PRIME MINISTER:
It’s very fitting that I should kick off my trip to the US, my first trip to the United States as Prime Minister, with this visit to the Stock Exchange because all of my overseas trips are in large measure about more jobs for Australians and we can’t have more Australian jobs without stronger Australian businesses. We can’t have stronger Australian businesses without well-functioning global capital markets and the New York Stock Exchange is obviously very much at the heart of global capitalism.
I want to make this very strong point: you cannot love jobs and hate the entities that create jobs. You cannot have a strong economy without strong and profitable private businesses because private businesses are the engine of job creation.
I have got a business delegation with me. Some members of the delegation were up there in the boardroom here, prior to kicking off trading today, to talk about what we could do to try to boost job creation in Australia and around the globe. I have got a strong business delegation with me because I want Australian business to be strong. I want the world to know that Australian business is strong. I want the world to know that this Government wants our country to be open for business because if we are open for business, we are open for jobs, we are open for prosperity and we are more likely to create the kind of Australia that every Australian has a right to expect.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, you are meeting the UN Secretary General today. Ban Ki-moon is holding a summit of world leaders later this year to encourage stronger action on climate change and build momentum. Will you attend that in September and what is your message going to be to him today on this?
PRIME MINISTER:
As you know, the Australian Government supports strong action on climate change. We are investing some $2.5 billion on direct action programmes to reduce our emissions to meet our emissions reduction target. There is no argument about the need for strong action on climate change. There is some argument about the best way to achieve that. I don’t believe that the best way to improve the environment is to clobber the economy and I am not going to take climate change action which does clobber the economy. We are not going to have any rearguard action in favour of a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme in Australia. We’re going to take direct action to get our emissions down.
QUESTION:
Do you agree with getting some sort of global agreement or should each country go their own way?
PRIME MINISTER:
It’s very important that every country take strong action to reduce its emissions, to limit the rate of growth of emissions and we know in Australia what we are going to do: we are going to get our emissions down by five per cent by 2020 and we will be taking strong and effective direct action to do this.
QUESTION:
[inaudible] not a global problem?
PRIME MINISTER:
Let’s just put this in perspective. Climate change is a significant global issue – it is a very significant global issue. Is it the most important issue the world faces right now? I don’t believe so. It is one of a number of significant issues that the world faces and we will do our bit. We will be a good international citizen. What we are not going to do is clobber our economy and cost jobs with things like a job-killing carbon tax.
QUESTION:
Mr Abbott have you extended the appointment of Kim Beazley as US Ambassador for another 12 months?
PRIME MINISTER:
I will have a little more to say about this in due course but Kim Beazley has done a fine job as our Ambassador. He really has done a fine job as our Ambassador. I have said it before, let me say it again, I think Kim Beazley is one of the really outstanding individuals; one of the most outstanding individuals to be in our Parliament and never be Prime Minister.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, who are you saying hates Australian business and what is your evidence for that?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, the point I made was that it is impossible to love jobs and to hate the people who create jobs. That is the point I made. I’m not saying that any particular individuals are guilty but it is a very important point to make: if you want to see job creation, you have got to support the people who create jobs and the people who create jobs are strong and productive and profitable private business.
QUESTION:
Are you going to meet Hillary Clinton here in New York and have you seen what she said about Julia Gillard being a victim of sexism? Do you agree with that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Prime Minister Gillard faced all sorts of difficulties in her time as Prime Minister. Every Prime Minister faces all sorts of difficulties in his or her time as Prime Minister. I am not going to buy into what Hillary Clinton says in her book. I am sure she is more than capable of speaking for herself. Am I going to meet her? I would like to meet her. I understand she is on a book tour, so it might be hard to meet her face-to-face but hopefully I will have a moment to speak to her one way or another on this trip.
QUESTION:
Would she make a good President?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, again I am not going to buy into US politics in that way. I did meet Hillary Clinton briefly when she was Secretary of State and came to Australia a couple of years ago. I think she was a highly creditable Secretary of State but beyond that I really shouldn’t comment.
QUESTION:
Just a couple of questions. When you meet Ban Ki Moon today is there any chance Kevin Rudd’s name may come up? And secondly, in your speech, some of your comments are about profit-shifting, and talking about companies that have to pay tax in the countries where they are. Is there an extra edge to your message given you’re in the US and some of those companies like Apple and Google are some of the more guilty players?
PRIME MINISTER:
The important thing for Australia is not to pick fights but to try to build unity and you build unity by searching for common ground, for looking for the points on which we can all agree and I think all of us can agree that we don’t want to see the kind of international tax minimisation which sometimes happens. I am not saying that it is easy to resolve it but I think the broad principle should be that generally speaking people should pay tax in the countries where they make the money. People should pay tax where they raise their revenue and I think that is the kind of principle that all of us can agree on. We have now got to try to build a system of rules that fairly puts that into practice.
QUESTION:
You are on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange but there are a lot of concerns around at the moment that small-time investors are being ripped off by high frequency traders, by some tactics being run by big money men. Do you have any concerns about the way markets are regulated and about protecting ordinary investors?
PRIME MINISTER:
There is always a balance between freedom and protection and I am not saying that the balance at any one time has been perfectly achieved. I think we will always be, as it were, adjusting the point of balance but freedom is very important; protection is very important. If we over protect people and limit freedom, we will damage our economic future. If we under-protect people we will damage our economic future. So, this is the kind of judgment that sensible people make from time to time.
QUESTION:
I understand that the Palestinians have been seeking some clarification from the Australian Government with regards to the new policy not to mention ‘occupied’ when it’s reference East Jerusalem. Is this a new Government policy and can you offer an explanation to us?
PRIME MINISTER:
It is important, as far as you can, not to use loaded terms, not to use pejorative terms, not to use terms which suggest that matters have been prejudged and that is a freighted term. The truth is they are disputed territories and let’s try to ensure that disputes are resolved fairly to all as best we can in an imperfect world.
[ends]