PETER STEFANOVIC: And joining us live from Cairns this morning is the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison. Prime Minister, good morning to you. Thank you for your time. You’ve got the highest inflation rate in 21 years, the worst debt in Australia’s history, interest rates set to go through several hikes and you’re campaigning on being better for the economy. How exactly are you better economic managers?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, these are some of the toughest economic times Australia has experienced, if not the toughest, since the Great Depression. What we’re experiencing right now, and Australians are experiencing it, because of what has happened with the pandemic. The war in Europe is putting massive pressure on prices all around the world and that is really impacting people’s household budgets. And we understand that. And that’s why in the budget we took three steps in advance to ensure we were shielding people from these global rising pressures on cost of living and of course on interest rates. The first of those was to halve the petrol tax and we’re just talking about that in your introduction. We halved the petrol tax to give people that immediate relief now and to ensure that was in place, not for three months like it was done in New Zealand, but for six months. Second thing we’ve done is we’ve provided that immediate relief to pensioners and those on other fixed income support payments – $250 – they’re getting that right now this week. And the third thing we did was to ensure on the 1st of July, when people put their tax returns in, those on middle incomes, and lower, they will keep $420 more of their own money to ensure that they can also deal with these rising costs of living. But we are dealing with very significant pressures on our economy. We had to borrow more money to do JobKeeper, which saved 700,000 jobs and I believe thousands of lives, too, with the great stresses that were put on people. As a government, we have leant in heavily to support the Australian economy, which means today more jobs than we had before the pandemic, lower unemployment. We’re ensuring that Australians can look forward in Australia compared to other countries, much more optimistically because our growth and our job performance outstrips that of all the major advanced economies of the world. And you mentioned inflation. Well, it’s 5.1 per cent here. It’s almost 7 per cent in New Zealand and in Canada. It’s more than that in Europe and it’s 8.5 per cent in the United States. And all the while we keep our AAA credit rating, only one of nine countries in the world to do so. So they are tough times. That’s very, Peter. Our government has taken Australia through this the most, if not all, of the advanced economies of the world. And you wouldn’t want to risk all that on Labor now.
STEFANOVIC: Your own budget though, had inflation at 4.25 per cent by mid this year. It is, as we know now at 5.1 per cent. So you’re missing your own targets.
PRIME MINISTER: Now those March quarter figures, these March figures that have just come out and the figures that we’re talking about in the Budget are coming ’til later. And the figures that have come out don’t include the cut in petrol tax and Treasury estimated that would cut inflation by about 0.5 per cent. So you know, Budgets don’t just deal with it straight away, they deal with the future and they’re always forecasts, that are in Budgets and what we’ve seen in those inflation figures so far don’t include the halving of the petrol tax, which would dampen those inflationary effect. But I’m not, no-one in the Government, the Treasurer or I, we’re not doubting the very significant economic pressures that are out there. They’re all around the world. And so that’s why this election is a choice about who’s going to be able to continue to be able to better manage these extraordinary pressures on our economy. I mean, there’s pressure on interest rates. That’s true. There’s pressure on inflation. And what we need to do is continue that steady hand of economic management, which has shielded Australia from so many of the outcomes that other countries, just like Australia, are experiencing the far worse effects.
STEFANOVIC: Your government claims credit though, when the economy goes well, but when the bad stuff happens, it’s an international trend and you have no power. Surely you can’t have it both ways.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I wouldn’t agree with that assessment, Peter. I mean, obviously there is a war in Europe. There are global inflationary pressures. It is true that Australia’s inflation rate is lower than in Europe, in the United States and even in countries like New Zealand. They’re all just facts. They are the facts. I remember during the pandemic when we were back in it and the Labor Party tried to blame us for a recession caused by the pandemic. If the Labor Party thinks that what is happening in the Australian economy on inflation or interest rates, doesn’t have anything to do with what’s happening overseas. Then it just shows that Mr Albanese doesn’t just know what the unemployment rate is, he doesn’t know what’s going on in the economy at all. And that’s really the problem, because they don’t have an economic plan to deal with this. We have and that has shielded Australia from some of the worst impacts that we’ve seen from this pandemic and now the war in Europe.
STEFANOVIC: When it comes to voters though, people aren’t focussed on those international factors that you’ve pointed out though. When they’re struggling to get by, they looking at who’s in charge, they’re looking at you. Increased rates finished off John Howard in 2007. Could the same thing happen to you?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think the two circumstances are very different, Peter. I mean, interest rates at that election in 2007 was at 6.5 per cent, 6.5 per cent. Today they’re at 0.1 per cent, that’s the cash rate. And one of the things I want to really commend Australians for doing during the pandemic is they’ve been making wise decisions themselves. Before we went into the pandemic, the percentage of those mortgages on fixed rates was around about 20 per cent. Now that’s doubled. Equally Australians over the course of the pandemic, they’ve been, they’ve been wise and they’ve been investing in paying down their mortgages and they’ve been building up their own buffers because like the Government, and I give them more credit than perhaps your question does, Peter. They understand what’s going on in the world. They know there’s a war in Europe. They know there’s been a pandemic. They know that Australia has been faring better than the other countries and they know that if I were to risk it all on Labor, which is unproven on managing money, unproven when it comes to managing the economy, that they’d be putting all of that at risk that they’ve worked so hard for.
STEFANOVIC: Prime Minister, one more on overseas matters. Emmanuel Macron was re-elected this week, as you know. If you are also re-elected, how do you intend on dealing with the world leader for the next term, who publicly called you a liar?
PRIME MINISTER: We’ll continue to build that relationship. I understand that President Macron, and I’ve congratulated them this week. And I think he’s going to provide a continuing, strong stabilising influence in Europe and particularly of the terrible pressures there from the war in Europe. And I look forward to working with him and all the other leaders. From time to time, there are always disagreements, not the first time that’s happened. We cancelled a $90 billion submarine contract for a submarine that I knew wasn’t going to do the job. There’s no easy way to break that news and for people not to be upset. But it was the right decision for Australia, and I was always going to put Australia’s national interests first. And so having to choose between disappointing a good friend and partner or putting Australia’s national interest first with making the right submarine decision, I was always going to do the right thing by Australia. Now I know the Labor Party criticised me for that. They joined in on the pile on that from criticism from outside Australia. I think that says more about their views about the national interest than it does about mine.
STEFANOVIC: Prime Minister, thanks for your time.
