PRIME MINISTER:
It’s good to be here with you all. It’s good to be in France to help mark the 70th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings tomorrow to honour the service and sacrifice of the Australians of whom there were some 3,000 present at D-Day, mostly in the Royal Australian Air Force or with the Royal Air Force but also serving with ships of the Royal Navy.
D-Day was a day that changed the world. It was the beginning of the liberation of Europe and it helped to set up a post war world, which for all of its difficulties and problems has been unprecedented in terms of the prosperity of humanity and the freedom of humanity. So it is very important that we honour the people who did so much to make this possible.
Before then though I’ll be meeting with some senior representatives of French business tonight. This will be part of my push to let the world know that Australia is under new management and open for business. It will be an opportunity to talk to them about the policies that the Australian Government has put in place to get taxes down, regulation down and growth up. Obviously the French Government has similar objectives and even in some respects similar policies.
Of course I should also observe that it was an honour as well as a pleasure to catch up with President Yudhoyono yesterday in Batam. It was my second bilateral with President Yudhoyono since becoming Prime Minister and it is demonstration of the character that this Government does have a Jakarta - rather than a Geneva - focus to its foreign policy.
What thrilled me and impressed me, as always with President Yudhoyono was his warmth towards Australia. He has been a great President of Indonesia but he has undeniably been a very, very good friend to Australia. The relationship with Indonesia has certainly had some difficulties in recent times but nevertheless it is a relationship which is strong and enduring, a relationship that’s very important to our country and a relationship which - at least under President Yudhoyono - has been kept strong by the willingness of both sides to talk through issues and that’s certainly was what I was able to do with the President yesterday. Not just to talk through issues between Australia and Indonesia, but also to talk through global issues and regional issues, such as the tensions in our region in the South China Sea, which all of us have an interest in seeing resolved peacefully because our region has prospered because it has been peaceful. It’s very important that we remain peaceful and prosperous because if we are not peaceful we certainly won’t be prosperous.
So, I’m looking forward to spending a bit of time with you over the next few days and I hope you’re looking forward to spending some time with me.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister what are you hoping to speak with the Queen about tonight?
PRIME MINISTER:
This is a party at the British Embassy here in Paris to mark the Queen’s Birthday. I’m not sure how much time I’ll get with the Queen but obviously I have met with her before. She is a remarkable woman, a sign of the continuity and stability in our national life and a sign of the continuity and the stability that the United Kingdom has brought to the wider world.
QUESTION:
Mr Abbott just in the lead up to this gathering at D-Day tomorrow with leaders, there’s been a bit of tension between the western leaders in Europe and Vladimir Putin. There was a G7 Meeting in Brussels that Putin wasn’t invited. Is there any suggestion that he may not be invited to the G20 in Australia in November?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, fair enough Phil. The G20 is an economic meeting whereas the G7 or the G8 has tended to have a very strong security component. Obviously there are very grave concerns about the behaviour of Russia in Ukraine and I can understand why the G7 leaders were reluctant to sit down President Putin at this time. But when it comes to the prosperity of the world, when it comes to the management of international finances, when it comes to harmonisation of taxation rules, when it comes to trying to promote global growth, I think it is best if we can include Russia. At this point in time I’m expecting Russia to be well and truly part of the G20 in November.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister do you believe that Malcolm Turnbull is being loyal and doing his best to sell the Budget and the Liberal Party generally?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes I do. I think that there’s been a bit of over excited chatter in recent days. We are a good team. We are a very good and strong team. We’re a good and strong team that’s been in Government for less than nine months and has a very big agenda for the future and all of us are getting on with it, each in our own particular way and in our own particular portfolios and certainly Malcolm is getting on with the job of sorting out the NBN mess which we inherited from Labor, making sure that all Australians get more affordable, faster broadband as quickly as possible.
QUESTION:
Are you concerned Prime Minister that some conservative commentators who have made no secret of their support for the Government seem to be fuelling the divisions or promoting this issue that there might be some sort of rift between yourself and Mr Turnbull.
PRIME MINISTER:
Malcolm and I have known each other for a very, very long time indeed. We go back to university days, so we’ve known each other for a long time. As is well known we’ve had a few ups and downs over the years but through all of that time we’ve been pretty good friends and I think Australia is lucky to have someone of Malcolm’s calibre in its public life. I certainly think the Government is lucky to have a person of Malcolm’s experience and insight in the communications portfolio.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister are you thinking of doing a reshuffle? What’s your message to colleagues of yours who might be thinking about wanting a change of jobs?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think everyone should be doing the very best he or she can in his or her particular job at this time. If you look at my record you’ll know that I don’t lightly reshuffle my frontbench. I made hardly any changes in 2009. We made modest changes after the 2010 election and there were modest changes after the 2013 election because I believe that you should pick the right person for the job and then leave them there to get on with it. As I said a moment ago, we’ve been in Government for nine months, we’ve got a very big agenda before us, everyone is absolutely immersed in doing the right thing in his or her existing portfolio and that should continue.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister do you think that Alan Jones is a bomb thrower so to speak and do you believe that he and Andrew Bolt are running a concerted campaign against your Communications Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
No. Alan is a friend of mine. Andrew Bolt is a friend of mine. I think they are both very significant commentators and they’ve got a lot to say as you know, both of them have a lot to say. I often agree with it. Occasionally I don’t agree with it. Alan is a formidable interlocutor – whether he’s for you or against you he’s always someone who is going to put on a very lively discussion and that’s the way with me, that’s the way with Malcolm, that’s the way with everyone who goes on his show.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister you’re meeting French business people tonight. Often on these trips we hear a lot about trade. I understand the relationship Australia has with France is not just about trade but about investment in the relationship there, can you speak to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well France is quite a significant investor in Australia. Total for instance, the oil and gas company has put about $10 billion into Australia, it’s one of the major shareholders in the Ichthys gas field off Darwin. You’ve got a company like Viola which I think provides 25 per cent of Sydney’s drinking water, you’ve got Accor which is one of our largest hotel chains, you’ve got Thales which produces the Bushmaster vehicle, amongst many other things for our defence forces, there are significant French componentry in the Collins Class Submarines, so yes, it is a broad and deep relationship. It’s an economic relationship, it’s a cultural relationship and it’s a security relationship and I’ll be touching on all of those things this evening.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister can I take your attention to the greatest game in the world, football, association football that is and the World Cup. Now, FIFA at the moment are doing a review of the deeply flawed and deeply corrupted 2018-22 bids and one option is that the 2022 bid, in which Australia got one vote out of 22 votes, that they have a recount or another count campaign. Would Australia be part of that given we have already spent $45 million on the first of those? And if so, what conditions would you put on Australia being involved in that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Andrew, I’m aware that there has been lots of allegations about just how fair and clean that selection process was. I’m certainly aware of the enormous disappointment that Australian football had at the outcome of that process. In the end it is up to the sporting bodies to decide how the sport should be run and regulated and really it’s up to FIFA to decide what should happen here. If there were to be a reopening, obviously it would be up to the Australian Football Association to put its hand up. But really…..
QUESTION:
….it would require your money to do that. It was $45 million of taxpayers’ money for the 2009 and 2010 campaign. Would you do the same?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well let’s cross that particular bridge if it ever becomes available to cross and at the moment we just don’t know.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister were National Party MPs duped into supporting the fuel excise in the Budget?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, absolutely not and this is if I may say so a fantasy, absolutely without foundation. I sat through every meeting of the Expenditure Review Committee, so did Warren Truss, the Leader of the National Party and the Deputy Prime Minister. The Expenditure Review Committee considered a range of options. It settled on the restoration of fuel excise indexation and with all of the decisions of the ERC it was made by consensus.
QUESTION:
Mr Abbott just a couple of things about your meeting with President Yudhoyono, is it now a strong possibility that this code of conduct will be reached between the countries by August - which I think is his desire? And secondly, have you ironed out all the issues around border protection? Is President Yudhoyono now comfortable with these yellow boats appearing on his beaches? Has that all been ironed out?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the discussions were extremely cordial. President Yudhoyono is very genial towards Australia and he’s certainly been very genial towards me in all of the meetings that I’ve had with him and yesterday was absolutely no exception. The point that I keep making, publicly and privately is that if no boats leave, no boats will ever have to be turned around and the great thing is that hardly any boats have left recently because no boats have successfully made it to Australia and because no boats have successfully made it to Australia, I think this particular irritant in the relationship is well on the way to being resolved.
QUESTION:
And the code of conduct?
PRIME MINISTER:
That’s something that is being worked on by respective Foreign Ministers. We put a proposal to the Indonesians before Christmas. In late April they came back to us with a proposal. We’re going to go back to them now with a third iteration and my understanding is that Foreign Ministers are meeting in early July and hopefully the matter will be resolved then.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister just back on the Malcolm Turnbull issue at home. When he was on the 730 Report I understand that he was asked is there….or do you worry that there’s a coordinated campaign against you and he paused, apparently it was a very long pause, so my question for you is; do you think there’s a coordinated campaign against him? Would it worry you if people were out to get him?
PRIME MINISTER:
Lots of people in public life are the subject from time-to-time of criticism, it goes with the territory. The point I want to make is that I am very pleased to have Malcolm as a senior member of my Government and I know that Malcolm is very pleased to be a senior member of the Government. He and I talk regularly. We have a very good and strong relationship. As I’ve said we’ve been friends for 30 odd years. So look, occasionally people try to make mischief. That’s life when you’re in public life. Occasionally all sorts of things that have no foundation whatsoever get bandied around, but this is a strong and stable Government, doing a good job. This is a Government which is determined to deliver a better life to the people of Australia. To give a better life to the people of Australia we’ve got to get taxes down. We’ve got to get regulation down. We’ve got to get government spending –responsibly - down and that’s exactly what the Budget we’ve just brought down does and what the people expect of the Government. What the people of Australia want from a government, is a government which gets on with making the necessary decisions for our long term future and that’s exactly what this Government is doing every day and that’s what I’m focussed on every day. I’m not focussed on personalities. I’m not focussed on gossip. I’m not reacting to each headline or news story. I’m trying to get on with doing what our country needs and what our country needs right now is a stronger Budget, a stronger economy and that’s what we’ve delivered.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister does it worry you if any of your senior Ministers have some leadership ambition, is that necessarily a bad thing?
PRIME MINISTER:
I’d be amazed if they didn’t, I’d be absolutely amazed if they didn’t. I think ambition is almost a prerequisite for going into parliament. Of course you should be ambitious for the higher things rather than for the higher job but nevertheless sometimes in order to get on with what you regard as the higher things, it helps to have a higher job. So look, I expect my senior frontbenchers to be ambitious. There’s nothing wrong with being ambitious but right at the moment our ambition is for a better country. Our ambition is to ensure that the policies that we’ve put forward, the Budget we’ve brought down is successfully legislated so that we can give the Australian people the stronger and more prosperous economy that they all want and they elected us to deliver.
[ends]