CHANNEL 9 THE TODAY SHOW

E&OE TRANSCRIPT| SUBJECTS: US Presidential inauguration; vaccine rollout; hotel quarantine; Australia Day; election.

KARL STEFANOVIC, HOST: Joining me this morning, Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton in Brissie and Deputy Opposition Leader Richard Marles in Melbourne. Welcome back.

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Great to be back.

STEFANOVIC: Pete, I’m sure yesterday filled you with all kinds of warm fuzzy feelings, did it?

PETER DUTTON, MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS: What, with the inauguration, watching you back on TV? What are you talking about?

STEFANOVIC: Actually, you know what, both.

DUTTON: Both, well, yes. Well, a little warm, I felt. Look, I think it’s a great day for the United States. I think the relationship, as both sides of politics here have demonstrated over decades survives administrations and personalities. And our relationship is absolutely essential with the United States and it will continue to go from strength to strength. And that’s a great thing for our country, for our security.

STEFANOVIC: And on that, the President has recommitted to the Paris Accord. That kind of puts all sorts of pressure on Australia, doesn’t it? Are you feeling the heat?

DUTTON: Well, I hear people say zero emissions by 2050 would mean we need to close down the mining sector and close down agriculture. Now, I don’t think the Labor Party even wants that. The Greens might, but the government is going to put in place a policy which has us meeting our emissions commitments- emission reduction commitments, and making sure that industry survives. I mean, we need jobs more than ever. We need the Australian economy to recover. And we can’t be closing down sectors. We should be trying to support sectors and the Prime Minister has been doing exactly that in Central Queensland this week.

STEFANOVIC: Richard, you are, I guess, by nature an ideology a much better match to the new POTUS. You are now- obviously being handsome lefties and all- but your party isn’t exactly one with climate change is. Labor is all over the shop.

MARLES: No. We’ve committed to a policy of zero net emissions by 2050. That’s our position and that, I assume, ought to be the government’s position because really that is what comes out of the Paris Accord. I think it is a great thing that the United States is back in the Paris Accord. They’re a key architect of it under President Obama and it’s really important that the US is playing a leading role in reducing global emissions. And that is the place it is now going to assume under President Biden. Can I just say, and I think the inauguration was fantastic, I think it was as powerful a statement about the ideal of democracy that I reckon I have seen in the context of all that we’ve witnessed over the last couple of weeks. And from an Australian point of view, I mean, Peter was right; we have seen our relationship with America survive or go in all the right ways during President Trump. We’re going to see it under President Biden and it speaks to how strong the alliance is, no matter who is in power, in which country.

STEFANOVIC: Pete, we will see the rollout of vaccines in the US. There are also reports the rollout here might be as early as February 15. Is that right?

DUTTON: Well, we’ve said we want to roll the vaccine out as quickly as possible. But we don’t want to do it in a way that would harm Australians obviously. We’ve gone through a very extensive process with the TGA. We’re hoping for rollout mid-to-late February and the way in which Greg Hunt has dealt with this, and the Prime Minister has dealt with it, I think should give Australians assurance. But we want to make sure the efficacy and the efficiency of the rollout is guaranteed and we haven’t rushed it, like some others have called for. We have done it in a responsible way. Given that, we will see a bigger take up which is necessary to get that herd immunity across the country.

STEFANOVIC: Richard, by some he means Albo, he has gone pretty hard on the rollout and it’s delay. Did he overstep the mark?

MARLES: No, I think it is important to point out that Australia needs to be in the right place in the queue, as it were, in terms of each of the vaccines. The government was slow off the mark here in terms of putting Australia in the right place in respect of each of these vaccines. Of course, wherever we are in that queue, it is important that this be done in a way where the efficacy and the safety associated with the rollout is assured. So we understand all of that, but there was a job to be done last year in making sure that we get up the front of these queues, and I don’t think the government has done a great job in respect of that. That said, having got to that point, we need to make sure that this rollout is done now in the most effective way possible and we have to got to get to a point, as Peter said, where we have herd immunity across our country as quickly as we can.

STEFANOVIC: Pete, Premier Palaszczuk has a plan to send quarantiners into regional camps. Do you support that?

DUTTON: Well, I think we need to understand why it is necessary, particularly to the people in Gladstone. The Premier needs to explain why it is necessary. There is an arrangement that’s worked effectively on scale within hotels in Brisbane, for example, as in the other capital cities. We have got tertiary hospitals so if people do get sick, then they can be transferred very quickly to get the best care and to have the best chance of survival and a treatment plan. So, I just don’t understand why it is necessary and I think it is best explained by the premier so people can understand her logic. But at the moment, I think people in Gladstone are really scratching their heads as to why they need to have a quarantine facility in their backyard. The other point to make here, Karl, is that a lot of people fly in and out of Gladstone because they’re associated with the mining industry, we don’t want them in a position where they’re exposed and then taking it back to other parts of the country.

STEFANOVIC: Richard, do you support the idea, Premier Palaszczuk’s idea?

MARLES: Ultimately what I want to hear is a plan from the federal government about what it’s going to do in respect of quarantine arrangements so that we can get stranded Aussies back home. I mean, if you have a look at the constitution, quarantine is the federal government’s responsibility. So why we’ve got Peter talking about, you know, Premier Palaszczuk needing to explain the situation here has got me beat. Why haven’t we got the federal government actually coming up with a plan which has quarantine arrangements around the country which allows stranded Australians to get home?

STEFANOVIC: Okay. Pete, moving on, there are protests planned on Australia Day in Melbourne. Premier Dan Andrews has promised to come down really hard on them. Do you support that?

DUTTON: Well, I do support the law being applied equally. So, if people are going to protest, then they need to do it within the law. They need to do it peacefully and people need to abide by the health directions, particularly at this time. We don’t want to see an outbreak and particularly amongst indigenous Australians. A lot of us have put in a lot of work over the course of this last 12 months to make sure that indigenous Australians are protected from the virus, particularly in the Northern Territory and elsewhere where we’ve deployed Australian Federal Police and defence personnel to protect those communities. So, we don’t want all that success unwound and people should adhere to the advice that the Premier and others are providing.

STEFANOVIC: Richard, are you going to call it January 26 or Australia Day?

MARLES: I’m calling it Australia Day. I mean, look, it’s tricky. I think there’s an important conversation that we need to be having this time every year. I absolutely understand why Indigenous Australians have an issue with the day. I also think a feature of the day is that we see a lot of citizenship ceremonies around Australia and for non-indigenous Australia, a part of our story as an immigrant country – and there is a place to celebrate people taking up Australian citizenship. I think it is something which should be on our calendar. But I get the conversation. I embrace the conversation. I think it is one that we need to be having and need to be having sensitively.

STEFANOVIC: Pete, while I was away on my holidays, I heard some very interesting information, pretty solid information, that you’re going to an early election in September. Is that true?

DUTTON: Were you sober at the time, Karl?

STEFANOVIC: Actually, not one day.

DUTTON: Who told you? Who were you on the phone told you? Who were you texting this time?

STEFANOVIC: I’ve got operatives every where and they were pretty confident it was an early election and sometime later this year.

DUTTON: If you’re asking on behalf of Richard is it too late to change leaders in the Labor Party, no, it’s not. The election is due in March of next year, so there is plenty of time. At some stage Albo has to come out of hiding, I might say. He’s not been seen for a while.

STEFANOVIC: Where is-

MARLES: That is not true, he has been making speeches.

DUTTON: Nobody is listening to those speeches.

STEFANOVIC: Is that enough time for you to roll him, September, an early election, Richard?

MARLES: Oh please. I’m interested in your intel, Karl. I don’t think we heard a “No” then from Peter. Maybe it is a September election.

STEFANOVIC: That’s a “No”, Pete, is it? Or are we leaving the door open a little bit?

DUTTON: Karl, it is due in March next year. Could be late this year, could be out as far as May next year. So, if history is any guide to go by, that would be the date range. The PM said he doesn’t want to go early. I think when Australians look at what we’ve been able to do over the last 12 months in keeping people safe and healthy, making sure that we don’t see what’s happened in the United States or the United Kingdom unfold here during the COVID crisis, people judge all that. Whenever the next election is.

STEFANOVIC: Well, the headline is ‘Peter Dutton leaves door open for early election.’ Thank you very much for that Pete. Always appreciate you being on the show. Thank you, Richard.

ENDS