Prime Minister
THE HON. ANDREW CONSTANCE MP, MEMBER FOR BEGA: Well, first of all, welcome to everybody and I particularly want to acknowledge the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, who is with us today. Minister Littleproud, who on behalf of the region I want to acknowledge as our bushfire recovery minister at a federal level and Fiona Kotvojs, who I worked very closely with, of course, and Trevor Hicks. Today is an important day, and I will tell you why. Because [inaudible] particularly our timber industry and the workforce and Malcom McComb and Kel Henry and the team here at Pentarch who have turned this mill around during the toughest of times. And we are in the toughest of times. We're still in intense drought here in the southeast. And as Fiona gets around, particularly the feedback we're getting from the community is, you know, we're in tough times. We're resilient. We're positive. And we're going to stick together. And that comes through good community leadership. And I want to particularly acknowledge Fiona for that over the last six months, in particular by working alongside her through what has been without doubt the most trying and deepest and darkest of times.
Our community has been through a lot, but what's brought people together is the way in which people are positive, resilient and looking forward to the future. And I have one message today, particularly to the people of Eden-Monaro as one of the state members in the region. And I've been in opposition and I've been in government. But let me tell you, the power of having someone who can be a decision maker as part of a government is what is really important, and particularly a government under Scott Morrison's leadership at a time when we are facing an incredibly powerful virus which could strike anyone down at any time. And we have seen complacency creep in. Yet at a local level, people are responding to the leadership that's been on display because partisan politics have been pushed aside and everyone's come together. The Prime Minister has done an incredible job through the National Cabinet process to keep us all safe, keep our economy going as best it can and I want to recognise that. I want to thank them on behalf of the local community and I again want to reiterate the importance of electing Fiona to be a decision maker as part of a government. You know, if you reflect on some of the members past in Eden-Monaro, both Labor and Liberal, Jim Snow, Gary Nairn, Mike Kelly, the most effective times they had was when they were elected as part of a government, particularly Gary Nairn under the Howard years. And what we saw through those years and that strong leadership. You know, that's what, of course, is key to this byelection. So I'd urge everybody to reflect on that as they cast their vote and the importance of supporting Fiona to be a decision maker, not someone down a corridor, you know, working out political games, but someone who was part of a team that is saving Australia from the most horrible of times.
So on that note, it's a great opportunity to invite the Prime Minister to say a few words. It was great to be with him yesterday. It's great to be with him today. He's following me everywhere. So, it's good stuff. Over to you, Scott.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, Andrew. Well, it's great to be here with you, Andrew, and great to be joined by David Littleproud and Trevor and Fiona Kotvojs, the Liberal Candidate for Eden-Monaro and to be with Fiona again today. Can I just start off, Andrew, by thanking you not just for your presence here today, but in the many months since the start of this year, there's been so much to do. I want to commend you for your very strong local leadership across your community. And I remember when we caught up at the memorial service in Sydney when we honoured those firefighters who'd fallen and at that time we were working through the very, the very real issue of small business grants across particularly across the fire affected areas of the south coast of New South Wales and your electorate. Not just, of course, there but in the many other fire affected paths. And, you know, that programme wasn't working. It wasn't delivering as much as we wanted it to. And together with the National Bushfire Recovery Agency and David Littleproud, we got that programme right, and there's over 4,000 small businesses now that across the Eden-Monaro electorate have who benefited from that small business support grants programme of $10,000. And it's just another great example of when you have state members, federal members working together, what you can achieve. And Andrew's right to raise those issues. We were right to sit down and work it out and get it sorted. And I want to commend David Littleproud for the work he did on that as well.
Andrew makes the right point, is that when you have a member on the ground in your team as part of a government, you can get just so much more done. Last time I was talking about the Eden Mill was when I was talking to Mal back when the fires were still burning and we needed to get the ADF out here to support them and to know that just within a few days of the site being handed over, they were back at full strength here with people here cleaning up the site and that's continued here today.
Jobs is what everything is about. Last Friday, I was standing with Fiona as we were out in Cooma and we were dealing with the jobs that were going to come from the Snowy 2.0 project. Here, we're talking about jobs again in Eden. But it's not just jobs in Eden we're talking about today. It's jobs up in Batlow and Tumbarumba and other parts of Eden-Monaro, but also other parts of the country. In the wine country of the Adelaide Hills and parts just outside of Canberra. What we need in this next phase, having put particularly in Eden-Monaro, over $100 million in recovery and support already through disaster recovery payments, through the Small Business Grants programme, through the primary producer grants and the primary producer loans. That's helping people and has been helping people get back on their feet. But now it's about the longer term future. And talking to Mal about their investment plans here, they will be supported by the plans we're announcing today. And that's $86 million in three tranches of programmes. The first of those, around $50 million, is going into the timber industry, recognising how important the forestry sector is to build back those jobs, not just here, but throughout the community. Some 600 jobs here in Eden depend on this mill right here and its continuation and the investment that needs to go in. And we're going to back that investment in, across the country. But particularly here, we've got $50 million overall going into that forestry programme to support mills, just like this one, to create the jobs and look into the future and make their own investments.
Some $30 million or around $120,000 an orchard is going into the apple industry. Now, it was actually on the very day that I went and visited the COVID-19 Information Centre, Emergency Response Centre, in Canberra. That same day, I was out in Batlow and I was out at Tumbarumba and we were sitting down and talking to the orchardists there about how they were going to build back. And the thing about orchards is it takes quite a while to sow those new orchards in. And it's not one or two years, it is a decade at least for them to build back and they were having to make decisions about whether they are going to stay and have another crack and go forward again or they were going to give up. And I said we were going to work on a plan together to ensure that we get the orchards back and we were going to support them in doing that. So today, $120,000 an orchard on average as part of that $30 million programme to get these orchards back and planted and restored and not just what that does for those producers and the many jobs that go around those producers, but how that affects the broader region.
And then there's another $5 million to support smoke taint of grapes. Now, that's particularly going to be in the Adelaide Hills more broadly when we're speaking nationally. But these are all the things that were affecting the key job creating and supporting industries in bushfire affected areas. First comes the disaster support, then comes the build back up through the recovery grants, which helps businesses get back on their feet. And then you’ve got to plan and put the investment in for the future to make sure those jobs are not just here in the next 12 months, but here in the next five years and 10 years and chatting to those who are working here today, they've been here, some of them, for up to 50 years, some from as little a few months here on contract. And it just goes to show the longevity of the jobs and how that can support communities. If we'd lost the mill, we would have lost the community. And it's so important that we put those investments into these businesses, to these industries that are so critical in these regional parts of the country.
So that's what we've done and we're going to continue to invest and we're going to continue to support. And on that note, I'll hand it over to David Littleproud to talk more specifically about the programmes.
THE HON. DAVID LITTLEPROUD MP, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, DROUGHT AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Thanks, PM. It's great to be back here. I was here three or four months ago and saw the devastation that not only the mill felt, but also the entire community. So it's important that we as a government made sure that our recovery wasn't Canberra led, it was locally led. So we've sat and listened and understood the needs of each of these communities and today is the next down payment. We immediately put relief out there. The first phase of this fire disaster was relief. Nearly $240 million has gone out of the bank account of the Australian Government into the pockets of those that most need it. To give them some dignity and respect in the here and now when they were going through this disaster. That was the first phase. The second phase was to set up a $2 billion fund. We estimated $500 million that would be spent by the 30th of June. We're going to have a billion of that out by the 30th of June. We've doubled that commitment because of the work that we've done with state governments and with Andrew Colvin on the ground listening and understanding where those pressure points need to be. And in fact, a complementary piece of that was only announced recently, $450 million in those local economic recovery plans so the community decides how this gets rebuilt. Not us, not the politicians, but the community. They direct how do we build back better.
But this is another investment today in the next phase of the recovery, the next phase of jobs. In these communities, as Andrew said, it has been intersected by drought, fire, now Covid-19. We haven't taken the foot off the accelerator in response to any of those. We thought calmly through each of the responses to make sure that we protect the livelihoods of those people that have been impacted the most. And so today, I think it's a reflection not just on the timber industry, but we're looking at the apple industry; $120,000 per hectare to help those farmers rebuild, to rebuild the infrastructure, to replant, to put netting back up, to put the irrigation back in. Understanding they are five to seven years away from an income, but understanding the jobs that they create in those local communities and the export opportunities that they've taken up in creating wealth for regional rural Australia. We've understood as well about the wine industry. We were able to put the $75,000 on the ground straightaway where those wineries and vineyards had been damaged by fire. But we've understood and listened to industry and let them direct us to the regions that need the help from smoke taint. I visited one in Victoria and I've given it a crack and let me tell you, it doesn't taste real good. So we've acknowledged that we needed to do something for that part of the industry that has also been hit by COVID, because normally they have many tourists going through at this time of the year. So we've protected them and are giving them some support through that.
But today, with the timber industry here in particular, is an import investment in the future of the 11 mills across New South Wales. But the three across here in Eden-Monaro that Fiona and Trevor know intimately. The jobs that they create, an investment in their future, not just building back by building back better with the infrastructure that'll make this mill more sustainable into the future. That'll protect the 70 jobs that are here and the 600 jobs that are around them. The $10 million to be able to get that resource that’s sitting out on the ground out there that's burnt and be able to do something with it rather than let it sit on the ground and waste away. That's an investment in this community and the jobs of this country and the economy of this country. And I just say this is an important step and I just hope that considering what happened straight after the fires and the abhorrent behaviour of some of the green groups in basically thinking they were dancing on the grave of this sawmill, of these people's jobs, because they felt that this mill was going to be destroyed and stopped forever, shut down. I just say this is a celebration, a celebration of our economy and it's now time, and I just say to Anthony Albanese, where does he sit? Does he want to support the jobs? I'd hope that he'd come out straight away and say today that this investment, not just in this mill, but the three across Eden-Monaro that are being impacted, this is a great investment in those communities, in their futures. I know Joel Fitzgibbon will be out there straight away. Joel's opinion is pretty strong and it's pretty clear. Where's Albo? This is about character. This is about Albo showing some character and showing what his principles are. I mean, we only heard today that he had met the bloke he thought he’d never met before or had little to do with, he had sat down with him. I mean, let's be honest. There's no way in the world you would not know who this Somyurek guy is. With all due respect, he's a power broker in Victoria and if you go and see him two years ago, I reckon there's a fair reason he was there. It was there to square up with Bill Shorten. The way to get the numbers, the way to get to the Labor leadership, was through this character. So this is really about Mr Albanese showing some real character, backing these men and women that are here today that get up in the morning, do a lot for this nation, do a lot for this community. That's just a question of character. Come out, back us. Joel will be out in a few minutes. You could beat him, but you can also clear up what you've done in the past.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: Can you or Minister Littleproud...
PRIME MINISTER: I’m happy to go to the Canberra gallery, but if they've got some local journalist here today, I'm happy to give them the first questions.
JOURNALIST: A bushfire question?
PRIME MINISTER: If we’ve got local journalists. Denise?
JOURNALIST: Can you just give us a bit more detail about what this announcement means for this mill here?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, sure. David, do you want to go through that?
THE HON. DAVID LITTLEPROUD MP, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, DROUGHT AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Yeah, so of the $41 million, a mill such as this can apply for a grant of between one and five million dollars to invest in the infrastructure that they will need to rebuild or to to actually enhance the productivity of this and the sustainability of this mill. So this is a competitive grant process for mills, not only here in New South Wales, but in Victoria, South Australia and even in Queensland, where they'll be able to put in place an application to invest in some infrastructure. We’ve already been talking to Mal about what their investment will be and their application will be. And then there's also around the storage, around creating storage capacity for a lot of that timber that's been damaged that can still be used because of the technology that businesses like this have invested in in the past to ensure that these 70 men and women that work here continue to have jobs and gives us and buys us time, effectively, until the resource continues to regrow and they're able to source timber from other parts. This is the challenge that not only the apple producers have, but also the timber industry have. They've got some challenges about supply for some time to come. And we have to work smarter in the way that we invest Australian taxpayer’s money and protect these jobs, creating the new jobs and making it a more sustainable industry. So this will be an important grant money that they can apply for and has to be matched by the company itself. So it's not just a handout. They've got to put some skin in the game and show they're going to make an investment in this community as well.
JOURNALIST: And one follow up question, what could be done about the supply chain? Is there money being put into and furthering the resource or developing new forests?
THE HON. DAVID LITTLEPROUD MP, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, DROUGHT AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Well, there already has been. In fact, we took to the election a national forestry plan that created a number of hubs and those hubs under Assistant Minister Duniam are being created as we speak. And a lot of the legwork in identifying those, whether they be in New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and even in my home state of Queensland, are already underway. And we're working with the forestry industry to make sure that they are located in areas that will make sure that we have a sustainable industry in the future. There's money set aside, the job is getting done. It’s basically all systems go for a sustainable forestry industry in the future. We are going to be a billion short trees by 2030. We've just seen the decimation of a large stockpile of that and we need to make sure that we invest in that. We put the foot on the accelerator and Minister Duniam is all geared up to go.
JOURNALIST: Can you confirm that the deadline for the clean up of burnt properties has been pushed back to July 31?
THE HON. DAVID LITTLEPROUD MP, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, DROUGHT AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Well, obviously, the New South Wales government is running that. The Australian Government is partnering and paying half the bill. It's an unprecedented measure that the Australian Government and New South Wales Government went into that was to put more money back into those people that lost their homes so that their insurance would pay for more of the improvements that they need to rebuild. The New South Wales Government initially told us 30th of June, they've subsequently come back to the 31st of July. Now, I don't think that's passing dispersions but you’ve got to understand, as we just heard before, the building behind you has asbestos in it. These are complex arrangements in which the New South Wales Government is working through with their contractor as quickly as they can, but as safely as they can. You can understand you cannot put your fellow Australians at risk. And New South Wales has put the foot on the accelerator. Victoria won't be finished till August. South Australia's homes have been completed. But New South Wales is on track to complete by the 31st of July, as the last information we were provided.
JOURNALIST: Is that acceptable?
THE HON. ANDREW CONSTANCE MP, MEMBER FOR BEGA: Look, we've seen Lang O'Rourke get through 3,000 homes. What's happened is that, unfortunately, some people have come forward late because of the incredible trauma they've been through and more properties have actually been discovered through the process that need the clean up. So, you know, I don't think there is any issue here, to be honest with you. I mean, I've seen it in my own laneway. The way that Lang O'Rourke have worked with the community, they’ve just got in, got the job done. You couldn't have imagined the fact that we've had this many homes lost to this event. It’s a lot of people. But we've had people come and obviously come through late for various reasons and that's why and to be honest with you, if you look at the magnitude, we are talking hundreds and hundreds of thousands of tonnes of debris that has had to be cleared away. So it's been an incredible exercise. I don't want you left with any impression that this is because of contractors or delays or government. This is just a process that the community is working through and they've been incredibly patient, incredibly good…
JOURNALIST: Are there any residents in Eden still waiting on temporary accommodation?
THE HON. ANDREW CONSTANCE MP, MEMBER FOR BEGA: Look, in terms of the residents, right, the challenge that we've faced with bushfire recovery is a lot of people want to go back to their, quite rightfully, their own properties. Be with their neighbours, be with their local community. And it's fair to say in a community like ours, we don't have the housing stock that you might have in a metropolitan area. So, you know, that's why people are now being supported through programmes that the state government is running to have pods on their land, working through temporary housing and all forms of different models. But when you live away from a community, in the case of some of the communities here, you drive past Kiah, you know, you're 20 minutes from town. It's inconvenient to be away from your property and in some cases feeding animals and the likes. We've got to support people on an individual basis, and that's what we're doing.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I just ask a couple of Eden-Monaro questions? The first one is talking to people in the electorate, a lot of businesses down here, obviously tourism in particular, they get 60 or 70 per cent of their income at Christmas. So they're saying we're desperate to know what's going to happen between September and Christmas. And the second question is, somewhere like here in Eden, if you want to, because you've talked about skills, if you want to build your skills base, you've got to get to Bega before you can find a TAFE. Is there something the Government can do to actually put more funding into TAFE in local communities like this that have been so hard hit by so many multiple disasters?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, a couple of things first. I mean, there were the small business support grants, over 4,000 of those that have gone out here in Eden-Monaro. 10,000, that's the programme I was referring to that Andrew and I worked on with David to get delivered. That was an important, a very important change in how that programme was being delivered. Then on top of that, there was the $10,000 cash flow support that was put in through out of the COVID response, and that can go a lot higher than $10,000, as you know. On top of that, you've got a similar number of small businesses and others who have actually been benefiting from the JobKeeper arrangements and, as you know, JobKeeper kicked in for those who'd had a 30 per cent fall in their turnover. As you know, the Government is still working through, we're not even halfway through this programme yet, and the data about where the economy is going and three months from now is very difficult to determine. So we're in very, right in the middle of working through those processes to be able to make a decision about the supports that can continue to be provided after that time and we'll be making those decisions and handing that down with the economic statement in late July. One of the things I would stress is the uncertainty around the outlook is very difficult to contend with when you're making decisions that involve programmes that are running at a cost of nearly $11 billion a month. So you need to consider those carefully and you need to target your support where you need to send it. I've always said, right from the outset, that there'll be parts of this country that will feel the impact of the Covid-19 recession far longer than other parts. Whether that's here or whether that's up in North Queensland or parts of Western Australia or other parts of the country, and it's predominantly in regional areas that proportionally will fill that will feel that pinch. And that's what the Treasurer and I and the Cabinet are working very closely on to make sure we get the balance of those supports right as we move into the next phase. There will be a next phase. It's good to see that in parts of the country, they're opening up again and people are getting back to their employment coming in. And they're in a much better position than they were back in March when we set this programme up. But there are many others which aren't in that position. And if you go into the creative industries and the entertainment industries, they have seen no change and that's not surprising, given the social distancing rules that apply. So we are calibrating and targeting how we're going to provide that support and we're working on those responses right now and we'll announce them in July. On the issue of skills, TAFE education accounts for, over all training and education in the country, I think it's about 13 or 12 per cent. And so TAFE aren’t the only providers of skills education in this country. And a lot of the skills training can occur right on sites all around the country. And what we want is a vibrant skills sector that can deliver training where the training needs to be provided. Whether it's on this mill or it's in the town or elsewhere or close by, some will be delivered through public institutions like TAFE. Others will be delivered through private providers and contractors delivering right on the sites through registered training providers. What we have at the moment, though, is not a good enough matching of the skills that people need for the jobs that are there and the training that is being offered at the moment. It's too sclerotic. It's too caught up in its own models. And that's why we set up the Skills Commission. That's why we've set up the Skills Commissioner. That's why at the National Cabinet we are having, I've got to say, the most positive conversation I've had the privilege to be involved in with Premiers and Chief Ministers about how we can make our skills system work better. Because it is a partnership. It's not unlike what we do in hospitals and schools. I think people rightly have an expectation that both the Commonwealth and the State Government will work together on this. There are shared responsibilities and that is very much the case for skills training. It's not just at TAFEs, an important part of it, but it is actually not even the majority part of it. It plays its role. But there are so many other providers that make up the sector and we want to make sure that they're lined up with the skills that people need for the jobs that are going to be there to employ them.
JOURNALIST: Could I just clarify this point about the JobSeeker, though if you’re…
PRIME MINISTER: JobKeeper, or JobSeeker? Or both?
JOURNALIST: Well, both, really.
PRIME MINISTER: We’re working through both.
JOURNALIST: Yeah, but what I'm just trying to clarify is whether your message to voters in Eden-Monaro is that as you move into this next phase, even if JobKeeper is not there, you're basically reassuring them that there will be some form of support for those industries and those businesses and employees who might not be able to know when to make the hard calls until Christmas?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, all I'm saying and I don't want to say anything that isn't very clear. And what I'm trying to say to people is we understand that different sectors and different parts of the country are going to be impacted far worse than others. And we have demonstrated right from the get go that those who have really needed the help, we've been there, straight away. Didn't have to wait for figures to come in, we were in there and we're in there for long. Six months was our JobKeeper programme. Now, similar programmes overseas went for three months. We put it in for six months to give people that certainty and I think that certainly has been incredibly important for confidence, which we've seen consumer confidence rebound to almost, I'd say, completely to the levels lost from when COVID hit. And business confidence is also climbing and it climbed almost to the day of when we put JobKeeper in place. And I think a key reason for that is that people understood that the Government was going to be there and I can assure you, we're going to continue to be there for those who are going to continue to need that support and how that is delivered and how it's calibrated and how it's paid for, well, they are the issues that we're working through at the moment. But our Government has demonstrated absolutely through the biggest ever income support programme ever delivered by a federal government in the worst economic crisis we've seen since the Great Depression, that we've always stepped up.
JOURNALIST: Are you considering a Royal Commission into…. Are you considering a Royal Commission into the Robodebt scheme, in particular claims that some people committed suicide after receiving debt notices?
PRIME MINISTER: We have no plans for one of those, no. I notice that last week the Labor Party actually voted against an inquiry, for such an inquiry in the Senate last week. So they seem to be having a bet way.
JOURNALIST: Why don’t you think a Royal Commission is necessary?
PRIME MINISTER: Because we're fixing the problem. We are aware of what the issue is and we're fixing the problem and we're getting the payments made and we're working through that process now. We're righting the issues. Let's not forget what this issue is about is the use of income averaging as the primary reason for raising a debt. That is the same practice that was used by the Labor Party as has been used by the Government. That is what the legal issue is, and that's what we are now fixing with those who've been impacted by it.
JOURNALIST: So there's no need for further investigation into suggestions that..?
PRIME MINISTER: Because we're fixing the problem.
JOURNALIST: One of the issues they're trying to address with that Royal Commission is trying to find out when the Government was aware that it was actually illegal. So that's not something that you’d be…?
PRIME MINISTER: That's a matter that's currently going through a legal process. I'm not going to comment on it.
JOURNALIST: Should Dyson Heydon's companion of the Order of Australia be revoked after…. in light of the sexual harassment allegations?
PRIME MINISTER: Allegations of this sort are obviously very disturbing and very concerning and they're incredibly serious. And the High Court has been dealing with that and the Chief Justice has made her comments about this, as I understand, and there will be a proper formal process that will be followed, I'm sure, in addressing those allegations. As you know, people's awards and honours, if those processes end in a place where people have, where those allegations have been upheld, then there's a normal process for honours to be dealt with at that time. But it's not appropriate to presuppose those processes. That's not the way these things should be handled. There should be a proper process to deal with this. There will be. They’re very serious allegations. They're very concerning and very disturbing. And on that basis, I would expect those processes to do their job.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just in terms of these measures you're introducing today, they’re actually quite specific and they'll mainly benefit voters in Eden-Monaro. So how is this not pork barrelling?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think that's a pretty offensive question to people who've lost everything in bushfires. These measures are targeted to areas that have been affected by the bushfires. In Victoria, in New South Wales, in South Australia, in Queensland. Now, Eden-Monaro is a big electorate but it is not that big, to cover four states. This is about helping communities rebuild. Rebuild their communities, rebuild their industries, regather their jobs, and these investments are part of a broader plan that started with the disaster recovery payments, the grants to support small business and primary producers. And now the grants now supporting the re-establishment and growth and investment in industries sitting alongside the local economic recovery plans that have been recently announced. This is about rebuilding communities. This is about rebuilding economies. Now, that is exactly the point that we've been making through Fiona Kotvojs as candidates, as the Liberal Candidate for Eden-Monaro. These two next years are going to be incredibly important. Andrew made this point, I thought, extremely well. The next two years are going to be critical for all of these communities. We're going to be investing in these communities and we're going to be relying on working with those communities to make sure we're getting that right. And to have Fiona Kotvojs as part of my team, the Liberal Candidate for Eden-Monaro working with us day in, day out to make sure these programmes are hitting the ground as they as they should, just as we work closely with Andrew to make sure we're getting our grant programmes aligned. That's why I need Fiona in my team. And by supporting Fiona at the byelection, you can ensure that she's there working with me to get that job done, working with Andrew to get the job done here on the ground so we can see the jobs retained and indeed grown in the years ahead and we see all of these communities building back better, rebuilding communities, rebuilding their economies.
Thanks very much, everyone. Thank you.