GED KEARNEY, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Good morning everybody, my name is Ged Kearney, I'm the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care. And it's such a pleasure to be here in Grayndler at the Leichhardt Medical and Dental in the Prime Minister's hometown. It's really great to be here with him. Labor is the party of Medicare, and we've been celebrating forty fabulous years of Medicare over the last few months. It really is something to celebrate. And I'm very pleased to say that Labor has strengthened Medicare. We are absolutely committed to making sure Medicare works for a modern day Australia, and for modern Australians. We have made record investments in bulk billing, that we’re seeing clinics like this one now bulk bill one hundred per cent of concession cardholders. There has been an eight per cent increase at this very clinic in bulk billing, which is music to our ears. We have, of course, made medicines cheaper. We have introduced Medicare rebates for longer sessions with GPs, which I have to say is particularly good for women and women's health, something dear to my heart. And we are here to strengthen Medicare all the way. I'm very pleased to introduce the Prime Minister who's going to make a really special announcement.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, it helps to be on home turf. And welcome to the Inner West that I'm proud to be the local member for. And I wanted to make this announcement right here in the heartland, here in Leichhardt. That of course has always been a part of the electorate of Grayndler that I've been very, very proud to represent. I want to give a shout out to the doctors, the nurses, the dentists, the pharmacists, the carers, who we have met today for the work that they do looking after people in this local community. And as Ged has said, since we've tripled the bulk billing incentive, there's been an eight per cent rise in bulk billing right here at this facility. Now bulk billing had fallen over a period of time until we took the action which was at the centre of our Strengthening Medicare Package that we announced in last year's Budget. In just a very short period of time, we've seen hundreds of thousands of people get access to bulk billing who previously wouldn't have. And Medicare is of course the center of our health system. It's easy to forget that forty years ago when Medicare was introduced, it was strongly opposed by the coalition. Who, John Howard of course as opposition leader, said it was going to destroy the health care system and promised to destroy it. We have entrenched that system through the long term Labor governments of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating to the point whereby now, we have to strengthen Medicare. When Peter Dutton was the health minister, during that brief but terrible period, he tried to introduce the GP tax, which would have ended bulk billing and full stop. Would have had a charge every time people visited the doctor. There would have been in charge every time people turned up at a public hospital. There would as well have been an increase in the costs of medicines. What we have done is provide cheaper medicines at a cost of over $300 million. We've tripled the bulk billing incentive, we've opened fifty-eight Urgent Care Clinics right around Australia, where people are able to have that mid-point of support when they don't need to go to an emergency department because it's not life threatening, but it's something that they can't get assistance from their local GP for. If their young child falls off the bike or the skateboard, or if people have a cut and need stitching, that is where they turn up. And that has been enormously successful. And all people need is their Medicare card, they don't need their credit card. But today we're announcing Medicare Champions, that we will have stronger Medicare awards to recognise Medicare champions right around the country. Outstanding individuals and practices that provide exceptional care, embrace innovation and work together to improve the health of their local communities. The awards will extend to the many hard working people who do not have professional qualifications in health care, but work for primary care services to help patients access the care they need when and where they need it. We often see, as I've gone around the country, some of the champions are the people who work on the front desk, who take the phone calls, who look after people in centers like this. And I've met many of them today. So they are really important. This is an important part of celebrating the 40th anniversary of Medicare. And my government has said that we want four themes running into the Budget and throughout this year and beyond into 2025. They are, cost of living and dealing with cost of living pressures; the second is strengthening Medicare; the third is a future made in Australia; and the fourth is our place in the world, restoring Australia's position as a respected participant in international affairs. When it comes to cost of living pressures, we had very good news yesterday. And that is that in 2023 real wages were lifted up with the wage growth of 4.2% and inflation growth of 4.1%. This means that real wage growth has been met much earlier than what was predicted, even by the Department of Treasury in their last budget forecasts. We want people to earn more and to keep more of what they earn. Peter Dutton wants people to work longer for less. So workers earning more, keeping more of what they earn through our tax cuts where every single person in Leichhardt, like every person in Grayndler, like every person who's a taxpayer throughout Australia, all 13.6 million of them will receive a tax cut. Because we didn't just take the easy decision, we took the right decision, for the right reason, at the right time. That was the right thing to do. And it's also the right thing to do to put the measures in place that have seen real wages increasing. We know people are still under cost of living pressure, so it’s certainly not job done. We'll continue to work on measures in the lead up to the Budget and beyond, each and every day to make a difference. Our health care policies are a part of that, with the tripling of the bulk billing incentive for Urgent Care Clinics, with the cheaper medicines policy as well. But we'll look at, right across the board, fee free TAFE, cheaper child care, Energy Price Relief Plan, as well as our cost of living tax cuts in order to make a difference to people. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the government passed its third tranche of workplace relations reforms just recently. And now the Department of Employment is saying it’s started consulting on portable leave entitlements. Is there going to be a fourth tranche of workplace reforms before the next election and what's that going to look like?
PRIME MINISTER: The Fair Work Commission are looking at these issues. That's independent.
JOURNALIST: But the Department of Employment is looking at it, they’re consulting.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we have is, is we’ve passed and are pleased with the industrial relations legislation that's been passed. I thank all in the House of Reps and the Senate who have been prepared to support an agenda that sees real wages now increase. We want to make sure our economy grows and that workers get a share of that growth. That's been our objective. There is no other legislation being drafted at the moment. We'll continue to work with business and work with unions and work with workers in order to make a difference to our national economy.
JOURNALIST: What's your personal view on working from home? Balancing productivity, but also what keeps for lifestyle and especially for working parents?
PRIME MINISTER: It’s a matter of what's appropriate. Different jobs, it's hard to work from home in construction, for example, remotely. But for many people it provides a flexibility. It means as well in terms of productivity improvements, that rather than spending up to three hours, many people travel an hour and a half each way to and from work, that activity can be done more productively. I think that these issues are worked out between employers and employees. It certainly has been very positive as well for many working mums I know has made a difference, as well as working dads. So during COVID, we saw a big shift in work patterns. I think it is important, at least from time to time, that people gather in one place so they can have that social interaction as well, I believe it is important in workplaces. I know I'm speaking to you from Sydney, there are people working in my office in Canberra, I'm sure there are some people working from home as well, diligently. That is something that flexibility can be a positive thing. We need to make sure that it's in the interests of both workers and employers.
JOURNALIST: Is this something that Labor is going to push though in terms of going for it? I know the Fair Work Commission, and the Minister’s asked them to look at that. But is this something that you were going to pursue?
PRIME MINISTER: We’re consulting, the Fair Work Commission are consulting on this. I think what we need to do is to look for win-win. We need to look where it's appropriate, where it boosts productivity, where it is helpful in order to secure people. If you look at, women's workforce participation is at a record high and that is one of the factors. Now you can't work from home as a nurse at this facility, but you've got to work with patients. So, it isn't one size fits all, and we shouldn't have a one size fits all approach to it. What we need is flexibility, a bit of common sense and look for measures that help workers, but also help employees.
JOURNALIST: Cambodia’s Prime Minister, Hun Manet will be invited as part of the ASEAN Summit. What kind of message does that invitation send to the Cambodian Australian community, given his human rights record?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, every ASEAN leader is being invited to the Australia ASEAN Summit. I think that the idea that we don't engage in South East Asia would be a counterproductive one. We have invited ASEAN to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Australia-ASEAN relations. And we look forward to all of those leaders from our near neighbourhood to the north coming. We of course last year launched in Jakarta our strategy for South East Asia, Economic Strategy 2040. What that did was really important work identifying what the competitive advantages are of trade with each of those neighbours. And we have therefore invited everyone here. I must say as well, that the New Zealand Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, has also accepted my invitation, he’s the new prime minister, and he will get to meet everyone there in Melbourne as well.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Peter Dutton said this morning that your Government has not acted responsibly in the fast approval of more than 2000 Palestinian visas. He says that the checks done are not sufficient to determine if there are Hamas sympathisers. Can you guarantee that the proper checks have been done and there’s no risk to the community?
PRIME MINISTER: The checks are exactly the same as what was in place under the former government with a difference which is that in order to leave Gaza, there needs to be approval, including the Israelis are involved in that. Look Peter Dutton was part of a government that accepted, not temporarily, permanently, over 10,000 people from Syria during that conflict. And Peter Dutton is someone who no issue is too big to show how small he is. He is someone who has multiple fear and scare campaigns out there every day, but it's all negative. He has nothing positive to offer the nation. No positive policies going forward, scare campaigns, some of which are just dug up from the Morrison era. And I did see his comments this morning that were multiple scare campaigns. Nothing positive to say at a time when I think people are alert to the fact that you can't run a country or be an alternative government just based upon fear. That's all Peter Dutton has got.
JOURNALIST: Just a follow up question on that if I may, Prime Minister. Peter Dutton said, with the checks being done we wouldn't know the authenticity of travel documents and the checks that the coalition was doing while they were in government are not being done which contradicts what you were saying just a moment ago.
PRIME MINISTER: Which it's just wrong, he’s just wrong. And you know what he does every day, you see it. It's just fear campaigns every day that don't have a basis in what is going on. And he's someone who is defined by being negative. He is the angriest opposition leader we’ve ever seen. He makes Tony Abbott look constructive and positive going forward. And we saw in Nemesis how much the coalition all hate each other. They're all still sitting on their front bench. Peter Dutton doesn't want to talk about cost of living issues, we don't get any questions in Parliament about cost of living anymore, which is what Australians are concerned about. During the last sitting week of Parliament, I can't recall a time when a Prime Minister did not get a single question from the opposition. Not one from the Leader of the Opposition, not one from Shadow Ministers, not one from backbenchers, just negative fear campaigns from the opposition. I think people have woken up to that. He doesn’t want to talk about real wages increasing, although I think he was probably negative about that as well, I’m sure he would have found an angle. The fact that tax cuts, I mean, this is an opposition that first said they were going to oppose it, then they said they'd roll it back, then Peter Dutton called for an election to be held on our cost of living tax cuts, and then he changed his mind and voted for it. So there are multiple positions. If you just look at your watch, set your timetable on your phone, there'll be another negative campaign tomorrow.
JOURNALIST: With that in mind, are you concerned about where the opposition and the coalition is pushing the national conversation around asylum seekers, around boat arrivals, around immigration, around detention, especially being somebody from Labor’s left?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's all just based upon fear. Fear campaigns, the fear campaigns that were there before the election have been shown to be completely false. Operation Sovereign Borders is in place. And we've actually had the very clear, and I think very strong statements, for example, on Operation Sovereign Borders being in place and the responsibility that leaders have to not send messages that are false to people smugglers, and potentially to victims of people smugglers overseas. And that didn't cause any sense of pause from the Leader of the Opposition, he just doubled down regardless of the facts. So we saw regardless of the facts of what had happened, which is that people have been taken to Nauru. Regardless of the fact which is there that has been demonstrated. He said there were cuts, when in fact there is a $470 million increase in funding, it’s at record levels. And that doesn't seem to stop the false statements being made. Nothing seems to deter Peter Dutton from engaging in a fear campaign, rather than dealing with facts.
JOURNALIST: How serious is foreign interference in Australia and why does it target non-commercial entities?
PRIME MINISTER: Foreign interference can occur in Australia and we have measures to ensure that it doesn't and our security agencies are very diligent in doing work and reporting through our National Security Committee processes about these issues.
JOURNALIST: Is it a serious issue, foreign interference?
PRIME MINISTER: Foreign interference is something that we need to be diligent about. And my government is vigilant on all of those issues.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Marcia Langton, one of most prominent backers of the Voice to Parliament now says she agrees with Paul Keating that the body should have been legislated before taking it to Australians at the referendum. Do you agree with that? And why didn’t you listen to Keating who said he told the government it would fail?
PRIME MINISTER: Well happy birthday, Paul. You can always rely upon Paul to have a view which is a strong view and always put. I talked to Paul, I talk to Paul regularly that was not said by him nor was it said by any member of the referendum working group before the referendum was held. And in, the Uluru Statement from the Heart came about in 2017 after years of processes. In 2019, as well as 2022, both sides of politics went to the election saying there'd be a referendum on constitutional recognition. The form of constitutional recognition was through a Voice to Parliament. That was the request, we honored and respected that request of First Nations people. We respect the outcome of the referendum. We will continue to take, through different methods, whatever measures we can to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what do you know about reports that the alleged Medibank hacker was detained in Russia?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not aware of that. I am aware that Australia had made very strong representations about a hacking incident. And we continue to, through our agencies, to make strong representations about cybersecurity. Cybersecurity is a threat to our economy.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, why wont the government list the IRGC as a terrorist organisation?
PRIME MINISTER: We have vigilant processes, through the listing of organisations. We go through those processes appropriately, including through the national security, based upon advice.
JOURNALIST: Have you spoken to US officials this week about securing Julian Assange’s release?
PRIME MINISTER: We are in regular contact with the United States and the UK about all of the issues surrounding Mr Assange. I note that the judgement has been reserved. Our view is very clear. It is the same view I had in Opposition, it is the same view I have as Prime Minister, which is enough is enough. There is nothing to be served from the ongoing incarceration of Mr Assange and he should be allowed to come home. Thanks very much.