Prime Minister's here, everyone. Everyone up off your feet. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese now. Jackie, you're just about to pick him up. I hope he's not angry with me because I was supposed to ring Albo back, but he was in the middle - he was at the G8 summit. Then I was supposed to ring him and then I noticed on the news he was in China. I thought I better not interrupt with my rubbish while he's dealing with the Chinese president.
JACQUELINE LAST, HOST: Kyle, did you ever think, when you were a homeless kid, that this would be your life? That you'd be, you know, wondering whether you should interrupt the Prime Minister during a summit?
SANDILANDS: Of course not. Silliest question you've ever asked.
PRIME MINISTER: Standing up the Prime Minister.
LAST: Don't you love that? That you could be in a cardboard box as a kid and then suddenly as an adult you're. You're friends with the Prime Minister. It's crazy to think how much can change.
SANDILANDS: Yes. We're lucky we've got a good Prime Minister. Good morning, PM, how are you?
PRIME MINISTER: I am very well. It is a great country.
LAST: It is, right? Yeah.
SANDILANDS: It is the Lucky Country.
PRIME MINISTER: I've had my mates I grew up with from Camperdown, came down yesterday for the first day of Parliament and it was just fantastic. We all sat around on, on Monday night -
SANDILANDS: Pulling cones and stuff?
PRIME MINISTER: No, we were very good.
SANDILANDS: No, it's not the old days.
PRIME MINISTER: We were talking about old times and just how, you know, I find it sometimes very surprising when I drive to, like, okay, so, I'm a lucky man.
LAST: Yeah, I bet they must think, 'oh, can you believe it, Albo, you actually became Prime Minister.' Do you have those conversations?
SANDILANDS: You got to have that, right? He's like, 'how did it happen?' It's crazy.
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely. And you know, when we were, when we were growing up, we talked about how we were, you know, sharing each other's bikes -
SANDILANDS: Oh, oh, bikes, right, yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: - and skateboards and things like that because not everyone had one and just looking after each other and mucking around in Camperdown there and it's a good thing.
SANDILANDS: That is very good. I love that you've got your old school friends. Did you take your son into Parliament House as well? There was pap photos of him. What a good looking rooster that boy is.
PRIME MINISTER: I did, yeah. He's got a very lovely girlfriend. So, I saw a bit of stuff on social media, you know, stalking, stalking him a bit, saying he was a good looking rooster. So, he must take after his mum.
LAST: Hey, in your feed, do you get a lot of the stuff about the couple that cheated at the Coldplay concert? Because that's all over everyone's feed. What were -
PRIME MINISTER: It was huge, wasn't it?
LAST: Massive. Like, what are your thoughts?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you couldn't get away from it.
LAST: Is there any part of you that empathised - I know. The whole world was just captivated by it. It was crazy, wasn't it?
SANDILANDS: That was so guilty. They reacted so bad, so bad.
PRIME MINISTER: It's just a reminder that everything you do these days is on camera, no matter who you are, whether you're a public figure or just this couple, obviously. A couple that weren't supposed to be a couple at a Coldplay concert and they ended up, the whole world knows who they are now. So, I think it was a wake-up call.
LAST: Humiliating.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah.
SANDILANDS: Now enough of that New Idea rubbish. What about - so, I read yesterday, Brooklyn was telling everyone on the news, that you've done this 20 per cent cut to people with a HECS debt, which is 20 per cent of student debt. So, anyone that has got student loans - and it always is like an anchor around their throat - this has been well received, right?
PRIME MINISTER: It's a ripper. It sure will. And that's for TAFE, of course, as well as university graduates. And there's three million Australians, including I'm sure many, many thousands, tens of thousands, of your listeners, will benefit by an average of $5,500 each.
LAST: It's a big help.
PRIME MINISTER: So, we it will be the first bit of legislation we do today and I just think you know, younger generations have got it tough, it's harder to buy a home, there's all those financial pressures on them. And so, we said we'd do this last November, and then during the election campaign, I said this is going to be the first piece of legislation that we introduce and this morning Jason Clare will be up there first thing introducing the bill, which will go through, and it will get backdated as well to 1 June so that it maximises out what the cut is, because indexation and things come in every year.
SANDILANDS: We don't understand all that, though. Brooklyn had the rag on a bit, go on Brooklyn, have a whinge, you already paid your debt, yeah, yeah, yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: Five and a half thousand bucks off everyone's debt on average.
BROOKLYN ROSS, NEWSREADER: Hello, Prime Minister, did you not think there might have been a fairer way to do it? Because you know, if you've got a doctor or a lawyer with a huge HECS debt, they're getting the most out of this, whereas other people doing lesser degrees - teaching or whatever - aren't going to get as much.
SANDILANDS: Or journalism, is what he meant to say, this dumbarse journalist.
PRIME MINISTER: Sometimes it is best to just do it in the simplest way. And it cuts out all the bureaucracy and all of that, and so instead of getting into a really complicated system, we just said, 20 per cent off everyone across the board.
SANDILANDS: Simple stuff. And you made that promise, you kept that promise, very refreshing that politicians keep promises. A lot of promises are made going to elections, and sometimes for unforeseen reasons, you have to change tack. But I think a lot of people are happy about that one. Also, I saw yesterday, you did the Welcome to Country ceremony and I think that was appropriate at Parliament House or big events, big Australian events, to have the Welcome to Country.
PRIME MINISTER: That's right. It costs nothing to show some respect. And it was a wonderful way to begin the Parliament, there were Indigenous dancers, beautiful young kids and their families all dancing to welcome the beginning of Parliament. We have such a great privilege of sharing this country with the oldest continuous culture on earth, and we should celebrate it, we should be proud about it.
SANDILANDS: I agree.
LAST: What about - I know they've said you haven't ruled out the possibility of a four-day working week, but you have said if and should that ever be considered, it would not apply to everyone, which makes sense.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, well, if people want to negotiate that out through their enterprise bargaining, they of course can. But across the board, I reckon a whole lot of people would welcome a five-day week. I mean, I'd welcome a six-and-a-half-day week in my job.
SANDILANDS: You're every day, right? Twenty-four seven. Do they ever wake you up? Who comes to wake you up in the middle of the night, if some big weird thing happens and it's like 3am in the morning, who comes in and goes, 'excuse me Mr' - does someone come in, like a security, or some sort of servant or some sort of person? What happens?
PRIME MINISTER: No, there is a phone in the room that has only rung a couple of times. One of the times it was from President Joe Biden, rang at some ungodly hour.
SANDILANDS: Not some misdial, rambling on and on as well.
LAST: A bum dial.
PRIME MINISTER: I get woken up every morning by a little four-pawed fluffy thing called Toto, who -
SANDILANDS: You've got it in the bed, that dog? Oh, I love that.
PRIME MINISTER: No, she jumps up. It's like, 'wake up, wake up, I want to go outside.'
LAST: What are the situations where the calls come through? Like, what was Joe Biden's call?
PRIME MINISTER: That was to say that he wasn't coming to the Sydney Quad meeting that was going to be held and so, he wanted to let us know as soon as that decision was made. So, we had a chat.
LAST: So, do all leaders of every country, do they have that phone in that room, that number?
PRIME MINISTER: No, well, I don't know what other people do. But there's a phone here at the Lodge, there's one at Kirribilli House as well, in the room. I have no idea what the number is, so.
LAST: Did you get one - you were in charge when the Queen died or not? I can't remember.
SANDILANDS: Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, that was another one, actually. Yeah, absolutely. And there we had this whole protocol kicked in that had been worked out over many, many years, of, Operation London Bridge I think it was called. And you had to wait, the Governor-General had to make a statement, I think it was 30 minutes later I would make a statement, so that was an all-nighter that one -
SANDILANDS: What were you wearing when you got that phone call? Like, you're in bed, what are you wearing? You a boxer guy? You got pyjamas on?
PRIME MINISTER: No one wants to know that, Kyle.
SANDILANDS: You're in the nude. I love, he's in the nicky-na this bloke. That's a real man there.
LAST: And is this phone like an old-school telephone, like -
SANDILANDS: Get off the phone, Jackie.
LAST: I'm so fascinated.
PRIME MINISTER: It is, yeah. On the wall.
LAST: Yeah, it's like a fixed phone.
SANDILANDS: Like a Dick Smith, like a second phone that your parents used to have in the bedroom and that sort of thing.
LAST: Is it like that?
PRIME MINISTER: A normal phone with wires and things, remember them?
SANDILANDS: Yeah I do, I love those.
LAST: Yeah, plugged into the wall.
SANDILANDS: So, what I wanted to ring you about in between all your important Prime Minister stuff, your G8 summit, your meeting with the Chinese President - how'd that go over there, by the way, because you're getting pressure put on you from America saying 'oh while you're over there in China dealing with your most important export partner, what would happen if there was a war started between' - like, what bad timing, right? You ignored it? You dodged that, you dealt with what you had to, China, you're on the ground. Did it all go well over there?
PRIME MINISTER: What we want to do is engage with people and talk with people. And President Xi, the meeting went really well. Our most important trading partner, more than 25 per cent of our trade goes to one country, which is China. And it's so important for Australian jobs, and that is what is in our interest, as well as of course we all have an interest in peace and security in the region.
ROSS: Do you think of war - can I ask you, Anthony Albanese, do you think a war between the US and China, reports about that are exaggerated?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what I want to see is security and relationship. I mean, we avoided a war during the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. There was dialogue there. I know that President Trump and President Xi have had discussions. That's a good thing. We want, the world has an interest in peace and security. We see the devastating impact of Russia's war in Ukraine, which would be a lot smaller than a conflict between major powers. And that has an impact on our supermarket shelves, on the price of goods.
SANDILANDS: Can I just say, Prime Minister, while you're here, Intern Pete has just come back from two weeks holiday in Russia. Do you want to say hi to the Prime Minister, Peter? Intern Pete?
PRIME MINISTER: Where did you go?
PETE DEPPELER, INTERN: Good morning Prime Minister, how are you.
SANDILANDS: I just told him you went to Russia.
DEPPELER: Yes, yes, yes. A couple of things about that for me, Prime Minister, I know the war's not great over there.
SANDILANDS: He asked you where did you go, he asked you a question, the Leader of the country and you just ignored him.
DEPPELER: I'm so sorry, Prime Minister, I went to Moscow.
SANDILANDS: Just answer him. Moscow, right? Stayed with the family.
PRIME MINISTER: What were you doing in Moscow?
DEPPELER: Well, I was catching up with some family friends, just to sort of do the touristy thing, that sort of stuff.
LAST: Prime Minister, Peter goes to Russia all the time, and I just want to flag it with your end.
SANDILANDS: The ASIO file over there, Prime Minister.
LAST: He does need to do some investigating.
PRIME MINISTER: I'm sure there is someone typing in that data as we speak.
SANDILANDS: Listen, what a great week you've had. What I wanted to come over and talk to you about - sorry I didn't get back to you, I knew you were super busy - is the homeless situation. You might have seen this report out yesterday, homelessness up, especially with young women and their children, fleeing domestic violence. I know you've got your eye across all this stuff. I really want to get involved with the homelessness thing, because Jackie thinks I should do charity. Normally, I say no to charity. 'How many pandas can you save', is what I say. But with the homeless thing, I really want to do something, so maybe we can put our heads together?
PRIME MINISTER: No -
SANDILANDS: No? Okay, forget it then.
PRIME MINISTER: No, we can certainly have a chat about that, mate, because so much can be done. I'll tell you one local group that do a lot based in my electorate is Rev. Bill Crews, he's the champion.
SANDILANDS: Oh, I love Bill Crews. He's always been a leader.
PRIME MINISTER: And he's done so much and you know what, I'm going to give Bill Crews your number, because I'm sure -
SANDILANDS: Oh great, when I'm not over at your joint doing I'm doing nose beers, I'm at Bill Crews' church. I've got his number. I've done stuff with Bill before, I love the bloke, great bloke.
PRIME MINISTER: That is a great place to start, because he's just a champion.
SANDILANDS: I saw kids are dying in boxes, and you just think not here, not now, we can fix this.
PRIME MINISTER: Exactly, exactly. But it requires everyone to pitch in, Government as well as organisations like the foundation where Bill comes from.
SANDILANDS: What are you doing up there from your end, you got a figure for me, give us a working budget? A billion? Good start?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you can't solve housing issues overnight. We've got $10 billion in the Housing Australia Future Fund that's about social and affordable housing and about making sure that we actually invest in public housing. It's crazy that for a period of time, we had a reduction in housing funding. We've got $43 billion in total with our Homes For Australia plan.
SANDILANDS: Oh, sweet, that's going to be a great start, I can't wait to get my hands on that.
PRIME MINISTER: It is the largest investment in housing of any government in Australian history.
SANDILANDS: Okay, well we will put our heads together. Thanks for coming on, Prime Minister. Great week. Keep soldiering on.
LAST: Thanks, Prime Minister. Always a pleasure.
PRIME MINISTER: My absolute pleasure, wonderful to have a chat and we've got the first Question Time today, so wish me luck.
LAST: Good luck.
SANDILANDS: Hopefully none of The Greens bring up our show again, because The Greens they don't like us, they're no fan of us.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they're difficult people. Let's face it.
SANDILANDS: They are, get a job I say. Thank you Prime Minister.
LAST: Thanks so much, bye Prime Minister.
