ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It's great to be here at the announcement for another urgent care clinic, one of 11 that will be opened here in Queensland, one of the 58 that we're opening right around the country between now and the end of this year. I'm joined by Senator Murray Watt and Mark Bailey, local state MP. But of course, one of the things that these urgent care clinics is about is taking pressure off the public hospital system by creating a mid-tier, by creating a place where people can go who need urgent care, but don't have life threatening conditions. So if little Johnny or little Mary falls off the bike or the skateboard, they've got somewhere to go to get stitched up. If someone has an accident with a knife while they're cooking they have somewhere to go. If someone's concerned about whether there's a breakage or fracture, they have somewhere to go. And these urgent care clinics, located as they are with other medical facilities here, with the GPs who are here as well, but a designated area where people can go to get the assistance they need, when they need it. And importantly, just needing their Medicare card not their credit card. These Medicare urgent care clinics have worked effectively this model in places like New Zealand and other places around the world. And that's why we committed at the last election to do this as part of our plan to strengthen Medicare. We need to take pressure off the public hospital system by helping primary health care. And we listen to the professionals who gave us this advice that this model will make an enormous difference. It's been great to meet the doctors and other health professionals here today, who are welcoming of this centre being open. This is a centre that's being run by UQ, so it'll be able to work in assisting the work that this centre does in providing an upskilling, producing our next generation of doctors and nurses and pharmacists and health professionals. This is a great model. It's one I'm very proud of. And it's a part of our strengthening of Medicare, together with the tripling of the bulk billing incentive that comes into play from next month, the largest ever reform, when it comes to bulk billing incentives that has ever been done by any government since Medicare was created way back by the Hawke-Labor government in the 1980s. It's a part of our plans to address costs of health care, because this centre will provide care for free. So together with our decrease in the cost of medicines, $42.50 down to $30, the first ever decrease since the PBS was introduced by the Labor government many, many decades ago after the Second World War, or whether it be the changes that have been made just last month for 60-day dispensing, that literally will cut the costs of pharmaceuticals for those people with diabetes or heart conditions. Those people who need a particular drug for a regular treatment can receive now 60-day dispensing, cutting the costs for them by half, but also importantly as well, meaning they're not needing to go to the doctor to get another script in half the time. So making an enormous difference. My government is totally committed to strengthening Medicare. It's a core Labor value. We created Medicare. We're strengthening Medicare and will continue to work with state and territory governments to deliver.
JOURNALIST: Lidia Thorpe has reacted angrily to a video that has been posted today. She has in the last 20 minutes referred to the referendum as genocide. I would like to get your thoughts on that?
PRIME MINISTER: I think that people need to be respectful during this debate. It is important that people are respectful with each other. I've seen the video that is referred to, that is threatening towards Senator Thorpe and towards the government. The Nazi rhetoric and statements that are in that video have no place in discourse in Australian political life.
JOURNALIST: Senator Thorpe in the last 20 minutes has blamed you for the extremists targeting her in that video. What is your response to that?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not going to engage in a debate like that. I've been at Wynnum before I was here, so I didn't see. I don't know what it was, an interview or something by Senator Thorpe. I would just say that it is appropriate that people be respectful in this debate. I will continue to conduct myself respectfully. I will continue to campaign for a Yes vote in this referendum, as I've been doing, talking with voters this morning. This is about just two things that we have an opportunity to do: to recognise the First Australians in our nation's founding document and secondly, to do it in the form in which they have requested. Over 80 per cent of Indigenous Australians will be voting Yes in this referendum. We have a post I put up on my site earlier today of the 90 delegates of the Central Land Council - they're gathered at Uluru today to have a meeting - all campaigning for Yes, because what they're asking for is a non-binding advisory committee in order so that Indigenous Australians can be listened to about matters that affect them. And why are they doing that? Because you get better results when you listen to First Nations people, like you have better outcomes on any policy area where you engage with people who are directly affected. One of the ideas here are the urgent care clinics came from people who are involved in the medical profession, by listening to them about where the gaps were and how policy could be improved. In the referendum's case, people have the opportunity on October 14 to write the next chapter in Australia's story, a story that goes back some 65,000 years and they can vote Yes or recognition and Yes for a non-binding advisory committee so as to get better results.
JOURNALIST: In regards to the threats towards Lidia Thorpe, is extra protection being offered? She has said that the protection that she's currently being offered is inconsistent. What's the correct response?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Senator Thorpe contacted me directly. I responded to her at the first opportunity, on the same day. I spoke to the AFP. I don't talk about what AFP support is being given, for obvious reasons. That would be quite counterproductive. But Senator Thorpe certainly responded to me that same day by thanking me for responding to her.
JOURNALIST: In the paper today you've appealed to regional Queenslanders to respond to the Voice. How confident are you that regional Queensland will bring back a Yes vote and why?
PRIME MINISTER: I think when people look at what the question is, and it's a very clear question, just asking for that recognition and then, a non-binding advisory committee. People have nothing to fear here. The parliamentary processes will still be the same. What we will be able to do, though, is to listen to Indigenous Australians about matters that affect them in order to then get better outcomes. And when we look at programs that have been effective, such as some of the programs in Cape York, that Noel Pearson and others identified with, they're characterised by things that have come from the bottom up. One of the things about Queensland that I know is that when I've gone and spoken to local communities about what their needs are, that's you've got better results. I remember years ago, the communities of Karumba and Normanton, at the time when we opened some of the projects up there, as the Infrastructure Minister, there was an Indigenous mayor. We went out, not so successfully fishing, very early one morning out there. But the Einasleigh River Bridge used to get washed away whenever there was a flooding event and people had to chopper in healthcare and chopper in food because those communities were isolated. The locals - not, with respect, the federal bureaucrats or the state bureaucrats - the locals said what we need to do is to build back properly the Einasleigh River Bridge. We can do it effectively. We can do it efficiently in a way that it doesn't get washed away every time there is a major event. We allocated $31 million. They not only delivered that bridge but delivered another two as well, as a result of that local knowledge and local engagement. Whatever areas we're doing, and Queensland is, of course, the most regional of states. Queensland has a significant First Nations population. I've visited the Torres Strait during this period to talk to them about the referendum. I visited all parts of regional Queensland, from Mount Isa inland to up and down the coastal areas and engaged with Indigenous Australians. And I think that one of the things about Queensland is that people are aware of their local communities and local engagement. I sincerely hope that Queenslanders vote Yes over this week and next leading up to next Saturday. I was just at the polling booth at Wynnum. I was standing out with Steve Renouf, a great Bronco, a great Queensland State of Origin hero. Steve is very passionate. He's from Cherbourg from memory. Where is he from?
SENATOR MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE: Murgon.
PRIME MINISTER: He's from regional Queensland. Thank you for your assistance. He's very passionate about this. As is Mal Meninga and people who are out there who have thought these issues through. And understand that this is an incredible opportunity that we have. And people know that referendums - this is the first one that's come around this century, and we're almost a quarter of the way through. They don't come around all the time. This is an opportunity to make a difference to vote Yes.
JOURNALIST: Can I ask this - obviously, you're an avid Yes campaigner. You said many times that this referendum isn't going to divide Australia. I think that the examples of what we've seen lately would suggest otherwise. Is it important that Australians know, in your opinion, that they have the right to vote No as well?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course, people have the right to vote Yes or No. Every Australian has one vote, one value in this referendum. What I say, respectfully is: have a look the at the question which is there. And vote on that basis. Vote about what this referendum is about. Now, people can look the at the same facts and come to different conclusions. And that's fine. That's called democracy. But the words are very clear: "In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the first peoples of Australia." That's the recognition bit. Can't be clearer. And it says, "There shall be a body to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice." So that is the form of recognition. And the next clause, again very clear just says: "It may give advice to Parliament and executive government on matters affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people." Again, very clear. And then the last clause is the primacy of the Parliament: the Parliament that shall make laws about the competition, structure and procedures, about matters "including", which is an important word. Because "including" extends the legal definition. But one of the things that's happening here - and I note Peter Dutton's comments yesterday I read about in this morning's paper - Peter Dutton is saying that there will be damaging consequences of a No vote for Australia's reputation, and that somehow is the fault of the people who are advocating a Yes vote. People need to take responsibility for what their actions are. And I've been very clear about this. This is a request from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Nine years of this process occurred under the former Coalition government. Ken Wyatt was the Minister under the former Morrison government who presided over the introduction of the Calma-Langton report. Tony Abbott was the Prime Minister who established a process saying what form should recognition take? Which led to the work of Julian Leeser and Patrick Dodson. The idea that this has just come up since the change of government they know is false. The difference is that Indigenous Australians were promised a vote before 2019, before 2022 for that matter, by both sides, before 2016, going back to John Howard, prior to 2007 said that there would be a vote. So I say to Australians: if not now, when? If not now, when? It has been 122 years. We're the only former colony in the world that does not acknowledge its first peoples. And what this is about is just doing that, doing that in a safe, generous way. And I conclude with this comment - when I came in here this morning I met all these professionals from the health sector and from the university. And what they did was they put out their hand and we joined. That's what happens. That's how Australians deal with each other. What we have here is the oldest continuous culture on earth, 65,000 years, who in spite of all of the hardship, the trauma, the Stolen Generations, the 8-year life expectancy gap, the fact that there is a greater chance of an Indigenous young male going to jail than to go to university, they're putting their hand out in friendship, in reconciliation, to non-Indigenous Australians, in a way that simply asks - you recognise that we existed before 1788, before 1770 and Captain Cook arrived. You recognise that. And do so in a way that just gives us the power of ideas, the capacity to be listened to in order to get better outcomes. Because we know that programs will work better when people are listened to, because that's how justice reinvestment works. That's how community health programs in South East Queensland for Indigenous communities work. That's how the education programs in Arnhem Land work. That's how the work during the COVID crisis worked, when people actually went to communities and asked them 'how do we deliver services and keep people safe?' That's when some of that was turned around from catastrophic conditions. They're just asking to be joined with that hand that's out. Now, I believe the Australian way, when someone reaches out a hand, is to join it. Join it in a sign of recognition and respect. That's what Indigenous Australians are asking for. That's what the request has been made from them in 2017 when they gathered at Uluru and came up with the one-page statement, the Uluru Statement from the Heart. That's what all of the work is doing. People who have given a lifetime. I'll be speaking later today in Brisbane with Megan Davies and Aunty Pat Anderson. They spent their whole life struggling for recognition and trying to do better for their communities. It isn't too much to ask for Australians to look at the question, come to their own circumstances - Yes or No - but I hope sincerely that they decide that they are going to grasp that hand of friendship in reconciliation and vote Yes on October 14. Thank you.