Doorstop interview, Canberra

E&OE

MINISTER MORRISON:

The Government is focused on setting Australians up to succeed, setting families up to succeed, setting small business up to succeed, setting young people up to succeed, setting Australians as they age up to succeed. This is the goal of the Government as we go forward and it’s pleasing to see that that message is getting out there. People can see that under the alternative, under Labor, under Bill Shorten, then the security, be it their economic security or otherwise is something that Australians would trust a Coalition Government with, and that’s certainly the trust we’re seeking to earn as we go about the business of good government every single day.

QUESTION:

Are you going to dump your policy on the dole this week?

MINISTER MORRISON:

Everything remains on the table until something else is put on the table. I made that pretty clear at the Press Club last week.

QUESTION:

Do you expect discussions this week? Andrew Broad and Dan Tehan suggested there would be discussions about the six-month wait this week.

MINISTER MORRISON:

I continue to be in discussions on all of these measures right across the things that are before the Senate. I had a very useful discussion with Senator Muir last week and I look forward to having further discussions with him and his crossbench colleagues because at the end of the day it’s about is actually finding the right answers and the right solutions to the problems that we’re facing. That is, to get young people into work and not have them dependent on welfare for a lifetime. The challenge is to help families get back into work and stay in work once they’ve had kids. The challenge is to encourage Australians as they age to stay in work as long as they can, should they be able to, should they be healthy and able to continue to work and they enjoy that, well, let’s encourage them to do that and to unlock the capital that they have, which can really support our economy. I mean they’ve been the super consumers of a generation, and let’s encourage them to keep doing that.

QUESTION:

Minister when you say other things need to be put on the table, are you putting other things yourself on the table, offering alternatives or are you waiting for crossbenchers, Labor to come to you and give their alternatives to you?

MINISTER MORRISON:

All of the above, Tom. I’m looking to find a way forward in all of these areas. I’m interested in solving these problems which are the ones I outlined last week, which I have outlined consistently since coming into this role. I’m interested to know how the crossbench feels we can address some of these challenges and I’m very open to their ideas as I always have been and the government always has been. So it really is an invitation. What we get from the opposition though in these things is just a blanket no and no alternative. We’ve got the Leader of the Opposition rubbing around with his Google tax, something they couldn’t do in government and now he thinks is the answer to every fiscal problem the government has. Bill Shorten has been caught short when it comes to his policy ideas. I haven’t seen one. The light bulb still hasn’t gone off over his head in his great year of the idea.

QUESTION:

So just to clarify, if there was a better proposal than the six-month waiting period you would be prepared to dump that in favour of something better if that is what the crossbenchers want?

MINISTER MORRISON:

I’ve been pretty clear. If someone wants to put something on the table which is a good idea, well we can look at what’s on the table and take it off but it has to be something better. It has to be something that takes us forward. As a government we’re interested and focused on helping people to succeed.

QUESTION:

Does that poll today stop the leadership speculation, should it stop the leadership speculation?

MINISTER MORRISON:

I don’t know why the media fell for that nonsense last week at all. I have no idea why they did. There was nothing going on. As I said, maybe a few political bed wetters carrying on, but that’s for them. Frankly I thought it was a storm in a teacup and you guys may have got sold the dump on that.

QUESTION:

Patrick McCure has endorsed the principle of a bi-partisan committee to look at his recommendations and work through and build a consensus. Is that something you would support?

MINISTER MORRISON:

I’m very interested in working with everyone in the Parliament, whether it be the opposition or other parties about how we can take this important agenda forward. I think Patrick has made some very good suggestions on that front and we’re open to all of those possibilities.

QUESTION:

But this would be a process in which you’re not involved, it would be about having people from both sides of politics come together and work out a consensus in the absence of you.

MINISTER MORRISON:

Well I am on one side of politics, so that would mean I probably would be involved…

QUESTION:

But you probably wouldn’t sit on a Senate committee.

MINISTER MORRISON:

My point is, I’m open to all of those sorts of suggestions and I’m happy to work those things through because I think Patrick McClure has set out a very good goal, a very worthy goal for us to move towards. It’s not an easy thing to do. I think you have to get there incrementally. I think you have to take everybody with you – that is certainly something the government would be interested in doing. But to do it you’ve got to understand that the cost benefit analysis, the winners and losers analysis, cannot just be done on the next five minutes. You have to think about the winners and losers in the next generation as well. I would encourage everybody who is analysing these issues to take a broader perspective on the winners and losers argument. If we want to make the system better, if want to make the system be there for the future then you have to look at what the implications are, not only for our generation, but for the next generation when it comes to this debate. You have to move forward incrementally and you have to know where you’re going and this government does know where it’s going and I think Patrick McClure has set that out in a very worthy way.

QUESTION:

[inaudible] last night was leadership raised at all?

MINISTER MORRISON:

No we are focused on the preparations for the budget. We’re focused on good government. We’re focused on setting Australians up for success. That’s where our focus is. That’s where I think we’re making the gains. In doing that, we are exposing Bill Shorten as an absolute policy light weight. Unfunded empathy, running round the country, empathising with every problem and no solutions, certainly no funding for it, and I think the Australian people are waking up to Bill Shorten. So they should. He’s a policy light weight. Thanks, guys.