ANDREW COLVIN, COMMISSIONER OF THE AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE:
Good morning everybody and welcome to the AFP Majura facility and specifically to the AFP forensics and technical capability we have here in our forensics centre.
A particular welcome to the Prime Minister, I think had his third visit in a short while, so we thank you. Minister Dutton, thank you very much for coming back and Mr Taylor, Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Security, it’s great to welcome you here for the first time.
We’ve just had the opportunity to show the Prime Minister and Ministers some of the capability that we use in the battle that we have, to fight child exploitation both here in Australia but also internationally. Today’s announcement of the creation of the Centre for Counter Child Exploitation is a very welcome announcement, at a time where we are seeing this crime type grow and test the resources, skills and capabilities of police across Australia, but also internationally.
Prime Minister, this is a very welcome boost to Home Affairs, the capabilities that we have in the portfolio and particular to the AFP as well. So thank you very much and with that I’ll hand over to you.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks Andrew. The Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation is going to be supported with an addition $68.6 million out of the Budget. What this will do, is ensure that we do everything we can to keep our children safe.
There are disgusting, depraved people who are exploiting children online, accessing images online globally and within Australia. There is literally a global epidemic and we have to do everything within our power to keep our children safe. We work with agencies around the world and Andrew, I want to say that the work of Federal Police in uncovering child exploitation rings, not just in Australia, but internationally, is remarkable.
So, this is a solemn responsibility that we have and we are putting in the financial resources to enable this centre to be set up and you see here in Majura, some of the brightest forensic scientists in the world, right here working with the AFP.
These are the brains, these are the professionals that are going to be brought to bear on this centre, which will be located in Brisbane but obviously operate throughout the country, including from here in Majura.
So, we’re putting the best and the brightest in the front line in the fight to keep our children safe and put a stop to this global epidemic of child exploitation.
I’ll ask the Ministers to add to my remarks, but Andrew, we have no greater responsibility than keeping our children safe. Thank you for the outstanding work you and your officers do to protect them.
HON PETER DUTTON MP, MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS:
Prime Minister, thank you. Commissioner firstly, thank you to you and your staff for having us here this morning. Angus and I are particularly proud in this portfolio of the work across the whole Home Affairs portfolio, but the work that the AFP officers do here in collaboration with their state and Commonwealth territory partners in a very difficult crime type is to be admired.
I want to say thank you to all of the investigators who help families gain at least some peace of mind that their children are being protected from these sick people and depraved people that are hiding online. The $70 million investment is a significant step forward in the resources, in the investigators, in the capacity to reach out across not only state borders, but international borders as well, to work with our partners.
I think we can save hundreds of children as a result of this investment and we can do that because we have the world's best investigators, the world's best forensic investigators and people otherwise within the ACIC, within the state policing agencies that we work very closely with, to help keep Australian children safe.
I want to thank the Prime Minister very much for his personal interest and involvement in the development of this policy and the support through this budget process. It’s a significant investment. It is going to make a big difference in the lives of Australian children and for paedophiles and people online, people who are trafficking in children - a horrific crime but nonetheless a reality in the modern world - those people need to hear the message very clearly from the Australian Federal Police and from the Australian Government that we are hunting those people down and our desire is to keep as many children as possible safe from the hands of these predators.
PRIME MINISTER:
Angus as Cyber Security Minister, do you want to add to those observations?
HON ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CYBER SECURITY:
Thank you, Prime Minister. This is a very, very important announcement and I am pleased here to be part of it because at the end of the day, what we are seeing is an increasing level of sophistication in the way these heinous crimes are being committed.
They are more global, they are better organised and they are making more sophisticated use of technology than ever before.
That means we need to be more global, better organised and make more sophisticated use of technology than ever before and that’s exactly what we are doing with this investment.
We are working with our global partner law enforcement agencies, working right across Home Affairs, AUSTRAC, the ACIC, as well as the AFP and of course we’re making heavy use of technology and the best skills that we have to defeat these absolutely heinous crimes.
The message is simple. We are coming after you with the best technology, the best organisation we can. You cannot hide from us.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well said. I'll take some questions.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, 29 News Polls, it’s not good news. How are you feeling?
PRIME MINISTER:
Why are you smiling then if it is not good news? You are so pleased, I know why; because you are so happy about all of the jobs we have created. Because you are not distracted by polls. You know that we have created 420,700 jobs in Australia in the last year. You know that is the number we’re focused on. We’re focused on creating opportunities for Australians. We’re focused on getting taxes down. We’re seeking to reduce business taxes to allow Australian businesses to invest and compete and create even more great jobs that will make you smile even more. That’s what we’re doing. That’s our commitment. Yes, Andrew Probyn?
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister can I ask about the company taxes. You’re inching towards a deal in the Senate. How does the government ensure that the tax cuts aren't simply swallowed up by share buybacks, dividends that flow overseas and higher executive pay?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Andrew, the way it works is if you have a better return on investment, you get more investment into companies. If you get more investment, you get more jobs, you get more employment. That’s why company taxes have been coming down all around the world.
The rest of the world is not stupid. Company taxes are coming down. It’s the reason Paul Keating and Peter Costello brought down company tax in Australia years ago.
We used to be one of the lowest company tax countries in the OECD. Now we’re one of the highest. The US has gone to 21 per cent. Obviously, if you invest in the US, you’ll get a better return after tax. We’ve got to be competitive, so what we’re doing is enabling Australian companies to invest and employ and do their best.
JOURNALIST:
How much are you willing to horse trade on this, to get this through this week?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it’s a negotiation, isn't it? We respect every senator. We need nine of the senators, crossbench senators to vote for legislation if Labor and the Greens are opposing it. So we continue our very respectful negotiations. I think we have got time for one more before we have to get back. Yes, sir?
JOURNALIST:
Labor is about to exclude low income retirees from its plan to stop franking credits.
PRIME MINISTER:
This is real policy on the run from the Labor Party. That policy didn't last a week, is that right?
JOURNALIST:
How does this change your stance on the policy?
PRIME MINISTER:
People know that Labor is going to tax them much more, $200 billion over 10 years. It is a massive tax grab.
Pensioners know that Labor is coming after their income.
I was with a group of pensioners and self-funded retirees in Port Macquarie last week and they estimated - and I can tell you, their calculations on their retirement income were accurate down to the last cent - they know exactly what this Shorten tax grab is going to do to them. It’s going cost them 15 to 20 per cent of their income. Now, that is massive.
If you’re managing your retirement income on a low income, one older couple in their late 80s, it’s going to cost them $3,500 in net terms. How would they cover that? They were going to have to give up private health insurance.
Bill Shorten can duck and weave as much as he likes, Australians don't trust him with their money.
He is coming after pensioners.
He is coming after self-funded retirees.
This is not a tax grab at multi-millionaires, as he likes to say. He knows he's gone after older Australians, vulnerable Australians, people who have saved and are managing their affairs so that they don't have to take the pension, so that they can support themselves, they don't have to ask for help from their kids.
These are the stories we've all had, Peter and Angus and I have had this from our constituents as, indeed, I am sure Labor members have had too.
This is a shocking, cynical, grab for cash from people who should be respected and supported, not fleeced. Thank you all very much.
[ENDS]