Welcome back.

It feels like we never left. Well I didn’t.

It is good to be back here and it’s good to be back here on this side of the partyroom meetings.

In 2022, since May, we’ve certainly hit the ground running.

But 2023 will be the year of further delivery on our commitments for a better future.

If you look at what we put in place in 2022, we have already extensively carried legislation which is already making a difference.

On the 1st of January, cheaper medicines began, the first decrease in 75 years.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: We’ll be making some comments firstly on the tragedy in Türkiye and Syria, before then going on to the press conference. Can I extend Australia's deepest sympathies and condolences to the families and communities that have lost loved ones. We have seen thousands of deaths, and tens of thousands of injuries through this tragedy.

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet. I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging, and I thank Aunty Violet for her Welcome to Country.

It is a particular honour to be here with you today, and I thank Georgina and UN Women Australia for their leadership.

International Women’s Day is part of a long history of women’s activism. And it has always been imbued with a deep understanding that the greatest weight that words can carry is the difference that they can make.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It's very good to be here this morning at UN Women Australia Breakfast for International Women's Day, which of course is coming up. I'm very proud that the Government that I lead has taken action to extend Paid Parental Leave to six months, that we're making early learning cheaper to increase women's economic participation and to boost productivity. That as of the first of February, Australian women now have access to 10 days paid Domestic and Family Violence Leave. These are practical measures which are making a difference.

ALICIA PAYNE, MEMBER FOR CANBERRA:  Good morning. I’m Alicia Payne, the Federal Member for Canberra and it's my great pleasure this morning to be here at MOCCA in Manuka with the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, the Minister for Education, Jason Clare, and the Minister for Early Childhood, Anne Aly. And I want to say a huge thank you to Kara and the team here at MOCCA for welcoming us again to their beautiful centre, and to the children who we had such a lovely play with Lego this morning.

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, I pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging.

This is a room full of innovators and job-creators and employers.

You have put your faith in Australia, you have invested in this nation and our people and their skills.

You have invested in our self-reliance, in our resilience, in our capacity to compete and win in the world.

And in doing so you have created secure jobs and opportunities in suburbs and regions around Australia.

DAVID EPSTEIN, HOST: So we have a few questions for the audience, if you don't mind. The first is a question about sovereignty. There's been a lot of debate, and indeed, suggestions from some people about the order of doing things and perhaps they should be Treaty first, or other actions on sovereignty, before we act on a Voice. Where does the Voice leave sovereignty?

TOM CROWLEY, HOST: Prime Minister, thank you very much for speaking to the Daily Aus.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good to be with you. 

CROWLEY: I want to start with the referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament later this year. Now some of the latest polling suggests that a lot of Australians still can't explain what a Voice is. How will you bridge that gap between now and the vote?

The light of this day will soon yield to darkness. Just as sound will yield to silence. Just as life will – ultimately – yield to death.

And as that darkness falls, we will think of them. All of them who now belong to the great silence.

Look about you. All around us in this secular temple are the names of the dead, and the places they fell.

Try to imagine the face that belonged to every name. 

The voice. 

Maybe the laugh, or the light in their eyes, maybe the distinctive footstep along country street or city lane.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well Reverend Bachelard has given us a very powerful sermon this morning, speaking about the importance of the Statement from the Heart. About how we need to listen to its call as a community. She spoke about its grace, and indeed, I believe it is, and that's why I believe very firmly that Australians should take the opportunity that they’ll have in the second half of this year to cast a vote for yes. To cast a vote to walk upon the path of reconciliation in the spirit of generosity in which the Uluru Statement from the Heart calls us.