SUBJECTS: Vaccine rollout; Morrison Government failing Australians during a health pandemic; home care staff still unvaccinated; aged care; NRL players fined for flouting COVID public health orders.

BEN FORDHAM, HOST: Well, we know about the problems in aged care. We know that the Federal Government has finally said, ‘Okay, enough is enough. If you're working in aged care, you must get the jab'. They've got until mid-September to get the first one. But we've raised another issue this morning and that is home care. Home care is bigger than aged care. These are the workers that visit people in their homes, and they go from house to house to house. There are 150,000 of these workers in Australia, looking after up to a million people every week. But the COVID vaccine is not mandatory for home care workers. Is this another accident waiting to happen? The Federal Labor Leader, Anthony Albanese, is on the line this morning. Good morning to you, Mr Albanese.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning, Ben. Good to be with you. 

FORDHAM: Surely if it's good enough to mandate vaccines in aged care workers, we need to do it in home care too.

ALBANESE: Well, this is a huge gaping hole in the system. There's almost 200,000 Australians who get aged care packages. That is extensive assistance at home. There's another 800,000 who might get help with gardening Meals on Wheels, help them showering, basic support services. So you are talking about a million Australians. And the workers who look after them, of course, will have five or six or more, perhaps, clients during the week. And so, if someone has got COVID, they're going to be spreading it not only to vulnerable, older people, but that will then just be an outbreak waiting to happen. And it's another example of whereby all these people were told, everyone in aged care, was supposed to get their vaccines by Easter. We're now in July. And the Government doesn't even have a plan for these workers.

FORDHAM: Now, Catholic Health Australia is also asking a question about this. They're the biggest home care provider in the country. Their CEO Pat Garcia says, 'If we do not do this, then we risk opening up an obvious blind spot for COVID in aged care. These workers play a crucial role for many of the most vulnerable in our community. They are the connection to the outside world'. And the danger is increased because of that fact that they go from home to home to home.

ALBANESE: That's by definition the nature of the work. My dear late mum had support from Catholic Home Care, it was called something else then, Mercy Arms at Redfern. And they did a fantastic job. But someone would come in for a couple of hours twice a week. And that's typical of what support services are there. Now, by definition, these workers are doing multiple jobs. So if they pick up COVID, they're going to spread it to the older people who they're looking after. And we know that it's older Australians who are particularly vulnerable to this disease, not just in terms of getting it, but what happens, they're more likely to get acute sickness as a result.

FORDHAM: Well, when you have a look at the fatality rates one in 33 people have died from the virus in Australia. When you look at aged care, it's one in three. So that's why we need to be aware of this. Now, when we asked the Health Minister, Greg Hunt, why people who are part of a home care program don't need to be vaccinated, he said it was based on the health advice.

ALBANESE: How about a bit of common sense advice, Ben? Common sense tells you that vulnerable people should be the priority. That's why the Government in January set them in category 1a. They were supposed to be at the front of the queue. And this queue doesn't exist.

FORDHAM: I know you're a rugby league fan. What do you make of the fines handed down to those St. George Illawarra players?

ALBANESE: What an act of stupidity. I just can't believe it. No one's above doing the right thing. And when Australians, overwhelmingly since the outbreak of this pandemic, have been magnificent, they've all made sacrifices, they've done the right thing and here you have people who are role models being just absurd, thinking they're above at all. And it's a good thing that they've been come down hard on, not just by the police, but by the NRL as well.

FORDHAM: We appreciate your time this morning. Thanks so much. 

ALBANESE: Thanks very much, Ben.

FORDHAM: Anthony Albanese, the Labor Leader. And that hole in the boat needs to be plugged. The argument from the Health Minister that it's based on health advice is just ridiculous. Where's the common sense test? You've got 150,000 home care workers going from home to home to home. They have even got the hide to ask the residents whether or not they're vaccinated. And one of our listeners, Michelle, pointed out when she turned the question around and said, 'Well, what about the carers coming into the house? Are they vaccinated?' The answer was no. Surely that needs to be fixed.

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