ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Can I give a shout out to Judith, who's had her 80th birthday today and came down to say, g'day. Proof that there is a random South Sydney person everywhere, is the fact that I can come to a TAFE here at Loganlea and find a random Souths supporter. So, happy birthday to Judith. But we're here today to announce our candidate for Forde. Rowan Holzberger is someone I've known for a long period of time. He's someone who has a wide experience in work, working in construction, working in services, working in this local community here, where he has raised his family, where he's lived in Beenleigh for a long period of time. Rowan Holzberger is someone who will be a dynamic member for Forde. He is someone who, if he gets the same swing that he got last time in the 2022 election, then they'll be whoop-whooping here in Forde on election night because a 4.2 per cent margin, we got a 4.4 per cent swing in Forde at the last election. And one of the things that happened at the last election here in Queensland is that we reduced what were very long shot campaigns into marginal seats. One of those is Forde. And Forde residents are benefiting from the action that my government is taking. Every single taxpayer in Forde has benefited from a tax cut in their latest pay check. And in addition to that, many of the workers here are award wage workers and they will be amongst the 2.6 million Australians who got a wage increase from July 1, last week. So, we want Australians to earn more and to keep more of what they earn. In addition to that, in combining with the Miles Labor government, there is a $1300 rebate off people's energy bills. In addition to that, of course, there's Cheaper Childcare and importantly, Fee Free TAFE. And this morning we've had the opportunity to meet nursing students here at Loganlea TAFE who have chosen to undertake their courses in areas of skills shortage, because of Fee Free TAFE. We committed to 180,000 fee-free places. We delivered over 300,000 places last year alone and from this year we've committed to an additional 300,000 places. What that's doing is allowing people to fulfil their opportunity to train in areas of skills shortage, where they know there are going to be good, secure, well paid jobs at the end of that process, making sure that we're delivering – be it electricians, carpentry, bricklaying, nursing, social work, teaching, all of these areas – being delivered by TAFE in an efficient way, making sure that TAFE is restored as the key for public sector education when it comes to vocational education and training. And all of the students I've met right around Queensland and right around the country have said that they have changed their decisions in life. This is literally life changing for them, but importantly for the communities as well. In areas like nursing, where we know we need more people to undertake that training, Fee Free TAFE is ensuring that that occurs. In addition to that, we're establishing Centres of Excellence for skills and training. We made sure that we now have a 10-year agreement signed off going into the future for skills with every state and territory government. That's the first agreement that's been in place since the previous decade where the former government just didn't have one. They abandoned the need for that, for working with states and territories on skills and training. So, I'm sure that Rowan will be a hard working candidate. He'll be someone who's in touch with the needs of the people of this electorate. In Forde, it's a commuter electorate. It's an electorate sort of between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. It's one that needs a Labor Government. It's a sort of outer-suburban electorate that will see the sort of services that we prioritise, those cost of living supports. But it's one, also, where we can see advantages in manufacturing growth. We, as well as dealing with those short term measures, are also planning for Australia's future. And that's why we have a future made in Australia agenda. Legislation that the Coalition is saying they'll oppose – supporting making more things here – which is what we need to do. Peter Dutton's only plan is nuclear power plants. Ones that are rejected by everyone in the business community, rejected by the proponents in the energy sector. And that's why he's having to say, no, no, we'll now nationalise these things. We'll have public sector owned nuclear reactors here in Australia where there is no actual plan to deliver in terms of financing, there is no costing. It's just a thought bubble. Peter Dutton isn't up to the job of being the alternative Prime Minister. He's now more than two years into the job without having a single substantial costed policy. What we need is a government that deals with those immediate challenges, but one that delivers for Australia's long term future. And I want Rowan Holzberger to be a part of that.
ROWAN HOLZBERGER, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR FORDE: Thank you very much. My name's Rowan Holzberger. It's a great honour to be running for election, led by my very good friend, the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese. Someone who I know is probably one of the most genuine and authentic people that I've ever met in my life, but also one of the most effective. So, I'm running because I want to do what I can to improve the living standards for people in our community. Things like Fee Free TAFE, or providing the sort of cost of living relief that only Labor Governments can provide, like a tax cut for every Australian taxpayer. Because I've been a part of the Beenleigh community for the last 20 years, I know that it is our people that really need a Labor Government.
PRIME MINSTER: Happy to take questions. Difficult ones, we’ll flick to Senator Murray Watt.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, shipping freight rates are up nearly 300 percent the past year, are you worried that this is driving up inflation?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is a global phenomenon, of course, and I'd say two things about that. One is our priority has been putting that downward pressure on inflation. That's why we've made sure, unlike our predecessors, we're producing budget surpluses. Not one, but two. Back to back surpluses for the first time in 20 years to put that downward pressure on inflation. It's also why we've designed our cost of living relief in ways that reduce costs. When you have Fee Free TAFE, you reduce costs to zero, so therefore you're having downward pressure. When you have cheaper childcare, where childcare costs have gone down by 11 per cent, you put downward pressure on inflation. When you take the cost of people's energy bills rather than deliver them cash payments, what you're doing is putting downward pressure on inflation. And our last energy bill relief, opposed by Peter Dutton and the LNP, reduced inflation by three quarters of a percent. The Reserve Bank Governor has made it clear that our budget surpluses are making a positive difference as well, making sure that fiscal policy, or budget policy, works with the Reserve Bank and its objectives. So, inflation is moderating. We want it to moderate more. But the other thing we're doing, as well as part of a future made in Australia, is to support Australian shipping. Why is it that as an island continent, we don't have the Australian flag on the back of Australian ships carrying Australian goods to the world? The truth is we don't have that because the former Government abandoned Australian shipping and preferred to have these flags of convenience, with all of the risks that that entails to the environment, to national security at times, operating around our coasts. We are having a strategic fleet as part of our policy as well, and that's an important part of building up our national resilience as well.
JOUNALIST: Prime Minister, Young Labor is going to meet with Senator Payman next week, we understand. Is that appropriate given what's happened in recent weeks?
PRIME MINISTER: We're a very broad party and if a couple of people in a couple of places meet, you know, that's really a matter for them. We're just getting on with the job of prioritising what Australians are most concerned about, which is cost of living pressures. Our position on the Middle East is clear. We want to ceasefire, we want a two state solution and we want peace and security in the region.
JOURNALIST: Surely it bothers you though?
PRIME MINISTER: If it worried me that someone met around the country, in our tens of thousands of members, then I wouldn't be able to do the job that I do.
JOURNALIST: What is the delay on finding and announcing the anti-Islamophobia Envoy?
PRIME MINISTER: No delay. What we're doing, we brought forward the announcement on the Envoy on Antisemitism because we wanted the Envoy to attend an international conference, which she is going to in South America next week. So, we'll be announcing the Envoy on Islamophobia very soon.
JOURNALIST: Just on gas, will you ensure that gas is included in the final Sustainable Finance Taxonomy Framework?
PRIME MINSTER: Well, if you've heard of that framework before today, I'd be surprised. What we have is a – I would be surprised, perhaps I'm wrong and you have. What we've announced is a future gas strategy. We think that gas has an important role to play in firming capacity for renewables.
JOURNALIST: Just back on gas, what about the idea of peaker plants would they be included on that transition to renewables?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what will occur with the market is that renewables is where the investment is going. Now, if Peter Dutton has his way, that will all stop. And whilst the 24 coal fired power plants that announced their closure while they were in government and he was a Cabinet Minister, they didn't come up with nuclear power as an alternative or a policy, even though they had 22 different policies announced. He waited until he was in opposition to come up with this plan, even though there is no one saying they would finance it. What we know is that the market is heading towards renewables. But part of that transition to ensure energy security is gas as firming capacity as well as batteries. So, a company like Rio Tinto here in Queensland has announced the biggest deal for renewables that's been announced anywhere in Australia, there in Gladstone. And one of the things that they see is that gas will play a role in firming. They see green hydrogen as playing an important role as well in the future.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned a bunch of measures about cost of living and trying to control inflation. Does it frustrate you that these international elements in the shipping lanes are undermining that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, international elements is where the inflationary pressures began. We know that the Russian invasion of Ukraine had an impact on the Australian economy and Australian inflation, and had an impact all around the world. Inflation peaked higher overseas and earlier. In places like the UK, inflation hit double digits. And in places like Germany and other nations in Europe, the increase in energy prices was much higher than the impact here in Australia. But it's another reason why we need a future made in Australia. We need to be more resilient here because we aren't immune from international impacts. But what we need to do is to make sure that our national security is more than our Australian Defence Force. Our national security is about our economic security, it's about our security on climate change. It's about the range of issues that we need to deal with to secure our future. And that's why we're putting in place a future made in Australia which includes support for critical minerals, the incentives which are there, that the Coalition is saying they will oppose going forward. That's why that future made in Australia has measures which will involve biofuels being produced here and a range of measures that will enable us to be more resilient as an economy. That's the big lesson. And that is why we need to get on with the transition that's occurring. Get on with it in a way that's practical, get on with it in a way that delivers results here and puts that downward pressure on inflation.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on border security, Dan Tehan this morning has said that people smugglers are smelling your weakness in leadership. He is calling for better surveillance. Is Operation Sovereign Borders performing as it should?
PRIME MINISTER: Operation Sovereign Borders has never had more funding than it has today. And the members of the Coalition seem to think that politics is like a UFC fight. It's a contest for how much testosterone and how macho you can be and how aggressive you can be in your language. What I'm about is delivering for the nation, bringing the nation together. One of the things that defines Peter Dutton is that he's divisive as a character and his team seem to reflect that as well. In order to get on, they try to compete for how divisive, how agro, how personal the language can be. And that is why the second in the three Ds that define Peter Dutton's leadership is divided. They're all over the shop. You have the great campaign about nuclear reactors. Peter Dutton is yet to go within 50 kilometres of one of the nuclear reactor sites. And yet he would have you believe that it’s all been thought through. The LNP leader on the weekend, David Crisafulli, could not use the word nuclear in his speech. And so Peter Dutton and David Littleproud are saying they'll override state leaders, whether they be Labor or LNP. You know, they're a shemozzle. And the third D to remember is detail. When you hear any policy from the Coalition, think about whether there's any detail, whether there's any costings. If I had have given three Budget Replies without a single media release having full costings – like we did for childcare, and a range of other policies, including policies that we had in manufacturing here in Queensland, the Rewiring the Nation Program, the range of programs that we rolled out – we would have been pilloried in the media. We would have not been taken seriously. Well, Peter Dutton shouldn't be taken seriously as an alternative Prime Minister till he comes out with some detail.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, NATO has issued a sternly worded rebuke of Beijing following Australia choosing to name China in a cyber-security advisory. Why is it important to call out China? Are they listening?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we do is, we say it as it is. And the Australian Signals Directorate have done substantial work. Cyber security is a major issue, is a part of our national security. We've beefed up funding for the Australian Signals Directorate and we call things out. I've said that we'll cooperate with China where we can, we'll disagree where we must and we'll engage in our national interest. And that's precisely what we're doing.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, are your MPs in Western Sydney worried about the Muslim vote and losing their seats? And what's your view on having political parties based on religion?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, on the former, my MPs, wherever they are, are working hard and working hard to deliver for their constituents. And in Western Sydney and areas like this, areas that have less people who would have benefited from the Liberal’s tax plan and more people who will benefit from Labor's tax cuts, they'll be pointing that out. The tax cuts that came in on July 1 saw a change. It was a change that we made at the beginning of this year, with the support of the neighbouring member here, Jim Chalmers, the outstanding Treasurer who I'm proud to have as a key member of the Government. We made those changes and they were pilloried. First the Liberal Party said they'd oppose it before they'd seen it. Then they said they'd reverse it. Then they said we should have an election on it. Well, we did it. They ended up voting for it. And what that means is that people who are earning under $45,000 a year – now, some of the students who I met doing nursing here, I met one woman with three kids – they might go back to work part time. They are likely, if that's the case, to be earning $45,000 or under. They would have not got a dollar under Peter Dutton's plan. Average workers are getting double what they would have got. And those are the differences. Fee free TAFE is making a difference in Western Sydney, all of the measures that we put in place. The Urgent Care Clinics we’re opening so that people can get access to healthcare when their kids or themselves has an accident. They don't have to clog up emergency departments. The work that we're doing across the board in international relations to bring respect back to Australia's position, these are all measures that people care about in Western Sydney and in areas like this as well. With regard to faith based parties, we have a secular democracy here in Australia. My Government's very proud that we're made up of people who are ministers who are Catholics, Uniting Church. We have two Muslim ministers of Muslim faith. We have Jewish ministers. We have people of no faith. That is that Australia, that reflects our multicultural community and our diversity. I think that's important as well. I don't think that it's in the interests of groups to isolate themselves through just that issue. I think it's important that local members represent the entire community. And certainly in my local electorate, I represent people of different faiths, different gender, different sexuality. We're a diverse community. I look around this group here and I see that. And that's a good thing and that's Australia's strength, and it's important we don't take it for granted.
JOURNALIST: Tensions are boiling over in Darwin yet again. What would your message be to the young people who have started brawling in the street? There's talk of another curfew being extended. What's the issue there will you return?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I spoke with the Chief Minister this morning, Eva Lawler. She indicated that the unrest was related to a specific vehicle incident of some months ago and tension within the community there. When I visited Alice Springs recently, what they indicated was that the curfew that had been imposed had worked, had been successful. And the current curfew, of course, which has been imposed, has made a difference as well. This incident was during the day. It wasn't alcohol related. It was related to something that occurred some months ago. One of the things that the NT Government, working with indigenous communities, including Tangentyere, including the Central Land Council and other bodies are working from today to make sure that many of the people who have gone to Alice, because it's been school holidays, NAIDOC Week, the Alice Springs fair or festival was held as well, had drawn a whole bunch of people into town. What they want to make sure is that people go back to their communities in time for the next term of school that begins next week. And that's what they'll be working between the Government, the police, indigenous organisations, to ensure over the next few days.
JOURNALIST: Have you instructed your MPs to avoid delving into the nuclear debate and stop posting memes over concern it is backfiring?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, my MPs are all adults and they can post issues that they're concerned about. What I know very clearly is that the nuclear debate simply doesn't stack up economically. That's the prime reason why nuclear reactors aren't appropriate for Australia. We're not ideological about this. We don't say that France should shut down its nuclear reactors. That's a matter for them. But the International Energy Agency that's involved, of course, in nuclear energy has made it very clear that given Australia's comparative advantages in renewables, the idea that we stop the rollout of renewables does not make sense for Australia. And so we'll continue to put the case of why it doesn't stack up and we'll continue to wait for any semblance of detail. I know Peter Dutton is overseas at the moment, but one would have thought, he said months ago now that he would release the full detail within weeks of his nuclear reactor plant. Why hasn't he? Because it doesn't stack up. It is the most expensive form of new energy. It means uncertainty for the investors who want to roll out the practical plan that they have. Peter Dutton's against every energy company, against the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Industry Group, the Clean Energy Council, all of the energy operators, the CSIRO, the Australian Energy Market Operator. He thinks all of them are wrong, but Ted O'Brien is right. This is farcical. It was first raised in the 1950s by the Liberal Government in South Australia. It then actually put a platform down in the electorate, or near the electorate of Gilmore, down in Jervis Bay, for a nuclear power plant that was going to be built in the sixties. John Howard came in. He had a review with Ziggy Switkowski. The Switkowski review found that it wasn't viable without a price on carbon and without various other measures. So, they abandoned that. Then they were in government for nine years and didn't do it. Why? Because it doesn't stack up.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible) do you think your visit to Queensland will bring a bit of magic to the Bunnies playing in Redcliffe tonight?
PRIME MINISTER: One more and I'll finish on that one.
JOURNALIST: The inflated trade bond story with ANZ. How concerned is the Government about taxpayers wearing higher borrowing costs so ANZ traders can make a bigger profit?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ll refer that to the Treasurer up the road.
JOURNALIST: People all over the world are weighing in on Joe Biden's political future, even George Clooney has come out today. Do you think he has what it takes to lead the Democratic Party and the country?
PRIME MINSTER: Yeah. Look, it's a matter for the people of the United States and it's important that there not be interference from outside in those processes. Can I say this, that my interaction with Joe Biden has been extremely productive. I have a great deal of respect for the President and for his achievements, frankly, in navigating what is a very difficult economic time. And the work that we've done together on AUKUS and on cooperation on international issues through the Quad and others has been extremely productive. But with regard to election speculation, just like in the UK, I will leave that, as I did in the UK. On your previous question. I think that there is a great prospect tonight, but who knows? Souths had a shocking beginning with one win out of 10 and now we've won five in a row. So, it just goes to show. It just goes to show. But there's a great deal of confidence from someone who's having an 80th birthday today. So, I hope for your sake that the Bunnies have a win tonight. I'll see you tomorrow. I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks.