LOUISE MILLER-FROST, MEMBER FOR BOOTHBY: Welcome, everybody. I'm Louise Miller-Frost, I'm the member for Boothby and it is my absolute honour to welcome all of you here, but particularly to welcome the Prime Minister here to the Tonsley Innovation Centre and particularly to TAFE SA at Tonsley. We also have the Minister for Education, Blair Boyer, and my dear friend Nadia Clancy, the member for Elder. This is a really fantastic day. TAFE has been absolutely going great guns. Fee free TAFE has been taken up so much in the local area. What I hear from David Coltman, who is here, the CE of TAFE SA, is that this has been an enormous success. We have people coming across from all sorts of areas, people who want to re-skill, people who want to upskill, and just taking away that small financial barrier has made the difference. We've had a little tour here today. We visited the electronics section, we visited the carpentry section and we met with some of the students and some of the lecturers and heard about those people who come through and already have jobs or have managed to land an apprenticeship on the basis of having done their Cert Two through fee free TAFE. So, this is an enormous success story. We've also popped to Flinders University. We've had the first round of nuclear engineering students coming through, they've just finished their first subject today, with Rhode Island academics over here assisting as well. So, another great success story for South Australia. I'll now hand over to the Prime Minister. Welcome, Prime Minister.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Louise. And it's fantastic to be back in South Australia, my first visit for 2024. Later today, I'll be on my first visit to Tasmania for 2024 as well. And we've said that our priority is cost of living, putting that downward pressure on inflation whilst making sure that we provide support for families and for people with cost of living pressures. And the example of fee free TAFE is a great success story. We committed to 180,000 fee free TAFE places to commence last year. We exceeded that by a long way. Three hundred thousand Australians got their start through fee free TAFE around the country last year. In South Australia alone, that saved $35 million. Money kept in people's pockets while they were encouraged to get the skills that they need to get a well-paid, secure job, whilst the Australian economy gets the skilled workers that they need. And today here at the TAFE at Tonsley we have met some of these workers who benefited from fee free TAFE. We met Pauline and Chi, who have done courses and in one case completed, another beginning here in construction, making an enormous difference as well. Pauline's already going on to, she's on site helping to build a refurbishment of a home here in the suburbs of Adelaide. In Daniel and James, we met people doing electrical engineering, making a difference as well. People who'd done their Cert Two last year and have now gone on to get apprenticeships with Sage, a local company. They're already in work, already getting that income as a result of getting their start through fee free TAFE. This makes an enormous difference for our economy and it's something that we are very, very proud of. This offers cost of living relief for students. It provides a future workforce with the skills that companies need, whilst addressing supply chain issues as one of the ways that we need to reduce that inflationary pressure in our economy. So, this is a win for those students, it's a win for the companies where they'll work in the future and it's a win for our national economy. I want to thank the South Australian government and Blair, who's with us today, along with Nadia, for the cooperation that we're having. This is being rolled out across the country and one of the reasons why it exceeded the numbers that were anticipated is because state governments have put in extra resources as well into TAFE. And I do want to acknowledge as well, the workers here who are imparting their skills. One of the things that really lifts me up, whenever I go into a TAFE anywhere in the country is that you find people who've been working in industries, as electricians, in construction, in nursing, in various forms of industry, who choose to go back and impart their skills to the next generation of younger people, but also to people retraining as well. I think that people who work in TAFE are some of our best Australians in terms of making a contribution. I do want to give them a shout out today. In addition to that, I want to make the point that last year we delivered our landmark National Skills Agreement. It's the first skills agreement in a decade. I wonder what happened in the decade in between. But there wasn't one. It took a federal Labor government, working with state and territory governments, to deliver a national landmark Skills Agreement, delivering some $12.6 billion in Commonwealth funding going forward with a plan, together with working with Jobs and Skills Australia, to identify what are the skills that we will need in the future. And there's nowhere that's more evident as well in the other group of students who we've met today who are doing nuclear engineering at Flinders University in conjunction with Rhode Island and in conjunction with Manchester. The three AUKUS partners training Australians in order to work in the submarine industry right here in Adelaide. This will be thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs if you look at the multiplier impact that will be created here in South Australia. Something that is supported so strongly by the Malinauskas government. And these students are picking up skills that will put them into a very strong economic position for the rest of their lives, whilst making a difference for Australia's national security as well as boosting our economy. So, it's been a great pleasure to be here today and I'll hand over to the South Australian Minister Blair now to make some comments.
BLAIR BOYER, SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MINISTER FOR EDUCATION, TRAINING AND SKILLS: Well thank you, Prime Minister. And it is a great day to have the Prime Minister here at Tonsley TAFE, where we can unashamedly show off what we are doing here in South Australia. In fact about 14 months ago, it was almost exactly where we are standing now that we signed the first Fee Free TAFE agreement with the Federal Minister, Brendan O'Connor. All those places that were signed up for then by South Australia, between the Albanese and Malinauskas governments, have now been used. They are gone. And one of the things that I think is most affirming about us being here today and having the Prime Minister and Nadia and Louise meet some of those TAFE students, is to see how many have now actually gone through and graduated through a fee free TAFE course and are now actually out taking some of those fantastic job opportunities that are present in the South Australian economy. And there are lots of great opportunities in South Australia at the moment. We know with things like AUKUS and hydrogen, the delivery of three year old Preschool here in South Australia, that TAFE, our public training provider, has to provide a really important role, has to play a really important role in delivering the workforce we need to deliver on things like AUKUS, like hydrogen and three year old preschool. And we know at a time when cost of living is a concern for household budgets right around South Australia, that that cost saving that the Prime Minister spoke about, more than $35 million already saved by students who have accessed fee free TAFE places has not just removed a barrier for people who might be looking at entering the workforce for the first time, retraining, maybe a mature age worker looking at doing something different. But it actually enables them to do all those things without it affecting the household budget in a way which is too difficult for them to manage. So, I'm really proud of the uptake we have had of fee free TAFE here. We have 15,000 more fee free TAFE places in South Australia that are now available over the next three years. And importantly, we are seeing them accessed in areas that are of really high priority to the national economy, but particularly to those key South Australian state projects, like AUKUS, like hydrogen and like three year old preschool. I'll hand over now to David Coltman, the Chief Executive of TAFE SA, who will add a few more words around the success of fee free TAFE here in South Australia.
DAVID COLTMAN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF TAFE SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Thank you, Minister. The impact of fee free TAFE on TAFE SA and our ability to meet the workforce requirements of the state cannot be underestimated. Last year we saw for the first time enrolments at TAFE SA increased significantly as soon as the fee free TAFE program was announced. Those enrolment increases were across all program areas, not just those programs where fee free TAFE places existed. Having now a five year funding agreement means that we can plan, work with industry and ensure that we take advantage of all of the opportunities that exist in South Australia - Hydrogen AUKUS, early childhood education. The numbers and the opportunities are significant and TAFE SA at the centre of the VET sector can deliver for our state going forward. So, we're thrilled and honoured to have the Prime Minister here. The support of vocational education and training is something I have not seen in over fifteen years. The significant uplift in funding and commitment to ensuring that we have a skilled workforce that is aligned to the future employment opportunities going forward. And it's wonderful to have you all here, too.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much. Happy take questions.
JOURNALIST: Do you have any data to suggest on how it's going in terms of getting to that threshold that you need for three year old Preschool and the enormous workforce you need?
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MINISTER BOYER: Off top of my head, Ollie, no. But we are watching that very closely and I can tell you that the uptake of the courses that were provided through fee free TAFE, which is the Early Childhood Education and Care Certificate Three course, the uptake has been extremely high. Some of you here might remember that one of the first, in fact, the first press conference I did upon becoming Minister with the Premier, Peter Malinauskas was at the TAFE campus in the CBD where we announced that we were restoring early childhood education and care, individual support ageing and individual support disability, which had been cut by the previous Liberal government. They did not allow TAFE in metro campuses to offer those courses. We restored it. The uptake of those courses has been extraordinarily high and including using fee free TAFE to access it as well. We know with the technical colleges, and we've got the first to open very soon, one of the three streams that will be provided at Findon Technical College is early childhood education and care as well, where we have a partnership with Good Start Early Learning there so that graduates can walk straight into a job in that area. So, I'm confident we'll get there. It's a big ask. 880 early childhood workers, 660 early childhood teachers and 120 directors are what's needed to start delivering three year old Preschool from 2026. But we are doing everything in our power, including with fantastic support from the Albanese government, to give people those opportunities and to waive the cost of the fee to do it.
JOURNALIST: Is Findon Technical College full for 2024?
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MINISTER BOYER: We're getting there. I haven't got a figure as of today, but interest has been really good and those enrolments have been steadily building and I still anticipate we will get there. And of course, we've got four others that are going to come online before the 2026 election as well, in Mount Gambier, Modbury Heights, here at Tonsley, and forgetting one, Port Augusta as well. So, two regional ones. So there'll be five online by the 2026 state election.
JOURNALIST: Surely the government would have expected the start of 2024 to be full?
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MINISTER BOYER: We would hope, but we have to remember this is essentially the first brand new technical college of this nature that has been built in the public education system in South Australia for decades, probably. And it is around enrolling at Findon High School to be a part of that. So, enrolments have been strong. I'm still confident it will be full. And that given this is the first of the five that are opening as we see people go through, graduate and walk into those jobs that are there by virtue of the partnerships that we have struck with Good Start with BAE, of course, who are here today and with some other important providers as well in areas of looking after vulnerable people in aged care. I think as those stories spread about the job opportunities that can come by virtue of being at the tech college, I think enrolments will continue to grow. Here at Tonsley, we haven't even started the enrolment application process for the technical college here. as of the end of last year, we already had 36 expressions of interest from people who were simply calling up to ask when they could get a spot. So, I still think these technical colleges are desperately needed if we are to meet the workforce demands that we have across all those industries that we've been speaking about this morning. And I'm very excited to be joining the Premier to open that one at Findon soon for the start of the 2024 school year.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, we've seen a case with Australian supermarket offering a discount, but when you lift up the specials tag, it's clear that discount isn't what it seems. Do you think it's fair that Australians who are trying to save at the shops are being duped?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, our priority as a government is to make sure that consumers are looked after and that's why the ACCC are examining these issues. That's why Dr Craig Emerson has been appointed as well, and why there's a Senate inquiry. We want to make sure that consumers benefit from cheaper prices which are being paid. Our priority very clearly is on cost of living and this is one of the measures. We do have a market concentration of power when it comes to our supermarket sector and people know therefore that with that comes a responsibility to ensure that consumers are looked after. Our priority is making sure that shoppers can get goods at the checkout at the cheapest possible price.
JOURNALIST: The Queensland Premier is meeting supermarket bosses tomorrow. What would be your question to them if you were in the room?
PRIME MINISTER: I meet with people from the supermarket industry as well from time to time, as I meet with other business leaders. Our priority is, and the message I'm sure from Steven Miles, I know because I've spent a fair bit of time with him already this year, will be he wants to make sure that when farmers are getting less money for the goods they sell to supermarkets, how is it that that isn't being passed on to consumers? I know that that is Steven Miles' priority as the Premier of the state of Queensland that produces a lot of our supermarket produce that goes on the shelves. He wants to make sure that consumers in Queensland are looked after. As I know Peter Malinauskas does here in South Australia as well.
JOURNALIST: Since your visit to China late last year, how has the Federal Government furthered the relationship with Beijing?
PRIME MINISTER: That's a very broad question. We are continuing to be very hopeful. I was asked this morning, for example, about the wine industry that is really important for South Australia. We know that the South Australian wine industry had some bumper crops in recent years and that it is absolutely vital as an industry that employs tens of thousands of Australians directly, but indirectly as well. One of the things about McLaren and Barossa and Clare and the Adelaide Hills is it's not just directly the jobs in the wine industry, they're central to the South Australian tourism industry, they're central in the multiplier factor that applies. And we want to make sure that that market is reopened up, that the tariffs are reduced. We had discussions very directly with China about that. The review will conclude by the end of March and we're very confident that that will see a benefit to Australia. We've already seen such an enormous difference that it's making to our trade, and I pay tribute to Don Farrell, a great South Australian Trade Minister, for the difference that he has made. We are looking at the trade impediments that were in place, were worth something like $20 billion annually to the Australian economy. And a disproportionate amount of that was because of the goods was here in South Australia. When I was at Port Lincoln we were looking at ships that had already gone to China from Port Lincoln with barley exports, another great industry here in South Australia. So, all of those products are really important and it's important for Australia's economy and Australia's jobs.
JOURNALIST: Do you fear the election of Taiwan's new leader will affect the stability in the region? Has Australia got its policy settings right?
PRIME MINISTER: We have got our settings right. We stand up for Australia's values consistently. We do it clearly, we do it in a way that is appropriate. We don't seek to be defined, the relationship with China, by our differences. What we say is we'll cooperate where we can, disagree where we must, but engage in our national interest. And effectively in Taiwan there's been no change in the regime there. The political party that was in power is still in power and our position has not changed. We congratulate the new leadership, the transition that has occurred through a democratic process, and we respect democratic processes. We do that whilst maintaining our clear bipartisan position, which is there in place for a one China policy.
JOURNALIST: Just back on the trade situation. So, do you expect the increased tariffs on our goods to be dropped?
PRIME MINISTER: I expect a resolution that will allow for wine to be back into China very soon. I have indicated very clearly when I was in China that that is in Australia's interest, but it's also in China's interests. You know why? Because it's bloody good wine. It's a good product. Australia produces good products at good prices and it is in the world's interests to receive them. It's certainly in Australia's interests for those jobs to be created. And I know that for the South Australian wine industry, as well as the wine industry of the Hunter Valley, of Western Australia, Tasmania, we are a great wine producing nation and it's an important product.
JOURNALIST: On the Stage Three Tax Cuts, are they going ahead and when?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we haven't changed our position on that.
JOURNALIST: Taiwan has attributed Nauru's decision to switch diplomatic recognition back to China to a funding shortfall for Australian offshore immigration detention centres in Nauru. Have you spoken to Taiwan or Nauru about this claims?
PRIME MINISTER: No, that’s a decision for Nauru as a sovereign government. We respect decisions that they make, but I think that the idea that because we've been effective in reducing the costs of offshore detention is a good thing for Australian taxpayers.
JOURNALIST: Will Australia seek to strike a security deal with Nauru like it agreed with Tuvalu in November?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we do is when we talk to countries about international agreements, we talk to them directly, we don't talk at press conferences. The Tuvalu agreement is a very historic agreement that was reached respectfully. And I met the new leadership of Nauru when I was at the Pacific Island Forum. Australia has a good relationship with Nauru, as we do throughout the Pacific. Part of the job that my government has had to undertake is to repair the broken relationships that were there throughout the region. The first step to credibility, of getting in the door, is a government that takes climate change seriously, which is an existential threat to the very existence of some of these Pacific islands. Australia is treated with respect. We engage respectfully with our friends and partners in the Pacific as equals. And the agreements with Tuvalu, but also Papua New Guinea, have been very significant and they've been reached, of course, in the last few months and announced once they are done.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you have a message for Dan Murphy’s customers who have been caught up in a scam, tens of thousands of them? What is the Government doing to protect those Australians?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have a National Cybersecurity Strategy, we have a Cybersecurity Minister, which those things weren't in place before we were in office. We have provided significant support for the Australian Signals Directorate. We also are conducting a significant campaign about education as well. Telling people, make sure that you don't click on a link which is there, which can open you up to vulnerability. But when it comes to the targeting of businesses as well, we've had roundtables that I've attended and helped chair personally, along with Clare O'Neil, with the business community, including all the peak organisations, but also the finance sector, but also industry organisations as well. Cyber Security is a threat. There are three main things that we have to worry about when it comes to our national security. One is pandemics, second is cybersecurity, third, of course, is, unfortunately, conflict we're seeing play out. In addition to that, of course, climate change is a national security issue as well.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, are you meeting the Premier while you're here?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I'm only here for a couple of hours. So, I've been very pleased though, that Blair is here. But I regularly meet with the Premier and regularly have a chat with Peter as well.
JOURNALIST: Have you received any advice that Shell suspending Red Sea shipments will push up petrol prices in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: No, but quite clearly the issue of the Red Sea and the issue of trade there is one that we take very seriously, which is why we participated in the actions that were taken against the Houthi’s. This is reprehensible. The fact that you have attacks on international trade and the international economy are aimed at disrupting the economy and causing hardship globally as well. And that is why Australia has supported the action which has been taken.
JOURNALIST: On Israel and Gaza, why has Australia decided not to support South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide. Particularly considering it decided to support the case against Russia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're not participants in this. This is the actions of South Africa taking action at the ICJ. The Foreign Minister made clear Australia's position. That doesn't mean that we agree with some of the assumptions that are there in the South African case at all. It means that we respect the independence of the ICJ and the role that they are playing.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, if the ICJ does find that Israel committed -
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm not going to, the last thing, I'll stop that even before. What you don't do, ever, as a Prime Minister is answer what happens if a result comes out in a legal process. Legal processes are legal processes. It's important that there not be interference or dealing with hypotheticals on them.
JOURNALIST: Would you consider adding Houthi to Australia's terror list? It's been reported the US is considering.
PRIME MINISTER: We'll always, we give ongoing, ongoing consideration to international security issues at all times. We do that through a proper process, rather than through media speculation.
JOURNALIST: Sussan Ley says that Labor's policy settings are a valley of death for Australian manufacturers, for construction companies, manufacturing insolvencies have steeply risen, what's your view?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it was news to me that the deputy leader was the Industry Shadow Minister, but it was it was good that she's showing an interest. Because the only thing that the Liberal Party has manufactured over the last decade is outrage. Outrage about a whole range of cultural war issues. What we're busy getting on with is issues like this here. They gutted TAFE. They cut funding for TAFE. We're building TAFE up and building skills so the industry can have workers so they can expand. We have the National Reconstruction Fund, which is up and running, which is published very clearly, its guidelines for funding. And the Liberal Party seem to seem to be upset that there's not an online form that you can fill in. This isn't an online form process as if you were applying for a packet of chips from the supermarket. This is a process in which over 160 companies have already engaged with the National Reconstruction Fund about the processes for funding. I'm not surprised that the Liberal Party do not recognise integrity when it comes to funding processes. Because if it was up to them, this is a fund that they opposed in the House of Reps and in the Senate that they railed against, and now they say it's not happening quickly enough. If it was the Liberal Party, it would be a $15 billion fund, all they need is their electoral pendulum and their colour coded spreadsheets to decide where funding would go. What we do, what we do is work with the industry in order to make sure that we can have jobs and successful growth in the areas that we've identified that include renewables and new technology. Includes value adding in agriculture, fisheries and forestry. Includes construction, includes defence industries, including that here in South Australia, in particular. This is what we are doing to grow industries. We just met young people studying at Flinders University in order to grow an industry here in South Australia in order to make an enormous difference going forward - that's what we're doing. And the Liberal Party, under Peter Dutton really have nothing positive to offer the country. They never have anything positive to say, every day is just narking at the sidelines. And I'd say this to South Australians who are employed by Woolworths or Aldi, or Kmart, given Peter Duttons call for a boycott of all of those, I assume all of them, not just Woolworths, all of those companies. How long does that boycott go for? If no one goes and buys any products at those major employers here in South Australia, and particularly in the regions, what does he have to say to those people if they lose their jobs, if people actually did take up this absurd thought bubble that he's put forward? People need a government that is focused on them. That's focused on jobs, focused on cost of living, focused on the prices of things on supermarket shelves, not what sort of thongs are on supermarket shelves. And that is what my government is doing, what we’ll continue to do, and the examples we see here today with fee free TAFE is an example of a government that is getting on with the sort of policies that make a difference to individuals but make a difference to our economy here in South Australia and nationally. Thanks very much.