SUBJECTS: Hosting Rage; Nirvana; beer; Attorney-General and the culture of Parliament House; Italian-Irish background; meeting with Mark McGowan; Kim and Hannah Beazley; WA election; Scott Morrison backed Clive Palmer’s legal challenges on WA borders. 

VOICEOVER: Thanks Baz. How good is it to finally welcome the Leader of the Opposition?

RECORDING OF ZAK KIRKUP: Unlike the Premier, I don’t need notes to tell me exactly what I’m fighting for.

VOICEOVER: No, not him. Still waiting. *crickets*. We mean this Leader of the Opposition.

RECORDING OF ANTHONY ALBANESE: I’m honoured and very proud.

VOICEOVER: That’s him. Albo. Mr Cool. Full name…

RECORDING OF KEVIN RUDD: The Honourable Anthony Norman Albanese MP.

VOICEOVER: Yep. Anthony Norman. Half Italian. Half Irish. 100 per cent hip.

RECORDING OF ANTHONY ALBANESE: Nirvana, who I got to see what was then this obscure band.

VOICEOVER: Now that’s a Leader of the Opposition.

RECORDING OF ANTHONY ALBANESE: Sensational gig.

VOICEOVER: Please welcome…

RECORDING OF KEVIN RUDD: Anthony Norman Albanese.
 
HOST: Albo, welcome.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: How you going? You’ve outed my middle name.
 
HOST: It’s a strong name.
 
ALBANESE: It really fits with the Italian Albanese, doesn’t it? It just flows off the tongue.
 
HOST: Where did mum and dad come up with Norman from?
 
ALBANESE: After Cardinal Norman Gilroy, basically. Good Catholics. My mum, I was raised by just a single mum. And Anthony was my cousin who unfortunately died just before I was born. He got hit by car. A little boy, four years old. So, I got named after him. And then Norman, I think, I had another cousin but it was basically after Cardinal Gilroy.
 
HOST: Okay, well we could go through everybody on your front bench if you like.
 
HOST: I really want to get Xav involved because, I don't know whether you know, but Albo, he's got his own beer.
 
HOST: You’ve got your own beer?
 
ALBANESE: I do.
 
HOST: Do you bring a sample in?
 
ALBANESE: Willie the Boatman. It’s available in, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to advertise, I’ll give them a freebie here. Dan Murphy's have it in Sydney anyway. I don't know if they have it over here. Willie the Boatman in St Peters.
 
HOST: I’m going to grab a couple today.
 
ALBANESE: The Albo Ale. A corn ale.
 
HOST: What’s a corn ale?
 
HOST: He takes his beers very seriously.
 
ALBANESE: You should take it seriously. During the prohibition in the US, of course, they sort of wiped out all the things that normally go into beer, barley etcetera. So they set up the old stills with corn and discovered that you could do it. So it's a particular type of corn. It just gives it a little bit of flavour.
 
HOST: So if I come in a bit dusty on Monday, you’re to blame.
 
ALBANESE: It tastes a little like Little Creatures Pale Ale. It’s a good drop.
 
HOST: We heard you just then described as Mr Cool. And that audio that we heard you introducing Nirvana was when you appeared, do you remember being the guest host on Rage?
 
ALBANESE: That was one of the highlights of my life, that was completely on the bucket list. I was the Deputy Prime Minister at the time and the Communications Minister. And it's not true that I stood over the ABC to get a slot on Rage.
 
HOST: But you could have. The Nirvana concert. You obviously have affection for Nirvana, obviously? You liked them.
 
ALBANESE: I do. The first Big Day Out, and there was this buzz about them. And Big Day Out, in Sydney anyway, used to be at the old sportsground, and the Hordern Pavilion’s part of the setup, the main stage, and, of course, everyone, the poor people trying to play on the other five stages, everyone went to one, tried to cram in. There was no social distancing there. Lucky COVID wasn't around then.
 
HOST: Albo, I wanted, I think we need to talk about I guess what's been captivating the, probably, the public conscience of the past couple of weeks. Canberra must have been really tough over the past sitting fortnight and with everything that's going on with obviously the Attorney-General stepping aside. Defence Minister, also on health leave. Prime Minister is reluctant to call for this independent inquiry into the behaviour inside Parliament House. Would you be open to a fully independent inquiry into all sides that happen over there?
 
ALBANESE: We have to look at these issues. We have to change the culture. And you've got to think back just a little bit. I was listening to Scott Morrison yesterday saying ‘we can't possibly look at what happened 30 years ago’. Well, this is the same Government that had a Royal Commission into what Julia Gillard did or didn't do into the unions and things that happened decades before she was in Parliament, and things that had been looked at previously. So there's lots of precedent. And Dyson Heyden, of course, had that Royal Commission and he also had to have an examination of what happened when he was a High Court judge.
 
HOST: And Albo, can we call you Albo, is that OK?
 
ALBANESE: Of course.
 
HOST: Albo, I like it. Albo. Elbow. And you're not going the elbow, you’re able to shake hands in Canberra or is it sort of a bit of both?
 
ALBANESE: It’s a bit of both. We've been careful. I notice here that, I was at Mojos last night in North Freo there with Josh Wilson. And yeah, everyone shakes hands there. People were coming up to me and it was like unusual.
 
HOST: Did you grab a burger from next door?
 
ALBANESE: No, I didn’t .
 
HOST: Because it’s a good double that one.
 
HOST: So stay with us, if you can. 7:15. We want to ask you a little bit about the local scene and a couple of other questions about Canberra. Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese. Not every day on this show we can say we've got the Leader of the Opposition in. So I'm going to say it one more time. Albo, back with us after this.
 
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HOST: It’s good to be able to have the Leader of the Opposition in the studio. We don't always get the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Albanese.
 
ALBANESE: I'm always available.
 
HOST: We're happy to have you. We're going to play a Def Leppard song and come back and speak to Albo right after this. Triple M.
 
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HOST: It’s Friday morning. We’ve got the Leader of the Opposition in the studio with us. Anthony Albanese, we learned earlier half Italian, half Irish. Mr Albanese, are you more one than the other?
 
ALBANESE: I was raised very much here in the sort of Aussie culture, I guess. My mum was, there was just me and my mum at home, and she was very much an Aussie Catholic, I guess.
 
HOST: Yeah. It's funny though, Baz, because I've got a few Italian mates who've never been to Italy in their entire life, but when they get around the family, ‘ciao, mi chiamo…’. You’re like, you don’t even know, you’ve never been there.
 
ALBANESE: My family are from Puglia, down in the south. And thank goodness for social media. They've done it tough through the pandemic over there but I've been able to keep in contact with them. And it's a great thing, being able to talk to the other side of the world. Mind you, they ring sometimes at really inconvenient times. They don’t get the time difference.
 
HOST: When you talk about the other side of the world, sometimes we feel like that being in WA. And you are visiting, obviously, to visit your federal counterparts being Maddy King or Patrick Gorman, Josh Wilson, who you mentioned before. Bit of stick yesterday, mate, about why Mark McGowan, you and Mark McGowan, aren’t catching up. What's going on?
 
ALBANESE: We're catching up today.
 
HOST: Going to do any media together?
 
ALBANESE: I don’t know if we’ll do any media together or not.
 
HOST: That’s the most important thing.
 
ALBANESE: That’s really weird.
 
HOST: Are you mates?
 
ALBANESE: We’re absolutely mates. The connection is, I was always very close to the man who's now your Governor.
 
HOST: Kim Beazley.
 
ALBANESE: Kim and Susie and I, I backed Kim in every leadership ballot. And I'm not sure he won too many of them, to be frank. Maybe I accept some responsibility for that. But through Kim I met Mark really early on before people around the country knew who Mark McGowan is, but they do now.
 
HOST: Speaking of, I guess, Kim Beazley, his daughter, Hannah will be running in the seat of Vic Park. She's run a few times in federally and state. How do you think she'll go? Because I think she's a bit of a shoo in, see.
 
ALBANESE: Oh, well, I certainly hope she does. I was actually going to be coming across before I wasn't able to because of border issues, to do a function for her and launch her campaign over here. She, of course, ran in Swan last time in the federal election. She ran in the previous state election as well. So I've campaigned with her.
 
HOST: She had any winners?
 
ALBANESE: Her dad’s a great bloke and she will win. I'm convinced of that. She'll be enormous. I actually might go out there and campaign against her, because I'd love to have her as part of the federal team.
 
HOST: That would be unheard of, a Federal Labor Leader campaigning against the State Labor candidate. Last one. Mr Albanese, I know you've got to go and you've got other commitments. And we appreciate you being here. When you look across from Canberra at your state counterpart’s popularity, and you see him in the 90s, what goes through a leader's head?
 
ALBANESE: Gee, wish I was there. No, Mark deserves it. He's stood up for his state. And I think that things like Clive Palmer's legal cases and stuff were a disaster. I remind people that Scott Morrison sided with Clive Palmer against Mark McGowan in those cases.
 
HOST: Not Scotty from marketing?
 
ALBANESE: Scotty from marketing did, indeed. He didn't check the marketing on that one. Look, I think he deserves it but all elections are tough. That's the other thing, you know, you can't take it for granted. The last Federal election showed that you can trust the polling. So get out there and vote for Mark McGowan.
 
HOST: Lovely to see you in the studio, Anthony.  Thank you for joining us. Nice to meet you and visit anytime you're in Perth, won’t you? Triple M.
ALBANESE: Terrific. Great to be with you.