SUBJECTS: Labor’s COVID Recovery Taskforce report; weight loss; agriculture; phone reception in Tasmania; visit to Tasmania; Federal election; national security; Labor’s policy agenda; aged care crisis; Scott Morrison’s failures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
BELINDA KING, HOST: As promised, we've got a couple of studio guests this morning. And I have to say, I'd say it's a red letter day, but then I might be accused of political bias. But it is, in a way, red letter day today because it's our first studio guests on Breakfast for absolutely yonks due to the pandemic. I had to get special permission. And I will seek similar special permission for the next time that the Prime Minister is in town to even up the balance sheet. But this morning, we're delighted to welcome Anthony Albanese to the studio. And Brian Mitchell, Member for Lyons. Gentlemen, good morning.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Very good to be here. I might be your last studio guest as well, because it was not that long ago I was here.
 
KING: Yes. And then we did have that big shutdown soon after.
 
ALBANESE: Indeed. I was not responsible for this.
 
KING: You're making a very large claim there. I have to say, since I've last seen you, Anthony, you're looking trim, taught and terrific.
 
ALBANESE: Thank you. That is very kind of you. I'm match-fit for my grand final that's coming up, a two horse race. And we'll see how it goes. But I think it does help. I'm able to bounce up in the morning. And I am feeling healthy and up for the challenge.
 
KING: I think you shed a few kilos. You're looking good.
 
ALBANESE: I have dropped 18 kilos.
 
KING: No way.
 
ALBANESE: I have.
 
KING: What's the secret?
 
ALBANESE: Really cut down on carbs. I think we might have spoken about my major car accident just a year ago in January. That sort of shakes you up a bit. You have a chance to reassess things. And that made me more determined than ever to get fit. So, I had no alcohol at all for five months. Now I have the odd drink. I had a beer at Boags yesterday, I've got to say. And that was pretty good. But I got fit originally, started to get fit, to do the Three Capes walk here in Tassie, which was a fantastic thing to do. So, that was in December 2020. And then I had my accident in January 2021. So, I kept going. So, just changes to diet, walking, playing tennis, getting there.
 
KING: Well, you've certainly got, I guess, what is that, 10 or 12 weeks of hard running ahead of the election, right?
 
ALBANESE: I do, indeed.
 
KING: We really do start to gear up for the election campaign in 2022. Yesterday, you launched Labor's Pandemic Recovery, Jobs and Industry Taskforce final report. Now, what did that research, that report, tell you?
 
ALBANESE: What it told us is that we need to build back stronger from the pandemic. It identified some of the weaknesses that were there. We don't make enough things here in Australia. And we really need to target areas like pharmaceuticals and advanced manufacturing where we make more things here. We need to make our economy more resilient, if you like. We removed the risks that's there. And we saw when we were shut off from the world, if we're at the end of supply chains, that can be a real issue. We need to look towards more secure work. Some of the people who were hardest hit were those in less secure work, casual employment. We need to address those issues as well. And we need, I think, to continue to respect and care for those workers who got us through the pandemic, our aged care workforce, our nurses, our cleaners, our supermarket workers, our truck drivers. I think there's been a change in attitude in Australia, an increased respect for all of those workers. And we need to make sure that coming out of the pandemic, we don't forget that they did such an amazing service. And in a little while, I'm going to Manor House to talk to aged care workers here in Launceston as well, to thank them for what they've done and continue to do during the pandemic.
 
KING: Now, you mentioned workers that came through the pandemic and do better for those that fell through the cracks of the safety net. Tony Burke was here recently looking at, particularly one of the things he looked at, it was the arts industry, which has had a really crappy time in the last year. So, you've got your live performance, your live music, your events, all tied up with it, and Tasmania is heavily into all of those areas. Most of those workers are casual. They work freelance. And there was no JobKeeper for them. What, going forward, can we do that will be better for that sector?
 
ALBANESE: Well, you need to provide more security. So, one practical measure, for example, is insurance. There needs to be support for those businesses who invest in events. And events in Tassie are big, of course. Because what they do is bring people from the North Island, as well as from around the world, to Tassie for that experience. And then they stay for a while. At the moment, it's such a risk. You had a range of promoters organising events that were cancelled, sometimes at short notice, because of the changing conditions by various state governments. That's one practical way that we can provide support for the industry.
 
KING: Now, let's touch on some of the questions that have been coming through via phone and social media this morning. First up, we were talking to a farmer, George, from Campbell Town. And he raised issues around reception and black spot funding in the Cressy and Campbell Town area in particular. And I've got vivid memories of driving through Cressy night after night when I was living out there. And nothing's changed. And that is two decades on, Brian.
 
BRIAN MITCHELL, MEMBER FOR LYONS: Yes, look, it's been an ongoing issue for a long time. I spoke to the Telstra State Manager for the last five years about Cressy. Hopefully, Cressy is fixed now. So, Cressy should have good reception in the middle of Cressy now. But Campbell Town has been out all week over an upgrade outage. So, we've been on to Telstra about that. They're confident that it'll be fixed. But Belinda, the bigger issue here is just the failure of regional telecommunications more generally. We've got black spots that haven't been fixed. And of course, the NBN is not up to par. So, we've got plans going forward to improve that.
 
KING: Okay. Now, I've got a bit of a hypothetical here for you, Anthony. If Labor win the upcoming Federal election and you become Prime Minister, but the Liberal's candidate for the seat of Bass, Bridget Archer retains the seat of Bass, will the promises made by Labor and your candidate, Ross Hart, be honoured?
 
ALBANESE: I will honour all of my promises on behalf of the Australian Labor Party. What we see from the other mob is a whole lot of promises still have not been delivered, whether that be the big ones like there's no anti-corruption commission, there's no religious discrimination act, there are so many issues that just have not been advanced that the Prime Minister said was his main promises, commitments, before the last election. He didn't make very many. But so many local promises that were made, and they're often the never-never. And I think that causes a great deal of disillusionment. There's a lot that was promised for the people of Bass at the last election that has simply not been delivered.
 
KING: You mentioned a couple of the biggies there. The introduction of the Federal ICAC and the religious discrimination bill. Bridget Archer has been supportive of both of those things coming through. But clearly, that has not happened at a Federal level. Is she representing the wrong party?
 
ALBANESE: No, but it's no good having someone who casts their vote against their own Party to no end. That makes no difference. Ross Hart, if he's the member for Bass, Labor will be in Government. And he'll cast his vote for a national anti-corruption commission. And it will happen. It will happen. That's the difference. You've got to be effective. And Ross Hart was an effective voice in the Labor Party when he was there in the previous term. And he'll be a really strong and effective voice for the people of Bass as part of a Labor Government if we're successful. And we need to win Bass to win government.
 
KING: Well, you certainly do have a couple of marginal electorates here, Braddon and Bass in particular. We're known for our swinging voters. So, what's going to be in it for us this time around?
 
ALBANESE: What will be in it for you is commitments to deliver more secure work, to deliver making more things here in Australia, to deliver an anti-corruption commission, to deliver a Voice to Parliament, to deliver closing the gender pay gap, to lift wages and deal with falling living standards, and to do exactly what we say we will do. And that's why Chris Lynch in Braddon and Ross Hart in Bass are very important electorates for us. And that's why I'm here, yet again, campaigning. But Belinda, as you know, I don't just come during campaigns. I'm a regular visitor to Tasmania. I've been here throughout the term. And I'll continue to come back here, hopefully with a different title after May.
 
MITCHELL: This guy sitting on my left, he's honest, he has integrity, compassion, and competence. I mean, he was a very effective Minister in a former Labor Government. So, he has competence. And that's what we need going forward. We need somebody who can do the job. He's up to the job. And he just exudes competence and integrity and security. I think he has what it takes to be one of the Labor greats.
 
KING: We're talking with Brian Mitchell and Anthony Albanese this morning on ABC Northern Tasmania. A question in from Jeff. 'What would you like to do about Medicare? The amount reimbursed seems to be getting less and less under a Liberal Government.'
 
ALBANESE: It does. The Libs have never been fans of Medicare. And what we've seen is a shortage of access to GPs. We've seen rising costs to see a GP. And this has to be addressed. Medicare should be at the centre of our health system. And under Labor, it always will be. We've seen undermining, we've seen changes in July last year, a thousand changes, or almost, to the Medicare schedule without proper notice or discussion, even with the AMA. We need to defend Medicare. Because it is so critical for the sort of country we are. And for Australia's view that when you get sick, you should be able to rely upon our health system.
 
KING: Now, this one's coming from John in Devonport. 'What is Labor going to do about what it says about getting rid of political donations or at least very low caps and/or real-time reporting?' So, in other words, transparency on donations.
 
ALBANESE: Look, we support lowering the threshold to $1,000. We should have declarations above $1,000. Labor does that. We believe in much more transparency as well. And there's got to be addressing the sort of ridiculous sums of money, whereby I read this week, and I'm not surprised. I think I've probably underestimated $31.5 million has been spent by Clive Palmer already. And we're not even in the formal campaign yet. People shouldn't be allowed to try to buy their way into government.
 
KING: Tasmanian agriculture, and this, Brian, is an area that clearly will be reflected in your electorate of Lyons, we've lost significant markets, agricultural markets and tourism numbers in the states since Australia's relationship with China has faltered, particularly in the last couple of years. What can be done to repair relations? Or is it time for us to move on and look elsewhere for those tourists and those markets?
 
ALBANESE: Well, look, the relationship with China will continue to be a difficult one because China's changed its posture. What we need to do is make sure that we diversify markets so we're not as dependent as we became under this Government. At one stage, 46 per cent of our exports were going to one country. And so, we need to deal with the world as it is. And that means making sure that we have diversification of our markets, that we have good relations with our trading partners. We will continue to trade, including with China. And that's really important for, not just agriculture, but for all of our products. And we also need to say to China that it needs to back off the sanctions which are there against Australian products, including in agriculture.
 
KING: One more agricultural question for you this morning. There's certainly a worker shortage on farms and when it comes to time to harvest various crops, grapes coming up, of course, then we've recently had the cherry season. Support of the agricultural visa, the Ag visa, is this something Labor are going to support?
 
ALBANESE: Yes, absolutely. But it's not happening.
 
KING: No, we haven't got any workers.
 
ALBANESE: Well, what you have, this is another example of a big Government announcement that leads to absolutely nothing. And then you have ministers in the Government blaming other ministers in the Government for nothing happening. It's just extraordinary, the circumstances that are going on. We do need workers. We need to make sure, as well, that we provide pathways for workers to actually stay here, contribute in terms of temporary workers who come in, we have permanent work shortages in some areas.
 
MITCHELL: Farm work is great. I mean, there's good money in it. And we need to be doing a lot more to encourage local workers in regional towns to take up those job offers. So, there's a real role for government there in promoting the value of farm work. There's good income to be made, and good careers to be made out of it as well.
 
KING: It is eight minutes to eight. Now, I know I have to let you go. But can I get 60 more seconds out of you?
 
ALBANESE: Don't waste them.
 
KING: Okay. I will not waste them. We have got 10 questions and 60 seconds for you on the clock. Anthony Albanese, your time starts now. Describe yourself in one word.
 
ALBANESE: Honest.
 
KING: What won't you leave home without?
 
ALBANESE: My phone.
 
KING: Your life stories being made into a movie. Who plays you?
 
ALBANESE: Russell Crowe. It is a Souths connection.
 
KING: Define 'agony'.
 
ALBANESE: Agony? Losing an election.
 
KING: You can only go for one team. Is it Collingwood or Essendon?
 
ALBANESE: Bombers. But I'm a Hawks fan.
 
KING: That's all right. Besides 'April Sun in Cuba', what's your go to karaoke song?
 
ALBANESE: 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light'.
 
KING: And what's the one thing you can't say no to?
 
ALBANESE: Going on ABC Northern Tasmania.
 
KING: Correct. Who were you in a past life?
 
ALBANESE: I have no idea.
 
KING: Okay. What's your dream job?
 
ALBANESE: My dream job? Guess. See if you can guess, Belinda. I think we both know.
 
KING: Okay. And in the last few seconds, finish this sentence. I came, I saw, I...
 
ALBANESE: Talked to Belinda.
 
KING: And went to Kings Meadows.
 
ALBANESE: And went to talk to aged care workers and residents.
 
KING: Fabulous. Gentlemen, thank you very much for your time. And great to have you in the studio this morning. Hopefully, we will have more studio guests as the months proceed. Brian Mitchell, Member for Lyons, and Anthony Albanese, a pleasure.
 
ALBANESE: Thanks very much.
 
ENDS