SUBJECTS: Queensland border reopening; purpose-built vaccination facilities; vaccine mandates, electric vehicle policy
 

HOST STEVE AUSTIN:  This is ABC Radio Brisbane with Steve Austin. Well, the whole issue around borders within the states continues and the issue of borders I think for Australian citizens who've been trapped overseas for a month continues. You know Australia's international border is currently closed to travellers except fully vaccinated Australian citizens, permanent residents and immediate family as well as fully vaccinated Green Lane travellers from New Zealand and Singapore. Now Friday sees the start of the no jab, no entry, public health order for most venues in Queensland. And today, the West Australian premier just a short while ago was announced the border opening date on the fifth of February next year. Quite some time away, 2022, for the Federal Labour leader Anthony Albanese has joined me at this time. Anthony Albanese is that fifth of February date, reasonable in your mind?
 
LEADER OF THE FEDERAL LABOR PARTY, ANTHONY ALBANESE:  I've never second guessed the premiers. I think that Mark McGowan and Anastacia and all the premiers indeed have done a quite extraordinary job in in keeping their residents safe. And that's been their objective.  Listening to the health advice. And of course, unlike New South Wales and Victoria in recent times, Queensland, just like Western Australia have been able to enjoy the sort of freedoms that just hadn't been possible.
 
HOST: What did I fall within our warning, everyone's going to get COVID-19. Anyhow, the premier has said, now that we're having our border, you're going to get COVID-19. Anyhow. So, if we got to get COVID-19. Anyhow, what's been the point of the border closures?
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, I doubt very much that the premier has said that every Queenslander is going to get COVID-19. I doubt that that's the case. But it is the case that when the borders are open, there will be an increase in cases. So, we know that that will occur. That's what all the advice is. And that's what the experience is. But the difference is when you have a vaccinated population above 80%, fully vaccinated and the more you get vaccinated, the better then what you do is you, one limit the number of people who are catching COVID, but importantly, you limit as well, the impact that it has on their health.
 
HOST: The border opening means that more COVID-19 cases are coming into Queensland, this is the Premier's point, that you know, we're essentially opening the borders, let's the virus in.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: That's just the fact.
 
HOST: Yeah. Okay, so my question goes back to the question of we've had 18 months of closed borders. What's the benefit of closed borders, in my mind is waiting for people to get vaccinated? And that's been the one that the key benefits - wait, give people time to get vaccinated, their best protection against the virus. I'm wondering what's happening in Western Australia, where for whatever reason they're not going to open it up until the fifth of February next year.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, their vaccination rates, particularly in some regions are far lower than other parts of the country.
 
HOST: So why are people so slow?
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, because we didn't get enough vaccines, because we had a Prime Minister who said it wasn't a race. And then when it comes to quarantine, we had a Prime Minister who didn't set up purpose-built quarantine. The Queensland Premier had to go it alone, along with the private sector, Mr. Wagner and others, and build a purpose-built quarantine facility at Wellcamp near the Toowoomba airport. That should have been commenced last year, not this year. It should have been up and running, providing safety. We should have had vaccines earlier. We know now from correspondence between Pfizer and the government, that Pfizer were desperate to do a deal with the Commonwealth government and were essentially brushed off.
 
HOST: So, where we are today, of Australians still reluctant to get the vaccine is because of the Prime Minister's bungling of the initial access and purchases of vaccine 18 months ago.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: No there are some people who are just vaccine hesitant. But the truth is that Australians have overwhelmingly voted with their arms and gone and got vaccinated when they've had the opportunity to do so. When they didn't have the opportunity to do so because the government didn't do enough deals for enough vaccines early enough to supply the Australian population, which is why we were way behind the rest of the industrialised world. Way behind
 
HOST: Are we way ahead now as apparently has been stated, are we ahead now Anthony Albanese.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, now we are doing much better.  We are still behind some countries, but we're doing much better now.
 
HOST: Okay, let me ask you, then the Commonwealth, as you said is, is only building one quarantine facility at Pinkenba here in Queensland. Could it have done things differently?
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Of course, it could have. The fact is that last year, the Wagner's came to see me in in Parliament House, John Wagner. And the Premier of Queensland, of course was advocating for purpose-built quarantine. The government received a report more than a year ago by Jane Halton, former Secretary of the Department of Health which spoke about the need to have appropriate quarantine facilities. And they essentially refused to do so. And for reasons that are beyond my comprehension, the Prime Minister insisted on boasting that hotel quarantine was going fine. And the truth is that more than  20 outbreaks have occurred because of hotel quarantine, including the latest large lockdown that began in the eastern suburbs of Sydney and then spread throughout New South Wales, into Victoria, across New Zealand, some in Queensland, it all came about because of one limo driver unvaccinated, without a mask, taking someone to hotel quarantine, and that's where it began.
 
HOST: In fairness to all, it was the Chief Health Officer of Queensland who also said that hotel quarantine was working well.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, the fact is that the Queensland Government were arguing for purpose-built quarantine, as were other premiers.
 
HOST: Yes.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: And the Prime Minister was reluctant. Quarantine is a Federal Government responsibility. And they just dropped the ball. But they dropped the ball on the access to vaccines. We only recently have been able to use Moderna, Pfizer were reaching out early on. It's now more than 15 months since the then Industry Minister, Minister Andrews, has stood up and said that we would have mRNA vaccines being manufactured in Australia within nine to 12 months. Well 15 months on none of that is commenced
 
HOST: So how many other quarantine facilities should the Commonwealth have built here in Queensland?
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, they should have built the one at Wellcamp that was an appropriate facility.
 
HOST: That’s a private facility. that's actually being built for his own business purposes and Queensland's leasing it from him. Queensland doesn't own it Queensland leasing it,
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: I don't think people will be worried terribly much about the ownership structures. The point is that that was a facility that was in an appropriate site that was knocked back by the Commonwealth. And we should have had purpose-built quarantine facilities around Australia.
 
HOST: So how many others are trying to get I'm trying to establish well, how many?
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: I'm not playing a magic number game.
 
HOST: Okay.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: But the truth is we needed to have a number of facilities which would have also assisted Australians who were stranded overseas to come home.
 
HOST :Yeah, so essentially more than one Commonwealth-built quarantine facility?
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE:  More than one Commonwealth-built facility around Australia.
 
HOST: Here in Queensland?
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: No around Australia. Certainly, we should have had at least one in each state. And the only one that is there is of course Howard Springs, which isn't purpose built and has been used quite effectively, just outside of Darwin. And that site is an example whereby there have been no breaches. There have been many thousands s of people have gone through and its record is 100%.
 
HOST: Do you fully support vaccine mandates, meaning anyone who hasn't had the jab, will lose their job in a week from now in Queensland. If they work in a school or an aged care facility or some sort of health facility, do you support vaccine mandates, Anthony Albanese?
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: I support all the health advice being followed.
 
HOST: Answer my question
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, that's the answer. I dont....
 
HOST: Well, all other all other vaccines have been voluntary in Australia. So, I've had measles, mumps, all that sort of stuff, but it's voluntary.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: But Steve, that's not true. If you work in an aged care facility, you needed to have the flu vaccine, for example. That's just a fact.
 
HOST: So, you support vaccine mandates?
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, now I've given you the answer, Steve.
 
HOST: So, can we clarify? I'm trying to tie you down for a reason.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE:  You need to take the health advice.  I'm not a doctor.
 
HOST: Of course, I have taken the health advice on double vaccinated, but I want to know from you, a future Prime Minister of Australia.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: The Future Prime Minister of Australia will take proper health advice of the experts.
 
HOST: Just to answer my question, if you can. because here's what
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: I have.
 
HOST: Okay. So, do you or don't you support vaccine mandates when it comes to Coronavirus?
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: I support the health advice. And if the health advice is that it is appropriate in order to keep people safe, then yes, that is appropriate.
 
HOST: The Prime Minister has ....Let me come at it a different way because I'm trying to get absolute clarity because there's been a great many protests and rallies here in Queensland against, not the vaccine, but vaccine mandates. So that's what I'm trying to do. Because their different. So Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was against vaccine mandates, but then voted against stopping them in in Parliament when the One Nation Political party put it up for a vote in the Senate. So, he didn't vote for that. So.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, he's been all over the shop. He supports vaccine mandates when the health advice is there, which it has been.
 
HOST: That's why I'm asking you the same question, Anthony,
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: And I've told you that I support where the health advice says that you need vaccine mandates such as for aged care, or in other areas where the health advice is there. I support the health advice. Just like I support the health advice that says if you want to have a cup of coffee or a beer in my electorate, you have to be vaccinated, you have to show your certificate before you enter into a pub in my electorate, which is no different from when the Prime Minister said, "oh, you should be allowed to have a cup of coffee in Queensland". Well, that that's not the case in New South Wales, when the health advice applies, and bear in mind. Steve, the health advice varies from state to state and territory to territory, and changes from time to time as you'd be aware. Which is why my position is consistently to say that I support the health advice and one of the things that politicians shouldn't do is second guess that and undermine that health advice by second guessing it, by putting a political, if you like, a political eye over when those decisions are made. They should be based on the health advice
 
HOST: Politicians don't only consider medical advice. As a future leader of this country, you have to consider a range of factors, not just medical factors. So, in other words, you will never ever, ever go against any medical advice that you're given?
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: When medical advice about a pandemic is being given by experts. Who gather, there's a reason why these people have Doctor next to their name. I think common sense tells you that Australia has done well because, by and large, people have taken the advice of experts during this. And that has been absolutely critical.  I've lost Steve, can I make this point? I've lost in the double figures now. People in my electorate, and those overwhelmingly have been, there's one who had one vaccine, had had one jab. Everyone else has not been vaccinated. And I know family members who just say, who've lost their mother and father, I spoke about this in parliament, who just wish that they had been vaccinated.
 
HOST: Okay. I have a question from a listener David of Highvale. He would like to know that if you are elected as prime minister would the Federal Labor government, sometime in the first half of next year. Would a federal Labour government get rid of a luxury car tax on all electric vehicles and other taxes associated with electric vehicles?
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: What we have said is we'll get rid of the taxes which are there on the cheaper forms of vehicles. So that would get rid of the fringe benefits tax, which would be the biggest difference that would be made on the cheaper forms of electric vehicle so it wouldn't apply to your. Some of them are quite expensive the Tesla's the $200,000 cars, but it was...

 HOST: Teslas are sixty grand, sixty grand they were a low-end vehicle,
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Not the high-end ones.
 
HOST: But the Queensland State Government has five of them or something.
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well that's a good thing, the Commonwealth has them too. I went in in one today. And I went in a little Hyundai when I was picked up from the airport, when I came back from Brisbane.
 
HOST: So, for my listener David?
 
ANTHONY ALBANESE: A Hyundai Iconic and the prices are coming down.
 
HOST: It's Hyundai IONIQ, by the way. So, you will not get rid of the luxury car tax on electric vehicles.
 
HOST: Well, we don't have that policy.
 
HOST: Great. That's the one the listener needed to know. Anthony Albanese thanks very much for coming on this afternoon.
 
HOST: Thanks very much Steve.
  
 
ENDS