NAT LOCKE, HOST: Welcome to the studio the Prime Minister of our fair country, Anthony Albanese. Welcome back.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good to be here. Nice intro music. The anthem, how about that?
SHAUN MCMANUS, HOST: It is. Standing to attention for you, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Except you're not actually standing.
SHAUN: I should have. I do apologise.
NATHAN MORRIS, HOST: Well I'll stand for you because you promised that you were going to be coming back after the election win and you have kept your word. How many times is this now?
PRIME MINISTER: I have, ten times. Ten times as Prime Minister.
NAT: Ten times. People are going to start to talk.
SHAUN: He left his keys here.
PRIME MINISTER: I love Perth.
NATHAN: I want to start by thanking you from the community for marching in the Pride Parade. I think that was amazing. And the fact that you are the only Prime Minister to have done it just shows the way that you look at the community, and also really surprises me that that never happened before.
SHAUN: That's a surprise yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: I've got to say that there are worse things to do than walking down Oxford Street and being cheered by 200,000 people. I don't know why someone hadn't done it beforehand.
NAT: A bit of criticism for your grey shirt.
NATHAN: Your outfit.
NAT: Don't own a sequin, what's going on?
NATHAN: That was not a gay-friendly outfit.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what it's about, of course.
NATHAN: Tell me, tell me, talk to me.
PRIME MINISTER: Is being who you are.
NATHAN: I know. But we could have cut the bum cheeks out of your pants.
PRIME MINISTER: No one wanted to see that, my friend, no one.
NAT: I reckon there'd be a few.
PRIME MINISTER: I got asked a lot about, 'What are you going to wear?' And it's like, I'm gonna wear my clothes that I normally wear, because it's about respecting people for who they are.
SHAUN: Yes that's true.
NATHAN: You know what, that would have been a bit of a conversation, wouldn't it? What are you going to wear? Because like, for you, anything can like shoot back up in your face, you know?
PRIME MINISTER: So I just did that. And then on Sunday, the Pride Walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge was just extraordinary. It's the second time I've done it. The first time was for reconciliation, you know, more than 20 years ago. And so there were 50,000 people, and there was such a good feeling. People were so positive. And it says something about how people feel, the discrimination that's still there for a lot of people, particularly young people coming to terms with who they are and dealing with those issues that come, that people were so grateful. All these people coming out and saying, 'Thank you for being here'. It's like, it's fine. It's not a big effort. But it made a difference and it made me feel really good.
SHAUN: That's a great decision.
NATHAN: It made a lot of people feel good.
SHAUN: Another thing that probably will make you feel good is when you go to the fourth test tomorrow in India, as we know you're going there.
PRIME MINISTER: There's a lot of pressure on because myself and Prime Minister Modi are tossing the coin.
NAT: How do two people toss one coin? How is that going to work?
PRIME MINISTER: I have no idea how it's going to work. But he's the home Prime Minister, so I think he will be in charge.
NAT: Yeah, and the stadium's named after him.
PRIME MINISTER: The stadium is the Narendra Modi Stadium. It fits 133,000 people. It's bigger than the MCG. And Optus here's pretty good, but think about that.
NAT: So it's twice the size of Optus.
PRIME MINISTER: It's twice the size of Optus.
SHAUN: You did say there is a lot of pressure on because last time there was a big-noted person in town, that was Donald Trump, and he spoke at the 2020 test. We've got a bit of him speaking, you don't want to stuff this up. Here we go, here's Donald Trump, the great, well I won't say great man.
NATHAN: He's a man.
DONALD TRUMP: This is the country where your people cheer on some of the world's greatest cricket players, from Sachin Tendulkar to Virat Kohli.
SHAUN: Sachin Tendulkar, you would never get that one wrong.
NAT: You're ahead of that surely.
PRIME MINISTER: It's a wonder he got out of the country.
NAT: I know, imagine not knowing Sachin Tendulkar.
NATHAN: I was reading that they are going to lay it on thick as well because they get very excited when a world leader comes. So for that, I'm just wondering, you go to so many functions and stuff where there would be catering and all that sort of stuff. So say if you're in India and they're going to provide you with a lunch and it might be a set menu. Have you ever like had your head blown off by how spicy food is or something from a local place?
PRIME MINISTER: The great thing about being an Australian is we eat all sorts of food, we eat spicy food. I like hot food.
SHAUN: We're traditionally Butter Chicken type of people which is not that spicy.
NATHAN: But once you get real culture spices, you know, it can blow your head off.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I spent in 1991, I spent six weeks backpacking around India, and that is when you get the real deal. When you're getting street food.
NAT: So were you staying in hostels and everything?
PRIME MINISTER: I was staying in really cheap places.
NAT: Oh, Albo.
PRIME MINISTER: There's a whole lot of old rundown palaces as well that you can stay in for like five bucks equivalent, and we were catching trains, we were hitching. It was awesome. People are so friendly. It is such a different culture.
NAT: It's an amazing place to visit.
PRIME MINISTER: I enjoyed it so much. I went back a few years ago. I was there but as part of a parliamentary delegation in 2018. And that is a very different experience. It'll be a bit different this time. I don't think I'll be wandering around in Connaught Place in the middle of New Delhi, being harassed to buy stuff. I think it'll be a little bit more protected, I suspect.
SHAUN: Hey Albo, we just talked about food. Just for a second, just a quick one. My mate wanted to ask you, 'You got to ask the Prime Minister, how Italian is he? Does he make his own sausages?'
PRIME MINISTER: No.
SHAUN: Because that's the limit. That's where he judges.
PRIME MINISTER: No, I don't make my own sausages.
NATHAN: Why not? That'd be a really great photo-op for you.
SHAUN: It's very traditional as we know.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, it is indeed. A few years ago, there was someone who had a little business in my electorate called The Sausage Queen. And she said, 'I'm going to make a sausage for the election campaign', there's an Albo beer, and she said, 'We're going to make a sausage and call it Albo sausage'. And I said, that's probably not a great idea if you think about it for a millisecond. So it was changed to the Albo Democracy Sausage.
NAT: OK, that's much better, that's much better. Prime Minister, we're going to get you to hang around. We've got to get to a traffic break, we've got more with Anthony Albanese shortly.
NAT: Nathan, Nat and Shaun. We've got the Prime Minister in the house. It is International Women's Day, of course, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Yes it is.
NAT: Unlike Tony Abbott, you haven't appointed yourself the Minister for Women?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I have not done that. And in fact, I lead the first government ever with a majority of women as part of the government, 54 out of 103.
NAT: Wow, that's amazing.
NATHAN: That's great.
PRIME MINISTER: Which is pretty awesome. And it just means you're more representative. It's no accident that you have that at the same time, the government, we've got cheaper childcare, paid parental leave we're extending, all the recommendations of the Respect At Work report, ten days paid domestic and family violence leave. We're doing all of these things, some of which are there already, ten days family violence leave kicked in in February. We've got 500 additional community service workers. We've got social housing being, 30,000, there's legislation before the Parliament, at the moment, the other side aren't supporting it, but hopefully it'll get through, which will have 4,000 of those homes reserved for women and children escaping domestic violence. Really important. And International Women's Day is a very good thing. I'm sorry I'm not there in Parliament. But I know that Penny Wong and Katy Gallagher and Tanya Plibersek and Amanda Rishworth and all the fantastic women. Well, I'm taking Madeleine King with me to India, as the Resources Minister, but it is so good that we have a Government that's actually representative of the population.
NATHAN: What amazes me is for years and years and years, and this is like history, it was a bunch of men making decisions.
NAT: They didn't even have toilets for women in Parliament back in the day.
NATHAN: It's crazy that we've come to here.
NAT: And so the first woman, she had to go home to go to the toilet once she was elected. Isn't that extraordinary? We've come a long way.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, well in 1983 was the first time that a woman had been elected to the House of Representatives from New South Wales. So we went 83 years of the biggest state sending only men.
NAT: It's amazing, isn't it? We've come a long way, which is great.
NATHAN: We always see this story pop up, and it happens all the time, and I just wonder if you can clarify for us the thinking because we don't get it. Now it's got to do with New South Wales' Dominic Perrottet wanting our GST and thinking we don't deserve the GST that we get.
NAT: He wants to tear up the agreement, exactly.
NATHAN: Let alone the fact that we get less than everybody else. Are we not getting something? Because we're going, wait, what you want is fundamentally unfair, but we don't get it, but everyone that's on that side of the country acts like we don't get why it's fair that we, you know?
SHAUN: It's just drumming up support for your state.
PRIME MINISTER: State parochialism, who knew? But I make this point to the premiers on the East Coast when it's raised, that if it wasn't for WA during the pandemic, our economy would be in a far worse state. Due to Mark McGowan, he made the courageous decision and WA people made sacrifices, couldn't see family during that time if they happened to be from the East Coast, and it kept the economy going. And WA continues to be a powerhouse. And I think, I was talking with some business leaders last night, there is no doubt that when you think about what are the things that will drive the economy in the future, lithium, nickel, all the things that WA has, like iron ore has been such a driving force behind the national economy, WA deserves its fair share, and under my Government it will continue to get it.
SHAUN: It's been good so far, Albo, I will say that. But at the moment, the whole economy of Australia is, every article you read is on the brink right? But let's just talk about the fact that interest rates are going up continually. There's a few more to come, which is hurting everybody. Electricity prices around Australia have been no good. Gas has been an issue over the East Coast for a long time. These are things you talked about, and you said you kept your promise by doing other things that you've already mentioned, which are great. But these things have not been tackled in a way that they're easing the pain on any household around Australia. So how's that going to change?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we're doing is trying to put pressure on to bring inflation down. And the good news about the Reserve Bank statement yesterday is that they believe that inflation has peaked in the December quarter and will go down, which will mean less pressure on interest rates. But what we've had is a global circumstance where arising are two things. The pandemic meant there were all these supply chain shortages, which put upward pressure on inflation globally, and then the Russian invasion of Ukraine saw this massive spike. So overseas, our inflation rate is a problem here, but overseas it's been far worse in Western Europe, the United States, everywhere else. We're not immune from that and part of the upside, if there is one, has been increased revenue from resources, because the costs of fuel and coal and gas has gone up so much, so there has been an increase in revenue. But we recognise that people are doing it tough. And that's why we've got cheaper medicines came in on January 1, cheaper childcare on July 1, fee-free TAFE, last time I was here in West Perth, I was at a TAFE, 18,000 fee-free places making a difference. And that's why we've got our energy price relief plan as well, $1.5 billion dollars, giving back to people around the country.
SHAUN: Is it really affecting, though, the people at the moment in a positive way? I don't know, because you don't hear that much?
PRIME MINISTER: People are doing it tough.
SHAUN: And you know what, you know, can I just say, what you said about the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine, I think most people get that, and putting the pressure on the economy.
NATHAN: I've got a theory that I don't think any of the prices are ever going to come back down, because they've now realised that people can pay this much.
SHAUN: No, I agree with what you're saying too, Nathan. But when you became Prime Minister, you said you will do this, this and that.
NAT: To address the cost of living you mean?
SHAUN: Yeah, to address the cost of living. It doesn't seem like that's happened at all, mate.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've done all the things that we said we would do, like cheaper medicines, cheaper childcare, we've done all that. But we can't control the entire global economy by ourselves.
NATHAN: Can you try?
PRIME MINISTER: We are trying!
NATHAN: Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: But one of the things that we're doing, as well, is just being straight with people. Like, we're not immune from what happens in the globe. So when the Russian invasion of Ukraine happened, I was talking to the German Chancellor about the price of gas going up from about $9.70, and some of the prices they were asking were $30, $35. Now we put a cap on it of $12. In Europe, they were paying over 100 euros in some areas. So a massive increase. So relatively, we've been protected. But we haven't been immune from it. And WA have benefited from the reservation policy that was brought in by the Carpenter Government. It just shows, you know, government action can make a difference, and the actions of the Carpenter Labor Government all those years ago have meant that WA has been relatively better off, less impacted than others.
NAT: Yeah that's to do with gas prices isn't it?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah that's right.
SHAUN: It's amazing that Australians on the East Coast don't have that, we're so rich.
NAT: We are very lucky.
PRIME MINISTER: Which is a real error.
SHAUN: Yeah it is, big time.
NAT: The other thing that's worth noting is a lot of people think that you are in control of interest rates. Now the RBA, they're a completely separate entity.
PRIME MINISTER: Very independent.
NAT: Philip Lowe is the most powerful man in the country, no offence. Would you say that?
PRIME MINISTER: No, well, he and his board, to be fair, I wouldn't put it all on, poor Philip Lowe has pointed out, 'It's not just me, there's a board.' And they make decisions, and they do need to control inflation. But it's an independent decision that they make. Interest rates started to increase under the former government before the election, and they said before the election that there would be a range of increases. The words that were used yesterday are better than they have been previously.
NAT: How come banks can pass on the interest rate increases on mortgages, etc, but they're not adding them on savings?
PRIME MINISTER: Well it's an outrage. It's just an outrage.
NAT: So why can't they be enforced? What are the powers there?
PRIME MINISTER: Well what we can do is, well, we don't have power to do that. What we do have power to do is to put pressure on them. And I'll use this opportunity to again say to the banks.
NAT: It is outrageous, it's just profiteering.
SHAUN: It is horrible.
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely unfair. If you are putting up interest rates on mortgages, the money that you're handing out, you should also be putting up the interest rates on the money you receive in order to lend out. And that's just commonsense, and the banks for too long have been very slow.
NATHAN: Just make a law, just make a law. Like you know what I mean, the Prime Minister, use your power?
SHAUN: The only issue with that is, I say it often, we get angry about it, but we're also benefiting because of we're all invested in superannuation.
NATHAN: Yeah, I get that but it's the daily grind. And right now it's like, you know, and all these plans in place.
NAT: And people are having to dip into their super to pay their mortgages.
NATHAN: And like I said, I'm a full believer on I do not think any of the prices that have gone up now will come down.
PRIME MINISTER: Except that one did.
NATHAN: Which one?
PRIME MINISTER: Medicines. It did. That is something we could control.
NATHAN: Yeah I know and every time I reach for my Panadol Rapid I thank you.
NAT: We know that you've got a plane full of journalists waiting for you to go, you're all headed to India in mere minutes.
NATHAN: So much fun.
PRIME MINISTER: Off to India. And 25 leading business people are going. The CEO of Wesfarmers from here, and Fortescue and the chair of BHP, Rio Tinto, they're all on their way.
NAT: India is a massive market.
NATHAN: Are you sitting with all, do you have a little space, a little cubicle you can go in and hide? Or are you sitting with them the entire flight?
PRIME MINISTER: I have to have a little bit of space.
NATHAN: OK, so you don't sit in the toilet do you?
NAT: The Prime Ministerial toilet.
PRIME MINISTER: No, I do have a little bit of space. But it will be a great trip and India is going to be, India and Indonesia. This is where WA is positioned so well. They're going to be the third and fourth largest economies in the world, and they're positioned right on your doorstep.
NATHAN: Before we let you go, we just wanted to remind you that you invited us over for dinner.
NAT: At The Lodge, remember?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, and where have you been?
NATHAN: And we haven't heard anything so you know.
SHAUN: We didn't know if it was one of those, 'Oh yeah, yeah come over anytime' type of scenarios. Can we actually come over for dinner?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course you can.
MCMANUS: No true?
PRIME MINISTER: BYO.
SHAUN: Can you shake his hand Nathan?
NATHAN: We're going to BYO.
SHAUN: It's going to be a handshake deal Nathan. Done, it's a handshake deal.
NATHAN: Is it a bring a plate situation or are you going to cater? Because I can bring Mum's bacon savouries.
PRIME MINISTER: No, we'll cater.
NAT: OK, hello. We're on here. Can we stay the night? Like is there, how many spare rooms do you have?
PRIME MINISTER: No, no, you can't stay.
NAT: We've got to find accommodation.
PRIME MINISTER: We've got to draw the line somewhere.
SHAUN: Yeah you do. We're getting too close
NATHAN: He won't know, we'll stay in the yard.
PRIME MINISTER: Come over on a Friday, you finish early. You don't work on Saturday?
NAT: No.
PRIME MINISTER: Come over on a Friday.
NAT: We'll tear one up. We'll have a big weekend in Canberra.
SHAUN: Who do you follow? Are you Bulldogs, Rabbitohs, where are ya?
PRIME MINISTER: Rabbitohs, geez.
NAT: Who do you following in the AFL?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, Hawthorn. Sorry about that.
SHAUN: They're gonna finish last this year. I mean you had your time, but they're going to finish last.
PRIME MINISTER: We had some good years though.
NATHAN: And what's your favourite Married At First Sight couple? No I'm joking.
SHAUN: Don't go there.
NAT: I'm dying to know.
PRIME MINISTER: I've watched it a couple of times, I've gotta say, under sufferance.
SHAUN: Hey mate, enough said.
PRIME MINISTER: They don't sort of like each other a lot.
NATHAN: No, it's like they're not on there for a real reason. It’s so weird.
SHAUN: Weird.
NAT: Thank you so much Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Great to be here.
NAT: Happy days in India.
PRIME MINISTER: Indeed.