TRANSCRIPT: QUEENSLAND BLACK SPOT PROGRAM PRESS CONFERENCE, 28 February 2020
E&OE
Subjects: Queensland Black Spot Program; nuclear energy; Wallan train derailment; Newstart; coronavirus; sports grants
JAMES MACKAY:
Good morning. James McKay, the local councillor for Walter Taylor and the Brisbane City Council. It's fantastic to have the Deputy Prime Minister with us today and Julian Simmonds, the Federal Member for Ryan. The LNP and Team Schrinner will always work to upgrade local road infrastructure. I'd just like to ask Julian to say a few words.
JULIAN SIMMONDS:
Thanks, James, and thanks for having us here and it's great to be here with the Deputy Prime Minister. Well, look, there is nothing more important to me in the local area than getting families or residents home to their families sooner and safer and to fix local roads and so it's great to welcome this announcement today.
The Deputy Prime Minister is going to make a more broader announcement but particularly to get federal funding to fix this notorious black spot behind me, the intersection of Sir Fred Schonell Drive and Coldridge Road, to make sure that we upgrade the intersection, put a dedicated turn lane into it and to make it a lot safer for residents with $1.4 million in federal funding.
What I particularly like about this program, about the Black Spots Program, is it is a collaboration between residents and all levels of government as well. So the crash data and feedback from local residents about notorious intersections is fed into Brisbane City Council. Brisbane City Council then nominates these black spots for federal funding and we've seen that work, that work between the Brisbane City Council and the Federal Government materialise in $1.4 million in funding to fix this notorious black spot. So I'd really like to thank our colleagues in the Brisbane City Council, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, James MacKay here as the local councillor for helping us to nominate and identify this local black spot so that we can get it fixed for local residents.
But without further ado, this is part of a much broader program. I would like to invite the Deputy Prime Minister to say a few words about how this program is helping right across Queensland.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Thank you Julian and it is a pleasure to be here and announce not just this project right here, but it is very important, but indeed, the Black Spot Program right across the nation, but specifically for Queensland. Fifty-one projects. Fifty-one projects worth $25.3 million and pleasingly, they are divided between both regional and metropolitan areas.
Now, of course, we're in the heart of Brisbane here where Julian Simmons represents this area so fiercely and advocates so much for congestion-busting projects but as well as those projects with road safety measures in place and that's what the Black Spot Program does. $110 million in this financial year, more than $1 billion since we returned to Government as Liberals and Nationals in 2013 and we'll make sure that that money continues, continues to roll out for projects such as this. And for this particular project here, what's going to happen, thanks to advocacy by the council, headed by Mayor Schrinner and of course, James MacKay here, local councillor. What's going to happen here is a dedicated right turning lane, a dedicated right turning lane which is going to be so vital in reducing the traffic accident incidents because what we've seen here for 12 of the last 14 injury-related accidents at this particular intersection, they've been connected to there being a lack of a dedicated right turning lane and difficulties with people being able to turn right into Coldridge Road.
Of course, the Sir Fred Schonell Drive is a very busy intersection and it's not only busy because you've got a lot of tradies, you've got a lot of families using it, you've got a lot of residents of this very busy and vibrant area but, of course, you've got the University of Queensland just here and university students need to get to their campus too, safer and sooner and that's what the Federal Liberal and Nationals Government is doing in conjunction with the council, in conjunction with police. Police have input into the Black Spot Program. Whether it's Queensland, whether, indeed, it's right across the nation, we've got independent groups feeding data in so that we get the best outcomes, the best measure by any stretch for the dollars that we're spending on the Black Spot Program and, of course, it's a ten-year program. As I said, a billion dollars going into making sure that we've got those black spots, make sure that we're measuring them, making sure that we're identifying them and then making sure that we're fixing them. That's the important thing. We have to fix these black spots.
So 51 black spots across the State of Queensland, $25.3 million, it's a significant investment for the future of Queensland traffic and mainly to get and importantly to get people to where they need to be safer and, as Julian Simmons has just said, sooner. So whether it's busting through congestion right here in the heart of Brisbane, in the suburbs of Brisbane or whether it's around regional Queensland, the Federal Liberal and Nationals Government is delivering in conjunction with local councils who have identified each and every one of the 51 projects that we're announcing today.
Work will start at the beginning of next year and be completed by mid-2021. So we're going to get in and get on with it. Of course, we've got a bit of engineering and specs to do, of course, but work will begin early next year and be completed within six months and that's important, too, for jobs. Since coming to government in 2013, we've helped small business and all sectors right across the nation employ 1.5 million more Australians. The job figures are good. We're making sure that we're employing Australians. The work force is now just a tick under 13 million. 8.8 million of those are in full-time employment. Those numbers are incredibly good and certainly that's because of our economic policies, the fact that we're getting the books back into surplus, the fact that we're making sure that Queensland has its fair share of infrastructure and that's going to create jobs.
JOURNALIST:
Speaking of jobs, do you think the Newstart allowance needs to be increased?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, we will always look at these sorts of things as we get the economy back on track. Of course, Newstart does go up regularly, Newstart is not it is certainly a safety catch but the best form of welfare is having a job and that's why we're putting much emphasis into building industry, whether it's agriculture, whether it's the services industry, whether it's tourism. Of course, employment's taken a bit of a hit with the summer that we've had, the longstanding drought, of course the bushfires which have beset just about every state in our nation and of course, the coronavirus is not helping. But as a Government, we've been out there on the front foot, we've been very forward leaning with making sure we've got the right policies in place to address these issues and we'll certainly continue to do that.
JOURNALIST:
How do you feel about your colleague, Pat Conaghan, breaking ranks commenting that Newstart should be raised?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
I understand that Pat has an electorate which has a high youth unemployment. Pat's working very, very hard to make sure that there are jobs for those people. He lives in an area where there's both a mix of youth, because they go there because Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour are wonderful areas to go and holiday and surf and do all those sorts of things but it's also a retiree haven. But we want to make sure that for that area, that we make sure that Cowper and any other electorate in Australia is well served by our policies, as they are. And what we want to make sure is that people have jobs and that's why we've been working incredibly hard to make sure that whether it's regional Australia or urban Australia, there are jobs there for Australians and that's why, with our economic policies, with getting the books back into balance and with making sure, with absolutely making sure that we address the issues of drought and fires and novel coronavirus 2019, that we get the economy and that we get the Australian people through these dilemmas that are besetting our nation and we get the nation back to where it needs to be strong economic growth while managing the books and managing to make sure that there are more jobs for Australians, whether they're young or old.
JOURNALIST:
Are you happy with the efforts to get the line back up and running after the Wallan accident?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, yes, I am and of course, what we always needed to do, what the ARTC's first and foremost mission was, was to make sure the line was safe. No authorities would ever send a train down an unsafe track and I know that the National Rail Safety Regulator, I know that the Australian Transport Safety Bureau are investigating the accident that sadly took the lives of two train operators last week and we mourn with them, our condolences go out to their grieving families. Of course, a 54-year-old driver, John Kennedy, and the pilot, 49-year-old from Castlemaine, Sam Meintanis, we mourn with them, we mourn their loss and we will make sure that the proper answers are found by state authorities, Victoria, of course, where the accident occurred, near Wallan, New South Wales, of course, because it was an XPT New South Wales train and the ATSB, the National Rail Safety Regulator and of course, there's a coronial inquest going.
So what we need to do, I don't want to pre-empt anything that may or may not have been done or happened, what we need to do is let the proper investigators take the right amount of time to fully investigate this accident and come up with the answers as to why it occurred.
JOURNALIST:
Are you satisfied the line is safe?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, the line won't reopen until it's safe.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think that it's time to have a conversation about nuclear energy as a possible option to solve the energy crisis?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, we are having a conversation about nuclear energy and Ted O'Brien is heading up an inquiry, a look at a committee into what we can do as far as the full energy mix but with nuclear as an option. But nuclear won't happen in Australia unless there's bipartisan support. There's so much dissension just about coal which provides for 55,000 jobs, two thirds of our energy needs and $66 billion worth of exports which at the end of the day pays for a lot of State public hospitals and State public schools and provides, as I say, for two thirds of our energy needs and there's so much dissension about that, you can just imagine the controversy about building a nuclear reactor in Australia for energy needs.
But I'm not against it and I certainly know that if you're needing nuclear medicine for something that has gone wrong, people are very, very quick to be able to want that nuclear medicine to occur so that they get the right diagnosis for their condition. But when you start talking nuclear energy, people want to run a million miles. Yes, there has some broad support for it but it needs to be in a bipartisan way. That is first and foremost.
Of course, Labor can't decide what energy mix they want. They don't know whether it's windmills, they don't know whether it's coal, they've got a random “Otis Group”, which is defying the leadership of Anthony Albanese, talking up coal, talking up fossil fuels and then, of course, you've got those people such as Bill Shorten and others still hovering in the wings, still talking down coal. They say one thing in Melbourne when they're in front of their greenie mates who they're trying to appease and they say another thing all together in Mackay and Moranbah and Gladstone and those other areas of Queensland which know that for mining and resources, the jobs are so important to regional Queenslanders and Queenslanders in general.
JOURNALIST:
Do you personally support nuclear energy as an energy option?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, I'm not against it, I never have been. But when we need to do is make sure that we investigate it fully, come up with bipartisan support and take it from there.
JOURNALIST:
Mr McCormack, health professionals have raised issues with public hospitals lacking capacity to deal with any surges in cases from coronavirus. Does the Commonwealth need to give the States more money to build up their capacity?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
I know that the States and the Commonwealth are meeting today. I've got every faith in the Federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt. We've been very forward leaning with this. As a nation, we've been praised right around the world for making sure that we put the right measures in place very early. Indeed, even before the World Health Organisation really saw this or identified this or declared this as an international emergency, we were there making sure that our borders were as they should be, making sure that we went, with the help of Qantas, to rescue any Australians in Hubei province, in Wuhan specifically, to make sure that we got those people off the Diamond Princess and into Australia and into quarantine.
We've been very forward leaning. The 15 original cases are all now cleared and back with their families, back in their communities and I've every absolute faith in Greg Hunt and how he's done this and certainly with Brendan Murphy, who is the Chief Medical Officer and what they've done, as a National Security Council committee, we've actually met just about every two days about this. I know how Prime Minister Scott Morrison has prioritised this amongst all the other things that have been happening lately, the ongoing drought, bushfires, making sure that the economy is still running so there are still jobs for people and their kids. That's what we've been doing. That's what you'd think and that's what you'd know and that's how you'd trust a responsible Government to do these things.
JOURNALIST:
There was news this morning that the Home Affairs Department said Australian Federal Police should have the option to apply to an independent authority in relation to raids on journalists. Is this something the Government will adopt?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, we're looking at this case and as a former journalist, yes, I appreciate the freedom of speech and freedom of the press is very, very important. But also so too are national security papers and cabinet documents and the likes. And there is a reason why some papers are marked top secret. There is a reason why some papers are classified as national security documents.
So there is a line. The line does not need to be drawn and if the line is overstepped, then, of course, investigations, you call them raids, need to occur. And I appreciate that having been a former newspaper editor, the daily newspaper editor for many years, but now as a senior MP, I understand that there is a fine line. That fine line shouldn't be drawn over. But we are looking at all these things but we'll always stand up for free speech. Of course, Australia has been built on free speech and we'll continue to espouse that important democratic right of all Australians.
JOURNALIST:
How do you justify to your voters in your electorate about the need for the Commonwealth to give the North Sydney Swimming Pool $10 million? Have regional voters missed out?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, it was conducted by the Department of Infrastructure, which also, in its title, includes the words "Regional Development". Now I fought hard when I became The Nationals Leader to get Regional Development back as a portfolio into The National Party because I know that for all of us in The National Party, regional development is first and foremost. So I know that this is an election promise for the North Sydney pool.
The North Sydney pool has been iconic since 1936. It's one of the most Instagrammed pools in Australia. It has a pristine view of the Sydney Harbour and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, it's an iconic spot. Yes, it was allocated $10 million. Was that money deserving? Yes. It needed to be restored and refurbished so that it could continue for decades to come to serve the North Sydney community well, but not just North Sydney, indeed all Australians who visit there, who swim there, who take photos there and making sure that not just for North Sydney, but for all of Australia that pool was there for many, many years to come. But after the election, that program then went into the Department of Health.
It's not just a regional program. It was, as Scott Morrison has said many, many times, there for all Australian communities. So there will be further allocations as part of this program. It's a good program. And whatever program we run, whatever program that we allocate funding to, they're helping Australians, they're helping Australian sporting organisations, they're helping Australian tourism.
I mean what Australian people can count on and can bank on, they've got a Federal Liberal and Nationals Government which is taking care of the needs of all Australians, whether they live in rural, remote, coastal, country, regional Australia or whether they, indeed, love the metropolitan areas, and I know that Julian, well, he backs urban areas, he backs congestion busting in Ryan and elsewhere.
For me, yes, these announcements in capital cities are very, very important as the Infrastructure and Transport Minister. But first and foremost, I'm a regional Member who will always stick up for regional funding and regional areas getting their fair share and, indeed, under my stewardship, as the leader of The National Party, they always will.
JOURNALIST:
Sports Australia's former chief executive voiced concerns about the colour coded spreadsheet she received from Senator McKenzie's office. Even if you don't think this program was interfered with, do you at least concede that the whole process could have been handled better?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
The process was handled in accordance with the way that Senator McKenzie was asked. She had legal authority to make the allocation. She had ministerial discretion to make those allocations. 684 communities have benefitted from the sports grants funding. 684 communities have now got better funding for their whether it's tennis, whether it's swimming, whether it's netball, whatever the case might be and what I'm really pleased about is that there are many communities which previously placed women's sport as second rate, which placed women's sport as second class. Not because they wanted to, but because the ability to raise funds is a fair bit difficult for them. You have to hold a lot of chook raffles in a pub on a Friday night to build the toilet blocks that women's sport in country areas and elsewhere needed so that women didn't have to get changed in their cars or, indeed, behind a tree.
Why shouldn't girls and women have the right to have their own shower blocks, have their own facilities to get changed in to get ready for the sport that they love? It brings communities together, it gels little country towns and dare I say, capital city suburbs as well. This has been a good program.
Look, I'm hoping that there will be future rounds of this program because it has been successful for those 684 projects that have been funded. It was oversubscribed four to one and that's unfortunate. I know that when I run out the Building Better Regions Fund, it's oversubscribed generally six to one and of course you've always got those five applicants for any one that's funded you get five applicants who aren't funded. Of course they're unhappy, they're disappointed but what I say to them is when there are future rounds, apply, apply again. Try, try again because, indeed, you could be funded the next time around.
But, here today, I'm here to talk about black spots. I'm delighted to be here with Julian Simmons. He's fought hard for this. The council has identified this particular intersection to upgrade and it's delightful to be here. I'm really, really pleased that for Queensland and indeed, right across the nation. This program is not only going to protect lives it's going to actually save lives into the future and that's very important.
JOURNALIST:
Is it satisfactory that the C1300's voice recorder was not working?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
We mourn for the loss of those three American firefighters who came to our country to fight the fires in and around Cooma, in New South Wales and indeed, they did a very fine job. Anything to do with that particular crash, of course, is being investigated by the proper authorities and I know that not only the Australian National ATSB, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau are investigating, but also, as you would expect, American authorities are very interested in what went wrong and to make sure that we avoid these sorts of things in the future.
A very, very sad accident, a tragic loss of life. Three men in their prime helping out, reaching across, reaching across the ocean to help their friends in need here in Australia. We mourn with their families. I've spoken to their families, I've attended two memorial services for them and I know how much of grieving is going on overseas, over in America for these losses. And, of course, we want the answers as to what went wrong that day.
It's very dangerous work that they do. If anybody has ever seen one of those fire bombers in action, it's very dangerous work. They fly very low, they're very brave and I know one of those pilots, indeed, he was very experienced in Afghanistan, had flown dozens of sorties across war-torn Afghanistan and the Middle East and to think he's come here to Australia and sadly lost his life in that accident, in that crash, is just heart breaking.
JOURNALIST:
Will you seek change in the rules to make sure that all aircraft will have voice recorders working?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Again, I say this will be part of the investigations, part of the recommendations and I know the full coronial inquest will look at all matters, what went wrong and what needs to be fixed for the future. Thanks so much.