SUBJECTS: 20th Anniversary of September 11 terrorist attacks; Covid press conferences in NSW; Liberal's lack of transparency; federal election; pre-selection; Labor’s plan for Australia; Australia VS Afghanistan test cricket; relationship with Indonesia; foreign aid.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Today is the 20th anniversary of an event that really did change the world. All of us remember where we were on that fateful day, or evening as it was here in Australia on September 11. My son had just being born in December 2000 and I remember watching the events unfold on the TV that night as it became clear, over time that this wasn't just an accident, that this was indeed, a terrorist attack on the United States of America, and a terrorist attack on freedom and democracy. As that played out, I well remember going up and looking at my young son as a baby and wondering what this all meant. It was a shock to all of us. And it led, of course, to the response of the Democratic world to take action in Afghanistan. And that, of course, has ended now. It also led, of course, to other events. I was in London when one of the events occurred. There were events there in Madrid, and of course, Bali, that touched Australia so directly, as did of course, he attacks in New York. The attacks in Bali affected a Dulwich Hill sports team and people who live right near here. The Debbie and Abbey Borgia Centre, named after a mother and daughter victim of those attacks. And all Australians were impacted by this.

So today, we remember those who lost their lives in the World Trade Centre, in New York, in the Pentagon in Washington DC and in that field in Pennsylvania. Their faces do not fade. Neither do the memories of what we saw. We knew in our hearts then that our great friend and ally, the United States, would not be broken. We also knew that the world would never be the same again. Today, our thoughts go back to that September day. We think of everyone who started that day like it was any other, going to work going about their business in that great global city, New York City. Office workers bound for the Twin Towers, firefighters, just heading to their stations that day. Passengers boarding flights that they thought would end well with them arriving safely at their destination. We honour those who were killed. We honour those who were wounded. We honour those who were never found. We honour those who lost their loved ones that day, including, of course, too many Australians. We honour those who put their lives on the line, whether it be that day rushing towards danger. Those scenes that we saw with people fleeing the collapse of the World Trade Centres, but others rushing towards danger in order to protect others. It is a reminder of the incredible work that our police, our emergency service workers and others undertake. But we remember also those who in the 20 years since have lost their lives fighting for freedom and against terrorism. We must always remind ourselves on a day that we remember the worst of humanity, we also applaud and celebrate the finest of humanity, which showed itself in the hours after but in the many days and years that have since been. Thanks very much.

JOURNALIST: (inaudible) Should Gladys Berejiklian be holding her press conferences at a time of soaring hospitalisations?

ALBANESE: Well, governments need to be accountable. And I do find it jarring that on the day in which nine deaths were announced and record numbers are infections, accountability went backwards, not forwards. I think Australians are relying upon information, particularly those people who were getting a great service from SBS, broadcasting those reports in multiple languages so that people could be informed. The Liberal Party in the 21st century seems to not like transparency. We have a Prime Minister who, from the time that he spoke about on water matters, hides from transparency. We have no, we have knock-backs some freedom of information. We have details that come out, trickle out, as we saw this week with regard to the Government's failure to agree to meetings with the major pharmaceutical company that requested meetings between its global executives and the Health Minister. And that only came to light after months of denials from the Government as a result of a Freedom of Information request. This is a Prime Minister who dismisses questions and walks away from them. Now I know it's very tough for people like the Premier, and for Health Department officials to stand up each and every day. I get that and I'm sympathetic with that. But there is a need for accountability. And the Premier and others are accountable, just as I am. But they are in possession of the facts of what is happening, and I would far prefer to see more transparency, not less and yesterday's announcement means less transparency.

JOURNALIST: On the topic of Fowler, why won't Labor allow rank and file members to decide on their candidate?

ALBANESE: I note pre-selection issues in the paper today. In Swan, in Moore, in ongoing just next door to hear in Reid, in Lindsay where we have sitting challenges against the Liberal Party. In Fowler, we have a member who has chosen not to re-contest. There's a vacancy and those processes will take place.

JOURNALIST: (inaudible)

ALBANESE: Those processes will take place for the New South Wales branch. I'm very confident that we'll have good candidates in every seat. Kristina Keneally is an important part of our Shadow Cabinet and after the next election, I'm sure she'll be an important part of our Cabinet.

JOURNALIST: (inaudible)

ALBANESE: Labor will have strong candidates at the next election across the board. And if Kristina Keneally nominated for the Senate, she'd be number one on our ticket as our Senate Deputy Leader. We will have strong candidates in all seats, be that held seats, but importantly, we'll have strong candidates in our seats across the board. And I look at Labor's team and the team that I lead and what I see is a diverse team. Just across where we're standing here, in fact, our local member is Linda Burney, the first indigenous woman elected to the House of Representatives. I'm very proud to lead a diverse team, an effective team, and a team that will be able to lead our nation through. A team that won't duck from transparency the way that the current government does. I mean, we don't get answers before the population at the moment that they're crying out for. What is the process for booster shots? What's the process for ensuring that our 12 to 15-year old’s can be vaccinated? What are we doing about paediatric vaccines for our youngest Australians? What's our plan for all of those issues? That's what Australians are concerned about. They're also concerned about the plan we have for the future. A plan where whether you live in our urban communities in where we are now or in our outer suburbs, or whether you live in our regions, our plan for secure work, a plan for a future made in Australia, a plan to make sure that we can build back stronger, for cheaper childcare, for public housing investment. That's what Australians are concerned about and I am absolutely determined to lead our united team going forward to the election.

JOURNALIST: (inaudible)

ALBANESE: Australians are concerned about issues that impact their lives, and they want the strongest possible team going forward. And I'm confident from time to time when there's a vacancy in the seat, you have people putting themselves forward as candidates. That's a good thing. That shows that people want to represent Labor. That shows that people want that going forward. But what I don't have, what I don't have is what Scott Morrison has, which is multiple sitting members right across the country being contested for their preselection. Local Liberal Party members saying that the sitting member isn't doing a good enough job. And I note this as well: Scott Morrison intervened twice in the last election to support candidates. One of those was Craig Kelly, you might be aware of who Craig Kelly is by looking at your mobile phone and seeing the unsolicited text messages coming through promoting extreme positions when it comes to the pandemic and vaccines. The other, of course, was Andrew Laming, a disgraced Member of Parliament, who is now being replaced by someone else who has major question marks over them, who the local Liberal Party in Brisbane has seen mass resignations as a result of this candidate being imposed to replace Andrew Laming. And that's in spite of the fact that Scott Morrison said that he would support a female candidate taking Andrew Laming's place. I contrast Labor, our unity, our strength, with strong women, strong people from multicultural backgrounds, strong First Nations representatives, with our opponents. Thank you very much.

JOURNALIST: (inaudible) on whether women can play cricket, and they're begging Australia to allow the test match to be played. (inaudible)

ALBANESE: I'll give them the big tip: society is made up of men and women. If you exclude women, you should exclude Afghanistan from playing test cricket.

JOURNALIST: Marie Payne says Australia needs to work with Indonesia to prevent a resurgence of terrorism now that the Taliban (inaudible).

ALBANESE: Well, it would have been a start if they stopped cutting aid and that's what this government has done since it came to office. Foreign aid is not just about assisting people on the ground. It is about Australia's national interest, to help our neighbours, to be good friends. And Indonesia is an important ally of Australia. It's an important nation to our north and I'd encourage the Foreign Minister and the government to provide it with adequate support. Thanks very much. And on that, I well recall visiting Jakarta and being told firsthand the importance of Australia's funding of education in Indonesia. When Australia funds education through foreign aid, what we're doing is also providing support for our values and Indonesia's values as a democracy. That's very important. This is one example of where foreign aid can make a real difference. And it is a pity that this Government has cut foreign aid including to our neighbours since 2013.

ENDS