PM: It's a great privilege to be here today in Flowerdale, I'm joined by Rob Mitchell the local Member, the Member for McEwen, and we've had the opportunity today to present some of our National Emergency Medals to some people who did incredible things during the Victorian bushfires.
Yesterday I had the opportunity in Canberra to present these medals, yesterday and today is the first time in our nation's history they've ever been presented. This is a newly struck honour that I asked Her Majesty the Queen to include because I wanted there to be a medal that could recognise the extraordinary things that Australians do for each other during natural disasters.
This medal is there for those people who are fire-fighters and police and ambulance and emergency services workers who go that extra yard, but it's also there for all of the volunteers who do such tremendous work giving a helping hand during times of emergency.
So there's lots of ways of showing, during a natural disaster, that you really care about your fellow Australian. Yesterday and today I've had the very special opportunity of honouring the first Australians to receive this National Emergency Medal.
I'm very happy to take any questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister yesterday's event was obviously interrupted, do you think your security detail or police overreacted at all?
PM: I think the police did an amazing job in difficult circumstances. I was angered that the event yesterday was disrupted because it was such a special event for people who were getting a medal placed on their chest because they had done extraordinary things and I wanted all of the focus to be on them, but I had the opportunity to have a chat with them at the Lodge last night and also to meet some terrific Australians today.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: No, they were always coming along to an Australia Day function that I have at the Lodge during the evening of Australia Day but to have them there took on a special significance after the events of yesterday.
JOURNALIST: Do you think your security guard overreacted though?
PM: I think the police did an extraordinary job, I think they did a great job in very difficult circumstances.
JOURNALIST: How confident are you about returning the budget to surplus next financial year given the downgrades in global growth by the IMF and the World Bank as a result of the Euro debt crisis?
PM: First when we put out our most recent forecast in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, we factored in the volatility in the global economy so we took that into account.
More broadly what I would say is there is volatility in the global economy, particularly out of the eurozone as countries in Europe continue to struggle with the sovereign debt problems, and of course the American economy while showing some positive signs is still struggling.
What that reinforces is that in Australia our economy is in a very different place, we have unemployment just over five per cent, whereas the Americans are struggling with unemployment of more than eight per cent and across the eurozone it's ten per cent.
We not only have relatively low unemployment, we've got low public debt, we've got growth, we've got a resources boom, we live in the region of the world that is going to continue to grow.
So my focus as Prime Minister is making sure we win in this century which will be characterised by economic growth in Asia, by having our economy in the right shape to seize all of those opportunities of the future.
I'll go here and then come back over, yes?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Julia Gillard, how do you respond to allegations aired on Sydney radio today that a female member of staff in your office tipped off the tent embassy about Abbott's comments and the fact that he would be there yesterday and so essentially was partially responsible for creating the situation (inaudible)
PM: Sorry, where did those claims come from?
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) Sydney radio this morning.
PM: Right, look complete news to me, I haven't heard that so -
JOURNALIST: -So you're unaware of those allegations?
PM: Look, I'm asking you now so I can catch up to speed. So on what show were they made?
JOURNALIST: Ray Hadley.
PM: Right.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) Ray Hadley that a female member of staff in your office tipped off the embassy about the comments that Abbott had made and told her he would be there yesterday?
PM: OK, well look this is complete news to me, obviously a lot of things get said on the radio, but complete news to me.
JOURNALIST: Did anybody from your office contact the tent embassy?
PM: Well, obviously this is complete news to me, so I haven't had time to look at the matter or anything like that. I would just make the comment a lot of things do get said on radio.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) what is your view about whether or not it should say infinitum, there is a point at which it should be moved on (inaudible) a better way to express those concerns and feelings?
PM: Look I've got no troubles at all, I've got absolutely no troubles at all with peaceful protest, and generally the tent embassy has been a peaceful protest.
What I utterly condemn is when protests turn violent the way we saw the violence yesterday and particularly disrupting and event which was to honour some extraordinary Australians did leave me very angry.
For myself I was always very confident in the abilities of the police, I knew I'd be fine and I was fine but I was very angry about the disruption to an event for some very special people.
JOURNALIST: It also comes at a time when we've got a referendum that's being discussed (inaudible) about recognising indigenous people in the Constitution, are you concern that the sort of events we saw yesterday, the anger that that creates could actually set back that cause?
PM: Well, I do note this morning that leading indigenous Australians like Mick Gooda have condemned this protest, utterly condemned it.
For the relationships within Australia, our prospects of reconciliation, we are a country I believe on a journey to genuine reconciliation, Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations was a very important moment, all of the practical things we're doing through the closing the gap strategy to try and make sure that indigenous kids get a great education, that indigenous Australians have the same life expectancy as non-indigenous Australians, that people get jobs, that work is very important to a sense of reconciliation, as is the report I received from the expert panel on Constitutional recognition.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) invited Tony Abbott to make sure he was OK yesterday; can you walk us through the process of that?
PM: Well, I was advised by the police that with the number of people that had gathered and the battering on the glass, that there was some risk that that glass could break and so it was better that we moved rather than have that continue.
Remember of course we weren't the only people in the room, there were medal recipients and their family members and others who had come to watch the event as well as staff who make all this possible, who do a wonderful job, the people who actually organise the medals.
So we did receive that advice, as soon as I got that advice, which was given to me as Prime Minister, I said well we need to make sure Tony Abbott also makes a safe exit so I went and discussed that with Mr Abbott and the only way of doing it, the best way of doing it, was for us to get together and do it together so that's what we did.
JOURNALIST: What commitments is the Government seeking from car companies in return for its support?
PM: We always seek a range of commitments from motor vehicle manufacturers when we work with them on a co-investment strategy and I use the word ‘co-investment' deliberately because we work with car manufacturers to secure lines of production and to secure Australian jobs and we'll keep doing that.
We understand this is a difficult time for Australian manufacturing, in answer to an earlier question I believe from you, I talked about the circumstances in the Australian economy. We are undergoing an economic transformation, the resources sector is going ahead by leaps and bounds. That's a fantastic thing, but it also means that our dollar is very high, the strength of our economy means our dollar is high and that is putting pressure on other parts of the economy including manufacturing.
Now during this resources boom and after the days of this resources boom, which I believe will last a long time, I want us to be an economy with many sources of strength. I don't want us to end up in a situation where we're strong in minerals, but weak in everything else, which is why we've got to make sure we're investing in manufacturing and car manufacturing is a backbone to Australian manufacturing overall.
A million Australians work in manufacturing, 46,000 of them in making cars, more than 200,000 peoples jobs rely indirectly on the making of cars, and that's why we're working hard with the industry and we're proud we're one of only 13 countries in the world that can go from designing a motor vehicle to seeing it roll off the production line and someone jumping in it and driving it away.
It is very disturbing to me that this isn't a bipartisan commitment and that unfortunately the opposition has committed itself to cutting back assistance to car manufacturing and therefore committed itself to a plan which would cause the loss of Australian jobs.
JOURNALIST: Do you think Rob Hulls' resignation this morning is a blow for Victorian Labor?
PM: Look, I was actually advised, I got a message from Rob Hulls directly that he was intending to announce his resignation this morning.
Rob Hulls has been a fantastic servant of the Labor Party here in Victoria, he's had a tremendous career in Victorian politics, he will be remembered as a very reformist Attorney-General who made a very big difference to this state. So my best wishes go with him as he goes to the next stage of his life.
JOURNALIST: Are you going to get your shoe back from yesterday Prime Minister?
PM: I'm not sure, but it really doesn't worry me. I'm in the fortunate situation where I'm a woman with a few pairs of shoes, so I'm all OK thanks very much.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Fair Work Australia does all of this independently so you'd have to direct that enquiry to them.
JOURNALIST: It's been reported that (inaudible) against officials including Craig Thomson, would you be willing to accept (inaudible)
PM: Well, Fair Work Australia works independently from Government, anything about the investigations that you've just referred to I only know from today's newspapers, they're independent of us. The investigation is in progress and it should conclude.
JOURNALIST: Have you had a chance to speak to Craig Thomson about the (inaudible)
PM: Look they're not available to me, Fair Work Australia acts independently.
JOURNALIST: What about the report today?
PM: Fair Work Australia acts independently; I don't have any more information than what I read in today's newspapers.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Well, the investigation's ongoing, there's no conclusion to this investigation yet, so we've got to see Fair Work Australia in its independent role do what it does.
JOURNALIST: Will yesterday's protest change the way you interact with the public, will you make any changes-
PM: -For how I interact with the public no, not at all.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) to back in Flowerdale?
PM: I hope so, I always like coming and visiting with Rob. I have a great time when I come out here, and when I'm not here, and obviously I can't be here every day, Rob keeps me in incredibly close touch with what's happening in the communities that he so proudly represents in the nation's Parliament.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) do you still feel safe getting out and about, getting to all the little towns after yesterday (inaudible)
PM: Look, I'm absolutely fine and really when it started yesterday I concentrated on the event and I wanted to concentrate on the very special people who were at that event.
When I received the advice that I would need to move, I just made sure that we looked after Mr Abbott too. I was always incredibly confident the police would do everything they needed to do, I knew I'd be fine, I was fine, I am fine so it's all OK.
Thanks very much.
JOURNALIST: Do you think there's a need for you and Mr Abbott to sit down with the protesters (inaudible) sensitive issue?
PM: Look, I just don't think that there's any place for violence in protests and I don't think that that should get you anywhere.
OK, thank you.