Doorstop – Epping | Prime Minister of Australia
JEROME LAXALE, MEMBER FOR BENNELONG: Welcome everyone. I’d like to start by acknowledging the traditional custodians of this land, the Darramuragal people, and pay respects to elders past, present and emerging. And welcome you all to Bennelong for the official office opening. Labor’s only won Bennelong twice in 70 years, so it’s great to have some red on the window, but also to have the Prime Minister here officially opening our office. It’s been a really busy six months. I know our local community have welcomed a change of government, and are just really welcoming the Prime Minister and all the work that he’s been doing with the team. It’s been such an honour to be part of it. And I’m just really great to have you here as part of a majority Labor government.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It is fantastic to be opening an electorate office in Bennelong held by the Australian Labor Party, one of the 77 seats that we secured to get an absolute majority in the House of Representatives, which has given us stable and secure government. My government, in its first six months, has done an extraordinary level of work to deliver on the commitments that we gave in the lead-up to the 21 May. The funding that was available for the upgrade here at Epping was put into the budget, like other commitments that we have done. As a direct result of the election of the Labor Government, you now have ten days paid family and domestic violence leave, you now have the creation of a National Reconstruction Fund to make more things here. We lifted wages for people on the minimum wage by $1 an hour, that made a difference. The Coalition said would be catastrophic if that occurred. We have now legislated for net zero by 2050 and a 43 per cent reduction by 2030. We have rejoined the world community and re-engaged with our neighbours in the Pacific. And I note that even Simon Birmingham noted yesterday, when in Palau with Penny Wong, that the Coalition damaged our relationship with the Pacific because of their failure to act on climate change. We have passed industrial relations legislation that will see a lifting of wages and that will see better bargaining in the interests of both business and the interests of workers. Our first six months have been characterised by delivering on our promises and our commitments, and that’s what we intend to do into 2023. Next year will be a year in which the commitments that we’ve made are delivered. From January 1 you will see cheaper medicines, the first time there has been a reduction in the PBS since it was introduced some 75 years ago. From July 1, families will benefit from cheaper childcare and as a result of the legislation that was passed through the Parliament yesterday, what we will see is a limit on the rising of bills which result from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
My government is determined to act in the interests of the Australian people. We’ve also seen a different functioning of the way that the government has operated. We brought together business and unions at the Jobs and Skills Summit, we have engaged with the crossbenchers and, where possible, with the Opposition as well. It’s sad that yesterday Coalition voted for higher power prices, and they voted against the interests of small business and households. I find it extraordinary that in spite of the rhetoric that the Coalition have had, that they were not prepared to say enough is enough when it comes to the increases which are directly linked to the global spike in prices for energy that are a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These companies have not seen an increase in their production costs, but what they have done, because of the link to international prices, is we have seen quite extraordinary increases. We make no apologies for standing up for Australian jobs, Australian businesses and our national interest. And that’s what we did yesterday and by a margin of 85-40, the House of Representatives voted for our legislation and then a majority in the Senate as well. Into 2023, we will continue to stand up for Australia’s interest. You will see the delivery of the commitments as they flow through but you will also see a government that is prepared to meet the challenges that we are confronted with, some of which, inevitably, are unforeseen, such as we’ve seen in recent years. We will deal with those immediate issues, but we will plan for the future. I’m very optimistic about Australia’s future. I’m optimistic that we can seize the opportunities that are there through cheaper, cleaner energy, to revive manufacturing in this country, to be a more inclusive country as well. And of course in the second half of next year we will give Australians the opportunity to recognise First Nations people in our nation’s birth certificate, our Constitution, and that will be a moment of unity if that is passed and if we recognise the great privilege that we have of sharing this continent with the oldest continuous culture on earth.
JOURNALIST: Your government is relaxing Australia Day citizenship ceremony rules, so the ceremony itself can be held in the days prior or after Australia Day itself. Why have you done this?
PRIME MINISTER: We think that councils should conduct citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day.That’s what my local council will be doing, where Linda Burney will be the guest. That’s what I will be attending in Canberra on Australia Day. But the rules, the way that they were fashioned, meant that citizens who are not part of the decisions of when ceremonies would be were missing out on becoming Australian citizens. We want people to become Australian citizens. And that is why we should not place red tape for ideological reasons in front of that opportunity.
JOURNALIST: Dan Tehan says your government is laying the groundwork to abolish January 26 as Australia Day, do you see benefit in the change the date?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I support Australia Day. The government supports Australia Day. There are no changes here. What should not happen, though, is that John Smith, a new migrant from the United Kingdom, is denied the opportunity to become an Australian citizen because of a decision made by a local council. That, quite frankly, is unfair on individuals and it was punishing individuals and nothing less than that.
JOURNALIST: On energy, your package won’t stop the steep increases to power prices over the next 18 months so do you plan to put anything else in the May Budget to help with that?
PRIME MINISTER: What there will be is less of an increase because of the measures that we’ve taken. And Treasury analysis shows that that is the case. I do note some of the rhetoric which is out there from the Opposition on this issue. This is the same Opposition that said that gas companies and suppliers should be threatened with a big stick. Remember their ‘big stick’ legislation they carried on about, that in its first form would have the power to break up companies? That’s what they threatened companies with just a short time ago when the now Shadow Treasurer was the Minister. They huffed and they puffed and they did nothing. And yesterday, they did nothing. In the wake of companies, where their production costs have not increased but have seen in some cases a quadrupling of the price being offered to businesses, particularly in manufacturing, as well as to households, they said: ‘That’s okay for those windfall gains that are a direct result of the international price due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’ – having nothing to do, nothing whatsoever to do, with any increase in domestic production costs. In 2021, 96 per cent of deals done over gas were for under $12 a gigajoule when the average price was around $9.70. So this ceiling is a reasonable decision to make based upon the advice of the ACCC. And I say to those people in industry as well – don’t talk your industry down. This is an industry that is profitable. It’s an industry that will continue to benefit from the quite extraordinary prices on the global market, which are resulting in extraordinary profit levels and extraordinary bonuses to executives. Now, I stand for households and Australian manufacturing. Peter Dutton yesterday chose to stand for sitting back and watching these extraordinary prices come through to damage those businesses and those households. And I make no apologies for being prepared to stand up for Australian interests.
JOURNALIST: Santos has labelled the energy changes as ‘Soviet-style’ intervention. What is your response to that? Also secondly, if gas companies start pulling investment from Australia, would that force you to reconsider your energy price control measures?
PRIME MINISTER: The production costs in Australia have not been changed by any decisions that have been made. And businesses that were charging under $10 a gigajoule will now have, for 12 months, a ceiling of $12 in which they can charge. Those businesses were profitable, will continue to be profitable, and they will also gain the windfall gains that are on the international market. So I say to businesses: don’t talk yourself down. And I do think that there is some irony in the fact that you have references to Russia when it is the Russian invasion of Ukraine that has had a devastating impact on the people of Ukraine but has also led to record profits and returns for these businesses. A long way from Ukraine and Russia, but they have benefited from the global spike in prices. What our action does is say that manufacturing here in Australia, and households, should be shielded from those windfall gains. And if those companies had a look at what is happening internationally, by the UK Conservative Government that has put a windfall tax on those companies, we have chosen to not go down that road. We have chosen a modest intervention to make sure that Australian manufacturers are not driven out of business as a direct result of these high global prices being imposed in Australia, even though these are Australian resources with no increase whatsoever in Australian production costs.
JOURNALIST: But what has changed is how much gas companies can get by extracting gas from other countries compared to domestically. So they can get more profit elsewhere. So what would you do if gas companies began to reduce investment?
PRIME MINISTER: If you look at what has changed overseas, you have windfall taxes being imposed by Conservative governments around the world. There was a constructive meeting yesterday between the Resources Minister Madeleine King and the businesses. I had a constructive meeting in Parliament House on Wednesday. We listened to the companies. There was one change that they requested that we made to the legislation. We will continue to engage. But I say to business, don’t talk yourself down. Australia is a great place to do business. That remains the case.
JOURNALIST: There’s been a video that has emerged today of the men who killed those police officers in Queensland talking about and boasting about that incident. What is your reaction to that incident and that video?
PRIME MINISTER: This is a shocking and devastating crime and I would encourage media outlets and others to not publish, in any way, such material that I have not seen and are not aware of the nature of it. What I say is that all Australians are mourning at this time. I was earlier today at an event where members of the New South Wales Police Force were in attendance and other emergency services. Every police officer knows that when they put on the uniform, or when, they are engaged in service, that they take a risk. But this should never have happened. This was a dreadful atrocity and my heart goes out to those family and friends of the police officers directly involved, but to every police officer who are joined and are part of a family, and they are doing it tough at this time. My thoughts are with them. I have nothing but contempt for those people involved in this atrocious crime.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, back on energy, if I may. Putting aside your confidence that gas companies won’t decrease investment in the country, is it something that your government will be monitoring in the chance that you could act quite quickly if they were to reduce investment?
PRIME MINISTER: I see no reason whatsoever to jump at shadows. If Australia was a good place to invest in 2021, when the average price was $9.70, it’s a pretty good place to invest in 2023 when there is a 12-month limit of $12. We need to recognise here that from time to time some people will want extraordinary profits to continue into the future. But bear in mind that overwhelmingly most of our resources are exported. And those export prices for coal have seen in excess of $400 a tonne, forgas have seen massive increases in the returns to companies for resources that are Australia’s resources that have gone to companies that have had record profits, record profits. Now, I make no apologies for standing up for the interests of Australian households and Australian businesses. And the fact that Peter Dutton has chosen to stand up for these companies making record profits and said ‘let it rip’ as far as those profits into the future, with no support for households, stands in stark contrast with the actions of state and territory governments – Labor and Coalition, including the Perrottet Government here – who all joined with the Federal Government to support what is sensible modest measures in the interest of households and in the interest of businesses.
JOURNALIST: Will you help further improve our relationship with France by supporting Les Bleus in the final?
PRIME MINISTER: Jerome would be a very biased observer, I suspect, of the final. I know that I am not someone who will ever release private text messages between myself and President Macron, but I think he would not mind me saying that I sent him a congratulations message on reaching the final and he sent me back an acknowledgement and a thank you for that message. Look, I hope it is a fantastic game. I don’t have a horse in this race. I was a strong supporter of Australia and the Socceroos performed magnificently. I was questioned yesterday by a journalist, off the record, whether I had actually stayed up and watched the match, because I was tweeting out when I did. And my evidence for that is that none of the young people who sometimes are involved in my social media will ever do a #woohoo at 3:30 in the morning, which I was admonished for by the young people. I assure you that any of my tweets or Instagram messages that have multiple emojis and hashtags, I am the only person who will ever do that in my team. But I’m sure Jerome may want to kick in here because I know he does have a horse in the race.
LAXALE: Well did have a horse in the race, of course. I was a French citizen up until very recently. But don’t worry, we’ve satisfied our requirements under the Constitution. Don’t worry about that. It’s wonderful and it’s fitting that the two teams that beat us at the World Cup are the ones playing the final. In 2006 Italy knocked us out, they went on to win. France and Argentina both beat us and they’re in the final. I will, of course, be going for the blue, so allez les bleu.