GEOFF HUTCHISON: Prime Minister, good morning to you.
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Geoff.
GEOFF HUTCHISON: Prime Minister, what were the people of Esperance wanting to talk to you about over bacon and eggs this morning.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we haven't got to the community breakfast yet, Geoff. We have just had a meeting with the Shire President and the fire service volunteers here, Fire Brigade volunteers here at what was the control centre for the fires last month. So, we have had a good discussion about the nature of the fires, obviously, the tragic deaths. That clearly is, as you said, it has shaken the community and I think every death in bushfires, which are part of our experience, shake the nation actually, they remind us of the strength, the immensity of nature. And, with all of our technology, how it often, nonetheless, can defeat us.
GEOFF HUTCHISON: And when you talk, sorry to interrupt, and when you talk about that technology, was the subject of mobile communications raised?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, it was, and we talked about that. Clearly in more remote areas, there is a lack of, very often a lack of mobile phone connectivity. There is basically two problems. One, that there aren't towers at all, and, as you know, under our Government we have reinstated the mobile blackspots program that was a feature of the Howard Government, and there are the $54 million in investment in new mobile phone towers going into the O'Connor electorate, and $9 million of that is in this Shire. So, there are additional towers that will be under construction from early next year, is my advice. The second problem is that obviously, the powerlines get knocked out in bushfires and so the mobile phone towers have battery backups but the backups were only good for eight hours, I'm advised. So, one of the things I will be talking to Telstra about and to the Communications Minister is how we can ensure that in bushfire prone areas, the battery life, the battery backup is longer than that. I mean, clearly in a, an area that is not subject to bushfires, eight hours is probably enough time for a technician to get their and a linesman and reconnect the power line. But, in a bushfire area where a lot of infrastructure is out there, kilometres of power line has been knocked out and where the area may still be dangerous to enter, eight hours is not going to be enough.
Now, the other technology factor that we discussed was that the arrival of the NBN satellite, well, it has arrived, it has gone out, but it services will start to be available from April next year and that will ensure that everyone in Australia, no matter how remote the location, will be able to get a very fast broadband service. And that is not vulnerable to a bushfire.
GEOFF HUTCHISON: Okay, Mr Turnbull, to other matters. Have you decided yet whether to keep Tony Abbott at arm's length or to draw him into the tent? And I ask because not only has he hinted that he does want to stay in politics, he continues to very publicly espouse a different view on national security from you.
PRIME MINISTER: I'm really not here to, I'm not able to, I'm not sure that the views are, how different they are, people read a lot into what Tony has been saying but he is, I had a very good discussion with him a week or so ago and I'm sure I will meet with him again in the future. So, there's no, so there's no lack of connection, if you like.
GEOFF HUTCHISON: Could we just listen to what Mr Abbott said on Sky last night:
Tony Abbott: There needs to be as President el-Sisi of Egypt has said, a religious revolution inside Islam. All of those things that Islam has never had, a Reformation, and the Enlightenment, a well-developed concept of separation of church and state. A culture that believes in decency and tolerance is much to be preferred to one which thinks that you can kill in the name of God. And we've got to be prepared to say that.
What do you make of that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there is a, look, Mr Abbott is entitled to his views. But, you are dealing with a whole range of issues there. I'm not quite sure what the responses, other than to say that he is entitled to his opinion, but it is a complex area. Talking about Reformation, it is drawing a parallel obviously with the Reformation in Christianity.
But, I think it is, I will just make one observation. Plainly, the vast, vast majority of Muslims are as appalled by extremism and particularly violent extremism as we are. Number one. Secondly, the leaders of the great Muslim majority nations and the largest one is our close neighbour, Indonesia, are especially appalled by it. And I have recently met with, in Jakarta and elsewhere, with President Widodo of Indonesia, and he makes it clear, again and again, that Indonesia demonstrates that Islam is compatible with both democracy and a tolerant, open society. So, the extremism of ISIL or Daesh, these terrorists, is utterly rejected by the leaders of the great majority Muslim nations. And the largest of them, of course, is our nearest neighbour.
GEOFF HUTCHISON: Do you find the comments unhelpful?
PRIME MINISTER: Geoff, I'm not about to run a commentary on Mr Abbott. But, I would simply make the observation that the, again, that there is, that the one thing that we need to be very careful not to do, and I'm sure Tony agrees with this by the way, but we must not do is play into the hands of our enemies and seek to tag all Muslims with responsibility for the crimes of a few. This is very important because the simple fact of the matter is, that the vast majority of Muslims whether they are in Australia or anywhere else, are as appalled by these violent extremists as we are. You have got to remember, most of the victims of these terrorists who do not, who defame Islam, who blaspheme God, most of the victims of these terrorists are other Muslims. That’s a very important point to bear in mind.
GEOFF HUTCHISON: At 18 minutes to 9 o’clock you’re listening to the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Prime Minister you meet with the Premiers on Friday. Will you be discussing the future and financing of the Perth Freight Link with Colin Barnett?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I’m meeting, yes, I’ll certainly be meeting Colin today. I will certainly be discussing the Freight Link Project. Yes. It’s something the Federal Government’s committed to, as you know. I understand there are some issues associated with it and we certainly look forward to the Premier’s commitment. I know Colin Barnett well and I look forward to having a very candid discussion with him.
GEOFF HUTCHISON: Ok. It’s an interesting discussion of course because Tony Abbott committed a billion dollars to the project but we now have a Premier who says there is no timetable for the controversial section two of that project. I wonder, do you commit that billion dollars knowing that there is not a finish line at this point?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the commitment, the Federal Government’s commitment is unchanged. That’s the first point. There has been no change in that commitment but obviously it’s a State project and we look forward to discussing further with the Premier. The WA Government has to date committed $650 million and $275 million which was the agreed contribution under the National Partnership Agreement on land transport infrastructure, and $374 million is the amount to be recovered from the heavy vehicle-user charge. Now the as you probably know, or your listeners would know, Paul Fletcher the Minister for Major Projects, last week approved $317 million in Federal money to be released towards the full $541 million funding required for sections one and three of the project. So there is very considerable Federal Government support for this but clearly we have to work with the Premier and the State and I look forward to discussing with him later today.
GEOFF HUTCHISON: Would you personally prefer billions of dollars to be spent on things like urban rail?
PRIME MINISTER: Well that’s a question that you can’t, the reality is that you need both. In cities you need good public transport, you need good heavy rail, metro-type rail, you need as you have in Perth, down to Mandurah - I caught that train just recently, you obviously need good roads, you need good freight links, you need everything. It is not an either-or. That’s you know, the challenge is getting the right mix. I take a great interest in transport economics and transport infrastructure and I’ll be meeting later today too with Professor Peter Newman, who I know has got a lot of, he’s one of the leading economic…[interrupted].
GEOFF HUTCHISON: Yes. We understand too that meeting on Friday among a range of options that the Premiers will be presented with are eight tax reform options of which a 15 per cent rate of GST will be discussed. Now that was all but confirmed.
PRIME MINISTER: Can I beg your pardon?
GEOFF HUTCHISON: You may.
PRIME MINISTER: We mentioned the morning, the breakfast. I am running very late for that now so I have to head off to the Esperance Bay Yacht Club.
GEOFF HUTCHISON: Are you able to perhaps answer that one GST question for me?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the question is being what? Is GST going to be discussed with the Premiers?
GEOFF HUTCHISON: And will you go to the election with a firm and clear policy on it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we will go to the election with a firm and clear policy on a whole range of issues. You can be rest assured of that. And tax is obviously one of them. At this stage I can’t tell you what the conclusion of the discussions on Friday will be. Some Premiers have urged us to increase the GST. Some have said we shouldn’t. It is, we are having I think a very healthy, well-informed debate about tax. We are not interested as a Federal Government in just you know raising more revenue. What we want to see is a tax system that is more modern, more supporting, the innovation and enterprise, investment and jobs that are so critical to Australia’s future, and we are talking to that with the States. Among the topics of conversation, there is the GST is one, personal income tax is another, the state taxes are a third.
GEOFF HUTCHISON: It’s also interesting that Peter Costello is… [interrupted]
PRIME MINISTER: It is interesting but please can I beg you I can’t…
GEOFF HUTCHISON: I’m just trying to get my $500 worth of free public comment from you.
PRIME MINISTER: No I know. I am not sure it is, it’s probably not even worth that, but I am keeping the people of Esperance waiting and I really must say goodbye.
GEOFF HUTCHISON: We don’t wish you to do that. Malcolm Turnbull thank you very much.
Ends