Prime Minister _ What does TCC have to do with Reef HQ???

Here is part of the transcript of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese press conference in Townville yesterday

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, if I can have one more, please. You’re obviously here in Townsville. There's quite a bit of talk about one of our major icons of Townsville at the moment with Reef HQ. I did hear you on the radio earlier today with SCA. Could you just tell us where we are at with Reef HQ? It’s been shuffled around for three years now.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I do note that I've seen some comments by Phil Thompson. And you’ve got to give him give him credit for boldness, let me say. This is a guy who voted against giving a tax cut for every single Townsville taxpayer, which is what we've delivered. This is someone who's voted against energy price relief. This is someone who's voted against our $32 billion Homes for Australia Plan. This is someone who thinks that fee free TAFE is a waste. This is someone who's opposed the Medicare Urgent Care Clinics that are providing that health care that people need. And this is someone who has voted against cheaper medicines and voted against 60 day dispensing. This is someone who of course when it comes to the LNP and inconsistency here you have federally, federally and LNP that want to essentially nationalise the nuclear reactors to be provided, want them to be taxpayer run. Someone who wants taxpayers to intervene in supermarkets, somehow to run them, and to have forced divestment. But on the state level, the LNP won't use the word nuclear, even though both David Littleproud and Peter Dutton, are saying they will intervene over the top of any state government if they're elected. And then they want to privatise, the LNP here wanted to privatise this port, and they want to privatise the entire energy network. Now if that had of occurred during the natural disasters where I visited here, just at the beginning of this year that would have had real consequences. You wouldn't have had people being put back on the energy grid so quickly as a direct result of the fact that energy remains in public sector hands here. And when it comes to Reef HQ, it shut in 2020, he was the local member and he's out there complaining saying not enough has been done, and there isn't enough money being allocated when he was the member when it was shut under the LNP. Now there's now a request for a further $103 million, we'll give consideration to that. We've written to the council here. I understand that the mayor is a bit distracted at the moment. I have been following the rather bizarre revelations from the right wing mayor here in Townsville, who along with his LNP friends, I don't know what is going on there. But we want an answer for them. There is money that is not yet fully allocated as part of the Townsville City deal. We're up for getting things done. But we want obviously the Council to be able to come back to us. Minister McBain has written to the council about funding and we need to get that information. I know that Reef HQ is an important asset for Townsville. I visited there prior to it being shut, which again I repeat, was on the former government's watch. The funding once again wasn't allocated like so many things that they promised. But I do think it's a bit rich for Phillip Thompson to actually complain about something that's happened on his watch that he didn't fix. But like other things, the Federal Labor Government will fix the LNP mess that's being created. We're committed to doing that. But we need the detail to come from the Townsville Council in order to do that. Thanks very much.