RORY MCLAREN, HOST: Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Good morning to you.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, good to be with you.
MCLAREN: Thank you for your time this morning, Prime Minister. Should South Australians be concerned about the tariff and the trade war that is breaking out in the United States?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, of course this is having an impact on the global economy, but we'll continue to put forward our case for an exemption for these tariffs. Australia has a long economic relationship with the United States. We of course, the US, has a trade surplus with Australia and we think there's a very strong case. Now, the Trump administration view this ideologically. They have not given any exemptions whatsoever to any country. We think this is unjustified and that it's an act of economic self-harm by the Trump administration. And we'll continue to put our case.
SONYA FELDHOFF, HOST: How important is the timing in all of this? I saw comments from Arthur Sinodinos, ambassador in the United States for Australia, who, a former one, who said that it's all about the timing. That if we can just hold off, it may be looked at again at a future time. Is that your view?
PRIME MINISTER: I think Mr Sinodinos gave a very good interview to 7:30 last night. As a former ambassador and someone who is watching closely there, has stayed in Washington, DC. It's very clear that there are people who ideologically as part of the Trump administration, including Mr Navarro, who believes in tariffs. Just think it's a good thing. But of course tariffs impose a cost on the purchaser of goods, so this is penalising Americans. And because it applies across the board, then there's no competitive disadvantage that Australia is suffering here. It applies for every single country, but we'll continue to advocate. Last time around it took many months of advocacy for the then first Trump administration to change its decision. And that gives us some confidence that we'll be able to continue to put our case forward.
JULES SCHILLER, HOST: Is Donald Trump prepared to pick up the phone and have a chat with you? Have you got a call scheduled at all, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've had two conversations, one of which was for over 40 minutes about this. He is fully aware of what our position is. We also have engaged in writing -
SCHILLER: But no future call plan as yet?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we will continue to have dialogue at every level. Both at leader level, but also at other levels as well. We've had people there in the United States meeting with the equivalent of Ministers there, putting our strong case. And we've had, the Treasurer went over just a couple of weeks ago, presided over an important conference about the fact that there's some $500 billion potentially of investment from Australian superannuation companies in the United States, is just one of the things that we bring to the relationship which is positive. And we are asking that that be recognised.
MCLAREN: On the relationship, Prime Minister, are you concerned about any impact the tariff decision will have on AUKUS? And how do you respond to calls for the Federal government to develop a Plan B with regards to AUKUS?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, AUKUS is in place. It has overwhelming support across the Congress and the Senate in the United States and has bipartisan support here. It will be very important to drive jobs and skills and infrastructure there in South Australia and in Western Australia in particular, and is important for the defence of our nation.
FELDHOFF: But we've had free trade agreements that have had support in the past. This could change, couldn't it? Aren't we living in a different world now? Do you not need to have a Plan B?
PRIME MINISTER: What we are determined to do is to make sure that AUKUS delivers what we need. Which is firstly, the defence of our nation. But secondly as well what AUKUS is doing is developing an upskilling of our workforce, a possibility of more advanced manufacturing, particularly there in South Australia.
SCHILLER: Prime Minister, we just heard from small businesses who are suffering under the weight of power prices. We've had many pubs and cafes close down in this city. You've got a budget in a few weeks, will there be any relief to Australians when it comes to electricity?
PRIME MINISTER: We'll always look at what we can do to assist with cost of living. My Government have provided support for energy rebates, we've provided for cheaper child care, cheaper medicines, a tax cut for every taxpayer and wage increases in real terms for five quarters in a row. So we believe we've turned the corner. We're continuing to work on building a stronger economy. We're not immune from global economic factors. We're not immune from decisions about tariffs, nor are we immune from what has happened with global energy prices. But what we know is that renewables are the cheapest form of new energy and that stands in stark contrast to the Coalition's nuclear plan.
MCLAREN: So Prime Minister, when will power prices start to go down? Because we've seen this draft determination from the Australian Energy Regulator come out overnight, which shows across South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland, the default prices are set to go up again from July 1st.
PRIME MINISTER: It does show that in terms of the default market offer. But there are other things that people can do, of course, to access competition in the market that are important.
SCHILLER: Do you support more gas exploration and opening up more gas fields in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: I do support, gas has an important role to play in providing firming capacity but also is important there in South Australia. South Australia is moving towards renewables backed by gas and that is something that we absolutely support. One of the things that we have done for your listeners is to make it easier to check if you can get a cheaper deal on energy and made it easier to switch. The first thing that people can do is jump on the Energy Made Easy website to check if there are better deals out there.
SCHILLER: Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese.
FELDHOFF: Thank you for your time.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much.