PRIME MINISTER:
It’s terrific to be here at Taronga Zoo, one of the jewels of Sydney to celebrate the 40th birthday party of Variety here in Australia. Over the last 40 years, Variety has been raising money for sick children, these days they’re raising some $10 million a year and they’re helping some 100,000 children. As a father and as a citizen, I just think it’s magnificent to see people coming together to help our community in this way because as a parent there is nothing that is more devastating than the illness of a child. Not all of us are able to help as much as we would like and that’s where Variety comes in to assist. So, it’s really good to be here. I feel very proud and very honoured to be amongst so many special Australians today.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, how confident are you that the Iranian government will actually take back the asylum seekers which your Foreign Minister’s asking?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, obviously, the Government is dealing with the legacy of the Labor Party here. Under the former Labor government we had more than 50,000 illegal arrivals by boat, we had almost 1,000 illegal boats and we had more than 1,000 drown at sea. Thanks to the loathsome people smuggling trade which started up again under the former Labor government we have some 30,000 people who arrived illegally by boat, some of them will be found to be refugees, some of the them won’t and it’s important that those that are found not to be refugees go home. This is where we’ll be talking to the Iranian government about taking back people who are Iranian citizens, because they deserve to be in Iran, they belong in Iran if they’re found not to be refugees.
QUESTION:
Do they face the prospect of persecution and are you concerned about that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Obviously, we are looking after those who are found to be refugees, but those who are not found to be refugees should go back to their home country, and if their home country is Iran, that’s where they belong.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, on pensions, Joe Hockey’s this morning flagged a wide review into the retirement system. Can you give us anything on that? Also, is that likely to include splitting pensions from the senior’s health card?
PRIME MINISTER:
I want the pensioners of Australia to appreciate that this Government is determined to do the right thing by them. This Government is determined to do the right thing by the pensioners of Australia and if you’re on the married pension you’ve got $78 a fortnight more in your pocket than you had on election night in 2013. If you’re on the single pension, you’ve got $51 a fortnight more in your pocket than you had on election night in 2013. What this Government has done is we’ve abolished the carbon tax, but kept the carbon tax compensation and that is very good for the pensioners of Australia.
QUESTION:
Is a review – is that something we could see, though?
PRIME MINISTER:
We want to make sure that we can continue to pay a generous pension into the future. That’s what we want to do – we want to make sure that we can continue to pay a generous pension into the future. The good news for pensioners is that if you’re a married pensioner you’re $78 a fortnight better off now than you were on election night in 2013.
QUESTION:
Do you think some wealthy Australians are using the part-pension just to get a health concession card?
PRIME MINISTER:
The important thing is to ensure that everyone is being looked after properly – and that’s why I’m so pleased to be leading a Government which has meant that the pensioners of this country – the married pensioners of this country – have $78 a fortnight more in their pocket now than they did on election night in 2013. The pensioners of Australia have lost the carbon tax but they’ve kept the carbon tax compensation.
QUESTION:
A Sydney child care centre is charging parents $170 a day – can you see the day where parents will be charged $200 to put their kid in child care.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I want to see more affordable, accessible child care. I want to see families that are better able to deal with cost of living pressures and this is why we’ve abolished the carbon tax but kept the carbon tax compensation. That means that your average household is $550 a year better off. That’s why there’ll be a very strong child care package as part of our assistance to families in the coming budget. The point I want to make about the coming budget is that yes, the focus will be jobs, growth and opportunity. But the measures in the budget will be responsible, they’ll be reasonable and they’ll be fair.
QUESTION:
Are we going to see any progress on having multinational companies pay their fair share of tax? We’ve seen this senate inquiry this week – a lot of talk no action.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, that’s not quite right. We made base erosion and profit shifting one of the chief concerns of the G20 when Australia was the president of the G20 last year. This is something that we’ve put front and centre for the international community for the largest economies in the world. What we’ve made crystal clear is that you should pay the tax where you make the money. That’s what we’ll be looking at and that’s what we’ll be having more to say about between now and budget day.
[ends]