IN FULL: The Hon. Anthony Albanese MP's Address to the National Press Club

Well, thanks very much. It's great to be back at the National Press Club and I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we're meeting and pay my respect to elders past, present, and emerging. I want to acknowledge all my many colleagues who are joining me here today. And I say on behalf of every single Labor member and senator, we are humbled and honored by the trust that the Australian people have placed in our government. Each and every day, we're working to prove worthy of that trust, to stand up for Australia in a time of global uncertainty, to act on the immediate challenges confronting us, to seize the opportunities ahead of us, and to deliver the positive and ambitious agenda that we took to the Australian people. Now, back in May 2022, Australians voted for change, to change the government, to change the country, to change the way we engage with the world and the way our economy worked at home. In May 2025, Australians voted to make that change last, to build on the foundations we have laid, to carry forward the reforms that we have begun, and to see the rewards of their hard work reflected in their daily lives with an economy that nourishes their aspiration and repays their efforts and a society where everyone has the opportunity to fulfill their potential. Before the election, my colleagues and I were clear about our commitments and our approach and the democratic verdict rendered by Australians was every bit as clear. On the 3rd of May, the Australian people voted for Australian values, for fairness, aspiration, and opportunity for all, for a progressive patriotism where we are proud to do things our own way, where we recognize that our democracy, our commitment to fair wages and conditions, universal Medicare and universal superannuation are things that bring us together as Australians and set us apart from the world. And where we embrace the fact that one of the characteristics that makes this the best nation on earth is that all of us are driven by a determination to make it even better, to face global challenges, shape economic change and engage with our region in the Australian way and to build a future where no one is held back and no one is left behind. On the 3rd of May, Australians voted for a government with the plans and policies to uphold and fulfill these values. Australians voted to strengthen Medicare and protect our world-leading Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Australians voted to build more homes and to make it possible for people to buy their first home with just a 5% deposit. Australians voted to embrace the opportunities of cleaner, cheaper, renewable energy and the new generation of jobs and industries that can power. Australians voted to strengthen our defense capability and strengthen our relationships in our region. Australians voted for new investment and new reform in every stage of education from early childhood to schools to TAFE and university. Australians voted for greater opportunity for women, not as an add-on or an afterthought, but as a fundamental priority for our economy and our society. And Australians voted for a Labor government to keep delivering real and lasting help with their cost of living. Keeping inflation down, keeping unemployment low, getting real wages up, taking new action to make sure that consumers don't get ripped off, delivering more direct assistance to families and small business, including energy bill relief, and helping people earn more and keep more of what they earn, with top-up tax cuts next year and then the year after, a new $1,000 instant tax deduction, and a continuing focus on lifting productivity and boosting real wages, including, of course, for nearly 3 million Australians on award wages who will receive another real pay rise on the 1st of July. Our government has secured a mandate to act. Our tax cuts are already legislated despite the Liberals and Nationals voting against them. And when the new parliament sits next month, the first piece of legislation we will introduce will cut student debt by 20%. This will save around 3 million Australians an average of $55,000 each. And as promised, it will be backdated so that it applies from the 1st of June this year before indexation. By next year, the 5% deposit plan that we took to the election will be open to every Australian looking to buy their first home. It will be available for homes valued all the way up to the average price in every city and every region. And if you buy your first home through this plan, you won't have to pay a single dollar in mortgage insurance. Our government will cover it. This will make a real difference for so many Australians. Instead of being stuck trying to save while their rent pays someone else's mortgage, they'll be paying off their own home. From the 1st of January, medicines on the PBS will cost no more than $25 per script, the lowest price since 2004. For pensioners and concession card holders, the price of a script will be frozen at just $7.70 until the end of this decade. And at the same time, 1800 Medicare will be up and running. Free 24/7 expert health advice only a phone call away. I want to start opening the 50 new Medicare urgent care clinics we promised this year and we want them all open by the middle of next year. Combined with the 87 we've already opened, this will mean that four out of every five Australians will live within 20 minutes of a clinic. Already 1.5 million Australians have visited one of these clinics. And all they have needed is just this — you'd be disappointed if it didn't appear — their Medicare card. That is all that they have needed. Now, our government is focused on delivery. We know that delivery matters for all those Australians who voted Labor, for lower taxes, for stronger Medicare, better education, and new help with the cost of living. Delivering these commitments matters for every Australian regardless of who they voted for. It matters for our economy, for the jobs, skills, technology, infrastructure, and energy we need to grow and thrive in the years ahead. It also matters for our democracy. We are living in a time of significant global uncertainty and that reaches beyond just economic instability. It is the more corrosive proposition that politics and government and democratic institutions, including a free media, are incapable of meeting the demands of this moment. Some simply dismiss such sentiment. Others cynically seek to harvest it. Our responsibility is to disprove it. To recognize that some of this frustration is drawn from people's real experiences, the feeling that government isn't working for them. To counter this, we have to offer the practical and positive alternative. To prove that a good, focused, reforming Labor government can make a real and positive difference to people's lives. And that we can do this while building for the future, too. A future which delivers on our vision for a stronger, fairer Australia. Indeed, an Australia that is stronger because it is fairer. A future where we realize our potential as a renewable energy superpower. A future where we have a thriving advanced manufacturing industry. Where education enriches our human potential from universal affordable early learning through properly funded schools and a dynamic tertiary sector. Our vision is for a society that is a microcosm for the world. Where all are respected and valued and our diversity is recognized as a strength. Where our international relationships in the fastest growing region of the world in human history benefit us but also provide a platform for us to play a positive and stabilizing global role in uncertain times. Our government's vision and ambition for Australia's future was never dependent on the size of our majority. But you can only build for that future vision if you build confidence that you can deliver on urgent and immediate necessities. How you do that is important too. Ensuring that the actions of today anticipate and create conditions for further reform tomorrow. And that is why so many of our election commitments for our second term built on reforms we had introduced and were implementing in our first term. Our agenda has been shaped by the lives and priorities of the Australian people and it is built on Australian values. It is the mission and the measure of a Labor government to give those enduring ideals of fairness, aspiration, and opportunity renewed and deeper meaning for more Australians, to deliver reforms that hold no one back and drive progress that leaves no one behind. This is no small task. It demands we aim high and requires us to build big. That's why the very heart of our campaign was the biggest ever investment in Medicare, driving to a target of nine out of every 10 visits to the GP being fully bulk billed by 2030. Because we understand that for Medicare to remain a profound expression of the fair go, for it to be a continuing source of national pride for decades to come, it must rise to meet the new challenges in health and primary care. And it must deliver for people in every part of our country. Through an entire decade in government, the Liberals and Nationals invested less than $5 billion in housing. Our $43 billion Homes for Australia plan sets a goal of building 1.2 million new homes before the end of this decade because we know that boosting supply is the key. And we also understand that for the aspiration of home ownership to remain the great Australian dream, it must be achievable for this generation of Australians. This same sense of responsibility to future generations is why we are working to meet the environmental challenges of climate change and seize the economic opportunities of the energy transition. We've legislated our 43% emissions reduction target by 2030 and our commitment to net zero by 2050. We are delivering our energy policy, renewables backed by gas, batteries, and hydro. And we're investing in our economic sovereignty, our capacity to make more things here with our plan for a future made in Australia. As I said on election night, this is a time of profound opportunity for our nation. Because when you consider the resources and energy and technology that a world moving to net zero needs, when you look at our world-leading universities and researchers and TAFEs and startups, when you think about the changing comparative advantage that is occurring where having the space to collocate extraction, refining and processing and manufacturing is of increasing significance as a proportion of the cost of production compared to the cost of labor. When you think about what global investors in data centers and green metals and clean energy are looking for, truly there is nowhere else in the world you'd rather be than right here in Australia. But for all of our national strengths and natural advantages, our success is not guaranteed. Nothing is going to be given to us and the world is not waiting for us. To realize this opportunity, shape it and make it our own, we have to move quickly to build an economy that is more dynamic, more productive and more resilient. Now, this doesn't mean dismissing the policies or the values that we took to the last election. It means working together to fulfill them and build on them. The commitments the Australian people voted for in May are the foundation of our mandate. They are not the limits of our responsibilities or of our vision. The way we deal with big challenges and opportunities from our first term, from economic growth and productivity to the energy transition, will continue to evolve and there will be new challenges to meet at home and overseas. In December of 2022, we responded to the worst global energy crisis since the 1970s by bringing together what was then the New South Wales Liberal government of Dominic Perrottet and the Queensland Labor government of Annastacia Palaszczuk to impose price caps on gas and coal. Now, none of us had taken that commitment to an election, but all of us recognized that we had a responsibility to act in the interests of Australians. Or take our world-leading legislation creating an age limit for social media. Now, that arose from a courageous campaign led by parents and backed by the Australian media. Our government answered those calls and this was passed with bipartisan support. This is about government creating a community standard as well as a legal one. Making it clear that social media companies have a social responsibility and importantly giving parents and teachers a signal they can point to when they're talking with children about how to engage with technology safely. This matters and we won't be taking a backward step on it. Being in government also means you can pursue unexpected opportunities. It has been 14 years since the Gonski review identified the schooling resource standard. Now, for the first time ever, we have agreement between every state and territory and the Commonwealth on the funding and reforms to get us there, to ensure that every Australian student in every Australian school will get the funding they need to reach their full potential. Now, this goes above and beyond what we promised at the 2022 election. And delivering it wasn't a matter of issuing public demands or waving around a blank check. It took patient, constructive, and direct engagement with the states and territories and the education sector to ensure that every Commonwealth dollar spent on schools will be linked to real reform. I look at this breakthrough as a model for our future engagement with the states and territories on other areas of shared responsibility. A chance to secure lasting meaningful agreement on funding for public hospitals and ensuring the National Disability Insurance Scheme is on a sustainable footing. Just as cooperation between different levels of government is vital for securing the services and support that Australians expect and deserve, cooperation between government, business, and unions is essential to securing our future growth and prosperity. Over the last three years, we have all worked together to put the worst of global inflation behind us, to bring inflation down without sacrificing people's jobs or cutting the wages and services that Australians rely on. With two interest rate cuts already this year, there is a growing sense that our economy is turning the corner. Making our way forward depends on what all of us can work together to achieve. And that's why I've asked the Treasurer Jim Chalmers to convene a roundtable to support and shape our government's growth and productivity agenda. At Parliament House in August, we will bring together a group of leaders from the business community, the union movement and civil society. This will be a more streamlined dialogue than the jobs and skills summit, dealing with a more targeted set of issues. We want to build the broadest possible base of support for further economic reform to drive growth, boost productivity, strengthen the budget, and secure the resilience of our economy in a time of global uncertainty. What we want is a focused dialogue and constructive debate that leads to concrete and tangible actions. The starting point for our government is clear. Our plan for economic growth and productivity is about Australians earning more and keeping more of what they earn. We want to build an economy where growth, wages, and productivity all rise together. This work is already underway, including our national productivity fund, incentivizing state and territory governments to drive efficiencies in construction, our new measures in the budget in March, including the reform of non-compete clauses and new action on national standards for occupational licensing. In the next three years, we want to expand on this approach and I'm optimistic about the progress that we can make because there is substantial agreement on so many of the key priorities: driving faster approvals for housing, energy and infrastructure projects while ensuring sustainability, making it easier for Australian innovators to commercialize their breakthroughs and create jobs in Australia, investing in the skills our nation needs and making sure those qualifications are recognized nationwide, ensuring all Australians are better prepared to capitalize on the opportunities of artificial intelligence while making sure that we secure ourselves against its risks, and continuing the work that we've done through Services Australia to make it easier for people to access and navigate the government services that they rely upon. Now, some of this is about government doing the basics better, targeting duplication, removing barriers to investment, and reducing the cost of doing business. But not every challenge can be solved by government stepping back. This is a time where government has to be prepared to step up to invest in education and skills and research and innovation, to build and upgrade the infrastructure that supports growth and drives productivity, to combine our Future Made in Australia plan, our critical mineral strategic reserve and our new investment framework with a deeper and more diversified trade agenda especially in our region, and to provide business and industry with the certainty to invest in all their assets, technology, energy, and most of all their people. Again, this is where the way that we make change, the how, matters. Because change that is imposed unilaterally by government rarely endures. Key to lasting change is reform that Australians own and understand, reform that clearly serves a national purpose and the national interest. Change that empowers and engages people with a sense of choice and agency. Change that generates its own momentum and builds its own staying power. That's the long-term lasting change that our government wants to deliver. And we respect the vital role that the Australian Public Service has to play in this. Today, I'm pleased to confirm the appointment of Dr. Steven Kennedy as Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and Jenny Wilkinson as Secretary to the Treasury, the first woman to be appointed to that vital role. These outstanding public servants will continue to excel in their service to our nation. I am delighted that Dr. Kennedy and Ms. Wilkinson have accepted my invitations to serve. And I do want to take this opportunity to publicly thank Glenn Davis, the outgoing secretary, for his service and his ongoing extraordinary contribution to our great nation. Over the next three years, we are focused on delivering what Australians voted for on May the 3rd. And in the conversation about future economic reform, we should also remember what Australians voted against. Because Australians overwhelmingly rejected policies designed to drive down wages, undermine job security, and take flexibility away from working families. Australians voted against mass sackings in the public service and the damage that would do to our social safety net. Australians rejected nuclear power not just because of its staggering cost but because people recognized the Liberals and Nationals plan for what it was: a last desperate attempt to delay action on climate change and derail the transition to renewable energy. And Australians voted against importing conflicts and ideologies that have no basis in our national culture or character. They rejected policies copied from overseas that would only leave us a smaller, narrower, less generous, and more divided country. Instead, our people chose to face global challenges in the Australian way. And that is precisely the way for us to compete and succeed in the world and grow and prosper here at home, our own way, on our terms, in our interests. Not seeking to imitate low-wage economies. Not leaving people behind in the scramble for some perceived advantage. Not trading away the things that make us the best country on earth. Trusting in our national values, building on our national strengths and backing our people, rewarding their hard work, investing in their talent and nourishing their aspiration. My colleagues and I understand that every day in government is a privilege and with optimism, urgency, purpose and determination, we intend to make every single day count. Thanks very much.

Well, we're a Labor government. We support unions existing and some of the commentators preferred that unions didn't exist. That's the truth. But we will always respect both the role of business and the role of unions. And one of the things that I say is that there are common interests. I say this to unions as well: you don't get union members unless you've got successful employers. It's the private sector that drives an economy. What the public sector should do is facilitate private sector activity and private sector investment. And that's what my government is focused on. We will invite people to the gathering, the roundtable. It will be held in Parliament House. I've been working with Jim and the economic team. Jim will have more to say about it when he appears at the National Press Club here next week. But we want to have open and honest conversations, not shut down conversations by saying if someone raises an issue that means you immediately go from A to Z, which is often what happens. But early in the term, the jobs and skills summit led to, I tell you what, without it we would have greater skill shortages in this country. We wouldn't have free TAFE, we wouldn't have the $10,000 incentives that we have for people in construction and energy. We wouldn't have those issues being addressed with a more rational discussion as well about the role that migration plays in that. So we will be respectful. We want people to participate in the spirit of goodwill in which we're making this suggestion.

Well, thanks Michelle. We have an aging of the population and that's part of the challenge that we have to deal with. But we came to an agreement with $1.7 billion extended to extend the hospital agreement to enable us to then have a discussion not in the context of a looming election but to have a discussion about how it fits together. The public hospital system, primary health care, you know, the creation of urgent care clinics really has made a substantial difference in taking pressure off EDs and provides for a middle path if you like and has been enormously successful. The satisfaction rates for people who go to an urgent care clinic are extraordinary, which is why we announced an additional 50. The aged care reforms that we have had to delay some of the implementation to make sure it's got right. But that shows an example of where we were able to get agreement and credit to the former minister for the work that Anika Wells did in that area. So a lot of it is cost shifting because there are people in hospital beds who would be better for them as well as better for the country's finances as a whole for there to be a more efficient and sensible way of dealing with the delineation between Commonwealth responsibility and state and territory responsibility. And that's what we intend to work through. I think similarly the NDIS, you know, there are people going onto the NDIS. The numbers mean that that growth that we inherited that was pretty close to 20% was simply unsustainable and the system would just collapse. So how do you get rational decision making that is providing for the best service possible but delivered in the most efficient way possible by each level of government is the starting point.

What we have is $57 billion over 10 years, $10 billion over the forwards of additional investment. It seems to me that if the health minister or the communications minister or the infrastructure minister came to us and said we want you to spend X percentage of GDP but we won't tell you what it's for, that they wouldn't get far in an ERC process. And there is no reason why defense shouldn't be governed by anything other than one factor: what do we need? What is the capability we need to keep us safe? Our capability will always be supported by any submissions by myself as Prime Minister because our first order is to keep us safe and we do that through

Capability, but we do it through something else as well. Our relationships, the work that we have done with our neighbors, including Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, has been, I think, a real distinction between what we inherited and our status with ASEAN nations and Pacific Island Forum nations and Indian Ocean nations as well. And that is one of the things that we need to take account of as well, and something that my government is very focused on. So the percentage of GDP spending on defense could go up, but it will be based on needs rather than here's a figure.

Yeah, of course we will always provide for capability that's needed, but you saw the alternative. You don't have to theorize about it. You saw it during the election campaign, an announcement of $21 billion by the coalition. They couldn't say where it was coming from or where it was going to. Australians voted on 3rd of May against a frankly unprepared for government opposition which was unprepared in so many ways. The only area in which they were prepared was in rhetoric, and you can't defend a country with rhetoric. You defend it with assets.

It is too hard. And one of the areas is regulation. So there's a conscious decision made by myself as PM to appoint Clare O'Neil as Minister for Housing and Cities because one of the things that we have to do is to make it easier. Developers say that it's just too complex, adds to costs as well. So we have to look at ways in which we can bring cost down. I must say that the actions of state governments right around the country are very positive. The courage frankly that someone like Chris Minns has shown, to give one example on Rose Hill. He was right. He was absolutely right in putting forward something that was controversial, and it in the end people knocked back in spite of the fact it had the support of the leadership of the racing industry. But that's the sort of thing that we're going to need to do. You can't deal with supply issues without having the courage to do things like that, or indeed my local government area in the inner west has produced a plan for planning that leads to substantially tens of thousands of additional people close to public transport. There'll be blowback for that. I'm sure I'll get representations as the local member, but you've got to be prepared to do that. But what Clare has pointed towards is a very conscious decision. We had discussions when I was working out the ministry and she has clear ideas about how to cut through. Some of that regulation is national, and that's what in terms of building standards, just unnecessary regulation. We want to make sure that housing is fit for purpose and all of that. But if we can cut through on some of the red tape, then that will reduce costs.

Can I say that something I've said before, all governments have not done well enough in any of these areas. We attempted during our last term to break with business as usual. We attempted to do that. I think we can't be accused of shying away from that. We did it and we did it because we needed to engage in a different way with First Nations people. Look, I'm confident that Malarndirri McCarthy, who is my minister, who I don't think I'm breaching her privacy here, who's dealt with the death of her father over the weekend, which is why she isn't here, is dealing with those issues, personal issues, but then she will, I think, be very focused on how do we do better. Now, in general, the idea of federal intervention, which is frankly an easy thing that people come up with, you know, why aren't you sending the AFP? Why aren't you doing that? Without then saying where it leads. I need to be convinced that people in Canberra know better than people in the Northern Territory about how to deal with these issues is my starting point. I think it comes out all the time with a range of issues. But we do need to engage directly and constructively with First Nations people. Now, people voted clearly in the referendum against the model that was put forward by First Nations people themselves in the Uluru Constitutional Convention in 2017. But we need to find different ways of engaging respectfully, of listening in a different form as well.

Well, I think that Australia should decide what we spend on Australia's defense. Simple as that. That's my view. Now, if others think that that's not the case, then it's up to them to make that case. Angus Houston's been a friend of mine for a very long period of time and I always pay attention to anything that Angus Houston has to say. But I've made it very clear we will support the capability that Australia needs. I noticed in your question you haven't put forward one thing that we should be investing in that we're not investing in. That's my point. Arbitrary figures lead to a cul-de-sac. And we want to make sure as well that every single dollar that defense spends results in actual assets. And under the former government, there are a lot of media releases, just not many assets. And what we want to do is to make sure that we improve the capability of our defense forces. And that's what we're doing, for example, by manufacturing missiles here which will be manufactured this year, something that never happened before.

People are entitled to raise whatever they want to raise, but I'm a Labor prime minister and I support penalty rates. I'm a Labor prime minister and I support real wages increasing. I'm a Labor prime minister and I support an economy that works for people, not people working for an economy. And if we look at the differentials of how workers on the minimum wage have come out in the last 20 years, pick whatever figure you like, and how chief executives of the top ASX companies are going, I reckon workers would be happy to be halfway to where their increases have come. So workers getting a fair crack is not something that we will abandon. We support workers getting a fair crack for their contribution. What we do support is companies being successful. We support proper negotiation between workers and businesses to achieve productivity improvements, and we support living standards not going backwards. I spoke a lot in the speech about the Australian way, and one of the things that the Australian way is is to not have people who feel like they don't have a stake in the economy. And I think we see that in some places in the world and a rise of populism, whether of the far right or the far left, as a result of that. That's not what I'm seeking here. I'm seeking an Australian way that does things differently, that looks at some of the division that's there in some international societies and says, 'Gee, it's a good thing that people feel like they have a stake in Australian society and in our success.' And that's something that I think is a big division in Australian society. I mean, we put forward a submission to the Fair Work Commission in our first cabinet meeting was approved of this year just like it was in 2022. It's resulted in a real wage increase. Is that a good thing? Yes, it is.

Well, I spoke with Lauren this morning and she's going okay. She's pretty resilient, I've got to say. But that footage was horrific. That was the footage of an Australian journalist doing what journalists do at their very best, which is to go into an environment that's not comfortable, but where in LA it is not unreasonable to think that she would not have been targeted with a rubber bullet. It is not unreasonable to think that she could go about her coverage. Clearly, as people can see the footage, she was clearly identified as media. And so we have already raised these issues with the US administration. We don't find it acceptable that it occurred, and we think the role of the media is particularly important.

Well, discussions I have with the president are discussions between myself and the president. That's the way I deal with people diplomatically, appropriately, and with respect. So I'll leave the discussions with the president till they occur rather than foreshadow them.

Well, she was clearly identified. Was clearly identified and there was no ambiguity. She wasn't wearing a tracky, she was wearing a helmet and something identified her as media. And it is not acceptable that a journalist. I say this here at the National Press Club from time to time, I will have disagreements with journalists, that won't shock you, sometimes even with Sky journalists. But I respect the role that the media play and people should respect the role that the media play in our modern society.