Opening remarks - Cabinet meeting

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, welcome back everyone. 2025 is going to be a big year, and we, of course, have been already working hard for the beginning of the year. I spent Christmas Day in Darwin to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Cyclone Tracy. That was a very moving experience, I've got to say. I attended with the Governor-General as well. And last week, I was out and about with many of you, showing our plan for building Australia's future, dealing with immediate challenges, but also with our eyes always firmly on the horizon, of how do we support people during the cost of living pressures, but also build Australia's economy in the future. There's much that we can be proud of that we've achieved over our first two and a half years. Inflation with a 2 in front of it, it had a 6 in front of it when we were elected. More than 1 million jobs created. I attended two Medicare Urgent Care Clinics last week. They've been an enormous success. All 87 of them, which are open, have seen over a million Australians, one third of whom are under the age of 15. We have provided Energy Bill Relief. We've provided Cheaper Child Care, Free TAFE - more than half a million Australians getting the skills that they need.

And that stands in stark contrast to our opponents who want to take Australia backwards. Yesterday, Peter Dutton, there was a big build up to a speech, but not a single new policy announced, and this morning he was out there describing cost of living relief as 'a sugar hit'. Well, no wonder he's opposed every single one of those measures that we've put in place. But today, we get down to work building further on our agenda and putting forward a positive, optimistic vision for Australia. One that unites Australia, not one that seeks to divide. One that seeks to bring people together, not looks for a political opportunity at every single occasion. We face an Opposition that have shifted to the right over a period of time, who are more conservative than they've ever been, which is no wonder that the Coalition chose to elect Scott Morrison above Peter Dutton, because there were too many in their ranks who were concerned about his political agenda.

But we'll continue to put forward that positive agenda. Today, Michelle and I will have, along with Katy, another positive announcement that we've got with the NBN, and we'll continue to roll out that positive agenda. So thanks everyone for gathering early in the year, and let's get down to work.