SUBJECTS: Federal election; Labor’s Powering Australia plan; climate change; medium term targets; TAFE; education and skills; aged care.

GRAB OF ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: But I can promise you this. I will always tell him straight. I won't run and hide from responsibility. I won't go missing when the going gets tough. I think leadership is about facing up to problems, and then looking for solutions. Actually, I don't think, I know.

MARCUS PAUL, HOST: Well, it's on Absolutely. The race. The Prime Minister of Australia will be incumbents. Against all odds, seemingly. Will it be looking like an unwinnable election or will history repeat itself? I'm not quite sure. Well after going on the racetrack at Bathurst yesterday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison will continue his unofficial campaign throughout New South Wales today. He's announcing a recycling initiative in the Liberal held marginal electorate of Wentworth in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Meantime, Anthony Albanese yesterday, in inner Sydney, I think at Ashfield Leagues Club, well, he rallied the faithful. He joins me on the program. Anthony, good morning to you.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning, Marcus. Thanks for having me on the program.

PAUL: That's alright. Have you had a hot lap?

ALBANESE: Well, some irony to have the Coalition there with Scott Morrison, the very people who told the car industry to leave Australia are now using Bathurst as a photo-op. Holdens and Fords, for the generations, were built in Australia. Not anymore. Because this Government didn't want the car industry to continue to exist here.

PAUL: You made some announcements over the weekend. I think the climate issues is pretty much set. We have big business on board with a reduction target, no matter what the target is, eventually we can reach some sort of compromise with big business down the track. So, I think that we can put that to the side for now. But you say the next election will come down to who will be the better economic managers out of the pandemic. And it's all about trust, is that right?

ALBANESE: The thing about climate is that it is connected with the economy. And that's why big business, the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Industry Group, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, have all backed our plan above the Government's 'do nothing' approach. Our plan will create 600,000 extra jobs by 2035. Five out of every six of those will be in the regions. And at the same time, it will cut electricity prices they have on average by $275 for every household by 2025. It will contribute $52 billion of additional private investment in Australian industry. It's the sort of reform that is required, that certainty going forward, that big business have been crying out for. So, that's one element. The second element is how do we train Australians for the jobs of the future. And our free TAFE that we announced yesterday, as well as 20,000 additional university places, is absolutely critical. We will create some 465,000 fee TAFE places in areas of skill shortage that run right across the board. We have a very positive plan.

PAUL: That costs $1.1 billion to make these 465,000 TAFE places free. And also, the funding of an extra 20,000 university spots. You believe that will be taxpayer money well spent, in order to, I guess, make Australia a renewable energy superpower, a manufacturing powerhouse and skills and education capital of Asia. And I think you also said a society that guarantees secure work, cheaper childcare and stronger Medicare.

ALBANESE: That's right. We need to actually have a Government that provides leadership that is as strong and determined as the Australian people themselves. And we know during the pandemic, Australians have been magnificent. But what the Government's doing is sitting back and being complacent, it is saying to get the Government out of your life. Well, people don't want any restrictions to be in place for a day longer than necessary. But what they do want and need is a Government that actually has a vision of the future and then a plan to set about creating a more positive and optimistic future. I might have said this before, Marcus, on this program, we are located in the fastest growing region of the world is human history. So, for generations, the tyranny of distance was something that we suffered from, the big markets of North America and Europe. The powerhouse of the global economy now is in our region. And that can be an enormous advantage if we become a highly skilled, high-value economy going forward. And that's the vision that I have. It's one that I share with so many in the business community. If you look at those businesses that are really thriving, they're not ones that are sitting back, waiting for change to affect them. They are ones that are shaping change. And just as every household that puts solar panels on their roof does so out of an economic modelling for their own household that says once you pay that, over five or six years, you are better off into the future - the same principle applies to business. And that's why smart businesses are doing that. I was at a business in Smithfield on Saturday. It is doing just that. It has cut its power bills by a quarter of a billion dollars every year. And that's why the whole economy will benefit as well from the growth in cheaper energy.

PAUL: Alright. Now, with this 43 per cent reduction by 2030, that's a little less than what your predecessor went to the last Federal election on. Obviously, I think the Coalition jumped on this saying that your climate policy will basically mean that Labor will be beholden, if you like, to the Greens in government. Is this something that you can counter, these sorts of comments?

ALBANESE: It is a complete nonsense. There is only one Coalition in Australian politics. And that is the dysfunctional Coalition between the Liberals and the Nationals. Labor seeks to form Government in our own right. We are the largest political party in the Parliament now. We're on 68 seats. We need another eight to form Government in our own right, which is absolutely what our only motivation is. The difference is, when we do get elected, I want to work with anyone across the Parliament, not in a coalition, but to say that we have a mandate for our policies, including people in the Liberal and National parties, people on the crossbench, of course, have all called for climate action. People like Zali Steggall and Helen Haines and others have all called for climate change action as well. It's quite absurd. There's only one Green member of the House of Representatives. There's no prospect of anymore. I tell you what. The Prime Minister, I do note, you just said he is off in Wentworth today. Wentworth, which covers the most expensive real estate in Australia. At one stage it was the most expensive real estate in the world. I'm not sure if it beats New York and Tokyo at the moment. But this is Liberal heartland. The fact is it's under siege from an independent candidate, Bianca Spender, Carla Zampatti's daughter, and that just shows what you're going to have after the next election is more crossbenchers from what's traditionally been safe Coalition seats, not from Labor seats. And that's why the Coalition sees the Prime Minister making announcements in Wentworth today. That says at all.

PAUL: Alright. This story might concern you going forward. Federal spending on aged care will double by the end of the decade and put more pressure on the budget according to new research that warns older Australians, Anthony, may have to draw on their savings to help them into their later years. Work by the Actuaries Institute to be released today. It's a story on the front page of the Herald. It shows that despite a sharp lift in Federal funding to deal with issues affecting aged care, it will not be enough as the population ages and demands grow. By the end of this decade, spending on aged care could reach $72 billion more than what is spent on the age pension. I mean, this is something to obviously work on.

ALBANESE: Well, aged care has been in crisis under this Government. The interim report of the Royal Commission that the Government resisted was titled 'Neglect'. It found that about half of those people in aged care residences were literally starving. They weren't getting enough nutrition. We need to do much, much better. And this Government, a big missing element of their response to the Royal Commission, has been that they haven't said anything about workforce issues. And you need to address workforce issues when it comes to aged care.

PAUL: Good to have you on Anthony. We will talk again soon. Thank you for your time.

ALBANESE: Thank you, Marcus.

PAUL: Alright there he is, Federal Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese. Now, as always, we will naturally extend an invitation to the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, to come on the program. But somewhere or other, I suspect our email might get lost. I'm still on the list, apparently, to speak to ScoMo. It is a list that's so long, I think it's longer than Father Christmas' list, because they never seem to get to us.

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