Cabinet Remarks – Canberra 26 May
: Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the first meeting of the new Cabinet of this Parliament. We had a full Ministry meeting after the inauguration there at Government House and this Cabinet has a big job to do. Last Friday, I was there on the upper Hunter, looking and talking with some of the heroes. Our SES volunteers, people from marine rescue, other places, helping their fellow Australians. And it was a reminder of what really matters, it was a reminder as well of Australian values, the values that we put forward in the election campaign, which were no one left behind and no one held back. In this case, we need to pitch in to make sure that no one is left behind. There’s been communities that have been uprooted. For some of them, it’s not the first time, and we’re reminded as well of the need to look at the impact and cost of climate change. Whilst Australia has always had extreme weather events, the science told us that they would be more frequent and they would be more intense. And that’s precisely what, tragically, is playing out. Dealing with the cyclone off the coast of southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales just a short time ago, dealing with flood but also dealing with drought in parts of South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia at the same time tells us how vulnerable we are to these events, to climate change. So that’s a challenge. It’s one of the challenges of not just this term. It obviously is a long term challenge, but it’s also an opportunity that we can seize. We will travel up again on tomorrow morning, I’ll be with Kristy McBain, who’s there in Port Macquarie and Kempsey this afternoon. We’ll be in Taree and other communities tomorrow, making sure that we make a positive difference to the people who are really doing it tough. And today with Richard at NEMA, down at the headquarters where we committed to – there’ll be additional Defence personnel on the ground tomorrow, making a difference, helping with the recovery as well. So that will be obviously a priority for us over coming days and weeks, making sure that those communities not just feel that they’re cared for by the rest of Australia, but that we are seen to deliver on that issue as well.
It is a reminder to us that as a Government, we always should not be focused on ourselves and on internal shenanigans in this building. We should be focused on them and what their concerns are, and that’s the platform that we have to implement – the one we were elected on. We need to make sure that we deliver on the commitments, whether it be increased housing, whether it be the Free TAFE, strengthening Medicare, Cheaper Child Care, making sure that we deliver on the commitments that we took to the election. It was an ambitious platform, as our economy transitions to a clean energy economy, the opportunities that we need to create in new jobs and new industries in our regions and in our suburbs as well. Next week, the Cabinet will go to Perth, Western Australia again, a reminder of the importance that we place on the whole nation, not just the East Coast, and that will be an important opportunity.
So we’re down, back down to work again. I know that people have been working. Everyone has been to their departments over the last couple of weeks and engaging with them. We’ll be convening the Parliament back on July 22nd but between now and then, will be an opportunity for us to develop the legislation that we need to implement our agenda. So, I look forward to the discussion today, and thank you for the way that the Government has begun. I know all of you have been already working with the interest that you have in your specific portfolios, making sure that those relationships are important, because we need to bring people with us on the journey of change and make sure that we continue to be a representative Government that delivers on our commitments. Thanks very much.
https://www.pm.gov.au/media/cabinet-remarks-canberra-0