Bangalow
PM: I'm delighted to be here with Justine Elliot, the Member for Richmond and looking at this truly impressive road project. This is part of what we are dong to upgrade the Pacific Highway.
This is known as the T to E section. It's 17 kilometres of road, more than $860 million of joint investment between the Federal Government and State Government, of which we are providing more than $560 million; more than half a billion dollars.
It's an important project for safety. This has been a section of road which unfortunately has seen far too many accidents. And with the benefit of duplication, this will be a safer road.
It's also a road that sees thousands of vehicles. This is a beautiful region of the world. Home to locals but home to many visitors from other parts of the country, and from right around the world.
And so to deal with the pressures of traffic and traffic volumes this section of road will be very important.
This all up is part of what we are doing to make the Pacific Highway safer, and to ensure that for motorists it's a better section of road that they can travel on more quickly. It's been a huge project.
As a Federal Government, we have devoted more than $7 billion in resources to upgrading the Pacific Highway. That's a very sharp contrast with our predecessors who over 13 long years only put in just over a billion dollars.
Our aim is to make this a road that from start to finish you can travel on as a duplicated road. That improves safety, it improves efficiency, it improves the driver experience.
Justine has long wanted me to come and see this project which is the biggest piece of infrastructure ever in her electorate or on the northern coast, so the biggest piece of infrastructure ever built here.
So I'm delighted to be here, able to see it for myself. It's certainly come a long way since the sod was turned last October, and it will be finished at the end of next year.
I will be here locally with Justine today and tomorrow, and I'm very much looking forward to it. And I'll hand over to her now.
JUSTINE ELLIOT: Thanks, Prime Minister. I've been asking the Prime Minister to come up here and have a look at the great T to E - Tintenbar to Ewingsdale Pacific Highway upgrade.
And I'm really pleased she is here today and some other events right around the electorate that we will be doing as well.
This project is wonderful, and the Federal Labor Government has delivered over $560 million of the $860 million for this project, as the Prime Minister said; the single biggest ever infrastructure project on the north coast.
And it's the Federal Labor Government that's delivered that.
Further north in the electorate we've got the Sexton's Hill upgrade at Benora Point as well, again delivered by the Federal Labor Government.
So very proud as the local MP to be delivering this vital Pacific Highway upgrade, particularly as a local and as a former police officer.
Projects like these are really important. They are important to locals and important to the many tourists that travel through here as well.
So I'm really pleased the Prime Minister is here and accepted the invitation to come up here. She has been up here many times and knows the area and understands the people up here very well. So it's great to have her here today.
Thanks Prime Minister.
PM: Thank you and before we take questions can I just say thank you to all the workers that we met today. The great staff here, I'm not sure that we've added to your productivity during the course of the day but thank you for making us so welcome.
And this is a part - the people that we see here are part of the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of jobs that have been created through this infrastructure investment.
So we're happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I ask when you made the decision to come up here today?
PM: I've been talking to Justine for quite some time about coming up locally. So it fitted into the program and we wanted to get it done.
JOURNALIST: This issue seems that even though you've poured a lot more money in than you say the previous Government has-
PM: We most certainly have.
JOURNALIST: It seems that it has almost been gazumped by the Opposition now promising 80 per cent of funding should they win government. You're only offering 50?
PM: Well, I think it always pays to look at the reality not the rhetoric.
And when you look at the reality, you can't get away from the fact that if the former Howard Government, of which the Leader of the Opposition was a pivotal part, if they had invested at the rate that we've been investing we wouldn't be having this conversation now because it would have been done by now.
Instead their track record in government - and I think that's the best way to judge them - their track record in government was to largely ignore the pressing need of the Pacific Highway.
So talk's cheap, action counts and what we're seeing here is action.
JOURNALIST: Do you think it was necessary for Janelle Saffin to resign as a Government Whip yesterday?
PM: That was a decision for her and she made it.
JOURNALIST: Could she go back on that position?
PM: She has made the decision. So her decision stands.
JOURNALIST: Have you seen Kevin Rudd's statement?
PM: I've seen the media reports of the statement and I think it reflects the reality. This issue is over and done with.
I was very clear about that yesterday and let me be very clear again today.
This issue has been resolved for all time and I think Kevin's statement reflects that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I ask you what your first thought was when you woke this morning? Was it a “what was that” moment?
PM: No, it was, right time to bolt out of bed and start getting a few things done.
JOURNALIST: Have you given any more thought to Cabinet?
PM: There are a number of people clearly considering their position. And I too will consider ministerial arrangements over the next few days.
JOURNALIST: Is it really difficult to do something like this? Justine has made no secret of the fact she was a Kevin Rudd supporter, yet you are basically campaigning with her today.
You're going to find yourself in situations like that time and again between now and the next election. How do you handle that? Is it personally uncomfortable?
PM: No, no, no, Justine is a great Labor member; a great local representative of these communities in the Federal Parliament and I've have always enjoyed travelling here and spending time with Justine and supporting her local efforts.
I'm very proud of what she has achieved for the communities here. And I know at the forthcoming election, she will not only be able to stand before these communities, talking about what she has achieved, but she will be able to stand here talking about what she is going to achieve for them in the future.
JOURNALIST: On that note, it's been a professionally difficult year and a personally difficult year. Can I ask you what your source of resilience is? Because it is inspiring.
PM: Well, thank you very much. Look, I'm someone who's made of pretty strong stuff. And I think that's been on display.
Politics is not an easy business. But what's always driven me throughout all of my days as a member of Federal Parliament, and what drives me as Prime Minister, is a vision of our country and getting that achieved.
So you wouldn't do it if you weren't driven by a sense of purpose and I am driven by a sense of purpose about making our nation stronger than it is now, fairer than it is now, smarter than it is now, and the next big thing we've got to do is making sure every Australian school child gets a great quality education.
So that's what gets me bolting out of bed in the morning.
JOURNALIST: What's your advice to women that come under fire when they're in the top job?
PM: I would say always remember what's important about being there.
So I think it's very important to have a strong sense of yourself, not be buffeted by other people's opinions or reflections, and stay true to the purpose that you set yourself.
I came into parliament with a purpose about opportunity and education and jobs and helping working people. And it's the same today.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible) given what happened with Mr Crean yesterday, when will it be announced?
PM: I will make some decisions about the ministry over coming days, and then we will announce them when those decisions are made.
So I don't have any scoop news for you today. I will reflect on that over the next few days.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible) was that a difficult conversation with one of your ministers?
PM: I did speak to Chris Bowen this morning, and he indicated to me he thought the appropriate course was for him to resign.
I accepted his resignation and said to him personally that I thought it was a very honourable decision.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)?
PM: I indicated in answer to a question over here that there are obviously people who have been thinking about these issues.
I will think and reflect too over coming days and then we will announce new ministerial arrangements.
JOURNALIST: Is there any chance the events of the last day have been an altruistic bid to deflect some pressure from the Australian test cricket team?
PM: You might be wasted at the ABC. You might have a career in doing commentary on politics. But no, I don't think that's true.
We've been unfair here. We'll take one question here.
JOURNALIST: I just want to know, with all of the build-up and all of the destabilisation, was it totally gutless of Rudd?
PM: Look, I will leave those sorts of commentary issues to others. I made my views clear yesterday. I have made them clear today. It's over, and over for all time.
Yes we're being very naughty now, last, last, last question.
JOURNALIST: We are represented by two members of the Rudd faction. Will the region suffer as a result?
PM: Certainly not. I'm proud to be here alongside Justine Elliot and the very fact that we're here looking at the biggest infrastructure project that has ever been created in this part of Australia says something about Justine's advocacy and something about how much we value working in partnership with these communities.
Thanks very much.