: The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese is here. Good morning, PM.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Hamish. Good to be with you.
MACDONALD: The Opposition says it wants to fight you on power prices. Are you ready for that fight?
PRIME MINISTER: They're too busy fighting each other. And that is what we've seen here. We've seen a capitulation by the Liberal Party to the policy that was announced, effectively, by the National Party. Sussan Ley has said that she would be a moderate, that she'd modernise the Liberal Party's agenda after their 2025 result. Instead, she's chosen to take Australia backwards. They've chosen to walk away from jobs for Australians and investment certainty that the business community have said is so necessary going forward. They're walking away from climate action. They fundamentally are dismissive of the science of climate change. People like Barnaby Joyce and Matt Canavan have essentially got their way.
MACDONALD: But what about her focus on power prices? Do you agree with her that that is a priority for Australians, for listeners this morning?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course it is. That's why we've introduced energy rebates. That's why we intervened in the market in an unprecedented way to put a cap on gas and coal prices. When we saw the biggest global spike in energy prices since the 1970s, we intervened in partnership it must be said, credit, where credit's due, in a bipartisan way with the Perrottet Liberal Government here in New South Wales.
MACDONALD: Understood, but just on the, on the interventions you're describing, your own Treasurer says that those rebates can't and won't last forever. And I was re-reading your promise ahead of the 2022 election this morning about the $275 a year that we'd see come off our power bills by 2025. We've heard all of the arguments about that before. But I also noticed something else you said at the time. You said that increasing renewable energy was the best way to cut power bills for families and businesses. Why then aren't we seeing that?
PRIME MINISTER: And everyone says that that was the case. And as you have heard before, that was before the ongoing war in Ukraine, in the Middle East, it was before the global price hikes. And it was also before we got a look under the hood of what the Coalition had left us, remember.
MACDONALD: So, are you saying now have changed your view that increasing renewable energy will cut power bills for families and businesses?
PRIME MINISTER: Not at all. What I have repeatedly said, and every energy expert has said, is that the cheapest form of new energy is renewables. The truth is that they do not have a plan to reduce prices. They have a plan for an ongoing crisis. Because of their failure to act, 24 out of 28 coal fired power stations either announced they were closing, or brought forward the dates of their closure. When they were in office, there wasn't a single new coal fired power station built or started on their watch. They were in office for almost a decade. And one of the problems that we have in this country is that the ageing coal fired power stations are the biggest threat to reliable and affordable energy because they're shutting down, they are breaking down, they are going offline. And all of the energy sector, including the Australian Energy Market Operator, says that, the business community, that's why the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Industry Group, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry - these aren't natural allies of Labor. The Liberal Party used to say it was the party of business. They now mock those business organisations. But they know that we need to move to the transition, which is renewables backed by storage and gas.
MACDONALD: Look, I'm conscious we're talking a lot about the party that's in Opposition. You're in government and you do have responsibility and carriage for these matters today. Are you comfortable to indicate to Australians when they might start to see their power bills come down? Can you do that?
PRIME MINISTER: What I'm comfortable in doing is making it very clear, as all the experts say, that the cheapest form of new energy is renewables. That the best way to ensure that the cheapest possible power is provided is by continuing with the transition of renewables backed by batteries and backed by gas.
MACDONALD: But might that mean that we individually pay more?
PRIME MINISTER: No, what it means is that you will pay less than if we just continued on with this path of nothing happening.
MACDONALD: Yeah, understood. I'm just getting at whether that might cost more than what we're currently paying.
PRIME MINISTER: No. What we know is the cheapest form of new energy is renewables. And we know that one of the reasons why what we inherited is taking time to fix is that nothing happened. There was no new energy coming online. Remember Hamish, that they funded the Collinsville Feasibility Study for a coal fired power station in Queensland. That was the only one that they said would be advanced and it went nowhere. It was millions of dollars given to the proponents. It didn't stack up. There is nothing to stop, and has been nothing to stop, this entire century, someone coming out there, a business saying we're going to build a new coal fired power station and building it, and operating it. The only thing that has stopped that is the market. Because it doesn't stack up, it won't produce a return. You won't get that investment. And therefore if you stop new forms of energy which can come online, that is renewables, then what you will have is less supply. And if you have less supply, you will have higher costs.
MACDONALD: I wanted to talk to you about this Nazi rally that took place here in Sydney. You've condemned it. Pretty much all of our mainstream politicians have condemned it. But your government received the Segal Review looking at solutions to dealing with antisemitism back in July. There was no formal response to the Envoy's Report. When is that coming?
PRIME MINISTER: What we're doing is a range of responses to it. We're getting on with it. Some of those recommendations were from, relate to state governments. We have legislated to outlaw Nazi symbols. The first time that that has happened. We have appointed the Antisemitism Envoy. We've provided additional funding for security in synagogues, schools, et cetera. We are working very closely with our Envoy to make sure that we do what we can to -
MACDONALD: Respectfully Prime Minister, there were specific recommendations in that review. I'm just wondering if you've implemented any of those?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, we have. Yes, we have - a range of them. And a range of them were the sort of measures that I have put forward, including some of the measures that have been put forward and put in place by the Education Minister, for example, Jason Clare. So, we are continuing -
MACDONALD: Well, one of the recommendations though, was to screen visa applicants for antisemitic views. And I note, I'm sure you will have seen this, that a number of those men in the rally here in Sydney were identified as migrants, including from South Africa and from Russia.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, they haven't come through this year, Hamish, since the report, we do that -
MACDONALD: But the question is, are you accepting that recommendation?
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely. We - it's one of the things that we do. And you will note the number of, including some very prominent people in the, well, so called, in the music industry or lectures, people who've sought to come here to promote antisemitic views have been banned from Australia. And that's something that we take very seriously.
MACDONALD: So, would individuals like these not be able to come to Australia now if they were applying?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, certainly what we do is we screen people for a range of activities and we have appropriate places in place. These people were - one of them, I know, was a South African migrant. The irony, of course, of someone saying we don't want migrants coming here, who's a migrant themselves, I think speaks for itself.
MACDONALD: Wanted to ask you about a story in the paper this morning, Border Force buying fishing boats and giving them to people smugglers and sending them back to where they came from on these boats. Can you explain for listeners why taxpayers' money is being used in that way?
PRIME MINISTER: What I can explain is very clearly that the Australian Border Force keep our borders secure. They undertake a range of activities which have done that, that have ensured that people who are unauthorised arrivals aren't able to stay in Australia.
MACDONALD: And you support them buying fishing boats and giving them to them? The Opposition is saying this is sort of supporting the people smugglers' business model. Do you support this particular tactic?
PRIME MINISTER: I support the Australian Border Force undertaking what actions they believe are necessary to secure our borders. And the Opposition, I thought, supported that. We will continue to be consistent about that. As I said prior to my election in 2022, one of the ways that you ensure support for our migration system is by being consistent, is by being certain about protection of our borders. And that's what we've done by keeping ABF in place. And that if you compare with some of the disruption that's occurring in other parts of the world with social division over the issue of migration, I don't want to see that occur. I want an orderly migration system. That is what we have.
MACDONALD: The Indonesian President visited during the week. You've agreed to this treaty that would oblige Australia to consult or at least discuss with Indonesia issues like US Forces, for example, a significant build up of them in Australia. There was a lot of secrecy around these discussions. Were you concerned that if it was public, maybe China or Russia would have tried to block this?
PRIME MINISTER: No. What I do is act diplomatically. I engage with our region. In particular, the meetings that I've had with President Prabowo, which began after the May election. I travelled to Jakarta. I spoke with President Prabowo then about the alliance, a much higher level of security agreement that we were putting in place with Papua New Guinea. We announced that in conjunction with the 50th Anniversary of Independence for PNG. And it was important that we consult with people who are our neighbours, just as I've had a discussion with Prime Minister Marape about the agreement that we've reached with Indonesia as well, which is based, essentially comes from the agreement that was established by Keating and Suharto back in 1995. But what it does in the current context is lift that up even higher. Indonesia is an important relationship for Australia and good neighbours have these relationships. And it, I think, has added to Australia's security, but also added to Indonesia's security as well.
MACDONALD: I know you've got a busy day ahead. We'll let you go. Any update on the wedding, Prime Minister? So, many people want to know. When is it happening?
PRIME MINISTER: There is, but we'll let you know after it's over.
MACDONALD: Soon? Are you talking about a spring wedding or a summer wedding, PM?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's going to be a great day in front of family and friends. Pretty small and something that's about myself and Jodie rather than a big public event.
MACDONALD: Yeah. Are we talking suit and tie or T-Shirt? Just to be clear, just to, you know, settle the -
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, it's dangerous wearing T-Shirts these days as I understand, Hamish. I think that people will be aware once it has occurred, but it will be a wonderful day. And it's a day primarily to celebrate and commemorate our love for each other in front of our family and friends.
MACDONALD: Alright. Well, we wish you well whenever it is, Prime Minister. Thank you very much.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Hamish.
