ANDREW CLENNELL, HOST: Prime Minister, thanks for joining us.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Greetings to Australia from Thailand.
CLENNELL: So I just saw some footage of President Xi come up to you, shake your hand, have a few words towards the end of that APEC summit. What did he have to say?
PRIME MINISTER: We just exchanged pleasantries at the end of the meeting and said it was good to have the dialogue that we had this week.
CLENNELL: What was it like meeting Xi?
PRIME MINISTER: I thought it was very positive. I have said before these summits that dialogue is always a good thing. In order to understand, particularly when you have differences with people, you've got to have dialogue in order to have that understanding. And it was very constructive. It was much more positive than was anticipated.
CLENNELL: Did he promise to look at any of the things, because you spelled out a range of grievances, if I could put that word on it, that Australia has with the Chinese Government. Did he give you any sort of hope or inkling that he might act on any of those? Or did he just sit and listen?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I think the positive statement from President Xi was that he emphasised that he wanted a better relationship with Australia. So when it comes, for example, to trade, it is in Australia's interest to export our wine, our meat, our seafood, our wonderful products, our mineral resources. But it's in China's interest to receive them as well. This isn't a charity case we're asking for here. This is, do you want these products that are in demand in China to be traded? It's in their interest to do it. It's in Australia's interest as well. And I'm very hopeful that what we can see now is some positive steps forward.
CLENNELL: And what did you make of the Trudeau-Xi confrontation?
PRIME MINISTER: I wasn't there. I've seen reporting of it. From time to time, people will have disagreements. I deal with people, I had a very positive meeting with President Xi. I had a lot of positive discussion with Prime Minister Trudeau as well, who I know very well now we've got to know each other.
CLENNELL: So, Jacinda Ardern going to China but you weren’t invited to, should we read anything into that at all?
PRIME MINISTER: No, Jacinda Ardern, that was anticipated that that would happen. What has occurred and the context of the Australian-China relationship is very different. There'd been no contact since 2016. And over the previous term of the government there hadn't been so much as a phone conversation. So what we're seeing is the foreign ministers meet, the defence ministers meet and now the leaders meet. And I also, of course, had a discussion with Premier Li.
CLENNELL: Do you think President Xi might use his influence on Vladimir Putin to end the Ukraine war? Or that’s just too much of a forlorn hope for us?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I put that position, that China is in a position, given that they have the special relationship that they signed up to with Russia, to indicate that it is really having an impact on the world, it's having an impact on the global economy, but also, of course, it's having an impact on the people of Ukraine. The people of Ukraine are courageously standing up for their national sovereignty. I was able to meet with the Foreign Minister while I was overseas and pledge Australia's ongoing support, which has been bipartisan. Because the struggle of the people of Ukraine is about the United Nations Charter. It's about whether a big country will invade a smaller country and have no regard for its sovereignty. But it hasn't worked out as President Putin thought it would. The people of Ukraine continue to fight courageously. And quite frankly, they're an inspiration for the world.
CLENNELL: Were you concerned at all that there seems some concern about AUKUS from Emmanuel Macron but also, perhaps, also the Philippines? The leader, Marcos, was caught on camera sort of saying there was some security concerns around the place. Why do we need these nuclear submarines? Why are you so committed to them? And do you acknowledge some countries are concerned about them?
PRIME MINISTER: What we need to do is to explain our position. I certainly did that with President Marcos. He just wanted to know more about the relations. I spoke to him about AUKUS and the Quad. Both of those forums and engagements are very important for Australia. It shouldn't be of any surprise that we've entered into an arrangement with our most important ally, the United States, and our most significant historical ally, the United Kingdom. And what that's about is improving the national security for each of those three nation states. But also recognising that by cooperating, by sharing technology, we can improve our collective security for our great democracies.
CLENNELL: Now I know we have to get on the plane, just a couple of quick questions. The German Chancellor spoke to you about astronomical gas prices they’ve experienced. Are you looking at a cap on gas prices in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: We're having a look at a range of options which are there. I'll be briefed when I get back to Australia. More work was being done in the last week. We've said that we'll look to make an announcement before Christmas and we intend to do that.
CLENNELL: And on the IR bill, there's been some employers, including Qantas, jumping up and down at home while you've been here. Do you think you'll get that through this year? Might you put on extra sitting days to try to get it through?
PRIME MINISTER: We might well have to sit extra days and that's fine. I don't mind the Parliament sitting at all. That's what we're paid to do. So if the Senate needs extra time to give consideration to any matters before it, then I'd welcome that. We need to make sure that we do lift wages. It’s something that I said consistently before the election. We know that we've done that through the Fair Work Commission making a decision around the minimum wage. We've done that for aged care workers. But we need to have an industrial relations system that is fit for purpose, that's in the interests of both workers but also employers. And that's the balance we're trying to meet. We've sat down constructively with employers over many weeks now, and we've sat down with unions as well. I know that there's some disagreement from employers, there's some disagreement from some unions. That to me says we're getting the balance right.
CLENNELL: Prime Minister, thanks so much for your time.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Andrew.