Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: Well thank you very much for that very kind introduction. I love being in Western Australia, I love being here in Perth. I always get such a warm welcome when I'm here. So many friends here from so many years of coming across to Western Australia. And there's something very special about today's gathering and I could make many acknowledgements this morning because there are so many great and good Western Australians who are here amongst us, including of course my colleagues led by Mathias Cormann. Of course, I want to acknowledge the traditional owners, Elders past and present and those emerging. I also want to acknowledge our servicemen and women who are in the room today and say simply to those who have served and veterans, thank you for your service. There's a very proud history of service here in Western Australia.
But a person I want to acknowledge this morning is Kerry Stokes. This event, this vision - I'm going to talk to you about my vision today, but the vision that you’ve seen realised through Kerry here at the Seven West Telethon is something truly remarkable. $37 million raised in the last event alone. More than 40 incredibly worthy and amazing organisations have been the beneficiary of this tremendous initiative. And what I really like about this initiative is it isn't Seven West is writing out the cheque, it’s Seven West harnessing the goodwill of Western Australians for each other. That's what's happening here at this event, that's why I think it's such a great thing. Yes, it's generous. Yes, it's impactful because I know Richard Goyder who leads the charge on this understands and manages that process incredibly well. But its great beauty is how it harnesses the passion and empathy of Western Australians and people around the country to support these incredible causes. So if can you join me in thanking Kerry Stokes.
[Applause]
A fair go for those who have a go. You’ve probably heard me say that before. That’s why I like Western Australia. Because here in Western Australia, there is no better example of that way of doing things. That expectation of every single resident of this incredible state. And I believe this is a fundamentally Australian value. A fair go for those who have a go. Fairness isn't just about everybody gets the same. We didn't build this country on that principle. We built it on a very different principle that you have to show up. That you have to make an effort. That you have responsibility for yourself. But also to extend that to those around you. This notion of responsibility as the trigger, the entry if you like. Being able to benefit from this country's great opportunities, I think, is a fundamental principle. And I particularly think about it when I think of the migrants who've come from all over the world. Unless we’re Indigenous, like Ken, then we have all come from somewhere else at some point in time. And people have come to this country for this very principle - a fair go for those who have a go. And our migrant history of this country is one of our migrant communities doing exactly that. That's what they were hoping for. That's what they were looking for. To make a contribution, not to take one. And that's what a fair go for those who have a go means. And that's why it is the fundamental principle that sits underneath every single plan, every single policy, that me and my team, my Liberal National team, are implementing now as we have over the last five and a half years and seek to continue to implement into the future.
Now this principle of a fair go for those who have go was deeply violated by the way GST was being distributed in this country. The decisions I took as Treasurer to take action on this was not borne out of any sort of sentiment or, you know, sweet beliefs about Western Australia or how lovely you all are - of course that’s the case. But it wasn't about that. It was about ensuring that the way that the GST was distributed was distributed on the principle of a fair go for those who have a go. And this is the ‘have a go’ state. And the ‘have a go’ state was not getting a fair deal and that needed to change. And that was the point being made by The West Australian. And they gave me quite a good stick, I've got to tell you, when I became Treasurer. Just like Steve Irons, who was my flatmate in Canberra who would give me quite a bit of stick on this issue every single day, as a proud Western Australian. And I remember the day after I resolved in my own mind, and working within the senior levels of government, that this was something we had to fix. That it could not be kicked down the road any longer, that we had to take it head on, and we had to deal with is, and it would not be easy. And I want to thank Seven West because they had rightly been advocating on this issue. They have rightly been championing this issue, just like so many of my colleagues here in Western Australia have. Whether it was Christian Porter, who as a state treasurer here was also such a strong advocate, and all of my team. But The West Australian, they led the charge and so I remember the meeting I had. And I said, “Look, you better be rough with me. But I want to know one answer to one question when we sat down. Do you want to fix this, or do you just want a campaign?” And you won't be surprised that the answer from Seven West is no, we want to fix it. We want to see this fixed. That's why we’re in this. And so I said, “Look, this isn't going to be easy. An eastern state Treasurer who has got to go and convince not only everybody back on the other side of the country, but we have to work out how we can actually achieve this.” And I said this is going to take you some time. And so you need to give me some room and some space to go and get a solution and get people on board for the switch. And I want to thank Seven West and The West Australian for giving me that time. Because without that time, then I think it would have been very difficult to achieve and I think what that shows is the pragmatic advocacy that was brought to this issue in the public arena from The West.
So I think people understood here that the argument was never going to be won on some parochial argument. It had to be won on its merits, and the merits were that the principle of a fair go for those who have a go was not operating. Now, I'm pleased to say it is operating now because together we've with Mathias and the whole team, we have legislated this. That deal is done. It's locked, it’s in by none less than the Governor-General of Australia. To give security to Western Australians about their access to that fair share forever. And of all the things that I think they've been able to achieve here in Western Australia, I think this is a very significant moment. Not just because of how it enables Western Australia to be able to guarantee the essential services that Western Australians rely on. But I think it says something very clearly on behalf of my government to Western Australians - when I say I'm going to do something, I will do it. I won't lead people along. I won't give them false promises. But if I say I'm going to do it, you better look at out, because I’m going to. Whether it's on stopping the boats. Whether it's on reforming our welfare system, getting the Budget back into balance. Reforming the GST, the first of its kind since Federation began. If I set my mind on that and I believe that is in the country's interests, wild horses will not drag me away from achieving that goal. I'm often criticised for being a little too hard-headed on these things. But I'll tell you what, problems require some hard-headedness sometimes to be able to crash through. All of the naysayers and all of those who think it can't be achieved. But this why I like Western Australia, because you get this. You get this notion of vision, you get this notion of achievement.
So let me tell you in 10 quick points what is that plan for a stronger economy for Australia. It's the plan we've been delivering. A plan that has delivered more than one and a quarter million jobs in the last five and a half years. That has reduced unemployment down to the lowest level in a very long time. It now has a 4 in front of it, 4.9 per cent. And I know things in Western Australia are still on their way back. It is a plan that has already ensured that the proportion of Australians of working age in this country who have a job is at the highest level in our history. That's right, higher than what it was under the Howard/Costello government. It is now at the highest level. That our welfare dependence of the working age population is at its lowest level in more than 30 years. That our expenditure is under control. The lowest level of spending growth of a federal government in more than 50 years. This plan is based on ensuring, of course, that the government lives within its means and next week we will hand down the first Budget surplus in 12 years. 12 years. Why is that so important? Well, if you vote Labor once, you will pay for it for more than a decade. In 2007, going into that election, the government had a $20 billion dollar surplus and there was $40 billion dollars in the bank. Labor reversed that in the space of a year. And then they just kept going. And it has taken us more than 10 years for a Treasurer to stand at the despatch box again, as Josh Frydenberg will do with Mathias’ support next Tuesday night and announce a surplus. And that comes from just the sheer determination and will to get expenditure under control. To put in place the measures that drive your economy forward. And just the sheer everyday competent discipline of running a responsible government.
So next Tuesday will be a very important day, because it's the day we got back. It's the day Australia got back to where the Howard government left us and it's taken us more than a decade to achieve it. And so no one should be under any mistake that if you vote Labor in this next election, you're voting for a decade and more of economic hardship and difficulty, setting the nation on the wrong course for our economy. Lower taxes is part of our plan. And it's not just a promise because we've legislated. $144 billion worth of personal income tax relief right across the board, I stress. See, our view on taxes is you don't have to tax some people more to tax other people less. I think that violates the fair go principle for those who have a go. I don't buy into the politics of envy. I am a fully signed up member on the politics of aspiration and the economics of aspiration, which I think Western Australians understand. Lower taxes is about ensuring that when you earn more, you keep more of what you want. And I want Australians to earn more and that will come from a stronger economy, not some magic wand in the union movement or a Labor prime minister who thinks he can wave his magic wand and all of a sudden everybody's wages go up. That is a cruel hoax and it is a cruel thing to say to Australians, because that policy he is speaking about will cost other Australians their jobs. Someone always suffers under Labor for them to do something for someone else. Not under our government.
Under our government, we want tax relief for all Australians. We want tax relief by backing small and family and medium sized businesses. Whether it's been our plan to reduce the payment terms for small businesses down from over 30 days down to 20 days which comes in place on the 1st of July of this year. Where there's the small business tax relief, the instant asset write-off which we have raised to 25,000 for companies up to $10 million. Whether it's the investments we're making in the small business loan securitisation fund so small businesses can get access to capital. Ensuring affordable and reliable energy. Now, in Western Australia that’s a more achievable goal because of the sensible arrangements that you have here, particularly in relation to gas. But for all of Australia to do better, including Western Australia, then all of Australia has to do better. And that means having sensible energy policies for both households and businesses. And just this week, we've announced a series of initiatives to ensure that we're getting, in the east coast, some 4,000 megawatt capacity additions to the market through the underwriting proposal that is being put forward to us by the ACCC which we've adopted. And that comes on top of our series of investments that will see our emissions reduction targets achieved, while not costing us our economy. Investing in hydro and other important energy sources that will provide reliability and sustainability for the future and keep electricity prices down. Get them down, keep the lights on while at the same time meeting our emissions reduction targets.
Building the transport and technology infrastructure Australia needs in the future. Now today I'll be joined by Mathias and many others from my team. We'll be announcing $1.6 billion additional, which will be in next week's Budget, for an investment in Australian infrastructure here in the West. Now, we have already been big investors here but this will be on roads of strategic importance. Projects like the Tonkin Highway. Projects like METRONET. All of these things which are designed for Australians, frankly, to get home sooner and safer, or to work sooner and safer and people can get out of the traffic and onto the site. These are practical projects. Our congestion busting projects. We've currently got a rolling program of infrastructure investment around the country, some $75 billion dollars, and that continues into the future. We've got to drive all of our industries forward, all of them. Sure, the bright shiny new ones, they’re tremendous. The exciting innovation that’s taking place there [inaudible] in the medical instruments industry and the health industry. This is fantastic, but we want agriculture to go forward. We want mining to go forward. We want forestry to go forward. We want our traditional industries to continue to go forward. We need all our industries to continue and a diversity in our industries. And so no, we won’t embrace policies like the Labor Party will with their 45 per cent emissions reduction target which will wipe out aluminium smelters in this country and hit industry. We won’t do that. Or increasing the costs of agricultural production and to this day, I can tell you tonne by tonne where we will be meeting our emissions reduction targets. Our opponents still, after all these years, cannot answer the most basic questions. Will you use the carry over targets from Kyoto? Will you use taxpayers’ money to buy foreign carbon credits as part of your emissions reduction costs? What’s the overall emissions abasement budget you have to meet? Is it 1.1 billion tonnes or 1.4 billion tonnes? I can tell you what ours is, it’s 328 million tonnes and we have a plan to meet all of that over the next 10 years. The reckless targets of an emissions reduction target of 45 percent will shut down industries and it will and shutdown jobs and particularly the cuts here in WA.
We need to ensure Australians of all generations have the skills they need. I'm frustrated as I'm sure many of you are, that our current schools arrangements delivered across the country are not hitting the mark. And you know it's not about just money. You can chuck more money down the funnel and just see it go to the same place it's going now. We need to rethink how we're achieving things in the skills area across this country and that requires a closer collaboration about what is needed on the ground, on the shop floor, in the office, in the business and we'll have more to say about that.
I want to keep Australians working together. I hate this idea of setting one Australian against another. When I walk into the small and family businesses around the country, the thing I love hearing, “So how have you been here?” “I’ve been here about 12 years. 18 years, 7 years.” Men, women. Been to each others’ christenings and weddings. So has the boss. That's Australians working together in small and family businesses medium sized businesses around the country. They understand that it's an enterprise and you will do better by all working together. And the industrial conflict that Labor wants to bring to this country I think is very, very serious. I was down in Geelong the other day. And as I was announcing this project for fast rail between Melbourne and Geelong, there they were, standing behind me, chanting away – “union power, union power, union power”. Well that's what it's going to look like on your site, in your office, in your community. We don't want that. Australians want to work together. Australians want to get on together and we need to have an industrial system which doesn't try to set people against each other. Of course, we’ve got to keep big businesses accountable and pay the taxes. They need to keep investing in the future of the country. They need to ensure that they do the right thing by small and family businesses and those in agricultural sector and our competition laws need to protect against that. We’re seeing that in the banking and financial industry, certainly seeing it in the energy industry. We need to hold them to account and we will be, and we will continue to do that.
And we need to keep expanding our horizons with our export opportunities and our government has been so successful at this like none other before us, I believe. More opportunity into the future. That's what we want. More business opportunities because that means more jobs. It’s all about jobs. I’ll finish on this. It's all about jobs. Warren Mundine, as some of you may know, told me that when his grandfather got a job, it changed their family. And look at Warren now. A job changes a life. A job changes a family, a job changes a community and jobs change nations. You want to know what I’m about? Jobs. The thing I'm most proud of what our government has achieved is over one and a quarter million jobs for Australians. We've had record growth of jobs for young Australians, over 100,000 in one financial year, never achieved before. Those young people's lives are changed forever. You know, when I talk to businesses and they talk about employing young people, that's when their heart beats, that's when their chest pumps up. Because they know by running a good business, a competitive business, a business that's successful, they know they can employ people and change their lives.
So we're all in the same occupation here - creating jobs for Australians to create a stronger Australia. That's my plan. I will be seeking the support of all Australians to back, particularly here in Western Australia, so all Australians get a fair go for those who have a go. Thank you.