Transcripts
Friday, 18th February 2022
with Luke Gosling MP
SUBJECTS: Labor’s commitment to healthcare; Danila Dilba announcement; visit to Darwin; national security; Australia’s relationship with China; Port of Darwin; climate change; Eraring Power Station; Labor’s policy agenda.
LUKE GOSLING, MEMBER FOR SOLOMON: Good morning, everyone. And welcome to Palmerston. I'm Luke Gosling, the Federal Member for Solomon, which takes in all of Darwin and most of the Palmerston. I share Palmerston with the seat of Lingiari, and very happy to do so. It's a great day for Palmerston, but also the region. Because we've got a fantastic announcement today that's about health, the health of Territorians, making sure everyone's well, we've got culturally appropriate, great health services for this region. We're just stoked to have our Labor Leader, Anthony Albanese, in town for this announcement. And I'll pass to him shortly.
I also want to acknowledge Warren Snowdon, the Member for Lingiari, but also our Labor candidate for Lingiari, Marion Scrymgour. It's wonderful to have her here. Because, hopefully, those constituents in Lingiari will be able to be well-represented by Marion and will be using these fantastic facilities, the new facilities that we will build. We've also got NT Senator, Malarndirri McCarthy, with us. And we've got the good folk from Danila Dilba. And they'll be having a bit more to say in a second. I just want to take the opportunity to acknowledge the former CEO, Olga Havnen, as well as the new CEO, Rob McPhee. We have been working on this commitment for some time, knowing the huge increase in need for the services out in Palmerston as this place grows. Not only to look after the people who call this wonderful place home, but also visitors that come into town from time to time. So, with Labor, you'll always know that we'll be providing great health services for Territorians. And so, it's fantastic to have you here, Albo, for this great announcement.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Well, thanks very much, Luke. And it's great to be back in Darwin and here at Palmerston back with you again, and with my parliamentary colleagues, the team, Warren, future team member, Marion, and also Malarndirri. And I thank Rob and Tiana for showing us around this very important facility. This facility here makes a difference. It makes a difference to people's lives. Danila Dilba has nine separate facilities, including mobile facilities, looking after First Nations people's health. And we have had a reminder, if ever we needed one, of how important primary healthcare is for keeping people safe, as a precondition as well, for them to be able to participate in the labour market, for them to be able to participate in society. And we know that here in Palmerston is where the fastest growing area for First Nations people is. This facility right here looks up to some 5,000 people. 5,000 of the 15,000 people who this service delivers for at the Top End. So, it's an important facility. But it needs upgrade. During the COVID pandemic, they provided vaccinations for people. They provided care for people during COVID. And they're continuing to do so. They continue to play a role in the rollout of the vaccine, the rollout of boosters, the provision of rapid antigen tests, all of those things that are needed to keep people safe. This funding, $11.6 million, will enable a purpose-built facility that is fit-for-purpose. We know that the services that are being delivered have essentially outgrown this facility, which is why we need to invest here in primary healthcare. Labor will always be the party that defends Medicare and always be the party that is better on healthcare. This announcement today with Luke Gosling is something that he's worked for a long period of time. It's an important announcement that will make a real difference to people's lives. And I'd ask Rob and Tiana, who provide the services here, to just outline briefly what a difference this funding will make. Rob?
ROB MCPHEE, CEO OF DANILA DILBA: Good afternoon, everybody. And thank you, Anthony and Luke, for coming and making the announcement here today. My name is Rob McPhee. I'm the CEO of Danila Dilba Health Service. And I'd like to start by acknowledging and paying respects to the Larrakia People, the traditional owners of the lands upon which we're meeting. Danila Dilba welcomes the commitment made by Mr Albanese and the Federal Labor Party for funding to establish a purpose-built Comprehensive Primary Healthcare Hub to service the growing health needs of our clients and community across the Palmerston region. As Anthony mentioned, we currently operate nine clinics across Darwin, and with about 15,000 clients. And over 5,000, or a third of those clients, currently access the Palmerston clinic. We have seen significant growth across this part of the country, within the Aboriginal population, but also our clients. And this has been going on for several years. And our facilities that we're meeting at here are really outgrowing the needs of the community. As we know, life expectancy for Aboriginal people remains almost 10 years short of that of non-Aboriginal Australians. And access to high-quality, culturally appropriate, and what we call Comprehensive Primary Healthcare, is critical to overcoming this gap. What this funding that's been announced today will do is provide us with a health hub, where our clients can access a range of health and wellbeing services. This will not only support our clients to manage their own health, but we help contribute to our clients living long and healthy lives and reducing the needs to visit hospitals, which is a very expensive way to provide care. The investment announced today in this important piece of infrastructure will ensure that Danila Dilba is able to not only meet the growing demands of our services in the immediate future, but will help set us up for the outstanding work that we're going to do over the coming years as well. I'll now hand you over to our Regional Manager for the Palmerston region, Tiana McCoy.
TIANA MCCOY, REGIONAL MANAGER OF DANILA DILBA PALMERSTON: Thank you. As Rob mentioned, my name is Tiana McCoy. I'm the Regional Manager who currently oversees the clinics within Danila Dilba. I've worked for Danila Dilba for over eight years. I've seen the growth within the organisation and the evolution of our service. And I will speak more so to the growth of the organisation in this area. So, the site that we're at is the Palmerston clinic. It was originally opened as the Family Centre and Women's Centre. In 2015, due to demand, we had to expand out the Women's Centre. And we have a dedicated building for our women's maternal health services, which is located behind this clinic and is still operational today. What a new clinic means to the people of Palmerston, it means that we can provide them with a fully functional clinic. At the moment, we're providing services with limited capacity in terms of space. What the new clinic will allow us to provide is a space for social and emotional wellbeing services to be provided in an adequate, culturally safe environment. It will also allow for us to host allied and special services, and also provide a space for our child development team to undertake assessments of our young children. In 2022 and beyond, the need to have a purpose-built facility for our staff and clients and partners is crucial in meeting the health needs of our clients. We are heartened to hear that our calls for such a facility are being heard. And like Rob, I also welcome the pledge by Mr Albanese and the Labor Government to help us build a clinic in this region for the people of Palmerston and surrounding areas.
ALBANESE: Thank you. Well, thanks very much, Tiana and Rob. I think you've heard why this is important. This is about a practical measure, which is part of our commitment to close the gap. We know that the gap is a chasm in so many areas, including in health and life expectancy. And we need to support culturally sensitive delivery of services. This clinic does just that. And this announcement today will make it even better in the future. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Will the $11.6 million that Labor is pledging cover all costs of upgrading this facility or will the Territory Government have to pledge money too?
ALBANESE: This is our commitment that we believe is enough to deliver the facility in full. I'm sure that they'll be keen for any additional funding as well. But we wanted to make sure that there's no conditions on this. This will be in our first Budget. It will be delivered.
JOURNALIST: Is this an example of how important the seat of Lingiari is in the Federal election?
ALBANESE: This is an example of the importance of healthcare, and the importance of delivering for First Nations people. Where I am, in the Inner West of Sydney, I can get access, as a relatively privileged fellow, to a whole range of health services. The truth is that First Nations people, both people who live here in Palmerston, but also those who visit, transient populations, get delivered services by Danila Dilba, including through their mobile services. So, this is an example of doing the right thing. We will continue to support good projects, wherever they are. And it's important that we provide health services to First Nations people. We know that the gap is there. The gap is there in terms of all of the indicators when it comes to health, all of the indicators.
JOURNALIST: The health of First Nations people as a whole obviously suffers from an inequity compared to the rest of the nation in healthcare. So, what will Labor commit in terms of increasing the percentage of hospital funding that the Commonwealth will pay to states and territories, but the Territory in particular, given that we can see right now that our hospitals are at breaking point?
ALBANESE: Indeed. Look, we will have more to say on healthcare during the election campaign. But today's announcement is about this specific service. It's a real commitment for a real facility that will make a real difference. And that's what we're doing here today. We know that the issue of healthcare, we've had a reminder during the pandemic. Some said, 'Do you have the right health outcome or the right economic outcome?' There was a tension between the two things. In the third year of this pandemic, we know that when you don't get the health outcomes right, the economic outcomes are worse as well. That's why the rollout of the vaccine should have been delivered far more efficiently. That's why there should have been much better targeting and support focusing on vulnerable groups, including First Nations people. That's why the booster, if you rolled out the vaccine earlier, the booster would have been rolled out earlier as well. That's why rapid antigen test should have been not waited until January before the Federal Government bothered to put in an order. In so many areas, Scott Morrison has been too little and too late. That has characterised the response. We also know that in healthcare, primary healthcare ends up, as well, saving money. If you get to people earlier, with people they trust, if they have a niggle, they come somewhere like this, where there is a trusting relationship being built up, there's less likely of an acute event that's far more costly, both for the individual's health, but also for the health system to deal with that acute condition.
JOURNALIST: What do you say about the opinion piece written in a Chinese newspaper endorsing you as the Prime Minister?
ALBANESE: Well, there was an op-ed, written by a former Australian diplomat, Bruce Haigh. And that is a matter for Mr Haigh. He's usually bagging me on social media.
JOURNALIST: The Government is portraying you as weak on national security. Do you think that will stick with voters?
ALBANESE: Well, I'm here in Darwin. And I was part of a Government, as a Cabinet Minister and the Leader of the Government in the House of Representatives, in Julia Gillard's Government, that put the US Marines here, that upgraded our defence relationship with the United States. And I was also the Infrastructure Shadow Minister who opposed the sale of the Port of Darwin to a company that was connected with the Government of China.
JOURNALIST: Will you tear up that agreement if Labor wins?
ALBANESE: We think that it shouldn't have happened in the first place. And it's extraordinary that the person who, of course, took pride in negotiating the China FTA agreement ended up being on the board or on the payroll of that company. We will always stand up for Australia's interests. That's why we also opposed the extradition treaty with China that this Government tried to ram through. And they said we were irresponsible for doing so. We will always stand up for Australia's interests. But I think the national security analysts this week have made their position very, very clear. They have said that it is not in Australia's interest to look for false distinctions. They have said that both sides of Australian politics have a bipartisan position when it comes to our US alliances, when it comes to on China, on Hong Kong, on Taiwan, on the South China Sea, on the treatment of Uyghurs, on Tibet. On all of those issues, we have a common view. And that's not in Australia's interests. What I want to do is unite the country. I want to unite the country because unity is strength. What Scott Morrison keeps trying to do, as a desperate political measure, is divide the country. It is not in Australia's national interests to have a divided country based upon fake news. And we know what his own colleagues think about his capacity to not tell the truth. The fact is that his Deputy Prime Minister has said that over a long period of time, he's observed that Scott Morrison is a hypocrite and a liar. That's unfortunate that characteristic is there. I'd say, when it comes to national security, he should listen to what the Director General of ASIO said this week. He should listen to what, no less than the former Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Secretary of the Department of Defence, Head of ASIO, and Ambassador to Washington, appointed by John Howard, that's Dennis Richardson's credentials, and he's made some very strong comments this week. It doesn't matter how desperate Scott Morrison is to avoid discussion about healthcare, about education, about the response to the pandemic, about vaccinations, about the problems with skill shortages in our economy, about a plan for the future, about his failure to actually have a serious energy policy. And yesterday, we had the largest power station in Australia announce a bring-forward of a closure. The Government, apparently, was flat-footed on that and didn't even know about it. What we need from this Prime Minister is for him to do his job. And his job is not to try to scare people. His job is to look after the interests of the nation.
JOURNALIST: If you think that the Port of Darwin is a security threat, as you just mentioned, then why not commit to acting in some way?
ALBANESE: We opposed the sale of Darwin from the beginning.
JOURNALIST: But why not do something about it when in Government?
ALBANESE: We're not in Government. We hope to be in Government. And when you're in Government, you're able to examine a whole range of issues. And the truth is, though, that we opposed it at the time. I think that there's a case for strategic assets to be in the national interest, to remain in Australian hands. It's unfortunate that didn't happen.
JOURNALIST: That sounds like you're saying you will bring the Port of Darwin back into Australian hands.
ALBANESE: No, I'm saying that governments can make decisions. What I've said is that shouldn't have happened in the first place. And we opposed to at the time.
JOURNALIST: Why did you repeat the term 'Manchurian candidate' in Parliament, given the ASIO boss say it is politicising the issue to do that? Why did you then repeat it? And is that what you really think of the Prime Minister?
ALBANESE: Look, I was saying that in terms of his position that he's put forward, the actions that he is doing at the moment, in the words of Dennis Richardson, Australia's most celebrated public servant when it comes to national security issues, Foreign Affairs Head, Defence Head, ASIO Head, Ambassador to Washington, our most important ambassador, has said that the rhetoric of the Government only serves the interests of one country, China, not Australia.
JOURNALIST: The treatment of women in Parliament has been a hot issue. What's your response to Nicole Flint's accusation that you personally ignore her calls?
ALBANESE: Well, I'm not responsible for GetUp! I'm not responsible for GetUp! whatsoever. And that has nothing to do with my responsibilities. And I would have thought there are a range of issues. Nicole Flint was subjected to some dreadful misogynistic attacks that should not have happened. Thank you.
JOURNALIST: So, does the energy company, Origin, need to deliver a replacement for the Eraring Power Station in New South Wales? And your climate modelling assumes no early closures, so does that mean that under your plan, prices will go up?
ALBANESE: Our climate plan is very clear that our climate policy will not result in any bring-forward of any of the existing power plants. That's what we said. And this announcement is further evidence that is the case. We are seeing a shift in the production of energy. I find it extraordinary, though, that the national Government did not get a heads up. The New South Wales Government have known about this closure for six months and have been engaged in discussions with Origin. And the New South Wales Liberal Government thinks so little of Angus Taylor and his failure to have a national energy policy at all that they didn't even bother to talk to him about it. It says everything about the failure of this Government, that have had more than 20 sort-of pseudo announcements about energy policies and haven't landed a single one. Labor has one policy that we have announced. It's a policy that will deliver 604,000 new jobs. Five out of every six in regional communities. It will reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030. It will have $52 billion of private sector investment. It will make an enormous difference so that the national energy market grid will be 82 per cent powered by renewables. And that policy will reduce people's energy bills in the national energy market by $275. Now, this announcement is a direct result of the uncertainty that is out there from this Federal Government that is creating real concern from industry. And that's why our policy has been endorsed by the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Australian Industry Group, the National Farmers' Federation, and the ACTU. Only Labor has a policy to provide the certainty that business needs to invest to make sure we have lower energy prices. That's what our policy will do. It will make an enormous difference. And this Government will just flail away. And they've had almost a decade in office. They can't talk about any of their record in Government. They don't want to talk about a plan for the future, which is why they're resorting to desperate scare attacks that are just so transparent and so obvious. But unfortunately, they are not in Australia's national interest. Thanks very much.
ENDS
Electorate Office
334a Marrickville Rd
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Phone: 02 9564 3588
Parliament House Office
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Phone: 02 6277 7700
Electorate Office
334a Marrickville Rd
Marrickville NSW 2204
Phone: 02 9564 3588
Parliament House Office
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Phone: 02 6277 7700
Phone: (02) 9564 3588
Fax: (02) 9564 1734
Email: A.Albanese.MP@aph.gov.au
We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which our offices stand and we pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge the sorrow of the Stolen Generations and the impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We also recognise the resilience, strength and pride of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Authorised by Anthony Albanese, ALP, Canberra.