: Well, Anthony Albanese is in Adelaide today where he’s going to be the keynote speaker at the Advertiser’s annual event, which is entitled ‘Building a Bigger and Better South Australia’. Prime Minister, good morning and thank you so much for joining us.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Good to be with you. It will be my 15th visit to South Australia since I became Prime Minister just under two years ago, so I’m really looking forward to engaging there with the business community and others that are there in Adelaide today.
PENBERTHY: I think we can call that the Two Tribes effect. You’ve got a real love affair with the city don’t you … Christopher!
PRIME MINISTER: I do miss our weekly spot with Christopher and Two Tribes. It’s very sad. When he left the Parliament, it’s got far less colour now.
WILL GOODINGS, HOST: Do you ever have a sneaky beer with Chris Pyne when you’re in town, PM?
PRIME MINISTER: No, not today, I’m not. But I have caught up with Christopher from time to time. He’s someone I have a really good personal relationship with and that’s a good thing. I wish him well, and he was a formidable opponent, of course, on the floor of the Parliament, but he never, ever took these things personally. He had a job to do. Most of the time he did it well. When he didn’t, I made him pay for it.
PENBERTHY: So, look, I mentioned that the name of the event, ‘Building a Bigger and Better South Australia’. A lot of South Australians hear the word bigger and get an attack of the vapours. Now, clearly we do need more people here if we’re going to fill all these jobs in aged care that we’re going to need with our older population, all of these defence jobs as well. But how do we increase our population without compromising our way of life here? And also, do you think that we should set a population target for South Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: By having the right people come, because the right jobs are available – that’s what will really draw people one – to stay in South Australia. One of the things I’ve heard over the years is people being disappointed that their kids move to Sydney or Melbourne to provide opportunities. I want South Australia to be a dynamic economy that’s diversified, that has advanced manufacturing as well as services. You have so much to offer. One of the things I’ve done in coming to South Australia isn’t just to come to Adelaide. I’ve been to the Riverland, I’ve been to Whyalla, I’ve been to Port Lincoln and the opportunities that are there. The vision that I’ll speak about today for the Upper Spencer Gulf – when I was in Whyalla and the coal fire furnace was turned off, remember a few years ago, the former Prime Minister Tony Abbott campaigned saying Whyalla would be wiped off the map. Well, Whyalla is thriving and the opportunity that is there for renewable energy to create green hydrogen to produce green steel is possibly a massive expansion. The port at Port Bonython that I’m combining with the Malinauskas Government to fund is going to be a Critical Export Hub. There is so much that can be achieved there in South Australia. You have enormous assets that if we get it right, if we play it smart, which I know Peter Malinauskas’ Government is committed to doing in partnership with us and the private sector, then I just think South Australia is so well positioned to benefit from some of the transformations that are happening in the global economy.
PENBERTHY: I guess, though, the angst about the current rate of population is at its highest in crowded places such as Sydney and Melbourne. Would you see a scenario whereby, where you could tweak the migrant intake somehow so that SA took a greater than current share of migrants for the jobs we’re going to need?
PRIME MINISTER: What I can see happening is the market taking people there. One of the great things that the Malinauskas Government are doing is the schools that are connected up with trades, essentially technical schools, that are opening there in South Australia. And one of the first visits I had to SA this year was to speak about fee free TAFE and the great benefit that it is happening. I did that in conjunction with the South Australian Government. But one of the things that we then met with was the university sector and the work that’s being done in preparation for the AUKUS arrangements. I can really see that as well as driving advanced manufacturing – the car industry drove not just jobs in the automotive sector, it had a massive multiplier effect, and I think that AUKUS and the nuclear powered submarines being built there in South Australia will have the same impact, will have this significant multiplier effect, will attract good people from the eastern states as well as internationally, to occupy what will be highly skilled, high wage, secure jobs into the future. And you can see that happening already with the preparation that’s happening through the university sector there in South Australia.
PENBERTHY: Want to talk about the subs in a moment with your Prime Minister. But just on this question of population, you’ll doubtless have seen the NSW Premier has pitched a plan whereby a GST would be carved up on a per capita basis. This would obviously be devastating for South Australia. Can you rule out a redistribution of GST on the basis of population?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, the Commonwealth Grants Commission do this independently of Government. And every year there is some criticism of the process, but it’s at arm’s length from Government. And what you wouldn’t want…
GOODINGS: You did sign that guy’s arm in Western Australia saying you wouldn’t change it. Could you sign a South Australian’s arm saying you won’t change it?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ll sign your forehead, Pembo.
PENBERTHY: That was Will.
GOODINGS: Yeah, I’ll take a signature on my forehead.
PRIME MINISTER: But I’ve known you for longer. Will might react badly.
PENBERTHY: Oh, yeah. You got to watch him.
PRIME MINISTER: I know if I pick my timing right, you’ll be passive.
PENBERTHY: Years of bitter experience.
GOODINGS: When are we going to get an announcement on who’s going to be building the subs? Our Premier has said that’s needed sooner rather than later to kickstart this entire process.
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we’re all on track and I’ll be seeing the Premier again today. We have a terrific relationship. I think he is a great leader of South Australia. He has a vision for the State and I think that South Australia is very lucky, frankly, to have a Premier who has a vision, not just for a term of office, he has a vision for the decades coming ahead. And part of that is that he’s really keen and eager, of course, to get things done sooner than later. But we’re on track for all of those announcements being rolled out. I’m really pleased with the work that is being conducted there. I think it’s probably less than a year since I visited the shipyards there with the Premier and talked to the workers, and I know that there’s a great deal of excitement being built up about the opportunities that are going to be there for South Australia.
PENBERTHY: And just finally. PM, we just spoke before 8 o’clock with a bloke from the southeast, Andrew Ferguson, who runs a rock lobster fishery down there. We’ve spoken this week to the wine industry as well, with the positive signs that are coming out of China – are you confident that we will see tariffs lifted sooner rather than later, not just on wine, but on grains, lobsters, all the other industries that were particularly hard hit here in South Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I am very confident. When I was in Port Lincoln, a very large ship had just left the Port there loaded with barley, headed to China. It’s a direct result of the work that my Government’s been doing on the diplomatic front, where I say we’re investing in our capabilities, but we’re also investing in our relationships. And I’m very confident the interim decision on wine that was released this week by China was a very positive one. The exports of wine alone to China were worth $1.1 billion annually, much of which was from the great state of South Australia. And I’m very hopeful, given the interim decision that was put out, that by the end of this month we will get a positive decision there. On lobster, is also really important – we’re engaging there. We’ve had a lifting of the export of many of the meat products into China as well. And this is all about our economic prosperity. That’s why we engage in the world. There’s a bit of narrowness sometimes saying – oh well, we should just stay in our lane and not engage with anyone. The truth is that one in four of our jobs are export dependent. And that’s why the work that Don Farrell has done as the Trade Minister, Penny Wong as Foreign Minister, two great South Australians have led the charge on re-engaging our international relationships and it’s paying off.
PENBERTHY: It’ll be huge for our local industries if those tariffs do get reversed. Enjoy your stay in Adelaide, Prime Minister. We’ll catch up again soon.
