Joining us this morning is the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Good morning.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning to you.
HOST: Congratulations, now a married man.
PRIME MINISTER: It was lovely, just in front of family and close friends and people have been very warm in their congratulations, I've got to say. And there was a delay, of course, for elections and things. It's hard to get a day in which you can plan going forward. But it was terrific. And in a sign of good luck, I'm told that if it rains on a wedding day, it's supposed to be very good.
HOST: Apparently.
HOST: Well that, and it's Canberra, so -
HOST: Yeah, yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: It was pouring at 12 O'clock. Well, Jodie was saying, oh, you know, was terribly nervous and worried about all this. I was gilding the lily and saying, oh, it's just sprinkling. It was actually bucketed down at 12 o'clock and the skies cleared.
HOST: Did you get any presents from people overseas, you know, other foreign leaders?
PRIME MINISTER: I got really nice messages. No celebrities at the wedding, but I got lovely messages from world leaders. It was delightful. People were very generous in their comments.
HOST: Didn't feel the pressure to get all the other Prime Ministers and Presidents from around the world and throw a bit of a bucks party?
PRIME MINISTER: No, no, there was none of that.
HOST: Hey everyone, let's meet in Vegas.
PRIME MINISTER: It was a sombre occasion.
HOST: Did you have a bucks?
PRIME MINISTER: No, no. Russell Crowe did offer to host a bucks. I thought that could be very dangerous.
HOST: Yeah, you would definitely come back with one eyebrow and a mohawk and a tattoo on your forehead -
HOST: And have listened to some terrible music.
PRIME MINISTER: And we did have a whole four days honeymoon where people left us alone as well, which was very, very nice, I've got to say.
HOST: Lovely.
HOST: Now -
HOST: The niceties things are out the way. You're about to get hit with some hard questions, Albo.
HOST: No, I'm always nice. Look, just about the Communications Minister, Anika Wells, I mean, it's made headlines and everyone does get infuriated hearing about the travel that is included. And technically you might say she's done nothing wrong, that's included. But for people to find that you were able to claim flights for family reunions and three a year, I think, business class. And a lot of that was spent for her husband to join her at the AFL Grand Final. Do you feel like with all these costs and taxpayers finding out what's included, it's time for that to be reformed and maybe looked at of what is actually included.
PRIME MINISTER: Well what is really, I make two points. One is it should not be a shock that Sports Minister attends sports events. That's what happens. And the AFL Grand Final, the Sports Minister is normally there, whoever the Sports Minister is. We have an independent parliamentary expenses authority for a reason and that's so that I don't get or the government doesn't determine these things on a day to day basis. Now when you have an independent authority you got to allow it to do its work and I will allow that to happen.
HOST: I think just what is a bit of a tough thing with it, Albo, is we're at a point at the moment where a lot of families are struggling, you know, rents are high, houses are going up and you know, it's Christmas, people have had to go without. And then you do see bills like that where you go, well, houses are tightening up what they do. It would be nice to see the same thing happen on travel and things like that where people go, I'm actually, if the politicians went, we're probably going to go without as well.
HOST: Maybe I could do this trip but without my husband attending.
PRIME MINISTER: I get it completely. But I also get that the parliament is different from when I was elected 30 years ago. And if we're going to have a parliament not made up of blokes my age, but made up of a representation of society so that Anika, for example, gave birth to twins in her first term of parliament, has three young children. If we're going to have a parliament that is representative, that's why there's some family reunion allowed for. But there is a reason why it was there because, you know, families and members of parliament are different from what used to happen. Now for 83 years every electorate elected a bloke - every political party, city, country, across the biggest state.
HOST: I don't think we ever brought up the fact of gender though. I don't think that comes into it. I think what it does come into is that politicians are -
PRIME MINISTER: But it does come into it, Abby, that if you're going to have a young mum in parliament, and there are many young mums in parliament, it's a very different parliament -
HOST: 100 per cent. And that includes flights to go into parliament and to join her in Canberra, but not to go over to New York or Paris or the grand final.
PRIME MINISTER: Anika Wells went to New York with staff for two days.
HOST: I think it's the three grand. The three grand for them all to go to Thredbo is probably the bad look. Maybe if they met up with her somewhere else.
HOST: They did skiing though, so it's sports.
PRIME MINISTER: That was for, look I understand. I understand, you know, controversy here and I get it completely. Her family flew to Canberra and then travelled with her. She worked all weekend. It was an opportunity for her to see her kids in the break at that time. I get that it's difficult -
HOST: I guess, look, yeah, I guess we're gonna run out of time. Yeah, we're gonna agree to disagree. I think the thing is we're just like -
HOST: We would like politicians to still be in a position to serve, as opposed to a position of privilege, which is -
HOST: On that we will move on because we want to get to the social media stuff also, which has gotten across here in Australia just yesterday.
PRIME MINISTER: Oh look, this is a revolution. This is a huge change and we're calling time to give our kids back their childhood and to give parents more peace of mind as well. The physical impact that it can have as well of sitting in your room scrolling rather than being out playing with your mates or engaging with your family and friends is having an impact.
HOST: That's what we've been saying, they'll have to find some activities to do. What sort of teenage activities do you remember getting up to?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh look, just kicking a footy around, playing cricket, going for a swim, actually talking to my friends rather than doing it online as well.
HOST: In person, yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: Those social skills are so important as well. It'll be hard. If it was easy, someone would have done it before. But the world is not only watching, the world is following.
HOST: Having teenagers, I have seen that there has been, I guess, mixed results in just some of the accounts being shut down. Some of them are still open from Instagram. Is there a time period that the government is going to give the social media giants before they might issue the fines that they have been talking about if they haven't been able to kick them off?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah look, we'll be sensible about it. This is day two, so we don't expect that - we're talking of over a million accounts across platforms. We don't expect it to all be done perfectly, but we do expect the law provides for them to do their best endeavors. The eSafety Commissioner will look at how many accounts there were on the 9th of December and then how many there were today. So they'll look at what the impact is and then every month for six months they'll have to report. Some people will get around it, just as chances are this Saturday night an under 18 year old will get a beer in a pub somewhere. That doesn't mean that society doesn't set these rules and these processes in order to keep our youngest Australians safe.
HOST: Well Albo, thanks for your time this morning, mate. This will be our last chat before the New Year, so we'll -
HOST: You make it seem like this will be our last chat.
PRIME MINISTER: Having some time off, are we?
HOST: Yeah, you know us radio hosts, we kick back for a good month and a bit after the year wraps up.
HOST: Privately paid for though.
PRIME MINISTER: Guess what? None of the politicians will be doing that.
HOST: That's true.
HOST: Mate, appreciate your time and it's been great to talk to you. We will see you in 2026.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Merry Christmas to you and to all of your listeners and thanks for having me as a regular on the program, both on the phone and more fun in the studio.
HOST: Yes, and please pass on our congratulations to Jodie. She looked absolutely stunning at the wedding.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you so much. And maybe you could send me some of those black aniseed snakes, those lollies, as a Christmas present.
HOST: They only made a special one for you. I don't think they've made them since.
PRIME MINISTER: Christmas is coming.
HOST: I know, but you and I were the only ones that liked them. No one else did.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm just pitching up here for you and me.
HOST: Good on you, mate.
HOST: Thank you.
