Radio Interview – Nova FM Ricki-Lee, Tim and Joel
TIM BLACKWELL, HOST: Now, you know, sometimes, I was thinking this the other day, guys, Barack Obama’s playlists are really big?
RICKI-LEE COULTER, HOST: Oh, yeah.
JOEL CREASEY, HOST: Oh yeah, they go they go nuts.
COULTER: It’s like… it’s a big thing. It’s like Oprah’s Book Club, when she endorses a book. If Barack Obama endorses a song, that’s big.
BLACKWELL: Well, this is what I’m thinking for our very own Anthony Albanese, who’s with us now. Do you have your own Obama-style playlist?
CREASEY: Oh hello, Prime Minister.
COULTER: Hello, sir.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I do have Spotify lists.
COULTER: Do you?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, of course I do. And I have DJ’d for the Community Cup for Reclink a few times.
BLACKWELL: Okay.
PRIME MINISTER: I’ve played some various gigs, at the Corner Hotel in Richmond was the biggest.
CREASEY: Oh a great venue.
PRIME MINISTER: A good bit of fun. And I had Dan Sultan and Tim Rogers from You Am I and various people helping us out. You know, a bit of backup singing, all of that.
BLACKWELL: You’ll love this, Albo. I actually took, I made Ricki come with me on Anzac Day to the Hawke’s Leisure Centre in Sydney.
COULTER: Yeah you really twisted my arm.
BLACKWELL: And we went and saw Tim Rogers play.
COULTER: It was so much fun. Tim Rogers was there and he was playing and he was amazing. And then he was at the bar ordering drinks and I was like, what is happening?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, he’s an old Newtonian. Tim Rogers used to hang out at the Carlisle Castle there, a great little pub in the back street.
BLACKWELL: Don’t tell too many people about our pub, please. Otherwise they’ll come.
PRIME MINISTER: Oh sorry about that. The inner-West, you know, there’s a few decent watering holes. And the Hawke’s Brewery, it was great. I actually went there to the Chinese restaurant there.
BLACKWELL: The Lucky Prawn?
COULTER: The Lucky Prawn?
PRIME MINISTER: A few Sundays ago, and it was so good because everyone just left me alone. It was really cool. I went there with Jodi, my partner, and Nathan, my son, and it was a chance to actually have a catch up and everyone was great about it, they left us alone.
COULTER: Do you get much of a chance to relax and do things like that? You know, you’re the Prime Minister of Australia, do you get much of a chance to go and do normal things like that?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh look, I try to. I played tennis on Saturday for Mighty Marrickville. I play in the Sydney Badge comp.
BLACKWELL: How on Earth? Why do you need another thing to do?
PRIME MINISTER: Because you’ve got to do some normal things. And one of the things about tennis is it’s a really simple game. You hit the ball over the net, between the lines, it’s all doubles.
COULTER: I would beg to differ.
PRIME MINISTER: And it’s just good fun. And for your mental health, it is the one time, for three hours, you play sort of four sets during an afternoon versus various clubs. They find it a bit strange when the PM rocks up.
COULTER: Absolutely, I’d freak out.
BLACKWELL: How much security do you bring with you?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, enough. Enough. But it’s just for mental health. I think you’ve got to try to do as much as you can, have a bit of a break. Yesterday, I began the day in Canberra, flew up to Sydney, did John Olsen’s memorial service at the New South Wales Art Gallery, that was wonderful. Then flew to Adelaide and did the Lowitja O’Donoghue lecture about the Voice to Parliament and the referendum that’s coming up, a big lecture at Adelaide Uni. Then flew back to Canberra, and of course, I had to catch up after I got back, even though it was late, with the last episode of Succession. So I’m regretting watching the last episode now, it was terrific. But I must admit, this morning it was like, oh, maybe I should have watched it on the weekend.
CREASEY: Yeah, because you got a fair bit of travel on the cards and we never really see much about the Prime Minister’s plane. We hear all about Air Force One, but like, what have you got decked out on yours? Is there a Jacuzzi, Prime Minister?
COULTER: Is it called Bogan Air?
PRIME MINISTER: No, none of that. Thanks for that.
BLACKWELL: Whoah, Ricki. That was Ricki, by the way. That was Ricki, come on.
COULTER: It’s Australia.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, I picked that. Our Royal Australian Air Force will be in touch with you, let me tell you. They’re very proud of what they do for us. It does have a meeting room on it, which is rather handy because you sometimes need to make calls or do things when we’re on the plane, and certainly we end up doing a lot of work, briefings and what have you. Certainly on the Monday after the election last year, of course, I was off to the Quad Leaders Meeting, which wasn’t ideal, perhaps, but I had to be briefed by all the departmental heads on the way up. We had, I think, about 9 hours of meetings on the way to Japan.
COULTER: Oh, wow.
PRIME MINISTER: But it’s a chance to catch up and to do some work. But the Air Force do a fantastic job for us, whether it’s with ministers or defence personnel that get to fly around.
BLACKWELL: Now, I know, because you are obviously our top dog, right, and you have got this little thing called the Voice happening. I loved your Chicken Little comment, but do you regret comments like that? Because sometimes a lot of people say, we want politicians to speak like us, and I think you do that, right? And when you said the Chicken Little thing, and then a lot of your opponents jumped on that, do you ever regret speaking from the heart sometimes? Because obviously you’re very passionate about this.
PRIME MINISTER: I think you’ve got to be straight with people. And when people say, as Barnaby Joyce did, this will be the last budget ever, there’ll never be a budget again. When people say that Anzac Day will be abolished, when people say some of the claims that have been made, I do think you’ve got to call it out. And unfortunately, every time that we’ve done an action towards reconciliation with Aboriginal Australians, there has been declarations that it would lead to all sort of consequences, which, of course, haven’t been true. And I was here in a proud moment when Kevin Rudd gave the Apology to the Stolen Generations. And then we were told it would have all these catastrophic consequences, and of course, it didn’t. It was a uniting moment for the nation, and so will recognising Aboriginal Australians in our nation’s Constitution.
CREASEY: Oh yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: And just giving a body which will be able to give advice, that doesn’t change the structure of Parliament. It won’t have an impact on most people’s lives directly at all.
COULTER: Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: But it just might make a difference for some of the most disadvantaged people. And that’s why I really think that Australia has this opportunity. I respect the fact that some people will come to a different conclusion, that’s their right to in a democracy. But it would be good if we kept the debate on a realistic plane and not jump at shadows. And unfortunately, some of the things that have been said, I remember when the Mabo decision happened, which basically just acknowledged that there were people here prior to 1788. And that the doctrine called Terra Nullius, basically that it was a vacant land, that that got eliminated. There was talk then that people’s backyards would be taken and reparations and everyone would lose their homes. And of course that was nonsense.
COULTER: But isn’t this just what people love to do, and especially lots of people in politics do this, they love to catastrophise things and sensationalise things just for the sake of it?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, I think that when people, they say some of those things, it does have to be called out for what it is. You can have different views about constitutional recognition. If you happen to view that they shouldn’t be, well, so be it. It’s your right to do that. But it would be good if we had a debate based upon facts.
CREASEY: Yes.
PRIME MINISTER: And this is a really simple and gracious request that’s been made by Indigenous people themselves, who met, of course, at Uluru back in 2017. And it’s essentially in line with the fair go. If you’re going to have a policy that will impact on people, in this case Australia’s First Peoples, then consulting them is a good idea, because you’ll get better outcomes.
COULTER: Absolutely.
PRIME MINISTER: And that’s just common sense. And I really hope that Australians do vote yes, because we’ll be a stronger, more united nation if we do so. Every other advanced country, such as Canada or New Zealand, countries that were the subject of colonisation, recognised their First Peoples in their Constitution. In New Zealand, they did it in the 19th century. In Canada, they did it last century. It is time that we did that. And it’ll be more respectful, just as when a footy game begins or other events begin, you have the Acknowledgement of Country, and it brings people together. And that’s why I’m so pleased that every sporting organisation is supporting the Voice, the business community, the trade union movement, faith groups, all supporting the Voice to Parliament. And I certainly hope that people vote yes in the referendum at the end of the year.
BLACKWELL: It’s just common sense.
CREASEY: Yeah, and don’t listen to some of the wild stuff. Because I remember during the marriage equality plebiscite, which I was heavily invested in, Prime Minister. People were like, ‘oh, the moon will turn rainbow’. And I thought, I didn’t know we had that sort of power.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, straight people’s marriages were all going to be worth less, of course.
BLACKWELL: Come on, join the club. Get divorced, like all of us. It’s like, everyone can equally be miserable if they like. Hey, Albo, we’ve got to let you go, but just very quickly, speaking of sport. You’re a huge Rabbitohs fan, but tomorrow night, is it hard for the Prime Minister to pick a state?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh no.
BLACKWELL: Because it’s one thing for you to pick a team, but can you pick a state?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I of course bleed red and green. But tomorrow night, I will be going for the Blues, of course.
BLACKWELL: Sorry, Nova 106.9.
COULTER: Oh damn, devastating.
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry about that. But you’ve got to back your state.
BLACKWELL: Of course you do.
PRIME MINISTER: You’ve got to be upfront about it. And the great thing about State of Origin, I get very depressed, I’ve got to say, when Souths lose. On the Friday night is always bad, because it ruins your whole weekend when they don’t have a win. But State of Origin I just think is a great contest. I’m not as emotionally invested in it as I am if Souths are playing in the semi-final. But it’s just, the quality of the football is always quite wonderful. So I’m really looking forward to watching it in the cold here in Canberra.
BLACKWELL: Nice.
CREASEY: And that’s lucky, because the state premiers are changing left, right and centre, so you don’t have to remember their names too much.
BLACKWELL: Good on you, Albo. Thank you very much for chatting to us, mate, as always.
COULTER: So nice to talk to you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, guys.
CREASEY: Thanks, Prime Minister.
ENDS