Visit to Queensland; upcoming Federal Election; COVID case numbers rising; rapid antigen test supply; the need for free rapid antigen tests; border closures; staffing shortages during Omicron outbreaks; aged care; Beef Australia 2024.  
 
AARON STEVENS , HOST: I am joined this morning by the Federal Opposition Leader, Anthony Albanese. Good morning.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning. Thanks for having me on the program. And good to listen to ELO, that brought back memories.
 
STEVENS: Welcome to a beautiful day in Central Queensland and in Rockhampton.
 
ALBANESE: It is absolutely beautiful here. I’m talking to you by the Fitzroy and the sun’s glistening off it. It is just a magnificent morning here, I’ve got to say.
 
STEVENS: Great having you here. It's always good to get a visit from yourself. And of course, earlier in the week we had the Deputy Prime Minister in town. You get the idea that an election is looming. Can you sort of give us an idea of when we might be going to the polls, any thoughts?
 
ALBANESE: Well, the Government's given up governing, so they should go to the polls. Scott Morrison said, way back now months ago, that he was out campaigning when, finally, he visited Queensland, and for a short visit. So, I think that the sooner the better in terms of it being dragged out by this Government. But I wouldn't expect that the election will be till May probably. One of the defining characteristics I think of this Government is that they always wait and wait and wait until they make decisions. And we're seeing that playing out in so many areas related to COVID. Even the Novak Djokovic saga at the moment that's just being allowed to drift on and on and on.
 
STEVENS: Incredible, isn't it? Well, earlier in the week, the Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said May too. So, that's two out of three. The one making the decision. We'll wait and see. But I think May’s probably a pretty good guess. You are here to make a massive announcement, which we'll talk about in just a sec. But you mentioned COVID. This is out of control. 100,000 tests yesterday coming up positive. They're talking now New South Wales about 85,000 people with rapid antigen tests coming up positive. It was all about crushing the curve when this all started. The crashing the curves gone, hasn’t it?
 
ALBANESE: Well, this has been really badly handled, we knew that when we opened up there would be an increased number of cases. That's what the national plan said. Rapid antigen tests were approved in September. You had, for example, the Transport Workers’ Union wrote to the Government and said we need to protect our supply chain, we need to get RATs for our workers in order to get food on the shelves, otherwise there'll be a problem, months ago. And now we have it, this week, the Government has finally purchased $62 million worth of rapid antigen tests. They should be made free for people.
 
STEVENS: For everybody? Who should?
 
ALBANESE: For everybody. For everybody. Because, in the end, it will save money. It will save money for the economy. We have a circumstance now whereby people were told for years that they needed to get tested if they had any symptoms. And Australians responded magnificently. And then we had this change whereby the testing tools grew so long, people were standing in the gears or sitting in their cars for hour after hour only to be turned away. Testing centres closed. Then they got told go get rapid antigen tests, but they can’t access them, because they can’t buy them anywhere. And then they were told you're on your own cost. I have someone in my office in Sydney I spoke to, just ordered five online, $180 for five tests.
 
STEVENS: For five tests? Can’t afford that. Can’t afford that.
 
ALBANESE: Yeah. That's right. If you're a worker who needs to be sure that they’re keeping, not just themselves, but their co-workers safe and the people they come into contact with, how can you afford that? And yet, this Government says if you're on a confession card, you get it for free. And the truth is that overseas, whether it's President Biden or Prime Minister Johnson, they’re providing rapid antigen tests for their population, because they know that it really is a case of, as my mum would say, cutting off your nose to spite your face. Because if people can’t afford a test, they can't get to work.
 
STEVENS: Exactly, as you said, I mean, it's fine for people with concession cards to get them for free but we need to keep the workforce active. What about these numbers? I mean, how do we bring the numbers down? Because they're talking about a peak in late February, early January. By that stage it could be 200,000 people a day.
 
ALBANESE: Well, it's extraordinary. And we just need to put in place whatever health measures are necessary. I'll say this about Queensland, the Queensland Government has done a fantastic job in keeping its population safe and that has been backed in by Queensland. Remember, when Scott Morrison came up during the state campaign, he wanted to open borders before people had even been vaccinated, before people had access to the supply, because he hadn’t organised to secure that supply. I think this is really just the Grand Slam of failures, the tracing, testing, vaccinations and quarantine.
 
STEVENS: Queensland were doing a good job when borders were closed and restrictions were in place. So do we bring those back?
 
ALBANESE: No, it looks like anyone wants restrictions, any restrictions, to be in place for one day more than necessary. But Queensland has done measures like wearing masks indoors. Everyone here is checking in. 
 
STEVENS: Well the checking in isn’t compulsory anymore.
 
ALBANESE: Every single place that I've been to on this visit, and I’ve been to Cairns and Innisfail and Ingham and Townsville and Proserpine and Airlie and Mackay, right up and down the Queensland coast, and I had a bit of a break in central Queensland in December as well. Every place I've gone into, they want to see your green tick and they want you to check in. And it's happened literally in every single place. And Queenslanders are fine with that, they're getting on with things, they understand about protecting each other. And that, I think, is making a difference. In New South Wales, they've removed everything. And now, of course, they're having to put some of those restrictions back on because one of the things that's happening and the big lessons of this period is if you don't get the health outcomes right, the impact on the economy will be worse. It's not a matter of health or the economy. If you don't keep people healthy, there'll be more shutdown of businesses. There'll be more closures. There'll be less jobs, less economic activity. And that's happening with people essentially making decisions that they’ll stay at home, making decisions that they'll look after their health. We have economic impact of shutting down of businesses because they can't get access to their workforce. And now we have a crisis whereby aged care is so bad that Mike Baird yesterday, the former Premier of New South Wales who runs HammondCare, looks after one of the major players in the aged care sector, talking about bringing in the Australian Defence Force to be able to make beds and look after people in aged care facilities because there's a crisis with the workforce. How is it that in spite of the fact the national plan said that this would occur, in terms of the number of infections would increase, that the Government waited until this week to get rapid antigen tests, that Scott Morrison had all that ‘She’ll be right, mate’. Remember him at the cricket, saying, ‘How good’s living with COVID and how good’s taking wickets with COVID’? Well, taking wickets is a great thing. But taking wickets isn’t with COVID. The bloke who had COVID, Travis Head, wasn’t playing.  
 
STEVENS: Exactly. We have to move on. I'll get you to leave it there because you are in town to make a big decision or a big announcement on one of our favourite events, one of our favourite events that comes up every four years.
 
ALBANESE: It is a great event. Beef Week 2024 is the next time it will happen. And we’ll provide the secure funding that Beef Week needs in terms of being able to fund the infrastructure, being able to fund the work that brought an amazing number of visitors here to Rockhampton and to the region. And one of the things that’s happened with this crisis as well, Australians will never ever take for granted beef being in supermarkets ever again. And the fact is, that's where it comes from. So, Beef Australia 2024 is an absolutely fantastic event. We need, and they need, certainty. And we’ll provide them certainty that'll enable them to plan for to be bigger and better than ever before.
 
STEVENS: Perfect. Fantastic. Great to see you in town today. Enjoy your stay and we'll talk soon.
 
ALBANESE: It's a beautiful day here and I'm looking forward to chatting to people this morning. We're going to the saleyards at Gracemere and then we're then we're off to Gladstone to the Rio Tinto Alumina facility to talk with them as well about jobs and their plans to use, as well, clean energy and to expand in terms of the plans in Gladsome for hydrogen and new jobs. It's an exciting time for Central Queensland.
 
STEVENS: It is a busy place to be. Thank you very much. Enjoy your stay.
 
ALBANESE: Thanks very much, mate.