KARL STEFANOVIC:
The Prime Minister joins us now – PM, good morning to you. A bit on?
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning Karl.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
There's a bit on for you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, yes, there’s a lot on. It's always busy. Yeah, that’s fair to say.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
You spoke to Donald Trump yesterday at length. Are you confident Donald Trump can actually handle this crisis?
PRIME MINISTER:
Absolutely. The challenge now is to bring the economic pressure to bear on North Korea, Karl, so that it stops this dangerous provocative, illegal and reckless conduct.
And the key to that as you know is China. China has the biggest economic relationship with North Korea. They're enforcing UN sanctions actually starting this week, the latest round of sanctions, but more will have to be done.
This North Korean regime seems determined to continue disturbing and threatening the peace of the region.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
I suppose I asked that because I think most Aussies think Donald Trump can't handle his own hair let alone a nut bag North Korean dictator.
PRIME MINISTER:
I will leave the fashion comments to you.
I can assure you the President and I are very focused on working together with our other partners including Japan of course and South Korea and the whole global community in bringing the pressure to bear on North Korea to stop its illegal and reckless conduct.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
How was he on the phone?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, he was very good, very warm, very engaging, as you know.
You would have seen when we were in Hamburg together at the G20 or on the Intrepid commemorating the Anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea we get on very well.
It was a very warm and constructive call but we had serious business to talk about.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
If we do go to war and I think Australians are deeply concerned about this - how do we get, first of all, the 200,000 Aussies out of the way of any danger who are in China, Japan and South Korea? How do we get them all out?
PRIME MINISTER:
Right, as Julie Bishop was saying, you would have heard her say yesterday we are considering, we always consider these evacuation contingencies.
Now, what's really important for Australians to do when they are overseas and particularly for those in north Asia at the moment is register on the Smartraveller website of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
What that will mean is that, firstly, we will know you are there and secondly, if there's a need for an alert it can go straight to your smartphone and you can be connected. That's really important.
Go to the Smartraveller website and make sure you are registered.
That way we can do our job of helping you if there are problems overseas.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Are we going to war?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I think the chance of war, the prospects of war or the risk of war, Karl, is greater than it's been since the end of the Korean War.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Wow.
PRIME MINISTER:
The threatening conduct of Kim Jong-un is becoming more intense all the time. Having said that, I remain confident that the global community will put more economic pressure on North Korea and that will bring the regime to its senses.
But, you know, if he carried out his threat, for example, and attacked the United States or attacked one of America's allies, then as the President has said, as Secretary Jim Mattis has said, there would be a overwhelming and massive military response. It would be a suicide note on the part of Kim Jong-un but it would be a complete catastrophe.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Okay, at home now - we have lots to get through. There's speculation you are going to financially support the extension to the Liddell Power Station. What are you doing about AGL, I’m wondering this morning and its rogue CEO? Are you going to bring him into line?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, the position is this, AGL have said they're going to close Liddell in 2022. It is an old power station, that's true. The Australian Energy Market Operator has undertaken some work at my request so that we know where the gaps in base load power are likely to be over the short-term, medium-term and the longer-term.
So Liddell creates a problem, the closure of Liddell in 2022 creates a problem. How are we going to fill that 1,000 megawatt gap in base load power?
One option is to keep Liddell going for some further time, five years, for example and that would allow Snowy Hydro, for example, second stage of Snowy Hydro to come on.
We would hope to have Snowy Hydro 2.0 with 2,000 megawatts of additional base load power which is the project we're building and getting on with - we would hope that would be ready by 2023.
So what I'm doing is making sure that I maintain affordable and reliable power for all Australians and we are looking at every option. That's my job as Prime Minister to ensure we keep the lights on and Australians can afford to pay the power bill.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Yes or no - is removing the GST from electricity bills an option?
PRIME MINISTER:
It's been proposed Karl but you’ve got to remember that would cost states and territories $2 billion a year. Where are they going to make that up from? Are they going to put up land tax? Are they going to cut services? Or are they asking us to put up income tax? We're all running very tight budgets here so it would just pass the tax burden onto some other part of the system.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Okay, moving on. The High Court will hand down its decision on the same-sex marriage survey today. Are you going to take the vote back to Parliament if it is considered illegal? What is option C?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we haven't got long to wait. At 2:15 we will know what their judgment is.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
You must have discussed it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Karl, as you can imagine we discuss all of these things. But we have been, our advice has been such that we're confident the action we're taking is going to be, is not going to be stopped or injuncted by the High Court.
So we don’t have long to wait and we’ll just await the decision of the Court.
But we believe every Australian should have their say on this issue. We encourage every Australian to vote.
And as you know, Lucy and I will be voting ‘yes’.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Okay, just finally, as we said at the start of the interview you have got plenty on your plate at the moment. Can I ask you this what happened on the plane with Tony Abbott? Did you use the foul language you are being accused of? Was the food that bad?
PRIME MINISTER:
The Royal Australian Air Force's catering is of very high standard Karl at all times. But you know, we just talked about North Korea, we talked about power prices, we talked about giving every Australian a say on the definition of marriage. I'm focused on those big issues not gossip.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Yep, but, are you definitely confirming then that you used that language?
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER:
Karl, come on, you are better than that. I'm not into gossip. I will leave that to others. I don't buy into that.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Alright, good to talk to you PM. Thanks for your time today.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks Karl.
[ENDS]