SUBJECTS: National plan to reopen during the COVID pandemic; Doherty modelling; COVID outbreaks around Australia; lockdowns; vaccine rollout; need for national quarantine facilities; Labor’s $300 COVID vaccination incentive.

ANGELA WALSH, HOST: And as promised, on the line, I've got the Leader of the Australian Labor Party, Anthony Albanese. Hello.

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

WALSH: Well, I'm glad you're here. But I'm just wondering, how are things for you in lockdown? I mean, it must be pretty tough doing what you do.

ALBANESE: I haven't been home, unfortunately, since the beginning of June. So that's been pretty difficult, being away from family and my puppy, I might say as well.

WALSH: It's dog’s day.

ALBANESE: Look, it's amazing how much you miss them. But you know, I just think so many Australians are doing it a lot tougher than me. There are people who are losing their jobs or people who've lost a whole lot of income. And of course, tragically, there are people directly impacted by what is a health pandemic, people who've lost their lives or who have gotten sick, so many people. And I just think of them each and every day. We're in Canberra locked down at the moment, of course, with Parliament sitting. So I recognise it is a nice day a bit further south from where you are. But it is also very chilly.

WALSH: As you're saying, a lot of people are impacted by COVID. And it's something that we haven't experienced before. So as we spoke earlier on the show, people's mental health is suffering as well as their physical health. People in business are struggling. And those people who worked casually, a lot of people just haven't had work for a very long time. You're proposing a cash bonus for vaccinations. 

ALBANESE: That is right. It's both a reward, but also an incentive. It is a reward for people who've already done the right thing, but an incentive for those people who haven't yet been fully vaccinate. $300 cash for everyone who's vaccinated before the first of December. We need to get our vaccination rates up. That's the key to us opening up. And the truth is that we're still just around about 50 per cent of first doses. So we're a fair way off achieving the targets which are there of getting up to 80 per cent of people being fully vaccinated.

WALSH: I understand what you're saying, to have an incentive. And cash is always a great incentive for everybody. But there's a lot of people that I'm aware of that won't be spending that $300 in local businesses, they'll be spending that paying for food at the retailers, they'll be spending that paying their rent. What is going to happen in the future? We need jobs, we need business, we need industry. 

ALBANESE: We absolutely do. And we need to start now talking about how we grow back stronger out of this pandemic. We have put forward constructive proposals such as our $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund to support the transformation of existing industries, but also to support new industries that create new jobs. We also have established a policy of creating Jobs and Skills Australia to make sure that Australians are trained for those jobs. We do need to do better than just try to get back to what was there before. We need to use this opportunity, which is there, really, to reimagine a better Australia and then put in place policies to set about creating it. And Labor is determined to do just that.

WALSH: I think training is the key because so many people have had to just say goodbye to their old professions.

ALBANESE: Well, that's right. The economy has changed. That's a constant that will continue. But it's a matter of shaping change in the interests of people. We need an economy that works for people, not the other way around. And the way to do that is to look at what the comparative advantages are that Australia can have, to look at how we become more resilient and manufacture more things here, to look at how we can grow service industries and export industries into the region. Take advantage of the fact that we are in the fastest growing region of the world in human history. Now, that presents an enormous opportunity such as the opportunity that is there to shift to a clean energy economy. And to create jobs in doing that.

WALSH: We need to think long-term as well.

ALBANESE: Absolutely. We need to make sure that we address immediate challenges but shape the future and make sure that we're ready for it, to take advantage of it.

WALSH: Now, speaking of immediate challenges, Anthony, I need you to have a little word with Annastacia, because my mum, Linda, is in Queensland, and I cannot see her. And we're not the only ones in this situation. We want to travel. We want to go back and see our family and our friends that we haven't been able to see for ages. We need to start working as a team. Do you think we can do this?

ALBANESE: It's tough. I recognise that. My son hasn't seen me since the beginning of June. And at the moment, he is not eligible, he wouldn't be allowed to come to Canberra. He would have to go into 14 days isolation if he did so. So I recognise how tough it is for people. That's why we just need to get on top of this pandemic. We do need the national processes to operate better as well. This has been an opportunity for us to think about the Federation and how it operates. The way that the so-called National Cabinet has operated is that it seems that what happens is all the state premiers get together once a week and tell each other what they're doing and then Scott Morrison announces it. It's created real difficulties and real issues for people. But, of course, this outbreak in New South Wales has been terrible. And quite clearly, the New South Wales Government should have taken action earlier. And Scott Morrison should never have cheered their inaction on by congratulating them on not locking down. If there had of been an earlier lockdown, this Delta strain did spread from New South Wales into southeast Queensland, southeast Queensland locked down quickly and urgently and strictly and they came out of it out the other side, and now everything's open in Queensland. So I think there's a lesson there as well.

WALSH: We need those vaccinations, clearly. Leader of the Australian Labor Party, Anthony Albanese, thank you so much for your time this morning and you take care. 

ALBANESE: Thank you. My absolute pleasure.

ENDS