Television Interview - Sky News First Edition

Transcript
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
Prime Minister

PETER STEFANOVIC, HOST: Joining us live now is the new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Anthony Albanese, first of all, congratulations. We're still getting used to saying that title. You must still be getting used to hearing it.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Peter. I am indeed. And we are in Marrickville, not far from my home. And having the flag on C1, I'm still getting used to it.

STEFANOVIC: Okay. Well, straight into quite a few quagmires. We'll start with the China, Prime Minister. It, as you know, is moving at speed to lock up the Pacific, potentially ten nations with security deals. How much of a threat is this to our national security?

PRIME MINISTER: We need to step up, not step back, which is what occurred under the former Government. We clearly need to support the sort of programs that we put forward at the election. This was the context for saying we wanted an Australian Pacific defence training facility, that we wanted to take further action in supporting Pacific Island nations on maritime security, that we wanted an additional $500 million of aid to go into the Pacific, and that we wanted to work with the Island nations of the Pacific on climate change, as well as facilitate migration issues, be it temporary or permanent migration from our Pacific Island neighbours. We are also stepping up. Penny Wong, my Foreign Minister, is visiting Fiji today. We'll do work in the lead-up to the Pacific Island Forum that'll be held in coming weeks. And it's important that we take the changing geostrategic environment in our region seriously. And that's why last year, I don't understand how it is that you had the former Foreign Minister Payne take a submission for increased aid last year, at the end of last year, we knew these things were happening. The advice was there from Foreign Affairs and Trade. And action wasn't taken. My Government will take action. We will engage much more strongly with our neighbours.

STEFANOVIC: Okay. But back to this deal, though, that involves up to ten Pacific nations. I mean, the alarm bells must be ringing more than they were a week ago.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've known that China is seeking to extend its influence into the region. During the election campaign, the Solomon Islands deal, of course, was front and centre. But we know that from China's perspective, that's just the first of a range of deals that they want to exercise. Australia needs to respond to the changed environment. It was an issue at the Quad Leaders’ Summit. That's was one of the contexts for myself making sure that Australia was represented at that Quad Leaders’ meeting.

STEFANOVIC: So, your powerless to stop it, though, aren't you? If these nations want to sign these security deals with China, you're powerless to stop them from doing that, aren't you?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, they're sovereign nations. And we need to respect their sovereignty. But we also need to engage with them. We're paying a heavy price for the cuts to aid that occurred. Aid is often debated in a way of, “Do you want money for something domestically here or do you want foreign aid”? The truth is that international aid is not only the right thing to do for developing countries, it is in our national interest to engage and to provide support to developing nations. Australia has a proud record of doing that. Under my Government, there will be front and centre support. And the fact that this proposition put forward to the budget process last year was rejected, that won't happen under my Government. We've already made these serious commitments. We will continue to engage as well on people-to-people relations. The parliamentary exchanges with Pacific Island nations were cut back. Malcolm Turnbull had it in place. And it was cut back in recent times. We need to step it up, not cut back.

STEFANOVIC: You ran through some of the commitments there in your first answer. The Quad has made five-year climate commitments to the region as well. Some have even suggested that France should be brought in too. Have you, or do you plan on, reaching out to Emmanuel Macron to begin repairing the relationship?

PRIME MINISTER: Emmanuel Macron reached out very soon after the election was clear. And we've had an engagement already. I continue to engage with world leaders. I thank them for the very warm congratulations that I've received, person to person, of course, from President Biden, Prime Minister Kishida and Prime Minister Modi just over recent days. This is a Government that has got to work on day one, literally.

STEFANOVIC: Right.

PRIME MINISTER: And we've already got those programs underway, and exchanges. And we'll have more to say on how we develop those relationships going into the future in coming days.

STEFANOVIC: What else did Mr Macron tell you? Was he glad to have seen a change in Government? We know what he thought with the previous Government.

PRIME MINISTER: I'll say this to you, Peter. The way that you develop with leaders when you have exchanges is not to leak the information and the details. So, President Macron and I will develop a strong relationship. I'm confident of that. He had a significant election victory as well in recent weeks. I think that is a good thing for the people of France to have made that decision. I congratulated him, of course, when he was re-elected.

STEFANOVIC: Peter Dutton will be the Opposition Leader. How formidable will he be as an opponent?

PRIME MINISTER: Look, Peter Dutton, I congratulate him if that is the decision of the Liberal Party. Being Leader of the Opposition, I know, is not an easy task. And Peter Dutton, I must say, I have a much better relationship with Peter Dutton that I had with Scott Morrison. Peter Dutton has never broken a confidence that I've had with him. I think it's very important that the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition are able to exchange ideas and information and get cooperation wherever it's possible. I want to lead a Government that gets things done for Australia. And I'll have discussions with Peter Dutton directly if he becomes the Leader of the Opposition, as I will have discussions with members of the crossbench as well as my own Party, of course.

STEFANOVIC: Okay. You called out the Coalition for making fun of your name during the campaign. Tanya Plibersek joked about Dutton's appearance on radio yesterday. Is that acceptable?

PRIME MINISTER: No, it's not. And Tanya has apologised for that comment. I had a whole show on Sky that really seemed to be about my appearance, seemed to be the punchline from the former Prime Minister, you might recall, on one of the programs that are on later at night. I think that in politics, we need to treat each other with respect. And I think that's important. Tanya recognises that, which is why she apologised. And I'm sure that Peter Dutton, my understanding is, he accepted that, and we move on.

STEFANOVIC: Okay. Kristina Keneally is out of Parliament, Prime Minister. Some have suggested she may be in line for a diplomatic post, though. Is she part of any of your plans?

PRIME MINISTER: Quite frankly, this discussion about a diplomatic post about various people, I'm not sure whether it's sort of weird or just strange that people are trying to get ahead of themselves. I make this point, Peter. I didn't get ahead of myself in any way before Saturday's election. The only thing that I put in place with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet was arrangements in accordance with their suggestions because they understood how important it was for Australia to be represented at the Quad Leaders’ meeting. And so, that's my consideration. We haven't sworn in the full Government yet. The Government will have more than five Ministers, I can confirm that. And they'll be sworn in.

STEFANOVIC: But as for an Ambassador to the US or an Ambassador to the UK, a couple of positions are available. Is Kristina Keneally in the mix at all?

PRIME MINISTER: Look, Kristina Keneally has gone through a difficult election campaign. I wish her well. I'm sure that that's the last thing on her mind. We actually have an Ambassador to the US. His name is Arthur Sinodinos. And he's doing the job.

STEFANOVIC: Okay. I just have a final one here, Prime Minister. You've got, of course, the China challenge. You've got the economy. Jim Chalmers was saying yesterday that the books were worse than first thought. Now, you've got energy prices about to jack-up. Are you going to have to intervene on that front, though, and change your predictions when it comes to energy prices?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we'll take the advice that's occurred from Treasury and Finance. One of the reasons why I ensured that Jim Chalmers was sworn in as Treasurer on Monday, and Katy Gallagher as the Finance Minister, is that we know that there are economic issues that we are facing, real challenges. They're serious. They're real. I want to make sure that we have an economy that works for people, not the other way around. We made commitments at the election campaign. We will stand by all of them. But I said during the election campaign with, quite frankly, some of the quite absurd debate about the state of the finances, we don't know where the pots of money that have been stored by this Government are. We had the abuse of the contingency reserve with billions of dollars in it. We'll go through, line by line, our budget, in order to be fiscally responsible. And I'm sure at the end of that process, we will get a better outcome for the nation than the sort of, quite frankly, rank rorting that we saw of public funds under the former government, where it treated taxpayers’ funds like it was Liberal and National Party funds.

STEFANOVIC: Okay. Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, thank you for your time. First of many chats, I hope. And we'll talk to you again soon. Thank you.

PRIME MINISTER: This is my first interview back on Australian ground, Peter. So, I thank you very much for the congratulations and the welcome.

STEFANOVIC: I am honoured. Well, I wish you the best of luck, and I think the nation does too. Because a successful Government means a successful nation. So, thank you. And good luck, Prime Minister.

PRIME MINISTER: Indeed.