Opening remarks – National Cabinet
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, welcome everyone, to the meeting of the National Cabinet. It is great to be back together again. It is great to be back together again. We are discussing housing, but also discussing that in the context of the cost-of-living pressures that families are under around the country, due to the global pressures which are there on inflation as a result of both the Russian invasion of Ukraine that has had an impact on global energy prices that have flowed through to global inflation, but also the aftermath of the pandemic. We’re still feeling supply chain shortages. So, we know that today we’ll be talking about housing and housing supply because all of us agree that that is the key to addressing the pressures which are there on both people trying to get into the housing purchase market, but also on renters as well. And that’s something that we’ll be very much focused on today, as well as, of course, touching on the other issues in which we’re cooperating: how we deal with ensuring that business are able to gain access to skilled workforce, how we’re dealing with the interaction between the public health system, public hospital system in particular, and the primary health care system, how we’re dealing with the future in education with our schools right through to universities and TAFEs. I really appreciate the collegiate way that this group is operating. We are focused on the needs of the people that we’ve been elected to represent. I’m really looking forward to a really constructive discussion and this is likely to be the last time we meet before the Referendum is held to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our Constitution. I acknowledge and thank everyone here for the fact that every State Premier and Chief Minister is supporting a Yes vote in this Referendum in the interests of recognising First Nations people, but also having the opportunity to listen to them on matters that affect their lives so as to get better results. So, I look forward to a constructive meeting.>