KRISTY READING, HOST: Good morning, Prime Minister, and thanks for your time today.
PRIME MINISTER, ANTHONY ALBANESE: Good morning, Christy. Good to have the opportunity to talk with you.
READING: I realise you're heading to a flight now, so we really appreciate you giving us some time before you jump on board this morning. But look, you're coming to town this morning as part of this, you're revealing a $38 million drought relief package at the Bush Summit. Tell us about this. What does it include?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is really important. It's about spreading best practice basically, supporting the long term trial of new and emerging agricultural practices to deal with the changing climate. I just heard your weather report there and you're hankering, quite rightly for a bit more rain in the New England region. And that is what this is a response to. Making sure, farmers right around the country are coming up with really innovative way of dealing with the climate changing, and what this is about is taking, where things are really working and making sure that they're replicated.
READING: What plans do you have? As you mentioned, dry conditions start to take hold for farmers, what plans do you have long term for those on the ground? The worst drought in living memory is very much still a fresh memory, what are your plans as the season starts to change?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we need to do is to work with farmers, to work with the community. I've been meeting with the National Farmers Federation and individual farmers, along with Murray Watt, my Agriculture Minister, about how we deal with the changing climate. We know that already some changes to the climate are locked in. So, what we need to do is to make sure that we minimise that by taking action on climate change. But also, of course, we need to deal with mitigation issues as well. Farmers, of course, particularly Australian farmers, have shown great resilience and I'm sure they'll continue to do so. But we need to use science to improve yield, to improve productivity. And that's what we want to do moving forward, because our agricultural sector can be a huge bonus for Australia. We live in the fastest growing region of the world in human history. Just to our north, we're seeing a rising middle class. We're seeing products that are produced in Australia, high value products being in great demand. And, of course, we had great news on the weekend, last weekend about China removing any impediments to barley exports. I'll be visiting a barley farmer this morning about these issues, talking about the bonus that's there from the freeing up of an export market that was worth $916 million in 2019.
READING: What do you need to do as Prime Minister, as a Labor Government, to better connect with regional areas like ours. You're coming to an electorate with a tradition of Nationals and some Independent Members of Parliament, but what do you need to do as a Labor Government to better connect with regions like ours?
PRIME MINISTER: I think the key is engagement, listening and then acting on concerns. I think also, as we see regions grow, they are interested in agricultural products and agricultural policy, but they're also very much interested in service delivery. We'll be visiting this morning as well an urgent care clinic that will open in Tamworth. That is a medical facility in which you'll only need your Medicare card, not your credit card. One of 58 that will open around the country this year. It'll be open for business in October. That's the sort of service delivery that people rely upon. The increased support for universities in our region, the Fee Free TAFE that's making a difference to providing opportunity for 180,000 people this year but 300,000 over coming years, commencing next year. That's making an enormous difference. Our policy on the National Broadband Network, the truth is that the former government, which stopped the rollout of fibre and put in copper, was giving a second-rate network to too many people in regional Australia. Now, the good communications is the key to overcoming the tyranny of distance for regional businesses. All of these measures are positive measures. They're ones that my Government are determined to implement today. Today I'll be in Tamworth and then in Mount Isa. A couple of weeks ago, I was in Horsham in Victoria. I'm continuing to make sure that my responsibility is to represent people throughout Australia, whether they be in cities or regions or remote communities.
READING: Still on land use and agriculture, there's a lot of concern in our communities at the moment around a pipeline to connect the Narrabri Gas Project to the Hunter Gas Pipeline. It's been declared critical infrastructure by the NSW government. The project, of course, will provide gas for domestic use, but I'm wondering if you support a gas pipeline across some of the most productive agricultural land, the Liverpool Plains?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, all of these issues need to be dealt with appropriately under our environmental law and proper assessments being made, which includes, of course, what are the consequences of a project like that. It's important that for anywhere where the Commonwealth approval is needed that that not be pre-empted according to law. So, if there are any projects that require approval of the Environment Minister, then the Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek, will do the proper assessments and come to an appropriate conclusion.
READING: A local branch of the NSW Farmers Association wants any compulsory acquisition of properties by Santos, who owns the Hunter Gas Pipeline. They want any compulsory acquisition of properties ruled out. Is that something or what can you do to help with that? Is that something you're willing to consider?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm not certain that that is something that is within the power of the Commonwealth Government, but we will give appropriate consideration to any environmental issues. One of the things that we are very conscious of is the need for prime agricultural land to be just that, to be considered for the extraordinary asset that it is. We do need energy, we do need to have, gas has an important role to play in that. But we need to make sure that prime agricultural land is considered to be the precious asset that it is.
READING: We're talking to the Prime Minister here on ABC New England North West this morning. Anthony Albanese joins us ahead of a trip to Tamworth this morning for the Daily Telegraph's Bush Summit arriving here in Nationals heartland a little later on this morning. Mr Albanese, we've got a lot of questions coming through from our listeners today, if you don't mind answering a few from them.
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
READING: We've got a question here from Scott at Guyra, he says, ‘Can the Prime Minister assure us he won't ban or suspend the live cattle export industry as the previous Labor Government did?’
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
READING: Do you want to elaborate on that and why you're taking that stance?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, the live cattle industry is an important industry for Australia that provides important economic benefit to those farmers and cattle producers, but also important income for the national economy. And indeed, earlier on in my Government's period, when there was an issue with foot and mouth disease, the National Party was calling for us, calling for us to stop issues of trade with Indonesia. That was something that my Government rejected. We worked with farmers to get on top of this issue, whether for the National Farmers Association or the Northern Territory cattle industry, that in Queensland. We worked very closely with them to make sure that we protected our sector here, but also that we kept that trade going. So, it's not just a matter of what we say. Look at what we did and compare that with the, quite frankly, alarmist response that the National Party at the time were calling for.
READING: Okay, to another question now, Jamie at Gunnedah says, ‘In the election campaign last year the Prime Minister promised we'd all be better off under Labor but now the cost-of-living increases have risen so high, there's a threat of recession.’ He's asking, ‘Is that a broken promise?’
PRIME MINISTER: We have delivered on making a difference on cost of living. We understand that some people are doing it tough and the Russian invasion of Ukraine had an impact on global inflation. But if you have a look at what we have achieved, when we came to office the inflation rate in the March 2022 quarter was 2.1%, the highest of any quarter this century. Last quarter it was 0.8%. And one of the reasons why that was the case was because of our Energy Price Relief Plan that has provided support for people whilst putting downward pressure on inflation. Just yesterday we had a vote in the Parliament about cheaper medicines that we implemented on January 1. But we have decreasing the cost of scripts from $42.50 down to $30, the first time that pharmaceuticals have been reduced in price since the PBS was introduced by the former Labor Government more than seven decades ago. And yesterday we had a vote about 60 day dispensing that will halve the costs of people who need those regular medicines by increasing it from 30 days to 60 days. That was opposed by the Coalition. They weren't successful because not just Labor, but the Crossbenches opposed that negative measure. In addition to that Fee Free TAFE, 180,000 people are benefiting this year.
READING: What about things like electricity, electricity prices, interest rates? These are things that have gone up exponentially.
PRIME MINISTER: And that is a product of global inflation that has occurred right around the world as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as a result of the coming off of the supply chain issues. So, we understand that that has occurred in Australia, but compared with, the UK hit an inflation rate of double digits, there is no economy you'd rather be in than Australia. And what we have had is continuing to see an unemployment rate that is lower than the one we inherited. And importantly, as well, we've turned a $78 billion deficit into a surplus. Now, that's about taking pressure off inflation, taking pressure, sending a message to the Reserve Bank that the Government is doing what we can there as well to take that pressure off.
READING: Mr Albanese joins us this morning. Anthony Albanese, our Prime Minister, here on ABC New England North West Breakfast program. Mr Albanese, another question here, we understand the future of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority in Armidale is hinging on the outcome of a review to be delivered at the end of September by Ken Matthews. A question here about what are your personal thoughts on its future in Armidale? We've had your Minister, Murray Watt, on the program who wouldn't commit to keeping the APVMA in Armidale. What are your thoughts on its future in the town?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's precisely why you have a review. You have a review to get appropriate advice, in this case from Mr Matthews. We'll await that advice. We know that the decision to move the Authority has had real consequences. There have been major issues with the Authority, as your listeners would be aware. We've seen resignations and issues that have been very publicly aired. It was very much a political decision to move the Authority. We await advice of the appropriate location of it. I'm a big supporter of decentralisation, of course Australia's largest inland city is Canberra. It is not the same as Sydney or Brisbane or Melbourne. There are appropriate locations in regional NSW and other parts of regional Australia for the location of public services, including head offices where it's appropriate. But we need to make sure that we get the right outcome for the Authority. And frankly, the Authority has underperformed in recent years, which has led to the massive changes in personnel and the issues that my Government has had to deal with.
READING: But why not try and get it right in Armidale? Why not commit to staying in Armidale, keeping the jobs in Armadale, keeping this part of the economy ticking along in Armidale and just fixing what is wrong within the Department?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, let's be clear here. When it first moved to Armidale, as you'd be aware, it was operating in part out of a car park. This was very much a political decision that was made. If you need to locate this Authority closer to the Agriculture Department or any other location for that matter, then it's appropriate that you get proper advice. My Government will act on the appropriate advice that we've received. That's why it's appropriate that we have this review.
READING: Okay, Mr Albanese, we'll have to leave it there this morning. Thank you for joining us prior to heading to Tamworth today.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you and I'm glad it sounds like it's warming up there. It was very, very cold in Canberra this morning, let me tell you.
READING: Well, the sun is shining, I can tell you that when you arrive. So, thanks again for your time today.
PRIME MINISTER: Lovely to talk.