RICHARD KING, HOST: Good morning, Prime Minister.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Richard. Good to be with you.
KING: Likewise. Look, I did invite people to write in and say if they have a question for you, and I might just mention this one to soften you up first because it's a nice one. This one comes from Deano in Casino, ‘tell the Prime Minister I have nothing to complain to him about. I’m 77, I eat and drink what I like, have a good super income, enjoy a good health system, etc. Only in Australia, keep up the good work Albo’. So there you go.
PRIME MINISTER: Good on you Deano from Casino.
KING: Deano from Casino giving you a big rap there.
PRIME MINISTER: It is a great country that we all very privileged to live in.
KING: We certainly are very privileged to live in the lucky country. Okay. The Voice, it's a hot subject. I did ask our Attorney General Mark Dreyfus a couple of weeks ago when I spoke to him. Look, you know, everybody says, and everybody seems to be on board with constitutional recognition for Aboriginal Australians. Why, in your opinion, is that so important Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: Because it's important we recognise the fullness of our history. And our history, of course, goes back at least 60,000 years, we share this continent with the oldest continuous culture on earth and that should be a source of pride. And we should just acknowledge it in our nation's birth certificate, our Constitution.
KING: Okay. Well, everybody seems to be on board, including Peter Dutton with constitutional recognition but not the Voice. Why not, a lot of people have suggested, have two questions on the referendum, one is about constitutional recognition and one about the Voice and keep them separate?
PRIME MINISTER: Because what occurred is that the Voice, of course, isn't my proposal, it's a proposal that arose after five years of consultation. And we can even go back, further leading up to a constitutional convention that was held of Aboriginal people in 2017 and that produced the Uluru Statement from the Heart. And that said, we wanted two things, we wanted recognition but the form of recognition was the Voice. What the Voice is, is simply consultation, it’s simply good manners. So the proposal that will be before the Australian people would do two things. One, it would recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Australia's first peoples in our Constitution. That's a matter of fact. And secondly, it would provide for them to be consulted on matters that affect them. We know that there’s big gaps in education, in health, in infant mortality, in incarceration rates, in so many areas between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia. And what the Voice would provide is the opportunity to make representations to the government of the day. They wouldn't have a right of veto, it's not a third chamber of Parliament, it's not a funding body. It simply is, as the Uluru Statement from the Heart said, they want to be heard. And I think this is an important opportunity for the country to promote reconciliation.
KING: Right, okay. Now, why not then, why not because a lot of people you know, they're talking about we need more information, we need more detail, we're unclear as to what this is, why not because you can legislate the Voice, set it up, and let's see what it looks like and then if everybody's happy about it then have a referendum down the track to embody it in the Constitution?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the beauty of the words as put forward, maintaining the primacy of Parliament, so that the Voice can change its structure, its functions over time, according to what Parliament determines. So it's not something that will be in stone by being in the Constitution what will be though, is the fact of its existence. So we can continue to, as no doubt governments will just like they adjust a range of other issues, because parliament is remaining prime and it doesn't impact on the power of Parliament that's why this is so important going forward.
KING: All right. What about the fear factor that a lot of people are suggesting that if it's embodied in the Constitution, the Voice as an advisory body, once it's in the Constitution, basically the High Courts in charge that there'll be ad infinitum, we'll be spending public money on High Court challenges?
PRIME MINISTER: What at you have to do is just listen to people like Justice French, who was the Chief Justice of the High Court. Justice Hayne, who is a former high court judge, senior legal people like Bret Walker, probably Australia's leading legal academic, Anne Twomey. They've all dismissed those concerns. This is a legally sound proposition and makes it very clear that Parliament's in charge and the wording that’s there it says that the, ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations.’ There's no obligation and they're certainly not an obligation on the Government to agree to the Voice. There is though the provision for the Voice to be heard, for at least the views to be put. And what we know, Richard, is that when Indigenous people are involved in areas like justice reinvestment, in Indigenous Rangers programmes, community health programmes, you get better outcomes. The Voice is just a means to the end, by having a structure which listens to Indigenous people you'll get better outcomes.
KING: Okay, well, simply the Constitution basically outlines what the Government can do. So if the referendum gets up then Parliament will sort out what the Voice actually is?
PRIME MINISTER: Exactly, and that is common sense. The Constitution is a document that most people probably haven't looked at too many times. But it outlines just the principles. The detail is up to the Parliament.
KING: Could it potentially be another huge bureaucracy, the Voice?
PRIME MINISTER: No, because what it is looking at in the principles that are outlined of how the Voice will be operated, there’s eight principles that have been outlined by the referendum working group, one of those is ‘it will work with existing organisations’ as well, it won't try to supplant things that have been in place for a long period of time. And a number of state governments, of course, have established structures themselves. So those structures will feed into the national Voice. In South Australia, for example, recently the Parliament adopted a Voice and it was positive. Every time there has been an advance for Indigenous Australians, there's been fear campaigns raised. Remember, we didn't apologise for the Stolen Generations that caused so much heartache, in spite of the Royal Commission providing such damning findings. And we didn't do that for many years, because it was said, ‘Oh, well, it'll lead to all this legal cases, and it will lead to a whole range of problems or divide the country.’ Guess what? It brought the country together. It was a very positive event. No one now says that we should not have made that apology that Kevin Rudd gave in 2008. And this will be the same. This will bring the country together, it will be a moment of national unity.
KING: Budget will be handed down next month, cost of living obviously, it's front and foremost with I think every Australian. You've only got to look at the price of petrol, I mentioned this morning, I think $2.29 for 91 Unleaded and the variation was from about 50 or 60 cents. I keep getting reminded about the commitment you made prior to the election about the $275 reduction in power bills which certainly didn't happen. Can we expect any measures in the upcoming budget, which is only a few weeks away now that will impact in a positive way the cost of living for Australians?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, you can and one of those measures will be our energy price relief plan. That is a one and a half billion dollar fund to provide support for people with energy bills by reducing them and that will have a significant impact. I mean, bizarrely, the Coalition, the Liberal Party chose to vote against that in the Parliament. But that's just one of the measures that will be included in the budget which is now less than two weeks away.
KING: And while we're talking about energy, the oldest coal fired power, in fact it's the oldest power station in Australia, it's just up the road from where I am. Liddell power station will be closing completely next Friday. Eraring, which is the biggest power station in Australia is set to close in 2025. Can you assure us that there won't be problems with energy supply in the short term and the long term?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm very confident that what we're seeing now is a significant surge in investment in new energy. And as well as that the work that we've done with the former New South Wales government, to be fair, should give credit where credit's due, we made major announcements there in the Hunter with the then Premier Perrottet at the end of last year about fixing the energy grid. A significant investment of many billions of dollars from both levels of government to make sure that was brought into the 21st century. What was suffered from, from the former federal government was 10 years of denial and nothing happening, energy leaving the grid, and nothing coming online, and talk over Liddell. For many years, Josh Frydenberg used to stand up and say that Liddell was going to be kept open and of course that was a market based decision that was made. Now, no final decision has been made, my understanding is, by the company involved about Eraring. But we will make, sure working with state and territory governments, that we deal with the transition that is occurring.
KING: There’s been a lot of attention, and rightly so, on Alice Springs, particularly levels of violence and alcoholism there. The temporary alcohol restrictions are due to expire at the end of this month. They seem to have, although there are mixed messages, have a positive impact, will they be extended?
PRIME MINISTER: I think that it has been positive and the Northern Territory Government have taken charge of those issues. We'll continue to work constructively with them and with the local community as well. Some of these issues are, of course, intergenerational. They've been around for a long period of time and we need to do better. All governments have not done as well as we should have when it comes to these issues. And when you're dealing with intergenerational poverty and some despair, then you need to have a major effort. We have introduced a $250 million Central Australia plan and that includes work on community services, work on employment, work on engaging in justice issues as well.
KING: Victorian Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe has attracted a lot of negative media attention and certainly to callers to this program, a lot of negative comments. Certainly her behaviour is not a good advertisement for Australian politics, given that she’s a Senator she’ll be there for six years. Do you think it's right that somebody that carries on like Lidia Thorpe should be allowed to sit in the Australian Senate for six years?
PRIME MINISTER: I hope that Lidia gets some support. I think that that level of behaviour is quite clearly unacceptable. And I think there are obvious issues that need to be dealt with in terms of her health issues. These are not the actions of anyone who should be participating, in society in a normal way, let alone a Senator. And Lydia needs to be very conscious of the way in which this behaviour has been seen. They are repeat exercises now. The event at Mardi Gras where she laid in front of a truck, that was actually a truck for Twenty10 that a youth service that look after young gay and lesbian people and a service from my electorate. Why someone would lay in front of that truck in order to get attention is beyond my comprehension and I hope that she gets some form of support.
KING: Very quickly, royal journalist and commentator Camilla Tominey is quoted saying, ‘it would be a sad day If Australia breaks ties with Britain given its common binds’ She said a love of beer, cooked meat and indeed the royal family. You'll be going over for King Charles III coronation. Is Australia becoming a republic just over the horizon or as you said, maybe in the next term of Parliament if you’re re-elected?
PRIME MINISTER: I support Australia having an Australian as our head of state, but I respect the system of Government that we have. I have the greatest of respect for King Charles, and I think it is appropriate that the Australian Prime Minister attend the coronation of King Charles who will be our head of state. I'll be attending respectfully, I look forward to another audience with the King. And I hope that it is a very successful event, which I'm sure it will. The British know how to do pageantry and I'm sure they will do it very well.
KING: Thank you very much for your time this morning, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much Richard.