REBECCA WHITE, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR LYONS: Thank you everybody for joining us here in Bridgewater at the Medicare Urgent Care Clinic. A fantastic Labor initiative that is supporting people here in my electorate of Lyons. I’m joined today by the Prime Minister, who I’m very pleased to welcome here again to the electorate of Lyons, the Managing Director of this practice, Mark Baldock, and the Finance Minister Katy Gallagher.
 
I’m so excited that we have been able to deliver Urgent Care Clinics across the country, including five here in Tasmania. This particular Medicare Urgent Care Clinic has seen nearly four thousand people since it opened in late November last year, and I know from talking to people in my community what a massive difference it is making. I’ve spoken to people who’ve told me that previous to this service being available they didn’t go to see a doctor. Or if they needed health care they went to an emergency department.
 
Right across Tasmania 78,000 people have been to a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, and of those people we know a large portion would have ended up in one of our very busy emergency departments if these services were not available. The people I've spoken to across my electorate have told me that they love our Medicare Urgent Care Clinics. They're excited that Labor's going to deliver three more here in Tasmania including one more in Lyons, in Sorell. And my response to them has been if we love them we have to vote for them. Because the only way to keep Medicare Urgent Care Clinics and to keep them free for people to use with just their Medicare card is if an Albanese Labor government is re-elected, and that is the truth of it.
 
My opponent just a few weeks ago couldn't say clearly whether or not people presenting to a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic would be able to see the doctor for free. The Liberal candidate in this electorate is not able to clearly tell people whether or not these services will remain free under a Dutton government. And that should be enough to convince anybody who loves a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic to vote Labor because that is a guaranteed way to make sure that it's just your Medicare card that you need when you present here to see a doctor. I'll hand over to the PM.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well thanks so much Rebecca. Our fantastic candidate here in Lyons who will make an enormous contribution to our team in the national Parliament. It's great to be at this Urgent Care Clinic, this Urgent Care Clinic here in Bridgewater, one of five in Tasmania. We promised 50, we've delivered 87 and we're going to deliver another 50. And they have been an enormous success. Across the country some 1.3 million Australians have got the care they need when they need it with just this little bit of green and gold plastic here, their Medicare card. That's all they have needed to come in get the care they need, in addition to that, of course, taking pressure off emergency departments of local hospitals.
 
It's just one of the measures that we've put in place, together with $1.7 billion of additional hospital funding, together with the tripling of the bulk billing incentive which we did first for concession cardholders and we know that lifted the bulk billing rates up to 90 per cent. What we are doing, committing to and put in the budget is another $8.5 billion to allow for the tripling of the bulk billing incentive which we expect will see 90 per cent of people being able to see a bulk billed doctor for free, making an enormous difference.
 
This is one of the big contrasts at this election campaign. Labor, committed to building Australia's future, strengthening Medicare, making sure that people are looked after with cost-of-living measures, including being able to see a doctor for free, the reduction in in the cost of PBS medicines to just $25, the same price that they were in 2004, $7.70, freezing the costs for concession cardholders. The 60-day prescriptions, which, remember when we introduced that into the Parliament, the Coalition said the world would end if that happened. Chemists would close, there'd be a devastating impact. Well, none of that was true. What is true is that more people will get to see a doctor for free. What is true, as it will take pressure off emergency departments. What is true, is that people will pay less for their medicines.
 
Now, to be fair to the Liberal candidate for Lyons, she probably heard Sussan Ley stand up in the Parliament and say that if something is free, then people don't value it. That's the Liberal Party philosophy. Well, Medicare is free. That's the whole idea. The whole idea is that whether Kerry Packer has a heart attack, ended up in Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, the same place I ended up when I had a major car accident in January of 2021, and the same place that my mum ended up when she had an aneurysm. Whether you're an invalid pensioner or a billionaire, you get the health care you need when you need it, because you're Australian. That's Australian values. That's why we don't want the Americanisation of our health care system.
 
But you have Sussan Ley say the quiet bit out loud – been a bit of that lately – you have the leader of the Opposition, who quite clearly ripped $50 billion out of hospitals, tried to introduce a GP tax. So, it's not surprising that the local candidate here said this very clearly: when asked, would this continue to have bulk billing, they said live on air, something that we will need to be working out. Well, I think we know what that means, because if you've got a huge figure, $600 billion, you've got to pay for nuclear reactors, the cuts have to come from somewhere. And when Peter Dutton cuts, you will pay, consumers will pay. That is one of the big divides and the choice that's before Australians at this election.
 
Now, I'm going to call upon Dr Mark Baldock, who is a doctor here at the centre. Then we'll hear from Katy Gallagher. Then we're happy to take questions.
 
DR MARK BALDOCK, MANAGING DIRECTOR GP COLLECTIVE: Thank you. Thank you, Prime Minister. A very warm welcome to everyone here today, it is not often that we have so many people in the emergency treatment room. But all I can do is further add to what Rebecca and the Prime Minister has said on how important Urgent Care Clinics are to, Australia-wide, particularly for a community like the one we're in today, who has its own socioeconomic challenges. And I'm proud to be involved, and all the people involved with the clinic, are proud to be here to say that we were able to keep this clinic open and we were able to extend the services in this clinic and make a huge difference to primary health care because of the funding from the Australian Labor Party and the urgent care model that they've presented and the support that's been given to the future of Medicare.
 
So, I can only congratulate and thank that policy decision and that philosophy of making healthcare accessible to all. So, I'm really happy to announce that today that Jordan River Health will be becoming a 100% bulk billing clinic under the new MyMedicare model. And we'll be going forward to providing health care and free access to health care in this community. So, I'd just like to say, on behalf of the team here and my group, the GP Collective, is, thank you to the Australian Labor Party for putting healthcare first. Thank you.
 
KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR FINANCE, WOMEN, THE PUBLIC SERVICE, AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES:  Thanks very much, Mark. And what a great announcement. And again, it shows the investments that the Albanese Government's been putting into Medicare are making a real difference on the ground. So, fantastic to hear that you're in a position to do that, to be 100 per cent bulk billing. That's exactly the aim of the policy that the Prime Minister announced in the lead up to the budget. When we came to government, Medicare was on its knees. It had suffered a decade of neglect, it had had six years of MBS indexation freezes and because of that, it meant people were paying more to access their health care.
 
Now, the Prime Minister and Minister Butler have started to turn that about in the first three years with new models of care like this, Medicare Urgent Care Centres, which are so popular and meeting that need, taking pressure off emergency departments and is a real contrast between the government that we are and the Opposition Leader and his future commitments around health. What you see is us trying to strengthen Medicare, build it back, make sure people do only need their Medicare card when they access primary health care. And Peter Dutton, who's going to cut, and we know he has to cut because, and they're making those announcements, maybe saying it a silent bit out loud, as the PM said.
 
We just saw overnight, Sarah Henderson saying that Fee-Free TAFE is gone under them. In Tasmania, 6,500 students have enrolled in Fee-Free TAFE, making a difference, skilling up the next generation of workers. Well, that's going to be cut, that's clear. That was announced yesterday. But we also know he's going to have to cut. He's going to have to cut the public service. He wants to abolish the Department of Health, which actually runs Medicare. We're going to have the DOGE-style cuts being taken right through the public service. Senator Nampijinpa Price confirmed that on the weekend.
 
And we know all these cuts are coming. He's actually confirmed these cuts are coming. He's just not going to tell you where they're going to happen until after the election. And he has to do it because he has to pay for his nuclear reactor scheme, $600 billion he has to find through services like this. And the fact that the local candidate here couldn't confirm that this would be bulk billing service under a Peter Dutton government I think says everything. We know that these are the services at risk, the people in the waiting room who are about to be seen and only use their Medicare card. That is what's at risk through this election campaign.
 
JOURNALIST: Could we go straight to other issues if that's okay?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I thought you were going to ask me a local one. Sure.
 
JOURNALIST: One independent MP has today described Tasmania as being in a state of debt crisis.
 
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, who?
 
JOURNALIST: Craig Garland his name is, he’s an independent MP up in Braddon. He says we're in a debt crisis and this comes as we're looking to construct a huge stadium. Will the Federal Government commit to not spending a red cent above the funding that you've committed to this project as the state has and should the AFL chip in more money?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, our funding is capped.
 
JOURNALIST: Will not change?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Our funding is capped.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, more local media.
 
PRIME MINISTER: Sure, sure, thank you.
 
JOURNALIST: In relation to primary health care in this electorate, as Bec would certainly know, in Richmond a couple of months ago a GP clinic had closed down. The state government would like a Federal Government re-elected be it the Labor Government or the Coalition to chip in more for primary health care in Tasmania. Would a Federal Labor Government if re-elected provide more funding to shore up primary health care in Tasmania? My second question, Prime Minister. The Coalition announced that it would –
 
PRIME MINISTER: You've been learning bad habits off the national pack.
 
JOURNALIST: The federal Coalition committed to an 80-20 infrastructure funding split. Would a re-elected Albanese Government commit to doing the same? If not, why not?
 
PRIME MINISTER: On the first issue. It's here. This is what Labor Government investment looks like. The announcement by Dr. Mark here that this clinic here will be fully bulk billed under Labor. That's what it looks like. Urgent Care Clinics, five, and then up to eight and more bulk billing for everyone who comes here whether they're people going to the Urgent Care Clinic or people seeking just primary health care. That investment is what we are making to make a difference. On infrastructure investment, across the board one of the issues, and I say this as a former Infrastructure Minister, with respect to all state and territory governments, you got to get buy in from state governments. The way you get buy in isn't by saying, we'll pay for four fifths of everything that happens, because that's a way in which the government that is actually building the project won't have control and won't have the discipline that is required.
 
So, we across the board are making record investments in infrastructure. We'll continue to do so but we also expect state and territory governments to step up and do their bit. We put the Bruce Highway as an exception because the Bruce Highway had had more than 40 fatalities in the last year. More than 40 fatalities. So, we singled that out for special treatment, yes. But here in Tasmania, the record investment that we will continue to put in for Tasmania, including not just infrastructure investment in roads and rail, but investments such as the additional $120 million we're contributing at Launceston for hospitals, will make an enormous difference.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, your second day here in Lyons, obviously the seat held by only a handful of votes. How confident are you that Labor will hold on and maybe even gain other seats in Tasmania? And maybe the same question to Rebecca White.
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Rebecca White is a fantastic candidate and I must say as well, Jess in Launnie, in Bass, is a great candidate, she’s running a big campaign. There's a reason why we launched our Medicare policy there in Launceston. And Anne Urquhart has been serving the people of the northwest and the west coast for more than a decade now. But importantly has a lifetime of service in different capacities, including when she was a job delegate at the old Simplot frozen veggie plant there. She is an amazing candidate and that's why she's taking a big punt on moving from the Senate down to the House of Representatives.
 
JOURNALIST: You keep making the Australia versus America reference. Do you think that the Liberals under Peter Dutton will operate like the Trump administration?
 
PRIME MINISTER: People will make their own conclusion, but people will see that Peter Dutton chose to appoint Senator Price as the Shadow Minister for DOGE just a few days after Elon Musk was appointed. And the Coalition do have to make substantial cuts in order to pay for their $600 billion nuclear plan. There aren't many of their policies that they've kept from week to week. That's one of them. We have very little detail, but we do know there will be massive cuts required.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, have you spoken to Premier Minns about getting the Rabbitohs into Allianz Stadium?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I think Premier Minns is very aware of my view, which is that you have this fantastic stadium that was funded by taxpayers there in Sydney. And if you compare what happens in Melbourne at what is now called Marvel Stadium, where you have multiple games at a purpose built stadium, you have a purpose built rectangular stadium there, in South Sydney's heartland, which I regard as the whole of Australia, of course. But why would you not want to use that stadium to maximum use? And I have long stated my view from the days of the old Sydney Football Stadium that that's where Souths should play at our local games and so I hope that occurs for the fans.
 
Accor is a good stadium. It's not built for rectangular games. That's the truth. And the best stadiums in Australia are ones like Suncorp, AAMI I think it's called in Melbourne is a fantastic purpose built stadium. The Parramatta stadium is fantastic. McDonald Jones in Newcastle, just to keep just to keep Riles on side there, all fantastic. So, why wouldn't you use it? You have this stadium there that half the time is left empty. It should be used and taxpayers deserve to get maximum use for the taxes that they've paid.
 
JOURNALIST: Several crossbench MPs have called for more parliamentary scrutiny into AUKUS. Some Labor MPs privately concede they are worried about AUKUS under Donald Trump. Would you be open to having a parliamentary inquiry into AUKUS if you're re-elected? And I'd love to ask Rebecca a question as well if I may. Do you think it's appropriate that Brian Mitchell's receiving a Commonwealth payment of $115,000? It's available to those who lose their seat or party in a preselection process.
 
PRIME MINISTER: On the first, we support AUKUS. There's been a lot of scrutiny on AUKUS. There will continue to be so, there's these little things called Senate Estimates that Katy sits at for day after day after night after night. There's a lot of scrutiny there. We support the AUKUS arrangements.
 
WHITE: Well that's independent of me. I have nothing to do with the arrangements. They're set by an independent regulator and I think as has been explained previously, it'd be the same for any other contest where you have two people putting forward their nomination. And I was successful in the preselection which I'm really grateful about.
 
JOURNALIST: You’ve been quoted in The Nightly saying that you'd contest a third election if you win this one, which would make you the first Labor Prime Minister to do so since Bob Hawke. Are you concerned that you might suffer the same fate as him if one of your ambitious colleagues gets impatient and challenges your leadership the next term?
 
PRIME MINISTER: We're the most united team I've seen in my time. I've been in Parliament since 1996. I have a team that has that sense of purpose. We went through the revolving door where you had people who won elections in ‘07, 2010, 2013 and 2016 removed by their own party. I reckon the Australian people had a gutful of that and that's why Bill led us from 2013 right through to 2019. I'm not looking over my back, I'm looking forward and we have an incredibly united Caucus and that gives, is one of the reasons why we've been able to focus on the needs of the Australian people.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister just, there's been some, two questions if I may, there's been some estimates from doctors’ groups that are visit to a UCC cost the taxpayer about four to six times what it costs them to cover someone going to a GP. Why do you think that's the best use of health spending? And on the second matter just on the Port of Darwin, not asking you to name a price or anything but you said that there is money in the Budget for it. I'm just curious as to which fund this money will come from you reckon?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah on the first, Urgent Care Clinics are successful. 1.3 million Australians say they are, and you know what the cost to them has been? Zero. Really easy to remember. Zero. Just their Medicare card is all they've needed. On the Port of Darwin, we have spoken about, there are various funds that are available, depending upon the buyer, depending upon the circumstances, of course, and we're very confident that we can deal with this.
 
JOURNALIST: Sorry, just on that earlier question, you've accused Mr Dutton of hubris, of sizing up the curtains in Kirribilli by saying he wants to live in Sydney. Isn't it hubris to say you're going to run for a third election? Why not just commit to four or five – beat Hawke’s record?
 
PRIME MINISTER: No, what it is is saying, it's in response to will you serve a full term? And I'll serve, If I'm elected, I'll serve a full term. I think that's what the Australian people would expect of me. And that is the context of that answer. But I tell you what, I don't take anything for granted on May 3rd and I don't know what I'll be doing on May 4th. As I've said, I think yesterday, I know hopefully I, I have a bit of a tradition of watching a Star Wars movie on May the 4th because I quite appreciate the sense of history there and I'm an old Star Wars guy, to get that out of the way. The first three movies are the best. That's all I know about the evening of May the 4th. But I'm trying to climb a mountain here. I'm trying to be the first prime minister since John Howard in 2004. It's been 21 years. We've had a revolving door. I don't think, objectively, that's in the interests of Australia. Latika, doing that, and then.
 
JOURNALIST: Two questions. One, who do you think will be Australia's next female Prime Minister? And my second question is, beyond watching Star Wars on May 4, if you are re-elected, have you thought about which foreign leader you'll be paying a visit to first?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not getting ahead of myself, on the second question. On the first question, I'm not getting ahead of the Australian people. I would say this. Chances are it'll be a Labor MP given our gender balance and that we're majority female, and the Coalition are going backwards. They're replacing at this election, seats like McPherson, Forrest, safe – what were considered to be safe – Coalition seats, with men, they have selected in those seats. In Leichhardt, they had an opportunity to select a woman. They selected a bloke. And across the board, I think that they're not moving forward. I think my team is diverse, is representative of the Australian public and that's a good thing.
 
JOURNALIST: PM, around the country there's been, in the push to build more houses, there's been a tendency to take away space from public golf courses and turn them into public land. Do you have a thought on that? And in Sydney, the Coalition have committed a million dollars to retain Moore Park as an 18 hole golf course by building a new sporting facility there. Considering you stepped in to help save Marrickville Golf Course and keep that 18 holes, do you think that Moore Park Golf Course should remain 18 holes?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Royal Marrickville Golf Course, par 62, 18 holes, will be there for as long as I'm the local member and as long as there's a Labor-controlled local council. It is a multipurpose facility. Not only do people play golf, there's, at the risk here of really going down a cavoodle hole. Lewis the Cavoodle holds his birthday parties there every year on the first green and fairway. Every Sunday, there is drinks on the first fairway. I used to, when I was in Marrickville, walk Toto there. People engage, it's a real, it's a real, it's a real hub for the community –
 
JOURNALIST: What about golf courses in general, PM?
 
PRIME MINSITER: Well, I am responsible as a local Federal member. I'm very pleased that the redistribution has put Royal Marrickville back in my hood because it is an important part of the local community. As for others, well that's not in my electorate. As for other golf courses, you know, that's up to local considerations.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said that Jim Chalmers will be Treasurer after the election. When asked if Penny Wong and Richard Marles would stay on, you also said yes. You've now said that Don Farrell and Katy Gallagher will also stay in their posts. When asked about Tanya Plibersek staying on yesterday, you said you wouldn't take victory for granted. Why is that? And why is there a difference between those positions?
 
PRIME MINISTER: The four leaders get the opportunity to have a direct say in what their portfolios are. So, the four leaders, and there is a market reason why economic ministers would be maintained. Apart from that, when I've been asked about anyone else, I've given the same answers.
 
JOURNALIST: You guarantee she should stay on then?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Who?
 
JOURNALIST: Tanya. Can you guarantee now that she’d remain in the portfolio for three years?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you asked me that yesterday and I gave the same answer yesterday that I'll give today, which is I expect Tanya Plibersek will be a senior cabinet minister. She's an important member of my team. I'm not getting ahead of myself and naming all 22, or all, actually all 42 portfolios on the frontbench. I'm not getting into that. Treated exactly as everyone else. But Tanya Plibersek will play an important role in my Government. She'll be a senior cabinet minister as she's continued to be.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, we just heard your Finance Minister say, we know Peter Dutton has to cut. But with your spending promises and your budget deficits, won't you have to cut if you're re-elected? Or do you rule out that sort of budget repair?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I tell you what I rule out. I rule out doing what they did, which is ripping $50 billion out of health, $30 billion out of education. Ripping money out of the ABC. That's what they did, we'll always –
 
JOURNALIST: Do you rule out cuts?
 
PRIME MINISTER: We won't be ripping into essential services. We've provided $95 billion already of savings. We've improved the Budget bottom line by $207 billion. What we have done is design our cost-of-living measures to put downward pressure on inflation and to be responsible. This Finance Minister here and the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, have delivered two Budget surpluses and they've halved the deficit that was expected this year. We have been responsible economic managers. We'll continue to be responsible economic managers.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, cattle farmers were back in courts yesterday. Now, they won their class action against the Commonwealth four years ago. They're still fighting over the compensation payment. Only the lead claimants have seen any money. Is that good enough?
 
PRIME MINISTER: You've answered your question by raising that. It's before the courts. I don't comment on things that are before the courts. Here, here. And then to Anna. I'm doing. I do a gender thing. Been doing it for three years. I go boy, girl, boy, girl.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you really?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah. Have you just – everyone else has noticed in the gallery. Because otherwise what happens. What happens, you might have noticed, is that it's the blokes who yell out first. So, I, as a commitment to equity, something that has been noticed by many of your colleagues. I've done that for three years and I'll continue to do it. Yes.
 
JOURNALIST: Thanks. During the pandemic, you spoke a lot about heeding the advice of experts. You spoke a lot about, people shouldn't dismiss the advice of experts and so forth. On housing, why are people like – you've been relatively dismissive of people like Chris Richardson and Saul Eslake, their assessments of the housing program yesterday – how is it that they're wrong and you're right?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not sure they've looked at all the detail, frankly, because some of the things that they've spoken about don't match what we're actually doing. What we're doing, we have $10 billion, for example, and of that, $2 billion is in grants to be matched by state and territory governments. $8 billion is for loan and equity. Some of that money will then come back to the Commonwealth. But the key difference between the two approaches is supply. We have a supply side answer on public housing through the Housing Australia Future Fund.
 
On private rentals, through the Build to Rent scheme, on home buying and construction for first home buyers. And one of the reasons why we took everyone to Adelaide yesterday, was so you could look behind where we did the press conference and see what it meant in bricks and mortar. It meant construction. It's real, it works, it will make a difference. The key is supply. In addition to that as well, we have, just like – borrowed from the Hawke-Keating model on competition payments – we have a financial incentive for state and territory governments to get planning better.
 
And what you've seen since we had the National Cabinet meeting in Brisbane, where all state and territory governments signed up to that, is in New South Wales, Chris Minns, taking action to ensure bigger and faster builds. You've seen that in Victoria with Jacinta Allan, you've seen that with Mali, you've seen that with Roger Cook and you've seen that across the country to make a difference. That's the big difference. I agree that if you just have demand side measures, which is what they have, then you put upward pressure on prices and you don't achieve the objective. We understand that. Which is why I've consistently said in rejecting some of the proposals, for example of the Greens about supply, that they were wrong because they oppose every development in their electorates or anywhere near it.
 
If you go down to Victoria Road in my electorate or the corner of Parramatta Road and Pyrmont Bridge Road, what you're going to see is considerable appropriate medium density development providing for housing. I've opened facilities in Addison Road. Later this afternoon, to give you a preview on where you're headed, you're going to Melbourne and you're going to see houses that have been built as a direct result of the Social Housing Accelerator where I brought forward $2 billion in immediate payments to states and territories. Not because of the Greens or the Coalition in the Senate, in spite of them, because they were blocking the Housing Australia Future Fund like they blocked the Help to Buy scheme until December of last year.
 
And then they go, having said, I mean the hypocrisy of the Coalition, they say oh, you haven't built enough homes fast enough. Well, there's 28,000 under the Housing Australia Future Fund, under social housing that are either under construction or in planning, like awaiting approvals. That would have been a lot more and things would have been completed a lot more if they hadn't have held it up for month after month after month, actually passing motions in the Senate to say, the Senate cannot consider this until some future date. And then the Senate sitting again and doing the same thing again. So, the Coalition or the Noalition, as I call it, Peter Dutton speaks a lot about the Greens, he's happy to vote with them all the time to block supply. That is what they have done.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister on the Greens, they're spruiking their plan for school lunches today. Is that something that your Government would support? And forgive me for this one, an Australian cafe owner in Canada has had their Vegemite banned because apparently it doesn't meet Canadian standards. What's your message to Canada and this Aussie cafe owner?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I stand with the Aussie cafe owner. I can confirm here today that I am pro-Vegemite and indeed I actually put a lot of Vegemite on my toast when I ate bread. So, I love Vegemite. That's a good thing. I did hear the report on that. It's rather odd that they're letting Marmite in, which is rubbish, frankly. Let's be clear here. Pro-Vegemite, anti-Marmite. That's my position.
 
JOURNALIST: And on the Greens, they’re also spruiking their free lunch policy, is that something you’d support?
 
PRIME MINISTER: You know, the Greens don't have to add anything up ever. You know, we, we're a serious party of government and I put forward serious policies based upon everything adding up. Here. Roughly. Sometimes it can be two and two, I try to give everyone a fair crack, which I hope you recognise.
 
JOURNALIST: In terms of Treasury advice on your five per cent deposit scheme, will you be releasing that advice? What is the definition in dollar figures of significance?
 
PRIME MINISTER: We don't release Cabinet papers.
 
JOURNALIST: But what is the definition of significant, I mean, for voters who want to know how much house prices could rise under that policy. What does significant mean?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, I'm not saying that house prices will rise.
 
JOURNALIST: But the Treasury advice says that price rise won't be significant.
 
PRIME MINISTER: We don't release Treasury documentation. You have the figure. The idea that they put a precise dollar on something is not right.
 
JOURNALIST: You said a moment ago, Prime Minister, you won't go ripping money out of health. You know there's a decade of deficits forecast in the budget, a trillion dollars of debt. You've, ballpark so far, at the halfway mark, announced roughly $40 billion of new spending in this campaign. Will all of that be borrowed money or is this just the cost of an election campaign?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I've got the Finance Minister here, so I'll ask Katy to answer that. But I make this point. We put a lot into MYEFO and we did a lot of work in the lead up to the Budget. So, a range of things that have been seen as new investments are not, are things that we've already accounted for. The other point that I make is that when you invest – this is a good example here, you know what putting dollars into this urgent care clinic does? Is that it takes pressure off the emergency department. You know what tripling the bulk billing incentive and the announcement that Dr. Mark has made here today that it will be 100 per cent bulk billed does? It takes pressure off acute care because no one will put off seeing a doctor because they can't afford it. So, with our investments, we have been very, very careful to make investments that we, upon advice as well, we know, add up and that will make a difference as well. But, Katy.
 
GALLAGHER: I think you've covered it PM, but you saw in the Pre-Election Fiscal Outlook that there was a number of commitments that we've made that have been provisioned in the Budget and so they've been accounted for. That's the vast majority of the commitments that we've made. You'll see more responsible budget management through when we release our costings, which we will do in the normal course of events. And you'll see more of how we've approached budget management. You know, we've found savings, we've reprioritised, we've got rid of the rorts and the waste under the former Government.
 
We've managed to deliver surpluses, halve the deficit, we've managed to pay down debt, lower the interest payments on that debt, $60 billion less interest payments and we've made significant reforms to the NDIS and aged care. For the medium term, that's very important for the Budget. And I just say, you know, our responsible decisions and commitments have been and will be accounted for. And it's in stark contrast to the Opposition who are out spending, doing these massive one-off sugar hits and not accounting for a $600 billion nuclear plan that they don't want to talk about. I mean, any concern that any of you have over the Budget should be focused on Peter Dutton and his $600 billion of spending that he's going to have to make for the nuclear –
 
JOURNALIST: It is your budget.
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is a contest. This election campaign is a contest. We're very proud of our Budget and what we've been able to do with our budget and the commitments we've made, which is to invest in services, invest in people, ensure that we're getting the right skills in place for the future, the job opportunities, the renewable energy investment, all of that. But here we have Peter Dutton supposedly concerned about the Budget and then not being accountable for how he's going to fund the biggest spending for any single program ever and he's trying to get away with that. So, anyone who has concerns over the Budget should focus on that.
 
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks. We're just, we've just got a couple more and then we'll finish with that.
 
JOURNALIST: Just following up on Anna's question. If you're not going to release the Treasury modelling and maybe this is one for Katy –
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we don't release any, that’s not what we do and you know it –
 
JOURNALIST: So, the question is, if we're not going to get to see the Treasury modelling, can you give us a better idea of what the price impacts were that were discussed? Is it growth in the low single digits? Is it higher than that?
 
PRIME MINISTER: We don't release Cabinet documents.
 
JOURNALIST: PM, further on to what Minister Gallagher just said, will your Budget bottom line for this year and next be better by the end of the campaign? And you are running in those two years alone a combined deficit of about $68 billion. Isn't that stimulatory and inflationary just by pumping $68 billion into the economy?
 
PRIME MINISTER: What we're not doing, what we're not doing is one-off sugar hits, which is the big difference between the tax policies. We have a policy of decreasing income tax, making a difference and then also reform so that people, 5.7 million current numbers, but it'll probably up to 6 million because of the growth of the workforce, will receive that instant tax deduction. That's also an efficiency measure. It will allow the ATO to also concentrate on other areas because it will remove the need for the bureaucracy to deal with all of small measures that they have to deal with income tax returns for PAYE taxpayers. So, look, we will continue to be responsible. You'll see all of our bottom lines and you'll be able to make your assessments. But I make this point. We turned a $78 billion deficit under the Liberals into a $22 billion Labor surplus. We turned a deficit in excess of $50 billion into a $15 billion surplus under Labor. And this year we've almost halved the deficit. Last one, James.
 
JOURNALIST: On ANZAC Day. The Greens Party in WA will be holding a dance party fundraiser, at a live music venue in Perth on ANZAC Day. Is that an appropriate way, in your view, to mark what is a solemn day?
 
PRIME MINISTER: ANZAC Day is a day of respect for the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice, but also for us to respect the men and women who wear our uniform historically but today as well. I think it's not a day for normal business as usual. And on ANZAC Day, I've said I'll be in Canberra at the National War Memorial. That's something that I've done both as Opposition Leader and as Prime Minister. I must say it's an incredible honour and privilege on that day. And I know that Australians in their millions will pause on that day to say those three sacred words: lest we forget.
 
ENDS