SUBJECTS: Noranda City Football Club; women’s sport; Queensland and NSW floods; Ukraine; Shane Warne; Cowan; federal election; Emergency Response Fund; Labor’s Disaster Ready Fund; being a prime minister for all Australians.

ANNE ALY, MEMBER FOR COWAN: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining me here this morning at the Noranda City Football Club along with the leader of the future Labor government, we hope, Mr Anthony Albanese. This morning, waking up to the news of not one but two deaths of two great sporting legends reminds us of the part that sport plays in Australian imagination, in our culture and in our history. Now, me, I learnt very early on that I would always be picked last for a sporting club but always first if somebody wanted to win an argument. But that didn't stop me from having a go. Right now, here in Noranda, young women and girls can't have a go because the facilities just don't exist for them in these change rooms here. So I'm pleased to announce that unlike the Morrison Government, where whether or not you get to play sport depends on whether or not your electorate made it onto a colour-coded spreadsheet, an Albanese Labor government will be committing $750,000 to upgrade the facilities here for a dedicated girls change room. What that'll mean here for this club is that they can start to build again the number of girls’ football teams that they have. What it means for young women and girls here in Noranda is that they get to have that go. They get that opportunity to get out there, play the sport that they love and be a part of a club and have all the benefits, the mental health benefits, the social benefits, all of those benefits. And it's only an Albanese Labor government that will do that. Now, the fact that this club and this and the nearby netball courts missed out from the Morrison Government's funding because they don't live in the right electorate, they don't live on the electorate that made it onto the minister's spreadsheet, is just one example of how the Morrison Government has neglected Western Australia. But I stand here today with Anthony Albanese knowing that a future Labor government will stand up for WA, it will be the partner that a WA Labor Government needs at the federal level. I want to pay heed to Shaun Ennis, the club president, and to the Mayor of the City of Bayswater for their advocacy in ensuring that this club is able to cater for young women and girls and get those facilities for young women and girls to follow their dream and play their game. So please, I'd like to now hand over to Anthony to say a few words about this commitment and to answer any questions. Thanks, Anthony.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Thanks very much, Anne. Well, it's been a very productive visit to Perth and it's been good to reengage with Western Australians on a face to face basis. Team sport is so important. It's important for young men and young women to have physical and mental health. But it's also important through life. This club, as well, has over 35 teams, veterans teams, as well as junior teams all the way through. But what they have is less women and girls teams than they used to have. It's gone backwards at a time where women are participating and girls are participating in football in greater and greater numbers. It's because the facilities aren't up to scratch. And we need to make sure that women and girls can participate in team sports. Because it's important not just for physical and mental health, it's also a part of learning. Part of what we learn when we play team sports is how to win, how to lose, how to engage, how to have social interaction, and people gain friendships for life. At a time when so many parents I know are concerned about their sons or daughters spending too much time on PlayStation, too much time on the computer, too much time isolated in their rooms, we're being reminded during the pandemic of how important social engagement is. And that's why sport and team sport in particular is worthy of support. And I congratulate the council and the mayor, who's with us here today, on ensuring that this support will be there under a Labor government that I lead, and with a fantastic local member here in Anne.
 
Can I also make some other comments. Firstly, about the floods in Queensland and New South Wales. I spoke to Janelle Saffin this morning, the state member for Lismore. Janelle, of course, had to swim to safety. She tells me that the support just isn't there on the ground at the moment in Lismore. And I say to the Government, it needs to be there and it needs to be there urgently. Shane Stone made some comments in the last 24 hours which, quite frankly, make him, in my view, ineligible to continue in this role. Is there a former LNP member who hasn't been given a job by this Government? But for him to blame the victims essentially for living where they do at this time is, I think, very unworthy of someone who is in his high position.
 
Can I also say with regard to Ukraine, that this action that we've seen around the nuclear power plant is an unnecessary and a reckless escalation. And I say that the Australian Government, I'm sure, will join with me and with other leaders around the world to say that Russia needs to stop this escalation. There is absolutely no justification for this. Russia continues to engage in aggressive activity against a sovereign state that wants nothing more than to determine its own destiny through democratic means. The actions of Vladimir Putin are increasingly worrying to the world. The only positive thing about this is the way that people around the world are rallying, inspired by the courage and determination of the Ukrainian people to determine their own future.
 
And lastly, I woke up this morning to the news that, following the tragic news about Rod Marsh’s passing, the passing of the great Shane Warne. I took my son to the SCG to see his last test. I wanted to make sure that he got to see Shane Warne bowl leg spin. Shane Warne inspired generations of young Australians, boys and girls, to bowl leg spin. And he was an artist. He was a magician with a ball in his hand. He was an Australian character, larger than life in the way that he conducted himself. He was a larrikin character, there's no doubt about that. But it is shocking news that he has passed. And to all of his children, to his many, many friends who will be mourning him today, I pass on my sincere condolences.
 
JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, Cowan is the most marginal electorate in WA. It was won last election by 1400 votes. You’re obviously wanting to have a net gain in WA with two or three seats being won. Have you spent enough time here in Cowan while you’ve been here in WA?
 
ALBANESE: Well I'm here in Cowan today and Anne is a fantastic local member. And I'll say this, her opponent didn't want to even run for Cowan. He tried to run for another seat up the road and wasn't successful, was rejected by his own party. As a result of that, he sees Cowan as a consolation prize, being the Liberal candidate. Anne Aly doesn't see Cowan as a consolation prize. She sees it as a vocation. She sees it as an area that she lives in, that she's passionate about, she's a strong advocate, and I'm very confident that she will receive overwhelming support at the election.
 
JOURNALIST: What sort of support is needed in Lismore?
 
ALBANESE: There’s just a lack of support on the ground. There aren't people, for example, from Services Australia on the ground to provide that emergency assistance. And people are still being told that they should log on, set up an account with myGov. For goodness’ sake, these are people who aren't, you know, they didn't escape with their computer and electricity. They don't have a computer and they don't have a power point to plug it into. They are desperate for support on the ground. And just one way is through that Government, Services Australia providing that emergency relief on the ground, is very important. At the same time, of course, we're seeing heroes in the community, people who continue to go about their volunteering work, as well as the SES, as well as our emergency services personnel. Today in Queensland, the mud army 2.0 will be out there helping to clean up. And I know that Murray Watt I spoke to this morning as well. He's on the ground in Queensland, our shadow minister, as he's been every day, and is really doing his best to raise the issues that we continue to raise. Overnight, there's been support given, in terms of the business support, that decision was made overnight and we welcome that. But there's a need for more presence on the ground.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you concede the Emergency Response Fund is being used as intended? Because there’s other disaster funds being drawn from elsewhere, like the $500 million from Queensland today?
 
ALBANESE: That's a lie. It hasn't been used as intended. It was established with $200 million to be spent every year. Money was taken from infrastructure investment funds, including for education. Be very clear. If people go back, have a look at what happened in the Parliament, the government agreed, with Mathias Cormann as the Finance Minister, agreed that there will be $200 million spent each and every year, $150 million on disaster recovery, $50 million on mitigation, things like flood levees, things to prepare for natural disasters, be they fires or floods or cyclones. The whole point of the fund was that it wasn't a term deposit. If it was used as intended, it wouldn’t now be worth $4.8 billion, it would still be worth $4 billion dollars. The intention of the fund was that money would be expended each and every year. And the logic of the Government’s argument, not that they are really able to put it, is that there are no projects worth preparing for disaster in Australia over the last three years. That's the logic. There are still people who were affected by the bushfires in 2019-2020 who are living in caravans in Eden-Monaro and on the south coast of New South Wales. It is adding insult to injury for the Government to use this spin saying that the fund is used as intended. It's not meant to be a term deposit that was put in their interest earned and it just grows over a period of time. It was meant to be used and clear commitments made. It was meant to be used. And we've raised this in Parliament consistently, with questions to the Minister time and time again. And it is extraordinary that it hasn't been used, which is why we announced in January in Queensland that we would use the ERF for a Disaster Ready Fund, we would convert it, and $200 million would be expended each and every year. And we've already announced projects like the flood levee in Mackay to protect residential areas, would be spent. I mean, Lismore wasn't even included as a priority area for flood mitigation by this Government for another of the funds that it has. And Lismore, if you go there, there are houses that are up on stilts for a reason, because it is flood prone. There have been floods in Lismore before. But this one is devastating. And this Government, not only have not put in place the short-term measures, they also continue to be in denial when it comes to climate change, continue to hold back Australia from taking action. And we still have the pathetic targets that were established by Tony Abbott, a climate skeptic, who is on the record as saying that he didn't believe in manmade climate change. He described it with a very colourful word, you might recall, when he was running for that position of Prime Minister before 2015. We're stuck with those targets seven years later.
 
JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, you had dinner last night with West Australian business leaders, including Nigel Satterley. If you’re elected prime minister, would you be a prime minister for the big end of town?
 
ALBANESE: I'll be a prime minister for the whole of Australia, for the business community, for union members, for workers, for pensioners, for every Australian. I make no apologies for reaching out to Australians, no matter what they do, no matter how humble or how successful they have been. I make it very clear, and I've made it clear under my leadership, that I'm about the creation of wealth as well as concerned about the distribution of wealth, making sure no one's left behind and no one's held back.
 
JOURNALIST: How would Labor use the fund if you were to be elected?
 
ALBANESE: We would create, we’ve announced this in full detail in January, a Disaster Ready Fund. The $200 million each and every year would be spent with a program of making sure that we prepare for natural disasters. We know there are projects out there, we know there are flood levees that can be created, we know there are a range of projects to prepare, whether it be for bushfires, whether it be for floods or whether it be for cyclones. We heard this week again a reminder from the IPCC that climate change is meaning that there are likely to be more extreme weather events with greater intensity here in Australia and we need to prepare for it the funding is there. It needs to be used.
 
JOURNALIST: The nuclear threat in Europe at the moment is increasingly concerning. Residents in countries such as Switzerland are being advised where they can get iodine tablets if a nuclear situation occurs. What more can the Government do to assist in this very concerning situation?
 
ALBANESE: Well, the Government continues to, along with the Opposition, as Australians, we continue to make the strongest possible representation and action sanctions against Russia. Vladimir Putin needs to pay a price for this action. We support the strongest possible action and we stand in unity with the Government, like we stand in unity with other democratic nations against this authoritarian tyrant who is endangering not just Ukrainians, but endangering people throughout the region.
 
JOURNALIST: So should Australia take the lead then and push for him to be referred to the International Court of Justice?
 
ALBANESE: Australia needs to act in unison with our partners. Australia's a long way from the Ukraine. We need to work hand in hand with the United States, with NATO, with the United Kingdom. We're doing that. There is no distinction in Australian politics on this. All sides of Australian politics, I would hope, except there are some LNP members who've been out there praising, people like Senator Rennick have been out there praising Vladimir Putin from time to time. You won't find that on my side of politics. But I think the Government and the Opposition at the leadership level at least are as one.
 
JOURNALIST: If elected, would you investigate that option?
 
ALBANESE: I would act, as I've said, in conjunction with our partners, the United States, the UK and NATO.
 
JOURNALIST: You're about to jump back on a plane to go back to Sydney after this. When will you be back in WA? And why and will it be before the election?
 
ALBANESE: I'll be back as soon as I can be. I will be, in going to Sydney this afternoon, I have a number of speeches that I'm giving this week, including to the Lowy Institute and the Australian Financial Review conference. I will be a regular visitor to Western Australia, as I always have been. Thank you.
 
JOURNALIST: In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has criticized NATO for refusing to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Do you believe that decision gives Russia a green light to continue bombing, as President Zelenskyy suggests?
 
ALBANESE: Look, I stand with our allies. I've got to say that President Zelenskyy, I think, is showing enormous courage and enormous leadership. And I think he is a figure who has grown during this crisis, just as Vladimir Putin has shrunk in the world's eyes.
 
JOURNALIST: Is he a war criminal?
 
ALBANESE: I have said very clearly that I stand with the Australian Government, we need to make sure that we don't engage in politics here. This isn't a game. This is real. And the Australian Government deserves the support of all Australians. And both sides, we’ve received proper briefings the whole way through this crisis, going back as far as last year I was receiving briefings from the intelligence agencies. I don't seek to make this a party political issue. And nor should the media seek to make this a party political issue. Thank you.
 
ENDS