SUBJECTS: Visit to WA; Federal election; Mark McGowan; Labor’s policy agenda; gender pay gap.

HOST: We are chatting to the leader of the opposition and leader of the Australian Labor Party and a man that just flew into WA - Anthony Albanese. Good morning.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning. Good to be with you.
 
HOST: Pleasure to have you on once again, now I understand you were on the first flight into WA with the hard border rule removed.
 
ALBANESE: I was I landed at 5 past midnight yesterday and it was a long day. Wednesday happened to be my birthday, the second of March so it meant that I had a 27-hour birthday even if five of those hours was spent on a plane.
 
HOST: I want to hope that McGowan met you at the airport with a birthday present. Did he?
 
ALBANESE: No, he didn't. But they were giving a little Quokkas. And I got a RAT test was what I got.
 
HOST: Rightly so, that is only fair. So great to have you on. Obviously, we're ramping up for election so, a lot of the questions coming your way, I can imagine.
 
ALBANESE: Look, it's been terrific. And I've already spent time in Ellenbrook, with Tania Lawrence. And in Wangara, with Tracey Roberts. And caught up with a few of the team here. I caught up with Mark McGowan, as well as catching up with Josh Wilson in Freo and Patrick Gorman, our Member for Perth. So, I'm getting very much out and about. And it's a real opportunity to renew acquaintances with Western Australia. So, I made a commitment that I would come here 10 times a year. But of course, that wasn’t possible. So, here I am and making the most of it over a three-day visit.
 
HOST: We have to get you out to regional WA.
 
ALBANESE: Well, last time I was here, I was up in Karratha.
 
HOST: That's right.
 
ALBANESE: Had a terrific visit there looking at the resources sector. And of course, I've been a regular visitor to Geraldton, Albany, Port Hedland, and Kalgoorlie. But this time round is a bit shorter. But next visit that is the plan. West Australia, fortunately, particularly the regions, have kept the economy going with Port Hedland and Karratha, and Newman and all of these projects and wealth-creating projects. Importantly, they have been one of the things that have seen Australia come through the difficult couple of years that we've had. But Western Australia, of course, has fared better than any other state in both the economy but also importantly, in terms of the health outcomes.
 
HOST: There's a huge gap in the market for women voters because as we know our current leader hasn't always been popular amongst us women. In fact, Grace Tame very recently said this:
 
JOURNALIST AT NATIONAL PRESS CLUB: Is there anything that you specifically think Anthony Albanese would do better? And what would it mean if Australians chose to vote Scott Morrison back in?
 
GRACE TAME: All Anthony would have to do is none of the things that Scott's done.
 
HOST: Full disclosure, I'm going to hold you a little more accountable.
 
ALBANESE: That was pretty clear advice. I was there in the audience for Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins’ appearance at the National Press Club. They are just courageous inspirational young women.
 
HOST: Well, I was gonna ask you about how committed you are. So, at the moment, the pay gap is very real. Every $10 a man is earning, women are making about $7.72. One woman is being killed per week due to domestic violence. That is the current average, if not more, during the pandemic. And older women are the most at risk of being homeless. These are some pretty serious topics that are affecting the women voters here. So, what are you going to do to tackle those?
 
ALBANESE: Well, we have practical plans in all of those areas. A practical plan to lift the wages of women to close the gender pay gap by having measures including, of course, our affordable childcare plan is the largest commitment that we've made. In addition to that we'll implement all of the Respect@Work reports, that includes an obligation on employers to do what they can to ensure workplaces are safe. We'll have 10 days paid domestic and family violence leave. We'll also have 500 additional community workers working in the area of domestic violence supporting women and children. And we have our Housing Australia Future Fund, where we'll allocate places so that women who are escaping domestic violence are able to find somewhere to shelter. Every single night in this country, a woman and often a woman with children is turned away from emergency housing. So, we have a comprehensive plan. Also, we have half of my Shadow Cabinet female, half are male. We have very strong women in leadership positions, including Penny Wong and Tanya Plibersek, Kristina Keneally, and of course here in the West, Madeleine King.
 
HOST: Okay. Well, I'm happy with that you've given me actual real steps, not a politician's answer.
 
HOST: Yeah, absolutely. Of course, if that’s triggered anything for you, 1800 Respect is the number to call. Whole lot more with Anthony Albanese after this one you're on HIT.
 
HOST: Leader of the Labor Party, now you could potentially be the next Prime Minister. I'm curious, what's the first thing you do say, hypothetically, May comes around and you win an election? What's the first thing you want to do as PM? Is it look at alien documents? Are you going to like I don't know, do some digging on an ex, what are you doing?
 
ALBANESE: First thing I want to do is to get proper briefings in the first couple of days from all of the agencies, Prime Minister and Cabinet and Treasury on the state of the economy, see where things are hidden perhaps in budget papers. But also, national security is, of course, a major issue and to be briefed by all of the national security agencies, I get briefed as Opposition Leader. But I think the nature of the briefings change. And then to set in place a timetable to implement our program - areas like childcare affordability, the Housing Australia Future Fund, and National Reconstruction Fund, supporting new industries. I want to make a difference, and to make a difference with the program we had very early on in the term. And the way to do that is to make sure that the legislation goes through. If people vote for us, they will be voting for a better future. And we need to have that change there and those reforms. So, I think this Government's been in office now for almost a decade, and they're really out of puff, to say the least. There's no real agenda going forward. Parliament has sat for a couple of weeks recently, of course, in February. And not much happened. Well, I want to get things moving again, because we're in a fast-moving world. And if we stand still, the rest of the world will move past us.
 
HOST: Alright, let's get down to it. Before we wrap up this interview in one sentence, what makes you better than ScoMo?
 
ALBANESE: I have a plan for the future and a determination to create it.
 
HOST: That's good. You have any plans to go to Hawaii anytime soon?
 
ALBANESE: No, Perth will do me. I'll be working away. And I’ll continue to work each and every day. Not just before the election, but if I receive support from the Australian people and have that great honour then after the elections. Well, I think we're a great country, the best country on the planet but we can be even better. But that won’t happen by accident. We’ve got to make it better.
 
HOST: Thank you so much for the chat today. Leader of the Opposition and Australian Labor Party, Anthony Albanese. Thanks for the chat.
 
ALBANESE: Thanks very much. Bye.
 
ENDS