SUBJECTS: Doherty modelling; COVID outbreaks around Australia; lockdowns; vaccine rollout; need for national quarantine facilities; Labor’s policy agenda.

MICHAEL ROWLAND, HOST: Lots back and forth politically on the vaccine rollout this morning between the Federal Government and WA and Queensland, in particular. Let's bring in the Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese. Mr Albanese, good morning to you.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning, Michael.

ROWLAND: I want to ask you about the Doherty Institute targets. Do you support the large-scale reopening of much of Australian society with restrictions when needed once we hit 80 per cent?

ALBANESE: Yes, I do.

ROWLAND: Okay. And do you see lockdowns as being part of that mix?

ALBANESE: Well, the national plan provides for only restricted targeted lockdowns. I support the national plan. It has proposals at 70 per cent and 80 per cent. It is, as it is written, there is scope there for lockdowns, but targeted if they're absolutely necessary.

ROWLAND: Okay. So 80 per cent is agreed to by you in terms of borders reopening, limitations lifted on most Australians?

ALBANESE: Well, that's there in the national plan. And Labor supports the national plan. No-one wants to see lockdowns there for one day more than necessary. But we need to remember the reason why we are having lockdowns right now is, firstly, that quarantine wasn't fixed. These have all arisen from outbreaks, from a failure to have purpose-built quarantine. This current outbreak throughout Australia arises from one limo driver taking a foreign aircrew, unvaccinated, without a mask, to hotel quarantine. And some months later, the whole of New South Wales is in lockdown, we in Canberra are in lockdown, Melbourne it's been quite catastrophic, the direct consequence. And the reason why the consequences of that failure are so great, of course, is because of a failure on vaccines, a failure to get that supply that was needed earlier this year. 

ROWLAND: I want to talk about supply issues and the rollout in just a moment, but based on that 80 per cent threshold, which seemingly everybody now agrees to except WA and Queensland in some respects.

ALBANESE: That's not right. That's not right, Michael.

ROWLAND: Let's start with the WA Premier, Mark McGowan. He is pretty much committed to trying to reach COVID zero. Sharon Lewin for Doherty, the institute behind the modelling, says that is not possible and that will be out of the equation once we hit 80 per cent.

ALBANESE: Mark McGowan has kept Western Australian's safe. Mark McGowan agreed with the national plan. It does provide for safeguards in that national plan. And I find it quite extraordinary that the Prime Minister has basically described Western Australians and Queenslanders as somehow being cave people wanting to stay in the cave. The reason why there are restrictions is because of the Prime Minister's failure to secure enough vaccines, including for Western Australians and Queenslanders, and a failure to build purpose-built quarantine. Premier Palaszczuk proposed the Wellcamp site last October, 10 months ago. We could have had purpose-built quarantine operating for the whole of this year in Queensland at that site. In Western Australia, there were proposals, for example, at Exmouth. I know that the Western Australian Minister, Minister MacTiernan, has spoken to me about the need for quarantine facilities for ag workers and for others. The fact is that the reason why there are restrictions today is because the Prime Minister failed on those two fundamental jobs - quarantine and vaccines.

ROWLAND: Okay. And also, we had the Queensland Deputy Premier, Steven Miles, saying recently even if those targets were met later in the year, Queensland wouldn't necessarily reopen its border to New South Wales. I guess the question I have to you - is it incumbent, as Labor Leader, for you to get the message to those Labor states to come on board as part of the national project once 70 per cent and certainly 80 per cent is reached?

ALBANESE: Well, they are on board. And they have done a fantastic job. And I tell you what is incumbent upon national leadership - it's to bring the whole country forward as a united country and not to try to divide. And Scott Morrison now is trying to distract from his own problems and his own failures by trying to divide the country, by trying to set state against state. And what the premiers have been doing is keeping their state safe. And remember during last year's Queensland campaign, Scott Morrison visiting Queensland, lecturing Queenslanders saying, ‘Open up the borders’, and, of course, the Queenslanders voted overwhelmingly for Annastacia Palaszczuk and for her Government. And remember just months ago here, Michael, in June, the Prime Minister standing up and congratulating Gladys Berejiklian for not taking action, for keeping everything open. And guess what? Months later, New South Wales is still in lockdown and it's spread everywhere. The truth is that the action that Gladys Berejiklian didn't take has had real consequences for people. If you don't take the appropriate action at the right time as a matter of urgency, then what we know is that lockdowns will be more strict and will go for longer. And that's what we're seeing in New South Wales. No-one wants to see it.

ROWLAND: Just before you go, you have based a lot of our political strategy this year on criticising the slow rollout. It has been agonisingly slow, even Government MPs concede that. But do you worry by the time we get to early next year with 80 per cent hopefully being reached, if not more, restrictions largely off, lockdowns hopefully being a thing of the past, not really having much of a political strategy to run with? 

ALBANESE: Michael, I want Australians to get vaccinated. I want restrictions to be lifted. And I want to have a debate about what Australia's future is. That's why we have already put out plans for building back stronger, our National Reconstruction Fund. That's why I spoke at the National Press Club in June saying that we would have a job summit, say that we would have a full employment White Paper. That's why I have said we'll create Jobs and Skills Australia. That's why I'm talking about what sort of an Australia we can both imagine for the future that is stronger and then set about creating it. We have already got those plans out there. We'll continue to roll them out. And I hope that we're as successful as possible. But what the question will be is when vaccination rates are up and restrictions are lifted, who do you trust to take Australia forward? The Party of workers' rights, the Party of giving people a fair go, the Party of Medicare to look after your ongoing health? Or a Government that basically has talked itself up, that didn't deliver in terms of the vaccine rollout, that hasn't delivered purpose-built quarantine and doesn't have a plan for the future?

ROWLAND: Anthony Albanese, thanks for joining us this morning.

ALBANESE: Thanks very much, Michael.

ENDS