Radio Interview – The Rush Hour with JB & Billy – Triple M Melbourne
WILLIAM BROWNLESS, HOST: Welcome to Triple M Melbourne.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good to be here. I’m a little bit nervous after that intro, I’ve got to say, Billy.
BROWNLESS: I did run for politics on the other side. Jeff Kennett tried to get me up.
PRIME MINISTER: There was your first mistake.
BROWNLESS: Spot on. Spot on. Exactly right. And as I said to him, ‘I’ve got no idea’. He said, ‘Mate, I’ve got no idea either, but I’m the Premier’. But anyway, great to have you in Melbourne. Great to have you on board. We see you’re running around up there in Sydney in your Rabbitohs cap and hat and things like that. So we’re down here in Melbourne. What scarf, what colour scarf or beanie will you be wearing?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh mate, I wear a brown and gold scarf.
BROWNLESS: Oh no.
PRIME MINISTER: If you’re a South Sydney supporter, right, and you’re a little kid, you can’t go for Geelong because they’re the Canterbury colours. You can’t go for Essendon because they were North Sydney and Richmond Tigers, Balmain Tigers. So if your team is cardinal and myrtle, or red and green, then you go for the Hawks. And they had a pretty good team when I was growing up, I gotta say. They might do it a bit tough. And I was there at the ’89 Grand Final.
BROWNLESS: You were not.
PRIME MINISTER: I was there, I drove down.
BROWNLESS: 89, I was actually out there too.
PRIME MINISTER: You were, running around.
BROWNLESS: Me and Ablett kicked 11 goals between us.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, he got nine. And the Norm Smith.
BROWNLESS: Yeah he did, indeed. What about your last month. Do you just sit back and just think how bloody busy you’ve been? The Mardi Gras, the first Prime Minister to march in that. Congratulations. How was that? Did you enjoy that?
PRIME MINISTER: It was awesome. I don’t know why no one’s marched before. There’s very little chance as a politician to walk along any street in Australia and be cheered by 200,000 people.
BROWNLESS: Then, of course, I love my cricket. And we turn on the fourth test. We’re waiting for the play to start. And there’s you and the Indian Prime Minister on a float. You like your floats.
PRIME MINISTER: On a gold chariot.
BROWNLESS: Mate, what about that, going around the ground holding up play?
PRIME MINISTER: I didn’t hold up play.
BROWNLESS: No, it was late. I think the Prime Minister liked the photos and the cameras, didn’t he?
PRIME MINISTER: He was pretty popular. I think I’m probably better known in Ahmedabad than I am in Marrickville now.
BROWNLESS: Well, a lot more there. And then of course we just saw you last week over in America with your good mate Joe Biden.
PRIME MINISTER: He’s a good fella.
BROWNLESS: He loves his aviators. He looked cool.
PRIME MINISTER: He gave me a pair of his aviators. It’s got his little signature on the glass in the corner. And yeah, he’s good value. We get on very well.
BROWNLESS: How was America? They’re so patriotic. They love their American flags and things like that, don’t they? And the subs, I’ve got to ask you about the subs, $368 billion or whatever it was. They must be alright?
PRIME MINISTER: They’re pretty good. They’re pretty good. A nuclear sub compared with a conventional sub, it’s basically quieter, so it’s less detectable. You can stay underwater for longer.
BROWNLESS: Doesn’t have to come up for a snort.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah. They’re faster. They’re just better, basically. So if you’re going to spend money and invest in our defence, you’ve got to invest in the best. And that’s what we’re doing.
BROWNLESS: You are the most important person in Australia, Pat Cummins may be there somewhere, and you have your security but Australia’s a pretty good place to walk around, I would have thought. Is it? Do you feel safe?
PRIME MINISTER: It’s a fantastic place. And I can go to the shops, I can walk around, I went to the Pixies concert at the Opera House forecourt and was out there in the in the mosh pit.
BROWNLESS: Who were you with? Just on your own?
PRIME MINISTER: Just with some mates, we were just there with the with the crowd.
BROWNLESS: Fantastic. Hey, I’ve always wanted to ask this, have you got a big red phone at home that goes flashes if there’s trouble?
PRIME MINISTER: Nope.
BROWNLESS: No? Good.
PRIME MINISTER: No, just a mobile.
BROWNLESS: Righto, just a mobile. Could you, on that phone you’ve got now, could you ring any leader in the world and they’ll pick up?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, I hope so. I’ve got a few numbers in there.
BROWNLESS: A few numbers?
PRIME MINISTER: A few numbers.
BROWNLESS: If you rang old mate Macron would he pick up?
PRIME MINISTER: Yep.
BROWNLESS: He would? Yeah, good.
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely.
BROWNLESS: Have you been down to Geelong?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ve been down to Geelong and I’ve been to Kardinia Park. I’ve had kick to kick with Mr Selwood.
BROWNLESS: Joel Selwood.
PRIME MINISTER: Down there at the Cattery. I made my debut, here’s here’s a tip for young listeners.
BROWNLESS: Yes.
PRIME MINISTER: Make your Aussie rules debut before you’re 50, not after. Because I made my debut in the Community Cup. I played for a few years. I took a good mark. They can Google that, that was out there somewhere as well right in front of the grandstand at Henson Park in my electorate, playing for the Wailers.
BROWNLESS: But the injuries?
PRIME MINISTER: Well my finger now has an extra joint in it because it broke completely. And that was my third and last game of AFL.
BROWNLESS: No more.
PRIME MINISTER: Young listeners: don’t play Aussie rules, well, don’t play your first game after 50.
BROWNLESS: All right, now you actually DJ’d at the Corner Hotel for the Rock Dogs.
PRIME MINISTER: I did.
BROWNLESS: And they had all these songs here. We’ve just got a couple of them here.
PLAYS ‘SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT’ BY NIRVANA
BROWNLESS: Nirvana. Is this one of your faves?
PRIME MINISTER: It is indeed. I got to see them at the first ever Big Day Out a long, long time ago. They played at the Hordern and everyone tried to cram in there. It was a pretty good gig, let me say.
BROWNLESS: This one.
PLAYS ‘BUY ME A PONY’ BY SPIDERBAIT
BROWNLESS: Spiderbait, of course. And Kram from Spiderbait is a mate of yours?
PRIME MINISTER: Kram is a mate of mine.
BROWNLESS: He’s your mate?
PRIME MINISTER: He’s a fantastic guy. We text each other pretty regularly and he’s just great.
BROWNLESS: And we’ve got one more here before we go to your favourite song.
PLAYS ‘KNOW YOUR PRODUCT’ BY THE SAINTS
BROWNLESS: The Saints.
PRIME MINISTER: I try to do songs that have sing-alongs to them.
BROWNLESS: Yeah, Sweet Caroline’s the best one for that.
PRIME MINISTER: Sweet Caroline is good but I don’t do that.
BROWNLESS: You don’t?
PRIME MINISTER: It’s a bit slow for my playlists.
BROWNLESS: [singing] Touching hands…
PRIME MINISTER: Just saying. Sorry Billy.
BROWNLESS: Here it is, the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, your favourite song of all time. You’re going to hear it here on Triple M. And it is?
PRIME MINISTER: ‘Wide Open Road’ by the Triffids.
PLAYS ‘WIDE OPEN ROAD’ BY THE TRIFFIDS