HOST: Joining us now live, the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. Anthony Albanese. Welcome to the show.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: G’day. Happy Origin Day.
HOST: Yes, Big. It's a huge day. I mean, anyone who knows about pressure, I mean, Laurie Daley's under pressure, but you. Pressure is your middle name. Will you be out at the ground tonight, Albo?
PRIME MINISTER: It is. No, I'll be watching on the telly from here in Canberra. Parliament's sitting, unfortunately. So, I'll miss out, but I'll be cheering on. I'm inviting a couple of Queenslanders around as well.
HOST: Yeah, keep them close, mate.
HOST: Prime Minister, why would you be inviting Queenslanders? That’s the last sort of people you want at your house tonight.
HOST: Keep them close.
PRIME MINISTER: No, because you want to get into them when the Blues win.
HOST: Have you put on any bets with any of these Queenslanders that are infiltrating your party?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, no. One of the things that about Origin is it's the game itself. I don't think you need to put any bets. There's a lot at stake. It's pride and boasting capacity as well. So, I'm sure today in Parliament all the NSW people will be wearing blue ties.
HOST: Beautiful.
PRIME MINISTER: Or blue outfits for the women and similar for the maroons for the Queenslanders.
HOST: Prime Minister, if you see some maroons, I think you just send them home today.
HOST: Deport them.
HOST: We don't need yucky people around us.
PRIME MINISTER: Get rid of it. Deport them? Well, I do have that power, I guess.
HOST: You do.
HOST: Hey, we saw there was an announcement last.
PRIME MINISTER: No, it’s all in good spirit.
HOST: That's it, brother.
HOST: There was an announcement last night. Albo, it's always great when there is money in sport, especially in rugby league around the Rugby League World cup at the end of the year.
PRIME MINISTER: No, it's a ripper. We not only have the October long weekend to look forward to for the Grand Final to watch the Bunnies finally win since 2014.
HOST: Big call.
PRIME MINISTER: If we can keep Latrell on the field. But the Rugby League World cup will take place and it's going to be fantastic. The international game is going from strength to strength. We've got, of course, the Wahs are going really well this year.
HOST: Oh, yes.
PRIME MINISTER: And what we're doing is providing support so that countries like Samoa and Tonga can fully participate. And importantly, it's men's and women's. The women's game is just going gangbuster.
HOST: Incredible.
PRIME MINISTER: I watched the second Origin game was as good an Origin game as you could possibly see. And the Blues are 2 nil up, of course, in the women and the Rugby League World Cup. We're the hosts for both in terms of the defending champion. And there's going to be games in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Townsville, and of course the great city of Newcastle as well. And alongside games in PNG and New Zealand. So, it will extend the rugby league season even further and we're investing to provide some support for those teams for the NRL. So, it will be a great way to continue to back this great game after the NRL season ends. But importantly as well, we know that it can inspire young people to see their champions on the field. And we really want to and need to get kids off their devices and onto the footy fields or the tennis courts or the swimming pool. Doesn't matter what it is. We want young people to be playing sport. It's in their interests. It's in the interests of the health of the country, but the health of themselves as well.
HOST: Mr. Prime Minister, you've been a busy man and I don't know what's true anymore. And I can hide behind AI. Cause I can say, that's not me. That was AI. That's a photoshop. You Google your name, mate, and you are literally everywhere. There's AI photos and memes every. Have you seen some clever ones, though? Have you just. I know because I saw you recently made a comment saying at least they're using a good photo of you.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, I saw one of me doing the sort of exercises that I couldn't possibly do. I looked pretty good.
HOST: I think it was the Reformer Pilates one was pretty key.
HOST: I thought you looked good.
HOST: Yes.
PRIME MINISTER: So, it could be worse.
HOST: I’m just glad you’re not behind a microphone on a skinny little body.
HOST: What's that? We could, we could. I mean, look, it would save you a lot of time, Mr. Prime Minister. I mean, you can go. You don't really have to go to all the world Rugby League World cup games. You can just say you were there and you can just hide behind it.
PRIME MINISTER: Exactly. I'm sure there'll be pictures of me there, regardless. There you go.
HOST: Hey, I've got to ask this, mate. I've got to ask you. I'll be rude not to. We want to have a bet. We have a bet with everyone that comes on the show and we're not. We're not. We're not condoning gambling, but we're going to have a cheeky one. Once you had one with Karl Stefanovic and we lost the unlosable game last year. He got me by 9 nil, let's not talk about that. How about this? I've got this idea. I was talking to my family about it last night. They think it's great. Whoever wins out of NSW and Queensland, that state doesn't pay tax or no income tax for one year or just for one.
PRIME MINISTER: For one year. Well, I'm not sure that the Budget would satisfy -
HOST: That's right., We can just do a little curveball for a year.
HOST: We'll find it.
PRIME MINISTER: We do have a Treasurer from Queensland of course.
HOST: He's the only man under more pressure than you.
PRIME MINISTER: We've got an Assistant Treasurer from Victoria, so he's neutral.
HOST: There you go.
PRIME MINISTER: I'll have to get him on side.
HOST: We really thank you for joining us. You always take our call, mate. Good luck tonight.
HOST: We need a prediction from Prime Minister. We need a prediction. We need a score.
PRIME MINISTER: Blues by six. 16, 10.
HOST: 16, 10? I like it
PRIME MINISTER: Nathan Cleary, Man of the Match.
HOST: Oh, there he is.
HOST: Thank you very much, mate. We know you're a busy man but thank you for putting money back into rugby league and back into sport in general. And go the Blues, mate.
PRIME MINISTER: An investment in our young Australians. That's what it is. Go the Blues.