PETE CURULLI, HOST: Great to have you back at the studio, Prime Minister.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Great to be here with a bit of Blur as the intro.
CURULLI: We know it's one of your favourites.
PRIME MINISTER: It is indeed. It's always guaranteed to get people up and dancing and it's such a happy song.
KYMBA CAHILL, HOST: Isn't it. Look out, we've put something in his water. No, I’m only kidding.
CURULLI: Are you all right?
PRIME MINISTER: Went down the wrong way.
CAHILL: Have a drink, don't worry.
PRIME MINISTER: Went down the wrong way.
CAHILL: But congratulations to you and Jodie on your recent engagement.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you so much. It’s very exciting. We haven't seen much of each other since, unfortunately. I’m over here in Perth.
CAHILL: Oh, look, grab a water, take your time. There's nothing worse than losing your voice. I'm sure it was a bit of a, like, we're engaged, we're all celebrating and then I've got business to do.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it was because it was a secret. I managed to keep it pretty tight. And so Jodie was off for work the next night so we didn't see each other then. And since then I've been in the Central Coast of NSW, and Newcastle, and then Nowra and then here.
CAHILL: Are you a traditional man? Did you get down on one knee? How did the proposal go down?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not going into that level of detail because I think that a gentleman should not explain all of the detail. That was between us.
CAHILL: What do you mean? It's meant to be on Instagram and someone's meant to film it from the hill. That's what you're meant to do.
PRIME MINISTER: I refuse to do that. I know some people do do that. We did put out a post the next morning, on Thursday morning, so it's been a week, actually today.
CAHILL: Nice.
PRIME MINISTER: No, tomorrow.
CURULLI: Did you have to tell, because obviously it's going to just blow through news throughout the entire country, you being the Prime Minister. So did you have to get your team ready with that information or did you just do it? You just went, this is my moment. We're doing this.
PRIME MINISTER: I just did it. It was about me and Jodie and I did a selfie that my social media dude, who's here with us, was quite impressed. I got good marks for the selfie that I showed him the next morning when I went into the office and broke the news. But it was something that was very personal for me, so I didn't want people there filming or anything else. And what if she didn't say yes too? That would have been bad.
CURULLI: That would have been awkward.
PRIME MINISTER: To say the least. But we did it up on one of the balconies on the Lodge on the first floor. So, we went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant and had a quiet dinner, went back to the Lodge and then Jodie was doing Feb Fast, as was I in solidarity. And so I got out a bottle of champers and said, ‘oh, we should have a drink, I've organised for us to have a drink on the balcony’.
CAHILL: Just a bit of Spumante, a bit of Passion Pop.
PRIME MINISTER: Bit of Ben Ean Moselle or something. No, it was a bit better than that. And so popped the question and she said yes. And then she was shocked that I'd managed to organise, I think one of the great achievements as Prime Minister I've done is to manage to go off and get an engagement ring, and help to design it, and do all that without anyone knowing. That was –
CAHILL: Not easy.
PRIME MINISTER: That was pretty good. I'm sure my protection detail were wondering why I was going into this place on multiple occasions.
CURULLI: Now, of course you've got to start planning a wedding and there's a lot to plan.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've got to be in the same place to have a chat about it first.
CURULLI: Yeah, of course. Well, look, can I help you with one suggestion? Just one.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I've had a few suggestions, so you're welcome to add it to the list.
CURULLI: Thank you, I appreciate that. Did you know our Kymba here is a marriage celebrant?
PRIME MINISTER: I didn’t.
CAHILL: I am, I am. I could marry you.
PRIME MINISTER: I didn't.
CAHILL: I could marry you and Jodie.
CURULLI: And she'll do it for free.
PRIME MINISTER: For free?
CURULLI: She’ll do it for free.
CAHILL: I’m a legitimate, authorised celebrant.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's a bargain. You can't get better than that.
CAHILL: That's a great deal.
CURULLI: So, you don't have to pay for it. The taxpayer doesn't have to pay for it.
PRIME MINISTER: The taxpayer won't be paying for anything, let's be clear about that.
CAHILL: I'd happily marry you both.
PRIME MINISTER: There you go. I'll add that, I'll make a note of that.
CAHILL: I'll even travel to wherever you are.
PRIME MINISTER: Even travel. There are some people suggesting we should just duck off and do it and come back and say it's done. But I love weddings. Yeah, I love weddings. I've been bagged for going for weddings recently, but they're just a great celebration of love between two people in front of family and friends.
CAHILL: And the people you love.
PRIME MINISTER: It's terrific. Exactly.
CAHILL: Nice.
CURULLI: Now, what are you doing here? What are you in town for?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I've been doing a fair bit. We had a meeting on Sunday. I met all these retail workers in the heat at Hyde Park.
CURULLI: Were you in that suit?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I certainly wasn't. I was in a little t-shirt and trousers there.
CAHILL: There's a water park there. You could have gotten around in your boardies.
PRIME MINISTER: It looks like a pretty cool water park, I've got to say. My son's 23 and I regret the fact that water parks have got much better since he got beyond that age. They look like great fun, and the one there looks fantastic. But I was meeting retail workers talking about our tax cuts and how they will benefit from them because a whole lot of retail workers, of course, earn under $45,000 a year and they would have got nothing - so we did that. Yesterday I was at TAFE Thornlie talking about our fee-free TAFE. And then we had a full Cabinet meeting yesterday. And last night I went to a Lunar New Year event at Crown for Chinese New Year. Sam Lim, who's a fantastic guy, the Member for Tangney, speaks ten languages, former police officer of the year here in WA and former Dolphin trainer, believe it or not.
CURULLI: Hang on a second.
PRIME MINISTER: I don't know how they fit together, but that’s Sam Lim. Speaks ten languages. He's an -
CURULLI: Including dolphin.
PRIME MINISTER: Eleven if you count dolphin.
CAHILL: I've had dolphin trainer on my resume for years. No one questions it.
PRIME MINISTER: So, he says, ‘oh, we're going to have, can you come to a dinner for Chinese New Year?’ And I thought, ‘oh, yeah, I'll be in that, that'll be 100 people’. 950 people later of Sam's closest friends there in the big ballroom there at Crown. But it was a fantastic night. It was a great joy. And today we've got an announcement with the Premier about social and affordable housing being built here in Perth. The beginning, a big development, 200 homes for people here in Perth as part of our increasing housing supply and increasing, importantly, social housing supply.
CAHILL: We certainly need it, don't we? We need it. In fact we know that time is ticking. You don't have a lot of time because you got so many meetings to do. So, we've packaged a few things together that we thought you'd play a little pop quiz with us.
PRIME MINISTER: The last time we talked about Twisties. We've got that covered.
CAHILL: We've got that covered. We think these are great ideas to help with the Australian living crisis. We just need you to say yes or no to whether you agree that they are great ideas. They're not necessarily your policies.
PRIME MINISTER: Not necessarily ones we're going to do.
CAHILL: They're not your policies, we're not locking you in. We're just saying -
PRIME MINISTER: That's good, because Jim Chalmers is in town and I don't want to get in trouble off the Treasurer for committing spending without going through proper processes.
CAHILL: No. Yes. Yes or no to whether you think they're great ideas. Idea number one, putting a freeze on international interstate investors purchasing investment homes.
PRIME MINISTER: Interstate investors.
CAHILL: Interstate and international investors purchasing investment homes. Is it a great idea, putting a freeze on it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I reckon putting a freeze on people from the other parts of Australia in WA is a bit rough.
CAHILL: Oh, really?
CURULLI: So is it a yes or a no?
PRIME MINISTER: It’s a no
CAHILL: It’s a no. Okay, well, here's another great idea. A government-run supermarket that has fair fixed prices on grocery staples.
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, yes, that's a good idea.
CAHILL: Okay.
PRIME MINISTER: There we go.
CURULLI: The last time we spoke about this, we even floated at being called Albo's. So, mate, I'm happy to run it.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what could go wrong?
CURULLI: We'll find out, I guess.
CAHILL: Okay, our final great idea. Installing a giant shade sail between Australia and the sun.
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, great idea.
CAHILL: Yeah. Because we feel that, right now –
PRIME MINISTER: If you had solar on the -
CAHILL: On the shade sale.
PRIME MINISTER: On the shade sale, because that could then power the country.
CAHILL: I like where it's going.
PRIME MINISTER: That's vision. That's vision that is.
CURULLI: That is one final thing, because I felt like you got away with this without actually answering the question. Kymba as the celebrant to your wedding? Yes or no?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll take it on notice, as they say at question time.
CAHILL: That is the lowest commitment from a politician we've ever had.
PRIME MINISTER: I have to consult. I'm just one half of this couple. And if you'd met Jodie, she's someone of big ideas and very determined. And she was catching up with some of her mates over the weekend. So, probably it's all organised and I just don't know about it yet.
CAHILL: True. You’re only one half.
CURULLI: Prime Minister, great to have you over here. It's always a pleasure to catch up with you. Thanks for joining us today.
PRIME MINISTER: Fantastic. Thanks for having us in the studio again.