food safety; drought relief; Peter Dutton;
Prime Minister
KARL STEFANOVIC: Prime Minister, Scott Morrison joins us from Canberra. PM good morning to you.
PRIME MINISTER: G'day Karl.
STEFANOVIC: More cases overnight. This is a national crisis now, isn't it?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, it really is an issue we have to address nationally. Today in the Parliament, those new laws that I announced yesterday, they will be introduced this morning. No one is going home until they are passed. We’ve got bipartisan support for it so I appreciate that. But what’s important is the preventative nature of these laws. The other key factor is this “reckless” charge, this “recklessness” offence. It means that people who go in, you know, copycats and idiots that put things up online, they can be subject to this just the same. So there’s a clear warning; stay out of the grocery shops if you’re going in there to cause some mischief.
STEFANOVIC: Yep.
PRIME MINISTER: Get into the grocery shops if you’re going in to buy strawberries.
STEFANOVIC: The problem is, we don’t know how many of these instances are real, how many are fabricated, do we?
PRIME MINISTER: We don't but you would have heard the press conference yesterday from the Federal Police Commissioner. They’re saying they believe the majority of them are not the original offences, but they’re just copycats and people being idiots. So that’s reassuring but the Queensland Police are leading that investigation and they’re making progress, so I understand. But that’s for them to update you on that.
STEFANOVIC: Okay can you just allow me to drill down a little bit here. In relation to your law changes, how will, for example, you deal the kids who have admitted to pranks already in relation to this crisis? Given they’re juveniles?
PRIME MINISTER: Well they’re not mandatory sentencing laws. They provide up for to 10 years jail but obviously the authorities can use their judgment and discretion, particularly for children. With State and Territory laws there are already arrangements that exist for them.
What we’re talking about here just sets a very clear standard. A clear and unambiguous message, which is what we’re doing. It’s my hope – and I believe it’ll be the Parliament’s hope – that will actually get people to check themselves. People who think it is a lark, should wake up to themselves. It’s not, it’s very serious and I am taking it very seriously.
STEFANOVIC: I like the idea of it, but my question is, a juvenile out there is not going to do any time. I mean therefore, how do you stop them from doing it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well not necessarily. These are things that will be worked through by the State and Territory jurisdictions and federally where it applies to our officials, our officers. So we’re providing this power, but like all of these things, they will be used as the law enforcement agencies think is best.
STEFANOVIC: Are these new laws to deal with this crisis retrospective?
PRIME MINISTER: No, they’re not retrospective. I mean you don’t do that with criminal laws -
STEFANOVIC: So just, sorry, if, given someone is charged with fabricating or copycatting during or in relation to this crisis, they won’t be charged under the new laws? They’re not retrospective?
PRIME MINISTER: This is why I’m getting this passed through the Parliament today. That’s why we’re not mucking around. That’s why it’s so important that these laws pass today and particularly the ones dealing with preventing further copycat acts and things like that. That’s why the hall is booked for today at Parliament.
STEFANOVIC: Yep.
PRIME MINISTER: I want them to vote on it before they go home.
STEFANOVIC: It’s a step in the right direction, well done on that. Now, a Senate inquiry delivered it’s finding on Peter Dutton last night. He’s a liability now for your Government, isn’t he?
PRIME MINISTER: No, a Senate inquiry made up of Labor and Greens passed a motion saying they don’t like Peter Dutton. They could have passed a motion saying the sun didn’t come up this morning, but it won’t make it any more true.
STEFANOVIC: That makes a mockery of Senate inquiries, doesn’t it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I’ll let others judge about that, but the Labor Party and the Greens are just using their numbers to try and play politics. So I’m not going to get distracted by it, it’s just politics in Canberra. I think people see through it.
STEFANOVIC: There will be a no confidence motion brought against him today. Do you have confidence in Peter Dutton?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course I do. The Labor Party is going on about stopping the au pairs. We’re about stopping boats, criminals and bikie gangs. That’s what we’ve been doing.
If the Labor Party thinks that the worst thing that can happen in Australia is an au pair will come and read someone a bedtime story. That tells you everything you need to know about their views on national security.
STEFANOVIC: So you as Prime Minister, support his use of discretion then?
PRIME MINISTER: Ministerial discretion has been part of the immigration system as long as the Migration Act has been around. I was an Immigration Minister. Those powers are important to give flexibility to deal with any number of very difficult cases which the laws can't cope with.
STEFANOVIC: Did you let any au pairs in?
PRIME MINISTER: I can't recall, but I exercised the intervention powers many, many times, because that’s what you’re required to do as your job. That’s your day job as an Immigration Minister, to use those intervention powers judiciously and appropriately.
STEFANOVIC: Ok in other news, for Aussie farmers this is good news, Woolworths is launching a drought-relief milk range. Now, you are opposed to a milk levy, quoted as saying, “Never solve a problem with a tax.” Are they wrong in helping out our farmers?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ve said that’s my preferred position that you don't do that. But look, I’m waiting for a proposal to come back. There are mixed views about this across the industry and the Agriculture Minister David Littleproud is working through that and he’ll bring back a recommendation. So I’m not going to prejudge that, I’ll wait for him to do his work.
But people should know, my disposition is I never like to solve a problem with a tax. But you know, on the Bank Levy I did just that, so there are exceptions to rules. I will do what I believe is in the national interest.
STEFANOVIC: You’re out at Royalla today, this drought relief is obviously a huge thing.
PRIME MINISTER: Yep.
STEFANOVIC: This is not going away, this going to be worse, far worse by Christmas.
PRIME MINISTER: That's true. We’re not expecting anything until about August next year. We’ve got to knuckle down here and what we’re announcing here today is getting rid of a stupid rule. These trucks, large trucks that carry the hay from one state to another, they’re about 2.5 metres on the base. As they travel along the hay spreads out. There was some ridiculous law which meant they had to stop at the border and pay a fine simply because the hay spread. So we’re getting rid of that stupid law today. That means they can keep on trucking.
[Laughter]
They get they can keep getting the hay to where it needs to get to.
STEFANOVIC: Good job on that too. Now this morning international students, we learned in 'The Telegraph', might be forced to study at regional universities when they enter the country. Boy, you’ve got a lot on your plate at the moment. Have you spoken to the big city universities about that? I mean they really like the colour of that foreign money.
PRIME MINISTER: Look, all I have said is that we’ve got to manage population growth. That means we have to take the pressures off cities like Sydney and Melbourne, but take the opportunities where they want them in rural and regional areas. That also means places like Adelaide, Cairns and Western Australia, all I’ve said is there are levers that you can pull and the Government is prepared to look at pulling those levers.
STEFANOVIC: Okay. Two quick ones, do you really have a trophy in your office saying: "I stopped the boats”?
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, no one in the Labor Party has one like that I can tell you, because they didn’t.
STEFANOVIC: Ok.
PRIME MINISTER: It was given to me by a mate down in the Shire who runs a sign business and he loved the fact that we did that so he gave me that many, many years ago. It has been sitting in my office by the way, I think for about five years. So I don’t think there’s anything terribly new about it.
STEFANOVIC: Ok just finally on much a lighter note, given the seriousness of this story, I do think it’s important; how long has it been since you had a strawberry?
PRIME MINISTER: I had one yesterday afternoon and I’m having breakfast with some this morning and Jen is making a pav, I’m making a curry this weekend. I encourage you, share your photos of your pavlovas this week, supporting our farmers.
STEFANOVIC: Oh, hang on, Prime Minister I have to call you on that.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah?
STEFANOVIC: You’re putting strawberries in a curry? I mean, that’s disgusting.
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER: No, no. But mate, I could make a strawberry chutney if you like, I’ll send you a jar.
STEFANOVIC: There you go. I look forward to it PM.
PRIME MINISTER: We’ll go into business.
STEFANOVIC: I think we’ll go out of business.
[Laughter]
Thank you PM, appreciate it, cheers.
PRIME MINISTER: Good on you mate, cheers.
[ENDS]