ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks everyone for joining us and thanks for the very warm welcome, I've got to say, that we've had here in Western Australia over the last three days. It’s been a very good visit. And at the Cabinet meeting yesterday, we heard from Premier Cook about issues facing Western Australia. And my government's determined to work with the Cook Labor Government here in WA to make a difference, to address the cost of living challenges, address the challenges of housing, address all of the issues that are challenges for us, but that present enormous opportunity. Because this great state of WA has powered the nation, and will continue to be an economic powerhouse as we go forward into the future, which is why my government has such a strong relationship here in WA, with our third Cabinet meeting. I also want to give a shout out to all those who attended the Chinese New Year celebrations last night. 950 of our closest friends gathered. It was a wonderful celebration of the Year of the Dragon, and a great celebration of Australian multiculturalism. And for Sam Lim in particular, I thank Sam for the effort that he's put in.
But today we're here for what is a really critical announcement on housing. My government is determined to address housing supply and we've done that through a range of measures. One of the first things that we did was to add $575 million to make available through our National Housing Infrastructure Facility. And this project here is the most significant investment we've had from that. This will see some $88 million from the Commonwealth combined with $40 million from the state government in order to deliver some 219 new apartments here right in the centre of the City of Perth. And what that will do, some of that will be social housing, some of that affordable housing for essential workers, half of it being made up of social or affordable housing, and the other half made up of private housing. This will make an enormous difference. We know in the budget as well, brought down by the Treasurer, and he I'm sure we'll talk about that this morning, the Build to Rent incentives that we've put into the tax system. We know the key to addressing housing is housing supply. And projects like this are squarely aimed at doing so, along with our Social Housing Accelerator, our Build to Rent tax incentives, our other measures, including our Housing Australia Future Fund, of $10 billion that will provide money each and every year into the future. This is an important initiative to address cost of living along with our cost of living tax cuts that will benefit every single West Australian taxpayer, because all 13.6 million taxpayers in Australia will benefit, with average workers aimed squarely at middle Australia getting double the tax cut. But in addition to that, no one being left behind by ensuring that every taxpayer gets a tax cut. This is important policy that goes together with the other cost of living measures that were put on in order to alleviate cost of living pressures facing working Australia whether they be low income earners or middle income earners as well. So it's been a great visit here in Western Australia. We're going to hear from the Premier, then hear from a couple of ministers, and then hear from Housing Australia as well.
ROGER COOK, PREMIER OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Thanks, Prime Minister. It's great to be here with the Prime Minister for this exciting announcement. And we've said time and again, that our immediate priority in my government is to address the cost of living and the housing pressures that Western Australians are experiencing at the moment. Today's announcement with a combined $130 million investment into this Build to Rent facility will make a significant contribution to our social housing strategy. A $2.6 billion strategy to develop 4000 social housing dwellings, to really make sure that we ramp up the amount of housing supply and stock that are available to the WA public. Today's announcement is another great example of my government working with the Albanese Government to make a difference on the ground. And it's fantastic to see, to work with the Albanese Government on these sort of initiatives. The Prime Minister gets WA. He gets WA. He has visited Western Australia more times than the last three prime ministers combined. He has come here time and again to really understand the sort of issues which are impacting on Western Australia. And this Federal Government is making a difference on the ground. So it's great to be here for this announcement today. We will continue to make sure that we keep the pressures on lowering the cost of living for Western Australians, and increasing the housing opportunities for everyone in WA. Today's announcement, a combined $130 million announcement for over 200 social housing and affordable dwellings is a great opportunity to continue to throw everything at the social housing issues that we confront in WA. I’ll hand over to the Housing Minister, Julie Collins.
JULIE COLLINS, MINISTER FOR HOUSING, HOMELESSNESS AND SMALL BUSINESS: Thanks, Premier and Prime Minister. It's wonderful to have the Treasurer and Minister Carey here also. This is a really significant announcement for Western Australians, particularly those around greater Perth. This investment shows what partnerships can do. This is the Federal Government partnering with the State Government, partnering with superannuation, and partnering with community housing providers to actually get more homes on the ground. This is the type of project we want to see more of right here in Western Australia, but also right around the country. What we're hearing from the first round of the Housing Australia Future Fund, through Housing Australia, is that these types of projects are being proposed right across the country. As the Prime Minister said, our Build to Rent changes are having an impact. So too are the things that we're doing to remove barriers to institutional investment, particularly superannuation funds. This shows that these projects can work. And I'm really pleased to be here today for the significant announcement. Minister Carey and I have been talking about this announcement and our other investments in Western Australia, $88 million dollars here from the Federal Government. But we've also already provided to the Western Australian Government $209 million through Social Housing Accelerator to get more social housing on the ground here in Western Australia. We've also now supported more than 13,000 Western Australians into home ownership sooner through the Home Guarantee Scheme. And of course, we want to do more with our Help to Buy Shared Equity Scheme, similar to the state government's Kickstart program. We want to deliver for more Western Australians, whether they be renters, whether they be people wanting to purchase a home, or whether they be people trying to get into social and affordable housing. This is a terrific announcement. We are investing more than $25 billion in new money over the next decade into housing. We're taking this extremely seriously and it's great to be partnering with the Western Australian Government, with super funds, and indeed with social and community housing providers here in Western Australia. Thanks.
JOHN CAREY, WEST AUSTRALIAN MINISTER FOR PLANNING, LANDS, HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS: We know that COVID has radically reshaped our housing, construction market and rental markets. And of course, we're not alone. Every state faces the same challenge. I want to assure West Australians that we take the rental market pressures very seriously, and we're throwing everything at it to boost housing supply. This is a significant announcement for Perth and Western Australia. This is a major boost to housing supply and providing relief to the rental market. This will be the largest Build to Rent for Western Australia that provides affordable and social housing. And so today, we strongly welcome the massive funding injection by the Albanese Government. This represents a very clear partnership to tackle housing challenges direct on. I'm happy just to take any questions on this development, if there are any. Well, that makes my life easy.
JIM CHALMERS, TREASURER: Well, the Albanese Government is a big believer in this state, its economy and its future. And we work very closely with Premier Cook, Treasurer Saffioti and all of the ministers to make sure that we are delivering for the wonderful people of WA. We believe in the future of this state and the billions of dollars that we're investing here is a reflection of that. We also understand that people are under cost of living pressure here in the West. But more than just acknowledging that we are doing something about it. This investment in housing is all about understanding the pressures that people are under here in Perth when it comes to housing and the cost of living. And our tax cuts are about that as well. Every single WA taxpayer gets a tax cut under our tax plan that we have put forward in recent weeks. But more than eight in ten WA taxpayers will get a bigger tax cut to help with the cost of living. We understand that average incomes are a bit higher here in the West and that's a good thing. And the average tax cut is higher as well, around $40 a week on average for the workers of WA to help them with the pressures that they are under. We want the workers of WA to earn more and to keep more of what they earn. And our tax cuts are all about those objectives. This is about more help for more people in WA to help with the cost of living. And when we put this tax package together the people, and the workers, and the families and the communities of WA were absolutely front and centre. One of the reasons why we're ensuring that these tax cuts go right up and down the income scale is because we understand that there are higher incomes in the West, that's a good thing. We want to support people no matter how much they earn. We understand people are under pressure, right up and down the income scale. We also are big investors, big enthusiastic investors in defence industry here in the West. Our colleagues, Richard Marles and Pat Conroy, have just announced a multi-billion dollar investment in the future of our Navy and the future of our surface fleet. WA will be among the biggest beneficiaries of the billions of dollars that the government has announced today. By more than doubling our surface fleet, WA will get a big slice of the action when it comes to the billions of dollars involved in those investments. This means decades of continuous shipbuilding at Henderson, and all of the jobs and all of the industry and all the technology and all of the certainty that that brings the people and workers and communities of Western Australia. We're very proud to be making this investment in our national security, in our national economy, in our Navy, but also in the people and workers and communities of WA.
Today, earlier today the Competition Tribunal announced their decision when it comes to the ANZ acquisition of Suncorp. This is contrary to the announcement made by the ACCC, it overturns the view put out there by the ACCC last year, when the ACCC raised some competition concerns about this acquisition. What usually happens now, the standard part of the process now, is that there is a period where interested parties can review the decision taken by the Competition Tribunal. The Competition Tribunal has said today that the acquisition of Suncorp by ANZ is consistent with the Competition Act. But there are more steps still to go through. There's a review period, as I said, and then under the financial sector Shareholdings Act, the Treasurer of the day, myself, makes a decision about whether or not this acquisition is in the national interest. I'm going to take my time to do that. I'm going to work through that in the usual considered and methodical way. I'll get the application under the FSSA arrangements. I’ll get the advice from Treasury. I'll consider that advice in a methodical and a considered and careful and cautious way. And I'll make my decision known about whether or not this is contrary or consistent with national interest in due course.
Last point I'll make is about the conditions here in WA today. We thank and acknowledge the work of first responders on days like today. We say to the people of WA, stay calm, stay cool if you can, stay indoors if you can, stay safe and stay hydrated. And make sure that you follow the advice of the authorities, particularly in areas where there is a bushfire risk. Make sure you stay across the advice, make sure you have a plan. And most of all stay cool and hydrated and indoors if you can.
PRIME MINISTER: And consistent with that, I'm going to ask all the people here to go over into the shade, because that is the common sense thing to do. And we are happy to take a few questions, maybe this won’t be the longest press conference we’ve ever had.
JOURNALIST: Just on asylum seekers, do you acknowledge now that the attention that Defence and Border Force have paid to surveillance of the coast hasn't been up to the standards that it has been prior to this?
PRIME MINISTER: Not at all. The fact is we've had a lot of nonsense from Peter Dutton. He's spoken about alleged cuts when there's been a $470 million increase, increase, including, just this year alone, an increase of over $200 million. The fact is that Operation Sovereign Borders is taking place. The evidence of that you've been able to see, people who arrived here, as has occurred in the past, were taken to Nauru, they won't be allowed to settle in Australia. Our resolve is clear. The only person cheering on people smugglers has been Peter Dutton this week.
JOURNALIST: The Border Force annual report does suggest that flying surveillance hours are down. Is that of concern to you? And would you like to see Border Force to increase those?
PRIME MINISTER: We have the measures in place. We have measures in place. Operation Sovereign Borders is being implemented. And we've seen that this week.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister yesterday you said that Australia stands ready to provide police assistance to PNG if necessary. James Marape has downplayed that a little yesterday, but has there been any initial conversations between the two nations?
PRIME MINISTER: No, not at leader-to-leader level. And Mr. Marape, as Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, I'm in regular contact with him. The offer has been there and been communicated to Mr. Marape that should any assistance be required, then it would be given.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister on the defence announcement, on the government material that outlines in detail, it mentions “enhanced lethality.” Are you able to explain what that means and how Australia should interpret, “enhanced lethality?”
PRIME MINISTER: What we're talking about here is making sure that we have a military that's cooperative across Navy, Air Force, and Army, that we have a plan for the overall defence of our nation. And also, we have, as you will see, through the AUKUS arrangements, interoperability with our allies as well, in order to maximise the effectiveness of our defence. This is a very significant announcement today. We're talking about more than doubling the surface fleet into the future. And today's announcement as well, will be good for our defence, but as well, good for jobs, including particularly in Adelaide and here in Perth. We had to deal with through the Defence Strategic Review, we inherited a system that had, in the case of the frigates, some $20 billion black hole. A costing of $45 billion allowed for, but real costs of $65 billion. It's just one of the issues that we had to deal with. And here at Henderson, there will be particular benefit here in WA, as we go forward.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister just on Brad Banducci’s interview on ABC last night, do you think that behaviour is, you know, responsible for a national CEO and his response on price gouging?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I didn't see the interview. Obviously, as I've said, I was Chinese New Year event. I have seen reports of it. And business, CEOs, are accountable for their actions, they're accountable to their customers. And the CEOs of major companies need to do that, need to be responsive. There's a great deal of concern out there, that when there has been lower costs paid to farmers, that hasn't led to lower costs at the checkout. So it's a loss for farmers, but a loss for consumers as well. And that has created a great deal of concern out there in the community, which is why we have not just a Senate review, but an ACCC examination, as well as the review taking place by Dr. Emerson.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, this is just a question about the Palestinian visas, are screenings for the visas inadequate? And what guarantees do we have the Hamas sympathisers are not among them?
PRIME MINISTER: They’re the same screenings that have applied before.
JOURNALIST: Just on nickel, Prime Minister, BHPs Chief Executive this morning said the company has never proposed production tax credits. He says the industry would benefit more from changes to policies that your Government's enacted over the last 12 months. Are changes to any environmental or IR policies that you've put in place like the safeguard mechanism, for instance, on the table when it comes to assisting this industry?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the safeguard mechanism is there as a long term measure that's important. But we've said, you haven't seen an announcement from the Government about production tax credits. You've seen speculation from journalists who are trying to get ahead of themselves and make speculation. I've said that we'll consider in an appropriate way measures in which we can support the industry. We make announcements when we make them. One option that has been put forward by some is that issue of production tax credits, but that's been put forward in other contexts as well.
JOURNALIST: Are you considering though, has anyone put to you changes?
PRIME MINISTER: The same answer that I gave you yesterday, I think, we'll consider all of these measures.
JOURNALIST: Is the industry not as critical as industry would suggest that it's critical.
PRIME MINISTER: We'll consider all of these measures. We understand that the nickel industry is an important one. We want to provide support, that’s why we’ve listed it as a critical industry. And we will engage, including engagement with the WA Premier here, about the way in which we can support this industry.
JOURNALIST: What do you have to say to comments, though, from Mr. Henry, that policies that your Government’s enacted over the last 12 months are kind of pushing them in the wrong direction when it comes to productivity, and that's hurting them now?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we support productivity and we support the safeguard mechanism that was overwhelmingly supported by business and the business community. They overwhelmingly said that what they wanted was certainty. They have that certainty, the safeguard mechanism that was enacted, I remind people by the former Coalition Government, is an important mechanism for that certainty to be provided for industry.
JOURNALIST: Just back on asylum seekers briefly, why is your Home Affairs Minister refusing to come out and address some of the concerns?
PRIME MINISTER: What sort of question is that?
JOURNALIST: She hasn't come out properly in addressing it.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm not sure what question you're asking. What are the concerns?
JOURNALIST: Concerns around the north western waters has been vulnerable?
PRIME MINISTER: Minister O’Neil has been available, was on Radio National this morning, doing serious interviews. What she hasn't been doing is what Peter Dutton has been doing, which is just making things up, saying there are cuts here when there's an increase in funding, ignoring the advice of the head of Operation Sovereign Borders, who has made it very clear, very clear that people's comments do matter. That when Peter Dutton said that people smugglers listen to what the Government says, they also listen to what the bloke who wants to be the alternative Prime Minister of Australia says, and in his irresponsible comments, they can be seen as nothing other than encouraging, encouraging this activity. And he needs to be held accountable for that. He's a guy who presided over a complete mess when it came to the operation of the Home Affairs Department. A mess that's been identified in the Richardson Review. One of the three reviews that have identified the chaos and dysfunction and the failure to take proper account for taxpayers money, whilst he was the Minister in charge.
JOURNALIST: When did the Australian Defence learn of the arrival by boat?
PRIME MINISTER: Operation Sovereign Borders as you know, we don't talk about operational matters. That's been something that consistent with the former Government. And again, I noticed Peter Dutton coming out there and saying, “oh, we need to give more detail.” This is a guy who inherited, as did Scott Morrison, those press conferences, after press conferences, where no detail whatsoever would be given. We have said these people arrived, they are now on Nauru, they will not be settled in Australia.
JOURNALIST: What representations did the Premier make to your Cabinet yesterday on the nickel issue? And will that sway or influenced any response from the Federal Government?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we don't talk about Cabinet, funnily enough, because that's kind of the rule to stay in the Cabinet. But the Premier and I, as with the rest of the Cabinet, have a really close relationship. We've had a couple of phone conversations last week. And yesterday, we had a one-on-one discussion, as well. We’ll work these issues through. Both of us wants to see the nickel industry not only get through this current difficulty, but thrive into the future. We support industries. We have a range of measures available, including a National Reconstruction Fund. The other options that are available to us, we’ll give proper consideration. We'll talk about that in a way that comes to a common position, I have no doubt. Because what we want to do is to work, Federal and State Government, work together as well with industry and the business sector in order to achieve an outcome. Thanks very much.