SUBJECTS: Vaccine rollout; Labor’s $300 vaccination incentive; Barnaby Joyce; restrictions across Australia; state borders; Christian Porter’s resignation from Cabinet; blind trust; climate change; Scott Morrison’s trip to the US; AUKUS; Australia’s relationship with France.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Well, the team here at Addison Road are doing a fantastic job. And here today, Aspen Medical are giving people their first or their second vaccinations, taking vaccinations to where people are. And today, they're getting a bonus as well, for people, many from the housing commission area around here in Marrickville, are receiving food hampers as well to help them get by as an incentive. As you know, Labor has said there needs to be a $300 cash incentive as both a reward but also an incentive for those people to get themselves fully vaccinated. Because we need to get those rates up above 80 per cent fully vaccinated. And providing incentives does work. It might mean that those people who are thinking about getting vaccinated but haven't got around to it do so. It might mean that those people who've tried to get vaccinated and couldn't get an appointment do so. And that's why these incentives, including the ones offered here today at Addison Road for the local community, are so important. There have been many outbreaks here. And just in the last 24 hours, I heard of Mr Yousef, another person who was known to me in Marrickville, who lost his life to COVID at Prince Alfred Hospital. That brings to three the number of people I've known personally who've lost their lives. So please, if you can get vaccinated, get vaccinated today, if you can. It is important for you. It's important for your family. It's important for your community. And it's important so that we can return to our normal way of life. But a big shout out to the community here at Addison Road who are doing so much as well. Today as well, this vaccination is available to all those above 12. We know that overnight as well there were figures released in the United States showing the success of trials for under 12s, for paediatric vaccines. The Government needs to plan better for the future. We need to plan for boosters. We need to plan to open up safely. We need to plan for paediatric vaccines when it's available and when it's approved. We need a plan to manufacture mRNA vaccines here.

Can I also make some comments about Barnaby Joyce and his extraordinary intervention as acting Prime Minister yesterday about Christian Porter? Yesterday, Barnaby Joyce said that Christian Porter just had a bad day at the wicket and that he should return as soon as possible. Well, the truth is that Christian Porter's been caught ball tampering. He's been caught breaching the rules. The rules that are clearly there that Members of Parliament cannot receive anonymous donations at amounts which are undisclosed and continue to sit in the Parliament. Christian Porter has just two choices. He can pay the money back or he can resign from his position in Parliament. If Christian Porter's actions are allowed to stand, it will render completely irrelevant the register of pecuniary interest, which is so important to have confidence in our political system. This is an anticorruption measure. And it's no wonder that this Federal Government, in spite of promising an anticorruption commission way back in 2018, hasn't delivered one, including during the time when Christian Porter was the Attorney-General. The fact is that it will take a Labor Government to deliver an anticorruption commission with teeth, an anticorruption commission that can investigate the actions of ministers, the actions of Members of Parliament, the actions of Federal bureaucracies, to make sure that we can have confidence in our political system. Barnaby Joyce can talk for ages often and not make sense. But yesterday in just a few short sentences, he gave an expose and a reminder about his character and the character of this Government. A character that never puts principle first. A character that isn't concerned with appropriate measures to stamp out corruption. A character that goes to the heart of why this Government, at the end of its third term, does not deserve a fourth term in office.

JOURNALIST: On climate change, Liberal MP, David Sharma, has said that the Government should reduce emissions by 45 per cent by 2035. Is that a target that Labor will support? 

ALBANESE: Well, we need higher targets. We need higher targets than the 26-28 per cent target, which is the only one that this Government has established. We need to commit to net zero emissions by 2050. And when Scott Morrison is in the United States, he could talk to President Biden about why it is that President Biden is leading world action, why it is that the United States recognises that good action on climate change is positive for jobs as well as lowering energy prices and lowering emissions. Australia is a pariah on the world stage as a hold-out, as one of the only developed countries that is holding out from committing to net zero emissions by 2050. And we need a pathway to get there. And it's one thing for Dave Sharma, an individual, to come out there and make comments. He's a part of a Government. And it is a fact that with just a few members of the Coalition, if they had any ticker, to cross the floor, they could vote for stronger climate action when Parliament sits. But they always refuse to do so.

JOURNALIST: You mentioned that Barnaby Joyce mentioned that people, even in jail, get second chances. Does Christian Porter deserve a second chance?

ALBANESE: How many chances does this bloke need? This is a Government is full of people with second, third and fourth chances. This is a Government led by, today, the country is led by Barnaby Joyce. We have Christian Porter staying in Parliament. We have Andrew Laming staying in Parliament. We have Stuart Robert and Sussan Ley who have been returned to the Cabinet. This is a scandal-ridden Government at the end of its third term that needs a period in opposition to get its act together, to get some perspective. Anyone who looks at Christian Porter accepting up to $1 million from anonymous donors to pay a private legal bill knows that it's just wrong. This is a very simple, clear-cut, black-and-white issue, right and wrong. It is wrong to receive anonymous donations as a Member of Parliament. It is wrong to pretend that you don't know where it's come from. And it's wrong to continue to sit in the Parliament and to deflect blame for what is Christian Porter's own actions in taking legal action against the ABC. When he did that, he must have known that he was able to pay the bills, so he must have known where the money was going to come from at some stage. And instead, we have this facade about a so-called blind trust. Blind trusts are there so they can protect people's investment, ministers' investment, or in Prime Minister Turnbull's case, investment to make profit so that that Prime Minister, in this case, Malcolm Turnbull, didn't know where the money was being invested. A blind trust is not where people can give money to a Member of Parliament without declaring it. This is a clear breach of the pecuniary interest guidelines. It will render them completely irrelevant if this is allowed to stand. And that's why Christian Porter’s position is simply untenable. And Barnaby Joyce just shows that, once again, a reminder that he has no integrity, that he's someone who shouldn't be in a position of being Acting Prime Minister if this is his attitude. He has learned nothing from his own mistakes.

JOURNALIST: Barnaby Joyce also said that getting states to agree on a plan to reopen is like herding cats. Do you agree with that assessment?

ALBANESE: Well, a starting point would be a national Government that worked with states rather than played politics. That's what they've done. We have South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland and Western Australia currently have strong restrictions on their borders. You never hear Barnaby Joyce or Scott Morrison or anyone in the Liberal Government speak about South Australia and Tasmania. In doing that, what they do is just expose that it's all about politics, just as Scott Morrison's last visit to Queensland of any length was to campaign against the Palaszczuk Government and to say they should tear down their borders. Well, I know where I'd rather be today, in Sydney or Brisbane. Brisbane, which has businesses open, which has people able to go to the footy this Friday or Saturday, or Perth for that matter, which will be hosting the AFL Grand Final this Saturday. And yet, the Morrison Government backed up Clive Palmer in his legal case against Mark McGowan. Well, I think that what we need is a Commonwealth Government that can establish a Federation that works for everyone, that treats states and territories with the respect that they deserve and has a more national focus. To do that, you need to have less politics and more substance.

JOURNALIST: Speaking of the PM, what do you think the aims of his trip to the US should be?

ALBANESE: Well, I think his aim should be to listen to President Biden on climate change for a start. If he did that, he could come away with a different perspective, because the United States understands that there's a responsibility for major developed countries, like the US and Australia and the United Kingdom, to show leadership here.

JOURNALIST: Opposition Leader, just a few questions on AUKUS. Senior EU officials say the AUKUS agreement is an attack on European interests and industries. What are the implications of that for Australia?

ALBANESE: Well, we support our alliance with the United States as our most important. And the relationship with the United Kingdom, of course, goes back a long way as well. Australia must act in our own interests. That also means developing good relations with the European Union, treating them with respect. And I'd hope that the Prime Minister does that as well.

JOURNALIST: Do you think Australia has done enough to settle international concerns about their decision? Have they done enough to kind of mend the relationship?

ALBANESE: Well, if you look at the reports in the New York Times, they indicate that United States officials are concerned that Australia didn't do enough to negotiate and treat France with respect with regard to the changed arrangements that we've entered into. Common courtesy between friends requires more openness. Now, there are obviously some matters which needed to remain confidential, matters of either national security interests or a commercial interest. But, at the same time, it's quite extraordinary that France was visited by our Prime Minister, face-to-face meeting, not long ago, and no indication, it would appear, was given to our friends in France. That's an important neighbour, of course, in the Indo-Pacific as well that has a presence here and has had for a long period of time. Friends need to treat each other with respect. And the Prime Minister needs to make sure that he concentrates not just on the announcement, but on the details around announcements as well.

JOURNALIST: Just lastly, do you think the Morrison Government can mend its relationship with France?

ALBANESE: Well, look, Australia's relationship with France is an important one. And it's important that we do repair the relationship. It's an important one going forward. We have an important relationship with the European Union. And France plays a critical role in that. Thanks.

ENDS