SUBJECTS: Vaccine rollout shambles; the need for fit-for-purpose quarantine facilities; Phil Gaetjens leading the COVID-19 Risk Analysis and Response Taskforce; Baulkham Hills aged care cases; vaccinations for aged care workers; Scott Morrison’s COVID “plan”; problems with vaccine supply; vaccination targets and modelling; which medical experts to listen to; commuter car parks rorts; Menulog.   

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Yesterday, three aged care residents got COVID after two aged care workers got COVID. If anything underlines the failure of this Government when it comes to the rollout of the vaccine and protecting vulnerable Australians. It was another reminder. A reminder of this government's incompetence when it comes to the rolling out of the vaccine; an incompetence that has seen us the lowest number of vaccinated Australians of any OECD comparison. The fact that we're last in the developed world in the rollout of the vaccine, in ensuring our citizens are fully vaccinated, comes down to a failure of the Government to plan. And this morning we saw another example of it. Simon Birmingham couldn't say when Australians under the age of 40 will have access to Pfizer. That's what happens when you think it's not a race. When you think that you can just be complacent and sit back and boast about how well you're going, about how you're at the front of the queue. Well, it is a race, and we're seeing the consequences of it. We saw it this morning with Simon Birmingham failing to put together a date for these younger Australians to get access to the Pfizer vaccine, which is the preferred vaccine according to the technical advisory group on immunisation. And the fact that there's no date or no timelines on the so-called four phases that we need to go through says it all about this Government. The fact is that the rest of the world is opening up, Australia continues to be locked down in large part. And that's a direct result of the failure of the Government on two issues: on failing to roll out the vaccine effectively and failing to put in place appropriate fit-for-purpose quarantine facilities. This Government remains stubbornly refusing to build fit-for-purpose quarantine facilities. And Simon Birmingham's response today, where he uses as an excuse yet again from the Government that you don't have regular passenger transport from aircraft from overseas coming into the Toowoomba or Wellcamp Airport, is an excuse. What we're talking about here is charter flights that are coming into Darwin so that people can use Howard Springs. It's a bizarre excuse to say that you can't use that facility when the Prime Minister's own very large planes have used that facility on a regular basis. Happy to take questions. 

JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, Scott Morrison announced after National Cabinet on Friday that the COVID-19 Risk Analysis and Response Taskforce would be the body that decides the vaccination thresholds to go through the four phases. The person who leads that Risk Analysis and Response Taskforce is Phil Gaetjens. Are you happy with this particular arrangement, that this is the body that's going to determine those vaccine thresholds, or not?

ALBANESE: Well, Phil Gaetjens leads a few taskforces, doesn’t he? I'm still waiting to see a number of the reports into Scott Morrison's own office that Phil Gaetjens was in charge of. If we can't see those reports, weeks and months into the period whereby he was supposed to be doing what the Prime Minister could have done, which is just ask his staff what they knew about the Brittany Higgins incidents, then I think there's a question to be asked here. We do need to listen to the medical experts when it comes to these issues.

JOURNALIST: All three of the aged care residents at the Baulkham Hills aged care home were fully vaccinated, New South Wales Health said today. Is that not a sign of the success of the aged care rollout in that these most vulnerable people, when they were exposed, were vaccinated?

ALBANESE: The aged care workers at that facility were not vaccinated. And the idea that that's a success, well, I'd hate to see a failure. The fact is that aged care workers and residents were told they'd be fully vaccinated by Easter. It's now July and we have aged care residents who still haven't been vaccinated. We have aged care workers that still haven't been vaccinated either.

JOURNALIST: Can we talk about the thresholds? Should that be based on the numbers of Australians who have actually been vaccinated or the number of Australians who have been offered a vaccination? Because is there a risk that, say we set 80 per cent, that vaccine hesitancy means we might not actually reach 80 per cent of the population?

ALBANESE: Let's be clear. Eighteen months into this pandemic, the Prime Minister declared on Friday that we'd have a plan for phase one of the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Eighteen months into the pandemic, the Prime Minister has developed a plan, and which we’re at the beginning of it. And phase one and phase two go into 2022, so it's not envisaged that they’ll be opening up for a considerable period of time yet. And the essential problem here is one of supply. That's the problem here. There isn't enough supply, the Government didn't put in place measures to ensure that supply was available, and that incompetence has led to the lowest vaccination rates of any developed country in the world. That's what we're dealing with here. And as a result, that's why we could have the circumstance whereby on Friday, the Prime Minister said we were just at the beginning of phase one.

JOURNALIST: (Inaudible) Mr Albanese, do you have a figure in mind of how much of the population should be vaccinated before you’d be comfortable with reopening?

ALBANESE: I've been asked that before. And one of the things that I should say is refer to previous answers. But I'll give the same answer again that I'll give the next time it's asked, which is we should listen to medical experts. It’s not up to politicians to determine what the appropriate figure is. It's up to the experts. And I'm not Dr Albanese; I don’t even have that in in any circumstances. I do have an economics degree. But that doesn't qualify me to second guess the fantastic experts that we have in this country.

JOURNALIST: Which medical experts would you listen to. Because there will be different views (inaudible)?

ALBANESE: Good attempt. Good attempt, Chris, to ask the same question again. 

JOURNALIST: At least nominate, which medical experts you would -

ALBANESE: I’ll give the same answer. I’ll give the same answer.

JOURNALIST: Which ones?

ALBANESE: Refer to previous answers.

JOURNALIST: You haven’t answered that question.

ALBANESE: You mightn’t like the answer, Chris, but it’s the same.

JOURNALIST: But you haven’t said which medical experts. You won’t nominate a figure. Now you won’t nominate which medical experts.

ALBANESE: You might not like the answer, Chris. But you’ll get the same one. You’ll get the same one. Because it’s not up to me. Nor is it up to you, with respect. The fact is it should be up to the health experts we have, bodies established in this country, including ATAGI, to advise the Government.

JOURNALIST: So that one? It will be ATAGI that you’ll listen to?

ALBANESE: We’ll listen to the medical experts.

JOURNALIST: The composition of the vaccines that have been purchased by the Government was put together on the advice of medical experts. But you're saying that you would have ignored that advice (inaudible)?

ALBANESE: That’s not true. That's just not true. That's just providing an excuse for the Government. These bodies weren't established when you had the Prime Minister talk earlier, a year ago, was talking about how we're at the front of the queue. We were not. All of the health experts, including globally and here, were out there saying we needed to do more deals with more vaccines in bigger quantities. We met with Pfizer in July. We didn't have a deal with them until November. That is an issue of the competence of this Government. This Government was too busy slapping itself on the back and not worrying enough about the detail of ensuring that the vaccines were available. It put all its eggs in the AstraZeneca basket. And we know that there have been consequences of that.

JOURNALIST: On the commuter car parks, does the process around the decision making and awarding of grants amount to corruption?

ALBANESE: Well, this is an absolute disgrace. This pork and ride scheme included commuter car parks where there's no train station near where the car park is. This was a corruption of proper process. The fact is that these were Government decisions. These weren't election promises. This was something that was put in the Budget and then the Government made a decision to provide taxpayers’ money on the basis of submissions from political candidates, who weren't elected members of Parliament, as well as members of the Coalition. That is a corruption of proper process. It’s extraordinary that Simon Birmingham says there's nothing to see here. I remind the Government again, as I did on Friday, that Labor will have a national integrity commission. We need to deal with issues like this because they undermine faith in the political process in this country. This was a $660 million rort from a government determined to use taxpayers’ money as if it was Liberal and National Party money.

JOURNALIST: Can you just talk us through Labor’s recent modelling showing real wages cuts to the average Australian family?

ALBANESE: Well, this is modelling based upon the Government's own figures. According to the Budget figures, real wages will decline over the next four years. And that will lead to a loss of up to $21,000 for an average family. That is an enormous reduction in their standard of living. The fact is that this Government have presided over eight years of stagnant wages. And over the next four years, you'll see a reduction in real wages. This Government doesn't have a plan to lift living standards, it doesn't have a plan to lift real wages, it doesn't have a plan to boost productivity. It just has a plan for getting votes on the basis of handing out specific grants, the odd car park here. The fact is that Australia deserves better than this Government.

JOURNALIST: But some of that modelling, isn’t it a bit selective because it doesn't take into account how high, inflation was high in contrast to 2020 when it was artificially lowered by temporary free childcare, lower rents, (inaudible)?

ALBANESE: Not at all. The fact is that this Government have presided over a flatlining in wages. And, as Mathias Cormann stated, it was a key feature of their economic architecture. This is a government that suppressed wages wherever possible. This is a government that won't stand up for casual employees. This is a government, when we've raised the issue of gig workers being paid the minimum wage, the Minister in Parliament says that it's complicated. There's nothing complicated about it. And what's happening is that, in some cases, business and unions are working outside of government support to deliver better deals. I note, at a time where many Australians are locked down, Menulog has come to an agreement to treat its workers as employees with the Transport Workers’ Union. That's a good thing. That will make a difference in terms of wages but also, in terms of occupational health and safety, we know that six riders for various companies lost their lives doing work in recent times. It's not good enough. This Government never stands up for workers. This Government is taking the side of big mining companies taking the unions and workers to court who've been successful in the principle of same job, same pay, in terms of classifying people who are doing permanent work as permanent workers. This Government has spent $400,000 to undermine the wages and conditions of mine workers in this country.

JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, just back on thresholds. You’re saying you would follow the medical advice. Well, once the state are provided with that medical advice, should they then be beholden to following it and implementing those same protocols?

ALBANESE: Well, they're accountable, of course. But what the statement on Friday showed is that we're a long way away from that. We're a long way away from that. 

JOURNALIST: We’re supposed to be getting the modelling within the next month (inaudible).

ALBANESE: This could be the modelling from a government that said we were at the front of the queue and we weren't, that said four million Australians would be fully vaccinated by March and we weren't, then said they'd get one jab and didn't, then said that everyone in category 1A, including aged care workers, aged care residents and disability workers, and disability care residents would all receive their vaccinations by Easter. None of that has been delivered. Not one target has been delivered. And in the Government's plan it announced on Friday, there are no targets and no timelines. And from Simon Birmingham today we heard again no targets and no timelines for when under 40s would be offered the Pfizer vaccine. This is a government that now speaks about horizons rather than targets. And we know that horizons are never met.

JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese, one of the reasons there’s no timelines or targets is because the Government says it’s waiting for the medical advice. Do you think one of the problems that we’ve seen throughout this pandemic is that too many decisions have been outsourced by government to medical bureaucrats, administrators, who are unelected, and the Government needs to make quick decisions?

ALBANESE: No, the only reason why we haven't got targets is because none of the previous targets have been met. And Scott Morrison's decided, if I don't have targets, then I can't be blamed. This is just a part of Scott Morrison's character, which is always to look for blaming someone else. To always say “I don't hold a hose, mate” on the bushfires has become “I'm not in charge of anything – quarantine, migration, the vaccination rollout during this period”. The fact is that this is a government that never accepts responsibility to lead. This is a Prime Minister that always waits until it's too late before he acts. And that's what we've seen with a government that's established a plan, or a plan to have a plan, one with no targets and no timelines, 18 months into the pandemic. Thanks very much.

ENDS