JANICE PETERSEN: Joining me now from the New South Wales South Coast is the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison. Good evening, Prime Minister. Thanks so much for your time tonight. You say that this election is not about you, but in the end, how much blame will you personally shoulder if it doesn’t go your way?
PRIME MINISTER: This election is about a choice about our economy into the future. Over the last 12 months, even just that period of time, we’ve had the biggest turnaround in the Budget – over $100 billion. Unemployment has fallen to four per cent and it’s falling further. And whether you look at job growth or economic growth, Australia’s economic recovery is leading the advanced economies of the world. Now we know our economic plan is working and our economic plan is setting us up for the future. Investments in skills and infrastructure, in the data and digital economy, in affordable, reliable energy, and particularly with electricity prices down. Ensuring we keep that strong plan in place to secure a stronger future is really the choice that’s before the Australian people.
PETERSEN: Prime Minister, you confirmed today that despite being stood aside from your ministry, Alan Tudge is still a member of the Cabinet. Why’s he still there?
PRIME MINISTER: He stood aside up until the next election and I’m taking my whole team forward to this next election and at the at that election and in the next week or so, I’ll be also announcing who will be filling the vacancy that will be left by Greg Hunt. So I’ll be very clear with people about the team I’m taking forward. People know my team, that know Peter Dutton’s the Defence Minister. They know Karen Andrews is the Home Affairs Minister, that Josh Frydenberg is the Treasurer, Simon Birmingham is the Finance Minister. These are the important portfolios that drive the Government and I can be very clear about those things. Unfortunately, when it comes to who’s going to be Labor’s Defence Minister and who’s going to be the Home Affairs Minister, Anthony Albanese cannot confirm those details.
PETERSEN: You denied making racial comments about a political opponent 15 years ago. You say you have a good relationship with the Lebanese community, but tell me, what have you done to encourage multiculturalism?
PRIME MINISTER: We’ve invested heavily in our multicultural programs. We’ve invested in a cohesive society through an immigration program that has brought skills together with humanitarian entrants at record levels, during particularly the early part of my Prime Ministership. And in the Lebanese community in particular, I remember after the Christchurch massacres, I was one of the first there at the mosques in Lakemba, with my arms around my fellow Australians. This has always been my approach. Whether it’s been with the Lebanese community or the Indian community in particular. The most recent Indian Free Trade Agreement has been a massive achievement of the Government and setting up a new area of economic opportunity linking those who are in this country and Indian nationals coming to Australia have been one of our biggest sources of migrants to this country. And they’re finding a great home. But we still provide humanitarian places for 16,500 Afghans and 2,000 Burmese refugees to Australia, just for this year alone, which I announced when I was in Perth just the other day.
PETERSEN: Your Government’s just brokered the New Zealand refugee resettlement deal and released detainees from the Park Park Hotel. Is that a concession that your policy in this area was heavy handed?
PRIME MINISTER: No, it’s a demonstration that it has taken us a long time to clean up Labor’s mess. When they were last in government, they lost control of our borders. They had to open 17 detention centres. They put children in detention at Manus Island. We ended all that. We restored the borders. We got everybody out of detention and we’ve been able to find places, particularly through the United States arrangement and the New Zealand arrangement, which we’ve been working on for some years, to ensure we can clean up the terrible mess and the tragedies that occurred as a result of Labor’s border failures.
PETERSEN: Thanks so much. That’s the Prime Minister Scott Morrison joining us from the New South Wales South Coast.
