GARY ADSHEAD:
The Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull joins me on the line now, thanks very much for your time Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Great to be with you.
GARY ADSHEAD:
Just hearing what he explained, that truck driver, it does seem like a very confusing piece of legislation that you want to get rid of now.
PRIME MINISTER:
It certainly is. What the tribunal has done is set down some very complicated rules for the rates which owner drivers have to charge. And of course it only applies to owner drivers; it considerably restricts their freedom to contract and their ability to price, and their ability to compete. And it has the effect of putting them out of business and being unable to compete with the larger trucking companies which of course are obviously all employees of a big firm, and of course are all members of the transport workers union. This was the intention; this was a deal done between Julia Gillard and Bill Shorten, to set this up. It was done as a deal with the TWU, there have been whistle-blowers former TWU officials who have explained exactly what happened and this is the goal. It is set up really to disadvantage these owner drivers.
We are talking about tens of thousands of family businesses. You have also got to bear in mind that a lot of the jobs they do, particularly, you saw at the truckstop there talking to some of the drivers who carry livestock in the South West of the state. Who is going, a big company, a Toll, a Linfox, is not going to pick up 20 head of cattle, it is not going to make all of those small deliveries in the area. Barnaby Joyce, the Deputy PM, explained the whole issue about backorder too, and the way in which, the inability to be commercial and practical about what you charge back will disadvantage these drivers.
GARY ADSHEAD:
Alright Prime Minister, now you said last week that the federal Budget won’t be about a fistful of dollars, but your government has just dished out another half a billion dollars to WA to compensate for the disparity in our share of GST. You have now committed over a billion dollars to the Perth Freight Link which doesn’t even have environmental approval and it is tied up in the Supreme Court. People might question how prudent that is really.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the infrastructure investment is obviously budgeted and I can assure you that the payment to WA to make up for the shortfall in the GST was also one that was accommodated within the Budget. So I can assure you that all of it is budgeted and is paid for. But, as far as Perth’s freight link is concerned, let me say, it is the top rated project in the Infrastructure Australia list, it is a vital piece of infrastructure to obviously improve the connections to the port and relieve congestion. It is a project that will have to be built and you know we are committed to supporting the state government and building it now.
GARY ADSHEAD:
Alright, but aren’t you therefore sending a message to those bureaucrats dealing with the approval process, just to get on with it, and give it the green light, regardless of environmental concerns that might be there. Because you are saying now there is a billion bucks hanging on it.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there is, we believe they should get on with the project. The legal issues relating to the environmental approval are essentially about process. The state government….
GARY ADSHEAD:
Isn’t that important Prime Minister - process? The way that that was handled. Isn’t the process of this important?
PRIME MINISTER:
Of course it’s important. And what the state government is doing is they are appealing the decision of the court, and at the same time they are redoing the process so as to make sure that in the event that their appeals are unsuccessful the second time they would have dotted all the ‘i’s’ and crossed all the ‘t’s’ appropriately.
GARY ADSHEAD:
I’m just asking though, does it concern you that a highway will run through an area that is known as the Beeliar wetlands as you know, the state environmental protection authority said in a report just last year, which is why this is very confusing. They said this - and I quote “any activity that may lead to further loss or degradation is inappropriate”, now that’s talking about the importance of wetlands in Western Australia and Beeliar being one of them.
Doesn’t it just seem extraordinary that they have suddenly just given it the green light, and the pressure that is on them because of the politics of this, is forcing something to happen that is perhaps totally against the wellbeing of the environment here.
PRIME MINISTER:
You’ve always got to, whether you are building a road or building a mine or extracting a gas, as I was inspecting up at the Gorgon Project on Barrow Island. You have got to be able to ensure that development can go ahead in a way that protects that sustains, and does not undermine if you like the environmental values. So getting that balance right is the challenge of all development - whether it is a subdivision outside of Mandurah or it’s a gigantic LMG project up in the Northern part of the state.
So, these are issues that the state government has to grapple with. They will be building the road. They are the proponent of it. We are there to support them in the exercise. You are right in the sense of raising the issue, I am not saying your conclusions are correct but obviously environmental issues have to be balanced. I am very familiar with this I used to be the Environment Minister; I am very familiar with this act of balancing with development and seeking to ensure a win-win.
GARY ADSHEAD:
You talk about a balancing act. The 60 minutes crew that have now been charged in Beirut, what can the Australian Government do about this situation?
PRIME MINISTER:
It is very important to understand that we provide consular support to Australian’s who find themselves in legal difficulty overseas, that is one of the services that the government provides to Australians. We are of course very aware that, of what has happened there. Julie Bishop has been in touch with the Lebanese Foreign Minister, we know that we understand that the prosecutor has recommended that charges be laid against the 60 minutes crew and we will working very closely with the people on the ground there.
Our officials on the ground, the, our Ambassador to Lebanon, Glen Miles, he’s personally overseeing our embassy’s efforts to ensure that their welfare is looked after, but they have to, Australians have to understand, for all Australians no matter who they are, that u if you are overseas you have to comply with the laws of the country that you are in. Just as we expect visitors of Australia to abide by our laws.
GARY ADSHEAD:
I mean a custody dispute being played out in Lebanon for a TV crew to get involved with that. Was that foolish?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I won’t make any comments on the case. But I just make the observation that wherever you are in the world you have to be very clear about recognising that you must comply with the local laws. Where children are involved in a foreign jurisdiction, such as Lebanon, it is the local courts not the Australian Government, and as much less private citizens, who make decisions about child custody.
So that is something that we have to recognise as well. But I can assure you that from a consular point of view we are doing everything that we can to support them, just as we support many many Australians who find themselves in trouble with the law in other parts of the world.
GARY ADSHEAD:
Right now the front of the West Newspaper today is talking about a cluster of youth suicides south of Perth. You’re meeting with a group of people today about this. What sort of action could you take in this area? It is pretty delicate.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well yes, it is. It is. This is tragic and my heart goes out to the family and friends of those young people who have taken their lives. Andrew Hastie the Member for Canning has organised a meeting today with local leaders and a number of children from the school and they are going to meet with me and our Federal Health, Minister Sussan Ley. So we are very aware of this. These are tragic circumstances. As you know, we announced mental health reforms late last year which put more services and support at the local level where people need it most. They roll out from the 1st of July. So we’ll be bringing people together to discuss this very important issue with Andrew Hastie who is doing a great job and very sensibly handling the, marshalling the response to these tragic events.
GARY ADSHEAD:
I know you’re pushed for time so just finally can I ask you about Clive Palmer. Given the latest revelations now about Queensland Nickel’s spending that was going on there behind the scenes, do you think he will do the right thing and just resign as an MP? Or will it be left to the public decide this year, later?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think if he chooses to run again I think the electors of Fairfax will cast a very, very stern judgment upon Mr Palmer. Our concern today is for the workers of Queensland Nickel and Michaelia Cash, the Employment Minister and great West Australian and member of my Cabinet, will be making some remarks about that in the very near future. She is handling it and working very closely with the local Federal Member for Herbert, Ewen Jones.
GARY ADSHEAD:
So is there something that the Government can do to compensate those workers?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there is. There is a scheme, the FEG scheme, the Fair Entitlements Guarantee where we the Federal Government in circumstances where a company has gone into liquidation and, is their cover for the employees for their entitlements if the company, where the company is unable to pay them. Michaelia will be responding to that and dealing with that shortly.
Can I just say though, Mr Palmer really should make good the entitlements of these workers. He has held himself up as a great business leader and a great philanthropist. This, the revelations about Queensland Nickel which he says are all lies, well let’s just see Mr Palmer put his money up. There are men and women there, in Townsville, who have lost their jobs. They are entitled to payments out of the consequence of termination - Mr Palmer should make those good. That is the very least he can do in these circumstances and I call on Mr Palmer to do just that.
GARY ADSHEAD:
Just finally you have some sensitive talks coming your way up in China particularly around the South China Sea. Will that be high on the agenda? The islands that have been created there.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I have discussed these issues on several occasions with the Chinese leadership. There is a very wide range of issues to discuss and I will be dealing them. You know my views, the Government’s views on all of these issues are very well known and understood and have been very consistent.
GARY ADSHEAD:
Prime Minister thanks for joining us this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks so much.
Ends