Prime Minister
QUESTION: Haven’t seen much of you recently.
PRIME MINISTER: I was here two weeks ago. And go down and have a chat to the people at the Stirling Pool still the pool where I do my laps when I'm here. They were happy to see me again when I was down there last night. This is a place I'm a regular visitor to and have been over 20 years. I always love being here. Well I can understand why Bill Shorten might want to come here and try and explain to people why he tried to work against us getting a fairer deal for GST for W.A. Perhaps he's just got a lot more to explain to people over here in the West. But when it comes to our government, I think Western Australians know exactly who we are and exactly what we're about. And when we make a promise we deliver on it.
QUESTION: Bob Menzies served as Prime Minister for six thousand, seven hundred and thirty-three days. Howard was four thousand, two hundred and eighty-two. Bob Hawke; three thousand two hundred and four and Malcolm Fraser; two thousand six hundred and seventy-five. Now if as many people think you call an election on May 11, and, if as many people think you could lose that, you will have been Prime Minister for two hundred and fifty-three days, which doesn't sound that great compared to Bob, Malcolm and John. But, compared to Earle Page; 19 days after the death of John Lyons, compared to Frank Forde, just a week after the death of John Curtin two hundred and fifty-three days sounds pretty good. The reason I thought I'd put this in context is because you've achieved quite a lot in two hundred and fifty-three days. So could you tell us what the highlight and also the lowlight has been of your Prime Ministership thus far?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I just sort of answered that question there. The most exciting thing I think for our government which I've been central to has been our job creation record. That's the thing that floats my boat. That's what excites us as a government, is when we can create those jobs. Of course, there are many other initiatives that we've lead, particularly over these last six months. The privilege of leading the National Apology to the victims of institutional child sexual abuse was I'd have to say the most difficult day, but also the most important day. Those are the moments where Australians are expecting their Prime Minister to properly convey the deep sense of hurt and grievance and empathy. And I found it an incredibly humbling day as I sat and listened over several weeks and longer than that before. And I often think about that day and the people that I met. See the great privilege of doing this job is how many people and how many Australians you get to meet in so many different circumstances. And you get a window and a connection to Australian life that probably not many others really get to see. You see its greatness. You see its beauty in its people and you also see the things you need to address. So I love doing this job. It's the great privilege of my life. And the best players, whether it's in AFL or anything, they don't care how many games they've played, they care about how they play the game each and every day. I was talking to Paul Gallen the other day - I know it's Rugby League, so just give me a break - But Paul Gallen played 328 games for my beloved Sharks on the weekend. That is the all time club record. And I sent Paul a message before the game just congratulating him. And he sent me a text back saying "Thanks mate, I just want the win today." And that's how I approach every single day. Just doing the job with Australians that I have the privilege to do for Australians and to seek their mandate at the next election to keep doing that job for them.
QUESTION: You were going through a pretty ordinary trot for a while there with Cabinet resignations and what not. You seem to have a bit of your mojo coming back here, just pay homage to Kerry which is always a good thing to do and you talked about the GST which ticks a box for us over here as well. I've got to say, a few months ago when we heard that you were coming over, we were billing this as a farewell tour. But now, we think maybe this guy could be in for a win. We're not sure exactly -
PRIME MINISTER: I'm glad you've come round.
[Laughter and applause]
QUESTION: When you're looking at the polls and are constantly saying 'it's not going to happen', how do you keep positive, how do you keep punching on?
PRIME MINISTER: I think of the West Coast Eagles.
[Laughter and applause].
PRIME MINISTER: I was there. The Collingwood supporters were pretty cocky after that first term, that first quarter. But the boys had a great plan to get themselves back into that game and they didn't get distracted. They just kept their head down and they kept going. I'm sure there are plenty of fans in the stadium, supporters indeed, 'ah, this is done'. They didn't believe that. And I'm the same, and my team is the same. We know what our job is. We know what's at stake here. I'm not kidding when I say you vote Labor, you pay for it for more than a decade. The economy you will live in, your kids will live in, the business that you run, that someone may want to start, the school fees you might want to pay. That's all going to be determined by the economy you live in, in the next decade. And the decision that Australians will make at this next election will determine that environment. And this is very important because people express a lot of opinions on politics. They are even known to write it in the newspaper from time to time. But opinions are interesting but votes change the course of a nation and when people go to vote, they're not expressing opinion. They are actually taking part in what is going to set the economic climate for the next decade. And I think Australians know, and here in Western Australia you are on the way back with your economy. You're on the way back. And I would say to you at this time, more than ever, you do not want to hand the economic wheel to someone in Bill Shorten who does not know how to drive.
QUESTION: The subject of leadership is one [indistinct] why we created this series Leader Matters and we've seen two examples of very different types of styles of leadership over the last month or so. First of all with New Zealand Prime Minister Ardern and then Turkish President Erdogan. How do you think Donald Trump would have reacted to a Turkish president threatening the lives of US citizens? You were tempered in your response.
PRIME MINISTER: I wouldn't have described my comments as tempered to be honest. I said that President Erdogan had failed on the promise made by Ataturk to the mothers of Anzacs. If that's tempered, well I must be quite a diplomat. I was furious about it and I'm pleased that the responses that have been made since that has reflected, I think, a respect for the Australian position.
So no, I would say that my response was incredibly strong and swift. And the result of that always has to be me thinking about the safety of Australians and ensuring that our interests are legitimately protected. See, we have a very good relationship with the Turkish people. And I think there is a bond between Australians and Turks that descend from that great conflict over a hundred years ago. And that's what I rely on. The bonds between the people. Of course, I rejected absolutely and condemned the comments that were made. But what I didn't do, is I didn't ascribe them to the Turkish people, or importantly, I did not ascribe them to Turkish Australians because I know because I spoke to Turkish leaders in Australia that morning and discussed this issue with them. And so my remarks were designed to do what a responsible Prime Minister would do; express our very deep outrage about this but also ensure that we continue to get on with the job of protecting Australia's interests and the safety of Australians.
QUESTION: You've said safety of Australians quite a lot. You get the unvarnished reports about domestic security. How worried are you as a father of two?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, worried enough to ensure that I have a national security plan which keeps them safe. I would never put - I think about my kids and my wife a lot in this context. I want to keep them safe. And I extend that to every Australian. I'm not looking for some special deal for my family and something different for everyone else. Quite the contrary. And so that's why we've invested in our security agencies and our services. That's why our Defence Forces will get back to 2 percent of GDP years ahead of schedule. Last time I was here - I stress just a couple of weeks ago - when I was out at the SAS regiment and I was going through and looking at their capability of deployment and what they're able do, I was incredibly impressed with that. I mean that's what we're investing in. I just saw the new centre that we built out there and our investments in safety and security, though, aren't just about protecting our borders - and you know what Labor will do on that front - and it's not just about our Defence Forces.
Keeping Australians safe is about keeping Australians safe from domestic violence, keeping Australians safe is about keeping kids safe from sexual predators whether in the physical world or online. Keeping Australians safe is what I have been raising with the social media companies. And that's why I've raised that with Shinzo Abe, the Japanese Prime Minister and current president of the G20. These companies, if they create these platforms, they need to make them safe and not allow them to be weaponised by terrorists or other predators. And so right across the board, my plan is to keep Australians safe. To do that, you've got to keep the economy strong. Because if you don't have a strong economy, you can't do that. Countries with weak economies don't have strong defences. And that's why having a strong economy is so important. Countries with weak economies don't have strong health systems. Countries with weak economies don't have a PBS where you list 2000 pharmaceuticals which is what our government has done. And under the Labor Party when they were in government, they stopped listing affordable medicines because they couldn't manage their budget. A strong economy is the ticket to essential service. At this election, health’s your major issue? That's the case for many Australians - the way I'm guaranteeing those health services is because we know how to run a budget and we know how to run a strong economy. That's what guarantees health services, not pledges from platforms.
QUESTION: Prime Minister, I understand that I am not the most important ginger in your life moment because One Nation is causing all sorts of dramas and most of the questions that we have coming through on this iPad pertain to One Nation and how you are going to deal with them. First of all, you've said you were shocked at some of the revelations that we've had in regards to the NRA and with comment about Port Arthur. Do you think that preferencing One Nation under Labor is going to draw a line under this issue for you?
PRIME MINISTER: Well that's the decision that we've taken and I've announced this morning and the final decision on how preferences are allocated right across the ticket, you can only do once you know who all the nominations are. Sadly, there will be a lot of competition for who goes in the final last spot. There are a lot of extremist views on the left and on the right in Australian politics and we'll work through that once we know who all the nominations are.
But, what happened this week was shocking. It was deeply concerning as the party that actually introduced our strong gun laws. And I don't care if they were drinking scotch or not, who cares, that's not an excuse. Even flippantly if it were that, and I don't think it was, the idea of our gun laws being traded for political donations is abhorrent. Now, I waited to see what the response of the One Nation leadership would be to those events and I was very disappointed. I thought it was unsatisfactory and that's why we've taken the decision that we have.
QUESTION: There's probably going to be some people that say you should preference them last.
PRIME MINISTER: Well what if Fraser Anning's running? What if Reclaim Australia is running? What about all of them? I mean there's no shortage of candidates for going lost on our ticket, I can tell you. That's alright, Bill Shorten's going to put Fraser Anning above One Nation and he's going to put Reclaim Australia above One Nation. See this is the thing. You've got to think this stuff through. It's alright for Bill to get up there and give his grab on this sort of thing. But this is the same bloke who had a six day delay, not a six second if you go on 6PR, but a six day delay on actually calling out Michael Daley, the Labor New South Wales leader going to election for saying Asian migrants take your jobs.
Now the question I have is will Bill Shorten have called him out if Michael Daley had won the election? Why did he wait till the election was over? Can't get himself off WeChat today and yesterday. But this bloke took six days and an election and only a few weeks before he was getting up there and saying Michael Daley was the saviour to everybody in New South Wales. You've got to think this stuff through. When John Howard made the same decision that I've made today, he did it in a similar way. He didn't rush into it. He thought about it carefully. And the other thing I've done, as John did - One Nation is one thing, the people who vote for them are another. Any comments I make about the behaviour of One Nation, particularly in this past week, that does not in any way extend any commentary on those who voted One Nation or considered to vote for One Nation. They are Australians with real questions about real issues going on in their communities. And my appeal to them is these other parties, they're not going to answer those questions. They don't have the answer to those questions. They're not parties in government. They have no responsibility. They'll say what they think you want to hear, but they don't have any answers to water, they don't have any answers to managing population, they don't have any answers on national security. The Liberal National Parties, the Liberal Party here in Western Australia, have those answers. And so if you're looking to answer those questions, then we are the answer to those questions. Don't flirt with these minor parties. We've seen what it's done in the Senate. Senator Reynolds here, our newly minted cabinet minister from Western Australia, congratulations Linda. We've see what that's done in the Parliament. And it's put another 10 years on Mathias’ life in negotiating these arrangements through the Senate. Both Mathias and I once used to be very good looking guys. Dealing with those things is sort of had a pretty big impact on that. But, that's what the chaos of these other parties do. And so that's why One Nation will go below Labor.
QUESTION: We've got a couple of questions about tourism. We've got a tourism problem in this state at the moment in that no one's coming here anymore and you used to be the boss of Tourism Australia. And so someone's asked, what would you do to fix this problem?
PRIME MINISTER: Well it's not always a marketing problem. But these things can be relevant. When I was Managing Director of Tourism Australia I ensured that the eight Australian tourism exchanges came here twice. And why did I do that? Because the world is always looking for, or the world's tourism buyers, are always looking for new and amazing experiences and they're all here. I mean, there are a lot of known experiences around Australia and they're fantastic, and we've got a lot to sell. But I always thought Western Australia had quite an edge in terms of the types of experiences that are on offer here in WA. So I think it is relying very much on that freshness and that newness and that more exotic side of the tourism experience here in Western Australia. Of course the accommodation and so on, but there's been real improvements here on that in Western Australia. And so it is about getting your share of voice, it is actually about connecting with those customers all around the world. But I think you've always got to focus on the things that give you the edge in any business or anything like that. And I think WA's edge has always been these incredible, quite amazing, natural experiences that you literally don't get anywhere else in Australia let alone the rest of the world.
QUESTION: You were thrust into the Prime Ministership very very quickly and it obviously has a huge impact on your family life and I remember back in August when we were seeing you frantically working the phones with everyone trying to get the numbers up, I was thinking to myself, 'I hope one of these phone calls is to his wife'. And I had this image of you coming home and Jenny answering the door and say 'How was your day, love?' and you say 'Oh, yeah I went for a walk and had breakfast with Mathias, and became Prime Minister, and picked up some milk on the way home, and changed offices, et cetera et cetera.' How did you actually keep your family abreast of what was happening on that frantic day?
PRIME MINISTER: Well you're right. Things did happen very quickly and very late for me in that piece. Pretty much the last 24 hours or so, or thereabouts, but I did call Jenny and I said, 'You might want to pick the kids up from school and jump in the car and come down', and talked to her about what was happening. I've been blessed with my family in a way that it's hard for me to put into words. They are so incredibly supportive. But what I'm trying to teach my girls is you believe in things, then you put the effort in and you champion them. I was raised by my parents that life was not about what you accumulate but what you contribute. My parents served in their local church and their local community. My dad was a policeman. My mum and dad ran a thing called Boys Brigade and Girls Brigade for 45 years every Thursday and Friday night of a school night. For 45 years. So that's the model of community service and I was brought up to go 'you're here to make a contribution', and I'm trying to teach, with Jenny, my girls the same thing. But I'm so blessed with Jen because Jenn has continued to provide a nurturing environment for our family. Her focus is very much all there and they allow me to come home every now and then and spend some time which I love more than anything else. Going down the footy with my girls, with Lily and so on or whatever we might be doing, reading books with Abbey. Precious moments, you grab them, but I'm blessed to have a great family who supports what I do.
QUESTION: You got the numbers, and so there would have been that first night in The Lodge. You made it. You're the Prime Minister of Australia. The 30th Prime Minister. Did you look around a bit, go into every room? You've seen the film Love Actually, there's this scene with Hugh Grant as Prime Minister does a dance -
PRIME MINISTER: Someone's done a meme and put my head on it. You should check it out. My wife thought it was hilarious. You'd never see me dance like that, I can tell you.
QUESTION: It must be a bizarre situation when the reality hits, when you're looking at the view in Kirribilli or sitting in The Lodge.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah. For me it was more when I was at Kirribilli because I'd spent obviously a lot of time at The Lodge as Mathias does and all senior pollies do. So that was a fairly familiar environment for a Minister. It was more when, I suppose, we had to move our family from our beloved shire in southern Sydney, largely because of security reasons and practical reasons. I remember my youngest daughter said to me - and I explained that we had to move and she wasn't that flash about it because we had a small pool in our place, like a backyard pool – she goes “is there pool?”, “Well no, there's not, next door's got one”, which is the Governor General's place in Admiralty House. And she said, “well can you ring them and ask them if I can swim in their pool?” And I said okay. So I rang Lady Cosgrove and I said, “Lily wants to know if she can use the pool”. Now Lady Cosgrove grew up in Cronulla, so she has the Shire link, and she said 'of course, of course, of course'. So I told Lily and she said “that's all good, yep, we're good Dad, we'll move, we got a pool”. That was when John Howard - and for me John Howard has been just like when I was Treasurer with Peter Costello - they are the great role models for me in my political life. And Bruce Baird who was the former member in my electorate had been just a massive influence on my political life. And I always feel like when I'm at home in Kirribilli that I'm staying at John's house and I keep expecting him to walk out of a room somewhere and say 'Oi, what are you doing here?'
QUESTION: We sometimes do a thing at the end of these events where we ask a few quick questions of the person that's our guest. All we ask is you try and keep it brief and answer it, which is going to be counterintuitive for a politician. So I'm just asking if you're ready?
PRIME MINISTER: All good.
QUESTION: Name three nice things about Bill Shorten.
PRIME MINISTER: Chloe Shorten. She's lovely. We share a commitment to at least what we believe in, I suppose. Otherwise, you wouldn't go into public life and as a fellow parliamentarian, there is respect for other parliamentarians. I've put it in those terms and don't worry, I wasn't getting too generous there. And thirdly, he's a mad Collingwood fan. I'm not. But anyone who likes going to a game, I think good for them.
QUESTION: Who's your favourite Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: John Howard.
QUESTION: Who's the most under-appreciated Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: That's a good question. I would say Joe Lyons.
QUESTION: Biggest foreign policy challenge for Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Managing our independence and our national interests within the competing demands of the great powers of the world today, in our region.
QUESTION: Have you ever Googled yourself? I wouldn't if I were you. Some people -.
PRIME MINISTER: You know, it's an occupational hazard. Otherwise, you walk into an FM radio interview and they will say, 'we're doing this Google game, we've just Googled you' and then they'll hit you with five questions, so it's an occupational hazard to keep abreast of these things.
QUESTION: Are you and Waleed Aly Facebook friends?
PRIME MINISTER: No, to the best of my knowledge. I don't think I am. I might have to check those who - nope, I don’t believe we are. But you know, that's alright.
QUESTION: If you're a dictator for a day and can change just one law that you think would benefit Australia, what would it be?
PRIME MINISTER: That’s a very good question. Not that I aspire to the title you've just outlined because I think that's the best thing about Australia, is that will never happen. Take a look around the world and you see where that has happened and it reminds you just how precious our freedom is. But you know what? That law was passed. The one I'm interested in. It's called the Constitution.
QUESTION: Have you ever eaten an entire raw onion?
PRIME MINISTER: I haven't, but I've got to tell you one story on that. I was down at the markets in Melbourne, at Epping, the other week. And there's every single piece of fruit and vegetable known to humankind. And I think, if you're going as a politician and you're engaged in kicking the ball or bowling, you can't help but remember back to that image of John Howard bowling - sorry John - but any time you go anywhere near fruit and vegetable you just say 'don't eat the onion'.
QUESTION: What is your least favourite part of Australia? What do you see now is a man doing electoral maths at a speed a super computer would be proud of [crosstalk] some oxygen before you answer this, but is there one area you just think [crosstalk].
PRIME MINISTER: I've had the great privilege in many different roles both inside and outside of politics and I've got to say I've never visited a part of the country I haven't liked. I really haven't. And remember, I was in tourism before and I've seen probably more of this country than most people. But what makes every part of Australia so great to visit, and this was a key part of the tourism message that I was trying to pitch when I was responsible for it, it's actually us that's the attraction. What makes all of these places so great? Yeah, physically magnificent, beautiful, it's great. But the things that impact you are the people that you meet and Australians are awesome wherever you go. They're awesome.
QUESTION: Last question, and actually several questions have come in this, if you win a second term, what will your number one priority be?
PRIME MINISTER: Jobs. The economic strength of the country. Because from that, everything else flows. You want to do something in health, you must have a strong economy. If you want to do something in education, you must have a strong economy. You want to defend the nation, you must have a strong economy. If you don't have a strong economy, you don't have a plan for anything else.
QUESTION: Well speaking of jobs, you've got to go and get back to yours. Please thank Scott Morrison.