NATALIE BARR, HOST: We're joined now by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Good morning to you, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning.
BARR: Now, when the previous government handed down its budget you said the cost of everything is going up but your pay isn't. Isn't that what is happening under you?
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: This is a responsible budget that is right for the times, Nat. We needed to make sure that we had investments in areas like cheaper medicines, cheaper childcare, more paid parental leave, more affordable housing, whilst being able to get wages moving again. We've done that. One of our first measures that we did in government was to write to the Fair Work Commission, supporting the maintenance of the real spending power of people on the minimum wage, a dollar an hour increase. The government at the time, the former government, said that would ruin the economy, the world would end. Guess what? It was granted, the 5.2% increase and that’s flowed through to 2.7 million workers. That wouldn't have happened without the change of government. It was the first thing that we did to get wages moving again, like our submission to get wages moving for people in the aged care sector as well.
DAVID KOCH, HOST: Ok. But that’s still, that’s not a real wage increase and you went to the election saying "We will get real wage increases to everybody and we will cut your power bills.” Now, those two in this budget are a fail. What do you say to voters that so early you broke two promises?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Kochie, actually the inflation rate at the time was 5.1 and the increase was 5.2, that is a real wage increase.
KOCH: On come on.
PRIME MINISTER: Well it is.
KOCH: That was a timing blip. Because inflation is always reverse looking.
PRIME MINISTER: That wasn't a timing blip.
KOCH: It’s 7% at the moment.
PRIME MINISTER: For minimum wages workers out there, Kochie, that was making a real difference and that was something that was a very specific argument between the two sides of politics before the election in May. Very clear. They were on the front page every day opposing that wage increase. We did it.
KOCH: Ok, we can debate the timing of it. You said you'd save $275 a year on power bills and now they are going up 56% over the past 18 months. The Ukraine War’s been going a fair while, we knew this was happening.
PRIME MINISTER: There are a few issues there, Kochie. One is the Ukraine War, which has been going on for some time, that has flowed through into global prices. We know global energy prices have fed into global inflation. In our competitors, many of them are looking at double-digit inflation, Kochie. You’re aware of that pressure. As well as that, we had 10 years of failed energy policies, a failure to actually implement one. We saw four gigawatts leave the system and only one go back in. If you have less supply that has an impact on price. That is why we are dealing with that through our Powering Australia plan.
KOCH: But you shouldn't have made the promise, because you knew you couldn’t pull it off.
PRIME MINISTER: That's not right. That is not right.
BARR: Prime Minister, the problem is I think, everyone is listening to you. We went to the election, we hear all your promises and the ordinary people in the streets say "Well that sounds good, doesn't it.” And they vote for you and a few months later here we are.
PRIME MINISTER: Well Nat, our budget last night went through line by line, delivering on our promises for cheaper childcare that we put there, for a better national broadband network, for getting wages moving again, for our Powering Australia plan. What we did last night was fulfil all of our election commitments. Now when it comes to power prices, there are real pressures out there. One of the things that you would be aware of, of course, is that there was a 20% increase in power prices just a few months ago. That was a decision that had been made before the election, that the government changed a regulation so that people wouldn't find out about it until after they voted in May. That was a decision that had already been made prior to the change of government. We understand people are doing it tough. We understand that the power prices issue is a difficult one and that's why we’ve flagged the preparedness for further regulatory reform. But we also know, and this was the modelling that was done by RepuTex, it wasn't Labor Party modelling, it was done by Australia's leading energy economists, found that the cheapest form of new energy is renewables. We need to make sure that it works in terms of the grid, that it can be plugged in effectively and, just as your listeners who put solar panels on their roofs have done so, so that they can lower their power bills, that’s the same principle that applies throughout the economy. We need the cleanest, most cheapest form of energy. That does take time to flow through to prices.
KOCH: Friday night in Perth you were telling me this was going to be a boring budget. That you want government off the front pages, for people to get on with their own lives. I think we’d all agree with that. Does this deliver on being a boring budget?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it’s doing what we said we would do. I don't think it was a budget that had surprises in it. There weren't the big cash handouts that some were calling for because that would have just fed into inflation, and when we talked on Friday night I flagged exactly what would be in the budget, which is what we flagged before the election. I lead a government that will deliver on our commitments.
BARR: On another topic that everyone is talking about this week, tell us your thoughts on the Diamonds netball protest over the sponsorship by Gina Rinehart’s mining company?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh look, I think it’s all unfortunate. I would hope that people can come together in a sensible way and talk through these issues for the mutual benefit which is there. We have seen a range of issues on sponsorships of sporting teams. I hope that it can be worked through. I don't think it’s one that requires, or indeed could benefit from any government intervention here. I just hope that the parties come to an agreement. Netball is a great sport, I want to see it given the support that it needs.
KOCH: Did Gina Rinehart have the right to pull her sponsorship?
PRIME MINISTER: Well people have a right to take action, both sides have rights here. I’m not proposing a federal government intervention into these issues. What I'm focused on is the issues which I do have responsibility for, which is making sure that we manage an economy that works for people, making sure that we improve living standards over time, making sure that young people benefit from the billion dollars that we announced last night to put into TAFE.
KOCH: Alright, good handball. Prime Minister, thanks very much for joining us.
PRIME MINISTER: Maybe a pass more than a handball in netball, I think it's called, Kochie. But at least I'm not in pyjamas like the last time that we spoke on-air! So it's an improvement.
BARR: With a guy with a mankini on!
PRIME MINISTER: Oh no, please don't mention that, you’ll be tempted to show it and no one needs to see that early in the morning.
BARR: Hope you enjoyed Perth Telethon, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Perth Telethon was fantastic and congratulations to everyone involved.