FIONA PHILLIPS, MEMBER FOR GILMORE: Good morning everyone, and it's a delight to be here at the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic here, with the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and of course, Senator Katy Gallagher as well. The Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic has been open for just over a year now and it has seen well in excess of 12,500 patients. All people that are seeing, are getting that bulk billed walk-in urgent care, and I'm really proud to have been able to deliver this as part of the Albanese Labor Government. But if re-elected, as well, we will extend the hours from 6am to midnight. This is the only Urgent Care Clinic in Australia that will have those extended hours. We know how important it is for people in this community to have that. We've been talking with patients today and health workers here about how important it has been over this busy holiday period.
 
I just want to say that under my opponent, Andrew Constance, has made no commitment to keep this Urgent Care Clinic open, and has made no commitment whatsoever to extend the hours to 6am to midnight. What this community faces is, under the New South Wales Liberal Government, of which he was a Minister, closing the Batemans Bay Hospital to open the new higher-level Eurobodalla Regional Hospital. He was actually part of making that decision. What we're doing is bringing in important, federally funded health services for which he has made no commitment whatsoever.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, thanks very much Fi. And it's great to be back here in beautiful Batemans Bay. And I want to begin by giving a shout out to those people from the caravan park at Moruya who donned their jammies, came out to say g'day this morning. They're having a wonderful holiday here in a beautiful part of the world. I do want to also though say that tragedy has struck over this Easter weekend and give my thoughts for those families and friends suffering from the fact that there have now been seven drownings, the latest of which is at South West Rocks. These are tragic events. Australians love the water, we love the surf. I'm one of those. But please everyone be careful. Families in particular, to be careful of your kids. And my heart goes out to those for whom Easter will be a very difficult time indeed.
 
Also on a positive note, a shout out to Oscar Piastri winning the Saudi Arabian GP. He's now top of the table. First time an Australian has been top of the table for many, many years. And we wish him luck for the rest of the season as well. But he is really nailing it and doing Australians proud. And he's a great ambassador as well, for our country.
 
This election is a clear choice between Labor building Australia's future, strengthening Medicare, looking after cost of living pressures, and a Coalition that needs to find cuts for its $600 billion nuclear plan. When Peter Dutton cuts, Australians will pay. And we know because he can't, now, when polling booths open tomorrow, say where the money is coming from for this $600 billion nuclear plan. And he also can't explain why it is that he and others, senior members of his team, have said consistently, that the money that has been invested in things like Urgent Care Clinics, is waste. That is the term that they have used consistently, including, of course, Senator Hume, the finance spokesperson. Angus Taylor, the somewhat elusive Shadow Treasurer. When he makes a rare appearance, has said that consistently. And it stands in stark contrast with what my Government has done.
 
In part due to the fantastic Finance Minister and Treasurer that we have, we've been able to not only deliver two budget surpluses and halve the deficit next year – in the current financial year. What we've managed to do as well, is to find space to have appropriate investments. We'll triple, of course, the bulk billing incentive. We did that for concession cardholders. We'll now do it for all 27 million Australians. We promised 50 Urgent Care Clinics, we've delivered 87, and we're going to deliver another 50. And we've got cheaper medicines as well, bringing the price down to $25. This is all part of our plan to strengthen Medicare because we understand how important Medicare is for Australians. At the same time, of course, we have our better and fairer schools funding agreement, making up for the cuts.
 
What happens when you elect a Liberal government, we saw last time. And we saw Peter Dutton front and centre as the Health Minister when that Government came in. $50 billion of cuts to health, $30 billion of cuts to schools. What we've had to do in our first term is to repair some of the damage, but going forward as well, to restore better and fairer schools funding over the next decade and strengthen Medicare going forward as well. This Urgent Care Clinic here is making an enormous difference to this local community and also to visitors to this local community. It means, of course, that all they need is this little green card. All they need is their Medicare card in order to get the care they need, when they need it.
 
PRIME MINISTER: And do it in a way in which they don't need their credit card, they just need their Medicare card. We regard that as being central and we know that the Liberal Party don't believe that anyone values things which are free. Why do we know that? Because they have said it. That's why they're getting rid of free TAFE and that's why they'll come after Medicare and come after other essential services that my Government will provide. Happy to take some questions.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will you match Peter Dutton's pledge to establish a national child sex offender disclosure scheme?
 
PRIME MINISTER: There is a National Child Offender System right now that my Government has put in place. He never put it in place. It's in place now. That enables cooperation across the board between jurisdictions.
 
JOURNALIST: The Russian Ambassador to Indonesia has insisted that they do want to have a presence there. Murray Watt, we've heard describe this as somewhat of a Loch Ness monster issue. Are you underplaying the seriousness and intent of Russia to have a presence in our region?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Russia wants propaganda to be promoted by Australians. Of course they want propaganda. And Russia engages in that. What I do know, is that last week, the alternative Prime Minister of Australia verballed the President of Indonesia by saying that he had made a statement, which he had not.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just back on crime, will you match the $750 million commitment from the Coalition or do you think crime is a non-issue at this election?
 
PRIME MINISTER: There's a National Child Offender System in place right now. My Government will respond positively to any request from police or security agencies, as we have done. My Government, is the first government to set up a national firearms register, didn't exist before in some states, the national firearms – there was no national firearms register – the state registers were with pen and paper. Pen and paper. It wasn't even digitised. My Government is funding that. My government is acting on all of these issues in accordance with advice.
 
JOURNALIST: Still on crime, is enough being done in areas like Alice Springs, Moree, places like that, where it seems like the youths are just out on the street committing crimes across the board, it seems like day in, day out. Will your Government be cracking down on that in those areas?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, of course, you'd be aware, of course, that those responsibilities, primarily of the police, state police jurisdictions. But my government provides whatever support is required when it is requested.
 
JOURNALIST: Just on the $750 million also includes a national crackdown on tobacco. Organised crime, tobacco. There is obviously a tobacco war going on, especially on the streets of Melbourne. Will you commit to that part of the Coalition's plan?
 
PRIME MINISTER: We have $350 mil already, so maybe it's a cut being asked for by the Coalition. It's not clear where this, like a whole lot of its policies have come from. We've confiscated, through Australian Border Force, 1.3 billion illegal cigarettes, 1.3 billion over the last six months. We have a $350 million program that is cracking down on it.
 
JOURNALIST: Families watching sport over the weekend would have seen a lot of gambling advertising. Do you commit to doing something substantial and bold in a second term to bring down the level of gambling advertising on TV, even if it annoys powerful interests?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Like Channel Nine? Okay, just thought I'd put you on the spot there. Can I say that my Government has done more to tackle problem gambling than any government since Federation? Full stop. There's more to do. I've said that. And we will do more –
 
JOURNALIST: What's happening in the future, though?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I just said that. Well, I just said. I just responded to your question, which was there's more to do. We'll work those issues through. But my government has done more to tackle problem gambling than any government since Federation. A range of measures, be it the Bet Stop Register, cracking down on the use of credit cards, changing the declaration that occurred after ads, from the benign ‘gamble responsibly’ to pointing out that ‘when you gamble, you do lose’. My government will continue to take action.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the backlog of parent visa applications has gone out to 150,000 under your government. And even though you have increased the annual cap, wait times still remain at up to 30 years. Will you, as recommended by the Parkinson Review, overhaul this system to make it fairer?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the Department of Immigration was a mess when we came to office. The Parkinson Review was one of the three reviews that took place that showed the mess that we had to clean up. The Department simply didn't have enough staff. Under the Coalition proposal of sacking 41,000 public servants, then not only will those queues grow out for migration, but for areas like in Veterans Affairs, in Centrelink, in other frontline services, they will suffer if the coalition has their way. What we have managed to do is to reform migration. We are working on these issues, but we inherited an absolute mess when we came to office.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Senator Murray Watt on the weekend said that there was no proposal from Russia to Indonesia in terms of establishing a base, a military base there. Was he, did he misspeak? And why won't the government say –
 
PRIME MINISTER: I’ll tell you who misspoke – he didn't misspeak, he just straight out said something that was completely wrong, which was to say that the President of Indonesia had made a statement. He has not, the Indonesian Foreign Minister has not made a statement about these issues, declaring that there would be a base. The Indonesian Defence Minister has repudiated the idea of a base being established in west Papua as well as well –
 
JOURNALIST: Was that proposal issued by Russia to Indonesia?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the Indonesian President didn't make a statement. What has occurred here is that the alternative Prime Minister of Australia has verballed the president of one of our most important neighbours. That is the issue here. And the Coalition will try to raise a range of other issues. They raise issues about briefings, I'm waiting for them to ask for a briefing on who faked the moon landing. The truth is that the Indonesian President made no statement. The alternative Prime Minister of Australia verballed the Indonesian President. And you just wonder how if Peter Dutton is successful on the 3rd of May, how he'll deal with a meeting with the Indonesian President, how he'll deal with our neighbours in the Pacific about, ‘yeah, I was only joking when I spoke about water lapping at your doors’. When he will deal with so many others as well, the comments that he has made on China, he's changed some of that rhetorical position during this election campaign. But the record going back, statements he has made about Lebanese migration, about African migration, about so many issues. Like this guy has a record of making statements that would cause major issues with him dealing with our international friends. And we have no greater friend than Indonesia.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you mentioned at the start of the press conference Oscar Piastri's success. He didn't start from pole position, but he went on to win the race. Are you worried about something quite similar happening given your own pole position at the moment, given the latest Newspoll and the current standings at the moment? Is there a fear of complacency going on amongst the Labor camp, amongst voters, for instance?
 
PRIME MINISTER: There's no complacency from my camp, I assure you of that. And this election is certainly up for grabs. There is one word that I will say, if it is a word, I think it is one word, it’s a year: 2019. 2019. And I remind colleagues that 2019, the bookies paid out. And guess what? That didn't occur. That was a very unwise thing to do. People will start voting tomorrow, and so, I do find it rather perplexing that the Coalition don't have policies out there. And when they do, their policies, which seemingly, for example, are unaware of the National Child Offender System, they're unaware of the $350 million crackdown on illegal tobacco and the work that the Australian Border Force have been doing there, they're unaware of so many things.
 
And that they still have not been anywhere near a nuclear reactor site. They say this is front and centre of their energy policy. But Peter Dutton will not go anywhere near one of these sites. He should go and explain to the community that he supports the shutdown of the renewables rollout backed by gas, backed by hydro, backed by batteries, which is what we're doing, and wants a nuclear reactor in a place like the Hunter Valley, which is the last place I would have thought that you'd choose, given the seismic activity that's occurred there. But the economics of this don't stack up.
 
And Peter Dutton keeps saying, I saw an interview yesterday where, yet again one of his spokespeople, as they do every day, say, ‘oh, we’ll tell you that later’. I mean, they actually said on Medicare issues, we'll tell you after May the 3rd. Peter Dutton, in his, I think only appearance on Insiders for some period of time, literally went on there, said, there are cuts coming and we'll tell you after the election. It's extraordinary arrogance from the Coalition, but we certainly take nothing for granted. The truth is that no Prime Minister has been re-elected after serving a full term since John Howard in 2004. We have a mountain to climb. We are a couple of steps up that mountain, but it's a long way to go.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just back to foreign affairs. Russia's envoy to Jakarta has mocked our democracy, said we had no cards to play and made it very plain they want a bigger presence in the Indo-Pacific region. You've repeatedly said Indonesia will not allow a Russian base and repeatedly refused to say if you know whether a request was made. Do you know if Moscow made an approach to Indonesia and do you now concede that Russia wants a bigger presence in our region?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I'm anti-Russia. I'm not sure that everyone is on that page, but I think that Russia has very different values under an authoritarian leader. I've been consistent about our position on Ukraine. I've been a part of meetings of the Coalition of the Willing where we've engaged with people like Prime Minister Starmer and President Macron and other leaders in the democratic world. I have no wish to help promote Russia's propaganda messages. And I'd suggest that that's not in Australia's national interest either.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Peter Dutton has hinted at bringing Mike Pezzullo back to a senior public service role if he becomes Prime Minister. Are you concerned about this, given the findings of the Public Service Commission? And how important is it that senior public servants are at arm's length from politics?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Peter Dutton's confirmed he wants to sack 41,000 public servants but will consider bringing one back. That's what he's confirmed.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the latest Newspoll shows more voters trust Peter Dutton to defend Australia compared with you. Do you think your communication regarding the reported Russian request of Indonesia has contributed to this?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, people will make their own judgement about these issues. But I would have thought that the statement by Peter Dutton that was completely wrong, verballing the President of Indonesia says everything about this guy. He always shoots from the hip. This is the same person who, after the United States Administration made its tariff announcement. I was up before 8:30 that morning. I was the first world leader to make a statement. I do note that I read somewhere that someone in Sweden tweeted, not quite the same thing, with respect. I made a consistent, coherent statement of Australia's position at that time, calling it an act of economic self harm and outlining the measures that Australia has put in place to protect our national interest, including our engagement, it must be said, with ASEAN. The work that Nicholas Moore has done on the Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 is extraordinary. We have an opportunity in our region. I brought every leader here, to Melbourne.
 
I have engaged with diversifying our trade relationships. I’ve repaired the relationship with China. The, our standing as well in in repairing relationships has also been exemplified by long-term issues being resolved regarding Australians overseas, being able to be brought home including of course Cheng Lei from China, but also the work that we've done with Indonesia, with Vietnam, with other countries as well. So, people will make their own judgement. The polls are there. I didn't see any numbers on the front of the paper today so people will go through and look for that info I guess. But polls will come and go. The one that matters is when people tomorrow go into a polling booth. I'm not sure where the ones are here, there’ll be one at Batemans Bay. They'll go in there and they'll get a ballot paper and it's a matter of where they, put a number one next to Fiona Phillips’ name and then fill in all the boxes. If they do that, they'll know that they'll get a stronger economy. They'll know they'll get jobs protected. They'll know they get Medicare strengthened. They'll know they get better schools funding. They know they'll get cheaper childcare. They know they'll get free TAFE. That's the number that counts, not the number on page whatever of a newspaper.
 
JOURNALIST: On those issues though about the polls and momentum being on your side, are you concerned though about the possibility of a protest vote emerging? That people think that Labor is going to win pretty comfortably. I know you say you're not taking anything for granted, that you're not complacent, but is that a concern that all that voters might think ‘Albo's got, he'll get there. I can vote against Labor’?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Elections in Australia are close. They're tight, they always are. They're decided by a handful of votes. Fiona here won by triple figures last time around and that's the way that elections in Australia roll. If you want a Labor Government, you have to vote number one for Labor candidates. That is the clear message that I would give and in addition to that, the risk that is there. I think one of the things that is emerging very clearly is that the other team aren't so much a team. There is chaos on their side. They have senior shadow ministers who haven't been sighted. I don't know where Andrew Hastie's been. He's the Shadow Defence Minister. Angus Taylor, not quite sure what he's doing as the Shadow Treasurer. You know, it's, they are not ready. It's been less than three years since the change of government. I think that the stable leadership that we have provided, the orderly way in which we have governed, I've restored cabinet government.
 
I assure you that I haven't appointed myself to multiple ministries. It is less than three years since Australians were deceived by not being told that the Prime Minister was also the Health Minister, the Treasurer, the Industry Minister, the Energy Minister, the Resources Minister and other portfolios. Not only were Australians not told, members of the cabinet weren't told either. And that is the chaos that was there. And three years later, it's the leftovers of the Morrison Government. The leftovers, some of the best elements have gone. Greg Hunt, Paul Fletcher, anyone with a remotely moderate view has been chased out, chased out the left door of the Coalition. And what you're left with is the most conservative that the Liberal Party has ever been.
 
I mean Tony Abbott who didn't make it to two years as Prime Minister, out there making comments again as part of the cheer squad. I mean, Tony Abbott's cuts in 2014, put in place by Peter Dutton, put in place by some of these right-wing elements of the Liberal Party would be even more severe. See the pattern that would come out, ‘oh, we didn't know what the state of the budget would be. We couldn't tell you beforehand.’ So, every time when you're doing a presser where they say, ‘I'll tell you after the election’, you know what that means. What that means is cuts are coming and they will point and they'll say, ‘well we told you in April that we didn't know the detail and we pointed that out. So, now we're having to do this.’
 
JOURNALIST: Just on gambling ads. Why didn't you clamp down on gambling ads ahead of the election considering this is such a massive platform to promote such action?
 
PRIME MINISTER: We have taken action, the most serious action of any government since Federation.
 
JOURNALIST: Obviously the Urgent Care Clinics go some way to kind of repairing the gap in health care in the regions. Would a re-elected Labor Government do anything to encourage GPs, psychologists, specialists, health care workers. Considering the gap in health care between cities and the regions?
 
PRIME MINISTER: You bet we would. It's one of the measures that we've put in place not just with our Urgent Care Clinics, but with our Medicare Mental Health Clinics as well, of which we will roll out more than 30 additional clinics. In addition to that, we've got a plan for training more GPs, more specialists when it comes to mental health care as well, we recognise that our regions need this assistance and that's why we've invested. If you look at where the Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are, for example, we want overwhelmingly Australians to be within a short distance of being able to travel. That's why we're putting the additional one in Nowra. There's another one, of course, just in the southern suburbs of the ‘Gong, of Wollongong, and there's another one further south of here as well. So we think that the regions, when it comes to health care, are absolutely vital and I thank you and I'll see you at the next stop. Thanks very much.
 
ENDS