Interview with Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon, Today
28 February 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning Karl.
KARL STEFANOVIC: Some medical experts are saying this morning for most of us, this will be just a bad cold and eventually they're also saying everyone will just get it. Why are you so worried?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this virus is certainly more mild than SARS and MERS, but around the world, more people have actually had a fatal outcome from this virus than SARS and MERS combined. The issue with this virus is it's highly transmissible and it moves very, very rapidly and particularly those who are more vulnerable, particularly the elderly then that's where we've seen a lot of the fatalities. So what we're doing is getting, staying ahead. We got ahead originally by acting quickly. We're staying ahead. And this is what yesterday's announcement was about is to make sure we stay there so we get through this. And so the plans are being put in place now with states and territories. That plan was already agreed. The Health Minister is meeting with all his counterparts this morning and that's about ensuring that the stockpiles are right, that the capacities can be surged in hospitals and the quarantine arrangements can be put in place to isolate people, wards can be made available for these types of activities. But the other point is this Karl, I mean, right now there is no community transmission going on in Australia of the Coronavirus. This is about staying prepared. This is about assuring people that we've got this, we're prepared for it. So you can go to the footy. You can get out to the Chinese restaurant. And in fact, I encourage you to, you can just get about your business if you’re a kid you can go off to school, play with your mates, do all those things. Australia is in the best placed position to be prepared for this than anywhere else. And so we just want to make sure it stays that way.
ALLISON LANGDON: Well, we certainly do seem to be on the front foot with this. But what's interesting, there was an emergency plan, it usually doesn't get activated until the virus is declared a pandemic. As we know, the World Health Organization hasn't done this yet. That sort of suggests that you think they're dragging the chain a little?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we moved ten days ahead of the WHO last time, and we were right. And that was on the advice of Dr. Brendan Murphy when we first put our arrangements in place, he's the chief medical officer and now we're getting the same advice from Dr. Murphy again. And that is, we’ve got ahead, stay ahead in getting these other plans in place, should there be a transmission of the disease in Australia. There are now over 40 countries where it's now present, and that is what has been changing rapidly. That's the key factor that's been changing. And that means we need to ensure that if the virus were to come to Australia, then we would have everything in the ready to be able to deal with it. You don’t want to be running around if the virus gets to Australia and starts spreading in Australia, you want those things to be in place, which is what we've activated now, which is what this plan is about.
LANGDON: Do you think the World Health Organization has mishandled this?
PRIME MINISTER: No, that really is not something I'm terribly focused on. I'm focussed on what we're handling. What we're doing. We've got the best medical advice. And I'm listening to our Chief Medical Officer, not the WHO, but they'll come to this view, I suspect, at some point, as they did last time. What we'll do is we'll get on and protect Australians right here and now.
STEFANOVIC: Well, I think that's, yeah the WHO, interesting. Let's put it at that. My concerns PM this morning are, exactly, lay with the economy, small and large businesses. They're struggling. And the share market has taken a terrible downturn in the last couple of days. It's been a little bit up and down but mainly down, the tourism industry is cooked. I've got friends who work in the tourism industry in Queensland, I’ve got friends in the seafood industry as well. They're really struggling. The economy is just starting to creak a little bit. Forget the surplus. When will you start to look at stimulus? When will the stimulus come?
PRIME MINISTER: Well what, that was one of the issues we discussed yesterday at the National Security Committee. And the Treasurer is coming back with some recommendations about where it can be targeted. The advice to us from Treasury is it should be targeted, it should be modest and it should be scalable, targeted to those sectors that are the most affected. Now, let's not forget, we've already put in tens of million dollars into additional tourism promotion, that was on the back of the response to the bushfires. I know that is already having an impact, a positive one. And so we'll be looking at how that can be better utilised going forward. But there are also other industries, it’s just not tourism and education. I mean, the supply chain of things that come out of China is being disrupted. And that affects the building industry and the construction industry. It affects the manufacturing sector. It affects our marine exports particularly up in north Queensland. So we're very mindful of that. And that's why we're crafting some responses to that at the moment. But we're not immune. I mean, the rest of the world is dealing with the same thing in terms of these economic impacts. Australia is no different to that. But we are better prepared going into this. I mean, imagine if we were trying to deal with this with higher taxes and a weak economy. That's not how we've gone into this. We've got a strong, stable financial base to address this, but we can't kid ourselves that the impact of the coronavirus globally here on Australia is not going to be significant.
LANGDON: I mean, the general thought is that this will get worse before it gets better. Do you think we'll get through this okay?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course I do, Ally and we will because we've got a great health system. We're well-prepared. We've got a sophisticated and developed economy that's being well-run. And we're going to get the resources to the places that are needed to make sure we get through this. I just want to stress again, people should go about their business. If you want to help the Australian economy, go out and participate in it, go out to the Chinese restaurant, take a holiday in Australia, do all those things. That's what supports the economy. And you can do that safely in Australia because of the way we are managing this virus. In many other places, particularly up in China or in other parts of the country, or the world like Japan and so on. They are having to sort of take people out of their economy domestically. Now, we're not having to do that. So that's an advantage, we should use it.
STEFANOVIC: Just finally and really quickly I know you have to go, that, we're mentioning or they’re mentioning the recession word, the big R word. Is that going to happen or not?
PRIME MINISTER: look, well, I'm not speculating on any of those things. I mean, clearly we're going to have a significant impact from this, like all countries are. My focus is on what we do about it. And the first priority is to keep people's health as the top priority. And that's what we're doing. And we will get through this. Of course we will. We're not immune, but we are well prepared and we will get through this.
STEFANOVIC: PM, thanks for your time today. Appreciate it.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks Karl, thanks Ally.
