ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It is wonderful to be here to celebrate the election of Louise Miller-Frost as the first Labor member for Boothby, we've been trying for 70 years to win this seat. And it was an extraordinary outcome and one of the seats that helped put us across the line and give us 77 seats in the House of Representatives and a majority Labor Government. I have been travelling today. This is my third capital city, from here I go to Perth. So I wanted to come here to say thank you to the people of Boothby and of Adelaide for electing Louise as a local member. And I wanted to also catch up with my friend, the Premier of South Australia, Peter Malinauskas, to continue the work that we will do together. After this I will travel to Perth to meet with Mark McGowan. And tomorrow we'll be having an event there for the newly elected members from Western Australia who have joined our Caucus in the seats of Swan, Pearce, Hasluck and Tangney. An outstanding result. As well, in addition to that, tomorrow afternoon, I'll travel with Penny Wong, with Ed Husic, and with other officials up to Indonesia to meet with President Widodo tomorrow. Indonesia is an important partner for Australia. They will grow to be the fourth largest economy in the world in growing decades. It's an important economic relationship. But it's also an important people to people relationship. And I look forward to renewing my friendship with President Widodo. We spoke yesterday on the phone about the importance of building on the economic and social relationship between Australia and Indonesia. And I look forward to a successful meeting there tomorrow. We will then travel to Makassar on Tuesday. And then Tuesday night we travel to Darwin, we’ll meet the new Chief Minister. And Natasha has hit the ground running as well there in the Northern Territory. I want to govern for the whole of Australia. That's why I'm here in South Australia, that's why I'll be in Western Australia and that's why I'll be in the Northern Territory in a few days’ time. I want to make sure that every Australian feels like they can be represented.
Australians have conflict fatigue. The former government was always looking for division, always looking for an argument. I want to look for solutions and outcomes and make a real difference each and every day that the Government that I lead is in office. And that's why yesterday I wrote to the Fair Work Commission putting in a submission saying that people who are on the minimum wage of just $20.33 an hour could not afford to go backwards. If it keeps up with inflation, that equals just $1 an hour more. And I hope that the Fair Work Commission gives due consideration to the Government's submission when they hand down their decision in a short period of time. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, members of the Government are already calling the current cost of living situation a crisis and interest rates are going to go up next week. (Inaudible)?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, of course, what we know is that there were some measures previously that Labor backed to provide cash payments. But we know, as well, is that what there wasn't is a structural change to make a difference for cost of living. That's why Labor targeted, during the election campaign in our commitments, measures and reforms that will make a difference to people's lives. Cheaper childcare will make a difference to people's lives, cheaper electricity bills will make a difference to people's lives, increasing people's wages will make a difference to people's lives. They're the sort of measures that you need to put in place. The former government has left us, of course, with a trillion dollars of debt and not much to show for it at all. A lot of waste and rorts in their Budget. We'll be going through it line by line and seeing what we can do to make a difference, to create the space so that we can do additional measures.
JOURNALIST: Regarding the wages, how can you be sure that increasing wages by that amount won’t add to inflation?
PRIME MINISTER: Because what we know is that inflationary pressure will occur if there's not an increase in productivity. If you increase wages above productivity plus inflation. The Reserve Bank and economists have said time and time again that that is the formula which is in place. So the question here is, can you afford to actually have a real wage cut for the heroes of the pandemic that have seen us through the pandemic, earning just $20.33 an hour. The costs that they've had to endure are real, there are real pressures on these vulnerable people, and they deserve, in my view, not to have a real wage cut but to help their wages keep up with the inflation rate. And that's why the Government has put in the submission which we did.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, China has signed a series of agreements with East Timor following a visit from China's Foreign Minister. How concerning is this to have Beijing spreading its influence right at Australia’s doorstop?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the former government said that they were going to have a ‘step up’ in the Pacific, what they had was a stuff up in our region. The former government cut foreign aid, cut engagement with our region, and we're seeing some of the consequences of that play out. My Government has reengaged with the region with Penny Wong's visit to the Pacific, my visit to Indonesia tomorrow. We’ll continue to engage in the region. We have a plan for increased aid in Southeast Asia as well as the Pacific. We have plans of treating our neighbours, which are sovereign nations, with respect, and engaging with them, building those people to people relations that had broken down under the form of government. It will take time to rebuild relations. But what we know is that there is strategic competition in the region. And that requires Australia to step up. The Government that I lead is already doing so. Two weeks ago, people were still voting at this time. My government has hit the ground running. We understand that our international relations are so important. I have a good relationship with the new incoming Prime Minister, in terms of José Ramos-Horta, as one of the leaders of Timor-Leste. They're going through, of course, like PNG, some electoral processes at the moment for other positions. But we will engage with Timor-Leste and we’ll engage with all the countries in our region.
JOURNALIST: Are there any plans to help the cost of petrol (inaudible)?
PRIME MINISTER: Well the cut that was put in place is in place for a limited period of time. That was a decision that the former government made. We have no plans to change that decision. I will say, when it comes to issues like fuel reserves, the former government was completely neglectful of that. And indeed, on its watch, in terms of fuel refineries, two out of our four fuel refineries closed on the former government's watch during the last term in office. We’ll engage and we are engaged with the sector about the rising costs which are there. My Resources Minister Madeleine King and Energy Minister Chris Bowen have reached out. We'll continue to look at what we can do. But we have a trillion dollars of debt that we've inherited from the former government. And we do need to make sure that we address those issues as well whilst addressing cost of living pressures.
JOURNALIST: Just how important was Boothby and Louise in your election campaign?
PRIME MINISTER: Boothby was critical. This is a seat that we’ve campaigned in and been saying we’re close to for a long period of time. Having the right candidate makes a big difference. And in Louise we just had an outstanding candidate. Someone who'd been an advocate through her work with St Vincent de Paul, someone who is deeply embedded in this community, someone who is compassionate, smart, articulate and will make an outstanding representative and I'm sure will consolidate the seat at the next election, which is what we need to do. I want to see a long-term Labor Government that implements the policies and commitments that we made at the last election and builds on them. Wins the support or retains the support of everyone who voted for us hearing Boothby and in other seats at the next election, but built on that, builds on that, to get even more support. And to reach out and to say, as I've said on election night, I want to govern for all Australians, regardless of who they voted for on May 21. I hope to receive the support of everyone who voted for us on that day. But I hope also to receive additional support at the next election. And with fantastic new local members like Louise, I'm confident we can do that. Thanks very much.