MATT WILLIAMS MP: Good morning everyone. It is great to have the Prime Minister here in Hindmarsh and in particular in this impressive organisation called Philmac. The Prime Minister has a genuine understanding of the challenges but also the opportunities that we have in South Australia and a company like Philmac is a great case study of how to be successful. It is a great exporter; exporting to over 30 countries. It’s got around 40 per cent of its products that are exported. It is innovative and does really impressive things with its operations. And in terms of exporting in South Australia we have around 5 per cent of the nation's exports. Now, we need to improve that, we need to increase that considerably and it is companies like Philmac and other companies that can leverage off our Free Trade Agreements in terms of food companies, wine companies, health services, education companies that are the future of South Australia and our country. And we can prosper but we have to be optimistic and take advantage of these trade opportunities and Philmac is doing that, whether it is in Japan or overseas with the agreements. So, I will hand over to the Prime Minister to say a few words.
PRIME MINISTER: Great, thank you Matt. It is wonderful to be here in Hindmarsh and great to be here at Philmac with Mark Nykiel, the Chief Executive.
If Australia is to remain and become even more so, a high wage, generous social welfare net, first world economy, if we are going to be even stronger and more prosperous in the years ahead, if our children and grandchildren are going to have even better jobs in the years ahead, then we have to be more innovative, more imaginative, more competitive, more productive. And we've got to be able to seize the huge opportunities that a rapidly expanding global economy offers us.
There has never been a more exciting time to be an Australian. There has never been a more exciting time with greater opportunities, to be an Australian in business.
Now, what Philmac is doing here is a great example. This is not a start-up company that two brilliant young people have got going in their bedroom or in their garage. This is an 85-year-old South Australian manufacturing firm, and yet it is innovating at every level. With fittings, and devices that enable water, gas, other fluids to be better managed, more efficiently at lower costs in many different situations all around the world.
Mark is going to talk about the innovation that he has brought to this. This company is an example of the jobs that can be created, that are being created through innovation. He is expanding his business to enlarge so there will be even more jobs here. So, this is a great Australian story and this is what our government is absolutely committed to promoting.
Everything we do, every sinew of our government, every policy should be focused on ensuring that Australian businesses are more competitive, more innovative. And that being said, the opportunities have never been greater but it depends on the enterprise and imagination of business leaders like Mark in firms large and small, old and new, to take it on.
So, tell us about Philmac…
MARK NYKIEL: Thank you Prime Minister. It gives us great pleasure to have you here today. It’s a great vote of confidence in South Australian manufacturing and the work our employees have been doing over a number of years, particularly in the last 12 to 18 months as we gear up for expansion. We are very pleased to say that over the next 12 months we will be adding another 30 jobs here. These are roles across, both from operating and also a skill base, in tooling and technology, we take our product across the world, we export to 30 countries. Almost half of our production goes offshore. Our employees work really hard to make sure that happens. We work very closely with our Australian customer base, it is a very skilled, and product attributes that provide our Australian customers with an advantage that we take offshore to our export markets.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on another matter, do you favour 12 or eight submarines…
PRIME MINISTER: Before we move on to other matters, can we have any questions about what Philmac is doing here and what Mark is doing here?
JOURNALIST: I have a general question about manufacturing. So certainly with the car industry closing down in South Australia, there are lots of factories about this size that are perhaps facing closure in the next two years. Have you given any thought or any consideration into taking some of the savings from the automotive transformation scheme and spending that money in growth funds like the one that Philmac has benefited from?
PRIME MINISTER: That is a very good issue to raise, and it is certainly something that Christopher Pyne and I are taking into account as we develop our innovation policy. But as you know, Philmac has benefited from the manufacturing transition fund, as a number of other South Australian businesses have done. But see this is really what a dynamic, adaptive, agile economy is all about. Jobs will go. Businesses will not prosper in some cases. But what you need overall for the whole economy is for new jobs to be created. You can see that what Mark is doing here is creating 30 new jobs and no doubt there will be more and he has a whole world to address. Just leaving aside the gases and oils and other fluids, the management of water is one of the biggest challenges that faces the world today. Some people say water is the new gold. I don't think it will ever be as valuable as gold, but nonetheless, in many places it is very scarce. Efficient systems for piping water, for managing water, whether it is devices as we saw that can join pipes or different gauges, whether it is more efficient gate valves, all of those things are absolutely critical. So, he’s right here in a State that has always had its own challenges with water, innovating, manufacturing, taking on the world.
JOURNALIST: So, Prime Minister, are you open to any of those [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: We are open to all good suggestions. Even mediocre suggestions we will have a look at. They might not be as mediocre as people think. We are a very open minded, practical, businesslike government, I can assure you.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, getting back to the submarines do you favour 12 of them or eight? Do you favour South Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: As you know, we've got a competitive evaluation process underway and we are looking at all of those questions very carefully. But do I favour South Australia? I am absolutely thrilled to be in South Australia but in terms of the submarines - I think South Australians would expect us to do a thorough job on the submarines.
JOURNALIST: Defence industry experts unanimously, I think, say 12 rather than eight?
PRIME MINISTER: You think?
JOURNALIST: I haven't spoken to everyone…
PRIME MINISTER: I couldn't get away with that.
JOURNALIST: Alright, can I get opinion from you - do you think we need to maximise our submarine construction?
PRIME MINISTER: All of those issues are being addressed in the Defence White Paper and when we are satisfied with that the Defence Minister and I will release that in due course. But I can assure you, we're not going to be making policy on the run, no matter how much encouragement I get.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on another topic, Tony Abbott today was giving the Margaret Thatcher lecture. Does he have any business really in telling Europe to turn away refugees, Syrian refugees, as he seems to be keen on doing?
PRIME MINISTER: Tony has given the speech; I'll leave others to run the commentary on it. But he has obviously had a remarkable career in public life, including two years as Prime Minister and we owe him a great debt for that and his views are in hot demand everywhere in the world. Now, Tory you had a question?
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: We don't have any plans to change the nature of our deployment in that theatre. That is not to say they won't change in the future, just as we have to be agile in terms of innovation policy, we have to be agile in terms of our approach to the security challenges we face. But we have no plans to change the nature of the deployment at the present time.
Now one more question and then we should go.
JOURNALIST: Will the Government look at reinstating the sixth year programme of the Gonski funding?
PRIME MINISTER: It depends on what you mean by Gonski funding. David Gonski’s report focused on needs based funding in schools. Everyone agrees with that. The question is the level of funding and the affordability of it. But I can assure you that all of us are committed to ensuring that we get the best educational outcomes for our children, but clearly in these tough budgetary times, affordability is an issue. And you've got Matt Williams, I am talking him up, the Member for Hindmarsh, I've talked up Pyne, the Innovation Minister, I should mention the Education Minister, another South Australian Simon Birmingham.
So, on that note we thank you all very much indeed.