SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER
MINISTER FOR FINANCE
MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE
MINISTER FOR GOVERNMENT SERVICES
SENATOR FOR THE ACT

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
SUNDAY, 30 NOVEMBER 2025

SUBJECTS: Prime Minister’s wedding, public service funding, budget/MYEFO, Hendeson proposal to cap foreign university placements

KATY GALLAGHER: I'm really happy to see the PM and Jody make that commitment to each other in front of their closest family and friends.

JOURNALIST: Who did the speeches, anyone of note?

GALLAGHER: Well, Jody and the PM certainly gave speeches; her parents and the pm's son. It was very, it was quite informal, just a lovely outdoor setting. And, yeah, very, very happy day.

JOURNALIST: Who was best on ground?

GALLAGHER: There was lots of, I'm not going to get into that, the wedding look. It was just lovely to see them. You know, they've been going out for five years, engaged probably for over a year. And we get to this point in the end of the parliamentary sitting where they can just get married and spend a little bit of time together before they get back into the madness of the job that the PM has.

JOURNALIST: And what do you give the Prime Minister as a gift?

GALLAGHER: Well, there were lots of gifts. They were, I don't know what they were. They were all unopened, but, yeah, it's, I mean, mainly family and friends there. So I think, you know, I imagine it's a mix of all the things they enjoy as a couple.

JOURNALIST: Was there a PM Spotify playlist?

GALLAGHER: There's certainly a dance floor. And there was music going, yes. And as anyone who knows the PM and Jody, they both love music. It's one of the things that they share together. And so, yes, there was a very tailored music, but, and dancing, I think. Yeah, it was just a lovely night, a lovely day, lovely afternoon, and the PM and Jody were just thrilled with how it all went down. And, yeah, hopefully they're resting this morning.

JOURNALIST: Do you accept the findings of Justice Lee and Justice Tottle that there was no cover up in Higgins matter, and do you regret the accusation that you made against Senator Reynolds?

GALLAGHER: I'm not answering any further questions on this. You've asked me exactly those questions a couple of weeks ago. My position hasn't changed.

JOURNALIST: Do you think the taxpayers deserve an explanation for the $2.4 million compensation payment that went out?

GALLAGHER: Well, like I just said to Andrew Clennell, those matters are made arms length from government, and they, to my understanding, have been referred to the NACC. And I'll leave it for that authority.

JOURNALIST: Just on the public service. Do you think Peter Dutton was right that the public service did get too big

GALLAGHER: Well, they had a policy where they wanted to cut 41,000 jobs, and they kept saying those jobs would come from Canberra. That would have devastated the public service. So we did have a robust argument over that during the campaign. I think the public service is largely the right size now. I've said that through the campaign, we've rebuilt it, we've invested in key departments, and we're rebuilding capability. So I think it's largely the right size. There'll be some ups and downs in different departments as programs start and stop, but overall, I think it's about the right size.

JOURNALIST: You're getting close to finalising MYEFO. The monthly figures on find out of finance suggest you are in front by about five to six billion. Do you think that's maintainable through for the full financial year?

GALLAGHER: Well, we just, we have to track that change. I mean, you know, the October monthly results show us a bit ahead. Sometimes it has to do with timing of different payments and programs. So we do see that change through the year, but we're working hard to continue to repair the budget over time. There's a deficit there, but there's also these enormous pressures coming our way, so particularly defence, health, aged care, NDIS, veterans support, all of that now is growing very fast, and so how we try and manage some of the growth in those areas and deal with the budget pressures is a challenge, but we'll continue to do that, and we'll finalise MYEFO in the next few days, and then pretty much head straight into budget.

JOURNALIST: But are you comfortable with running a deficit of anywhere between 30 and 40 billion with an economy that is growing in unemployment at 4.3?

GALLAGHER: Well, I think Jim and I both made it clear that we want to keep work on repairing the budget. We would like to bring the budget back into balance. And so some of our thinking about, you know, the reprioritising across the public service, how we manage some of those big growth programs, getting the NDIS under 10%, currently growing at just over 10%, is an area of focus. So we want to repair the budget. We'll continue to do so.

JOURNALIST: Senator, do you regret politicising the Higgins saga?

GALLAGHER: I've got nothing further to add.

JOURNALIST: Can I just ask about the cake? Did you have any cake, and what was it last night?

GALLAGHER: The cake was beautiful. I didn't have any, I'm not a cake person, but it was a two-tier wedding cake. It was stunning, and they both gave their speeches just before cutting the cake. It was really lovely. It was dark by then, so it was all lit up in the gardens. And, yeah, they both gave beautiful speeches.

JOURNALIST: And what song gets the Finance Minister onto the dance floor?

GALLAGHER: There is no song that gets the Finance Minister, I'm not a dancer.

JOURNALIST: Senator Henderson put a proposal forward to cap university, foreign and university placements around 25%. Is that an idea? You look at having a hard cap on general universities and allowing them to apply for more foreign positions if they had more housing?

GALLAGHER: That is not the position of the government, and indeed, it wasn't the position of the opposition either. She put forward that night in the Senate, bit under reported, actually, because so much was going on. We had crossing the floor, we had abstentions, and we had members of the opposition moving amendments that didn't have the support of the opposition. And I think that was the one that Senator Henderson moved in her own name, where it was her and Senator Nampijinpa Price were the only people that just supported it.

Okay. Thank you, everyone.

ENDS