WONG: Thanks very much for coming. Its great to be here in Brisbane, enjoying a bit of Queensland sun. Today Im here in Brisbane to come to a Labor Womens Conference and thats been great to see women from all over Australia from Cairns, from Adelaide, from Western Australia talking about issues important to women.
But what I want to talk about today is the Budget because this week the Gillard Government handed down a budget that was all about whats right for the country. This is a budget that was good for the country. A budget that gets Australia back in the black. Its a budget all about jobs, about creating jobs, about training more Australians for jobs and getting more Australians into work. A budget thats good for the country.
What did we see from Mr Abbott this week? Well we saw that Mr Abbott likes a fight and hes a pretty good fighter. But enjoying fighting is not the same thing as leading. And liking a fight is not the same thing as putting forward a plan for the nation. So we have the Government with its budget, all about jobs and getting Australia back in the black. And we have Mr Abbott who just wants to throw punches. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: The Galaxy poll this morning wasnt too nice to the budget. What are your thoughts on that?
WONG: The only numbers Im focused on are the 500,000 jobs that will be created in the years ahead and getting the Budget back into black by 2012-13 as we promised. And thats what this budget will deliver.
JOURNALIST: Is that how youre going to win people over then?
WONG: Well just keep doing whats right for the country. And whats right for this country is this budget, getting more Australians into work, creating more jobs and getting Australia back in the black.
JOURNALIST: So the poll doesnt concern you?
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible) Worried less than 50 per cent of Labor voters said it was good for you?
WONG: As I said, theres really only one set of numbers Im worried about. Thats making sure we get back into surplus by 2012-13 and thats what this budget will do. Of course, the concern is what the Opposition will do. This is the most economically irresponsible Opposition the nations seen. They havent even committed to bringing the budget back to surplus and we know what that would do is put costs of living pressures on Australian families.
JOURNALIST: The Government is hell bent on restoring the budget back to surplus by 2013. And at the same time restoring its reputation as good economic managers. But the Galaxy poll shows that people are not convinced at all.
WONG: All I can say is this: we put forward a budget about what is good for the country. We put forward a budget that is about creating jobs. We put forward a budget thats about training more Australians for those jobs and getting more Australians into work. And we put forward a budget that has us back in the black. Thats positive policy. Thats the right thing for the nation.
JOURNALIST: Is there any room to actually train refugees for these skilled positions, or asylum seekers?
WONG: We have made clear our priority is to train Australians first and thats why this budget invests in the skills of Australians. Invests in working with industry to make training more relevant to what industry needs. And invests in getting more Australians into the workforce. These are all good things for Australian families.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned Tony Abbott brought up the (inaudible) giving ideas for the skills shortage in his budget reply speech?
WONG: I dont think Tony Abbott did anything in his budget reply speech other than throw punches. And like I said, hes a very good fighter, he clearly enjoys fighting but thats not the same thing as leading. That's not the same thing as doing the right thing for the country.
JOURNALIST: So you're not at all concerned by the poll results today?
WONG: As I said, we're focused on the key numbers, which is coming back to surplus and the jobs that are going to be created on top of the jobs we've already seen been created under this Government.
JOURNALIST: There's a lot of talk at the women's conference about the gender pay gap and legislating to eliminate it. It's a pretty hard thing to legislate away given it's caused mainly by women having lower paid jobs and (inaudible) to raise children.
WONG: Ensuring that we have pay equity in Australia is something Labor has fought for many years. The Prime Minister delivered the pay equity provisions in the Fair Work Actand we removed the legislation the WorkChoices legislation which was bad for working people and bad for working women; legislation that remember, Tony Abbott was a very strong supporter of.
JOURNALIST: Anne Summers says that child care arrangements in Australia are still keeping women out of the workforce. What do you say to that?
WONG: I understand that people will keep advocating for more services but I just remind all of us that the Labor Party has put more money, invested more into childcare than any previous government. We've increased the childcare rebate and we've done it because it's the right thing to do for Australian families and the right thing to do to support women, particularly returning to the workforce.
JOURNALIST: Does more still need to be done?
WONG: I'm sure there are always more things governments would like to do. But first, we always have to find the money to fund them. We are not about making promises that we can't fund. And that's why we've put forward a budget that makes sure we can fund the promises we've made and gets Australia back into the black.
JOURNALIST: A Labor MP has criticised the (inaudible)?
WONG: Absolutely. I think the approach that Tony Burke has outlined makes clear that this is more than a matter of simply a number. This is about making we have sustainable communities and sustainable cities and we've put forward a range of policies to achieve that.
JOURNALIST: There was a lot of talk at the women's conference by women there about the advances made for women under Labor governments. Has there been any talk about the recent crackdown on benefits for supporting single mothers in their teens?
WONG: Well I don't accept the way in which your question is put. What is our motivation when it comes to reforms around teen parents? It's about giving those mothers, those women, a better chance and it's about giving their kids a better chance. It's about getting more people into work, about supporting teen mums - not just in parenting but in finishing school or finishing the training they need so they have a better chance later in life and so do their kids. It's the right thing to do.
JOURNALIST: Why does it have to have a punitive condition that their be benefits will be withdrawn if they don't comply?
WONG: I don't think there's anything wrong with ensuring people also take responsibility. I don't think it is a progressive thing, a good thing for those children or those parents to simply accept that people should stay on welfare for years. We need to do all we can to give those families opportunities in life and that's what we'll do.
Thanks very much.
ENDS