Interview with Karl Stefanovic, A Current Affair
4 June 2020
Karl Stefanovic: PM good evening to you.
Prime Minister: G’day Karl.
Stefanovic: The Government’s HomeBuilder package you announced today, how many families in the suburbs have got a lazy $150,000 to spend on a renovation to get the cash grant do you reckon?
Prime Minister: Well, none of them do. That's why they borrow the money to do those renovations. I mean, if you’ve got, if you can't afford to go and build a new house and you've got, your kids are growing up and they need a bit more room, then the only option you have is to renovate your house. And the average loan taken in Australia the first three months of this year for those sort of renovations was $164,000 dollars. So that's what people do when they can't knock down their house and build another one, or if they can't go and build a new home, which can cost, you know, about $300,000 to $350,000. But what this programme is all about actually is getting about 20,000 to 30,000 new starts on jobs, that is new home starts renovations to generate jobs and support jobs in the residential building industry and support those apprentices. So it's all about the jobs.
Stefanovic: I understand why you’ve had to set that as a threshold to avoid shocks and rorting the scheme, but how many people are actually do you think, going to use this home builder package?
Prime Minister: Well, the estimate is about 20,000 new home starts and 7,000 renovations. That's what the programme’s designed to achieve. And we'll monitor that closely. But it's a demand driven programme, just like what we're able to do with the first home loan deposit scheme. I mean, we estimated and budgeted for 10,000 people to get those access to their first home loans. So 10,000 Australians have actually got into their first home as a result of that scheme that we launched last year. And I’m really pleased to see that happen. And that's done on the same income tests that we've put on for this new, for this HomeBuilder programme.
Stefanovic: You got the numbers horribly wrong with JobKeeper, have you got the numbers right on this one?
Prime Minister: Well, we'll see. I mean, these are estimates and these are very uncertain times, and we hope that people who may have pulled back from projects that they were going to go ahead with, will now feel more confident. And we've certainly had a lot of that feedback today from the building industry who’ve received this very, very warmly, because at the end of the day, it’s, we understood that we're going to have about a 30,000 drop off in the number of new home starts over the back end of this year. And so the programme is you know, very tightly constrained in a short timeframe to try and get those projects happening so the pipeline of work is there for the apprentices, for the tradies, for the plasterers, for the carpenters, for those who are back in the prefab work that goes in before you get on site and then the retailers who you know, put in the fridges and and the appliances and all the other things. And and that's that's why when you're supporting the residential construction industry, that it has those knock on effects. And so hopefully many will take it up. That's what we've estimated. And hopefully that will provide the support that is needed.
Stefanovic: Given the tight timeframes as you mentioned for signing contracts and delivering on work, the last thing we need right now is another pink batts disaster?
Prime Minister: Well, that's right. I mean this is why you don't do it at the small scale renos, I mean, you're not going to, we weren’t going to have people go knocking on people's doors saying, let me come out and rip your kitchen out, and you'll get some government money. That's what happened when Labor did these schemes. And I’ve heard them making those criticisms of this one well they clearly didn't learn the lessons from those terrible programmes, which in some cases actually led to young Australians being killed. So, I mean, we've ensured that with these programmes, we've put the integrity in place. You've got to have a licenced builder, the builder would already have to be in business. The money is paid directly to the homeowner and they're managing that along with the loans that they'd be taking out and the other equity that they've got to invest.
Stefanovic: There’s a massive skills shortage as you know at the moment with the lack of apprentices in the workforce, are there enough people actually out there to do all the work?
Prime Minister: Well, I just met some this morning, actually out at Googong, but that's why we put the 50 per cent wage subsidy in and extended that out. That was one of the first things we did in our first response to the coronavirus. We extended and we broadened out the wage subsidy for apprentices. And it was great to hear, I mean the young apprentice I met this morning, he's only been on for about the last four months, now he would have been one of the first casualties of this coronavirus had we not been able to continue those wage subsidies for those apprentices. So we've already invested in that programme. We're going to keep that programme going.
Stefanovic: PM Bob Hawke was the last Prime Minister to reside over a recession as Treasurer Paul Keating saying it was ‘the recession we had to have’ they never really lived that down, will you live this one down?
Prime Minister: Well, this is the recession I really wish we didn't have to have, because no one wants that. And the coronavirus has caused this and, all Australians know that, we were running along at over 2 per cent growth before we hit this, we’d brought the Budget back into balance. We'd been working hard to do all of those things. Australians had been working hard, and this has come along and blindsided the global economy and Australia hasn't hasn't been immune to that. But what I can say is that what we saw in the national accounts figures yesterday, we had a 0.3 per cent decline. In like countries to Australia they've seen a situation 10 times worse and more. So Australia we've done we've made, making the best of a very bad situation and we're doing it so much better than so many other countries. And as you signed off from your programme the other night, we're glad we're in Australia mate. I mean, Australia, through all of our efforts, is making the best of what is a very difficult time.
Stefanovic: To the US, how’s your relationship with Donald Trump? Because an awful lot of people in Australia think he’s lost the plot?
Prime Minister: Well it’s my job as Prime Minister to have very good relationships with all our key partners and allies, I mean whoever's sitting in that chair and who's ever sitting in my chair, the strength of our alliance is we've always worked very hard on that relationship. And I've done that, as my predecessors have. And the relationship is very strong and that's important. That's in Australia's national interest. I mean, that's what matters. That's what keeps Australia safe. It's what, it protects Australia's interests, particularly in this part of the world. And so it's an incredibly important relationship and I'm pleased that I have got such a strong relationship there.
Stefanovic: What do you think about the President using a bible, and church and religion, as a PR stunt in what effectively is an election campaign?
Prime Minister: Well, look, I don't judge other people's faith and I don't invite them to judge mine. I think faith is a very personal thing, Karl. I've always held that as a principle, and I leave others to express their faith and how they conduct themselves, that's totally up to them. But it goes back to my answer to the last question. It's not my job as Prime Minister to provide political or other commentary on other leaders around the world, and they tend not to do it in relation to Australia. Our job as leaders is to represent our countries and pursue relationships that are good for our people, and our national interests. And whatever opinions people might have of whatever leaders around the world, it's my job to ensure that we can have as best as possible relationships and protect our interests.
Stefanovic: Okay, what do you actually like about Donald Trump?
Prime Minister: Well, he's always been straight up with me. I can tell you that, and he's always been very straight up about our relationship. And he’s showed a great interest in Australia and through his Presidency of the United States, has been a good friend of Australia. And that's particularly been exhibited in what we've been able to achieve with him on trade when so many other countries were the subject of other sanctions, Australia was not. But equally, the work we do together in our defence relationship is incredibly important for Australia's interests. And he's shown a keen interest in that. So the relationship is very much about what's best for Australians and the keen interest he's shown in Australians, the 100 years of mateship in particular.
Stefanovic: Anything else you like personally about him? His hair?
Prime Minister: He’s a straight talker, and he's easy to get on with. I mean he's got more of it than I do!
Stefanovic: Yeah, I can’t really complain about that either. PM it’s great to talk to you, thank you for your time this evening.
Prime Minister: Thanks a lot, Karl.
Stefanovic: Cheers.
