SABRA LANE:

The federal government wants to introduce a new Commonwealth law to hold in question terrorism suspects for up to 14 days before they’re charged. Such a move was previously thought constitutionally difficult but it part of a renewed push towards nationally consistent pre-charge detention laws.

The Prime Minister will discuss the details with state and territory leaders at a special national security meeting tomorrow.

Malcolm Turnbull joins us this morning to discuss the issue. Prime Minister good morning and welcome to the program.

PRIME MINISTER:

Good morning Sabra.

SABRA LANE:

Now the Commonwealth wanted the states to introduce pre-charge detention laws back in 2015. The Commonwealth didn’t replicate them at the time because the Attorney-General said that it would breach the Constitution as a form of executive detention. But you’re revisiting this idea now. How have you managed to get around the Constitutional impediment?

PRIME MINISTER:

Yes, well, thank you. Well, we’ve obviously had a lot of experience of our existing laws, the way they operate at the moment, and they’ve been operating very well with a magistrate being able to extend the period of pre-charge detention.

So the aim is to agree with the states and, obviously, this has got to be worked through legally and they have to get their own legal advice, but the aim is to have consistent pre-charge detention laws that would enable somebody who has been charged to be detained and questioned for up to 14 days with, of course, all of the appropriate oversight.

I mean this is absolutely consistent with ensuring that there is appropriate judicial oversight.

SABRA LANE:

Sure. But how have you – George Brandis back in 2015 said there were Constitutional issues for the Commonwealth replicating this. How have you managed to get around that?

PRIME MINISTER:

Well, the basis of ensuring it is Constitutionally defensible is obviously bound up with experience, with further advice and also by having a judicial officer, a magistrate, extending the period of detention, which is how it operates at the moment.

SABRA LANE:

What evidence is there that 14 days is the right balance between community safety and personal liberties?

PRIME MINISTER:

It’s based on experience, Sabra. I mean there is no place for set-and-forget with national security.

And we learn from every incident, from every experience, from incidents overseas indeed, but the laws that we have provided, my government has provided, to the Federal Police, enable them to complete that very successful disruption and investigation of the plot to blow up an airliner in Sydney. Operation Silves.

So, you know, we work very closely, naturally, seamlessly, with the Federal Police, with ASIO, with our legal advisers, with our state counterparts, to ensure that we’re always fine-tuning and improving our national security laws.

Our primary, overwhelming responsibility is to keep Australians safe. We are relentless in that and we will always continue to improve and enhance the tools our agencies have to keep us safe.

SABRA LANE:

You’re also seeking for the states and territories to hand over pictures of all licensed drivers to allow the expansion of a facial recognition system. Will the states agree to that?

PRIME MINISTER:

I believe they will, yes.

We already have, with licence photographs, driver’s licence photographs are already used to identify people. We obviously, at the federal level, we obviously have passport photographs. About half of the population have got a photograph in a federal government system of one kind or another.

We believe if we bring together driver’s licences, then we can start to build up a national system that will enable us then more quickly to identify people, particularly to be able to identify people that are suspected of, or involved in terrorist activities. 

This is all again, it is simply a question of using technology, being proactive, not being complacent, relentless in my determination to keep Australians safe.

SABRA LANE:

So this will be used in technology, surveillance technology at airports?

PRIME MINISTER:

Sure.

SABRA LANE:

Will it be used as malls and places like that?

PRIME MINISTER:

It absolutely could be. We are determined to keep Australians safe, Sabra. And we must use every technology we can to do that.

SABRA LANE:

When this idea was first raised two years ago, tech experts had some concerns about this, particularly safeguards, saying if the system is hacked how will you protect this biometric data given that, once it’s hacked, you compromise someone’s, an individual’s information for life?

PRIME MINISTER:

Well, clearly, you have to make sure that all of your big databases are protected against hacking, but you know, if the risk of-

SABRA LANE:

There’s no 100 per cent guarantee for that.

PRIME MINISTER:

Well, the alternative is to not use data at all, Sabra. So you can’t allow the risk of hacking to prevent you from doing everything you can to keep Australians safe.

So the focus, obviously, is to constantly improve our cyber-security. I’ve made it a big priority of my government.

We have a cyber-security strategy that is actually under way, that is internationally respected and being emulated.

But at the same time, we need to be able to keep Australians safe and I want all of your listeners to know that we are relentless, tireless in ensuring that our agencies have the tools to keep them safe.

SABRA LANE:

You also want to make it an offence to possess instructional terrorist material.

PRIME MINISTER:

Yes.

SABRA LANE:

Why aren’t existing laws sufficient?

PRIME MINISTER:

Well, they just aren’t. You also need very clear, clear laws. It’s important to make sure that you give the police a very clear offence so that there’s no ambiguity or grey area.

SABRA LANE:

Is this designed to target people who have manuals but not yet the equipment or the know how?

PRIME MINISTER:

Well, correct. Well, for example, I’ll give you a very practical example – the people that were arrested in respect of the Operation Silves matter – this was the plot to blow up the airliner and build a chemical dispersal bomb – they were receiving instructions directly from the Middle East.

Now, if people nowadays in the age of encrypted messaging applications and the age of the internet, somebody can be sent from the other side of the world or download from the internet an instruction manual to build a bomb.

There’s no legitimate purpose or justification for having information like that and that should be an offence.

I don’t think there’ll be any dispute about that at COAG or any dispute – I mean if you go up and ask somebody in the street do you think it should be lawful to carry around instructions to build bombs and, you know, chemical disposal devices and techniques for blowing up aeroplanes? I don’t think anyone would agree that there is. So, we will make it clearly unlawful and that is another tool we give our agencies to keep us safe.

SABRA LANE:

The U.K. overnight has outlined similar laws with plans for people who repeatedly view terrorist material online to face jail terms of up to 15 years. Is that the kind of thing you’ve got in mind here?

PRIME MINISTER:

Well, what we’re looking at here is instructional material. Obviously, we review legal developments in other jurisdictions, particularly the U.K. where we have a strong and close security relationship, but the objective for tomorrow’s meeting relates to instructional material and also creating another offence, a new offence of terrorist hoaxes.

Now, there are hoax offences, you know, when people make a hoax about a bomb and so forth, but to have, again, you give the police a very clear offence – this is what the police asked for. They said just give us a very, very clearly defined offence and that enables them to use that to, you know, enforce and charge people.

SABRA LANE:

It’s reported in The Australian this morning that AFP officers have helped disrupt over half a dozen terrorist plots in the region, including Indonesia. What are you able to tell us about that?

PRIME MINISTER:

Not an enormous amount, Sabra.

SABRA LANE:

No?

PRIME MINISTER:

I’ll tell you as much as I can. Terrorists do not respect borders. It is a global threat, in the age of the internet and air travel, people can move ideas around instantaneously and people move around very quickly too. So we need to be globally connected with allies and partners around the world. We help them. They help us.

Sharing intelligence is a key priority. It was a key priority I raised at the G20. It’s the key priority I’ve raised at East Asia summits in the past and we work very closely, particularly in our region.

I mean, if you look at what’s happening in the southern Philippines – we’re helping the Philippines Government there. We don’t want the southern Philippines or the city of Marawi to become South-East Asia’s Raqqa, you know? To become a base for ISIL in the region.

SABRA LANE:

Have we helped disrupt operations that have targeted Australians abroad for example?

PRIME MINISTER:

Well, the Australians who are fighting with ISIL in the Middle East are targeted, yes, absolutely. They are targeted because they’re fighting with ISIL in the Middle East, but because they’re terrorists. They’re not targeted because they’re Australians.

We target terrorists absolutely and I would just note that one of the legal changes my government has made is to give our Defence Force the power to target and kill terrorists even in the Middle East, even if they’re not actively in a combat role.

So I broadened the scope for our Defence Force to be able to target and kill these terrorists in this battle that’s going on in the Middle East.

SABRA LANE:

You noted yesterday that Australia’s gun laws post Port Arthur has served us very well. In the wake of what has happened in the United States, is there a need to review those laws?

PRIME MINISTER:

Well, the laws are very tight. They’re among the strictest in the world. They’re obviously – again, there’s no place for set and forget in any area of national security, but the laws are already very strict.

The position in the United States is obviously, the politics of that, I think, is almost beyond comprehension to Australians, that people could be and a society that, in many ways, is so like our own, so familiar, that somebody could legally buy all of these military-grade weapons and, you know, thousands of rounds of ammunition. It seems inconceivable.

Anyway, as we know – you’ve covered it many times, Sabra – it is a politically intractable problem in America.

SABRA LANE:

It is. The Bureau of Statistics revealed yesterday that 57.5 per cent of eligible voters have returned their forms back in the same-sex marriage survey.

PRIME MINISTER:

A great outcome.

SABRA LANE:

What does that tell you?

PRIME MINISTER:

What that tells you is that Australians wanted to have their say. After all of the criticism from the Labor Party and all of Labor’s attempts to block Australians having their say, playing politics with this issue, we managed to provide a means for Australians to have their say through the postal survey.

And already, as of last week, just under 60 per cent have participated. That’s a very high participation rate but it will obviously get higher. There’s four weeks and more to go.

So I think it is a ringing endorsement of the government’s decision to give every Australian their say on this issue.

SABRA LANE:

Prime Minister, we’re out of time. Thank you for joining the program this morning.

PRIME MINISTER:

Thank you so much.

[ENDS]
 

PRIME MINISTER: We’ve met again with you the heads of the three big east coast gas exporters and I want to thank you for your cooperation and the assurances, the commitments you’ve given to ensure that the east coast gas market will be supplied so the domestic gas shortage about which we were so concerned will not arise.

The commitment today, which you’re making is to offer sufficient gas to meet the expected shortfall and any emerging shortfall through the good faith offering of gas to the domestic market on reasonable terms.

These commitments are vitally important to ensure Australian jobs and to ensure Australians have affordable and reliable energy and including electricity – gas being a more important fuel than ever in the generation of electricity.

I want to thank you very much for those commitments and by ensuring that there will not be a shortfall of gas next year, that means we will not be required to place restrictions on exports.

I want to thank you for that.

Zoe did you want to respond?

ZOE YUJNOVICH, SHELL AUSTRALIA COUNTRY CHAIR on behalf of QCLNG PROJECT PARTICIPANTS:

Maybe in response just – we appreciate the constructive dialogue that we’ve had.

There have been some difficult and tense moments and we appreciate the challenge that you’ve given to us. 

We hope that through the Heads of Agreement, indeed we can find a path forward to make sure that the domestic market is serviced and that indeed there is enough available gas for the market, which we stand behind and are committed to deliver.

PRIME MINISTER:

Thank you very much.

[ENDS]

PRIME MINISTER:

Thank you very much, Chris, Tim, Stuart, and thank you Uncle Alan for the warm welcome to Gadigal country.

Firstly, I want to offer my sincere condolences to our friends in the United States over the shocking and senseless attack in Las Vegas.

There are many of our American friends in the room today who have been watching these events unfold with dread, as, indeed, we all have.

As I said to your acting-Ambassador, Jim Caruso, we stand with you and we mourn with you in this difficult time.

This was a cruel and callous attack on innocent people at a concert.

It was the worst mass shooting in the history of the United States.

The latest information is that at least 58 people have been killed and over 515 taken to local hospitals injured.

The Australian Consulate-General in Los Angeles is making urgent inquiries with the local authorities in Las Vegas to determine whether any Australians have been affected by this attack.

Australians in Las Vegas should register on the Smartraveller website and make contact with family and friends. Our emergency call unit is operating and the details are on the DFAT website.

This is a reminder that we must constantly work to stay ahead of the threat, whatever the motives of those who seek to do us harm.

Here in Australia, we’ve recently released, in August, our new protection of crowded places strategy, to ensure that Australians can continue to enjoy the freedoms they hold dear.

Whether we are going to concerts, attending sporting events or festivals we should do so without the fear of harm.

Thanks to the strong leadership of John Howard more than 20 years ago, and in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, Australia has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world and we remain ever vigilant to maintain them.

Another national gun amnesty has just concluded, and in the first two months, over 25,000 weapons were handed in.

This week, I’m convening a special summit of state and territory leaders to discuss how we will further strengthen and harmonise our response to the threat of terrorism.

We must constantly improve our laws and our techniques to stay ahead of those who seek to do us harm.

There is no place for set and forget in national security.

Again, I offer my thoughts and prayers to the people of the United States. We grieve with the families of the victims. And we wish the injured a swift recovery.

Vice Admiral Chris Ritchie, thank you for your welcome and your description of this great assembly, a veritable armada of admirals from no fewer than 39 Navy’s around the world to Pacific 2017.

I want to acknowledge the many representatives of Australia defence industry here today as well. And of course, my ministerial colleagues, Minister for Defence, the Minister for Defence Industry, Stuart Ayres, the Minister for Western Sydney and other state and territory parliamentary colleagues.

This is a crucially important gathering.

And it comes at a time of enormous investment by my government here in Australia. We are embarking on the largest ever peacetime upgrade to our defence capabilities – a massive ship-building program which will deliver 54 new vessels to tackle the regional and global threats in the decades ahead. We’re ensuring our national security while creating the certainty, the jobs and the opportunities that were missing in previous years.

My government’s comprehensive Naval Shipbuilding Plan builds on our 2016 Defence White Paper.

Vice Admiral Barrett fairly described the significance of the White Paper in his book, The Navy and the Nation, and I’ll quote you to him.

He wrote:

“The Defence White Paper released by the government in 2016 has set the Navy on a new course. Not only has the government redefined the Navy as a system, rather than a collection of cobbled together platforms, but more importantly, it has also repositioned the Navy as a national enterprise. This represents a fundamental transformation in thinking about what the Navy actually is – where it fits in our national architecture and how it relates to the national economic infrastructure.”

Well said.

This is an ambitious national program, well beyond what Australia has previously undertaken.

The investment in new naval capabilities is a key part of our commitment to a safe and secure Australia. The first priority of my government.

The investment will also revitalise our heavy engineering and advanced and hi-tech manufacturing industrial capability, and grow and sustain thousands of Australian jobs.

It will see the regeneration of Australia’s current naval fleet over the next 50 years.

This is the largest investment in our defence naval capability ever in peacetime and it is at the very forefront of technology.

It will enable the Australian Defence Force to have the capability to conduct independent combat operations to defend Australia and protect our interests in our region, as well as contribute to global coalition operations in support of the global rules-based order.

Importantly, the Naval Shipbuilding Plan will not only enable us to deliver the key naval capabilities identified in the 2016 White Paper, but will also guarantee long-term employment for Australian workers and a sovereign naval ship-building and sustain capability.

This is unprecedented.

Capability, jobs, a sovereign defence industry.

The work continues to be closely and regularly overseen by me and my Ministers, drawing on independent expert advice, including from the Naval Shipbuilding Advisory Board, headed by the former Secretary of the United States Navy, Professor Don Winter, who is here at Pacific 2017 this week.

The Naval Shipbuilding Plan is an ambitious agenda and we’ve already delivered on important elements.

On capability, including the commissioning of the first Air Warfare Destroyer HMAS Hobart and the selection of France’s Naval Group as our partner for the design and construction in Australia of the 12 future submarines, and also commencing the construction in Perth by Austal Ships of up to 21 Pacific Patrol Boats.

On shipbuilding infrastructure, we’ve committed well over $1 billion to acquiring and upgrading the infrastructure we’ll need to fulfil our ambitious ship-building plans.

On the shipbuilding workforce, we have committed to establishing the Naval Shipbuilding College from January 2018, with an initial investment of $25 million, to support workforce expansion and skills development.

The scale of our ambition for Australia’s future naval capabilities demands a truly whole-of-nation response.

And we are achieving great things thanks to our strong partnerships across state and territory governments, industry, and Australia’s education and training and research and development sectors, each of which will have important roles as we continue to advance this national endeavour.  And it truly is a national endeavour, that we need everyone, including our political opponents, to get behind if we are to succeed. And succeed we must – to keep Australians safe.

This morning I am pleased to announce the latest step in the recapitalisation and renewal of our Royal Australian Navy and the implementation of the Naval Shipbuilding Plan.

The complex threat environment that our Navy will face in the future, we need the best capability for our Future Frigates that can deal effectively with contemporary threats, both over and under the water.

A capability that can ensure we can share information on those threats with other ADF units and assets and with our allies and partners, including the US Navy. A capability that is able to be upgraded to meet emerging threats. And a capability that can be supported and further developed through close ties with Australian industry.

The Naval Shipbuilding Plan represents a change in the way government procures naval capability, and this needs to include combat management systems.

Previous governments have taken the approach of tendering the combat management systems for each individual ship. This has resulted in multiple combat management systems across the fleet, increasing training and sustainment costs. This has also made it difficult for Australian industry to invest in the long-term, in what is a high-tech, cutting-edge industry.

That approach was short sighted and we consider it no longer in the national interest.

We have resolved to take an enterprise approach to combat management systems for Australia’s Navy.

After more than 50 studies and lengthy analysis we have decided, based on the ability to meet our capability requirements, to mandate that Australia’s Future Frigates will have an Aegis Combat Management System.

This decision will maximise the Future Frigate’s air warfare capabilities, enabling those ships to engage threat missiles at long range. A number of states, notably of course, North Korea, are developing missiles with advanced range and speed. We must have the capability to meet and defeat them.

Just as importantly, this will be complemented by an Australian tactical interface, to be developed by SAAB Australia, which will manage the non-Aegis systems like the Australian developed Nulka missile decoy and – critically – the cutting-edge phased array radar, developed by Australia’s CEA Technologies.

Where the high-end warfighting capabilities offered by the Aegis system are not needed for other future ship projects, Australia will mandate a single combat management system. And that combat management system will be developed by SAAB Australia.

This will include mandating that the Offshore Patrol Vessels will contain a SAAB Australia-developed combat management system, and that an Australian tactical interface will be developed by SAAB Australia for the Air Warfare Destroyers when we upgrade the Aegis system as is planned in the Defence White Paper.

Taken collectively, these decisions will likely amount to an investment of more than $1 billion in the future development of Australia’s naval combat systems and radars. It is expected that these decisions will support hundreds of jobs across CEA, Lockheed Martin Australia and SAAB Australia.

I am proud that Australian industry will benefit from this longer-term enterprise strategy.

It guarantees a long-term sustainable Australian combat management system industry, which is integral to my government’s shipbuilding plans.

We are equipping our Navy to meet the threats of the future, and to do it with the best technology in the world.

In particular, SAAB Australia will be able to invest knowing that it has a significant role to play in the delivery, upgrade and sustainment of ship combat management systems in Australia for decades to come.

Further, the selection of SAAB Australia to develop the Australian tactical interface for the Future Frigates will help provide for sovereign control over world class technologies including the Australian designed and built CEA phased array radar.

The selection of Aegis as the combat management system with Saab Australia’s interface strikes the right balance between capability considerations, US interoperability, commonality with the Air Warfare Destroyers and Australian industry involvement.

The early selection of a combat management system for the Future Frigates is part of the government’s strategy to de-risk the start of construction in 2020 – it does not impact on the selection of a combat system integrator, which the three tenderers will still each select.

Our decision to take an enterprise approach to our Navy’s combat systems will ensure that Australians remain in control of these vital technologies and we will continue to develop and innovate in this high technology area of capability.

Taking an enterprise approach to future naval combat systems is a demonstration of our commitment to a vibrant and innovative Australian defence industry for the long term. It will ensure that Australia has an enduring capability to build and maintain our combat management systems and maintain a high level of interoperability with the US Navy and other allies and partners.

The decisions I have announced this morning will mean that we will be providing the absolute best capability to our Navy, and the best way to keep our future sailors safe in an increasingly challenging region and world.

Across Defence, my government has now provided the certainty you have sought and deserved. We are delivering on our commitments, providing the investment and funding for decades. And in our partnership the expectation on the industry leaders in this room and beyond is to deliver the work on time, on budget and with thousands of high tech and well-paid Australian jobs for generations to come.

And you should be proud not only to tell Australia about it, but to advocate our success stories to the world. This investment and our partnership will not just keep Australians and Australia safe. It will not just develop and sustain Australia’s defence industry and jobs. It will also ensure we are internationally competitive and winning work around the globe.

For those visiting Australia for this conference I warmly welcome you to Sydney. I trust you will all make the most of the opportunities that Pacific 2017 has to offer.

Thank you very much.

DAVID PENBERTHY:

Take a seat Prime Minister!

PRIME MINISTER:

Good, I’m ready to go.

DAVID PENBERTHY:

Now we have to admit, Mr Turnbull, that today our minds are somewhat elsewhere. If you’re here to announce an increase in the GST to 15 per cent, you’ll get no probing from us. Any bad news you want to clear – if you’re about to send Tony Abbott to Nauru, anything like that – we have no questions about anything other than football.

PRIME MINISTER:

Well, I’ve got a few questions for you. You drove here, didn’t you?

DAVID PENBERTHY:

We did, we drove yesterday.

PRIME MINISTER:

How long did it take?

WILL GOODINGS:

What’s the longest you could imagine it’s possible to do it in? We did it in slightly longer. 12.5 hours I think it took.

DAVID PENBERTHY:

It’s meant to be an eight hour drive, but we stopped in a lot of the little towns along the way.

PRIME MINISTER:

Oh, that’s great. You broadcast from there?

DAVID PENBERTHY:

Yeah, well on the road we were just doing interviews in all the different towns. But it’s a good sort of regional story.

PRIME MINISTER:

Oh, yeah sure.

DAVID PENBERTHY:

I know as a Sydney guy, you probably have similar things around State of Origin where people drive up and down and so forth. But for a lot of the little towns in SA and Victoria, you know, they’ve got the flags out and the banners and the balloons. It’s a terrific time.

But look, you are going for the Tigers aren’t you?

PRIME MINISTER:

I am. Yeah, well the Swans, as you know, I was hoping like many people were – in fact, expecting – them to be in the Grand Final. But they got bundled out by Geelong which was very disappointing. You know…

WILL GOODINGS:

Why switch to Richmond after that, as a Swans man?

DAVID PENBERTHY:

Yeah, we avenged you guys.

PRIME MINISTER:

Well, I mean you’ve got to be barracking for somebody. It’s a two horse race!

Look, the Crows, I think there is a very romantic side to this Grand Final, because both teams have had very rough, have had a struggle. I know Richmond obviously is very much the underdog. The Crows, as you guys from Adelaide know better than anyone, have had a very tough time over recent years and I think there’s a lot of passion, a lot of heart in both teams and in their supporters. So it’s going to be a wonderful match tomorrow.

DAVID PENBERTHY:

Now you would know as well as the rest of us how up themselves Victorians can be at times, Prime Minister. You know, the Victorian Liberal Division has always regarded itself as the custodian of conservative politics in Australia.

Think back to the Peacocks and so forth. Now, why should they…

PRIME MINISTER:

This is called leading this witness. Leading the witness into a trap.

DAVID PENBERTHY:

This is an important question.

PRIME MINISTER:

But the problem is, Pembo, I can see you’re leading me there and there is a large hole filled with barbed wire and a sign that says: ‘Heffalump trap’.

DAVID PENBERTHY:

No, no, no. This is a chance for you to claw back the marginal seats in SA that you’ve put at risk by barracking for Richmond.

Why should the Grand Final always be held in Melbourne? We’ve got ANZ Stadium in Sydney. There’s a new stadium that’s been built in Western Australia. Do you think down the track, we should look at a Super-Bowl-style rotation? I mean Adelaide has been the minor premiers…

PRIME MINISTER:

It’d have to be a day time match in Adelaide, wouldn’t it?

DAVID PENBERTHY:

No, we’ve got lights. We’ve got electricity.

PRIME MINISTER:

Jay hasn’t got any electricity. I mean…

DAVID PENBERTHY:

No, we’ve got generators.

But seriously, should they look at moving –

PRIME MINISTER:

So what, you could have a percentage of the fans on bicycles, keeping the lights on in Adelaide?

DAVID PENBERTHY:

We’ll put a few wind farms up behind the cathedral.

PRIME MINISTER:

Yeah.

DAVID PENBERTHY:

But should the Vics have a monopoly on staging the Grand Final forevermore?

PRIME MINISTER:

I’ll leave that for you to arm-wrestle over with the Victorians.

I think, I’ve got to say, this is an amazing sporting city, Melbourne. You’ve got to hand it to them.

DAVID PENBERTHY:

Yeah, well it’s alright.

PRIME MINISTER:

I know, I know, you’re from Adelaide and you want to criticise Melbourne. I’m from Sydney and I love Melbourne and Adelaide, I think they’re both fantastic cities, but one of the remarkable things about Melbourne is these big sporting venues are right in the heart of the city. The city is…

WILL GOODINGS:

We’ve got one of them too, you do realise…

PRIME MINISTER:

Yeah, I know you do – that’s true, I’ve walked there, walked around it. It’s good.

WILL GOODINGS:

You have contemplated interventions into other markets of late with gas and others. We just figured, that maybe could we appeal to you to maybe step in, maybe nationalise the AFL? Then we could have this…  

PRIME MINISTER:

I think they’re doing a great job. Look, it’s a great code.

DAVID PENBERTHY:

We should ask you a couple of serious questions.

PRIME MINISTER:

Should you? Really?

DAVID PENBERTHY:

Well, interesting that you raise respect for the office and all that.

PRIME MINISTER:

The people will start switching off.

DAVID PENBERTHY:

Well they might, that’s right.

PRIME MINISTER:

I can hear them switching off right now.

WILL GOODINGS:

There is one issue that people in SA are switched on to, it’s the fact that we are 12 months and a day removed from the event when the power went out.

PRIME MINISTER:

Yes.

DAVID PENBERTHY:

Correct.

WILL GOODINGS:

Are you any more confident today, with all the announcements of things that have been discussed – you mentioned battery power and wind farms before…

PRIME MINISTER:

Yeah, sure.

WILL GOODINGS:

…Are you any more confident that South Australia’s energy infrastructure is secure?

PRIME MINISTER:

Well, South Australia’s energy, electricity network is under much, much closer supervision from the Australian Energy Market Operator. The reality is – and look, this is a day of football but I’ll just give you the facts. The big mistake that was made was to have such a huge introduction of wind power without providing the backup for it. So there’s nothing wrong with wind or with solar – they’re fantastic – but the wind doesn’t blow all the time and the sun doesn’t shine all the time. So what the state government allowed to happen, was for gas power generators to be closed off, or turned off like Pelican Point which is now back up again, and for coal-fired power stations to be literally decommissioned.

What that made the state, is it made the state so much more dependent on those interconnectors to Victoria and so it made the state’s electricity network much less reliable.

Now what AEMO is doing now, is intervening much more. They’ve got South Australia on really, very, very close watch.

So Pelican Point is back on, that’s good. There’s more gas available. We’ve secured a gas supply guarantee for the summer – critically important to South Australia.  The battery, there’s been a battery acquired. You’ve seen the big – longer term – you’ve seen the pumped hydro program that we’re funding the feasibility work on at Cultana and the Spencer Gulf. So they will literally be pumping water up the hill, when the wind is blowing in the middle of the night and electricity is cheap and then running it downhill, that’s a battery. That’s a really big battery.

So there’s a lot of work going on but the moral of the story is – and this is my approach to energy policy – you’ve got to be focused on engineering and economics. All of the green left ideology and all of the complacency and stupidity that we’ve seen in the past, that has created the mess that we’re in, has got to end. So I’m taking a very hard-headed, business-like approach.

WILL GOODINGS:

The Astronautical Congress is on in South Australia at the moment as well.

PRIME MINISTER:

Yes it is.

WILL GOODINGS:

Elon Musk is in, all sorts of rumors swirling about. Could a battery contract be signed today? Could he be announcing that, you know, a South Australian will be the first person on Mars? We don’t know at this point in time.

But there’s a lot of excitement about space.

PRIME MINISTER:

You’ll need a big battery to get you to Mars.

WILL GOODINGS:

Well, that’s right, yeah it’s a lot of wind.

The Australian Space Agency was one of the announcements that was made over the course of the week.

PRIME MINISTER:

Yes, that’s right.

WILL GOODINGS:

Whilst we’re being entirely parochial, what are the chances that we’ll see that headquartered in Adelaide? We’ve got Woomera just up to the road…

PRIME MINISTER:

Well, look Will – as I think we’ve announced – we’re going to look at where it’s going to be located, but the truth is, it’s a big country. Like with all of these agencies, it will have a role and a presence everywhere.

The Australian space industry, which is already substantial, and what we’re going to do is provide a national agency which will provide coordination and leadership and support, so that we can secure more jobs and more investment from those, you know, that high tech field.  Adelaide of course, with the big investment we’re making in shipbuilding in South Australia… as I always say, people ask in Adelaide: ‘Where is the future?’ The future is in South Australia, literally – the cutting-edge high-tech industries of the future are going to be driven by that massive investment we’re making in our 21st century navy in South Australia.

DAVID PENBERTHY:

Just finally Prime Minister, a football-ish question, although one related to the NRL rather than the AFL. Can you understand the furore, particularly by your predecessor, about the fact that the American rapper Macklemore, who is famous for ‘Thrift Shop’ and so on, he’s got this song ‘One Love’ that’s regarded as a bit of a gay anthem, singing that at the NRL Grand Final this weekend?

PRIME MINISTER:

Talk about gay anthems Pembo, they had the Village People did YMCA at the 1991 NRL Grand Final, I don’t know anyone complaining about that.

Look, I tell you, he should play whatever he likes. He should play his hits – that’s what people expect and I don’t believe in censoring playlists at Grand Finals, or anywhere else for that matter.

DAVID PENBERTHY:

It’s not preachy, it’s not party political?

PRIME MINISTER:

No. Listen, there’s plenty of songs with political context and you know, often the lyrics are controversial. Most people don’t really listen to the lyrics that closely. But the fact is he is a big star, he’s got some big hits and he will play his big hits, as every star before him has done in the Grand Final entertainment. I think, let him play his songs.

DAVID PENBERTHY:

PM we always love our catchups. You’re a great bloke. You’ve made a shocking decision in relation to tomorrow’s Grand Final…

PRIME MINISTER:

Nobody is perfect. No one is perfect, least of all me.

But, anyway, there you go, I’m glad you’ve allowed me to join you today, notwithstanding my numerous imperfections.

WILL GOODINGS:

Good on you Malcolm Turnbull, thanks so much for coming in.

PRIME MINISTER:

Thanks a lot, thank you.

[ENDS]

PRIME MINISTER:

Thank you very much.

Lieutenant Natasha Jager representing the Governor, Jacinta Allan, representing the Premier, Lisa Neville the Victorian Minister for Police, Matthew Guy the Leader of the Opposition and all your state Parliamentary colleagues. Jason Wood, Federal Member for Latrobe and a former Victorian police officer, Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton, Acting Commander of the Australian Federal Police Paul Hopkins, Lord Mayor Robert Doyle.

But above all the men and women of the police services of Australia, all of you here today and all of your brothers and sisters that you represent.

Today, on National Police Remembrance Day, we thank the service and the sacrifice of the men and women of our police forces.

We acknowledge that we are honouring 100 years of women serving in the Victorian Police too and we honour the sacrifice of the four women police officers who have died in the course of duty.

It is you, the police men and women of Australia, who put your lives on the line to keep us safe – to keep our communities safe, to keep Australia safe.

Our freedom, our security, our democracy depends on the rule of law and it is you who uphold and enforce that law. You uphold the right, you uphold the rule of law.

Today’s solemn remembrance calls to our mind the cost of that commitment, the human cost as you defend us and stand between us and those who seek to do us harm.

The death of a police officer is a personal and a family tragedy, but it is also an assault on the whole community. It is an assault on us all, because that officer served as you serve to defend us all, and the laws that keep us free.

We respect and we honour the work our police do each and every day to keep us safe.

Now in recent times, we have had bitter reminders of the threats police face in carrying out their duties. These are dangerous times for our police services and there can never be any set and forget in our approach to supporting our police services.

All of us, leaders gathered here today and around the nation owe it to you to give you every resource, every technology, every law that enables you to do your solemn task of protecting our democracy, of protecting our way of life from those who seek to threaten it.

We reflect on the events here in suburban Melbourne, in Endeavour Hills, in 2014; we reflect on the murder of Curtis Cheng in Parramatta in 2015; and more recently, the brutal and senseless killing of Brett Forte in Queensland. All of these tragic incidents and many others remind us of the threats you face every day and so we give thanks today for your work and your service.

Queensland Police Senior Constable Brett Forte was killed exactly four months ago, on the 29th of May, while he and his partner were pursuing a dangerous and wanted man on the Warrago Highway, near Toowoomba.

I want to commend the four other officers, Senior Constables Catherine Nielsen, Scott Hill, Stephen Barlow and Constable Brittany Poulton who showed incredible bravery in their response to the shooting. Their selflessness, love and courage as that of Senior Constable Brett Forte is an example for us all.

Senior Constable Forte is survived by his wife, Susan, also a police officer, and their three children and we say again today that we are with them in their grief, we will never forget their suffering, or their sacrifice.

I want also to acknowledge the courageous work of Victoria Police over the last 12 months. The Bourke Street Mall Attack, the Brighton Siege were two vicious and violent attacks on the people of Victoria and the people of Australia. These were attacks on all of us.

The work that you do as police to keep us all safe, the dedication and professionalism through your work, we thank you for, we thank you for that every day and we show that thanks at ceremonies like this but above all in our commitment to give you the resources you need.

We work closely together, more closely than ever before and I want to commend the work of all of our police services and our security and intelligence agencies, our Australian Federal Police in the seamless way, in a connected world you work more closely than ever to deal with the growing challenges we face.

We mourn with all the families who have lost loved ones in the line of duty. Our police could not do their work without the support of their families. Our police could never do that work without the love and support of their families and we thank them for that love and that solidarity.

We give thanks to all who serve; knowing the cost, as Graham Ashton reminded us, knowing that cost, but remembering the priceless essential service that you deliver, you keep us safe. We would not be the nation we are, we would not be a democracy under the rule of law without you and all of your colleagues around Australia, defending and upholding the right.

On behalf of the Government and the people of Australia: I thank you, I salute you.

[ENDS]