SUBJECTS: AFL Grand Final in WA; Scott Morrison not accepting responsibility; national plan to reopen during the COVID pandemic; Doherty modelling; COVID outbreaks around Australia; lockdowns; vaccine rollout; need for national quarantine facilities; Scott Morrison acting too little, too late; Labor’s $300 COVID vaccination incentive; Mark McGowan keeping WA safe.
 
OLIVER PETERSON, HOST: Federal Labor is backing the national plan to reopen the country when a 70 per cent and 80 per cent vaccination targets have been reached. Joining me live from Parliament House in Canberra is the Australian Labor Leader, Anthony Albanese. Welcome back to Perth Live. Good afternoon. 

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: G'day, Oly. Good to be with you. How excited are you at the prospect of an AFL Grand Final there in the West? 

PETERSON: Very excited. We are going to have the AFL Grand Final, we're going to have the Bledisloe Cup, all we now need is the NRL Grand Final with your Bunnies in them, Albo. 

ALBANESE: Well, I hope so. We're playing the Chooks on Friday night, but I think that the Rugby League Grand Final, I say this, I have the one message, should be in Queensland. Queensland has been looking after the NRL there as hosts. Queenslanders are such fanatical supporters of rugby league. It will be a great thing. But you've already pitched up for the semis and you’re doing pretty well over there in the West at the moment. It's just a pity I'm not there in the studio with you. 

PETERSON: Let's see, you're not going to ask Mark McGowan for an exemption, are you? You're not going to try to buy the way over here for the Grand Final?

ALBANESE: Absolutely not. Mark McGowan is a mate of mine, as you know. But I don't think he would give me an exemption, not even to get into the Grand Final. He's doing a great job in keeping West Australians safe. And what we're talking about now is one of the benefits of the job that he has done. If the MCG, which I think is a fantastic ground, can't host the Grand Final, then the obvious place to have it there is at Optus, such a fantastic ground as well, I have got to say. It is phenomenal. The West deserve it. You are passionate AFL supporters. And it will be a great thing for the game and a great thing for the West. So many Western Australians have paid a lot of money to travel across the country over the years to see a Grand Final. It'll obviously be a lot more convenient if it's right on your doorstep. 

PETERSON: It will be. It'll be a huge event. You've mentioned Mark McGowan and how he is keeping us safe. But you are now backing the national plan to reopen the country. So is that stance putting you in odds with the West Australian Premier? 

ALBANESE: No, not at all. Mark McGowan is part of the national response, of course, that went through the Cabinet. And it seems to me that what we've seen this week is Scott Morrison, who, frankly, wants to talk about what's happening in a few months' time, he hopes, rather than talking about what's actually going on the ground. Today's figures in New South Wales. 919. We've had five people from my electorate who have lost their lives. Five in the last two weeks. It has been devastating. We've got three of those through outbreaks through aged care workers who were unvaccinated working in multiple facilities. Two others, a mum and dad, a real tragedy, the Ibrahims, who are known to me, live in Marrickville, very close to where I live. The mother and father died, one on the Tuesday and one on the Friday. This is a family who came from Lebanon, they have eight children, 53 grandchildren. They have made a major contribution. And just the tragedy. We have 25 per cent of NDIS participants have been vaccinated. 15 per cent of Indigenous Australians have been vaccinated. We have circumstances whereby hospitals in Western Sydney, in Westmead and Blacktown, are now turning away COVID patients because they can't cope. And we have a Prime Minister who congratulated Gladys Berejiklian for not locking down when, quite clearly, that should have happened in June. We had previous outbreaks of the Delta strain. We know how dangerous it is. And that complacency has had real consequences. So we've had Scott Morrison try to pick a fight with Western Australia and Queensland in particular. I for the life of me, Oly, can't see how you provide national leadership by referring to Western Australians as essentially cave dwellers. But then again, this is the bloke who sided with Clive Palmer against Mark McGowan.

PETERSON: That's all history which we know about, Anthony Albanese. The picture you're painting at the moment, it doesn't seem very safe or secure to really be pursuing this national plans. So just to confirm for our listeners this afternoon, you are backing the national plan to open up when we get the 70 per cent vaccination rate in the country?

ALBANESE: Along with every state premier through the National Cabinet, which provides for a vaccination transition phase is what it's called at 70 per cent. That is phase B. Phase C is that 80 per cent of two doses. We're currently at 50 per cent of one dose. 50 per cent. No one wants to see restrictions. No one. Because it has an impact on the economy. It has an impact on people being able to see their friends and relatives. I want to be able to be sitting with you in the studio, but it's got to be done safely. And that's what the national plan provisions, the details that are there. And I do notice that Mark McGowan said yesterday, he spoke about it as being a bit like Seinfeld, a bit about nothing. This is a Seinfeld pivot from a Prime Minister who, just as Labor is about the light on the hill, I think this bloke is the gaslight on the hill. He pretends that what he's talking about is something that's very different. 

PETERSON: When I spoke to the Prime Minister on Monday, he mentioned that you were trying to undermine the national plan. And I know that Bill Shorten and Joel Fitzgibbon on recent occasions in the last couple of days have come out in support of the national plan. You now support the national plan. So is COVID zero sustainable forever, Anthony Albanese?

ALBANESE: Mark McGowan signed up. The national plan went through the National Cabinet. Be very clear here. The national plan went through the National Cabinet process. Every state premier, every chief minister. What Scott Morrison is trying to do though, is to say the national plan is something very different. What Mark McGowan will never do is sign up to not keeping Western Australians safe. And he's right to do so. Same with Annastacia Palaszczuk, same with every state premier, including the South Australian Premier, has, of course, at times like this, had restrictions there as well. I noticed the Prime Minister, I did have a look at that transcript and did have a bit of a chuckle, because he was desperate to say that the person he was opposed to was myself rather than Mark McGowan, having taken Mark McGowan to court on Clive Palmer's side at a cost of your listeners, taxpayers, of a million dollars, that court case took. He had to pay costs to the WA Government, costs to Clive Palmer, from taxpayers' money that directly went into his pocket, not that he needs any, as well as the Commonwealth's own costs. Now, that was a very unwise thing to do. And Mark McGowan has done a good job. I back WA.

PETERSON: Who also backed the national plan.

ALBANESE: Absolutely. But so does WA.

PETERSON: But so does Scott Morrison. So you and Scott Morrison are now on the same team?

ALBANESE: That's talking down the track. The problem here is - what's the road? Who do you trust to keep people safe? Do you trust the Party that believes in Medicare, has always been out there supporting proper healthcare? The Party that supports workers’ rights and will always stand up for that as we come out of this process? Or do you trust the bloke who said we were at the front of the queue when we were at the back of the queue? Who said that it was okay and just sided with Clive Palmer and said in New South Wales it was okay not to lock down when Gladys Berejiklian quite clearly should have?

PETERSON: We've actually said that before. So in the end, it all boils down to basically being politics, doesn't it, Anthony Albanese? Labor versus Liberal. 

ALBANESE: Well, Scott Morrison is the person who's trying to set people against each other. We've been constructive the whole way through, Oly. I put forward, for example, a $300 incentive payment that we've spoken about to encourage people to get vaccinated. I've been, throughout this whole process, saying the two key jobs are vaccinations and purpose-built quarantine. And today in the Parliament, I spoke on the resolution to circumvent the normal process of going through public works for the purpose-built quarantine in Perth and also in Queensland. But why isn't that 18 months or more, 20 months into the pandemic, we're finally talking about purpose-built quarantine? As you know, that's something I was talking on your show about last year. Last year. And hotels are built for tourists. They're not built as quarantine facilities. And we should have had that up and running far earlier. Like we should have had far greater supply of vaccines so that people could get vaccinated.

PETERSON: Anthony Albanese, COVID zero is not sustainable forever, you'd agree on that?

ALBANESE: Well, the aim, of course, is to try and get as low as possible. That's the objective. And that's everyone's objective. What's the objective here? COVID 100? You aim to try to look after the Australian people. And the WA Premier has a job of looking after his people. And might I say, he's done a magnificent job and was rewarded appropriately at the last state election.

PETERSON: So what's your advice to Premier McGowan? When does he open the state borders and run the risk of allowing COVID in?

ALBANESE: Well, Mark McGowan doesn't need my advice. Mark McGowan will make a decision in the interest of Western Australians. And he has done, I think, a fantastic job.

PETERSON: Should he be putting that decision in line with the agreement made at National Cabinet with the national plan?

ALBANESE: Well, it is in there in terms of the agreement in the national plan. It provides for, for example, even under stage C, provides for highly targeted lockdowns only. And I do note that in Western Australia, when lockdowns have occurred, they've been effective. They've been targeted, like at Perth and the Peel Region. They haven't been just everywhere throughout the entire great state of WA. And Mark McGowan has got this, frankly. He has done an outstanding job. And the idea that Scott Morrison can somehow pretend that Western Australians somehow are living in a cave, which is the analogy that he gave yesterday, is, I think, highly inappropriate, but consistent with what led him to join the legal action against the WA Government.

PETERSON: Respectfully, Anthony Albanese, people like to give you a nickname of 'Each way Albo'. Can you both support Mark McGowan and support the Prime Minister and the national plan that has been signed off by the National Cabinet? 

ALBANESE: Well, with respect, mate, Mark McGowan is a part of the national plan. You just said it was signed up by the National Cabinet, which Mark McGowan's a member. So this is a distinction which isn't there, which is why Mark McGowan called it a Seinfeld moment from the Prime Minister yesterday. And what the Prime Minister should be seeking to do is to bring the country together. And I'll make this point. I wish I was going to WA next week. It would be fantastic. But that's not possible for people from New South Wales. And that's one of the reasons why WA has a great potential to hold the AFL Grand Final. Do you think if the borders were open to people from Sydney, you'd be having the previous discussion you just had about having the AFL Grand Final? The answer to that is no.

PETERSON: No, we wouldn't. But we also have this national plan, and the numbers are there. Appreciate your time as always, Anthony Albanese. The Australian Labor Leader joining us live from Parliament House in Canberra.

ENDS