Excitement is reaching a pressure point down here at the Cairns Showgrounds. Not only is it People’s Day when we’ll see tens of thousands of people flooding through the gates when the gates open in just a few minutes time, but we have a special guest with us in Cairns today. The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese has just stopped by. And Mr Albanese, I’ve got to say that you get blamed for a lot of things, but on behalf of Far North Queenslanders waking up on their coldest July morning for years, did you have to bring the Canberra weather with you?
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Oh come on, it’s a beautiful day here. Anyone looking at this sky and feeling this beautiful weather, this is balmy compared with Canberra.
MCKILLOP: Well, I’m glad to hear you say that. Not all of us are feeling it as you are, but we’ll allow you off the hook for that one because it is going to turn out to be a beautiful day here at the Cairns Show. No coincidence you’ve come along with your new candidate for Labor, and no one’s going to miss him, he’s about one foot taller than pretty much everybody else here at the show today. Matt Smith, now we loved to cheer for him when he was wearing orange as a former Cairns Taipans basketball star. Are we going to love him as much wearing red for Labor in Leichhardt?
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely you are. Because he’s a champion not just on the court, but off the court as well. He’s someone who’s devoted his life to making a difference here, and he’s gone into just about every school and into communities, providing support for young people, encouraging a healthy lifestyle. He certainly will add to the height of our team in Canberra. Between him and, there’s a fellow called Dan Repacholi, who’s the member for Hunter, who is an absolute giant as well. And I think if Matty gets up, which I’m hopeful that he will, then we’ll have to sit them next to each other, because otherwise people will look very height challenged if they sit next to them.
MCKILLOP: Your speed and dexterity on the basketball court is one thing, but the transition from the sporting arena to the political arena hasn’t, well history tells us it hasn’t always been an easy one. Why do you believe that Matt Smith has the skills that are needed to represent an electorate that is among the most geographically and culturally diverse in the country, Leichhardt?
PRIME MINISTER: Because I’ve seen the way that he engages with people. He’s someone who’s warm, he’s someone who’s really smart, he’s someone who has integrity, he’s someone who can really relate to people, and he’ll be such a strong advocate. He’s a voice which is well known to people in this community. And I think following on from someone who’s been a long term servant of this community, I pay tribute to Warren Entsch, who’s announced his retirement for the second time as the member for Leichhardt. I have my differences with Warren, of course, but he’s someone who has my respect and he’s always shown me respect as well. We were elected together in 1996. Matt Smith is a worthy successor. He will be someone who will champion this community whether, it goes, of course, the seat right up to the Torres Strait Islands, right down through this great city of Cairns, but all the smaller communities in between as well. And I just think, I’m so pleased that Matty, when I spoke to him some time ago now about being the candidate, about a year ago. And I’m so pleased that he’s accepted the challenge, a new challenge in his life. And it says something about his commitment to this community, he’s prepared to make that sacrifice. It’s a long way to Canberra and yes, it is colder.
MCKILLOP: Prime Minister, I did speak with Matt Smith just a few moments ago. He’s very nervous about shooting hoops with you in Sideshow Alley here at the Cairns Show today because he thinks this is a bit of a stitch up, because we all know that no one wins in Sideshow Alley, right?
PRIME MINISTER: Well that’s probably right, but it’s all about the fun. And gee, I’m not going to try and compete with him when it comes to shooting hoops. Maybe our Treasurer though, Jim Chalmers, he’s a great basketball nut as well. So I think the two of them, we have these games sometimes in Canberra, various sporting codes between the pollies and the media. I do tennis, I think our basketball team’s about to get a bit bigger.
MCKILLOP: All right well, Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, if you’re just joining us on ABC local radio, is here at the Cairns Show on People’s Day. Prime Minister, we know when we look at the economy the challenges are enormous. There is still high inflation, we’ve had, what is it, twelve interest rate hikes in the past two years, and jobs, unemployment is also going up. Now these are not the economic numbers that you want to go to a federal election on, are they?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we’ve got is a record that shows more jobs being created than any government in Australian history since federation. Now 930,000 new jobs created – so that’s the first thing. The second thing is we understand that people are doing it tough, that’s why we’re providing cost of living relief. And every single one of your listeners who’s a taxpayer will get a tax cut in their pay either this week or next week whenever they get a paid, and that’s substantial. In addition to that, the $1300 energy bill relief, the fee free TAFE, cheaper child care, and people are earning more. Real wages are increasing. So I think increased employment, real wages increasing, taxes going down is a good record in what are very difficult global inflation times.
MCKILLOP: Those pressures that we all feel in our household budgets are also being experienced by local councils across North Queensland, Prime Minister. When I talk to local mayors, they tell me one of the major contributing factors to them not being able to hold their rates increases at CPI or less is the fact that at a federal level, you’re winding back the Financial Assistance Grant.
PRIME MINISTER: That’s not true.
MCKILLOP: Well, that’s what I’ve been told as recently as this week and they’re saying –
PRIME MINISTER: That’s not true. That is absolutely not true.
MCKILLOP: Are you giving with one hand and taking with the other?
PRIME MINISTER: That is absolutely not true. We are keeping Financial Assistance Grants, but what’s more, we’ve doubled Roads to Recovery funding for every local government area. Local government has never received more money than they’re getting right now from the federal Labor Government. And I addressed the Australian Council of Local Government just a couple of weeks ago and I’ve got to say that mayors and shire presidents were very pleased with that. Roads to Recovery is so important. So what we haven’t done is get out a colour coded spreadsheet, we’ve provided support for every single council in the country.
MCKILLOP: Prime Minister, it is so wonderful to have you back here at the Cairns Show. It’s one of those traditions, one of those institutions which really show us that our community is returning to normal life in a year that has been very far from normal for many, many residents across Far North Queensland. The road to recovery is still a checkered one. What do you say to residents who are still getting back into their homes, they’re being forced to rebuild to the same standard as their insurance policy dictates. How can you make sure that our communities are more resilient and able to withstand these types of disasters?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the first thing I’d say is how proud the community should be of their recovery. I came here twice at the beginning of the year when the floods had had such a devastating impact and the rebuild has been extraordinary. More to do, of course, but we had the Australian Defence Force on the ground really quickly, the energy sector fixed up power really quickly and we’ve provided an extraordinary amount of funds, over $200 million between us and the state government for the recovery. We know there’s more to do, but I just admire the resilience of this community.
MCKILLOP: Prime Minister, today is the day about the people. I’ll let you go and get amongst it, and thank you very much for talking to our listeners across ABC local radio.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks so much and everyone will have a great day. And if you’re in the local area, come on down.
