Interview with Oliver Peterson, 6PR
3 March 2020
OLIVER PETERSON: Scott Morrison, Prime Minister, good afternoon.
PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, Oli. How are you?
PETERSON: I'm very well, PM. With 39 cases now confirmed in Australia of the Coronavirus, including one death here in Perth. How worried should we be about it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we should obviously understand that Australia is not immune from this global virus and that it's a very serious virus, it has a high rate of transmission. But in Australia, we should know that we’ve got ahead of this early and we're staying ahead of it. And while there are many other countries who are seeing much higher levels of cases, the travel bans we put in place, the containment arrangements we put in place, the support we're putting into our health system, which is a world-class, advanced health system, is meaning that so far, Australia has been able to stay ahead of this. But to remain ahead of it, we've got to keep all working together. I want to thank the Western Australian Government for working closely with us as we prepare for possible events down the track. But right now, everybody can go about their business. They should feel assured that Governments, at state and federal level, are doing what they need to do to keep Australians safe. And that's certainly the case. Of course, with Mr Kwan, that's very, very sad that we've, that he lost his life in relation to Coronavirus, where he contracted that up on the Diamond Princess. But in most cases where Australians have contracted this and they've brought it, in virtually all cases from where they travelled from, they have experienced only a mild type of the virus. And in 21 cases, they've already gone through the virus and they've been able you know, they’re going about their lives safely now.
PETERSON: The WA Health Minister Roger Cook today said the focus is now on the treatment of the virus, rather than containing it. In light of those comments, what’s your thinking about extending the travel ban to foreign nationals from Italy and South Korea?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're considering those issues. It hasn't been the health advice from health officials, whether it's been in WA or federally, to extend that ban to those locations. But when you're dealing with this, the information changes quite, quite frequently. I mean, last week we were talking about 40 countries, today we're talking about 75 countries. And what the health officials and experts are advising us very regularly on is the proportionate response that's needed and what is ultimately practical in these circumstances. But we have been able to contain it relatively well up until now compared to what's happened in other countries. You know, we've used our geography, geography to our advantage, but the border protection authorities and Australian Border Force have done a magnificent job in both screening people when they're coming in from other ports outside of Australia and making sure they don't get on those flights in the first place. And the screening that's undertaken here. Australians are also responding very well Oli, to those who have come back from areas where the virus has been more prolific, they have appropriately self-isolated. And that's been very effective. I mean, just from mainland China alone, over 30,000, in fact over 34,000 Australians and Australian residents have returned to Australia since the 1st of February. Now we've had no, up until very recently, and even in those cases they were very unusual, no community transmission resulting from that. So people have been doing the right thing. People have been showing common sense and I would encourage people to keep doing that. Go about your daily lives, go out to the footy, go out to a Chinese restaurant, let the kids play with other kids - that's all fine. That's certainly the advice we're getting.
PETERSON: What about to people who are heading to the major supermarkets at the moment? Because we've seen empty shelves right across the country as well as here in Perth. There's no more water, toilet paper, rice, pasta, hand sanitiser and the like emptied right across supermarket shelves here in Australia.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I again, I just urge people to show some calm about these things. I spoke to Coles and Woolworths today, and they're you know, working on building those supply lines. And in fact, when it comes to toilet paper- over in South Australia, they've opened up the manufacturing of that, for Kimberly-Clark there. So that's a good response that we've seen occur in that situation. But, look, I really do think I understand why people will be anxious. I totally get that. I've got two kids, Jenny and I have two young kids ourselves. But what we know from the expert advice is that the virus is not showing any greater or particular concern for younger people. The people who are most vulnerable are older people. And that's why part of our plans involve how we work with the aged care facilities and the aged care industry to make sure that if people are at risk there, there are things we can put in place. And so this is where everyone's working really well together. And that's very important.
PETERSON: As a result of the Coronavirus. The Reserve Bank today cut the cash rate by 25 basis points to 0.5 per cent. The banks moved very quickly Prime Minister, you must be happy with that response?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I put them on notice this morning Oli. I wasn't subtle about it. And in the same way that Qantas turned up for Australia when we needed to evacuate people out of Wuhan and bring the Diamond Princess passengers home, they turned up and they put themselves there for Australians, and I ask for the banks to do the same thing today. It's the first time in about five years I understand, that the banks, all of the four major banks have moved to pass on the full 25 basis points of the rate cuts today. I thank them for that. I genuinely do. I mean, I asked them to and they and they answered that call. And I asked them on behalf of Australians, not on behalf of Government, that Australians could get access to those measures which the Reserve Bank were putting in place to support the Australian economy at what is a difficult time. The economic impacts of this are very real and they will be significant. And that's why the Government also will be responding very soon. We're still working through those packages to deliver, but it's not too far away. We're making sure we get it right. You know, last time there were these big stimulus packages in Australia, you know people had pink batt programs and all these sorts of things, and some of those were terrible, terrible failures which cost taxpayers a huge amount of money and didn't do anything for the economy. So we've, we're making sure we get it right and we're moving swiftly.
PETERSON: All right. Those stimulus packages, will you be targeting particular industries, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: What we're focussed on is keeping people in jobs, keeping businesses in business. Addressing the cash flow challenges, particularly small and medium sized businesses will have. They're the ones most vulnerable and in particular industry sectors, we've already put additional money actually in response to the bushfires on the East Coast, which affects on the tourism side, we’re promoting with additional domestic tourism promotion and international for that matter. So we've been putting money to try and support tourism sector. But we are looking at quite specific sectoral policies and areas like the fishing industry and the crayfish and things like this. They've been particularly impacted because they can't get their product up to market. We’re also seeing things in the housing industry, where they're part of supply chains, where some of the things they're putting in the houses are built up in China. So this is different to the Global Financial Crisis in some cases, in some respects, its immediate effects are even more significant. But what people should take some comfort from is this is about a health crisis. It's the virus that is causing this not a weakness in the financial system or the banks failing or anything like that. That's not happening here. What's happening here is supply chains. Where people you know get their inputs from, where they sell their exports to, people travelling around, that's all being disrupted by this virus. And so that has an impact on the economy. So we need to do things that help businesses get through this period, because on the other side it bounces back. And I intend for us to be in a position to bounce back well.
PETERSON: Should Australians holiday at home this year, Scott Morrison?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
PETERSON: Are you considering bringing forward the second round of tax cuts slated for 2022 to boost the economy?
PRIME MINISTER: The Budget is in May and we’ll consider the measures going into the Budget in May as we work through that. Right now, the more immediate issues for business and for ensuring they can keep people in jobs, they can keep themselves in operations, that they can keep investing, and that's what's going to keep the economy in a position to bounce back strongly on the other side. So we're being very targeted, very measured. We're taking the appropriate advice. We're working, we've worked very closely to align with the Reserve Bank. And we're both seeing this challenge exactly the same way. The Governor and I, and the Treasurer, have a very, very same view on what the impacts are and the things we need to do to address it.
PETERSON: Will you award the submarine maintenance contract to Western Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that decision will be made in the national interests and the Government has not made a decision on that yet. We need to, this is a decision that would not take effect until 2026. So it's some time away now and the Government wants to be assured that we can put the full cycle docking arrangements in place, which can meet the standards that have been well met by those who've been doing that work in South Australia. They've done a tremendous job. So I’m simply saying we'll make the decision in the national interest and we’ll make when we’re in a position to do so. And we are considering the issues very seriously. It's about the defence of our country and ensuring that our submarines are in a position to deploy and do the job that we ask.
PETERSON: Busy time ahead Prime Minister, no doubt with the Coronavirus. I appreciate you joining us live on the radio this afternoon. Thank you so much.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks a lot Oli. Thanks for your time and thanks for your listeners.
