Radio Interview – 2DayFM | Prime Minister of Australia
DAVE HUGHES, HOST: Has a war broken out between Erin Molan and the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese?
ED KAVALEE, HOST: Who joins us on the line from Canberra, good morning, Prime Minister.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Still in Sydney on the way to the airport.
HUGHES: You get about, there’s no doubt about that. And you’re a very, very busy man. But we don’t even know, if you know, how heartbroken Erin Molan has been, Prime Minister, because you have not been returning her text messages.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there are rumours, but she sent a message through the pages of a newspaper. Like, message received. You can’t send someone a message saying, ‘it’s over. I don’t like you anymore. We were friends, but we’re not anymore.’
ERIN MOLAN, HOST: Prime Minister, I think I did say that I’m very fond of you in the article. I’m just trying to find that particular.
HUGHES: Yeah but the headline was that you’ve broken up with him.
MOLAN: See the headline is not my fault.
PRIME MINISTER: I didn’t bother to read the article.
KAVALEE: Why would you?
PRIME MINISTER: I read the headline and that was enough. And quite frankly, in that paper, that’s one of the nicest things that’s said about me. We have people who are paid to write columns attacking me every week in their columns. And I thought, ‘Erin Molan, at least there’s someone on my team’. And then I saw that headline and it was a very sad day.
HUGHES: But you know what, Anthony, you’ve got to remember, this is the way she runs most of her relationships. She says, ‘I never want to see you again’. And the next day she’s ringing up saying, ‘where are they?’
MOLAN: That is ridiculous, by the way, that is.
PRIME MINISTER: Has she done that to you too, Hughesy?
HUGHES: Absolutely.
PRIME MINISTER: It’s nothing for you and Ed, she has to see you every morning, see?
MOLAN: Now, PM, there’s been a little bit of fight back, bite back, whatever it is. Mind you, I did, since I have said so many complimentary things about you and I’ve sent them all to you, either in video form or screenshot, you haven’t acknowledged one. Is there something more that I need to do to win back your trust?
PRIME MINISTER: I think I need another column.
MOLAN: I just make it up anyway apparently.
PRIME MINISTER: And I need a shout out in the ‘25 campaign for ‘Vote Labor’.
MOLAN: Well remember, I voted for you last time because you got the spray tan. I mean, I don’t know what more you want from me.
PRIME MINISTER: How about what I had to do to get the vote?
HUGHES: Now, Anthony, she did drag me into this and it was, I was taken out of context.
KAVALEE: Oh no, no, no.
MOLAN: Prime Minister, you need to listen to what he said on this show yesterday and your security need to take note. Take a listen:
MOLAN: I wouldn’t have written a column to break up, I would have done it in person. In fact, I wouldn’t have broken up with him if we were dating, Prime Minister.
HUGHES: Albo, we made you and we can break you.
PRIME MINISTER: Ooh, that sounds like a threat.
KAVALEE: It is.
PRIME MINISTER: That’s intimidation, that is.
MOLAN: No, it was really aggressive, Prime Minister, I felt sick and you’re my ex, you know, we’re not even together. I felt sick.
HUGHES: Albo, he loves a laugh. You still love a laugh even though you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders, don’t you, Albo?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, you’ve got to get up every day and enjoy life, I’ve got to say. And it’s a great privilege doing the job that I’m doing and I regard it as an honour each and every day. But I got asked the other day, ‘what are you most surprised by?’ And I am really enjoying it, it’s an incredible privilege and this is such a great country to represent.
HUGHES: Yeah, and can I say, Peter Dutton, your Opposition Leader, actually complimented you the other day when we had him on. He said you’re doing a good job, but he also said that you’ve kept your fitness up, mate. So, you still look fit as.
PRIME MINISTER: I have. I’ll be playing tennis on Saturday in the comp. It’ll be good. We’ve got a local derby on Saturday, so I’m really looking forward to that. At what we colloquially and affectionately call Royal Marrickville.
HUGHES: Do your opponents go easier on you now, do you reckon? Or do they go harder?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I reckon there’s a fair bit of, I’ve only been able to play once in the comp so far, and we played a team Korora, which is the club on the north side of Sydney, and I reckon having the PM on the other side of the net provides a bit of intensity-free, oh nice PM, or I did this. But it’s all, it’s not too high a level, it’s all in very good spirit. And the great thing is is that I’m just me there, so it’s good. It’s the one time that my phone isn’t being looked at and I can just clock off. So, it’s very good for mental health as well as physical health.
MOLAN: PM, you talk about just being you. One thing that we did joke about on the show, we said that we invested so much in you when you were nothing to make sure that we got access to you when you were something. Could you give us any credit for your rise? Like, would this show, like, percentage wise, like, you’ve worked for 30, 40 years in politics, dedicated your whole life to this nation, essentially. But could you give us any credit for your elevation to Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, I think that it was a turning point, really, the first time I went. You know, I thought it might have been us promising to fix the minimum wage or strengthening Medicare or fixing climate change, but compared with fixing climate change, being on your show was up there, I think.
MOLAN: I knew it.
HUGHES: Oh, we’re up there.
KAVALEE: They’re back together.
HUGHES: Take that, Twitter.
PRIME MINISTER: The top four reasons.
HUGHES: Thank you.
KAVALEE: And they are officially back together.
MOLAN: And if you could just even just like my last message, Albo, you don’t have to reply. Just a like, thank you so much.
PRIME MINISTER: Just a like. You did send me a little video of some very generous comments that you made on your show.
MOLAN: Oh did you watch it?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, I watched it.
MOLAN: Oh, thank you so much.
KAVALEE: No reply.
PRIME MINISTER: I didn’t reply, but I watched it.
HUGHES: Real treat em mean, keep em keen. He’s played it beautifully.
MOLAN: I’m pathetic, I am pathetic in my need to be loved. God help me. Thank you, Prime Minister. We appreciate it very much.
PRIME MINISTER: Good on you. Have a great day everyone.
MOLAN: Thanks, legend.