My name is Karen Wheatland, and I’m the Federal Labor Candidate for the seat of Durack. I’m absolutely so proud to be standing here welcoming our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese here on this very special and important announcement for the rock lobster crayfishing industry. Born and bred Geraldton girl. You know, I used to work, I’ve actually worked in that Co-Op, I’ve worked on scallops at the other Co-Op over there, I see a trawler across the way that I used to work on back in the 90s. Michael May I watched grow up from a young man, so, it’s really cool to be back in Gero, among the people that work so hard and deserve a really good, strong candidate like myself – if I don’t say so myself. I just want to add a little bit in about this announcement was quite timely with me being announced as the candidate, and I’ve been saying to my mates, “See in the job, a couple of days as a candidate, and already I’ve helped convince the Prime Minister or I’ve helped the Prime Minister lift the export ban to China.” So thank you, and welcome Prime Minister Albo.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks so much, Karen, and it is great to be here with you as a Candidate for Durack. Can I make this point that if we get even less than half of the swing that we got last time, then you will be the Member for Durack after the next election. And I have been to Fitzroy Crossing, I’ve been to Broome, I’ve been to Karratha, I’ve been to Port Hedland, and now as Prime Minister, I’m here back in Geraldton. A place where I’ve been where we brought the whole Cabinet the last time we were in government, a place where we funded the North West Coastal Highway upgrades, where we funded the Memorial here, and which is an important part of the Western Australian economy. And of course, WA economy is the driving force behind our national economy, and that’s why this is so important to be here today, and it’s great to also be here with Lara Dalton, the State Member for Geraldton, and everyone here from the Co-Op, Marc Anderson, the CEO, is going to make some comments as well. But I do want to thank everyone for the welcome and thank the lobsters for saying g’day as well. Australian lobsters rock. And it is really important that just over a week ago, I was there in Laos, meeting with the Chinese Premier Li, someone who I brought to WA as part of his official visit to Australia, now that the leaders’ meetings, at an annual basis, have recommenced. And it was a conscious decision to bring the Premier here to WA, because the WA economy, when it comes to exports to China, is absolutely critical. Just to give one fun fact, in 2019 the Chinese market represented 95% of where Australia’s lobster exports were going. In 2021 that figure had been reduced to 2%. Now what we have done with China is work in a patient, calibrated way to ensure that the benefits that come from economic trade between Australia and China are able to be realised again. And this was an outstanding issue that needed to be resolved. There’s 4,000 jobs, at least, directly involved in the lobster industry, 4,000 jobs, of which 3,000 here in Western Australia. And that’s why this really does matter, saving jobs here in WA and making sure that we once again get a contribution. There’s $700 million of exports coming from rock lobsters to China. So important going forward. So this is a great announcement. Our lobster trade with China is back on full boil, and that is a great thing. I might ask Lara to say a few words, the State Member, and then the CEO Marc Anderson’s going to make some comments, and then we’re happy to take some questions.
LARA DALTON, MEMBER FOR GERALDTON: Thank you, Prime Minister, this is a fabulous announcement for our local rock lobster fishers and our broader community. It absolutely demonstrates the resilience and the creativity that the local industry have shown over the last few years in exploring other markets, and it also demonstrates what a strong, sustainable industry, the rock lobster fishing industry is. So we very much welcome this announcement.
MARC ANDERSON, CEO, GERALDTON FISHING CO-OP: Thank you Prime Minister, and I’d like to echo those comments very much this. The importance of this announcement by the Prime Minister cannot be overstated. It’s so meaningful for the fishers of Western Australia, the rock lobster fishing in Western Australia. But more than that, it’s the regional communities that rely on a sustainable and a vibrant rock lobster fishery. So I think I need to commend all the Ministers that have been involved, Minister Farrell, Minister Watt previously, and also Minister Collins. They’ve all done an absolutely remarkable job, but for us, it’s about the communities that we represent. It’s been four hard years where our fishers have not had the right to access all of the markets that we should be in. That’s now coming to an end. We’re hopeful that will be by the end of the year, as the Prime Minister has said, an agreement with Premier Li, so that’s going to be important for us, just in time for our main whites run and the lobsters coming through. So once again, I would like to thank the Prime Minister for being here in Geraldton, being part of the Mid West community, and everything that you’ve done. So congratulations. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Marc. Happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: How does this move ensure that Australia diversify its market and not depend on one trading partner?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, one of the things that has occurred with some of the impediments to trade that were there is that the industries across the board have diversified the markets, but they’ve adapted to survive what has been a difficult period, and I do want to give a shout out to the industry. The fact is that they’ve kept going. They’ve kept people employed, they’ve kept making sure that they’ve shown how resilient they are. And this is such a sustainable industry. The volume of product that comes through this Co-Operative is extraordinary. And what’s important here is not just the jobs directly involved on the boats, in the Co-Op, in the retail outlets, on the trucks where they’re being transported, on the planes overseas. It’s the jobs that go with it in regional communities like this. If this industry did not survive, then you don’t have people working at the local pubs and restaurants. You don’t have people being able to provide local services as well. So this is absolutely critical for regional Australia. And one of the things about this industry is that its location is right throughout the regions, whether it be here in Geraldton and around the WA coast, whether it be South Australia. I was in Tasmania on Wednesday, where they were celebrating, where they were saying, “This is going to make an enormous difference.” I’ll make one further point as well, which is that what we’ve seen with other industries such as wine and barley is that the export trade has not just bounced back to where it was. It’s bounced back even stronger to China. Because for those people who will celebrate Lunar New Year in the early period of 2025 they’ve missed out on this fantastic product, and they’ll be even greater demand than they ever were.
JOURNALIST: Have import permits actually been approved by China?
PRIME MINISTER: There is a commitment from Premier Li when we sat down and met, including in that was a timetable of by the end of the year. And included in that was an agreement that I would announce the recommencement of the trade by the end of the year. So that’s prior to Lunar New Year. It’s an ideal time for now the industry to be able to prepare for what will occur. One of the things about the industry is that they’ve kept the engagement. I was speaking before about the executives here who were up in Shanghai recently, talking about the trade. When I spoke and visited China and spoke at the Trade Fair at the invitation of Premier Li as the Chief Guest last year, when the leaders meetings recommenced. I went to the Trade Fair there, the industry was there being represented, so the groundwork has been done.
JOURNALIST: With the trade being shut for four years, and some boats were unable to stay in business due to depressed prices. How confident are you that the market will bounce back to taking the same demand that it did?
PRIME MINISTER: I’m very confident that not only will it bounce back, it’ll bounce back even stronger.
JOURNALIST: (INAUDIBLE)
PRIME MINISTER: It was a great honor for myself and Jodie Haydon to welcome King Charles and Queen Camilla to Sydney. Last night they arrived. The rain stopped just in time for their embarkation from the plane. Australia provided the plane from Singapore through the Royal Australian Air Force, and then I had a meeting at Admiralty House, myself, Ms Haydon, with Their Majesties, and we were able to have a drink and and a chat on an informal basis. It was a great honour to welcome King Charles to Australia. King Charles is someone who has an affection for Australia. He spoke about the time that he was here at school in Victoria and his regular visits back here. Her Majesty has also visited Australia on a number of times, and they’re very much looking forward to the coming days. I’ll travel after Telethon tonight, back over to welcome them to Canberra, which we will have the official meetings at Parliament House on Monday morning, right through the day, and then I will also be with Their Majesties in Sydney on Tuesday, before I will continue the engagement at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which is being held in Samoa at the end of the week.
JOURNALIST: Just on lobsters, is China still concerned about heavy metals in our product? And how are we reassuring them?
PRIME MINISTER: What we’ve done is, they’ve been through their processes, and they were in a position to remove any impediments which are there.
JOURNALIST: (INAUDIBLE)
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we’ll continue to engage. What I say is that we’ll cooperate where we can, we’ll disagree where we must, but we’ll engage in our national interest. We have different political systems, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t engage in a direct and mature way, talking through issues, recognising the benefit that comes from our trade and our engagement on a range of levels. So we have stabilised the relationship with China compared with what it was when I was elected Prime Minister two and a half years ago. And that is in Australia’s interest. It’s also in China’s interest. I was asked in Laos what China got out of removing any impediments to the importation of our rock lobsters. And I answered very clearly, ‘our lobsters,’ Australian lobsters and Australian seafood is the best in the world. It’s the most pristine in the world. We’re really proud of it. It’s so important for our economy and so important for jobs. And this week, on Thursday, we celebrated a million jobs being created since I became elected as Prime Minister. That’s us working with the private sector. It’s us working with our cities, working with our regions, working with our remote communities, making sure we get those plans in place, and working with our trade relationships. Recently, Senator Farrell, the Trade Minister, concluded a free trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates. What that does is open up the whole Middle East market to products like live lobster trade that will make an enormous difference as well. It’s a great agreement.
JOURNALIST: Will you match the Coalition’s $5 billion pledge to speed up construction infrastructure like power and sewage?
PRIME MINISTER: We’ve got a $32 billion ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾s for Australia plan. They’re going to spend less money, not more. They’re committed to 5. They’ve committed to abolishing the Housing Australia Future Fund, that’s 10 billion. They didn’t support the Social Housing Accelerator, that’s $2 billion. They haven’t supported the additional investment that we have in infrastructure investment that’s been in the Budgets, they’ve criticised that. The money that we have to support local and state governments to put in infrastructure that’s being rolled out right now. Peter Dutton is blocking legislation along with the Greens that’s in the Senate, and been there now for over 200 days of Help to Buy legislation. That’s about getting 40,000 additional Australians into homes, and it’s been blocked in the Senate, That’s based upon a scheme that’s operated successfully here in Western Australia for decades. We are a government that’s committed to building, Peter Dutton and the Greens have been blocking support for housing.
JOURNALIST: Michaelia Cash has accused you of having a quote, ‘clear prejudice towards Israel,’ at the Liberal State Conference. What would you say to that?
PRIME MINISTER: I don’t listen to Michaelia Cash terribly much. I don’t think her own team listened terribly much to her aggressive comments. I think that what Australians want, and what I want, is for conflict and the death of civilians, whether it be Israelis, Palestinians or Lebanese, to cease. That is what the United States has called for. That’s what 13 countries, of Australia was one of, those 13 countries have called for. That’s what the G7 – the seven largest democratic countries around the world – led by the United States and the United Kingdom have called for as well. That is the company that we keep.
JOURNALIST: (INAUDIBLE) says that after two years of government that not one home has been delivered under Labor’s policy. What is your response?
PRIME MINISTER: He’s been busy blocking. We’ve been busy building. And I’ve been to places right around Australia. We we’re in Queensland this week. We’ve been at Parramatta in Westmead, we’ve been at Riverwood, we’ve been in Victoria, we’ve been here in WA, with the Premier, Roger Cook, on site, on a building site where homes are being built thanks to the commitment that we have. All of that has occurred without any support from the Coalition. A Coalition that didn’t even bother to have a Housing Minister for some of the time that they were in government last time. Thanks very much.
