SUBJECTS: Retail and essential workers needing to get vaccinated; vaccine rollout; need for national quarantine; Scott Morrison failing Australians during a pandemic; Brisbane Olympics bid; Parliament; vaccine hesitancy; confusion around messaging during a health pandemic.

ALI FRANCE, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR DICKSON: Morning, everyone. It's great to have Albo here in Strathpine this morning. And it's also really great to be able to talk to our local retail workers here at Woolworths. Over the last 18 months it's been our retail workers who have showed up at work during lockdowns, on the frontline making sure that our essential service delivery and our essential services continue. But most of them are not vaccinated. Most of the ones that we spoke to here today are not vaccinated. We've been in and out of lockdowns for a long time now. And the last time I checked, only about 10 per cent of Australians are fully vaccinated. And only one in five people in disability care homes are vaccinated. It actually beggars belief. The Morrison Government has absolutely failed vulnerable groups. But the Government has also failed workers like these who are most exposed during lockdown, retail workers. Our retail workers absolutely deserve to be protected from COVID-19 while they're at work. And I'm really glad that Albo has taken the time to be here today to highlight this really important issue.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Well, thanks. Thanks very much, Ali. And it's great to be back here in Dickson in Brisbane's northern suburbs, here today talking to retail workers about their experience during the pandemic. Saying thank you for the work that they've done in keeping the country going over the last 18 months. They've had a difficult job. And it is a time and an opportunity to say thank you to them, but also to remind Australians of the campaign, 'No one deserves a serve'. To respect those people who are doing that hard work. They unfortunately, haven't been vaccinated by and large. And we need to vaccinate our frontline workers who are in contact with other Australians. We know from experience of where these sites are, where the virus is spread, that if you have someone in a site, any retail experience, then it will spread throughout the community. And that's why we need to step up on the vaccinations. Australia had two jobs this year. And Scott Morrison was responsible for the rollout of the vaccine and ensuring that we had national quarantine. And he failed on both. And now he's looking for excuses and looking for someone else to blame. Yesterday, we know that he channelled Elton John. Sorry seems to be the hardest word. A word that he couldn't say. Well, the truth is that he said we were at the front of the queue. And we are at the back of the queue. We're last in the developed world. He said that it isn't a race. And today, 14 million Australians are locked down as a result of the fact that we are way at the back of what is an absolute race. It is a race to get Australians vaccinated. Because until we do, we will continue to have outbreaks, we will continue to have lockdowns, we will continue to have constraints on our everyday life, which is what we don't want.

Can I conclude as well with just a shout-out to Premier Palaszczuk for the magnificent results last night. It is fantastic that Brisbane and southeast Queensland will host the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It's an amazing achievement. It will cement Brisbane as one of the world's great global cities. It will encourage young people to participate in sport that's so important for our health. It will create jobs, it will drive economic activity, it will drive tourism to this great state of Queensland, and indeed to the whole of Australia. So congratulations to Annastacia, to the City of Brisbane, and all those associated with the bid. This is a great outcome. Happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: (Inaudible).

ALBANESE: That is what we're really looking at here. It is a Prime Minister who's always determined to say, 'Look over here'. The fact is the advice last year, this time last year, was to have five or six vaccines. That's what international best practice was. So when there were issues with AstraZeneca in the UK, the Government there was able to just step up the supply of Moderna and other mRNA vaccines. The problem here has been an issue of supply. It isn't health advice. The health advice must always be based upon the science. It's up to people then to respond to that advice. But it must always be based upon the science. And it must not be political advice. It must be based upon the science and on the health needs of Australians. 

JOURNALIST: (Inaudible).

ALBANESE: There will be a range of colleagues who will be videoing in the usual way. We'll wait and see what happens, of course, if Parliament is due to sit in the week after next. If I had been to Sydney, I would have to isolate for two weeks in Canberra. A range of my colleagues are isolating in Canberra, a range of staff, including my own staff, are isolating for two weeks in quarantine. And they're doing that so that they can participate in the Parliament. Parliament is important. It's important that it go ahead in order to hold the Government to account but also so that we can consider legislation of support for Australians, which is necessary as well as a result of this lockdown. So we'll wait and see what the numbers are. But we've got through this before. Parliament was able to sit before with video conferencing. And I'm confident that we'll be able to do that again. I've had no discussions with the Government about the procedures up to this point. My understanding is there is a meeting of the Liberal, perhaps the Liberal and National Party caucuses this afternoon, which has been called by the Prime Minister. So it may well be that he's telling his own colleagues what the advice is. I just wish that he needs to tell the entire Parliament, not just one half of it.

JOURNALIST: (Inaudible).

ALBANESE: Well, I think Australian should be prioritised. Australians who are on the frontline, particularly those people like retail workers, who are in contact with so many people on a day-to-day basis, should be vaccinated. I must say, I'm fully vaccinated, it gives me some comfort, the fact that that's there, not for myself so much, but the people I'm coming into contact with. It is important. And I'm taking every health advice to make sure that I'm following all of that advice at all times.

JOURNALIST: (Inaudible). 

ALBANESE: Well, I think the advice that's been changing and confusing has created some confusion out there. What we need is clarity of advice. What we need is a Prime Minister who takes responsibility and doesn't point the finger at others. And I think that adds to the confusion. I think people who don't follow this on a day-to-day basis will look at yesterday's press conference and wonder whether it has added to the confusion of the message out there. We do need people to get vaccinated. We need for them to follow that advice. I'd encourage Australians to be vaccinated. It's absolutely critical. It's a necessary step in order to free up and in order for us to return to our normal way of life. But I'd also say this. That politicians like Craig Kelly, who have been out there spreading misinformation, it would have been good if the Prime Minister had stopped that earlier as well. And it isn't appropriate that occurred. It is important that we, as politicians, listen to the science, listen to the health advice and follow it. Thanks very much.

ENDS