SUBJECTS: Manufacturing in regional Queensland, Labor’s National Reconstruction Fund; job creation; Labor’s announcement of a candidate for Dawson; George Christensen; industrial relations; India travel ban; vaccine rollout; quarantine; importance of Regional Queensland; coal; Australia’s relationship with China; biosecurity; North Queensland insurance.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Firstly, thank you to Steven from the Resources Centre of Excellence here in Mackay. This is an exciting facility. It's helping to train people for the mining industry of today whilst being a precinct, potentially, for advanced manufacturing and for industries of tomorrow. This is a way in which we can get best practice. And here, supported by the Queensland state Government and supported by industry, it's fulfilling a really important role for Mackay and North Queensland. And in terms of the future, it's also looking at not just the coal industry, but also looking at rare earths, looking at advanced manufacturing, looking at how we value-add and how we build manufacturing here in North Queensland. And that's very consistent with our $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund. That's all about job creation. It's about making sure that we don't just benefit from the resources that we export from Australia, but we look at ways in which we can build more things here, create more jobs here, value-add and make a stronger and more resilient economy for Australia. 

And today, I'm very proud to be able to announce Shane Hamilton as our candidate for Dawson. Shane is Mackay third generation going back, a local born and bred here in Mackay. He's raising his three lovely kids who I met last night with Anita here in Mackay. He's passionate about North Queensland. He's passionate about jobs. He works in the mining sector providing maintenance services here in the Bowen Basin. And it's a very important task that we've given Shane, to deliver Dawson back to Labor. Because this community has been taken for granted by its local Member, who we know took 28 overseas trips over just four years and spent so much time overseas that he forgot his day job of representing the people of North Queensland. And now we find out that he is seeking, having announced that he would not contest the next election, seeking to be disendorsed so that he can get additional taxpayer funds after the election, get six months’ pay-out of taxpayers’ money. This is just the latest example of how the LNP confuses taxpayers’ money with Liberal National Party money. We've seen it with the Sports Rorts program, Community Safety Rorts program, so much abuse of taxpayers’ funds that we've seen. And this is just another example of the latest, in George Christensen putting himself before taxpayers and the interests of North Queensland. Shane won’t do that. Shane will be a strong, outspoken voice for North Queensland and for the region in Canberra. The problem with George, of course, is that he is a lion in Mackay media, but a mouse when he gets to Canberra. He hasn't done what he said he would do, over and over he was going to do the right thing by the banking Royal Commission and other issues, and he simply hasn't done it. This region needs to grow. This region needs someone who will be a local member who will prioritise not just any job, but secure jobs as well. We know that the Federal Government, at the same time that they talk about the mining sector, what they're doing is going to the High Court to appeal the decision that was made when the miners’ union successfully prosecuted the case on behalf of one of their miners, Mr Skene, that he wasn't a casual employee. A simple principle of same job, same pay, that is so important. Increasingly we're seeing jobs in the coal mining sector and other mining industries being subject to labour hire, being subject to casualisation when they are, in fact, permanent employees. Working side by side, men or women, working side by side but their pay differentials can be up to $50,000. And that's not good enough. That's not the Australian way. In Shane we will have an outstanding local candidate. And I'm very confident. I look forward to coming back here over and over again to campaign with Shane to give the people of Dawson the voice that they deserve. 

Could I make a couple of other comments today? Particularly about the Prime Minister's rather extraordinary interview that he gave this morning. In the middle of the night over the weekend, we were told that Australian citizens who sought to return to Australia would be firstly locked out, but then they would be locked up if they did return. It's an extraordinary abrogation of a fundamental responsibility of the Australian Government is to look after our citizens. In what way can Australia say that not only will we not look after you, we will punish you if you seek to come to Australia? And the Prime Minister this morning, when asked about the penalties that the Government announced itself in the middle of the night over the weekend, said that there was almost zero chance of them being implemented. Well, why were they announced? Why is it, if it wasn't just virtue signalling, pretending to be tough, trying to send messages in an ill-thought-out way, did the Prime Minister make that announcement then? This is a crisis of leadership. We need leadership in this country on national quarantine facilities. We need leadership in this country when it comes to the rollout of the vaccine. They are things that will keep Australians safe. And what we have, in order to hide the failure of the Government in those areas, is a macho announcement just days ago that the Prime Minister says won't actually be implemented in an interview this morning. It really is not good enough. And I've got a message for Scott Morrison. Do your day job. Look after quarantine. Look after Australian citizens. Make sure that we fix the rollout of the vaccine. The Government has had more than a year to get this right. And they continue to get it wrong. 

But today, our focus locally here is on our new candidate Shane. And I congratulate him. I am joined by the duty Senator Nita Green and also Senator Murray Watt because we regard this seat as an absolute priority for us. And in Shane, we are very confident that we have a candidate who will be a great representative for the people of Dawson. Shane?

SHANE HAMILTON, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR DAWSON: Thank you. Thanks, Albo. I just want to start by thanking Albo for his endorsement and getting off to a start. So, like Albo said, I am a proud North Queenslander. My wife and I are raising our family here. And really, I just want to stand up for the people of Dawson. Ten long years under the LNP has been far too long. It's time for a fresh start with new ideas and someone that really just wants to have a go for his local community. What I'm standing up for is secure, long-term employment for the people of Dawson. As a Party, Labor is going to bring back regional manufacturing. We need to be a country that makes things again. And right here in Dawson, like in this wonderful facility we're in, we could really lead that. We have the knowledge, we have the skills, and we have the industry to support that. Our casualisation rort that's going on across our industry, as Albo mentioned, is woeful. And it really needs to change. Employers and employees should expect a fair day's work for fair day's pay. And if you're doing the same job, you should be getting the same pay. Our child care system needs to be affordable. We have the mums and dads out there that need to have affordable child care so that they can get into the jobs that we are going to create into the future. Our aged care system needs to be top notch and supporting our elderly. And finally, I just want to touch on locally here Mackay with our affordable housing. Our most vulnerable families, as we saw in the last boom, and houses pricing in Mackay are getting worse and worse. We really need to look after them.

ALBANESE: Thanks very much. Happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: Given how Labor performed in regional Queensland at the last Federal election, particularly coal seats, was it a point of getting a coal miner on board as the Labor candidate?

ALBANESE: We got Shane on board because he's a great candidate. It's good that he works in the sector and industry. He understands the coal mining sector. He understands the importance also of secure jobs. And he knows that there's a vast chasm between this Government's rhetoric of looking after miners and what they've actually done. They're actually spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to court to overturn a decision that's about permanent work, that's about stopping the abuse, calling people casuals when they're not, and having people work side by side with each other with that massive pay difference which is there. So Shane will speak out for secure work. That's one of the issues that I prioritise as the Labor Leader. We think Shane's an outstanding candidate. He performed very well in the state election. And that helps. The fact that he's known, he's campaigned extensively in the lead-up to the state election. He, of course, topped the poll in the state seat and was only overtaken due to preference arrangements between the LNP and One Nation. So in terms of the prospects that's there, we're very confident that Shane will do well. We believe that this seat can return to the Labor fold. And it is one we intend campaigning strongly on, along with Matt Burnett, who we have announced in Flynn. We intend to campaign very strongly in Queensland. I've spent a lot of time here this year so far. I intend to spend a lot more here.

JOURNALIST: You've said Dawson is a priority seat. And it's been held by the LNP for a number of years. So do you think it's going to take a lot of extra campaigning and policies to get the constituents here back to Labor?

ALBANESE: Well, I'll ask Shane to comment after I say some things as well. But I believe that this seat has been let down by the LNP. What is the Coalition's strategy for advanced manufacturing jobs? What's the Coalition doing about casualisation? What are they doing about child care, where they've announced a big drop for the Budget of an announcement that will help one quarter of the number of people that our child care announcement last year made? This is a Government that have presided over no wage growth in eight long years. People are doing it tough. This Government has no plan for the future, no strategy for the future. They have no plan for regional economic development. And can I say this as Leader of the Australian Labor Party, that I stand on my record for this region as well. It was under my leadership, as the Infrastructure Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, that work began on the Mackay Ring Road. The Howard Government had been there for 13 years. Did nothing about it. It was under my leadership that work was undertaken on the Peak Downs Highway, on the upgrade and revitalisation of the Mackay city centre, community infrastructure projects as well. I have a proud record of supporting regional Queenslanders. Scott Morrison only visits here to do fundraisers. That's when he visits. Or to tell Annastacia Palaszczuk that she should open up borders and not keep Queenslanders safe. I think that we have strong prospects here in regional Queensland. And I'm very comfortable being here in regional Queensland. It's a great part of Australia. Queensland is our most regional of states. And if we're smart about taking advantage, not just of existing industries which are here, but the growth in rare earths, the potential growth in advanced manufacturing, we can have even stronger economies, more jobs, more prosperity here in this region.

HAMILTON: Just to add on that, I'm up to working hard for our people here. We can see our current Member. He's more interested in spending time overseas and floating a headline than actually just getting down in the trenches and working for the constituents that are here. And that's what I intend to do. We talk about secure jobs. That's exactly what we need in our area. We've got Paget here that's full of industry, full of opportunities to create jobs, and full of opportunity to manufacture things back here in Australia as opposed to overseas. So if we talk about, you know, us and them, then we are here and we want to support the people of our community, as opposed to looking for a headline.

JOURNALIST: What is Labor's position on coal? Is it part of our future going forward?

ALBANESE: Well, we have a very clear position of respecting every worker in every job that they do. Now, we have said, very clearly, we don't give different messages, we've said that in terms of the resources sector, there won't be a new coal-fired power station built in Australia. There hasn't been one started under the current Government, there won't be one started in the future, because of the market determination that renewables are the cheapest new form of energy. But 90 per cent of coal in the Bowen Basin is metallurgical coal. That's important for steel. It's important to build a wind turbine. And at the moment, there's prospects about green steel in the future. But the truth is, if you want to build a wind turbine, you need steel and you need metallurgical coal to go into that. And those decisions re our exports, we've said that export decisions will be made in terms of the boardrooms of overseas. But we support our export industries. We will continue to support them, and continue to support, as well, the workers being paid decently and having secure jobs. This Government, when it talks about the coal industry, what it really means is the shareholders, never the workers, the employees, the people who produce the profits. And Labor wants to speak up for them. I know Shane wants to speak up for them as well. 

JOURNALIST: Just in regard to the India travel ban. Labor has supported stopping flights to India, so how can you then criticise the Government for the position that they have taken?

ALBANESE: Because that's not what they've done. What we have said consistently for more than a year is that we need to bring Australians home, that Australia has obligations to our citizens. This Government has said they'll lock people out, and if they try to return home, they'll lock them up. And then today, Scott Morrison said there's zero chance of them actually implementing what they announced just days ago. The fact is that we have said for a long period of time, I said last June and July, that we should be using our assets at our disposal, including our Air Force assets. It's alright for ministers to take planes to Europe, to travel around and to try and get votes, but we can't use those assets to bring Australians home? We have obligations. The Australian passport and Australian citizenship must mean something. And if it doesn't mean that you have a right to come into Australia, then what does it mean? The Government has to explain that. And the reason why there are issues with regard to bringing people back to Australia are quarantine and the Government's failure to look after quarantine. It delayed the expansion of Howard Springs for a long period of time. You have state premiers, including Premier Palaszczuk, Premier Mark McGowan, Premier Andrews, who have been saying since last year about having appropriate facilities. The Government received its own report from Jane Halton that it hasn't acted on. And it also hasn't acted on the recommendations in that report about ventilation systems in hotels and the need to fix that. This is a Government that is not fulfilling its responsibilities to Australian citizens. That is what we are critical of. It needs to come up with a plan to bring Australians home. It needs to. Can I make this comment about foreign policy? We hear a lot of discussion about China and about the difficulties in our relationship with China and how we need to improve relations with the quad, that includes, of course, India, Japan and the United States. It is very difficult to see how the relationship with India has been improved in recent days as a result of this Government's actions.

JOURNALIST: Do you support the travel ban? Yes or no?

ALBANESE: We support medical advice. But the travel ban is on commercial flights. We've supported that. That has occurred in the United States and has occurred at the UK and has occurred across a range of countries. What we say, though, is that the Government needs to put in place mechanisms so that they can get Australians home. When there was a travel ban from China, the Australian Government chartered aircraft to get people back from Wuhan at the peak of the outbreak that occurred. This Government has done nothing to put in place those measures. What they have done is threaten people and then withdraw the threat and say, ‘It was just a bit of rhetoric and we don't think there is any chance of it being implemented’ or, in the Prime Minister's own words, ‘pretty much zero chance’ of its own policy being implemented. Thanks. 

JOURNALIST: Something quickly on China, now that you mention it, The Sydney Morning Herald is this morning reporting that one of the nation's top military commanders says that there is a high likelihood of conflict with China. Marise Payne has also written an op-ed on that. What you think about the country's most senior officials making those kinds of statements?

ALBANESE: To be honest, in Mackay I haven't read The Sydney Morning Herald. So I am reluctant to make comments about foreign policy without reading exactly what the statements are. And so I would refer you to Penny Wong as our foreign spokesperson who has done interviews today.

JOURNALIST: Just a quick question from Rockhampton, the Federal Government has announced they will allocate $350 million in the next Budget to get keep Aussie farmers safe from pests and disease. What is your take on this? 

ALBANESE: So they withdraw funds and then they put some back. We need to act on these issues. This Government has undermined what measures were in place prior to their election in 2013. So we welcome measures to deal with biosecurity. But they have undermined issues by making cuts and by failing to put in place appropriate measures over their eight long years in office. Thank you.

NITA GREEN, LABOR SENATOR FOR QUEENSLAND: Just before we head off, I just want to make some comments today about an announcement that the Federal Government's making around North Queensland insurance. So I want to be really clear about this. What the Government has done today is made an announcement, it's a press release. North Queensland insurance is unaffordable and it's becoming inaccessible. And people are not able to get insurance in one part of our country that is disaster prone. This Government has been dragged kicking and screaming to deliver something when it comes to insurance in North Queensland. The ACCC has been looking into this and they've had a three-year report. They've made 38 recommendations. And the Government has still not responded to any of those recommendations. The announcement that the Government made today is around a reinsurance pool. The ACCC report actually recommended that the Government did not implement a reinsurance pool. And they made that recommendation because they said that you could spend a lot of money, but you could get not much in return, that a reinsurance pool could possibly be quite ineffective for premium holders in North Queensland. So the question for the Prime Minister today is, is this more than a press release? When will people see a reduction in their insurance prices? And how much will it be reduced by? Because if you can't answer that question today, then this is just a press release. It is just more marketing and more spin from a Prime Minister that likes to come to North Queensland, make announcements and do fundraisers, but always fails to deliver on the ground. 

JOURNALIST: So what's Labor's plan to bring down insurance or even make insurance available where some insurers have refused to operate in the past?

GREEN: One of the biggest issues at the moment with North Queensland insurance is around strata units. And I understand that part of the announcement today is around resilience building for strata units. That is something that we have called for before, and it's certainly going to make up part of our policy that we take to the next election. Shane and I were talking on the way here and we were talking about how important it's going to be for Labor to have a policy around North Queensland insurance. But what we really want to do is make sure that this doesn't become an election policy. This Government has had eight long years and they haven't legislated any changes. So what I want to see the Government do is give us the details today of what they're planning on doing so we understand whether this will be an effective scheme. And then I want to get them to get on with it. We want them to deliver for North Queenslanders. At the moment, this scheme that they're announcing won't actually begin until July 2022. So it possibly could not affect premiums until long after that. I think that is too long for people in North Queensland to wait for some sort of relief when it comes to insurance.

JOURNALIST: If it comes back that what was put forward by the Government is effective despite the report recommendations, would Labor support the policy once it hits the floor of Parliament?

GREEN: We really need to see the details. And of course, insurance is too high, and it is too unaffordable, and it is inaccessible. And so we need to fix it. So Labor will work with the Government, the same way that we have done all the way through this pandemic. We have worked with the Government. We have been constructive. But they haven't brought a policy to us before today. And we don't have the details of it. So we'll wait to see what that is. Thanks very much.

ALBANESE: Thanks very much.

ENDS