Good morning everyone, and welcome to the electorate of Dunkley. I'm Jodie Belyea, the Federal MP for Dunkley, and it's an absolute pleasure to be here this morning at Bruce Park. I've been in this role for 12 months as the federal MP, and throughout that time, I've heard relentlessly from the Bruce Park clubs about the need for the redevelopment of this incredible facility and community. So I'm very pleased to be here this morning with the community. So thank you for all turning up to make an announcement, which I'm going to hand over to the Prime Minister to talk to.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thanks so much Jodie. Look, it's fantastic to be back in Frankston and with this wonderful community, and particularly good to be here with so many people who make this community. It's volunteers. It's people who give up their time, while speaking to the club officials here, who give up 20 to 25 hours a week each in order to give these young kids an opportunity to play sport, in order to lift up that community spirit that comes from team sport, whether it be footy, whether it be tennis, whether it be other activity here. It is so important at a time where we talk about the need to get our young Australians off their devices and onto the footy fields, the netball courts, the tennis courts, we need to get them engaging, because what young people do in particular is they learn how to win. They learn how to lose. But most importantly as well, they learn those social skills that come from teamwork and engaging with each other. You see them as they get older and mature during a season, and that is so important. But the other thing about facilities like this is people can keep playing, whether they are young in age or young in spirit. People can keep using these facilities. And that is why it is a worthwhile investment to invest in community which is what we're announcing here today. We will invest $5 million towards the redevelopment of this Bruce Park Pavilion. One of the young girls here was talking about how people are coming in, and last year, there were so many girls that they might move away from having mixed teams in footy. Now that's a fantastic thing, but what we haven't got around Australia is change rooms to enable that to happen, in order for people to feel confident and safe as they participate and as they get older and mature, and that is so important. When I was their age, the idea that there'd be AFLW on TV and it would be so exciting, and that there'd be these role models, simply wasn't thought of. Our Governor General, Sam Mostyn, her Excellency, was the first woman AFL Commissioner and played a key role in the creation of the AFLW. It is so important that people be able to not just watch sport but play sport and participate in it. Now this funding will go towards redesigning the pavilion for tennis, football and cricket, female friendly change rooms, accessible public toilets, additional rooms and storage. It will make a major difference to this club here and as a way of the community giving back to what is a community activity. And I really thank all the volunteers, the parents and others who will give up their time coaching, mentoring, doing the sausage sizzle, all of that will keep going, running the canteen to get an extra few bob in order to put it back into the sporting activity that goes through. In addition to that I can announce two key road projects for this community as well in south-east Melbourne. The Federal Government, we've announced a $1 billion road blitz here in Victoria to make sure that choke points and issues where roads have to be fixed, are fixed. Together with the Victorian Government, this is $1.2 billion we're committing to road projects, and that will include $50 million to upgrade Nepean Highway and Overton Road intersection, to install traffic signals and improve footpath connectivity, and $25 million to upgrade McLeod Road and Mornington Peninsula Freeway to improve travel between the south-east suburbs and the coast. These small projects can make a big difference, and that is why this $1.2 billion road blitz will improve safety, will improve travel times and productivity and make an enormous difference as well. And now we'll hear from a rep from one of the clubs before we take some questions.
ZACH HORSLEY, FRANKSTON FOOTBALL CLUB SECRETARY AND FRANKSTON CRICKET CLUB PRESIDENT: Thank you, Prime Minister. As somebody who's been at the club since 1997, I mean this club room was only built in 1994, I've seen it from when it's pretty much brand new to this point where it is now, where it is definitely in need of a refurbishment. And for the girls that are here to be in an environment and a place where they can grow up and enjoy the facilities like I have and many people around us have is amazing. And not only does it bring together the football and cricket club again, but we can also embrace the tennis club as a dual residency together, as all clubs will share it. So it's a fantastic opportunity, not only for us to now be par with everybody around us, but to also become one of the leaders in the community with our facilities and what we're trying to do, especially within the girls department, of trying to get people in. It's fantastic. And this place will only grow stronger and bigger and better. And thank you very much for that commitment, that's amazing.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much. Zach will be taking any difficult questions today. Any questions, please.
JOURNALIST: So in terms of the roadworks that you just announced, is there a timeline for that project at all?
PRIME MINISTER: It's available immediately. We will make the funding available. It'll be, of course, accounted for in the Budget that we have in just two weeks' time now. They've waited a long time. I spoke to Norm on the phone. He's been involved here, he's not well, he's been involved since the 1970s, that's the sort of commitment. If he can wait from the 1970s to get an upgrade, we can get this done quick. And the Council are here, so they're going to approve all the DA and everything really quick as well. Yes, so you got that on.
KRIS BOLAM, MAYOR CITY OF FRANKSTON: So can I just say it's predicated on three tiers of government funding, you've well and truly outdone this, which is fantastic. Our money is on the table. We'll have a talk, we'll call in the state over the next few weeks.
PRIME MINISTER: We'll get there.
JOURNALIST: Just some questions on a few other matters, just some details on your call with the world leaders of the Coalition of the Willing over Ukraine last night. Are you able to share with us details of that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it was a closed call, but it was a very positive call. It was democratic nations from not just Europe and all of, the UK convened the meeting together with President Macron of France, but all of the European nations, Spain, Portugal, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Greece, Italy, all participated. Poland, Bulgaria, all the Scandinavian countries all participated, as well as Canada and New Zealand and Australia. We are united. Australia stands with Ukraine, we understand that this is an issue not just of a sovereign nation being invaded illegally with an act of brutal aggression from Russia, that Vladimir Putin has imperialist designs, not just on Ukraine, but on the region. But this is also about whether the international community will stand for the international rule of law. If a large country like Russia is able to brutalise a small neighbour and a sovereign neighbour in Ukraine, then that has implications for peace and security in the world. Now Australia has a national interest in standing with Ukraine, and Australia does stand with Ukraine. That's not clear who Peter Dutton stands with or what he stands for.
JOURNALIST: Overnight, you repeated your offer to consider sending peacekeepers to Ukraine. Was there any discussion on what the peacekeeping force would look like?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, first, of course, you need peace to have a peacekeeping force, and the participants last night were all committed to peace in Ukraine. In order to achieve that, Russia must agree to a ceasefire firstly, but it must also agree to stop its aggression against Ukraine. And so we, it is premature to talk about that detail, but Australia has a proud record, over 80 years of participating in peacekeeping missions, including in Africa, in Cyprus, in a range of countries around the world. It would be a small contribution if we chose to do so. But what we want to see is peace so that you can have peacekeeping.
JOURNALIST: Was there any hope for discussion on the call that the US would ultimately adopt the supportive approach in return to Ukraine's aid?
PRIME MINISTER: We want the United States and all countries to play a positive role here. What this requires is further pressure on Russia to ensure that they do the right thing here. Russia are a pariah state when it comes to European democracies here. European democracies stand together against Russia's aggression because they understand and some countries have, of course, bitter experience. Countries such as Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and other countries in Eastern Europe understand what this means, and that is why this is so important that it be resolved. It's important that Ukrainian sovereignty be respected.
JOURNALIST: This is in regards to Victoria's new machete laws. Do you support the Allan Government's new bail and machete laws that have been put in place?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
JOURNALIST: Just back on Ukraine, Russia has said there will be grave consequences if Australia does deploy troops to Ukraine. Should Australians be concerned by that?
PRIME MINISTER: Russia, Vladimir Putin is a bully. You know what Australians do? They stand up to bullies. They don't get intimidated by an authoritarian leader, engage in that sort of rhetoric. Have a look at what has happened with the attacks on civilians, innocent civilians, and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin is someone who's an authoritarian leader who has imperialist designs on not just Ukraine, on the region, and that is why the whole world needs to stand up against this Russian aggression and needs to stand with Ukraine. Australia has participated and contributed $1.5 billion to the struggle in Ukraine, $1.3 billion of that is defence and military equipment. We have been training Ukrainian soldiers in the United Kingdom. So we have been participating, that up to that point, has enjoyed, of course, bipartisan support. We want to see peace. We want to see the killing stop. We want to see the Russian aggression stop, and then we want to ensure that there's peace and security there.
JOURNALIST: Just on tariffs, are you still trying to secure a call with President Trump and do you maintain a carve out for Australia remains on the table?
PRIME MINISTER: We'll continue to argue Australia's case. The United States enjoys a trade surplus with Australia. Tariffs are a tax on the American buyers of products from right around the world, regardless of where it's coming from, on steel and aluminium. There are these tariffs, which are a tax on Americans. They're not a tax on the producer, they're a tax on Americans, which is why we have seen the markets respond in the way that they have, in a very negative way, to these moves by the Trump administration. We have great friends in the United States, and we expect them to act accordingly.
