Radio interview – 6PR Perth Live with Oliver Peterson
OLIVER PETERSON, HOST: Joining me now live from Adelaide is the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Good afternoon.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, Ollie. Good to be with you.
PETERSON: Were you surprised to hear that Mark McGowan is quitting as Premier of Western Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: I was, although, of course, he has led the Labor Party since 2012. We were elected at the same time, together in 1996, and he’s been such an outstanding Premier. When he rang me, I rang him back, and we had a really good chat about how he was exhausted, as he said publicly. But he’d also achieved so much, and just wanted to spend more time with his family and to, I guess, relieve himself of the pressures that are there in public life.
PETERSON: Did he win you the federal election?
PRIME MINISTER: He was certainly a factor which was very positive. I, of course, as you will well recall, chose to launch my campaign in Western Australia. We won four federal seats in WA, so even before then, we were in a position to form government. But the difference that those seats in WA meant was that, clearly, we had a clear majority, now 78 seats in the House of Representatives. And that just provides that certainty, at least in the House, going forward. And there’s no doubt that Mark McGowan’s performance in leading WA, in providing for such strong economic growth, strong jobs, and also his complete commitment to look after the people of WA during the pandemic. You might recall the many times in which I said, you had to choose between Mark McGowan and Clive Palmer, I’m for Mark McGowan. Scott Morrison put himself in a position of supporting the legal case against the interests of WA, and indeed, against the interests of the nation, I think. And that was a very unwise decision. I was very happy to be associated with Mark McGowan and his government.
PETERSON: Yes, you picked up Pearce, Tangney, Hasluck, Swan. How difficult is that going to be to retain and your re-election chances in a couple of years’ time, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have fantastic members in all of those seats, and I’m very confident all of those will maintain their seats. And I think we’ll be having a crack at seats like Tangney, and Moore as well in addition. I think that Federal Labor has, together with state Labor, continued to work very strongly together. We’ll continue to do that with whoever is elected to serve as Premier in Mark McGowan’s Government. It’s important to remember, of course, it’s a very good government, not just led by one person, of course, led extraordinarily well by Mark McGowan, but it’s a great Labor team in WA. And now we have, what we didn’t have before, we had the quality, but we didn’t have the quantity and we certainly have that from WA now.
PETERSON: Have you had a phone call from Daniel Andrews or Chris Minns or Annastacia Palaszczuk, trying to strong arm you now to give them a little bit of WA’s GST now that McGowan is getting out of the way?
PRIME MINISTER: No, not at all. And that is an arrangement between the Australian people and the WA people. And certainly, I think that all of the Premiers would just have one thing to say about WA today, which is well done, Mark McGowan, and to wish him well and for his family as well.
PETERSON: How will he be remembered within Australian political circles? With a popularity of up to 90 per cent at one stage, the way that he was able to completely obliterate the Liberal Party and the National Party at the last election. Is he one of Australia’s greatest politicians, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there’s no doubt that his record says that that’s the case. To reduce the Liberal Party to two people. I mean, there was some amusement about leadership challenges in the Liberal Party of WA from the east coast, I’ve got to say, people talking about that. And it really provided that focus for just how well Mark McGowan did and the Labor team. I remember going into their campaign office during the state election campaign and them telling me that they were targeting seats that had never been targeted by Labor before, and that there was a prospect of a considerable victory, not just a win. But no one expected, I don’t think even Mark McGowan, expected the decimation that occurred for the Coalition in WA. And I think that the Liberal Party have further descended since that, there’s more infighting there’s infighting over the electorate of Moore, and who will be the candidate next time around in the federal election. You have, I think, a real loss of talent with the removal of people like Julie Bishop and Mathias Cormann and others who’ve left the federal team. And I think the Liberal Party in WA at the moment, certainly, are pretty much unelectable. What that means, though, is that Labor needs to knuckle down, which I’m sure they will, in the post-McGowan era, and continue to deliver good services, good government, good infrastructure.
PETERSON: Would you like to endorse a new Premier of Western Australia, Prime Minister? Maybe Roger Cook or Rita Saffioti?
PRIME MINISTER: No, that’s a matter for the Labor Party in WA. I know all of the senior members of the WA Labor team. I, of course, am a regular visitor there and I’ll work with whoever is elected Premier. But it’s important to remember, just as I regard myself as the captain of the team, I don’t kick every ball, make every run, make every tackle. The job is to provide good leadership. Mark McGowan did that, and whoever takes over as Premier will need to do that as well and lead what is an outstanding WA Labor team into the future.
PETERSON: You’re in Adelaide this evening for a significant speech about the Voice. What’s the focus going to be this evening, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I’ve been given the honour of the Lowitja O’Donoghue lecture here in Adelaide. It’s an annual event, and of course, Lowitja O’Donoghue was one of the Aboriginal leaders, part of the Stolen Generation, who campaigned for a Yes vote in the 1967 referendum. So, it will be taking that spirit of unity. And on Reconciliation Week, the important opportunity we have to bring the nation together, to unite around recognising First Nations people in our Constitution, and listening to them on matters that affect them.
PETERSON: You have come out swinging against the Opposition Leader Peter Dutton as he’s upped his rhetoric over the last week or so when it comes to the Voice. He said it would re-racialise our nation. Will you be addressing that tonight?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I don’t think that those are comments that are worthy of an alternative Prime Minister, or to talk about ‘Orwellian’, as he has. The truth is that in this country, we still have a ten-year life expectancy gap. We have significant gaps in infant mortality, in education, health and housing outcomes, and importantly, as well, in incarceration rates. One of the things I say in my speech tonight is, I quote the old saying, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. Well it is broken. We need to do better. We can’t just keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different outcomes. So, a process where we give Aboriginal people the opportunity to be listened to. It’s not, of course, a right of veto. It doesn’t impact on the power of Parliament. That will all remain intact. But it is a very gracious and generous request that was made, now, in 2017, more than six years ago now, in the Uluru Statement From the Heart. And I sincerely hope that Australians embrace the opportunity to walk together forward.
PETERSON: Prime Minister, we appreciate your time this afternoon. The Rabbitohs play the Sharks here in Perth, August 5. Will we see you at the stadium?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, that’s a fair way ahead of my diary, Ollie. I’m trying to keep one week ahead at this point in time. I’ve been in, woke up this morning in Canberra, I’ve been up to Sydney to do John Olsen’s Memorial Service at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. I’ve then flown here to Adelaide, and then I’ll fly back to Canberra tonight for Parliament tomorrow. So I’ve got a busy week, certainly this week.
PETERSON: We appreciate the call and we’ll see you soon. Thank you very much. Anthony Albanese.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, Ollie.
PETERSON: That’s the Prime Minister of Australia reflecting on the resignation of Premier Mark McGowan today.