HOST: Alright, jack up the anthem. Here we go. All rise. Oh, it's really loud. The Prime Minister joins us. Albo, good morning.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. I hope you're standing up while the anthem's going.
HOST: Always.
HOST: Of course we are.
HOST: Shaun even took his hat off.
HOST: Absolutely, Albo, for you. No doubt about - how did you, did you listen to that last song by the way that we're playing? There's a few heavy beats going.
PRIME MINISTER: I wasn't a, I wasn't a great fan of that song, you know, and it's, and it's early in the morning there. It's a bit of a wake up song, I guess.
HOST: Yeah, we're up and about.
HOST: Yeah, we needed it.
PRIME MINISTER: That and some coffee.
HOST: Yeah, no doubt about it.
HOST: Never goes astray at this time of the morning. Now Albo, the reason you're calling us is because you've written a letter about the ex-Prince Andrew. Right? Is that that the deal?
PRIME MINISTER: That's exactly right. He's the ex-Prince but he needs to be the ex in line of succession as well.
HOST: I mean he's eight though -
HOST: Like he's not going to get it.
HOST: Does it really matter?
PRIME MINISTER: It matters because it's an issue of principle. Should this guy be in the queue to be our Head of State? Now people will have different views, of course - I'm a republican - but we do have the line of succession and we do have our Head of State, is of course His Majesty King Charles. But it's appropriate that we do take action because I think that this guy disgusts Australians basically.
HOST: Yeah, I think that's a fair statement.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, I think it's against common decency suggests that this guy who has been removed as a Prince, but why is it that he's still in the line of succession? And just like more than a decade ago we changed the laws across not just the UK, which is how it has to happen, and then all of the realm countries of which now there are 14 that have King Charles as their Head of State, including Australia. We changed the laws so that girls, not just boys, could be in the line of succession. And that was common sense, keeping up with the times. This is just as important in my view to send a message - all of the issues associated with Jeffrey Epstein, whether it be the abuse that's occurred - in the former Prince's case, it's also the allegations that are there about handing over confidential documents which no doubt would have been used inappropriately and as a breach of the law in itself if that is proven. Now, His Majesty the King has said the law must take its full course. There must be a full, fair and proper investigation, as there should be. But I think that these things take time. So, let's get on with it. It's my view that the UK should initiate this process and that Australia would have to, in order for us to sign up as well. It's pretty complex. We need all the states and territories to sign up to the change, and I have written to the states and territories as well last night to inform them of the Commonwealth's position.
HOST: I don't think there's a person in Australia who isn't in agreeance of what you're saying.
HOST: That's right.
HOST: I don't ever see him being a Head of State, but I understand you're saying it's down the line, we need to get ahead of this. I think it's really low hanging fruit at the moment of all the things that are going on in Australia though, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Look it is just a simple thing that we should do. It's got a bit of a run today, bigger than I thought it would, attention. But it's just a part of doing business along with the other big priorities. Of course, we have the work that we're doing on cost of living and making a difference in housing, making a difference in transport, making a difference to health, and the hospitals agreement got finalised on Friday. The WA Government was a part of that, and I think Premier Cook for the cooperation that we've had in providing that additional support as well.
HOST: Prime Minister, the other big news that's been floating around on a national level is of course the ISIS brides. 11 ISIS brides and 23 children. They're Australian citizens, but they're sort of being, you know, there's some obvious concerns.
HOST: Well, we thought so. Geez.
HOST: Do we have any update on that, where the situation sits at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER: No. Our position hasn't changed, which is we're not assisting them or providing repatriation of them -
HOST: But they are citizens though, so does that make that more difficult?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it means that they do have rights, in spite of what some of the media has suggested. The High Court's made it very clear that Australian citizenship does have some rights attached to it. If they were to be able to make their own way to Australia, then we would implement the full force of the law as well if there have been any breaches of Australian law. Which is why I'm sure they will take that into account regarding decisions that they've made. But they of course made the decision to go overseas to essentially provide support for people who are fighting against Australia's interests and therefore, I don't think they're worthy of support coming back.
HOST: Yeah, you said that as your mother would have said, if you make your bed, you lie in it. And I think everybody in Australia totally agrees with that comment.
HOST: With your mum. Yes.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah. My mum was always right.
HOST: Wise woman.
HOST: Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: She was one of those people who had all those great sayings, but they came from a gut instinct -
HOST: And a common sense approach.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah. And you have to have that, that gut instinct, I think. And these people, you know that is my approach. I feel sorry for the kids -
HOST: Yes.
PRIME MINISTER: But it's, you know, it's the parents who, who took them overseas. We got taken to court a while ago. There's nothing new in our decisions here. Nothing new in spite of the amount of publicity that it's got, we got taken to court demanding that we repatriate these people and we fought that in the court and we won against a non-government organisation. So, our position hasn't changed -
HOST: A lot of people are questioning whether Tony Burke is dealing with the groups that are helping these ISIS brides and their families come back to Australia. That's where a lot of people are questioning, is there something happening behind the scenes other than what you've said out to the public, which is what you've just told us?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, only ridiculous media trying to write stories and a Coalition where 40 people came back to Australia on their watch, including ISIS fighters, actually came back. Not wives or children - fighters.
HOST: Yeah.
HOST: It was under a different situation, though, wasn't it?
PRIME MINISTER: No, it wasn't. They came back. They went overseas to fight, and they came back because they were Australian citizens and they made their own way back. In addition to that, there was some repatriation in 2019 and 2022. We got taken to court while Tony Burke's been the Minister. We fought that court case and said that we wouldn't repatriate them and were successful.
HOST: Right.
HOST: Hey, I've got one more question, Albo, because we haven't spoken to you for a little while, but with interest rates going up in recent times, and I know a lot of people - you mentioned the cost of living. Is Jim Chalmers under pressure to keep his job?
PRIME MINISTER: No, he's doing a great job. And the truth is, when he became Treasurer, inflation had a six in front of it. It now has a three in front of it. And that's happened with unemployment being low of 4.1 per cent and of course it's particularly low there in Western Australia. So, the job to deal with inflation is never over. We're will continue to work on those issues, but we have had wages on our watch since we came to office, have increased. Employment has been very strong. Over 1.2 million jobs created. 50,000 additional full time jobs created in the latest figures alone. And inflation is sticky, that's a global issue that has occurred. But it had a six in front of it when we were elected. It peaked at 7.6. And now the trimmed mean inflation figures, 3.3, headline inflation, 3.8. We want to get that down further and we'll continue to work on that.
HOST: Alright.
HOST: No worries, mate.
HOST: Fingers crossed.
HOST: Good luck with all that.
HOST: Yeah, you got your work cut out for you. Prime Minister, it's always a pleasure. Thank you for talking to us this morning. The crowd's gone mad.
PRIME MINISTER: Always wonderful. Play a better song.
HOST: Yeah, we got one coming for you. What do we got next, Sam, you got something for the Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: What have you got coming?
HOST: We got a Taylor Swift song or something? Surely.
PRIME MINISTER: That's very good.
HOST: Got a bit of Bruno Mars not too far away. That okay?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, that'll lift people up.
HOST: Alright, thanks, Albo. Cheers, mate.