SCOTT STEWART, QUEENSLAND MINISTER FOR RESOURCES AND CRITICAL MINERALS: Well good afternoon everyone, it's great to have the Prime Minister of Australia coming to one of the best parts of the world, and that's here in Townsville. And he loves coming back to Townsville, he told me and it's great to have him back in town, particularly here at the Port of Townsville. Now we know how important this Port is. The Port started and then the town built around it, now we have one of the largest commercial ports in North Australia. It's the backbone of our great city and it's the backbone of North Queensland, particularly when we think about the critical minerals. So by widening this Port channel, a great investment between state government, the Port of Townsville and the federal government, all recognising the importance of this project, it really opens up the potential. Not only as an export port for us for our critical minerals, that we know that copper string will support, but also as an import and future distribution hub right out of North Queensland here. This is a pivotal piece of infrastructure and to get this widening of this Port channel through, the working together between state, federal and the Port of Townsville is so critical, but like to ask the Prime Minister to make further comments.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, mate. It’s fantastic to be back in Townsville once again. And nowhere better to be of course than here at the Port, which is the driver of the North Queensland economy. And I'm very proud, every time I come here, I drive on the Port access road that was done, promised, funded, committed, built and opened while I was the infrastructure minister, which made an enormous difference. And we of course accelerated the Townsville Ring Road and other infrastructure projects here as well. But here at the Port, this is so exciting. For this project, it has supported some 2000 jobs, and over half of those are of course locals, right here in Townsville. This port provides an enormous lifeblood for jobs. And today on the day in which I can proudly say that my Government has seen more jobs created than any previous government during any term in history since Federation, with 930,000 jobs created on our watch. There's nowhere better to be than a port that is a driver of employment. This great area as well, what we're seeing is investment in projects like Kingston, big Kennedy and Little Kennedy, the Copper String Project which will make sure that these enormous renewable energy projects will be connected to the grid, is seeing critical minerals that will be exported from this wonderful thought here. The widening of the channel and the deepening of it will make an enormous difference. It increases productivity and increases efficiency. What it does is produce an enormous economic return. And the Port of Townsville will continue to be even more important in the future. Standing today, literally where we were, we were literally standing on what used to be water, and it’s extraordinary that we've seen the difference that I've seen in coming to Townsville now over what’s almost the last three decades, looking at infrastructure projects. But today as well, I’m here to announce that Edwina Andrew has agreed to be Labor’s candidate for Herbert at the next federal election. This is an electorate that deserves a Labor member. That deserves a Labor federal member who will get things done, who will understand the importance of infrastructure investment, who will understand the importance of delivering for this growing community. Edwina is someone who ran for the Senate at the last election and I launched her campaign there down on the Strand. This time around running for the Lower House seat where government is formed, it is critical that we have more Labor representation from Queensland in the House of Representatives as part of my government's team. We have great quality from Queensland, including of course, the Treasurer and the Agriculture Minister and the Aged Care Minister. But what we want to do is to make sure that we increase the representation, and in Edwina Andrew we have someone who's a local, someone who's raised her family here, someone who's getting married here on Saturday, locally as well. So I was glad to get in early before that momentous event. So we've said to Edwina she can have a few days off for a honeymoon, that's legitimate, and then we want to see her knocking on doors and pounding the pavement to put the Labor cause forward for the people of North Queensland. The truth is that the LNP haven’t delivered for this electorate. What we're doing is making sure that you get infrastructure investment. We're working with Defence with the Strategic Review to make sure more assets are located to the North of Australia. We understand that the future is renewables, not in nuclear energy, and that we need to ensure that there's an investment environment for the private sector that encourages the billions of dollars that are currently being invested here in North Queensland that we have a federal government that supports that. Edwina is someone who has integrity, who has great capacity, she's someone who's working for the not-for-profit sector, making a difference for vulnerable people and she'll bring those skills and that advocacy for the people of this electorate of Herbert, for the people of Townsville, and the people for the surrounding communities. So I'd ask Edwina to make some comments and then we'll ask our other team here, Les and Aaron to make couple of comments as well, and then we're happy to take some questions.
EDWINA ANDREW, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR HERBERT: Thank you, Prime Minister. It's always good to see you here, Prime Minister, you're here quite often in times of need, after Kirrily, after State of Origin, a little bit of a disaster last night, we won’t talk about that one too much. And as the Prime Minister did mention, yes I am getting married on Saturday so my heads a little all over the place. So if I mix up your question and start asking questions about bouquets or confetti, then I apologise. It's a little bit frantic this week, a little bit crazy. So I just wanted to tell you a little bit about myself and why I'm running. So my name is Edwina Andrew, I've been working and living and working in Townsville since 1985. I probably don't look old enough to do so, but I am. Townsville is my home, Townsville is my passion, and my family have been raised here, my children were born here. We sadly buried my youngest son here four years ago. We have my grandchildren here. I've coached sporting teams, I have been involved in committees and not-for-profits. This is my home. My background, as you may have seen is that I've come up through a working class family I've lived in disadvantaged, we lived in very rural areas, and I've seen the impacts that the cost of living crisis can have in reality. I've always been very passionate about ensuring that everybody has access to equal rights, to an opportunity to live the best life that they can, which is what drove my Senate campaign two years ago, nearly three years ago. In that I wanted to ensure that regional Queensland had a voice and I think I did that. I think I was able to bring that voice to the campaign, and I think that was heard. And we've seen so much development and so much effort put into regional Queensland. So now I'm here for Herbert. As the Prime Minister said, we need Labor representation in this region. We need somebody who knows the region, who can work with the current government, work with our federal government in partnership and not in opposition to, actually work together to get the best for the people of Herbert. I've been pretty lucky in that my opportunities I've had in my life with the opportunities afforded by the Labor Party like Family Tax Benefit and HECs, all of those wonderful things that we saw come through in Labor governments allowed me to be able to build my life, build my career and work in an environment where I can create change and create change for people. I want to do that now for Herbert. I've had that opportunity and I want to ensure that the people of Herbert have that same opportunity as well and we need somebody who can do that, who's going to be working in partnership, not in opposition. Thank you.
LES WALKER, QUEENSLAND MEMBER FOR MUNDINGBURRA: Yes, it's a fantastic day here today, and I welcome the Prime Minister for his genuine interest in the investment in the Townsville Port and a couple of decades ago with the new port access road. And the genuine buy-in by the Albanese Labor government in this region has shown that a good partnership with the Miles Labor government we will grow this Port for the Queenslanders of the future and in the green energy race and the sustainable energy future for the people of Queensland. For the record, this is a nuclear free zone and has been championed by the people of Townsville since 1971. So we want to see more solar panels, more wind turbines coming through this port and that's why this investment is so important because it just increased the port by twenty-five per cent with this smart investment by the Albanese government with the Miles Government to not only allow major shipping companies to come in here but our ocean cruise terminal here to grow our tourism sector as well. But it's only a Labor Government, both state and federal that work in tandem to get the best outcomes for Queensland, and that's why Queenslanders are winners today.
AARON HARPER, QUEENSLAND MEMBER FOR THURINGOWA: Well, welcome Albo. For the record, winter in North Queensland was on a Thursday when we are discussing it next year. You've got a hell of a legacy in our city, mate. We’ve just recently opened up the final stage of the Ring Road of course through the heart of Thuringowa, stage five. So thank you, and I know a lot of that in previous sections was opened up by you when you were the infrastructure minister, which is fantastic. Congratulations Edwina, we do need a Labor candidate here. We've got a federal LNP bloke who, you know, has let us down, quite frankly. He's over promised and under delivered. We're still waiting for the $195 billion where is it? Phil Thompson likes to deflect and blame other governments – well do your job. Do your job. And I know you will do your job, and I'm looking forward to working with Edwina on delivering some of those other promises that Phil Thompson promised - some local sporting rooms and did not deliver. For the port expansion it's critical. You know, last week we were out at CopperString at Hughenden, doing the sod turn for stage one, and that's going to connect energy to the national energy market, and you talked about Kennedy Energy Park, PM. That currently produces around 48 megawatts, it can go to 4000 megawatts, will be the engine room, North Queensland will be the engine room of the nation producing renewable energy not nuclear. We don't want that in North Queensland, we don't want that in our backyard. So congratulations, thanks for being here.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks Aaron. We're happy to take questions, difficult ones to these blokes.
JOURNALIST: Just to begin with, on the topic of Canberra. Why wait for the executive meeting to take action on allegations of corrupt behaviour in the CFMEU when Premiers, they acted without having to set up meetings?
PRIME MINISTER: I’m not sure what you mean.
JOURNALIST: From the meeting today, you want to suspend ties. Why wait for that meeting to happen?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you’ve got to have a meeting to make a decision. National Executive had to have a meeting. They had a meeting. They made a decision today. It's been very swift. There hasn’t been any donations or anything else this week. If you look at the comments of Mr Ravbar, I think you will get that he's a little bit unhappy. That's of no concern to me.
JOURNALIST: Why shouldn’t the CFMEU be deregistered, given the allegations we've heard and what do you say to concerns that action hasn't gone far enough, even if donations are banned?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is typical of the Coalition. I mean, Peter Dutton has never seen any decision that he can agree with. He just says no to everything and is negative about everything. He was in government for ten years. For ten years whilst Mr Setka was the secretary of the Victorian branch of the CFMEU and extended his influence over that decade. There was a Royal Commission into unions. Bill Shorten had to give evidence for two days, former Prime Minister Julia Gillard was called up to give evidence for a day. You know who didn't give evidence? John Setka. Not a word, not a question to be asked, nothing whatsoever. This occurred whilst they had the ABCC that they say was a tough cop on the beat, doing absolutely nothing but worried about what flags were flying on a building site, but not dealing with any of these measures. If you deregister a union, the union officials can stay in place in an unregulated way. We don't want that, and I'm surprised that Peter Dutton seems to want that to occur. What we want to do is make sure that any corrupt officials are removed. That is the strong action that's required, not the nonsense that Peter Dutton has gone on with.
JOURNALIST: Was it wrong for the government to give Twiggy Forrest billions for an unproven technology, and is the government's green hydrogen dream over?
PRIME MINISTER: No and no.
JOURNALIST: Does your Government pick winners like Twiggy Forrest and is that bad practice?
PRIME MINISTER: Well we haven't. What we have, and in this area here, if you look at the measures that we put in place in the Budget, they reward success. Our measures, our production tax credits reward for hydrogen and for critical minerals once those projects are realised. So they're rewarding success. What they're doing is encouraging investment and that is a good thing. And the extraordinary statement from the Coalition, the fact is that green hydrogen does have an important role to play in our future. We have seen investment and we're seeing that occurring right around the world, and Australia is in a position to take advantage of that. Australia is in a position now where there is actually a real transformation happening with the investment that's happening here, with projects like CopperString, with the renewable energy that will be pumped into the grid here in North Queensland is real and it's happening. And those jobs are real and the investment is real. I tell you what's not real, nuclear reactors that are there for some time in the 2040s where there are no costs attached, where there is no plan for how they get around the bans which are there. Where six of the seven sites that have been chosen have been designated to do other activities, such as at Liddell, they're doing, producing solar panels through SunDrive, and there's other activities at Port Augusta and at the other sites. This is something that will leave a gap in energy security because coal fired power stations, twenty-four of them announced they were closing on the former government's watch. Twenty-four announced they were closing and not a single plan for energy was actually landed. They announced twenty-two different plans and didn't land any of them. What we have is one plan, it's being landed, it's a renewable energy target of 82 per cent by 2030. It's emissions reduction of 43 per cent by 2030. We're moving to net zero by 2050. It has serious methods of getting there through the Capacity Investment Scheme, through the Safeguard Mechanism, through our other programs that are in place. Peter Dutton and the former government didn't land a single policy, which is why the business community, whether it be the Business Council of Australia, Australian Industry Group, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Clean Energy Council, all welcomed the certainty that we have provided with one of the first pieces of legislation that was passed when the change of government occurred. That's what Australia needs, not some negative nuclear fantasy from Peter Dutton that won't have anyone investing. That's why he's saying it has to be public investment, so the taxpayers are going to pay for the most expensive form of new energy that is too expensive and too slow to come online.
JOURNALIST: Do you find it concerning Twiggy Forrest can’t afford to build green hydrogen?
PRIME MINISTER: No, look, that's a private sector company and there are a range of proposals go forward. Private companies make announcements. Most of today's announcement of Mr Forrest are about things happening overseas, not happening here in Australia.
JOURNALIST: Do you think Fortescue’s decision to slash 700 jobs will impact your net-zero policy?
PRIME MINISTER: Not at all. Not at all. We're getting on with the job, including the work happening right here in North Queensland. And there is zero impact about anything that is happening here in Townsville of any of these announcements for things in Africa or South America today. What we're doing is getting on with the job of delivering a positive plan for Australia's future.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, why is it important that you announced Edwina as a candidate so far out from the election?
PRIME MINISTER: Because it's important we get our candidates on the ground. I announced last week our candidates in Brisbane, in Dickson, in Ryan, and there was one other as well, and Forde last week. And tomorrow I'll announce our candidate in Leichhardt. What we're doing is making sure that our candidates can, very early on, go and connect with the community. Part of the advantage that Edwina has is that in running for the Senate last time, her profile locally has been lifted substantially. She's someone who's well known in this community and we want her in the field because this is a target seat for us. We want Townsville to have a Labor representative. And I know that our state candidates here will be campaigning hard in the lead up to the election to ensure that the Miles Labor government is re-elected. That is an objective that I share and something that I will continue to campaign for the re-election of what is a good Labor government here working in cooperation with my government.
JOURNALIST: The Courier Mail announced that YouGov polling results show that Labor has the worst, lowest primary vote since 131 years. How are you guys feeling about that in the lead up to the election?
PRIME MINISTER: I think that's a state question.
QUEENSLAND MINISTER STEWART: Look, I know the Deputy Premier has already spoken about that this morning. We've got nothing more to add.
JOURNALIST: Scott, while you’re here, may I ask you a question. We're 100 days out from the state election. ECQ data shows the Townsville is ranked sixth in the most marginal seat in the state. How are you feeling heading into the election?
QUEENSLAND MINISTER STEWART: Well, if you think about the last time I went to the election, I was the most marginal seat in the state and here I am again. So look, we will continue to deliver for the people of Townsville. They know that a Labor government continues to deliver the infrastructure, continues to deliver on the cost of living expenses. You know, you just got to look at your recent power bill, you see that thousand dollars coming in from us and you see $300 coming in from the federal government. That's what people need in their pockets right now. They need that support for the cost of living, but also they need to see the future. And the future we're building here in Townsville is very bright for our kids in our classrooms. There are jobs, jobs and even more jobs. The widening of this Port channel today shows them that there is a very clear future for us here in North Queensland. But when you think about what the LNP were going to do, they were going to sell this Port, they were going to privatise this. We're investing in this because we know this is important infrastructure for us.
JOURNALIST: The LNP were out and about across the state today, including here in Townsville, with Laura Gerber spruiking plans and policies we’ve, sort of, heard already. I guess, what will your commitments be, and do you feel any threat from your Townsville opposition?
QUEENSLAND MINISTER STEWART: Oh look, I'd love to see what their plans are because they still haven't produced anything apart from a couple of slogans. We know people of Townsville are smarted than just swallowing slogans. We have a very clear plan going forward. We have a very clear plan for our cost of living. We have a very clear plan of what we're doing to address the crime situation. All we get from them is slogans with no depth. In fact, when the Shadow Minister for Police when he was first brought into the situation, he said he'd have a plan within 100 days. It's been over 1200 days, and we still haven't seen the plan. So when they talk about the 100 day plan, I think we’ll see anything from that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, if I can have one more, please. You’re obviously here in Townsville. There's quite a bit of talk about one of our major icons of Townsville at the moment with Reef HQ. I did hear you on the radio earlier today with SCA. Could you just tell us where we are at with Reef HQ? It’s been shuffled around for three years now.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I do note that I've seen some comments by Phil Thompson. And you’ve got to give him give him credit for boldness, let me say. This is a guy who voted against giving a tax cut for every single Townsville taxpayer, which is what we've delivered. This is someone who's voted against energy price relief. This is someone who's voted against our $32 billion Homes for Australia Plan. This is someone who thinks that fee free TAFE is a waste. This is someone who's opposed the Medicare Urgent Care Clinics that are providing that health care that people need. And this is someone who has voted against cheaper medicines and voted against 60 day dispensing. This is someone who of course when it comes to the LNP and inconsistency here you have federally, federally and LNP that want to essentially nationalise the nuclear reactors to be provided, want them to be taxpayer run. Someone who wants taxpayers to intervene in supermarkets, somehow to run them, and to have forced divestment. But on the state level, the LNP won't use the word nuclear, even though both David Littleproud and Peter Dutton, are saying they will intervene over the top of any state government if they're elected. And then they want to privatise, the LNP here wanted to privatise this port, and they want to privatise the entire energy network. Now if that had of occurred during the natural disasters where I visited here, just at the beginning of this year that would have had real consequences. You wouldn't have had people being put back on the energy grid so quickly as a direct result of the fact that energy remains in public sector hands here. And when it comes to Reef HQ, it shut in 2020, he was the local member and he's out there complaining saying not enough has been done, and there isn't enough money being allocated when he was the member when it was shut under the LNP. Now there's now a request for a further $103 million, we'll give consideration to that. We've written to the council here. I understand that the mayor is a bit distracted at the moment. I have been following the rather bizarre revelations from the right wing mayor here in Townsville, who along with his LNP friends, I don't know what is going on there. But we want an answer for them. There is money that is not yet fully allocated as part of the Townsville City deal. We're up for getting things done. But we want obviously the Council to be able to come back to us. Minister McBain has written to the council about funding and we need to get that information. I know that Reef HQ is an important asset for Townsville. I visited there prior to it being shut, which again I repeat, was on the former government's watch. The funding once again wasn't allocated like so many things that they promised. But I do think it's a bit rich for Phillip Thompson to actually complain about something that's happened on his watch that he didn't fix. But like other things, the Federal Labor Government will fix the LNP mess that's being created. We're committed to doing that. But we need the detail to come from the Townsville Council in order to do that. Thanks very much.