PM: [audio break] We are expecting some divisions, so if the division bells go we will of course go and attendto that in the House of Representatives.
We're here today to announce the opening of the next round of the Health and Hospitals Fund. It's a round dedicated to regional Australia, it's a round valued at $475 million. It's a round that regional Australian will be able to participate in, applications will be judged and the applications close in October and the decisions will then flow through into the budget next year.
This is part of our continuing investment in regional health and we're making that investment because we know that health circumstances in regional Australia are very different from metropolitan Australia. To give you just one example, life expectancy in regional Australia is one to two years lower and for remote areas it is up to seven years lower compared with major cities.
We have continuously invested from the Health and Hospitals Fund, a fund totalling $1.8 billion. In making these allocations to regional Australia we have been guided by their differential health needs and of course we've received strong advocacy from Labor Members who represent regional electorates as well as from Mr Windsor and Mr Oakeshott.
I'll turn now to the Minister for Health who will be able to outline some of the projects that have benefitted in earlier rounds.
MINISTER ROXON: Thank you very much Prime Minister, people will recall that $3.2 billion was originally allocated to this fund from a range of different projects, they are all starting to come to fruition across the country, for example I visited the Nepean Hospital where the new intensive care unit has opened and is starting to provide services to the community.
Of course following those initial allocations, where over 30 per cent were already dedicated to regional Australia, our Government announced the dedicated funding that the Prime Minister mentioned for $1.8 billion worth of investments in regional health services. That has been allocated as you would have seen in the previous budget, already a number of the smaller projects like the Inglewood medical centre in Queensland is up and running, has already attracted a second doctor to a small community and has established links with allied health professionals. You go from those quite small projects to much larger scale projects like the $44 million project at the University of Tasmania, their Menzies research facility hosting 300 staff and research students and of course you can look across the country and see that plans, construction and services are being provided as a result of this dedicated focus that we have on health and hospital infrastructure across the country with a very heavy emphasis on the shortcomings that have been in the past in regional areas and our recognition that they needed to be turbo-charged, if you like, to make sure that regional Australians can get the health services that they need.
We had a lot of applicants last time round, we had many successful applicants but many others who were disappointed that they were not chosen, they will be able to reapply, many of them will have reconsidered their projects, seen whether they can have other partners, many, Simon may want to comment, have been working with universities and local councils and others to make sure that the projects are the best projects for local communities.
Our independent board will again assess each of those projects and give advice to the Government which ones are appropriate to be considered for funding and those announcements would be made in the budget context next year. So, I know there's an enormous amount of interest in regional Australia for this $475 million and we're looking forward to high quality applications which the board can consider and then the Government will consider in the budget process.
MINISTER CREAN: Thank you, this is another important commitment by us to supporting regional Australia. The health dimension is one aspect, obviously the education round as well as well as the Regional Development Australia funds. In think the interesting thing that we're starting to see now happen is that because there are opportunities on a number of fronts for regions to identify their needs and prioritise their needs, we're getting a lot of effective dot-joining.
The Launceston Hospital is a great case in point, I was down there recently and what they've been able to do because of access to the National Broadband Network, is to provide from the Launceston base a hubbing arrangement to eight remote locations around the northern part of Tasmania. This enables diagnosis to be done without people having to travel into Launceston for the initial check and obviously depending on what the diagnosis establishes then booking in a time for them to come. We're also seeing great opportunities emerge in the regions where teaching hospitals and nursing facilities are also being combined with the health service delivery mechanisms.
So this is an exciting time for regional Australia, this is an important new investment, another $475 million going in, when you think of it together with the half billion dollars in terms of the education infrastructure fund and the opportunities that present themselves from the National Broadband Network and the connectivity that links those three important areas, no wonder regional Australia is embracing this, not just enthusiastically, but in a creative way and that's what we're challenging them to do and they are rising to the challenge.
PM: We're happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, why shouldn't Mr Thomson make a statement to Parliament?
PM: It's a matter for Mr Thomson.
JOURNALIST: Shouldn't Mr Thomson though, should he give his 70,000 former low-paid workers in the HSU, his members there, doesn't he owe them an explanation for his behaviour?
PM: Well, Parliamentarians making statements to the Parliament is a judgment for each Parliamentarian involved. Let's get a little bit of perspective into this debate, the only person in this Parliament who is charged with a criminal offence is a Liberal Senator, charged with a offence against property, an offence against the person, charged with theft and assault. No statement, in my understanding, has been made by that Liberal Senator, indeed no statement called for. Because the approach we have taken, which was exactly the same approach Mr Abbott used to take in Government - exactly the same approach - is that there are proper processes here and they ought to be gone through.
JOURNALIST: But Prime Minister Mr Abbott's not setting the standards for you or your Government and even thought it's the responsibility of every individual Member, isn't it your responsibility to ensure that the integrity of your government, of your party is upheld and that the rights of the people to hear from this Member should be exceeded to?
PM: The best of ensuring proper standards is to engage in proper processes. There are proper processes in train in relation to the Liberal Senator who faces criminal charges. I don't think that's a matter that I should be commenting on, she's entitled to a presumption of innocence and so I have never commented on it and I won't. Proper processes should be gone through. The same applies to the Member for Dobell, there is a process in train here, it is a Fair Work Australia process and people should allow it to go through in exactly the same way that is a process is being gone through for the Liberal Senator involved in criminal proceedings.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister given that Andrew Wilkie said in Parliament this week the he was concerned with your emphatic public support for Mr Thomson, has he raised this issue with you in his regular dialogue with you?
PM: I was aware that Mr Wilkie was making a statement and I was aware of the contents of the statement, that's a matter for Mr Wilkie.
JOURNALIST: Ms Gillard, do you think it's part of your responsibility as the enforcer of standards within your government to personally get a full explanation from Mr Thomson and I think you have declined to say whether you have done that, can you say that?
PM: Well that's not true Michelle, I've said publically that I've discussed these matters with Mr Thomson and obviously he has said to me as he has said publically that he denies the allegation against him.
JOURNALIST: What do you make of the allegations overnight that he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars overseas on Health Service Union credit cards?
PM: Well once again there's a proper process in train in relation to this matter and the proper process should be gone through. If there was a further allegation that had been made overnight in relation to the Liberal Senator charged with criminal offences I would have said exactly the same thing.
And the point here of course is that this isn't a matter for complete hypocrisy the way that we've seen it shown by Tony Abbott. In relation to his Liberal Senator he says proper processes should be gone through. When he was Leader of Government Business under the Howard Government and large numbers of ministers got themselves in various scrapes and scandals, Mr Abbott was always the first to say that proper processes should be gone through. All we are seeing from Mr Abbott in relation to the Member for Dobell is an exercise in hypocrisy.
JOURNALIST: Have you or your office assisted Mr Thomson in constructing a statement that he would give to Parliament in case that he is asked to address and explain himself and secondly what's your comment on the propriety of revelations today in the Sydney Morning Herald that the New South Wales Police Minister directly addressed this issue with the Police Commissioner?
PM: Well on the first statement, any statement by a Parliamentarian is a question for that Parliamentarian. On the revelations in the Sydney Morning Herald, I am deeply concerned about what's reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, our system of democracy, our system of government relies on the fact that office bearers like Police Commissioners independently of political processes exercise their best judgment, that's how the system works, and it appears from the Sydney Morning Herald report that a member of Mr Abbott's team, Senator Brandis, has dialled up a Liberal Party mate, the Minister who is responsible for Police in the New South Wales Government, and then that person has called the Police Commissioner when it is known that the police are involved in an assessment process in relation to the Member for Dobell. So, I am very concerned about the conduct of Senator Brandis in this matter.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) you have had a discussion with Mr Thomson about this-
PM: -No, I've said that publically before.
JOURNALIST: You did. Do you believe him?
PM: Mr Thomson has denied the allegations that have been made, I've said before that I've got confidence in him, he continues to work as a local Member of Parliament, I've also said there are proper processes here and they should be worked through.
JOURNALIST: Have you had a full discussion about the details though or is it just I deny all this and has your faith-
PM: -Well I'm not going into details of discussions between me and Mr Thomson or indeed any other member of my Parliamentary team. We'll have discussions, confidentially as we see fit, but clearly Mr Thomson has consistently denied allegations against him.
JOURNALIST: Are you confident in your judgment of believing him in, light of all that's come out day by day?
PM: There are proper processes here. It would be completely inappropriate for me to volunteer a view as to whether the Liberal Senator charged with theft and assault is guilty of those charges, completely inappropriate and I won't do so. And I will bring exactly the same standard to bear in relation to the Member for Dobell. And the difference between the approach I'm taking and the approach Tony Abbott is taking, is I am taking a consistent one in relation to every Member of Parliament, Mr Abbott is playing cheap politics.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you've just said you have expressed confidence in Mr Thomson in the past, but can you look people in the eye today and say he retains your full confidence, today?
PM: I stand by the statements I've made-
JOURNALIST: -No, today.
PM: Look I'm not - Mark, I'll finish my sentence thank you and I'm not getting myself involved in your semantic games, I must admit I was pretty amazed at the construction of my statement in the Parliament yesterday. I've express full confidence in the Member for Dobell. I yesterday in the Parliament said that I stand by the statements that I've made and I do so today, there is no semantic difference here and no quibble should be engaged in in relation to it.
Yes, Sue.
JOURNALIST: You talk about proper processes, but how long are those proper processes going to take, hasn't Fair Work-
PM: Fair Work Australia is an independent agency and it will decide the timeline.
Yes.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible), Prime Minister, for MPs in general to have to make a statement to Parliament and what is that benchmark, what does it take to, do you think, for an MP to have to be compelled or feel like they have to address Parliament to explain themselves?
PM: I think people need to use their best judgement in a wide variety of circumstances, I don't think that there's a simple ten word rule that can be announced here. I suspect that if you go and get your House of Representatives Practice or the equivalent in the Senate you'll find many pages of edification, but it's a question for the Parliamentarians involved.
Yes.
JOURNALIST: You said you're very concerned with Senator Brandis' conduct, are you suggesting that political influence has been brought to bear on the New South Wales Police, is that-
PM: -Well, all I've done is read the Sydney Morning Herald, so I am presuming but do not know whether or not the report is accurate. I like to bring the cheerful assumption when I read my newspapers that reports are accurate, I find myself so often disappointed against my natural cheerful disposition.
But bringing my natural cheerful disposition to reading the newspapers this morning, I read the Sydney Morning Herald, I presume the report is accurate, if the report is accurate then the chain of events here is it was publicly known that the New South Wales were assessing matters in relation to Mr Thomson. Liberals Senator Brandis picked up the phone and rang a member of his political party who is the State Minister in New South Wales. That person then picked up the phone and rang the Police Commissioner. Now I think, if the report in the Sydney Morning Herald is accurate, that that is deeply concerning.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, if you had your time again would you stand firm and answer a few more questions in Question Time. It did look on television that you were running away?
PM: Well, what a load of old nonsense. There's one clear rule here, they muck up and they're silly in Question Time and they lose their rights to ask questions for that day. We consistently apply that rule and we applied it yesterday.
And let's just pull back a little bit and look at the week that was. This was a week in which BlueScope announced 1000 workers were losing their jobs, 1000 workers. And as Government we had worked on a response package and we announced it on Monday. This is a week in which, as a result of those job losses, Australians were concerned about the patchwork pressures in our economy, something that we've been talking about for a long period of time. So, we made the further announcement about Peter Beattie acting in an advocacy role to make sure that Australian manufacturing gets the benefit of more work and more jobs.
During the course of this week in the health area, the Health Minister, against trenchant opposition, has succeeded in her plain paper packaging reforms, a world first. And today, of course, we're announcing $475 million more for health. During the course of this week too we've been dealing with explaining the economic pressures that there are in some industries in some parts of the nation and pursuing the Government's reform agenda across the board.
Against that backdrop, people have been very interested in the question of jobs this week, understandably concerned having seen 1000 workers lose their job. The only job Mr Abbott has been interested in all week is whether he can lever himself into my job. So if he'd used Question Time to come along and ask questions about the jobs and prospects of individual Australians, and used Question Time to come along and talk about what more can be done in health, what more can be done for regional Australia, what more can be done to improve a local school, we would have been there with bells on.
As it is, what we saw, cheap stunts fuelled by hypocrisy. There's a price and the price is we don't have the rest of Question Time.
JOURNALIST: But in a democracy the opposition (inaudible) generally?
PM: Certainly not, but I can make points about whether they're on self interest or the interest of the nation. They're on self interest this week, it is shining through in everything that they do, self interest first and foremost. This is Mr Abbott solely concerned about himself, while we get on with the business of doing what's necessary to lead this nation.
JOURNALIST: How much is the fact that this is a hung Parliament affected the way you've dealt with this matter and how much do you think it's affected the way Mr Abbott has dealt with the matter?
PM: Well, it hasn't affected the way I've dealt with it at all. I would have in any circumstances said proper processes needed to be worked through and interestingly when he was a member of a majority Government, Mr Abbott used to say that proper processes had to be worked through in relation to the large number of ministers who got themselves in scrapes under the Howard Government. So, that's my standard, it's true for a Liberal Senator, it's true for the Member of Dobell, it's true in this Government circumstances, it would be true in different circumstances if we were a majority Government.
The person who cuts their views and values to suit the circumstances of the day is Mr Abbott but are we surprised by that? The man who goes to a climate forum and says, ‘a five per cent target, what a load of old nonsense, this is weightless, odourless gas' and then sits there on Mamamia knowing that he's talking to people who believe in climate change and says ‘I couldn't be more passionate about a five per cent target'. He's a man who will do and say anything, that's what we're seeing on display in the Parliament this week.
JOURNALIST: On manufacturing, Ms Gillard, are you going to do more? Your own backbench is saying that what's been announced so far this week is not enough and I think Paul Howes is also arguing very strongly that you should take more radical measures-
PM: -We'll continue to deliver our big plans for manufacturing, more than $5 billion for the car industry for example, the enterprise connect program, the powering Australian ideas agenda, the Australian Procurement Statement, the buying Australian at home and abroad. We've been strongly engaged with manufacturing and we will continue to be strongly engaged with manufacturing. And of course, in this Parliament we will resist Mr Abbott's cut back agenda because he's always happy to be photographed next to a manufacturing worker, what he's never going to do is put his hand up to assist their jobs.
Yes.
JOURNALIST: Can I just ask Ms Roxon one question. Do you foresee the $475 million program having any effect on Indigenous health and then after that Prime Minister, can I ask you what your thoughts are on the coming Indigenous disadvantage report that was released?
MINISTER ROXON: Thank you very much. This certainly has the capacity to have an impact and in fact both of our previous rounds have allocated funding for Indigenous services and you may also be interested to know that a number of our clinical training grants have also been provided to Aboriginal medical services, to bolster the training that they can provide for health professionals working both in the Aboriginal medical services and in mainstream services, but providing support for Indigenous patients.
We have a lot of work to do here but I think we're seeing some creative options coming forward and we would absolutely encourage any of the Aboriginal medical services or those health services providers who particularly support Indigenous communities to make applications because this is a good source of funding for them.
PM: And on the report, I've had cause to talk to you in this room before about the area of Closing the Gap and other reports that we've had. Every report we get reinforces in me just how hard this is. Every report we get reinforces in me how vital this is. But every report we get too gives me hope for change and I see changes as I move around Australia and talk to people in Indigenous communities and who are working for change.
I mean, there are some miracles out there in health care, in schooling, there's so much to do but you can see projects and plans around the nation that are making a real difference and there's never been a time where corporate Australia brought more goodwill to the table to help Indigenous people get into work and that's a fantastic thing.
JOURNALIST: One of the points that it made is that there are increases or betterments to infant mortality rates, but two of the areas where the gap is widening is incarceration rates and mental health, is that a cause for concern?
PM: Of course it's a cause for concern and you would be aware that as a government we're focusing on mental health for the community generally, but including for Indigenous Australians.
JOURNALIST: Paul Howes also mentioned a call for a return to protectionism, would you consider going down that path?
PM: No, we won't and when I gave an account of the week one of the things I obviously forgot is us breaking the desire of Mr Abbott to take Australia outside the world based trading system.
Mr Abbott had come to the Parliament this week with a bill of economic destruction to take us outside the world based trading order that would have put us in the world. We are a great trading nation, turbo-charged resources sector and it would have put us in the world where we were subject to trade retaliation and once these things start it's a slippery slope and it's a very, very hard landing at the bottom. So, we set an objective this week of making sure that we put sufficient pressure on Mr Abbott that Mr Cobb's bill was withdrawn, we succeeded with that.
Now we will put sufficient pressure on Mr Abbott that the palm oil bill is withdrawn, once again a threat to our participation in the world rules based trading order. So, we won't go down protectionist paths, it's bad for Australia, it's bad for Australian jobs. Mr Abbott, because he will do or say anything and has got no concern at the end of the day about Australia jobs will be engaging in this cheap populism and at every point we will meet his cheap populism with economic rigour.
Last question, here.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, in light of record profits reported by BHP, did the government have it right with the original design of the mining tax?
PM: We will deliver the Minerals Resource Rent Tax that I negotiated. Can I suggest you better put that question to the Opposition, is this really the time for anybody to come to this Parliament and say that a Minerals Resource Rent Tax should be opposed? Can anybody credibly come to this Parliament in view of the profitability of mining and the pressures we know are on other sections of the economy because of the high Aussie dollar, come to this Parliament and exercise their vote against the Minerals Resource Rent Tax. That's a strategy for wrecking and I suspect that's something that should be asked of the Opposition during the course of today and beyond.
Thank you very much.