DAVID SPEERS: Thank you very much, we are talking to the Prime Minister. There is still some anger amongst some of your colleagues about the events of last week and some of that is being directed at your Treasurer and your Deputy. To clear the air on this, can you tell us when did you finally decide to challenge Tony Abbott and when did you tell Julie Bishop and Scott Morrison?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I have made a practise of not talking about leadership issues before I was the Leader and I’m not going to talk about them after I’ve become the Leader. The decision to challenge was entirely mine. But I really, I don’t want to get into a debate about the archaeology or the history or the connections and so forth.
DAVID SPEERS: As you know there is still suspicion around it. It’s no trivial thing changing Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: It’s a very serious thing.
DAVID SPEERS: Don’t people deserve to know what happened?
PRIME MINISTER: It’s a very simple matter. I came into see Tony I told him I was going to challenge him, I told him why I was going to challenge him. I left his Office. I spoke briefly to the media and explained why I was challenging him. Then the party had a ballot.
DAVID SPEERS: …When you made the decision and when those two key figures knew about it.
PRIME MINISTER: I’m sorry but I am not going to go into the history of it. I don’t think there is any purpose to be served for the Government or the Party by my doing so. I’ve always been very circumspect about issues of leadership, for many years as you know, much to the disappointment of distinguished journalists like yourself.
DAVID SPEERS: What do you say to settle down those who are still upset? Should they back off in terms of Scott Morrison and Julie Bishop?
PRIME MINISTER: What I would say is that we have got to work together as a team. There are times when tough decisions have to taken about leadership. I know all about that I was removed as Leader by the Party some years ago in 2009. I’ve been on the receiving end. The leader of the Liberal Party serves at the pleasure of the party room. Full-stop. That’s what it is all about. It is up to the party room to make that decision. No one is entitled to be leader it is entirely a function of the wishes of the party room. Once they’ve made their decision then, because politics is a team business, all of us should get together behind the Leader. Just as everyone got behind Tony back in 2009.
DAVID SPEERS: Let me ask you about one of the leadership decisions you have taken. You are dropping Peter Dutton from the National Security Committee of Cabinet. Immigration Ministers for quite a while now have sat on that committee. Why?
PRIME MINISTER: Well during the Howard Government - which I regard in terms of Cabinet process as absolutely the gold standard - and while this is a very modern 21st century Government, and obviously I’m not John Howard, none-the-less John was an outstanding Prime Minister. He ran a very, very, solid, traditional business-like Cabinet Government and that is something I am determined to restore. That’s why Arthur Sinodinos is the Cabinet Secretary. We are very focused on that. Under the Howard Government the Immigration Minister was for most of that time not a permanent member of the National Security Committee.
DAVID SPEERS: Amanda Vanstone was, wasn’t she?
PRIME MINISTER: For periods. But let me be quite clear about this. Ministers have got to get on with their day jobs. You clearly want to ensure that no Minister is in a committee taking up his or her very valuable time on matters that are not directly relevant them.
DAVID SPEERS: Border Force is meant to equivalent of the AFP, we have a lot of border control issues when it comes to the threat of terrorism…
PRIME MINISTER: And when those matters come up the Immigration Minister, as is always the case, will be seconded. When I was the Communications Minister when issues relating to telecommunications security or cyber security came up I was often brought into the NSC. You’re talking about form, I am talking about function. We have to have an efficient Government where people’s time is used efficiently. This is not an issue of status. We have a National Security Committee that is very close to the arrangements that worked so well during John Howard’s time as Prime Minister. And by the way if experience suggests we should change the arrangements we will. None of this is being written in stone. But I would rather start off with the NSC being leaner to begin with and if we have to change the permanent membership we can do so. You have to understand this is modern 20th century agile Government and we will adapt all of our arrangements as circumstances require to meet the situation.
DAVID SPEERS: Let me ask you another question on immigration and this may go to some adapting as circumstances present. We do have a bipartisan settlement on border protection policies now, but we still have hundreds, more than hundreds, stuck on Manus Island and Nauru. Many of them have been there for two years now. Many of them have been processed, found to be refugees but they are not being resettled. None have been re-settled in PNG. In Nauru a little baby was born in detention this week, a little girl who has no citizenship. Will you rule out ever taking any of these people here?
PRIME MINISTER: Well for a start, I have definitely ruled out answering rule in rule out questions from journalists. What I am saying to you is that all of our policies, our existing policies are on foot…
DAVID SPEERS: I appreciate that but the situation, you have people really stuck, and neither major party is talking about what to do with them.
PRIME MINISTER: I understand the issue. I have the same concerns about the situation of people on Manus and Nauru as you do, and as I would think almost all, all, Australians do. As the Minister Mr Dutton does. But, what I am not going to do is make changes to our border protection policy sitting here with you. Our policies will change, all policies change. But when we do make changes we will do so in a considered way and they will be made by the Ministers, the Minister, myself, the Cabinet.
DAVID SPEERS: Is this an area that needs to be changed?
PRIME MINISTER: This is an area that is clearly is one that is controversial, that is a challenging one. It is a challenging one. It is certainly one that close attention is being paid to. What I am not going to do is announce changes or foreshadow changes sitting here with you. Much as I can understand all your interest. I’m going to be very frank with you. I thank you for raising it. It is legitimate that you raise it. It’s good that you raise it. But you need to understand that this is a Cabinet Government. We are not going to make, not me nor any Minister, we are not going to make policy changes, particularly of the type you are talking about, on the run. All of these matters will be considered and in the event that policy changes then we will make an appropriate announcement.
DAVID SPEERS: I want to turn to the economy. Again this gets to the priorities that you will bring as Prime Minister to these things. You did say in mounting your case for the leadership change that quote ‘the Government is not successful providing the economic leadership we need.’ When are we going to see, when, and I’m asking about the timing here, when will see your alternative plans for the economy?
PRIME MINISTER: We are certainly determined to provide greater leadership, stronger, leadership, more confident leadership, that’s probably the better term, more confident leadership, on the economy. Of course there will be new policies. And we are certainly looking at policies that will promote innovation, policies that will promote productivity, that will provide greater incentives to work. There are a lot of leavers and it is very complex. They are absolutely very key priorities. But you know something, we have already seen, and this is the power of confident positive leadership, we have already seen a significant rise in business confidence. That means businesses are investing, they are hiring, people are getting jobs, they are making more money, they are paying more tax than they otherwise would. Business confidence has been a critical issue. If you listen to Glenn Stevens, the Reserve Bank Governor, he has been saying this for a very long time. That here we are in a world where interest rates are as low as they have ever been and yet we don’t have enough business confidence to promote investment. We have already seen a rise in business confidence because we have a Government that is talking confidently about our future and is talking optimistically about our future, and indicating, if not the precise policies, because I have only been Prime Minister for a week, but the outcomes we seek to achieve. It’s important that people understand where we want to get to and then of course we will design the policies that we hope will take us on that journey.
DAVID SPEERS: Glenn Stevens has also been talking about labour market reform for a while. One of the bits of low hanging fruit is Sunday penalty rates. What’s your view on this, should they stay?
PRIME MINISTER: Again, sorry not to be able to announce all of our policies on your program but all of these matters are under consideration. It is very important that we proceed in an orderly way.
DAVID SPEERS: What’s the timing then on that orderly way? Are we going to see a mini-budget any time soon? Or are you going to actually wait until after the next election?
PRIME MINISTER: I don’t believe in rushing things in a sort of hasty ill-considered way. But equally I believe you can make well considered decisions quickly. You saw the way I changed the strategy and direction of the NBN. That was done quickly, but it was done in a very, very well-considered well-argued way and that is certainly the way I intend to proceed as Prime Minister.
DAVID SPEERS: So will we see change this year in terms of economic policy?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I’m not going to put a timeframe on it. What you will see is the Government proceeding to deliver on an economic reform agenda that will promote productivity, will promote innovation, and will continue to promote business confidence and investment. We will do so in an orderly way and we will do it as quickly as we can. I don’t believe in spinning my wheels.
DAVID SPEERS: Is the next election still ten or 11 months away as you said last week?
PRIME MINISTER: That is certainly what I am assuming, not unless you have a better idea of what is going to happen… That’s definitely the plan.
DAVID SPEERS: Any plans for Senate voting reform before then?
PRIME MINISTER: We have no specific plans. It’s obviously an issue that people have talked about. I enjoy a very good working relationship with the Senate crossbenchers. I have also reached out to the Leader of the Greens, Richard Di Natale. We want to have a good relationship…
DAVID SPEERS: Some of them were voted in though, Ricky Muir, on point five, half a per cent was his primary vote. Does that concern you at all?
PRIME MINISTER: I certainly understand the concerns about it and the issues about transparency.The simple fact of the matter is Senator Muir is a Senator. He is as democratically and constitutionally elected to this place as I am as the Member for Wentworth. And certainly there are many considerations about changing the voting rules. But the fact is we do not have a specific proposal but we are talking about it with all the parties.
DAVID SPEERS: The China Free Trade Agreement. Have you read it?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ve certainly read summaries of it, I’ve read elements of it, and I’ve discussed it at length with Andrew Robb. But no I haven’t read the whole pile of documents.
DAVID SPEERS: The bit that Labor is concerned about is Chapter 10 part of it, where it says that labour market testing won’t apply to a range of different groups including people with trade, technical or professional skills. Why shouldn’t tradies be worried about that?
PRIME MINISTER: Labor really need to answer why it is that exactly the same arrangements were in the Chile Free Trade Agreement. They are really singling China out.
DAVID SPEERS: There are some differences though.
PRIME MINISTER: There are some differences but not material to the point you’re raising. Let me be clear about the China Free Trade Agreement. This is an agreement that opens up to all Australian businesses the world’s largest single economy. It is an absolutely fundamental building block for our prosperity. It has the support of every Labor Premier. It has the support of past Labor leaders like Bob Hawke, like Simon Crean, like Bob Carr. It has the overwhelming endorsement of the business community. Now what’s happened is that Bill Shorten has never proposed any specific changes. He has been dragged along in the slipstream of the CFMEU which has run an alarmist, scare-mongering campaign. Millions of dollars designed to frighten people back into poverty.
DAVID SPEERS: Not disputing that. Surely Labor is suggesting safe-guard legislation to ensure that for those low skill 457 category visas that jobs are off to locals first. In the interest of getting this whole thing done quickly why not sit down and talk about that?
PRIME MINISTER: We are obviously open to talking to them but they have made no specific proposals. Now there is legislation in the House. They could move an amendment. They could propose a substantial change or variation to Mr Robb. Andrew is there, he is the architect of this deal. He knows every single comma and semi colon through the whole thing. They could talk to him about it but they have made no specific proposals.
DAVID SPEERS: So you’re open to talks?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course we are always open to talks. I don’t want to be unduly critical of Mr Shorten. I understand his position, the Labor Party is the political wing of the union movement - I understand all of that. But his problem is that the CFMEU has run an extreme scaremongering campaign designed to frighten people, which is aggressively anti-Chinese and really absolutely contrary to our national interest, contrary to jobs. Because he has been silent, everyone assumes he endorses it. He is just bobbing along like a cork in the slipstream of the CFMEU. Basically you have the CFMEU driving the Labor Party, this the the alternative Government, the Labor Party’s economic policy. Mr Shorten could sort that out he can say ‘I don’t go along with all that extremist stuff’ and put forward some specific proposals. But he hasn’t to date had the courage to that. I’d encourage him to focus on that rather than being a passive cork as I said just bobbing along, trailed along.
DAVID SPEERS: You want deeper ties with China. You have been critical of their foreign policy approach in the South China Sea. But can I ask you, what will be your first port of call internationally? Will it be China? Will it be Japan? What’s your priority?
PRIME MINISTER: Frankly, it is not settled yet. But it is likely to be, the first substantial international gathering I go to, in terms of a multilateral gathering, will certainly be the G20 meeting in Turkey where of course I will be meeting with the leaders of the 20 largest economies. The program is still a work in progress. I know a week is a long time in politics but it’s actually not that long a time.
DAVID SPEERS: Let me finally ask you, you are a former journalist. You gave a stirring speech at the War Memorial this morning. You spoke about the importance of journalists speaking truth to power and the need for a free and courageous press. Peter Greste was there. I know you met him yesterday. He’s a good example of these fine traditions of journalism. Will you be pressing the Egyptian president to pardon Peter Greste who has been convicted of a terrorist offence?
PRIME MINISTER: That is absolutely the Government’s position and we have, we will and continue to encourage the Egyptian president to do that. That is absolutely our position just as I said at the War Memorial. To repeat what I said there David, the work that you do, the work that Peter Greste does, is as important to our democracy as the work that I do. We cannot have a democracy without a free and enquiring press that challenges Government and challenges vested interests. When we are honouring war correspondents, we are honouring the work of Peter Greste for example; we are actually honouring ourselves, our democracy. It is an integral part of our democracy. People sometimes think because the media and journalists don’t always agree with the Government, it doesn’t mean that they are not absolutely critically important to our democracy. Just like the judiciary, the agencies, security agencies, and the Defence Forces that defend it. It is a very complex beast. We have one of the most remarkable societies in the world. One of the oldest democracies, and there are a lot of parts to it. It is complex. But right at the very heart of our freedom is a free and courageous press.
DAVID SPEERS: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull thanks for talking to us.
PRIME MINISTER: Great David thank you.