: Pleasure to welcome the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, this afternoon. Hello.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good to be with you, Aaron. I hope you're enjoying the sleep-ins there, mate. Used to talking to you early in the morning.
STEVENS: Absolutely. I wanted to talk to you straight off the top and I'm hoping you're aware of this. You realise that there's a mention today that there's likely to be a cyclone developing way off the Queensland coast. But it's likely to develop over the next couple of days. I'm sure you've heard about this. But if a cyclone was due to develop off the Queensland coast or in Australian waters, it was due to be called Anthony. And they've scrapped that. It'll now be Alfred.
PRIME MINISTER: Is that right?
STEVENS: You didn't know?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I don't know how they decide those names.
STEVENS: Well, it was the next in line, is a male A. And the next in line was supposed to be Anthony. But due to the fact that we have a Prime Minister named Anthony, they scrapped that and it's now going to be Alfred. So, we were within days of having Tropical Cyclone Anthony.
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, there you go. I thought they used to all be named after women.
STEVENS: No, it's - it alternates.
PRIME MINISTER: Okay.
STEVENS: Yeah, it alternates in letters. So, the last one was Zelia off the coast of Western Australia. So, we were due to have Anthony off the coast of Queensland. But no, it's Alfred.
PRIME MINISTER: Of the names beginning A that I can think of, is Aaron - comes before me in the alphabet. Why isn't it Cyclone Aaron?
STEVENS: I think Cyclone Aaron might have been many, many, many, many years ago.
PRIME MINISTER: I'll make a call and make it happen. I don't know who gets to decide these things. I don't know whether it's Queensland or whether it's the Bureau of Meteorology. I don't know, who gets to decide?
STEVENS: Well, it's through the Bureau. And it's, as I said, as this plan goes and there's a cyclone authority that's involved, but I mean, I guess you've dodged a bullet because if it was going to be Anthony, there would have been so many election puns to do with Cyclones, we would have got sick of it.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, let's hope Australia dodges the cyclone. That's the important thing, I think.
STEVENS: Absolutely. Fingers crossed.
PRIME MINISTER: You know, Queenslanders have suffered enough with the impact of the floods that occurred there. I of course, was up in Townsville just a couple of weeks ago with the Premier. And we've been in ongoing discussions as well about upgrades, how we can turn what is a major issue, into making sure we build back better.
STEVENS: And obviously our hearts go out to what people are suffering up there. And obviously there's some serious repairs that need to be made. I'm just curious, and you brought it up now, is what sort of repairs are going to have to be made to the Bruce Highway north of us going to affect the investment that you've mentioned recently?
PRIME MINISTER: There are at least three sections of the Bruce that have been identified in the discussion I had with David Crisafulli just in recent days that they think by doing small measures of just lifting the roads will really increase the flood proofing. You can't make it perfect but you can make a difference as well. I know that there in Rocky when we did the Yeppen Floodplain with the new bridge across, that just made such an enormous difference. You know, people previously were regularly cut off there from the southern approaches to Rockhampton, having to go right around and that added many hours to freight. And one of the issues that has been there in North Queensland has been getting goods and services on the shelves of supermarkets and chemists and essential supplies there as a result of some of the issues that have been there with the highway. One of the issues there too is the Kennedy Road, that 10 kilometres of it haven't been sealed and we need to make sure that gets done as well. So, there's a range of projects to make sure that we do build back better. When I was last Infrastructure Minister, we fixed the Einasleigh River Bridge. That made an enormous difference. Normanton and Karumba there used to get cut off every time there was a flood and they'd build back at the same level and then it'd get washed away and that makes no sense. And Bob Katter came to me and said, "you know, this is madness." And he was right and we got it fixed.
STEVENS: So, but given that, will we see more of that investment that you announced recently for the Bruce Highway invested up north? Will, will we miss out at all in Central Queensland?
PRIME MINISTER: No, we've got, we've got $7.2 billion on the table and we want to make sure that the upgrades occur for the Bruce to bring it up to scratch and that's really important. And of course up to Central Queensland requires some upgrades as well and we'll make sure that it gets done. But obviously in areas like the bridge that was basically washed away, you've got to build that back in order to connect. I was there with the Defence Force putting a temporary bridge across. It was quite an amazing engineering feat that I got to witness firsthand with the Premier and our Emergency Management Minister Jenny McAllister and Bob Katter and I just pay tribute to all those emergency service workers, volunteers and of course our Australian Defence Force personnel who pitched in to make a difference. But obviously we want to get that done as soon as possible.
STEVENS: Yeah, definitely. Speaking of dodging things as we were, should I be dodging the election date question?
PRIME MINISTER: You should be. You're not going to get an answer. I'm just focused on governing. Today we've been in Whyalla for a major announcement. Saving the steelworks and saving jobs there. Supporting blue collar jobs and supporting a future made in Australia. We've been continuing to govern. There are employment figures today that show we've created now 1,152,000 jobs have been created on our watch, more than any government in Australian history and over 700,000 of those have been full time. And of course this week we had on top of inflation falling, wages growing, we had interest rates falling for the first time since 2020. And that is welcome news. There's more work to be done to provide assistance for families and cost of living support. But that is good news and is welcomed by people who have a mortgage right around Australia
STEVENS: No question. But many of us expected an election day to be announced not long after the back of that announcement.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're just focused on governing and one announcement was positive, certainly. But we are focused on making sure that we govern in the interests of all Australians and the economic figures, I think at the next election, we will be able to say we inherited inflation with a 6 in front of it and rising, now it's got a 2 in front of and it's falling. We inherited wages that were dropping five quarters in a row. Now wages have risen five quarters in a row. We've delivered tax cuts for every single taxpayer and we've delivered in services like the Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, tripling the bulk billing incentive as well as the cut to student debt that we have made that is making a difference. There's more to do, but we want to build on the foundations that we've laid in our first term and continue to work, including infrastructure investment, including of course there in the Bruce Highway. That is so important.
STEVENS: A lot more to do, Prime Minister, with reports today suggesting we won't return to the kind of living standards that we had pre-COVID until well into the 2030s.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I want to see living standards lift and the way that you lift living standards is by getting people to earn more and keep more of what they earn. And that's what real wages increasing five quarters in a row and then backed up with the substantial tax cuts for every taxpayer will do. If you can do that and you can continue to put that downward pressure on inflation down to that headline rate of 2.4 per cent, providing the circumstances where the Reserve Bank were able, this week, to reduce interest rates, that's how you make a difference to people, as well as investing in their education, investing in their health. Many of your listeners would have benefited from cheaper medicines. Australians have saved a billion dollars from cheaper medicines since we brought it in. As well as saving, of course, on their energy bill relief. we've provided. All of those measures were opposed by the Coalition, by the Liberals and the National Party. And you know, Australians would have been on average $7,200 worse off if those measures hadn't been introduced.
STEVENS: And good news this week for Beef.
PRIME MINISTER: It is indeed. I loved being there for Beef Week last year and of course it comes around every few years there in Rocky. It's such a major event and it brings substantial income there to Rocky. I thought I was going to have to camp out and bring a tent there. It was hard to get into Rocky at that time. And Beef Week 2027 we'll deliver $12 million so, it can be a bigger and even better event in 2027. It's so important as an industry for Australia. It's a $16 billion industry. Our most valuable agricultural export. And that is, that's really important. The value add for the economy of the last Beef 2024 was estimated at being $94.5 million for the economy. Now, that is great for Central Queensland and great for Australia as well. I had the privilege of being hosted on a cattle station in the Territory, Lake Nash, in January. It was pretty hot, let me tell you, but it was such a great experience speaking to people who were there, witnessing mustering taking place. And this is such an important industry for the Australian economy.
STEVENS: And look, terrific for Beef. I mean, it must be frustrating when you make an announcement like this and you feel good about an announcement like this and certainly Beef, the organisers were happy with it. But then the timing gets questioned.
PRIME MINISTER: Look, the request is there. You need to make this timing well in advance so the planning can take place. We provided funding for Beef 2024 that was substantial. I attended and was very pleased to. It was a terrific event. I went to the dinner and then to a lunch the next day. And one of the good things is you can be guaranteed you'll get a good steak while you're there, as you always do, I've got to say. When I was in Rocky, it was last month in January, on the way up to that cattle station at Lake Nash. I've got to say, we had a pretty good steak at the pub there as well.
STEVENS: Well, 2027, should everything go the way that you'd like it to, then we'll look forward to having a chat to you at Beef again in a couple of years' time. One other thing I wanted to talk to you about. It's such a difficult time on an international focus. The fact is, they're saying this is probably one of the scariest times around the world since World War II. And the Pacific, obviously on our doorstep, is no different. It's a concerning time, isn't it, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: It is. We live in an uncertain world. Every year before Parliament goes back, there's a church service that is bipartisan and people go along. And this year the sermon was Hope in an Uncertain World. I thought that was very prescient of the Reverend who gave it. And we do need hope, we need optimism. But we do need to acknowledge it is an uncertain world. We have a land war in Europe, we have Middle East conflict. And one of the things that my Government has done is restore our international relations. Our relations with the Pacific were at rock bottom when we came to office. We saw what happened in the Solomon Islands and there were no talkies with Australia because we weren't seen as taking climate change seriously, which is their number one issue. We've put in place important agreements with Tuvalu and with Nauru and with Papua New Guinea. With our neighbours in the region, our relations with ASEAN have never been stronger. I hosted every ASEAN leader in Melbourne last year at a very successful event. Our exports to China are back on track, importantly. More than $20 billion in this year. Industries like barley and wine and lobster have actually bounced back higher than they were before there were trade impediments in place. They're our major trading partner, it's important we have a constructive relationship and my Government's been able to deliver that. And that's important for Australian jobs. One in four of jobs depends upon our trade. And fixing those trade issues with China has been one of the achievements of the first term of this Government.
STEVENS: Because I got a call the other day with someone questioning the money that was going into the New Guinea rugby league side. But I mean, that's more about diplomacy rather than a football side, isn't it?
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely, and a lot of that money will go to education and to development as well. If you want to pay footy, you're going to have to go to school. It will make an enormous difference there. It's also going to places like Tonga and Samoa that, of course, are important rugby league nurseries in the NRL. And it's about our whole relationship with our nearest neighbour. You can, if you're a really good swimmer and you're not worried about crocs, you can swim from Saibai Island across to PNG. You can see it. The Torres Strait and PNG are so close and this relationship is so important for Australia's national interest. Our defence and security relationship is vital, but it's important as well to recognise it's a relationship between our people based upon our common values and a common value that we have is a love for rugby league. I walked Kokoda, as you know, Aaron, last year with Prime Minister Marape. And what's extraordinary is that you can walk through the thickest forests that I've ever been in, through those jungles and paying tribute to our Diggers in World War II, who were assisted, of course, by PNG citizens, the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels, as they were known. And you appear from the thickest bush onto a plateau where there's a village. There'll be kids running around in Cowboys jumpers and Broncos jumpers and Queensland Origin jumpers - much more so than Blues jumpers - I've got to say. But the odd South Sydney jumper, there's always a random Souths guy wherever you go.
STEVENS: I tell you what, you've brought up South, they're in a bit of trouble. Mitchell is injured, Cam Murray's injured -
PRIME MINISTER: Don't raise it, you'll upset me. It's just - we haven't even got on the field yet for a serious trial game. It's really bad luck for Cameron Murray, of course - broke his wrist while training for Australia. Prior to the international games at the end of last season and now he's done his Achilles and Latrell is injured it would appear, as well. So, we haven't had much luck lately.
STEVENS: No, we'll see how the season plays out. We're just a week away from Las Vegas, of course. A fantastic start for the game and -
PRIME MINISTER: We've got Wayne Bennett back, so we're confident. We're confident we'll be flying.
STEVENS: Well done. Good to talk to you, Prime Minister. Thanks for your time this afternoon.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Aaron.
