SUBJECTS: Christian Porter’s resignation from Cabinet; blind trust.

NADIA MITSOPOULOS, HOST: Anthony Albanese, good morning.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning. Good to be with you.

MITSOPOULOS: Christian Porter has resigned from Cabinet. Does that end the matter?

ALBANESE: It certainly doesn't. There are so many questions which remain unanswered. Who provided this money? Why was it provided? How was it provided? Is there any conflict of interest? Does anyone who provided money have contracts with the Government? There are real reasons why Members of Parliament have obligations to declare publicly any private interests that they receive. And that's precisely what this is. Mr Porter has made a declaration in his pecuniary interest return, but it's one that doesn't provide the appropriate detail, which is why he remains in breach of his obligations.

MITSOPOULOS: But he's no longer subject to the ministerial code of conduct, given he's now on the backbench. So, by keeping those donors secret, he is not technically breaking any rules anymore, is he?

ALBANESE: He certainly is breaking rules. We have a register of pecuniary interests for every Member of Parliament, Government, Opposition and crossbencher. And they have to declare any private interest, any donation to their personal interests, whether it's tickets to things or whether it be matters that could influence their determination that they make as a Member of Parliament. Christian Porter is still under that obligation as a Member of Parliament, which is why he remains in breach of it.

MITSOPOULOS: Even though this is a blind trust?

ALBANESE: Well, it's not a blind trust. A blind trust is something that is set up as a vehicle so that if a minister has investments, for example, they can be made on their behalf without that minister's knowledge so that they can't make decisions to benefit them personally. What we have here is something that is of direct benefit to Christian Porter personally. These are funds that are contributed by anonymous donors for what is a private legal action that Christian Porter chose to take against the ABC. And that's why there needs to be full disclosure here. And that's why Christian Porter remains in breach of his obligations as a Member of Parliament.

MITSOPOULOS: My guest this morning on ABC Radio Perth and WA is the Federal Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese. You can tell me what you think and if you think it is okay for a politician to take money from anonymous donors. 1300 222 720. What is the conflict here, Anthony Albanese? Because there is an argument that suggests if you don't know who gave you money, then how can you be conflicted or influenced in any way?

ALBANESE: Well, if you just think about the implications of this, if this is allowed to stand, then anyone can receive substantial donations. And we're talking here, we don't know what the figure is, but it's up to a million dollars of donations for a personal interest to undertake a legal case, to buy a house, to buy a new car, to do in whatever way you see fit, to take an overseas holiday, and no one will ever know who paid for it. Are you kidding me? The idea that people in the public knew how to make this donation fails the laugh test as well. Your listeners wouldn't have been in a position of, if they wanted to make donations to this fund, know about it. This wasn't some spontaneous uprising of people demanding to give Christian Porter money here. Quite clearly, one of the things that needs to be explained is how these donations were solicited. It's beyond belief that somehow this fund was spontaneously created, that people found out by themselves somehow through some osmosis process how to put money into a bank account, into a trust fund, that was in to be used for Christian Porter's legal defence. Now people do know, someone knows, who these people are. Someone also knows how the funds were solicited. Christian Porter, directly or indirectly, there's no doubt that there is a massive conflict here. And if this is allowed to stand, then the register of pecuniary interest may as well be torn up. This is another reason why we need a National Anticorruption Commission with teeth, with the capacity to launch its own investigations. And that's what a Labor Government that I lead will establish, just as there are similar bodies in every state and territory.

MITSOPOULOS: And what about changing rules in Parliament then? Is there a need to change any rules there to stop this type of thing from happening again?

ALBANESE: No, this is quite clearly in breach. The rules just need to be applied. Scott Morrison's explanation yesterday, that somehow this meant that the rules were being complied with, quite frankly, was absurd.

MITSOPOULOS: Would you ban blind trusts?

ALBANESE: Well, this isn't a blind trust. This is the opposite of a blind trust. This is money being given into a so-called trust for someone's personal interest. There is nothing blind about this. A blind trust was established by people like Malcolm Turnbull so that someone could undertake investments on his behalf that he did not know about, and he did not know the outcome, therefore, of. We know what the purpose of these funds were for. This is money put into a trust for the purpose of paying Christian Porter's legal bills. That's not blind. That's explicit. It's open. And it's just quite farcical and entirely inappropriate.

MITSOPOULOS: So, if Christian Porter doesn't reveal, which he is clearly not going to, or try to find out who these donors are, should he then give the money back?

ALBANESE: Of course, he should give the money back. He should never have received it on an anonymous basis in the first place.

MITSOPOULOS: Do you have any sympathy for what Christian Porter has gone through? He talks about the pile on, he says he's had physical threats of violence, he's been spat on and publicly abused. And in his statement, he goes on to say it was for something that he didn't do, and obviously that refers to those historical rape allegations that he has denied. But he says that has been nearly beyond comprehension in a civilised country. Do you have any sympathy for what he has been through?

ALBANESE: Quite clearly, some of what goes on, again, on an anonymous basis on social media, for example, that people in public life have to endure, is entirely inappropriate. Entirely inappropriate. But that's a separate question from the distraction whereby Christian Porter has simply done the wrong thing here. And it would appear that he has no comprehension of his obligations. This is a guy who was the first law officer of the land. No wonder he never ever introduced the legislation that was promised to have a National Anticorruption Commission established at the Federal level.

MITSOPOULOS: I'll leave it there. Anthony Albanese, thank you so much for your time this morning.

ALBANESE: Thanks for talking with us.

ENDS