SUBJECTS: COVID cases increasing; rapid antigen testing; Fast rail from Sydney to Newcastle; Labor’s strategic fleet announcement; Labor’s policy agenda; Federal election.

CRAIG HAMILTON, HOST: We might only be a few days into this new year. And you can certainly smell the scent of an election in the air. Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese, is in the Hunter region and has already unveiled the prospect of fast rail, prioritising the route between Sydney and Newcastle, including stops at the Central Coast. Today, the focus is on the sea with the opposition pledging to place greater regulation on shipping. Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese, joins me now. Good morning, Mr Albanese.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning. Thanks for having me on the program. And Happy New Year to your listeners.

HAMILTON: Mr Albanese, you said yesterday, if elected Prime Minister, you want your Government to 'actually get work underway on high-speed rail'. Fast rail has been talked about since the 1980s. Why would your Government be able to deliver on this project?

ALBANESE: Because it makes economic sense. We did substantial work when we were in Government on a two-phase study that showed the economic benefit of high-speed rail down the east coast. We, of course, live in a sparsely populated continent. But fortunately, it's concentrated down the east coast, in that corridor between Brisbane and Melbourne via Sydney, Canberra and Newcastle is where the big concentrations of population. And what we've seen over a period of time, of course, as high-speed rail has been rolled out in every continent that's inhabited on the planet, except for Australia, our island continent is the only one that's missed out, is that the costs have come down, the efficiency and the speeds have gone up, the technology has got better and better and better. And its time has come. It's time for us to get this nation building project done.

HAMILTON: So, are you saying here that based on that increase in technology, or that improvement in technology, that it would actually be cheaper today to build high-speed rail between Newcastle and Sydney, that corridor, than it was 20 years ago?

ALBANESE: In real terms, absolutely. The technology has just got better as we've seen it rolled out. It's being rolled out in Africa at the moment. But of course, there's substantial work being done to our north, of course, Japan with the Shinkansen led the way for a long period of time. It was the best in the world. It is still right up there. But we see, in Europe, what we see is the sort of journeys, of, be they, cutting down the sort of journeys from Sydney to Newcastle, would be substantially improved, but also Sydney to Melbourne and Sydney to Brisbane, those sort of journeys that can be cut to under three hours. We know that they have been, for most of the time, in the top 10 air routes in the world. And as we're more environmentally conscious as well, about emissions, of course, rail is a relatively clean way of travelling in terms of the environment. There are also, of course, safety issues there as well. Rail is a very safe form of transport. We know that on the F3 between Newcastle and Sydney via the Central Coast every year, there are road accidents that have a consequence for human life and tragedy, but also, of course, an economic and environmental costs. So, it absolutely makes sense. It's a way of improving decentralisation, of changing the business economics for location in places like Newcastle and the Central Coast. And it would be of significant economic benefit, of course, as well as a benefit to workers who commute each and every day, particularly from the Central Coast to Sydney. This is a win-win-win proposition. And it's one that should be advanced. And that is what I seek to do.

HAMILTON: Now, the President of the Rail Futures Institute, John Hearsch, said in 2019 that the construction of Sydney's second airport would soak up much excess demand for travel on the eastern seaboard and set back the case for high-speed rail for three to four decades. So, how do you know that there is demand for this project?

ALBANESE: Because we did a study that showed that the demand would be there. I had a committee that, unfortunately, had its funding cut. We had a proposal for the creation of a High Speed Rail Authority. I had people like Tim Fischer, the former Deputy Prime Minister, National Party Leader, a great advocate of rail, as one of the advisory body. I had Jennifer Westacott, the head of the Business Council of Australia, because of the economic benefit for the business community in terms of as an advocate for this proposal. We had a proposal for a High Speed Rail Authority with representatives from state and territory governments along the route. And we know that it makes sense. And we can look at overseas experience as well. You look at routes that are similar distances in terms of the big capital city routes, like Paris to London. People get on that Eurostar and that's how they travel these days. You look at the smaller routes that are similar, I guess, to Sydney to Newcastle, you look at the Shinkansen with Tokyo to Kyoto, or other routes as well between cities which are similar distances in terms of the regions, and there is a massive uptake because of convenience. People can do work on the train. It is a comfortable way to travel. You're not doing the journey which is the journey to the airport, the cab or the uber to the airport, then waiting for the plane to come, you're doing all of the things or, for shorter journeys, sitting in the car on the F3 or driving on the Hume Highway down between Sydney and Canberra. That is why it absolutely makes sense. And the rest of the world is doing it. Why is it that Australia isn't taking up this opportunity?

HAMILTON: Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese, is my guest on ABC New South Wales this morning. Now, Mr Albanese, there's been a big growth in house prices across regional New South Wales. And a lot of residents in these areas have concerns that a fast rail could continue this growth and impact housing affordability, meaning that families and individuals would struggle to get into the market. They're struggling now, many of them. Nat from Belmont has texted in on this as we've been speaking, saying that this will bring more people moving up this way to the Hunter from Sydney, commuting to work. Have you got a thought on that?

ALBANESE: Well, this is a housing affordability measure. If you have decentralisation that's possible with a major high-speed rail project down the east coast of Australia, what you'll do is have relocation of businesses to not just the Hunter and the Central Coast, but we see this as the first stage of a high-speed rail network through the capital cities and benefiting the regions as well. And one of the analysis that phase two of the study did in particular was find the significant benefit for regional economic development with the growth of areas that are currently very much underpopulated. Which is, of course, the area to the north of where I am now in Newcastle. If you change the dynamic, and you provide an incentive for business, which they would do if they had that access to the capital city markets, that bringing down that tyranny of distance in Australia would bring, then you would have an impact in terms of housing affordability and improving it throughout the east coast. It's got to be viewed of the housing benefits, the economic benefits, the job benefits as well, which would be substantial.

HAMILTON: Let's move to the focus of your announcement today. You have stated that large multinationals are preferring cheaper overseas crews to Australian crews and vessels. Why would you be able to change an issue which has been occurring in the shipping industry for decades? And how much is this likely to cost taxpayers?

ALBANESE: Well, you would be able to do it by having a commitment to have an independent strategic fleet that would be run by the private sector. But to have that commitment to make sure that Australia is less vulnerable to shocks. We know that in terms of the supply chain, that Australia, at the moment, because we're losing any capacity to have an independent, Australian-based shipping industry with Australian seafarers with the Australian flag on the back of ships, that leaves us vulnerable. We can't have a circumstance whereby we raise the issue of national security, we know that we've just had the shock and continuing to feel it of the pandemic. And one of the things that we should have learned from that is we need to be more self-reliant. And as an island continent, the idea that we don't have a viable and growing and healthy Australian shipping industry is one of the vulnerabilities. North America, the United States, learned this a long time ago. And that's why they have a bipartisan commitment to a domestic US shipping fleet. In Europe, they have the same. In the United Kingdom, they've been growing their shipping fleet. And that's because there's a recognition that nation states need to be able to have economic sovereignty. And a shipping industry is vital for an island continent such as Australia.

HAMILTON: I might jump in there, Mr Albanese, and just ask you for a quick response here. There's a lot of fear, obviously, in the community about COVID-19. Has the Prime Minister made the right call by not making rapid antigen tests free for everyone?

ALBANESE: Well, they are just not available. That's the problem here. The problem with this Prime Minister is that he waits until a problem becomes a crisis before there's any action and then he just blames someone else. Whether it's bushfires two years ago, whether it be the rollout of the vaccine one year ago, or whether it be the current issues facing Australia, what we had was a shift announced to rapid antigen tests away from PCR testing because the Government didn't put in place a program which enabled the system to cope in terms of capacity to test people. And that's why you have people queuing for hours and hours and hours. Now they say, essentially, go out, find a rapid antigen test and test yourself. The problem is that they're not available. So many people are struggling to be able to find them. And then the cost is just prohibitive for a lot of people. We have a value here in Australia of healthcare being provided to those who need it. That's the basis of Medicare. That's the basis of our health system. And the idea that people who need a test won't be able to afford to get one or get access to a rapid antigen test is a real public policy failure of this Government.

HAMILTON: I'll have to leave it there, Mr Albanese. Time has got the better of us. I know you've got a busy day ahead of you here in Newcastle today. But we really appreciate you coming on the program.

ALBANESE: It's a lovely day to be in this great regional city.

HAMILTON: Okay. And I wish you all the best with the Rabbitohs this season.

ALBANESE: Thanks very much. We only needed a couple more points, but we'll see how we go this year. Looking forward to it. I always think we're going to do very well at this time of the year.

HAMILTON: You are a great supporter. Thanks for coming on the show.

ALBANESE: Thank you.

HAMILTON: There's Anthony Albanese, the Opposition Leader, in the Hunter region today with a couple of big announcements ahead.

ENDS