PAUL CULLIVER, HOST: Today the new Labor Government will hold Federal Cabinet here in Gladstone. Anthony Albanese is the Prime Minister of Australia. Good morning to you.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Thanks for having me on the program.

CULLIVER: Worth noting the ALP does not hold a seat in regional Queensland outside the southeast corner. Did that inform your decision to come to Gladstone today?

Australia’s low-paid workers will be better off because the Albanese Labor Government fought to get them a pay rise.

During the election campaign, we promised to put in a new submission to the Fair Work Commission’s annual wage review to argue that people on low wages should not go backwards. We delivered on that promise in our first fortnight in office.

Today, the Fair Work Commission has delivered a 5.2 per cent rise in the minimum wage, slightly above headline inflation.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much for joining us. And it's fantastic to be here in Gladstone at our first Regional Cabinet meeting right here in Central Queensland. And it has been terrific to bring the entire team here to Gladstone. I want to be a Prime Minister who represents the entire country, our cities, our regions, our rural communities. And I want to make sure as well that we listen to Australians wherever they live, whoever they voted for. We will be a Government that represents the entire nation.

PATRICIA KARVELAS, HOST: The Government will today formally pledge to the United Nations its commitment to cut carbon emissions by 43 per cent by 2030. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joins us now. Good morning, Prime Minister.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Patricia. Good to be with you. And good that Warwick asked me the first question, which is that I was there in 1971 to see Souths beat St George on the SCG Hill.

KARVELAS: I know you were.

PRIME MINISTER: Had to get that in, Patricia.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, good morning. Today, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy and I have written to the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Ms Patricia Espinosa, to convey Australia's enhanced 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement. This is done.

The Australian Government is committed to taking more ambitious action on climate change.

Today, the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese and the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen conveyed Australia’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement to the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

MADELEINE MORRIS, HOST: As we have been discussing, state premiers and chief ministers are in Canberra this morning, as they join Anthony Albanese at his first National Cabinet meeting since the election with a very big agenda focusing on healthcare, cost of living and of course energy. We do have the Prime Minister joining us from his office in Parliament House. Good morning, Prime Minister. How was dinner?

AMANDA KELLER, HOST: Well, what a few weeks our next guest has had. Six weeks on the campaign trail, got COVID halfway through, wins an election, becomes Prime Minister of Australia, jets off to Japan to meet the likes of Joe Biden, comes back home, moves home, gets caught in his PJs, swears in a new Government, moves house, jets off to Indonesia. Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Hello.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. It has been a bit busy, hasn't it?

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Thank you very much for joining us. And I'm delighted to welcome Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, to be meeting with her here in Sydney today. And we had a wonderful dinner together last night and got to see Vivid across our beautiful harbour. And I can't think of anything better than the first foreign leader to welcome to Australian shores being our friend from New Zealand, and my personal friend from New Zealand as well.

I am delighted to welcome New Zealand Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon Jacinda Ardern, to Australia and to meet with her in Sydney today.

Australia and New Zealand share a uniquely close relationship. It is a relationship of whanau—of family. That’s why it’s fitting that Prime Minister Ardern is the first foreign leader I’ve met with as Prime Minister on Australian soil.

We are countries with common culture and values, shared interests and outlooks.