TDA interviews the Prime Minister

Already and this is this is the Daily This is the Daily OS. Oh, now it makes sense.

Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Monday, the third of February.

I'm Sam, I'm Billy.

Sometime before mid May, every Australian over eighteen is going to walk into a polling booth and cast their ballot. As the road to the twenty twenty five election becomes shorter, the political, social, and economic conversations about the decisions in front of us are becoming more frequent. On today's episode, we sit down with the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Alberenezi. He's been the leader of the country for the past

So before the Prime Minister begins on his campaign trail. He came to the Dalios's offices last week for a sit down interview. Here's that chat. Prime Minister, thank you for joining the Daily Os.

Wonderful to be here.

I want to start really broad in your eyes, what is the biggest issue facing young people today?

Intergenerational equity, the feeling that young people have that they're not getting a fair crack at what my generation and previous generations had. It is more difficult today to buy a home. There are pressures also, I think on young people due to the influence of new technology, the changing nature of work that has come with that.

So let's start with the cost of living. Most of our audience are renters. If you're re elected, what will your government do to support renters?

Well, the key, of course is supply is a way of producing lower costs, whether it be for home purchase or for people in rental properties. We have increased rental assistance by forty five percent in just our last two budgets. Now not everyone gets rental assistance, but the most vulnerable do. There's no short term fix. You can't fix what is a long term issue overnight.

I want to talk more about supplies. So Labor has a goal to build one point two million homes by mid twenty twenty nine. New analysis last week showed we are already behind on that target. Why are we already behind.

Because of some of the wold ups that are therein state and local government planning. There are a range of issues that need to be dealt with.

Because many of those hold ups aren't new. They're not new issues.

Oh they aren't. They aren't at all. But we had our legislation was only passed. For example, our legislation on Bill to Rent that provides private sector incentives for rental properties to be built, that was only passed in December. I would have spoken to you prior to the last election here about our Housing Australia Future Fund. It took us two years to get that legislation through and that has meant there's a delay.

Can we expect any further announcements, specifically about the cost of living for young people before the next election. Yes, you can, and you are going to tell us it now.

I'm not going to make announcements now, but I will say that one of the things that we've done is not just talk about what we have done. This term, but have already foreshadowed our action in the second term. So we'll cut student debt by a further twenty percent because we want to address these issues. We think that it is unfair and will also change where it kicks in and the amount that has to be paid back as a measure as well.

Let's move to First Nations issues. Since the failed referendum, what has your government done to better the lives or First Nations people in this country.

One of the things we've done is to concentrate on economic opportunity, so we're replacing the old work for the doll scheme basically that didn't really have any real jobs and people weren't participating it in training and skills. We have announced record funding for housing in remote communities as well.

If we look at the Close the Gap targets, there's nineteen of them and only five are on track and four have in fact worsened. So clearly that's not enough.

We know that that's the case. We know that governments of all persuasions haven't done enough. That's why First Nations people gathered at Eularu in twenty seventeen and said we need to try something different. Now the government, my government put our shoulder to the wheel and offered Australians the choice through a referendum. Now Australians didn't vote for that. We have to respect that. You have to respect democratic outcomes.

The Productivity Commission when reporting about the closing the Gap targets last year, they found quote, without fundamental change, the agreement will fail and the gap will remain. So I guess my question is what is your fundamental change?

Well, what we are trying to do. We did try to that structure economic empowerment and engaging with Indigenous communities directly. There are great successes. If you look at the community around around where the Gama Festival is held, that's an example of education empowerment. There's a range of measures on education, that they have language, cultural respect, they have health programs, employment programs. They've been quite successful.

I think the gap targets would suggest that they haven't.

There are examples. What we shouldn't do is say there aren't success stories anywhere in Australia, because there are.

But I guess the idea of policy right is to focus on the issues that need improvement.

Oh exactly, And that is precisely what we are doing. And the key to that is economic empowerment is ensuring that the opportunities which many Australians would take for granted, which aren't available to First Nations people, are spread. You won't solve this overnight, but you will have respectful conversations to do things with Indigenous people rather than for them.

Let's turn to domestic violence. Last year there were seventy eight women killed by gender based violence in Australia. The government's main policy in this area is a National Plan. For those who aren'tn't familiar with the National Plan, do you want to just explain what it is?

Well? The National Plan is multifaceted. It's about respect and education is one element, but it's also about ensuring that women and children have places to go, So it's about ensuring that social housing or emergency housing is available. Part of the Housing Australia Future Fund that was held up for a while is about making sure that that can occur. So there's a proportion of that housing reserved for women and children escaping domestic balace.

And it's not new. We've had a national plan before the last one failed, and then since this plan came into effect in twenty twenty two, the number of women killed by an intimate partner has increased each year in twenty twenty three and twenty twenty four. So are these plans working well?

Quite clearly, the statistics tell us that we need to do much better. That this is completely unacceptable. So too many examples where men have been released on bail having committed violent offenses against their partner and gone on to then commit murder, and those issues need to be dealt with as well their state and territory laws, and we

I guess I'm wondering it has got worse each year since this plan has come into effect. At what point do you concede that these national plans aren't working.

Well, what you need to do is to not just throw your arms up and say they're not working. I'm not suggesting you're doing that. Of course you need two but will more be done? Yeah, we are doing more.

That's not in the national plan.

Yes, So the increased legal assistance has happened since twenty twenty two.

But since then the has got work.

The changes, Well, you put in five hundred million dollars over a period of time, that doesn't You don't make a decision and then it's in place that day. What we have done, what we have done since the plan is there is we've changed the legal assistance. In twenty twenty two, we didn't have the Housing Austray Future Fund with the funding for emergency housing that has now passed and that is now flowing to states and territories. So

I want to move on to mental health. If the Coalition is elected, they have promised to reinstate the twenty subsidized mental health sessions. Why is a labor government not in support.

Of this, because if you look at the statistics, what was happening was that some people were getting twenty and a whole lot of people were missing out on any at all. It was not effective. We have put record funding into mental health. We're putting additional funding into increased training, so we get more mental health professionals involved. What we need is more people to be able to provide those services. Otherwise it can lead to less people getting serviced than would occur otherwise.

But you also need people to be able to pay for the services. That absolutely was analysis that showed that. But there was also resent that showed that people are delaying seeking help because of the cost of living.

And so I guess if the solution at least well, what was happening was that people weren't getting the ten.

But people who were in desperate need are now delaying getting more help because they don't have access to the extra twenty.

But my question is some people were getting none. Is the point. Some people were getting twenty and some people were getting none. That was the problem.

So guess my question is if the solution isn't to expand subsidized mental health sessions. Let's say the solution is not that.

What is your solution, Well, the solution is to make sure that people can get access to subsidized mental health sessions.

And you're saying you're not going to do that through helping people pay for it, but through having more people be able to deliver the service.

Well, that's a precondition. That's a precondition for it. And we took advice from the experts and the statistics that showed that people were simply missing out.

I want to shift to gambling. Australians spend and lose more to gambling than people in any other country in the world. A committee chaired by a former Labor MP recommended a total ban on gambling ads. That hasn't happened. Why not.

We have taken more action on problem gambling than any government since Federation in history. So have introduced betstop which has helped people substantially, where banned the use of credit cards online as well, which was a big issue of sport gambling. There's more to do, but in this term we have done more, as I've said, than any government in history previously.

But those measures haven't changed the fact that again Australians spend and lose more to gambling than people in any other country in the world. That hasn't changed.

Yes, and there are no ads for poker machine gambling, which is overwhelmingly overwhelmingly where losses are. So the link between the two things is not a simple one. As I said, we have done a range of measures in place. We except that there's more to do and we will do more.

So just to be really clear, we'll labor go to the next election with nothing on gambling ads.

Specifically, No, we will go to the next election with the comprehensive.

Policy, but on gambling ads.

On gambling well, which gambling ads.

So there was a problem. There was legislation that was shelved in November, right, No, on gambling ads. No, there was legislation on gambling ADS or draft legislation that was in discussion. So you've never considered banning gambling as No.

We're considering a range of measures, but there hasn't been legislation. What we are doing as consulting on a range of measures. What more can we do to address problem gambling? As I said, we've done more than any government in history since federation. We accept that there's more to do, and we will do more.

Let's move to climate change, and I want to focus on the Paris Agreement. So the US has recently withdrawn from the Paris Agreement. Twenty twenty four was the first year that global temperatures surpass one point five degrees above pre industrial levels, and even if Australia reaches our climate targets, it still wouldn't be enough to limit global warming to one point five degrees. So do you still believe that the Paris Agreement is achievable?

I certainly do. And what's more, we've got a responsibility to achieve it. Our objective should be to lower emissions as much as possible. Of course, it's the case that any individual nation state acting will not achieve an outcome by itself. Because there's a global issue, it requires a global response. But if we don't act, then what legitimacy will we have in arguing that other countries, particularly developing countries, should act.

I want to briefly touch on TikTok. Would you consider a ban on TikTok like we saw temporarily in the US. No, I'm interested in that because TikTok is banned on government devices in Australia. Is there a risk that the Chinese government is surveiling Australians through the TikTok app?

Well, the security agencies have put in place.

Measures because there is a risk of the Chinese government Australians.

Well, there is, of course, because it is owned with links to the Chinese government because of their domestic polishy in the control that Chinese government has over Chinese companies to be able to direct them to provide information. That is the concern that people have.

Let's turn to the conflict in the Middle East. Research cited by the UN earlier this month estimates that ninety two percent of housing units in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged. When the ceasefire was first announced, you were asked whether Australia would have a role in rebuilding Gaza and you said it was too soon to answer before the agreement took effect. So I'm interested in your answer today. Will Australia pay a role in rebuilding Gaza.

Australia's always played a responsible role internationally and we've played a role in We've increased our aid to Gaza. That has been important through various agencies, not just CUN, but through other agencies as well. So I'm certain that Australia will play a role as we.

Always rebuilding Gaza.

Yeah, absolutely, as as we always do. You know, I'm appalled by the terrorist organization that is Hamas and the atrocity that they committed on October seven, but Palestinians have paid a very heavy price, including innocent Palestinians, for Mass's atrocities and for the ensuing conflict.

Since October seven. Has Australia's relationship with Israel changed.

Well, we have always supported the Australian government has always supported a two state solution in the Middle East. But we've taken a principal position. We have called for ceasefire, we've called for the release of all hostages. We've called for increased aid to be available into Gaza and for that to be allowed in in a fashion, and we have expressed our opposition to the loss of innocent life, whether it be Israeli or Palestinian or Lebanese during this conflict.

I've heard you consistently say when talking about Israel, is Israel has a right to defend itself, but how it defends itself matters. Do you agree with how Israel has defended itself.

Well, quite clearly, I think that there's been too much loss of innocent life. I've made that very clear, and we have voted for that. Israel, of course, post October seven, was always going to defend itself. The threat that Hamas represented is something that was not going to be tolerated and wouldn't have been tolerated by any nation. This was an attack as well. Overwhelmingly, a lot of the victims

Two more topics, The first anti Semitism. We have seen a rise in anti Semitic and other religiously motivated hate crimes. A number of arrests have been made, but that's in response to this issue. What are you doing in terms of stopping it before it happens?

Well, we're doing education. Just this week we announced funding for a national center to be in Canberra and increase funding as well in Western Australia at the center that I visited there for Holocaust education. We need to make sure that people understand that the Holocaust, six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis, and it didn't begin with the gas chambers. It began with a treating of Jewish people and a depiction of them as being of less

We have to move on because we're very much running out of time. I just want to end on global trends. One of the key voting blocks that returned Trump to power in the US was young men. How are you planning in this election campaign to reach young men?

Well, we engage through opportunity is important. What we won't do is engage in some of the the campaign strategies that we've seen from some of the right Internationally globally as well.

Well.

I think this toxic masculinity that is being appealed to is a concern that doesn't benefit societies as a whole. We need to work towards bring together a common interest. From my perspective of young men and young women, both have an interest in a strong economy, Both have an interest in equity, Both have an interest in the planet that they are inheriting and that their children will inherit as well.

Last question, if we look at global trends. There has been a shift to the right in politics, and to be re elected you'll obviously need to buck that trend. What is your plan to do?

Our plan is to put forward the fact that we have been an orderly, good government that has governed through difficult global inflationary times. But these have been turbulent seas, but we've kept our eye on the horizon and what we've done is we've got lower inflation, higher wages and low unemployment, so a good record there. But we will have an offer as well of why people will be better off in three years time if they vote for

Prime Minister. You've been very generous with your time. Thank you so much for joining us, Thank.

You for having me once again. Look forward to coming back during the campaign.

I hope we can do a leader's debate, that's all we're billing for.

That would be good. I'm up for that. If not, I'll turn up anyway.

I've got it on record.

Thank you, hah, well, you had it there first. Billy, the Prime Minister has agreed to a leader's debate with the Daily Os. Now here's some information for everyone listening. We've put in a request with the Opposition leader, Peter Dunnan's office. They have received that request both for that leader's debate, but we're also really keen to sit down with the Opposition leader one on one for exactly the same interview that we've just had with the Prime Minister.

My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda Bunjelung Kalkotin woman from Gadighl country.

The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present,