: On Tuesday night, my Government will have Jim Chalmers do our fourth Budget this term. Our Budget is about helping family budgets. Labor will take another $150 right off your power bills. Two payments of $75 each for every household. This is cost of living relief when it's needed, right across the country. We can do this because we've made responsible economic decisions, saving debt to the tune of $200 billion over our term in office. We've been setting about fixing the mess that we inherited. People will recall we inherited, in our first year, a $78 billion deficit and we turned that into a $22 billion surplus and followed that up with another surplus the year after. What we have done throughout this term is to seek to provide cost of living relief. Whether it be the $300 that we've already taken off people's power bills, the Cheaper Child Care, Free TAFE, tax cut for every single Australian taxpayer - not just some - the relief across the board that we have provided. And all of those measures have something else in common. They were all opposed by Peter Dutton and the Liberal Party. If they had had their way and these measures had not been in place, Australians would have been $7200 worse off as a result of what their position was. I look forward to Tuesday night's Budget being an important element in providing cost of living relief. We have - we have worked very hard through the Expenditure Review Committee to make sure that we get the decisions right. And I'm confident that it will be well received.
JOURNALIST: The Budget is being handed down on Tuesday, as you just mentioned, but when will Australians actually start seeing relief?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they'll see it in their first two quarters with their bill. So, $75 each and it follows the $75, another $75, another $75 and another $75 that they've received this year. $300 they've already received. This additional $150 will ensure that it's available for every household.
JOURNALIST: Just on energy bills. Why have you extended assistance for 6 months instead of the full 12 months like the last time?
PRIME MINISTER: We wanted to make sure that this Energy Bill Relief was extended through this calendar year to the end of 2025.
JOURNALIST: And given this support will run out at the end of this year. Are you anticipating that power bills will start to fall on their own in 2026?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we've seen is that in 2024, power prices fell 25.2 per cent. They would have fallen just 1.6 per cent without rebates. So, this is Energy Bill Relief, cost of living support. That will also have an effect of putting downward pressure on inflation on Ukraine.
JOURNALIST: On Ukraine, is the Government concerned about disruptions to a key logistics facility in Poland where military aid is transferred to Ukraine. And has Australia investigated possible alternatives, if needed, to get the donated Abrams tanks into Ukraine?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, logistics into Ukraine is a difficult task. The Government is doing everything that we can to provide support in an expedited way, but we know that there are logistics challenges. This is a war going on in Europe and that presents challenges, as well as the fact that it is across the other side of the world. But we've continued to provide support, $1.5 billion to Ukraine. $1.3 billion of that been military support, and of that we're very proud, and Australia will continue to stand with Ukraine.
JOURNALIST: When are the Abrams tanks scheduled to arrive in Europe and can we expect more assistance to Ukraine in this week's Budget?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we will - we have provided $1.5 billion already to Ukraine. What I've said is that we'll continue to provide support for Ukraine. We hope that there is a peaceful resolution there, but that could be achieved today if Russia just withdrew from its illegal and immoral invasion.
JOURNALIST: Government analysis in the Telegraph today says that workers could spend up to $5000 if they do start going back into the office. How much of that is based on the assumption that everybody is going to be driving into work and parking, as opposed to actually taking public transport?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we know that working from home has had a range of advantages. One of those is less time travelling, whether that be in a private motor vehicle or on public transport to and from home. It's also enabled people to overcome the tyranny of distance in this great country. As I've travelled around, I've met people who've moved into regional Australia and are working in our capital cities. They're working effectively because they can work online. This is an advantage in modern families that have enabled them to take advantage of it. It is also meant for working families where both parents are working. They're able to deal with those issues, of working from home, has enabled them to work full time and therefore it has increased workforce participation, particularly for women. Peter Dutton has said that, firstly, he has questioned working from home. And of course, these decisions are decisions that are made as well with employers. He has questioned it and he has said that, 'oh, well, women in particular can just go out and job share'. Well, people who want to work full time in order to make sure they can look after their families - this just shows how out of touch Peter Dutton is. Flexibility in workplaces has brought substantial benefits. And the idea that Peter Dutton wants to do two things when it comes to public servants. One is, he's questioned working from home, but secondly, he's also said, 'I want you to be at home seven days a week, 24 hours a day,' because he's going to sack 36,000 public servants. He couldn't even rule out sacking people who work for the National Emergency Management Agency, that's been established under my Government, that's done such an important job. I visited Services Australia in Brisbane this week. They have literally 1000 people working on providing disaster relief payments, on providing assistance, who've come through the floods. In Hervey Bay, where I visited this week, there were 15 public servants working out of a temporary facility, essentially a caravan type facility, in order to provide that support on the ground for that community. The idea that there are people sitting around in Canberra doing nothing just shows how out of touch Peter Dutton is. And he needs to explain where the 36,000 cuts will come from. NEMA. The Department of Veterans' Affairs, where we've had to employ thousands of people because people who had served our country in our uniform, defending our nation, were not getting the entitlements that they were due because they simply weren't being processed by the Department of Veterans' Affairs.
JOURNALIST: Just back on the $5000 figure, though, can you clarify whether that is based on people actually driving in and parking and not people taking public transport, which is the majority of those who are going in to work?
PRIME MINISTER: The figures which are there are actually more if you are living in Sydney or Melbourne. The fact is that people who are working from home are providing less traffic congestion, whether that be on the buses, in their cars, less crowding on public transport as well. It makes an enormous difference. It makes a difference to them in terms of their hip pocket, but also makes a difference for people who are travelling into work if there are more people doing that. These are sensible suggestions, have come together from employers and employees. And what Peter Dutton has done is thrown all of that up. Said that public servants - this is another policy borrowed from somewhere else. Peter Dutton needs to come up with some policies of his own. He's had three years to come up with policies. He's come up with three policies. $600 billion for nuclear power plants, $20,000 for people to go to lunch that everyone has to pay for. Some bosses taking whoever they want, clients or future clients out to lunch or having other events or entertainment. And the third policy, of course, is the things he calls waste - including Energy Bill Relief - that he has called waste, $350 billion worth. So, those cuts will occur. We know when Peter Dutton was last coming into government in 2013, he came in as the Health Minister and what we saw was $50 billion ripped out of Medicare, out of Health and hospitals. We saw an attempt to introduce the GP tax, an attempt to introduce a tax every time people visited an emergency department and an attempt to actually increase the cost of medicines, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, by $5. That's what Peter Dutton tried to do.
JOURNALIST: Do you think it's appropriate for Commissioner Paul Brereton to be self managing his conflicts of interest? The ABC has reported he stepped aside from six defence inquiries. Do you have confidence in him?
PRIME MINISTER: I think what's appropriate is that the NACC act independently of government. That's the whole point of an anti-corruption body. We have confidence in it, but it's very important that they operate independently of government. Thanks very much.
JOURNALIST: Do you have confidence in him, though?
PRIME MINISTER: I have confidence in him. I have confidence in the organisation. Thank you.
