JACQUI FELGATE, HOST: On the line is the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Thanks for coming on the program.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, Jacqui. Good to be with you.
FELGATE: Anything specific planned for this weekend? Perhaps Sunday?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'll be giving a speech on Sunday. It’s a big speech, but I'm continuing to work. It's been a busy week. Yesterday I was in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Today I've been up to – or across – to Whyalla and I’ve returned to Adelaide where I'm doing a speech tomorrow. Then I'll be off to Wollongong tomorrow night to give the Whitlam Lecture.
FELGATE: And on Sunday, any election speech?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll be out and about as I am every weekend –
FELGATE: It’s not a no –
PRIME MINISTER: It's a busy existence. Well, I've said that – I keep getting asked about election day – I've said that it'd be great, wouldn't it, if we had four year fixed terms? I think you have that in Victoria –
FELGATE: We do.
PRIME MINISTER: Certainly in just about every state now. And that provides certainty. I think that's common sense. We've tried twice, previous Labor governments. Under Bob Hawke was the last time and it failed because the Liberal Party opposed it. Now, why you'd want more elections is beyond me, but I think that four year fixed terms make sense, which is why state governments have put them in place.
FELGATE: All right, let's get right into it now. My first question for you today. Donald Trump, of course, has described Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a dictator who's misused billions of dollars in aid. So, firstly, does this affect our aid and our support of Ukraine? And how do you personally deal with someone like Mr Trump, who I think could be described as unpredictable at best?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what I've said is that I won't give ongoing commentary on everything that Donald Trump says. What I will do is say what Australia's position is and it's certainly unchanged. We regard the struggle of the Ukrainian people as being courageous. They are not only standing up for their national sovereignty, they are also standing up for the international Rule of Law. And Russia's invasion was illegal. It's been brutal. It's had catastrophic consequences for the people of Ukraine, but also, it must be said, for the people of Russia. They have been cooperating and using various authoritarian regimes, including North Korean troops being on the ground fighting against Ukrainians in Ukraine, as well as using countries like Iran. And so I have no time for Mr Putin. And I believe that, very firmly, as I believed yesterday and last week and last month and last year that Russia should stop its illegal activity and illegal invasion and should respect international law.
FELGATE: But just on the comments made by Mr Trump, Peter Dutton said today that these comments are just wrong. Do you agree with that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm not going to give an ongoing commentary. What I'll do is say what Australia's position is, which is clearly very different. We believe very clearly that it was Russia that illegally invaded Ukraine. The fact that we have an ongoing land war in Europe is something that people had thought was consigned to the past, frankly. And Ukraine should be able to exist as a sovereign nation within secure borders and international law should be respected.
FELGATE: Do Australians have a reason to be scared of Donald Trump?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, Donald Trump has been elected President of the United States. As a country that respects democracies, we respect that. We have an important relationship with the United States. I must say that the two conversations I've had with President Trump have been very constructive. In addition to that, our Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, attended the Inauguration and has met her counterpart, Mr Rubio. And our Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles had a very successful meeting with Pete Hegseth, the incoming Defence Secretary as well.
FELGATE: Okay, just locally, I just want to come back to the housing issue that's been reported today across the papers, the plan to build 30,000 homes within five years. But as you said, we're coming up to the end of this term and not a single house has been built. Not a single one. So, why not?
PRIME MINISTER: Because the Coalition – I mean, this is a great yarn, this one. So, the Liberal Party and the National Party and the Greens combined in the Senate to delay funding for a program and then say there have been delays. Yes, they have – because of them. And you and I will both know, Jacqui, that if we decide to build a house today, you don't move into it tomorrow. And what we've done is –
FELGATE: But you've had nearly four years, though.
PRIME MINISTER: No, we haven't had nearly four years. We were elected in 2022, less than three years ago. The legislation was delayed by a year and we have not had – we have not had nearly four years at all.
FELGATE: Is it unreasonable to expect, though, that most people, if you go to build a house, not to have a single one built out of this entire project? You must be disappointed with the delays, then?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, if you make a decision to build a house today, I assure you that you won't purchase the land, get the planning approvals, do all that and have the house built and move in in six months. That would be remarkable. If you're able to achieve that, I've got a job for you.
FELGATE: Hopefully I can keep this job for a little while longer. But we are in a housing crisis, so –
PRIME MINISTER: I hope so too. We are in a housing crisis, which is why it is completely unacceptable that the No-alition as I call them in the Senate have blocked and delayed the Housing Australia Future Fund. Then they blocked and delayed as well our Help to Buy scheme, right? I went to the election in 2022 on. You know, when that was passed through the Senate? December last year, less than two months ago.
FELGATE: Do you think that there's nothing more annoying though – with respect – do you think there's nothing more annoying for voters than to continually see any government of any persuasion blame the Opposition?
PRIME MINISTER: I think that it would be terrific if they got out of the way and the Senate passed – but you can't – it's just a fact that they delayed the legislation. That's just a fact. And you know, they can't – they're entitled to say we're opposed to things and we're not going to spoil it. We have 25 votes out of 76 in the Senate. Now, that means that there's 51 people who we haven't got. Now 51 beats 25. And so when the Coalition and the Greens and people combine to block things, then that's what happens. And I do think that it's unfortunate that that's occurred. But in the meantime what we have done is through the Social Housing Accelerator which was $2 billion including in Victoria there. I've been to places there that have been built and indeed opened. I’ve sat in places just near Richmond there that have been built and funded while we have been in government this term under the Social Housing Accelerator. But it's true that the Housing Australia Future Fund was delayed.
FELGATE: Okay, moving on. I just want to ask you about the unpopularity of the Allan Government and any potential blowback at a federal election. You would have seen, no doubt, the results of the Werribee by-election and particularly in the West. Are you concerned that that unpopularity here will flow on to your fortunes?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, you know, it's a long term government there. But one of the things I did notice about the Werribee by-election was that there was a substantial swing away from the Labor Party, but it didn't go to the Coalition. Only three per cent went to the Liberal Party. That's quite extraordinary for a Government that's been in office for more than a decade, I think is the case. And so we'll continue to put our case, and our case is that we've taken inflation from having a 6 in front of it and rising, to 2 per cent and falling. We have seen that pay dividends with jobs being created as well, some 1.1 million of them. We still have a very low unemployment rate now of 4.1 per cent. And importantly, wages are increasing as well. Every Australian taxpayer has got a tax cut and this week we saw interest rates falling for the first time since 2020. So, we have put in place really strong foundations that hasn't happened by accident. We produced not one but two budget surpluses –
FELGATE: Just on interest rates though, obviously very positive for all of those with a mortgage. But for the average Australian, we're talking $100 a month of the average mortgage, that drop. That's not enough though to make a significant life changing difference, is it?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, any assistance is of course welcomed, but what we have managed to do isn't just put Australia in a position to have those lower interest rates starting to fall. But in addition to that, we've provided cost of living support in a way that hasn't put upward pressure on inflation. So, our energy rebates, our tax cuts for every taxpayer. There's more than a billion dollars that's been saved from Cheaper Medicines. The Medicare Urgent Care Clinics that are open, including right around Victoria, have made a difference as well as Free TAFE where I was just last week –
FELGATE: Well, I imagine you'll be spending a lot more time in Victoria over the coming weeks and months. Suburban rail and airport rail. Do you support the airport rail and is that where the funding from the Federal Government should go?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we support both and we have –
FELGATE: Can you afford to fund both?
PRIME MINISTER: We have budgeted for funding for both suburban rail and $5 billion, we have funding for Melbourne airport rail link. That's been held up by a dispute that was there over whether the station be above ground.
FELGATE: I think that's been sorted out now.
PRIME MINISTER: That has now been sorted out and we'll have more to say about that in coming weeks.
FELGATE: In coming weeks. So, that means an election's not far away then, the announcement?
PRIME MINISTER: No, it means we make announcements all the time and we govern all the time. Good try, Jacqui.
FELGATE: Are you concerned though about our State Government's ability to fund what is a generational project and therefore have no more money and to have to come cap in hand continually to the Federal Government?
PRIME MINISTER: One of the issues that Victorians, I think, should be angry about is the fact that the former Government didn't give Victoria its fair share of infrastructure investment. So that whilst those major projects were undertaking, including the Melbourne Metro, is a great example. When Tony Abbott came to Office, because I was the Infrastructure Minister in 2013, we had $3 billion on the table. It was a joint project. We had someone on the Board. It was a fantastic project. It would have been opened by now. Now, it will open later this year and it will be a transformative project, really loosening up the entire network and increasing capacity right throughout the Victorian network. There's important projects going ahead. The Northeast Link project I've been to with the Premier is an enormous infrastructure project which will make a difference as well. The tunnel that's being built as well there at Westgate is a major project.
FELGATE: That is true. That is true. I am running out of time. Just my final question to you. Why did you ask our former Premier, Daniel Andrews, for help with the debate?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we engage throughout. Daniel Andrews is a friend of mine and he's been a friend of mine for a long period of time. We shared, famously, shared a flat for a little while in Canberra when he was a staffer.
FELGATE: What's he been – have you enjoyed his advice? What was his number one tip?
PRIME MINISTER: We haven't actually done that much. We're not in election mode yet, but I certainly welcome advice from Mark McGowan, from Mike Rann, from a range of people. And occasionally – occasionally – I get the odd bit of advice from people like Tony Abbott and people will ring up, ask me what I should do – or telling me what in their view, I should do as well. And, you know, that's fine. I get on very well with Barry O’Farrell, I regard as a friend of mine, who's the former New South Wales Premier.
FELGATE: A bipartisan Prime Minister. Who would have thought?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I had Dom Perrottet and his lovely wife for dinner after he retired as Premier of New South Wales. We enjoyed a really constructive relationship. And a couple of weeks ago, I had David Crisafulli for dinner at The Lodge, the new Premier of Queensland. And we're working really cooperatively to deal with the impact of the floods that have occurred in Queensland. That's what people – that's what Australians want to see, I think, from their leaders, is getting on and getting things done.
FELGATE: It's great to have you on the program. Just very quickly, election or the wedding? Which are you more nervous about?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, you know, I'm very focused on the election because elections are uncertain and that is my focus.
FELGATE: All right.
PRIME MINISTER: And it's fantastic, though, to have a commitment made that we made when we got engaged, myself and Jodie, that commitment that we want to share the rest of our lives together.
FELGATE: Very lovely. All right, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Really appreciate your time.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks so much, Jacqui.