Doorstop interview
E&OE
STUART ROBERT:
Good morning and welcome to Runaway Bay. It is my great pleasure to invite my very good friend Minister Scott Morrison, the Minister for Social Services, here to the Gold Coast for the sixth annual Fadden senior’s event. We run this every year as a great event – 2,500 people here today just to showcase all of the services on offering, not just from government but from all parts of community. 150 stall holders, presentations on the main stage and of course MC’d by the local renowned entity Bruce Page who anchors Channel Nine News here on the Gold Coast. So it is a great service to the community and it is wonderful to have Minister Scott Morrison here also to be available to answer questions on what the government is doing in service provision. So Scotty thanks for coming along.
MINISTER MORRISON:
Thanks Stuart it is tremendous to be here at Runaway Bay on the coast with Stuart. I want to commend Stuart for the incredible job he has done in bringing this tremendous expo together now over many years. 2,500 Australian’s coming and finding out the services that are on offer, the choices that they have as they age in this wonderful community. The good news is that we are living longer and we are living healthy and to support that there are a whole range of new services and new opportunities that are emerging for both those Australians who are ranging but also I think for the business community and the not for profit sector to better understand the needs of an aging population that is healthier, that is more active, that wants to be more engaged – that doesn’t want to be 65 not out but wants to be 65 and still going strong and going strong for a very long time. This is the wonderful place where you can come and understand what those opportunities are.
There are many very positive things about the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement that Andrew Robb has been able to negotiate. One of the things that is in there is that the aging services that we are being able to develop here in our own country, as we respond to the aging population here domestically, is setting us up for export opportunities and taking these services to Asia and in particular to China. That free trade agreement is providing that opportunity – it is one of the many innovative services deals that enables Australian businesses, Australian companies that are expanding and providing services to older Australians will be able to take those services and take them into China. A stronger aging services sector, business sector, providers means better services for Australians as they are aging, more choices and so I think it is good news and our private sector and not for profit sector is responding to that challenge and you can see the strong demand that is around me here with me today. So well done Stuart and it is great to see so many fantastic Australians here finding out how they can continue to be more independent and get the support and services they need.
QUESTION:
You speak about an aging population being a positive thing but are we going to have the facilities that we need in terms of aged care homes and those sorts of things to be able to cope with it?
MINISTER MORRISON:
I see our aging population as an aging boom not an aging bust. It does provide significant opportunities for Australia as demographic changes always have in the past. The challenge is how we respond to it, how we enable people to draw more on their incomes as they grow older and to be able to use their superannuation savings that they have to improve their quality and standard of living as they grow older. I mean the superannuation investments that people put together over a life time are there to support them in their retirement; they are not there as sort of an inheritance pass on allowance. They are there to support their living as they are in their retirement years to be able to draw on the many services that we are seeing here on display at this event. I think that is one of the changes that we will see, more independent people in retirement as time goes on and as the superannuation scheme comes to full maturity. This is why the Coalition is so opposed to taxing the income that Australian’s draw from their superannuation. The Labor Party wants to tax people’s income earnings from superannuation and I couldn’t think of more of a disincentive for people to put money into superannuation and to become self-sufficient in their retirement, not just for those who are moving into retirement now but generations that will move through, then that. It was Paul Keating who commenced the big superannuation reforms and it think the way that Labor is treating their legacy on superannuation is frankly abysmal.
QUESTION:
Would you like to see more women in the LNP?
MINISTER MORRISON:
I would and not only do we have outstanding women currently serving the Liberal and National Parties in Canberra but I think the comments that have been made by our colleagues on targets are very constructive suggestions and as a former State Director of the Liberal Party in NSW, I have seen the results that can come when the Party organisation really puts its mind to this. Back in 1996 we had a big surge of women into the Federal Parliament and that was the product of some work done by Chris McDiven in the NSW Division at the time who put the work in to training and providing support to women in the New South Wales Liberal Party, which saw an incredible surge of women into the Parliament. That’s how you do you don’t do it through mandatory quotas and that sort of approach that the Labor Party has always imposed. What you do it through is setting aspirational targets, as Kelly O’Dwyer and Michaelia Cash have both suggested, and then the party organisation doing what it always does and just getting to work on doing practical things that can encourage people to deal with the many obstacles that can be there for young women and women of all ages going into Parliament. I want to see more women go into Parliament. I notice the Labor Party says that the Parliament needs to be more reflective of the community. Well if that’s the case, perhaps there should be caps on the number of union officials who become Labor MPs.
QUESTION:
Minister Morrison as you would know there is a large age pension population on the Gold Coast. Where are we in terms of cuts to the age pension?
MINISTER MORRISON:
We’re increasing the pension for those who are on the more modest level of assets on the pension by around $30 a fortnight as of 2017. The pension is there for people who need it most and we’re a self-sufficient people. And wherever we can be self-sufficient and as I look around the people who are here, it’s something that is not only aspirational but is realised by so many Australians, and I think that’s all of our goal, to not to have to rely on welfare payments wherever we can. For those who are in a position where they’re able to support themselves, well, that is a wonderful contribution that they’re making to the country as they always have but also it gives them the independence and freedom of choice about how they conduct their own affairs. But for those who really need the pension, who don’t have other things to fall back on and who have very low levels and modest levels of assets, that’s who the pension is really for and that’s what our reforms are ensuring that it’s there for in the future, not just today, but well into the future. I mean, in Greece today, we see pensioners crying on the streets because a generation ago, they engaged in unsustainable welfare practices and particularly on pensions. I’m not going to allow a future generation of Australians to face that fate and that’s why we have reforms that have gone through the Parliament to ensure a fair and sustainable pension.
QUESTION:
What about some of the wealthier pensioners who are on the Gold Coast, I mean are they going to be worse off under these changes?
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well, they have the savings that they have built a lifetime putting together to be able to draw on to maintain their standard of living. That’s why I’m saying to pensioners who may now be on – fully self-funded retirees and I think that’s an extraordinary achievement. If you are a self-funded retiree, not having to draw on a public welfare pension, then that is an extraordinary achievement in life. I think that’s something that all Australians should try and aspire towards. Not all will achieve it, and that means that some will need a pension in the future. I want to make sure that pension is there for those Australians. But if you’re an Australian who’s saved and put yourself in a position to be self-reliant in your retirement, you are a hero. You are a hero.
QUESTION:
Bronwyn Bishop says her trip to Albury was to speak to a confidential source, should she have to produce evidence of that?
MINISTER MORRISON:
All members of Parliament and I’m sure Stuart would agree, doesn’t matter what side of politics you’re from, doesn’t matter whether you’re a Speaker, a backbencher, a Minister, the President of the Senate or whoever you happen to be, we’re all accountable. Not just to the Parliament for our own – the entitlements that we use but we’re accountable to the Australian people and we have to pass the defenceability test in front of the whole Australian population. Now, we’re each and every one of us accountable for that, we all have to answer for our own affairs. I can understand the justifiable angst that Australians have about this issue and the many other issues that have now been attached to it, to other people on other sides of politics. And it’s important for us all, I think, to be accountable around our entitlements.
QUESTION:
Do you still have confidence in her as Speaker of the House?
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well I mean there is a Department of Finance process that’s under way and I’m not one to offer public lectures to my colleagues on these things. If I have anything to pass on to the Speaker I will do it privately and not offer public lectures on these things. The Speaker I think is consulting with her colleagues and I think that’s the appropriate place for those discussions to take place, not for Stuart or I or others to be offering public advice.
QUESTION:
Minister, the Gold Coast’s got a largely older population. They use the first stage of the light rail in a big way. The Federal Government’s so far not put any money towards it, do you think they should?
MINISTER MORRISON:
I will let Stuart as the outstanding local Federal Member to cover the question.
MINISTER ROBERT:
We are very clear in terms of what services the Federal Government provides. The Federal Government can’t provide everything to everyone. Greece tried that and it didn’t work out well. The Federal Government’s role is not to provide urban rail, it’s the responsibility of the states. The state LNP Government, the Campbell Newman Government, went to the last election promising to fully fund stage two of the light rail as the states should. Federally is you look at the funds we have provided the State of Queensland, $6.7 billion we have put into the Bruce Highway, funds the state government does not have to find. $156 million we put in to the Commonwealth Games four years earlier, funds the state doesn’t have to provide and of course the Asset Recycling Fund is there if the state wishes to sell assets, they can use those funds for whatever they wish to. So when it comes to investment in Queensland, and especially in the Gold Coast, the Federal Government is holding its head very very high. My message to Premier Palaszczuk is quite simple. Take responsibility for what you as the Premier have got to do for the state. Urban rail is your responsibility, the current provider is offering to extend the current contract and provide the capital, that should be as the Prime Minister has said, be looked at, but the Premier should not be coming to the Federal Government and saying “please help us with our responsibilities.” The Premier should own her responsibilities and the state should step up and they should fund this.
MINISTER MORRISON:
Not too far from here, just a bit further south from here, there is a state government that is doing exactly that, the Baird State Government of NSW. In NSW they are building infrastructure, they are putting services in place, they have engaged in the asset recycling fund, they have made some difficult decisions to make sure that is possible but NSW I know there are Caterpillar trucks here – Caterpillar equipment here in Queensland that is going south of the border because that is where the infrastructure is being built now under the Baird Government that would have been built here in Queensland. I think Stuart has a very important message for the state government on that. It was only last week that the Prime Minister had an incredibly constructive leader’s retreat with state and territory leaders. It was one of those meetings where some real progress was made but it does mean that both state and territory leaders and the Commonwealth need to be able to work constructively on this but that means the state governments have to bring change and things to the table. The asset recycling fund provides the opportunity for infrastructure and service to be put in place.
QUESTION:
Stuart can I ask what is some of the concerns that you are hearing from some of your constituents, a lot of them here today?
MINISTER ROBERT:
Well the great thing about the Senior’s Expo it’s an opportunity not just for Seniors to get information but also for them to ask questions. So there is four of our state members here, four of our local councillors here, including the Deputy Mayor Donna Gates from Division One. So there is every opportunity for people to raise questions and concerns and issues. There are always issues, people always wanting to know what change means for them, if the changes to the pension scheme that Minister Morrison has outlined, which will of course provide a greater source and amount of pension to those who desperately need it, people are keen to understand what that means for them. They are keen to understand the changes to what government is doing and how that will assist their children and their grandchildren. So there is a whole swag of questions and it is marvellous that there are a whole swag of MPs here to answer them. The Leader of the Opposition for the State will be here with the Deputy Leader as well, again to provide that opportunity for all levels of government in one place to answer all questions.
QUESTION:
Are you hearing any concerns what so ever around changes to the age pension?
MINISTER MORRISON:
What I am hearing back is that people understand the situation the government is in financially. What we have done with those changes is reversed a measure that came in in late 2007 where the pension eligibility for the part pension was extended to people with higher assets. That was done when Peter Costello was Treasurer, when there was $40 billion in the bank and there was a $20 billion surplus. Now that is not the case anymore thanks to the six years of Labor. We need to ensure that these measures are sustainable for the future and that is why we have made the changes we have had and I think Australians and senior Australians have been very understanding of the need to make these changes. The fact that we have got to make them is regrettable but no one better than this generation understands the importance of getting your financial house in order. I think at the end of the day they respect the decisions that the government has to take in this area because they want to see a more sustainable future not just for themselves but for their own kids and for that I thank them. Thank you.