WARREN ENTSCH:
First of all, thank you very much indeed for being here. What you’ve seen happen in the last three quarters of an hour or so is something very, very special for this community. Our Torres Straight Light Infantry veterans have been fighting for recognition for many years. We were very successful in getting that recognition back in the late 1990s and you can see the pride in the sacrifice that was made by so many. To have our Prime Minister up here and to have a number of our Cabinet Ministers and other Ministers here today to be able to commemorate that and to see firsthand what’s happening up in this part of the world I think is very, very special. He may not have been the first prime minister to be up in this area, but he's certainly going to be the one that's spent the longest amount of time here and in doing so, of course, will have a far more comprehensive understanding of the issues, the challenges and the opportunities that we see up in a wonderful place like the Torres Strait.
So, I just wanted to thank the Prime Minister, if I could, for taking the time, a week out of your very busy schedule to be here, run government from here and, of course, be prepared to be so open and accessible to the Torres Strait people.
Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you so much, Warren, and look, it is great to be here with Warren Entsch and also with my Cabinet and ministerial colleagues, particularly Nigel Scullion, the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, and George Brandis the, Attorney-General, today.
Yes, as Warren Entsch says, I'm not the first prime minister to come to the Torres Strait. I believe I'm the fourth prime minister to come to the Torres Strait, but certainly, there has never been such a large ministerial contingent come to this part of remote Australia. It's important that we are as familiar with remote Australia as we are with metropolitan Australia and as far as I'm concerned, our message of jobs, growth and community safety is just as relevant in remote Australia as it is anywhere else.
I began the day today with a work-out, a physical training session with the 51st Battalion of the Far North Queensland Regiment, the successor to the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion that we were honouring today. I was then very privileged and honoured to be with the Chief of the Defence Force to present medals to the three Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion veterans who are with us today. Then I had meetings with the council. I was lucky to be up on Green Hill to look at the historic fortifications and then, of course, we've just had a moving commemorative service.
I do want to thank Warren Entsch, the Local Member, for the work he's done to ensure that Australians are aware of the impact the war had on the Torres Strait. Horn Island was subject to heavier bombing than any part of Australia except Darwin. Very few Australians know that 156 people were killed in bombing raids on Horn Island in 1942 and Warren has certainly been an important part of honouring the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion. He organised some 40 veterans to go to Canberra in 2000 to the War Memorial and, sadly, there's just four left but three of them were honoured today.
Before I throw to questions, I probably should just observe that, yes, there have been difficulties on global stock markets in the last 48 hours. It's important to remember that stock markets do go up and down. That's just life in a market economy that stock markets will go up and down. These stock market difficulties seem to be associated with a bit of a bubble in China and fears about a slowing Chinese economy. The good thing is that we haven't seen any ramifications from the stock market in capital markets more generally. I wouldn't expect any ramifications because while the Chinese economy is slowing, the rest of the world economy does appear to be picking up. America is growing, not spectacularly, but steadily. Europe certainly seems to have turned the corner; it certainly seems to be growing reasonably well again, particularly the United Kingdom. And here in Australia, our fundamentals are strong.
The fact that so many people from right around the world want to invest in our economy – want to invest heavily in our economy – is a great vote of confidence in Australia, and while there's always more to do, the substantial tax cuts that this Government has put in place, particularly the loss of the carbon tax, the abolition of the mining tax, the reduction of regulation, the successful conclusion of Free Trade Agreements with China, Japan and Korea does mean that people can have great confidence in our economy
QUESTION:
Have there been any warnings to you from Treasury about the potential for this to escalate into an economic crisis?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it's important that people don't hyperventilate about these things. Certainly, I've been talking to Treasurer Joe Hockey about the stock market issues over the last couple of days. I had a briefing from the Reserve Bank Governor this morning, I've been briefed by senior officials while I'm up here in the Torres Strait. It is not unusual to see stock market corrections. It is not unusual to see bubbles burst in particular markets and for there to be some flow-on effects in other stock markets, but the fundamentals are sound. While the Chinese economy is slowing, the US economy is gathering speed, the European economy is gathering speed, not as much speed as we'd like, but certainly, the worst is very much over for Europe and our economy continues to perform quite well.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, I understand that Mark Scott sent you a text this morning apologising for last night on Q&A. Have you accepted that apology?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I haven't had a chance to respond to the text message that I had because it's been a very, very busy morning. I just hope that the ABC management get on and do what they said they were going to do with that programme. I think it is a bit out of control and I think it's important for the ABC not just to talk about tighter management structures, tighter management control on that particular programme, but actually do it.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, Joe Hockey yesterday was talking about tax cuts and bracket creep. When will your detailed policy be released?
PRIME MINISTER:
You'll see detailed plans from us in the run-up to the election and I want to assure you that this Government wants lower, simpler, fairer taxes. This Government believes in tax reform. We've delivered the first instalment of tax reform with the abolition of the carbon tax, the abolition of the mining tax, the biggest tax cuts ever for small business and it's in our DNA to want to deliver further tax cuts and we will in the run-up to the election.
QUESTION:
What's your reaction to the Newspoll results you're behind as preferred Prime Minister, what's your message to your backbench?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, my message to everyone is that this is a Government which is focused on governing. This is a government which is focused on delivering better outcomes to the people of Australia and the great thing about the abolition of the carbon tax is that it has delivered to households; the abolition of the mining tax has delivered to business, in terms of removing some of the sovereign risk issue that the former government left our country in. Most importantly, the tax cuts for small business have been very, very good for confidence. There has been a surge of confidence in small business since this year's Budget.
QUESTION:
Do you read anything into Dyson Heydon taking longer to decide whether to stay on as Royal Commissioner? Are you concerned that whether or not he steps down his findings are going to be tarnished either way?
PRIME MINISTER:
The interesting thing is that over the last 24 hours we've seen a very senior, very well-respected Labor figure, Martin Ferguson, former president of the ACTU, former long-serving minister in Labor Governments, Martin Ferguson come out and say this inquiry is important. This inquiry is not a political game, this inquiry is important for the future of the union movement and the Labor Party. So, regardless of what the Royal Commissioner ultimately decides, the Royal Commission must and will go on.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, you've spent some time with the Chief of Defence this morning, did you discuss Syria at all and the possibility of joining air strikes?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, we didn't discuss Syria this morning, although obviously we do discuss the situation in the Middle East quite frequently. I'm very proud of the work that our armed forces are doing in the Middle East. We are a very significant part of air operations over Iraq and indeed over the whole theatre, because while our strike aircraft are not conducting missions in Syria, our control aircraft, our refuelling aircraft, are certainly working with Coalition aircraft that are striking into Syria. Now, I had a request from President Obama some weeks ago to consider strikes into Syria. After that, I asked our military officials to talk to the Pentagon and in the wake of those conversations, a formal request for Australian involvement in air strikes in Syria has come. We'll consider this and we’ll make a decision in the next week or so.
QUESTION:
Labor wants more information before committing to those air strikes. Are you prepared to guarantee they'll get it and in what form?
PRIME MINISTER:
We've been very quick to brief the Opposition on this, as we should be, because what I want to see is a united Australian nation behind our military actions in the Middle East, because let's face it, this death cult that we're dealing with in the Middle East is reaching out to us. We've seen on a number of occasions actual or threatened terrorist strikes here in Australia inspired by the death cult in the Middle East. We've got about 120 Australians known to be fighting with the death cult in the Middle East. We've seen about 30 Australians so far killed while fighting with the death cult. We must deal with it. We've got to deal with it at home, we've got to deal with it at source and that's why we are considering this US request.
QUESTION:
How worrying is this morning’s Newspoll given the Canning by-election is only a few weeks away?
PRIME MINISTER:
The Canning by-election is obviously real in the sense that other indicators aren't. I'm very confident that we have an outstanding candidate, a really outstanding candidate and we've got a good story to tell, because let's face it, the carbon tax and the mining tax were uniquely anti-Western Australian taxes. I don't think the people of Western Australia have forgotten the damage that was done to them by the former Labor Government and the benefits that have already been delivered by this Government. Not only have we scrapped these anti-Western Australian taxes, but when Western Australia was in a particular jam because of the GST distribution, we were able to bring forward infrastructure spending into Western Australia, and we were already spending a great deal on Western Australian infrastructure such as the Perth Freight Link and the Swan Bypass. So, this is a government which is determined to keep looking after the people of Western Australia.
Thank you.
[ends]