SKY NEWS NEWSDAY WITH TOM CONNELL

E&OE TRANSCRIPT | SUBJECTS: Vaccine rollout the right to feel safe working at Parliament House; The Morrison Government continue to mismanage Australia’s Future Submarines Program.

TOM CONNELL, HOST: Joining me now is the Deputy Labor Leader Richard Marles. Just a really direct question, do you maintain confidence in the vaccine rollout?

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Well, we need to see confidence being established in the vaccine rollout. And it’s hard to understand how this mistake was made. I think you put it quite well then that it happened very early on- it’s happened early on in the rollout. Really, the government needs to make very clear what its training protocols are, that they are being followed, these mistakes are not going to happen, again, two people who have been hospitalised almost straightaway with the rollout. We need to have confidence in it, is actually the answer to the question because this is everything. I mean, how we get past COVID-19 is ultimately all about the vaccine rollout.

CONNELL: It’s important as well, we never know what will be clipped up and put in somewhere, you know, might be an anti-vaxxers website.

MARLES: Totally.

CONNELL: Hospitalised, sure. But there appears to be nothing wrong with these two people, isn’t there something strangely encouraging that you can give someone four times a normal dose, they can be 94. And from what we know, here, and indeed some other examples around the world, they might not really be a health risk that’s strangely comforting.

MARLES: At the end of the day, I think where we should be taking comfort, firstly, is that this has TGA approval, it’s being used around the world. The very best processes, and our medical experts tell us this is safe, and it is safe. That is where we should take comfort. We then need to be taking comfort from the fact that we have a, you know, a very professional system, which operates according to protocols and procedures-

CONNELL: And that clearly needs to happen. And that’s really embarrassing, that this person hadn’t had the training. But isn’t there also some comfort that you can say, even if you have way too much of this, you’ll still be fine?

MARLES: I think this has to be done right- that’s where we’ll get the greatest confidence. And I think the issue here is that the person hadn’t done the training. And so what – how do we make sure that everyone who’s administering this has the appropriate training, and that’s really for the government to put in place. And I think what we’ve learnt over the course of the last 12 months is that managing this problem does really require very granular, minute attention to detail, where there is, you know, kind of zero tolerance for mistakes. That’s why this needs to be rectified.

CONNELL: Peter Dutton has spoken today, some more details around this sort of ‘who knew what?’ around allegations made by Brittany Higgins. Now, he said he had a briefing from the AFP as the Minister. It was a sensitive matter. He didn’t pass it on, it was an operational matter, he said. The PM said, well, he gets briefings all the time, if an agency or department wants to deem him they can and that’s where it’s appropriate. In this case, they briefed Peter Dutton as the Minister. Does that all wash with you?

MARLES: Well, I understand what Peter Dutton has said and the outline of his timeline in relation to this. What stands out for me here, is that the story that is being told by the Prime Minister about when and how his office and he himself became aware of these events, is looking more and more tenuous. It’s now not clear whether he becomes- according to himself- aware of this or his office through reports from the media, or whether it’s a report from his Minister, whether-

CONNELL: Isn’t it clear, he has maintained that he hasn’t changed from this, that he was first made aware of personally, on the day of the reporting. He hasn’t changed from that.

MARLES: But what’s now kind of two weeks on into all of this, is becoming clear is that there might be an idea that, in fact, whenever he became aware, it wasn’t actually from the media, it was from Peter Dutton. I think the point here is the story that he’s telling is looking more and more tenuous, because it’s obviously not true. And it’s not true because of whether or not he was told on the 11th or the 12th of February, in 2021, it’s because his office patently knew about this back in 2019. It is beggars belief that his office did not know over the last two years-

CONNELL: There is an inquiry into that.

MARLES: But it beggars belief that his office was not aware of this. And that is the fundamental issue here.

CONNELL: But let me ask about the other side. So the ALP is going to have a code of conduct on this type of issue, I guess, broadly, including on sexual assault and so on. It’s going to National Executive tomorrow, will that or should that be made public? So everybody knows what the ALP’s standard is?

MARLES: Well, we’ve made clear what our sexual harassment policy is. We’re seeking to update it.

CONNELL: But that’s what I mean, that update when we get it, will it go public?

MARLES: Well, that’ll be a matter for the National Executive-

CONNELL: What is your view on that?

MARLES: Well, I think it’s really clear that people – the world knows where we stand on this and they have. Our sexual harassment policy has been very clear. Certainly everyone who works in this building, and in ALP offices understands that that’s actually what’s really critical here-

CONNELL: But if you put that up on your website, everyone knows where you stand and what you stand for?

MARLES: And I’ll leave that to the National Executive tomorrow. I don’t want to pre-empt the decisions they’re going to make.

CONNELL: You can have a view, though.

MARLES: Well, and I think it’s important that the world knows where we stand. So, but I, but having said that, you know, what really matters here is that those who work in politics on the Labor side- and those for that matter who work on politics across the board- but in terms of our house and making sure it’s in order, that making- the people who work in Labor politics are very clear about their rights, that the policy that we have is at best practice, that’s what we’ve sought –

CONNELL: Okay, and we’ll see what that is. Just finally, and briefly the submarine project; more troubling headlines. Interesting to see, maybe there might be even an option of going ‘nuclear’- pardon the pun- and looking at another option. Are we at the point where the government needs to look at seriously perhaps tearing up the project, even if it means off the shelf?

MARLES: I am gobsmacked, again, by what is coming out of the Prime Minister’s office in terms of this report, and the kinds of things that it’s suggesting and raising the prospect of, of cancelling the project. I mean, that is astounding. Simple facts here are this, Tom; we need 12 long range submarines. We desperately need them, and we need them in the context of the increasingly challenging strategic environment that we find ourselves in. That challenge means we need them sooner, rather than later. They need to be built in Australia, with Australian input-

CONNELL: So, do, I mean, that’s the question; is it getting too late in the day, maybe off the shelf – ?

MARLES: Well, all of this, all of this needs to- the government needs to get a hold of this program, that’s the bottom line here. And when you see reports like this, as we’ve seen reports over the last few years in relation to this, what’s really clear is that in respect of the most important defence procurement we’ve ever made, the most expensive product Australia’s bought in any context. This government has not got a handle on it.

CONNELL: Richard Marles, thanks for your time.

MARLES: Thanks, Tom.

ENDS

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