E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
ALBERT PARK
SUNDAY, 13 JANUARY 2019
SUBJECTS: Funding for juvenile diabetes research; Kakadu announcement; Australia Day; Emma Husar; Superannuation; Labor’s plans to reform Australia's taxation system.
JOSH BURNS, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR MACNAMARA: Thank you everyone for coming, it's a really lovely day here in Albert Park and I have the great pleasure of welcoming Bill Shorten, the leader of the Labor Party and our Shadow Minister for Health, Catherine King to the beautiful Albert Park. We've just spent a bit of time with some families and some really inspiring kids living with type one diabetes and Catherine and Bill have made some really exciting announcements so it gives me great pleasure to hand over to the Leader of the Labor Party, Bill Shorten.
BILL SHORTEN, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Hello everybody and might I say it's fantastic to be back off leave, I'm refreshed and reenergised and I'm ready for 2019. I have to say that it would appear that the Government, the Liberals have had a summer of stuff ups and scandals, they're just focused on themselves whereas I'm focused on making sure that Australians get the best possible healthcare in the world. That's why we're so excited to make an announcement today that we want to find a cure for juvenile diabetes, for diabetes type one. We are committing $50 million extra to research to help supplement and expand clinical trials and treatment.
We should never forget in this country that the Australian science and research, our medical research, is world-class. From the cochlear implant which is helping little children hear all over the world, to the gardasil vaccinations, we've seen our medical science and researchers achieving remarkable outcomes. Australians punch above their weight when it comes to science and research. And what we've found, is that when government helps science and research, our medical researchers help the nation and the world. So this $50 million will help with more clinical trials, it'll help with 120,000 Australians currently living with type one diabetes.
I take off my hat to the junior advocates who have been out there campaigning and educating us and their parents to make sure that we provide more funding for research and that's what we are going to do. And what I promise Australians in 2019, in an election year, is simply this, we're ready to govern. We're united, we're stable, we're focused on the people of Australia and there's no issue more important to Aussies than the health of them and their kids. So today's announcement is a fantastic start to a new year. $50 million will help the best researchers in the world come up with a cure for type one diabetes. I'd now like to hand over to Catherine King to talk further about this great announcement prioritising the health of our kids and making sure that a government is on the side of Aussies, when they are not doing well when it comes to their health.
CATHERINE KING, SHADOW MINISTER FOR HEALTH: Thanks, Bill. It's terrific to be here with Josh Burns, our candidate for Macnamara here in Albert Park and Bill Shorten. The first announcement of 2019 is a health announcement and it's an announcement of $50 million to help find a cure for type one diabetes. This $50 million has come at the request of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, an organisation that we kick-started when we were last in government with our research investment for their clinical research network. The money is to go on expanding clinical trials, to improving translation particularly in the area of prevention but also in treatment for people with type one diabetes, but also in supporting the fantastic talent we have here in this country of type one diabetes researchers.
Over 120,000 people, a lot of them young children, are living with type one diabetes and they have had one message to us, they've been up to Parliament, they've had one message to politicans and the Labor Party in particular, they want us to invest $50 million in finding a cure and I couldn't be prouder today. Our first announcement of 2019 while the other mob have been busy spending the summer in dissent, in arguing among themselves, we've been busy doing the policy work and in our first announcement in 2019 here in the health space - $50 million for juvenile diabetes, thanks.
SHORTEN: Thanks, Catherine, thanks Josh. Are there any questions on this announcement or any other matters?
JOURNALIST: You're announcing millions of dollars today on diabetes and you've got a big announcement on Kakadu, is this the official start of the 2019 election campaign?
SHORTEN: Well, over the summer, people would come up and talk to me about politics. And they had one common view regardless of being Liberal, Labor, National or anything, they just want stability. What the Australian people want and what they've told me over summer and what they've told my colleagues is we want a united political party, tick that's Labor. We want stable leadership, tick that's Labor - this is my sixth January as Opposition Leader. And they want policies which talk about the people, their everyday issues. Sometimes I think politicians over-complicate politics. What people want to know is that when they're sick or their child is sick, can they afford to see a doctor, can they get the best quality healthcare? And what we're doing today, spearheaded by Catherine King is we're putting additional money to find a cure to type one diabetes. What they want to know is that there is a government with a plan to take action on cost of living, that's what we're going to do, we're going to get wages moving again, we're going to make sure that we tackle the ballooning costs of private health insurance and of course we're going to put renewable energy at the centre of all our energy policies which is good for the environment but it's also good for power prices. There will be an election this year, we're ready, we're united and we're looking forward to the challenge of offering a positive program for Australians.
JOURNALIST: What is the difference between the Government's commitment and Labor's promise there?
SHORTEN: This may sound a little unusual for me to say, but I genuinely don't mind if the Prime Minister wants to take some of our ideas and announce them. I mean he perhaps tried to be a bit clever, tried to outsmart us by taking our ideas and announcing it 24 hours earlier, but that's genuinely okay. Because what the Government don't understand, is that I don't care about the politics, I care about the issues. And the good news for the top end of Australia is that they're going to see guaranteed investment of infrastructure, roads, management of Kakadu, of helping Jabiru or the Ranger mine site move from mining back to an environmental purpose. The beautiful thing about the top end and Kakadu in particular, is it's unique in the world. Given the right investment, given the right infrastructure, I'm excited that people all around the world will be able to come to Kakadu and see something that they cannot see anywhere else in the world. Sometimes as Australians we take our own country for granted. The fact of the matter is, we're a beautiful continent, we're also custodians of the environment. I think it's fantastic that we're both going to announce greater support for the Kakadu park, make sure that people from around the world and future generations can see this amazing, unique environment.
JOURNALIST: As you said it's only 24 hours difference [inaudible]?
SHORTEN: We're certainly going to put around $220 million into it and I'm certainly happy to provide the details. What's happened is, that the tourism and the environment at Kakadu has been neglected I think for too long a period of time. At the same time, if you like, we have tended to rely on nature's luck and take it as our own sort of good luck. Whereas as we know for the future, we've got to make our luck by investing. This is not a handout to the environment or to the region, this is an investment. Again and again we will see the dividend of investing in Kakadu not only in tourism, not only in jobs, not only in preserving the environment but making sure that our kids and our grandkids get to see what we can see. We are the only country in the world who are custodians of a whole continent. With that, comes an obligation to make sure that we preserve our environment so future generations can see the marvellous, unique features of Australia that we can see today.
JOURNALIST: The Federal Government wants to force councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day, do you support that move?
SHORTEN: You sort of know when Australia Day is coming up, don't you when you get the annual conservative outing to put politics into Australia Day. It's just a piece of politics. Labor isn't going to move Australia Day, unless of course it falls on the weekend and we will have the public holiday on the Monday. Labor is determined to keep Australia Day as a public holiday. Beyond that, I'm not going to get too into the politics, we'll consult with councils and people and see if the idea works and we'll wait to see what the reaction is.
JOURNALIST: So should councils though have the freedom to change their citizenship ceremonies? As we've seen in Darebin and Yarra and Byron Bay and Fremantle? Do you respect their right to make a call or do you want the federal government to make a blanket ruling?
SHORTEN: I think we all know what's happening, it's a couple of weeks before Australia day. In January, it's a bit of slow news, the Government is trying to play a bit of politics. It's what the conservatives do to keep their base happy, talk about this. There are 537 councils in Australia, about 530 of them already have citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day. We'll see what they're proposing. One thing that I pledge though, is under me, Australia Day will always be a public holiday.
JOURNALIST: Has Emma Husar told you that she will move to the crossbench and if so [inaudible]?
SHORTEN: Well first of all, Emma has not confirmed that she's moving to the crossbench and I'm not going to go into private conversations. I think some of the treatment that she has received has been unfair but she has also made the decision not to run and we've got a fantastic candidate running in Lindsay, Di Beamer who enjoys my complete support.
JOURNALIST: So with that unfair treatment, would you like to explain a little bit more?
SHORTEN: I'll leave that to NSW Labor.
JOURNALIST: The Treasury data was published yesterday about superannuation tax changes which they say one million people are going to be affected by your policies.
SHORTEN: Treasury data?
JOURNALIST: Yeah, well.
SHORTEN: Press release from the Government, not taking that too seriously. Let's talk about superannuation. Australians are sick and tired of too many changes to super, we want to make sure that our fees have downward pressure and that's one of the best ways to make sure that we get better returns for people. It's Labor who wants to make sure that when you go on maternity leave that you get superannuation so we're the party who created superannuation, we'll keep defending it. And after all, we've been the party who called for the banking royal commission. The current Prime Minister voted against it 26 times. What has emerged is that whilst the Government has got very upset about non-bank superannuation funds, some of their returns have been better than the banks who this Government has been protecting shamelessly for years.
JOURNALIST: On the issue of Rahaf al-Qunun, the Saudi woman, do you think that the Federal Government dragged its feet on processing this application? Do you think Canada has shown that it's more of a welcoming country than Australia by processing this claim quicker?
SHORTEN: Oh listen I think that's a bit of a hard one. By that, I certainly would have welcomed - I wrote to the Government and said I supported her being processed as a refugee. Women around the world and not just in parts of Saudi Arabia receive very poor treatment and I think she had a legitimate, very real case and she was making that case. I was just relieved that she has found a place to go to, so if the Canadians take her or if we take her, you know at the end of the day for me, it's not which country takes her it's that this woman safe. And I think we need to redouble our advocacy globally about making sure that women are not subject to violence and of course we need to do a lot more in 2019 to protect women in Australia from violence.
JOURNALIST: But why can Canada accept her within a day while we're still considering it? What signal does that send?
SHORTEN: I understand the question. I think that's something for the Government to explain. Clearly she was a woman in great distress and I think that we should do everything we can, I don't know the ins and outs of what happened in the 24 hours and the 48 hours. I know that when the media report it, even though I was on leave, I certainly wrote to the Government and offered them my complete support to help process this young woman and provide her a safe haven free of violence.
JOURNALIST: Josh Frydenberg spent a lot of time in the last few weeks attacking your policies around tax, negative gearing and super. Are you comfortable with the analysis showing that one million people would be paying the top tax rate under Labor?
SHORTEN: I understand that the Government is going to try and scare people this year because they have run out of ideas. I think the current Treasurer is the third Treasurer. What I heard travelling over summer is that people are sick of the instability, they're sick of the complete negativity. What we're doing is we’re treating the Australian people with respect by putting our policies out there. We've got well-funded policies, we are going to reform the tax system but I think it is worth reminding Australians that we're offering better tax cuts, better tax refunds for nearly 10 million Australian workers. I think that as people approach the election, whenever it is, in March or early May, Labor is offering better tax cuts for 10 million working Aussies. It's equivalent to a pay rise of about $927 for each Australian who earns between $41,000 and $90,000. I think that's going to make a difference. For a married couple, both of whom earn between $60,000 and $80,000, if they vote Labor at the next election, they're going to get nearly $6,000 back in tax refund in the first term alone. Thank you everybody, see you on the trail.
ENDS
