SUBJECTS: Labor’s plan for a Better Future; The crisis in Aged Care; Urgent Care Clinic for Cessnock; Federal election campaign; South Sydney Rabbitohs. 
 
RICHARD KING, HOST: Joining me now, he is in my neck of the woods today, and that is Labor Leader, Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese, who's on the phone. Good morning, Mr. Albanese.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning, Richard, good to be with you. Good to be in the Hunter.

KING: Yes, nice to have you in our neck of the woods. Look, the one question I'm firstly asking all our candidates coming up to the 21st of May, why should Australia be voting Labor, in your opinion, on the 21st of May?

ALBANESE: Because we're offering a Better Future with cheaper childcare, cheaper electricity bills, dealing with the cost of living. We’ll strengthen Medicare, we’ll make more things here, and have a future made in Australia, and we’ll prioritise secure work with better pay.

KING: Right. Specifically for your electorate, what have you done specifically for your electorate in this term just completed?

ALBANESE: Well, we've been in Opposition, of course. So I've been doing my bit to hold the Government to account for the failure to order enough vaccines, the failure to deal with the bushfire crisis, the acting too little, too late when it came to supporting flood victims, the failure to have proper economic policy. But also by advancing a constructive alternative going forward, so that we can learn the lessons of the pandemic. We don't make enough things here, Richard. We need to make more things here. We need to get more security, there's too many people in insecure work who are doing it really, really tough. We need to address the cost of living. Wages aren't keeping up with the price of everything, which is going up except for people's wages.
KING: We've had a lot of discussion, a lot of feedback, on this program regarding aged care. You pledged two and a half billion dollars to improve conditions in aged care, mandating nurses all day, every day and improving food. Look, the reaction has been ‘oh, look, we can't afford it and the nurses don't exist, this is an aspiration’. What do you think in Aged Care are the biggest problems at the moment?

ALBANESE: Well, we know what the problems are because we had a Royal Commission, and the Royal Commission recommended some key changes. I announced a five-point plan, which we can't afford not to do. We need a nurse in every nursing home, 24/7. I was in Tasmania earlier this week, they do it there. It's one of the rules that proves it can be done. Secondly, we need to have better wages for people in Aged Care. Thirdly, we need to make sure that Aged Care residents get better food and nutrition, that's essential. That they are entitled to get 215 minutes of care, which is what the Royal Commission recommended. Then we need better transparency and accountability, so that the Aged Care providers have to account for where the dollars are going to make sure that dollars are going to better food and better care for Aged Care residents. But if we don't deal with this, we have an ageing population, things will get worse rather than better. The truth is that our older Australians built this country, they deserve to have dignity and respect in their later years. It can be done, the Royal Commission has provided a way forward, and we should be implementing those recommendations.

KING: 23 past eight, my guest Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, who is in my neck of the woods, the Newcastle-Hunter area. You made a big commitment to building 40 or 50 of these super clinics right around the country. You made that commitment yesterday to take the pressure off Emergency Departments in public hospitals, and I believe you're going to announce where the first one of those will be established, and that announcement you're going to make today?

ALBANESE: We will be, in Cessnock. We know that Cessnock Emergency Department is under enormous pressure, and what we need to do is to provide an alternative option for Hunter Valley families who need urgent care from a doctor or nurse. These Urgent Care Centres have operated effectively in New Zealand. It's a model that can work. It's got the support of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. That is an important thing to make sure that seven days a week people can get access if they have an accident, your kid breaks an arm, falls off a skateboard or there's something that you need urgent care for, you can receive it without waiting in line at the really pushed Emergency Departments, which we know are under such pressure. So it's providing that midpoint between just seeing your GP on a regular basis, and people who need acute care in Emergency, providing them with the option. A Medicare Urgent Care Clinic here would provide services for the region. It would operate in consultation with GP’s, either out of an existing GP clinic, or a Community Health Centre. I think it is very important. It’s just one of the measures, and we’ll have more to say about GPs going forward.

KING: Right. Adam Bandt yesterday pledged to try and incorporate dental services into Medicare. Do you think that should be happening? I mean, I think the average wait now for public dental services for elderly Australians is something like 12 months. We hear horror stories about older people not being able to put up with the pain, and removing their own teeth, which is obviously not a satisfactory solution. Do you think dental services should be included in Medicare rebates?

ALBANESE: We'd like to do more, but we're not in a position to commit to that at this election. We're being careful and modest with our promises, making sure that we can pay for everything going forward that we're committing to. Unfortunately, we're going to inherit, if we're successful on the 21st of May, a trillion dollars of debt. But to go back to priorities, our commitments on aged care are two and a half billion dollars. That's less than half of the five and a half billion dollars that produced nothing from the submarine debacle that's been presided over by this Government, with first the attempted deal with Japan, and then the deal with the French, that didn't lead to any submarines being built. 

KING: ACOSS and a lot of other groups are suggesting JobSeeker needs an increase, I think they're talking about doubling it. You've backed away from any commitment leading up to this election. Do you think you might revisit that if you are elected?

ALBANESE: What I've said is that every single Budget, we should consider payments, and provide more support when we have the capacity to do so. That should be something that is ongoing, that any government should look at when it considers the Budget each year. I know people are doing it really tough. The idea of living on $45 a day is really tough. I get that. But I don't want to make false promises. There was a very small increase made recently by the current government. Would I like it to be more? Obviously, yes. But we're not in a position to commit to that. We've just had a Budget, but what I've said is that each and every Budget, we’d give consideration to these issues. The benefit of providing additional payment to people who have very low incomes is that they spend every dollar of those payments, none of it goes into savings, it goes into economic activity.

KING: There have been a lot of so called ‘gotcha’ questions thrown at MPs since Monday, you copped one on Monday. Do you think Adam Bandt’s response yesterday, “Google it, mate”, is an appropriate response to questions you don't necessarily know the answer to?

ALBANESE: It's a matter for him. I dealt with the issue on Monday. But the truth is that politicians will, from time to time, get details wrong. It's happened with the Prime Minister yesterday as well, he got the name of the candidate wrong, and what seat they are running for. These things will happen during a campaign.

KING: Sure. You did pledge to answer all questions, but after only eight minutes at that press conference in Melbourne yesterday, questions were still being fired when you wrapped it up and walked out. Was there a particular reason for that?

ALBANESE: I didn't give an open-ended pledge to answer every question forever. That didn't happen. What happened on Monday when five people were trying to fire a question at once, I said, “be patient, I'll take all your questions”. But I've taken many more questions than the Prime Minister's taken, let me tell you that. More than the Prime Minister every day. The day before there were journalists saying that I was taking too many questions and the press conferences were too long, so it is what it is. 

KING: I know as a Rabbitohs tragic, have you heard this, The Whitlams’ latest song?

*music plays*

KING: ‘The day John Sattler Broke His Jaw’, that could be your new song. 

ALBANESE: How good’s that?

KING: You'll be cheering on the Rabbitohs tomorrow?

ALBANESE: Indeed, the mighty Satts in the 1970 Grand Final versus Manly. It was a brutal hit from John Bucknall, he would’ve got a long time out in today's game.

KING: He certainly would have. Alright, thank you very much for your time this morning, and good luck on the 21st.

ALBANESE: Thanks.

ENDS