SUBJECTS: Vaccination Rollout; Olympics; Julia Banks.
MILTON DICK, MEMBER FOR OXLEY: Hi Bill and good afternoon to the listeners especially Carol from Carroll Park who ran into me in the shops yesterday, and asked if I could give her a shout out. So promise made, promise delivered.
BILL MCDONALD, HOST: You've done the right thing, you've made someone very happy today. Listen, I'll ask you, we may as well weigh in right off the top, all this talk about the premier, should she be going to Tokyo for the Olympics? Is it really essential for her to visit in person? I think the petition up to about 34,000 says no. What are your thoughts?
DICK: Yeh, look I've been following that story and, look, I'm a big supporter of the Olympics, Bill, and I was privileged to be able to travel to overseas when we could with the Premier, and Federal representatives to pitch up the initial idea, and meeting with Thomas Bach from the IOC and I listened to what John Coates the President of the Australian Olympic Committee has said. I take my advice from what the Olympics are saying, and they say it's essential for the Premier, and the Lord Mayor, and the representative of the Prime Minister to be there. We've got a lot gambling on these Games, you know, a huge infrastructure program, but also the jobs of the future. I'm very confident that we need the Premier there, John Coates said that it would be a disaster and the bid could be at risk if she didn't attend. I can tell you, I know where she would rather be and that would be here in Queensland, this is not a sightseeing tour and I'm not even sure if she'll be visiting the Olympics themselves. She's going there for one reason, and that's to make sure that we put the best foot forward in person to win those games, which are essential for Queensland's future in my opinion.
MCDONALD: Well, let's have a listen to the Premier today, this is what she had to say when asked about that the morning press conference.
ANNASTACIA PALASZCZUK, PREMIER OF QUEENSLAND [Recording]: And it has been made very clear by John Coats that it will be a disaster if the head of Queensland did not go. And, you know, it's basically to go there to make the pitch, and to come back, and then spend 14 days in hotel quarantine.
MCDONALD: I get what you're saying, it’s a lot of effort for just that. Then, should they be dictating that people have to be there during the pandemic? Hasn't he heard of Zoom, Thomas Bach?
DICK: Well yeah, but this is not just a normal event, this is a significant world event. And if it could be done online I'm sure that would be indeed, the Lord Mayor's position and the Premier's position. This has got to be looked through the bipartisan lens, and it's federal labor and the government of the day supporting these businesses. One of the reasons I think it is so tempting for the IOC to see both sides of politics, agreeing. Some might say, not very often enough, but, you know we are all united behind this Bill, and I think if your listeners listen to what the premier has said she's there on one mission alone to sell Brisbane and Queensland, to the world audience, she'll come back into hotel quarantine like everyone else and do the right thing. She won't be quarantining at home, and I think it's essential to make sure that we are eyeball the Olympics Committee, and the President to sell Queensland. We're the best fit for these games and I'm really hopeful that Queensland will be successful.
MCDONALD: Yeah, I'm with you there, I hope, they are successful as well. Looks whether you agree or disagree, it's going to happen in terms of all the people being there in place anyway so, doesn't really, it's a waste of time really complaining I think. Let's move on now, there's been a lot of talk recently on Greg Hunt’s handling of the pandemic, the vaccination rollout. What's your opinion on the way it's been handled?
DICK: Well look, I take my advice from the people I spoke to at the shops. Recently, you know, there's no conspiracy here. I think everyone knows that this is a massive stuff up in terms of the rollout. You don't need to be Einstein to work out that we don't have enough supply, that's the issue, we put all our eggs in one basket - that's AstraZeneca - that hasn't turned out to be the most effective vaccine. I don't really want to give commentary on Greg Hunt, I think he's, you know hasn't done a good job rolling it out. I just want the Government to focus on getting that supply, getting the rollout through we're seeing, you know, people who I spoke to in my office today contacted me, they're going to wait till September, October, they can't get a position. And when I spoke to GPs, I did a town hall last week on this virtual town hall GPs were telling me, Bill, that they are desperate to give the vaccine but there's just not enough supply. Now we've got about 7% of the nation, vaccinated. I look at New Zealand, and they're around double where we are. They made the right investment in terms of getting the right amount of stock and supply and they're rolling that out. I just don't think it's good enough for Australia to be bottom of the OECD countries. I think Greg Hunt needs to stop spinning and, you know, coming up with all the gobbledygook that he goes on with, rather than actually saying, 'you know what, we've got to do better. We apologize for not vaccinating our frontline workers, aged care workers. We said we would.’ Look at what's happening in New South Wales to the aged care system, which is an utter disgrace. Rather than trying to spin his way out of it, I really just would hope someone in the federal government would say, "You know what, hands up, we get it, we've got to do better. The people of Australia want to do better, we're just going to get on with it."
MCDONALD: I had a crazy idea floated earlier in the show, we're going to throw it out to you to get your opinion. You can you can knock it back, but it means getting all your ducks in a row or getting the planning for the vaccinations, more under control as you already talked about in terms of September, October. If we can have an election day, every few years where we all get together and vote, why can't we have a vaccination day similarly, where we turn up to a school or town or community hall, and we all come together and we have the medicos there that need to be there and we have supply there just to try and have one big go at putting a dent in the vaccination coverage, is that not possible?
DICK: Well look, I think, at this stage Bill we're willing to give anything a go, look I'm even open to opening Bunnings up, and you go out and get your free plant, you go get a vaccination, you know, whatever it takes to get the country vaccinated. And I think we're all in agreeance now. I mean in the nonsense that we heard from the Prime Minister that it wasn't a race and all those lines. Well, it's abundantly clear. It is a race, if we're to stop the lockdowns. If we're going to get the country back open. I'm not saying anything, you know, of great note here but if we can just get our act together, whether that be a major event, you know, having those drive thru clinics, the big thing I want to see and I've been talking to pharmacists in my area, is get pharmacists to deliver the flu vaccine. Why are they being not properly deployed to get the vaccine out, but I guess it gets back to my initial point though, we've got to have that access to supply, and I'm really hopeful. When the government says that Pfizer's during the last quarter, it really does materialise, other countries are beating us, they got their ducks in a row, they got that organised, but I think where we're sitting now, anything that will take to get people safely vaccinated. I've been on this show for about the last 12 months now, talking about a safe and effective fast rollout. Well, we're still waiting for it and I'm really hopeful now that, you know, the Prime Minister announced the latest plan, that he really sticks to it, and we really start cranking this up.
MCDONALD: Let's hope so and again the combine it with, I think, a good marketing campaign a good call to action, better than what we've had so far. To, again, add to that encouragement for people to get out, embrace it, get vaccinated and get ourselves back on the road, out of lockdowns and closures and open up with the world again.
DICK: One hundred percent. You know and I looked around, what other countries are doing I've got, you know, the, the lead by example, you know, celebrities or sporting stars or you name it, telling people, giving them the simple message of how to get vaccinated, where to get vaccinated, and the proper messaging. Now, we're not seeing any campaign run effectively yet, I still think there's a bit of time for the federal government to really crank this up. I know there's vaccine hesitation out there but my message to your listeners today is it's safe, it's effective. Please go and get vaccinated. Our country needs this, our economy needs it, but our health of our nation needs it as well.
MCDONALD: I'm talking with Federal Labor MP Milton Dick, Member for Oxley. Look, Julia Banks got a book out talking about the toxic culture, again, working under Prime Minister Scott Morrison, for a few months, or what have you made of that? Some of the explosive allegations as well.
DICK: Yeah look I know Julie, I didn't know Julia Banks that well, when we served in the Parliament, we were elected together on the same day in 2016. I got to know her a little bit when she moved to the crossbench and quit the government in those last couple of months, I was always impressed by her, I was impressed with her background as a corporate lawyer and her business experience. She always seemed to be a very measured, kind of put together person and she was really on top of their issues in brief. I used to listen to her speak in the Parliament, and she seems a very respected figure. So, she's made some pretty serious allegations that she felt bullied and intimidated by the Prime Minister. I guess we're seeing a bit of a pattern here, the more we see the Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the more these kind of stories are emerging. She's got her right to tell her story. I was impressed last night when I saw the interview that she didn't choose to name the ministers involved, you know, I thought that was actually a smart move and she didn't want to turn it into a battle of the personality, she's talking about the culture, and I guess we've all been talking about that for the last six months or so since Britney Higgins and all those issues. But I would like to think that the Prime Minister could come out and deal with some of these issues. If what she's saying is true, that she felt that he was bullying her and intimidating her well, that's a pretty serious allegation I think he should answer those questions and maybe deal with some of those allegations so that she can feel her issues are dealt with, but also the women of Australia also feel that, you know, he's being straight with them as well.
MCDONALD: Before I let you go, I've got a quick text here that says to ask if you've been vaccinated yet?
DICK: I have, I have been fully vaccinated. I actually did an interview from the line-up at the Rocklea showgrounds when I was being interviewed by the Great Scott Emerson, and that was lining up. I know you've been listening as well, but we know that. I got my second vaccination in Springfield last, last Friday, so a bit of a sore arm but apart from that, nothing else. But I'm raring to go and I'm encouraging everyone else to do so as well.
MCDONALD: Brilliant great advice. Good to talk again thanks for your time.
DICK: Thanks Bill.
ENDS
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