ALBANESE: The Prime Minister has asked that I open up with a few comments about the COAG infrastructure working group process which is a part of the Rudd Government's commitment to building the nation through infrastructure.
Today in Adelaide we're having the third meeting of the COAG infrastructure working group. Infrastructure requires investment, but it also requires reform. The important work of this COAG working group is looking at ways in which we can streamline regulation between the states and territories to make sure that we operate in a much more uniform way.
This will be aimed at improving productivity, improving efficiency and therefore an important component of why infrastructure is one of the Rudd Government's 5 point plan to combat inflation. The infrastructure working group is working through a series of issues relating to regulation and is working in partnership with the Infrastructure Australia agenda. Sir Rod Eddington has come along today as the Chair of Infrastructure Australia as people would be aware, we appointed the full board this week at the Cabinet meeting and Infrastructure Australia in conjunction with the COAG working group is the way forward.
This means I think we've made a signal of intent in the budget of how seriously we take the infrastructure challenge facing the nation by investing $20 billion in the building Australia fund. This is a critical area of economic reform. I'm very proud to be part of a Government that's finally taking action after 12 years of neglect on national infrastructure issues and the quality of the people who make up the Infrastructure Australia board show I think the commitment that they have to making a contribution to the nation and Sir Rod Eddington is an outstanding appointment as the chair of that board.
PM: Sir Rod
EDDINGTON: Thanks very much Prime Minister, thanks Minister. I'm delighted to be chairing the advisory council and reporting to the Government. I think it's a real opportunity for the business and the public sector to work together and contribute to the all important policy debate. We'll be very clear about the rigour through which we will pass any proposals that come to us. It's a substantial opportunity to spend, but we have to spend wisely on infrastructure that's going to make a real difference both to our long term community and our long term economy.
I'm here today to listen to what the COAG working group team have got to say and then in early June we'll be holding the first meeting of the infrastructure advisory council in Canberra to kick off our work. There's plenty to be getting on with and I look forward to doing what I can to support the initiative. It's a terrific initiative and it is something that I'm sure will make a difference to the nation.
PM: Thanks very much Sir Rod and thanks very much Minister Albanese. It's good to be back in Adelaide today to talk about infrastructure. In January of this year I announced Labor's 5 point plan for fighting inflation. One element of that plan was to ensure that we delivered a sizable, substantial budget surplus, we've done that.
The second part of that plan was to act on the skills crisis, we're in the process of doing that and you've seen measures on this announced in the budget and there will be more to come.
Third part of that plan was to deal with the challenge of infrastructure bottlenecks. Infrastructure bottlenecks when they exist across the country actually add to supply side constraints in the economy which in turn fuels inflation. That's why it's been necessary to act on this as well. We said prior to the election that we would establish Infrastructure Australia. Within the first 5 months of this Government we've done exactly that, through legislation.
Secondly we've now staffed Infrastructure Australia and I pay tribute to Sir Rod Eddington and his preparedness to take on this significant responsibility on behalf of the Government and on behalf of the nation.
Thirdly we said that we would establish a building Australia fund, we've done that. We have made our intention absolutely clear through the budget and for the allocation of $20 billion in the first instance to that fund. And furthermore we've said that in the future we leave open the option of drawing upon any future budget surpluses to add to that building Australia fund.
Why is infrastructure so particularly important across the nation and here in South Australia? We have a huge infrastructure deficit. Doesn't matter where you turn, we see problems in our roads, in our rail, in our ports. We see problems of urban congestion, we see problems with the infrastructure of the 21st Century. That is a high speed broadband network for the nation.
So there are two options here, one as the National Government you can just wash your hands of it and say not my problem, someone else's problem. Or two, you can say this requires national leadership. That's our response and we've put in place within our first five months in Government the machinery for doing that.
Here in South Australia it's important as well, we've through the budget funded some $3 million to assist in a feasibility study for a sustainable traffic strategy, transport strategy, here for Adelaide and I'm sure we will be working in close partnership with the South Australian Government in the period ahead to ensure that we also are partners in significant infrastructure projects in this state and most particularly those of national significance for Australia.
To conclude on this, Sir Rod has also said quite rightly as has the Minister. The evaluation criteria for projects will be rigorous. These will be subjected to a rigorous cost benefit analysis. We will make sure that the criteria associated with economic (inaudible), the proper deployment of public finance and proper delivery of net benefit to the nation past muster. Before we commit ourselves as the National Government to be partners in any such project and that's why we intend to take sobered and considered advice on the way through.
If I could just add one of two other things. I've also in South Australia here today addressed the National Conference on Homelessness. This has been very important and at that conference I've had the opportunity to release the Governments Green paper on Homelessness ‘Which Way Home?' and that will now form the subject of input from the community sector, from the business community and from other Governments on what will be the first national White paper on Homelessness, I'm advised, in Australia's history. We intend to deliver that White paper by years end, this Green paper is the first step in that direction.
Homelessness is a national obscenity, the fact that we have 100,000 Australians in a country as prosperous as this who are still homeless. So many tens of thousands of whom are young. We have thousands of whom are senior Australians - people over the age 65, together with a large number of indigenous Australian's. We can do better, we must do better on this. This Green paper released at this important conference here in South Australia today, takes us one step down that path and of course the next step will be the completion of the White paper by years end.
Finally, also on the question of housing and homelessness and on the question of indigenous housing in particular. I'm also announcing today the establishment of a National Policy Commission on indigenous housing. This is important in order to deal with the acute problems facing housing in Australia's indigenous communities.
This is designed very much as a national policy commission which will not be staffed by politicians. Instead it will be staffed by people who have expertise in the field. People who have either been out there in the housing industry or working closely with the housing industry as it impacts on indigenous communities as well as associated expertise. We'll be approaching a number of senior individuals across the community in order to get their participation in this national policy commission. We think it's important and critical work and it's an important priority for us in closing the gap between indigenous and non indigenous Australians.
Some time ago I had an aspiration of establishing instead a joint policy commission with the Opposition. Regrettably the Opposition has insisted still on politicians being a member of this body. That's not the way in which the Government wishes to proceed, we want experts. Experts rather than politicians and that's why we've decided that the National Policy Commission is the best way to go and this of course has been the subject of some continued discussions between Dr Nelson and myself.
Happy to take your questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister you promised South Australia's (inaudible)
PM: Let's wait for the conclusion of the White paper. The Green paper clearly states we've got to establish some targets and the reason we put that Green paper as a proposal to this conference of a thousand experts in homelessness at this Adelaide convention centre over the next two days is to get their input as to what would be rational and reasonable targets for reducing homelessness over time.
My simple proposition is this, you can either take a business as usual approach as a nation and say, ‘ok that is just part of the problem', or you can say, ‘can't we turn the corner and can't we bring that number down'. I am in the second camp. By the time we get to the White Paper, you will have our definition of those targets, but we want to be consulted about how we get there in the meantime.
JOURNALIST: What about the target of (inaudible) within five years (inaudible)
PM: Well if you, if you look at the speech that I have just delivered, I have described these as modest first steps within our first five months in office. You cannot turn around the problem of national homelessness, which has been building and building for years and decades, in a matter of five months. You can't do that. What you can say however, is that we are serious about this. And we have done three things. First, Green paper, first White paper commissioned by this Government is on homelessness. It will produce the first White paper ever on homelessness nationally for Australia.
Secondly, committing upfront this amount of money to build those additions to housing stock which we announced earlier on. And then most recently, a further announcement of a further $100 million to assist with the construction of emergency accommodation for those with disabilities who have older carers and their carers are running into a real problem in terms of continuing to provide care for their disabled children long term.
I have described this in the speech as very much first steps, but I would rather have taken those first steps than have replicated what I think is a sad history of policy inertia on the part of the previous government on this, who after all, didn't even have a Minister for Housing.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how do you plan to respond to the United Nations invitation for Australia to be part of (inaudible) negotiations in Cyprus and is Mr Downer the appropriate person to be part of that?
PM: The United Nations Deputy Secretary General has approached Senator Hill, or former Senator Hill, I should say, our permanent representative Hill in New York, and proposed the possible appointment of Mr Downer to this role. And furthermore, the United Nations has asked for the Government's response to that. What the Government has said quite clearly to the United Nations, is that should they extend that invitation to Mr Downer, we would support it. We would support it on a bipartisan basis because it would be an important appointment for an Australian as a special envoy.
How Mr Downer responds to that is a matter for Mr Downer. Mr Downer and I have not been in personal contact on this matter.
JOURNALIST: Did you think Mr Downer is a good selection by the UN (inaudible)
PM: Well the UN obviously make up their own mind on these questions and I am not sure whether Mr Downer is their final choice, or one of a number of possible choices. I will leave that to them and I will leave it to Mr Downer. But as you know, Mr Downer and I have had a difficult relationship over the years but if the UN says they want Mr Downer to do a job on Cyprus, I am not going to stand in the road of that and he would have my complete support.
Sorry, I interrupted your question.
JOURNALIST: I was going to say the rising cost of petrol is causing angst within this community and of course transport and everything else is going up in the meantime. Is there anything at all that the Government can do in the next months or weeks to bring down the price of petrol (inaudible)
PM: Well there is no silver bullet on petrol. And we have always said there is no silver bullet. And I have looked at what has happened with these price adjustments in Singapore in the last 24 hours, and the flow through impact on the budget for working families, for working Australians and Australians doing it tough, is really big. We as a Government have initiated a number of measures which help at the margin on this, help at the margin. One of which is the decision to establish National Fuel Watch. Now that will come into operation at the end of year, which will seek to apply nationally, what has been instituted in Western Australia I think for the last five to seven years.
The West Australians tell us that on average it has resulted in something like a reduction in the overall price at the bowser of something like 2 cents per litre. That is not a lot but that is one useful step.
The second thing of course, we have done is to establish for the first time, in Australia's history, a petrol commissioner to provide rolling competition policy scrutiny on the behaviour of the oil majors. These are the two things that we have done, but I fully recognise that there is no silver bullet in this area.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Well let's go to what the Budget does. What does the Budget do on tax cuts? The Budget delivers some $55 billion by way of a support package for working families, including $46 billion in tax cuts.
Secondly, what we do through the Budget is provide an increase in the childcare tax rebate from 30 to 50 per cent. Thirdly, what the budget does is establish for the first time in Australia's history, an education tax refund for working families, whereby you can claim up to 50 per cent of your education expenses on various items, for primary school kids, up to $750 per year and for secondary school kids, up to $1500 per year.
On top of that, we have taken a measure to remove the previous Government's imposition of this charge on people on very moderate incomes of $50,000 per year, called the Medicare surcharge, Medicare Levy Surcharge, adding up to some $20 to $30 extra per week depending on whether you are a single or a couple. And on top of that, we have a range of housing affordability initiatives which end in the vicinity of something like about $2 billion.
If you put all those measures together, depending on the family, depending on the number of kids, depending on where they fit in the overall scheme of things, we have done as much as we physically can to provide additional help to the family budget. Recognising that the cost of everything is still going through the roof.
The cost of food, the cost of petrol, cost of rents, costs of childcare. So what we have tried to do is say, here is a helping hand with what we can do through the tax system and the childcare rebate system, etc, while recognising that prices are still going up.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, I just want to ask you also on petrol, can you indicate whether, as we mentioned (inaudible) emissions trading, whether retail petrol is possible it may be exempt given the inflationary pressures (inaudible)
PM: As former Prime Minister Howard said, if you move on the whole question of climate change, as he anticipated the previous Government would as well, then it will have an effect on energy costs. That's inevitable. He said that, I say that.
The key question is how we ensure that the most vulnerable Australians, those who are on lower incomes, are appropriately supported through cost adjustment processes across the board. And one of the terms of reference, of course that we have for our current investigation into emissions trading, is how you deal with those cost adjustments for working families on the way through. That work is underway. It will not be complete for quite some time yet but we are very mindful, as are charitable organisations, like the Brotherhood of St Lawrence, on the impact of movements on emissions trading, pricing the cost of carbon, etc, on families. We are very mindful of that. Very complex work. But that work is underway.
JOURNALIST: But in principle, you wouldn't (inaudible) exclude petrol from any sort of emissions trading would you?
PM: Well the whole question is, when you are designing an emissions trading regime to make it as comprehensive across the economy as possible. At the same time ensuring that working families are appropriately supported at the lower income end in terms of any costs which flow from it. So as I said, Mr Howard like myself, has always accepted the reality that you act in this area, it has an impact on energy prices. The key thing is to make sure, for those who can afford any price adjustment for (inaudible) that you have got some support mechanisms on the way through.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: I have seen those reports today and as I understand it these matters are under investigation within the defence department and I will leave it for that investigation to reach its own conclusions.
JOURNALIST: Do you agree it is a breach of privacy?
PM: I think the best thing to do is to leave that investigation to reach its own conclusions and I am sure that is what the defence department has under way.
JOURNALIST: Just (inaudible) Mr Dodson has raised concerns this morning about possible changes to Native Title, saying it is not the way to address the 17 year life expectancy gap. That that should be Government policy. How would you respond to that?
PM: Well, closing the gap is, I have got to say, a massive undertaking. At the time which we became the Government of Australia, there is a 17 year life expectancy gap between indigenous and non indigenous Australians. You go down to the infant mortality rates. They are something like three times as large in indigenous communities as they are in non indigenous communities. So once again, you can either just say, ‘not our problem, too hard', over there, or say, ‘actually, let's intervene'. But intervene at multiple levels of policy.
Government must take the lead. But there is a role for everyone here. What has impressed me is, and Rod would know of this because of experience corporately, is the number of senior Australians corporates which are now taking their responsibilities in indigenous communities around the country, to try and close the gap as well. Particularly in terms of employment opportunities in some of our mining communities.
I believe a national partnership approach is necessary, but we have got to be absolutely united as a country on setting a goal to close this gap. It is going to be hard as hell and it is going to be really tough, but unless we focus on that, we will just drift and it will just get worse.