Doorstop interview – Sydney | Prime Minister of Australia
LYNDAL HOWISON, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR RYDE: Welcome to Eastwood, everybody. We made on the lands of the Wallumedegal people and I’d like to pay my respects to their elders past and present. Welcome to Eastwood. My name is Lyndal Howison and I’m the Labor candidate for Ryde. I’m delighted to see so many people here and, of course, I’m delighted to welcome the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, who I have known for 15 years. He’s an incredible Prime Minister and a dear friend. And also, of course, Chris Minns, the Leader of the New South Wales Opposition and the next Premier of New South Wales. And my dear friend Jerome Laxale, Member for Bennelong. We are here in Eastwood to celebrate the second last day of Lunar New Year. This area, this electorate has the highest proportion of people speaking Chinese and Korean at home. It is the heart of multicultural Sydney. And I would be privileged to be the Member of Parliament for this area.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much Lyndal, and it’s fantastic to be here in Ryde with yourself, with Jerome Laxale, who’s doing such a fantastic job as a new Federal Member for Bennelong, and Chris Minns, who’s the next Premier of New South Wales. I’m very pleased to be here today to endorse Lyndal Howison. I’ve known Lyndal for 15 years. She is a dynamo. She’s someone who’s absolutely committed to making a difference in this electorate. Lyndal is someone who retrained to become a high school teacher, because she’s absolutely committed to education being the key ingredient in creating opportunity, in making sure that a community like this, a multicultural dynamic community, can see its youngest Australians have the best opportunity in life. And the best way that that can be done is by electing Lyndal as a member for Ryde as part of a Minns Labor Government. I’ve known Chris for a long time as well. He’s absolutely committed, not just to better education as the key to opportunity, but better health services, better infrastructure as well, and making New South Wales as good as it can be. And I want to work cooperatively with Chris. I’m here to once again wish him all the very best over the coming weeks. We have an incredible society. This is my fifth Lunar New Year event that I’ve been to across three states over the past 14 days. Here in Eastwood, we see a community that has benefited from the diversity that is here. And earlier, just a while ago, we met and had lunch with leaders of Australian Chinese, the Australian Korean, and other communities who’ve made this part of Sydney their home, who have come and are contributing to the national econom, so that they can give their kids a better opportunity in life. That’s the great story of Australia. And that’s the story I want to see enriched into the future. It’s my great privilege to be here today, back as the Prime Minister of Australia.
CHRIS MINNS, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Thanks so much Albo. Thanks Lyndal, thanks Jerome and thanks everybody for being here. This is slightly chaotic, but enormous fun. I’ve never been in a press conference like it before, with dragon dances and a parade beforehand. But it’s great to be here. And I’m sincerely very appreciative that the Prime Minister could take time out of his extremely busy schedule to campaign for us in New South Wales on the run up to the March 25 election, obviously just weeks away and hotly contested. We’ve got a fantastic candidate here in Ryde, someone who’s committed to this community, who understands what it means to live in and represent a multicultural community and will live up to the best aspirations of this community if she’s elected on March 25. Lyndal is somebody that retrained as a school teacher and who is currently a high school teacher in Western Sydney. Being a school teacher is a vocation. I know that. My father worked his entire professional life as a New South Wales public school teacher, and you do it not for the money for the love. It’s that kind of dedication and commitment to public service that we want to bring to government in New South Wales. And it would be a wonderful privilege if New South Wales Labor wins the election to work in a co-operative way with the Albanese Federal Government in the best interests of Australia’s largest state. There are many challenges facing New South Wales. But I know that cooperative federalism, a commitment between the New South Wales Government and the Commonwealth Government that isn’t interested in buck passing or sharing blame or trying to ensure that someone else is in the firing line, but actually committed to making New South Wales better is in the best interest of this great state. That’s going to be our mission between now and March 25. And we sincerely appreciate that Anthony could spend the time to be with us in Ryde today.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will you stop PEP-11 going ahead? And if so, how?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what I won’t do is do what the former government did and essentially create a situation whereby legally, it wasn’t tenable. So it’s important that myself and the Resources Minister don’t comment, that we have proper processes. That’s how we got into this circumstance in the first place.
JOURNALIST: You are on the record, commenting very strongly in the past, do you still oppose it?
PRIME MINISTER: I am the Prime Minister of Australia and I have particular responsibilities. I’ll tell you what I won’t do. I won’t swear myself in as the Resources Minister in order to make a decision contrary to what the existing Resources Minister did. This situation has arisen because of the incompetence, the dishonesty of the Morrison Government. No one was told that Scott Morrison was sworn in as the Resources Minister in order to override Keith Pitt as Resources Minister. That’s how we got into this debacle, where the company has made legal action against the Federal Government. What my government will do, is always act in accordance with the procedures which are necessary. We will do that into the future. And we’ll make a decision in an appropriate way.
JOURNALIST: Is this just giving them that maybe a clean slate on the decision when it comes?
PRIME MINISTER: Well it does, and that is what we’re aiming to do, to act properly. It shouldn’t be too much to ask for a Federal Government to act in accordance with proper procedures. But here we had a Prime Minister who was also the Treasurer, the Finance Minister, the Health Minister, the Resources Minister, the Industry and Science Minister. It is a farcical circumstance, when the heads of departments weren’t aware that that was the case. And when he was sharing his digs with the Treasurer, but didn’t tell the Treasurer that he’d also sworn himself in as effectively the Treasurer. We need transparency in processes. And this week in Parliament, there will be the legislation as recommended by the inquiry that we called for last year. The most disappointing thing, I think, that I’ve seen in Parliament for a long time, is the people queuing up to congratulate Scott Morrison on his speech defending this action, which undermined the integrity of the Australian Government, and it undermined, indeed, his own colleagues. Very few of the colleagues chose to actually stand up for proper processes and the way that the House of Representatives should function. My government will function properly. I can assure people that Prime Minister is the only portfolio that I will be sworn into, and it’s beyond my comprehension how arrogant a government could be and how out of touch and how obsessed with centralisation of power. And that’s why the Coalition were unfit for office at that time, and why, when they all voted to defend this action, they’re unfit for office at the next election.
JOURNALSIT: On Medicare and yesterday’s National Cabinet. We’ve got doctors who are quite angry there’s nothing concrete came out, I guess. What do you have to say to those doctors?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what I’d say is that we’ve got processes in place that we’ve already funded, $750 million to improve primary health care. We’re already rolling out the $100 million program to have pilots to better integrate primary health care with public hospitals. What we need to do is to improve the number of GPs, improve bulk billing, improved the primary health care network that we inherited, that was under pressure because the previous government weren’t fair dinkum about defending Medicare. That’s why we put this additional investment in. That’s why we have the Strengthening Medicare Task Force that reported yesterday to the Premiers and Chief Ministers. You don’t undo a decade of neglect in a day. What you need to do, though, is to make sure the primary healthcare system operates better to take pressure off emergency departments. That’s why, as well, we have urgent care clinics being rolled out around the country, 50 of them this year, taking pressure off emergency departments, so that if a young one falls off a skateboard and breaks their arm, they’re not there in the queue at emergency departments, they are getting the care that they need. That’s why we’re putting nurses 24/7 in every aged care home, so that an aged care resident who has a health issue doesn’t immediately get sent by ambulance to a hospital, so they get the care they need, when they need it. We need to have a comprehensive plan to deal with health. I’d asked Chris to make some comments as well about State Government responsibility. But this Federal Government that I’m proud to lead is stepping up when it comes to healthcare. There’s more to do, but we’re putting in significant additional investment. And yesterday’s report, including how we get better training, how we get better accreditation, how the primary health care system integrates better with the public hospital system is a major step forward and we’ll be implementing that.
JOURNALIST: Why not increase the Medicare rebate now?
MINNS: I would just say that if we were to win government on March 25 we want to work cooperatively with the Commonwealth government. And we believe we can do that. And there’s no Opposition Leader or Premier in any state that wouldn’t want more investment from the Commonwealth. But it needs to be remembered that in New South Wales since 2015, there’s been a reduction in the number of beds available by 365. The Commonwealth can’t be expected to be miracle workers here, particularly when resources have been withdrawn from the New South Wales system. Over the same period of time, there’s been an increase in the number of beds of over 1000 in Queensland and about 500 in Victoria. So New South Wales has to step up and get its own house in order, particularly when it comes to paramedics and emergency departments. It needs to be a cooperative approach. And this election campaign between now and March 25 can’t be a process or a procedure in buck-passing between the State and the Commonwealth. There are major issues that need to be fixed in New South Wales. We just can’t say it’s all the Federal Government’s fault. We need to make sure our own houses in order.
JOURNALIST: Where do you sit on PEP-11?
MINNS: New South Wales Labor has voted against motions in relation to that process and that proposal many times in the New South Wales Parliament. Our position has been clear for over five years, I think was the first motion that went through the Legislative Council. It certainly hasn’t changed today. But we need to make sure that the mistakes of the last year aren’t repeated and even those that are vehemently against this proposal from going ahead would be devastated if a mistake was made at the Commonwealth level then we will back in court in the first place. Our position is clear. It’s been that way for a long time.
JOURNALIST: Just on the Medicare question, Prime Minister, why not increase the rebate as the AMA is saying? It would certainly help with cost of living pressures.
PRIME MINISTER: The AMA have been a part of the process, along with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, for our $750 million primary healthcare program. We’ll continue to work through these issues, but we have put in billions of dollars of additional investment. There’s not a single solution to this. You need to have better training and workforce issues. You need to make sure that people who are turning up at emergency departments have alternatives to go. That’s what urgent care clinics, 24/7 nurses in in aged care homes is about. That’s what making sure that improvement in disability care are about as well. It needs a comprehensive plan. We’re working that through, including with health professionals.
JOURNALIST: Why wait until the May Budget?
PRIME MINISTER: Budgets are actually when people make decisions, that’s the way the government works in Australia. That’s the way that an orderly government functions. My government is orderly and it functions properly. We cooperate and work issues through. We have worked issues through with the health sector.
JOURNALIST: In the spirit of today, is there anyone that you would forgive?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, absolutely. One of the things that I find, having been in public life a long period of time, people say to me, someone said it to me earlier today, ‘you look like you’re enjoying your job’. I am. I enjoy interacting with people. And one of the things that I do is I work with people across the spectrum. I work with people regardless of whether we’ve had a difference in the past. That’s how you bring people together. But I think that Danny and Leila Abdallah are inspirational in their forgiveness. I don’t know that I could do that if I were in their circumstance. They are remarkable Australians. But I think, as a general principle, I’ve been in public life a long time. If you worry about who voted for whom, at some position in the past or what have you, you end up being really negative. And that’s why at the moment, there’s an issue that I think is pretty important that should be above politics. You might have noticed that I’ve been very open-minded, and indeed, with an open heart in trying to encourage people to come together to support constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Whenever I go, there was a Lunar New Year function in Haymarket last night and again today, no matter what function, no matter what the background of people, people acknowledge, the traditional owners. Australia has moved on. You know, we are we are open here. And I think that people should join the campaign and be part of that pathway to reconciliation that will be so important. But can I pay tribute to the Abdallah family, to Danny and Leila, for their leadership. Leadership doesn’t just come from politicians. That’s a great example of leadership coming from the bottom up from these two remarkable community members, and they have my utmost respect.
JOURNALIST: The grants programs here in New South Wales, they have been referred to ICAC. This is quite serious.
MINNS: Those grants and the circumstances around it have been referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption. That is important. Those people that live in communities that had Labor Members of Parliament that didn’t get those emergency grant need answers. Now I will just say this, I’ve never seen it government before politicise a natural disaster and I’ve never seen a set of circumstances where aid for a community that was in need was denied because of who they voted for at the last election. It should be a basic tenet in Australia, that if you need help in the time of the natural disaster from your government, you get it and it makes no difference who you voted for.
PRIME MINISTER: It is beyond my comprehension that people would sit down with an electoral map to determine where funding should go for disaster relief. And the National Party, they’ve got no bounds of where they’re prepared to cut off when it comes to pork barrelling. The fact is, I visited so many of those communities during the bushfire crisis. And in recent times, I visited multiple communities in New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, Victoria Tasmania, who’ve been flood impacted. Just about every single one of those electorates has been held by either the National Party or the Liberal Party. Who cares? People who need support should be given it. It should not be politicised. And this report and this finding that the rules were changed in order to distort the funding of disaster relief is just reprehensible and beyond contempt, and that is the regard that I have for anyone associated with this. Thanks very much.
ENDS