LUKE FORREST, HOST: Now, Brookie, we have a very special guest on the line, if not the biggest guest we've had on the show. It is the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese. How are you, Albo?
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. I am very well. Greetings from beautiful Rockhampton this morning. The Fitzroy River was shining this morning. I've got to say, it was just lovely here.
FORREST: Oh, well, welcome to Queensland. Now, before we get into the money that you're putting into the Bruce Highway - the cricket. Now, I nearly got divorced watching the cricket. The Aussies, how proud are you of be them beating India?
PRIME MINISTER: They were awesome. And I think after that first Test as well, where, you know, frankly, we got smashed in Perth, for them to come back and win the series 3-1 is a remarkable effort. And the way that new players came in, you know, Scotty Boland, how good was he in Sydney? You know, 10 wickets in the match, six in that second innings where it really counted. And they all stepped up and they're such a great bunch of people, led so well by Patrick Cummins, who I think will go down as one of the greatest Australian captains ever.
FORREST: Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: Given their trophy cabinet is now full.
FORREST: Yes, that's it.
BROOKE SMITH, HOST: Now, we obviously have you on the show to talk about a very big announcement that came up yesterday. Talk us through it.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're putting an additional $7.2 billion into the Bruce Highway. That takes the Australian Government funding up to $17 billion. And we want to make sure that it's fixed. We know it's Australia's most dangerous road. We know that it's been neglected by the former Government and we want to make sure that it is made safer. But also, it's an important economic artery as well for the whole of Queensland. Some 60 per cent of Queenslanders use the Bruce Highway either for just getting out and about because they're locals along the Highway, or going on holidays or visiting family and friends. And so it is important that it be brought up to scratch. The truth is that it's not at that point yet. I'm here in Rocky, where we have previously put additional money in for the Rockhampton Ring Road. Now, that was planned when I was the Minister for Infrastructure more than a decade ago, but a hole hadn't even been dug until we came to office. So, we put the additional money in and now it's under construction with hundreds of workers on site.
FORREST: Now, Albo, since I've moved up, it's all I've done on air is to complain about the Bruce Highway. Is it true you were listening, and that is the reason that you're putting in the $7.2 billion?
PRIME MINISTER: Mate, you can take credit for it if you want. The important thing is it gets done. But everyone that we talked to – yesterday at the press conference, I had Wayne Sachs, who was and is still an Ambo. He's worked out of Gympie for 30 years. He's been in Ambo for almost 50. He's an amazing guy who came to see me in 2009 and said that the previous Minister for Transport, who was the local member there for Wide Bay, had said it was the worst bit of road in Australia, which it was the most dangerous in terms of figures and accidents. And he certainly advocated so strongly for that section between Cooroy to Curra. And we got it done, which is so important. And we'll get more work done as a result of this investment that we'll make. The Queensland Government have announced they'll have additional money there, 20 per cent, in their Budget in June. And we want to get on with this as soon as it can be done.
FORREST: Fantastic effort to get that over the line. Now, you don't know Brooke, but Brooke is probably the least political person that I know. She knows nothing about politics. So, what I thought –
SMITH: Well, so much so yesterday – say what I said yesterday when you went to tag him in our Instagram story.
FORREST: Yeah, we tagged @albomp, which is your Instagram handle. Brooke goes, “shouldn't it be PM, not MP?”
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's an old handle. That's a fair point. But they’re actually quite difficult to change –
SMITH: Because Prime Minister sounds like way more of a flex than MP, if you ask me.
PRIME MINISTER: Well it is. And you're right, Brooke. That's a fair point that Brooke makes. She might not know a lot about politics, but she knows about social media.
FORREST: She knows about social media. So, what I thought is I'm going to ask her a couple of questions about current politics, and you just give us your opinion on her answers. Okay? You ready for this, Brookie?
PRIME MINISTER: Okay. This could be dangerous.
FORREST: Brooke, what are your thoughts on how you would improve the cost of living crisis at the moment?
SMITH: Okay, so the cost of living and youth crime go hand in hand, right? So, I thought that you could solve both these problems at once. Break it up into cities and regions and the lower the crime rate, the lower the cost of things are in that region.
FORREST: Oh, really?
SMITH: So, then there will be areas that have higher cost of things which will force people to be stricter and parents are stricter on their kids, and then that will lower the crime rate too.
FORREST: Has she got a career in politics, Albo?
PRIME MINISTER: We'll call Brooke. Don't get her to call us, I think. I think we – I tell you what, Brooke, you know what lowers the cost of living and can have an impact as well? Is giving people opportunity. So, Free TAFE courses, giving them hope and a job, as well, is really important. I'm aware youth crime is a real problem and people who commit crimes, of course, should pay for that, but one of –
SMITH: I've got an idea for that too.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah.
SMITH: So, I'm currently watching, I'm currently watching Squid Games. So, that could have legs –
PRIME MINISTER: Squid Games! Okay. Let’s not go down the Squid Games –
SMITH: Or Hunger Games – or a Hunger Games, but every region, you just don't. You just don't die, you know?
FORREST: She also said to make everything $2. She reckons that could solve the cost of living crisis as well.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, but the news is, Brooke, is that inflation, when we came to office, had a six in front of it and was going up. Now it's got a two in front of it and is going down. So, we are getting there. We recognise that cost of living is a real issue, which is why we've done that. To put that downward pressure on inflation whilst doing Free TAFE. Not just that, but Cheaper Medicines, Cheaper Child Care, Energy Bill Relief. And the good news is you will have noticed in your pay packets a tax cut that we introduce for every single taxpayer from July –
FORREST: Oh, more of them, Albo! More of them.
PRIME MINISTER. So, that's made a difference to you.
SMITH: Absolutely.
FORREST: I love it. Now, and this is a, this is an NRL-based question. I want to ask Brooke first. Who's going to finish high this year, the Broncos or the Rabbitohs?
SMITH: Broncos.
FORREST: Albo?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, obviously it's the Rabbitohs. You know, we've got Wayne Bennett, a great Queenslander in charge and he's a super coach. He's going to work his magic.
SMITH: Albo, I don't know if you've got any contacts, but I've got some contacts with the Broncos if you want to, if you want me to get some tickets, we can go to a game.
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, I know the Broncos well. They're a good club.
SMITH: Of course.
PRIME MINISTER: And I think Adam Reynolds has been a fantastic buy for the Broncos because he has that experience and I hope he's a bit more injury free this year for the, for the Broncs.
FORREST: How's Brooke there? She's got some contacts. I don't know if you've got any contacts, Albo, to get some tickets to the Broncos. And last but not least, what date's the election going to be?
PRIME MINISTER: It'll be sometime between now and May in 2025. I can confidently say it will be in 2025. We should have fixed terms, shouldn't we?
FORREST: We should. You can't give us a date, Albo? A date, a day?
SMITH: Good try.
PRIME MINISTER: It'll be – here's another exclusive tip. It will be on a Saturday.
FORREST: Oh, thank you. And there'll be sausage sizzles at all the polling booths.
SMITH: All jokes aside, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us about the upgrade for the Bruce. We really, really appreciate it, Albo.
PRIME MINISTER: My absolute pleasure. And have a wonderful day.
FORREST: We'll see you at the Broncos-Rabbitohs game.
PRIME MINISTER: Indeed.