MERYL SWANSON, MEMBER FOR PATERSON: Prime Minister, hello and welcome to Maitland Hospital, and Minister Butler. Thank you so much for having us Luke, the Director of Nursing, and doctors and nurses that are here with us today. Our community, we know it's such a great place to live. Here in the Hunter we're bursting at the seams. Seven people every day want to come and live here in our community, and they need their healthcare, and they value their healthcare. This hospital is the beating heart of health care in our region, and that's why it is just so important that we continue to back in health for people, to back in Medicare, to back in bulk billing, and, am I allowed to say, we said, we're getting the UCC, we're getting it, but the Prime Minister's here to back it in as well. It's great. Urgent Care Clinic coming to Maitland.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, thanks very much, Meryl. And thank you to all the doctors and nurses and OTs and health professionals who are here with us today. This is a really important announcement. During the last election campaign, I promised 50 Urgent Care Clinics. Medicare Urgent Care Clinics where all you needed was this little bit of green and gold plastic, your Medicare card in order to get the health care that you need. Importantly, providing a midpoint between the GP and providing the emergency department in a hospital. So if you have something that is urgent but it's not life threatening, you can come to an Urgent Care Clinic. All you need is your Medicare card. You can fix a broken arm or fix a cut or get health care for a young one. Getting immediate care when you need it, where you need it, quickly, without clogging up the emergency department, where understandably, if there's a life threatening health issue, then people jump over the queue, and often families can be left waiting six or seven hours in an emergency department in order to have their young one fixed up.
 
Now, 1.3 million Australians have already got access to Medicare through their Medicare Urgent Care Clinics. Importantly, we promise 50 we've delivered 87 already are open, and if we're re-elected, we'll deliver another 50, including one right here in Maitland. Good for people to get the care they need, but importantly, as well, good for these amazing health professionals here at Maitland Hospital. Because it's about taking pressure off Maitland Hospital, just like the Urgent Care Clinic at Cessnock has taken pressure off Cessnock Hospital. We want to make sure that Australians get the care they need when they need it. So this is just one element of our health package, the tripling of the bulk billing incentive to make sure that Australians can get access to a GP. We want those bulk billing rates to hit 90 per cent.
 
We, in our last Budget, tripled the bulk billing incentive for concession card holders of those 11 million Australians. They're getting 90 per cent bulk billed now. We want that to continue, but for all 27 million Australians. That's one part of the equation. The second is the $1.7 billion additional funding that were put into hospitals this year, including additional funding for every hospital through the state and territory health networks. Thirdly, the Urgent Care Clinics. But also on top of that, of course, making medicines just $25 maximum for any script that's on the PBS. And indeed, if you're a concession card holder, we have frozen that payment maximum at $7.70 for the rest of this decade.
 
So when it comes to health care, there's a real choice of this election, a Government that I lead with people like Meryl Swanson and Dan Repacholi and Pat Conroy and all the fantastic representatives here, of course, including Sharon Claydon here in the Hunter, committed to improving health care. Or a Coalition which has to have cuts to pay for their $600 billion nuclear plan, including the rather strange idea that you put a nuclear reactor in a zone that is subject to earthquakes here in the Hunter Valley.
 
We have a clear plan. We know that the last time the Coalition came to government, they gutted Medicare. They took $50 billion out of the hospitals network. They tried to introduce a GP tax, a tax when people visit a hospital and tried to increase the cost of pharmaceuticals. And they've had people out there boasting about, following on from the cuts to education and health in Luke Howarth their Assistant Treasurer. But Peter Dutton himself on Monday night has spoken about, ‘why would you need so many public servants in education if you don't run school? Why do you need health public servants if you don't run hospitals?’
 
Well, the truth is that the Commonwealth plays an important role at this hospital. We're playing an important role in Urgent Care Clinics. We play an important role in primary health care. We run the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. The Commonwealth has a critical role in health care, and a Labor Government will always look after Medicare.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, while you’re here, we have some local questions for you.
 
PRIME MINISTER: Sure, absolutely. I'm not locking out the local media unlike Peter Dutton. I saw what happened this week, so I've always had respect for local media, and it's great to be back here in the Hunter.
 
JOURNALIST: A Singleton beef farmer has said that you could be doing more in terms of, I guess, speaking to Donald Trump about these beef tariffs, including perhaps backing Peter Dutton’s plan to cut the fuel excise. What would you say to a local farmer like him?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not sure that Peter Dutton has any plans, frankly, beyond his plan to move into Kirribilli House and measure up the curtains. What we've done is to stand up for Australian interest, including through the National Farmers’ Federation I spoke to today. National Farmers’ Federation have backed our approach. What we're doing is protecting the beef industry here, by protecting our biodiversity and by protecting our industry, making sure that the beef sector is protected.
 
JOURNALIST: And it was almost a year ago today, a little bit over a year ago today, that you also announced the Solar SunShot program at the Liddell power station. Can you give us an update on how that's going?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, these things are being rolled out. What we have at Liddell is new industries coming in. Certainly, if you look at the energy sector and the people who run Liddell, they're not looking for a nuclear reactor. What we need in the Hunter Valley is to have new industries coming in. We're very supportive of that happening. We're prepared to back that up, and we're also backing traditional industries here, for the wine industry, that have benefited from our clearing of some of those trade issues. But as well, of course, for the beef industry, biosecurity is so important here, and we know that when it comes to agriculture, we'll stand up on the biosecurity issues.
 
JOURNALIST: But when may we see perhaps some movement on the Solar SunShot program perhaps?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we want to see is that developed, these new industries. We think that Australia can make more things here. It's one of the big distinctions in this election. We want a Future Made in Australia. That's why we're backing Australian manufacturing and here in the Hunter, of course, you have such a fantastic history of making things here. Whether it's trains and rail carriages, whether it is new industries in manufacturing, and we're working with the industry to make sure that that gets done.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, one of the big issues locally has been that we're really struggling with energy transition. Locals are saying, particularly the Muswellbrook Mayor, that we need a government that's going to back us up and put plans into action. What is Labor going to do if elected to ensure that transition happens smoothly?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I've been to Muswellbrook, of course, and looked at the council run facility there that is quite extraordinary, with new industries looking at innovation and start ups that the Council is very involved with. I opened the centre there. We want to make sure that as the transition happens, we have established the Net Zero Authority. What that's about is making sure that no community gets left behind. We support the coal industry, and we want to make sure that industry can continue to be supported.
 
PROTESTER: Why has your government approved 33 new fossil fuel – (INAUDIBLE)
 
PROTESTER: The climate crisis is the greatest threat to the future of Australia.
 
JOURNALIST: Particularly when it comes to jobs in the Hunter there's a real concern that not only will those people in those mining jobs be affected, but the community that supports them. I mean, I think what we're hearing from that community is that there is a lot of plans to make a plan, and not a lot of action. I mean, you mentioned Net Zero Authority, but what specifically is Labor doing to ensure this community can survive?
 
PRIME MINISTER: We're backing new industries and jobs, and the other thing that we're doing is supporting the workers in the coal industry right now. I'll be attending the Mining and Energy Union Conference after this, I'm speaking to their AGM, and that is an important industry. We respect those workers, and what we're doing is backing up Same Job, Same Pay, making sure that they benefit from that. I'll be meeting workers who are earning up to $34,000 additional pay in their pay packet every year as a direct result of Labor’s Same Job, Same Pay policy. A policy that Peter Dutton has said he'll get rid of, like he'll get rid of so many other of Labor's industrial relations reforms.
 
JOURNALIST: Could I ask a question of the local MP?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
 
JOURNALIST: Thanks, Prime Minister. Hi Ms Swanson, we're just wondering if you support the offshore wind farm that is proposed, and what is your view about Australia's climate targets? What should they be for 2035 for instance?
 
SWANSON: I absolutely support our climate targets. And I've said that last night at a candidates’ forum, and I'll say it again today. In terms of offshore wind in the Hunter Economic Zone, I have said it needs to stack up. It needs to stack up environmentally and economically. That proponent is the Norwegian Government, and they are going to have seven years to do really incredibly detailed testing. They're going to look at things like whales. Now we've seen billboards with dead whales. Let me tell you, it is nonsense. I have read every study. Whales have been swimming around oil and gas rigs, around coal ships. They're smart creatures. Don't believe that. That's the first thing. The second thing is, seven years to do proper feasibility studies. If it does stack up, it's going to power one million homes and places like Tomago. But I have backed my community, and I'll continue to back it. We need to make sure it's right. If it stacks up, we definitely should do it.
 
JOURNALIST: And do you support wind farms, generally?
 
SWANSON: Absolutely in the right spots, yes.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I ask you quickly about the Norfolk Island? Do we, have you had a chance yet, or any government officials to communicate with America that they are, in fact, part of Australia? Have you spoken to David Smith about what the impact will be on that?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I've been with you, so you know the answer. You know the answer because I've been with you –
 
JOURNALIST: Or other government officials.
 
PRIME MINISTER: I've been with you, so we'll deal with these issues. We regard the Norfolk Island decision as a rather strange one. It of course is a part of Australia with a 29 per cent tariff imposed. I'm not sure that Norfolk Island, with respect to it, is a threat to the United States economy, and therefore, I think it being singled out is rather strange. We will seek an explanation, but I've got to say, the global impact of what's been announced today, I don't think that Norfolk Island is front and centre. Can I make this point about jobs here as well. I've been with Meryl Swanson to Tomago on at least three occasions. Tomago, I have been with Rio Tinto and the companies supporting its transition. They're a part of the energy transition because they understand that the future of the aluminium sector in Australia is green aluminium. Now Peter Dutton, when he was here, you wouldn't have been able perhaps to ask him that question, because he excluded local media. If he hadn't, he would understand that he wasn't at Tomago, but he actually lectured the people who run Tomago, the largest employer in this area about what its direction should be. Well, I tell you what, I'll back Kelly Parker and I'll back Rio Tinto over their vision for the future of that company, making sure that they continue to be a major employer of here in the Hunter Valley. Thanks very much.