damage now in pursuit of absolutely nothing because if he's ever Prime Minister he will not repeal the price on carbon.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) detecting a tide turn over carbon pricing (inaudible)
PM: Australian businesses have consistently said that they want certainty; that they understand climate change is real; they understand the really negative impacts it can have for our country - business is concerned about those risks, rising sea levels, more extreme weather events. You would expect major Australian businesses to be concerned about what they means for them and what it means for the Australian nation. So they've consistently said we need to seize a clean energy future and reduce carbon pollution, and economists have consistently said the cheapest way to do that is to put a price on carbon. That's why we've acted.
Now they're pointing to the risk that Mr Abbott's statements today and yesterday and the day before actually pose to a clean energy future right now. He is introducing a note of uncertainty whilst the Government has provided the certainty and investment framework business wants and needs.
JOURNALIST: PM, Alan Joyce has today warned of job losses at Qantas as a result of the consistent strike action. When do you think is the appropriate time for the Government to intervene in this dispute?
PM: Look I am concerned about the Qantas dispute. I am concerned about its impact on Qantas itself, on other businesses, and of course on passengers. Parties are still negotiating this dispute. Just yesterday Qantas put an offer on the table to its workforce to resolve the dispute, so my message remains to the parties: get around a table and get this fixed.
JOURNALIST: How about Webjet's email that's been leaked to the Herald today suggesting that they may stop selling Qantas tickets as a result of the uncertainty of its flight schedules?
PM: Of course third parties are being affected by this dispute. Third parties do have their role and their own rights under the Fair Work system if they want to take them up, but what is in everybody's interests is to get this dispute resolved. Qantas and the relevant unions are still negotiating. Qantas has put an offer on the table, and so my message still is get around a table and get it fixed.
JOURNALIST: I understand the Government (inaudible) when the national economy might be affected. At what stage in a dispute like this does (inaudible)
PM: Well, parties are still negotiating here. Our Fair Work system is about industrial parties bargaining in good faith to get an outcome that works for both the employees and for the business, so Qantas has an offer on the table. My message is: get this fixed. The parties themselves need to come together, negotiate and get this done.
JOURNALIST: Do you still have faith in the Ombudsman?
PM: Look, I've indicated publically that I have been concerned about the conduct of the Ombudsman. I think it remains for the Ombudsman to explain how this conduct meets his obligations of independence and impartiality. That's a question for the Ombudsman himself.
JOURNALIST: Is it appropriate he resigns?
PM: I've made my concerns clear. The Secretary of my Department has spoken to the Ombudsman about those concerns.
JOURNALIST: Before we run out of time Prime Minister, there's been a lot of chat over the TV, radio airwaves today about your bowing to the Queen, not curtsying (inaudible)
PM: Look the advice to us was very clear that in terms of dealing with the Royal Family, whether you want to curtsy, whether you want to bow is a question for you, that they are happy with what people are comfortable with. As I greeted the Queen she extended her hand to shake hands and obviously I shook her hand and bowed my head.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: The advice to me was very clear that you can make a choice with what you feel most comfortable with, that's what I felt most comfortable with. The Queen extended her hand and I shook her hand.
JOURNALIST: Should we be pursuing a free trade deal with Japan rather than China, as Tony Abbott seems to (inaudible)
PM: I've seen that this morning, and isn't this typical - Mr Abbott mouthing populist platitudes that he thinks will be music to the ears of manufacturing workers, while at the same time he's in the Parliament voting against support for the steel industry, voting against steel workers jobs and at the same time he's planning to cut half a billion dollars out of Government support for manufacturing in this country.
So, none of these statements can be taken seriously. This is a man who's put his hand up to destroy steel workers jobs. This is a man who wants to rip half a billion dollars out of manufacturing in this country and cause job losses.
Thank you very much.