SUBJECTS: Barnaby Joyce elected Leader of the National Party; Vaccine rollout; national quarantine; Morrison Government failing Australians during a health pandemic; climate change; net zero by 2050; next federal election; Barnaby Joyce and female voters; Labor’s policy agenda; Government frontbench reshuffle.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: This Government had just two jobs this year: they had to roll out the vaccine and they had to fix national quarantine. Now, instead of rolling out the vaccine to the Australian people, they’ve just concentrated on rolling each other. The rolling of Michael McCormack, a decent human being, by Barnaby Joyce, represents the sixth combination of Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister under the eight long years of this Government. It's a vote of no confidence in their own Government. And the fact is if you want to end this circus, it's time to end this Government. I've seen governments be self-indulgent before. And they get punished. This is a Government that is being self-indulgent at a time of a pandemic. The last time there was a spill was in the middle of the bushfire crisis. This time it's in the middle of a pandemic. In the middle of a pandemic where the Prime Minister had a phone hook-up with state premiers today in order to shift blame for his failure to roll out supply vaccine. The fact is, today we have now, I think we're up to the 24th breach of hotel quarantine, 24 breaches. And yet we still have a Government that says it can't fix national quarantine. When it comes to vaccines, we have a failure to roll it out because they are too interested in focusing on themselves, too interested in congratulating themselves, saying they are at the front of the queue and other nonsense, which just is not true. There has been no reason given for the rolling of the Leader of the National Party other than self-indulgence and a power-hungry mob engaging in politics at a time when we should be focused on what happens outside this building, not focused on what happens inside.

JOURNALIST: Does this, in your view, warrant an early election? Is this time to get rid of this mob? Should Scott Morrison call an early election?

ALBANESE: I am ready whenever the election is called. If an early election is called, as I have said before, it will be because this Government doesn't think it's capable of serving a full three-year term.

JOURNALIST: Does this make your job easier or harder now?

ALBANESE: I am focused on the needs of the Australian people. I will leave the Australian people to look at the circus that is occurring opposite whereby we have now had, we began of course, I might miss one or two here, but I think we began with Abbott and Truss and then we had Turnbull and Truss and then Turnbull and Joyce and then Turnbull and McCormack and then Morrison and McCormack and now we have Morrison and Joyce. Seriously. All of that in three terms. And from a Government that does not have an agenda. Even prior to the pandemic, we had wages that hadn't risen during their three terms of office, we had productivity in decline, we had low growth, we had no social policy agenda, and we know that we have had more than 20 energy policies without any of them being landed. They have no future agenda for this country. They just have an agenda for themselves. The fact that they're returning to the Cabinet, Bridget McKenzie, the architect of Sports Rorts, the Prime Minister has to explain how that's tenable, given that those Sports Rorts occurred and she caught the blame and had to step aside for it. But there's no sin under this Government, as people like Stuart Robert and Sussan Ley can testify, which disqualifies you from high office for more than a few months. 

JOURNALIST: So if there is an election tomorrow, what would be your central pitch?

ALBANESE: Our central pitch is that we are on the side of the Australian people. That we will make sure that we have a strong economy that works for them. That we have jobs created in new industries. That we address the skills crisis in this country. That we tackle climate change. That we don't leave people behind and we don't hold people back. That we have an agenda for the future, dealing with the current crisis but also dealing with a recovery that's stronger. Not just trying to build back to what was there before, but actually to focus on the needs of the Australian people and to end this circus. 

JOURNALIST: How do you think the re-election of Barnaby Joyce will go down with female voters?

ALBANESE: Well, I think that there is a host of Barnaby Joyce comments, one of the things I do find a little bit amusing is the attack on Michael McCormack for allegedly being not articulate enough. I mean, really? Really? Have people not had a look at what Barnaby Joyce has had to say and needed to decipher the comments over the years? Have a look at what he said about Bridget McKenzie when she chaired a Senate meeting. Have a look at the comments that he's made consistently. And I think, together with a whole range of issues and the failure of this Government to address gender issues, not the least of which is the appalling treatment of Brittany Higgins on an ongoing basis that we've seen with the failure to properly investigate and treat her with the respect that she deserves, I think that women will make their views very clear at the next election.

JOURNALIST: The Nats. Take us through the line on climate change and against net zero by 2050. What does that mean for your argument to Australian voters? What would you do in response or offer in response? 

ALBANESE: We're offering net zero emissions by 2050. No qualification. No weasel words. No jumping around and dancing around about shifting, maybe, perhaps, that we kind of like to get to 2050. I just found last week humiliating to have an Australian Prime Minister stand next to a British Prime Minister and the British Prime Minister say that Australia’s policy was to have net zero emissions by 2050 and to have a journalist from Nine News organisation have to say – one could get all nostalgic given today and say Fairfax – to have a journalist have to correct a British Prime Minister. I mean, what is going on in this country when an Australian Prime Minister representing our nation overseas can't articulate what the Australian policy is on the great global challenge that is dealing with climate change? Australia is increasingly isolated. The fact is the National Farmers’ Federation, the Business Council of Australian, Australian Industry Group, BHP, Santos, every state and territory government as well as all of our major trading partners support net-zero emissions by 2050. We know that farming organisations like the meat and livestock industry have an even stronger policy than that. And yet what we have is this absurdity of arguing that we can just continue with business as usual and ignore, not just climate and the science, but ignore market reality as well. Markets are speaking for the cleanest form of energy. And markets are speaking about where the world needs to go. And of course, we know that in Europe and the United States there will be action against countries that don't take appropriate action.

JOURNALIST: Barnaby is a prominent supporter of new coal-fired power plants in Australia. Would Labor be willing to work with the Government to fund a new coal-fired power plant?

ALBANESE: No.

JOURNALIST: On that subject, do you see on the flip side of the whole climate change argument? Do you see Joyce's ascendancy as posing problems for you, Labor, in the Hunter?

ALBANESE: No.

JOURNALIST: No?

ALBANESE: No.

JOURNALIST: Won't change the dynamic?

ALBANESE: No. Markets should determine where new energy is going. Call me old-fashioned. The Liberal Party in this country used to stand up for markets. It used to say that it was the party of business. And what we are talking about now is the party of Soviet-style support for state enterprises. This is just an extraordinary position for the modern Liberal Party to show itself in. I say this to the business community – if the Liberal Party has walked away from you, I haven’t, and the Labor Party hasn't. We are prepared to work with business. We want to work with trade unions. We want to work with communities to promote change in a way that assists people, that doesn't leave people behind. That is our policy. It is our policy that is very clear. I announced as one of the first big commitments that I made 18 months ago, a commitment to net zero by 2050. I said that for further detail in response to a request by Mr Coorey, I announced that you would have to wait for things like Glasgow and a lot would change. Prior to the US election when I was asked that, I said that things will change in the next couple of weeks, perhaps. The Biden administration has certainly changed geopolitics when it comes to these issues. And it has changed the impact on jobs. My focus is on jobs. And the fact is that good action on climate change will create jobs, will lower energy prices as well as lowering emissions.

JOURNALIST: Last week, Barnaby Joyce spoke out in favour of returning the Murugappan family to Biloela. What should he do about that now he is Leader?

ALBANESE: He should make sure it happens. One of the things that he will be in a position to do is to demand that happens. One of the issues that we certainly will be holding him to account is all of the comments that he's made in recent times, including that one. That is one which the Biloela community, which I have visited in 2019, clearly supports and it is one which Barnaby Joyce was right when he made those comments.

JOURNALIST: Speculation over the weekend that if Mr Joyce was returned as Leader, some of the Nats might defect to the crossbench or the Libs. Are you planning to do anything on the floor to try to test the numbers? Motions of no confidence?

ALBANESE: I know this will come as a great shock to you that if we were contemplating such a thing, we probably shouldn't announce it now. I know I would appreciate your attendance at our next tactics meeting and you can have input to that. 

JOURNALIST: There is a looming reshuffle, obviously. There is a lot of talk that Bridget McKenzie will be elevated as a result. Do you think she’s done her penance? Should she not return?

ALBANESE: Hang on, if you were in the private sector and you put your hand up for an abuse of – we are not talking about a couple of hundred bucks or a thousand bucks here – we are talking about a program of $100 million, if you add them all up, let alone the women’s sports grants. First of all, there was Sports Rorts that was allocated with colour-coded charts, not based upon need. All of those organisations that put in submissions in good faith, with volunteers spending hours of their own time, they have a right to feel aggrieved. They have missed out on funding. They have literally had money taken from them and given to others. Then you have the women’s sports program for facilities that was allocated to clubs that don't have women's teams. Then you have programs like the regional program for community-based infrastructure that funded North Sydney Pool just below the Sydney Harbour Bridge right near Kirribilli House. For goodness sake. What do you have to do in this Government to actually bare responsibility? We know the Prime Minister's office were in that up to their neck, but Bridget McKenzie took the fall for that. This will just be a reminder that this Government is not on the side of the Australian people. They are on their own side.

JOURNALIST: With the looming reshuffle for the Government, is your frontbench locked in for the next election or will you have to do at what the other side do and do a bit of tinkering for yourself?

ALBANESE: I have no plans for any changes. I have a frontbench that is performing exceptionally well. The fact that you have this chaos on the other side reaffirms that. And when I made the changes that I made earlier this year, they were the right changes. There are some people here who questioned why I was doing that. I made tough decisions in the interests of my Party being able to form government and then being the best government they can be. And those changes, I must say, every single one of them have worked, have been effective. We are holding the Government to account and we are also developing more policies that we will continue to announce. We will keep you lot busy during the break when we are out of here in July and August before Parliament returns. I'll be in the West from the weekend now. That has been brought forward due to the COVID circumstances. But we will continue to perform. And I have every confidence in the frontbench team that I have the great honour of leading.

JOURNALIST: What is your response to criticisms about your comments on this National spill, give there were rumblings in your own Party about leadership earlier?

ALBANESE: No, there weren't.

JOURNALIST: Do you rule out any challenge before the election?

ALBANESE: That is a silly question.

JOURNALIST: It deserves an answer, though.

ALBANESE: Why do you want an answer for? The fact is, some of you talk to each other about that matter. My Party is absolutely united.

JOURNALIST: What about Joel Fitzgibbon, to have a crack?

ALBANESE: The fact is Joel Fitzgibbon sits on the backbench of the Party. My Party is absolutely united. And to try to, on a day like today, like get the biggest bow you can get, big enough to fit so it can't fit in this building, and then try and run on that. The fact is there is absolute chaos on the other side. My side are focused on holding the Government to account and on winning the next election, but more importantly, on being an effective government as good as the Australian people are. The Australian people have made enormous sacrifices during COVID. They continue to do so. But they are being let down by a Government that isn't rolling out the vaccine, they are just rolling each other. Thanks very much.

ENDS