JULIA GILLARD: It's terrific to be here today at the Wintringham aged care facility with my colleague Justine Elliott. It's been my great pleasure today to announce that the Rudd Labor Government will be investing $3 million in the development of a new facility in Dandenong for homeless aged Australians. This is obviously a major problem. The Government has been focused on the issue of homelessness and I'm sure Australians right around the country do not want to think of this nation as one where Australians have to sleep on the streets and sleep rough. That is the situation that confronts too many older Australians.
In order to make a difference for those older Australians, facilities like this one are so important. This is making a difference for the lives of its residents. We want to see a new facility in Dandenong that will make the difference for the lives of 60 other homeless older Australians. I'll now turn to the minister for details of today's announcement.
JUSTINE ELLIOTT: Thank you. This Government is committed to making sure that we're providing services for our older Australians. In fact, we're investing $41.6 million over the next four years when it comes to the aged care sector. When it comes to our homeless older Australians, of course there are very complex needs. And it's been great to be here today to make this announcement of $3 million towards the construction of a new centre for our homeless older Australians. When we look at some of the figures, over 14,000 people aged 55 and over are indeed homeless so there is a major need to be providing services particularly for our homeless older Australians.
And for the people here at Wintringham, they do a remarkable job in providing services for our homeless older Australians. And today we've made the commitment of $3 million towards the construction of a new facility for homeless older Australians. And in the coming years also we're committed to providing funding for each year for a new facility for homeless older Australians and a greater recognition of those homeless Australians within the Aged Care Act as well. This of course is part of our plan to tackle homelessness right across the nation with a special emphasis of course on our homeless older Australians, and this announcement today towards the construction of this facility will make a huge difference in the lives of many homeless older Australians here in Victoria.
JULIA GILLARD: Thank you. So we'll take any questions.
JOURNALIST: When will the facility be completed and open?
JUSTINE ELLIOTT: Well, I understand that construction will be underway shortly so I'm hoping it will be completed and we can be there for the opening of it with Eunice who was here today who the facility is named after, a remarkable older woman. But I understand they're very keen to get started shortly with that.
JOURNALIST: And have they told you when it will be open?
JUSTINE ELLIOTT: Well, they're hoping to get it started shortly and have it completed as soon as possible, so when that happens we'll be there with them at that opening. So they're very keen to get it started and the people here at Wintringham do and have done a remarkable job when it comes to homeless older Australians and they'll continue to do that with the construction of this new facility.
JOURNALIST: Julia, with the tough financial times looming, is homelessness something the Government is preparing to be on the increase?
JULIA GILLARD: The Government has been focused on the challenge of homelessness since we were first elected. In the very early days of this Government the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd asked each Labor Member of Parliament to go and visit a facility working with the homeless in their electorate. And he commenced at that time a process of discussion and dialogue which led to our recent white paper on homelessness and new investments to try and prevent people becoming homeless, and then to address the situation if they do become homeless.
So we are obviously focused on the challenge of homelessness. That challenge has been with us in the best of times economically and in the worst of times. It's a complicated problem, a complicated problem for Australians who battle mental illness, who battle substance abuse, who fall into hard times and fall into homelessness. Many of them, as the Minister has said, are older Australians. Many of them are women with children fleeing domestic violence.
This is a complex problem that requires a range of solutions, and the Government has been prepared to look at the problem and to invest new money to make a difference. And the $3 million today is about making a difference for homeless older Australians in Victoria, and particularly in and around the Dandenong region.
JOURNALIST: US President-elect Barack Obama is currently in temporary accommodation as well. What do you think of John Howard keeping him out of the White House for a bit longer?
JULIA GILLARD: Well, this is a matter for Mr Howard and Mr Bush. This is a matter between them for discussion - Mr Howard and Mr Bush - and I'll leave my comments at that.
JOURNALIST: Do you expect unions to heed your call to forego pay rises over the next 12 months or so and protect jobs?
JULIA GILLARD: Well, the global financial crisis has obviously changed our world. It has impacted on economies around the globe, many developed nations have moved into recession. In this country, the Government has been acting to keep our economy moving and our main aim has been to protect jobs and to invest in jobs. That's what our $10.4 billion Economic Security Statement was about, and new investments in local government and infrastructure, our support for the car industry.
My call today, to unions and to employers, is to put jobs first. We want to make sure that Australians have the benefit of work. I would expect that to be at the forefront of people's minds as they negotiate workplace arrangements for their enterprise.
JOURNALIST: So are you saying no pay rises, or keep a lid on pay rises? What are you actually saying to them?
JULIA GILLARD: Labor's workplace relations system is a fair one and a balanced one with the emphasis of working at an enterprise level. Our system is a flexible one. It says people should negotiate in the enterprise in which they work for the best circumstances for that enterprise.
When people go through those negotiations, people are going to talk about a range of issues. Right at the top of people's agenda should be making sure that employment is protected and that there are jobs. We understand that of course employees are going to look for pay rises and there will be discussion and dialogue at an enterprise level about pay rises, about training, about all sorts of issues, but in those discussions the key focus needs to be about jobs.
JOURNALIST: So what's reasonable and what's unreasonable?
JULIA GILLARD: Well, the great benefit of Labor's system is it's a fair system with a safety net for all Australians that can't be stripped away. The great vices of the Liberal Party's Work Choices laws was that it allowed the safety net to be stripped away, and some of the Australians most at risk of being treated badly at work were the ones that suffered the greatest under Work Choices. But a great benefit of Labor's system is it's also enterprise based. So each enterprise should work through what's best for it. I'm not going to mandate what should happen in an enterprise...
JOURNALIST: The CFMEU in Western Australia asking for a 30 per cent pay increase; is that unreasonable?
JULIA GILLARD: Look, what I've said about pay increases is they need to be worked through. Arrangements need to be worked through at enterprise levels, and working at an enterprise level, at the forefront of people's mind needs to be protecting jobs.
JOURNALIST: So is the CFMEU's pay [indistinct due to wind] unreasonable in your opinion?
JULIA GILLARD: Well, I've asked the CFMEU as I'm asking other unions and employers to have jobs at the forefront of their negotiations and their mind as they go through enterprise bargaining processes.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible question]
JULIA GILLARD: We obviously want people to have fair outcomes at work. That's why we're going to make sure all Australians have the benefit of a safety net. One of the reasons we were so critical of Work Choices is it allowed that safety net to be ripped away. Too many Australians had basic conditions ripped off them like overtime rates and penalty rates.
So we stand for a fair workplace relations system, one where people bargain at an enterprise level, where they always have the benefit of the safety net. But I'm asking people in that bargaining to bear in mind that we want to protect jobs, we want to see Australians in work.
JOURNALIST: Well, what do you say to Sharan Burrow in particular?
JULIA GILLARD: Well, I would echo what I've just said, and I am sure that the union movement overall including Sharan Burrow, as one of the key leaders of the ACTU, is vitally interested in the question of maximising employment. Indeed, I know that Sharan Burrow herself has made public comment about the need to be protecting jobs.
JOURNALIST: There's also some debate around changes to workplace training. What's the Government's position on that?
JULIA GILLARD: The Government has been investing in new training places, investing in 700,000 new training places. In the Economic Security Statement we added in a new 56,000 training places. That is because we want people to be able to access the skills they need to get the jobs that are available.
Even in today's economy after the global financial crisis, there are some employers who are crying out for skilled labour in some areas where we know there aren't enough Australians with the relevant skills. Our Productivity Places are training for those work skills, so people can get the skills that employers need.
JOURNALIST: There's reports of increases in anti-Semitic insults and attacks, especially in the Melbourne Jewish community, with the Gaza situation. What's your response to that?
JULIA GILLARD: My response to that would be to be appalled. There is no excuse and, from my point of view and the Government's point of view, absolutely no tolerance for any sort of racist conduct or any sort of anti-Semitic conduct. It's completely unacceptable.
JOURNALIST: Also, the Government's position on the Steve Irwin docking at Hobart. Is that evolving or are you still sticking by what you're saying?
JULIA GILLARD: I'm advised we have not received an impending vessel request from the Steve Irwin. Should such a request be received, then the Steve Irwin will be permitted to dock at an Australian port. There is insufficient reason to prevent the Steve Irwin from doing that.
What we have said to the Steve Irwin and generally, is that when the Steve Irwin is in the Southern Ocean, that is obviously a dangerous stretch of water, it's very far removed from land. We want people when they are in that stretch of water to conduct themselves in a way which ensures that they stay safe and others are safe.
JOURNALIST: And what are the chances of Vegemite getting banned?
JULIA GILLARD: [Laughs] I'd have to say I'm a happy little Vegemite. I'm a very happy Vegemite eater and there is no way in the world that Vegemite would be banned in this country. Vegemite is part of being Australian, part of our history, part of our future, and I'll be continuing to wake up in the morning and having it on my toast.
Thank you very much.
ENDS