Interview with Clairsy, Matt & Kymba - 94.5 Big Breakfast
2 October 2018
HOST: The 30th Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, welcome.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I just thought I’d pop in, you know? I was wandering by and I saw the light on.
[Laughter]
HOST: Welcome, welcome.
HOST: Could you have brought us a coffee Scott?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I was hoping there was one in my future, but maybe there is in yours too.
HOST: We’ll work on it, welcome to Perth mate. How are you?
PRIME MINISTER: I’m great. I mean the place is buzzing after West Coast’s win on the weekend.
HOST: It certainly is.
PRIME MINISTER: I mean grand finals are awesome –
HOST: You were there weren’t you?
PRIME MINISTER: I was there and I was barracking for West Coast. As you know I don’t follow AFL but it’s a great game and Julie was sitting behind and she was going off completely.
HOST: Yeah!
PRIME MINISTER: You know there were a lot of Western Australians there and they were having a great time. But you know, as I said to the boys yesterday when I went and saw them, it’s a massive achievement for them obviously, just as professional sportspeople and they work all their lives to achieve that. But I think the thing that always really blows them away is just what it means for the fans and the supporters.
HOST: Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: They really see it and they go; “Gosh, we’ve really done something huge for our community.”
HOST: It changes people’s lives.
PRIME MINISTER: For the fan base, they get so excited and that’s the great thing about sport; you just forget all the other stuff going on maybe, for a little while.
HOST: Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: You escape it a bit, that’s –
HOST: But here you are, come on mate, come up with the goods.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, yeah.
HOST: How is the gig working out?
PRIME MINISTER: Well look, I’m enjoying getting around and talking to a lot of people, but importantly it’s been about getting the show back on the road very, very quickly. I think we’ve done that and the focus is there, the Ministers are all getting about their tasks. We’re dealing with issues around the drought, we’re making some further announcements today around how we’re supporting people in their homes as they get older. We’re going out there with Ken Wyatt today to make some announcements there. So that’s everything from making sure they’ve got household assistance around the place, even mowing the lawn and that sort of thing. So it means they get to stay in their home for longer. We announced the Aged Care Royal Commission, we’ll be putting the terms of reference out for that fairly soon.
HOST: That independence thing is a big deal for people isn’t it?
PRIME MINISTER: It totally is. I mean, look, I’ve got elderly parents. My Mum is very healthy, I mean, Dad is not so well, but you just want them to be able to age with dignity.
HOST: Yes.
PRIME MINISTER: And with choices and the family can just sort of relate to them normally and preferably not in a residential aged care centre if you can avoid it. But if you do, you make that as accommodating as you can.
HOST: There’s currently a Royal Commission into the banking industry as well as the Royal Commission on aged care. Can we get a Royal Commission on petrol prices please? It’s like $1.64 on average in Perth today and it’s just … people can’t afford it.
PRIME MINISTER: I saw that and we’ve been seeing similar prices more recently over in the east coast as well, they’ve been there for a little longer. But there basically already is, with the ACCC. They are the cop on the beat and they do have the powers to bring actions when the prices have been gamed and not just people doing it at the pump and locally; I gave them powers when I was Treasurer so they can look back behind the pump and see what’s doing back in the head office. They get access to documents and things like this, so it’s Rod Simms job, he’s the cop on the beat. So I’ll be expecting him to do that job.
HOST: Now, Prime Minister welcome firstly and of course, it’s been a weird kind of decade, let’s be honest.
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER: It’s been a weird bit of gear.
HOST: Yeah, now you said yourself last year that the electorate was infected with entrenched cynicism etcetera, that’s all true. So here you are, you’re blank sheet of paper in terms of how people view you, but you come from a marketing background. What can you tell me? Lie to me, give me something.
[Laughter]
HOST: What?
HOST: Hang on, that’s the first time ever people have openly said to a politician; “Please lie to me”.
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I won’t be doing that, I can assure you of that.
HOST: All I want is a kernel of something that I can hang on to, to think we’re moving in a grown-up direction in this country.
PRIME MINISTER: Well right off the bat, I talked about making sure Australia remains strong, safe and together. But look, what I hope people understand from me is, I’m just a guy who gets it. I get it that they want their taxes to be lower and that’s why I lowered them. I get it that they want their jobs to be secure and they want the economy to be strong, not just so they can be confident about their job, but everything we do – hospitals, schools, all of this – depends on the economy being strong. That’s why I think Australians want that and I get that. You know, you can’t pay for Medicare if you can’t run an economy and you can’t run a Budget. I’ve been able to achieve that both as a Treasurer and in other portfolios and now as Prime Minister. But keeping Australians safe, that’s really important to me and whether it’s bullying in schools or it’s threats of terrorism, the Government has to work across all of these things. But the one area I’m finding people are responding really well to – and it goes to the point you were making – Australians are so over everybody fighting, about everything.
HOST: Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: Do we really have to fight about everything? Can’t we just agree on a few things? I think that’s why people responded really well to the strawberries issue. Because they just, for once, saw well, here’s problem and we actually got it legislated in 36 hours.
HOST: Yep.
PRIME MINISTER: I was up with some strawberry farmers last week and the response – you know, I put it all down to Jen’s pavlova personally –
[Laughter]
But putting it to one side - people responded. I went to one roadside shop, you know, a fruit shop up on the Sunshine Coast. They went from what is normally 20 trays a day of selling strawberries, to 94 in one weekend. And that was just Australians going; “Yeah, we get it, we’ll turn up.”
HOST: Just putting out strawberries for the country.
PRIME MINISTER: So I’m a guy who gets it and I’m also a guy who gets it done.
HOST: Okay now, you are getting it done. You’ve got the job now and you worked closely obviously with Malcolm Turnbull and you are friends.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah.
HOST: But in the job so far, is there one thing, one little thing or even a bigger component of the job, where you were surprised? Something you’d only know if it’s hard or easy, when you’re the PM? Is there something in the job that’s surprised you?
PRIME MINISTER: Well you know, having been a pretty senior member of the Government for the last five years, you do have a pretty direct insight into the running of the country particularly working closely with the former Prime Minister. Look, the biggest frustration is just always, whether it’s state and territory governments or, it’s just trying to get everybody to work together. That’s actually one of the biggest jobs of the Prime Minister. When you’re the Treasurer, you’re putting a Budget together –
HOST: Of course.
PRIME MINISTER: When you’re the Immigration Minister, you’re running the immigration program, you know, you’ve got line responsibilities. But as a Prime Minister, it’s your job to try to bring the whole orchestra together.
HOST: Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: And not just your own team, but as the leader of the nation, outside of government as well. I mean for the drought at the moment, Major General Stephen Day he’s coordinating our response to the drought. One of the biggest areas he’s identified – and I know this more effects the eastern states, less here in the west. The west have been doing great and actually getting feed across to the other side of the country and thanks for that. But coordinating the charitable support, so making sure that - we don’t run that – but making sure all the charities work together so it gets to where it needs to get to. I mean one of the problems we had is, people were sending tins of food and all these sorts of things; that’s great for the farmer but then the local greengrocer and the local shop there goes broke. We want the towns to remain viable.
So that is the job, you’ve got to bring everybody together to focus on the big challenges.
HOST: Can you work with Bill Shorten?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, yeah. We did the strawberries thing the other day. But look, politics in Australia is always going to be … the Westminster system is based on there being an Opposition and a Government. So I don’t think we should be unrealistic about it, but there have been occasions where we have. But there will be other occasions where we don’t.
I certainly hope he’s going to work with me on the GST. I mean we’ve got $4.7 billion in extra support. Deserved, it’s not charity, it’s what WA deserves and has always deserved. So, I’m going to be introducing legislation when we go back, to make sure that WA GST deal sticks. He votes for it, it’s done. Ten years to 15 years, but ten years at least, this has been an issue, I recon. This is all done when we go back to Parliament, all he has to do is vote for it.
HOST: Okay alright. Scott Morrison, get out there and go and do it. You said that you get it and it’s time to go and do it. But before you go, we’ve been taking calls this morning on the little things that annoy people, that has to be just right. For Matty, he hates when people are late.
HOST: Sorry about that.
[Laughter]
HOST: You’re forgiven.
HOST: I straighten shoes and Kymba doesn’t get on a treadmill if it’s crooked. What’s the one thing that you have to get right before you leave home or work, or the office?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh you know, it’s a simple rule; pants first shoes second, that always usually works for me.
HOST: Yep, a good start.
PRIME MINISTER: If you get that right, I think you can get the rest right. But can I tell you one of the coolest things I’ve got to do over the last month? I got to meet will.i.am.
HOST: Yeah?
HOST: Oh right, the Black Eyed Peas!
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, because they played at the Grand Final and look, I like a lot of these reality television shows, I’ve always loved the Voice. I don’t know if that breaches any sort of commercial arrangements –
HOST: No, no.
HOST: We’ll just shut you down there.
[Laughter]
PRIME MINISTER: I really like will.i.am and I was like a kid, going up and we got a selfie and all the rest of it. He was a really lovely bloke, he was a really, really nice guy and he loves, he just loves Australia too. So he was just really happy to be there. So, it’s a very serious job, I know that and I think everyone knows I do take it seriously. But every now and then, like meeting will.i.am –
HOST: Some perks.
PRIME MINISTER: It was cool.
HOST: Nice.
HOST: Good one.
PRIME MINISTER: Even for a big Tina Arena fan like me.
[Laughter]
HOST: Let’s get it started, right there, for the Black Eyed Peas. The 30th Prime Minister Scott Morrison, all the best.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks guys, great to be here.
