SUBJECTS: Western Australia election results; Clive Palmer, Scott Morrison and Federal implications; workplace culture in Parliament House; March 4 Justice; historic rape allegation against a Cabinet Minister; vaccine rollout; Mathias Cormann. 

KIERAN GILBERT, HOST:  Let's go live to the opposition leader Anthony Albanese now and the big political story, Mark McGowan's massive win one of the biggest wins in any jurisdiction in Australian history. In your mind, does this basically reflect the benefits of being a competent incumbent during a once in a century pandemic? 

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Well, it's an extraordinary outcome for Mark McGowan. It's not just about the pandemic, of course, it's about the way that WA Labor have run the economy. They've produced surpluses, they've created jobs, and they've kept Western Australians safe. And they've done that in the context of Clive Palmer taking legal action supported by Scott Morrison for a long period of time. And Mark McGowan saying no, he will prioritise keeping Western Australian safe. And he's been rewarded for that. 

GILBERT: Are there any Federal implications from such a wipeout? It really was a wipeout of the state Liberals? Are there any federal implications that you can see? 

ALBANESE: Well, this is primarily about Western Australia, but it has to be good news Federal Labor as well. The fact that you have a branch of the Liberal Party essentially wiped off the map shows that they are going to struggle to run an effective campaign. Certainly, their campaign in the state election was disastrous and it'll be the same people who are running campaigns on the ground during the Federal campaign sometime over the next year. And the lack of resources that that will occur. They can fit people in a Mini. They'll be either two or three people in the parliament from the Liberal Party in the Lower House. That's quite an extraordinary result. And the fact is, that many people have voted Labor for the first time. It shows they're open to voting Labor and I take great encouragement from it. 

GILBERT: Mark McGowan's almost got the rock star effect happening over there. One gentleman even had a tattoo of his image on his leg, which was sick. 

ALBANESE: I saw that. 

GILBERT: Will you be trying to tap into the Mark McGowan effect at a Federal level, campaign with him and try and get some vicarious benefit? 

ALBANESE: Mark McGowan's an asset for the Labor Party. But he leads a very good team as well, people like Roger Cook and Rita Saffioti. I've had a very long relationship with all of them, and that will put us in good stead. I want to be in a position to form government after the next election and work closely with WA Labor, as I have in the past as Deputy Prime Minister and being in charge of projects like Gateway WA, that the largest ever road project in Western Australia, projects like Perth City Link shows what can happen when you have a good relations between Federal and state government. 

GILBERT: Parliament returns federally this week, the issue of sexual abuse in the culture of Parliament front and centre. The March 4 Justice event is going to be held here at Parliament tomorrow. they've invited all MPs to attend. Will you be attending and showing your support? 

ALBANESE: I certainly will be attending and I expect many Labor MPs will be unsurprised that the Coalition seem to be snubbing this community grassroots activity that's been organised. It is important that we listen to what the community is saying that was the message that Grace Tame, the Australian of the Year, said at the National Press Club, we do have a scourge of violence against women and against children. We do need to listen to what people are saying. And tomorrow's an opportunity to do that. 

GILBERT: Christian Porter has absolutely denied any wrongdoing. Regardless of that, and well, we know that the South Australian authorities are still examining the cause of death, the tragic circumstances around that, but regardless of the denials and so on, the police approach in New South Wales, that case has become somewhat of a symbol of the problems of culture in this parliament. Do you agree with that? Do you think that that is, is that a fair situation right now? 

ALBANESE: Well, it is a difficult situation, but it's one that has to be dealt with. And the idea that you can have Scott Morrison have a conversation with Christian Porter and say that he believes Christian Porter's words, without bothering to read the words that have been forwarded from the woman at the centre of these tragic circumstances, I just find quite extraordinary. The idea that these issues can be unseen and unheard. And in Scott Morrison's words, we can just all move along is not happening and it won't happen. We have had in recent days, the very clear statements of James Hooke, a senior personnel at Macquarie, who was known to the woman and Christian Porter into that circle of friends at the time, that he has very clear recollections of discussing what the woman says happened to her. And also having discussions around that time or afterwards, just a couple of years after, with Christian Porter. Now, Christian Porter, is the Attorney General, the first law officer of the land, and the Government would have everyone go to Parliament and just unsee and unhear what's occurred. Quite clearly, we need an independent investigation of this because the New South Wales Police also, over the last few days we've learned, also won't open forwarded the documentation from the woman that the AFP received from the Prime Minister. 

GILBERT: On to a few other matters, the vaccine rollout it's slower than anticipated. But do you accept that we remain in a better position than most, if not all other nations around the world when it comes to this? 

ALBANESE: Well I tell you what we're not, Kieran, we're not in a better position than the rest of the world with regard to the rollout. There's been over 330 million vaccinations around the world. The United States passed 100 million in the first 100 days of the Biden administration, Scott Morrison said that they'd be 4 million Australians vaccinated by the end of this month. Well, there's two-and-a-bit weeks to go. And we're on about 150,000. We are way, way short. 

GILBERT: Does Scott Morrison have to be accountable, as well, for that? 

ALBANESE: Well, Scott Morrison said on Thursday morning that the vaccinations would be all done by October. And then later that day, we had Brendan Murphy say that it might go into 2022. And then we had Scott Morrison, in his usual way, say that black is white, and suggests that he hadn't really meant that everyone will be vaccinated by October, when they've said it on multiple occasions. They need to get this right. We've had people waiting at aged care facilities with their relatives, and people not turn up as has been organised. We of course were very slow in doing deals, the rest of the world signed them from March last year, we waited until September. We don't have the same number of deals that other countries have had. That is international best practice. And far from being at the front of the queue, which is also something the Government said we were, we’re at the end of the queue as far as industrialised nations are concerned. 

GILBERT: Just a quick one before you go. Mathias Cormann, the next boss of the OECD, do you welcome that? 

ALBANESE: Of course I do, and we supported the nomination of an Australian for a high international office as the Australian Government and everyone in the Australian Parliament should, in my view. And that stands in stark contrast to the Government's in mature response to Kevin Rudd's candidacy for the United Nations where they wouldn't even nominate Kevin Rudd for the position. I think that it's another example whereby Labor has put the national interest first and the Coalition just have a political focus on everything that they do. 

GILBERT: Mr. Albanese, thanks for your time. Appreciate it. 

ALBANESE: Thanks very much Kieran. 

ENDS