An angry protester has confronted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Sydney accusing him of failing to take action on the climate crisis. Labor has spent the day spruiking a one-billion-dollar mental health package, ahead of the first leaders debate tonight.
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00:00Federal Labor has been seeking to put health care at the centre of its re-election pitch
00:07during a campaign that will largely be fought on cost of living issues.
00:11And this $1 billion announcement allows it to campaign on comfortable term.
00:16Labor is promising that if it wins the upcoming election it will spend the money on building
00:20or upgrading about 30 walk-in mental health services offering free support and about 60
00:27headspace centres for young people.
00:29Labor is also vowing to boost the workforce and provide additional support to young people
00:33with complex needs.
00:35The Federal Government had been under pressure to expand mental health support after dumping
00:40a COVID-era doubling of Medicare-funded psychology sessions.
00:44The Coalition has vowed to reinstate those sessions if it wins the upcoming election.
00:49The Coalition believes it has little to gain in a fight about health and so far has matched
00:54all the major health commitments.
00:56Anthony Albanese says this money will provide more Australians with free public health care.
01:02I want every Australian, particularly every young person, to be able to access the mental
01:07health care that they need.
01:10We will deliver $1 billion to roll out more services and locations Australians can go
01:17for free public mental health care.
01:20Mr Albanese, you say you care about young people and yet since getting elected your
01:25government has approved 33 new coal and gas budgets.
01:30The press conference was briefly hijacked by a rising tide protester arguing that climate
01:36change was a major issue for youth mental health.
01:39Security quickly saw her out.
01:41After an early morning start, the Albanese camp is now hunkering down in Sydney until
01:46tonight's leaders' debate, the first head-to-head clash of the campaign.
01:50Campaign debates are unpredictable beasts.
01:52The leaders have to both anticipate the questions and also their opponents' response.
01:57We can expect Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to continue to pursue Peter Dutton over the
02:03Coalition's ill-fated policy of trying to bring public servants back into the office,
02:08a policy it's now backed away from.
02:10We can also expect Mr Albanese to try to continue to spruik Labor's health care announcements,
02:16an area it sees as a weak spot for the Coalition.