ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It's great to be back here at Collie with the Premier, Roger Cook, with my Federal Minister Chris Bowen, the State Minister Amber-Jade and the local state MP, Jodie Hanns as well. And I do want to thank the people here for welcoming us, the workers and to say that it's extraordinary. I was here in September with the Minister and the team here. This was just dirt where we're standing right now. And now we see the transformation. This is what the energy transformation looks like. You don't have to theorise about it. You can touch it, you can walk on it and people will be able to receive their power from it. The power station in the back there, Collie, the coal fired power station, will shut in a few years. And what we're seeing here is jobs created in construction, but importantly as well, clean energy. This transformation is real and it's happening right now.
 
And what will not happen here, of course, is a nuclear power station. We have Mr Dutton who refuses to visit this site, but he refuses to visit any of the sites, any of the seven sites. He hasn't been near any of them. And you would think that there was radiation coming from these sites because he just won't come and won't talk about what his plans actually are. And last night he confirmed yet again that there will be cuts and he confirmed that he won't tell you what they are. We know that he will put up people's income taxes, but he won't tell Australians what the cuts will be to pay for a nuclear power plan. That will be seven plants, according to him, produce four per cent of Australia's energy needs and cost up to $600 billion. And the result of all of that will be increases in people's power bills because it's the most expensive form of new energy.
 
What's happening here, and there's a similarly sized project just over the hill, is to put in place these batteries very close to where the transmission lines have been traditionally providing power for south Western Australia through coal-fired power. Using the same transmission lines, transmission lines as well, that nuclear energy needs, by the way, wherever these nuclear plants go ahead. But what we really see is that Peter Dutton talks about nuclear power but isn't prepared to back it up and certainly isn't prepared to consult local communities about whether they want these nuclear power, energy powers in their local communities.
 
This is just an extraordinary transformation that's occurring. I do congratulate the Premier of WA on his leadership. What we're seeing here is at any one time there's 300 people working, but there's many more hundreds, of course, because this is a project that's in operation seven days a week delivering this transformation. We think that there's an enormous contrast at this election and there's a choice that Australians have. To continue to have renewables backed by gas, backed by batteries, backed by hydro. Making sure that we deliver the clean energy that Australia needs or whether we put that all on pause, pretend that this transformation isn't happening, have nuclear energy sometime in the 2040s, paid for by taxpayers, $600 billion project in which their own, their own economic estimates rely upon a 40 per cent smaller economy. Less manufacturing, less jobs, less economic activity.
 
Peter Dutton last night refused, had an opportunity to talk about where the cuts would be and once again has said that you have to wait till after the election. He's saying ‘vote for Peter Dutton and vote for a Liberal National government and you will get cuts.’ But he won't tell you until after the election. That's not a fair dinkum way of dealing with the Australian people. The Australian people deserve better and they deserve to know exactly where the cuts will be. I'll call upon the Premier and then we'll hear from the Ministers and then we're happy to take some questions.
 
ROGER COOK, PREMIER OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Thank you, Prime Minister. Look, welcome everyone. Welcome to Collie. And look, my Government is working every single day to make sure that we keep the WA economy the strongest in the nation and that there's no better place for people to find quality work. We're diversifying our economy for the future. Making sure that we are creating the jobs of the future, particularly in places like Collie that have relied upon traditional coal-fired power stations and coal mining, providing them with opportunities to be part of a made in WA plan. Manufacturing here in Collie, to continue to see two things. The energy transition taking place and the diversification and the manufacturing, the establishment of manufacturing in the southwest. And you see that no more in greater form than here in Collie.
 
It's so great to see the exciting progress here at Synergy's battery energy storage system. Local company has been providing the construction for this project along with 500 workers. And all up it's 640 batteries, 160 inverters that are now in place. And it looks amazing. And we'll be ready to see this site fully commissioned by October this year. And this is an important part of what we're doing as a nation. This is the energy transition that you can see right in front of you. When we started this project, we said it was the biggest in Australia. By the time we're finished, it won't even be the biggest in Collie, but in Collie and the Neoen Project just down the road will have two of the biggest energy storage systems in the country through these big battery installations. And this battery is now on track to make sure that this summer and every summer going forward, we have strong, reliable, renewable and gas-fired energy sources, which will continue to power this state into the future.
 
It's part of my government's $3.8 billion investment into renewable energy and energy storage infrastructure and demonstrates our commitment to continue to make sure that we undertake the energy transition, that we create the jobs of the future, that we provide the opportunities for local workers to undertake those jobs with the skills that they can get through our free TAFE scheme which we've managed in partnership with the Commonwealth Government. An important project, an important part of looking into the future for Western Australia. Now I'll hand you over to the Energy Minister, Chris Bowen.
 
CHRIS BOWEN, MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY: Thanks Prime Minister. Thanks Premier. It's great to be back in Collie with the Prime Minister. This Prime Minister gets the gold and the silver medals for visits to Collie. The first Prime Minister in 40 years to come and now the second Prime Minister as well. And we're always happy to be here in Collie because as the Premier said, this is where the transition is happening, where the investment is happening today, not in 40 years time. Today. This battery, enough for 800,000 Western Australian homes for four hours, for example, is the sort of thing that two governments working together can deliver for the people of Western Australia, not a pipe dream in 40 years time.
 
And we're also happy, the Prime Minister and I and the Labor Party, to talk about the debate about energy in Australia and nuclear energy in particular. Our opponents are not. Their nuclear policy is the dark lord of policies, the Voldemort, the policy whose name cannot be mentioned by them. They will do anything to avoid talking about it. And in fact, Peter Dutton has not been within 50 kilometres of one of his proposed nuclear reactors in this election campaign. He snuck into Collie last year, had a brief and secret meeting with the Council and left without talking to the community. And after that meeting the Mayor said he was unable to answer basic questions about his proposal for Collie. Basic questions like where will the water come from? We know that nuclear uses a lot more water than coal and the coal-fired power stations here use their water from their coal mines. The dewatering of the coal mines. When the coal fire, power stations close, the coal mines go with it. The water source evaporates, which means that the water will have to come from other uses, agriculture industry uses. So, where will the water come from, Mr Dutton? That's a question he can't answer across the country. It's a question he can't answer here.
 
He said recently he'd done the analysis. Well, if he's done the analysis, he hasn't released it. It's a secret document. The opposition has no plans, no detailed analysis of where the water will come from. They can't answer questions about how the gap will be filled. Now Ted O'Brien said that this Collie reactor would be one of the first. Michaelia Cash said it will be one of the last. It'll come decades later. The fact is that these coal-fired power stations here are closing in the next few years from 2027, 2028, 2029.
 
Even the Liberal Party admits they wouldn't get a nuclear reactor up before 2037. And even that is highly ambitious. And of course where will the money come from? This is $600 billion of taxpayers’ money. Our transition that the state and Federal Government are working on jointly, the vast bulk of the money comes from the private sector with appropriate government support, appropriate government facilitation of private sector investment, which is the way it should be. Nuclear is such a dog of a policy, no private sector investor will touch it. So, it's got to come from the taxpayer.
 
This once party of free enterprise is proposing the biggest intervention in the energy market. A $600 billion taxpayer-funded frolic. And they can't answer basic questions about it. I suspect there's two reasons why Peter Dutton hasn't been to Collie and won't talk about nuclear. Firstly, they've worked out that the Australian people know this policy is a dog and they don't want it. And secondly, because they haven't done the work and they can't answer the questions. That's why Peter Dutton isn't here. That's why he won't go to the nuclear sites and that's why he's unable to answer basic questions. I'll hand over to my friend Amber-Jade. And then I'm sure we'll take other questions.
 
AMBER-JADE SANDERSON, WESTERN AUSTRALIAN MINISTER FOR ENERGY AND DECARBONISATION: Thank you Chris. And it's fantastic to welcome the Prime Minister and the Minister for Energy here with the Premier today at Collie and of course the local member Jodie Hanns. This is an important part of our clean energy future and it really is the future for Collie. Collie has played an incredibly important part, a critical role in the development of our state, particularly in the south west of Western Australia, in our economic success and in the development of jobs and our community. We know that coal is no longer economically viable. It's not just the environmental reasons that we need to exit coal-fired power stations, but the engineering of that infrastructure no longer fit for purpose in a modern energy mix. These batteries can be turned on and off as required in the grid to support that grid and to support the firming of the grid. And it will also enable the expansion of the uptake of solar for households. We know that Western Australians have taken up solar generation with gusto and we need to support them to do that. And these batteries will help. They will be storing much of that energy, that excess energy and giving it back to households when they need it.
 
Behind me, behind us is Collie coal-fired power station and that will be decommissioned in 2027 and in fact is only used in reserve at this point. It's projects like this that will allow us to continue a planned and sensible energy transition that also ensures the future of the town and the future of the jobs in Collie. And the future of Collie is in clean energy. And the community of Collie needs certainty. They have lived with uncertainty for long enough. It is the state government working with the Albanese Government that is giving this town the certainty that they need and the certainty that they will get with the just transition and with a partnership and projects like this. So, it's great to welcome you all down here and thank you very much for your continued support Prime Minister.
 
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much Amber-Jade. We're happy to take some questions.
 
JOURNALIST: Are you sure the people of Collie don’t want a nuclear reactor here?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I, unlike the Leader of the Opposition, have actually met with people in Collie, have been to businesses in Collie. There's a whole critical minerals industry. We went to a graphite plant the last time that we were here and talked with the workers there. This is a transition that is occurring. Peter Dutton has not been anywhere near any of the nuclear power plants that he proposes, the nuclear sites. He hasn't been here. He hasn't been to Liddell. He hasn't been to Callide. Yesterday he was in Orange. He could have dropped by to Lithgow. Deliberately went to Orange rather than Lithgow. He is not up for having discussions with local communities.
 
And they've been all over the shop. They've said they consult communities. What would happen if they agreed, what would happen if they didn't disagree. Last night he spoke about the Howard Government’s imposition of the ban on nuclear energy that was put in by the Liberal government that he says was one of his mentors. They are all over the shop because they simply haven't done the work like in so many areas. They just haven't done the hard policy work.
 
JOURNALIST: The Member for Hunter Dan Repacholi says he would like to see a Minister for Men’s role created, that men and boys have specific issues that need addressing. Would you like to see that? And also, would you consider putting weight loss medications like Ozempic on the PBS?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, we take advice on medications, but I've read the article with Mr Repacholi, with Dan. Dan's an extraordinary Australian. One of the good things is him talking about the issues that he has had with men's health. One of the issues we have to overcome is that men are less likely to talk about their health issues. The fact that Dan, as a public figure, as someone who is a five times Olympian, a Commonwealth medallist, such a champion bloke, is prepared to talk about that, is a very positive thing. And I think he's a great role model for people on the issue of men's health. We're going to have more to say in coming days about our men's health strategy that we will be announcing as I said in coming days and we'll have more to say on that then. 
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said this morning you didn't know the name of the Greens candidate from second on your preferences. Just to confirm, did you sign off on your how to vote card? 
 
PRIME MINISTER: The organisational wing do the how to vote card. The Australian are really obsessed with promoting the Greens in Grayndler and I congratulate you on your determination to get them known. But I'll make this point. People should vote number one for the Australian Labor Party, and I know what the name of the Labor candidate is in Grayndler, and he's run a number of times and last time around I won on primary votes. My preferences don't get counted. That's what happens in Grayndler and we'll be continuing to advocate for a number one vote, not just for myself in Grayndler, but for my friend Chris Bowen in McMahon and for Labor candidates everywhere. That's our determination, and I'm not about promoting the Greens candidates, whatever their name is. 
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister you say you’ve got cracker candidates, do you still support your candidate to Flynn Helen Madell after was revealed in 2020 she tweeted about the late Pope Francis that he quote ‘supports pedos’?
 
PRIME MINISTER: She made a mistake. That shouldn't have happened. And people, if they go back through their history in social media I'm sure there's lots of people have made things they regret. She has said she regrets it and that's entirely appropriate.  
 
JOURNALIST: The IMF have released their most recent forecasts of Australia GDP growth. It says that the tariff impact could be as much as 0.5 per cent. That's more than double what your government forecast. Has your government underestimated the impact of Trump's tariffs on the Australian economy? 
 
PRIME MINISTER: No.  
 
JOURNALIST: Where is the candidate for O’Connor and why isn’t he here with you to share what he’s hearing? 
 
PRIME MINISTER: The candidate for O'Connor, Darren Moir, it's a big seat. He's out campaigning around his big seat and, and he – 
 
JOURNALIST: Are you trying to win this seat? 
 
PRIME MINISTER: We try to win every seat, all 150 of them.  
 
JOURNALIST: Just back on Helen Madell, how are her comments any different to what was said by the former Liberal candidate for Whitlam, Benjamin Britton. He was disendorsed for saying [inaudible], I guess this goes back to why don’t you think Helen should be disendorsed? 
 
PRIME MINISTER: Helen Madell regrets the comments that she's made. 
 
JOURNALIST: There’s also been resistance to the offshore wind farm of the South Coast, do you plan on going and visiting the community there to speak about that project? 
 
BOWEN: Thanks. Well, our process for offshore wind zones is the process outlined in the legislation which was passed by the previous Liberal government which we have, I have implemented. That involves 60 days of consultation, in fact it was much more than that for this zone. After that community feedback I made changes to the zone, cut it by a substantial amount, made it much smaller, further away from the coast. So, that's community consultation working, listening to communities, taking on board the legitimate concerns, legitimate questions, legitimate issues. That's how community consultation should work where somebody comes along and says look, ‘I don't believe in climate change and I don't believe in renewable energy.’ There's not much I can do with that feedback. But where there's feedback along the lines of, look, we think this zone could be better if it was smaller or further away. I will always work with that. In fact, that's the process I've taken with every single zone. I announced just before we went into caretaker, there were four bids. I wasn't able to award any bids before going to caretaker. That's something I would deal with post election. 
  
JOURNALIST: The Coalition has spoken a lot about recurrent spending, particularly under your Government, and it being inflationary. But Peter Dutton has today announced billions more in spending on defence, plus obviously what you're speaking about today, the billions that he's spending on, he intends to spend on nuclear energy. What's your, I guess, response to the national security and nuclear spend of the Government in relation to in comparison to what you're spending? 
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Peter Dutton hasn't been able to defend his defence policy today. This is once again a media release in search of a policy. A media release in search of some detail. He is unable to say where the money would come from except for saying, confirming that they will put up income taxes. This election campaign is a choice between Labor that will lower your income tax and the Coalition that will increase your income taxes. But that doesn't cover the amount that they've announced as well. So, on top of that there'll be more cuts needed. He also hasn't been able to say what the money would be used for. It's extraordinary that you make this announcement with a very large figure in the tens of billions of dollars. You can't say what you will use the money for. You can't say where all the money will come from. This is an Opposition that have not done the hard work. Whether it's defence policy, whether it's nuclear policy, they can't explain any of how it would actually roll out. And then they have a team that for most of the campaign are in hiding and haven't been able to come forward at all. And Mr Hastie is just one example of that.  
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on health and your Urgent Care Clinics. On last count there was about half of those that are open for the full allotment of hours from 8am to 10pm, when do you anticipate that all will be open for those full hours? And why is it that not all of them are at this stage? 
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what is occurring is that those Urgent Care Clinics are delivering help for some 1.3 million Australians have received it. One third of those have been under the age of 15. We promised 50. If you speak about commitments, we delivered 87, so a lot more than we promised. Here in the West, we have delivered eight, opened. They're open in Perth and the suburbs, but they're also open in our regions as well here in Western Australia. And we've committed to another six, which will, here in WA, will bring the total number to 14, as part of the additional 50. 
 
JOURNALIST: If we can just get you on the offshore wind thing, because you are criticising, because you've been criticising Peter Dutton for not facing locals on controversial energy projects here. Do you not think that it's a bit of a double standard if you won't face locals who are angry in Forrest? Secondly, given Forrest is a more marginal seat, why aren't you campaigning out there, why are you in O’Connor which is a safer Liberal seat? 
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's an interesting philosophy. There's one of me. There's 150 seats. I'm here and I'll be in other seats today as well. I've actually been to every single seat in Western Australia as Prime Minister. Every single one. Now, I doubt whether, I certainly know that the three previous Prime Ministers, in their very infrequent visits to WA, have certainly not been able to say that. I have visited in WA as well as Perth, I visited my second visit to Collie here. I visited the region around Bunbury and around the Margaret River, Albany, Port Hedland, Karratha, Broome, Fitzroy Crossing, Kununurra, Kalgoorlie. I don't think anyone can say that I haven't been prepared to engage here in WA. 
 
JOURNALIST: Last night, in the debate, when questioned on why bulk billing rates have fallen under your watch, you seem to suggest a big reason was the pandemic inflated those numbers to the high of 89 per cent. But when you took over, it was 87 per cent. But more importantly, well before the pandemic arrived in 2019, it was 86 per cent. So, only a 1 per cent difference between 2019 pre-pandemic and when you took over. So, how do you justify bulk billing rates falling from 86 per cent, 87 percent to 78 per cent?  
 
PRIME MINISTER: There's a few figures in there. The fact is that during the pandemic, people went and got vaccinated. They had to go through the Medicare system. That was a part of what happened. Peter Dutton, when he was the Health Minister chose to freeze the Medicare rebate. It remained frozen for six years. What we have put in place with the tripling of the bulk billing incentive has lifted for concession cardholders bulk billing rates to up above 90 per cent. The tripling of the bulk billing incentive will now be extended to all 27 million Australians and we expect that it will have the same impact. 
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on industrial relations, have you given any undertakings to the mining sector or other industries that under the next term of government, if you’re re-elected, there will be no further changes beyond what's already been introduced? 
 
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not sure what that's referring to. 
 
JOURNALIST: Are you expecting to make further industrial relations changes? 
 
PRIME MINISTER: We have our policies that we've put forward. Those policies have made a difference. We'll continue to be proud of the fact that real wages have increased five quarters in a row. Before the election, real wages went down five quarters in a row. That's one of the differences. When we talk about cost of living, it's about your wages in as well as your costs. We've got inflation down to 2.4 per cent and we've got wages rising and now we have interest rates falling as well. That's a good thing.  
 
JOURNALIST: The Premier this morning spoke about the need for a permanent military base on our northwest, near our northwest coast. Is that something you'd like to see roll out in the next five to 10 years, given the vulnerability and the economic sensitivity up there? 
 
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we'll continue. One of the things that the Defence Strategic Review indicated was the need for our posture, our defence force posture, to be located towards the north. That's a program that's being worked out through the Department of Defence, with the Defence Minister, Richard Marles. Here in WA, in particular, WA and South Australia stand to be the big beneficiaries of the AUKUS program. But throughout our defence posture, it is Northern Australia that stands to be a big beneficiary.  
 
JOURNALIST: Yesterday you said you that were willing and capable of making the hard decisions in Government. The Opposition is out today trying to pressure you on defence – 
 
PRIME MINISTER: Are they, though? With what? What is it that they have announced?  
 
JOURNALIST: What’s your position on interruptions again, Prime Minister?  
 
PRIME MINISTER: I'm just wondering about the detail, I'm trying to help here. 
  
JOURNALIST: So, is defence an area where you believe you have made the strong decisions that are required to meet the geostrategic challenges of this time? 
 
PRIME MINISTER: We've put in $57 billion additional funding over 10 years in defence. We are following the Defence Strategic Review. We've turned AUKUS from an announcement into something that's tangible going forward. And we have also built, as I say, we've invested in our capability, but we've also invested in our relationships. So, the defence agreements that we've had upgraded, with Japan, with India participating in some of the processes that have taken place with Indonesia, with the Philippines, as well as with, of course, the United States and the United Kingdom, have all been important. My question to you was, because I might have missed it while on the plane, I haven't seen any specific programs from this defence announcement today. I find it extraordinary that you try to get a headline with a big number and then there's nothing of what the big number should be invested in. What is it that they are saying we should invest in our capability and how should we pay for it? They're the big questions which are there.  
 
Now, we'll always continue to invest in our capability. Later this year, we will begin, for example, producing missiles made here in Australia. So, there are manufacturing benefits behind our defence industry programs as well. 
 
JOURNALIST: The point you made about you’ve increased funding in relation to the Defence Strategic Review, one of the authors of that review, Sir Angus Houston, has called for defence funding to go to 3 per cent, Dennis Richardson who has advised the Government is different capacities over the years, also says we should go to 3 per cent. Your increase takes it to 2.3%. That gap – is there any anticipation that you will try and narrow that gap in your next term, or do you think you have got the settings right, despite the situations? 
 
PRIME MINISTER: We'll make budget decisions every year. We've just handed down a budget in March, but we have had significant investment, including in that Budget, we brought $1 billion forward to this financial year. 
 
JOURNALIST: We saw a bit of mudslinging in the third debate last night. The negative attacks from both sides of politics are really ramped up as early voting begins and we're getting closer to election day. Are you worried that the negativity from both sides in the election will just cancel out at the end of the day, going through that voters would just turn that off, like altogether?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we're doing is putting forward serious policies. It's right there, you can touch it, you can see it and people will have their homes powered by it. We have serious policies that we've put forward, whether it be our Medicare policy, for example, that I've been asked about today, 50 new Urgent Care Clinics, tripling the bulk billing incentive, making a difference, our women's health program that we've announced as well, our cheaper medicines, bringing it down to $25. On education, early childhood education, that the opposition have said that they'll get rid of the activity - that they'll bring back the activity tests that we got rid of. Now, the activity test is really important for disadvantaged women to be able to get back into the workforce. All of the analysis says that the activity test stopped women with kids being able to get back into the workforce and participate and therefore benefit not just themselves and their families but benefit the economy as well. They're going to bring it back, they say. So, this is an opposition that if they have any policies, they're either taken from overseas or they are taken from the reversal of reforms that we have put in place, whether that be the income tax cuts, the getting rid of the activity test with the three-day childcare guarantee that we've put forward. But we know there'll have to be more because we know that the schools funding that we've put forward, Better and Fairer Schools, funded, the first Premier to sign up right here with me today, Roger Cook, will make a difference as well.
 
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, last night you confirmed that you will force the tech giants to pay for news. When will you release the detail of the news media bargaining incentive that you announced last year?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're working through those issues. We have consulted with energy - with the energy company - with news media companies as well, and we will continue to advance those interests. Just as we've put in place the social media ban that I spoke about last night as well. That will make a difference, keeping young people safe.
 
JOURNALIST: Local media. Just a question for their Premier. For Brownes Dairy, is there anything to worry about with the failure of the Chinese owners?
 
PREMIER COOK: Look, we're not anticipating there'd be any problem in relation to finding a new owner for Brownes Dairy. It services about 50 dairy farmers in the local district. And plays an important role as part of our agricultural industry. The reason why it's having difficulties at the moment is because of disagreements amongst the owners, not because of the commerciality of actual Brownes Dairy itself. It's a profitable operation and we expect to find a new buyer for it. It'd be great if it's a local company as well.
 
JOURNALIST: The business is sound and there is no risk to workers?
 
PREMIER COOK: Oh, look, we don't anticipate any operational interruptions as a result of the change of ownership and we expect that the company will be able to find a new owner in the very near future.
 
JOURNALIST: Premier, on electronic monitoring, the Department of Justice has just posted a job advertisement for an electronic - for multiple electronic monitoring offices. Does that indicate that they are inadequately staffed?
 
PREMIER COOK: No, it indicates that we are continuing to resource the area of corrections where we can deploy more electronic monitoring equipment. Electronic monitoring equipment was part of our family violence legislative reform program which we brought in at the last year - last year. And it provides us with another opportunity to continue to keep women safe in relation to people who stand accused of family and domestic violence.
 
JOURNALIST: Premier, the ad was put up just the day after the ABC revealed though, that there were gaps in the electronic monitoring program. So, does that suggest that you have been alerted to staffing issues and is it something that you'll at least look into?
 
PREMIER COOK: Yeah, no, it doesn't suggest that there's staffing issues. It does suggest that we need to continue to make sure that we've got great people working in our public sector.
 
JOURNALIST: Are you confident that there are no staffing issues?
 
PREMIER COOK: Well, I'm confident that they have the resources they need to continue to employ people to look after the people that they're engaged with. And that's one of the reasons why we continue to make sure that we advertise and recruit where we can to make sure that we have a full contingent of staff.
 
JOURNALIST: Just a quick one for Minister Bowen. On the Smart Energy Council report, Minister, at the top end, it says the Coalition's nuclear plan could cost $600 billion. It says too, though in a best-case scenario it could cost as little as $116 billion. So, do you accept that if the Coalition gets it right, that cost could be below $600 billion?
 
BOWEN: Well, I noticed that Peter Dutton not only got nasty at the Prime Minister last night, he got nasty at the Smart Energy Council as well. Whenever he sees anybody he disagrees with, he gets nasty. He said he was going to smile more. We've seen the opposite of Peter Dutton. As this election day gets closer and, in fact, attacking a group like the Smart Energy Council, of course, they dare to disagree with him and dare to point out the holes in his policy. Now, what the Smart Energy Council has done is looked at the work that the Liberal Party put out and found the massive holes in it. For example, the fact that they don't have a first of its kind premium, the fact that they just assume a 40 per cent smaller economy. You know, they keep saying, ‘oh, we need nuclear power for aluminium and other things.’ They've assumed no aluminium, they've assumed no steel making, they've assumed no heavy industry, because that's what a 40 per cent smaller economy looks like. There are holes all through the opposition's costings. You could make the case that the Smart Energy Council has been conservative because when you look at the cost blowouts right around the world, Southwell or Hinckley or wherever it is, there's massive cost blowouts in nuclear. Peter Dutton and Ted O'Brien have no answers when it comes to the questions put to them.
 
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much. Thanks very much. Thank you.
 
JOURNALIST: Who from the Cabinet will be representing the Government at the Pope’s funeral, and have arrangements be made for somebody from the opposition to follow?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Australia will be represented at the Holy Father’s funeral in Rome that will take place in the Vatican by her Excellency the Governor-General Sam Mostyn, by the Ambassador to the Vatican Designate, Keith Pitt, also by Minister Don Farell and by Shadow Minister Michael McCormack. They will be travelling, Mr McCormack and Mr Farrell will be travelling privately because all of the government planes are there. The Governor-General is in the region for the ANZAC Day commemorations, but I reached out to the opposition as I do always conduct appropriate protocols and invited them to send a representative and Mr Dutton has nominated Mr McCormack. I have nominated Senator Farrell.

ENDS