STEVE MILLS: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull joining us on the radio. Good morning to you, sir.
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, great to be with you.
STEVE MILLS: Must be nice to be back in the state. You had a dinner last night?
PRIME MINISTER: I did indeed yes, I had a dinner.
BASIL ZEMPILAS: Can we ask where the dinner was Prime Minister? And do you know any of the names of the 15 people who paid ten grand a pop to be there with you?
PRIME MINISTER: It was in the city and it was with some leading business figures but can I just say the important news today is the commitment we are making to the future of Western Australia, as a great defence industry state. We’re providing an additional $100 million to support new infrastructure at Henderson which is going to enable more ships and bigger ships to be built. It is going to result in many news jobs. It is going to enable Western Australia to complete the contract which we have granted for the Pacific Patrol boats, which Austal - a great Western Australian shipbuilding company is undertaking. Of course there will be, from 2020 the construction of the Offshore Patrol Vessels. That’s well over $3 billion worth of contract in that one alone.
So this is all about ensuring that we provide the support, for jobs – high quality, skilled jobs, advanced manufacturing, engineering, architects, designers, shipwrights - to ensure that those jobs are here in Western Australia. I’ll be there with Colin Barnett, who has provided great leadership and is a great partner to work with.
STEVE MILLS: Speaking of Colin Barnett, the last time you were here, you were here for the State Conference and you made a promise to the people of Western Australia, that you agreed with us, that the GST and the way it was actually re-distributed wasn’t fair to WA. You promised to actually get a GST floor or a base figure and you were going to reveal that. Now as far as we’re aware, there has been nothing set forth since then. Can you correct the issue if that is not the case?
PRIME MINISTER: Right, I’ll remind you of what I actually said and what we’re doing. Firstly, it’s important to remember that politics is about choices and elections are the ultimate choice. Now I believe we need to set a floor on the GST for the benefit of all states, but obviously Western Australia is the most aggrieved. But the Labor Party, Bill Shorten is opposed to that. He slams me for that again and again. So when Mark McGowan complains about the GST, you know that he has no support from within the federal party –
STEVE MILLS: Yeah but hold on, you said that you were going to actually address the issue and we’ve seen nothing since?
PRIME MINISTER: Let me complete what I was saying. The GST share for Western Australia at the moment is 30 per cent -
STEVE MILLS: Pathetic.
PRIME MINISTER: Just let me finish. I absolutely understand why Western Australians are aggrieved by that. It obviously is very low. Now we have made that – that’s to say my Government, the Federal Government, the Liberal-National Federal Government, has effectively created a floor of 37 per cent, because over the last two years we have, out of federal funds contributed an extra $500 million in each year to Western Australia.
So there is $1 billion that we have given to Western Australia to address that discrepancy. Now what is going to happen is that over time, over the next few years, the Western Australia share is going to correct and come back up -
STEVE MILLS: To what? To what amount? To what figure?
PRIME MINISTER: Well if you stop interrupting me, I’ll tell you. It’s expecting to get up to in the order of 70-75 per cent.
STEVE MILLS: When?
PRIME MINISTER: 2019-20 has been the estimates that we’ve seen. And what I said at the State Conference and what I’ve discussed with Colin and I’ve discussed with the other Premiers is that when the level gets back up to a higher point, that is when we should seek to set a floor, so that no state is disadvantaged.
You see as Prime Minister of Australia, I can’t take the side of one state against all others. So what we’ve got to do - and this is why Colin’s leadership is so important - you need an experienced, persuasive Premier who has got the standing and the credibility with the other states. Because we’ve got to bring them along together. That’s the point.
STEVE MILLS: So how do you react to Mr McGowan who says he won’t be dictated to by the Federal Government in regards to infrastructure spending?
PRIME MINISTER: Well that’s a separate issue, you are now talking about Perth Freight Link. Okay, Perth Freight Link is a high priority project assessed by Infrastructure Australia. It is one of the top projects in Australia. We have committed $1.2 billion to it. The State Government has entered into contracts to build it. It is a high priority project.
Now if Mr McGowan becomes Premier and cancels that project, then not only will he have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars, presumably in damages to cancel those contracts, he cannot then demand the $1.2 billion for something else. If he’s got another project, METRONET, or whatever it may be, he would have to do all the homework. He would have to present a business case, he’d have to make a submission, that would have to go through Infrastructure Australia. He hasn’t got a project, he’s got an idea, he’s got a concept.
What Colin Barnett has got with Freight Link - it’s a fully engineered, fully designed project, listed as a high priority project by Infrastructure Australia. With the funding on the table, with construction ready to go, taking thousands of cars off suburban roads, eliminating over a dozen traffic lights. It is vital transport economic infrastructure for Western Australia which has needs to be built.
BASIL ZEMPILAS: Prime Minister if I may, just one from me. An issue from last week, can I ask you this – are you going to do something about the boss of Australia Post’s salary? I say that because we’ve had an enormous reaction to this. Everyday Australians just cannot reconcile a world where the Australia Post boss earns ten times what you earn. His job is not ten times more important. Will you do something about that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well you know what I have said about it. I agree, I think the salary is excessive. I’ve raised this directly. As soon as I became aware of the salary level I raised it directly with the Chairman of Australia Post. In fact, I’ve raised the issue of that salary previously with the Board. We have written - in fact your Western Australian Senator and my Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has written to all of the government-owned business corporations and reminded them that salaries of executives and chief executives in particular, have to meet community standards.
Ahmed Fahour is a very capable man, he’s a very good CEO. That salary however is too high. You know that and I know that. Now I won’t make any more comment on it, but I’ve been very clear about what my views are on it and it is too high.
STEVE MILLS: Colin Barnett and the Liberals over here have done a deal with the One Nation Party – Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, will you be courting her in a similar fashion federally?
PRIME MINISTER: Well in terms of Pauline Hanson, we deal with her and her party all the time in the Senate. I mean she currently has three seats in the Senate. Presumably when there is the re-count here to fill the vacancy caused by Senator Culleton being disqualified, she’ll have four again. So she is an important part of the mix of the Senate and the crossbench. We deal with her and treat her with respect and we deal with her constructively and we’ve been able to secure her support for important legislation, including important legislation that effects Western Australia.
One of the most important things here in Western Australia as you know, as you’ve seen the downturn in the mining construction boom is to see more activity and more jobs. Obviously we’re playing our part with investing in infrastructure that is ready to go. See Mark McGowan goes out there and talks about jobs. That’s great. There is Freight Link, it is ready to go. If he pulls the pin on that, it would years and years before you go an alternative project up.
BASIL ZEMPILAS: Alright. Come back and visit us soon Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Same with the construction sector.
STEVE MILLS: Yes, indeed. Well let’s hope it’s not six months until you are back again, we appreciate your time.
PRIME MINISTER: I’ll see you again soon. Thanks a lot.