JAMIE BURNETT, HOST: Prime Minister, good morning to you.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, good to be with you. And it's wonderful to be back in Perth, particularly for the Telethon Weekend, where there's such a focus on helping young kids and their families at their time of need. It's an extraordinary commitment that West Australians give to others during this weekend.
BURNETT: Yeah, it's a big week and it's a good week. Hey, you've had a fairly full-on seven days. Do you learn more from the losses than the wins?
PRIME MINISTER: You learn things every single day in this job. I have over a long period of time. There was a difficult weekend last weekend with the referendum, but we respect the outcome and we continue, though, to look for ways in which we can Close the Gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. I think overwhelmingly, that's what Australians do want to see and we continue to listen and engage with Indigenous Australians, because the fact is that a large majority, in Indigenous communities in places like the Pilbara and the Kimberley and the remote communities in Northern Territory, overwhelmingly said that they did want to be listened to. And we know that we'll get better outcomes if we do engage. Now, we won't be able to engage through the form that was requested, through the Uluru Statement, we accept that outcome, but we will continue to engage in areas like Justice Reinvestment, on areas of education and health and housing, and how we Close the Gap in all those areas.
BURNETT: Well, speaking of that, and this isn't limited to Indigenous Australians, but here in WA, we've seen some tragic incidents in our juvenile detention system. I know you're aware of those, and the latest being the death of a teenager after a suicide attempt, inside Unit 18 at Casuarina Prison. Is a maximum security adult prison the place for children in WA?
PRIME MINISTER: The West Australian Government are looking at those issues, of course, but my thoughts are certainly with the family and friends of this young West Australian who has lost his life. It will be a very difficult time of grieving. There will be a coronial inquiry, of course, to examine the circumstances in which this occurred.
BURNETT: Speaking more broadly, how do you feel about a State Government that's allowed young people in detention to be locked up in a cell for 23 hours a day? How does that sit with you?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, I'm not aware of all of the specifics of every State and Territory Government and its systems. What we were asking for, through the referendum, was for Australians to have the opportunity to have their say on the request that was made by Indigenous Australians, who said what they wanted to be able to do was to have local and regional voices, feeding up to a national Voice to the government. Now, that request, that invitation, from Indigenous Australians was not voted for last weekend. We continue to have, each state and territory runs, of course, those issues of juvenile justice. And one of the things that we have funded in the Federal Budget is for Justice Reinvestment. That's something that Pat Dodson, a Senator from WA, of course, and a great Australian, the Father of Reconciliation as he's known, has been very committed to and has driven through our policy system and made sure that it's funded in the Budget. We know that those sort of systems can work. In Bourke, they have daily gatherings of police, of people who work in the youth workers, elders, and it has turned around the results, stopping people from being in a position whereby they're put into detention, having higher retention rates at school, having less crime and making a difference. And that's the sort of program that I think should be examined, wherever possible. How do we lower the numbers? Because we know that the incarceration rates for Indigenous Australians is one of the highest in the world and often that will begin at a young age. We need to make sure that we address those questions. They won't be resolved simply, we're talking about intergenerational disadvantage here.
BURNETT: Yeah, I mean, that's the macro, Prime Minister. But these are some specifics, this is happening right now, it's happening in this State and you've been spending some time with the Premier over the last few days. Just on those two issues, we've got young kids in a maximum security adult prison here in WA and we have instances of children being locked up for 23 hours a day in juvenile detention. Specifically on that, does it sit comfortably with you?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, I'm not in a position to make comment on specifics in every state and territory. With respect, those are matters that are under state jurisdiction. And of course, what I will say in the general, which I can comment on, is that we need to do much better across the board, across every state and territory. And as a National Government, all governments have not produced the sort of outcomes that we would like to see, when it comes to examining the figures, you've got to say, that we need to do better. And that's something my Government's committed to working with state and territory jurisdictions on. As I said, there are examples of where justice programs are aimed at young people, the ones that, from my experience, have worked most effectively, are ones that have engaged Indigenous communities, have engaged elders, have engaged people, including the police and others, to work in a cooperative way, of how we stop people being in detention in the first place, which has to be the objective, how we reduce people being in the circumstance whereby they are detained at a young age. Because we know that quite often, if that occurs, then it will lead to further issues being created rather than issues being resolved.
BURNETT: Prime Minister, I wanted to ask you about the Darwin Port because this came through late yesterday, but the Chinese owned Landbridge Group will continue operating the Port as part of that 99 year lease. I know you expressed some concern about that deal before the last election, you called for this review. What do you feel are the security concerns or the implications of allowing that critical piece of infrastructure to be continued to be operated by the Chinese?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's not an arrangement that I would have entered into. And at the time, I was the Shadow Infrastructure Minister and I wouldn't have allowed any foreign government to be in a position where they had such a long lease on a very significant port in northern Australia. But what we had to do, given we inherited this issue and at the time, of course, it was chosen by the Country Liberal Party Government in the Northern Territory, but there was actually an incentive given by the Liberal Government, federally, as well as part of their asset recycling program. So, the NT Government received a top up of many millions of dollars as an incentive for the sale. I think that was bad policy. What we've done though, is examine through the security agencies, any concerns that they might have, and they came back to us saying that all those issues could be managed through the regulatory system. And we've accepted that report, rather than have to lay out a considerable compensation cost, which would have been applicable if there was any forced intervention and forced sale by the Commonwealth. So, that issue has now been resolved. Landbridge can continue to operate the port. It may well be at some time, that they decide to sell the port, for which case on a voluntary basis, I think whoever is the Commonwealth Government at that time, should examine what needs to be done. But there won't be an intervention for any forced sale. And it was important for the operation of the port, so that investment can continue to occur, that that certainty be given.
BURNETT: Okay, no intervention there. I know you're short on time. You were in Perth to announce a new Skills Agreement and Fee-Free TAFE. Just coupling that, I was asking our listeners what they wanted to hear from you today, and a lot of the questions coming through really around the cost of living. How do you see something like this flowing on to help in that area? And how long do you think it'll take to see these workers entering the workforce, the industry, and helping on that side of things?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, for many of them, are getting training who are in work, so doing apprenticeships. The people I met at Midland TAFE yesterday were doing that, one of them being retrained, two of them starting work in the electrical sphere, particularly looking at renewables. We promised 18,000 Fee-Free TAFE places in WA this year and we've actually delivered almost double that, almost 36,000 places. It's one of the real success stories that have occurred and of course, that makes such a difference. Literally, the course there has gone from having seven people enrolled in it before Fee-Free TAFE to over 50, and showing the difference that it's made for people to take up the opportunity, but also employers to benefit from that as well. Making a difference in areas of skill shortage. But that's just one of the measures that we've applied there's some 111,000 WA families have benefited from cheaper childcare. West Australians have saved $18 million already on 1.6 million cheaper scripts at pharmacies since January 1, where we had the first ever decrease since the scheme was created, from $42.50 down to $30. That makes a difference. We have introduced as well, of course, the change from last month, so that if you have an ongoing health condition, you can buy two months of medicine for the cost of a single prescription, halving the cost of medicines for over 600,000 West Australians, will benefit from that. And in addition to that, over 350,000 households in WA have benefited, for up to $400 per year, from the Energy Bill Relief in WA, that we've put in place, over $100 million. We've got, 26,000 aged care workers in WA have earned between $129 and $340 more every week, as a result of our support for aged care workers. And that big, significant, 15 per cent increase that occurred, that we funded with $11 billion in the Budget. And then there's the increased payments that we introduced from September as well, 110,000 people in WA benefiting from that. And 78,000 households getting increased in Commonwealth Rent Assistance. And as well, the social housing measures that were put out, as well, have made a difference. I've been opening Medicare Urgent Clinics in WA, at Rockingham and at Perth, they're making a difference, so people can get in and see, all they need is their Medicare card, not their credit card. And from November 1, a big change is the tripling of the bulk billing incentive, that will come in, that will make an enormous difference to millions of West Australians.
BURNETT: Just finally, Prime Minister, I know you'll be in China in November. Are you confident that the tariffs on Australian wine will finally be dropped? A lot of growers over here, feeling the pain of that.
PRIME MINISTER: I am very hopeful that that will occur. And we have been engaging with our Chinese counterparts, that's something that I raised with President Xi last year, and I raised with Premier Li, when I met with him in Jakarta and then at the G20 in India just a month ago, stressed how important it is. We know that for WA wine growers, there's been some bumper yields recently and we need to make sure that that wine is able to access markets, and the Chinese market is very important. So, it is something, we're having a full court press with our counterparts, as well. We've been successful in areas like barley and hay and timber and other products, and we want to make sure that wine growers can continue to not just thrive, but thrive in a way that benefits not just them, but benefits China, as well. It's a great product. Why wouldn't you want it on your table?
BURNETT: Well, maybe you can enjoy a little bit of it while you're over here in the state. Prime Minister, really appreciate your time. Thank you so much.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much.