Anthony Albanese
Grayndler · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“The ground there at Brookvale Oval, as I call it, was of course sponsored by a gambling company, so every time there's a game on there you see that constant advertising around the ground. What our legislation will do is make sure that future contracts can't be issued with things such as advertising on jerseys or advertising on grounds.”
“She's someone who's passionate about it and tells me about her constituent who is 108 years old and travelled, as a very young boy, from South Australia with family for the opening of the first parliament—and he's still there. We hope he's able to attend again.”
“That is why, just this week, there was the increase in the minimum wage, the decrease in taxes, the support for paid parental leave, super being paid every payday. All of these changes make a positive difference to people's lives.”
“This year, Australia is celebrating 125 years of Federation, and I was with you and other members in Melbourne to commemorate that event of the first sitting of parliament, and it was a very good celebration of our history, which is worthy of celebration.”
“We Australians sometimes think of ourselves as a young nation on an ancient continent, yet by global standards, of course, we are one of the oldest and strongest democracies in the world. Next year will mark an important anniversary: the 100th anniversary of Australian democracy making its home here in Canberra, our national capital.”
“I note the member for McPherson, who's a former attendant in Parliament House, has agreed to be one of the members of that committee as well, and that's a good thing.”
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“I reiterated Australia's clear position that there is no justification for Iran's attacks on civilian areas in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and other areas of the UAE and of the gulf states. We have called for Iran to cease these indiscriminate attacks immediately. I had the opportunity to thank His Highness for the generous support that the UAE is providing to Australians who have had their plans disrupted due to the conflict, including providing accommodation and food. We understand this is a very distressing and challenging time for Australians who have been caught up in these events. Many of them would have been in transit through those routes that are so familiar to Australians and found themselves in a conflict zone. Their loved ones here in Australia continue to be disturbed by what they see on the TV every night.”
“I thank the member for Menzies for his question and for his representation of the interests of many of his constituents who have relatives who are impacted by the events that we're seeing in the Middle East. I can confirm right now there are over 200 Australians in the air on flight EK414 from Dubai making their way to Sydney. This is good news after the disruption that has occurred. I spoke last night with my friend His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the President of the United Arab Emirates. On that call, I conveyed Australia's support for and solidarity with the UAE and other regional partners amid the escalation in the Middle East conflict, countries that have not been a party to any attacks on Iran but who have been subjected to the random attacks that Iran is subjecting people right across the gulf to.”
“Dennis Shanahan picked it. He broadcast it this morning. He told us that the Liberals had decided that Wednesday was going to be 'economy day'. They've gone two days without asking a single question on the economy or cost of living. We've had the clown who's the shadow Treasurer singing at the dispatch box, which is a human rights issue for all those who had to listen to it. But the deputy leader was out there this morning—that is, the deputy leader in this House not in the other House, because in the other House the deputy leader isn't even on their tactics committee and not in the leadership group though she's the deputy leader of the Liberal Party. The member for Canning tried to resist the Shanahan push this morning.”
“My government will continue to promote equality, to engage in a respectful way in which every person, whether they're a student or a teacher, are able to engage and be who they are as well. We don't support discrimination in any form on issues such as this. So I thank the member not just for her advocacy in this place but for her advocacy in her local community as well. On Saturday night, obviously, I was engaging in briefings and there were other things going on. But I do think that we should continue to work together as a society to make sure that every young person in particular feels safe, because they have an absolute right to do so.”
“I note that, in New South Wales, there has been an outbreak—and the Attorney-General is working with the New South Wales government on a number of instances where there have been violent assaults on young people that were filmed and put on the internet in order to somehow boast. These cowards deserve to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. For young people coming to terms with their identity and who they are and coming to terms with expressing themselves, it can be really, really tough. I think that we as government want to play a role—and I'm sure it's one that the member would agree with—in promoting respect across the board as well. We've come a long way, but there's further to go, as the member has said.”
“I thank the member for Wentworth for her question and for her commitment to equality, regardless of who people are. One of the things that Mardi Gras represents is a celebration of our common humanity whilst respecting our diversity as a society, and it's something I've been proud to participate in for a very long time, since the early 1980s. It is just a fact that students should be respected and teachers should be respected for who they are. I remember, as a student, one of my friends coming to school who'd been the subject of a violent assault because of who they were, because of their sexuality. At that time, he didn't even report it because at that time—fortunately, society has moved forward, and we're far more open about respecting who we are, but we still have a long way to go.”
“That's consistent with what my government has done in introducing the National Anti-Corruption Commission, strengthening the ministerial code of conduct, strengthening protections for whistleblowers, increasing funding to the Australian National Audit Office, restoring transparency to AAT appointments and establishing the ART, reinstating a standalone privacy and FOI commissioner, implementing the recommendations of the Bell inquiry into the multiple ministries of the former prime minister, establishing the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission and working to tackle the influence of big money across our democracy, with the changes that passed—”
“It's my view that this has expanded over the years and that the number of people wandering around unescorted through the ministerial wing and other wings should be cut back. That is my strong view. There are security issues in this place—and, as you might have noticed, in some other places as well—that have been dealt with and that members have to deal with in 2026. We need to tighten it up. There should be transparency about these issues.”
“I thank the member for her question. Indeed, I can confirm that I have written to the people who are responsible for these issues, the Speaker and the President of the Senate. For the benefit of the House, I'll table that letter for transparency when I conclude my answer. In it, I say: It is my Government's view that the review— which is already being conducted; I'm not conducting a review— provides an opportunity to consider increased transparency and rigour in relation to sponsored passes for Parliament House on the basis of business requirements, particularly in relation to professional lobbyists. In that context, I also consider that the review provides an opportunity to examine the conditions and requirements for unescorted sponsored access to Parliament House, mindful as always of the importance of security.”
“I really thank the member for Fowler. I love getting questions about infrastructure. I love it. I'll be very proud later this year to open the Western Sydney airport, something that I argued for way back in my first speech in 1996—”
“My government will always stand up for Australian manufacturing as well. We'll stand up for the good, secure jobs that it creates around Australia but particularly in our regions, such as that represented by the member for Kennedy.”
“Now, if you think about the challenges that the world has thrown at Australia over the last few years—the global pandemic; the biggest international energy crisis since the seventies; the sharpest rise in global inflation since the 1980s; and the aftershocks of the conflict, particularly the Russian invasion of Ukraine—what that shows us is that, if Australia is always the last link in the supply chain, we will be vulnerable. So I want to work with the member for Kennedy and other members across the board to ensure that our economy is more resilient and that we're less reliant on these international shocks that can occur. It's because they are important. It's why we had to intervene, for example, to put caps on gas and coal prices as a result of that global spike that occurred as well.”
“That is why we are establishing a strategic fleet so that we bring back Australian shipping, because that is important. That's why we've created an Australian domestic fuel reserve, that's why we're finalising a gas reservation to provide more affordable gas for Australian users and manufacturers, and that's why we're investing in making low-carbon liquid fuels here, building our energy independence and our economic resilience. It's opposed by those opposite but something that the minister is—the two ministers together, really, are—making such an enormous effort in. When the Leader of the Opposition was energy minister, of course, he had a different plan. That was the plan for fuel reserves in Texas. That's where Australia's reserves were going to be.”
“I begin by expressing my condolences to the member for Kennedy on the loss of his beloved horse. We all love our animals, and I know that people particularly love their horses. That relationship is important. My government knows that fuel security is really important, and that it's essential as well that we make more things here. I'll take on board the comments of and the suggestions from the member for Kennedy, and have those discussions with my minister and members of my government. I must say, the principle that the member for Kennedy is putting forward, which is that we need to be more resilient and more self-reliant here, is something that not only do I support in theory but we are putting in place in practice. That's what a future made in Australia is about.”
“They don't get to read their reports, so I'll table it for them so that they can read the report about the diabolical campaign that they ran, why their working-from-home policy was wrong and why all their policies were wrong.”
“I don't know what that says about the others who sit on the frontbench over there. Their view, of course, hasn't changed. The opposition leader has appointed Senator Hume as the shadow minister for workplace relations. What could go wrong? She told the Sydney Morning Herald that banning working from home was a good policy that hadn't found its appropriate time. So it's still on the agenda. I'm asked about transparency. There was a little report, the review of the 2025 federal election by those opposite, that says this: At least one regional candidate considered the Working from Home policy was the turning point which cost her the seat. I'm asked about transparency.”
“When it comes to keeping more of what they earn, our tax cuts have particularly benefited women, who, compared with men, have historically been more low- and middle-income earners. We've also, of course, had a policy of supporting working from home. All of these policies have something else in common as well. They've all been supported by this side of the House, and they've all been opposed by that side of the House. Indeed, it was just one year ago that the opposition leader and Senator Hume told the Australian people they wanted to ban working from home. That was one year ago today. And what were the consequences of that? They've made them the leader and the deputy leader of the Liberal Party. So bereft were they, they had to find a deputy leader in the other chamber.”
“I thank the member for Brisbane for her question. She's playing such an important role as the member for Brisbane, and it's a pleasure to once again be welcomed back into the electorate of Brisbane, it must be said. The gender pay gap in Australia is now at a record low, something welcomed by this side of the House. It hasn't happened by accident. It's happened because this side of the House has put in place laws to make a difference, whether it be making gender pay equity one of the objectives of the Fair Work Act, whether it be targeting feminised industries such as child care and aged care to make sure that people get a fair go or whether it be the measures that we've put in place to protect penalty rates. All of those measures are about people earning more.”
“I do thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question and for his obsession with this issue. If only he was as obsessed when ISIS fighters were coming home on those opposite's watch! If only, when there were 40 people coming home, he was as obsessed! I again refer to people who have actually engaged with this issue in real time. Peter Dutton, the then minister for home affairs—”
“No-one should be suggesting the sort of interjections that I heard across the chamber earlier. We all stand, united as Australians, against Islamic State. We all stand—”
“I thank the member for Riverina for his question, and I join him in welcoming the members of that community. The ISIS ideological position is one that seeks to wreak violence, murder and trauma on the world, but no group more than in their local community, than in the Middle East itself. Minority groups like the Yazidi community have suffered greatly. They have been welcomed to Australia and have been working hard in communities such as yours, working in the agricultural sector. Right throughout Australia, they have been welcomed. We are a welcoming country, and we stand completely against the evil regime that is ISIS. That's why—and I know that the member for Riverina has a proud history of not seeking to promote division or playing politics with these issues—no-one in this place should be doing that.”
“Every one of these measures that we're undertaking are practical measures delivering real change for Australians—strengthening Medicare, easing the cost of living and investing in skills, while those opposite have been busy just fighting each other.”
“I visited the AUKUS facility in the member for Port Adelaide's electorate and looked at the extraordinary investment that is taking place which will mean that we're building nuclear powered submarines there in Adelaide at those facilities. In Orange, we talked about the infrastructure and services we're delivering for people in the regions. As of yesterday, over 250,000 cheaper home batteries have been installed across the nation, cutting power bills with cheaper, cleaner energy. Mr Speaker, I'll take the interjection. We encourage that member to meet more people. We encourage you to get out and about. We do that.”
“At the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital in Jagajaga, I congratulated Rob Winther for his 60 years of service to our veterans, and I spoke to veterans about the difference that it's made us properly resourcing the department and not holding up the payments which they deserve. I visited a newly fully bulk-billing GP practice in Launceston, one of 3,400 across the country, with our investments meaning more people are getting bulk-billed. At an endo clinic in Werribee with the member for Lalor, I spoke to women benefiting from our record investment in women's health. In Adelaide, with Premier Malinauskas, I announced some 17,000 new homes, including 7,000 reserved for first home buyers.”
“I thank the member for Dunkley for her question, and I congratulate her on the anniversary of her election in the Dunkley by-election to this place. My second-favourite 'Jodie', I thank you for the question! In the last fortnight I've seen the positive difference that our government is making in easing cost-of-living pressures, improving the lives of Australians and investing in our nation's future. In Melbourne I met nurses at the Royal Children's Hospital who'd been supported by paid prac while they did their training placements. In Croydon, with the members for Deakin and Menzies, I met tradies benefiting from free TAFE and the $10,000 cash incentives to study their trades and build more homes.”
“When the trains need renovation, you don't have to shut down the tracks like when the Sydney light rail track was shut down for more than six months. It's just like when we manufacture ships here you don't have a situation where the ferries on the Parramatta River can't go under the bridges because people would be decapitated if they were on them. It makes sense for us to make things here. The minister will continue to engage with the member, and I'll also raise this issue with the Minister for Industry and Innovation, Senator Ayres, in the other place on his behalf.”
“What that was aimed at doing and was subject of one of the commitments that we made in a budget reply is to avoid the situation whereby different states were all trying to manufacture all at once and to get coordination, to get productivity and, therefore, to get costs down for Australian manufacturing. That was an agreement that we've taken through state and territory transport ministers as well. That includes, of course, not just passenger rail but also the rail freight industry, and one of the things that has been very successful about Australian rail manufacturing is that, unlike some of the carriages that have been commissioned overseas in parts of Asia, the trains actually fit the tracks.”
“I thank the member for Calare for his question. Indeed, I was in Orange, in the member's electorate, just a couple of weeks ago at the country conference, and I can assure the member that the many members who were there enjoyed their time in what is a thriving regional city, Orange, that is seeing a diversification of its economy. We were very welcomed there, and I thank the community through the member for hosting us. I do note that this is a Pacific National asset, and Sydney Trains operate the line there. The government is supporting a future made in Australia through our National Reconstruction Fund which is supporting the revitalisation of our local manufacturing sector. We're continuing to progress work through a variety of mechanisms, including the National Rail Action Plan.”
“I'll start by saying: … they're Australian citizens, they now have an entitlement; a right to come back to our country. … … … … there's no silver bullet. Those are not my words. They're the words of that soft person, Peter Dutton. He used to sit on that side of the chamber. We'll work with those people, given that they're Australian citizens and they have right to come back … … … … … if people are Australian citizens, they have a right to return and I need to deal with the realities of the way in which our laws and constitution work … Further: … there's good reason as to why we don't want media attention to some individual cases. I don't want cameras parked out the front of schools, or people being scrutinised as they're going into a mosque. Again, guess who? It was Peter Dutton.”
“They stood tall in the global spotlight, and I'm sure they'll be part of future Olympic success for many years to come. This Friday, the winter Paralympics begin, and, on behalf of all Australians, we wish the 14 athletes who will wear the green and gold all the very best.”
“Olympians, of course, make incredible sacrifices to pursue their dream, and they don't do it by themselves. They do it with the support of their loved ones and with the support of their family and teammates, but they also do it with the support of Australia. I spoke with one of our flagbearers, Jakara Anthony, a great product of Barwon Heads in Victoria—not a place you normally associate with the snow and winter sports—who won gold in the dual moguls, the first Australian Olympian to achieve that feat, and Cooper Woods, who secured Australia's first gold of the games in the single moguls, a moment that his teammate Matt Graham celebrated by lifting Cooper onto his shoulders. Matt himself went on to claim bronze in the dual moguls. Many of the athletes I spoke to were among the 32 Australians competing in their first winter Olympics.”
“The 2026 winter Olympics has come to a close, and the members of team Australia are celebrating our nation's best ever results. Between 2010 and 2022, Australia won three gold medals across three winter games. In Milano Cortina, Australia won three gold medals in three days. It says something about the effort. Friday 13 February, when Josie Baff won snowboarding gold and Scotty James won his third Olympic medal with a silver in the men's half-pipe, is now officially the most successful day in our winter Olympics history. The efforts of every single Australian Olympian are a credit to their extraordinary dedication and drive. I had the opportunity to have a video call with Alisa Camplin and the winter Olympians as well, who were enjoying their time representing our great nation.”
“She will take her place in history as the first woman to lead the Liberal Party, and nothing will take that away from her. I wish her the best in whatever she does in the next chapter of her life. Honourable members: Hear, hear!”
“I rise on that to, firstly, say congratulations to the Leader of the Opposition. It's a great honour to lead a major political party, and I congratulate him on becoming Leader of the Liberal Party. In the other place is the deputy leader; as well, I congratulate her. I do want to say I spoke with the former opposition leader Sussan Ley last week. I offered her the opportunity, of course, to give a valedictory speech to the House in which she served her community for a long time, for 25 years, but I fully respect her decision. It has been a difficult time for her. Nevertheless, I think she has shown grace and dignity as a result. She can take pride in the fact that she represented the Farrer electorate for a quarter of a century. She gave her community, our parliament and our nation her best.”
“On the national day of mourning for victims of the antisemitic Bondi terrorist attack, they announced that the coalition was splitting for the second time. On the day of the funeral of the well respected—across this parliament—member for Higgins, the members for Hume and Canning were publicly plotting against their leader at a house in Melbourne. The member for Hume, of course, chose to be a part of all of this. And today, on the day of the Closing the gap report, we have the call for a spill and a range of resignations from the front bench. And tomorrow—on the morning on which members of the Stolen Generation will attend the breakfast at 8 o'clock—at 9 o'clock those opposite will be making calls before then and filing into their party room in order to either depose or reaffirm who the leader of the Labor Party is.”
“I lead a government that is orderly, that is cohesive, that has proper cabinet processes, that works as a unit together, that makes decisions after getting proper information and makes sure that it gets implemented. That is what our focus is every time we come here to Canberra. But those opposite have shown that their focus is on each other and on themselves. We had a declaration—or not quite a declaration. I watched last night. It was pretty extraordinary. Went out there—a resignation and then no declaration of why he was resigning and certainly no policy alternatives being put forward. That, of course, was on, in terms of timing, the day that President Herzog was visiting this parliament. Now, that is consistent with the sort of disruption that we've seen, and the timing and the priorities don't seem to matter to those opposite.”
“I thank the member for Whitlam for her question and for the fantastic contribution she is making to represent the people of the south part of the Illawarra and the Southern Highlands. As a Labor government, when we come to Canberra here, our focus is on delivering for the communities that we represent and delivering for the national interest in line with Australian values, turning the promises that we took to the Australian people that saw us elected in May 2022 and then re-elected with a bigger majority in May 2025 into the progress that people want to see. We know that there's always more to do, more we can achieve together. Australians can be sure that that will always be our focus.”
“I thank the member for Lindsay for her question, and it goes to Kate being concerned about costs of living. We share that concern, which is why we're doing everything we can to help people like Kate—the energy bill relief, the cheaper batteries, the cheaper medicines, the free TAFE, making sure that tax cuts are put in place and the urgent care clinics, including many that are in Western Sydney.”
“If Kylie in Western Australia visits an urgent care clinic—I was in Ellenbrook on the weekend with the member for Hasluck, and we went to the new urgent care clinic there, and already thousands of people have gone through that clinic in that growing area of Western Australia. We on this side of the chamber don't just empathise; we do something about it. Those on that side of the chamber opposed every cost-of-living measure that we put forward, regarded it all as waste, whether it was the record women's health program that we've established, the support for Medicare or the support for education—be it school funding, free TAFE or university hubs. They opposed real wages and minimum wages being increased, and they opposed tax cuts for every Australian.”
“Given those circumstances that Kylie speaks about, chances are she wouldn't have got anything under the government of which the member for Durack was a part. The member for Durack doesn't have the same excuse as the member for Monash; she was here when she implemented tax cuts at the high end and voted against a tax cut for Kylie. She voted against Kylie getting energy bill relief. She voted against Kylie getting support with cheaper medicines, if she has it. If Kylie has kids at school—the member for Durack opposes and regards as waste the fair funding that we have for every public school in Australia for the first time.”
“I thank the member for Durack for her question. Indeed, when it comes to Kylie's circumstances, we on this side empathise with everyone in Australia who is doing it tough. Many people are doing it tough in Australia, and that's why we seek to do something about it. Now, I'm not aware of the circumstances around the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, but we host people. We hosted someone over the last couple of days, and I assure you the cost was a lot more than that for the President of Israel to visit here. That is what governments do through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. We host people. Certainly I have hosted international leaders and delegations here. When it comes to Kylie's circumstances, though, if Kylie is in work, Kylie would have got a tax cut.”
“It does have a social responsibility. We as a community all need to work hard to ensure we're acting with thought and with kindness, whether in real life or online. People will say things online they would never say to your face, and that is a real issue that we have to confront. I thank very much the member for Curtin for raising this issue. I say to her and others in this chamber as well that this is something that really should be right above politics and that we as a society need to work on because, together, we all have an interest on behalf of not just ourselves but more importantly as well the generations to come.”
“I was part of the American leadership dialogue many years ago at Stanford University with someone who was a whistleblower at Facebook and who spoke about the impact that it had had in pushing people towards extremism and the danger that that represented. We need to assert as a country, not just as a government, that social media has a social responsibility, because these algorithms can cause enormous issues. They can amplify rather than reduce prejudice. We see in some of the debate about issues that should be able to be discussed much more respectfully, such as the Middle East and other issues of conflict, people being pushed into more and more extreme positions and people being pushed in ways where they are presented as facts things that simply are not true as well. Social media does not optimise for social cohesion.”
“It's about giving Australian kids more time away from the pull of recommender systems. It's about giving them more time to develop real friendships with real people and to learn how to get along with people who might have different views or experiences. The fact that it's being replicated around the world, with Spain the latest country to get on board, shows Australia leading the way in this area. Our upcoming digital duty of care will also put the onus on platforms, though, to proactively protect all Australians from harm. This can be a range of areas—grooming of people and the algorithms pushing people towards more and more extreme views.”
“I thank the member for Curtin for her question and for her interest in what is, I think, one of the critical challenges facing us not just here in Australia but globally as well—how we deal with this new technology that can make an enormous difference and which enables us to be better connected than we have ever been and enables us to have information at our fingertips when we simply would have had to have gone to the library or gone through a much more time-extensive route. But our social media ban is a start, and the member is right that we need to do more. The social media ban, though, has exceeded the government's expectations. The fact is that 4.7 million accounts got either shut down or paused in the initial stages, and ongoing work is occurring across those 10 platforms.”
“We want people to earn more and keep more of what they earn, and we want cost-of-living relief, all of it opposed by those opposite regardless of who sits at the front.”
“That's why we've provided cheaper medicines. That's why we've provided the 20 per cent cut in student debt. That's why we've tripled the bulk-billing incentive. That's why we've opened Medicare urgent care clinics. That's why we have cheaper medicines. That's why we have a batteries program to assist with reducing energy bills as well. All of those measures are what we have done. The other thing we have done is provide, each and every single year that we have been in office, an increase in the minimum wage. Those opposite—the coalition, whoever has sat in the Liberal Party leadership chair—have never, ever put in a submission to the Fair Work Commission saying that wages should be increased for people on the minimum wage. That's the big difference.”
“Now, it is unbelievable that, at the time, the shadow Treasurer that night of the budget went and did interviews and said that they were opposed to the tax cuts and then did A M the next morning and said that they would actually legislate if they were elected to increase the taxes of low- and middle-income earners in particular for all 14 million Australians. So I hope that the member for Monash told the constituent or the person mentioned in the Herald Sun that that was the case, because what we have done is understand that people are under financial pressure, but you can have two approaches to that. You can see grievance and try to just feed it, or what you can do is try to address it. What we do is try to address it by lifting up cost-of-living measures. That's why we've provided energy bill relief.”
“(): I thank the member for Monash for her question. Indeed, I hope that the member has the integrity to say that to the member who she asks about. To be fair to the member, she was not here, so she mightn't be aware, because it's pretty unbelievable that this Treasurer on budget night handed down a position to have top-up tax cuts—a tax cut this July and another tax cut next July—after this Treasurer came into the House and moved legislation to readjust the tax cuts to make sure that low- and middle-income earners got a fair crack, and it was taken from the top to give them a crack. That's what this Treasurer did.”
“I want to address the part of the question that goes to the NACC. The NACC is independent. That is how it has been established. They can look at whatever they want to look at, they can refer and do whatever inquiries they want and they should be allowed to do so without political interference.”