PATRICK CONDREN:
Prime Minister, good morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Patrick, thanks for having me on the programme.
PATRICK CONDREN:
Now, you’re attending a lunch today hosted by Anglicare Southern Queensland to raise money for homeless women and children. Why is that an issue that’s close to you?
PRIME MINISTER:
I like to support bodies that are getting out there and helping Australians in need. I think that our great charities are often the most effective way of dealing with social problems, particularly social problems that have an individual or a family face. That’s why I’m happy to be there at the Anglicare lunch and hope that quite a lot of money can be raised because along with St Vincent de Paul and the Smith Family and Mission Australia and all the other great charities, they do a fabulous job.
PATRICK CONDREN:
Is the Palmer United Party – Clive Palmer and Jacqui Lambie – are they both becoming an economic and a security risk to Australia?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think it’s deeply regrettable that Mr Palmer launched his attack on China the other night. It seemed to be just a random outburst.
PATRICK CONDREN:
If you’d been to a few press conferences with him, Prime Minister, you’d know that it wasn’t that random…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, to the extent that it wasn’t random, it seemed to be more an expression of a personal business issue than of considered national policy or what should be a national policy.
We need a very strong relationship with China, luckily we have one, it’s strong and getting better. I was in China myself a few months ago and negotiations for a free trade agreement with China are accelerating and if we can pull that off that’ll be very, very good for Australia.
PATRICK CONDREN:
But does his outburst put those sorts of things in jeopardy?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think the Chinese appreciate Australia enough to understand that Mr Palmer just speaks for himself on an issue like this and he certainly isn’t speaking for Australia.
PATRICK CONDREN:
But what about Jacqui Lambie and her statements yesterday?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, likewise, she’s entitled to speak for herself and we all want a strong and effective defence, but nevertheless China is our friend not our enemy.
It’s absolutely vital that we strengthen our friendship with all the countries of North Asia, with all the countries of our region and that’s what the Government’s determined to do.
PATRICK CONDREN:
Should Clive Palmer and Jacqui Lambie mind their own business? Should they shut up?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I think that all politicians when we open our mouths should be constructive and sometimes people are, sometimes people aren’t. Certainly Mr Palmer’s outburst on ABC TV the other night was just over the top, shrill, and wrong.
PATRICK CONDREN:
Was Joe Hockey being constructive last week in his comments about the poor and their driving habits?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think he was trying to make a reasonable point which is that the fuel excise indexation was going to cost the average family somewhere in the order of $20 a year in the first year. I think that’s a very reasonable point to make, but he could have expressed himself better, and he’s admitted that and he’s apologised for any upset that his poor expression caused and that’s what a decent politician should do. When you get it wrong, you face up to it and you say sorry.
PATRICK CONDREN:
Here in the south-east we’ve been watching events unfold at a suburban house in Pullenvale where a large quantity of explosives has been found. There’s been some suggestions that it might be linked to a possible domestic terror incident in Sydney and Newcastle. Michael Keenan in Indonesia says that the current terror threat in Australia is now higher than at the time of the Bali Bombing. Can you confirm that?
PRIME MINISTER:
We haven’t changed the official level of the threat, but certainly the fact that we’ve got these people going from Australia to Syria and Iraq to join terrorist groups, and many of these will eventually seek to come back to Australia, it certainly does add to the dimension and the volume of potential terrorism here in this country.
That’s why the Government has just announced $630 million in extra resources for our security agencies, that’s why we’ve announced that we’re going to move quickly to try to introduce biometric screening at airports to stop people going out and coming in under false passports.
So the terror threat is real, it cannot be taken lightly, we can’t be complacent about it, and I just want to assure you Patrick, and everyone listening, that we are ever vigilant on this front.
PATRICK CONDREN:
So is your Justice Minister right when he says that the current terror threat is now higher than at the time of the Bali Bombing?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, yes, in the sense that we’ve got more people who have the disposition and the knowledge to be terrorists in this country.
PATRICK CONDREN:
Will the Government consider exempting pensioners from the $7 GP co-payment?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, Patrick, we’re going to be talking to the Australian Medical Association, to the crossbenchers about getting our legislation through the Senate, but we do think it makes sense to have a modest co-payment for visits to the doctor just as there’s a modest co-payment for trips to the pharmacist to get prescription drugs.
PATRICK CONDREN:
But the backlash against the GP co-payment has been pretty significant. Is it something you’re prepared to compromise on?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, obviously if we want to get this measure through the Senate, we’ve got to talk to the crossbench because the Labor Party opposes everything, even a measure like this which they once introduced, so given the total obstruction of the Labor Party…
PATRICK CONDREN:
But aren’t politicians allowed to change their mind – with respect, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, yes, but they’ve got to have a good reason for whatever the position is. The sorts of observations that Bob Hawke and others such as the current Labor Assistant Treasurer made about a Medicare co-payment are correct observations. The system is becoming unsustainable, it is vital that we try to ensure that there are sensible price signals in the system, and if it’s right and proper to have a modest co-payment for the PBS why not have a modest co-payment for Medicare?
PATRICK CONDREN:
But I suppose the specific question is about pensioners – will you consider exempting them from the co-payment?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we want to bring sensible policy in and we’ll talk to the crossbench about what they may or may not be able to accept themselves. So I just don’t want to pre-empt that kind of detail.
PATRICK CONDREN:
But in your mind is it a sensible thing, to move the debate on to say we will exempt pensioners from this GP co-payment?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we don’t exempt pensioners from a PBS co-payment. Their co-payment is normally a little less than the co-payment that the public faces, but we don’t exempt pensioners from a co-payment at the pharmacist until they’ve spent – I think from memory – about $300 in a calendar year. So if we don’t exempt pensioners from the PBS co-payment, why should they be entirely exempted from the Medicare co-payment?
PATRICK CONDREN:
So when you say entirely exempted – so you’re looking at perhaps some exemptions?
PRIME MINISTER:
What I’m not going to do, Patrick, is conduct negotiations with the crossbench on radio.
PATRICK CONDREN:
Come on, it’s a bit of fun. Let’s take this inside the negotiation room.
PRIME MINISTER:
I know where you’re going with this and fair enough that’s your job.
PATRICK CONDREN:
Let’s cut out the middle man, let’s just go straight to the end – tell us what you’re going to end up with.
PRIME MINISTER:
I’m pretty sure that we will end up with a modest co-payment. Now, the precise detail of the arrangement, let’s wait and see how we go with our discussions with the AMA and the crossbench, but a co-payment makes sense. It makes economic sense, it makes health policy sense, frankly it make fairness sense because in the end these systems have got to be sustainable and as Bob Hawke said repeatedly 20 years back when he was prime minister, a modest Medicare co-payment helps make the system sustainable.
PATRICK CONDREN:
Would the Abbott Government consider sending children from Nauru and Christmas Island to Australia just like the ones on the mainland?
PRIME MINISTER:
What the former government in its last few weeks did was make an absolute rock solid commitment that people who came to Australia illegally by boat would never be settled here. They would go off to PNG and Nauru and if worse came to worse they would end up in PNG and look; our position is in that respect similar to the former government – don’t come to Australia illegally by boat because even if you get here you’ll never stay here.
PATRICK CONDREN:
So is that a no?
PRIME MINISTER:
We have no intention of resettling anyone in Australia who has come to this country illegally by boat after, I think, July of last year,
PATRICK CONDREN:
Just in terms of an incident that’s breaking this morning of a journalist being beheaded by radical Islamists – radical jihadists. Do you have any views on that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, look, I haven’t seen it but I gather this is a breaking story and it’s absolutely sickening. Absolutely sickening, absolutely despicable, and it’s a sign that there can be no compromise whatsoever with the terrorists – the murderous terrorists – of the ISIL movement. I mean, this is evil. It’s as near to pure evil as we are ever likely to see.
PATRICK CONDREN:
To my way of think it is just extraordinary. Is there anything you as a Government can do given that it’s so far away from us? Is there anything you can do apart from express your understandable abhorrence of such an activity?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, look Patrick, Australia joined the international airlift to Mount Sinjar last week to try to ensure that the people who’ve been displaced by ISIL in Northern Iraq were not left starving on a mountain top. We fully supported President Obama’s airstrikes against the ISIL advance, and thank God for the moment that advance seems to have been reversed in part because of the American airstrikes. So we’ll keep talking to our partners and allies about what we can do to be useful in this situation. We’re certainly not going to participate in ground wars and things like that…
PATRICK CONDREN:
So definitely no boots on the ground in Iraq again?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, President Obama has made it absolutely clear that there won’t be combat troops on the ground, but that he’s not going to stand on the sidelines and watch a potential genocide. In our own small way I think that’s a good position for Australia.
PATRICK CONDREN:
So no Australian troops specifically, no Australian combat troops on the ground in Iraq again?
PRIME MINISTER:
That’s our firm intention, that we should not get caught up in unwinnable wars, but on the other hand what we should try to do, along with our partners and allies, is what we can to help, particularly in a situation of potential genocide.
PATRICK CONDREN:
So you say it’s not your intention – what would change that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, look, this ruling in and ruling out is pretty counterproductive, but I think President Obama has given us a pretty good lead here, the last thing he wants to do is get entangled in yet another Middle Eastern conflict, but you can hardly stand by while a genocide is taking place. A preventable genocide is taking place and good on the President and the Americans for being prepared to intervene in this limited way to stem the ISIL advance.
PATRICK CONDREN:
Prime Minister, I know you’re busy, I know you’ve got to crack on, can I just canvass one other thing with you? Brisbane – and you’re in Brisbane today – Brisbane’s come 20th in a list of the best places in the world to live.
PRIME MINISTER:
Only 20th, Patrick?
PATRICK CONDREN:
Prime Minister, what sort of a travesty of justice is that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Exactly right! I can understand Sydney and Brisbane coming equal first, but how on earth did they put Brisbane at 20th?
PATRICK CONDREN:
I tell you what – you’re hedging your bets there. These crossbenchers when it comes to negotiations over the GP co-payment they’ve got more than a match when they come to you I can see.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, look, the last thing I want to do is create unnecessary enemies, so to speak. No unnecessary enemies should be the motto of all sensible politicians. Patrick, look, I tell you what Brisbane does need – Brisbane needs better roads, better transport infrastructure.
I know Campbell Newman wants to give Brisbane and Queensland more generally better transport infrastructure and he’s going to find a very strong partner in this Commonwealth Government.
We want to help with Queensland roads, we’ve committed $1 billion to the Gateway Upgrade, we’ve committed almost $7 billion to various upgrades along the Bruce Highway, and you’ll find more and more of that from the Commonwealth Government as the years go by.
PATRICK CONDREN:
And with those words from our sponsor, we thank you very much for your time this morning, Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks, Patrick.
[ends]