RICHARD KING, HOST: Anthony Albanese, our Prime Minister, is on the line. Good morning Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER ANTHONY ALBANESE: Good morning Richard, good to chat.
KING: Likewise, thank you very much for your time. Busy week, the Jobs and Skills Summit coming up, National Cabinet meeting tomorrow and your first appearance at the National Press Club, yesterday, since being elected. You were talking about your first one hundred days in office, what do you see as the main achievement of your first one hundred days, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: I think changing the tone of the public debate has been important, but we’ve also got significant achievements: the increase in the minimum wage of 5.2 per cent for people who were struggling to get by was important, changing our climate ambitions so that 43 per cent by 2030 passing through the House of Representatives, ten days paid family and domestic violence life has been an important achievement. We've got the defence strategic review, that's important for our future given the challenges that are there in our region. And the Jobs and Skills Summit will be an important bringing together of unions, employers, civil society to try to look for our common interests. I think Australians have conflict fatigue. What they want is for agreements to be sought, wherever possible, to advance that common interest. Employers and employees both have buy-in for successful businesses. And if we can smooth out some of the industrial relations systems so that we get better outcomes, higher wages, higher profits, without putting pressure on inflation, that will be a good thing. But we've been dealing with crises as well like providing support for the victims of floods. So I think the task of the government is to deal with the immediate but to continue to keep an eye on the future.
KING: What are the main items on the agenda for the National Cabinet meeting tomorrow, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: We will receive a report again about health and the pandemic. Since we last met there's been, fortunately, a reduction in the number of COVID infections and the impact that it's having that was in accordance with the health advice we received. So we'll be examining those issues. We will also be looking at skills; the big issue that businesses are saying is that they can't get access to the skills that they need and that that's holding them back, so that will be an important matter. Of course, the federal government is responsible for immigration, including skilled migration, so we'll be discussing that. But also, most importantly, the need to train Australians for the jobs of today and tomorrow. We want to make sure that when we do have migration, I want better path to permanent residency. I want people to have an ownership stake in this country rather than importing temporary labour then just exploiting it and looking for someone else. How do we train Australians for jobs? And how do we ensure that the migration system is fit for purpose.
KING: Back to that first item: the COVID-19 isolation period being reduced from seven days to five days. I know there's a number of premiers, particularly Dominic Perrottet, that would like to see that. Some have argued you've got a conflict of interest here on account of the fact that Damien Cook, if the if the isolation period is reduced from seven to five, it means he will be able to play for your beloved Rabbitohs this weekend, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: I think it's a brave thing to play after five days. I doubt whether he'll play this this week, regardless of the outcome of the decision tomorrow. That’s a decision for South Sydney. But this has been on the agenda for some time. Premier Perrottet has been pretty consistent about it. And we'll have a discussion with all of the premiers because one of the one of the really positive things that developed is that instead of the six states and two territories going different ways, we're trying to get everyone on the same page so that there's consistency in the regulations and the rules which are out there, which obviously, will make it more easy for people to understand what's going on.
KING: Obviously, the the Voice to Parliament and the referendum and the recognition of Indigenous Australians in the Constitution is a hot topic. You've made a commitment in the lead up to the election to certainly have the referendum. The appearance of Shaquille O'Neal at that press conference on Saturday attracted a lot of attention, not a lot of it was positive. Barnaby Joyce was pretty scathing, saying it was basically a stunt. And a number of other people, including Jacinta Price has come out and said ‘what the hell has Shaquille O'Neal got to do with Indigenous Australians’. Can we just clarify, he actually approached you – is that the case? He wanted to find out more about what was happening?
PRIME MINISTER: He approached me and I think people should chill out a bit, basically. The fact is, that Shaq’s appearance meant that people are talking about it. And one of the things we need to do is to raise awareness in the community that this referendum is coming, that there's a need for debate around it. Shaq appeals to a whole bunch of people, many of whom would have been hearing about the Voice to Parliament for the very first time, and that's a good thing. So I make no apologies for saying I'll engage with anyone, anywhere, anytime, about these issues. And anything we can do to raise the profile of this issue is a good thing.
KING: As I understand it, there's still no timeframe for the referendum. It might be next year, it might not be next year.
PRIME MINISTER: That's right. It won't be in the first half of next year. But we want Australians to have that sense of ownership over the process as well. We want to have the debate now about what it is. And it's a pretty simple proposition here: to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our Constitution, to create a Voice – a body that will be consulted when matters directly affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. And the nature of that will of course, be subject to the legislation in the parliament. It's not a third chamber of Parliament. It's not a decision making body. It's simply a matter of good manners and respect by recognising people in the Constitution and then consulting them on matters that directly affect them. Now that's about how do we close the gap on health, education, housing, life expectancy; the best way to do that is to actually talk to people who are directly affected. There's no question that you get better outcomes when people feel as though they've been a part of the process that affects their lives.
KING: The Jobs and Skills Summit on Thursday and Friday at Parliament House. We heard earlier this morning from Rob Scott, the CEO Wesfarmers, major Australian employer. He’s excited and looking forward to the Jobs and Skills Summit. David Littleproud, the Nationals leader will be there. Many from all walks of life will be there. Peter Dutton, Liberal leader, won't – he says it is a stunt. Zali Steggall says it's a big PR exercise. What are you hoping will result and come out of the Jobs and Skills Summit, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we've seen already is that people are talking through issues. There's been more than a hundred different seminars and forums and many summits held already in the lead up. And what that's done is bring people together to talk about how we overcome skill shortages, how we grow the economy, how we grow real wage and improve living standards, how we close the gender pay gap. This is a positive exercise already because you get solutions when you get engagement. And we're getting engagement from small business, large business from unions from community based organisations. You get better outcomes, the more people are involved. And this is a part of the process. It's inclusive. It's good that David Littleproud is attending, the Nationals leader. There are crossbenchers attending, and that's a good thing as well. And for the naysayers, Peter Dutton to be outside throwing rocks is, in my view, not appropriate. But that's the old politics. The old politics is a politics of conflict and arguing and yelling and never agreeing and not trying to provide solutions. I make no apologies for trying to look for solutions rather than arguments.
KING: China trying to spread its influence in the Pacific is a hot topic. I've had a number of calls this morning, people concerned about the allegations that China has tried to buy islands around Papua New Guinea. Penny Wong is there at the moment, I believe, trying to water down this Chinese influence in the in the Pacific. And I've also received a few emails, apparently, those islands aren't for sale. But obviously it's a major concern for the government.
PRIME MINISTER: It is, but we need to be concerned about real stuff rather than stuff that isn't actually happening. And I for the life of me don't quite know why that TV report got the coverage that it did, given that I saw the fellow last night on TV saying the islands aren’t for sale. There are hundreds of islands and they're not even sale yet. I’m not quite sure what that was about.
KING: There is at least one up for sale in British Solomons and that's a concern. But look, moving on: is there a date earmarked for this additional inquiry and as Scott Morrison's acquiring those portfolios on the sly?
PRIME MINISTER: There is and it will report on the last Friday in November, which will be before the last setting week of parliament. So if there's any legislation that's recommended or required, the parliament can deal with that in that last sitting week. But the Solicitor-General's opinion was very strong. It said that it undermined the conventions and the principles of our parliamentary democracy and we can't take that for granted. And that's why this is a very serious issue.
KING: In April of this year, Angus Taylor, the then energy minister was talking about his government's commitment to a $182 million green hydrogen hub here in Newcastle, which would create two and a half thousand jobs. I think the federal government's commitment then was $100 million. You were in Newcastle prior to the election said a Labour government would instruct the projects proponent to operate the plant on 30 per cent green hydrogen from the start of operations and to upgrade that to 100 per cent green – but nobody knows where that's going to come from. There's obviously been a difference of opinion and a bit of a spat between Chris Bowen and Paul Broad, the former boss Snowy Hydro, he's now resigned. Chris Bowen wouldn't confirm if that $100 million commitment would from the previous government would be honoured in the upcoming budget. Will it be? You're ma keen on having green hydrogen but no commitment to this green hydrogen hub here in Newcastle as of now?
PRIME MINISTER: No, we'll be fulfilling all of our commitments to the best of our ability that we took to the election, and that includes the commitment that we made there at Kurri Kurri. I'm very positive about it. The Snowy Hydro, of course, is a government owned-entity that actually doesn't require legislation to operate it.
KING: No, but if it's going to operate in green hydrogen, where's that going to come from? And this $100 million commitment plus a whole lot of private money from Origin and other companies that separate to the Kurri plant – will that commitment be in the budget?
PRIME MINISTER: We will honour all of the commitments that we made in the budget and they will be there in October.
KING: And if South's win the Premiership will you do a shoey?
PRIME MINISTER: I hope we do get there. It looks like we'll finish in the bottom eight, it may well be that the outcome of Melbourne and Parra will have a big difference over whether over whether the Friday night game matters. It's likely it'll be Souths versus Easts two weeks in a row.
KING: Well good luck.
PRIME MINISTER: To the Newcastle listeners, now that the Knights aren't going to make the finals, unfortunately, get on board South.
KING: Good luck and thank you very much for your time today.
PRIME MINISTER; Thanks very much.