PM: It's good to be here at John Hunter and it's good to be here with Sharon Grierson. It's good to be here with the team. And we're here today to talk about the future of health and hospitals, the future needs of nursing within it. And I'll also make some remarks about paid maternity leave. As we've seen some new mums and some new bubs this morning.
For the future of our hospital system, we've got to make sure that we are training enough qualified nurses. Each year across Australia, there are literally thousands of young people who want to get into nursing courses across Australia who can't get in.
In 2006 there was about 2500 who were turned away from university courses because there were simply not enough places and at the same time we've got a shortage of nurses nationwide. The practical question, therefore, is what do you do about it?
And what we are doing today is announcing a new national package of 1100 nursing training places across Australian universities. This is very important for the future and of that 1100 we intend for 60% of the nurses doing their training to do placements in rural and regional areas. We expect 300 of those places, about a third, to actually have the training conducted in rural and regional areas. Here in Newcastle, I'm pleased to say that we'll have 50 of those places allocated to the University of Newcastle, specialising and with an emphasis on mental health.
This is an important down payment on the future. It's simply wrong that we've got a nursing shortage - 2500 young people a year turned away from a nursing place. What we're doing today is putting a down payment on fixing that with 1100 new places nationwide and 50 of those here in Newcastle.
If I could add, in terms of some of the services that we've seen here in this great hospital of John Hunter, and I congratulate the staff here of this very significant hospital, which serves such a huge community across NSW and not just here in the Hunter.
Having just visited the midwives and looked at some of the outreach work that they do, it's quite plain that one of the essential services they provide is this combination of pre-natal care and post-natal care. Post natal visits out to new mums, to make sure that mum and bub are doing well.
In fact we met a new bub today, his name is Carson who now shares a birthday with the Deputy Prime Minister, Happy Birthday Julia. Carson is 5 hours old, Julia is just a little bit older than that.
But this brings us to the whole question of part of the challenge for the future which is the future needs of the Australian economy. The Australian economy of the future will have stay at home mums who we'll be supporting with the baby bonus, but also mums in the paid workforce who we will also be supporting with paid maternity leave and it's time Australia bit the bullet on this.
It's going to be a challenge to make sure we get the exact policy settings right because we are in the midst of serious global economic challenges. But we are determined to get that balance right for the future.
We've had 12 years of neglect on this, it's time Australia bit the bullet on paid maternity leave, we intend to get on with the job and we will get the policy setting right once we work our way through the detail of this report. I'm mindful of the challenges we face in the economy.
Over to you folks.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
PM: Well for the Australian economy of the future we are going to have stay at home mums who we will be supporting with the baby bonus and also mums who are in the paid workforce who we will be supporting with paid maternity leave.
We believe that's the right balance for the future, because mums will make that choice. We have got to be smart enough and intelligent enough and flexible enough to accommodate both those challenges.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Well we have just have a draft report coming down later today from the productivity commission, that's good, that honours our pre election commitment which the Treasurer honoured I think in February of this year Wayne, when the Productivity Commission was given that reference. This is their draft report, it will now go out to community for wider consultation and there will be a national debate about the details, the precise form of it, the precise length of it, etc.
So we are still some ways off resolving the final policy detail, but what I am saying to you loud and clear today is that this Australian Government believes the time has come to bite the bullet on this and we intend to do so.
JOURNALIST: For the next budget or the budget after that?
PM: Lets work our way through the detail, nice line of questioning. What I am saying to you today is it's time for Australia to bite the bullet on this. The future economy has to provide this level of choice for stay at home mums, to be supported with the baby bonus, but also for women in the paid workforce to be supported with paid maternity leave. We think as a nation we can get that balance right.
Anything else folks?
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: On the question of climate change, one of the huge challenges of the future is getting our response to climate change right. This Government intends to do that, we have out there at present a proposal for a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. We are working our way through consultation with industry, we intend to get the balance right, we need to act for the national economic interest and our national interests on climate change and the environment to bring down greenhouse gas emissions. But we intend to do it in an economically responsible fashion.
That's why we have got a proposal out there for a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme into the community. Business has been consulted on that, community groups have been consulted, we will get the balance right. We are determined to act and act in a responsible way.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: You know one of the things I launched both in Canberra a week or so ago and at the UN General Assembly in New York was our plan for a global carbon capture and storage institute.
Now if you look at the huge areas where coal is so important the Hunter is right up there together with the Queensland coal fields, together with the La Trobe Valley in Victoria and what we are determined to do is to become world leaders in CCS technology because you know something that is one of the most practical and effective ways we can help with our coal fired electricity generators to adjust to the climate change reality of the future and we intend to be world leaders in this technology. World leaders in the deployment of this technology, that's why we have taken the lead with our proposal to establish this global carbon capture and storage institute.
JOURNALIST: Is that going to be enough if some of our region's major industries going (inaudible)
PM: You know something, we intend to get the balance right. Our long term economic interests require us to act on climate change and we need to also ensure that our long term environmental interests are served by acting on climate change. So we intend to get that balance right.
After 12 years of neglect and starting from a zero start, this has been a lot of activity in the last nine months. We have gone from being just part of the problem, to being part of the solution. And we intend to get the detail right, and to do it in an economically responsible fashion, including for critical regions like the Hunter.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) reports today indicating that the Government might be considering selling bonds to fund infrastructure projects?
PM: We have established, as you know, through the Budget, a Building Australia Fund and Education Investment Fund and also a Health and Hospitals Investment fund for the future. Put those funds together, $40 billion worth of investment funds for the future.
We believe we have sufficient funds available through those investment vehicles for the future to meet the challenge of our future infrastructure needs. And we have got no plans along the lines which your question suggests.
JOURNALIST: You won't have to borrow (inaudible)
PM: We have no plans to do so because we believe that the funds that are available through this $40 billion set of initiatives which the Treasurer outlined in the Budget is the right way ahead.
Remember in the past no national leadership on future infrastructure investment. Now you have national leadership. A Building Australia Fund - $20 billion. $11 billion for the Education Investment Fund. $10 billion for the Hospitals Investment Fund for the future. This is the right course of action, and before you add onto that what we are doing with the next stage of Auslink, all together, a $76 billion nation building fund for the future. We've got the balance right, that's how we intend to do the job, and we believe those funds will be sufficient to the task.
JOURNALIST: Kevin, would it be appropriate for the Government to go into debt (inaudible)
PM: We have no plans what so ever to do so because we believe these funds are sufficient for the task which I've just outlined.
JOURNALIST: Are you satisfied with the US bail out (inaudible)
PM: When I was in New York I sat down with both the British Prime Minister and the President of the European Commission to discuss the impact of this proposed $700 billion fund for the Americans to stabilise their domestic financial markets.
I also sat down with the Chairman of the New York Federal Reserve at the end of last week to discuss its implications.
This is the right measure for the Americans to be introducing right now to stabilise, frankly, the cornerstone of global financial markets, which is the US financial market.
This is a measure which should be supported. When I was in the United States I called upon both Democrats and Republicans to support it, as did Prime Minister Brown, as did the European Commission President Barosso.
It's the right course of action, and I would support the Administration is doing this.
Australia is well positioned to handle the challenges of the global financial crisis, but we are not immune, and that's why this action by the Americans should be supported.
JOURNALIST: The current crisis will make it harder for government to strike partnerships with business. Will there be borrowing in the future?
PM: Sorry, could you say that again?
JOURNALIST: Do you think the current crisis will make it harder for the Government to strike partnerships with business in the country? Will you be looking to (inaudible)
PM: We have no plans for such borrowing in the future at all. And the reason is that the funds that we've established through the Budget, $40 billion worth of investment funds for infrastructure, this is significant. And we intend to deploy those funds for nation building projects necessary to overcome infrastructure bottlenecks, including bottlenecks in our ports, bottlenecks in our roads, bottlenecks in our rail including urban congestion. And also, the big challenge of laying out a high speed broadband network so that all of Australia, including rural and regional Australia, including this great region as well, can benefit from the infrastructure of the 21st century economy - and that's high speed broadband.
JOURNALIST: Is there enough money (inaudible)
PM: On computers in schools, I was just chatting about this with Sharon, and I looked at round one of computers in schools here in this region of the Hunter, nearly $10 million, providing funding for nearly 10,000 computers across a large number of schools. How many schools in this area? Quite a large number of schools. Therefore, we intend to get on with the job, and I believe it's very much in the interests of the schools and school kids of New South Wales that the New South Wales Government cooperates with us on this important reform, necessary for every kid in every classroom in the country, including here in New South Wales.
Thanks very much.