SUBJECTS: COVID recovery; ATAGI reducing booster shot gap; Omicron variant.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Thanks for joining me. Yesterday, in this very room, I said that one of the lessons from overseas is that we need to reduce the time between the second dose and the booster. There are two reasons for that. Firstly, we're way behind with the rollout of the booster. As of the 22nd of December, Australia was 20th out of 21 advanced economies with regard to the rollout of booster shots. It is only Japan, that's just started to commence rolling out the booster, that was behind us in the developed world. Secondly, as we know from the science and the medical evidence that all the reports from overseas, as well as from here, is that boosters will be very important, particularly for the Omicron variant of this pandemic, which is why it's important that we get booster shots into people's arms. I said that yesterday as a constructive suggestion. The Government responded, even though governments, state governments, including South Australia and New South Wales Liberal Government have all called for the same thing. Greg Hunt's response was quite extraordinary yesterday afternoon. He said this was utterly irresponsible, utterly inappropriate. And he said only a fool would call for it. Well, less than 24 hours later, he's not only called for it, he's announced it. On January 4th Australia will move to a four-month gap, closing it from five, whereas previously it had, of course, been a six-month gap for the booster shot. And on January the 31st, that will further reduce to just three months. The only explanation for why, if the Government and the medical experts and the advice is that three months is better than four, is because of capacity constraints. Because as I said yesterday, the Government once again hasn't been ahead of the game when it comes to preparing for the action that's required based upon our own health advice and based upon international experience. This announcement today, which is quite extraordinary, given Greg Hunt's comments just yesterday afternoon, follows a very consistent pattern. That pattern was followed with regard to wage subsidies that lead to JobKeeper. Labor says something constructive, the Government ridicules it and trashes it. Then a day or two later, they announce it as their own policy and want everyone to acknowledge what a masterstroke it is that they've come up with it.

The fact is that this Government is always behind. It's always playing catch up. Its response is always too little, too late. Which is why, whether it's the rollout of the vaccine, whether it's purpose-built quarantine, the rollout of the booster, on so many issues relating to this pandemic, the protection of people in aged care, the workforce issues that need to be dealt with, this Government is always too little and too late. It's always concentrating on the politics rather than on the response that's required in the national interest. 

This is a Government by echo. Labor says something, then we wait a couple of days to hear it back from the Government as if it's its own idea. This is a Government that has outsourced leadership, that's always following. When it comes to getting boosters, when it comes to wearing masks, when it comes to getting tested, or QR codes, what the Australian people want, particularly during this Christmas period, is certainty, is clarity and leadership. And they're not getting it from this Government. Let's hope that the states can step up where the Federal Government is simply failing. Happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: Why do you think 24 hours later, what do you think happened?

ALBANESE: Well, reality is what tipped it. This is a Federal Government that is all over the shop, whose first instincts is to play politics, instead of the Health Minister saying, 'Well, that's a constructive suggestion that we're giving consideration to'. We know from the fact that state health ministers, Labor and Liberal, and state premiers, Labor and Liberal, have been calling for this sort of action, that it, of course, was going to be considered by ATAGI, which is what I was suggesting yesterday, based upon all the health advice that was out there, here in Australia, but also out there internationally from the experience. One of the things that I said yesterday was that Australia, because of our position as an island continent, is in a position throughout this pandemic to look at overseas experience and learn from it, to learn from it constructively. And what we know is that the Omicron variant is highly contagious. What we know is that people need the booster shot because their protection over a period of time reduces. They've still got protection, but we know that it reduces over a period of time in between the gap between their second shot and their booster shot. And we know as well that in other countries, it's been considered that you need to have your booster shot in order to be considered to be fully vaccinated. So, we know that will be considered as well as an issue. 

Why this Government insists on just playing politics and personalising issues, and the sort of, quite frankly, extraordinary attack from Greg Hunt yesterday, where no one attacked him, people just made constructive suggestions based upon what I think was pretty obvious. And one of the things that we need is for the Government to get ahead of where things are and to plan properly, not in its own interest, but because people are relying upon it. People are waiting for that information. 

But the Federal Government is just all over the shop. There's no certainty. There's no clarity. There's no leadership on masks, on vaccine boosters, on QR codes, on whether people should get tested or not. People just want that leadership that they're crying out for.

JOURNALIST: ATAGI is an independent body. Do you think it was a case of the Federal Government and Greg Hunt didn't know what the deliberations were?

ALBANESE: Well, if you go back and have a look at Scott Morrison's comments over a period of time, where at one stage with regard to the advice on AstraZeneca, for example, he openly declared at a press conference that he was arguing the case to ATAGI on a constant basis. He declared that proudly. So, the idea that they don't know what's going on, all you have to do is pick up the paper, have a look at what's happening overseas, have a look at what state experts are saying, people like Brad Hazzard has been calling for this for some time. I note the South Australian Premier, similarly. Other premiers and health ministers have been saying that this was the case. Earlier on, they did a similar statement when it came from six months down to five months, they were saying it wasn't necessary. We know that this is good public policy. And we know as well that one of the concerns has been, simply, capacity. The truth is that people are not able to get access to the extent that they should. And that's why they had to respond just a couple of days ago to the issue of payments to doctors and pharmacists after they were crying out for a period of time. And the Government rejected those requests from doctors and pharmacists who were saying they simply couldn't afford to continue to give booster shots because they were losing income by doing so. So, the Government increased that fee by $10 after saying that wasn't appropriate, either. This is a Government that has a pattern of behaviour. They're out of ideas and out of time. They just don't seem to have a plan for anything, let alone a plan for a second decade in office that they'll be shooting for next year. No wonder Greg Hunt is leaving the Parliament.

JOURNALIST: So, let's come back to the rollout of the boosters. We see now 16 million Australians eligible now for a booster by end of January. How do you think we're going to go with that with the clinics and so forth?

ALBANESE: Well, I just hope that the states step up. And we need to maximise the number of clinics that are able to conduct boosters. We need to maximise the number of pharmacists. There used to be a whole lot of mass hubs that aren't open anymore. Places like at Homebush there that vaccinated so many people are not open anymore. Greg Hunt seems to be in denial about those issues as well, as he was in denial about pharmacists and about doctors and what they were saying. This will clearly require a massive effort. But Australians have been magnificent during this pandemic. All that they want is a Government that gives them clarity and certainty and leadership. And it's not much to ask, frankly, instead of the shambles that we have from a Government who, when people look at Greg Hunt's comments that were broadcast on the TV last night, and then look at his announcement this morning, they will be just shaking their heads and wondering how that could happen. Thank you.

JOURNALIST: Can I just ask a little bit more about vaccines? So, in New South Wales, for instance, we've got something like 1,500 health workers on furlough. You've talked about the mass vaccination hubs being closed. How can you staff those places when we don't have enough people because people are either getting COVID or are on furlough because they are close contacts?

ALBANESE: This is a major issue. And it's part of the challenge. And state governments have been stepping up to do it. But that's why we shouldn't have been in a position whereby pharmacists and doctors were saying that they were unable to continue to participate. What we need to do is to use all avenues at our disposal to make sure that we roll out this booster shot. The fact is we're 20th out of 21 developed countries with regard to the booster shot. It's reminiscent of what happened with the vaccine rollout originally, where Scott Morrison said it wasn't a race, it wasn't a competition. Well, it has been a race. It's been a race from day one. And it's been a race in which Australia has been consistently watching everyone else ahead of it rather than trying to get ahead of the system. We have known that booster shots would be required for a long period of time. What characterises this Government is complacency, is always acting too little, too late, and always coming up with slogans like, 'It's not a race, it's not a competition'. If they spent as much time workshopping either their sledges against the Labor Party, or their campaign slogans out there, or being distracted by an ideological view about getting Government out of people's lives, the truth is that what we need is that Government has a role to step up here. Government has a role to step up. 

Individuals can't organise the booster shot rollout. Individuals can't organise the pharmacies and the mass hubs and the doctors and everything else that is required here. It requires Government leadership. And this Government are failing. 

Thank you.

ENDS