Renee Coffey:
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the south side of Brisbane. My name is Renee Coffey and I am Labor’s candidate for Griffith. I’m very excited to be here this morning to announce some significant funding here in the south side for housing. I’m joined here with the Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Housing Minister Clare O’Neil, and also Jenny McAllister. So, it’s very exciting to be able to talk about this record investment in housing here in the south side. It’s something that the Albanese Labor government is incredibly passionate about and about delivering for Australians and also for us here in the south side. So, I’ll hand over to Clare.
Clare O’Neil:
Wonderful. Renee, thanks so much. And thanks, Jim, for having us in your beautiful patch on the south side of Brisbane. And I’m really pleased to be here today with a really important announcement in this local area. Today, our government’s announcing an investment of about $6 million which will go to Housing for Change.
Housing for Change is an absolutely extraordinary organisation and we’ve got Kirsty here who’s going to talk to us a little bit about what’s done here. But it’s not just about making sure that we provide that amazing support to women who are fleeing situations of really serious violence, but also innovation in construction methods that means that these houses can be built incredibly quickly. So, it’s a really exciting story and something that our government is very, very pleased and proud to support.
Family violence is a scourge on our society. And that’s why our government has taken such strong action over the last 3 years to deliver more crisis and transitional housing for women who desperately need it. We’ve just announced $100 million in funding around the country. That brings our government’s total investment up to $1.2 billion just for crisis and transitional accommodation. I want to say that this is an incredibly important contrast with what happened in the period before we were in government. In that period, we’ve been in government for 3 years. We’ve invested $1.2 billion, that is 20 times as much as the Coalition invested in this type of housing in their entire 9 years in office.
Now, we know that Australian women say that the main reason that they don’t leave a violent relationship is because they don’t have safe housing to go to. And our government is making this investment to ensure that we can address that problem. Of course, that’s just a part of Labor’s broader commitment to building more homes for more Australians. $32 billion, which is making sure that we build, build, build, because the number one thing we can do to resolve the housing crisis that improves the lives of Australians is make sure that we build more housing because more housing means more affordable housing for Australians. We’re helping renters through those significant increases to Commonwealth Rent Assistance and supporting the states to get a better deal. And of course, we’re helping more Aussies into home ownership.
More than 200 Australians have got into home ownership through the Home Guarantee Scheme since we’ve been in government. Now, that’s just in the first 3 years. We have got a lot more work to do and a lot of this is at risk if Peter Dutton is elected leader of our country later this year. We heard Peter Dutton on Insiders this morning and he was being very, very sketchy about the way that he’s going to approach the federal Budget. But there’s one thing that we do know, and that is that this man wants to cut $19 billion of funding to housing in the middle of a housing crisis. What a ridiculously silly thing to do. Australians are in really urgent need and that is why our government is standing beside them taking on Australia’s housing crisis and trying to work to alleviate the housing pressures that are on Australians. We’ve heard in recent days also, Mr Dutton come forward and say a few things about immigration – and it’s starting to paint a very confusing picture to Australians about where this guy stands. He was caught yesterday in Melbourne bragging about how he was the minister that delivered more visas than any other minister in Australian history. He’s got to come clean about what his plans are when he’s in government. He’s saying one thing behind closed doors and another to Australian citizens. And he needs to come forward and clarify exactly what he’s going to do.
I’ll leave it there and hand over to Jim.
Jim Chalmers:
We’re going to hear from Kirsty and then I’ll round it up.
Kirsty Rourke:
Thank you. Thank you so much. Minister, we are so grateful for the opportunity to build 16 transitional homes for women escaping domestic violence. This is such an important – there’s such an important need at the moment. And we’re also really grateful to be partnering with some incredible local domestic violence service providers. So, we’re partnering with Broken to Brilliant. We’re partnering with Micah Projects and we’re partnering with Broken to Brilliant and Socii, so bringing a community of people together to help to help solve this issue and get women back on their feet.
So, thank you to the government for this funding. It’s incredible news. We are very excited. We’ll be delivering modular homes, so we’ll be doing it quickly. And thank you very much.
Chalmers:
Well, thank you very much, Kirsty, for all the work that you and all of the colleagues and friends here do on behalf of people who are fleeing family and domestic violence. The community is safer and more secure because of your efforts, and we couldn’t be more enthusiastic in supporting you and supporting all of the groups represented here in this wonderful collection of organisations.
Before I say a few things about housing, I just wanted to acknowledge that in addition to Kirsty and Housing Minister Clare O’Neil, we’ve also got Jenny McAllister joining Renee Coffey here too. And Jenny McAllister is here because she is the Minister responsible for responding to natural disasters like what we are seeing now north of us here in Queensland. So, I wanted to thank Jenny for being here to take your questions, but also for meeting with the relevant management group this morning in Brisbane and for all of your efforts, all of your leadership, along with the Prime Minister.
People in North Queensland are going through a really difficult time. Queenslanders are tough and resilient people, but at times like these it can be really difficult. And it is an anxious wait today as the Ross and Herbert and other rivers rise. There’ll be a lot of anxious people, and we are thinking particularly of the loved ones of the woman whose life was lost in Ingham. But we are thinking of everyone affected by natural disasters to the north of us here in Queensland. In difficult times like this, Queenslanders are there for each other and your federal government is there for you as well. We are already rolling out assistance to people affected by these natural disasters. And if and when more assistance is necessary, we will be there for you as well. Our hearts go out to everyone affected here, particularly the loved ones of the woman whose life was lost in Ingham.
It will be an anxious few days, first as the rivers come up and then as there is the cleanup. And Jenny, Prime Minister Albanese, myself, the whole government, will be there for the people of Queensland as they go through another difficult time. They’re no strangers to these kinds of natural disasters and we will be there for them once again. And that’s a real theme today. Because what we’re talking about now in terms of crisis and transitional housing is making sure that we fulfil our responsibilities to Australians, making sure that we are helping to make more people, especially more women, safe and secure and also at the same time to help them with the cost of living.
These 16 new homes are an important part of the millions of dollars that Clare O’Neil, the Housing Minister, is announcing. But also as Clare said, part of a $1.2 billion investment in less than 3 years in crisis and transitional housing. And that is 20 times more than our predecessors managed. That shows just how seriously we are taking this challenge, just how enthusiastic we are as partners with the people represented here and the organisations represented here. We want to make it easier for people to rent, easier for people to buy, and we want to take care of people when they’re in difficult times. And that’s what this very substantial investment is all about. More homes for Australians, coming at this housing challenge from every conceivable angle. Such is the magnitude of this challenge.
Here, as Clare did, I wanted to draw an important contrast. The Labor government, led by Anthony Albanese, is focused on the cost of living and housing and strengthening Medicare. Peter Dutton and the Coalition are focused on cuts and conflict and culture wars. And here the difference is very, very stark. And again, as Clare said, Peter Dutton was given multiple opportunities today to come clean on the cuts that he has planned if he wins the election. We call on Peter Dutton to come clean on his cuts and what they mean for Medicare and pensions and housing and what they mean for jobs. Now, Peter Dutton, has made a decision to have a series of very harsh cuts, but he won’t tell you what they are until the election and that makes him a very, very big risk. He talks about $350 billion too much spending. That includes our investments in Medicare and housing and pension indexation and all of the essentials that people rely on, like in communities like this one on the south side as Renee Coffey and others, we all know that people are under pressure.
Now, if Peter Dutton had his way, Australians would be thousands of dollars worse off, and they will be worse off still if he wins. And that’s because he hasn’t come clean on his cuts to Medicare and housing and pensions, or his attacks on wages, or the fact that his nuclear insanity will push energy prices up, not down. And here there’s a very important point to be made. Peter Dutton will cut Medicare to pay for nuclear. There is no $350 billion in cuts, with cuts which doesn’t involve coming after Medicare, coming after housing or coming after pensions. He wants to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on nuclear energy, which will push energy prices up, not down, and he will cut Medicare to pay for it. And that’s why he’s not coming clean.
The parliament’s going to be sitting for the next couple of weeks. This is the perfect opportunity for Peter Dutton to come clean on his secret cuts to pay for nuclear. On his secret costings when it comes to taxpayer funded long lunches for bosses and also his secret agenda for more migration, not less migration. He’s behind a microphone, he says he’s for less migration. When he’s behind closed doors, he says he’s for more. He needs to come clean. What’s he been telling his donors about the visas that he will provide them if he is elected later this year. So, Peter Dutton’s got some very serious questions to answer this week and the week after. He should start by telling people what these cuts are and what they mean. His secret agenda for cuts can only mean one thing and that is Australians are worse off. They would already be worse off if he had his way. They’ll be much worse off if he wins the election. And that is part of what the election is going to be all about.
Happy to take some questions.
Speaker:
Peter Dutton says that PM wasn’t told about the Dural caravan because NSW Police thought his office would leak it. What do you think of this?
Chalmers:
Peter Dutton is always trying to politicise these issues. He’s always looking for conflict and culture wars because he doesn’t have any answers on the cost of living or housing or the issues that matter so much to so many Australians. When it comes to the specifics of that matter, the Prime Minister has responded to a number of questions on that, as have I, and I don’t propose to add to it today.
Speaker:
You spoke about Peter Dutton’s potential slashes of funding. Do you think that there are efficiency changes that can be made to the public service? Does it need to be scaled up?
Chalmers:
We’re not talking about potential cuts. He says that there’s $350 billion too much spending in the Commonwealth budget and in that $350, $350 billion is the indexation of the age pension, our efforts to help veterans, our investments in housing, our investments in Medicare. So, this is a very real risk to household budgets and to communities right around Australia. The reason he won’t come clean on his secret cuts is because he knows if people knew what they were, they wouldn’t vote for him. And it beggars belief. It is extraordinary that he is saying to the Australian people he wants to cut $350 billion, but they have to wait until after the election before he would tell them what that is. This is another example of the very real risk that Peter Dutton poses to Australian families and pensioners and workers. We know he’s a risk because we know his record when he was the Health Minister, he came after Medicare. Coalition governments always go after wages. And we know that his nuclear power policy would push up electricity prices.
Speaker:
Peter Dutton has called for a review into the discovery of the van full of explosives in Sydney. Why won’t the Prime Minister reveal when or if he was briefed on that before it became public?
Chalmers:
It’s the same answer I gave to your colleague a moment ago. Peter Dutton is always looking for conflict and division and culture wars over these sorts of issues. We work very methodically, very professionally with the agencies who are involved in these sorts of very serious developments, incredibly serious developments, and we work on the advice of those agencies.
I saw part of Peter Dutton’s interview this morning, and he is just so desperate to pick fights and cause conflict and picket divisions in our society because he doesn’t want anyone to ask him what his secret agenda is for cuts or for migration or to explain to people that he will have to cut Medicare to pay for nuclear. These are the questions he wants to avoid. And that’s why he’s always looking for this kind of conflict and culture war to take the attention off his cuts.
Speaker:
There’s been another antisemitic attack in Sydney [indistinct].
Chalmers:
We have poured a lot of resources and a lot of effort into responding to and preventing these sorts of completely unacceptable incidents that we are seeing all too frequently in our society. There is absolutely no place for antisemitism in our society, in a community like ours. We have taken a number of steps and poured more resources into combating antisemitism. We’re working very closely with the authorities. And that’s appropriate at a time when there is a very legitimate and very understandable level of fear in the Jewish community and in the community more broadly.
Speaker:
President Trump’s tariffs are now in place on Canada, Mexico, China. Are you expecting this decision to impact Australia in any significant way?
Chalmers:
These are very significant developments, but they’re not surprising developments. These were some of the steps that President Trump flagged in the campaign. We did a lot of work behind the scenes to make sure that we were well placed and well prepared for these sorts of developments. When you get a new administration in the United States, you expect different policies, and that’s what we’re seeing here. We are confident in our ability to navigate those different policies. As I said, we are well placed and well prepared. And one of the reasons we’re well placed is because we have a mutually beneficial economic relationship with the United States. The US has been running a trade surplus with us since the Truman administration, since 1952. We work very closely on areas of mutual economic interest. We’re confident that we can navigate these significant but not especially surprising announcements made by President Trump in the last day or so.
Speaker:
Peter Dutton says he’ll cap public servants at 200,000 jobs. What will this mean for service provisions and jobs?
Chalmers:
Peter Dutton will put a wrecking ball through household budgets, and he’ll put a wrecking ball through jobs. And that will have a devastating impact on the services that Australians rely on. What Katy Gallagher, my colleague, has been doing to her credit, has been taking contractors and consultants, winding them down so that we can invest in the services that people desperately need and deserve in communities like this one. And Peter Dutton wants to pretend that the 36,000 public servants that he wants to axe all live in Canberra and all do a very narrow kind of job. But what he’s really talking about is axing service provision in suburbs and communities like ours. And that will have a devastating impact. People will be waiting longer on the phone. People will be waiting longer for the services that they need and deserve. That’s because he wants to indiscriminately cut jobs not in Canberra, but right around Australia.
Speaker:
Senator McAllister, could you just give us a bit of an update on what’s happening in Far North Queensland?
Jenny McAllister:
Look, it has been a really difficult couple of days for Queenslanders and the advice is that there is more rain to fall in those northern areas. We are working hand in glove with the Queensland authorities to understand what kind of support might be provided. I want to say at the outset, how grateful we are to all of the first responders who have been involved so far in the work that’s been going on the ground. The news this morning that a person has died in floodwater is obviously incredibly upsetting. That will be a very, very difficult thing to process for the tight knit community in Ingham. And my heart really goes out to that person’s friends and their family. This will be a very difficult day for them.
From an Australian Government perspective, we don’t lead this response, but we do wish to be good partners to the Queensland Government. We have positioned one of our 3 heavy lift helicopters in Far North Queensland so that you can undertake work there. We, of course, are also activating financial assistance for the councils that are affected in Cairns, in Townsville, in Palm, in Burdekin. And we also indicated we can work with the Crisafulli government to provide personal hardship support to residents in Gordonvale and also in designated parts of Townsville.
This is really just the beginning. We are here for the response. I’ve been in regular conversation with my counterparts here in Queensland. We’ll also be here for the recovery because we know that when a natural disaster occurs in a community, it can take time for a community to get back on its feet. We want Queenslanders to know that Albanese government will be there with them as we move into that process.
Chalmers:
Thanks very much. Thank you, everyone.