SUBJECTS: Dogs; Labor’s urban rivers program; Zhi Soon for Banks; petrol prices. 

HOST: I've got a rescue dog. I’ve got two rescue dogs. Both of them have issues. One of them is bitey, there's no doubt. And has been for a long time. 

HOST: That's why you were triggered by Anthony Albanese, the Member for Grayndler, saying, There's always a dog. And you should always pat the dog', with a picture of him patting a dog. You've hit back and said, 'Not always, Albo. Ask for permission first. My dog will bite you. He will bite ScoMo too. It's not a political thing'. 

HOST: And I stand by that. And we welcome the Federal Opposition Leader to the show. Anthony Albanese, good morning.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: G'day, Hughesy. I'm at a safe distance from you or your dog.

HOST: He's a biter. 

HOST: He is a biter.

HOST: You're a biter.

HOST: I'm a biter? I'm a lover more than a fighter or a biter. So, Albo, Erin, I believe, wants to defend you here.

ALBANESE: As usual, because she's the nice one.

HOST: Thank you so much.

ALBANESE: Ed is the referee.

HOST: Pulling the strings.

HOST: Baseless.

HOST: That's true. But Albo, look, my take on it is Hughesy saw this tweet, and to be honest, it's fairly innocuous. You're just saying, 'If you see a dog, pat it', as if you're not going to ask permission. Of course, you are. That's just a given. I see this as an opportunity for Hughesy to self-promote the fact he has rescue dog. He wanted attention on Twitter, and he used you to boost his own profile and feed his ego because he thought we would all be like, 'Great job, Hughesy', for Chris Brown and come on and say, 'Yeah, it's appalling, he's going down, he's going to lose the election'. But you know what? It's backfired in his face.

ALBANESE: And to subtly threaten people with his dog.

HOST: The Member will resume his seat.

ALBANESE: There's a context here which is that if I'm doing an event early in the morning, which I was, announcing our urban rivers program of $200 million, notice the way I seamlessly put that there, then if people are coming down to meet me at Georges River with our candidate, Zhi Soon, I worked that in as well, for the marginal electorate of Banks, worked that in as well, if people come down to meet me and bring their dog, obviously they want me to meet their dog as well as themselves. And the dogs are friendly. If your dog is a biter, then you are not going to bring them.

HOST: Look, dogs that bite need to walk as well.

ALBANESE: They do. But they probably don't need to go to media events.

HOST: I saw the dog you were patting. Not every dog is a $10,000 cavoodle. You have constituents with the dogs that wander off the street and they're loved by their owners. Right? So, you've got to remember that those dogs might have a past. They might have pasts. Not all of them were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, Albo. 

HOST: Remember where you came from.

HOST: Grasping. Can I ask a political question or not yet?

HOST: No.

HOST: I will do it later.

HOST: First, we'll get Dr Chris Brown's advice, what he's got to say. Because you were standing up and you were above that dog, Albo. And he knows what he is talking about. Have a listen.

DR CHRIS BROWN, VET: I think it's important to realise the sentiment was true. There is beautiful sentiment. Admittedly, you should always ask the owner first, you should, rather than patting them on the head, you should maybe just stroke it on the chest or the shoulder. The patting on top of the head is a very threatening thing. You should be looking for signs like yawning or wide eyes or just looking to turn away. They are warning signs the dog isn't comfortable.

HOST: That also works with Craig Kelly.

ALBANESE: I'm not sure.

HOST: That dog was turning away from you, Albo. I'm looking at it now.

ALBANESE: That dog loved me. That dog loved me. This was well into our relationship.

HOST: What have you got, Erin? What have you got? 

HOST: Just really quickly, PM says that inflation and petrol prices will go up under Labor. Is that true?

ALBANESE: Oh, God, he's full of nonsense, isn't he? He's got to stop making things up. 

[Laughter]

HOST: Thank you so much. Thank you. Bye.

ENDS