SUBJECTS: Visit to Queensland and regional Queensland; National Reconstruction Fund; manufacturing; job security; casualisation of the workforce; Federal Government undermining wages and conditions; vaccine rollout; need for national quarantine facilities; Scott Morrison failing Australians during a pandemic; the arts industry being left behind; cashless debit card scheme; labour supply; water security; electorate of Flynn; importance of Queensland in the next Federal election; Dolly Parton. 

DAVID DOWSETT, HOST: Good morning. 

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

DOWSETT: And welcome to Wide Bay. So, is this sort of the winter sunshine tour that you're on right now?

ALBANESE: Not at all. I had a very busy day yesterday. I was in Strathpine in Brisbane and did a press conference there with Ali France about the rollout of the vaccine to retail workers outside the Woolies there. And then I flew to Rocky, spoke to the mining union there, they had all their delegates from the lodges there, and then I drove down to Bilo. We went to the Callide Power Station where, of course, we had the explosion there early this year and I talked to the workers there. Fortunately, no loss of life and no loss of jobs. The company has been good. And then headed here. 

DOWSETT: Good. 

ALBANESE: It was a very busy day.

DOWSETT: I understand you're visiting Bundy, obviously, you are already in Bundy. What are your plans there?

ALBANESE: I am, yes. Well, I think we're headed possibly to the Downer site there to talk about manufacturing of trains. I have visited there before. It's such an important driver of jobs in the region, and it's a reminder that we need to make more things here. That's one of the keys to our recovery that we should have learned. 

DOWSETT: So, it is your plan to make more things here? 

ALBANESE: Absolutely, it is. We've got a National Reconstruction Fund, $15 billion. We want new industries creating new jobs, high-value jobs. 

DOWSETT: What will those industries be?

ALBANESE: So our economy becomes more resilient. Well, we'll provide support for there. Obviously, there's a range of opportunities, in my view, for high-value manufacturing, with lower energy prices by actually having an energy policy would be handy. And what you can do is drive those high-value manufacturing jobs. You can also do things like use government procurement. It was an error for state governments, the Newman Government and other state governments, went offshore to buy trains that don't fit the tracks or don't fit the stations, they're not fit-for-purpose. It's far better to make things here and the Queensland Government here has turned that around. We want a National Rail Manufacturing Plan being developed in consultation with the Australasian Rail Association who are backing this, all of the manufacturers, the unions, to make all of our rail here using Australian products and employing Australians. It's just a bit of common sense. We've got ferries in my hometown of Sydney which have been built where if they go under the Parramatta River, they're not low enough for the bridges. So people can't stand on the top of them. They will be decapitated. It just shows the error when you do things offshore.

DOWSETT: COVID-19 situation is moving very swiftly indeed. The border to New South Wales slammed shut this morning. How do you take the pulse of the nation that seems to again be slipping very deeper into COVID concerns?

ALBANESE: The Prime Minister had two jobs this year. He had to get the rollout of the vaccine right and he should have established national quarantine facilities. He failed on both of them. Our rollout - we are the slowest in the developed world. I would encourage any listeners to get vaccinated, to consult your doctor. We need to increase the vaccination rates. That's the key to avoiding lockdowns. 

DOWSETT: How would your rollout have been different to Scott Morrison? 

ALBANESE: Well, we would have done what we were saying should happen last year. This isn't in hindsight. We would have done five or six deals. We would have had deals in place with Moderna, more Pfizer. Essentially, you needed to do more deals with more companies to receive more vaccines quicker. It's as simple as that. What the Government did was put all its eggs in the AstraZeneca basket and when problems arose, they had nowhere else to go to, no vaccine. So, all of the state premiers, Labor and Liberal, are all crying out about the supply issues. If you had the supply, then you could have been rolling it out in pharmacies, which is now finally happening. Why is it that 18 months into the pandemic, we are only now talking about pharmacies rolling out the vaccine? Adele Tahan who was on AM just a little while ago on your program, she's the person who gave me my flu vaccine at a local pharmacy in my electorate. She's been crying out, as have all the Pharmacy Guild, to use it. But the problem they've had is supply. It's been that simple. And of course, the breaches from quarantine. Hotels were built for tourists, they weren't built as quarantine facilities. 

DOWSETT: So, what would you have as a quarantine facility? 

ALBANESE: Well, I visited, a couple of weeks ago, the Wellcamp site near Toowoomba. The Wagner family are a pretty successful family. They've got a record of being able to build things, including a new airport, pretty quickly. That facility could have been commenced from last October when the proposal was there. Annastacia Palaszczuk was supporting it from then. They say 600 beds could be up and running in a matter of weeks and they could have a facility for a thousand people. We promised we'd get all Australians home by Christmas last year 2020. It's now July. There's still 30,000 Australians stranded overseas. But we need to bring people home safely. We know Howard Springs works because of the nature of that facility. People are separated, not sharing ventilation. The advice has been there. The advice from the former Secretary of the Health Department, Jane Halton, last year, looked at quarantine. She recommended further facilities be used. And the Federal Government's been very stubborn on this issue. And they simply have got it wrong, which is why we've had 26 breaches from quarantine.

DOWSETT: Away from COVID, it's really sad news for our region today, the Gympie Music Muster has just been cancelled for another year. Huge loss for our local music community. Are we seeing the arts sidelined in favour of sport? Because we're seeing a lot of sporting events still going ahead. What's going on?

ALBANESE: The arts are being really disadvantaged. We had comments from Guy Sebastian about feeling that he was used by the Prime Minister as a photo op just this week. The arts community haven't got the support that they need. And when you think about the arts community as well, it's really important, it is not just the people on stage. It's the people who make the stage, it's the people who carry the equipment, it's the producers. You are here with me in the Wide Bay studio. There are a few people around here working, making sure that it's being broadcast out. There are many jobs connected. And the arts community are really, really suffering and are one of, along with the higher education community, there are segments who have just been left behind during this crisis. 

DOWSETT: So, how will Labor support the arts sector? 

ALBANESE: Well, we would have been giving them much more direct support. They should have got a form of JobKeeper. What happened was that if you were an individual who had a business, you might have been able to claim some things. But too many people just got left behind because they got caught up. The nature of the employment is casual. So casuals didn't get the support that permanent workers did, and part of my ongoing theme here that I've had in Queensland is a need for more secure work, the need for more permanent work. And we've seen people who are in casual employment, people who work for labour hire companies, people who are in that insecure work, really miss out during the pandemic.

DOWSETT: The cashless debit card program is running here in Bundaberg and Harvey Bay and we've heard from quite a few of our listeners about just how humiliating the program can be, taking away their independence and complicating simple things like paying bills. What about a Labor Government, would they continue the program?

ALBANESE: We would scrap it.

DOWSETT: And replace it with what?

ALBANESE: Stop the privatisation of our social security system. We've seen some $70 million spent on this and it is a privatisation of the system. It will be potentially extended. We're concerned that it might be extended to pensioners and to others as well. When it began, the idea of a cashless debit card, it began in communities that were asking for. So what we say is, if communities are asking for it, and people want it due to particular circumstances which may be there as a voluntary thing, then by all means it can be rolled out. And it began, of course, the idea in some First Nations communities, some relatively remote communities, which was about making sure that money was spent on food and essentials, particularly for families and kids. Now it's just being used almost as a quasi-punishment which stigmatises people. And people have a right to live in dignity. We will get rid of the scheme as it exists at the moment.

DOWSETT: This is ABC Wide Bay. The man who could be the next Prime Minister is in the studio, the Leader of the Opposition, Anthony Albanese. A huge issue here in the Wide Bay is labour supply for fruit and vegetable farms. At the moment, there simply aren't enough workers. COVID is not going away anytime soon. So, what's the solution here?

ALBANESE: Well, we need to deal with COVID. That's essentially the first issue that people are dealing with. There's been a reliance upon Pacific Island workers through that scheme. That's a good scheme. There's also been a reliance on backpackers and others coming in, that seasonal workforce. And at the moment, of course, we're essentially closed off to the world. And it's one of the things that is really costing the economy and costing individual people in the agricultural sector. 

DOWSETT: What would be your way to solve it? 

ALBANESE: Well, there's no magic solution here. We need to get on top of COVID. We need to roll out the vaccines. We need to be able to open up. I don't want any restrictions to be in place for any longer than is absolutely necessary. I want us to be able to return to a normal way of life. The key to that is rolling out the vaccine and fixing national quarantine.

DOWSETT: Water security is a huge concern for our region. We heard recently from the state Water Minister, Glenn Butcher, that Paradise Dam won't be fixed until at least 2026. So what are growers meant to do in the meantime?

ALBANESE: Well, we think that it should be fixed and it should be fixed as soon as possible. I know that the Minister, who's the local member just up the road here, is committed to that. And I'd like to see it brought forward if at all possible. It needs to be done safely, of course. The consequences of it not being done safely are obvious to all. But that water security is just critical. This Government, of course, was elected, remember, prior to the election in 2013 we were promised 100 dams in a big splash. Guess how many have been opened on this Government's watch? It is a really round figure. Zero. 

DOWSETT: So, are you going to push for the process to be speeded up? 

ALBANESE: Well, I would like to be speeded up, absolutely and I'm sure that's the position of the state government as well.

DOWSETT: Ken O'Dowd is retiring at the end of this term. Do you think that Labor can win the seat of Flynn?

ALBANESE: I certainly do. I was with Matt yesterday. He's a gun. I was with him in Biloela. We caught up with the Mayor there as well. I was with him in Emerald a couple weeks ago. I've been with him in Gladstone. This is someone who knows every inch of the electrode of Flynn. Someone who's delivered for his community and that's been respected with the vote he received at the last local government elections as the Mayor of Gladstone. And he's just a terrific guy. He's really on top of his brief. He's on top of all of the local issues. Yesterday, at the Callide Power Station, wherever I go with him, he knows everyone. That's the other thing. At Callide, we were talking to the workers there. They want Callide Power Station to be rebuilt as soon as possible and I want that too. We were talking to the management. They're hoping that can all be done in 2022, which would be a great outcome.

DOWSETT: And what about the voters though? Are they ready to take that step to Labor?

ALBANESE: I think they are. 

DOWSETT: What are they saying to you?

ALBANESE: Well, it's been very positive. I was in a pub on the way here last night. We stopped on the long drive and had a chat to everyone from truck drivers to local agricultural workers to someone at a big table celebrating a birthday, and they're warm. They're open to voting Labor. They know that this Government has been in office now for almost a decade. And the thing that they're asking is, 'What's the thing that they've done that has made my life better?' And the answer that is zero. When we were in Government for a relatively short period of time, when I had the honour of being Deputy Prime Minister, we weren't perfect. But we rolled out the National Disability Insurance Scheme, we had a fibre-to-the-premise National Broadband Network, we developed an infrastructure policy and the big improvements on the Bruce Highway while I was the Minister. $6.7 billion in the six years we allocated while I was the Minister, 1.3 over 12 years for the Howard Government. So we did things. Paid parental leave. We did things that made a difference to people's lives. And the Government, next election, they'll be asking for a fourth term. Are they really going to get better in their fourth term? We've seen with the debacle that is the vaccination rollout, their arrogance. Them saying we were first in the queue. And the truth is we're way, way, way at the back of the queue. 

DOWSETT: But you really need to woo voters in Queensland, don't you? Flynn is one. What about Hinkler and the Wide Bay? How will you woo those voters?

ALBANESE: Absolutely. Well, I'm here in Hinkler. I'll be in Wide Bay tonight and we want to run strong campaigns in every seat. Here in Queensland, the last state election showed that people are prepared to vote Labor, particularly in the regions. The fact that you had Harvey Bay elect a Labor member, Bundaberg elect a Labor member, the area around Nambour, of course, elect a Labor member, I think, for the first time perhaps, certainly in a very long time. That shows they're open to the message. We even won, of course, a seat on the Sunshine Coast. So I want to be the leader of a Government that represents all of Australia. Those people in our region, those people in our cities. I have been the Regional Development Minister, I know regional Australia. And I think part of the key is to get that regional economic development. And I would work so strongly with the Palaszczuk Government as well to make sure that we could deliver.

DOWSETT: And finally, politics is one thing, but Dowsett's Double Dip is far more important, which is on later on this morning. It is where our listeners get to choose two songs back-to-back from a particular artist. Today, they can choose either Whitney Houston or Dolly Parton. Anthony Albanese, Dolly or Whitney?

ALBANESE: I've got to pick Dolly. Many years ago, Dolly Parton was ready to cancel a tour to Australia because her buses were too big for the road so they got knocked back. She doesn't like flying around so she has two buses that she lives in when she's on tour and I intervened with the Department, I've got to say, to overturn the bureaucrats and say, 'Okay, how do we get this done?'. And we got Dolly's buses into Australia and the tour went ahead. It was worth almost $30 million to the Australian economy, and I got to meet Dolly. I did a press appearance with her and got to see her in concert. It was good fun. She's a great artist. So I like Whitney, but I've got to go with Dolly.

DOWSETT: Working nine to five. Anthony Albanese, thanks very much. 

ALBANESE: Thank you.

ENDS