I'm joined by Senator for Tasmania, Tammy Tyrrell. Tammy Tyrrell is a great Tasmanian and a great Australian. And at 12:30, Tammy Tyrrell will be admitted through the National Executive Committee as a member of the Australian Labor Party and will join the team that is our dynamic Labor Government. She will join the team in Tasmania that's so strong. Tammy has successfully participated in the Senate and been a good faith negotiator making a difference for Tasmania, as an Independent. Tammy helped to retain the Australian Wine Tourism and Cellar Door Grants program. She campaigned for a review in aged care. She's been an advocate about cost-of-living pressures facing Tasmanians and she's someone who has spent her life helping others. People across Tasmania know her as a fighter. She's someone who's warm, genuinely funny and compassionate. She also never gives up on people. She's someone that I've developed a relationship with over a period of time since her election to the Senate, as I do across the House of Representatives and the Senate. She's someone who doesn't mince her words. She stands up for people and now she will bring that advocacy into the Labor Party as a member of the Labor Caucus and will be able to sit and participate as a member of the Government to be more effective in getting things done. I'll hand over to Senator Tyrrell and then we're happy to take just a couple of questions.
TAMMY TYRRELL, SENATOR FOR TASMANIA: Thanks for coming along. I truly appreciate it. I'm proud to join Labor. The Senate is an interesting place to live, work and play and the people within here are amazing human beings. And as a Senator for Tasmania, I want to have a seat at the table where I can make the most change and bring back the good stuff to Tasmania. Born and bred in Tasmania. I know exactly where I'm going to retire down there. I know which gin distillery is my favourite and I know exactly what Tasmanians are wanting out of this current government and the people that represent it. Tasmania has 12 senators and we represent our state loudly and proudly. And that's what I want to do for the next two years of my term and maybe into the next term as well. I'm not going to apologise to anybody for joining Labor. It's a good fit. I supported Labor very, you know, regularly over the last four years. But I've also pushed back when things for Tasmania is important and I will still do that, but I'll do it respectfully and calmly within caucus and I'm very proud to be a Labor girl.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] was that you'd bring trust back to politics, you'd keep your word, and you wouldn't mislead the public. Have you kept the faith with this promise or was it a political line to get elected?
PRIME MINISTER: We've changed our position when it comes to negative gearing and - hang on. You get to ask the question Greg, and you're first so be satisfied with that. It's a win, Greg, it's a win for you. So, we have changed our position. We've changed our position but we're still making sure that we look after people who have existing investments by making sure that there's a grandfathering of negative gearing. But also, we're making sure that negative gearing can continue. The difference between negatively gearing an existing property and a new property is that if someone goes out there and invests in an existing property they can build their wealth and build their assets and help themselves. If they invest in a new property, what they're doing is investing in themselves and their future assets but they're also investing in the nation because they're helping with supply and we have thrown everything that we can at supply. Clearly we needed to do more.
JOURNALIST: Senator Tyrrell, you say that you're not going to apologise to anyone, but a lot of voters hate this stuff. They hate what you've just done. They vote for an Independent because they want a voice in the Parliament that is not the major parties, and then that person turns their back on their independence and joins the major parties. Don't you need to apologise to those people who elected you to do a particular job, you're now not going to do?
TYRRELL: I am still doing that job. It's an interesting way to phrase a question though. The people of Tasmania need strong voices who are not afraid to admit when things need to be changed. They need to have people in the Parliament that are willing to modify, change, cooperate and collaborate. And that's what I've done in the last four years. In my very first maiden speech, I said that I'm not going to be judged by the media for flip flopping, in your terms. The information in front of you, on every single day in this place changes. And the country, Tasmania, the Parliament has changed in my four years here as a Senator. And I know that Tasmanians understand that change is important and there are people who are not going to like what I've done, but the people who elect me are always going to get value for money, respect and the best out of me and the Government.
JOURNALIST: Senator Tyrrell, were you approached by the Prime Minister or the Labor Party? Or did the Labor Party - or did you approach them? How did this process go and how did it break down?
TYRRELL: Well, there's been lots of rumours about me joining many parties within this Parliament in the last year. I've always had respectful and open conversations with everybody within this Parliament. There's been many times when members of Labor have said to me in the last two years, join Labor. You'd be welcome, you'd be good, you'd be great. But I needed to find a fit and be ready to change. And now is the time to change. To have a seat at the powerful table of the Government where things can happen for the people of Tasmania and I can make real, tangible impacts there. That's important. I have found a good home. I align - if you look at my voting record, I have aligned with Labor quite a bit in the past, so it's a natural fit.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you're going over to WA next week. You've repeatedly said that -
PRIME MINISTER: I'm going everywhere next week.
JOURNALIST: You've repeatedly said that WA will get its fair share of the GST. Can you guarantee that when you're over at the west, or will there be another backflip?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on - you've told us a lot about housing supply. You've thrown everything at it - have you? Because your Infrastructure Australia, which you created, says that there's 131,000 shortage of building tradespeople. That's going to increase next year, on its projection to 300,000. You've got, I believe, about 80,000 young people in training for building trades. I'm just confused. That doesn't add up. Who's going to build all these houses?
PRIME MINISTER: We've thrown everything at it, including for the workforce. And that's why we have Free TAFE, some 800,000. And Free TAFE applies only in areas of skill shortage. So, what we're doing is training people across the building trades in particular. And I was in a TAFE in Queensland, the largest in the Southern hemisphere, the one in the electorate of Moreton, just last week. And there what I met with, was tradies doing carpentry and joinery, people doing electrical. And on top of getting Free TAFE, we're providing a $10,000 incentive in construction and electrical in order to make sure that people can go into those careers. And the good thing about it is, I've met just not just young people straight out of school. One of the people I met in Victoria at the TAFE in the electorate of Deakin was someone who was almost at the end of their legal process at university. They were a last year law student, who decided, having spent four years at university, that they actually wanted to make something with their hands. They actually wanted to see the products. And that is what we are doing. We are throwing everything at the labour market as well as throwing everything at supply, whether it's Building Australia Future Fund with public housing, whether it be the Build to Rent Scheme for private rentals, or whether it be the infrastructure, including the $2 billion we announced as part of Tuesday night's Budget for extra sewerage and water and energy and last roads as well. We'll continue to do that.
JOURNALIST: Is throwing everything at the supply mean you consider backing the ACTU who are calling for a 6 per cent wage increase to minimum wage earners and award earners, given tradies are among the lowest paid?
PRIME MINISTER: We decide our policies and wages are decided by the Fair Work Commission.
JOURNALIST: Do you support a 6 per cent -
PRIME MINISTER: Wages are decided by the Fair Work Commission.
JOURNALIST: How should voters approach Labor's promises, at the next election? Is scepticism required now that the Government's changed its position on such a fundamental promise?
PRIME MINISTER: We have been up front about the fact that we've changed our position, like we changed our position on the fuel excise, which was a major issue at the last election. I mean, Peter Dutton was in a petrol station almost every day talking about cutting the fuel excise and Government responded to that earlier this year by changing our position and cutting the fuel excise. We've changed our position on this. We're upfront about it. It is the right thing to do when it comes to the substance of the policy and we're not prepared to sit back and say we know that there's an ongoing issue with first home buyers and with young people getting into housing and that that's of concern to them, but also to their parents and grandparents and say we're just going to kick this can down the road. What we're doing is we worked out a way to do it that doesn't disadvantage people who've made existing investments. They will continue because of the grandfathering. But we've also found a way as well for negative gearing to continue, importantly, to continue. But by doing it just for new homes, what you do is not just assist the investor, you assist the nation as well.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, question for Senator Tyrrell. Will you seek re-election for Labor as a Senator in 2028 and do you still oppose the social media ban?
TYRRELL: Yes, I will be running if I am able to at the next election because I believe that Tasmania needs a strong voice and what was your second question, sorry? Social media ban. It's one of those things, I believe that children should have an education so that they are safer, be it driving a car, learning to swim. There are times when I have not agreed in the past, but this is a fresh start. Moving forward, I will do all that I can to make sure that Labor and I do good work.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, while most of the journalists in this building were in the Budget lockup, the Government published a report on aged care wait times. It showed that it's blown out to a year. Senator Tyrrell, you might be aware that in the south of Tasmania the average waiting time is now 381 days from assessment to receiving service. Prime Minister, why was that report put out at that time and is it acceptable to you that older Australians are waiting a year or more to get the help that they need?
PRIME MINISTER: The state of aged care isn't good enough. That's why we're throwing everything at it. That's why we have billions of dollars of additional funding in the Budget, both for home care but also for aged care residents. We inherited a system that was defined by one word in the interim report of the Royal Commission and that one word was 'neglect'. Since then, what we have done is pay people properly for a start because people were not going to have - aged care residents weren't going to be able to continue without a workforce. Now that has led to literally many billions of dollars, double digits of additional Commonwealth funding to make sure that we have a workforce. We committed to putting nurses back into nursing homes. We had that 99 per cent of the time. People said that wasn't possible. And we're also throwing extra funding at home care as well. We know that there's more work to do but we have passed through this Parliament at the end of the last term, we passed the most significant aged care reforms that have been passed this century. This had been an area of neglect. My Government is improving it and will continue to do so. Thanks very much. Thank you.
