Transcript: Doorstop Wagga Wagga, 11 April 2019
E&OE
Subjects: Election, Murray-Darling Basin Plan, coal, leadership, Riverina issues, climate change, rural doctors
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well the election date has been set and Saturday May 18 gives all Australians a clear choice who they want to govern them over the next three years; who they want in Canberra to be representing them and particularly important for regional Australians; who they want across regional Australia to be representing them; who they trust to ensure that taxes remain low and go even lower; who they trust to make sure that border protection is a priority for Government; who they trust to make sure that the infrastructure spend across the nation and particularly in the regions is fair and is distributed so that people get home sooner and safer.
I’m proud as the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development that the Federal Government, the Federal Liberal Nationals’ Government has a $100 billion record infrastructure spend right across the nation. I’m proud of the fact that we have in last week’s Budget made sure that there is going to lower taxes for all Australians, making sure that we don’t penalise one group of Australians to benefit another group of Australians. I’m proud of the fact that the Liberal Nationals’ Government has put in place record spending for hospitals, for schools and for all the things that matter. And I’m proud to be in a Government which has an economic blueprint for the future.
We are a Government which is focused on the economy. We have got the Budget back in surplus; we are making sure that we get the nation back on track, back to where it should be; we are making sure that we pay down Labor's debt; we are making sure that we put all Australians first and particularly regional Australians. The Nationals in Government have delivered right across the regions, we will continue to do so and May 18 give Australians that choice, that very clear choice as to who they want to govern them for the next three years.
Any questions.
JOURNALIST:
Hundreds of people turned out in Albury earlier this week to protest the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, is there anything better than just telling people to pray for rain, can you deliver anything better than that as a solution?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well Rob Vertessy yesterday produced his report, recommendations, of which the Government has very much looked at earnestly. We have put on the table $70 million, we have asked for those irrigators, those people holding water licences in the Barwon and Darling systems if they are wishing to sell then we will be a willing buyer and we can produce more water, we can supply more water for that Darling system which sadly has been largely hit by the drought more than most.
We are making sure that we don’t want to see fish kill incidents of the type that we saw late last year and earlier this year. Now, appreciating the fact that since 1980 there have been hundreds of fish kill incidents but this one was of a scale that of course attracted worldwide attention. This one was the first one that somebody actually videoed and put on social media and it went viral and it’s unfortunate that these areas have not had rain in the catchment areas for seven years and of course when you don’t get rain, river systems dry up. And this isn’t unusual the Darling system has dried up many, many times – a 57 times in fact over the past 57 years. But we’ve acted, we’ve acted responsibly we have made sure that Rob Vertessy did independent research. We have made sure we have looked at his recommendations. We have put $70 million on the table to address the concerns in the system.
JOURNALIST:
Will the coal vote in Queensland split the Nationals in the south as predicted by many?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
No.
JOURNALIST:
And the Libs have now firm rules on leadership but not the Nats, can voters be certain a vote for you as leader means that you will be the leader for the next three years?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well I believe I will be and I’ll certainly be working hard to ensure that all Regional Australians know that the National Party is the party for them; is the party of choice; is the party for lower taxes; is the party for more infrastructure across the regions and I’ll be putting that to the voters.
The National Party seat by seat will also be standing on our proud record of delivery, we have delivered, we have achieved, we will continue to do that in Government, in conjunction with the Liberals and making sure that people understand that a Coalition Government, a re-elected Coalition Government on May 18 stands for lower taxes and stands for more infrastructure and national security.
JOURNALIST:
Do you have any concerns about a well-funded Independent running in the seat of Riverina?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
No I don’t. Well look that is democrary, if people want to put their name on a ballot paper, well good luck to them. I am proud of what I have achieved over the past eight or so years and I’m energised and I’m feeling good. I’m looking forward to the next 39 or 40 days up to the election and I’ll be getting out and about in the Riverina but I will also be getting out and about in regional Australia because as The Nationals’ leader it is important that I am seen right around the nation as I already have been this week. I’ve already visited three or four states this week and I’m looking forward to going to Victoria this afternoon with the Member for Murray, soon to be the re-elected Member for Nicholls, the seat has had a change, Damian Drum had a name change to his seat, as has a couple of other seats. But you know down in that area too we have delivered in spades for the people of Murray, for the people of Goulburn Valley in and around Shepparton making sure that they know that the Nationals in Government deliver, we always do and we will always will. Of course for the people of the Riverina and Central West they should have every confidence that I will continue to deliver and continue to be their strong voice in Canberra.
JOURNALIST:
But how much pressure do you think this election campaign will put on the coalition agreement given that there is already fractures between the Nats and Libs north and south of us?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well I listened to Scott Morrison’s speech this morning and I lost count of the number of times he mentioned the Liberals and Nationals. I have spoken to him this morning; I spoke to him last night. He is very proud of our very united Coalition Government and we will continue to present to the people the option, the choice, the very clear choice of lower taxes, of safer and stronger border protection of more infrastructure.
What do we have in stark contrast of that? Well we have Bill Shorten being led by the unions, Bill Shorten being led by Sally McManus, Bill Shorten trying to appease Greens votes in metropolitan areas, he doesn’t care about the regions, never has, doesn’t now, never will. We do, The Nationals in Government do and certainly the Liberals do.
JOURNALIST:
Are you concerned the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers success in the State election will be transferred to a Federal election if they run candidates, or particularly in Parkes?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well the biggest word in that question you asked is if – now if they run a candidate, well they run a candidate. Now look I’m just proud of the record that I have for delivering for the Riverina and Central West and indeed I’m proud of the record that The Nationals have delivered right across regional New South Wales.
John Barilaro and his team delivered the $4.2 billion of the sale of Snowy Hydro. They have delivered so many hospitals, 48 hospitals and MPSs right across regional New South Wales and that should not be forgotten. The fact that they have got in and made sure that schools were funded, made sure that hospitals were funded, health services and they have done a great job. In conjunction with the Federal Nationals in Government we have delivered in spades for Country NSW, regional Australia in general and will continue to do that.
JOURNALIST:
If the Coalition loses what does that mean for your role as leader of the Nats and also as Member for Riverina?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well again that’s the word if – I don’t intend to lose and I don’t intend for The Nationals not be in Government.
JOURNALIST:
But I’m going to put to you, what would you do?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well I mean it’s a hypothetical question. If Winx doesn’t win on Saturday well it will be a real tragedy for racing too but I’m not expecting her to lose either. And, you know, I want to make sure that people understand that The Nationals in Government have delivered, we have delivered the first Budget surplus in conjunction with the Liberals for 12 years. Labor hasn’t delivered a budget surplus for 30 years, they don’t understand or know the meaning of the word surplus.
We have delivered and we are still paying back Labor’s debt, six years of Labor put this nation into hundreds of billions of dollars of debt. We are making sure that we recover from that position and we are making sure that we deliver a strong economy, lower taxes and making sure that we also deliver the infrastructure that people want, expect, demand and deserve. You only have to look around the Riverina and Central West, you only have to look right across regional Australia to see that we are getting Australians home sooner and safer, to see that we’ve got better roads, to see that we’ve got better health services and we will continue to do that.
JOURNALIST:
Mr McCormack the opinion polls have consistently put the Coalition behind, how can you turn it around in five weeks?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well there is only one opinion poll that matters and that is the opinion poll that is going to be held on May 18 and if you believed in opinion polls well Will Hodgman wouldn’t be Premier of Tasmania. Steven Marsh wouldn’t be Premier of South Australia. You certainly wouldn’t have John Alexander still continuing to represent Bennelong and he is doing an outstanding job there. You probably wouldn’t have Donald Trump in the White House and the England and the UK would still be in the European Union. That is opinion polls for you, only one opinion poll that matters and that’s the ballot box.
JOURNALIST:
What are the big issues in Riverina?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
The big issues in the Riverina are infrastructure, the big issues in the Riverina are water, they are making sure that we pay lower taxes and I know as I go out and about small businesses are delighted that they are paying the lowest tax rate that they have since 1940. They are also delighted that we have extended the instant asset write-off to $30,000 and also extended the eligibility to $50 million turnover. That brings so many more businesses, so many more local businesses into the mix and they can buy, if they are a tradie or a chemist, they can buy a little van, a little runabout ran up to $30,000 they can buy capital expenditure, they can write it off instantly that is such an advantage for those businesses and I know having run my own small business that when you have that advantage of being able to write things off instead of having to go down the long depreciation schedule, what you can then do is you can then invest in the most important aspect of your business and that is people.
You can create that first job for a young apprentice or a young trainee or indeed an older Australian who is transitioning into something different. You can give another Australian a go, that’s what small business does, we want to back them. If you want to have a go in this nation, you have got a Government that is prepared to give you a go.
JOURNALIST:
Mr McCormack is there anything the Government can do to help the PCYC situation with its funding?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Watch this space.
JOURNALIST:
Finally, climate change, are you hearing back from voters that they want a firm policy, what’s the reaction?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
We actually have a firm policy and that is to make sure that we address the issues that we need to, to make sure that we reach all our international agreements, and we are doing that, we are going to be delivering on that, we already are and independent research says that we are reducing the emissions, as we ought to, and the other thing too, that we are not going to do, is deindustrialise this nation, we are not going to make it unaffordable for businesses and certainly for households to be able to turn on their power.
We’re not going to be able to insist on people buying electric cars, we are not going to insist on people doing something that they don’t want to do, and they can’t afford, what we will do, is we will put in practical, pragmatic steps, to make sure that everybody can still live a good life, to still be able to have the air-conditioning on in summer, the heaters on in winter, to be able to afford their power bill whilst at the same time meeting our international agreements.
JOURNALIST:
One issue that voters have been very clear that they care about a lot is health, there is a number of small towns across Australia that are struggling to find a GP, the Murray-Darling Medical School isn’t going to solve that people in the immediate future. What can you do to help that issue now?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
I’m so glad you have asked that because yes it actually is going to solve that issue and we are going to make sure that the Murray-Darling Medical School which is opening here in Wagga Wagga. We are going to make sure that we have the end-to-end training for doctors so that they can begin their training in Wagga Wagga, they can begin their training in the Riverina and Central West and indeed right across Victoria and New South Wales and they can also finish it.
Because we know that a doctor who does his or her training in the bush generally stays in the bush. It is that time of their life where they are making decisions who they are going to partner up with, they are also making decisions about the fact that they can actually make good money by starting a general practice in a country area and they fall in love with the area and the people, why wouldn’t you, I mean it’s a great – sorry about that, I didn’t even see you there Jeremy – I’m getting effusive about country doctors for the bush because we have policies in place to have a generalist pathway to have more doctors in the bush, we have policies in place to build more infrastructure for regional health services and we will go on doing that, a re-elected Liberal Nationals’ Government will make sure that we’ve got doctors for the country areas and whether they are Wagga Wagga, the big regional capitals, or indeed whether they are the small country towns and they are perhaps the ones most important because they are the ones that who actually don’t have the medical services that they need and I can only point to a town like Grenfell, didn’t have a medical centre, we funded it through the Building Better Regions Fund, we have funded that medical centre, now they are getting a new dentist, now they are getting two new doctors and that is an example that’s an absolute prime example of what we’ve done as The Nationals in Government to make sure that we get better health services for the bush not only the infrastructure but also the medical professionals.
JOURNALIST:
But training a doctor takes at least five years, what are you going to do…
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
…It takes longer than that…
JOURNALIST:
...I’m not a doctor, I’m a journalist, but what are you going to do now, are you expecting these small towns to wait seven years, 10 years to…
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
...no, no, no that’s we’ve got the generalist pathway, that is why we have invested in the budget, in making sure that we get more doctors for the bush and that is why long term and journalists are always asking us to have a long term vision for the nation and we are so that’s why we have put the Murray-Darling Medical Schools Network in place so that we will get more doctors for the bush, we’ve got a blueprint for the future, whether it is health services, whether it is educate, whether it is the economy, we have got that economic plan, we are putting it in place we are paying down Labor’s debt and we are getting on with the job that Australians want us to do, we are getting on with the job on making sure that particularly regional Australians have a place which that they can work, invest and live a great life, that is what I want to achieve as The Nationals’ Leader and as the Deputy Prime Minister and that’s what I’ll what hard at doing every day of the week. Thank you very much.