Interview with Paul Culliver, ABC
3 January 2020
PAUL CULLIVER: Joining me on the line today is the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison. Good afternoon to you.
PRIME MINISTER: G'day Paul.
CULLIVER: Where do we find you right now?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, right now I'm in Sale I'll be heading down to Melbourne shortly but I've been out in Lucknow and out across the fire grounds and seeing first hand what's happening out there. But also in particular, getting briefings earlier today in Sale from Brigadier Laidlaw about the evacuation that has been successfully taking place with the Choules and with the Sycamore, the Sycamore's already left, of course and the Choules we anticipate leaving later this afternoon taking people back into town. So there's quite an operation out here today with the Defence Force and equally that operation is involving the dropping is some 12,000 litres of fuel each day into Mallacoota which is so important.
CULLIVER: There's been a lot of commentary today with regards to your visit to Cobargo and the response you got there. There was two instances on film in which you attempted to shake the hands with locals and volunteers and they clearly were not wanting that and you, despite that, took their hands anyway, how can you account for that behaviour?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I was just seeking to offer comfort that's what people would expect me to do in these circumstances. Any who felt differently, in a situation like that you have people feeling very differently to each other within a community and so it's just a matter of trying to find that support wherever you can I understand people are feeling very, very hurt they're feeling very frightened in many cases and some are angry and some are just very, very warm and If you stood where I stood yesterday you would have seen the same thing.
CULLIVER: Do you now think that you did the wrong thing by touching people that clearly did not want physical connection with you?
PRIME MINISTER: I was just offering support. I'm always happy to offer support.
CULLIVER: Okay, but do you now see that there was perhaps a breach of personal space there?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I don't believe so. I was just seeking to provide some comfort and support.
CULLIVER: What about the anger and frustration that is being expressed by various communities affected by fire in Victoria, New South Wales, other places. A lot of it has been directed at you. Do you appreciate the anger that is being expressed?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I know people are angry and I don't take it personally. I know in circumstances like this people feel a great array of emotions. I've been very pleased with the other responses that I've had in other parts of the country, particularly here today. I understand that in the middle of a natural disaster people will be responding in different ways and I just simply have to keep focusing on the task ahead and that is to ensure that the coordination is taking place that our Australian Defence Forces who are, as the crisis continues and they continue to up-scale what they're doing and that's particularly taking place here in Victoria as the Premier has acknowledged and has appreciated the great coordination between the federal government and state government here.
CULLIVER: Do you think it should take it personally?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think that is not the way that you get on with your job. I mean, I understand the frustration, I understand the anger, I understand the rawness people feel and there's a lot of emotions in experiences like this I've been in these circumstances on many previous occasions,
CULLIVER: Sure but do you take those expressions of anger and frustration as a commentary on the way that you're doing your job? Do you interpret them as such?
PRIME MINISTER: It's not about me. This is about what's happening out here,
CULLIVER: But you're the Prime Minister so it is about how you handle a national crisis.
PRIME MINISTER: Yes and that means ensuring that we get the support on the ground where it is needed, understanding where those needs are, providing comfort and support where I can and ensuring that all of the commonwealth agencies and all the payments that are being made, The Australian Defence Force, the chief of the Defence Force l, the brigadiers that are leading the task forces both here, and in New South Wales are getting what they need on the ground that's what it's about it's about people who are facing some very difficult days ahead and have had some terrible days most recently and that's where my focus is. I’ll let others make commentaries, what I'm doing is focusing on the job.
CULLIVER: There's of course, an ongoing conversation about how Australia is dealing with climate change and its contribution to our current state of bushfires in Australia. Do you acknowledge that given the drought and now the bushfires that we're facing that perhaps Australia needs to reassess what we are doing?
PRIME MINISTER: Well we're going to continue to meet the commitments we've made and emissions have been falling, particularly these last two years. I mean, you may not be aware but emissions now are 50 million tons a year less on average than they were when we came to government. This year we'll meet our Kyoto Emissions Reductions Targets which means we're acting inside the commitments that the world has made together to ensure that we can keep those temperature increases to the standards that they've set and on top of that on 2030 for Paris we have the plan to meet that and I believe beat it as well. So we're going to keep doing those things and we're going to keep taking action but let me say this, this is one of many factors and I don't think anyone believes that any one policy on climate can be attributed to these fires that I've just been seeing on the ground both here and in New South Wales, to suggest that would be to speak against the science there are many other factors that need to be looked at and I've got to say the biggest feedback I've had from fire grounds I've been in has been how you manage fuel loads in national parks.
CULLIVER: Is it not true that Australia's opportunity to beat or meet our Paris climate targets are only because of carry over credits, an accounting, well accounting tricks they've been called and so therefore Australia could actually do more to do real reduction in climate change emissions rather than rely on carryover credits that we're doing at the moment.
PRIME MINISTER: Our Kyoto targets 2020 we will exceed by 411 million tons. That's the targets that we needed to meet by this year. That is the environment and the climate in which this current fire season is taking place and Australia has beaten the emissions reductions targets that we set by 411 million tons. Now going out to 2030 I intend for us to continue to pursue policies that reduce emissions and do so in a way that also means that we have a sustainable environment along with a strong economy and that will mean taking real action on climate change there's no dispute about that there's no dispute about taking action on climate change and the government will continue to do that.
CULLIVER: Alright, Prime Minister Scott Morrison now what's on for the next few days for you?
PRIME MINISTER: Well continuing to visit those places and where we can provide that support but the National Security Committee will meet in the morning and consider a number of other initiatives that we have before us, continuing to work very closely with Premiers both in Victoria and New South Wales. But also in the other states where fire risks are emerging, so in South Australia as well as in Tasmania and we also appreciate the support coming out of Queensland at the moment who have had the fire crisis earlier. I mean, the fire season started back in September where I was visiting those fires up in Canungra seeing very similar scenes to where I've been today.
CULLIVER: Alright, do you expect any more Defence deployments to Victoria?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we will continue stepping up the response here in Victoria. And that's exactly what we're planning, at the press conference I outlined today the three major tasks they're focused on at the moment are evacuation, making connections with isolated communities and to ensure that we can clear the roads using the engineers, and on top of that they're also looking to provide additional accommodation for those who are evacuated, particularly over the next few days and they're standing those options up at the moment and at the moment that is resulted, we've got about 100 or so Defence Force reservists who have volunteered and they're now part of that effort here in Victoria and we will continue to say yes every time the state government needs something from the Defence Force but more than that we are actively looking at ways that we can help above and beyond those requests.
CULLIVER: Anthony Albanese, opposition leader, today criticised your decision to have an emergency Cabinet meeting not until Monday. Why is it taking that long to get together?
PRIME MINISTER: They’re meeting tomorrow.
CULLIVER: Okay, I was not aware of that. Thank you for your time, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, ta, bye.
