: Well, there is a lot going on in the world at the moment, a lot going on at home, and I'm very pleased to say the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, joins us in the studio. Welcome.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good to be back here.
JAMES GLENDAY: Morning.
REBELLATO: Let's start with what's going on in the Middle East at the moment, because we've just heard that the US has launched retaliatory strikes against Iran for the downing of a US helicopter. How worried are you that this cease fire could just go.
PRIME MINISTER: We're very worried both about the human impact, of course, that comes with war, but also the economic impact that is having a massive effect on the global economy will get worse rather than better. We want to see a de-escalation because of the impact not just in the Middle East, but we're a long way away. But we're impacted here each and every day.
GLENDAY: If it continues and if it continues to get out of control or there's just no breakthrough and the Strait of Hormuz doesn't reopen, are you open to changing the fuel excise? your decision on that and keep continuing that cut for another couple of months?
PRIME MINISTER: We'll make the assessment, but as you've said, this is uncertain. This is a volatile global environment. I've received personally two security updates this morning. We're not at 9 o' clock yet. And so this is a changing situation. The Government has done our best and I think we've achieved better than most considered. I mean, the Opposition was saying there would definitely be a rationing at Easter or just after Easter. We're now into June. We have more fuel in Australia today than we had on February 28, and that's a direct result of the relationships that we've built, but also the structures that we've put in place as well. Bear in mind, there's been a considerable cost of that. We're underwriting through Export Finance Australia the import of fuel and for those spot purchases to occur. But that's been very effective in making sure our farmers can continue to plant with confidence and making sure that people can go around and diesel can be used to deliver groceries on the supermarket shelves.
GLENDAY: When you get those security briefings. I'm just curious about this. I think Donald Trump has said, according to US media reports 37 times that a peace deal was close or, you know, it's going to be a beautiful thing, it was going to be over. Have you had one briefing where that's been said to you that a deal is imminent?
PRIME MINISTER: We follow what the advice is, of course, and on many occasions that has been declared. But we have a caveat, of course, which is that it's uncertain, but that's creating a great deal of difficulty as well. I mean, economic markets respond to these news statements that are made in the United States or other places as well. What we certainly want to see is a permanent ceasefire. We want to see a de-escalation of the conflict there, because that is in everyone's interest. It's certainly in the interest interests of the global economy.
REBELLATO: Let's talk about the budget, if we can. Have you been surprised by the backlash in the community?
PRIME MINISTER: Tax reform is hard. There have been editorials written after editorials and economic commentators have called for tax reform for a long period of time. One of the reasons why I think it probably hasn't happened earlier is because it is difficult. But we're working through these issues. It's important that first home buyers get a crack. That's what this is about. Housing is first and foremost about the security that comes from having a roof over your head. That's the purpose of it. Now, the changes that we've made are modest. We've grandfathered everyone who has negative gearing properties at the moment. But in the future, in order to obtain negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount, the particular one of 50 per cent, there will have to be new builds. So, as well as investing in order to secure the future wealth and assets of individuals, they'll be investing in the future assets and wealth of the nation as well.
GLENDAY: Those, you're talking about property there. And of course, I think that's probably being one of the less controversial elements of this. A lot of the discussion has been around business
PRIME MINISTER: That's at the centre of it.
GLENDAY: But businesses of course, are concerned about what it might mean for them when they sell. There's been this discussion about what it means for equities. People are investing in the share market. What sort of carve outs? Do you have any specific carve outs that you're willing to give here at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, importantly, all of the existing carve outs and exemptions remain and there are four of those significant ones for small business. As you've said, one of the things that's missed here in some of the debate is it's when an asset is realised, people don't set up businesses in order to sell them straight away. They set up businesses to grow them. Many of them exist for a long period of time as well. And so the taxation being based upon real gains is a sensible way forward. It's also a sensible thing to do to treat more equally income from work, which is how overwhelmingly most of your listeners get their income with income from assets or investment. And that's what this change is aimed at doing as well. We'll have a couple of days of inquiry. We've already had, of course, one extensive inquiry into capital gains tax already that was initiated by The Greens and the Liberals and the Nationals in the Senate. This will be a second inquiry will take place next couple of weeks and then the Senate will consider these matters at the end of June.
REBELLATO: Let's talk about houses. Is it your intention for house prices to fall?
PRIME MINISTER: Look what the Treasury estimates say is that house prices will continue to rise, but by less than what they would have. That is the assessment that was made.
GLENDAY: But some of the forecasts at the moment are suggesting maybe as much as 10 per cent, the biggest correction in a long time.
PRIME MINISTER: People pluck out figures. There's figures on the front page of, one of the papers today that I have no idea where they would get them from on various matters -
GLENDAY: But there'll be some young, Some young, young people who hear this and go, well, house prices have gone up, what, 8.8 per cent or something over the past year. 10 per cent fall. That'll be good. That'll help me get into the housing market. Do you understand that? Would it be a good thing if house prices were cheaper in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the Treasury estimates are just that, that they'll continue to increase, but by less than they would have -
GLENDAY: You don't have a position on whether it'd be good if they were cheaper.
PRIME MINISTER: It is certainly the case that since the changes were made in 1999, house prices have increased by 400 per cent. That's more than double the increase in incomes. And that's what leads and explains the gap that's there between affordability and people struggling having to work longer to get into the market. What we've done is thrown everything at supply. So, we have a range of programs. The Housing Australia Future Fund, aimed at public housing, build to rent for private rentals, help to buy, which is a shared equity scheme, the 5 per cent deposits that have helped 250,000 Australians into their first home, all of those things. But we need to do more, which is why these changes are aimed at boosting supply as well as giving first home buyers a fair crack. And the assessment is that there'll be 75,000 additional first home buyers, many young people being able to access the housing market for their own home.
REBELLATO: The NDIS inquiry is underway. It's only three days. There have been thousands of submissions, people speaking in person. Is three days really long enough? It's a complex system. People are anxious here.
PRIME MINISTER: It is complex, but these are sensible changes that go to the heart of what the NDIS was for. I'm really proud of being a part of a government that introduced the NDIS. It needs to though, be sustainable if it's going to have a future. And what we want to make sure is that those people who need support, get support. And we're talking here, importantly, we're talking about lowering the growth rate, not, not cutting the amount of expenditure in the NDIS. But when we came to office it was growing at 22 per cent annual. You cannot have any program increasing costs by 22 per cent annual. And one of the reasons was that some of the structural issues that were there in the system that enabled essentially not people with disabilities exploiting the system, but people exploiting them in order to make what are considerable windfall gains.
GLENDAY: We've got a couple of quick ones if we can. Just before we let you go, how often does the Chief Executive of Apple call you? Is this a first? You had this phone conversation?
PRIME MINISTER: It is a first.
GLENDAY: What did you chat about?
PRIME MINISTER: Yesterday afternoon we chatted about, it was a really warm conversation. This is a significant breakthrough for this major, major global company saying we are going to take action to give parents more power, to acknowledge the fact that the devices that people are using are having a harmful impact on young people and they're taking some responsibility to do something about it. It was also very significant that he saw Australia's leadership something again we should be proud of, like we should be proud of the NDIS. We led the world in this and what we've seen on, the six month anniversary is today, of our social media ban is the world following Australia since we made this announcement, whether it be European countries, US States, countries in our own region like Indonesia and Malaysia, all following Australia's lead. Now we are open to looking at what we can do to further strengthen the system. But this is doing the right thing and making a really positive difference.
REBELLATO: Neale Daniher's state funeral is today. How do all of us, Australians and governments continue the fight against MND? Because you're here for this today.
PRIME MINISTER: We need to continue it through research and we've provided additional funding in Neale Daniher's name, of course, continue to be engaged, his leadership incredibly inspirational. And on Monday, of course, you had the 12th Big Freeze at the MCG. Today his memorial service will be solemn, but it will also be full of joy and pride. The thing about Neale that struck me was just how positive he was. And at a time where the world does face some difficulties, gee, can't we do with a bit of optimism, of positivity? We do need to find a cure for this terrible disease, 'the beast', as Neale called it. Jai Arrow's someone who is very well known to me and he's going through at a very young age his own issues dealing with this. But so many people out there have been impacted by this terrible disease.
GLENDAY: Prime Minister, we've got to let you go. Just before we do, we've been talking about falling asleep in strange places. Donald Trump appeared to fall asleep at the NBA finals overnight. Have you ever fallen asleep in parliament, somewhere random where you shouldn't be very late?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't sleep enough. I'm happy if I go to sleep in bed.
GLENDAY: Fair enough.
REBELLATO: Prime Minister, thank you very much for joining us. I appreciate it
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, great to be in the studio.
