NEIL MITCHELL, HOST: The Prime Minister, Mr Albanese, before we're nice to each other. Mr Albanese, good morning.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Neil.
MITCHELL: I actually played that for both of us. The polls are bad, the Government's stumbling. You look tired. You could be chopped liver as well. What are you doing wrong?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm absolutely fine, Neil. It's been a difficult time in terms of cost of living pressures that are on families, we get that. But I'm focused on delivering our election commitments that we took and on addressing taking pressure off Australians. And we’re doing that.
MITCHELL: But you promised that before the election. What have you done wrong? Why have you lost people?
PRIME MINISTER: No, that's what we're doing. We've implemented cheaper child care. We've implemented, now there's almost up to 300,000 Fee Free TAFE places. Wages are going up. Real wages are going up the last two quarters.
MITCHELL: Productivity is going down.
PRIME MINISTER: Inflation is going down, wages going up.
MITCHELL: If that's all true, why is the public turning on you?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Neil, polls will come and go, but I don't accept your characterisation of the polls either. What I'm focused on, of course, is the medium term, not just day-to-day politics, because if you do that, you'll end up not delivering the sort of government that we need.
MITCHELL: Fair enough. What are you going to do better then? What do you improve?
PRIME MINISTER: What we're going to do is continue to deliver on cost of living. We've delivered the first Budget surplus in 15 years. Now, what that will do and is doing is putting pressure, downward pressure, on inflation. It's still too high, but it's moderating, it's heading in the right direction. You've seen over 620,000 jobs created since we came to office, more than any first term government. You're seeing wages grow at the fastest rate in a decade and a half. You are seeing the benefits of the policies that we've put in place. But we have been hit by a global inflation, which is something that is right around the world.
MITCHELL: The Reserve Bank says it's domestic. People are hurting.
PRIME MINISTER: No, they haven't said that. They haven't said that. What they've said was that it was largely global. And now, some of the impact, as well, is domestic.
MITCHELL: If I'm living in Glen Iris or, I don't know, Maidstone or something, I don't care. I care about my cost of living.
PRIME MINISTER: Correct.
MITCHELL: And the message I'm getting from my audience is, you have failed them because you promised to improve their cost of living situation and it has got worse. Now, the list might be very impressive. So, it's all global factors. Do we blame the world? There's nothing you can do?
PRIME MINISTER: No, we are doing things. We're doing things in three areas. One is we're providing that direct support. Secondly, we're addressing supply chain issues that lead to higher costs, and that's what fee-free TAFE and these measures are about. And the third is the way that you take pressure off the Reserve Bank making the decisions that they have is to have responsible fiscal policy. It's not sexy, but it makes a difference. A Budget surplus makes a difference.
MITCHELL: You do accept people are hurting still, very badly.
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely. And that is why we're making these measures of energy bill relief, medicines being cheaper, the 60-day dispensing. Neil, you've been, as we're celebrating today, around a long while. No one before, no government has ever made a decision opposed by the pharmacy lobby and actually carried through with it. We did that with 60-day dispensing. And what that does for your listeners is to cut the price of their medicines in half.
MITCHELL: But you're looking like a one-term Government. People are saying, is there a danger of that? Are you aware of that? Are you conscious of that? Are you going to spend more time in the country?
PRIME MINISTER: Neil, I spend every day I can in the country. I haven't been on overseas holidays.
MITCHELL: I understand that and you may well have needed to do it, but will you spend your time here?
PRIME MINISTER: Part of the job is to represent Australia. You know why? Because one in four of our jobs depends upon our trade. Now, fixing the relationship and some of the trading relationships that we have, whether it be with the United States, the deals we've done on critical minerals and clean energy, the removal of some of the impediments to trade with China is making a difference for our barley farmers, for our wine growers, for all of these industries. And that produces benefit for Australia.
MITCHELL: Okay. Well, I don't know the optimist will be outlook. Philip Lowe, the former head of the Reserve Bank, said this at that meeting in Hong Kong this week.
PHILIP LOWE: I think that the coming years are going to be much more difficult than the previous years and I think we're going to see a lot more variability in inflation than we've had for the last 30 years.
MITCHELL. Is he wrong?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that was a bit of a everything statement, wasn't it, Neil?
MITCHELL: He said it’s going to be tougher over the next few years?
PRIME MINISTER: He didn't quite say that. He said there'll be variability. So, we know that the global economic outlook, look, you spoke about attending international conferences. When I go to a conference like APEC, all of the Asia Pacific economies, there are no countries sitting around the room that wouldn't want to be Australia at the moment. Because what we've seen, in part as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, led to this whole price spike around the world connected with supply chain issues. And Australia, we can see, is heading in the right direction. I understand the pressure that's out there, Neil. And that's why we've taken action as well in increasing payments and in making a difference. We've tripled the bulk billing Incentive so people can see a doctor.
MITCHELL: If we can move on to something else. When you were elected, you also promised more decency, a different style of politics. Two of your ministers have accused Peter Dutton, the Opposition Leader, of protecting paedophiles. He said this in reply on the Today program today. I’d like your response.
PETER DUTTON: The Prime Minister sent his ministers out. He didn't even have the guts to go out and make the comments himself.
KARL STEFANOVIC: Have you got an apology yet? Do you expect one?
PETER DUTTON: I haven't got an apology yet. I would have thought if he's man enough, he'll apologise, but I'm not expecting one, so that's up to him.
MITCHELL: Do you seriously argue that the Opposition Leader has been protecting paedophiles?
PRIME MINISTER: Neil, this Opposition Leader has a record. And go back and look at the front page stories accusing us of a range of things.
MITCHELL: But you've said you're better than that. Is there an apology there?
PRIME MINISTER: Hang on. Ask me about things I've done and I'd be happy to be accountable for them.
MITCHELL: But they’re your ministers.
PRIME MINISTER: Neil, he moved a motion yesterday in the Parliament saying essentially that we wanted a range of, I won't repeat on the program, a range of, including child sex offenders, rapists, everyone, that we wanted them out on the streets. He did that yesterday in the Parliament.
MITCHELL: In reply, you say he's protecting pedophiles. Terrific. Thank you for that. That's terrific state standard of debate. You've really improved the quality of politics. That's outrageous. All right, he's insulted you. Take the high moral ground. Apologise.
PRIME MINISTER: Neil, I'm accountable for what I say.
MITCHELL: They're your ministers, you're the boss.
PRIME MINISTER: I'm accountable for what I say. And he has accused consistently those ministers. And what the minister said was that his opposition to the legislation that was before the Parliament on Monday is completely inconsistent with what he has said from day one we have here on this issue, the High Court of Australia making a decision and consistently, what the Opposition have done, led by Peter Dutton, is suggested that somehow we wanted these people, these people to be out on the streets. None of that is true, Neil, and you know that that is not true.
MITCHELL: I agree that is not true, nor do I believe Peter Dutton is protecting paedophiles do you apologise to him or not? Are you standing with your ministers.
PRIME MINISTER: Neil, I'm accountable for what I say.
MITCHELL: Prime Minister, you're the boss. You’re the boss.
PRIME MINISTER: No, it's about time that Peter Dutton took responsibility for what he said.
MITCHELL: I'll repeat the question. Do you stand by what your ministers said?
PRIME MINISTER: Neil, I stand by everything, everything that I say. And I stand by the fact that my ministers have been doing everything they can to protect community safety and Peter Dutton, from day one, has been focused on just politics.
MITCHELL: You can solve it all here by just making that point and apologising.
PRIME MINISTER: I hate to tell you, Neil, but I can't solve it all here. The fact is that Peter Dutton has made a decision consciously, as he used to as a Minister, stand up and accuse us consistently of not being concerned about community safety.
MITCHELL: Meanwhile, Prime Minister, you wonder why the public is disenchanted. We hear this going on between the two sides and you both carry a bit, I agree with that, and meanwhile, we've got people out in the community who are potentially dangerous, who should not be in the community.
PRIME MINISTER: I agree
MITCHELL: You should be getting together and getting them under control instead of sitting there throwing abuse at each other.
PRIME MINISTER: And that is what we did by introducing legislation into the Parliament that, unfortunately, Peter Dutton voted against.
MITCHELL: Okay, you have rightly criticised anti-Semitism and hate in Australia. Well, did it take you by surprise? It seemed to take you and Penny Wong a little while to actually get on top of that and to make the right statements.
PRIME MINISTER: Complete nonsense, Neil.
MITCHELL: Okay.
PRIME MINISTER: That's part of, what you said then, what you just said is part of the problem, because what we have here is an attempt to, what you just did then, was an attempt to somehow draw a political distinction over something like anti-Semitism.
MITCHELL: What and Tony Burke didn't do that? Penny Wong initially didn't do that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Neil, this assault happened on October 7. That was over on the Saturday night. At 9am, on the Sunday morning, I was the guest on the Insiders Program, 9am I was making in televised interview statements on all of this. We responded clearly, unequivocally. By then, I'd already spoken to the Israeli Ambassador who was there. I have spoken out against racism in all its forms, including anti-Semitism my whole life. I led the campaign against the boycotts, divestment and sanctions regime, against that policy proposal, in my local community, along with members of the Jewish community. I've been outspoken on those issues forever, my entire political career. When I was a student, I formed Students Against Racism because one of the candidates who stood at the same time I did for President of Sydney Uni SRC, was a guy called James Saleem, who was from an organisation called National Action. He's now in jail for murder.
MITCHELL: Okay, just on a related area though, we're taking 800 people from Palestinians from Gaza, Palestinian Territory. 80 per cent of Palestinians on the polls support Hamas. Have we checked these 800 to make sure we're not bringing in Hamas supporters?
PRIME MINISTER: We check all of.
MITCHELL: But how? They're coming in pretty quickly.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they're not coming in pretty quickly, Neil.
MITCHELL: Okay.
PRIME MINISTER: They're not coming in pretty quickly. And this, again, was an attempt by the Coalition to somehow raise a fear campaign. They're not coming in pretty quickly.
MITCHELL. So, we've got 800 clean skins coming in.
PRIME MINISTER: These are visas of people who have family members here who have gone through all of the same security checks that have been in place for such a long period of time on a bipartisan way, just as we have, at the same time, something you didn't mention there, 1,800 visas have been granted for people from Israel.
MITCHELL: True. Immigration. You got a figure yet? What's the right figure?
PRIME MINISTER: The immigration policy is really imminent. We have been working really hard, Neil. We inherited a mess when it comes to immigration. There are actually over a million people in the queue for visas. What we've had is a short term spike, of course, because people weren't coming into the country for things like students. One of the things that we need to do is to make sure that students coming in are getting a proper education, not using the visa system as a backdoor way of coming into the country.
MITCHELL: Something else. This decision to define assisted dying as assisted suicide. The states are saying that you should legislate an exemption in the area of voluntary assisted dying. Will you?
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, no state government has raised that issue with me. I'm actually not sure.
MITCHELL: Well, would you look at it?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not sure what you're saying.
MITCHELL: Okay, well, we've got a decision saying that voluntary assisted dying is now defined as assisted suicide. That opens up all sorts of areas, such as doing any telephone consultation on the issue. Several states are quoted today as saying they want the Attorney-General to introduce new legislation to allow an exemption for assisted dying.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, if you're asking me about the issue of support being through telehealth rather than a doctor being present, that is not something that I support.
MITCHELL. So, you wouldn't change the law to make it possible?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I'm just saying what these things, as you know, have historically been the subject of a conscience vote. If you're asking me for my opinion, something that has not been raised with me by any state government, my personal opinion is that these issues are serious and that telehealth should not be used because I'd be concerned about some of the implications there.
MITCHELL: Do you support euthanasia generally?
PRIME MINISTER: I support voluntary assisted dying, but with very strict conditions to make sure that appropriate protections are in place.
MITCHELL: Do you support the legalisation of cannabis?
PRIME MINISTER: No. Well, that's a matter for the states.
MITCHELL: Yeah, it is, but everybody down here is coming out and declaring whether they smoke weed. Did you?
PRIME MINISTER: That's a matter for the states and that is not a Federal issue.
MITCHELL: Oh, come on. You went to university. You just told us about that. University in the 70s. Is he telling me you didn't smoke dope?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I'll take the fifth, Neil. That is not the subject of any of our policy deliberations. I have a big job. I'm not looking to run state governments as well.
MITCHELL: Well, look, thank you very much for your time. Thanks for your assistance over the years. And I hope we get to speak more often.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah. Well, Neil, congratulations on what has been an extraordinary career and particular shout-out for, we worked together on the issue of road safety many years ago when I was a Transport Minister. It's something that you have brought a great deal of passion and commitment to. And just congratulations. I think one of the things that we can all agree on is that the pace of change is a bit too fast sometimes that we're all trying to deal with. But you've been a constant in people's lives and you are a person of great integrity. And you have my respect and my best wishes.
MITCHELL: Well, thank you for that. And thank you for what you did, you and Peter Dutton did on the road toll this week. I just thought of another question, though, because this is a very personal one. Will you lay off the, get the people to lay off the boomers they're going after boomers? Boomers have got to spend less. Boomers caused all the problem.
PRIME MINISTER: You seem to think that governments are in control of everything, including the Prime Minister. Look, if I could wave my magic wand and do a whole lot of things to make instant change, including what people think, then I'd be in a position to do so. But what I'm focused on is making a difference where I can. And that's something that my Government is certainly focused on.
MITCHELL: Thank you for your time. Heaven help any Prime Minister, left or right, who decides what we think think. But I know what you mean. Thank you for your time.
PRIME MINISTER: Indeed. Thanks, Neil.