KIRSTYN MARCH:
We welcome the Prime Minister of Australia to the electorate of O’Connor in Kalgoorlie-Boulder today. Tony Abbott, good morning to you.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning, Kirstyn. It’s lovely to be with you.
KIRSTYN MARCH:
Why are you here?
PRIME MINISTER:
I’m here because from time to time Prime Minister’s should visit Kalgoorlie-Boulder. It’s a very important centre; one of the biggest regional centres in Western Australia and it is the gold capital of our country – always has been since the 1890s the gold capital of our country and gold is still a very significant export and the work that people do here in Kalgoorlie-Boulder is very important to our national economy. When I was down in Albany before Christmas for the ANZAC commemoration I promised Rick – Rick Wilson, your hardworking local member – that I would be in the electorate for a proper visit. When the fires were on in the southwest I promised both Rick and Nola Marino that I would come back and properly pay tribute to the people who did such good work to make those fires less catastrophic than might have been the case, and so here I am in the electorate of O’Connor in the beautiful city of Kalgoorlie and let’s not forget Boulder, either.
KIRSTYN MARCH:
Welcome to our region. You mentioned how important the gold industry is, we’re historically famous for it. The industry is a bit concerned about an increase to the royalty rate, we know it’s a push from the state government to replenish their budget deficit, but what’s your opinion on increasing the royalty rate on gold?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I want to see less tax, not more tax. We abolished the carbon tax because we thought that was a bad tax, it was just a cash grab masquerading as an environmental measure. We abolished the mining tax because we knew that the former Labor government if it had stayed in office would’ve extended the mining tax to other sectors like the gold sector. So, as far as we’re concerned in Canberra, we want to see less tax not more tax.
KIRSTYN MARCH:
So, you disagree with increasing that royalty on gold?
PRIME MINISTER:
I say that it’s up to the state governments what they do, but as far as this national government is concerned, we want to get taxes down not up. The mining industry already pays company tax. Its workforce obviously pays the PAYG tax, and of course there are royalties on top of that. So, we think that the mining industry is paying its fair share of tax and obviously it is up to the state governments to decide what the level of royalties should be. But as far as the Commonwealth Government in Canberra’s concerned, there’ll be no new taxes on the mining industry.
KIRSTYN MARCH:
Now moving on, are you concerned by the state government’s announcement that up to 150 of our remote and isolated indigenous communities will close because of a Federal Government funding shortfall?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I’m not quite sure that I accept your characterisation. We entered into an arrangement with the state governments that we would pay them a one-off payment in return for them taking over the delivery of municipal services in remote areas…
KIRSTYN MARCH:
But isn’t it true the Federal Government provides two-thirds of that funding?
PRIME MINISTER:
But we entered into an agreement with the states that we would make a one-off payment to them in return for them taking over the delivery of municipal services in remote places – as is their constitutional responsibility. Now, it is up to the state government to decide exactly what services it will deliver in what locations. I know there are some concerns about this. Nigel Scullion, as I understand it, who’s the Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs, is meeting with the states today but in the end it is not unreasonable for the state government to say that if the cost of providing services in a particular remote location is out of all proportion to the benefits being delivered, that, fine by all means, live in a remote location, but there’s a limit to what you can expect the state to do for you if you want to live there.
KIRSTYN MARCH:
The community has expressed worries about how that will affect the indigenous culture and that connection that they’ve got with the land. How would the communities closing go towards the Commonwealth’s policy on closing the gap?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think they’re two entirely separate issues, and if you want to close the gap what you’ve got to do is get the kids to school, the adults to work and you’ve got to ensure that communities are safe. And in order to get kids to school and adults to work, you’ve got to have a school and if people choose to live miles away from where there’s a school, if people choose not to access School of the Air and the other services that are available for people in very, very remote locations, if people choose to live where there’s no jobs, obviously it’s very, very difficult to close the gap, because without education…
KIRSTYN MARCH:
But are you penalising people for living people in remote areas there? Isn’t that something that you should encourage, to get people out of the cities?
PRIME MINISTER:
It’s not the job of the taxpayer to subsidise lifestyle choices. It’s the job of the taxpayer to provide reasonable services in a reasonable way, indeed, to provide high-quality services in a reasonable way and then I think it is the responsibility of our citizens to shoulder the usual duties of citizenship. It is the responsibility of every Australian parent to send his or her children to school – indigenous people no less than everyone else. It’s the responsibility of every Australian adult to look for work if you are capable of work, and, yes, while you are looking for work, the government will pay you unemployment benefits, but what we can’t do is endlessly subsidise lifestyle choices if those lifestyle choices are not conducive to the kind of full participation in Australian society that everyone should have.
KIRSTYN MARCH:
My guest this morning is Tony Abbott. He is the Prime Minister of Australia. Now let’s move on to radioactive waste facilities. You’ve put out an expression of interest. A couple of councils from our region are thinking about taking that up and having those waste facilities. Do you see our area as a dumping ground?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I see this as a dynamic part of our country and I see this as an area where people are looking to make the most of their opportunities. Now, in order to have a nuclear storage facility it’s going to be important to have locals who want it and it’s going to be important to have a secure title and that’s obviously one of the issues in many of the remote locations which are potential candidates for such a facility. We had what we thought was an agreement with the traditional owners at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory for a facility but then there was a dispute break out between the traditional owners and, in the end, we decided that if people don’t want it, there’s no point trying to insist upon it.
But, I should say that this will be a massive economic benefit for the part of Australia that eventually decides to host it and it’s not surprising that the Labor Premier of South Australia, Jay Weatherill, is now looking at how South Australia can make the most of the entire nuclear cycle. They’re already mining uranium at Olympic Dam, they’re exporting uranium from Olympic Dam, what else can the people of South Australia do in the nuclear cycle to boost their employment, to boost their prosperity and I think that’s a common sense move from Jay Weatherill – a very common sense move from Jay Weatherill – and I hope other people around Australia will back it up.
KIRSTYN MARCH:
Now, moving on, the flipside, Renewable Energy Targets have not been announced just yet but the Environment Minister is working with the clean energy sector on this. We have plenty of land, we’ve got plenty of sun out here as well, wind, even waves down in the Esperance region. Is the Government prepared to support and to fund investment in our Goldfields Esperance region in renewable energy, and when?
PRIME MINISTER:
If renewable energy is economic, it won’t need to be subsidised by the Government and I think it’s a mistake to think that government subsidy is the answer to all problems or all issues. What made this region so economically dynamic is not government subsidy but people who’ve gone out and had a go, people who’ve gone out and wrung a living from the earth – either as farmers, graziers or, indeed, as miners. So, let’s salute the initiative and the entrepreneurialism of the people of Kalgoorlie-Boulder over the generations.
We support renewable energy, but as you probably know, the former government legislated for a target. It was supposed to be 20 per cent. Because of energy efficiencies it’s going to be more like 26 per cent without adjustment. We would like to adjust that target back towards 20 per cent. We are talking to the crossbench and, indeed, to the Opposition in the Parliament. Greg Hunt and Ian Macfarlane are confident that we are close to a deal and, frankly, we need a deal because if we don’t get a deal energy prices might go up again and this is a Government that wants to bring energy prices down. Power prices had their biggest fall on record late last year because of the abolition of the carbon tax and let’s keep them on a downward trajectory and that is what we are bending our energy to achieve.
KIRSTYN MARCH:
I know you’ve got a morning tea to get to so I’ve just got a couple more questions for you. Aged care – in Esperence there is a two year waiting list for a bed in aged care. I understand some elderly people were being put into beds at a local hospital there. What is your commitment to aged care? How are you going to better it, because it is just an issue that is going to grow as time goes by?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes and, look, when I was the Health Minister in the Howard Government we increased aged care places from about 100,000 to about 200,000…
KIRSTYN MARCH:
But what are you doing now? We’re not talking about the past.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I think I am entitled to talk about what I have done personally in the area. I think I am allowed to explain to the public that I am not just words, I am action when it comes to these things. Now, we’re continuing to expand the number of aged care places. We must because, as you say, our population is getting older and while it is a terrific thing that people live longer and more productive lives, eventually many people do need aged care services.
Look, every few months there are new aged care place rounds and it is up to local suppliers to bid for those places and I am very confident that particularly with the encouragement of Rick Wilson, the local member, that we will get more aged care places into Albany, into Esperence and into Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
KIRSTYN MARCH:
And Mr Abbott, what’s in those pockets today? Will you be making any funding announcements while you are in our region?
PRIME MINISTER:
Please, Kirstyn, this is so ABC – always looking for a subsidy from government. I mean, really and truly, can I tell you why government has to be frugal…?
KIRSTYN MARCH:
But you’re giving money to the car industry.
PRIME MINISTER:
This Government is rather famous, in some cases notorious, for not continuing open-ended subsidies for the car industry. We are not giving ongoing open-ended subsidies to the car industry. Yes, we have decided not to continue with our attempts to repeal the Automotive Transformation Scheme legislation but, nevertheless, this is a time limited scheme that will wind down as manufacturing in this country and the car industry winds down.
But look, the best thing I can do for the people of this region is to deliver a strong economy and that means getting taxes down, that means getting regulations down and the only way responsibly to get the taxes down in the long run is to keep your spending under control. So, all of the new spending that this Government is looking at is spending that will actually boost economic activity. We are spending a lot of money on infrastructure because that boosts economic activity. There will be a small business tax cut soon because that boosts economic activity. There will be a boost to childcare soon because that boosts economic activity. We want to build a stronger economy but we don’t want to build a subsidy state – we do not want to build subsidy state – and, please, Labor wants to build a subsidy state. Labor keeps telling you that there is a bottomless pit of money, that money grows on trees, and that the government can just endlessly hand it out. Well, that’s why we got in trouble under the Rudd/Gillard Government because Labor pretended that money was the solution to every problem. Well, sometimes money is the solution to a problem, but in the end, it’s working with people, it’s fostering that initiative and dynamism which is at the heart of the Australian character that is going to make our future better.
KIRSTYN MARCH:
Just before we let you go, we asked people on Facebook if they had one question they could ask you what would it be? We got about 50 to 100 responses there…
PRIME MINISTER:
That means they’re still listening!
KIRSTYN MARCH:
This one made us giggle. Jordan: do you like fish sticks, Mr Abbott?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, that’s a nice question and I was at a beautiful winery in the Swan Valley yesterday with Christian Porter, the hardworking local member and my Parliamentary Secretary, and I had a couple of fish sticks there – absolutely beautiful. Because it was the middle of the day I didn’t sample the local product and I felt a little bit disappointed that I wasn’t able to do so but, yes, under the right circumstances I love fish sticks and tell Jordan he is a young man of good taste.
KIRSTYN MARCH:
Good to have you on the programme today. Thank you for visiting our region.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you so much.
[ends]