Get Australia back on track

the Coalition’s plan to get australia back on track is underpinned by a vision for our country aligned with the expectations and aspirations of everyday Australians, says Peter Dutton as he addresses the Liberal Party’s 64th Federal Council.

Fellow Liberals, friends – it’s an honour to address you in this 80th anniversary year of Sir Robert Menzies’ founding of our great party.

In his election campaign speech of 1949, Sir Robert said to the Australian people, ‘We must choose our road. Upon our decision will depend the future and fate of this nation.’

Well friends, an election is on the horizon.

Every election matters.

But the forthcoming election matters more than others in recent history.

The stakes are higher.

The next election will not only define the next political term.

It will define the future and fate of this nation.

It will be about the kind of country Australians want their nation to be.

It will be a time for choosing.

And I believe the choice could not be clearer for the Australian people.

A choice between an enduring cost-of-living crisis under Labor.

Or cost-of-living relief under the Coalition.

A choice between Labor’s reckless ‘renewables only’ policy that will see the energy bills of Australians soar even more.

Or the Coalition’s plan for cheaper, cleaner and consistent energy which includes our visionary plan to become a nuclear-powered nation.

A choice between the hollowing-out of manufacturing in this country under Labor.

Or making our country a manufacturing powerhouse once more under the Coalition.

A choice between an existing Labor Government which has turned its back on small businesses and bloated the federal bureaucracy.

Or a new Coalition Government which cuts red and green tape so businesses can open, grow and thrive once again.

A choice between an ongoing housing crisis under Labor where Australians cannot find or afford a home to rent or buy.

Or pressures coming off the housing market under the Coalition as we work to restore the great Australian dream of home ownership.

A choice between a Labor Government whose weakness and incompetence has compounded crime, disorder and disunity on our streets.

Or a Coalition Government which will provide the moral and political leadership which restores law, order and unity.

Leadership matters.

For Australians, the next election will also be a choice about the type of leadership and character they expect from their Prime Minister.

Now, I think Mr Albanese is a decent man who cares deeply about his country.

But I believe he is completely out of his depth as Prime Minister.

I believe he has compromised the honour of the office he holds.

He has broken 12 core promises.

Most egregiously in promising Australians – prior to the election – that they would be better off under a Labor Government.

And promising on 97 occasions that they would receive a $275 cut to their power bills each year.

In truth, Australians are much worse off and paying more for everything.

More for food, for petrol, for insurance, for rent, and in their mortgages.

Annual electricity bills for Australian households have increased by up to $1,000.

The Prime Minister’s term has also been defined by the wrong priorities.

Instead of addressing the cost-of-living crisis, he dedicated his first 16 months in power to winning the Voice referendum at a cost of $500 million to taxpayers.

Instead of taking the pressure off inflation by reining-in wasteful spending, his Government has lifted spending by a staggering $315 billion – or $30,000 per Australian household.

Instead of getting power prices down to help Australians, he has set unachievable renewables and emissions targets which are blowing the budgets of Australians.

Our jet-setting Prime Minister is more interested in appeasing the international climate lobby than sticking up for the interests of everyday Australians.

He also keeps walking both sides of the street.

For example, in Perth on the 8th of May, the Prime Minister spoke about the importance of gas for our nation’s wealth and energy security.

Two days later he was on ABC Radio Canberra saying ‘not a single government dollar’ would be invested in gas under his Future Made in Australia plan.

Whatever audience Mr Albanese is addressing, he tells them what they want to hear – not what needs to be said.

He is a political appeaser, not a leader of conviction.

He avoids the hard and necessary decisions and discussions because he places a higher value on political survival than statesmanship.

Our Prime Minister hasn’t stood up for the national interest when it has mattered most.

The shocking 700 per cent rise in anti-Semitic incidents on our soil has come from a vacuum of moral courage and moral clarity from the man in the top job.

Moreover, the Prime Minister shirked his responsibility to call-out the Chinese Communist Party’s leaders for their military aggression which put the lives of our men and women in uniform in danger.

He was more interested in pleasing Jacinda Ardern on immigration policy and placating John Setka on building policy than standing-up for the interests of Australians.

Just as our Prime Minister has been weak, he has also been divisive.

His Voice referendum sought to divide our country by ancestry and race.

Labor’s tax revisions have stirred up the ugly politics of envy.

And the Government’s backward industrial relations changes have pitted employers and employees against each other.

The achievement of modern Australia wasn’t built on division and disunity!

In the last two years, Labor has made our economy more vulnerable.

Our nation less safe and less secure.

Our society less cohesive.

Australians are worse off at every level.

Now, some Australians may think that by voting for the Greens or the Teals at the next election, things will improve.

I can only offer some words of warning.

If the Teals and/or the Greens help Labor to form a minority government, the worst excesses of the Albanese Government won’t be moderated.

On the contrary, the worst excesses of the Albanese Government will be exacerbated.

The outcome will be a government which is even more radical and Greens-heavy.

It’s a fallacy that the Teals are disaffected Liberals.

Consider their record on all votes in the Parliament which expose their true philosophy, true allegiances, and true colour.

Monique Ryan, for example, has voted with the Greens 74 per cent of the time and with Labor 65 per cent of time.

Zali Steggall has voted with the Greens 69 per cent of the time and with Labor 70 per cent of time.

Both have only voted with the Coalition about 30 per cent of the time.

With Teals like Monique Ryan and Zali Steggall holding the balance of power, what would we see?

We would see even more drastic ‘renewables only’ policies and higher emissions targets which would overwhelm our economy and devastate families and businesses.

Simon Holmes à Court will have as much influence over government policy as John Setka currently does.

With Greens like Adam Bandt holding the balance of power, what would we see?

We would see progress on our greatest defence initiative in a generation – AUKUS – put in jeopardy.

Remember, this is a man who refuses to stand in front of our national flag.

The Greens have shifted from being a party of environmentalism under Bob Brown to a party of extremism under Adam Bandt.

In the anti-Semitism they peddle and condone, the modern Greens Party poses the greatest political threat to our social cohesion since the end of the Cold War.

Australians can’t afford another three years of the Albanese Labor Government.

They also can’t afford three years of the madness of minority government comprising Labor, the Teals, and/or the Greens.

Australia is veering dangerously off track.

More weak leadership will only make hard times even harder.

Difficult times require strong leadership to course-correct the country.

I will provide that strong and decisive leadership drawing on all I have done.

As a police officer who served his community.

As a successful small business owner who employed 40 people.

As a patriotic Australian who has served the people of Australia for more than two decades as a parliamentarian – including as an Assistant Treasurer under John Howard and as a senior Cabinet minister.

I will be a Prime Minister who puts the views, values and vision of everyday Australians first.

I will be a leader who is fair and firm.

I will be someone who doesn’t shirk the hard and necessary decisions which must be made in our national interest in these tough and precarious times.

And I couldn’t be prouder of the team I lead.

A team of supremely capable men and women who possess courage, conviction and compassion.

It’s a team which combines the wisdom of experience with the youthful energy of many new parliamentarians.

We’re united.

We’re formidable.

We’re staying true to our principles.

We have superb candidates contesting seats across the country.

Candidates who come from outside of politics – who have worked tough jobs, run businesses, and raised families.

Candidates who understand the concerns and hardships of everyday Australians.

Fellow Liberals, friends – do I think the Coalition can win the next election?

We can. And we must.

Not because we seek to win for winning’s sake.

But because – in Sir Robert Menzies’ words – ‘We are here to win something, to do something for our country.’

Fellow Liberals, friends – we are here to get our country Back on Track.

As we inch closer-and-closer to an election, I’m confident that more-and-more Australians will appreciate that only the Coalition has a plan to do exactly this.

Only the Coalition has a vision for our country aligned with expectations and aspirations of everyday Australians.

Our plan to get our country Back on Track is a statement of our priorities and policies.

I want to reiterate some of those priorities and policies today.

Australians should be under no misapprehension.

The cost-of-living crisis gripping our nation is of Labor’s own making.

Interest rates have gone up 12 times on the Government’s watch.

Our core inflation is among the highest of the G20 nations.

Australians are paying 20 per cent more in personal income tax since the last election.

All this because the Albanese Government is failing at economic management.

In last month’s Budget, it increased spending by $4 for every $1 it raised.

It’s suffocating the economy and stymying businesses with more red and green tape in its desire to increase government control over the free market.

It’s undermining competition by picking winners – such as providing $13.7 billion in corporate welfare for billionaires to get green hydrogen, critical minerals, and renewables projects off the ground.

And despite failed experiments overseas and the warnings they offer, it’s pressing ahead with a ‘renewables only’ energy policy – a wrecking ball through the Australian economy.

Our country is in a per capita recession and has been for five quarters.

The national accounts from the March quarter revealed an annual GDP growth of only 1.1 per cent.

Outside the pandemic, that’s the weakest growth since 1991.

We need a back-to-basics economic plan.

That’s what the Coalition will deliver.

We will rein-in wasteful spending to take the pressure off inflation.

We will remove regulatory roadblocks to re-energise the economy and allow businesses the freedom to flourish again.

And we will deliver lower, simpler, and fairer taxes for all to support cash-flow and help Australians get ahead.

I commend Angus Taylor, Jane Hume and our economics team for the critical policy work they are doing in this area.

As Liberals, we understand the positive economic and social impact of small businesses around our country.

But small and family businesses have been decimated and demoralised by Labor’s cost-of-living crisis.

I want them to know, we have their back.

Sussan Ley and Michaelia Cash are leading the charge for small business revival.

Our hand-up to businesses starts with our commitment to extend the value of assets eligible for the instant asset write-off to $30,000 and to make this arrangement ongoing.

We’ve also committed to unwinding the complexity of Labor’s industrial relations agenda – such as reverting to our simple definition of a casual worker.

Among the many business sectors which have been hit hard under Labor are construction companies.

Some 5,000 have gone insolvent since the 1st of July 2022.

Part of the problem has been the influence of the militant and lawless CFMEU in the Labor Party and on Labor governments.

Union backed companies are being awarded contacts on major infrastructure projects despite sometimes bidding more than double their competitors.

Taxpayers are not getting bang for their buck where the CFMEU is involved.

The Prime Minister may not stand up to John Setka and his gang of bullying thugs – but I will.

We will restore the construction industry watchdog to police our building industry.

And we will double the penalties available to the courts to impose on criminals within the building sector.

Getting our country Back on Track means playing to our strengths.

The Labor Party, the Greens and the Teals continue to wage a crusade against our resource sector and primary industries due to the influence of activists in their rank and file.

At the next election, only the Coalition can be trusted to support our miners, farmers, fishers and foresters.

We do so unashamedly.

Because we care about the lives and livelihoods of these Australians and the communities they buttress.

And because we know that when these sectors do well, so does the rest of Australia.

Australians will need to ask themselves important questions at the next election:

Do they want their cities and communities to have well-built roads, schools and hospitals?

Do they want the NDIS, Medicare and our aged care system to be well-funded?

Do they want our men and women in uniform to have the equipment they need to defend our nation?

We can only do these things with the support of the tens-of-billions-of-dollars in tax contributions and royalties paid annually by our primary industries – especially our mining and resources sectors.

My vision is to turbocharge these sectors for our greater national prosperity.

Right now, there’s no more important area to fix than energy policy.

As I said, Labor’s all-eggs-in-one-basket ‘renewables only’ approach is a wrecking ball through our economy.

The Government is trying to roll-out renewables at the same time as removing 90 per cent of essential 24/7 baseload power from our system over the next decade.

As a result, our grid is more unreliable.

Energy prices are soaring and having an inflationary impact across the economy.

Australians understand it costs more for a farmer to grow, fertilise and harvest their crops.

The truck driver who transports the food faces higher electricity costs at the depot.

The farmer and truck driver’s costs are passed on – as well as the warehouse operator who packages and stores the food in freezers.

The farmer, truck driver, warehouse operator and supermarket owner’s costs are passed onto Australians when they pay for the product at the checkout.

That is why Labor’s ‘renewables only’ policy is hurting your family and our economy.

Across the economy – in every aspect of production, in the supply of all goods and services – higher energy costs mean Australians are paying more for everything.

As electricity bills continue to go up-and-up for Australians under Labor’s reckless plan, the worst is yet to come.

The Government’s renewables roll-out and re-wiring the nation will cost $1.3 trillion dollars at a conservative estimate.

As the CEO of Alinta Energy warned, ‘Australians will have to pay more for energy in the future.’

AEMO’s recent warnings of gas shortages expose this Government’s energy policy train wreck.

Why are the Prime Minister and Chris Bowen pursuing a policy which is causing the power bills of Australians to skyrocket?

Why are they willing to risk blackouts and brownouts across the nation?

It’s because their most important goal is to decarbonise our economy to win the applause of global climate activists.

Labor’s domestic energy policy has become a policy of international appeasement.

Yet the Government won’t even meet its 2030 targets!

The Clean Energy Council’s reporting shows the Government was off-track in its renewables roll-out last year by almost 75 per cent.

There is zero chance of this roll-out being completed.

Indeed, Australia’s emissions increased by 4 million tonnes in 2022-23.

Will Mr Albanese reassess his targets and policy?

Of course he won’t.

He will double down and sign-up to even more unrealistic emissions targets for 2035 in the order of 65 to 75 per cent.

We shouldn’t forget that Australia contributes a little over 1 per cent of global emissions.

I will not sign-up to an arrangement where unachievable emissions targets and a reckless ‘renewables only’ roll-out destroys our economy, makes businesses go broke, and sends families bankrupt.

But there is a credible path to meeting our commitment to net zero by 2050.

The Coalition’s energy policy will see Australia achieve our three goals of cheaper, cleaner and consistent power.

In the more immediate term, we will ramp-up domestic gas production to get power prices down and to restore stability to our grid.

And we will join the other 19 top economies in the world which use zero-emission nuclear power, or are taking steps to put it in their mix.

This week, I was pleased to join David Littleproud, Ted O’Brien, Sussan Ley and Angus Taylor to announce further parts of our policy to become a nuclear-powered nation.

We propose to build zero-emission, latest generation and proven nuclear power plants – either modern larger plants or small modular reactors.

We’ve identified seven locations and can use the existing distribution network.

Each location has a coal-fired power station which has closed or is scheduled to close.

Liddell and Mount Piper Power Stations here in New South Wales.

Loy Yang Power Stations in Victoria.

Tarong and Callide Power Stations in Queensland.

And Northern Power Station in South Australia and Muja Power Station in Western Australia as places where we would only consider small modular reactors.

Labor has steamrolled over communities and dismissed their concerns in its reckless ‘renewables only’ roll-out.

We respect Australians and will run a thorough engagement process for each community.

We will answer people’s questions, alleviate concerns, and speak about the social and economic benefits of nuclear power.

Two of the seven locations will become establishment projects, with nuclear plants to be built and operational in the second half of the 2030s.

Our plan will see the majority of coal plant workers keep their jobs as they transition to nuclear plants.

Hundreds more new and higher paying jobs will be created.

Communities hosting nuclear power plants will become centres for new industries, new manufacturing, and new investment.

And as Australians will soon see, our plan will cost a fraction of the Government’s $1.3 trillion plan – a figure not even the PM’s cricket team of Labor spin doctors can conceal.

Much has been made about the position of Premiers and state leaders.

In Government, I will work respectfully and collaboratively with State Premiers – but I don’t answer to them.

The decisions I make will be in our national interest to the benefit of the Australian people.

Commonwealth laws override state laws even to the level of the inconsistency.

So support or opposition at a state level won’t stop us rolling-out our new energy system.

I note, in particular, my good friend, David Crisafulli, is getting a hard time from the worst Premier in Australia – Steven Miles.

I have the utmost respect for David. And he has taken a perfectly understandable position on nuclear power.

He is going to make an outstanding Premier.

Every Queenslander knows he has one hell of a Queensland Labor mess to clean up.

Fellow Liberals, friends – we have the right energy policy and a sensible energy policy.

Poll after poll is showing that more-and-more Australians want to see our nation adopt nuclear power.

According to Lowy, some 61 per cent of Australians.

According to Newspoll, some 65 per cent of 18 to 34 year olds.

Australians are increasingly doing what the Government doesn’t want them to do – thinking pragmatically and for themselves.

Visionary Labor leaders – like the late great Bob Hawke – knew that zero emissions nuclear energy was a good thing.

But Labor’s current crop of leaders have been reduced to posting juvenile social media memes of three-eyed fish and koalas.

When they do, they contradict their support for the AUKUS agreement and put into question the safety of Australia’s submariners.

Frankly, their behaviour is an affront to the intelligence of the voters whom they seek to represent.

With 400 reactors operating worldwide today, more than 30 countries using nuclear power, and some 50 countries looking to introduce it for the first time, the facts continue to disarm Labor’s childish propaganda.

Australians want a rational conversation on energy policy without being accused of engaging in a ‘culture war’.

Last year, they wanted a reasoned debate on the Voice without being called ‘Chicken Littles’.

And now they also want a sensible discussion on how we can alleviate the national housing crisis without being labelled anti-migrant or racist.

Those who resort to such smears undermine the maturity of debate that Australians expect on the critical issue of housing supply.

We are not a racist country and we are proud of our migrant story.

Australians can see through the partisan agendas of commentators who have abandoned their journalistic objectivity.

Australians understand the facts.

In two years, the Government has brought in an additional 923,000 migrants.

Yet on the available data, only 265,000 homes have been built.

Labor has created a housing crisis by opening the floodgates of migration.

If we want to relieve pressure on the housing market, infrastructure and services, we need a sustainable and well-managed migration program.

That’s why the Coalition will reduce the permanent migration program by 25 per cent for two years, among other measures I announced in my Budget Reply.

We will free up 40,000 homes in the first year of a Coalition Government and more than 100,000 homes over five years.

Fellow Liberals, friends – one of the most important things we must do is to restore the dream of home ownership.

I want every Australian to be able to own a little part of Australia.

A home is not only life’s best financial asset – especially one which makes retirement easier.

A home is also a social asset.

It provides the stability and security to settle down with a partner and the opportunity to start a family.

Owning a home gets you ahead.

We’ve recommitted to allowing Australians to access up to $50,000 of their super to buy their first home.

And we’ve extended this policy to separated women to help them restart their lives.

Michael Sukkar and Andrew Bragg are working on further housing policies which will regenerate hope for Australia’s aspiring homeowners.

Of course, aspiration dies where crime thrives.

 The foundation of stability and success is law and order.

Like all Australians, I’ve been appalled by the uptick in knife crime, youth crime, violence against women, terrorist incidents, and anti-Semitism in recent times.

There are many reasons for this.

Some of our courts have been too lenient in granting bail to repeat offenders.

Some of our top-ranking police officers have been reluctant to enforce the law out of fear of offending certain cultural sensitivities or stoking tensions in particular communities.

But I believe the culture you set as Prime Minister is the culture that is accepted across the country.

Whether it’s on the streets of Alice Springs or the steps of the Sydney Opera House, our Prime Minister fails to grasp a simple principle:

The tolerance of intolerable events only creates more intolerable events.

Ineptitude also creates more intolerable events.

Andrew Giles is one of the most incompetent Immigration Ministers since Federation.

Not only has he released more than 150 hardcore criminals from immigration detention into the community – some of whom have re-offended.

He has also made it easier for criminal non-citizens to remain in Australia instead of being deported.

The fact the Prime Minister still hasn’t fired this negligent Minister shows he is more interested in protecting his factional friend than fighting crime.

We’ve watched the Labor Party’s migration movie before and now it’s screening again:

A Big Australia policy of unsustainable migration.

A weak border policy and the return of people smuggling ventures to our shores.

A deficient detention policy which puts communities at risk.

James Paterson, Dan Tehan and I will clean up Labor’s mess.

By restoring managed migration.

By reviving strong borders and stopping people smugglers.

By reinstating the moral and political leadership for effective law and order.

We will also toughen and tighten bail laws.

And we will work with the States to develop national uniform knife laws to limit sales, restrict possession, and provide powers for police to stop and search.

Fellow Liberals, friends – we also cannot neglect our responsibility to the next generation in a digitally-driven era.

Australians are living very different lives compared with decades ago.

Both parents are usually working – some in multiple jobs given the cost-of-living crisis.

For single parents, the pressure is even greater.

As Liberals, we don’t believe in Big Brother government which interferes in the lives of Australians or seeks to be a substitute for responsible parenting.

Yet it’s clear parents across the country are deeply concerned about the mental health ramifications of social media on impressionable young minds.

Our children are more prone to depression and anxiety due to influencer culture and online bullying.

At their fingertips is also an abundance of sexually explicit and violent content.

Some teens are even committing crimes for likes.

Social media is re-wiring young minds – and not in a good way.

There’s nothing more important for our future than preserving the innocence of our children and nurturing young minds in a responsible way.

That’s why David Coleman and I have announced that a Coalition Government will invest in age verification technology to restrict social media use for children under the age of 16.

Relatedly, Sarah Henderson is leading the pushback against indoctrination in our classrooms.

That starts with a renewed focus on teaching our young children the basics through explicit instruction.

A Coalition Government will make reading, writing and maths a priority – the bedrock for open minds and critical thinking.

Fellow Liberals, friends – as I said, our plan to get our country Back on Track is a statement of our priorities and policies.

And we will have much more to say on both as the next election approaches.

The next election will be a time for choosing.

But the battle of ideas has already begun.

The fight for the future and fate of this nation has already commenced.

In my Federal Council address last year, I said ‘a party is the sum of its people.’

Our success is built on your loyalty.

On your passion.

On your hard work and every effort – small and large – each day.

In this 80th anniversary year of the birth of the Liberal Party, this is a time to find strength in our unity.

Confidence in our convictions.

Commitment in our duty to our fellow Australians and this great country which we love and cherish.

Do I think the Coalition can win the next election?

We can. And we must.

Not because we seek to win for winning’s sake.

But because we are here – as we have always been – for the forgotten Australians.

For 80 years we have fought for the forgotten Australians.

I will lead a Government for all Australians as we work together to get our great country Back on Track.

Thank you.

This is an edited extract of an address given by Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton to the Liberal Party of Australia’s 64th Federal Council in Sydney.