Prime Minister
NICOLLE FLINT, MEMBER FOR BOOTHBY: I’m Nicolle Flint, the Member for Boothby, and I’m really excited to have some very special guests here with me this morning. The Prime Minister of Australia, the Honourable Scott Morrison, Premier of South Australia Steven Marshall, Lord Mayor of the City of Adelaide Sandy Verschoor and my federal colleagues, Minister Alan Tudge, Minister Karen Andrews, and my candidate colleagues, Georgina Downer, Shaun Osborn, state colleagues, friends. We’re here at Urrbrae Agricultural High School for a couple of reasons. We’re talking about the incredible investment that the Marshall and Morrison Liberal Governments are making in science, in innovation and jobs for the future. We had a great announcement on the Space Agency yesterday and we’re also talking about how we are busting congestion for South Australians. We have 60,000 motorists going through the Fullarton Road cross road intersection every single day. We are busting congestion for over 60,000 motorists. This is great for my community, it’s one of the biggest issues people raise with me, is getting stuck in traffic, having trouble getting to work, getting their kids to school. But I’m also delighted that under the Morrison and Marshall Liberal Governments, South Australia is taking off. We are growing jobs, we are investing in science, we are investing in innovation, we are investing in our incredible arts community in South Australia and I’m going to hand over to the Premier to talk more about this very exciting announcement today. Premier.
THE HON STEVEN MARSHALL MP, PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Thank you very much, thank you Nicolle. I just can’t wipe the smile off my face here in South Australia. It’s another very positive day for our state. We’re extraordinarily excited. This is a great City Deal, it will transform Adelaide, it will transform our state. And I think it demonstrates to everybody what a grown-up relationship with Canberra can actually deliver for our state. We’ve stopped to fake fights, and in fact what we’ve done is to sit down and work collaboratively on our ambition, our opportunity, for South Australia and we’ve developed a fantastic City Deal. A real partnership between the local government, the state government and the federal government coming together for a project which will really create great economic activity, increase visitation, increase international students and of course, as Nicolle says, bust some of the congestion on our roads. It’s a great deal, we’re very grateful to the Morrison Government for their support, we’re very grateful to the Adelaide City Council for their support. This is a great deal for our state. And now I’d like to introduce the Lord Mayor of Adelaide, Sandy Verschoor, elected in November last year. She has been working furiously with us at the state government, with Alan Tudge, the Federal Minister and the Prime Minister to deliver this deal for the people of Adelaide. But more broadly, the people of our state. Sandy.
SANDY VERSCHOOR, LORD MAYOR OF ADELAIDE: Thank you Premier and thank you Prime Minister. It is really significant when three tiers of government work together to deliver for our city and for our state. And for the city, the impacts of the investment in Lot Fourteen are going to be seen and felt right across the CBD and out to metropolitan Adelaide. The City of Adelaide is also pleased to be investing in the smart technology and the infrastructure that we need so that there is… so that the work that comes out of Lot Fourteen can also actually find a way into the city as it grows and actually we’ve got all of those things in terms of CCTV and smart lighting and ten gig fast internet connections for all of the businesses in that corridor.
THE HON STEVEN MARSHALL MP, PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Well said. And now the Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Steven, thank you Sandy, thank you Nicolle. And to my colleagues who are here, there is quite a collection of us here today because what’s happening here today I think is very exciting for the future of Adelaide. We’ve just been meeting with students, young students here at this amazing agricultural high school. It’s been here since the 1930’s, when it was established there was a vision attached to that and that vision is being realised here for all of those years since and that vision is being kept alive here today by what we’re here to announce.
The vast majority of Australians live in cities all around the country and the quality of life they enjoy living in those cities depends on how we manage the growth of those cities and population in those cities. This is a city that has tremendous growth ahead of it, tremendous opportunities, and that’s being realised by Steven Marshall as Premier with his exciting plans and working together with the Lord Mayor to see those plans realised here. I mean, the turnaround we’ve seen in South Australia in the past year, Premier, is tremendously exciting. Another turnaround state under a Liberal government. We’ve seen it in Tasmania, we’re seeing it here in South Australia and we’ve certainly seen it in my home state of New South Wales under the Berejiklian Government and the Liberal government there.
And so today’s announcement is all about our commitment to making our cities liveable. To ensuring that our cities have the opportunities for those who live in those cities. And the big challenge we have to manage is how we manage population growth. That’s what it’s about - people stuck in traffic jams, ensuring there are jobs into the future, ensuring there is the skills that are being developed and the opportunities that are being realised. And the City Deal we’ve announced here and signed today in Adelaide, a $551 million deal, is about investing in the cultural life in this city. In the arts precinct, recognising the tremendous living indigenous culture that is so alive and is so celebrated here in South Australia. But it’s about science, and Karen Andrews is with me here today and she has been as excited as I have to be talking to those young women who are engaged in science and see their future in science. The space agency that we were here for lift off with the Premier not that long ago and the investments we’re making in that science and that Space Centre here. The investment in the innovation hub, all of this bringing together a beating heart of this city which is not just about culture, but it’s about science and the future and it’s about jobs.
But it’s also why we’re standing here at this intersection. An intersection which keeps mums and dads and tradies and others away from the places they need to be sooner and safer. And so we’re investing $61 million here into this intersection just behind us at Fullarton Road with the widening of that road. These are the practical things you have to do to make our cities liveable. These are the practical projects which are identified by our great local members on the ground and I want to commend Nicolle Flint for the great work she has done working with Alan Tudge to ensure we’re getting the projects right. This is part of a billion dollar congestion busting fund that I announced in last year’s Budget and we’ve been rolling these projects out all around the country. So when you think about this intersection here of Cook and Fullarton Roads and you think about why have the Marshall and Morrison Governments come together to address that particular project and even talk about it on a day like today as part of a much bigger deal? It's because the simple projects like this are the things that make the big difference to people's daily lives. So you can get home sooner to spend time with your families, so you can get on site because you don't get paid as a tradie to sit in a traffic jam. These are the things that make a practical difference.
So yes, it's a very big deal at $551 million. But it's also I think a very practical deal because it goes right down in the detail of the things that we know can slow South Australians down. Under Premier Marshall, he's speeding things up for South Australians. They want to see more people here in South Australia and particularly in the city of Adelaide and see their dreams realised. And so he's leading that charge and we are backing South Australians in for a very bright and exciting future. I’m going to throw to Alan now, Tudge, who's going to talk a bit more about the componentry of this deal and then I'm going to ask Karen Andrews as Minister for Industry and Science to talk a bit about the implications there nationally. Thank you Alan and congratulations.
THE HON ALAN TUDGE MP, MINISTER FOR CITIES, URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE AND POPULATION: Thank you Prime Minister, Premier, colleagues. This is a landmark deal for the next decade and beyond that really will transform Adelaide. Now, as the Prime Minister and the Premier have said, this is a $551 million deal. It consists of a number of components and I want to take you through that, particularly where the federal money is going. But let me say that this is the seventh city deal that we have negotiated now. And frankly there is no better deal that we have negotiated. There's nine - there's two more which are underway - we've just announced a South East Queensland one just last week and we will be negotiating one for that as well.
But each deal has its own special themes and in relation to the Adelaide City Deal, there's really three themes which are captured. First is creating jobs through innovation. And that's largely led by the Premier in Lot Fourteen and we're contributing more to that as well of course. Now, in that we're contributing to a new innovation hub. We're contributing to other elements down there as well at Lot Fourteen. I'd also point out though that it's important that it's an inclusive growth there too, and so I've got $3 million set there for an indigenous business hub so that Aboriginal people can capture the opportunities which will be created just as well as anybody else can.
The second major theme is population planning and growth. And again there's a number of components to that. We're considering what's called a Designated Area Migration Agreement which would basically be a boutique arrangement to support the population growth here. We've also got an entrepreneurs visa, which is a special visa just for South Australia. That's underway, we've got our first applicants already in. And we're also, as the as the Premier and the Lord Mayor have committed to as well, is reviewing and outlining a planning system for the next 20 years and beyond, both planning for greater densification in strategic areas but also for transportation over the next 20 years. That's the second theme.
And then the third theme is boosting the cultural economy. Now, everyone around Australia knows that Adelaide is one of the culturally great cities in Australia and this Deal will make it even better. The signature elements of that is the new indigenous arts and the new indigenous gallery and culture centre. Now, it will become a world renowned Aboriginal art gallery based right here in Adelaide opposite the Botanical Gardens. But we've also got a number of other elements which are included in this package as well, and Nicolle Flint has really spearheaded those particular elements to ensure that we continue to make this a great destination for tourists. Because when tourists come here, they bring money and that means more jobs for everybody. So it's a tremendous deal for South Australia. I'd like to thank the Premier. I'd like to thank Nicolle Flint and I'd like to thank Sandy Verschoor for negotiating this particular Deal which I think is a very good one.
I'll just finally just finish in terms of what we're announcing specifically on congestion busting as well. The Prime Minister mentioned that we've got a billion dollar Urban Congestion Fund which we are rolling out across the nation. We have allocated $97 million of that Fund to Adelaide for three particular projects. The first project we announced just a week ago, the Premier and I did. The second and third projects we are announcing today, one of which is directly behind us with the Fullarton Road intersection just right here. Now, I think everyone across Adelaide knows the type of congestion that intersection brings. And this funding, $49 million, half federal, half state, will fix that bottleneck for 60,000 people who use it every single day. We've also got a further project which is the widening of the Portrush Road on the approach to Magill road and there's $49 million which is going in to that as well. Again, 50/50 split and that supports of course the other third project being the Springbank Road project which we announced just the other day.
So we're busting congestion, we're planning for growth, we're supporting new industries such as the Space Centre, and we're boosting tourism into this great country, into this great city and I would like to thank again the Premier, the Lord Mayor and the other mayors which have been involved in this and just say this is a great day for Adelaide and a great day for the country.
THE HON KAREN ANDREWS MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Thank you. This morning at Urrbrae Agricultural College we had the opportunity to meet with some of the amazing students who are studying agriculture but are immersed in science, technology, engineering and maths. And it's very clear from talking to them that they understand the importance of those subjects for their own future. So whilst they're clearly focused on ag, they understand science and tech in particular and the importance that it is to agriculture. We were talking about drones and the impact on agriculture. That's all part of the tech space but it's where tech and agriculture merge together. We talked about their hopes for the future, we met some budding vet scientists, we met some just amazing students and interestingly here at this College we have about 50 per cent girls and boys studying the STEM subjects which is outstanding and I am pretty sure is leading the way for Australia. So science, technology, engineering and maths are essential to our future because we know that 75 per cent of the jobs of the future will require those skills. So here at Urrbrae, they're making a great start on the future of their students by ensuring that those subjects are available and that they're nurturing and growing those students. And of course, agriculture is a real growth opportunity for Australia to lead the world and continue on that pathway in developing jobs, but in developing technology and innovation.
And of course it is not possible to come to South Australia and not talk about space. So space in Australia is currently worth about $3.9 billion to our economy and employs about 10,000 people. In the next 10 to 11 years, the Federal Government is intending to grow the space industry in Australia to $12 billion with an additional 20,000 people working in that sector. And of course here in South Australia this is where the Australian Space Agency is going to be headquartered at Lot Fourteen, the innovation headquarters right here in in Adelaide. Space Agency is already on its way here to South Australia. We've made some announcements about how we're going to expand the presence of space here in South Australia, working with the South Australian Government. But I think it's important to realise that there has already been a significant commitment of dollars into space by the Federal Government and I'm talking in the order of about $300 million for space. So we have committed to look at ways to improve our locational accuracy currently in Australia. Our accuracy for location is about five to ten metres. The Commonwealth is funding research to make sure that we bring that down firstly to a ten centimetre accuracy and then in metropolitan areas to bring that accuracy down to a three centimetre location. That is so important as we move towards autonomous vehicles because we need that accuracy as close as we possibly can. We're also looking at Earth observation and that's going to be so important to agriculture as well so that we can see where the rivers are, where the water is, where the best lands are going to be that we can future develop our agricultural base here in Australia. All of that is happening with space and it's so wonderful to see such a strong commitment from the Federal Government being supported by the South Australian Government here. And I know that if we keep working together, if we develop space, if we develop innovation and we've got that headquartered at Lot Fourteen, we will continue to grow and develop our space sector, provide more jobs for the future while inspiring our kids to look towards the stars and to aim high.
PRIME MINISTER: Well thank you Karen. Very exciting things happening. I want to thank again the Premier and the Lord Mayor for working together on delivering this deal today. This is what happens when state and local and Commonwealth governments work together. That has been the real, I think, transformation that's been taking place here in South Australia, we've seen it in other places. I'm happy to work with every Premier and mayor in the country to get things done and we're certainly getting things done with this great team here in South Australia. Happy to take questions. Let's focus on the City Deal first and happy to take other questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, is it any coincidence the congestion busting at this exact spot directly benefits Boothby, Mayo and Sturt, Boothby particularly?
PRIME MINISTER: Well as Alan just said, fixing this intersection improves the lives of many, many people from right across Adelaide. This is one of the hub points. I mean, there are 60,000 vehicles that go across this every day. So this is an important congestion busting project for Adelaide and this is why we've selected this project. It's come from the direct engagement that great local members like Nicolle Flint have had with their communities. So we're about responding to the needs of the community and that's what this investment is doing. It's going to benefit people right across Adelaide and I think that's a great thing.
THE HON ALAN TUDGE MP, MINISTER FOR CITIES, URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE AND POPULATION: Can I add, Prime Minister, it's a bit like the largest single commitment here in South Australia is of course the North-South Road. That’s actually $3 billion which cuts right across South Australia, right across Adelaide, so it benefits absolutely everybody. And these small congestion busting projects compliment those major infrastructure projects.
JOURNALIST: Well the point that I'm making - I reckon in the last week I've seen more of Nicolle Flint than I've seen in my own wife.
PRIME MINISTER: That's because she's such a hard working member doing such a great job.
JOURNALIST: But it just seems to be you’re trying to shore up Boothby at all costs.
PRIME MINISTER: What I'm doing is I’m responding to the needs of people who live in Adelaide, and that's what Nicolle is doing and I make no excuse for that. We are out here to make it very clear that a re-elected Morrison Government will continue to deliver for people right across South Australia, working closely with the Marshall Government. That's what's on offer. And if you don't have Nicolle Flint as the Member for Boothby, then you won't have a government that's focused on South Australia at a federal level. You won't have a government that is lowering taxes for South Australians, so they can not only earn more and keep more of what they earn. You won't have a government, if Nicolle Flint is not re-elected in Boothby, you won't have a government that is going to protect retirees. You'll have a Labor government that is going to steal the money from thousands of retirees by taking away their franked dividend credits. So yes, it is very important that Nicolle Flint is re-elected in Boothby, because that is essential to ensure that our government can continue to deliver the strong economic management that millions of Australians rely on and, importantly, they rely on so we can fund the essential services, whether it's health here in South Australia, or schools, all at record funding levels coming out of the Commonwealth Government. Over 2,000 medicines now listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. That doesn't happen by accident. It happens as a result of good economic management and Nicolle Flint, as the Member for Boothby, is critical to us being re-elected to ensure that we can deliver for South Australia. So make no mistake, Nicolle Flint is critical to the government's re-election and that's why I'm here today to ensure that we're delivering on the needs of South Australians and particularly those who live in the city of Adelaide.
JOURNALIST: Exactly how will you deliver regulation of social media?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I've written... are there any other questions on the City Deal? I'm happy to talk about all of those other issues today.
JOURNALIST: Just quickly on the DAMAs, how important is it for the DAMAs to go through for South Australia, the specific ones? Because this whole deal is about getting skilled workers. Is it fair to say that the DAMAs just have to happen?
PRIME MINISTER: The DAMAs are a very important part of population management in Australia. There are cities like Adelaide and states like Adelaide, as the Premier constantly reminds me, that are very happy and keen to see greater growth here in South Australia. There are other states like in New South Wales and Victoria, and South East Queensland, where the population growth has been impacting on the quality of life of the people who live in those cities. So it's about the composition of your migration program and how that's structured and ensuring that you're taking the opportunities where there needs to be more population growth and easing the pressures in the places where the population growth is causing negative impacts. So that's what a good population growth strategy does. That's why Alan Tudge, together with myself and David Coleman, have been working together to deliver a population growth management strategy that brings all these things together. See, managing population growth is not just about the migration intake. It's about the destination migration agreements. It's about infrastructure and congestion-busting. It's about city deals that provide for the quality of life of people who live in our urban centres all around the country. It's about all of these things. That's how you manage the impact of population growth, both in terms of the benefits it brings and the strains it puts on infrastructure and that's what our government is delivering.
JOURNALIST: Given the sensitivity of immigration, I guess, across the Tasman at the moment, is now the right time to be talking about limiting population... immigration, I should say?
PRIME MINISTER: It's always the right time to be addressing the issues and needs that the Australian public are concerned about and want addressed. As I said yesterday, this debate about population growth and migration has nothing to do with those other issues that have been the subject of recent focus. We must separate these things. Managing population growth is a practical challenge for governments, that's what it is. It shouldn't be hijacked by other debates about race or about tolerance or these other issues. We've seen what happens when these important practical debates are hijacked by these other extremist views, which occur from both the right and from the left. I'm determined to not see the serious population growth management issues taken off course, to be hijacked by those who want to push other agendas. I have no purchase in those agendas, I have no truck with those agendas and I denounce them absolutely.
What I'm focused on, what the Premier is focused on and I'm sure what the Lord Mayor is focused on, is ensuring we have liveable cities and that we have good population growth management strategies. That means you have to balance all of these various components, whether it's migration intakes, migration composition, how it is spread across states and territories, the infrastructure you invest in, the city and regional deals you're able to strike.
These are the things that I think focus on the needs of Australians and I think it's important that we address them and we reject absolutely any effort to try and recast those important practical issues for Australians, in the context of other matters, which only seek to divide.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] 160,000 will be that new migration level?
PRIME MINISTER: When I'm in a position to announce what our migration cap will be, I'll do it.
JOURNALIST: What about social media, exactly how can you regulate it?
PRIME MINISTER: I've written to Prime Minister Abe, who is the President of G20 this year. There will be a leaders' summit in Osaka later this year and what I've asked the Prime Minister to do - and I've been in touch through diplomatic relations through a number of other G20 countries, is to get this on the agenda for leaders. Australia can take action in this area and we're looking at some practical proposals in this area right now. But for those actions to have greater impact on social media companies and the technology companies, it has to be done in concert with other big economies around the world.
These social media companies have built this technology, they've created these capabilities. In the overwhelming majority of cases, they're available for peaceful and happy purposes, but we do know that they can be used and weaponised by terrorists of any description.
If you can write an algorithm to make sure that the ads they want you to see can appear on your mobile phone, then I'm quite confident they can write an algorithm to screen out hate content on social media platforms. So we have to work with them. The G20 has worked together to make sure these big companies pay their taxes, I'm sure we can work together to make sure they protect our citizens, by ensuring that their tools that they have developed are not used by terrorists as weapons to advance their agendas of hate.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, there's been a report and I assume it to be correct, of a New Zealand-style copycat massacre emanating on social media in Geelong. Are you aware of it and what sort of view would you take, whether it's a prank or hopefully…
PRIME MINISTER: I haven't seen reports of that, so I'm not in a position to comment.
JOURNALIST: That person called himself…
PRIME MINISTER: Again, I haven't seen reports of it so I'm not going to make any comments on something I've not been briefed on and has not been reported to me.
JOURNALIST: Are you worried about copycats, though?
PRIME MINISTER: What I said on the weekend and what I said on Friday is that the Australian Government has stood up all its capabilities around the country, including in partnerships with state and territory governments, whether it’s here in South Australia, New South Wales or Victoria and other places, to ensure Australians are kept safe. One of the initiatives I announced yesterday was our $55 million grants program to ensure that places of worship, places of religious assembly, religious schools, can have in place the security that they need to keep the members of their faith communities safe.
So the government is working with states and territories all around the country and in our own right, to keep Australians safe. We're very aware of what the risks are. We're very aware of what the threats are. These are not new threats. They've been around a long time and our agencies and the work that they have done have put us in a very strong position to be able to take the best action we can. There are no guarantees in this area, but I can assure you that it has the full and complete attention of all governments, not just the Commonwealth Government.
JOURNALIST: What is your general view on Australians who commit crimes overseas? Should they be allowed to serve their jail time in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it all depends on the relationship between the two countries and the legal issues. Now, in the case of the terrorist in New Zealand, he will be prosecuted under New Zealand law and he will serve his sentence in New Zealand. That is what we understand to be the case and the New Zealand authorities are leading that prosecution and we are assisting both with that investigation. So that is how that issue will be addressed.
JOURNALIST: Will you also preference One Nation last, as Labor has said it will do?
PRIME MINISTER: There will be no preference deals with One Nation.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, are you disappointed that your Party’s Women’s Council hasn’t come out and publically backed the female candidate in this weekend’s Sturt preselection battle?
PRIME MINISTER: What I know is that since I became Prime Minister, half the candidates that have been selected across the country in my political movement, have been women. Half the Senate tickets that are being led by our movement, the Liberal Party in partnership, the Coalition, are led by women and Anne Ruston is here, leading our charge here in South Australia. There are now seven women who serve in my Cabinet, which is the largest number of women ever to serve in a Cabinet and Karen Andrews is here with me today. That's how I've started as a leader and that's how I intend to continue.
JOURNALIST: But can we speak specifically about Sturt?
PRIME MINISTER: I think I've covered that. The pre-selectors will make their own decision on the weekend and that's how it should be in any political movement.
JOURNALIST: But is it not your Party's Women's Council role to speak up for women?
PRIME MINISTER: That's an organisational matter, I'm happy to leave it to them.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will meeting your emissions target have an impact on the economy, jobs and wages?
PRIME MINISTER: I set out several weeks ago how our Government is going to meet its 2030 emissions reduction target of 26 per cent. I took the country through, tonne by tonne, how we're going to meet that target, from our Climate Solutions Fund, our investments in Snowy Hydro 2.0, our energy efficiency measures, our investment in the interconnector between Tasmania and Victoria which will enable more clean hydro power to make its way onto the mainland and indeed potentially through the grid and the system, even to South Australia. I've set that out. I made it very clear that under our Government, we turned around by 1.1 billion tonnes, 1.1 billion tonnes of carbon abatement deficit that we had under Labor. We've turned that around and we will now overachieve on our Kyoto targets by about 369 million tonnes.
So we've overachieved in meeting our emissions reduction targets and I've said we are going to carry over that success in meeting our 2030 targets. I've said that we will not be using taxpayers' money to buy foreign carbon credits from the carbon traders wherever they are around the world. That's not how we're meeting our emissions reductions target. We're doing it by taking action on emissions reductions right here in Australia.
Now, Bill Shorten today cannot tell you - in fact he refuses to tell you - will he use the carry over credits? Will he buy, using taxpayers' money, foreign carbon credits to meet his 45 per cent emissions reduction target? Now, I can tell you telling on the BAE economics work that has been released today, that on his target, already, if he were to carry over the credits under his current target of 45 per cent, that would lift wholesale electricity prices in this country by around 56 per cent. If he doesn't carry over the carbon credits, that figure is north of 90 per cent. So it’s very important. I’ve levelled with the Australian people about what our commitment is and about how we're going to meet it.
Bill Shorten refuses to tell Australians what the cost of his reckless emissions targets will be on the agricultural sector, on power prices, on jobs, on wages. That same economics report shows that even in the best-case scenario under Labor's plan, it will cost wages $9,000 a year. So Bill Shorten needs to come clean on what the cost of his reckless emissions reduction targets are. We have sensible targets. We have plans to meet those targets, that don't cost our economy, that enable our economy to continue to grow and for jobs to be created. Bill Shorten has a plan to put up the cost of living on the basis of a reckless emissions target that he can't even tell you how he'll meet.
But it's been great to be here with the Premier and Lord Mayor and my colleagues today. It is a very exciting day for the city of Adelaide. It's another chapter in our book that we're writing as to how we're managing population growth in this country. It's a key part of our set of policies to address that very important issue and right here in Adelaide, it's about supporting the growth and building for that growth and building the jobs of the future, so those who come to this great city will be able to have the economic opportunities they seek.
Thank you all very much.