NATALIE BARR, HOST: Prime Minister, good morning. Let's start with that Jobs Summit. It’s a big story of the week. A billion dollars for training, that’s fantastic. It takes a while to train people. Businesses need workers now as you know. What can you do to get workers out there?
PRIME MINISTER: Well this morning we will be discussing migration and skilled migration, and numbers to fill some of the immediate vacancies which are there right now. But we also need to keep our eye on the main game which is training Australians. Those 180,000 fee free TAFE places will begin next year, they are just for next year. This is a 1.1 billion commitment, that we are making with the states and territories, bringing forward our program of fee free TAFE, to make sure we skill Australians for those jobs that need to be filled.
BARR: Again that's great, but there are half a million jobs going begging in this country as you’ve heard there are I think 30,000 just in aged care. People need workers on the ground right now. Can you cut the red tape to get people into this country? What’s the answer? What can you do?
PRIME MINISTER: Well we need to do exactly what you say, Nat. We need to cut red tape, we need to clear the backlog for a start. When we came into the government there was a million people who had applied for visas waiting to be processed. Many of those, employees or potential employees who had agreements with employers for jobs, to come in and fill those positions, and they have been waiting, in queues. We need to clear that backlog and we will have more to say about that today. But also, we need to look at the nature of our migration system to be less upon temporary migration, and more permanent, allowing people to have their foot here in this country permanently. To have that security. We became overly reliant upon temporary labour, and when the borders closed, we had this crisis. We need to do much better than that.
BARR: The AMA is outraged over the reduction of iso from seven days to five. They want to see the evidence, they want to see the health advice. Are you going to produce that?
PRIME MINISTER: The Chief Health Officers in the different states and territories, produce their advice. This is something that has been discussed by the states and territories. We came to a common position on Wednesday. When people are sick, there are caveats here, when people are sick, if they have any symptoms then they shouldn’t be at work. But where people aren't contagious, where they’re not sick, there is no reason why the advice that we received was that there was no reason why they should have the seven-day period imposed, which is frustrating for them, it's frustrating for the businesses that are missing out on those workers as well.
BARR: Prime Minister, you didn’t cut iso so Damien Cook could play with the Rabbitohs this weekend did you?
PRIME MINISTER: No I didn’t, he’s not playing, and he was never going to play this week. The fact is Souths play Easts tonight. I will be there, we play them again next week in the semi-finals, so I’m just hoping that Cookie is up for that.
BARR: Let's talk about Melbourne City Council, they are lobbying to change the date for Australia Day. They’ve had big win in public opinion on that is 60%, is that something you would consider doing in term of your government because they want a federal move on this.
PRIME MINISTER: No, we have no plans to change Australia Day. My priority, to bring the nation together, and to bring an uplifting moment, is to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands people in our Constitution. I’d say to Melbourne City Council, I know the Lord Mayor there, she is a terrific person. I'd say let's focus on recognising the fact that our nation's birth certificate should proudly recognise that we did not begin in 1788, which is what the 26th of January commemorates, it began at least 60,000 years ago with the oldest continuous civilisation on earth. That should be a source of pride.
BARR: Prime Minister, Thank you for your time this morning.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Nat.