Free rapid antigen tests; booster shots; queues for testing; hospital capacity; National Cabinet; Novak Djokovic.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: For over two years now, Australians have been magnificent during this pandemic, during this crisis. They've made sacrifices to protect each other, to protect their families, their communities, to protect people at their workplace and to protect the entire nation.

Throughout it, they've been let down by this Prime Minister. A Prime Minister who always does too little, too late. A Prime Minister who firstly, didn't order enough vaccines, then didn't establish purpose-built quarantine, now is having issues with the rollout of the booster, hasn't put in place appropriate testing sites and facilities to allow people to get tested and then segued from PCR testing into rapid antigen tests without putting in place enough supply and a system to ensure that it was available for all, along with the universal health principles that are enshrined by Medicare, that Labor holds so dearly. The truth is that this Government have had, since September when the TGA approved rapid antigen tests, to put in place a system to make sure that anyone who wants and needs to be tested can do so. And yet, what we see is that people can't get their booster shots, they're getting their appointments delayed. People, when it comes to testing, are queuing outside PCR centres, often for many, many hours, sometimes queuing overnight so they can get access to a test the next morning.

Outside my electorate office where we speak, there's a testing centre in Marrickville Road. The queue there goes all the way down Marrickville Road and down Illawarra Road. Why? Because a whole range of centres around Sydney and New South Wales have been shut in recent days. And people who are told ‘you're on your own, go get your own rapid antigen test’ simply can't gain access to it. There isn't the supply. We have circumstances of people who are feeling unwell traveling around from venue to venue to venue trying to get access to a rapid antigen test. And if they actually get access to one, then they might not be able to afford it. Well, it's time that this Prime Minister actually showed some leadership.

Labor calls upon the Government today to ensure that rapid antigen tests are available and are free. We have a circumstance whereby we've been saying for some time that they should be available for anyone who needs them. We have considered the options and it is very clear that the simplest, most cost-efficient way is to make free tests available. That is a system that's in place in the UK, it’s in place in Singapore. It's one in which, as always, we're prepared to work with the Government to ensure that the best way to provide free tests through the Medicare system. It's clear from Scott Morrison's ridiculous proposal today of making payments to people so that they can then purchase rapid antigen tests that aren’t available, and some of which are the subject of price gouging, just shows how out of touch this Prime Minister is. He doesn't seem to realise that out there, right now, are so many people suffering as a result of the Government not having an appropriate structure in place. The figures today of 35,000 people testing positive in New South Wales alone hide, of course, the real figure. Because the real figure means that those people who can't get access to a test simply are isolating themselves. Or, of course, many are still out there in the community, meaning there are more consequences. The fact is that people are crying out for action. Small business is crying out for action. There's an economic cost to this health failure, which is small business and other businesses not being able to open because they can't get staff. There's a real issue with staff at health facilities, with staff at aged care facilities. We have child care centres that are being shut. Child care centres being shut means that the workers who rely upon that child care can't go to work because they have to look after their children. The economic consequences of this Government's failure to put in place a proper system are there for all to see.

In recent days, we have considered the most economically responsible cause of action. And it's clear that the costs of tests are dwarfed by the costs of inaction that is occurring as a result of Scott Morrison's failure to do his job. This can't wait for a change of government. The Morrison Government has to act. And today, they should abandon their ridiculous proposal of providing funding for people so that they themselves are left on their own to go out there and secure rapid antigen tests, and make sure that what is in place is one of the important elements of what the Government said was its national plan that they have said they would stick to. The national plan relied upon test, trace, isolate and quarantine, as well as vaccinations. This Government is not delivering on that because people aren't being able to access, in an appropriate way, these tests. Happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: How are you suggesting the system would work? You know, what’s the logistics?

ALBANESE: We're happy to work with the Government constructively. But what's very clear is that the Government proposal at the moment, which would be to make payments, it's not clear what the eligibility of them would be, so that people can then go out and purchase themselves, at different costs. And we've seen a range of different costs. We have costs as low as $12 but as high as $50 for a single test. Now, that's not affordable, how are you going to have a system whereby the Government, because of the Government's failure to purchase tests and make them available at the national level, working with the states and territories? It's very clear that the simplest way to do it is to make these tests free and to make them available.

JOURNALIST: What are you suggesting the system would be? Where would the tests be available? Would it be a mail order system, similar to what’s happening in the UK?

ALBANESE: The Government should have put in place before now, we've tried to give the Government some space to get its act together here. But it's getting worse, not better. The solutions they're putting forward are getting more complex, not more simple. And one of the things that has worked during the pandemic is where systems are simple, whereby people have known, for example, that if they have symptoms, they should go and get a test. And Australians have responded magnificently. But what we've seen in recent times in some states, Tasmania, for example, at one stage was having one in every three people who were being tested with testing positive. The sort of rates that we've seen have gone from low single digits to double digits in every state. What that tells you is that there are real issues out there and real issues out there with people not being able to access testing. And we know that if people don't access testing, if they're unaware of their status and there's complications there, then what that does is add to the costs down the road.

JOURNALIST: Is this announcement an opportunity to capitalise on the public outcry? Yesterday, you would only go so far as saying you wanted tests to be made affordable?

ALBANESE: We said yesterday, very clearly, I've been saying day after day that anyone who wants a test and needs it should get it, regardless of their income. I've said that people should not be excluded from getting a test because they can't afford one. What's very clear is that this Government have failed when it comes to the supply of the rapid antigen tests. And today they've come up with this proposal because Scott Morrison always looks at the politics, always looks at the focus group. And he was so determined to say Australia must open up over Christmas and everyone would be back with each other and engaging in normal activity. It's very clear that restrictions on people's activity are now being done by individuals themselves. Because people are anxious. People are scared. And they are that because they not getting the confidence that comes with knowing that you do not have COVID. And all of us now know people who have tested positive in recent days and weeks. And that number is climbing. The number of people in hospital is climbing. The number of people in intensive care units is climbing. It's happening around the states and territories. Here in New South Wales, of course, most acutely. And this Government need to take action. It's very clear that the call we have made for rapid antigen tests to be available to anyone who needs them isn't actually being put in place.

JOURNALIST: Should Australia be giving out rapid tests at the swamped PCR testing sites? As you know, the queues are going for hours and hours and hours.

ALBANESE: Well, quite clearly, there are real problems with the PCR testing sites because there aren't enough of them. Why is it, I've been saying for weeks, and the Federal Government, just like I stood here and spoke about the booster program and said that the Government needed to listen to what health experts were saying, what was happening overseas, and reduce the time between the second shot and the booster shot. Greg Hunt gave a quite extraordinary press conference in response to that, that afternoon, and said that it was irresponsible and that it meant all sorts of things were claimed, and then the next morning announced it. Yesterday, Australians became eligible for their booster shot with a four month gap. That closes to three months in a few weeks’ time. Why isn't it three months now? Because the Government haven't fixed supply. They need to fix the supply of boosters. People are getting their appointments deferred. They need to fix the number of PCR testing sites need to be increased, not decreased, which is what's happening. And they need to make rapid antigen tests available. And the best and simplest way to do that is to make them free.

JOURNALIST: Ambulance Victoria had a code red situation last night. Hospitals are saying they're under extreme pressure. What, if anything, do you want to come out of the cabinet today on hospital capacity?

ALBANESE: The health system is under extraordinary pressure. And I just want to pay tribute to our nurses, our doctors, our orderlies, to all those people who work in the health system who are working under such extreme pressure. The people in the aged care sector, who are really, they're tired. They're under emotional pressure but they're also under physical pressure. I was with Dr Gordon Reid yesterday in Gosford, our candidate for Robertson. He's been working extraordinary hours. We were due to do something the day before, he had to go work at the emergency department at Wyong Hospital. He accounted yesterday for the pressure that people are under in the healthcare system. That's one of the reasons why we need to make sure we put in place measures which take pressure off the system. Now, one way we can do that is by making sure that people can be tested. Because one of the things that's happening, of course, is if you don't get a test and you don't get the care that you need, you are more likely to have an acute health episode than if, early on, it's detected as soon as there are symptoms.
 
JOURNALIST: But what would you do on hospital capacity?
 
ALBANESE: Well, hospital capacity, we need to do what we can to attack this issue at its source. What I would have done is to firstly, order enough vaccines early enough, secure supply. If we'd have done that in Australia, we wouldn't have had all of the lockdowns that we had at the end of last year. We would have also had people, by now, eligible and boosted, in terms of their booster shots would have happened by now. I would have put in place appropriate mechanisms so that we didn't have people, who may will be sick, queuing for hour after hour, sometimes in the sun outside by definition, in order to wait to get a test to see whether they have COVID or not. Those systems should be much more efficient. And I would have, given that it was in September the TGA approved rapid antigen tests to be available in Australia by the first of November, but we have the extraordinary circumstance whereby we have Australian companies producing rapid antigen tests, exporting them overseas because the Federal Government simply wasn't engaged. This Prime Minister once again said, ‘This is not my job’. My message to the Prime Minister is this is your job. You can't just say it's the states’ or someone else's responsibility. This is your job and you need to do it. He said he didn't hold a hose when it came to bushfires. Now he's saying he doesn't hold a testing kit. This is a Prime Minister who never accepts responsibility. He says, from time to time, he has this phrase that Scott Morrison says he's about ‘shake and bake’. Well, it's more like set and forget. Set and forget. Make a decision or make a statement that's always about deferring. And the thing about this Prime Minister is that he always waits until a problem becomes a crisis before he acts. Well, there is a crisis. He needs to act today.
 
JOURNALIST: With hospital capacity, you said you would have done something about vaccines, you would have done something booster shots. Going forward, looking forward, what will you do if elected? 
 
ALBANESE: We're not elected now. You need action now from governments. This isn't a matter of saying, come May we need to do something. Because the crisis and the pressure on the system is there now. What is very clear is that today, the Federal Government needs to acknowledge the pressure that is on the system and take action to ensure that that pressure is relieved.
 
JOURNALIST: Finally, what is your response to Novak Djokovic getting his pass to play?
 
ALBANESE: I'm very concerned about this decision. It makes no sense to me, when Australians are making extraordinary sacrifices, to see an elite tennis player allowed to participate in the system. I think that the Australian Open is a great event. It's a great event for Melbourne, Victoria, not just Australia, but it is, of course, the Grand Slam for the Asian region. And it is a great event. But no one should be above anyone else in this in our systems. And I think that it's not good enough, at this point, for there not to be a full and transparent explanation about how it is that players, officials and spectators will be required to be fully vaccinated in order to attend or participate in the Australian Open. But this exemption needs to be explained. Because it makes absolutely no sense to me. And I don't think it'll make any sense to those healthcare workers who are working their guts out each and every day. Those people who've been out there promoting vaccinations, those people who've been out there making sacrifices, putting themselves at risk. I think that there needs to be a proper explanation. And I haven't heard one yet. Thanks very much.