Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: I’m pleased to be here with the Home Affairs Minister, Peter Dutton, and the Commissioner of the AFP. But before I speak about what we're here to announce today, there are almost 100 fires burning across New South Wales today. And I would again thank all of those authorities in New South Wales that are out there ensuring that people are being kept safe. I particularly want to thank all of those who are fighting fires today and all of those who are supporting people to be fighting those fires today, whether it's those who are battling [inaudible] and supporting in the operation centres or indeed all those employers who enable those who are volunteering today to be out there helping to keep their community safe. Whether it's up in the Central Coast, where we’ve seen, or just out of south west Sydney or other places. I mean, the haze in Sydney is obviously something that has been very distressing to people. This bushfire season is proving to be very, very difficult. And we've seen the bravery on display on every single day. So I want to thank all of those. So I just ask those people in New South Wales to check on that ’Fires Near Me’ app, an incredibly invaluable tool. I think it's been such a great support to people to know where the fires are and how they can react to those and what they should be doing. The information provision is part of it I think, and it’s been outstanding. So I commend the Rural Fire Service in New South Wales in particular for the great work they’re doing. We're all with you today.
But here today, we're here to announce a further step in our most important job, of any government, and that is to keep Australians safe. And here we are doing that through rolling out 135 new officers right across nine airports across Australia with new equipment, new training, new support to be able to respond to, to deter and take charge of incidents at our airports in response to threats that present. The new equipment you've just seen on display and this is being supported by the new powers that we've been able to take through the Parliament to ensure that our police, those who are charged with protecting the safety of all of those going through our airports, which is not just, of course, Australians, but the many visitors we have to our country, that they are in the best possible position. This trial has already been running for a period of time, both here in Canberra and up in Brisbane. We'll be rolling out in the new year into Sydney and Melbourne and ultimately across these nine different locations. We are world leaders in this area and I want to commend the commissioner on the great work the AFP has been doing and his predecessor as well who have been working on this program. We are world leaders in this area. And we look at the best experience around the world to ensure we're deploying what we need here on the ground to keep people safe. And so as people move around, they will see these officers appearing more and more around our airports. And I would hope that that gives people a great sense of reassurance. They are there to protect the public, the travelling public. And I also want to thank Minister Dutton, on the great work the Home Affairs Department does to support, ensuring not just that they've got stronger powers, more resources, and there's never been any doubt about the commitment and dedication to the job of the tremendous team at the AFP. So with that I’ll ask the Minister, to take you through more of the operational detail, and I’ll ask the Commissioner to do the same.
THE HON. PETER DUTTON MP, MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS: PM, Thank you very much. Thanks very much to Commissioner Kershaw for being here today as well. Thank you to Canberra Airport for hosting us, obviously there has been a trial both in Brisbane and in Canberra, and [inaudible] for the short barrelled rifle and an enhanced presence of police who have capacity to detect incidents, particularly those where firearms are involved. Where there might be the use for canine- dogs for example, so there's a lot of opportunity, right on cue as Mark says. A lot of opportunity for us to really enhance the security settings at our airports, because we know that for whatever reason terrorists will always look at airports as a target point. And I want to say, as the Prime Minister pointed out, to all those that are travelling this Christmas through our airports to be reassured by the presence of these officers, I want to say thank you very much to the Australian Federal Police officers here with us today, the PSOs, the specialists, particularly the canine handlers, those that are involved in bomb detection et cetera. They are world leaders. And the level of professionalism and the skill that they have and that they bring to their job should make Australians feel safe. And it's only two years ago as we know where we had an incident where terrorists attempted to take an explosive device onto an aircraft destined for the Middle East. And if that A380 had of blown up, of course, it would be an absolute disaster. And that's what we seek to avoid every day at our airports, we’ve got an investment now of $107 million dollars to provide support and training for those officers and again I repeat, thanks again to the Commissioner for his leadership for the organisation and ask him to say a few words now.
REECE KERSHAW APM, COMMISSIONER OF THE AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE: Thank you Minister. First, I would like to thank the Prime Minister and the Minister for this significant investment in ensuring that our nine designated major airports across this country are safeguarded and also secure from public order. This specialist capability will include up to 17 teams across Australia, the specialists in training in particular in our protection operation response team will be trained in rapid assessment, in hostile reconnaissance and including the deployment of the short barrel rifle, which I want to reassure our community out there travelling through these airports this is a positive step toward ensuring we have the capability to respond to any major incident. In addition, these teams will include a canine capability, which will include identifying explosive devices and firearms and other technology that we’ll be deploying at the airports. It will ensure that our mission remains the same as it is now, that we are, to make sure that we have a safe environment in these airports and ensure the safety of Australians and the public as they move through this airport environment.
JOURNALIST: PM, this is a 2018-19 budget allocation, why has it taken 18 months to roll out 135 police officers if the threat is so present?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I'll ask the Commissioner to talk about the roll out of the program, and the initial funding as it was provided. There was also the additional powers that we've created in the legislation which followed that. And the trial has been in place and ensuring that we get this absolutely right. And the training is in place and the officers are being recruited and it is rolled out around the country. And I’ll ask the Commissioner to add further.
COMMISSIONER KERSHAW: Thanks Prime Minister, yes, the training- given it is specialist training, it takes a while to actually gear up to be able to deliver that. It takes up to two weeks just for the short barrel rifle, we also we also have our rapid appraisal. So there's a number of blocks of training that have to occur. In addition, we're trialling the model in Canberra and Brisbane to make sure that when we roll out, it's fit for purpose.
JOURNALIST: Were there any concerns raised during the trial from members of the public about the presence of these weapons?
COMMISSIONER KERSHAW: That hasn't come to my attention. And again, it's a good thing for our front line. We need to make sure that we are able to respond to a critical incident. And just our friends over the ocean there- that officer that was able to take down Tarrant, had an M4 on him. And arguably was able to resolve that peacefully. These are a preventative tool as well as one that we can protect our officers and the members of public.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, to a lot of Australians this might look like they're going to face an increased risk at the airports and that you're responding to it. What's your advice? Is security risk levels at airports increasing? Is it stable, what’s your latest advice?
PRIME MINISTER: Well today’s announcement doesn't reflect a change to the alert and risk level that’s in place. But what it does recognise is an understanding of the new world, which we all live in today. And I think all Australians understand there needs to be a heightened sense of security, particularly at places like airports, as we've seen in many other places at public gatherings. This is common sense. This is understanding the world in which we live, and trying to make sure that the Australians and the travelling public from overseas and visitors are kept safe. And so the message here is that we are very much looking to continue to stay ahead of these issues. There are many things that have been done, but to be able to thwart the number of terrorist incidents in Australia that's been achieved by our AFP and ASIO and our other agencies I think is a tremendous endorsement of the fine work that they do. This is just a further extension of that. We've got to give our enforcement agencies, the powers, the resources, the tools, the training and the leadership to keep Australians safe. That's what we're doing here. And it's something we do carefully. And we do that in a way which I think brings the public along with us as we've done.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, for 15 months work, Scott Cam’s being paid about $350,000 dollars…
PRIME MINISTER: Why don’t we just stay on the issue of the day, I’m happy to deal with other issues as always but at that time I might excuse the Commissioner when we talk about other matters. Are there any other questions that are relating to today's announcement?
JOURNALIST: I just had a question in for Cairns, how the roll-out is going to work in 2021 at Cairns airport?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah sure, I’ll let the Commissioner answer your question.
COMMISSIONER KERSHAW: It will work.
MINISTER DUTTON: I might just add, he’s not normally as brief as that- so what people will see in Cairns and at the other 8 major airports is a specialist unit of police keeping people safe at airports. So there will be the short barrel rifle. But there will also be a greater presence of the canines, as well as the specialist officers that can deal with the threat of a bomb or an explosive device threat. So people in regional areas, including Cairns, will see that roll out progressively and as the Commissioner rightly says, it will work.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister just on other issues?
PRIME MINISTER: Ok, thank you very much, Commissioner. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
JOURNALIST: So according to AM this morning, the peak body for Indigenous prevention of family violence, the National Family Violence Prevention and Legal Services Forum, is going to be defunded in June 2020. Do you think that that is the right decision?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there are always issues of ongoing funding going right across the budget from 2020-2021 [inaudible] with those matters in the normal way.
JOURNALIST: Scott Cam paid $350,000 for 15 months work, does that pass the pub test?
PRIME MINISTER: Look I make no apology for trying to get young people in particular into trades. This is a massive issue which is going to affect Australia's productivity. We need to get young people understanding the opportunity there is of taking on trades and skills education and so they can see the wonderful economic opportunities that would be there for them by going into those areas. Now, this is a challenge. And so we're going to enlist every single opportunity, every single resource we can to get that message across. And Scotty Cam is a successful tradie and he can make that message very clear. Now, we make no secret about the fact that he wasn't doing it as a volunteer and he has done this work for previous Labor governments as well. So, look, this is about getting young people into trades. And he’s a high profile person involved in the media industry. And you have to meet the market.
JOURNALIST: One of the biggest sticking points PM with the New Zealand offer to resettle refugees is that refugees who resettle there could come straight back across the ditch under the Trans-Tasman arrangements. Behrouz Boochani is in New Zealand at the moment and he’s applied for asylum previously, Minister Dutton said that if he was granted asylum in New Zealand he wouldn't be allowed back or wouldn't be allowed into Australia. Why can you block Behrouz Boochani but you can't block any of the other asylum seekers or refugees?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the government's position on the issues of people being able to come across from New Zealand under those circumstances are set out in the legislation that we’ve put into the Parliament. And we’ve sought to put into the parliament and have passed. But right now that that is not a matter that we're currently progressing.
JOURNALIST: A report to the UN climate conference is saying that there’s pretty dire predictions for reef tourism due to climate change, you comfortable with the cooperation with the Queensland Government and the level of funding currently available to protecting the reef against climate change?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've made record investments in the Reef, and in particular record investments in the science that supports the management of the reef. The other thing that is fantastic is we've seen a 411 tonne [inaudible] we will now beat out Kyoto 2020 target, not by 367 million tonnes. We will beat it by 411 million tonnes. In the last two years we've seen emissions fall and emissions are now at a level lower than at any time under the previous government since we were elected, and so our policies to take action on climate change are getting results. We meet and beat our Kyoto 2020 targets even by more than we had said before. And we will continue to progress those initiatives because taking action on these issues is incredibly important and we're following through on the policies we took to the last election. And we're getting the results we said we would get at the last election.