Queensland infrastructure; regional jobs; the Australian economy
Prime Minister
STEVE AUSTIN: You can’t miss him because his face is on the side of a big blue bus heading up the Bruce Highway from the Gold Coast to Townsville, he joins me now. Prime Minister you’re a brave man driving a blue bus into Maroon territory. Good afternoon to you.
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER: It’s a good point and it’s great to be here, it’s been wonderful to get such a strong reception, starting down on the Gold Coast there this morning about the $112 million for the light rail project Stage 3.
STEVE AUSTIN: Why have you prioritized the light rail project over something like the Cross River Rail in Brisbane or improving the rail links between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, who feel that they’re really neglected when it comes to transport infrastructure in south east Queensland?
PRIME MINISTER: Well it’s been a partnership with the state and local government on the Gold Coast light rail now for some years. This has been a significant project which has completely city-shaping and transforming on the Gold Coast. I mean as you know, there was nothing there previously and it was a linear city that was just only connected by road and a very congested one at that. You’ve also got population growth running down south east Queensland and on the Gold Coast there at significant rates and we’ve got to build the infrastructure for growing populations. But that’s why we’ve also put money into the M1. But it’s also why we’ve been putting money up north of Brisbane and linking up to the Sunshine Coast as well. The Beerburrum Rail Link projects we’re looking at, at the moment, we’re working with those and investing in the projects to the north on the Bruce Highway, which is going to reduce the congestion there. So those and of course there’s the Metro project as well. So we’re no stranger to investing in infrastructure all over Queensland and particularly here, whether it’s in Brisbane or the Sunshine Coast or the Gold Coast and indeed up in Townsville. We announced yesterday that we’d be putting $200 million into securing their water future, which is a very big deal in Townsville.
STEVE AUSTIN: South east Queensland feels that it’s under real development pressure and we’ve been warned by numerous organisations that we are facing a real congestion issue, a real problem that we will be virtual gridlock in about ten years unless really major decisions are taken. Is your Government looking to do anything about some of our south east Queensland like Brisbane-centric I know, but some of our infrastructure, traffic problems here in the heart of Brisbane?
PRIME MINISTER: Well look, we will continue to prioritise where we’re putting our investments, the State Government obviously will do the same thing in terms of what they’re looking at. But I mean the Brisbane Metro, we put $300 million into that. The Gateway Motorway North project which will be finished by the end of this year I think, that’s almost $1 billion that we’ve put into that. Then talking about what we’re talking up on the Sunshine Coast, there’s $319 million going to the Beerburrum to Nambour rail line. So I mean it’s not like we’re a stranger here. We are stumping up for Queensland infrastructure, ever since we were first elected back in 2013. Out forward there’s over $20 billion worth of projects we’ve been investing in Queensland. That’s what I’m really here to tell people about; that we’re backing in Queenslanders very, very strongly as a Government. Have been from the day we were elected.
STEVE AUSTIN: My guest is Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison. He’s travelling in the big blue bus up the coast, up the Bruce Highway to Townsville on a four day tour of what are usually described as marginal electorates, is that your aim Prime Minister? To go specifically to marginal electorates in Queensland?
PRIME MINISTER: Well no, I wouldn’t describe Moncreiff as one of those, which is where we started today. I mean we’re just getting in and about Queensland. I mean remember the first place I went after becoming Prime Minister was Queensland, which was out in Quilpie, out in western Queensland and went through Longreach. So we’ve been up in Cairns, we’ve been right up the top. We’ve been to the Gold Coast several times, we’ve been up on the Sunshine Coast dealing with the issues for strawberry farmers as you remember from several weeks ago.
STEVE AUSTIN: Yep.
PRIME MINISTER: I was back at a strawberry farm today actually, this time in Bert Van Manen’s electorate just between the electorates of Forde and Wright.
STEVE AUSTIN: It’s a surprise to me that we still haven’t found the cause or the person who allegedly started the needles in strawberries, that the police have not been able to sort of crack that. Have you heard anything, being at the farm today?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I’ve got nothing further to add to that, I was asked about that but it’s a matter for the Queensland Police who are leading that investigation. The Australian Federal Police have been supporting it and have been providing additional resources as required, but what I’m pleased about is that the strawberry sector, the industry, have been getting back on their feet. That’s been a great response from the Australian people all over the country. We’re very grateful for that and I want to encourage people to still do that. I mean we’re going into a different part of the season and they’re still growing them out at Stanthorpe they’re not going on the hinterland here anymore, because it’s out of season now. But down in Victoria they are and you know, it’s an all year round industry in different parts of the country. I just thought Australians showed tremendous responsiveness and of course our Government did, we got onto it and we passed that legislation within a day or so.
STEVE AUSTIN: My guest is the Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison. This is ABC Radio Brisbane, Steve Austin is my name. While here you also announced or flagged changes to visa conditions for backpackers who come in and work on those farms, strawberry farms and other places. One of the questions that comes up a lot from listeners is that why are we making changes to suit international visitors when we have unemployed here in Queensland? Here in Australia? What is it about this work that they’re not getting hold of it or they’re not pursuing it? Can you put any flesh on the bone of that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, because –
STEVE AUSTIN: Why is it we’re making the changes for international visitors and not locally unemployed people?
PRIME MINISTER: We’re doing both actually. What I announced some weeks ago was to ensure that these jobs that were available were being connected into the jobactive network, so they could be presented to those who live in these areas. And if they don’t go and take those jobs, well obviously that has an impact on their eligibility to receive Newstart payments. So that’s what we did several weeks ago.
What I announced today was something I flagged, which is, you know we’ve still got to get the fruit off the vine. We’ve still got to get the apples off the trees and the strawberries out of the patch. Otherwise that will cause significant harm to our agricultural sector. So we’ve announced today some changes which means they’ll not be having to retrain people every six months and that those workers who have been working on their properties, they can work up to 12 months now and there are additional incentives for people to spend more time in regional areas. The thing about backpackers is, they don’t go home with money in their pockets. They go home having spent it all here. I want to see more than $1 billion spent every year by backpackers in regional parts of Australia. It’s just a bit over $920 million at the moment and I’d like to see us have that as a goal, to have that spend by backpackers in Australia. Over a billion dollars would be a real boon for our regional communities.
STEVE AUSTIN: So you see that by making these visa adjustments for backpacker workers, that’s actually an economic stimulus package for the Australian economy?
PRIME MINISTER: Particularly for regional economies, because they spend all the money there. We’ve put $5 million extra, I announced today, into Tourism Australia which they’ll spend over two years more heavily promoting backpacker tourism to Australia. I mean as you know, I came out of the tourism industry and backpackers come, they stay a long time, they travel all around the country, they drop their money everywhere in regional economies across Australia. That’s great for jobs, it’s great for the health and wellbeing of our economy. But we’ve also announced support for the Fair Farms initiative, to make sure that those who are working on these properties are treated right, that the farms have got to do the right thing by their employees who are taking on these jobs. We’ve also put money into the Fair Work Ombudsman to make sure workers are not exploited.
STEVE AUSTIN: Just on the issue of the economy, the Economist magazine last week or the week before wrote a very big feature article, the whole magazine, on “What the World can learn from Australia,” describing us as “perhaps the most successful rich economy.” But it strikes me that Australians don’t feel that. I mean for some reason in Australia – I’d be fascinated to know, give me your take on the Australian economy at the moment? Because here’s the Economist, last week says that we are perhaps the most successful rich economy in the world today. Yet if you were to walk down the streets of Brisbane, for some reason Australians don’t feel the effect of that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well there’s two issues here, one is we need to make sure the strength of our economy and the benefits of it spread right across our economy and it reaches all Australians. Not all Australians have felt that, that is absolutely true and that is why we’ll continue to work on ensuring, particularly in rural and regional areas, but in other places, that people get the benefit of that economy. It’s true that the Queensland economy has not been running as strongly as the national economy. The unemployment rate in Queensland here is higher than it is around the rest of the country nationally in New South Wales and Victoria. Those states are doing much better economically than in Queensland. That’s why we want to see the Queensland economy go forward and that’s why we’re investing so much in the infrastructure and these types of arrangements I’ve announced today which I think will be very supportive of the Queensland economy.
Now the other point is the relative one and I think that’s the point that is made in the Economist magazine. That is, we are very blessed to live in this country and Queenslanders are very blessed living in Queensland. You know, sometimes, we’re looking at only what’s happening on our side of the fence and not looking at what’s happening on the other side of the fence. If you look at any other economies around the world, it’s a very different story.
But I must say I was very disappointed when Andrew Leigh, one of Labor’s economic spokespeople federally was out there trashing the Australian economy in New York this week. I mean what’s that about? You go out of your own country and you bag your own country’s economy in one of the biggest financial markets in the world? I can’t understand why Bill Shorten put up with that.
STEVE AUSTIN: Where are you going next on your four day Queensland tour?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ll be enjoying the Melbourne Cup tomorrow with a lot of Queenslanders up there on the Sunshine Coast tomorrow. We’ll be heading up there and then we’ll be heading further north as the week progresses. As you said in your intro I’ll be finishing up in Townsville were we made that very big announcement securing their water supply. Last time I was in Townsville was when we announced the very big investment with the state Government to invest in their port infrastructure, to really open up the north Queensland economy. You know, if I bump into a few Cowboys players up there I’ll be pretty happy to see them as well. Who knows, JT might be about.
STEVE AUSTIN: You may not get out alive in a blue bus! But thanks for coming on the program.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks a lot Steve, great to be talking to you. Cheers.