SUBJECTS: COVID-19 pandemic across Australia; national plan for reopening; vaccine rollout; need for national quarantine facilities; state borders; lockdowns; COVID-19 restrictions; women’s safety; Respect@Work; Federal election; vaccine allocations; South Sydney Rabbitohs; Grace Tame.

MURRAY JONES, HOST: Let me make sure I pressed all the right buttons because I'm sure you heard that I hung up on the Prime Minister the other day. Albo might like that idea though. Anthony Albanese, Leader of the Opposition, joins me this morning. G'day, Albo. How are you today?

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: G'day, Murray. I am very well. Nice day here in Sydney today, but I'm sure it's not as beautiful as Cairns.

JONES: We've actually had some pretty blustery conditions and there's a lot of pollen in the air. So, there's a lot of people with sinuses so we're not doing too well today, I've got to admit.

ALBANESE: That's not good. It is usually paradise up there.

JONES: It's all in the mind. Just mentioning the Prime Minister, at the end of the day, I think it's good to focus on things when there's just not this standard opposite polar positions with respect to things. And I've noticed in the last couple of days, you've refused to have a go at the Prime Minister about travelling into New South Wales to see family.

ALBANESE: Well, I'm very critical of Scott Morrison for stuffing up the rollout of the vaccine, or failing to fix national quarantine, for failing to have a plan going forward for jobs, for not fixing secure work, for not responding appropriately to the Respect@Work report to give women safety in the workplace. There are a whole range of things I'll be critical of but with regard to matters of his family, I never comment on those matters. That's up to him, essentially and I think that's a good place to stay.

JONES: Things become so divisive and just so polarised sadly, often following the patterns we have in the United States, which is not helpful, it's not positive. So, I think at the end of the day, not politically point-scoring for the sake of it is a really good thing. Can we talk about a bit of a story that's obviously hitting headlines this morning, the higher allocation of Pfizer vaccines for New South Wales? Obviously, for the country and Queensland and Western Australia, they are still behind the rest of the country when it comes to vaccination rates. What's your position, since you are situated in New South Wales, with respect to this higher allocation for the state?

ALBANESE: The problem here is that the higher allocation would appear to go back many months throughout the pandemic. So, the problem is that the Federal Government has been critical of Queensland and Western Australia in particular. They have been singled out for attack from the Federal Government. They're responsible for the supply of vaccines, and they haven't supplied enough vaccine. It's as simple as that. They haven't supplied enough vaccine to anyone, to the whole country. But then they've allocated it in a way that has not given Queensland its fair share and it's rather bizarre then to be critical of the fact that Queensland is lower than the national average, which also reflects, of course, the fact that when there is an outbreak in an area, people get real hurry-up to go along and get their vaccine. We saw that in Victoria earlier this year and we're seeing it at the moment in Southwest and Western Sydney, for example. When I was at the Logan mass vaccination centre with Jim Chalmers, it would be about six weeks ago now, I certainly know there that there was a real problem with supply. They said they could be doing many, many more if they just had more supply. And that's something that Premier Palaszczuk has been saying repeatedly and I'm sure it is a cause of so much frustration.

JONES: There is still, obviously, a need to ensure that we deal with this issue in New South Wales and vaccines, I guess, is one of the key strategies, with respect to that, in containing it. So in some ways, it does make sense that there is some priority towards New South Wales.

ALBANESE: Of course but the question here is how far back that went and it appears that it's gone back a long period of time. It's understandable and indeed, the states agreed readily that when additional doses were got from overseas, that the areas that were subject to the outbreak were prioritised. But the question there is, Murray, that Scott Morrison said we were at the front of the queue. If we were at the front of the queue, why is it we're borrowing vaccines from Poland, from Singapore and from the UK? Guess what? We're the back of the queue. That is the problem. If we had secured enough vaccines early enough, and I remember being on your program last year saying we need to do deals with five or six companies, we need to get vaccines sooner, it, of course, always was a race. The problem is that we had a complacent Prime Minister who was more interested in the spin, in marketing and saying, 'Well, we're running first, we're at the front of the queue' than he was in actually delivering.

JONES: As a result of that, it's certainly showing in the polls that Labor is certainly ahead on the two-party preferred. If it does come to what is likely to be a fairly tight election at the end of the day, I noticed in the last couple of days that you've refused to do any deals with the Greens. I know, in some aspects of society Greens is a dirty word, but at the end of the day, if you look at One Nation, UAP, they're certainly far more popular. They actually command far more of the primary vote than any of those minor parties and of course, even in this part of the world when it comes to Katter's Party. What would be the issue of doing a deal with the Greens if it means Labor actually gets across the line?

ALBANESE: Well, because, Murray, we seek to be a party of government, not a protest of deal-making. We are seeking a majority Labor Government with Elida Faith as the Member for Leichhardt, and with other strong candidates throughout Queensland and that's our objective. Now, I've made it very clear that is what we're aiming for and to implement our agenda. And last time around in 2013 when I became Deputy Prime Minister, I sat in a room, it has been well-documented, with the various minor parties including a single member of the Greens political party, at that stage we only had 70 out of 150 members, and said, 'Well, you have a choice. You can support Kevin Rudd or support Tony Abbott as the Prime Minister'. I'm always respectful of minor parties across the board and I've always been respectful of the Greens party and I would be if we were in, either government or opposition, respectful of everyone. I talk to One Nation. I talk to people who are the crossbenchers about legislation in a respectful way. I am good mates with Jacqui Lambie and with Bob Katter for that matter, up there in Far North Queensland. 

JONES: He’s a character.

ALBANESE: He is a character and I do like him. I don't like all of his views or politics and I hope Labor wins the seat, but I've travelled around to places like Mount Isa in his electorate with him, and always been prepared to listen to his views. But I won't be doing deals. What we'll be seeking to do is to be a majority Labor Government. But then we'll treat all views with respect. I think the country needs to be brought together and one of the things that Scott Morrison has done is divide Australians. And at the moment, he is seeking to divide Australians based upon what state they live in. And in particular, he's divisiveness against Queenslanders, where he referred to Queenslanders and Western Australians as living in a cave, is, in my view, not an appropriate thing for a Prime Minister to be advocating.

JONES: We're out of time. I was keen to talk to you about the Rabbitohs. They're going have to fall by the wayside for the minute. 

ALBANESE: They aren't falling behind the wayside. They are going to beat the Panthers on Saturday night.

JONES: And I was also going to talk about Grace Tame, who has been involved in the Women's Safety Summit over the last couple days. What an inspiring, amazing young woman.

ALBANESE: She is a great Australian. 

JONES: She's been giving the Government heaps so she's a very interesting character. But look, we are out of time. Great to talk to you this morning. And the other two subjects we'll catch up with down the track. And we'll just see, Cowboys or Rabbitohs, I can't quite hear you properly there, Albo. You have a great day.

ALBANESE: Thanks very much, Murray. 

JONES: Always good to talk to you. Leader of the Opposition, Anthony Albanese.

ENDS