Radio interview - Gold 96FM

LISA SHAW, HOST: Welcome for the first time this year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Thanks for coming in.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good to be with you.

RUSSELL CLARKE, HOST: Good morning, Prime Minister.

SHAW: It's been a whirlwind -

CLARE: 24 hours.

SHAW: Few hours.

CLARKE: Not even 24 hours.

PRIME MINISTER: It has been a very busy period, but it was an incredibly busy period over Christmas, New Year, of course, with the Bondi tragedy. And yesterday's National Day of Mourning was a really important commemoration to pay tribute and pay respect to the 15 innocent Australians who had their lives cut far too short.

SHAW: You were there, of course, last night. And a Royal Commission has been called into what happened at Bondi. How specifically does that work? What does the Royal Commission look at?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, they have terms of reference.

SHAW: Yep.

PRIME MINISTER: They look at antisemitism, it's sources, they'll look at the interaction as well with security and intelligence issues by using the report that Dennis Richardson is doing. That work is underway already.

CLARKE: So, that's a, that's a separate, that's a separate report?

PRIME MINISTER: That's right. But it will become essentially part of the Royal Commission.

CLARKE: Right.

PRIME MINISTER: It, to me, is one of the keys. Okay, how do intelligence agencies work? Were there any gaps? What was missed? How do we fix that, if anything was missed? How do the police in New South Wales, but there'll be implications, of course, nationally as well, interact with the Australian Federal Police? All of these measures will be looked at. We didn't want to wait though, so we legislated this week on hate crime and on gun laws. WA's been ahead of the country on gun laws, it's got to be said, and credit to Roger Cook for that. But these people had hate in their hearts, but guns in their hands.

CLARKE: Yeah.

PRIME MINISTER: And the legislation dealt with both.

SHAW: You've upgraded the hate speech laws. Will that affect things that are planned for this weekend? Australia Day, it's renowned for, you know -

CLARKE: Lots of protests.

SHAW: Create, there being protests and so on.

PRIME MINISTER: No. Well, people have of course, have a right in a democracy to express views -

SHAW: Yeah.

PRIME MINISTER: Where it crosses over is if you have organisations like the neo Nazis we've seen demonstrating. They disbanded last Sunday in anticipation of the legislation. Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is a extremist Islamist organisation with hate preachers - they've taken their website down already. And so already the fact of the Government being prepared to legislate has seen a change in behaviour. Of course, what we need to do as an entire society, this isn't just a job for government, entire society, we need to take a bit of a step back and say, 'okay, what is that makes Australia great?' One of the things it does is that the Australian covenant is if you have hate or prejudice against any group and you want to come here, that's left in the customs hall. We're a country that respect each other, that understand that people here of different backgrounds face, have a right to practice that in harmony and we're enriched by it. And overwhelmingly that's what our country does.

CLARKE: Are we going to be tighter on that though? Because some people would argue that we haven't been tight enough.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we haven't because we haven't had the laws. That's the problem. So, one of the things -

CLARKE: But this is also going down to customs, I mean this argument is not a new one about the types of people who have been coming into the country.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, one of the things that we've done is strengthen the right of the Minister to intervene over visas, for example, and the migration laws that are there are very important, that we deal with that. This legislation did that. We actually wanted to go a bit further in some areas, but as those great philosophers, Jagger and Richards said, 'you can't always get what you want, but you get what you need'. And what we have got here, is what the country needs -

SHAW: Yes.

PRIME MINISTER: And it was a step forward.

SHAW: They are feeling that in the Coalition, things have sort of fallen apart there.

PRIME MINISTER: They sure have.

SHAW: Yeah.

PRIME MINISTER: That's been coming for some time. They don't like each other. They're not capable. They really don't.

SHAW: They don't coalesce.

PRIME MINISTER: Like, within, the Liberals don't like each other, the Nats don't like each other, the Liberals don't like the Nats, there's people defecting to One Nation.

CLARKE: Prime Minister, I think all families can go through that. All families.

PRIME MINISTER: This is, this is something that won't turn around, though. This is entrenched -

SHAW: Yeah.

PRIME MINISTER: Because they don't have a coherent alternative to put forward. We saw that at the last election. That's one of the reasons why we got an additional two seats here in WA, in Bullwinkel and Moore. And that's not going to turn around because the personnel aren't going to change.

CLARKE: To be fair, support for all of the major parties is diminishing over time.

PRIME MINISTER: Our vote went up -

CLARKE: Yeah, but -

PRIME MINISTER: At the last election, our primary vote -

CLARKE: Preferences and things like that.

PRIME MINISTER: But our primary vote went up as well. Our primary vote went up at the last election. And here in WA, we have won six additional seats over just the last two elections.

SHAW: On that note, let's move to something a little bit lighter. Before eight o'clock this morning, we were asking our listeners how they last treated themselves. How did you treat yo self? How does the last, what's the last way you treated yourself?

PRIME MINISTER: Oh, gee, I haven't had a treat for some time.

SHAW: Oh, come on, you just got married.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's probably it. November 29th.

SHAW: Treat yourself to that.

PRIME MINISTER: November 29th.

SHAW: Yeah.

PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely delightful.

SHAW: Yeah.

PRIME MINISTER: It was small, in front of family and friends at The Lodge.

SHAW: Yes.

PRIME MINISTER: And because we did everything ourselves - just to reassure listeners.

SHAW: Yeah.

PRIME MINISTER: That -

SHAW: No, it did look like a nice, small intimate ceremony.

PRIME MINISTER: Everything that was there was what we had chosen, and -

SHAW: Yeah. As it should be even.

PRIME MINISTER: Even down to, I've got to say, Jodie ordered, there's a, those little, like candied fruit things that you put in cocktails.

SHAW: Oh, yes.

PRIME MINISTER: We've got hundreds. If anyone out there wants some and is having a party -

CLARKE: Lots of leftovers?

PRIME MINISTER: There's a lot left over.

SHAW: Oh, nice.

PRIME MINISTER: I think, I think maybe the wrong button was pressed on the ordering thing, so -

SHAW: She only wanted 50.

PRIME MINISTER: A zero stuck.

CLARKE: It got stuck.

PRIME MINISTER: Instead of a hundred, we got a thousand. But we've got lots of that left over.

SHAW: We'll put that on Marketplace. Awesome, yeah.

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, it was, it was lovely.

SHAW: Well, congratulations.

PRIME MINISTER: And that was indeed one of the best days of my life.

CLARKE: I'm sure it was. Absolutely. Look, not a day goes by in this world where we don't hear from a man you've met a few times, Mr. Trump, and his attempt to, to take Greenland. Has he been, has he given you a call kicking the tires? How much do you reckon we could get for the joint here? Has he been sniffing about?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, New Zealand might be cheaper.

CLARKE: Right.

PRIME MINISTER: No, it's - look, we live in really turbulent times, to tell you the truth.

CLARKE: Don't we?

PRIME MINISTER: And, and you know, you look at some of the speeches that have been given in Davos this week -

SHAW: Yeah.

PRIME MINISTER: With leaders. I, of course, have been focused on domestic issues here, but it's just another reason why I think people wanted a stable, orderly, mature government to be re-elected last May.

SHAW: Yeah, well, we thank you for popping in on this whirlwind trip over here.

PRIME MINISTER: Thank you.

SHAW: It's always lovely to see you.

CLARKE: You're not tempted to call an early one with the disarray?

PRIME MINISTER: Three years is, is too short in my view. I've said that consistently. So, you can expect us to go full term.

CLARKE: Full term.

PRIME MINISTER: Full term. But there you go.

CLARKE: You heard it here, full term.

PRIME MINISTER: Today as well, I do want to say that I'm here as well to pay tribute to my friend Tim Picton.

SHAW: Yeah.

PRIME MINISTER: His life tragically cut short at just 36 years of age in an act of senseless violence that occurred. Life is short, but it shouldn't be that short.

SHAW: No.

PRIME MINISTER: And to his family and friends, all of his colleagues - he was really well respected, not just in the Labor Party but in the private sector as well. He had a great future ahead of him.

SHAW: We pass on our condolences.

PRIME MINISTER: And Charlotte, his absolutely beautiful young daughter was the apple of his eye. Just four years old. And she should grow up knowing that her dad was really loved and cherished and he'll be much missed.

SHAW: Well, based on the way he's been spoken about this week, I expect she will. Thank you.

PRIME MINISTER: Thank you so much.

CLARKE: Very sad reason for you coming over, but we thank you giving us some of your time.

PRIME MINISTER: Always great to be in the studio.

SHAW: Thank you.

CLARKE: Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. Anthony Albanese.