SUBJECTS: Labor’s Plan for a Better Future; Costings; Morrison Government’s rorts and waste; Boosting productivity under Labor; Skills shortages; Labor’s Cheaper Child Care plan; Labor’s plan for cheaper electricity; Health funding; Working with the states, not against them.
 
ALI FRANCE, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR DICKSON: Hey everyone, welcome to Dickson, welcome to Strathpine. I am so pleased to have our leader, Anthony Albanese here today and also our Shadow Minister for Health, Mark Butler. I've been standing on the Strathpine polling booth for 10 days now, in the rain most of that time. But one thing is for sure people have been coming up to me constantly and saying that we need a change. So I'm really pleased to have you both here.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: You were very quick! Thanks, Ali. Well, it's fantastic to be back here in Dickson. And Ali has been running for this seat now, for at least four years. She is an outstanding candidate for the people of Dickson. And I believe she would make an extraordinary Member of Parliament, Ali is someone who's overcome adversity, she's someone who's strong and courageous. She's articulate, she's smart. And she will represent the people of Dickson with the dignity and with the care and compassion that they need. And I'm very proud to stand here with Ali today as Labor's representative.
 
Earlier today, Jim Chalmers and Katy Gallagher have released Labor's full costings for the election. As I told you - and Greg worked it out, to his credit, earlier on today - that figure of a difference between us and the Government is $7.4 billion. And it's based upon the three big things that we will do to produce an economic dividend, based upon our investment in how we grow the economy, and we grow back stronger. Those three investments, of course, are childcare that will boost productivity and boosts women's workforce participation; skills and training, our 465,000 fee-free TAFE places and our 20,000 additional university places that will help to deal with the skills crisis which is there; and our clean energy policies, our clean energy policies that will end the climate wars. That will result in $52 billion of private sector investment, that will result in some 604,000 new jobs created - five out of every six of them in regional Australia. We're very proud to be putting this forward. We've released all of the detail, is available to everyone. We've released it in the usual way, at the usual time, as we said, we would. Happy to take some questions.
 
JOURNALIST: Mr. Albanese, we're staring down the barrel of a trillion dollars worth of debt. You're going to the election on Saturday asking voters to trust you, that you will be fiscally responsible, is now the time to be spending $7.4 billion? And can you understand if some voters might be a little bit concerned about that?
 
ALBANESE: Well, we've made some $11.5 billion of announcements on Budget improvements today. I made, of course, one of those, or two of those - I made an announcement at the National Press Club yesterday some three quarters of a billion dollars of the slush funds that the Government has in its Budget, but haven't been allocated, being returned to the Budget. This is the most wasteful government since federation, this government has spent more, it's borrowed more, and its taxed more than the previous Labor government.
 
JOURNALIST: Mr. Albanese, earlier this month, you denied a report that Labor would have deficits $10 billion more than the Coalition that they are, according to the two forecasts the differences $8.4 billion, were you being too cute by half?
 
ALBANESE: No I wasn’t. You produced an article - you are entitled to write it - saying that there would be a $10 billion gap..
 
JOURNALIST: I said it would be up to $10 billion, in that vicinity, so we've- are we being a bit too cute here?
 
ALBANESE: Well, I stand by my comments.
 
JOURNALIST: Mr. Albanese, you say, the $7.4 billion this will be investment in the economy, you will see the returns. How do you justify to the Australian public when they will see those returns? How do you- what sort of timeframe you're working to, how do you monitor that?
 
ALBANESE: The Australian public know, for example, that this Government have had 22 different energy policies and haven't landed one. They know that we have one that's supported by the Business Council, the Australian Industry Group, the National Farmers Federation, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. They know that business are crying out for certainty to invest. The Australian public know that there's a skills crisis in this country, businesses are crying out for more skilled workers. We will create Jobs and Skills Australia, as one of the first things that we do to drive that change through the economy. And the Grattan Institute, for example, has done, it's just one of the bodies that have done modeling about childcare - about how if you invest in childcare, it increases the economic participation of women, and it increases productivity.
 
JOURNALIST: Mr. Albanese, when will you see the return and do you rule out getting into government and saying ‘there are Coalition landmines waiting for us here, we need to make further cuts to the Budget’?
 
ALBANESE: Well, what we've said, clearly, there will be further savings from the waste and the rorts that are there in the Budget-
 
JOURNALIST: [inaudible]
 
ALBANESE: No, that's what we've said. We'll have an audit conducted by the Department of Treasury and the Department of Finance, we will go through line by line, not just this Budget, but that's what good government should do every Budget.
 
JOURNALIST: As you just said, there will be further savings going forward. Are you committed to all current defence spending?
 
ALBANESE: Yes.
 
JOURNALIST: [cross talking]
 
ALBANESE: Hang on, we will go here and here, you are right mate.
 
JOURNALIST: You have committed that if you are elected that you will deliver a Budget later this year. So can you guarantee that there won't be any cuts to spending once you deliver that Budget, find blow outs or anything of that nature?
 
ALBANESE: That Budget will go through line by line where the Government has these hidden funds. You know, because you've been in Budget lockups as have I, with the so-called ‘contingency reserve’- remember on the Saturday before the last Budget, the Minister for Veterans Affairs made a declaration publicly about the need for Veterans Affairs spending, for example, and you had this bizarre circumstance whereby it's not there in the Budget papers. And then on the Tuesday night of the Budget, they said ‘oh well it's in the contingency’. It's nonsense, complete nonsense. That's not the way that Budgets work. So this Government has abused the issue of contingencies. We'll have a look at what's there. But we're being very transparent about what we will do. And what we won't do going forward. There was this-
 
JOURNALIST: Mr. Albanese, can I just ask on a more local front?
 
ALBANESE: Gentleman in the front-
 
JOURNALIST: The Queensland Government is currently in the midst of a health crisis, ambulance ramping is at its highest it's ever been waiting times are terrible…GPs…It's pretty messy. Yesterday, Steven Miles the Deputy Premier said he wants to lean on the federal government, what can Labor - if you were to govern - what will you promise Annastacia Palaszczuk and the people of Queensland when it comes to health?
 
ALBANESE: Thank you. Queensland isn't alone, all of the state governments - Labor and Liberal - all wrote to the Commonwealth a little while ago, asking for health funding to be put on the agenda of the National Cabinet. So we've seen real pressure on health systems. We have had a number of measures, which will take pressure off those health systems, including the urgent care clinics that we've announced, 50 of them, about taking pressure off emergency departments. What I've said to Annastacia Palaszczuk, and what I've also said to not just Labor premiers, but the other side is that I've been prepared to sit down and discuss issues with them constructively. And include discussions on- if they want to discuss something, then it shouldn't be ruled off agendas. And I would do that. And I've had discussions with all of the mainland premiers, I think about those issues-
 
JOURNALIST: Will you back the night clinics?
 
ALBANESE: What I have said, though- what I have said as well, and we've said this today, is if we're successful on Saturday, we will inherit a trillion dollars of debt, so-
 
JOURNALIST: Mr. Albanese-
 
ALBANESE: Just answering this question, I'll come- a trillion dollars of debt. And therefore, what we are promising is what we can be absolutely certain that we can do. I want to avoid the sort of issues that have been raised here of you know, ‘will you make further cuts to things that you've said you will do?’. So we will be fiscally responsible as well, but we’ll also be constructive. Yeah, Clare and then Katina.
 
JOURNALIST: The difference between the money you're spending compared to the Coalition over the fowards is $8.4 billion should take into account their cost savings. Have you looked at the inflationary impact that extra spending will have on the economy? Are you confident that that additional spending wont inflame what we already know will be higher inflation?
 
ALBANESE: Thank you, Clare. Look, the way that you can boost wages and boost profits without putting pressure on inflation is by making sure that you boost productivity. And the measures that were aimed at here, whether it's child care, whether it's clean energy, or skills and training, are precisely aimed at that. That's why we have prioritised those investments. Katina.
 
JOURNALIST: In a similar vein, you just said- talking about boosting wages and boosting productivity, but you're talking about extra government spending. We are in the inflationary situation we are in part because the Government pumped so much cash into the economy? How is it that 7 odd billion dollars extra spending wont? have inflationary pressure?
 
ALBANESE: Because what it will do is produce a return, it produces economic activity. If for example, child care. It's no accident we were in a child care centre today in West Ryde. What child care will do is to increase workforce participation of women, it will produce a return now- because of the way that Budgets work, you can't include second round effects, so what will happen here. What's included here if you like, is the outgoings, what isn't included is the incomings. Now, if you boost child care, you will boost workforce participation, that's the objective here to remove this disincentive which is there, in terms of child care, to work a fourth or fifth day. And that is what it is aimed at. And you will produce that return, you'll produce that boost in productivity. And that is the key of what we have to do. That's what's been missing from the Government’s approach. I'll just take a couple more, one more.
 
JOURNALIST: When will we see a return on those investments?
 
ALBANESE: Well, you will start to see a return on areas like our clean energy policy really quickly. You know why? Because it will send a signal that business have been asking for immediately. That's what they've been crying out for is that certainty. One more.
 
JOURNALIST: Mr. Albanese, $7.4 billion isn't exactly a small sum of money, aren’t you worried that Labor spending this much more money over the forward estimates is fueling the narrative, your opposition have been like peddling out for weeks that Labor is just more irresponsible with money?
 
ALBANESE: It pales into insignificance compared with the extraordinary waste that we've seen from this Government. $5.5 billion for subs that didn't actually build a dinghy, let alone a sub. $20 billion to companies that were increasing their profits. We have a range of expenditures and waste from this Government. They spent a billion dollars on advertising themselves and telling the Australian people how good they are in the lead up to an election. That's not on, that is not on.
This is my third press conference today, I think you've all had a fair go. I did a one-on-one with you yesterday, so you lose the bonus point. But thank you very much, and I'll see you later on!
 
JOURNALIST: [inaudible] what are your chances for Saturday? The Prime Minister is in Werriwa, your mood has changed today, is there something not going right?
 
ALBANESE: I’m in Dickson, earlier on I was in Ryan. I've been with the candidate for Longman and the candidate for Petrie and I'll see you in other non-held seats tomorrow across three states. Thanks very much. Thank you.

ENDS