ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It’s fantastic to be back here at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. I was born in March, and my mum took me at one month old to the Easter show at the old site there near Moore Park, and every single year. And when my son was born, I was under strict instructions from my Mum to take him every year. And I did that up until he was too cool to come with Dad to the Show. But then he came with his mates.
 
This is a part of who Sydney and NSW are. It's a great way of families gathering. To celebrate, as well, all the amazing work that people in our agricultural sector, our farmers, our producers do. And for city kids, it's an incredible opportunity to engage with animals, to engage with produce, to engage with farmers in a one-on-one relationship. And it's so important.
 
Easter is really important for people of the Christian faith as well. It's a time of renewal of that faith. And over this weekend is a very special time. Good Friday yesterday, of course, and then Easter Sunday tomorrow, where people will commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, to all those of faith, I wish you a happy and holy Easter. But for everyone, this is a time to have some time spent with family and friends over this weekend.
 
If you're working as well, it's an important time. We will support your penalty rates. It shouldn't be taken for granted. One of the things that people rely upon to get by is their penalty rates. I used to work at Pancakes on the Rocks, the Saturday night 11pm to 7am shift, because for penalty rates, that's one of the things that got me through university is so important along with working other jobs as well. We want Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn, which is why it is a good thing that real wages are increasing, and taxes are decreasing under my government.
 
Now, Peter Dutton wants people to work longer for less. He's going to an election saying, saying that they will legislate to increase the income tax of all 14 million Australians and that some of that will go for bosses to have long lunches with his $20,000 program that he doesn't talk about very much at all. I do want to talk about a trade issue as well. I have an update on Vegemite-gate that occurred from Canada. This little product here is a proud Australian product and I can report after the discussions that my government has had with the Government of Canada and I want to thank Mark Carney and his office and his team for ensuring that for the Australian café owner Leighton Walters can once again have Vegemite back in his café, back on the agenda. This is a win for Australian industry, but it's also a win for those people in Canada who get to enjoy this wonderful product that is so much a part of Australian culture and indeed, Australian pride as well. So, I think that is a fantastic outcome. Happy Easter to all those happy little Vegemites out there. Now, we'll hear from Jason and then we're happy to take some questions.
 
JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Well, thanks, boss. G'day, everyone. And Happy Easter to all Australians. I just wanted to comment briefly on the latest revelations about the Liberal Party's plans to stop people from working from home. You might have seen the Sydney Morning Herald today where Jane Hume has said that she thinks that stopping people from working from home is a good policy, it just wasn't the appropriate time.
 
Now, when the Liberal Party say it's not the appropriate time, you know what that means – they think the right time to change this is after the election. The Liberal Party haven't changed. They're just pretending now. They're just pretending, trying to con people into voting for them a couple of weeks before the election. Let's get it clear about what Peter Dutton is: this is Dutton dressed up as lamb. This is Dutton dressed up as lamb. He's pretending that he doesn't want to stop people from working from home. Well, the cat's out of the bag today. You hear Jane Hume say she thinks stopping people working from home is a good policy, it's just not the appropriate time now where they're trying to con people into voting for them. This cover up didn't last two weeks. It's less than two weeks and we're starting to see what they really think again. And all Aussies know that. Millions of Australians work from home regularly. It saves them money and it saves them time. It saves them money, it saves them time. It makes life easier. It makes it easier to drop off and pick up the kids. And I don't think any Australians ever believed Peter Dutton when he said that he wasn't going to do this. And this revelation today makes it absolutely clear that if the Liberals win the election on May the third, then this will be back and they'll go out of their way to stop you from working from home.
 
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, Jase. We're happy to take questions here and we'll go around.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Opposition says that they're going to give small businesses tax breaks on the first $200,000 that those businesses earn. Is that something that your government would support?  
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well there’s 1.5 million people who are sole traders who will get a tax cut under us and then another one on top of the tax cuts that we've delivered for all 14 million Australian taxpayers. The Liberal Party want to increase people's income taxes, everyone, in order to pay $20,000 for some bosses to have lunch. That's their tax policy –
 
JOURNALIST: Just to clarify. So, that's something that you wouldn't support for small businesses –
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's their tax policy. We have our tax policy going forward. It's a tax cut. It's a tax cut for every Australian taxpayer, including sole traders. On top of the tax cuts that we've already delivered. On top of the other support that we're delivering for small business, including the instant asset write off, including the energy rebates and the other support that we are giving to small business.
 
JOURNALIST: In terms of penalty rates, does this set a dangerous precedent in terms of government interfering in independent processes?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I'll tell you what, it sets as a precedent for the Labor Party defending the rights of working people to have decent wages and conditions. That's something we've been doing since 1891, so if there's a precedent there, we've been doing it since 1891. We have supported working people earning more and also we support them keeping more of what they earn.
 
JOURNALIST: We've spoken to business owners who say –
 
PRIME MINISTER: It's really hard to hear sorry.
 
JOURNALIST: We've spoken to business owners who say conditions have. Small business owners say conditions have never been tougher at the moment. The Coalition is announcing more rebates for small businesses. And businesses are saying that the policy rates decision will make it more unmanageable, with people working from home more and higher, harder to –
 
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, I can't hear –
 
JOURNALIST: Businesses are saying that the penalty rates decision is making it harder to, the regulatory burden is too hard. Can you honestly say that small businesses will be better under your government than the Coalition?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, I certainly can because we have a plan for the economy. They have a plan for 24 hours and they flip. We've seen that with working from home. We've seen that from so many policies. This is an Opposition with policy chaos. They didn’t do any work over three years. What we have done is consistently deal with how do we get inflation down, whilst providing support and included in that, of course, is just a fact that there are more small businesses today than there were when we were elected. We've provided significant policy for small businesses, aimed at them.
 
In addition to that, if people are earning more and keeping more of what they earn, they spend those dollars, particularly low- and middle-income earners, at their local cafe, at their local shop, at their local IGA. That is how you keep an economy going. That is why we've continued to, unlike a whole lot of the rest of the industrialised world, we've got inflation going down, wages going up, unemployment still very low at just 4.1%, tax cuts for every taxpayer, not just some.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, there are reports out of Russia that Oscar Jenkins is now facing criminal charges for being a mercenary. That would include a 15-year jail time. Is the government aware of these developments? What are you doing about it? And have you abandoned Oscar Jenkins?
 
PRIME MINISTER: We certainly have not. We'll continue to make representations to the reprehensible regime of Vladimir Putin on behalf of Mr. Jenkins. We will stand up and use whatever avenues we have at our disposal to continue to make those representations. He should – both to Russia, but also, of course, through our friends in Ukraine, who have also made representations as well. The Russian war against the people of Ukraine is a war against international law. It's against national sovereignty. The people of Ukraine are fighting for a democratic nation, for their own sovereignty, but they’re also fighting for the international rule of law, which is why we do want to see peace, but we do want to see it on the terms that are acceptable to Ukraine and why I have clearly said, unlike the Coalition, that we're prepared to consider being part of a coalition of the willing peacekeeping force.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the application from retailer groups regarding penalty rates has been before the Fair Work Commission for months now. Why only make this move now, a promise if you're re-elected, why not do so beforehand? And why stop here with preventative legislation, why not also prevent changes to negative gearing in a second term?
 
PRIME MINISTER: We have made representations to the Fair Work Commission, just like we of course have made representations about minimum wage rates. You might recall during the last election campaign, me holding up a dollar coin on a couple of dozen occasions to support minimum wage rates going up. The Coalition said the world would end if that occurred. Well, minimum wage rates have gone up not once, not twice, but three times under my government. There'll be a further determination. We stand with working people who are needing those wage increases, who need their penalty rates. The Coalition say that they care about cost of living, but they oppose every cost of living measure that we've put forward, whether it's cheaper medicines, cheaper childcare, the energy rebates, free TAFE. And they also oppose every measure that we've put forward so that working people can get a fair crack. Now, we have changed the definition of casual, there was a fear campaign about that but of course has been positive. Same Job, Same Pay, has meant that working people working side by side with the same experience, the same skills, aren't getting gutted by the manipulation of labour hire rather than through enterprise bargaining. We have, of course, put forward as well the right to disconnect. They said, you might recall in the Parliament, that would result in chaos. It hasn't. It hasn't. But what it does do is look after the rights of working people. The Labor Party will always do that. And one way we'll do that is by protecting the penalty rates of Australians so they can earn more and keep more of what they earn.
 
JOURNALIST: The Opposition Leader has described the policy as a stunt. What do you make of that assessment?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it just shows he doesn't support penalty rates. This is the party of Work Choices. This is the party that have never missed an opportunity to undermine the wages and conditions of working people. At the same time this Opposition leader has come up with this $20,000 policy, $20,000 for people to have lunch or dinner, entertainment, golf weekends, so that they can somehow have a client or a potential client, that could be anybody. I mean this is a free-for-all. And what he's asking is for taxpayers, individual taxpayers, to pay higher income tax rates so that he can fund that and that's before we get to his $600 billion nuclear plan. You can't have a nuclear energy plan without saying who's going to pay for it. We know taxpayers will, because the private sector won't touch it with a barge pole. I might ask Jason if he wants to.
 
CLARE: Well, I think your question and Peter Dutton's answer shows just how out of touch he is. Think about everybody that's here. How many people in their lifetime have worked in a job where they've relied on penalty rates and the difference that that made in your life. You know, you would have had it at Pancakes on the Rocks. I worked at Sizzler –
 
PRIME MINISTER: And McDonald’s.
 
CLARE: And McDonald's as well. You know, I worked at Sizzler Carramar for five years. Penalty rates helped to get me through uni. You know, it paid for the public transport, it paid for the food, it paid for my life. And, you know, if Peter Dutton thinks that penalty rates aren't important, then tell that to the hundreds of thousands, if not more Australians who rely on penalty rates each and every day in their life. That's more money on the table for them.
 
So, again, it just shows that Peter Dutton and the Liberal Party are out of touch with the needs and the concerns of most Australians. And as you said, you know, at the same time that they want to jack up everyone's taxes, they want to deny you access to penalty rates, at the same time as they're doing that, they want your taxpayers’ dollars, your taxpayer dollars to pay for your boss to get a free lunch. And that's not cheap. That's going to cost you, the Australian taxpayer, more than a billion dollars a year. Now, that's a lot of steak, that's a lot of lobster, and that's the Australian taxpayer that's got to pay for that. A billion dollars, if not more, a year.
 
And that's nothing compared to the $600 billion that you're going to have to pay to build these nuclear reactors. And the only way that Peter Dutton can pay for that is to come after you, to come after your health care, to come after your schools. Patients will pay, parents will pay, our kids will pay to pay for Peter Dutton's nuclear reactors.
 
JOURNALIST: Labor advertisements are telling voters that the Coalition is going to cut existing Urgent Care Clinics. Now, they're vowed not to do that. They're vowed to look at unopened ones. Is this misleading? And do you commit that all Labor advertising will be grounded in fact, not just ways to scare voters?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Here's a fact for you: Peter Dutton will cut and Australians will pay. Here's a fact, he's got a $600 billion nuclear energy plan. The last time the Liberal Party came to office was 2013, and before then they said there'd be no cuts to health, no cuts to education. It is a fact that the Budget papers show that the 2014 Budget ripped $50 billion out of health and $30 billion out of schools funding.
 
This Minister here has had to repair the schools funding deal a decade later. Twelve years later, we are now delivering better and fairer funding for schools. Peter Dutton the last time around, got rid of, tried to get rid of bulk billing altogether by having a GP tax every time people visited a doctor. When we announced and we listed the sites of Urgent Care Clinics he came out and he said, oh, well, there's a couple of them that we might keep. And then his candidate in Lyons, where we were in Bridgewater just the other day, said, I couldn't guarantee that all you'll need is your Medicare card. The deputy leader of the Liberal Party has said that the Liberal Party philosophy is they don't value things which are free, which is why they're opposing free TAFE, which is why they will come after Medicare.
 
JOURNALIST: We've passed the – sorry, we're past the halfway –
 
PRIME MINISTER: Get this man some water.
 
JOURNALIST: We're passed the halfway point in the campaign. The polls look increasingly positive for Labor, less positive for the Coalition. You must be getting confident now as we go into the final two weeks?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Not at all and everyone knows what happened in 2019, where the bookies paid out a few days before the election and that was pretty unwise. And we're not getting ahead of ourselves, what we're doing is putting forward a careful, calibrated, considered approach to policy development right across the board. Whether it's health, education, agricultural policy, economic policy, getting that strong foundation there, in how we deal with countries around the world as well.
 
I mean, during this campaign, you've had chaos on work from home, and Jason has just outlined how Jane Hume, who announced that policy, has said it's still good policy we just announced it at the right time. She said the quiet bit out loud, which is they are coming after work from home after the election, just like Peter Dutton continues to say that they will have to make cuts, but they'll tell you what they are after the election. Now we have our policies out there for all to see.
 
We've been a government that have governed in what are turbulent international economic circumstances but we are turning the corner. Wages are up, interest rates have started to fall, tax cuts are flowing through, inflation is down to 2.4%, and our unemployment rate is the lowest on average it has been from any government in 50 years.
 
But we know that there's more to do, which is why we're offering further cost of living relief, which is why we're continuing to strengthen Medicare, better and fairer schools funding, dealing with climate change. I mean, this is a week where Peter Dutton could not say that the science on climate change was real because he wasn't a scientist. I said the other day, does he believe in gravity because he's not scientist, or the world is round? I mean, this is flat earth stuff. And we had, of course, during the week as well, Peter Dutton showing how unfit and unprepared he is for dealing with global diplomacy when he verballed the President of Indonesia and said that he had made a statement that just wasn't true. And then they come out and say, well, we want further information about something that isn't happening. I mean, do they want a briefing on the fake moon landing? That is where they are at as an alternative government.
 
JOURNALIST: There's been a report today that your campaign chair has welcomed a baby girl into the world. How much paternity leave is he going to get? And any message for new parents?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Just to Paul and Dimity and their baby girl – it's just wonderful news. Paul Erickson's a dear friend of mine, and Dimity is someone who is just remarkable. People who know Dimity's story, she's a breast cancer survivor who's an advocate. She's just a wonderful human being. And I have been able to send them very warm congratulations, and I do so publicly today.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you trust the Fair Work Commission will act in workers’ best interests and how do you balance protecting wages but also the risk that small businesses might cut hours and shifts?
 
PRIME MINISTER: No the Fair Work Commission continue to do their job. We changed the IR act, we changed the Workplace Relations Act, for example, just one measure to make sure that gender pay equity was an objective of the Act. It's quite extraordinary that it took the election of my government more than 120 years since Federation to actually have that as one of the objectives of the Act. The Fair Work Commission will work these issues through. They always consult with both employees and employers.
 
JOURNALIST: Just on a local issue. What is your reaction to a Bankstown mother being kidnapped and left for dead in a burning car and her child being assaulted?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is just horrific. And for the children who witnessed this horrific event, you know, they'll need a lot of support. The matter is before the courts and legal matters, so, I'm not at liberty to speak further. But I think that Australians’ hearts will go out to this family at this difficult time.
 
Thanks very much.
 
Enjoy your Vegemite.

ENDS