RAFAEL EPSTEIN, HOST: PM, good morning. Thanks for joining us.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. How are you going? Welcome back.
EPSTEIN: I'm okay. You heard Asif's story, that is more and more common, especially working adults. What would you say to him?
PRIME MINISTER: Firstly, I wish Asif well and I hope that he gets the care that he needs. I would say that nationally, 77 per cent of all GP visits were bulk billed in November - that is the latest data. That was an increase from last year before our tripling of the bulk billing incentive came into effect. And that has turned around what was a long term drop in bulk billing. And so, that was the biggest injection we've had, frankly, into the Medicare GP service ever. The other thing is, is that I'm not sure how close one of these places are to where Asif lives, but we have opened 17 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics in Victoria. The condition that he described is precisely the sort of thing that people can go to an Urgent Care Clinic that are open seven days a week. There have been over 230,000 visits to those 17 clinics in Victoria alone as part of the more than 1 million visits that have happened nationally. And what that provides is for somewhere in between a GP and an emergency department that people can go get the care they need when they need it. And all you need is your Medicare card, you don't need your credit card, you don't have to pay anything additional. And that has been a huge success.
EPSTEIN: That's the issue though, isn't it? You're not sure and I'm not sure if there's an Urgent Care Clinic near Asif, but the number of places you can go to, the number of places you can go to has dropped. I appreciate the official figures, there's a greater proportion of people not paying. But the number of places you can go to if you're a working adult, the number of clinics dropped. That's the problem, isn't it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we're doing is opening Urgent Care Clinics, as I said. We promised 50 at the last election, we've delivered 87 are open today - 87. And that includes in regional areas like Ballarat, Bendigo, Dandenong, but also in the suburbs - Heidelberg, Epping, Dandenong, Maribyrnong, Mount Waverley, Narre Warren, Prahran, all of those areas, Werribee, are all open today and they have been a huge success. I was in two Urgent Care Clinics last week, one in Rockhampton and one in Perth, and at both of those clinics, the professionals - the doctors, the nurses, the health professionals, but also the patients that I spoke to, most importantly, were so satisfied with the care that they got. And indeed, in Victoria, one in three of the people who've got care are under the age of 15. So, your kid falls off the bike or makes a cut, you can get that care. And that importantly as well is taking pressure off emergency departments.
EPSTEIN: On 774, the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese is with us. So, there is an Urgent Care Clinic, Asif, in Narre Warren. I don't know how close that is to where you are in Officer, but that might be your solution. PM, if I can look more broadly across the country for a lot of people, for everyone, food costs more, the doctor costs more, the mortgage costs more. Australia's not on track, is it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, inflation had a six in front of it when we were elected, today it's got a two in front of it and it's falling. We understand that people have done it tough with global inflation and that's why we provided cost of living relief. That's why we provided additional dollars into every taxpayer's pocket through our tax cuts for every taxpayer. Energy bill relief, cheaper child care, free TAFE, the tripling of the bulk billing incentive for Medicare and the Urgent Care Clinics, are all support for cost of living.
EPSTEIN: Now, do you think people know you've done those things?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm here on your radio station talking about it. I'll tell you what people know is if they look at their pay packet, the next one that they get, and compare it with what they got a year ago, they'll find that there's substantial relief through our tax cuts for every Australian. And they know that you can't go backwards, which is what Peter Dutton's promising. He was there today talking about cost of living relief is just sugar hits. He refused to support energy bill relief. We do need leadership in this country, but we need leadership with a heart. Peter Dutton represents a cold hearted, mean spirited, sometimes just plain nasty response and that's not going to help people. We've provided that immediate cost of living relief, plus setting Australia up by producing two budget surpluses, putting that downward pressure on inflation that is so important. We want to make sure that we deal with those immediate pressures, but provide for building Australia's future by doing things like strengthening Medicare, by doing things like making sure we take advantage of the opportunities which are there from the shift to net zero.
EPSTEIN: And saying things like cold hearted, mean spirited, nasty, your descriptions of Peter Dutton, that's very personal. Does politics need to be that personal?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Peter Dutton has built a career on dividing people. And I want to bring the country together. I don't think that providing support for people is just a sugar hit - I think it is worthwhile. I was somewhat surprised –
EPSTEIN: But calling what you've done sugar hit that’s not nasty, that's just sort of being in Opposition, isn't it? What's nasty about that?
PRIME MINISTER: Peter Dutton has built a career on dividing people. He's built a career on targeting people, particularly people who are vulnerable. He's never sought to bring people together, which is why his own Party rejected him and elected Scott Morrison as leader, even though Scott Morrison had a very small base of support because they understood that he represented a shift to a hard right version of the Liberal Party.
EPSTEIN: Prime Minister, the Coalition have settled on an election slogan to ‘Get Australia Back on Track’. That's why I asked you whether or not Australia was on track. What's your slogan going to be?
PRIME MINISTER: Ours is ‘Building Australia's Future’ because we want a positive vision. We don't want Australia to go backwards. This is a slogan that's borrowed from New Zealand by Peter Dutton and it represents everything about the backward agenda that they have. I mean, I was stunned yesterday that not a single new policy initiative in what was built up as a major speech there in Melbourne had nothing positive to offer.
EPSTEIN: Is Building Australia's Future too vague?
PRIME MINISTER: No, it's about what we're doing. We've laid foundations in the first term, whether it be the million jobs that we've created, the increases in real wages that have increased four quarters in a row, the driving down of inflation so it has a two in front of it rather than a six in front of it, which is what we inherited. And creation of new industries through measures like the National Reconstruction Fund, dealing with housing pressures through our Housing Australia Future Fund, or helping people to buy new homes or building to rent private rentals. These are all measures that are aimed at, whilst you deal with the immediate challenges, always having our eyes on the horizon in these difficult seas that we've had to navigate. And that means where does future growth come from? Where are the new industries? How do we build on that? How do we rebuild our trade relationships, which we have as well, by restoring over $20 billion of trade with China. That's not something that's academic, that's about jobs and economic activity here.
EPSTEIN: Can I get back to something that's close to jobs. You've said a few times, at least twice, inflation now has a two in front of it, not a six in front of it. That doesn't make stuff cheaper at the supermarket. That doesn't, how does that help people?
PRIME MINISTER: It helps people because inflation's a measure of costs across the board and by driving down inflation, you take pressure off families and that is what I want to do. I understand, and we understand that people have been doing it tough. Inflation was, in the March 2022 quarter before elected, 2.1 per cent in one quarter. In one quarter. Now that is where it was peaking. We've worked really hard to turn a $78 billion deficit into a $22 billion surplus in our first year, and following up with another $15 billion surplus. We've done that whilst providing cost of living relief, but designing it in a way that put that downward pressure on inflation. So, Free TAFE, for example, helps with cost of living because people get to have a start in a career or perhaps start a new career with retraining as jobs change. But at the same time, it's assisting to set Australia up by giving people the skills that they need as well. So, we've designed all of our measures in that way. Cheaper child care similarly helps with workforce participation, helps to build productivity, whilst reducing costs for families.
EPSTEIN: The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, is on your radio on 774. It's 13 minutes to 9 o’clock. I know you need to go, just one other issue. I have no idea how central this will be to the campaign, it may be very crucial, it might not matter at all. But Peter Dutton yesterday blamed you for every incident of anti-Semitism going back to the demonstration on the Opera House steps. If I can just play what he said yesterday.
PETER DUTTON: Shockingly, anti-Semitism has surged by more than 700 per cent. And every incident of anti-Semitism can be traced back to the Prime Minister's dereliction of leadership in response to the sordid events on the steps of the Sydney Opera House.
EPSTEIN: Every incident, PM. Do you think he's right? And do you think you'll lose votes because of that?
PRIME MINISTER: I said to you, Raf, earlier on in the interview that Peter Dutton could be just plain nasty. And that's an example. That's an example. On Sunday October 8th at 9am, I was on the Insiders program. I had already spoken to the Israeli Ambassador to Australia who was in Israel at the time. We unequivocally condemned that action. The next day, on October 9, the day that the Opera House event happened, I called for that to not go ahead on radio interviews that are available. So, once again, on an issue that shouldn't be one where Peter Dutton seeks to divide politically, it should be one where he acknowledges that anyone of any decency opposes anti-Semitism. Anyone with any decency says that it was entirely inappropriate for that demonstration to go ahead as I said, before it happened - before it happened. And yet he seeks, once again, everything is a political opportunity for Peter Dutton rather than an attempt to bring the country together on something that surely we all agree. The idea that anyone is not opposed, in public life, in terms of the mainstream leadership, I accept that he and I both are horrified by anti-Semitism. I've campaigned against racism and anti-Semitism my whole life. We have introduced significant legislation - the first ban on the Nazi salute and hate symbols. We outlawed doxxing at the end of last year - that was not supported by the Coalition in the Parliament. We appointed Jillian Segal as the first Special Envoy on anti-Semitism. We legislated for Australia's first National Student Ombudsman. We've provided additional funding for security measures for schools and synagogues. And we'll continue, of course, to work with the AFP and security agencies through Operation Avalite that I've established to investigate acts of anti-Semitism. We call it out. We call it out each and every time.
EPSTEIN: I think your dog, Toto, there is calling on you to go to your next appointment, PM. But thanks so much for your time.
PRIME MINISTER: That's what happens when my security arrive to take me away.
EPSTEIN: No problem.
PRIME MINISTER: She knows they're taking me away, so that makes her unhappy.
EPSTEIN: I appreciate your time this morning, PM.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Raf.
EPSTEIN: See you later.