ANTHONY PRATT:
I’d like to welcome the Prime Minister, it’s a great honour to have him at our Tumut Paper Mill. Today I’d like to announce a plan to invest $2 billion to create 5,000 high-paying manufacturing jobs for Australians over the next ten years.
PRIME MINISTER:
That is a fantastic pledge.
ANTHONY PRATT:
Thank you, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
That is such a great commitment. You know, Anthony's plant here, exports half a billion dollars of its value. So 70% of the production is exported.
ANTHONY PRATT:
Yes.
PRIME MINISTER:
And you’re making an additional investment right now of $100 million into this plant?
ANTHONY PRATT:
Exactly.
PRIME MINISTER:
That's going to add to your capacity substantially.
ANTHONY PRATT:
Absolutely. We have tremendous faith, supporting your leadership sir, and we are doing it because we believe in Australia and we believe that the best social program is a job.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, that's absolutely right. There is no question about that. These are high-paying jobs. There is no plant in the world more advanced than this, is there?
ANTHONY PRATT:
No. This was the first major paper mill of this kind built in the world since 1980. We look forward to continuing to invest, as I said, $2 billion in Australia to create 5,000 high-paying manufacturing jobs for Australians over the next 10 years.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Anthony, the commitment of you and your family to manufacturing in Australia, proving that Australians can do anything, that with the right technology, the right materials - and we have all of those and great committed workers, we have met some of those during the course of the tour - you can see that, with Anthony's leadership, you can achieve the world's best manufacturing facility, here in Tumut.
So congratulations.
ANTHONY PRATT:
Thank you so much Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
It is fantastic. Fantastic for this part of Australia. Fantastic for this region, but fantastic for the whole nation. Imagine, Anthony's business Visy is the largest exporter of 40 foot shipping containers carrying some of those rolls of paper, white-top paper that we saw being made in the plant a moment ago. So well done and your commitment to investment and jobs is so commendable.
It’s the point that we make all the time; that if you want to grow the economy, you've got to have investment. Without investment, you don't get jobs. So every part of our program, every part of our platform - whether it is reducing business taxes, whether it's providing incentives for export, whether it is opening up the big markets that Anthony and others export to, China, Korea, Japan, these massive free trade deals and others we are working on - enable the workers here to produce the goods that are then shipped out, creating jobs here, creating more opportunities for Australians.
The other thing Anthony, just talk a little bit about the way you support local businesses here. I don't know whether you noticed, but some of the networking people there, the people working on the electronics here, are Tumut firms.
ANTHONY PRATT:
Absolutely. The multiplier effect of this $2 billion to create 5,000 high-paying manufacturing jobs directly is that it will create an additional 13,000 jobs, indirect jobs in Australia in addition to about 14,000 construction jobs in addition to that. So by the end of the 10 years, Visy will have invested $8 billion of investment in Australia and created 30,000 high-paying, 30,000 jobs.
PRIME MINISTER:
As your manager Jean-Yves was saying as we went through, half of all the energy here is generated from the renewable resources, the lignin you extract from the woodchips?
ANTHONY PRATT:
Absolutely. In fact the $2 billion we are going to invest, the pledge today, will be spent on clean energy, recycling infrastructure and other packaging.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it’s fantastic, a great credit. Innovation, technology, investment, we’re focused on all of those. Now, I don't want to be unduly political here, standing here at this plant but it is a very important point that every part of our program, everything we do, is designed to encourage Australian businesses like Anthony's to invest. Whether it's reducing business tax, whether it's opening up new opportunities, whether it's providing the infrastructure that they need, the sinews of the 21st century economy, to get ahead.
Our opponents have nothing like that. They have policies that appear to be simply focused on pulling down the successful; raising taxes, throwing impediments in the way of investment.
More investment means more jobs. All of that, as Anthony notes, that has a multiplier effect. So the 5,000 jobs he’s adding, he will add over the next decade, will deliver many more jobs, many thousands more jobs, as that multiplies into the wider economy.
So it's great to be here with Anthony Pratt and all the team from Visy - congratulations – and we'd be delighted to take some questions.
JOURNALIST:
Anthony, while you’re in the area, I wonder would having a Clean Energy Target in place make big investment decisions easier for yourself and for the company? And the PM is here today, have you spoken to him about a Clean Energy Target? What sort of response are you getting from the Feds?
ANTHONY PRATT:
Well look, we focus on what we can do ourselves. I think the Prime Minister is doing a fantastic job on energy and we are basically up, we’ve built five clean energy plants around the world, three of them are in Australia. We now generate 30% of our own energy ourselves.
There's three types of clean energy; there's wind, solar and biomass. We’re in the biomass side of it and we are going to continue to invest in clean energy over the years as the technology evolves.
PRIME MINISTER:
A good point. Anthony, your business is a big consumer of gas too?
ANTHONY PRATT:
Yes.
PRIME MINISTER:
Now gas is a vital component, energy component, both in the electricity generation business and of course, in manufacturing. Of course in many parts of the manufacturing sector, it’s the feed stock. So gas is critically important.
Now we have seen in recent times, a huge increase in the price of gas. Now why is that? Good question. What happened? Well, I’ll tell you what happened? You had a federal Labor Government, the previous one, you had a Queensland Labor Government that licensed the export of gas from Queensland without taking into account the impact that that might have on the domestic market. So we got into the extraordinary situation where the domestic market - customers like Anthony and of course mums and dads at home - were facing big increases in gas prices, because we were short of supply. Can you believe it? We are about to become the largest exporter of LNG and we are short of gas at home.
So what we have done is taken the strong measures. You wouldn't predict a Liberal Prime Minister would do this, but I put Australian jobs first and we have put controls on exports of gas and you've already seen the price of gas coming down in the east coast. We will make sure that we control exports. It is heavy-handed, I concede that and we don't do it with any great pleasure. But we will control exports so that the Australian market has full supply.
That's a good example of the practical action we’re taking to protect jobs here and ensure that energy is affordable.
JOURNALIST:
Of the 5,000, how many more jobs will come to the Tumut plant?
ANTHONY PRATT:
I believe the total effect will be over time, probably 600 or 700.
JOURNALIST:
You’ve had an expansion here, a $100 million expansion. The New South Wales Environment Protection Authority in the approval said they were concerned there was no long-term strategy for waste management at this site. Do you share that concern?
ANTHONY PRATT:
We are always trying to improve. We’re very proud of the fact we recycle, it’s got the highest recycled water rate in the world of any paper mill. And we’re always trying to use more waste paper as well, that ironically helps clean up Sydney as well.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible] could we see any waste facilities in Tumut as part of the upgrade?
ANTHONY PRATT:
Possibly.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Pratt do you actually credit the Federal Government with helping you with today's announcement and how do you actually think the Federal Government has helped you run this business better?
ANTHONY PRATT:
I think it is a great tribute to the Government that unemployment - I believe - is at the lowest level it has been since 2013. So I think, in creating an overall environment where that's happened. I think that Australia, apart from New Zealand, we’re the only Western country in Asia, so the huge amount of exports this mill does, which is the biggest amount of shipping containers exported in Australia is from this mill, Asia presents a tremendous export opportunity and a business opportunity for all of Australian business, whether it is food exports or paper exports.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister can I ask on Afghanistan?
PRIME MINISTER:
Can I just, have we got any questions about the expansion here first? Then we’re happy to move to other topics.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think companies like Visy and other big corporations help stimulate the economy and do you think the companies should be making more investments like this rather than paying big dividends to shareholders?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well businesses have got to manage their own affairs, but I think the track record of Visy is one of constant investment. As Anthony says, he is committed now to investing another $2 billion over the next 10 years, create 5,000 jobs, he is investing $100 million in the here and now.
These are high, well-paid manufacturing jobs in a very, very advanced plant. No plant more advanced in the world and that's right here in Tumut. I think it is a great credit to you and a great credit to the men and women that work here, that are part of the Visy team.
JOURNALIST:
Would you like to see more companies who are suffering high energy costs and high power bills invest in their own power generation as we see here with Visy?
PRIME MINISTER:
Visy has the opportunity to do so because it obviously has the option of using biomass, using the lignin. Is that the right term?
ANTHONY PRATT:
Lignin, yeah.
PRIME MINISTER:
Lignin which is the by-product of the paper-making process. They have got the opportunity to do that. Different companies have different opportunities.
But plainly, energy production, co-generation, heat recovery, every business is becoming more focused on saving energy and being more efficient in their use of energy. Of course, we have many programs and incentives for businesses to do that. Just like in the water business, you have got to make every drop count, in the energy business, you've got to make every gigajoule count or every electron count, talking about electricity.
JOURNALIST:
There’s no federal government funding in this announcement today, so what are you doing here? Is this to assure voters you are not distracted given all the citizenship?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah, thanks for the editorial. Any other questions?
JOURNALIST:
On Afghanistan, now that President Trump has signaled that we are moving from nation-building to terrorist-killing. Do you think that Australia's role in the conflict will move from one of training and advisory to more of a direct combat role and how do you see that panning out?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look, we already are one of the most substantial contributors to the effort, to the Coalition effort in Afghanistan. In fact, we have the largest non-NATO contribution in Afghanistan. So obviously we work very closely with the US, as you know.
I was with Jim Mattis, Defense Secretary Mattis in Kabul recently and of course I met with him again in Australia and in Singapore as has my Defence Minister Marise Payne. So any further requests that the Americans have we’ll obviously look at that and consult with them but we have already increased our forces there.
So I’m not ruling anything out, but clearly we work very closely with them. It is a very, very close and intimate alliance. So we’ll work through it but I think what the President is doing, is showing a resolve to ensure that the terrorists in Afghanistan are not able to regroup and once again, as he said in his speech, once again threaten us from Afghanistan as they did in the past.
JOURNALIST:
This does put more boots on the ground, do you have any apprehensions about the indefinite timeline?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I’m not going to speculate on what additional resources we would bring to bear would be. But as to the timeline, I think the wester, the Coalition commitment to Afghanistan you should expect it would be very long-term, as it has been.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister does the ADF have capacity to increase its commitment to the war?
PRIME MINISTER:
Again, that’s a very open-ended question. Of course it depends how much and for how long and what other calls on the ADF’s resources are present. But again, we will work through, rather than speculate.
The President has not set out precisely what additional US resources will be deployed. So we’ll be having close consultation with the US and when, then the outcome of those consultations may result in additional resources being deployed to Afghanistan, but I don’t want to speculate on it. We are very, very staunch allies, very staunch allies in the global war to defeat terrorism full stop.
JOURNALIST:
Are you prepared to stay joined at the hip with the US if it’s winning at all costs from their perspective, as many troops as it needs for as long as it needs?
PRIME MINISTER:
The Alliance is very, very strong, none stronger.
JOURNALIST:
But given the ‘joined at the hip’ argument, comment, does that mean you’d instinctively favour any request from the US?
PRIME MINISTER:
It means, I’ll repeat what I said. The US alliance is the bedrock of our national security, we are staunch allies, strong allies. None stauncher or stronger. Okay?
JOURNALIST:
What guarantees have you sort from your other MP’s and Senators that they are not dual citizens and that we’ve seen the end of this whole saga?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I’ll make a disclosure about citizenship for my own part. My father was born in Tumut, so right here, right here in this town. So I suppose I have Tumut citizenship by ancestry. So I’m very proud of that.
Look, just in terms of the citizenship exercise, the issue of citizenship by descent, which is the especially controversial one that has, you know, come as a surprise to many people, not in least those people who have discovered they were dual citizens, that will be dealt with by the High Court in the near future. I know there’s a directions hearing tomorrow and the court will no doubt decide on dates for hearings and it will be dealt with then.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think Barnaby Joyce should step aside given the recent announcements?
PRIME MINISTER:
No.
JOURNALIST:
Are you confident there’s no other cases though, that’s my question really. Are you confident that that’s it? Have we seen the end of it or?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the court will have in terms of the citizenship by descent question, by the time it sits on this case, it will have quite a few. It will have Senators Canavan, Nash, Xenophon and Barnaby Joyce, so that’s four. So that citizenship by descent issue I think has got four ‘test cases’ if you like, and they will and the court will resolve that issue then.
JOURNALIST:
Has a decision been made not to refer any Labor MP’s to the High Court and if they don’t give up the paperwork as you’ve asked, will that be something you consider?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I’m not going to speculate any further on this. As you can see what a number of our members have done is when these issues arose, they’ve declared them to the Parliament and referred themselves to the High Court.
I want to say and repeat my response to your question, that I am very, very confident that the court will find that those members that have been caught up in this dual citizenship issue by reason of descent, will be found not to be disqualified. So I’m very confident, consistent with the Solicitor-General’s advice that Barnaby Joyce for example will be found not to be disqualified from sitting in the House of Representatives.
He is qualified to sit in the House of Representatives and he’s a Member of the House of Representatives and therefore he’s entitled to be a Minister.
JOURNALIST:
Are you having a look into George Christensen’s case? I understand he is born to a Scottish mother and Scottish citizenship laws changed in 2010, is that something you’re investigating?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look again, I’m not going to speculate on individual matters like that. This issue of citizenship by descent is one that the court will resolve the near future. As I said, I’m confident that in cases where a person is born in Australia, is a citizen by reason of being born in Australia, but has by virtue of the law of another country, citizenship by reason of some ancestral relationship, that will not be found to disqualify them from sitting in Parliament, unless of course they’ve acknowledged that foreign citizenship in some way. You know, like taking out a foreign passport or something of that kind. So I think you all understand the advice that we have, the substance of it. We’re confident in that advice and we look forward to the court resolving or dealing with the matter and clarifying it as soon as possible.
JOURNALIST:
Out here in the regions we are nervous about our job security, what is the government doing to push through its media reforms given Senators like Nick Xenophon have backed up.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah, as you know, we are doing everything we can to get those media reforms through the Parliament. But the big obstacle – and you mention Nick Xenophon and we’re clearly continuing to negotiate with Nick – but really the big obstacle is the Labor Party.
If Bill Shorten valued your job, if he cared about your job, he’d be supporting the media law reforms. If he cared about the media, jobs in the media in regional Australia, he’d be supporting it. Now if he supported it, it would sail through the Senate.
So I’m not diminishing the importance of the crossbench but the only reason that we’re engaged in this negotiation, is because Bill Shorten is not backing media jobs in regional Australia. You know that your future depends on media reforms. We’re backing you, we’re backing your job and those of your work colleagues.
The Labor Party for purely political reasons - as is always the case - is not. So we’ll continue protecting your job, doing everything we can and we will do our best to get it through the Senate. Now just one more.
JOURNALIST:
How great is it to have some of the big businesses like Visy supporting regional areas like Tumut?
PRIME MINISTER:
It is fantastic, come here Anthony, we’ve got off the political stuff. Look it is great and you know this is where the vast majority of Australians - 80 plus per cent, 87 per cent I think of Australians work in the private sector. They work in small businesses, they work in big businesses. The big businesses contract with small businesses. Some of the consultants we saw up there in the control room, good examples of that.
So what Anthony’s doing is showing a real commitment to investment in regional Australia and that means jobs. I cannot repeat this too often; we are supporting investment, we’re encouraging investment because we know that means more jobs. The only way you get more jobs and better-paid jobs, is if you get more investment.
Now everything we do is promoting investment. When Bill Shorten – and I’ll conclude on this – when Bill Shorten was asked on the ABC what was his policy to create more jobs, all he could say was that he believed we should invest in public transport. Well, I’m sure public transport is a very good thing. I catch lots of buses and trains and trams myself, but ultimately it’s not going to create a big incentive for investment in plants and businesses all around the country including in regional Australia. So higher taxes, more regulation, going after small and family businesses like Labor is doing, that is going to slow investment, deter investment and discourage employment.
So jobs and growth, is not just a slogan it’s an outcome. 240,000 new jobs in the last year and with commitments and leadership like you have from Anthony Pratt, you’ll see many more in the years to come. But you need a government that’s committed to investment and supporting business to make that investment because that’s where the jobs come from.
Thank you all very much.
[ENDS]