FIONA SCOTT:
Good afternoon. It’s wonderful to be here today with the Prime Minister and of course my neighbour in Louise Markus, the Member for Macquarie. This is a really exciting announcement that we’re going to be investing as a Government $15 million into the Cumberland Conservation Corridor. This is a critically endangered habitat and it’s important for the future of Western Sydney that we do invest in the plains here and as we develop and as we grow, that we do have the lungs of Western Sydney that’s important for all the people that live here.
So, it’s very exciting that we are investing this money into this area so that we are buying back some of the land in areas like Llandilo and Londonderry. We’re also here today announcing a million trees that we will be planting right across the Corridor. So, thank you, Prime Minster, and thank you for all the support that you continue to show the people of Western Sydney.
If I may ask my friend and colleague, Louise Markus, to say a few words.
LOUISE MARKUS:
Thank you, Fiona. It’s wonderful to be here with my colleague, Fiona Scott, and of course it’s wonderful to have the Prime Minister Tony Abbott with us today. This has been long fought for and it’s wonderful to see the vision of the Cumberland Plain Conservation Corridor come into pass. Can I particularly acknowledge some of the work that will be done in my electorate of Macquarie. As Fiona and I know, the Greater Western Sydney Cumberland Conservation Corridor will cover a great deal of Western Sydney, including Macquarie. There will be places like Scheyville National Park, Cattai National Park and also the links with parts of Lindsay that will enable both the fauna and the flora of the Cumberland Plains to be re-established, revegetated and for us to see some of the wonderful birdlife that is native to this region return and actually increase.
So, with that I would like to hand over to the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you so much, Louise, thank you so much, Fiona. It’s good to be here in St Mary’s with Fiona Scott, the Member for Lindsay and Louise Markus, the Member for Macquarie, two very hardworking Western Sydney MPs who are quite rightly delighted that as part of our $15 million plan for the Cumberland Conservation Corridor, today we’re announcing $4.5 million to 13 projects run by three organisations – Greening Australia, Muru Mittigar and the Greater Sydney Local Land Services – to plant almost one million trees.
Every great city needs its lungs. The Cumberland Conservation Corridor is the lung of Western Sydney. It’s important that this be in tip top condition and this $15 million will help to ensure that as far as is humanly possible, we put the Cumberland Conservation Corridor back into its natural state. As you can see, the bushland around here has been exposed over the decades to clearing, to grazing, to fencing. Some of that is all fair enough, but we want to ensure that as far as is humanly possible, the Cumberland Conservation Corridor is a priceless natural asset for the people of Western Sydney and that’s what this money is about.
This is a Government which is focussed every day as you know on jobs, growth and community safety, but part of having a strong and safe community is having a strong and clean environment and that’s exactly what this investment is all about – trying to ensure that the people of Western Sydney can live and work in a beautiful environment and that’s what we want to create; that’s what this investment is all about.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, in relation to Operation Fortitude yesterday…
PRIME MINISTER:
I’m going to take questions about today’s announcement and then I’ll deal with other subjects.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, what role do your Local Members play in these conservation efforts?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, they are absolutely critical advocates for the sorts of things that we’re doing today. Fiona and Louise both want to ensure economic development, but they want to ensure that we have economic development in a clean, green and beautiful Western Sydney. This is all about ensuring that the city, that the Western Sydney [inaudible] is not just a concrete jungle, it’s a place that has beautiful green lungs and that’s what this investment is designed to create.
QUESTION:
Are you still planning to work on getting more connections between parts of the bushland that aren’t yet connected?
PRIME MINISTER:
Exactly right. Part of the $15 million overall that we’ll be spending on the Cumberland Conservation Corridor is to purchase land so that there are appropriate connections between the remnant bushland of the area.
QUESTION:
In relation to Operation Fortitude yesterday, are you embarrassed by the manner in which that played out?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, obviously it was a mistake. The press release was clumsy as the Border Force Commissioner has described it. It was over the top and wrong because we would never stop people randomly in the street demanding their visa details. We don’t do that sort of thing in Australia and it will never happen under this Government.
QUESTION:
What was the highest level then within the Department of Immigration and Border Protection that that press release was cleared by? Have you made inquiries there and can you tell us?
PRIME MINISTER:
My understanding is that it went to the Victorian Commander of Australian Border Force.
QUESTION:
It was released by the federal department, as I understand it. What was the highest level within the federal department that read and cleared that?
PRIME MINISTER:
I wouldn’t know.
QUESTION:
Should the force Commander, Don Smith, lose his job if he said that they were going to be doing that – stopping people in the street – and that’s not the case?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I just want to make it absolutely crystal clear that Border Force is doing an excellent job, it’s doing a very important job, but as far as I’m concerned, as far as the Government is concerned, we will never be in the business of stopping people randomly in the street to check on their visa details. That’s just not the sort of thing that would ever happen in this country. What was happening as part of this Victorian Police operation to, I gather, crack down on anti-social and unlawful activity at transport hubs was that anyone who the Victorian Police suspected might have a visa issue would then be referred to Australian Border Force in the normal way. Unfortunately, the press release was very, very badly worded, but no one has been, no one ever will be randomly stopped in the street for some kind of a visa check.
QUESTION:
So what were the Border Force officers going to do then if they weren’t going to stop people in the street?
PRIME MINISTER:
They would do their job. If Victorian Police referred a matter to them, they would deal with it.
QUESTION:
Will you be seeking answers from Don Smith as to what went wrong?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, because I've given a full explanation of exactly what the situation was.
QUESTION:
What about Peter Dutton? The press release went out from his department.
PRIME MINISTER:
And it was an operational press release. There are all sorts of things that our operational agencies do, all sorts of press releases that go out from the Australian Federal Police, from the Australian Border Force, from Government departments. All sorts of press releases go out all the time – but they go out under the authority of the relevant officials, they go out under the authority of the relevant agencies and that all happens at arm’s length from Ministers. It all happens at arm’s length from the executive government.
QUESTION:
Was it wrong to have a press release put out at all? Was it part of a political plan to have a national security announcable?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think there’s a bit of hyperventilating going on over there and, as I said, I’ve given a full explanation of this. There was an operation – a standard law enforcement operation – by the Victorian Police. Australian Border Force was one of seven agencies involved. Victoria Police routinely, if they suspect there could be a visa issue with someone who they are questioning, they refer it on to Australian Border Force in the usual way and that’s all that was ever intended yesterday.
QUESTION:
So were you or was your office aware of the nature of this operation before it was announced?
PRIME MINISTER:
Nope. Nope.
QUESTION:
So your office had no awareness that Border Force would be involved in this operation at any time?
PRIME MINISTER:
Nope. Nope. Nope.
QUESTION:
Should Ministers not take responsibility for the operational function of their agencies?
PRIME MINISTER:
But nothing happened except here the issue of a poorly worded press release. Absolutely nothing untoward happened except for the issue of a poorly worded press release. Now, I know that there are people in our community who don’t like the Government's strong border protection policy. I know there are people out there in our community that don’t like this Government. Fair enough, no Government is perfect. Government policy can be disagreed with, but all that happened here was that a poorly worded press release was issued. It was a routine operation. There was no additional involvement of Australian Border Force in this than is customary in any number of other routine operations. I just want to make it absolutely crystal clear that as far as this Government is concerned, people will never be stopped in the street randomly and asked for their visa details. That’s the sort of thing that would never, ever happen in this country.
QUESTION:
Do you worry that the Border Force will now be known as the border farce, as we’ve seen on social media and in the media?
PRIME MINISTER:
Can I just remind you – respectfully, if I may remind you – that Australian Border Force is responsible for keeping our country safe and secure – absolutely vital work they are doing – keeping our country safe and secure. They are keeping our country safe and secure in the Torres Strait where I was this week. They are keeping our country safe and secure, along with our military personnel, in the seas to our north. They are working at our airports to ensure that would-be terrorists don’t leave our country. They are working at our airports to ensure that would-be terrorists don’t enter our country. They are performing absolutely vital work. They are working at our airports to ensure that drugs like ice doesn’t come into our country. The idea that anyone would describe them this way is, well, I don’t believe in demeaning the highly committed professional people who are keeping our country safe and, frankly, anyone who does demean these people really should be a little bit ashamed of themselves.
QUESTION:
Should we expect to see them on public transport and at public transport hubs more even if they are not going to be stopping people for their visa papers?
PRIME MINISTER:
Australian Border Force do their job. They do their job on our borders – they do their job on our borders. They do their job in airports, they do their job in the seas to our north, they do their job where cargo arrives for inspection from overseas. That’s where you will see Australian Border Force. They will be present where they need to be to do their job.
I think the Australian people are extremely grateful that in part because of the work of Australian Border Force, we have stopped the boats, we have stopped the deaths at sea, we have stopped all of these illegal arrivals that were happening at the rate of almost 5,000 a month at their peak under the former government. I think people are really pleased that under Australian Border Force there has been a 75 per cent increase in air cargo screening, there has been a 25 per cent increase in sea cargo screening, there has been a massive increase in the interdiction of drugs and drug precursor material coming into our country.
I think Australian Border Force does an absolutely outstanding job and the idea that they should be pilloried on the basis of a badly worded press release just shows that some people readily get things completely out of proportion.
Thank you.
[ends]