The Prime Minister joins me now. Anthony Albanese, thank you for speaking to AM this morning.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Good to be with you.
CLARKE: Now, do you want Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor removed from the line of succession?
PRIME MINISTER: I certainly do, and I think that Australians will as well. These are very serious allegations. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor will face the full force of the law. His Majesty, King Charles has said that the law must now take its full course. There must be a full, fair and proper investigation and that needs to occur. I've written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and I've engaged with him as well directly overnight to confirm that my Government would agree to any proposal to remove him from the line of royal succession.
CLARKE: Did he ask for your position?
PRIME MINISTER: We volunteered, I wrote to him and then I texted with him to tell him that that was on its way and we engaged and he thanked me for our position. Any amendment to the line of succession would be initiated by the United Kingdom, and what would have to happen would be all 14 realm countries in the Commonwealth -- that is, those who still had the crown as their head of state -- would have to agree. And that's a process that obviously takes time, but the UK would initiate it. All 14 countries would have to agree, and indeed Australia would have to as well get the agreement of our states and territories, and I've written to all the premiers and chief ministers along those lines.
CLARKE: Have you spoken with any of your counterparts in Canada or New Zealand or Papua New Guinea, other countries in the Commonwealth realm about this? Was there any coordination?
PRIME MINISTER: We initiated it. Australia likes being first and we have made sure that everyone knows what our position is and we'll be writing today to the other realm countries as well, informing them of our position.
CLARKE: Is it appropriate to raise removing the former prince from the line of succession before the investigation is complete? Certainly, all the public statements from the UK government thus far have suggested they need to wait for the investigation to wrap up before doing anything. Are you jumping the gun by making this position so public while the investigation is still ongoing?
PRIME MINISTER: What we're doing is preparing and already Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. The fact that we're calling him that rather than Prince Andrew indicates that there's already been moves along these lines.
CLARKE: This wouldn't be a concern if Australia was a republic with an Australian head of state. Do these events give you any cause to reconsider holding a referendum on becoming a republic?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I haven't changed my position. I'm a Republican. His Majesty King Charles is very aware of that as well, but the Government doesn't have any plans to hold a referendum. We're concentrating on cost-of-living measures and providing that immediate support for Australians is our priority at this point in time.
CLARKE: Can you explain for me a little more why you want Australia's position to be first in this case, given there is an active investigation, why do you feel the desire to be at the front? Why are you making this public intervention now?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, His Majesty has already intervened and made a clear position about having a full, fair and proper investigation and it taking its full course. I think Australians want to know that the Australian Government regards these allegations and regards Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as being not appropriate to be in the line of succession to be our head of state. I think that Australians are disgusted by all of the revelations about the Epstein files and the connections between Epstein and various public figures and they want the Australian Government to be clear about our position and that is precisely what I've done.
CLARKE: I want to talk about another issue that has been prominent in national discussion over the last few weeks and that's the repatriation of Australian families linked to Islamic state. Political circumstances on the ground in Syria really are changing quickly, and there is an intention to shut down the Al-Roj camp that they're housed in. Do you realistically think that you can keep them from ever returning to Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: What we have said very clearly is that Australia is not and will not repatriate people from these camps in Syria. That's a position in which one of the non-government organisations took the Federal Government to court. We won that case and our position has not changed.
CLARKE: Sure, I understand that and that's been consistent, but there are other ways for them to return to Australia without the assistance of the Government. Do you think their return is inevitable at some point?
PRIME MINISTER: They will have decisions to make and for people who potentially are facing charges, should they return to Australia, they'll be considering that issue as well. But we are not repatriating them. Australian citizens do have rights of course, and we've said that as well, but if any do return it won't be with Australian Government support. And it is possible to lay any charges against any of these individuals, then that will occur.
CLARKE: If they do manage to return and they've indicated they want to return, what's the value in doing anything that would delay their return if they spend more time with children in harmful situations and potentially under dangerous influence? Would an earlier return to limit that dangerous influence be better in the long term?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they're the ones who made the decision. I'll tell you what would've been better, for them not to make a decision to go overseas, to give support to Islamic State, who wanted a Caliphate and were essentially at war with Australia.
CLARKE: But the circumstances we're in now is that that has happened. So, given these children are now in a potentially dangerous position for political influence and potentially physically harmful situations, the reality of what they face now, would it be better in the long term if they spend less time in that situation?
PRIME MINISTER: I am sympathetic with the children, but the children have been put in that position by their parents and that is something that the Australian Government didn't do. We of course had very clear warnings. We weren't the Government at the time that most of these people or potentially all of them went overseas and made that decision. They made that decision there are consequences for it and those consequences are that the Australian Government's position is that we are not going to provide support for them to be repatriated, and that if they do return then they will face the full consequences of their actions to the full force of the law.
CLARKE: Are you willing to make changes to legislation to make it harder for them to return or do you want the status quo to remain in place?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, there's been some nonsense that was not thought through in order to get a headline from the Coalition. They themselves couldn't explain how that was constitutional.
CLARKE: Opposition aside. Tony Burke has talked about the difficulty of the threshold that's required to impose temporary exclusion orders. Would you be willing, for example, to change those thresholds to make it easier to keep people away if that is the outcome you would like to see?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the full force of the law has been implemented to the extent that we can, there are constitutional issues. The Coalition is conscious of that, which is why the laws that are operating are the laws that will put in place by the former government on the basis of the advice. They're the strongest laws that could possibly be actually implemented and not knocked over in the High Court.
CLARKE: So, you're satisfied that what is in place is the right regime?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm satisfied that every attempt has been made to put in place the strongest laws that are possible.
CLARKE: Prime Minister, I know that you are very passionate about infrastructure. Having been a former infrastructure prime minister -- minister. The Government is tipping more money into high-speed --
PRIME MINISTER: I like the first title as well, thank you.
CLARKE: Infrastructure Prime Minister. We'll certainly add that one to your business card. Your government's putting in another $230 million into high-speed rail between Sydney and Newcastle to fund the detailed planning work so that it will be shovel-ready in two years. I think a lot of people when they hear discussion about progression of high-speed rail are a bit sceptical about when it might appear. So, can you give us any answers on some of the really fundamental questions of how much it will cost, how it will be funded, and how long it would take to build?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that is why we are doing this extensive study through the High-Speed Rail Authority that we've established, detailed, metre-by-metre planning, looking at the design, the approval process, the scope and the cost to make the project shovel-ready over the next two years. We know that the corridor between Newcastle and Sydney contains a large portion of the Australian population and is continuing to grow. And we know also that the motorway and the existing railway that's there, that frankly is way out of date, will be at capacity. So, this is something that would also unlock housing, thousands of jobs, generate tens of billions of dollars of new economic activity. So, we will undertake this work. It would be a game changer for economic growth and for productivity.
CLARKE: So, those questions of a cost and how it'll be funded, that won't come until the end of the next two years. So, 2028, is that right?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, part of the work that will be undertaken is looking at potential public and private financing options as well. I think in order for this to proceed, it would require significant private funding and that is something that will be examined as part of this whole process of getting it right.
CLARKE: Finally, Prime Minister, we've had news overnight that the US is pulling non-essential staff out of their embassy in Beirut given the increasing risk of conflict between the US and Iran. Do you have any advice for Australians who are in the region or considering travelling to the region?
PRIME MINISTER: We continue to update all of our advice on the DFAT website and Smartraveller, and we have already said if you look at that advice in the Middle East, it's not something that we recommend. There are various levels of warning, but essentially this is not a tourist destination. We should make sure that people do follow that advice because we don't want people to be caught up in a dangerous situation.
CLARKE: Prime Minister, thanks very much for joining us on AM.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Melissa.
