FIONA PHILLIPS, MEMBER FOR GILMORE: Good morning everyone. Welcome to our beautiful Nowra riverfront, which we're going to make even more beautiful. I'm really delighted to be here today with the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, my good friend Liza Butler, the State Member for South Coast, and the Shoalhaven Mayor, Patricia White. And I'm really grateful for them coming today. The Shoalhaven riverfront here at Nowra provides – is so important to me. It holds great personal significance. On this road here is where, as a teenager, I rode through here to go to the Nowra Pool, which is just a little bit further over there. It's where 28 years ago, I was reminded just the other day, that I was married here and had my photos on the Shoalhaven River. And of course, it's where I led the community campaign alongside our community to save Nowra's swimming pool just across there on the riverfront as well. And I've got to thank Shoalhaven Council for actually redeveloping that and upgrading it. So, that's why it holds such significance to me. I know how important the riverfront at Nowra is for our community. People in the area, to be quite honest, have – and probably quite understandably – lost a bit of faith with, you know, “well, that's never going to happen.” But I've never lost faith. It's why I entered politics in the first place, to make sure that we have a revitalised riverfront that supports our community, it supports health, it supports wellbeing, it supports our businesses in the Nowra CBD, it boosts tourism and local jobs. And I am so excited to have been working with the Nowra Riverfront Advisory Task Force and I want to thank each and every member of that Task Force, the agencies, everyone, for working tirelessly to get to the stage where they submitted a concept plan to activate our riverfront. So, I'm probably not going to say a lot more because I'm going to hand over to Anthony to make the announcement. But I hope you can see that I, I am overjoyed with the announcement that's just about to be made. Thank you.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, thanks very much, Fiona, and it is wonderful to be back here in Nowra and once again to be with Fiona Phillips on this riverfront. I remember being with you about the swimming pool being saved and good on the Council for making sure that that occurred. We were here campaigning for the bridge to actually happen and we're here today to make a really important announcement that will bring up this wonderful city into being even better in the future. Too often in our cities and urban communities, we take rivers for granted. Historically, quite often you had industry associated with being built around rivers, and rivers used to discard waste, into the rivers. We didn't value them enough. What we know now, increasingly, is that people value coming together around waterways, around riverfronts, around harbours and around oceans. And here in this wonderful area of the Shoalhaven, it is one of the most beautiful and picturesque parts of Australia and we need to value it. And that's why this is an important announcement of $5 million for this riverfront precinct, one that will bring it up in quality and make sure that the amenity, which is enjoyed by locals and visitors alike, is brought up to where it can be in the future. I congratulate all those associated with putting together this precinct plan. This has come from the bottom up and that's why the Federal Government is pleased to be able to provide this support. It will unite the CBD with the riverfront here as well, and make sure that Nowra becomes an even better place to live in the future for families. And also makes it more attractive as a location to visit as well. We know the Shoalhaven is a fantastic place to visit and part of its local economy is that. Part of it as well, is of course, manufacturing, the aviation sector, which is growing here, and other areas as well. I also want to make some comments about the announcement that we've made yesterday about the National Broadband Network. Only Labor, of course, created the National Broadband Network and only Labor will finish it and keep it in public hands. The NBN is critical, particularly for regional communities. The NBN is the most powerful weapon we have to overcome the tyranny of distance to make the businesses here in Nowra have the same capacity as businesses which are in George Street, Sydney. Because increasingly in today's world, business as well as families rely upon fast, high speed internet. When we were elected last to government, we created the NBN. I was the Communications Minister rolling out the fibre network in 2013. And then we had the absurdity of the incoming Abbott Government, saying we don't need fibre, we'll go back to copper. And they bought enough copper to go around the world not once, but twice. We need, when it comes to the National Broadband Network, to do it right, do it once and do it with fibre. And what this will do is complete the rollout with this $3 billion injection. It will make sure that here in this community, more than 2,400 homes and businesses across north and south Nowra get that same access that they deserve. More than 3,000 additional premises right across the Shoalhaven LGA and almost 1,000 across Eurobodalla Local Government Area as well. These upgrades will build on the NBN Co's existing upgrade program. By the end of 2030, the end of this decade, more than 88,000 homes and businesses in NBN Co's fixed line footprint in Gilmore electorate will have access to that high speed broadband that's so important for business, so important for students, so important for the provision of telehealth. So much of what we do relies upon the National Broadband Network and high speed broadband and for regional communities it is so important. Now, when the Senate sits, we'll have our legislation that we've introduced into the Parliament to ensure that NBN stays in public hands. We think that is critical. The Opposition, of course, voted against that legislation in the House of Representatives. You only vote against it if you intend to privatise the National Broadband Network. Well, we say that we want a fibre based network. We want everyone to have access to it, not just some due to chance or lottery or what street they live in. We want everyone to have access to high speed broadband and we want it to stay in public hands because that's how you address the question of affordability as well. It's a fantastic announcement today, Fiona, and I'll now hand to the State Member and then we'll hear from the Mayor.
LIZA BUTLER, STATE MEMBER FOR SOUTH COAST: Thank you, Prime Minister. I'm absolutely delighted with today's announcement of $5 million to actually activate the riverfront precinct. It's not only about the riverfront, it's about the revitalisation of Nowra CBD and the town centre and what that can bring. And this is what, when all levels of government, local, state and federal work together, can achieve for a community. And I'm really excited to see what happens here in Nowra. But I'd really like to thank Fiona Phillips, the Member for Gilmore, for her advocacy because if Fiona wasn't on point at all times, we wouldn't be here today. So, thank you, thank you, Fiona for your ongoing support to this community.
PATRICIA WHITE, SHOALHAVEN CITY COUNCIL MAYOR: So, this is an outstanding announcement today with the allocation of the $5 million so we can go on with the planning. We've already done the concept planning. It involved over 700 pieces of individual residents and communities telling us what they wanted. So, it's a project that has been wanted in the Shoalhaven as long as I've lived here and that's over 30 years. So, it is great to see that it is now happening. The $5 million will get us all of the planning works done so we can move forward. I want to thank Fiona Phillips for working with us for the grant funding. I want to thank the State Government and the Federal Government for all of the work they have done over the last, about, five years to get the concept planning done. We've come together many, many times, the Council, with state and federal government, and I agree with Liza Butler that when we all work together, we can see the wonderful results that we can achieve. I want to thank the Prime Minister for coming over here today to make the announcement. It's an important announcement that will reflect to every resident in the Shoalhaven. Because all of the residents, communities etc want the Shoalhaven River, the beautiful Shoalhaven River, activated. We have the space and we can do a fantastic job. We are not constrained by space to actually activate this, as we've seen on the plans. As with other riverfronts across New South Wales, across Australia, lots of times there's not a lot of space to activate, but we have that space and I'm looking forward to, in the next two to three years that we'll see the shovels in the ground and we'll start the construction of it. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Peter Dutton has promised he would force councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day. Is this a proposal that you would support and are you comfortable with citizenship ceremonies on a day that is so painful for so many Indigenous Australians?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, my Council does citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day and I will be attending the national Australia Day commemorations, as I've done every year in which I've been Labor Leader, in Canberra. I hope that Peter Dutton, this year, makes the choice to join the national Australia Day celebrations in Canberra. That's what I did as the Opposition Leader. That's what I've done as Prime Minister, and I hope as well, he attends the national Australia Day Awards, where we award the Volunteer of the Year, the Young Australian of the Year, the Senior Citizen of the Year, as well as the Australians of the Year. Every year it is inspirational and I look forward to celebrating Australia Day.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Gilmore is a very marginal seat, one seat that Labor needs to hold. $5 million doesn't sound a lot of money in the lead up to an election. Are you proposing to come back and provide more incentives?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I will be campaigning with Fiona Phillips each and every day, as I've done for a long period of time. One of the things about Fiona Phillips is that she didn't have an easy downhill ride into this seat. She also didn't shop around. She chose to run for Gilmore, run for Gilmore again, run for Gilmore again, and this time around, she'll be running for Gilmore again, as well. She hasn't shopped around considering Eden-Monaro or the Senate or other things. She's committed to being the Member for Gilmore and she's making a difference as the Member for Gilmore, whether it's the work that you can see being undertaken on the Princess Highway. I remember being at that Jervis Bay turn off with Fiona Phillips years ago, making commitments there. That's under construction now. The Milton Ulladulla bypass has moved to the next phase of a contract being issued. Whether it's community infrastructure, the National Broadband Network that's so important for regional communities. Fiona Phillips has also voted for every one of our cost of living measures, voted for tax cuts for all, not just some. Voted for Energy Price Relief, Cheaper Child Care, Cheaper Medicines, voted for Free TAFE. You know, today we had a response from the Deputy Liberal Leader, Sussan Ley, calling the NBN announcement of yesterday, that it would be completed with fibre for all, including benefitting those between – just here in Nowra, just here in Nowra, 2,400 homes and businesses – she called that a joke. Well, what was a joke was pretending that copper was better than fibre in the 21st century. That's what was a joke. And halfway through their term, they had to reverse that. Fiona Phillips gets things done. She's an effective local Member and I have every confidence that she'll receive support.
JOURNALIST: The seat's being targeted, though, by the Coalition heavily and as well there's a new independent candidate, Kate Dezarnaulds. What do you think that's going to change? Will it change the election?
PRIME MINISTER: People will vote for Fiona Phillips because she's an outstanding local Member. She's someone who has one job and only wants one job. She won't be shopping around. Andrew Constance has shopped around different federal seats, state seats, Senate, upper house, lower house. You know, I think that Andrew Constance, I don't mind him as a person, I get on fine with him. Dealt with him when he was in State Parliament, but he was a Transport Minister as well, senior member. He didn't get things done. Fiona Phillips gets things done.
JOURNALIST: How important is Gilmore to Labor’s hopes of winning?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Gilmore, of course, like every seat in Australia, is important. But here as well, I say this, it's not just the seat as an abstract, it's the people. It's about the people of Gilmore. It's not some figure, or line on a map. It's the people who live here. I'm very familiar with this area, as many of you would know, because you're all familiar to me. I have been coming here for a long, long period of time. Before I was the Infrastructure Minister, you didn't have any federal dollars in the Princes Highway. You didn't have the sort of – you didn't have a National Broadband Network, also, at all before that occurred. Imagine what COVID would have been like for people in this community if we didn't have the National Broadband Network. Just imagine the old dial up. Remember that? You know, you'd hear the buzzing going around and around and around trying to connect. It would have been so difficult for people. My Government is getting things done. My Government has reduced inflation from having a six in front of it to having a two in front of it. More than a million jobs have been created on our watch. We have real wages increasing four quarters in a row and we're a Government that made sure that people are earning more but keeping more of what they earn by giving every taxpayer a tax cut. Something that Peter Dutton said we should take to an election because it was so horrific.
JOURNALIST: Benjamin Netanyahu has been critical of the Government over its stance at the UN. Is the Attorney-General's visit to Israel this week an attempt to repair relations and who will he be meeting?
PRIME MINISTER: People regularly visit friendly nations and there's nothing surprising about that. The Attorney-General was due to go in October, due to what was happening on the ground there with attacks from the terrorist organisation Hezbollah, that visit didn't go ahead then. It was deferred until January. And the Attorney-General is, I think, on his way to Israel today and he'll have a range of meetings.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you mentioned the association between industry and rivers earlier. Earlier in your term you came here and made a multi-million dollar announcement supporting the Shoalhaven Starches there. Since that time we've had multiple explosions at that plant. We've had a fire that basically shut down a suburb for two weeks in one of their storage facilities. And more recently we've had a grain storage silo collapse, dumping tonnes and hundreds of tonnes of grain into the river, which caused an algae outbreak. Given the fact that the Federal Government is supporting this company as it is, should it be pulling up its bootstraps and ensuring its environmental responsibilities?
PRIME MINISTER: We support jobs, we support industry. And what we support is the opportunity to have new industries here as well, as well as the existing industries that we are unashamedly supportive of. Of course, all industry needs to operate in a sustainable way and I'm sure that that is what will occur.
JOURNALIST: What commitment can be made around increasing height limits in and around the Shoalhaven River? The thing has been the biggest challenge for the last decade, if not longer.
COUNCILLOR WHITE: Yeah, I'm happy to answer that. Recently, in the last probably 18 months, Council's done a huge amount of work with New South Wales Planning on Nowra and the CBD and how we grow Nowra in height, etc. Council is awaiting that report to come from State Government. I've heard from the Planning Minister that that will be released sometime in February, March to Council and then we can get on with working and planning for that increased height that we do know that we need. Part of this revitalisation of the riverfront will take into consideration a huge amount of State Government land on the western side of the bridge, and all of that land there will go into, probably, medium density and that will help accommodate for the 600 people that we need as additional staff for Nowra Hospital. So, we are moving forward with the State Government and working with Liza on the planning controls for Nowra, which have needed to be changed for some many, many years. So, we're onto it and we're getting it done.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how many developer applications have been made to the Illawarra offshore wind zone project?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, that's a question for Chris Bowen, the Minister, and I'm sure I can get you that information. Community consultation, of course, is very much a part of the process.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, is Australia open to reconsidering the terrorist designation of Syria's Interim Government, HTS, given experts say there is a humanitarian case to do so?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we take advice on those matters from the national security agencies and we address those matters in the National Security Committee rather than at press conferences.
JOURNALIST: The fires in LA, Anthony, would remind us, most Shoalhaven residents of the terrible fires that occurred in 2019. We just had the hottest year on record globally. Is there a case for increasing action to reduce global emissions in Australia, and particularly in the short term?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we know is that you can't say any individual event is due to climate change. But we know that the science tells us that there will be more extreme weather events as temperatures have risen and they'll be more intense. And certainly one of the things that I've said, and I repeat here today, is that for those people who had that experience, and I was here with Fiona during those bushfires talking with the impacted communities both before it became really intense and the during and certainly afterwards as well. That having a look at the quite horrific destruction that's occurring around California will be triggering for many people. So I repeat what I've said over the last few days which is that if it is causing distress, please, it is strong to put your hand up and say I need help and to reach out and to get that support. Because it will be a really difficult time for communities. We are taking strong action on climate change. We understand that the shift to net zero isn't just a challenge, it's an opportunity. It's an opportunity where Australia is better positioned than any country in the world with the resources that we have in the sky and under the ground. Those resources that will power the global economy in the 21st century - copper, vanadium, cobalt, lithium, all of these products we have in abundance. That's an opportunity. We have an opportunity to grow new industries as well and to grow manufacturing industries. There was, of course, a nuclear power plant and there's still the platform for it not far from here that was proposed now some five decades ago, almost. Now that was rejected at the time because it didn't stack up. It's rejected today because even more so it doesn't stack up economically. And the idea that you would stop the roll out of renewables supported by gas, that you would say, do nothing until the 2040s and then we'll give you nuclear reactors in different parts of Australia. And I make this point that one of the sites that's been chosen, there's other things happening there and there's no room for it but we'll put that aside, there at Liddell in Newcastle is an earthquake zone. It's an earthquake zone. So Peter Dutton has to answer, would this site here become an option for one of his handful of nuclear reactors that according to his own costings will result in, based upon 40 per cent less energy use than the Australian Energy Market Operator says will be needed in 2040. That means less economic activity, less jobs, less support. You know, is this a potential site as well? Peter Dutton wants to split the atom but you could put the detail of his policy on the side of an atom because it's just not there.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the South Coast is peppered with all up and down the coast and I'm sure across the nation, historical developments, but also new developments in areas that we should maybe potentially be protecting and not destroying. As the PM, what do you need to be doing more of to protect sensitive habitat from inappropriate and often outdated developments?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we of course work with state and local government. We have a three tiered system of government in Australia. I'm the Prime Minister of our national Government. Planning is the responsibility of state government largely in partnership with local government. We do need more housing in Australia, including in our regions. I noticed the Mayor talking about increased medium density along parts of the Shoalhaven here. That to me, I'm not aware of the detail, but it makes sense to have appropriate housing development and I'm not an opponent of housing. I want an increase in housing supply and I know that the Minns Labor Government, can I say this, is leading the country in the work that they're doing on planning as well and I congratulate them for it.
JOURNALIST: The EPBC Act though, with Tanya Plibersek [inaudible] working, if we see in places like Manyana not protected?
PRIME MINISTER: Well the EPBC Act does work. It's there in place. We think it needs some rejuvenation to make sure that there's support for industry but also support for sustainability. It's an Act –
JOURNALIST: What does rejuvenation look like?
PRIME MINISTER: It's an Act that comes from the Howard government.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on renewables. How does the Government get around the backyard opposition to establishment of renewable energy sources in people’s backyards?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you know what –
JOURNALIST: In the Illawarra there was a massive outcry against the offshore there. In the Riverina where they're developing up large solar farms, residents are complaining about that. How do you get around that and get those targets achieved?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, if you go around the houses here in Nowra, you'll see a few solar panels on roofs.
JOURNALIST: Yeah but we’re talking larger developments.
PRIME MINISTER: And the reason why people have put solar panels on their roofs is because it makes sense for them economically. Helps the environment, sure. But it's a rational economic decision to put a solar panel on your roof to get cheaper power. The same thing applies when broadcast around our national economy as well. And what I've seen in places like, including, talk about regional areas, I've seen some of the biggest solar farms in Australia around Big Kennedy, Little Kennedy, for example in North Queensland where I was just last week. What that is doing is not only providing power to the grid, it is also providing economic activity for those regional towns as well. In addition to that, I've sat down and spoken to farmers who are benefiting substantially from having a solar farm as part of their property, for example. There are a range of examples that you have seen which are there as well. One of the things that happens when I talk to leaders of, our friends in places like Japan and South Korea, is that they wish that they had our space that we have in this vast continent of Australia in order to be able to have a renewable energy industry like we are going to develop. But at the next election, what we know now is that the next election in part will be focused on whether people think that Peter Dutton's plan to stop renewables - I'm not sure what he does about energy security in the 2030s because he's got no answer to it before some fantasy of a nuclear reactor comes on in the 2040s. There's no plan for overcoming the opposition that's there from not just Coalition governments in Queensland and the Northern Territory, but the Opposition Leader in Victoria, the new one. There's a new right wing leader there. They knocked off John Pesutto for being too progressive and he refused to back in Peter Dutton's nuclear plan yesterday. The New South Wales Coalition don't back in his nuclear plan either. He's planning to do it in places that have already got other projects underway like Liddell and Whyalla. So it's unclear where they would actually be. But that's a debate that we'll have in the election campaign. It’s just one of the elements. The next election campaign will be about Labor, who's provided cost of living relief to deal with immediate challenges which are there. All of which have been opposed by the Coalition and has a plan to build Australia's future. And a Coalition determined to cost more through not just their opposition that they've already had to all of our cost of living measures but as well the flagging as they have of massive cuts. We know the last time Peter Dutton was Health Minister he tried to introduce a tax every time people visit a doctor, a payment system every time people would visit a public hospital, cut $50 billion from public hospitals. We know that he has said there are too many free services in Medicare. He said that was the problem with it. He doesn't get that that's the whole basis of Medicare is that people get the care they need when they need it. And so the next election will be about Labor with cost of living relief and a plan to build Australia's future. Peter Dutton costing people more and taking Australia backwards.
JOURNALIST: When can we expect a date to be set?
PRIME MINISTER: When I drive to Government House.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you mentioned Milton-Ulladulla bypass. The Liberals yesterday said, promised to fast track that. Is there more that Labor can be doing to bring that project forward?
PRIME MINISTER: We're bringing it forward. We're bringing it forward. We've issued the latest contract in December. The Liberals, to be very clear, were in government for almost a decade here federally and were in government for almost a thousand years in New South Wales. They had 12 years. They had state and federal Liberal Governments with Liberal members up and down the Princes Highway. It's little wonder that today in the members for South Coast and Bega, Eden-Monaro, Gilmore, that's changed. Because only Labor will stand up for this electorate. Thanks very much.