PRIME MINISTER:
I've just got two things to say. Firstly how delighted I am to see the President of East Timor. The President has talked to me at a time when Australia and East Timor have reached agreement on the treaty, the sea bed and the formula. This is a very fair and generous arrangement for East Timor. It will mean that that country will receive several billion dollars more over the years ahead than would otherwise have been received under the earlier arrangement and I reject completely the complaints that are still being made by some that Australia has been unfair and ungenerous towards the people of East Timor. We have always accepted the need to help the people of East Timor, consistent with our obligations to the Australian taxpayer.
The other matter I want to talk about is reform to Australia's workplace relations system. Like any important reform that is for the long term benefit of the Australian economy, this reform will be subject to criticism and fearmongering and distortion and misrepresentation in its early stages. There is nothing the least bit surprising about it. These are important reforms and they will be of long term benefit to the Australian economy. They are not extreme, they will protect the rights of both employers and employees and the Government will of course proceed with them. But already we're seeing the ACTU being caught out with gross distortions and misrepresentations. For example, this suggestion that there would be two minimum wages. Wrong. There will be one minimum wage and it will be illegal for any employer in this country to pay less than that minimum wage. So any suggestions, no matter what people's aspirations might be, any suggestion that there will be anything other than a guaranteed minimum wage is completely wrong. But this kind of misrepresentation I fully expected and it's likely to go on for weeks and months into the future. But when the reforms are through Parliament and they begin to operate, it will then be understood that they are not the attack on the working rights of Australians that they're being described as. That they are sensible, long term changes that will add value and strength to the Australian economy, will provide greater jobs, greater prosperity for Australian workers and continued increases in their real wages.
JOURNALIST:
Unions do seem to be winning the PR battle though. Is Kevin Andrews been doing a good job explaining...
PRIME MINISTER:
Kevin has been doing a very good job. Brad this is going to be a long debate and I would caution people about drawing any conclusions from opinions in the first few weeks. This always happens whenever you have an important, long term reform. Those who run the fear campaign get the first headlines, but after a while people sit back and say hang on, that can't be right. The minimum wage thing is an example. I mean they were running silly lines that you could chisel away the minimum wage. It will be illegal to chisel away the minimum wage. That will be an offence, and any employer who tries to do that will get into trouble. So that's the first, you know, prime example of what I'm talking about. And as time goes by, people will see this campaign against these reforms as being the usual distortion. This happened with the GST, it happened in 1996 when we brought in our first wave of workplace relations changes and it's happening now. And I expected this. And it's going to be a long debate and I don't treat it lightly. And we'll be out there explaining the detail and justifying the reform. But this reform is for the long term benefit of the Australian economy and I will go through, and the Government will go through, a short term period of criticism and negativity. We accept that. We've always been willing to accept that in order to win a long term reform that benefits and strengthens the Australian economy.
JOURNALIST:
Will the Federal Government advertising campaign (inaudible) all the negative publicity (inaudible)?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't think there's going to be any significant change in what we do in that area. There are well established approaches about explaining major new Government initiatives and we have some proposals in mind in relation to that and I don't believe there's going to be any significant change in the timing of them. But I do stress that this is a long debate. And I expected that. And I accept the responsibility of explaining the detail. But I say to my fellow Australians, these reforms will benefit our economy, they will generate more job opportunities, they will strengthen economic opportunities and they will underpin the steady rise in real wages which has been a hallmark of my Government.
JOURNALIST:
You're not tempted to cut short the holidays and take control of the debate?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I'm doing what I've always done. And that is take fairly modest holidays and be available to explain things. But I am always, was always going to speak to the media today because I'm swearing in some new Ministers. And I'll be back fully on deck at the weekend and you'll see plenty of me over the weeks ahead.
JOURNALIST:
So the Government will be stepping up its PR offensive in the debate?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, this is about long term reform to benefit Australia. It's not some kind of short term debating, slanging match. It's about doing good things over the longer term for the Australian economy and being willing to accept some short term unpopularity and criticism in the process. I have always found that my fellow Australians will support something that's in the long term interests of the country if it's properly explained. And they give marks to a government that will go through the short term difficulty and the short term criticism if they know that something is for the long term benefit of the nation.
JOURNALIST:
It seems employers are getting a bit impatient though?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we have to govern for all Australians. We don't govern for the employers any more than we govern for the unions. We govern for the nation. We govern for all Australians and that's why we have the lowest unemployment and the highest real wages and also the highest corporate profit share in this country's history. It's a pretty good trifecta. Lowest unemployment, highest real wages, highest profit share. Now I intend to keep it that way and these reforms will help to keep it that way.
JOURNALIST:
(Inaudible) trade away holidays.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that exists at the moment. This is another ACTU lie. That exists at the moment. We're not introducing anything new. It exists at the moment.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, have you got any comment to make on the Labor Party's sale of Centenary House? Do you think this will end the rent rorts?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I would have thought the inflated rent had an influence on the price. If you have an asset that's earning rent, one of the things that determines the price you get for asset is the rental return. End of story.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Carr's proposal to abolish or cut payroll taxes and other taxes if you abolish the grants (inaudible)?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well can I just say to Mr Carr and I'd say to all the other Premiers of Australia that if they go away in a corner and agree on a new carve up of the GST revenue and they all sign up to it, we'll agree to it. We have no argument with a new carve up if all of the States agree to it. We provide the pie and it's a much bigger pie because of the GST. And the Grants Commission which Mr Carr once lauded as comprising wise men and great and generous men; they decide how it's carved up. Now if they want to find another formula to carve it up, provided they don't ask for a still bigger pie, then we're quite happy. So I would suggest that perhaps tonight Mr Beattie and Mr Carr should sit next to each other at the State of Origin and agree on a new formula. And if they do, I'll be very happy as somebody who's neutral in that great sporting contest. I'll be very happy to certify that new arrangement. But they've got to come to agreement first.
JOURNALIST:
In his draft report, Mr Palmer says the Immigration Department (inaudible)?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I haven't been fully briefed on the Palmer Report as yet and when I'm in a position to do so I'll comment.
JOURNALIST:
(Inaudible)
PRIME MINISTER:
I haven't been fully briefed on the Palmer Report yet and when I'm in a position to do so I will make a comment.