Joining me on the line now is the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Good afternoon.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, Jacqui. Good to be able to chat with you again.
FELGATE: You are spending a bit of time in our neck of the woods this week.
PRIME MINISTER: I am. It's been a busy time. I met with the parents of the two young Victorians who lost their life in Laos earlier on and talked with them about their campaign to get justice and to deal with the challenge which is there for Holly and Bianca to be on a holiday and enjoying life as young Australians do and tragically, what happened with their drinks being spiked.
FELGATE: Did you apologise to the family for the way that the federal government handled that or DFAT handled that inquiry and has dealt with that?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, certainly DFAT needed to have done better and we made that clear to them. But they're seeking justice. The Government has appointed a Special Envoy who travelled to Vientiane, to Laos, and reported to them prior to our meeting on Monday. They asked to see me and I, of course, agreed to that. We had a very constructive discussion. My heart breaks - no one should lose their child in any circumstance, let alone under these circumstances. And I agreed with them that I would talk directly to the Prime Minister of Laos and we are trying to establish that. At this stage that discussion will take place next week just to assert Australia's very clear position that we want justice to be done here and to be seen to be done as well.
FELGATE: Yeah, I agree with that completely. Lovely families. I've spoken to both of them. Now I just want to ask you in relation to our government, our state government here. Have you spoken to the Premier this week about the CFMEU and the way that she's handled it so far?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I haven't spoken to her about that this week, but I'm in regular contact with the Premier and we talk on a regular basis. The most recent serious discussions that we had was about the health and hospital deal that we did just a few weeks ago, and that will deliver $25 billion of additional funding for public hospitals, including here in Victoria. As well as Victoria playing a role with the reform of the NDIS as we go forward to make sure that that system is sustainable.
FELGATE: Does Victoria need greater powers when it comes to investigative powers through organisations like IBAC to investigate corruption with the CFMEU? Would you like to see Follow the Money powers, as is the case in New South Wales?
PRIME MINISTER: My concern is Federal Government policy and we have a national organisation, NACC, that was promised by the former Liberal government but never ever delivered. We've delivered a national anti-corruption body and it's going about its job. But also the federal government, what we did on my watch, within weeks of me becoming leader of the Labor Party in 2019, I expelled John Setka from the Labor Party. He took us to court, as you might recall, trying to challenge that decision, and it was upheld. And we've also appointed administrators into the CFMEU.
FELGATE: Yes, yes. And just on that Administrator, there's been some, quite, quite a bit of criticism about the removal by the Administrator of key passages of the report into the CFMEU that were critical of Labor. In fact, the independent, Geoffrey Watson SC said he was, and I quote, 'quite angry when Mark Irving directed him to delete those chapters out of his report'. Was that appropriate?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I think Mark Irving's doing a terrific job. And I tell you what, before we came to office, there was absolutely no handbrake from the Commonwealth Government about any of these issues. None whatsoever. The CFMEU and John Setka increased their influence over the period of the former Coalition Government. We've intervened, we appointed an Administrator. That Administrator has gotten rid of dozens of organisers and officials who weren't serving the interests of their members but were serving their own interests. We've taken strong action and will continue to do so and we'll back the Administrator.
FELGATE: Our Police Minister today has described Geoffrey Watson's report as, I quote, 'florid ramblings'. Is that appropriate?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not going to comment on comments by others that I haven't heard and are unaware of the context. What is important is that Mark Irving is doing his job. We do have Administrators into the CFMEU and we're cleaning it up, and that's what you'd expect good government to do. It's a pity that the former federal government didn't take any action whatsoever.
FELGATE: But that was a long time ago. Would you support a new Royal Commission into union corruption?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, the last time, you know what it was, it was a Royal Commission into Bill Shorten and Julia Gillard, it cost a lot of money, achieved nothing, and no action was taken on the CFMEU. Not one. What action came out of that Royal Commission to clamp down on activities of the CFMEU that was occurring at that time? The evidence is very clear about that. And indeed, while the Royal Commission was going on, John Setka and these elements were increasing their influence, not decreasing it.
FELGATE: But I think that Victorians want to know though, when we've got an IBAC, an Ombudsman and the Auditor-General all saying, Prime Minister, that we need more powers to investigate the CFMEU and a Royal Commission has those powers, either we give our corruption agencies more powers or we go down the path of a Royal Commission. Can you see why Victorians are concerned that $15 billion of their money appears to have gone missing? Like, what's your message to those taxpayers?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that Royal Commission was established by the former government and didn't achieve anything whatsoever besides investigating Julia Gillard, who was a very good Prime Minister, and Bill Shorten, who happened to be the leader of the Labor Party at the time. That was the focus, not stamping out corruption. What we need to do is to ensure that that occurs and the Administrator is doing just that.
FELGATE: Are you comfortable, are you supportive of the current state government's response to corruption within the CFMEU?
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely. They are doing their job, but importantly, they're doing it in the context of the Administrator being established and being allowed to do his job. And that stands in stark contrast to what was in place before we came to government.
FELGATE: Okay, I am running out of time, but I did want to ask you on another matter about high speed rail. Do you think, I'm sure you'll be keen to talk about this, do you think that we'll ever get a high speed train from Geelong to Melbourne? Is that something you'd support?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think we're the only inhabited continent on Earth that doesn't have high speed rail. Now, there needs to be proper assessments, including financial assessments about viability, but I have no doubt that, hopefully in my lifetime, I want to see high speed rail between Sydney and Melbourne. The way that it becomes financially viable as well is to make sure there's that regional economic development along the route, including for in the national capital of Canberra. But we also want to see some private sector engagement there as well. And I know that the Japanese government essentially, and Japanese companies are very interested in playing a role. We have to take pressure off our capital cities as well, and one way to do that is to have good regional economic development, and high speed rail can be very much a part of that.
FELGATE: Would you rather give us money for high speed rail than the Suburban Rail Loop?
PRIME MINISTER: No, the Suburban Rail Loop is an important project. Now that Metro is open here in Melbourne, people will see the benefit of an efficient rail system. An efficient rail system, though, in all of our east coast capitals, has to involve not just the centre, the CBD, but how to get around a growing city. And that's what a Suburban Rail Loop's about, including the section of it that will get people to the airport.
FELGATE: Are you going to give us some more money for it in the Budget?
PRIME MINISTER: You'll have to wait and see for the Budget. It will be the second Tuesday in May, Jacqui.
FELGATE: Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: And I don't pre-empt all of those things. We'll go through our processes, but obviously we've been supportive of the Victorian government for a long time on this project.
FELGATE: Are you sick of bailing us out, though? You must be sick of that.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Victoria didn't get its fair share of infrastructure spending under the former government. That's the truth. They got 8 per cent of infrastructure investment with something like 20 per cent and more of the population. Melbourne has been Australia's fastest growing city and it deserves its share of infrastructure investment, as does every other state.
FELGATE: Well, I'm sure we'll all look forward to riding on the Shinkansen between Sydney and Melbourne.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, well, it's not about to happen next week.
FELGATE: No, I know.
PRIME MINISTER: But these are the sort of visionary projects that make a difference. And I know that Melbourne Airport, of course, was moved and Tullamarine was the first major airport to be built for a long period of time. And later this year I will open Sydney West Airport that was talked about and dismissed by a lot of people as not being possible. I tell you what, it will make a difference for that city as well.
FELGATE: Prime Minister, thanks as always for coming on the program. Look forward to talking to you again.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, thanks very much, Jacqui.
