SUBJECTS: Queensland border reopening; A Future Made in Australia; Labor’s policy agenda; Federal election.
 
NEIL BREEN, HOST: Both sides of politics are already on election footing and the promises are starting to roll out. And now the Queensland borders have opened, we can expect to have both the PM and Opposition Leader here personally to fight for the must-win seats in regional Queensland and make up for lost time after months of closed borders. The Federal Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese, touched down in Brisbane a short time ago. Good morning to you, Opposition Leader.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: G'day. It's good to be back in the Sunshine State on such a beautiful day. I'm just having a cup of coffee with Anika Wells at Heck Yes in Boondall. And it's quite lovely, I've got to say, being here. It has been raining nonstop in Sydney, so great to be in Brisbane.
 
BREEN: It's always great to be in Brisbane. What was the mood like on the plane?
 
ALBANESE: Look, it was just very exciting beforehand in Sydney. A whole lot of families reuniting. We had the Qantas choir singing as people left the plane, doing a version of You're the Voice as well. I haven't heard them do that before. It was really celebratory. And it's a great day for Queensland. And congratulations to Queenslanders for getting out, getting vaccinated, keeping each other safe. I think that the Queensland Government have done a fantastic job. And it's great to be back here.
 
BREEN: What's your plan while you're up here in Queensland?
 
ALBANESE: Well, I'm off today this morning in Caboolture with Rebecca Fanning, our candidate for Longman. We are going to talk about the 65,000 new TAFE places as part of our Future Made in Australia plan. We want to make more things here in Queensland and we want to train Australians up for those jobs. So, I'll be talking with people at Caboolture this morning. It will be very positive. And catching up with a few other people while I'm here today. And then I'll be back on Friday. I did book myself a bit of a break in Central Queensland on the day that you were going to open, the 17th. So I'll be back on Friday, but at work today.
 
BREEN: So on Friday with the boardies and thongs but working today.
 
ALBANESE: Indeed. Up in Central Queensland for a few days off, doing a bit of work on Friday and then I'll have some much-needed R&R just before Christmas.
 
BREEN: So what are you doing, Central Queensland? Give us a bit more of a hint as to how you'll spend your time up here at the end of the week.
 
ALBANESE: I'll be around Bundaberg, around Central Queensland there. I've just booked somewhere. When I was locked out of Sydney for three months, you might recall, I did a couple of big road trips and I stopped at various places. We drove from Rocky down to Brisbane and did another trip earlier on. We flew out to Barcaldine and went across the coast and then down. So, I've spent a fair bit of time in Queensland, of course, over the year. But I'm going to a quieter place, hopefully, there in Central Queensland just for a few days off and then I will be at home for Christmas Day. I always help out at Bill Crews a run a lunch for the homeless and for people who haven't got anywhere else to go. So I'll be spending that with Reverend Bill Crews and 2,000 of our closest friends at Exodus Foundation on Christmas Day.
 
BREEN: Anthony Albanese, you mentioned the TAFE places there. And we had Richard Marles on the program, your Deputy, a week or so ago talking about it as well. I'm a little confused. Isn't TAFE a state government responsibility?
 
ALBANESE: Well, what we need is for the Federal Government to step up. The Federal Government does provide some funding. And what's happened under this Government is that $3 billion has been ripped out of TAFE. And what's more, there's something in the order of more than 80,000 less apprentices today than there were before. One of the things about the pandemic is that it has shown the strength of our society, people making sacrifices to look after each other. But it's also shown our vulnerabilities of our economy. We don't make enough things here. And we're not training Australians for the jobs of today, let alone the jobs of tomorrow. There's 2 million Australians who are either unemployed or underemployed, who want more hours. Now, what we need to do is to make sure that they have access to those skills. It will end up paying for itself, of course. If you put people into employment, they're paying taxation, they're participating in the society. And that's what we need to do. There's too many Australians being left behind. And it is something that I'm committed to. We committed to that as well as 20,000 additional university places. We need to compete in this fast-changing world of the 21st century by how smart we are, not by driving down wages and conditions, which is what's been going on over the last few years.
 
BREEN: What would you say are the three biggest issues for Queensland voters at this Federal election?
 
ALBANESE: I think jobs, secure work. The fact that people can't get that secure, permanent work is a big issue that people talk to me about, whether it be in the mining sector with the issue of not having same job, same pay, or whether it be just casualisation. People want access to permanent work. Second is the cost of living. The cost of child care is far too much. That's why we'll make child care more affordable. And the third is just wages. The fact is our wages have been going backwards. And over the next four years, this Federal Government predicts that wages will not keep up with the cost of inflation. So I think people are really struggling. And they want to be able to get by. And Australians all want what previous generations wanted. We just want our kids to have a better quality of life than the one that we've enjoyed. We aspire to that for our children. I want to meet the aspirations of Australians by having a Government as good and as strong as they are. I want a better future for Australians.
 
BREEN: One thing you didn't mention there was COVID. So, you don't think that how well we have dealt with COVID in Queensland, thanks to the State Government and thanks to the Federal Government, that that's not going to be a factor in how people vote at the election?
 
ALBANESE: It will be a factor. That's been factored in. I think people will factor in the fact that Queenslanders didn't get the vaccine soon enough. If that had occurred, we wouldn't be opening up today. We would have been open for some period of time because those vaccination rates would have been much higher. And the fact is that Scott Morrison said it wasn't a race, and it always was.
 
BREEN: We held off to be safer, didn't we? The UK went early with vaccines without going through the usual processes. We said all along, we were going to be safe and hold off. We've done it and things have ended up great up here.
 
ALBANESE: No, we didn't have enough supply. That's the truth of the matter. People wanted to get vaccinated earlier and they just couldn't, because Queensland wasn't given the supply. And Australians were way behind the rest of the world in terms of the rollout of the vaccine. We know now from correspondence from Pfizer that they were desperate to do a deal with the Australian Government and they were basically ignored. And we have paid a price for that. And the second thing we've paid a price for is not having purpose-built quarantine. The Queensland Government, more than a year ago, was quite crying out for support for the Wellcamp site at Toowoomba. And the truth is that Annastacia’s had to step up and build it herself because the Federal Government were complacent. Hotels are places for tourists. They're not places for quarantine.
 
BREEN: Alright. Thanks for your time. Say hi to Anika Wells. She's a regular on 4BC Drive with Scott Emerson. Enjoy your time up here in Queensland.
 
ALBANESE: I will do. She's waving now and saying g'day to you.
 
BREEN: Go back to your coffee, it is getting cold. Federal Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese, have a great stay.
 
ENDS