Friends, thank you very much. Thank you.
Well, it's great to be here at the Arana Hills Leagues Club.
I remember a sporting lunch here only a couple of years ago. It was a pretty messy affair. I think Wally Lewis may have been in attendance and that's probably all I can tell you of that story.
But it was a great day and this is a great club, in a great part of the world.
Friends, thank you very much for a warm welcome.
It's great to be here in Ryan today - and I'm really pleased to be here with Kirilly, and my children Rebecca, Harry and Tom as well.
Great to be here with them and it's nice to be here with friends and family of the LNP as well.
I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to many of you as I look out into the audience today - people who have been friends and on this journey with us for a long period of time.
People who have served the LNP, the Liberal Party, the National Party, for generations.
You've stood by us, you've stood with us, and you've stood for our country, and I want to say thank you very much for all that you do.
And thanks to the volunteers and to all of those who work right across the great country that we live in.
So please give yourselves a great round of applause.
I do want to give a special shout out to the 41st Premier of the great state of Queensland - David Crisafulli.
Premier David Crisafulli. I don't get sick of saying that, and I'm sure you don't get sick of hearing it either.
I also offer a very warm welcome to very dear friends of ours - to the Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress as well, to Adrian and Nina Schrinner, thank you very much for being here today.
I have an incredible team as you know. And we have some wonderful candidates whom you've selected to represent us in seats which I think we can win.
We're here in a very important seat of Ryan today, we've selected great candidates across the state, including, I might say, in Blair, in Lilley and seats otherwise that we think are really well and truly in our sights in this upcoming election.
I'm going to ask all of my parliamentary colleagues and our candidates for federal seats to please stand, and I'll do a job lot in saying welcome and would you please welcome them all here today.
I particularly want to acknowledge a woman that you all know very well. A person who is capable, she has an incredible mind, is compassionate, has provided support to her community in very many ways, has a great deal of common sense.
Maggie Forrest is a remarkable candidate, she'll be the next Member for Ryan.
I'd also like to acknowledge Trevor Evans. We're meeting here today, not too far from the seat of Brisbane. We miss Trevor Evans in the Federal Parliament, the people of Brisbane miss him as a tireless worker and they want him back - and your support will get him back.
Friends, there are three questions, and I think they're very important questions that every Australian of voting age should be asking themselves.
Three questions we should be asking our fellow Australians on the campaign trail.
Three questions that I want to ask you now - and I need your loud and energetic, very clear response.
The first question has to be to the Australian people, and I ask you this today:
"Are you better off today than you were two-and-a-half years ago?"
"Do you feel safer and more secure today than you did two-and-a-half years ago?"
"Do you think our country is more cohesive today than it was two-and-a-half years ago?"
Let me ask you a further question:
Given all you've seen, do you think Australians will be safe, prosperous and united after three more years of Labor?
Let me ask you three more questions given you're going so well:
"Have you had enough of this inept Albanese Labor Government?"
"Have you had enough of this weak and incompetent Prime Minister?"
"Do you think it's time to get our country back on track?"
Friends, it's time to restore confidence to our economy.
It's time for government, which gets off people's backs, and revives the freedom that allows us to flourish.
It's time for a return of strong leadership.
It's time to rediscover optimism and aspiration.
It's time to reignite pride in our nation under one flag.
Last week, as you know, I released our publication called:
Let's Get Australia Back On Track: The priorities of a Dutton Coalition Government.
I want Australians to know what we stand for - and where our efforts are focused to create better times and a better future for our country.
The right priorities create the right policies. And the right policies ensure things go right for Australians.
Today, I want to reiterate our priorities - particularly with reference to Queensland.
But before that, I want to stress that this election matters more than others in recent history.
As I've said, it's a sliding doors moment for our nation - a fork in the road.
We know what to expect under three more years of Labor.
Their agenda, their priorities, their policies will not change if they're returned to Government.
They will double-down.
And we know what will happen:
Costs will stay high when families can least afford it.
Australians will continue to hurt.
More small businesses will close.
More industries will stall.
More companies will move offshore.
Workplaces will be subjected to greater union militancy.
Power bills will go up even more.
Our energy grid will become even less reliable.
Regional and coastal Australia will be trashed by industrial-scale renewables.
The floodgates of migration will stay open.
Roads and rail networks will be even more congested.
Our health, disability, and aged care systems will continue to be stretched.
Enough homes won't be built to keep up with demand.
The housing market will reach breaking point.
Crime will not abate.
Our borders will still be insecure and breached by people smugglers.
The Defence Force will remain underfunded.
Our ally, Israel, will continue to be treated as adversary.
A blind eye will again be turned to aggressive behaviours that threaten peace in our region.
"Treaty" and "Truth-telling" agendas will bring about a Voice 2.0 in all but name only.
And freedom of speech will again be threatened by Misinformation and Disinformation Bill.
What we've seen, we will see again, but only worse.
Our country cannot afford to press the repeat button on the Albanese Labor Government.
It won't just be another three bleak years.
Setbacks will be set in stone.
The prosperity of Australians will be ruined for decades to come.
But Australians have the power to change the path our country is on.
I believe that there is mood across our country, there is a mood for change.
Of course, to win the hearts and minds of Australians, there's much hard work ahead of us.
None of us underestimates the hill we must climb and the seats we must win.
But I know the love of country which burns within our hearts - and drives us.
I know that voice in our head which says:
"Our nation can be better than this - we are better than this."
Make no mistake, that sentiment is also in the souls of millions of Australians.
And I believe we can rally Australians behind us.
Because our priorities and our policies, our values and our visions are the visions and the values, and represent everything that every day Australians stand for.
Friends, do I think the Coalition can win the next election? Absolutely I do.
We can. And we must.
Not because we seek to win for winning's sake.
Or because the political victory is an end in itself.
But because we must get our country back on track.
Because we want our country to be victorious.
In the campaign to come, we know what to expect from Labor.
They will unleash more scare campaigns. Three-eyed fish and Mediscare are just the start.
But Australians aren't stupid.
They will throw mud.
They will play the man and not the ball.
When we speak truths and facts, they will call it 'misinformation' or 'disinformation'.
But Australians will see through it.
They will see through Labor's tactics - just as they did during the Voice referendum.
And we will engage in a civilised battle of ideas for our country's future.
We will put our faith in the common sense and experiences of everyday Australians.
Importantly, we must also remind Australians of the mayhem of minority government.
There is no prospect of a majority Labor Government. No political expert in the country predicts that after the next election Mr Albanese will be able to form a majority government.
The only prospect with Mr Albanese as Prime Minister after the election is if he is in partnership with green-Teals or extreme-Greens that could hold the balance of power in a Labor minority Government.
That would be a disaster for our nation.
We only need to recall the hung Parliament of 2010.
Back then, Prime Minister Julia Gillard was only able to form government with the support of a newly elected Green in Adam Bandt - and three independents.
It was truly a chaotic period for our country.
Concessions saw the national interest sidelined for niche interests.
Most infamously of course, a carbon tax was introduced - a broken promise which destroyed the Gillard Government.
We just can't go back to those days.
And here's the alarming thing:
A minority government where green-Teals or extreme-Greens hold the Government to ransom will be a monster far worse than anything we saw in 2010.
Our economy will tank if we don't have 24/7 power.
Yet almost all the Teals are demanding that there be no new gas projects.
Abolishing all future gas will be one of Zali Steggall and Monique Ryan's first orders of business with Mr Albanese.
Mr Albanese will be sympathetic of course given he has said that "not a single tax payer dollar" would be invested in gas under his Future Made in Australia plan.
But today, as we're in a seat held by the Greens, I want to shine a light on them.
Under Adam Bandt, the Greens have morphed from being environmentalists to being extremists.
Listen to some of their priorities:
A so-called $500 billion 'Robin Hood' tax that would de-industrialise our economy. It would target people in suburbs like St Lucia, like Toowong, like Milton and across the country.
They want a tax on inheritance and family trusts.
And the abolition of negative gearing.
They want an energy grid which has no coal, gas or nuclear - in other words, one without 'always-on' power.
Instead, they want a grid with 100 per cent renewables - one with 'sometimes-on' power. That means people in Nundah and in Toombul are losing their jobs.
By 2030, they seek a ban on all new petrol and diesel cars.
Unsurprisingly, they want to re-introduce a carbon tax, which would only drive up the price of groceries and electricity.
On one hand, they want to end the private health insurance rebate.
But on the other hand, they would decriminalise hard drugs - like heroin and ice.
They also oppose all government funding for privately operated schools and education providers.
The Greens would end Operation Sovereign Borders, and the boats would again restart.
They would release all foreign criminals claiming asylum from immigration detention.
They're very clear in their desire to scrap AUKUS and reduce military spending by more than 30 per cent.
We're a matter of kilometres from an army base here at Enoggera in Brisbane.
Those members, those men and women of the Australian Defence Force would be the first to lose out under a Greens-Labor Government - lets be very clear about it.
And Australians would potentially have to pay, or at least be exposed to pay, billions of dollars in reparations for Indigenous and climate related issues.
Those are just some of the extreme-Greens' absurd priorities.
And yet, if Mr Albanese relies on the Greens to form Government, he will have to consider these ideas - and agree to some of them.
Given all that we've seen from this Government, the gap between Labor and the Greens is not some impassable chasm - rather, it's a stroll across the street.
What awaits Australians from a parliament where Labor and the Greens share power is not a "golden era" as Adam Bandt predicts.
It will be a dark age - quite literally, because the lights will go out.
Let's also not forget Adam Bandt refuses to stand in front of our national flag.
And his Party's disgraceful peddling of antisemitism makes it a threat to our social cohesion.
And it demonstrates to the Australian public who care about inclusion, who care about fellow Australians equally, that the modern Greens Party is a racist Party.
By their own actions they are segregating Australians and treating them differently on this very day.
Mr Albanese, of course, has said that he rules out a minority government with the Greens.
But remember, this is a man who said, "My word is my bond".
Now clearly, Mr Albanese's word is a bond that doesn't bind.
He promised a $275 reduction in your power bill - it's gone up by $1,000.
And that's why we must campaign - day in, day out.
We must commit ourselves to making sure Maggie Forrest takes back this Green-held seat of Ryan for the Coalition.
And make sure that Trevor Evans can turn the seat of Brisbane from green to blue.
Friends, I have incrdible faith in the Australian people.
They know what awaits our country with Labor returned in a minority government.
And with 2010 hindsight, they know the chaos will follow very quickly.
Today, Australians are seeing the country they love falter and fall.
But at the next election, Australians can make a choice to see the country they love rise once more.
A Coalition Government will reverse the decline.
We will get our country back on track.
And here's how we will do it:
Three of our priorities are tofight cost-of-living pressures, to cut government waste, and to build a stronger economy.
Inflation is just another form of taxation.
It makes everything cost more.
It makes each dollar you earn buy less.
Inflation is the reason why many Australians are working extra shifts - or taking on a second job - just to make ends meet.
It's why many parents who want to stay home and care for their children have had no choice but to return to work to afford their rent or meet their mortgage repayments.
It's why many pensioners are being left with a terrible choice; either between eating or heating - but not both.
As the Reserve Bank Governor points out, we have a homegrown inflation problem - with a big driver being rapid and unrestrained government spending.
Labor always wants to tax and spend, and in this environment it drives inflation which means that your grocery prices go up, it means that your electricity bill goes up.
And not just yours at home, it means that the IGA owner, and it means that the local food producer and the local farmer are paying more for their cold room storage - and those costs are being passed on to families.
While families are having to cut back their expenditure, the Albanese Government is going on a spending splurge.
The grip of the cost-of-living crisis gets tighter when government overspends.
A Dutton Coalition Government will rein-in wasteful and inflationary spending - we've done it before and we will do it again.
That's the only way to lower inflation, get interest rates down, and escape the clutches of the cost-of-living crisis that Labor's created.
At the same time, we will re-energise the economy.
Mining, agriculture and manufacturing are key industries here in Queensland, in WA and across Australia.
And they're at the centre of our thinking - of the thinking of David Littleproud and myself, as our Coalition Government will express a very clear priority to grow a stronger regional Australia.
Our intent is to rip-up as much red and green tape as possible to turbocharge these sectors.
The activist-led Environmental Defenders Office will be defunded.
We will slash project approval timeframes in half.
We will accredit states and territories to provide approvals.
And we will re-introduce geological bio-regional assessments to unlock new projects.
A reinvigorated economy is one where government also backs small business - another of our key priorities.
Our great state is motored by almost 500,000 small and family businesses.
Cafes, restaurants, clubs and pubs are the lifeblood of so many local economies around the country.
Millions of Australians have worked their first job waiting on tables, pulling beers, or making coffees at a local cafe.
Hospitality is a huge part of our economy.
And yet, like so many businesses across the country at the moment, they're hurting under the Albanese Government.
They're suffering from skyrocketing electricity, gas and insurance bills.
A local coffee shop creates important local jobs, but they're also spending money buying supplies from other local small businesses.
Small business is in our DNA and we want to help those businesses survive Labor's time in office and thrive when we are returned to Government.
We want other small businesses to spend more at their local cafes, clubs and pubs.
And if they can take their employees to the venues and pay for a meal as part of a milestone sales event, or an acknowledgement of above and beyond hard work, or a team building exercise - then it's a win-win for both businesses.
It will help retention and provide a reward to employees.
So today, I announce a Dutton Coalition Government will provide small businesses with a turnover of up to $10 million with a tax deduction of up to $20,000 per year on food and entertainment at local clubs, pubs and restaurants, excluding alcohol.
This arrangement will also be exempt from Fringe Benefits Tax.
It means the builder with five or six of his or her tradies can go down to a local restaurant, or to a local pub at the end of the week to celebrate a week of hard work.
It means that for 98 per cent of businesses across the country - 2.5 million businesses will be eligible to provide their employees and their customers with a little bit of a return, a little bit of a reward, and to do it in a way where they are not dragged into a complicated tax jungle.
It means that that money is spent in those small businesses.
This is a classic example, this club here, which employs young people, it employs older Australians and it gives back part of its profit to local football clubs, and local sporting clubs, and philanthropic causes otherwise.
Our policy will run for an initial two-year period.
Again, this is a win for businesses on both sides of the equation.
It's a win for the hospitality venues who will see an increased spend in their businesses.
As I've already announced, a Coalition Government will help small businesses in other ways too.
We will increase the instant asset write-off to $30,000 and make this arrangement ongoing.
And we will revert to a simple definition of a casual worker - making it easier for businesses to hire more people.
Friends, the Coalition - the Liberal Party, the National Party, the LNP - we are the party of small business.
We are the party of managing the economy.
We know how to fix up Labor's mess - we've done it before and we will do it again after this election.
We know our economy is hamstrung by exorbitant energy costs.
Thanks to Labor's policies, we're paying some of the highest power prices in the world.
Queenslanders are paying up to 45 cents a kilowatt hour.
Whereas Canadians in Ontario and Americans in Tennessee pay about 18 cents a kilowatt hour.
The Albanese Government's reckless renewables-only policy will carpet Queensland's prime agricultural land and national parks.
But our priority is to deliver affordable and reliable energy.
And to not destroy the environment or key industries in the process - as Labor, the Greens and the Teals would do as advocates of an industrial-scale renewables roll-out.
With a minimal environmental footprint and a high yield of energy, nuclear power must be part of our future energy mix.
New nuclear technologies to replace retiring coal-fired plants at Tarong and Callide will make those communities new centres of industry and investment.
In the meantime, we will ramp-up domestic gas production for cheaper and consistent energy - which as David Crisafulli knows, is critical for Queensland.
Friends, in his campaign to become Premier, David spoke about the health crisis gripping this state.
With a Dutton Coalition Government in Canberra, together, we can get on top of this crisis.
Our priority is to deliver quality healthcare.
We will incentivise junior doctors to train in general practice to help fill shortages in suburbs and regional areas.
We will also review the Medicare and Pharmaceutical Benefits Schemes to see cheaper and new medicines for women.
And we will restore the number of Medicare-subsidised psychological sessions from 10 to 20 - and on a permanent basis.
The Medicare bulk billing rate in Queensland today is 75 per cent - a far cry from the 87 per cent when the Coalition was last in government.
It's gone down by 12 points in this state.
We will improve it again.
With Queensland home to our third largest Indigenous population, we also preside over policies which help see health improvements as part of our broader focus on practical action for Indigenous Australians.
Front and centre will be a full audit into spending on Indigenous programmes to understand what's working - and what's not.
We're not interested in building these programmes which are designed to help Australians - and Indigenous Australians in particular, who are suffering from health and educational disadvantages - we're not interested in building those programmes to help public servant jobs in Canberra.
We are delivering those programmes to provide practical outcomes for people in communities, and Jacinta Price will preside over that review and deliver better outcomes for Australians.
Just as health matters for Queenslanders, and for all Australians, crime-free streets matter too.
Supporting the Queensland Government's agenda, a Dutton Coalition Government will also crack down on crime with our priority to build stronger and more sustainable communities.
We will develop national uniform knife laws, toughen bail laws, and introduce harsher penalties to prevent coercive control.
I want to commend Premier Crisafulli and the new LNP Government here in Queensland.
They've rebuilt respect.
They've reined-in the CFMEU.
They've restored the rule of law.
And all this will save billions of taxpayers' dollars from being wasted.
It means more money for roads, more money for schools, more money for police and more money for hospital beds.
And it's the exact economic formula a Coalition Government will apply when we're elected to clean up the Albanese Government's mess to get the country back on track.
Friends, my good friend and your good friend, Phil Thompson understands the importance of defence for Queensland.
Not only for national security, and not only because he served our country in uniform, but because our state is home to many fine men and women in uniform and who work in the defence industry.
AUKUS has the potential to foster a new arm of our economy and transform our civil industrial base.
That will be great for Queensland and great for our country.
And it's one reason why a Dutton Coalition Government will make a significant investment in defence as part of our priority to keep Australians safe.
Our party founder, the great Sir Robert Menzies, was right in noting that home ownership determines the "health of society as a whole."
The stability, security, responsibility and gratitude a home provides benefits the individual, the family, the community and our nation.
There's a connection between owning a little piece of Australia and pride in our country.
I want to restore the dream of home ownership which is out of reach for too many Australians under the Albanese Government.
And that's why fixing the housing crisis and rebalancing our migration programme are also priorities for a Coalition Government.
Our efforts will focus on housing supply, construction, and ownership.
We will close the migration floodgates Labor has opened.
We will get stalled housing projects off the ground by investing in enabling infrastructure.
And we will allow Australians to access their super for a deposit for their first home.
Friends, housing and infrastructure go hand-in-hand.
The Albanese Government cut money from infrastructure in its budget.
And on the eve of an election, they announce road funding hoping to turn around their political fortunes.
It's another example of the wasted years of the Albanese Government.
We manage the economy much more efficiently than Labor - which allows us to invest in infrastructure projects.
The community of Western Sydney can be assured that a Dutton Government will deliver the upgrade of Fifteenth Avenue.
Today, I announce a Coalition Government will provide matching funding of $500 million with the New South Wales State Government to invest in that project to make it a reality, to transform lives and to create more opportunity for people to get home more quickly in the afternoons.
People in Western Sydney, - and here in the western suburbs of Brisbane - know that our announcement won't involve the CFMEU.
Mr Albanese will be paying the 30 per cent CFMEU tax.
We will not.
If we don't pay the 30 per cent CFMEU tax, it means that we are building 30 per cent more roads and schools, and it means that we can get it built sooner and on budget.
Friends, in closing, two paths are before the Australian people at this election.
One leads to more of the same pain - the other to change for the better.
One offers weak leadership - the other, strong leadership.
One will see our nation fall further - the other will see our country rise again.
Our task is to spare no effort in making these two paths visible to every Australian.
We can do that by reminding them of the Albanese Government's failures.
By exposing the true nature of the green-Teals and the extreme Greens Party.
And most importantly, by communicating our priorities and our policies which will get our country back on track.
If we can do these things, the path to all Australians to choose is clear.
Together, we are going to get our country back on track.
Thank you so much.
