SUBJECTS: Queensland border reopening; trip to Queensland; reconnecting with Queenslanders; federal election; opinion polls; weaknesses in our economy; migration; jobs.
 
MICHAEL ROWLAND, HOST: Now, one of the people taking advantage of the border reopening is the Federal Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese. He's about to hop on a flight up to the Sunshine State as well. He joins us from Sydney Airport. Good morning!
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning, Michael.
 
ROWLAND: A very big step, isn't it, in the reopening of Australia, this border reopening?
 
ALBANESE: Look, it's terrific news. And Queenslanders have been magnificent, led by Annastacia Palaszczuk. They've kept each other safe. They've made sacrifices. It's been difficult for them to have border closures. But what it's enabled them to do is to get those vax rates up which will go a long, long way towards keeping them safe. They will have to do what they've been doing anyway, which is to check-in to places. Those people who haven't been vaccinated, a big shout out, get out there and get it done. If you're eligible for your booster, get that done too. I had my booster last Monday. And it's a good thing that Queensland is opening up again and I look forward to going to Caboolture TAFE today on day one.
 
ROWLAND: You're heading up there to Caboolture to campaign. Now, Labor did disastrously in the last Federal Election in Queensland. A primary vote of just 27 per cent. You've got your work cut out for you in that state?
 
ALBANESE: Well, we need to reconnect with Queenslanders. We didn't do well enough in the last election. When I was locked out of Sydney because of restrictions, I spent a long time in Queensland. I did a couple of road trips up and down the coast. I visited every small place that there was in between Rockhampton and Brisbane, down the coast. And I think that Queenslanders know that this is a tired government at the end of its third term. They don't have an agenda for today, let alone a vision for tomorrow. And I'll be talking today about our plans, including 465,000 free TAFE places, 20,000 additional university places and how we build back stronger. We need to take advantage of sacrifices that Australians have made by actually trying to envisage how we've become more resilient, how we make more things. On my trip to Queensland a few months ago, I went to Maryborough. They're doing fantastic there. Downer EDI making trains, building things, creating jobs in regional Queensland. And that's what I want to drive.
 
<airport announcement>
 
ROWLAND: That's not your flight, let's hope not. Let's talk about connecting to voters, Anthony Albanese. We do know that Labor is ahead of the Coalition in the opinion polls. But Scott Morrison is still well ahead of you in the preferred Prime Minister stakes. And what the polls show is that after three years of you being in that job, a lot of voters have yet to form a view on you. Are you worried heading into an election year that you've yet to leave an imprint on the minds of so many voters, be it in Queensland or elsewhere in Australia?
 
ALBANESE: Not at all, Michael. What I've done during the pandemic, and I think that the polls that you refer to give us credit for it, was we were constructive. It was Labor who put forward the idea of wage subsidies that the Government said was a bad idea at the beginning. It was Labor who put forward a range of concerns that we had, particularly about getting people vaccinated. The supply of vaccines was the big problem that we had. Scott Morrison said that it wasn't a race. We know, as a result, it is why those lockdowns have continued to occur and why the borders were closed. We continue to put forward a positive vision. What it meant was that it wasn't the usual argy-bargy in politics. And that, of course, made it difficult for an Opposition. But I make no apologies for putting the national interest first rather than short-term political interest. Now, Australians will switch on in the lead-up to the election. We've landed a climate change policy that has the support of the Business Council, Australian Industry Group, the National Farmers' Federation and ACTU, and actually will take Australia forward with clean, cheap, energy to enable jobs to be created through the National Reconstruction Fund as well. We have a really positive vision, and I think that it's time for a change of government. And I believe that Australians, including Queenslanders, will choose that when they have the opportunity next year.
 
ROWLAND: OK, but they're the policies. But like it or lump it, Anthony Albanese, as you know, Australian politics has become increasingly presidential and a one-on-one contest between you and Scott Morrison next year.
 
ALBANESE: And my approval ratings are higher!
 
ROWLAND: But in the preferred Prime Minister stakes...
 
ALBANESE: Because he has the job. Guess what, Michael? If we do a survey for preferred ABC morning host chances are that you win versus someone who doesn't have the job. That's what happens. But the truth is, Australians are, in terms of their approval ratings, my approval rating is stronger. Both of us aren't in positive territory, that's the truth. It's been a difficult period for Australians. But my positive vision that I'll be putting forward, as well as holding the Government to account for their failure on vaccines, their failure to have purpose-built quarantine. The Queensland Government are going it by themselves in building purpose-built quarantine near Toowoomba. They were crying out for Federal Government action for month after month after month and it's taken Annastacia Palaszczuk to step into that leadership position, where Scott Morrison should have been, given that quarantine is clearly a federal issue.
 
ROWLAND: Just before we go, we have the mid-year economic review out on Thursday this week and one thing that we already know about that is that the Federal Government will move to increase net migration by 120,000 over the next couple of years as part of the economic recovery process. Does Labor support that?
 
ALBANESE: Well, we want proper analysis to be done here. Migration plays an important role in Australia. But we need to make sure that we train Australians for jobs which are there. And one of the things that COVID has exposed is some of the weaknesses in our economy. Our failure to make enough things here. Our failure to train Australians for jobs. There are two million Australians who are either unemployed or underemployed who want more hours. And it would be a good thing if we trained up Australians for those jobs. That's what our skills package is about. And that should be a priority. Why is it that the Federal Government have nothing to say about that, except for cuts to TAFE and, of course, they abandoned universities during the pandemic.?
 
ROWLAND: OK, so you don't support that increase at this stage?
 
ALBANESE: We want to see the analysis. We don't think that in abstract, one of the problems that has occurred with our economy is that we're not resilient enough, so that we relied upon temporary labour. As soon as that didn't become problem, we had these massive skills shortages. Now, we need to make sure that Australians are trained for jobs. Migration will continue to play a role and temporary migration has a role to play as well. But how about in those high-paid, highly skilled jobs, we train Australians for them. And that's what is not happening at the moment with this Federal Government. They're not recognising where the weaknesses that have been exposed in the economy by COVID were, and then setting about making sure that we're stronger going into the future so that we can absorb a shock like we've had during this period much better in the future.
 
ROWLAND: OK, we'll let you catch your flight. This will probably be our last interview for the year so can we thank you for accepting all of the invitations over the year and look forward to catching up with you in 2022. A very busy year.
 
ALBANESE: Thank you for having me on the program over the year, and I wish you and Lisa and everyone else associated with the program a great Christmas and a safe one as well.
 
ROWLAND: Yes, let's hope that we all stay safe. Anthony Albanese, appreciate your time this morning. Thank you. 
 
And again, we have an open invitation to the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, to appear on any morning at any time of his choosing.
 
ENDS