‘Whole State’ should be proud of Telethon, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says

The Prime Minister has declared that “the whole State” should be proud of Telethon, saying the good done for charity in WA was like “nowhere else” in the country. During a radio blitz on Friday morning, Anthony Albanese interrupted an interview between 6PR’s Gary Adshead and Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas. Mr Zempilas — a Seven West Media employee who is running as a Liberal candidate in the seat of Churchlands — stayed on the air as the two politicians exchanged friendly banter. “Hello, your worship. How are you?” Mr Albanese asked, referring to Mr Zempilas’ official title. The Prime Minister — who was touring the State to promote his Government’s boost to childcare wages — said he had just visited a daycare in Dayton where kids were learning about the letters ‘L’ and ‘U’. Asked by Mr Adshead if the L stood for Labor or Liberal, Mr Albanese said it “obviously” stood for Labor, and there were very few “genuine small l liberals” left in the Liberal party. “I was hoping I would get a rise out of Basil,” the Prime Minister joked. “U would have been for Union, Prime Minister?” Mr Zempilas shot back. Mr Albanese said he would return his entire cabinet to WA in September in time for Telethon before showering praise on the charity raising funds for sick kids. “There’s nowhere that does it like Western Australia, like Telethon here,” the Prime Minister said. “It is just something the whole State should be proud of.” Mr Zempilas commended the Prime Minister for being a “great supporter of Telethon”. After the Prime Minister had hung up, the Lord Mayor favourably compared his friendly “tone and conduct” to the Premier’s, asking, “Which of those would we hope our leaders would portray to the community?” Last year’s 26-hour Telethon raised $77.5 million, beating the record-setting tally from the year before of $71.4M. Six million of that tally came from the Federal Government. Mr Albanese and Mr Zempilas are expected to face WA voters about two months apart. The state election is set for March 2025, and the Federal poll will be held no later than May.