PM: Well thank you Jenny for organising this fine and balmy Melbourne morning which -
MACKLIN: Very pleased to have you in West Heidelberg.
PM: As a Queenslander it just makes me feel right at home. No it's actually great to be here. Mark Arbib the new Minister for Employment Participation, Jenny Macklin the Minister for Families and of course local member, Richard Wynne the Victorian Minister for Housing, Peter Batchelor Victorian Minister for Community Development, Paul Bird Mission Australia State Director and friends one and all.
This is a really good day to be talking about practical things that work. Practical things that make a difference in people's lives and practical things that make a difference to the national economy.
You know, the country at large is wrestling with this thing called a global economic recession and it is a huge challenge for government's right around the world. And there are two options in wrestling with challenges like this. One is you can put it in the too hard basket, do nothing, sit on your hands and moan about it and blame somebody else. Or you can put your best foot forward and have a go.
The Australian Government has decided to have a go and our approach is very simple, it's called nation building for recovery. And what do we mean by nation building for recovery? It means getting out there and directly investing in the economy, in infrastructure, in training in order to lift Australia out of this global recession as soon as possible and to equip us for the future by building the infrastructure we need for tomorrow and by developing the skills we need for tomorrow, as well.
In short it's this: supporting jobs, small business and apprenticeships for today by investing in the nation building infrastructure we need for tomorrow. That's nation building for recovery. We've done it in several phases. Phase one, starting last year - cash payments for families. And the reason we did that was we had to inject activity into the economy straight away as the global financial crisis hit, so that government was stepping in as the private sector was in retreat.
And that strategy has had some success. If you look at the economic data released last week, this economy Australia's, is the fastest growing of the 30 advanced economies in the world. Ok, the fastest growing. We have the fastest growth, the lowest deficit, the lowest debt of all the major advanced economies. And one of the reasons why that's the case is because at the end of last year we said we had to intervene, get activity into the economy now. And that's why we made those cash payments to pensioners, to carers, to veterans, to families, to make sure we could get activity into the economy now and support the 1.5 million Australians who work in retail.
Phase two: investing in the biggest school modernisation program the country has ever seen. $15 billion for primary schools right across the country, 7,500 thousand of them, to make sure they've got state-of-the-art libraries, multi-purpose halls. In our secondary schools, to make it possible for them to have access to state-of-the-art science centres and language centres and a school renewal program and repair program and maintenance program as well.
Social housing, energy insulation, all together $30 billion worth of medium term infrastructure which is getting underway now so that by year's end, nationwide we're going to have 35,000 construction projects underway across the country. That's a truckload of construction projects. But the whole point again is this, supporting jobs, small business and apprenticeships for today by investing in infrastructure we need for tomorrow.
Phase three, long term infrastructure. In the Budget we announced a further $22 billion worth of investment in rail, roads, ports, high speed broadband, solar energy, the biggest solar energy plant or project anywhere in the world. And the whole point with these long term investments, together with huge injections into our universities, our TAFEs, our hospitals as well as our medical and other research institutes, again is to support jobs and business and apprenticeships today and building the long term infrastructure we need for tomorrow. These are the three parts of our nation building for recovery program.
There's another part to it as well which is what do we do with Australians who either haven't been able to get a job because of the tightness of the labour market or who have lost their job. And the part of our strategy which we have there is to make sure that we're supporting local employment initiatives as well. We've called it more broadly our Jobs and Training Compact with Australia. $650 million, programs across the country. A compact with young Australians to earn or to learn, a compact with local communities, a compact also with those Australians who've been retrenched through no fault of their own.
And what's the objective here? To make a difference in local communities like so that when you've got unemployment being visited upon people through no fault of their own, because of the global economic recession, through national actions and local actions, together we can make a difference. And that's what we're seeking to do.
And here with this particular program, under the innovations fund which is administered by the Minister for Employment Participation we're making a further difference as well. And today what I'm announcing is 33 projects to be funded under the first round of the Australian Government's Innovation Fund worth $20.4 million.
Round one will see a total of 6,652 opportunities for Australians through jobs, traineeships and work experience placements and mentoring programs across the country, benefiting some 9,000 individuals. Our objective again is to make a difference in these individuals' lives. Our objective is to make a difference in the lives of people like Cory and Shane. That's what it's about, making a difference here for their lives, in their work opportunities and to improve the social infrastructure of the good people of Heidelberg in this community. That's what it's about.
Here in Victoria, eight local projects will be supported through the Innovation Fund ranging from life skills training and mentoring programs to social enterprises and transitional work programs such as the project we're at here today. Through Mission Australia's urban renewal project, local trainees from the community have been involved in the construction of paths, park benches, cricket nets, basketball parks, basketball courts and tree planting to upgrade this reserve.
This is terrific stuff and it's not happening here. This enterprise will be expanded into other parts of Victoria. Also projects in Darwin and Palmerston like this run by Mission, as well as in Brisbane, Ipswich and Logan in Queensland. All through Mission, and for Mission itself, I think $1.4 million out of the $20 million that we're announcing today.
Good local initiatives, making a difference to local communities everywhere, improving the local amenities and just the physical look and appearance of suburbs like this and providing critical training opportunities for blokes like Shane and Cory.
Through the Innovation's funding, the project run by Mission is aiming to create an additional 285 transitional employment and work experience opportunities for highly disadvantaged job seekers across these three states. Here's a key stat, with 70 per cent of the participants moving into full-time employment or education and 80 per cent, or thereabouts, obtaining Certificate II or Certificate III qualifications.
So it's using these projects to obtain a registered qualification from a TAFE provider and these blokes have just been confirming what they've been on about with which TAFE is it?
RESPONDER: (inaudible)
PM: Okay, Mr Batman. And you're a Robin are you? Sorry, rotten joke. (inaudible) And then having done that, finding opportunities for employment as well beyond that. And those figures are really important, 70 per cent of participants move on to full time employment or education, 80 per cent obtaining Certificate II or Certificate III qualifications.
Before I close, I'll just give you a sense of the organisations we're partnering with around the country. Organisations like the Box Hill Institute of TAFE, the Brotherhood of St Lawrence, Catholic Care, Mission Australia, BoysTown, Community Bridging Services, Social Firms Australia Limited, Jesuit Social Services, NSW Technical and Further Education Commission, Adult Multicultural Education Services, The Trustees of the Roman Catholic Arch Diocese of Sydney and Catholic Arch Diocese of Maitland and Newcastle, TAFE WA in the Kimberley, Steps Disability Queensland Incorporated, Community Colleges Victoria Incorporated, Coffs Harbour Employment Service as well as the Uniting Church of Australia Assembly, the Wesley Mission in Sydney.
There are the organisation's we're partnering across the country but again the organising principle is this: how do we make a difference in individuals lives through the best training opportunities possible and work experience possible and how do we make a difference in local communities by building the infrastructure, social and economic, we need for the future.
That's this Government's strategy. We're proud of this strategy. We believe it is the right strategy for future, the right strategy for Australia - nation building for recovery - but equally importantly, the right strategy for local communities and good people like Shane and Corey as well. And I thank Mission for their participation. Well done guys.
MACKLIN: I just want to take the opportunity on the part of everybody from West Heidelberg, to thank the Prime Minister for coming here today. I see a lot of local people here who have worked so hard for tenants, for pensioners. Rose was here - I think she might have had to go back to work Prime Minister - and people who understand just how important it is to have a job.
These two young men behind us today have demonstrated that they can really step up and take advantage of the opportunities being offered by you Prime Minister, with the support of Mission Australia. And I'd like to say a very, very big thank you to Mission Australia for really showing these guys that it's worth getting out of bed in the morning. It is isn't it guys? Worth getting out of bed, worth learning, worth really being proud of what you do.
And if I can say on behalf of the people in Boyd Crescent, how pleased they are to have the new fences, to have the new garden beds, to have this park all beautifully fixed up, and done by local kids who otherwise weren't going to get a chance. It is all about jobs and thank you so much to Mark and to the Prime Minister for recognising the terrific work that is being done here in West Heidelberg. We appreciate it.
PM: Let's ask Mark the Employment Minister to say a few things as well.
ARBIB: Thank you Prime Minister, this is my first real day on the job. (Inaudible) I am just inspired to walk around today and talk to the young men involved and also the people actually providing the mentoring and the support. It is just outstanding. And these are the sort of projects that I am going to throw myself into over the next 12 to 18 months.
Because this is really the front line, the front line of the battle with the global recession but also in terms of fighting disadvantage. Helping young men like this get jobs, not just for the short term but for the long term. That is what the Rudd Government is about. That is what I am about. I am passionate about it and that is what I'll be working at into the future.
The best fact and the fact that means so much to me is just to hear that 70 per cent of the young people going through these programs go on to real jobs, real jobs. That is what these sort of programs are about. Thank you to Mission for all the work they're doing. Thanks to Jenny. Thanks to all the participants and certainly we'll be working closely with you in the future on these projects. And the Innovation Fund, another 33 projects announced today. So we are heading in the right direction. Thank you.
PM: Okay I think everyone has had their say. Over to you folks. Now it's time for your say. Okay there's no say -
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister there was a report in the Sydney Morning Herald-
PM: There often are.
JOURNALIST: Yes, it suggested you're preparing for an election in November of this year and that you've spoken to people at the ALP about that. What's your reaction to that?
PM: I think pigs might fly. Look the bottom line is, I was asked about this on Neil Mitchell this morning. We are here to do a job: it's called helping to lift Australia out of this global recession. Everyone in this Government is head-down, tail-up working you know 18 hours a day to do that.
That's what our focus is on and we intend to get on with the job, making a difference and doing whatever we physically can to make sure that Australia continues to do better than the rest of the world in what is the worst set of global economic circumstances in three quarters of a century.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister speaking jobs, retailers and pharmacists and some other industry groups are screaming that they won't be able to cope with the penalty costs of award simplification in this environment. I know you (inaudible) and other groups a (inaudible)
PM: We went to the last election with a very clear mandate, a very clear proposal about producing a fair and balanced industrial relations system including quite a comprehensive proposal about the mechanism for award modernisation. We fought that election. The Australian people supported that, we've got on with the job.
Now some of the decisions to be taken on the way through will be tough. I accept that, but we do have a very clear cut mandate to proceed in that direction. Fairness and balance in the workplace is important.
Can I just say this more broadly for the retail sector: this Government has injected something like $20 billion by way of direct support to the retail sector through our cash payments to pensioners, carers, veterans as well as to other families. And you know what the result of that is? In Australia retail sales over the last period of time have been up by something like 4.8 per cent and the average across the rest of the advanced economies has been to collapse by between one and two per cent.
Why therefore are we doing better than most other economies at present? That's one of the reasons. And I'd say that to our good friends in the retail sector.
JOURNALIST: Are you worried it's going to take a nosedive when those stimulus payments run out?
PM: As I said before, we have structured our nation building for recovery strategy in three phases. Up front, to support immediately the economy by injecting $20 billion in cash payments in order to provide support for the retail sector and all those who feed off the retail sector. And that is one of the reasons why we are the fastest growing economy, as of the March quarter figures of all the advanced economies in the world. That's a direct reason.
Secondly, the reason we did that was because it takes time to get your infrastructure projects up and running. So, our school modernisation program which the Minister is directly involved in, kicks off in earnest about now. And it will kick into stream in about the second quarter this year but most particularly the third quarter this year.
So phase one: cash payments. Phase two: medium term infrastructure. Phase three: long term infrastructure. Phase two, injects something like $30 billion into the economy and phase three of course some $22 billion. So the objective is to continue to step up to the plate with different forms of investment in the economy, trying to fill the gap left by the private sector in retreat until the private sector recovers.
One other point, this economy, Australia under this Government as of now is the fastest growing of all the major advanced economies with the lowest deficit and the lowest debt of all the major advanced economies.
JOURNALIST: What were the reasons for stopping the solar rebates program (inaudible)
PM: We indicated at the end of last year that we would be moving to a new system, based on the renewable energy target and renewable energy credits as of the middle of this year and that's, the time has come and we think that is the right course of action.
Can I just make this point as well? I have noticed some of the, the crying of wolf on the part of the Liberal Party and others on this question. Point one, how many of these (inaudible) systems were solar panel systems, were installed under the previous Government. Answer to my own rhetorical question, I just happened to pluck it out of the air - 10,000.
We've been in office for 18 months, guess how many we will be funding out of this scheme which is just winding down? About 80,000. In 18 months 80,000, in 12 years 10,000.
Secondly, what our good friends in the Liberal Party said to us is that, when we move to a means tested system as of the end of last year, that the sky would fall in, literally, and the industry would be in all sorts of strife. Well since then there has been a complete explosion of activity in the solar panels industry around the country and we've indicated quite clearly last year, come middle of this year we'd be moving to a new system and we've done that.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) many of our new arrivals are coming here to Australia under the skilled workers scheme and they are unable to get jobs (inaudible)
PM: Well I'll just say something quickly about immigration policy and then I might turn to Jenny in terms of Centrelink payments. On the question of the immigration program, what the Immigration Minister Chris Evans has quite rightly done is calibrate, or adjust the skilled intake to the current state of the economy.
And so the overall number of skilled migrants will be brought down and those numbers have been announced, because that is the right and responsible thing to do when the economy is under stress and under pressure. Those numbers have been announced I think in two stages in recent time. On Centrelink payments -
MACKLIN: Thanks Prime Minister. This is a critical issue for us to make sure that people who are coming to Australia do get the chance to work and of course what we want to see if wherever possible, people getting the opportunity to get the skills and training they need so that they can participate in work.
Today is really all about making sure that wherever we find people who can't work, whether it's as a result of a lack of skills or as a result of a lack of opportunity, that we give them those chances. So we know that getting skills, getting training, getting work is critical and that what today is all about.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) swine flu (inaudible)
PM: Look what we've done in relation to swine flu is act consistently and in response to the agreed medical advice of the Chief Medical officers of the Commonwealth and the States and Territories. This has been a good exercise so far in interstate and national cooperation and coordination. And we have acted at each stage along the way, both in terms of the public warnings which have been issued and the measures which have been taken, with the advice provided to us by the Chief Medical officer.
The Chief Medical Officer and the Health Minister are meeting and discussing these matters on a daily basis and we've sought to match our response to each new piece of information we get. Particular measures, including temporary school closures, measures also contained in various instruments of Commonwealth law concerning quarantining, have all been activated based on the best advice.
But I would say also more broadly on the question of swine flu, bear this in mind: of all countries in the world, this Government has been, this country has been best prepared in terms of its provision of anti-virals, Rulenza and Tamiflu. We currently have available some 10.3 million doses. As a proportion of our population, because of the early action that Government has taken, we have made sure that we are properly provisioned for this challenge.
So on this we're not out of the woods yet. There is still some real challenges ahead but we will take each decision along the way in response to the extra medical advice. I think that is what the Australian people would expect of any competent Government. And having said that folks, I have got to zip.