Well, welcome everyone. Welcome to a beautiful Queensland winter day, I'm joined here with the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister actually secured the funding as Infrastructure Minister for the Red Cliff Railway Line, which has been an absolute asset to our community, getting people to the city to work right away. And now we've also got fifty cent fares, so that's amazing. And I'll hand over to the Prime Minister.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Fantastic. Well thanks, Emma and congratulations once again in winning back Petrie for the Labor Party, the first Labor member since 2013. I've visited this seat many times, both in opposition and in government, with my Infrastructure Minister, Catherine. The Red Cliff Rail Line was first promised in 1895, was promised over and over again over the decades. It took a Labor Government to commit the funding to start the infrastructure. It was opposed by the LNP, but we got it done. And as a direct result, there's now a railway, public transport, to this community in this beautiful part of Brisbane. It's fantastic to be here with Emma, and it's been great being able to talk with locals here at a local cafe this morning on what is a beautiful Queensland day. Certainly much warmer than it is in Canberra at the moment. And we also yesterday on my visit to Queensland, I want to say thank you to the hosts of the Ekka who welcomed us there. It was an opportunity to producers, to talk to people who produce the wonderful food and produce that goes onto our tables, as well as to present a an award to the rider of Max on the arena Showground there. It was an opportunity for regional Queensland to meet with urban Queensland. In addition to that, of course, we went to a house in Bonner and looked at the battery that is powering the, storing the energy from the solar panels on the roof of Teresa's house there, and that will make a difference. There's more than 5000 Queensland households that have taken up the offer, part of the 28,000 Australians who access that program for cheaper batteries since July one - in just a matter of weeks. That says how important this program is, just one of the measures that we're undertaking to deal with the cost of living. And yesterday's figures show that our plan is working. We now have inflation down, we have interest rates falling, real wages increasing, unemployment low, the economy continuing to grow - all meaning a difference for what is our number one priority, which is cost of living. Happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Hamas has released another statement this morning praising the government for the announcement on Monday recognising Palestine. Don't you think that undermines your claim that Palestinian statehood is not what Hamas wants?
PRIME MINISTER: Hamas do not want a two state solution. What they want is one state. And I noticed in the statement that's made today, they say that the alleged statement from the person yesterday is someone who's been in prison in Israel since October 2023 and has no means of communication. What that should be is a warning to the media of being very careful about the fact that Hamas will engage in propaganda. Because what is happening is the international community are united about isolating Hamas, about supporting a peaceful way forward.
JOURNALIST: The opposition has accused you of emboldening Hamas. What do you say to criticisms that you've given them a propaganda victory?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what I say is that they shouldn't repeat Hamas's propaganda because it is Hamas which will engage in propaganda because they are being isolated. Because the world is horrified by the events of October 7th and the world condemns and says, including the Arab League, has said that Hamas must be isolated, it must be disarmed, the hostages should be released and have condemned what occurred on October 7th. So I won't be a cheer squad for Hamas and for its statements. What I'll do is say that Hamas should be isolated and everyone in political life in Australia should be a part of that. And indeed I note that an opposition figure, the Opposition Leader had this to say in the past - she supported Palestinian statehood. She said she supported Palestinian statehood, to quote her, "because it will give heart to the ordinary people of the West Bank and Gaza." She went on to say "we must stand in solidarity with those seeking the non violent path to a secure Israel and an independent Palestine." And she went on to say this, "After two generations of strife and war, are we going to admit to our children that their parents could not even find a path to peace? Or worse still, that we didn't even try?." What the international community is saying now that there are three generations of people who have suffered from conflict in the Middle East, both Israeli and Palestinian, that we need to find a path to peace. And a path to peace is through a two state solution. We are seeing the alternative play out as it has been for 77 years. And the international community are saying enough is enough. Hamas must be isolated. We must find a way in which Israel can have security that is through a recognition by all the states around it of its right to continue to exist as a majority Jewish state going forward. And there must be the reasonable expectation of Palestinians to have, not what is going on now. People who look at Gaza can't just continue to say we'll just keep doing more of the same. We'll keep having more attacks, the hostages haven't been released. We need to isolate Hamas, but we do need to find a way forward. There's 147 countries have already recognised Palestine. A range of countries in the west, like minded countries, the United Kingdom, Germany, Malta, Italy are making statements. And some of those countries like the United Kingdom, France and Canada have made it clear that they want to see a path forward of a two state solution.
JOURNALIST: On your position that Hamas demilitarises, they've shown no intent to do so. None of the Arab League countries seem prepared to step up in Gaza. Is it the case that the only group that can actually disarm Hamas is the Israeli Defence Force?
PRIME MINISTER: The Arab League have stepped up and made a very clear statement and the Arab countries in the region have stepped up. Their statement was historic that they made weeks ago. And people who followed this debate know how significant that statement was.
JOURNALIST: Leaked advice from Treasury suggests that there are pre-written possible outcomes for next week's productivity roundtable. Is it just a waste of everyone's time?
PRIME MINISTER: Not at all. You'd expect Treasury to be giving advice about a forum that's about the economy. And what is happening in the lead up, there's been 41 different roundtables. Ideas are popping up all of the time. You're reporting on those ideas, those ideas are getting assessed as they're being made. I mean, government will make decisions, to be very clear, governments make decisions. What next week, though, is an opportunity for people to advance their ideas, to advance policies, and that's a really constructive thing. My government is unashamedly an open government. We're a government that wants to hear from people, that wants to engage with people. We're an inclusive government. And one of the things that we will do is continue to engage with the business community. I've had a number of meetings with the business community myself in the last week in which ideas have been put forward and they're very welcome.
JOURNALIST: Are you actually up for big reform, though? Or just tinkering around the edges of deregulation?
PRIME MINISTER: We're up for a range of reforms, but those decisions, of course, are up to government. There will be some things that are put forward that can be done immediately. Some things can be the result of legislation, some things will feed into next year's budget, some things will feed into a future commitments about future terms. We await those decisions. It's a good thing, and we encourage people to come forward with ideas. We don't want to have a rule in, rule out game. I've said before, quoted what is, I think, a pretty good quote historically, which is, 'if you think you're the smartest in the room, you're in the wrong room'. We want to open things up, we want to hear from people. Any ideas that you have for reform, we're happy to hear as well.
JOURNALIST: Labor previously criticised the last opposition for its proposal to pause the NCC, which has come out in these leaked documents, it's now been proposed in those leaked documents. Are you now open to that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, nothing's been proposed. Governments decide things. Let's be very clear, governments decide. There's no Cabinet documents out there, there's no Cabinet proposals. We're awaiting the forum, and ideas will then come through normal government processes. That's how good policy happens.
JOURNALIST: Is the government prepared to pause the NCC if that's decided at the roundtable?
PRIME MINISTER: We're not playing this game. There's a meeting next week, we'll hear from ideas coming forward and ideas are a good thing and we should encourage them. One of the things that happens is that there are various editorials will be written that say government should be up for ideas, and as soon as ideas are put forward by anyone, you're asked, is that government policy, is it not? Well no, government policy is what we took to the election. But we're up for ideas, we're up for consideration of things that are put forward. Thanks very much.
