Doorstop – Adelaide | Prime Minister of Australia
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It’s great to be back here at Flinders Medical Centre with the South Australian Premier, Peter Malinauskas, with Health Minister Mark Butler and with Louise Miller-Frost the federal local member here for Boothby, as well as state local MPs who are here today. During the election campaign I came here with the Premier and made a commitment, a commitment to join with South Australia on the upgrade of this fantastic hospital. A great hospital that looks after people in the southern suburbs of Adelaide, but one that is in need of an upgrade. And that’s why our $400 million dollar commitment, jointly funded, is making a difference. But I’ve got to say thanks to the Premier’s hard work and the South Australian Government we’re fast tracking that – some 16 beds coming online in the first half of 2024. But very soon, in the next few weeks, 26 new acute inpatient beds being open here at Flinders Medical Centre. This is an important part of the 120 extra hospital beds that will be provided here, new surgical and spaces, extra MRI and CT scanners due to come online in the middle of this year. The full upgrade will be completed by 2028 and this comes on top of our other commitments for South Australia that are being rolled out. Yesterday, the Health Minister announced the five expressions of interest for five new urgent care clinics to take pressure off emergency departments. We’re rolling out 12,500 fee free TAFE places, we’re rolling out 88,000 additional premises that are being connected to the fibre based NBN – making an enormous difference to the provision of services as well as to business activity here in South Australia. And some 65,000 South Australian families will benefit from our childcare changes that will put extra money into their pockets from July 1 and increase the workforce participation of women as well as boosting productivity. We’re committed to South Australia and it is fantastic to have the South Australian Premier, Peter Malinauskas, who has worked so effectively with myself as the Prime Minister, but his Ministers working closely with our Ministers to make sure that we’re delivering on our commitments, not just delivering, but in cases like this we’re exceeding what the commitments were.
PETER MALINAUSKAS, SOUTH AUSTRALIAN PREMIER: Thanks Prime Minister, it’s truly a privilege to be here at Flinders Medical Centre with you today, as we have marked this important milestone on the delivery of the most substantial upgrade to our state’s second biggest hospital that we have seen in decades. The Flinders Medical Centre has a proud history, and it is increasingly grown as it seeks to serve a growing population in and around the southern suburbs. But now is the moment that we need to make a step change in the capacity of the Flinders Medical Centre to ensure that this increasing population continues to enjoy the benefit of the high quality services that our hardworking clinicians deliver here day in, day out. I invite people, particularly South Australians, to cast their minds back a bit over twelve months ago when I asked the then Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese, to contemplate joining with my government to actually deliver that step change here at Flinders. And I remember well, Prime Minister, exactly where I was when we had a phone call late in the evening and you were all too accommodating to make sure that South Australia could partner with a federal Labor government to deliver on this $400 million dollar upgrade. I just want to acknowledge, Prime Minister, that the advocacy of Louise Miller-Frost along with Erin Thompson, the local state MP, in conjunction with Mark Butler, who we’re so lucky to have as a South Australian and also our Federal Health Minister, there’s been a joint team effort to make sure that we don’t take the Commonwealth-State contribution for granted but rather actually get on with delivering. So today we see that there are going to be within days an additional 26 acute patient care beds here at FMC coming online. And as soon as next year we will start to see the role out of the additional 136 beds that our $400 million dollar investment will deliver. Now, to put this in a bit of context, 136 beds represents the single biggest increase to any existing hospital that we’ve seen in the state in modern history. So this is a massive expansion of the current capacity of the Flinders Medical Centre and for it to be coming online so quickly after the respective state and federal elections, I think, speaks to a degree of teamwork. But more than that, a lot of hard work has gone on to make sure that we’re getting the right resources, in the right places to meet the needs that we’ve got today. South Australians along with, I guess, everybody who’s witnessing what’s happening to our health system around the country understands that we don’t have a moment to lose when it comes to putting additional beds online. And already my government’s delivered hundreds more of them over the course of the last eleven months and we’re set to deliver 100 more again thanks to the partnership that we’ve got with the Albanese Labor Government. I also just want to take the opportunity to thank Mark Butler, because I know Mark understands the fact that there is a direct relationship with what happens in hospital ramping with what is happening at the front end when it comes to Medicare and accessibility of GPs. So the announcement just yesterday of the Urgent Care centres coming online here in South Australia at pace is only good news as we seek to address the ramping crisis that we see around the country, but particularly here in South Australia. So I want to thank Mark and you, Prime Minister, and Louise, for working with me and Erin and our teams on bringing these things online as quickly as possible to make a difference where we need it most, as urgently as we can possibly address it. The only other thing I thought I’d quickly mention if you don’t mind me saying so, PM, is we’ve are exceptionally excited about the prospect of the announcement of the AUKUS decision in the coming weeks. You are right, Prime Minister, this represents the single biggest opportunity that not only South Australia, but also our whole nation has had to improve our economic complexity. South Australia stands ready to work with the Commonwealth to deliver on this absolutely nationally critical project. This is a 100 year program and we’re very excited about here in South Australia and we’re already making the investments that are going to be required to deliver the workforce to build the most complex machines that have ever been built in the history of humankind right here in Adelaide.
JOURNALIST: The Coalition today announced it would block any changes that Labor makes, how confident are you your proposed changes will be accepted?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they vote against everything. They vote against the Safeguard Mechanism, they’re voting against the National Reconstruction Fund that will help us in areas like defence. They voted against climate change action with our targets that we had a clear mandate for. They’re voting against our Housing Australia Future Fund that will provide 4000 homes for women and children escaping domestic violence, that will provide additional housing for veterans. This is a Coalition that’s become just the no-oalition. They say no to everything. They don’t have anything to offer. They never put forward any amendments. The last changes to superannuation that were made were made when Scott Morrison was the Treasurer who made four significant changes to superannuation in the 2016-17 Budget. So we see Peter Dutton as really having not much to offer except saying no and attempting to block everything, wanting the next ten years to look like the last ten. And that compares with the way that my government functions. Working cooperatively with different levels of government, with the private sector, working with people across the Parliament, wanting to be constructive – that’s the approach that we take.
JOURNALIST: You promised there would be no major changes to super, what defines a major change?
PRIME MINISTER: There won’t be major changes to super.
JOURNALIST: On May 2 2022 you did say that there would be no changes to the superannuation scheme, are you now breaking that promise?
PRIME MINISTER: There will be no major changes to superannuation, we’re not considering that. What we’re doing is defining properly the objective of superannuation which is something that is needed. Superannuation was created to provide people with an income in retirement and that is the objective, to make sure that people can have a quality of life in their later years and that’s why we’re working on that. If the Coalition want to oppose an objective for superannuation, let’s be clear, the Coalition have undermined superannuation at every single opportunity. They went to election after election saying they wouldn’t interfere with the superannuation guarantee and then breached it every single time. And a whole lot of them tried to do that last time round as well during the last term.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, why isn’t it fair for someone to have millions of dollars in their super account and pay a lower tax rate?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I’m not going into that level of detail, that will work its way through. But superannuation is there to provide for a quality of life in people’s retirement, it’s not there for other purposes.
JOURNALIST: Should retirees expect changes to their concessions?
PRIME MINISTER: There won’t be major changes, I’ve said that and that’s our position.
JOURNALIST: So you wouldn’t consider putting a cap?
PRIME MINISTER: There won’t be major changes to superannuation. We’ve made no decisions about changes to superannuation. We will consider the objective of what the implications are of that, but there won’t be major changes coming forward in the Budget.
JOURNALIST: On the Voice to Parliament, the launch for the Yes campaign is today. At the same time, there’s polling out showing that more than 60% of Australians still want more information. We know that Indigenous Australians in particular are unclear about how this body is going to represent them. Why can’t you put more meat on the bones about how it operates, how it will interact with your ministers, how it will interact with you, before the vote and now you risk putting the referendum at risk if you don’t provide that clarity
PRIME MINISTER: Not at all. There’s an enormous amount of detail out there already and what some people are doing, and people can judge for themselves how genuine it is. I mean, I’ve been asked things like ‘where will the office be of the Voice to Parliament?’. Now, people will make their own judgement about that. But Peter Dutton and the Coalition said before I gave my speech at Garma that they wanted to know what the question was. The question is now out there very clearly of what it will be – ‘Do you support constitutional recognition with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament?’. The question and details of the constitutional draft change are there. They are being considered by the Constitutional Working Group. There are three points in that following, in Recognition of Aboriginal Torres Strait Islanders as Australia’s first peoples. One, there shall be a Voice. Two, it shall make representation on issues which impact Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander people. And three, the functions and activities of the Voice will be determined by Parliament. So it’s subservient to Parliament. And we know that in terms of the structure of the Voice, the reason why it needs to be legislated by the whole of Parliament is that over a period of time that legislation will change – it’s subservient to the Parliament. So here for example in South Australia, there is a Voice to Parliament being considered by the South Australian Parliament thanks to the initiative of the South Australian government. Now, that will obviously feed into a national structure, those structures will change over time. But the Voice is about two things. Two things only. It’s about recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in our nation’s birth certificate and it’s about consultation. So the Voice will be able to have consultation on matters that directly affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
JOURNALIST: Do you have an update regarding the South Australians involved in the Philippines in a plane crash?
PRIME MINISTER: I do. Tragically, overnight search teams reached the site where this plane went down in the Albay Province of the Philippines. Tragically, there were no survivors. And so my heart goes out, and my condolences go to the families of two Adelaide men who were on that flight. My condolences also to the people of the Philippines for the Filipino nationals who’ve lost their lives in this tragedy. DFAT are providing consular assistance to the families. I would ask that their privacy be respected at this time. It is, of course, up to them how much detail they wish to make public. I do also want to thank the search teams who travelled into a relatively remote area in dangerous circumstances and weather as well in order to undertake this task. But my heart goes out to people who were there visiting the Philippines, who tragically won’t return to their families.
JOURNALIST: INAUDIBLE
PRIME MINISTER: DFAT, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are providing that consular assistance to the families. They are in direct contact and the family’s wishes will be respected. And I will await them out of respect for those families, before any further detail is given.
JOURNALIST: The AFL has announced a cash splash and a Tasmanian team on the condition the new stadium gets the green light, is that the sweetener that the Government needs to commit to funding a new stadium in Hobart?
PRIME MINISTER: We’re considering proposals as part of our budget measures, but I make this point, we’re considering it as part of an urban redevelopment and urban policy to revitalise the city of Hobart and to make a difference to the Macquarie Point site. Mac Point, we put considerable funding there, $50 million, way back in 2012. Now not much has happened between 2012 and 2023. That is a prime site for not just a sporting stadium, if that goes ahead, but for residential, for recreational, for commercial activity as well. And I’m working closely with Jeremy Rockliff and his Government on these issues. There’s a submission being made, we’re giving consideration to it as part of our budget process but also working on ways in which we can ensure that whatever happens at Macquarie Point produces maximum benefit for the people of Tasmania.
JOURNALIST: The referendum Yes campaign is launching today in Adelaide, will it have an independent committee such as in South Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: No, one of the things about this is that it isn’t something whereby the federal cabinet or even the Malinauskas government or any other level of government sat down and said, ‘I know we’ve got an idea’. This has come from the bottom up and that’s why some of the comments of some people in the political arena are so disingenuous. Because this is something that has arisen from the Constitutional Convention of First Nations people that was held just north of here in Uluru in 2017. And then there was a series of reports to the former government about structures and processes and how it might operate, and so this is a grassroots movement. I welcome it, it’s a great thing. This is a change not for politicians. This is a change for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island and the people themselves, to give them respect. But also for non-indigenous Australians regardless of what their occupation is and where they live so that we come to terms with our history and we show that we are a mature nation that can move forward together on the path of reconciliation.
JOURNALIST: Are you going tonight?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: When will the Mrdak Review into the Government’s response to the Medibank cyber attack be released?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ll be having a roundtable on Monday in Sydney on Cyber Security. Mike Mrdak is doing his job and it will be released once it is been given consideration by the government.
JOURNALIST: Sally McManus says some Australians are having to forego meals because the gap between wages and inflation has reached record levels, what do you say to those Australians that are having to choose between keeping the lights on or feeding themselves?
PRIME MINISTER: We recognise cost of living pressures are very real. The former government had a conscious policy of low wages being a part of, a feature of their economic architecture. My Government does not. I stood during the election campaign and said I supported an increase in the minimum wage of, in the end it came out a bit above $1 an hour. The former government said that that would wreck the economy in the sky would fall in. That was their approach. We have decisions about aged care wages. We unashamedly say that the heroes of the Pandemic need to be given more than our thanks. We need to acknowledge that their wages aren’t enough to attract people to the sector. And that’s why we need to do better in that area, and I note the Fair Work Commission’s activity in that area. So we also recognise on cost of living that on the 1st of January medicines went down from $42.50 to $30. There’s often the saying as gone from people’s experience that ‘nothing ever goes down’. Well, it did for the first time in 75 years. That’s why the cheaper childcare will make a difference. That’s by the 180,000 nationally, 10% of which will be here in South Australia, fee free TAFE places will make a difference as well. But in addition to that, we’re working to make sure we take pressure off supply chains through our National Reconstruction Fund by building on industry policy. To take up Peter’s comments as well about the importance of AUKUS and what it represents. It’s not just about nuclear submarines. It’s about the whole way that our Defence Force structure works. We have the Strategic Review that we’ve received from Sir Angus Houston and Stephen Smith. We see this is about defending our nation and our national security, but it is also about industry policy and about building up our capacity which has a spin off. Just as for generations there was a spin off in this nation of South Australia’s fine work in the automotive industry before the former government, that we replaced, literally told the car industry to leave. Literally told them to leave. And as a result of that we’re a poorer nation for it. We want to make things here in Australia and that will make a difference as well.
JOURNALIST: INAUDIBLE
PRIME MINISTER: The Liberal Party are showing, at least Peter Dutton is showing, that he wants to create as much confusion and is doing nothing that would indicate that his starting point is, ‘okay, how do we work on this together?’, ‘how do we get this done together?’ – that’s my approach,
I want to do this together. People made a request from the Liberal Party and said if you give us a pamphlet that will make a difference and will get us across the line. Well, they are going to get a pamphlet at some cost to the taxpayer. Now, I think that I’ve made my position very, very clear. I want to secure maximum support for this, but what we have from Peter Dutton, I think people can draw their own conclusions. It’s not like it’s very subtle what’s going on here, it’s very obvious. And I think it contrasts with the goodwill that is required here. I mean, the Statement from the Heart was called that for a reason. It’s about people’s head and their thinking about what’s required, but it does require the same generosity of spirit that Aboriginal and Straight Islander People are showing with this offer, this offer to walk for reconciliation. There’s no right of veto here, there’s no funding going to be granted by this body, it won’t run programs. It’s just a generous, gracious offer to say ‘where matters affect us please talk with us and give us a voice, enable us to have input’. It’s that simple. It’s that simple going forward.