It’s good to be here in Campbelltown with Russell Matheson, the local Federal Member, my friend and colleague and also with Bryan Doyle, the local State Member. Both Russell and Bryan are former police officers. They know what it is like to try to enforce the law. They know what it is like to try to build safer communities because that’s what they’ve dedicated their lives to. Bryan, in fact, was one of the senior uniformed officers in this area and I’m going to ask both Russell and Bryan to say a few words in a moment.

 

The people of Sydney, the people of south-western Sydney and western Sydney more generally have, I suppose, three principal concerns. First of all they want their cost of living pressure reduced; second, they want their transport problems addressed; and third, they want to feel safe in their streets and in their neighbourhoods. So, it’s cost of living, it’s transport and it’s crime and the Coalition has Real Solutions to offer in all of these areas.

 

We will abolish the carbon tax – that will take the pressure off people’s cost of living. We will get WestConnex built in conjunction with the state government – that will improve the transport situation. We will restore the $50 million-plus that’s been cut out of the Proceeds of Crime, which was going to crime prevention programmes – $50 million of that money will go into our Safer Streets, Safer Communities programme which will be available for councils to apply so that they can put better lighting and things like CCTVs in crime hotspots.

 

Now, we are determined to get safer streets and one of the principal ways to get safer streets is to put these CCTVs in because it does so much to ensure that malefactors know that if they are up to no good they will be seen, they will be caught and they will be prosecuted and that’s what we want to see: we want to see people understand that crime does not pay and the best way to ensure that that is the case is to ensure that they’re caught and CCTV is a very important part of that. Where the councils want it, where the police want it, where the communities want it, it should be available and it will be available under our plan, our specific plan, our Real Solutions plan for Safer Streets, Safer Communities.

 

I should also point out that unfortunately the current government has talked tough on law and order but it hasn’t delivered. If you look at what the Government does, as opposed to what the Gillard Government says, it has actually taken away from law enforcement programmes. In 2007, the Government promised 500 extra AFP officers. In fact, they’ve cut $250 million out of the Australian Federal Police and there are 97 fewer AFP officers now than there were then. They’ve cut $22 million out of the Australian Crime Commission and that has 144 fewer staff now than it had in 2007. Very importantly, they’ve cut $60 million out of Customs and the result of that is that fewer than 10 per cent of incoming air cargos are now screened as opposed to over 60 per cent in the time of the Howard Government.

 

If you look at the record of Labor Ministers here in western Sydney, you’ve got Chris Bowen who couldn’t stop the boats, you’ve got Jason Clare who can’t stop the guns and you’ve got David Bradbury who wants to attack peoples’ superannuation. Well, that’s what Labor gives to the people of western Sydney: failed border protection policies, failed Customs protection policies and an assault on peoples’ superannuation – that’s on top of the carbon tax.

 

So, I think the people of Sydney, the people of Australia, the people of western Sydney, they want hope; they want hope that things can be better. Things will be better under the Coalition because we have Real Solutions to give the people of Sydney and western Sydney a better life.

 

I’m going to ask Russell to say a few words and then I’ll ask Bryan to say a few words and then we’ll take some questions.

 

 

Thanks very much, Tony. It’s great to see you out in Macarthur again, you certainly are a friend of Macarthur. You are a regular visitor to south-western and western Sydney. I know you’ve been out here on a number of occasions over the last three years, I think it’s 48 times all up for south-west and western Sydney. So, you are a friend of the south and south-west and you are always welcome to come out to Macarthur.

 

We are here at a hotspot in Leumeah in the centre of Campbelltown and we’re talking about crime prevention initiatives which the Government have stopped. In 2008 they pulled the funding on it. I’ve been talking to the Mayor, Sue Dobson and I’m here with my great colleague Bryan Doyle, the Member for Campbelltown, an ex-police officer, so crime prevention initiatives are very, very close to my heart being a former police officer.

 

I know when I had my regular bases I had to come down to Leumeah Railway Station and meet my daughter late at night after she’s worked in the city and walk her to her car – and it’s a 400 to 500 metre walk down to the car park out the back here – so this is a very busy railway station and I have fears for my daughter because anti-social behaviour occurs here late at night. So, this initiative and the money we’re going to put in, the $50 million over four years will be great for the Macarthur community.

 

I know that I’ve been speaking to people in Queen Street, they reckon it’s a great initiative. They actually shake their heads in disbelief when I tell them about the funding that’s been pulled by the federal government under Julia Gillard and $50 million will go a long way to making safer streets and safer communities.

 

I’ve told them about the $400 million funding taken away from the Australian Federal Police, Australian Crime Commission and Customs and they just look at me in a bewildered way. So, this is a great initiative by Tony Abbott and the Coalition and I’m looking forward to seeking some of the $50 million over the next four years to put these crime prevention programmes in place in Campbelltown.

 

I talked to Tony this morning, identified quite a number of hotspots in the Campbelltown area, especially in Queen Street and corner intersections in relation to anti-social behaviour, robberies, malicious damage and the hotspots have been identified through Campbelltown Council, through their safety committee and it’s something we will be addressing, it’s something I want to do personally coming from my policing background.

 

I know the Proceeds of Crime are going to be utilised in relation to funding these crime initiatives. When I talk to our local police officers in Macquarie Fields, Campbelltown, Camden and Picton it gives them an insight into what we’re thinking, how we think about crime prevention and they actually said to me that it just gives them the initiative to work a lot harder in their community knowing that they’re locking up criminals and the Proceeds of Crime are going back into their local communities.

 

So it’s a great initiative, it’s welcomed by the people of Campbelltown, the people of Macarthur and Tony, I thank you for that initiative.

 

 

Bryan, would you like to say a few words, mate?

 

 

I would just like to thank Tony for coming out here to Leumeah at Campbelltown. We are lucky to have a bloke like Tony who actually gets it that the community wants to feel safe and I know from my policing background that it’s policing in the community, working together that reduces crime, violence and fear and this initiative will actually give the police and the community another tool that will help make our community safer. I’m very pleased to support it. Thanks, Tony.

 

 

Thanks so much, Bryan. Do we have any questions?

 

 

Yeah, with the Prime Minister due here tomorrow, is this all about the early bird catches the worm?

 

 

Look, I live in Sydney, I know Sydney, I’m not a tourist in Sydney and this is my 47th visit since the election to western Sydney. So look, I’m here regularly. I was always going to be in Sydney this weekend. I was always going to be in Sydney on Monday morning and at the end of next week and why not come out here with Russell Matheson, our hardworking Member for Macarthur to talk about the things that interest him and which concern him and almost nothing concerns the people of western Sydney more than being safe in their communities. They are safe communities generally but there are crime hotspots and the Coalition has Real Solutions for the problems of crime in places like this.

 

Does today’s poll in Fairfax reflect the sentiment that you’re picking up in western Sydney?

 

 

I think people are more interested in plans then in polls and what I think they’re responding to is the fact that we do have Real Solutions, we do have a plan for western Sydney. Our plan for western Sydney involves taking the pressure off cost of living through abolishing the carbon tax, taking the pressure off transport by building WestConnex and trying to help communities cope with crime through our Safer Communities programme and CCTV.

 

 

But these polls must be making you feel comfortable?

 

 

But it’s not about me, it’s not about me. It is about our country. It’s about trying to do the right thing by the people of Australia, particularly the people of western Sydney who have been taken for granted by the Labor Party for far too long.

 

 

Is Rooty Hill and surrounds on your itinerary next week?

 

 

I’ll be here today, obviously. I’ll be doing Clean Up Australia in a part of western Sydney tomorrow morning and then I’ll be very briefly in Rooty Hill on Monday morning because I’ve been invited to appear on one of the TV programmes. I haven’t quite finalised what I’ll be doing in Sydney later in the week but it is pretty much business as usual for the Coalition this week.

 

 

Are you concerned that the consistent bad polls for the Labor Party would see a change in leadership there, which would then reflect on the Liberal Party in the polling in the coming months?

 

 

My job is the same regardless of who wins the Labor Party leadership. Whether it’s Julia Gillard or Kevin Rudd, the job of the Opposition is to hold a bad government to account and to be a credible alternative and that’s what we’re on about. We are promoting everyday our Real Solutions plan and we’ll be doing that regardless of what the Labor Party does. Now, I think the problem for the Australian people is that they want strong and stable government and instead they’ve got what looks increasingly like a soap opera in Canberra.

 

 

Malcolm Turnbull said that if you are elected Prime Minister you would act in a much more Westminster style and be consultative with your colleagues. Is that what you plan to do?

 

 

Absolutely and look, Malcolm is doing an excellent job and I’m a traditionalist as everyone knows and I think if the current government had had more due process and less panicked and arbitrary decision-making, our country would be in much better shape. So, of course there will be a proper cabinet process operating under the Coalition. I think people want strong and stable government and they understand that cabinet government is there for a reason.

 

 

Where are you going to find the money to fund these announcements that you’re making today about the Safer Streets programme?

 

 

Well, we can find the $50 million for Safer Streets, Safer Communities from the Proceeds of Crime, that’s where the Proceeds of Crime used to go. Under the Howard Government, the Proceeds of Crime went into these sorts of programmes and under an incoming Coalition government that’s where the money will go. It’s been ripped out of the community, let’s put it back into the community.

 

 

The first person you stopped and spoke to here you stole a kiss from. She was a big fan. Now, what sort of reception do you think the Prime Minister will receive when she heads west tomorrow? Will people be lining up with baseball bats?

 

 

Look, people are polite. No, no, seriously, the people of western Sydney are polite people. Now, I think they’re candid people and they’ll probably want to ask a lot of questions of the Prime Minister – if she actually moves amongst them, as opposed to being in carefully stage-managed situations – but if the Prime Minister was brave enough to do a shopping centre walk where things hadn’t been vetted beforehand, I am sure people would be polite but I think they’d also have some questions for her. Why did you say one thing before the election in respect to the carbon tax and do the opposite afterwards? Why did you promise us 500 times that there would be a surplus and then dump the surplus? Why did you promise to stop the boats and then fail to stop the boats? Why did you promise to make our life better and not deliver? I think that’s what they’ll want to know.

 

 

Are you going to make Malcolm Turnbull the Treasurer?

 

Malcolm is the Shadow Minister for Communications. He’s doing a really good job of exposing the fact that the National Broadband Network is a complete white elephant. He’s doing a very good job of promoting our real solution, which is national broadband that doesn’t involve digging up every street to deliver fibre to the home whether you want it, need it or can afford to pay three times the current price for it. He’s doing a very good job and I expect that Malcolm will be the Communications Minister in an incoming government.

 

 

Do you think that the CCTV cameras are really going to be enough? Academics are saying that to deal with crime in Sydney’s west that you’re going to need to deal with poverty; that you need to improve public education etc. Is this just a bit light on really?

 

 

I accept that there are all sorts of issues that feed into criminal behaviour, but there are a lot of poor people who never commit a crime, there are a lot of people who haven’t been to university who never commit a crime. So, people need to know that bad behaviour will have consequences and if you’ve got CCTV, you will be caught, you will be prosecuted and you will be punished and I think this is a very important way to tackle crime in our community.

 

The polls suggest that Kevin Rudd may be the saviour, potentially may be the saviour in Sydney’s west. Do you think it’s possible that you could be duking it out with Kevin Rudd come September?

 

 

Anything is possible from this government. I mean this is a government which is utterly unpredictable, utterly unpredictable and it’s focussed on itself, it’s not focussed on you, the people. I mean, that’s one of the things that people don’t like about this government – it is so self-absorbed, it is so self-obsessed, it thinks it’s so clever when in fact it has so badly let down the people of Australia. But regardless of who the Labor Party puts up, the job that my colleagues and I have is to work hard every day to do the right thing by the people of Australia; to promote our Real Solutions plan and that’s what I’ll be doing between now and polling day whenever that is.

 

Thank you.

 

[ends]