Television interview - Sunrise

MATT SHIRVINGTON, HOST : The Prime Minister joins us now live in Canberra. Good morning to you, PM. So, do you think you still have the trust – ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER : Good morning.

SHIRVINGTON : Of the Australian people. That's the big question at the moment. PRIME MINISTER : What's been interesting, Shirvo, is that in those 45 days there's not anyone saying that the housing market is currently working.

Now, if you know that there's a problem, if everyone's identified the problem and it's agreed the system is broken, then you can't just sit back and not do anything about it. What we've done here is do something about it. Negatively gearing, anyone who has a property, of course, has grandfathered those arrangements.

But for the future, if you want a negatively geared property, you certainly can, but it's got to be a new build rather than an existing property. And what that is already doing, we're seeing – and I saw someone last night, I was at the Local Government Association’s big national dinner, there was someone, one of the councillors there, bought their first home yesterday as a direct result of the fact that they weren't having to compete with investors for an existing home.

This is the right thing to do. It will give young Australians a fair crack. But also importantly, last night's changes give every Australian worker another tax cut, along with the tax cuts that we'd already legislated that will come in next week, as well as six months of Paid Parental Leave coming in, making Urgent Care Clinics a permanent part of the system.

All of these changes will come in next week. Our tax changes on capital gains, negative gearing on property will come in a year's time, but we wanted to make sure that it's legislated to give that certainty. NAT BARR, HOST : People agree something needed to change.

It's what you did that's under question. Do you think making big announcements, causing confusion and anger, then consulting the Australian public is a good way of governing? PRIME MINISTER : That's not what happened, Nat, to be clear – PRIME MINISTER: In the lead up to – no, in the lead up to the Budget, there was substantial debate already.

We'd spoken about intergenerational equity and the need to give young people a fair crack. The details of the tax changes, as is always the case, because you don't want to, you can't interfere with things that are market sensitive. So, we did that.

We then had an inquiry. There's further debate taking place about how we deal with start-ups and those issues. That's why we're dealing with things in two tranches of legislation – : Prime Minister, for 45 days, people have been angry and confused.

They have been running to their accountants. They, they don't know what's happening. Do you think you're out of touch?

PRIME MINISTER : No, I don't, Nat. I'll tell you what's out of touch. What's out of touch is saying the housing system is broken, but the government shouldn't do anything about it.

We should just leave everything there – : They're not saying that. They're saying what you did, the way you did it, the broad way you put the changes in – PRIME MINISTER : No, Nat, what we've done is put forward sensible legislation that's modest, that protects existing negatively geared properties. No change.

People will still get negative gearing. And you know what will happen now that it's legislated? Some of the nonsense and scare campaigns will dissipate because people will be confronted with the reality.

So, when people put in their tax returns after July 1, they will still have the negative gearing in place. When they put it in next year for properties that they had prior to May, they'll still be able to negatively gear those properties. Their tax arrangements won't change – SHIRVINGTON: Prime Minister – PRIME MINISTER: And that is important.

There has been a lot of misinformation. Now people have to debate the reality. And the reality is the system was broken.

And that's why I, as Prime Minister, have a responsibility when something is identified as broken, to do my best to fix it, even if there's a political cost of that – SHIRVINGTON: PRIME MINISTER: My job is to do the right thing for the nation. SHIRVINGTON : There is a political cost at the moment because it's not just scare campaigning. We have a phone on our desk, literally, which is a connection to our viewers.

And each and every day people are saying the same thing. Your integrity is dropping, your trust is dropping, your popularity is dropping. Jim Chalmers has put you in this position with his Budget that every single day we look like he's unravelling, every time there's a new campaign about it, it's not just housing.

It's, it's a death tax. It's, it's exemptions for small business – PRIME MINISTER: But that’s just nonsense – SHIRVINGTON: It's, it's loopholes around the use of super funds – PRIME MINISTER: But that’s just complete nonsense – SHIRVINGTON: Which he did a deal with The Greens. It's a widow's tax.

It's all of these different things that you're feeling pressure on, that you're changing. And at the end of the day, that Budget was put down by a Treasurer. You must feel a little bit cranky towards the way that he's done this as well?

PRIME MINISTER : No, Jim Chalmers is doing a great job. And, Matt, some of the things that you've raised there are the things that are just not true. We're making no changes to people's inheritance arrangements.

None. None. And what we've had, indeed, some of the people who've been out there doing memes, for example, went out there and said no, well, we know this isn't accurate, we know this isn't actually what's happening, but the way that you get attention online is to do things which are dramatic.

And so, you know, we'll work these issues through, Matt. But these are sensible changes that are currently allowing young people to get a fair crack at auctions tomorrow. Young people won't be competing if it's an existing property, they won't be competing with investors who want negative gearing.

There'll still be investors, not all new property or existing property. People don't just use negative gearing. But they won't have that disadvantage where if they're competing with someone and it needs another $20,000 to be the successful bidder, and an investor who wants negative gearing knows that the taxpayer is backing them in that – : And the markets are already dropping – PRIME MINISTER : $20,000, leads to more – : Yeah.

And in Sydney and Melbourne – PRIME MINISTER: The market – The market's already dropping. Well, look, we're being told that you have to go, Prime Minister, so we just might move on just for this last question. PRIME MINISTER : Your government has granted a travel permit to allow the final ISIS Bride to return to Australia.

That's after she was hit with this Temporary Exclusion Order, I believe, on the advice of ASIO, only in February. Has that security risk changed or has the order just expired? What's happened there?

PRIME MINISTER : No, it hasn't. We've dealt with the law that is before us and the risk assessment that was made about what the right way to go is with this. We'll continue to provide the strongest possible monitoring.

Now, we don't want, no one wants people who've fled our country to be able to, and fought or supported ISIS, to be able to just come back. But Australian citizens, of course, do have rights. That's one of the things as a democracy and in a different country, we respect the rule of law.

So, what we'll do, though, is make sure that there's the strongest possible monitoring in place. I have absolute confidence in our security agencies to make sure that that occurs. : But if the security – something I just don't understand, if the security agency said in February that she was a national security and counterterrorism risk, now she's ridgey didge, there's only four months in between.

How's that? PRIME MINISTER : Well, no. Well, they're not saying that, Nat, nor are we.

What they're saying is that the law, with the consequences of legal challenges, which were there, needs to be complied with. We're following that and there will be absolutely strict monitoring will be applied. : Okay. Prime Minister, we thank you for your time.

PRIME MINISTER : Thank you. Go the Socceroos today. : Yeah, absolutely. SHIRVINGTON : Go the Socceroos.

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