PRIME MINISTER:
It is an honour to be associated with the official launch of the beyondblue bus. This has been for too long Australia’s hidden epidemic. It is being dealt with much better now than in times past, but there is always more to be done and this bus trip around Australia will bring awareness to a lot of people and, I hope, healing to at least some.
So, it is good to be here. It is good to see so many Members of Parliament from all points of the philosophical and political compass represented here, because addressing mental health issues is certainly something that is way beyond party politics.
We’ll just take a couple of questions.
QUESTION:
Mr Abbott, how much will growth in health and education spending be cut under your Government and why does it need to be cut?
PRIME MINISTER:
It is important that we do the right thing by taxpayers because every single dollar that government spends comes from taxpayers, either in taxes or in borrowings and we’ve got to treat the taxpayers with respect. The Government does have a very big fiscal repair job. We are embarked upon it but we will repair the Budget in ways which are entirely consistent with our pre-election commitments.
QUESTION:
On Qantas, have you had any recent discussions with Alan Joyce about the scale of the likely job losses this week?
PRIME MINISTER:
Various people inside the Government and inside the Ministry have been in discussions with Qantas since late last year. We accept that Qantas are facing a tough and very competitive market. We accept that Qantas do have to compete with a ball and chain provided by the Qantas Sale Act, but, in the end, Qantas do have to get their own house in order. Now, I acknowledge that they are doing a lot and have done a lot but, in the end, Qantas do have to get their own house in order and I no doubt we will be involved in further discussion in the weeks and months ahead.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, have we understood you correctly, or your education spokesman this morning, that the cuts that you are foreshadowing, the need to pull back, will only happen after the next election?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I should point out, Paul, that the only people who have cut health and education lately are the former government. The former government in the 2012 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook cut $1.6 billion from public hospitals and cut $3.9 billion from education. What we are talking about is repairing the Budget – repairing the fiscal disaster that the Labor Party left us – but we’re going to do it in ways which are entirely in keeping with our pre-election commitments.
QUESTION:
Just to remind us, what is your absolute commitment on health and education funding?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, the commitment that we gave pre-election was that we would be the very best friend that Medicare has ever had. The commitment that we gave pre-election was that we would spend the same amount on schools over the forward estimates period as the Labor Party. So, the argument wasn’t about funding. It was about all the other things that go into better schools and that’s what we are in the business of creating: better schools, better hospitals, better educational services, better health services.
What we want to do is to set Australia up for the best possible future; we want to set our country up for the best possible future and I am confident that whatever decisions have to be made over the next few weeks, that this is going to be a good year. 2014 is going to be a year of opportunity for our country.
Thank you.
[ends]