Television interview - Sunrise

MATT SHIRVINGTON, HOST : Well, the way that each and every Australian uses social media could be about to change forever. Every Aussie may soon have the power to opt out of algorithms online. There are the systems that analyse massive amounts of online data to feed you the posts that will be keeping you scrolling.

NAT BARR, HOST : Under the proposed new laws, social media companies would have to give users a choice over whether they want to be shown that recommended content or just posts from people they follow. For more, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joins us now. Tell us, how will you force the tech giants to do this and do it properly?

Because I guess we're still seeing 80 per cent or so of teens still on social media despite the under-16s ban. How will this be different? ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER : We want to make sure we get the legislation right.

We've got further strengthening of our social media laws going through Parliament, hopefully today through the Senate. But when it comes to My Feed, My Way , this is about putting the power back in the hands of your listeners so that they get to decide what they see. So, a pop up that will say you want to continue to receive the algorithms or you want to opt out and receive the feed from people who you follow or people who you want to see it from.

This is about putting the power back in Australians’ hands and away from the tech giants who of course we know that this is causing massive issues and many of your listeners will be concerned about what people have access to. We know that within a period of just literally minutes, people who go online can often be fed quite dangerous material, pornography, a range of things that they don't really want to see going down those rabbit holes.

And this is about empowering Australians. It's as simple as that. : It sounds good. What if the social media companies don't play ball?

There have been no fines issued and all the kids seem to still be on social media. PRIME MINISTER : Well, there have been no fines issued because the power of the eSafety Commissioner hasn't been strong enough. That's why we've legislated for that, to enable that, as well as a doubling of the fines.

That's the legislation that's before the Senate. It was delayed, it could have been passed months ago, but hopefully it'll be passed today. This will provide for fines of $100 million to make sure that there is compliance with this.

We want to make sure that power's back in the hands of Australians. And this is something the whole world, of course, is grappling with, with the increase in mental health issues, eating disorders, the increased behavioural issues we're seeing from young men when it comes to some of the things that they get exposed to, that somehow they see as normal, the increased incidence lead to tragedies we've seen of choking, for example, is something that we just need to take action on.

It's not easy – SHIRVINGTON : Something needs to change. PRIME MINISTER : – but it’s the right thing to do. It's the right thing to do.

And Australia once again is leading the world. SHIRVINGTON : Moving on. $34 billion has been wiped off from the housing market in the June quarter, and home values are expected to decline even further into next year.

Are these the results that you wanted with your changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax? PRIME MINISTER : Look, housing prices as of August are higher nationally than they were last August, a year ago. What we saw was a drop in house prices in recent times.

There's a range of factors which are there, including, of course, interest rates is a factor there. What we want is a comprehensive plan for housing supply. And of course, when it comes to capital gains, negative gearing, people can still engage in that if they wish to pursue an investment, but it's for new builds, and that's about feeding into new housing supply, because we're throwing everything at the housing issue.

We know that the housing system was bust. You had a 400 per cent increase in house prices since these changes were put in place in 1999. That's just not sustainable, and we want young people to get a fair crack.

I don't want to lead a country where home ownership is not possible. And that is where we were headed, which is why we've taken this action. : Yeah, look, house prices might be up overall across the country, but it's being held up by the smaller cities. It might be hard to talk to people in Sydney and Melbourne about their houses going up in the last year.

PRIME MINISTER : I don't think your listeners in Perth think they're a small city. So, anyway. : They know that. Finally, we just had your tennis opponent, Joseph Daoud, on.

He just accused you of, quote, manufacturing your winning score in that tennis match you played with him yesterday. What's your response to that, Prime Minister? PRIME MINISTER : Well, look, you know, we played a match.

It was for charity. Importantly, the score was 6-0, 6-0, 6-0. It was played in good spirits.

Importantly, it raised money for charity. I just wish that Joseph had put some of the money he put into billboards and into skywriting and into all the other things, into Redkite or into the charities, which was what it was for. But that's a decision for him.

SHIRVINGTON : PM, he said you had a 15-minute tinkle. What were you doing in the 15 minutes during the match? : That’s a personal question. PRIME MINISTER : I've never been asked that, Matt.

SHIRVINGTON : He said you used the word tinkle. PRIME MINISTER : Well, I said to him after the second set, and it was actually 1-0. I waited for the break.

Change of ends. I said, I'll just go have a tinkle. As you do.

SHIRVINGTON : 15 minutes. PRIME MINISTER : It was about two minutes, Matt. And there's a range of stories that he's had in interviews.

They vary from interview to interview. It's hard to keep up. Matt.

Let me just say this. SHIRVINGTON : Charity was the real winner, but it was 6-0, 6-0, 6-0. PRIME MINISTER : Charity was the winner, but the score was pretty clear as well.

And you know, the discussion, the couple of people he brought along as well, I'm not sure if they were known to him or what the connection was, but they were delightful and I was very pleased to host them accommodate at The Lodge for a number of good causes. : Prime Minister, thank you for your time this morning. PRIME MINISTER : Thanks very much, guys. PM&C acknowledges the traditional owners and custodians of country throughout Australia and acknowledges their continuing connection to land, water and community.

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