Doorstop Interview - Australian Parliament House, ACT
25 February 2021
Prime Minister: Happy to take a couple of questions.
Journalist: Prime Minister to the rollout of the vaccine, there were some issues yesterday, we’re now hearing the issues that syringes have turned up, haven’t turned up at the right home, doses aren’t getting to the right places, there’s only 500 staff for 240 homes, is there a problem trying to roll this vaccine out from a federal level?
Prime Minister: This is an enormous vaccination that we're doing across the country as we said, it's unprecedented in scale and scope. And the people who are working on this are the best in the world. And I have great confidence in the vaccination programme. The incident that occurred yesterday, I'm pleased that the individuals that were involved in having that higher than, higher level dose are well and they are proceeding well. That’s the report I’ve received overnight and I think it’s important that we continue, and all leaders do, to demonstrate the importance of this vaccination programme and its effective rollout. It is a large scale vaccination and where issues come up, and the scale of this exercise they are going to be quickly addressed. We are in the very early phase, it starts small and then it becomes quite large in the months and weeks ahead. And I look forward to it continuing on. I congratulate the nurse who was on duty on that day. She did a great job. In our health system each and every day there will be challenges relating to human error, it happens in any part of our system. And the vaccination programme, will have to deal with those as they occur as well. There are systems in place to deal with that. And I look forward to the vaccination programme continuing to roll out because it is so important. It is so important I think for all of us to get behind it as I have as I said putting my shoulder to the jab, and I’m sure millions more Australians will in the months ahead.
Journalist: Have you spoken with Senator Reynolds this morning, can you give an update on her condition and when she might expect to be back at work?
Prime Minister: Yeah I spoke to Linda last night, a couple of times yesterday, in fact, and I can tell you that she's much, much improved, from where she was the night before. And under doctor's instructions she’ll remain under observation for a few more days yet. And she's looking forward to returning to her duties and getting on with the job. She's doing a great job. And particularly on a morning like this morning, I want to be able to say she's doing a great job more and more often in the future.
Journalist: Is her position as Defence minister still tenable?
Prime Minister: Of course it is. Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be? She's doing a great job and I have great confidence in the work that she's doing. And I thank those colleagues, whether from the government or elsewhere, that have expressed their support for Linda and she certainly has mine.
Journalist: [inaudible] chose not to inform you of the Brittany Higgins matter because it was an operational matter, shouldn’t he have told you as soon as he found out?
Prime Minister: The Minister for Home Affairs is regularly briefed on sensitive investigations across a whole range of issues. That is the process that he is engaged in. And that can happen on a weekly basis. And it’s his operational practise, which I know is supported by officials to receive those briefings. And they’re matters for him. As Prime Minister, if any agency, whether it be the Australian Federal Police, whether it be ASIO or any of the other many intelligence agencies, or others, believe that the Prime Minister must be directly briefed on such matter then they will arrange that briefing and the Minister for Home Affairs operates on that understanding. That was not done on this occasion. The matter was being addressed and had been addressed by police. And that's what the minister was advised.
Journalist: Prime Minister in your own investigations into what people in the government knew about Brittany Higgins’ allegations have you personally asked your Ministers if they knew and when they knew before, I imagine it’s part of Mr Gaetjens investigation as well. But have you personally asked your ministers?
Prime Minister: There have been wide conversations, particularly over the course of the past week and Cabinet have discussed it on many occasions. But let me say this, what happens when people become aware of whether it's in this building or anywhere else, the advice I have from the Commissioner of the Federal Police is that if someone wishes to make a complaint or someone possesses information regarding the allegation, whether it be of sexual assault or any other criminal activity, what you do is you take it to the law enforcement body, the police who is authorised, experienced and capable of dealing with those complaints. That's where they should go. So that's what my Ministers did. Those in the first instance, whether it was Minister Reynolds or even more recently in February, was to assure themselves that this matter had gone to where it should go and that is the federal police.
So in my case, had it been the case that that was brought to my attention at an earlier time, my action would have been the same as those ministers’ actions. And that is to say, has the matter been drawn to the attention of the police? The answer to that question was yes, it had. And my other question would have been, is the individual - in this case Brittany- but is the individual, have they been provided with the support and access to the services to assist them and support them in this circumstance? They are the two actions and they are the actions that were undertaken at the time. Now we have a broader ranging review that is dealing with were those supports adequate enough, legitimate question- this is a complex issue and there are no simple or straightforward answers, as I was just discussing with the Sex Discrimination Commissioner. That's important. But they are the actions that you take and they are the actions that were taken and they are the actions that should have been taken, and how we can improve that system so people can be confident to take these matters to the people who are equipped and authorised to deal with them. That is the police. That is how our system must operate. That is where those issues should be dealt with as a matter of law and support and protection for all Australians.
Journalist: Prime Minister a couple of quick ones- the $90 billion submarine project, is that sunk? And Brisbane, 2032- is it on?
Prime Minister: No, in relation to your first question.
In relation to the second question, I'm very pleased that very early on my government went in with both feet to the Brisbane Olympic bid. I was very excited about it. We quickly committed more resources to an Olympic bid than any federal government had ever done before and to work with the Queensland Government and Premier Palaszczuk. On two occasions, I took up the case directly with the president of the IOC, Dr Bach. And I know how enthusiastic they were about working with Australia. So I'm very pleased that we've got to this next step. We’ve still got a long way to go. We are effectively the preferred provider of the Brisbane Olympics, the Olympics in 2032. But there is still a lot more to do. I look forward to working with the Queensland government to achieve that. But it is, it is an exciting day, I think, for Queenslanders, for Australians, and particularly for the people of Brisbane and south east Queensland. And I'm so pleased that has been able to progress to that level.
But I have to go now, thanks.
