ED TUDOR:
I am delighted to be here this morning with Sam Rioli, Lorraine White, two of our MITS staff members, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, and Minister Jane Hume, for a fantastic announcement for the Melbourne Indigenous Transition School, but most importantly, for our young students. Our MITS parents tell us they want their young people to access the best in education in Melbourne, while returning at home every night to a culturally safe, warm environment. Our students tell us when they’re at MITS, they feel strong, they feel good when they’re surrounded by their peers. Today, over 80 young Indigenous people are at school in Melbourne because of MITS; 46 of those young people already live with us in our MITS boarding programs and our boarding houses are now full. That’s why we welcome this announcement today for an additional 40 beds, providing more opportunities to young Indigenous people aspiring to get a great education in Melbourne. I want to thank the Australian Government, I want to thank the Treasurer, Minister Hume and Minister Wyatt, as well, for their support of MITS and, most importantly, of our students. This development will create a connected community of over 80 young Indigenous people on Richmond Hill who are aspiring to a great education with bright futures. I am now going to introduce Sammi Rioli, who is our pathways coordinator here at MITS, to speak a little bit about what this announcement means for our MITS students.
SAMMI RIOLI:
Thanks, Ed. I would like to thank the Australian Government for providing support for such an important program for our young Indigenous students who are now going to school here at one of our partner schools. It is really important for our students to have a culturally safe environment for them to be able to successfully get through their schooling and feel comfortable and safe. This is something we’ve wanted, this is something our families and communities wanted. The majority of our students are from remote and regional communities. So, it’s really important and we’re really thankful for it. Thank you.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Thanks, Sammi, it’s a real pleasure to be back amongst the MITS family with my colleague and friend, Senator Jane Hume. MITS has been a wonderful organisation that is changing lives of Indigenous Australians, with 22 kids coming each year from up north or other parts of the country here to MITS to get twelve months in year seven in a culturally-sensitive, warm, safe learning environment, before they transition to one of the many partner schools, whether it is Siena, or St Kevin’s, Trinity, Richmond High and other schools. It’s been a very successful program and it has helped those kids we have met today, whether it’s Luke or Leilani and others, move from home to another environment where it may sometimes be a bit difficult in the adjustment. Closing the Gap, literacy and numeracy, is happening. But we need to continue to work on it. Programs such as these undertaken by MITS, really make a difference. The Morrison Government has been proud to support the Melbourne Indigenous Transition School before, and we are doing it again; announcing $10 million for a new boarding facility for 40 new places to be transformative, to change MITS as we know it, to upscale it, to enable many more kids to get this wonderful opportunity. It is truly transformational and it will make a real difference for generations to come.
JANE HUME:
Thanks, Josh. It’s really a proud moment to be here to announce this $10 million for the Melbourne Indigenous Transition School today. This program is genuinely transformational. It has changed kids’ lives and it has been around just a few years. This new boarding house will provide 40 more places in a custom built facility and it will change kids’ lives. I think we’ll leave it there.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Any questions?
QUESTION:
Yes, this is quite an impressive facility, but does it show that there’s room for schools to step up and fill the void rather than leaving it to institutions like this one?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, I think schools are. I think one of the things that’s really impressive about what MITS does is it’s a partnership, it’s a partnership with those schools who take those kids from year eight onwards. It’s a partnership with Monash University and Swinburne University, it’s a partnership with the Royal Botanical Gardens, with the Richmond Football, dare I say it as a Carlton supporter. The kids go down to Richmond and that’s one of their classrooms and the club’s been very involved here with the kids’ learning. So there is engagement across a broad range of institutions and community organisations by MITS and I think that creates a much broader educational experience. And so I think the schools are stepping up, and I think MITS has helped fill a void in this program where kids move from their Indigenous communities to other schools in suburban Australia.
QUESTION:
Sure, but would you rather see that void, once these kids move onto Year 8 and then go onto school, would you rather see MITS step back and just say, the schools have got this now, we don’t need to be involved?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well I mean, maybe Ed would like to talk to that. I think it’s important to maintain that continuity and that connection. The friendships and the relationships kids develop here at MITS over a course of 12 months, will stay with them even as they transition to the next stage of their educational experience to another school. So I think it is important to maintain that continuity. Ed?
QUESTION:
Ed, would you like to do yourself out of a job and transition into, step a bit closer to the mic..?
ED TUDOR:
I think the important thing is that MITS is one of many choices that must be available to young Aboriginal people and their families across Australia. There are many other schools doing great things across the country in ways that are different to MTS. The important thing is that we listen to our families, we listen to our communities, we listen to our students, to understand what it is that they want from their education and that we respond to that. MITS is one response and there are many other schools across the country, in remote communities, in regional centres, in big cities, doing great work alongside us.
QUESTION:
Just got some questions on other issues.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Sure.
QUESTION:
There’s National Cabinet on today, hotel quarantine has been a point of discussion, does the Federal Government need to stump up more money for hotel quarantine?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well we’ve already been part of the quarantine process and as you know, the Defence Force personnel have played a key role in the broader COVID response but also in around quarantine. As the Prime Minister said earlier in the week, since March more than 200,000 people have gone through hotel quarantine and will continue to do so, and it has been based on arrangements that have been previously agreed through National Cabinet. Now the advice to the Government has been that hotel quarantine remains the most effective way forward and through our consultation with the Health Department, the Defence Department, Home Affairs and other key stakeholders. So, I am sure the Prime Minister will stand up after National Cabinet and provide an update then. But as he has pointed out, and as the Government has pointed out, over the course of the week, hotel quarantine has seen more than 200,000 Australians come back and go through that process.
QUESTION:
Lisa Neville though was on radio yesterday in Melbourne saying that she would like to see money from the Feds, particularly on the hotel quarantine side of things, that that’s where we’ve seen the leaks. You’re the Treasurer, will there be more money?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well, we've already provided an enormous amount of funding to Victoria, and to the other states in our COVID response. You may have seen the numbers, more than $250 billion has been committed in direct economic support, it’s not including health support, direct economic support, over the course of COVID-19. That’s more than double as a percentage of GDP and in actual terms than what the states have committed, combined. So in the case of Victoria, we continue to do the bulk of the heavy lifting at the federal level, and that’s been the case from the start of the crisis, through this crisis, and to the end of this crisis.
QUESTION:
Google...they’ve launched their news showcase platform in Australia today, does this change your position on the media code?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well the Prime Minister, myself and Paul Fletcher had a very constructive discussion with the head of Google just yesterday. And in that discussion, we talked about a range of matters, they recommitted to Australia, we recommitted to the code. There was a constructive and a productive exchange of views. What they recognise is there is a need to pay for content, and I think they also recognise that maybe some of the threats have been misplaced about their future in the Australian market, because they certainly see a future in the Australian market. Let's not forget that the code that the Australian Government is putting forward has been based on world leading work by the ACCC. It was conducted over an 18 month period. The code has gone through a variety of permutations and combinations and started as a voluntary code, it is now a mandatory code and it has been based on consultation with the key stakeholders every step of the way. And there are plenty of other countries that are looking very closely at developments here in Australia. So there has been productive discussions with Google, with Facebook, with Microsoft and other key stakeholders, and we now await the committee's report.
QUESTION:
So are you confident then that that threat to pull Google out of Australia is off the table now?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well again, as I said last weekend on Insiders, I don't dismiss those threats but I’m not intimidated by them, either.
QUESTION:
But it sounds like things have changed since then?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
There was certainly a more constructive tone to the discussion yesterday.
QUESTION:
Okay. So just on this Chinese company that wants to build a city in PNG, was Australia aware of this proposal and has it been discussed with the PNG Government?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well again, we have a very close relationship with the PNG Government and I saw the Prime Minister Marape's office was quoted in that story saying he did not know about the details of the project so let's not jump to conclusions here, let's wait for more details to become available.
QUESTION:
Did your Government know about it though?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Again, I am not going to go into what our Government knows about various matters other than to say you’ve seen the media reports, you would have also seen what the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea has said as well.
QUESTION:
Is it of concern though, this proposal, given the national security concerns in relation to the fisheries proposal?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well again, our relationship with Papua New Guinea is very strong. It’s a very cooperative relationship, it is multifaceted, and between Prime Minister Morrison and Prime Minister Marape, there is a constant dialogue.
QUESTION:
And just on electric cars, why won't the Government offer incentives to customers to boost the intake of electric cars?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well firstly, electric cars, like other emissions reductions technologies are welcome, and they’re playing an important part on reducing the size of the carbon footprint. And Australia is on target to meet and to beat its 2030 emissions reduction targets by 26 to 28 per cent by 2030, on 2005 levels. So far, we’ve seen emissions down by about 17 per cent and if you compare that to other countries, New Zealand is down by around 1 per cent and Canada by less than 1 per cent. Australia is down on 2005 levels by 17 per cent. Now when it comes to electric vehicles, we are already funding the charging infrastructure. We already have programs where we are doing that across the country. But what this discussion paper points out is the value for money proposition for Government support. So people are buying more hybrid vehicles and we welcome that. There were 60,000 odd that were bought in 2019, that was double the number that was bought the year prior, so clearly customers are deciding to use their own money to purchase these vehicles and that’s a welcome trend. But when it comes to value for money for taxpayer support, what this report points out is that in the Emissions Reduction Fund, we can get carbon abatement at around $16 a tonne. Whereas for electric vehicle subsidies, depending on the model, it could be above $700 a tonne. So we have to use our money in as sparingly a way as possible but also in as targeted a way as possible. And as you know, we are supporting the rollout of renewables, transmission, new transmission systems, a whole range of investments across the technology road map.
QUESTION:
Wouldn't it make financial sense though to target those incentives at the customer? You've mentioned the charging stations, but if you really want to encourage those industries, is that where you target the…
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Well the value proposition for the Government was made pretty clear in the discussion paper, people are welcome to comment on that. But as I said, we’re already investing in the charging infrastructure. Thank you.