PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you, Don has made us very welcome here. It was wonderful to meet Maree again, the McGrath Breast Care Nurse. The last time we were together we also brought the rain, the only problem was that it was at the cricket so it wasn’t probably the right timing. But it is great to be here, bringing the rain to the Downs.
Can I just say what an enormous contribution the Darling Downs is making to Australia’s economy. We saw in our National Accounts this week, the big contribution from agriculture – really strong growth. That’s coming as all of the farmers here know from stronger prices driven by exports. Thanks to those big export markets that we’ve opened up in Asia and China in particular and Korea and Japan and Hong Kong. What we’ve been able to do is provide greater opportunities for the best produce in the world to get to market. That’s providing more income, more investment, more jobs and of course you’ve got that magnificent new airport – the Wellcamp Airport that is enabling the finest products of the Downs to be on the dining tables of Asia within 24 hours.
That’s really a great story of Australian enterprise, Australian commitment, hard work and getting those big markets open and that’s our job, to fling open those opportunities for Australia’s farmers to sell the best in the world – the best produce in the world.
As David and I were discussing on the way up here, David was saying to me we produce enough food to feed 75 million people. There is only 24 million of us. So exports are very important and we are very committed to that and you can see the results in the prices and the optimism and the growth and the investment. So it is wonderful to be here at the Bell Show and it’s good to have brought the rain too.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, you are here with David Littleproud, you must be impressed with your local Member, he is doing a good job?
PRIME MINISTER:
He is a champion.
JOURNALIST:
Now could he be propelled into Cabinet when you do the next reshuffle? Would that be unheard of?
[Cheering]
PRIME MINISTER:
Enormous support clearly. Enormous local support for that move.
JOURNALIST:
Would that be a good way of dealing with the threat of One Nation in Maranoa?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well David is an outstanding Federal Member and can I just say to you – he has followed in the footsteps of our very good friend Bruce Scott. This is a very strong electorate. It is a very productive electorate, very huge electorate of course. You’ve got some of the finest agriculture in the world. You’ve got enormous energy resources, you’ve got coal, you’ve got gas, you’ve got wind, you’ve got solar. You’ve got - right across this electorate is the at the heart of the Australian economy. The energy, the food, the fibre, the cotton, this is a very productive electorate and it’s got a very productive Member in David Littleproud.
JOURNALIST:
Just to go to Brisbane for a moment, there is a new plan for -
PRIME MINISTER:
Give him another round of applause. And a very good Mayor too. Who has a very good brother, who is a very good Member of Parliament.
DAVID LITTLEPROUD:
Cousin!
PRIME MINISTER:
Cousin! Cousin!
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, there is a new plan for Brisbane Metro. You’ve said previously you needed to integrate better with Cross River Rail. Jackie Trad wants you to fund Cross River Rail now -
PRIME MINISTER:
I’m sure she does.
JOURNALIST:
Will you do it?
PRIME MINISTER:
What we have done is provided some funding to look at the metro transport solution for Brisbane. So looking at Lord Mayor Quirk’s plan for the bus solution and of course the Cross River Rail solution the State Government is proposing. The integration of them would obviously be the ideal and we’re getting the work done to look at that.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister do politicians deserve a pay rise?
PRIME MINISTER:
That’s a question I’m pleased to say it’s not for me to answer, it’s for the Remuneration Tribunal which does handle this and indeed the pay of judges and other public officials.
JOURNALIST:
But will you be making a submission to them?
PRIME MINISTER:
No. They handle that. It’s extremely independent of Parliament. The last thing you want to have is politicians setting their own wages I can assure you of that. It’s very arm’s length.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, George Christensen says that there is no way that you win the penalty rates argument. You’re telling people to make do with less money and it’s essentially what you’re saying that’s what people are going to do as a result of the Fair Work Commission’s decision?
PRIME MINISTER:
This is all about jobs. This is all about jobs, if you look at what the Fair Work Commission decided, they justified their decision – and it was their decision it’s not the Government’s decision – they justified it after listening to hundreds and hundreds of witnesses and reading lots of evidence which showed that by making those changes, you would have more jobs, so there would be more opportunities for people to work, more opportunities for owners of businesses not to have to work on the weekend and be able to employ someone. So this is all about giving opportunities for employment. That is what it’s about. So you’ve got to decide whether you are on the side of creating more jobs or not and they’ve gone through it very carefully. It’s a –
JOURNALIST:
So you are supporting the Fair Work decision?
PRIME MINISTER:
It is an inquiry, we support more opportunities for employment and it’s an inquiry. You’ve got to remember; it was set up by the Labor Party some years ago. It’s been going for some years and they’ve weighed up very carefully these issues.
You’ve had small businesses been saying for years – ‘If Sunday penalty rates were lower, we’d be able to employ more people,’ and overall the economy and our workers and people who haven’t got a job now would be better off. And then there was a contrary argument put by the unions.
The Fair Work Commission which is independent - every member of which was appointed by the Labor Party so it wasn’t a Liberal Party tribunal - they’ve come to that conclusion, it’s a balance, they’ve formed a balance. And they are now making sure that the changes are transitions so that people’s take home pay is preserved overall.
So this is a debate, an examination that’s been going on for a long time but you’ve got to remember that it is vitally important that businesses are able to employ more people. A café that’s closed, a motel that can’t employ people isn’t providing jobs. So it’s important to make sure there are lots of opportunities for Australians to get a job.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, have you’ve been trounced on that debate by Labor this week?
PRIME MINISTER:
[Laughter] Thanks for your opinion, I don’t share it.
JOURNALIST:
Just on George Christensen, are you worried that he will leave the LNP? He’s obviously making noise still?
PRIME MINISTER:
David sits in the National Party room with him. We’ve got a strong team and he’s renewed his commitment to the team as recently as today.
JOURNALIST:
How important is that Coalition –
PRIME MINISTER:
The Coalition is very important. The alternative to a Coalition Government is Bill Shorten and what that will do, is that will slow economic growth. Every element of Shorten’s policy is anti-business, anti-agriculture, it’s anti-exports, it’s anti-employment. Higher taxes, higher debt, higher deficient.
You know, there are lots of lovely young kids here today. I had two in my arms at once, it was a good balancing act. All these young children need to look forward to a great future. That’s what David – looking after your future young man and your brother and your friend there. What we’re doing is making sure that you’ve got even better opportunities to cease when you grow up. That’s what we want to do. And one of the things we’ve got to do is ensure that there is big export markets open; that energy is affordable and reliable; that taxes are not crushing business and that we pay off the debt, get the budget back into balance. Otherwise these young fellas and their sisters and all around here, this young girl here, she’ll be paying massive taxes in the future to pay off that debt. So we’ve got an economic plan that’s delivering that. Mr Shorten is the alternative – higher taxes, higher deficient, higher debt and anti-business.
If you want to have the CFMEU and militant unions running the country, then Bill Shorten is your man. But that’s going to be a very bleak future for all of these young people here today at the Bell Show.
Let me say, it’s a beautiful day. You’ve had a bit of rain, I hope we get some more but in the meantime we’re going to enjoy the show.
Thanks very much.
[ENDS]