HOST: Oh, you pressed the right button because in honour of the Prime Minister coming in, you've played that song. Prime Minister, welcome to the show.
HOST: Welcome.
HOST: Thank you for joining us. Have you got your Joy Division t-shirt on?
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Great to be in Melbourne. I don't this morning. I'm in a suit, as you do, unfortunately, but I'm much more comfortable in a band t-shirt, I've got to say.
HOST: Feels like you should rip it off like a superhero, reveal the Joy Division t-shirt.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, no one was more shocked than me that that became a controversy. Wearing a t-shirt, getting off a plane. I don't know what you wear on planes, but when I can -
HOST: I usually come off in a wheelchair and a straitjacket. You're doing better than me.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's a separate security issue, probably, you know, you shouldn't play up on them.
HOST: Big hello to the AFP who are here that I have a long relationship with.
HOST: Do you find the humour in that sometimes where some of those stories go?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, absolutely. Well, you gotta laugh. I mean, I thought it was a joke. My team said to me, 'oh, Sussan Ley has attacked you for wearing a t-shirt'. The Joy Division t-shirt. And I was like, 'what?'
HOST: Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: Are you kidding me?
HOST: Didn't see that coming.
PRIME MINISTER: Did not. Did not see that coming.
HOST: No, Spandau Ballet
HOST: Well, we really appreciate the opportunity to ask some questions today on behalf of our listeners, who we represent.
HOST: Absolutely. Cost of living. Are you happy to start there? We'll jump on in.
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely.
HOST: I mean, it's obviously -
HOST: It's tough.
HOST: Tough out there for, for our listeners -
PRIME MINISTER: It is.
HOST: I've lived overseas, by comparison. It is tough here, Australia, I think, is, you know, it's kind of spiralled out of control, it feels like, feels like. Would you concede that? And what do you, what do you think the circuit breaker is to reel this back in and get it under control?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the first thing I'd say is there's nowhere you'd rather be than Australia. Overseas had recessions. Every advanced economy in the world, or at least one quarter of the economy going backwards. We kept the economy going forwards and we kept people in jobs. So, unemployment is 4.1 per cent, really low, 1.2 million jobs created. So, we have got inflation down. It had a six in front of it when we were elected. Has a three, has a three in front of it now. So, it's too high. But what we're doing - later today, I'll be at a TAFE, looking at Free TAFE. There's 725,000 Australians that have had Free TAFE. I'm going to be talking to nurses at a hospital here who have benefited now from getting Paid Prac. Used to be when you did a course like nursing, you went and you had to do time in a hospital as part of your course. You didn't, you didn't get paid while you were doing it. We're fixing that. We're giving $10,000 apprenticeship bonuses, basically cash for people doing construction or electrical. We have done what we can and will continue to do so to get cost of living down. So, medicines down to $25 bucks. Same price they were in 2004. We've got Urgent Care Clinics making sure people can see a doctor with just their Medicare card for free. And 2 million Australians have done that. We'll have tax cuts coming in in July and another tax cut next year. So, we've got to, we've got to take action. We understand people are doing it tough, but that's precisely why we're taking this action.
HOST: It's a turbulent time in Australian politics right now across the aisle.
PRIME MINISTER: It is a bit.
HOST: You seem to, you won't have to lift a finger much to win this next election. If -
PRIME MINISTER: Nah well we are not complacent -
HOST: I'm being smart. But across the aisle, they are rabble.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they are a rabble. They're a mess. They're -
HOST: They're completely out of control. What, what is wrong? They seem to be, they've reverted to type. They've had one woman. They've replaced her with a, with a white, heterosexual -
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they didn't really give her a crack.
HOST: They didn't. And they seem to have reverted back to type. One Nation figures have never been higher. What, you must look across the aisle and just go, 'this whole thing is in disarray'.
PRIME MINISTER:It is a mess. But my job is to keep focused on issues like cost of living. The other side just seem to be focused on themselves and fighting each other. That's going to continue. I can't see them all of a sudden being in love with each other. They really don't like each other. And the Libs don't like the Nats. And the Nats are defecting to One Nation and it's all a bit of a mess. So, my job is to provide stable, orderly government and get things done.
HOST: What will you run on? What will it be, when this, when it comes round? What is your message going to be to the Australian people? Why should you be re-elected?
PRIME MINISTER: Our message will be two things. One, that we're taking action on cost of living. We're doing what we can. We understand that that action's required. The measures I talked about - five per cent deposits for people to get into first home ownership. We're doing that whilst setting Australia up for the future, really importantly, so critical minerals, rare earths. Where will the jobs of the future be? Making more things here in Australia, making sure that home ownership is more affordable for people. Taking that direct action to improve people's lives.
HOST: One thing the Opposition, particularly the new leader Angus Taylor, has been really focused on is around immigration. You've let 1.3 million immigrants into the country net over the last three years.
HOST: One Nation surging.
HOST: One Nation have never been more popular, and they want to link that into cost of living and a lot of those things. What would you say to that? And do you see a bit of immigration reform coming?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're doing it. We've reduced migration by 40 per cent and we are taking it - inevitably after COVID there was going to be a spike, not just because of people who aren't Australian coming here, but Australians coming home. Remember that - we banned Australians for coming to this country, so it was going to be a spike. The truth is this, this is just a fact: when the former government was in office, their projections for what the population would be in 2030 were some 754,000 to be precise, higher than what ours are now. That's a fact.
HOST: Okay. That's food for thought. It's good to see the Labor Party returning to its kind of platform, I think you need to be congratulated on student loans which is such an issue. I was fortunate enough to go through and not have to pay a single cent.
HOST: Oh yeah, HECS was a punish.
HOST: HECS is a punish and it's a crippling debt for -
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, made a huge difference.
HOST: Young people taking debt into their adult life and, and so I think that's, that's a tick for you. The other one I wanted to mention, I have two 13-year-old boys. I think the social media ban deserves to be credited. I know it's fraught, the implementation and it's never going to be perfect, but I happen to know already and firsthand information of positive benefits and side effects from that move, which I'm thinking now is being replicated.
PRIME MINISTER: It's world leading.
HOST: It's world leading. I think it's great to see Australia on the front foot in this particular instance.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, people are looking at Australia - Spain, Denmark, Indonesia, Malaysia, UK, New Zealand, right around the world and it took us, it was a pretty gutsy call actually to take on ten of the social media giants and say, 'you have a social responsibility, we're going to get this done', because parents, it gives them the power to have those conversations with their young people. We want young people going out there and becoming the next Riewoldts around -
HOST: I like that you pointed at me when you said that, that was good.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah.
HOST: I think we've got enough Riewoldts. They're like the Von Trapp family at the moment -
PRIME MINISTER: Coming through. But we want people having those conversations and talking to each other. And what we know is that schools that banned mobile phones in classes saw better educational outcomes and better behaviour. And guess what? People learning to talk to each other like we are now, rather than just texting each other and communicating through their devices.
HOST: Would you consider banning adults from social media? Because -
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I gotta say, my life would be a lot better, I've got to say.
HOST: There are serious things with these social media giants that there's a lot of misinformation on health and a whole bunch of things spread and they seem to, we're very regulated on what we can say in the traditional media, but they seem to escape a lot of that regulation. Would that ever be something you'd look at?
PRIME MINISTER: There is. Well, not banning because -
HOST: Not banning, but regulating what they can promote.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, certainly what we need to do as a society is to have this conversation, because more and more people are pushed through algorithms into extreme positions. I think that's one of the things that we're seeing with a breakup in, in the norm, and -
HOST: Well, that's the good stuff out of the way, now the bad stuff. Cut it out with beer excise tax, would you? You're killing me.
PRIME MINISTER: We've frozen it. First time -
HOST: You talk about -
PRIME MINISTER: In 40 years. This is a big reform.
HOST: Cost of living. I can't, I'm living hand to mouth at the moment. You're talking to someone who likes to have a drink.
HOST: You're talking to a pub owner.
HOST: You know what? And in times -
PRIME MINISTER: I'm, I'm with you, and -
HOST: Beer up, cigs up. Used to be the old thing you'd say at the end of every, you know, budget. It's lazy tax policy -
PRIME MINISTER: Except for under me. We've frozen it for two years and we, we had the legislation. I'm going to say that -
HOST: Come on.
PRIME MINISTER: The craziest thing we talked before about the other side of politics. The crazy thing was we had the beer excise freeze legislation and they split on that. And I was like, you know you're in trouble if people are voting against a freeze on a tax on beer. But some of them did.
HOST: And I just want to thank you for taking women's health seriously, particularly, you know, reproductive health.
PRIME MINISTER: Best women's health program ever. First time - fun fact, first new contraceptive listed on the PBS for 30 years. I mean, that's just nuts.
HOST: Amazing. It's a game changer. But can we please be making the estradiol patches in Australia? Because there's been a worldwide shortage and there's a lot of us sweaty, erratic women ready to storm Parliament.
HOST: Could you help us, please? I'm asking you -
HOST: Help. Step in. Let's all take a vote.
PRIME MINISTER: Katy Gallagher will be onto that.
HOST: Thank you, Katy.
HOST: Now, I know you're a big Hawthorn man -
PRIME MINISTER: I am. We're a happy team.
HOST: Well, I thought coming down for a preseason game at Dingley was a little bit of overkill. You've got a country to run, surely?
PRIME MINISTER: I wish I had. I did see it, though. They, they sent me, I think it was versus North.
HOST: Geelong.
PRIME MINISTER: Geelong, was it?
HOST: Geelong yesterday. What's in store for the Hawks this year?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, well, you know, I think they'll have a terrific year. They've got so many good young players on the way up and Calsher Dear and people like that. They'll be that much better for playing finals last year.
HOST: I've been snubbed as King of Moomba again.
PRIME MINISTER: Again?
HOST: Do you have any sway in this department? Can't you just pick up a phone and go, 'listen, Reece, you dickhead', make the call, get the job done.
PRIME MINISTER: I will speak to - it would help if I didn't start the conversation that way. Maybe if I start it with 'Your Worship' -
HOST: Diplomacy's not my strong suit.
PRIME MINISTER: I'll do what I can for next year. How about that?
HOST: Thank you for coming into our studio today. Consider Labor, which traditionally has been a stronghold, but cracks are showing you need to put in a bit of time in the great state of Victoria to keep what has been a pretty good fan base for you over the journey, so -
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we worked out as PM that I've been here something like 80 something times in under four years, so -
HOST: To watch the Hawks. Thank you for your time today, Prime Minister.