CLINTON MAYNARD, HOST: Well finally the Reserve Bank Board has made a decision to cut interest rates. This is the first reduction in the official cash rate Since November of 2020, when we were in the pandemic. The cut is from 4.35 per cent to 4.1 per cent. Now, this is good news for the Prime Minister. He may well be dancing right at the moment. Anthony Albanese joins me. Mr. Prime Minister, you must be happy.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think that Australians will welcome this news, millions of them. It's a rate relief that Australians need and that they deserve. We know there's more work to do, that people are still under pressure, but that's why my government's focus will continue to be on helping Australians with the cost of living, while continuing to make sure that we deal with that inflationary pressure which is there.
MAYNARD: But PM, why has it taken this long? In the United States, they started cutting rates, the Federal Reserve, five months ago. Even in New Zealand, it was six months ago. It's taken a long time for this to come. Why so long?
PRIME MINISTER: You do know it's still higher in those -
MAYNARD: Yes, it is. They were coming off a higher base as well.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, so inflation peaked higher and earlier than in Australia. And what we haven't had, and you mentioned New Zealand. New Zealand's in a deep recession as we speak, with rising unemployment. They've had inflation that was higher than where it was here and interest rates that went higher as well. Here, what we've managed to do is we have inflation going down, we have employment being strong with the lowest unemployment rate on average than any government in the last fifty years. Importantly, wages increasing and now interest rates falling today. Yes, for the first time. But that is a very welcome statement by the Reserve Bank today.
MAYNARD: But Michele Bullock, the Reserve Bank Governor, she has said at this point she is still not satisfied of where inflation is, that effectively it's still too high. So, your government policies are a part of creating that environment for lower inflation. You need to do some more on this, don't you?
PRIME MINISTER: We'll continue to work, but headline inflation's at 2.4 per cent. It had 6 in front of it when we were elected.
MAYNARD: It was coming off the back of the COVID pandemic, though PM.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, that's true. That's true. But we inherited also an anticipated $78 billion deficit and we turned that into a $22 billion surplus in one year, and then followed that up with another surplus. We have had inflation going down at the same time as wages have been going up and at the same time as employment has been maintained. Now we have the interest rates falling and that is welcome.
MAYNARD: No doubt the interest rate decision today is going to be welcomed by everybody. But I am getting messages from some self-funded retirees and also pensioners who are pointing to the fact this doesn't help us and they're still battling a cost of living problem. The fact is that, that our standard of living has suffered a massive collapse. When you look at other OECD countries, our standard of living is not what it was prior to the last election.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, when you look at OECD countries, they have all suffered from what is global inflation, every one of them. And in some places, in the United Kingdom it hit double digits, and in so many places it did that. So what we had have here is accepting that there are pressures - that's why we've acted on cost of living. But what we've done is act on cost of living in a way that is responsible, that has helped to assist with getting those inflation figures down, while providing support for people.
MAYNARD: Can I just read you a couple of messages that I have from some of our listeners? And you know cost of living is the biggest issue in the lead up to the election.
PRIME MINISTER: Of course it is. Of course it is. And that's why we have delivered on cheaper medicines. That's why we've delivered on increases in payments including for rental assistance at 45 per cent. That's why we've delivered, be it, free TAFE, cheaper child care and a tax cut for every single taxpayer, not just some.
MAYNARD: And PM, I'm glad you mentioned renters there because Michelle, one of our listeners, she says, ‘I'm a renter, my rent went up by $250 in just a year, it's increased by another $30, my shopping bill's up, my electricity bill's up, my gas is up’. Julie says, ‘A block of cheese is now almost $11 - how can we vote for the government again when our supermarket prices are so high?’
PRIME MINISTER: I understand that people are doing it tough and that the inflationary pressures that are there are putting pressure on families. That's why we've acted. That's why we've brought inflation down. That hasn't happened by accident, it's happened due to the hard work of Australians. And getting that headline figured down to 2.4 per cent, you know, it was 6 per cent and rising when we came into office. Interest rates started to rise before the last election. What we've managed to do is to work hard to ensure that people weren't left behind, that there is a landing point that doesn't just discard people, that looks after people, and that's what we've tried to do. But this has been a global phenomenon that we have seen. But there's nowhere in the world in terms of Australia's figures, with those employment figures combined with inflation coming down, now interest rates falling as of today - they are all signs of progress. We know that there's more work to do and we'll continue to do that.
MAYNARD: Your Treasurer, Jim Chalmers today has said that the Expenditure Review Committee has been meeting today. Are you going to introduce, for instance, another energy rebate? Maybe a repeat of the $275 you announced in the last budget?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we make announcements during budgets. That's why we have ERC meetings. We had one yesterday as well, by the way, and one last week and one the week before -
MAYNARD: But this would be, this would be the perfect time, PM, to announce it. We've just had great news from the RBA. People are dancing in the streets. They'd love to hear you announce another rebate.
PRIME MINISTER: On 2GB in the afternoon - I will give that a pass. What we'll do is we put together all of our budget proposals, but it will be a budget which continues to see that responsible economic management that has defined my government. It's an orderly government. The chaos that we inherited has gone. I can assure you and your listeners that I haven't appointed myself as also being the Treasurer –
MAYNARD: But to be fair with the chaos, and you know, we know what Mr. Morrison did with the ministries. But he did go through a period, and Labor was very supportive of many of the policies of the former Coalition Government. A period where there was no instruction manual of how to handle a pandemic. And yes, that led to inflation, that's led to the results of interest rates. But no one knew what they were doing during that time.
PRIME MINISTER: That is true, it was a difficult time to govern, but I tell you what Mr. Morrison benefited from. It was an opposition that was responsible. It said, even where we disagreed with some policies, such as taking money out of super, we said we wouldn't allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good. And we supported the government during that difficult time. And that stands in stark contrast to Mr. Dutton, who's opposed all of the cost of living measures. You can't say <audio cuts out> -
MAYNARD: I think we just lost the Prime Minister –
PRIME MINISTER: Cheaper medicines, the tax cuts, everything else, which is what Mr. Dutton has done.
MAYNARD: A couple of last questions for you, PM. You need to call an election, obviously. It is due in mid-May. Are you now tempted to put off a budget in March? Delay that and go and see the Governor-General this weekend or the following weekend?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we're preparing for a budget and indeed the election. If it's a dual house election, of course it has to be by May. There is the option, of course, of having a Senate election and then the House of Reps election in September, but that's not something I'm considering. So the election will be on May 17th or beforehand.
MAYNARD: So you're preparing a budget so you can confirm that there will be a budget handed down on the 25th of March?
PRIME MINISTER: We are preparing a budget. There certainly will be a budget this year and, you know, we'll make decisions, I'll talk to colleagues. At the moment I'm heading to the Sydney Secondary College Presentation Day of schools in my electorate at the moment is where I'm headed.
MAYNARD: Just a couple of final questions on some other issues. There has been a video released of the Australian who was fighting with Ukrainian forces, Oscar Jenkins. Have you had any information from the Department of Foreign Affairs if that video is legitimate and what his status is at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we understand, the advice that I've received is that that is a real video. We continue to make representations, including to Russia, asking for Mr. Jenkins to be released, reminding them of the obligations that are there, given he is a prisoner of war and attaches to it legal obligations upon the Russians. We also, it's something I've raised directly with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine when I discussed with him just a couple of weeks ago in a one on one conversation.
MAYNARD: The Sydney trains dispute. The NSW Opposition has called for your intervention because the Fair Work Commission, the train staff are under a federal award controlled by the Fair Work Commission. Would you or Murray Watt be willing to intervene in this dispute?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the Fair Work Commission are meeting tomorrow. I hope that it's resolved and I support the Minns Government and I say to the union involved that they risk alienating the general public. I think want to see this resolved. They want to see people back at work and they want to see the trains functioning.
MAYNARD: You may not have heard this, but we broke a story in the last hour of my program that antisemitic stickers have been placed around the grounds of Randwick's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. The Health Minister in NSW, Ryan Park, is responding straight away to remove those stickers. What is your response to the fact that this is a week after the video was released from Bankstown Hospital and this sort of behaviour is still occurring in our city.
PRIME MINISTER: Look, it's just reprehensible. There's no place for antisemitism here in Australia. We’re a tolerant, multicultural community. We need to respect each other and this sort of behaviour is completely unacceptable.
MAYNARD: PM, you've been very generous with your time this afternoon on what is a busy day. April 12th, just having a look at the NRL draw. I think that's looking like a good day for an election. But it looks like South Sydney's playing the North Queensland Cowboys. Is it possible to hold an election -
PRIME MINISTER: Is it a home game or away game?
MAYNARD: It's a home game actually, so you'd be playing it, you'd be playing at Accor, I think. Can you actually hold an election when Souths are playing a home game?
PRIME MINISTER: I think that may well be a factor in ensuring that that can't occur.
MAYNARD: There we go.
PRIME MINISTER: Maybe we can have a pause for a couple of hours whenever the game, if it's a Saturday game.
MAYNARD: When is South’s playing Cronulla, folks?
PRIME MINISTER: It won't actually focus, we're just getting on with the business of governing. And this is one of the reasons why I support four year fixed terms so that we don't have this ongoing speculation and I don't have to answer these questions or whoever's in office at the time.
MAYNARD: PM, there's always plenty we disagree on, but I've got to say, despite disagreements that often we have in public life, I agree with you 100 per cent - four year fixed terms would be the answer to a lot of our issues in politics. Get it done.
PRIME MINISTER: We tried twice with referendums and they were both unsuccessful.
MAYNARD: Thank you for your time, Mr. Albanese.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, Clinton.