LOUISE MILLER-FROST, MEMBER FOR BOOTHBY: Hi everyone. I'm Louise Miller-Frost. I'm the Federal Member for Boothby and it's my absolute honour to welcome the Prime Minister here to Boothby for this fantastic announcement. You will see that we have a cast of thousands because this is such an important measure for South Australia and for the southern suburbs of Adelaide. So, we have Penny, Chris Picton, the Premier, Mark Butler and Amanda Rishworth. This is such an important thing. This is a $150 million investment in the future of health and the future of the health workforce here in Boothby. I'm really honoured to have been working closely with Flinders University and the Vice Chancellor Colin Sterling over the last year or so to look at how we can address those big issues that we keep hearing about, access to affordable, accessible healthcare and the health workforce. And I will hand over to the Prime Minister. Thank you.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Fantastic. So, thanks Louise so much and it is indeed a great pleasure to be here at Flinders. And this is such an exciting announcement, $300 million, $150 million from the Commonwealth Government, $150 million from Flinders University for a state-of-the-art health service for South Australians. When this is up and running, there will be, able to be, 100 patients supported by this service and facility every day, at any time. But importantly as well, what it will train is 1300 health professionals a year. This is a great example of the Government working with the university sector to make sure we address two things. One, it provides people with more access to immediate health services, but at the same time we're building a better future by training more people for these facilities. More than 490 nurses, 250 social workers, 128 occupational therapists and speech pathologists. More than 100 paramedics, 60 physios, more than 50 midwives, 24 clinical psychologists. 180 other allied health professionals. This is a comprehensive plan going forward. It comes on top of the investment. That we made at the last election campaign to upgrade Flinders. And you could see that infrastructure work underway, nearing completion, as we came in here today. It is absolutely vital that at this election, we strengthen Medicare rather than undermine it. And one of the things that we have done with the combination of measures, with the investment that we're having in hospitals, the $1.7 billion of additional funding we've put into public hospitals this year. With our support for Urgent Care Clinics, the 87 we've opened. The 50 additional ones that we will open. With our tripling of the bulk billing incentive so that more Australians can see a doctor for free. And with our cut in the price of medicines down to $25, the same price that they were in 2004.
 
What we're doing with all of this is making sure that this little green and gold card that represents Australian values, what it represents is a card that says, if I get sick, if I need healthcare, I'll get it. Regardless of my income, regardless of my status in life. Every Australian is entitled to that. It stands in stark contrast to the American system that simply doesn't get that. It stands in stark contrast as well to the alternative vision. We know what Peter Dutton thinks about health because when he was the Health Minister, we had $50 billion cut from hospitals. He attempted to introduce a tax every time people visit a GP and therefore abolish bulk billing altogether. He attempted to put in a tax every time people visited the emergency department of a hospital, and he introduced legislation to try to increase the cost of pharmaceuticals by $5. With his $600 billion nuclear plan. Cuts are going to have to come from somewhere, and we know from past experience, health and education are the two areas that will begin. So, this election is about a choice, between Labor strengthening Medicare, supporting cost of living relief, building a stronger economy and building Australia's future, and a Coalition government that wants to cut everything except for your taxes.
 
PETER MALINAUSKUS, PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Thank you so much, Prime Minister for your commitment that you've announced here today. I remember distinctly standing with you about three years ago when you announced a largely unprecedented commitment to a public hospital here in South Australia, a $200 million commitment from the Federal Government to match the State Government's funds to dramatically expand the Flinders Medical Centre, one of the busiest hospitals in the nation. And since then, the commitment has only grown. And as we speak, right now, Flinders is undergoing one of the biggest transformations it's ever experienced during the course of its history. What is now a $498 million expansion of the hospital to build more capacity, to build more capacity. And that is what I guess I am so grateful for more than anything else, is to have a Federal Government that understands that in this country we've got a growing population and an ageing population.
 
So now is not the time to be cutting investments in health. Now is the time to be making them. And to have a Government that is serious about making sure that every last Australian is able to get access to high quality health care in a first world country is mission critical. I'm very appreciative of indeed. This $150 million investment, on top of the $150 million coming from Flinders Uni, will see 1,300 people get trained extra each and every year in the critical services that a hospital needs to function. More nurses, more doctors, more allied health professionals. So, we're building the beds and now you're helping deliver the workforce. And that will mean more people getting seen to on time to get the best possible health care that money can buy in a country as rich and as wealthy as ours. And that is us living up to that egalitarian ideal that no one gets left behind, particularly in the most urgent time of need.
 
As a Premier I can't stress enough that we want a Prime Minister of this country who understands that people need to have public health care invested in. Now is the worst possible time, I could not think of a worse possible time to have a Commonwealth Government that would be actively cutting health when we need to be investing in it. So, to that end, to you, Prime Minister, we have a partner that we are very, very grateful for in the South Australian Government. It's a partnership that is making a big difference on the ground in healthcare service delivery, and it's one that we want to continue for a long time to come. So, our thanks is genuine and we look forward to your re-election in a few weeks’ time, all being well, to make sure we can get on with the job.
 
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Well, thank you, Premier and thank you, Prime Minister and Louise as well. And to the wonderful staff, the doctors, the nurses, the midwives, the staff here at Flinders Medical Centre who have been serving the southern suburbs of Adelaide for 50 years. They really have. And the $200 million commitment, which is now up to $249 million commitment the Commonwealth made three years ago, like yesterday's announcement in the north eastern suburbs of Perth, is a strategic investment in a critically important hospital asset for our national healthcare system. This is one of the three big quaternary hospitals in Adelaide. It is 50 years old. It needs the investment that the Malinauskas Government and the Albanese Government are putting in to renew it and ensure that it can continue to serve the needs of the southern suburbs for the next 50 years. It was just great to talk to a number of the recent RN and midwife graduates from Flinders University, Colin, your university, just then, who were doing their first year placement here at Flinders and looking forward to a wonderful career in South Australia's healthcare system. We're providing them with support with paid prac for the first time, RN's and midwives to support them doing this really important but often quite challenging period of practical placement for them.
 
And in addition to our focus on bulk billing, Urgent Care Clinics and cheaper medicines, building the health workforce is the fourth critical pillar of our Strengthening Medicare agenda. And that's what today's announcement is all about. Yesterday, we announced a new medical school in Queensland to be delivered by QUT. We're delivering the first medical school in the Northern Territory at Charles Darwin University, complementing some terrific work that Flinders Uni has done for years training medical graduates in the territory. We've allocated funding for 150 additional Commonwealth Supported Places in medical schools to be rolled out over the next couple of years. The first big injection into medical schools for more than a decade. We've got to build our workforce. And so those numbers the Prime Minister went through are just critically important to ensuring that this terrific hospital has the number of graduates it's going to need, and Noarlunga Hospital and other services in the southern suburbs will need to service the needs of a growing population that is getting older and is getting sicker with more complex chronic disease. So, this critical announcement, our fourth really important pillar of Strengthening Medicare. And I want to say to those nurses and those midwives that this is a Government, like the Malinauskas Government, that has your back.
 
Last year we delivered every single one of you a tax cut when the Liberal Government's tax cuts were only going to go to some. And this year, last week, we have legislated top up tax cuts over the next couple of years so that an average worker over the course of our tax plan will get $2,500 in tax cuts. Last year's plan was opposed by Peter Dutton. The legislated tax cuts from last week will be repealed by a Dutton-led government. He's made that promise. Your tax rates will go up under a Dutton-led government. That's our first commitment to you. But also, we want to make sure the hospital system is better supported. That's why we're supporting this investment at Flinders. It's why we committed $43 million to the South Australian government last year to help ensure that older patients flow more smoothly and more quickly through the hospital system, alleviating that pressure of bed block that I know the Premier and Minister, Chris Picton, have been so worried about here in South Australia. But it's also why we will deliver a record increase in the coming 12 months to the South Australian hospital system. The Commonwealth's contribution to South Australia's hospitals next year will be 15% higher, and injection of 300 million additional dollars into supporting the amazing work that doctors and nurses do here, all in addition to the way in which Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are alleviating pressure on this emergency department, among others.
 
Contrast that with Peter Dutton's record on hospitals. As the Prime Minister said, as Health Minister ten years ago, he wanted to rip $50 billion out. That would have meant $4 billion taken out of South Australia's hospital system over a decade, where all of this growing population demand, ageing of the population and so much else has placed real pressure on this hospital system. Like every other in the country, $4 billion he would have taken out and he'll do it again. He told you judge me on my past performance. Well, I am judging Peter Dutton on his past performance. The worst Health Minister in the history of Medicare. He'll rip money out of hospitals. No surer thing than night follows day. He'll rip money out of Medicare. He'll go back there to pay for his $6 billion nuclear power plant. And extraordinarily, over the last 24 hours, he's confirmed again that they'll go back to the school’s budget. That's what they did in 2014, again. $50 billion out of hospitals, $30 billion out of education. He's going to do the same thing again. But it will be even more ideological than it was back then. He said very clearly to schools, if you don't line up with my personal political views, you will lose funding. The most extraordinary thing I've heard from an alternative prime minister in this country. Well, under our Prime Minister, you'll get lower taxes and stronger Medicare. Under Peter Dutton, you're going to get higher taxes and a gutted Medicare.
 
PRIME MINISTER: I'm happy to take questions.
 
JOURNALIST: Can I ask you about the Reserve Bank decision this afternoon? We've seen one rate cut this year, but the wide expectation today is we won't see another. What does that say to Australians about whether the worst of the economic pain is in the past?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Australians know that inflation had a six in front when we were elected. It peaked at 7.8 in 2022 and today it's at 2.4. It's in the bottom half of the Reserve Bank band. We have worked very hard with the Australian people. Australians have worked hard to get those inflation rates down because we know that it has been punishing. But what we've done is be able to get the inflation rate down to less than half of what we inherited, at the same time as we've provided cost of living relief, tax cuts for all Australians, not just some. The energy bill relief, the Free TAFE, the cheaper childcare, all of these measures together.
 
And importantly as well, we have managed to get wages up and to have strong employment growth, with over a million jobs created since we came to government, more than at any time, in any government since federation. We're really proud of that. So, our task is to continue to get inflation down further, to continue to maintain strong employment, but also, importantly, to continue to have people earn more and to keep more of what they earn.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Coalition is promising today to loosen the mortgage lending rules to let more younger Australians buy homes. Will you match that or what's your plan to get younger Australians into homes?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's pretty hard to work out exactly what it is that they're promising, loosening issues. One of the things that we have done is to ensure that the banks won't take into account people's HECS debt, which is really important. But in addition to that, the support we're providing young people is to take 20% further off student debt, on top of the $3 billion of debt that we reduced HECS debts’ by, by changing the indexation arrangements which are there. We'll give every young person a tax cut. If you look at the difference that our changes to stage 3 made, 98% of young people were better off because we intervened to change the tax cuts to make sure that they got looked after. It is, overwhelmingly, a much greater proportion due to the number of young people working part time who benefit from that tax cut from the first rate up to $45,000. So, they will benefit, they benefited from the last tax cut, they'll benefit from the next one, and the one after. Peter Dutton will take that away. In addition to that, we have the series of our $33 billion Homes for Australia Plan. Whether it's social housing, whether it's build-to-rent schemes or whether it is the Help to Buy scheme. All of those measures aimed at assisting people into housing, be it home ownership or private rental or into social housing. All of those measures are opposed by the Coalition. A Coalition where Peter Dutton sat in that Cabinet Room for the entire time of the three different Prime Ministers that were there under the chaotic former Coalition Government, and he didn't once sit there and think to himself, “gee, why haven't we got a Housing Minister?” Because for half the time they didn't even bother to have a Housing Minister. And that is one of the reasons why, over the period of their government, this became such a major issue.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, a new trade report out of the United States has updated the list of grievances that the Trump Administration has with Australia, including your attempts to force big companies like Meta to pay for news. Are you worried that Donald Trump will expand the tariffs on Australian products this week? And have you been able to get him on the phone again?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I've seen this report, and the report has three things that are of concern, at least, to Australia. One is the News Bargaining Code. The second is pharmaceuticals, and the third is biosecurity. Those issues are not up for negotiation from the Australian Government. We will defend Australia's interests. The idea that we would weaken biosecurity laws is really that, as my Mum would say, cutting off your nose to spite your face. You know, you do, in order to defend the exports that total less than 5% of Australia's exports, you undermine our biosecurity system. Not on my watch. Our biosecurity system is essential. We'll negotiate sensibly, but we won't undermine the biosecurity system. These are the issues that we have been discussing with the US Administration. Those discussions are ongoing. I want to see a constructive outcome, but what I won't do is undermine our national interest.
 
JOURNALIST: Minister Wong, the Trump Administration has gutted USAID, leaving behind a huge void in terms of foreign aid. The Budget didn't include a huge uptick in foreign aid. Can you explain the thinking behind that? And is that can voters expect a return to Albanese Government to step up and fill that void in a second term?
 
PENNY WONG, MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Well, two points. There was an increase in the Budget in aid in accordance with indexation. And it's a big difference from the billions of dollars that Peter Dutton and the Coalition took out of aid whilst in office, which left a vacuum in the Pacific for others to fill, so had a direct impact on Australia's national security. In relation to aid, we have reshaped the aid budget to reflect Australia's conditions, the security circumstances we live in, and to reflect the reality of the US aid cuts. The vast majority of Australian aid goes to the Pacific and to Southeast Asia, because it is in this region that Australia's security interests lie.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you've previously said that Donald Trump scares the s*** out of you. What scared the s*** out of you? And are you still frightened by those things about Donald Trump?
 
PRIME MINISTER: No. As Prime Minister, I have a constructive relationship with the President. And I've had two very constructive phone calls with him.
 
JOURNALIST: But no, no. Sorry, sorry, what scared the s*** out of you? You didn't answer the question. What actually scared you about him?
 
 PRIME MINISTER: As Prime Minister, I have -
 
JOURNALIST: No, no. You said this. What did you mean?
 
PRIME MINISTER: As Prime Minister. I have a constructive relationship with the President. And I look forward to continuing to engage with him.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Healthscope, which is one of the largest providers of private hospital care in Australia, looks at risk of being broken up. Has the government spoken to the management of the company? Are you concerned about the sustainability of that sector and possible drift back to the private - to the public sector?
 
BUTLER: Well, taking your second point first - yes, I'm concerned about the viability of the private hospital sector right now, which is why I asked our Secretary of the Department, Blair Comley to convene a group of CEOs, not just of key hospitals, but of their funders, the private health insurers, patient groups and clinicians. There are some structural issues in the sector more broadly. We've put some, I think, quite concrete suggestions about ways to improve that viability. And that group is continuing to do its work. Healthscope, which is the second biggest private provider of hospitals, has, obviously, very publicly had a whole range of issues that they are working through with their lenders and with their landlords. We’re watching that closely, ultimately, this is a commercial matter between those three parties that we're watching very closely. We're keen to ensure that we're on top of any strategic hit to the system. So, for example, you know, in Tasmania, we've provided additional money to cover maternity services that Healthscope has closed, which has some relationship to its viability issues. We worked very constructively with the Tasmanian Government and with Calvary to ensure there's no interruption to maternity services for Tasmanian families and will continue to monitor this situation very closely. But I'm not going to provide a day-to-day commentary over the sort of ins and outs of these commercial negotiations that are taking place between Healthscope, its lenders and its landlords.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, thank you. Just to follow up on questions about Trump. You've requested a third phone call. Why haven't you been able to get it?
 
PRIME MINISTER: What we're doing is putting forward - the US is putting forward a position, we're putting forward a position. What happens is that phone calls come together when things are agreed. I have very clearly indicated Australia is not negotiating over the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme We're not negotiating over the News Bargaining Code. We won't undermine our biosecurity.
 
JOURNALIST: Just to follow up as well. We've seen now, essentially, every day of this campaign has focused on health. In 2022, Peter Malinauskas usurped a first term Liberal Government. Health was essentially the only campaign issue. Are you taking a leaf out of the Premier's book?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I am quite happy to be associated with Premier Malinauskas, I make that point, firstly. We've been friends for a long period of time before both of us were in the position we're in now. And indeed we had dinner, I think the night before your election, here in South Australia in a pub quietly, which was pretty extraordinary really, under the circumstances. And we work really closely together. But health is an important priority. That's what Labor governments do. Health is what? There are two issues that brought me into public life. When the son of an invalid pensioner who got a rough deal, a rough deal before Medicare existed. And housing, the importance of social and public housing. I bring my experience into public life. I care about health. There is nothing that is more important than health care. Labor governments have always made a difference on health. Just remember this, when Medicare was introduced by Gough Whitlam, he had to go to a double dissolution election in order to get it up. That's how much they hated the idea that this little card here would be able to give the same health care to a billionaire that it gives to an invalid pensioner. They went to an election. Then they got elected under Fraser, they abolished it. It took a Labor Government, under Bob Hawke, to bring it back. And it took Bob Hawke to be re-elected and re-elected again to secure it. Now, what is at stake at this election is the same thing. The same thing. We will secure these gains for health, the increased funding for public hospitals, the support for Urgent Care Clinics, the tripling of the bulk billing incentive for GPs, the training of additional health professionals. Or Peter Dutton, who had what is a fantastic job as Health Minister and chose to use that to try and gut Medicare, gut health funding and to undermine the idea that all that people need is this little bit of green and gold plastic. That's why I'm concentrating on health. You’ll continue, we haven't finished yet, we’ll continue to see a range of other issues on health. My Government has had to repair ten years of disrepair in so many areas in health, in education, you know, the education deal will have more to say about that as well. But my Government is a big reforming government and health care is front and centre of it.
 
JOURNALIST: You've become a little bit more liberal in your language on Trump over time as he's become more erratic, Prime Minister. Do you see political benefit in muscling up to the US Administration on the tariff issue? And just on the Suburban Rail Loop, Peter Dutton's cutting funding to it today in Melbourne -
 
PRIME MINISTER: Seamless segue from global politics to the Suburban Rail Loop. But go ahead.
 
JOURNALIST: Well, we only get one. We only get one here.
 
PRIME MINISTER: I look forward to the link.
 
JOURNALIST: Well, no link. Jacinta Allan wants, desperately needs, more funding for it. Will you give any more next term or are you done on that project?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Okay. Two issues not really connected. On the first, I'll stand up for Australia's national interests. That's my job. That’s my job. And I also will stand up for the principled view that the Australian Government has had, which is that we support free and fair trade. Tariffs are acts of economic self-harm. We will stand up for Australia's national interests. On the infrastructure announcement, look, there are a few times during this campaign where Peter Dutton has shown that they're just not ready for government, and this is one of them. He has announced the cutting of funding to upgrade Sunshine Station, and says he'll reallocate that $2 billion from the Commonwealth to the Airport Rail Link. Sunshine Station is about access to the airport. It's about making sure that people in Ballarat and Bendigo and Geelong and parts of Melbourne can get to the airport. It's a part of the Airport Rail Link, which will also be a part of Suburban Rail Loop as well. It's how it all fits together.
 
JOURNALIST: Question’s on how much [inaudible] -
 
PRIME MINISTER: It's how it all fits together. They have announced today cutting for funding, which will be about delivering a railway line to the airport, and said it's about delivering a railway line to the airport, in which there's a deal been signed between the Commonwealth, the Victorian Government and the airport itself to make sure that it is delivered. Now, when it comes to infrastructure, as you may well recall, Paul, under the Former Government, at one stage Victoria was getting between 7 and 8% of national infrastructure expenditure. They represent 1 in 4 Australians. Melbourne was Australia's fastest growing city, and they got completely neglected by three Prime Ministers who saw themselves as the Prime Minister for Sydney. You might recall. Now, we had an announcement yesterday from Peter Dutton that this Queenslander is going to be the Prime Minister for Sydney as well, because there he is measuring up the curtains at Kirribilli. I'll give him the tip, working from home is what he says he's against. Well, the office is in Canberra. Parliament House is in Canberra. I live in Canberra. You were all at The Lodge on Saturday night, just to out you all, you were all there on Saturday night at the Prime Minister's residence, and it was in Canberra, not in Sydney. So, not only have Australians had to put up with three Liberal Prime Ministers who saw themselves as being just the Prime Minister for Sydney, they're now going to have a Queenslander who sees himself as being the Prime Minister for Sydney, as well, if Peter Dutton is elected. I see myself, I'm a proud Sydneysider, as the Prime Minister for Australia. That's why I have been to South Australia more than 20 times. That's why yesterday was my 30th visit to Western Australia, and that's why Victoria is now getting its fair share of infrastructure investment.
 
JOURNALIST: Question for Premier Malinauskas. Peter Dutton has often referred to you as a pragmatic Premier who would be open to the idea of nuclear. Is there any circumstances in which you'd be prepared to work with the Dutton Government?
 
PREMIER MALINAUSKUS: I’ve spoken pretty plainly about this on a number of occasions, and I'm happy to do it again. Why would any Premier of any jurisdiction around the country support a plan to make electricity more expensive for households and business? I mean, when we talk about cost of living, there's little doubt that energy is top of mind for all Australians. And Peter Dutton's got a plan to make it more expensive. And more than that, the plan that he's got specifically for South Australia, isn't just a plan to make it more expensive, it's a plan to build a small modular nuclear reactor that hasn't been deployed anywhere in the world for civil or electricity purposes, anywhere, ever. So, it seems more like -
 
JOURNALIST: So, there’s no circumstances?
 
PREMIER MALINAUSKUS: I can't be clearer about it. I mean, his plan would make electricity and energy prices for South Australians more expensive, and there is not a month of Sundays where we would support a plan that would do that.
 
JOURNALIST: You've previously said, though, Premier, that nuclear should be open to, so.
 
JOURNALIST: Will the price of petrol cars increase under your vehicle emission standards regime?
 
PRIME MINISTER: The vehicle emission standard regime is something that - there are two countries in the world that didn't have a vehicle emission standards scheme. One was Australia and the other was Vladimir Putin in Russia –
 
JOURNALIST: Would the manufacturers talk about the [inaudible] of this one?
 
PRIME MINISTER: The manufacturers, the car dealers, everyone came on board for our plan. Everyone except for the Coalition.
 
JOURNALIST: They’re now saying prices will increase. They're now saying prices will increase, Prime Minister. Wouldn't they know?
 
JOURNALIST: Back on Donald Trump. The latest Resolve strategic poll has shown that voters believe that Peter Dutton would be the best leader to handle Donald Trump. Why do you think that is? And do you think that you should be channelling your inner Mark Carney to talk a tougher game on tariffs?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not a commentator. I'll leave that to all of you. On Mark Carney, I had the opportunity to speak to the new Prime Minister of Canada, he's in an election as well. That election will be held before hours. That's a matter for the Canadian people.
 
JOURNALIST: An increasing number of Australians believe the election of Donald Trump has been bad for Australia.
 
PRIME MINISTER: A bit of a theme at this press conference, isn't there?
 
JOURNALIST: You can't get the leader of our most important security ally on the phone to talk about tariffs. Should there be a consideration to shift our foreign policy to be less wedded to Washington?
 
PRIME MINISTER: No. We support our foreign policy. As I've said, on a number of occasions now, what happens is that there's negotiations with the respective sides between Australia and the United States. They have put positions to us. We have put positions to them. Then when things are, if things are, agreed, then what happens is that the leaders get to do the grand signature or get to have declaration. There is, at this point in time, a lot of cooperation and discussion. There's a lot of commonality going forward. But I've said, in the document that was released by the United States overnight, just to name three. There were some other issues raised as well, but the big three, pharmaceuticals, News Bargaining Code, biosecurity. I will stand up for Australia's national interests.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, earlier in the press conference, you got asked about the RBA, and you listed your cost of living relief measures. You've listed your progress in lowering inflation. Why is this election not a slam dunk for you then?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, people will vote in an election. And we know that all elections in Australia are close. The only person who thinks it's a slam dunk is the bloke who's measured up the curtains at Kirribilli House. I respect the Australian people too much to take anything for granted. If you look at history, I've been in Parliament for ten terms. Three of those I've sat on the current side of the House I'm on. No Prime Minister has been re-elected since 2004. The last seven elections have produced seven different Prime Ministers. We live in a period of global inflation, that has had an impact and placed pressure on people. The difference between the two sides at this election, in terms of what we've done in our first term, is that Peter Dutton has sought to elevate grievance, to be negative, to talk Australia down. What my Government has done has said, “yeah, people are under financial pressure, you know what we're going to do? We're going to take measures that reduce their cost of living whilst putting that downward pressure on inflation, whilst not leaving people behind by throwing people onto the unemployment queue. That is what we have done. That's what Labor Governments do. We will not sacrifice people because we understand that an economy has to work for people, not people work for an economy. It's a really important distinction.
 
JOURNALIST: Labor and Liberal MPs have been forced to cancel visits to mosques in recent days. They've been effectively uninvited. Some have been heckled at events at mosques as well. Are you concerned about anger in parts of the Muslim community, political backlash that could come your way? And also, how would you address that anger in parts of the Muslim community if re-elected?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not concerned about the politics of this. What I'm concerned about is social cohesion. And social cohesion is really important. Elections come and go. You know what stays? Our commitment to multiculturalism, our commitment to respect each other. And one of the things that I do at citizenship ceremonies is my stump speech has in it, a spiel about we can be a microcosm for the world. If you look around the world, the conflict in the Middle East, the conflict land war in Europe, some of the wars in Africa. We live in really uncertain times. And I want us to be a microcosm for the world that can show that people of Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and no religion can live next door to each other and be enriched by our diversity and by the respect that we show each other. I think that is what is important.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you've said twice during this press conference regarding the tariff negotiations with the US, sorry to return to the theme, that the leaders will get on the phone once everything is agreed, essentially between their teams. Is that not the wrong way round? Should you not be going directly to Donald Trump and trying to convince him that Australia's position is the best one?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have.
 
JOURNALIST: But have you?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I’ve spoken to him, I've spoken to him, and I've put our position very clear, consistently. He heard that message and has commented on it. Indeed, when we spoke about tariffs and Australia, I put the position very strongly to him, one on one in a 40-minute conversation, that for a range of reasons, one, I didn't pitch up the theoretical free and fair trade versus tariffs because he has a clear position on that. It's one –
 
JOURNALIST: Do you think he understands what tariffs are, and how they work?
 
PRIME MINISTER: It's one I don't agree with, but it is one that he took to an election, and he is pursuing. We have different positions. On Australia's position, though, I put to him that the United States has an interest in that relationship with Australia because it has a two for one, historically, since the Truman Presidency, twice as much exports from the United States into Australia as the reverse. And also the role that Australia plays with our investment in the United States. The Treasurer travelled to the United States after that, and President Trump did what I asked of him, which was to have the Treasury Secretary and officials attend the meeting that was held with Australian superannuation funds. I indicated how much investment, potentially to the tune of $500 billion, that Australian superannuation funds can make into the United States in coming years. I have reiterated all of that. The President is fully aware of our position and fully aware of my position.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, we're in Adelaide, the shipbuilding capital of Australia. If you're re-elected in a hung Parliament and you're forced to negotiate with the crossbench, can you guarantee there won't be any changes to AUKUS?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely. I've said very clearly I won't negotiate over coalitions or over our values. We'll stand on our own two feet, to be really clear. That's my position. It doesn't have to be theoretical. To quote someone else, “look at past performance.” Well, my past performance in 2013 was to become Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. We did no deals. We went on to the floor of the Parliament and put our position and then we called an election later on after that. But I'm very determined to win an absolute majority. We currently hold 78 seats. I think that when Australians focus on what the choice is that this election, the choice isn't whether the government has been perfect and everything that people would like. The choice is at an election is between a Labor Government committed to building Australia's future, committed to strengthening Medicare, committed to providing homes for Australians, committed to our school’s package, giving fair funding for schools. Something talked about 15 years ago, delivered by my Government. A government that is seeing wages growing, inflation falling, interest rates starting to fall. That's seen tax cuts for all Australians. And Peter Dutton, a Coalition Leader who will cut everything except for your taxes because he has to pay for his $600 billion nuclear plan, which won't provide anything until the 2040s. And when it does, it will provide 4% of Australia's energy needs. Peter Dutton and his team, who most of whom are in hiding. Has anyone seen Angus Taylor during this campaign? Peter Dutton is not ready for government. He's not ready for government. And his team aren't even ready to be a fair dinkum opposition. Thanks very much.
 
ENDS