On education, housing and coal

Mr Albanese is asked about Labor's promise to attract high performers to the teaching profession. She says the issue is not necessarily about attracting new teachers to the workforce, but retaining teachers because of the workload and the stress. Here's how he responded:

Well, one of the things that we can do is to take some pressure off the education system.  We make no apologies for the policy about attracting more high-performance teachers into the profession. We need to value teaching. It's an honourable profession. And we need to lift its status.

We have a range of other policies that we've announced, including funding for schools to bounce back from COVID. We know that students and teachers have done it really tough. And providing a additional support for every school for mental health support or for excursions in order to, according to the priorities of those schools, will make a difference as well.

Sales then asks Mr Albanese about the Coalition's promise to allow some prospective home-buyers to draw on their super to make a deposit. She asks: What shouldn't Australians have a choice of what to do with their super savings as the Morrison Government is offering? Here's how Albanese responded:

Because we don't think that you should get an asset by getting rid of another asset. And what we have here is a policy that is consistent with the Government that has undermined superannuation every opportunity that it has had. We already know that women retire with less income than men.

This Government have continued to undermine superannuation at every step. And we don't believe this is a policy that didn't last, really, until the Monday morning, when Minister Hume went on TV and said this would push up house prices and therefore, wouldn't provide any substantial benefit.

Sales then pivots to renewables. She asks what year Mr Albanese thinks that Australia will be out of coal production?

Albanese: That will be determined by decisions in board rooms here in Australia and around the world.

Sales: So, what do you mean by that? Do you mean that the private sector will choose whether or not there's a market for coal? And what is the role for Government?

Albanese: The role for Government is our Powering Australia plan that provides a mechanism of support for renewables. Under our plan, renewables will be 82 per cent of the national energy market by 2030. That plan will see the creation of 604,000 additional jobs. Five out of every six in regional Australia. It will deliver some $52 billion of private sector investment.

Sales: But you haven't done any modelling to check, what would the timeline therefore be for a full transition out of coal into renewables?

Albanese: Well, the reputechs have done, Australia's leading energy economics firm, Reputex, and what they found is the figures coming through. There hasn't been a new coal fired power station built under this Government. And one can expect that there's no signs of that continuing in the... Changing in the future, because the market is speaking. The cheapest form of new energy in Australia is renewables. There's great prospect in areas like green hydrogen and other emerging industries as well. That is what is happening, and it's being driven by the market. And during the last election campaign, the Federal Government in another example of waste committed millions of dollars to the proponents of a new coal-fired power station in Colinsville that hasn't happened and won't happen, because it doesn't stack up in terms of the energy market.