‘Our Voice, Our Future: Reclaiming our Rightful Place after the Referendum’

Good morning. If I could firstly just acknowledge the Larrakia people on whose land we gather and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging. Thank you all for your invitation to have been here to speak… 

The power to make a practical, positive difference in the lives of our fellow Australians is in our hands. When we step into the voting booth on referendum day, we will have the chance to be part of a great, unifying moment by saying “Yes”. 

Yes to recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our Constitution, and yes to giving them their best chance of being properly heard with a Voice.

The Albanese Government has achieved another successful milestone for employees across the Australian Public Service (APS).

Results this week have seen employees in the four biggest agencies – the Australian Taxation Office, the Department of Home Affairs, Services Australia and the Department of Defence – vote up their enterprise agreements.

The success of APS-wide bargaining means employees at 45 agencies, or almost 70 per cent of all APS employees, can access the benefits of the new agreements.

A new round of funding to support Australians living with cancer has opened today, with the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health Malarndirri McCarthy announcing the latest Supporting People with Cancer (SPWC) Grant initiative.

The Australian Government, through Cancer Australia, is inviting grassroots community organisations and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations working to improve outcomes for people affected by cancer to apply for grants of up to $120,000 each.

The expansion of a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) screening program will be explored in partnership with community organisations as part of a new National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) project.

Professor Dianne Shanley of Griffith University and team will partner with community organisations, including Indigenous-led health service providers, to examine whether their Tracking Cube tool can be Indigenous health service providers nationwide.

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER AND ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE: There's paper cuts. There's shortcuts. There's director's cuts. There's hair cuts. And for every Australian this week because of Labor, there's tax cuts.

13.6 million Australians will get a tax cut because of the legislation that Labor introduced, Labor argued for and Labor voted for in the House and the Senate.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good evening and thanks for joining us at this unusual time for a media conference. But Labor's cost of living tax cuts have just passed the parliament. This is a huge win for all 13.6 million Australian taxpayers. It means 84 per cent of Australians will get a bigger tax cut than they would have under the Liberals plan. Under Labor, Australians are earning more and they will get to keep more of what they earn. Peter Dutton wants people to work longer for less, and this is a great divide in Australian politics.

The Albanese Labor Government’s cost-of-living tax cuts today passed the Senate.

We want Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn and our bigger tax cuts for more taxpayers will help make that happen.

Labor's legislation will deliver a tax cut for every taxpayer, and more tax relief for more people to help with the cost of living.

The legislation that passed the House of Representatives on the 15th of February and passed the Senate today is all about relief and reform – more relief for workers and better reform for our economy.

Eight grants totaling over $840,000 have been awarded to increase equity for people in population groups with poorer cancer outcomes. 

The Albanese Government has brought together health experts to discuss the unique challenges facing the health workforce across the Northern Territory.

The Primary Health Care Workforce Summit is jointly hosted by the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health Malarndirri McCarthy and Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care Ged Kearney, who will be joined by key stakeholders from across the Territory on Wednesday 23 August.