GEOFF HUTCHISON, HOST: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Welcome to the studio.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good to be here.
HUTCHISON: David Rowe drawing in the FIN Review. Have a look at that. Had you and Katy Gallagher and Jim Chalmers desperately sandbagging the economy ahead of next week's budget, what is your most pressing concern?
PRIME MINISTER: The fiscal situation and the uncertain economic environment which we are in. We know that these are turbulent times. You have inflationary pressure, which is global. You've seen the most concerted and uniform tightening in monetary policy by central banks around the world, and that's having an impact on people's cost of living. And it's really cost of living pressures where the pressure is there as a result of the economy. So what we have to do is navigate a pretty narrow path really, of trying to alleviate that real financial pressure which people are under, without having further pressure on inflation, because that would be counterproductive.
HUTCHISON: So what can you control?
PRIME MINISTER: What you can control is making sure that your investments that you make feed through to the productive side of the economy. So that's what we're concentrating on. So you won't see big cash handouts, for example. What you'll see though, is support for childcare, making it cheaper, that will boost productivity, boost women's workforce participation. You'll see the announcements that we made just a week ago in advance of the budget, about increases in paid parental leave, all of our election commitments being fulfilled. Today I was in Albany, talking about the $2.4 billion of boost for fiber-based National Broadband Network. That's an example of an investment that produces a return because it makes businesses more productive. It makes people be able to have the decentralisation that people want. So living in a place like Albany, but being able to participate in the whole national economy and indeed the global economy. So concentrating the investments in areas that will boost that economic growth of the future, if you like,
HUTCHISON: This is radio Perth, my guest this afternoon is Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. And these are tumultuous times. Prime Minister, what do you think you've learned or are learning about yourself and the role of Prime Minister since assuming office?
PRIME MINISTER: You have to deal with things that are immediately in front of you every day. I'm very glad that I've been in Parliament for a considerable period of time. I have benefited from being leader of the government in the House of Representatives for that six year period. And I've had obviously too long, from my perspective, to think about what we did right, what we could do better were we to return to government. And so I think in the first period of a government and we celebrate five months in office tomorrow, what you can do is set the tone. Give an indication to the Australian people of what sort of government you want to be and how you're going to govern. And I've attempted to do that. I've attempted to be collegiate. I want a proper Cabinet functioning government where I'm not telling Ministers what to do. It's not operating from the Prime Minister's office. Ministers are doing their job. I have an extraordinary team with incredible capacity. At the end of the day, the Cabinet makes decisions, so we come together collectively to make those decisions.
HUTCHISON: What’s been hard?
PRIME MINISTER: I think, dealing with immediate issues. I think it's really hard. In the last week, I've visited communities in Forbes and Parks, in New South Wales, in Bendigo and Rochester, where one gentleman tragically lost his life in these floods. I visited Tasmania just yesterday and looked at the floods in northern Tasmania, dealing with that real impact of real people who are going through really tough times.
HUTCHISON: ABC radio Perth. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is my guest on the drive program. I'd like to turn to just a couple of big picture things. At what point, Prime Minister, indeed, will there be a point where Australia is asked to provide Ukraine with something beyond bushmaster armoured vehicles?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have been asked to do more and we have provided more in terms of drone technology, in terms of some other support.
HUTCHISON: I understand the implication of them, my question I guess, is do you ever wonder, given the European situation, given the China-Taiwan situation, do you ever think that you might have to be the Prime Minister to send Australian personnel into harm's way?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I don't think that will eventuate. I visited Kyiv myself, of course, and met with President Zelenskyy. I was very conscious about the dangerous circumstances which are there. You can't not be. I visited buildings that were very close to the centre of the city that had been subject to missile attacks and we've seen further attacks by both missiles and drones.
HUTCHISON: You don't necessarily see an escalation of that around borders or anything?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't see that Australia would have a role for personnel on the ground there. I think that the support that we can give and are giving is practical, is appreciated and is making a difference.
HUTCHISON: Because we are then talking hypothetically, do you think such a decision should be made by Prime Minister and Cabinet, or do you think the Australian Parliament should play a role? You've been in that Parliament at many different times when these kind of determinations have been made. Is it a role for Parliament to at least have a voice?
PRIME MINISTER: I think certainly it should be debated in the Parliament, but I think at the end of the day, it's a decision for government. It's a decision, because if you break from that process, it is government that have access to intelligence briefings, to the decision making processes, and it's a responsibility that we have. But I certainly think that people should be able to voice their view and Parliament should be able to discuss these issues. But at the end of the day, I believe it is a decision for government.
HUTCHISON: Prime Minister, every political leader in Australia is acting as if the pandemic is withdrawing further into that rear vision mirror. We hope it is, but what if it's not?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I think that both myself but all of the state and territory leaders are very conscious that Covid is not over. We're conscious as well that there might be further strains. And that's why, when we've made the decisions that we have made, I think they are in line with where the community wants us to be. But they're also based upon health advice from the Chief Medical Officer, who came and has spoken at, I think, every one of the National Cabinet meetings that we've had. But we need to be vigilant. This is not an issue where we can say, job done, and just move on.
HUTCHISON: When you think about what the next few months might represent, and goodness knows, there are so many things to consider there. Weather circumstances around Australia, ongoing global challenges, the possibility that an unknown variant turns up somewhere and here we go again. Is that figuring in the thinking and planning about what those months might look like?
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely it is, and we're very conscious about that. I think that Australians want though to as much as possible, to be able to go to work, to be able to watch the footy, for students to be able to go to school and go to university or go to TAFE. They do want that, but they also want to keep each other safe. That's where what you've seen over a period of time is a transition to concentrating on protecting the vulnerable. So the restrictions on people working in those areas, such as aged care and disability care, are still very much there. But certainly I think that Australians quite enjoyed the fact that people were at the MCG or they were at Optus Stadium or they were at various events, they're being able to go to concerts, go to their school. I think that one of the things we have to bear in mind with all of this, the consequences of the Pandemic and the restrictions that were there as well on people's mental health, on their capacity to engage with each other. We're social beings and I've got a 21 year old son who didn't go onto university campus for two years. That's a big impact on a young person and he's pretty well come through it. He seems to be fine. But for many people, that will present real challenges for them as well.
HUTCHISON: What's the greatest personal challenge you face.
PRIME MINISTER: Time, the fact that there's only 24 hours in a day. There are enormous pressures on my time. This is my 6th visit to Western Australia since I've been Prime Minister in under five months. The international demands are quite substantial in terms of this week. I hosted the Singaporean Prime Minister at the Lodge and in meetings and came to, we had a green economy agreement signed between Australia and Singapore on Monday.
HUTCHISON: And Telethon and a meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister this weekend
PRIME MINISTER: I'm hosting the Japanese Prime Minister here on Saturday.
HUTCHISON: Is it fair to say, Prime Minister, not for me to put words in your mouth, that you like this place more than any other in Australia. Remembering, of course, that the people of WA delivered that 10% swing that won you office.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I do love Western Australia. I came here in 1983 for the first time. I drove across the Nullaboor with a couple of friends and spent six weeks here. I had Christmas Day in 1983 on Rottnest Island and I got to the first time I went to Albany was back then and travelled around, particularly the southwest corner. And I do like WA, I like the people, I like the culture here. I have many friends here and it has been nice to get a warm welcome.
HUTCHISON: Prime Minister, thank you very much for your time today.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much and all the best.