: Please be up standing. The Prime Minister is in the house.
SHAUN MCMANUS, HOST: Hello, sir. Good to see you.
LOCKE: Welcome back.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Wow. A level of respect I haven’t always got in this studio. Moving into these close quarters…
LOCKE: I know, we’ve changed.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, you’ve changed.
NATHAN MORRIS, HOST: Sitting back down now, that’s too close to exercising.
PRIME MINISTER: There’s no dartboard.
MORRIS: I know. We’re concentrating on our jobs.
PRIME MINISTER: There’s no activities.
MCMANUS: It’s pretty boring isn’t it?
MORRIS: Would you be allowed to have a dartboard in your own personal office? You would be allowed to wouldn’t you?
LOCKE: You’ve got room.
MORRIS: You got so much room.
PRIME MINISTER: I don’t see why I couldn’t.
MORRIS: Round of darts with the PM.
MCMANUS: That’d be amazing having a world leader in there and you just bring out the darts.
PRIME MINISTER: Bring out the darts, here we go.
MCMANUS: And then if you’re working on policies with that said person, then you’d be able to play for them.
LOCKE: Winner gets their way.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there’s another constructive suggestion.
MORRIS: So, Albo, the big news – we’ve got to get this out of the way first – of course, is that you have taken the lovely Jodie off of the market, which is about time.
LOCKE: You’ve locked her down.
PRIME MINISTER: I have. Well, I was worried about you.
MORRIS: Yes, I know. I was coming for her. And you know what? I wouldn’t touch her as much, and we’d go shopping a lot, so she’d be right on that. So, I want to know, I’ve read about the proposal, but I want you to take me through the proposal because you know us, we’re friends, I want you to take me through the proposal as if you were speaking about a romantic movie. And I’ve got some music for you. Let’s set it up.
LOCKE: You’re on a sinking ship,
MORRIS: So tell us all about it – so you’re at the Lodge, go!
PRIME MINISTER: Dinner at Italian & Sons beforehand.
LOCKE: Oh so you went out for dinner? You have a chef at home. Okay – keep going.
PRIME MINISTER: Went out for dinner because it was Valentine’s Day, came back…
MORRIS: What did you have?
PRIME MINISTER: We had two courses, pasta, different pastas, but we had the same fish.
MORRIS: That’s love.
PRIME MINISTER: Fish for dinner. And then we had the trip back to the Lodge and I said to, of course we had, Toto did a little dance thing she does because she hadn’t seen us for a couple hours.
MORRIS: Toto’s a river dancer, the dog. It’s actually amazing to see in person. Keep going.
PRIME MINISTER: The same as would occur if we were away for a couple of months. And then I said to Jodie, she said, I’ll get ready for, I said, I’ve got something for you. So, I set it up on one of the balconies upstairs.
MORRIS: That overlooks the lawn?
PRIME MINISTER: That overlooks the lawn at the side, the side lawn. I had a bottle of champagne and…
MORRIS: What, Moët?
PRIME MINISTER: Jodie had been doing… I’m not going to give an ad for the brand.
MORRIS: Ok so spumanti, keep going.
MCMANUS: Yellowglen!
PRIME MINISTER: We went, [inaudible]. Yes, I got that ready, and Jodie had been doing febfast.
LOCKE: So she broke it?
PRIME MINISTER: As had I, in solidarity.
NATHAN: So, you just like, did you take her to the balcony? How did she discover?
PRIME MINISTER: Sat down, I put – the two chairs had been set up in advance – a lot of planning went into this.
MORRIS: Now, is that unusual for you to be out on the balcony looking over the side lawn? So, was she, like, cottoning onto something happening?
PRIME MINISTER: No, she just thought it was a nice night, beautiful night in Canberra, and it’s Valentine’s Day. Bit of romance.
LOCKE: Yeah. Look at him go.
PRIME MINISTER: And so I popped the question and she…
LOCKE: So, knee?
PRIME MINISTER: I’m not going into all that detail.
MORRIS: Two knees? Two knees? That’s begging.
LOCKE: You went one knee. You’re not going to not go one knee.
PRIME MINISTER: I’m not going to go into detail.
MCMANUS: Albo, can I ask you, though, how – I mean, I’ve been in that situation, so the nerves, thinking up what stage you’re going to do it…
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, I’ve got to say. And so, thought about the right time, and place, and date, and obviously Valentine’s Day was appropriate. New Year’s Eve – there are few too many people around. I thought about that, so then…
LOCKE: So, you’ve had that ring in your pocket for a while then?
PRIME MINISTER: No, hadn’t had the ring, but had the…
MORRIS: He’s the Prime Minister, someone carries it for him.
PRIME MINISTER:…had the idea.
LOCKE: Okay.
PRIME MINISTER: And so then I…
LOCKE: Did she think about it for a while?
PRIME MINISTER: It was pretty quick, the ‘yes’, I’ve got to say – we’ve been together for a long while and you’ve seen us together.
LOCKE: Absolutely. And she’s just a ripper, we love Jodie.
PRIME MINISTER: I am very lucky. And we needed to, yeah, it’s been years we’ve been together now. And I didn’t think that I would find someone that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, but I have. And she, for whatever reason, has said yes as well. And clearly that was where the relationship was going so I wanted to formalise that, and she obviously had thought about it as well, because the ‘yes’ was very quick.
LOCKE: That’s a relief, I’m sure.
PRIME MINISTER: It was! She was amazed that I’d managed to go out and get a ring, and get a ring made, and have all that ready without anyone knowing.
LOCKE: And the right size and everything, so it fit as well?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, yeah, well I had a plan there. Yeah, I had a plan.
LOCKE: Chopped off one of her fingers.
PRIME MINISTER: I borrowed some dress rings, there was a whole scenario.
MORRIS: And then two maids got fired.
PRIME MINISTER: I checked out the size, which is – I knew nothing about this until recently, but size L.
LOCKE: Okay, good to know. That’s fine, they’re fine fingers.
MCMANUS: Okay, you’ve got the rings, that’s an important part, getting the size.
LOCKE: In case we want to buy her a ring too.
MCMANUS: But actually picking something that Jodie would like is – I don’t know how I’d do it, for Jodie.
PRIME MINISTER: I’m glad, she certainly did like it. And I sat down with a friend of mine, Nicola Cerrone. He’s a great Italo-Australian jewellery designer, and he’s based in Leichhardt, so his studio is in Leichhardt. He’s always employed – I’ve done lots of political things there – because he employs apprentices, 30 of them.
MORRIS: So, did you go in there under the ruse of talking to him about that sort of stuff, but snuck in a ring meeting?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I don’t have to, I just went in there, but not in the old diary so no one knew.
LOCKE: Wasn’t an official thing.
PRIME MINISTER: And so got taken there – so, the people listening here, my staff knew nothing about any of this.
LOCKE: That’s beautiful.
PRIME MINISTER: They were all shocked that I managed to, my executive assistant was like, how did you do that?
LOCKE: Yeah. Because then you’ve got to schedule a press release and press conferences and stuff, we saw you on the lawn.
PRIME MINISTER: My security can take me places, of course, without telling.
MORRIS: There’s tunnels everywhere. We don’t know about them – there are tunnels everywhere.
PRIME MINISTER: Went there, went back, and did it over a period of weeks, calling in there at Leichhardt.
LOCKE: And the design was your idea, or you took advice from Nick?
PRIME MINISTER: I took advice. It’s a family business – him, his daughter and his chief designer – we sat down and went through, they had lots of different rings. All the things you got to choose, is it gold or silver? What form of gold?
LOCKE: How big is that diamond?
PRIME MINISTER: The diamond, all of that.
LOCKE: Solitaire, or part of a design.
PRIME MINISTER: I wanted it to be Australian, and it all is all Australian – from WA, of course, WA connection there and yeah, no we picked something, and then they sent me little text messages, and showed me various designs to make sure that it got right. And Nick was really pleased with it, so was Jodie most importantly!
MORRIS: Remember also, making history, if you get married during your time as being Prime Minister, you’ll be the first person to ever do that in office. That’s exciting. I want a woman’s day extravaganza. I want all of it. I want to wear a veil, you wear a veil, we all wear veils.
LOCKE: Is that the time frame we’re looking at while you’re…?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh look, we haven’t had a chance since then. Jodie had a work thing on Thursday night – she works full time – and then Friday I was on the Central Coast and Newcastle, and then I was in Nowra and here yesterday.
LOCKE: So, you haven’t had a conversation about it yet?
PRIME MINISTER: No we’ll sit down, plenty of time.
LOCKE: You’ll get home and she’ll have organised everything.
PRIME MINISTER: Plenty of time. Jodie will certainly be – her organisational capacity is extraordinary and I’m sure she will have thoughts. But we’ll…
LOCKE: Well, I mean, the Lodge is a nice venue. Kirribilli is not a bad venue too.
MORRIS: But it is their house, though, you know what I mean? Do you want to have it at your house?
PRIME MINISTER: We’ll take our time to…
MORRIS: We’ll get some stuff organised, we’ll speak to you, ‘cos you’re busy.
PRIME MINISTER: And you’ve got to have it as well when there’s some time off immediately afterwards. Which, when you look at my diary, it’s not going to be soon. And I can confirm that the honeymoon will not be in Hawaii.
LOCKE: The Prime Minister’s sticking around.
PRIME MINISTER: I can confirm that. That’s a one way ticket for Prime Ministers, I think.
MCMANUS: Proven.
PRIME MINISTER: They should just keep going if they go to Hawaii.
MORRIS: Aloha, Prime Minister.
LOCKE: The Prime Minister’s turned up just in time for some gorgeous weather. 43 today, Prime Minister.
MCMANUS: And you have to wear a suit.
MORRIS: Would we be okay – honestly, I’m in a world where I would be okay if the Prime Minister wore a nice t shirt and some slacks.
PRIME MINISTER: Mate, you’re in an office the size of a cardboard box. Don’t laugh at me. Seriously, you’re not in a position to sledge my work.
MORRIS: Listen to him. I’m trying to get him into some Billabong shorts and he won’t listen to me.
LOCKE: Nathan, Nat and Sean joined in the studio by Albo. The Prime Minister’s in the house now.
MCMANUS: Albo, we are talking about Taylor Swift non-stop recently all over WA and she’s not even playing here. So, tell us what your interaction’s going to be.
PRIME MINISTER: Coldplay played here though – they didn’t play anywhere else.
MCMANUS: We’re not complaining. You getting along to Accor?
PRIME MINISTER: I am going along to…
LOCKE: One of the shows?
MORRIS: To one of the shows yeah. What’s your outfit? What are you wearing? Have you gone to Spotlight yet?
LOCKE: Which era are you going for?
PRIME MINISTER: You’ll have to wait and see.
MORRIS: Do you want to borrow something from my closet? I can duck home today and drop it off to your hotel.
LOCKE: They’re talking about it being, like, a massive boon for the economy. It is extraordinary, isn’t it?
MORRIS: A billion bucks!
PRIME MINISTER: Hotels are full in Melbourne and will be full in Sydney.
LOCKE: We’re in a cost of living crisis, but it’s amazing how people can find the money to go and see Taylor Swift.
PRIME MINISTER: Record numbers of Australians went to Bali last year, record numbers of Australians went to Fiji last year.
MORRIS: And Japan. Hey – as the Prime Minister, because Taylor Swift’s here, of course, and you’re the leader of this country, are you going to meet her? Do your people reach out? Does she reach out to you? What happens? Can you meet Taylor Swift if you choose to?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I haven’t tried to…
LOCKE: But you could, surely. You could pull that card.
MORRIS: You could get her deported. You could have her deported.
LOCKE: You’ve got her on vinyl, come on.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, well, you’ve seen my Tay Tay vinyl, there at the Lodge during your visit.
MORRIS: I know.
LOCKE: Yeah, that’s right.
MORRIS: By the way, our photo on the mantel?
PRIME MINISTER: Your photo is still up on the mantelpiece.
LOCKE: So, who else is on the mantel?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, on the mantelpiece, there’s, of course, Jodie, my son Nathan, the dog – there’s a couple of photos of the dog.
LOCKE: Yes.
PRIME MINISTER: And there is a photo as well of King Charles, Jodie and myself, and then there’s you three. And so it’s a great conversation starter because people come in and they go, who are they? There’s the King, there’s Toto…
MCMANUS: They broke in one night and left it. On the cost of living situation, people want to always ask you that kind of question but….
PRIME MINISTER: Tax cuts!
MCMANUS: Tax cuts has been fantastic, I know that works for everyone. I just want to talk about – I go to the supermarkets, like all of us do all the time, it blows me away, and I heard people talk about this, domestic inflation, so we’re trying to bring that down right – but there’s only, there’s a lot of supermarkets, but really, Coles and Woolies a lot of people go to.
LOCKE: It’s a duopoly essentially.
MCMANUS: And they’re taking the piss. You’ve done an investigation into the banking sector over time. But what about, I mean, this is just….
PRIME MINISTER: We’re onto it. We are having the ACCC, having the competition consumer tribunal, is having a very close look at the whole supply chains, how it all works.
LOCKE: Yeah. Because it’s not the farmers making the money.
PRIME MINISTER: At the moment, there’s a voluntary code of conduct, right. So, what they’re doing is looking at whether there should be a little bit more compulsion in there, and more transparency as well, is important. In addition to that I’ve got Dr. Craig Emerson is looking at a review as well, because people are under financial pressure and when they hear about farmers getting less for their product, but that not being passed on, then that’s not fair.
MCMANUS: Yeah, absolutely.
PRIME MINISTER: If farmers are getting less, the checkout price should be less.
MORRIS: I feel like since COVID, it was all blamed on COVID, and it was all blamed on the Ukraine, the war, and then suddenly I feel like supermarket are in a scenario where they’re going okay everyone’s used to paying a little bit more so we’re going to keep the prices up, because they should have come down. The price jump on certain stuff is unbelievable. Like $1, $1.50 on one product. You cannot tell me that that has increased that much. So, I’m really glad that you’re doing something about that.
PRIME MINISTER: We’re onto that.
MORRIS: Shut it down.
PRIME MINISTER: People’s wages are increasing, real wages increase two quarters in a row. That’s good news. And of course, our tax cuts will go to every single one of your listeners who’s a taxpayer will get a tax cut, whereas so many of them…
LOCKE: So, you’ve been heavily criticised for this, of course, because you changed your mind on the policy that you promised going into the election.
PRIME MINISTER: We did change our mind.
LOCKE: With the stage three tax cut, which meant the people that the higher earners were going to benefit more, and then middle Australia is going to miss out. So, you’ve basically reversed that decision and said that now everybody gets a tax cut.
PRIME MINISTER: That’s right. Look, I’ll still get, politicians will still get $4500 tax cut, but they won’t get as much as they were going to get. But guess what? Middle Australia will now not miss out, will get double.
LOCKE: I can’t believe you’re being criticised for this. And we’re the ones that stand to be affected the most by it.
MORRIS: When you did it. We went, straight away…
LOCKE: Makes sense.
MORRIS: Broken promise, you go, oh, that’s crap. But no, what you did is – things changed, you assessed the situation and said, how can I help more people?
PRIME MINISTER: That’s a gutsy call.
MORRIS: And to be honest….
PRIME MINISTER: And we were up front about it.
MORRIS: I’m one of the people that doesn’t benefit from that change, but yet I am all for that happening.
LOCKE: See the point of it.
PRIME MINISTER: That’s right. Look, we were with retail workers yesterday at Hyde Park here in Perth, and many of them were going to get not a single dollar if they earn under $45,000 a year, which is so many people who work at Woolies, and work at Coles, and work at these outlets, they were going to miss out. Now they need support as well. And so lowering that top, that bottom rate from 19 to 16 will make an enormous difference for them and that’s important that people don’t get left behind, because they’re under cost of living pressure more so than people on my income.
MCMANUS: Yeah, no doubt.
MORRIS: Albo, something on the cost, homes – on the housing crisis. Now I’ve got this, I just want to know if this is stupid. Well, you cannot get a house at the moment, right? It’s so impossible.
LOCKE: Are you talking about rentals?
MORRIS: Buying, I’m buying a house, right? So, you cannot get a house at the moment. By the time that you rock up there, the amount of times that I and people that I know have gone to – it’s literally gone up that day, they’ve called and that house has been bought by an overseas investor that is not planning to live in that house. Can we shut that down and get people that live here, that actually want to live in these houses, can we get that shut down in the meantime for a few years? Just so it’s not going to someone that’s just investing, that doesn’t even live in our country?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the number of homes in that situation are actually not a huge number, but we do have restrictions there on overseas ownership and we did make changes in our last budget about those issues as well. But the key is supply – so, tomorrow I’ll be with Roger Cook, the Premier here in Perth, looking at our build-to-rent and what that has done for increasing supply, as well as social housing, increasing supply as well. And we have before the Parliament right now our help-to-buy scheme, that’s actually based on WA’s scheme, it’s shared equity, essentially. So the Government can, instead of, if you’re buying a house worth a million bucks, if it’s a new build for a unit or what have you, then the Commonwealth can own up to 40% of it. So that cuts it down from a million bucks to $600,000, which means that it then is more affordable for you. And then down the track, you can, of course, buy back that Government equity.
LOCKE: Or if you sell it, the Government gets their equity.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, so, it’s modelled on a scheme that’s operated successfully here in WA for decades.
MCMANUS: On that, are you going to help the building industry out? Because every time you’re reading, one of those, the builders are going down because gone on fix pricing before…
LOCKE: And they can’t build them fast enough.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we’ve got a big build-to-rent scheme, which will see between 150 and 250,000 private dwellings built.
LOCKE: But do we have the builders to build them?
MCMANUS: Who’s going to build them?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we’re doing – fee free TAFE. I’ll be at Thornlie TAFE in a short period, of time. 300,000 fee free TAFE places making an enormous difference, training up our carpenters and our electricians and builders, making an enormous difference and doing it for free – part of our cost of living measures.
LOCKE: That is a bonus.
PRIME MINISTER: But also really good for housing.
MORRIS: If not, is it conscription, when they used to conscript you into the army?
LOCKE: Just conscript them into the building industry?
MORRIS: Yeah, like I know that you want to be a lawyer, but too bad you’re a bricky.
LOCKE: Thoughts, Prime Minister?
MCMANUS: We need brickies.
PRIME MINISTER: Guess what? You don’t need to do that, because if we get the message out there – I’ll tell you what, tradies have a good life. Secure job, good wages, and do pretty well. So, we want people to value a TAFE education as much as a university education.
LOCKE: And it’s certainly cheaper.
MCMANUS: There you go.
PRIME MINISTER: It is, it’s free!
LOCKE: Thank you, Prime Minister. It’s always a joy when you come and visit, Albo. And all our love to you and Jodie.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you so much for the good wishes.
