SUBJECTS: Federal election; cost of living; Labor’s policy agenda; immigration; foster care.
 
DARCY BRYNE, MAYOR OF THE INNER WEST COUNCIL: Good morning, everybody. I'm Darcy Byrne. I'm the Mayor of the Inner West. People in Grayndler and in the Inner West of Sydney are very excited to have a local running for Prime Minister of Australia. And it's my great pleasure to be able to welcome Anthony Albanese to the Orange Grove Markets.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Well, thanks very much, Darcy. It's good to be back in Grayndler. In the last week, I've been in Queensland, in Western Australia, in South Australia, the ACT and Victoria, as well as here in New South Wales. Well, I think Australians are used to Scott Morrison keeping them waiting. He kept them waiting for the vaccine rollout. He kept them waiting when it came to actions on bushfires. He kept them waiting to provide support for flood victims. Now, he's keeping Australians waiting before he calls the election. But he should just get on with it. He should let the Australian people decide. Because we have a very clear plan for a Better Future for Australia. A better future that involves strengthening Medicare, making more things here, more secure work, dealing with the cost of living through cheaper child care and cheaper energy prices. We have a plan for a better future. The Government just has a priority of trying to get through the next six weeks. The offers run out as soon as people have cast their ballot papers, then it will be back to business as usual. A Government treading water. A government not putting in place any economic, social or environmental policy reform. And a Prime Minister who's more obsessed by looking after his own interests and the interests of the Liberal and National Party than there is looking after the needs of the country. That requires a vision for a better future, and practical plans to implement that future.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you expect the election to be called tomorrow?
 
ALBANESE: I can't see how a Prime Minister who really doesn't like scrutiny will allow the Parliament to come back on Monday in the form of the House of Representatives, and that's what will have to happen. So, either the election will be called today, or the election will be called tomorrow morning, is highly likely. Because this Prime Minister, though I think it has been a bit of a game, frankly, the Prime Minister last year gave up on governing and said he was campaigning. We had a Budget handed down that even the Government doesn't talk about anymore because it was so thin, so devoid of any vision for economic reform, anything beyond one-off payments that end as soon as people have cast their ballot papers.
 
JOURNALIST: Who is the underdog in this election race and why?
 
ALBANESE: Labor has only won government three times from opposition since the Second World War. So, it's a mountain that Labor has to climb. The Government has enormous advantages. We are seeing that done at the moment. One of the reasons why the election isn't being called is so that the Government can use taxpayer funds to make advertisements that they think advances the Liberal Party. They can make appointments of mates to various boards. They can engage in the sort of practice that reaffirms two things. It reaffirms that we need a National Anti-Corruption Commission, and it reaffirms that this Government only acts and governs in its own interests, not in the interests of the Australian people. So, we have a mountain to climb. The Government goes into this election as favourites. Governments win and get re-elected much more often than governments change hands in this country. And Scott Morrison has a considerable advantage in going into this election.
 
JOURNALIST: You make the point about Labor only winning three times from Opposition. One of the people that did that was Bob Hawke. I did go out last night to the Bob Hawke Leisure Centre in Marrickville. And you look at the stuff on the wall and the memorabilia and realise that he was someone who was exciting and inspiring for this country. Arguably so was Kevin Rudd when he won from Opposition. Are you exciting enough to actually get Labor across the line from Opposition?
 
ALBANESE: Well, people know what I stand for. People know my values. People know that I am someone who brings people together. If you look at the reforms I did as minister, over six years, measures like the creation of Infrastructure Australia, as Australia's is ever Infrastructure Minister, measures including the creation of Regional Development Australia, the Australian Council of Local Government to deal with local government about their priorities in their local communities, not a command centre in Canberra. They are the sort of reforms that I've put in place, working with business, working with unions. I also put in place practical measures based upon boosting productivity, boosting the national economy through our road and rail and ports and broadband investments.
 
People also know about Scott Morrison. There is one area where Scott Morrison did get it right, and that's that Australians do know him. They do know that he said, ‘I don't hold a hose’ when Australia was under the worst bushfires that we have seen. They do know that he said it wasn't a race when it came to purchasing enough vaccines. They do know that he was complacent with regard to ordering rapid antigen test. They do know that he has presided over almost a decade of flatlining wages and rising prices. And they do know that he has presided over real pressure on the cost of living. And yet, he basically thinks they've never had it so good. The truth is Australia deserves better. I will deliver a better Government. We are a great country, but we can be a better Government. We can be a better country with a better Government.
 
JOURNALIST: Scott Morrison keeps criticising you each day as a blank page on policy. How much more policy details are we going to see from Labor during the campaign?
 
ALBANESE: I’ve got so much. The question for Scott Morrison is, what is his policy that he is taking to this election? Because I haven't seen any. He handed out a Budget where all the handouts end once people have cast their ballot papers. There is no policy that he has put in place. And he is the Government. He is the Government. There is no economic policy going forward in terms of reform. There is no social policy reform going forward. At the last election, he did have policies. National Anti-Corruption Commission that he said he would implement. Tick tock. The clock is ticking. And nothing has happened. He said he would advance a voice for First Nations people in the Governor-General's speech at the beginning of this Parliament. Again, nothing has happened. On so many areas, nothing has happened from last time. So, this time he's going into an election where he's just talking about me. If he wants to talk about our policy, he can talk about our industry policy for a National Reconstruction Fund, to create new businesses, powered by cheaper and cleaner energy with our Powering Australia Plan that will create 604,000 new jobs, that will create $52 billion of private sector investment, that will reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030. Or our cheaper child care plan that will help families, where no family will be worse off, but most families will be much better off who have children in child care. Our aged care plan where we have taken the recommendations of the Royal Commission and said, ‘Guess what? We're going to implement it’. And just yesterday, I was with Maggie a great Australian who we will support the Maggie Beer Foundation to do the work to make sure that older Australians can get better nutrition. Our plans are right across the board. We will advance a Voice to Parliament.
 
JOURNALIST: So, will we see more policy details throughout the campaign from Labor?
 
ALBANESE: You have seen a policy announcement yesterday, one the day before, one the day before that, and you will see more in the lead-up to polling day, whether it is on May 14 or May 21. But I make this point. We have national broadband policy out there. We have infrastructure policy. We have industry policy. We have women's policy. We have industrial relations policy for secure work. We have a climate policy that will drive the economy. We have a policy for skills that includes 465,000 free TAFE places, 20,000 university places. We have a comprehensive suite of policies out there right now. We will have more to say in the coming weeks.
 
JOURNALIST: What about policy involving people living on the Newstart allowance? Clare O’Neil on Q&A conceded that cost of living is going up, and it hits people on this allowance the hardest. You have your origin story, living in council housing. People on this allowance are still waiting for Labor to comment on it.
 
ALBANESE: They are doing it tough. But what governments should do is at each and every budget, they should examine payments and see what they can do to alleviate cost of living. There has been a small increase in terms of Newstart. But I accept that people are doing it really tough.
 
JOURNALIST: Do voters know who you are?
 
ALBANESE: Well, they know about Scott Morrison.
 
JOURNALIST: But do they know you?
 
ALBANESE: And they know me. Everywhere I go, I have had an extraordinarily positive response. And I have spent the last three years engaging with people face-to-face. In January, I did my fourth road trip through Queensland, from Cairns to Maryborough. If that was in Europe, we would have crossed eight countries during that visit. We engaged in 20 towns in 10 days. And that was the fourth road trip I have done throughout Queensland. I was in WA again this week. In South Australia, I was on my fifth visit to South Australia this year, including my third and a very brief period of time. Australians know that Labor has a plan for the future. And they know that this Government is out of puff, it is out of ideas, it is out of time and it should be out of office. But that will be a decision for the Australian people at the election.
 
JOURNALIST: The Federal Government has agreed to give the Australian Future Leaders Foundation $18 million. This is a charity that only registered last year and doesn’t appear to provide any leadership programs so far. Is that a good use of taxpayer money?
 
ALBANESE: We will examine those measures. But this is a Government that has spent, not in the millions, in the hundreds of millions of dollars, remember the company that had a shed on Kangaroo Island that got a billion-dollar contract. This is a Government that have wasted billions of dollars of taxpayers' money. Think about one issue in which we will have a Royal Commission, the issue of Robodebt. This Government says we can't afford for older Australians to get decent food, we can't afford to pay aged care workers more, we can't afford to have a nurse in every nursing home. But they spent $5.5 billion on subs contracts with Japan firstly, they went down that road, then France, and all they've got is a torn up contract to show for it. This is a Government on Robodebt that had to pay compensation of over $1 billion. Our aged care package was worth $2.5 billion. A package in terms of child care that will provide relief and assistance for working families is worth double that. We think their priorities, this Government has got all of its priorities wrong. And when it comes to spending, there are so many issues in which we can see waste and indeed, in some cases, just dodgy arrangements. We still haven't heard any decent explanation for why they paid $30 million for a block of land that was worth just $3 million. But it's no wonder they are resisting having a National Anti-Corruption Commission.
 
JOURNALIST: Are you comfortable with that foundation being given more than $18 million when there was no tender process?
 
ALBANESE: I haven't examined those details, so I can't comment specifically. What I can comment is that this is a Government that are not prepared to have any scrutiny and don't spend taxpayers’ money wisely. They treat taxpayers’ money as if it is Liberal Party money. And they do it consistently.
 
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible). Do you think we need to lift the immigration intake back up?
 
ALBANESE: We will have more to say in those areas. And today is not the day, Michael, so we will have more to say. We will just wait for the plane. A Lilyfield pauses.
 
(AIRPLANE FLYS OVER)
 
ALBANESE: But can I say this. A range of businesses are really struggling at the moment, and we will need temporary workers in areas where there are acute skill shortages. This Government, at the beginning of the pandemic, told people to leave and they did. And there are a range of industries that will need temporary workers.
 
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible).
 
ALBANESE: It is not at all. It is not at all. You will need that. But what you need to do as well as to have more pathways to permanency to give people more security. So, take, for example, I have been speaking with various people in the hospitality industry. If you talk with any of those people, they will tell you that there have been shortages of chefs in this country. Not for a year, or six months, or the need to have a temporary Visa filling that hole. It is a permanent need. Why is it that we are not delivering more permanent pathways? Because what the pandemic has exposed, and this is what Kristina Keneally was certainly talking about, is our vulnerability as an economy, when there are shutdowns of our borders. We have become too reliant upon temporary workers. And so, when the borders were shut, now you have, for example, restaurants that can't open six or seven days a week because they simply don't have the staff. What we need to do is to have a sensible discussion about migration policy and make sure that we can deliver. And the other thing that happens if people are able to put down those foundations here is that they are then able to pay taxes, they are able to start a family, they are able to look at more secure involvement in their local communities. At the moment, they are not able to do that. And we saw, something I have seen, as you know Michael, I regularly volunteer at the Exodus Foundation. Historically, when you have gone there, you have seen people who might have issues with drugs, homelessness, a range of issues, really doing it tough. One of the things that you saw was people who were here on visas who were left without any support at all, queueing to get a meal during the day because they were reliant totally upon charity. And the charities did a great job during that. But it exposed, as well, some of the human costs of not having that security.
 
(INTERRUPTION)
 
ALBANESE: What's your name?
 
LOCAL CONSTITUENT: I met you four years ago at Kirribilli House.
 
ALBANESE: I don't think you met me at Kirribilli House.
 
LOCAL CONSTITUENT: I did. I spoke to you about the foster system in Australia. I was wondering if you were going to look at this on a national level, in helping the increased number of children in foster care in our country?
 
ALBANESE: I think the issue of foster children is one in which we see the best of Australians. I know, personally, a number of my friends who have really assisted people over a period of time. And in terms of it, it is run by the states, not run by the Commonwealth. We do have a federal system whereby the Federal Government are in charge of many things and the state governments are in charge of many things. Foster care is a responsibility of Department of Community Services in this state. And one of the things that happens in the Commonwealth, quite frankly, the states are closer to the people at delivering community services than the Commonwealth is. But if there is some practical way in which we can provide some support to states and territories, then I am always up for positive discussions. Thanks very much.
 
ENDS