JO TRILLING, HOST: Anthony Albanese has just touched down in Perth. Welcome back to Drive, Prime Minister.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good to be here.
TRILLING: I think the sun was out for you. It's looking like the weather is greeting you. You have been here a number of times. I was trying to find out what number visit it is and I think it's been so many that none of you even can recall.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's my 22nd visit as Prime Minister since the election, just a bit over two years ago. I did say that I would be here ten times a year, because I had to look back at what I'd done as a Minister in the past and as a Shadow Minister and Labor Leader. And with the exception, of course, of the pandemic – that was a bit difficult to get into WA – I'd been here around about ten times every year for a long period of time now. And it's a good thing, of course, not just to Perth, but as Prime Minister, I visited Port Hedland, Karratha, Kalgoorlie, Albany, Bunbury, right around this great State of WA that's such a powerhouse for the national economy.
TRILLING: Indeed, you are getting to know it very well. Now, we have to start with the incredible success of West Aussies at the Olympics. How much have you been watching? Are you wishing you were over there?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, well, it's been fantastic to watch it. Of course, it's wonderful for those people who got to be there. I watched Keegan Palmer last night in the, I guess it was the rounds of the skateboarding, and was just stunned. He got 93 point something in his run and was way ahead and that was just him getting started. But of course, gold medals overnight as well in the sailing and the team in cycling. I watched a bit of the cycling last night, and the pole vaulting –
TRILLING: And we can't forget the pole vaulting, Nina Kennedy.
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely. Nina Kennedy. I mean, it's beyond my comprehension that anyone can do a pole vault, at all.
TRILLING: You and me both. You and me both.
PRIME MINISTER: I mean, let alone win a gold medal.
TRILLING: Launching yourself into the air. I mean, here in Perth on ABC Radio Perth, we've been speaking to everybody from her old sports instructor to her mum. In fact, we're trying to speak to Nina herself. Hopefully that'll happen a little later in the program. And you're welcoming back all the athletes next Wednesday, I understand. What's sort of planned for that?
PRIME MINISTER: I am. It'll be – they'll arrive back in Sydney at 7:00 a.m. So I'll be there to welcome all of these magnificent athletes back. I mean, the great thing about the Australians, and I spoke to a number of them in a FaceTime call just a couple of days ago, is that whether they've won a gold medal or won no medal at all and just done their best, they've done Australia proud. The enthusiasm that they had. And I think they've done something really positive for the country as well. They've brought excitement and a great deal of pride. And the good thing is that those people, young people in particular, who are watching or listening or following the Games, will be encouraged to go out there and participate in the whatever sport. Whether it's a team sport or an individual one, and perhaps get to go to LA or, of course, perform in our home Olympics in 2032 in Brisbane. But at a time where we need to, in my view, encourage people to get off their devices and get out into the open air and participate in whatever sport, it's a very good thing that these role models provide.
TRILLING: It's really inspiring, isn't it?
PRIME MINISTER: Really inspiring, absolutely. And the thing that's so important to remember about these athletes is that for so many of them, they don't earn a lot of money. They do it because of their love for their sport, but also their pride in representing Australia. And they certainly have done us proud over the last eleven days. It's pretty extraordinary that we are running third on the medal count. We've got 27 million people. That's less than 10 per cent of what the United States has and a lot less than that compared with China and India and most of the European – big European countries.
TRILLING: And WA punching above their weight, I have to say.
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, as always. You have to get that in. But WA, of course, has always been a centre for sports that has done so well historically. And once again, West Australians have more than pulled their weight and have done this State proud, but the whole nation proud as well.
TRILLING: The Prime Minister is my guest. I do need to move on to a few other things, though, Prime Minister. You have made an announcement about child care workers today, 15 per cent pay rise. When will they actually see that in their pocket?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is our gold medal announcement today. They're going to get a 10 per cent increase in December. That means over $100 increase in their pay, and then a further 5 per cent the following December. So, in total of more than $150 additional salary. On top of, of course, the normal increases that might happen with adjustments that are made through Fair Work Commission cases. So, this is really an interim decision. What it is about is, over the next two years, making sure there's that retention payment made. There's a Fair Work Commission hearing into work value, just as there has been for aged care workers. It is just a fact that these workers not only mind, of course, our children, but that's not really what they do. Of course. What they do is they educate them. And that's so important.
TRILLING: Prime Minister, I am going to interrupt you because, would you believe it, we've actually got Nina on the phone from Paris. Congratulations, Nina.
NINA KENNEDY, AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST: Good morning. Thanks.
TRILLING: How are you feeling? Have you had any sleep?
KENNEDY: I've had about an hour and that's pretty good. I'm quite, I'm proud of myself for that. So, yeah.
TRILLING: Nina Kennedy, I've got the Prime Minister on the line. I think he might want to say something to you.
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely. Congratulations, Nina. You have been absolutely awesome. What an incredible achievement. And the whole of Australia is proud of you, and we look forward to welcoming you home. So, I do hope you get some sleep soon. But basking in the glory that you deserve, because you’ve brought glory to the whole of your State, but importantly as well, the whole of the country.
TRILLING: Now, I have interrupted the Prime Minister's interview, Nina. So, we just have to quickly say congratulations. Did you think you would achieve that? How do you launch yourself almost five metres in the air and jump over that? Over that little pole?
KENNEDY: Yeah. No, you know, I think I've been pretty open about, you know, I wanted this gold medal and I kind of just went out after it last night and yeah, pole vault is not for the fainthearted, let's just say that.
TRILLING: When is the medal ceremony, Nina?
KENNEDY: It's tonight. So, very excited. Haven't got my medal yet.
TRILLING: Oh. We have been speaking to everybody here, from your former school principal to your former coach, your mum. There are so many. Your sister. I feel like the whole of Perth and WA have just been revelling in this incredible achievement.
KENNEDY: Oh, my gosh. I love that. I love being from WA. It feels like its own country, so. That's so nice. Thank you so much.
TRILLING: Well, enjoy the medal ceremony. We are so proud of you. I better let you go and go back to the Prime Minister. Nina Kennedy for you there, everybody. Sorry, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, no need to apologise for that. That was a great privilege. And I know that Nina's from the Perry Lakes Little Athletics. And that's the sort of thing, you know, someone, imagine her, you know, a decade ago, running around thinking about representing her country. And what we hope is that someone listening to that very interview might just go out and have a little extra run or engage in high jump, or, of course, in the extraordinarily difficult sport that she has chosen.
TRILLING: Now, I just wanted to ask you about another issue, Prime Minister. Those four illegal foreign fishing boats that were intercepted by Border Force on our northern coastline. We have now seen three of the boats destroyed, 13 men sent back with their vessel. Do we need a new approach as to how we protect our borders?
PRIME MINISTER: No, we're making sure that Operation Sovereign Borders is in place and from time to time, there will be illegal fishing operations. That's what this was. And it was discovered. It was worked through and dealt with. We have provided record funding for border protection. It's the highest it has ever been since Border Force was established in 2015. And we know that people will, we've got a very large coastline, of course. And from time to time, people will try to do illegal fishing. Illegal fishing is something that happens, of course, unfortunately, right around our region.
TRILLING: The local traditional owners are saying they could potentially do more.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, we'll continue, of course, we engage with local people. We do engage with local traditional owners and people in the community as well, because this is illegal. It is, in many cases one of the things we're worried about is things like shark finning and activity that is really bad for the environment. And I know that Tony Burke will continue as the new Minister to look at whatever can be done. But the fact that this was discovered and dealt with is a positive. And we do have that record funding available, but we do have a very large coastline, that’s the truth of the matter.
TRILLING: We do indeed, and a lot of it in our northwest. And what about working more closely with Indonesia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we are working very closely with Indonesia. One of the things that happened was that the new Minister was sworn in on Monday morning and was off to Indonesia that day, in Tony Burke. And I will welcome the Indonesian Defence Minister in the next fortnight, who is coming to Canberra, and he'll have meetings with my Cabinet. Of course, he is the President-elect who will take Office in a very short period of time. Now, in a matter of weeks. I will attend his inauguration. And the cooperation that we have with Indonesia is very strong indeed.
TRILLING: Prime Minister, very quickly, you've been very generous with your time. Two other quick issues. Will your Government ban gambling ads, which was recommended by that Parliamentary Inquiry that was led by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy?
TRILLING: Well, we're committed to minimising gambling harm. We continue to engage with stakeholders. We have, since we've come to Government, we've launched BetStop, which is a national self-exclusion register. We've banned the use of credit cards for online.
TRILLING: What about banning the ads?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've done a range of measures. We want to make sure that measures are effective and that they don't have unintended consequences. That's why you engage with stakeholders, which we have across the board.
TRILLING: And you have been asking them to sign non-disclosure agreements for those briefings. An interesting move.
PRIME MINISTER: No, that's what you do with legislation. That's how good government functions. By having proper consultation with people, which is entirely appropriate. I've met with a range of sporting organisations. I meet with – I've met with people like Tim Costello and others. I've met with the people on the Committee and will continue to engage, as will the entire Government. But we haven't waited. We have done more in action on these issues than any Government has ever done and we've done that in our first two years. Changing the very ineffective message which was there to ‘gamble responsibly.’ You will have noticed the very different messages which we give, that warn people that essentially the whole basis of the gambling industry is that people lose. And we make that very explicit and that is having an impact as well.
TRILLING: Just finally, Prime Minister, we've seen 7,000 resource sector jobs cut across nine companies here in WA. BHP closed its nickel operations and last week Albemarle announced it was closing. Yesterday MinRes announced a round of job cuts. We're also hearing whispers Arcadia Lithium may shut. Will your Government bring forward the $17.6 billion critical minerals production tax credit?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have legislation before the Parliament for a Future Made in Australia. Our thoughts are with the workers and their families who've been put in a position of losing their jobs due to changes in international markets. We want to make sure that we support the mineral industry here. That's why we have the production tax credits policy that is front and centre of our Budget.
TRILLING: Will you bring it forward though? I mean, there are companies saying they need it now.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, at the moment the Coalition have been out there opposing it. So, at the moment the Coalition, the Liberals, are saying they're against it. The Greens political party are saying they’re against it. So, we have to get support for this initiative. And I just find it astonishing that Peter Dutton was here for four days, met with the resources sector but couldn't support what's a fundamentally a critical policy to support critical minerals and jobs here in WA. Just like he's out there spooking the nuclear industry but couldn't be bothered going down to Collie and talking to the community where he wants to impose a nuclear reactor.
TRILLING: Prime Minister, good to talk to you and wonderful you got to talk to Nina Kennedy.
PRIME MINISTER: That was an absolute privilege. So, a very timely call in. Thank you very much.
TRILLING: See you. Enjoy your time in WA.
PRIME MINISTER: A great thing. Good on you.
TRILLING: The Prime Minister there.