E&OE
Thank you very much for those very kind words.
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s a great pleasure, great privilege to be here with you this morning.
Can I say thank you very much Anthony – to you and your team for the continuing series. It makes a very significant input into the WA economy, the debate and the way in which people are able to engage together. So, thank you and I wish you all the very best.
Was it nightly.com.au? Was that the plug that you shamelessly, continuously gave before?
I might say also to those of you who are only here for the prospect of the door prize success – it’s been drawn so you can leave now if that was your reason for attendance.
I’m very pleased to be here in the company of my distinguished colleagues as well today; Michaelia Cash, who’s part of our leadership group and a very important part of our team here in WA, to Angus Taylor, also acknowledge Melissa Price, to my other colleagues who are here in the room, Libby Mettam, and to State counterparts, to Basil Zempilas, the Lord Mayor here in WA.
To the many distinguished guests and business leaders who have made this state and our country great, thank you very much for being here today.
Now, this event, as we know, has been going on for 22 years. The same period that I’ve had the great pleasure of serving in the Federal Parliament.
In that time, I’ve known seven different Prime Ministers of whom I’ve served under four.
And I’ve seen in action nine different Leaders of the Opposition of whom I’ve worked directly to three.
Whether in Government or Opposition, as of course we know, each of these leaders had strengths and weaknesses.
Some had more strengths than weaknesses. And it’s certainly the case that some others had more weaknesses than strengths.
But regardless, I learned a lot from each of them irrespective of their political stripes and their inclinations.
Indeed, we all learn something from watching the leaders around us.
We see how they manage the day-to-day business and react in times of crisis.
We see how they conduct themselves in the highs of victory and the lows of defeat.
And in watching and learning, we discern the behaviours that we seek to emulate and those we seek to avoid.
There is much that I admire about John Howard, who is a very close friend and mentor to this very day, and Peter Costello – their era in leading our country was the Golden Age – and I was deeply honoured to be the Assistant Treasurer during that period to Peter Costello.
The stability that they brought to government. Their responsible economic management. Their policies grounded in both principle and pragmatism which nurtured our productivity and our prosperity that continues to this very day. And their eagerness to engage in the battle of ideas and put the national interest first.
Now, of course, there are lessons I’ve taken from when the Coalition went into Opposition in 2007 when John Howard lost of the ‘WorkChoices election’, we were lead by a very decent man in Brendan Nelson. But we tore ourselves apart – there was in-fighting and it was a very, very miserable period.
I believe, commendably, today we are a very different Opposition – the polar opposite in fact.
We have a united team. Certainly more united than we’ve seen on either side of politics in recent history.
In addition to a great camaraderie within the Coalition, there is also a strong sense of determination and purpose.
We’re working exceptionally hard on policies – which is the main task of an Opposition – which we will obviously unveil to the Australian people ahead of the next election.
It’s always interesting when your political opponents, as was the case last week in the lead up to the Dunkley by-election, advise that we need to release all of our policies before the Dunkley by-election. If I’ve learnt one thing in politics; it’s not to take the advice on how you can defeat your adversary from your adversary.
We also learnt a lot of lessons in the 2022 election period.
We learnt that we shouldn’t be Labor-lite again.
We will have policies which will distinguish us from the Government.
Policies of consequence which will appeal widely and offer Australians a clear choice at the polls.
I think Australians are crying out for strong leadership.
A leader of conviction who doesn’t try to walk both sides of the street.
A leader who has a calm and composed temperament, especially in a crisis and an ability to deal with the inevitability of unexpected events.
A leader who delivers on the promises that they made in Opposition when they get into Government.
And most importantly, a leader who can get our country back on track in these difficult economic times, and perhaps still with some storm clouds on the horizon.
Prior to the last election, Anthony Albanese vowed to lead with a steady hand.
He said he would govern in the same temperate spirit as Bob Hawke.
He pledged that Australians would be better off under a Labor Government.
But 21 months into this Government, Australians can see that the product they purchased is not performing as it promised.
This is my 13th trip to the West since becoming Leader of the Opposition. I’ve been travelling here for a quarter of a century.
When I listen to Australians here in Western Australia – and indeed of course around the country – they are increasingly and understandably anxious about the trajectory of our nation under Labor.
And Australians have every right to be anxious.
Our inflation is running at 4.1 per cent.
It’s persistent and it’s certainly well above the two to three per cent target.
As the Reserve Bank Governor has rightly pointed out, Australia’s inflation is homegrown.
And that’s borne out by the comparative data on core inflation.
Our core inflation in Australia is 4.2 per cent.
That’s higher than the United States, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Singapore, France, Italy, South Korea, Canada, Japan and the entire Euro Area.
During the Albanese Government’s term, the Reserve Bank has met on 19 occasions.
It’s increased interest rates 12 times and kept them on hold seven times, but never lowered them.
You know and we know that our country has a huge problem with national productivity.
It’s fallen by six per cent – a staggering figure just during this Government’s tenure of 21 months.
We are now in a per capita recession.
And the cost-of-doing business is through the roof at every level.
Labor is jeopardising our national productivity and prosperity through its obsession with centralised government interference and its imposition of regulatory burdens on Australians.
Now, that pleases the union movement, but it doesn’t help productivity, and it doesn’t help us to deal with headwinds into the future.
Since coming to power, Labor has saddled industries and businesses with more red and certainly more green tape, new taxes, market interventions and onerous approval processes.
Approval times for projects have ballooned under this Government, and that’s a polite way to put it.
Under the EPBCA, the average time between project referral and the granting of approvals is now about three years.
And I pause because I think there is a very significant lesson to learn here; the holding costs, the way in which we treat businesses and just have an expectation that more consultants can be employed and that the cost ultimately will either be absorbed or passed on to the end consumer, is a very bad part of our culture.
As you are aware, coal, gas and iron are Australia’s top three exports.
Together they generated more than 50 per cent of Australia’s total export earnings last financial year – a staggering $344 billion.
But between last year and this year, the number of projects has dropped from 140 to 124.
Worse, almost 60 per cent of these projects have been delayed, stalled or cancelled under the Albanese Government’s watch.
And that comes at a loss of $68 billion in investment.
It was reported in February that a staggering 6,600 mining jobs have either been cut or put in doubt in recent months. Many of you will have firsthand understanding and experience of that.
Alcoa will shut its alumina production refinery in Kwinana with some 1,000 workers and contractors sadly set to lose their jobs.
BHP, as we know, will likely close Nickel West which employs 3,000 people.
We know that our nation’s biggest plastics maker could close its Australian manufacturing plants by year’s end.
To date, the Albanese Government has funded the Environmental Defenders Office to the tune of $8 million to wage lawfare.
The EDO sought to stymie Santos’ LNG project in the Barossa field offshore of Darwin.
Despite the EDO’s embarrassing defeat in the Federal Court, it’s now doubling down.
The EDO’s activists are now seeking to use the courts to thwart Woodside’s $16.5 billion Scarborough offshore gas field project here in WA.
If that litigation is successful, literally thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of resource revenue will be lost again.
Now, we need to be candid about what’s happening here.
The Government’s what I believe to be a very interventionist and heavy-handed regulatory agenda is suffocating our national endeavour.
And the ramifications are broader than lost productivity or de-industrialisation.
We are missing out on foreign investment.
Japan and South Korea both depend on our gas.
Yet they are now considering withdrawing foreign investment because they know that there’s sovereign risk that they didn’t see two years ago or even 20 years ago. But they’re seeing it today for the first time, and it’s rattling them.
The Japanese and South Korean partners involved in Santos’ Barossa project wrote to the Resources Minister last October.
They expressed their ‘eroded confidence in the current regulatory approvals regime’ and that there was a lack of certainty which was inhibiting the ability to complete projects.
As I say, in my two decades in Parliament, I can’t recall a time when I’ve sat down with those partners and with those investors, particularly from Japan and Korea, and they’ve expressed such concern. Because our partners can no longer rely on Australia for supply, if that’s where we get to, it’s no wonder, of course, that they’re now looking to other markets.
Australia has a proud history of being a destination for choice – a choice for foreign investment and doing business.
But now, as we know and as you’re experiencing, the boards of global companies are looking to invest or they are investing in broader Asia and Africa.
Now, Australia has an abundance of material advantages.
And at a time when we have a very significant debt, when we have demands in the NDIS, necessity to spend money in defence and other portfolios, we need to make sure that we can help build up the opportunity within the mining and energy, manufacturing, agriculture and forestry sectors.
But I believe that the modern Labor movement is ideologically opposed to these sectors, to your sectors. The Albanese Government is sabotaging them at every turn.
The EDO – the $8 million in the scheme of things is not a big figure – but it demonstrates intent and desire for third parties to do bidding, to try and put sand in the gears to make it harder for the industry to succeed and to profit.
The Government is neutralising our material advantages through its own acts of economic self-harm.
Now, the Prime Minister made a promise on 100 occasions in relation to stage three tax cuts. His word was his bond. We’ve moved on from that.
But I don’t believe that the Government will be able to hold their position in relation to the GST commitment that they’ve made in relation to WA.
The Prime Minister can sign as many pledges, he can find as many arms in WA as willing to put themselves forward, but it’s not going to make a difference.
I don’t believe people can have trust in the Prime Minister and that is a big statement.
I’ve not seen it – except for Julia Gillard with the breaking of her promise on the carbon tax – I’ve not seen that happen to a Prime Minister. The preparedness to destroy one’s credibility so readily.
Prime Minister told Channel Seven, as I said, that ‘my word is my bond’. No doubt an exclusive by Mark Riley.
Evidently, it’s a bond that just doesn’t bind.
Now the Government wants to take from WA to prop up other states, particularly in Victoria and Queensland, where there is massive debt, crippling debt and the spending continues.
So I want to be very clear today on the Coalition’s position, the position that I outlined very clearly on my first visit as Leader with Michaelia Cash, that the Coalition put in place the Western Australian GST deal when we were in government, we designed it, we worked with the then state government – in fact, all the governments around the country, state and territory – and we stand by it.
We will not change under a government I lead.
We will keep it in place because we believe that productivity is underpinned by government providing certainty.
Labor has done a lot of damage to our building industry – and I think it’s a shame, particularly given the demand on the supply side of housing.
We know that since July of last year, almost 4,000 construction companies among 14,000 businesses across the economy have gone insolvent.
Many of these building companies have been squeezed out of the market.
When the Government decided to scrap the Australian Building and Construction Commission, they were forewarned its abolition would cause a significant reduction in construction industry output and the CFMEU would be back in control. And that is exactly what has happened.
The Government knew that projects would be delayed. They knew that cost increases would be there. They didn’t realise, I suspect, it would be 30 per cent or more, and that delays would ultimately have to be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
But we need to understand the power of the unions, now particularly the CFMEU, which the Federal Government has placed a lot of faith in, and the Federal Court has termed the most recidivist corporate offender in Australian history.
And they are, today, operating virtually with no oversight.
Not a single litigation has been brought against the CFMEU since the repeal of the ABCC.
Governments – both state and federal – are a key buyer of construction services to build that public service and transport infrastructure.
But where we have a mandated CFMEU EBA or involvement, it means that the demands both in terms of decreased productivity, but increased wages, are not abating and it just means that we don’t get the productivity that we need.
It means that we don’t get our bang for the buck that we want in construction of infrastructure much needed right around the country, here in the West as well.
So I think we’ve seen a period over the last 21 months, which has resulted in a more negative outlook for many Australians.
We’ve seen, particularly again in the construction industry, those labour costs increase and families are feeling that as they’re building their home, their dream home or they’re extending or they’re renovating.
We’ve seen project cost blow-outs in many states, but here in WA as well.
I come back to the point of productivity.
When Howard and Costello were balancing the budget after a long period of Labor government, they had to make tough decisions, but productivity was central to their thinking and their approach.
If we don’t make sure that that is front and centre of our approach now, we won’t be able to have the golden era ahead.
And Australians, I don’t think, will stand for that for too much longer.
So, ladies and gentlemen, it’s a great pleasure to be here with you today. Thank you very much to Anthony again for hosting this. I look forward to Ben’s grilling in a second – famous last words.
But it’s good to be back in the West, the powerhouse of our economy. And I want to say thank you very much for being here in great number this morning.
Thank you.
[ends]