: The Prime Minister’s in the house, everybody. Welcome back, PM.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Great to be here.
LOCKE: Are you in the walls here? We can’t get rid of you, like, you are back in WA all the time.
PRIME MINISTER: What have you done with Shaun?
LOCKE: Oh, he’s on long service leave in Bali.
PRIME MINISTER: Upgrade.
LOCKE: Yeah.
NATHAN MORRIS, HOST: And we get Caitlin way cheaper by metre.
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
MORRIS: Have you ever met Caitlin Bassett before?
PRIME MINISTER: I haven’t, but I’m very pleased to meet a former constituent from Lilyfield.
CAITLIN BASSETT, HOST: Yeah, I do love Lilyfield, it’s a great spot.
MORRIS: Tell me why –
BASSETT: Another one as well. Dave McClung from Lilyfield, too.
PRIME MINISTER: I was at Golden Grove Public School last week.
BASSETT: That’s where they have the markets every Saturday.
PRIME MINISTER: Where they had the markets and they went crazy, the young kids, it’s always fantastic, going into a primary school.
MORRIS: I got told that it’s the poor man’s Balmain. Is that right?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
MORRIS: That’s what Caitlin said.
PRIME MINISTER: It’s got its own character.
MORRIS: So, does everything if you squint.
PRIME MINISTER: It’s got the best market.
LOCKE: By character, do you mean crime?
PRIME MINISTER: Leichhardt Oval is actually in Lilyfield, which is a great sporting venue.
MORRIS: Wouldn’t know.
PRIME MINISTER: It’s fantastic. But I’m here to do MetroNet. Big opening.
MORRIS: I know. Armadale Line.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah. And it – well, removing six level crossings –
LOCKE: Yes.
PRIME MINISTER: Is going to make an enormous difference. I know there’s been some disruption, which is what happens when you do major infrastructure –
MORRIS: Oh, people are completely understanding of that, though…
PRIME MINISTER: Well –
MORRIS: Well, I’ve not read one bad comment.
PRIME MINISTER: It will mean that people can get around more efficiently, both on rail and, of course, on road, because when you separate them –
LOCKE: Yes. I mean, level crossings are the worst.
PRIME MINISTER: They are. They are.
MORRIS: We’ve got a lot of roadworks happening around Perth at the moment and what’s going to happen afterwards is just – it’s amazing. Because Perth was built so spread out. That’s the thing. Like, you know, we followed the 1984 corridor plan, as I learned in geography, which basically split Perth out and spread it all out. And there was never a forethought to public transport and stuff and what we do in the future –
PRIME MINISTER: North-south is the big –
MORRIS: It seems easier in other countries or cities.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, but Perth is just becoming so easy to get around with the MetroNet. I mean, the roads, you know, with the Gateway project, made an enormous difference. Clogging up around the airport.
LOCKE: Yeah that’s true.
PRIME MINISTER: The Swan Valley bypass. But the MetroNet project is really –
LOCKE: And when that Ellenbrook Line opens as well, that’s going to make a big difference –
MORRIS: Do you reckon we’ll ever get a toll?
LOCKE: Don’t say that.
MORRIS: I don’t want them. Something so strange about me driving on a road and then having to chuck change into a bucket.
BASSETT: No, there’s a little thing that goes beep.
PRIME MINISTER: As someone who is from Sydney, it is such a bonus, being from Perth. The difference that it makes is enormous.
LOCKE: I was just in Melbourne on the weekend, and the toll to get to the airport on the Tullamarine Freeway, it’s $6.
BASSETT: That’s cheap. There’s $13 tolls in Sydney.
MORRIS: How many? I don’t know the word. How many tolls? I mean, you’re not the paying and you’re on the back seat of the limo.
PRIME MINISTER: Sydney is the highest tolled city in the world.
MORRIS: Could you do like $50 a day if you had to go from a length to like -?
PRIME MINISTER: You bet you could. You bet you could.
MORRIS: Wow.
LOCKE: Yeah. So, like, a professional driver, as somebody who drives for a living, a delivery driver or whatever, can easily rack that up.
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely.
MORRIS: You know what? If you want to win WA over again for the election, say Peter Dutton wants tolls and nukes. And nukes. Tolls and nukes, and we – mate.
PRIME MINISTER: Nuclear tolls.
MORRIS: Nuclear tolls. Radioactive toll booths.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we may as well. At least that’ll have a costing on it. But unlike his policy. He gave a speech yesterday and said nothing. Nothing. Won’t go anywhere near Collie. I mean, it’s a joke. It really is.
MORRIS: Yeah, mate, Collie. Poor Collie. You know what? They’re going to be fantastic when they all have five arms in a few years.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, then –
MORRIS: Hey, hey.
PRIME MINISTER: The nuclear fantasy isn’t happening. Which is why Peter Dutton won’t actually come out with the costing, because it doesn’t add up.
MORRIS: Well, you got to make the – got to make the plants, don’t – you can’t just move into an old Aldi.
LOCKE: Yes, well, and the CSIRO came out very beginning and said it was a very expensive option.
PRIME MINISTER: It’s the most expensive. It’s the slowest. It’s risky.
LOCKE: Yeah – I know that it works in other countries, but that’s – the infrastructure is much – they’re smaller. And it was built some time ago, so. Whereas trying to build it now, is an expensive option when –
MORRIS: When I watch The Block, I see how much water filling costs. It needs more than water filling. Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: You need more water than a coal fired power station. And coal fired power stations are shutting down there at Collie, of course. And they’re building there a battery that will have, be able to store enough power for 860,000 homes on that site.
LOCKE: Yeah.
MORRIS: Wow.
LOCKE: That’s amazing, isn’t it?
MORRIS: Free power. Power’s ridiculous. We didn’t have to pay for that. And Internet. Internet should be free, don’t you think? Elon Musk says that. He says some other crazy things.
LOCKE: I wouldn’t quote him too boldly.
PRIME MINISTER: I got in a fight with him. I don’t want to –
LOCKE: I know.
PRIME MINISTER: Quite, quite happy to, given his outrageous behaviour. Thinks he’s above everything. Like some of these supermarkets. I’m amazed that – now you’ve been on about this for a while.
MORRIS: The ACCC, right. So, we know that they’re taking them on and what they seem to have done is absolutely disgusting. So, we’ve got the ACCC Chair, Gina Cass-Gottleib. This is her talking about an example of what the supermarkets have been doing –
GINA CASS-GOTTLEIB, ACCC CHAIR: The sale by Woolworths of Oreo family biscuits, initially at a price of $3.50 for near – close to two years. Then an increase in price to $5 for a 22 day period – compared to the nearly two years. And then the price returning to a $4.50 price when it was put onto the Prices Dropped campaign.
MORRIS: The strategic planning of this, to put something up an astronomical price and then drop it down and still making a profit because you haven’t dropped it down as much –
LOCKE: As much, but calling it a saving.
PRIME MINISTER: No wonder a lot of people are angry and they’re right to be. You’ve been on to this – you’ve been ahead of the game.
MORRIS: This is the thing. My parents are now pensioners, so I don’t think about myself. I make enough money, I’m okay. But I think about people that don’t and I think about what someone that has worked their whole life has to do to live these days. They can’t put the air conditioner on, they can’t afford it. You should be at least be able to go to the shops and be able to afford – not thinking about eating the, you probably can’t even afford the cheapest tin of cat food at the moment.
PRIME MINISTER: This is having a lend of people. They go along, they see a sign saying it’s on special. They expect it to be cheaper, not more expensive. And what you have with those examples is essentially the prices going up by a dollar, then they reduce it by $0.50. So, it’s still $0.50 more than it was, and say it’s cheaper.
BASSETT: And I’m going to say, I’m that sucker. When I’m at the shops and I’m in a rush, my partner says to me, get whatever’s on special. So, I just run through and I look wherever the tags are and then I get to the checkout and I’m like, holy moly. Like, is this the special prices? This is nuts. I just think of people that have families, like, imagine if you’ve got two kids, three kids, four kids, how are you feeding them?
LOCKE: Not only that, but it’s also, they’re elevating inflation. Two companies are driving inflation in this country and that’s, you know, you’re bearing the brunt of that.
PRIME MINISTER: We’re doing everything we can –
LOCKE: Yeah, yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: To reduce inflation. We have halved it. I make that point –
LOCKE: Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: But it’s not easy when you have companies abusing their market power. And that is what has happened here.
MORRIS: Everyone in Australia is calling out for punishment.
LOCKE: How do we hold them accountable?
MORRIS: We do we need to see – because I’ve heard on the news last night that it was a $10 million fine. If that’s true, it’s a drop in the ocean. You need to do something.
PRIME MINISTER: No, no. Per incident. And we’re talking in one case, over 240 cases, in another over 260. And in addition to that, yesterday we released an exposure draft of new legislation to tighten regulations even further. And we introduced the exposure draft as well, of our mandatory Code of Conduct. Now, under the former Government, what we inherited was a voluntary code, I mean, seriously. And so we had Dr. Craig Emerson do a review, said the Code should be mandated and we put out the draft of that just yesterday.
MORRIS: Can you also do something about when the register tells you that you’ve put something in your bag and you haven’t? Or the other way around? And then the thing starts flashing and you have to wait for the person to come over, then they look at you like you’re an idiot.
LOCKE: Some sort of mandatory code of conduct there.
BASSETT: What happens to the money that’s going to get fined? So, they’re going to get fined $10 million, each – then where does that money go? Then where does that money go? Because I assume there’s going to be a lot of it.
PRIME MINISTER: It goes to the taxpayers.
BASSETT: So, you’re going to get a refund?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we’ve produced two Budget surpluses, so this will help with the bottom line.
LOCKE: Ultimately, though, it’s the consumer that has paid this money.
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely.
LOCKE. So, they’re the ones that’s come out of their pocket but it won’t be returned to their pocket?
MORRIS: No, but I would like to see that. Can you have your people come and knock on everyone’s door and hand them an envelope? Imagine that.
LOCKE: Show us your receipts and we’ll sort you out.
MORRIS: Albo’s coming today.
PRIME MINISTER: I think there’s a law against handing out cash during an election campaign.
LOCKE: You’re not handing it out, you’re returning it.
BASSETT: Exactly. Put your hand up. Who’s ever shopped at the Woolies or Coles? Excellent. Here you go. Here’s $50. $50, perfect.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have given tax cuts for every tax payer, I do make that point.
LOCKE: And energy rebates as well, which we’re happy about that, but you know, still.
PRIME MINISTER: 700 bucks.
MORRIS: Any further along with the wedding planning?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ve said that last time. You’ll know, because there’s a fair chance you’ll be there DJ-ing.
MORRIS: I know I’ll be there DJ-ing. Are you kidding me?
PRIME MINISTER: We’re thinking that it will be probably after the election, because if we do it beforehand, it’ll be a bit of a political event.
MORRIS: Have you thought about your bonbonniere? What are your bonbonniere going to be?
LOCKE: Sugared almonds?
PRIME MINISTER: We haven’t got to that level of detail. Maybe freckles, or black cats.
LOCKE: Speaking about elections – can we ask, are we going to get an early election, Prime Minister? There’s a bit of chatter around double dissolution and this sort of thing. What’s going on?
PRIME MINISTER: There always is. I’m just concerned with governing, and the election will be sometime when I drive to Yarralumla.
LOCKE: You could just like, get in the car and go for a spin and pretend to go in there and swerve away.
PRIME MINISTER: I said that to one of the TV journos. I said, well, it’s very easy. Just camp outside.
MORRIS: Yes. You’ll know.
PRIME MINISTER: When you see the car go in –
LOCKE: That’s it.
PRIME MINISTER: You’ll know.
LOCKE: And then you just drive up and speed off.
PRIME MINISTER: You’ll get the exclusive.
MORRIS: It’s when every suburb in Australia smells like a sausage sizzle.
PRIME MINISTER: I think three years is too short, is my view. Should be four.
LOCKE: Okay. All right. Good to know.
PRIME MINISTER: So, you know. There was going to be an election August 30, I kept reading, and that’s come and gone. And then it was going to be in September.
LOCKE. So, when’s the latest it can be? It’s March? Is it March?
PRIME MINISTER: May. Yeah.
MORRIS: Right.
PRIME MINISTER: So, sometime between now and May.
BASSETT: Just Christmas Day, you know. Why not?
MORRIS: An election must be such an exhausting time for you to even think –
PRIME MINISTER: Why not, people are happy Christmas Day.
LOCKE: No, people want something else to do, so they’re like – because they get a bit bored. You know, once you’ve opened your presents and eaten all the food.
MORRIS: Then you’re stuck there with your family wearing a new shirt.
LOCKE: What about if we go off and vote?
PRIME MINISTER: Off you go. I will give the Christmas Day suggestion due consideration.
LOCKE: Don’t choose New Year’s Day. Everyone’s too hung over.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah.
BASSETT: You’re not going to get any voters.
PRIME MINISTER: No. New Year’s Day, I always host the Australian – and this year it’ll be the Australian and Indian cricket teams.
MORRIS: Oh, yeah, of course.
LOCKE: Of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: Which is –
LOCKE: That’ll be fun.
MORRIS: Are you making sandwiches?
PRIME MINISTER: I think for many of them it’s the last thing that they want to do. Hungover cricketers, turn up.
MORRIS: Throwing up in the toilet under the stairs.
LOCKE: So, that’s ahead of the Sydney Test, right?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, that’s right. It’s a bit of a tradition, which is there. So –
LOCKE: Brilliant work
MORRIS: Albo, we’ll see you next week.
LOCKE: Yeah. I was going to say – I’m sure you’ll be back.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, see you in a couple of weeks!
LOCKE: I was going to say in 15 minutes, but –
PRIME MINISTER: I’m surprised that when Shaun wasn’t here, you didn’t give me a call. I can understand why.
MORRIS: Do you know who won the Brownlow last night?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, I do. Patrick Cripps.
LOCKE: Yeah, well done. Who came second?
PRIME MINISTER: There you go. I don’t know who came second. I was in – I was in Philadelphia 48 hours ago. Literally.
MORRIS: Yeah, was it fun?
PRIME MINISTER: It was good. It was terrific.
MORRIS: Do you like Joe?
PRIME MINISTER: I like him very much.
LOCKE: A Quad meeting.
MORRIS: Does he hate Kamala?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
MORRIS: He does.
PRIME MINISTER: No, he doesn’t.
MORRIS: Oh, he does so. A younger woman pushed him out. Pushed an older man in politics –
LOCKE: That’s not true, George Clooney pushed him out.
PRIME MINISTER: He’s out there campaigning for Kamala.
LOCKE: Who’s going to win the grand final?
PRIME MINISTER Swans.
LOCKE: Mmm. Are you a Hawks supporter or not?
PRIME MINISTER: I’m a Hawks supporter. Can’t change teams.
MORRIS: What are the Powerball numbers?
PRIME MINISTER: I tell you what, there was this controversy over whether I was really a Hawks supporter. And it’s like, what sort of idiot – halfway through this year when the Swans looked unbeatable and you live in Sydney and you go, “no, no, I’m a Hawthorn supporter. Sure, they lost the first five games”, but – I mean, seriously. So, you can’t change teams. But, you know, when the Hawks aren’t playing – Go, Swans.
LOCKE: Sydney. All right.
MORRIS: Go MetroNet.
PRIME MINISTER: And go MetroNet.
MORRIS: Go, ACCC.
LOCKE: Thanks so much, Albo.
MORRIS: Go the Bloods.
PRIME MINISTER: See you, guys. See you next week.
