Jobs; four year, fixed terms of parliament; Newspoll; Tax reform.

SENATOR KIM CARR, SHADOW MINISTER FOR INNOVATION AND INDUSTRY: Good morning. Thank you very much for coming, we are here at Socobell and I want to thank Ross for having us here. This firm is a very successful firm, it's one of the largest suppliers to Toyota for plastic moulded parts. This is a firm that represents very much the very best in the Australian automotive industry. We're here today to demonstrate our long term commitment to the automotive industry, our ongoing commitment to the Australian automotive industry and to stand shoulder to shoulder with companies like this one, that is going through some very difficult times as a result of the stupidity of government decisions, that have done such damage to the automotive industry in this country. Socobell is a company that is not only making the transition into the new era of Australian manufacturing with medical devices, developing new contracts in automotive, a company that will survive. A company that will go on investing, employing, building for Australia. It's a company that the Labor Party wants to work with, like so many others in this industry.

 

So Labor is determined to see that we have an automotive industry into the future by attracting new investment, new technologies and new skills, particularly international investment. I am very confident that we will be able to do that and I'm looking forward to the challenge that a Labor Government, and only a Labor Government can bring. And I know with Bill's commitment and understanding of Australian manufacturing that we will succeed. I'll give you Bill Shorten. 

BILL SHORTEN, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Thanks Kim. I want to thank the management and workforce at Socobell. Today, and this visit is proof to me that the engineering skills in the automotive sector are not finished, that there are the skills and will for Australia to still be an automotive manufacturing powerhouse. 
 
But it is the case that in eight weeks, we're going to see one of the largest job funerals that Australia has ever seen, with the final closure of car plants at Altona in Victoria and Elizabeth in South Australia. There is a big challenge about big job losses in the car industry in the next eight weeks. But so far the Turnbull Government have been out of touch and they've got underfunded schemes which are over-subscribed. 
 
But I want to say to the car industry, the automotive workforce, the engineering workforce and Australians more generally, that the Labor Party will take a plan for industry jobs to the next election. We believe in investing in the skills, we believe in attracting the investment from overseas to this country. The skills are here and the knowledge is here for Australia to be very good, to be a powerhouse of advanced manufacturing. They just need a government in Canberra who is willing to back up blue collar workers, back up manufacturing in small and medium sized businesses, a government who is working for the people and not just themselves. 
 
We are happy to take any questions on this or other matters. 

JOURNALIST: May I ask you about fixed terms? What did the Prime Minister say to you about fixed terms in your phone call?

SHORTEN: Yesterday I raised the proposition and offered bipartisan support to the Government to set fixed terms for Australian federal elections. I think that four years is a reasonable period of time, it’s certainly Labor party policy and there have been plenty of people in the Liberal Party, from Mr Turnbull right through to the backbencher the Member for Banks, who've said that they support fixed terms.

I think that just for once in Australia we need to say no to the naysayers. As soon as I proposed four year terms outcome the naysayers from under their rocks criticising the idea of four year terms. But in the last 24 hours I think there is real appetite for genuine reform which is bipartisan. Just for once in our political lives, why don't we look at the positives of an idea before we look at the negatives. Why don't we look at how we can get fixed terms in our federal election sphere and then look at all of the challenges and problems after that. But just for once in our political lives, it would be great if the politicians could look at the positives, rather than try and score points off each other.

JOURNALIST: So what was the Prime Minister's response to the idea?

SHORTEN: We had a constructive discussion and I've certainly invited him to meet with me when Parliament resumes. Of course it's Constitutional change and I want to make very clear that the number one cab off the rank for me on Constitutional change is Indigenous recognition in our Constitution. 

 

The four year fixed term federal parliament can only happen if the Liberals give it the tick, if they're not interested in giving it the tick then it can't happen. But I think what Australians want out of Canberra is a government that is working for them, is a government that is focused on the people and not just themselves. That's why I think that fixed terms allows the opportunity for governments of either political persuasion to be a bit more determined, to be a bit more daring, to be able to get on with the issues rather than constantly worrying about their own internal unity.
 
 JOURNALIST: Did you come away from that conversation believing there would be bipartisan support for say, a referendum question on this?

SHORTEN: No, I don't think the Liberal party is at that point yet, but certainly Mr Turnbull has been on the record supporting four year terms. What we have is an unusual opportunity in Australia - just for once we've got the change to be positive, not negative. 

I think he supports four year terms; I support four year terms, why don't we look at how we can make this work in the interests of Australians. I think Australians are fed up with going to elections every two and a half years, which is the average length of a federal government. But of course it's going to require both sides to work together. What I'm prepared to do is work with the Government to see if we can make it work. You know, I know the nay-sayers from the Government and other quarters came out and said, oh it's all a bad idea, but wouldn't it be good just for once in our political lives if we could all get on with it and work together, look at the positives and then identify the obstacles to where we want to go.

JOURNALIST: With the latest Newspoll what do you make of the fact that it appears that the major parties are gaining back some ground from the minor parties in the latest Newspoll?

SHORTEN: I don't make a habit of commenting on opinion polls no matter what they mean for us. But one of the reasons why I don't is because I don't need an opinion poll to tell me that Australians are disillusioned with politics as usual, and one of the reasons why I think they are looking at Labor with greater interest than they might have in recent years, is because we are the only party with a plan to tackle inequality. Tackling inequality is a growth strategy. Wherever I travel in Australia, talking to the workforce here, talking to farmers, talking to small business, talking to people right through Australia, they complain to me that the energy prices are out of control. They're rising up and up. They're worried that the dream of being able to afford their first home for their kids is becoming a mirage. They're certainly frustrated that their wages growth is flat-lining, and they're also concerned that penalty rates are being cut, and I think for millions of Australians, they're frustrated that they're in casualised or insecure employment. Australians are worried that they're going to hand on a worse standard of living to the next generation than the one they inherited. They're worried about inequality and they know that if we could tackle energy prices, tackle housing prices, tackle penalty rates, make sure that we have a fairer tax system, then that gives everyone a sense that life's getting better for them, not worse. So I think that's one of the reasons why Australians are a bit frustrated with the Federal Government at the moment.

JOURNALIST: I know you've been talking to some of the workers and you mentioned tax, are you planning on releasing your tax policy this week?

SHORTEN: We're certainly saying that the current tax system isn't fair. It's not fair for instance when a young couple, perhaps with their parents, go and bid on a house on a Saturday, their first home, and they're competing with an investor who's receiving taxpayer concessions. That's just not fair. But Labor has already started releasing it's tax policies. We said that we should stop the overly generous superannuation tax concessions for people who already have millions of dollars. The Liberal Government after a few false starts seem to buy that argument. We've also said that we want to reform negative gearing and capital gains tax concession discounts. Now the Government said they don't like that but we think we're on the right track with that. We said in May that it's silly that people can claim deductions of millions of dollars of their income and then even claim the cost of paying the accountant, to claim the deductions. So we've got a good record of tax reform, and we will be outlining more tax reforms soon -

JOURNALIST: What’s the delay, sorry Mr Shorten, what’s the delay with the (inaudible)?

SHORTEN: I think we're actually the only party that's doing tax reform and we'll outline it soon, and we'll make sure that we deal with people's concerns when we outline it. It's exactly the formula we adopted when we dealt with negative gearing. But what I'm not going to do is get into silly guessing games just because the Government want me to. We've got a plan to take to the next election and the principle which we adopt, is that working class and middle class families shouldn't be asked to pay more income tax when millionaires and large corporations are being told by this Government that they'll have to pay less tax; we don't think that's fair. We want one tax system for all Australians - we think that's fair. 

Thanks everybody.