Good morning, everyone. My name is Tania Lawrence. I’m the Federal Member for Hasluck. I welcome you to Darlington. This is the lands of the Noongar Whadjuk people, and it’s an incredibly beautiful part of the seat of Hasluck. But for the upcoming election, the boundaries will change. So for many of the communities that I represent, particularly the Perth Hills and the Foothills, it will now become the federal seat of Bullwinkel. I’ve absolutely loved representing this area, but the fantastic thing is, it’s in safe hands, because of the candidate that we have in Trish Cook. And I know it’s in safe hands because Trish is a local, a nurse, she cares, and she’ll absolutely care deeply to be the voice in the Albanese Labor Government, to represent on the issues that matter to this community. And to this end, I welcome the Prime Minister to Darlington and over to you.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, thanks so much, Tania, and it’s fantastic to be here. I was in this electorate, Hasluck, just days before the last election. And at that time, we announced and reaffirmed our position on early educators, on childcare, on fixing the system. And of course, just recently, we’ve announced a 15 per cent wage increase, part of the commitment that we have to fixing childcare and making sure that the youngest Australians get the best start in life. Here today, I’m here to announce our candidate for Bullwinkel, a new seat made up of multiple seats from around this area. And I’m so pleased that Trish Cook has agreed to be our candidate for Bullwinkel. Trish says WA. There’s nothing that says WA more than a nurse who worked on an oil rig here in WA. She’s someone who’s been a local representative on the Shire for seven years, someone who’s been an advocate for this local community, a community volunteer as well, but someone who’s worked as a nurse and a midwife here in urban communities, but also in regional WA in the Pilbara and the Kimberley. She brings a wealth of experience and commitment to this local community, and I’m certain that she will be such a strong advocate for the people of Bullwinkel. This is an electorate that need a representative who can speak on behalf of all of the community. And the welcome that we’ve had here this morning is indicative of the support that Trish Cook already has from her local people. She’s demonstrated that by getting elected to the local council in the past, and when I met with Trish a couple of times now, I’ve been struck by how committed she is to making a difference, not just for the local community, but as someone with her background in nursing and as a midwife, someone who wants to make a difference to the nation as well. So friends, I welcome Trish Cook, Labor’s candidate for Bullwinkel.
TRISH COOK, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR BULLWINKEL: Thank you everyone. Thank you Prime Minister, and welcome to our beautiful patch of the Perth Hills. Thank you, Tania, you’ve done a great job, and I really value your friendship and your assistance so far. I’m really thrilled and honored to be chosen as the Labor candidate for this new seat of Bullwinkel. It’s a diverse electorate, so we have the Foothills, the Hills, the rural areas and the country towns, and it’s an area that I know well. I’ve been a Hills resident now for nearly two decades, and I love the place. The Bullwinkel name, of course, is named after the war hero Sister Vivian Bullwinkel, who was also a nurse. And she helped transition nursing from hospital based training to university based training and raise the standard of our profession. I have a lot to thank her for, because I went through both hospital based training and university based training, and the profession has certainly increased its standards thanks to her work. As nurses, we listen, we care, we advocate and we serve our patients, and I’ve always tried to take those values into my own, not only professional life, but community life and volunteering as well. I’m particularly pleased with what Labor has done in the health arena. So in recent times, there’s been real cost of living relief by providing cheaper medicines, by providing paid prac for university nurses, which is so significant given that most nurses are women, and it’s difficult otherwise, and we really thank you for that. And also, they’ve opened up seven Urgent Care Clinics and for those that don’t know, just down the hill in Midland at North Street is the latest opening, where I used to work as a matter of fact. I’ve been very much a volunteer in my local community and in fact, a lot of what I see around here today I’ve been involved in. So the community garden is a little further up the way that you can see, the skate park extensions, even the playground shade, and of course the veranda that we’re standing on, which made it accessible to everyone. As well as these volunteering projects. I’ve also been serving my community as a Shire of Mundaring councillor for seven years, and I’m currently the Deputy President, and it’s an absolute privilege to do that. I’m really thankful that the Labor Party has put their trust in me as the candidate and I hope to hit the ground running in Bullwinkel, thank you for coming.
PRIME MINISTER: We’re happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, ABS data shows that without government spending, the economy would have hardly grown at all in the past year. Do you believe government spending has kept Australia out of recession?
PRIME MINISTER: I believe we’ve made valuable government investment. We’ve been investing in people, whether it be the Fee Free TAFE, where I was yesterday, there in Joondalup meeting some of the students. More than half a million students have benefited from Fee Free TAFE, including many in nursing and early education and in those areas. The investment that we’ve made in energy price relief has made a difference as well. The investment in cheaper medicines, where more than half a billion dollars has been saved as a direct result of the investment that we’ve made, and just on Sunday, we added further medicines to the 60 day dispensing list. Now all those measures were things that were opposed and dismissed by the Coalition. I am proud that my Government has, whilst we’ve been making that investment, made sure that we’ve had responsible economic management not one but two budget surpluses, turning Liberal deficits of $78 billion into Labor surpluses of $22 billion. And when the final figure comes out for the last financial year, we’re confident that it will be a double digit surplus once again.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister regarding the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Accounts out today, the difference between this slowdown and others is that our unemployment rate remains low. What difference does this make to the lives of Aussie families?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, keeping people in jobs is absolutely critical. I’m really proud that my Government has created 980,000 plus jobs. We’re nearing that million mark, and we’re confident that when the next figures come out, that will tip over the million new jobs created since we were elected. Now, that far exceeds any of the former Government’s. And a key to people’s living standards is, of course, giving people who need a job, a job, giving them that capacity. But secondly, as well, is the tax cuts for every taxpayer that we’ve delivered. So we want people to earn more and to keep more of what they earn. It’s a conscious decision, my Government while we’ve been here, in the last, I’ve been here for four days now. This is day four of my visit to WA. The visit to Collie was about jobs in renewables and the big battery that will power up to 860,000 homes through that storage that will be made available. In the defence area, we were down at HMAS Stirling again about jobs, jobs in this case, in defence industry and maintenance, we announced 200 new apprenticeships. Jim Chalmers and Clare O’Neil were there opening new community housing. Again, that’s about jobs in construction. That’s what our $32 billion plan of ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾s for Australia is about. Our visit to the TAFE and the schools is about good employment as well and creating those opportunities for people. So throughout my visit to WA a theme has been job creation, because we know that that is what Labor Governments do. We want good, secure jobs. And the meetings we’ve had as well while I’ve been here with the business community has all been about jobs and job creation, whether it be the discussions I’ve had with the resources sector or the grain industry or others, it’s all been focused on our economy because it’s a strong economy that then enables you to as well have the social reform that we want assisting our youngest Australians through the early education system, or our oldest Australians through aged care.
JOURNALIST: Were you surprised yesterday to have Ian Goodenough join you on your media opportunity?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I wasn’t surprised. Ian Goodenough is the member of course, for Moore. We, of course, will have a Labor candidate in the election, but I often will invite local members to show them respect. He was there –
JOURNALIST: They never take you up on that opportunity do they?
PRIME MINISTER: They do, actually. I was recently with Michael McCormack in the electorate of Riverina, and we were there commemorating the Cowra breakout. So I often do, I’ve been with a range of local members. Ian Goodenough is someone who I know through the Parliament, and someone who, I think, has been shabbily treated by the Liberal Party. I mean, you got this bloke who shopped around for a seat, tried to run. He was the Member for Stirling, then he tried to run for Moore, then he did run for Cowan, lost that seat. Now he’s shopped around for Moore. You know that, I think, says a bit about his character. I think people want local members who actually are local and are committed to making a difference, rather than shopping around for a seat for because they think somehow they’re owed it. Well, Ian Goodenough, I think, has been shabbily treated by his own party, and it’s just one example of the chaos that is there in the modern Liberal Party. I mean, you’ve got in New South Wales, my home state, the debacle of not bothering to nominate for local government across more than 150 nominations not going in. Then you have a federal intervention with three people appointed, only one of them from New South Wales, Rob Stokes, but they forgot to ask him, so he’s not available. I mean this is a farce. If the New South Wales leadership of the Liberal Party has been dismissed for incompetence, how about you dismiss the federal leadership of the Liberal Party in the organisational sense, for incompetence for appointing someone as an administrator is not available and didn’t know anything about it.
JOURNALIST: John Howard’s had a crack at the Treasurer. Is his commentary becoming less relevant these days?
PRIME MINISTER: I think John Howard criticises the Labor Party whenever he’s asked, as long as the day ends in Y. You know, it’s a matter for him. I treat former prime ministers, including John Howard, in a respectful way, but I think it’s becoming what it is. And, you know, I think that’s –
JOURNALIST: Inaudible.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that’s a matter for him to reflect, but it’s pretty regular, and it’s not surprising.
JOURNALIST: Economic figures are going to show Australians significantly tightening their belt. There’s some analysis this morning that shows that your expenses were about $4 million over the past year. Do you need to tighten your belt further as well?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ve seen that analysis, it comes out regularly, like clockwork. The idea, for example, one of the things that I’ve seen from the front is cars. If they think that the Prime Minister of Australia should drive themselves around, they should say that. I’d rather do that frankly. To be honest, I’d rather do that. In today’s world, we need security, and we need these things to happen. And I think Australians know that. You know that, and so do most common sense Australians. I believe that we should wherever possible, of course, minimise expenditure. I note the coalition, I’m sure, pushed that out. They’ve been complaining that I haven’t been on enough visits, and have been calling upon me to go to places like the NATO Summit and other events.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you mentioned job creation has been a focus of your visit this week. We’re in the seat of Bullwinkel now which has regional communities that rely on the sheep industry. Have you met any industry reps on live export this week during your visit?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ve met with industry reps in Canberra, and I’ve also met families in Kalgoorlie when I was there. The live sheep export industry, we said in 2019 and repeated in 2022 that we would set a timetable. We had a review, we’ve set that timetable. We had, this an industry that’s worth $80 million the exports a year. The money that we have on the table is at least $107 million for adjustment. We want communities to be looked after. I think that this is an industry, if you compare $80 million for live exports with $4 billion which is what the sheep meat export industry is worth, I think that indicates where the industry needs to go. We want to make sure that people are looked after and we want to work with industry on that.
JOURNALIST: You say its only $70 million, or $80 million out of it, you know, pennies in the dollar, but it’s more than that. It’s people’s livelihoods, it’s people’s jobs. I mean, you’re big on jobs –
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah we are. And that’s why, in transitioning away from the live sheep meat export trade, live sheep trade, towards the sheep meat export trade, we can create more jobs. One of the things about when you process, just like value adding a future made in Australia across the board, I’m for value adding in Australia whenever you can. And that’s how you create more jobs, not less jobs.
JOURNALIST: Are you worried, though, that the ramifications will be felt in this new seat, because it does encompass some large regional centers that rely on the trade?
PRIME MINISTER: The big trade in the sheep industry in Australia is for sheep meat export. It’s actually, you know, I understand that adjustments are hard, which is why we have that support available, and why we are engaging. This has been, you know, that’s why also we’ve set a timetable going forward so that you can have that proper planning. But to be clear, the legislation was passed overwhelmingly through the House of Representatives and through the Senate. This is a decision that I believe has the overwhelming support of the Australian population.
JOURNALIST: Are you concerned about the leak in your, out of your cabinet, that you were expressing frustrations about the handling of the census question?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I don’t discuss cabinet issues.
JOURNALIST: Trish, you’ve just heard the PM saying there’s at least $107 million on the table for the sheep sector. Do you think that’s sufficient for them to transition? Do you think that, would you be pushing if you were the member for the package to be increased?
COOK: Well I’ve been following this issue. Of course, it does affect people in this electorate, I will leave the numbers for the experts, but I certainly support farmers being supported through the transition phase. Farmers are crucial, they’re important, they’re the backbone of our society, and we need to support them.
JOURNALIST: My other question was, I was really interested in your comments before about Vivian Bullwinkel. There is a significant push from the local community to actually have the seat named Beard instead. Would you back that change?
COOK: No, I don’t back that change. Vivian Bullwinkel, Lieutenant Colonel, Sister Vivian Bullwinkel was a war hero, a war survivor, and did enormous amount of work in post military life. She’s a national hero. Her statue is the only female statue in the War Memorial. I recognise, though, that those other 21 nurses that she went through, the war crime, the massacre, are heroes as well, and they’re local heroes, and I support them being locally championed and remembered. And Vivian Bullwinkel spent a great deal of her own time championing for those nurses to be remembered.
PRIME MINISTER: And what’s better than having a nurse represent a seat called Bullwinkel? Thanks very much, everyone.
