SUBJECTS: Morrison-Joyce Government shambles on net zero emissions; climate change; timing of the next federal election.
 
MURRAY JONES, HOST: So, some of the big talk at the moment. Interesting just to read in the last 24 hours, even Joe Biden, who's been fairly progressive with respect to net zero emissions by 2050, he's actually under tremendous pressure from a lot of people in the US to actually do more. Obviously, Scomo is, as well, maybe digging his heels in just a little bit tighter with respect to things. Now, just in the last week or so, I've actually had Penny Wong as a special guest at the radio station. It was wonderful to see her, and she said some very salient things when it comes to the politicians making empty promises to their constituents.
 
RECORDING OF PENNY WONG, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY IN THE SENATE: One of the easiest but the least honourable things to do in politics is to pretend to people that you can stop change and to make people frightened. I don't think the LNP and Barnaby Joyce and Matt Canavan and people like that are actually doing the people who vote for them any favours by pretending that things aren't going to change. Things are changing, and people know that.
 
JONES: And we certainly do and, you know, I guess the momentum here in Australia, more than 80 per cent of Australians, they want change when it comes to climate change and dealing more with it. At the end of the day, it's going to happen. The urbanisation of Australia, and the cries as we continue to hear from regional and rural Australia, is that we are underrepresented in the Australian Parliament. On the basis that rural and regional Australia will be making the most significant transition to the new economy, do the Nationals actually have a point about, you know, having their fair share of resources to make this inevitable transition? And the transition’s going to happen. My special guest this morning, Albo. Good morning Albo.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning. Good to hear Jo Jo Zep there. I haven’t heard that song for quite a while.
 
JONES: Well, ‘The Shape I’m In’, because I know how skinny you're looking. We'll have to do a comparative test when you come back up again, Albo.
 
ALBANESE: I look forward to being able to come back up there. I did have a holiday booked up there and unfortunately wasn't able to go. But we'll see how it goes. I look forward to getting back to Queensland. I was locked out of Sydney, of course, for three months and spent some time there throughout Queensland, including in your studio, and that was a good opportunity. But I do look forward to coming back. And I'd encourage people – get your jab. The sooner that happens, the sooner things can reopen.
 
JONES: We'll come back to the borders in just a sec, a significant announcement here in Queensland just in the last few days. And we won’t talk about your puppy dog because I know how pleased your puppy dog was to see you. But let's talk a little bit more about the Nationals. I mean, they've been talking a lot of gibberish and a lot of rubbish which has been totally rejected by the Australian public. But when it comes to the regions and rural areas, actually taking a lot of the weight when it comes to this transition to the inevitable of a net zero emissions economy. You know, do the Nationals have a point – they need to talk to their constituents to make sure that the transition is not something that's going to be very costly to regional and rural Australia?
 
ALBANESE: Well, they're not fair dinkum. There is enormous opportunities for regional Australia to benefit from a shift in the economy. Just today, Annastacia Palaszczuk’s in Maryborough, in Queensland there, announcing an expansion of rail manufacturing, a significant expansion of jobs there at Downer EDI at the centre of Maryborough’s economy. And that's an example of whereby the former LNP Government under Campbell Newman made trains overseas, not in Australia. And that costs Australian jobs. The significant opportunities that are there to expand in jobs. We had an extraordinary decision by Keith Pitt, as the Minister, to reject the Kaban wind farm proposal there on the Atherton Tablelands. And in the end, in spite of the fact that it was recommended by the board of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, he rejected it. It’s 250 regional jobs and the Queensland Government had to step in to support that project, because it was vetoed, a loan of $280 million for the wind farm. The National Party also are never on the side of workers when it comes to issues like Same Job, Same Pay for miners. They've been in court backing in the company, the Federal Government, which undermines that permanent, secure work that people need to live in these regional communities. And I just think that there's a big wake-up call coming for the National Party with their rejection of any change in terms of policy dynamic, but in reality, what they're doing is rejecting jobs and allowing change to be shaped by big corporations, not in the interests of people. We need an economy that works for people, not the other way around.
 
JONES: The Nationals are cornered, to a degree. You know, what you've talked about, and I think that's what's got it across the line, even with the Murdoch papers, is that there is significant opportunity there in the future. But what about that transition process? I think that seems to be the real sticking point for them. To actually bring their constituents along to actually transfer into this new economy. That's where the challenge is likely to be.
 
ALBANESE: Well, as Penny Wong said, they appeal to fear rather than hope. They will always argue for temporary migration, for example, rather than for skilling up Australians for the jobs of the future. We've got an alternative plan. One with a National Reconstruction Fund of $15 billion to make sure we build back stronger, a $20 billion Rewiring the Nation program to make sure that renewables can fit into the grid and make sure the transmission is fit for the 21st century. We had a plan, of course, for fibre to every home and business when it comes to the National Broadband Network, to take away the tyranny of distance so that people in places like, whether it's Cairns or Port Douglas, or anywhere around Australia, all those regional towns, could have the same access to the national market and to global markets as people in the CBD of Brisbane. But that, of course, was wound back by the Liberal and National parties. I helped lay out fibre myself as the Minister for Communications there in Cairns. And it's just extraordinary that we've missed out on these opportunities. And eventually what happens in this country is a history of change is happening, because change in our lives, inevitable, the LNP go out there and say ‘No, keep things everywhere the same way they are,’ and they reject change and they whip up a fear campaign, and then 10 years later it’s adopted and they get on board, but after we've squandered the potential advantages that Australia has. We could be a renewable energy superpower for the world. And we have incredible opportunity.  I visited, up there, with Bob Katter, I visited Kidston, the project there, an old mine being converted into hydro with battery storage. Big Kennedy and Little Kennedy wind farms. They're making an enormous difference to jobs in Hughenden and in the region and powering the region. And the Coalition just seem to oppose change. We will have, I hope to lead a Labor Government, which is able to advance issues not just on climate change, but issues like the Uluru Statement from the Heart and equality for women. And when those changes are made, it will be like the issue of marriage equality, it'll be like the issue of the Apology to the Stolen Generations, it'll be like fibre-based broadband that now they're having to go back and retrofit, it will be like net zero by 2050 that they railed against. They'll say, ‘Oh, yeah, we've always supported that,’ and just hope the people don't remember. Well, there's a cost of inaction. And the cost of eight years inaction is that Australia has fallen behind the rest of the world and where we should be. And that's why Scott Morrison has no choice but to adopt net zero by 2050. Because he couldn't possibly enter into a conference with the leaders of developed nations in Europe and the United States and adopt the sort of ridiculous rhetoric that we've seen from him that electric vehicles would end the weekend, that renewable energy targets were nuts and the big battery helping to power South Australia, in terms of renewables, was as useful as the Big Banana or the Big Prawn. That’s the rhetoric that we've seen from Scott Morrison. People should send the LNP into opposition because they need time to get their act together, frankly. They're a shambles here in Canberra at the moment.
 
JONES: Sadly, some of the prospects, with respect to things like solar panels, that's been squandered. And unfortunately, you know, things like the negative coverage by the Murdoch press, which has tended to be very right wing, it's certainly not assisted. You're talking about the prospects of Labor coming to power and obviously the polls are moving in Labor's direction. But you did raise the prospects yesterday of December 11 for a federal election. Tell us more from your perspective.
 
ALBANESE: Well, Scott Morrison comes back from Glasgow, he leads a government that's falling apart, as we see, we have a Deputy Prime Minister, who will be Acting Prime Minister while he's in Glasgow, who doesn't support the Government policy. We have Government Cabinet Ministers like Bridget McKenzie speaking as if they're backbenchers and they're not part of the Government. You have people like your local member there having a different position, as well. And they, I think, are struggling to get to the next election. And it may well be that he comes back and decides that he can’t keep putting together this so-called Government with Blu Tack and a bit of string, and that it's better off going to an election, for which it is possible that he comes back and calls it on that weekend for December 11. So we'll be ready if that's the case. If not, we will be ready in March or whenever the election is called.
 
JONES: Interestingly, it seems at least the Murdoch papers won't be attacking the current Government with respect to the net zero emissions target since their turn around in the last week or so. You've got to go, I've got to go. But look, as we quickly wrap up, vaccination rates, that’s the big push. Obviously the two big subjects in this country at the moment are the net zero emissions by 2050 and vaccination rates. And we are hoping our tourism industry here in tropical North Queensland, we want the borders reopened, of course, nationally initially, and then internationally as soon as possible, Albo.
 
ALBANESE: That’s right. That's the key. And once again, Scott Morrison was too slow to act. It's always too little too late. And he of course, spent the first half of the year saying ‘it wasn't a race’. Well, it always was a race. It was a race because of the need to protect people's health. But it was also a race because the consequences of not having enough vaccine supply and not getting enough vaccines into arms has been that people have been locked down and locked out. And that’s had a real impact on jobs in the economy in places particularly like the Tropical North.
 
JONES: Albo, it's always great to talk to you. We're looking forward to two borders being opened. And you might even pay us a visit. Certainly, some very interesting times ahead. I'm not sure about personally the prospect of having an election before Christmas, but I guess anything could be around the corner. Let's just see what happens. Thank you so much for your time this morning. It's always good to talk to you.
 
ALBANESE: Thanks very much, Murray. 
 
ENDS