SUBJECTS: Christian Porter’s resignation from Cabinet; blind trust; vaccine rollout; need for national quarantine facilities; failure of the Morrison Government during the COVID-19 pandemic; state borders; Federal election.

MICHAEL BAILEY, HOST: Anthony Albanese, good morning to you. How are you?

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning, mate. Good to talk with you again.

BAILEY: Yeah, look, I tell you what the super trust, I love the headline here. An unhelpful distraction. This is to do with Porter, he resigned as Minister. So, he should have resigned, would you not agree?

ALBANESE: Absolutely. But he also needs to explain exactly where this money came from, how much of it was there and why was it given. You can't continue either as a Member of Parliament without having a full disclosure of any private interests that you have. And here you have a private legal case which receives donations which are secret, and he thinks is good enough to say, 'Well, I got the money. I won't tell you where it came from and won't tell you how much, nothing to see here'. This is just a farce.

BAILEY: And maybe I am dumb, but how does a blind trust work? I wouldn't mind doing that myself.

ALBANESE: Well, this isn't a blind trust. That's the point. A blind trust is something that is established as a vehicle to invest for a minister or I think Malcolm Turnbull might have had one when he was the Prime Minister whereby people look after your investments, your interest, and you don't know where you've invested, for example, shares so that you can't benefit through decisions that you're in a position to make as a minister or as part of a Cabinet process. What we have here is something very different. This isn't Christian Porter's money, this is money that's given to Christian Porter in order for him to conduct a private legal case, which is why it isn't a blind trust. This is just a secret fundraising vehicle for Christian Porter's private legal case. And it clearly was in breach of the ministerial responsibility guidelines which are there. But it also is in breach of his obligations as a Member of Parliament. I can't have a fund whereby people unknown to me put money in and I just say, 'Well, where's this fund, I don't know where the money comes from. Nothing to see here'. It's pretty clear where that leads.

BAILEY: Of course. We'll never know or I'm sure you'll keep digging. But he's now to go onto the backbench. And I'm surprised he's actually going to run. But looks like the Liberal Party is on the nose in Western Australia. So, it's going to be a battle for him to win. And if he does win, you guys are going to be on to him to make sure he tells the truth. So, it looks like Porter's Industry, Science and Technology portfolio has been taken over by Minister Angus Taylor. More work for Angus, no doubt. 

ALBANESE: And he has had his own issues over the years. This is a scandal-driven Government that is showing signs of just having been there for too long. When you have scandal after scandal, so-called distraction after distraction, but that's their core business. They just drift from one lot of chaos to another. And it's time that they spent time in opposition in order to get their act together, frankly. Because it is quite farcical. You've had so many people leave just in WA alone, people like Julie Bishop and Mathias Cormann and Michael Keenan. All these people who were significant figures in the WA Liberal Party have all gone. You have issues in terms of disgraced Members of Parliament, Andrew Laming still sitting there on the backbench as the chair of a committee, even though Scott Morrison said he'd go. You have all sorts of issues right around the country.

BAILEY: Anthony, you must be looking at chops, because while they're in disarray, your numbers must be going up, surely. Come on. They would be going up, wouldn't they?

ALBANESE: Well, we are doing okay. The issue here is giving Australia a government of which they can be proud. And at the moment, this Government and this issue is an example of a Government that is not asking, to paraphrase JFK, they're not asking what they can do for their country, they're asking what their country can do for them. This is about their own interests rather than the interests of the people who vote for them.

BAILEY: Now, Anthony, I want to get right away from that subject. Because I had a phone call from Dominic Doblo. I'm sure you know him from the number two tourist attraction in town, Doblo's Farmers Market. He is peeved off. We can't get any answers for him and you being the Leader of the Opposition, maybe you've got some knowledge. When are the restrictions going to be lifted, because he's fully vaccinated, and he needs to do business in Sydney at the local fruit markets down there? If you were in charge, would you lift the border for business people like Mr Doblo to cross and do business?

ALBANESE: Well, I wouldn't have got Sydney and New South Wales into the situation in which we're in. It's really tough to be here in Sydney, let me tell you.

BAILEY: There's just one classic example of a local businessman who wants to go to the Sydney Markets to do business. That's his livelihood. And he's been stopped. And he's been double vaxxed. He's got the passport. He's got everything. He's willing to go across, do business, come back, go into isolation. But they won't let him.

ALBANESE: The situation in New South Wales is really difficult because they were complacent. We said we were the gold standard, and the truth is that wasn't the case. And as a result of one limo driver driving someone unvaccinated without a mask to hotel quarantine, we have really suffered now for month after month. I can't go to Queensland. I'm going to miss seeing my Bunnies playing the Grand Final, perhaps, in a couple of weeks' time. And that to me is going to be really tough that I have to watch it on TV because I'd love to be there. But they are the circumstances in which we're in. And it's a direct consequence of the failure to get enough supply of vaccines, something I was talking to you about last year. This isn't in hindsight. We needed to order more vaccines early enough. And we needed to fix national quarantine. And now Premier Palaszczuk is going on her own because the feds have been so hopeless, even though they're responsible, and building the quarantine centre at Wellcamp near Toowoomba there, which is a good thing. But the failure of the Commonwealth on those two big issues is, I think, just has had real consequences, including for local small business people.

BAILEY: It's crazy. So, you're being locked out of Queensland. Some people would say that's good. Some other people would say that it's bad. It is bad, isn't it?

ALBANESE: You would want me there in the studio, don't you?

BAILEY: Absolutely. I am double vaxxed. I'm ready to rock and roll and talk to anybody, actually, whether they are vaxxed or not. But at the end of the day, business is being stifled, absolutely stifled. You can't do business all the time on Zoom, can you?

ALBANESE: No. Absolutely. And it is having real economic consequences, the failure of the Morrison Government on these issues.

BAILEY: So, what am I going to tell Mr Doblo?

ALBANESE: Tell him to vote Labor at the next election as a start and he will get a Government who works with Annastacia Palaszczuk and doesn't work against her. 

BAILEY: You've had your free kick.

ALBANESE: You can't blame me for having a go.

BAILEY: That's what it's all about. You have a good day. 

ALBANESE: You too.

BAILEY: Hopefully in one year, we'll see you back in Queensland.

ALBANESE: Stay safe.

BAILEY: Thank you very much, Leader of the Opposition.

ENDS