Werribee, VIC
PM: I want to start by offering my condolences to the family of Bryce Courtenay, following his passing today. Bryce Courtenay is such a well-known name to Australians, and much loved.
Many, many people, indeed millions and millions of people, have loved to read his books to absorb his stories. Bryce Courtenay came to Australia from South Africa and the way in which he told that tale of apartheid I think helped people really understand at a human level what apartheid meant and what a great evil it was.
He has delighted Australians and he's delighted people around the world with his storytelling. And I do want to pass my condolences today to his wife Christine, to his sons Adam and Brett, on the loss of Bryce Courtenay. Many Australians will take a moment today to reflect on his remarkable career.
Secondly, can I say it's good to be back in Melbourne's west in my own electorate. I've had the opportunity this morning to address a forum of chief executive officers of councils from around the country. They've come to Wyndham to meet and reflect on the role of local government.
I've had the opportunity to speak to them about what local communities can do in this Asian Century of change. What they can do to make sure that their local community enjoys jobs and prosperity as the region in which we live becomes home to more middle class people than any other part of the planet.
And the National Broadband Network rolls out and brings the global economy to the door of local communities. It's been a good opportunity to have that discussion.
I'm shortly,in this building, in the civic centre here at Wyndham, to join an event to launch an initiative about healthy communities. Wyndham Council is joining almost 100 councils around Australia, rolling out a very locally based program about healthy living.
It's part of what we are trying to achieve with our focus on preventative health measures through our national partnership to resource community activities that make a difference to people's health.
In the modern age, the biggest burden of disease is chronic and complex conditions, many of them can be prevented. And they can be prevented by simple lifestyle steps, a better choice of diet, getting some exercise.
Getting that message out into the community and helping people find a way to change their diet, to get more exercise into their lives, is what this program is all about. It is going to resource at a local level some incredibly practical things, like the Heart Foundation's walking program, which gets people into walking groups. Lift for Life which helps people with strengthening exercises. Community gardens and community information and support on healthy diet and healthy lifestyle.
So it's good to be here in Melbourne's west able to talk about our future in the Asian century, and also our future as a healthier nation.
I'm happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: What do you make of Tony Abbott's announcement that he plans to slash Australia's humanitarian refugee intake?
PM: I have heard these words from Tony Abbott. First,I would say Mr Abbott publicly supported the increase of the refugee intake to 20,000. Indeed he was prepared to offer that in parliamentary negotiations.
And as recently as yesterday, a member of Mr Abbott's team was out supporting a 20,000 refugee intake and saying the matter should be beyond politics. So what we've seen from Mr Abbott today is not only a backflip, but it's a backflip to some tired old policies that you will actually find in the 2010 election documents that he put out.
JOURNALIST: So is Australia being peacefully invaded like he says it is?
PM: This is inflammatory language from Mr Abbott. It's meant to cause fear and concern in communities. It's part of his campaign of trying to divide our nation and cause people to be fearful and afraid.
We face a challenge with asylum seekers, there's no doubt about that. And we are working, guided by the expert report of Angus Houston and the team to address this issue. And Minister Bowen's made some important announcements this week about our policies towards asylum seekers and refugees.
But there's no place in this debate for inflammatory language and dealing with anything other than the facts.
JOURNALIST: The Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu has come out and said that the Federal Government needs to take action to deal with the increase of picket lines. Is the Federal Government going to do something and what are you going to do?
PM: We have our industrial relations laws in place through the Fair Work legislation. They have been the subject of review and Minister Shorten is working through that.
But I can certainly say this, as a Labor Government we will always support fair laws that treat working people decently. We'll never endorse Mr Abbott's agenda of WorkChoices, and we will never endorse a proposal coming from a Liberal Premier that tells us to go back to WorkChoices.
On picketing, that can actually involve state laws, so that's a matter for Mr Baillieu to consider himself about his own state laws. For us, we'll always make sure as a Labor Government that there's fairness and decency at work for Australians.
JOURNALIST: Turning to the claims made by your former colleague Nick Styant-Browne. How can you explain the discrepancies that he is claiming are in your story about this supposed slush fund?
PM: I have obviously seen all of the media about this. Let's be very clear about it. What this boils down to is that 17 years ago I couldn't recall events that happened two and a half years earlier. That's what it boils down to.
And let's be very clear that the event I couldn't recall, the matter I couldn't recall, related to Slater & Gordon issuing a mortgage. Not a matter associated with any union fund or account.
So I think that there would be plenty of people who would say, yes looking back over two and a half years, it's a bit hard to remember every piece of paper that's come across your desk. In fact looking at this audience if I asked people right now to give me an account of every piece of paper that came across their desk two and a half years ago, I suspect I'd find an audience of people who would struggle to do so.
So what this all means is that this whole campaign of smear actually boils down to absolutely nothing-
JOURANLIST: So you didn't see that document?
PM: We've had 20 years of this. We've had a campaign of smear and innuendo, and it all boils down to absolutely nothing. There has not been one substantiated allegation of wrongdoing put against me across the full 20 years and the whole campaign of smear.
JOURNALIST: So you didn't know about the March 1993 document that has come out now?
PM: Seventeen years ago I gave my best recollection of events that happened two and a half years earlier.
JOURNALIST: Is it possible you could've seen the document?
PM: I can't take the matter further than this, and let's just apply common-sense. If I asked you, if I picked a date, 19 and a half years ago, and asked but pieces of paper you saw then? Let's just be sensible about it.
Seventeen years ago I gave my best recollections about something that happened two and a half years earlier. Let's also be clear this wasn't a file that I ran, I was not the partner in charge of it, I was not the solicitor operating it, and so I don't think that it's remarkable in any way that I wouldn't have full recall of documents that were on a file that I didn't run as a solicitor.
JOURNALIST: But the documents that were shown to the ABC have your name on it. Is that unusual for you not to see a document that has your name on it and for a junior to handle that?
PM: Well in law firms of course documents get handled by paralegals, they get handled way back when in those old days by mailrooms and the like. What I gave 17 years ago was my best recollection of something two and a half years earlier.
JOURNALIST: Why do you think these accusations are coming about then? Why has this former colleague come out now and started to bring forth documents he says show this discrepancy in your account?
PM: Well, that's a question you would have to put to Mr Styant-Browne. But I would say this; really we're dealing with events 20 years ago. No one has ever put a substantiated allegation of wrongdoing against me across 20 years.
The Deputy Leader of the Opposition was on radio this morning and challenged on multiple occasions could not even articulate a question I should answer about all of this. And we're here discussing my recollection of events 17 years ago about something that had happened two and a half years earlier, which actually is a recollection about a Slater & Gordon mortgage, not a matter involving a union account or a union fund.
Now really, are you going to say to me you hopped in your cars and driven from the CBD of Melbourne 30-odd kilometres over the Westgate Bridge and you haven't got any questions about jobs or the future of the Australian economy or the future of healthcare? We've had obviously asylum seeker policy issues. But 17 years ago, that's the best we've got?
JOURNALIST: Well then on another matter, do you then agree with Bill Shorten that the CMFEU shouldn't tell CBUS super where to invest its funds?
PM: Superannuation funds, including industry funds, need to run under the guidance of the trustees. That's the point Minister Shorten would be making.
JOURNALIST: Just back on that matter though, in relation to the mortgage. Were you in any way involved in the mortgage at Kerr Street?
PM: Look, you've seen the documents. They're now there on the public record. And what they show is if you want to look at all of the documents look at the answers that we provided to the 7.30 Report and others yesterday,there is a question about a certificate of insurance, the conveyancing file shows that Mr Blewitt personally followed that matter up.
We're talking about a file that I was not the solicitor or the partner for. And what's the relevance of the question? Where does it take you? Well precisely, you've rolled your eyes because it doesn't take you anywhere.
So we've got front-page headlines about a matter in which there's no allegation of wrongdoing at any point. And apparently it's the stuff of front-page headlines that 17 years ago I didn't accurately recall an event two and a half years earlier.
JOURNALIST: You seem quite adamant that you're the victim of smear campaign. But why do you think you're a victim of a smear campaign?
PM: Well I wouldn't use the terminology ‘victim'. I think first and foremost we've got the Opposition trying to use these matters to cover over the fact they haven't got any policies or plans for the nation's future.
So we could be having a red hot debate about the future of the Australian economy but the Opposition doesn't have a jobs plan. We could be having a red hot debate about the future of government budgeting, but the Opposition is going to refuse to put all its figures in for costing.
We could be having a red hot debate about the future of our schools but the Opposition doesn't want to engage in that debate, doesn't have a plan for our schools for the future.
We could be having a red hot debate about the future of healthcare, but I'm not aware of any Opposition plan in that area. And so, when you don't have any plan for the nation's future, you've got to fill the airwaves with something.
And we've had Julie Bishop's attempt today, and she couldn't even articulate a question I should answer.
JOURNALIST: With all respect though, it's not the Opposition that's raising these issues, it's a former colleague.
PM: And of course the Opposition has raised these issues as you would be well aware. And as I said when I dealt with this very, very comprehensively at one of the longest Prime Ministerial conferences ever held, and took every question that the Canberra Press Gallery had to put to me until they had no more questions, as I said then, I expected that this campaign of smear would be continued, be continued by the Opposition, it would be continued by some fringe elements that we've seen continue this campaign.
It's a question for you about weighing the worth of it in today's agenda for the nation. So, 17 years ago, something two and a half years earlier, if someone wants to explain to me the importance of that for the future of Australia then please have a go. I'd be interested.
JOURNALIST: Who's running the smear campaign?
PM: Well the Opposition is clearly engaged in a smear campaign and I've named people in the past who were engaged in this. Larry Pickering and people like that have been engaged in repulsive material being circulated on the internet and through the so-called blog.
And then we've got a question of whether or not this is dealt with and accurately reported by mainstream media outlets. And that's a question for the standards and accuracy of those mainstream media outlets.
JOURNALIST: So the questions about the power of attorney documents that were prepared for Ralph Blewitt, is that just all part of this smear campaign?
PM: I have dealt with those matters before in the past. I do remind you in one of the longest ever press conferences by a Prime Minister in the nation's history, I took every question that the federal Press Gallery had to ask on this matter. And here we are, 20 years, acres of news print. Anybody's got an allegation of wrongdoing by me of any substance, please feel free to put it.
JOURNALIST: The Australian Medical Association in Victoria recently said that it's damaging patients,this constant bickering between the Federal Government and the states over health funding. What's your response?
PM: I'm just about to go down to an announcement about health funding and we're dealing with that announcement because this is the Government that decided to put health funding on a sustainable footing for the nation's future.
That is, we stepped up to more than $16 billion extra of health funding before the end of the decade. We stepped up to being an equal partner in growth between state governments and the Federal Government because we knew that the growth rate in health care expenditure was ultimately going to break state government budgets.
So I'd say to anybody who raises this debate, recognise what has been done and the big reform agenda that comes with it. We've worked to put healthcare funding on a sustainable long-term future and of course we want to keep working in partnership with the states in the delivery of that agenda.
And one of our matters of partnership is the subject of our announcement today and that is these local initiatives to get people engaged in healthier living and healthier eating.
JOURNALIST: And just quickly, the inquiry into construction costs that the Federal Government is setting up, when will you be announcing who is on the panel and some more details about that?
PM: We put out for consultation to states and territories names of people we believe should serve on the panel. There were discussions about that, there's been no agreement from Victoria about the identities of the people to go on the panel.
Given it was Victoria that was particularly pressing for this inquiry, we're really waiting for Victoria to step forward and agree to the very eminent Australians whose names we've put forward, including some very eminent Victorians.
Okay, thank you very much.