: Joining me now is the Prime Minister. Good morning, Prime Minister.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: G’day, Richard. Good to be with you.
KING: Likewise. Look, you’re making an announcement and I don’t know anything about it because your people wouldn’t tell me anything about it, but a big announcement about EV trucks. Can you tell us a bit more about this?
PRIME MINISTER: It’s a cracker of an announcement. I’ll be out at Eastern Creek in Western Sydney today with Team Global Express. They’re what used to be Toll, basically trucks. They are, of course, one of the two big operators when it comes to the trucking sector and logistics around Australia. And we provided them with a $20 million grant through ARENA, through the Renewable Energy Agency. And what they’re doing is launching, one third of their entire fleet in Western Sydney have been converted into electric vehicles, which are cleaner and cheaper to run. They reduce air pollution and they’re also quieter, so this is a huge benefit. It’s amazing what they’ve managed to do out there. They essentially have solar panels on the facility with battery storage that can power up the EV trucks overnight. And it will mean that they save an enormous amount of money, of course, but also, most importantly as well, they reduce air pollution and they reduce our emissions. So, this is a great example of government working with business to make a positive difference.
KING: Right. Well, nuclear submarines are zero emissions too, but a lot of people are suggesting this AUKUS agreement, it’s now one year old, is a little bit up in the air, and the fear is, if Donald Trump is elected, it might be scrapped completely, given that Joe Biden signed the contract. Is it rock solid, this AUKUS agreement, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: I certainly think it is. And it’s because it’s not an agreement just with President Biden, as important as his support is, it was an agreement with Congress and with Senate. Across the board I, of course, met with Republican and Democrat Senators and Congress people, and there was extraordinary support for AUKUS. And this proposal, this is an agreement between our two great nations, not an agreement between two individuals. So, whilst the election in the United States is, of course, a decision for the people of the United States, I’m very confident that regardless of the outcome, this agreement will stay in place.
KING: Okay. And look, while we’re on the subject of nuclear energy has been a hot topic, particularly from the Coalition. Peter Dutton would like to have a debate with you. You’ve laughed it off and said it’s not even worth having a debate over. Why isn’t it worth having a conversation about?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, he’s having a conversation with himself, but he changes his mind every two weeks. Remember, he was talking about these small modular reactors. Then he came to the reality check that they don’t actually exist anywhere and aren’t operating anywhere in the industrialised world. And the great example they were using in the United States have actually abandoned that proposal because it didn’t stack up. Now he’s talking about large nuclear reactors where there is, or used to be, coal fired power stations. He needs to identify where they’re going to be, who’s going to pay for them, all of the practicalities here, otherwise, it’s just all hot air, excuse the pun. This is a proposal that is raised every ten years, never leads anywhere, and it’s just an excuse for inaction, for more delay. We saw that from the former Government, where they had 22 different energy policies and didn’t implement any of them. We’ve had one energy policy and we’re busy implementing it
KING: Now, outrage yesterday from my listeners about this $4 billion to build housing in remote Aboriginal communities. Warren Mundine has slammed the plan as idiotic. And I had an email from Perin Davey, who’s now the Acting Shadow Minister, and she said she’d rather have a complete audit on money spent on Aborigines in Australia. And they’re suggesting this is just the same old, same old, more on housing. How do you justify this $4 billion as being a good way to close the gap?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that’s over ten years. Putting a roof over people’s heads is important. And I frankly find it astonishing that in 2024, people can dismiss the idea that people in remote communities, if they don’t have a roof over their heads, we have, in many parts of remote Australia, we have essentially conditions that you wouldn’t expect to see in an advanced economy. That’s the truth. And we’re doing something about it. We’re doing something about it by investing. That’s a ten year program of investing jointly with the Northern Territory Government to address overcrowding. When you have overcrowding, you have bad health problems, kids can’t get an education, you then have justice problems because inevitably the pressures that are on. If you’ve got half a dozen people living in a one bedroom place that’s dilapidated, that hasn’t been looked after, then you’ll have social consequences for it. We’re putting forward a practical plan and it’s been done in conjunction with the Northern Territory Government. And I was in a home outside of Katherine in a remote community, which the family had moved into it just a couple of days beforehand and the pride that they expressed was extraordinary. This wasn’t a luxury home. This, though, provided them with that basic security which people should expect in 2024 in an advanced country like Australia.
KING: Appreciate your time this morning. Hope you have a good Thursday. Broncos and your beloved Rabbitohs, both first round losers, battle it out tonight. You’re obviously going for a Rabbitohs victory.
PRIME MINISTER: I am. I’m a bit worried about our three quarter line. I think we suffered last week from not having Jack Wighton in the team. And of course, Campbell Graham’s out for a long stint and young Munro on the wing is going to be a superstar. I’m convinced about that. Really looking forward to later on in the year, having AJ on one wing and Munro on the other, the two fastest guys in the league.
KING: Good luck to the Rabbitohs and thank you again for your time this morning, Prime Minister.
