Radio interview - Nova Adelaide

ANDREW HAYESY, HOST: And it is time now to introduce a very, very special guest.

JODIE ODDY, HOST: Yes, I don't think people get more important than this particular man. And that is - it says on our screen, Anthony from Canberra. And I do presume that is our Prime Minister. Hello, Anthony Albanese. How are you?

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Anthony from Canberra here. Indeed. Jodie and Hayesy, good to talk with you.

ODDY: Okay, so we're all prepped and ready to go. We've all got our Budget parties on the ready. What about you?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'll be sitting, listening to the Treasurer give his speech at 7:30 and I'm excited. This is a big reform Budget, building resilience in our economy, but also really tackling some issues that have been kicked down the road essentially for too long. The dream of home ownership is becoming so difficult for young Australians in particular, and they've raised it with me, but so do their parents and grandparents. Now we will be addressing that tonight. We know the key to housing is supply and that's why reform is focused on that. But it's also about giving people a fair crack - everyone, including young people.

ODDY: So, Prime Minister, in layman's terms, what are you doing to enable young people to get into the housing market?

PRIME MINISTER: What you'll see is some changes tonight in the way that the tax system works, but also in driving supply. And so, people will have to wait for the detail. No more sleeps to go. It's ready to go. But we've really worked very hard on - okay, what's the right thing to do here? And this will build on our wider housing plans. We've got a $47 billion homes for Australia plan. That's so important. But tonight will be about giving young people, you know, a more level playing field. So, many of them have told many stories, very directly, and I'm sure you've heard it as well of people going on to an auction, not being able to compete with investors. We don't have enough homes. We're building more through social housing and through Build to Rent schemes and the various $47 billion worth of schemes that we have to drive that supply. But we do need to do more and tonight we'll do just that.

ODDY: Prime Minister, I don't want to drill down. What was that sound in the background? Was that a coffee machine? Was that an alarm? What was going on there?

PRIME MINISTER: That was literally a coffee cup.

HAYESY: Well, while we've got you on that -

PRIME MINISTER: It's Budget Day.

HAYESY: Yeah, exactly right. The coffee is flowing.

ODDY: We need caffeine.

HAYESY: Hey, it's funny, you should mention that Prime Minister, because we're doing a thing called Adelaide's Most Awesome Coffee. And you've been spotted several times at Nathaniel's.

ODDY: Yes.

HAYESY: In your trips to Adelaide, can we ask you, is there a particular reason why you go to Nathaniel's? And what is your coffee order?

PRIME MINISTER: It's on the route for where I'm walking. So - of the hotel I stay in and where the Commonwealth Offices are. But Adelaide has fantastic coffee, and I've got to say, fantastic restaurants as well, where - I'm bringing the whole ALP National Conference we're holding in Adelaide in July. And I'm looking forward to having - I think if we're there for about four or five days, and that will be fantastic. A chance to - I'll get your recommendations off air for where to go for restaurants at night, because I think, certainly for the weekend, I'll be bringing my Jodes -

ODDY: Yep.

PRIME MINISTER: So, I'll take Jodes's recommendation.

HAYESY: Yeah.

ODDY: Well, this Jodes will come too. If you want me to.

HAYESY: Yeah. It could be a Jodie-off. All the Jodes.

PRIME MINISTER: You can come - you can never have too many Jodies.

ODDY: That's so true.

PRIME MINISTER: But it's a flat white. I'm pretty simple. But it depends on the - so it begins with a flat white, but as it sort of goes on, it then ends up being a piccolo.

HAYESY: Oh, okay. See, that's a very Melbourne thing, too, by the way. That's an eastern thing, the piccolo. We're still getting our heads around here in Adelaide. It's like a half latte.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, you know, it's an Italian heritage thing, as well. Of course, you just have to have - if you're in Italy and you don't order anything other than an espresso after 9 o'clock, like that will just - they'll regard it as a cultural insult.

ODDY: Speaking of your Jodes. Six months you've been married. Roundabout to the day. So, are we still very much into each other? Cause we've been talking about flirting this morning. So, is there still some flirtation between you and your wife?

PRIME MINISTER: Oh, absolutely. No, it's - never goes away. I hope that keeps going for a long, long time.

ODDY: No, it does.

PRIME MINISTER: No, it's - well, I think the other thing about our relationship, of course, is that quite often we're in different places. So, it's nice when you see each other for consecutive days. It's fantastic. But I'm on the road so much, it makes it a bit difficult, but it just means the time we spend together, we plan to make more special.

ODDY: Keeps it spicy.

HAYESY: Keeps it spicy.

PRIME MINISTER: It is hard for us to go out without, you know, causing difficulty because we have to have security and all of that.

HAYESY: Oh, yeah.

ODDY: Oh, that's a romance killer.

HAYESY: That just gets in the way, the security.

PRIME MINISTER: Nothing better than going to the footy with your wife.

ODDY: Six-foot Barry in the corner.

PRIME MINISTER: But we did go to see Mumford and Sons together a couple of weeks ago and that was good. That was fantastic because we were in the dark so no one could see us, and no one hassled us. No one knew we were there.

HAYESY: That's the thing.

PRIME MINISTER: Fantastic gig.

HAYESY: I would have thought that a Mumford and Sons crowd is very, you know, I wouldn't say hipster, but it's pretty alternative. Great music. I would have thought there's a bunch of people that would have gone home and be like, I tell you what, I saw one bloke, he was a dead ringer for the Prime Minister.

PRIME MINISTER: That's quite possibly the case. They do have that sometimes. You look like Albo. Well, I hope so.

ODDY: Prime Minister, thank you so much for your time this morning. We always love having you on our show. Thank you so much. And all the best with your Budget party tonight. Enjoy.

PRIME MINISTER: Thank you so much. It'll be a raging party afterwards.