SUBJECTS: NSW Inner West light rail fail; a future made in Australia; manufacturing; Labor’s policy agenda; lack of trust in the Morrison Government; National Broadband Network; Federal election; William Tyrrell. 

MARCUS PAUL, HOST: I’m going to play a little bit of audio, bearing in mind that we have trams off the track in the inner west of Sydney because they were made in Spain, we’ve got ferries that don’t work at night, can’t travel in swells, we’ve had issues with trains in the past, but apparently, here in Sydney, in Western Sydney in particular, we make stuff.

MELISSA MCINTOSH, RECORDING: We make stuff in Western Sydney.

[music]

MCINTOSH: I’m so proud that we are driving Australia’s manufacturing forward.

SCOTT MORRISON, PRIME MINISTER, RECORDING: Small and medium sized businesses are at the heart of our economic recovery and our Government is seeking to secure that economic recovery as we come out of COVID.

MCINTOSH: Over 600 manufacturers in my community of Lindsay employing over 6000 people.

PAUL: Alright. Well that’s great, Melissa McIntosh there with Scott Morrison out on the campaign trail yesterday. My question would be - if the Prime Minister ever got the cojones to come on this program, would be - well if that's the case, Scott, why are we making trains, making ferries, or making trams here in New South Wales? If we have the capability, why can't we all don the high-vis and make this stuff? Manufacture rather than by the cheapies from overseas and then, unfortunately, spend a fortune of taxpayer dollars fixing them. Anthony Albanese, Federal Opposition Leader, good morning.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning. Good to be with you, Marcus.

PAUL: Thank you, mate. You're the favourite, apparently. The incumbents are the underdog, I hear.

ALBANESE: Well, what nonsense. The Prime Minister has the advantage of incumbency. He certainly doesn't deserve another term in office. They're shooting for the second decade in Government. And without a plan, they just have rhetoric. And we just heard some of that there. We have, here in Australia, an opportunity for a great future. But it should be A Future Made in Australia. The Inner West light rail line is just the latest example of whereby every time Liberal governments have purchased trains, trams and ferries overseas, there have been problems. Whether it be ferries that can't fit under bridges, trains that can't fit through tunnels or can't match the platform in which they're supposed to arrive. This light rail line is going to be shut for up to 18 months. Can you believe it? They've got to send away to Spain for some parts. And they can't put the carriages from the light rail line in the Eastern Suburbs onto the Inner West line because they're different, they don't match up. It's just a debacle. And here in Sydney, we have another example, which is the Tangara train, made in Newcastle, still operating after decades, still running on the tracks. Australian made, with Australian steel, Australian jobs, a good thing. And why it is that governments continually, Liberal governments, and they've done it throughout the whole country, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australian, Liberal governments have purchased transport infrastructure overseas and it has had disastrous effects in every case. In Queensland, they're having to fix up the trains that were purchased overseas at the Downer EDI factory in Maryborough in Central Queensland. And this is just one example. I'll give you another, Marcus. Solar panels. You know that there are one per cent of solar panels on roofs in Australia that were put on last year were Australian made. It is Australian innovation, Australian designs, Australian ideas. And by and large, it's also built, a lot of it, with Australian products and Australian steel, Australian inputs, just like factories have Australian copper and lithium in them to power renewables. And we're not making enough of them here either. It really is a lost opportunity. And the Federal Government has nothing to say about that. I mean, Scott Morrison goes to a factory that has nothing to do with the Government and tries to proclaim somehow that he supports Australian jobs. The truth is, he is not doing enough.

PAUL: That was the point of playing that audio, Anthony. If that is the case, and we've got all these wonderful small businesses, which we do out there in Lindsay, in Penrith, in St Marys, the industrial heart of the Western suburbs, surely LNP governments, rather than making photo opportunities out of them, surely, we should enable them to manufacture things like public transport assets. I would have thought it's a no-brainer. Now, you say a lot of it’s hot air, which obviously I agree with. But I'll tell you what. They've got nearly $60 million for major government advertising campaigns of hot air in the run-up to the 2022 election. I mean, that must concern you. There's a big kitty there for the marketing man.

ALBANESE: Well, it is just a disgrace that they are spending taxpayers' money to promote themselves. But that's the problem with this Government. They see taxpayers' money as being the same as Liberal Party money. Whether it be for advertising, using the same agencies that they happen to use during election campaigns. Whether it be the sports rorts fiasco, commuter car parks where train stations don't exist, paying $30 million for land around Badgerys Creek that's worth $3 million. This is an absolute scandal after scandal. And to use taxpayers' money for blatant political advertising is quite outrageous.

PAUL: A lot is being made of the word ‘trust’ as we lead into the next Federal election, whether it's in March or May next year. Trust. Why would Australians trust you to form a new Government rather than continue along, maintain the status quo, with the incumbent?

ALBANESE: Because you can trust me to act in Australia's national interest, not in a partisan political interest. I have been Deputy Prime Minister, I was the Infrastructure Minister when we rebuilt one third of the interstate rail freight network, when we put more into urban public transport than all previous governments combined in the previous 107 years, when we stepped up the upgrade to the Pacific Highway and the Bruce Highway, where we completed the Hume Highway, when we had 5,500 community infrastructure projects which actually weren't part of a scandal, were done through local government, was not pork barrelling. And when we had a fibre-based National Broadband Network. This Government came in, let's talk about technology, they came in and stopped the rollout of fibre, 21st century technology, for our communications and replaced it with copper, which was redundant even before it was put in more. How can you trust this Government have a plan for the future?

PAUL: Governments like to leave behind legacies. The Gillard years left the NDIS, a look at the abhorrent sexual abuse of young people in a Royal Commission, a few other major incentives. What has Scott Morrison and the Liberal National Party done to leave a legacy on Australia? They've been in power, what, eight years now? What's their legacy? What have they created that Australians can be proud of, apart from, I guess, and giving credit where it's due, ultimately leading us through this pandemic as one of the leading nations to do so, insofar as the stats are concerned? But what will the legacy being of this current mob?

ALBANESE: Well, that's the point. They're going for a second decade with nothing to point to. In addition to what you said, we had paid parental leave, we had the National Broadband Network, we had the upgrade of school infrastructure, libraries and buildings in every school, not just in marginal seats, in every school in the country. Because we sought to represent the entire country. This Government have been partisan, they get out the electoral map for everything they do. And we are led now by a Prime Minister who himself says, 'Have no regard for what I said yesterday, because I'll have a different policy today'. That's what he says. And therefore, if he himself says you can't trust the words that he says on electric vehicles, so many things that he denies, then why should you trust what he has to say today?

PAUL: I've got about a minute before the news, Anthony. You're a father, I'm a father, the Prime Minister's a father. We've all been devastated by the disappearance of William Tyrrell. Hopefully, we'll get a conclusion to this story at some point in the next few weeks. What would you say in relation to Australians that have been heartbroken by this story?

ALBANESE: My heart goes out to them. It's beyond my comprehension of how you could deal with such a tragedy. And I think that's why Australians, but particularly this young boy's loved ones, really need closure here. It is just devastating. And we've followed it now for years.

PAUL: Long time - 2014. I have to leave it there. The news is on the way. We will talk to you again in coming weeks. Thank you for your time. 

ALBANESE: Good on you, mate. 

PAUL: Federal Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese, on Marcus Paul in the Morning.

ENDS