PRIME MINISTER:
Well good morning. COAG is an important occasion when the leaders of Australia’s governments gather together to reach a consensus on important challenges that face our nation. And it’s a time for action - plenty of talking of course - but above all it has to be an occasion for concerted action.
I am pleased to announce that the Commonwealth Federal Government is committing another $117 million to our National Agreement on Homelessness, extending that agreement for another year. This is a very important initiative and we look forward to the States making a strong contribution, matching that, exceeding that indeed, in their work on homelessness which is such a challenging issue for us. And one of course that is particularly poignant at this time [inaudible] having a very joyous time with our family, catching up with old friends - but for many Australians who are homeless, who are lonely, this is not such a joyous time of year, and it’s important that we reach out to them. So we should be doing that at a personal level, at a community level and at the national leaders’ level - we are committing that additional year of funding through to 2018.
In addition to that, as you know, we’ve taken a very strong stance to say no to domestic violence. This is an important issue for all Australians. We know that of course not all disrespect of women leads to violence against women but that’s where all violence against women begins. And it’s vitally important that the law is obeyed, the rule of law prevails in terms of domestic relations. Violence against women is a crime; it is a crime just as much as violence against somebody in the street. And what we are doing is announcing that we will be changing the Family Law Act so that breaches of protection orders, injunctions to restrain conduct, to restrain contact and so forth, will be a crime. So if an injunction is made against one party to a family law action to restrain them from contacting the other party, if they breach that, they will be committing an offence. And this will enable greater protection for parties to those family court actions.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, the preliminary report from the Chief Scientist Alan Finkel has said that Australia risks not meeting its climate change commitments because there’s a lack of government policy in this area and also it recommends an emissions intensity scheme. What’s the point of having a Chief Scientist delivering such reports if government, your Government has already said you’re not going to go down that path?
PRIME MINISTER:
We are committed to ensuring that Australia keeps the lights on, that energy security is provided. As you know, there have been some terrible failures in that regard. Mr Weatherill is frequently giving us lectures on the management of electricity systems; he presides over the least stable, the least secure electricity system which is also the most expensive in Australia. So he’s in no position to lecture us.
Security, affordability and meeting our Paris targets are the three goals that we need to achieve. And we need to do so in a manner that keeps downward pressure on electricity prices. They have risen, as the Finkel report notes - and it is an interim report I hasten to add – they have risen by 61 per cent between 2008 and 2014, versus 14 per cent increases in CPI. So they have been rising at more than four times the rate of inflation. So that tells you that households are feeling - Australian households and businesses - are feeling the pain from higher electricity prices.
So my Government is committed to ensuring that we do everything we can that is within our power, at the federal level, to put downward pressure on electricity prices and proposals to increase the price of electricity are ones that are not going to serve the interests of Australia. They are not going to serve our economic goals of delivering stronger investment, stronger job growth. All of that requires affordable and secure electricity.
Thanks very much.
Ends