KELLY HIGGINS-DEVINE, HOST: Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Good afternoon.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon. Can I cast my vote?
HIGGINS-DEVINE: Sure. Are you going banger or clanger?
PRIME MINISTER: Clanger. No, it's a shocker. It was ordinary in 1974 and it hasn't got better.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: And would you believe, six weeks at number one? It's shocking, isn't it? Adults in 1974 need to take a good, strong look at themselves. Now, you've been at QUT in Brisbane with a battery announcement.
PRIME MINISTER: have. We’ve been releasing our National Battery Strategy, $540 million to assist with making batteries here. We know that demand for batteries will explode. Hopefully, not the batteries, but the demand will in future years. And we have everything that goes into a battery. We have one of the world's largest lithium deposits, we have copper, we have everything that we need. And quite often, what we've done is miss out on the opportunities to value add and to have manufacturing here. We need to be more resilient as an economy. So, it's part of our Future Made in Australia agenda is to make batteries here. And we can do, and we will do.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: Where are we going to make them?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's interesting. One of the companies that have made a big battery that was on site at QUT had parts built in Townsville, in Rockhampton, in Maryborough, and then on site there in Brisbane, just near the airport.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: Out at Banyo.
PRIME MINISTER: That's right. And it strikes me like, with a whole range of manufacturing, the big winners will be regions. And there's no state that's more regional than the great state of Queensland.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: Well, in fact, there's talk of secession from Rob Katter only yesterday. It's back on the agenda. How long have we been talking about North Queensland just getting rid of the rest of us?
PRIME MINISTER: That's been there for a long time. But I think the whole state of Queensland will be big beneficiaries from our Future Made in Australia agenda. I know that when I, during COVID I did three big road trips down the coast and one from Barcaldine through Emerald and then down.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: That's a big trip.
PRIME MINISTER: And they were all big. And so, I certainly got to know every bit of the Bruce, and all of those towns. And one of the things that struck me was how successful Maryborough has been. And that's because of the EDI Downer site. That single event of rail manufacturing being brought back here has then seen a multiplier, other industries go and join there and it's quite a prosperous regional town now. And Hervey Bay, just to the north, has benefited from that as well. We can make things here. We must make things here. It's in our interests of our national security, it's in the interests of jobs, but it's also how we take advantage of the transition to clean energy. I met with Rio Tinto today. What they're doing in Central Queensland is very exciting and to take advantage of, they've done a renewable energy deal worth $3.5 billion and they want firming capacity to add to that. But the prospects there for, really, an extensive growth in the Gladstone region, amongst others, are substantial.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, my guest this afternoon on 612 ABC Brisbane with Kelly Higgins-Devine. It's 5:12pm. Can I take you to the Singapore Airlines incident? Obviously, it was awful. One person dead, many others injured, including eight Australians. Do we have an update on how they're doing, those that have been in hospitals, especially three in intensive care?
PRIME MINISTER: The eight Australians are still in hospital in Bangkok. For those people who are seeking information, they might have relatives or friends, the numbers of the consular emergency centre they can contact for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are here in Australia, 1300 555 135, or from overseas, +61 262 613 305. So, we are certainly working with the family and friends. Our heart goes out to the family and friends of the deceased who passed away. People have seen the footage. It's quite shocking that this occurred.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: Absolutely. The mess of the cabin.
PRIME MINISTER: You don't think, when you think of airline travel, it's actually relatively pretty safe, I've got to say, particularly commercial airline travel. We know about Qantas’ extraordinary record, of course, of not having lost a passenger at all. And we know that compared with our road toll and other incidents as well. So, I think people will be shocked if they see that footage. And certainly, we hope that the Australians all come through this. And we are providing that ongoing support for them and their families.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: Talking about support, let's go to New Caledonia. Great, of course, that so many Australians are home, but I just want to hear, I want to play for you what Megan Soutar, who's still trapped on one of those northern islands, said to Steve Austin on Mornings.
MEGAN SOUTAR: It's a little bit scary and disheartening at the moment. We're sort of trapped to the north of New Caledonia, pretty much cut off. And we can't access the airports at the moment. And at this stage, DFAT has no plans or has given us no idea of any plans in relation to how to get us out and other Australians stuck in the north and on the island. Everything seems to be centred around the centre of Noumea, which we do understand, but we just want some kind of plan in place in how to get us out.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: So, when will they be home?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, DFAT will be working very hard for every Australian. That's what we do. Of course, the danger that was there was particularly in Noumea where we saw riots and where people were literally hiding inside and not engaging at all. The airport there was shut. We got planes in as soon as we could to evacuate Australians. There were 300 people registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. And Foreign Affairs and Trade will continue to work with all Australian citizens. We actually, I think, do an outstanding job. Not perfect, but under difficult circumstances. I'm not aware of what island this person is on and what the circumstances are. Obviously, it might be at this point, difficult. I assume they probably travelled by…
HIGGINS-DEVINE: I must admit, I don't know the circumstances as well
PRIME MINISTER: So, we just don't know. So, it's hard to comment in that abstract. What I do know is that Foreign Affairs and Trade have been working 24 hours around the clock. I do know that we had planes on standby. And as soon as the airport was open, the Royal Australian Air Force planes were there. I did notice the French planes were here at the airport in Brisbane this afternoon.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: Are we able to get any more planes over there?
PRIME MINISTER: We can and we have been evacuating Australian citizens from there. And we'll continue to work. There was a report, for example, that the Australian facilities weren't open. They were working. The doors, for security reasons when there were riots going on, quite often people will go towards a foreign flagged building. And so, I do know that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have been working around the clock to assist our citizens.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: So, they're still working to get all those remaining people out of there. Apparently she's in a small village two hours away from Noumea Airport.
PRIME MINISTER: I obviously am not going to…
HIGGINS-DEVINE: To know the situation of every person. Okay. But we will get planes over there?
PRIME MINISTER: We will provide support for Australians. That's what we do.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: ABC Radio Brisbane with Kelly Higgins-Devine and Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, is my guest this afternoon. When we asked for questions, one of the hot button issues that came up was that of migration. And I must admit it was a very strange moment for all of us, Anthony Albanese, when we had a Labor Premier, Steven Miles, in agreement with Federal Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton.
STEVEN MILES, PREMIER OF QUEENSLAND: The level of migration we're currently experiencing in Queensland is putting too much pressure on our housing system. So, I welcome Peter Dutton echoing my comments. At the moment, we have a population that is increasing at roughly twice the rate that the Queensland construction sector can build houses.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: Just too many people coming to Queensland. Normally, we're saying, ‘Come to Queensland’.
PRIME MINISTER: Queensland's popular. It is a great place to live.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: Look, it is. It really is. But we're being loved to death at the moment. But this is a situation that's happening. It's sort of worse in Queensland at the moment, but it's happening all over the country. What are we actually going to do with migration numbers?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're fixing the mess that we inherited from Peter Dutton. We'll halve numbers down to 260,000 in the coming financial year. And that is necessary. We're doing that by fixing some of the problems that were there. Mr Morrison, when he was Prime Minister, changed the regs so that students who were coming here on student visas had unlimited work rights. There's a reason why that happened in terms of the context with skill shortages to encourage people to come.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: Was that around COVID as well?
PRIME MINISTER: It was post that, that’s right. So, one of the things that has occurred, though, is an explosion in student numbers. Students play an important role for our economy. They're an important export. It's also an important contribution to the region. Australia benefits, but countries benefit as well from the upskilling that our fantastic universities and TAFE colleges can provide. But some of that was essentially a backdoor way of people not genuinely studying, but just trying to get here so that they could work and then stay here for a while. So, that led to a massive spike in numbers. We're getting on top of those issues as well. One of the things we're doing is prioritising permanent migration rather than those temporary migration numbers. We do need to be careful about what we do because we need some skilled migrants.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: But we don't have houses for 260,000 people. Where are they going to go?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're going to build them. And that's what we have a plan for in addition, for 1.2 million additional homes to be built between now and the end of the decade, we have substantially increased our housing funding. We have now $32 billion in the Budget for housing for areas, not just public housing, but for areas like Build to Rent as well. How do we encourage the private sector to build to rent? We have our Help to Buy scheme, which is there as well.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: Sorry to interrupt, Prime Minister. Isn't one way of doing that to get rid of capital gains, for example, and to get rid of negative gearing on houses that already exist and to encourage that for new stock?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there's a debate there, of course, about whether that would actually boost supply, but we have no plans. We're not looking at those areas. Our tax policy is to give a tax cut to every taxpayer and that comes in on July 1. And that will make an enormous difference to your listeners.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: But it doesn't have to do with housing stock.
PRIME MINISTER: No, but it will make a difference. That's what our tax policies has been aimed at, having greater tax for multinationals. A tax went through last Thursday. Finally, our PRRT, we had the resources sector saying they were willing to pay more taxes then it was being held up in the Senate. That went through, and that's a good thing. It means extra revenue. But importantly, the tax cuts as well will make a substantial difference come July 1, along with the $300 energy relief that will go to every household. And Steven Miles has got a substantial number as well.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: If you've got a house, though, there are so many without them, where it's almost to the point, isn't it, where we're going to have to have tent cities.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we are building more houses. We have our Housing Australia Future Fund, we have our Social Housing Accelerator. We have all of these programs in place. And we did a deal just last month to extend our housing and homelessness package to states and territories, worth over $9 billion. And that was a deal that we did prior to the Budget so that the money could be included in our Budget.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: Okay, a couple of questions. Yvonne wants a commitment that you'll always have cash as an option for people who don't want to join the digital economy.
PRIME MINISTER: I'm pro people having cash if they wish to do so. My team sometimes laugh at me a little bit because I've always got a couple of hundred dollars in my wallet. I shouldn't say that probably on radio. Now, I'll have to be cautious.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: Your media team are looking at you like, ‘Wait a minute, you've got cash?’.
PRIME MINISTER: No, they know. They know. Because you need it. As you go around, you need it as well. You can't always tap your credit card. So, cash, from my perspective, will always play an important role. And I think, rest assured, whilst I'm Prime Minister, that will be the case.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: All right. And a very special question I've been asked to ask you, Prime Minister. Why do you think Cold Chisel has lasted 50 years?
PRIME MINISTER: Cold Chisel are legends. They've lasted because of the quality of their work, in terms of their albums, their songwriting, their musicianship, in terms of whether it's, you know, it was Don Walker on keyboards or Ian Moss on guitar. Barnsie, of course, that unmistakable, even though, of course, Scottish origins, the unmistakable voice is just extraordinary. And they are a quintessential Australian band who tell Australian stories. And live, they were just absolutely awesome.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: Were you a fan of the band back in the day?
PRIME MINISTER: I was a big fan. I remember gigs at the Horden and the UNSW Roundhouse and various venues pubs, Sylvania Pub, Coogee Bay. They were just a fantastic pub rock band. At a time when you could go see, you'd look up and decide to see Cold Chisel, Oils, INXS. There were so many options. But live, if you didn't get to see them, I've still got vinyl like Swingshift, I think it's Swingshift, double album, blue cover, and The Last Stand as well to play. And I still certainly listen to them. And I think that Breakfast at Sweethearts is one of the great Australian albums.
HIGGINS-DEVINE: Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Thank you for your time this afternoon.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much.