SUBJECT: Federal Budget 2021.

DAVID KOCH, HOST: The 2021 Federal Budget by the Coalition could be the last handed down by the Coalition before Australians head to an election. The economic plan has something for everyone. From families to women, older Australians, new homebuyers, small business, farmers, and a whole lot more. The priorities are to protect the country from coronavirus, create jobs, and guarantee essential services. We're joined by Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese. Albo, the Budget had been described by some as a Labor-style Budget. What's your reaction to that? 

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: They certainly have tried to address some of the issues that Labor has been raising, that they said weren’t a problem, that they've created over eight long years in Government. And they're hoping that people forget that. The aged care crisis has happened on their watch. Child care, when we announced our Cheaper Child Care policy last year, they said, ‘there is no problem here, it's all going fine’. Their plan helps just one quarter of the families that our plan would help. And if you look at the long-term issues, this is a real missed opportunity. There will be low wages, there is nothing there to grow productivity, there is nothing there to advance new industries, there is nothing there to build back stronger. And we should be using this opportunity. If you are going to have a trillion dollars of debt, you want a legacy to show for it, and there is nothing that in this Budget to indicate anything other than low wages, low wage growth, low economic growth into the future and no real plan beyond getting through the next election.

KOCH: I was surprised at the child care initiative. It doesn't start till July next year. I was thinking why does not start this year?

ALBANESE: They forgot they were in Government, Kochie. It shows how political this Budget is. They set up slush fund after slush fund. Just in one year, decisions taken but not announced, $3.8 billion of your listeners’ money put aside essentially for slush funds during an election campaign. At the same time, there is no plan for any new vaccine. There is no idea, no plan, for more funding for new quarantine centres. They're just hoping that everything is all okay. But of course, we are just another breakout away from the economy going back.

KOCH: They're putting $1.9 billion into the vaccine rollout.

ALBANESE: But that's the rollout of the vaccine. There are no vaccines, that's the problem. They haven't produced, they haven't done the planning, in terms of quarantine. They haven't done the planning in terms of producing mRNA vaccines that we should be producing here, right now. The vaccine rollout, Kochie, as you know, has been a debacle. They said four million people would be vaccinated by March. They are now saying, having gone to Queensland and harassed Annastacia Palaszczuk about shutting down borders, they are now saying we won't open up until sometime in 2022, after the election. This is all about short-term politics. You've always got to look at the gap that is there between announcement and delivery. After all, last year's Budget had at its centrepiece the JobMaker program. They said it would create 450,000 new jobs. It created just 1000, 449,000 short, Kochie. Missed it by that much.

KOCH: Anthony Albanese, thanks for your time this morning, we appreciate it.

ALBANESE: Thanks a lot, Kochie.

ENDS