: Plenty to talk about with this man because I know he was at Oasis on Friday night. We have some social media laws changing. There's a photo of the Prime Minister at Oasis.
RYAN FITZGERALD, HOST: There's Davey Warner and Candice Warner as well.
WIPFLI: God, he's got the whole team there. We welcome him to the show. Prime Minister, hello.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Good to be with you.
KATE RITCHIE, HOST: Good morning.
WIPFLI: What an honour.
FITZGERALD: You didn't wear the Joy Division T shirt to the gig, did you, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: Gee whiz, what a load of nonsense that was, hey?
FITZGERALD: Oh, what a load of crap.
WIPFLI: You can't wear anything these days.
PRIME MINISTER: It is - it was rather extraordinary, I've got to say, but a few people commented exactly that on Friday night.
FITZGERALD: We need nostalgia in our lives at the moment, Prime Minister. I think Oasis - wasn't it an amazing atmosphere? Just, there was young kids there, there were couples with their arms around each other, there were grown men crying. It was a, it was a great atmosphere, wasn't it?
PRIME MINISTER: It was fabulous. I went with my son Nathan and we had a terrific night. It was great to get a night off for a change, I've got to say. A big change from the usual Friday night, which are usually a dinner somewhere giving a speech.
WIPFLI: Of course.
PRIME MINISTER: But it was just relaxed and the way that the whole audience, 70,000 people singing Look Back in Anger and Wonderwall and all the songs - the Gallagher boys didn't have to sing all the choruses.
WIPFLI: 70,000 helpers.
FITZGERALD: Yeah.
WIPFLI: Oh, my gosh. We do want to talk social media, but just quickly, paying tribute also to John Laws this morning, Albo.
PRIME MINISTER: John Laws was a legend. He was such an extraordinary figure in Australians lives. My mum never missed listening, and changed her loyalty to stations when John Laws changed and he was terrific to talk to. I spoke to him many times as PM, and as Leader of the Opposition, and as Minister going back a long, long way and you could just have a genuine conversation with him. And he was interested, he allowed you to speak. He had strong views that he would put himself, but it was a genuine conversation and I don't think there'll be another like him, certainly, to be on top for such a long period of time.
FITZGERALD: Did you fear him at all, Albo going on his show? and what was he like when the mic was off, Albo?
PRIME MINISTER: He was terrific. We had, we had a couple of lunches in recent times there. He lived on the wharf there at Woolloomooloo, and you'd go to a restaurant underneath there. And he was just terrific company. He had a real insight into history and into politics and into Australians and the way that they felt about issues. He was a true patriot. He really loved his country and that came through.
WIPFLI: And the beautiful sound of that voice.
RITCHIE: Oh, I know. It actually reminds me of growing up. Mum and dad would always have the radio on, on the top of the fridge at home in Campbelltown. And it reminds me of just growing up at home with Mum and Dad. I think, I mean, no offence, Prime Minister, but I think Mum and Dad often thought that John Laws should run the country. Do you know, he was one of those -
PRIME MINISTER: They were not alone. They were not alone. And guess what? In part he did help to run the country because his views mattered.
RITCHIE: Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: Of course, they reflected the views of his audience and so he was big in the city and in the country, of course. Even in recent times, when he was on a Sydney AM station, he would be broadcast into regional NSW and Queensland and was, had a loyal audience for, who'd been listening to him for many, many decades.
WIPFLI: Prime Minister, I want to share some stories just to touch on the social media laws and the change. We are a month away. It's an important day today as we -
PRIME MINISTER: One month today.
WIPFLI: One month. Really important. But just quickly, Fitz and Kate, who weren't in New York, can I just describe to you, and Prime Minister, I think reflecting on this was quite a moment when we turned up to Old Mates and my understanding is, Prime Minister, there was some Australian security with you and there's also some security that the Americans offer up. Now, nobody touches a Prime Minister, or a President, or a Head of State. When our Prime Minister walks into an Australian pub, every person tries to hug him. And you should have seen the size of these blokes as they panicked to try and get control of the -
FITZGERALD: They're tackling him.
WIPFLI: That was fascinating to see, Albo.
PRIME MINISTER: The Secret Service will never be the same again.
FITZGERALD: Albo, it's everyone's dream though, to rock up to a pub and they shut down the whole street just for you though, is that a dream?
WIPFLI: That was amazing.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that is, that is what they do. There was a lot of them. And we got - everyone's dream is to get a - it wasn't, a green light corridor, it was essentially the whole way through. We got the police escort through to the, through to the pub with the Secret Service and they tend to have a lot more security than the security in Australia. I've got to say, one of the things at Old Mates is you get to play a couple of songs and there's free beer while those two songs are playing.
FITZGERALD: What'd you get?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not sure what the Secret Service thought of everyone singing along to Khe Sanh but most importantly singing the bits that aren't actually part of the song to Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again.
WIPFLI: Do you know, there was another great moment where I said to the Prime Minister, 'Albo, the team here want you to ring the bell'. And he goes, 'what does that mean?' And I said, 'well, you ring the bell and then you shout the bar and it's free beer for two songs'. And Albo, you turned to me and said, 'we can't have the taxpayer shouting free beer'. And I went 'no, no, no, the pub's gonna shout the beer, it's okay'. And he said, 'right, let's ring the bell then.' That was an amazing moment. Cut to December 10 though, Prime Minister. Once again saluting the government's commitment to what this means for the wellness of our teenagers in giving chance to get to know themselves before the rest of the world does, on December 10.
PRIME MINISTER: It will be so important. We had a young Tasmanian 12 year old girl who was delightful in to Parliament last week. And what she has done for her peers, she asked all of them to write down on the blackboard at school, but she had a whiteboard up in Parliament, what they could do instead of being on their devices. So, everything from play sport, to learn an instrument, to talk to friends.
WIPFLI: Love that.
PRIME MINISTER: It was, it was just fantastic. And on December 10 is a big date. You might have seen we've started the advertising campaign so that people are conscious of it. This is about letting kids be kids. But it's also about empowering parents to have those conversations with their young ones. And the great thing about this I think is more so than anything I've ever seen, this is a grassroots movement that's come from the bottom up. Particularly has come from parents who have gone through tragic circumstances, lost their young son or daughter, and channelled that trauma and grief into trying to make sure that doesn't happen to others. So, December 10 will be an important day and the government is busy preparing. We've been engaging, of course, with the social media companies and making sure that they're very conscious of the fact that they have a social responsibility as well.
WIPFLI: Prime Minister, just quickly, a lot of the feedback, and we spoke to Anika Wells, our Communications Minister, about this also. A lot of the feedback has been, 'oh, this is the government's attempt to create a Digital ID so they can steal more information'. I see it over and over again. Anika Wells confirmed that's not the case. I think it would just help for the Australian people to also hear you confirm that's not the case, as you've said before.
PRIME MINISTER: It is certainly not the case. This is about giving people power back to families.
WIPFLI: 100 per cent.
PRIME MINISTER: And this is not about government, this is about people and looking after our youngest Australians. One of the issues that people are conscious of is that a young person under this age doesn't have the capacity to discern some of what is real and not real, doesn't have the ability that an adult has. And human brain development occurs in those early years and it is just about giving them back their childhood.
WIPFLI: Absolutely.
PRIME MINISTER: That is as simple as that. And we want people to be protected. And I note as well, that Denmark is joining in, New Zealand is joining in.
FITZGERALD: Yes.
WIPFLI: That's great news.
PRIME MINISTER: This is something that at the United Nations, the wonderful assembly that we had there that was so well attended, this is something that is a global problem. Australia is leading the way. We should be proud of that and proud of the fact that it is families themselves who have led this campaign, ably assisted by people like Wippa, who's been just fantastic at showing courage and speaking out and organising the petitions and the campaign. And in one month's time we'll be there.
WIPFLI: We're on.
RITCHIE: Yeah.
FITZGERALD: You gotta roll with it. Like Liam Gallagher sang on Friday night, you gotta roll with it.
WIPFLI: You gotta roll with it, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely.
WIPFLI: Wonderful to hear your voice. Thanks for coming on, mate.
RITCHIE: Thank you.
WIPFLI: Appreciate your time.
