Prime Minister
THE HON. ANDREW WALLACE MP, FEDERAL MEMBER FOR FISHER: Well, it's wonderful to welcome the Prime Minister and the Environment Minister Sussan Ley to the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital here at Beerwah, and I know, Prime Minister, you are an absolute champion for the Shire. But let me tell you, you are now in God's country. And look, that’s part of the reason why we're here today. Tens of thousands of people from around Australia are moving to the Sunshine Coast and South East Queensland to call it home. What that means is that we end up with more houses, more cars, more dogs, and what that does is it threatens our native wildlife population, including, and particularly, our wonderful koalas.
I want to send out a huge shout out and a thank you to Robert. It's terrific for Robert to be with us here today. Robert, you have done such great work. I have no doubt that your dad is immensely proud of you, as I’m sure he would be proud of Bindi and Terri, for the terrific conservation work that you're doing and continuing to do in his name. And, can I tell you, the Sunshine Coast is really proud of you as well, because no matter where I go in the world, people say when they find out I’m from Queensland, they say, ‘Oh do you, do you live near Australia Zoo?’ And I say, ‘Not only do I live near Australia Zoo, but it's in my electorate.’ So well done for the work that you do.
I want to send a bit of a shout out to the University of the Sunshine Coast, Peter Timms, for the great work that he's doing in relation to his chlamydia research. And also, Australia Zoo partner with other like-minded organisations like Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, and they’ve got Georgia here today from them. So, you know, you don’t just look after this patch of the woods, you look after the whole of the South East Queensland, in conjunction with great organisations like USC and Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. So, on that, PM, great to have you here on the Sunshine Coast. And Minister Ley, you are very, very welcome.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much, Andrew, and to Robert and to your whole family, the Irwin family. They really are a first family of Australian conservation and wildlife and this amazing facility, which not only cares and look after our wildlife, it educates, it reaches out and gives people an amazing experience and lets them fall in love with Australian wildlife, in the same way that your family always has. And not just the cuddly ones, either. And we had a good cuddle with those koalas today, and they are such a symbol, in so many ways, of Australian wildlife.
But as Robert was explaining to me, in all of the work that he does, particularly overseas and talking to people, it draws people in. And it's not just the koalas. It's the many other amazing Australian wildlife, some of which are threatened and needs our care and needs our conservation. And that is an important part of caring for our country, as Indigenous Australians have been doing for over 60,000 years. And the way we best do that, as I know Robert knows, is you do it together - you do it with our scientists, you do it with our conservationists, you do it with mum and dad stopping on the side of the road, and if they're seeing a wildlife has been injured, checking the pouch and they bring them here and they look after them, and building that awareness of looking after our amazing wildlife in this country and to increase our biodiversity. And that's what we've been doing as a Government. These are the practical things that you do when you care for a country - you care for the country itself and you care for those who who live on that country. And that, in particular, is the amazing wildlife that we have in this country and of all, of all shapes and sizes.
I met a fairly large one yesterday, Robert, a very big shape and size, in Cassius up there on Green Island. So from the, from the great and mighty to the cuddly, earlier in our visit today, we've really experienced a great breadth of the wonder of Australia's wildlife.
And so we are lifting our investment - $24 million so far we've invested in protecting and supporting and conserving our koala populations, particularly along the east coast of Australia. And we're lifting that by a further $50 million today. And this is a a commitment that is it's already in the Budget. It is there and the programs start, and these programs are designed to do a number of things. The first and most significant part of the program is to care for their habitat, because without the habitat, you don't have the wildlife and all the things they need to survive and to flourish. And so caring for that habitat is a critical part of this program, and Minister Ley will take you through that.
And Sussan's done a terrific job, just like yesterday with the reef, in pulling this together, working and consulting with so many people to bring forward the best possible package. We're monitoring their health. We're investing in the world-leading science in looking after our koala populations. We are also investing heavily in education to ensure not only the public can understand how they can care, but also, importantly, veterinarians right across the country. I mean, they have amazing skills, but there's some quite specific ones when it comes to dealing with koalas, and especially when when bushfires can ravage our country, they are often the face of the victims of the wildlife of our country when they hit. And, as a result, there's been an increased demand from vets who want to know more, who want to understand more. And so this program is also about supporting them. Some 1,000 vet nurses is going to be supported through this program.
So, you know, we love to throw our arms around koalas and they love to throw their arms around us when we get to have a cuddle. And what this is about is continuing to throw our arms around our koala population and care for them in the way that I believe all Australians would want us to. And that's a window into the broader wildlife population that we need to support. Now, I'm going to ask Sussan to to say a few things about the details of this program, and then I'd just like to say one or two things about a couple of other issues, particularly, go Ash!
THE HON. SUSSAN LEY MP, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT: Thank you very much, Prime Minister. And, Andrew, it's terrific to be back in your patch on the Sunshine Coast. Robert Irwin, to you and your team at Australia Zoo, you do what you do extraordinarily well. And, you're not just a zoo, you're a conservation organisation. The work that you do, the tentacles that spread out from here to protect our precious native Australian wildlife is well known and well understood by many Australians.
This $50 million package builds on, as the Prime Minister said, the work we're already doing that's dedicated to the koala, and lifts it to $74 million. Of course, there's so much more that we're doing under bushfire recovery, that also relates to this iconic species and its habitat. So the announcement is, it symbolises the practical environmental mission of the Morrison Government, which is about doing things that count, doing them on the ground, doing them with communities and actually seeing the results.
So, much of this work is already underway. For example, our partnership with the World Wildlife Federation to use drones to seed trees in new koala habitat. So $20 million of this package is all about new habitat. That work's already started in what are known as arks in northern New South Wales, where we know there are strong populations of koalas and we want to make them stronger. Ten million dollars of the package is for community action on the ground, because wherever you go, you find a community completely invested in its koala population and wanting to do more for it. And that's really important. And I'm continuing what I started as Minister, which was a national census, if you like - a a national monitoring program - because we have to field the baseline data that tells us how many koalas we have, where they are and what the best interventions are to protect them.
Talking to Professor Timms from Sunshine Coast University this morning, we're all concerned about the incidence of disease - chlamydia - in our koala populations. So much of this package is dedicated to finding some breakthrough innovative techniques to treat koalas that are affected, and we estimate that up to 50 per cent are in New South Wales and Queensland. So it's really important that we continue to to do that.
And, Andrew, you would well know, as your population, your people drive around and they see an injured koala and they may bring them here. They may bring them to their local vet. Some of what we're doing with this announcement is training local vets who may not have had the expertise in treating wildlife, particularly koalas, because they're a very dedicated special species, and they require that special treatment. So this is pretty exciting. It's ongoing, of course. Work in habitat restoration and building the best possible environment for our native species in the face of the pressures that are around them is vital. So, thank you again, Australia Zoo, and thank you for having us this morning.
PRIME MINISTER: Robert.
ROBERT IRWIN, AUSTRALIA ZOO: Thanks. G’day. Yeah, well, I want to pass on a thank you, Prime Minister, and Mr Wallace and Minister Ley, thank you so much for coming in today. It's wonderful to have you here. We, at Australia Zoo and as the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital, we're wildlife conservationists through and through and this is, our our mission is to stand up and speak for those who don't have a voice, and koalas, they're absolutely our Aussie icons. They're an animal that we really specialise on a lot here at the Wildlife Hospital. We've taken in over 110,000 animals, and well over 10,000 of those are koalas. They're a very specialised creature and an animal that is unfortunately under unprecedented threat. As our towns and cities expands, roads expand. Koalas are having a really, really tough time and they're pushed into areas they've never been before, and they they are on the thin edge of the wedge. And so any kind of support that we can get is greatly, greatly appreciated and and very, very needed. Our environment is is suffering at the moment. And so any steps that we can make toward a brighter future to make positive change. There's a lot of work that needs to be done. And it's it's really good to see that our beautiful icon species are going to be better protected. We're so proud here at the Wildlife Hospital to be caring for them, and, you know, our our family are here to fight the good fight for many years to come. So a big thank you. Thanks very much.
PRIME MINISTER: Good on you. Thank you very much. Well, before the weather beats us, time for a few quick questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, a big announcement yesterday in North Queensland, up in the state of Leichhardt. Down in Longman in the south east today, another major announcement. It goes a long way to suggest that you feel that Queensland, particularly both these seats - Labor wants these seats. We know that - it goes a long way to suggest that Queensland could perhaps be the swing state at the next election.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we're doing is making the announcements that went into our Budget, and these announcements were brought together and form part of the measures that were in the mid-year statement. And so we're making those announcements now, as we indicated we would, on really important issues that we were working through all through the course of last year. And the reef management program was a big one. The Reef 2050 Plan we are committed to and we've backed that up with a billion dollars in funding. And here we are today, following through with other important initiatives in looking after our koala population. So this is what a government that cares for country does, and that's what we're doing. Now, I'm thrilled to be back here in Queensland. I've spent most of the last 12 months locked up in in Canberra and Sydney, and so the first chance I get to get up here, I take it every single time. And so it's been a while. So it's been great to get back into Queensland. I love coming up here into Queensland and I just want to thank Queenslanders - I've only been here a couple of days on this, on this visit - for the really warm welcome they've given to Jenny and I while we've been here, and and we had a particularly warm welcome from from two very cute little koalas today.
JOURNALIST: Both both very big environmental announcements.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah.
JOURNALIST: So are you trying to boost, I guess, your green presence?
PRIME MINISTER: We're we're just doing what government should do. See, we're governing. That's what we're doing. That's that's that's what we've been doing over the course of this term - making the decisions that Australians need to be made to get us through the pandemic to ensure our economy is strong. I've been particularly pleased to see the figures that we released yesterday, which showed that we're just getting so many more Australians back into work and off welfare. I mean, that's one of, that's one of the biggest goals, if not the greatest goal that we have as a Government - that we want to see people get into work. When I saw that youth unemployment figure fall to below 10 per cent, it really did stir my heart. There is nothing more exhilarating than seeing young people get jobs, and there's a lot of them at work here too. Here's one. But, you know, seeing young people get jobs just lights me up every single time. And that's what we're about. And this is about another important responsibility we have as a Government. This is governing. This is what it looks like.
JOURNALIST: Is there an overarching element, though, of course, of climate change? Obviously, we've seen bushfires and simply devastating weather events. Are you doing enough to address that?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, Australia's emissions have fallen by over 20 per cent. And there there are a few countries, developed countries, that, you know, get into that league, particularly with economies like ours. You compare us to countries like Canada, Japan, New Zealand, United States - we we outstrip them all. So we're getting it done. See, Australians just get on and do it, and that's what our Government is doing. We've already seen a more than 20 per cent reduction in emissions. We've got one in four households with solar rooftops. It's one of the, it's the highest rate in the world. And then, on top of that, what we're doing is working with our partners in the region - countries like Indonesia, for example - and to ensure that we can help them go on this new energy journey as well. Because I can tell you, whether it's the reef or whether it's our environment, I'll tell you what's putting the impact on climate - emissions that are rising in developing countries. And we want to help them make the transition in what we're doing with hydrogen. You can have many conferences you like, but unless in countries, developing countries, that need jobs - countries like India, countries throughout South East Asia, Vietnam and so on - we're working with them to help them make the transition where they can have an economy that is on lower emissions, but also an economy that has jobs to support their people. And that's how you get it done. The reason climate change will continue to have pressure is because of rising emissions in developing countries, and that's where we have to get it fixed. We're doing our bit. We'll have a 35 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030. That's what our forecasts are, and we may well do better than that. We're meeting and beating our commitments, like we always have. It's always surprising when I go overseas and talk to people about our record. You know, they are amazed when I tell them, and many Australians may be amazed if they're hearing this now - Australia's emissions have fallen by more than 20 per cent since 2005. That's about five times more than in Canada. It's it's a great achievement by Australians, and a lot of that was done in our agricultural sector.
JOURNALIST: Melbourne are bidding for the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Will the Federal Government provide some funding and support for that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we haven't received any any information on that. As you know, here in Queensland, we we were the first in the, in the cart when it came to the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, and very pleased to be doing that. I mean, the Olympics and Comm Games are very different propositions, but we'll see what happens there. And, we'll, you know, we've got experience in those areas, but these are predominantly and principally decisions of state governments. So if they're making that decision, I'm sure they're doing it knowing that they can carry the the financial load of doing that.
JOURNALIST: How will this big spending work to, I guess, bring down our debt?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the way you reduce your debt is you ensure that you grow your economy, in an economy like this. See the demands of on the Government on essential services don't go away. Whether it's the National Disability Insurance Scheme, whether it's aged care, whether it's caring for our country, like the announcements we have here - you know what pays for all that? A strong economy. And that's why having a strong economy over the next five years, over the next 12 months, over the next three years, is so important. If you want to have the sort of environmental programs that we're investing in, if you want to have an NDIS that's fully funded, if you want to support aged care, if you want to do all of these things, then what you need is a strong economy. That is what unlocks the ability to do all of those things as a government, and our Government has got a very strong record on the economy. I mean, yes, we have one of the lowest death rates from COVID in the world, and particularly on Omicron. But we also have one of the strongest advanced economies in the world coming through the pandemic, and that sets us up. But you can't take it for granted. If you have policies that undermine that growth, that take you in a different direction and with people who can't manage money, then you can find yourself in a lot of strife. So there's a lot at stake. But Australia is set up well with our economy to succeed.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, it's been a torrid week for the Queensland Government. You've probably seen the reports about the integrity being questioned of the, of the Premier's Cabinet, of people within the public sector. There's been some some torrid reports by people that used to work there. I guess there'd be some comments from you, a reminder to people to keep their integrity whilst working in the public sector?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, of course. And, look, I I've, I'm very grateful to the public servants that I work with, and I've always had a very respectful relationship with them and we have a bit of a code between us and the public service - expect and respect. I expect strong performance and we respect their professionalism and their integrity to do their job, and the heads of our public service, and particularly the Minister for the Public Service Ben Morton, this is a very strong focus of his. And the Federal Government's public servants have done an extraordinary job through the course of the pandemic. I remember early on in the pandemic, you know, we had people answering Services Australia calls to make sure that they could get their payments. We had people working who are normally working on committee reports in the Parliament crammed into meeting rooms in Canberra, taking calls and making sure people could get what they needed. Our public servants have done a terrific job for the Commonwealth Government and and we rely on them heavily, and but we also expect, you know, those high standards, which which are imposed on on politicians as well.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] it's quite ironic that you're here in Queensland today, you've got an iconic Queenslander next to you.
PRIME MINISTER: Few, few more iconic than the Irwin family.
JOURNALIST: There's a Queenslander, of course, an Aussie, but there's a Queenslander representing all of Australia tonight in a tennis game.
PRIME MINISTER: There is. Look, unfortunately Jen and I and the girls can't be there tonight, but like most Australians, we'll be huddled around our television screen cheering, cheering Ash on. She is is an amazing Australian. She's got a wonderful team. One of the things I love about Ash is she she always talks about 'we'. She she very rarely talks about 'I', and she sees what she's doing as the spearhead of of a much bigger unit. And that's that's a that's just such a great example, I think, to the country. I've got two daughters, I, you know. I think Ash is just wonderful from that perspective. So she's won before she's even walked out on the court tonight, I think I'd say that on behalf of all Australians. But gee, we'll be cheering. And then, of course, there's the doubles - four Aussies lining up, the M&Ms and the Special Ks.
JOURNALIST: Who are you going for?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, I’m going for Australia.
JOURNALIST: Are you a Kyrgios fan?
PRIME MINISTER: I've got to say, look, I think they're all great, I think they're all great. I love, I love how Nick speaks his mind, and I think that's terrific. I think he's great for tennis, frankly. But I think it's going to be a great Aussie night, a really great Aussie night. And we say that here at the Australia Zoo, which is another great Aussie place to be. So thanks very much for coming out today. And Robert, again, mate, thank you for everything you're doing. I hear you're not swapping these conservation shoes for dancing shoes just yet.
ROBERT IRWIN, AUSTRALIA ZOO: Not yet mate, not yet.
PRIME MINISTER: You've got too much work to do looking after the koalas. But thank you to everything that your family has done for our country and for our wildlife, but particularly, you've been such a great ambassador for our country overseas.
ROBERT IRWIN, AUSTRALIA ZOO: Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Good on you mate.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I just ask, just on entertainers, before you go. I know you love your American hip hop - Kanye West or is it Ye now, I'm not sure who it is - he wants to come out on tour. He's had one jab. What's your thoughts?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I, the thoughts are the rules. The rules are you've got to be fully vaccinated. They're the rules. They apply to everybody, as people have seen most recently. It doesn't matter who you are, they're the rules. Follow the rules, you can come. You don't follow the rules, you can't. Ok, thanks everyone.