Doorstop – Adelaide | Prime Minister of Australia
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Premier McGowan rang me this morning and told me of his intention to announce his resignation as Premier. I want to pay tribute to Mark McGowan, my friend, a confidant, but also an extraordinarily successful premier of Western Australia. During the pandemic Mark McGowan stood strong. He stood strong against the claims that WA people should just open up. He did the right thing in order to keep Western Australians safe. He also has built an extraordinarily strong economy and WA has been a powerhouse for the nation in creating jobs and creating economic growth and in securing a positive future at what was a very difficult time that saw some other economies really struggle. We know that without WA being so strong, the recession that occurred would have been deeper and longer. And Mark McGowan has, through social, environmental and economic policy, built a stronger WA and I wish him all the very best for the future.
JOURNALIST: Can you give us an insight into the speech tonight? How important it is and how you value the Don Dunstan Foundation and this moment?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, tonight is a great honour for me to give this speech to the Don Dunstan Foundation, he was one of Australia’s leaders, historically, who’ve made such a difference to South Australia. South Australia led the nation in social policy reform under Don Dunstan’s leadership. And in Lowitja O’Donoghue, we pay tribute to someone who was part of the Stolen Generations, who played such a positive role in the 1967 referendum. Tonight, I’ll be talking about that legacy and the opportunity that Australians will have in the last quarter of this year to build on that legacy, to build on that foundation, to have a more united Australia that recognises the benefit that we will all have if we recognise First Nations people in our Constitution and we provide them with a Voice in order to make representations to government through an advisory body.