JACQUI FELGATE, HOST: On the line now is the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese. Thank you for your time.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, Jacqui, good to be with you.
FELGATE: Now, let's start with tax cuts. You've broken an election promise on the Stage Three cuts. How can you now ask voters to trust anything you say?
PRIME MINISTER: Voters can trust that I'll do the right thing. And this was not an easy decision, but it was the right decision done for all the right reasons. Your listeners would have been ringing in over recent times and talking about the cost of living pressures that they're under, particularly low and middle income earners. So, what we've done is found a way, a better way in order to deliver for them to take pressure off that cost of living, so that instead of just some people getting a tax cut, every single taxpayer will get a tax cut and eighty-four per cent of Australians will get a higher tax cut than they were going to get.
FELGATE: A lot of people, though, are ringing in about trust. And on that, I want to ask you about negative gearing. It's something that people are really worried about. So, can you rule out today any changes to negative gearing?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what's interesting is that the Liberals want to talk about anything but what we are doing. What we're doing is just this one change. I've been upfront about it. We went to the National Press Club last week and I said as soon as we had changed our position, that we had done so it's the right thing to do. And on housing, what we're doing is a range of measures. We've got our increased Social Housing Accelerator there in Victoria. Now, already some $500 million has been provided to boost social housing stock. We've got almost that same amount going to Victoria under the National Homelessness Agreement. We also are providing support for the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation to provide grants and loans for infrastructure works through that. In addition to that, what we're concentrating on is increasing supply so that the tax measures that we put in place, the incentives for the private sector to invest in housing, which we put in the budget, just the last budget, are expected to create some between 150–250,000 additional jobs.
FELGATE: Okay, so we'll come back to housing, but can I just confirm there, you use the words ‘just one change’. So, definitely no changes to negative gearing before the next election.
PRIME MINISTER: That’s what it’s about – housing. I've just outlined our housing policy and that is what we are doing. So, I'm talking about what we're doing. We're doing income tax cuts that are better for more Australians, particularly for low and middle income Australians, but they are targeted at middle Australia. On housing, what we have is actually tax incentives, that's what we've done through the private sector to get Build to Rent done. That's been our focus and that has received the support of the property sector. As have our measures on social housing, where Victoria was the first state to get off and running with that additional half a billion dollars that we allocated for Victoria in June, on top of the additional investment that we've had. The other thing we're doing is we've done the largest increase in thirty years in rental assistance to provide support to people who were dealing with the rise in rents that's occurred as well. But the key is supply.
FELGATE: But every day we take calls from tradies. Every day it's an ongoing discussion on this program that there are not enough tradies, the great Australian dream of owning a home is becoming impossible. So, how do you help out people who can't afford to buy a home now?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there aren't enough tradies. We know that and that's why we've put in place 300,000 fee free TAFE places. That will make an enormous difference because what we're doing is training up your carpenters and your electricians and your fitters and all -
FELGATE: Would you look at bringing in more workers from overseas to fill the gap?
b Well, one of the things we do is to as well, we've announced changes to the migration system so that we target the workers that Australia needs and we've cut down on some of the shonks that were out there, that we've inherited, that weren't providing proper training. We want to make sure that the migration system works to address skill shortages so we get the right people in the right place. And that is what we are doing.
FELGATE: I would like to go back to that issue of trust, though. Do you have an image problem? You were booed at the tennis. You did say it's tradition, but I imagine it's not a nice feeling?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, well, it is a tradition, but one of the things that I'm doing is I've been upfront and said we have changed our position because economic circumstances were changed. This was something that was spoken about way back in 2018 and legislated in 2019. So, it was first put forward six years ago, legislated five years ago. The idea that nothing has changed in that period is just not true. And all of your listeners know that in that time there's been a global pandemic, there’s been a war in Ukraine, there's been at that time, you will recall the then Reserve Bank Governor saying interest rates will stay the same up until 2024. Well, they haven't stayed the same, that’s one of the things that’s really put pressure on people.
FELGATE: Do you think you're personally suffering from an image problem now, and does a lot of that come out of the failure of the Voice? So, I do want to ask you on that topic - what is your plan for reconciliation now?
PRIME MINISTER: My plan is to make sure that we close the gap. So, to work, particularly, our concentration at the moment is in employment, making changes to the CDEP, which is basically a work for the dole program, to make sure that Indigenous Australians get real jobs and real training so that they can, for example, build houses in remote areas, and get those skills - that's one area. We're improving communications in remote communities as well. Indigenous education, the National Skills Agreement that we put together has a specific component about giving Indigenous Australians the skills so they can get those good jobs. We're concentrating on Indigenous health in all of the areas. We're concentrating on closing the gap. And on the referendum, I do note that both sides voted for a referendum to be held, and both sides went into multiple elections, not just one - the idea of the Uluru Statement from the Heart was completed in 2017 after a process that went for five years. Now, I had the courage to put that to the people, to listen to the request that had been made. Now, that wasn't successful, and I accept that outcome, so we are going about it a different way.
FELGATE: So, no regrets then. Can we go to Australia Day then? The longer the debate goes on, the more divisive it becomes, and we certainly hear that from our callers. On Australia Day, do we now need a plebiscite?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, plebiscites can be divisive themselves if there's no agreement about general direction in which they're held. Australia Day has been held on January 26, not forever, but in recent decades that has been the case. I myself was very proud to attend the Australian of the Year awards, to attend the National Flag Raising Ceremony, and the National Citizenship Ceremony that took place in Canberra. And it is a day in which, in my view, we can reflect on everything that Australia is, on the pride that we should have, I certainly have, in sharing this continent with the oldest continuous culture on earth. But also, how Australians have come here, whether they're first generation or through subsequent generations, and have built what I think is the greatest country on earth, and we should be very proud of it. It's also a chance for us to think about how do we make this greatest country on earth even greater in the future.
FELGATE: And that may be to improve the cost of living. So, on that, I want to ask you about excises. Fuel and beer - is there room to move there? When was the last time you had a pint at the pub?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I have had, not so much a pint - a schooner is my preferred, pints are a bit big for me. In England, of course …
FELGATE: How much was it?
PRIME MINISTER: In England they have pints and it doesn't really matter because it's warm beer.
FELGATE: You don't want to drink that!
PRIME MINISTER: Here in Australia and in Victoria, I'm old enough to remember when you had a pot or a smaller one was called, there in Melbourne were even smaller. And that made some sense because the beer is cold.
FELGATE: But when was the last time you had a drink and how much did it cost you? Because when we're looking at excises, and going to the cost of living, refuel and re-beer, is there room to move?
PRIME MINISTER: Last time I had schooners, I bought a few, and it added up to almost $30 for just three beers. So, it is expensive, the cost of living. That's one of the reasons why we're not just sitting back and wringing our hands and saying, oh, well, this is difficult. We have so many measures – cheaper childcare has reduced the cost of childcare by 11%.
FELGATE: Can I ask you specifically on excise, then?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have not considered a change up to now, but obviously we look at cost of living pressures which are on...
FELGATE: So, it is possible then that you may look at either perhaps pausing excise on beer?
PRIME MINISTER: We are not looking at that at the moment, but obviously in the lead up to budgets, you have submissions and I'm sure that there'll be submissions along a whole range of ways. One of the things that we have to do, though, we have to do, is look at ways where we provide cost of living support, whilst putting downward pressure on inflation. And, importantly as well, one of the things my Government has done - the previous government promised a surplus in their first year and every year, and they were there for almost a decade and didn't deliver one, they just delivered record deficits - we have produced the first surplus in 15 years, and that's one way that you put downward pressure on inflation and downward pressure, therefore, on interest rates.
FELGATE: And would you have an expensive beer, I think they are going to be about $15, with your Treasurer at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER: The Treasurer doesn't drink, so I won't be having a beer with the Treasurer.
FELGATE: Well, what about a cup of tea? Would you sit down and have a coffee with him at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER: I have a cup of tea and a cup of coffee with the Treasurer all the time. I'll be having dinner with him over the weekend, as we do most weekends, before Parliament gets back.
FELGATE: And can I just ask you finally, are you off overseas anywhere soon?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
FELGATE: Staying at home for the foreseeable future?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I will attend meetings as required to represent Australia. I know that there's been some opportunistic statements from an opposition that's called for me to make more trips at various times. But, Australia is a member of the G20, it's important we go to the events with the 20 largest economies in the world. It's important we get represented at the Pacific Island Forum. We live in a globalised world, and the visit to China, for example, has meant it repairing those relations are worth $20 billion of additional exports for Australia. It's about jobs, and it's about our economy, and that's why we need to engage. And in Melbourne in March, I will be hosting all of the ASEAN leaders. So, we will have the leaders of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, all of these countries in our region. I've invited the new New Zealand Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, to attend as well. That will be an important opportunity to showcase Australia to Southeast Asia because we live in the part of the world with the fastest growing economies in human history. What that represents, those markets with billions of people, represent opportunities for Australian jobs and Australia's income and living standards to increase.
FELGATE: Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, I appreciate your time this afternoon, hopefully we can speak again when you're next in Melbourne.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much Jacqui.
ENDS