: Well, let's return now to the Federal Budget with income tax cuts the centrepiece. And joining us this afternoon is Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, live from Canberra. Prime Minister, thank you so much for your time on a very busy day.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: G'day Tarsh.
BELLING: Good afternoon. If I could just start with cost of living. A couple of stats for you because it's certainly the key focus for voters. Groceries have increased 30 per cent. Energy bills have increased 40 per cent. Car insurance costs have increased 40 per cent. The average mortgage repayment for many Australians has increased by $2,000 a month. You're offering Australian voters a $5 a week tax cut that isn't coming into effect until next year. Surely that doesn't go far enough?
PRIME MINISTER: What we're offering them Tarsh, and what has just passed the Parliament, is a top up of our tax cuts so, the average taxpayers will get $2,500 of relief. We're offering $150 Energy Bill Relief on top of the $300 bill relief that we've offered up to this point. We're offering Cheaper Medicines down to $25, Cheaper Child Care. We're offering a comprehensive plan of cost of living relief. And the latest inflation figures that have dropped just before this interview show that inflation has dropped further. The monthly figure - both the headline figure and the adjusted figure as well. So, we have got inflation down. It's down to an annual figure of 2.4 per cent. It was a six in front when we were elected. We have real wages increasing. We know that people have been under cost of living pressure. That's why we're not just sitting back wringing our hands. We're taking action. And the House of Representatives has just passed our tax cuts to add to the tax cuts that we passed last year. Peter Dutton and the Coalition have voted against all of our cost of living support. And today they voted against these tax cuts that are modest, but will make a difference.
BELLING: Talking about the Coalition, Prime Minister, the Opposition says the Budget is a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. What would you say to that?
PRIME MINISTER: I'd say they left Australia with a $78 billion deficit in the first year and then deficits all the way to see. We turned that into a $22 billion surplus. We turned another deficit they left into a $15 billion surplus. And last night we halved the size of the deficit that they had forecast in in their last Budget, which was, of course, less than three years ago. We have turned that around. We've provided cost of living relief. Real wages were going backwards. Now they're going up. Living standards are increasing on a per capita level as well. Interest rates started to increase before the last election, now they've started to decrease. We have produced over more than $95 billion of savings during our time in government. We've reduced debt by $180 billion. We'll reduce it further by $207 billion compared with what their forecasts were. We have dealt with, continuing to deal with cost of living pressures. And in this Budget, we've done that whilst creating the space to do things like tripling the bulk billing incentive for Medicare so that 90 per cent of Australians can see a doctor for free. The public school funding - finally, schools getting fair funding, every public school in Australia. Those agreements we've reached with state and territory governments. Free TAFE. All of these measures helping people, at the same time as we're looking to the future, with our Future Made in Australia plan, making sure we manufacture more things here. We cannot afford to go backwards to the chaos and dysfunction that was there in the Morrison Government. And we can't afford to have people come to power who have opposed all of our cost of living measures over the last three years, and just within the last hour have voted against people getting a tax cut.
BELLING: Prime Minister, if I can talk about your healthcare focus. Because Medicare is so important, you mentioned, which is a great step, ensuring 9 out of 10 GPs will be able to bulk bill. But that doesn't come into effect until 2030. People cannot afford to get basic healthcare now. What are you providing for Australians, especially in regional areas, so they can afford to get basic healthcare and see their GP?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we have done - and those things don't wait till 2030, they're rolling out now. We're extending the rollout that we did, last year's Budget provided the tripling of the bulk billing incentive for the 11 million Australians who are under some form of concession cards. We're extending that to all 27 million Australians. We're making sure at the same time that we train more GPs and health professionals, which will be so important going forward. In addition to that, what we're doing is having Cheaper Medicines that will make a difference. $25 that will come in from July. That is the same price that medicines were in 2004, more than 20 years ago. And we're opening Urgent Care Clinics right around regional Australia. We promised 50 at the last election. We now have 87. We're going to do another 50. Those Medicare Urgent Care Clinics so people can get the care they need for things that aren't life threatening. So, creating that mid-tier in between the local GP and the emergency department of a hospital. More than 1.3 million Australians have got the care they need when they needed it. And all they've needed is their Medicare card. This stands in stark contrast to what Peter Dutton did as Health Minister. Ripped $50 billion out of the health and hospitals budget. Tried to introduce a tax every time people visited the GP, which would have abolished bulk billing completely. Tried to actually introduce a payment when people visited the emergency department of a hospital, and introduced legislation to increase the cost of pharmaceuticals, not decrease it. We can't afford to have the cuts to Medicare that will come if Peter Dutton has to find the $600 billion for his nuclear energy fantasy in the future. Peter Dutton supports cutting education, health, public services right across the board. He supports cutting everything except for your taxes.
BELLING: Prime Minister, a couple of big weeks ahead. The Budget is now out of the way. Any plans for the weekend? Call an election maybe?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we'll wait and see, Tarsh. The election will be held in May. I think that three years is too short. I said consistently when asked about this we intended to serve our full term and that's precisely what we have done.
BELLING: Busy day ahead. We appreciate your time this afternoon, Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, joining us there live from Canberra.
