SUBJECTS: Vaccine rollout; Australia’s relationship with China; Chinese police data leaks. 

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Thanks for joining me. Australians know that it is not vaccines that will save lives and bring our economy back to normal, it is vaccinations. Which is why we need to get it right. Australians have certainly had enough with the spin and the finger pointing. But yesterday, we saw the extraordinary circumstances where the New South Wales Coalition Government and the Queensland Labor Government both having very strong words to say about the Federal Government’s attempt to pass the buck for things for which it was responsible for. Australian people just want to know when they're going to be vaccinated. The Prime Minister said on the seventh of January this, ‘We have set out cautious timetables’. He went on to say, ‘We don't want to make promises that we can't keep’. The Minister for Health had this to say at the same press conference, that the Government was seeking to under-promise and over-deliver to allow for any gap in that chain. They then committed to four million Australians being vaccinated by the end of March. Well, today, of course, is April Fool's Day. And this Government was taking Australians for fools for trying to blame state governments for its own failings. The fact is that up to yesterday, that figure didn't hit four million. It was about 3.4 million short, with over 600,000 vaccinations, but we don't actually know how many Australians have been fully vaccinated with their second shot. And that's the first thing I'd say. State governments are putting out transparent figures of all political persuasions, but the Federal Government is not. It was Brad Hazzard who was left to explain the absolute failure of the Government when it comes to its own Federal targets that had been put forward and not reached.

The fact is that to be fully vaccinated, Australians need two doses. And until Australians are fully vaccinated, they will be vulnerable to this disease, they will be vulnerable as well to further lockdowns, which is why the Federal Government needs to get this right. It needs to be transparent with what is happening. It needs to explain why it is that in some cases like aged care, we've had residents receive vaccines, but not staff who are looking after those residents. The Federal Government needs to be transparent about supply, about when the vaccinations will be delivered and where they're being delivered to. Not just in terms of major institutions and state governments, but also the delivery timetable for GPs, which is confusing. We've had people contacting their GP, fully expecting to be able to be vaccinated, and GPs are not able to tell them when that can occur because they don't have clear information about when they'll receive the vaccines. The fact is that the Federal Government needs to get this right. But this, once again, when Scott Morrison was asked yesterday about the fact that his Government had briefed out against state governments, including the New South Wales Liberal Government, said it's got nothing to do with him. Sounds familiar. This is a Prime Minister who never accepts responsibility, even for what his own Cabinet ministers are saying. A Government that's all smirk and mirrors when it comes to the details that need to be delivered and when it comes to this absolutely vital issue of the rollout of vaccines. We know that the Federal Government has handed off a whole lot of its responsibilities to the states and territories. It has to accept responsibility for this, and it has to get it right. Happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: With that in mind, do you have confidence in the vaccine rollout? 

ALBANESE: Look, we think the vaccine rollout is absolutely essential. And Labor has been very cooperative when it comes to these issues. When the Prime Minister and the Government approached Labor about being vaccinated, for example, I agreed to be vaccinated at the same time as the Prime Minister. He walked away from that. That was a decision for him. But we fully cooperated, and we've continued to play a constructive role. But this Federal Government has to accept responsibility for the failings which are there. No-one made Scott Morrison deliver the target of four million people being vaccinated by the end of March. It was Scott Morrison who chose to do that. It was Scott Morrison who said that he wasn't going to make promises that couldn't be kept. But it's Scott Morrison who's always big on promises, always big on announcements, and never there for the follow-up and the delivery. So, Scott Morrison has to accept the responsibility for the failings that are there in the system and for the consequences of those failings.

JOURNALIST: Do you think Australia is on target, then, to make sure everyone has their first dose by October? Do you think that's possible?

ALBANESE: Well, that wasn't the target. The target was that people would be fully vaccinated by October. Not the first dose. That was, again, the target that they said they would have. No-one made them set that timetable. Scott Morrison said we were at the front of the queue when it came to vaccines. That just wasn't true. Other governments put in place deals and arrangements to receive vaccines in the first half of last year. We waited for the second half. Then we didn't have as many agreements as international best practice showed. And that's why we're behind countries like Rwanda and Bangladesh and Lebanon and other countries. We're way behind the rest of the world when it comes to receiving even the first vaccine, let alone people being fully vaccinated.

JOURNALIST: The Berejiklian Government says it's happy to help with the vaccine rollout with the Federal Government, it's put its hand up. Should this happen?

ALBANESE: Well, the Federal Government needs to accept responsibility for something here. The Federal Government are responsible for this. They need to accept that responsibility. Of course, states and territories will play a role. But Steven Miles, the Queensland Health Minister, has just said that with regard the Pfizer vaccine they only have days of supply. That's not good enough. And it's also not good enough that the Queensland and New South Wales governments, and other state and territory governments around the country, don't have information about supply, about when vaccines will be delivered, about in what proportion they'll be delivered, and about the rollout of the vaccine in areas like aged care. This information needs to be made available. State governments are being transparent, Labor and Coalition. The Federal Coalition Government is simply not.

JOURNALIST: The Federal Government has said CSL will be providing one million doses per week from late March. The figure that's actually been provided is around 830,000. Has Labor been told why that figure is falling short?

ALBANESE: No. Look, the Federal Government are not being transparent with Labor. But that's not the most important thing. The most important thing is that they're not being transparent with the Australian public. And what we need is confidence in the rollout of these vaccines. And in order to do that, there needs to be transparency.

JOURNALIST: So, are you saying that you don't have confidence?

ALBANESE: I am very confident that the Australian people will continue to play such an important role. But the Federal Government needs to build confidence by being transparent, by meeting the target which itself sets. And the targets were very clear of four million by the end of March and then everyone being vaccinated by the end of October.

JOURNALIST: There's another story today by the ABC saying that Chinese security officials are flagging Australian citizens arriving in China, concerns that they are being monitored, it's about 160 of them. How should the Government respond to this?

ALBANESE: This is very disturbing news. Certainly, the Government should be contacting all those who've been mentioned in these reports. Secondly also, Labor will be seeking to know what the Government's response will be to this. And thirdly, we'll be seeking a full briefing with our appropriate Shadow Ministers on these issues.

JOURNALIST: Is this just a further breakdown in the relations between China and Australia?

ALBANESE: Well, it's disturbing, the reports or monitoring of people going about their everyday business, including people who, of course, some of whom are reported to be very young people. And the idea that we would have that sort of monitoring is not appropriate. And the Australian Government needs to respond to that. We will seek a full and proper briefing as we do on national security issues. But these reports are very disturbing.

JOURNALIST: There are concerns that this database has passport details and other photographs of these people. Are there concerns that data could be compromising them too? 

ALBANESE: Which is why we're concerned about this information being there and why the Australian Government needs to have a comprehensive response to it. These issues of national security need to be above politics. We will be seeking a full briefing. Thanks very much.

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