SUBJECTS: Federal Budget 2021; New Energy Apprenticeships; visit to Cairns; fuel security; Labor candidate for Leichhardt; Housing Australia Future Fund; New Energy Apprenticeships; tourism; renewables; climate change; housing; quarantine; vaccine rollout; child care; Government accountability.

NITA GREEN, LABOR SENATOR FOR QUEENSLAND: Hi, my name is Nita Green. I'm a Labor Senator for Queensland and I live right here in Cairns. And it's a pleasure today to welcome back Anthony Albanese to Cairns. This is the second time he's been here this year. And it's fantastic to also welcome Chris Bowen, who has also spent a lot of time here in Cairns but is here today in his role as the Shadow Minister for Energy. I'm also here joined with Elida, my good friend who Anthony will talk about in greater detail. But it's a pleasure as a local here in Cairns to welcome Anthony back after a fantastic Budget Reply which dealt with a lot of the issues that we have been talking about for the last two years. About two years ago, we had the last Federal election. And every day since then, this Government has let Far North Queensland down. That's why we've got Anthony here today to talk about our candidate for Leichhardt and what Labor will deliver for Far North Queensland. Thank you.

CHRIS BOWEN, SHADOW MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY: Well, the world's climate emergency is Australia's jobs opportunity. And it is North Queensland's jobs opportunity. In the announcement that Anthony made last week in the Budget Reply about New Energy Apprentices, $10,000 payments to apprentices in renewable energy and energy efficiency, is very important for Australia's economy and very important for Queensland economy. Here we know that not only is it about distribution and installation, but here we have, in North Queensland, manufacturing of renewable energy, the jobs of the future. But it will only be Australia's jobs opportunity if the country seizes that opportunity. And one of the big challenges is skills. Ironically, three out of four solar companies report that they have trouble hiring qualified people. We need to fix that. The Government needs to fix it. And our New Energy Apprentices are an important part of fixing that. Training people for the jobs of the future. You know, over the last 10 years we've put 60 million solar panels on Australian roofs. And in the next 10 years we will put many, many times more that. We want to see more of those made here. We want to see Australian young people, qualified electricians, installing them as well. These are the great opportunities that we have. We understand the opportunities for North Queensland, as opposed to the Government, which last week revealed had vetoed a wind farm creating 250 jobs here in North Queensland, vetoing new jobs for North Queensland. We want to invest in new jobs. The Government is stopping new jobs because of their prejudice. 

Just before I hand over to Albo, I'll just also comment on the fact today the Government has announced their fuel refinery policy. It was in the Budget, but the details weren't revealed. They've now revealed those details. This is welcomed. It's late but welcomed. Half of Australia's fuel refineries have closed under this Government's watch. We're glad that they've now acted before the other half close. So of course, we'll see the detail, but we will support measures which see Australia's two remaining fuel refineries in Brisbane and in Geelong remain open. Fuel security is important. We said at the last election that it was important, the Government scoffed. And now they've come again very late to the party, but we will support sensible measures, even if they are late to the party. Over to you, Albo.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Well, thanks very much, Chris. I do want to thank Grant and David for having us here at AC Solar. And I want to thank all the apprentices who had a chat with us about their great prospects which they're looking forward to. This is an industry where they'll be working in for many decades to come. Good paid jobs, secure jobs, making a difference, reducing energy prices, while creating jobs, while dealing with the challenge of climate change. This factory here is symbolic. But it's more than that. It's symbolic of the future and what it looks like. But it's also here in manufacturing, from ideas right through to manufacturing products that are being put on people's homes, that are being put on schools, that are being put in businesses. To do that, we need to make sure that we train Australians for the future. Australia has 150,000 less apprentices and trainees than were here in 2013 when this Government came to office. And when it comes to renewables, this Government is, of course, in denial as we saw with the decision on the wind farm last week.

I remember as a Minister coming here and laying fibre, National Broadband Network cable, about creating jobs, about lifting up regional communities and opportunity. The Government trashed that rollout and then had to go back to fibre. And they're now having to retrofit some of their system. It is a bit like their attitude towards renewable energy. They're in denial about the future. We need to shape the future in the interests of working people. And Labor's Budget Reply was all about that. The Government managed to spend $100 billion of new money, create a trillion dollars of debt, and yet real wages will go backwards. Living standard will go backwards under this Government. They don't have a plan for the future. Labor does. It's one that envisages us taking the natural advantages that we have, solar, wind, wave energy, but also our resources that we have in the ground. Not just exporting things, but building things here, manufacturing things here, value-adding here, so that we create a high-value, high-wage economy of the future. We can be a renewable energy superpower, but it won't happen by accident. It will happen with Government leadership. Instead of that, what we have, as exemplified by Minister Pitt’s decision last week, is a Government that's standing in the way of jobs, standing in the way of progress. And that's not good enough.

Similarly, can I make just a couple of comments about the issues of the Federal Government's failure when it comes to quarantine and vaccines. One of the things we saw with the Budget last week was that the borders will remain closed until mid-2022. And who knows when the vaccine is going to be rolled out? Because we couldn't get a straight answer. It is outrageous that less than 900 Australian people with disabilities who are residents have received the vaccine, either first or second jab. The fact is, as well, that many of the workforce, of course, who have worked with people with disabilities, also haven't received any vaccines. These are some of the most vulnerable people that were identified that they should be in the first stage of the rollout of the vaccine by this Government as part of, of course, we were told that 4 million Australians would be vaccinated by the end of March. Now the Government doesn't have any answers. But the fact that people with disabilities haven't been able to be vaccinated is outrageous in Australia in May. It's simply not good enough. Just like it's not good enough that the Government pretends that the NDIS is over budget, when it's actually not. They cut funding in previous budgets for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

And on quarantine, of course, we've seen the latest example of Scott Morrison's ‘I don't hold a hose, mate’. In this case, he's handed over quarantine responsibility to the states even though, clearly, it, according to the Constitution, is the Federal Government's responsibility. He also, though, with regard to the people who've been stranded in India, is now blaming Qantas for the fact that people were offloaded from a flight they expected to get home on but because of a false test are still stranded in India with all the risks of their health that it brings with it. Scott Morrison needs to take responsibility for something. But in this case, he's handed off, of course, to Qantas. And then he went on today, I note comments he made today in Brisbane, where he said that the reason why Annastacia Palaszczuk’s commitment to request quarantine in places like Wellcamp outside of Toowoomba weren't acceptable was that Wellcamp wasn't close to an airport. It actually is an airport. It actually is close to Toowoomba Base Hospital. The Prime Minister rejecting Queensland’s interests yet again. This is a Prime Minister who gave Queenslanders less dollars per capita in infrastructure investment than any other state in last Tuesday night's Budget. This is a Prime Minister who travels to Queensland only to do fundraisers and to criticise the Palaszczuk Government for keeping borders closed and keeping Queenslanders safe. But when Premier Palaszczuk had a practical proposal, which was advanced to the Federal Government, dismissed it on the basis of nonsense that Toowoomba didn't have any health facilities and there wasn't an airport next to Toowoomba. Of course, Wellcamp is an international freight airport that has facilities in terms of a runway that could be used just like Darwin Airport could be used. It's simply not good enough. When the Prime Minister thinks about Queensland, we just get more smirk and mirrors. Not facts, not outcomes, not results. 

And today, we're announcing Labor's candidate for Leichhardt. This is our fourth candidate here in Queensland in four days because we think the Queenslanders deserve better. Queenslanders have been magnificent during this pandemic, in keeping each other's safe and looking after their communities. What they need is a national Government that speaks for them and stands up for them. They need a champion not just locally, but a champion when they travel to Canberra. And Elida Faith will be just that. She won't make promises about new roads funding that are never delivered. She'll actually stand up for jobs and new industries like the one where we are today. She'll stand up the new social housing. She'll stand up for the rights of women and not the vote to keep Andrew Laming in the position of chairs of parliamentary committees. Elida Faith has experience. She understands the public sector. She's agreed to have a second crack at the seat. And I'm convinced that she will be successful. Because she's the sort of representative that we need in Canberra. Strong, articulate, principled. Someone who's passionate about Far North Queensland. And I look forward to welcoming her and campaigning with her over the next year or whenever the election is, and then welcoming her into the Labor Caucus after the next election. Elida?

ELIDA FAITH, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR LEICHHARDT: Well, what an introduction. Thank you, Anthony. And I agree, I think Queenslanders do deserve better. It's fabulous to be here today. Welcome back to Queensland, Anthony. It's lovely to see Chris. It's great to also be here with our Far North Queensland Senator, Nita Green, who never stops working for us up here and is kicking goals. My name is Elida Faith. I've been a Cairns local for 21 years. I'm a working mum. I'm a wife. And I'm passionate about our community. As Anthony said, I worked for Centrelink for 12 years. That job changed my life. Speaking to some of Australia's most vulnerable people every day, listening to their personal stories of struggle, is one of the reasons why I'm standing here today. I was a single mum when my daughter was younger. I have felt that struggle too. And it's not a nice feeling. COVID has been tough for Far North Queenslanders. While Annastacia has kept us safe, the Morrison Government has clearly left Far North Queensland behind. We need to start rebuilding our community. We need affordable housing. We need affordable child care for every Far North Queensland family. And most importantly, we need good, secure jobs here in Far North Queensland. I think it's time Far North Queenslanders had a change. We need someone who's ready to step up and fight, someone who's going to take up the job and not just make a whole lot of promises, someone with some energy. I feel privileged to be standing here today as the endorsed Labor candidate for Leichhardt. And I'm ready to hit the ground running. Thank you. And I'm going to hand you back to Anthony.

ALBANESE: Thanks very much, Elida. And we were happy to take questions. 

JOURNALIST: Why do you think the Budget has been so well-received (inaudible)?

ALBANESE: Well, the fact is that this Government, we've been calling for action on insurance for a long period of time. It's got worse on this Government's watching the last eight years. What this Budget was, was a list that they had of the problems that they'd created. ‘Aged care where we ripped $1.7 billion out of that, we'll put a bit back’. ‘Child care costs are going up by 5 per cent this year alone, oh we better do something about child care having ignored it and opposed Labor's policy at the last election’. ‘When it comes to training and apprentices, we've got 150,000 less than we had when we came to office, we better do something’. And does anyone think there would have been a women's budget statement and any action at all or mentioned, indeed, of women in their Budget if it wasn't for a reported sexual assault just 50 metres from the Prime Minister's office that he denies he knew anything about for two long years? The fact is that this Government had been there for eight long years. The survey I've seen says, quite rightly, that Australians don't feel like they're better off as a result of this Budget. And it's not surprising, because it's there in the Budget papers for all the see. Wages not keeping up with the cost of living. Real wages, having stagnated for eight long years, actually going backwards over the next four.

JOURNALIST: You’ve talked about backing Christmas Island or (inaudible). Why is that a good idea?

ALBANESE: Because we need to have appropriate quarantine facilities in place and get people vaccinated so that we can open up our economy. Here in Far North Queensland, gets a lot of jobs from international tourists. While the borders remain closed, which this Government has said will happen until after the next election, then that's a real constraint on jobs. I met with the tourism sector last time I was here, just down on the Marina. And we did a walk out there on the jetty and looked at all the cruise ships and dive boats that were there. Tied up. Not out on the reef, tied up because they didn't have the tourists here. This is essential for people's health. And it's essential, as well, that Australian citizens, of whom there's more than 30,000 stranded overseas, are able to get home. The Australian passport must mean something. Scott Morrison said that all Australians would be home by Christmas. And more than 30,000 of them remain stranded. And there's always an excuse. It's always someone else's fault. Today it's Qantas' fault. Well, the Federal Government are in charge of immigration. They're in charge of customs. They're in charge of quarantine. There's never been more aviation assets at their disposal, both government-owned and privately-owned, that would be available. We managed to bring Australians home from Wuhan at the outset of this pandemic but haven't been able to bring Australians home from places like India.

JOURNALIST: (Inaudible).

ALBANESE: I don't comment on polls. They'll come and they'll go or what have you. But I would have thought that if the Federal Government, which has spent $100 billion of additional money last week, remains behind on the polls, I think that questions on it should be directed to the Government.

JOURNALIST: When it comes to the Housing Australia Future Fund, what priorities do you have? Can you guarantee a timeline?

ALBANESE: Absolutely we can. We have money in the Budget which we will place in our first Budget. Whenever the election is called our first Budget will have the money to start from 2022. We are very passionate about this. This is a $10 billion program, our Housing Australia Future Fund, it will build 20,000 extra social housing units, it will allow for 10,000 affordable housing dwellings to be built. But it will also provide assistance with a couple of hundred million dollars for remote Indigenous communities for refurbishment and renovation. We know there is massive overcrowding in those communities. And that includes communities on the Cape that will directly benefit from this plan. We see this is a plan that will particularly assist regional communities, which is why I was with Jason Clare in Rocky just on Saturday talking about this plan. Because what we've seen is an exodus from our capital cities into the regions, but people struggling to find places to rent, people struggling to find places to afford. So this is good for construction. But it's also good for people's standard of living. And I know locally, I think Nita or Elida might want to have something to say about this.

GREEN: Thank you so much for that question. And last week before the Budget, when we were asked what we wanted to see in the Budget, it was affordable housing for Cairns. It was the number one thing that we wanted to see here. And that's because we know we have an issue in Cairns. The vacancy rate is at one per cent. People are struggling to find a house. In your paper, Pete, on the weekend, there was a story about a woman who was going to be homeless next week with her three children because she couldn't find a rental home. This is a serious problem in Cairns. And it's a serious problem across regional Queensland. And instead of providing a solution in the Budget, what the Government did was blame the state, said it wasn't their issue, that somebody else should fix this major, major issue in our economy. We can't make the best of the opportunities we've got unless we fix this solution. And that's why Anthony's Budget Reply included this commitment on social housing. But let me just say this about Warren Entsch, the local Member. He promised $105 million for Indigenous housing at the last election. People in this electorate are sick of him making announcements so he can put it on a billboard, but then not deliver. People in our Indigenous communities are living in overcrowded housing. And you've got Warren Entsch blaming the state government instead of saying, 'This is something that I've promised, and I'm going to deliver'. He was interviewed about this last week. And what he said is 'I don't have a building licence. How can I go out there and deliver these houses? I don't have a building licence'. Well, it sounds very similar to 'I don't hold a hose'. This is what we get from the Morrison Government from Scott Morrison down to his local members. They make promises and they don't deliver. And when it becomes an announcement where you've got the most vulnerable people in your community living in overcrowded housing, well, I think that's reason enough for people to vote him out at the next election and vote for Elida Faith. Thank you.

JOURNALIST: Are you concerned about the passengers that are coming from the repatriation flight that previously positive and now have tested negative (inaudible)? What are your concerns there?

ALBANESE: Well, we should take the advice of health officials. But what Scott Morrison is doing is just passing off responsibility to Qantas. If he's not responsible for fulfilling the promises that were made by him on behalf of him in 2019, he's not responsible for doing anything about when bushfires are happening, not responsible for anything that's happening in ministers’ offices, not responsible here for, as Nita said, it's quite an extraordinary comment from Warren Entsch to say that 'I don't hold a building licence'. When you make these announcements, it has got to count for something. I've got this message for Scott Morrison. There's three existing members of my team here, myself, Chris, and Nita. And there's one aspirant in Elida. If he doesn't want to run things, if he doesn't want to take responsibility, we're ready. We're ready. We're ready to govern. And we're ready to deliver on the basis of what we promise.

JOURNALIST: (Inaudible).

BOWEN: Well, Warren Entsch also supported the wind farm, which Keith Pitt vetoed. So I'm not sure about Warren Entsch's ability to deliver. But of course, we are very sympathetic to projects like that. And of course, we will take advice from Senator Green and from Elida when we're coming to do local commitments. But projects like that, we do have a lot of sympathy with. We are committed to renewable energy opportunities in regional Australia. But Warren Entsch might actually want to start delivering something before he starts calling on us to commit to things.

JOURNALIST: (Inaudible). Why do you think this time will be the right time?

FAITH: I think Far North Queenslanders deserve better. And that's why I am standing here again today for the second tilt. I'm not saying it's going to be easy. Warren has had this seat for quite some time. However, I think it is time that Warren retired. And we need to have new energy in this seat. And we need to have real commitment, a local that knows what locals want. And I'm here to do exactly that. 

JOURNALIST: (Inaudible).

FAITH: Yes.

ALBANESE: Can I just conclude with this about Elida. That she is having a second crack. Warren Entsch announced, or it certainly was around everywhere, that he wasn't running again. He told people that. If you're not sure you should be doing the job, it is a tough job, it requires a lot of hours and requires you to deliver, if you're not certain, then it probably is time to go. Elida Faith is certain that she wants to represent this electorate. She's passionate about it. She'd do it seven days a week. She won't be equivocal about whether she's going to run or not. And if she runs, she'll be there for a while as well. It won't be just one term. I think that's what a representative needs. I get on quite well with Warren Entsch. It is not personal. But there comes a time whereby someone is no longer making a difference. And the fact that these commitments aren't being delivered that were made last election should give the big hint. Far North Queensland needs Elida Faith. I want more Queenslanders in our team. And I'm determined to ensure that Elida is one of those. Thanks very much.

ENDS