SUBJECTS: WA COVID case numbers; visit to WA; Tania Lawrence in Hasluck; newborn health screening; Scott Morrison’s character; Gladys Berejiklian’s texts about Scott Morrison; chaos in the NSW branch of the Liberal Party; fixing the aged care crisis; Federal Election; Labor’s policy agenda; GST distribution; relationship with Mark McGowan; Liberal election stunts; Scott Morrison calling West Australians ‘cave people’; Scott Morrison backing Clive Palmer; West Australians in Shadow Cabinet; WA tourism.  
 
MARK MCGOWAN, PREMIER OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Thanks very much, everyone. I'll just give you a quick update, first of all, in terms of COVID. Up to 8pm last night, we're reporting 8499 new cases. Of these, 3566 tested positive through PCR tests and 4933 were positive via rapid antigen tests. To 8pm last night, we had 259 cases in hospital and nine of those people were in ICU. And we wish them all the best. Sadly, we're reporting one new death overnight. That was a man in his 80s and there's also four what we term ‘historical deaths’ being reported today. And they are people who unfortunately passed away going back to March 28. That's a man in his 80s, a woman in her 80s, a woman in her 90s and a woman in her 50s. Yesterday we undertook 16,546 PCR tests across West Australian testing clinics.

Just to other issues. Firstly, can I acknowledge here today with me is Anthony Albanese, the Federal Labor Leader, Opposition Leader, and Tania Lawrence, the WA Labor candidate for the electorate of Hasluck. Can I welcome Anthony to Western Australia again. Obviously, he's here as part of his campaign to become Prime Minister of Australia, which I very much hope he is successful in achieving. I'll be campaigning with Anthony today throughout parts of Perth prior to heading into Parliament and making sure we meet as many people as we can. Anthony is someone who I hold in the highest of regard, someone who has been a fighter for Australia and a fighter for a fairer Australia for his whole life. And certainly, over the course of his 25 years in Parliament, he's shown the resilience, determination and strength to do great things for the country but also to hang in there through adversity, which is exactly what you want in someone who's fighting to become the Prime Minister of the country. You want someone with that depth of experience and that length of service and that commitment to country that comes with 25 years of parliamentary service, which is what he has done. Obviously, Tania of course I know well, I’ve known her for 20 years or so. And I wish her all the best in being successful in the electorate of Hasluck.
 
Today, of course, Anthony is making an announcement about newborn screening for illnesses in our hospitals and to ensure that we find out as soon as possible if newborns have any serious illnesses, so families can be advised, and we expand the range of illnesses that are screened. And therefore we are able to put in place treatments more rapidly and more effectively. And obviously, that’s an announcement that I welcome as, indeed, would all new parents across Western Australia. So one of those important things that, if federal Labor is elected, will be put in place across Australia, and I very much welcome that. I'll hand over to Anthony Albanese to say a few words.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Thanks very much, Mark. And it's great to be back in the West once again for this announcement, once again with Tania Lawrence, our fantastic candidate for Hasluck. If we want to change the government, we need to change the representation here in the West. And Tania Lawrence is in one of those key seats in the electorate of Hasluck, to give Hasluck a strong representative who will stand up for the West in Canberra, who will advocate for a fairer society, will advocate for changes like this one here, which joins, of course, the other commitments that we've made. There'll be more health commitments along the road of this campaign. But one of the themes that you'll hear from Labor and our plan for a better future is child care, Medicare, aged care, because Labor cares. And today's announcement is a great example of that. Some $38.4 million to end the lottery that is screening for newborns. We need to have world's best practice. At the moment, they're screening for about 25 diseases. But we need to lift that up to 80, which is world's best practice. We've met people today, parents as well as nurses and others in the health sector. I've been advocating for this for some time. This will make a practical difference. It means that parents can get more security and certainty about their newborns. It means, as well, that by picking up diseases as early as possible, then what you do is you minimise the amount of intervention that's needed, often, for diseases. Diseases like Pompe disease. We were just talking to an adult sufferer of that disease who spoke about how important it is. Because an infant who's born with this disease, chances are that they don't survive. But if it's picked up, there can be treatment, we can make a practical difference. It's an example of our commitment, as well, to working with the states and territories to achieve better health outcomes. And I'll ask Tania, as our local candidate, to make some comments before we take questions.
 
TANIA LAWRENCE, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR HASLUCK: Thank you. So welcome to the federal seat of Hasluck and it's a pleasure to be joined by both Premier Mark McGowan and, of course, our Labor Leader, Anthony Albanese. I think what we've heard today from the parents and families, this announcement is a significant game changer to saving lives, detecting early conditions that threaten the lives of young children and to see them have a beautiful, healthy upbringing and a long life ahead. And it demonstrates the importance of a partnership. I've worked with the Premier over 20 years ago and I go and continue to have a strong relationship. And I believe that by having a seat at the table, under an Anthony Albanese Labor government, I'll be able to bring that WA partnership, be it focused on jobs, small business, health care as we're here to talk about today, or the myriad other issues that need addressing, particularly in the seat of Hasluck.
 
ALBANESE: All of us are happy take questions.
 
JOURNALIST: The Prime Minister last night has denied Gladys Berejiklian’s texts. Can I get your reaction to that?
 
ALBANESE: Well, the problem for the Prime Minister is that the text has been made public. It clearly is from Gladys Berejiklian. And the problem for this Prime Minister is that quite often he'll say things that are demonstrably just not true. And it's beyond my comprehension why he continues to do that. Last night, he said that Gladys Berejiklian had denied sending the message. She did no such thing. I know Gladys Berejiklian and I think she's a straight talker and was in her time in politics. And she made quite a damning statement about the Prime Minister about his character and, in particular, about him caring more about politics than he did about people during the bushfire crisis. And that reflects what the Prime Minister's actions were at that time. And the engagement that Premier Berejiklian had with the Cabinet Minister are there for all to see. And certainly, why the Prime Minister would say that she had denied it is as understandable as why he would say with me sitting in the chamber of the Parliament that he told me where he was going when he went to Hawaii during that bushfire crisis. That also was not true. He did not send me a text message on that basis. It's also the case, a range of other things, where this Prime Minister just says whatever he finds convenient for the time regardless of whether it's the truth or not. That's why so many people in the Prime Minister's own inner circle, people who know him well, whether it's Gladys Berejiklian, his deputy Barnaby Joyce, whether it's Malcolm Turnbull, whether it's international leaders, all have come to a common view that this Prime Minister can't be trusted. And that's just one of the reasons why we need to change the government and have a more honest and transparent government going forward.
 
JOURNALIST: The Prime Minister said in that same interview last night that he intervened in the New South Wales Liberal Party in order to save women.
 
ALBANESE: Well, this is a Prime Minister, who has caused chaos in the New South Wales branch of the Liberal Party. It's civil war in the New South Wales branch of the Liberal Party. And we had Catherine Cusack, a Liberal MP, saying that she could not vote for the return of Scott Morrison's Government, in yet another damning indictment, joining Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, joining others as well who have made very clear statements about this Prime Minister. I think this is a Government that act as an opposition in exile sitting on the government benches, the way that they behave. And they clearly need time in opposition to get their act together. Because at the moment, their entire focus is on themselves and on playing politics, not governing in the national interest. They're not dealing with the challenges of how our economy goes forward, they’re not dealing with issues like the aged care crisis, they're not dealing with practical measures like the announcement that we've made today.
 
JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, on the aged care crisis, do you give a firm commitment there’ll be tens of thousands of additional nurses available by July next year to honour your aged care promise?
 
ALBANESE: What we're going to do is to put our shoulder to the wheel. We're going to fix the aged care crisis by, one, what you've got to do is to stop people leaving the sector. Secondly, you need to train more nurses, and we've got 20,000 additional university places in areas of skill shortage. Clearly, if need be, we can look at, as we have in the past, importing skilled labour in that area as well. We need to deal with this. This isn't rocket science. This is arising from the aged care royal commission. We didn't sit down and say, should there be a nurse in every nursing home? Because we think that's common sense. And if you ask people at random, they'll be surprised that there's not a nurse in every nursing home. But the aged care royal commission found very clearly that that was an important component of dealing with the aged care crisis, just like it found, we need 215 minutes of care for people in aged care. And it found as well, we need to do something about nutrition, because over 50 per cent of aged care residents aren't getting the level of nutrition that they need. And fourthly, we need to make sure as well that there's transparency and accountability in the system. And we've announced practical changes there. They're based upon the aged care royal commission. And what we've done in funding is make sure that the funding, through the Parliamentary Budget Office, is available to achieve those objectives.
 
JOURNALIST: Clare O’Neil said that could be done within a year, having around the clock nursing in aged care. Is that Labor’s commitment? To have 24/7 nurses in aged care (inaudible)?
 
ALBANESE: Well, that is certainly our objective. We want to fix the aged care crisis as soon as possible. Quite frankly, if we could wake up the morning after the election and it was all fixed, that would be good. But that's not possible. But what you've got to do is to put your shoulder to the wheel, make sure that the funding’s available, make sure that you work with the nurses’ federation, that you work with state and territory governments, that you work with the aged care sector. And that's why our announcement has been well received. What amazes me, if you take just a couple of steps back at where the debate has gone over the last week since I made this announcement on Thursday. We made announcements based upon the recommendations of the royal commission that was commissioned by the current government. They are the recommendations to it. We are saying, when you have a royal commission, follow the recommendations, provide the funding, achieve the outcomes. Because our older Australians have built this country. They deserve to live in dignity and respect. We need to put humanity back into the system. We've heard horrific stories outlined in the Royal Commission. Stories of an elderly person lying on the floor, crying out for help. But there simply aren't enough staff to deal with that. Stories of aged care workers who there are three or four buzzers going at once for people who need care and help and they have to make a decision as to which aged care resident they go to first. People lying in their faeces for a long period of time, soiled and without a shower. People in the same clothes, our aged care residents in the same clothes for days because they haven't had the staff and the capacity to deal with that. Now that's really tough. It is no wonder that aged care workers, nurses and carers are leaving the industry. We know that is happening. We need to turn it around. And the idea that this Government that wasted $5.5 billion on a subs program that didn't actually produce any subs, just produced a torn up contract, complains about $2.5 billion being spent over the forward estimates to implement the recommendations to the aged care royal commission. I just frankly say to this Government, they have got all their priorities wrong. And they need to get out and talk to older Australians. But they also need to talk to the families of aged care residents, or those people in home care who aren't getting the support and assistance that they need to stay in the home as well. And there are savings here as well. If you have a nurse in a nursing home 24/7, it will reduce the number of visits to emergency departments because you can intervene and provide that health care when it's needed, day or night, not have someone not get the care they need and end up in an emergency department at much greater cost, it must be said, to the state governments. Now the Federal Government is responsible for aged care. This is an example of cost shifting from the Commonwealth to the states. If I'm Prime Minister in this country, I will fulfill the responsibility that I have for things that are my responsibility. And aged care is clearly one of those.
 
JOURNALIST: There's also the free TAFE, the higher wages for nurses, increased support for child care, you’ve flagged more announcements to come as well. How can Labor pay for this without increasing taxes or lower national debt?
 
ALBANESE: Well, I think if you’re concerned about those promises, you'll be beside yourself when a Liberal minister comes here. They spent $70 billion in between MYEFO in December and the Budget last Tuesday, $70 billion without any offsets whatsoever. In the Budget last Tuesday, they made commitments or put aside funds in the 10s of billions of dollars for decisions taken but not announced. More than all of the commitments that we have made in the three years that I've been leader of the Labor Party. The truth is we have been considered and measured. If you look at the commitments that we have made, they are in areas like aged care that are an absolute priority, fully costed, $2.5 billion over the forward estimates. As the Prime Minister said last Friday, whoever is in government will have to fund any increase by the Fair Work Commission. It's not an option. It's the law. When the Fair Work Commission hand down a finding. And in terms of our other commitments, take child care, for every dollar that's put into child care it produces a $2 return. It boosts productivity, it boosts workforce participation, it boosts revenues. It's not just money out, it's revenue in as well. Just like dealing with TAFE and the skill shortages and additional university places will produce an economic dividend. At the moment, we're seeing the costs which are there from the neglect of this Government, including in skill shortages. All of our commitments will be laid out, all of our expenditures, all of our savings will be laid out well before the federal campaign. But this is a Government that have a trillion dollars of debt and nothing serious to show for it.
 
JOURNALIST: Can you guarantee that Labor won’t bring forward the Productivity Commission review of the GST distribution system should Labor win power?
 
ALBANESE: Absolutely I can. I called for WA to get a fairer share. I supported the system when it was put in place. And I certainly can guarantee that that will not occur on my watch.
 
JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, last time you were in town, you didn’t appear in public with the WA Premier? Were you snubbed the last time you were in town?
 
ALBANESE: The WA Premier, we actually had a chat just before he headed off to deal with the court case that was brought by Clive Palmer. And I'll say this, there’s one side of politics has sided with Western Australians and with this Premier every day over the decisions that were made to keep Western Australians safe. And that's Labor. On the other side, the reason why the Premier had to travel to be in court on the days in which I was here, and I had a function that night where I'm sure the Premier would have attended, along with a whole lot of other people from the Labor Party, is that what was occurring was it we know Scott Morrison's Government spent taxpayer funds actually supporting Clive Palmer's legal case against the people of Western Australia. Not only that, some of those taxpayer funds went directly to Clive Palmer to assist with the legal bills when the Commonwealth then belatedly withdrew. I haven't, when I come to WA, I don't have to explain the sort of comments that the Federal Government does, when Scott Morrison referred to Western Australians as cave people. So, he referred to West Australians as cave people, he supported Clive Palmer in the case against Western Australians staying safe. I’ll back Mark McGowan each and every day. And I must say, we have a relationship that goes back a very long period of time due to our mutual friendship. We first met through our mutual friendship with Kim Beazley. And Mark, like myself, I think is someone who was in Parliament for some time before they ran in an election as the leader of the Labor Party. I look forward to working with Mark. I've worked with WA Labor on projects like Gateway WA, the biggest set of road projects here in Perth, Perth City Link, the Swan Valley Bypass, the Great Northern Highway. All of these projects were done in advance when I was in Government. And I look forward to working very much with Mark, who's done a great job keeping Western Australians safe and he's doing a great job with the WA economy as well.
 
[Interrupted]
 
JOURNALIST: Premier, there’s been this truck behind us doing some laps saying ‘CCP says vote Labor’. There’s been a few instances of them in other states as well. I think it was parked outside your house at one stage as well. What do you make of that?
 
MCGOWAN: They're idiots. And they're morons. And whoever is behind that should be ashamed of themselves. They go and park it outside my house and then film. I mean, if that's the Liberal Party, they should own up, because it's a disgrace.
 
JOURNALIST: Are you concerned possibly that your public visibility with Scott Morrison recently might detract from Labor’s chances at the Federal Election?
 
MCGOWAN: Not at all. Look, I made a Budget announcement with the Prime Minister. I think I've appeared in public with him once in the last two years, a budget announcement. Annastacia Palaszczuk did the same thing. You go and have a look at the other premiers, they do the same thing around Budget announcements, the Commonwealth and state governments, this is just normal practice. If you go back in time, Colin Barnett did it with Kevin Rudd and he did it with Julia Gillard. I think this was all much ado about nothing.
 
JOURNALIST: When you made that Budget announcement alongside the Prime Minister, you were asked how you felt still about comments like comparing West Australians to cave people and other things that Scott Morrison had said. You said on the day that we could ask you about those on any other day. Tell us now how do you feel about things the Prime Minister said before comparing West Australians to cave people, backing Clive Palmer previously, do you still hold those things against Scott Morrison?
 
MCGOWAN: Yeah, look, comparing us to cave people was very unwise and, I thought, inappropriate by the Prime Minister. And backing Clive Palmer was obviously a pretty serious thing that caused me a lot of grief and I think caused West Australians a lot of grief. And I suspect people will remember that for a long time to come.
 
JOURNALIST: You said earlier this week you’d like both sides of federal government to commit to commit to that 70 cent floor in the GST beyond the Productivity Commission review. Will you be asking Mr Albanese to commit to that while he’s in town?
 
MCGOWAN: Yes, of course. It's 70 cents going to 75 cents. So what happens is it equalizes within the total pool, I think it's next financial year. And no state is worse off at least until 2026. So the deal was quite fair. I just heard Mr Albanese back it in. It's a good deal. You’ve got to remember, we are still subsidising the other states currently, or will still be subsidising the other states massively. We send billions of dollars to the other states currently. If they have complaints about their finances, they need to look in the mirror. They don't need to blame Western Australia for their own financial management. Because we are still subsidising them to the tune of billions of dollars each and every year.
 
JOURNALIST: Scott Morrison has four West Australian MPs in his Cabinet. Mr Albanese has one West Australian MP in his Shadow Cabinet. How worried are you that WA will have a voice in a Labor Government?
 
MCGOWAN: I'm not concerned about that. Obviously, the Federal Government has more MPs here. You know, if there's more Labor MPs here, I suspect that balance would change over time. And that that's just a simple function of mathematics. So look, I, as Anthony said, we get on well and that's a good relationship. We can talk. He’s a very reasonable person, he listens to arguments. He's the sort of person who, over a long period of time, understands and is engaged with Western Australia. He didn't back Clive Palmer, very important point. And I'm sure that if Federal Labor's elected, Western Australia will be well regarded and well rewarded.
 
JOURNALIST: Mathias Cormann and, now, Ben Morton have had a reputation for delivering for their state and working quite collaborating with you, particularly at Budget time. Who in the WA Labor MP ranks is going to be able to step up to that role?
 
MCGOWAN: There’s a range of people, you know, there's a number of them. I don't want to start selecting people, because then you'll say why did I leave someone someone out. There's a range of people I work well with. And, as you know, my history with a number of people in the federal Caucus goes back some time.
 
JOURNALIST: Today's COVID case numbers are pretty consistent with what we saw in the middle of last week. Does that mean that we're likely to see restrictions easing soon?
 
MCGOWAN: Well, some restrictions are. So April 14, the 500 person cap in hospitality venues ends. So that's a big change. So that will mean there is no restriction other than the two square metre rule in hospitality venues. So that will be good for them. In terms of the remaining restrictions, we're obviously going to watch and see what happens with the numbers. But I just want to remind you all, over the course of last two years, we've had minimal restrictions compared to anywhere else in Australia. Our restrictions have been minor. They're now going through their fourth or fifth waves, we’re going through essentially our first wave of COVID. So our situation is very different. Over the next week, I think we'll be able to monitor case numbers that will give us an indication or monitor hospitalisations and intensive care admissions. That will enable us, I think, to plan what's going to occur. Hopefully, we'll have more to say after that.
 
JOURNALIST: There’s been a slight rise in the hospitalisation numbers over the last few days. Are we expecting it now to get to sort of the peak for that group?
 
MCGOWAN: Well, it was always said that as time goes by, as your numbers remain stable, your hospitalisation grows, as you've seen. But we'll monitor that. I expect it will grow further, by the way. I expect it will grow further in coming days. But we'll monitor that. That will enable us over coming weeks to make further decisions.
 
JOURNALIST: Is there a risk that your ability to deliver the best outcomes for WA from the Federal Government, does that become harder without a Coalition (inaudible)?
 
MCGOWAN: Well, not really. Look, we've put a lot of effort into relationships at all levels. You might recall, our predecessors in office going back some time didn't and didn't secure much for the state. So we will continue to put in a huge effort to advocate and lobby for Western Australia if Anthony and his team are elected.
 
JOURNALIST: Why hasn’t the health advice been published regarding term two rule changes for schools, and I don't think the health advice regarding the transition from level two restrictions says why masks are still needed for years three to six?
 
MCGOWAN: I don't know the exact answer to your question as to which advice you're referring to. Maybe I'll get you some advice afterwards. The reason we have masks from year three to six is it reduces the spread of the illness, because we all know kids can take it home. It ensures that more parents can continue to go to work because their kids are not spreading it to parents and their kids are not close contacts. So the rules are very, I think, easily understood and rational. Now, when we can get out of mask wearing, as soon as we can, we will. But at this point in time, it's an important tool to ensure we reduce the spread of the virus, reduce the threat of people exiting the workforce because they're forced to furlough. So at this point in time, it's required.
 
JOURNALIST: The Federal Election hasn't even been called yet, how much time will you spend campaigning with Mr Albanese during the election?
 
MCGOWAN: A fair bit. A fair bit. I'm a loyal member of the party and I'll be out there campaigning with Anthony quite a bit.
 
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
 
MCGOWAN: Look, we're doing the best we can. And every state is going through this. I just want everyone to understand, every state is going through the same thing. That's because large numbers of ambulance staff are being forced to furlough, they’re staying home because they’re COVID positive. That's occurring in all workforces across the state. It’s occurring in your newsrooms. So that's what's occurring. So, what St John is doing is bringing in other people to staff ambulances and we're doing our best to manage what is a difficult situation, because so many people are forced out of the workforce because they’re COVID Positive. The other points are, we've had a 28 per cent increase in people calling triple zero because they have a respiratory complaint. Now that is obviously causing some concern, and St John Ambulance is trying to educate people that you don't call triple zero, tie up the staff there with concerns that could be dealt with elsewhere. And, as you know, it's a huge time constraint, ambulance officers changing PPE. And that's putting further pressure on the system.
 
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
 
MCGOWAN: Yes, well, there's a range of things. Firstly, as Anthony said, we have a range of people in hospitals who should be in aged care. And getting people out of hospitals and into aged care, where that's the more appropriate environment, would free up beds. Secondly, we have a number of people in hospital who should be in disability care. It's in the hundreds of people that are actually in hospital who should be in disability or aged care. And that puts a strain on the system. The thing is, we have invested, since the last budget, $3.2 billion extra. We have the highest funded hospitals per capita of anywhere in Australia. And we're putting in place 520 new beds across the system, which is the equivalent of an entire new tertiary hospital. So we're expecting that these things will make a difference to the system. And we want to make sure that we reduce the pressure, certainly as we come out of COVID, as much as possible.
 
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
 
MCGOWAN: I think you're looking for the negative there, Rory. The flights from Melbourne to Busselton are a great thing. They’ll mean more tourists coming to Western Australia. It’ll be great for the southwest. And I think it'll enhance the appeal of Western Australia to more people. And the Government worked hard to achieve this outcome. Obviously it was put on hold during COVID but we're very pleased it's now started.
 
JOURNALIST: Similar to what we asked the Premier, you only have one West Australian in your Shadow Cabinet. Will you increase that to at least two or three to get WA a strong voice?
 
ALBANESE: I tell you what, what I want is more Australians in the Caucus. If you have more West Australians in the Caucus, you’ll have more people rising up the ranks. They're all incredibly talented. Madeleine King has risen very quickly into the Shadow Cabinet. As you know, two elections ago, we had all of the Lower House members, relatively new, were elected either in 2016, or by-elections, and in 2019. They're talented people. They'll come through both in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. Of course, the Senate Deputy President is from Western Australia as well, Sue Lyons. What we need, we have the quality, what we need is the quantity.
 
And can I just say one more thing about there's a website, albanese.com.au, that has been bought by someone associated with the Liberal Party that then when someone clicks on it, it refers people straight to the Liberal Party site. This is a test of integrity for Scott Morrison and for the Liberal Party. Are they going to engage in this as an example of something that frankly isn't on in our democracy? I think people should behave in a reasonably adult way. It's not as if someone who's searching for my website is going to go, oh, it's the same as the Liberal Party website. It's childish. It's an example of this government just being not in a position to advance its own agenda, being embarrassed by its own record, and having no agenda for the future. And if they don't fix it, it will show a lack of integrity on their behalf. And it will also show that this Government just will continue to engage in scare campaigns, in tricks, in misinformation. We'll see more of that going forward. But what I want is an election campaign that's based upon ideas for the future, like our position to fix the aged care crisis. Thank you very much.
 
ENDS