SUBJECTS: Failures of the Morrison Government during COVID-19; Labor’s policy agenda; Federal election; Better Future for Queensland visit; Novak Djokovic.
 
CHRIS ‘BANKSY’ BANKS, HOST: He's joining us on the line, Anthony Albanese. How are you this morning, Anthony?
 
SHANNON ‘PINKY’ NEVEN, HOST: Have you got him there? You’ve got to click on it.
 
BANKS: I've got to click that. There we go. Good morning, Anthony Albanese.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: That's the way to solve politicians talking too much. Keep them on mute.
 
NEVEN: Thanks for calling through because, of course, we've just come back to work this week. But last week, you were doing the road trip. You went up to Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Airlie Beach, Rocky, Gladstone, Bundy, Maryborough, you were doing all the visits.
 
ALBANESE: I've been everywhere, man. It was a great trip. And Queenslanders are very welcoming. And it was a long time on the road. But we received a warm welcome and we got to go to meet with cane growers on their farm, got to go to the prawn farm, the biggest prawn farm in Australia. It was yum. In Proserpine, I've got to say, Tassal, thank you for the prawns. And that was a very popular visit with the journos who were with us, I've got to say, as well.
 
BANKS: Prawn sandwiches everywhere.
 
ALBANESE: Of course, we met with the people who run Beef Australia. And we announced funding there in Rocky, well, actually it was at the Gracemere Saleyards. And that was terrific. We got to meet some cattle and the people who run the industry, and announced support for Beef 2024, which, of course, is an important tourism event as well for Rocky and the region.
 
BANKS: Utterly fantastic. So, Anthony Albanese, have you caught COVID yet?
 
ALBANESE: No, I've been very, very careful as I've been going. But also, of course, people can be careful and, with this strain, they can still catch it. I've been lucky. I've had at least six of my staff have gone down, and people in the Caucus. But that's happening. I've got to say Queenslanders are very, very good. I was there. I had a bit of a break there in Bargara in December for a few days. And every venue you go to, and every venue from Cairns to Townsville to Mackay, you check in, they check that you've got the little green tick on your phone to show you've been fully vaccinated, and people are being very careful. It's a bit strange as a politician walking into the Brothers Leagues Club at Innisfail or other venues and not shaking people's hands, cause it’s kind of what we do.
 
NEVEN: And well, on that note, when are we going to go to the polls?
 
ALBANESE: Well, potentially, of course, in March. But this Prime Minister, I think, never makes a decision today that he can put off till tomorrow.
 
NEVEN: Or change tomorrow.
 
ALBANESE: Or change.
 
BANKS: I’ll be honest, that sounds like politics to me.
 
ALBANESE: I expect it will be May. No, good politics is actually making a decision ahead of the crisis and therefore avoiding it, not waiting for it.
 
BANKS: Maybe this comes down to the education in politics. And I want to ask you, we've got a lot of kids starting back at school, you know, in a couple of weeks. My boy is starting high school. And when you say, 'Hey, what do you want to be when you grow up?' not a lot of kids will go, 'I want to be a politician'. So, I ask you, Anthony Albanese, we need to engage with these young, fresh minds and some respectful young kids to get them into politics.
 
ALBANESE: We sure do.
 
BANKS: What are you going to do to secure the future of politics?
 
ALBANESE: Well, I think it would help if politicians were straighter with people. And I'm a pretty straight up and down guy and say what I think.
 
BANKS: So how do we change that, stop lying?
 
ALBANESE: Just people should just say what they're going to do and be less flippant perhaps.
 
BANKS: Follow through.
 
ALBANESE: Follow through, absolutely.
 
BANKS: If you make a policy, that you have to actually do it?
 
ALBANESE: When you make a promise, actually deliver it.
 
BANKS: But none of you do.
 
ALBANESE: That’s not right. Absolutely not right. You look at all the roadworks on the Bruce Highway that I promised as Infrastructure Minister and we built. When I went to Ingham, I got to see the Cultural Centre Library whole facility that is there, as well as the wonderful mural in the centre of town, that was done when I was Local Government and Regional Development Minister. We funded it. I didn't get to see it completed, but work was underway, and I got to see it and got to appreciate the big difference it has made to that town.
 
BANKS: So, following through on things is how we inspire our kids to want to take up the mantle?
 
ALBANESE: Absolutely.
 
NEVEN: Anyone can actually go there and step in and go and want to make changes and go and be a politician.
 
ALBANESE: That is right. And I make the point that there's politics everywhere, I'm sure, there's no politics at Triple M. There are politics in the local bowling club, the local cricket club. And politics has an impact on your life. And we've seen that during the pandemic. Whether people like it or not, the political decisions that are made by our leaders have an impact on our health, have an impact on whether we get a job, what our wages are, on our standard of living.
 
NEVEN: It's one thing to call yourself a leader, it is another to actually know how to lead as well.
 
BANKS: That's right. And as far as it goes with inspiring our kids, maybe we need more vocal politicians about what it can do for kids' futures. And I know they're all in the moment of like, 'I just want to be whatever and do whatever and not really think about the future'. But there are a lot of kids out there who actually care about their own futures. So, what do we do to inspire that?
 
ALBANESE: I think that young people are engaged. They're engaged on issues like climate change, for example. They get the fact that the environment is changing, there are more extreme weather events, and it is about their future. They're going to be on the planet longer than we are, by definition. And so, they have a real interest in the decisions being made. And I find that they are engaged. I had a young girl come up to me when we were just literally on the street with her mum. They were traveling from Brisbane but they were in regional Queensland. And she said to me, 'I want to be the Prime Minister'. And good on her. I encouraged her to get engaged. Because it does make a difference. It really does. And we live in a great democracy. And people should cherish that. A whole lot of the world fight and put their lives on the line just to get the right to vote. And here, we should participate as much as possible. But it's not just about political parties. Participation is, I met with the Country Women's Association. They're doing a great job.
 
BANKS: The CWA.
 
ALBANESE: We met with them in Mackay. And they were just wonderful, inspirational women. As were the people we met, the volunteers and the full-time people in Maryborough, helping to clean up Maryborough after the floods. They are just heroes.
 
BANKS: Indeed. Well, look, Anthony Albanese, we know you are busy. We've already heard the massive trail you've already blazed. Continuing on, so, just before I let you go, can I ask the Novak Djokovic situation, are you satisfied with that or would you have tried a bit harder to get him to play?
 
ALBANESE: It was just bungled completely. If he wasn't eligible because he wasn't vaccinated, then how did he get a visa in the first place? It's been embarrassing for Australia. It should have been handled much better, much more professionally. It's another example of a little problem that became a crisis because there wasn't that early action.
 
BANKS: No vax, no play.
 
NEVEN: Get it right in the first place. Well, I'm sure we'll catch up with you more frequently before we all head up to the polls and get outside and be covered in hand sanitiser and masks.
 
BANKS: Could be March. Could be March.
 
NEVEN: Take care and we'll talk again soon.
 
ALBANESE: Thanks very much. Have a great day. 
 
ENDS