RIANNON ELSTON, HOST: Well, joining me live is Assistant Trade Minister, Tim Ayres. A very good morning to you, and thanks for joining us. Fresh polling out today—

SENATOR TIM AYRES, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR A FUTURE MADE IN AUSTRALIA AND ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR TRADE: Hey, good to be on the show from an industrial estate in South Nowra.

HOST: Excellent. Thank you. Fresh polling out today showing Labor ahead of the Coalition as we reached these crucial final weeks of the election campaign. Is that boosting confidence within the party today?

AYRES: No, I think you've seen from the Albanese government all the way through our term: we are very disciplined, we're focused on doing the job in front of us, we're not distracted by opinion polling during the course the government, or during the course of the campaign. I know that journalists will ask questions, inviting us to speculate about opinion polling and are not encouraged by our inevitable answer from the Albanese government, which is that the only poll that matters is the one that will be counted on the evening of Saturday May 3rd. That's what will determine whether or not we have a government that is committed to building Australia's future, to building on the achievements that we've reached with the Australian people: to lower inflation, to turn the corner on interest rates, to get to record levels of unemployment—the lowest in 50 years over the term of a government—and to lift wages in real terms for ordinary Australian people.

HOST: Well, as we just heard, many economists have come out to say Labor's housing policy that it announced at the weekend will push up housing prices. Is that something that Australians will just have to deal with in your view?

AYRES: Well, there's disagreement amongst some of the commentators and some of the economists on the impact of Labor's approach. There's universal agreement amongst the economists and the commentators about Peter Dutton's approach. One of them described it as the single worst piece of public policy in the 21st century. It's hard to understand—it's last-minute policy again, from an opposition that had three years to talk to the Australian people about the issues that mattered to them and now thinks it's okay, on the eve of Easter and just before a federal election, to drop out a piece of policy that's utterly complicated. Nobody knows which first home buyers will be entitled to it, whether their income changes, or whether they will continue to be entitled to it. Labor's approach is very simple. Fundamentally, it's about supply. The bulk of our measures—over $40 billion worth, a very serious commitment—is about building new homes: whether that's social and affordable housing, working with the private sector in private housing or this dedicated fund of ten billion for new homes for first home buyers. So that's the supply side. On the equity side, what Anthony Albanese announced on Sunday is that every first home buyer in Australia will have access to 5% deposits. That means that it's within sight for many more young people to be able to save for a home deposit, but also that they don't end up paying mortgage insurance for the rest of their mortgage. So, there's real cost-saving for them. I was talking to a young woman in the Hunter Valley yesterday who said to me that when she heard it, it was the first optimism that she had about her likelihood of being able to, with her partner, save for a deposit and get her first foot on the housing ladder. That's a good thing. Our package is simple and focused on supply.

HOST: Now you are talking about building homes. In the short term, though, this is likely to boost demand and therefore push prices up. Is that really a good thing for Australians?

AYRES: I'm not sure that that is right. What it means is that there's more equal access for young people to be able to get to a 5% deposit, and that we're putting our shoulder behind the wheel on housing supply. We've been doing that for the whole term of our government. The crisis for housing, for young people in particular, is not a new development. Peter Dutton and the Liberals act as if happened yesterday. It's been there for 15 years. We've been working against hyper-partisan opposition in the parliament, so all of our measures opposed by the Greens political party and the Liberals, you know, the “no-alition” who say no to any reform that's around the cost of living or around housing. They delayed the introduction of the housing affordability future fund by 12 months. And I heard in your introduction, Angus Taylor complaining about the number of houses that have been built. It's a bit like, you know, the arsonist who complains that the fire brigade arrived too late. These guys have been in the business of stopping progress where they're putting in—

*INTERVIEW CUT OUT 8:40AM*

*INTERVIEW RESUMES 8:46AM*

HOST: Welcome back. Let's go back to Assistant Trade Minister Tim Ayres. Now we got cut off before, Tim, but I did want to ask you briefly: we've heard this morning that Donald Trump's tariffs are causing a lot of volatility for our grain producers. What sorts of conversations are you having with industry here, and what assurances are you able to give them?

AYRES: Well, we're working very closely with industry here, and of course advocating for Australia's interests in the United States, including in this region here, with manufacturers like Manildra, who use Australian grains, and are big exporters of starch products to the United States. A very significant part of American bread has starch from here on the South Coast of New South Wales in the seat of Gilmore, which goes to United States. More broadly, of course, you saw the Prime Minister's response to the US administration's unwelcome and deeply unhelpful tariff announcements. That is, we'll continue to focus on market access for Australian producers, including grain producers, to US markets, but we're also absolutely committed to diversifying Australia's trade so that we don't have too many of our eggs in one basket. That means diversifying markets. Part of the response was more support for Australian producers and Australian business overseas in diverse markets. But it's also about diversifying the products that we offer the world. So that is what the Future Made in Australia program is all about. The biggest pro-manufacturing package in Australian history is about making sure that we're lifting the level of local manufacturing, that we're re-industrialising and providing industrial diversification; new factories, new investments, including in exactly where I'm standing today, which will be manufacturing buses for the New South Wales Government, here in Australia. So our agenda is about reshaping Australia's economy in the national interest for the future to create good regional jobs, diversifying our trade, supporting our manufacturers and our producers overseas, and focusing on trade policy and foreign policy in the same calm and consistent way that we have over this term. Restoring trade relationships with China, but also making sure that we're diversifying Australia's trade offering across the world, because that's in the interest of good jobs, particularly in regional Australia.

HOST: Okay. Assistant Trade Minister, Tim Ayres, thanks for your time. We will have to leave it there.

AYRES: Thanks Rhiannon.

ENDS.