: Alright, I'll start by acknowledging the Whadjuk people of the Noongar nations and their elders past, present and emerging. I would like to welcome Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Minister Ed Husic for coming to Curtin University. I was born in Kalgoorlie, I grew up in Kambalda, I worked in a nickel mining town. This is a state that can not just mine things, but we can manufacture things as well. As a chemical engineer that studied at this very university, I know the potential that WA has. We can be a country that makes things, we can be a country that innovates, and we can be a country that decarbonises. It's very exciting because our Prime Minister has an announcement which is about future-proofing metals within Western Australia. I would like to welcome Anthony Albanese.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well thanks so much, Zaneta. And who better to have as a local member here for Swan than a chemical engineer. Here in WA, where science and engineering and innovation are going to shape the future and create jobs and create a future made here in Australia. I met with the Premier, Roger Cook, yesterday. He's just received a significant mandate from the Western Australian people for a future made in WA. And we'll be seeking a mandate in May for a Future Made in Australia. Because whilst we must continue to dig up resources and export them, what we know is that, where we can value add, where we can create more jobs here in Australia, that is the way of the future. And we also know when it comes to trade, including overcoming some of the trade issues which are there, we can have a competitive advantage if we are smart, if we seize the opportunities that come from the transition to net zero that the global economy is moving towards. This is an exciting announcement today and I want to pay tribute to Ed Husic as the Minister for Science and the Minister for Industry for the work that he has done in setting Australia up for such a positive future. We want to make Australian steel and aluminium the best in the world. We know already that Europe has carbon assessments as part of its trade. What we want to do is to produce the best product in the world, including right here in WA. That's why we are delivering $750 million in this fund to back our local metal industry and manufacturers. Good for local jobs, good for local businesses, good for our economy. The Future Made in Australia Fund, out of that, $750 million will go towards boosting development of new technologies to make sure that our metals manufacturers become more competitive. Australia is already prized for our alumina, aluminium, iron and steel. And this funding will value-add to our high-quality metals exports that are worth over $150 billion annually. This fund will support the development of cutting-edge new technologies. And the wonderful professor and doctors who we've met here and people doing their doctorates, are just an example of really smart people putting their capacity to the shoulder to the wheel to benefit our nation as we go forward. This will have the potential to unlock commercial scale production of green metals using Australian ores and renewable resources. We have both here and when I speak to our trading counterparts in countries like Japan and Korea, one of the things that they're very jealous of isn't just what we've got under the ground, it's what we have in the sky with the best solar resources in the world. And it's what we have with our space that gives us the capacity in a state like WA to really power our economy in the future. This is about securing the future of the WA economy. This is about securing future jobs in resources, in mining and in metals to help to decarbonise critical sectors like alumina. It means we're adding more value right here than just shipping raw materials offshore. This is a really exciting announcement. It's a part of our Future Made in Australia. And this here is exactly what it looks like, seizing those opportunities of the future. And I'll hand to the Industry Minister Husic now to make some comments before we hear from a couple of the people here from Curtin Uni.
ED HUSIC, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND SCIENCE: Thanks a million, Prime Minister. G'day everyone. The Prime Minister was adamant of two things going into the last election. One, that Australia would be a country that makes things and two, that we would value-add - that we wouldn't just be a dig it and ship it country, that with the resources we have, we would look to be able to extract the maximum value out of that. And there's no better example of that in terms of the announcement that we are making today. It's really important too, I might add, for blue collar workers and regional communities, because 200,000 people owe their livelihoods to metals manufacture and the metals sector in this country. And we want them to have the confidence that they've got a strong, solid, prosperous future. And the way to do that is to think ahead. That's what this announcement is about. The $750 million that we're putting forward is to be able to tap in to the know how that exists in this country and instead of it enriching another country, actually put it to work here. The ideas that come out of places like this cooperative research centre, and Jenny Selway is a part of that, who's also been on our Green Metals Advisory Panel. And thank you to Jenny and she'll speak in a few moments. But thank you to Jenny for her contribution. But what we want to do is get the know how and the smarts out of our scientists and researchers and put it in to the mills and the smelters in this country to come up with new ways to make steel and aluminium that involve less of a carbon footprint. But also importantly, in a competitive world where we're seeing the way trade is changing before our eyes - got to get an edge. That's what this is about. The $750 million that we'll invest into research and development and early commercialisation is bringing our science know-how and our industrial muscle together to be able to create a strong edge for the nation to make the products we need here, but to also ship them everywhere where they're in high demand. So, from our point of view, we've got this great opportunity where the demand for green metals expected in the future to account for a third of the global metals market. It's an opportunity we can't afford to miss. Now for a century, metal making has been the spine of Australian industry. And this investment is here so we can continue to underpin our economic and, frankly, national security resilience for decades to come. The final point I want to make is this. For the things that the Prime Minister said going into the election, for us to make things here, for us to value-add, there was also something else. There was a determination that we would actually follow through on what the country said we would do. When we came out of the pandemic, we realised we were too dependent on concentrated supply chains. We need to do more things for ourselves and we need to be able to stand on our own two feet. By having our science and research know-how join up with industry, coming up with new ways of getting things, we can build up our own ability within those supply chains to get stuff done. And I'm really proud, we've got terrific Australians that are leading the way here in being able to forge ahead with that future. And one of those people is Jenny Selway. Jenny, thank you for your work and I'd love it if you could be able to just speak briefly about the work of the CRC. Thank you.
JENNY SELWAY, HILT CRC CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER: Thanks Minister Husic. I'm absolutely thrilled to be here today. HILT CRC is a cooperative research centre bringing over 60 partners together from around Australia, many from WA, all working to decarbonise heavy industry. We have 24 active projects underway, including projects like this one here at Curtin University, led by Professor Wu, investigating biomass for green steel. So, we know in Australia we have the resources, we have the renewables potential, but we also have the research capabilities to make green metals in Australia a reality. And that's why I could not be more thrilled to be here today to hear this announcement for the $750 million Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund that's going to help research like this scale up, move into that pilot and demonstration scale and really translate that to impact in the real world. Thank you.
HARLENE HAYNE, CURTIN UNIVERSITY VICE-CHANCELLOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Western Australia and welcome to Curtin University. My name is Harlene Hayne and I have the privilege of being the Vice-Chancellor here. As you know, our university draws its name from the 14th Prime Minister of Australia, The Honourable John Curtin. And I think John Curtin would be incredibly proud of how far this university has come in contributing to the national good. I feel very proud today that the Prime Minister has selected Curtin as the backdrop for this really important announcement. As you've just heard, Professor Wu and his students and postdocs have been making an amazing contribution to green steel for a very long period of time. As a university in general, we're highly committed to the Prime Minister's commitment to a Future Made in Australia and also our Premier's commitment to a future made here in WA. We continue to contribute the basic science and technology that is required for a cleaner, greener future for all of Australia. At Curtin, of our 60,000 students, 23,000 of them are studying a STEM-related subject and 25 per cent of them have taken at least one unit in innovation. So, this is a university that is really sitting at the doorstep of industry to provide all of the basic work that we need in order to achieve our goals. Since our inception, we really have been a university that's highly committed to making life better in Australia and working with industry to do just that. So, today's announcement is a fantastic - it's warmly welcomed by Curtin for both science and industry. And for our part, Curtin University will continue to provide not only the basic science that's required, but also the workforce for this very important future for Australia. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks so much, and it is terrific that we're here in Curtin. And if I can be excused for making one proud point here. John Curtin, a great West Australian, in 1942 - just think about that, at the height of World War II - he established with Ben Chifley the plan for national reconstruction. While the war was at its peak, he was planning for the peace, for growing things and manufacturing, like the car industry here. What we determined was, during the pandemic, that there was a message being sent that we needed to make things here in Australia. And that's precisely what we are doing in the fine tradition of people like John Curtin. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Bill Shorten has suggested reciprocal tariffs should be considered, especially if Aussie beef is next targeted by US levies. Is that on the table and if not, what is on the table to convince Donald Trump to hold fire?
PRIME MINISTER: The issue of tariffs, as I have said, is on behalf of the United States. I've said that it's an act of economic self-harm. Tariffs impose a cost on the country that is imposing those tariffs. They increase prices for the goods which are purchased and therefore increase inflation. We are seeing the response of markets to President Trump's actions. We have been very clear that we do not regard this as the act of a friend. Last time around there were exemptions, not just for Australia, there were dozens of exemptions. What's occurred this time around is the Trump Administration, for ideological reasons, have put this - have said there will be no exemptions. They've been quite clear. But what we will do is continue to put our case that the US has overwhelmingly enjoyed a trade surplus with Australia for 70 years, that it is in the interest of the United States to have good economic relationships with Australia and to trade with Australia. We do not impose tariffs on US goods into Australia and we expect the same.
JOURNALIST: What will you be seeking from this weekend's phone hookup with world leaders on a potential peacekeeping mission to Ukraine and would Australia want a US security guarantee before committing troops?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I will participate this weekend upon the invitation that I've accepted from Keir Starmer, who has invited a range of democratic leaders around the world to participate, following up from from the summit that he held in London and then the meeting of defence chiefs that was held in Paris this week. Along with European leaders such as President Macron, the Chancellor of Germany, Italy, other European leaders, but also the new incoming Prime Minister of Canada, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Christopher Luxon has accepted the invitation as well. You of course, in order to have a peacekeeping mission, you need to have a peace. So, we look forward to there being peace in Ukraine, but we don't have to think very hard about which side we're on in this conflict. Russia is the aggressor. Russia invaded a sovereign nation, in Ukraine, and has committed atrocities against civilians, against civilian infrastructure as well. And it is an illegal and immoral war. This can end tomorrow if Vladimir Putin ends this illegal and immoral invasion and goes back to his own borders. That's what we firmly believe should happen. But given the bravery and courage being shown by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who will speak to the forum that's being held on Saturday night, quite late, I suspect, here time. I look forward to reengaging with President Zelenskyy, but with other democratic leaders as well. I won't preempt what comes out of that meeting, but Australia has of course stood with Ukraine since the beginning of this process. It did have a bipartisan position. It appears that Mr Dutton has walked away from that. That's a decision for him. But we stand with Ukraine and we stand against and remain committed to opposing the actions of Vladimir Putin.
JOURNALIST: WA's GST deal is now set to reach $60 billion. Is the spiralling cost of that deal gonna cost you votes on the east coast?
PRIME MINISTER: We support the arrangements that are in place.
JOURNALIST: On the GST Prime Minister, a lot of the eastern states, particularly New South Wales, have some serious problems with, you know, the viability of what you've set up here in terms of GST. How are you going to keep WA voters happy but placate those eastern states?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we support the WA arrangements. I've been very clear about that and it's also clear, and we provided advanced funding for no disadvantage. So, we had that. So, we are providing increased support for WA without any of the other states being disadvantaged because of the arrangements with WA.
JOURNALIST: That's not sustainable though, is it, going forward. You can't sustain that kind of spending on the eastern states with no-worse-off deals
PRIME MINISTER: Well we have a no-worse-off deal and we have support for the WA arrangements.
JOURNALIST: The Grants Commission has requested more flexibility in its review arrangements, though. Is that being considered and would that open the door to adjustment?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the Grants Commission are independent of government. They make their determinations independently. But as I said, we support two things - we support the deal for WA and we support no state being worse off because of that deal.
JOURNALIST: In the spirit of MAFS - Jodie's favourite TV show - is the GST deal a bit like a marriage that is hard for you to defend around the dinner party table with other states?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm pro-marriage. I hope to have one this year.
JOURNALIST: Does the recent WA election result show Labor is increasingly reliant on Green preferences and are voters abandoning the major parties?
PRIME MINISTER: WA? You've had - the Labor Party's just won 46 seats, at least, out of 59 and I get a question saying 'are they abandoning the majors'. Looks to me like they're supporting the Australian Labor Party. That's what it looks like to me. I don't know how anyone else sees it but I reckon it looks like a pretty good result for Roger Cook and the Labor Party. And at this point in time, I'm not sure how Freo's going, the count today, but Simone McGurk has been a friend of mine for 40 years - showing both of our age there. She looks like, she certainly was ahead last time I looked as well. So, it looks like the major parties have won every seat. Of course, there are two opposition parties here, the Liberals and the Nationals. They don't seem to like each other and they don't seem to like each other within the Liberal Party as well. It's pretty amazing that you had a leadership coup amongst the rump that was left of the Liberal Party during the last term. I'll allow them to keep fighting each other. What I'll do is fight with Roger Cook in the interest of West Australians. That's my focus.
JOURNALIST: The Russian foreign ministry in Moscow has posted a statement that its captured some Australian Bushmasters and now it's boasting that it will use them against Ukraine. What's your reaction to that?
PRIME MINISTER: There's a war going on. It's an illegal war, it's an immoral war and it's one led by a Russian authoritarian dictator who has imperialistic designs not just on Ukraine but on the region. This is a struggle for national sovereignty for the Ukrainian people, but it's also a struggle for the rule of international law that is so important and that's why you have such overwhelming support from democratic nations.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I ask you about the caravan plot?
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
JOURNALIST: The person at the centre of that plot has been revealed now to have a history of fairly hateful comments to Jewish people. Do you think it might be too early to say that anti-Semitism was not a factor or is it a factor?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the AFP have made it very clear, as have the police agencies, what the motivation of this was. This is a criminal organisation seeking advantage. And whether that person or people involved also have hate towards Jewish people, it certainly created fear, as I've said repeatedly.
JOURNALIST: Speaking of offensive comments, are you concerned about potential strongarm tactics being used by unions to recruit their way into the Pilbara mines, including a union organiser referring to you as 'Albo Nazi' on social media?
PRIME MINISTER: That obviously is an assessment that I don't agree with. Unions, like employers, like everyone should behave in a civil way, should obey the law. And my government has been prepared to intervene, unlike the former government. I mean, John Setka in the CFMEU increased his power while the former government was in place. They were big on rhetoric and small on action. One of the first things I did, and I did it here in WA on the first of my 29 visits here as Prime Minister, but I did it before then as Labor leader. Within weeks of me becoming Labor leader, I expelled John Setka from the Australian Labor Party. And then we have intervened as well to knock off the incorrect practices that were taking place by the CFMEU. Unions, like employers, should all obey the law and should behave civilly.
JOURNALIST: But former CFMEU officials are now leading the charge in the Pilbara. Are you worried about the growing unionisation of WA's mining industry and can it affect viability?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, people have a right to join unions. We're a democratic country here in Australia. But people should of course behave properly and in accordance with the law. And people have been organising since the 19th century. Workers have come together. One of the things that my government has done is back workers' wage increases so that we've had three increases in the minimum wage. We've seen real wages increase for five quarters in a row, unlike the former government which saw real wages decreasing every year. But that was a conscious decision that they had. So, I'm very proud of our economic management that is seeing real wages increasing at the same time as inflation is decreasing, same time as tax cuts for every taxpayer. Interest rates have started to fall. They were starting to rise when we came to government and we've created 1.15 million jobs since we came to office. A lower unemployment rate on average than any government in 50 years.
JOURNALIST:Just back on tariffs - to be clear, are you ruling out reciprocal tariffs and what effect -
PRIME MINISTER: Refer to previous comments.
JOURNALIST: Can I just ask you about what effect -
JOURNALIST: You didn't actually answer that.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I did. I've said no. I said that yesterday. I say that today. We're consistent. Tariffs are a tax on Australian consumers and people who buy products. That is our view. We stand very clearly in favour of free and fair trade. We have put positions to the United States, we'll continue to do so, we'll continue to put our case to them and there's a range of things involved in that. But what we won't do is act with economic self-harm. You can't argue that it's an act of economic self-harm for the US to impose tariffs and then us impose tariffs as well. We will stick to the agreement that is there. The Australia-US FTA that we think is in Australia's interest. Last one.
JOURNALIST: Does Australia need a US security guarantee before it commits troops to Ukraine?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh look, that is far - we don't have peace so therefore we don't have a peacekeeping agreement. So, we'll continue to engage constructively on those issues. Last one.
JOURNALIST: So, power bills - will you apologise for breaking a promise to reduce them by $275?
PRIME MINISTER: We dealt with three things when we came into office. One is the default market offer was hidden by Angus Taylor. Bear this in mind. The energy spike in prices that was occurring, he hid. He introduced a regulation to put off, so that the Australian people before they voted in May 2022, were not aware of the spike in energy prices. That's the first thing. The second issue of course is the long tail of COVID and supply chain issues that's created an issue ongoing. And the third issue of course is the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that we've spoken about today, has had an impact on the global economy and on global energy prices. It caused a massive spike globally. We're not immune from that because we are part of the global economy just like Australia is affected at the moment by what is happening over the trade conflicts which are there. Thanks very much. Thank you.
