SUBJECTS: Victorian COVID-19 outbreak; vaccine rollout; quarantine; Scott Morrison’s handling of COVID-19; vaccine eligibility; contact tracing.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Thanks very much for joining us. Our thoughts today are with our Victorian friends. And Australia stands with Victoria at this extremely difficult time. This will be tough. It will trigger memories of how tough 2020 was, and the long lockdowns that occurred then. So I say to Victorians, stay safe, stay strong. Australia stands with you. Because what we know is that this virus and this outbreak means that an outbreak somewhere is capable of spreading everywhere. And that is why you are doing a service to all of Australia with the sacrifice that is being made. 

It's particularly tough because this could have been avoided. Labor has been saying for a long period of time that the Government had two jobs this year. To get quarantine right and to get the rollout of the vaccine right. The origins of this outbreak come from hotel quarantine in Adelaide and have resulted in a circumstance whereby there are now many thousands who will need to deal with the contact tracers. And, of course, the disruption to life and business in Victoria will be substantial over the next seven days. 

Today, we wanted to repeat the four essential elements of a plan that we have been advocating. The first of those is dedicated quarantine facilities. Second, to get the vaccine rollout right. Third, an appropriate public information campaign. And fourth, the manufacture of mRNA vaccines here. This four-point plan would make a difference. It has been obvious that the plan was required for a long period of time. And yet, we have circumstances whereby, just to give one indicator, there are 237 aged care facilities in Victoria in which people have not been fully vaccinated. There are 29 of those facilities that haven't had a single dose. That's not good enough. The Morrison Government has to accept its responsibilities to lead rather than to just always be looking to not take up what is its job to do. Effective quarantine and effective rollout of the vaccine. Thanks. 

JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, you said this could have been avoided. Are you saying that Victoria is in this situation because of Scott Morrison's handling of the pandemic?

ALBANESE: If we had of had dedicated quarantine facilities, then you wouldn't have outbreaks, of which there have been 17, from hotel quarantine. All of the experts indicate that is appropriate. But the Prime Minister's complacency, whereby again yesterday he stood in Parliament and gave figures of 99.99 per cent effectiveness, this is one outbreak, and it is having a very significant impact on people's health, their physical health, their mental health, their economic activity, and their way of life over the next seven days and perhaps beyond.

JOURNALIST: Would you like vaccine eligibility in Australia to have been expanded to everyone who wants it? 

ALBANESE: Sorry?

JOURNALIST: Would you want it expanded to everyone who wants it?

ALBANESE: Well, they need to get the rollout of the vaccine right. And I might ask Mark to comment on this as well. But when you have the sort of mixed messages that you have, when an Aged Care Minister can stand up this morning in Parliament House and say that he is satisfied with the rollout of the vaccine in aged care facilities, when 29 haven't had a single jab for any residents, where aged care workers have been unable to be vaccinated, where 237 facilities haven't been properly vaccinated, then that is a major issue. And it stands in stark contrast to the, quite frankly, completely inappropriate comments of Richard Colbeck today, who has been kept in this job, I remind you, kept in this job in spite of his failure when it has come to looking after the aged care sector during this crisis.

MARK BUTLER, SHADOW MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING: To add to that, there is clearly a surplus of doses that we have had for some weeks in Australia. The Commonwealth has been delivered 1.4 million doses of vaccine every week, but still only 500,000 vaccinations are occurring. There is certainly a surplus of supply. Now, if that means states in particular with the doses, they have been delivered by the Federal Government are able to start expanding the scope to younger Australians, that is all well and good. But from this building, from Scott Morrison, the priority must be immediately to vaccinate the most vulnerable members of our community. I heard him crowing about the fact that 50 per cent of older Australians of the age of 70 have been vaccinated. Well, that is not right. They have received a single dose. This is a two-dose vaccine. So we have to make sure older Australians are fully vaccinated before winter comes. And winter is coming next week. As Anthony has said, we have to make sure aged care residents, disability facility residents, 99 per cent of whom who are still not fully vaccinated, that they are vaccinated as a priority. So, for sure, if there are additional doses available, particularly at state level, let us get as many injections into people's arms as possible. But we cannot lose sight of the fact that in January, Scott Morrison promised the most vulnerable members of our community would be vaccinated by Easter, and still far too many of them are not.

ALBANESE: Thank you, we will get to Question Time. So one more.

JOURNALIST: On contact tracing, the Victorian Government is only mandating as of tomorrow, this was prearranged before the events of this week, as of tomorrow, there will be a single government-run contact tracing up in Victoria. Other states have done this months ago. Is this happening too late? 

ALBANESE: I will just make one comment in terms of the Commonwealth, the Commonwealth's responsibility. Remember the app from the Commonwealth?

JOURNALIST: This isn’t about the Commonwealth. It is about the state and their QR codes.

ALBANESE: I am the Federal Leader of the Opposition. With regards to the Commonwealth's responsibility here, their COVIDSafe app has barely been used at a cost of more than $70 million. It has been one of the failures of the Morrison Government, to assure people that this was the case, and let me say this, I have seen more ads for that app last year than I have seen ads in terms of the need for people to be vaccinated.

BUTLER: Well, as Anthony said, the importance of the QR code systems around the country was heightened by the failure of the COVIDSafe app. So yet again, a Commonwealth attempt failed and states have had to step into that bridge to cover a failure by the Commonwealth. Yes, of course what we need are strong QR codes systems across the country that enable contact tracers to do their job. And today's events, or the events of the last few days, are a sober reminder to everyone in the Australian community, to all of us, not to be complacent about the use of QR codes. Thank you very much. 

ALBANESE: Thanks very much.

ENDS