Thanks, Prime Minister. So, what concerns do you have for the Alice Springs community, given the scenes we saw overnight after the arrest of a man of the death of a five year old girl?
PRIME MINISTER: It breaks your heart. And I spoke with Malarndirri McCarthy, our Minister who is on the ground there in Alice Springs with Marion Scrymgour, our local Federal MP. This is a community that are hurting. One of the things that Malarndirri said to me, though, was that we must remember that literally hundreds and hundreds of people came together to search for this young girl before the tragic result, and she was found. And so, this is community that are hurting, that need to come together. There's meetings there on the ground, as we speak right now, bringing together community leaders, the police, the health workers, the people at the hospital who had to deal with what occurred last night. And we want to see the community come together, but we certainly understand people's anger and frustration, and that that was expressed, but we want the community to come together.
JOURNALIST: What discussions has Australia had with the US about joining the latest proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz?
PRIME MINISTER: We'll have those discussions privately. We'll engage in anything that can assist. We're engaged with the United States, but we're also been participating in meetings that have been convened in London as well. We want to see the Strait of Hormuz open. We want to see international trade resume, because this is having a devastating impact on the global economy. It's impacting inflation here, as it is right around the world.
JOURNALIST: Are you open to Australian forces joining those efforts?
PRIME MINISTER: They haven't been, there hasn't been that determination. Look, we'll discuss those things respectfully. And what we want to see, though, is for a de-escalation. We want to see peace in the region, because that is in the interest of not just having an impact, of reducing the human impact of this conflict, it's also about the economic impact that the world is suffering from.
JOURNALIST: With respect to the post-Bondi Royal Commission, was it a mistake for ASIO to move funding away from counter-terrorism and towards foreign interference despite an overall increase in the funding of ASIO?
PRIME MINISTER: The fact is that all of the agencies since I've been Prime Minister have had increased funding, whether it be ASIO, the Australian Signals Directorate, the ASIS, or the Australian Federal Police. We'll continue to work through the Royal Commission, we'll continue to work through these issues. We've adopted all of the recommendations that relate to the Commonwealth in the Interim Report.
JOURNALIST: Have you offered the opposition a briefing on antisemitism?
PRIME MINISTER: They always get briefings. But the Royal Commission will do its work. They produce the report. I have not had a briefing from the Royal Commissioner, because they're independent of government.
JOURNALIST: What do you make of One Nation's chances in the Farrer by-election, and would the government be open to working with their candidate if they're successful in that election?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we work across the Parliament. But One Nation would not have the opportunity to be successful, were it not for the decision of the Liberal Party and the National Party to support One Nation by giving the One Nation candidate preferences. That's something that is completely contradictory to what John Howard did when he was Prime Minister, when One Nation were on the rise, way back in 1998 before they collapsed. One Nation has a history of people being elected to Parliament, including here in New South Wales, such as Mark Latham, and then there being a breakdown in those relationships.
JOURNALIST: What's your feeling of the sentiment in Farrer ahead of that by-election, and what are you hoping out of that?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, it's a matter for the people of Farrer. They are having a by-election, we must remember, because people got together and removed Sussan Ley as the leader of the Liberal Party before she even had a chance to give a Budget Reply, and she was never given an opportunity. The men in the Liberal Party gathered on the day of a funeral of one of their former colleagues in order to discuss who would replace Sussan Ley as the Leader of the Liberal Party. And they didn't give her a chance. That's why this by-election is occurring.
