SUBJECTS: Failures of the Morrison Government during COVID-19; Labor’s policy agenda; Federal election; Better Future for Queensland visit; Novak Djokovic; rapid antigen tests; Labor’s Great Barrier Reef support package; Labor’s emergency response fund package.
 
MARCUS PAUL, HOST: Coalition MPs appear to be controlling the helm while the Prime Minister takes a backseat to rogue anti-vaccination sentiment. The Djokovic fiasco has placed the backflipping and bungles of the Coalition into the public realm and has now turned into a bit of an international embarrassment with Djokovic's detention stretching some 11 days. Look, our leadership has still not recognised the and failure is continuing to uphold a double standard on vaccination. George Christensen, a Senator from North Queensland, has something like 111,000 followers on social media. Novak is a wider influence, of course. The Coalition members spreading misinformation online have a significant reach and influence, a reach Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce have failed to contain. What does it do? Well, it leaves many Australians a little confused and embarrassed on an international stage. While these politicians are entitled to their views, Australians who have shown strong support for the vaccination program deserve strong leadership that places a consistent focus on public health. What do you think? I certainly know what my next guest thinks. And that is the Federal Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese. Good morning, Albo.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning. Good to be with you.
 
PAUL: Nice to talk to you again. All right, let's deal with these recalcitrant MPs first and foremost. A couple of them, Antic, George Christensen, why isn't Scott Morrison pulling them into line?
 
ALBANESE: Well, this is just a failure of leadership. Scott Morrison has just presided over a circumstance, which has been watched by the whole world, of the deportation of Novak Djokovic. Of course, it's the case that he was granted a visa in the first place is where the problem arises from. But at the same time as, eventually, there was action taken, there's been no action taken whatsoever against Alex Antic, George Christensen and Matt Canavan at various times. They have said some rather extraordinary things. These are people who are out there promoting ideas that are based upon conspiracy theories, which, if listened to, would have a bad health outcome for people who would follow their advice. They've questioned booster shots. They continue to promote all sorts of theories that are pretty out there.
 
PAUL: It is dangerous too. Dangerous.
 
ALBANESE: It is. And look, Craig Kelly left the Liberal Party and went and joined his own operation, really, but the UAP. And it is appropriate that if someone has views that are so dangerous on the fundamental issue that we're dealing with at the moment, this pandemic, then how is it that the Prime Minister can't even condemn the sort of comments that are made? I moved a motion in the Parliament about George Christensen. And of course, Scott Morrison couldn't say his name. It's like Voldemort. I note that Barnaby Joyce is saying, 'Oh, well, we can't deport these people'. No one's saying that.
 
PAUL: No, well, that's making light of it.
 
ALBANESE: No one's saying that. That's just ridiculous. And once again, an example of whereby the Coalition put up a straw man that no one's talking about in order to have an argument with themselves. What they need to do was to call this out, call it out consistently. Whereas what they continue to do is to speak about, 'Oh well, it's their right to say whatever they like'. Well, it is. As Australians, they can say whatever they like. But these are Government members. They shouldn't say whatever they like as members of the Australian Government.
 
PAUL: Well, maybe people are waking up as the nation goes into the third year of the pandemic. I referenced this poll this morning that shows a clear drop in the Government's fortunes as the election approaches. Scott Morrison has taken a battering over summer. Soaring virus infections have fuelled a backlash against him over his handling of the pandemic, slashing the primary vote from 39 to 34 per cent. That's a big drop. Labor's in a strong position. I know you don't pay too much credence to these polls, Anthony, but it's worth noting because there's a dramatic shift that's cut the Government standing on every key measure of its performance. Voters seem to be losing confidence in Scott Morrison and the Coalition on the economy, on jobs, health, but most importantly, I guess, right at this moment, the response to the Coronavirus. Look, I don't understand why in New South Wales, for instance, yesterday we received 1.2 million rapid antigen tests that arrived from somewhere overseas on board a Qantas freight plane. And they're being shipped off to a secretive location somewhere in Sydney. I mean, for goodness sake, the Government was warned by the Australian Medical Association, by the trade unions, by many others, months ago that the rapid antigen tests were a way to keep control or get an idea of where we're going with living with this virus. It's all well to say that we're living with the virus, but why aren't they providing the tools to do so?
 
ALBANESE: Well, it's a tragedy that in recent weeks, it's been easier to catch Coronavirus than it has to find a rapid antigen test in too many parts of Australia. I spent 10 days going from Cairns to Maryborough via Innisfail and Townsville and Mackay, Rockhampton, Gladstone. And throughout Queensland, but throughout the entire country, it has been so difficult to find a rapid antigen test. And the real tragedy is, Marcus, they were producing them here and exporting them overseas because the Government, the Australian Government, said, basically, they weren't interested in purchasing them when approached by these companies. It is exactly the same scenario that played out over the rollout of the vaccines, where Pfizer approached the Government and got fobbed off. And then the Prime Minister's response was that it wasn't a race. This time last year, there was a real complacency of, 'It's not a race, no problem, nothing to see here'. And it was similar around the lead-up to Christmas where the Prime Minister had a 'she'll be right, mate' attitude. And I think that there are a few moments that will really stick with this Prime Minister. When the bushfire crisis came in his first summer, he said it wasn't a race. In the second summer, when the Coronavirus was hitting, the pandemic, he said it wasn't a race. And this year, he went to the cricket and said, 'We're living with the virus, we're taking wickets with the virus'. At the same time as we're seeing an increase in deaths, an increase in ICU, an increase in hospitalisations, we've got our aged care facilities, hundreds of them, that have seen cases. We have got child care centres which are shut. And we've got supermarket shelves which are empty in certain areas.
 
PAUL: Nobody expects their Prime Minister to hold a hose, nobody expects their Prime Minister to be front and centre, battling bushfires or any of these others. But they at least expect planning, putting the measures in place so that those that are holding the, you know, the metaphorical hose, are given the resources in order to battle the thing. Not providing rapid antigen tests when, obviously, they're produced here in Australia. I mean, we've got Buckley's chance of getting a hold of them. And now, they're being sold overseas. Good on the Aussie entrepreneurs. It is a shame their own Government didn't support them when they went to them.
 
ALBANESE: It's just extraordinary. People expect that the Government will show leadership. People expect that the Government won't go missing in action whenever things get difficult. But the thing about this Government also is that they wait until a problem becomes a crisis before they act. So, whether it's the rollout of the vaccine, whether it's booster shots, which have been delayed, whether it was the Novak Djokovic saga, whereby something that wouldn't have been a big issue, had he not been granted a visa in the first place, and there were at least a couple of opportunities when the visa was issued two months ago to say, 'No, you don't comply', secondly, when he attempted to board the plane, at least two opportunities to do this cleanly and easily in a way that provided less embarrassment for Australia. But again, the problem became a crisis before there was any action. It's something that characterises this Government. And we have, over the summer, been holding them to account. But we have also been out there, putting forward practical ideas, practical ideas of converting the Emergency Response Fund into a fund that will actually provide readiness for a natural disaster.
 
PAUL: $200 million is the commitment so far. We’ve got $1.4 billion that was set aside years ago that is sitting there earning interest, $75 million odd dollars in interest, but not a cent going to bushfire victims or those affected by floods.
 
ALBANESE: More than that, Marcus. It was $4 billion. And it's grown to $4.7 billion. And they've spent $17 million in the first three years, $17 million instead of $600 million. And at the same time, I visited Maryborough in Queensland, to thank the heroes of the fire and emergency services as well as the SES and the Rural Fire Service who were doing such an amazing job cleaning up Maryborough after the floods that arose from the cyclonic conditions, of course. But there are so many areas where we've put forward practical ideas. We put forward in Queensland funding and support for the Great Barrier Reef as well. We, over the summer, of course, put forward 465,000 free TAFE places to deal with the skills crisis, 20,000 additional university places. And of course, we had our climate and energy policy that's been well received and will create some 600,000 jobs. I visited the Rio Tinto Alumina refinery in Gladstone. And there, of course, they're looking at use of hydrogen and clean energy. They know that moving to clean energy will save them money and make them more efficient, as well as looking after the environment, as does business across the board, which is why the Business Council and the Farmers' Federation have all endorsed our policy and praised our policy that we put out just last month.
 
PAUL: So, when do you expect the lever to be pulled on a Federal election? May?
 
ALBANESE: Well, we are ready for March.
 
PAUL: Okay, March.
 
ALBANESE: The truth is that this Prime Minister never makes a decision if he can avoid it. He'll always defer till tomorrow rather than take action today. So, it may well be that the election is held off until May. If so, we'll be ready whenever it's called. Our job is to have an alternative program. And in areas like child care, job creation, national reconstruction, the environment, including climate change and energy, social policy, including women's safety, all of these issues we have extensive policy alternatives out there and we will continue to promote them.
 
PAUL: Alright. Good to have you on, Albo. We'll chat again soon. Appreciate it.
 
ALBANESE: Thanks very much, Marcus.
 
PAUL: Federal Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese.
 
ENDS