MATT GREGG, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR DEAKIN: My name is Matt and I’m the Labor candidate here in the Division of Deakin, and we are delighted to welcome the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the Treasurer Jim Chalmers, and my friend and colleague and friendly neighbour Carina Garland MP, the Member for Chisholm. 

CARINA GARLAND, MEMBER FOR CHISHOLM: Thanks Matt, it’s great to be in the neighbouring seat of Deakin. I’m Carina Garland and I’m the Member for Chisholm. I love the eastern suburbs of Melbourne and I love our Government’s [inaudible]. And of course Jim and PM, over to you.  

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much Carina, and thanks Matt. Thanks for the fantastic work you are doing as the Member for Chisholm. And Matt Gregg, thanks for having a second crack. People who come back and are prepared to run for an electorate more than once are more likely to be successful. And Matt Gregg is a great candidate here in Deakin.
 
Well, we know that the Liberals dug Australia into a hole on housing. Labor is digging our way out. We have a plan for supply, not just for demand. And part of what we are doing on supply is right behind us here. The $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator program has seen over 700 homes built here in the suburbs of Melbourne and in regional Victoria, making a difference. There was one home here that wasn’t occupied, that wasn’t fit for purpose, got knocked over, two homes in this beautiful area, right next to a park which will be able to house families, most likely a single parent and child would be an appropriate family to get off the housing waiting list and into public housing. It's just one of the programs. We brought forward the Social Housing Accelerator when we couldn't get through the Housing Australia Future Fund, when it was blocked by the Noalition of the Liberals, the Nationals and the Greens for so long in the Senate. 28,000 homes under the Housing Australia Future Fund are either under construction, like these ones here, or in planning. And we know the Housing Australia Future Fund will be abolished if the Coalition are elected. Like they'll abolish free TAFE. I've seen many structures like this in TAFEs and you'll all have footage of it, building frames, people learning, construction apprentices. There's more than 40,000 people that have benefited from free TAFE in construction. We're also providing that $10,000 incentive because we understand that improvements in labour and skills is important as well.
 
We're also, of course, on Sunday we made two important announcements. One, the extension of the 5 per cent deposit scheme to be available to all first home buyers. 150,000 Australians have benefited from this scheme already. By extending it, more Australians will be able to benefit. They'll still have to go through their bank approvals with APRA conditions, be able to pay off their mortgage – that's why it's been successful. Only three defaults out of 150,000 people. But by extending it, what we're doing is giving them a crack, instead of waiting to get that 20 per cent deposit by the Commonwealth covering off on their mortgage insurance, covering that 15 per cent gap. It will make an enormous difference. It means that they're paying off their own home instead of paying rent to someone to pay off their mortgage, making an enormous difference for families.
 
Secondly as well, we saw in Adelaide on Monday morning an example of the South Australian scheme that's been successful in reserving homes for just first home buyers as part of new developments. Now we'll work with state and territory governments and private developers to make sure there are more projects like that. In Adelaide, there was 110 townhouses being built, 40 of which reserved for first home buyers. Successful scheme. We want to extend it nationally as well. Importantly, what that is doing is on sites like that and other sites around Australia where the government, state governments have lands that might have changed in its use. You know, close to my home, there's difference that the old Everleigh Workshops have made in Sydney and right throughout our cities, in particular. And what that does as well is you get housing built close to public transport, close to facilities and infrastructure and you don't have to then spend additional money on infrastructure in the outer areas, if we can improve density in those communities.
 
And that will be, I think, a big difference between our plans and the plans of the Coalition. Our plans are about supply as well as demand. Their plans are just all about demand. They indeed will decrease supply because they're going to get rid of the Housing Australia Future Fund because they don't have any measures. They opposed our Build to Rent scheme, that the Treasurer here might like to talk about as well. It's about private rentals being built, providing a tax incentive to do that. They've been against all of it, all of the supply side measures that we've put in place. If you're not dealing with supply, if you're not building a single home, then you are just pushing up prices. Our plan is to deal with supply and deal with demand.
 
I might make some, just conclude before handing to the Treasurer and then taking questions. I do want to make some comments about the questions that I was asked yesterday because you, quite rightly, were asking questions, you weren't giving answers or jumping the gun. What we saw from Peter Dutton yesterday was an extraordinary overreach. He verballed the President of Indonesia. He said very clearly, “did the Prime Minister know about this before it was publicly announced by the President of Indonesia?” Yesterday you saw the contrast between a government that's considered, that deals with our neighbours and deals internationally in a diplomatic way, that doesn't leap to conclusions, that doesn't get ahead of ourselves, that doesn't dial it up to 11, which is what Peter Dutton does, consistently, dials it up to 11 at every opportunity, doesn't worry about facts. But in verballing the President of Indonesia, who had not made a statement about this issue, nor had the Government of Indonesia made a statement, the Foreign Minister, the Defence Minister, it was an extraordinary thing for him to do at any time. It's no wonder that one of the jobs that I had as Prime Minister in this term was to repair relationships with ASEAN, with our Pacific neighbours, with France, with so many countries, with Greece, so many countries because of the way that the former Government behaved, using international issues to try to score domestic political points. In today's uncertain world, what we need is leadership that's considered, that deals with people respectfully, that doesn't verbal international leaders. What we saw yesterday was Peter Dutton doing what he does consistently, which is always, always overreaching, always dialling it up to 11 but in this case being quite reckless, quite reckless with a neighbour of Australia that is an important neighbour and friend of Australia in the President, President Prabowo, and the Indonesian Government. I'll go to Jim and then we’re happy to take questions.

JIM CHALMERS, TREASURER: Thanks PM it is wonderful to be here with two outstanding candidates in Carina and Matt and to see the progress that's being made here. Suburb by suburb, house by house, we are building more homes and we are building Australia's future. And with every passing day in this campaign, the contrast between this Albanese Labor Government and Peter Dutton's Coalition becomes clearer and clearer. Under Labor, more homes and smaller deposits. Under the Coalition, fewer homes and higher prices. But that's not the only contrast that has been established it in this election campaign.
 
There's an important contrast on the cost of living as well. Under Labor, immediate and ongoing help with the cost of living, higher wages and lower taxes. Under Peter Dutton, no ongoing help with the cost of living, higher taxes and lower wages. That's why Australians will be thousands of dollars worse off if Peter Dutton wins this election. The difference between this Prime Minister's approach to tax and wages and Peter Dutton's approach is on one calculation, $13,200 Australians would be worse off over the next four years if Peter Dutton wins the election. We know that low wages are a deliberate design feature of the Coalition. They have confessed that, admitted that in the past. And so the difference between what Peter Dutton is offering lower wages, higher taxes, no ongoing help with the cost of living and what this Prime Minister and our Labor Government is offering is thousands and thousands of dollars over the coming years. When Peter Dutton cuts, Australians will pay thousands of dollars. That is the difference.
 
And you'll see that difference laid out tonight in the debate between this Prime Minister leading in a considered, methodical way, providing immediate and ongoing help with the cost of living, higher wages and lower taxes versus the Coalition alternative. Now, Peter Dutton is too risky and too reckless to be the Prime Minister of a great country like ours. He is temperamentally unfit to manage our relationships in the world and to manage our economy here at home. And Australians will pay for his recklessness.
 
What we saw yesterday was a disqualifying moment from Peter Dutton when it came to the comments that he made about the Indonesian President. It is a disqualifying moment whenever he lies, in ways that are bordering on the pathological, about the Australian economy and about our view about the Australian economy as well. Peter Dutton is too risky. He is too reckless at the worst possible time. Those two defining characteristics, his riskiness, his recklessness, are the two worst characteristics for a leader of a great country like ours to have in these uncertain times. The difference between Labor and Liberal in this election gets clearer and clearer every day. A vote for Peter Dutton is a vote for higher taxes, lower wages, no ongoing help with the cost of living and secret cuts to pay for his nuclear reactors.

PRIME MINISTER: Hang on a tick. Kate Bush gets, here the first question. Kate Bush t-shirt.

JOURNALIST: PM, do you think the commentary out of Russia on Indonesia was an act of misinformation by Russia to interfere in this election?

PRIME MINISTER: What I know is that there's no statement from the Indonesian President and what Peter Dutton said was not true.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, before the Janes report, did Australia know that Russia had made a request to station in Indonesia? And my second question is, on the weekend, Roger Cook said that Australia's, the Liberals’ aggressive diplomacy led to the economic coercion. Is that true? Was the Australian government of the time responsible for China's economic coercion or was China responsible for that?
 
PRIME MINISTER: On the first issue, I don't intend to run a complete running commentary, but what we do know is what the Indonesian Government have said themselves, which is that this is not being –
 
JOURNALIST: No, no, no, that was not my question. My question was what do we know about the request?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I get the, well, it's not clear what, it's not clear what the Janes, you're assuming the Janes report is correct and there is no basis for you assuming that. Secondly –
 
JOURNALIST: Are you saying a request was never made? We know that for sure that a request was not made. Is that, is that what you're saying?
 
PRIME MINISTER: I'm saying I'll act diplomatically with our friends in Indonesia. That's what I'm saying. On the second issue, China is of course responsible for actions which China took. China is responsible, but I make this point as well, that some of the rhetoric that was given by the Australian government was not conducive towards having a constructive relationship. And the 20 per cent of, or $20 billion of trade impediments hurt Australian jobs. It hurt the lobster industry, for example, in Geraldton, it hurt the barley industry in South Australia and in the eastern states as well. It hurt so many industries, in the wine industry in Tasmania, the Hunter Valley, South Australia, Margaret River. We have engaged in a way diplomatically where when our approach to China is to cooperate where we can, to deal respectfully, to not dial things up to 11 at every opportunity, to disagree where we must. And we do so, disagree on a range of issues. We have different political systems, but we deal like adults in our international relations. You know, this isn't, and we don't, we don't ever try to seek domestic political points through our international diplomacy, which is one of the reasons why we don't go into relations between other countries, including Russia and Indonesia have had, of course, a different relationship from the relationship between Australia and Russia over a long period of time. We understand that. We don't comment on all of that detail. What we do is we act in Australia's national interest, which is also, might I say, at this uncertain time in the world, Australia has an opportunity to play a role as adults in the room. At a time where there is uncertainty in global markets, in our economy, in international relations in so many areas as well, we're respected around the world as a middle power. That is how I have acted and that is how I will continue to act.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you accept responsibility for the housing crisis, given you allowed in a million people, net migration in two years and the Minister who was responsible for that mess, who you got your mate Tony Burke to fill in for, you've now put in the housing portfolio, ironically. Do you accept any responsibility for the housing crisis?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it would be hard for the Housing Minister during the period of the former government to take responsibility because they didn't have one.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you take responsibility, Prime Minister?
 
PRIME MINISTER: Because they didn't have one. And they invested $5 billion over a decade. Over a decade. There were periods and budgets where there were zero dollars going out into public and social housing. What we are doing is digging Australia out of the hole that the Liberals have dug over a decade of inaction. So, what we are doing is responding. And when it comes to migration, the gold and silver medal winners are the same bloke. Peter Dutton granted more visas to people to come to Australia than any other minister. He also runs second, gold and silver, and that is just a fact.
 
JOURNALIST: The initial review into the Urgent Care Clinics show, the initial review. Sorry I speak so fast. The initial review into the Urgent Care Clinics show there's no proof they've reduced hospital ED wait times. Isn't it the case then that you can't stack up the assertion UCCs take pressure off EDs? And is the rapid expansion of the program justified before we have solid proof that they're working as intended?
 
PRIME MINISTER: You bet it's justified. We support Urgent Care Clinics. And I note that even though the Coalition are going to ditch them, no doubt, as part of the cuts that they have to make to pay for their $600 billion nuclear plan, I know one of their local members is out there holding up his Medicare card claiming that they'll build another Urgent Care Clinic in their electorate up there in Bonner. It's pretty interesting. You know what my evidence is? Talking to people, talking to the punters, 1.3 million of them. Whether it is in this campaign - Bridgewater yesterday. Bridgewater yesterday, you have two reports today about Urgent Care Clinics and about our bulk billing incentive that are completely contradicted by what's talking to people on the ground. Yesterday, we were there talking about the pressure that's been taken off the emergency departments. I've heard the same in Urgent Care Clinics right around Australia, whether it's here in Melbourne or right around the country, as have you when you've attended during the last three weeks almost of this campaign. One in three is under the age of 15. Parents telling us that instead of taking their kid and waiting in the emergency department of a hospital for sometimes seven or eight hours, they're getting their kids fixed up in 15 or 20 minutes. That's taking pressure off those EDs. Every state health minister is saying the same thing, Labor and Liberal, I've got to add as well. And same as our bulk billing incentive. We heard yesterday from a doctor who stood up at that rather large clinic there at Bridgewater who said as a result of our policies that clinic will be 100 per cent bulk billed.

JOURNALIST: PM, two questions if I may. First, to follow up on the question from Madura. Do you have evidence that the Urgent Care Clinics are actually reducing waiting times in hospitals? Clear evidence?

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, I do. And come and talk to anyone. I'll guarantee you this, I will be going to Urgent Care Clinics for the next two and a half weeks and more, and you can talk to people there. Talk to people there about whether they would have ended up in an emergency department.

CHALMERS: Can I just add to that briefly, just briefly on that, and in response to Madura's question as well, if you take my neck of the woods, if you'll forgive some shameless Queensland parochialism for a moment. The difference it's made to emergency departments in Logan Hospital and in the Ipswich catchment is between 10 and 20 per cent. Now that is a very material difference when it comes to the pressure on public hospitals in South East Queensland. We're seeing that in other parts of Australia as well. When you go to these emergency departments, they notice the difference that Urgent Care Clinics are making. So many parents in particular when they're trying to make a decision, do I take my youngster to the emergency department, do I take them to an Urgent Care Clinic? The extraordinary numbers, the extraordinary amount of people that we're seeing through these Urgent Care Clinics. These are frequently people who would otherwise show up to the emergency department at Logan or Ipswich in communities like mine. The Urgent Care Clinics are an absolutely stunning success. They are worth every cent that we are investing in them. That's why we're building 50 more of them, because we know that more bulk billing means less pressure on families. That's a cost of living benefit as well as a health benefit. And you can see the benefit as well when it comes to emergency departments.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Russia and Indonesia issue. We've seen evidence recently of Russia and Indonesia working to strengthen their bilateral ties, including in November of 2024, holding bilateral naval drills. What specifically has your government done to counter Russia trying to strengthen its ties with Indonesia? Considering what you said yesterday, that Vladimir Putin is an authoritarian leader who you don't want involved in the region.

PRIME MINISTER: He is. There won't be joint exercises between Australia and Russia, I assure you of that. But our relationship with Indonesia has never been stronger, including our defence relationship.

JOURNALIST: Are Indonesia and Russia joining forces? What have you done to [inaudible] Indonesia and Russia [inaudible]?

PRIME MINISTER: Indonesia is a sovereign nation. Indonesia is a sovereign nation. So, we continue to put our argument about our own case and our own relationship with Indonesia. Indonesia and Russia have historically had relations that are different from Australia's and Russia. That's how you deal with things. This isn't a sort of team thing where it's like you have to just go for Souths on every week and you don't worry about any other teams and what they're doing. Indonesia is a sovereign, powerful nation. We respect President Prabowo. We continue to put our argument. And our job, our task is to develop good relationships with Indonesia. That's what we're doing.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you won the last debate. Does that give you confidence ahead of tonight's debate? And there's a significant pro-Palestinian protest planned outside that event. Does that concern you? Do you think that your government has done enough when it comes to the Israel-Palestine debate?

PRIME MINISTER: Look, I'm certain of one thing which is that you have to take any campaign day by day. And I don't think the outcome of the last debate affects tonight's debate at all. It's very different. The last debate was a people's choice, if you like. And I was grateful for those people who put their little bit of paper in the red box rather than the blue box. And that was a good thing for me. But I don't take anything for granted. I say this about the Middle East. One, Australia has had a consistent position. Two, overwhelmingly, if you go and you door knock around here, you know what Australians want, they want people to have peace and security, but they also don't want conflict to be brought here.

JOURNALIST: PM, Indonesia might have ruled out a Russian base, but do you have any assurances from Jakarta that there won't be any further hosting or rotations of Russian forces? And if not, will you be seeking that clarity from Jakarta?

PRIME MINISTER: We deal with diplomacy not through media conferences, but through engagement.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, one for you and one for the Treasurer. For you, on housing, what are you going to do about NIMBYs and to the Treasurer? The PEFO showed only about a billion dollars in spending that wasn't in the Budget. Where is the $2 billion in grants and the $8 billion in loans and equity for housing actually coming from? What are the offsets to pay for that?

PRIME MINISTER: We support appropriate housing and that includes appropriate medium density housing. In my electorate, probably the best example is a Mirvac development on the corner of Livingstone Road and Marrickville Road that's won awards. Where there is increased density and height as it goes down the hill, the number of floors goes up. It has affordable housing in there and it has a library that was rebuilt, it's the old Marrickville Hospital site. A great example of where you take a site that's changed in use, you build housing that is a mix of private housing and affordable for essential workers, a library. That's how you deal with it. You deal with it by arguing your case. I'm not - it stands in stark contrast to the Greens members there in places like Griffith who talk about housing but have never seen a house that they want built. This place here, one knocked over, two built. Entirely appropriate housing. That's what we're doing. This isn't theoretical. We are rolling it out here. It's real, it's behind you. And there'll be people living in these homes in just a matter of months. Treasurer.

CHALMERS: Thanks, Katina. A large portion of the announcements that we have made were already budgeted for in the Budget, as you know, and where we've made additional announcements, we've made clear how much those new policies cost. And that's the difference again between the responsible, methodical, considered approach that we've taken, contrasted with what the Coalition is doing. We still don't know –

JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]

CHALMERS: I'll get to that, Katina. We still don't know how much the Coalition's long lunch policy costs, and they announced it a long time ago. We still don't know what their secret cuts will be to pay for their nuclear reactors and what that means for Medicare and for pensions and payments. And so, we've been releasing the cost of our policies as we go, a large amount of that already accounted for in the Budget. Where there are additional announcements and commitments being made, we will release that at the appropriate time in the usual way. What we have demonstrated throughout is an ability and a willingness and enthusiasm to manage the Budget in the most responsible way, getting the Budget in better nick at the same time as we help Australians with the cost of living and invest in a more resilient economy in uncertain times. People should expect the same kind of responsible, methodical approach that we've taken in the first three years to apply going forward as well. And it's that responsible approach that has engineered the biggest ever single-term improvement in the Budget. It's that responsible approach that delivered two surpluses for the first time in almost two decades and halved the deficit this year, got this year's Liberal debt down by $177 billion, saving Australians $60 billion in debt interest. And I mention all of that because it is a reminder that we have found room in the Budget to make the sort of commitments which are so important to help people who are doing it tough to invest in a more resilient economy and build Australia's future.

JOURNALIST: Last night you were confronted by a couple of people in the lobby of your hotel. Do those sort of interactions make you rethink, I guess, the exposure that you have to the public and these sort of, they weren't quite protesters yesterday, but these sort of interactions have been sort of a common theme of this campaign on both sides. Do you have any idea or intelligence of how people are actually finding where you and Peter Dutton will be popping up at any particular time?

PRIME MINISTER: Probably wouldn't be a good idea to broadcast it, frankly. And I have faith in the AFP. As I've said before, I have no intention of going into security discussions, that's not in the interests of security.

JOURNALIST: Similar question, are you concerned at all for your own safety, though, when you keep being basically ambushed and confronted by these people?

PRIME MINISTER: I have faith in the Australian Federal Police.

JOURNALIST: Would you like to be able to interact with the public more? In previous campaigns going back 10, 20 years, we saw people do street walks, you know, supermarkets. Would you like to be able to do that? And is it a sign of the state of current politics that you can't do that?

PRIME MINISTER: I do. Nothing’s stopped me. Day one, we had a fantastic interaction, me and Jim at the gym. What was the –

CHALMERS: Fitstop.

PRIME MINISTER: Fitstop.

CHALMERS: Murrumba Downs.

PRIME MINISTER: There in Murrumba Downs, first morning. I've engaged with people, I went for, while some of the transport stuff was happening, I went for a walk around Adelaide. Adelaide Mall was terrific. I went for a walk around Perth as well. And I think it's really important and it's something that I've done. I go into uncontrolled environments, you've seen it happen time and time again. And now I'm going to go into a controlled environment and go to Sydney for the second debate. Thanks very much, everyone.

ENDS