MONTE IRVINE, HOST: I have Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese on the line. Good morning, Prime Minister, how are you this morning?
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Monte. I'm very well, very much looking forward to visiting Tamworth this morning.
IRVINE: Absolutely. Now, this is this is your fifth Bush Summit, obviously as Leader of the Opposition, and now as Prime Minister. What have you seen in the, in the last four and now coming up to the fifth one, as being some of the major issues facing the Bush?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think, the changing climate. Today, we'll be having discussions, no doubt, about prospects of drought. Whereas in parts of New South Wales, of course, the North Coast, the Riverina, we've been dealing with flood in recent times. So that's been a real debate where farmers and others in these regional communities have spoken about the impact of a changing climate and how we need to adapt. The other thing that is happening increasingly, is that with the move to the Bush, from people from the cities, particularly post pandemic, people have seen the real benefit of living in a smaller city or regional town. And that of course, places pressure on infrastructure, on service delivery, so that will be a focus as well for people who are living in growing towns like Tamworth, and Armidale, and Mudgee and other parts of regional New South Wales - no doubt, that will be a focus as well. But I think it's a really positive initiative these Bush Summits. That's why I've attended every single one, there in Dubbo, and Cooma, and Griffith and now we're in New England.
IRVINE: Prime Minister, you mentioned drought and one of the big things that he's being announced today is that a $38 million drought package is going to be rolled out to help with drought resilient crops.
PRIME MINISTER: That's right. It's really important that we examine the best way to deal with the changing climate, and also to look at new and emerging agricultural practices which can build drought resilience. And that's what this $38 million will do, an investment for half a dozen programs to really see look at the long term evidence which is there, and to try to accelerate the adoption of best practice across the agricultural sector. It's something that the National Farmers Federation and other farmers organisations, of course, are very conscious of, and farmers themselves. So we want to, where you have success in some regions and some particular farms are because of a different way of doing things, then if that can be replicated, then that's obviously a good thing.
IRVINE: Prime Minister, yesterday we saw some very robust discussion and debate in Parliament regarding the 60 day dispensing and helping people with medicines and prescriptions. We saw the opposition trying to even block the proposition going forward, they're now saying that they're going to try and block it again in September. Has the opposition bought into the scare campaign of the Pharmacy Guild?
PRIME MINISTER: The opposition have led a scare campaign. This is about cheaper medicines for your listeners. Common sense tells you that if a recommendation has come forward, which it has since 2018, now for five years there's been a recommendation sitting on the books saying there's no reason why if you have regular medicine needed for a permanent condition, something like heart disease, or other conditions in which you have to take a drug, then if you can get it for 60 days rather than 30 that halves your costs, it halves the number of times you're having to go to the doctor to get a script, it is really a common sense change. Now, not a single dollar of this saving is going to the Commonwealth. Every single dollar that is saved from the Commonwealth is going back into, particularly into, regional and remote community pharmacy. And so this is a common sense reform. I find it astonishing, frankly, that the opposition tried to block it. The crossbenchers certainly did not support this move, so it failed to take effect yesterday. And now, we know that this change will happen. And will come in, the first phase of it, in September. The Government has got a sensible plan, which is the first phase in September, then another next March, then another next September, so that it isn't a sudden change. It's something that's built in over that 18 month period with lots of notice. We want to continue to work with pharmacists to make sure that their businesses can continue to be successful, but we have cost of living pressures out there. And my government is doing what we can to take pressure off cost of living while, of course, doing our best to beat inflation as well. This is a classic example of something that will help consumers but will also make a difference when it comes to inflation.
IRVINE: Prime Minister, you speak of the cost of living pressures. One of the major ones that we're seeing, of course, is power and power bills. And one of those discussion items that we have here is energy transition, moving to renewable energies within our region. Here in the New England, we have some massive wind farms and solar farms, however the Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce, seems to be quite reluctant to see that continue, putting forward nuclear energy, wanting to continue with the coal and the gas energy. Do you find that rather, I suppose if you like, confusing that the Member from New England is against it, but he has some of the biggest farms in the New South Wales region?
PRIME MINISTER: I do. And it's also a fact that the New England region was declared a renewable energy zone by the Liberal-National Government in New South Wales. Dominic Perrottet’s government did enormous work there. It was opposed by Barnaby Joyce, opposing what his own political party was doing as part of that government. We do need to respond to climate change, but we also need to take up the opportunity that's there for a growth in jobs that will come from renewable energy, that renewable energy is the cheapest form of new energy. That's why the Perrottet Government went down this track. That's why my government is also supporting business that is investing in the future. And Barnaby Joyce, I think, for reasons of his own, has determined to run scare campaigns on this as well. We need to get much better at consultation about these issues. And that's something that was acknowledged just this week, and changes brought in. But this can provide an enormous opportunity for New England. We want to do what we can to assist farmers and I must say, later today as well, I'll be visiting a barley farm there and they will benefit enormously from what we have been able to achieve in having China remove the duties on Australian barley. This is an export industry that was worth $916 million in 2019. Now the removal of this impediment is very good news for Australian farmers but particularly for the ones there in New England. Barley is one of the great products that Australia produces. And it's a good thing for China it must be said as well because they'll get the best barley in the world that will enable them to make better beer.
IRVINE: And that's always a good thing. Prime Minister, one last question right off politics. The Bunnies, not doing so great in the latter half of the season. How confident are you that they're going to be there in the final eight for the finals?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm pretty confident. If you look at our draw going forward, we've got St. George, I think they're playing in Cairns this weekend. They played in Perth last week, they didn't have a great first half last week, that's the truth. But I think when we get our best team on the field, with Latrell at the back there, a great product of Taree, we can, I think, go all the way. We've got the fantastic back line, and a great forward line, and an amazing spine there with Cam Murray, Cookie, and Latrell, and with Cody Walker. He showed the whole of Australia what he could do when they finally put him in the team for State of Origin and he brought the third game home for New South Wales.
IRVINE: Absolutely. Prime Minister, I know you're incredibly busy. Again, thank you so much for taking the time to have a discussion with me this morning. I really appreciate it. Enjoy your time in Tamworth and have a great weekend.
PRIME MINISTER: My pleasure, have a lovely day.