Television Interview – The Project
WALEED ALY, HOST: And the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joins us now. Thank you very much for joining us.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good to be with you.
ALY: Is the idea of this based on what we did with tobacco, as a country?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it is research-based of what are the most effective messages so that people who are problem gamblers will pause and think about the consequences.
ALY: Sure, but when I think about the tobacco one, which was very successful, there were a lot of elements to that strategy. You saw the warnings on the labels. You saw control of advertising particularly and vast education programs to make smoking less cool, shall we say. Do you have things like that planned?
PRIME MINISTER: No. I think they are different problems you are trying to solve. Smoking isn’t good for anybody. There is no problem if people have the occasional punt on the Melbourne Cup or what have you. The problem is a group of people who will become problem gamblers and that can be devastating for them. So it is just really targeting that rather than saying, ‘all gambling’ which people might choose to engage in. Sometimes it can be harmless. But the fact is it can cause enormous harm at the same time.
CARRIE BICKMORE, HOST: This generation of adults, though, that are problem gamblers, wouldn’t have been children that would have been inundated with the vision and the ads we are seeing now. What does this next generation hold if this is what they are seeing now? Does it go far enough, what you are trying to do?
PRIME MINISTER: I think we are getting the balance right – not trying to impose a complete nanny state solution, but trying to warn people that it can be an issue and to give them pause for thought.
ALY: But do you have any consideration for the amount of advertising? Kids watching it when they are watching sport or wherever, constantly turning up, the tagline at the end they perceive differently to the way an adult might? Do you see any place for any limits on advertising?
PRIME MINISTER: What we’ve done is try to bring states and territories with us. So this an agreement across the board because a lot of it is regulated by them, but also working with industry to get a solution. So we’re trying to get everyone headed in one direction rather than make it a conflict issue.
RACHEL CORBET, HOST: Obviously we have to talk tonight about the fact that thousands of Australians are at vigils around the country for 15-year-old Indigenous teen Cassius Turvey. Do you have a message for those people that are going out tonight?
PRIME MINISTER: I think this is just such a human tragedy for Cassius’ mum, for the people who knew this young man. You look at his smile and you think, ‘that’s a life that should have been just beginning.’ And it was over all too soon. I think that people expressing their concern about it is a good thing. Of course, the processes have to continue, but this just a real human tragedy that has impacted so many people.
CORBET: Cassius’ mum has thanked you for describing his death as racially motivated. That will obviously be for the courts to decide, but does Australia have a race problem?
PRIME MINISTER: We know that in terms of Indigenous people, they are more likely to suffer violence in this country than non-Indigenous people. And so we need to acknowledge that. We need to do much better.
BICKMORE: Can we talk about electricity prices for the moment? They are tipped to rise 20 per cent this year. You went to the election promising to lower them by $275 by 2025. Is that promise still alive or have you ditched that now?
PRIME MINISTER: What we know is that renewables are the cheapest form of new energy and we did modelling on our policy that showed that to be the case. We didn’t know that the government changed regulations to keep the 20 per cent increase from the Australian people until after May. They actually changed the law so that that wasn’t revealed. We know that we need to do much better. We know that there is also enormous pressure due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine which has seen global power prices spike. But we are also looking at what we can do in the short term.
ALY: But that criticism you were making before the election, the war in Ukraine had already started by the time you were saying this in the election. What is the current promise? What is the current guarantee? The old one or a new one?
PRIME MINISTER: The guarantee is that renewables are the cheapest form of energy. That we will fix the transmission of the grid. We did that with the biggest announcement just a fortnight ago with the deal that we struck with Tasmania and Victoria, so a Liberal government and a Labor government to fix transmission, including through the Marinus Link and that will make a difference.
ALY: But you are not giving any guarantees on numbers now?
PRIME MINISTER: The numbers are that energy bills will be cheaper when you have more renewables in the system and you fix transmission.
PETER HELLIAR: When you became Prime Minister, I’m sure you were expecting people to become obsessed with you, maybe the occasional stalker. Were you expecting that stalker to be Fatman Scoop? Because he is not letting go. You were on Fifi, Fev and Nick this morning.
BICKMORE: Fifi is coming up.
HELLIAR: You were doing an interview and then this happened.
**FOOTAGE OF RADIO INTERVIEW**
FATMAN SCOOP: Hello, sir.
PRIME MINISTER: Yes?
FATMAN SCOOP: How are you doing, this is Fatman Scoop!
PRIME MINISTER: Fatman again?
FATMAN SCOOP: I love you and I respect you. But I need you to DJ with me, sir. Do you have an Instagram? Can I slide into your DMs? Give me an option here, sir, because this is not working.
PRIME MINISTER: You can slide into my DMs any time, Fatman.
FATMAN SCOOP: This is not a threat, sir. If you do not do this, I’m getting my Australian citizenship and running against you.
PRIME MINISTER: I hate to give you the big tip, but I think I can possibly stop that from happening.
**END FOOTAGE OF RADIO INTERVIEW**
HELLIAR: I think the big scoop in that might be is that you’re suggesting – you are not the Immigration Minister. Have you secretly made yourself Immigration Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: No, one job will do. But Fatman Scoop, he slipped into a radio interview I did in Brisbane, now in Melbourne.
BICKMORE: Aren’t you getting up and doing a DJ set or something with him? Didn’t he offer that?
PRIME MINISTER: He has offered. There’s a bit of a problem because it is November 11 which is Remembrance Day, of course. And then I’m headed to the East Asia Summit.
BICKMORE: Doesn’t feel like the appropriate time to get up and do a bit of Fatman Scoop DJing.
PRIME MINISTER: Not quite.
HELLIAR: Are you saying that move might backfire?
PRIME MINISTER: Not quite, but I have recorded something for him. So for people who are at the gig, they will get to see it.
BICKMORE: I will be there, I can’t wait to watch.
ALY: Any hints?
PRIME MINISTER: You will have to wait and see. But remember, of course, I’m not the first Prime Minister to have a connection with Fatman Scoop.
ALY: Oh no, we are well aware.
PRIME MINISTER: I don’t think Scott Morrison’s office listened to the lyrics of that particular song.
ALY: We have to leave it there. Prime Minister, thanks for joining us.