JOHN ALEXANDER MP:
Welcome to Epping. Today we celebrate the very important day of Father’s Day – you, both being a father and here with your father – but there is one other thing that we’re celebrating today which is one year in Government.
So congratulations, Prime Minister, on your first year – may there be many more.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you so much, John.
It is good to be here in Epping in the heart of the electorate of Bennelong with John Alexander – the very hardworking and very popular local Member.
I’ve just come back from a significant trip. I spent a couple of days in India with Prime Minister Modi. We had the opportunity to finalise the Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, which is our way of saying that India is a country that we trust, India is a country that we want to do business with, and the more business we do with India the more jobs and the more prosperity there will be back here in Australia.
That’s the thing about trade: trade means jobs, trade means prosperity, and that’s why this Government has been so determined to boost our trade. We’ve finalised Free Trade Agreements with Japan and Korea. We’re working on Free Trade Agreements with China, with India, and with other countries. It’s a very important part of this Government’s forward agenda.
I spent yesterday with Prime Minister Najib of Malaysia. We have a very strong relationship with Malaysia, but it has reached a new level of cooperation and intensity over the tragedy of MH370 and the atrocity of MH17. It’s sad, in a sense, that we’ve had to bear these terrible burdens, but sometimes the worst of times brings out the best in people and I want to say how much I’ve appreciated the strength and the leadership of Prime Minister Najib and how much Australians appreciated the strength of the relationship with Malaysia.
Today is Father's Day and it's great to be with my own dad. We owe a lot to our fathers and we should do what we can to thank them on days such as this.
It is one year since the election. It's a milestone in the life of a government. Yes, it's simply another day in the life of our country, but I want you to know that every day this Government is working as hard as we humanly can for you.
We've stopped the boats, we've scrapped the tax, we've scrapped the mining tax, we're building the roads, and we're getting the Budget back under control. It's not easy to get the Budget back under control after six years of debt and deficit disaster, but we are doing it and we are doing it with a will because in the end the last thing any of us should want to do is to burden our children and grandchildren with debt. The last thing any of us would want to do is to live high today while handing the bills to our children.
So, I do look back over the last 12 months with some satisfaction. It is an absolute honour and a privilege to represent the Australian people in the Parliament, but the greatest honour and privilege any Member in Parliament can have is to be the Prime Minister.
QUESTION:
The Opposition says your first year has been defined by broken promises.
PRIME MINISTER:
They would say that, wouldn't they? This is a Labor Party with no solutions, just complaints.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, happy Father's Day.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you!
QUESTION:
Peter Reith said a similar thing this morning on television. He said, leading into the Budget you could have perhaps been more honest about your planned cuts, how do you respond to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we said up-front again and again and again before the election that we were going to get the Budget back under control and we went into the election being very upfront with people. The Schoolkids Bonus was going, the low income bonus was going, the superannuation support was going. We said all of this upfront before the election and we have delivered on it. It would be nice if there was an easy way to fix Labor's debt and deficit disaster. Unfortunately, it is a difficult job to fix Labor's debt and deficit disaster, but if you don't take the tough decisions today there are even tougher decisions tomorrow and that’s the last thing that any responsible government would want to do.
QUESTION:
But there are areas that you said wouldn't be cut that have been cut.
PRIME MINISTER:
Education spending goes up every year; hospital spending goes up every year. Yes, there are some promises that Labor made that we're not keeping, but public hospital spending it's up 9 per cent this year, 9 per cent next year, 9 per cent the year after that, and 6 per cent in the final year. School spending, it's up 8 per cent this year, 8 per cent next year, 8 per cent the year after that, and 6 per cent in the final year. Sure, some of the unsustainable promises, some of the blank cheque promises that the Labor Party made aren't going to be honoured by this Government but again, we were very up-front about that before the election.
QUESTION:
So on this Father's Day, how much longer will parents have to wait to hear the details of your paid parental leave scheme?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, the details have been out there since the 2010 election and they were all on display at the 2013 election. It was pretty fiercely attacked going into the 2013 election and, look, the details are there for all to see. Obviously, it's got to go into the Parliament and that will be happening soon, but this is a policy that the families of Australia, the women of Australia, and the businesses of Australia need. It's not just good family policy and good social policy, it's good economic policy, because if we can have higher female participation we will have a much stronger economy and that's good for everyone.
QUESTION:
Will the details have to change when it goes into the Parliament, do you concede that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Every bit of legislation has to be passed by the Parliament and some pieces of legislation obviously are subject to adjustment as they go through. The point I want to make is that this is good policy. It's policy that two elections running the Coalition took to the people of Australia. I think it's right and proper that paid parental leave should be a workplace entitlement, not a welfare entitlement, and if we're fair dinkum about giving a good deal for families, a good deal for women, a good deal for small business – whose employees almost never get paid parental leave right now – this is the right way forward.
QUESTION:
How strongly are you considering childcare subsidies for in-home care – nannies and so forth?
PRIME MINISTER:
We've got a Productivity Commission process in place. This is one of the issues that we've asked the Productivity Commission to look at. It is something that is happening to some extent under the existing system, but obviously we want to make the system as flexible and as accessible as possible and let's see what the Productivity Commission comes up with.
QUESTION:
Have you or your office been involved in any discussions about correspondence being considered by the New South Wales ICAC?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, whatever is before the ICAC is a matter for the ICAC.
QUESTION:
When you look back at the year that was, is there any areas you feel you as Prime Minister or your party could have done more, done better?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, with the wisdom of 20/20 hindsight there are always some things, but we've faced some difficult challenges and I think we've handled them pretty well. In the end, that's going to be a matter for the people to judge in two years' time. But we have faced some tough challenges, we've faced them squarely and honestly, and we've done the best we can, sometimes under difficult circumstances.
QUESTION:
Just back to the ICAC, because it has implicated the federal arm of the party, do you have any reason to believe that the federal arm of the party would be implicated further in the ICAC [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I am absolutely confident – absolutely confident – that the federal party has at all times acted in accordance with the rules.
QUESTION:
What makes you so confident?
PRIME MINISTER:
I am very confident that at all times the federal party has acted in accordance with the rules because that's what we do.
QUESTION:
Your Speaker is being consulted about whether various documents relating to the ICAC’s inquiry should be released. Have you spoken to Bronwyn Bishop and have you given her any advice on what she should say?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I've been speaking to Prime Minister Modi and I've been speaking with Prime Minister Najib, and I've been promoting Australia's best interests and that's what our Prime Minister should do: promote Australia's best interests at home and abroad and that's always what I'm doing.
QUESTION:
Given that India hasn't signed the non-proliferation treaty, what kind of guarantee is there that these uranium materials won't be used to produce nuclear weapons?
PRIME MINISTER:
We have been given the strongest possible assurances, the strongest possible guarantees that all Australian uranium will be used for peaceful power-generation in India and India's record is absolutely impeccable. India has been a model international citizen throughout the period since independence. India is one of those countries which is absolutely scrupulously observant of international law. They dot the Is, they cross the Ts. It's a country that we have a very strong friendship with and a country that we can absolutely trust.
Thank you so much.
[ends]