: Anthony Albanese joins us now from Canberra. Prime Minister, thank you so much for being here for our very first show.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good evening.
BRACE: Regarding the cost of living relief tomorrow, there will be a few extra dollars in our pockets, but it's not a whole lot of cash. Is this you weaning the Australian people off these payments and rebates?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, for some three million Australians, they'll get 3.5 per cent increase in their wages tomorrow. And they're people on the minimum wage are on award wages, so they're some of the lowest paid workers who really need that assistance. In addition, the $150 for Energy Bill Relief will go from tomorrow up until December. So, all of these measures are worthwhile. Put together, they'll make a difference and strengthen the economy whilst providing that cost of living relief that is needed.
BRACE: The US President wants us to spend significantly more on defence than we already are. Given the current geopolitical climate and the fact inflation is stabilising and interest rates are coming down, should you be redirecting that funding to defence instead?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we don't want to do is to take money out of health or education for defence. What we have said is that we will provide whatever spending is required to advance our defence capability, and that's what we're doing. We have increased defence expenditure by $57 billion over the medium and by more than $10 billion over the next four years, over the Forward Estimates. In our March Budget, we brought forward an additional $1 billion of defence expenditures so that, for example, we'll be manufacturing missiles here in Australia by the end of the year in the Newcastle region. Now, that's good for the defence of Australia, but it's also about creating employment and advanced manufacturing, getting those skills and capabilities up there. But it's also important we invest in our relationships and that's something that my government has been very keen on doing, the work that we've done with our neighbours to our north. The first visit I went to after the election was to Indonesia. I've been back to Singapore. The work we're doing in the Pacific as well is so important, and so investing in our capability and investing in our relationships is what Australia requires.
DENHAM HITCHCOCK, HOST: Prime Minister, the NATO boss raised more than a few eyebrows referring to Donald Trump as 'daddy' last week. I'm curious, would you ever refer to the US President as 'daddy?'
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's not the words that I would use. I've been very respectful to the President of the United States, but I know the Secretary General of NATO quite well, Mark Rutte, and he was formerly the Prime Minister of the Netherlands and he was a bit of a character and I think his own character came through with those comments. But they were received well by the President and so all's good.
HITCHCOCK: Look, you must be getting sick of this question and given there's a lot going on in the world, but it must be a little embarrassing that the President stood you up?
PRIME MINISTER: Not at all. The President left the G7, I was at the G7 meeting. The US is one of the G7, but not the only country there. I was invited by Canada. I went to the United States on the way there. I've been to the US now five times since I been elected Prime Minister in just over three years ago. And so there will be lots of face to face engagement. I'm sure we will attend the G20 together, the Quad Leaders' meeting's coming up as well between the US, Australia, Japan and India. But we've had really constructive phone conversations. We will have constructive face to face negotiations as well. I'm certain of that because Australia and the United States have an important relationship. It's a relationship about our economy, a relationship about our national security respectively, but it's also about our values as two democratic nations.
BRACE: Prime Minister, regarding the American airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, Donald Trump says they were obliterated, but that hasn't been confirmed by anyone else. What do you believe to be the truth?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think certainly it was something that was necessary. We provided support for that because we said that Iran couldn't be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. That's something that I've been clear about and something has made our position clear -
BRACE: But have you been briefed on the impact of the strikes, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we do get briefed -
BRACE: And you have been briefed on the impact?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes. And I don't speak about intelligence briefings, not even on the first edition of your new show. So, I keep those intelligence briefings to the appropriate forums.
HITCHCOCK: Prime Minister, tonight we featured a story on Debbie Voulgaris, the Australian mum of five who was sentenced to 16 years jail in Taiwan. We have overwhelming evidence she was set up. Are you aware of this case?
PRIME MINISTER: I am aware of the case. And the Department of Foreign affairs and Trade, of course, are providing consular assistance as we do to for Australians who have issues overseas. I feel -
HITCHCOCK: Prime Minister, if you - sorry to cut you off there, but if your Government is aware of it, that means we have an Australian woman, an innocent woman in jail. What is your Government doing to help her?
PRIME MINISTER
