SHADOW MINISTER FOR EDUCATION 
SHADOW MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MEMBER FOR SYDNEY
TANYA PLIBERSEK MP 

 
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2GB DRIVE WITH JIM WILSON
TUESDAY, 3 AUGUST 2021

SUBJECTS: AstraZeneca; COVID-19 vaccination advertising; Labor’s $300 vaccine incentive.
 
JIM WILSON, HOST: Well last week, in fact on Friday, I got a bit heated with Labor Leader Anthony Albanese over his failure to promote and push the AstraZeneca vaccine. It's like it was non-existent, anyway he's changing his tune which is good. Now's not the time to play politics. The situation in Sydney means we need all sides of politics talking up the jab no matter the brand, and pushing the jab, that's true leadership. Certainly we've seen that with Chris Minns, the state leader. With people like Jihad Dib, state Labor MP for Lakemba. They're putting the politics to one side, they're putting the community’s greater good first and foremost, I applaud them for that. Well, Tanya Plibersek is the Member of Sydney, and a senior member of federal Labor, and she joins me live on the program this afternoon. G'Day Tanya. 
 
TANYA PLIBERSEK, SHADOW MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AND SHADOW MINISTER FOR WOMEN: And as it happens Jim, I had my second dose of AstraZeneca just today. 
 
WILSON: Ah very good. So I know that, I think your mum also, she also had the AstraZeneca vaccine is that correct? 
 
PLIBERSEK: To be honest with you Jim I don't remember but she certainly did get vaccinated and I was very relieved when she got her second jab, because at 89 you can't muck around with your health can you? 
 
WILSON: Yeah I'm pretty sure you mentioned she had the AstraZeneca on the program before. It's just great. I applaud you, and I know you've been pushing it, and same with Chris Minns the state Labor Leader. I was critical on Friday of Anthony Albanese's position on it, I feel like it's like the AstraZeneca vaccine was just non-existent. He was saying 'where are the supplies?' - we know that the vaccine rollout has been slow, we're desperate for Pfizer supplies, but there's a perfectly good vaccine sitting on the shelves in oversupply. Tanya?
 
PLIBERSEK: I understand why people are nervous when they hear stories about blood clots, but I was on the contraceptive pill for a couple of decades, I think I had a higher risk of getting a blood clot from that. I've flown on aeroplanes all the time, I do it when I'm going to Canberra, you get a risk of blood clot from that. I drive in a car, I actually probably, my kids would say looking at my driving it's certainly true, that I put my life at risk more every time I get into a car. So I really do urge people at a time like this, we all need to get on board we need to get jabs in arms, it’s the only way we can open up Sydney again. 
 
WILSON: Have you been disappointed though at the messaging coming from your Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese about the AstraZeneca vaccine? 
 
PLIBERSEK: No, no and I don't think that is a fair criticism at all. Anthony's announcement today of the $300 payment for people when they get vaccinated, if they get vaccinated by the 1st of December, that's a great suggestion that he's made in the spirit of bipartisanship to the Government. He really hopes, we all really hope, that the Government takes up this idea as they took up the idea of JobKeeper when we first suggested it. Because we are all in this together, because we do want to help, we do want to cooperate. People don't want to hear politicians fighting with each other. They want us working together to open up Sydney, open up New South Wales, open up Australia. We can only do that when we've got a higher proportion of our population vaccinated. 
 
WISLON: How about another one of your colleagues, Ed Husic telling Sky News last week that there are no vaccines manufactured in Australia and on the same day a senior colleague of his in Bill Shorten is front and centre of the CSL lab and headquarters in Melbourne which makes AstraZeneca? 
 
PLIBERSEK: Yeah and it's fantastic that we do make AstraZeneca in Australia because that's how we've managed to get the big number of doses that we've got of AstraZeneca but we should also have the capacity to make the mRNA style vaccines like the Pfizer vaccine here in Australia too. That's the kind of cutting edge new vaccine delivery system and Australia is a smart country, we've got the scientists, we've got the medical experts, we should have the technology to make those kinds of vaccines here too. 
 
WILSON: So you believe that, you're comfortable that federal Labor has encouraged people to take up the AstraZeneca vaccine and get the jab? 
 
PLIBERSEK: Oh you only need to trawl through the photographs of Labor MPs with their sleeves, literally sleeves rolled up getting the AstraZeneca jab in their arms. And like I say, I got my second dose today and I know that it will take a little while for that protection to fully kick in, the doctor told me two more weeks until the protection is at its maximum, but I just can't wait. It's a load of my mind for my own health, but much, much more than that it feels good because I feel like I'm doing my bit for our community. I feel like I'm doing my bit to keep my family safe, particularly my mum and mother-in-law who are both almost 90. We've got to do it for one another. 
 
WILSON: Do you think it's achievable to reach the magical 80 per cent vaccination? And the Premier in this state, and you're the member for Sydney, she wants it at 50 per cent by the end of August. We're at 3.9 million doses so far, she wants to get it to 6 million by the end of August. Do you think that's achievable? 
 
PLIBERSEK: I think it is achievable but I think everybody's got a role to play. So if you're listening and you haven't done your bit yet, please do, please do. It's your way of showing that you care for your family and you care for your community. 
 
WILSON: Do you think the message is getting through to communities? Do you think, I mean I was looking at a television campaign last night, again I feel like the television commercials and the ads aren't hitting the mark. 
 
PLIBERSEK: No I don't think the advertising and the public information campaign has been anywhere near good enough, I really don't. I agree with you. 
 
WILSON: What would you like to see the messaging be then? 
 
PLIBERSEK: Look I'm not an advertising executive but I know someone who was, and it would be really great if they Prime Minister put some of that know how to good use and really ramped up the suggestion to people that they go and do it for themselves, for their families, for their community, for their country. It's the best way you can look after the people you love. 
 
WILSON: OK, the cash incentive that has been proposed by Anthony Albanese - why do we need a cash incentive? Why do we need more debt? $6 billion in debt. Isn't the greatest incentive Tanya, to get vaccinated is to get some of our freedoms back, to get some of normality? Isn't that a big enough incentive?
 
PLIBERSEK: Yeah well that is a big enough incentive for me. I can't wait to go to a concert, one thing I really miss. You know, I'd love to be in a crowd of people dancing at a concert. I can't even remember the last time I did that. In my electorate I'm dealing with phone call after phone call from people who just made it through the last lockdown, they don't know if their business will survive this lockdown. I'm getting calls from people who were getting a few dollars a week Austudy so they originally weren't eligible for emergency payments. They don't know how they’re going to keep a roof over their heads. It is a really, really bad time. We need to, for our own sanity open up again. We need to, for our businesses, for people making a living, we need to open up again. We can only do that with more vaccines in arms. And the $300 is acknowledgement of that, it is an encouragement for people who are a bit hesitant or a bit disorganised. I mean we'd still give it to people who have already been vaccinated, because it's unfair if you've done the right thing early on to be punished by not getting access to this payment. And Jim I think you need to think about this as a stimulus to the economy. Businesses have had the shit - oops sorry - they've had a real kicking. Businesses have really, really been doing it tough recently, and putting $6 billion in the economy a few months before Christmas that's really going to help those businesses that are just struggling through at the moment. We need, we're looking at a downturn in our economy in the next few months, we're looking at a potential recession, two quarters of negative growth. This kind of stimulus is needed, why don't we attach the stimulus to people doing the right thing? 
 
WILSON: I mean I just think on that last point you make, I don't think any of us would argue that if the $6 billion was going to struggling businesses or families, wouldn't have a gripe with that. But a $300 cash, I think you hit the nail on the head before that the biggest incentive to make sure your mother and your mother-in-law are safe, and the community is safe in general. That to me, and to get our freedoms back, is the greatest incentive. I don't need a $300 cash incentive to go down that path. 
 
PLIBERSEK: You know what, I'm so proud of the people who have just rolled up their sleeves and gone up and done it. This extra 300 bucks will get those percentages of people who are hesitant, who are disorganised, for whatever reason haven't got there yet. We'll get a few extra people with this incentive and we will help those businesses who are really struggling at the moment. I can tell you that there are plenty of households that 300 bucks will make a really big difference to. 
 
WILSON: Tanya always good to chat thanks for your time this afternoon. 
 
PLIBERSEK: Thanks so much Jim 

ENDS