JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN
ANTHONY CHISHOLM
SENATOR FOR QUEENSLAND
MATT BURNETT
LABOR CANDIDATE FOR FLYNN
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
GLADSTONE
TUESDAY, 12 APRIL 2022
SUBJECTS: Green ammonia and hydrogen investment in Central Queensland; Emergency find announcement; Scott Morrison’s scare campaigns won’t create a single job, Labor’s plans for a better future, powered by cleaner & cheaper energy & investments in skills, will create more secure, well-paid jobs in places like Gladstone; More opportunities for more people in more parts of Australia; Costs of living skyrocketing under Scott Morrison while real wages go backwards; A better future for Australia; Portfolio allocation.
MATT BURNETT, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR FLYNN: Thanks again for being here this morning. What we've seen today is existing industries working with new industries. Orica signing an MOU with H2U, and we've got existing industries right here in Orica, working with industries that are going to be built right across the road here in Gladstone. We're seeing Rio Tinto just across the road as well. Another coordinated general project building the Gladstone region working with Sumitomo. We see it with Stanwell Corporation working with Iwatani. And where are they coming? Right here to Central Queensland. Because we're working with our existing industries and our new industries right together. That green ammonia that will be produced over there will be used here at Orica, and I'd like to thank Orica and the team - I see Vinay here right now - and also H2U for bringing this together with our team behind us here from Canberra and of course in Queensland. Thank you Acting Premier for being here this morning. It's a fantastic announcement for Central Queensland, this partnership, this coordinated project. We know in the Gladstone region, we've seen the coordinated projects happen in our industrial estates before. As I said, Rio Tinto stages one and two. We all remember the Comalco alumina refinery. Well, look what it's turned into now, a fantastic neighbour here for Orica. LNG plants on Curtis Island. It all happens once the Coordinator General gets behind the project, and we're so looking forward to seeing her approve that project this time next year. We're pretty excited in the Gladstone region when it comes to hydrogen. As I said, Iwatani, Sumitomo, H2U. It's all happening right here. I'll hand over to Jim Chalmers. He's our Shadow Treasurer, and hopefully the next Treasurer of Australia…
JIM CHALMERS, SHADOW TREASURER: … We might hear from Anthony Chisholm first..
ANTHONY CHISHOLM, SENATOR FOR QUEENSLAND: Thanks, Matt. This is an important project for the local region. What it shows is that if you've got a state government that is forward looking and has a vision - which they've had on hydrogen now for a number of years - the jobs that it can deliver. It's a real contrast with what we've seen from the federal government that have their heads buried in the sand, and have no vision for what the future of this country looks like. We've seen that starkly over the last couple of years, but particularly the last couple of days, in this election campaign. What this area needs is a Mayor like Matt: who's forward-looking; has a vision for the local community; who can actually get out there and attract these types of industries and jobs to the local region. So that's the potential that we've got - a Federal Member in Matt, working constructively with the state government, and an Albanese Labor Government, to deliver important jobs for this local area. That's what we'll see as part of an Albanese Labor Government into the future.
Just some comments on the announcement from Minister McKenzie today. It shouldn't take an election campaign for the LNP to discover Gladstone or Central Queensland but, unfortunately, that's what it's taken after they’ve been in government now for almost a decade. They've had a $4 billion Emergency Response Fund that's garnered $800 million dollars in interest, and they haven't spent a cent of it over the course of the last term of government. It shouldn't take an election campaign for them to discover that Central Queensland exists. There's been numerous projects put forward - the Deputy Premier suggested the flood levy in Bundaberg as an important project - yet this Government have ignored it. So, it is too little too late, and Queensland and Central Queenslanders won't forget how they've been neglected by this Government. I'll now invite Jim to say a few words.
CHALMERS: Thanks very much, Anthony and Matt. This is a really exciting day for Central Queensland and for Gladstone. I wanted to pay tribute to the Deputy Premier Steven Miles, the Minister and Local Member Glenn Butcher, for this act of foresight, which will make a big difference to local industry here in Gladstone and further beyond as well. I wanted to thank everyone associated with the H2U hub: all of the companies and investors who are involved here - Orica and all the other companies - for the investment that will flow here in such a crucial part of the national economy.
Green ammonia and green hydrogen will help power a better future for Australia, and that's why federal Labor is so supportive of it. Projects like this one will create hundreds of jobs directly, but thousands of jobs throughout Central Queensland as well. When you factor in the renewable energy, you factor in the hydrogen and the ammonia, the manufacturing, the export opportunities - this is a really terrific opportunity for Central Queensland, for regional Queensland beyond, and for the nation as well. You'll see more well-paid secure jobs like that, which will be created here under Labor because we have a plan for energy, we have a plan for skills, for building our regions, for investing in manufacturing and other crucial job-creating and opportunity-creating industries in this country.
The Morison Government has jobs pledges before an election, and then they go missing after an election. They spend all their time talking about the Labor Party. They spend all their time cooking up dodgy numbers in the Finance Minister's Office to run these desperate and unhinged scare campaigns about Labor, based on lies. Even with an unemployment rate with a four in front of it, at 4.0 per cent, we're still not getting in this country yet, the real wages growth that we need to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of living. And we've still got these really serious skill shortages, which are holding the national economy back as well.
Labor is the only party with an independently modelled jobs policy, which will deliver hundreds of thousands of jobs into the future. The 604,000 jobs which will be created by our Powering Australia policy are not slogans, they're not aspirations, they are real jobs modelled by an independent modeler. They show the approach that we will take to secure well-paid jobs in the regions and right around Australia. That Powering Australia policy will get power bills down, will get billions of dollars of investment flowing, and it will create more than 600,000 jobs - five out of six of those jobs will be in the regions.
What this shows, is that regions like Central Queensland stand to be the biggest beneficiaries of what's happening as our economy changes and the energy mix changes in this country. Regions like Central Queensland can be big beneficiaries, because it's all about leveraging and maximising our traditional strengths in the regions and not abandoning those strengths. As the national economy recovers, we want regional Queensland to be a bigger and bigger part of the story, and that's what today is all about.
You will see more of this under an Albanese Labor Government, because a better future can be powered by renewable energy, and by green ammonia, and green hydrogen. Powering manufacturing, powering our export markets, and most importantly creating more jobs and more opportunities for more Australians. What this shows here is what can be achieved - not by picking needless fights with Annastacia Palaszczuk, or the state government, or with local governments - but genuinely working together in the interests of the people. We're creating those jobs and opportunities in every single part of Australia, including here in Central Queensland. Scare campaigns based on dodgy numbers and lies do not create a single job. Only a plan for a better future creates jobs. That's what today is all about, and that's what an Albanese Labor Government would be all about as well. Happy to take your questions.
JOURNALIST: On hydrogen, how do you ensure that the expansion of hydrogen in areas like Gladstone is not going to create another boom-and-bust cycle that was seen during the LNG expansion in the early 2010s?
CHALMERS: These are long term, sustainable, well-paid, and secure jobs in crucial places and parts of Australia like Gladstone and Central Queensland. This is not some temporary flash in the pan. When we're talking about the energy needs of the global economy, the energy needs of our own national economy, the energy needs of local communities - what we're talking about here, investing in here - is the long-term security and resilience of the Australian economy, based on cleaner and cheaper energy, more jobs and more opportunities.
JOURNALIST: On the Opposition Leader’s gaffe yesterday, given the Coalition are targeting him on economic credentials, are you concerned by what happened yesterday?
CHALMERS: Not at all. What the Morrison Government wants to do is spend the whole campaign talking about Labor in the hope that nobody notices they don't have enough to show for a trillion dollars in debt, and everything’s going up except people's wages. We've got skyrocketing costs of living, we've got real wages falling, we don't have anywhere near enough to show for a trillion dollars in debt.
So Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg want to spend all of their time banging on about the Labor Party, and that's because their economic record is indefensible. No Government has taken more debt or bigger deficits to an election than this Government is. This is the most wasteful government since Federation. Their Budget is absolutely riddled with rorts and chock-full of waste. That's why they want to spend all of their time talking about the Labor Party.
Scare campaigns and lies will not create a single job or a single opportunity for Australians.
The Government can bang on about us all they like. Our focus is on a better future for Australia. That means more jobs and more opportunities, powered by cleaner and cheaper energy, where we teach and train our Australians to grab the opportunities of the future.
They can go on all they like about a mistake that Anthony Albanese has put his hand up and taken responsibility for. That's the other key difference between Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison. Anthony Albanese put his hand up and said I didn't get something right. He took responsibility for it. He fixed it up and he moved on. We've had years in this country with an absence of leadership, and an absence of a leader who is prepared to take responsibility. If that was Scott Morrison, he would have blamed someone else and he would have gone missing, because that's how Scott Morrison rolls. That's the difference between Anthony and Scott Morrison. This country desperately needs a leader who will take responsibility, put his hand up, show up for Queenslanders and for Australians, and that's what they'll get from Anthony Albanese
JOURNALIST: Labor’s been accused by some media outlets this morning of pork-barrelling in relation to swimming pools. Here in Gladstone, specifically, there's an example of where Labor has promised around $15 million for a pool down in the Boyne Tannum Sands area. At the same time a private developer is also proposing a pool area, which is further advanced than the proposal that Labor’s supporting. Is this pork-barrelling?
BURNETT: Can I answer this one?
CHALMERS: Yep, go for it.
BURNETT: I beg to differ that it's further advanced. Let me tell you, we all remember the BITS Club - the big, fancy development that was going to happen in Boyne Island, with all the developers throwing all the money at it. What happened to the BITS Club? The only way to guarantee a pool for Boyne Tannun is to vote Labor. We’ll put $15 million into the economy and we'll build that pool for our local community. The other may happen, it may not happen. It may be open to the community, it may not be open to community. $15 million from us will build it. Thanks.
JOURNALIST: Jim, on the weekend Richard Marles, the Deputy Leader, was questioned about whether he wanted to be Treasurer in the next government. Are you concerned that he might usurp you and become Treasurer if Labor is elected?
CHALMERS: No, of course not. I think Richard made the right point which is these are matters for the Leader. The Leader has made it clear that if we were successful on the 21st of May, that I'd be the Treasurer in an Anthony Albanese Labor Government. But Richard also made another good point, which is that we're not focused on the allocation of portfolios after the election, we're focused on a better future for Australians. That's the point that Richard made in that interview. I thought he did a terrific job of pointing out the obvious - the allocation of portfolios is a matter for the Prime Minister of the day and our focus is on a better future, not the allocation of portfolios. It would be a tremendous honour to be the Treasurer in an Anthony Albanese Labor Government, but we've got an election to win first. Thanks very much.
ENDS
