SUBJECTS: Visit to Cairns; Sydney lockdown; need for the Morrison Government to fix vaccine rollout and national quarantine; Queensland tourism; aged care; home care workers being forgotten during the COVID-19 pandemic; international borders; state borders; hotel quarantine breaches; purpose-built quarantine facility proposals. 

ELIDA FAITH, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR LEICHHARDT: Good morning. Thanks for being here, everyone. We are joined by our Queensland Senator based from Cairns, Nita Green, and a big Far North Queensland welcome to Anthony Albanese. It's Anthony's third trip in Cairns this year. So that's saying something, even though we haven't turned the weather on for him today. Sorry, Anthony. If you ask me, we live in the best part of Australia. We're right on the doorstep of the beautiful Great Barrier Reef, we've got the Wet Tropics and we're rich in Indigenous and Torres Strait heritage and culture. Now, we know that COVID has been tough for Far North Queenslanders. And it's been particularly tough for our tourism operators here in Far North Queensland. We have some of the best Far North Queensland tourism operators in the world. Now, these people aren't just passionate about showcasing what Far North Queensland has to offer, they're not just passionate about showcasing to Australia, to the world, but they're also passionate about educating people on how to look after the Great Barrier Reef, how to look after the Wet Tropics and so on. So we know that COVID has been tough for them. And today, Anthony, Nita and I have had the opportunity to have a chat with Hans from the Cairns Divers Den and also Ronnie from Cairns Adventure Tours. And we've heard firsthand how the COVID pandemic has affected them. And also, we've heard firsthand how recent lockdowns have affected them. And look, Scott Morrison told Australia that the COVID vaccine rollout is not a race. But I can tell you that it is a race. It is a race for Far North Queensland tourism operators. It is a race. We need to get on with getting the vaccines into the country. We need to get on with quarantine facilities. Because right now, we are losing that race. And I'm going to hand over now to Anthony. Thank you. Nita, apologies, I'm handing over to Nita.

NITA GREEN, LABOR SENATOR FOR QUEENSLAND: Thanks, Elida. Very briefly, everyone, I want to make it clear that from the very beginning of this pandemic, Labor has stood side by side, shoulder to shoulder with our tourism industry right here in Cairns. I remember being at that crisis meeting in February 2019, when we realised that this would have a huge impact on the industry here. Labor called for the Government to introduce JobKeeper. We pressured them into doing that. And they did introduce JobKeeper because Labor put the pressure on them to do that. When the Government was talking about taking away JobKeeper early, we put the pressure on the Government to make sure that they didn't take away JobKeeper from a community like this that really needed it. When the Government finally made the decision to take JobKeeper away, we called on the Government to make sure that there would be some sort of targeted response, that there would be an ongoing support system for our tourism industry here in Cairns. And what the Government came up with was a package that they said was going to fix the problem here in tourism. But what the Government failed to do was to tell people that their package and their plan for tourism would be undermined if we didn't get the vaccine rollout right. I remember being at the Advance Cairns event and seeing Warren Entsch dressed in his tux, clinking glasses with people as if they had saved the day. But what they didn't tell people in Cairns was that if they didn't get the vaccine rollout right, that when it came to October and the population wasn't fully vaccinated, that we would be back in the same situation again, needing to highlight this industry and putting the pressure on the Government to do their job. The truth is, when it comes to the vaccine rollout, Scott Morrison hasn't lifted a finger to help the tourism industry here. And Warren Entsch hasn't lifted a finger to help the tourism industry here. Because if they really cared about the tourism industry, they would be doing what Labor has called for - a national quarantine program and getting the vaccine rollout right. Elida is 100 per cent correct when she says that this is a race. It is a race to protect our community. And it is a race to get our economy back on track. Thanks, everyone.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Well, thanks. Thanks very much to Hans and to Ronnie for talking to us today directly about the impact that the ongoing COVID issues are having on the tourism sector right here in Far North Queensland. We know that the economy here is dependent upon our international borders being open but also our national borders being open. And here we are in July, this should be the peak tourism season. And the failure when it comes to national quarantine and the failure to roll out the vaccine means that as of right now, people in Northern Territory, in South Australia, in Western Australia, in New South Wales, all can't travel to Queensland. I had to spend 15 days in Canberra in order to be able to come to Queensland. And it's been good to hear firsthand the impact that this is having on the sector. These are people who've invested a lot of money in building up their businesses. But if you don't have the tourism traffic, if you don't have the numbers on boats and on tourism activities, then what we have is businesses that are under threat. We need to support our tourism sector. And that needs greater Federal involvement, including with specific programs aimed at supporting the tourism sector. Now, I have said before, Scott Morrison had two jobs this year. To roll out the vaccine and to establish national quarantine facilities. This is Scott Morrison's lockdown and Scott Morrison is missing in action. He's disappeared, as he did last week, from any public accountability for this lockdown. And the extension of the lockdown will have severe economic consequences, as well as having an ongoing impact on people's mental health, as well as having an impact well beyond just New South Wales. But it is necessary because we are last in the developed world when it comes to the rollout of the vaccine. This Government has gone from being complacent last year, when they said we were at the front of the queue, to being incompetent in the way that this vaccine rollout has been handled. We must remember that this current crisis began when someone drove a foreign air crew to hotel quarantine in Sydney without a mask who was unvaccinated. And we know also that people in aged care who I met with yesterday, aged care workers in Redcliffe, aged care workers still aren't all vaccinated. Disability care workers aren't vaccinated. Aged care residents aren't fully vaccinated. And that is leaving those people vulnerable to the community. And what's more, this Government doesn't even have a plan to vaccinate those who are involved in home aged care, the delivery of those services. A million Australians receive some form of home care assistance and yet the aged care workforce who look after them, there's no program to vaccinate them at the moment. Happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: Should we be mandating a wider range of workplaces to be vaccinated?

ALBANESE: Well, common sense tells you that we need to get people vaccinated. The issue here isn't so much one of mandating, it's that they can't get vaccinated. People are desperate to be vaccinated. And they are just unable to make an appointment. Aged care workers were told that they'd be fully vaccinated by Easter this year. We're now in July. And they're still being told, 'Go to your local GP, see if you can make an appointment to be fully vaccinated'. And the truth is that they're unable to do so because it comes down to supply. This Government didn't do enough deals for enough quantity of vaccines soon enough. And that's why last year, when we were saying you needed to do five or six deals, you needed to have sufficient quantities, and you needed to get those quantities in sooner rather than later, this Government was saying, 'Oh, don't worry, we're doing really well'. The truth is that Australia has squandered the advantage that we build up due to the sacrifices that Australians made last year. We were doing very well. We're now absolutely last in the developed world. And we're not in the top 100 of countries when it comes to the rollout of this vaccine. 

JOURNALIST: The fact that we've had zero COVID deaths in Australia this year, do you think that's a triumph? 

ALBANESE: I think that we're continuing to see a massive impact of COVID. And we're seeing it here in Far North Queensland. It, of course, is a great thing that we're not seeing deaths from COVID in Australia this year. But we are still seeing lockdowns. We're still seeing people, there are a number of people, currently in hospital in New South Wales as a result of the latest outbreak. There are people on ventilators as a result of the latest outbreak. And there are some five million people in Greater Sydney who will have their lockdown extended as a result of this latest outbreak.

JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, South Korea's getting hundreds of thousands of vaccines as part of the swap with Israel. Should Australia be considering something like that?

ALBANESE: Well, of course they should have. Why is it that other countries are doing this, but Australia is too busy patting itself on the back saying we are at the front of the queue? This Government, last Friday, Scott Morrison announced a four-phase plan for COVID, in which we are at the beginning of phase one. Other countries are opening up. We are locking down. People can see the Wimbledon tournament that has people who visited from around the world to go to that tournament. You have participation in the European Football Championship that's on at the moment. In Australia, the restrictions are ramping up, not down. And we should have been using everything at our disposal, including the fact that Israel had excess Pfizer vaccines that were going to run out of date. It's a very sensible deal that South Korea have made. Why is it that Scott Morrison didn't use his visit to the G7 as an observer to say to people who he met with, other world leaders, our friends like President Biden, 'Can you help us out with any excess capacity which is there?’ or from other countries as well like Israel that have done this deal with South Korea. This is a Government that continues to prioritise spin and marketing. And ironically, there's no marketing campaign to promote vaccinations that is effective out there.

JOURNALIST: Just a question from Rockhampton. The State Member for Callide, Colin Boyce, has nominated for preselection for the seat of Flynn, given Labor has put forward the Gladstone Mayor as the candidate, how confident are you of securing the electorate?

ALBANESE: Well, I'll be in Flynn tomorrow. And I'll be there with Matt Burnett, the Mayor of Gladstone, who is an outstanding candidate. He's an outstanding candidate who's represented his community and has also, through his involvement with the Region of Councils, and as Vice President of the Australian Local Government Association, is fully aware of all of the issues right across the electorate of Flynn. I think Matt Burnett will make a great Member for Flynn. And he will be someone who will stand up for the interests of Central Queensland in Canberra. He will be a great voice in the Caucus and in the Parliament. And I'm very pleased that we have a local champion in Matt Burnett as the Labor candidate for Flynn. Very confident that he'll be successful. Because I've seen how he relates to businesses, to workers and to the community. He's passionate about Central Queensland. And he'll bring that passion to Canberra as the Member for Flynn. 

JOURNALIST: Should Annastacia Palaszczuk be going to the Tokyo Olympics? 

ALBANESE: Well, I wasn't critical of Scott Morrison, who has taken two overseas trips in the last couple of months. And I wasn't critical of Scott Morrison because leaders have to represent Australia at appropriate forums. Now, the real question here is, is it in Queensland’s interest to have the Olympic Games? To that I say yes, with an exclamation mark. And anything that can contribute to that is, of course, worthwhile in terms of a work trip. And what the Olympic Games could be for Queensland is what the Olympic Games were for Sydney. I saw it firsthand. It transformed our city. It brought investment. It brought ongoing tourism as well. And here we are in one of the tourism capitals of Australia. There's no better place to be than Far North Queensland. Won't it be good if the Olympic Games are held here in Queensland, to showcase not just Southeast Queensland, this is about the whole of Queensland. This is about this region and the Tropical North being showcased. It will be a very good thing that will have a lasting economic benefit for jobs and economic activity right here in Cairns.

JOURNALIST: But is it then hypocritical of her to push to halve the international arrivals cap and then go overseas herself?

ALBANESE: The person who is responsible for a failure when it comes to our migration, customs and quarantine is Scott Morrison. It is the Federal Government's responsibility. And Annastacia Palaszczuk put forward last October the proposal at Wellcamp Airport. I visited there just two days ago, right near Toowoomba. It's an appropriate site for a purpose-built facility. And what we need when it comes to quarantine is to make sure that we have purpose-built facilities. The problem has been these outbreaks have come because we have quarantining mainly in our capital city CBDs in the most densely populated areas of Australia. And they've seen 26 outbreaks. Scott Morrison says hotel quarantine is working fine, it is 99.99 per cent effective. What he doesn't say is that the impact of a breach can be billions of dollars. And that is what we're seeing right now. Billions of dollars lost to our economy as a result of Scott Morrison's failure to establish appropriate quarantine facilities and to make sure that our vaccination rates are not last in the developed world. 

JOURNALIST: There's been two breaches actually in Cairns over the past two months. What do you make of those? 

ALBANESE: Well, we should have appropriate facilities. We know it works. We don't have to theorise here. Howard Springs, that has had more people go through it than any individual hotel or area that’s being used for quarantine, has had no breaches, has had no safety issues. People who have had COVID there from overseas haven't spread it around because it's an appropriate facility. Now, there are other appropriate facilities available. Some of them were identified by Jane Halton last year and they haven't been used. And some of them have been identified as venues where appropriate facilities could be built, like Wellcamp Airport near Toowoomba. And they haven't been advanced by this Federal Government. So as long as we're putting people in hotel quarantine, we will continue to have outbreaks, we will continue to have breaches. Hotel quarantine has problems with ventilation systems. They weren't built as quasi-medical facilities. They were built for tourists. So what I want to see is tourists in those hotels. But the key to getting tourists in those hotels, rather than people quarantining, is appropriate purpose-built quarantine facilities and fixing the rollout of the vaccine.

JOURNALIST: Just finally, back to vaccinations in aged care, the Aged Care Commissioner Lynelle Briggs says she's shocked and dismayed by the rate of vaccinations among aged care workers. What's your response to that?

ALBANESE: Well, this is a national disgrace. One in six aged care workers have been vaccinated when we were told that they'd all be vaccinated by Easter. It's now July. And there are real consequences. And the real tragedy here is aged care workers are heroes. They look after our vulnerable older Australians. They don't do it for the money. They do it because they care. They do it because the people they look after are their friends, they're not just their clients, they're their friends. They do it out of compassion and love for their fellow Australians and some of our most vulnerable Australians. And this Government has just let people down. And it's too obsessed by its own PR. Today, we have seen an announcement of a business roundtable. Well, a business roundtable isn't a vaccine rollout, it's a PR exercise. And Scott Morrison, with his statement last week, where he had four phases, you will recall, we're at the beginning of phase one after 18 months of the pandemic. And guess what? It looks just like the old scheme, because phase one is roll out the vaccine. That's what he announced in January at the National Press Club would be the priority this year. He set out targets. Four million people would be vaccinated by the end of March. We would have aged care workers, aged care residents and people in disability care vaccinated by Easter. Now, this Prime Minister has stopped having targets because they are never met. Now, instead, we have horizons. Horizons, of course, are things that people in the tourism sector here with this wonderful coastline know that, as you move towards it, it moves back. You never reach a horizon. And that's the problem here. The tourism sector needs certainty. They need certainty to be able to plan. They need certainty to be able to invest in their businesses. And they need certainty in terms of dealing with the labour market. Much of the labour market in the tourism sector is seasonal. I've heard today stories about people coming up here, being trained for the peak season right now, and of course, there's no work for them. That presents an enormous problem for them. But it's a problem for the businesses as well. And it's that uncertainty which a failure to have any targets and any timelines is not a plan, it's a concept. And that's all we have from this Prime Minister - a concept which has four phases, which has no targets, which has no timelines, and provides no certainty. It's not good enough. And it's also not good enough that the Prime Minister has just gone missing at this critical time. 

JOURNALIST: Just back to hotel quarantine. Would you like to see a purpose-built facility in North Queensland?

ALBANESE: Well, I know that that's been advanced by a range of the councils here in North Queensland. It's a matter for them. I haven't seen any specific plans and I haven't had the opportunity to meet with the councils while I've been here. I'll be in Mackay and Gladstone tomorrow. Certainly, what we need is more specific sites. Howard Springs, of course, doesn't service just people from the Northern Territory, it services people throughout Australia. And we just need more capacity. The Wellcamp site can provide capacity for 600 people in 12 weeks and a thousand people in 16 weeks. That'd be a pretty good start, because the planning is done and it's ready to go. Thanks.

ENDS