SUBJECTS: Targets during a pandemic; Vaccine rollout; ATAGI advice; AstraZeneca; need for national quarantine facilities; Scott Morrison failing Australians during a pandemic; Federal Government failing on delivering; Federal Election.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Well, the first thing to say is that it is remarkable that it took 18 months into a pandemic for the Government to actually come up with some targets as a result of research from the Doherty Institute. We think it's a good thing that there are targets, that we have an objective to aim for, and that be fully explained to the Australian people, which is why we've also asked that the Doherty Institute's details and research and findings be released to the public so that the public can have confidence in them.

JAMIE TRAVERS, HOST: I mean, do you think the numbers sound about right? 70 per cent - 80 per cent?

ALBANESE: Well, they sound about right to me. But what we need to know is the basis for coming down with those figures. Quite clearly, we need to aim for as higher level as possible of vaccinations. And we know, for example, that the Delta strain is particularly impacting younger people much more than the Alpha strain did. So there's an argument about vaccinating under-16s, people 12 and over, as well as the debate that's being conducted by medical experts. But we need to, I think, aim as high as possible.

TRAVERS: And how do we get there? Is it a mix of AstraZeneca and Pfizer? What would you do?

ALBANESE: Well, it's a mix of vaccines. But quite clearly, the problem here is the Government didn't do the two jobs they had this year - rolling out the vaccine and effective national quarantine. And rolling out the vaccine, we didn't do enough deals with enough companies to get enough vaccines early enough. And so we've had, for example, Novavax, the 51 million vaccinations that were due to be delivered have been postponed until early 2022. We don't have enough Pfizer at this point in time. 

TRAVERS: But we do have bucket loads of AstraZeneca. 

ALBANESE: We do. And for people who can get AstraZeneca, they certainly should. And we encourage people to be vaccinated with the vaccines that are available. But what we know is that for some groups, what ATAGI have found is that Pfizer's the preferred vaccine for some. But as long as people consult with their doctors, they should take that medical advice. And the whole way along, one of the things I've been determined to do is to not get in the way of that medical advice. When politicians have, it's created confusion.

TRAVERS: Just on that, and some Labor MPs I speak to, they say that the Government has stuffed up Pfizer, there isn't the supply of Pfizer, and as a result, the Government is flogging AstraZeneca. Do you agree with that?

ALBANESE: Well, the Government has stuffed up the delivery of Pfizer. They met with them last July. They didn't do any deals until 34 countries had gone ahead of us in the queue before we signed a deal with Pfizer. And the Government said we were at the front of the queue. And quite clearly, we weren't at the front of the queue. We haven't had any delivery of Moderna yet, at all. So there have been real issues regarding supply. And the New South Wales Liberal Government have said that, other state governments have said that, and doctors have said that. Why is it that pharmacies, 18 months into the pandemic, have just been brought into the delivery of vaccines? I certainly got my flu vaccine this year, and I do every year, off my local pharmacy. And it has been because of supply. And I've visited places in regional Queensland, like Gladstone, Maryborough and other parts of regional Queensland who are just crying out for additional vaccines. Last week, I visited the Logan Entertainment Centre, which is a mass vaccination hub, with Jim Chalmers. And there, they could be distributing more Pfizer and more AstraZeneca if they had access to it. And they just don't.

TRAVERS: Are you concerned about the politicisation of vaccines, and some would say, kind of a demonisation of AstraZeneca?

ALBANESE: Well, the Prime Minister, of course, made the decision to hold a late-night press conference. I'm not quite sure what the reasoning was for him to do that and why it couldn't have waited until a normal time. And that's the decision that he made. And of course, Greg Hunt, also announced as the Health Minister that if people weren't comfortable with that vaccine, then they could wait for delivery of other vaccines, mRNA vaccines later on. What I want is for people to be vaccinated. What I want also, though, is the national quarantine to be fixed. We know that the latest outbreak in Queensland is yet another breach of hotel quarantine. The Government hasn't put in place even ventilation measures that all the experts have recommended for a long period of time. There are no federally run fit-for-purpose quarantine centres under construction around the country. They have an agreement with Victoria. But Queensland is a fair way off because the site that they rejected, of course, could have been up and running last year. It was proposed in October, the Wellcamp site, and the Government's rejected it. We need purpose-built quarantine facilities.

TRAVERS: And I want to come to that because I imagine that it would be a plank of what you would like to do if you were elected. But just finally on the vaccines, your candidate for Higgins, Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah, she's raised some concerns about AstraZeneca. Do you share those?

ALBANESE: Well, she raised concerns, as did the Prime Minister, when the Prime Minister made the statement that he did in his late at night press conference.

TRAVERS: She continues to make those statements on Twitter and social media.

ALBANESE: Well, that's not right. Yesterday, she made it very clear in her press conference that people should take AstraZeneca, particularly in Sydney, in accordance with the changed ATAGI guidelines. And one of the things that we've seen here is a desperate attempt by a Government that has stuffed up supply to not accept responsibility for its failure to deliver enough vaccines to meet demand. Earlier this year in Senate Estimates, when asked why there hadn't been an effective public information campaign, the Government made it very clear that the reason why that hadn't happened was that they didn't think they could meet any increased demand. And they're the circumstances that are the responsibility of the Federal Government. This Federal Government have been responsible for the rollout of the vaccine. And it's the Federal Government that have failed to secure enough supply.

TRAVERS: Speaking of the Federal Government, that's what you want to be. There is inevitably going to be an election next year. What's the first thing that you would do? What's your priority as a Government that you're going to have to go to the Australian people and say, 'I want to be your Prime Minister, and this is why'? What is it?

ALBANESE: Well, the first thing, of course, is to deal with the current pandemic. So that will be an issue that will dominate us for some time. But apart from dealing with the pandemic, and we've put forward our four-point plan now for more than a year since we've been arguing about the supply of the vaccine and national quarantine facilities, is secure work. There's a crisis of secure employment in this country. And one of the things that I've said I would do is follow what Chifley and Curtin did, which was preparing for post-war period and national reconstruction, by having a white paper on full employment, by having a job summit. We've established a range of policies for secure work, dealing with same job, same pay, putting secure work in the Fair Work Act, making sure we deal with gig economy workers, making sure that we make wage theft a crime, that we close the gender pay gap, but also so that we look at where the future jobs will come from, by having a National Reconstruction Fund to create new industries and to transform existing ones. And then by having Jobs and Skills Australia to make sure that Australians will be trained and given the skills to fill those jobs in the future.

ENDS