PRIME MINISTER:
It is good to be here at TNT in Perth. I want to thank Bromley Worton and the team at TNT for making myself and Steve Irons, the local Member, so welcome.
As you can see this is a hub of vibrant activity, even very early in the morning but all of this activity is impacted by the carbon tax. The power bills of this business have gone up by about 25 per cent over the last two years and the carbon tax has been a very big factor in that.
Today should be the day when the carbon tax is finally scrapped.
Today should be the day when the Parliament acts upon the clear mandate of the people in the election last September.
The carbon tax is a nine per cent impost on power bills, it's a $9 billion a year handbrake on our economy, it’s a $550 a year hit on the average households costs so getting rid of the carbon tax is good news for families, it's good news for business, good news for jobs and good news for prices.
I want to stress that as part of the legislation before the Senate today, there will be more funding and stronger powers to ensure that the removal of the carbon tax does mean a commensurate reduction in prices, a reduction in the prices that you pay everywhere in our economy.
All of the crossbench Senators - just about - were elected on a platform of opposition to the carbon tax. We know that the Labor Party and the Greens love the carbon tax. We know that the Labor Party and the Greens have been in denial about the election result for the last nine months, but today is the day when crossbench Senators should do what they said they would do before the election and vote to scrap the carbon tax.
It's good to be here with Steve Irons. Steve is an extraordinarily hard working local Member, he’s a big figure in the local community, and I might just ask him to say a few words.
STEVE IRONS:
Tony, thanks for coming to WA and particularly on the day that the carbon tax has to go. I know Western Australians voted clearly at the last election to get rid of the carbon tax and to vote the Coalition in to make sure that we keep the commitment we made to the West Australian people and the whole of Australia to get rid of the carbon tax. Now for local families, the $550 average saving a year will be a benefit to all local families and to local businesses, particularly in Western Australia where the energy costs are high and to get those down is going to be a boon to business, the local economy and to local families.
Thanks for coming to Western Australia and to Swan and to TNT and giving us the message that today is the day the carbon tax has to go.
PRIME MINISTER:
And you’re right, Steve, I mean Western Australia voted not once, but twice in the Senate by-election to get rid of the carbon tax.
Ok, do we have any questions?
QUESTION:
Mr Abbott, do you still have confidence in Senator Abetz’s charm offensive to get the carbon tax repeal and also your budget measures through?
PRIME MINISTER:
I have great confidence in the ability of all of my senior frontbenchers. I have great confidence in the ability of the Senate leadership team. In the end though, this is a question of keeping commitments. The Coalition committed to scrap the carbon tax. Just about all of the crossbench Senators committed to scrap the carbon tax, so this is a day for people to keep their commitments.
QUESTION:
Have you or your Senate leadership team sought guarantees in the last 24 hours though that it will in fact be passed, this repeal legislation today, given that the crossbench Senators have gone back on their word before?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the last thing I want to do is micromanage things in the Senate but I do have great confidence in the Senate leadership team and I also am confident that in the end the crossbench Senators will keep their commitments because their commitments are not just commitments that they’ve given to the Government, they are commitments that they gave to the Australian people prior to the election.
QUESTION:
In the process of repealing the carbon and mining taxes, PM, we’ve seen about a $10 billion hole punched in your Budget. How are you going to manage that when you’re not even at the point where you’ve passed all of the savings measures outlined in the Budget?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I take your point, James, that there has been a lot of argy-bargy on some of the Government's savings measures, some of the reforms that the Government has flagged as part of the Budget process. In the end, it is critical that we get the Budget back under control because right at the moment we are borrowing – as a nation – $1 billion every single month just to pay the interest on Labor's debt. Now this is dead money that we haven't got to spend on schools, on hospitals, on roads, on better services.
I think the crossbench gets that. The only people who don't get that are the Labor Party who insist that we could go on borrowing and spending and borrowing and spending and taxing and spending endlessly. I think the Australian people understand that governments, just like businesses, just like households, have to live within their means and that is what this Government is determined to do.
QUESTION:
How quickly can people expect to save money once the carbon tax is repealed?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well this will start to flow through the economy from day one. Obviously the bill is dated to July 1, so that means that if the Senate votes today – as it should – people's next power bill will be less than it would otherwise be because of the Australian Parliament respecting the mandate of the people and keeping the commitments that were made.
QUESTION:
The Daily Telegraph is reporting that airlines and supermarkets won't guarantee passing on any of the savings. It appears it might not have an effect at all.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well this is where the ACCC comes in. It is very important to have a watchdog with bark and bite and that is what the ACCC is. We’re beefing up the legislation, we’re increasing their funding so that they can police these prices and make sure that price cuts are passed on to consumers.
QUESTION:
Is the Government concerned that the disputed election in Indonesia could lead to unrest?
PRIME MINISTER:
We admire the Indonesia people for the way they have gone through a peaceful democratic process. Now the election result may not be clear for some time, but what is clear is that one of the world’s largest countries, one of the world’s most diverse countries has just gone through a peaceful democratic process and I think everyone, everywhere should be optimistic for the future of the world when you see how democracy has taken such root in our nearest large neighbour.
QUESTION:
Speaking of large countries, there seems to be some blow back in China through the state news agency in particular, Xinhua, criticising the speech that you gave in the Federal Parliament two days ago. Do you have a response to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the point I make is that when it comes to international friendships it’s not a zero sum game. It is possible to strengthen a range of friendships simultaneously. We want a better friendship with Japan and I think pretty obviously we’re getting that, but we also want better friendship with China. We’re working on a free trade deal with China. I am still reasonably optimistic that we will succeed there. We want better friendship with everyone and the point that I keep making is that you don’t win new friends by losing old ones and countries, like people, are capable of having more friends at the same time.
QUESTION:
Just to pick up that point though, your Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has had some sort of tough words for China overnight as well saying that they don’t respect weakness essentially and that Australia should stand up for itself in terms of say, for example, the no-fly zones over their Senkaku Islands. Do you back those comments from her?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think Julie has just been reiterating what is the common sense position, that every country has positions. Sometimes countries disagree, but it is possible to have respectful disagreements that don’t in any way prejudice the friendship. For instance, I don’t absolutely agree with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on whaling, but that obviously hasn’t prevented a very successful visit and is not standing in the way of a deeper and stronger friendship in the future.
QUESTION:
Just on the Senate, Prime Minister, Cory Bernardi’s comments yesterday on suggesting that The Greens and Labor cared about the integrity of baby whales but not about an unborn child. Is that the type of debate you want to see from your senators during the ongoing charm offensive?
PRIME MINISTER:
I’m not aware of those particular comments, but a lot of people in the Parliament say a lot of colourful things and a lot of people in the Parliament say some things in the heat of debate which they may not repeat in the cool light of day. We’re all a little bit like that.
The important thing is that the Government get on with delivering the commitments that we made to the Australian people before the election and let’s reiterate what they were: to stop the boats, to scrap the carbon tax, to build the roads of the 21st century and to get the Budget back under control. I don’t say everything has gone perfectly over the last 10 months, but all of those commitments are coming to fruition – all of those commitments are coming to fruition. This is a Government which says what it means and does what it says and I’m pleased to see that so many of the commitments that we made to the people at the election are on the point, I hope, of coming to pass.
Thank you.
[ends]