SUBJECTS: Visit to Perth; federal election.
 
RUSSELL CLARKE, HOST OF 96FM PERTH:Hello. Well, he's the man who would be PM, could be PM, wants to be PM, he just needs to convince you, and that's what is on the line to do, the Federal Labor Leader, the Leader of the Opposition, Anthony Albanese. Good morning.

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

CLARKE: Welcome to Perth, a couple of days into the visit now?

ALBANESE: I am, and it's been a terrific visit. Yesterday we were at the St. John of God Hospital with the premier announcing more testing for new bubs to bring us into line with the world's best practice, then we did a terrific walk through at the Westfield Carousel, the shopping centre, meeting and chatting with people, and today we're at the William St level crossing at the Beckenham Station, announcing the removal of that level crossing. It will be jointly funded with Mark McGowan's Government, and I'll be joining the Premier this morning to announce that.

CLARKE: Yep, and you joined him for lunch yesterday, the kebab. The burning question, who paid? Was it you? Was it him? Or was it us?

ALBANESE: I paid, I was a guest. I paid on my old credit card, and it was terrific, I've got to say, so highly recommended. If you enter the shopping centre there the first spot on the right. It was very good.

CLARKE: There you go. A big day yesterday, of course, before we move on to today, a big day yesterday, not only for yourself, but also for the Prime Minister. Obviously, you had an unexpected guest at your press conference, a bit of a gate crasher, wasn't wearing a media pass, and tried to get that question in. And of course, the Prime Minister, well, he was confronted by the pensioner, which you would have heard in the news while you were waiting to talk to us. It's a bit of a minefield, isn't it? When you when you're out there live on the on the hustings?

ALBANESE: I did, and look, I think it's important that people treat each other with respect and are polite. It's always some emotion can be got in issues, it wasn't just some punter who rocked up to the press conference yesterday, there was a truck going around with a billboard sort of attached to it that's been busy trying to whip up racist sentiment, basically, and that fella was associated with that. So you know, but we got on with the press conference, it was fine, he didn't cause any trouble. It was all good.

CLARKE: When you're in that kind of situation, and like the Prime Minister found himself in as well, obviously, you're putting yourself out there, and people are going to come up, you can't always control the situation. And I guess the Prime Minister was in a pub, so he was doing the ultimate pub test, and I'm sure you will be too over the next little while. How do you feel when you're going in there? Do you sort of take a deep breath and go alright, put the flak jacket on and think I'm ready for anything here?

ALBANESE: No, you just deal with it. I this morning, we'll be at a railway station, and I think that fellow was obviously just a local, but that was a genuine feeling that he had. I do think that I'm sympathetic towards anyone, including the Prime Minister put in that situation. I do think that we need to show more respect in in our discourse and discussion, it's a great democracy, it's a good thing that senior people, whether Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, can get about during not just during an election campaign, but other times as well. I certainly try to meet as many people as I can, and I try to listen to as many views as I can as well. That's how you find out what's going on in the community.

CLARKE: Now the election, obviously, it hasn't been called yet. We know that it has to happen well, by I think it's the 21st of May at the latest, do you have any inkling on when it's going to be called and when you'll really get into campaign mode?

ALBANESE: Well, it's just absurd. The Prime Minister stopped governing a long time ago. The only reason why the election hasn't been called formally is so that he can use your listeners taxes to pay for advertising for the government that is promoting, essentially, his re-election. That's what's going on.

CLARKE: Was there not a legal issue, though, that was possibly holding up the process?

ALBANESE: No, no. Now that’s nonsense. He could have called the election. Why is it that, the fact that the Prime Minister's own branch of the Liberal Party is in chaos, and they had to impose a dozen candidates who are hand picked rather than giving Liberal Party members any say at all right across, including in my own seat of Grayndler, is, I think, quite astonishing. But this is one of the problems with the Government is that it has been just focused on itself and on their internal squabbles and fights. You have character assessments coming towards the Prime Minister from his own side, day after day, the latest of which is from Michael Towke, you have a Liberal MP Catherine Cusack, saying that she can't support the Morrison Government being re-elected and isn't voting for it. It's quite astonishing.

CLARKE: Well, I guess you'll have to be prepared for shots coming your way over the next little while as well. I guess things always seem to come out during election campaigns. It's certainly an interesting time. I mean, it feels like it's been going on forever, and it actually hasn't even started yet.

ALBANESE: Well, the Prime Minister said many months ago that he was in campaign mode and started campaigning, since then we've seen 10s of billions of dollars spent before the budget. Some $70 billion between last December and the budget in March, and the campaign continues. I just think we need to end this pantomime, call the election, give the Australian voters certainty. The election should be held on May 14, it shouldn't be the last possible date, that will be a sign that the government doesn't have confidence in its own capacity going into the future.

CLARKE: Okay. Now, as we get ready to start the campaign proper, is this a sign of political cyber warfare with albanese.com.au being hijacked? When you go to it, you're actually taken to a Liberal party site? What have you got up your sleeve?

ALBANESE: So talk about rough? Well, I won't have any of that nonsense. You know that that is an example of a government who rather than stand on its record. They've been in office for almost a decade, and they're constantly engaged in tricks and talking about Labor. I'll be talking about our positive agenda for cheaper childcare, for good infrastructure projects for more secure work for fixing the aged care crisis. For making more things here in Australia. That will be what I concentrate on, and I'll leave the nonsense to the other side.

CLARKE: Okay. So in, say, 20, 30 seconds, here's your opportunity, equal time, we had the Prime Minister on when he was here not that long ago, what is your vision for Australia heading into this campaign?

ALBANESE: My vision is a better future for Australia where no one is left behind, and no one held back. Where we make more things here, where people have more secure work, and they have a better standard of living through cheaper electricity prices by acting on climate change, and cheaper childcare.

CLARKE: Mr. Albanese, I know you've got a very busy day before you head off somewhere else, and thank you very much for giving us some of your valuable time.

ALBANESE: Thanks for having me on the programme.
 
ENDS