BRIDGET ARCHER MP, MEMBER FOR BASS:
Well it's fantastic to be here at Hillwood Berry Farms in northern Tasmania with the Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Simon Dornauf from Hillwood Berries. And it's great to be out in regional Tasmania as well to hear about all the fantastic things that are happening here at Hillwood Berry Farm - expansion, more jobs, more investment in the local economy. I attended a breakfast this morning with the Treasurer with the Chamber of Commerce, and hearing very positive things here in northern Tasmania following the Budget. So, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you. Thanks a lot, Bridget, Simon, and all your family, it's great to be here at Hillwood and it's always great to be here with the Treasurer. Over the course of this past week, after Parliament has risen, we've been having the opportunity to move around the country and to be able to talk about Australia's recovery plan that was at the heart of this year's Budget. Australia has come so far over the course, particularly of these last 18 months. Go back a year ago, we genuinely could not have imagined that we'd be standing here today, whether in northern Tasmania and in Tasmania more generally, and be able to say there are more people in work today than there was before the pandemic, and that we've been able to avoid some 30,000 deaths from COVID, which sadly so many other countries similar to Australia have not been able to avoid. And that has been done by working together. That has been done by backing Australians in, whether here in northern Tasmania or elsewhere around the country, up in Gladstone, where I've been. Josh has been over in South Australia. Back in my hometown of Sydney, where I finally got back to last night, or up in the suburbs of Brisbane, over in the west - right across the country, backing Australians in with what they're trying to do.
Now, the way you do that is you ensure that they can keep more of what they earn. You've got to have a low tax environment to support a strong recovery. And we've seen that on display here. We've just seen where they're putting in a whole new field just like this, hundreds of thousands of investment - and that's just on the labour side - ensuring that we can build to the growing demand and markets that are available here. So those opportunities that can be seized in the economy, that has been made possible by the instant asset write-off. That was the critical factor here that has led to that investment, that leads to those jobs, that leads to those earnings. You want a strong recovery here in Australia from COVID, then you need to have lower taxes. And anyone who wants to put taxes up, wants to take jobs away from Australians. Anyone who thinks you can tax your way to economic recovery is kidding themselves. We've had the discipline, discipline to keep taxes low in this Budget, to enable the recovery to take hold, and to secure that recovery.
We know, as Treasurer and the Prime Minister, that what is absolutely key is that we keep focused on backing Australians to invest, to employ, whether it's the additional training initiatives, the additional apprenticeship support that we have in the Budget, the additional infrastructure, investing in affordable energy for businesses, the Modern Manufacturing Industry Initiative, so we can make things here in Australia and keep making things here, fuel security to support the needs of our transport sector and to keep things moving around the country, and to have confidence about that in an uncertain world. But lower taxes is really giving Australians the opportunity to be able to go out there and seize their futures and to secure their futures in what is otherwise a very uncertain world. We're living in a way in this country like few countries are. We're achieving economically together, like few countries are, and we have to keep that going. And that's what this Budget is all about. I’ll hand you over to Josh.
THE HON. JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER:
Well, thanks, Prime Minister. Thanks, Bridget. Thanks to the team here at Hillwood. It's great to be back in Tasmania. In the electorate of Bass, more than 40,000 people are going to get a tax cut as a result of the initiatives in last week's Budget. More than 10,000 businesses like this one in Bass are going to be able to access the immediate expensing and expand their business, and therefore grow their business and hire more people. And we've seen more than 500 new apprentices taken on here in northern Australia, in northern Tasmania alone as a result of the 50 per cent wage subsidy we have put in place for apprentices. So it's great to see this business and other businesses like it across Tasmania growing, investing, and hiring as a result of the initiatives in last week's Budget.
Now, yesterday we got the new jobs data and it showed that the unemployment rate nationally had fallen to 5.5 per cent, 33,800 new full time jobs taken on. And we've seen underemployment get to its lowest level in seven years. We've seen youth unemployment come down to its lowest level in 12 years, and yesterday's jobs data came after the end of JobKeeper at the end of March. Since the end of JobKeeper, in the weeks following that programme coming to an end, 132,000 people have come off income support. And we know that our political opponents, the Labor Party, said, in their words, there would be diabolical consequences from the end of JobKeeper, it would have a devastating impact. They wanted that programme, at more than $2 billion a month, to keep going and therefore to keep spending. And we said no, we held firm, and now we have seen the unemployment rate come down again for the seventh consecutive month.
Now, as the Prime Minister said, the Budget last week was all about creating jobs. It was our economic plan to create more jobs. But it also involved providing tax relief. So while the Morrison Government is backing Australian families and backing Australian businesses with lower taxes, Victorian Labor is whacking Victorian families and Victorian businesses with higher taxes. Higher taxes at this time of our recovery is a handbrake on jobs. It's a handbrake on the economic recovery. So Australia is coming back. We're coming back stronger than nearly any other country in the world. And it's wonderful to hear great stories like this one at Hillwood about them employing more people and expanding their business based on the incentives put in place in the Morrison Government's Budget just last week.
PRIME MINISTER:
Let’s hear a bit more about those stories.
SIMON DORNAUF, MANAGING DIRECTOR, HILLWOOD BERRY FARM:
Thank you Prime Minister, thank you Treasurer and Bridget for today. Yeah, the instant tax write-off has been instrumental in enabling our business, Hillwood Berries, to undertake two major projects that otherwise may have been delayed 12, 24 months until we had the capital to actually undertake that project. First, being a $400,000 spend on solar panels, on our, on our roof. It will provide 70 per cent of the power to our berry production. So 70 per cent is all renewable power into, into our business. And then a further $3.6 million will be spent in building the infrastructure that we've seen today out there. So another tunnel table-top substrate strawberry system, like this, that gives job security to our workers with the, with the covering of that production, so day in, day out we can pick the fruit. And it will enable us to employ about 75 full-time equivalents for that project, under the instant tax write-off. Otherwise, this would have been delayed another two years within our business. So we're enabled to, to jump right on that. And we really appreciate the Government enabling our business to do that, so thank you.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you very much.
JOURNALIST:
How many kilos of berries will that allow you to, to grow?
SIMON DORNAUF, MANAGING DIRECTOR, HILLWOOD BERRY FARM:
700,000, 700 tonnes of strawberries will grow this next season extra, so we'll have two million plants. This year we have 1.3 million plants.
PRIME MINISTER:
That’s a lot of berries.
SIMON DORNAUF, MANAGING DIRECTOR, HILLWOOD BERRY FARM:
It is a lot of berries.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, you mentioned the jobs created. Looking around it seems quite a few would be migrant workers, and good luck to them and how they can help their families. But has COVID shone a light on our reliance on migrant workers, and is that of any concern to you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, what I've been very pleased with, particularly here, as we've seen, there's been a great partnership. I want to congratulate Bridget for the great job she has done working with the Tasmanian State Government and our Government to ensure that right here, where it is a real labour force challenge, and if you can't get the fruit off the plant, well, you can't turn a profit. And, and so we've had a very successful programme here being done safely, supporting the needs of business, but also supporting the needs of local communities, because when, when this property is thriving then everything around it thrives. And so there is a positive benefit. And this is using the Pacific Labour scheme, and so that's also supporting families back in Timor Leste, over in Tonga, that greatly benefit from these types of programmes. Now, they're small scale, but they're very important to these projects, they're very important to those families, and they're very important to the local economy. So this has demonstrated that we have been able through COVID, through good partnerships, working closely together, doing it safely, meeting those needs.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, Victoria delivered its Budget yesterday. Like your Budget it announced plans for extra spending on social services. Unlike your Budget, though, it did outline revenue measures to pay for it, whereas you announced [inaudible]. Isn’t Victoria’s approach more fiscally prudent and doesn’t it show more discipline for them to find the funds to pay for these, rather than going into debt?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, no, it doesn't. This is the worst time that you could increase taxes on the Australian economy. This is self-defeating. To put up taxes on Australian businesses looking to employ people as we come out of a COVID pandemic and recession is irresponsible. It slows growth. It defeats the purpose. If you put up taxes when an, when an economy and businesses are looking to get up on their feet, it just knocks them down again. You knock businesses down, they don't employ people. More people go onto welfare. More people aren’t paying taxes. It's self-defeating. It's self-defeating. And so that's why we say it is not the responsible thing to do. It is not the economically responsible thing to do to put a big tax handbrake on job creation as you're recovering from a pandemic. Our Budget is for the times. Our Budget is to address the serious economic challenges the country faces. Labor are just putting up taxes again because that's what Labor does. They are addicted to higher taxes. And what you've seen in Victoria, you'll see from Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party. We saw it at the last election. Labor are addicted to higher taxes. The answer to every question from Labor is higher taxes. That's not our answer. Our answer is to back Australians in, grow the economy. A strong economy is what pays for social services, not higher taxes.
JOURNALIST:
Isn’t it irresponsible just to go further into debt? And I'm not talking about stimulatory measures for COVID, I’m talking, you know, funding $17 billion for aged care, $30 billion for social services, without anything to offset it. [Inaudible].
PRIME MINISTER:
No, no. A strong economy offsets it, Greg, a strong economy offsets it. You cannot pay for the National Disability Insurance Scheme with high unemployment. You cannot pay for the National Disability Insurance Scheme if you're running your economy into the ground. It has always been our view that the way you pay and get for and guarantee the essential services that Australians rely on, is by ensuring that your economy is strong, that people are investing, that people are getting into jobs. Otherwise you're just chasing your tail down a tunnel, and it's a downward spiral. Higher taxes cuts jobs, higher taxes cuts growth, higher taxes impedes our ability to pay for and guarantee the essential services Australians rely on. That's why you did not find higher taxes in the Treasurer's Budget. You found it in the Labor Budget, and you'd see it in a Labor Budget under a Labor Government.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, just on the mRNA vaccine facility production …development, sorry. Is it a matter of building this facility from the ground up, and when will that first locally produced dose be available?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, a couple of points. The first one is this will be a partnership. We've called for those proposals to come forward and to find out exactly what is needed from those proponents to see these facilities and capabilities being established here in Australia. And so that will be done as a partnership between industry and Government. The purpose of this is not just to address the, the challenges that we have with COVID-19, because the COVID-19 pandemic is raging and it will continue to rage. Not just now, but it could be for years to come. This is not to address any immediate vaccination issues. It is to create a capability, not just for producing vaccines to deal with COVID, but what we've seen with the mRNA vaccines is they are the new technology. They are the new way of doing vaccines around the world. Now, 18 months ago, apart from some trial treatments in HIV, this was largely science fiction. And so this is a very new, a very new science. And so we're moving quickly to establish that, not just for now, but for the long-term and for many other vaccines that will be done through mRNA, not just COVID. So this is a long-term plan, with short and medium-term benefits.
JOURNALIST:
Is it correct that the Queensland Government’s Wellcamp, Wellcamp quarantine proposal was only 15 pages long, with lots of pictures and contained no details about cost or operational info?
PRIME MINISTER:
That is true.
JOURNALIST:
What specific information do you need from them to take this to the next step?
PRIME MINISTER:
They know full well what that is because we've asked them for it on numerous occasions.
JOURNALIST:
Can you tell us, though?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, they know what it is and I’ll leave it with them.
JOURNALIST:
The Premier is having a press conference pretty much at the same time as this. Why, why isn’t he here?
PRIME MINISTER:
Sorry?
JOURNALIST:
The Premier Peter Gutwein is having a press conference …
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah I'll be catching up with him later today, we were texting each other this morning.
JOURNALIST:
Just on vaccines, what message does it send that the Queensland Premier has not yet been vaccinated, and that Jeannette Young is getting the Pfizer vaccine instead of the AstraZeneca vaccine? Is there bad messaging there? Is it vaccine hesitancy? Is it fuelling that? Are you concerned?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm encouraging all Australians, particularly those aged over 70, to go and get their vaccination. This week, we are likely to see our first half a million week on vaccinations, half a million. We may well see a 100,000 in a day today. By early next week, we will have vaccinated more than half the over 70s population in Australia. And very soon we will have fully completed the vaccination of all those in residential aged care facilities. Now, this is important because these are our most vulnerable populations. As we saw in the Victorian second wave, they are the Australians who are most at risk. So I'm encouraging, I'm encouraging, if you're over 70 and you've had your vaccine, which is about almost half right now, thank you. Thank you for doing that. And I want to thank families for supporting. I’ve said my mum’s had it, my mother in law's had it, and they're doing great. And I would encourage families to have that discussion with their elderly parents or those that they know and encourage them to go and get that vaccination booked in. There's plenty of opportunities to do that. Those that were getting 50 in GP clinics are now getting 150, 100 doses have now turned to 200. And that's why we're seeing the ramp up of this programme, it's going from strength to strength every week. And I particularly, you know, commend the Tasmanian Government here for their job they're doing, partnering with us on rolling out that vaccine. Thank all the GPs for the great job they’re doing. So it's going from strength to strength every week. So my message is very clear, and that is I would encourage all those who are over 50 to go and get the jab. And particularly if you're over 70, which is our strong focus, I would very much encourage you to do it.
JOURNALIST:
What message though does it send that the Chief Health Officer in Queensland can get either AstraZeneca or Pfizer and she's choosing Pfizer?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, she's in the phase 1B, I think, which …
JOURNALIST:
… But she could pick either.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I'll leave those decisions to her …
JOURNALIST:
… But I'm asking what message you think it sends?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I'm not making any comment on it.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, economist Chris Richardson predicts that in order to fund the extra spending on essential services, they’ll need $40 billion cuts once the economy is doing a bit better. Do you accept that there will need to be cuts in the post-COVID era, or are, is your strategy that a stronger economy would be able to pay for these?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, as, as both a Treasurer and as a Prime Minister, who worked together for this Treasurer, we went into the pandemic with a balanced Budget and we achieved that by growing the Australian economy. We've done it. See I think Australians understand that when it comes to a choice between the Labor Party and the Liberals and the Nationals, the Liberals and Nationals have the form in being able to grow economies that produce stronger Budgets. The way you have a stronger Budget is you have a stronger economy. That's always been our plan. And that plan has proved successful in the past. And that's what our plan, our recovery plan for Australia, set out in this year's Budget, is all about. It's about growing the economy, because it's pretty simple maths. Someone who is in a job is paying tax. Someone who was not in a job is getting paid by the taxpayer. And that has been the principal driver as we took the Budget back into balance before the pandemic hit, and enabled us. I'm glad we did that hard work and I'm glad Australians did that hard work by growing our economy because it meant we could respond in a way like no Government in Australia has ever had to before. And that has seen Australia come through, not because of Government - I want to be very clear about this. This is not a Government led recovery. Government is not the answer here. It's businesses like this one, family businesses like this one. It's Australians pulling through. We just back them in. Sure we back them in with record fiscal support like you'd never seen before. And I've got to say, the Tasmanian Government here did a great job in backing them in, much smaller government but they did their share of heavy lifting down here. And I commend Peter Gutwein and the whole team. So I'm not surprised that he's been returned as Premier because he's, he's got his plan to see Tasmania continue to recover. We've got our plan, a Liberal National plan to continue to see the Australian economy recover. And I think Australians have seen the demonstration of our economic credentials to achieve that in the past, and that's why we'll be going forward with that plan in the future.
JOURNALIST:
You were against our Premier's hard border closure at the start of the pandemic. Do you now concede that it was probably the right thing to do?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I respected his decisions, he’s Premier of his state, as I respected all the premiers’ decisions, and I continue to respect all the premiers’ decisions. And I think right across the country, as the Chair of the National Cabinet, we've been able to work effectively together over these, over these, over these many months, over a year now. But it was the principal decision that I think first set Australia up here was closing the international borders, and they remain closed and they’ll remain closed for as long as that is the safe thing for Australia to do.
JOURNALIST:
Have you been caught up on the saga surrounding the Liberal elected person, Adam Brooks, and the saga surrounding charges and allegations that he was essentially lying to women about his, about his [inaudible].
PRIME MINISTER:
[Inaudible].
JOURNALIST:
In Tasmania we’re about to see the unemployment rate rise. What is being done by your Government to address that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Low taxes, instant asset write-off, ensuring that businesses can invest more funding for training. I mean, the JobTrainer programme, for example, JobTrainer programme was born in the middle of the pandemic and it came from an urgent need where I was concerned, and the Treasurer was concerned, that we would be having thousands and thousands, tens of thousands of school leavers coming out of last year and facing a potentially very weak labour market and, and not with opportunities. So we agreed in a matter of a fortnight, the premiers and I, with the great support of the treasurers, to put in place a billion dollar programme that created over 300,000 training places. We also put in 30,000 additional university places as well to support that programme. Now, in this Budget we're doubling down on JobTrainer. It's been such a success, just like our apprenticeship programme, which saw 100,000 apprentices additional, boosted in the space of five months. We thought it'd take us 12. We got it done in five, so we’ve extended the programme. So whether it's additional training, whether it's the infrastructure programme, which it's moving into the next phase, we were chatting before about the next phase of the irrigation programme here, which will unlock further opportunities which the Tasmanian State Government has been supporting too, whether it's the Marinus Link project, the battery of the nation. All of these things are driving economic growth here in Tasmania, and particularly here in the north of Tasmania. And we will continue to support those projects and have, I think, a very excellent relationship with the Tasmanian State Government. Okay, thanks very much everyone.