SUBJECTS: Workplace culture in Parliament House; bullying and harassment of MPs and staff; historic rape allegations against a Cabinet Minister; Christian Porter relieved of some duties; vaccine rollout; AstraZeneca vaccine; PNG coronavirus crisis. 

FRAN KELLY, HOST: The Opposition Leader joins us now. Anthony Albanese, welcome back to Breakfast. 

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning, Fran. 

KELLY: So you heard Nicolle Flint there. She said that GetUp!, Labor and union supporters routinely chased, harassed and screamed at her at the last election. She says she’s been bombarded with sexist slurs, like skank and prostitute, her office has been vandalised more than once, and she has asked, ‘Where were you and the senior Labor women?’. She has named Penny Wong and Tanya Plibersek when defending her against this behaviour. 

ALBANESE: Well, Nicolle Flint deserved to be safe as a Member of Parliament. And we must listen to her story and all the stories about women's involvement and, indeed, people's involvement in politics. We must learn to have disagreements in a civil way. The people who have been named in articles as being involved in this are organisations like Extinction Rebellion and some people at GetUp! At the same time, they were, of course, protesting against Labor MPs in some seats, including mine that was being occupied every week at the same time. And certainly, the women staff who worked for me, and my electorate office is all female staff, felt intimidated by occupations of the office. It shouldn't happen. It shouldn't happen to anyone. 

KELLY: But it did happen. I'm sorry to interrupt. The question now is it did happen, it was well known it happened. And Nicolle Flint describes it as a coordinated sexist campaign, it was written about during the last campaign, it was pretty well known. And neither you nor your senior MPs spoke out about it at the time. Labor was after her marginal seat of Boothby. 

ALBANESE: That is not right, Fran. Anytime that I get asked about behaviour, and I'm sure Penny Wong and Tanya Plibersek are exactly the same, we would be consistent that such behaviour from any one towards a woman or anyone else in politics is completely inappropriate and should not happen. 

KELLY: I understand that. Of course you would make that answer. And I understand that you would mean that. But during this election campaign, it was hard fought. This political campaign against Nicolle Flint did happen. Did politics trump the safety of Nicolle Flint and her staff? Is it as simple as that? 

ALBANESE: Well, it shouldn't have happened. Full stop. It shouldn't have happened to anyone in any campaign. Full stop. I condemn. I can't do more than that. I wasn't visiting Boothby in those last couple of weeks. Anytime that I got asked about behaviour, I would have said exactly the same thing. I said the same thing when my office had broken windows every week. Eventually the person was arrested who engaged in that behaviour. And during this period of time, I've got to say, the people who answer phones have been subject to a really difficult period over the last few weeks. We have had to get mental health support for a range of staff members. I'm sure that applies absolutely across the board. So I stand with Nicolle Flint. Her story is one that is appalling that that sort of behaviour was directed at her. 

KELLY: She told you in that speech last night in the Parliament to get your own house in order. And there have been dozens of anonymous complaints made by current and former Labor staffers of unwanted touching, bullying, forced kissing, an older Labor man getting a young woman drunk before having non-consensual sex. These are the anonymous complaints on this website, on this Facebook page. Tanya Plibersek says Labor men need to be held to account. What are you doing as Labor Leader to put a stop to this kind of behaviour, to make the Labor Party a safe workplace for women? 

ALBANESE: Well, what I've done is update, through the ALP National Executive, a comprehensive plan to stamp out sexual harassment and bullying. We have four policies that have been adopted. A comprehensive anti-sexual harassment policy, an anti-bullying policy, a complaints process that provides for independent processes and the code of conduct. And it applies not just for Members of Parliament, it applies to any activity where the ALP is involved. For example, any campaign, any function across the board. We need to do better and will continue to work. That was a policy that was developed under the chairmanship of Sharon Claydon, the Chair of the Caucus, and was adopted unanimously by the ALP National Executive. 

KELLY: Since it was released a couple of weeks ago, there are some reports that some Labor women don't believe it gives them still enough confidence and comfort to come forward. I think women listening now would want to know what you will do if an allegation of bullying or sexual harassment was made that isn't anonymous, if the perpetrator is named. What action will you take against that man? 

ALBANESE: Well, we'll act, Fran. 

KELLY: What does act mean? What would you do? Would you suspend them? 

ALBANESE: For example, one of the issues that's been raised publicly was a complaint against a staff member. And that was made by someone who wasn't a Federal staff member. That person is no longer employed. It was dealt with in conjunction with the woman who made the complaint. And action was taken to the satisfaction of the woman involved. 

KELLY: Christian Porter, the Attorney-General, will be back at work at the end of the month. Given the defamation action over the historical rape allegation that the Attorney-General has brought, the Prime Minister has relieved him of some of his duty. Any functions relating to the Federal Court or to the ABC, defamation law reform, will be delegated, we understand, to another minister now. In your view, is that a workable compromise? 

ALBANESE: No, it's not. Because there's a whole range of processes, including the overseeing of the Sex Discrimination Act. There's a range of processes that the Attorney-General has to fulfil. And, in my view, is going to be very difficult for the Attorney-General to just return to work and to pretend that all of us can unsee and unhear what has been said over recent weeks. 

KELLY: Would Labor be satisfied if Christian Porter returned as the Minister for Industrial Relations but not as Attorney-General? 

ALBANESE: We think that there needs to be a proper examination of the allegations that have been made. That hasn't been possible by the New South Wales Police due to the circumstances of the woman taking her own life. But the Prime Minister must satisfy himself and satisfy the Australian people that Mr Porter is a fit and proper person to serve as a Cabinet Minister. 

KELLY: Would Labor be satisfied if Christian Porter remained in Cabinet as the Industrial Relations Minister but not the Attorney-General while this is looked at in a defamation case before a court and potentially a coronial inquest? 

ALBANESE: We've said that it needs proper examination, Fran. 

KELLY: And do you think that represents proper examination? 

ALBANESE: I don't believe that there has been a proper examination. And I think the fact that you're asking me the question provides the answer, which is that you can't have someone continuing to sit in the Cabinet who is the subject of the sort of inquiries that you're making now. That undermines confidence in our system of government. And that confidence in our system of government is so important. And Christian Porter, of course, oversaw inquiries, including into Dyson Heydon, into his behaviour or activity as a person who looked into the Trade Union Royal Commission. 

KELLY: Talking about confidence, can I ask you about vaccine rollouts? We've had the Coalition MP, Matt Canavan, calling for the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine to be paused given the concerns over blood clots now and the fact that 12 European countries have paused the rollout of Astra Zeneca. You are calling on the Prime Minister to censure Matt Canavan. But is it better just to ignore these comments, not inflate them, because publicity around these sorts of comments could undermine the vaccination program? 

ALBANESE: What we need is for everyone who's in a position of responsibility to put the interests of our nation first. And that means supporting the health advice. The health advice is that these vaccines are safe. We've always said that we have to listen to the TGA. We have a world-class organisation which we should be proud of. And it shouldn't be undermined by anyone, be it Craig Kelly or Matt Canavan. 

KELLY: And in terms of the rollout of vaccines on the COVID pandemic, we do expect the Prime Minister will announce today that vaccines will be rushed to PNG to try and combat that truly alarming outbreak there of the coronavirus. Do you share the Health Minister's concerns that the high infection rate there poses a clear and present danger to our north? Are you confident the Government is responding as it should be? 

ALBANESE: Look, I welcome the Government's response of an urgent response. There is a clear and present danger. And I've been to Saibai Island, you can actually see Papua New Guinea from there. It's a very short ocean trip, about the size of a trip across various parts of Sydney Harbour. And the fact is that we also have a responsibility as good neighbours to help out Papua New Guinea and to help out our other Pacific Island nations. This is a moment where we need to stand up. 

KELLY: Anthony Albanese, thank you very much for joining us. 

ALBANESE: Thank you very much, Fran. 

ENDS