SUBJECTS: Labor’s candidate for Hawke; Sikh community; Glasgow conference; climate change; net zero by 2050; Australia’s relationship with France and the United States; Labor’s policy agenda; next Federal election; methane emissions; lack of trust in the Prime Minister; Cleo Smith.
 
RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Well, it's fantastic to be here this morning at the Khalsa Shaouni Temple in Plumpton. And it's fantastic to be here with our Leader, Anthony Albanese, the first time Albo has been in Victoria for six months. That says something about the time that we've been through but also says something about the optimism that we face the next few months with. This is a sign of us getting back to normal. And it's really fantastic to have Albo here to get back in Victoria today. And we really do look forward to a return to normality here in Victoria around the country. This return to normality is because of the efforts of those in Victoria, those in New South Wales, doing what they need to do to go off and get vaccinated but showing tremendous community spirit through it. We see that community spirit right here at this temple. This morning, we've been lucky enough to look around at the food that's being made, tens of thousands of meals have been provided from the kitchens here to the communities during both the bushfires and the pandemic. And it says something about the way in which the Sikh community are making such a fantastic contribution here. It's also wonderful to be here with our new candidate for Hawke, Sam Rae, for the new seat of Hawke. We're very excited about Sam's candidacy and the contribution Sam is going to make in Canberra. But much more importantly, the contributions Sam will make representing the citizens of Hawke. So, with that, let me hand it over to the Labor Leader, Anthony Albanese.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Well, thank you very much. And it was fantastic to have the welcome from the Sikh community here at Plumpton here in Victoria. It was an appropriate place for me to visit as my return to Victoria after six months. Because the Sikh community here have provided 180,000 meals during the bushfires, during COVID. And they're continuing to provide support for their community. And it also was terrific to be here just on the eve of Diwali. Diwali commemorates the victory of lightness over darkness. And what we have here in Victoria is just that. A sense of optimism as Victoria opens up again. And that sense of optimism is something that I want to bring to government after the next election. And part of that optimism is having new members of the Labor team. And in Sam Rae, I've known Sam for a long period of time, he's passionate about making a difference. He's committed to this community, raising a couple of kids and his wife, all committed to making a difference here in this community. He brings a great deal of political experience to our team, but also a passion to make a difference each and every day, particularly for those people who need a Labor Government, those people who've been left behind by the Coalition, whether it be their failure to keep wages up with the cost of living, whether it be their failure to secure vaccines, whether it be their failure to act on climate change.
 
We have Scott Morrison returning now from the Glasgow Conference. Last night, he gave, in his address to that conference, an empty speech to an empty room. He had nothing to say of value compared with the challenge that the world faces from climate change. What we need is global action. And Australia should be a part of that process rather than being a handbrake. But in the very disappointing announcement last week, where we had no new policies from our Prime Minister, and then the diversion that occurred during his trip to Rome and to Glasgow, where it was all about the focus about whether he was truthful in his dealings with France and the United States, and the way in which selective information was given out, be they text messages which were private, or whether they be US Government information about briefings. It's not an appropriate way to advance diplomacy and to advance Australia's interests on the international stage. Diplomacy requires the building up of relationships. And it's quite clear that the relations with both France and the United States are not as good as they should be.
 
Australia should always make decisions in our own national interest. And we support the decision on submarines. But you've got to deal with other nations in a way that is appropriate, that doesn't damage those long-term relations. So, I look forward very much to Sam being an important part of the team. If we're successful at the next election, we will be the most experienced incoming Labor Government in history. I've served as Deputy Prime Minister and as Leader of the Government in the House for six years. We have a number of members who've served as senior members of the Cabinet. We have a number of members who served as ministers in the Government. But we also continue to refresh our ranks. And Sam Rae's a part of that. I'm convinced he has a very big future as part of the Labor team in Canberra. And I'm happy to launch his campaign here this morning.
 
SAM RAE, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR HAWKE: Thank you, Anthony. And good morning, everyone. It's great to be here today. It's wonderful to be here, of course, with Anthony and Richard. Thank you both for joining us. Firstly, I'd like to pay an acknowledgement to the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, the Wurundjeri People, and lend my respects to elders past, present and emerging. I would also like to thank the guys here at Khalsa Shaouni for having us this morning. This is a wonderful organisation. Throughout the lockdown, as they always do, these guys have made sure that the most vulnerable members of our community don't go hungry. And I appreciate that very much. I live in Riddells Creek with my partner Zoe and our two kids. And we love our community. But like all young families across Hawke, we want to know that our kids will be able to go to great schools. We want to know that our loved ones can access world-class healthcare when they need it. We want to know that there'll be good, well-paid, secure local jobs. And we want to know that we can access the road and public transport infrastructure that we need to get to work and get home safely and efficiently. My mum was a proud public-school teacher. And she taught me the value of good education and that every kid deserves the best chance at life. For those reasons, I'll be campaigning hard every day to win Hawke for the Labor Party, and to elect an Albanese Labor Government. Thank you.
 
ALBANESE: Thanks very much. Happy to take questions.
 
JOURNALIST: Matthias Cormann says that the best way to drive down emissions is a carbon price globally. Do you agree?
 
ALBANESE: Well, which Matthias Cormann do I agree with, I've got to say? Look, we will set our own policies. And we don't believe, because renewables are the cheapest form of new energy, that here in Australia, you need to have a price signal to change what the market is. The market is acting. The market is driving the shift to renewable energy. And that's why as long as the Government facilitates that investment by providing certainty going forward, that's why a legislated net zero by 2050 commitment is important. What's extraordinary is that the Government somehow regard legislation as something that shouldn't happen in the Parliament. That is actually what parliaments do.
 
JOURNALIST: Australia's decision not to pledge to lower methane emissions has been labelled disappointing. Was that the right decision?
 
ALBANESE: It was the right decision. Here in Australia, there are some potential scientific breakthroughs that are being worked on that can make a significant difference, driving down emissions from methane. But here in Australia, we have a very different system of agriculture. I was in New England on Monday. What you have there is cattle across vast parts of the New England. And it is different from the way that agriculture and farming practices happen in other parts of the world. We need to drive down emissions as much as possible. But it would have been premature for Australia to sign up to that commitment.
 
JOURNALIST: Did COP26 overall achieve the outcomes that you were hoping for?
 
ALBANESE: Well, I think it was disappointing. It was disappointing that the Prime Minister, essentially, didn't have terribly much to say. But we knew that was coming. Last Tuesday, when he stood up and had his Seinfeld policy release that was about nothing and the fact that you still haven't had the modelling released about that while the Prime Minister is on his way home, I find quite extraordinary. What we need is global action. And we think that all countries should be a part of that. But in order to encourage other nations, Australia has to be prepared to show stronger leadership. And I note the meeting that the Prime Minister had with the Fijian Prime Minister, and the Fijian Prime Minister, as other Pacific leaders have done, of crying out for stronger action from Australia, was something that the Prime Minister didn't comment on.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you agree with Malcolm Turnbull's view that Australia should have informed France of its desire to acquire nuclear submarines as the Government has worked with France to achieve that?
 
ALBANESE: Well, Malcolm Turnbull has called out Scott Morrison. One of the things about Scott Morrison is that those people who know him best, who've worked with him the closest, can attest to the flaws in his character, particularly when it comes to truthfulness. And we see that when after President Macron made the comments that he did about our Prime Minister, he did two things. Firstly, he tried to say that journalists were just taking selfies, something that wasn't true in itself. And then he tried to say that it was a sledge on Australia and it was an insult to all Australians. Whereas, quite clearly, that wasn't the case at all. It was very much a personal comment made about Scott Morrison. And the fact is that just weeks prior to the announcement, you had the Defence and Foreign Ministers of both Australia and France meet together and issue a communique that would have anyone who reads that communique would think that everything was just proceeding as normal. The fact is that the Government continued to mislead the Australian people about whether the project was on budget and on time. It's saying something very different now from what it was saying in the Parliament, from what it said in March when it announced that 60 per cent of the work would go to Australians, from when it continued to make that announcement in August in terms of the two-plus-two defence and national security meetings that took place. So, one is perplexed at what the difference is between what was said then and what was said now. But this is something that characterises Scott Morrison and his Government. He said on vaccines that it wasn't a race. And then he says, 'No, I was talking about something else'. On bushfires, he said, and indeed, the Government disparaged any connection with climate change, and refused to meet the experts, he refused to provide a national aerial firefighting increased support in spite of the recommendations that were there, and then denied that. He said that wage subsidies through JobKeeper were a dangerous idea, and then changed his mind. On gender issues, with regard to safety of women in Parliament House, he dismissed some of the comments that were made, refused to address the March4Justice, and only belatedly came to a different position there. It is something that characterises this Prime Minister. And on climate change, people are aware internationally that he said that electric vehicles would end the weekend, that renewable energy targets were, to quote him, nuts, that the issue of batteries to store renewable energy were as important as the Big Banana or the Big Prawn. He ridiculed net zero by 2050, a policy he now says we'll support. He says that if you took action on climate change, the economy would shrink. Now, he says you can take action and reduce emissions and grow the economy. It's no wonder that this Prime Minister will never be held to account. He always blames someone else. Malcolm Turnbull has called that out. And Malcolm Turnbull isn't alone. There are existing members of the Cabinet who will call that out as well. There are members of the press gallery who know the misinformation that's put out from the Prime Minister's Office. This is a Prime Minister who lacks integrity. This is a Prime Minister whose time is up. We need a government that will actually address the challenges that are there going forward. And this Prime Minister is not up to the job of doing that.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you think Emmanuel Macron was wilfully ignorant of the possibility that Australia could dump the submarine contract?
 
ALBANESE: Well, I wasn't in the meetings. But even the text message that was released by the Prime Minister's office, one would assume, is a private text message from a private phone to a private phone. Even if it showed something of significance, you wouldn't release a private text message between people. That's not the way that you build relations between countries. That's not diplomacy. That's causing major problems. Just as the release of information to the United States is also of real concern. But what that text message says was when the Australian bureaucracy was in touch with the President's office to organise a phone call, was essentially saying, 'What is it about?’. And, of course, it could have been about a range of things, they could have changed their scope. It had been aware that there were some issues and France was attempting to deal with that. The Prime Minister can't have it both ways. On the one hand, he says he couldn't tell the French President, because that would undermine the potential relationships with the UK and the US. On the other hand, he implies that somehow, he should have known. Both things can't be true. The Prime Minister's own statements contradict themselves within single press conferences.
 
Can I just make one more comment about young Cleo Smith, and how fantastic the news is that this four year old little girl has been found safely. I think the whole of Australia will be held waking up today with a sense of joy. Because the idea that your child goes missing for 18 days would have been just such a traumatic experience for this family. And I want to congratulate all those associated with the search - the police and emergency services, all those volunteers who are out there searching for clues, searching bins, trying to get information of any sort a clue. And it is remarkable, that young Cleo has been found safe. And it's a great thing. And congratulations to all involved. Also, the WA Government. Congratulations to Mark McGowan, who didn't sit and wait back. He once again showed leadership in the offering of up to a million dollars to make sure that the message was out there of how important it was. But once again, volunteers there, just like the volunteers here from the Sikh community. This is a great country. And it's a great country because of the spirit and the culture which is here. That culture of helping people and looking after each other that we see here, but we've also seen, of course with the search for young Cleo Smith. Thanks.
 
ENDS