SUBJECTS: Visit to Moruya; Labor’s Disaster Readiness Fund; importance of emergency services personnel; bushfires; natural disasters; Morrison Government’s failures during natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic; State Bega by-election; rapid antigen tests; schools reopening; Labor’s policy agenda; Federal election; Ukraine-Russia tension; booster shots; international tourism; pandemic recovery; emergency services. 
 
FIONA PHILLIPS, MEMBER FOR GILMORE:Well, good afternoon, everyone. And welcome to Moruya. We are, of course, at the site of the Eurobodalla Fire Control Centre or Incident Centre. Of course, this area was hit hugely by the bushfires in 2019 and 2020. And I'm delighted to be here today with the very united Labor team, of course, Anthony Albanese, the Leader of the Opposition, we have Chris Minns, the New South Wales Labor Leader, Dr Michael Holland, an outstanding wonderful local candidate in the Bega by-election, my good neighbour and wonderful friend, Kristy McBain, we have Murray Watt, the Federal Shadow Minister for Disaster and Emergency Management. And Jihad Dhib, the wonderful state Shadow Minister for Emergency Management as well. And I think it's really important that we are here today. One of the messages that I've been hearing loud and clear for some time now from Eurobodalla Council, in particular, and I want to acknowledge Warren Sharpe, who is here, who was the local emergency management officer along with Rob Burke during the fires. And today, we've been talking with Angus Barnes, the Chief Inspector of the Far South Coast RFS. But also, importantly, we have here today, a number of representatives from our emergency services that played such a pivotal role during the bushfires. Our emergency services workers and volunteers are absolute heroes, absolute heroes. There is not one person in this community and right along the South Coast and Far South Coast that was not impacted by the bushfires. When I heard that there was no Emergency Operation Centre and no co-located emergency precinct, I knew from what people were telling me, we need better power, we need better communications. We had to get this centre up and running. Along with my colleagues, we have been campaigning hard to make sure we get a full Emergency Services Management Centre, located right here in Moruya. People tell me they want to feel safer. That means better communications, better power, and working together to ensure that people can be as safe as possibly can be. So, I'm delighted to be here today. I'm going to hand over to Anthony Albanese to make the announcement.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN PARTY: Well, thanks very much, Fiona. And firstly, I want to thank the emergency services personnel who briefed us this morning. And I thank them for the extraordinary work that they do each and every day. But in particular, during the crisis in 2019-2020. This was a community that was under siege. This is a community in which every single family was impacted by these devastating bushfires not just a loss of life, a loss of property, or loss of flora and fauna, a devastating fire impact the likes of which this community has never seen before, and the likes of which mean that some couple of years later, the recovery is still very much underway. But we need to learn the lessons when crises occur. And the lesson here is we need an emergency services precinct right here in Moruya. We need to co-locate the emergency services functions in one location with proper facilities so that people aren't putting up with the crowded facility that we saw here, or having to travel a kilometre or two kilometres away in order to engage in a cooperative way. And that's what this announcement today is about. It's about listening to the people on the ground about what they want. And in Fiona and Kristy, we have two Federal Members in this region who look after people during that period. Of course, Kristy as the Mayor at the time of Bega Shire, but also as now the Federal Members. So, this announcement will allow for a major development, co-locating all of the facilities in one location. $5 million from Federal Labor, together with the commitment that Chris Minns is about to give us as State Labor member, together with the funding that's already been announced by the New South Wales Government. We welcome the fact that a couple of days ago there was an announcement. But it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough to do what is necessary. Surely in this, we need to do it once and do it right. And we need to do that in order to pay tribute to our emergency service workers, to our volunteers in the RFS in the SES. They deserve more than just our thanks and our respect. They deserve our commitment, as governments, to do what is required to assist them. Just like at the moment we're giving thanks to our healthcare workers during the pandemic. The workers and volunteers who made contributions during that crisis did an incredible job. And today also I do want to remind people of the announcement that we made in Queensland just a week ago, the Federal Government established an Emergency Response Fund some three years ago. The Emergency Response Fund took money that was allocated for infrastructure by the former Labor Government, in the Building Australia Fund, the Education Investment Fund, and they put it in $4 billion into the emergency response for and they said that of that fund, there'll be $200 million expended each year $150 million on recovery and $50 million on mitigation and disaster preparedness. Of that, no money has been expended on disaster preparedness, not a single project has been funded and delivered. Indeed, that fund of $4 billion is now worth over $4.7 billion, because it's got $750 million of interest. And yes, $17 million expended. It is just extraordinary. And it says everything about the failure of this Government to be competent. The failure for it to match up its promises within delivery when it comes to this funding. The idea that we don't need to prepare in this nation of ours, for fires, for floods, for cyclone readiness is just extraordinary. And that's why we would, with our Disaster Ready Fund, commit up to $200 million, each and every year, for projects that will make a difference in terms of mitigation, that will prepare for disasters, be they fires or floods, cyclones or other natural disasters in this country of ours, which unfortunately, does have this occur from time to time. We know that if you actually act early, you'll save money as well. But most importantly, you'll save lives, which is what Labor's programme is aimed at. I'd ask Chris Minns, my friend, the New South Wales Labor Leader, to make some comments as well.
 
CHRIS MINNS, LEADER OF THE NEW SOUTH WALES LABOR PARTY: Thanks, Anthony. It's wonderful to be here with you. And of course, with Fiona, Kristy, Michael Holland, Dr Michael Holland who's Labor's candidate in the upcoming the by-election. Look, this is an important announcement and a necessary one for this community that's gone through so much over the last two years. It's been two years since the devastating bushfires came through the New South Wales South Coast. This was a key recommendation of the Royal Commission and the Commission of Inquiry into the bushfires in New South Wales and Emergency Operations Centre and an Emergency Operations precinct so you can co-locate those first responders, and also the leadership of those particularly important services and departments. So, in times of crisis, they're in one location and they can make decisions quickly. As I said, this was a key recommendation of those inquiries. We believe it will save lives. It's been one year since the recommendation was handed down. We need to get on with it. Now, we acknowledge the New South Wales Government's pledge of last week in the lead-up to the by-election. But we believe this should be a precinct that includes the RFS, Fire and Rescue New South Wales, the SES and the leadership from police and also telecommunications are very important in making sure that fire ground first responders can talk with each other, whether it's for aerial support or extra resources on the ground. That's the recommendation from the Royal Commission. We need to crack on and get it done. So, New South Wales Labor will pledge $20 million to get this project up and running an Emergency Operations Centre and an Emergency Operations precinct. It is one of the first things that Dr Michael Holland told me that this community needs when we spoke about him running for Labor in the upcoming by-election. It's something that needs to happen. The by-election is a great opportunity to shine a spotlight on an important issue, as we head into that vote on the 12th of February.
 
A few other things happening in New South Wales at the moment. Firstly, I know that the New South Wales Premier had said earlier today that rapid antigen tests won't be available for many schools on the first day back, which is listed as the 28th of January. Now, we need to get this right. The New South Wales teachers, parents and students have done the right thing over the last two years. They're ready and prepared to do what's required of them to get through this difficult period. But if the Government says rapid antigen tests will be available, they need to make sure that that's done. We can't afford to have miscommunication or processes that fall down, given the pandemic has really hit New South Wales hard. We don't want the mess of public hospitals to be repeated for public education. Kids have gone through such a difficult period over the last two years. So much is on the line at the moment. We need those rapid antigen tests distributed to New South Wales schools as soon as possible so parents can get their hands on it, and we can get this process sorted out.
 
Lastly, in relation to business support in New South Wales, I've spoken to Michael Holland, many people in regional New South Wales, this state is doing it very tough as a result of COVID hitting it. The Omicron pandemic has hit small- and medium-sized businesses very hard. We still don't have an economic package announced by the New South Wales Premier, notwithstanding the fact that they've been in discussions with business groups since mid-December. We need to get on with it. New South Wales Treasury has told the Premier that the dire economic conditions will exist until at least March. And we know that for small- and medium-sized businesses, 40 per cent of them don't have enough turnover to keep their doors open for the next three months. You put that into the economic conditions in the state, where we know that it's the lowest level of consumer confidence since 1992. It all adds up to the New South Wales Government fronting up and providing economic support for businesses in this state. They've done the right thing. they've listened to their Government’s health advice. We don't want them to close their doors permanently, because they've listened to the New South Wales Government.
 
DR MICHAEL HOLLAND, NSW LABOR CANDIDATE FOR BEGA: Thanks, Chris. Dr Michael Holland, New South Wales Labor candidate for the Bega by-election. I'd like to acknowledge firstly the families that lost loved ones, homes and businesses in the 2019/2020 bushfire season. And we need to recognise also the dedicated emergency professionals and volunteers who tirelessly and selflessly defended our lives, homes and businesses during that time. This is what these developments about. I have the lived experience and witnessed the difficulties in coordinating emergency response by defending, clinically and physically, Moruya District Hospital which was threatened by the fire just down the road. As Chris said, this has been a development that's been recommended by the Commonwealth Royal Commission into Disaster the New South Wales Bushfire Inquiry, which I've made submissions to myself. It's been advocated now by Fiona Phillips for some time and now supported by federal and state leaders. This Operation Centre, this precinct will be a critical resource which will help our emergency services and our community deal with future natural disasters which will occur. Unfortunately, our community should have had this within the past two years, and it shouldn't have required a by-election for some response from our New South Wales Government. Thank you.
 
KRISTY MCBAIN, MEMBER FOR EDEN-MONARO: Good afternoon, everyone. During the time of the Black Summer bushfires, I was the Mayor of Bega Valley. In my time as Mayor of Bega Valley, I was a Mayor at the time we had nine declared natural disasters, three bushfire events in March 2018, August 2018, and then the Black Summer bushfires, and obviously a number of flood events. Any response from emergency management requires good communication. And that's made even harder when telecommunications are down, and we don't have any power. So, the announcement today goes a long way to making sure that regardless of the conditions that are surrounding you at a time of a natural disaster, you are able to have quick, important conversations between emergency services. A co-located precinct means decisions are made in protection of your community quickly that there won't be a long time between setup of an Emergency Operation Centre and its operation. The benefit that I had as Mayor of Bega Valley at the time was that we were able to coordinate, in a room within a matter of an hour, to get all of those emergency services located in one room to have conversations about how we can best protect our community, what we would need to do from a media point of view, who was the lead agency and how we would communicate our message to people going through the toughest of times at that particular moment. The announcement made today by both New South Wales and Federal Labor means that we take seriously what we've heard, what we've gone through, what we've seen over the Black Summer bushfires. The most disappointing part of the last two years is that the lived experience of these communities has not been listened to by the Government. There has been no action on any of the recommendations, no advice, no precedent given to what people went through. This shows Labor is serious about resilience and mitigation. Because every community I speak to tells me that the most important thing for them is what we are going to do for the next natural disaster. This announcement today shows how serious we are about listening to communities, taking into account what they're telling us. And after the Black Summer bushfire, we need to be listening to communities about what they need going forward. So, huge congratulations to New South Wales and Federal Labor for listening to local communities. Thank you to our emergency service guys who have been lobbying for this, the Eurobodalla Shire Council. And I don't think that there is a week that goes by where Fiona and I aren't getting text messages or emails from people in these communities, from the local council, telling us what needs to be done to make us more resilient into the future. This announcement, again, shows that we listen to the people who live here. Because we represent them. And what they are telling us is this is what they want, now and into the future.
 
ALBANESE: Thank you very much, Kristy. We’re all happy to take questions.
 
JOURNALIST: There's a lot of upgrades to infrastructure work possible in this area. Anybody who's got here by driving down the Princes Highway can see parts of that that look no different to when I drove on it in my 20. So, there's a lot of work that could be done. You’ve backed some projects up and down to Princes Highway such as, I think, the bridge over the Shoalhaven. Do you support Federal funding for the Moruya Bypass? That's one specific question on infrastructure. But can you point to anything you're doing on the Princes Highway where you're willing to do more than what Scott Morrison is already committed to?
 
ALBANESE: Absolutely. One of the problems with the Government and their commitments is they're all off on the never-never. The Government had this little sleight of hand of saying they'll have a 10-year infrastructure plan, which means that if you elect them four times, they might get around to doing stuff. So, for example, in the turn off towards Jervis Bay, at the last election we had a commitment that was substantially in advance of where the Government's commitment was, which was off nothing to commence for a number of years’ time. Most of their commitments were outside of the forward estimates. So, we'll make a range of specific commitments during the campaign. But I’m a guy, as Infrastructure Minister, who doubled the roads budget. We did make the commitment to the bridge at Nowra and to, therefore, the substantial upgrade there, well before the Government did. And that was a campaign led by Fiona Phillips. So, we'll continue to make specific commitments as we go through the process. But there's no doubt that one of the problems that was identified by the bushfire crisis was that people couldn't get out of areas. So, it represents a major safety issue as well.
 
JOURNALIST: Can I ask a follow up on the Princes Highway? Because I think with the Pacific Highway it was a Federal-State agreement where there was something like 80 per cent Federal funding to basically double the Pacific Highway. Is the situation with the Princes Highway getting to the point where the same commitment needs to be made? And would you actually be willing to make that kind of commitment to the highway as a whole, doubling it?
 
ALBANESE: Well, there were various commitments to the Pacific Highway. Under the Howard Government they said that there’d be 80/20. But they contributed $1.3 billion over 12 years. Federal Labor, with myself as Minister, committed $7.6 billion over six years, over half the time. So, five times the funding in half the time. Part of that was for example, the Kempsey Bypass was $513 million, 100 per cent for Australia's longest bridge anywhere, 100 per cent federally funded. Other projects were 50/50 funded as we came through the specifics of the Global Financial Crisis when we wanted to stimulate the economy particularly quickly. So, the Pacific Highway has made a major difference. The Princes Highway isn't part of the national road network is where those issues have come in. But I've said that there needs to be a sit down between the Federal Government and whoever's in government in the state and I hope it's my friend here after next March, but whoever is the Premier. I had a good relationship with Duncan Gay, for example. We committed funding which assisted with the Pacific Highway when he was the Minister. And that is something that I think should happen. And if we come to Government, I am very keen to sit down with the NSW Government to discuss specific infrastructure projects.
 
JOURNALIST: National Cabinet is meeting today. Should the definition of fully-vaccinated people be defined as three doses as is being pushed by Dan Andrews?
 
ALBANESE: Well, we should listen to the health experts. And what's clear is that booster shots make a major difference in terms of the Omicron variant in particular. So, I'd encourage everyone to get the booster. But the reason why the boosters are delayed is because the rollout of the vaccine was delayed. Everything about this current Government is that it's too little and too late. It's always waiting for a problem to become a crisis before it acts. I predict, and I hope, that they match the announcement that we're making here today in coming weeks. I predict that they'll commit to spend more money for the Emergency Response Fund. This Government needs to get ahead of those issues. We need to follow the health advice. And I have no doubt that over a period of time, it will be considered that you have to have a booster in order to be considered fully vaccinated. We know that the protection reduces over a period of time. And I just encourage everyone who's eligible to do so. But of course, I argued to bring forward the gap between the second shot and the booster shot. Greg Hunt said that was an irresponsible thing to say, before adopting it the very next day. So, I'll wait and see what they do at National Cabinet. But we should be listening to the health experts and responding, not waiting for there to be a problem before there's a response.
 
JOURNALIST: There was a fair bit of debate after the Upper Hunter by-elections last year (inaudible). How relevant are the upcoming NSW by-elections to your chances?
 
ALBANESE: I'll ask Chris to comment on this as well. I'll be handing out on February 12 in Strathfield for Jason Yat-sen Li, an outstanding candidate, someone who has been a friend of mine for a very long time. I'm a bit upset with Chris, though. Because he was our number three Senate candidate. And I think he was a cracker of a candidate. And now, we have to find someone else to fill that position. But he's an outstanding candidate. And I think in Dr Michael Holland, we've heard today what a great candidate we have for Bega to run for NSW Labor. On my own experience, the hero of Eden-Monaro, as I called her at the National Press Club, Kristy McBain, someone who I sought out at an airport a while ago to be the candidate as the Mayor of Bega. One of the things about being a former of Local Government Minister and getting around this country, including during the bushfire crisis, where I visited communities that were impacted by the bushfires, is that I got to know champions in local communities. Kristy McBain was a champion and remains a champion as a Federal Member of Parliament. And Michael Holland's one as well. But I'd ask Chris to comment.
 
JOURNALIST: Just to the substance of the question about what it means for your chances?
 
ALBANESE: I’ll ask Chris to comment. He’s actually the state Leader and it’s a state by-election.
 
MINNS: Thanks, Anthony. I think voters are pretty discerning drawing distinctions between state and federal politics. It's been that way for 120 years in Australia as the nature of our Federation. But I would say that this is an opportunity for people to send a message to the NSW Premier. The feedback that I've got over the last five or six weeks is that the NSW Premier doesn't listen. He doesn't listen to experts, doesn't listen to senior bureaucrats. But he'll have to listen to the voters in these by-elections, in particular in the seat of Bega. And our candidate, Dr Michael Holland, I think perfectly represents the kind of Member of Parliament that you need right now. Someone who will listen to experts in the field, somebody that is committed to bringing this community up, and somebody who's got experience fighting for and serving the community going back 19 years.
 
JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, I note the Federal Reserve (inaudible). How do you see the connection between our Federal connections and (inaudible) a massive housing affordability problem?
 
ALBANESE: Well, we have massive cost of living pressures on working families in particular. Those pressures are in cities, but they're also very much in the regions. One of the things we've seen during the pandemic is that for a whole lot of people, the idea of living outside a congested capital city is a pretty good idea. So, we're seeing pressure on house prices, on renters in communities like this, on the north coast in New South Wales, in places like Rockhampton, massive pressures on housing affordability. But we're also seeing pressures on petrol prices. And we're also seeing, at the other end, pressure because of wage constraint. What we have in this country is in the last budget, a declaration by the Treasurer that real wages would decrease over the coming four years. And wages haven't kept up with the cost of living over the nine years that this Government spent in office. Now, in Australia, in my political lifetime and well beyond, going back to the post-war period, Australians have enjoyed a consistently, with the odd bump, rise in cost of living. What we've seen over what will be the decade, almost, by the time we get to the end of this term, is that cost of living pressures are really hurting people. And we know that any increase in inflation and potential increase in interest rates as well, will really place enormous pressure on people who have huge mortgages out there. But they're struggling to get by on a day to day basis. And one of the reasons why Labor has, as part of our three-point plan for a better future, raising living standards for working people through wage increases, by dealing with a fairer industrial relations system, by making childcare more affordable, by having an affordable housing strategy, which includes 30,000 additional units of affordable or social housing, is that we need to take pressure off working families. This Government keep acting as if people have never had it so good. That's the approach that they take. And it's not Labor's.
 
JOURNALIST: How realistic is it for Australia to be providing (inaudible)?
 
ALBANESE: Well, we're a country that fortunately has one of the world's great suppliers of gas. And in terms of LNG production and distribution, if we can step up there, then that would be a good thing for the world, if there are countries that suffer as a result of actions that Russia might take, as a result of the pressures that are on at the moment around Ukraine and the defence of Ukraine sovereignty, which is certainly a bipartisan position that we take in our national Parliament. So, I certainly think that if we can, then certainly, we should.
 
JOURNALIST: The new Chinese Ambassador has issued remarks (inaudible). Should you take these comments at face-value?
 
ALBANESE: Well, I think in diplomacy, a diplomatic language is always better than confrontational language. That is a truism of relations that we have with all other nations. The relationship with China is a complex one. China has changed its position. It's changed its posture. That requires a change from Australia. And China should certainly withdraw some of the actions that have been taken to stop Australian products going to China. That’s not in China's interest and it's not in Australia's interests. And China should, and I hope that the Ambassador would, support the withdrawal of those effective sanctions which are in place, whether it be for our natural resources or our products such as wine and agricultural products as well.
 
JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, what kind of health and education policies do you have that is going to make voters here in Gilmore and Eden-Monaro’s lives better? Or do you think that the Government's handling of the pandemic virus is going to resonate with voters? And secondly, are you prepared, or will you unveil changes to tax or spending cuts to meet those commitments?
 
ALBANESE: Well, we in terms of the commitments that we've made, and I went through at the Press Club just some of the commitments that we've made since December, where we've committed to a climate policy that has the support of the business community, the National Farmers’ Federation, the ACTU, that will result in 600,000 new jobs, five out of every six of them created in regional Australia. Communities like this will benefit in terms of employment, in terms of growth from our policies there. We’ve also announced 465,000 TAFE places. Areas like this are suffering from labour shortages, from skill shortages. Parents in this community want their kids to be able to train, to get a trade, to get a job, which is highly skilled. And it's unfortunate that at the same time as we have two million Australians either unemployed or underemployed, there's massive skill shortages. We'll have 20,000 new additional university places. We’ll have a strategic fleet which will operate including just down the coast here at the Port of Eden that I've visited on a couple of times with Kristy McBain. We've announced an expansion of the National Broadband Network that will particularly help people in regional communities. On health, we’ve continued to raise the issue of access to GPs. One of the big problems in communities like this is that increasingly, they can't get access to a GP. And when they can, they can’t afford one. The costs of getting healthcare are rising. And that's placing more pressure on our public hospital system because we don't have an appropriate system of support for GPs with Medicare at its heart.
 
Labor will have more to say on health, including regional health, in the lead-up to the election. But we've already had so much policy out there just in the last couple of months. And that compares with the Government that still acts like an opposition in exile sitting on the government benches, that don't actually promise anything. We have senior members of the Government like Josh Frydenberg, who's sitting down reading my Year 12 yearbook to see what he can find. It's just pathetic. How about they govern? This is a Government that said, declared, Scott Morrison now three months ago declared, that he was in campaign mode. Well, I haven't seen any big campaign announcements from him. And I haven't seen any governing either.
 
And with regard to this community, this community knows that three years ago, three summers ago, and I've been Labor Leader for three summers, in the first summer was the bushfire crisis where people know that Scott Morrison went missing. People know that that's the case. And people know that he has remained missing ever since in terms of expenditure of the Emergency Response Fund. Then last summer, we had a failure to secure supply when he said it wasn't a race on getting access to the vaccines. He failed when it came to setting up purpose-built quarantine. He failed when it came to testing in terms of access to testing. And he failed when it came to the COVIDSafe App. Remember that? The tracing app that was going to protect people like sunscreen. I'm yet to meet anyone who's used it, yet to meet anyone in the entire country. And this summer, we've had the failure, he said on schools that there'd be a national approach to the return of schools and then did nothing. We've had a failure with regard to access of supply of rapid antigen tests. We've had a failure when it came to access to the booster rollout. And on RATs, he’s told communities here that they can go, concession cardholders can go to their local pharmacy and get a RAT, but they're not available because he then told the pharmacies the next day, ‘Oh, well, you're on your own on accessing supply’. And the tragedy is that we have rapid antigen tests being manufactured in this country being sent overseas at the same time as people in regional communities like this can't find one for love or money.
 
JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, there are calls from industry groups to begin reopening Australia’s international borders. It's been 700+ days since we've had international tourists here. What should the threshold be if it's not already being met? And on a second question, if I may, this might go to Ms McBain, climate change has obviously had a lasting impact on these communities. You said it yourself, there has been nine incidents in three, four years alone. Does Labor's policy do enough to allay concerns about future climate catastrophes?
 
ALBANESE: Well, we know that climate change is a global issue. And it needs global action. But I’ll tell you where Australia can make a difference. Australia can make a difference by being part of the solution rather than part of the problem. And our policy would stop Australia sitting in international conferences in the naughty corner with Saudi Arabia and Brazil. This Prime Minister went to a conference and gave an empty speech to an empty room with a pamphlet rather than a plan. Our plan is comprehensive. It's been worked through, fully costed, 604,000 new jobs, $52 billion of private sector investment, a reduction in power bills for average families of $275. A policy that will reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030. That will see 82 per cent of our energy supplied by renewables by 2030. This is a practical plan. It's one in which we didn't set a target and then work out how to get there and fudge. What we did was work through good policy, fixing electricity transmission, that's the low-hanging fruit. How is it the Snowy Hydro that affects this region won't be connected up with the grid when it opens? It just says everything about the failure of this Government that they haven't been able to do that.
 
JOURNALIST: But on international tourism?
 
ALBANESE: Well, look, if the Government had done what we said it should do when we said it, of having purpose-built quarantine, of getting the rollout of the vaccine right, of making sure you did testing and tracing as well, we wouldn't have found ourselves in this situation now. The problem has been that this Government has always waited for a problem to become a crisis before it acts. No one wants to see any restrictions in place for one day longer than is necessary. But the truth is that Australian citizens can't even get back. And at one stage, Australian citizens were threatened with jail if they return to Australia from India. This is a Government that have consistently failed to plan ahead, whether it's dealing with natural disasters, bushfires, or whether it be dealing with the pandemic. I might see if Kristy might want to add something.
 
MCBAIN: Thanks. In my electorate alone, 35 declared natural disasters in five years. Eurobodalla Shire, and Fiona probably knows, there's been eight or nine flood events since the Black Summer bushfires. People want action. The Labor Party now has a policy which is practical, that has the support of people, that people will see a tangible difference to their daily lives. That's what people are asking for. I stood in the Chamber, speaking about the impact of the Black Summer bushfires, of flood events, of COVID on communities, and was told by a minister of this Government, ‘With all due respect, the bushfires were 18 months ago’. I mean, tell that to a person still living in a caravan. And those people are saying, ‘What I want is to see real action taken on climate change because I don't want to have to live through this again’. So, when you talk about Labor's climate policies, it has the broad support of not only those industry groups that Mr Albanese has said, it has the support of people on the ground who have lived through natural disasters.
 
JOURNALIST: Just going back to the local issues, about emergency access. Just this road here running up here goes up to Araluen Valley and Braidwood. At the beginning of the fire situation just a couple of years ago, people were evacuated down that road. It's now being blocked off for over a year. Eurobodalla Shire's, I think, already fixed about 12 bridges. But there's a major problem out there and it's seems to be it's taking a really long time for those residents to have access. They have issues with ambulances trying to get there. They're completely locked up by the land slips on each side. So, I'm just wondering, it may be one for Chris, if there's going to be some commitment to helping Eurobodalla fix that road up?
 
MINNS: Well, that's something that we certainly will be looking at. We need to be listening to the community, understanding what the circumstances are on the ground and committing to resourcing. One of the good things about by-elections are that they do shine a spotlight on issues that ordinarily wouldn't be covered by a local Member of Parliament. We're determined to do that in this by-election. And our message again to the community is a positive and optimistic vote for Dr Michael Holland will change the way the Government is operating. It can't change the Government, but it can send a message to the Government. And a re-election of a conservative MP, in this case, a Liberal MP, it'll be business as usual in New South Wales. And I suspect that the people of Bega will be forgotten again.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you think the Government has been successful in the messages about people getting boosters, particularly for multicultural communities?
 
MINNS: We're really concerned about that. Obviously, in the early days of the Delta variant moving through the community, the way that communication was undertaken by the Government, particularly with non-English speaking background, was not good enough. So, NSW Labor MPs actually stood up and spoke to their communities in their own language about getting vaccinated, shooting down conspiracy theories within those communities, and trying to play a positive role. Booster shots are very important. We've had a message today from the Chief Health Officer that the third booster shot is not at the level that they need to fight the Omicron variant and protect our public hospital network. So, we need to get those messages out. Now, I realise it's a complicated and complex situation. But we need to be in a position where we are walking and chewing gum, that messages that are important to the community distributed at the same time as important work to protect our public hospitals.
 
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible) has said they're going to come and build a great big hospital down here and health professionals will come. We're in a housing crisis and there's already not enough accommodation for people moving into the area. And they're introducing all these new workers. I'm wondering if you will commit to helping fix that problem in any way?
 
MINNS: Look, that's an important point. The NSW Government came down here two weeks ago, or about a week ago wasn't it, Michael, and announced that the Eurobodalla hospital would be a level four hospital. But for the preceding two years, they insisted that it wouldn't be, it would be level three. Now, Michael has led the community campaign in Moruya and Batemans Bay and in the wider Shire to make sure that this community has the health resources that they need from the NSW Government. We are confident that if the hospital is built, the jobs are here that we can fill them. Now, we know that there are housing issues in relation to the Eurobodalla Shire and the entire South Coast. Obviously, we need to have a comprehensive plan in relation to that. But this is the benefit of a by-election, because you do get an opportunity to force the Government to make important decisions that are of benefit to the community, particularly an ageing community like we've got right here in Bega.
 
JOURNALIST: I want to ask a quick follow up on that. Does Labor, at a federal and state level, support the increased funding for the hospital? There's $60 million going in from the state government. If that's true, what's the Labor position on that money?
 
MINNS: So, Labor has supported a level four hospital at Eurobodalla since long before the NSW Government came down here. It wasn't until Michael became the Labor candidate and a by-election was called for this community that the Government finally came to the table and committed the resourcing. Now, my message to the people of this community is if you want to get the deal done, and a level four hospital for the Eurobodalla, you need to support Michael Holland. Send him to Macquarie Street as your champion.
 
JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, the Central Land Council is calling for Defence Forces to be called in the Northern Territory to man checkpoints to prevent the spread of Coronavirus in remote Indigenous communities as well as targeted lockdowns. Is that something you support?
 
ALBANESE: Well, look this is a real concern. The threat has always been there where some of the remote communities that if the pandemic, if the virus got into those communities, it could have devastating consequences. And we've seen that in Western New South Wales, where once the virus got in because the level of vaccination rates wasn't the same as it was in some other urban communities, then it had real consequences. So, I would certainly support it if the Chief Minister, Michael Gunner, I haven't had a discussion with him about that specifically, but if he was to request support, I think that it should be viewed favourably. Our Defence Force can play an important role. I note that the former Premier, Mike Baird, has called for the Defence Force to play a role in aged care because of the failure of the Federal Government to prepare properly, to look after aged care residents. So, if such a request were made, I think the Federal Government should look at it sympathetically. Thanks very much.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you agree with Minister Dutton that Vladimir Putin is becoming (inaudible)?
 
ALBANESE: Well, there should be a de-escalation. There's no excuse for having the massing of troops on a border and then to have a rhetorical position, which is to say, ‘There's nothing to see here’. The people of Ukraine, a sovereign nation, are entitled to their own democratic sovereignty. And that's something that should be respected. And it should be respected by Russia.
 
ENDS