: Good morning. Well, that was fantastic. We're getting a pool in Alkimos. One of the fastest growing areas in Australia. And thank you so much to the Prime Minister for hearing our community, listening to our community, and now supporting our community and delivering us a swimming pool. So, thank you so very much from the City of Wanneroo. Amazing. We have a great few years ahead of us while we build this pool, and while we monitor the progress and see the results and see the happy faces of all our community. So thank you. And Prime Minister, it's great to have you in Pearce again.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Fantastic. Well, thanks very much, Tracey, and it is great to be back in Pearce on what is my 27th visit to Western Australia as Prime Minister. And this event this morning is just a cracker. It is symbolic of what my Government wants to do, which is to build Australia's future. I want a country that continues to grow, that continues to expand, that's ambitious and optimistic about Australia's future, that seizes opportunities. And this is a great example of planning for the future, making sure that you have, right next to a new railway line, a world class facility for not just swimming with four pools in total, but other recreational and sporting activities, right where you have a growth sector, right where you have, as well, increased density around the new rail line. Too often we've seen communities expand and then people think as an afterthought, "okay, how are people going to get there, how are people going to enjoy a quality of life there?" and I congratulate very much the City of Wanneroo on its leadership on this project. But also, of course, we've worked across the three levels of government. Tracey Roberts, as a former Mayor, understands this local community and she's an outstanding representative. Can I say, as well, that this comes at the end of a little bit of a journey I've had from Canberra, through the Sunshine Coast in Queensland to Gympie to Rockhampton to Cairns to Mount Isa to a cattle station in the Northern Territory and then across to Kununurra and down here now in Perth. Including in the northern suburbs, as well as, yesterday I was out at the Urgent Care Clinic, one of the eight that we've established to provide Medicare support and strengthen it throughout Western Australia, one of the 87 we've established nationally. My Government is determined to address cost of living pressures but build Australia's future at the same time. To deal with immediate challenges, but always with our eye on the horizon. How do we build a better Australia into the future? And that stands in stark contrast with our opponents, who are negative, who say no to everything and who only have a plan to take Australia backwards and to cost Australians more. Happy to take a couple of questions.
JOURNALIST: A synagogue in Sydney's south has been again scribbled with at least a dozen swastika signs. What's your response to this?
PRIME MINISTER: This is a crime and those responsible should face the full force of the law. That's why my Government was the first to introduce legislation to make sure that crimes such as this are called out for what they are. They are hateful. And there is no place in Australia, our tolerant, multicultural community, for this sort of criminal activity. Australians should respect each other and overwhelmingly do, regardless of their faith. We're a multicultural nation. We need to be inclusive and cohesive and that's what my Government is determined to support. I know that this has occurred in Chris Minns' - the New South Wales Premier's - electorate. I'm sure that the New South Wales police will continue to take action. They need to be tracked down. Those responsible for this crime.
JOURNALIST: In the wake of the Rottnest Island seaplane crash, are you confident that the adventure tourism industry is sufficiently regulated and would you back an inquiry into that industry?
PRIME MINISTER: What will occur is the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, who - the head of the Bureau is here in WA - will conduct automatically. There is an investigation after any such incident. But the adventure tourism industry is an important one. It creates jobs. This is an attractive place to visit. And so many places in Western Australia rely upon light aircraft or helicopters in order to get around to see what is occurring, for example, just yesterday in the East Kimberley, where I was. It's an important part of the tourism sector. We have a good safety record internationally. This is a tragedy and my heart goes out to all those family and friends who are affected, who've lost loved ones in this tragedy. The industry, though, is an important one. We have through CASA, a really important Civil Aviation Safety Authority that conducts itself in world's best practice and will continue to do so.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Novak Djokovic says that he was poisoned while in immigration detention in 2022 in Melbourne. Are you looking at that claim?
PRIME MINISTER: I haven't seen those comments, so I'm not going to respond to comments that I haven't seen. I wish Mr. Djokovic very well, all the very best on the court over the period of the Australian Open.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what's your response to Warren Mundine seeking Liberal preselection for the next election?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's a matter for the Liberal Party. What I know is that the last time he ran for Parliament was down in Gilmore. He had to have a map to find it and he wasn't very successful. He's run for the Senate and been rejected by the Liberal Party itself. That's a matter for Liberal Party members to determine who their candidate is. Paul Fletcher has, of course, announced his retirement. And I wish Paul Fletcher well. I was on Sydney University SRC with Paul Fletcher, literally last century, and I wish him and his family well in the future. I make this point - I tell you what's an endangered species. It's moderates in the Liberal Party. You've had Simon Birmingham, you've had Paul Fletcher announce their retirements, this time following people out the door. Whether they be people who've lost seats in North Sydney and other areas, or whether it be people like Christopher Pyne. Will the last moderate voice in the Liberal Party who leaves please turn the lights out? Because increasingly the Liberal Party is becoming a hard right dominated party and we're seeing that under Peter Dutton's leadership.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, given the Northern Hemisphere is experiencing these severe bush fires, such as in LA during their winter, are you worried that we won't get that support that we've usually relied on for our peak season? And do we have enough resources to go it alone?
PRIME MINISTER: It's one of the issues that we need to be cognisant of. Climate change is real. It doesn't mean every event that occurs, which is an extreme weather event, is because of climate change. What it does mean is that the science tells us there'll be more extreme weather events and they'll be more intense. And that is what we are seeing playing out over recent, not years, but decades. We've seen the hottest years on record being reached year after year, and we're seeing as well, more extreme events. I think these scenes are horrific. And I say to Australians who might be triggered, who experienced the bush fires of 2019-2020 or other extreme events to, if they need to seek out assistance, do so. It is a strength to put your hand up and say, "I need help with this. I've been triggered." And these are worrying. You've seen a significant loss of life, an enormous loss of property and assets on the west coast of the United States. It is true to say this is not the normal period. And that's something that we're very conscious of in Australia. Historically, what we've got is had an exchange of assets and personnel between the Southern Hemisphere and the Northern Hemisphere, whether it be the United States or Canada, with Australia. And you've had assistance going both ways. If the seasons are increasingly extended - and bear in mind that the 2019 events began earlier, they didn't begin in January or over the Christmas period. They began much earlier and then built up. What we have here is an event that is unseasonal and it is something we need to be conscious of. It's why my Government is unashamedly understanding of the science of climate change. It's why we can't afford to say, "stop acting, don't do anything until the 2040s and we'll build you a nuclear power station down at Collie." That makes no sense in terms of what we need to do. Most importantly, it makes no sense in terms of the economics of Peter Dutton's nuclear reactive plan. Here in WA, they have a policy of renewables plus gas. That's quite consistent with what my Government's policy is going forward as well. Last one.
JOURNALIST: Fair to say, last election, people were very concerned about climate change. The last year they've been more focused on cost of living. Do those scenes out of LA change the ranking of that, politically speaking, are we going back to that sort of political situation?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'd say that there's people looking at those scenes will have a range of responses. The first, of course, is a human one. The human cost of a loss of life, the trauma that is caused by the scenes that we have witnessed on the TV. But for those people witnessing it firsthand, that will be a traumatic experience that will impact their entire lives, for the rest of their lives. That's the first point, is a human one. The second is one of environmental, the environmental damage that we're seeing through this destruction. But the third as well is the economic cost. There is an economic cost to these events. The idea that you can just dismiss that impact on the economy is not right. The economic cost of rebuilding in areas impacted by extreme weather events, whether it be the bush fires of 2019-2020, whether it be the flooding that impacted here in WA. I visited Fitzroy Crossing and those communities impacted, the knocking out of that bridge meant that that had an extraordinarily strong impact on productivity as well, because it just cut off that road route through that part of Western Australia. We need to not dismiss climate change as not being associated with the economy. It is. The good news is that responding properly to climate change will open up opportunities for new industry, new jobs, new growth and there's no country better positioned to benefit from, for example the minerals that will power the world in the 21st Century than Australia, and there's no state that is better positioned to benefit from that than Western Australia. Which is why our Production Tax Credits are so important as well. Action on climate change is not only good for the environment, but it's good for the economy and good for jobs as well. Thanks very much.
