: We are joined by the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, who is in studio with us. Good morning to you, PM.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Great to be here.
HOST: There is some amazing, really great news that you're about to tell us about shortly. But before we hear about that, again, another two women killed in Tasmania over the weekend. And we have just spoken to Shakira Robertson who lost her mum to gender based violence, which we're calling men killing women. So, I've just a question about what are your immediate plans and what can the government do to stop this violence?
PRIME MINISTER: Firstly, it was an honour to meet Shakira, someone who's taken a personal tragedy that's beyond belief, losing your mum in such a horrific fashion. And I wish her all the very best, her bravery should be honoured, taking that personal tragedy and trying to change the law so that it doesn't happen to others in a really practical way. We have a $4.4 billion dollar plan. It's pretty comprehensive. Clearly though, more needs to be done. What we've done has got a Leaving Violence Payment, made it permanent of $5,000. So, often women feel like they can't get out of a relationship because of financial pressures and coercion that's often used. We have ten days paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave that we legislated, one of the first pieces of legislation that we've had. We have 500 additional community service workers working in family violence issues. We've provided additional hundreds of millions of dollars, additional for community legal centres to be able to give advice to women in this situation so they can get out of it. In longer term issues, that's one of the reasons why we introduced a social media ban was, we were very conscious about what young boys were being exposed to and that misogynistic imaging and words were aimed at being normalised towards young boys. Clearly, we need as a society to deal with this. Governments can't deal with it alone. People need to speak out. We've increased funding for 1800 RESPECT, the phone number where people can ring and get that assistance by 40 per cent. And tragically that's because there's a need for that increased funding. This is something we've all got to take responsibility for. We've all got to deal with as a society. And you're doing it today by, by having a brave young woman on your program talking about her mum.
HOST: Yeah.
HOST: 1800 RESPECT is a 24 hour national domestic and family and sexual violence counselling information and support service. You can reach them on 1800 737 732. Is it enough, Prime Minister, to throw money at these problems?
PRIME MINISTER: No, it's not enough. Because quite clearly it's not just about money, but it is about making sure services are available. It is about making sure that funding, for example, we have $100 million as part of the Housing Australia Future Fund was for that emergency housing so that, people can't leave if there's, if there's not somewhere to go. And too many women and children escaping domestic and family violence end up couch surfing with friends or staying in their car or - we need to provide those services. The money is important, but it's not enough. We need to change attitudes. We need to say and declare as a society, one woman being subjected to violence is one too many. It is never acceptable. And the law that, Jacqui's Law that you've just been talking about, is one of the ways perhaps that could be done as well.
HOST: Do you think that will change? Will that change in the future?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's up to the State Government here and, and they'll make assessments. I try not to tell state governments what, what they should do, but you know, I know that, I know Jeremy Rockliff, and respect him very much, and I know that this is an issue which he would be concerned about as well. This isn't a party political issue. This is a whole of society issue of too many women being in this situation.
HOST: 31 hectares at Dowsings Point, at the Derwent Barracks. You announced yesterday a thousand homes will be built in that 31 hectare site. How many of those will be open for women's needs?
PRIME MINISTER: That's something that we can do as well. Part of that will be a mix of housing, homeowners, private renters, but also social and community housing as well as part of what we want to see there. And if you have that increase in social housing and emergency accommodation, will be something that would be appropriate as part of that as well. We'll be talking through with the State Government and Local Government. This is the whole three levels of government across the political spectrum working together to make a difference. It's an incredible site. I was there yesterday. Beautiful part of Hobart, this most beautiful city. And at the moment it's not fully utilised. We had the Defence Land Review Audit take place. Okay, what do we need? What are the assets we need? How do we make sure that we're maximising that and they're on site? There's currently a men's shed for veterans. We want to make sure that they continue to have access there. But the planning and that work will go ahead over the rest of this year.
HOST: Do you think there'll be an Albanese Avenue in the newest in the new subdivision?
PRIME MINISTER: No, we're not calling for that. But, I'll be really proud later on by the time they're built to come back and have a look at the housing that'll be built there. I was in Melbourne just yesterday looking at a place in the suburbs right next to the train station in the northern suburbs there at Rosanna. And I went when it was a building site just a year ago, and people were about to move in 45 into social and affordable housing. And that's a great thing.
HOST: Prime Minister, there's been some backlash on the budget around the changes to Capital Gains Tax and negative gearing. How do you feel about that?
PRIME MINISTER: The first thing to say is that anyone who currently has an investment property and is negatively geared, there's no changes for you at all. It's all grandfathered. But the good news as well is that if someone wants to invest in property and negatively gear it and obtain either indexation for Capital Gains Tax or a 50 per cent discount, they can still do so in the future. But it has to be a new build. And the point of housing policy is that we need more supply, we need more homes.
HOST: So it's an encouragement to get people into the market, but building new homes?
PRIME MINISTER: That's right. It does two things. Firstly, in terms of housing supply, the difference between investing in an existing property and a new build is that for an existing property, an individual is about increasing their own assets and their own wealth down the track. If it's a new build, they're investing in that as well, but they're investing in the nation's wealth and assets. And the other thing is, though, by not having that competition in the existing home market, first home buyers who rock up to an auction and they're competing versus an investor, the investor has the taxpayer by their side. So, if they have to choose, if they're getting down to the business end and they think, 'Will I invest another $50,000 to make sure I secured this home', they're in a stronger position because the taxpayer that will be increased tax deductions that they're able to make through their negatively geared house. Now that's not fair. It doesn't put first home buyers and young people in particular in a competitive situation. So, it's about making that system fairer. It's about getting 75,000 additional young first home buyers into their first home and we need to do that.
HOST: Prime Minister, you had breakfast in Hobart this morning. Where are you off to today?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm off to Adelaide and I'll be talking housing there as well. Going to a site which has been built over the last couple of years through the programs that we've established. And then I'm off to Perth. So, it's a very busy day. Three states in one day.
HOST: And your favourite would have been?
PRIME MINISTER: Tasmania, quite clearly, you know, I've begun here overnight and I've got to say it was a lovely day yesterday here in Hobart and a nice night. And I went for a bit of a walk around the city as well yesterday and talked to lots of people. Such a friendly place. And where I had dinner last night, everyone seemed to know each other in the restaurant as well.
HOST: Well, we won't hold you responsible for the rain that came yesterday, but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, we appreciate your time on Triple M.
PRIME MINISTER: Wonderful to be with you.
