CANBERRA, ACT, Sept. 9 -- The Prime Minister of Australia issued the following media release:

JAMES GLENDAY, HOST: Well, the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is out and about this morning and he's happy to say that he's joining us live from north of Newcastle on a road. Prime Minister, welcome back to the program. It's a Sitting Week in Canberra but you've skipped town. Why are you up near Newcastle?

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Because this piece of highway that I'm on that'll open on Friday, just north of Newcastle, travelling 15 kilometres to Raymond Terrace - everyone who's ever driven from Sydney to Brisbane or in this region knows that when you hit areas like Hexham and Heatherbrae, you hit a traffic jam. Now this will mean that there are no traffic lights all the way there from Melbourne till you get to Coffs Harbour. And when the Coffs Harbour Bypass opens later this year, it'll be all the way through to the Queensland border. This road we'll open today, but traffic starts in two days' time, and it's going to make such a difference for productivity, for road safety, for everyone who travels on this road, but importantly as well for locals because it'll take a lot of the traffic off those local roads. So, great for road safety as well.

GLENDAY: You do love infrastructure. I appreciate you joining us this morning -

PRIME MINISTER: I do.

GLENDAY: Now we've been getting plenty of questions about your social media plans. Do you know what percentage of people are actually likely to choose to opt out of a default algorithm on a social media app?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's up to them. This is going to be world first. So, we'll say to them that's fine, that's up to them if they're adults, but the power will be back in their hands, which is what the 'My Feed, My Way' plan is all about.

GLENDAY: I just wonder if social media giants will still have quite a lot of power here. They've sort of done this elsewhere in the world. What are you going to do if they respond by making non-algorithm versions of their apps so clunky, so awful that people feel well, 'I've got no choice but to go back to the standard algorithm version'?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we'll deal with these issues as we go through. What we've done is we've released an exposure draft yesterday. We have learned some of the lessons as well, have been learned and acted on in the way that the draft legislation is there. The eSafety Commissioner will be able to examine this on an ongoing basis. But we think this is the right thing to do. We'll introduce the legislation in October. We're hoping to get very broad support for this legislation. And it's responding to the needs of Australians. Organisations like Teach Us Consent have been fantastic in the role that they've played. This is change from the bottom up. This is government listening and acting in the interests of Australians rather than in the interests of these tech giants.

GLENDAY: Just to another issue. I'm sure you've seen this story the ABC has it on the top of its website about alleged pork barrelling by your government. Do you have an honorary membership to the Marrickville Golf Club and have you declared it?

PRIME MINISTER: I'm very glad that you've asked this question. You know what? There's three grants in my electorate. One of them is for Leichhardt Women's Health Centre. That's one of the first women's health centres that was ever established in Australia, specifically helping women. It's in an old terrace. It's been there since the 1970s and it's for the upgrade of that. The second grant -

GLENDAY: I'm sure they did very important work. Can I just take you back to my question, though - do you have a membership?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, the second grant - well, I'll give you the answer. The second grant is for St. Vincent's, and what that is as St. Vincent's de Paul, for a shelter for women and children escaping domestic violence. The third grant is for the Inner West Council, who own the Marrickville Golf Course and run it at the moment. It's a course that's been there a long time. It's a public course. It's used by lots of community members, back to 19 - for many, many years. It's a par 62, so it's available to everyone, it's a community facility -

GLENDAY: I've seen you praising it. I've seen you talk about how much you like it -

PRIME MINISTER: And what it's for - yeah, and what it's for, what it's for, because the ABC were told information they chose not to publish appropriately. What it's for, is for at the moment because it's on a flood area by the Cooks River, when it rains and there's flooding, raw sewage goes into the Cooks River. That's what it's for, for fixing that. I make no apologies for my electorate being serviced by me as a good local member. These three grants are all appropriate. Apparently about fifteen years ago, to go - and the ABC were told this - fifteen years ago, apparently someone said -

GLENDAY: So, yes, we're going to get to - you do have a membership?

PRIME MINISTER: No, I don't have a membership. Fifteen years ago they gave an honorary membership. You know how much membership costs apparently, according to the article? Apparently it cost five bucks to join. I don't play golf. I'm a tennis player rather than a golf player. And like a lot of organisations in my seat, a lot of clubs, local community based things, they say, 'oh, we'll give the local member honorary membership'. Apparently that happened fifteen years ago or something. I haven't been into the clubhouse for many, many years. And the ABC chose to to do this. That's up to them. But I make no apologies for the fact that this was fixed.

GLENDAY: So, should you have declared this though, or did you just not even know that you were an honorary member?

PRIME MINISTER: No. How would I - fifteen years ago someone decided to say, 'oh, we'll make him an honorary member'. I don't have a card. I don't go in there. I haven't been in there for years. I used to walk my dog along the path, as lots of people do because it's a community club. The ABC were told this.

GLENDAY: We'll move on. Can I ask you -

PRIME MINISTER:And the ABC should do better.

GLENDAY: Thank you for that feedback, Prime Minister. We appreciate all the feedback we get. What's happening in the Solomon Islands -

PRIME MINISTER:Very direct feedback.

GLENDAY: Are you, have you reached a nearly billion dollar deal to try to shore up the fairly fragile leadership of the country's Prime Minister, Matthew Wale?

PRIME MINISTER: You know what I do when I negotiate with countries? I negotiate with them and with their leaders. I don't do it on the ABC, with respect.

GLENDAY: Fair enough. Is the reporting on these text messages wrong? Is that something else you'd like to correct about the ABC?

PRIME MINISTER: No, we're in discussions. The ABC should stand up for the national interest. That's what I do. And for the national interests, I'll engage on behalf of Australia to make sure we defend our interests and I'll continue to do so. We have a range of agreements. We've reached alliances with Papua New Guinea and with Fiji, agreements with Vanuatu, with Nauru. We have said very clearly, we're in discussions with the Solomon Islands with Prime Minister Wale, and we look forward to successfully completing those discussions.

GLENDAY: We'll watch this space. And I would add, I think the ABC does stand up for the national interest. Prime Minister, can I ask you, there's another ABC story about the battery program that the government has. The Opposition wants an inquiry because there are allegations of fraud. Is that something you will entertain?

PRIME MINISTER: Look that, they really don't like renewables, do they? They really don't. We have had now something like 530,000 households and small businesses have installed batteries. That's good for them. What that does is lower their power bills, many of them, to zero. And meaning that they're putting energy back into the grid, means that every Australian is benefiting because it takes the pressure off the grid during peak times. This has been a fantastically successful program. They've opposed it, like they oppose all renewables. They wanted an expensive nuclear scheme -

GLENDAY:That sounds like a no.

PRIME MINISTER:Well, we stand up for - this program has been incredibly successful.

GLENDAY: Just, just finally, Prime Minister, because we've got to let you go - those who know you say that you're a really tough competitor. A mortgage broker who openly hates your budget and joined the Liberal Party as a result, recently won an auction for a tennis game against you. Apparently brought over some friends who also don't like your budget. How did the meeting in the match go?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, the match went pretty well. It was very successful. And it was for charity. That's the main thing.

GLENDAY: What was the score?

PRIME MINISTER: 6-0, 6-0, 6-0. And it was, it was, you know, it was, it was what it was. But for me the main point was that it was raising funds for charity. I think it would have been good if the gentleman had put some of the money he's put into billboards and skywriting and all of that, given additional money to St. Vincent's, to Red Kite, a charity that provides support for the families of children who have cancer. It was for a very good cause.

GLENDAY: He spent 16 grand on the meeting. Did he convince you of anything?

PRIME MINISTER: He spent a lot, he spent a lot more than that on billboards and other things as well. So, he's going, okay.

GLENDAY:Prime Minister, we have to let you go. We do appreciate your time.

PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much.

ENDS

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.