PRIME MINISTER:
It is terrific to be here at the Canberra Business Chamber. The fact that so many Canberra business people were here this morning amply illustrates that Canberra is a city of business as well as a city of Government.
It’s important that our capital be a city of business because Government needs to understand that you can't have strong and cohesive communities without strong and prosperous economies to sustain them and you can't have strong economies without successful private businesses.
So, I salute the private businesses of Canberra and I pledge myself every day to work harder and harder to ensure that business succeeds because if business succeeds we have more jobs and more prosperity for everyone.
I did notice overnight that the Matildas won and that is great news for them, it's great news for Australian football and obviously it is exciting for all fans.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, we hear reports this morning that the Government is considering means testing access to public school education. Do you think this is reducing universal access to education and would it be the same as removing universal access to health care, as in what you tried to do with the GP co-payment?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I make the fundamental point that states and territories run public schools. What happens with public schools is absolutely a matter for states and territories.
QUESTION:
But this idea is on the table? It is not being taken off the table by Canberra?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we don't have any role at all. We have no role at all in the running of public schools. Public schools are absolutely the business of the state and territory governments and whether state or territory governments choose to change the way schools are funded in their states and territories is absolutely a matter for them.
Obviously, there is a federation reform White Paper process taking place now. I think it's good that some of the states and territories at least are thinking creatively about how they can responsibly fund their operations. But any question of how you fund public schools in terms of what contribution parents might be expected to make is absolutely a matter for the states and territories.
QUESTION:
Mr Abbott, how confident are you that the changes to citizenship laws that we will see on Wednesday will stand up to a High Court challenge?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, obviously we have had legal advice from a number of sources and we are confident that this legislation can minimise constitutional risk. But the main point, and this is the point I want to stress, our message to people who leave Australia to fight for terrorist armies in the Middle East is that we don't want you back. If you are a dual national, we won't let you back because the first duty of Government is to keep our country safe and the last thing any of us want to see is terrorists loose on our streets.
QUESTION:
On terror laws, can you confirm that the laws won't have ministerial discretion to revoke citizenship?
PRIME MINISTER:
What I can confirm is that this Government will put our policy into legislation and our policy is that we will strip citizenship from terrorists who are dual nationals. This is a very important part of keeping our country safe and my message to people who leave Australia to fight with terrorist armies in the Middle East is, if you go, we don't want you back. And if you are a dual citizen, we won't let you back.
Thank you.
[ends]