SUBJECTS: Federal election; seat of Hunter; seat of Fowler; Labor’s policy agenda; diversity within the Labor Party; climate change; net zero by 2050; Australia’s relationship with the United States.

KIERAN GILBERT, HOST: Let's go live now to the Federal Labor Leader, Anthony Albanese, who joins me from Sydney. Mr Albanese, thanks very much for your time. Let's start with the departure of Joel Fitzgibbon. It sounds like there is a very strong candidate lined up, as Andrew Clennell just reported, Daniel Repacholi, a former Olympic shooter.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Well, he certainly would be a very strong candidate. He's someone who has represented his nation in both the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. He's in the Cessnock Hall of Fame. He's a local who works in the mining industry. And he's one of the candidates who will be given due consideration. But I'm very confident we will have a strong candidate to replace Joel in Hunter. Joel and I have known each other for a long period of time since Young Labor days. We've had a few differences over the years, but we've had many more beers than we've had differences together. And I certainly wish Joel all the best for his future. He has been a champion of his local electorate. And I'm sure that we will find another champion to advocate for the Hunter in the national Parliament.

GILBERT: Is Fitzgibbon quitting a show of no confidence that you can win the election?

ALBANESE: Not at all. The opposite, in fact. It shows a confidence from him, who wants a Labor Government, that we will get there. Joel has many achievements. One of which I worked very closely with him, on the Hunter Expressway. It was talked about by the Howard Government. for 12 years. Nothing was done. And we invested over around about $1.5 billion for a project that's worth $1.7. It has made an enormous difference to productivity in the Hunter.

GILBERT: He says one of his achievements is moving the Party back to the centre. Have you done that? Have you deliberately done that?

ALBANESE: I've done what is on record for doing. I have a pretty comprehensive plan that's consistent with the views I've had my whole political life, of engaging in an alternative plan for a stronger economy, for jobs, for looking after the interests of working people, but also for dealing with equity, for dealing with good social policy through areas like our childcare plan, but also with a plan to deal with climate change, which will be good for jobs as well as being good for the economy and the environment. 

GILBERT: Is it back to the middle? 

ALBANESE: I'm not a commentator, Kieran. I'm an advocate. And I'll leave those analysis for commentators. What I've done is put forward a Labor plan in the best Labor traditions. I have been arguing for a stronger Australia coming back out of COVID, imagining a better Australia and then setting about creating it. I'm advocating for a future made in Australia, which is consistent with what I did when I was a minister. I think there's huge opportunities. We're in the fastest growing region of the world in human history. We should be a renewable energy superpower. We should make more things here. We should be dealing with secure work, making sure that people aren't left behind and that people aren't held back. Joel Fitzgibbon has made an enormous contribution to the Labor Party, and I wish him well.

GILBERT: He's also been an enormous annoyance in many times. I know you've said you've had lots of beers with him and you are friends, but he's been not that easy to work with when he agitates against a bulk of the Party at times. Is it a bit of a relief as well?

ALBANESE: Look, from time to time, Joel's been one out on issues. He advocates on the record what his views are. It's on the record, also, that I have some differences with those views. And that's fine. We're a democratic Party. We're not a homogenous Party. We're a Party that encompasses a broad spectrum of views. And that's fine. Joel and I have remained mates during all of it. I know that is confusing for some on the outside, but you, Kieran, know that that's true. And you also know that Joel is very passionate and committed to his electorate, but he also understands that electorate needs a Labor Government to actually advocate for the interests of working people, for the interests of our regions and for a country that actually has a stronger future, not one that is just treading water from crisis to crisis as this Government has done/

GILBERT: What does the decision about Kristina Keneally and Fowler, what does that say about the Labor Party's commitment to diversity within the Parliament?

ALBANESE: Kieran, we have a very diverse Caucus. And compare our Caucus with those opposite. Those opposite who are still having a debate. You haven't heard much of it lately, about quotas and about affirmative action. But they had that for a couple of days. Scott Morrison said he supported it. And then they appoint another bloke who looks just like Andrew Laming into the candidacy to replace Andrew Laming. 

GILBERT: Anne Aly is not too happy with this decision. She says it's a failure. A huge failure.

ALBANESE: Well, people will have their views. But the fact is Anne Aly is part of our Caucus, as is Ed Husic. We have two people, one from a Bosnian background, one from an Egyptian background, both of whom represent the whole of their communities in their electorates, but importantly as well, a part of the diversity we have in our Parliament along with Linda Burney as the first woman Indigenous person to be elected to the House of Representatives along with Pat Dodson and Malarndirri McCarthy, along with people from a range of backgrounds. Kieran, I'm someone running for Prime Minister and I will ask you this question - when was the last time someone was a candidate for Prime Minister who didn't have an Anglo or Celtic name? There is a trivia question for you, Kieran. Think about it while the interview is going on and see if you can come up with an answer at the end of it all. We have a diverse background of people from across gender, across religious backgrounds, across ethnicity. And it stands in stark contrast to those opposite.

GILBERT: Andrew Clennell, my colleague, reports that you were supportive of having the National Executive endorse Kristina Keneally as the number one Senate candidate. So is this a bit of drama that you could have avoided by just backing Keneally to be the number one on the ticket, as Andrew said you were willing to do?

ALBANESE: Well, I, of course, think that the Deputy Senate Leader, if she nominated for the Senate, would be number one on the ticket. That is something that is a given. Kristina has chosen to nominate, put herself forward to go to the lower house, she wants to participate as a lower house member. She of course, was in the lower house in the New South Wales Parliament. I can understand that. I always wanted to seek a House of Representative seat. There's something particular about representing a community in the national Parliament. And Kristina will bring considerable capacity to the House, as she has done in the Senate. She's an important part of my team.

GILBERT: You've written today in The Australian newspaper that you would make comprehensive climate change cooperation with the United States, a hallmark of the Australia US Alliance. How would you do that? And what should the Prime Minister do, in your opinion, when he meets with the US President next week, and in the lead-up to the climate talks? What would you like to see from the Prime Minister on that front?

ALBANESE: Well, I'd like him to recognise that this is a mature debate and that the sort of sloganeering that we see of, 'Technology not taxes', which doesn't mean anything at all to anybody who follows climate change debate, when of course, the technology they're talking about is paid for by taxes is what they're talking about. Those days are over. Australia has got to join the global effort and stop being a pariah nation. We could begin that by adopting net zero emissions by 2050. But we could do much more as well. Recognise that climate change is not just an environmental issue, it's an economic one in which we can transform our economy to create more jobs, to lower energy prices, and assist in high-value manufacturing. But it's also a national security issue. In this era of strategic competition between China and the United States, we need to join with our ally in the United States to work with like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific region on national security issues, which they see very much as being related to climate policy. And at the moment, when we have engaged with our Pacific neighbours, we are the naughty guys in the corner, we're not a part of that global effort.

GILBERT: But is there anything you could point to? You're talking about this comprehensive climate change cooperation. What would something specific be if you are Prime Minister and win the next election?

ALBANESE: Well, cooperation on technology, cooperation in making sure that technology is ubiquitous in the way that it is transferred to developing nations, support for the sort of mechanisms that are advocated at the UN level, for bringing our developing countries and neighbours forward as well, enabling them to transition. All of those measures are things that we could do. We have in this country, for example, every resource that goes into a battery, and it's so important for storage and for this transition. We could be providing that sort of support. We could be engaging in those global forums in a constructive way, convening meetings with our Pacific and Indian Ocean neighbours and our neighbours to the north, on how we deal with the challenge of climate change. The United States, one of Joe Biden's first actions as President was to convene the international forum that he did on climate change action. Scott Morrison did get a speaking berth there somewhere in the late twenties of countries being able to participate in that forum because Australia wasn't taken seriously. When Boris Johnson convened a meeting, Australia wasn't invited at all. Now, we could start by showing leadership. And we're in a position to do so. It's an important part of our national security interests, not just for our own national security, but throughout the region as well. And we could be working in partnership with the United States, because we know that is occurring with the competition between the US and China.

GILBERT: Mr Albanese, I appreciate your time as always. Thanks.

ALBANESE: Thanks very much, Kieran. Have a great day.

ENDS