PM: First of all, it's good to be back home. It's full of fog and chills in Canberra. It's great to be back here in sunny Queensland.
This week the Government has brought down a budget, a budget which is about building a strong economy but also delivering a fairer Australia, an Australia which invests in our future challenges. What we've done is bring down a budget based on strong economic management - strong economic management which halves our debt, which brings the budget back to surplus three years ahead of time and in just three years from now.
On top of that, we've invested in tax cuts for working families; tax cuts for small business; better super for Australian workers; as well as investing in our long-term infrastructure needs and in more doctors, more nurses and more hospital beds. This is all about the fairness in which we believe - that is, a strong economy which keeps it strong for the future but is delivering a fairer outcome for all Australians.
Over to you, folks.
JOURNALIST: Are the battlelines drawn for the next election?
PM: I think it's pretty basic. We stand for a fair go for all Australians and that means getting rid of WorkChoices. The Liberal Party stands for bringing back WorkChoices. We stand for job security. Mr Abbott stands for job insecurity.
I'll just add one other thing as well - all this, at the end of the day, is about responsible economic management. This is a responsible, cautious, conservative budget. I notice today that even Mr Abbott's own colleagues voted him down in the shadow cabinet because they don't trust him on core economic management.
JOURNALIST: Mr Abbott says you (inaudible) great big new tax (inaudible) public purse (inaudible)
PM: Well, what I'd say, having listened to Mr Abbott's speech last night, it was all negative with not a single positive plan for the future, and again I'd say the reports we have today is that even Mr Abbott's shadow cabinet colleagues didn't trust him on economic management to support one of his proposals.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: I think the overall size of the Australian public sector is about right. I think what Mr Abbott has indicated is that he stands for job insecurity, job insecurity primarily because he's promising to get rid of the unfair dismissal laws. This is a big change.
I've just been speaking to a whole lot of working people inside. It's pretty basic, whether you've got job security or not, and I think Mr Abbott has said he wants to take away basic protections which underpin people's job security. We won't agree to that. That's why we got rid of WorkChoices. He says he's going to bring it back. Remember, we protected hundreds of thousands of Australian jobs during the worst recession Australia has seen in three quarters of a century
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Strong economic management is absolutely basic to what this Government is on about and that which I believe in. Therefore, we will be having a debate, a big debate, on who's stronger at economic management and the reform of the tax system is part of that.
Let's go to that at one further level of detail. Why are we reforming the tax system? We want to make sure that Australians get a fairer share of the resources that they all own but also that we're able to bring down the tax on companies across the country; to bring down the tax on small business; to boost the super retirements for working families; and to invest in our long-term infrastructure needs.
What's the alternative on tax? Remember, Mr Abbott opposes what we have done in bringing down the company tax rate, so what you have is this government bringing down company taxes, Mr Abbott sticking them up. That's a pretty basic, basic difference right across the economy at large.
Why are we doing this? Because we believe in building a strong, broad-based economy for the future, one which can weather future storms.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Sorry, I can't quite hear.
JOURNALIST: Sorry, (inaudible) has created a lot of uncertainty in Central Queensland. Are you concerned about something (inaudible) all those marginals that-
PM: You know, when I've been around regional Queensland in recent times, I remember, particularly, a conversation in the main street of Mackay where locals said to me the mining boom is fantastic - what we want is a fairer share of the proceeds for our city. That's what they said. They want a fairer share of the proceeds for their city, and what does that mean in practical terms?
Go to Central Mackay and have a look at what's happening with trucks rumbling through the middle of town through to the ports. A lot of people, frankly, find it now too scary to even cross the road. That's what the locals told me.
So, what's the answer? Building a ring road from the main drag into town out to the port of Mackay. Guess how much that costs? Several hundred million dollars. So, who's going to pay for that? The rate payers of Mackay? The tax payers of Queensland? Australian taxpayers? This is where it is very, very practical. We want a fairer share of the super profits earned by our most profitable mining companies to come back and be invested in the infrastructure which is necessary to support those regional communities and that's what we believe in.
JOURNALIST: It's going to hurt your election chances (inaudible)
PM: I think if you spoke on the ground to what people are saying in those communities about what they need locally and how it should be funded, every one of those communities I've been to, whether it's in Rocky, or whether it's in Mackay or Gladstone - each one of the local authorities has asked me this question: how do we plan for and fund for growth? How do we do that?
Now, we can't just invent that from somewhere, that's got to come from somewhere, and that's why we believe that there should be a fair share and a fair return for miners, that's true. There should be a fair share and a fair return for the entire Australian community and that means the regional communities which support our mining industry as well.
JOURNALIST: Are the details of that tax negotiable?
PM: As I've said before, ever since we released it, we believe we've got the rate about right. On the question of detail, on the question of implementation, on the question of transition, that's all part of the consultation process which is already underway with hundreds of mining companies around the country.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, a teacher in Adelaide has admitted to changing answers on NAPLAN tests. What do you think of this?
PM: Cheating shouldn't happen anywhere. What we're on about with these tests across the country is to give an honest picture of schools where we've got some problems, where we need to provide more resources, so we're actually on about finding out the truth, so that if there is a challenge in a particular area we need to know where we need to enhance the literacy and the numeracy and all those sorts of resources to make it better, so we need to get honest results, so I'm pretty disappointed by that. I'm sure the state education authorities have it in hand.
JOURNALIST: So, do you think that the results aren't credible, that it's a waste of money and time?
PM: No, everywhere I've gone in Australia people are saying it's really good that through the MySchool website we have our first window on how my school's performing. You know, you have a bit of an idea about this teacher or that teacher, depending on where your kid's been through that school, but it's far better that you've got a sense of comparing the school as a whole against similar schools around the state or around the country. That's what MySchool is all about, so on your question, it's very important that we've got the data to do that and that it's properly administered and properly tested, because that enables us to make those judgements about where extra resources and investments are needed.
JOURNALIST: Back to the Budget quickly, are you worried Mr Abbott will succeed in quashing the mining super tax like he did your ETS?
PM: Look, I go back to what I said before - I listened to Mr Abbott last night. In a half hour address to the Australian nation it was all negative with nothing really positive; no positive plan. So, it's easy to oppose everything and propose nothing, but I think with this an election year people are going to start to ask some pretty basic questions, and one of them is whether your budget adds up. You can't just, sort of, push that off to the never-never, and say 'oh well, someone do all the adding up later on.' You can't do that.
I remember when I was Leader of the Opposition some years ago, by the time we got to the stage of delivering a budget reply we already had a large number of savings out there from which we could draw upon to make specific numbers out of. I see none of that hard work's been done. It's very easy to be negative in politics. The real challenge is to be positive.
JOURNALIST: Tell me why, then, is the Queensland Resources Council, they want the consultation period for the RSPT shortened. They say it's going to add to uncertainty the longer this goes on. What's your response to that?
PM: Look, the Treasurer has that consultation process well in hand. I know he is also liaising closely and carefully with various state governments around Australia. This process, we're working with, I said, with, I think, more than 100 companies already. We will work our way through it, but as I close, can I just say this - the reason we are fundamentally reforming the tax system is because we need to build a strong platform for broad economic growth for the future. That means bringing down the company tax rate for companies right across Australia; giving small business a helping hand through a big tax break for them; investing in our national pool of savings by tens of billions of additional dollars in super. This is the right reform.
There's going to be all sorts of things said on the way through but we intend to get on and do it.
One last thing as I go: I was reminded as I came here again today that it's the anniversary of the sinking of the Centaur. It's the 67th anniversary. I was at St John's Cathedral earlier this year for that extraordinary memorial service once the ship had been found.
Two or three hundred Australians lost their lives on that ship. It means a lot to those of us in particular who come from Queensland, so let's spare a though today for those who perished on the Hospital Ship Centaur as they were out there in the line of fire in Australia's name.
Thanks, folks. Got to run.