ACT LABOR TEAM
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
PARLIAMENT HOUSE
WEDNESAY, 26 MARCH 2025
SUBJECTS: Federal Budget; ACT; National Security Office Precinct project; Dutton’s cuts to services; infrastructure investment; Services Australia staffing levels; bulk billing.
SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR FINANCE: It's great to be here the day after the Budget to talk about all of the important investments made in the Budget, the announcements made and their impact here in the ACT. And I'm so pleased to be joined by all of the Labor Members of Parliament for Canberra here with Andrew Alicia and Dave. They'll all go through some specific initiatives as it relates to their areas. At a high level, for the ACT, obviously, the approach with this Budget in pretty uncertain times was to look at how we could provide some relief to households. We're doing that with our tax cuts, but also with those important investments in Medicare, in cheaper medicines, in HECS debt relief, all of those areas which are so important to households as they're going through pretty difficult times. The Budget shows that the economy is at a turning point, that there's a lot of optimism in this Budget in terms of the forecast and the way forward, and we tried to build on that with the investments that we help households through some of these costs of living pressures.
Now there's a range of areas where we have made specific investments in Canberra, but I would draw on two, and I know my colleagues will have something else to say. Obviously, the public service is a big driver of economic activity in the territory. Rebalancing and resourcing the public service has been a key feature of the Albanese Government for this entire term, making sure the APS is fit for service and fit for purpose, and we have done that, and you'll see that continue in this Budget. We're not going to be intimidated by the opposition's reckless attacks on the public service or their threats of cuts, our view is you have to have a well-resourced public service in order to deliver the outcomes that the Australian people expect, and you see that in this Budget. On the other the other point I'd raise is I've heard some criticism about lack of infrastructure spending. The single biggest project in the territory right now is federally Government funded. It's the National Security Office precinct. It is a multi-year billion-dollar investment, plus into the act to make sure that we have the facilities we need in national security and to keep Australians safe, but also that we are investing in our local economy. We also have the AIS rebuild underway, and we've got our investments in light rail as well, and this Budget contains funding in all of those areas. I'll hand to my colleagues now I'll hand to Andrew, and then you'll hear from all of them, and then happy to take questions.
ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES, TREASURY AND EMPLOYMENT, DR ANDREW LEIGH: Thanks, Katy. I think what this budget illustrates is that when you've got a remarkable finance minister like Katy Gallagher, who hails from the territory, then Canberra gets a fair deal. People remember the Liberals last budget, where the ACT got just a fifth of our fair share of infrastructure spending. Now that's changed with projects like the National Security Precinct and other important projects my colleagues will talk about there's some exciting competition reforms in the Budget, but I'll leave that to questions if you have them.
What I want to focus on today is what we're doing on the public service. When Labor came to office, there was a backlog of 42,000 veterans claims waiting to be processed. Some of them hadn't been looked at for more than two years. Labor set about changing that. We reduced the wait times for the things like Centrelink and Medicare for applying for parental leave. All of these delivered better services to Australians, replacing a shadow public service workforce of 50,000 consultants and contractors with an appropriate level of public servants, taking the number of public servants per head of population still to a level that was below where it was when John Howard left office.
What we've seen from the Liberals is a pledge to cut back on the public service with a madcap, ideologically inspired, imported approach of scrapping 36,000 public servants, or one in five, that would devastate front line services and lead us back to the bad old days of Robo debt and blown out wait times. But they're now saying, well, the axe will only fall on Canberra. What that would mean is that half the public servants in Canberra would lose their jobs. What are public servants in Canberra working on? Well, among many other things, they're working on national security, on dealing with terrorist threats. They're dealing with tackling the next pandemic. They're working on keeping our borders safe and secure. If Peter Dutton’s axe was to fall solely on Canberra, the policy making capacity of the Federal Public Service would be gutted, and it would leave Australia deeply exposed to future crises, whether they're economic health or national security. So, Peter Dutton needs to come clear as to the devastating effect his cuts will have on front line services and on Canberra. I'm never really pleased to hand over to Alicia Payne.
ALICIA PAYNE, MEMBER FOR CANBERRA: Thanks, Andrew. Well, our Albanese Labor Government values our city, and this is so refreshing after nearly a decade under the previous government who did not, and as you can see, Peter Dutton would be no different. I'm proud that this, our fourth budget, continues to invest in our city and our community, and builds on the previous investments that we've made in the previous three Budgets. Something I'm particularly proud of is our Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, which this week was signed by Queensland as well, and means that every public school in Australia will be fully funded to 100 per cent of the resource standard. This has been 15 years in the making, going back to the Gonski review, and it is an incredible achievement. Here in the ACT, and thanks to our ACT Labor government, we were already at 100 per cent of the resource standard. But we this federal government is investing an extra $331 million into our ACT public schools with a focus on ensuring that no student falls behind. We're also investing an extra $50 million in our public hospitals here in the ACT. That's a 16 per cent increase in Commonwealth funding to the Territory, and it is clear that our Government is supporting the services that Canberrans need.
Another excellent thing in this budget is that our federal government is again working with the ACT government to invest in helping public housing tenants to become more energy efficient. Stage One of this project focused on electrifying homes, and this stage two, that we recently announced at a public house here in Canberra, with Minister Bowen, actually invests in solar panels and batteries, so that's ensuring that everyone can lower their power bills and also be part of the transition to renewable energy. There are lots of things in this Budget for Canberra and really important things. Don't believe anyone that says different. I'm now pleased to hand over now to David Smith, member for Bean.
DAVID SMITH, MEMBER FOR BEAN: Thanks, Alicia. As Member for Bean I'm pretty conscious of what a Dutton government will mean for constituents in the South of Canberra, the cuts to departments like the Services Australia, DSS, Health and Aging that are headquartered in the different parts of Bean it will be absolutely devastating. But our government is actually focused on rebuilding services and actually making delivering better services for Australians and in Bean a great example. That is, we have a government that promised 50 Urgent Care Clinics has delivered 87 and there's more on the way, including an Urgent Care Clinic that's going to be delivered in Woden, that's on top of already a Medicare Mental Health Clinic that's about to open it in the Tuggeranong Valley. And of course, we're seeing $8 billion reinvested into Medicare. The biggest investment into Medicare since it was established, and that will do so much to deal with one of our biggest challenges here in the ACT which is around bulk, bulk billing rates right across the territory. So, I'm proud to be part of a government that focuses on actually delivering better services, rather than cutting the jobs of people who make services possible right around the country. And look in terms of other infrastructure, we're seeing more funding going into the Monaro Highway upgrades as well too and certainly, constituents have been happy to see that. We know this is a Government that has not just all Australians interests at heart, but particularly those in Canberra as well.
JOURNALIST: Alicia, are you disappointed that we didn't see more funding to get the recommendation from your inquiry implemented?
PAYNE: I've been an advocate for federal funding of the new Convention Centre, and that was one of the key recommendations of the inquiry I handed down last year, and I'll continue to advocate for that. This is something we continue to work with the ACT Government on.
JOURNALIST: Why didn't you see any funding for those things? Why didn't we need funding for our Convention Centre our stadium, those major of infrastructure projects in Canberra?
GALLAGHER: Well, as I said there's a lot of infrastructure investment in the ACT I think if you probably looked at it on a per capita basis, it would be probably more than anywhere else, considering the size of the National Security Office Precinct. We've also got the AIS redevelopment underway, and the big investments going into light rail. The ACT Government and the four of us have been working really closely about the next stage, what are those key projects. Some of those need to get to business case ready, which would allow for further discussions about what future funding might look like. There's an element of timing here, but I know that certainly the three people standing behind me are into me every day about how to prioritise future projects in the ACT, and we continue to work with the Chief Minister on those.
JOURNALIST: Senator Gallagher, there was also no mention of the CSIRO-Ginninderra land release?
GALLAGHER: So that's between Minister Ed Husic and myself and the ACT government. We're just working through some of the final details on that, but it has progressed pretty considerably in the last month or so. I'll see if there's more I can provide you on that, Dana.
JOURNALIST: And the waiving of the housing debts is another one that’s been flagged?
GALLAGHER: I know that's that has been flagged routinely by others. Our focus in housing has been to invest and to partner with the AC T government on housing investments. It's really about generating supply, and we're doing that through a range of different programs. There's $33 billion in this budget for housing, and the ACT is getting its fair share of that. We're working closely with Yvette Berry and her team on how that rolls out, but we're already seeing investments in improving, energy efficiency in social and public housing. And there's more work to do there. You know, budgets are a series of decisions layered upon each other, and I know there's always more work to be done, but we think we've got the balance right in housing about how we're approaching it.
JOURNALIST: Does leaving some of these big-ticket items out of the Budget leave it open to you in the next couple of weeks during the campaign to announce something? Is that something that you're sort of leaving the door open to?
GALLAGHER: Well, there will be a campaign, obviously, and we'll have more to say about the future plans for Canberra as a team. You would expect that. That's pretty routine for election campaigns, but we're also very proud of the record. I was Chief Minister where Canberra was, at best, ignored at best, that was the outcome you got. At worst, you were cut. And that's what we face. That's the competition between in the election campaign. It's between people who take Canberra seriously, see our role as the nation's capital, see value in the public service want to invest in our community and build our community. We've got a PM that lives here, that loves our city. He walks up Mount Ainsley all the time with Toto. He loves it. He loves being in Canberra, and that makes a difference. I've been around long enough to see what happens when you have a PM that doesn't care about Canberra, and it hurts our people. We've got a very strong record, our record on the public service, it is the big employer in our town. If you cut it by 50 per cent you will devastate this local economy. And it won't just be the public servants. It will be every private sector operator here as well, every small business operator, every family sending their child to school will be affected by that, and that's what the contest is about in the election campaign.
JOURNALIST: Some of the criticism particularly from David Pocock, is that while some funding for institutions is good, there wasn't enough for Canberra, the city itself. What is your response to that criticism?
GALLAGHER: I just completely reject that. And I know and like and work with Senator Pocock, but I also see he takes credit for a lot of things that the Government does. Our funding to national institutions, apparently, was delivered by Senator Pocock. The reality is we work as a team in Canberra. I accept that he advocates in Canberra's interest, so do all of us, and we take that to the decision-making table. But I completely reject this view that there isn't enough for Canberra, not only the national measures, obviously, Medicare, HECS support, Energy Bill Relief, all of those programs, but also our investments in the big employer in town, our investments in infrastructure, our fixing the national institutions, our rebuilding the AIS, our support for light rail, all of the projects that are building this city the Federal Government has invested in during this first term in government.
JOURNALIST: The National Security Office Precinct will house about 5,000 people once it's built. Do you expect to have new jobs amongst that? Or is it more about consolidating jobs already in Canberra?
GALLAGHER: Well, for those agencies, there may be some growth in those agencies that are forecast to be in there. There's another investment, about $44 million into the national security infrastructure in this budget in terms of people – I mean, not infrastructure capital. And so, we are investing in those agencies. But it's largely based on a transfer of functions from other sites and being in more appropriate buildings that are more secure. And again, I know it is on the eve of an election, so forgive me for being political, but we came to government, and this project had been sitting there. It had been clearly needed in terms of our national security agencies being able to work in a facility that actually allows them to do their job properly and nothing had been done, no funding had been done. We've picked that up and done it because it's the right thing to do keep Australians safe, but it will also show respect to our national security agencies, and it's a big, important, multi-year project here. And anyone who tries to say otherwise is not telling the truth. We know we need one big anchor project in this territory happening to support the private sector, and that's what's happening.
JOURNALIST: Just on your Government Services portfolio. Services Australia, staffing numbers have dropped by about 600 because of additional resourcing tapering off. How much of an impact do you think that'll make on the agency, especially as you really play up the role of services in this fight against the Coalition on public services?
GALLAGHER: So, on Services Australia, we've provided about just over 3000 additional staff in the last budget, there has been basically some work coming to conclusion that was to fix a particular backlog of certain claims. That work is now complete. And as Andrew said, with the Veterans Affairs claims, it's the same issue we've allocated those claims now we've got the work back into better outcomes, and now we're doing a piece of work with Government Services, which is really, what is the most appropriate level of resourcing, now that we've dealt with all of the backlogs that have accumulated post COVID, what is the level of resourcing that that agency needs to deliver the outcomes. We've seen improvements in every single payment type since those additional staff have been put on. So, they've got very good results, and the permanent, ongoing workforce will depend on us finalising that work in the next six months or so.
JOURNALIST: Isn’t that the same point Jane Hume was making about Veterans’ Affairs and the backlog there?
GALLAGHER: No, because we provided 3,000 additional staff, of which a very small proportion were doing a particular set of work that is now finished. On Veterans’ Affairs, there had been multiyear build-up of claims. Some veterans lost their lives during that time, while their claims remained unallocated. We have now got that backlog down, and now those claims are being allocated within two weeks. But they need those additional 500 staff in Veterans’ Affairs to make sure we don't build up another big backlog. In Services Australia, slightly different work, and we're doing the resource assessment of what it is actually needed, but they still have those 3,000 additional staff that we've been putting in to deal with that.
JOURNALIST: Senator Gallagher, you’ve warned about a Peter Dutton government and the impact on Canberra. You've got a Climate 200-backed candidate running in Bean who's said that this Budget is pretty underwhelming for Canberra, and particularly mentioning like the lack of infrastructure investment, contrasting the roads that we have here and the tiny promise compared with, say, the Bruce Highway. How worried are you and David Smith about this message cutting through to voters that feel like Canberra gets a bit taken for granted?
GALLAGHER: Well, I just reject it, and she obviously hasn't read the Budget or have any understanding of all the work that's gone in and the investments that have gone into this town in the last three years. Again, I just remind people, I know it's very easy to forget what it was like under the Liberal government. At best, forgotten. That's what happened, and we have now tried to turn that around in three years. I would urge that candidate to actually read the Budget. There is investment in roads, as you just heard from Dave, and I'll just hand to Dave to see if he's got anything more to say. But overall, we don't take anything for granted in this election. We don't expect that you're automatically elected. That's not how the system works, and we have to go out and campaign. And what I guess the message I'm giving today is, we've got a very good record of what we've done in three years, and we've got very good plans about what we'd like to do in the next three years if we're fortunate enough to win.
SMITH: Thanks Katy. In addition to roads, for the first time in a decade, we're starting to see investment back into the infrastructure in our schools too. So, in terms of primary public schools, one of the obvious things, not just across Bean but across Canberra, is we're seeing $300 million more put into public education. So, the idea that the Budget’s not putting money back into Canberra is just untrue. And as I said before, one of the most important areas in Canberra, and particularly in Bean is Services Australia, Department of Health and Aging, DSS. Ensuring that we actually have people who'll be champions for the Public Service represent representing electric electorates in Canberra. So, this idea that there's not support in Canberra is quite frankly, hogwash.
JOURNALIST: Can I ask you a question about Australian Government Consulting? There's additional resourcing for that agency but it’s not for publication, why is that?
GALLAGHER: PM&C, essentially, will set the budget for their department, and Australian Government Consulting sits as a part of PM&C. So, we'll leave that for the Secretary, but we've made it very clear that that is a function which we are providing resources to, and we want them to continue the work they're doing. They've essentially been doing a bit of pilot work to see how they can be most useful as an internal consultancy function, and we've got the results of that to evaluate before we make further decisions. But in the meantime, they will keep going and keep building on the work they're doing.
JOURNALIST: On Medicare bulk billing, can you guarantee that nine out of ten GP visits will be bulk-billed in the ACT, given the issues that we have here?
GALLAGHER: The advice we have from Health is that the investments we're making will ensure that nine out of ten appointments will be bulk-billed. That is a national figure. Obviously, here in the ACT, we have had very low bulk-billing rates, and it is a matter that doctors decide. The government cannot force a doctor to bulk bill. What we can do is ensure that the incentives are high enough for them to make that choice, and that's what we're doing. So, it remains to be seen what happens here. We have seen a tick-up in the bulk billing rate since we introduced the tripling of the bulk billing incentive for concession card holders. I have no doubt we will see increases with this additional investment, and we need to keep working with GPs. The feedback I've had from GPs has been very positive. They have said that this would make a difference to them and how they bulk bill with their patients, but it remains to be seen. That's why we've got to do things like the Medicare Urgent Care Clinic that's going to be open in Woden, how it works with the walk-in centres that we're also funding, how it works with the hospital funding. And also, there's another thing in the Budget, which I think will make a big difference here in Canberra, which is the Medical Cost Finder Website. We're putting more investment into that and mandating that specialists put their fees into that website. Started under the former government, it wasn't mandatory. I think, over the last three years, 70 doctors across the country have put in that information. Not good enough. The investments we're making mean we will pull that data, it won't require doctors to do anything, and we will be able to publish that. And in Canberra, one of the biggest pressures is what specialists cost and how much out of pocket people are. And we need to make sure that we are putting in place transparency and also a bit more competition into what they charge, and that is in this budget as well.
ENDS
