SUBJECTS: Federal election; Covid; Labor’s commitment to upgrade Hobart Airport; cost of living pressures; Labor’s plan to strengthen Medicare; need for a National Anti-Corruption Commission.
 
ANDY TAYLOR, HOST: Leader of the Opposition, Anthony Albanese joins us on the line right now. Good morning, Anthony.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning, how are you going, greetings from, greetings from iso.

ESTHER NICOLS, HOST: The only, now I just I have this terrible fear that someone's trying to be a comedian and playing a prank. But it is...

ALBANESE: It’s a very distinctive voice, if even a little more croaky than usual.

NICOLS: How are you going with COVID? Because, I mean, that's taken you off the road for seven days?

ALBANESE: Well, it has but I'm still able to talk to people through programs like yours. So I'm not completely out of the campaign. I'm just out of it physically and conducting it virtually. It's quite frustrating that I tested positive in what was a routine test. Before I go interstate I've been getting PCRs pretty regularly. And I got the shock of my life when it came up positive, but tens of thousands of Australians of course, are getting this dreadful disease. And fortunately, my symptoms have been relatively mild compared with what a lot of people have had.

NICOLS: Sometimes you can get more done at home. Like I find when I get out of the studio and I'm not around Tubes, I get a lot done. Who are you in lockdown with?

ALBANESE: Just, just myself and my, my puppy, my dog. So I have my dog for company, she's quite pleased by having her human home for six whole days in a row. It's the first time for a very long while that, probably forever, I've got to say, certainly for her life, that I haven't left the home for six days.

TAYLOR: That must be nice. We're joined by Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese. Now, this is his second time on Triple M Breakfast with Woody and Tubes. You've previously talked on Medicare reform, the importance of mental health funding, your favorite places in southern Tasmania, about the mistakes of last government and being accountable and honest in being a parliamentarian. You can catch up on that via the LiSTNR app.

NICOLS: Yeah, and we want to mention that because we can't grill you again already. Because we did say we will hold you to these promises. And we've got them on tape. So we can't, we can't grill you on those yet.

TAYLOR: But the great thing is though that Labor have come out and said that they will upgrade the Hobart Airport if they are voted into government. Can you run us through that? And also as a side question, can you tell us about any further infrastructure funding that Labor might have in the pipelines for southern Tasmania?

ALBANESE: Well, we want both Launceston and Hobart Airports to be economic powerhouses. And that's the plan that we've got there to upgrade and strengthen the runway there at Hobart as well as the airfield facility so that it can take wide bodied aircraft in terms of international flights, your A330s and planes like that. And also long distance freight. Hobart Airport is a key economic piece of infrastructure. And it is important for export, of course. So Tasmania's produce is just phenomenal and in great demand around the world, but also to bring people to Tasmania directly. The Tasmanian tourism sector is so important, and this upgrade will make an enormous difference there, or Hobart and for the whole of Tasmania.

NICOLS: As Tubes said when we spoke to you a couple of weeks ago, you did make some very big promises for southern Tassie in particular, because sometimes we are left out quite a lot. But they were about the cost of living and things like that as well. And how are you, the people when you go out and you're meeting people day to day, are they similar? Is it similar right across Australia that you're hearing these stories with people really struggling?

ALBANESE: People are doing it really tough. They know that the cost of everything's going up, but their wages aren't. And that's putting real pressure on them. And it varies, the nature of the pressure I know in Tasmania and Hobart in particular, the housing costs are just through the roof in particular rents, and that's placing real pressure. But also the cost of fresh produce has gone up. The cost of petrol we know had gone up well before the Russia-Ukraine war. The costs of childcare are through the roof. And that's why we've got a plan to deal with childcare costs. So we believe that, that is the key issue at this election campaign, is who has a plan to actually have an economy that works for people rather than the other way around? We need to address the fact that wages just simply haven't gone up. And today's inflation figures I think, will show that that's the case as well.

NICOLS: It is concerning and when you come back to Hobart, I'd love to go for a scoot with you at night and show you some of the, we've got people living in tents. We found a person that was living on my mum's property. She has a couple of acres, they'd since left, but there were tents and this just shouldn't be the case. So we're gonna hold you...

ALBANESE: It shouldn’t be the case in Australia in 2022, it’s just not on.

NICOLS: Absolutely.

TAYLOR: Anthony Albanese, the Federal Opposition Leader joins us on Triple M Breakfast with Woody and Tubes. Just quickly. We've got five electorates down here in Tasmania. We've got Braddon, Bass, Lyons, Clark and Franklin. Franklin's a pretty safe seat for Labor down there with Julie Collins. The other seats of, Clark is Andrew Wilkie, the independent currently and he would consider himself to be relatively safe, but anything can happen. What do you rate Labor's chances in Tasmania, Anthony Albanese?

ALBANESE: I think, I think they're pretty good. I think Brian has done a great job there in Lyons, and I expect him to be reelected. And we've got in Ross and Chris, fantastic candidates in Bass and Braddon. I've visited Bass and Braddon a number of times over the last year. And I think people in Tasmania are looking for a change of government. They know this Government's been there for a decade, and it’s let them down and never takes responsibility for things. Whenever anything goes wrong, they don't have a plan to deal with climate change, they don't have a plan to deal with cost of living. Medicare has been undermined, the cost of seeing a GP is an issue as well there in Tasmania, we have a plan to strengthen Medicare. And we have a plan for a Future Made in Australia. We want to build Australian industries and be more self resilient. And part of that process will be giving support to industries like green hydrogen, there around the north of the State, particularly I think, has great prospects. And they know also that this Government has talked a lot about issues but just not delivered. There's so many commitments that it made at the last election that haven't been fulfilled like a National Anti-Corruption Commission. I think people do want to clean up politics. And to do that you need to restore confidence in the system. And that's why we'll establish a National Anti-Corruption Commission and I will introduce legislation this year if we're elected.

NICOLS: Anthony Albanese, Federal Opposition leader. It was very much a surprise when he called into the show and said you want to chat.

TAYLOR: He's got nothing else to do.

NICOLS: Nothing else to do! Potentially run the country. Thank you so much for joining us from your COVID confines with your pooch. Just quickly, you've joined us now, and we appreciate it, twice. And we, do you have Scott Morrison's number?

ALBANESE: I do, but I don't give it out.

NICOLS: Oh no, no, no, I just wanted to, could you, could I dictate a text to you. Dear Scomo, we have tried to get you on the show 20 times, could you please return Woody’s call?

ALBANESE: You know if I do he might leak it.

TAYLOR: Good on ya Anthony Albanese. Thanks for joining us.

ENDS