TOPICS: Labor’s campaign in Queensland; National security; Australia’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific; Ministerial arrangements; The crisis in aged care; Visit to Woolworths Distribution Centre; Bruce Highway upgrade announcement.

NEIL BREEN, HOST: My special guest this morning is the Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese, who's in Brisbane. Welcome to the show, Opposition Leader. 

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: G'day Neil, always good to be in sunny Brisbane. It was a beautiful day yesterday. 

BREEN: Yes. It certainly was. And it's interesting that you had this pre-campaign launch, I suppose you could call it, at Chermside on the North side of Brisbane. Why did you choose Brisbane to do that?

ALBANESE: Because Queensland's important. I love being here in Queensland. We're at the Services Club, and that's a site where I visited last time I was here just weeks ago. It was an evacuation centre for, of course, people who lost everything. So yesterday was much more pleasant going back. People were upbeat and in a good mood and it was terrific to be there with Anika Wells, the local member, and with so many of our Queensland members and candidates. 

BREEN: We know it's important, Queensland, because the last federal election was a disaster for Labor. 58.4 to 41.6 two party preferred, Labor had 26.7 of the votes. That's all 26.7. 43.7 to the Liberal National Party. 23 seats to six, how many seats can you take off the Coalition at this election?

ALBANESE: Well, I'm hoping, very hopeful, of winning a whole range of seats in the regions. Seats like Leichhardt, Herbert, Flynn, and Capricornia, but also very hopeful here in Brisbane. In Brisbane's North, of course, we have Longman, Petrie, and Dickson, but there's also seats like Forde and Bowman, that I believe are in play. And last night, I launched the campaign of our fantastic candidate for Brisbane. Madonna Jarrett is just a cracking candidate. And it was a really good night there in the Valley. 

BREEN: Well I can go through a lot of these seats. The seat of Brisbane is interesting. It's held by the LNP. Trevor Evans is the is the Liberal member there, 4.9 per cent. But you got to beat The Greens. Because last time around you only just beat The Greens. You've got to beat them to get their preferences. If you're looking at a seat like Bowman, that's at 10.2 per cent. 10.2 per cent. That's held by the Coalition. If you're looking as deep as that you think you're gonna win a lot.

ALBANESE: Look, we're campaigning strongly across the board. And one of the things about Queensland, as you know Neil, is when it swings, it swings big. We've seen that in state elections. We've seen that in federal elections in the past. We're putting forward our candidates with a strong campaign, A Better Future, dealing with issues like making child care cheaper, dealing with the crisis in aged care, strengthening Medicare, but also creating new jobs and industries through our National Reconstruction Fund. We've got a good story to tell. And I tell you what, in a seat like Brisbane, one of the things that strikes me whenever I've been with Madonna, is people come up and they talk about climate change. And they know that Scott Morrison just hasn't taken that issue seriously, and Trevor Evans just puts his hand up at the same time that Barnaby Joyce does, and the climate sceptics. So I believe we're a good shot in seats like that. And the last time I was here, also, I did a street walk with Peter Cossar in Ryan, and we had a very good response. It must be said there as well. 

BREEN: Yeah, well, Ryan 6 per cent. The LNP holds that seat. Can I just take you, I want to come to climate change in a sec. But I just wanted to talk about the seat of Dickson. As you know, it's held by Peter Dutton. He defeated Cheryl Kernot a bit over 20 years ago. He nearly lost it in ‘07, but he survived it in 2019. Got a swing in his favour. Do you think you can knock him off and he'll be out of Parliament? 

ALBANESE: Well, he's a tough candidate. There's no question about that. But so is our candidate Ali France. She ran last time. She is someone who has overcome great adversity to become a lawyer, and is a Paralympian. She's someone who, from my experience, when a candidate has the ticker to run twice, they've already got their name recognition out there, and she is an exceptional candidate. It would be wonderful to put someone like Ali France in the Caucus and in the Parliament. 

BREEN: Well over the weekend, Peter Dutton, he's going to run on a line of national security. We know that. And obviously he'll drive that home in his seat. He says you're out of touch on national security. You say they're out of touch on climate change. And he says you pander to left wing conspiracies when it comes to protecting Australia. 

ALBANESE: Well, I say they're out of touch on national security. I tell you what, you don't secure Australia by spending money on tearing up contracts. And what we do need is more assets to come from investment. What we see from this government when it comes to issues like the debacle, frankly, that's happened over the purchase of submarines is billions of dollars spent without anything produced.

BREEN: Well, the submarines are there to be got. You'll be meeting with the Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk today, she doesn't seem very keen. If Australia is going to have a submarine base and you are the Prime Minister, why would Brisbane not be a big candidate for it and why do you think local Labor doesn't really like it?

ALBANESE: Well, what we've had from the government is, yet again, an announcement about an announcement. I found that thing quite extraordinary, without any detail whatsoever, and I think it was treated by everyone the way that it should have been. What we need to do is examine properly the best place for our subs to go, and then have a proper discussion about it. Not because there's an election coming up, make an announcement that you'll have an announcement in many months’ time.

BREEN: Anthony Albanese, I saw the comments from Jim Chalmers yesterday. Tax on trust funds has finally been ruled out. That comes on top of you're already getting rid of the policies from 2019, franking credits, negative gearing, all of those things. And you're saying no new taxes, no new taxes at all from Labor. But you want to spend on things...

ALBANESE: With the exception of multinationals, is the only thing we're focused on. 

BREEN: Yes, yes. And so multinationals, the question I have about that is how will you get extra tax out of them? When Labor tried something like this over a decade ago, with the mining tax, it failed spectacularly, and a backlash from the industry. How will you withstand it from the multinationals when they come at you hard? 

ALBANESE: Well, that was that was a completely different measure. What we need to do...

BREEN: It's still big business though. When you take on big business, they come hard.

ALBANESE: Indeed. And there's a whole international movement to stop the shifting around of profits in a fake way, in order to avoid taxation in nation states. This is something that has to be dealt with globally. Australia should be playing a leading role in it, because it's simply not fair. Because, apart from anything else, it disadvantages Australian companies. They're in competition with these multinationals. If a multinational can get by without paying any effective tax, then what that does is crowd out Australian business, and we make no apologies for standing up for Australia's national interest. 

BREEN: I think it'll be a winner, if you can show that you will get the tax out of them. Because I think Australians are fair minded and don't like the way that's worked out. Before, you spoke about climate change and you said one of the reasons why we've, sort of, dipped out in the Solomons and we've allowed China to get in there is because we've been poor as a nation on dealing with climate change in Pacific Islands. But, it leaves out the question - China's the worst nation in the world when it comes to climate change. The worst.

ALBANESE: Of course they've been poor. 

BREEN: They just give them money. It's about money. 

ALBANESE: Of course it's been poor. But Australia's standing in the Pacific has also been undermined by the reduction in our presence in the Pacific. The reduction in the way that our Foreign Service operates, our lack of presence. Why is it now Neil? I'll say this, we're not in an election campaign, believe it or not, right now. Allegedly, the Government is supposed to be governing. Who has it put in the Solomons in recent weeks? Who's traveled there, sat down, engaged, put forward Australia's national interest, which, quite clearly, is that there shouldn't be a Chinese base located just thousands of kilometres from our shore, but nowhere near China. Why is it that Australia hasn't been in a position to press that? There's been a real lack of Australian leadership in the Indo-Pacific. It started with the cuts to foreign aid. It continued by us not treating our Pacific Island neighbours with respect. There was, of course and people know, the footage of Peter Dutton and Scott Morrison, and others, standing there in Parliament House making a joke about rising sea levels and how that wasn't an issue. Well for them it's not funny. For them it's having a real impact. 

BREEN: I know but that doesn't mean that's why they went with China. You specifically said it was to do with...

ALBANESE: No, I didn't say that. 

BREEN: But you said it was about climate change. It was our poor thing. 

ALBANESE: No, I didn't Neil. That's Peter Dutton's spin. That's Peter Dutton's spin. What I said was Australia's standing in the region has been undermined by our failure to provide leadership on climate change. And that is just the facts. If you speak to our Pacific Island neighbours, they will say the number one issue that they're concerned about in international politics is climate.

BREEN: I don't think China is the one to help them there. Can I ask this question? 

ALBANESE: No I didn't say they were. But what China is doing is...

BREEN: Is giving them money.

ALBANESE: Of course they're using money. Of course they're using money. But is Peter Dutton competing on that in order to have influence. No, he's not. No, he's not. And we're also being undermined by making a joke about these nations in the Pacific, as Peter Dutton was a part of. It's about our standing in the region, Neil. And that is multifaceted. And it's not just about aid. It's also about the issues which are of concern to them, and whether they're showing them respect. 

BREEN: Can I ask this before you go. Will Penny Wong, Kristina Keneally, Katy Gallagher all be in Cabinet if you win?

ALBANESE: You bet they will. 

BREEN: Also, in Brisbane today. What are you doing at nine o'clock with the Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk? You want to tell us about that announcement? 

ALBANESE: I'll be with the Premier at the opening of the Woolworths Distribution Centre. It's a terrific project. I'll be with my mate Milton Dick out there. It's in his electorate also at Heathwood. It's a huge facility. And, of course, our retailers did such an amazing job during the pandemic of keeping the keeping the country going. So I'm looking forward to joining the Premier, and Brad Banducci this morning there along with Milton.

BREEN: Well Milton will be winning his seat.

ALBANESE: Oh he'll romp it in, don't worry about that. I've never met anyone who wasn't voting for Milton Dick in that area. But I'll also be announcing an upgrade to the Bruce Highway. We'll be doing that in Dickson. Increasing it from eight lanes from Dohles Rocks Road to Anzac Avenue, really improving that congestion that occurs, particularly during the peaks in the South in the mornings and the evenings. But also then I'll be visiting a family, meeting Patricia and Jack, with Anika Wells, talking about aged care Home Care packages. We need to do something about the whole aged care crisis. Pat and Jack, I'm really looking forward to the meeting today, they've been married for 70 years, how's that? 

BREEN: Fantastic, fantastic. I'll say this...

ALBANESE: …[INAUDIBLE] dementia, and we'll be we'll be going to them talking about how important it is to have appropriate Home Care packages for people so that they can stay living at home as long as possible. 

BREEN: Anthony Albanese thanks for your time this morning. Anika Wells was front and centre yesterday, you're spending time with her today, you must be worried about the seat of Lilley, but I've got to go it's 28 after seven.

ENDS