JAMES GLENDAY, HOST: I'm happy to say the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, joins us now from Townsville. Prime Minister, good morning.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: G'day James. Congrats on the new gig.
GLENDAY: That's very kind, thank you. Buttering me up early like that. What's on your agenda today? We've been hearing a lot from people in Townsville. We can hear the rain occurring there behind you. A lot of them are worried about the state of the Bruce Highway, in particular a bridge not far from where you are now. So what are your plans today?
PRIME MINISTER: Well that's one of the issues that we'll be dealing with today. The ADF are going to build a temporary structure over that bridge to make sure that that access to Ingham is available. At the moment it's quite difficult to get food and supplies around some of the parts here in North Queensland. We're using Australian Defence Force choppers to get those supplies in. In addition to that, shout out to Singapore. They've made a couple of Chinooks available that are here for training of their defence forces. Showing the sort of solidarity that we expect from our neighbours at this difficult time. Look, you can probably, I don't know if you can hear the rain here, but it is torrential here in Townsville. These are tough times but North Queenslanders are tough people. My Government is on the ground providing whatever resources are required. We've had Senator McAllister, the Minister for Emergency Management, here working hand in hand with the Premier of Queensland, David Crisafulli. We met last night, I approved eight local government areas to get support for infrastructure build back last night. Individual support is being provided as well. We need to fix this bridge temporarily, but as well, I've discussed with the Premier, we need to build back better. This bridge, when you see the photos of it, clearly is too low and we are working on that and we'll work together to achieve that.
GLENDAY: Yeah, you pledged $7.2 billion towards the Bruce Highway early in January. The Premier's called the road a goat track. Is it possible to flood proof that part of the nation, ever? Or is this always going to be the case that we're going to see major damage from major floods?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what you can do is certainly make it better. There's no way ever to have 100 per cent, but you can make it better. We did that the last time we were in Government. The Yeppen Floodplain south of Rocky used to go out every time there was a major event and that would be cut in the entry to Rockhampton and it would create devastation for the economy there. This bridge clearly, I've seen the photos, I met with David Crisafulli last night, it's too low. So when we build it back, don't build it back to the same level. Lift the bridge so that it can withstand a serious flooding event - and that is what we will do. We'll be there on the ground today having a look firsthand.
GLENDAY: Sure, I can hear the rain there behind you. I just want to take you to another issue. The world's still digesting Donald Trump's latest idea for the Middle East. Would a government of yours ever be seriously supportive of the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza so that some sort of beautiful Riviera, and I quote, could be created?
PRIME MINISTER: We support the same position today that we did yesterday morning and the day before. Our position has been long standing and bipartisan - two states in the region. The State of Israel having the right to exist and recognised by the states around it living in peace and security, and the right of Palestinians to live in their own state as well. That's our long standing position. It remains our position.
GLENDAY: I don't think even your worst political enemies would begrudge you for not responding to every utterance out of the Trump White House. But you talk about a two state solution. Is the United States, by putting forward this idea, scrapping potentially the possibility of ever having a two state solution?
PRIME MINISTER: Well quite clearly the policy announced yesterday was a different one. I've said though that I'm not going to respond to every statement, every day, that is made. I'll determine and my government will determine Australia's position, which has been consistent for a long period of time. And that is consistent as well with what the world has said. And I might say as well is consistent with what a long standing US policy has been as well.
GLENDAY: Do you think he's fundamentally unserious about this?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I'm not going to run a commentary on –
GLENDAY: You’ve been clear about that over the past day or so -
PRIME MINISTER: The President of the United States motivations every day.
GLENDAY: Well, I'm just curious about your broad approach then to the Trump White House. Because in the past week Canada, one of our closest allies, was threatened with tariffs and your Ministers effectively said, ‘Oh look, we're not going to comment, he sort of promised this thing’. Is that going to be our approach when our friends face these increased tensions maybe with the Trump White House? Are we just going to sort of keep our heads down and not say too much and hope that we're not the next target?
PRIME MINISTER: Well you raise that issue, but there's been two different positions in the last week on Canada and on tariffs, and that points towards the need to sit back, not comment on every statement that is made every day. I want to, I’ll tell you what my priority is today, James -
GLENDAY: The floods, yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: It is helping the people of helping the people of North Queensland. That is what I can make a difference on for Australians, and I think overwhelmingly that's the focus of Australians. I did a press conference yesterday announcing $1.7 billion of additional funding for public hospitals. That is what people are talking about around the water coolers that can make a difference to them, and that's my priority.
GLENDAY: For sure. I just want to whip through a couple of quick question before we have to leave you. Parliament's been sitting this week. You've agreed to the Coalition's demands for mandatory minimum jail sentences for terror crimes. You're not a fan of mandatory sentences, so why have you done this?
PRIME MINISTER: I want people to be held to account. People who are committing crimes to be held to account for them. Putting this in place and then having a review of how the laws are operating by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence is an appropriate thing to do and something that we've worked through. I want the entire Parliament to work together to make sure that we stamp out antisemitism, that we hold people to account for what are crimes. And what’s more, that we actually get to the bottom of who’s behind this.
GLENDAY: Prime Minister, I'm so sorry to interrupt. We're going to get switched away from this. Thank you so much for your time this morning. Looking forward to chatting to you a lot more as the election campaign approaches.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, James.