Hobart
PM: I'm delighted to be here in Tasmania today, here in Hobart. I'm joined by Minister Bill Shorten, by Julie Collins, a Minister in my Government but also a very proud Tasmanian, so it's good to be here with her and from the back, Senator Carol Brown and our candidate for Denison, Jane Austen.
Today here in Tasmania it's all about jobs. It's all about jobs and opportunity for the future.
I'm very pleased to be able to announce today that we have worked with Vodafone so that they will be offering 750 new jobs here in Tasmania, here in Hobart.
We have provided a $4 million subsidy from Federal Government. The Tasmanian State Government has provided some support too and that has secured 750 new jobs.
These jobs will come out of Mumbai and here to Tasmania to create opportunities in this economy for Tasmanians. It will inject $135 million into this economy.
So it's very good news for people in Tasmania who are looking for work, and for the Tasmanian economy generally.
It joins other good news here at the Jobs Expo we are holding today.
This is the 70th Jobs Expo around the country and we've certainly had them in Tasmania before.
They are a great way of bringing together employers and employees, putting them together to create new jobs.
Apart from the 750 Vodafone jobs, I am announcing today, we have already seen around 350 jobs go up on the jobs board here at the Jobs Expo - so more opportunities for Tasmanians.
This is an economy that has been undergoing real change, like much of the Australian economy.
What we have seen since the global financial crisis is a period of change and transition in our economy.
What that means is we have come out of the global financial crisis strong and we should take pride that unlike nations around the world, we have got low unemployment, low interest rates, low inflation, we have got economic growth, sound public finances and we are AAA rated by all the major credit ratings agencies.
That's a good outcome out of the global financial crisis and so different from so many nations around the world.
But there are pressures on in our economy, pressures on because the strong Australian dollar - which has been particularly turbo-charged by the strength of the resources sector - is putting weight on other parts of the economy.
In our manufacturing sector, our tourism sector, sectors that are trading with overseas have felt that pressure and it has been felt strongly here in Tasmania.
In Tasmania that has been joined with the pressures coming out of the changes in the forestry industry.
So it's been some difficult days in the Tasmanian economy, but there is good news. These 750 jobs are good news.
The fact that the rollout of the National Broadband Network is here and here first is good news because it is creating new jobs and opportunities in Tasmania.
The long-term future for our Asian region means good news today and tomorrow for Tasmania.
We are becoming home in this region of the world to more middle class consumers than anywhere else on the planet and they will want the things that Tasmania does best.
So plenty of opportunities around, plenty of opportunities to announce today and I'm very pleased to be able to be here to do it.
Whenever we see jobs created in our economy, I want them to be decent jobs, jobs with decent working conditions.
As a Government we have worked hard to get rid of the hated WorkChoices and to create a new system that gives people fairness and decency at work.
We will fight anyone who wants to roll back that system to the days of WorkChoices.
It's clear from today's newspapers that the Coalition has not given up on going back to WorkChoices; they haven't given up on putting back in place the system that used to rip off pay and conditions from working people.
For us it's about jobs, it's about decent jobs, it's about good jobs and that's what I'm doing here in Hobart.
I will turn now to the Minister for some comments.
MINISTER SHORTEN: I will make brief comments about the latest workplace relations policy discussions.
Today, the Opposition has put a cloud over the job security of Australian workers by not having a clear policy on workplace relations.
Specifically, the Opposition has said that on the one hand Australia has a problem with its current industrial relations framework.
They have said there is a problem with productivity and flexibility and other issues. Mr Abbott has been saying that for a while.
Yet today they have said despite having said one thing for the best part of 12 months, they have said by the way this issue was so urgent, we are not going to deal with it until 2016.
It shows the Liberals you cannot play for in the policy traffic and be taken seriously. If you want to form a new alternative Government of Australia, you have to be ready with policies.
Mr Abbott doesn't seem to realise the election is in September 2013, not September 2016 because Mr Abbott and his spokespeople have been said they are not going to work up a policy. They are going to give it to an independent body to investigate in 2016.
I think that the inconsistency of the Opposition complaining about the current system but saying they won't act actually shows that they haven't changed their DNA which is to attack working people's working conditions and job security.
They've said for instance they support penalty rates being set by independent umpire but surely they realise that some of the rules around people's penalty rates are set by the laws in the Parliament of Australia.
The agreed hours which people work from six to six could be changed by-laws in Parliament, not just the Fair Work Commission.
Job security can depend upon a law which says you can be unfairly dismissed and have no right of recourse.
There are issues which can be dealt with in the Parliament. We have seen what the conservatives are doing at the state level on the mainland with Campbell Newman, with Barry O'Farrell, with Ted Baillieu, sacking people, reducing conditions, causing strikes with their hard right-wing attitudes.
So it is necessary for the Opposition, if they want to be taken seriously and say they have changed their spots on workplace relations, which they desperately want people to believe, they need to start ruling out unequivocally, will they change people ace unfair dismissal rights, full stop?
Will they agree that they won't do anything to undermine people's ability to get special rates for working unfamiliarly friendly hours, full stop?
They also need to make it very clear, will they rule out categorically using individual statutory contracts which can undermine people's conditions?
PM: We are happy to take your questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, this is your second visit to the state in two months. Is it part of the strategy to win back Denison?
PM: It's part of my strategy continuing pattern of visits here. You look at all the time as Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister how many times I've visited here. I've been a very frequent visitor to Tasmania.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how concerned are you by the sight of asylum seekers living in squalor in Sydney with up to 10 people living in a small house?
PM: I dealt with this issue yesterday and I don't have anything to add to my comments yesterday really.
JOURANLIST: On the repatriation of call centre jobs, Prime Minister, is this a trend you want to see more of, do you like to hear an Australian voice at the end of a phone?
PM: I think the reasoning that Vodafone has deployed for bring these jobs back is right.
Australians do want to be talking to someone who recognises their problems and their issues, someone in Australia who can help them through their problems.
Vodafone obviously recognised that it wasn't the right service offer for its customers, to have these jobs offshore, that people wanted to deal with Australians, deal locally and I am delighted we are going to see these 750 jobs here.
JOURNALIST: How sustainable is it if it's costing $4 million?
PM: Well of course and these are long-term jobs for the future.
JOURNALIST: Minister Shorten has just spoken about the Coalition wanting to put the debate about the industrial relations on hold until 2016. What are your thoughts?
PM: As I made clear in my opening, the Coalition has not given up the drive or the will to bring back WorkChoices and they never will.
JOURNALIST: Why have you selected Vodafone to support in this way when there is quite a significant track record of unhappy customers, that sort of thing, and a class action in process at the moment?
PM: We had an opportunity with Vodafone to bring these jobs here to Tasmania. So Vodafone obviously thought its service offer wasn't right when you rang the call centre.
That gave us an opportunity with a very limited subsidy, $4 million for 750 jobs, to generate 750 jobs here in Tasmania, an injection to the local economy of $135 million.
Clearly that stacks up, it more than stacks up. It obviously stacks up to be a great benefit for Tasmania and that's why we are here today announcing it.
JOURNALIST: What guarantees, if any, have you obtained from Vodafone about the longevity of those jobs?
PM: They have made it clear their strategy is to bring these jobs here because they didn't believe their service offer was right.
JOURNALIST: There was no guarantee - they could take the $4 million and sack everyone in three years' time?
PM: That doesn't make any sense, does it, just stop and think about it. We're talking about - well just think through the maths and the economics of it.
Vodafone has made a decision about moving what was happening in Mumbai to here in Tasmania. That's got costs associated for it with Vodafone that are well in excess of $4 million.
Costs associated with construction of where these workers will work from. So it wouldn't make any sense to pursue the strategy that you are suggesting.
Vodafone is doing this because it fits with its company strategy to get its service offer right for a very limited investment from the Federal Government; $4 million to secure 750 jobs, $135 million into the economy. It makes absolute sense and it's great news for Tasmania.
JOURNALIST: You haven't visited northern Tasmania much recently. Have you given up, has Labor given up on Bass and Braddon?
PM: I travel to Tasmania regularly and all parts.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on Arthur Sinodinos's transgression and declaration, do you accept his explanation for someone with the depth of experience in parliament that he has, that he just forgot to declare?
PM: This is a very murky matter and it's not one for me, it's a question of leadership for Mr Abbott and how he will respond.
JOURNALIST: How likely is it your Gonski reforms won't actually come to fruition?
PM: We are working hard likely to deliver the reforms to schools, the improvements to schools and I'm absolutely determined to get it done.
JOURNALIST: Is there any point in the talks that you flagged in April given that Victoria and Queensland have indicated they might go their own way on Gonski?
PM: Well, I'm absolutely determined to get this done.
JOURNALIST: How much responsibility do you take for Tasmania's unemployment rate, which is at a ten-year high at the moment?
PM: I've described to you the factors that are driving the shape of the Tasmanian economy.
They are factors like the strong Australian dollar, factors like the change in the forestry industry. So we are working hard to make sure that there are jobs here in Tasmania.
We live in a global world. We can't wish away huge international events like the global financial crisis. We can't change the fact that our currency has gone up by 50 per cent.
So that means if someone overseas used to pay €100 for that something they got from Australia, now they pay €150.
What that means is that pressure from the dollar is doing its work in our economy. It means to be the strong economy we want to be in the future, we have got to be innovators, we have got to be offering unique offerings, we have got to be best at what we do.
Tasmania is well placed to do that in a range of industries; tourism, mining, manufacturing. Of course it's agricultural produce and all of the things that will come with the NBN.
We're putting in place the foundation stones so we can compete in this environment and be the best at what we do: NBN, infrastructure, skills, the strategy around the Asian Century, all of the work that we have done to strengthen our economy.
That's what drives change to make sure you have got a strong future full of opportunity, and that's the work we are dedicated to doing as a Government.
JOURNALIST: One project that would bring a lot of jobs to Tasmania is the pulp mill, Prime Minister. Are you considering any assistance for that project with the receivers trying to sell the assets to get it up and running?
PM: Everything that government needs to do in terms of approvals is well and truly done.
The issue with the pulp mill has been finding a private sector proponent that would take on the mission of constructing and operating a pulp mill. We of course are happy to talk to any private sector proponents who come forward.
I would very much want to see this secured for Tasmania, but we do need a private sector proponent to come forward for it.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, why haven't you included a visit to the north of the state in the last three visits to Tasmania?
PM: Look, I go to different parts of the state and travel to Tasmania very frequently. It depends the purpose for which I'm coming.
My purpose on this visit was to be here at this Jobs Expo, to be making the announcement about 750 new jobs in this part of Tasmania and I took the opportunity too to return to Dunalley where I had been immediately post the fires.
JOURNALIST: Is it an acknowledgement though that Bass and Braddon in are gone for Labor.
PM: No, it's an acknowledgment that we're announcing 750 new jobs are here today and we're standing at a Jobs Expo.
JOURNALIST: Do you have plans to visit the Bass and Braddon electorates?
PM: I will do what I've since - well really, since I first took on a shadow ministerial responsibility in parliament, which is travel very frequently to all parts of Tasmania.
JOURNALIST: You have made criticisms of the Greens in recent times. How is it that the Labor Party is considering then a preference deal with the Greens in Denison to nobble Andrew Wilkie?
PM: They are all questions for the party organisation.
JOURNALIST: Can you make a comment on the Greens as a party though?
PM: Preference arrangements are done by the party organisation.
JOURNALIST: You are doing a five-day blitz next week in western Sydney-
PM: We're just going to - Bill wanted to say something. Then we will take your question.
MINISTER SHORTEN: One final point. Some in the media have been saying that there's the Liberal attack on the current workplace relations system was valid, that there is a productivity challenge, there's a flexibility challenge, there's a militancy challenge.
Today, Tony Abbott has contradicted his whole last year of attack where he has put out the message that in fact we don't think there is a problem.
Because if you think that there is a workplace relations fire going on, to say that we are not going to call the fire brigade for another three-and-a-half years is a remarkable backflip.
I actually think though that people don't trust the Opposition on this, that you can't be half-pregnant on workplace relations. You either think there is a problem or you don't.
And if you do think there is a problem, I think if you actually want to get people to trust you to be the alternative Government of Australia, you need to put up.
It is not sufficient in Australian politics to buy a white flag and to come along to policy and say we are not going to do anything.
It is not sufficient to rewrite the script of Tootsie where you sort of say some things to one person and when you go to the board rooms, yeah we will be tough, we'll be strong, we'll sort it all out. And then when you go and see the workers say, oh no we don't think there is a problem, you will all be fine.
You can't have it both ways.
The best thing the Opposition could do is come clean, not just on their union bashing but on what are they going to do to guarantee the security of workers' entitlements and the security of their conditions.
The Opposition has caught itself playing in the traffic and it is in a very awkward position and they have contradicted their whole attack for the last two years, if in fact they say there is nothing to do for the next three years.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd is going to be in the north of the state in Sid Sidebottom's electorate hosting a quiz night in a couple of months' time to help him get re-elected. Are you planning anything like that?
PM: I regularly visit Tasmania. I've regularly visited Sid and Geoff and of course I was with Dick today, here with Julie and Jane now.
JOURNALIST: A report says you snubbed Kevin Rudd by not inviting him along on Wednesday to your trip to Brisbane.
PM: That's absurd.
Okay, we'll take a last question over here.
JOURNALIST: You are going to do a five day blitz in western Sydney next week. How are you feeling about that and will we see a similar five-day trip to Tasmania?
PM: Well if you added up all of the times I've been in Tasmania it would add up to a lot, lot longer than that.
I've been to western Sydney before. I'll travel to western Sydney again.
What I do as Prime Minister is I go around the country and I make myself available to communities when we've got things to announce there, like we're doing today.
When we've got major events to be at, like the event here today - the Job Expo - or when we want to create an opportunity to hear community views like we do through Community Cabinets and the very many other engagements I have with community members.
It's a routine part of what we do. It's a routine part of what I'll continue to do including here in Tasmania.
Thanks very much.