SUBJECTS: Queenslanders being left behind; cuts after the election; wages going backwards; Rebecca Fanning, Labor candidate for Longman; Australians left behind in India; quarantine facilities; Labor’s vision for Queensland; Andrew Laming and Government’s respect for women; Magic Round; international borders.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Well, good morning. It's great to be here in Narangba. We've been talking with locals about the impact that the Budget will have on them. This is my third day here in Queensland. We've announced three candidates in three days and tomorrow will make four Queensland candidates in our cities and our regions in four days. Because Queensland is a key to the result of the next election and because Queenslanders have been left behind by this Government. The fact is that Queensland was short-changed on infrastructure investment in this Budget. Queenslanders have been kept safe by Anastasia Palaszczuk’s Government. Anastasia Palaszczuk put forward, last October, plans for potentially two quarantine centres. These are critical to keep Australians safe and critical for the opening up of the economy. And yet, what we've seen from this Government is a failure when it comes to quarantine and a failure when it comes to the rollout of the vaccine. What we see is a trillion dollars of debt, $100 billion of new spending, but no legacy. And Queenslanders, like the rest of Australians, are actually going backwards when it comes to real wages over the next four years. Josh Frydenberg appeared on Insiders today. He had no answers as to whether real wages, that that was a problem, real wages going backwards over four years after being stagnant for eight long years of this Government. He has no answers as to what cuts will be made after the next election.

Quite clearly, Scott Morrison has a plan to just get through the next election and then we'll see cuts, because we know from this Government, just like we saw in 2014 when it first came to office, that they will make cuts, they will return to type. What they're saying is they've suspended their ideology for the current period. What they really trying to do is to just get through to the next election. They don't have a plan for productivity growth. They don't have a plan to deal with the low economic growth which is coming. They don't have a plan to deal with the low wages growth, and what we see as well on aged care, is they don't have a plan for the workforce. Unless you deal with the issue of aged care workers’ pay then you won't be able to attract the workforce that's needed. This Government have made some announcements on Tuesday night, but they’re announcements without a plan. Labor has a plan for our national economy. It's one that's a different path. It's a high wage, high value, high growth path, investing in advanced manufacturing, making sure that we deal with the challenges to boost productivity through our better Cheaper Child Care Plan. Making sure that no one gets left behind by investing in social housing, making sure that we return to being a fair society and that we grow back stronger. Josh Frydenberg's only ambition, as he began his Budget speech on Tuesday night, was to return to what was there before with all of the weaknesses, with the lack of resilience in our economy, with the lack of strength in the economy. And that's why low wages for them is a design feature of their economic policy. Well, that has an impact on communities like the one here in Longman. And that's why I'm very pleased today to be announcing Rebecca Fanning as Labor's candidate for Longman. Rebecca is someone who has real policy expertise, in particular, in recent times she's worked in the area of health helping to keep Queenslanders safe. Now when Scott Morrison was traveling to Queensland during the state election, saying “open up your borders, let it all rip”, it was Rebecca who was one of the people working hard behind the scenes to make sure that, on the policy levels, to keep Queenslanders safe, that was the absolute priority. Rebecca will bring that experience to the national parliament. And I'm very pleased that she's agreed to be Labor's candidate. She's smart, she's articulate, she's a local, lives here in Caboolture. And she's someone who will make a fine representative when we increase the Queensland contingent in the Labor team after the next election.
 
REBECCA FANNING, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR LONGMAN: I'm running for the state of Longman because I want to fight for a better deal for our community. I've worked behind the scenes as a policy advisor to deliver good policies all my life. And now I want to deliver for the people of Longman. I'm passionate about making sure every person has access to the world class health services they deserve. I'm also passionate about making sure we create secure jobs with good pay and conditions. I worked for the Federal Labor Government during the Global Financial Crisis and I worked for the State Labor Government during the COVID-19 global pandemic. I've seen up close what we need from governments and leaders during a crisis to help protect our communities and support jobs. Now it's time for me to stand up and fight for the people of Longman to make sure they get a better deal. We've had eight long years of this stale Government, a government that is all promise and no delivery. I live in Caboolture and I've seen how Longman has been completely neglected and taken for granted by this Government. The people of Longman need a Labor Government in Canberra that will help create secure jobs with good pay and conditions, that will protect their rights at work, and will deliver social and affordable housing for frontline workers and the most vulnerable members of our community. Thanks.
 
ALBANESE: Thanks very much, Rebecca. Happy to take questions.
 
JOURNALIST: Should the Aussies in India who are blocked from returning because of their false positive test be allowed to return?
 
ALBANESE: We need to get Australians home. The Australian passport must mean something. Scott Morrison said that he would bring Australians home by Christmas, but more than 30,000 Australians remain stranded, including 9,000 in India, including over 170 unaccompanied minors in India. This is very distressing for them and it's distressing for their families here. These are Australian citizens. We have a responsibility to look after our citizens. Scott Morrison is all promise, no delivery. He made that very clear commitment, and perhaps its failure, on the commitment there, like his failure on the commitment to have four million Australians vaccinated, like his failure on so many other commitments that he's made, is now why we have the vagueness this week, whereby in a week around the Budget they don't have a clear target for vaccinations. There's no provision in there for new quarantine centres that would be appropriate to keep people safe, and to be able to bring people back home. There are so many missing elements of this Budget. What they did was just tick off spending where they have political problems that they have created with a failure to look after proper respect for women, with a failure in aged care, with a failure in child care. This was a Budget that was all about Scott Morrison’s problems that he's created and getting through the next election rather than any vision. And I feel that the Australians in India are very frustrated at the moment. They're distressed. I had a Zoom call with many of our citizens along with Penny Wong and Michelle Rowland on Friday. And they, the citizens there, my heart goes out to them. And, of course, while they’re in India, they are exposed to real health concerns because of the outbreak there.
 
JOURNALIST: So these ones that were not allowed to return because of this stuff-up in the lab, should they be on the next flight home? And should the testing regime that we have there change given the story about accreditation?
 
 
ALBANESE: Look, we need to see how the Australian Government continues to not look after our citizens. These people should be brought home, as should others. There should be appropriate quarantine facilities to make sure that Australians here are kept safe. If the Federal Government had have listened to Premier Palaszczuk last October the quarantine centres that she proposed, appropriate facilities, would be built now, would be opened, would be able to be used. We should be able to bring these Australians home
 
JOURNALIST: The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, when the Victorian Government proposed their quarantine facilities said they would look at it and consider it, whereas with the Queensland proposal, the one in Toowoomba, he said the detail has been scant, there hasn’t been costings done. Isn’t it fair that unless the Queensland Government fronts up with more information that the Federal Government doesn’t go on with that Toowoomba one?
 
ALBANESE: What has Scott Morrison got against Queenslanders? Except for the fact that he came up here campaigned against the Palaszczuk Government, campaigned to open up Queensland borders and to not keep Queenslander safe and he's frustrated that he didn't get his way with the LNP here. The fact is that Queensland have been prepared to put forward constructive proposals. They've been rejected by Scott Morrison and his Government. It's up to Scott Morrison to explain why Victoria, he's prepared to listen to Victoria, but not prepared to listen to Queensland.
 
JOURNALIST: What should the Federal Government do about the COVID positive in India now? Should they be allowed to return, or should there be some sort of considerations made?
 
ALBANESE: Well, we need to take appropriate health advice there. But let me just make this point. If they were home by Christmas, they wouldn't be COVID positive now. If Scott Morrison had kept his commitment, they wouldn't be exposed to this danger.
 
JOURNALIST: You’re in Queensland, I feel like I see you every two weeks or so.
 
ALBANESE: That's right. I love Queensland. 365 days a year and 362 nights I'm happy to back Queensland.
 
JOURNALIST: Central Queensland, North Queensland abandoned Labor at the last election. Six out of the 30 seats. Have you done enough to bring those votes back? Why should they come back to you?
 
ALBANESE: I was in Rockhampton yesterday. I'll be in Cairns tomorrow. I love coming to Queensland, I find Queenslanders very welcoming. They’re straight talkers, they're my kind of people. I even cheered for the Broncos with the Premier on Friday night. But unfortunately they didn't quite get there against Manly. But I had a talk with Adam Reynolds, who’ll be coming to the Broncos next year. So, things are looking up for the Broncos, which is South Sydney's loss. Can I say this about Queensland? In spite of the fact that you have all these LNP members in the Caucus of the Government, Queensland has been done over time and time again. Queensland in the Budget got the lowest amount of infrastructure investment of any of the states and territories. The lowest amount. It's a fast-growing state. You have communities like the ones here in Longman growing substantially. You have regional cities like Rockhampton and Townsville growing, and yet you have from this Government a complacency on behalf of its members. They fail to speak out. And then you have representatives, of course, like Andrew Laming. Remember him? He's the guy who Scott Morrison said would be replaced as Chair of a parliamentary committee who, every day this week, every LNP Queensland member, men and women, all lined up, to vote for him to keep that position, to keep him in place as Chair of a parliamentary committee, and he continues to sit in the LNP caucus. This is a government that says that they care about safety of women and yet they had this bloke as a proud member of their party room and with high honour of chairing a parliamentary committee. The fact is that Queenslanders deserve better. They deserve a government that will look after them. They deserve a government that will invest in Queenslanders. They deserve a government and local members, like Rebecca, who will stand up for Queensland. And I'm convinced that the candidates that we rolling out, Robbo in Capricornia yesterday, Madonna in the electorate of Brisbane, and Rebecca here in Longman, we're putting forward outstanding candidates. I want to lead a government that has a large Queensland contingent, because this state is critical to Australia's future. And in the vision I have for Queensland is Queensland leading the country because of the position that it has. It's the most regional of states and our plan for advanced manufacturing to our National Reconstruction Fund, creating high value jobs, taking advantage of the fact that we can lower energy prices if we're not scared of climate change, but we brace the opportunity that's there to lower energy prices, then, we will see an increase in jobs and an increase in growth in this most regional of states. We have incredible resources here. You have lithium and rare earths and other resources in North and Central Queensland. You have incredible capacity. One of the places I visited here on one of my visits, Tritium, creating EV, electric vehicle, charging stations and exporting them to the world, the fastest, most effective in the world, developed here in Queensland, manufactured here in Queensland. That's the sort of success story that I want right around the country. But we're held back by this Government, by its lack of ambition, by its lack of focus by the fact that it can't even adopt net zero by 2050. That it can adopt a serious policy, like making child care affordable on a universal basis, that we didn't see any reform at all, from the Government in the Budget. One more.
 
JOURNALIST: Just on Queensland. How was the Magic Round? Do you think it’s a good thing we have it here in Queensland?
 
ALBANESE: It's a great thing and I understand there'll be an announcement today about future endeavours. But Queenslanders love their rugby league and it's a great thing as well to bring people from the southern states up here for a weekend. It means that the bars and restaurants are all full, the hotels are full. And there's a great atmosphere. I think that Suncorp is the greatest rugby league stadium in Australia. I say that knowing that this is broadcast into Sydney. Bankwest is pretty good, but Suncorp is the best and the atmosphere last night, I sat down with the South Sydney supporters for quite a while in in The Burrow behind the goalposts there last night, the atmosphere was terrific. And a really good convivial atmosphere. It's good for Queensland, it's good for jobs, it's good for the economy. And I congratulate the NRL and I congratulate the Palaszczuk Government in bringing this to Queensland.
 
JOURNALIST: The international border. Do you think it should open sooner than next year?
 
ALBANESE: Well, this Government again, everything, have you noticed there's a theme to the Budget, which is everything stops after the next election? So they say they're going to keep the borders closed until after the election and then they don't tell you what's going to happen. It’s a bit like they say that there'll be low and, the LMITO, the low-and-middle income tax offset, goes for a little while but then people will be worse off after that. Josh Frydenberg couldn't say what would happen after that. He couldn't say this morning what the plan was to lift wages. He couldn't say what the boost to the economy or impact on the economy would be of Stage Three tax cuts, said there was no analysis there. And with regard to the borders, the Government said in last year's Budget Papers that an early rollout of the vaccine would boost the economy substantially by many billions of dollars. What they didn't say in this week's Budget was what the cost of the failure, when it comes to that rollout timetable, would be to the economy. And they won't say, in terms of the borders being closed, what the cost is there. But I know this, we've got to get the vaccine right, the rollout, and we've got to get quarantine right before we can open up the economy. And we do need to open up the economy, because the rest of the world is opening up now, the rest of the world. Australia's international education sector is very important. We have students going to the United Kingdom and going to alternatives right now, and because of the Government’s failure we're missing out, and that will have a lasting impact because we're losing those connections. And we live in a globalised economy. The idea that the rest of the world will open up and we'll still be closed as a result of the Government's failure on vaccinations and in terms of quarantine is a real failure of this Government. We need better leadership in this country and we need a good government. 

Thanks very much.

ENDS