DAVID ELLIOT, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, AUSTRALIAN AGE OF DINOSAURS MUSEUM: Prime Minister, welcome to Winton. It’s a bloody pleasure to have you, finally got you here. So we've been going for 20 years and we finally got a Prime Minister here, because Anthony Albanese is the first.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Fantastic thank you, David. I got to meet David in January, on January 25, on the eve of Australia Day, where David was announced as the Local Hero of the Year for the whole of Australia. And I promised there that evening that I'd come and have a look at this magnificent Dinosaur Museum and whole scene here. The Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum, that is a fantastic tourist attraction here in Winton, but also, of course makes a big difference to the local economy here, but it's also a way of educating us about science and about evolution and about those giant creatures that roamed this magnificent part of Australia, that looked a lot different, so many thousands of years ago. So this is a real treat for me, and I do want to thank David and his team for the very warm welcome that we've received here in Winton. I want to be the Prime Minister of the whole of Australia. To make sure that I visit and talk with people from not just our capital cities and our regional towns, but the more remote places that make up this wonderful country, this best country on Earth. And when you come to places like Winton – I want to thank the Mayor who came to say g'day with us today as well and to show us around her beautiful town – it is an opportunity to engage with locals but also with visitors here in Winton, and it's been a real treat and this wonderful Museum and space here can be even greater in the future. I'm sure David and volunteers here who we’ve met who are working, giving up their own hours just to make a difference and to contribute to this local community.
JOURNALIST: Very quick trip to Winton. You’ve had a quick chat to the Mayor, any other issues, topics about Western Queensland and regional Australia that you're focusing on (inaudible)?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we know is that Western Queensland has an enormous opportunity to grow. We're going to have a look at the Waltzing Matilda exhibition after this. You've got the QANTAS facility there just at Longreach, just down the road here and I've been a visitor to this part of Queensland on a number of occasions. Cloncurry has a magnificent museum and community centre and art gallery that was funded when I was the Infrastructure Minister. We have Mount Isa where I was able to visit the world's largest rodeo that takes place in the Southern Hemisphere last year. And that was a real treat, where I went with Bob Katter. I've been to Hughenden where there's enormous growth as well in renewables, and the CopperString Project will make a huge difference in Western Queensland going right through to Townsville. This is a great part of Australia, and it's a real opportunity to engage with locals while I'm here.
JOURNALIST: Regional living is fantastic but not without its challenges – cost of living, groceries, petrol. Are these the sorts of things we need to be looking at to keep people in the regions and in fact attract more?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, absolutely. And that's one of the reasons why on cost of living when people get their pay packets during this fortnight, they’ll notice that it's gone up because we're providing a tax cut for every taxpayer. Every resident around here as well, every household, will receive the $1,300 in Energy Bill Relief from the Queensland Government and the Federal Government. That's why, as well, we're making sure that wages have increased for those people who are on award wages. We want Australians, including those in these regional communities, to earn more and keep more of what they earn.
JOURNALIST: Next plans for a regional trip, or are we getting ahead of ourselves?
PRIME MINISTER: From here, we're off to Townsville, in a short period of time, and that will be a real opportunity – we'll be announcing our candidate for Herbert there. But I'm a regular visitor to regional Queensland. It is such an amazing part and it’s a diverse part. We're here in Western Queensland, just a short time ago I was at Beef Week there in Rocky. It's always fantastic to visit regional Queensland because people are always friendly, they're engaged, and they're really passionate about making a contribution of this great country of Australia.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, a few quick ones from my colleagues in Canberra. Why was there a delay in Labor taking action relating to the CFMEU allegations when premiers has acted without setting up meetings?
PRIME MINISTER: There's no delay whatsoever. We have had very swift action. We have announced administrators into all of the New South Wales, Victorian, Tasmanian, South Australian and Queensland branches off the CFMEU. Where we see corrupt conduct, we want it stamped out. And that's why we've taken this direct action very swiftly.
JOURNALIST: Why should the CFMEU not be deregistered, given the allegations we've heard and what do you say to concerns that your actions haven't gone far enough, even if donations are banned?
PRIME MINISTER: Well donations have been banned. And what we've done is to make sure that we've taken the strongest possible action. Deregistration would result in the union still being able to operate but without being regulated properly. We want to make sure that we stamp out corruption, that we take action that's effective. Unlike, for example, the Royal Commission that was held into trade unions, where Bill Shorten gave evidence for two days, Julia Gillard, the former Prime Minister, was called to give evidence but John Setka – who was then the Secretary of the Victorian Branch of the CFMEU, and during the period of the last Government increased his power in that Branch – wasn't even called to give evidence. What we need to make sure is that we get this right and take tough action, not just tough rhetoric with no action, which is what we saw from the former Government.
JOURNALIST: With the Fortescue job cuts announced and Twiggy Forrest going cold on green hydrogen, what do these things mean for your energy plan?
PRIME MINISTER: Our energy plan is on track. We want to make sure that we deliver the clean energy that Australia needs and that when coal fired power stations closed, as they've announced their closure, there isn't a gap in the energy security that Australia needs. That's why we need a real plan that's fully costed, and that's being rolled out with the certainty being provided for investment. Thank you.