Prime Minister – Transcript – Address, Leadership Matters – Perth, WA

Liberal Party of Australia

PRIME MINISTER: It’s great to be here in the West. To Anthony De Ceglie, thank you very much for your very, very warm welcome here today. It’s great to see so many of you in one room, WA unmasked. It’s tremendous to see your shining, smiling faces, which they always are here in Western Australia.

Can I begin today by acknowledging the Whadjuk Nyoongar people – and pay my respects to their elders – past, present and emerging.

Can I also acknowledge the honoured place that Western Australians have played in the defence of Australia. Many of my own, members of my own team have served, and I honour the serving men and women who are with us today in WA from the Light Horse to the SAS, that is a great history of Western Australians serving our country. And so I thank all of you for your service, veterans in particular. I acknowledge of course the many Federal and State colleagues that are here today and there are many many. I could ask them to stand up, but I won’t do that today. I’m sure they’ve been getting amongst you, but particularly to Senator Cash who leads our wonderful Western Australian team here.

Thank you to you, Michaelia, to Linda Reynolds, who is here as a Cabinet member, as well as Ben Morton, the Special Minister of State and the all too important Member for Tangney, it’s great to have Ben here with me and the great job he’s been doing for Western Australia. To my many other colleagues who are here, I can see Celia Hammond, I can see Dean who’s here with me, and I’m sure many others.

Can I particularly acknowledge Ken Wyatt – Ken Wyatt is an extraordinary Australian. He is the first Indigenous Australian to become a Minister of the Federal Government and he is the first Indigenous Australian to be a Member of the Federal Cabinet. I can think a few prouder days, Ken, than the day you were sworn in at Government House as the first Indigenous Australian to be a member of the Federal Cabinet and in the portfolio as being the first Indigenous Australian to be the Minister for Indigenous Australians. Thank you, Ken Wyatt. But you all just know him as a great Western Australian, no doubt.

Look, I spoke to this gathering three years ago and it was just before the 2019 election was called. And that day I concluded by saying that we had a plan. A plan creating jobs for Australians to create a stronger Australia. And I can report to you today that since I made that promise here in Western Australia, employment in this state in Western Australia has increased by 121,400 people here, and the unemployment rate has almost halved from 6.1 per cent to 3.4 per cent. Now nationwide, unemployment is at 4 per cent and falling. At the lowest levels we have seen equal in half a century almost. And the number of Australians also of working age has never been higher in our country’s history than it is right now. Now, this is not an accident. This just doesn’t happen on its own. It is the result of a detailed and comprehensive economic plan that our Government has been diligently pursuing and is working. How do I know that our economic plan is working? Because Australians are working and doing so in record numbers.

But that’s what’s happened. I want to talk about where we’re going from here today. I want to talk about the future and about our plan to continue to keep our economy strong and to keep Australians safe, prepared to face what is an incredibly uncertain world, both in terms of the economy and international security issues and whatever else confronts us. Three years ago, few of us could have imagined the experience we’ve had as a nation for the last three years. But before I do, let me just engage a little in the premise of the Leadership Matters Series.

Every Prime Minister faces uncertainty. Moments that test the soul. I’ve certainly faced mine more than once. And when you make decisions in those moments, you got to do it in real time and you often have to do it usually on your own. You’re with your Cabinet, you’re with your colleagues, but at the end of the day, you have to make those decisions. And of course, when you find yourselves in those situations, you don’t get everything right and I don’t pretend to have done so. But at the same time, where things haven’t gone as we’d hoped or as we’d estimated, we have moved quickly to address it. So to get back in that chair, tidy it up, make sure it works, and get it back on track as quickly as we can. And that’s what we have done.

I remember when I was with Kerry actually at the War Memorial, it was only a few of us there that day, back on Anzac Day in 2020. You’ll remember it was the one, of course, when the country was locked down and Australians commemorated our most sacred day of the year on our driveways or in the windows of our apartments. A time when I contemplated, quite genuinely, the possible loss of tens of thousands of Australian lives. And on that day I did think of John Curtin. Another great Western Australian, of course. And there at the War Memorial, I reflected on his leadership. And I reflected on the sacrifices of so many of our country. And my reflections were that, of course, that leadership starts with knowing what you believe, the values that underpin your beliefs, because when you face that uncertainty in those times, that’s what’s going to guide you because there’s no other guidebook. And that’s what I turn to.

For me, it starts with family, with community, with country, with a passionate love and belief in my fellow Australians. And backing in those organisations in our communities that are not government but are the lifeblood of our communities, the backbone of our communities, trusting people to make the best decisions that they can for them and their families in their communities and having faith in each other. Giving people the confidence to live the life that they choose in an open and liberal society free of coercion, free of fear. Creating incentives to undertake a trade, start a business, employ someone, buy a home, save for your retirement – the great Australian aspirations. And ensuring there’s as much opportunity in regional Australia as well as there are in the cities. So Australia grows together and not apart. I do want Australians to own their future. I want them to own their own homes. I don’t want the Government to own their homes. I want them to own their own homes.

I want Australia, of course, to be strong and secure in this difficult, turbulent world. And strength matters more than ever. I really don’t subscribe and never have to the small target philosophy of leadership that others seem to have done. You can’t do that as Prime Minister. The job’s too big to be small. You can’t hide behind someone else when you don’t know the answers. You’ve got to know. You’ve got to sweat the small stuff to make those big calls. And we can’t risk it with someone who thinks they can just make it up as they go along or make it up when they get there. Because the country depends on you knowing your stuff. So I’ve never subscribed to that small target strategy, because if you’re a small target, the job’s too big for you.

I certainly didn’t do it as a Shadow Minister for Immigration. You’ll remember that those in the room when I proposed that we had to turn boats back where it is safe to do so – it wasn’t popular. Anthony Albanese opposed that policy. I didn’t subscribe to being a small target when as Minister of Immigration we implemented Operation Sovereign Borders. We did stop the boats. We put the people smugglers out of business and we saved lives. We closed the detention centres, all 17 of them, got all the children out. They were the boats Anthony Albanese admitted in the debate we had a few weeks ago that he wouldn’t turn back. He couldn’t, he wouldn’t and he didn’t when he was Deputy Prime Minister weeks and months before I came into the role as Minister.

As Treasurer, I didn’t want to play a small target. When I held the bank executives to account and made multinationals pay their fair share of tax, which is now some $5 billion a year that we’re ensuring is going in to where it should go in to support things like Medicare and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, while at the same time repairing the Budget before the pandemic hit while also cutting taxes. And I certainly didn’t choose to be a small target when I fought to ensure Western Australia got its fair share of the GST. Making the case not just in Western Australia. I don’t think that was a particularly hard case to make here in Western Australia. Plenty of people would come here and talk about it, but when they got back to the East Coast they got very quiet. Making the case there. Making the case where it mattered, in the Cabinet as a Minister, in the Parliament as a Prime Minister. A job I completed as Prime Minister, delivering what others talked about which next financial year will provide $5.9 billion in GST funding for this state rather than what would have been $1.3. That’s not small target politics. That’s not small target leadership. Mr Albanese had six years in Government as part of the Government to do this, but they didn’t. They just let the share of GST for WA fall and fall and fall. But not content with that. They thought they’d add the mining tax on top of it, just to add insult to injury.

As Prime Minister, I didn’t play small target when I had to stand up to coercion by the Chinese Government, unfairly blocking exports from Australia, including right here from WA, because we objected to unwelcome foreign influence in our democracy and we said no to foreign investment that we didn’t think was in Australia’s national interests. I didn’t seek to be a small target when we landed the biggest defence agreement since ANZUS and secured access to nuclear propelled submarine technology from the United States, in our AUKUS agreement. The only other country to do so was the United Kingdom in 1958.

And when we made the tough decision to terminate our contract for the French submarines I knew we no longer would need because they couldn’t do the job we needed them to do. And there was no small target in the earliest days of the pandemic, when we made the unprecedented decision to shut the nation’s borders to the rest of the world. Or when we agreed to the biggest economic rescue package in Australia’s history with JobKeeper.

Small target means a small leader. A small leader is a weak leader. And a weak leader is a risk to Australia, our economy and our security.

About two years ago, I said when we launched the 2020 Defence Strategic Update that we needed to prepare for a post-COVID world that would be globally poorer, more dangerous and more disorderly. And so today I want to talk about how our plans meet those challenges that we will face in this world. A plan which places Western Australia at the centre of our economic prosperity. As Anthony said, central to our national security, central to our national economic plan.

So we have a plan to create more jobs. 1.9 million new jobs have been created since we were first elected. Our work has reduced Australia’s level of welfare dependency to the lowest level in 30 years. And in just the last six we’ve created 50 per cent more jobs than the Rudd Gillard Government did. And we’ve done that through a pandemic that was 30 times worse globally on and on the world economy then the GFC was. A crisis 30 times worse and an employment outcome 50 per cent better. And in the depths of the pandemic, JobKeeper did save 700,000 jobs. Our post-pandemic employment growth of 3.1 per cent has outperformed the entire G7 nations, 2.3 per cent in Canada, 1.5 per cent in France, -0.1 in Germany, -0.7 in the US, -0.9 in Italy and in Japan and -1.3 in the UK. Jobs are the foundation of a stable home, a stable family, a safe community, and providing the essential services we all rely on. And our plan is for 1.3 million additional jobs over the next five years including 450,000 jobs in regional Australia.

So let’s walk through the plans that will deliver those 1.3 million jobs. It starts with lower taxes and we have a plan for lower taxes. We believe in lower taxes. It’s in our DNA. It’s why, as a Liberal, we stand for Parliament. We want Australians to keep more of what they earn so they’ll be encouraged and incentivised to go and earn more. And our policies for the next term deliver that. An immediate issue for Australians is cost of living pressures. So we are building a shield, an economic shield. The Treasurer and I, and the Cabinet, to protect Australians. And so from the 1st of July, around $12 billion of tax relief will flow to low and middle income earners receiving up to $1,500, well, I should say keeping $1,500. They earned it. And they will be able to keep it because of the tax relief we were providing when they lodge their tax return. Now, this is on top of the $16 billion of permanent tax relief that will also flow in next financial year. From 2024, 95 per cent of Australians will face a marginal tax rate of 30 cents in the dollar or less. And that’s down from 37 and 32.5. That’s real change. And it’s historic because it means for Australians entering the workforce now, that between $45,000 and $200,000, they’ll pay no more than 30 cents in the dollar in tax. That means the end of bracket creep for millions of Australians over their entire working life. Can you imagine that? You won’t have to, because we’ve legislated it and that will be their working life experience. And for the engine room of economy, the small business sector. We’ve expanded the instant asset write-off and the loss carry back provisions. The new ATO data has shown our unprecedented investment incentives have driven $23 billion of investment in 2020-21. Small businesses are also permanently benefitting from our commitment to lower taxes. When we were elected, the small business tax rate was 30 per cent. It’s now 25 per cent. Under our plan we’ll continue to ensure taxes as a share of our economy do not rise above 23.9 per cent of the size of our economy. That is a speed limit on taxes. I put it in place when I was Treasurer and Anthony Albanese has committed to remove it, to abolish it. Under our plan there will be no new taxes on Australian workers, no new taxes on small business, no new taxes on retirees, no new taxes on superannuation, no new taxes on housing, no new taxes on emissions and electricity. There’ll be no mining tax. That is our view and our commitment.

We also have a plan to invest more in skills and training – what I believe is the single biggest challenge that our economy faces over the next 5 to 10 years. As you’ve witnessed in Western Australia, with an unemployment rate of 3.4 per cent, having a workforce that is skill-ready and that can anticipate the future needs of the economy is absolutely vital. It’s why we established the National Skills Commission. Michaelia Cash did that as Minister and invest and we are investing heavily in the skills of Australians. You know, there’s currently 220,000 Australians right now on trade apprenticeships in training. That is the highest level we have ever seen on economic record in this country going back to 1963 when records began. And a re-elected Coalition Government will boost funding for skills training in priority areas. There’s an additional $3.7 billion to support 800,000 new training places in our economy. And we will continue to deliver JobTrainer in partnership with states and territories. JobTrainer created 478,000 free or low fee training places in areas of skill need throughout the pandemic. And we’re providing a new incentive to small and medium-sized businesses to invest in the skills of their employees through the skills and training boost. That’s a 120 per cent tax deduction in the Budget for the provision of external training. As well, we’re providing a 5 per cent wage subsidy to boost regional apprenticeships and that is on top of the 10 per cent provided through the Australian apprenticeships incentive system. Skilled migration has always been an important part of our skills mix and that’s understood well here in Western Australia. It’s provided much needed assistance in areas of skills shortage and that means next financial year there will be 110,000 skilled migration places.

And we have a plan also for affordable, reliable energy with lower emissions. We’re committed to net zero by 2050. I brought our Coalition Government together as Prime Minister to make that serious commitment at Glasgow. And we will achieve this through technology, not taxes. The mining industry was not created by taxes. It was created by the innovation, the entrepreneurship and the technology advancements that have been pioneered by many of the people who are in this room today and have sat in decades past in rooms such as this across Western Australia and imagine that industry, they got there because of their entrepreneurship. And we will tackle the climate challenge in the same way. We’ll do in a way that maintains competitiveness of our traditional industries, not writing those industries off, but strengthening them in efficient and technologically advanced ways. And we’ll do this because we’re already a leader in renewable energy. Since 2017, more than $40 billion has been invested in renewable energy in Australia. More than one in four homes in Australia have solar on their roof. Around 30 per cent of electricity in their grid now comes from renewable sources. We now have in Australia the most solar capacity per person than any country in the world and the most wind and solar capacity of any country outside Europe. Our emissions have fallen by around 20 per cent – more than New Zealand, many times more than New Zealand, many times more than Canada, as well as the United States, Japan and Korea. Over the decade to 2030, we will have invested $22 billion in new energy technologies, driving more than $88 billion more investment in finding these solutions. And central to our plan is Australia becoming a world leader in clean hydrogen. We’ve committed more than $1.5 billion to the development of a future hydrogen industry in Australia. As part of our clean hydrogen industrial hubs program, we will invest $140 million in two WA hydrogen hubs. $70 million investment in the Pilbara hydrogen hub and $70 million in the H2 Kwinana Clean Hydrogen Industrial Hub. And we’re investing $60 million in two additional carbon capture and storage hubs here in Western Australia. We’re delivering the first National Future Fuels and Vehicle Strategy and this includes a $250 million Future Fuels Fund, which is delivering electric vehicle charging infrastructure across Australia. Now all of these actions will see Australia meet and beat its commitments and do so in a way that doesn’t hurt Australians. But actually advances their interests.

We also have a plan to cut red tape, cutting red tape saves businesses money and cutting green tape does the same thing. It also saves Government money too. We are making it easier for licenced workers to work across state borders. Ending century old anachronisms. The Premier here in Western Australia, Mark McGowan, and I worked on a single touch model for environmental agreements to make it work better and avoid state and Commonwealth duplication while maintaining high environmental standards by seeking to reform the EPBC Act. Mark and I got all the premiers to agree – Labor and Liberal – all of us, National Cabinet, full agreement. We took it to the Parliament, I took it to the Parliament. Anthony Albanese and Federal Labor sided with the Greens and blocked it. Sided with the Greens. And Anthony Albanese did not side with Mark McGowan and myself for a reform that would have led to lower costs, more investment and more jobs in Western Australia.

I can assure you, because I know them both, Anthony Albanese is no Mark McGowan. Federal Labor is not State Labor. They’re not the same thing.

We have a plan for Australia to become a top ten data and digital economy by 2030. Every business in the economy is now a digital business. Estimates are that increased digitisation will add some $315 billion to our economy over the next decade and with the potential to create 250,000 new jobs in the near future. So it’s vital we remove the impediments so businesses can digitise. And so we’ve invested $3.5 billion in digital initiatives since 2020. We’ve been rolling this plan out and it continues to roll out over the next forward estimates period. Our technology investment boost will encourage small businesses to embrace the digital economy. Cloud, cyber security, e-invoicing, e-accounting with a bonus 20 per cent tax deduction just like we’ve applied for training people outside of work. We’re boosting Australia’s research and industry capability in the big emerging technologies like AI and quantum, and that’s backed in by our AUKUS agreement, I should tell you. And backing our start-ups with tax incentives, employee share schemes, so they can get the capital they need to grow. And with venture capital now at record highs in Australia. We’re transforming the data economy, empowering consumers with our world leading Consumer Data Right that I began when I was in the Treasury portfolio. And lastly, but perhaps most importantly, strengthening cyber security and safety to protect Australians online and ensure they can trust the digital world, which is a key ingredient for it being successful.

Last year, I outlined our plan for the resources sector at the WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy, and our plan had five themes. I’ll go through those five points. First, backing our traditional strengths – iron ore, gold, gas, coal. Second, seize our emerging advantage in critical minerals for which Western Australia will be a powerhouse. Third, invest in mining regions to support future growth, particularly the Pilbara, where we’ve committed significant investments in this latest Budget as part of our Frontier Investments Fund. Fourth, stay at the forefront by investing in frontier skills, research and technologies. The most recent announcement we made with Curtin University here in Western Australia to be one of our Trailblazer Universities in this area is tremendously exciting. And fifth, cut that green and red tape by streamlining regulation, which I’ve mentioned. Now, Western Australia is central to this resources plan. I want an industry in resources that is even bigger, seizing new opportunities in emerging areas, as I’ve said, in hydrogen, carbon capture and storage and of course critical minerals. We have the Critical Minerals Accelerator Initiative, supporting Iluka Resources to build Australia’s first rare earth separation facility. And integral to our work is driving deeper collaboration between universities and the resources sector. And the Trailblazer Initiative that I’ve mentioned has brought together partnership with other universities and 33 industry partners with investment of $50 million to support it. It’s part of a broader $2.2 billion university research commercialisation plan.

We also have a plan for sovereign manufacturing and defence manufacturing, where I was with Melissa Price this morning, and Vince Connolly, the Candidate for Cowan. When we were elected to Government, defence spending was just 1.56 per cent of the size of our economy. That was the lowest level since before the Second World War. That’s what happens if you don’t run a strong economy, by the way. You cut things like defence. You don’t list things on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. That’s what happened when Labor was last in power and could not manage the Budget. That’s what it costs. And so we’ve turned that around, increased defence spending as a share of the economy to 2.1 per cent, almost. And as part of that enhanced compact capability, today I’m announcing that our $1 billion investment in the next tranche of Project Greyfin, which is for the modernisation of our special operations capabilities. Now, this will ensure that our Special Forces, particularly the SAS regiment here in Perth, have the cutting edge world-class kit they need to support our national interests and keep our nation safe. And I particularly want to thank the work of Andrew Hastie, the Minister Assisting the Minister of Defence. You all know, Andrew, and you all know how he served our country in that very regiment. This builds on the first tranche of $499 million I announced in 2019 and will continue to offer significant opportunities for innovative Australian companies. Cyber and intelligence are essential planks in our work to keep Australia strong and to keep Australia safe. $9.9 billion in REDSPICE cyber and intelligence package will see the Australian Signals Directorate grow by 1,900 people, tripling our offensive cyber capabilities and doubling our persistent cyber hunt activities. And I am pleased to confirm that the ASD will establish one of its new REDSPICE facilities right here in Perth, enabling us to draw upon these highly skilled workforce and partner with WA industry and universities.

As you can see, WA is central to our plan. Locating this type of critical and strategic capability here in WA is a deliberate decision. It enables us to access a newly highly skilled workforce.

It also builds on Western Australia’s experience hosting sensitive sites such as the Australian Defence Satellite Communication Station in Geraldton and the Harold E. Holt Naval Communications Station on the North West Cape. Like so much we are doing in defence, Australian industry will be significantly involved. It’s why we’re investing $4.3 billion in the upgrade of the Henderson Shipyard with the dry dock and laid out our plan for up to $30 billion in shipbuilding in Western Australia, which Linda Reynolds played such a huge role in developing in this past term of Government, over the next two decades, including $124 million for two more evolved Cape Class Patrol Boats for our Navy. And we saw one of them most recently when we were there together. And it’s why earlier today I announced the national expansion of the Defence Industry Pathways Program that has been so successfully piloted here in WA at Henderson, and that will now see 1,500 traineeships in our defence industry nationwide.

And we also have a plan to invest in research commercialisation tied to our manufacturing priorities. $2.5 billion in our modern manufacturing strategy expands and modernises Australia’s sovereign manufacturing capability. We make things in Australia, we make things in Western Australia, and we are going to keep making them. The strategy secures supply chains and invests in the skills and world-class research needed by our manufacturing businesses. Around one quarter of the investment already made has gone to Western Australian advanced manufacturers. Few examples, Adarsh Australia in Malaga is receiving $3.2 million to produce 3D printed products from waste paper. Alba Edible Oils in Hamilton Hill will receive up to $4.2 million to establish a a natural press and purified oil process. Innovative Energy Solutions in Canning Vale receiving up to $1.9 million for an autonomous solar cleaning robot project. OncoRes Medical in Nedlands will receive up to $8 million for the late stage commercialisation of novel diagnostic imaging technology for breast cancer removal. And Lynas Rare Earths in Laverton will see up to $20 million to improve processing efficiency and enable a wider range of rare earth ores to be processed. We’re supporting $20 million in new products under the Northern Australia Development Program, including Broome’s world leading Pearl Bone biomedical manufacturing facility and Karratha’s Eco magnesium facility expansion using local salt by-product. These investments and so many more are about unleashing Australia’s economic potential and I’m excited about that.

We’ve gone through a tough period, but we’ve come through. The opportunity we have economically over the next decade is like nothing we’ve seen since the post-war period. But it won’t happen by accident. It won’t happen without a strong economic plan and a strong economic team. And a Government that knows how to lead that.

Everything depends on a strong economy. Everything. Our record funding in Western Australian schools, doubling public funding for Western Australian hospitals, record funding for 2,000 additional and amended PBS medicines, Medicare, telehealth, mental health funding, continuous glucose monitoring for type one diabetes sufferers. And only weeks ago with Michaelia Cash and Ben Morton, our commitment, and Celia, our commitment to provide $375 million for a Comprehensive Cancer Centre. All of this depends on a strong economy. And that’s what a strong economy is about people, because only a strong economy can guarantee the essential services that Australians rely on and Western Australians rely on. And a strong economy means a stronger future for this state. And I believe Western Australians have always understood that, probably better than most.

We cannot risk Australia’s $2.1 trillion economy on Federal Labor and Anthony Albanese. And that’s why this election is a choice. It’s a choice between a Government that has demonstrated strong economic and financial management through one of the worst crisis we’ve seen since the Second World War. And with a clear and proven economic plan that is working to keep our economy strong in the future. Or it’s a choice of a Federal Labor Opposition under Anthony Albanese that you know does not have the strength, that can’t manage money, that can’t even explain their own policies. That has no economic plan and we’re less than, around two weeks, we’re two weeks from polling day. A Labor, a Federal Labor Opposition untested and Leader untested, unproven and unknown. We can’t risk that.

A choice. Strong economy or a weak economy, under Labor. A Liberal-led Government you know, or a Federal Labor Opposition that you don’t. That is not a risk Australia can afford. It wasn’t a risk Australia could afford three years ago and it’s not a risk Australia can afford today. Now is not the time to risk Federal Labor. Now’s the time for a strong economy and a stronger future. Thank you very much for your attention.

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