Labor Leader, Anthony Albanese, has proposed a novel solution to boost Australia’s vaccination rate – a cash payment to those who are fully jabbed.
According to The Daily Telegraph, Mr Albanese will call on Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, to offer every Australian $300 each if they receive their second COVID-19 jab by December 1.
Should a federal election be held before then, Mr Albanese would honour his commitment and pay out the cash retrospectively.
“The government has failed on its two jobs this year, the rollout of the vaccine and fixing quarantine,” Mr Albanese said.
READ MORE: Greece outpacing Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout rate.
“It needs to use every measure at its disposal to protect Australians and our economy.”
This policy announcement came amid concerns Labor had until now been spending too much time pointing out early rollout failures and not encouraging enough Australians to get the jab.
Liberal MP for Reid, Dr Fiona Martin, told The Daily Telegraph she was worried a series of negative social media posts about the vaccine rollout had potentially encouraged hesitancy because they did not focus on urging people to get the jab – particularly younger Australians who were recently given access to AstraZeneca shots.
READ MORE: Earlwood pharmacist, Alex Papadimitriou, says there’s increased interest in AstraZeneca vaccine.
“Since the commencement of the vaccine rollout the Opposition leader has posted over 100 negative posts on Facebook criticising the rollout compared to just 10 promoting the rollout,” Dr Martin, a registered psychologist, told the media outlet.
She said an analysis of Mr Albanese’s Facebook page found that until a post on Saturday encouraging people to book their shot, he had only posted once on February 23 pointing people to the Department of Health’s COVID vaccination website.
Many other Labor frontbenchers have been similarly negative but some, including Senator Kristina Keneally, deputy opposition leader Richard Marles, and Sydney MP Tanya Plibersek, have posted about getting their jabs on social media, an act which is widely considered helpful to increasing uptake.
Morrison blasts Albanese’s vaccination ‘bribe’:
During a press conference today, Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, launched a blistering attack on Labor’s cash incentives, saying Anthony Albanese has “lost belief if he thinks he needs to bribe the Australian people.”
The Coalition held their first joint party room meeting for the Spring parliamentary sitting weeks on Tuesday morning.
The Morrison government has launched several attacks on the opposition’s cash incentive policy which will see $300 paid to every person who receives both vaccinations by December 1.
The Prime Minister questioned Labor’s $6 billion proposal during the meeting, saying the “ill-conceived” idea was “all bubbles and no thought.”
Source: The Daily Telegraph.
