SUBJECTS: Historical rape allegation made against a Cabinet minister; workplace culture in Parliament House; sexual assault allegations in Parliament House; visit to WA; WA state election; vaccine rollout; bushfire recovery.
 

MARCUS PAUL, HOST: The Federal Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese, wrote yesterday on social media, 'If we want to end violence against women, it's not women who need to change their behaviour, men do. We need to end the culture of victim-blaming and start focusing on those who are responsible for these crimes'. Anthony Albanese joins us on the program. Good morning, Albo.
 

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

PAUL: You'll agree that yesterday was an extraordinary day in Australian politics. I have to say I do feel Christian Porter in the sense that he's obviously struggling because these very serious allegations have been aired. And he really hasn't got the opportunity to defend himself in a court of law because sadly, the person who made the allegations is no longer alive. But what did you make of it all yesterday?
 

ALBANESE: Well, any human being would have been impacted watching Christian Porter's press conference yesterday. One of the difficulties here is that unless there is a proper investigation of what has been claimed, then you will have circumstances such as yesterday where it is the media probing the questions in a public way against the first law officer of the land, which is the position of Attorney General that Christian Porter holds. And that's why I fail to see how the Prime Minister can consider basically that it is case closed in these circumstances whilst issues remain unexamined, essentially. This is very difficult. I do note Christian Porter's comments that you just played there, which suggests that the claims haven't been put to him. I do find it extraordinary that both he, yesterday, and the Prime Minister the day before, say they haven't read the details in the complaint that has been forwarded to the Prime Minister from Celia Hammond, one of the members in WA, as well as from Penny Wong and Sarah Hanson-Young. I just can't conceive of how it is.
 

PAUL: I find it extraordinary as well. And I don't think it passes the pub test, to be perfectly honest and with respect to due process. See, this is the problem, Anthony. I think there are two separate issues. Now, the issue of the unresolved circumstances of the alleged sexual assault of the young woman that happened 33 years ago, as we know, it can't be tested before a court of law essentially because the victim is no longer alive. But the separate issue, Anthony, is the way that I believe the Government has dealt with it. This whole toxic culture that seems to exist under this Morrison Government has simply seen from the Prime Minister down, blaming victims, not showing any empathy, not showing any consideration to other victims of sexual assault across the country when you have leading women's group, leading advocates for domestic violence and even some of their own, if you like, supporters from Sky News and the Murdoch press, saying that it's inconceivable that the Prime Minister and Christian Porter had not received any documented allegations on any of these matters. It's the same with the Brittany Higgins incident. And again this morning, we hear that Linda Reynolds is now under fire for making some ridiculous comments which were leaked to the media. I think this is a good indication, Anthony, that we've had a gut full. If Linda Reynolds' own staff are leaking to the media because she apparently called Britney Higgins 'a lying cow', well, if it was leaked by a woman in her staff or even a bloke, we're sick to death and we had enough. Things need to change.
 

ALBANESE: Well, they do need to change. And I think the incredibly powerful contribution from Grace Tame, the Australian of the Year, yesterday at the National Press Club indicated that as well. The fact that it is indeed the appointment of Grace Tame as the Australian of the Year that prompted Brittany Higgin's who has said that prompted her to take further action to respond. And these are really difficult issues. And I certainly haven't sought to politicise them. But I have said on Sunday morning when I was asked, I said that the Prime Minister needed to show leadership here and needed to provide a response and a pathway of how this will be dealt with. Now, the idea that this has been concluded is just not correct whether you think that should be the case or not. It just isn't. The idea that Christian Porter, as the Attorney General of the land, the first law officer, can continue in a role without a proper investigation. And they occur in a range of circumstances, they occurred with the High Court Judge, Mr Haydon, they occur in terms of the teaching profession, someone in the Catholic education system contacted me yesterday and spoke about how if there can't be a legal process, then there's a further investigation which draws a conclusion based upon the basis of probability, an examination of it. And at the moment, there hasn't been an examination of the claims. You've had the Prime Minister just say he's had a discussion with Christian Porter. Apparently without even reading or without allowing Christian Porter to read what has been claimed.
 

PAUL: That's right. And this is where it all starts to fall apart, I think, for Scott Morrison and Mr Porter. Very clearly, yesterday saying that he's never been asked by any journalists, or his office hasn't been, about allegations. I know that's a damn untruth. I know it's an untruth. I have journalist friends who've made plenty of approaches to the Minister and his staff in relation to these allegations. The other issue, of course, is where the Prime Minister himself says that he's been at arm's length from all of this. Well, he shouldn't be. He's the Prime Minister. And one of his leading ministers, as you mentioned, Anthony, the highest silk in the land, if you like, the chief officer of the judiciary, surely there needs to be some sort of separate inquiry into this. And if this was to happen, I don't know, let's just say for instance, in a big corporation, say one of the big bosses of a corporation had been accused of something as serious as this, they would naturally want it to be investigated, even outside of a police investigation. And normally, the common practice would be that executive would stand aside while the investigation is ongoing. Now, Mr Porter has essentially done that yesterday. But he's done it under his terms. And he's used, if you like, the mental health excuse. I'm not discounting, of course, the man is obviously in frail mental health at the moment. I'm not criticising that for a moment. But it's almost like he's done it on his terms. And yesterday seemed to be all about Christian Porter and not the victim. He didn't even mention her name.
 

ALBANESE: Christian Porter, of course, hasn't stepped aside. He's sought leave and I am sympathetic with anyone who seeks leave because of mental health issues. That's a perfectly legitimate thing to do. But the problem here is that Scott Morrison just fails to accept responsibility for things that he is in charge of as the Prime Minister. He is the sole appointer under the Liberal Party system as well, they don't even have a caucus process. He appoints everyone who's a minister, just like every ministerial staffer under the processes actually works for him. Brittany Higgins was working for him when the reported sexual assault happened in a minister's office just down the corridor. So he has particular responsibilities. And we've seeing this going back to the bushfires where he said, 'I don't hold a hose'. But the Prime Minister needs to except that with that high office, the highest office in the land, comes responsibility. And the idea that he hasn't heard of these rumours that have been around for a long period of time, that he can simply say that he hasn't read the statement that's been forwarded to him by a Labor MP, a Greens MP and one of his own, I just find it quite extraordinary.
 

PAUL: All right. Well, Mr Porter has stood aside, of course.
 

ALBANESE: No, he is just on leave.
 

PAUL: I beg your pardon. Yes, you are right.
 

ALBANESE: An important distinction. He has not stood aside.
 

PAUL: No, he hasn't. Alright. So he's on leave. We now have who I would consider to be an inexperienced person stepping into the role. I mean, things are a mess. I mean, the Prime Minister has not only lost his Defence Minister, who's off ill, but also Christian Porter, who is now off ill. I mean, what's next, Anthony? How on earth can we operate a Government under these circumstances? And how can we legislate?
 

ALBANESE: Well, the idea that this has been concluded is the concern here. If the Prime Minister thinks that's the case, that clearly is not the case. And it does need to be resolved. Whatever you think about the claims and the circumstances that have been made, people will make their own judgment about them, the idea that this can be almost forgotten, that it didn't happen, and business-as-usual just continued. it's just not real. It defies common sense. And that's why this is something as trivial for everyone dealing with it. But it does need to be resolved, which is why we have said some form of independent process is something that the Prime Minister needs to consider. It is up to the Prime Minister to essentially make the judgment of whether Christian Porter is a fit and proper person to continue in the role. And it can't surely be because he's had a chat with Christian Porter. That just doesn't survive common sense.
 

PAUL: It's not good enough. All right. Albo, you're set to join Premier Mark McGowan on the campaign trail in Western Australia, nine days out from that state election. You'll arrive there today for a two-day visit. Your first visit to Western Australia since the coronavirus pandemic arrived on our shores. Polls are showing Labor is on course for a crushing victory at the March 13 election. Mr McGowan enjoys a level of popularity. And look, I guess, as well, he's bought into the whole vaccination debate. He's taking on the New South Wales Premier. The whole thing is so politicised, who pays for what etcetera, and hotel quarantine. And what do you make of what's going on with the vaccine rollout? Things are still a little slower, aren't they?
 

ALBANESE: Well, they're much slower than the Government said they would be in terms of the targets that they said would occur by the end of March. The Government is now walking away from those targets. And we're only at the fourth of March. The fact of the rollout of the vaccine in aged care homes, we have people who've been waiting, sometimes with family, for the vaccine to arrive on days as scheduled and it just hasn't happened. Yesterday, I was really concerned. I was on the Central Coast near Wyong in the seat of Dobell. And the aged care homes in Robertson that happens to be held by the Liberal Party, many of them are receiving the vaccine. And not one of the more than two dozen aged care homes in the electorate of Dobell, just next door, the difference between Gosford and Wyong, are receiving the vaccine.
 

PAUL: Are you suggesting that there's some sort of political advantage or maybe pork-barrelling of the vaccine into LNP seats?
 

ALBANESE: Well, I think there needs to be an explanation for why it is that of all the seats on the Central Coast and right up to the Hunter, Robertson is receiving the vaccine, but Dobell and Shortland and Hunter and Newcastle are not. I find it quite extraordinary. And this is a Government, of course, that politicised the issue of Community Safety Grants. And that was rolled out on a politicised basis. I just think that sometimes I look at this Government and I see a Government that's been in office for too long. One that's become arrogant and become smug about the way that they deal with issues relating to taxpayers. And they confuse taxpayers' funds with their own party-political funds. And we see that, whether it's Sports Rorts, whether it be some of the community grants processes and regional grants, we see it in the way that the bushfire recovery support has been rolled out where places like the Blue Mountain have missed out on support even though they were severely impacted, the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury, certainly not because of a lack of attention from Susan Templeman, the local Member who was such a champion. So I just shook my head when I was asked by a journalist at a press conference yesterday about this. What we need to do is to make sure that the vaccines rolled out around the country, I again take the opportunity to encourage people to get vaccinated. Unless a high percentage of the population is, it won't be effective. So do it for yourself, but do it for your family and your friends and your neighbours as well.
 

PAUL: All right, Anthony, great to have you on the program. Thank you for your generous time this morning. And we'll talk to you again soon.
 

ALBANESE: Thanks very much, Marcus.
 

ENDS