SARAH HARRIS, HOST: Joining us is the first sitting PM to march in Mardi Gras, Anthony Albanese. Albo, what do you think it means for the country that the Prime Minister is marching in Mardi Gras?
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, it used to be a very radical thing to do, to march. I first marched in 1983 with Young Labor, it had a very political focus. Over the years, as society has changed and become more accepting and inclusive, we had marriage quality granted five years ago, it is still a political event but it's also just an event of celebration, more and more as well. So, there was a great feel there. It's important we don't take those gains for granted, that we continue to emphasise the need to have respect for everyone, no matter who they are and who they love.
JAN FRAN, HOST: Albo, I loved seeing you in the parade. We need to talk about your look last night. There was no leather, no glitter, no arseless chaps, what's going on?
PRIME MINISTER: Jen, I've been in so many Mardi Gras that I know I'm no chance of competing there. It is a celebration of who people are and, you know, I am just a pretty daggy bloke from Marrickville and the look reflected that.
FRAN: No arseless chaps for Mardi Gras 2024, to be clear?
PRIME MINISTER: No. No-one wants to see that, least of all the viewers.
HARRIS: I would vote for that.
FRAN: Actually, I think you're right on that front. I think your instinct is correct, Prime Minister.
HAMISH MACDONALD, HOST: Now, Prime Minister, we need to talk about something really sexy, superannuation. The Treasurer has been floating the idea of tightening tax breaks for those with more than $3 million in their super fund. Why would you be talking about doing this when you promised before the election you wouldn't touch super?
PRIME MINISTER: We promised no big changes and there won't be major changes to super. We're having a debate about the purpose of superannuation, which is for people to save for their retirement. That's the context in which some people, the Grattan Institute and a whole lot of people, have raised these issues. We have made no decisions about any of that. What we are doing, though, is having a debate about the purpose of superannuation.
MACDONALD: I do want to be clear, though, about what you did say before the election. This was in May of last year. This is what you said then.
PRIME MINISTER: [ARCHIVAL] We have said we have no intention of making any super changes. One of the things that we're doing in this campaign is, we're making all of our policies clear.
MACDONALD: That's not just big changes, not just major changes, you said there won't be any changes.
PRIME MINISTER: I said, we had no intention. That's not the objective here. But people are coming forward with ideas. We're not shutting down debate. It is appropriate there be debate about the policy future across a range of issues, particularly in the context of the trillion dollars in debt we inherited. But we have no intention of making changes in superannuation, we will have the debate about the purpose and the definition of what it is and try to enshrine that in legislation, so people get what the purpose is much more clearer. We saw in the last campaign a major proposal to allow people to use super for housing and in the pandemic a lot of people reduce their superannuation balances down to zero, which will mean that they they do it tougher in retirement.
MACDONALD: Prime Minister, I will push you on this a little more. It seems you're playing with the language, saying no major changes, we're allowing a debate. But that debate is driven by your own Ministers, including the Treasurer. You wouldn't be having this conversation unless you were thinking seriously about it. I wonder if it's really a question of integrity for you, given you campaigned so hard on being integrous.
PRIME MINISTER: Hamish, a whole range of bodies, including the Grattan Institute and others, have put out various ideas in this debate. They're the ones that are out there on the debate. We've had no changes. We're not here announcing changes. We are having a discussion about he the purpose of superannuation. This is all hypothetical. So if we make an announcement, then you can scrutinise what that announcement is, but we've made it very clear that no decisions have been made.
MICHAEL HING, HOST: Prime Minister, in these discussions about superannuation, a graph as surfaced in the paper today, which shows how many people are affected by these possible changes. Right at the top, you can see here, is one Australian who apparently has half a billion dollars in superannuation. Half a billion dollars in superannuation! Do you know who it is?
PRIME MINISTER: No. No I don't. Well, I can guarantee it's no-one there on the desk.
HARRIS: You'd be bang on right there, Prime Minister.
FRAN: That's true.
HARRIS: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, thank you so much for joining us.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, bye.