Press conference – Port Lincoln
DIANA MISLOV, MAYOR OF PORT LINCOLN: Welcome to the media and on behalf of the City of Port Lincoln, I’d like to acknowledge the Barngarla People on whose lands we meet who are the traditional owners. And I’d like to extend a very warm welcome to our Prime Minister who’s travelled from across the country to come to visit us here in Port Lincoln. We meet on their lands of Galinyala, Port Lincoln, the place of sweet water. And we’re better to have our Prime Minister now, in our beautiful Boston Bay. So thank you very much for visiting us, Mr. Prime Minister, and allow you to have your say about our beautiful Port Lincoln. Thank you.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, thanks very much Diana. And I thank you for firstly, for the invitation to visit Port Lincoln and secondly, for coordinating what has been a very warm welcome. I really appreciate it. And yesterday, we gathered there at the foreshore with about eighty to one hundred people, all the local businesses, whether it be fisheries, whether it be agriculture, the port operators, or whether it be tourism and other economic activities. What there was an opportunity to do was to meet with local businesses, also to meet with the Indigenous elders of this community to discuss their strong support for a Yes vote in Saturday’s referendum. But also to just discuss with community members, including the elected councillors, as well as the officials from the City of Port Lincoln. And today, we’ve had an opportunity to have a look at this rather extraordinary Grain Export Terminal, which is here. And I want to thank Viterra, for the welcome that we’ve received here from Phil Hughes and his team for showing us around. It’s quite a spectacular view, I can assure you from the top of one of these grain silos, and this is an extraordinary facility. Exports from here reached $1 billion in the last year. A billion dollars of income to Australia, creating jobs, creating economic activity, boosting regional Australia, but doing something else as well, providing the world with our best in class grains. Our barley, our wheat, our canola, the products that are the best in the world. Clean, green products produced here in South Australia, making an enormous difference to feed the world, and it will also sustain the world as well. There’s enormous prospect for further growth here, and I’ve discussed that with the businesses. There’s prospects for growth in grain production, in efficiency here, but also in new areas that have developed, such as the growing wine industry here on the Eyre Peninsula. So I’m very positive about the prospects going forward. The three biggest destinations by value are Saudi Arabia, Japan, and China. One of the things that we know is that the opening up of exports again to China, including for barley, has already made a substantial difference. And just in the last week, we’ve seen a very large vessel head off to China, full of barley to make that wonderful world class beer and products that come from our malt barley in this part of the world, which is recognised as one of, if not the world’s best. So I’m really pleased that the work led by Penny Wong and Don Farrell, two great South Australians is making a difference to Australia’s trade. One in four of Australia’s jobs depends on trade. And one of the things that we’ve learned is we’ve got to diversify the trade, but we also need to engage with our trading partners. And that’s precisely what we’ve been doing here. I’ve committed to come back in the future to this wonderful city. It’s been a very warm welcome, and I thank all those who’ve been a part of this two day visit. Happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I ask you about the Voice? Why did you pick this particular region ahead of Saturday’s referendum?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I’m travelling right around the country. Yesterday I was in Broken Hill, as well as in Canberra. And this afternoon, I’m travelling to Mutitjulu, the Indigenous community there in Central Australia, very close to Uluru, where the Uluru Statement from the Heart, of course, began in the lead-up and was finalised at the First Nations Constitutional Convention in 2017. This afternoon, I’ll have the great privilege of meeting with the artists who did that wonderful art around the Uluru Statement, the one page Uluru Statement, which has been travelling around Australia for people to see this gracious invitation to walk with First Nations people to a better future. As Yunupingu said, he spoke about lighting a fire at Uluru that would he hoped spread around the world. He leaves an extraordinary legacy of being one of the Indigenous leaders of this country who had that vision of bringing the two worlds together. And as the Uluru Statement from the Heart says, speaks about the children, and how Indigenous Australians just want a better future and love and hope and optimism for future generations. And that’s what this is about. The Uluru Statements from the Heart and the referendum on Saturday, it’s just about two things. Recognising the first Australians in our nation’s founding document. Something that should have happened in 1901. Recognising that our history goes back some 65,000 years as a source of pride. And secondly, just a non-binding advisory committee so that we can listen to Indigenous Australians about matters that affect them, about their priorities. And so the words in the constitutional change, make it very clear, it doesn’t change the way that decisions are made by Parliament and by government. All it asks for is that people be listened to – not too much to ask. And I do hope that Australians accept this invitation from the first Australians on Saturday and in the lead up. Because a No vote is saying that what we have now is just good enough, we can just keep doing the same. There’s no alternative on the table. This is the option that has been asked for, requested by First Nations people themselves after a long process, most of which occurred under the former coalition government.
JOURNALIST: What do you make though of this region? I guess it’s a really conservative seat. Do you think you might be in trouble here, particularly in this region?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, people are here, and when I was in Whyalla as well, were very supportive, the people that I spoke to. And certainly the Aboriginal leaders here in the community who attended the event last night, were very supportive of a Yes vote in this referendum. And I hope that community members listen to those voices, and accept the invitation to walk with them. There’s everything to gain here, and absolutely nothing to lose. There is no downside. And I asked people who’ve been listening to some of the fear campaigns that are out there, to just think back to the reasons why we never had an Apology to the Stolen Generation. People at that time, including Peter Dutton of course, who found it so reprehensible that he walked out on the apology. He’s the only current member of parliament in the House of Representatives who walked out when the Apology was given. Brenda Nelson, the then Liberal Party member gave a very gracious and supporting speech that day on the floor of the House of Representatives. Now, Peter Dutton said that he regretted that action and apologised for not being a part of the Apology. And yet, we’re having a similar scare campaign, similar rhetoric that was there with Mabo, with other things. There were people in South Australia of course, the first place in the world to give women the right to vote, stand for Parliament. There were people then who said, well not every woman agrees with giving women the right to vote, it will have a downside, it will detract from the position of men in society. There were a whole lot of downsides. If you replace that rhetoric with the rhetoric today, then there’s some similar soundings. But there’s nothing to fear. South Australia has a proud history of being at the forefront of social change in Australia. It’s one of the reasons why we chose South Australia with Premier Malinauskas and Indigenous leaders to launch the date for the referendum of the 14th of October, when we launched that in Elizabeth in the northern suburbs of Adelaide. And I sincerely hope that South Australia, consistent with the world leading reforms that we’ve seen from South Australia over a long period of time, whether it was the rights of women, or the reforms of Don Dunstan, and other South Australian leaders over a long period of time. That they come together and support a Yes vote on Saturday. Thanks very much.
JOURNALIST: What do you make of the pro-Palestine march that went ahead in Sydney with flares going off at the Opera House?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think that there’s nothing to celebrate here. And I understand that Middle East is a complex issue. And I for a long time, have supported the right of Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security, and to support a resolution long term of this conflict. But the actions that we saw on the weekend need to be unequivocally condemned. There is no place for the targeting of innocent civilians that we saw. Young people attending a music festival, who were gunned down and murdered. The abduction of citizens as well, is something that is reprehensible, and I condemn it. And I believe it has shocked the world for very good reasons, which is why the world has united in condemnation of it.
JOURNALIST: What about Bill Shorten calling that march anti-Semitic? What are your thoughts on that?
PRIME MINISTER: I use my own language. I often get languages of others put to me. I use my own language. I didn’t see the demonstration obviously, I was here, in Port Lincoln and at events last night. But there has been a rise in anti-Semitism in recent times in Australia. I’ve been shocked by some of it. I was shocked by an anti-Semitic post supporting a No vote in the referendum that had a range of people, including Mark Leibler and others with the, sort of, conspiracy theories that we see too much of these days. You know, conspiracy theories about the United Nations and the Jewish conspiracy that have links to and promote anti-Semitism. I’m concerned about the rise of anti-Semitism. I’m concerned as well about Islamophobia, which has impacted in this country as well. We need to make sure that racism has no place in Australia. We are a tolerant, multicultural nation who’ve been enriched by our diversity.
JOURNALIST: Are there concerns for some Australians in Israel that remain unaccounted for?
PRIME MINISTER: There are concerns about Australians in the Middle East. I was briefed again this morning. I receive briefings every day about these issues. And we continue to work through Foreign Affairs to provide support.
JOURNALIST: Just to Qantas, two more questions. A Senate committee looking into the government’s decision not to grant Qatar extra flights has recommended an immediate review of the decision. Will the government do that?
PRIME MINISTER: That’s a matter for the Transport Minister. There’s nothing unusual about anything that’s happened here.
JOURNALIST: Why won’t Catherine King appear before the Senate inquiry given that House of Representative members can, with Scott Morrison during that in 2014?
PRIME MINISTER: For the same, 2014, you have to go back a decade. For the same reason that Peter Dutton didn’t appear. For the same reason that I’ve never appeared. In the same reason that anyone except for Scott Morrison. It’s just, the House of Reps members don’t appear before Senate Committees. Not the least of which is a Senate committee chaired by someone who has no understanding of the way that the aviation system works in this country.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, is there any future scope for, has there been any talk around the return of railways or the way we transport?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, that’s being examined, worked through with the South Australian Government. Infrastructure Australia will look at any projects that are put forward, and that will be examined in the normal way. Thanks.
JOURNALIST: Given that the polls are still saying that it’s going to be a No on Saturday, do you have concerns that it won’t be a Yes? And if the polls are right, how do we then reunite Australia? Because we’ve seen a lot of, I guess, negative media towards Indigenous people.
PRIME MINISTER: I’m focused on there being a Yes vote on Saturday, that’s my focus. And if there is a Yes vote, what I’ll do is convene a joint parliamentary committee jointly chaired by someone from the Labor Party, someone from the Coalition, to develop and finalise the legislation that is required to establish a Voice. I note the Liberal Party say that they want to legislate for a Voice. They also say that if this referendum is defeated, what they want to do if Peter Dutton ever becomes Prime Minister is have another referendum. We can get this done. We can get this done in coming days. Australia will be a stronger and more united country if Australians vote Yes.