Covid-19: time for vaccination incentives has ‘passed’, says Labor

Opposition finance spokeswoman Katy Gallagher says the time for Labor’s $300 one-off vaccination payment has ‘passed’.

Opposition finance spokeswoman Katy Gallagher. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Opposition finance spokeswoman Katy Gallagher says the time for Labor’s $300 one-off vaccination payment has “passed”.

Anthony Albanese’s $6bn scheme was attacked by the Morrison government as being unnecessary and unlikely to work after it was announced in early August, a bid to ensure the country hit vaccination targets.

With NSW passing the 80 per cent vaccination target on Saturday and the ACT’s first-dose rate above 99 per cent, Ms Gallagher said the policy was probably no longer necessary, although she defended financial incentives as an effective tool for accelerating vaccine uptake.

“I think probably the time has passed for that in the sense that our vaccination rates are getting higher,” Ms Gallagher told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday.

“There is no doubt financial incentive could have potentially, if we had the supply, got our vaccination rates higher, faster.

“That was always the aim of Labor’s commitment in that regard and our push to try and get people to roll up their sleeves, particularly those who were concerned about it. There is no doubt that those financial incentives work.”

Josh Frydenberg labelled Labor’s policy-making a “shambles … Labor’s $6bn cash splash was announced on the run, now it’s been dumped on the run,” the Treasurer said on Sunday.

“She didn’t tell @AlboMP as the policy remains on the ALP website & he was spruiking it just days ago. What a shambles!”

Mr Albanese last discussed the policy during an interview on Perth radio on September 29, saying the federal government “should be doing everything we can to encourage people to get out there and get vaccinated”.