SUBJECTS: Vaccine rollout; national quarantine; Morrison Government failing Australians during a health pandemic; National Party leadership; climate change; net zero by 2050.

FRAN KELLY, HOST: The Prime Minister will be convening an emergency meeting of National Cabinet to try and speed up the vaccine rollout, which one state premier has blasted as an absolute shambles. Labor Leader Anthony Albanese is in our Parliament House studios. Anthony Albanese, welcome back to Breakfast. 

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

KELLY: Who leads the Nationals does matter, especially when it comes to climate policy. What's your view? Would it be in the country's best interest for Michael McCormack to stay on as Nationals Leader and Deputy Prime Minister? 

ALBANESE: Well, it certainly does matter to the country. And what's clear is that the National Party are not focused on the needs of the nation, they're focused on themselves. This could be a very big day for David Littleproud. He must have had a sleepless night. Michael McCormack is under siege. Barnaby Joyce continues to disrupt. It's very clear that this holds back the Coalition from ever taking serious action on climate change that we know would actually be good for jobs and good for lowering energy prices. 

KELLY: So let's go to that. Barnaby Joyce is very strident when it comes to the support of coal. Michael McCormack has said in a podcast for the last few days that the Nats won't accept stronger emissions reductions targets. If Barnaby Joyce does win the leadership, if there is action, and there's no guarantee anything will happen in the Nats Party room, but how would you see that? Would that sink the Prime Minister's efforts to move the Government and the country towards adopting net zero by 2050?

ALBANESE: Well, what efforts, Fran? It's pathetic. You have a national leader of Australia who can't get a one-on-one meeting with President Biden.

KELLY: Well, hang on. At the end of the day, there was a meeting with Joe Biden and Boris Johnson. That's a pretty important kind of alliance, isn't it?

ALBANESE: Come on, Fran. When was the last time an Australian Prime Minister couldn't achieve a one-on-one meeting with the President of our most important ally, the United States? And on the sidelines, when he did have a press conference with Boris Johnson, it was Boris Johnson crab-walking Australia's policy announcements and the Prime Minister being mute. It was appalling. The fact is there's a lack of leadership. And what's clear is that whoever leads the rabble that is the modern National Party, the chaos will continue. And the failure to adopt any target and join the world, the whole world, Fran, every state and territory government, the Business Council of Australia, the National Farmers' Federation, every major corporation, be it banking or resources sector or anywhere else for that matter have all adopted net zero by 2050. But the Australian Government is not capable of it because of their chaos when it comes to climate change because they still have too many people in the Liberal Party and the National Party who just don't accept the science. 

KELLY: The Prime Minister's language has changed over months and more recent weeks. The Foreign Minister, Marise Payne, told Insiders yesterday that achieving net zero, quite preferably by 2050, is still the Government's plan. But she added that it's a broad position. Do you think the Coalition is inching away from a firm commitment or towards it? I mean, you've been watching politics for a long time. How do you interpret the Prime Minister's position?

ALBANESE: There's no commitment. There's no position. They've had 22 separate energy policy announcements since they came to the office eight long years ago. And they haven't landed a single one. The uncertainty that's out there, the chaos that's out there. You had the New South Wales Government making a major announcement about electric vehicles. Now, I await the Prime Minister condemning them because that will mean the end of the weekend, which is what his policy has been when he became Prime Minister and what he stated during the last election. This is a Government that are scared of the current realities but terrified of the future. What we need is a Government that's prepared to embrace the opportunities that are there for job creation. Australia can be a renewable energy superpower, we can lower our energy prices, we can have competitive manufacturing, if we're prepared to open up our eyes to the opportunities which are there. But this Government remains incapable of seizing them.

KELLY: Well, could the Opposition be turning the heat up on the Government over climate? Would there be more pressure on the Coalition if Labor got around to adopting medium-term targets around 2030 or 2035? Labor also followed the Government's lead in embracing gas as transition fuel. There is not a big gap, is there? 

ALBANESE: There's a huge gap, Fran. 

KELLY: A 2050 gap.

ALBANESE: That is where the world needs to go. And under Labor, Australia would re-join that global effort for what is a global challenge.

KELLY: Would Labor commit to mid-term targets of the G7?

ALBANESE: Well, there aren't single medium-term targets of the G7, Fran.

KELLY: The G7 made it very clear by 2030 they had to decarbonise their electricity.

ALBANESE: Every nation has different targets. And Labor has said very clearly there won't be a new coal-fired power station built in Australia. The economics of it don't stack up. The fact is that clean energy alternatives have become far more competitive. And that's what the market is saying, Fran. We have a policy out there, for example, to Rewire the Nation, a $20 billion fund announced in my first Budget Reply. What that's about is making sure that, in terms of transmission, you can stabilise the grid, renewables can enter into that grid in a way that that is most efficient. And it is the low-hanging fruit that the Australian Energy Market Operator says should be adopted. They've actually got a roadmap through their Integrated Systems Plan of how to get there. And this Government's incapable of embracing that. On top of that, of course, we have our community batteries policy, we have our policy to lower prices of electric vehicles. And we'll have more to say when it comes to policies that will be consistent with moving towards net zero by 2050.

KELLY: Just to finish off on the Nats, given climate policies, the sort of issue that seems to have brought this leadership, should the usually secretive Coalition agreement between the Liberal and the National Party leaders be made public?

ALBANESE: It absolutely must be made public. This is a secret agreement that is holding our Government and our nation back. And the Australian people don't get to see it. It's outrageous, Fran, that this secret agreement isn't transparent. And you look at the National Party. I mean, we have sat for weeks during the mice plague that is devastating regional communities and the National Party have not had one word to say about it in the Parliament. They've shut down debate. They say it's just a matter for the states. They've abandoned their traditional supporters. And it's no wonder that we're seeing the rise of not just Labor in seats like the Eden-Monaro by-election, where we were successful, but also the rise of parties like the Shooters that finished ahead of the Nats during that by-election.

KELLY: You are listening to RN Breakfast. Our guest is the Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese. On another matter of national importance, the Prime Minister will convene National Cabinet today following the new medical advice last week to further restrict AstraZeneca to people over 60. The Government has an order of 40 million Pfizer shots to come in by the end of the year, which will ultimately be enough for everyone who needs one. Is that good enough? 

ALBANESE: Fran, this has been a debacle. They met with Pfizer in July last year. They sent along a junior burger for negotiations about the most significant challenge confronting the nation. They had two jobs: the effective rollout of the vaccine and national quarantine. And they botched both. And they're too busy patting themselves on the back to engage in the sort of delivery that states are crying out for. If you're in New South Wales now, Fran, in my local area, my constituents are telling me that you can log on, you'll get given a number of where you are in the queue to get a vaccine. These are people who are told they're eligible and then you get told, 'There's no appointments available, we'll get back to you'. No wonder with the mixed messages coming out from this Government, the failure to deliver on supply that every premier, Liberal and Labor, are saying is a real constraint. They're too busy promoting themselves to worry about the one big job that they had this year.

KELLY: The premiers are saying that it's a lack of supply. The acting Victorian Premier, James Merlino, says the state does not 'have the supply from the Commonwealth to match the demand for first doses, it's an absolute shambles' is the quote from him. The Prime Minister, though, will reportedly today admonish the states for under-ordering the vaccine and for keeping too many vials locked away in the fridge. Is the slow pace of the rollout entirely the Commonwealth's fault? What's your sense of this?

ALBANESE: Of course, the supply is the Commonwealth's fault. It's their responsibility. This is a Prime Minister who won't take responsibility for anything. A Prime Minister who should have implemented, at this stage last year he should have been putting four measures in place: the effective rollout of the vaccine, national quarantine, an effective public information campaign and setting up for the manufacturing of mRNA vaccines here. He hasn't achieved any of those four points that Labor has been talking about now for more than a year. They were too busy with nonsense like how we were at the front of the queue, everyone was going to be vaccinated in the priority categories by Easter, and we still have aged care residents who haven't been fully vaccinated. They don't know how many aged care workers have been vaccinated. People with disabilities, less than half have been vaccinated. And we have others just simply not knowing when they'll be able to be vaccinated. You had the breakout in New South Wales because someone driving a foreign crew in Sydney wasn't vaccinated. I mean, for goodness sake, how long will it take before this Government accepts responsibility? But the 'I don't hold a hose, mate' is now responsible and has now morphed into 'Well, I'm not responsible for the supply of the vaccine' when, clearly, he is.

KELLY: When it comes to the supply and the rollout of it, there is a report that Pfizer shots will be reallocated based on population size of the states except in the case of outbreaks. Do you believe the rollout of Pfizer has been equitable?

ALBANESE: It's not about equitable. There hasn't been enough of it, Fran. That's the problem. The problem isn't the allocation between the states where, once again, the Prime Minister is setting up a phone hook-up with the premiers today, clearly with the spin out there that somehow, it's their fault and that what we have to do then is put state against state. The problem here is the supply of the vaccine, which is the Commonwealth's responsibility, just like national quarantine should be the Commonwealth's responsibility as well. He had two jobs. He botched both of them. 

KELLY: You mentioned earlier of the reports the Government had the chance in July to do a deal with Pfizer, which is five months before we actually signed a contract. The Government went primarily with AstraZeneca, in part because we could produce it domestically. Also, it was significantly cheaper.

ALBANESE: It was because it was cheaper.

KELLY: Should the price tag have been an issue for the Government? And if more Pfizer could be acquired now but at a significant premium, a price increase, should the Government spend whatever it takes to speed up the vaccination rollout?

ALBANESE: Fran, this Government has presided over a trillion dollars of debt. There is red ink from here to the never-never under this Government. They have splashed money everywhere, including, how about this for an idea, instead of giving money to companies that have increased their profits to record levels and have benefited their corporate executives, they had of spent some of that money on the rollout of the vaccine. There is an idea for you, Fran.

KELLY: Anthony Albanese, thank you very much for joining us. 

ALBANESE: Thanks very much, Fran.

ENDS