PRESENTER:
I would have thought this bloke has got a little bit on his plate but it is very, very good. We are absolutely honoured and we want to welcome our Prime Minister, Mr Tony Abbott, to the programme. Prime Minister, thank you so much for joining us, we appreciate it.
PRIME MINISTER:
Roo and Ditts, it is really good to be with you. It is nice to be in Adelaide today, it is nice to have a chance to tell Adelaide and South Australia’s 135,000 small businesses that there is good news in this year’s Budget and they should be confident.
PRESENTER:
Absolutely.
PRIME MINISTER:
That’s my plug – that is my plug. Am I allowed to get a plug in?
PRESENTER:
Of course and you have done that and there are a lot of people who are very happy that you have made it a little easier to make a few dollars. We’ve also had a lot of calls Tony and we want to fire a few questions at you straight away. The ASC – the Adelaide Submarine Corporation – there is a lot of speculation about where that is heading. One-hundred-and-fifty jobs cut last week. What is some positive news you can throw out there for South Australians about the future of that area?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, the good news is that the ASC will be continuing to maintain the Collins Class subs for at least 15 years. That is the good news. That means that existing jobs at ASC should continue because the maintenance of these subs is a very, very big ongoing task and as the subs get older the maintenance task increases. So, that is the good news. Obviously, we are starting to think about the next generation of subs and we have got what is called a competitive evaluation process going on at the moment. There are three people involved, three entities involved; there is the Japanese entity, there is a German entity and there is a French entity. That is being assessed and we hope to be in a position to make a decision by the end of the year.
PRESENTER:
Can I ask, would you advise us as a state to head down this defence path? We know in the Northern suburbs we have just about lost Holden. That is going to go soon. Car making in this country hasn’t been sustainable – should we become a real defence hub?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, look, I think South Australia should obviously play to its strengths and yes there is a long history of defence manufacturing here. There is also a long history of innovative agricultural work. There is quite a long history of medical research. I don’t think we should ever put all our eggs in any one basket. I don’t think we should ever set limits on ourselves. As I was saying a moment ago there is 135,000 small businesses in South Australia. The future of South Australia is as diverse as those 135,000 small businesses. I want all of them to have a go because you never know which small business of today is going to be the big business of tomorrow and if we say we are only going to focus on defence, or we are only going to focus on the wine industry, or we are only going to focus on high-tech pharmaceutical manufacture we might be missing out on stuff. We don’t know what the future holds – what we do know is that it will be so much better if everyone is out there having a go.
PRESENTER:
And we all want to have a go and a lot of us applaud what has happened with this Budget. You are trying to help small business but can I just ask you about a thing – a nasty thing – we have in this country called payroll tax? That to me is the craziest, most ludicrous tax I have ever, ever heard of. We are disincentivising businesses to actually put people on – to give people jobs.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I don’t know that it is as crazy as the carbon tax…
PRESENTER:
Oh, it’s up there.
PRIME MINISTER:
The economists don’t like it. They say it is a direct tax on employment. So, the economists don’t like it. Way back in the early nineties when the Coalition proposed the Fightback reforms we wanted to get rid of payroll tax but then of course when we actually did bring the GST in about 15 years ago a range of state taxes were supposed to be abolished. Sadly, almost none of them were and the payroll tax, alas, keeps going. Hopefully, one day the South Australian state government will decide that it is going to reduce and ultimately abolish payroll tax.
PRESENTER:
What about the ice epidemic? You have got a taskforce happening. The ads on TV have been coming on very, very quickly which I think is great. What else are we going to see and what else has been happening behind the scenes that we don’t know about?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think the ads are a real good start because, let’s face it, there won’t be an ice scourge if people just say no to it. So, if people realise that this is the worst drug of addiction ever and the terrible thing about ice is that in the end you don’t just lose your mind you lose your body. You can be terribly disfigured by regular ice use and while you are on ice there is this awful, awful disposition to violence. This is why this is the most evil and the most harmful drug yet. It is the worst of them all; it is worse than heroin, worse than LSD, worse than all the rest of them. We have got a taskforce going. Ken Lay, the former police commissioner of Victoria is in charge. We want this taskforce to start reporting to us by the middle of the year. We need to tackle this urgently, we need to know what best practice is and we need to make sure that all of the states and territories are going in the same direction. We just can’t tolerate this. It is destroying communities, it is wrecking families, it’s ruining lives and we just can’t have it.
PRESENTER:
Tony, we have been talking about it pretty thoroughly on here ourselves for a couple of weeks. We have been trying to get hold of Ken Lay. If you can pass on a message for him to get him on Triple M.
PRIME MINISTER:
Ok, Triple M in Adelaide, we will get Ken Lay on the programme.
PRESENTER:
Exactly, it will be much appreciated. What about what is going on with terrorism at the moment. We have got young people going over there to fight. Now, they want to come back. How hard are you going to be on these young fighters? About letting them get back into the country?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I don’t think we should just let them back as if nothing has happened because, let’s face it, they have broken Australian law big time by going overseas to fight with these terror groups. Some of them have been in the thick of it. They are killers and the last thing we want is radicalised, brutalised people coming back to our country where they can potentially create mayhem. So, as far as I am concerned, anyone who has been involved with these terror groups overseas who wants to come back will be arrested, prosecuted and locked up for a long time.
PRESENTER:
Well, I think we all agree with that – no dramas whatsoever. Prime Minister, thanks so much for joining us this morning. We really do appreciate. I know you have many, many queuing up wanting your time so we appreciate it. Enjoy your time in Adelaide.
PRESENTER:
Are we out of time or do we have one more?
PRESENTER:
Yeah, if you have got one more question?
PRESENTER:
I have got one more for you Tones.
PRESENTER:
Yep, throw it in, squeeze it in.
PRESENTER:
Your relationship with the state government looks to be severely tested at the moment. Is that an accurate assessment and why is it so?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, look, I am hoping to catch up with the Premier later today and as far as I am concerned I am not in the business of picking a fight. I am in the business of…
PRESENTER:
Finishing them!
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, look, if you get into a fight it is important to win it, but look the trouble with fights between the Commonwealth and the states is they generate heat but not light. In the end we all know what needs to be done the North-South Road Corridor needs to be upgraded as quickly as possible. I have committed the Commonwealth to work with the states to get this corridor up to expressway standard within a decade. We are putting a billion into the Torrens Upgrade, into the Darlington Upgrade. The Torrens Upgrade is sort of underway. The Darlington Upgrade ought to start in a couple of months’ time and look as soon as we get specific developed proposals from the state government we want to get cracking.
PRESENTER:
Fair enough.
PRESENTER:
Now, you said you are hoping to catch up with the Premier today. Does he know you are in town?
PRESENTER:
He is hiding.
PRIME MINISTER:
He does.
PRESENTER:
Has he heard?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think we have been phone stalking each other.
PRESENTER:
We can pass on his number if you need it. We’ve got it.
PRESENTER:
Prime Minister Tony Abbott, thank you so much for talking to us here on Triple M.
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, next time we will do it in the studio.
PRESENTER:
Thank you. Well done.
PRESENTER:
Good on ya, Tone.
PRESENTER:
Prime Minister Tony Abbott in Adelaide and positive news hopefully about the ASC moving forward, Roo. Tough on terrorists. I think we got most of the answers we wanted.
PRESENTER:
Yeah, I thought it was a good conversation, Ditts.
PRESENTER:
Some answers about the ice as well, the ice situation. So, all pretty positive.
[ends]