ANDREW PROBYN: Prime Minister, you said today that Australians were tired of politics. Could the truth be that they’re actually tired of you?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it’s been a tough few years. People have been getting through the pandemic and Australia is now coming out of that pandemic with one of the strongest jobs records and strongest economic growth records amongst the advanced world. And so we now need to make a big decision, and that decision is to keep a strong economy, which means a stronger future guaranteeing the essential services Australians rely on or risking it all by going on a different path with a Labor Opposition whose economic record just doesn’t measure up.
PROBYN: But do you worry that judgments about you have hardened and they’re not flattering?
PRIME MINISTER: This election is about the people watching right now. It’s not about any individual. It’s not about me or anyone else. It’s about you, who are watching, and your priorities, and ensuring that your job, your future, training for young people right across the country, the investment in the infrastructure that we’re delivering a stronger economy, delivering that stronger future. Labor’s alternative – their financial management, their economic management, their record is well known and it doesn’t measure up to deliver that strong economy that we need for the future.
PROBYN: Well, as you say, this first term has been dominated by a pandemic. If you do win a second term, can we expect to see a reform agenda from you?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, our economic plan is to keep taxes low and cut red tape. It’s to ensure we’re investing in the skills and infrastructure Australia needs, and we are investing in those skills and infrastructure. It is ensuring reliable and affordable energy to drive our economy into the future. We’re embracing the data and digital economy to lead the world in this area in the top 10 by 2030. And we’re making things here in Australia, particularly for our defence industries and giving our sovereign manufacturing capability. In the last 12 months, we’ve turned around the Budget by over $100 billion. That is the strongest recovery we’ve seen in 70 years, but to keep that going, we need to keep going forward with that plan. That plan that is delivering one of the strongest economies in the world today coming out of this pandemic.
PROBYN: PM, thanks for your time.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks a lot.
