I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, and I acknowledge Elders past, present and emerging.
It is a great pleasure to be with you. I’d like to thank The Advertiser for its Building a Bigger, Better South Australia campaign – and for facilitating today’s conversation.
Since the last time we were together, South Australia has been an important part of my schedule. In fact, this is my 15th visit to South Australia since my election as Prime Minister less than two years ago.
South Australia’s part in the great Australian project is crucial – but your contribution should never be a one-way street. That’s why one of my Government’s priorities is helping South Australians with their cost of living.
From 1 July, every single South Australian taxpayer will be getting a tax cut.
Every taxpayer – not just some.
Our tax cuts are designed to deliver a bigger benefit, for more Australians.
- 84 per cent of taxpayers will be better off.
- 90 per cent of women, 98 per cent of young people.
These tax cuts support the aspirations of all Australians. Because we know that aspiration doesn’t start at the top tax bracket.
We want South Australians to earn more, and to keep more of what they earn.
It’s just one of the important decisions we’ve made.
We’ve delivered the first Budget surplus in 15 years.
We’re getting wages moving in the right direction.
We’re putting downward pressure on inflation.
Cheaper child care is making it easier for families and ultimately giving the economy a boost.
And cheaper medicines saved South Australians more than $15.5 million last year alone.
We’re offering energy bill relief for 5 million households and 1 million small businesses.
The biggest increase in rent assistance in 30 years.
The biggest investment in bulk-billing in 40 years.
We’ve opened 58 new Medicare Urgent Care Clinics right across the country, including 5 here in South Australia.
These clinics in Elizabeth, Marion, Morphett Vale, Mount Gambier, and Western in Royal Park have made it easier for South Australians to get fast and free treatment.
And they help take pressure off hospital emergency departments.
Since this event last year, I’ve had the honour of being in Whyalla – still going strong, still well and truly on the map.
And I was there in the Spencer Gulf with my eye on the future – Australia’s future, as a renewable energy superpower and a country that makes things.
It’s a vision my Government shares with your State Government under the leadership of Premier Peter Malinauskas.
Together, we announced a joint investment of $100 million to develop infrastructure in the Spencer Gulf – making Port Bonython South Australia’s first large scale export terminal for hydrogen.
The potential in these regions is immense. The hydrogen infrastructure investments under our agreement – from ports, to pipelines – are critical to unlocking around $13 billion of planned project investment.
They will support over 3000 direct jobs – for steel fabricators, engineers and machinists, concreters and electricians.
By the end of the decade, the Spencer Gulf could be exporting around 1.8 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen – enough to fuel 180 000 vehicles on the streets of Tokyo or Berlin, or cut emissions from gas by around 11 million tonnes.
Partnering with the South Australian Government on investments like the Port Bonython Hydrogen Hub means connecting a region with generations of heavy industrial heritage – in mining, manufacturing, gas and energy – to new global opportunities in hydrogen, green ammonia and zero emissions steel. All made possible by combining South Australia’s longstanding strengths with its world class renewable resources.
My first time in South Australia this year was to talk about the great success story that is fee-free TAFE.
We committed to 180,000 fee free TAFE places to commence last year. We’ve smashed that target with more than 300,000 Australians getting their start through fee-free TAFE.
In South Australia alone, that saved students $35 million. That’s money that’s stayed in people’s pockets while they were encouraged to get the skills they need to get a well-paid, secure job while the Australian economy gets the skilled workers it needs.
As of January, my Government has been supporting more fee-free TAFE places in South Australia.
New skills that build new strengths for our economy, and create new opportunities for our people.
Because when we talk about a future made in Australia, we want it made the
Australian way.
This is about highly skilled workers, making high-value products, and getting the good pay and conditions that successive Labor Governments have fought for and delivered.
It will soon be a year since I toured Osborne Shipyard with Premier Malinauskas to talk about the investment in South Australia as part of the AUKUS project.
AUKUS is the biggest single investment in Australia’s defence capability in our history.
And it is firmly part of my Government’s vision of a Future Made in Australia.
As I said here last year, when work begins on the construction of our nuclear submarine fleet, South Australia will be home to the creation of a vital part of that future – and at the heart of the defence of our continent.
Crucially it will be a catalyst that can help spur the South Australian economy to a higher level of complexity.
The thousands of jobs created will be jobs that create skills that can stay in the community. Jobs that have a multiplier effect and create more jobs.
Just as Curtin and Chifley turned their vision of an automotive industry into a reality that lifted our entire manufacturing sector, this investment will be a catalyst for innovation and research breakthroughs that will reverberate throughout Australia.
Jobs worth staying home for. Jobs that keep the best and the brightest within South Australia, and attract them from across the continent.
The rest of Australia has long benefitted from the talent and energy of South Australians who’ve moved interstate. It’s time you were better positioned to prosper from your greatest resource – your own people.
This is Australia’s decisive decade – and one of the central roles belongs to South Australia.
A future made in South Australia – by South Australians.
