Federal election 2022 live: NSW premier defends Icac in front of Scott Morrison; Albanese says PM ‘has no plans for the future’

Q: I do have two questions.

Anthony Albanese:

Well, you get one.

Q: On suburban rail loop, you’ve committed $2.2 billion. This has been slated by the Federal Government for much more money in the past, even up to $10 billion.

Albanese:

We’re making our commitment today because that is what we are putting forward to Victoria. We, of course, will work – this is a project that will go for a long period of time. We’re hoping to begin very soon in the next 12 months for early works but this is a nation-building project. Our commercial commitment is what we’re making today which is $2.2 billion. What that will do is it should give the Victorian Government confidence that they’ll have a partner with the national government.

Asked about not explicitly backing the ACTU’s submission to the FWC and why wage rises shouldn’t outstrip inflation, Albanese says:

…You should be able to pay your rent, to buy food, to get by. And the Fair Work Commission should bear that in mind in the decision that they make. The difference at this election campaign is very stark and very clear. We have a government that have low wage growth as a key feature of their economic architecture. They’ve said that. And that is what they have done over 10 years. Labor has a plan – Labor has a plan to lift wages and that is what we will do. A stark difference between the two.

Suburban rail loop I hear – the magic words about the project.

‘Every human being deserves respect,’ Albanese says

Anthony Albanese is with Daniel Andrews making the surburban rail loop announcement in Melbourne.

But the questions are about what we have been talking about today.

Q: Katherine Deves, the Liberal party candidate, has doubled down on her comments that gender reassignment surgery is mutilation. Is that an appropriate comment for a political candidate to be making? And how do you respond?

Albanese:

I don’t believe it is an appropriate comment and I’ll make this point – vulnerable people, in particular, are deserving of respect. Every human being deserves respect. What we need to look for from our national political leaders is ways to unify the country and bring people together, not play politics in order to divide people.

Updated at 19.59 EDT

Victoria reports 18 Covid deaths

It has also been a difficult day in Victoria.

Updated at 19.50 EDT

The press conference ends.

Updated at 19.47 EDT

‘What has this got to do with the question?’ reporter asks PM

Q: Do you regret the fact that a candidate you picked, Katherine Deves, has become a distraction at the start of the campaign. And can I ask Simon Kennedy a question?

Morrison:

If you’d like? Why don’t you ask Simon first?

Q: Do you believe there’s reason to be concerned about the safety of mRNA vaccines and what are your thoughts on vaccine mandates for some industries?

Simon Kennedy:

I think I’ve been very clear on this. I’m pro-science, pro-vaccines. My wife’s an infectious diseases doctor. We were one of the first few thousand people vaccinated in Australia, because of her job.

Some weeks ago, or months ago, I expressed a comment that I was anti-blanket workforce mandates. Days after, that the New South Wales premier lifted the blanket prohibition orders, which I fully support, absolutely fully support and I think I’ve been very clear on that.

In terms of the comments, yes, I said it had happened quite quickly. I stand by that and I stand by people’s freedom to choice. I just don’t believe when we’re at 95% vaccination levels in punishing people. That was all I said.

Q: And on mRNA vaccines?

Morrison:

On your other question, the gender pay gap today has fallen to 13.8% from 17.4% when we first came to government. Now, just so people understand what that means, that means on average, because of the fall in the gender pay gap under our government, people are $70 better off because of what we’ve been able to achieve this closing the gender pay gap.

Also as Prime Minister, for the first time, more than 50% of all Federal Government appointments to boards have now been female. On top of that, I have the highest number of female members of my Cabinet since federation…

Q: Sorry – what’s this got to do with this question?

Morrison:

Since federation began – and I’m about to tell you what it’s got to do. I have no doubts in selecting a strong woman who wanted to represent the Liberal Party at this election. Not everybody may agree with her point of view. I accept that. I wouldn’t think anybody would agree with what I have to say either.

But I do think and I was very determined to ensure that I would have more female members representing the Liberal Party at this election and where I’ve had the opportunity to have a direct say in that, I have ensured that that has been delivered and that is consistent with my approach.

One of the things we’ve announced today is over $40 million to support women going into non-traditional trades and into digital and manufacturing careers. I started this press conference by talking about the investments that we’re making in skills, and one of the big shifts that can occur is by ensuring more and more women have the opportunity to go into areas of our economy that they haven’t entered into before.

I’m seeing it in the mining industry. I’m seeing it in the manufacturing industry. All critical areas of skill and in our Defence Forces as well. I’m absolutely pleased that I’ve been able to recruit and we’ve been able to appoint strong female Liberal candidates that won’t just run with the pack when it comes to issues but will stand up for what they believe in. That’s what being a Liberal is all about. Thank you very much.

Updated at 19.55 EDT

NSW premier defends Icac in front of Scott Morrison

NSW premier Dominic Perrottet then tries to walk a very tight line.

Perrottet:

I believe the prime minister and I are completely on the same page in relation to driving integrity in public office, whether that’s politicians or the public service.

Q: But he calls it a kangaroo court.

Perrottet:

I accept we may disagree in relation to the operation of the New South Wales model. But at its heart, what we both agree on is that there should be integrity agencies in place that ensure the best standards in public life. And whether that’s in the public service or in politicians, that is the expectation right around the country and in New South Wales.

I agree with the prime minister in relation to – it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach. With our integrity agency, the Icac in New South Wales, it differs from other integrity agencies in other state jurisdictions.

I think it is welcome that at a commonwealth level they’re working through that. As the prime minister has said, their work is hundreds of pages long and it’s important they get it right and it’s important …

Q: But are public hearings going too far? Too many public hearings?

Perrottet:

When it comes to any agency in the New South Wales government, we always look at them in terms of ways we can improve and if there’s areas where we can improve here in New South Wales, we will.

But ultimately, here in our state, the Icac has played an important role in maintaining high standards in public office and in the public service. We have people in jail today because of their behaviour and the corruption that occurred in relation to – I’ll take Eddie Obeid for example, in the previous government, which corruptly used taxpayer dollars for personal benefit.

And as premier of this state, whether it’s politicians or whether it’s the public service, I expect the highest standards of integrity and I want to ensure that – not just that that is maintained in our state but ultimately, as well, the public have confidence in government in the standards they have in the delivery of public service in our state.

Updated at 19.51 EDT

‘Anthony Albanese is just making it up,’ says Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison continues:

Hang on. You’ve asked a long question and I’m giving you a very comprehensive answer. The second phase of our integrity commission, which is set out in our 347 pages of legislation, deals with the broader issues of criminality across the entire public service, the entire public service, the vast majority of which don’t have any coercive powers in relation to the decisions that they take, which is another difference between the federal and the state jurisdictions.

So my point is this – what may or may not work at a state level is not a guide to what should be done at a federal level and I don’t believe the New South Wales ICAC model is the right model for the federal jurisdiction.

I have serious criticisms of the New South Wales ICAC model. I’ve never been a fan of how it’s conducted itself. And I don’t care if barristers and lawyers and others up there in Macquarie Street – not in the Parliament but in the barristers’ chambers – disagree with me.

They disagree with me all the time. I’ve never had much truck with them over the course of my entire political career.

I’ll leave them to what they do and all the rest of it I’ll focus on what I think is the right model for Australia because I don’t intend, when we introduce our model, to get it wrong. I think the design of it has to be right. It’s not just about having any integrity commission, one that is driven by populism, one that has just been driven by the latest thought bubble. Labor’s policy is two pages. Ours is 347 pages of legislation. Anthony Albanese is just making it up!

Updated at 19.46 EDT

Q: One of the commissioners of the New South Wales Icac has said that those who describe the New South Wales Icac as a kangaroo court are buffoons. You’ve described it as a kangaroo court. Are you a buffoon, given his comment?

And a question for Premier Perrottet – you’ve obviously disagreed on that kangaroo court label for the New South Wales Icac. I’d like you to tell us here today what’s wrong with calling it a kangaroo court. Why is it not a kangaroo court?

Scott Morrison:

I didn’t quite understand the last part of your question. It sort of got a bit muddled.

Q: The question is that Stephen Rushton …

Morrison:

I understood that bit. I didn’t understand the last part.

Q: Premier Perrottet clearly disagrees with the description …

Morrison:

OK. Sure, OK.

Q: I’d like him to … say why it’s wrong to call it a kangaroo court.

Morrison:

I stand by everything I said on the matter. I don’t believe the New South Wales Icac is a model we should follow at the federal level.

I’ve seen it come and destroy people’s reputations and careers before it has even made a finding. I don’t think that’s good process.

And I’m not alone in that. Chris Merritt, a distinguished legal affairs writer with the Australian has written sharing my view about this. Stephen Conroy, a former Labor communications minister, has expressed sympathy with my views when it comes to what is the best way to go ahead.

I’ve also made this point – the issues you’re dealing with on integrity are different at a federal level to a state level. At state level, you’re dealing with development consents, gaming, gambling and horse racing and a range of other issues which are very different sets of issues than at a federal level.

At a federal level, it’s issues around taxation, competition policy, law enforcement, integrity, immigration decisions …

Q: But you’re dealing with grants, property deals and a lot of money where there’s …

Morrison:

But the difference is …

Q: It’s a question of integrity.

Morrison:

No. The difference is this. When it comes to issues of decisions made by the Federal Government, all the things I’m referring to, those decisions are made at arm’s length by officials.

And that’s why the first phase of our integrity commission proposal has already been implemented.

We have already done it with the transformation of the Law Enforcement Integrity Commission, in expanding its remit to the ACCC, the ATO and a range of financial regulatory authorities and that’s important because they are the things that federal governments deal with and we’ve already put $50m in to support that. Now, the second tranche …

Updated at 19.53 EDT

Q: But what if the minimum wage didn’t go up?

Scott Morrison:

It is for them to consider those issues and make that decision, in the same way it’s for the Reserve Bank to independently make their decision on what’s happening with cash rates.

They are the important institutional settings of how our economy is managed. Now, I’ve been around these issues for a long time. Treasurer for three years and coming up to almost four years as prime minister.

I’ve been around the economic settings for a very long time and I know how they work. And that’s why you don’t carelessly go around and start prodding and poking and pretending that you have some magic wand that can raise wages and things like this with Mr Albanese has been going on about.

This guy just doesn’t understand the economy and he just doesn’t understand how budgets work, because he’s never done one.

And at a time when we are facing so much uncertainty, at a time where so much is at risk, at a time more broadly, internationally, in the security environment, there are real consequences for the decisions that people are making right now.

This election is not a passive decision. It’s not one where there are no consequences either way. This is not just like voting in an online poll or something like that, which means nothing.

The way you vote on Election Day and who you choose is going to have a very significant impact. I’ll give you an example of how.

When I first ran for parliament in 2007, if I’d gone and knocked on people’s doors down there in the Sutherland Shire and I said, “If you elect Kevin Rudd, 800 boats will turn up with 50,000 people on them and 1,200 people will die, they will put in place policies that will set fire to and put in place overpriced school halls and they’ll completely crash the budget,” if I’d said that to people, they would have locked me up.

That all happened. They changed to a Labor government from a strongly performing Howard-Costello government.

At the last election, could you imagine, had the Australian people chosen differently at the last election and $387 billion of high taxes, abolishing negative gearing, retiree taxes, it goes on and on and on – could you imagine if that had been put on the Australian economy as we went into the pandemic? My point is simple – elections have consequences. The choices you make will have very serious consequences, and Mr Albanese is proving almost every single day the question mark on him about whether he’s up to it

Updated at 19.42 EDT

Q: Prime Minister, on wages, do you support Australians on the minimum wage getting a pay rise so it keeps up with the cost of living?

Scott Morrison:

I support the process we’ve always had for the setting of the minimum wage in this country and that is that it be independently assessed in a proper process based on the best facts and information about the economy. That’s why that process is in place. We have always welcomed and accepted the recommendations that have come from that body.

Q: Are you worried that some people are really struggling?

Morrison:

Of course I do. That’s why we’ve halved the petrol tax. This is why we have given tax cuts. This is why those tax cuts today mean that an Australian earning $90,000 today, if they were on Labor’s tax rates that we inherited, they would be paying $50 a week more in tax every single week. Now, that goes on and on and in the next term, the tax plan that we have legislated ensures that those earning between $45,000 and $200,000 will pay no more than 30 cents marginal rate of tax. That is transformational. That is real tax reform that ensures that Australians keep more of what they earn. That is how we can address – see, there are only two ways …

Updated at 19.38 EDT

On Labor’s housing equity scheme, Dominic Perrottet does not repeat Morrison’s “forced to sell” line:

When it comes to housing affordability there is no doubt that this is a real challenge, not just here in our state, but around the country.

I’m open to all ideas in relation to how we can drive home ownership. We cannot have an Australia that can’t house its children. And we have an obligation, I believe, to look at innovative thinking about helping particularly young people get their keys to their very first home. Now, reform is hard, and here in our state, we’ve done … You know, we’ve been looking at a fair bit of work in relation to stamp duties.

… What we need to have is a constructive discussion. We should be open to all new ideas to help drive it. In our upcoming budget here in our state next month, there’ll be a real focus on housing affordability.

Q: Do you agree that it’s a forced-to-buy scheme in the PM’s language?

Perrottet:

There will always be different views in relation to housing affordability. I think it’s important that we’re open-minded. From my perspective, that is certainly the approach that we will take in our state … One thing, when it comes to housing affordability that states can do, is drive supply and open up opportunities and build infrastructure to support it.

I was out with Minister Roberts recently in south-west Sydney where we’re looking at new developments, but importantly building the infrastructure. Now, politicians don’t like sometimes investing in those smaller infrastructure projects like water and sewerage because there’s no real ribbons to open on those, but ultimately, they are the investments that drive supply and provide opportunity.

Outside of that, I’m very open to looking at new ways of thinking in relation to housing affordability. We’ve been doing that in our state and we’ll do that going forward.

Updated at 19.36 EDT

Q: There’s been coal-fired power outages. Has that driven up electricity price as soon as – and when will they start coming down? And if I may, Mr Perrottet, do you support an equity scheme? Is it a forced-to-buy scheme? Can you weigh in on that?

Scott Morrison:

On electricity prices, since I’ve become prime minister, electricity prices have come down by over 10%. There are many reasons for us being able to achieve that. The work we’ve done in the retail area and making sure the default offers don’t just put people’s prices up.

We’ve been focused on ensuring the reliability guarantee so we can continue to have reliable, affordable power in the system.

We’re working on a gas-fired power plant in the Hunter, in northern New South Wales, ensuring generation capacity which supports the large influx of renewable energy into the grid.

That’s a good thing but at the same time, it does increase variability in the grid and it does involve intermittent power-generation sources which need to be If you’re bringing intermittent renewable sources into the grid, you need the base load reliable power to support the use of that renewable energy in the system.

So one does work with the other. And we’re already seeing movements in prices now in terms of how they’re feeding into the coal that goes into energy production in this state and around the country.

And we will see those prices move around a bit but what we have seen under us is electricity prices come down 10%. I made it clear yesterday that Labor’s policy that will put $20 billion of investment ahead of when it and where it needs to be in place, that takes on another $50 billion and more of investment which will only put electricity prices up and the estimates of electricity prices going up $560 year – and that’s not just assessments that we’ve made.

Of course, the whole issue of transmission investments that are ill advised and ill timed, whether it’s the Grattan Institute or the Victorian Energy Policy Council or Frontier Economics, they’ve all said very clearly if you over invest, if you gold-plate the grid within transmission, it pushes energy prices up. It can be as much as 46% of your energy bill comes from those who invested in the transmission network getting their money back from you.

And that’s why electricity prices go up if Anthony Albanese’s plan – which is to overinvest, gold-plate, ill-timed investments – that will just put your prices up, because he hasn’t thought it through. (Labor’s plan is for an independent body to make decisions about where the upgrades are needed)

He hasn’t thought it through, like he has not thought through many policies, and nor has he costed them. He hasn’t submitted one policy for costing during this entire election.

You cannot risk Labor with an Anthony Albanese-led government, with Anthony Albanese, who’s never put a Budget together in his entire life in government. And this is no time to be taking that risk with the serious up certainties that the Australian economy is facing closely.

Updated at 19.34 EDT

Q: You have a candidate talking about this in an inner-city seat. There’s a huge LGBT community in seats like Wentworth and Kooyong. What message is your candidate sending to them? And what pressure is it putting on people in those seats to retain their seats? And secondly, if Josh Frydenberg is put out because of these comments, who’s your pick for treasurer?

Scott Morrison:

You’ve made a bunch of comments I don’t accept. It’s about the individual Australian, adolescent or otherwise, that is confronted with these issues about surgery regarding their gender reassignment. [Note: it is called gender confirmation.]

That’s the only thing that matters here. The only thing …

Q: But she said they’re being mutilated –

Morrison:

The only thing that matters here is their welfare and the choices that they’re seeking to make and understanding the serious consequences of those changes, and ensuring that they have the right support and that their families have the right support, so they can work through these difficult issues. That’s my only concern here. That’s my only concern.

Q: Prime Minister, will you speak to her? Or will you get the chief medical officer to speak to her down the track? Are you tempted to go campaign with her? She’s just up the road?

Morrison:

I don’t sort of set out my campaign schedule, as you know – and we’ve gone over those issues before. I’m sure I’ll have the opportunity to speak to Katherine.

Q: What will you say to her?

Morrison:

That will be between Katherine and I.

Updated at 19.29 EDT