PRIME MINISTER:
Welcome back to Canberra.
Like you, I’ve spent the summer talking to our fellow Australians about the issues that matter to them. Whether it’s in Toowoomba, Portland or Port Lincoln, Australians expect us to deliver the jobs and the great opportunities they expect for themselves, their families, their businesses and their children. Every element of the economic plan we are delivering and will continue to deliver this year, will do that.
Everything we stand for is about jobs, about investment, about opportunity and the security that makes it all possible.
Our opponents talk about jobs but they do not have one policy that will create one job.
They have investment-destroying higher taxes.
They have investment-destroying bigger deficits and greater debt.
More regulation, more expensive electricity.
We were in Portland at the smelter, a regional town depending on that business. What does that business need? It needs two critical elements for which we stand and Labor opposes; big export markets to sell what they produce and affordable electricity.
Bill Shorten is a threat to both - an Olympic champion of 457 visas. He talks about jobs, but every single part of his platform destroys jobs, discourages and disincentives the investment that makes it possible.
This year again, we return to our commitment to create the jobs and the opportunities for Australians - and all Australians - right across the nation.
We know that many of our fellow Australians, especially in regional areas, have been doing it tough.
I talked about Port Lincoln, huge blackout there, imagine what that has done for the fishing industry there.
Portland, with their smelter threatened with closure. Right around Australia, the adjustment from the mining construction boom alone caused a lot of hardship in the regions and yet we are there, creating the export opportunities, building the infrastructure, providing the investment, creating the jobs that enable all Australians to share in the great years ahead which our policies will deliver.
So a lot of work to do. We are onto it. We are committed to it for Australia.
[ENDS]