SUBJECTS: AFL Grand Final; Christian Porter’s resignation from Cabinet; blind trust; COVID restrictions across Australia.

ALLAN ALDWORTH, HOST: Anthony Albanese, good morning. 

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning. Greetings from lockdown in Sydney. 

ALDWORTH: We were wondering where you were. 

MICHELLE ANDERSON, HOST: We thought you might have been over here for the Grand Final. But no, locked down.

ALBANESE: Not allowed. Me and Eddie McGuire are locked out.

ALDWORTH: Imagine you two locked in together. How would that go? 

ALBANESE: He's a good fellow. We would be fine. We get on very well.

ALDWORTH: Obviously, everyone's talking about it, your ratings seem to be on the up and up. How are you feeling?

ALBANESE: We're going okay. But I think people are starting to realise that this Government doesn't really have a plan for the future and that they've been there for three terms. I think the sort of chaos that we've seen around Christian Porter and this million dollars that was donated from anonymous sources, or up to a million dollars, we don't know how much, we don't know who did it, we don't know how they paid it. I think that's a sign of a Government, really, that needs a bit of time on the opposition benches to get its act together.

ALDWORTH: But normally, it's in a bag with a big dollar sign on it when you make a donation.

ALBANESE: Well, I tell you what, if this is allowed to stand, if you can, as a Member of Parliament, get up to a million dollars anonymously, not say how, not say any of the details, then it just renders the whole process completely open to abuse, which is why we have something called the register of pecuniary interests. Now, Christian Porter acknowledged that he had a personal interest, a private interest, by declaring that there was this trust. But the idea that he doesn't know, well, how did people know how to invest their money, what account to put it in? It fails the laugh test, this one.

ANDERSON: Pollies have been in trouble in the past for accepting a stuffed toy as a gift and things like that. 

ALBANESE: Exactly. Or a TV. 

ANDERSON: Yes. 

ALBANESE: Sam Dastyari got hounded out of Parliament for a much, much smaller amount. And we knew who it was from and we knew how much. And he had to leave the Parliament. This bloke was the Attorney-General of the nation, the first law officer the land. And it's no wonder he went a bit slow, as the whole Government has when it comes to the National Anticorruption Commission that we need. We're the only jurisdiction, all states and territories have anticorruption bodies, but we don't. And we need one. And if we had one that could knock on the door, so to speak, and say, 'Oi, what do you think you are doing?' it would have stopped this sort of nonsense, frankly. It just, unfortunately, brings politics into disrepute. 

ALDWORTH: It's almost like we can't trust politicians. It is so weird.

ALBANESE: Tracey Roberts can be trusted, our candidate there in Pearce, the Mayor of Wanneroo. If no one else gets rid of Christian Porter, then I'm sure she will at the election. 

ANDERSON: Anthony, let's talk about that, I think Barnaby Joyce was saying something along the lines about 'It's like wrestling to smoke', because not everyone's on a Federal level of how to deal with COVID, it's sort of taking a swipe at Queensland and WA. Where do you stand on that sort of stuff? How do you want this tackled?

ALBANESE: Mark McGowan has kept West Australian safe. And he deserves cheers, not opposition. Certainly not a Federal Government that paired up with Clive Palmer in Clive Palmer's legal action. That cost taxpayers a million dollars, including $42,000 went directly to Clive Palmer as a result of the Commonwealth then eventually, under pressure, withdrawing from the case. Mark McGowan has done a great job. You're going to host the Grand Final on Saturday. I'm very jealous of that. And in Queensland, of course, they are hosting my beloved Rabbitohs, who had a few games in Perth. They are playing at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. So, the two states that they are bagging are the states where life is more like normal. And let me tell you, I'd like to get back to normal as soon as possible.

ALDWORTH: 100 per cent. Well, Anthony Albanese, thank you so much for the chat today. We do appreciate it. And maybe next Grand Final, you can get to that one for the footy.

ALBANESE: Maybe. But go the Dees on Saturday.

ANDERSON: There you go.

ALDWORTH: Thanks for the chat, mate.

ALBANESE: Been a long time between drinks for them.

ENDS