JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Thanks very much everyone for coming along. As a proud Westie I think I’m allowed to say welcome to the best part of the best country in the world. This morning a lot of you were at Cabramatta Public School, my old neck of the woods, the primary school that I went to. You got to meet Mrs Fry as well. I'm the first person in my family to finish high school. In fact, I'm the first person in my family to finish year ten. My mum didn't get to go to high school at all. And it was people like Mrs Fry, teachers like Mrs Fry, who changed my life. That's what education does, it changes lives. And a good education system can change countries. It's changed ours, and that's what we've been focused on as a Government, the Albanese Labor Government, which has cut the cost of child care for more than a million families, that's fixing the funding of our schools, and now, if we're re-elected, will cut the HECS debt of 3 million Australians by 20 per cent. 10 years ago, under Tony Abbott, they ripped the guts out of funding for public schools – $30 billion worth, and we're still feeling the consequences of that today. The number of kids finishing high school in public schools has dropped from 83 per cent to 73 per cent in the last ten years. Now, just stop and think about that for a second, it’s not happening everywhere, that's happening in public schools. This is happening at a time where it's more important to finish school than ever before, and that's what the funding that we announced, the deals that the Prime Minister has signed with every state and territory, are all about. This is the first time this has ever happened. Fixing the funding of public schools across the country. It's the biggest investment in public education by a Commonwealth government ever. And it’s not a blank cheque. This funding is tied to real and practical reform to help children who fall behind to catch up and keep up and help to make sure that more young people finish high school, and then can go on to TAFE, or university, and get the jobs of their dreams. We are the party of education, and we're the party of aspiration, and Western Sydney is all about aspiration, and that’s why it’s so great Prime Minister to have you here today.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks so much Jason. It's no accident that on a day when we want to talk about building Australia's future, here in Western Sydney, we began by going to Cabramatta Public School, because whilst infrastructure is important, and today we've had announcements about hospital infrastructure for Rouse Hill, rail and road infrastructure, there's nothing more important than investing in our people. And investing in our schools fund is something I'm really proud of. In the 2022 election, we didn't go there saying we will deliver on David Gonski’s reforms that had been around for more than a decade, were essentially curtailed by those $30 billion of cuts in that devastating 2014 budget, but we've delivered it and I'm so proud of it. We went to a lot of effort to make sure that the last state, Queensland, under Premier David Crisafulli, signed up on the Monday before we called the election. It seems like a long time ago, but it last week, Monday of last week. Because we wanted to make sure that every student, no matter where they lived in any state and territory, whether they go to a public school or a private school, got better and fairer funding. And that's what this investment will do. $14.6 billion of additional investment. $4.8 billion of additional investment here in NSW over 10 years. To reach that point where every parent can have the confidence of sending their kid to the local school and knowing that they'll get a fair crack at opportunity. Because what Western Sydney's about is opportunity. You know, this bloke here, first in his family to go to year ten, let alone to further education, now the Education Minister of Australia. How good is that? We need to celebrate Australia. One of the big divides in this election campaign is between my Government talking Australia up, seizing opportunities, being optimistic about Australia's future, and our opponents talking Australia down and always looking for division rather than vision going forward. These announcements that we've made today are a part of that as well. Making sure that Rouse Hill Hospital has the full suite of services, including maternity services. Making sure that congestion at Windsor Road gets fixed, as part of our massive investment we're making in Western Sydney roads, the work that we're putting in place on the rail network to the new airport. Making sure as well that we back small business by extending the instant asset write off for 12 months. Making a difference so they can invest in the tools or the computers or the equipment in the local cafe or the local hot food takeaway. This is, our vision is very much making sure, going back to something that I did say before the last election a number of times, no one held back. We're the party of aspiration. We want people to get ahead. We want more people to be able to have businesses and to be able to aspire to a better opportunity in life. But also no one left behind, that we don't just say, ‘oh, well, we're going to get inflation down by not worrying about unemployment, by not worrying about the consequences.’ We didn't do that. We've got inflation down to 2.4 per cent whilst unemployment still low at 4.1 per cent, whilst we've provided cost of living relief in a way that has continued to get that inflation down. So, I thank the Daily Telegraph for hosting us here today and we're happy to take some questions. The Daily Telegraph first, even though you, yeah, the Telegraph was always going to go first.
 
JOURNALIST: Exactly right. Instant asset write offs, Prime Minister. $20,000 and in place for one year. Why less than the Coalition's pledge and why not permanent?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Not permanent, because we want people to invest. We want people to invest now. If you just leave it there, then there's no incentive to go out there and make sure that you tool up your business, that you invest and you create that multiplier impact now. And so that's the basis of it. We think $20,000 is a fair amount for businesses. We have to balance up our fiscal responsibility. This is about our economic management as well. I think we've got the balance right.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will critical minerals be our ticket to a tariff carve out in the months to come?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we will continue to negotiate. Obviously, Australia has critical minerals. This is something that we began discussions with the Biden Administration on. This isn't anything new. People go back and have a look at the discussions that I have with President Biden during the state visit there, now quite a little while ago then, that was very much front and centre.
 
JOURNALIST: PM, can I ask you please, about a coordinated cyber attack against some of the biggest superannuation funds in Australia. Members have lost money, thousands of accounts affected at Rest and Australian Super. Have you been briefed on it? What's the Government's response?
 
PRIME MINISTER: We have, I have been informed about that. We will respond in time. We're considering what has occurred. But bear in mind the context here. There is an attack, a cyber attack, in Australia about every six minutes. This is a regular issue. We have beefed up funding for the Australian Signals Directorate. We have worked, and I've sat personally in a roundtable, with all of the big banks, with the big financial institutions, with superannuation funds and others convened with our security ministers, along with our Communications Minister, Michelle Rowland. We’ll have a considered response to it. But the agencies, of course, will work very strongly on it.
 
JOURNALIST: Somewhat surprising to hear you raise stranded Aussies in that talk just then. Can you make a commitment that you would never lock Australian citizens out and you would do all in your power to convince any state premier who wanted to pursue such a policy not to do it again?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it wasn't, state premiers don't control our borders, our national border’s controlled by our federal government. That was a decision that was made. I was concerned at the time that that occurred because there are consequences of it. I think the Australian passport, of course, means something. It means the Australian Government is on your side.
 
JOURNALIST: But what about the commitment? Can you commit to not locking Australians out of the country ever again?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I've said that clearly, the Australian passport means something. I can't commit to a blanket, if someone is, someone who's engaged in an act potentially of violence from Australia –
 
JOURNALIST: We’re not talking about that Prime Minister, with respect.
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's why, you asked for a blanket commitment, I won't do that. What I will do, is put the principal position that I have, which I think is very clear.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, if you win this election, will you go to Washington as soon as you can to eyeball Donald Trump?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I've been invited to the United States, of course, and vice versa. I will go as soon as possible, But I make this point as well, I'm not getting ahead of myself here. You know, the first visit that I want to make after the election is to Government House in Canberra, to Yarralumla. I'm not getting ahead of myself, elections are hard to win and there are four weeks left in this campaign. And I know that for Labor, we've been in power, Australia's oldest and greatest political party, but we've been in power for around about a third of the time. So, I'm not getting ahead of myself and I'm not making, planning, beyond May the 3rd, except for, along with this bloke here, the day after May the 3rd is, of course –
 
CLARE: May the fourth be with you.
 
PRIME MINISTER: He's a Star Wars nerd, this guy.
 
JOURNALIST: You said yesterday that it was not a good idea to build a nuclear power plant in the Hunter because there'd been an earthquake there, do you think –
 
PRIME MINISTER: No, there are regular tremors there. There's been one major earthquake there with a significant loss of life and destruction. But there have been incidents there in the last 12 months.
 
JOURNALIST: Yeah. Do you think that nuclear is more than just expensive energy generation? Do you think it's actually a safety risk to Australians?
 
PRIME MINISTER: No, I think the main risk with nuclear is shown by the fact that no one in the private sector will touch it with a barge pole. That it doesn't add up.
 
JOURNALIST. So, not so much a safety risk, more of an economic risk?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I've said very clearly repeatedly, every time I've been asked, it's about the economy. It doesn't stack up. And I make this point as well that Matt Canavan and Christopher Pyne have both belled the cat, have said this is about Coalition internals, this is about ‘look over here’ moment from a Coalition that still has climate sceptics front and centre, including on their frontbench. This will stop investment that we need, the rollout in supply that we need, and that is why it is such a risk to our economy and to our energy security.
 
JOURNALIST: Would you consider pausing the rollout or tweaking the rollout of your Government's Vehicle Efficiency Standards given carmakers are saying they might have to raise prices on popular models or restrict supply and they're reeling from the impact of Donald Trump's tariffs?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I've met with carmakers and I've met with car dealers on this issue. We achieved a outstanding outcome earlier when we put in place those standards. And I make this point, that's a scare campaign that was there for the Dunkley by-election that is now being rolled out again. In Dunkley there were billboards, there were ads, there was a whole range of unreal scare campaigns. We worked with industry, with major carmakers here to land an arrangement that has strong support.
 
JOURNALIST: The US President on Air Force One said he'd be open to tariff discounts or cuts if there was a ‘phenomenal offer’ from a country. What phenomenal offer do you have?
 
PRIME MINISTER: What we'll do is probably not make a phenomenal offer at a press conference, but we'll engage diplomatically in a considered way. That is what serious governments do. What we don't do is under pressure make comments about defence being on the table, and these comments that were made yesterday. Serious governments engage government to government. That is what we have been doing.
 
JOURNALIST: Just before when you were on stage, it was a bit of a grizzle where you were asked if you were going to the footy. You said, ‘no, I'm not allowed to have fun in this job.’ Now, serious point, do you feel straight jacketed in this job? Is there a part of you that kind of chafes at the restrictions required to do this job?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, look, I wish I could go to the pub with my mates without anyone else. Or with any of you.
 
JOURNALIST: We’re not your mates?
 
PRIME MINISTER: No, no, I mean without security with some of you as well. Yeah, there are people here who I've had really good engagement with, it’s a different dynamic – one of them's laughing right here – where you can catch up and stuff. There are restrictions in the job, but that's part of the deal. That's part of the arrangement. And it's an incredible privilege that I have. And tonight I will be watching the Rabbitohs beat the Chooks on TV and I look forward to that. I'm watching it with Jodie and my son and Toto. All four of us are South Sydney supporters. Toto, in fact, thinks that little rabbit is actually a Toto symbol.
 
JOURNALIST: Campaigning with Tu Le this morning in Fowler. Last time around, Kristina Keneally was parachuted in over the top of her. Can you, years later, can you understand why many voters in Fowler took that as arrogance? And do you now accept that that was a major mistake?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Donald Trump, also on Air Force One, said ‘every country has called us.’ Have you or anyone in your immediate Ministry contacted Trump or his administration in the last 24 hours?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, we're here in Western Sydney where there has been considerable unease in the community about the Government's response to the conflict in the Middle East and the issue of Palestinian recognition. If you are elected, will you act on the wishes of party members and recognise a Palestinian state?
 
PRIME MINISTER: We'll act in accordance with the position that we've taken of principle, which is that we support two states. We don't believe that Hamas has any role in a future Palestinian state. And we understand that this isn't a time just for gestures. This is a time for real progress, and one of the things that's occurred during this debate is that there's been too much performative actions and gestures and not enough real advance that makes a real difference to people's lives –
 
JOURNALIST: Would recognising be a performative gesture?
 
PRIME MINISTER: No, I've said that the idea at the moment, who do you recognise at the moment? Quite clearly, we need to acknowledge that Hamas can have no role in a Palestinian state. That is my position. My position has been, my entire political life, has been the right of Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security. It isn't a matter of being on the sideline like at the footy tonight where you're cheering one side, because this is not a situation where that's appropriate. Israelis and Palestinians both have an interest in peace and security. The way that I have acted for a long period of time in my Government, and we've had some criticism from people across the spectrum, is to take that principled view, to make sure that we always have our eyes on that solution. And that's something that the prospect of which has gone up and gone down and gone up and gone down again in recent times. I think it is, it's essential that out of this crisis emerges a better future for everyone in the region.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on the critical mineral reserve that you announced yesterday, why did that announcement come as a surprise to industry and to leaders like WA Premier Roger Cook? And can you please explain more about how it would actually work?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I’ll have more to say about that down the track. This is a, four weeks to go, to be fair. I’ll have more to say about that. But critical minerals, we've been engaging on critical minerals for a considerable period of time. We have been engaging with industry, we've got our National Reconstruction Fund, we've got our production tax credits – that's gone through the Parliament now. This is something that is front and centre of opportunities for Australia.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on tariffs, do they make the Whyalla Steelworks massive spend a shaky move given that we could be about to see a whole heap of Chinese steel dumped here? And also, just to follow up another question about calling Trump. You said yes, who called who from your Cabinet or yourself?
 
PRIME MINISTER: What we do is we engage diplomatically, on the second one. On the first, we back Whyalla, we back workers. We want steel to be made here in Australia. That's absolutely vital. It was vital yesterday, it's still vital today.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said that migrants don't want Mum and Dad to be locked out of the country. Will Labor increase the cap on parent visas?
 
PRIME MINISTER: What we'll do is we'll work through an orderly migration program.
 
JOURNALIST: Are you concerned Trump's treatment of ASEAN nations, including through tough trade tariff, could push them back into the direction of China and away from Australia.
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have strategic competition in the region, we know that that's the case, but we'll engage. I've spoken with some significant meat producers here, including on the way just here to Blacktown, one of the biggest operators in the country. One of the things that they've looked at, where some of the tariff decisions that were made in the United States –  because no country got a better deal than Australia, the comparative competitive position of Australia is actually improved compared with some countries exporting to the United States. So, these things will be worked through. But I'm very confident, I'm very confident that the measures that we put forward, the first of which I said yesterday was our anti-dumping regime. That is a risk. I've spoken to the head of the NFF about our $50 million for sectors to be able to engage with new markets, including missions to overseas. I've led business missions to Indonesia, to Laos, to China and to India since I've been Prime Minister, that has been successful. We will have an economic resilience program through our National Reconstruction Fund. We've got our Buy Australian plan, and of course the critical mineral strategic reserve.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, have you been getting mixed messages from the Trump Administration? We've heard from some officials in the last 24 hours suggesting these tariffs are permanent, they're intended to just stay in place. Other Trump officials suggesting that they're a negotiating tactic to bring other countries to the table, to get concessions. We had the beef incident yesterday where you were expecting a 10 per cent tariff rate on beef, and then Trump in his speech just announced a ban, that was then walked back by officials. Are you getting the same unified message from the administration?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I don't think he did announce that.
 
JOURNALIST: That's what his quote said.
 
PRIME MINISTER: I was asked that. We have the same position, 10 per cent on our beef is what has been imposed by the US. Look, we'll continue to engage constructively with the administration.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Western Sydney has traditionally been a Labor stronghold. It's been targeted by the Coalition and several independents, as Finn said, you've already lost one of those seats – Fowler. Are you concerned that voters here are turning off the Labor Party?
 
PRIME MINISTER: What I see is Ministers like Jason Clare, Michelle Rowland, Ed Husic, Chris Bowen and Tony Burke. Five Cabinet Ministers from this region. Western Sydney is punching way above its weight, even in terms of population size, as big as it is, that is enormous. That is a quarter of our cabinet are from Western Sydney. That's if you don't count the Inner West, which now my seat goes as far as Enfield. And so, if you look at us punching above our weight in Western Sydney, we have fantastic representatives. On Fowler, we of course, I acknowledge and said that at the time. That's not the first time I've said that. That was an error. I thought it was an error at the time.
 
JOURNALIST: It was your decision, wasn’t it, Prime Minister?
 
PRIME MINISTER: No, it wasn't my decision.
 
JOURNALIST: Chris Hayes supported Tu Le, wasn't it you part of the push to put Keneally in?
 
PRIME MINISTER: No. So, I have supported, encouraged, very strongly, Tu Le to run for Fowler. She's a gun candidate. She is a future Cabinet Minister. And you can have, the people of Fowler, can have an independent waiting for decisions to be made. Saying, as Peter Dutton has said, that the first call he'll make if he's in a minority situation will be to Dai Le, of course a former Liberal Party candidate, but someone who now sits as an independent. If you're an independent, you wait for decisions to be made and then decide whether you support them or not. Or you can have someone who's a future Cabinet Minister. I have no doubt that Tu Le is that. I think she's outstanding. I encouraged her to be the candidate and I think she'll make a fantastic Member for Fowler.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on the instant asset write-off, earlier you’d likened it to a sugar hit kind of, saying that the fact that it's extended every year –
 
PRIME MINISTER: I didn't use that term.
 
JOURNALIST: You didn't use those words exactly. But you said the fact that it's renewed every year incentivises people to invest now rather than waiting.
 
PRIME MINISTER: Correct.
 
JOURNALIST: But, given you criticised the Opposition for delays in passing it in Parliament just a couple of weeks ago, and given how long the instant asset write-off has been around for now, isn't it disingenuous to frame it like that, given this is a long running program?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Not at all, let's be very clear about what happened last week. The Coalition showed that they can't read Budget papers. They came into Parliament, they asked questions, saying that it had been removed, when it hadn't been, because it wasn't a new initiative. It was something in the previous year's Budget that they had held up and were refusing to pass, them together with the crossbenchers in the Senate. It was held up and was only passed on Wednesday night, late on Wednesday night. So, it was held up, not by us, by the Coalition and by the Senate crossbench. We have 25 votes out of 76. And that is why we argued very strongly that it should be passed. If it wasn't for what occurred last Wednesday, and bear in mind some people think that the Parliament wasn't going to come back, then that wouldn't have, wouldn't have occurred, wouldn't have gone through. So this election is about a Government that has been mature, a Government that has a plan for strengthening Medicare, a plan for improving education, a plan for taking 20 per cent off the HECS debt of students, of growing the economy in Western Sydney, a Government that has got wages up, inflation down, interest rates starting to fall where they started to rise when we were, before we came to office, and a Coalition that are irresponsible, have held up sensible measures like the instant asset write-off and then pretend that they're more supportive of it than us. Well, why did they hold it up from the Budget right through to last Wednesday night. This is an Opposition that aren't ready to form government. They are not ready. And in the response to the Trump Administration's actions yesterday, where the alternative Prime Minister of this country put on the table defence, they showed that they simply aren't up to it, that they are reckless and that there is a huge risk from Peter Dutton.
 
JOURNALIST: Just the last one on the beef, it appears Australian beef seems to be front of mind for a lot of Trump officials. The whole sort of MAGA commentariat, they pick this up as a thing at the moment, which is obviously of concern. What would be your advice to cattle farmers here, beef producers, about contingency planning if they're looking forward, at the reliability of the US market?
 
PRIME MINISTER: The producers that I've spoken to, and I've only spoken to two, it's only been 24 hours to be fair, have been pretty positive because what's occurred in the United States is that because of drought, weather conditions, the number of head of cattle at low numbers. Australia produces beef as well, that is of a different quality from US beef, just different. US beef is fattier, and I now know more about beef than I thought I ever would apart from the T-bone being my favourite cut of beef. And so, what they say, is that they are confident that they'll continue to be able to sell into that market. Bear in mind, tariffs are a cost on the country that's imposing them, on those consumers in the United States. That is what will occur. There aren't more head of cattle today on cattle stations in the US than there were yesterday. Everyone's costs have gone up by at least 10 per cent, and therefore the competitive position of Australian beef has not changed, has not changed. So, they will continue to access the US market. But in addition to that, as I said yesterday, my Government has been very careful about making sure that we try to open new markets for all of our goods and products. We have the best produce in the world, whether it's beef, or lamb, or crayfish, or our other agricultural products that we grow in the ground as well, and they are a great asset. We will work with the NFF, as I said, I've had discussions with them already as well. We're confident that we will come through this. And we will continue to make sure that we, as a trading nation, continue to benefit from it. Thank you very much.
 
ENDS