Radio Interview – Triple M Hobart
ANDY ‘TUBES’ TAYLOR, HOST: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been in the state to kick start a 14,600 kilometre run around the nation in support of the Yes vote ahead of this year’s referendum on the Voice to Parliament. He joins us now live on the show. Good morning, Prime Minister.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Good to be with you. It was great to be in beautiful Hobart yesterday.
ESTHER ‘WOODY’ NICOLS, HOST: Thank you so much for joining us yet again on Triple M Breakfast, Prime Minister. You announced this week four new urgent care clinics, bulk-billing I should add, two in Hobart, one in Launceston and another in Devonport. I can’t seem to understand yet like who is going to be able to staff these clinics and who the GP super clinics are for, who can go to them, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: Anyone can go to them. And what they’re designed to do is to provide, if you like, a step between primary health care, visiting a GP, and turning up at the emergency department of a hospital. And it’s designed to take pressure off the emergency departments so that if little Johnny or little Mary falls off their bike, they can go somewhere to get stitches or to get an arm fixed if they’ve broken an arm or sprained a wrist. And it is going to be available, open from 8am in the morning to 10pm at night. And it will be importantly bulk-billed, so all you’ll need is your Medicare card, not your credit card.
NICOLS: There’s very few places in Tassie, in fact, it’s one of the worst states in Australia still for bulk-bill. So we’re hearing a lot of calls about people being out of pocket. Who will staff these? Because we do have a GP shortage, a massive shortage, and I appreciate this is going to alleviate some pressure off our emergency department. Do you know who’s going to staff them or where we’re going to get that support?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is just one of the measures that we’re putting in place in co-operation with the Tasmanian Government. One of the other measures I announced on a past visit to Tasmania, to Devonport, was the system whereby people can get trained as GPs while working as part of the public hospital system. And a much more seamless process where we can increase the number of GPs, particularly in regional areas there in Tasmania. And it is ahead of the rest of the country, frankly, in terms of getting ahead of the debate and making sure that we address these issues when it comes to nurses. We have 20,000 additional university places in areas of skills shortage, and nursing of course is one of the target areas there. And if you take pressure off the emergency departments, and these urgent care clinics have worked effectively overseas, this sort of model, then what you do is you stop people spending hour after hour after hour at the local ED, waiting to be seen. You get people seen efficiently and the process means that we take pressure off our health system.
NICOLS: Well Tubes and I were only talking about this yesterday, with Hobart, Tassie, that just under 50 per cent of emergency admissions are non-urgent. So hopefully this plan can be put in place with the adequate support. Prime Minister, Rodney in Cygnet, he gave us a call just moments ago. He wants to know why dental isn’t covered under Medicare, considering how important it is. Is this something that you can look into?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, dental has never been covered by Medicare. And it is something that obviously if you had an unlimited amount of money, then that is something that is obviously desirable. But we have a trillion dollars of debt. We have considered these issues. We are targeting at the moment strengthening Medicare, in terms of taking pressure off public hospitals by strengthening the primary health care system, and that will be a big focus of the Budget which will be handed down in a few weeks’ time.
TAYLOR: Prime Minister, I want to change tack a little here and talk about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament that is going to be sent to a referendum later on in the year. Some people seem to think the Indigenous Voice to Parliament will dramatically change their lives. Is this concern legitimate in your opinion?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, for most Australians it won’t have an impact on their day to day lives at all. But it just might make the life of the most disadvantaged group in Australia, Indigenous Australians, that much better. So this is a case where we’re asking Australians to show the generosity of spirit and to vote for the benefit of others, without having any detrimental effect on them. What this is about is two simple things. One is recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our Constitution, something that hasn’t happened. Australia didn’t begin in 1788 when the colony of Sydney was established. It of course goes back some at least 60,000 years, and that should be a source of pride. And the second thing is, we should have a consultative body, a Voice for Indigenous Australians on matters that affect them.
TAYLOR: Our Aboriginal population seems to be divided on this issue though, how do you feel about that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there’s no reason why any group of people should be seen as homogenous. I’m sure that there are Woodies out there who are going to vote yes, and Woodies who are going to vote no. And so we shouldn’t see that any group, you know, I’m half-Italian, I’m sure there’ll be people in that community who’ll vote different ways as well. But overwhelmingly, this process has risen up from a consultation process with Indigenous people themselves. Aboriginal people gathered at Uluru in 2017 and issued the Statement from the Heart. I would encourage your listeners to get online and just Google it and read it. It’s very short, it’s 400 words.
NICOLS: That’s nice for a change.
PRIME MINISTER: It is poetry. It’s a call for reconciliation, to walk together better. And this won’t impact on the way that Parliament works in terms of, it won’t be a right of veto, it won’t be a funding body. It simply will mean that Indigenous people are consulted on matters that affect them. And we know we get better outcomes when you consult people. And that’s what this is aimed at.
NICOLS: Prime Minister, just to touch on the stadium, the AFL stadium quickly at Mac Point. Now State Labor here in Tassie, they’ve been actively campaigning against it. And obviously, a lot of our our community too in Tassie are against it. When you support it in the Budget, how are you going to explain that funding for the stadium?
PRIME MINISTER: Well we haven’t made a decision yet. We’re considering these issues as part of the Budget process. But we’ve been working constructively with the Tasmanian Government about urban development. We put $50 million, when I was Infrastructure Minister, responsible for cities, into Mac Point in 2012 and nothing has happened. It should be seen not as a site of a potential footy stadium, but as a site for urban redevelopment that will enhance the City of Hobart and make it even better in the future, that will enhance economic activities. One of the things that I’ve said is that we need to look at housing, we need to look at the way that the beautiful foreshore at the Derwent operates. And that’s the context in which we’re considering the application essentially from the Tasmanian Government.
TAYLOR: A lot of different topics we’ve touched off on there. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, we really appreciate your time on Triple M Breakfast with Woody and Tubes.
PRIME MINISTER: Always good to chat with you. Have a great day.
NICOLS: And we know you’re back in Canberra, but we know you love the awesome 80s, so we know you’ll be streaming us on Friday won’t you Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: I’m sure I will. I’m not sure where I’ll be on Friday.
NICOLS: Doesn’t matter where you are, just download the Listnr app.
PRIME MINISTER: That’s true, you can do that. You can do that.
TAYLOR: Thank you very much, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks guys.