SUBJECTS: Labor’s $300 Covid vaccination incentive; lockdowns; Australian music

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: G'day, how are you going?

HOST: How are you going?

ALBANESE: I'm going very well.

HOST: Is that Albo?

ALBANESE: Yes indeed.

HOST: You've got a spider and an owl here, Albo. How are you going?

ALBANESE: I'm going very well.

HOST: You'd know Peter wouldn't you? He's a former AFL great, 291 games, three-time All-Australian? No?

ALBANESE: Is that Everett?

HOST: Yeah! One of the greats!

ALBANESE: I do indeed.

HOST: I've just embarrassed Spida big time. I'm sorry.

ALBANESE: I didn't know it's gonna be you. There you go!

HOST: Look at that, eh? No, I've actually come back to work a week early. We're supposed to be on holidays, but because of what's happening here in South-East Queensland I said there's no use me sitting at home. I might as well come out and give people the right information.

ALBANESE: A few more taps forward.

HOST: Perfect. Look, Albo, we are, a lot of the country, in lockdown. We are, here on the Gold Coast, hopefully coming out of it at 4pm on Sunday. They're saying that the way out - it's obvious - we all go and get vaccinated. You are keen to incentivise the vaccination program. You want to give us a bit of cash.

ALBANESE: Absolutely. A $300 cash payment would provide a reward for those people who've already been vaccinated, but an incentive to go out there and get vaccinated. We want people having this discussion, people, by the side of the oval saying, 'Well, I got my $300 last week. Have you got yours?' 'Oh no, I just haven't got around to it.' It might just give people that little shove.

And it's a time when, because of these lock downs, jobs are being hurt. The economy's being hurt. We need some form of stimulus as well, so why wouldn't you tie it to a positive health outcome?

HOST: Yep.

HOST: How frustrating is it? We were so far, well, we looked like we were above the world, you know, 6-8 months ago, with everything that we were doing and COVID around Australia, and now we're falling way behind.

ALBANESE: That's exactly right. When it was up to the Australian people we were doing really well. Australians were making sacrifices. We had the advantages of being an island continent. It was a lot easier for us to shut our borders than countries in Europe, but we were magnificent. We squandered, frankly, the advantage that we had by saying 'we're first in the queue in vaccines' and we were way, way, way, way back. We're down the bottom of the table.

We also need purpose-built quarantine facilities. Hotels don't work. They work most of the time. The problem is a single outbreak can lead to what we're seeing in South-East Queensland now, what we've seen start in Sydney and then spread to other states. And guess what? When our Olympians come home - more of them, I think, today - they're going to Howard Springs: purpose built, doesn't share ventilation systems. That's the sort of facility that we need around the country.

HOST: Can I ask you, because when Sydney go down, they're in lockdown now for a long period of time. We know Melbourne have still been locked down for the longest period of time. They're South-East Queensland's two biggest markets. Even though they're getting government funding because they're in lockdown, South-East Queensland who really - or even Queensland, really - rely on the tourism dollar aren't getting a cent, and we're affected so much by the tourism industry, more than anywhere else in Australia, and we're not being looked after at all.

ALBANESE: Absolutely. It's real rough, whether it's the Gold Coast, I was on the Sunny Coast a couple of weeks ago, and they've been impacted up in Far North Queensland. It makes sense. If you live in Melbourne or Sydney, I'm in freezing cold Canberra at the moment, let me tell you Queensland looks pretty good. It feels pretty good at this time of the year.

HOST: It's a great place.

HOST: It is. Albo, we know that you're a massive music fan. Just rattle off some of your favourite Aussie bands, because we could do something for you.

ALBANESE I'm sure you can. Powderfinger: great Queensland band, Aussie band.

HOST: Love 'em. Yep.

ALBANESE: The Go Betweens.

HOST: Oh, brilliant.

ALBANESE: The Go Betweens, The Veronicas I got to chat to up at Townsville a while ago.

HOST: We might not be able to play that.

HOST: No.

HOST: Are you a Chisel fan?

ALBANESE: I love chisels and I love Jimmy. How good has Jimmy Barnes been with Jane and the whole family during COVID? Just terrific, just in their lounge room.

HOST: I love that

ALBANESE: He has been, he is a great Australian.

ENDS