Interview with Karl Stefanovic, Today Show
27 October 2021
TKARL STEFANOVIC: Prime Minister Scott Morrison joins us now from Canberra. PM, good morning to you. Nice to have your company this morning. That's all been ticked off. When will boosters be rolled out?
PRIME MINISTER: We'll be approving those plans over the course of the next week or so. The National Cabinet's meeting in a week or so but before that, our cabinet is considering some further issues today as the booster programme is coming together. We've been working steadfastly on that now for some time. The TGA approval, which gives those booster shot approvals for those over 18, six months apart, will be starting, particularly with those in aged care facilities like we did with the vaccine programme. In other news overnight, we've confirmed and lifted the restriction on Australians who are double vaccinated travel overseas. That's formally being done now, though, so that starts on November the 1st, which is also good news. And the other good news is Australia's first dose vaccination rate is now higher than the United Kingdom, so well done Australia. South Australia above 80 per cent. Well done to you, too.
STEFANOVIC: OK, just on the booster shot. Will it be after six months or eight months, is the recommendation?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you know, that's what we're finalising now with the programme. And there is a period of time in which you can have it and and we'll be rolling that out and we'll be looking to do that in similar ways to the way we've been doing the vaccinations now. And so the states will be keeping a fair bit of their infrastructure in place to deliver that. We'll obviously be leaning heavily again on the primary health network, on pharmacists and GPs who have done the heavy lifting on getting these vaccination rates, which, as I said, first dose higher than the UK.
STEFANOVIC: Will that booster form part of the COVID passport?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, your vaccination certificate keeps a currency on your vaccination status. Now, what states do with that is up to them, but that also feeds into your international vaccine certificate, which you use to travel. Over half a million Australians have already downloaded that. And that's why they can sort of get on it and get on the plane from the 1st of November. And welcoming the fact that in New South Wales and Victoria, there won't be 14 days quarantine, when they return. I particularly appreciate that, I'll be returning from overseas next week as well.
STEFANOVIC: Oh, so you've done it for yourself then.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it wasn't my decision. I thank Dom Perrottet and I thank Dan Andrews. I've done my fair share of time in quarantine …
STEFANOVIC: I get it. Look on Dan Andrews. He was filthy the other day with this news from Tennis Australia that unvaccinated tennis players will be allowed into the country for the Australian Open. Where do you stand on that? No vax, no play?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, no, well, what they decide, there is up to them, but on unvaccinated people coming into Australia, there are exemptions that occur and if you have a skilled worker to go and fix a boiler in a mine or something like that, they can get exemptions to come into the country. But if you're unvaccinated, you've got to quarantine for two weeks. So that's our view on it. If there is a special exemption that is warranted for an economic reason like that, well, that can happen. But you've got to follow the health rules in that state and two weeks’ quarantine for unvaccinated people, well, that's sensible.
STEFANOVIC: I get that, but unvaccinated players being able to play in Melbourne sends a weird message, especially in a city like Melbourne's that’s gone through so much. If you're a spectator, you have to be double vaxxed. If you work there at the centre, you have to be double vaxxed. That's a weird message to send if you're a player, you don't have to be.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you just got to manage the public health risk, and, you know, when you talk about large numbers of people, obviously there's the smaller numbers of actual players. I mean, that's how you live with COVID, Karl. I mean, it's nice to have, you know, all clear and hard and fast rules, but there needs to be a little bit of flexibility so we can live with the virus. And we've got to sort of, I think, take that as it comes and and people are going to make some calls on this. They'll make those calls in Victoria ...
STEFANOVIC: But the whole messaging PM, the whole messaging has been get vaxxed. We need to get vaxxed to protect our people. And then it's OK if you're a tennis player travelling internationally, having a game of tennis. You don't have to be vaxxed.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, we're going to have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, we've got the lowest fatality rate, one of the lowest fatality rates from COVID in the world and the strongest economy coming through COVID in the world. So that says to me that our plans have worked pretty well, Karl. And, you know, as we go forward, I think we just got to be sensible and practical, OK? And we want major events in this country. A lot of jobs depend on it. We want Australia to show to the world that we're open, we're getting on with it. And Australian life is roaring back, as we're seeing now in New South Wales and Victoria and even here in the ACT. And, you know, we've just got to move on.
STEFANOVIC: OK, change in the messaging, on your net zero emissions target announcement. It's more a prayer than a policy, isn't it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, no, not at all. I mean, what this is a plan, this is our plan to hit net zero emissions by 2050 and to get there, not by taxing people and regulating people and telling them what they have to do, but supporting the choices they're making, developing the technologies that are going to change the world. Now, those who think that technology is more of a prayer than taxes and regulation, I disagree with them. Those people never would have bought Microsoft shares or Apple shares. They would never thought we would have had something like this. I mean, technology is moving at rapid rates, and that is a far more bankable proposition than people turning up at conferences and making rules and taxes.
STEFANOVIC: What else you got hidden there, PM? Looks like a cavalcade of things. It's like show and tell. Look, you've said 15 percent of the work in reducing emissions will come from global technology trends, another 15 per cent from further technology breakthroughs. It is a massive chunk of the plan, though that does rely on things you can't exactly control and outcomes you're not sure of yet?
PRIME MINISTER: Well no, I disagree with that. I mean, 40 per cent of the plan is for technologies that are already foreseeable and we're working on. So that's hydrogen, its soil and carbon measurement. It's green steel and hydrogen. It's low cost solar, it's battery technology. All of these things. And because Australia has already reduced our emissions by 20 per cent, increased the size of our economy by 45 per cent, we've got a million people back in manufacturing jobs. One in eight jobs were lost in manufacturing under Labor. So we're getting emissions down and growing our economy.
See Karl, there are two schools of thought that have basically shouted out this debate for the last 15 years, and I think we're all a bit over it. Those who say that in order to deal with climate change, you've got to shut everything down and Australia has to be punished and people have to feel guilty about what they do for a job. Then you've got the other side of the debate, which says that, you know, if you commit to net zero by 2050, the sun won't shine. I mean, both of that is rubbish. Our path is a middle course which says we're not going to tax you, we're not going to shut you down. You can keep still digging things up and planting things and running your farms, and we'll get there because technology will get us there, because technology always has. It's a far better bet than relying on politicians who are going to put taxes and regulations on you.
STEFANOVIC: So how much cheaper will, for example, zero emission fuels be compared to, say, existing fuels for vehicles? I mean, how much cheaper will it be to fuel up a heavy vehicle?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, under our plan, we're not envisaging any increase as a result of the plan that we've set out, not an extra- will come as a result of the things we're doing in our plan on what the price of petrol would be. It won't take a dollar away from your pay packet. It won't take your job away from what we're doing. I mean, things are going to happen around the world, which happen every day. The global economy is changing. We can't change what they're doing in Japan or Korea or the United States or Europe. Australians understand that, and we'll have to adjust to all of those changes like we always have. We don't live in a vacuum down here.
STEFANOVIC: A couple of quick ones. You finally agreed to go to Glasgow as we found out then, for the climate summit next week, a couple of days ago. The Queen won't be making it we learned this morning. That must be disappointing after the lecture she gave you last week.
PRIME MINISTER: No I wouldn't describe it like that. I was obviously looking forward to meeting the Queen again. I've met her on a couple of occasions. It's been a real highlight. She's an amazing person. She's done so much for the world and she loves Australia. When I sit and chat with her, it's a real privilege of this job, she just so knows so much about what's happening in particularly rural and regional parts of the country. Last time we spoke, we talked about the mouse plague, and she was keen to know how we were managing that. So she, it's not just a passing interest, she's got a passionate interest in this country. So we send her all of our love and best wishes and and for her recovery, I hear she's, from the public reports, that she's doing better, but obviously she's going to need to take it easy. So Australia's all there with you, Your Majesty.
STEFANOVIC: One hundred per cent. Okay, just finally, we get the chance in Glasgow to sit down and have a cheeky little Beaujolais with Emmanuel Macron, patch things up?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't think that's probably going to happen this time. I think it will happen eventually, but we just got to give him a bit of space, give him a bit of space. I mean, we had to take the decision we took in the national interest and maybe we'll catch up at some time down the track. But for now, you know, sometimes it's just best to give our friends a bit of space.
STEFANOVIC: Relationship advice from the PM. Great stuff. Thank you for your time this morning, Prime Minister. Always appreciate it.
