From today, Australia joins other Commonwealth nations in celebrating the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Tonight Prime Minister the Hon Anthony Albanese MP will light a beacon in Canberra as part of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Beacons, which coincides with beacon lightings throughout the Commonwealth.
The Platinum Jubilee marks The Queen’s 70 years of dedication and service to Australia and the Commonwealth.
HOST: But right now we're joined by the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese. Prime Minister, good morning to you. No need to thank us for getting you there. You don't need to do that. I know that's what you wanted to do.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Well, Two Tribes, I think, was the key.
HOST: Well, that's what we've been saying all morning.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: One went up and one went out.
HOST: Prime Minister, good morning to you. And I guess my first chance to say congratulations.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Nadia. That is very generous of you. And thanks to the people of Perth for a fantastic result with four new Members of the House of Representatives team. And I look forward to catching up with the Premier tomorrow and then again on Sunday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong, Trade Minister Senator Don Farrell, Industry Minister Ed Husic, and Member for Solomon Luke Gosling OAM, will travel to Indonesia for the Annual Leaders’ Meeting with President Widodo in Jakarta.
They will be joined on the visit by a high-level delegation of Australian business leaders.
The Prime Minister will depart Australia on Sunday 5 June, returning Tuesday 7 June.
Today the Albanese Labor Government has recommended to the Fair Work Commission’s Expert Panel conducting the Annual Wage Review that they ensure that the real wages of Australia's low paid workers do not go backwards.
One of our election commitments was to put forward our own submission to the Fair Work Commission advocating for an immediate wage increase for Australia’s low-paid workers, and today we are delivering on that promise.
For nearly a decade, low wages were a deliberate design feature of the Liberal National Government.
That era is now over.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It is wonderful to be here to celebrate the election of Louise Miller-Frost as the first Labor member for Boothby, we've been trying for 70 years to win this seat. And it was an extraordinary outcome and one of the seats that helped put us across the line and give us 77 seats in the House of Representatives and a majority Labor Government. I have been travelling today. This is my third capital city, from here I go to Perth.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Today Labor has claimed the 77th seat in the House of Representatives with the re-election of Fiona in the seat of Gilmore. What that means is that the Coalition failed to take a single seat from the Australian Labor Party at the election just finished. And it confirms indeed that Labor will be a majority Government when Parliament resumes in July.
Today marks the start of Reconciliation Week, when we commemorate significant milestones in Australia’s reconciliation journey and consider the next steps we can take together.
On this day in 1967, Australians voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to ensure that First Nations people would be counted as part of the population in the census and to give the Australian Government the power to make laws for First Nations people.
JEROME LAXALE, MEMBER-ELECT FOR BENNELONG: Hi, everyone. And welcome to Bennelong. I'd like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land, the Wallumedegal People of the Eora Nation, and pay respects to elders past, present and emerging. And everyone, we did it. We got over the line. Thank you so much for your support. And thank you to the Prime Minister for convincing everyone, and for his support. We know it's very difficult for Labor to win Bennelong, but we put up a really good challenge here. We had good ideas and a strong local campaign.
KIERAN GILBERT, HOST: Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Thanks very much for your time. I want to start with the issue that's dominated the first week and that is your renewed diplomatic push. Penny Wong has been in the Pacific, she met with the Fijian Prime Minister. What's been the reaction you've had about your approach on foreign policy and the Pacific from Pacific leaders? Are you optimistic that Australia can resist this push for a greater presence in the region by China?