SUBJECTS: Liberal cuts to NDIS; A better future for Western Australia; Housing affordability; Scott Morrison raiding your superannuation; Real wages going backwards; Labor’s plan to unite the country. 
 
GEOFF HUTCHISON, HOST: Welcoming the Leader of the Federal Opposition, Anthony Albanese to the program. Mr. Albanese, hello to you.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good evening. Thanks for having me on the program. 

HUTCHISON: I've got lots to ask you and only so much time to do so. But I'd like to begin just with a question without notice. We've learned in the last couple of hours that WA's leading disability service provider Active, which has always run large scale industrial worksites since about the 1950s, is planning to close all these sites down in metropolitan Perth, and in regional WA, seeking to refocus its efforts at 90 staff, over 700 supported employees. Things are going to be very, very different and certainly, the change is going to be considerable. Michael Heath, who is the CEO of Active said, the cut in funding from the National Disability Insurance Service has necessitated this profound change to the way it delivers this kind of care. All we've heard this afternoon, Mr. Albanese are kind of grieving parents and carers saying what happens to our kids now? They've been going to these places for some of them up to 28 years. It is a question without notice, I guess about the manner in which a Labor Government will seek to address some of the issues that have occurred in the last few years in the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

ALBANESE: This is of real concern. The fact that these families can be impacted and people with disabilities essentially lose their connections with employment is just extraordinary. Just days before a federal election is held. I'm also aware that there are issues with the changes that have been made to employment services.

HUTCHISON: We had his only for a short time, we hope to have him back in another 30 seconds or so. You're with Geoff, this the Drive Program. I think we have him again, let's continue that conversation. 

ALBANESE: Yes we do, my apology. One of the other failings of this government is mobile connectivity, I've got to say as well. So my apologies for that.

HUTCHISON: Keep going, the floor is yours.

ALBANESE: This is a very serious issue, to have the cuts that have occurred in the NDIS. But there are also, I suspect this is related, as well, to employment service contracts that have changed very recently as well, where you have employment service providers that have been looking after particular regions for a long period of time. There's been a massive disruption just before the election. I know that the consequences of that are significant when it comes to the provision of employment services across the country, but particularly in regional areas. 

HUTCHISON: Is Bill Shorten going to be the minister that returns a bit of faith to the NDIS? 

ALBANESE: Bill Shorten of course, is very passionate about the NDIS, and he has developed a very comprehensive plan. But it's pretty basic the principle here, which is the principle behind the NDIS, which is that every Australian deserves to be able to contribute to society and to have fulfillment in their lives. That benefits not just those Australians, and there are so many who have a disability, it also helps our economy and helps our society. It ensures that it's more inclusive, that it's stronger, and it's a good thing for our economy. So every dollar that's invested through the NDIS, we know that the return to the economy is more. Which is why this Government's lack of human interaction, which follows from the Robodebt debacle, is something that has characterised this government. That treatment of people in a way which has removed that human to human interaction, that has resulted across so many policy areas in bad outcomes. 

HUTCHISON: Mr. Albanese, you are just days away from perhaps becoming Australia's next Prime Minister. What do you have to do between now and Saturday to get there?

ALBANESE: Well I'm here in Perth again tomorrow. I'm doing the Leadership Matters Breakfast, that I'm told is fully subscribed, which is a good sign. Today I was campaigning with Zaneta Mascarenhas and the Premier of WA, announcing a new Surgicentre for Perth in the Swan electorate. I was also in a childcare centre campaigning for cheaper childcare, which we'll deliver with Tania Lawrence in Hasluck. Then was also campaigning with Tracy Roberts, our fantastic candidate who's done a great job as mayor up there in the electorate of Pearce. So we'll continue to put forward our plans for a better future, for strengthening Medicare, for a future made in Australia. For more secure work and ensuring that we act on climate change. We have a comprehensive plan for a better future, and we'll continue to put forward our positive agenda for government. Because I don't think that Australia can afford to have just three more years of the same. 

HUTCHISON: Yesterday, Scott Morrison made a pitch to voters by inviting first homebuyers to access their super and use it to perhaps get into the housing market. And even though plenty of people have said, well, they might be spending today what they're going to need more tomorrow, and that it might cause house prices to rise even higher. Are you concerned that his plan offers a sugar hit of opportunity that some young home buyers might just find very attractive?

ALBANESE: Well, the difference is I want a better future, this plan would steal from the future, it would add to house prices. Government ministers have conceded that today. So it won't make it easier because it will just add to prices. What's more, it will mean that for individuals, they of course, if they dip into their super, that means that they're dipping into their own capacity to have a comfortable retirement at the end of their working lives. But it also is really bad fiscal policy, because one of the reasons why Labor created the superannuation system was to; one help individuals to retire in comfort, but secondly, also to provide a pool of national savings for investment in infrastructure, for investment in the country, and that's been important. But there's a third reason as well, because unless we take pressure off future budgets, every time someone doesn't have superannuation, that means that it's more pressure on the future pension system and more pressure on future taxpayers. We know that we have an ageing of the population, and so as a proportion of the entire population, those working and paying taxes are fewer as a proportion. This is just bad policy, which is why it's been rejected every time that it's been looked at, and why today it is a friendless policy when it comes to people who are economists and people who've looked at the impact of this. 

HUTCHISON: I wanted to touch on a couple of things, we don't have a lot of time tonight. Your campaign seemed to find the narrative it was after, after a pretty difficult start for you when discussing the minimum wage and your belief that it should rise at the rate of inflation. The Fair Work Commission next month is going to make another determination and it will hand down that decision. You might or might not be Prime Minister, but if so, how loud would your voice be, and how hard would you push? I know you will speak of the independence of the Fair Work Commission, but it addresses a question of whether you can actually influence something and bring about change, or whether you just hope something would happen.

ALBANESE: Well, the Fair Work Commission is independent. But what they have said in the analysis of the Productivity Commission of the way that they determine these national wage cases, is they take into account the views of employers organisations, unions, including through the ACTU, but also government. And I've made my view clear, which is that if you are an essential worker on $20.33, on the minimum wage, today, you're one of the people, the cleaners and others, retail workers who got us through the pandemic. You can't say to these people you are heroes of the pandemic, but you deserve a real wage cut. And that's what a failure to keep up with the cost of living will mean, a real wage cut for the lowest paid workers in Australia, earning just $20.33 an hour. For a government that says the economy is going so well, the idea that the sky will fall in if these workers get $1 an hour addition, or two cups of coffee a day, is I think just extraordinary. I think that people are really doing it tough at the moment, a government that was prepared to find money for one-off payments in the lead up to the election, that will all stop straight after the election, is hypocritical in the attacks that they've made for my simple suggestion, which is when asked, would I welcome the Fair Work Commission not handing down a finding that was a real wage cut for minimum wage workers? My response to that is absolutely. 

HUTCHISON: Last question. A moment of reflection, if you will, and given from what you've learned from this campaign. What do you think you have to get better at to be a good Prime Minister?

ALBANESE: I think you need to learn each and every day, and you need to grow each and every day. It's a philosophy that was taught to me by my mentor, Tom Uren. I think we can always learn off each other. One of the things that I want to do is unite the country, not look for division and arguments, but look for our common interest and look for areas where we can bring people together, and that means truly listen, and truly learn. We are a diverse country. One of the reasons why I did my campaign launch here in Perth was to send the message that I want to be Prime Minister for the entire country, not just what we've seen too often, which is a concentration on the Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra triangle. To do that, you've got to get out and about into not just the capital cities, but into the great regions of Western Australia as well, and that's something that I would look forward to doing should I have the great honour of being elected Prime Minister this Saturday. 

HUTCHISON: Appreciate your time this evening. Thank you very much indeed. 

ALBANESE: Thank you very much.

ENDS