HOST:
The Prime Minister of this country is on the line right now which means we need to speak with him. Hello Malcolm Turnbull!
PRIME MINISTER:
Hello there how are you? Beautiful day in Brisbane.
HOST:
Hello Mr Turnbull. Can I just check something, Prime Minister. You probably know the Triple M Network has another bloke calling himself the Prime Minister. How do we know it’s not you or him?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I know there is a suggestion that Lawrence Mooney and I have got a sort of like a body-double thing going on, but you know, you’ll just have to work it out.
HOST:
You know what? I would love to see Lawrence Mooney take a bullet for you Malcolm Turnbull. That would be fantastic.
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER:
I’m not sure that he would.
HOST:
That would really help us out. That would be fantastic. So you must be happy, the ‘yes’ vote which you had supported, the ‘yes’ vote got through last week?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah, thrilled. Luce and I are really thrilled. It was a very positive, democratic decision, you know? It was a vote for love, it was a vote for commitment, a vote for marriage equality. And wasn’t it great that 80 per cent of Australians had their say?
HOST:
Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER:
Not all of them voted ‘yes’, of course, but nearly 62 per cent did. So that as a very big affirmation and big majorities right around the states and territories and of course just under 90 per cent of Federal electorates voted ‘yes’. So that was pretty overwhelming.
HOST:
But now it’s up to you to get it in and get it on and so allowing people to get married. Can we do it before Christmas?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes. Yes, that is the Parliament absolutely can and I’m very confident it will. My priority and the Government’s priority is to recognise the will of the people is that we should get this done. That’s what we’re going to be doing; everything we can to achieve before Christmas. I think the Opposition have got a similar commitment, so between us, I’m very confident we can make it work.
Still obviously a lot debate, a lot of amendments discussed, that’s what Parliaments for. But ultimately we know we have got a very clear direction from our masters, the Australian people.
HOST:
So true. But can I just check, doing a lot of reading on the weekend, the north and the central and city parts of Sydney all voted overwhelmingly ‘yes’. But the west of Sydney was the worst in Australia. Western Sydney, which is a huge area, voting ‘no’. What does that mean, like for those electorates. What are they up to?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the electorates that had the biggest ‘no’ vote, you’re talking about Blaxland -
HOST:
Blaxland, yep, yep.
PRIME MINISTER:
Watson, McMahon, they’re very, they’ve got very large migrant or ethnic communities you know, multicultural communities. So those three have all got very large Muslim communities and –
HOST:
So they’ve brought their old views with them and now they don’t want to shake them?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well you know everyone’s entitled to their point of view, so it is a democracy. I want to be very clear about this; I absolutely respect and understand the conservatism of those who voted ‘no’.
Remember the fight I had to have with Labor, with opposition from the crossbenchers, even from some people on my own side, who did not want me to be able to fulfil my promise at the election to give everyone their say.
HOST:
Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER:
So we respect everyone’s point of view. Everyone had their say, but in a democracy, the majority prevails.
HOST:
Can I ask you, in amongst, let’s say I’m driving down from Narangba, just north of Brisbane. I’m stuck in traffic and my power prices are so high and I’m saying: “I don’t really give a stuff. I’m happy, I know some gay people and I’m happy for them to do whatever they want to do, but can we deal with the real issues?” What do you say to them?
PRIME MINISTER:
I say I absolutely understand that. That’s why I wanted to bring this issue to a head, get it resolved, get it dealt with one way or another and then get the focus back onto – and my focus has never shifted by the way, but from a media point of view – you’ve got to get the focus back onto energy prices. Onto business, onto jobs, onto investment. Now on that score, we are making good progress. As I was saying yesterday at Tim Nicholls and Deb Frecklington’s LNP launch -
HOST:
Yeah, [inaudible].
PRIME MINISTER:
We’ve seen in the last year in Australia, 355,000 jobs created, 85 per cent of them full time. That’s nearly 1,000 jobs a day. So when I said at the election – and you probably heard it more than you’d like – “jobs and growth.”
[Laughter].
Jobs and growth, jobs and growth. It used to be a slogan, now it’s an outcome, because we’re getting on with it.
HOST:
Ah!
HOST:
So Prime Minister, who did you just send to message bank ‘cos you’re talking to us?
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER:
You know something, I couldn’t, I didn’t notice. I just reached across and pressed the red button.
HOST:
Prime Minister, was it Tony Abbott asking you to speak at his daughter’s wedding?
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER:
I don’t think so, I don’t think so.
HOST:
Well you never know.
PRIME MINISTER:
I’ve seen the news though and congratulations to the young couple! Good luck.
HOST:
Have you got a favourite ACD [sic] song?
PRIME MINISTER:
It’s a good week for love isn’t it?
HOST:
It certainly is a great week.
HOST:
Yeah.
HOST:
Hey, have you got a favourite ACD [sic] song? We’ve been doing a lot of reflecting this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well tell me, what’s your favourite AC/DC song?
HOST:
Long way to the Top for me.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah, long way to the top.
HOST:
Highway to Hell, I’ll just keep reeling them off.
PRIME MINISTER:
Run through a few more.
HOST:
Barbie Girl.
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER:
I tell you, my favourite song from that era is The Mentals, If You Leave Me Can I Come Too?
HOST:
Oh, I love that one too.
PRIME MINISTER:
But I’m very romantic and that’s always, that’s the old romantic in me.
HOST:
Alright Prime Minister, we have to let you go. I know you’ve got an apartment booked for schoolies this week, so have a great time. We will speak to you soon.
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER:
See you later, thanks a lot. Have a good day.
[ENDS]