PREMIER BARNETT:
Prime Minister, welcome once again to Western Australia and particularly to the Gateway Project. This project solves a big problem that Western Australia faced and that was congestion around the airport and, of course, surrounding areas of Kewdale and Forrestfield are at the centre of the storage and distribution of projects throughout the state. Also, it’s an incredibly important area for the servicing of the mining industry, so a lot of heavy vehicles, a lot of traffic around the airport. The project has been a $1 billion project, two thirds funded by the Commonwealth, one third funded by the state. It’s below budget, it’s ahead of time, and I think if you look at it now you can see not only an extraordinary engineering feat in terms of the roads and the interchanges, but beautiful artworks attached to it, the landscaping is terrific and I think this project – opening a major stage today and probably will be completed by mid-next year – I think it’s a great piece of engineering and I very much thank the commonwealth and the Prime Minister for his support for this project and, indeed, for his support for Western Australia. Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, thank you. It’s terrific to be here with Premier Colin Barnett. It’s great to be with the State Transport Minister, Dean Nalder. It’s terrific to be with Steve Irons the Local Member for Swan and also it’s good to have Andrew Hastie with us today, our candidate for Canning. It’s really good to be here to be with the Premier for the opening of this latest stage of the Perth Gateway. The Perth Gateway – as the Premier has said – is a very important piece of local infrastructure, a fabulous piece of local infrastructure. It’s been built because the state government has wanted it to be built and the Commonwealth government has supported it being built and today we can say that this important section of the Perth Gateway is opening several months ahead of schedule, under budget, because you’ve got a good Commonwealth government working with an efficient state government. That’s what makes our country work: when you’ve got a good Commonwealth government working with good state governments to deliver for the people of Australia, more jobs, more growth, and safe communities. It’s really, really important.
As you know, I’ve often said that I wanted to be an infrastructure Prime Minister. Yesterday, I was with the candidate for Canning. We made a commitment to spend $116 million in addition to state government money on the duplication of Armadale Road, today with Steve Irons the Member for Swan, we’re here to say Gateway is going well too, Gateway is going well too, and this is more good news from the Commonwealth government, more good news from the state government. So, it is a real pleasure to be here with the Premier, with the Minister, with the local member, with the local candidate to deliver for the people of Perth and the people of Western Australia.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, are you worried about the destabilising leaks that are distracting from both your announcement of the Syrian refugees and the Canning by-election? Does it concern you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I’m concerned with good government. Every day, I’m concerned with good government and that’s what I’m preoccupied with every day: doing the right thing by Australia. When you do the right thing by Australia, you can do the right thing by the world and that’s really important – doing the right thing by Australia: more jobs, more growth and safer communities. That’s what I’m on about every day, not insider Canberra gossip.
QUESTION:
But isn’t it a distraction, Prime Minister, at a crucial time, given the closeness of this by-election?
PRIME MINISTER:
It’s not distracting me. It’s not distracting the candidate. As far as I’m concerned, the Canning by-election is about the people of Canning. It’s about what’s good for Canning. It’s not about Canberra. It’s not about me. It’s about the candidate and it’s about Canning.
QUESTION:
Just on another note – the $70 billion investment in Australia’s naval power – is that a result of your concern over the growth of China’s military capabilities?
PRIME MINISTER:
We obviously want to have strong and capable defences. Australia is a country which pulls its weight in the world. Australia is a country which threatens no one, which helps everyone as far as we humanly can and we saw an example of that this week with the determination of this Government to take another 12,000 people from the Syrian warzone; people who have been displaced and who realistically can never go back. This is on top of the 7,000 or so that we’ve already taken from that warzone and it’s a sign of our country doing well what it does best: lending a hand to people in trouble wherever we can.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, two years ago you said that you would be a government of no excuses. Do you then take blame for the economy being in a worst shape than it is when you came to power?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I just don’t accept the premise of that question. What we saw this week was more good news on the jobs front. We have now created more than 300,000 additional jobs in our economy since September 2013. You’ve got housing approvals at record levels. You’ve got car sales at record levels. You’ve got company registrations at record levels. You’ve got bankruptcies at historically low levels, and you’ve seen a number of surveys that show that business conditions overall are at their best level now since 2008. So, while I absolutely accept that there are some headwinds overseas, and while I absolutely accept that we’ve seen a bit of share market turmoil in China, this is a Government which is doing the right thing here in Australia and if we do the right thing here in Australia we’re very well placed to deal with whatever the rest of the world throws at us.
QUESTION:
Just on refugees, there are allegations [inaudible] the captain of the boat and a people smuggler [inaudible] on board the boat has made the allegation, would you grant her asylum?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, we are in the business of ensuring that persecuted minorities: women, children and families who have been displaced by the conflict in Syria and Iraq and who realistically can never go back to their ancestral homes, have got the chance of a new life in Australia. That’s what we’re on about. We’re on about working with communities here in Australia, working with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to try to ensure that persecuted minorities displaced by the war in Syria and Iraq, who can never realistically go back, can make a better life here in Australia and, again, I say, this is our country at its best, this is our country at its best, extending the hand of help and friendship to people in desperate, desperate need who have nowhere else to go.
QUESTION:
Would you be able to provide asylum to people who make a plea like that directly to you, like a personal plea or would it be a case-by-case basis?
PRIME MINISTER:
Obviously, our officials will be in the Middle East – extra officials will be in the Middle East from early this week – and they will be talking to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, they’ll be talking to people on the ground, they’ll be talking to communities here in Australia. What we want to do is identify people who have been displaced; women, children, families from persecuted minorities, people who are in countries of first asylum: Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, we are going to find them, we’re going to help them, we’re going to bring them here to Australia.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister the Canning by-election is set to see a 10 per cent swing against Liberals, according to the latest Galaxy poll. What would you see to be an acceptable swing?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I just want us to have a very strong result because we’ve got a very strong candidate, a very strong candidate in Andrew Hastie. He’s served his country with distinction and I know that he now wants to serve the people of Canning with the same determination and commitment, the same distinction that he served the people with Australia. He wants to serve in the Parliament with the same commitment and determination that he’s shown over the last 12 years serving in the army and I’m confident that that’s exactly what he will do if he’s elected next weekend.
QUESTION:
But you must have a number in mind. Would six per cent be ok given that’s what’s been attributed to Don Randall’s personal popularity?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I’m just not going to get into this kind of what would be a good result, what would not – I’m just not going to get into that. All I know is that I want the best possible candidate for Canning and that’s what we’ve got in Andrew Hastie. I want the best possible result for Canning and the best possible result for Canning will be to have a really strong representative and that’s exactly what Andrew Hastie will be.
QUESTION:
Will you be back soon between now and next weekend’s by-election in WA?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I’m not going to get into travel schedule predictions, if you’ll excuse me, but certainly you can be very confident that throughout the next few days I’ll be beaming as much goodwill and support that I can this way because it is absolutely in the best interests of Canning that they have a really strong representative in the Parliament. They had a strong representative in Don Randall, a strong and distinctive representative in Don Randall, and I think that Andrew Hastie is going to give them that same strong and distinctive representation in Canberra.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister if there is a 10 per cent swing, does that make your leadership untenable?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look again, I know you all want to make it about other people and other things but I want this to be about Canning. It’s not about Canberra. It’s about Canning. It’s not about me…
QUESTION:
[inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, again, I’m just not going to play these Canberra insider games. I’m really not going to play Canberra insider games. We’ve got a terrific candidate for Canning in Andrew Hastie. We’ve got an outstanding state government here in Perth. We’ve got a great Member for Swan in Steve Irons and I’m standing beside them, I’m working with them. I want to do the right thing by the people of Australia. That’s my constant objective: to do the right thing by the people of Australia.
QUESTION:
If the Liberals lost the Canning by-election would you step down as leader?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we’re not going to lose the Canning by-election. We’ve got an outstanding candidate. We’ve run a strong campaign and I think that the people of Canning are going to ask themselves: who is going to look after them? Who is going to look after Western Australia? Is it going to be a government which scrapped the carbon tax, scrapped the mining tax, which stopped the boats, which has created 300,000 jobs in just two years? Or is it a political party which in government spent like drunken sailors, started the boats and whacked Western Australia with a carbon tax and a mining tax? Well, I think it’s absolutely crystal clear just where the best interests of the people of Canning, the people of Perth and the people of Western Australia lie.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, can we just get a comment on domestic violence?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, this is a very, very serious issue. It’s a very, very serious issue.
The home should be a place of safety. The home should be a place refuge from the cares of the world and, yet, tragically, in some homes – in all parts of Australia – it’s not a place of refuge, it’s a place of persecution. So, this is a very, very serious issue and I just want to say: any man who raises his hand to a woman is weak and gutless.
If you hit a woman, you’re not a man – that’s my message to my fellow males. And all of us have a job to do to get the message out.
We’ve got to talk to our sons, to our brothers, to our fathers, to our mates: violence is never acceptable. Violence against women and children is never ever acceptable. So, I think this is a very important issue.
As you might remember, there’s already been a COAG summit on domestic violence. We’ve commissioned Rosie Batty and Ken Ley to report back to us. We’ve already had a lot of preliminary work done. I don’t want to wait until the end of the year. Frankly, I don’t want to wait even until another summit and I’m going to have more to say on this subject before the end of the week.
Thank you so much.
[ends]