SUBJECTS: Melbourne protests; COVID restrictions across Australia; need for a public information campaign around COVID; mandating of vaccinations.

MICHAEL ROWLAND, HOST: Let's stay with the story and bring you now the Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese from Canberra. Mr Albanese, good morning to you.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning from Sydney actually.

ROWLAND: Sydney, sorry. Hey, let's talk about that protest yesterday. So, we had - yes, there were neo-Nazis, anti-vaxxers, general troublemakers, but as John Setka told us this morning, yes, there were construction workers and union members. What is your take on it?

ALBANESE: I condemn these protests. And John Setka is right on this occasion - that what we have seen is people’s jobs and livelihoods endangered because of the actions of an extreme fringe who engaged in a violent demonstration yesterday, who attacked and assaulted police, who attacked and assaulted people from the media, who attacked and assaulted innocent people. And this wasn't a legitimate protest. I, of course, support the right to protest. This was the actions of violent thugs who have engaged in this activity for two days in a row. And Labor condemns them, along with the rest of the trade union movement who have also condemned these actions.

ROWLAND: What's your message to trade union members who may be considering taking part again in today's planned protest?

ALBANESE: Stay home and stay safe. My message is to listen to those health professionals, those nurses who are struggling to get by day-to-day, working incredible hours, looking after people who have been infected by COVID. They don't need more people to be infected. They don't need more pressure on our health and hospital services. What they need is for people to act responsibly. And people have a right to protest in different ways. Do so peacefully, send an email, engage in different activity. But there's no place for this violence. And I would join with the CFMEU leadership who have called upon construction workers to stay home today.

ROWLAND: Should the CFMEU be doing much more, though, to try to at least dampen down tensions?

ALBANESE: Look, the leadership, I have been critical from time to time of the CFMEU, but here the CFMEU construction division office there in Melbourne were the people being attacked, not the other way around. And the fact is that far-right elements have infiltrated the demonstrations yesterday. We saw the emails go out encouraging people to don high-viz vests, to put on helmets as if they were construction workers. The fact is that the union movement throughout this pandemic has been incredibly responsible. It's trade unionists, whether they be construction workers, transport workers getting goods to supermarkets, supermarket workers, cleaners, healthcare professionals, aged care workers, child care workers, who have kept the economy going and have kept us safe. And they deserve our praise. The trade union movement have played an incredibly responsible role during this pandemic and what's extraordinary is for Michaelia Cash to come out and actually attack the union movement as she did yesterday, I found quite reprehensible, but consistent with the anti-union agenda that this Government continues to run.

ROWLAND: Well, you say you pointed out you have had your very public differences with the Victorian division of the CFMEU in the past. John Setka is probably the most militant union leader in the country, so much so that you led moves to expel him from the ALP a couple of years ago. 

ALBANESE: I did. That was the right thing to do.

ROWLAND: Do you find it somewhat ironic, therefore, he is trying to position himself now as something of a voice of reason?

ALBANESE: No, look, when someone is saying the right thing, I'll treat it on its merits. John Setka's no longer a member of the Labor Party. It's one of the first actions I took as leader. I stand by that decision.

ROWLAND: Okay. Now, what do you think about the Government, the Victorian Government's, insistence on mandatory vaccinations for construction workers? One of the reasons why we have seen these days of protests?

ALBANESE: Well, I think that the Victorian Government's is in a difficult position but no different from the position that Gladys Berejiklian took in Sydney just a short time ago where workers from the LGAs that were most impacted by COVID couldn't go to work, where construction sites were shut down. It's no different from that. And at the time she, along with the Master Builders Association, said that vaccinations were the pathway out. What's missing here is the carrot, if you like. There hasn't been vaccination leave granted across the board. I think that's something that the Federal Government should be doing. It's something we have been calling for for some time. There hasn't been an effective public information campaign so that we need to counter this disinformation that's going out there on social media that's encouraging this sort of dissent and behaviour that we have seen on the streets of Melbourne. We need to explain to people why vaccines are safe, why it is in the interests of themselves, their families. From where I'm standing right now, I lost a couple of constituents here literally who live on the road behind us on Illawarra Road, the Ibrahims. They were due to get their vaccination the week after they died. The father and the mother. Their son, Khalil, said to me, ‘If only we could have got our vaccinations earlier for my mum and dad’. That is something that we need to recognise. We need a much better public information campaign to counter the sort of disinformation that's there. And it could start as well by the Government, whether it be Scott Morrison, Barnaby Joyce, scarily, is in charge of this country at the moment, he's acting Prime Minister, he could talk to his mate, George Christensen, and to talk to him and other members of the LNP and pull their heads in to stop the nonsense and encouragement of these demonstrations that has occurred from members of the Government.

ROWLAND: As we wrap up, there's always a need for greater information campaigns. It's very tragic to hear about the family in your electorate, but do you explicitly support the Victorian Government's decision to make it mandatory across the construction sector, no matter where you live in Victoria, in Melbourne, to have a vaccination, at least one dose, before you get to work on the construction site?

ALBANESE: I support decisions based upon the health advice.

ROWLAND: Including that one?

ALBANESE: Regardless of which government is doing it, whether it's the New South Wales Liberal Government or Victorian Labor Government. One of the things that we need from the national level is a Federal Government that actually supports states and territories that try to bring the nation together rather than seek to divide. It's something that I haven't done and it's something that I have given support to any actions which any state governments have called for on the basis of health advice.

ROWLAND: Anthony Albanese, we'll leave it there. Thanks for joining us on News Breakfast.

ALBANESE: Thanks very much, Michael.

ENDS