SUBJECTS: Visit to Moranbah; casualisation of workforce; industrial relations; same job, same pay; Sydney lockdown; COVID-19; vaccine rollout; need for national quarantine; Scott Morrison failing Australians during a pandemic; job security. 

RUSSELL ROBERTSON, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR CAPRICORNIA: So, I'm here at the Miners Memorial in Moranbah with the Leader of the Opposition, Anthony Albanese, and Senator for Queensland, Murray Watt. We've been travelling in and around CQ now for a couple of days with Anthony and meeting mineworkers and affected communities all through CQ. It's great to have him here. It's great to have Murray here. And again, it shows what real leaders do, and that is to lead. We've been hearing about casualisation and the importance of the Labor policy of same job, same pay. And we're hearing some of the horror stories that casualisation is doing to the mining industry and the safety implications. It's been great to have Anthony here, getting that firsthand experience and talking to people one-on-one, no fake costumes, no shady deals, nothing but honest, genuine leadership. And it's great to have Anthony here, and Murray, talking to everyone. And I'll give Anthony the opportunity now to speak to you around some of the things that he's been hearing on the ground. Anthony?

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Thanks very much, Russell. Well, we're here at the Moranbah Miners Memorial. And it's a reminder that the mining industry can be a dangerous one. It's also one that is a reminder that we need to keep people safe. And one of the things that's been undermining safety in our mining industry has been casualisation and increased use of labour hire. We had a forum here in Moranbah at the Workers' Club last night with Michele O'Neil, the President of the ACTU as well, talking about how permanent employment is now below 50 per cent in the mining sector. And that is an issue which has undermined wages and conditions. But it's also undermining safety. Because non-permanent workers are far less likely to be in a position of speaking out about safety issues. We need to move to more secure work. And that's why Labor will ensure that security of employment is an objective of the Fair Work Act. It's why we'll deal with the issue of casualisation. It's why we will adopt the principle of same job, same pay, that is so critical for people who work in the mines. Last night, I was able to meet Simon, who works at one of the mines here next to his best mate who works for a labour hire company, that is paid $40,000 a year less and doesn't have the same secure conditions that Simon has. We've raised this very case in the National Parliament and it's an issue which has been dismissed by the Federal Coalition Government. We've also heard and been concerned about the dropping of the resources sector from the Cabinet. The fact is that the Government can't say it cares about resources whilst it doesn't have any representation in the Cabinet. This is an industry that produces $310 billion of wealth. This is an industry that employs, directly and indirectly, over a million Australians who benefit from this sector. And we need to make sure that the resources sector continues to be able to have a future. We've also talked about changes in the industry that are happening. And we've talked with the local council about infrastructure, about the need for roads funding, about how this community, because there are so many drive-in, drive-out and fly-in, fly-out workers, has to provide the infrastructure, including ambulance and other services for people. But they don't receive the level of funding because that's tied to their permanent population here. But of course, we know that the population is far bigger because of the nature of the workforce here in Moranbah and in other mining communities. So, it's been great to be here with Robbo. And it'll be good to travel today also to Clermont and to Emerald, talking to communities about issues that are of concern to them.

Could I make a comment as well about what we see with the figures coming from New South Wales now with over 100 positive cases? I say to people - stay safe, follow the rules, make sure that you look after each other and follow the guidelines that are out there from the health experts. We know that this disease can spread very easily. And we know that it is a real concern that these numbers continue to increase. I note that Kevin Rudd intervened positively to receive additional Pfizer vaccines in Australia. It is unfortunate that the Federal Government isn't doing its job that people like Kevin Rudd and people in the business community are having to step up in order to advance the interests of the rollout of the vaccine. We know that this Government had two jobs this year - the rollout of the vaccine and national quarantine. And they botched both of them. Happy to take questions. 

JOURNALIST: You mentioned that the issue of job casualisation in the mining industry, particularly, is so important. Why is it so important to address this issue? 

ALBANESE: Look, it's so important because casual employees, or people who've been classified as casual employees, are working in a permanent way. This is a fiddle in order to reduce wages and reduce conditions. And we know that this is an issue, not just in this area. Under this Government, there's been eight years of wage stagnation and wages are due to actually decrease in real terms over the next four years. So, it's an issue in terms of wages and fairness. But it's also an issue in terms of safety. We know that if workers don't have security, if they're not permanent, it's more difficult for them to have the confidence to speak out on safety issues, which is why we need to address this issue. 

JOURNALIST: And obviously, the Senate inquiry is starting today. What's it like to see action finally starting to be taken?

ALBANESE: Well, the Senate inquiry is a good thing. But what we need to do is to make sure that it results in action from the Government. What we've seeing over the life of this Government is a real drop in permanent employees and a massive lift up in casualisation, in the mining sector and in other areas. This is a Government that produced legislation to make it easier to classify people as casuals to increase the possibility of people manipulating the classification of workers in legislation that One Nation also voted with the Coalition on earlier this year. What we need to do is reverse that trend. Because the issue of the undermining of permanent work is undermining individuals and families and their capacity to get by and have a decent standard of living, but it's also undermining our national economy. Thank you.

ENDS