MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Thanks everyone for joining me at Old Parliament House this morning where I've just addressed a breakfast for a large group of Australia's environmental organisations, those who are committed to making sure that Australia's environment remains strong for the future in the face of very strong threats.

The future is something that our Government is very focused on. The Budget that the Treasurer brought down just this month is all about the future of Australia. It's about the future of younger Australians when it comes to getting into the housing market. It's about having a tax system that is fairer for the future.

But while the Labor Party is focused on the future, the Liberal Party are focused on the past. Today we will see the election of former prime minister Tony Abbott to become the president of the federal Liberal Party. This is the man who as prime minister delivered savage attacks on health budgets, led the charge against net zero, made himself the Minister for Women and of course appointed Prince Philip as a Knight of Australia.

Tony Abbott is locked in the past and by electing him as their President the Liberal Party have shown that they continue to be locked in the past themselves. Now just right behind where you're standing there is the Museum of Australian Democracy. That's where Tony Abbott belongs.

Tony Abbott belongs in a museum not running the possible alternative government of Australia and that's what he's going to be doing from his election as President of the Liberal Party. Happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: You've just said that you think the Liberal Party is now going to be locked in the past. The cornerstone of your Budget reforms are relying on a Keating era model. Are you not also locked in the past there?

MURRAY WATT: Not at all. What we're doing is designing a tax system that is fairer for the future. I have still not heard anyone argue to me why those who generate their income from holding assets should pay less tax than those who go to work every day and earn a living. This tax system is about becoming fairer for all Australians including the millions of Australians who go to work every day and earn a wage and of course it's about making sure that younger people have a chance to break into the housing market for the future as well.

JOURNALIST: What do you think this will mean for the Liberal Party by electing the Tony Abbott is their leader. I mean obviously they’ve got a bit of an identity crisis obviously with the rise of One Nation. Do you think this will do them any favours in terms of appearing to be more of the moderate party?

MURRAY WATT: This is another sign that the Liberal Party are completely misreading the message that Australians are sending politics right now. They have decided to chase One Nation and drift further and further to the right rather than listen to the vast majority of Australians who do not support those views. We've also seen in the media today that Tony Abbott is already leading a charge to purge the moderates from the organisational wing of the Liberal Party, having got rid of Fiona Scott, a former Liberal moderate MP as a vice president of the party. As I say, they are completely misreading the message from the Australian people. They are showing that they are out of touch and locked in the past. The Liberal Party is no longer the party of Menzies. It's not the party of Howard. It's the party of Tony Abbott and Sky After Dark.

JOURNALIST: Do you think, well, would you rather a fight in the next election against One Nation or against this coalition and where it's at right now? What do you think Labor's chances are?

MURRAY WATT: Well, our focus is how we can deliver to Australians. We will leave it to that three-way ragtag coalition that's emerging between the Liberals, Nationals and One Nation to work out what they stand for and what they're going to do. Our focus is going to be about making sure that we're delivering the cost of living support that Australians need, the opportunities to get into the housing market and of course making sure that Medicare is strong, and defending it from a Liberal Party that is now going to be led by the bloke who tried to bring in a GP tax when he was Prime Minister and tried to cut the budget for Medicare.

JOURNALIST: Minister, just on the Government trying to block the Antisemitism Royal Commission from considering Cabinet documents. Does that move risk undermining the whole purpose of the Royal Commission?

MURRAY WATT: No, and the Attorney-General Michelle Rowland has addressed this this morning in the media as well. The Government is actively supporting the Royal Commission in its work. We set up the Royal Commission, we are resourcing the Royal Commission, we are providing evidence to the Royal Commission. It has been a long-standing convention that governments do not need to reveal Cabinet discussions to Royal Commissions. Having said that, what we have done is provide a range of documents to the Royal Commission, some of which are redacted to remove Cabinet references and other national security information, but the Royal Commissioner is totally within her rights to reject the public interest immunity claim that the Government has made and that'll be a decision that she makes going forward.

JOURNALIST: Why leave that in the hands of the Royal Commission when the Government could proactively release this information which is directly relevant [inaudible]?

MURRAY WATT: Well, as I say, this is a long-standing convention that governments don't provide Cabinet material openly for open hearing to a Royal Commission. But it's entirely up to the Royal Commissioner if she wants to reject that public interest immunity claim, if she decides that it's necessary to have some of that information put into the public domain.

JOURNALIST: It's becoming more clear people who are indicating they might vote for One Nation at the next election. It's about bringing down the two-party system. They feel that it hasn't been working to them and there's a lot of anger. How will Labor go about disputing that and proving that you're not part of the two-party problem, that you can provide a solution?

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, look, there's no doubt that part of the reason for the rise in One Nation is people are doing it tough right now. That's something that our Government has recognised as long as we've been in power and that's why we've had such a focus on delivering cost of living support to Australians for the whole four years that we've been in power. I think the other factor that we can't ignore about the surge in One Nation support is the complete collapse in the vote for the Liberal and National parties and they're about to make that worse today by electing Tony Abbott as their president. They're drifting further and further away from where the centre of politics is towards more extreme positions being put by One Nation.

In terms of how we intend to respond to One Nation, what we will be doing is first of all demonstrating that we are utterly focused on cost of living support for battlers in our community, and also pointing out that every time One Nation have had a chance to stand up for battlers in the nation's Parliament, they've taken the side of billionaires. When we've passed laws to increase wages, One Nation voted with the billionaires to stop those wage rises. When we passed laws to enshrine penalty rates in awards, One Nation stood with the billionaires, not the battlers, and voted against that legislation. When we passed laws to bring in cheaper medicines to help all of those battlers who struggle to pay for their pharmaceutical costs, who did One Nation line up with? Not with the battlers, they voted with the Liberal Party against that. So we will be holding One Nation to account for every vote they have cast against the interests of battlers and every vote that they undertake going forward.

Right now we are in the middle of a big debate about the taxation system for this country. On the one hand, you've got the Labor Party delivering a fairer system that makes sure that the majority of Australians who are wage earners get a fair deal from the tax system. One Nation is lining up with the Liberals, the Nationals and the billionaires to oppose that and protect tax concessions that battlers can't enjoy right now.

JOURNALIST: Just on the CGT, new independent modelling has come out today from Master Builders saying that reforms will see rents go up by $9 a week, housing supply will fall short. What's your Government's response to that?

MURRAY WATT: Well for starters you can't take the Budget measures in isolation from the massive investment that we are undertaking when it comes to building new homes in Australia. And again, I make the point that One Nation, the Liberal Party and National Party have voted against every single one of those measures that we've taken to build more homes in Australia. So I don't know how that's going to help the housing solution in the future.

In terms of that modelling that's come out today We have already mentioned the fact that there is Treasury modelling which shows a very small increase in rents and downward pressure in rents as a result of these measures. We've also seen independent modelling released by the Grattan Institute and Commonwealth Bank which backs in the Treasury modelling. These systems we believe will put downward pressure on rents going forward.

JOURNALIST: How do you make sure in that argument of the butlers and the billionaires that you were talking about before, Pauline Hanson's been pretty clear about posting a jet that she got from Gina Rinehart, posting with Clive Palmer, her relationship with those people, and it hasn't really made a dent in her popularity. So how do you make sure that argument cuts through to people and make them care about it?

MURRAY WATT: Well, I think over time, Australians will see Pauline Hanson and One Nation for what they are, which is people who say that they'll stand up for battlers, but people who prefer to party with billionaires. I mean, Pauline Hanson seems completely happy to display the fact that she's taking gifts of $2 million planes from billionaires, having cake with billionaires in the form of Clive Palmer rather than actually being down here this week in Parliament fighting for battlers. I know what I've been doing all week along with the Labor team, and that's been down here fighting for battlers, delivering a fairer tax system while Pauline Hanson's been having cake with Clive Palmer. She's got to explain why she's making those choices.

ENDS.