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| PM Albanese: Today, we continue the work of continuing to build Australia's future. |
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E&OE TRANSCRIPT
PRESS CONFERENCE
CANBERRA
MONDAY, 5 MAY 2025 (See translation in Arabic section)
Sydney-Middle East Times Int'l:
SUBJECTS: Albanese Government's Election Win; Second Term Agenda.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Ready to go?
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JOURNALIST: Born ready.
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PRIME MINISTER: Someone was paying attention. It is great to have the honour of being back in the Prime Minister's courtyard, and I do want to thank the Australian people for the very clear mandate that they've given my government. Today, we continue the work of continuing to build Australia's future. I promise to be a Prime Minister for all Australians. Those who voted Labor, those who didn't, and hope to earn the trust of the Australian people on an ongoing basis. We are deeply humbled by the result on Saturday, and we don't take a second of it for granted. The hard work will continue today. My government has been an orderly government. We have worked hard, we've had effective ministers, but also an effective caucus. And we've engaged in a way that's clear, that's forward looking, that made not just a case that we had been a good government in getting inflation down, wages up, interest rates starting to fall, employment growing. We also had an effective offer going forward as well. That resonated with people, that we developed in consultation with people. I said before the last election that you needed more than one term as a Labor Government. And I sought from that first day, indeed, I became a Labor leader back in 2019, I want Labor to be the natural party of government. I think that given who we are representing, working people, but also effectively engaging with business and engaging with civil society, that we can make, what is the best country on earth, even better in the future. I am genuinely so optimistic that if we get this decade right, we can set Australia up for the many decades ahead. And that's why I put forward such a positive agenda. Not just during the election campaign, but throughout my time as Labor leader.
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I do want to thank, as well, the world leaders who have passed on their congratulations, both those who've done that through the various social media forums that exist these days, those who've texted me, but also past leaders as well. You know, friends like Tony Blair and Matteo Renzi, and others as well, who I've met and developed relationships with over the years. This morning and yesterday, I've spoken with a number of leaders. I've spoken with Prime Minister Marape, President Prabowo of Indonesia, President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Prime Minister Mark Carney, who invited me to attend the G7 in Canada in June and I have accepted that invitation, and President Donald Trump of the United States. I have meetings scheduled, or phone calls scheduled, this afternoon with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. Can I take the opportunity on behalf of Australia to congratulate Prime Minister Wong who was successfully re-elected with a substantial vote there in Singapore on Saturday. Lawrence Wong is a great friend of Australia. I've developed a good relationship with him not just since his rise to the Prime Ministership, but as Deputy Prime Minister he hosted me when Covid affected his predecessor when I attended the Shangri-la Dialogue, and had the honour of giving what is the most significant defence and foreign affairs speech in our region, but perhaps in the globe. Prime Minister Shinawatra of Thailand, we’ll have a chat scheduled tomorrow along with Prime Minister Modi, my friend from India. We'll continue to schedule, that will be a bit of a focus over the next couple of days as well as receiving briefings on Prime Minister and Cabinet. I had a briefing from the Treasury Secretary during the election campaign about the state of the economy going forward, as well and I look forward to engaging. We're going to try and slow the pace a little bit over coming days. I'll consult with colleagues about forming a frontbench down the track. We obviously, there are a number of results that are unclear in electorates, but it's very clear that we will have a substantial majority in the House of Representatives. And I'll make this point. We had a majority last time in the House of Representatives. I treated people with respect. My door is open to members of any political party, or none, who are elected as members of the House of Representatives or the Senate. They all deserve to be treated with respect. If people have good ideas, we're up for hearing them. But I said, here, on about 3422 occasions, that my objective was forming a majority government. That's what we did and that is a good thing, I think, for the country. |
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