: On this Tuesday morning, a very special phone call has come through and we want to welcome this man because he's done an amazing job on the topic of social media and raising the age. We're going to get to that, but we want to welcome the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Hello buddy.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Great to be with you.
WIPFLI: We do want to talk social media but the hot topic, of course, and the panic that you can feel around town - Albo, it's Christmas time. How will you be celebrating?
PRIME MINISTER: It is. Well, I'll be heading up to Darwin because it is the 50th anniversary of that terrible event, Cyclone Tracy, when Santa never made it into Darwin and so I recall as a little kid hearing that song over and over again but seeing the devastation that was there. So, there'll be a memorial service at 6am, Saturday morning and on the Friday - I think it's the Saturday - but on Christmas Day. On the night before, there'll also be a memorial event and so it'll be really important for - literally, they're expecting a very big crowd of people to go back, of people who experienced it themselves, some of them kids of course, when it occurred. So, I normally spend my Christmas Day at Bill Crews' there at Exodus Foundation at Ashfield feeding the homeless. Bill does an amazing job -
KATE RITCHIE, HOST: It's great work.
PRIME MINISTER: I find it a great thing to do.
RYAN FITZGERALD, HOST: Look, I know that's a great cause, Anthony. Can we borrow Kirribilli House, then? If you're not in on that day, can we come around? Actually, Prime Minister, I had to ask you, is - I heard a couple of rumours that the cricket pitch has been done up at Kirribilli House. Can you give us an update on that? What's going on?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the path that goes around the outside there has been fixed. It's taken some period of time, I've got to say, which is why we haven't had our cricket game for charity so far this year. There was also a danger of bits of Kirribilli House, the ground, slipping into Sydney Harbour there. They had to do some maintenance there -
RITCHIE: Some retaining walls.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, literally. And so there's been an enormous amount of work being done, it's basically been a building site for about six months -
WIPFLI: Okay. Maybe February, what will it look like in February?
PRIME MINISTER: They will finish at some stage.
RICHIE: Okay, well we can't wait to see it. We'll give it a - we'll christen it when it's all done.
WIPFLI: Yeah, we're pretty keen to get some backyard cricket going. Prime Minister, can we celebrate what is a world leading change that you've done here in Australia? The change to raise the minimum age that kids can join social media. It really is, and has done - and I've had so many phone calls from people saying, it is such a relief.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah. Well, I want to say thank you to you and Nova for your advocacy, but I also want to say thank you to the brave parents who've lost loved ones, who channelled that grief into doing something really positive so that other parents don't have to go through this. Social media is doing social harm and I want to protect our young Australians, make sure that they can engage with each other face to face, not think that the whole world revolves online. But I also want Australian parents to know that we have their backs and our platforms will have a social responsibility to ensure that the safety of our kids is a priority for them and they'll be held to account. There's a bit of pushback. That's not surprising.
WIPFLI: No, it is, it is so powerful. It really is. You know what's interesting? And I encourage everybody to do as much reading as possible because when you talk about pushback from the tech companies, there's a lot of dancing that goes on. But at the same time, people have been saying "this is the Government's way of getting a digital ID and stealing more of our data." Well, they need to understand, as you would know, Prime Minister, that it's actually in the bill that there will be no digital ID and that no more personal information is required. So, I think that's really important to point out.
PRIME MINISTER: That's right. We have robust privacy provisions in the legislation very clearly, and obligations on the social media companies regarding the use of any information and significant penalties for breaches of those requirements. So, people won't have to upload digital IDs. We've made that very clear.
WIPFLI: They do already have the technology. I mean, TikTok in particular, they recognise 76 million people last year that were underage. They have the technology to do it. So, let's not confuse that. And we always say Prime Minister, as well. If we, for example, hypothetical, we said to Meta, "hey, we're going to give you $1,000 for identifying every person under the age of 16." How do you reckon they'd go? I reckon they'd be pretty good at it.
RITCHIE: There's a bit of incentive there as well.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's exactly right. Well, we've given them a financial incentive to get this right as well, because we wanted to make sure that the obligations were on the social media companies, not on parents. That is a part of the focus of the legislation. And, you know, society has a responsibility to look after each other.
RITCHIE: Absolutely. You've got to get it right because our kids deserve it and we deserve, as parents, the support. So, I thank you for leading the way and thank you to you, Wip. But there's a lot of faith that comes from being listened to. And all those people that signed the petition, that's exactly what's happening.
WIPFLI: Well done, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, everyone. Might talk to you before Christmas. It's good to see you're still working.
RITCHIE: Someone's got to.
WIPFLI: Always, mate. Take care great to chat.
PRIME MINISTER: Someone's got to.
RITCHIE: See you later.
