SUBJECTS: Climate change; net zero by 2050; Glasgow Climate Change Conference; COVID-19; rapid antigen tests; plans to reopen across Australia; vaccine rollout; need for purpose-built quarantine.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: This Government is hopelessly divided over whether Australians deserve a better future. You can't face the future with people who only look to the past. And it's quite clear that the Morrison Government is incapable of shaping the future. It's incapable of taking Australia forward in the way that is needed to take advantage of the opportunities that are there from action on climate change. Action on climate change will create jobs. It will lower energy prices as well as lowering emissions and being good for our environment. And yet, what we have is a Coalition in chaos. Scott Morrison speaks out of both sides of his mouth on climate. He says something different overseas from what he says here in Australia and pretends that no one notices. I have no doubt that Scott Morrison can come up with a slogan, but he can't come up with any substance. He can come up with a stunt on the floor of Parliament. But once again, he can't come up with substance. Scott Morrison is incapable of leading Australia into where it needs to go. Instead, he follows. He's incapable of actually having the courage to take Australia forward in the direction in which it's needed, which is why he's incapable of uttering simple words and simple policies to adopt net zero emissions by 2050 like the rest of the world has, like Australian industry has, like Australian financial institutions have, and every state and territory government. Scott Morrison goes missing on climate change. So, it's no surprise that he may well go missing when it comes to going to Glasgow. 

But he can hardly send his Deputy Prime Minister in Barnaby Joyce, given Barnaby Joyce's quite farcical position and the fact that overseas might see that video he did in the paddock with the cows, looking up at the sky, and just wonder what Australia in the 21st century has become. The Nats have been taken over by conspiracy theorists, failed accountants, bankers, and economists who like to play dress up. But what we actually need is a serious policy going forward. And this Government's incapable of delivering it. 

As I said, action on climate change is good for jobs, good for our economy. It's also good for our environment, good for lowering energy prices. But this Government are incapable of taking Australia forward. It will need a Labor Government to take climate change seriously. Because the Government that has tried to abolish the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, tried to abolish the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, a Government that has failed and has been dragged kicking and screaming to the policy of net zero emissions by 2050 can't be taken seriously going forward. Happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: Bridget McKenzie has been criticising her Coalition colleagues saying it is easy to sign up to net zero if you live in the inner-city. Do people in regional areas have more to fear from a net zero commitment?

ALBANESE: What people in regional Australia have to fear is inaction on climate change. We saw that with the bushfires in Victoria, in South Australia, and in the coasts of New South Wales, but also in Queensland, just a short period of time ago. Remember in the lead-up to those bushfires, and indeed, while they were raging, National and Liberal Party members, including the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister of the time, being critical of the idea that the bushfires had any connection whatsoever with climate change. People in the regions and in the agricultural sector have a lot to fear from drought. People in the regions have a lot to fear from the threat that climate change represents to the Great Barrier Reef, to Kakadu, to some of our great tourism icons that create jobs in regional Australia. The fact is that this Government have failed to act. And if they come up with some form of action in order to get them across the line, in order to pretend that they're doing something in the lead-up to the next Federal election, Australians know that they can't be taken seriously. Because they've had three terms to act, just as John Howard refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, and was in office for those 12 years. Towards the end, John Howard came up with a policy of supporting an emissions trading scheme, of supporting ratification of Kyoto Protocol, but they never did it. And when they formed Government again after 2013, they undid or tried to undo every bit of positive action that was taken by the former Labor Government. We know that those people in the Liberal and National Party who drag their feet on this issue won't change their position. We know that this Government is incapable of moving forward.

JOURNALIST: Now, it's clear that this regional and city divide is being stoked in the climate change argument. You're an inner-city MP who is saying a Labor Government is going to be key to taking action on climate change. So, how are you going to get those regional people on board after the divisiveness of this argument so far?

ALBANESE: Well, the divisiveness in this debate is just within the Liberal Party, within the National Party, and between the Liberal and the National parties. Australians know that action on climate change is a positive measure for Australia to do. Australians know that Australia has more at stake from global warming than many other countries around the world. But this Government is frozen in time while the world warms around it. And the consequences are there. With more droughts, with more bushfires, with more extreme weather events. And we're seeing that played out around the world. Every bit of climate activity isn't directly attributable to climate change. There have always been bushfires, it's true. There have always been extreme weather events. But what we know is that those events are more often and they're more extreme than they were before. We know that is occurring. We know that climate change is real. The problem for the Government is that they have so many people in their ranks who don't believe it's real when it comes down to it. We have a Prime Minister who ridiculed action on climate change before. And we know in terms of our regions, that the regions have enormous benefit from action on climate change. I visited North Queensland with Bob Katter, visited the Kidston Project, Big Kennedy and Little Kennedy, renewable energy projects creating jobs around Hughenden and other parts of Far North Queensland. We know that there's enormous benefit that can be got from transforming manufacturing with clean energy driving it, driving down those prices to manufacture goods here in Australia. We know as well that Australia can be a renewable energy superpower. The largest solar farm in the world being built right near Tennant Creek, exporting power to Singapore as a result of the Sun Cable Project. There are so many benefits, particularly for regional Australia. But there's also an enormous cost of inaction. And that's something that Josh Frydenberg, in his discovery of climate change recently, pointed out that there will be an enormous cost to the Australian economy unless action is taken. And the hypocrisy of someone who's now Treasurer, but was Energy Minister and hasn't taken any action has been a barrier to that action, is not lost on the Australian people.

JOURNALIST: Climate change has highlighted fractures within your Party as well, though. So, are you confident that as alternative Prime Minister, you could get regional people on board with your agenda for climate change?

ALBANESE: The Labor Party's united about climate change. There are no climate sceptics in the Labor Party Caucus. The Labour Party Caucus unanimously supports net zero emissions by 2050. And we support strong action on climate change. We know that it's good for jobs. We know that it's good for growth, that it's good for lowering energy prices for consumers and for businesses, as well as being good for our environment.

JOURNALIST: Do you think that the Federal Government can still adopt net zero or will still adopt a net zero target by 2050 before the Glasgow Summit?

ALBANESE: I think it may well be that Scott Morrison comes up with a slogan or a form of words before Glasgow. But what we know is that unless he attends Glasgow with a serious plan going forward, he won't be taken seriously by the rest of the world. The last time Prime Minister Johnson hosted a conference on climate change, he didn't even invite the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to address it. The last time the US hosted an event, Australia couldn't rank in the top 20 of countries even though we are such close allies of the United States to address that forum. And we know that the last time Australia attended one of these UN Conference of the Parties on climate change, Australia was sitting in the naughty corner with Saudi Arabia and a couple of other countries as pariahs, arguing against global action. We know that the Government's rhetoric just doesn't cut the mustard when it comes to people who take climate change seriously. I have no doubt that Scott Morrison will come out with a slogan. He will come out with a stunt before Glasgow. But he won't be taken seriously unless he actually adopts serious plans going forward. And he's incapable of doing that. He's incapable of doing that because his own Caucus won't let him do it. Because you can't face the future with a positive agenda if you're always just looking to the past.

JOURNALIST: Rapid antigen tests, they'll be available for people to use at home from the first of November. Is that soon enough?

ALBANESE: Well, Australia has fallen behind once again when it comes to rapid antigen tests. We know that this technology has been used overseas for many, many months now. Once again, Australia is too slow to act. When it comes to action on COVID, it always has been a race and Scott Morrison has always been too slow out of the box. It always has been a race and Scott Morrison has always been too slow, which is why Australia was running last in the developed world for the rollout of the vaccines. And now, we're behind when it comes to these rapid tests at home.

JOURNALIST: And are you worried that people could test positive and health authorities won't be aware of that?

ALBANESE: Well, the health authorities need to get on top of the processes. And I'm sure that they're capable of doing so. But what we actually need here is Government leadership. Our health experts and authorities have been magnificent during this pandemic, as have the Australian people. What's been missing is leadership. Leadership to order enough supply of vaccines. Leadership to establish purpose-built quarantine. Leadership to make sure that Australia genuinely recognised that this was a race. And Australia has always been behind because of Scott Morrison's failure to lead.

JOURNALIST: New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT have all detailed different reopening plans. Is the national plan still relevant?

ALBANESE: Well, people need to work with the national plan. I support the national plan going forward. But Scott Morrison actually needs to deliver what's necessary to support that national plan. The reason why we're in lockdown today is because Scott Morrison failed to deliver enough supply of vaccines and Scott Morrison failed to deliver in terms of quarantine. And that's why it's very frustrating for him once again to be engaged in a 'look over there' moment towards the states and territories. States and territories have been keeping their people safe. And in Western Australia, we saw the Grand Final take place very successfully on the weekend. Brisbane will host the Rugby League Grand Final this weekend. Scott Morrison needs to get his act together, be less critical of the states and actually bring the country forward as one. But Scott Morrison's been more interested in playing the blame game and pointing the finger at others rather than accept responsibility for his own failures on vaccines and quarantine, which is why this is Scott Morrison's lockdown.

JOURNALIST: Victoria has announced a slightly more cautious plan than New South Wales. Dan Andrews said this morning that he will be watching on to see what happened in New South Wales if they need to tweak anything. Is New South Wales opening up too quickly or is Victoria being a bit too cautious?

ALBANESE: Well, what happened, of course, is that New South Wales got extra vaccines. That's why they were in a position of being ahead of Victoria. And once Victoria reaches figures that are appropriate, they have a gradual opening up, as does New South Wales over a period of time. We've had some changes occur just this week, with swimming pools opening up just yesterday. So, they are, step-by-step, opening up. State premiers will take those actions. I'm not critical of any of the state premiers. I think that we need to obviously learn from each other and to have a cooperative approach towards this going forward.

JOURNALIST: And Brendan Murphy says the vaccine rollout prioritised aged care over disability care in an effort to save lives. Does that stack up?

ALBANESE: Well, the Federal Government said that category 1A, which included people in disability care and aged care residents, would all be vaccinated by Easter. We're now in September and there's a debate over why it is that people in disability care still haven't been vaccinated. The fact is that this has been an absolute failure to achieve what the Government itself said it would do. These are the Government's own targets. The Government. No one made the Government go out there and say we were first in the queue when we weren't. No one made the Government say there'd be four million Australians vaccinated by the end of March when that didn't happen. No one made them prioritise vulnerable communities in category 1A when that wasn't achieved. The fact is that I think Australians could do with some more straight-talking and less blame-shifting. The problems come down to supply. That was a failure of the Government. We've just had Moderna starting to be delivered in recent days. And that has been delivered, of course, overseas for more than six months.

JOURNALIST: Some of the most vulnerable in our community do seem to be left behind and this vaccine rollout Do you think we should hold off on reopening until those communities are at 70 or 80 per cent?

ALBANESE: Well, vulnerable communities should never have been left behind. They were left behind by this Government. This Government made big promises that simply haven't been delivered. And we need to make sure that those vulnerable communities, whether it be Indigenous communities, people in disability care, people in aged care, are looked after. I find it absolutely astonishing that in my electorate, in the aged care home in Summer Hill, where at least five people have lost their life from COVID in recent weeks, the fact is that occurred because of aged care workers continuing to work, not fully vaccinated and working in multiple facilities. There have been real problems with the rollout, with the priority not being delivered. And the Government needs to deliver it. 

JOURNALIST: Should we hold off on opening up until those vulnerable people are at the right levels?

ALBANESE: State and territory governments should, of course, take the advice of the health authorities on those issues. But it is a tragedy that so many people have been left behind. And today, we heard evidence in the COVID Committee that was very critical of the Prime Minister's actions and words way back many, many months ago. The Prime Minister is always prepared to make a public statement, always ready for the next media conference, always there for the next media cycle of 24 hours. Not always there when it comes to thinking through what the implications are of statements and making sure that we get things right in the interest of the Australian people. Thanks very much.

ENDS