GEORGE CHRISTENSEN MP:
Thanks very much everyone for coming along today. It’s great to be here at Steve Geiger’s cabinet making business and more importantly to have the Prime Minister here to have a look around, have a yarn with Steve about some of the initiatives in the Federal Budget, particularly the tax cuts for small business and the accelerated depreciation.
I think that in our region and Mackay, for people like Steve – one of the army of Tony’s tradies around the nation – and for many other small businesses, we have been going through a rough patch in our local economy and this boost of confidence from the Federal Government in small business I think is going to pay massive dividends locally. We need small business out there spending; we need small business out there reinvesting and ultimately putting on more people. I know that Steve has long term plans to do that should the economy pick up and if every small business right now went out and invested in something – more than something – up to the value of $20,000, I think we could see an economic boom in this region on the back of that alone.
PM, thank you very much for coming along. It’s been great to have you here and I’ll let you have a talk about the Budget.
PRIME MINISTER:
George, it is great to be here in Mackay, it’s great to be with Steve and Tom Geiger here in their business, to talk about what has been the best Budget ever for small business and frankly, the best Budget ever for Northern Australia.
We’ve got $5.5 billion worth of tax cuts for small business. I’m particularly proud of the instant asset write-off which would enable people like Steve to upgrade their workshops; enables the tradies of our country to get themselves a new ute, if that’s what they want. Wherever you are in small business, whatever you’re doing in small business, this is the Budget for you.
It’s also going to be a very good Budget for Northern Australia. We believe in Northern Australia and its future. We think that the whole of Australia is going to benefit from the progress and prosperity of Northern Australia. Northern Australia has come on enormously in the last three decades, but it’s got an even bigger future. We’ve already got something like 50 per cent of our exports coming from Northern Australia. If we want to grow and develop as a nation, we’ve got to grow and develop Northern Australia.
So, it is terrific to be here. I think that this is a Budget for confidence. This is a Budget which will be a shot in the arm for small businesses in particular and of course small businesses buy off big businesses. So, if it’s good for small business, ultimately it’s good for big business. If it’s good for business, it’s good for everyone because business creates jobs and more jobs means more prosperity. So, that’s my Budget message to the people of Australia. Today, that’s my message to the people of Mackay. This is a Budget for you, it’s a Budget that is about encouraging you to have a go. That’s our natural instinct as Australians – to get out there and have a go and this is a Budget that wants to work with you, not against you.
QUESTION:
Today’s Newspoll figures show that your personal approval rating is at an eight month high – do you think the Budget has been a bit of a career saver for you?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don’t focus on polls, I focus on governing – that’s what I focus on. Every day the Treasurer, myself, the whole of the Cabinet, the whole of the Party Room, we’re focusing on what’s good for the people of Australia and delivering the good government that we were elected to provide.
QUESTION:
What’s small business telling you about the programme that you’ve announced with the $20,000 for tax write-off? It’s been committed for two years – should it go for longer?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I think there’s enormous excitement amongst the small businesses of Australia because for the first time in memory we’ve got a Government which isn’t just talking about small business, it is actually delivering for small business. So, there’s great excitement. I was in Perth on Saturday, I was in Townsville yesterday, I was in Melbourne on Saturday morning. Now, I’m here in Mackay talking to Steve Geiger and Tom Geiger – they’re excited because there’s some machinery here that probably does need an upgrade and this gives them the chance.
QUESTION:
Were you aware of how bad the economy was in Mackay?
PRIME MINISTER:
George has certainly been letting me know personally. He’s been letting our Party Room know for about 18 months now, that because of the drop in the coal price, because of the slowdown in coal investment, things are pretty tough here in Mackay. But, look, they were magnificent for about a decade. Yes, it’s tough now, but Mackay is full of resilient people and this town will come back because it’s a great city.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, are you surprised with the Palaszczuk Government not only encouraging the departments to sort of recruit for unions but actively encouraging it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I’m always disappointed when any government governs for one section of the community rather than for everyone. And this is a government here in Queensland which was elected on union money and on union campaigning. They basically owe the unions and I suppose now they’re delivering for the unions. Look, I’ve got nothing against unions, I just think that in the end you’ve got to deliver for everyone, not just for the union bosses.
QUESTION:
Will you be seeking an urgent meeting with the Opposition Leader and indigenous leaders about the referendum on the back of that study that’s been released for the support for constitutional recognition?
PRIME MINISTER:
As you know, this is a Government which wants to see indigenous people recognised in our constitution. I’ve been saying for quite some time now that if you look at the story of our country we’ve got an indigenous heritage, a British foundation, a multicultural character and if we can somehow acknowledge those realities in our constitution that would be a very good thing, it would be completing our constitution not changing it. There’s a process in place. In the next few weeks, next couple of months, we’ll have the report of Ken Wyatt’s committee and I think that’s an important further step towards constitutional recognition. I’m determined to get this done, but it’s more important to get it right than to rush it.
QUESTION:
[Inaudible] unhappy about the changes to parental payments and want more help for stay at home mums – are you appreciative of their concerns and will you meet with them?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I’m always meeting with MPs, individually and collectively on a whole range of subjects. But I just want to say that look at the changes in there for paid parental leave. We are guaranteeing that everyone gets 18 weeks at the minimum wage. If your employer doesn’t give you paid parental leave the Government will give you that. If your employer gives you less the Government will make it up to you. If your employer gives you more – well, that is terrific you have got a very public spirited employer who understands the importance of trying to attract a diverse workforce to keep them but obviously there is no longer a need for the safety net. What I don’t want to see is the situation that we have had for the last couple of years where Commonwealth public servants for instance will get two lots of parental leave from the taxpayer.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, [inaudible] is there any scope in the Budget for funding for the Bowen Basin Service Link? It is one of our top infrastructure priorities.
PRIME MINSITER:
Well, ok, we have certainly made some massive infrastructure commitments here in Queensland. There is almost $7 billion for the Bruce Highway including major works in and around Mackay. Joe Hockey in the Budget announced $5 billion dollars’ worth of concessional loans for infrastructure in Northern Australia and it may well be that these projects are projects that could submit for that funding. The other possibility is the Stronger Regions Fund. Yes, we have made some announcements about funding under the Stronger Regions Fund but the next round of applications has opened. There will be several rounds of funding under Stronger Regions and I would certainly invite people who have got worthwhile projects to look at that fund and apply for that in the next round.
QUESTION:
But at this stage there is no federal government commitment for funding for this project?
PRIME MINSITER:
Well, there are lots of good projects, lots of good ideas and I know everyone wants their project funded yesterday, but we have got some important sources of funding for the projects which most stack up and I would certainly invite people to look at those programmes and make the relevant application.
QUESTION:
With Joe Hockey, the Treasurer, it was said that if this Budget wasn’t a good one for him it might have been the last as Treasurer. Is that still the case if things don’t pan out correctly for you over the next coming months?
PRIME MINSITER:
This has been a very good Budget. This has been a very good Budget. It has built on the foundations of last year’s Budget. Yes, last year’s Budget made some tough decisions. It had to make some tough decisions because of the debt and deficit disaster that the Labor Party have left us. Interestingly the Labor Party is still in denial about the debt and deficit that is their fault – their legacy to our nation. So, we made some tough decisions last year. As a result of last year’s Budget we have actually already achieved some $30 billion worth of savings and because we were building on that foundation we were able to be a little more generous in this Budget, particularly with small business. Small business is the engine room of our economy and the great things about this Budget is that if you are a small business person you go out there and invest your money into something that you think will be good for your business, well, you pay less tax. This is the perfect way to get our economy going. We are not spending taxpayer’s money. We are encouraging small business people to spend their money and if they do on things that they know will help out economy, help their business, they pay less tax.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, is it time for you to make a firm decision on whether or not to hold an iron ore inquiry?
PRIME MINSITER:
Well, the point to make is that iron ore is one of our absolutely critical industries. The three export industries that are most important to our economy are; iron ore, coal and gas. They are our biggest exports and they have a big impact on employment, on investment and on tax revenue. So, it is important to know what is happening in the iron ore sector. There are claims and counter claims being made at the moment. I think it is important to get to the facts and an inquiry may well be a very good way of doing that. If we are going to have an inquiry it has got to be a fair inquiry; it can’t be a witch hunt, it can’t be directed against any particular company or companies – it has got to be fair and square and reasonable. One thing you will never find from this Government is any attempt to regulate a market which is working well. The great thing about our resource sector is that it has become very, very successful and prosperous, it’s very good for all Australians and it has done all that because of the initiative and the creativity of business, of private business, of private individuals and the last thing we want to do is to crackdown on people’s creativity.
QUESTION:
Can you confirm reports there’s been another Australian teenager killed in the Middle East?
PRIME MINISTER:
The point I’ve been making all along is don’t go into this danger zone. We know that the death cult is reaching out to us, we know that the death cult is attempting to brainwash young people online. Sadly, there are some people who have succumbed to this brainwashing, but if you go, you are likely not to come back because it is a very dangerous place. Do not go – that’s my message and if you do go and you do try to come back, as far as I’m concerned you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted and you will be jailed because there is no place in our society for people who have been radicalised and brutalised by participation in these terrorist movements.
QUESTION:
So you can confirm that another 17 year old has been killed?
PRIME MINISTER:
I’m not confirming, I’m just saying do not go. It’s a very dangerous place and as far as this Government is concerned, we are taking action to disrupt, degrade and destroy this death cult, all its members who happen to be in the areas where our forces are operating. We are trying to disrupt, degrade and destroy the death cult.
QUESTION:
You made some comments on welfare yesterday that somebody with a full-time job should have more money than someone on welfare. Will we see changes when the McClure Report comes down and will you be looking at changing welfare of changing tax?
PRIME MINISTER:
I’m pleased to see that Patrick McClure has been broadly supportive of what I said yesterday because I’ve worked very closely with Patrick McClure over the years in various capacities and let me just reiterate: you should always be better off in work than on welfare and if you earn an extra dollar you should always be better off. These are the fundamental principles on which our system should be based and the Government is always seeking to move further in those directions. But I’m not going to pre-empt any further decisions that we might make, just reiterate the principles which are ordinary common sense principles and I’d be surprised if anyone would want to contradict them.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, on that, with the threshold for the seniors as far as bringing it down to $800,000, are you getting bad negative publicity press in regards to that from the seniors themselves? The ones that I’ve spoken to aren’t happy about the situation that they’re going to lose part of the pension.
PRIME MINISTER:
You’ve got to understand the circumstances that we’re talking about here. What we’re talking about is a couple who own their own home and have over $1 million in assets apart from their own home and they’re still on the part-pension. Now, what we’re trying to do is ensure that it’s a little more generous to people with relatively little assets and a little less generous to people with relatively more assets. But one thing we aren’t going to do, unlike the Labor Party, is smack your superannuation and that’s why I think that the pensioners with more assets are going to be much better off with this Government. Sure, their part-pension might reduce or even cut out, but their superannuation is safe with this Government. Unfortunately, the Labor Party’s view is that your superannuation is a piggy bank that government can smash and grab every time it’s short of money. Well, we understand that superannuation is your money; it’s not government’s money and there’s a world of difference between the government deciding that it’s not going to give you as much taxpayer money as might otherwise have been the case and then raiding your money for its own purposes. We think what’s yours should be safe. Obviously, we’ve got to make intelligent and reasonable decisions given the budget circumstances that we face about how much taxpayers’ money we spend and when we spend it.
Thank you.
[ends]