From Schwartz Media. I'm Daniel James. This is seven am. In newsrooms and boardrooms and electoral offices, there's one question driving everyone insane. When is Anthony Albinizi going to call the election? The Prime Minister is being coy about it, while nervous backbenches worried about their seats are willing him to strike now, while the Reserve Bank's decision to cut
interest rates is fresh in voters' minds. Today columnists for the Saturday paper Paul bon Jorno on what Laboring siders are telling him about when to expect an election, and how Peter Duttman is coping with the government's week of good use. It's Saturday, February twenty two. Paul, thanks for joining us this week. We had the first rate cut in almost five years, the government throwing about it, so they got to call an election.
Well, that's a question that probably everyone in Australia that's got even a tad of interest in politics is wondering, but none more than the very nervous people.
On Labour's backbench.
I spoke to a couple during the week and as soon as the announcement was made, they said, that's it, that's it.
He should go.
He shouldn't waste any more time. And of course the most nervous staniel are those in what we call the mortgage belt seats and you know, the fringes of our cities. A recent you gov poll, in fact, said that these
labor seats were in grave danger of falling. One of the seat holders in New South Wales told me that they don't want Albansi to wait for the simple reason that if the Reserve Bank on April, the first April Fool's Day doesn't cut rates again, as Governor Michelle Bullock indicated pretty strongly, they weren't inclined to then that would make it a harder selling job for them in the election campaign. And I can tell you that it wasn't only borrowers who were mightily relieved when the Reserve Bank
cut rates. The government led out a sigh of relief that you could almost hear all over Australia. And the next day Jim Charmers, the Treasurer, well, he went on an interview binge. You might say, he'd done ten interviews on radio and television by midday.
We're joined now by a treasure at Jim Chalmers live in Logan, Queensland.
The Federal Treasurer is Jim Chalmers.
He's here this morning.
Good morning to you, gym, Good morning Hammer.
Let's go live to the treasurer at Jim Charmers.
Joining us live now is the Treasurer of Jim charm.
Treasurer, welcome to seven thirty. Thanks very much, Sarah.
One of his colleagues in the cabinet equipped that Jim's become more of immediate tart than Kevin Rudd.
Now that is saying something. And what about Anthony Alberezi, what's he been up to?
Well, alban is he not far behind?
He gave a number of interviews on Tuesday afternoon and again on the airwaves next day.
Taking you live straight to Sydney where Prime Minister Anthony Albanesi is speaking.
We're joined by the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Alberezy.
Good morning, gooday, Prime minister.
Thanks for Johnnys.
Anthony Alberinezi joins me.
Mister Prime Minister, you must be happy.
Well, I think the Australians will welcome this news.
But on Thursday the Prime Minister pulled off with the help. It must be said of the South Australian Labor government under Peter melanowskis of well.
A pretty big political coup.
In a surprising move, the South Australian Parliament this week past laws that forced Sanjiv Gupta, the British billionaire who owns the Whyella steel Works, well they forced him out of the steel works and put the steel works in administration. The Prime Minister says this will consolidate the workforce in Wyela and the uncertainty that's been plaguing the town for a couple of years.
Now. This package that we're putting together here we're working very hard on between the South Australian Government and the Australian government, two labor governments working together to support jobs, good quality, good paying jobs.
They're going to pump in over three hundred million dollars to stabilize the steelworks and they're going to have another one point nine billion dollars to invest in it in the hope that someone will then buy this refurbished steel works, which by the way, is going to have a distinctly green tinge about it. And blue Scope, which I think
is owned by BHP, is expressing interest already. So that's a big announcement and Albanezi says this proves that when we say we're investing in a future made in Australia, we mean what we say.
So that was a huge announcement by Albanez. It's something that he can talk about and the lead up to the election. Does that tell us anything about election timing and what are some of the apossible dates for the election.
By legislation, an election campaign must go thirty three days. It can go out of a lot longer if a prime minister wants that to happen. So if we take the thirty three day rule, Albanzi would have to call an election, say for March twenty nine, by February twenty five, so that's still an option.
However, there is a big fly in the.
Ointment and that is the March eight state election in Western Australia. And one Cabinet minister told me not only does Albanesi want to steer clear, doesn't want to blur the lines between state and federal for the WA election, but he's been begged not to by the Labor premier
over there, Roger Cook. So that would suggest he could call one maybe towards the end of that campaign, So people are then thinking, well, March eleven, or just a couple of days before, Albanesi will get in the car and go out to Government House to call an election for April twelve. And the good thing about April twelve is it avoids both Anzac Day and Easter, and it avoids the.
March wa election. So you know, put your money on that.
I'm not a betting manning Paul, but I just might. You've reported on a lot of elections in your time. Do you think that this rate cut, which could be a one off and which will only have a modest impact on people's wulgage repayments, will make any real difference to the campaign?
Well, look, without a doubt, it's the most anticipated rate cut that I can remember. And there's also no doubt that it has huge political implications. It's a watershed, a circuit breaker if you like. It turns the argument on economic management around and it gives credibility to the claims of the Treasurer that it's his economic management. It's the government's economic management that has succeeded in bringing inflation down and creating the atmospherics for the Reserve Bank to have
enough confidence to begin cutting interest rates. But by comparison already the opposition seems to be offering bainalities like back to basics of economic management and cutting spending. Well, cutting spending, whatever way you shake it means more pain for the very people you said of labors put into too much pain already.
Coming up after the break, Dutton goes missing. Paul, it's been a good week for the Albernezy government. How's Peter Dutton's week?
Yes?
Well, it was quite noticeable that Peter Dutton on the afternoon of the announcement left his shadow treasure to as it were, carry the can.
The truth is that this is too little, too late for many Australian families who have seen the biggest collapse in their standard of living in history.
Old heads and old hands in the prescalery do notice that if the government does get good news, Peter Dutton tends to disappear.
From the media.
Angus Taylor was left by Peter Dutton, who kerry most of the burden of replying to this good news for the government. Or can you name one policy that is going to drive down the cost of living for the rest.
Of this year?
If you win government in what could be six seven, eight weeks time.
All of those policies will help him bring down the cost of living, because that's what economic management does.
But Dutton so far has been pretty loose. We got a pretty stark example of that in a key interview. He gave a long form interview he gave on Sky News Sunday Agenda last weekend.
It showed that Dutton was more inclined.
To stay opposition leader rather than an alternative prime minister. He was out scoring cheap political points against the the government for the way it was handling the threat of the President Trump's the tariffs, but he wasn't actually on top of what the government had done. He called for ministers to go to Washington and it was pointed out to him, we'll hang on the deputy Prime minister was in Washington on previous days.
Richard Miles is a nice guy, but he's batting fairly significantly down the list in terms of the government's key hitters.
In the first place, Richard Miles is the Deputy Prime Minister. Why are you saying he's batting down the order?
Well, I just don't think Again. I'm friends with Richard and I like Richard. But I just don't think he has the gravitas that the Prime Minister would have if he had attended, or if.
He also didn't seem in calling for our trade minister to talk to his counterpart in America at that point of time, the Trade Secretary hadn't been sworn in, so you know, that seemed to be that seemed to be quite indicative of someone who hadn't done his homework.
Was it too much? But in that.
Interview what really caught the breath of commentators and indeed his coalition partners in the Nationals, he announced what looked like something off the top of his head that raised the prospect of forcing insurance companies to divest if they don't bring their premiums down. Now he has put his finger on a very sore point, particularly in far North Queensland, which has been hit by devastating whether cyclones and floods this summer.
But of course we had the.
Bushfires in Victoria and elsewhere, and it's true people simply aren't taking out insurance because they can't afford it.
Can you tell me about the reaction to this announcement. What the reaction to this has been?
Well, the Insurance Council was flabbergasted. For one thing.
It seemed that Dutton was unaware of a ten billion dollar cyclone reinsurance pool that was set up by the Morrison government, the government he was part of in twenty twenty two. So Little Proud went on television next day and said, oh, well, this isn't policy.
Is this a policy that has been approved by the Joint party room, Because it's not a policy was announced. What Peter Dutton has said that is very clear we are prepared to use whatever policy lever. We need to ensure that Australian's costs a living and consumers are being treated fairly.
That's what you want from government. So it's not actually Jalacy, Well, it.
Wasn't announced as a policy. I don't think I think it would be unfair to say that that was a policy announced by Peter Dutton.
What he said was, so what do you think is going on here, Paul, with Dunton making these seemingly off the cuff policy announcements.
Well, I think that Dutton clearly has got an ear for the things that are playing out there. No one can deny that insurance is a major issue, but Alberizi has made the observation that the oppositions simply haven't done their policy work. It seems that Dutton, maybe with an eye to how Trump got in in America, wants to get in on the vibe. If he talks insurance and taking on the big insurers, that's all he has to do and people will rush to vote for him. It
was quite interesting. The next day he doubled down and he said, I'm warning insurance companies now, unless they do something before we get elected, they better look out when we get elected. The opinion polls do show the coalition with an edge, but it's only an edge, and fifty one forty nine, which is the average of all the published poles at the moment, is basically statistically line bare.
So while news poll was told recently that voters are seriously considering a change, the two party votes shows they haven't yet found a credible alternative.
And finally, Paul, one of the main criticisms of the government is that it hasn't been very good at spreaking its own achievements, telling its own story. Is there enough time for them to start doing that this late in their term.
Well, they are incumbents and they've been there for only three years, and Albanesi, as a communicator, has not sold his government well. But mind you, it wouldn't matter who was in government in these tight times, selling your government
well would always be difficult. However, I think the focus is now coming down to the choices that are on offer, and what Albanzi can rightly claim is that we've done more than the coalition wanted to allow us to do, which then puts the focus on the alternative to show that it is as caring of people's pain as labors
tried to be. But look, in our system of compulsory voting, it simply does come down to, you know, not the ideal you want if you could ever get it, but the devil you know versus the devil you don't know.
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you, Daniel bye.
Also in the years today, the artist Colored Subsabi and curator Michael de Gastino will not be reinstated as Australia's representatives at the next Venice Biennial, despite thousands of artists calling for the decision to be overturned. This was confirmed by Creative Australia's chair Robert morgan An executive director Adrian
Collette at an all staff meeting on Thursday. It is now increasingly likely Australia will not be represented at the twenty twenty six event, and a joint press conference between Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski and the US Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia has been canceled. Retired General Keith Kellogg was due to brief the press alongside mister Zelenski after a meeting on Thursday local time, but mister Zelenski's office says the US called for the appearance to be canceled.
The cancelation comes at a critical time as US President Donald Trump a Russian President Vladimir Putin have been discussing an endo. The war discussions Ukraine have not been invited to. I'm Daniel James this seven am. Have a great weekend, all right.
Just a quick one on a light and note, are you going to Vegas for the NRL launch?
I won't be doing that. There is an election being called Carlin, so yeah, no, I can't go to Vegas, carg because that's the day we're calling the election. Just king, that's my birth that's my birthday. Weekend