: Joining us live in the studio is the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese. Mr Albanese, good morning.
ANTHONY ALBANESE PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Good to be with you, Tom.
ELLIOTT: Now, you’ve got a big by-election tomorrow in the seat of Dunkley in Melbourne. We’ve already spoken to pollster Kos Samaras, he said it is too close to call. Do you think you’ll win?
PRIME MINISTER: I hope that Jodie Belyea wins so that she can carry on the work of Peta Murphy, who was such an extraordinary local member, taken from us too soon at age just 50, to cancer. Jodie has run a really positive campaign about cost of living, cheaper child care, fee-free TAFE, our tax cuts that will go to every voter in Dunkley and indeed every one of your listeners throughout Victoria. And she’s been a positive person. She’s not a career politician. She’s someone who’s a local mum with a mortgage, her son’s doing year twelve at Frankston High School. And I think she would carry on from Peta Murphy’s legacy in being a strong local advocate.
ELLIOTT: We’ve taken a lot of calls from people who live in Dunkley today, places like Frankston, Langwarrin, Mount Eliza. They all say that cost of living is first, second and third, the important issues.
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely.
ELLIOTT: And a lot of them have expressed doubt for your Government to be able to do anything about the crisis they face. For example, the cost of insuring houses – we had a caller before who’s now leaving his house uninsured because he can’t afford the premium increase. Is there anything you would do about that?
PRIME MINISTER: We recognise that people are doing it tough. So, what we’ve tried to do is look at every single measure that we can do, without putting upward pressure on inflation. So, that’s why we did cheaper child care, that’s why our Energy Price Relief Plan was designed in a way that didn’t just make things worse in terms of the inflationary pressures in the economy, that’s why we’ve readjusted the tax cuts – not an easy decision, but the right decision to make a difference. I know that at Chisholm TAFE, they’re going to benefit from fee-free TAFE. Last year, some 350,000 Australians enrolled in that. And I’ve been to the Urgent Care Clinic there in Frankston, where if people have a broken bone or a cut, they can go in there, get that assistance when they need it for free. All they need is their Medicare card. So, we’ve looked at all of the measures. Governments can’t do everything, but what we can do is look at all the measures we can do and take advice.
ELLIOTT: You did mention energy prices before, and, of course, there was this promise before the 2022 election to lower the average household energy bill by $275. That hasn’t happened. What would you say to all the people who are looking forward to cheaper electricity?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what I say is, we know that renewables are the cheapest form of new energy. We had, unfortunately, a war in Ukraine that’s kept going. It wasn’t anticipated that it’d be now entering its third year, that led to a huge global spike in energy prices. That led to a huge spike in global inflation. The United Kingdom and Japan are now in recession, and that contrasts with where we are with more jobs created by any new government in the first year than any new government in Australia’s history. We saw real wages increase last year for the first time in a very long while. Wages are increasing at the fastest rate for 15 years. That’s a positive thing as well. And so, together with the tax cuts, we want people to earn more and we want people to keep more of what they earn.
ELLIOTT: Now, the war in Ukraine – the Ukrainian Government has put in a formal request for Australian coal and a year ago, I think we sent them 80,000 tonnes of coal at a cost of $30 million. They’ve asked for the same amount to be delivered again. Is it true that your Government is sitting on the request that you haven’t done anything about it?
PRIME MINISTER: No, we’ve done more than that, Tom. We’ve announced $50 million of support.
ELLIOTT. So, you will be sending the coal to Ukraine?
PRIME MINISTER: No, we’ve sent $50 million. What they’ve asked for is support to be able to use either in terms of weapons or energy, what we’ve done is contribute $50 million, which is more, of course, than that. We’re a long way from Ukraine, and our coal, by and large, goes to the north, to our near neighbours, to China, to India, to those countries. We’re a long, long way from Ukraine. And what that money will enable Ukraine to be able to do is to provide support for their war effort, whether it be support for energy or support for weapons.
ELLIOTT: But the Age reported in late January this year that they wanted specifically the same amount of coal sent again as was sent a year ago. And the Age alleges that your Government has not agreed to do that. Is that true?
PRIME MINISTER: No. What we have done, they asked for further support and I announced just over a week ago an additional $50 million for the Ukraine. Big news here – there’s coal that’s a bit closer to Ukraine, to be able to use than there is in Australia. That’s the truth of the matter. And that’s why we’ve provided this support on top of all the other support that we’ve given. We are one of the largest non-NATO contributors. And that’s because we understand that the fight that Ukraine is doing, showing enormous courage, isn’t just a fight for their national sovereignty and their democracy, it’s a fight for the international rule of law. And we will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.
ELLIOTT. So, if they ask for more coal, or more Australian cash for coal, you’ll consider giving it to them?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have regularly, under my Government, we have made a number of announcements at regular intervals to continue to support Ukraine and we will continue to look at measures in which we can provide support.
ELLIOTT: Cost of living, back to that – one thing where you can quite literally wave a magic wand and help families is with health insurance premiums. The Federal Health Minister each year says to the big health insurers – this is the maximum amount you can increase your policies. Now, in most years, that has been done by now. This year it hasn’t. We’re still waiting for that decision. Why is that? Is it something to do with the Dunkley by-election?
PRIME MINISTER: Nothing to do with that whatsoever. What it’s to do with is the fact that we haven’t just ticked and flicked. What happens is the health insurance companies come to the Government and they say, we want to increase our premiums by this amount. The Government goes back and says, well, we think that’s reasonable or unreasonable. We make no apologies for pushing back on behalf of consumers to the big health insurance companies. The idea that we would just tick and flick, there’s nothing unusual.
ELLIOTT: I’m not talking about ticking and flicking, I’m just saying normally by this time, the decision has been made.
PRIME MINISTER: That’s not right, Tom. The decision is made either late February or early March. That has been the case for year after year after year. When Sussan Ley was the Health Minister, it was made after this time. And Mark Butler, our Health Minister, makes no apologies for pushing back against the health insurance companies.
ELLIOTT: So, it’ll be made soon?
PRIME MINISTER: It’ll be made soon.
ELLIOTT: Now, look, this question is a bit longer and bear with me because I’ve had to get our legal department to look at it. Wednesday evening, the head of Asia, Mike Burgess, gave the annual threat assessment and he mentioned an unnamed former Australian politician who allegedly sold their country out after being recruited by foreign intelligence. We do know that in 2017, former NSW Labor Senator Sam Dastyari left politics following links to a Chinese Communist Party linked billionaire who’s since been banned from Australia by ASIO. Dastyari apparently allowed this billionaire to pay some of his bills. ASIO’s allegations this week about the unnamed former politician are different and more serious. And it does beg the question – is the politician, the former politician that Mike Burgess spoke about on Wednesday night, is it Sam Dastyari?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it’s pretty irresponsible, I think, with respect, Tom, to just throw around names in such a casual fashion.
ELLIOTT: Well, this name has appeared in most newspapers.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Tom, I support our national security agencies. I support them unequivocally, and Mr. Burgess gave a speech which is consistent with the speeches he has given over a long period of time, where he has said that foreign governments do try to interfere – a range of foreign governments, not just one – try to interfere in the Australian political system, and that they try to interfere across the political spectrum. So, all parties need to be very cautious about the way that they engage. And that is why the Director General has made this speech two nights ago, and last night he put out a statement. My job as Prime Minister isn’t to play politics with this issue. My job as Prime Minister, as my job was as Labor leader from opposition as well, is to back our national security agencies. That’s what I do.
ELLIOTT: Do you know who the former politician that Mike Burgess was talking about, do you know who it is?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I don’t. That’s a matter for – Mr Burgess gave the speech. What our national security agencies don’t do is go through the political process in order to keep Australians safe. What they do is they make statements by themselves. He did that. The speech wasn’t cleared by my office. He’s the Director General of ASIO. I take all of his work seriously, and he has the complete and unequivocal backing of my Government.
ELLIOTT: Final question, because I know you’re running out of time. We’ve taken calls earlier this week from Jewish Victorians who are saying they are considering leaving the state and in many cases leaving the country because of the rising tide of anti-Semitism. Could you do more to stop this happening, to stop the tide of anti-Semitism, which is so apparent?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, anti-Semitism is a scourge, and it’s a scourge here in Victoria. It’s a scourge, unfortunately, on the rise around Australia. And I feel very much for the Jewish community who are suffering from this. I think that the targeting of businesses, for example, because they happen to be owned by someone who is Jewish, is a disgrace. I have been a long term opponent of the so-called BDS campaign. We know what the Star of David being put above shops leads to. It happened in Germany in the 1930s. It should never happen. Just like the idea that people like Deborah Conway are responsible for anything that is happening in Gaza and should be targeted, people from the artistic community who happen to be Jewish, is outrageous. And I think that people need to take a bit of a step. We on the way here, Tom, I gave a speech this morning in a media conference about the loss of Senator Linda White – again a Senator tragically, after Peta Murphy’s tragic death. We’ve lost two relatively young women to cancer from Victoria in a space of three months. Now, one would expect some respect, but you look at my social media posts – I looked on the way here – that were just put up paying respect to someone who was much loved. And some of the comments are just extraordinary. I just think people in Australia do not want conflict brought here. That’s been the great thing of the multicultural project. So whether, I get that people in the Islamic community doing it really tough, it’s difficult for people who have relatives in Gaza. There’s innocent suffering occurring, and my Government has mourned every innocent death, whether it be Israeli or Palestinian. But what we shouldn’t be doing is trying to bring conflict here and blame people wherever they are on the spectrum because of who they are, because they happen to be Jewish, or they happen to be Muslim or for that matter, Hindu or Buddhist or whatever religion people happen to be. That’s not the Australian way.
ELLIOTT: Mr Albanese, I agree with you, but sadly, it looks like what we thought was the Australian way is changing into something else. I know you have to go. I do appreciate your time.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much. Tom.
