SABRA LANE, HOST: The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, joins us now from Sydney. Prime Minister, good morning and welcome.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Good to be with you.
LANE: The Spanish Prime Minister says Israel's explanation of what's happened is insufficient and unacceptable. Do you share those thoughts?
PRIME MINISTER: I certainly do. We need a full, transparent and clear explanation for how this occurred. People would have seen the footage of the vehicle that was hit in this strike by an Israeli missile that clearly is identified as being from the World Central Kitchen. These vehicles were going about carrying the best of humanity, people who'd come from all over the world to help Palestinians who are suffering from extraordinary deprivation in Gaza. And for them to lose their life in these circumstances is outrageous and completely unacceptable. Humanitarian workers are protected under international law. And the Netanyahu Government must publish a full and transparent investigation. And they must be held accountable.
LANE: Israel says a preliminary investigation says it's a case of misidentification. But IDF sources have told Israeli media it happened because commanders disobeyed orders. Have you had further contact from Israel about exactly what's happened?
PRIME MINISTER: I had a discussion with Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday morning where he accepted the responsibility on behalf of the Israeli Government for this tragedy. But we need to know exactly how this occurred. One of the things that Israel says is that it is protecting people's lives, innocent people. Well, this stands in stark contrast as well as, of course, the many incidents affecting not just people who've come from overseas to provide aid, but, of course, Palestinians themselves, where we've seen extraordinary loss of life in Gaza. And for Israel to be continuing to assert that it will have a ground invasion of Rafah has led to the international community expressing our extreme concern, leading to the United Nations Security Council making the extraordinary resolution that they did just a week ago that was, of course, not vetoed by the United States.
LANE: Zomi Frankcom’s family says that they'd support a war crimes investigation. The Australian Muslim Advocacy Network says that you should be advocating for an International Criminal Court investigation now, saying that Israel cannot investigate itself. Will you do that?
PRIME MINISTER: We will take advice on an appropriate way forward. We await a full and transparent explanation, firstly from Israel, about what has occurred here and the circumstances. I certainly understand that Zomi's family have been devastated by this news. I spoke to Zomi's family, her brother, the day before yesterday after this tragedy occurred. And they're very proud of what Zomi was contributing through her life. It was about making humanity better. And for her to lose her life with this devastating impact, not just of Zomi, of course. She was one of seven aid workers. But in addition to that, the drivers, the Palestinian man who was driving the car. To lose their life in this way is completely unacceptable. And we do need a full investigation and proper accountability. Now, Prime Minister Netanyahu has assured me on behalf of the Australian Government that would occur. And we need to ensure that the Israeli Government is held to account for the commitments that they've made.
LANE: You're giving a speech to a small business conference in Sydney this morning and telling them that cost of living relief for families and small business will be a priority in next month's Budget. The Government delivered bill relief with energy prices last year with state governments. Can people expect that same level of relief this year?
PRIME MINISTER: We delivered relief in a way that assisted five million Australians and assisted small businesses. And that had a positive impact not just on them, but also on lowering inflation. So, we are going through our Budget processes at the moment, through the Expenditure Review Committee. Our priority has been cost of living relief. That's why we intervened to ensure that every Australian taxpayer will get a tax cut. But we're also looking at what we can do to provide further cost of living relief without putting pressure on inflation.
LANE: But should people expect maybe the same level of relief or should their expectations not be so high?
PRIME MINISTER: We're examining what we can do in the context of the Budget, making sure as well that we do put that downward pressure on inflation. We are seeing some positive signs. We've seen inflation moderating, we're seeing real wages increase, we're seeing continued economic growth, unemployment at just 3.7 per cent. So, there are some positive signs there. But we understand, as well, that some people are doing it tough and that we need to always, what a Labor Government will do, is always look at ways in which we can provide support for people. And that's the process we're going through at the moment. Our cost of living relief priorities included our energy price relief plan last year. And that did have a positive impact. We, of course, will be talking with State and Territory governments as well. But we want to provide support for individuals, but also particularly for small business.
LANE: You made a promise before the 2022 election that Australians would get $275 in savings in power bills by 2025. Will this Budget deliver on that? And it's a promise that you made after the Ukraine War had started.
PRIME MINISTER: We know that the world has had the biggest energy price shock in 50 years. That was something that wasn't anticipated. Now, the war, ongoing war on Ukraine, as a result of Russia's illegal invasion and breaching of international law has been one of the factors that has fed into that. That's one of the things that governments right around the world have been dealing with. We have been dealing with it. If you look at the latest Australian Energy Market Operator default market offer, that was much, much lower than what was occurring last year. So, there are some positive signs, but we know that there's more work to do.
LANE: You're opening a new mega interstate terminal at Moorebank in Western Sydney today. In the past, some critics feared that this would be a white elephant. Why does it matter to the rest of Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, this is one of the most important infrastructure projects that Australia has seen. It's something that arose from recommendations from Infrastructure Australia when I was the Infrastructure Minister. And some were cynical about it. But what it's done with the duplication of the Southern Sydney freight line is open up an interstate terminal which will be the largest intermodal in Australia. This is important about how we build a resilient, efficient and sustainable national supply chain. This first interstate train that will arrive there today signals a new era for rail in Australia. And why that matters is that it lifts productivity, it boosts jobs, particularly in Western Sydney. The terminal will save around 3,000 truck journeys a day on Sydney's roads. It will be Australia's first major metropolitan, independent interstate terminal. It operates under an open access arrangement, so it's not controlled by a single existing entity. And that means that there'll be major efficiency. It will help the movement of rail freight between our cities and our regions. It will drive efficiency and competition and economic growth. This is a very exciting development. And in addition to that, the whole project is being run on renewable energy, saving around about 110,000 tonnes of carbon emissions every year.
LANE: All right, Prime Minister, we're out of time. Thanks for joining us this morning.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Sabra.