THE HON. BILL SHORTEN
LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION
MEMBER FOR MARIBYRNONG
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
BRISBANE
SATURDAY, 30 JANUARY 2016
SUBJECT/S: Labor's plan for 'Your Kids. Our Future'; 2016 Election; Clive
Palmer & Queensland Nickel; Healthcare premiums; ABCC legislation;
Marriage equality delaying tactics
BILL SHORTEN, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Good morning everyone. It's
fantastic to be in Brisbane for the Fight for Queensland rally. What was really good
this morning was to be able to articulate and explain our announcement that we
made only 48 hours ago that a Shorten Labor Government will make sure that every
child in every school in Queensland receives the well-resourced education in their
schools that gives them the best chance in life to compete for the jobs of the future.
Today, we've released figures which show that courtesy of Labor's policy going
forward, which is fully funded, I might add, there would be an extra $855 million for
Queensland schools. What that actually means when you boil it all down, one parent
to another, is that at the next election, if you choose Labor, your child will literally,
annually have hundreds of dollars more resources spent on better support for their
teachers, more choice in subjects, better support for special needs if they need it,
more individual attention and the other choice is if you vote for Malcolm Turnbull and
his Liberals, you get cuts to school funding - cuts to every school's funding. So at the
next election, there is a very clear choice, if you want to invest in education in our
future, choose Labor, if you want more of Mr Turnbull's cuts and his Liberal team
cuts to education, vote Liberal.
Happy to take questions. Thank you.
JOURNALIST: It was spoken in there a lot today about how Queensland Labor went
from a shocking defeat in 2012 to rebounding in 2015. The opinion polls for you at
the moment aren't that great, do you take some strength in what happened in
Queensland last year to sort of come back as an underdog?
SHORTEN: Well there's no doubt that Labor enters the election year as an underdog
but this is after 2 years of staunch opposition to Tony Abbott's unfair agenda and
Labor did so well that the Liberal Party panicked and dumped Tony Abbott. This
year's election will all be about putting people first for the future of this country. It will
be about who's got the best policy for Australian jobs, who's got the best policies to
invest in early years of education, in schools, in TAFE and universities. Who's really
credible about renewable energy and tackling climate change. Who really believes in
making sure that it's your Medicare card, not your credit card, which determines the
quality of healthcare you receive in this country and it will most certainly be about a
15 per cent GST on everything. Only Labor can be trusted on Aussie jobs, schools,
education, healthcare, renewable energy and of course sticking up for people and
opposing a 15 per cent GST on everything.
JOURNALIST: You refereed in your speech to Clive Palmer, do you think he should
sell off his jets and things like that to try to pay those workers' entitlements?
SHORTEN: My first thoughts are that this business QNI could try and be maintained
as a going concern but already over 200 workers have lost their jobs with no
certainty of their entitlements. It is most important, it doesn't matter if you're Clive
Palmer, Malcolm Turnbull, or any large company, you've always got to make sure
that you keep enough in your business to pay the entitlements of workers if in the
unfortunate set of circumstances comes and that the business can't keep going. It is
not right, and it should not be allowed in 2016, that large companies can effectively
borrow interest free the entitlements of their workers, churn them in the
administration of the company and when the gates close, not have the money for
your employees or your small business unsecured creditors. Labor would stand up
for these employees. Labor's the one who has put in place some of the safety net
and I think more needs to be done.
JOURNALIST: Is the Minister allowed to take (Inaudible)?
SHORTEN: The Liberals, they've been asleep at the wheel on healthcare for the last
2 years. In the last 2 years Australian families have paid the largest increases in
premiums, the rate of increase, that we've seen in a very long time. Health premiums
under a Liberal Government keep going up and up and up. Two years on, the
Liberals are now realising that the horse has bolted and they've got to do something
about it. It's pretty ineffectual their response. And at the same time as the health
premiums are out of control, in terms of increases of above 6 per cent, we see them
cutting $650 million over Christmas to Medicare. There is no case been made to put
up the pressure on prices for people who need vital scans and imaging to help
prevent or treat illnesses. The real problem when it comes to healthcare is that Mr
Turnbull and the Liberals believe that it should be your credit card, not your Medicare
card which determines the quality of care. They are taking us down the American
road of a 2-tiered health system. Labor will fix this problem.
JOURNALIST: Just back on Palmer, what more could be done to support workers?
SHORTEN: First of all, the administrators have got a job to do to see if they can
restructure the business. That should be everyone's shared objective. What then
needs to be done is to make sure the employees who have lost their jobs have their
entitlements paid. I think it is important that the Federal Government does what it can
to make sure that these employees who are caught up in a set of circumstances not
of their own making, are not left stranded in terms of their entitlements and the safety
net. The Government should not rely on any technicalities to avoid supporting the
workers in terms of the payment of their entitlements and instead the Government
should stand in their shoes and be a creditor.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
SHORTEN: Again, I start with workers' entitlements and that's why you just can't
trust, in my opinion, the Liberals when it comes to workplace relations. They've got
form. They're not that interested in standing up for penalty rates. Now, when you
have the workers' entitlements, I don't know why the Government can't use the gear
scheme to support the workers and their entitlements and then seek restitution from
Mr Palmer or from the QNI company.
JOURNALIST: Michaelia Cash is refusing to give Labor access to certain trade
union royal commission documents, do you buy her reasoning that it's not in the
public interest?
SHORTEN: There we go again. The Liberals are playing politics with this issue. The
royal commissioner said that no-one should see the confidential report. The Liberals
are ignoring that and selectively showing some parts - some reports to some people
for political gain. It speaks for itself.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
SHORTEN: One of the most important things a government can do is keep its eye
on the cost of living pressures for Australian families. For the last two years, whilst
the Liberals have been in, the private health insurers have basically seen a green
light because of the ineffectual leadership of Liberals on restraining healthcare
premiums and now they've gone for broke. Now as they approach an election, the
Government is scrambling around trying to do something because they realise that
for the cost of premiums going up, some of the largest numbers we've seen in a
decade, Australians are deeply dissatisfied.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
SHORTEN: What matters is not the timing of the election, it matters the issues and
the choices which Australians get and a vision for the next 10 years. This morning
you heard me articulate an economic plan which has people at the centre of it which
is all about Australian jobs. We talk about our defence manufacturing and renewable
energy being encouraged, for example. We also want to make sure people go to
work and have secure jobs, that they don't have their entitlements under threat. We
spoke this morning about a Labor vision to make sure that every child in every
school gets every opportunity through Labor's historic and fully funded proposals for
the education and schools system. The next election is a real test about a vision for
the future of Medicare in this country. Labor's made it clear we think that it should be
your healthcare card, not your credit card which determines the level of care you get
in Australia and at the same time this preoccupation and obsession by the Liberal
Party of Australia and Mr Turnbull to put a 15 per cent GST on everything, yet they
give a free pass to the multinationals who don't pay their fair share of taxation, it
speaks volumes for the choices Australians will have at the next election. Perhaps
one more question.
JOURNALIST: The Queensland election was largely attributed to the unpopularity of
Campbell Newman. How much harder does it make it for you now that Malcolm
Turnbull is enjoying quite high popularity?
SHORTEN: The issues are still the same issues for Australians in 2015 and 2016.
Do people have secure employment? Are we prioritising Australian jobs over foreign
jobs? Can people get quality healthcare at an affordable price? Are we seeing a
school system where there's proper investment so that every child has the
opportunity to be the best they can be in the future? And our education plan is an
economic plan? I think that this election is all about cost of living, the fundamentals
and what we have is you have Malcolm Turnbull who says one thing and does
another. He says that he cares about the healthcare system yet he has no way of
dealing with rising healthcare premiums, he's instituting slashing cuts to Medicare
and the health related services, he says he cares about innovation yet he's cutting
funding to our school system in Australia. I think this is going to be a really important
year where we outline the visions for Australia for the next 10 years.
Thanks, everyone.
JOURNALIST: Can I ask one more easy one?
SHORTEN: Alright, very last question sorry.
JOURNALIST: What do you reckon of Tony Abbott's comments that he will support
a plebiscite on marriage equality whatever the outcome is?
SHORTEN: Tony Abbott dreamed up a taxpayer-funded plebiscite to kick the issue
of marriage equality into the long grass of the next few years. Malcolm Turnbull didn't
agree with that when he wasn't leader of the Liberal Party. We should have a
conscience vote in Parliament. And if Labor is elected, we will introduce legislation
for marriage equality in the first 100 days after the election. Malcolm Turnbull is
carrying out Tony Abbott's policies and I believe he is delaying marriage equality by
implementing Tony Abbott's preferred plans.
Thanks everyone.
ENDS