Prime Minister
KARL STEFANOVIC: Well, earlier on the show, we heard from the man who wants to be the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Now let's speak to the man himself. Prime Minister, good morning to you from Townsville. Thanks for your time this morning.
PRIME MINISTER: G'day Karl. Good morning Leila.
STEFANOVIC: Well, you accused Anthony Albanese of being gutless for not ordering an inquiry into the bullying allegations and then later, following the death of Kimberley Kitching. This was his response just minutes ago.
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STEFANOVIC: OK. Your reaction?
PRIME MINISTER: That's complete rubbish. When I went to Lismore, I did go and to speak directly to those on dairy farms. I spoke to people in their homes, I went to their businesses. I just didn't think it was good to put cameras in their faces because they were going through terrible trauma. No, I didn't go and talk to the Green protesters. I didn't go talk to those people. I went and spoke to the people in their homes, in their businesses, on their farms to understand what they needed. And we put $1.7 billion worth of help in to New South Wales, particularly in the majority of that has been up in the northern rivers, a one in 500 year flood.
So, you know, it's just Anthony Albanese making stuff up again, trying to distract from the fact that he won't stand up to the bullies in his own party. If he can't stand up to the bullies in his own party, how does he think he's going to stand up to the bullies in our region?
LEILA MCKINNON: It feels like this is getting personal. We don't even have an election date yet. Is it getting a bit ugly?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think the judgements people are going to make at this next election is going to be about who's best able to manage the economy because the economy determines the future that Australians will have. Who's best able to manage the very serious national security interests? Now you can't have a weakness in a leader, weakness in someone on those issues when it comes to securing Australia's future. And if Anthony Albanese just is going to dismiss very serious issues in his own party, about bullying in his own party, well, he can't be trusted to show the strength that is needed in international relations and making the tough decisions you have to make about our economy.
And our economy, our economic plan is working and we've got unemployment down to four per cent. We've got 220,000 apprentices in trade training and today we're announcing a massive project coming up here in Townsville, $5.4 billion, 100 per cent funded by the Commonwealth to build the Hells Gates Dam. Now this is going to transform this entire region. It's about four times the size of Sydney Harbour. These are the projects that transform nations and open up jobs and opportunities for decades and decades to come.
STEFANOVIC: I think it's long overdue that project. Look, Bob Katter, he's very happy about this. He's been campaigning for this for 265 years. But are you just greasing the wheels in case there's a hung parliament? That's what it looks like.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we started with Bob on this project many years ago. I met mean, back in 2018. I mean, it's not an easy thing to build a dam. We started the feasibility process and then we've taken that into a detailed business case. And so that is taken us since 2018 to get where we are today. And in a few months time, that detailed business case will be made public and will be out there. And I know it's fair to say this is a big go ahead project. And so now we all have to get is the environmental approvals of the state government. They don't have to put a cent into this. They've just got to get the big approved stamp out and put it on it and that on the water allocations. And then we can get on with building Hells Gates Dam, which is going to transform this region and is going to create jobs for generations to come.
STEFANOVIC: What if they don't play ball?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think that would be, you know, an act of absolute self-harm for the Queensland Government to say no to this project, and I believe they'll say yes to it because I believe they'll understand the massive benefits that are here right across this region. I mean, what this does, is use one of our most precious resources in this country, which is water and unlocks an agriculture goldfield when it comes to seeing the jobs flow from that. And when you're tied into big projects, another one Bob and I have been working on is the Copper String project, and that is basically connecting up Townsville all the way up there to Mount Isa. And that opens up and gets electricity and power into the western minerals province of northern Queensland. And that's another game changing project. These are the things that you have to do to keep the economy strong to secure that future.
MCKINNON: Okay, you're making Bob happy there. But a lot of people at home are struggling with the cost of living, affordable housing. That's a lot of money for a dam. What can you do to make life easier for people who are struggling with those things? The prices of fuel, groceries.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, fuel in particular, and we know that that's been caused by the terrible war that is occurring in Ukraine. But next week's budget, the Treasurer and I are putting the final touches on that now and addressing those cost of living pressures will be a key priority of that budget. And we've been carefully designing our response, because Leila, what we do is we don't have knee jerk reactions on things like the economy. What we do is we carefully design our responses. You'll remember that we did that work on JobKeeper and we were careful about its design. We knew when it started and we knew when to stop it and that saved 700,000 jobs and took the Australian economy through the pandemic, saved the Australian economy. And in the same way, we've been careful about our economic decisions. They're responsible, they're targeted, and I know they will make a great difference to people who are really feeling the pressures of these cost of living. You know, the Hells Gates Dam project isn't just about Bob Katter. I mean, I'm glad Bob's happy, but I'm happy for the 10,000 people who will get jobs. They're the ones who will be happy.
MCKINNON: Great. What about the fuel excise? Will you cut that? And if so, by how much?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the Budget is in less than a week now.
STEFANOVIC: That's a yes.
PRIME MINISTER: And I'll be standing, maybe not at the same place, not the same place, but I'll be standing with you, talking about budget in a week's time and we will be doing that. We'll be able to be outlining all the important measures which will be addressing the cost of living pressures, but also to ensure that our economy continues to strengthen. A strong economy means a stronger future. And if you can't manage the money, if you can't manage the nation's finances. Yesterday, we heard from the Labor Party that they thought they could just spend forever. Well, you can't do that and keep your Triple A credit rating, keep the pressure down on inflation and otherwise you see interest rates skyrocket. And we remember what last time we had a Labor Government that let interest rates skyrocket. Many viewers will be too young to remember, but many will remember those 18 per cent interest rates under Paul Keating.
STEFANOVIC: Look, it's difficult to accept some of what you're saying about cutting spending when you're spruiking the benefits of a $5.4 billion dam in the lead up to an election. But I want to ask you this, but this, by the way …
PRIME MINISTER: But Karl, you make a good point. Sorry Karl, you can't make this point and then just let it drop, mate. You've got to let me address it. $5.4 billion is investing in jobs. It's investing in real infrastructure. This is creating value. This is not putting money up against the wall. It's building a wall. A big dam wall, absolutely, but is actually about creating jobs because when you grow your economy, that's what grows your revenue base. That's what pays for the National Disability Insurance Scheme. That's what pays for the pension. That's what pays for Medicare. It's what is going to pay to reduce our debt. But to do it, you've got to transform regions like this so they can become big earners for the country.
STEFANOVIC: Just really quickly before we go, Bob Katter, he loves this attention. He gets it every, every ten years or so. Who's Bob Katter going to choose, if there's a hung parliament, you or Albo?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm working to ensure that he won't have to make that choice as we were able to do at the last election, because at the at the end of the day, look, Bob Katter knows who I am, Bob Katter knows what our economic policies is. But more importantly, the Australian people know what my economic policies is. No one asked me a question whether I'm woke or not. And you know, if they're asking you about whether you're woke, you probably are. And if you think you have to go on television to give interviews telling everybody that you're not the person you were for the last 30 years in public life, well, I know a leopard doesn't change their spots, and when the pressure comes on, they always go back to type.
STEFANOVIC: A bit of sting in the tail on that one. Good on you PM, thank you for your time.