Doorstop - Basket Range Primary School, South Australia

GEORINA DOWNER: Well it's great to be here atBasket Range Primary School with the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop who was astudent here not too many years ago. It is a gorgeous little school and they'vegot their school fate on today and we have been really enjoying meeting theparents here, they've got 53 students, it's small but it is a mighty school. Somany of the buildings you remember from your school days here Julie, verynostalgic for you as well. Of course, we are underneath the oak tree thatJulie's father planted in 1937 here at the school. Some very happy memories.

JULIE BISHOP: Georgina, I am delighted to be here in theelectorate of Mayo with you. We are at Basket Range Primary School for their feteand it certainly does bring back memories. I was here from grade one to gradeseven in the 1960s and I am a fifth generation Bishop to attend this school. Mygreat, great grandfather helped establish it and you're right, my dad, who wasa student here, planted that oak tree. It is a Royal Oak, an acorn from the WindsorCastle on the Coronation of George the VI back in the late 1930s.

It iswonderful to see the school still thriving. …

The 1st ofJuly, is an important day for all Australian taxpayers. From today 10 millionAustralian taxpayers will pay less tax under the Turnbull Government's taxplan. 4.4 million taxpayers will in fact receive the full $530 tax relief, andthis is good news for low-middle income taxpayers. It is also great forbusinesses because from today businesses with a turnover between $25 and $50million will receive a tax cut down to 27.5 cents. This means that 940,000businesses across Australia will be paying 27.5 cents in the dollar which helpsmake them more competitive. That means more money for the business, more moneyto invest, more money to employ more people. The first of July is a great dayfor taxpayers across Australia.

JOURNALIST: Speaking about a different type of cut, todayis obviously the day that penalty rate cuts come into force, they wereobviously decided by the Fair Work Commission - do you agree that theCommission's decision has the effect of giving people a better chance at a joband higher wages through reducing costs?

JULIE BISHOP: I certainly believe that the independentumpire's decision should be respected and the independent umpire would havetaken into account the flow-on effect with businesses having more money toemploy more people on a Sunday and more people throughout the week. This isabout growing more job opportunities. It is extraordinary to think that thearchitect of this plan – Bill Shorten – is now trying to walk away from it,trying to crabwalk away from his own work in putting in place the independentumpire, saying he would back the umpire's decision and now squibbing, on thatand making out he had nothing to do with this. Well, it is all about BillShorten's penalty rates. We know what his record is when he was the head of theunions, he traded away penalty rates for no compensation in return for secretkickbacks into union slush funds.

JOURNALIST: So, just in terms of the actual impactthough, Greg Hunt said this morning that the cuts would give people a betterchance at a job and they would have higher wages through reducing costs, do youagree with your Cabinet colleague?

JULIE BISHOP: Most certainly, this is about more economicopportunities. It is about more job opportunities. That is what the TurnbullGovernment has done throughout. Every policy on the economic front is designedto give Australians more job opportunities. This was a decision of theindependent umpire, the Fair Work Australia Commission, and both the LiberalParty and the Labor Party should be backing the umpire – and Bill Shorten diduntil he found a political opportunity to walk away from the independentumpire.

JOURNALIST: Bill Shorten has just committed – sorry, notcommitted, promised - $6 billion for the Western Sydney Rail, which is moneythat the Government said it would commit but it hasn't gone ahead with, do youthink that Labor beaten you to the punch?

JULIE BISHOP: Absolutely not. The Turnbull Government hasbeen working very closely with the NSW Government under Premier GladysBerejiklian and we have invested significant funds for infrastructure inWestern Sydney, in fact, across Australia. Our plan is to rollout appropriatelevels of infrastructure funding in conjunction and collaboration with the NSWGovernment.

JOURNALIST: What action is the Federal Government takingto help NSW police get Mario Santoro to Sydney to face charges?

JULIE BISHOP: These extradition issues are handled by theAttorney General. They have some sensitive aspects to them. I am not going togo into the details of what's been negotiated but I can certainly assure peoplethat the Australian Government is working closely to ensure an appropriateoutcome.

JOURNALIST: Do you think that he will ever face a SydneyCourt?

JULIE BISHOP: That's not a matter for me to speculate upon.The Australian Government is doing what we can.

JOURNALIST: On another matter, could you give yourreaction to the decision that the MH370 memorial has been put on hold?

JULIE BISHOP: I understand that it has been deferred andthat further consultations had to take place with the family and to me thatseems appropriate.

JOURNALIST: Bill Shorten has got a 'hero's welcome' fromNSW Labor, does that suggest his leadership is still strong?

JULIE BISHOP: It suggests that the unions are still backingBill Shorten and that he has had a falling out with his Shadow Cabinet. TheShadow Cabinet rolled him on a fundamental economic policy. It was anembarrassing, humiliating backflip for Bill Shorten, but of course, his mainbenefactors are the union bosses.

JOURNALIST: So, just on Bill Shorten announcing thecompany tax policy last Tuesday, Wayne Swan says that he made an honestmistake, do you accept that?

JULIE BISHOP: No.

There is onematter I did want to address and I see that from my press conference yesterdaythe candidate for the Centre Alliance Rebekha Sharkie disputed my statementthat she has voted more often than not with Labor. I have statistics from theParliamentary Library – I accept these statistics as should she. Since she wasthe Member for Mayo there have been 348 divisions. She voted in 304 of them. 58per cent of the time she voted with Labor. When Nick Xenophon was still in theSenate, 57 per cent of the time she voted with Labor and then since he left theSenate, Rebekha Sharkie has voted with Labor 63 per cent of the time. These arenot my statistics; these are from the Parliamentary Library.

JOURNALIST: Just in terms of, again to Labor, WayneSwan's floated the idea of imposing a higher tax rate on companies that, in hiswords, "overpay CEOs", could you ever see that happening in Australia?

JULIE BISHOP: Wayne Swan just doesn't get it. Labor arehopeless on economic policy. The idea behind tax cuts is to ensure thatbusinesses have more of the money that they have generated to reinvest in theirbusiness, and particularly, to provide more jobs as their business grows. Thatis why today we see 940,000 businesses across Australia are paying 27.5 cents inthe dollar and we want to see that come down to 25 cents in the dollar.Australia is in a global market place. We have to be competitive. With theUnited States sending tax rates down to 21 cents, the United Kingdom down to 17cents, even France is reducing its corporate tax rate – Australia will have oneof the highest corporate tax rates in the world unless we continue to lower ourrates. That is why Labor's policy is so flawed; it just doesn't understand theglobal market place in which we operate.

JOURNALIST: Back to Bill Shorten's announcement today,will the Government be making its own announcement about that particularinfrastructure project, you said negotiations are ongoing?

JULIE BISHOP: That is a matter for the InfrastructureMinister. I am not going to pre-empt any announcements but I can assure youthat the Turnbull Government has been rolling out infrastructure acrossAustralia, including NSW, because we have an economic plan. Labor is a hightaxing, high spending Party. We are for lower taxes, lower spending, buttargeted infrastructure spending.

- Ends -

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