DR MIKE FREELANDER, MEMBER FOR MACARTHUR: It's been fantastic to have the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese out to the Macarthur electorate today to open the Shepherd Center in Macarthur, which is world's best practice hearing management for children with hearing loss, including babies born with congenital deafness. And really great day today, a fantastic group of people, fantastic group of kids in the most fertile area of New South Wales. So wonderful to have Anthony Albanese here today. I'm very grateful to him for the support he's giving to kids and young families. So without further ado, I'd like to welcome Anthony Albanese.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, thanks so much, Mike. And it's great to be in your hood yet again with yourself and Anne Stanley, and also to be here with our fantastic Minister for Health, Mark Butler. Today is a really uplifting day. You see the opportunity that getting access to hearing, something that so many of us take for granted, makes a difference to a young person like Katia’s life. What it does is enable them to, by the time they start school, have the same opportunities in literacy, numeracy and participation in the life of a young person that everyone should have. And the Shepherd Center do such a remarkable job. Talking today with the workers here at this Center, we see the practical difference that this makes. I committed during the election campaign that no one should be left behind, and there's no person more important than a young child having access to hearing and having access to those opportunities in life that flow from the wonderful work that the Shepherd Center do. It's a reminder, as well, of another theme of my government, which is a future made in Australia. Cochlear implants are a wonderful Australian scientific invention. They have made such an extraordinary difference to people's lives not just here, but around the world, and it's a source of great Australian pride. Finally, can I say there's another issue of great Australian pride this morning, with Gold and Silver in the women's 200 meters for Mollie O'Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus. To see them on the podium together is an extraordinary achievement, and to see the camaraderie that they have with each other as well is absolutely wonderful. I'm sure that Australians will continue to stay up late and get up early to watch the Olympics and then the Paralympics over coming weeks. Happy to take a few questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on the Cabinet reshuffle, ten years ago Tony Burke as Immigration Minster at the time, he oversaw eighty boat arrivals carrying more than 6000 people. What has Labor learned since then? And why do you have faith that he’s the right man for the job given that track record?
PRIME MINISTER: Tony Burke, and indeed when I was Deputy Prime Minister, reinstituted policy that led to people going to Papua New Guinea. We have implemented Operation Sovereign Borders, as we said we would do each and every day. Tony Burke is someone who has been successful in everything he has done and undertaken. He already has hit the ground running, he's there in Indonesia. And the only people who are a cheer squad for people smugglers are some of the Coalition members who consistently try to talk Australia down. That's not my approach. It wasn't my approach when I was the Labor leader prior to the last election. It's not my approach as the Labor Prime Minister.
JOURNALIST: Are you hopeful he can stem the flow of illegal fishermen and boats?
PRIME MINISTER: There isn't a single person been settled here, so the figure is zero since I came to government. Zero.
JOURNALIST: Did Andrew Giles and Clare O'Neil disappoint you in their previous roles?
PRIME MINISTER: No, they inherited what was a dysfunctional department and dysfunctional system as identified by not just one, but three reports. A trinity of reports, including from Martin Parkinson, from Christine Nixon and from Dennis Richardson, all outlined what a dysfunctional system it was because the former government was always obsessed by politics, as they're obsessed by the people who forward you the questions that you ask at these press conferences. Are obsessed by politics, not obsessed by outcomes or looking at Australia's national interest. Andrew Giles had to preside over a decision of the High Court. It's extraordinary that you have people in this country who dismiss the separation of powers between the judiciary and the political system.
JOURNALIST: What's the government's latest travel advice to Lebanon and those residing there?
PRIME MINISTER: The travel advice very clearly is don't go to Lebanon. That is the travel advice. And also that people who are there who are Australian citizens should ensure that they take advantage of the commercial flights that are available out of Lebanon at this time. This is a troubling area. We have been issuing these travel warnings for many months now and it is important that people are cognisant of those warnings.
JOURNALIST: Could tomorrow's inflation figure make or break the government's re-election chances if it causes rates to rise?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're dealing with cost of living pressures. We know that inflation peaked at 2.1 per cent in the March 2022 quarter. In just one quarter. That was prior to us coming to office. The response of the former government was to produce a stimulatory budget in March in which they splashed money around trying to win an election in May 2022. What my government's response has been stands in stark contrast. Instead of the massive Liberal deficits, we have had consecutive Labor surpluses. We have done that whilst achieving cost of living support. Tax cuts for all 13.6 million Australian taxpayers, $300 energy price bill relief, cheaper child care, fee free TAFE, and as well supporting, importantly, wages increasing. Real wage increases, more so in our two years in office than occurred under the almost decade in office of the previous Coalition government. We want Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn. We want that so that pressure can be taken off cost of living. So all of our cost of living measures, importantly, designed in a way that put that downward pressure on inflation - and that stands in stark contrast. A $78 billion deficit, we turned into a $22 billion surplus. A $100 billion turnaround in just one year.
JOURNALIST: Has your decision to appoint a new Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations delayed further action on the CFMEU?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Are your tax cuts fuelling inflation? Does the government need to take responsibility rather than leaving it to everyday Australians?
PRIME MINISTER: No. Tax cuts, what they're doing is they're helping Australians. And bear in mind, the previous mob had the same level of tax cuts. They had $106 billion over the forwards. Ours are worth $107 billion over the forwards. I tell you the difference, the difference is that I'm getting half the tax cut that I would have got under the Liberals plans, as does every Member of Parliament. But the people who are working part time in this centre, helping young people, are getting a tax cut. They were not going to get a cent. Average workers are getting double the tax cut they were going to get. But because of two factors - because unlike the cash splashes that were favoured by the coalition, all about politics, the real wage improvements as a result of tax cuts flow through in fortnightly payments or monthly payments or weekly payments, depending upon what people, workers details are. But they're not a splash into the economy. They occur over a period of time. And also they're the same amounts that were factored in, which is why we kept the $107 billion of tax cuts, the same amount that had been budgeted for under the unfair Liberal tax cuts that had previously been in place. The additional factor that will happen is that our tax cuts, because they're aimed primarily at assisting low and middle income earners more, will increase workforce participation, so they're good for the economy. And that was the advice, clearly, that we received from Treasury when we were redesigning the system in a way to make it fairer. Good for families, good for the economy as it goes forward.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Rex is in a trading halt and may go into administration. Is the government prepared to bail the airline out, given how important it is to regional communities?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we are concerned about Rex. It's an important regional airline. What we will do though, is examine any proposals. Rex received substantial government support with no conditions attached. One of the things that I expressed concern about was that no conditions. So that Rex, for example, moved away from their traditional role of being a regional airline into flights, for example, from Sydney to Melbourne. Now, Sydney to Melbourne has been always in the top ten routes in the world and at one stage was the highest number of flights of any two destinations in the world. It consistently has been in the top four. Now Rex as a regional airline, of course, provides important links with regional communities, and particularly between capital cities and regional communities. It's important for those local economies. So we want to see the aviation industry in Australia continue to be one that provides those services and that access. But we know with Rex, we are engaging as a government through the department and through Minister King, who I've spoken with again this morning, I met with yesterday afternoon about these issues, and certainly we will continue to work these issues through.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, are you going to rein in spending rather than leaving the pain to everyday Australians?
PRIME MINISTER: We've had two surpluses. They're the first surpluses that have occurred since you started reporting on these issues. When was the last surplus under a Liberal government? They promised one in 2013. That was the platform in which they were elected. They promised a surplus in the first year and every year thereafter. That was a clear commitment of Tony Abbott. One of the reasons, perhaps, why Tony Abbott didn't make it to two years as Prime Minister was they produced budget deficits in record amounts. The largest deficits on record are all there for everyone to see from the former government. What we've done is produce a budget surplus and followed it up with another budget surplus. That's because of the discipline that my government has had, and that discipline is having, of course, that downward pressure on inflation, making sure that fiscal policy works with monetary policy. Thanks very much.