SUBJECTS: Spaghetti bolognese; public opinion of politicians; need for a National Anti-corruption Commission; COVID recovery; car accident; fitness.

HOST: Federal Opposition Leader, this is your debut on this show.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: It is. And it's great to be here in a studio with real people.

HOST: I want to know how Italian you are.

ALBANESE: Half. My father is from Puglia, or was from Puglia. So, 50-50.

HOST: Do you know your way around a bolognese? Are you that Italian?

ALBANESE: I do. And I'm Italian enough to know it's 'bolognese'.

HOST: Albanese. Bolognese. What's the secret? What's the secret ingredient? Sam wants to know.

HOST: Do you have one, Anthony?

ALBANESE: In Bolognese? Just heaps of garlic. You cannot have too much garlic.

HOST: I agree with you. Like go the full bulb.

ALBANESE: Garlic has gotten rubbish, so you've got to put more in.

HOST: Well, you've got to buy Australian garlic.

ALBANESE: You do.

HOST: That is key. You've got to look for that specifically.

ALBANESE: You do. But you do need more than any recipe ever tells you. That is the key.

HOST: You agree with that, Sam?

HOST: Well, we're starting with the big issues. I mean, I'm building a Frankenstein bolognese from all the people that I talked to. And my theory is that everyone has a different little spin on their bolognese.

ALBANESE: Everyone does. I put celery, as well as carrots.

HOST: This is why I'm not on Q&A, I'm just letting you know.

ALBANESE: Q&A would be more interesting if they channelled topics like that, I reckon.

HOST: Thoughts on sofrito?

HOST: Do you want your mind blown real quick, Anthony Albanese?

ALBANESE: Why not?

HOST: Spaghetti bolognese was invented in Adelaide.

ALBANESE: Adelaide? Rubbish.

HOST: It is true.

HOST: Would Preston lie to us?

HOST: I think it's true.

ALBANESE: I think it is rubbish.

HOST: No, I think it's true. Because in Bologna they don't do mince and all that sort of business. Come on, Tony.

ALBANESE: No, I don't believe it.

HOST: Does anyone call you Tony?

ALBANESE: No one calls me Tony.

HOST: Who calls you Anthony?

ALBANESE: Not many people. It is usually Albo. Since I was a kid. Albanese was too hard for kids to say.

HOST: So, if you became Prime Minister, you would be Prime Minister Albo. We've got Prime Minister ScoMo and Prime Minister Albo. What happened to your profession? Why do you think that the public opinion of politicians is at an all-time low?

ALBANESE: I think there's a lot of good reasons. People leaking text messages to presidents and all of that. I just think we need to do a lot more to repair politics. I think we've got to make sure that there's no pork barrelling. I think people are pretty cynical. It's one of the reasons why I want to have a National Anti-corruption Commission. I reckon we need to do that.

HOST: You might lose a lot of your people on the same team as yours.

ALBANESE: Well, if you do the wrong thing, there should be transparency in public funds. You got commuter car parks being built here, or promised here, where there are not train stations. It is a bit hard to be a commuter if there's no train station.

HOST: What about the state of the country? We seem like a divided country, obviously, for the last two years with COVID. What can we expect things are going to change going forward?

ALBANESE: Look, I reckon that during COVID, yes, there's been some division but there's also been incredible strength and unity of purpose. People have made sacrifices. Yesterday, I was out at a Sikh temple. There you have all these volunteers who've made 180,000 meals for people. Just fantastic. And you've seen sacrifices, you've seen people helping each other out. People are going out and getting vaccinated. So, I think you've seen the strength of Australian society and what we call old-fashioned mateship, I guess, looking after each other.

HOST: I feel though, and I'm sure I'm not alone, I just feel like you guys don't know how to get us out of this. We just have no confidence in politicians to make the right decisions. I feel like anybody can do it.

ALBANESE: I reckon we need very much a sense of optimism and to build back stronger. So, we've seen how strong society is. But we've also seen we don't make enough things here. We're not self-reliant enough here. So, I want very much a by Australia plan which we've released. We want a Future Made in Australia. We want to do things like making sure we are less susceptible to shocks. Because this one's a health pandemic, but there could be other things as well. Cyber-attacks, there could be security issues in the region. We need to be more self-reliant.

HOST: Albo, we mentioned you're looking physically wonderful. I can't believe we're doing this. We are not going to make you dress up in your sweat gear, your sweatshirt and pump out a bench-press. But because you are looking fit, we're going to ask you, do you go to the gym, sir?

ALBANESE: A little bit. But the key to getting fit is almost dying in a car crash. It sort of shakes you up. It happened to me in January. Had a head on. I was starting before then. I went on a walk in Tassie, Three Capes, fantastic thing to do last December. So, I got fit for that. And then I had the car accident in January, and I ended up in hospital. So, got all checked out. And that gives you a bit of an incentive to get fit.

HOST: Tim Smith wasn't driving the other car, was he?

ALBANESE: No.

HOST: We need a number, man. How much do bench? Give us something.

HOST: We will accept you in your prime.

ALBANESE: I wouldn't have a clue.

HOST: You would have played sport back in your day.

ALBANESE: I played rugby league.

HOST: A bit of rugby league back in Marrickville.

ALBANESE: I was. Tried to be. Still trying to be a tennis player.

HOST: A number?

HOST: Come on.

ALBANESE: I wouldn't have a clue how much I bench.

HOST: Just say a number.

ALBANESE: Half of what Browny can, that is my number.

HOST: I did 157.5 in my prime, Albo.

ALBANESE: I will take 75.

HOST: Very good, sir.

HOST: You've got a cross at ABC. So, you've got to go. Thanks for coming in, Anthony Albanese.

ALBANESE: Thanks very much.

ENDS