FIONA SCOTT: Well good morning it’s wonderful to be here at the Western Sydney University at the launch pad facility here in at Sydney IQ in Werrington. Werrington and Western Sydney is part of an innovation revolution that will create thousands of smart jobs for the people of Western Sydney. Too long have the people of Western Sydney had to commute in to the city for jobs. Now with the innovation and collaboration under wonderful leadership of the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and of course Christopher Pyne the Minister for Science Innovation we are going to see some breakthroughs. Of course innovation is not a new thing for the people of Western Sydney. Werrington here was once the home of Henry Parkes, Henry Parks a key innovator himself. Thank you so much for believing in the people of Western Sydney. Thank you so much for catching the train out here today.
PRIME MINISTER: I always catch the train. You told me once that no other Cabinet Minister always arrives on time other than me. It’s because I catch the train.
FIONA SCOTT: You’re going to get me in trouble here.
MINISTER PYNE: Yes thanks for that. I was the last to come here.
[Laughs]
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. Christopher and I are really pleased to be here with Fiona and with Arthur Sinodinos the Cabinet Secretary who has also been doing the rounds with us here. The work that is going on here, at the Western Sydney University, here at the launch pad is absolutely critical to Australia’s future. To the future of Western Sydney but also to the future of Australia. If we are going to remain, as we must, a high wage generous social welfare net economy, a prosperous economy, then we have to be more competitive, more productive more innovative. You have to be more creative and that's a wonderful thing to be. That's why it's so exciting to be an Australian today. The opportunities, whether they are given by technology or by the enormous opportunities from a growing global economy, are all there. Our ability to take advantage of them is limited only by our own imagination. I know Australians, and particularly those here in Western Sydney, we've just been talking with as you've seen, are extremely imaginative and confident.
The Government has opened up big markets right across our region with these big trade deals, in Japan, Korea, China and now the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership deal. There are enormous opportunities and here in Werrington we're seeing them coming to life with new technologies, new ideas and lots of jobs in Western Sydney. So delighted to be here and I should acknowledge also the vice chancellor, the much-admired Barney Glover.
Over to you.
JOURNALIST: Should New Zealanders get special treatment under Australian immigration laws, especially those that have lived here most of their lives?
PRIME MINISTER: I understand this issue is a very live one in New Zealand. I will be travelling to New Zealand later today. That will be my first trip outside of Australia as Prime Minister and, appropriately, it's to our closest neighbour, to New Zealand. I look forward to discussing this issue with John Key. It is very important that we maintain our standards, our security and that is why we have a very long-standing practice. It isn't applied indiscriminately and is applied with discretion and consideration, but we do have a principle which is enshrined in statute, that people who have been convicted, foreigners who have been convicted of serious criminal offences, have the automatic revocation of their visa. Of course they can apply to have it reinstated in circumstances and the Minister has that discretion. But this is a very important principle and nonetheless, I look forward to discussing it with John Key who is a very, very good friend and I might say a very good role model for a new Australian Prime Minister.
JOURNALIST: You have spoken to Alan Jones, I understand, about the Queensland farmer committing suicide. Can you tell me what you think about that first of all?
PRIME MINISTER: I have corresponded with Alan about it. It's a tragedy, an absolute tragedy when somebody takes their own life out of desperation, out of desperate sadness. It is a very shocking personal tragedy. There are some very real issues that I know Alan Jones and others have been talking about and raising. I have heard them directly from farmers. I've spent a fair bit of time in different parts of rural and regional Australia, in different capacities, in my own personal capacity with someone with agricultural interests as the Environment Minister and Water Minister in years passed and of course as Communications Minister. I'm alert to those issues and we will address them.
There are some very big challenges in rural Australia at the moment in large part of course the shocking drought in many parts of the country, especially, as you know, in Western Queensland where I was quite recently.
JOURNALIST: You are Prime Minister now, so what do you intend to do about it?
PRIME MINISTER: Any person who takes their own life – it is a shocking tragedy. What Alan Jones has told me is that this gentleman took his own life out of desperation caused by his inability to come to terms with the consequences of coal seam gas exploration. They are very big issues there. I understand them. They are almost entirely within the jurisdiction of State Governments. It is very important to understand that the regulation of minerals exploration - not entirely but largely, very largely - is within the realm of State Governments. Alan drew that to my attention - this issue to my attention yesterday. I have read the material, I have responded to him. I'll be looking into it further but I really can't take it any further today.
JOURNALIST: Barack Obama has announced a halt to the withdrawal of US troops in Afghanistan. Is that going to change Australia's position there?
PRIME MINISTER: We will work very closely with the United States, we'll consider the decision they've taken. It recognises the reality of the security situation in the field and we'll obviously be consulting closely with our American allies on that. You should be aware that Julie Bishop, our Foreign Minister, and Marise Payne, the Defence Minister, have only very recently been consulting with their counterparts in Boston in the United States. I look forward to getting a personal face-to-face update from the Foreign Minister and the Defence Minister when they return.
JOURNALIST: Given you catch the train from Western Sydney will you commit to a rail line in the North West?
PRIME MINISTER: The plan is, as you know, for the Western Sydney Airport to be made rail-ready, there's no question about that. That's certainly in the plan. The question is - and this is obviously an issue in large part, again for the State Government, but it's something we'll work closely with them on, as to when that rail line should be built. The good connectivity is absolutely critical in cities. Good electronic connectivity is critical and you would note the NBN has announced its three-year roll-out plan today. We now have 620,000 premises connecting, actively connected paying customers to the NBN, and 1.36 million customers able to get a service. That project, which was so catastrophically mismanaged under Labor is now cranking up and into gear and moving ahead. That's important but, as you said, rail, physical connectivity is important too. It is important we can move around, move from place to place, be able to meet our friends, go to work and so forth. I think in the longer term there is no question that if the Western Sydney Airport is to be successful, as it must be, it will need good road and rail connections to the rest of the city.
JOURNALIST: Will you push the State Government to build at the time the airport's ready then?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not going to be pushing Mike Baird around. He's a good colleague and we will have a very good constructive engagement on this. It's got to be a work of collaboration. I can tell you that Mike and I have very similar views on these issues of urban development.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what do you think about control orders on children as young as 12?
PRIME MINISTER: Can I say we have very serious challenges with young people being radicalised. We've seen just a little while ago, not very - in very recent days, the murder of Curtis Cheng in a terrorist killing by a 15-year-old boy. We have to respond to the evolving threat in an agile manner. I can assure you that the Federal Government, working with the States and its Territories, will respond to every element of this threat - will responds to every level of the threat as it evolves. As you saw from the conference of the various officials yesterday in Canberra that I opened, we are determined to ensure our measures work. We recognise that we will have to try new approaches, obviously in the world of the internet. We recognise that we will have to be very forceful and firm in our law enforcement activities. We also have to support families and communities. The Muslim community in particular is our absolutely necessary partner in the fight against violent extremism so it is a very complex threat and we are focused on winning. Everything we do will be with one aim in sight and that is to ensure that Australia, its citizens, our communities, all of those who live with us here in Australia are safe. Protecting the safety of the Australian people is our most important responsibility. We will be constantly vigilant to ensure that we take every approach, every angle, to ensure we achieve that.
Thank you very much.
JOURNALIST: Tell us about today, are you announcing anything?
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. We are here today, as you will see, for an innovation round-table. We have gathered together a substantial number of people, I think about 20 people, men and women, who are involved in innovative technology, who are involved in financing for technology companies and in innovation across the board. We'll be joined by the Assistant Minister for Science, Karen Andrews, and the Assistant Minister for Innovation, Wyatt Roy. This is part of our overall engagement with the innovation community. Christopher is the Minister for Innovation, he's working up a new policy agenda in that area and perhaps, Christopher, you might want to talk about that.
MINISTER PYNE: Thank you. We're here because the PM thought it was a good idea to call together some of the best people in Australia. Google is represented, other businesses, people who actually are putting their own risk into their businesses to make a better country more productive country, and as the new Minister for Innovation, I'm obviously here to hear what they have to say. A couple of weeks ago, we had the national summit about the economy drawing groups of people like the ACTU and so forth. This is a similar kind of approach. The Government wants to listen, not just assume it knows every answer before everybody else does and draw as many people into this great crusade around innovation as possible. For the future of the Australian economy we'll always have the bedrock of agriculture and mining and manufacturing but innovation, creative industries, start-ups, new technology, these are the new economy and Australia has the intellectual capacity to make the most of that. As the new Minister, towards the end of the year we'll announce an agenda around innovation and science which I think will unleash those ideas, commercialise those ideas and enable people to feel they can take risk.
Thanks very much. Thank you.
Ends