PRIME MINISTER:
Well ladies and gentlemen I start this news conference by declaring this day a wonderful day for the workers of Australia. For the first time since 1976 the unemployment rate in Australia has fallen below five per cent. Today's figures show the unemployment rate of 4.9 per cent and this is a wonderful symbol of the success of the Government's economic policies. It's a reminder to everybody that there's nothing more important in what a Government does than provide opportunities for people to get work.
As my friend Tony Blair the British Labour Prime Minister has famously said, fairness in the workplace starts with the chance of a job and people have had greater chances of jobs under this Government than for many, many years. And today's figures are very encouraging, they show a rise of something like 56,000 in the number of full-time people in work, a very high percentage of those are female workers.
And the other highly significant thing about today's figures is that the participation rate, that's the percentage of people looking for work out of the potential workforce rose, but despite that, the unemployment rate fell. And that indicates how strong the labour market remains and it demonstrates that the Australian economy still has a lot of kick in it, and that's good. And it also reminds us that we are in this strong position because some years ago we undertook a lot of economic reforms, and if we want to keep in this strong position, we have to keep making reforms and changes. And I think particularly of the workplace relations changes, I think of other economic reforms, and it's just a reminder again of what the core responsibility of the Government is, and that is to run the economy well and create job opportunities for Australia.
And I am delighted that we've finally got the unemployment rate with a four in front of it. And it's only one month's figures, but the symbolism of it is important and the long-term trend is very encouraging.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister these stronger than expected employment figures, yesterday, stronger than expected economic growth figures, does it show there's too much kick in the economy, that it will put upward pressure on interest rates?
PRIME MINISTER:
No. I think yesterday's figures, David, showed a very manageable amount of economic growth, 3.1. I tell you what is a greater threat to interest rates, state government's running budget deficits. I mean we have toiled mightily not only to keep our budget in surplus but strongly in surplus and it's a great pity that some state governments don't understand that fundamental economic reality.
JOURNALIST:
What do you regard as full employment? Are we getting closer to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we're closer to it, I don't want to define, it's impossible to mathematically define what is full employment. Obviously it's not zero. I think there are some people who, for a combination of a reasons, it's very hard to find a job for, but in many parts of the Australian economy we have reached full employment, in other parts we haven't. The good thing about the employment statistics is that they have now, for month, after month, after month, been around about five per cent. On this occasion wondrously, it's fallen below five per cent and there's no reason why we can't drive it down further. I believe, as some of the effects of the workplace relations changes work their way through, then the unemployment rate, particularly in small business, will go down even further. I have always seen the greater flexibility, especially for small business, in those changes as being beneficial on the employment front. But I'm not going to say what that figure is, but it's unambiguously very good news, and ultimately the great indicator of good economic management.
JOURNALIST:
Are the IR laws reflected at all in these...?
PRIME MINISTER:
Too early, Kieran. I am not going to make that claim. It's only May's figures and the changes only came in in March. I think it is too early to make that claim. The prediction I make is that as the laws are implemented that that will have a beneficial effect, but I am not making the claim now. These figures are really the product of earlier reforms and the ongoing strength of the Australian economy.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister just on the price of petrol, the New South Wales Consumer Affairs Minister wants to give the ACCC more powers to investigate price fixing...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the ACCC has all the powers in the world and I think if the man or woman who's making that claim understood the facts then they would know that they have got plenty of power and the ACCC regularly monitors prices. We all know why the price of petrol is high, painfully high, and that is because the world price of crude oil is very high and I'm sure the New South Wales Minister knows that.
JOURNALIST:
Did Doctor Switkowski do the right thing in stepping aside from the Board of ANSTO?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes. He wasn't put under any pressure, might I say, to do it. I think he's done so for more abundant caution. I didn't ask him to do so and I'm not aware that anybody in the Government did, but it seemed to me to be a very sensible thing and he's handled all of these absurd allegations about a conflict of interest very effectively.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister are you heading to Jakarta later in the month? Is that right?
PRIME MINISTER:
I do expect to see President Yudhoyono soon. We haven't precisely settled the date, but it's a reasonable prediction of you to make that some time in the not too distant future we will meet and talk about a lot of things. Our relationship with Indonesia is very important. It's always a bit challenging because we're very different countries, but I have a good personal relationship with him and there's a lot of trust at senior government levels and there's always been a lot of trust maintained at other levels. And I hope that we'll have a very productive meeting when we do get together probably later this month.
JOURNALIST:
Will a security pact be one of things you discuss?
PRIME MINISTER:
It would be one of a number of the things that we would discuss. I noticed something in the newspapers about that this morning based on comments made by the President's security advisor, it is an issue that we need to kick around. There is no argument about our attitude towards Indonesian sovereignty over Papua, we've never had a view that Papua should separate from Indonesia. The changes that have been made in Papua by the Indonesian Government have provided a lot more democracy, a lot more freedom and people should bear that in mind when they automatically criticise Indonesia every time something goes wrong.
JOURNALIST:
Are you willing to put that down in writing as part of some new treaty?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I am perfectly happy in any document that we sign to say that we respect the territorial integrity of Indonesia.
JOURNALIST:
Sophie Delezio is out of hospital...
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes I think all Australians marvel at the courage of that lovely little girl. I wrote her a little note a few days ago wishing her well and expressing my personal regard for her. I just think she's wonderful, and poor girl to suffer what she did, with the first accident and then to go through another accident and I feel sorry for everybody associated with the second accident. I am sure it was just one of those terrible events that nobody, in a sense, is responsible for and she sadly is the victim. But gee, she is an inspiration to all of us and to use that age-old expression, when you see somebody who has suffered what she's suffered, you feel ashamed of any complaints you've ever made about anything that's happened to you in your life.
JOURNALIST:
There seems to be some concern within the Coalition about the Federal Government's views on the ACT legislation regarding civil unions, do you stand by what the Government's done?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh yes, yes. The Cabinet discussed this at length and there was a very strong feeling in the Cabinet that we should make this move, it's not just me and Attorney General as some people have suggested, the whole Cabinet was very strongly in favour of this approach. I don't see it in any way as discriminating against homosexuals, it's not, it's designed to preserve the special status of marriage in our community and that's what it's all about. When the Constitution was written, the founding fathers gave authority over marriage to the Federal Government and at that stage civil unions, sorry civil unions were not contemplated. It was back in 1901 and plainly what was intended at that time was that things of that nature should be within the responsibility of the Federal Government. Now the Federal Parliament in a bipartisan fashion has made a declaration as to what constitutes a marriage; it's the conventional, traditional understanding of a marriage in our society as the union of a man and a woman. Now it is not discriminating against same sex partnerships, to reassert that and to say that has a special status up here. The fundamental difficulty I have with the ACT legislation is a clause which says that a civil union is different from a marriage but it has the same entitlements, now that is the equivalent of saying to somebody who's passed the HSC and wants to get into a particular course, it's saying to them well you haven't got the requisite tertiary education score but we will let you go in the course anyway. I mean it's a little bit hypocritical, but our position is, as a Government, very clear.
JOURNALIST:
Do you have a problem with same sex couples having the same entitlements as married couples?
PRIME MINISTER:
I am in favour of removing areas of discrimination and we have and I'm quite happy on a case, by case basis to look at other areas where people believe there's genuine discrimination, but I think they should be looked at on a case by case basis. I don't think it's the sort of thing that can be done in an across the board fashion. We made some changes in relation to entitlements a couple of years ago and if there are other areas of genuine discrimination, then I'm in favour of getting rid of them. But that doesn't mean that you equate those relationships with marriage. I think that is a step that the Australian community doesn't want to occur, whilst at the same time there are many genuine areas of discrimination.
JOURNALIST:
Back in May, did you not ask the ACCC to look at...
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes they did, and they looked at it over Easter and I'm disposed to ask them to look at it again over the Queen's Birthday weekend because that is another holiday period. And you've got the mechanism there. We don't need another body. I mean that's wasteful bureaucracy. We have enough of that already. The ACCC can monitor price movements in the lead up to, and over, and following the Queen's Birthday weekend and I've been disposed to ask them to do that and I think that they will now do that because I've raised it and that is the device that we should use. Thank you.
[ends]