What a great community spirit there is here in Redcliffe. Luke, it is a great credit to you for organizing the federal funding and seeing the way in which the community pulls together with the combination of financial contributions from different levels of government and from businesses and community members, but above all, the thousands of hours from the volunteers here for the Coast Guard, keeping the people of the Moreton Bay region, Brisbane, safe on the water. It's just so critically important. I want to thank all the volunteers and congratulate them for it.
You know, I've just come down this morning from Toowoomba. We saw, up there, in particular, the way in which my Government's investment in infrastructure is delivering strong economic growth and better jobs and better-paid jobs for the people of Queensland.
And we've seen there, too, the way in which the big export trade deals that we secured over the last three years, particularly with China and Korea and Japan, have provided so many opportunities for Queensland and there in Toowoomba, the people of the Darling Downs, to export some of the finest produce in the world. And that's delivering real economic growth for businesses and jobs because it's taking the best Queensland can produce into the biggest markets in the world, the doors of which were flung open by the big export trade deals we negotiated.
And so trade is important. It's important because it delivers employment here in Australia, it delivers opportunities for business, it delivers a brighter future.
It's really disappointing to see the Labor Party Leader, Bill Shorten, now deciding that he's become a protectionist. He's not yesterday's man, he's now last century's man. He's gone right back into the 1950s and 1960s, trying to throw up trade barriers. Trying to sort of imagine that we can succeed in the 21st century without having access to the big markets, growing markets in Asia. These are the fastest-growing, largest markets in the world and we've got to be there. Whether we're selling services like education, like design. Whether we're serving agricultural produce. Whether we're selling tourism. Right across the board, we've got to be there. And they're the opportunities we've opened up.
So, you know, the irony of Mr Shorten's position, of course, that he was expressing those views today in a container logistics base. This is a business, all of the employees of which depend upon lots of trade, open markets, lots of economic activity. And there he goes there, as the latest person to be proposing trade barriers and protectionism.
We know that those big export trade deals deliver jobs here in Queensland and right across Australia. And that's what Luke and I are committed to doing, and every member of my Government. Ensuring that hardworking Australian families have great jobs, their businesses have great futures, and their children and grandchildren can look forward to even more opportunities than our generation has had.
JOURNALIST:
Is it realistic to think that the TPP will go ahead still?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, the Trans Pacific Partnership is a 12-nation trade deal. It offers really big opportunities for Australian exporters - agriculture, most notably, sugar, beef, fruit, cheese, and of course huge opportunities in terms of services. It's really the most modern trade deal. And we support it.
And, frankly, the Labor Party, until very recently, had supported it too. They voted for its ratification on the Treaties Committee. In fact, I think the negotiations were commenced under the Gillard Government. So it had been a bipartisan project.
But you see, Shorten is a shallow populist. He looks at everything through a very narrow political prism. And so, he wants to make a political point. If he was prime minister, approaching these issues in the way he is approaching them today, I tell you, he would be putting Australians out of work, he'd be putting businesses out of business.
JOURNALIST:
What do you make of federal Government research that showed that Australia could meets its carbon emissions by opting for clean coal or low emission coal technologies?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, coal will be part of the world's energy mix, and Australia's energy mix for a very, very long time. And, let me –
JOURNALIST:
Will Government commit more resources to low emission?
PRIME MINISTER:
OK, let me go back. I'll just start again. Coal will be part of the world's energy mix for a very, very long time - for the foreseeable future - and every agency, every research group, underlines that. If I go back to 2009, when I was the Opposition Leader, I made this very point then. And it's a fundamental one. We are the biggest coal exporter in the world. If anybody, if any country has a vested interest in demonstrating that clean coal and cleaner coal with new technologies can make a big contribution to our energy mix and at the same time reduce our emissions in net terms - it's us.
Our approach, and my approach, to energy is absolutely pragmatic and practical. This is not a matter for ideology. You've got to have an approach, and this is our government's approach, which is all of the above. Renewables have a role. Fossil fuels have a role. Every type of energy - storage, all of it - has an important role to play.
And treating this as an ideological thing where people say renewables are bad or all fossil fuel is bad is wrong.
You've got to make sure you get the right mix. And above all, this is the most important point - energy has to be affordable. We've got to be able to afford our electricity. We've got to be able to afford to pay the bills. And it's got to be reliable. You don't want to be in the situation South Australia is, where they have the most expensive and the least reliable electricity in Australia.
So you've got to be affordable, reliable, and you meet your obligations to cut your emissions over time. And we're doing that. And that is what all of our efforts in terms of energy policy are focused on.
JOURNALIST:
Daylight saving is back on the agenda in Queensland. What's your personal view? Do you think the State should adopt it?
PRIME MINISTER:
It is very much a matter for Queensland. I suggest you address that to Mr Howarth.
JOURNALIST:
No personal view as a businessman though whether it makes sense?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I’ll leave that.
LUKE HOWARTH MP:
There's advantages both ways. You can get up early and call Sydney and New South Wales and Victoria and gain an hour, you lose an hour at the end of the day. But obviously we had a referendum on it a few years back and it was defeated. It is a controversial issue, so to speak. But, you know, I'm happy either way. It's up to the State Government, I assume, on that one.
JOURNALIST:
Senator Hanson has spoken about, if she gains government in Queensland in the upcoming Queensland election, that she would seek to ban burqas in government buildings and schools. What’s your view on that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Anywhere where it's important that people be identified, I think it's entirely appropriate for full face coverings to be removed. But that's got to be a decision for the relevant governments or authorities or, you know, those responsible for the relevant institutions. But we don't see a lot of burqas in Australia, let's face it. They're pretty few and far between. We have a very open society. We've got a very easygoing society. We don't tell people what to wear. Australians wear a wide range of attires. The Moreton Bay Regional Council Mayor, last time I saw him before today was wearing a top hat and frock coat so, there you go, at the opening of the rail line. I think it is always a legitimate issue where identity is important to require people to be able to show their face.
JOURNALIST:
What do you think about a possible preference deal with One Nation and the LNP in Queensland?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, that's a matter for the, if you're talking about the state election, that's very much a matter for the state party.
JOURNALIST:
When are you announcing a replacement for Sussan Ley? Would you be giving the job to Senator Sinodinos? And would there be any concerns about his history with New South Wales' ICAC?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'll be making an announcement very shortly.
JOURNALIST:
Are we expecting to see a reshuffle this week?
PRIME MINISTER:
Sorry?
JOURNALIST:
Will you release the report into Sussan Ley, into her expenses? Will you release that report publicly?
PRIME MINISTER:
The advice that I've received from the Secretary of my Department is advice to me and the Governance Committee of Cabinet. The practice has not been to release advice of that kind.
JOURNALIST:
But isn’t it in the interest of transparency, the public knowing?
PRIME MINISTER:
I understand the point you're making, but I'm saying, in the past, the practice has not been to release advice of that kind.
JOURNALIST:
3,000 government officials have been caught up in this Yahoo breach. Will there be some sort of investigation into that?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm going to ask Alastair MacGibbon, my Cyber Adviser, to give me some advice on that. I'd just make a couple of - I'm really glad you raised that, thank you.
It's really important to focus, all of us to be aware of the importance of cybersecurity. So much of our lives are lived in the digital domain that cyber vulnerability is a very real issue.
Now, one of the important things that I encourage everyone to do is, where they have an account whether it's, say, an email account - Gmail, for example - to use 2-factor authentication. So that, even if somebody has your password, they can't get into your account, they can't get into your email, without having the code that is sent to the authentication application on your own phone. You can only mitigate security risk. But that is a very important level of mitigation.
Be cyber aware. Be secure. And that is one practical piece of advice. 2-factor authentication.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, would Arthur Sinodinos be a good fit if a reshuffle happens?
PRIME MINISTER:
I have such a talented team. They're all extremely able and I'm not going to comment on any individual in respect of the vacancy that you've referred to.
JOURNALIST:
Any plans to visit the White House this year?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, the President-elect has asked me to come over to see him soon. We'll obviously be making, that's when we spoke shortly after the election, and we'll be making arrangements in due course that obviously meets our respective commitments.
We wish President-elect Trump well. There's only a few days to go until the Inauguration. It's a very momentous event, the change of administration in the United States. I just want to say that we wish him well. We wish America well. It's important for the whole world that America succeeds.
As a very firm friend and staunch ally of the United States, we look to a strong American government, strong administration, led by President Trump, with a strong, continued commitment for the maintenance of the rule of law and order in our region, because that maintenance of peace and order in our region has been the foundation for the extraordinary prosperity and rise in economic growth that we've seen over so many decades now and which, of course, has created those enormous markets that were so important - access to which is so important - for jobs and business and economic growth here in Australia.
Thanks very much.
[ENDS]