PM: I'm here with Ministers Crean and Conroy and can I start by apologising for the delay in starting today's press conference, I was delayed and then we've been a bit chatting too about the announcement today.
We are working to build Australia's new economy. It's got to be an economy that is based on new skills, new innovation and diversity for the future.
Our economy is facing a number of challenges. It is very strong in the world, indeed our economy is the envy of a lot of the world, but times are changing. We're seeing global economic weight shift to our region, we're seeing the challenges of keeping up with new technology, we're seeing the challenges of keeping up with higher and higher skill levels. Of course we're getting ready for a clean energy future.
All of that means that we are seeing structural changes in our economy and we've got to be meeting those structural changes with a plan to have an economy for the future that will offer people the benefits of jobs and opportunity.
So this morning I'm here to talk about two things. First the role of manufacturing and the car industry in that future economy. Today I've met with car workers from around the country, they're understandably concerned about their jobs. They represent 46,000 Australians who work in car manufacturing, with another 200,000 Australians reliant on car manufacturing being an industry in Australia.
Can manufacturing needs to be part of our future and part of our new economy, because it does have, at its forefront, design and innovation skills which are important not only to car manufacturing, but to the rest of manufacturing.
I received today from those workers a petition signed by more than 5,000 who are concerned about the future of car manufacturing. We are going to be working with them to make sure that we are a nation that continues to be home to car manufacturing.
Now there will be continued change and the workers I've met with this morning have already lived through many rounds of change in the car industry. There will be changes in the future, not every job can be guaranteed, but we will be working hard to make sure that we are manufacturing cars in this country.
And, given the lead times on which investment decisions are made, given the need for certainty, it was understandable that the workers that visited here today are bitterly disappointed by the attitude of Mr Abbott and the Opposition who do not have a commitment to manufacturing cars in this country and are determined to slash half a billion dollars of industry assistance and to give the industry no certainty for the future.
Well unlike Mr Abbott we believe that the economy should be run in the interest of working people, that we should have a diverse economy for the future, that manufacturing should take its part and that the car industry needs to be part of that.
As we're building the new economy for the future we've got to make sure we've got the best of technology. There's no point asking our businesses and industries to compete if they're using yesterday's tools. Everybody, I think, would very intuitively understand that if we were a nation with no mobile phones, then that would be dragging our businesses behind, because the rest of the world has the benefits of that technology.
Well we need to make sure we're not behind the standards of the world and that's what rolling out the National Broadband Network is about - other nations will have this technology. We cannot ask the 100 year old copper wire network to keep our place in the future. It won't help us keep up with the standards of the world, we need the NBN.
Today we are making an announcement about how the NBN will benefit those who live in the remotest parts of our nation. Of course Australians are looking forward to fibre coming to their homes, but for those Australians who live in our remotest parts, we need another solution, which is why I'm pleased to be here today with my ministerial colleagues and with representatives of NBN to announce that NBN Co has reached agreement to have two satellites which will provide broadband services to those who live in the remotest parts of the country.
It will enable them to get information, get it at speeds that are faster now than many parts of our cities in Australia. It will give them access to technology in the way that other Australians are getting better access to technology. A different approach, but better access to the way that the world will work in the future.
That means that as we move to building the new economy of the future, creating the services that people need, we won't be leaving those Australians who live in the remotest parts of the nation behind.
I'll turn now to Minister Conroy for the details.
MINISTER CONROY: Thank you, Prime Minister. Today's announcement is a very significant one in the history of telecommunications in this country. I'm pleased to announce that Space Systems/Loral have been awarded this important contract by NBN Co.
The satellites will be built in California, in the United States, and will both be launched about six months apart in 2015.
These two KA band satellites, featuring the most advanced technology, satellite technology available anywhere in the world. They will provide a dedicated broadband service for the most remote three per cent of premises in Australia.
The satellites will have the capacity to serve 200,000 homes and businesses in rural and remote parts of the country and they will bring these premises an affordable world class broadband connection.
Now, let me be clear. It is a cross-subsidy built into the NBN that makes this affordable world class broadband connection possible. It ensures remote families and businesses pay the same entry level wholesale price for services as people in the cities.
Let me outline what we've already done as a government to bridge the digital divide in regional Australia.
We've launched, already, an interim satellite service last year to improve broadband services in underserved parts of the country.
There are now 2300 Australian homes and businesses connected to that service.
We've signed a $1.1 billion agreement with Ericsson to build a fixed wireless network in rural parts of the country and construction of this is underway and due to be completed by 2015 and the first customers should be in about the middle of this year.
We've delivered 6000 kilometres of fibre optic backhaul under the Regional Backbone Blackspots program and this will promote broadband competition in regional areas.
These satellites will allow remote communities to consult medical specialists anywhere in Australia, by videoconference. They will allow students in the bush to draw on content-rich, high-bandwidth digital resources from around the world.
And using these satellites rural businesses can more easily expand into markets nationally and internationally.
With the NBN's fixed and fibre wireless networks, these satellites will deliver a ubiquitous broadband service to the entire nation.
I just want to pass over to Simon Crean to say a few words also.
MINISTER CREAN: Thanks Stephen, thanks Prime Minister.
Obviously as Regional Development Minister this is a really important initiative from our perspective.
Everywhere I travel in the regions, they get the need to embrace the diversification of the Australian economy. One of the vital ingredients they need to help them in that diversification path is access to broadband.
And we made the commitment when we made the announcement that the seven per cent that wouldn't be connected from fibre to the home would be through alternate technology that gave much faster speed.
Four per cent of that, of the seven, is coming from connection, the other three per cent from this new satellite launch.
I've also seen when I've gone around the regions those who are already getting access to broadband - and the amazing opportunities they're taking from it.
Those who want to look at it, go to the Launceston General Hospital - which we built, where they are making health services available to their outlying regions.
If you want to see what they're doing at the University of Central Queensland go and see where the dual campus opportunities are delivering the skill needs creatively through that education precinct.
And if you want to see what the e-commerce opportunities are, go up to Armidale, where a digital photography company has been able to base its operations in regional Australia, because the speed it gets now enables it to upload and download - but the new speed it will get, they have huge expansion plans for their businesses.
This is why Governments have got to invest in the infrastructure, that's why this infrastructure is one of the most vital the country has made, it's why we're committed to it and this is just another brick in the foundation for the diversification of this economy.
PM: Thank you, we'll take questions. Yes, Phil.
JOURNALIST: With this announcement you've made today, when in 2015 will the satellites be launched and you say that they're going to be built in California, there's obviously a lot at the moment of focus on Australian jobs, is this something that we just are incapable of building in Australia, is the technology overseas? And thirdly I wonder if you could clear up this point, there's been a bit of speculation around what the satellites going to be called. I notice that some people are calling them B1 and B2 and others are suggesting they should be named after the two Prime Ministers that have seen the NBN, Kevin and Julia. Is that what you're going to do?
PM: We haven't named the satellites.
MINISTER CONROY: We haven't given any consideration to the names.
PM: We could run a competition maybe.
MINISTER CONROY: Yes, we might run a competition. But in terms - I did see a report suggesting that Australians companies had missed out. There are only five companies in the world that can build these satellites, I think three in the US and two in Europe. There are no Australian satellite manufacturers and the company that was discussing this in the papers today, they purchase their satellites from overseas because there is no Australian satellite manufacturer. So I want to be very clear about that.
In terms of the timing, it's the first quarter of 2015 for the first and six months later for the second satellite.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Sorry, what was that?
JOURNALIST: How many bidders were there?
PM: How many bidders?
QUIGLEY: That's actually commercial in confidence. We don't talk about those. We had multiple bidders. There was more than one, of course, and we came to a shortlist of two bidders, in the end, out of a larger field and it was a very thorough process as the president of SSL can attest. We spent a lot of time, put a lot of work into this.
JOURNALIST: What's commercial in confidence about answering a question of how many bidders there were?
QUIGLEY: Because we simply don't talk about unsuccessful bidders. We just say there was-
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
QUIGLEY: Yes, well, if you - what the Minister said, how many satellite manufacturers there are in the world, there's five.
PM: OK, Lenore.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, have you entered into a new co-investment bill with Holden or another one of the car makers, will the money come from existing programs or will it be new funding and if it's existing programs what programs will it come from?
PM: It will come from the $5.4 billion New Car Plan. We made allocations a long time back now as a Government to make sure that we could keep working with the car industry and co-investing and that's because we understood the importance of car manufacturing to skills and innovation in our country.
I was recently at Boeing, the robotics they use as robotics that is used in the car industry, workers I met there got their skill sets from working in the car industry, that just shows you how important it is to the whole of manufacturing that you can get that technology and those skills then used to make planes and to compete in the world for making components of the new Dreamliner aircraft.
So it will come out of the $5.4 billion New Car Plan. That's a very stark contrast to the approach we've got on the other side of politics, which is to take half a billion dollars away as a direct cut and then to give no commitment and no certainty beyond 2015.
So out attitude is and will remain that you've got to be running your economy for a purpose and the purpose is to serve the needs of working people, so they can have jobs, they can have opportunity, they can have prosperity. We're determined to do that today and we're determined to do it tomorrow as well.
And we've got to do that in the future, by making sure our economy is ready for that future. You can't stand still. You can't pretend that the new technology isn't being rolled out in the rest of the world. You can't pretend that the climate change challenge is going to go away and that you don't need to move to a clean energy future.
You can't pretend that we don't need higher and higher skill sets. You can't pretend that there's not a major structural change underway in our economy, which means we need to take specials steps to make sure it's a diverse economy, with many centres of strength as we go into the future.
I'll go to Phil Coorey and then come to the back. Yes.
JOURNALIST: The announcement by Alcoa this morning to review its future at Geelong, the high import costs and high dollar and other reasons they've given. The Coalition is saying the last thing these sorts of people need on top of those sorts of pressures is a carbon tax. Could I get a response to that?
PM: Certainly. We never want to see people put through the pain of losing their jobs. There'd be some working people who are very distressed today to hear this news and obviously we're thinking of them.
The CEO of the company has made it absolutely clear that this is not about carbon pricing but about other pressures on the business including the high Australian dollar. And so I would say to you and say it very loudly and clearly: I think it is disgusting that the Opposition takes the approach of using the potential job losses of hard working Australians as grist to its mill for its fear campaign. I think that is the wrong thing to do.
I did promise up the back. We'll go here.
Lenore?
JOURNALIST: Given all of those pressures on manufacturers and on companies like Alcoa, are you still confident you've got the carbon tax starting price right?
PM: Yes we are confident in the design of the carbon price and we're confident that it's going to be the cheapest way to take us to a clean energy future. So let's be very clear about what's happening with clean energy around the world. Nations are moving to a clean energy future.
We actually had a breakthrough at Durban where nations said that they would enter legally binding agreements. Now we are working through that globally but nations are on the move.
We've got a high carbon intensive economy. We've got a big journey of change to walk.
So either you can pretend none of that's happening, you can stand still and you can try and cater for the economic shock in the future when it comes or you can take the cheapest approach to getting change and that's what we've done with carbon pricing, we're very confident in the design of the scheme.
Yes, at the back.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, sporting codes are quite concerned about the state of copyright law at the moment because of the Optus TV case and I think you're aware of this. Do you see any argument for some Government action to increase the certainty around copyright law at the moment and Senator Conroy I'd be interested in your thoughts on that as well.
PM: OK, look I'll go to Stephen in a second but yes, I've had discussions directly and personally with representatives of the major sporting codes and the relevant Ministers including Stephen, the Attorney General and the Minister for Sport - met with them yesterday.
They are working out their own approach to the legal case that has created these circumstances. They do of course have the option of an appeal and using appeal rights. The running of the legal case is a matter for them. What's a matter for us is considering whether or not there needs to be changes to the copyright laws in view of these circumstances.
We have said to them, and I'm very happy to say publicly, that we will urgently consider options here. I think we're all concerned about what this can mean for our great sporting codes and it was an unexpected development.
I'll go to Stephen for some comments.
MINISTER CONROY: Look, we're getting full consultations with them at the moment. We're meeting with the legal teams from them, getting briefings from them. Obviously, Optus are keen to talk to us as well.
So we're in the process of getting all the information, all the legal advice. There are, as has been touted, possible solutions from the perspective of the sporting bodies. We've said we'll consider them but we'll be going through a process to ensure that if any change is to be made, that we would consider any adverse consequences.
But at this stage, we are just getting the legal advice fully explained to us, and we're happy to consider if a solution is available.
But digital technology is marching on. The whole purpose, as you know, of a Convergence Review is to try and consider the broader framework of what's happening.
I mean, you can go into JB Hi-Fi right now for between $150 and $200 and buy a television receiver - no screen, which with the download of an app onto your iPad broadcasts the free-to-air signal from this box straight onto the iPad screen. No recording involved. That's available in the marketplace today.
PM: We'll go to the back and then Dennis.
JOURNALIST: The community of Papunya which is home to the Great Western Desert movement has a classroom that only accesses the internet once a day for 20 minutes a day shared with 150 people in that centre. Now under the NBN roll out Casuarina and Darwin have been identified. What measures - how can you fast track this and what do you actually think about that in terms of how will this announcement impact on that?
MINISTER CONROY: Well, I think the sort of satellite services that are available in remote Australia today are fairly average, and that would be a kind description.
The sort of service you're going to see here matches what many Australians in capital cities get today.
Our interim satellite solution, I would be interested in talking with that community about whether they've looked at accessing our interim satellite solution -
JOURNALIST: - They can't under your program because they already have one that's quite obsolete, but because of what -
PM: I don't think that's a correct description of the way our program works and we're happy to look at the specific circumstances of this individual school.
MINISTER CONROY: Happy to catch up and talk with the community about that. But the way the system works, if you've got an existing satellite system that's been put in place for the last three years, you're just at the back of the list.
But if - once that three years ticks over and if it's as obsolete as it sounds like, the three years will have ticked over, they are potentially eligible to apply for it, but happy to sit down. Where's Andrew from my office? Right behind you. If you - if that community wants to get in touch with Andrew, we can work out what the possibilities for them are.
But the satellite service that this announcement covers will see a quantum, a leap in improvement in services for the most remotest communities.
JOURNALIST: Just following on from Jeremy's question, can you give us an idea of the geographic footprint of this new satellite system. You've mentioned the extra external territories and the 200,000 premises. Where are most of those 200,000 premises - is there a (inaudible) in central Australia?
MINISTER CONROY: No, the remotest three per cent of Australian premises. If you were to do a map, we usually go the red dots on the map, and apologises for those who haven't seen the map I'm talking about - Dennis, I think you might have - the red dots are fibre covering, obviously, 93 per cent in total of Australian population. The grey areas around the red dots - and again, apologies for the description - cover the next four per cent. And the remaining three per cent. So, it's everyone outside those two footprints. You can look it up on the NBN website and you'll see that it's the - the footprint is everywhere other than those areas.
Now, if there's individual circumstances where people can't get fibre because there's some geological reason or they can't get their wireless because of line of sight, then, potentially, they can access but they ought be able to make that case.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
STEPHEN CONROY: No, if you're inside the fibre footprint and your home is going to be connected to fibre, you aren't able to take advantage.
The reason we can deliver - and this is really important, particularly for - not just for cross-subsidy issue, the reason we can deliver the quality of service, the download and upload speeds we are talking about here is because we're restricting the number of people who are using it.
If you were to announce - if you were the Coalition, who keep talking about this, to announce that you wanted, say, 25 per cent of Australia to be on a wireless and satellite footprint, you would collapse this satellite. This satellite could not deliver these services for these prices and speed. So, it's very, very important people understand this.
You cannot deliver the quality of service if you were to suddenly pile half a million Australians onto the wireless and satellite networks that they're not configured for.
PM: Right I think we may be in the territory where the old saying ‘a picture is worth more than a thousand words' is right on the money. So there's a map coming to you Dennis. We'll come to the front in a second. Paul Bongiorno?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, your political opponents say the NBN is an extravagant use of taxpayers money. These satellites come on line 2015, that's beyond the next election. Have you Abbott-proofed them and is this $620 million an extravagant use of taxpayers money? Wouldn't it have been better if maybe Telstra or someone else did this?
PM: Well there's nothing we can do to stop Mr Abbott destroying the Australian economy if he's Prime Minister. So if he is Prime Minister what we will see on his words today is no budget surplus delivered for five years. What we will see if he's Prime Minister is the end of the car industry. What we will see if he's Prime Minister is the ripping out of the fibre out of the ground and Australia falling behind the standards of the world on this technology. What we will see if he's Prime Minister is cutbacks to education and to skills which mean that we on the skills race fall behind the standards of the world. And of course we don't know where the $70 billion of cutbacks to the services working families need are going to fall. But there's only so many places in the budget you can get huge money like that - cutting pensions, cutting Medicare, to take just two examples.
So if Mr Abbott's Prime Minister there's nothing that stops that happening - that's his plan.
Yes, Michelle.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible) out, surely?
PM: Well you know, contracts and honouring them don't figure very highly in the rhetoric of the Opposition so let's not make any assumptions about the degree of destruction that would come.
MINISTER CONROY: Why on earth would you want to deny the most remotest Australians access to world-class broadband?
Because if you were to cancel that contract, that's what you'd be doing. You'd be denying them the best possible broadband service that can be delivered in the foreseeable future. So, that's the stark choice. Cancel the contract and deny those people in the most remotest areas of Australia. And the quality of service, and you suggested the Telstra model - well, we've seen - we've had 25 years and recently 15 years of subsidised Telstra and it hasn't upgraded. The very reason the National Broadband Network has been put in place is to create the structural separation which has held back the Australian telecommunications sector and you get the capacity to have a wholesale only network where everyone can compete.
So, just the model of subsidising Telstra to go and provide services hasn't delivered for regional and rural Australians.
JOURNALIST: But what is the status of the contract? Can you get out of it at all? You haven't answered that question whether -
MINISTER CONROY: It's a legally binding contract, we won't cancel it.
JOURNALIST: Yes, but there are always get out clauses.
PM: Andrew the point we're obviously making here - this is a legally binding contract. Do we know whether Tony Abbott will take the reckless approach of tearing it up and seeing what the courts might decide following that? No, of course we don't.
We do know, of course, that Mr Abbott's plans for the economy are reckless. I mean, shovelling money at some of the most profitable mining companies in the world and ripping money off other businesses - part of his plan.
Shovelling money into the hands of some of the businesses that generate the most carbon pollution and ripping it out of the hands of taxpayers and pensioners - part of his plans. Would he take his risk in the courts? Well only he can answer that for you.
Michelle?
JOURNALIST: Ms Gillard, you mentioned the Opposition and the budget surplus, if you were reelected would you guarantee that your government would run a budget surplus in or through the next term, I'm not talking about this budget-
PM: Our commitments here are obvious. They're commitments about running budget surpluses over the economic cycle and of course that would be our commitment. In terms of who's doing what on the surplus Michelle, let's be very clear about what's happening today, rather than think you need to war game into the future.
Today it's all crystal clear and right in front of your nose. Today I can say on behalf of the Government we are determined to deliver a budget surplus in 2012-13 and we will.
Mr Abbott, on his words today, has endorsed the words of his finance minister which mean that they will not commit to a budget surplus in the next five years.
Matthew Franklin.
JOURNALIST: A moment ago you just attacked Tony Abbott for hitting taxpayers and businesses so he can shovel money in some of the biggest companies in the world. Isn't that what you're doing with the car industry and during most of our adult lives here we've heard Governments - taxpayers being asked to fund the car industry for the reasons which are fair reasons that you put forward before. But to what evidence can you point that says that the car industry is doing anything more than just sitting there taking the dough? What are they doing to get to a point where we don't have to pay for them anymore?
PM: Well I think you're completely - that's a completely ridiculous comparison, to be frank. My comments about Mr Abbott's approach to the mining industry are that we are enacting the Minerals Resource Rent Tax to take a fairer share of taxation when mining companies are highly profitable and to use that money to help diversify our economy by giving small businesses a tax break, other businesses a tax break and of course by backing in what Government needs to do to see an increase in superannuation for working Australians, better retirement for them, better pool of national savings for the nation.
What Mr Abbott wants to do - get rid of all of that and give some of the most profitable mining companies in the world back more of their profits. That's what my statement went to.
On the car industry, the decision you make there is: is it in the nation's interest to have these skills and technologies available in our supply chain and in our manufacturing sector. That's the prism, you look at it and say ‘are we getting benefits for that - national benefits for that'? I say we are getting those national benefits. It's 46,000 direct jobs but the benefits are far more than that. There's 200,000 jobs that rely in part on the car industry being there but the manufacturing sector obviously works together and the skills and capacities and innovations here make a difference for the rest of it.
Mr Abbott is taking the approach of saying ‘well, cut that out - the car industry - chuck that overboard, 46,000 jobs', big consequences for 200,000 other jobs and whatever happens to the rest of it, the one million people who work in manufacturing, we'll just let that happen too. That's why it's an irresponsible approach. It's not in the interests of working people and it's not in the interests of the future of our economy for our economy to be hollowed out so that we've got strong resources but nothing else.
Mark Riley.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Tony Abbott apparently told the Coalition party room yesterday that you were in your political death throes and that the only thing that stands between the Coalition and Government now is themselves. Do you think he's getting a bit cocky?
PM: Look, I'll allow Mr Abbott to answer for his words. My focus is on plans for the economy now and the economy tomorrow. I think Mr Abbott should answer some questions about them.
Yes?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what is your message to the banks considering jacking up their mortgage rates sometime towards the end of the week? Are they justified in doing that and what should bank customers do?
PM: First I'd note banks haven't announced any decisions at this stage.
Second, I'd say I understand that people get angry with their banks if they don't see proper treatment and fair treatment flowing through to them and we as a Government have made it easier than it has ever been before to take your business, walk down the road and get a different deal.
Yes, Karen?
JOURNALIST: Just back to Matthew's question. Are you saying that there's no obligation on the car industry to become efficient and to not require a subsidy in the future?
PM: Absolutely not, absolutely not.
JOURNALIST: Well what are they doing?
PM: Well Karen I'll answer your question by saying you completely misunderstand everything we've done in the car industry to date. At every step of the way, as we have co-invested with the car industry we have put requirements on them for continued investment by the car companies themselves, things like the manufacture of new lines of cars here in Australia with all of the jobs and all of the skills and all of the innovation that's come with that. That's been our track record, that will be our future.
JOURNALIST: Can you see a time when you won't need to co-invest, when they won't need Government money?
PM: Well you're, I think, got a wrong view of what the car industry's about and what subsidising it's about. There's a lot of lazy talk in the newspapers and beyond about the car industry somehow being an old industry that should sunset and it can't be part of the future. Well I'd say to anybody who's got that view, take yourself and go and walk around a car manufacturing plant and see the state of the art technology being used and state of the art skills being used. In terms of Government support, the Government support is there as a co-investment to keep car manufacturing here in a world where other Governments provide co-investment too.
The economic decision for Government is about whether that is worthwhile not only in terms of direct jobs but the supply chain and the skills and capacities and innovation that comes with it for the rest of manufacturing.
Chris?
JOURNALIST: Will the investment that you are making that those jobs will stay and that the industry will stay?
PM: I said at my outset of the remarks that I made today - we can't guarantee no change in car manufacturing. I said that to the workers that I've met with a little bit earlier. We can't guarantee every job.
What we can guarantee is that we are working hard to keep car making in this country. The lack of certainty about its future is coming from the Opposition benches.
Thanks very much.