MATT SMITH, MEMBER FOR LEICHHARDT: Good morning. My name is Matt Smith. I'm the Federal Member of the Leichhardt. With me is Senator Nita Green, Assistant Minister for Tourism, the South Pacific and Northern Australia. And, of course, the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Prime Minister, thank you for coming along and joining us. He just hopped off the plane from the South Pacific. This is, this is Albo’s, fifth or sixth visit since I became a candidate, and now the Member, which is a bit over, sort of 14, 15 months, which, if I think about it, is more often than my parents have come to visit. But it does show how important the far north is to this Labor Government and to this Prime Minister, particularly. This is a year of delivery. It's something that is being hammered through to us at caucus all the time. You always want to be who you say you are, and that is why we are on the ground delivering up here. The Urgent Care Clinic tender has just been announced. We've delivered more day care on Horn Island. And of course, those national initiatives that help everybody: cheaper medicines, five per cent home deposits, penalty rates being enshrined, frozen beer excise, which is great. So, we are getting on with the job, which is the thing that we were elected to do. But now I want to welcome the Prime Minister. Thanks again for joining us up here, and I'll hand it over to you.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much, Matt, great to be here with you and Nita Green. This is my first visit since the election. And I do want to thank the people of Leichhardt for putting a member of the Government into Parliament. Matt Smith campaigned really strongly. He's someone who, from the very first time we campaigned together, announcing his candidacy at the Cairns Show, he knew everyone at the Cairns Show, and everywhere I've been with Matt, he has known this community. He's a part of it, and he's already making an outstanding contribution in Canberra. The further you move away from Canberra, the more important that is, that you have a strong advocate for this great region, not just Cairns, of course, but the Torres Strait, Cape York, and the communities around here. He is a strong voice, and he gave an outstanding first speech. I'm just back from the South Pacific, from the Pacific Forum, and the PIF has been a real success. Once again, Australia engaging with our Pacific family to advance our interests, whether it's on climate change, with the Pacific Resilience Facility, what we hope to be a half a billion dollar fund to advance infrastructure in these nations so that they can shift from diesel onto renewables, so that they can help to transform their economies as well. In addition to that, the signing of the Pacific Peace Zone, that is so important. This was an initiative of Prime Minister Rabuka of Fiji, and it's something that was very much welcome as well. But here back in Australia, it's fantastic to continue the work that we've been undertaking. As Matt has said, I want this to be the period of delivery, where we're delivering on the commitments that we took to the election, already we've been doing that. Cheaper medicines, down to $25 each, same price they were in 2004. Enshrining protections for penalty rates. Something so important in communities such as this. Making sure as well that on July 1, we delivered all those important changes, the energy bill relief, the support for Paid Prac for students undertaking nursing and other activities, the increased support for housing that we've done with our five per cent deposits that were brought forward to the 1st of October, and where people won't have to pay mortgage insurance. Importantly, one of our great successes has been, as we're at 8:30 in the morning and the sun is shining here, we have the best solar resources in the world. We capture them through the highest number of per capita solar panels on roofs of anywhere in the world. But we haven't had enough batteries. What we have seen now with our battery rebate is more than 50,000 Australians, particularly those in regional Australia, take up the opportunity, and already, in just two months, have installed batteries to capture that solar energy that is generated from their rooftops. And importantly, as well, that benefits them by cutting their bills permanently by having that storage, but it also benefits the entire country, because what it's doing is taking pressure off the grid, making sure that at peak times, that stored energy can reduce the pressure that's on our power grid, therefore benefiting all Australians as well. In addition to that, of course, we have our income tax cuts. That was a big issue at the election. We'll have an income tax cut next year and another one the year after, backing up the 79,000 people in Australia here who have already had income tax cuts. And bulk billing rates are up in Leichhardt, this electorate. And the Cairns Urgent Care Clinic is, of course, helping to take pressure off local hospitals. Some 1.6 million Australians have been to an Urgent Care Clinic, got the care they need when they needed it. All they've needed was their Medicare card, I'll hand over to Nita, and then we're happy to take questions.
NITA GREEN, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR NORTHERN AUSTRALIA: Thank you, Prime Minister. I'll just make a couple of comments about the Prime Minister being back here in regional Queensland, and a few comments about the importance of the Pacific here in Cairns. But it's very good, I must say, to be here with a Labor Member for Leichhardt. And it's fantastic to have the Prime Minister back so soon after the election. The Prime Minister is a good friend of regional Queensland, and we've always sought to be a government that represents everyone in Australia, not just the seats that we hold. And so, while it's really important that we now have a member of the Government here in Leichhardt, we're also going to be spending a lot of time in regional Queensland, making sure that we're delivering for all of those electorates, from here to Brisbane. Next week, I'll be travelling to Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton and the Gold Coast to do exactly that, to talk about what we're delivering for regional Queensland. I'll be talking about our Urgent Care Clinic in Mackay. We'll be looking at some infrastructure that we're delivering in Rockhampton. And in Townsville we'll be launching a tourism campaign. This is all about delivering for regional Queensland, because we know that these are parts of the country that were forgotten and taken for granted under the previous Government. I'm really looking forward to this trip and to get out of Cairns, but it's always good to come home, and so it's good to be here with the beautiful Great Barrier Reef behind us today. I want to thank the Prime Minister for spending time here with us today so soon after a really important trip to the Pacific. In my new role as the Assistant Minister for the Pacific, it has been really important to stress how the links in this region make a real difference to our conversations that we have throughout the region. A secure and prosperous and peaceful Pacific is important for our economy here in Cairns and Far North Queensland, nobody knows better than this region how important the work that the Prime Minister has been doing over the last couple of days matters to Australians right here at home. So, thank you for coming after a busy couple of days with our friends in the Pacific. And again, I want to thank Matt Smith for the work he's doing to deliver for the people of Far North Queensland.
PRIME MINISTER: Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Leaders in the Torres Strait have written the Masig Statement, which sets out a road map to regional autonomy by 2037. They want you to visit and sit down and talk about it, what do you have to say?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm a Prime Minister who's been to the Torres Strait, unlike most of my predecessors, and I look forward to coming back to engage. But the Torres Strait is an important region, and it is important I spoke to Torres Strait Islanders when I was in the Pacific as well. I sat on an inquiry in my first term of Parliament that was about greater autonomy for the Torres Strait. Some of those governance structures have been in place for some time. There is overlapping structures. There are different views, but I'm always happy to engage constructively with people in the Torres Strait. They're an important part of Australia.
JOURNALIST: Are you worried about reaching net zero by 2050 when members of the Queensland LNP say coal fired power stations will operate for many decades to come?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the truth is that coal fired power stations have been shut down here in Queensland. We had that disruption occur at Callide Plant, and that's because coal fired power stations are reaching the end of their life. We know that that is the case. 24 out of 28 coal fired power stations announced their closure during the former Coalition Government, and they did nothing about it. They had 23 different energy plans and didn't deliver any of them. We have one plan, we're delivering it, and that is important. As we go forward, I'm very confident that we can reach net zero. Not just very confident that we can, but that we must, because of the pressure that's on, not just climate change, but the pressure as well on our economy. I spoke on Monday night at the Business Council of Australia. What the business community want is investment certainty. That's why having net zero legislated, but a mechanism to get there through the Safeguard Mechanism and the Capacity Investment Scheme has been so important. And that's what the business community are telling me. I work constructively with state and territory governments as we progress, but this is something that's very much in the interests of our nation.
JOURNALIST: What impact does emissions reduction policy have on UNESCO, keeping the Great Barrier Reef off the World Heritage In Danger List?
ASSISTANT MINISTER GREEN: Thanks Sam, and thank you for your interest in UNESCO. When we when we speak with UNESCO, it's a collaborative and constructive conversation, and they take into consideration many factors. And one of the reasons why we invited the Director of the World Heritage Centre here to Green Island, to visit the Great Barrier Reef, was to demonstrate all of the ways that we are seeking to protect the Great Barrier Reef and importantly, the jobs that it supports. As I've said many times before, nobody cares more about the Great Barrier Reef than Australians. Nobody wants to protect it more than the people that work right here on the reef every single day. And so it's really important that we're able to demonstrate two things: that we are the government that is taking action on climate change, and that we are the government that takes net zero seriously, and that at the same time, we are delivering the best managed reef in the entire world. We have new reforms around fishing. We've got - we're making sure that we're investing in water quality, record levels of funding to take care of crown-of-thorns starfish. These are all the things that UNESCO asked the previous government to do, and we are the government that's delivering on it.
JOURNALIST: What did you make of Sussan Ley's apology to the Indian Australian community, and should it have come sooner?
PRIME MINISTER: I think that what I'm concentrating on is protecting and advancing the interests of Australians. I'm interested in fighting for them. The Coalition are interested in fighting each other, whether it be Liberals fighting Liberals, Nationals fighting Nationals, or Liberals fighting Nationals or the LNP, I'm not sure who they're fighting, each other. I think people want both the Government and an Opposition that's interested in them. The Coalition are very much focused on themselves. The comments with regard to the Indian community, quite clearly, Senator Nampijinpa Price, were unacceptable. The fact that this was dragged on for some time. The Indian Australian community make a great contribution. What I'm interested in is social inclusion and bringing people together, not dividing people for some perceived political advantage. And I'd just say that members of parliament, whether frontbenchers, backbenchers, senators or members of the House of Representatives, need to bear that in mind. We need to bring people together. That's what every member of my team does.
JOURNALIST: There’s a trend of US influencers or influencers in general, mishandling crocodiles in Far North Queensland. Can you revoke their visas or deport them?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ve got to say that was not an issue in the Solomon Islands. So obviously people should behave in accordance with the law.
JOURNALIST: What does it say about the Liberal Party and its leadership when it still had Senator Price as the headline speaker at a Liberal fundraiser at the Indian Community Centre in Perth last night?
PRIME MINISTER: I find that just extraordinary and insensitive that the Liberal Party in Western Australia - and I'll be travelling to Western Australia in coming days - continues to engage in this, which is about promoting division. I think that the Liberal Party need to get their act together and speak with some coherence. I'm interested in bringing Australia together and bringing Australians together, that's my focus.
JOURNALIST: Would your climate target be within the bounds of the Climate Change Authority's advice?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we haven't received the advice yet, so when we receive it, we will then have a Cabinet meeting and we'll make a decision. So it's impossible at this point to comment on hypotheticals. We have legislated world's best practice - the Climate Change Authority make a recommendation to the Government, the Government then will make a deliberation and make a declaration of our NDC, and then we'll also release publicly the advice from the Climate Change Authority.
JOURNALIST: Do Pacific nations believe we're doing enough on climate change?
PRIME MINISTER: They we're very supportive of the statement that's very clear about Australia and the Pacific hosting COP31. That says a lot about the support. They know that you can't just flick a switch and transform an economy overnight. They know that we are working hard on energy security, on making sure that we have this transition in an orderly way, and they know as well that we're assisting them in their transition as well.
JOURNALIST: Back to the Pacific, you've obviously just spent the past four days with some good friends. Are you worried they're going to be unhappy or unsatisfied once you reveal that Australia's 2035 emissions target and the final decision on the North West Shelf Gas extension?
PRIME MINISTER: No, they're great friends, and will stay great friends. We have a fantastic relationship with our Pacific neighbours. I travelled to the Solomon Islands to the PIF via Vanuatu. Next week, I'll be in Papua New Guinea for what will be an incredible celebration of 50 years of independence. Last year, I was the first Australian Prime Minister to walk the Kokoda Track in the lead up to Anzac Day, and I did it with the first PNG Prime Minister, my friend James Marape, who walked with us, must be said in golf shoes on that track. We are just great friends. This is a relationship built on people to people links, but it's also an economic relationship, one in which we recognise our common interests. And at the Pacific Island Forum, there was a real warmth between all of the nations there. We are family, and we look after each other, and we'll continue to do so.
JOURNALIST: Will you commit to the recommendations of the Special Envoy for Islamophobia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we haven't announced them yet. So, whether it's Climate Change Authority, or other things, when they're released is the time for consideration of government. We're an orderly government. We stand in stark contrast to the way that the former government used to operate, with statements that change from day to day. We've seen they've continued to carry on like that as an Opposition. My Government is orderly, is considered, is collegiate, is a proper cabinet government. We have proper processes. We involve our caucus. And that is what Australians wanted. That's what Australians voted for on the 3rd of May.
JOURNALIST: Would you support a PNG NRL team basing it in Cairns?
PRIME MINISTER: The PNG team are going to be based in Port Moresby.
JOURNALIST: I've got two, what's your reaction to the shooting of Charlie Kirk?
PRIME MINISTER: This is horrific. There is no place for violence. I think the world is shocked by such an event, and my heart goes out to Mr. Kirk's family and to all those who will be grieving today in the United States. Political violence has no role. On the 3rd of May, we had a democratic election. People went along and voted and had their political say through the ballot box. That's the way the issue should be dealt with in the leadup, with civil discourse, agreeing to disagree respectfully. The fact that this guy, Matt Smith, has engaged constructively with Warren Entsch. I was always very respectful of Warren Entsch as a local member, because I respected what he did here in Leichhardt. He made representations, he was always welcome in my office as Prime Minister. And the fact that Matt Smith has worked with Warren Entsch says a lot about this guy, but it says something about Warren Entsch as well, and his commitment to the local community. That he knows that Matt Smith, in my view, is going to be a very long term member here, and he wants Matt Smith to be a success because that will mean success for Cairns and Far North Queensland. That's the way that politics should operate. And on the 3rd of May, I received a respectful call from Peter Dutton. That was a tough night for Peter Dutton, not just the election, but obviously his own electorate, but it was respectful. We in Australia can be really proud of the way that we conduct ourselves, and need to continue to get rid of the fringes where they move the extreme left or the extreme right, but there is no place for political violence.
JOURNALIST: Donald Trump called you a good man overnight. What do you make of this? And do you think he's a good man?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I do. I've had respectful relations with President Trump. We have had four discussions that have been really warm. The last one was just over a week ago. I look forward to engage with the United States. We've engaged as well with his Administration. The relationship with the United States is an important one for Australia, an important economic relationship. We’ll continue to put forward our case on tariffs. It's an important defence relationship through AUKUS and other arrangements that are in place. But it's also an important people to people relationship as well, and we want to see more American tourists coming here and seeing the beautiful Great Barrier Reef. Thanks very much.