ERIC HUTCHINSON:
First of all, thank you everybody and Prime Minister, Treasurer thank you indeed for – albeit that it wasn’t planned originally – but welcome to Hobart, welcome to Tasmania.
We are known for our parochialism in Tasmania, but can I just say, it is too small a state – it is too small a state – to be trivialising the challenges that as a state we have. Indeed, it’s been a very important day today and I am looking forward to hearing, as much as anyone, about the outcomes and the initial discussions that have taken place today as part of the joint State and Commonwealth Economic Council.
I thank the Treasurer and I thank the Prime Minister indeed for giving of their time. Everybody here and every Australian would understand the pressure, Prime Minister, that you’ve been under in the last couple of weeks and on behalf of all Tasmanians, I thank you for the work that you’ve been doing.
But I’ll leave it at that and thank you again.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you so much.
It’s good to be here in Tassie. As I’m sure you know, Joe and I were to be part of a meeting in Launceston today. We have participated in that meeting by teleconference after our plane had to be re-routed because of the weather. It’s been a good meeting, chaired by Dale Elphinstone. Premier Will Hodgman, Treasurer Peter Gutwein were involved as well as Joe and myself. We had a very good discussion about what the Commonwealth and state governments could together do to revitalise the economy of Tasmania.
We are determined that Tasmania should be revitalised. At the moment, because of too many years of Labor/Green government, Tasmania languishes economically, but this is a great state with great people and great potential. We want Tasmania to be an economy as well as a national park. And yes, part of that economy is going to be clean green agriculture, part of that economy is going to be eco-tourism, but we also need fishing, we need forestry, we need manufacturing, we need mining if Tasmania is to reach its full potential.
What will be happening in the next 24 hours is that Joe Hockey on behalf of the Commonwealth, and Premier Will Hodgman on behalf of Tasmania, will be signing the memorandum of understanding for the Major Projects Agency. This is a very important Commonwealth initiative to ensure that people who wish to invest $50 million here in Tasmania are given positive help to get the relevant approvals they need.
This is more than just a one stop shop, although one stop shop environmental approval is important and it is going ahead here in Tasmania, but this is more than just a one stop shop; it is a positive process for getting all the relevant approvals for going ahead with major projects here in Tasmania.
As you know, there are a range of Commonwealth initiatives that will specifically benefit this state. There’s the $400 million that we’ve allocated for the Midland Highway, there’s the $38 million that we’ve allocated for the upgrade of the runway here at Hobart Airport, there’s $90 million all up that we’ve allocated towards various Antarctic projects centred here in Hobart, there is of course the asset recycling fund that Joe will probably talk about in a moment, but I can confirm today that the Commonwealth is pressing ahead with a new icebreaker that will be based here in Hobart and it will enable Australia to be at the very forefront of Antarctic nations.
This is an important commitment from the Commonwealth. We believe that by going ahead now with the tendering for the new icebreaker we can have the new icebreaker operational by 2019. It’s an important part of our economic security, it’s an important part of our national security and that’s why it’s something which is very much committed to by this Government.
I think Tasmania has a great future. I believe in Tasmania. I believe in Tasmanians and the Tasmanian Economic Council meeting today is a very important part of creating the better future for Tasmania that I am committed to.
TREASURER:
Well thank you very much, Prime Minister. Yes, I know you have a very, very significant agenda at the moment, Prime Minister, and the fact that you’re here and we’re all here committed to helping to deliver a stronger economy in Tasmania illustrates the fact that it is important for Australia to have a strong Tasmania.
For so long, Tasmania has been burdened by weak and indecisive government that has been anti-business. That has come to an end with the election of Will Hodgman and the Coalition and the fact is that everyone is very focused on how to build the economy.
You’re absolutely right, Prime Minister, our national asset recycling programme is available for Tasmania and should the state sell any assets and then redeploy the proceeds of that asset sale back into the state and build new productive infrastructure, we will provide a 15 per cent bonus to that state. Now the pool’s only open for a short period of time – it’s first in, first served for the states – but we want to see major construction in addition to already the substantial commitments you and Eric and the team have made to Tasmania, over the years ahead.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks. Ok, do we have any questions?
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, aside from those announcements that we’d already heard about in terms of Commonwealth funding, when will Tasmanians hear some new initiatives out of this Council?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the icebreaker is a new initiative and I’m announcing that today and this is a very important sign of the Commonwealth’s ongoing commitment to Tasmania, not just as a place to do business but as a place for us to use as a base for other parts of the world – Antarctica – which Australia has a vital stake in.
QUESTION:
Are you disappointed that the state government’s not going to take the carrot with the asset sale initiative?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well let’s see how things evolve. There is a lot of commitment on the part of the state government to infrastructure, including, just to name one, irrigation infrastructure, and this is available to the state government should it wish to privatise assets to reinvest the proceeds. This is available to the state government to, I guess, intensify their investment. We are trying to maximise economic activity. When you privatise an asset, you generate activity. When you reinvest that money, you generate activity. When you augment that money, you generate activity. That’s why this is a very important part of the economic revitalisation of states like Tasmania.
QUESTION:
So can the state government claim that Tasmania is open for business if it keeps ruling out selling assets?
PRIME MINISTER:
It is open for business; that’s very much at the heart of Will Hodgman’s plan for Tasmania and we want to work with him – we want to work with him. What we talked about today was how we can utilise Commonwealth Government programmes for the benefit of Tasmania. If you take for instance the irrigation scheme that they’re very committed to, not only do you have the asset recycling fund, you’ve got the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, you’ve got various renewable energy funds that the Commonwealth already has and these are all potentially available to help projects like this to go ahead.
We want to say yes to productive projects, we want to say yes to job generating projects. That’s what we mean when we say Australia’s open for business and I know that’s what Will Hodgman means when he says that Tasmania’s open for business.
QUESTION:
This morning they were very quick to rule it out though, the state government. Did you get a different impression from the Council meeting?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I’ll let Will talk about what he is specifically planning, but what I am determined to do is work as a constructive partner and friend to the Premier and with the government to maximise economic development here in this state.
QUESTION:
The state government went to the election with an election promise that they would not privatise assets though. What would your message to the Tasmanian people be in relation to this issue? Because people don’t want to see promises broken, but it sounds like it’s a pretty good opportunity for the state as well.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it is in the end up to the state what advantage they wish to take of Commonwealth Government programmes. As Treasurer Joe Hockey has just indicated a moment ago, this fund is there; there is a window of opportunity for the various states to take advantage of it. The money will be paid out on a first come, best dressed basis and there is at least one privatisation that the state government has flagged. Let’s see what might flow in the months and years ahead.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, a lot of your plans hedge on getting the Budget through the Senate. Mr Hockey, Prime Minister, how are those meetings with the crossbenchers going and are you disappointed you haven’t yet managed to [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I’ll let Joe add to this in a moment, but we want to work constructively and collegially and respectfully with the crossbench senators. We appreciate that they’ve all been democratically elected, as we have been. Obviously we were democratically elected with a very strong mandate to get the Budget back under control. Crossbench senators were, in many cases, elected with a very strong mandate to, for arguments sake, repeal the mining tax and implicitly the spending that the mining tax was supposed to fund. So, we’re going to work constructively and collegially with crossbench senators to get the Budget back under control.
I just want to stress: Australia cannot go on borrowing $1 billion a month every single month to pay the interest on Labor’s debt. Now, this is a debt and deficit disaster. It has to be tackled, and I respectfully say to the crossbench senators, if you don’t like our savings, tell us what your savings are.
We have a plan. It’s a plan that does bring us back into Budget balance within four years. It’s the only plan on offer and we intend to press ahead with it.
QUESTION:
And what’s your response then to calls for a double dissolution election or a mini-Budget today?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Australia doesn’t need another election. Let’s face it, we’ve had elections and elections and elections over the last nine months, including here in Tasmania. We had two elections in Western Australia. What we need is a Government which gets on with the job. We need a Parliament which respects the mandate that the Government was given at the election we’ve just had. That’s what we need and that’s what we’re getting on with.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, in terms of getting on with the job, the Forrest plan – the Twiggy Forrest plan for income management – was reported today. What do you think in principle of extending income management and escalating the use of it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we already have income management in place. The Howard government introduced income management in remote indigenous communities back in 2007. The former Labor government extended income management to long-term unemployment beneficiaries throughout the Northern Territory. It’s also introduced income management in some areas on a trial basis. So, income management – welfare quarantining if you like – is not a new thing. It’s been around for quite a few years now.
This is a report to Government; it’s not a report by Government. It is a very bold and ambitious report. I want to stress that: it’s a bold and ambitious report. I suspect that some of the things in the report will be testing for public opinion as it currently stands. Some of the things in the report will run well ahead of any plans that the Government currently has, but it is a bold, ambitious and brave report.
It’s going to be launched tomorrow. Let’s have the debate about the various recommendations that the report makes and then the Government will be in a position to decide which of its recommendations should be proceeded with.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, we’ve clearly not turned on the weather for you today. How hairy was that experience up in Launceston?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look, you’re in the best possible hands when you’re with the Royal Australian Air Force and they had two attempts to get into the airport at Launceston. They decided that it was a bit hairy even for them, so here we are in Hobart. But not withstanding that, we’ve managed to have a very good meeting, an hour and a quarter on the teleconference line. I want to thank Mr Dale Elphinstone for the extraordinary commitment and the energy that he’s bringing to this task. All of the members of the Tasmanian Economic Council are very committed people with a lot of insights into Tasmania and a big stake in this State’s future and we’re going to have another two meetings before the end of the year and I’m looking forward to both of them very much indeed.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, if you listened to a lot of the crossbench Senators and by other assessments of your Budget, it seems to be paid parental leave that is the sticking point and people saying that it’s unfair to cut spending at the lower end when that’s who needs it the most. I know you’ve spoken about this before but the issue isn’t going away.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well let’s never forget that at two elections this was an absolutely clear commitment that we took to the people and the same people who are now saying don’t go ahead with the paid parental leave scheme would be the first to say broken promise if the Government was to change its position. And I do not break promises – I do not break promises. Now let’s look at the fundamentals here. Why is it right and fair and proper that public servants in Canberra get paid at their full wage when they go on parental leave and yet the shop assistants and the small business employees and the people working on farms don’t get that when they go on parental leave. In fact, often they get no parental leave whatsoever other than the former government’s welfare based scheme.
So I just think it’s right and proper that the kind of benefits that have long been available to public servants in Canberra should be extended more generally to the community. The other point I make is that if we get paid at our full wage when we’re on sick leave, if we get paid at our full wage when we’re on long service leave, if we get paid at our full wage - plus in some cases a 17.5 per cent loading - when we go on annual leave, why shouldn’t we be paid at our full wage up to $100,000 a year when we take paid parental leave? I just think that the case for fairness to families, the case for fairness to women, the case for this as an economic initiative as well as a social and family policy initiative is overwhelming. Now I accept not everyone is persuaded by me as yet. I accept that a whole lot of people for really crass political reasons in the Labor Party are attacking this, but every time a union goes into a negotiation it demands – it demands – paid parental leave for at least 26 weeks at the workers wage. Now if it’s right and proper for the unions to demand that in a bargaining context, why is the Labor Party getting in the way of this important social and economic advance?
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, there’s been some disturbing evidence before the human rights inquiry today into detention of asylum seekers children. Increasing evidence of harm to children – is it time to rethink this, at least in terms of the way that services are provided to these children?
PRIME MINISTER:
Ok, look, that’s a fair point. No one wants to see children in detention – no one wants to see anyone in detention. But the only way to avoid this is to stop the boats. Now I do remind people that at the end of the Howard era there were no children in detention. From memory, I think there were only four people in immigration detention arising from illegal arrivals by boat in this country back then. If you want to do the right thing in this respect and we all do, the only way to do it is to stop the boats. And the problem with the Labor Party’s policy, even worse the Greens’ policy, even worse the approach that some of these plaintiff lawyers are taking now, is that basically whatever their stated intention the impact of what they’re doing is to give aid and comfort to the people smugglers.
QUESTION:
But the children are there now, Prime Minister. What about the children who are there now?
PRIME MINISTER:
As long as the people smugglers are in business the boats will keep coming and the drownings and the deaths will keep happening, including the deaths of children at sea. Now what is more horrific I ask you? What could be more horrific than the idea of children perishing at sea because their parents have fallen for the false promises of the people smugglers? Now no one wants to see children in detention, but the only way to avoid this is to stop the boats and this Government is utterly determined to stop the boats. They will be dealt with in the ordinary way and the best thing that we can do for children in detention is to ensure that this whole people smuggling business is ended as swiftly as possible and that is the commitment of this Government.
QUESTION:
Mr Hockey, how much interest has there been from other states in the privatisation of these assets and how much bearing does that have on Tasmania?
TREASURER:
Well most states are engaging in the process. Victoria will be proceeding with the sale of its port and recycling the money into new assets. New South Wales – Mike Baird – has announced $20 billion of asset sales that will be recycled into a range of different initiatives. Queensland is also following with the sale of its electricity assets. Even the Labor governments in South Australia and the ACT, the first to criticise but probably the first to sign up. So there is momentum. Each state has a different programme and obviously as the Prime Minister said they’ve got to look at their election commitments, but from a national economy perspective this is why we’ve laid down this new pool of funds – $5 billion – because from a national economy perspective we need to get on with building things fast.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks so much.
[ends]