KARL STEFANOVIC: We’re pleased to say the Prime Minister joins us now from Nowra in New South Wales. Beautiful spot too. PM, good morning to you.
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Beautiful day here, Karl.
STEFANOVIC: I was down at Merimbula over the weekend, a spectacular part of the world, it’ll be an interesting race there for you in that seat. PM, after being pummelled on character for months, you’ve drawn ahead as preferred PM this morning. It’s another miracle.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is a choice this election. Elections are always a choice, it’s a choice between the strong economic management and financial management we’ve shown through the worst crisis this country has seen economically since the Great Depression. And we’ve been able to save 700,000 jobs through JobKeeper, get unemployment down to 4 per cent, we’ve had one of the biggest turnarounds in the Budget in the last 12 months – that we’ve seen in 70 years – a $100 billion turnaround, and leading the world in terms of our economy out of this pandemic. And a Labor Opposition that people know can’t manage money that is unproven, untested and unknown and would risk at all.
STEFANOVIC: Look at this election, though, is based on character, which is pretty easy, it’s a pretty easy task for Labor. You lose, don’t you?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh look, I think the character of our Government has been proven in the results that we’ve achieved coming through this pandemic, saving tens of thousands of lives, tens of thousands of businesses, hundreds of thousands of jobs. But the economic plan to keep that going. Making sure we’re keeping taxes low. That we’re ensuring we get, we’ve got electricity prices down by 8 per cent, so businesses can move ahead. We’ve got 220,000 apprentices in trade training, the highest we’ve ever seen. You know, this crisis we’ve been through, 30 times worse than the Global Financial Crisis that Labor faced when they were last in power. But we got unemployment down from 5.7 per cent to 4 per cent. Under Labor, it went from 4.2 per cent under John Howard, up to 5.7 per cent, so 30 times worse the crisis we’ve faced. And our employment outcomes have been 50 per cent better, and we’ve retained our AAA credit rating to boot. So when it comes to managing money and in a strong economy, because that’s how you pay for pensions, that’s how you pay for health care, that’s how you pay for disability insurance, that’s how you do it. It’s all about an economic plan. If you can’t manage money, you can’t run the country.
STEFANOVIC: The question was more about your own character, but you can’t run from it, can you?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, my character, I’m happy to stand by every single day. Every single day, because it’s the strength that we’ve needed to get through this pandemic. Not everybody agrees with everything I’ve done Karl, and not everybody will necessarily like me. But what they will know is that when we face this crisis, we ploughed through with the right plan to keep our economy strong, to save lives, to stand up to the threats in our region, whether it be standing up to the threats in China or other places, or ensuring that we’re investing in our defence forces. Landing the biggest defence agreements with the United States and Japan, another big economic agreement with India. All of this to keep Australians safe, to keep our economy strong, with strong plans for the future.
STEFANOVIC: You’ve made mistakes. You’ve admitted to them. You said, look, we’ve made mistakes, but stick with us. It’s not exactly an inspiring pitch for the public’s vote, is it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well Australians can see the results and they can see that Australia, despite all the challenges we continue to face, and the very real uncertainty ahead, it’s a choice between a Government that you know, that has been able to take Australia through this crisis, with a strong plan for the future and a Labor Opposition supported by the Greens that you don’t.
STEFANOVIC: Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: I mean, the uncertainty and the challenges that we face are very real. And Australians know what we’ve been able to achieve and how tough it has been. And I know it’s been tough, but no Government’s perfect. No Government has got everything right through this crisis. But when you look objectively at what we’ve been able to achieve together, my plan has been backing Australians in. Whether it was on JobKeeper, or the cash flow boost, or getting taxes down – that’s an investment in them to come through this, and that’s how we’ll continue to be strong.
STEFANOVIC: Anthony Albanese got pretty personal yesterday, saying he’s not going to disappear when the going gets tough. That must really make you wince.
PRIME MINISTER: No, it doesn’t. Look, Anthony Albanese has spent the last three years fighting me while I’ve been fighting the pandemic and standing up for Australia. Just sledging a Prime Minister for three years is no application for the job. I’ve been getting on with keeping our economy strong and keeping Australians safe. This guy, well, no-one knows really what he’s about, what he stands for, or what his plans are. And if he can’t do that, he’s had three years to tell the Australian people what he’s about and they still don’t know. With us, you know our team. You know that Peter Dutton will be looking after defence. You know, that Karen Andrews will be a strong ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Affairs Minister. Josh Frydenberg has done four Budgets now as Treasurer, and Marise Payne, a fine Foreign Minister, just come back from the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting in Europe, ensuring that we’ve got all of those key relationships in place. I’ve got a strong team that’s delivered for Australia, kept us strong. What we need is continued strength in leadership, not the weakness on economic management and the way each way bet that we’ve seen.
STEFANOVIC: There you go. It doesn’t suit you being nice, PM. You’ve got to get the gloves off and just sledge away.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, no, I disagree. I’m just calling it as it is Karl.
STEFANOVIC: Ok, look, there are there are a couple of more questions. Is Alan Tudge still a Cabinet Minister? I’m a little confused.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, well he is. He stood aside and he stood aside. We had that Inquiry and it was found there was nothing there which would prevent him from continuing on as a Minister. And he’s decided to stay aside for health and family reasons until the next election. And if he wishes to re-join the Cabinet, then he’d be very welcome. He’s technically still part of the Cabinet. I’m taking my whole team to the next election and I’ll make an announcement about the Health Minister this weekend.
STEFANOVIC: News.com.au has a story this morning that your Government is about to pay out his ex-lover $500,000. Is that true?
PRIME MINISTER: I can’t. I have no knowledge of that. That’s a private matter between her and the Department, and so that is not a matter that I have any involvement in or have any oversight or visibility on.
STEFANOVIC: Did he, if he didn’t do anything wrong though, what’s the money for? If he did, why’s he still a Cabinet Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we had an independent Inquiry which found there was no basis for him not to be able to continue in the Ministry. And on those other matters, I can’t say what those matters speak to. But I’m not aware of anything that would be preventing him from continuing on and serving as a Minister. And he’s been a very fine Education Minister. I mean Alan Tudge is the one who’s been standing up for our curriculum and making sure that our kids are being taught the right things in schools and that our curricula is not being taken hostage of the far left wing who just want to teach our kids things that frankly don’t believe in Australia.
STEFANOVIC: So a Government Minister’s ex-lover is going to get paid $500,000 in taxpayer money and you don’t know what for?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that’s speculation. I can’t confirm that and neither can you, Karl, to be honest. I can’t speak to those matters. It’s a matter of employment between the Department and that individual. I mean, it’d be inappropriate for me to have knowledge specifically of those things, because it’s a private matter between the employer and the employee. It would be like in your own company, I’m sure that you wouldn’t have knowledge of similar things in your own company.
STEFANOVIC: That’s for certain, I don’t know what’s going on in my own company. Hey, Chris Uhlmann described the campaign as 40 days and 40 nights – a biblical curse on the nation, he trumpeted this morning. I know you’re more of a New Testament type of fella. Just remind me, how does it all end again?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I know how it all ends in terms of that story, but this story is up to the Australian people. And this is a choice. Elections are about a choice, and there are two choices here. The strong economic and financial management that we’ve displayed with a strong plan for the future and a Labor Party you don’t know. A Labor Party that frankly doesn’t know itself anymore. They’ve had three years to tell you what they are going to do, and you still don’t know. And with this Government, you know what we’ve been able to achieve, you know our plans for the future and in these uncertain times, you just can’t risk Labor.
STEFANOVIC: All right. We’ve got Albo coming up in about 15 minutes time. Anything you’d like to say to him this morning at the start of this campaign?
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning.
STEFANOVIC: That’s loving. That’s it?
PRIME MINISTER: It’s a beautiful morning here in Nowra.
STEFANOVIC: Righto, thanks PM. Talk to you soon.
