Doorstop Interview – Parliament House, Canberra
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It’s very good to be here this morning at UN Women Australia Breakfast for International Women’s Day, which of course is coming up. I’m very proud that the Government that I lead has taken action to extend Paid Parental Leave to six months, that we’re making early learning cheaper to increase women’s economic participation and to boost productivity. That as of the first of February, Australian women now have access to 10 days paid Domestic and Family Violence Leave. These are practical measures which are making a difference. But as we’re reminded today, when Australia ranks 43rd in the world as a G20 country for women’s economic equality, there’s clearly much more to be done. I look forward in a short while of welcoming the Prime Minister of Timor Leste, here in the Parliament today, following the very successful meeting that we had yesterday with the new Prime Minister of New Zealand. Happy to take a couple of questions.
JOURNALIST: Aren’t you concerned the ongoing rate rises could send Australia into a recession?
PRIME MINISTER: I am very hopeful, backed up by the comments itself of the Reserve Bank and others, that inflation has peaked and that what we will see from here is a downward trend. We know that the global economy arising from the Russian invasion of Ukraine has seen a global spike in inflation and indeed in some of the advanced economies that reached double digits. So, it hasn’t reached that here but it clearly is having an impact. We’re not immune from the impact of the global economy in today’s interconnected world.
JOURNALIST: The Greens are calling on you to sack Phillip Lowe and also to reverse the decision of the RBA yesterday. Even if you could, would you?
PRIME MINISTER:The Greens sometimes don’t understand the way that the economy works or the way that the system works. We have an independent Reserve Bank, that is a very important principle, one that we maintain, one that we won’t be diverting from.
JOURNALIST: Regarding offshore processing on Nauru, how did the Government let that legislation lapse for four months and why did no-one know?
PRIME MINISTER: There’s no impact on it. It was dealt with yesterday clearly by the Parliament. Thanks very much.