STEVE AUSTIN:
The Prime Minister is in Queensland, in fact in Brisbane today. Prime Minister, good morning to you.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning Steve, great to be with you.
STEVE AUSTIN:
I’m not sure if you just heard the tail end of my conversation with the Member for Buderim, Steve Dickson, who used to be a member of the LNP here, but has now joined One Nation over the issue of cannabis oil for medical purposes. Are you prepared to agree to what Pauline Hanson, Senator Hanson, the leader of the One Nation has apparently asked you directly to do, and that is give an amnesty to users and suppliers of cannabis oil that apparently is saving the lives of ill people in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER:
Steve, we don’t have the power to issue a general amnesty and I just have to say to your listeners that the Department of Health is concerned that patients are treating themselves with a powerful medicine sourced from the illicit market. There are no controls over the safety and quality of medicines bought this way. Recently in New South Wales, for example, two women were hospitalised because of the strength of the cannabis that they used in their treatment was much higher than expected. So, what we have done is we have set up a medicinal cannabis licensing scheme to allow for the cultivation of medicinal cannabis products that are safe for use by patients under appropriate medical supervision.
STEVE AUSTIN:
There appears to be a time gap problem, I’m aware of this but apparently the patients that are currently being administered cannabis oil in an unauthorized, unscientifically approved way will be required to clean out the system and this will have a life threatening impact on a number of them.
PRIME MINISTER:
Okay, let me. Steve, you can understand that if people are buying cannabis products on the black market effectively, really they have no idea of the strength of them. They have no idea whether they have high levels, or any levels of contamination. But I do have some practical advice here. At the moment there are not yet any licensed medicinal cannabis growers in Australia, but there will be because we have set up the licensing scheme. Medicinal cannabis products can be and are accessed via importation and there is a special TGA access scheme that can be obtained via an authorized prescriber so if a doctor has a patient who they think might benefit from an imported medicinal cannabis product, they should contact their health department in their relevant state or territory and or the Therapeutic Goods Administration, the TGA. We are very alert to the issue, but I can’t, the Government can’t and it would be irresponsible to be giving a free ranging amnesty over conduct that is against the law and may very well as we’ve seen in New South Wales, involve using substances that are very, very dangerous indeed.
STEVE AUSTIN:
So you’ll be unable to meet Senator Hanson’s quest for an amnesty. Steve Dickson the former LNP Member says apparently the state of Israel has approved cannabis oil and producers over there are prepared to meet with Australian representatives to assist us here in getting the appropriate production up.
PRIME MINISTER:
The purpose of - what we have done, as I said earlier, we have set up a medicinal cannabis licensing scheme to allow for the cultivation of medicinal cannabis products in Australia that are safe for use by patients under appropriate supervision. Now, as yet, there isn’t any, my understanding is there are not yet any licensed medicinal cannabis growers in Australia. But medicinal cannabis products can be obtained as I’ve said doctors who have patients who think, who they think would need it are in a position to contact their health department and or the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
STEVE AUSTIN:
I’m talking with Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, currently in Queensland. In Brisbane I think today – is that right Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
That’s exactly right. I am on my way to Redcliffe to launch a coast guard rescue vessel that Luke Howarth has secured federal funding to enable it to be rebuilt and we are going to be there with him and many of his constituents and of course the coast guard who do a fantastic job keeping Queenslanders safe on the water.
STEVE AUSTIN:
Alright. Now the US President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated in a couple of days’ time. Will Australia’s Ambassador Joe Hockey be present at that inauguration?
PRIME MINISTER:
Steve, I don’t know the answer to that question but my recollection is that Ambassadors generally, the diplomatic core is present at the inauguration but it would be, Joe would be there, if all the other diplomats are there, Joe will be there. If they’re not, he won’t be.
STEVE AUSTIN:
So you don’t know who’ll be representing Australia at the inauguration of our most important ally?
PRIME MINISTER:
It is very much - the inauguration is very much a domestic event. I am not aware of foreign leaders being invited to the inauguration because the significance is of course the Americans as they say, ‘There is one President at a time’, so until that moment that President Trump is inaugurated, President Obama is the President. But my recollection is that amid a large audience, the diplomatic corp are present. That’s my recollection.
STEVE AUSTIN:
Okay.
PRIME MINISTER:
Can I just say to you though Steve, I mean, these big ceremonies are very important and significant. Can I say to you Joe Hockey is doing a remarkable job in Washington. He is very, very well plugged in to the incoming administration. We have had fantastic engagement with the incoming Trump Administration, both at the level of myself and Mr Trump and right through the various people that have been identified for Cabinet positions, for senior positions at the White House. The Australian Government, both at the official’s level and at the political level and the diplomatic level is engaging with the incoming administration but of course recognising that right up until that moment that Donald Trump is sworn in as President of the United States, the administration is led by Barrack Obama.
STEVE AUSTIN:
I assume that given the Trans-Pacific Partnership is apparently so important to you and Donald Trump has really thrown a spanner in the works as to whether or not that will go ahead, you would want Joe Hockey there as Australia’s representative to do what diplomats do and smooth the way to discussions about that with the US President-elect Donald Trump?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we’ve had, I have discussed the TPP with Donald Trump directly. You will have seen the new Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, formally Chief Executive of Exxon in his congressional testimony stated that he supported the TPP. The Republican leadership in the Congress supports the TPP.
Steve, lets again, let’s put the initials and the acronyms to one side. What we are talking about here is Australian jobs. Now, Bill Shorten is at container logistics establishment in Sydney today and that is a business that depends upon trade. It depends on open markets, it depends on trade and it benefits directly from the big export trade deals that we have done over the last three years with China, Korea, Japan, Singapore and of course the TPP follows along with that list.
Now what we have done is deliver strong economic growth and jobs for hardworking Australian families by opening up those big markets. I’ve just come from Toowoomba where you’ve got the best produce of the Darling Downs flying out every day from the Wellcamp Airport, the new airport that the Wagner’s have built there, flying up there to those markets of Asia. They couldn’t do that if it wasn’t for those big trade deals we have done.
Now Labor in six years did no trade deals at all and now Shorten is going back, he’s not yesterday’s man, Steve, he is last century’s man. He wants to go back to protectionism.
STEVE AUSTIN:
That’s nice. Were you surprised that Pauline Hanson, Senator Hanson received an invite to the inauguration of Donald Trump, yet apparently you did not?
PRIME MINISTER:
Steve, I can’t comment about Mrs Hanson’s position with respect, Senator Hanson’s position with respect to the invitation. I literally don’t know any more than I’ve seen in the press but it is not, my understanding is, it has not been the practice for foreign leaders, such as myself, to be invited to the inauguration now. I’m happy to be corrected on that.
STEVE AUSTIN:
Will you be concerned if a member of One Nation did go over?
PRIME MINISTER:
Steve, I wouldn’t lose a moments sleep about it. Can I tell you the engagement that we have with the incoming administration, with Donald Trump himself and with his senior advisers, his future Cabinet members is very, very strong. It is very deep. It is engaged. And I have every confidence we’ll have a very strong relationship with the Trump Administration just as Australian governments have had with American Administrations in the past.
STEVE AUSTIN:
I’m talking with Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Brisbane. Prime Minister why do Australians need to fork out for a Parliamentary Expenses Authority? In other words, a bureaucracy, to tell your Members whether or not they can claim expenses on something? Does this indicate that they are ethically challenged or that there is a disconnect between what the people of Australia expect and what Members of Parliament deliver when it comes to financial accountability?
PRIME MINISTER:
There is a bureaucracy right now that administers MPs expenses and it is part of the Finance Department and what I’ve –
STEVE AUSTIN:
Why do we need another one then?
PRIME MINISTER:
Let me explain. What I am doing is the biggest reform of transparency and accountability of parliamentary expenses in a generation. What we will have is we will take the administrative part of the Department of Finance, it will be the same people, they will be under independent management. They will have an independent board that will be able to be an independent watchdog to make sure that there is monthly reporting, full accountability and that politicians - Members and Senators and Ministers - spend taxpayers’ money on expenses accountably and appropriately.
I am determined to ensure that every Australian will be satisfied that their dollars, their hard-earned dollars they’ve paid in tax, when they are being spent by politicians are being spent appropriately and they are not spending any more than they need to, to do their job.
STEVE AUSTIN:
After Bronwyn Bishop was caught for her $5,000 helicopter flights there was an inquiry. It came up with 36 recommendations. Will you implement all of those 36 recommendations?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, yes, yes. We’ve committed to that and you’ll see them referred to as the Conde recommendations or the Conde-Tune recommendations because they were the two gentlemen who chaired the review and yes they are part of the reform. The Independent Expenses Authority is my proposal, it’s my reform and I am glad that Bill Shorten supported it and the crossbenchers have as well. So that will definitely be passed into law. I think that is an additional safeguard and it is not without precedent of course. It is modelled very much on what the Brits have done.
STEVE AUSTIN:
Where you compromised in the Yahoo hack? A number of Australian politicians apparently have been compromised in that and we’ve heard apparently the details of the material has been sold onto foreign governments. Were you one of those Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I don’t – the answer is no. I’m glad you’ve raised it. When you have email accounts and all of us do, it’s very important to maintain security. So you should change your password regularly. I used to chair an internet service provider - you may remember OzEmail - many years ago. I have to tell you it was pretty frightening the most common password was ‘password’ and the second most common one was ‘computer’ the third most common one was ‘internet’. So you’ve got to think of a better password. But there is an important technology that is available for most of these cloud-based service providers - whether it is Google, Gmail or any of the storage applications – Microsoft et cetera. Which is two factor authentication, so that if somebody gets your password and tries to login to your account, they can’t because you need when you login from the new device to put in a code that has been sent to your own smartphone. So if someone wants to hack you they’ve got to not only steal your user name, your password but they’ve also got to be able to steal your phone. Which obviously makes it a lot safer so –
STEVE AUSTIN:
How many Cabinet Ministers have been compromised by this Yahoo hack? Do you know?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I’ve seen the names in the paper. I’ll obviously get a report from my Cyber Security Adviser. The leak or the account details related to accounts in 2013 – so that may well have been before the Coalition was elected in 2013 - and of course it begs the question as to whether those accounts, what was in those accounts and clearly in terms of classified government information can only be transmitted or used on approved government communication systems. Based on what I have seen it would be very unlikely that – referring to the politicians involved that I’ve seen – that there would be security issues but we don’t take any of this stuff lightly or complacently and I’ll be getting a report on this from my Cyber Adviser Alastair MacGibbon.
STEVE AUSTIN:
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is my guest. Does Andrew Laming have your full support Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well of course he does, he is part of our parliamentary team.
STEVE AUSTIN:
You don’t have any concerns about his comments recently on his Facebook page about whether or not teachers are working sufficiently here in Queensland?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I can tell you my daughter certainly had some concerns and next time I see him I will pass them onto him. My daughter Daisy is a school teacher and she had a very strong reaction so I think Andrew will have received some very emphatic feedback from teachers in his electorate and elsewhere.
I have to say, of course I am biased I suppose with a school teacher daughter, but teachers work very hard. They are absolutely at the frontline of our future. Because it is teachers, charismatic, hard-working teachers that change lives and I remember –
STEVE AUSTIN:
Would Daisy like to become Australia’s Education Minister per chance?
PRIME MINISTER:
Daisy?
STEVE AUSTIN:
Yes.
PRIME MINISTER:
She is very busy with her students and her two little children. I’ll just tell you a story about Daisy. I was at a - I hope this doesn’t embarrass her but fathers do I suppose – but I was at an airport some time ago and a lady came up to me and said, ‘You are Daisy’s dad’ and I said, ‘That’s right’. Well she said, ‘My daughter was struggling, wasn’t really interested in her studies and something clicked and it was just like she’d been lit up’. She said, ‘My daughter is now interested in her work,’ and I was standing there and I was so overcome. It reminded of what happens when you get that great connection between a great teacher and a student and something clicks and a kid that had been uninterested or just bored, wasn’t inspired, wasn’t working, wasn’t interested in their studies, suddenly a light goes on and that’s fantastic and that’s what great teachers do.
So I can tell you Steve I am a passionate supporter of teachers and great teachers and that’s why our education policies, the reforms that Simon Birmingham is advancing are all about quality teaching, supporting quality teachers. Because that is what makes the difference. To get this debate about funding all the time as though money was, the whole thing is just expressed in dollars. The critical thing is ensuring that those great teachers are encouraged, they are promoted, they are given the extra support to become even better and that they are supported to stay in the classroom teaching too.
STEVE AUSTIN:
Prime Minister, I know my listeners would be very keen to ask you questions directly. I’d be very keen to get you in the studio here at some stage to take calls, to do talk-back with the voters of Australia because I think you might be intrigued to hear what they have to say.
PRIME MINISTER:
I will be. I am always very keen to do that Steve and we’ll line something up.
STEVE AUSTIN:
Thanks for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks so much Steve.
[ENDS]