ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It's fantastic to be back in Rocky again today, this time to announce our candidate for the electorate of Capricornia. And I'm very proud that Emily Mawson will be Labor's candidate for the electorate of Capricornia. Emily is someone who grew up in the coalfields near here, finished high school at Moranbah, now lives at Yeppoon. She's someone who knows all parts of this electorate of Capricornia. She now works as a lawyer on issues including asbestos and dust diseases, the impact that it has on working people. Emily's someone who's devoted her life to making a difference, and being a Federal Member of Parliament for Capricornia will do that as well, will make a difference. And it is a seat where we halved the margin last time around. If we get that swing again, then Emily Mawson will find herself on the way to Canberra. And I think Emily would be such a strong advocate for this local community here in Central Queensland. Queensland is a great state, it is a powerhouse of our national economy. And here, as well, Queensland and Central Queensland in particular, will be great beneficiaries of our Future Made in Australia plan. Our plan for Solar Sunshot, that we're now, as of today, it's open for business. This is a billion dollar program making sure that we can make more things here. I want to see an Australia where we do manufacture things, where our economy is more resilient, where we create good well paying jobs. And what we've seen is with our Future Made in Australia plan, Queensland particularly benefit because it is the most regional of states, and regional manufacturing is the key to the growth going forward. I want to see clean cheap energy powering advanced manufacturing, and that is what our Future Made in Australia plan is all about. In addition to that, in the last week of parliament, we passed the Net Zero Economy Authority that will make a big difference here in Central Queensland to make sure that we get that planning right, to make sure that workers and communities are looked after as the economy changes in this region. But in Emily, we have a really strong powerful advocate, someone who will make a big difference if she's elected as the member for Capricornia. And we will be up here campaigning from now until when the election's held, which will be in May or beforehand, sometime when we decide to go forward. So I'd like to introduce you to Emily Mawson.
EMILY MAWSON, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR CAPRICORNIA: Thank you Prime Minister for those really kind words and good morning everyone. It's a pleasure to be here to be announced as the candidate for Capricornia. I'm really excited to get to work. I've already been out speaking to some of the locals here in Capricornia about the issues that are most concerning to them, and I've had some really great conversations in that regard. And what I'm hearing is that Capricornians are really concerned about the cost of living, and they're doing it tough, but I know that the Albanese Government has made a lot of strides to try and make things more helpful for people up here. The Albanese Government has done a lot to take that toll off people here in Capricornia. And I'm really excited to be a part of a government that is focused on the cost of living relief. I know that people in Capricornia are also really concerned right now about what the future looks like for them. And as the Prime Minister touched on, the Future Made in Australia initiative means, you know, long sustainable jobs right here in Capricornia, and I'm really excited to get to work and engage with residents and community groups and make sure that they're getting the right representation at the highest levels of government.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much. We're happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Do you want to jump straight into news of the day?
PRIME MINISTER: Whatever you would like. If there's some local questions first to Emily or to myself.
JOURNALIST: Just on the accident at Bororen. Funding for roads used to be 80-20 per cent and has since dropped to 50-50. With the latest incident on the Bruce Highway, would your Government consider changing it back?
PRIME MINISTER: What we're doing is investing record amounts in the Bruce Highway, $10 billion in the Bruce Highway as part of our more than $20 billion contribution to infrastructure here in Queensland. We are investing record amounts, and just today, I spoke with Steven Miles about priorities for Queensland, and we're working together to make a difference. Catherine King has written to her counterpart, the Roads Minister here, about infrastructure investment here in Queensland, including of course, on the Bruce Highway. Can I say this, that this is a tragic accident, and every death on our roads is one too many. The site of this explosion is, of course, quite extraordinary. I'm very familiar with Bororen I've had a couple of meals at the pub there in Bororen, when I have driven the length of the Bruce Highway, seeing first hand what needs to be done. And that's why we're delivering record funding, including of course right here, the Rocky Ring Road project, which is under construction. Now, I did the planning for the Rocky Ring Road when I was the Minister, but nothing happened. They didn't dig a hole over the almost 10 years, when the National Party was a part of the Government in Canberra, the LNP. We now have construction underway. We do have some funds available, and we've written to the Queensland Government asking them if there are any proposals that can be brought forward to accelerate particular spots on the highway. In addition to that, we have record funding for the Black Spots program as well as $200 million for the Safer Roads program as well. We want to identify priorities from the Queensland Government and work with them to make a difference.
JOURNALIST: The latest government data shows that emissions rose in the March quarter. Does it undermine Labor's promise to cut emissions by 43 per cent this decade?
PRIME MINISTER: No, because emissions fell on an annual basis. And what we're doing is rolling out the changes that are required. You're seeing record investment in new renewable projects, including of course, here in Central Queensland. The investment that we've seen from Rio Tinto in renewables that will have firming capacity there from gas, will make an enormous difference here. So we are turning around 10 years of denial and neglect when it comes to climate action. We're making sure that those investments are occurring, and we're working with the private sector, as well as with state and territory governments to deliver the change that is required.
JOURNALIST: Just on a different topic, is the Government concerned or doing anything about First Nations identity fraud?
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry?
JOURNALIST: First Nations identity fraud, so a large percentage of Indigenous self identifying without verifying their ancestry. Are you concerned that people who really need funding aren't getting it?
PRIME MINISTER: We need to make sure that, like with any program, that there's proper scrutiny and proper verification.
JOURNALIST: From Canberra about the Census, they wonder what has changed between last Sunday when your Government announced it would not be proceeding with questions on gender identity and sexuality in the Census, and your declaration yesterday morning that the ABS would still be testing a question with a view to include in the Census?
PRIME MINISTER: Nothing has changed. We are consistent about having a common sense approach to these issues. We want to make sure that everyone is valued, regardless of their gender, their race, their faith, their sexual orientation. We value every Australian, and we'll work with the ABS. This is a census in 2026, it is two years away, and we'll work with the ABS. But I think that common sense would see that asking about sexual orientation is a common sense thing to do.
JOURNALIST: Just for clarity, you said yesterday morning, there would be one question in this space. Are you limiting the scope of data collection by just having that one question?
PRIME MINISTER: No, there's a range of other questions, including there's already an identity question in the Census. The ABS will work these things through. You're talking about 2026 and it's 2024. My Government's priority has been working through cost of living measures, that's been our focus. And we'll work with the ABS on those issues. But our priority is cost of living, a Future Made in Australia, the economic pressure, as Emily said, that many Australians are feeling at the moment. So our priority has been tax cuts for every taxpayer here in Capricornia, energy bill relief, $1,300 combined us and the Miles Government here in Queensland, cheaper child care, Fee Free TAFE. These are the things that my Government has been concentrating on immediately. The Census will be in 2026.
JOURNALIST: This is from WA. Is your Government concerned, if you're aware, of the recent death in custody? And are you supporting the WA Government in an inquiry into the death?
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, I'm not conscious of every state issue. I'll be in Western Australia tomorrow, and I look forward to the visit to Western Australia. It will be the fourth time that my Cabinet has visited Western Australia, not just meeting in Perth, but meeting in Port Hedland as well. WA has such a critical role to play, and the concern that I have in WA is that Peter Dutton, according to Julie Bishop, has been very sceptical about WA getting its fair share in the GST. In addition to that, we know from this week that Angus Taylor let the cat out of the bag about the $100 billion of cuts they have planned. I want to know what those cuts are. In addition to that, we know that production tax credits, that are so important, particularly for Western Australia and for Queensland when it comes to critical minerals, this puts at risk massive investment of billions of dollars there in WA. And I don't understand why, given that production tax credits only get paid upon success. This is an incentive program for jobs and for economic activity in Western Australia, as well as here in Queensland.
JOURNALIST: I am sorry if I am a bit repetitive. An election is around the corner. Can you give Queensland a firm deadline on when the Bruce Highway will be fixed, all upgrades finished, and it will be safe to drive on?
PRIME MINISTER: Why don't you give me all of them, all the questions?
JOURNALIST: All the questions at once. Ok, how many people need to die before the Government commits to fixing the entire highway? Queenslanders are tired over the lack of action on this highway. The Federal Government needs to commit to finally finishing it. As a self-proclaimed infrastructure buff, when do you expect the road to be finished? And how much will it cost to finish? And have you discussed with any of your advisors, Ministers and departments, about what the Federal Government can do right now to help the people in Miriam Vale and Bororen, given that there is now a crater in the highway, stopping them from being able to get to work and school in a reasonable time?
PRIME MINISTER: Okay, thank you very much. I had a discussion this morning with Steven Miles, the Premier of Queensland, because State Government have public works, rather than the Federal Government, to fix the immediate issues. But I am very familiar with Bororen, having stopped there on a couple of occasions. It's a lovely small village which is there, and the tragedy that we saw is heartbreaking and impacting such a small community. So we will though, work on the Bruce Highway. We have $10 billion already allocated for the Bruce Highway. We want to get as much done as quickly as possible. That quite clearly is the case. We need to make sure that labour is available and that materials are available as well. We have projects right up and down the highway, including right here in Rocky with the Rocky Ring Road, which is one of the major projects worth in excess of $1 billion just this project alone. So we want to work on this issue. The Howard Government allocated $1.3 billion over the entire 12 years they were in office. Myself as Infrastructure Minister, lifted that up to $7.6 billion in half the time. Since we've come to office as well, we've turned the Rocky Ring Road from something that wasn't properly funded and wasn't under construction into now being fully funded and under construction. We're doing that with a range of other projects right up and down the coast. Just recently, we finished the Cooroy to Curra project. That was something that was started, the first work on that occurred under the Rudd Government. It was left to languish for a long period of time under the Coalition. And finally, that work was opened very recently by Senator Chisholm, after considerable investment in the different stages as well. As something that, shout out to Wayne Sachs, who was an ambo who came to see me when I was the Infrastructure and Transport Minister to speak about the human impact of road accidents on the Bruce. I'm very conscious of the need to do more, I want to work with the Queensland Government to make sure that we do more and we'll continue to have more to say, including the asking of projects being brought forward to be accelerated in some of the priority projects. The Queensland Government is, of course, in the best position to identify those priority projects, as well as to work with local government as well. Because in addition to that, we have doubled Roads to Recovery funding, we've increased black spots funding, we've increased the $200 million Safer Roads program as well, on top of the bilateral funding that we are delivering. Thanks very much.