WILL GOODINGS, HOST Right on 21 minutes to 8, the Prime Minister of Australia joins us on FiveAA Breakfast. Prime Minister, good morning to you.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Good to be with you.
DAVID PENBERTHY, HOST: Thanks for joining us, PM, we had an absolutely chock-a-block board yesterday of calls and texts off the back of the Budget that you announced on Tuesday. It's fair to say our listeners were overwhelmingly underwhelmed by the prospect of a $5 a week tax cut.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is a top up of the tax cuts that began this year. It'll deliver around about $2,500 for average Australians once it's fully in place. And now what we know from this morning is that Peter Dutton and the Coalition want to repeal our tax cuts, want to take $2,500 off people at the same time as they want to cut everything else, cut Medicare, cut education, cut everything else to pay for their $600 billion nuclear plan. This is just one element of our cost of living support. Along with cheaper medicines, cheaper child care, the policies were put in place, including Free TAFE, which last night was made permanent in the Senate through legislation. Triple the bulk billing incentive for Medicare.
PENBERTHY: Okay. But the really big hits on people's hip pocket, there's none bigger than power. We've seen AEMO talking about a nine per cent increase which is going to swallow up whatever other cost of living measures you've specifically brought in for power. The cost of private health insurance has soared yet again and the cost of general home insurance has gone up. Whatever the total amount of the tax savings you've outlined are, no one seems to be buying it.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we've done, David, as you know, is have cost of living measures from the time that we have come to government, whilst putting downward pressure on inflation. And inflation fell again yesterday. It had a six in front and was rising. Now it's got a two in front and it's falling. Interest rates were rising when we came to office, now they are falling. Wages were going backwards when we came to office, now they are rising. Taxes have been decreased and we intervened, of course, to make sure that every Australian got a tax cut. What the challenge for the Opposition is tonight is to actually outline what is their actual plan to assist people on cost of living beyond what they've leaked to the papers, which is basically the leftovers of the Morrison Government have come up with another Morrison plan, something that only lasts for a year and then disappears at the same time as they're taking away these tax cuts.
PENBERTHY: Should we read into that then, that you do not support the fuel excise and won't be copying the fuel excise idea that Peter Dutton is going to be unveiling tonight in his Budget Reply.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the copying that has occurred is the copying that's been done by Peter Dutton, who seems to copy policies either from the United States when it comes to the Americanisation of the health system, a user pay system, which is what he's always wanted and what he'll move to, and the copying of this Morrison Government policy that only lasts for 12 months.
PENBERTHY. So, on that basis, should we presume you don't support it, you wouldn't be doing it as PM if you win again?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have put our policies in the Budget on Tuesday night. What we want is permanent changes and that is why changing the tax rates, particularly that lower tax rate so it applies for all taxpayers, is what we are not just putting forward, but what we've legislated last night. And what the Coalition have said, after voting against it, have said that they will repeal and rip out $2,500 from people's pay packets next if they are elected to office.
GOODINGS: Prime Minister, Treasury estimates contained within the Budget Papers say we can expect somewhere in the order of 1.8 million people to come to Australia through 2029. Why is it a good idea to bring in effectively another South Australia into the country in the midst of a housing crisis?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, of course, what all the estimates show is that the migration numbers were anticipated to be much higher in 2019 –
GOODINGS: They were estimated to be much lower this last year and they're exceeded by 75,000.
PRIME MINISTER: And they are being lowered. Peter Dutton voted against. One of the things that we can do in terms of the net overseas migration is to put a control on student numbers. We introduced legislation to do that and of course Peter Dutton voted against it.
GOODINGS: Sure, but 1.8 million is your number. Why is it good policy? Because I can tell you, we get texts every day saying people don't understand the population plan in Australia. They can't get into housing. South Australia is the tightest rental market in the nation. Explain to those people why your number, 1.8 million, is good policy.
PRIME MINISTER: It is less than was anticipated to be there in 2019. That's the first point. The highest number of visas issued, first and second on the podium, is Peter Dutton, wins gold and silver when it comes to visas which have been introduced.
PENBERTHY: Can we just try to talk more about you? Can we, sorry, PM, can we talk about you, not Peter Dutton, over and over and over.
PRIME MINISTER: If you give me a chance, I will do so. The fact is that we also need skilled workers in this country. We do need students – provide our second largest export. So, it's important that the right students are able to enter Australia because that produces income for us. And it's not surprising, in spite of the fact that we have a scare campaign that after our borders were closed for so long, then people came up to Australia, came to Australia, including Australians. Remember this – Australian citizens were locked out of Australia during COVID. Locked out, couldn't return home. People who were Australian citizens, people who were born here, people who'd lived here their whole lives.
GOODINGS: They're home now. We're talking about numbers over the next four years.
PRIME MINISTER. So, you had a spike. What we are doing is making sure, in terms of permanent migration, the size of next year's Permanent Migration Program will be no more than 185,000.
GOODINGS. So, I want to drill down on this. So, the 1.8 million over the next four years to house those people, according to the ABS average of 2.5 people a house, is 725,000 new houses. You've promised to build 1.2 million houses in this term. How many have you built thus far?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, what we are building is building homes through social housing.
GOODINGS: How many?
PRIME MINISTER: We're building homes through – well, I don't know if you've ever built a home, but what you do is you get the funding, you start the construction and you build it, and projects are underway right around the country.
GOODINGS: How many projects are underway?
PRIME MINISTER: There are numerous programs underway in every state.
GOODINGS: Are we talking like ten thousand, a hundred thousand?
PRIME MINISTER: There are thousands of homes underway. Peter Malinauskas as well, has made recent announcements about housing in South Australia. We're working with state and territory governments to make sure that we can deliver more homes. South Australia, as you would be aware – I remember being on this program, I've been around a while, with people saying that there weren't enough people staying in South Australia. South Australia is growing in part because of the fantastic efforts of Premier Malinauskas. We'll continue to work with him to make sure that housing is delivered, whether it be public housing, whether it be private rentals with our Build to Rent scheme and the incentives are there, which are anticipated by the Property Council to be able to deliver around about 200,000 additional private rental dwellings as a result of that policy. Our Help to Buy scheme will deliver 40,000 additional people into home ownership. We have a comprehensive plan, we have an incentive which is there for states and territories as well, to change their planning laws to make sure that we can get, where it's appropriate, higher densities, particularly close to transport corridors and close to infrastructure.
GOODINGS: Next week's potentially a huge week for Australian exporters. The US President's called it Liberation Day, April 2nd, when he's going to announce reciprocal tariffs and tariffs on other countries. Have you received any indication that we are either going to be included or excluded from the announcements on that day?
PRIME MINISTER: We are certainly engaged very closely with the US Administration and we remain a party to those constructive discussions. Of course, Australia doesn't have any tariffs on US goods entering Australia under the Free Trade Agreement, and therefore the idea of reciprocal is very clear that there shouldn't be tariffs placed on Australian goods because we don't do the reverse and the United States has a trade surplus with Australia.
PENBERTHY: What about on the PBS, Prime Minister, because there's been some dark mutterings coming out of the American pharmaceutical industry about our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. They view that as a distortion of prices. Is that something that you guys are going to actually be prepared to fight Washington over?
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely. We're not negotiating over the PBS. It's a part of who we are. The proud Labor legacy introduced by the Curtin and Chifley Governments during the 1940s. We're strengthening it. We're reducing the cost of medicines on the PBS in Tuesday night's Budget down to $25. That's the price they were in 2004, as part of our cost of living measures.
PENBERTHY: And just finally, PM, any trips to Yarralumla tomorrow?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we'll wait and see. At some stage, I will call the election, if only to stop being asked about it.
PENBERTHY: We have a very important local football game on Saturday, May 10th. Adelaide play Port Adelaide in the annual derby. We wouldn't want to wreck that.
PRIME MINISTER: The derby.
PENBERTHY: Do it a week before on the 3rd, surely?
PRIME MINISTER: When is it? May 10.
PENBERTHY: It's May the 10th.
GOODINGS: The showdown.
PENBERTHY: The showdown.
PRIME MINISTER: The showdown. And you, you're a Crows man, aren't you?
PENBERTHY: Very much so, yes. Yes. But we've got a lot of good Port listeners. We had one of them on the program yesterday, Mark Butler.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, no, Mark's very passionate, and Mali is extremely passionate.
PENBERTHY: He's feral. Off the charts.
PRIME MINISTER: I do know that Port are playing my team the Hawks in the Gather Round.
PENBERTHY: That's going to be a big grudge match, that one. Even bigger than the looming federal election, whenever it is. But we'll let you get back to running the country.
PRIME MINISTER: Even more important you reckon?
PENBERTHY: Absolutely. Absolutely.
PRIME MINISTER: I don't know about that. I think it's important, but we're three for three, the Hawks so –
PENBERTHY: Travelling very nicely.
PRIME MINISTER: I would like to think that we could be on 100 per cent after three weeks of the election campaign, but we'll see how we go.
PENBERTHY: No worries. We'll catch up again soon. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, thanks for joining us this morning on FiveAA.