SUBJECTS: Visit to Perth; birthday; Josh Frydenberg; federal election; Bentley TAFE; Ukraine; floods.
 
DEAN CLAIRS, HOST: There’s one person who’s looking forward to being the ‘Starman’ at the next Federal election. We don’t know a date yet. But he would love to be the next Prime Minister of this country. Anthony Albanese, good morning.

LISA SHAW, HOST: Good morning.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning. Thanks for having me on the program.

SHAW: Welcome to Perth. You must have been one of the first to arrive yesterday when the border opened.

ALBANESE: I was. I was on the first plane that landed at five past midnight.

SHAW: Did it really?

ALBANESE: Yeah, there were lots of excited reunions taking place. It was my birthday too.

SHAW: Happy birthday.

ALBANESE: I managed to work out a way to have a birthday that lasted 27 hours.

CLAIRS: Nice.

ALBANESE: Even if a whole lot of it was spent on a plane. 

CLAIRS: Nothing like the festival of the Albo. We like that, Anthony. That sounds good. But I heard Josh Frydenberg say yesterday, 'Anthony Albanese is no friend of WA'. What the hell’s he talking about?

ALBANESE: Well, who knows what Josh is talking about. I mean, the bloke’s been Treasurer, he’s got a trillion dollars of debt, he cancelled four projects in his own electorate yesterday because they didn’t stack up, worth $65 million for commuter car parks where there’s no train station. So, Josh, I think, was looking for any distraction whatsoever. But they know that they’ve got some issues in WA because Josh is part of the Government that backed up Clive Palmer rather than stood up for West Australians during the last couple of years.

SHAW: Right, we have a Federal election imminent. Do you know when it will be? Do you at the very least know when it’s going to be called?

ALBANESE: Well, I think it’s going to be on May 14. It has to be either May 21 is the very latest it can be. They’re stringing this out to the longest possible date, I think.

SHAW: They are indeed.

ALBANESE: But it is annoying, because the Government, the Prime Minister himself, said way back in October last year that they were in campaign mode. I just want them to govern. To fix the rapid antigen tests, to fix aged care, to fix the crisis that is there with labour shortages, to fix the child care, to fix a range of issues that we have problems with is in this country. I’ll be visiting a TAFE this morning with Zaneta Mascarenhas, our candidate for Swan, announcing new TAFE facilities we would support to assist in the skills area, particularly with hospitality in this case. We’ve got big challenges in this country and the Government is just determined to play politics constantly and not to do their job of governing.

CLAIRS: Anthony, speaking of a place with challenges, that is the Ukraine right now and the situation with Russia. How do you feel about the Government’s stance? And would you do anything differently to what the Federal Government is doing right now?

ALBANESE: No, look, I think it’s really important that oppositions don’t just play politics for its own sake. And on Ukraine, it is very important that the whole world is united, not just Australia's united, in support for Ukraine, in opposition to Russian aggression. The Ukrainian people are showing incredible courage. They're quite inspirational. And I support them. And I support the Government's actions. We've said to the Government, very clearly, we will support the strongest possible action, but it needs to be done in partnership with the United States and the United Kingdom and NATO. And that's happening, and that's a good thing.

SHAW: Right. Now, Western Australia, what would you specifically be looking at offering us during the, you know, the hustings, the campaign, coming up to the election?

ALBANESE: Well, we need more infrastructure here in Western Australia. Last time I was in Government, I did the Gateway WA project, the Swan Valley Bypass, the Perth City Link project, really making a difference. And we need to invest more here in the West. It's a growing state. And it's kept the country going with its strong economy. So, I want to make sure that we address the skills crisis, but also want to address the pressure that’s there on living standards. And we'll do that by investing in child care, by making it cheaper for families. And also by making sure that we lift wages. Issues like wage theft should be a crime. I don't know why the Government's backed away from doing something in that area. The issue of same job, same pay in our sectors, so that people who are doing the same job should be paid the same pay. There shouldn't be abuse there. We need to address the need for more secure work. And here in WA I think there's incredible opportunities from the issue of dealing with climate change. You have the nickel refinery here at Kwinana, you have copper, you have lithium. And we should be making batteries here. We should be making more things here in Australia.

CLAIRS: What about those people in Queensland and New South Wales, Anthony? I know you've been out and about on the pre-election hustings, let's be honest. How are the flood victims going, the ones that you've spoken to and touched base with?

ALBANESE: Look, it is really tough. I spent two days, I was in Queensland on Tuesday and Wednesday. They're doing it really, really tough. But they're resilient. It's quite extraordinary the heroic efforts that people are making to look after each other. And similarly in New South Wales, I spoke to Susan Templeman yesterday out in the Hawkesbury. They once again are being hit. That area’s been hit by the bushfires and floods and then floods again. And people are showing incredible resilience and really trying to look after each other. And just a shout out to all those who help, the SES and emergency services, they do an incredible job. 

SHAW: How long are you in town for?

ALBANESE: I'm back over tomorrow, back to Sydney. It’s been a quick visit. But I'll be back soon, now that the borders are open. I did promise to come 10 times a year. That of course wasn’t impossible. But I also promised to be on the first flight and I made sure that happened.

SHAW: Alright. Well, busy time ahead by the sound of it. Your estimate is May 14, so nine weeks away until the Federal election. Thank you for having a chat today.

CLAIRS: And happy birthday once again for Wednesday.

SHAW: Happy birthday for Wednesday. 

ALBANESE: My pleasure. Thank you very much. Cheers.

ENDS