Allison Langdon's interview with The Prime Minister

LANGDON: The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, joins us now in Cairns. Prime Minister, good morning.

PRIME MINISTER: G'day, Ali.

LANGDON: So look, last time this happened was in '07. The Coalition lost the election and that was with one of the country's great Prime Ministers. This makes it even more difficult for you.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, cost of living pressures are very real, and we understand that. And those pressures, as we know, are emanating from the war in Europe, the hangover from the continuing pandemic, which is disrupting supply chains, putting prices up. And that's putting a lot of pressure on Australians. And that's why in this Budget that we had before the election, we ensured that we were providing real relief now from the ability to turn the Budget around by $100 billion in the last 12 months. So we could provide a halving of the fuel tax, we could provide the $250 to those pensioners and others on income support, fixed incomes, right now, and as well as providing that $420 support in people being able to keep more of what they earn when they put their taxes in on the 1st of July. So they are real pressures. I mean, over this pandemic, we saw after 27, 28 years, the first time Australia went into recession, because of that pandemic. These are not ordinary times. They're the hardest economic times we've seen since the Great Depression. You mentioned about 2007 with John Howard. Interest rates then were 6.5 per cent. Today, they're 0.1 per cent on the cash rate. Now Australians are taking out mortgages at around about 3.6 per cent or thereabouts, that's the average for new loans. And that average mortgage is around $600,000. But one of the things they've done, Ali, on their mortgages and I really want to commend Australians for, you know, we've all come through this pandemic together and one of the things Australians have been doing is they've been paying down their mortgages and they've also been switching from variable to fixed rates. We've gone from 20 per cent of those on variable rates to 40 per cent. Australians have been making wise decisions about de-risking their economic future. They know what's going on, they've been making their decisions, we've been making the same decisions. Australians don't want to risk their economic future and that's what this election is all about.

LANGDON: But look, I think you're right. People have been preparing for these. We know there are plenty of external factors here at play, but as prices keep going up, keep going up, it has been the Coalition's key election pitch to control the economy. And you don't even have that now.

PRIME MINISTER: I disagree. I mean, when you look at the inflation rate in Australia, 5.1 per cent. In New Zealand and Canada, it's almost 7 per cent. In Europe, it's over 7 per cent over. Over in the United States, it's 8.5 per cent. It's the same story we've had with the economy and jobs. We've got stronger jobs growth and stronger economic growth than all the other advanced economies in the world, in the G7. So it's been tough, there's no doubt about that. And Australians aren't aren't unaware of that. They know it's been really tough. And the team and the economic management, which has kept our AAA credit rating, got unemployment down, coming through the worst economic crisis that we've seen since the Great Depression, 30 times worse than what we went through with the Global Financial Crisis. Now is not the time to risk it on a team that's unproven in the Labor Party, supported by the Greens. We've been able to get the economy here with our economic plan and that economic plan invests in the future as well, particularly in the regions where I am today.

LANGDON: But I think you need to be saying more to people just offering up saying, look, trust us and you can't trust them, when look, I get everything that you're saying. There is so much going on at the moment. But I think what voters see is that under you, you've now got debts a trillion dollars. Inflation's high, you know, families are trying to decide, ok, do I put petrol in the car this week or do we put food on the table? That's that's the reality for a lot of families -

PRIME MINISTER: I agree.

LANGDON: ...and this is under your watch and that's what they see.

PRIME MINISTER: And they understand the world in which we live in how uncertain that is. And that's why we cut the petrol tax in half. That's why we've been able to get more Australians in jobs. That's why under our management we put in place JobKeeper. You talk about the debt. What was the debt for? 700,000 jobs saved with JobKeeper. I mean, we invested to keep the economy strong during the worst crisis we'd seen since the Great Depression. As a result, the Australian economy today compared to the United States, United Kingdom, to France, to Germany, to Canada, to Japan and New Zealand, all of these economies, we are in a much stronger position to be able to take advantage of the opportunities that are ahead. I mean, you have to sail on the waters that you're on. And the waters that we've had to sail on as a government in the economic world and in the global security world have been the choppiest we've seen since the Second World War and the Great Depression. But our ship is sailing ahead and it's heading in the right direction. And now is not the time to risk that on unproven sailors.

LANGDON: No, it still feels like there is more things that can be done. Like we know that some farmers have had their best growing season, yet they can't find the workers or a lot of that produce has been left to rot. Why haven't you been able to, with the ag visa that you introduced last year, find those international workers and bring them in? Because I feel if you fix that problem, don't fruit and veg prices come down?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, that can certainly help it. And that's why we did not only the agricultural visa, but we greatly expanded the Pacific Workers Scheme. And I've met those Pacific workers all around the country. But let's not forget, we're in a pandemic which had restrictions on how many people could come into the country when a lot of these things were impacting on what the prices of what fruit and veggies would be right now. It's tough running a country in the middle of a pandemic. It's not easy. It is very complex. There are many pressures and I think Australians understand that and the times that we've been able to take Australia through. But as I look forward, as I see those challenges in many respects going into the revision mirror, we have set ourselves up to be very successful in the years ahead and have a very strong economic plan that has been proven in the most difficult of times -

LANGDON: So with all the things that you have, have in place.

PRIME MINISTER: ...and ensuring that sets us up for what's coming.

LANGDON: With all the things that you then have in place moving forward, when can we expect inflationary pressures to ease and for it to be a bit easier on families?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we are making it easier on families right now by having the petrol tax. We are making it easier on families by ensuring they're paying lower taxes. I mean, if you're on an average, ordinary time earnings, the average earnings, you're not about just over $90,000 a year. If we had the same tax rates that we inherited from Labor, right now, in the middle of all this, you'd be paying $50 a week and more extra in tax every single week. So we've lowered that tax burden for Australians. We've lowered the tax burden for small business. And more than that, we've guaranteed lower taxes into the future and to keep what we call the speed limit on taxes, which is in the Budget, in place. Labor wants to get rid of the speed limit on taxes. It's called that the tax cap. I put it in place as Treasurer to ensure that in Australia your taxes never got too high to slow the economy down. Labor wants to get rid of it. Now the only reason you'd want to get rid of the brake on taxes, the cap on taxes, if you wanted to increase taxes, and that won't help Australia plan for the future with confidence, it won't help people deal with those cost of living pressures at all.

LANGDON: Okay. And just a few quick ones. Albo's out of iso tomorrow. Have you missed him?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm looking forward to him re-joining the campaign. He's had a pretty quiet week. I remember when I was in iso, I had a very busy week attending QUAD summits and doing all those sorts of things.

LANGDON: Oh, come on. He's been out there. He's been zooming. He's been doing his best. I do know that he's promised to keep our favourite sports on free to air TV. This is because you've got international streaming services are trying to move in. Will you do the same?

PRIME MINISTER: Yeah. I mean, that is a subject of regular review and we haven't made any changes to that. And that will follow the same that same course. I know how important that is to Australians to have that, that access to the sports that they love. I mean the whole media environment is changing as we know and so, you know, we'll go through the normal processes on those sorts of things. But I am welcoming him back to the campaign trail because it highlights this one point, Ali, and that is this is a choice. This is a choice between at a time of almost unprecedented economic and global uncertainty and the path we're on, we're heading in the right direction. It's been tough, but to stay on that direction, now is not the time to risk it on Mr Albanese and Labor. We've demonstrated we can take Australia through the some of the toughest times we've ever seen and we now want to ensure we continue that in the future. It's a choice between Mr Albanese, someone who's never done a Budget, and myself and the Liberals and Nationals who have proven that economic management and financial management capabilities.

LANGDON: I don't know. Well, we reckon that Jim Chalmers has done an alright job since Albo's been locked away. Prime Minister -

PRIME MINISTER: Oh, sneaky Jim. Well he's, he's got a sneaky carbon tax.

LANGDON: Oh, there we go. Prime Minister, nice to talk to you this morning. Thank you.