FIFI BOX, HOST: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Welcome back to Fifi, Fev & Nick.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. I was expecting you guys to sing it.
BOX: Well, we nearly had to because the computer melted for a moment.
NICK CODY, HOST: Fi and Josiah don't have synergy.
BOX: We do! Tell you what we do, we've got excitement. We're trying to do, obviously, a breakfast radio show. But like the rest of the country, Prime Minister, we are gripped by what's been happening in Paris in the swimming. Did you watch Mollie O’Callaghan and Ariarne get their gold and silver an hour and a half ago?
PRIME MINISTER: I have seen the replay. I didn't see it live.
BOX: No, you were allowed to sleep. You are allowed to sleep.
PRIME MINISTER: But it was, it was amazing, wasn't it? One and two. And Mollie, I guess, was the surprise packet here, but fantastic that she won the gold. And what a great relationship between the two of them. Ariarne showing what a champion she was, congratulating Mollie straight away. Just extraordinary. The two fastest swimmers in the world competing against each other in the 200 metres. But one of the reasons why I wanted to come on today was to make sure that I blocked some space from you guys talking to our Olympians, because the word around town is that it's not been very helpful.
BRENDAN FEVOLA, HOST: No, everything we've touched has turned to crap.
BOX: We interviewed Anabelle Smith and Harry Garside and we wish them all the best.
FEVOLA: And the Opals. I sent a message and they pooped the bed.
CODY: Fev’s sending out cursed hero faxes to everyone.
FEVOLA: Hey, Albo, do you call the gold medallists and say congratulations?
PRIME MINISTER: We do it sometimes. And we also, I look forward to welcoming the teams home. Both the Olympians and then the Paralympians. They both of them get home pretty early in the morning, first thing up in Sydney and in a couple of weeks’ time. Now, that's certainly in the diary. And that will be a fantastic event because they are doing us proud. Absolutely, each and every day, whether they win gold, silver or bronze, or just do their best, we're proud of every one of them.
FEVOLA: Yeah, they're all doing their best. Now, Mr. Prime Minister, what's your beef with Barnaby? What's going on here?
PRIME MINISTER: It's pretty weird. You might recall him a few years ago saying, if we did anything about climate change, Whyalla would be wiped off the map and there'd be all these terrible consequences. Well, now he's fronted up to a demo on Sunday in the Illawarra and done all these gun analogies about bullets and magazines and that myself and a couple of other Ministers would disappear. And I just think, given the range of events, including one very prominent one in the United States, but also the murder of British MPs, that we just need to tone down the language. And it's one thing to be obsessed about a solar panel or a wind farm, but Barnaby, I think, has a record of going a bit over the top and being loose, to say the least. But this is a guy who was Deputy Prime Minister not once, but twice.
FEVOLA: Does it scare you a bit, Albo? Because it scares me.
PRIME MINISTER: I've got to say, there's been over, the AFP reported, the Head to Senate Estimates recently, the AFP Commission has said there have been over 700 threats, a significant increase to Members of Parliament. And we’ve seen events there, there in Melbourne. We've seen, you know, fires lit outside Josh Burns’ office, where people actually live above the office there in St. Kilda. A dangerous, stupid thing to do. And we just need to be a little bit kinder and gentler in the way that we conduct our politics. We don't want to go down the American road, which has seen real polarisation and just people being angry all the time. People can have disagreements, but can we do it respectfully.
FEVOLA: Yeah. Well said.
BOX: Yes. Prime Minister, speaking of things and issues that are concerning, particularly Melbourne, and we've been talking about this on the show a lot over the last month or two, but youth crime, you'd be aware that in Victoria, it's just spiked and every day it's a different headline. Is that a concern at a federal level? Is there any, I guess, discussions in Parliament about how we can tackle youth crime, particularly in our state?
PRIME MINISTER: Certainly I'm conscious of the fact that this is an issue everywhere, nationally. It's not something that's a Victorian issue. And I think what we need to do is to have a proper analysis of why there has been a spike. You know, what is it? Is it frustration? What's the impact, I think, of social media has encouraged some activity, you know, people filming themselves committing what are crimes and posting them as a more recent and strange phenomenon. I've got to say, without sounding like a complete old fogey, it's sort of beyond my comprehension why someone would do that. But it has occurred, people geeing each other up. I think that police overwhelmingly do a fantastic job, but we need to work with our teachers, our community workers, work with the whole of society on this to make sure that people feel included in society, that people behave in a way that supports local communities, doesn't undermine that cohesion. I appointed Peter Khalil as part of the changes to the Ministry, I appointed him as a Special Envoy on Social Cohesion because I think for many communities, they feel as if the glue that binds us all together as a society is under a bit of pressure at the moment. And I know that's one of the things that Peter's going to be looking at.
BOX: Absolutely. Actually, Prime Minister, having you on the show, because we've been talking about this, and we were only saying yesterday we would love to do something and we're going to try to talk the Chief Commissioner, Shane Patton, into letting us get out on the streets with the cops. We want to get in the cars. Could we get an endorsement from you to pass on to Shane? Could you say, like, we're really –
CODY: Why do we always need a note from the PM!
PRIME MINISTER: Look, people such as yourselves, I know that you did something recently for young people who were participants in sport, but feeling like they weren't getting a fair crack, that's really important. It sends a message to the community and the role that you play. I know that you get out, out and about from your studio there because I've spoken to you when you've been out and about.
BOX: Yes, out in the suburbs, Albo.
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely, and that's a great thing because one of the things that's happening in society is that we used to have much more common experience. And now with the sort of rise of social media, with people being in their little pockets, if you like, so they get all their information just off each other, there's less things that are binding us together, which is why things like your program and people getting out there, people being role models, which is why things like team sport – one of the great things about your great state of Victoria is the way that people walk to the G or Marvel Stadium and people really participate in that common experience, I think far more than most other states. I think that is a much more collective experience than in Sydney, in my home city, where people might follow a whole range of different sports, rather than that AFL experience where you got to have a team.
BOX: Yes, you do. So, I'm taking from that that we're allowed to be cops. Thank you.
FEVOLA: He’s endorsed to be cops.
BOX: Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: No, no. I've endorsed you, to be very clear, to work with the police –
FEVOLA: Yes, I will do that.
PRIME MINISTER: And to ensure that you take their instructions as well.
NICK: Fev should just send the youth criminals a message of good luck like he's done with the Olympians, because it's ruined their good luck. Good luck with the home invasions, guys, and watch it all fall apart.
FEVOLA: Hey, Mr. Prime Minister, just, I know your time is very, very poor, but you've called in. Hey, just a quick one. Have you spoken to President Trump after his assassination attempt? And last question, what's your message to Barnaby?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, no, I haven't spoken to President Trump, but we publicly issued a statement, of course, wishing him well and expressing relief that what could have been quite catastrophic for him, but catastrophic for the United States as well. I think there would have been an extraordinary response had the assassin been successful in his objective. We don't know what the reason was. And to Barnaby, I just say, mate, get your act together or move on. People expect better of people in public life than what you have done across a range of issues. I've got to say, I'm not quite sure what this bloke's got to do to be moved on. I said yesterday that Peter Dutton had four reshuffles. He should have a fifth. And that's my view.
FEVOLA: Well, Albo goes bang. Well done.
PRIME MINISTER: Barnaby needs to be accountable for his actions.
CODY: Can't even blame the booze at the minute, he was sober.
PRIME MINISTER: And it was pretty early in the morning, too, I think.
FEVOLA. So, do you want to do a quick message to all our athletes over in Paris?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm going to reiterate wishing them well, and I've got to say that my success rate has been a bit better than you guys.
BOX: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Thank you for coming on the show.