EMMA MCBRIDE, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR MENTAL HEALTH AND SUICIDE PREVENTION: Thank you everybody for coming here today to The Entrance on the Central Coast of New South Wales. I'm delighted to welcome back the Prime Minister and my good friend and colleague, Dr Gordon Reid, who's joining us after doing a shift in the local ED yesterday. Today is a really significant day when we, what comes into effect, one of our major election commitments. And as a local MP and as a pharmacist myself, I know the difference that cheaper medicines will make to so many people and families across our community. So today, the 1st of January, PBS prescriptions will cost no more than $25, a cut of more than 20 per cent which will save Australians an estimated $200 million on the cost of medicines. I know as a pharmacist, I've been in a situation where people are forced to decide between getting a script filled, or not, delaying or avoiding filling prescriptions. We know that that's happened too often. Women are more often likely to delay or avoid filling a script than men, often on behalf of their family. I've been in a pharmacy where someone's come in from doing the groceries. They've got the shopping trolley full. They've got a bunch of prescriptions in their hand, and they've said to me, 'can I get one antibiotic mixture and share it between my children?' And it was a different antibiotic mixture. So, we know this big difference that this will make to children and families right across the country. And I want to thank the Prime Minister for his leadership, for making sure that PBS medicines are affordable. And a big part of that as well, will be freezing the cost of concession scripts. Concession scripts have been frozen for five years till 2030, so no concession card holder will pay more than $7.70 for their medicines. The Prime Minister knows the difference that that will make, particularly to older Australians and people who are struggling. This is good for your health and good for your hip pocket. Before I hand over to the Prime Minister and then Dr Gordon Reid, I also want to briefly touch on the next phase of our big changes in mental health. As a clinician who worked in mental health in patient units, I saw too many people in distress end up in crisis because they couldn't get support in the community. Today, Medicare Mental Health Check In goes live, and I encourage all Australians to jump online and to see the new services that they can register for that will be available for them, without needing a diagnosis, without needing a referral, and for free. It's estimated that this will be able to benefit more than 150,000 Australians in its first year, as we continue to roll out our free mental health services under Medicare, putting mental health at the heart of Medicare and services in the centre of communities, I might now hand over to the Prime Minister and then to my colleague, Dr Gordon Reid. Thank you, PM, for being here today.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you so much, Emma, and it's fantastic to be back here on the Coast with Emma McBride and Dr Gordon Reid. And when I thought about the timing and the place where we would launch, of course, our latest commitment to Medicare and to healthcare, there is nowhere better than the Central Coast where we have literally someone who has worked for such a long period of time as a pharmacist, and Dr Gordon Reid, who just yesterday, was back in ED at the local hospital here providing that support. Since then, of course, both of them have also gone on to represent this fantastic local community. And I do want to thank Annie for having us here at her pharmacy, and Trent from the Pharmacy Guild as well, from New South Wales, who's done such a fantastic job. Now, I launched this commitment at the Pharmacy Guild's National Conference. I was the first Prime Minister to address the Pharmacy Guild National Conference, and there, we committed to reducing the price of medicines to just $25 that are on the PBS. That makes an enormous difference for Australians. It will save them around about $200 million each and every year, bringing the price down to the same price that it was in 2004. Now there's an old saying, 'nothing goes down in price, things only go up.' And guess what? It's not right when it comes to my government's commitment to addressing cost of living. So, $25 is the maximum price for a PBS script. And for concession card holders, we've frozen it at just $7.70 until the end of this decade. This is just part of what we are doing to make a difference on cost of living. In addition to that, today is the day that 1800MEDICARE starts. So, that people can, from their phone or from their laptop or tablet, can get in touch with Medicare and a support, speak to a GP or a qualified practitioner and get advice on the phone, not for emergencies, but to get that bit of advice for themselves or their children that they need, 24 hours a day, making an enormous difference, calling 1800 633 422, and getting that access 24 hours a day. These two commitments were at the heart of the commitment that we made to strengthen Medicare, along with the tripling of the bulk billing incentive that has seen literally millions of additional visits to the GP for free. And in addition to that, the opening of Urgent Care Clinics, the additional 50 that we committed to and that we have delivered, now, delivering up to 137 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, taking pressure off emergency departments in hospitals right around Australia. These commitments all kick in now on the 1st of January, today. Later today as well, or in just a few days' time, our Three Day Guarantee for childcare kicks in from the 5th of January. That again, is a commitment that we made in the lead up to the May election. And we have been ticking off one by one the commitments, making sure that we deliver on what Australians voted for on the 3rd of May last year. So, as we enter 2026, each of those commitments getting ticked off one by one, whether it's 1800MEDICARE, Three Days Guarantee of childcare subsidy or, of course, the $25 scripts for medicines as well, making an enormous difference. And in July of this year, our second round of tax cuts will kick in, our third round of tax cuts will kick in in July next year. My government has been determined to deliver on cost of living, making a difference to people as they go forward. And the election of Emma and Gordon are very much a part of that team, and both of them play such a valuable role in representing this fantastic local community in Canberra. I'll call upon Dr Gordon Reid, and then we'll take some questions.
DR GORDON REID, MEMBER FOR ROBERTSON: Well, thank you, Prime Minister, for being here today on this great day for all Australians, making scripts and making medications cheaper for families right across the Central Coast. Hearing that medicines are the same price as they were in 2004 - I was in Year Six in 2004 - so it's making me feel quite young today, which is excellent, with a baby on the way. But I do want to, I do want to thank the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, and I thank Trent Playford for all of his advocacy here on the Central Coast. And I'm so proud to be part of an Albanese Labor Government that's not only making medications cheaper but is improving access to healthcare for all Australians. One of the reasons that I put my hand up in 2021 to run for Parliament was to improve healthcare access for people here on the Central Coast, and also to make medications affordable. There were times in the emergency department that I saw people, as Emma has said, go without the medications that they need for their chronic illnesses, those chronic illnesses then exacerbating to become acute illnesses that mean they need to see me in the middle of the night. And now the second time that this has occurred, I've actually seen patients in the emergency department being able to afford the medications that they need to make sure that they live long, healthy and productive lives. So again, happy to see this happen, also happy to see the third Medicare Urgent Care Clinic being open here on the central coast at Erina. Remember, if you're too sick for the GP, not sick enough for the emergency department, before the election of the Albanese Labor Government, you didn't have anywhere to go. Now you've got somewhere to go for those urgent, but not emergent conditions. Thank you very much.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what are the names and qualifications of the quote actual experts who advised you to do a Richardson Review instead of a Royal Commission?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Dennis Richardson is one. And I've spoken about the people who advise the government. They're the heads of all of the authorities.
JOURNALIST: Any specific names?
PRIME MINISTER: They're the heads of all the authorities, which is very publicly known.
JOURNALIST: Does that mean you've been advised against holding a Royal Commission by the heads of ASIO, the AFP and ASIS?
PRIME MINISTER: I mean, we take advice from all of our agencies and all of the experts.
JOURNALIST: The Human Rights Commissioner has yesterday, come out in favour of a Royal Commission. Will there be any repercussions for her as a public servant for having made that statement? And does her opinion sway your decision-making in any way?
PRIME MINISTER: No. People are entitled to their opinion. What we have is a four part plan. The first is, of course, to deal with the perpetrators. One of those is dead, the other has been charged and needs to go through the legal system. The second issue is the New South Wales Royal Commission that will look at the events, including look at the police actions. The Commonwealth will participate fully in that. The third is the Richardson Review. Dennis Richardson a former Head of the Department of Defence, Department of Foreign Affairs, a former Ambassador to the United States of America, a former head of our intelligence agencies. The most qualified person you could possibly have to look at intelligence issues, to look at security issues on a national basis to get to the heart of the matter. He's already started work. He has a team up and running who will examine all of these issues. And the fourth, of course, is Jillian Segal's Report, the Envoy on Antisemitism. We have done a range of measures already as a result of that work, including, of course, her appointment as something that had never been done before. We've introduced hate laws. We've outlawed Nazi symbols. We've outlawed doxing, something that the Coalition voted against. We know that there's more to do, and we're taking that up. We have a one year review, for example, by David Gonski of education on the basis of, after the advice of the Antisemitism Envoy. We also have, of course, a review of universities that will produce a report card. That work's being done by Professor Craven as well, someone who is very well qualified to do that. We will, of course, further strengthen hate laws as well, something that was never done by former governments as well. We'll continue to do all of that work.
JOURNALIST: Do you think that there needs to be a platform for some of these opinions and antisemitism to be scrutinised at a national level? Because if we only have a New South Wales Royal Commission, these views will not be able to be scrutinised at a federal level.
PRIME MINISTER: I think it is hard to argue that there have not been platforms and will continue to be, of course, including the work that will be done on legislation in the Parliament. What we need to do is to respond to this issue with unity and with urgency, not with division and delay. That is something that my government is determined to do.
JOURNALIST: If a Richardson review, the New South Wales Royal Commission, or any current national security experts are advising you, recommend a Commonwealth Royal Commission, will you change your mind? Or are you ruling one out all together?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've made our position clear, and I just went through the four stages, the four elements that we're doing.
JOURNALIST: Did your government know about the Chinese beef import changes? And have you had any has your government had any communication with your Chinese counterparts on it?
PRIME MINISTER: We are communicating with our counterparts. This is something that wasn't Australia being singled out. This is a general condition that China has put. We are advocating, as we always do, for Australian industry.
JOURNALIST: What sort of an impact you expecting it's going to have on industry?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we, of course, this is an announcement that is across the board, so it doesn't impact our - Australia isn't being singled out here. Australian beef is, in my view, proudly, as the Australian Prime Minister, the best in the world. We compete in the world very well, and our products are in great demand right around the world. We expect that will continue to be so. The Australian beef industry has never been stronger than it is today as we enter 2026.
JOURNALIST: Julie Inman Grant has been threatened by US Congress in part over the application of the social media ban and asking X to pursue terror videos. Do you think it's appropriate for a foreign government to be behaving toward an Australia official in that way? And what advice is your government giving her? What communications are you having with the US Government about this kind of behaviour?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we support the work that the eSafety Commissioner has done. Julie Inman Grant was appointed by the former government, has the support of the current government, has the support, I believe, overwhelmingly, of the Australian people. We introduced on the 10th of December the social media ban. The numbers of accounts that have been closed as a direct result show that it is working. We're continuing to monitor and work through that. The eSafety Commissioner is at the centre of that, and I note that just today, there is now an announcement about the French Government looking at a social media ban as well. This is an area in which Australia has proudly led the world. We expected and are receiving some pushback from the tech companies as a result of that, but we are proud. This is doing the right thing. We know that social media is doing social harm to young people in particular, and we know that social media companies have a social responsibility. This legislation is ensuring that that's being fulfilled, and we back the eSafety Commissioner.
JOURNALIST: But the pushback isn't just coming from the tech companies. It's also coming from US Congress. Has your Government made any representations to US Congressmen, to the US Government about the way they're treating an Australian official?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we back the eSafety Commissioner and we engage with governments in the usual diplomatic way, rather than at press conferences. Thank you.