SUBJECTS: Disability funding; Labor’s bold and ambitious agenda; aged care; TAFE funding; wages; industrial relations; interest rates; mortgages; GST; debt; waste and rorts; national anti-corruption commission; climate change; cost of living; affordable housing; Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum.
 
ROSS HART, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR BASS: I'm Ross Hart. I'm the Labor candidate for Bass. I'm very pleased to welcome Anthony Albanese here to Bass for the fifth time since the borders have opened in December last year. Anthony is a true friend of Tasmania, a true friend of everybody here in Northern Tasmania, which is really demonstrated by his commitment to access issues, particularly with respect to health. A very important announcement here this morning. I'd like to welcome, also, my colleagues, Senator Katy Gallagher and Senator Helen Polley here as well. Anthony, welcome here to Northern Tasmania, a very important announcement, particularly with respect to access to important health care here in Northern Tasmania.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Well, thanks very much and it's great to be back in Tassie. My fifth visit to the north of Tassie, just since the borders were reopened. And, of course, I was here also on a couple of occasions last year during the period when I couldn't go back to my own hometown of Sydney. But it was a great opportunity to get around Tasmania, and also Queensland, on multiple occasions. But this is a fantastic announcement here today. We've heard from Joel and Steph and their beautiful daughter, Frankie, just how important it is.

Hearing loss is a major disability and it can really impair a young child's education and opportunities in life. Frankie was able to get two Cochlear implants, a great Australian invention, a great example of something that has made a practical difference to people's lives. Australians are very good at science and innovation, often we haven't been good at commercialising those opportunities. We need to do that. We need to also make sure that one of the themes of my campaign is 'a Better Future for Australia', a better future where no one is left behind and no one held back.

This is about making sure that young children aren't left behind because of hearing impairment. And The Shepherd Centre do a magnificent job. They do a magnificent job on the mainland, but there's no presence here. And two centres here, one in the north in Launceston and one in Hobart, will make a major difference to making sure that the services can be provided for families where and, importantly, when they are needed. This announcement is an important one today, and I'd ask Jim Hungerford is here with us, the CEO of The Shepherd Centre as well. I'd ask Jim to make some comments before I take some questions.

JIM HUNGERFORD, CEO OF THE SHEPHERD CENTRE: Thank you, Anthony. And I wanted to add my thanks to Anthony's pledge of support for children with hearing loss in Tasmania and around Australia. Australia leads the world in the support of children with hearing loss, making it possible for them to live the same life as any other child. However, here in Tasmania, there hasn't been any specialist services that have been able to support all children with hearing loss.
And so it's brilliant that we will now be able to be funded to establish two centres, one in Hobart, one in Launceston, to provide that local support for families. To be there the moment that their child gets diagnosed and then to support that child through the years through to 18 to ensure that they are going to be able to develop the same spoken language, the same social skills, literacy, and then live the life that their families dream of for them. And so I wanted to say thank you again to the Labor Party for your pledge of support. And I'm really looking forward to us establishing our centres here in Tasmania. Thank you.

ALBANESE: Thanks very much, Jim. This means a better future for up to 2 000 children over the next two decades and these services will be located, one in Hobart one in Launceston, but they'll service the entire state, that will allow bigger capacity to reach out to the smaller towns and villages that are in this great decentralised state of Tasmania.

JOURNALIST: The Government's accused you of trying to fly under the radar and skate into office, and you've lost four primary points, in the Labor Party, in the past two or three weeks - doesn't that signify you should be taking a more bold and ambitious agenda?

ALBANESE: We have a bold and ambitious agenda. We have an agenda for the next term that compares with the Government's agenda that looks like that. It's a blank sheet of paper. They had nothing to say in their budget two weeks ago, about Australia's future, we have a plan, a comprehensive plan, to deal with climate change, that will lower energy prices, that will use those lower energy prices to advance manufacturing through our National Reconstruction Fund, to train Australians for those jobs through fee free TAFE for 465,000 Australians, for 20,000 additional university places. We have a plan for cheap childcare, cheaper electricity, we have a plan to have more secure work, which is better paid.

JOURNALIST: So why is your vote weakening? 

ALBANESE: Well I'll leave it to the commentators to commentate. But if we receive the same outcome that we received in the poll today, what do you think you'll be saying on Saturday night, May 21?

JOURNALIST: Having a nurse on duty 24/7 in every nursing home should be easy, is it? How long will it take to deliver? And can you guarantee that that it will be done in your first term?

ALBANESE: That is what we will deliver. Yes, we'll deliver it. We'll do what is necessary to deliver on this commitment and I’ll tell you why we'll do that. Because the Royal Commission identified it as an absolute priority. They identified a nurse in every nursing home. And I've got to say that most Australians will be shocked that having a nurse in every nursing home, it should be no more radical than the idea that you have a dentist in every dental surgery.

JOURNALIST: But where will you get all the nurses from? I know you’re going to train them but that will take time.

ALBANESE: Of course. We'll have a full court press. Thousands of nurses have left the aged care sector over recent years, we’ll be about attracting people back by fixing the crisis in aged care. We'll also be prepared to look at migration, which has played an important role in terms of nursing across both aged care and right across the health system. We will do what is necessary to fix the aged care crisis. Because the five-point plan that we have, a nurse in every nursing home, 215 minutes of care, better wages for the people who work in aged care, better food and nutrition where we've announced further detailed there through the Maggie Beer Foundation, and better transparency and accountability.

They are all recommendations of the Royal Commission. And what stuns me is that you have a Royal Commission from this Government, and then they walk away from the recommendations. Well, we actually think that the reason why you have an inquiry, and when it finds that there's a crisis in aged care, summed up by one word, 'neglect', is you need to act on it. We make no apologies for that.

JOURNALIST: I have a question for Ross Hart. The current Liberal sitting Member for Bass, Bridget Archer, has shone the spotlight in recent months for voting against the Government and, to some extent, risking her political career in doing so. Will you guarantee the people of Bass that you will be willing to go to the same lengths that she has to represent the people of this electorate?

HART: Well, I've got an absolute commitment to the people of this electorate, and it won't be necessary for me to cross the floor because of the Government that used cynical politics in order to exploit particular concerns within this electorate. So, Bridget Archer, the Liberal Member for Bass, found it necessary to cross the floor. I won't find it necessary to cross the floor. I have a strong commitment towards jobs in northern Tasmania a strong commitment towards manufacturing jobs, supporting the health sector.

There was nothing in the budget here for Northern Tasmania, nothing to do with the hydrogen potential of Bell Bay. Why wasn't Bridget Archer concerned about the fact that there was nothing in the budget for the hydrogen potential and the jobs within northern Tasmania? There's something that's perfectly clear - a vote for Bridget Archer is a vote for Scott Morrison. We must elect an Albanese Labor Government that means voting for Ross Hart in Bass. If you want a member that's going to represent Bass, you need to vote Labor.

JOURNALIST: So if you strongly disagree with something in your party, you won't cross the floor?

HART: Well, I've been a member of the caucus between 2016 and 2019. I know how this works. I've been a Secretary of a Caucus Committee, I've seen the development of policy through the committee process. I know that there are robust arguments within the caucus process, and then it's appropriate the caucus takes a strong position and supports the position that's been agreed upon. Bridget Archer was forced to cross the floor because of the failures of her own Government. I'm confident that the processes that I've seen in action in the caucus will deliver better outcomes here in Bass.

JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, you’ve spoken about Labor's commitment to drive up wages for all Australians. When can Australians know how much your policies might drive up their wages, and when they might receive that? And are you across, for example, do you know, the unemployment rate in Tasmania. There's a lot of people already in work, what's the rate, when will they get a wage increase, and how much would that look like in your first term?

ALBANESE: What we’ve put forward, more than a year ago now is a comprehensive policy to support more secure work, which would lift wages.

JOURNALIST: By how much? 

ALBANESE: Well, what we don't have is centralised wage fixing, where everyone gets the same increase in wages. That's not the way the industrial relations system works in this country. But what you can have in this country is enterprise bargaining that lifts wages, but you can also have structural reform and policies that lift wages. You can do that by having secure work recognised as an objective of the Fair Work Act. You can do that by having proper definition of casualization so you don't have the abuse that has occurred in some areas at the moment. You can do that by having same job, same pay. You can do that by outlawing wage theft as a crime, something of which there was a clear majority of both houses of parliament were prepared to support that, the Government actually had it in its own legislation and withdrew it as a political tactic - it said it all.

This is a government that also couldn't say that people should be paid the minimum wage. And the truth is that we think people, including people in the gig economy, shouldn't be excluded from being paid the minimum wage. And we've seen, with deals, practical deals with companies like Menulog, that have been able to come to arrangements that put that in place. So it's something that has happened in spite of the Government, not with the Government. So they are the sort of changes you can make going forward.

JOURNALIST: But that’s the how, not the when people might expect to experience a wage rise, even though you don't actually have specific control. Will it be in the first term? Will people be, their real wages, when will they increase?

ALBANESE: We want to see real wages increase in our first term. And we also want to identify ways in which particular sectors can be improved. When we were last in office, we put forward a submission for the Social and Community Services Award. That resulted in an increase in pay for people in that sector. And there's something, that I think Australians will know as well, if you look at the areas of underpayment where people are really struggling, some of the areas are defined by two things:

One, they're the workers who during the pandemic, the Government and, indeed, commentators were prepared to say that they were the heroes of the pandemic, our aged care workers, our childcare workers, our cleaners, our supermarket workers, they tend to also be the feminised industries that have missed out. And that's why the Government that I lead would make a submission to the Fair Work Commission to say we support a wage increase. Now, that decision will be binding on whoever's in government. And the Prime Minister had to concede that on the day after my budget reply. They're the sort of measures that can see a lifting of wages.

The Reserve Bank Governor has warned on multiple occasions, that wage constraint, which is according to senior members of the Government the former Finance Minister, is a key feature of the economic architecture. It's not by accident. It's by design, that wages have been held back under this Government and people are really doing it tough. We have a range of measures that will assist in in that process, and we've put it out there for all to see, it's been out there for more than a year. 

JOURNALIST: Can you guarantee that Jim Chalmers will be Treasurer, Kristina Keneally will be Home Affairs Minister, and Brendan O’Connor, Defense Minister in an Albanese government, and if not, why not? 

ALBANESE: Well, what I can say is that my expectation is that everyone will be in their current job if I'm elected Prime Minister in a government I lead. And I can say that I have full confidence in all of my team, including Jim Chalmers, as Treasurer, and others in their respective portfolio. My team are doing a good job. My team, I have confidence in, from myself as leader. And that compares with the government, which, quite frankly, who is their Health Minister going to be during a pandemic? None of my team are heading for the exit door in the middle of an election.

That is not what this Government has had. This Government have had half a dozen Defence Ministers. They've had multiple ministers across a range of portfolios. They've had a revolving door. They've had three Prime Ministers. They've had four, four Deputy Prime Ministers, if you count Barnaby Joyce unbelievably coming back twice. You know, it was a bit of a strange decision the first time, to do it again is just bizarre. And you have a government where the Liberal Party is at war with itself, the National Party is at war with itself. And the Liberal Party is at war with the National Party. That's why you have people crossing the floor, because there's chaos and there's no direction and no leadership and no unity.

JOURNALIST: But you won’t guarantee those positions?

ALBANESE: Well, I have. Jim Chalmers will be the Treasurer of Australia if I'm elected. I've said that multiple times. I shouldn't have to say it every day. I expect that everyone will be in their current jobs. That's my starting point. It is possible that someone says 'I don't want to do that job' or what have you - that happens from time to time. But it doesn't happen over someone like Jim Chalmers being the Treasurer of Australia.

JOURNALIST: Thank you, Mr. Albanese, just on the economy, and we know that that's going to be a key focus for Australians when we're coming out of this pandemic. Can I ask, you mentioned the Reserve Bank earlier? Do you know the official cash right off the top of your head?

ALBANESE: Oh, look, we can do the old Q&A stuff over fifty different figures. The truth is that what they have said, the Reserve Bank, is that over the coming period, the Reserve Bank have said that there'll be multiple interest rate increases, regardless of who's in government. Regardless of who's in government. We can do the 20 questions stuff through all of it, if you want

JOURNALIST: Alright, what will a Labor government then do that will help Australians when the interest rate does inevitably rise with higher mortgages?

ALBANESE: All of the measures that we’ve put in place are about putting downward pressure on inflation and interest rates, all of the measures. That's why we've looked particularly for areas that improve productivity. What's the Government's plan for improving productivity? Our industrial relations plan includes the fact that, when Christian Porter presided over bringing people together for IR reform, remember that? They abandoned it and nothing happened. You had the Business Council of Australia and the ACTU very close to an agreement that was then vetoed by the Government.

It seems to me that if we can get more agreement between employers and unions, when it comes to making sure that profits increase and wages increase, you can do that. If you lift productivity, that's the key. And measures like our childcare policy isn't welfare reform. It's about lifting women's workforce participation, it's about boosting productivity.

JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, on Friday you weren't able to, or you chose not to say, how you would fix the carve-up of the GST, the imbalance between WA and the eastern states. You'll have Labor premiers pushing for more GST revenue to their state budgets. Tell us now how you guide that and how you keep premiers like Peter Malinauskas and Mark McGowan on the same page.

ALBANESE: We support the current system. We support the arrangements that are in place. I expect that state premiers will advocate for their own states. No surprise in that. It’s the same position as the Government, so if you have an issue with that, maybe you take it up with the Government. Hang on one at a time, polite please. I'm not Scott Morrison, I don't run away from press conferences. Do it in order. Everyone will get one.

JOURNALIST: Mr. Albanese this morning, you accused the Government of having chutzpah for accusing you not having, knowing how to run money, manage the budget. And you mentioned the $1 trillion in debt, which is the forecast for 23-24, the budget forecast 1.2 trillion by 25-26. Will that be lower under a Labor Government? 

ALBANESE: What we'll do is cut the waste, cut the waste and the rorts. We won't be talking like this Government does that talks things up but never actually delivers. They had doubled the debt before the pandemic. You have had taxpayers’ money treated like it's Liberal Party money. And if you have a look at the measures that we’ll put forward during this campaign, I'll make this point, some have said that our commitments are modest. What they are is sensible, we haven't gone out there and splashed money around. Today's announcement is about making a real difference to children's lives here in Tasmania. We'll continue to prioritise that.

JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, why have you chosen the seat of Bass, the most marginal held Liberal seat as your first stop on the election campaign? And would you like to see Bridget Archer, who supports climate change action and a national anti-corruption commission out of Parliament?

ALBANESE: I want to see Ross Hart in Parliament. This isn't personal. Bridget Archer I regard as a decent person in my dealings with her. The problem is she's not part of a decent government. She says she supports the national anti corruption commission, but Scott Morrison will never implement one. She says he supports action on climate change, but Scott Morrison will never do anything on climate change, because he's part of a coalition with skeptics in the Liberal Party and in the National Party, and of course himself. This is a guy who in 2019 ran an election campaign saying that electric vehicles would end the weekend. This is a guy who has said that a 50 percent renewable energy target would be an absolute disaster. This is a guy who went to Glasgow, sat in the naughty corner, gave an empty speech to an empty room, couldn't increase the 2030 targets.

Bridget Archer is part of a bad government. They are a bad government, which on Bridget Archer’s own assessment is not worthy of re-election. I'd say to people, if you're in the electorate of Bass, listen to what Bridget Archer says. She says that we need action on climate change. She says we need a national anti-corruption commission. The only way you'll get one isn't voting for Bridget Archer. It's voting for Ross Hart.

JOURNALIST: We spoke to a lady today, Amanda, who's in her mid-40s and she's been living out of a car for the last nine months. She has a dog, she lives on $10 a day eating bread and cheese. I'd like to know what you're going to do to assist her considering you basically just agreed with the Government's $8.5 billion package of cost of living measures. What are you going to do? Are you going to go further? And I don't think you've answered yet what the unemployment rate in Tasmania is, or the cash rate for the Reserve Bank here - so, do you know those two figures and how are you going to help her?

ALBANESE: Well, how we'll help her is by providing assistance beyond the next election. That's how we'll help her. The problem is, with the Government's cash handouts, which we supported. People are under pressure, we supported them unapologetically. No one talked about them within 24 hours. But people are under pressure and they need assistance. We weren't about to oppose any assistance to people in need. I’m the Labor leader, Labor will always help the disadvantaged.

But what we need to do is to put in place measures that help people in the long term, whether it be cheaper childcare, or cheaper electricity prices, or in the area of housing. We have our housing Australia Future Fund, it will produce 30,000 additional social or affordable housing units. 4000 of those are reserved for women, particularly women and children escaping domestic violence. We'll have increased funding with $100 million for emergency funding support as well. We have a Homelessness Minister in this country, which is a question for you: can you name them? Who no one hears talk about homelessness. There’s a crisis in this country, and in particular, there's a crisis with older women. It's something that needs a strategy and policies to address it. We announced them as the centrepiece of our second budget reply.

JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, the Coalition is telling voters to fear the uncertainty of a Labor Government. Are you concerned that after three years of weirdness that might resonate with some voters?

ALBANESE: Sorry?

JOURNALIST: Are you concerned that the message of the Coalition, to fear the uncertainty of Labor, will resonate with some voters given it's been a pretty strange three years?

ALBANESE: Well, I spoke yesterday, in my opening remarks of this election campaign, I said that fear was a powerful emotion. But it's not my favoured one. My favoured emotion is optimism. I want to be positive during this campaign. So, we'll hear from this Government a whole range of attempts to appeal towards fear. Because when you have no positive agenda for today, let alone a vision for tomorrow, then that's what you're left with, a campaign of fear. The truth is that people do know about Scott Morrison. They know that he goes missing when the going gets tough. They know from his own colleagues, that he's someone who those who know him best don't trust. They know that whenever confronted by an issue, it's always too little, too late. Whether it's a response to the bushfires ordering enough vaccines, fixing, ordering enough rapid antigen tests, responding to flood victims, we know that it's always about Labor.

This Government's been in office for almost a decade. They're shooting for a second decade in office. And all they've got is fear campaigns. I expect a whole lot of this stuff, I expect them to talk about and say whether I still agree with something that someone said in the 1980s or 1990s. I do note that they've had nothing to say about my record as a Cabinet Minister, where I presided over significant portfolios with over $65 billion as part of the economic stimulus that got us through the global financial crisis. 

I’m going around, I'm giving everyone a go and then I’m happy to come back. I'm not Scott Morrison. Hang on. I'll come back to you. I'm just giving everyone a go. 

JOURNALIST: Yesterday, you said ‘well, my experience is I've been Acting Prime Minister.’ But how long have you actually held that role?

JOURNALIST: Yesterday, you said ‘well, my experience is I've been acting Prime Minister.’ But how long have you actually held that role?

ALBANESE: Well, I did just on a couple of occasions. Not that many days, but on two occasions. But I've also been the Deputy Prime Minister, I’ve been Leader of the Government in the House for six years. I've been in parliament for 20 years. The difference is when I was acting Prime Minister, I knew I was acting Prime Minister. This guy's been acting Prime Minister for four years. He won't accept the responsibilities which are there. He won't accept the responsibilities which are there.

JOURNALIST: It's just because you used it as credit, as an example of your experience.

ALBANESE: I have been Deputy Prime Minister of the country. And I'll make this point – there have been three Labor leaders who've been elected to government from opposition, Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke, and Kevin Rudd. None of those three had ever served as a minister. I've served as a senior government minister for six years. And I have been Deputy Prime Minister, I've been acting Prime Minister, been Communications Minister, Infrastructure Minister. I've been chair of the parliamentary business committee that looked at all of the legislation across both houses of Parliament. And for three of those years, of course, it was a minority parliament. That meant being able to engage with people from all sides of politics, and to get that legislation through, and I achieved it. We achieved things, we put through the National Disability Insurance Scheme legislation. We put through the changes to the Social and Community Services Award. We put through significant reform including paid parental leave, and other reforms during that time. We put through the National Broadband Network, we put through the economic stimulus that kept Australia going, one of only a couple of countries that avoided recession during that period. We did all of that. And that was a substantial achievement. I find it astonishing that the Government, including Barnaby Joyce who holds the position of Infrastructure Minister now, a position that didn't exist before I created it and before I created a new department, says that that's not an economic portfolio. That says it all about this Government. 

JOURNALIST: Last year when the Prime Minister couldn't say what the cost of petrol, or the price of a loaf of bread was, he was ridiculed as being out of touch with Australians. The RBA cash rate hasn't changed since 2020. The unemployment rates vary widely published and available. Is it your expectation, then, that leaders don't have to be across these kinds of details that directly impact voters’ lives? Are you just not going to answer those kinds of specific questions?

ALBANESE: Not at all. What I was not going to enter into is an auction in terms of the Tasmanian unemployment rate and the various rates that are put forward. I'm happy to know that the last time I filled up, petrol was $2.20. I know how much the price of bread is, I know how much a litre of milk is. I know about those things that affect ordinary people. I'm happy to engage with you. It's up to people to ask whatever questions they want. 

JOURNALIST: What's the national unemployment rate?

ALBANESE: The national unemployment rate at the moment is, I think it's five point, four – sorry, I'm not sure what it is.

JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, can we ask Senator Gallagher, your Shadow Finance Minister some questions? 

ALBANESE: Sure.

JOURNALIST: Shadow Finance Minister, do you know what the unemployment rate is? What the Reserve Bank current rate is?

KATY GALLAGHER, SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE: The Reserve Bank current rate is 0.1. And the unemployment rate is at 4 per cent.

JOURNALIST: Mr. Albanese, just on Alan Tudge, what you think the of the Prime Minister's comment that he remains in Cabinet? What do you make of those statements? Should he remain in Cabinet, given the reported pay outs to Rachelle Miller?

ALBANESE: Well, they’re astonishing statements from the Prime Minister. We had a situation whereby he stood down, but apparently still got his job in the Cabinet. And I just find it remarkable, and it says it all about the chaos with who's on the other side of politics.

JOURNALIST: Should the Australian people be told how much money she is getting? Alan Tudge’s ex-partner?

ALBANESE: Well, I've seen those reports. It's taxpayers’ money.

JOURNALIST: Indigenous leaders are urging a Morrison or Albanese Government to hold the referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament on May 27 next year. Will you commit to promising the Indigenous community a referendum in 2023 or 2024?

ALBANESE: I'll sit down with Indigenous people and, if we're successful, it would be my intention to hold a referendum in our first term. Thanks very much. Thank you.

ENDS