BEN DAVIS:
Prime Minister, good afternoon. Welcome to Brisbane Live. You spent the morning out on the peninsula, Redcliffe, Scarborough – what was on the agenda?
PRIME MINISTER:
I did indeed. I was there with Luke Howarth who is the Member for Petrie and he secured a $99,000 contribution from the Federal Government and we were there to launch the refurbished coast guard rescue vessel, the RSL Redcliffe that that money contributed to the refurbishment of. So it was a great day to celebrate the terrific volunteer work of the coast guards and the great effort they do. Thousands and thousands of hours keeping Queenslanders safe on the water.
BEN DAVIS:
Brilliant stuff. We are a nation of volunteers. What did you hear from the locals? Did you manage to have a chat to many of them?
PRIME MINISTER:
I did. We had a very good chat. Very very pleased with the job that Luke Howarth is doing, I must say. He’s got a lot of fans there which is important and that Redcliffe community really appreciate the effort he is doing and they admire the way he is a, very much a business man, a small businessman of course is his background and he understands what drives the economy. What drives jobs and growth. And he is advocating our business tax cuts and talking about the way, as I was, about the way our big export trade deals have opened huge opportunities for Australian exporters and creating more opportunities and employment here in Australia.
BEN DAVIS:
Over the last few days you’ve had to have a lot of soul searching because you’ve got a big decision to make as far as a Cabinet reshuffle. Have you made your mind up there yet?
PRIME MINISTER:
I’ll be making an announcement very shortly but it is not, you know we have one vacancy, for the Minister for Health. It is a very important however and I have been giving it my deepest consideration.
BEN DAVIS:
Shortly? Is that today, tomorrow?
PRIME MINISTER:
Shortly, yes.
BEN DAVIS:
Okay then. So before the end of the week? Can we say that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well you can say it is important, yeah, I don’t want to create another story but it will be made shortly.
BEN DAVIS:
Arthur Sinodinos is sitting there at the moment, I guess in a caretaker role.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, Arthur is the acting Health Minister, that’s right.
BEN DAVIS:
Is he in the front line?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I really don’t want to, Ben, I don’t want to speculate about Cabinet, I never do, Cabinet personnel and issues of this kind.
BEN DAVIS:
In saying that, I do need to get your reaction to this – it’s a blistering attack from Opposition Leader Bill Shorten:
BILL SHORTEN – VOICE OVER: And we see the remarkable situation where Malcolm Turnbull is so bereft of supporters in his Cabinet that he’s going to recycle the dodgy Senator Sinodinos and give him a front line position because he doesn’t want to bring Tony Abbott back into the Cabinet or cause a wider reshuffle. The only reason Malcolm Turnbull is having a reshuffle is because one of his Government Ministers was simply mistreating the expenses system and making Australians really angry at all politicians.
BEN DAVIS:
Prime Minister, the dodgy Sinodinos?
PRIME MINISTER:
Bill Shorten wants to distract from the failings of his own team. He wants to stir. That’s what he does. He is a completely political shallow populist and you know, he will say whatever he thinks can stir a bit of a furore on any given day and you see the way he’s taken the Labor Party from being in favour of big export trade deals, apparently, to being against it.
BEN DAVIS:
He does make a point though, right at the end where he said the reason why you need a Cabinet, Sussan Ley. I mean this could have been prevented if you’d acted on that report from 12 months ago, it’s almost 12 months ago about expenses and how people get themselves in this type of trouble.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, the events in question that related to Sussan Ley’s travel go back quite some years. So the circumstances that arose were the result of the position she took. But you know, she’s made the right judgement. She’s resigned from the Ministry and yes there is a vacancy and I will be filling it.
BEN DAVIS:
Just on that – the report into what her expenses were and how it came about. When that gets presented to you, will you be releasing that to the public?
PRIME MINISTER:
It has never been the practice to do so. The practice is, look, I -
BEN DAVIS:
That may have been in the past but what about now? In the sake of transparency?
PRIME MINISTER:
I’m not planning to release the report from the Secretary of my department. Let me just explain to you – when issues like this arise, when there is questions of a breach of the Ministerial Standards, the appropriate course of conduct is to ask the Secretary of my department to investigate it and he then provides advice to me which is Cabinet in Confidence. It’s for my benefit and that of the Government Committee of the Cabinet and that has happened in the past and the practice has never been to release that confidential advice but the -
BEN DAVIS:
It would earn you a fair amount of brownie points I think if you’d do that, if you would release that.
PRIME MINISTER:
Let me say to you that I’m very careful about following practice and precedence in these matters. The important thing is that Australians understand. I’ve set in train the biggest reforms to the way in which politicians expenses are managed in a generation. We’ll have an independent watchdog presiding over the supervision of the oversight of politicians expenses and we’ll be introducing and implementing all of the reforms recommended by the review that reported last year.
BEN DAVIS:
When does the watchdog get let off the leash? When can we expect that to start?
PRIME MINISTER:
We’ll obviously need legislation to do that so I would hope to have that done by the middle of this year, 2017. That’s my aim but of course will depend on cooperation with the Senate.
BEN DAVIS:
Before the budget?
PRIME MINISTER:
Whether we can achieve it before the budget remains to be seen. It may be legislated in the budget sittings but look, we have strong support, or the principle at least from the Labor Party and the crossbenchers so I think we should be able to get on with it swiftly. But you know, as you know, the Parliament, that we need the support of other parties to secure legislation through the Senate.
BEN DAVIS:
I think many would be on board with that. The system has got to change though doesn’t it? I mean you can have a watchdog, you can oversee a system but the system is broken.
PRIME MINISTER:
I think that there are always going to be issues of judgement and there are going to be issues relating to the transparency and accountability. I think one of the biggest changes of the reforms I am proposing is that expenditure be published monthly. Again we can’t do that tomorrow because the IT systems are antiquated that we have at present but what we will do is ensure that this information is presented in a very timely fashion every month. I think that will make politicians more aware of what they are spending money on and of course it will increase the accountability and transparency considerably. That coupled with the changes to the rules, coupled with the establishment of this Independent Expenses Authority I think is going to make a very big change.
BEN DAVIS:
Being very generous with his time this afternoon is the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull. He spent yesterday in Toowoomba. Today in the northern parts of Brisbane - peninsula, Redcliffe, Scarborough, that area. It is a key battleground, Queensland, isn’t it Prime Minister? And we’ve seen the LNP take a hit over the last 96 hours here in Queensland with the defection of a state LNP to One Nation in Steve Dickson.
PRIME MINISTER:
We have a very competitive political environment everywhere in Australia and in Queensland as well. We know that we have to, we cannot take the confidence or the support of any of our constituents for granted. We have got to work hard always to demonstrate that we’re governing the country in a way that is securing the future for them, for their families, their children and grandchildren. Ensuring that we are making the decisions that will make hard-working Australian families able to get better jobs and better paid jobs and better opportunities in the future.
BEN DAVIS:
Prime Minister, before I run out of time I do want to ask you about another topic that has raised its head in the last 24 hours. The burqa – how much of a risk to national security is it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look, in Australia it’s nothing something you should be generalising. But there are obviously environments where it is important that people’s faces are uncovered for identity reasons and so that is – in those places obviously people should not have their faces covered. But we don’t tell people how to dress in Australia but where it is important that people’s identity is plain, then their faces shouldn’t be covered, that’s as simple as that.
BEN DAVIS:
And we know Pauline Hanson, she wants to ban the burqa here in Queensland. I mean that’s basically to legislate it, to make laws around it in government buildings, banks. She has cited national security risks and that’s why I asked you how much of an issue is this? And where does it stand on the risk factor?
PRIME MINISTER:
The principle way in which we identify people is by their face, that is how we recognise each other.
BEN DAVIS:
Do we need laws in place to make that?
PRIME MINISTER:
It depends on each environment and I think it’s a – the fundamental rule has got to be safety first. And where it is important that a person’s facial identity is plain, then their face shouldn’t be covered. This has got nothing to do with religion or any of that but it is a simple –
BEN DAVIS:
I think what it’s got to do with right now is we have policies and procedures, guidelines almost but there is no legislation around it. Now I am not a fan of more laws but -
PRIME MINISTER:
The principle has got to be that – and I think it is now – but where it is important that a person’s identity is able established for security or integrity reasons whatever it may be, then their face should not be covered. And it’s as simple as that. This has got nothing to do with religion or anything of that kind, it’s a simple practical issue that where identity is important – we don’t tell people in Australia what to wear, by and large. We are pretty easy going but where identity is important then obviously their face should be able to be seen.
BEN DAVIS:
Prime Minister thank you for taking your time out, the first outing on Brisbane Live. Look I have got to try one more time, replacement for Sussan Ley? You said soon - today, tomorrow?
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you, nice try.
BEN DAVIS:
Okay. Can you categorically say yay or nay as to Tony Abbott returning to the frontbench?
PRIME MINISTER:
I have dealt with all of that, I know it’s a matter of –
BEN DAVIS:
Yes or no? I’ll take either.
PRIME MINISTER:
You can be very simple, any changes to the Ministry will be announced in due course but I’ve made my position clear on those matters many times in the past.
BEN DAVIS:
Prime Minister, thank you for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you so much.
[ENDS]