PRIME MINISTER:
It’s terrific to be here in Bunbury, it’s good to be here with Nola Marino the incredibly hard working local member and government whip in Canberra. This is one of the fastest growing parts of Australia. It is one of the most economically dynamic parts of Australia and I am pleased that this federal government has been able to help Western Australia and the South West by abolishing the carbon tax, abolishing the mining tax and trying to ensure that we get spending out of short term consumption and into long term investment. That's what this Government is aiming to do, to build up the long-term strength of our country. Yes, we are continuing to spend, as we must, but it's important to get the balance right. What I want to do is spend money on the projects that are going to make our country strong for the long-term. Plainly, the carbon tax was an economic handbrake. Plainly, the mining tax was an economic disaster. Disasters, both of them, for Western Australia. Now, they are gone and that's going to help the whole of Western Australia, but particularly the south west and places like Bunbury to flourish and Collie and Busselton, to flourish in the months and years ahead.
NOLA MARINO:
Those of you who understand the dynamics of the regional economy would understand how important the generation through the mining and resource sector is in Collie to this whole south west and to Bunbury in particular. The carbon and mining taxes in various ways, we have a whole raft of businesses, services and other, that support the mining sector, and I saw it graphically when the first iteration of the mining tax was announced, the impact directly on businesses and people in my electorate. So, Prime Minister, they are very important issues for this part of the world.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, it has been 26 years since a prime minister has been in Bunbury - what has drawn you to our region?
PRIME MINISTER:
What's drawn me to Bunbury is your hard-working local member. I am obviously aware there are ongoing issues for Bunbury. Bunbury is obviously part of the national economy, so it benefits from strong national economic management. But there are local issues like the bypass, like the Busselton Airport, and these are issues which Nola is continuing to lobby her colleagues in Canberra about, including me.
One of the reasons why we need Infrastructure Australia operating is because it will be a good way of ensuring that we do have an ordered, logical process for our infrastructure spending, and I'm confident that, over time, we will be able to move on some of the projects which are of great concern to people like Nola Marino.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, do you concede that Julia Gillard did nothing wrong in her work as a lawyer for AWU?
PRIME MINISTER:
I know the Royal Commission has been looking at that, and a whole host of other issues. I'm determined to do everything I humanly can to ensure that the Royal Commission not only gets to the bottom of corruption, and criminality, and organised crime links inside the union movement, but then we stamp them out, because we need a clean industry in construction. We need to have a clean and honest union movement. I owe it to the decent unionists of our country, I owe it to the honest workers of our country, to ensure that the organisations that represent them are straight and honest and that's what the Royal Commission is doing. Apart from that, I think it would be probably premature for me to comment on matters that are still before the Commission.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, George Brandis this morning came out and said the submissions against Julia Gillard were damming. Do you tend to agree with him?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I'm not going to comment on matters that are still before the Commission. People can look at the submissions, people have heard the evidence, they can come to their own conclusions about it. I'm going to just let the Royal Commission do its job, finish its work, and I'm confident that what the Australian public want to see is a clean union movement, they want to see clean workplace where people able to go about their business without the kind of thuggery, intimidation and corruption that has been going on in recent times.
QUESTION:
Why did you choose to turn down China’s invitation to [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
We support infrastructure, and, in principle, we are very happy to see a new Asia infrastructure investment bank, but we want to join a multilateral institution, not a unilateral one. We want to join an institution which has the same kind of governance and transparency arrangements that other international multilateral institutions have. So, we are continuing to talk to the Chinese and others about how that can be brought about, and if we can ensure that the proposed Asia infrastructure investment bank has the same sorts of governance and transparency arrangements that other multilateral institutions do, not only would we be enthusiastic to join it, but I think countries like Japan and America would also be enthusiastic to join it, and the more countries that are involved in these multilateral institutions, the better.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, having had two big policy wins in the past week – both fuel excise and Direct Action – are you satisfied that you are getting better at working with the crossbenchers?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm confident that this is a Government which is getting on with the job every day, of delivering on our election commitments, on giving the Australian people the good government that you want, and deserve. We said before the election that we'd scrap the carbon tax, we would stop the boats, we would build the roads of the 21st century and get the Budget back under control and that's exactly what we are doing. The carbon tax has gone. The boats have all but stopped. The roads are starting. The Budget, step by sometimes painful negotiating step, is getting back under control. That's what we were elected to do and that's exactly what we are doing.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, you were in Albany yesterday, how do you think all the hard went from your point of view and do you think it has put Albany on the map as an ANZAC location?
PRIME MINISTER:
Albany was always on the map as far as I'm concerned. Obviously the ANZAC interpretive centre is going to be a very important draw card as well as being a very important tribute to the ANZACS, they’re the people who have made Australia what it is. I'm really thrilled that it went so well yesterday, and I'm really thrilled that there's going to be a lasting legacy in Albany from this centenary.
I want to congratulate everyone involved with yesterday, and, in particular, I want to congratulate the Minister for Veterans Affairs, Michael Ronaldson, who has done such a terrific, terrific job. Yesterday's commemoration was a tribute to the city of Albany, to all its citizens who worked so hard to make this centenary event such a success.
QUESTION:
How do you rate your chances on striking deals on higher education reform and on the GP co-payment?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm not going to pre-empt discussions which are taking place all the time. I'm not going to forecast their results. We remain absolutely committed to the measures that we took to the Budget, but we accept that if they are matters that require legislation, we have got to talk sensibly and constructively to the crossbench and that's what we are doing all the time. My plea to the Labor Party and to the Greens is don't deal yourself into irrelevance by just opposing. The Government has a clear agenda. We have a strong mandate. We are determined to get on with it, and if you want to be relevant, you talk to the Government, you don't just have a hissy fit on the sidelines and that's the problem, that's what we have had from the Labor Party, except on national security, that's what we have had from the Labor Party over the last 12 months.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, what was the decision behind abolishing the carbon tax and establishing the Direct Action scheme?
PRIME MINISTER:
We have been saying for years that the carbon tax was a bad tax, and that it was going to damage our economy without helping the environment. Direct Action, on the other hand, is a much more modest scheme. It's prudent and proportionate, and it will involve, over time, the Government funding sensible proposals, which the market will give to us, and we envisage that they will involve; more trees, better soils, and smarter technology, and that's the smart and effective way of dealing with climate change.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, how much notice do you take of WA federal MPs and their arguments about GST distribution? I am sure Nola probably thinks it is too low. What is your view on it?
PRIME MINISTER:
It's a technical term, but horizontal fiscal equalisation will be part of the White Paper on the reform of the federation. This is a matter which certainly can and should be considered. I understand the Western Australian MPs are pitching on behalf of their State. I understand the Western Australian Premier is pitching on behalf of his state. That's what we all do. We all have important constituencies that we have to represent. In the end, the Government's responsibility is to the whole of Australia, and we have to make decisions which are fair to everyone; including fair to Western Australia. But just on the subject of funding for Western Australia, my recollection is that total federal funding to Western Australia is going to be about $1.6 billion more over the coming four years than over the last period, and if you look at funding for Western Australian public hospitals, double digit increases in three of the next four years, and if you look at funding for Western Australian schools, double digit increases in all of the next four years.
So, while I absolutely accept and appreciate that there are Western Australian concerns about the GST, this is a Government which has already been delivering in spades for Western Australia through the abolition of the carbon tax and the abolition of the mining tax and is continuing to provide very strong funding to this great state.
QUESTION:
Regional areas of Western Australia are in desperate need of residential rehab and detox facilities given the rising impact of ice. Do you think there should be more support given from a Commonwealth Government on providing funding for these facilities which in the south west has neither?
PRIME MINISTER:
There are various federal programmes which are dealing with these sorts of issues, and obviously it's open to organisations in all parts of our country to apply for funding under these programmes. In the end, all of these kinds of issues are works in progress, because there's a sense in which you can never do enough when it comes to dealing with terrible social problems, terrible issues in our community such as these.
So, I'm confident that as time goes by, all levels of government will do more, and I'm also confident that with the support and encouragement of Nola Marino, that local organisations will be applying to various federal programmes to ensure that they can do the right thing by the citizens of this area.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, how has the elevated terror risk changed the way political figures visit community events like this in regions?
PRIME MINISTER:
One thing that we will never do is close down our democracy because people are threatening our way of life. We must respond intelligently and that's what the Government has done, with $630 million worth of increased funding. Three tranches of legislation, two of which have now passed through the Parliament, which will make it easier for us to detain, to prosecute and to jail people who are returning foreign fighters, people who are would-be terrorists in this country. So we will respond strongly, but what we can't do is sacrifice our values in the fight to defend them. We can't do that – we won't do that. We must always be a free and open democracy and it's great we can have events like this on a beautiful day such as this.
[ends]