BEN FORDHAM, HOST: The Prime Minister is on the line this morning, Anthony Albanese, good morning to you.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Terrific to talk with you, Ben. It's a beautiful day today.
FORDHAM: Congratulations. It is the biggest job in the country. I know it seems like you've been in the job for a while now, but we haven't had you on air yet. How are you settling in?
PRIME MINISTER: Ben, it's a challenge each and every day to deal with immediate issues, but also to try to make sure that we're always looking to help shape the future rather than let it shape us. So it's a matter of that two-pronged approach if you like. Sometimes you've got to play the ball that's in front of you, but you've also got to bear in mind what medium and long-term reform looks like changing the country, but it's an incredible honour and a privilege. And I certainly don't take it for granted. I feel very fortunate to be in this position. And it's a great country Australia, it's a great honour to be the Australian Prime Minister.
FORDHAM: One of the biggest balls in front of you at the moment is the cost of living. I don't think there's any topic that I receive more correspondence on than the cost of living. We've got rising inflation, rising interest rates, petrol's expensive, groceries are going up. Now be frank with us, are these issues that are out of your hands? Or is there something you can do as Prime Minister, to address the cost of living?
PRIME MINISTER: Some things beyond our control, for example, the Russian invasion of Ukraine had an enormous impact on energy prices and on supply chains around the world. And we've seen inflation rise to double digits in the UK, for example, in in North America it is much higher than it is here. But there are things that you can do. So we will be introducing a budget in October that, for example, will reduce the cost of medicine, we have a plan to reduce the cost of childcare for just about every family who has their kids in care, and we know that that's a big cost of living. We want to make sure that we deal with putting downward pressure on inflation by dealing with supply-side issues. So there are things that we can do, we put in a submission to the Fair Work Commission for the lowest paid workers to get an increase, to not fall further back. And that was done of course, that was our first act really, as the Government, the Fair Work Commission granted a 5.2% increase for people on the minimum wage, that we know are doing it really tough. So there are things that the Government can do. It can't solve everything, of course. But we're very focused because we understand the pressures that families are on out there.
FORDHAM: Alright, on the things you can do. There's no bigger problem for business at the moment than staff shortages. There are 500,000 job vacancies at the moment. The food industry is short about 170,000 positions from paddock to plate. And businesses and farmers and industry want the foreign workers back in Australia. You've got this crippling backlog. And this is something that can be fixed. The Department of Home Affairs says there are 140,000 skilled migrants ready to work in Australia. Some have been waiting more than a year. So when is that going to be fixed?
PRIME MINISTER: It's a hopeless situation Ben, that we inherited. We have put considerable resources into additional staff to get these visas processed. How frustrating is it that there are people who want to come here who've been waiting in the queue, as you say some for more than a year, but their visas can't be processed.
FORDHAM: So when can we get some movement on that front? Because I appreciate that it's a hopeless situation, but it's now your hopeless situation, you're PM.
PRIME MINISTER: It is, there is movement Ben. We have reallocated staff from other areas into visa processing. Because one of the things that happens is when you gut the public service, when you don't have enough people to do essential tasks, like in Centrelink, in visa processing, then you have these real world problems created. We're working as fast as we can to deal with this. Of course, with visas you do have to have checks. You can't just have open borders. So they do need to be processed, but we're working as quickly as we possibly can. Because we recognise that this is a massive problem. That's why also we're convening the Jobs and Skills Summit at the end of next week.
FORDHAM: Alright, just on the workers. While we're desperate for these workers, we seem to be kicking some hard working people out of the country, you'd be aware of the Green family in South Australia, the father was brought here on a skilled visa 10 years ago, and then because of a stuff up to do with his visa under one of his employers, it wasn't filled out correctly. So the family is now being told 'you're being kicked out of Australia.' They've now been given, I think, three more weeks to try and fight this in the courts. But we showed compassion to the family from Sri Lanka who've settled in Biloela, why are we kicking out the Green family from Australia, who've never taken any welfare and have worked their backsides off for the last 10 years?
PRIME MINISTER: Well that's with the Minister at the moment and the Minister has to make a decision objectively, on these issues without political -
FORDHAM: Can you see where the community's coming from though on that family where they think, hang on a moment, we need the workers, these are good people, let's hang on to them.
PRIME MINISTER: I can absolutely Ben, and one of the things I've spoken about is the absurdity of the way that we bring in temporary migrants in areas where there are skill shortages. And then we get rid of them, and then we get new temporary migrants in to fill those same jobs. That to me doesn't make any sense.
FORDHAM: Well look, just on that I'd love to share with you a case which I will off air, and I spoke to this lady last night, her name is Hazel, she's a nurse. She's been here for a number of years, she worked all through Coronavirus. She's from Scotland as well. When the floods hit Lismore early this year, she was one of the first agency nurses to go to Lismore to help out. She's had a mix-up over the visa she filled out, she's now been ordered out of Australia within 35 days, and all of the nurses who work with Hazel are saying, 'come on, what's the point in kicking her out? We need her here.' So I'll pass that one along to your office off air if I can. Let me ask you about the fuel savings because those fuel savings are set to come off at the end of September. New Zealand has kept them, their Finance Minister Grant Robertson says this is about taking action to ease the pressure on families. So if our friends over the ditch are extending the helping hand, why can't you?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I didn't make the decision of the temporary circumstance which was put on. But we've got a trillion dollars of debt. And we have to make decisions based upon there's a limited amount of money. We have to get the budget back on track and in order to do that, if we're going to do issues like cheaper childcare, if we're going to offer support for cheaper medicines, which we will, then you can't just continue to not worry about the budget. I understand the pressures that are on there. But we inherited a situation whereby the relief stopped in September, petrol prices have come down now, they are fluctuating. We know that, I've seen prices varied from $1.50 right up to $1.90. Just over a period of weeks.
FORDHAM: But you can't extend the savings?
PRIME MINISTER: We are examining it, we can't do everything we want to do Ben.
FORDHAM: You are examining it did you say?
PRIME MINISTER: We're having a look at the circumstances which are there, but we have made it very clear that with regard to petrol, the cost of the budget is so enormous. I just can't see a way through on that issue. We've been honest and straight about that. Both sides of politics were before the election, and there's been no change in our position.
FORDHAM: Well you can't create every wish, we acknowledge that. We're talking to the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, just a few other things if we can have some quick answers on it. Pensioners, why can't we let pensioners work longer hours without being punished by the tax man? You agree we should scrap this rule? I think the Opposition wants to get rid of it. Why do we need to wait for the Job Summit to make it happen? Why don't we do it now?
PRIME MINISTER: Because you've got to do proper costings on all of those issues. It's something I raised in a speech two years ago as leader of the Labor Party about a vision for older Australians.
FORDHAM: So why don't we make it happen?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Ben, this isn't done by a Prime Ministerial decree, there's things like legislation. And so Parliament is sitting later on, it's one of the issues that we'll have a look at, at the Jobs and Skills Summit.
FORDHAM: All right. Well there's plenty of people there who are keen to work. I'm not sure if you saw A Current Affair on Monday night, there was a story about an island only 800 kilometres off the coast of Australia, the Conflict Islands. The owner is selling, he's an Aussie. He's had interest from Chinese buyers. He wrote to Penny Wong, the Foreign Minister on a number of occasions and he hasn't heard anything back. Is this something Australia should be looking at? I know that Penny Wong says it's a private transaction. But shouldn't Australia be talking to the seller, when you consider that there's a deep sea port there? There's an airstrip, it's only 800 kilometres off the coast of Australia, shouldn't this be in our national security and leaning into regional stability to have a chat to this bloke about buying the islands?
PRIME MINISTER: There's over 500 in that area, Ben, over 500. That's the fact, and one of the things that the Government shouldn't do is do taxpayers' real estate through the media. Penny Wong's office were unable to locate the email as having been received, the Department have now received that, they are looking at it. But there's a lot of real estate across the Pacific, Australian taxpayers aren't in a position to buy all of it. And they're certainly not in a position to, as you can imagine, Ben, think about the implications if sellers of assets came through the media, say, 'I want Australia to buy this or else there's implications, we'll sell it to China', think about where that ends. In terms of taxpayers.
FORDHAM: There's also a worrying ending there if it ends up in Chinese hands, though you'd acknowledge that?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course, and my Government, I think you would acknowledge, Penny Wong has been to the Pacific on multiple occasions. She's off again next week to Papua New Guinea in fact, next week. We have been engaged far more than our predecessors, we're making sure that Australia's national interests are protected. We'll continue to do so, we'll have a look at this particular transaction. But there's a lot of real estate. This is an issue for the Papua New Guinea Government of course, it's sovereign territory of Papua New Guinea, not Australian territory.
FORDHAM: Alright, I know we've only got 15 minutes of your time, so I'll let you go. I want to talk to you about the Voice to Parliament, the cashless welfare card, and a few other things. But hopefully we can do that at some stage soon. So can we have some regular conversations and from time to time, the odd argument? Because I do note, the small elephant in the room, it has been five months since you last appeared on the program. And you used to love getting on at every opportunity. But then when I took a hard line on the alleged bullying of Kimberly Kitching, you seem to have given us the silent treatment. So are you up for these regular exchanges? Or is it going to be a case of when the going gets tough, Albo gets going?
PRIME MINISTER: Ben I don't think anyone can say that I am not someone who has engaged in the media, not just friendly media, but whoever has wanted to talk to me –
FORDHAM: It's been 166 days.
PRIME MINISTER: Including 2GB, I talked to your colleague, Ray Hadley, during the election campaign.
FORDHAM: How did that go for you?
PRIME MINISTER: That was pretty willing, I've gotta say. I had COVID at the time, but even that didn't stop me.
FORDHAM: Alright, well let's talk soon.
PRIME MINISTER: I'm always happy to chat. And can I say with regard to Hazel, mate please put those details through. That's the sort of crazy, bureaucratic nonsense that we need to stop. We need nurses here in Australia. We shouldn't be engaged, if the facts are as you say it, then I will speak to the Immigration Minister today.
FORDHAM: We appreciate that, she was on the verge of tears when I was talking to her last night. So I'll pass that along today. We'll talk to you soon and thank you for coming on.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, Ben.
FORDHAM: Good on you, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.