CHRIS ‘DITTS’ DITTMAR, HOST: The rock star welcome to Triple M for our PM. He is in Adelaide today. There must be something happening. Let's find out. Prime Minister, welcome. Is there a big announcement? Why are you in Adelaide?
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much. I'm in Adelaide to meet some of the fantastic students who've been completing their Fee Free TAFE courses last year in carpentry and electrical. We know there's massive skill shortages in construction and if you want a great career that's well paid, where you'll never be out of work, just go become an electrician. And all of us have had the experience of trying to find one over the years. And so I'll be meeting some of those graduates who did their courses, cost them nothing, they're now working and it's fantastic while they do their apprenticeship. So, this has been an amazing program. We promised 180,000 and we found that we delivered 300,000 places in one year last year.
LAURA ‘LOZ’ O’CALLAGHAN, HOST: Wow.
PRIME MINISTER: We've allocated another 300,000 from this year. And it'll go such a long way to addressing those skill shortages that are a real handbrake on the economy. So, I'll be with Louise Miller-Frost and the state Minister for Training in South Australia, Blair Boyer, because we're delivering this in partnership with the states. But it's just been such a successful program.
MARK ‘ROO’ RICCIUTO, HOST: Well, it's good news because the housing crisis is a big issue. What are your top three priorities for the year Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the first is continuing to address cost of living. That's got to be number one. The second is to continue to advance on our Future Made in Australia. I really want more manufacturing in Australia and South Australia has a big part to play in that. And the third will be to continue to preside over the clean energy transition. South Australia has been ahead of the game for a long while there. I visited places like Whyalla, the steel works there that are transforming into producing green steel. And those steps are really important, not just for climate change, but for jobs and the economy and just positioning ourselves to be ahead of the game as the world moves.
DITTS: You say address the cost of living. How do you do that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you do that by making sure that you can put more money in people's pockets. And we've done that through a range of measures. Cheaper medicines, cheaper child care made a big difference last year. Fee Free TAFE itself, if you're going to TAFE and not paying for it that makes a big difference. But we're looking at other measures as well. We'll be making announcements in the lead up to the Budget. I've asked Treasury and Finance to continue to come up with ideas in ways in which we can assist with cost of living, but without putting pressure on inflation. And as well, of course, we've got inquiry going on into grocery prices. We want to make sure that your listeners, when they go to the supermarket, are getting the best value for money.
ROO: And they're not at the moment, are they?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they're not. And we know that that's the case. We know people are under pressure. Governments can't click their fingers and solve a problem like global inflation. But what we can do is make sure that we do everything at our disposal to make a difference. And the fight against inflation is, of course, really central to that. And it's good that the last figures, just a couple of weeks ago, showed that inflation had dropped to 4.3 per cent and that exceeded anyone's expectations. That was a good thing. But there's more work to do.
DITTS: Prime Minister, everyone's been trying to get you to say 'yes, the stage three tax cuts are definitely going ahead'. Why don't you give little Triple M Adelaide the scoop and say it on our station that the previous Government's plans to roll out these cuts are going to go ahead. Can you do it for us, please?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have no change to our plans. We, of course, have said that tax relief is really important. I mean, that's one way that you put more money into people's pockets. And tax cuts are important.
DITTS: So they’re going to happen?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, tax cuts will happen in July.
DITTS: The same as what were committed to?
PRIME MINISTER: We're committed to that. Well, we haven't changed our position on that.
DITTS: So they will happen
LOZ: Okay done.
DITTS: That's good news.
LOZ: Roll the paper, let's go. Headline.
DITTS: Just something now, I'm not trying to give you a loaded question here and create a headline, but just interestingly, overseas overnight, Donald Trump has won the presidential election, if that's what they call it, for Iowa. In Australia, I just want to give you a hypothetical, in Australia, if we had a politician facing criminal charges, I don't think he or she would get a vote quite seriously, would they? And yet he over there, he wins and got over 50 per cent of the vote. It's remarkable.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the US system is a democracy and it is different from ours, I will say that. They have this primary vote system as well, where they're selecting, through the processes of coming months, the Republican candidate. Joe Biden will be the Democrat candidate for the election, and then the good people of the United States will get to determine that towards the end of the year. I of course, as Prime Minister of Australia, do not interfere with elections in another country.
ROO: Yeah, While you're here, you might have a glass of red wine. We're known for our wine with beautiful wine made in the Barossa and McLaren vale and the Adelaide Hills, in Coonawarra, Clare Valley, all of that. But a lot of the grape growers are doing it super tough at the moment. Prime Minister, any end in sight for the wine tariffs with China?
PRIME MINISTER: There certainly are, and it will make such a difference. The irony of this is that what the industry tell me is that they've had a couple of really bumper years and of course it's been pretty wet and the conditions have been good. And the quality of the wine, as always from South Australia of course, is magnificent. I won't be tasting any this morning while I'm there.
ROO: Have one at lunch. Didn’t you get slammed the other day for having a Chinese meal.
LOZ: Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: Just unbelievable. A little Yum Cha.
DITTS: How dare you?
PRIME MINISTER: How dare I.
ROO: Perhaps don't have a Penfolds Grange today. Just something like a Wicks Shiraz.
LOZ: Something out of a cask, maybe.
PRIME MINISTER: I'll be having a mineral water today. But the wine industry is so important. It employs thousands of people and provides an enormous income to Australia. And it's also such a fantastic flow on effect as well. Clare Valley and the Barossa and all of the magnificent areas that are so good to visit around Adelaide provide for a boon for accommodation and everything else that happens, up there in the Adelaide Hills. It's a beautiful state and the wine industry has been an important part of that. And that's why we really prioritise putting our shoulder to the wheel and making a difference. For the Chinese market is of course, over a billion people and that makes an enormous difference, a growing middle class and we want those jobs and that economic benefit to flow as freely as the wine does.
DITTS: We'll have a couple at lunch today and enjoy.
PRIME MINISTER: See what I did there?
DITTS: There's another headline. No worries about that. Prime Minister, thanks for joining us this morning.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much. Always great to talk to you guys.
ROO: Enjoy Adelaide.
DITTS: Enjoy the day at the TAFE. There is our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese.