RICHARD KING, HOST: Our Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, will be handing down the Budget tonight. And well, the expectation is we keep hearing about intergenerational equity, particularly trying to get more younger Australians into the housing market. The great Australian dream. Is it still the great Australian dream, owning your own home? And the expectation is some of the things that might receive a bit of a change will be things like capital gains tax discounts, negative gearing and taxation of trust funds. But with more on that, joining me now is our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Good morning, Prime Minister.
ANTHONY ALBANESE PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Richard. Wonderful to talk with you.
KING: Yeah, likewise. It's been a while. Look, obviously the Farrer by-election is an interesting one. The deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume speaking to Sarah Ferguson on 7.30 last night said Labor didn't have the balls to turn up to the Farrer by-election. Given that you at most elections you have contest at that seat, what was the reason for not contesting the Farrer by-election?
PRIME MINISTER: It's very common to not contest by-elections. We didn't contest in Cook when Scott Morrison went, former Prime Minister, and we didn't contest in Farrer as well. So, we concentrate on elections where there is a possibility of Labor winning. There was no chance of Labor winning. I did see Jane Hume’s interview last night. Quite frankly, it was a trainwreck. What came through was that she couldn't rule out a coalition with One Nation. And I note today on the front page of the paper, Pauline Hanson has gone from being a fringe dweller to demanding that the LNP commit to allowing her to form government as One Nation. Now, I think says it all. And last night, Jane Hume couldn't rule that out. It's very clear that the only political party in the mainstream that can form government in Australia at the present time is the Labor Party.
KING: Intergenerational equity, that's the term that's been used with reference to the Budget tonight. What exactly do we mean when we're talking about the Budget’s intergenerational equity, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: What we mean is giving young people a fair crack. At the moment, we know that the dream of home ownership is becoming more difficult for a generation of Australians. And unless we do something about that, then that's likely to get worse, not better. And so, we want to make sure that we address the genuine concerns that young people have. But it's not expressed just by them, their parents and grandparents say to me, you know, 'I worry about my kids or grandkids, whether they'll ever be able to own their own home.' And that is the great Australian dream. Now, the key to that is supply, of course, and we'll have a range of measures in the Budget, including $2 billion for infrastructure, things like water and sewerage and perhaps the last mile of road that councils need support on to expand the number of homes that are available. But we'll also look at the full suite of policies. We're going to throw everything at this. We think that housing is absolutely critical. We inherited a system that was broken. The former government didn't bother to have a housing minister for half the time they were in office. So, we have a $47 billion Homes for Australians plan. And tonight, you'll see some more measures as well.
KING: I did invite listeners to email in any questions, and a lot of people have accused you of buying votes, hence this pandering to the younger voters under this intergenerational equity. Here's an example John's emailed in. He said, 'Labor values have never been as clear as they are at present, taking money from hard-working Australians and giving it to the young is not the way to run the country.' What's your response to that, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: There'll be no money taken from hard-working Australians. Hard-working Australians will benefit from tonight's Budget, but we won't leave people behind. And so, tonight's Budget, whether it's for young Australians or old Australians, there's a major package in there tonight to improve aged care, both residential and at-home care. People will see the detail. But when we speak about Labor values, one of Labor's values is not leaving people behind, it's the issue of equality. We don't just stand for one group of people at the top end. We stand for all Australians and giving all Australians a fair crack.
KING: I spoke earlier this morning with Stephen Galilee from the New South Wales Minerals Council. This High Court case, MACH Energy versus environmental groups, which a lot of people are saying is a landmark and the first time I think an environmental group has taken a case to the High Court, it would appear that fossil fuels are not the dirty words that they were given what's happening over in the Hormuz Strait and et cetera, et cetera, now we see more people wanting to explore for gas and also oil, et cetera. But the Government has certainly not backed off this transition to renewable energy, but there is more of a focus on fossil fuels, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: What you need, of course, the transition is what we need to support our breaking of the nexus between global vulnerability. And that's important for the same reason why over 350,000 people have taken up our incentive to put a battery to store energy from their rooftop solar. That takes them out of the energy grid. It helps everyone that that is occurring. That's just one example. But we need gas, it has an important role to play in providing reliability and making sure that it underwrites that certainty that industries need. And of course, we have been very supportive of existing industries continuing as well. But that doesn't break from the fact that the former government used to talk about Liddell, and it shut. The truth is that overwhelmingly something like 24 of the coal-fired power plants announced their date of shutting or shut under the former government's watch while nothing, no alternatives were built. Now we need to continue to value – I value each and every one of our hard-working coal miners. We value our industries. I certainly hope that this legal challenge is not successful because this project has been through appropriate approvals.
KING: Yeah. I spoke on Friday with Xavier Martin, the president of the New South Wales Farmers Association, on the subject of Catherine King’s announcement last Wednesday that the inland freight rail line would be terminated at Parkes and not go all the way. He said it's madness. Nobody would agree to build a freight rail line from Melbourne to Parkes. But your government has. Why, why do you think that that's a sensible decision, not going ahead with the completion of it?
PRIME MINISTER: Because the hard work was never done by the Coalition. The truth is that they don't even have a route to get it to the Port in Brisbane. It's extraordinary. Inland rail wasn't meant to be literal but that was the way that it was done. It was only going to Acacia Reeds, which is 38 kilometres from the port. There wasn't a serious plan to get it across the Toowoomba range crossing. It has been a debacle.
KING: Yeah, but everybody agrees it's a good project and a fair chunk of it's already been built. Why not complete it if it's a good thing?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it hasn't been completed and the funding had a massive blowout. When it was announced it had a one in front. The cost had a four in front in terms of billions of dollars, in the 40s. Now you know, a project that isn't thought through, that doesn't have proper planning, you know, this is the worst example. I know about infrastructure. This is how you get an infrastructure project wrong. Unlike projects like the Hunter Expressway there, that I presided over, that was $1.7 billion that came in on budget, on time, has made an enormous difference there. And that's why we're making sure as well that we get high speed rail right. You've got to get the planning right on a project. And the truth is that the route wasn't even finalised of this project, of how it was going to get to the port. Now, the private sector, there's at least one private sector operator reckons they can get it to Gladstone. If they can, then that would be good. But the truth is that we had to bite the bullet and make a decision based upon what was before the Government. And this was supposed to be completed last decade. Remember that, Richard. So, they simply didn't get it right.
KING: No. All right. I appreciate the time this morning. Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday Prime Minister, much appreciated.
PRIME MINISTER: Wonderful to talk with you and thank you for not raising the Knights’ victory over the Rabbitohs.
KING: Yeah, but you had a good win last weekend.
PRIME MINISTER: We had a cracker.
KING: Yeah. All right.
PRIME MINISTER: And I prefer to beat Cronulla than Newcastle. I’ve got a soft spot for the Knights.
KING: Good on you. Thank you very much for your time.