Source: Australian Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry
Emma Comer:
Welcome to the beautiful Bracken Ridge, it’s a wonderful part of my electorate of Petrie. I’m so pleased that state and federal government are coming together to back this part of our region. So we’re going to improve the Gateway Motorway and the Bruce Highway interchange. It’s important. Our population is going to increase, and just very excited, the locals are going to be very pleased that they can get from A to B a lot quicker.
I’ll hand over to Minister Mickelberg.
Brent Mickelberg:
Thanks, Emma. It’s tremendous to be here today celebrating an important delivery milestone here on this congested bottleneck that is the Gateway Motorway. Really pleased to be partnering with the federal government to deliver these important upgrades between Bracken Ridge and where the Gateway Motorway joins the Bruce Highway.
Whether you’re from North Brisbane, the Sunny Coast or Moreton Bay, locals know that this stretch of road is frequently congested. Anyone who drives in and out of Brisbane knows – regardless of the time of day – that this road is not coping. And we’re really pleased to be able to announce that we’ve awarded the main construction contract here. And together we’ll be delivering this project in coming years.
Main construction will start on this in the back end of next year as we work through the environmental approval process and finalise the design and this project will be finished in time for the 2032 Games.
This is a really important project for the people of North Brisbane, and it highlights our focus on delivering for all Queenslanders. I’m really pleased to be partnering with the federal government – whether it’s the Bruce Highway, a $9 billion project to upgrade the Bruce in partnership with the federal government for these roads. In the south east, like the Gateway, Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail, there’s a multitude of projects we’re partnering on across Queensland and I want to acknowledge the federal government’s investment in Queensland here today.
I’ll hand over now to the federal Treasurer.
Jim Chalmers:
Thanks everyone for being out here, thanks to Minister Mickelberg, thanks to Emma Comer – the wonderful member for Petrie, and shortly you’ll hear from Corinne Mulholland – our Senator for Queensland as well.
I need to run through a few issues, but firstly, I want to say how pleased the federal government is to be partnering with the Queensland Government to fix this road. Anybody who uses this road knows that it’s too choked up too often, so we are investing billions of dollars, we are backing the Bruce with billions of dollars in new investment. From the Gateway to the Bruce and back, this is another couple of billions of dollars. It’s a vote of confidence in the local community, the families and local businesses, the local economy in this really important part of South East Queensland.
As a Queenslander, I know how important the Gateway is. I know how important the Bruce is. Now, remember of this $2 billion combined, about one and a half of that is Commonwealth investment. This comes on top of the more than $7 billion that Prime Minister Albanese announced at the beginning of this year, going from Gympie to Cairns. This is obviously closer to Brisbane, the north side of Brisbane.
We know that this road is too choked up too often, we’re coming to the table with billions of dollars in new investment. This is all about backing the Bruce with billions because we know how important this stretch of road is and we know how important the South East Queensland economy is to the national economy as well.
I also wanted to say that Treasurer Janetzki from Queensland wrote to me earlier this week with a request to exempt from the GST calculations the hundreds of millions of dollars the Commonwealth is providing with the state government to ensure that smelting is continuing in Mt Isa. We are big believers in the communities, the local economies and the industries of North Queensland and North West Queensland. We’ve come to the table with hundreds of millions of dollars in investment to keep that smelter going in Mt Isa in particular, and what we’re announcing today is by exempting the payment from the GST distribution calculations, that is another show of faith in the industries and communities, particularly of the north and north west of Queensland. We know how important those industries are to local communities in Mt Isa and in other parts of North, Far North and North West Queensland, and that’s why we’re making this decision and announcing it today.
I’ve also announced today the next steps in modernising and strengthening our foreign investment regime. We’ve made important changes to foreign investment already. We’ve strengthened and streamlined the process to try and attract more investment and today, we begin the process of a second tranche of reforms to the foreign investment regime.
Australia desperately needs more investment from all sources and this is about attracting the investment in our economy which is good for workers, good for businesses, good for Australian investors and good for our economy more broadly. My changes are all about ensuring that we strengthen the process for high risk investments, but we make it much faster and easier for low‑risk investments, and that’s what these foreign investment reforms are all about. If we want to make our economy more productive, we need much more investment, and that’s what my changes to the Foreign Investment Review Board regime are all about.
So we’ve done that today and tomorrow we will see the biggest new investment in Medicare in its history. Tomorrow is the 1st of November, and it’s a really important day for Medicare in this country. We promised at the election that we would strengthen Medicare, and we are delivering. Tomorrow, the 1st of November begins a new incentive for bulk billing for all patients, but also new top‑up payments for practices which bulk bill every patient that they get through the door.
This is a game‑changing investment in Medicare. This is all about strengthening Medicare and providing cost‑of‑living relief. It’s all about recognising that more bulk billing means less pressure on families, in particular. More bulk billing in more communities is cost‑of‑living relief, and we will be delivering that from tomorrow, the 1st of November.
A couple of other issues before I hand to Corinne and then take your questions. The next one is about the Opposition’s net‑zero discussions today. This Coalition has net‑zero credibility when it comes to the most important questions in our economy – the net‑zero transformation is a huge economic opportunity for Australia, and we would be mad to see it go begging, as the Coalition wants to do.
What this meeting of the Coalition shows today is that they haven’t changed a bit, they haven’t learned a thing from the election. They are divided, they are divisive, and they are in disarray and we see that with these discussions they’re having about the net‑zero economic opportunity for Australia and that’s the difference between the Coalition and the Labor government at the federal level. The Coalition is divided, divisive and in disarray. This Albanese Labor government is delivering, delivering more funding for roads, delivering a stronger Medicare, attracting investment, investing particularly in the great state of Queensland, and that’s what today’s all about.
You’re going to hear briefly from Corinne, and then we’re happy to take your questions.
Corinne Mulholland:
Thank you, Jim. We are standing at the juncture of 2 of Queensland’s busiest roads – the Gateway Motorway and the Bruce Highway and today we move a step forward closer to fixing this notorious bottleneck. Whether you live in Brisbane or Redcliffe, North Lakes, Caboolture or the Sunshine Coast, you know how congested this section of road gets and today we are moving that step closer to getting it fixed.
It’s all thanks to a combined funding announcement of up to $2 billion between the Albanese government and the Queensland Government and as the Treasurer said, it’s on top of a further $7 billion for the rest of the Bruce Highway. So we will see amazing upgrade like this one behind me that’s going to be delivered soon for the rest of the Bruce Highway, right up towards the top of Queensland, and we know it’s so, so desperately needed.
We’ve already heard residents voice their pleasure at seeing this project underway. We’ve heard some honks, we’ve heard some people calling out of their cars, they want to see this delivered, and I’m so pleased to be part of an Albanese government that’s going to deliver it.
Chalmers:
Great job, Corinne. Any tough questions for Corinne?
Journalist:
I guess, Treasurer, will the household energy rebate definitely end in December?
Chalmers:
Well, I say the same thing today that I’ve said repeatedly, including earlier this morning – the energy rebates are a really important way that the Albanese Labor government is helping people with the cost of living. They do take some of the edge off electricity bills, and they’ve been an important way and a responsible way that we’ve been helping with the cost of living.
Those energy rebates won’t be in the budget forever, at some point they will taper away. We’ve made it clear on multiple occasions now and for some time since the Budget, that we will review those energy rebates from budget update to budget update, that remains the case. They played an important role helping Australians with the cost of living, they’ve been delivered despite the opposition of the Coalition in Canberra who would see your energy prices even higher. We’ll review them from budget update to budget update, but people shouldn’t expect them to continue forever.
Journalist:
But you just said, obviously, you didn’t rule them out continuing past December. Former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry spoke to the Insiders podcast this week and said that you can’t keep those rebates going forever, which I think you just conceded but he says they must end. Are you creating a system, even if you continue them, where people are just relying on these rebates?
Chalmers:
First of all, I’ve been saying for some time that they’re not a permanent feature of the budget and so I don’t see Ken’s comments as especially controversial. I actually just ran into Ken at the airport earlier today and we had a good discussion about the energy market and about energy rebates. He understands, just like I’ve said for some time now, that nobody has ever considered them to be a permanent feature of the budget but they are an important part of the budget because they are a responsible way to help Australians with the cost of living.
Now, we’re doing that at the same time as we’ve put the Capacity Investment Scheme in place, which is attracting more and more cleaner and cheaper energy into the energy grid, we’ve got a review of the National Energy Market underway at the same time. In a whole range of different ways, we are investing in the long‑term future of the National Energy Market so that it can use that cheaper and cleaner energy to deliver for people in communities like this one.
We’ve also got a spectacularly successful home batteries program, which is being taken up with gusto in communities like this one as well, and that’s a very good thing. So we’re acting across a range of fronts. The energy rebates are an important part of the budget, but not a permanent part of the budget. And in that regard, I agree with what Ken said earlier today.
Journalist:
Treasurer, Sussan Ley is visiting the Tomago aluminium smelter in the Hunter region today. She says they need certainty, not another desperate Labor bailout and that energy costs under Labor have become unworkable. How would you respond to those comments?
Chalmers:
Well I mean, a couple of things about that. If Sussan Ley really cared about workers in industries like that one, she wouldn’t have been part of a government that came up with 22 different ways to do absolutely nothing about energy. And if she really cared about the manufacturing sector, she wouldn’t have been part of a government which goaded the car industry to leave our shores. If she really cared about Tomago and the workers of the Hunter, she would support the Albanese government’s efforts with the state government of New South Wales and with Rio Tinto – the company, to try and find a sensible and responsible way through here. That’s been our approach.
Now, we work through these issues in a considered, consultative, methodical way. Those discussions between largely the Industry Minister Tim Ayres but also myself and other ministers, with the state government and with the company, have been all about seeing if we can find a responsible and sensible way through and those conversations are ongoing.
Obviously, at a time like this, our thoughts are with the workers. Sussan Ley’s thoughts are always about the politics. She always puts politics before people and we’re seeing that again today. She seems really quite happy about the difficult news that’s come out of Tomago. We take a different approach, and that’s because we care about the workers, we care about the Hunter and we care about the future of manufacturing.
Journalist:
You mentioned the Coalition are meeting about net zero today. Does this sort of, I guess, uncertainty on energy imperil something like Tomago?
Chalmers:
We’ve made it clear that when it comes to the energy transformation, certainty and clarity is really important and that’s why we released our 2035 targets and it’s why I released at the same time the detailed Treasury modelling to accompany it. And what that Treasury modelling makes clear is that the net‑zero transformation is a huge economic opportunity for Australia. It needs to be orderly and considered and methodical along the lines that we are proposing. The absolute worst thing for our economy would be either a disorderly transformation or worse, what some of these Coalition characters are proposing, which is that we abandon net zero altogether. Abandoning net zero would be diabolical for our economy and for our country, and the Treasury modelling makes that abundantly clear.
And so I say again, these characters have net‑zero credibility when it comes to our economy and when it comes to the energy transformation in particular. They are hopelessly divided, they are terribly divisive, and they’re in disarray and we’re seeing that once again today.
Journalist:
Treasurer, just on the energy rebates, have you started getting calls from backbenchers to have the rebates increased at all?
Chalmers:
No.
Journalist:
You were quick to claim credit for low inflation numbers, but do you accept any responsibility for the current figures?
Chalmers:
Well, first of all, I’d encourage you not to adopt the Coalition’s talking points on this. When we make progress in the economy, I share it with the people of Australia, who deserve the credit for the very welcome and encouraging progress that we’ve made in our economy over the course of the last few years. I go out of my way to say that the government is proud of the progress that Australians have made together. And I share the credit for that because that’s appropriate.
Now, I take responsibility for working through the remaining challenges in our economy and I’ve said through the course of this week – and I mean it when I say this – we know that even with the progress we’ve made on tax cuts, on real wages growth, on inflation which is half of what we inherited from the Coalition, we know that people are still under pressure. And those inflation numbers, I think, reflected that.
Inflation is higher than we’d like, but it’s half what we inherited from the Coalition. We’ve made a lot of progress as a country. What we’ve seen around the world in the most recent data is every major advanced economy has seen an increase in inflation except for the UK, which is already much higher than what it is here. And so when you make progress on inflation, that progress is not always in a straight line. We’ve made that clear. We need inflation to be lower, that’s why we’re managing the budget in the most responsible way we can, it’s why we’re providing cost‑of‑living relief, including the energy rebates, which are rolling out right now.
Journalist:
[inaudible]
Chalmers:
We’ll just go back to Tobi and then we’ll come to you, mate.
Journalist:
[inaudible] forecasts on inflation at all?
Chalmers:
We update the forecasts for all parts of our economy from budget update to budget update and you’ll see in the mid‑year update, towards the end of the year, that those forecasts will be updated in the usual way. That mid‑year budget update won’t be a mini budget. People shouldn’t expect there to be lots and lots of new initiatives, but we will update the fiscal position and we will update the economic forecasts in the usual way, and that’s not unusual.
Journalist:
Back on Tomago, Treasurer, Rio Tinto, as you know, is a $187 billion company. Does the government and, therefore, the taxpayer really need to step in and save the day here?
Chalmers:
First of all, I’d repeat the comments that I heard Pat Conroy make. Pat Conroy is a champion of the Hunter and an important minister in our government and he made the point that the Hunter has been very good to Rio for a long time, and we need Rio to be good to the Hunter. I think that’s an important point that Pat made, a point that I endorse.
And so the conversations we’ve been having, the discussions and engagement we’ve been having with not just Rio Tinto but also the state government reflects the really central role that the Hunter plays in our national economy. We’re big believers in the Hunter, and our engagement reflects that.
Now, when it comes to the federal government’s role, overwhelmingly, this is a commercial decision. Obviously, there’s a state government element to it as well but what we’ve shown is a willingness to engage. If there is some kind of steps that the federal government can take which are responsible and which are sensible, of course we’ll consider them.
Journalist:
And in terms of – I mean, Tim Ayres has said that Labor tried [inaudible] to strike a deal with Tomago and they didn’t accept it. Are there talks underway to draft a new deal, and what might that look like?
Chalmers:
I think there are good reasons not to air publicly the sorts of things we might be considering, particularly if this ends up being some kind of negotiation, I think you understand that, Reece. But I’ve seen firsthand, I’ve seen up close the around‑the‑clock effort that Tim Ayres has been putting in. Again, whether it’s Tim, whether it’s the Prime Minister, Pat, others, myself, we’re big believers in the Hunter and we see the Hunter as having a bright industrial future even as it works through some of these difficulties and I’ve been fully supportive of Tim’s efforts in this regard.
Journalist:
This is a question from Canberra. Earlier this year you promised [inaudible] by September about whether Hanwha [inaudible]?
Chalmers:
I can’t go into the details of individual cases, but from time to time there are issues that take a little bit longer to work through and this is an example of where we’ve been able to substantially speed up the Foreign Investment Review Board process for most of the issues, but for a small handful of issues we make no apology for being robust, to looking at these issues in a very careful way and that’s what’s happened here.
I understand that the original deadline has been missed in this case, there are good reasons for that which I won’t go into here. From time to time, we need a little bit more time to come to a concluded view on these cases, to make sure that we’re getting all of the advice that we need, including from all of the relevant agencies and that’s what’s happened here.
But overwhelmingly, when it comes to Foreign Investment Review Board processes, we have dramatically sped them up. We’ve made really good progress, but we want to make more progress still. There will still be some cases where the work that we do on it is very robust, and that’s because, for some cases, it’s about strengthening the system. For other cases – most cases – it’s about streamlining the system. I think we’ve found the right balance.
Journalist:
When can we expect that Hanwha decision?
Chalmers:
I’m not prepared to pre‑empt the timing of that. We’re in some pretty intensive consultations right now with different parts of the government. I understand that the company would like us to have made a decision already. I understand that. I take that very seriously, but from time to time, a case like this requires us to ask a few more questions, and that’s what’s happening here.
Journalist:
Treasurer, just quickly, you mentioned exempting GST payments for the Mt Isa smelter. Would you consider doing the same for the Bruce Highway investment from the federal government?
Chalmers:
There are different criteria that we judge the GST distribution exemptions on, and we’re exempting this particular payment for 2 reasons. First of all, because that is an unusual contribution we’re making and, secondly, because there’s a precedent in other states – a very specific precedent when it comes to industries of this kind.
It’s not possible to exempt all of the big investments that we make. And it’s a good opportunity for me to point out, the $7 billion we announced at the start of the year, another couple of billion here, we are big and enthusiastic investors in the great state of Queensland. We’re big believers in the Queensland economy here in the southeast and right through the regions as well, and from time to time, an exemption that we might make about the GST distribution calculation reflects that.
Thanks very much.