Doorstop – Adelaide | Prime Minister of Australia
LOUISE MILLER-FROST, MEMBER FOR BOOTHBY: Hello, everyone. My name is Louise Miller-Frost, I’m the Member for Boothby. And I am thrilled to welcome back the Prime Minister here to Boothby, to Goodstart Somerton Park. And I believe you’ll be back later in the year. So it’s been fantastic to have the Prime Minister here.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, thanks very much Louise. It’s good to be back for my second visit to the electorate of Boothby since the election as the Prime Minister. And Louise is doing a fantastic job as a very strong advocate for her local community, not the least of which is in the area of childcare. We know that costs were up some 41 per cent over the last eight years, and the Government was determined to fulfil the commitments that we made during the election campaign. In my first Budget Reply in 2020, I outlined our plan for cheaper child care because cheaper child care is good for productivity. It’s good for workforce participation, particularly of women. But it’s also good for the young people themselves as well, to get that early learning, to lift up the capacity of our young people as they go through the education system. We know that 90 per cent of human brain development occurs in the first five years. And that’s why centres like this are making a real difference to families, making a real difference to the young children themselves, but also making a difference to our economy. Treasury estimates that our $4.7 billion commitment over four years will make a difference of adding some 1.4 million hours per week, in terms of the workforce. We know there’s massive skill shortages and workforce shortages out there. This is the equivalent of putting 37,000 full-time workers into the workforce. It is so important for businesses to have that boost to their productivity. Our most untapped resource is the full economic participation of women. And that’s why this policy, together with Paid Parental Leave, extending that to up to six months, is about making a difference to working families, but also making a significant difference to our economy. It also is about cost of living relief. A family with one child earning $60,000 a year, their costs will go down from $2,430 down to $1,620, over an $800 difference in their income as a direct result of the policy that has now passed the House of Representatives, and we’re hopeful will pass the Senate in the coming weeks ahead when Parliament resumes next week. Can I thank the staff here at the centre as well. I also thank Honey and Chilli for cooperating with us with our holding of these wonderful guinea pigs. It’s an example as well of something that not every kid can live in a circumstance whereby they can have pets at home. One of the things that Anna was explaining to us this morning is the difference that it makes, their children get to take turns, they have a bit of a roster in taking Honey or Chilli home for a weekend or for a night stay and that’s a good thing. These early learning centres, as well, they teach young Australians co-operation. They teach them so many life skills as well as, of course, making a difference to their education. Before I take questions can I just express my concern at the news that authorities and volunteers are searching for two men who’ve gone missing in Boorowa in the floods. This is a dangerous time. And these floods are having a real impact. We’ve already seen a loss of life on the East Coast. And I just hope that we receive some positive news coming forward in the coming hours.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you accept that inflation is out of control, given the seven consecutive rate rises and the inflation rate in the budget forecast?
PRIME MINISTER: Inflation is now expected to peak at around about 8 per cent by the end of the year, and this is a global issue. Inflation is in double digits in parts of Europe and North America. It’s why our budget was a responsible budget. It’s why we targeted cost of living relief to areas that didn’t place pressure on inflation. So cheaper child care, cheaper medicines, Paid Parental Leave extended to six months, making sure that we lift wages. But these are all policies aimed at productivity benefit, aimed at lifting up people’s living standards without putting that pressure on inflation. That was the backdrop for our budget last week, which is why it was a responsible budget, and why it was exactly right for the times.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the former ACCC Chair, Rod Sims, is calling for export control and a windfall profits tax on gas companies to cut power prices and reduce the budget deficit. Have you spoken with him? And are you willing to do even more if regulation change isn’t enough?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we have, of course, is the Heads of Agreement that Mr Simms referred to in his article today. We’ve said we’re prepared to examine further action, which is exactly what we’re doing, between departments, talking to people in the energy sector as well. We understand that there are a range of proposals out there, we want to make sure that we get it right. We confronted, when we came to office, a circumstance where some were saying that the lights wouldn’t stay on over June-July, and we fixed it. We then confronted a supply issue in gas, we fixed that as well with the Heads of Agreement that were agreed to cooperatively by the suppliers. What we need to do now is to make sure that we address the issue of price. The Government has said we’re examining all of the options, and we’ll continue to do so over the next little period. Because we want to make sure that not just households, but also businesses are able to access power without placing pressure on their ability to operate in a reasonable way.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, no new funding in your budget for the state’s North-South Corridor. Despite this, given the cost blowout to the project, can the Government still commit to 50/50 funding?
PRIME MINISTER: We’re committed to working cooperatively with the Malinauskas Government. I make this point, that I was the minister that delivered with the former South Australian Labor Government at the time, the first big upgrades on the North-South Corridor. The Superway was something that was funded and constructed while we were in government. The Torrens to Torrens next section was something that was deferred by the incoming Liberal government. We will continue to work cooperatively, we understand the importance of this project. It’s a project that I’ve done a lot of work on over the years. And I know that Catherine King, the Infrastructure Minister, is working closely with the South Australian Government on these issues.
JOURNALIST: Just on that, it was revealed in a recent Senate Estimates Committee that around a billion dollars of the contribution from the Federal Government is actually being pushed beyond the forward estimates. So is this going to get delivered anytime soon?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we want to deliver it as soon as possible. There are issues with infrastructure development around the country due to skill shortages, and due to increased costs which are there. We want to make sure that it’s delivered as soon as possible. We understand the importance of this upgrade. One of the things that that happened under the former government was they were big on announcements, but many of them were way off, they spoke about ten years rather than a four year program. And that is a change that occurred under the former government. When we were last in office, we actually promised commitments and then went on and built them and that is what we look forward to doing. Whether it was the Goodwood Rail Project, whether it was the South Road Superway, whether it was other projects here in South Australia, we’ll continue to work cooperatively with the South Australian Government.
JOURNALIST: Just on the Voice to Parliament, do you view that Australians have a more comprehensive understanding of it and will the government fund the Yes campaign?
PRIME MINISTER: I’d encourage people to spend half an hour logging on to ABC iView, to listen to and watch Noel Pearson’s powerful advocacy for a Voice to Parliament in the Boyer Lectures, or read the Boyer Lectures online. His first contribution I found extraordinarily powerful. I watched it the other night, and it was such strong advocacy. I’m very confident that Australians when they have the opportunity to unite the nation, to do something that that clearly identifies our confidence as a nation, our pride in the fact that we share this continent with the oldest continuous culture on Earth, that they will want that represented in the nation’s birth certificate, which is what the Constitution represents. And secondly, that we know that you’ll get better practical outcomes, like any other endeavour, when you actually consult people who are directly affected. Now, that principle operates across the board. If you were talking about a child care policy, you wouldn’t not talk to people in the child care sector. If you’re talking about infrastructure, you would talk to the people affected by the North-South Road Corridor. What the Voice to Parliament does is just do two things. One, recognise Indigenous people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our Constitution. And secondly, ensure that they’ll be consulted and be able to put forward a view on policies that impact them. That’s not only good manners, it will lead to better outcomes.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, why aren’t you attending the COP Summit in Egypt, considering you were critical of your predecessor for not confirming whether he’d go to Glasgow?
PRIME MINISTER: I can’t be in all places at once. It’s as simple as that. If we could do that, then I’d achieve it. And I’m sure that if I was going people would say why aren’t I attending Parliament. We had our budget last week, this COP is one of implementation. It’s not one of a new policy and program. We’ve already advanced our changed policy in the Conference of the Parties through our Nationally Determined Contribution. That was signed by myself and Minister Bowen, with the support of the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Industry Group, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Australian Conservation Foundation, Greenpeace, the Clean Energy Council, and many more, and forwarded. We’ve done that. My criticism of the former government was that they went to a conference, gave an empty speech to an empty room that didn’t commit to anything new. The Glasgow Conference was about increased contributions for 2030. The former government failed to do that. And it probably would have been better off if they hadn’t have gone at all, because it just exposed to the world that Australia wasn’t stepping up at a time where other global leaders were. Parliament is sitting at the same time, that schedule with the leaders’ meeting, and I’ll be meeting all the leaders of the twenty largest economies in the world at the G20 in Bali. I’ll be meeting many of the regional meeting leaders at the East Asia Summit and others at the APEC Summit that’s being held in Bangkok. So I have a very busy schedule of Parliament, then the international conferences, then back to Parliament again. Making sure that our agenda gets through and that includes our agenda on clean energy and taking action on climate change.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, here in Adelaide we’ve got people couch surfing, people sleeping in their cars, there’s not enough public housing, some people are waiting decades for that in their lifetime. There’s isn’t enough affordable rentals either. What’s the Federal Government doing to assist in this space?
PRIME MINISTER: What we did in last week’s Budget was have our Housing Australia Future Fund that will provide 30,000 additional social and affordable housing units over a five-year period. In addition to that, we announced our Housing Accord. This will encourage institutional investors to invest in affordable housing, and is expected to deliver a million additional homes being constructed over a four-year period. That is federal government working with state government ministers, working with local government, and working with the private sector. In addition to that, we’ll have our Housing Supply and Affordability Council established, looking at ways in which planning laws can encourage investment in housing. In addition to that, we’ve allocated $100 million for additional emergency housing, so that women and children escaping domestic violence can have somewhere to go. We have a comprehensive plan for housing, I remember visiting public housing here in South Australia last year and seeing the state of disrepair that some of the public housing here was in, and I’m very pleased that now you have in Peter Malinauskas a State Labor Government that also understands the importance of housing, including the right of people to live with some dignity in their lives. This is something I’m very passionate about, we’ve made some significant announcements and there’ll be more to come.
JOURNALIST: What about people that are in crisis. I mean you talked about domestic violence and you know, there are people currently sleeping in their cars.
PRIME MINISTER: That’s why we’re putting $100 million into additional emergency housing. That is why we are responding to this. Tonight, like every other night that’s occurred over a number of years, there’ll be women and children turned away from shelters because there’s simply nowhere for them to go. We need that emergency housing, but we also need the uplift in social and affordable housing so that people can have some permanency. The Government is acting on that.
JOURNALIST: A nationwide vigil is being held this afternoon for 15-year-old Cassius Turvey who was beaten to death last month. What are your thoughts on how he died and do you have any words for Indigenous Australians across the country?
PRIME MINISTER: My heart goes out to the family and friends of Cassius Turvey. This is a human tragedy. A young man murdered in such an extraordinary, just terrible fashion. People are hurting and my heart goes out to them at this difficult time. Thank you.