Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese talks what the ALP is bringing to the table this election, the importance of the NT in national defence, and the Darwin bombing anniversary

Transcript

Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese talks what the ALP is bringing to the table this election, the importance of the NT in national defence, and the Darwin bombing anniversary · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And well joining me live on the line is the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Opposition leader Anthony Albanezi.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Albow, Good morning Katie. It's great
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: to be back in Darwin.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, great to have you on the show. And I
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: tell you what we know there's a federal election looming.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: We had the Prime Minister Scott Morrison on the show
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: just a little while ago, and very lucky to have
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: you on the show now as well. Now there's lots
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: on the agenda I want to go. Firstly, we know
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: that tomorrow is indeed the day that we remember that
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: nearly well exactly eighty years ago, World War II forced
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: itself onto Australia's mainland for the first time. Now we
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: know that the Prime Minister is indeed seeking to elevate
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: national security as a key point well really of contrast
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: between the Labor Party and the Liberal Party in the
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: lead up to the election. Albo, how important is the
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Northern Territory strategically when you talk about Australia and our
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: defense force.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Well, the Northern Territory of course is absolutely critical. And
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: tomorrow will be commemorating the eightieth anniversary of the bombing
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: of Darwin. It's when World War II really came to
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  Speaker 2: our shores. Two hundred and sixty aircraft in two waves,
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: seven hundred bombs being dropped on this great city and
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: on ships in the harbor, with a severe loss of
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  Speaker 2: life and an incredible ongoing impact. But Darwin stood firm.
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  Speaker 2: There were another sixty three raids in addition to that,
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  Speaker 2: sixty four in total after that here in Darwin. But
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  Speaker 2: Darwin responded with courage, resilience and resolves and we need
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: to always keep our nations safe from One of the
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: things I was very proud about when we were in
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: government was the arrangements we put in place for theationing
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: of US marines here in Darwin.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Now, mister Albinezi, the Prime Minister, says that the Labor
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Party has had when in power, cut funding when it
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: came to to defense. Now, I know, like I said,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: that he is certainly trying to, I guess, elevate this
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: issue of national security. They've announced this morning two hundred
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: and eighty two million dollars and that is into the
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Northern Territory when it comes to defense on a couple
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: of different projects. What is the Labor Party going to
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: do to bolster that security and defense force? Here in
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: the territory.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Well, they're good at announcements, they're not great at delivery.
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  Speaker 2: These are old announcements. These are announcers from two years
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: ago and from last year respectively, the two announcements, so
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: there's no additional money been announced by the government. Of course,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: we will honor that and we supported that at the
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: time they were announced, as I said, two years ago
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: and then one year ago respectively.
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  Speaker 1: So you would honor those announcements. Is there anything else
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  Speaker 1: that the Labor Party is looking at doing, you know,
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  Speaker 1: for the Northern territory or indeed Darwin when it comes
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: to this space.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Well, we'll have more to say, of course. One of
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  Speaker 2: the things that we're ongoing concerned about is that whereas
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: we supported the US Marines being placed here, we didn't
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: support the sale of the port. This occurred here in Darwin.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: So it's a bit rich for the Prime Minister to
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  Speaker 2: engage in the rhetorical position that he is. Experts on
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: defense and security have come out and have called out
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: the actions of the PM and the rhetoric and have
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: said that it itself undermines our national security. One of
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: the great strength that we have in this country is
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: that we have a united position when it comes to
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: keeping Australia safe against threats and that shouldn't be undermined
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: in the lead up to an election. And you had
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  Speaker 2: no less than Dennis Richardson, who used to be the
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: head of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the head of Defense.
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  Speaker 2: He was also appointed by John Howard to head Asia
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: as Director General and to be our ambassador to Washington,
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: and he had some very strong words about the direction
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: that the Prime Minister has chosen to go in. It's
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: like he will talk about anything other than talk about
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  Speaker 2: the stuff up of the vaccines or the problems that
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: are their in age care, the issues which are there
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: with the government.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well look, I will talk in just a moment
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  Speaker 1: about some of the issues we've got here in the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory when it comes to health. The Prime Minister
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: reckons that you're the Chinese government's peak at this election.
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  Speaker 1: What's your response to that?
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  Speaker 2: That it's an incredibly irresponsible thing to say. He knows
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  Speaker 2: it's not true. I tabled a letter in Parliament yesterday
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: where he wrote to me, thank you the bipartisan support
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: for the orchis arrangements that have been put in place
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  Speaker 2: that couldn't have been done without bipartisan agreement. That was
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: a precondition. And people in the defense the national security
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: space know how irresponsible the Prime Minister's comments are. They
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: themselves undermine our national security and the Prime Minister should
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: not engage in such reckless activity. He has a responsibility
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  Speaker 2: to defend the national interest and this sort of rhetorical
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  Speaker 2: nonsense is not doing that. Identical positions on Hong Kong,
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: on the South China Sea, on human rights for veigas,
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  Speaker 2: and in Tibet on making sure that we put in
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: place protections and the Director General of Asia had to
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: come out this week in what was really an unprecedented
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: statement and make it very very clear that the sort
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: of rhetorical position that the Prime Minister's taking is not helpful.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Now, Opposition Leader, one of the big issues that we
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: have been speaking about here in the Northern Territory over
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: the last week is the situation that we're seeing with
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: our healthcare system. Obviously, COVID is rolling through the Northern Territory.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: I caught up with both the AMA, the Australian Medical
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  Speaker 1: Association and also the Nurses Federation earlier this week and
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: they spoke to us about the fact that territory hospitals
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: have reached crisis point as COVID rolls through, and certainly
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: of the AMA wanted to know from both our potential leaders,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: yourself and also Scott Morrison if there would be any
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: additional health funding for the Northern Territory as we lead
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: into this election.
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  Speaker 2: Well, we're announcing today some eleven point six million dollars
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: for the Danilla Dilber Health Service. They're here in Palmerston.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: I'll be there with Luke Gosley and Marion Skimjaw and
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: Malandarry McCarthy in a short period of time to announce
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  Speaker 2: that they currently provide services to over fifteen thousand people
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  Speaker 2: and what they need as additional funding to make sure
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: that they can have a purpose built facility to deliver
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: local medical services to the community. And in particular of
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: course they deliver for First Nations population, which is a
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: growing population. It's also a population which is getting older
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: and requires more support.
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  Speaker 1: How do you think how will that help as well?
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  Speaker 1: How do you think that that will help in terms
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: of the broader community, you know, and in dealing with
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: that bounce back. I guess you would call it post
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: COVID we've got phenomenally long wait times for elective surgery.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Right now, we know that the likes of outpatient services,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: some of those specialist outpatient services have been canceled. It's
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: going to be a tough bounce back here in the territory.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: It is, and those pressures are being felt right around
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: the country because of the problems that have been there
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: with getting people vaccinated early enough, and here in the
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: territory of great job has been done of First Nations people,
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: particularly getting them vaccinated. In other parts of Australia it's
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: far less. But if you have appropriate health services delivered
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: in local communities, what that does is take pressure off
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: hospitals because if people can't get their local health service,
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: they end up with acute conditions that ends up requiring
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: more support, which is why it's important to provide that
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: local health service where people live.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Now we are fast running out of time. But one
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  Speaker 1: of the other major issues that I had asked the
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Prime Minister about as well, I know that he's in
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: Alice Springs at the moment, the issue of youth crime
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: in Alice Springs and right around the Northern Territory. In fact,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: it's something that we've seen in North Queensland as well.
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  Speaker 1: Just this week that issue of youth crime with a
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  Speaker 1: fourteen year old allegedly killed in a car crash in
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  Speaker 1: a stolen vehicle here in the Northern Territory in Darwin
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  Speaker 1: last week a ten year old in a stolen car
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  Speaker 1: in the early hours of the morning. Alice Springs has
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  Speaker 1: been subject to some really terrible youth crime issues. Although
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  Speaker 1: if you were the Prime minister, how would you support
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  Speaker 1: these communities to to try and get on top of
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: this issue.
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  Speaker 2: Well, one of the things that the labor governments will
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: always do us provide additional funding for community services. We've
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: announced one hundred and fifty additional community service workers would
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: be funded by us in local communities. There's no easy
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: solutions to these things. That requires education, it requires health services,
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  Speaker 2: that requires community services. That requires a full response of
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  Speaker 2: all levels of government. The sort of stories that you've
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: just told are shocking and they represent a tragedy. To
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: have a fourteen year olds to lose their life and
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  Speaker 2: have a ten year old in a stolen car is
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: a terrible circumstance. We need to work with as well
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  Speaker 2: community leaders to make sure that we can really reduce
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: level of youth crime. Youth crime not only leads to
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: a waste of life for those people involved, that impacts
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: everyone in the community, which is why you need a
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  Speaker 2: whole up government response.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Anthony Albanezi, we have run out of time. I
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: didn't get to speak to Scott Morrison about his sixty
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: minutes interview, but mate, I understand you're going to be
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: doing one soon. What instrument are you planning on whipping
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: out throughout that interview?
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: I am, and I intend to talk about the serious
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: challenges facing the country rather than it will be a
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: ukulele freeze out. I'm not quite sure why the Prime
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: Minister wanted to remind everyone about Hawaii, but that's the decision.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Not going to be playing the symbols.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: That he and his team took. There won't be any
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: singing either, because think of the ratings. They might take
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: a serious dip they did. I think that you could
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: hear the sound of TV's clicking off as the Prime
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: Minister strained through that one line that he could remember
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: well of April. So Tuba, well.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: I was thinking you might get the symbol out and
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: maybe seeing the gambler or something like that. Albow, No, no,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: not this time. All right, good.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: Stuff, it's not going to happen.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: No, well, good to speak with you this morning. We
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: appreciate your time. Thank you very much for chatting with us.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie. I also won't be shampooing stranger's hair.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: Good well, I'm glad to hear I didn't get to
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: ask him about that. Anthony Albanezi, thank you very much
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: for your time this morning. We will leave it there