SUBJECTS: Rabbitohs loss; Prince Charles’ comments on climate change; whether Scott Morrison will go to Glasgow; the benefits of renewable energy; IBAC inquiry; Anthony Byrne; National Anti-Corruption Commission.

AMANDA KELLER, HOST: Well, it’s been a while since we caught up with Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese. So, between ‘Freedom Day’, Scott Morrison in hot water for having a curry in home quarantine, Prince Charles saying ‘Oi, come to the climate change conversation’, there’s a lot to talk to him about. Anthony Albanese, hello.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning.
 
BRENDAN JONES, HOST: How are you?
 
KELLER: Good morning. Have you recovered from the excitement for you of, well Souths in the grand final, but disappointment they didn’t win?
 
ALBANESE: It was very disappointing but it was great that we got there and the Panthers have had a great couple of years so congratulations to them. But we’ll fight on. It’s only our second grand final in 50 years so.
 
KELLER: You need to get better at it.
 
ALBANESE: Indeed. It was a difficult one to watch from home, I’ve got to say. I was there in 2014, I took my son, and in 1971 my Mum took me to the hill at the SCG to see us beat St George. But this was one watching at home in front of the telly.
 
KELLER: Lockdown with the rest of us.
 
JONES: It would have been hard.
 
KELLER: It’s not often that a member of the royal family says, ‘You guys aren’t doing enough’. And this is what Prince Charles has said – we need to be part of the conversation, the world-wide conversation, before it’s too late. Urging Scott Morrison to attend the climate conference. You’re urging him too?
 
ALBANESE: Well, it’s pretty sad, isn’t it, when you have our national leader, we have an important conference, before the climate conference there’s the G20, the world’s 20 largest economies are meeting in Rome, and then the climate change conference is probably the most important one that’s been held this decade. And of course, it’s not just about the environment, it’s about the future shaping of our economy, it’s about jobs, and everyone, every state and territory government, including the one here in New South Wales, recognises that we need to do more. The Business Council of Australia are calling for a much higher short-term target as well as net zero by 2050, the National Farmers’ Federation, all the banks, everyone except Scott Morrison saying ‘Oh, well, I’ve got to wait to see what Barnaby Joyce lets me do’. It would be tragic if Australia wasn’t represented at Glasgow. I’m sure Scott Morrison will go and I’m sure eventually they’ll weasel their way into saying ‘net zero by 2050’. But when they’re so reluctant to be dragged kicking and screaming there I think people will bear that in mind as well.
 
JONES: Is our future in nuclear or is it hydrogen, green hydrogen?
 
ALBANESE: It’s certainly green hydrogen. If you look at the work that’s been done in places like BlueScope Steel. I visited there in Port Kembla last year. They're looking at how they produce green steel into the future. If you look at the announcements that have been made from New South Wales this week and Gladstone in Queensland, there's major gains to be made in terms of employment. And it's in renewables. We have the largest solar farm in the world about to be built near Tennant Creek that will be exporting energy to Singapore. We can be a renewable energy superpower for the world and really have an advantage by that cheaper energy to once again get back into high value manufacturing. I was out in Smithfield yesterday with Chris Bowen and Ed Husic and there we were at a glass manufacturing facility that has cut its energy bills by $250,000 each and every year by moving to solar. And that's the sort of thing that is being done on the ground. But it's being done in spite of the Federal Government. Imagine how much progress we could make it the Federal Government actually backed it in.
 
KELLER: Here in New South Wales, as you know, we’ve lost another premier to an investigation by ICAC. It seems that the Federal Labor MP, Anthony Byrne, you're not calling for his scalp although he has admitted to branch-stacking. You can see why people are cynical about politics and cynical about who we should believe in.
 
ALBANESE: Absolutely. We need to clean up politics. That's why we need a National Anti-Corruption Commission to provide faith in the process. That's why we need to back out independent bodies, like IBAC in Victoria or the ICAC in New South Wales, and I welcome these inquiries. The IBAC hearings are going ahead as we speak, so we'll deal with those issues once the hearings have been completed and all the information is out there. But when corruption was exposed in Victoria, and abuse of processes, I and Daniel Andrews intervened. We suspended the operation of the entire branch. We put Steve Bracks and Jenny Macklin in charge of that review. We took over federal and state preselection. We had an independent audit by one of the big four accounting firms into the ALP membership in Victoria and excluded thousands of people from the membership rolls, people who couldn't provide the evidence that they'd been enrolled properly, and have cleaned up the branch. Similarly, in New South Wales, when there was inappropriate conduct, I intervened and restructured the branch. And we saw the gains in that on the weekend with the New South Wales party conference. We do need to restore faith in our political system. And next week, we'll have Christian Porter sitting there in the Parliament, who received up to a million dollars of donations from people or companies unknown and without disclosing it for a private legal matter. Now, that's not on. That's the sort of thing that undermines confidence in our political system. Whenever I see wrongdoing, I'll intervene to clean it up. And I'll have a strong National Anti-Corruption Commission that will be able to hold its own inquiries, just like the ICAC is here in New South Wales.
 
JONES: Good on you, Albo. You’re like a Superman without their underpants on the outside, type of thing, wherever you see injustice and corruption, all those things.
 
ALBANESE: Well, I'm certainly trying to. And, you know, within weeks of becoming leader of the Labor Party, I took action to expel John Setka from the party. And that, of course, when you when you challenge these existing systems, you have, I’ve been taken to court over the Victorian branch intervention by a range of unions backed by some individuals. But we’ve stared that down. We've got on with the job of cleaning up the branch. And that's to the great credit of Daniel Andrews and those decent rank and file members who joined the party to do the right thing. That's why, overwhelmingly, people join political parties. Whether it's the Labor Party or the Liberal Party or the National Party or the Greens or whoever, most people who participate in our political process do so because they want a better country. And they deserve the respect that they deserve to know that their efforts aren't being diluted by manipulation.
 
JONES: Well, there you go. Anthony Albanese, thank you for joining us. Good luck with everything in the future. Good luck with Souths next year.
 
ALBANESE: Thank you guys. Yeah, well it has a ring to it next year. We will be shooting for our 22nd Premiership in 2022. So, I see it all as part of the grand plan. And before the season starts, I always thought we were going to win. Even when we went 43 years during that long drought. Always an optimist.
 
KELLER: You’re a stayer.
 
JONES: Good on you, Albo. Thank you for joining us.
 
ALBANESE: See you, guys.
 
ENDS