SUBJECTS: COVID-19; vaccine rollout; need for national quarantine; Scott Morrison failing Australians during a pandemic; Sydney lockdown; announcement of financial support during lockdowns; Federal election; Australians deserve better.

MARCUS PAUL, HOST: Anthony Albanese is with us now. The Federal Opposition Leader, Albo, good morning to you, mate. 

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

PAUL: Thank you. Look, I know you've been traveling up in North Queensland, you've been up there where it's relatively safe. But in your hometown of Sydney, mate, it's all going to hell in a handbasket.

ALBANESE: People are doing it so tough. And the news overnight that people were queuing for three hours to get a COVID test, essential workers who are shift workers in southwestern Sydney, is just terrible. I've been speaking with small businesses who are worried that they won't be able to keep their staff on. People are doing it really, really tough. And it's a difficult time. We've been saying that there was a need to provide support. The Prime Minister last week, I'm pleased now that he's been dragged to making an announcement, last week he was saying that Australians had a buffer and that they could rely upon their savings. Well, a whole lot of people out there have done it incredibly tough during this pandemic. They’re just struggling to get by. And my heart goes out to them.

PAUL: Look, Anthony, I don't really want to make this that political. But you and I have discussed on this very program for months, no, scratch that, for almost a year, about quarantine facilities being set up outside of major metropolitan areas. Not in hotel accommodation, they're not fit-for-purpose. Yesterday, as I was traveling around Sydney, I noticed in the Marriott in Sydney, a big swathe of people, overseas travellers, returners, whatever, arriving at yet another hotel smack bang in the middle of our biggest city being ushered inside by police. When are we going to learn? We're going to continually have these outbreaks, Anthony, unless we have quarantine facilities outside major metropolitan areas.

ALBANESE: It's not rocket science, Marcus, is it? The Prime Minister had two jobs this year. He had to roll out the vaccine and he had to fix national quarantine. And we know what works. We've seen it at Howard Springs, purpose-built facilities. It’s an ex-workers' camp where people are in separate cabins, where people are able to not have connections with each other, where the ventilation systems aren't attached like they are in hotels. We will continue to have outbreaks - we've had 26 of them - while we have hotel quarantine as the basis of our quarantine system. I visited the Wellcamp site in Toowoomba last week. And there you have the Wagners who operate that airport. They're ready to go. They could have a 600-bed facility up and running in a period of weeks. And that could grow to a thousand. You have other options that are available to the Government. They've remained stubborn about it and have picked a couple of sites themselves that won't be ready for a very long period of time. And this has been an issue since this time last year. 

PAUL: Yes, that's what when you and I first started talking about it.

ALBANESE: And then the rollout of the vaccine continues to be an issue of supply. I was at a GP yesterday. They bought the fridge, they set up their operation to do at least 700 a week. And they are getting 150 AstraZeneca a week at the moment. It's one thing to do an ad encouraging people to be vaccinated but if the supply isn't there, if people can't be vaccinated, then that is the problem.

PAUL: Well, that’s what we were hearing, Anthony. People are contacting us saying, 'Look, this young woman reminds me of my daughter, I've told her to get in contact with the number that's available there and she's told it will take three to four months, at least'. That's not good enough. And what it is, effectively, is a scare campaign. We got the Prime Minister hiding behind a khaki uniform. For goodness sake. What does it tell us when we have to roll out a Lieutenant General to look after a botched vaccination scheme? I mean, I am not having a crack at him, he is distinguished. But I mean, this whole thing, our military isn't supposed to be politicised. And frankly, it's scandalous, in my opinion. Making a uniformed General an apologist, if you like, for the Federal Government's policy decisions that caused the vaccine scarcity is just really, I don't know, it's banana republic stuff.

ALBANESE: Well, it's been a real series of errors by the Government. They were too busy patting themselves on the back last year saying we were first in the queue, saying that all the essential workers will be vaccinated by Easter, remember that? Aged care workers, 60 per cent of them haven't had their first jab. Aged care residents still haven't been fully vaccinated, disability care workers, let alone those who are frontline workers who have a lot of contact with people, like retail workers, supermarket workers, aren't eligible at the moment. And we know that this disease can affect young people as well as older people. We have young people in ICU as we speak, Marcus, quite tragically. People do need to stay safe. We need these lockdowns. Because as long as there's a failure on the rollout of the vaccine and quarantine, we will have lockdowns. And we had a Prime Minister who was busy praising New South Wales for staying open, rather than doing his job and being honest with the Australian people as well. We've had all this spin and marketing rather than just being straight and saying, 'Well, we have an issue with supply'. And this week, of course, we know that Kevin Rudd was speaking to the CEO of Pfizer and the Prime Minister has never picked up the phone to the head of Pfizer.

PAUL: That company we are relying upon for half of our vaccine rollout apparently were left disillusioned. They said that the bureaucrats from the Morrison Government they dealt with left them frustrated and they were basically treated, well, arrogantly. And that's a concern. That's an absolute concern. Just on the issue of this relief package - $500 million a week for New South Wales. Now, the Prime Minister says very clearly that this is now going to be the standard for every other jurisdiction. Let's hope it doesn't get to this point. So if Victoria go into lockdown or Queensland, etc - and god, we hope they don't at the cost - but have there been some double standards here? Victoria, for instance, accusing the Prime Minister of double standards. He's been called everything from the Prime Minister of New South Wales to everything in between. What's your viewpoint on this?

ALBANESE: Well, I can understand the frustration of Victorians from being essentially looked down upon by those in Government who were very critical. We had a motion in the Parliament expressing our support for Victorians when they were going through a difficult time like New South Wales is now. Josh Frydenberg chose to use that as an opportunity to attack the Andrews Government for having lockdowns. Well, lockdowns are a consequence of breaches of national quarantine. I mean, in this case, remember this Marcus, this began with a fellow driving foreign aircrew to quarantine without a mask, without being vaccinated. And that was, at the time, within the rules for him to do so. This is just extraordinary. And we know the last Victorian lockdown occurred because of a breakout from hotel quarantine in Adelaide that then travelled to Victoria. This all comes down to those two issues, Marcus. The rollout of the vaccine and national quarantine. And the Federal Government are responsible for both. And the Federal Government has failed on both, which is why they needed to step up and provide this support. It's good that the support is there. I hope that it will result in people keeping their jobs. Because it's different from JobKeeper. They need to explain why it is that the system that we know worked has been changed. That is for the Government to explain why they've done that. But I want to see people kept in work. But I also want to see the Government fix national quarantine and fix the rollout of the vaccine, because until they do, we’ll continue to have issues. 

PAUL: Anthony, the polls this week. I know you don't pay too much attention to them. But the polls suggested, Newspoll, that if an election were held next week, you would form a majority Government. Does that give you some sense of feeling that perhaps you are starting to cut through now? That the criticism that you've made of the Government and the mistakes that are made, and look, it's all political, it's not personal, but do you get a sense now that you are starting to cut through, that you are starting to get the message out there that it is time for a change of Government? The tired, old, LNP Government, full of rorts and all sorts of other issues, that it is time for them to go?

ALBANESE: Well, Marcus, one of the things that I hear from people is frustration that this Government that's been in office for eight long years, nearing a decade, they'll be asking for more than a decade in office at the next election, hasn't done anything to improve their lives. There's been no significant economic reform, there certainly has been no social policy reform or environmental reform. They don't have a plan for the future, for a future recovery. I'm determined to put forward a positive plan for making jobs more secure, for lifting wages, for having manufacturing revitalised here so we make things here in Australia, as well as making sure that people aren't left behind or held back, that we are again a country that creates opportunities for people. Australians don't want much, they just want a better life for their kids than they had. 

PAUL: Well, we deserve a lot better. One of the themes I've been running on this program is that we deserve better. Unfortunately, we're one of the highest taxed nations on the planet. We live in some cities which have the highest cost of living standards per capita. And we just deserve so much better from our elected representatives. That money that they garner from us each and every week, through PAYG, through a swathe of other taxes and levies, we just expect that the money is spent appropriately, not rorted in carpark rorts or sports rorts, or given to the fossil fuel industry and to Liberal or National Party donors. We just want fairness. We want some equality. And I think it's high time that we do have another socially-minded Government that is in it for all Australians rather than just their mates in big business.

ALBANESE: Well, this is a Government that governs for itself. And it's all about political management, it's all about channelling funds, which are taxpayer funds, using them as if they're Liberal Party funds. And they established 21 separate buckets of funds in the recent Budget. And we actually need a Government that has transparency. One of the things that we'll do is set up an anti-corruption commission to provide confidence that people need in Government. I strongly believe that good government can change people's lives for the better. 

PAUL: Absolutely. 

ALBANESE: And I want to provide that. I want to work with communities. I want to work with business. I want to work with unions to achieve that outcome. And I'm determined to do so, Marcus.

PAUL: Alright, Albo. Good to talk to you, mate. Thank you. We'll catch up again soon. 

ALBANESE: Thanks very much, mate.

ENDS