WILKINSON: Good morning to you, Prime Minister, thank you very much for your time this morning.
PM: Good morning. Thanks for having us on the program.
WILKINSON: Well, if we can start with those record petrol prices. $1.58.9 a litre in Sydney yesterday. You would have to say that working families are doing it tougher than ever before. Is your election promise of cheaper petrol prices, in hindsight, one that you never should have made?
PM: I think if you looked carefully at the record, and we were very careful about what we said, we said that we would do whatever was possible through the ACCC - the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission - to make sure that motorists did not pay one cent a litre more than they needed to when they went to fill up at the bowser. And since then, we've done three sets of things. We've given the ACCC more powers. Secondly, we've appointed a petrol price commissioner. And thirdly, only a few days ago in Sydney, we announced that we are going to establish a National FuelWatch Scheme.
And the FuelWatch Scheme, which has been trialled in Western Australia now for quite some years, is designed about bringing more pressure and scrutiny to bare on those who retail petrol.
There is no silver bullet here. But these are three things done which were not done under the previous Government. And petrol prices are going up across the world.
My challenge to the Leader of the Opposition, by the way, is, we can't get our National FuelWatch Scheme through the Parliament unless the Liberal Party support it in the Senate. It's as simple as that. So he can't sit on the fence. Does he support it, or does he oppose it? But people are under pressure through rising mortgages, rising fuel prices and rising child care and rents. And that's why this measure, together with what we are doing on tax cuts, is so important.
WILKINSON: But motoring bodies, Prime Minister, would disagree with you. Because, with FuelWatch, what seems to be happening is the top end and the bottom end of those fuel prices are getting knocked off, it flattens out the price, and it means that those two cheap days, the Monday and the Tuesday, and if we took Queenslanders as an example, south-western Queensland gets two thirds of its petrol on those cheap days. So really, the people who can afford least, more expensive petrol they are giving a cheaper price at the bowser, so that tells me they are paying more. Sorry, more expensive prices at the bowser.
PM:The ACCC looked itself at the impact of this scheme in Western Australia. And what it found was that, on average, people were getting about 1.92 cents a litre cheaper than what otherwise would have been the case. Now, that's not a huge saving of itself. But at least it is something. And it's based on that advice that we've gone forward.
Secondly, as I said before, I don't believe this is a silver bullet. But, the reason we always want to review the implementation of the scheme 12 months after we bring it in, is to make sure that it is delivering benefits for working families.
You can either sit back and do nothing, or, you can act. And in WA they have done this for six or seven years. My advice is the WA motoring organisation, for example, was quite sceptical about this when it was first introduced. Now it supports it and has the support of both sides of politics in Western Australia, and was introduced originally by the Liberal State Government.
WILKINSON: Keeping with working families, News Limited papers are reporting this morning that workers on $40,000 a year will receive a $20 a week tax cut in next month's Budget. Is that correct?
PM:That's our current schedule for implementation, yes. See, we've come under a lot of pressure for proceeding and honouring our pre-election commitment to implement the tax cuts we promised before the election. We've come under a lot of attack from economic commentators and others. We believe, based on the example you gave just before about the cost pressures on working families, we've got to give them every bit of support we can. That's why we're determined to go ahead with these tax cuts, and that means, in the case of the family you are just talking about, $40,000 a year, that yes, you will get a tax cut of that order of magnitude.
It's quite important to do what we can through this, bringing in the tax cuts. Secondly, increasing the child care tax rebate from 30 per cent to 50 per cent. Thirdly, introducing our plan to have an education tax refund. And fourthly, increasing competition policy pressure on petrol prices so that we can do our bit to try and take some of the pressure off family budgets.
WILKINSON: Well, leading into the 2020 Summit tomorrow, the one stop shop for child care, pre-school and infant health idea that you've raised, it has actually been very well received. You must have some idea, though, of how much that proposal would cost and exactly where the money would come from?
PM: Well, the truth is Lisa, we haven't costed it. Because the whole purpose of this weekend, this 2020 Summit, is to put ideas or proposals on the table to be debated on their merits. You see, there is a whole lot of professional research done on this question. If you work really well with children in that early age group, zero to five, on pre-literacy, pre-numeracy, play based learning, and, attend to all of their baby and child health needs, that shapes fundamentally for life how that young person is going to go at school and post school education and training and then later in the workforce.
This is what is happening in many parts of the world.
I think this should be debated on its merits, and if people think this a good idea for the future, then let's get down to looking at the tin-tacks of how much it would cost to implement over time, and how you would go about implementing it across the nation. I just want a debate on its merits, because it is a big change for the country. Remember, 100 years ago we were debating the merits of having universal primary school education available to everybody, and everyone thought that would be too expensive. I think it's time we took the debate on to what happens with kids zero to five and, if we think it's a good idea, get on with that. And of course, if we brought in such a scheme, it would be optional in terms of whether parents wanted to use it or not.
WILKINSON: One other debate over the weekend which is sure to be a passionate one is the one of the Republic. Are you confident that Australia will become a Republic while you're Prime Minister?
PM: Well, that will depend, ultimately, on what the Australian people will decide and how long they choose to have me around. That's the great thing about our democracy, is that, you're always on notice from the Australian people, and so we should be -
WILKINSON: Would you like it to happen, Prime Minister?
PM:Well, I'm a Republican, a committed Republican, and my party is committed to making Australia into a Republic. But for that to happen, you have to build a consensus around it. Remember, it was nearly ten years ago that we had a vote on this and the people gave it the thumbs down. Well, we've got to learn from that, and see what works next time around.
The whole purpose of this Summit is to canvass new ideas for Australia's future, take the country in a new direction, and bring about, what I would describe as, a new form of governing. And by that I mean involving the people much more directly in the big decisions of Government.
We're in a rapidly changing world. By 2020, you know 43 per cent of the worlds economy will come out of Asia. More than Europe and the United States combined. The population of the world will go up by yet another billion. Australia's population will be up by 4 or 5 million. We'll have a much more complex set of households to deliver. These are big changes for the future. The rise of China, the rise of India, climate change, water. We've got to get past short term thinking, into some long term thinking, and how we govern ourselves is one of those things as well.
I'd encourage a debate on the Republic, but I want to hear what people have got to say on it. Because if we're going to move forward, we'll need a consensus.
WILKINSON: On a slightly lighter note, Prime Minister, you dropped in on one of the main players at the 2020 Summit this weekend, Cate Blanchett. But she was in hospital, it was just two days after she'd given birth. Can I check that you called first, because a lot of us mums were worried about how Cate might have felt with the PM walking through the door. I've got to tell you, it's my idea of hell! And I hope you don't take that personally.
PM: Well, how else could I not take it personally, Lisa?
WILKINSON: We feel very vulnerable when we've just given birth. Was she surprised to see you?
PM: Hey, look, I'm the father of three kids, I've been around a fair bit for this as well. Been there for the birth of all of them, and I know how challenging things can be afterwards.
My mum brought me up and it came with some basic manners, yes of course we spoke with Cate and her family beforehand and the information we got was that she not only welcomed a visit, but would really appreciate it. And, I just dropped in for ten minutes and left a present for the bub. And, also, just to check for myself that she was dead serious about her determination to come along this weekend. Because she is chairing one of these working groups. And I said to her, ‘you've just had a bub, you know, take it easy, you don't need to be at this thing'. But, at least as of then, Tuesday of this week, she was absolutely determined to come. So I wanted to make sure of that as well. But yes, checked beforehand, and called in for ten minutes.
WILKINSON: We did see that you came bearing gifts. Can I ask what was inside the box?
PM: Yeah, it was just a little bubby suit. You know, for a newborn. Blue.
WILKINSON: Okay. And just finally, you've been in the top job for five months now. Do you find the constant scrutiny that you're under tough, especially with your wife Therese Rein? Some of it gets very personal and it certainly did during your world tour.
PM: Oh, look, I open myself up to whatever the media want to write, that's just part of being in this business. Sometimes you like it, sometimes you may not. But, if I've learned anything over the years, you take the good with the bad and hopefully it all evens out. And, with Therese, we've been married a long time and it gets tougher when the people closest to you, your wife and your kids, become part of the scrutiny, really tough for them, and you feel for them, because they didn't put their hand up, I did. But that's life, that's life in politics.
WILKINSON: Looks like it goes with the job, Prime Minister. Thank you very much for your time this morning. We hope it goes well over the weekend.
PM: Thanks for having me on the program.