CASSANDRA FERNANDO, MEMBER FOR HOLT: Good morning everyone. And welcome to JD Propagation in the electorate of Holt. And it's great to see our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, right here in the electorate of Holt and in the southeast suburbs. I have lived in the southeast suburbs for over 25 years since I moved to Australia. And I would like to thank Jen and Dan for hosting us here today and showing us around. JD Propagation is located right here in the electorate of Holt. And they employ over 55 people and most of them are local. So, thank you so much for showing us around. I know in my community, one of the biggest issues is the cost of living. And it will be my greatest honour to introduce the Prime Minister of this country to tell us a little bit more about what's happening in two days' time to help us with the ease of cost of living.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much. Well, thanks so much, Cassandra, and thanks very much as well to JD Propagation for having us here at this amazing facility. A small business that is increasingly becoming a larger business, growing. 55 permanent employees. It grows up to 80 at peak times. And it's a business that's employing local people, assisting the economy here in the southeastern suburbs of Melbourne. It's interesting that this small business, too, happens to produce around 14 million plants a year. And that's about the same number as the Australians who will get a tax cut on Monday. All 13.6 million taxpayers, not just some. In addition to that, award wages will increase on Monday, the third consecutive increase in the minimum wage. Making sure that low and middle income earners are looked after. The tax changes that we have made to take money off the top and to give it to middle Australia will make a difference. We want Australians to earn more and to keep more of what they earn. In addition to that, we're freezing the costs of medicines on an ongoing basis from Monday. There's two weeks additional paid parental leave as well as $300 of energy price relief for every single household. These practical measures are making a difference to cost of living pressures, whilst continuing to put that downward pressure on inflation that we need to act on. And the other measure that's making a difference on that, of course, is two consecutive budget surpluses. We turned a $78 billion Liberal deficit into a $22 billion Labor surplus. And we have turned consecutive Liberal deficits that were there in the Budget that we inherited into two Labor surpluses in a row, making a difference in putting that downward pressure on inflation. Happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: Yesterday, the social media inquiry heard from parents who've lost their kids to suicide from social media, but Meta claims that social media does no harm to kids. Are they gaslighting these parents? Is this not on?
PRIME MINISTER: Meta are showing how out of touch they are and how arrogant they are. Every parent knows that social media can have a damaging impact on the mental health of young people, on social exclusion, on the bullying that can occur online, on grooming that can occur in a dangerous way online as well. What we need is for social media to acknowledge that it has a social responsibility to look after the people who are, after all, its customers. If you don't acknowledge that there's a problem, you have no chance of finding a solution. My Government is undertaking a study, a trial, to make sure that we put in protections, but we make sure that we get it right as well. We don't want to close off one avenue only to open up another dangerous road. So, these are important issues. And quite frankly, parents will be alarmed at the arrogance that Meta showed in their submission to this inquiry, for refusing not only to accept any responsibility that they have, but refusing to acknowledge that there's even a problem.
JOURNALIST: Is it a good idea to be injecting billions into the economy come Monday, considering a rate hike could be on the cards in August?
PRIME MINISTER: What we've done is make sure that we've calibrated our cost of living relief in a way that puts downward pressure on inflation. And that's why we're actually providing the same amount of tax cuts in dollar terms, $107 billion from that which was budgeted for a long period of time. That's why the Reserve Bank and the Treasury said that it would not put further pressure on inflation to change the tax cuts in the way that we've done, which will also increase workforce participation. And that will have a positive impact on the economy. But we couldn't stand idle whilst low income earners were missing out completely and middle income earners were not getting the support that they need. And that's why we took money off what was going to be delivered to the top end and redistributed that to low and middle income Australia. Because that is the change that we needed. In addition to that, the other measures about putting that downward pressure on inflation. So, the energy price relief plan of last year made a difference of cutting inflation by three quarters of a per cent. These measures of $300 off household bills, cheaper medicines, fee-free TAFE, cheaper child care will all assist in putting that downward pressure on inflation.
JOURNALIST: No doubt you would have seen some of the US Presidential debate yesterday. It seems like millions of people around the world were watching. Should Australians be concerned about Joe Biden's performance there? Is there a risk that his, what seemed to be a pretty poor showing from the President, means that our strongest ally is being led by someone who's not up to the job?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'll leave the commentating to the commentators. But Australia's relationship with the United States is very strong. And the relationship between the Biden Administration and my Government is very strong. The American elections are a matter for the American people. And just as the people of the United Kingdom will go to the polls this coming Thursday to elect either Rishi Sunak or Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister of Britain, we will work with whoever is elected in these democratic processes that are occurring around the world in bigger and bigger numbers. This year, a fun fact is that this year, more people will vote in democratic elections than at any time in human history. And that's a good thing
JOURNALIST: Are you considering using the laws at your disposal to get Meta to pay news companies and to ensure that they keep news on their platforms?
PRIME MINISTER: We think that they have a responsibility to keep news on their platforms. We think that the arrogance that's been shown by these international social media companies is not aligned with the social responsibility that they have. For many Australians, they get their news from these social media organisations. And they should have a responsibility to pay for that news, to pay for that journalism that's so important. They have a social responsibility in social media. They should recognise that. And they should fulfil the commitments that they had previously given.
JOURNALIST: Just one more on Monday's energy rebate. I mean, given the fact that you're having to hand out $300 to everyone to bring down power bills, does that show that your renewable plan isn't working to bring down costs?
PRIME MINISTER: No, it shows that we had a 50-year global energy spike globally that had an impact. The biggest impact since the OPEC oil crisis of the 1970s. That is something that the whole world had to deal with. We are dealing with it. And we're providing that support. What we know is that the lowest cost form of new energy is renewables. And that's why we're providing a pathway to net zero by 2050 that includes the lowest cost. Mr Dutton has a plan to stop that and have nothing happen while coal-fired power closes. 24 coal-fired power stations announced their closure whilst they were in office over the previous decade. They announced 22 energy policies. Didn't land any of them. And what that's led to is pressure in the energy market. But the Australian Energy Market Operator, just this week, confirmed in their latest Integrated Systems Plan that renewables are the cheapest form of new energy and that going down the nuclear road sometime in the 2040s will do absolutely nothing except drive up power prices because it's the most expensive form of new energy, and It will simply take too long to get into the system while existing coal-fired power stations are scheduled to close over the coming decade. Thank you.