Radio interview - 4RO Rockhampton

LUKE CROSS, HOST: Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese. How are you, mate?

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. I am very well.

CROSS: It's all going well. Of course, that kind of thing never happens, but once I get the Prime Minister on, I accidentally hit a button that makes it continue on. But anyway.

PRIME MINISTER: We got an ad.

CROSS: Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course, of course. That is the way we go here in good old commercial radio. But how you been? I imagine it's been a busy couple of days.

PRIME MINISTER: It has been an incredibly busy couple of days. I did interviews that started at 6am yesterday morning and went right through to 7:30 last night. But it's really an important time because people do focus on the Budget and I'm proud to be out there talking about what we've done, which is to deliver more tax cuts, a fair crack for people trying to buy their first home, and an economy that works for Australians, that works for small business and works for future generations as well.

CROSS: Yeah, and I appreciate, obviously, your time for us here in Central Queensland. And I understand budgets are incredibly complex. There are going to be winners and losers and some people are going to be happy and sad and whatnot. I guess from a government's perspective, what do you see as the greatest issue facing Australia and how does this Budget address that?

PRIME MINISTER: The greatest issue is making sure that younger generations can have a fair crack. One of the things that Australians say quite often is that our values are that we want the next generation to enjoy a better quality of life than we have enjoyed. And that's what we all want for our kids and grandkids. So, how do we set that up? We set that up by firstly dealing with the immediate pressures which are on. So, you've got to deal with those challenges. The war in the Middle East has created real pressures. So, we have a $14.5 billion fuel security plan going forward. That was something that wasn't a big issue six months ago. It certainly is a big issue today. But also, how do we provide that permanent strengthening of the economy. So, that's about infrastructure, of course, there in Rocky. You can see the Rocky Ring Road going gangbusters, going ahead there. That's part of the record investment we're putting into upgrading the Bruce Highway. The Medicare Urgent Care Clinic there in Rockhampton as well is important and we're making sure that that has permanent funding going through. So, $1.8 billion for the 137 Urgent Care Clinics that we've opened right around the country providing that care. That's critical. The $2,800 we're putting back into the pockets of Australians on the average income through our five-stage tax cut plan but also making sure that young people can get into their first home. So, we're making sure that existing investments are protected by grandfathering the changes which are there. But in future, if people want to negatively gear a home, they'll buy a new one rather than an existing build. And the importance of that is they'll still be building assets and wealth for themselves but building assets and wealth for the country as well.

CROSS: I feel like, and I speak, you know, partly on personal point of view here, is that, you know, in the last five or six years - five, six years ago, I thought, oh, you know, could buy a house. I'm earning an average wage. It's going to be tough but you know, we'll get there. But last few years in regional areas we've seen prices skyrocket with the housing. There's a house that was down the road for me it was $250,000 sold for in 2000, now it's sold for $700,000. And it feels like the horse has bolted in many ways. From my perspective, those that are earning an average wage, like, you know, these changes, do we see these changes actually having a significant impact or is it just the first step in maybe what's down the line?

PRIME MINISTER: They will have an impact. To take the example you use, the house down the road from you, if that was being auctioned this Saturday, you wouldn't have investors competing with people who want to live in that home. So, that would give them a fair crack at owning their own home that they want to live in. And whilst it's terrific if people are successful, can own multiple homes, people - we want everyone to have the opportunity to own their own home. To have that security that comes from a roof over your head. So, that will make a difference going forward. And the truth is that since this change was introduced in 1999, when you had - Telstra was flogged off with real consequences for people in regional areas and you had all this money flowing in. So the Howard Government gave some of that back, by setting up these systems that really have over a period of time, have meant that the taxation on people who work for a living, and that's their main source of income, is treated not as well as income from assets from people who have wealth, who aren't working for that income. And that's fair enough that they get money back from their investments. But we need to re-balance. That's why tax reform is important. And that's the tax reform we've put forward in this Budget.

CROSS: Well, hopefully so. Hopefully it does change. I think. I think we can all get behind that. You know, something needs to happen because it's getting out of control and hopefully it does work, honestly. How much did the Iran war change the Budget?

PRIME MINISTER: Look, it put real pressure on the Budget. We've had to find billions of dollars to change the fuel excise, for example. We've halved it, of course, for people who are turning up at a petrol station somewhere there in Central Queensland, but for truckies, we've reduced the road usage charge to zero because they particularly were impacted and we need to make sure that goods can still get to our supermarket shelves and they needed that support. So, it's a substantial hit to the Budget. On top of that, we've been out there backing the private sector that have done deals on the spot market to bring diesel and Avgas, aviation fuel, to Australia. And, you know, we've done remarkably well under the circumstances. We have more fuel in Australia today than we had on February 28th when this war started. So, that is a plus. But of course, the longer the war goes, the bigger the economic impact will be. And the truth is that no one knows exactly when this will end. We're not protagonists in this war, but we are impacted by it.

CROSS: Yeah, definitely. I suppose it brings up another question in regard to not just fuel but also energy as a whole, and how, you know, one thing taking place has such a big influence. Is there looking at diversifying our energy security, whether it be fuel or other electricity sources and things like that?

PRIME MINISTER: We are. And I think one of the things that happened in the last quarter of last year, we used more energy in Australia than we ever have before. And for the first time, more than 50 per cent of it came from renewables and it was secure. There weren't blackouts, there weren't any of the pressures on the system that were there. And one of the things that we've done is to support homes in Australia to put batteries so that they store the energy from the solar panels on their roofs. We have the highest number, per person, of solar panels in the world, and that's not surprising given the beautiful sunshine - and there in the Sunshine State, of course, of Queensland, there's nowhere better than that. And what that has done - it's been taken up by 360,000 plus people - households. That helps them, it reduces, for many of them, it's reduced their energy bills to zero, literally. But it also has helped everyone else because it takes pressure off the grid, because it means that that battery storage from the sunshine during the day means that at nighttime, when energy use spikes, they're not part of the grid. And so that is of enormous benefit for the whole country and the way that it works.

CROSS: Excellent. Prime Minister, thank you for your time today. Before I let you go though, we do this thing called Clash of the Chords. There's a dog barking in the background.

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, that's Toto. Apologies for that.

CROSS: Toto, great dog name. Great dog name. We do something called Clash of the Chords where I got two options with songs and people got to choose. And I thought, I got the Prime Minister. Might as well ask him. So, you got Fleetwood Mac, Dreams or Van Halen, Dreams. Which would you choose?

PRIME MINISTER: Oh, Fleetwood Mac. That's such an amazing, an amazing song.

CROSS: I think you're going to be spot on with everyone's opinion this morning. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, thanks for your time today. Really do appreciate it.

PRIME MINISTER: Terrific to talk with you.