Good morning, everyone. Thanks very much for coming along today.
This election is a choice, about who can better manage our economy.
Of course, the question that Australians need to ask is: are you better off today, and is our country better off today, than three years ago?
Generations of Australians have built their lives – and our country – on the belief that if you work hard, you can get ahead and build a better future for your children.
However, right now, Australia is going backwards.
The Prime Minister spent the first half of this term of Parliament obsessed with the Voice, and it meant that he didn’t have a plan to deal with the scourge of inflation.
Because of Labor’s bad decisions, Australians are doing it tough and they need help. Worse still, for many, they’re losing hope for their future – 29,000 small businesses have gone broke over the course of the Albanese Government’s first term.
I don’t believe that we can simply afford to continue down the current path.
And that means we can’t afford three more years of Labor.
Labor’s economic policies and wasteful spending have increased the cost of living for everyday Australians.
Australians are now paying on average 18 per cent more for rent, 30 per cent more for groceries, and over 30 per cent more for power and gas.
Under Labor, Australia has had the biggest fall in living standards in the developed world.
Australia has just recorded the highest annual number of small business bankruptcies, as I say, on record.
Too many young Australians feel that the dream of homeownership is completely beyond them.
And what sort of Prime Minister – in the middle of a cost of living crisis – promises a 70 cent a day tax cut starting in 15 months’ time?
Australian families need relief now.
We must do better, and there is a better way.
The Coalition has an achievable plan to get our country back on track.
That’s why a Coalition Government will cut fuel excise by 25 cents a litre so that every time you fill up your car or your ute at the bowser, it's about $14 cheaper.
Our plan will help get our country back on track.
A government I lead will build a stronger economy, with low inflation.
We will deliver this by reining in the wasteful spending that fuels inflation. We will reduce tax, red tape, and we will take control again of building sites and take them away from the CFMEU and the organised crime groups.
We want to make sure that we can make building sites safe again, that we can make construction affordable again in our country.
We will deliver cheaper energy to families and small businesses – I think this is a really important point and one of the big points of difference between what Labor will offer at this election and what the Coalition will offer to the Australian people.
This includes, as you know, by immediately delivering more Australian gas for Australians. It will lower energy costs and it will prepare us for the future as we need cheaper energy, we need reliable energy, and we need cleaner energy.
We will make housing more affordable by reducing Labor’s record migration intake, by funding critical infrastructure, assisting first home buyers, and restricting foreign investors.
By making housing more affordable, we will restore the hope of home ownership for young Australians.
We will take the necessary decisions – and show the necessary resolve – to keep Australians safe.
We’re going to boost spending for the Australian Defence Force because we live in a very uncertain time.
We’re going to make our suburbs and our towns safer.
And we’re going to make sure that we have a focus on border security once again.
And we will improve healthcare – reversing Labor’s decline in bulk-billing and, importantly, reversing their cuts to mental health services.
I bring experience and a track record to this job.
I have a track record as a police officer, as a small business owner, and as a Minister across a number of portfolios.
Importantly, I have a very experienced team, and with people from diverse backgrounds – who have experience running small businesses, creating jobs, delivering healthcare, serving our country, and their communities.
Our team is united, experienced, and ready for the responsibility of governing Australia.
Our plan will deliver a stronger economy with low inflation and affordable homes in safer communities.
A stronger, safer, better Australia.
When it comes to the economy, inflation, energy, housing, and security, Labor has simply failed to deliver.
And unfortunately, Mr Albanese is too weak – and Labor is too incompetent – to fix the problems that they’ve created and that are facing our country today.
We can’t afford three more years like the last three.
There is a better way for our country.
My team and I have a practical plan which will deliver cost of living relief now and lower power prices into the future.
I ask Australians for your vote for your Liberal or National candidates at the next election, so that we can get our country back on track, and to make sure that we can deal with our times, which are very uncertain.
I'm very happy to take any questions.
QUESTION:
Mr Dutton, the Coalition has a $300 billion plan for nuclear energy, but it barely got a mention last night in your budget in reply. Why is that? Are you walking back from nuclear because the electorate doesn't like it?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we spoke extensively about our energy plan last night, and I think it's important to point out that our plan has gas and a lot of gas in the system between now and when nuclear can come online in 2035 to 2037.
The Prime Minister's plan of renewables rolls out over about a 15-year period. It is much more expensive than our plan – in fact, $263 billion more expensive than our plan for nuclear. It's not achievable, because it requires 28,000 kilometres of poles and wires to be rolled out across the country, which is not going to happen. They're relying on green hydrogen, which is not a commercial reality, and all of it – under the renewables only policy – adds to extra increases in costs of energy. Families are seeing that at the moment – 30 per cent more for groceries, 34 per cent more gas, 32 per cent more for electricity. That's the reality of life, so far, under just one term of the Albanese Government.
So, our plan, as it is for 19 of the top 20 economies around the world – look at what the Labour Party is doing in the United Kingdom, the Democrats and the Republicans in the United States – they're embracing the latest technology, zero emissions nuclear power, because it's cheaper, it's about one-third the cost of what we're paying for electricity in our country, and it's reliable and it allows us to meet our net zero by 2050 undertakings.
Importantly, what we announced last night for an east coast gas reservation means that we can get the price of electricity down because gas is used to create and generate electricity. Under our policy, we're putting gas back into the energy system and we're doing it for Australians, because it's important that we honour our overseas export contracts, but equally it's important to make sure that we can take care of Australians first, and that's what we'll do. We lower the prices of gas as a result of that, and not just for households, but for manufacturers and for supermarkets right across the economy, and that will help with the problem of inflation that Labor's created as well.
QUESTION:
On gas, the Australian energy producers have dismissed your gas reservation plan. They say it'll lead to an oversupply on the east coast. Why wouldn't it?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, that's good – and it'll bring down prices. That's exactly what we want to do. So, I'm not here to argue for the gas companies, I'm here to argue for Australian consumers – for mums and dads, for small businesses, 29,000 of whom have gone broke under Labor's watch. Now, behind every one of those stories is a mum, a dad, somebody who's lost their home, somebody who has lost their life savings. I'm going to stand up for Australians and make the decisions that we need to make to keep our country safe and to make sure that our economy is properly managed.
I was the Assistant Treasurer in the Howard Government, and I want to make sure that we can get the economy back on track because families are hurting at the moment. Yes, we'll work with the gas companies – and we have in the formulation of this policy over a matter of months – but we have a plan which will roll out certainty around supply, and we do need more supply. See, part of the problem that Labor's created is that they've stopped the supply of gas, they've stopped new projects from taking place, and, of course, you haven’t tempered demand, and that's driving up prices, which is in part why gas is up by 34 per cent and manufacturing in our country is a joke. The Prime Minister has said that it's all about 'Made in Australia'. It's not, because there's been a three-fold increase in the number of manufacturing businesses that have closed over the last two and a half years under this Government. That's a disaster, because I want to make things in Australia again, but we can only do that if we've got a secure energy system, and it's only the Coalition that's offering a way forward for business and for families. Labor's just promising you higher electricity prices and now blackouts and brownouts.
QUESTION:
Mr Dutton, when will you reveal a genuine economic policy? You talk about income tax, deficits and debt out of control, but when is the Government going to explain to voters how it will drive economic growth, productivity and fiscal accountability?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Michael, I pointed out last night – and I think this is a very important point to make – energy is the economy. Everything that we see before us, the plastics, the cars we drive in, the hospitals we rely on, the phones, the chargers, everything relies on energy in our system. If energy is unaffordable, and if it's unreliable, then it's disaster for the economy. You can't have economic growth without baseload power. Renewables in the system are great, but we can't pretend that the batteries last for any more than a few hours.
Labor can't pretend that by giving you $150 that somehow that's going to compensate you for the $1,300 power bill that you're now achieving under the Labor Government. I mean, the Prime Minister promised that power bills would go down by $275 a year, and instead they've gone up by $1.300, so we have to get the energy picture right, and that's what we've promised last night.
We've said to Australians that, yes, the Prime Minister is offering 70 cents a day by way of a tax cut – in 15 months' time. I think the Prime Minster is completely out of touch with the pressure that Australians are under at the moment – and we're saying that we want to help now – pensioners and families and small businesses right across the economy – with a 25 cent reduction in fuel excise. So, when you go to the bowser and you fill up your car, fill up your ute, you're going to be paying about $14 less for every tank of fuel. That is immediate relief now and it provides support and it's a very significant economic policy.
We've announced our nuclear policy which is probably the biggest energy economic policy offered by an opposition in our country's history. It will underpin energy security for the next decade, for the century, and we have announced last night an east coast gas reservation which will underpin economic growth over the course of the next decade and beyond. All of that is beyond the Labor Party and I just don't think our country can afford three more years of Anthony Albanese.
QUESTION:
The impact of those energy policies are in the medium term and long term. What are you doing in the here and now to drive productivity?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, look, if your point is that it takes time to clean up a Labor mess, well, that's true, and it took John Howard time to clean up Labor's mess when he came in, in 1996.
We say that in our plan, and again, we've given this a lot of consideration, but our positive plan for Australia means that we can bring more gas into the system by the end of this calendar year, and that is a reality. There is gas in the system at the moment that is being exported, that is not part of the foundation contracts, that gas, which is in the system now, is going to be diverted into domestic consumption. If we can do that, that is going have a downward pressure on prices straight away. That is much faster than the 15 years that the Prime Minister is suggesting in relation to his renewables only policy.
I think the Prime Minster has been found out from that. He promised a $275 electricity reduction before the election, 97 times, and it's comical that the Treasurer refuses even to say “$275”, but instead your power prices have gone up by $1,300. Well, under us, under our plan, Australians will pay less for their energy and that's how we'll get our economy going again, it's how will get our country back on track, and it's how we will help families who are really hurting because of Labor's bad decisions.
QUESTION:
Mr Dutton, you mentioned people that were hurting and wanting to put money in people's pockets. Why won't you support keeping Labor's tax cuts as a long term back in people pockets’ money and legislate the fuel excise given there will be that reprieve straight away?
PETER DUTTON:
So, we have to act responsibly, and we can't pretend that we've got limitless money. Governments only have taxpayers' money and it needs to be spent efficiently. At the moment every family in Australia is cutting back on expenses and trying to make their budgets balance each month because interest rates have gone up 12 times under this Government, and because of the reckless renewables only policy, groceries are up by 30 per cent under Mr Albanese as well. So, we need to provide support, but to do it in a fiscally responsible way.
Now, what we've done with the fuel excise is to say that we'll implement it for 12 months, we can review it at the end of that, but it costs $6 billion and it's not built in as a structural cost in the budget. Now, for the 70 cents a day, starting in 15 months' time, that costs the budget $17 billion over four years and then about $7.4 billion a year ongoing. So, it's a big structural cost that's built in, and it's not going to be felt by Australians because people know that you get a much better impact under what we're offering, and that is a 25 cent a litre reduction in your petrol and diesel price. Then, what we want to do, is create structural change in the economy around energy. This is why the gas reservation is so important, because the Government's plan is just to see power prices keep going up. They'll keep giving you $150 until they run out of money, and that is just a system that's not sustainable, and Australians aren't silly, they realise that.
Our system fixes the problem at its core – that is, the energy mess that Labor's created. By bringing more gas into the system, we have downward pressure on prices and it's across the economy. Don't forget that your power bill has gone up at home, but it's also gone up for the local IGA store and it has gone up for every small business, every farmer, every element of food production. They're all paying more for gas and electricity under Labor, and that's why groceries are up by 30 per cent under Mr Albanese – and going to go higher. So, if we get the energy picture right, then we can provide support in the medium term and the longer term, but starting from the end of this calendar year, we have the ability to bring a lot of gas into the system so that we can see that downward pressure – not just on gas but on electricity prices, as well.
QUESTION:
You're proposing to, just on the plan to reduce net overseas migration, does that mean you plan to introduce caps across all areas of temporary migration beyond students, such as backpackers and skilled workers?
PETER DUTTON:
Firstly, just to explain the problem that we've got. So, Labor's brought in a million people over two years through the migration programme, which is a record for our country. Now, all of those people need homes to live in, and that's why Australians have found it really hard to find a house – to either buy a house or rent a house – under Mr Albanese.
When we're out there, whether it's in here in Brisbane or whether it is Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, wherever it is, when you talk to young Australians, many of them have lost the dream of home ownership. That's because Mr Albanese has created this housing crisis where people can't afford rents, they can't affordable to buy a home, and you've got all of these people who've been brought in through the record numbers in the Big Australia policy that Mr Albanese didn't explain before the last election, you're competing against those people. So, we're saying we need a managed migration programme. We're going to reduce the permanent migration programme by 25 per cent, so it's at 185,000 now, it'll come down to 140,000 in year one and two. That creates about 40,000 homes. Over five years, it'll create 100,000 homes. That can help Australians get into homes.
So, migration is great for our country, but it needs to be managed. At the same time that the Government's made predictions, the predictions have been blown out within a matter of months. The Government's saying that over a five year period there'll now be 1.8 million people coming in, well it'll be over two million. Under the Labor Party, you're going to see a housing crisis continue, and I sincerely really want to do everything I can, if I'm given the great honour of being Prime Minister, to be the Prime Minister for home affordability and accessibility. I want to get young Australians into homes. Our $5 billion plan, which is going to create 500,000 homes, will be part of the way that we do that as well.
QUESTION:
As well as slashing migration, you're proposing to sack 40,000 public servants, cut government programmes on housing and on energy. What do you say to voters who equate your policy platform to that of Donald Trump?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, again, if you have a look at what's happening in the economy at the moment, it's a tight labour market, and unfortunately – as I pointed out before – because of the Government's bad economic decisions, 29,000 small businesses have gone broke over the last couple of years. That's a record number; more than any time in our history.
So, it is a different picture as you go across the economy, but my view is that families who are working really hard at the moment: some people are taking up a second job, overtime, mums returning to work earlier than what they planned to after having kids because they just can't afford to pay the bills under this Government. That's a tough situation. When they're paying taxes, they want to make sure the taxes are being spent efficiently.
Now, the rate at which the public servants in Canberra have increased is at about three times the rate that it was under Mr Rudd and Ms Gillard when they were in government as Prime Ministers. It's not an efficient way of spending $7 billion a year, and as a Liberal and particularly with the heavy influence from John Howard and Peter Costello, I want to spend taxpayers' money efficiently.
I have the greatest of respect for our public servants in Canberra, but the public servants in Canberra have been put on at record numbers to please the union in Canberra, that's the Labor model. I want to make sure that we can protect frontline services, that we could put more money back into health and we've announced more money going into GP training, announced more money into mental health, we've announced money into helping people who are homeless – the numbers have spiked under this Government. It's been a tough three years for a lot of Australians and it'll only get worse if Mr Albanese is elected, particularly if it's with the Greens.
I want to make sure that we can have an efficiently-run economy and that's exactly what we'll do. We'll run our economy more efficiently, we'll help families get their lives back on track, we'll address the cost of living pressures, we'll help Australians realise the dream of home ownership again, we'll keep our country safer and we'll make our communities and our towns and cities safer as well, and that's what we offer at this election.
QUESTION:
The Prime Minister is trying to compare you to Donald Trump, is that a compliment or a sledge?
PETER DUTTON:
I just think what you'll see from the Prime Minister is all of the negative stuff day after day. The ads are out there that the Prime Minster's written, and the sledge-a-thon is on by the Prime Minister, because he doesn't have a good story to tell about his three years in government.
If the Prime Minister had done really good things for our country, if people were better today than they were three years ago, he'd be talking about that plan – but of course he's not. The trouble is that the Prime Minister has done a lot of damage to our country. He's hurt a lot of people, and a lot of people are really under the pump financially at the moment, and it's going to get worse if he's re-elected.
So, you can expect the personal sledges. I'm not interested in that. I'm interested in our positive plan to help Australians, to help Australians deal with the cost of living crisis that Labor's created, to help deal with the housing crisis and to make sure that we're a safer community and a safer country, and of course to make sure that we've got a quality health care system and that's the plan that we’ve got.
Thank you very much.