I'm joined now by the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, after his first Question Time of the second Parliament that you are the Prime Minister for. How did it go for you?
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good to be here, PK. Well, it was exciting. It is a new Parliament. It was the first day after the ceremonial events of yesterday, where everyone got to be sworn in or affirm their position in Parliament. So, our democratic processes are really important and you can see that we are accountable as a Government. Question Time's an important part of the day.
KARVELAS: You and Sussan Ley didn't interact much. I watched you closely. What was that? Were you sort of - did you feel like you knew Peter Dutton better, or is it just because it's the first day?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, no. Well, I've got a job to do. My job's to represent the Government. You know, I'll leave the Opposition to engage with each other in whatever way they choose to do so.
KARVELAS: Ok. The issue around a censure motion is unfolding right now in the Senate. I don't want to spend a lot of time on this Prime Minister, but the Opposition actually wants to strengthen a motion that's been passed, which is to rebuke Senator Mehreen Faruqi, and wants to have her suspended from the Parliament if she doesn't apologise. Is that appropriate or is that over -
PRIME MINISTER: I'll leave the Senate to the Senate processes. My job is to lead the Government.
KARVELAS: The Senate Leader, Penny Wong, says that The Greens haven't learnt anything from the election. It seemed quite febrile in the Senate. As you say, your House was a little more dignified, it seemed, broadly. But it's getting pretty willing in the Senate. Is this Parliament also about setting that tone, and for your Government and your Senate leader to say that The Greens are going too far, and send that message out?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, when you are elected to Parliament, you have a responsibility to act like an adult, to be mature in the way that you respond. There's a place for demonstrations and it's not on the floor of the Senate, or the House of Reps for that matter. Disrespecting Her Excellency the Governor-General, during the Governor-General's speech to the Parliament, opening the Parliament, which outlines what the agenda of the Government is during this term, the 48th Parliament.
KARVELAS: One Nation turned their backs in that same chamber yesterday to the Welcome to Country ceremony. And there are a few of them now as a result of the last election. Is that also inappropriate?
PRIME MINISTER: You know what, respect costs nothing. And yesterday we began the Parliament with the Welcome to Country. We had First Nations dances, we had a smoking ceremony. It was a very dignified way to begin the Parliament. We have a great privilege of sharing this great land of ours with the oldest continuous culture on earth. Having a bit of respect is appropriate, in my view.
KARVELAS: Prime Minister, this week you've got two main pieces of legislation I've been watching very closely. The child care legislation, and the reforms are big. You've also said, and I got this quote from the campaign where I was watching you closely, you said you want child care to be your legacy issue. You said, 'we want the universal provision of affordable childcare, so that it is as natural to have your child have access to child care, as it is to have access to a public school'. You talked a lot about cheaper child care throughout the campaign. Should it now turn to safer child care?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's not either-or. Every parent wants their child to be safe and should expect their child to be safe in child care. That's why I think every Australian, not just every parent, was completely horrified by the revelations of abuse. They were shocking. And clearly governments of all persuasions at all levels need to do better. And that is why we have introduced this legislation to do that, to enable the Commonwealth to use the power that we have as a major funding body to essentially knock off the funding if child care centres aren't doing the right thing, to make sure that parents can have the confidence when their little loved one, who's vulnerable by definition, is placed in the care of people in an early learning centre.
KARVELAS: The reforms are just one part. There are Productivity Commission recommendations, one, for instance, calling essentially for a national body, it could morph into a watchdog. Is that the way you think the Government should proceed? You want to roll out more child care, universal child care, does it need to be rolled out in a safer way so that parents can feel like when they do leave their children at child care, they are guaranteed safety?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have a range of reforms. And legislation was carried earlier this year after the speech and policy announcements that I made last December in Brisbane, and that was about a three day guarantee for child care. It was also a billion dollars that we put in the March Budget for infrastructure roll-out as well. So, we want to have a debate as well. I think it makes a lot of sense, for example, to have child care centres located, or co-located, with schools. Now, that's hard to retrofit, but certainly with new schools, avoiding the double drop off would make a lot of sense for parents. I know from experience - in my street there was a local public school that at the time didn't have aftercare. So, my son, at the time, because his mum and I were both working full time, we needed that availability. So, he went to a great school, Dully Public School, but it wasn't just around the corner from where we lived. So, you know, these are issues that we need to work through.
KARVELAS: So, you want it to be a system which is a lot more like the state education system?
PRIME MINISTER: We want it to be as normal that a three or four year old, or even someone smaller -
KARVELAS: Yeah, well, often parents do have to leave them -
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely. And it's a part of the education process, that early learning. This isn't child minding. These young Australians are learning numbers, they're learning colours, they're learning to write, they're learning to draw, they're also learning social skills, engaging with each other.
KARVELAS: So, have got to the point where now we've seen some pretty dangerous people getting jobs in the child care sector - does it worry you that it's been able to grow to a level without the checks and balances there?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course I'm horrified by the revelations which are there, but we need to do better and we are doing better. We are determined to do better. And it's a good sign that, as the Education Minister Jason Clare said today, he is working across the Parliament to make sure that there's greater confidence in the system. But there's more to do when it comes to child care. It's something that I put on the agenda in my first Budget Reply.
KARVELAS: You did, I remember. Do you still want it to be your legacy for this next term?
PRIME MINISTER: I certainly want it to be one of the legacies of my Prime Ministership and this Government. And we think education is absolutely critical, from early learning through to - we have the Gonski reforms talked about for a long period of time, way back in 2012. We now have agreement with every state and territory for the proper school resourcing funding to value every child in every school, whether public or private. That was something that we achieved. Just in March, we got the final agreement with Queensland. Or the Universities Accord, or free TAFE. Right throughout education. We need to compete in this region on the basis of how smart we are, how innovative we are. And education's got to be front and centre.
KARVELAS: That cheaper child care mantra, are you now going to alter it to cheaper, safer child care?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, of course.
KARVELAS: Because that's what the Children's Commissioner calls for. These aren't my words. She says it has to be.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we of course want child care to be safe. Of course we do. And we'll do everything we can. And we'll work across the states and territories as well. States and territories are the regulators, but we'll use our power as a funding body to make sure we drive that change.
KARVELAS: Prime Minister, $800 million has been paid to the US for AUKUS, it's been revealed. Can you explain that to me? Why have they got another payment?
PRIME MINISTER: Because there's a schedule of payments to be made. We have an agreement with the United States, as well as with the United Kingdom. It's about increasing their capacity to - their industrial capacity. But as part of that as well, we have Australians on the ground learning those skills, so that when it comes to the SSN-AUKUS, the submarines being built here in Australia, we have those skills.
KARVELAS: So, we've - you say it's the schedule. We've paid an extra, the $800 million -
PRIME MINISTER: It's not extra. It's a schedule that we have of a payment that we're making.
KARVELAS: But we still don't have clarity of what this review, this Elbridge Colby review, will find. Do you have any clarification about the timeframe for that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have an agreement with the United States. The United Kingdom, of course, had a review as well.
KARVELAS: So, you're just going forward?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we support AUKUS. We have an agreement. It's a treaty-level agreement with our partners that was signed, of course, in San Diego with the United States and the United Kingdom.
KARVELAS: Prime Minister, I know you've got to go, but I'm really happy you came into the studio. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks.
