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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Wednesday, the

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Speaker 1: twenty sixth of March, and I'm Billy. Now. Usually in

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Speaker 1: the afternoon we would be publishing our afternoon headlines, but

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Speaker 1: today we have a very special edition for you. As

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Speaker 1: you would have been able to tell from the title.

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Speaker 1: On this episode, you will hear an interview with Prime

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Speaker 1: Minister Anthony Albanesi. Last night, the Labor government delivered its

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Speaker 1: pre election budget, where it committed to tax cuts and

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Speaker 1: energy bill relief, but the documents also show Australia is

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Speaker 1: plunging further into deficit, which is likely to be shouldered

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Speaker 1: by future generations. This morning, TDA political journalist Harry Sekulich

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Speaker 1: caught up with Prime Minister Anthony Albanesi in his Parliamentary

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Speaker 1: office courtyard to ask him about how the budget will

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Speaker 1: address issues that matter to young people. Here is that interview,

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Speaker 1: Prime Minister, Thank you so much for time.

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Speaker 2: So the Daily Oss audience tell us consistently that mental health,

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Speaker 2: supports and renting are the top concerns for them. But

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Speaker 2: based on this budget, not much appears to be changing

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Speaker 2: in those areas. So what is in the budget for

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Speaker 2: young people?

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Speaker 3: Well, there's an enormous amount in the budget for young people. Firstly,

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Speaker 3: of course the cutting of further cutting of hex decks

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Speaker 3: twenty percent wiped out if we're elected to office and

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Speaker 3: that will kick in in July.

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Speaker 4: It comes on top of the three billion.

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Speaker 3: Dollars we've already reduced Shouldn't debt by on mental health.

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Speaker 3: We have increased support as well. What we're doing is

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Speaker 3: having these Medicare mental health centers where people can go

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Speaker 3: in get that mental health support that they need for free.

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Speaker 4: They just need their Medicare card.

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Speaker 3: We're funded in excess of sixty there's more than thirty

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Speaker 3: of those centers are open right around Australia as well,

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Speaker 3: providing that support. And in addition to that, of course,

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Speaker 3: we've had a forty five percent increase in rental assistance.

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Speaker 3: That has made a substantial difference and for young Australians

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Speaker 3: who are at school and the future young Australians to come.

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Speaker 3: I think the agreement that was signed right here in

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Speaker 3: this space this week with Couensine, which now brings every

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Speaker 3: state and territory into the better and Fairer schools funding

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Speaker 3: agreement that was identified more than a decade ago. But

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Speaker 3: what this will do is an additional sixteen and a

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Speaker 3: half billion dollars from the Comwealth, as well as additional

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Speaker 3: funding from state and territory governments to make sure that

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Speaker 3: every student in every public school gets the funding that

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Speaker 3: they deserve and they need.

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Speaker 2: I just want to focus on some of the other

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Speaker 2: cost of living measures that was in this budget. So

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Speaker 2: that includes the tax cuts for all taxpayers, and also

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Speaker 2: the energy bill relief which will be for all households,

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Speaker 2: including those who might be on hir incomes. Do you

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Speaker 2: think you should have focused on prioritizing those who are

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Speaker 2: doing it toughest at the moment, Well, that's and targeting

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Speaker 2: that support of cost living.

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Speaker 3: Well, that's precisely what you do when you have universality.

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Speaker 3: So that if you look at the tax cuts they

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Speaker 3: aimed at, people on that lower rate in particular will

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Speaker 3: benefit in terms of the proportion the average tax that

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Speaker 3: they pay by lowering that first rate that kicks in

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Speaker 3: once you get past the tax free threshold up to

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Speaker 3: forty five thousand dollars from sixteen cents to fifteen and

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Speaker 3: then to fourteen. That will particularly benefit low income earners.

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Speaker 3: It will benefit part time workers, people who are students

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Speaker 3: working their way through university or TAFE. It will make

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Speaker 3: a difference for them. You can't when you're changing the

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Speaker 3: tax scales. You can't change the first marginal tax rate

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Speaker 3: and then change it at the top end or not

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Speaker 3: see that flow through. But we deliberately have targeted those

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Speaker 3: lower middle income earners, which will mean that for average

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Speaker 3: Australians will benefit because it's a top up from the

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Speaker 3: tax cuts that began this year to the tune of

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Speaker 3: two and a half thousand dollars extra dollars in people's pockets.

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Speaker 2: You could change those tax brackets though, so they could

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Speaker 2: increase according to a measure like inflation or the wage

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Speaker 2: price index. Would you consider adjusting the tax brackets.

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Speaker 3: Well, we are adjusting in the weedge, we're adjust We're

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Speaker 3: adjusting them down, is what we're doing. What we did

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Speaker 3: through our tax changes was take four and a half

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Speaker 3: thousand dollars of legislative tax cuts that I was going

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Speaker 3: to receive less and redistributed that to low middle income earners.

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Speaker 3: And they're the changes that we put through. The opposition

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Speaker 3: screen blue murder those changes, said that they'd oppose them,

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Speaker 3: said they'd roll them back. Then they said we should

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Speaker 3: have an election well, they did what they said they

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Speaker 3: wouldn't do, and eventually they passed the parliament because they

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Speaker 3: had support from the crossbenches as well, and in the

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Speaker 3: end they went through unanimously.

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Speaker 2: I just want to zoom out on the budget more broadly.

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Speaker 2: We're heading into a twenty seven billion dollar deficit this

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Speaker 2: year and the deficits are growing, and compared to last

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Speaker 2: year's budget, they're actually estimated to be even deeper down

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Speaker 2: the track. Who's going to be paying off this government debt?

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Speaker 3: Well, what we have done is produced, of course, two

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Speaker 3: budget surpass, the first time that that has happened in decades.

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Speaker 3: We inherited a seventy eight billion dollar deficit when we

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Speaker 3: came to office. We turned that into a twenty two

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Speaker 3: billion dollar surpace and then followed it up with another

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Speaker 3: fifteen billion dollar surpas. The deficit which we announced last night,

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Speaker 3: twenty seven billion, is half of what was anticipated just

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Speaker 3: three years ago under the coalition. So what we have

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Speaker 3: done is we've made over almost one hundred billion dollars

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Speaker 3: of savings, we have reduced debt by around about one

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Speaker 3: hundred and eighty billion dollars, and going forward, the budget

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Speaker 3: bottom line is two hundred and seven billion dollars better

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Speaker 3: than the one that we inherited.

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Speaker 2: But compared to last year's predictions, last year's predictions were

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Speaker 2: actually a lot rosier than what we saw last night.

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Speaker 2: Prime and stuff.

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Speaker 3: Well, if you look at the midyear economic forecast, they've

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Speaker 3: actually shown an improvement and that was just in December.

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Speaker 3: What we've managed to do as to get inflation down

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Speaker 3: to two point four percent, and unlike unlike what a

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Speaker 3: whole lot of economists would say, which was to get

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Speaker 3: inflation down, you've got to have unemployment rising, You've got

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Speaker 3: to really put the brakes on and leave people behind.

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Speaker 3: Now that's not the labor way, that's not a way

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Speaker 3: that I support. So we've managed to get inflation down

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Speaker 3: whilst we're provided cost of living relief, not just tax cuts,

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Speaker 3: not just energy bill relief, but cheaper medicines that have

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Speaker 3: benefited Australians as well, free tape, all of these measures

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Speaker 3: making a difference, cheaper childcare, two thousand and seven hundred

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Speaker 3: dollars saved on childcare, whilst we've created.

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Speaker 4: One point one million jobs.

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Speaker 3: More jobs have been created since I've been Prime Minister

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Speaker 3: than at any term in Australian history. Over the last

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Speaker 3: one hundred and twenty five years, and our unemployment rate

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Speaker 3: on average is lower than it has been. All of

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Speaker 3: these measures are combining so that real wages are increasing

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Speaker 3: and that has particularly benefited young Australians.

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Speaker 2: So, just on climate change, the budget showed us last

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Speaker 2: night that after X tropical cyclic and OURFRED, Australia is

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Speaker 2: expected to pay thirteen point five billion dollars in natural

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Speaker 2: disaster repair. But we didn't see any significant investments into

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Speaker 2: cutting emissions or any major climate announcements. Is there a

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Speaker 2: disconnect between the government's climate priorities and spending measures.

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Speaker 4: Not at all.

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Speaker 3: We've got in place the safeguard mechanism, the capacity investment

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Speaker 3: skin that a driving investment in renewables. What we are

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Speaker 3: seeing with the investment that we have in renewables, and

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Speaker 3: to take one measure that we had in last night's budget,

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Speaker 3: three billion dollars for green metals. If we can produce

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Speaker 3: green alu medium and green steel in Australia driven by

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Speaker 3: green hydrogen powered by solar and renewables, providing the green

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Speaker 3: hydrogen that replaces coal in that system, then you have

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Speaker 3: an enormous benefit going forward for reducing our emissions as

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Speaker 3: well as supporting Australian jobs.

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Speaker 2: But those products and tax credits are going to continue

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Speaker 2: into twenty thirty six. Based on the government's own official figures,

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Speaker 2: you're not on track to meet the forty three percent

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Speaker 2: reduction target on two thousand and five levels by twenty thirty.

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Speaker 4: You bet we are. You bet we're twenty two six,

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Speaker 4: You bet we're on track.

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Speaker 3: We are very confident that what the measures that we

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Speaker 3: have in place already have at forty two point six.

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Speaker 4: But what you are seeing is technology increasing.

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Speaker 3: One of the things that we will hit forty three

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Speaker 3: percent by absolutely. The development of new industries like green

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Speaker 3: or hydrogen mean that if we seize the opportunities which

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Speaker 3: are there, not only can we drive our missions down,

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Speaker 3: we can support jobs. We can support industries, including new

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Speaker 3: industries which will open up.

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Speaker 2: What do you say to those people who want to

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Speaker 2: see the government going further and faster on cutting emission.

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Speaker 3: That we're going as fast as we can whilst being responsible.

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Speaker 3: We want to make sure that we continue to build

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Speaker 3: community support.

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Speaker 4: We want to make sure we have energy security.

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Speaker 3: I see climate change as something that must go through

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Speaker 3: all of our policies that we put forward and we have,

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Speaker 3: of course the motor vehicle emission standards, that fuel standards

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Speaker 3: that we're talked about for a long period of time.

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Speaker 3: It's taken my government to get those fuel standards in place.

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Speaker 2: Just finally Prime mintersta just want you to picture a

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Speaker 2: student that's heading to class today, maybe nineteen or twenty

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Speaker 2: years old. He's not feeling too optimistic about the future

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Speaker 2: of this country. What do you want them to know?

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Speaker 3: I want them to know that Australia has a great

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Speaker 3: future if we seize the opportunities. There's no country in

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Speaker 3: the world you'd rather be than Australia. Where we're located

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Speaker 3: in the fastest growing region of the world in human history.

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Speaker 3: That presents the opportunity for us to be a renewable

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Speaker 3: energy superpower.

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Speaker 4: We need to compete in.

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Speaker 3: That region by how smart we are, which is why

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Speaker 3: it's good if they're going to university or doing a

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Speaker 3: TAFE course.

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Speaker 4: We need to.

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Speaker 3: Make sure that we value that our industrial relations policies

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Speaker 3: are making sure that they'll be properly paid. We want

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Speaker 3: an economy that works for people, not the other way around,

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Speaker 3: and that was a.

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Speaker 4: Focus of our budget last night.

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Speaker 3: It's a focus of my government in our first term

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Speaker 3: and it will be an even stronger focus in our

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Speaker 3: second term.

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Speaker 2: Prome Minister Anthony Albineasy, thank you so much for joining

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Speaker 2: the Daily Os in your courtyard.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, thanks very much.

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Speaker 2: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda

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Speaker 2: Bunjelung Cargotin woman from Gadigl country.

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Speaker 3: The Daily Os acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on

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Speaker 3: the lands of the Gatighl people and pays respect to

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Speaker 3: all Aboriginal and Torres Straight Island and nations. We pay

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Speaker 3: our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both

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Speaker 3: past and present,