Prime Minister
AMANDA KELLER: Scott Morrison, good morning, are you still Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: I can confirm.
KELLER: Excellent and welcome to the show.
PRIME MINISTER: Hey Amanda, how are you?
KELLER: I’m very well thank you. Now Jonesy has been boasting.
BRENDAN JONES: Not boasting, not boasting.
KELLER: That he is you best friend and he bought you chips and therefore he is on easy street now that you’re Prime Minister.
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER: He did get Lilly and I a bucket of chips at the last game of the season that I was able to get to. Yeah so mate, if you’re coming tonight, I owe you a bucket of chips. Happy to return to favour.
JONES: Well you know, it’s so confusing now because I can’t call you ‘ScoMo’ anymore, you know what I mean?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes you can.
JONES: Really?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course you can.
KELLER: Mr ScoMo, please.
JONES: I’ll just tell you, the weird thing was we were at that game and you gave me no indication, and I truly believe that you had no idea what was about to happen with Malcolm.
PRIME MINISTER: Correct.
JONES: All of a sudden, boom, almost within 24 hours, you are the Prime Minister of the country. I just find that extraordinary.
PRIME MINISTER: Well it was an extraordinary week. That’s exactly the situation Jonesy, but when you find yourself in those situations and people look to you, you’ve got to step up. That’s what I’ve done.
The last three weeks we’ve just been hard at work on pulling the team back together, getting the focus back where it needs to be. As you know the first place I went was up to Western Queensland to talk to farmers about the drought. I’ve been right up in North Queensland, from Cairns and down to Townsville. In Townsville, we announced a big project up there to get the port moving.
So we’ve just been getting on with it as fast and as quickly as we can. Sure, there’s going to be a bit of water that is still going to go under the bridge, a bit of dirty water under the bridge. But look, that’s just how things are, and the Parliament was quite straightforward this week. We all turned up, we won all the votes and people just got on with it. That’s what I’m focused on doing.
KELLER: Can I ask you this, secret squirrel, hand on heart – did you, have you secretly always wanted to be Prime Minister? Like, does everyone secretly want to be Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: Anyone who goes into the House of Representatives hopes to serve at the highest level they can, that’s true. Anyone who tells you differently, I don’t think is being very up front with you. But the question is how do you end up in that job? In my case, it was quite an extraordinary series of events but I wasn’t seeking to change the leadership as everyone knows, I stood very strongly with Malcolm. But the Party formed a different view, so then they turned to me and I took up the call.
So what matters is all our people stop talking about themselves and each other and we’re absolutely focused on what the public want; that’s the price of their mortgage, the price of their electricity, it’s the drought, all of these issues. That’s where my head is, I’m a mortgage-belt Liberal.
KELLER: Can I ask you, can you partake in a joke with me that I heard during the week that made me laugh?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah.
KELLER: Knock knock.
PRIME MINISTER: Who’s there?
KELLER: Peter.
PRIME MINISTER: Peter who?
KELLER: Scott Morrison. That sort of summed up the entire week!
JONES: This is Amanda’s material.
KELLER: Don’t you think?
JONES: ScoMo has been elevated now, he can hang us for treason.
[Laughter]
KELLER: No, we’re his chip friends.
JONES: No I’m his chip friend, not you.
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER: Chip buddy.
JONES: Chip buddy, are you getting the cool stuff now you’re the PM? Are you getting the green light corridor, have you got that yet?
PRIME MINISTER: Well they’ve got to sort of come around you and you get the same security that turns up when you go into a job like this. That happened to me many years ago when I was the Immigration Minister and we had to live with that. With the girls, that’s a bit of a change for the family and they’ve been really good. So at the footy, there’s a few extra seats I have to account for now, when I come. As you know when I go along it’d just be me and Lilly or friends and we’d sit there and have a great time.
JONES: Sure.
PRIME MINISTER: But that won’t change, you know how much I love going and doing that. I’m going to love going out there tonight with my daughter, she’ll have her flag all ready to go tonight and looking forward to a really good game. We’re going to miss Wade Graham though I reckon.
JONES: And Josh Dugan is out as well.
PRIME MINISTER: Yep, Josh is out, but the strength of the Sharks has that they’ve always had other who are going to step up into those roles. That’s what they’ll be doing and I’m sure that Flanno will have them raring to go.
JONES: Well I’m buying hot chips for everyone mate, I’m not made of hot chips.
[Laughter]
KELLER: Not for security people.
JONES: And have you been to the footy stadium? It costs a fortune, hot chips, it’s like about $50 a cup.
PRIME MINISTER: Well that’s why I’ve got to buy you one tonight mate, if you’re coming? There you go, I’ll return the favour.
JONES: I might bring my crew.
[Laughter]
KELLER: Jonesy’s security.
PRIME MINISTER: The Jonesy posse.
JONES: The Jonesy posse. Well, it’s always great to talk to you. You’re doing a great job
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks mate.
JONES: Stay in it! Because I’ve never really been on first name basis with a Prime Minister.
KELLER: No and you’ll have to move out of the Shire now?
JONES: Yeah, are you going to move out of the Shire?
PRIME MINISTER: Well we’re looking at that at the moment, it’s not something we really thought much about. The girls go to school locally and they’ll continue to do that and that’s really important. Jen is keeping family life very much the same. But I’ve got to tell you, I don’t know whether you saw that ACA interview where Jenny and I were interviewed and she said she wished I was a plumber.
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER: I bumped into our plumber down at Cronulla Mall on Sunday, Warren and he looked at me and said; “Hey ScoMo, Jenny likes plumbers,” and he put his thumbs up.
[Laughter]
KELLER: I think maybe you should be moving.
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER: So on that note, we’ll get the removal vans in this afternoon.
[Laughter]
JONES: Get the plumber doing spadework mate, because –
PRIME MINISTER: He’s a good plumber too, I’ve got to say and much better him doing it than me.
JONES: He probably makes more money than you as well, they make a fortune.
PRIME MINISTER: They do well, they work hard so good for them.
KELLER: Alright well Prime Minister, please keep the Party in check. Please as you say, get them to focus on the country and not themselves.
PRIME MINISTER: Will do, absolutely. Absolutely will do that and we’ve got Dave Sharma who’s been selected as the Liberal candidate in Wentworth last night and he’s a great guy. He’s a former Australian ambassador to Israel and he’s got a lot of experience. He’s actually got three daughters, but two of them the same age as mine. I think he’s going to do a great job there. As people know, I’ve always wanted to see more women in Parliament and more women winning Logies too, Amanda.
KELLER: I know and I appreciate you backing me in for that. I didn’t even buy you any chips.
PRIME MINISTER: But you know, you’ve always got to pick the best candidate.
JONES: Exactly.
PRIME MINISTER: That’s how we do things and I think Dave’s going to do a great job.
JONES: Good on you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks for having me on. You going to be there tonight Jonesy?
JONES: I’m there, I’m a bit nervous, I’m wearing my lucky wristband. It’s all there.
PRIME MINISTER: Excellent. Well I’ll send you a text and mate, come round and I’ll buy you those chips.
JONES: Really?
KELLER: The Milky Bars are on the Prime Minister today.
JONES: Prime Minister Scott Morrison, or Prime Minister ScoMo, thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks guys.