SUBJECTS: COVID cases increasing; rapid antigen testing; Fast rail from Sydney to Newcastle; Labor’s strategic fleet announcement; Labor’s policy agenda.

HAMISH MACDONALD, HOST: I spoke to the Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese, a short time ago.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning. And happy new year to you and your listeners. 

MACDONALD: And it is an election year, of course. I want to come to your strategic fleet announcement shortly, but let's start with the pandemic. We've just heard from the National Pharmacy Guild, absolutely blistering in their assessment of the switch that has occurred to rapid antigen testing. They say that they found out about this when we did. Why has this been handled the way it has?

ALBANESE: Well, it's been handled in a way consistent with the way this Prime Minister handled bushfires two years ago and the way that he handled the vaccine last year. It is a year ago since he said the vaccine can wait. And here we have a major change in direction with people being asked to go out there and get their own rapid antigen tests. These tests aren't available. People are shopping around. There's the issue of affordability, where a whole lot of people are priced out of gaining access to it. And it's just not good enough. This Government always responds too little, too late. It never prepares for what is necessary

MACDONALD: Should they be free? 

ALBANESE: Well, certainly no one should be excluded from getting a rapid antigen test because of their income.

MACDONALD: So, what does that mean in practice?

ALBANESE: Well, what that means is that, at the very least, that people who can't afford one should be able to get one and should be given one.

MACDONALD: Pharmacies say that they were taken by surprise by this whole change, that they found out, essentially, about this when we did, the public, that being. Could this have been done differently? Obviously, the pandemic is a pretty fluid situation and the Government's had to respond as and when things occur.

ALBANESE: Well, the fact is that this could have been foreseen, and indeed, was foreseen when the Government spoke about the opening up. It was expected that there would be more people who needed to be tested, that there would be more spread of the Omicron virus in particular in the community. It was something that was predicted. What we have here is a Government that has failed to prepare. It has moved away from PCR testing because of the debacle when it came to people queuing for hour upon hour and being turned away from testing sites. It is why it moved to rapid antigen test, but without putting in place access to rapid antigen tests for the population.

MACDONALD: Was it a failure from both the states, territories and the Federal Government not to include these in the national roadmap for reopening?

ALBANESE: Well, the national roadmap anticipated increased spread of this pandemic once there was an opening up. But what we had from the Federal Government is a failure to prepare. And just like they moved from five months down to four months at the beginning of this month, but they'll move to three months at the end of January, the reason why they can't move straight to three months is because they simply don't have the capacity to deliver it.

MACDONALD: But couldn't you say that of the states as well in terms of a failure to prepare?

ALBANESE: Well, certainly, there are issues there. But the issue with regard to supply, just like the supply of vaccines, needs national leadership. And it's a national leadership that's been failing here. The states have been trying to deal with the pressure on their health systems. The Commonwealth, which doesn't run the health system, in terms of state hospitals, has had these jobs that are far simpler than the tasks that the states have been handed. And whether it's the rollout of the vaccine, the failure for appropriate quarantine facilities, or now, the failure to supply rapid antigen tests, this Government has shown that it's always too little, too late. This Prime Minister never prepares. 

MACDONALD: The Pharmacy Guild says there should not be GST applied to rapid antigen tests because of access issues. They say that if the GST is not applied to tampons, it shouldn't be applied to RATs. What's your view?

ALBANESE: Well, that's a pretty reasonable point that they make. This is an essential service that's been provided. And the truth is that the problem with people not getting access to these tests is that they're more likely to therefore be continuing to come into contact, which will lead to a greater spread of the pandemic, which is entirely the reverse of what the objective should be. This Government needs to get its act together. This Government is characterised by Scott Morrison never taking any action until a problem becomes a crisis and then seeking to blame someone else.

MACDONALD: You're launching a new policy today. You want to develop a privately owned fleet of Australian ships to help during times of national crisis. How many ships? Why do we need this?

ALBANESE: Well, what we need is to protect our national interest, including our national security interests. We know that the Australian economy is vulnerable to shocks. And we've been reminded of that during the pandemic. We were reminded of it during the bushfire crisis, where the lack of an Australian fleet meant that we didn't have the capacity to introduce supplies. We had to rely upon a Norwegian flag vessel to deliver food, water and diesel to Mallacoota in Victoria. What we need is an Australian-based fleet that provides us with that security and that economic sovereignty.

MACDONALD: Are there any examples from this pandemic where Australia hasn't been able to get what we need into the country because the ships are not Australian owned?

ALBANESE: Well, we know that there are issues with regard to fuel security. And we know that this is a great concern. 

MACDONALD: But is that because we don't own the ships?

ALBANESE: We know that a failure of having Australian owned ships is a weakness, a gap in our economic sovereignty, and that leaves us vulnerable.

MACDONALD: But how would that make any difference in terms of fuel shortages?

ALBANESE: Well, it makes an enormous difference. If you have an Australian strategic fleet, that can be called upon at times of national crisis, such as issues with fuel supply that need to be secured, then you can call upon that Australian flagged vessel as part of an agreement of establishing the fleet. This is something that is a common sense proposal. We want to work with the shipping industry, with Australian business, with the Department of Defence and the Department of Infrastructure to develop a concrete proposal to make sure that this can be delivered so that the Australian economy, which at the moment is vulnerable, that's why internationally, other countries, like in the United States of America and in Europe, would not allow the circumstances to develop the way we have here in Australia, where we've seen the Australian crews and Australian flag ships disappear, being replaced by foreign crews with foreign flagged vessels that leaves us vulnerable.

MACDONALD: The Federal Government has started this new year with an op-ed from the Treasurer in The Australian this morning, targeting you, particularly, it mentions Bolsheviks, it mentions Jeremy Corbyn, it mentions a Trotskyite agenda. But I think this might be the nub of the argument. Josh Frydenberg says, 'No one should be fooled by the small-target strategy of Albanese and Labor. It's a rousse, a tactic to sneak into government, only after which Labor will reveal its real plans to attack aspirational Australians.' Is that the truth?

ALBANESE: Well, that's rather pathetic that Josh Frydenberg would put his name as the Treasurer of Australia to the work of the dirt unit of the Government digging up distortions and untruths.

MACDONALD: What's the distortion and an untruth in this piece?

ALBANESE: Well, just about all of it. The whole tenor of it is a nonsense. The truth is what's really interesting about the piece is that I was a minister for six years in the Government for Infrastructure, Communications, Regional Development, Local Government, a range of portfolios, and not a single criticism of anything I actually did in Government, such as the creation of Infrastructure Australia, the creation of Regional Development Australia, rebuilding one third of the Interstate Rail Freight Network, putting more money into public transport than all previous transport ministers combined, the National Broadband Network that was delivering fibre to the home and business, not a single critique. 

MACDONALD: It is hard to argue, wouldn't it though, that you've been running a fairly small-target strategy heading into this election?

ALBANESE: I've just announced a strategic fleet for Australia. Yesterday, I announced a priority high-speed rail line would be between Newcastle and Sydney via the Central Coast. We'll have more policies coming out. We're in the business end now. And what we have is a series of policies. In December, I announced a range of policies as well, 500 community workers to deal with domestic violence. We announced our climate change policy, of which Josh Frydenberg couldn't deliver an energy policy for Australia. We've delivered one. And it's one that will end the climate wars. Josh Frydenberg, as Treasurer, has presided over a trillion dollars of debt with no legacy to show for it. He has wasted billions, tens of billions of dollars, on a program because of its design. And Josh Frydenberg has presided over, the entire time he's been Treasurer, a reduction in real wages. It's no wonder he's looking for a distraction by trying to distort things that were said in the 1980s or 90s. And I don't think people are interested in that. I've got a track record. 

MACDONALD: You're accusing him of distortions. I mean, did you support the carbon tax?

ALBANESE: There wasn't one. And the Government have said themselves.

MACDONALD: However, you want to describe it, you supported it. He says you supported the mining taxes.

ALBANESE: This is just a nonsense from Josh Frydenberg to distract from his failure in terms of a record. There isn't a single one of the measures I introduced as the Minister, whether they be the economic reforms, such as moving from 23 transport regulators down to three, that benefited the national economy by $30 billion over 20 years, whether it's the creation of Infrastructure Australia, chaired by Sir Rod Eddington, a body that had credibility that's been trashed by the current Government. And what is really interesting is that they've put this dirt unit inspired piece in the paper today. And they haven't got a single critique of anything that I did as a Minister that I was responsible for over six years. I'm very proud of my record. I'm not surprised that Josh Frydenberg isn't proud of his, because it's appalling. He will be regarded by history as a lightweight Treasurer who delivered debt, who didn't deliver real wage growth, and who didn't deliver any serious reform, and who, as Energy Minister, couldn't land a policy

MACDONALD: Anthony Albanese, well leave it there. Thank you very much.

ALBANESE: Thanks very much, Hamish.

ENDS