THOMAS ORITI, HOST: It is Monday 1 July, and that means the start of the new financial year, which means a lot of things happening. Stage three tax cuts, $300 in energy relief, and that means a few more dollars in our pockets. And perhaps this, along with other measures, could help us manage the rising cost of living. That's the intention, anyway. Many Australians will be getting a pay rise. More than 20 per cent of Australian workers will benefit from an increase in minimum and award wages. But is there a risk? What if we all go out and start spending? Might we all fuel inflation and in turn put more pressure on the RBA to put up interest rates? The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, is with us now to help navigate all these changes. Prime Minister, good morning.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Welcome to the new financial year.
ORITI: Happy new financial year. And I promise we will be discussing that and the festivities shortly. I just want to ask you, though, about another story first, if you don't mind. You've suspended one of your own Senators, Fatima Payman, from the Caucus after a series of actions regarding her support for Palestine. I'll just start there, if you don't mind. Why did you take that action?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, let's be very clear. It's not because of her support for a policy position that she's advocated, it's because of the question that you've just asked me. Today is July 1. It's a day where we want to talk about tax cuts. We want to talk about our economic support for providing that cost of living relief without putting pressure on inflation. And instead, you have seamlessly segued into the actions of an individual which is designed to undermine what is the collective position that the Labor Party has determined. No individual is bigger than the team. And Fatima Payman is welcome to return to participating in the team if she accepts she's a member of it.
ORITI: I mean, it's an issue, though, that she obviously feels strongly about. You know, she says she's following her heart.
PRIME MINISTER: People feel strongly about a range of issues, Thomas.
ORITI: Sure, but why can't Labor be a broad church like those opposite in the Coalition often proudly claim they are? Wouldn't the public accept that? Does there always need to be 100 per cent solidarity?
PRIME MINISTER: They're a rabble opposite, Thomas. And that's where you have at the moment, the National Party tail wagging the Liberal Party dog because you have a leader in Peter Dutton who doesn't say no to anyone, whether it be people in his Caucus saying that COVID was all a conspiracy, whether it be people who support Vladimir Putin and have defended him in his Caucus, or whether it be this unfunded thought bubble on nuclear energy. What we have is a process where people participate, people respect each other and people don't engage in indulgence, such as the decision last week. Labor supports a Palestinian state existing alongside an Israeli state. We don't support a one-state solution. The resolution moved by the Greens does nothing to advance the peace process. Pretending that the Senate recognises states is, quite frankly, untenable. And the resolution that was moved by the Greens, which didn't acknowledge two states at all, unlike Senator Wong's position, which was a principal position of two-state solution to advance the cause of a sustainable peace in the region, that's what we need. And that's a collective position that Labor has had.
ORITI: She's a young Muslim woman following her heart, though. And I just want to ask, just to put this to you, what about the Muslim Australian community? It's not like she's crossed the floor on something like tax policy. This is an issue that goes far deeper than that for many voters. What would you say to them who are hearing this? Is it enough to say, ‘Look, sorry, that's just not the way we do things in the Labor Party’?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I engage very directly with the Islamic community in my own electorate and indeed throughout Australia with faith leaders of all faiths. And I understand that this is a very difficult period that we are going through, which is why we need actually real solutions, not gestures and stunts from the Greens that were designed, be very clear, this stunt from the Greens was designed to put Fatima Payman in a difficult position. It was designed to do that. It wasn't designed to assist Palestinians in Gaza. It wasn't designed to advance the peace process. And it was counterproductive.
ORITI: Does it not suggest, forgive me for interrupting, Prime Minister, but does it not suggest, though, that if you want more diversity in your Party, which is a good thing, it's a good thing in politics, it's a bit more simple than that. That is going to mean there is a diversity of views and maybe that means loosening up this idea that there always needs to be 110 per cent Party unity.
PRIME MINISTER: No, you have a diversity of views expressed in the Labor Party. And we are a broad Party, we're a Party full of people who have strong ideas and strong values.
ORITI: But they can't peak their mind about it. And if they do, it's put down to Greens tactics.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's not true. The contradiction that was there in Senator Payman's interview yesterday, which she chose to do in order to disrupt Labor and what we are doing today, the day before the most significant assistance that has been given to working people in a very long period of time. That was a decision that Senator Payman made and Senator Payman made alone.
ORITI: Okay.
PRIME MINISTER: If you are a member of a team, you know, I watched the Hawks win their fifth game in a row yesterday. The way that they won was that they're not the best team on paper, but they act as a team. They pass the ball to each other. They don't just kick at random. They don't say, ‘We won't worry about the rules, we'll throw rather than handball’.
ORITI: Okay. All right.
PRIME MINISTER: They listen to the coach’s instructions.
ORITI: My West Coast supporting father's not going to want to hear this, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: It's just a fact. Even though the best young footballer in the league, of course, has been picked up by the West Coast.
ORITI: I'm glad you pointed that bit out, but let's…
PRIME MINISTER: I just saved our West Australian vote.
ORITI: You have, you have. It's good thing it's only 6am in the morning there.
PRIME MINISTER: You can have the best individual but you need to be part of the team. And that's what Senator Payman signed up for. She wasn’t elected to the Senate because a quarter of a million West Australians put a number one next to her name.
ORITI: Okay.
PRIME MINISTER: They put a number one in a box that said Australian Labor Party.
ORITI: I know you want to talk about the changes today though, so let's talk about that. Are you confident that what we're seeing today is enough of a bump to help people with the staggering cost of living at the moment, that it won't be inflationary?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm confident that this is real and substantial assistance whilst being responsible. We have been able to achieve a revamped tax cut. Labor's tax cuts will deliver $107 billion. People on the average wage will receive about $2,000. But in addition to that, of course, we'll see a wage increase for 2.6 million workers on the minimum wage or award wages of 3.75 per cent. In addition to that, there's a bump in people's superannuation. In addition to that, there is $300 energy bill relief.
ORITI: But could it make it worse? Inflation is not going in the direction you want at the moment. We had those numbers that shocked everyone last week.
PRIME MINISTER: No, what it will do, well, economists tend to extrapolate one way or the other. The truth is that numbers do bounce around, but the trend is in the right direction. We have almost halved inflation. And that's because of the discipline that we have shown in budget policy, where we have brought inflation down and where we have continued to make a difference. And one of the ways that we have done that is by making sure that we've produced two budget surpluses in a row, something that the Coalition never did. And that is assisting to put that downward pressure.
ORITI: We've got a minute before the news. Samantha Mostyn to be sworn in as a Governor-General. What do you hope she'll bring to the role?
PRIME MINISTER: I think she'll bring dignity, compassion, hard work and integrity to the role. Samantha Mostyn I think will be, obviously, she's Australia's second female Governor-General, but she will bring her experience. She grew up in a defence family here in Canberra. She's also worked in business, in sport, in the not-for-profit sector. She's someone who's eminently qualified. And I think she will be an outstanding leader for our nation.
ORITI: I think there's a dog that needs your attention there, Prime Minister. So, I'll let you go.
PRIME MINISTER: That is what happens when my security detail arrive. She knows they're going to take dad away.
ORITI: All right. She doesn't like it.
PRIME MINISTER: She doesn't approve, does Toto? So, she expresses her concern every morning.
ORITI: I'll let you give her a cuddle. Thanks for joining us.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much.