Radio interview – Triple M Coffs Harbour Moffee in the Morning
Michael Moffett, Host: Anthony Albanese is on the line right now. Prime Minister, good morning.
Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister: G’day. Good to be with you.
Moffett: How’s it feel being, you know, coming on the show and us cutting off Ed Sheeran for you?
Prime Minister: You didn’t need to do that. I don’t mind Ed Sheeran.
Moffett: Mate, just look, firstly.
Prime Minister: We won’t tell him. We’ll keep it between us, hey.
Moffett: Exactly. We played half the song. He gets enough on here. Look, I want to talk to you about a couple of things. You’re in the region today. But I got a note this morning from Pat Conaghan, our Federal Member to say, look, the Prime Minister reached out to me and said, ‘I’m going be in your patch today’. I just want to say how good that is to see that respect that you would actually take that time to let the other side of government know.
Prime Minister: Absolutely. And I spoke to Pat this morning. He’s not going to be with us. He’s in Port Macquarie today. But I think it’s the right thing as Prime Minister. It’s my job to represent the entire country. And regardless of what way people vote, I have a responsibility. I take that seriously. And I, when we talk about issues, that I’ll be there today, looking at the Coffs Harbour Bypass, that’s something that will be of great benefit to the region, but also to the nation.
Moffett: Now, Prime Minister, I want to talk briefly about the Voice. There’s a lot of misinformation going around. There’s a lot of confusion going around. The polls are showing it down at the moment as well for the Yes vote. Between now and the referendum, how do we clear up that misinformation and that confusion?
Prime Minister: Well, people have months now to examine it for themselves. Have a look at what the question is. And it’s a pretty clear constitutional change. Firstly, to recognise Aboriginal Australians in our Constitution. That’s the first thing. The second thing is how. And it’s through a Voice. And the Voice is pretty simple, which is just an advisory group in which a government can consult Indigenous people on matters that directly affect them. And it’s as simple as that. It won’t change the way that our Government functions, Parliament remains supreme. But it will enable us to have that consultation mechanism. And we know that we get better results if you’re having a policy that will impact a particular group of people, if you ask them, if you give them that sense of ownership, then you will get better outcomes. And we all know we need better outcomes. We’ve still got a life expectancy gap. There’s a greater chance if you’re a young Indigenous male of going to jail than going to university. We need to do better than that.
Moffett: Now, I want to talk, one of the reasons you’re here on the Coffs Coast today is the Coffs Harbour Bypass. It is exciting. Because trees now have been cleared, we’ve got dozers in there, we’ve got actual, I mean, the work has been going on for years. But now, we can actually see, you know, stuff moving for the construction of this.
Prime Minister: Well, the tunnelling is about to really step up. And it will make an enormous difference. It’s quite an exciting project. It will take those heavy vehicles out of the centre of Coffs, but will make the entire Pacific Highway much safer. When I was Minister 10 years ago, of course, we did projects like the link up there from Woolgoolga up to our Arrawarra and the Kempsey Bypass and other projects to the north and south. But when you’ve got still this strip where cars and trucks have to slow down to 60 kilometres to go through the centre of Coffs and stop at all those lights, then the bypass makes enormous sense. It will make a great difference for efficiency and productivity up and down the Pacific Highway. But importantly as well, it’s a road safety project.
Moffett: There used to be a bit of criticism, you talked about when you were the Minister, about not signing off on the bypass then. Looking back now, do you look back and go, ‘Yes, we should have done that because we would have been possibly finished it by now’, or does it just come in stages?
Prime Minister: Not at all. We did, when I was the Minister we put $7.6 billion into the Pacific Highway. $7.6 billion in six years. The Howard Government that we replaced spent $1.3 billion in 12 years. So, we spent an enormous, five times more, in half the time. And we did the areas, like the Kempsey Bypass, like the area to the north right up through the North Coast, because going through Coffs Harbour required particular planning and was obviously going to take longer. But it is 10 years the former Government had to complete it. And so, we will get on with the job of making sure that this is done. But I’m very proud of the work that occurred when I was the Infrastructure Minister on the Pacific Highway. And it’s one of the things I regard as my best achievements as Infrastructure Minister.
Moffett: Now, Prime Minister, just before we go, because we are running out of time, but the Rabbitohs in eighth spot at the moment. They take on the Warriors this weekend. How do you think that’s going to go?
Prime Minister: It’s a tough game away from home. I went to the Cowboys game on Sunday, which was pretty ordinary. So, I think we’ve got a few players out, of course, Latrell will be out for a little while, Jai Arrow is out. I am just hoping we get our best team back. But here’s hoping Friday night is a short turn around. So, I’ll be watching that on TV and having my fingers crossed and my scarf on in front of the TV.
Moffett: Very nice. Russell Crowe, of course, he’s overseas at the moment, but one of the projects he’s looking at out near Pac Bay is a movie studios. It’s going to be great. But there’s a contentious topic around the sound wall there and transport for New South Wales with the bypass. I think that’s probably something that’s going to come up today when you’re out and about.
Prime Minister: Well, I caught up with Russell. He came and played in Canberra a few weeks ago, and I’ve got to say him and his band were terrific. It was a lot of fun. It was good to catch up with him. And I know he was looking forward to taking the band on the road. I think he’s in Italy and Czech Republic and a few countries over there. So, he’s a pretty skillful bloke, our Russell. And he’s a great asset there for the New South Wales North Coast.
Moffett: He sure is. Prime Minister, thanks so much for your time this morning. Enjoy your time here in paradise on the Coffs Coast. And just so you know as well, Coffs Harbour is referred to more as Moff’s Harbour these days.
Prime Minister: Okay. I’ll bear that in mind when I’m speaking to the media today.
Moffett: Good on you, mate. Thanks for your time.
Prime Minister: Thanks, guys.