Prime Minister
SCOTT LEVI: The Prime Minister is on the M1 Pacific Motorway heading towards the Central Coast today - left lane, middle lane, far right - Prime Minister good morning.
PRIME MINISTER: G’day Scott how are you?
LEVI: Yes.
PRIME MINISTER: I’ve actually got here, I’ve arrived in Gosford, so good to be here.
LEVI: Good, probably the middle lane?
PRIME MINISTER: No, we had a good run up this morning.
LEVI: Excellent. Re: the plan to force 45 per cent of migrants into regional areas, like the Central Coast to relieve congestion in our cities. How can that be done in our area, already bursting at the seams without the infrastructure to cope, commuter parking over-capacity, roads are already congested. Will we be exempt from that?
PRIME MINISTER: There’s no suggestion that would be applying to the Central Coast and the way this works is to work with local communities where they’re wanting more population and other states and territories where they’re wanting more population. So in South Australia for example, they’re really keen to get increased population growth. Same as up in the Northern Territory and Western Australia and Tasmania. So there’s parts of the country which are looking for more people and there are parts of the country like, I would agree, here on the Central Coast or parts of suburban Sydney and Melbourne, where we need to relieve the pressure. That’s why it’s important that you’ve got to manage this.
Now when it comes to what is driving population growth, temporary migrants to Australia account for more than double the impact on population growth that permanent migrants do. So that’s why our programme is focusing on how we manage where temporary migrants are going. And when they eventually, down the track, decide if they wish to stay permanently, then they’re settled into communities where they’re wanting the population growth and not putting pressure on places like the Central Coast or inner parts of Sydney or Melbourne, that it’s actually adding to other parts of the country.
LEVI: Former New South Wales Liberal Premier Kerry Chikarovski was on ABC’s Drum last night talking about this proposal and reinforcing her support for a fast train to Gosford, to get the trip down to 30 minutes. Is that back on the table, given this idea?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we’re looking at a number of fast train projects as Alan Tudge, the Minister for congestion-busting said yesterday. That was one of the other proposals that was on the fringe of that discussion, but we are looking at some proposals that look at straightening up the line up to Newcastle as well. That’s currently under consideration and I know that would significantly improve travel times along the coast. So that is under consideration. I mean yes, when it comes to managing population, migration obviously – I’ve always said that – has a big impact. But so does infrastructure planning, infrastructure delivery, the planning of our suburbs and working closely with state and local governments to ensure that we can provide the jobs in the areas, as we’ve been doing up here on the Central Coast, everything from the relocation of the Tax Office and other Departments, the investment we’ve put into roads including the M1, we’re making big investments on the M1 –
LEVI: Your Regional Cities report identifies Gosford as – I don’t know, we’re a bit hard to categorise, we’re not like Wagga or Dubbo or Tamworth – as a bit of a dormitory suburb. We know how important technology is in future jobs growth, why can’t Gosford be Australia’s first “gigabit city”? After all, Silicon Valley isn’t a city, isn’t in the city. Is that an idea that’s come across your table yet?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I really like this idea. I mean the idea of the Central Coast being a dormitory suburb of Sydney, I’ve never been a big fan of that. I mean Gosford is a city in it’s own right.
LEVI: It’s really ripping society apart Mr Prime Minister. I mean it’s just tragic that people are spending four hours in that commute.
PRIME MINISTER: I agree.
LEVI: They’re not contributing to our wonderful area.
PRIME MINISTER: Well this why we’re creating jobs here on the Central Coast. This is why we put the investments into the medical precinct, the industrial precinct. I mean the NBN rollout for the Central Coast is about 98 per cent, one of the highest in the country. Now he’s a statistic on the NBN which I just found amazing; in areas where the NBN is connected, the rate of female business growth is 20 times faster than what it is in places that aren’t connected. Now for places like the Central Coast, that’s important because we are seeing an increase in the number of home-based businesses with families making choices to start their own businesses. There is no government more supportive of small and family businesses than ours, lowering their taxes, increasing the depreciation arrangements, simplifying their compliance. Small businesses are particularly being started by mums and that would include here on the Central Coast, greatly enabled by what you’re talking about, which is a tech-enabled city here on the Central Coast.
LEVI: A “gigabit city”?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah.
LEVI: I think we’ve copy written that.
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER: A gigabit, yeah fair enough.
LEVI: Especially the start-up sector. Without the funding support and mentorship needed, how can that be improved, to help local start-ups generate growth? You mentioned people grabbing the connectivity of the NBN and running with it, how can we also make sure that those start-ups have a chance to be funded and to work?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah well actually, that’s one of the things when I was Treasurer. We increased the tax incentives for what are known as angel investors, to come and invest in these companies and they get capital gains tax concessions and other concessions to ensure that it is more attractive for them to invest in those very businesses. And there is also the enterprise venture partnership arrangements which are a similar tax arrangements which support those start ups.
We’ve seen hundreds of millions of dollars of extra investment around the country going into those exact start-ups as a result of those tax changes that we’ve made. So, I agree. I mean we want to see places like the Central Coast be their own place. I mean I come from a part of Sydney down in the Sutherland Shire where it’s a similar challenge. People want to live and work in the same place and I think that is a very achievable goal for the Central Coast. Lucy Wicks, that’s what she’s been working away on from the day she was elected, whether it’s on the medical precinct or bringing jobs to the Central Coast, the infrastructure investments. She’s had a very strong plan for the Central Coast and we’ve been very pleased to be investing in that plan and working with the state and the local government to help realise those ambitions.
LEVI: Mr Prime Minister I know you’ve got some commitments so we’ll let you go. Thank you so much for joining us but it looks like Gosford could become Australia’s first “gigabit city”?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be.
LEVI: With the -
PRIME MINISTER: Add it to the “country music capital,” I know that’s also big on the Coast as well, which I was I always enjoy.
[Laughter]
LEVI: Alright, thank you so much for taking some time to talk to us.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks Scott, cheers mate.
LEVI: The Prime Minister of Australia.