DAN TAYLOR, HOST: We're in the studio with the 31st Prime Minister of Australia. Please join us, the Honourable Anthony Albanese, welcome. Good to have you back.
CHRISTIE HAYES, HOST: Good morning, Prime Minister.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: A big clap there.
TAYLOR: Welcome back.
PRIME MINISTER: Wonderful to be here, back in the studio again.
TAYLOR: How are you feeling?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm feeling really good. I'm feeling excited to be getting into 2024 and travelling around to all of the states and territories. Parliament doesn't go back until February, but it's been fantastic to be in Adelaide yesterday as well as Hobart and to get the opportunity to just chat with people and it's a great time of the year.
HAYES: How is 2024 looking so far, Prime Minister? I know we're only eighteen days in, but just everything that's been going on at the moment, particularly being on air this morning with us to talk about the cost of living and seeing the profits from the major conglomerates of the big supermarket chains. We did a family shop the other day. We're a family of four, my husband and our two kids. For the fortnight I think it was $555 of just trying to stock up the fridge and things like that. So times are so tough, aren't they?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, they are. And we need to make sure that some of the cheaper prices that supermarkets are paying to farmers for goods coming through are passed on to the consumers. And it is a real concern. That's why the ACCC are looking at that. And we've assigned Dr Craig Emerson to have a look at whether, at the moment there's a voluntary code of conduct, essentially, that the supermarkets engage in. We're having a look at whether there's a need to mandate that, because I think people feel quite rightly, that they deserve cheaper prices when they get to the checkout. And that's our priority to do that, as well as other, dealing with other cost of living pressures. We've got announcements that we've made this week in the different states and territories, including Tasmania and Victoria, about putting solar panels and renewable energy into public housing to reduce those energy bills that will make a difference. So, we have considerable funding right across all the states and territories. We've got cheaper childcare, cheaper medicines rolling out. Urgent Care Clinics around the country are making a difference so people can see a doctor for that urgent care with just their Medicare card, don't need their credit card. But we're looking at other measures as well. What more can we do? And make announcements in the lead up to the May budget to take that pressure off cost of living without putting pressure on inflation. That's the key, and it's a tricky situation. You don't want to add to inflation because it is heading in the right direction. The last figures, 4.9 down to 4.3 is good, but we need to make it even better.
TAYLOR: And what is the government kind of considering for adjustments to maybe minimum wage to kind of keep pace with the increasing cost of living?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, there'll be another hearing. At the moment, the government's considering what our submission will be on the minimum wage. You've seen real wage increases in the last two hearings of the Fair Work Commission for people on the minimum wage, and that has had a good impact for people there. But we've also had measures like a fifteen per cent increase on top of that for people who work in aged care. Now, that was the recommendation of the Aged Care Royal Commission. That's cost a lot of money to the budget, but it's the right thing to do so that the people who are looking after our elderly, the people who've helped build this country, can have an appropriate workforce and can get a decent wage for the service that they provide. So, we have seen real wages increase for the last two quarters across the economy for the first time in a very long while. The former government had low wages, basically as a key design feature of their economic policy. We think that we want an economy that works for people, not people working for an economy, and that's a really important distinction.
HAYES: I do like that. And, Prime Minister, you mentioned the childcare differences at the moment, or the increases and different sort of things now the government want to do, which is great news for especially working parents and it’s school holidays at the moment. What sort of changes do you think we can see in that department? What's the idea?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've got cheaper childcare came in in July last year. It meant that prices went down instead of up across the economy for childcare - but we know there's more to do as well. The Productivity Commission had a look and made recommendations that the government's considering about how we move to a more universal provision of affordable childcare. And there are various models around the world that work more effectively than our system. The other thing we have to do is to make sure that we have a workforce. Part of that is wages and part of that is training and skilling people up. I was at a TAFE this week as well that is training early educators. That's an important job, we trust with our little ones.
HAYES: Isn’t it? It's hard enough when they're your own kids, Prime Minister. Like, it's such an insane job for early childhood educators and what they do with our kids.
PRIME MINISTER: And they don't do it for the money. Speaking to so many of the workers, they do it because they like looking after our young ones. They like the fact that they're giving them an early start in life an education. But they shouldn't be penalised for their commitment to our youngest Australians. They should be paid more, and we know that that's something that is important to attract people. But also one of the big beneficiaries in sectors for our fee free TAFE has been early childhood workers, and I met some of them in Hobart when I was there at the TAFE as well.
TAYLOR: And I want to know too, because obviously, being the leader of the country, who bears a responsibility for steering the nation of change progress, who was your favourite Prime Minister in your time?
PRIME MINISTER: Probably Hawkie, really, because he was –
HAYES: That’s what Dan said.
TAYLOR: I said that too.
PRIME MINISTER: Hawkie was someone who was a bit of a mentor as well when he left, when I was coming up. I was elected a long time ago now, in 1996 and I used to go and visit Bob. But I talk to all of the former Prime Ministers, Labor and Liberal, I talk with from time to time. They'll contact me and I think it's important out of respect for the office, I'm available for them. But I do miss having Bob around, I've got to say, because he was such a larrikin and he used to go every year as well, up to Woodford, the folk festival up in Queensland ad I used to go too, and there'd be a dinner every year as well that was pretty loose.
HAYES: Sounds about right.
PRIME MINISTER: Hawkie would sing regularly.
HAYES: And ukulele at that.
PRIME MINISTER: And it was just such good fun. And I know that he was such a legend and he won four elections, an amazing achievement.
HAYES: And just quickly, Prime Minister, before we let you go this morning. Speaking of celebrations, because I'm Indigenous, I'm an Aboriginal, and it's a big thing about Australia Day celebrations. It's a big conversation amongst us in Australia. Is there viability or how are we looking about keeping the discussion going with changing the date of Australia Day that we celebrate?
PRIME MINISTER: People will have the discussion, you can't stop that. And people will have different views and I respect it. And it's a difficult day for Indigenous Australians. From my perspective, the day is important to acknowledge. There are three phases of our history, of course. One is the 65,000 years, which should be such a source of pride that we live with the oldest continuous culture on earth. The second phase is after the 26 January, of course, is commemorating the start of the colony in NSW. And that's an important part of Australia's history as well, that we acknowledge. What I think is important is that on, and then of course, you have the more recent phase with multiculturalism here in Australia as well. What I think is important, and I certainly see it happen in my local community as well as now, the national commemorations that take place in Canberra that I'll be a part of, is there's an acknowledgement of that history, the fullness of our history as well. So, I think that's a way in which, from my perspective, there's more discussion about the fullness of our history around that time than there is at any other time. So, I think that's a positive thing because quite clearly there's a need for truth telling about our history. So, I'll be celebrating Australia Day as the nation's Prime Minister. We'll have the Australian of the Year Awards and all of that, announcements. I don't get to know in advance, so it's always a fantastic night. And last year, the Senior Australian of the Year was Tom Calma, who's an amazing Indigenous man who's made such a difference as a professor, as an intellectual historian but also an activist, and he was, I think, a fantastic choice. But as well, of course, we have fantastic Australians of the Year. Taryn Brumfitt has raised awareness about body image and those issues as well. She's done a great job this year. And the year before, of course, was Dylan Alcott.
HAYES: He's fantastic isn’t he?
TAYLOR: Big fan.
PRIME MINISTER: He's such an amazing guy and he's become, I think, just an Australian icon. He is pretty good on the tennis court, but he's doing amazing things off the tennis court as well.
TAYLOR: And so are you, mate. You do everything with empathy, kindness and respect, and we thank you so much. It's an honour and privilege to have you in the studio with us, 31st Prime Minister of Australia. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Mr. Honourable Anthony Albanese. Thanks for joining us this morning.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much. Always great to chat, particularly in the studio.