May102017

Interview with Michael Rowland, ABC News Breakfast

Australia
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MICHAEL ROWLAND:

The task now is to sell the budget. I am pleased to say, I am joined by the chief salesman. The Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, good morning and welcome to Breakfast.

PRIME MINISTER:

Good morning, good to be with you.

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

Let’s start with the banks. They are absolutely ropable about this new tax. Do you fear this is the mining tax 2.0?

PRIME MINISTER:

The banks are the most profitable banks in the word, $32 billion in profits. They benefit from the implicit support of the government, that is a major benefit that they have. It’s only fair that they pay this levy to help bring the budget back into balance. Levies like this are common right around the world. This is a very conventional approach and it is one that will secure that additional money, $6 billion over the next four years. That will assist us in bringing the budget back into balance and ensuring that our children and grandchildren are not burdened with a mountain of debt.

We will, on the projections in the budget, as you know we will have $7.4 billion of surplus by 20/21. That’s a big improvement on what was forecast in last year’s budget.

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

Lots of veiled threats, in fact of not-so-veiled threats of this being passed on to customers through higher mortgage rates. How can you stop the banks doing that?

PRIME MINISTER:

Well, the ACCC will be keeping a very close eye on that, and of course we’re enhancing competition in the banking sector. The levy only affects the big banks so there are other banks and financial institutions that are competing with them. Of course, fintech, you know, financial technology, is enabling more competition. So competition is a big factor.

You have to remember that the banks are hugely profitable. They do not need to pass this on. They will still be very profitable. They will still be the most profitable banks in the world.

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

Some commentary around this morning that this is payback by the government for the banker’s association appointing former Labor Premier Anna Bligh as the chief executive?

PRIME MINISTER:

Well that is commentary. The fact is that we need to bring the budget back into balance. That is a fundamental responsibility. This budget is fair, Michael, it is fair at every level. We are bringing it back into balance so we don’t burden our children and grandchildren with a mountain of debt. That’s fair.  We are fully funding the National Disability Insurance Scheme. That is fair. Now, Labor couldn’t do that. We haven’t been able to secure the savings through the Senate to fund it through savings, so we are increasing the Medicare Levy from 2019, to ensure the Disability Insurance Scheme is fully funded.

We are guaranteeing Medicare, restoring indexation, creating a Medicare guarantee fund and we are ensuring that schools funding conforms with David Gonski’s recommendations. Labor never did that.

Schools funding will be national, consistent, needs-based, transparent and fair.

So this is a very fair budget, it’s a responsible budget and it is of course, driving a massive investment in infrastructure. $75 billion in road and rail alone.

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

The Treasurer spoke at length last night about how families have been doing it tough, having to make sacrifices, many Australians have not had a wage rise for many years. How then is this half a per cent increase in tax, the Medicare levy, going to go down? It might be for a very good reason, the National Disability Insurance Scheme but …

PRIME MINISTER:

Could there be a better reason? Could there be a better reason than ensuring that people with disabilities get the support…

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

I get that, but it will hurt a lot of families’ bottom line.

PRIME MINISTER:

It will be an additional tax, there’s no doubt about that, on families by 2019, but the reality is, that we have to fund the Disability Insurance Scheme. All of us are beneficiaries or potential beneficiaries of it. All of us know people who need support with disabilities, kids with disabilities, families struggling with that. This is a great national enterprise and we need to fund it responsibly and give that assurance to Australians that their Government is standing behind them, guaranteeing those essential services.

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

Welfare recipients, the Greens up in arms about this move to drug test, to randomly drug test welfare recipients. Why is the government doing that?

PRIME MINISTER:

I am so disappointed people are critical of that. Really, what is more important in the welfare area than getting people back into a job? I mean the best form of welfare is a job.

Now, if people are on welfare and they have got an addiction problem, then that needs to be identified and helped. It needs to be helped. They need to get off the addiction so they can get back into the workforce. This is helping people.

I am really disappointed by the criticism of that. I would have thought more people would be saying “Why haven’t you been doing more of it years ago”.

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

It does set a bad precedent doesn’t it? Starting with welfare recipients, where does random drug testing end?

PRIME MINISTER:

There’s plenty of random drug testing. If you’re involved operating heavy machinery and so forth, you’ll find a lot businesses, companies have to do that. This is a very big issue. There is a big correlation between substance abuse and unemployment. Because of course, if people are on drugs or if you’ve got a serious alcohol and drugs problem, of course they’re not able to work, therefore they become welfare dependent. So what we want to do is get people off welfare, into employment. This is one of the many ways that we seek to do that.

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

Now you got rid of $13.5 billion of savings from the – truly from the Coalition’s perspective – “horror Budget” of 2014. Is this budget, does it represent the repudiation, final repudiation of Tony Abbott’s prime ministership?

PRIME MINISTER:

Look, this has got nothing to do with personalities. Well, it’s got everything to do with 24 million personalities; 24 million Australians, assuring their future, assuring their essential services and assuring them that the budget is coming back into balance, that they won’t be burdened with the debt for future generations. This is critically responsible, investing in the infrastructure that again, will ensure that future generations have the jobs and the opportunity and the business and investment, that they need.

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

Finally, the surplus, $7 billion in 2021.

PRIME MINISTER:

$7. 4.

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

Who’s counting?

(Laughter)

Well, you are, certainly.

PRIME MINISTER:

I am, clearly.

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

It’s just a projection, it’s not a promise. Governments have made various promises about surpluses that never materialised, why should Australians believe you?

PRIME MINISTER:

They should accept it as a very responsible and reasonable projection. The assumptions, the economic assumptions are conservative, whether it’s on commodities or GDP growth, they’re actually more conservative than the Reserve Bank or the IMF. So look, we do live in an uncertain world Michael, but this is a very responsible, very reasonable forecast. The ratings agencies have confirmed that. Moodys came out last night and reaffirmed the AAA rating.

So in an uncertain world, this is a very responsible budget and the forecasts and projections are very reasonable and conservative.

MICHAEL ROWLAND:

Prime Minister thank you very much for joining News Breakfast.

PRIME MINISTER:

Great to be with you.

[ENDS]

May102017

Contact centre Carpeo Estate Planning to create 300 jobs in Newport over the next five years with Welsh Government support

Welsh Government
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The new business will be based at  a new contact centre in Newport where it plans to create 300 jobs with Welsh Government support.

The  FCA-regulated organisation, currently employs 250 people in Swindon, and is opening the new branch at Cleppa Park, Duffryn.  A location in Teeside was under consideration for this project but funding support from the Welsh Government secured the investment for Wales.

The centre opens in June and the business is actively recruiting 24 employees at all levels for its launch date, rising to 60 by end of the year and 300 by 2022.

Economy Secretary Ken Skates said: 

“This is Carpeo’s first investment in Wales and I am delighted the company is joining a growing and vibrant sector that employs more than 30,000 people in over 200 centres in Wales. 

“Carpeo has ambitious growth plans with the potential for further future investment in Wales and I welcome their plan to open this new business in Newport that will create a range of jobs and training opportunities for local people.”

Carpeo Estate Planning’s Chief Executive Officer Mike Minahan said: 

“Having sat on the board of the Welsh Contact Centre Forum for the past 15 years, I know that Wales has a range of competitive advantages to offer contact centre businesses.  The quality of people available and their experience of working in a regulated services market is a huge pull.  On the softer side, the Welsh accent is sympathetic and consoling, particularly important in our market.

“We’re hugely proud to be bringing these well-paid roles and good employment opportunities to Newport.”

For a small monthly fee, members of the new subscription-based Carpeo Estate Planning service have access to affordable wills and funeral planning products.  Members can also access a discount portal enabling them to save thousands a year on key household purchases, including at supermarkets Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda. 

Innovative software that has been tried and tested will be utilised to identify those people whom these products and services are particularly relevant and who would have had recent experience of the difficulties of executing an intestate estate.  A potential market of 3 million people has been identified.

Sandra Busby, Managing Director, Welsh Contact Centre Forum, said: 

“This announcement is further evidence of the attraction of Wales as a home for some of the most Innovative contact centre businesses around.  Over the past two decades our role has been to build up 

Wales as the destination of choice for organisations that want to run a successful contact centre.”

Carpeo’s turnover grew to £9.4M this financial year with plans to rapidly increase to £20M over the next four years, by expanding into Wales and potentially other areas of the UK. 

Carpeo Estate Planning has partnered with Hugh James, the UK’s largest provider of will writing Services; Golden Leaves, the market leader in the provision of funeral plans, and professional advisory firm Broomfield & Alexander.

May102017

Looked after children must have same educational opportunities as their peers – Kirsty Williams

Welsh Government
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The Cabinet Secretary has reported on progress to better support the education of children who are looked after and outlined her plans for action to continue to raise their educational attainment and make sure they have the same opportunities as their peers.

An annual report on the three year plan for looked after children highlights the progress being made, including an improvement in GSCE results. In 2016 23 per cent of children who are looked after achieved the equivalent of five GCSEs at grade A*–C in English or Welsh first language and mathematics, a 6 percentage points increase on 2015.

The Welsh Government has also worked with Cardiff University – CASCADE to create a new online hub to share information and resources focusing on children in care to help improve their educational outcomes.

The Education Secretary has committed to:

  • Looking at the training available to schools and further education colleges with a responsibility for children who are looked after.
  • Getting local authorities to review the roles of key workers with a responsibility for children who are looked after.
  • Working with the third sector to consider better ways of supporting children who are often difficult to engage in education.
  • Making better use of the data available to help looked after children.

The Education Secretary recently announced that the Pupil Development Grant will be extended to provide support to three year old looked after children during their early years in schools. This is part of more than £90m this year to help disadvantaged pupils.

Kirsty Williams said:

“Central to our national mission of education reform is for all children to do well and reach their potential, whatever their background. Looked after children must have the same opportunities as their peers. We have seen an excellent improvement in the GCSE results of those in care and we have committed more funding to build on this, but I want to go further.

“Children often enter care come from a background of family crisis or breakdown. While we can not change their personal experiences, we will continue to support them through their education and prepare them for adulthood.

“Research shows that all too often that simply by being ‘in care’ the expectations placed on these young people reduce. We are taking action to face this issue head on and will continue to do so.”

May92017

EU an ‘indispensable’ UN partner, working to build cooperative, rules-based world order, Security Council told

United Nations
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9 May 2017 – The European Union (EU) has become over the past 60 years of its existence, a “superpower for peace” focused not only on regional stability and security but also on sustainable development for all, which “explains why all our actions, all our initiatives are always taken in full coordination and partnership with the United Nations,” the EU’s senior most diplomat told the Security Council today.

“The European way is also the United Nations’ way. And we believe in the UN because we believe in the same principles, in the same values, and our communities are built upon the same fundamental ideals,” Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, told the Council today in her annual briefing on EU-UN cooperation.

Recalling that the European Union is marking its sixtieth anniversary “of choosing cooperation over confrontation,” she said the bloc has become not only the most successful peace project in the world, but also an indispensable partner to move beyond the current disorder, and to try to build together a more cooperative world order.

In recent months, some had thought that this anniversary would mark the decline of the European Union. “Our British friends have decided to leave us – which is very sad for all of us – but life goes on and so does the European Union,” Ms. Mogherini said, adding that since the UK Referendum last year, Europeans had recommitted to being “the strong and united power that our citizens and our partners need and deserve.”

The European Union is and will continue to be the reliable partner, she continued, stressing that “beyond our continent, we are the indispensable partner of a more cooperative, multilateral and peaceful world […] we are becoming a more reliable partner for our neighbours and friends, starting with the UN and NATO.” She offered a series of examples to illustrate the EU’s commitment, especially in the Balkans and in Africa.

EU member States contribute nearly 40 per cent of the UN budget for peacekeeping operations. Through its voluntary contributions, the EU also covers half the budget of UN funds and agencies, such as the World Food Program (WFP), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

So we will always return to this centre of gravity, this pivot of a rules-based international system. The European vision is the United Nations’ vision

“So let me be very clear, and speak directly to our American friends. It is essential for us that we all keep investing in these UN agencies. They are as important to global peace and security as defence spending – and sometimes even more. And we, Europeans, consider this support to the UN system as a crucial investment in our own security,” Ms. Mogherini stated.

She went on to praise the merits of a world order based on rules agreed upon and respected by all. It is for this reason that the European Union refuses to recognize the “illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia. It is for this reason also that the perpetrators of the chemical gas attack in Syria will be held accountable,” she said.

Ms. Mogherini said the greatest divide in today’s world “is between those who believe that international politics are a zero-sum game, and those who work to build win-win solutions and common ground.” She noted that the “European way” is in a constant search for win-win solutions to all international issues from climate change to peace and security, adding that the UN “represents a space where compromise can always prevail over confrontation.”

“So we will always return to this centre of gravity, this pivot of a rules-based international system. The European vision is the United Nations’ vision,” said Ms. Mogherini, adding that whoever wants to invest in this system, will find in the European Union a partner and a friend, a reliable, constructive, cooperative partner.

May92017

Labour will transform education for the many not the few

Labour
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Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party, will today outline
Labour’s transformational plan to invest in a National Education Service to
ensure no one is held back and create a more skilled workforce and productive
economy.

Labour’s plan to increase schools funding and introduce free,
lifelong education in colleges is at the heart of its commitment to create a
society run for the many not the few.

Jeremy will be joined by Angela Rayner, Shadow Education
Secretary, and Rebecca Long-Bailey, Shadow Business, Energy and Industrial
Strategy Secretary, at a college in Leeds on Wednesday to announce the details
of the plan.

Labour’s key pledges are:

  • Stop the cuts to school budgets with a real terms increase in funding
  • Reduce class sizes to under 30 for all five, six and seven year olds
  • Free school meals for all primary school children
  • Restore education maintenance allowance for college students
  • Restore student grants for university students
  • Scrap fees on courses for adult learners looking to re-train or upskill

The plans will be funded from the £19.4 billion that will be
raised by reversing the Conservative Party’s cuts to corporation tax. Labour
has previously announced extending free school meals to all primary age
children will be funded by levying VAT on private school fees.

Jeremy Corbyn said:

“People of all ages are being held back by a lack of funding for education,
and this in turn is holding back the economy by depriving industry of the
untapped talent of thousands of people.

“The Conservatives have spent seven years starving schools of
funding, meaning headteachers are having to send begging letters to parents to
ask for money. They have also cut support for students and forced colleges to
increase fees. It’s created a downward spiral that is bad for the people being
held back and bad for the economy.  

“Labour will do things differently. Our new National Education
Service will transform our schools and education system to ensure a future for
the many not the few. We will reverse the Conservatives’ tax giveaways to big
business and put money back where it belongs, in our schools, our colleges and
our communities.”

Angela Rayner said:

“Our plans for a new National Education Service show there is a
clear choice at this election. Between the Tories who have broken their
promises to parents and children, or a Labour party with a real plan for
education for the many not the few.

“We will invest in schools and in our young people, ensuring no
primary pupils go hungry during the day, reducing class sizes so children can
learn and teachers can teach, and restoring the maintenance allowance and
grants for students in both further and higher education.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

  • Stop the cuts to school budgets with a real terms increase in funding
  • Labour will ensure all schools have the funding they need, including £4.8 billion per year for English schools by 2021-22, as part of £5.66 billion additional annual funding across the UK by the end of the parliament.
  • We estimate that preventing any losses under the proposed national funding formula in every year after the first will cost around £335 million.
  • Reduce class sizes to under 30 for all five, six and seven year olds
  • £8.4 billion capital investment to ensure schools have the number of places they need and £13.8 billion to ensure that school buildings are up to standard.
  • Free school meals for all primary school children
  • House of Commons Library research says extending free school meals for all primary children would cost £700-£900 million, paid for by VAT on private schools.
  • Restore education maintenance allowance for college students
  • Assuming the same proportion of 16-18 year olds qualify for EMA as previously the cost would be £582 million a year.
  • Restore student grants for university students
  • Total spend on maintenance grants in 2015/16 was £1.57 billion. If this is uprated in line with CPI inflation then the cost next year is £1.63 billion, rising to £1.73 billion by the end of the parliament.
  • Scrap fees on courses for adult learners looking to re-train or upskill
  • Increase the adult skills budget by £1.5 billion by the end of the parliament in order to abolish upfront fees and increase course funding by an average of 10 per cent year on year.

Corporation tax

  • From next tax year, the headline rate of corporation tax will rise from its current 19 per cent to 21 per cent in 2018-19, 24 per cent in 2019-20 and 26 per cent in 2020-21. This will still leave it at the lowest rate in the G7. The small profits rate, payable by firms with profits below £300,000, will rise less sharply to 20 per cent in 2018-19 and 21 per cent in 2020-21
  • According to Treasury and Office for Budget Responsibility figures, the Tories’ tax giveaways are costing the exchequer £65.2 billion over the four years from 2018-19 to 2021-22, including £19.4 billion in the last year of the parliament. This contrasts with £46.8 billion based on the forecasts when the cuts were introduced.