Media Releases
Interview with Alan Jones, 2GB
4 March 2020
ALAN JONES: Prime Minister, good morning and thank you for your quick time. Just a comment, if you could please, to across Australia here, in relation to what apparently is going on in supermarkets and the fear that people have, and the way in which you believe they should respond, and the way in which your Government is responding.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, sure Alan. As I said yesterday, I mean, what we have in Australia at the moment, and I understand why people are anxious. Let me make that point first. I can understand as they see what's happening around the world, 75 countries where this virus has now spread. I mean, we’ve got more than 20 members of the Iranian Parliament that’s contracted the virus. And that has been a very intense part of the virus around the world. That's why we've put the ban in place.
But in Australia, 38 cases, 21 of those who've had the virus have passed through the virus now and are back in the community. We got ahead of it at the start. We're working hard to stay ahead of it. And the medical advice from Dr Brendan Murphy, who has been calling this right all the way along, well ahead of the rest of the world. His advice is exactly as I said yesterday, Australians can go about their business. Unless you've been in an affected area, you're the one that shouldn't then go and be at a place of what they say, mass gathering or something like that. But the rest of us, we just get up on about our lives as normal. And I can understand why people may be concerned, and go to supermarkets, and do those sorts of things. But the advice is that's not necessary. I spoke to Coles and Woollies yesterday when I, this was brought to my attention. And they’ve been putting things in place to ensure that they get those shelves stocked up again and all the rest of it. But what we're dealing with here is something that's very serious. But we have an emergency response plan that's been put in place. It's been put in place well before the rest of the world. We are taking it very seriously, but we've got one of the best health systems in the world. And the border arrangements we've had in place have been working very effectively and we're changing things as we need to each and every day on the best possible advice and information that we have. So I get it, why people are anxious. I understand. I mean Jenny and I have two girls as well, young kids, so I can understand why families would be worried. I mean, interestingly, Alan, one of the points that was made by Dr Murphy yesterday was that young children, and particularly infants, have proved to be no more vulnerable to this than other members of the population. It's actually older Australians or older people, I should say, more generally, that have been most at risk, just like they are in a flu season. And that's why we've been working so carefully with aged care facilities to ensure that our preparedness there is right. And if it was necessary, that we've got systems in place where aged care facilities can actually be locked off to protect those residents, in cases where the virus would be spreading. So it's a serious issue, but we're on top of it, as is the state Government in New South Wales, and Queensland, and other places. And people can just go about their business. That is what you can do, most importantly to help the economy, to help each other, and to lower the anxiety levels.
JONES: Good on you. Well done. Just one quick one then on that. I said I wouldn't keep you -
PRIME MINISTER: You’re alright.
JONES: …but to go about the business. Now you acknowledged businesses everywhere are in really desperate trouble as a result of this. Necessarily, we have had to stop travel. Necessarily, we have had to stop movement. And so in the tourism industry, in the wine industry, because of the bushfires, smoke taint, the fishing industry that relies on China, when do you think you'll be able to have what you've called a modest, responsible, and a package that is going to address those issues?
PRIME MINISTER: We will be announcing that well before the Budget. We're working hard on that just right now. People, and once you’ll particularly remember Alan, when the Labor Government did a stimulus many years ago, we end up with overpriced school halls and pink batts programs -
JONES: Correct. Correct.
PRIME MINISTER: All of these things. I'm not going to be making those mistakes, I can assure, I can make, you know, you pay for that for a decade. So we're getting that right. And what we're focussing on is exactly what you’ve said. It's about the cash flow of particularly small and medium sized businesses. It's about keeping people in jobs, keeping businesses in business. Because on the other side of this, because this is not, I mean the economic effects here are very significant, but it's not the same as the Global Financial Crisis, because on the other side, when the virus works its way through, the economy will pick up. And so we want those businesses to be there for that, for that bounce back. And I want them to bounce back strongly. So we're designing those measures to do that, so they can work immediately. I mean, these things can be difficult. And so we're getting the design right, and we're working closely, as you could see yesterday, we worked very closely with the Reserve Bank. And again, I want to thank the four big banks for passing on those rate cuts. I asked them to do it, they did it. I thank them very much for doing that. That’s the first time that's happened in about five years - the banks passed on the rate cuts. And it was just like Qantas showing up and doing the right thing by Australians. So, what people can see is everybody's working together here. Everyone's working together here to get Australia through it. We will get through it. We will get right through this. And we’ll bounce back on the other side really strongly.
JONES: Quite. Just a general comment then, because the abalone fishermen in Tasmania is listening to me and their entire fleet of dive boats have ground to a halt. I mean the lobster fishermen in Port Macdonnell on the Great Australian Bight, the entire town is shut down. The lobster boats are sitting in the harbour. And up in North Queensland, Townsville, where you’ve been recently, they’re listening as well, and they've reported more than 19,000 cancellations in a week, worth more than $10 million dollars. What are you saying to them?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the program will be targeted as well. And we're looking particularly at some specific industries that are affected. Tourism businesses as well, right around the country, also affected by this. And so the issue here is how we can best support some of those specific sectors, that might take a little longer for those. But they will certainly benefit from the things that we're looking at doing for the small and medium sized businesses. As I say, we need them to be there once the planes start running again and they can put their produce in the bellies of those planes. And if we have to look at ways that we can work on that in the meantime, well we're open to all of the options and we're going to need to work specifically with some of those sectors so we can get the right measures to support them. We can't make it like it was before the virus. I mean, I think people understand that. But we will work through this together and get everybody through as best as we possibly can.
JONES: Good on you. So finally, go about your business you said yesterday, your words, in the normal processes, in a calm manner.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, just before I lose you Alan, as I think I mentioned to you the other day, I had a good chat with Andrew Constance the other week -
JONES: Yes.
PRIME MINISTER: …when we saw each other at the Memorial Service.
JONES: Yes.
PRIME MINISTER: And we are repackaging that small business program for bushfire assistance.
JONES: Thank you. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: It hasn’t been getting to the places, that we, and we understand the problem. And Andrew Colvin is working on that. He's been working on that over the past week. And when we're in a position to re-launch that program we will. But we get what the problem is. It's not going as well, the way we'd hoped it would and so we’re out there-
JONES: Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: … we are making some changes there. And we’ll get that out as soon as we can.
JONES: I'll keep you posted on the anecdotal experience that comes my way as well. So, there you are.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, Alan. All the best.
JONES: No, thank you, Prime Minister. Much appreciated.
Interview with Leigh Sales, 7.30 - ABC
3 March 2020
LEIGH SALES: Scott Morrison joins me live now from Parliament House. Prime Minister, welcome to the program and thank you for your time.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, Leigh. Good to be with you.
SALES: Is the combination of coronavirus and the bushfires going to drive Australia into a recession?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm not getting ahead of these issues. What we have done on the coronavirus has focussed very much on the health challenge. And that's what we always have to put first. And that health challenge is a very serious one. But at the same time, we know that this global health crisis around the coronavirus is going to have very significant and very real economic impacts, which we are already feeling here in Australia, it is being felt in many other countries, in most, I should say, all around the world. And so well we'll see how that plays out, Leigh. What we need to do is ensure that with the fiscal response that we will provide and which I flagged last week, that we'd be delivering, that it is very targeted, that it's very measured and it's very scalable. So we can continue to respond to these issues as they emerge.
SALES: And when will you be announcing the details of that package and where will it be targeted?
PRIME MINISTER: We'll be announcing those soon Leigh, and we'll be announcing the key areas will be targeting at that time.
SALES: And is soon before the May Federal Budget? Because one assumes there's a degree of urgency here.
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, it is.
SALES: On the health challenge that you mention, Australia's borders afford it some natural protection. Why isn't there a broader travel ban in place than China and Iran, particularly given the rapid spread in countries like South Korea and Italy?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've been following the medical advice, Leigh. Right from the outset. The medical advice has been outstanding. I mean, Dr Brendan Murphy, the Chief Medical Officer, called this well out ahead of the rest of the world, particularly the WHO. And that happened again last week as we move to put in place the emergency response plan to deal with a pandemic phase and that was actioned last week. And now the health advice at this moment has not suggested going beyond the existing travel bans that we have. That said, today, particularly with the information we're seeing coming out of Korea and out of Italy, then we are looking again at those measures right now. But it is important to point out that in Iran, this is the place which has been the most severe set of conditions we've seen outside mainland China. And you're also dealing with a situation in Iran that does not have an advanced health system and different sort of issues pertaining to their economy and how their country operates. In places like Korea though, and in places like Italy, we're dealing with something quite different. So but, there are no options off the table, I can assure you Leigh. And we'll be always putting the health of Australians first.
SALES: The Reserve Bank has once again today cut interest rates to try to bolster the economy. As we've heard. The RBA and business leaders have been urging the Government to come up with a detailed fiscal plan to help the economy out for quite awhile. How is it possible that you don't have an economic centrepiece beyond a slogan for jobs and growth?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I completely reject that Leigh. I mean, last year alone, we brought forward $4.2 billion worth of our program on infrastructure to address the very issues that you've just raised. Last year we passed tax cuts for Australians, which were some of the most significant we've seen in decades. I mean, the Government has been continuing to expand our trade borders through the arrangements we've put in place, which has meant that we would have been even more reliant on those countries that have been most affected by this crisis, were we are not acting in the way we were. So I completely just don't accept that allegation, Leigh.
SALES: Well, let me run through some of it with you. You mentioned your income tax cuts. Their effect on the economy has been muted when you look at the major indicators. You've done nothing on IR, nothing on superannuation, nothing on GST reform, nothing big on company tax reform, no target for emissions reduction beyond 2030. Business leaders feel there's no agenda.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I don't agree with them Leigh. And we're at the beginning of the term. When I came after the last election, I set out an agenda that dealt with infrastructure, that dealt with industrial relations in fact, quite specifically. The only…
SALES: Well, why do you have then… well, let me ask you, why do you think business leaders are always out there saying we need the Government to be doing more?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, let me take the issue they often make on emissions reduction. I'm not going to put up people's taxes, Leigh. I'm not going to put on a carbon tax. And whether it's, if it's business leaders asking me to do it, or the Labor Party asking me to do it, or indeed you asking me to do it. I'm not going to put on a tax to reduce emissions nor am I going to put people's jobs at risk or nor am I going to see rural and regional parts of the economy, which depend on industries, I'm not going to put them at risk. We have an emissions reduction target, Leigh, and it is for 2030. And we've been able to reduce emissions by 13.1 per cent since 2005, ahead of most like countries, whether that's New Zealand or Canada. And we have a target to hit our 26 per cent by 2030 and we're on track to achieve that. And we've got a plan to achieve, which is more important. Plenty of people can have targets, but we have a habit of hitting our targets like we will in 2020 this year where people said we wouldn't and we're going to beat it by 411 million tonnes.
SALES: But you seem to suggest that doing more would be costing jobs and potentially economic growth. Take the example of the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. His Government and successive conservative governments there have been on the front foot on climate change action. They have a net zero by 2050 policy. Since 1990, Britain's cut emissions by 42 percent and at the same time seen a 73 per cent increase in economic growth.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'd make the point about the UK economy is it's quite different to the Australian economy, Leigh. You've gotta have plans that relate to your, to your own country. The UK also has nuclear power, Leigh. And they also have a bigger, they also have a big extension cord which plugs into the nuclear power in France. So, you’ve got to deal with like for like countries. So what I'm telling you is that we're ahead of New Zealand and we're ahead of Canada. And particularly when you compare us to Canada, I think you're looking at more like for like economies -
SALES: You talk about the costs,
PRIME MINISTER: And we'll have a plan for achieving these things. I mean plenty of people that have targets, but if you don't have a plan to achieve them, then all that means is at the end of the day is you don't know what it's gonna cost and you're going to end up taxing people and threatening people's jobs without a plan.
SALES: But also a plan without a target is meaningless because you don't know where you're going. Can I ask you, you’ve raised the point,
PRIME MINISTER: No, I don’t agree with that Leigh. No, Leigh I don’t agree with that. If you have a plan -
SALES: You think you can have a plan, without a goal, without an end goal?
PRIME MINISTER: No, Leigh. What I'm saying is we're developing the technology plan. The Minister for Energy was making reference to that last night. Now that technology plan will enable Australia to reduce its emissions without putting up electricity prices, without putting people's jobs at risk and without saying to people who live in North Queensland or anywhere else, sorry you're gonna have to go and do something else.
SALES: But a technology plan has limitations. You could have made a technology plan, say in 2001. It would have been obsolete by 2006 because technology changes?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, but that's the whole point about the technology plan is it’s looking at future technologies. Take hydrogen for example -
SALES: How can you look at future technologies? They’re not invented yet!
PRIME MINISTER: Well Leigh, let's talk about hydrogen. We've got a plan in place with both the Japanese Government, the Victorian Government and the Australian Government, it’s worth half a billion dollars. And that is to ensure we have a viable hydrogen energy system in Australia into the future, as other countries can. Finding those technologies and doing the ground research now to make sure they are available post-2030 is what we're doing. The reason we're getting more gas out of the ground through arrangements we're putting into place with state governments is to ensure that we've got those fuels which can provide transition, which give you the lead time for these other technologies to come in place. That's what our plan does -
SALES: You were talking,
PRIME MINISTER: And if that plan results in receiving about 20, at 2050, if that were to result in a net zero carbon position by that period by that time, well fine. But it would only be because we had a plan that achieved that. Just mounting a target is quite meaningless unless you've got a plan.
SALES: But when all the states and territories in Australia have committed to a zero emissions target by 2050, when 73 major businesses, including Qantas, whose praises you were singing today and BHP have agreed to that, when peak business groups are calling for it, when environmentalists and scientists calling for it? Why is the Federal Government determinedly isolated?
PRIME MINISTER: Leigh, I'm not going to commit to a target when I can't look Australians in the eye and tell them what it costs or how it's going to be achieved-
SALES: Have you done any of the modelling of the costs of not going to net zero by 2050?
PRIME MINISTER: This is why we do take action on climate change, Leigh. So the argument that it's about what what's the costs of not doing anything, well we are doing something. So I don't accept that argument, what we’re working on is -
SALES: But have you modelled it? Because for example, sorry to interrupt, Prime Minister,
PRIME MINISTER: No, you can interrupt.
SALES: But Melbourne University’s had a look at it. They've found that the potential economic risk to Australia if global emissions patterns remain the same are 584 billion by 2020 and 762 billion by 2050.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're not planning to take no action, Leigh. So the that argument is moot.
SALES: No, that’s if patterns remain the same.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're not planning to have patterns remain the same. We're planning to reduce emissions with a technology plan which will achieve that. But I'm going to do it in a way where I can look Australians in the eye and say, I'm not going to put a tax on you. I'm not going to take your job from you. And I'm not going to undermine industries that are very important to rural and regional Australians. I think they're fairly reasonable commitments and balanced commitments. I mean, it is about having a balanced plan to achieve all of these things. That's what I took to the last election. That's what I said to the Australian people. I took a 2030 plan and the Labor Party today can't even tell you what it should be in 2030 -
SALES: You were talking-
PRIME MINISTER: We did that when we were opposition and in 2010, when we were in opposition, we set out a plan to how we would meet the 2020 Kyoto targets. We have a Labor Party today that can't agree on themselves about anything and can't even tell you what should happen in 2030. So how can you believe them about 2050?
SALES: You were talking earlier about the need to keep investment going, particularly at the moment. The Chief Executive of the Business Council of Australia, Jennifer Westacott, wants a net zero target by 2050 legislated because she said it would cause a massive advance in this country. It would drive investment. Isn't it time to give business that certainty they would like for investment in this area?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't agree with having a target that provides a reverse tax on the Australian economy. I mean, whether it's the business -
SALES: How is that a reverse tax?
PRIME MINISTER: If it’s the business community who says they want a tax or if it's if it's you or anyone else. I don't agree. I don't agree that we should be putting a tax on the Australian economy to meet a targeted emissions level.
SALES: Ok.
PRIME MINISTER: I don't agree.
SALES: Let's zip around some other matters in the news, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
SALES: Your office exchanged 136 emails with Bridget McKenzie's Office regarding the sports grant affair. Why?
PRIME MINISTER: We made representations on the basis of projects that were brought to us and to pass on information about other funding programs which related to those projects. I've been pretty clear about that.
SALES: The Australian National Audit Office has told Senate Estimates that Senator McKenzie wrote to your office on April the 10th, including the colour-coded spreadsheets of what she intended to fund, summarised by state, political party, and electorate. The Brief then went to Sports Australia on April the 11th. The National Audit Office also told Senate Estimates that projects were added and removed after correspondence with your Office. Can you see why to the average Australian that looks like it was worked out for political gain?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what I can tell you is that the projects that were authorised by the Minister that Brief was signed and dated on the 4th of April. And the Minister was the decision maker here Leigh. The Prime Minister’s Office was not. The Minister made decisions and the National Audit Office found that all the representations that were made by my Office were no more effective than anyone else’s. So if anything, I was accused of not being a particularly good advocate.
SALES: Broadly, the Auditor-General found it was a politicised process. The Secretary of your department, Phil Gaetjens says it was not transparent. He noted the disconnect between the Minister's decisions and Sports Australia's recommendations. And yet Australian taxpayers still haven't been given any explanation of the decision making process that drove 100 million dollars in spending of their taxes. You don't see a problem with that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is, this is what the government has done. The Australian National Audit Office did a report, which went into the very issues you've talked about. It made four recommendations. We've adopted all of those recommendations -
SALES: But Prime Minister, my point is, Australians…
PRIME MINISTER: No, no, no, Leigh. If I could just. I'm sorry -
SALES: ...no, no, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I want to go to the question here.
PRIME MINISTER: This is what I’m trying to answer Leigh.
SALES: Australians do not understand. There's been no transparency around that decision making process.
PRIME MINISTER: Leigh, what one of those recommendations was related to ensuring that the transparency of that process should be there in the future. Because what occurred on this occasion was that the Minister had complete discretion around these issues, not what might have otherwise happened on under the many other programs.
SALES: But, it’s caused you a lot of grief. Haven’t you wanted to get to the bottom of how she made those decisions?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is what I'm trying to tell you, if you'd just let me finish the answer. They made recommendations that that should change and we have agreed with that. Secondly, I initiated the review that was done by the Secretary of the Department who didn't find that bias to be in place, by the way -
SALES: Well, we wouldn’t know that because we haven’t seen the report.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, he released a statement Leigh, which actually went into the same matters that were covered in that report. So he's been very transparent about that. But the other point was, is that he made recommendations about whether the Statement of Ministerial Standards had been breached and the Minister resigned when I shared those results with her. So an Auditor-General has reported on it. We've accepted all the recommendations of the report. And in relation to the report done by the Secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Minister has resigned. I would say the Government has taken quite a bit of action on that.
SALES: Angus Taylor had to apologise for issuing false information from his office, which brought your government into disrepute, on this program last night he was clear that he's not worried as to how that happened. He's not puzzled about the discrepancy between his account and the metadata from Sydney City Council. You had to deal with days of distraction because of it. Are you bothered to get to the bottom of how one of your senior ministers came to be distributing doctored material?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, Leigh, those matters were considered by two police investigations and dismissed. What I'm interested in, Leigh, and I think what Australians are interested in is what's going on with the coronavirus, what's going on with bushfires, what's going on with the economy, which are the matters that we discussed earlier in this interview, these matters -
SALES: But Prime Minister the reason I’m asking if I can pick you up on that point.
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
SALES: The reason I'm asking about this is because when you want to talk about those big issues, your trust- people's trust in you and your credibility are your most important assets. I've outlined two examples there where your Ministers have breached public trust. And in both cases, you're saying to voters, there's nothing to see here when there, when there are still unanswered questions?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, no, that's not what I said, Leigh, and you shouldn't paraphrase me in that way. What I said, is the National Audit Office reviewed this matter, made recommendations, and we adopted all of them and the Minister resigned over the matter-
SALES: We still do know in this matter how these decisions were made?
PRIME MINISTER: They were made based on the discretion of the minister, which was the way that that program was lawfully established and these matters, that's what that program was. It was a program of Ministerial discretion. See when Ministers become Ministers, they go through elections in, whether it's in the Senate or the House of Representatives, politicians are elected to make decisions. She made decisions with that authority to do so. That's how that scheme was established, lawfully. And the Auditor-General has looked at that and made recommendations about how that should be done in the future. And I have agreed and the government has agreed with that. And in relation to particular matters about how the program was administered the Minister resigned. So I think it would be unfair for you Leigh to suggest that the government hasn't taken that issue, and indeed the Minister hasn't taken it seriously when indeed the Minister ended up resigning.
SALES: You won't release the Gaetjens report into the sports rorts. Your office tried to conceal when you were on holidays in Hawaii in December. The government cited national security to avoid answering a question under FOI about whether Pastor Brian Houston was invited to a White House dinner, although you've finally admitted this afternoon that he was invited. Why all the secrecy on stuff that on the surface would seem to be not that big a deal?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, those things aren't that big a deal that you've talked about. And I'm always focussed on the-
SALES: But why the secrecy then?
PRIME MINISTER: Leigh, I'm just focused on the things that I took to the Australian people. And I know-
SALES: No no, I just want to know why the secrecy? You're not answering what I'm asking.
PRIME MINISTER: Leigh, well I’ve disclosed the issues you've referred to. So, I mean, in relation to one of those matters, I mean, I could have been more candid the time about it. I wish I was, but frankly, it wasn't a big deal -
SALES: But you want, you go back to the trust question, you want Australians to trust you, does this excessive secrecy help that?
PRIME MINISTER: No. Well, I don't accept- I don't accept the assertion you're putting to me Leigh. I mean, you're making accusations like the Labor Party -
SALES: I just gave three examples.
PRIME MINISTER: -does -
SALES: No, no, I gave you three concrete examples.
PRIME MINISTER: These are these are minor matters, Leigh, that I don't think go to the issues you're talking about-
SALES: That’s my point.
PRIME MINISTER: If you want to if you want to join in on the accusations that the Labor leader makes in parliament every day, well, you can join in-
SALES: I’m not interested in what the Labor leader's got to say. I'm putting to you three examples.
PRIME MINISTER: Well there's an uncanny resemblance between the allegations Leigh.
SALES: I’m putting to you three examples, where there has been secrecy that I can't understand why you'd have secrecy around. Say for example, Brian Houston, you've said this afternoon, you invited him to the White House-
PRIME MINISTER: Well let me deal with the issue of the governance committee Leigh, the governance committee of Cabinet, which involves the Attorney-General, the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, which is the Treasurer. That is a governance committee of Cabinet, which deals with very sensitive information. It is not the practice of any government to release information that has been before the governance committee. And so there is nothing extraordinary about that, Leigh. The Cabinet is a very serious committee of obviously the running of the government. And to suggest that somehow the governance committee of Cabinet should somehow be open slather I don't think is a serious suggestion, and so-
SALES: And so about Brian Houston thing, why did you keep that a secret?
PRIME MINISTER: Well Leigh at the time I was in the United States, we had had a very important meeting with the President of the United States. It was not a matter I was intending to be distracted by. And look at the time I could have answered the question differently, I've been upfront about that. But honestly, at the end of the day, it was not a significant matter and people haven't asked me about it for months and months and months. A journalist asked me about it today and I gave, I just answered it straight up.
SALES: The only reason I'm asking about it, because it is a minor matter, is because of the secrecy around it. I mean, there was an FOI request put in about it that came back and said that the information couldn't be disclosed because it would jeopardise Australia's relationship with the United States?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the allegations that were being made at the time when I was in the United States went around possible leaks out of the President's office. Now, I wasn't about to get into the issues regarding what was said or wasn't said out of the president's office, as a guest in that country at the time I didn't think that to be a very discreet way or diplomatic way to handle those questions.
SALES: Prime Minister, appreciate your time. Thank you for joining us this evening.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks a lot, Leigh.
Interview with Leila McKinnon, A Current Affair - Channel 9
3 March 2020
LEILA MCKINNON: A short time ago, I spoke with the Prime Minister from Parliament House in Canberra.
Prime Minister, the message that we're getting today is to be calm, but seeing what we're seeing unfold around the world, I guess the anxiety is justified, isn't it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I understand the anxiety. I mean, this is a very serious global virus. It is extended to 75 countries or thereabouts around the world, and that has been increasing. But here in Australia, we moved very early. We got ahead of it early and we're staying ahead of it. And we're working together with state and territory governments, but also those in the private sector as well, the big companies to ensure that we can stay ahead of what's occurring here. But I understand why people might be anxious. But people should have a lot of confidence in the very strong health system we have in Australia. We've tested some 10,000 people around the country and there are currently 38 cases. But I stress 21 of those have already cleared the virus and have gone back about their lives. So we are managing this at present, but we're not complacent about it and we're working very hard to stay ahead of it.
MCKINNON: What's the advice you're getting? Are we heading into a pandemic?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're certainly preparing for that. Whether it eventuates in those sort of extreme terms, well, we'll have to wait and see. But we're certainly preparing, for example we've been working with aged care facilities in recent, in recent weeks to ensure that they're prepared. I mean, we are able to lock down aged care facilities if we need to, to protect the residents in those areas because they are some of the most vulnerable in the community. What we're also doing is ensuring that our hospitals have that surge capacity and that we have arrangements in place as to how people might present for medical attention outside hospitals or to have special clinics for that if that's needed. So there's a lot of preparatory work that's being done. But right now, people can just go about their business. They don't have to, not turn up to the footy, or go out for a Chinese meal or any of these things. The best thing we can do is just keep going on about our lives in the way we usually do. But just exercising common sense.
MCKINNON: You've shown yourself to be a pretty committed handshaker in the past, is, are you still shaking hands? Is that, or is that off the table?
PRIME MINISTER: No, no, I'm still shaking hands. And there are precautions people can take, which they normally do during a severe flu season. And that's really all I think we have to be mindful of. That's certainly the advice that we're getting. And it's important that people do go about their business. And I know parents would be very worried about young children. I mean, Jenny and I, we have two children, 10 and 12. And I can understand why people might be anxious. But the important thing is to go to the right source for information.
LEILA MCKINNON: There's also a lot of concern in the community that we might run out of household essentials. Toilet paper is flying off the shelves, hand sanitizer, those kind of things. What information do you have? Should we be stocking up on things?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's not the advice we're getting from the medical experts. And we've seen a bit of that in particular locations going back to about last Wednesday the big retailers tell me. I spoke to both Coles and Woolworths today, and they have arrangements in place to address some of that rather stocked up buying that we've seen. But it's good news that the, Kimberly-Clark, which manufactures toilet paper, for example, that's one of the key items along with hand sanitiser where there's been a real run on that. They're now opening up their manufacturing lines in South Australia to deal with that. And so what that says is when these challenges come up, or these issues arise, whether it's in the private sector, amongst companies or the government ourselves. We're all talking to each other and making sure those issues can be addressed in a convenient way.
MCKINNON: Now, we're already seeing the effects on the economy that, are we looking perhaps after having the drought, after having the fires, now we've got this health crisis. Is it inevitable that we're heading towards a recession?
PRIME MINISTER: I never make any statements about what's inevitable. What I do know, though, is the government will work together with everyone else to ensure we get people through this, and that includes economically. This isn't the global financial crisis. This is something very different. That was a big shock to the economy all those years ago. This will also have a significant impact on our economy, but it will be because of a virus, a health crisis. It's not a financial crisis. It's a health one, but it has very real economic impacts. And the government is pulling together a response to support, particularly small and medium-sized businesses, keeping them in business, keeping people employed, dealing with cash flow, supporting investment, because when the virus runs its course on the other side, there will be an up tick and we will bounce back. I'm planning to ensure that the Australian economy bounce back better. And that would include ultimately with the budget. But we will make those investments that we've committed to that the Reserve Bank today cut interest rates by 25 basis points and I put the banks on early notice, earlier today and I really want to thank them for responding to the call. All of the four major banks have passed on the full rate cuts of 25 basis points, that will support householders, those who are paying for mortgages. And that's a good thing. And I want to thank the banks for the way they've really enlisted here, working with everyone else to ensure that we put the best possible support into the economy at this time.
MCKINNON: What kind of relief or stimulus can businesses that will struggle with this, expect? I mean people like the travel industry or the seafood industry or I know construction's already suffering. Will there be some kind of tax relief or debt relief?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I have more to say about that once those packages have been finalized Leila and I don't want to speculate on too many of those details now. What I want to be clear about, though, is we've been working closely with the Reserve Bank and with the, and with the Treasury to ensure that what we do was targeted, that it really addresses those issues being faced by particular parts of our economy, but also looks at the cash flow issues that small and medium sized businesses will be confronted with, and we’ve got to help businesses get through-
MCKINNON: Yeah well they’re having those issues now though, how quickly,
PRIME MINISTER: Of course they are.
MCKINNON: How quickly can we expect that relief or stimulus?
PRIME MINISTER: We're working on that right now Leila and we'll be making an announcement in the not too distant future, but it's important to get it right. Last time when the government ran out a whole big cash splash and they spent over $50 billion or thereabouts, we paid for it for a very long time and it wasn't very well-targeted. And it left the government's balance sheet in a terrible mess. And we also had a whole bunch of programs, you’ll remember the pink batts programs and the overpriced school halls and all of these things. And we're not going to go and repeat those mistakes. We're getting it right. We're being careful, but we're not delaying and we're moving quickly.
MCKINNON: Okay. Prime Minister, thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Leila
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.
Interview with Tom Elliot, 3AW
3 March 2020
TOM ELLIOTT: As promised, the Federal Government is standing by to impose all sorts of biosecurity measures in an effort to stop or curb or contain the Coronavirus. Joining us on the line now from Canberra is the Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Mr Morrison, good afternoon.
PRIME MINISTER: G’day Tom.
ELLIOTT: I noticed this morning, I went to my local supermarket and people were staggering out with all the toilet paper they could handle. You’ve spoken to the big supermarkets. What do they say about their supply chains?
PRIME MINISTER: They’re, it’s quite positive. I mean they also mentioned to me Kimberly Clark which actually manufactures the toilet paper down in South Australia. So, I think as people sort of return, I would hope they're going about their normal daily business, then, you know, hopefully we can, you know, calm that down and people can just get on about their day. They're very aware of that in the short term. You know, they'll be seeking to restock those shelves and they've got supplies in Australia and they'll be sourcing others. So I was happy with the arrangements that they have in place. They're obviously matters for Coles and Woolies, not for Government. But I was pleased with the very sort of open way they dealt with us, and, you know, they're dealing with the issue on the ground.
ELLIOTT: What would you say to the average punter who is panic buying things though? What's the message to them?
PRIME MINISTER: I’d say call 1800 080 020. I think it's important to get the right facts and information about this. I mean, there are reported this morning some 34 cases current in Australia. 21 of those have already cleared the virus. They've come from quite specific outbreaks, whether that's in Iran or in Wuhan or on the Diamond Princess. There is a case here of human to human transmission, community transmission, and that is has been treated as a sort of non-typical event at the moment. And so, I think the information suggests and all the advice we have is people can just get about their daily business. And Australians are not, I mean we're not immune from this, but we are certainly very well prepared for it. We've got a very advanced health system and we've got very strong border protection measures in place. That doesn't mean we can prevent it ultimately from coming into Australia, but it does give us a lot of control measures. I mean, particularly for young kids, too. There's no evidence, as the Chief Medical Officer was saying this morning, that it has a particular severity for children. I mean, the people most at risk are the elderly, and that's why we've been working over the past week, in particular on the emergency response plan, the arrangements, if necessary, that we'd have to put in place for aged care facilities.
Look, just on that number it's 1800 020 080. Let me just correct that 1800 020 080. That's the incident response centre. I mean I visited there many weeks ago when it was first stood up. And there's no people there with the medical expertise who can give you the real facts and avoid all the sort of, you know, extreme stories that people are seeing on social media and online and all that sort of thing. I mean, when these things happen, everybody wants to make a name for themselves by coming out with the most outlandish prognosis and speculation. That doesn't help anybody. Just get the real information and exercise, you know, just normal common sense, which Australians are good.
ELLIOTT: I’ve got an article in front of me pointing out how the Government has these reserve powers with respect to quarantining people. Do you stand ready to enforce compulsory quarantine measures on large groups of people?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, if we have to go into those sorts of responses and they're not anything that is being anticipated at this point, then obviously those powers are there for a reason. What we'll continue to do Tom, is just deal with the information we have, which comes in each day. And the world is sort of responding to this virus on the same basis. But we've been getting the calls right. I mean, we called this more than a week out from the World Health Organization, initially back in January, and started putting the first, one of the first to put the travel bans in place on mainland China. We called the pandemic response plan well over- the WHO hasn't got there yet. So, you know, we're getting ahead of it and we’re working to stay ahead of it. And that includes the economic response as well. The Reserve Bank today has cut rates by 25 basis points. That is in direct response to addressing the Coronavirus and I’m pleased to see that Westpac and Commonwealth have responded fully to that rate cut pass on. And I'd be expecting the other two major banks to do exactly the same thing.
ELLIOTT: I was gonna ask you about that. I mean, it's good that the Reserve Bank has done that. And we hope that NAB and ANZ also pass on the rate cut in full. But I mean are you and Josh Frydenberg gonna do something to try and stimulate demand in the economy?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, well look we said this last week. I said it last week, last Thursday. And I discussed that also with the Reserve Bank Governor earlier this week. I mean, there'll be responses from the Commonwealth and the federal Government, and we'll do what we will do with the Reserve Bank doing what it's doing. But I think we have to be careful to not sort of treat every crisis the same. This isn't like the Global Financial Crisis. We haven't had the banks fall or fail. We have got a problem with financial stability or credit extensions.
ELLIOTT: A lot of businesses are doing it very tough you know…
PRIME MINISTER: That is my point. What is causing that is that the virus is disrupting supply chains. So we need to focus on the cash flow of particularly small to medium sized businesses. We got to focus on ensuring people can remain in their jobs because the virus will eventually run its course. And on the other side of that, the economy will bounce back. We need to make sure that the businesses and jobs are in place to benefit from that bounce back.
ELLIOTT: Ok. Well, what do we do? I mean, for example, would you have a moratorium on say tax payments by small businesses so they can preserve cash flow or something like that?
PRIME MINISTER: We're still bringing that program together Tom, and when we're in a position to make that announcement, which won't be too long, we'll be making that, those announcements.
ELLIOTT: Now, what about big gatherings? I mean, I know that in Geneva, for example, the big motor show there was cancelled just a few days ago. Sporting events. There was a rugby match between Ireland and Italy that was cancelled. And of course, here in Melbourne in just over a week, we've got the Grand Prix. Should that go ahead?
PRIME MINISTER: There’s no advice to suggest it shouldn't at all. But we'll monitor this all the time. I mean in Australia where you've got you know 34 cases, I suspect that number will rise, as does the Chief Medical Officer. But there is nothing to suggest that mass gatherings in Australia should be postponed at this point. And obviously, those who've returned from areas where, you know, whether it's in the Middle East or in Japan or Korea or places like that, if people are exhibiting symptoms that the first thing they should do is contact their doctor or contact the emergency department. And then if they were presenting at one of those places, they can put the appropriate arrangements in place to receive them and to check them out. But it's people who would be potentially have been in a place where they would have been susceptible. They're the ones who shouldn't go to places of mass gathering. For the rest of us, it’s fine. I'm looking forward to going to the season opener for my beloved Sharks up here in Sydney in a few weeks.
ELLIOTT: Just on the coronavirus. I mean, if we just said it was the flu and just took it as an out of season flu, I personally don't think people would be panicking about it, because we're used to the flu. Are the medical experts telling you, is this any worse than the normal flu that strikes every winter?
PRIME MINISTER: I mean certainly on the data it is. I mean, it's not as bad as SARS and MERS, which were very deadly viruses. This is nowhere near that level of acuteness. But it is on the evidence we have in front of us at the moment, stronger than a normal flu. But we lose, we lost about 900 Australians last year in relation to the flu. And those are people who are normally more vulnerable with their health otherwise. And those are the people most vulnerable. Most people, as the Chief Medical Officer tells me, who contract the Coronavirus, certainly it's been the case here in Australia, with the sad exception of Mr Kwan in Perth, they've had very mild cases of this. As I said, 21 of the 34 have already cleared the virus. And you know, if someone our age, I suppose Tom, and you were to contract it the advice I'm getting is you wouldn't expect it to be terribly severe. And that you would have to isolate yourself and do all of those things. But that's why I said this morning people should exhibit the same common sense that they exhibit in relation to a bad flu season. It's the same things you do. And it is just common sense things which Australians would be well familiar with. They don't need to go around, as the Medical Officer has been saying, stockpiling things or running around in masks. I mean, the only people who would need to wear a mask is someone who's got the virus.
ELLIOTT: Indeed. And that is where I would say that the panic is because this is a new thing [inaudible]. Look we’ll leave it there. I do appreciate your time, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: No worries Tom, thanks for the opportunity to chat.
Interview with Ben Fordham, 2GB
3 March 2020
FORDHAM: Prime Minister Scott Morrison has a lot on his plate at the moment. I'm very happy to say he's offered himself up for a quick chat this afternoon. He's on the line from Parliament House. Prime Minister, good afternoon.
PRIME MINISTER: G’day Ben.
FORDHAM: Are you worried about all those empty shelves?
PRIME MINISTER: I think what's important is people need to understand that they can go about their normal lives Ben, I mean, this is obviously a concerning global virus and it's having its impact in over, in 70 countries around the world. But here in Australia, we got ahead of it early. We're staying ahead and we've got to keep doing that, working together. And that's what the government's doing with our health response and then every other response we've got running, particularly with states and territories. I actually spoke to Coles and Woollies this morning and they've got their supply lines under control and they're they're addressing those things. But people should be aware of these things, but they can go about their normal business like they always had, we’ve only had a very rare case of community transmission, to date. And the number of cases are still sitting around 34 as I speak at the moment. But 21 of those cases, people have actually cleared the virus. So it's serious. But, you know, we're on it. And I think people should focus on just going about their daily lives.
FORDHAM: There was also a danger of a toilet paper shortage, you’ve spoken about that today. I bet you never thought when you became PM you'd be talking about a toilet paper shortage.
PRIME MINISTER: No I didn’t, but Kimberly-Clark has opened, reopened the manufacturing of it down in South Australia, which just goes to show that, you know, that people respond to these situations and solutions are put in place. And that's what I am being impressed by, that whether we're dealing with health issues or issues at the border or standing up the quarantine arrangements that we had to do, the great support we had from Qantas to get people out of out of Wuhan, and to get them out of, off the Diamond Princess. And today already we've seen Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank fully pass on the 25 basis point rate cut that was announced today. Looking forward to NAB doing the same thing, and ANZ because, you know, if Qantas stood up and those other big companies have stood up as part of this response, then I’d only expect others to do the same. So people are working together, and staying on it. And that puts Australia, I think, in a very strong position and stronger than I'd argue almost any other part of the world.
FORDHAM: I know I’m switching around a bit. But you just raised the rate cut today. So I might just bring that up because the Reserve Bank Governor has kind of made a bit of a play of saying, look, don't leave it all up to the banks to go stimulating the economy. Maybe it's time to forget about the surplus and for the Commonwealth to start spending some money. So are you, are you suggesting you're not of a mind to bring in some kind of stimulus package?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I flagged last week that the government would be delivering on that. And that's a discussion I also had with the Reserve Bank governor on Monday. And he's made specific reference to that in the meeting he's had today, and the statement he’s issued today. So the Reserve Bank, the government, we're all working together. We're all pulling in the same direction. And most importantly, we have a very aligned view about what the nature of this problem is. See, it's not like the global financial crisis. It's completely different. This is a health crisis with very serious economic consequences. And that means once we can deal with the health issue, the economy will bounce back and we want to bounce back as strongly as possible. And that's what we're working on with the measures that we will announce and they will complement certainly what the Reserve Bank has done today.
FORDHAM: Okay. Just, just for my benefit, I haven't read the Reserve Bank board meeting minutes or anything. I expect most my listeners wouldn't have either. So that's on the table a stimulus package possibility?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, well, I said this last week, Ben, at a press conference last Thursday, that the government would be delivering, a targeted, scalable and what I've described today as a measured response. And it's going to be focussed on jobs. It's going to be focussing on keeping businesses and businesses can be focussing on investment because we need to get through what is a very difficult period. And when we've got global supply chains that are breaking down, that's what a health crisis does. It breaks up all the connections between business and customers and their businesses that they’re buying services from. That means fewer people are travelling around. It's hard to get your exports to market. That's what the impact of it is on your economy. And what we need to focus on is the cash flow, particularly of small and medium sized businesses. And that's what the Treasurer and I are very focussed on.
FORDHAM: The Chief Medical Officer says expanding the travel ban from China to include countries like South Korea and Italy won't contain coronavirus. It would only slow the spread of the disease. But if it's going to slow it, shouldn't we do it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is what I've asked the medical officer and the other advisers, health advisors on this to come back to us on, that’s these are reasonable questions. We don't rule anything out Ben, in dealing with this because the information changes almost on a daily basis. And, you know, we've got large numbers of people who've been affected around the world. I mean, we've got just around about 90,000 cases, over 3,000 people have lost their lives to this virus. Now, this is nowhere near as severe as what we saw with those SARS and MERS incidents, but a lot more people are contracting it. Because it's a lot more transmissible and so we understand that and that's why we got in ahead really, really early with the travel bans. I mean, our travel ban was in place before the US travel ban was in place. And similarly, we called this a good week out from the world health organization on the first occasion back in January. And we did it again last week when we said that we had to now prepare for a pandemic. Now it's gone from 40 countries to 75 countries in the space of just the last few days. So we're on it. But it changes quite readily. And that means, you know, you got to be constantly working on your responses and and being open to it to all the options.
FORDHAM: On a moving beast like this it's hard to get everything right. And I spoke to some passengers who were onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, Jan and Dave Binskin, and they said, look, we can't work out why we were left on that Coronavirus cruise ship for nearly three weeks before being rescued. What would you say to Jan and Dave?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the advice we had at first is that the cruise company working with the Japanese government, had put a quarantine in place on that vessel, and that would have meant, had that quarantine been effective, that they would have been able to get off the ship after those 14 days and fly home normally. Sadly, what happened is that quarantine was not successful. And as a result, because of that quarantine not not working we had to put the other arrangement in place.
FORDHAM: Now, you've maintained throughout the sports rorts saga that you and your office had no involvement in awarding the grants, but 136 e-mails were exchanged between your office and the office of Bridget McKenzie. How can you send 136 emails about something you had nothing to do with?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what I've said is that we provided information based on the representations made to us, and that included information about other funding options or programs relevant to the project proposals. And that's not unusual Ben, it's not unusual for Prime Ministers’ offices to be communicating with Ministers across a whole range of issues. I mean, the Labor Party just wants to throw mud around on this. I mean, they're running around in circles on politics. And frankly, we're focussed on dealing with the coronavirus and the drought and the bushfires and all of these things. These are the things that are of great concern to the Australian people. Labor wants to throw mud around.
FORDHAM: Did you play down your office’s involvement?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I was very honest about it.
FORDHAM: The North Sydney Olympic pool underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge copped $10 million under a federal program designed to help regional areas. How many people from the bush do you reckon would be regulars at the North Sydney pool? And do you agree with Jilly Gibson, the North Sydney mayor, who says it's a regional facility?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, again, this is one of the bits of misinformation that are out there Ben. When I announced the program, I didn't say it was for regional areas. It was for areas right across the country. And so that was that was a piece of information that was provided incorrectly by the department, that it only applied to regional areas. And that's what often comes out of Canberra mate. I mean, all this stuff comes out there and then it's repeated 50 times as if it's true.
FORDHAM: The Canberra bubble.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it is mate. I mean we’ve seen the bubble of operation on regular occasions. I'll tell you what people outside the bubble are focussed on, and that's coronavirus.
FORDHAM: Let me clear something up with you because I promised my listeners I would, including some people who have been sadly victims of child sexual abuse and I’ve got to keep my promise to them, it relates to your trip to Washington last year and whether or not you asked the Trump administration to invite the Hillsong founder Brian Houston to the White House state dinner, now the reason this is of interest is because Brian Houston is under investigation by the NSW police for not reporting child sex abuse allegations involving his father, now this may have been a case of you not knowing at the time that Brian Houston was under investigation, I don’t know, but what I do know is that you didn’t really give a straight answer when asked about it, you dismissed it as gossip, so I wanted to clear it up once and for all, and keep the promise that I made to my listeners, did you seek an invitation to the White House state dinner for Brian Houston?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ve known Brian for a long time, and the Hillsong Church has a very big network of churches all across the United States, and their ministry when it comes to their music and so many other things have been a very big, it’s probably the single largest organisation that is known in the United States and Brian Houston actually turned up to the White House a few months later at the invitation directly of the White House, on that occasion we put forward a number of names, that included Brian, but not everybody whose names were put forward were invited. But the point about this is, they’re a very large church. I mean, they’re well known in the United States and a lot of people in the United States go along to their services every week. So I’m not quite sure what the accusation is about that.
FORDHAM: Well well, as I said, it was relevant because as it turns out, he was under police investigation and he still is, according to New South Wales police. Would it be fair to say you weren't aware of that at the time?
PRIME MINISTER: These are not things I follow closely. All I know is that they’re a very large and very well attended and well-supported organisation here in Australia. And and, you know, they are very well known in the United States, are so well known that Brian was actually at the White House a few months after I was. So the President obviously didn't have an issue with it. And that's why I think that's where the matter rests. But I mean, honestly, I mean, people have chased this round and round for months but at the end of the day what's important is the relationship we have with the United States and it's never been better.
FORDHAM: You know, while I followed up on it, though, because sometimes when things are passed off as gossip, I think sometimes we just need to chase down the answer. And you've given me what we've given me one this afternoon. So I appreciate that. And good luck with dealing with the coronavirus. I've got a feeling that you're going to be very busy over the weeks and months to come. Thanks for joining us this afternoon.
Update on Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Australia
29 February 2020
Prime Minister, Assistant Minister for Health, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Women
The National Security Committee of Cabinet has agreed today to introduce new travel restrictions and update the travel advice for Iran as part of the Government’s coordinated measures to protect Australians from COVID-19.
From 1 March 2020, the Australian Government will implement changes to travel arrangements for people travelling to, or returning from Iran, following expert medical advice today from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) and the Australian Government’s Chief Medical Officer on the outbreak of COVID-19.
These measures are part of our ongoing strategy of containment and minimising risk to the Australian community as detailed in our pandemic preparedness plan.
As of 1 March 2020:
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will raise the level of the travel advisory for Iran from level 3 to level 4 – do not travel;
Foreign nationals (excluding permanent residents of Australia) who are in Iran on or after 1 March 2020, will not be allowed to enter Australia for 14 days, from the time they have left or transited through Iran;
Australian citizens and permanent residents will still be able to enter, as will their immediate family members (spouses, legal guardians or dependants only). They will be required to self-isolate at home for 14 days from the day they left Iran.
These actions are based on advice from the AHPPC that noted the following evidence suggesting the COVID-19 outbreak in Iran may be one of the largest outside of Hubei province in China;
Iran has the largest reported number of deaths outside of Hubei province;
There are already cases of COVID-19 from Iran to a number of countries including Australia and New Zealand, despite the absence of direct flights and relatively low travel volumes from Iran to these countries.
It is almost certain that the reported case numbers are underestimated.
The travel restrictions for Iran will now be consistent with those in place for China.
The Australian Government favours measures that could materially slow the importation of COVID-19 cases into Australia to enable preparatory measures to continue and to enable a public health response to the initial cases.
We believe that travellers from Iran represent, at this time, a materially greater risk of COVID-19 importation than any other country outside China.
The current travel restrictions regarding mainland China continue to be successful in reducing the volume of travel from mainland China and will continue.
This is a specific temporising measure for an unusually high-risk country and further travel restrictions are unlikely to be effective at reducing importation.
Since 22 February 2020, 25 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Australia, including:
15 cases with a direct or indirect link to Wuhan, Hubei province, China, who are all reported to have now recovered from their infections.
9 cases associated with the Diamond Princess repatriation flight from Japan to the Northern Territory are in isolation in their home state in a stable condition
An additional case in Queensland with a recent travel history to Iran which was confirmed on 28 February 2020. The case is currently in isolation at a hospital in Queensland and contact tracing by Queensland Health is underway.
Across the world there are currently 85,153 cases and 2,922 deaths reported across 58 countries from the outbreak of COVID-19.
New countries with confirmed cases include Iceland, New Zealand and Mexico.
While we are not immune as a country we are as well prepared as anybody could possibly be.
The Australian Government continues to monitor and respond to the COVID-19 outbreak as it evolves.
We will work in close cooperation with state Government authorities and our international partners to coordinate our response and keep Australians safe.
Interview with Neil Mitchell, 3AW
28 February 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Neil.
NEIL MITCHELL: Can we deal with the financial side first, a massive drop in the Dow Jones. What does this do to Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're not immune from this economic impact. No country is. And the United States, like Australia, who are very well prepared to deal with the health impacts of this crisis with the virus. But the economic impacts are very raucous. It's breaking down supply chains. It's just not tourism. It's just not students. It goes beyond that. I mean, the way that all of the economies are linked up these days means that it does have that domino effect. So we're in for a difficult time economically because of the coronavirus and the advice we've had from Treasury when the National Security Committee met yesterday was that we need to be quite targeted about how we address that. This idea of, you know, big cash splashes right across the economy, no, that's not it. That's not a good idea. So we that's not something that we would countenance anyway. But we have to be targeted and strategic about it.
MITCHELL: Is this the most significant crisis financially - and let's get to the health in a moment - since the global financial crisis?
PRIME MINISTER: I'd agree with that. I think that's a fair assessment. But I think the difference is this - this is not a financial crisis. This is a health crisis with significant financial impacts. And there's a key difference there is that, you know, went to financial stability, financial markets, things of that nature. The financial stability of the system and particularly the Australian system is strong. And that's not what's at risk here. What's at risk here is the breakdown of supply chains and the flow of people and goods and services because of the health issue. And that's why we've got to stay focused on addressing that health issue.
MITCHELL: I agree and we'll get to that moment. But does this mean there is a threat of a world recession?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, look, I wouldn't speculate about that. I think it's still too early. The thing about this virus and this is what the Treasury advice was yesterday, Neil, is we had been and they had been conceiving this a bit like the SARS and the MERS event from previously where, you know, it dipped down and came back up. The Treasury advice now is that we need to be thinking about it differently and preparing for that and it's because of the very high rates of transmission, you alluded to in your introduction. I mean, overall, SARS and MERS last time there were about 10,500 notifications and sadly, there's about 1,600 people who lost their lives to those viruses. Coronavirus, as you said, it's about 81,000 and there's been 2,800, just under 2,800 people who passed away. So while the rate of mortality of this virus is much less than SARS and MERS, its spread is much more significant and that's why it moves to a pandemic phase much faster.
MITCHELL: How many people are being monitored in Australia at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER: At the moment we've got eight people who have the condition who are still receiving treatment and recovering. The 15 previously who had and they'd come from the Hubei Province, from Wuhan. They've all cleared the virus now and they've been discharged.
MITCHELL: You've got extraordinary measures here and rightly so. But what is the trigger point? At what stage do you say, yes, we need to do that?
PRIME MINISTER: That relates to when you're getting community transmission in Australia.
MITCHELL: But one community transmission?
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry?
MITCHELL: Do you mean one community transmission or significant?
PRIME MINISTER: It would be a graded response and that's the whole point of this emergency response plan. It is very flexible to respond to the situation as it presents.
MITCHELL: And what does it give you the power to do?
PRIME MINISTER: All the things you mentioned previously.
MITCHELL: What, close schools?
PRIME MINISTER: That is possible, but we don't see that at this point in time.
MITCHELL: Japan closed schools overnight, 35,000 of them.
PRIME MINISTER: Yes but they have community transmission in Japan. We don't have that. And my key point yesterday also, Neil, was Australians should go about their lives. I mean, we are well-prepared. We've got ahead of this. We're staying ahead of this. People should go out to Chinese restaurants. They should go out to sporting fixtures. They should get out and about in their communities, their kids can play with each other, have play dates, do all that sort of stuff. You know, you don't need to walk around wearing masks or any of this sort of thing. That's the medical advice. So Australians should go about their lives in the same way as they have been. We're very well prepared for this. So of course, we're not immune, but we've got the plans in place. And that's really what yesterday's announcement was. Should it elevate to that level of community transmission in Australia, then there are a range of measures the government takes. We're already uplifting what we're doing at airports, points of entry, because it's gone well beyond mainland China now. I mean, there are over 40 countries.
MITCHELL: Are we doing enough at the airports? I mean, I was talking to some friends just back from northern Italy which looks to be the new epicentre. No testing at the airport, they arrived a couple of days ago.
PRIME MINISTER: I wouldn't say it's the new epicentre, that's certainly not our advice. The medical advice we had yesterday was there was no need, in fact, they didn't believe it was necessary to have the additional controls put in place.
MITCHELL: We're advising people not to go to Italy, but anybody from Italy can come here without being tested?
PRIME MINISTER: No, this is the next stage of the plan. This is what I'm saying. I mean, now we are uplifting for other places coming into Australia and the screening that is being put in place in airports. That wouldn't have been in place.
MITCHELL: Which ones? Which countries?
PRIME MINISTER: Right across the board. This is my point.
MITCHELL: So everybody coming into Australia will be checked.
PRIME MINISTER: No, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is when you move to a pandemic phase and you're dealing with a broader risk of people coming through, I mean, people might be coming from the UK, but they might have been in Japan. People might be coming from Singapore and they might be coming through the United States. It doesn't matter where people are coming from now. Once things get to a pandemic stage, then you need to be lifting your overall level of protection at the entry point.
MITCHELL: So I’m not quite clear. Does that mean if it gets to pandemic stage, that everybody coming to the country will be tested, or not tested but checked?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there'll be procedures to deal with a broader range of people coming into the country. I mean, we've currently asked the Border Force Commissioner to give us quite specific plans on what they will be able to lift up over the course of the next week or two. Right now, that's not presenting as a major risk right now, but we are lifting it up to ensure that as this spreads more and more globally then our protection at that the airport will increase. But I want to sort of qualify that. The suggestion that when it gets to a global pandemic phase and even more serious than it is today, that, you know, that Australia would be able to completely lock itself off for the world, that wouldn't... that is not a realistic scenario.
MITCHELL: So you wouldn't close the borders?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's not realistic. That's not practical. What you do then is you manage and slow it down. And that's what this response plan, that's what the health advice is. And in the same way you manage a very bad flu and you know, almost a thousand people died of the flu in Australia last year and because of the complications that arise. This virus is more severe than the flu, but it's nowhere near as severe as those other conditions like SARS or MERS.
MITCHELL: So I just wanted to clarify that. How many people are being monitored, you said eight. I think it's eight infected. Do you know how many are being monitored?
PRIME MINISTER: There'll be many people who, across the community, Australians who have returned from mainland China who will be in self-isolation and then working with their local medical practitioners. I mean, I said the other day, I mean, in February, the figures I had the other day since, you know, we put the travel ban in place from mainland China with Australians and Australian residents and others coming back to Australia, there's been over 34.000 people returned to Australia during that time and they've gone into self-isolation and that has proved to be extremely effective at all.
MITCHELL: All 34,000 of them?
PRIME MINISTER: 34,000 Australians, Australian residents and others have returned to Australia since the 1st of February and self-isolation has worked to date.
MITCHELL: Ok, just on the hospital issue, is it correct if it becomes a pandemic that elective surgery would be stopped?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they’re decisions that states are working through now to advise on how they'd be able to achieve their surge capacity at hospitals and establish the appropriate quarantine facilities and isolating people with the virus and to do that in a way that could be contained. That's why the health ministers are meeting now and they'll be meeting in the weeks ahead and they'll come back to us with where the gaps would be in how we fill those gaps. And it's also, you know, things like the personal protective equipment for frontline sort of workers.
MITCHELL: Yes, have we got enough of that? I'm getting a message there mightn’t be enough of that to go around. Is that correct?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've got 20 million masks…
MITCHELL: But protective gear for, say, ambulance officers or doctors, the hazmat suits. How many of those have we got?
PRIME MINISTER: We’ve got 20 million masks and the other types of masks, not just the paper ones, but the other ones, I forget the name off the top of my head. But there’s 20 million of those and we're now, we will be replenishing those stockpiles and we'll be working through all of that PPE type equipment. You're just talking about right now - P2 masks, that's what they’re called.
MITCHELL: But the next step up from the mask is - well, it's a couple steps up - is the full hazmat gear and the ambulance officers will need that, some police will need that, doctors will need that.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this isn't, you know, Ebola. We're not talking about those types of viruses here. And I think we've just got to get a bit of measure here about what we're dealing with. Yes, it's a bad virus, but it's nowhere near as deadly as what we thought with SARS or MERS. As I said, 1,000 people passed away in 2019 as a result of the flu and what we're seeing is a rate of mortality on this virus up to about 10 times that. But when you're talking about SARS or MERS, it was many, many more.
MITCHELL: But it is very hard to know the mortality rate. I mean, Iran's reported reporting 11 per cent, which may be a sign of mutation. China, 3 per cent, South Korea, under 1 per cent. It's very hard to know what it is. I was talking to one of the professors the other day who said, well, the figures aren't reliable or really assessed.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's why you... as it's gone to more countries, I mean, take Iran, for example. I mean, you've got to sort of try and get a sense of what the base figure is, of how many people actually have the virus. They know, obviously, how many people have passed away, but we know what that's as a proportion of it is, I think, the challenge for the health advisers. So as it goes to more countries and we're connected to all of those countries and talking to them, we're getting a better sense of what that severity is. But from the health advice we've had, it's been quite consistent. It has a high rate of transmission, but it's severity is far less enhanced than we've seen from similar types of these viruses before. So its great risk is its high rate of transmission.
MITCHELL: And then vulnerable people, of course.
PRIME MINISTER: Of course, particularly the elderly. And they're the ones who have been most at risk and that's what's proved to be the case overseas.
MITCHELL: Professor MacIntyre who is head of biosecurity at the University of New South Wales has estimated between 25 and 70 per cent of people could get it. We could need 650,000 ICU beds. Now, we just can't do that, can we?
PRIME MINISTER: This is why when you get into a pandemic phase, you have plans which work to slow the rate of transmission and to contain and that means the health system can respond to it. And that's exactly what this plan is about achieving. And I would caution, obviously, against, I mean, they're not in any way, you know, questioning the credentials here. But I mean, at high rates of transmission, you can run all sorts of arithmetic. But the issue here is how we respond, work together to slow its rate of transmission and to ensure that the health system is able to keep pace. Now, at the moment, we have no community transmission at all. I mean, there's no evidence. There are no cases that have been the result of community transmission here in Australia. And that's why people can go about their business. I mean, this is one of the safest places, if not the safest place in the world at present in relation to this, because we got ahead of it early and we called it long before the World Health Organisation did and we're doing that again now.
MITCHELL: Is that reason to sort of pre-empt the pandemic and get some of this stuff into place now?
PRIME MINISTER: That's what we're doing, Neil. That's exactly what we're not doing.
MITCHELL: Well, not the more extreme things, though. You’re not closing schools.
PRIME MINISTER: No, you don't have to close schools. You don't have to do any of that. That would be unnecessarily disruptive and quite potentially damaging to Australian livelihoods and what they're doing. That is not necessary. That's not the health advice. And there is no need to go beyond that.
MITCHELL: So what are you doing? You’re going to test more people coming into the country, is that correct?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the first stage is to lift the level of screening that is occurring at airports. But what we're doing right now is getting the preparedness in hospitals, getting the preparedness with stockpiles of PPE equipment, securing issues around medicines and these sorts of things. The Education Ministers I have tasked our Education Minister to look at the contingency plans they would need to put in place if there was a scenario that presented that schools could be an issue, places of mass gathering, all of this, you would need to know how that's going to work and ensure that you were drilled to do that. Because you don't want to be doing this at the time it hits. You want to be planned and have your procedures ready to go now.
MITCHELL: Do you genuinely believe - we all hope this, Prime Minister - do genuinely believe we can get through it without a large death toll?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, on the advice I have at the moment, yes, of course. That's the indication at this point. But I mean, we're not immune from this. That's why we have to focus on being prepared and that's exactly what we're doing. We go into this with a strong, stable financial system and economy. We do it with a world-class health system, best in the world, arguably. And so that prepares us very well to deal with this. I should stress also, we're working closely with our Pacific neighbours as well. They are obviously a lot more vulnerable because they don't have the benefit of what I've just mentioned. It was a matter that I discussed with President Widodo when he was out recently and I'll be with the New Zealand Prime Minister today here in Sydney and it'll be a big feature of our discussions because we're working very closely on the coronavirus.
MITCHELL: Grand Prix coming up in Melbourne. Should it go ahead?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, there is no reason for it not to, there's no suggestion from anybody at the moment that there's a need to change any of those arrangements. So I wish them well for it. It should be great for Melbourne, as it always is, great for the economy and people to get out there and have a good time.
MITCHELL: The Mardi Gras in Sydney this weekend, 20,000 people from interstate and overseas. It can't be stopped but you would hope there would be a bit of care taken, wouldn’t you?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, again, there's no community transmission of the virus at present. People should just go about their lives. It went ahead last year, it’ll go ahead this year.
MITCHELL: You mentioned the Indonesian leader. It seems a little peculiar, Indonesia's about the only country in the world hasn't reported any cases. Do you believe that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that report is a function of how many their capability to test.
MITCHELL: What, so it was likely to be cases and they haven't confirmed them?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you know, it's a very big country with a lot of islands and it would be very difficult to be able to give absolute assurances about those numbers. I don't mean that in any way disrespecting, Indonesia has a different health system to Australia's and we both have different capacities to be able to sort of provide those assurances.
MITCHELL: Just so, I know you're in a hurry, just finally there is also some medical advice this is likely sort of turning to the flu season. So we could have flu and coronavirus at one time. Do you believe this challenge, if you view it, could be with us for quite some time?
PRIME MINISTER: We have to make that assumption. I hope that proves to be not correct. I mean, I hope that, you know, six months from now, Neil, we will look back on this conversation and say, well, you know, you guys acted with an abundance of caution and that proved not to be necessary at the end of the day. I hope that's the outcome. And that's what acting with an abundance of caution and getting ahead of it and staying ahead of it is all about. I mean, you've got to put health first and that means taking sensible precautions, but not things that unnecessarily disrupt people's lives.
MITCHELL: Could be a test of Australian character, couldn’t it?
PRIME MINISTER: And I have no doubt Australians will pass with flying colours. And can I say, particularly to the Chinese Australian community in Melbourne, because I was down Box Hill the other day. I mean, I talked about 34,000 people having just come back from China and also we had a lot of people who came through those quarantine arrangements up in Darwin and Christmas Island that have returned to Melbourne. They've been fantastic. You know, the self-isolation practices, the working through the quarantine - absolutely magnificent. Best way to say thanks is to get down to Box Hill and have a great meal.
MITCHELL: Thank you very much for your time.
PRIME MINISTER: Good on you, Neil.
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.
Interview with Sabra Lane, ABC AM
28 February 2020
SABRA LANE: Scott Morrison, good morning and welcome to the program.
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Sabra.
LANE: Prime Minister, how can people stay calm when there are headlines like Plague Alert?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, people, I think, can feel assured that Australia got ahead of this early and we're staying ahead of this, as in the report that just went to air there are only 8 Australians currently recovering from coronavirus, all 15 previously who would come here from Wuhan they've all cleared now and they've overcome the virus. I mean, so right now, there is no community transmission, human to human transmission that is occurring in Australia. But with the spread of the virus into many more countries, over 40, then that means it's getting to a level now where we have to be prepared to deal with any, of the virus coming to Australia. And as it was also when that report that the plan is about slowing that down, making sure that the system is able to cope with that, no country is better prepared than Australia.
LANE: Sure but,
PRIME MINISTER: And that’s why people can feel assured.
LANE: A Coronavirus outbreak could hit in tandem with the normal flu season. State health ministers are meeting today, and the New South Wales Health Minister Brad Hazzard wants the federal government to give the states more money to help with this. Will the federal government oblige?
PRIME MINISTER: Well the health ministers are meeting today and this is all states and territories and the Commonwealth working together to address this, we’ll consider any of those issues on their merits. But equally, the states, I'm sure, would be stumping up as well. I mean, we're all in this. We've all got to deal with it. And I'm sure that the states wouldn't be looking to try anything on here. They'd just be looking to work together to make sure we can do the best thing by our population and we'll work with everybody to achieve that.
LANE: The federal government's emphasizing the need to be well-prepared, one Australian virologist has encouraged people to make sure they've got enough medication and canned food for a fortnight. Some supermarkets have already run out of hand sanitizer, for example. What's your message to people about stockpiling foods? Is that panicky or being prepared?
PRIME MINISTER: I think people should remain calm. And I mean, the government is going around, some essential issues, particularly when it comes to masks and things of that nature that that personal protective equipment for key workers in areas. And that's what the plan is all about. I think it's very important that people should feel assured about where we are. There's no need for them to take drastic or extreme measures or anything like that, they should go about their business. That's the best thing they can do also for the economy Sabra, they should continue to go out. They should continue to participate. They should enjoy life. I mean it's a beautiful day here in Sydney. I'm sure it is in many places also around the country, weekends coming up. People should go about their normal business and have assurance that the government is working with states and territories to ensure that we're well prepared. We've got ahead of this. We're staying ahead of this and we'll get through it.
LANE: You’re flagging targeted stimulus, potentially, to badly affected sectors like tourism and universities after downplaying that for weeks. Those sectors and companies, what should they expect on how much stimulus the Federal Government is prepared to offer?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I don't agree with your assertion we’ve downplayed it at all, Sabra. We’ve been very clear.
LANE: Well, on Tuesday, you said the Government wasn’t into extreme fiscal responses when asked about whether you were considering fiscal stimulus.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm not interested in extreme fiscal responses and never have been. I don't think extreme fiscal responses are the right answer, and neither does Treasury, and that's what I said yesterday. What Treasury has advised is that we should have a targeted, modest and scalable response to this. The target is essential because different parts of the economy are affected in different ways. It's not just tourism, has obviously already been impacted, not just by the coronavirus, but in parts of the country and more broadly, by the bushfires. And we already have some pretty significant measures on promoting domestic tourism in and working right now. But there are other parts of the fishing industry, the marine industry, the broader second round effects of the students as well, going to restaurants, being in the economy. And so the effects are quite broad, but we're considering how we can make a difference in those areas. We can't make it like the coronavirus doesn't exist. Of course we can't do that. But nor are we being advised to or nor would it be responsible to go around borrowing lots of money to splash it around. That is not what the Government is considering.
LANE: Sure. But the hit to the economy could be quite significant. This week alone, we've seen $100 billion off the ASX. The tourism sector, as you've mentioned, has been badly affected. Companies are struggling because their supply chains to China have stopped.
PRIME MINISTER: I know that and that's why the Government is considering the measures which are Treasury and the Treasurer are pulling together right now and they'll build on the measures that we've already got in place to respond to the bushfires as well, particularly in the tourism sector. And so we believe that that is necessary and that's certainly the advice we're getting. But the advice we're also getting is that it should be targeted, it should be modest and it should be scalable to be able to take it to another level, if that's what's necessary. I mean, the challenge of this virus and this is the economic advice we're getting, Sabra, is had this event, this virus was being seen like a SARS/MERS type economic impact. In very recent days, the Treasury has now said no, this is turning into a very different type of event and that's why we will need to now take a different approach. And so we're responding to that advice, just like we respond to the expert advice we're getting from the health professionals, which has kept us ahead of this now for many, many weeks.
LANE: All right. If schools and day care centres are forced to shut in the weeks ahead and more parents are looking after kids at home that could be, combined, quite a shock for the Australian economy. What should Australians be braced for?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, right now, there is no suggestion that that will be necessary. And the Education Minister I tasked yesterday to work with the states and territories around issues like childcare centres as well as schools. Now, Australia is not in the position… I mean, today Japan has made a decision about keeping kids out of schools for some months now going forward. Now, that is not a decision we need to take in Australia. There's no need for that. And there is also not the medical advice currently which suggests children particularly been more vulnerable to the virus. Those who are more vulnerable are those of the elderly. And so the bigger impact would be in things like aged care facilities, the ability to lock those down and to have the right care and support to those who are working in those places. And that's what the emergency response plan actually does. So I think it's important that people don't get too far ahead of themselves and they can go about their business today and have the assurance that the Government is planning for the various scenarios that could present tomorrow and in the weeks and months ahead.
LANE: On another matter, the sports grant Senate inquiry yesterday heard that the final round of funding for the scheme wasn't approved by Senator McKenzie's office until after Parliament had been prorogued for the election.
PRIME MINISTER: That's not true, Sabra.
LANE: How can that not be a breach of caretaker conventions?
PRIME MINISTER: But that's not true, Sabra. That's actually not true.
LANE: Isn’t that what the Committee heard yesterday?
PRIME MINISTER: They heard that it was authorised on the 4th of April, 2019. That's what the testimony from Sports Australia was. It was signed on the 4th of April, 2019. That was the authorization of the brief that went on that matter. So the suggestion that it was signed at some time later, well, there's no basis for that.
LANE: The Sports Commission officials also say that it formally warned your Government in several emails about politicising this grants process. Why were those warnings ignored?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm not sure what you're referring to. The Government made decisions through the Sports Minister to award grants to a range of projects around the country and then the Government announced those.
LANE: You've previously said that all sports grants were eligible. Given the evidence that we've heard from this inquiry, do you now concede that by the time the funding agreements were signed, that many of them, around 40 per cent, were not eligible for various reasons?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the issue here is, Sabra, when the Minister made the decision and authorized the projects and this is what the Auditor General's report found at that time and it says it clearly in the report that there weren't any ineligible projects. If projects subsequently became ineligible for the simple reason that project works may have commenced… so let's just understand what that ineligibility that the Auditor General is referring to is. It meant that communities, sports clubs, got on with building the facilities. That is the great offence, apparently, that has been committed here. That people actually got on and started building the community facilities. Now, I understand the technicality of that, but to suggest that was something that was very damaging to the community, I find that quite, quite interesting.
LANE: Prime Minister, we'll have to leave it there. Thanks for talking to AM this morning.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks a lot, Sabra, good to be with you.
Interview with Michael Rowland, ABC Breakfast
28 February 2020
MICHAEL ROWLAND: Mr Morrison. Good morning.
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Michael.
ROWLAND: How concerned should Australians be about coronavirus?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're not immune, but they should be assured that we're very well prepared and that we will get through this. I mean, we are seeing the transmission of the virus into many more countries, over 40 countries now. That's been one of the key factors that has emerged in recent times. And this virus is highly transmissible, which makes it very different to what we saw with SARS and MERS. It's not as severe, but when it's reaching more people, it is actually obviously in the most extreme cases affecting people. And we've seen more lives lost from this virus than we saw with SARS and MERS put together. So it's, that's high transmissibility that is the real concerning factor. And that's why we got ahead early with how we contain the virus. There is no community transmission of the virus currently in Australia, and that's good news. That means people go about their daily lives as I said yesterday, go to the footy, go to a Chinese restaurant, play with your mates if you're a kid, do all that. Australians should feel very comfortable doing all of the normal things that they are doing. But they should also be assured, given the anxiety that I'm sure is there because of what's happening globally, that we are well prepared should the virus come to Australia and be transmitted in Australia.
ROWLAND: You’ve extended the China travel ban. Prime Minister, are you looking at applying that travel ban to other countries?
PRIME MINISTER: No, we're not. And that's not the medical advice either. And the medical advice is that it is not proportional to the risk. And once it gets to sort of the stage where it's affecting so many countries, the advice is that you have to prepare for it going into pandemic phase. And that's what the emergency response plan does, which has been agreed with the states and territories. The health minister is meeting with his counterparts this morning about the operational aspects of that. And this is everything about stockpiles, capacity in hospitals, surge capacities, workforce issues, to ensure people can be in the places we need them to be at, all the common sense preparations, should it get to that next stage and now being put into place with the states and territories.
ROWLAND: Ok, are border force authorities, for instance, taking extra precautions, going on to a higher alert level at the airport? And ports around the country?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, they will be. And the Border Force commissioner is coming back to the National Security Committee next week with some specific proposals about that and what they will need. But they are already in a position to do more there, and they'll certainly be doing that. And they've already conscious of the fact that more countries are affected. So they’re screening and the inquiries that they're making, the messaging that they're providing at airports, all of that is reflecting that that new phase.
ROWLAND: How confident are you that this stockpile preparation can happen? Emergency doctors, prime minister, are telling us that many countries around the, many, many hospitals around the country and states and territories are already at capacity. They'll struggle if there's a surge for demand. What are health ministers, state and territory health ministers telling you realistically about what they can achieve here?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, they're very positive. And that's the point of the meeting this morning. That's the point of this emergency response plan to ensure that we can identify any potential vulnerabilities or gaps or weaknesses and we can move quickly while the virus is not in Australia and being transmitted in Australia. And we can get the readiness in place to address any issues that are there. So that's exactly the process we're going through right now Michael, they, are the right questions to ask. We're asking them and we'll get those answers and we'll make sure they are addressed. And that gives, I think, Australians a great sense of assurance. No country in the world would be better prepared to deal with this than Australia. And we've got a great health system and we've got an economy and a financial management and stability that means we're going into this in a stronger position than most countries, if not all.
ROWLAND: We've heard a lot on this program and certainly right around the country from tourism businesses affected by this. So many other businesses as well, universities, we know they are struggling from the China travel ban. Can these businesses in particular, say the tourism businesses expect direct government financial assistance to help them get through this troubling time?
ROWLAND: Well, let's be clear. I mean, what, the impact on the Australian economy is because of the coronavirus, that's impacting our economy. It's impacting economies all around the world. So we're not immune from those economic impacts. And you're right, in some sectors, they're more targeted than others. And initially, this is particularly been on those which are outward facing, the tourism industry, the education sector, some of our marine exports, these sorts of things. And so what the advice from Treasury is, is not to do widespread cash splashes or anything like that. They're saying that's exactly what you shouldn't do. What they are saying and what they're working on with the Treasurer is to provide advice about more targeted what they've described as a modest, targeted and scalable measures. And that's what the government will be considering.
ROWLAND: Okay. Just before you go. Prime Minister, on the sports grants affair, is it still your position that all your office did was to pass on MP's requests for grants to Bridget McKenzie’s office?
PRIME MINISTER: What we did was, like all prime ministers do, made advocacy on behalf of the information that we'd received about projects and we passed that on. And more importantly, the auditor general found and gave testimony to say that's what we did, and it had no greater influence on this, on the outcomes than any other influence. So, I mean, that's what the auditor general found and in relation to the contributions of my office.
ROWLAND: But why did Bridget McKenzie send that email to your office the day before the election was called full of those colour-coded charts or the list of electorates and sports grants before sending it off to Sport Australia? What did your office do with that email?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what occurred is she approved the projects on the 4th of April -
ROWLAND: [interrupting] Why didn’t she send it to Sports Australia - excuse the interruption - why didn’t she send it to Sports Australia on the 4th of April?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, well, you'd have to ask her. I don't run the email service of her office. What she sought from me was approval to make announcements. So, I mean, she'd made the decisions. She'd authorised the decisions on the 4th of April. And it's commonplace for ministers before they make announcements about projects that they seek approval from the Prime Minister.
ROWLAND: So there was no direct involvement by any of your staff in deciding which electorates, which sporting clubs get the money and which didn't?
PRIME MINISTER: We weren’t the decision making office -
ROWLAND: [interrupting] there was no direct involvement by any of your staff members in deciding where the money went in tandem with Bridget McKenzie staffers?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course not, because they were the, they were the authority for making the decisions. And this is what the Auditor-General found, Michael. I keep stressing this. The Auditor-General found that our contributions to this process didn't sway ultimately decisions one way or the other any more than anything else. So, you know, he's already commented on that matter very clearly.
ROWLAND: And just very finally, I know you swim there sometimes. Can anybody defend the North Sydney pool in Sydney getting $10 million dollars from a Regional Sports Grants program?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, when I announced that program, I said it was Australia wide. That's what I said. And it's supporting community facilities all around the country. And that is a community facility in Australia. So it’s consistent with the announcement I made at the time.
ROWLAND: But the upgrading pools aspect was done specifically for rural and remote areas of Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: That was a statement the department said, I'm going off what I said when I launched the program. I said it was right across the country-
ROWLAND: [Interrupting] so there was a-
PRIME MINISTER: I acted consistently -
ROWLAND: So there was a miscommunication between the department and you?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I can't explain what, the department's comments. All I can say is when I launched that program, I said it was going to support community facilities right across the country and that facility is in need of an upgrade like many.
ROWLAND: Okay. Prime Minister Scott Morrison, thank you so much for joining us on News Breakfast.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, Michael.
Interview with Alan Jones, 2GB
28 February 2020
ALAN JONES: The Prime Minister is on the line from Canberra. Prime Minister, good morning.
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Alan. I’m in Sydney this morning I got back last night.
JONES: Oh, Sydney.
PRIME MINISTER: Came home to see the girls and Jen.
JONES: Good on you. Now, you've announced this emergency response. Congratulations, by the way, on the way this is being handled. It does appear, though, notwithstanding everything that is happening, this is a virus, which I think as Professor Mackay has said may be here with us for some time?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes. That's, I think, that's the truth and that's the advice we're getting. And this is not like SARS and MERS, which happened some time ago. It's behaving in a very different way. How it transmits in the community between people is much more prolific than we saw in those areas. I mean, the actual disease, the virus itself is it is not as aggressive, it's not as severe as SARS and MERS. But because it has getting to more and more people, it is taking more lives. I mean more lives have already been lost to this coronavirus, than SARS and MERS combined around the world. So that means you have to be very proactive, which is what we've been doing, but we're not immune from it. But we are well-prepared. And what I announced yesterday with Greg Hunt is we're getting more prepared to stay ahead of this to ensure that if we get cases here in Australia and it starts transmitting within Australia, then the plans are in place to deal with that, to slow it down to ensure our health facilities can cope. As I also said yesterday, right now there are 15 cases which people have been discharged. There are 8 cases from the Diamond Princess. One of those is in a more serious condition in Western Australia we learned today, but in the rest of the community, you can go about your business.
JONES: I think there's a very good points that you made yesterday. So keep going, go, whatever you're doing. I think you made that point yesterday. Keep at it. I mean, I just made that point myself earlier though to put this in perspective. I mean, more than 900 Australians died from the flu last year.
PRIME MINISTER: That's true. And you sometimes do see that. But as I said, this virus is about 10 times more severe than the flu when it comes to its rate of mortality. Now, that's, that is significantly less than what SARS and MERS were. But as I said, it moves more quickly. That's why we moved early to contain the virus in Australia to make sure it wasn’t coming in. And that was very effective. And Dr Brendan Murphy who’s worked closely with Greg Hunt and I, he moved about 10 days out before the World Health Organization and said no, we need to move on this right now. So we were right there with him. He's giving us the same advice now about preparing for the next stage. And so what we're doing here,
JONES: So to add to that advice, if I could just repeat the point you made, yesterday because it is important to add to that advice, you have said yesterday, children can still go and play with their friends down the street. You can still go to the concert. You can still go and get a Chinese meal. You can still do all those things, you can still travel internationally. So you've got to reduce the temperature haven’t you a bit?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah you do. I mean, and there are some places, I’m saying there's a travel ban going to China. But apart from that, there are no other I mean, people should always check the travel advice wherever they're going, there are reasons why you wouldn't go to other places which have nothing to do with. So you'd follow the normal process. So we don't want people to be alarmed by this. We want them to be assured that Australia I mean, Australia is very well protected on this. Our health system is the best in the world. What we're doing is actually very similar to what the United States is doing. They've also had good success there, New Zealand and Australia have been working closely together as well to ensure we have similar systems in place so Australians are well-placed.
JONES: Yes. And just on that emergency response to just amplify that, because I want to come to this other point that you made yesterday about quote, very significant economic implications, which is most probably a very major issue. But in relation to the emergency response plan, you're basically saying that would give sweeping powers to federal and state governments to contain the virus and they would have the powers to do whatever was necessary to respond to that.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, that's the short form of it. That's right. Right now, what ministers are doing, Greg Hunt is meeting with the state and territory ministers today. This plan has already been agreed by those ministers. So they're working through practical aspects of it this morning together.
And that's looking at their capacity for surging, their capacity for quarantine facilities, how it applies more generally in the community. And what we want to know over the course of the next week or so is what the gap is, if there's any gaps that need to be filled. So, I mean, you don't want to be doing that once or if, that the you know, the virus is transmitted in Australia, you want that all ready to go. And that's what we're doing. I also asked the education minister, while we have no advice, which is suggesting any particular risk for schools or anything like that, he's going to be doing the same thing with education ministers and of course, Peter Dutton will be engaging with all law enforcement and other agencies to ensure that, you know, the plans are in place there to make that work as well.
JONES: Right. I'm being inundated with letters, correspondence from people facing economic consequences of drought, bushfires and coronavirus. I note that, if I could just play one of the callers here to give you a bit of a flavour. I've got hundreds of these now this is a marina and of course boats, tourism and it's the south coast so there’s bushfires there. Then there's the coronavirus. This is one of the callers earlier this week.
CALLER: We employ local people and we just haven't had anybody coming through the door, we’re open, but no one to be open for.
JONES: How many staff do you normally have at this time of the year?
CALLER: Six to seven staff running
JONES: and how many now?
CALLER: We've just got the door open with one.
JONES: How do you pay the bills when no one comes through the door?
CALLER: It's coming out of savings from a business partner and myself and it was interesting to read, we thought on the 14th of January. Our bank, the Commonwealth Bank, wrote us applications now open for bushfire recovery grants, we're offering up to $50,000 per grant, fund expected to exceed 10 million. So you hit the link and where does it go? Straight out to Centrelink. And by the time you finally get through it all, if you're not burnt. No help at all.
JONES: That's the issue here. I note that you're saying in relation to putting all these things together that you've asked the Treasurer and the Treasury Secretary, Stephen Kennedy, to work on economic strategies, your words, that are targeted, modest and scalable. People are really suffering in tourism industries, education industries, bushfire. What are you saying to those people?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you're right in some of these areas and they've been hit with a triple whammy, as you say, drought, bushfires and coronavirus. And it's different in different places, depending on what industry you’re in I mean, one, I mean, obviously, tourism has been hit. Obviously, the education sector has been hit. But the other thing that's been hit, Alan, is that we have, we get so much of, you know, inputs and things like this to other businesses. I mean, builders, they're going to have issues accessing particular products to put in houses and things like that. So it's an economy wide impact, but some more intensely affected than others. Now, let me just go to the bushfire issue. I met, I saw Andrew Constance last weekend and we had a conversation. And then I caught up this week with Andrew Colvin and David Littleproud, the minister. And we're taking another look at the small business assistance program. It is right. I mean, traditionally in relation to any natural disaster, there has to be a direct impact on the business. That's what's always been in place, whether it's the floods in north Queensland or fires anywhere else or cyclones or things of that nature. But we're having a good look about how we can sort of rebuild in these places and build back better. And that includes how we might look at changing the way we're delivering that support. So we'll be working closely with the New South Wales government.
JONES: Could I just make a plea to you, just make a plea to you, and bring it right back, forget you’re the prime minister, to your own family, just Mr and Mrs Morrison. And they've got two kids and they’re young kids. And suddenly you have no house. Mrs Morrison's got no clothes. And you don't have a dining room table, you don’t even have a porridge plate. You don't have a pair of shoes to put on. They've put you into a caravan area. But there is no water, nowhere to wash your feet, nowhere to have a shower. Now, at the moment, there are hundreds of these people. The children are traumatised because mum's trying to explain to them what's happened to their house and will they ever have a house again. And they've got a mortgage payment to come in. The bank is at them. And these people, you're talking business, and what's been done in businesses is terrific. And I know you're accelerating that, and that's great. But I'm just concerned these people are writing to me, the mental health issues are enormous. One family has written to me, two autistic children and the father is just desperately, saying I don’t know are we going to survive all of this? They keep asking questions. Shouldn't we know, haven't, I’ve asked this before, an inventory of who these people are, where they are, because the public have given a billion, I've seen you, stand in the parliament. And I said on this program, I'm sure the prime minister's sincere. We've given $2 billion dollars. But these people are saying to me, we haven't seen any of this.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the disaster recovery payments we've put on Alan, they've gone to over about 115,000 people and we know who all of those are and we're happy to share those details with charities as well as we've been seeking to do so our disaster recovery payments, have gone out very quickly, there are a range of other payments that have been able to make their way out as well. Primary producers in particular, that's a very important one as people are rebuilding fences and rebuilding sheds and getting the generators going on the dairy again. I mean, they are they're very important.
JONES: So I know you say that, but do you know that that is happening? You can't be monitoring all of this. That's what you want the money to be spent on. But see, there's the mayor of Bega Valley I mean a desperate situation down there. She’s asked by the bureaucrats to drive to Canberra to make the case for money, why aren’t the bureaucrats going to Bega Valley to see her?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's exactly what Andrew Colvin has done. Andrew Colvin has been all over the south coast. He's been in East Gippsland down in down in Victoria. He's been up in Queensland. He's been over in South Australia. The National Bushfire Recovery Agency was set up for that very purpose, and they've been engaging extensively in all of those communities. I mean, I know that because I get the reports from Andrew about the money that's going out now that the small business one is obviously, what, the issue with small business, is this is that many of the places where the fires were, they didn't go right into the towns so the businesses directly, didn't get fire damage where they've had other things that have disrupted supply and things like that, then sometimes that's taken into account. But there's been a hit on the town, which has obviously hit those businesses and that’s and that's not falling in the normal categories for how disaster assistance is applied. And that's what I was talking to Andrew about last week. That’s what Andrew...
JONES: Well that is a big, you’re quite right, the house hasn’t been burnt down, the business hasn’t been burnt down, but they're still suffering, you’re quite right.
PRIME MINISTER: That’s right. So we're looking at how that can be better supported for those businesses that believe that they can build back, that they will be there next year, the year after that, the year after that. We're looking to see how we can support them with their plan to get their business back on its feet.
JONES: Right, Albanese, Albanese, zero carbon dioxide emissions scheme?
PRIME MINISTER: Well he's got no plan for it. And that's the big problem. The big problem, there are four countries can I tell you who have worked out a plan for zero by 2050. They're the Marshall Islands, Switzerland, Suriname, and Norway. Four countries who say they've got a plan to meet a 2050 zero carbon target.
JONES: But did you, have you caught this thing overnight? The UK Court of Appeal has accepted arguments from environmental groups in the court that a third runway at Heathrow would jeopardise Britain's ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And it says, this was illegal for the government to approve a third runway because it failed to take into account the impact of a third runway on Britain's commitment under the Paris agreement. I mean, this is mad.
PRIME MINISTER: This is the madness. This is the madness. This is why I've said all along my task, jobs, keeping electricity prices down and ensuring that key industries, particularly those in rural and regional Australia, are not affected by any of these types of things.
JONES: Can I puncture your balloon and make your morning a little bit miserable? Because I've got a document in front of me here from the New South Wales government, and I think many people in your parliamentary party are on the same wavelength. Quote, The New South Wales government is committed to an objective of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. How's that any different from Labor?
PRIME MINISTER: Well A, they’re a state government, not a federal one, and they don't have international emissions reductions target. And we've just put in an arrangement with the New South Wales government to get gas out from under the ground, which is going to, I think it was 70 petajoules, 75 petajoules, which is going to have a big impact on getting electricity prices under control, get them down and ensure we have a continuity of reliable power in New South Wales. And that's the arrangement we're working on with New South Wales. But for us as a Commonwealth government, as a Liberal National government at a federal level, the reason we haven't embraced this target, Alan, is because no one can tell me how you can do it and at the same time, protect jobs, keep electricity prices down and support industries and particularly those in rural and regional Australia.
JONES: Well I can recommend to you the piece I wrote in the Telegraph on Tuesday. I know you're very busy, but if you read that, you'll find out what zero net, zero carbon dioxide emissions is going to do to the economy.
PRIME MINISTER: Well I’ll just go through it just quickly. I mean, Labor is saying, well, you can't get there and you can't use gas because they're against fossil fuels. You can't get there and use hydrogen if you do it by anything else other than wind by windmills. They've got no position on nuclear that will help them get there. They don't want coal fired power stations to keep running. So how on earth is this thing supposed to work? This is why it is just such a mindless commitment by Anthony Albanese.
JONES: And the Court of Appeal, I'm glad you said that. Absolute madness. I suppose we could say, Prime Minister, the road to hell, economic hell is paved with green intentions. Thank you for your time and thank you for what you're doing. We'll talk again soon.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks a lot Alan, all the best.
Joint Statement by Prime Ministers The Hon Scott Morrison MP and RT Hon Jacinda Ardern
28 February 2020
Prime Minister the Hon Scott Morrison MP and Prime Minister Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern met in Sydney on 28 February 2020 for the annual Australia-New Zealand Leaders’ Meeting. The Australia-New Zealand relationship is a partnership marked by close bonds of friendship, and anchored in common history, shared core values and genuine fondness between our peoples. It is a relationship of family, of whānau. Trans-Tasman cooperation continues to deepen, to the benefit of our two countries and our mutual effort to support an open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific region and deepen partnerships with our Pacific family.
National resilience
The Prime Ministers commended the instinctive, immediate and united trans-Tasman response to a series of tragic events since their last annual meeting. They remembered the victims of the Christchurch terrorist attack, Whakaari/White island volcanic eruption, and Australia’s ‘black summer’, and their families. In response to each, assistance from across the Tasman had been rapid, seamless, and broad-based, involving respective governments, including at State and Territory level, emergency services and community organisations.
The Prime Ministers discussed each country’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak and expressed appreciation for the coordinated way in which consular and other officials had worked to include Australians and New Zealanders in their respective evacuation arrangements from affected areas overseas. Both countries will maintain a high level of information sharing on each other’s domestic developments and responses to COVID-19. The Prime Ministers further agreed on the importance of collaborating actively and, where possible preventatively, in response to any COVID-19 related developments in our Pacific neighbourhood.
The Prime Ministers committed to collaborate on strengthening mental health approaches and responses, including support for affected communities during recovery from natural disasters. Australia would engage with New Zealand in the development of Australia’s cross-jurisdictional mental health framework, led by Australia’s National Mental Health Commission. The framework will set out a shared state and federal approach to disaster response and disaster recovery, focused on accountability and transparency, which might be applied in future trans-Tasman responses to disasters in each other’s countries and internationally.
Trans-Tasman Cooperation
The Prime Ministers acknowledged the long-standing and deeply integrated economic relationship between Australia and New Zealand, and its enduring benefit to our peoples. With their shared commitment to free and open global trade, they underlined that the partnership needed to remain agile and responsive. They reaffirmed the role of the Single Economic Market agenda (SEM) and Closer Economic Relations agreement (CER) in driving prosperity in both countries. Trans-Tasman economic cooperation would continue to focus on streamlining the experience for business, travellers and citizens, and keeping the SEM agenda ambitious, adaptable, and fit to seize the opportunities presented by the future of work.
The Prime Ministers welcomed the progression of key SEM initiatives at the 2019 Single Economic Market Ministerial Meeting, held in Auckland in September 2019. As well as fostering a better operating environment, these initiatives will enable future economic activity, especially for small and medium sized business. Prime Ministers welcomed the activation of domestic and trans-Tasman e-invoicing in December 2019.
The Prime Ministers underlined the need to maintain high security standards for trans-Tasman travel, and welcomed the use of biometrics technology and timely data processing to increase efficiency. They welcomed New Zealand’s successful introduction of the Electronic Travel Authority in October 2019, for both air and cruise passengers, and noted its twin aims of improving border security and enhancing passenger facilitation. The Prime Ministers noted the world’s first 3D auto-detection algorithms for identifying biosecurity risk materials, developed from joint trials in 2019, which will increase border screening effectiveness and efficiency for both countries. Prime Ministers also welcomed joint efforts to improve the trans-Tasman movement of goods and border clearance processes for online purchases sent by mail. Prime Ministers committed to maintaining effective measures that protect the biosecurity of both countries while continuing to facilitate the smooth flow of horticultural goods between New Zealand and Australia, and encouraging all avenues to be explored to this end. They commended joint biosecurity cooperation to be prepared for the possible arrival of African Swine Fever, and directed officials to continue discussions and alignment of trans-Tasman biosecurity systems to counter any spread of the virus.
The Prime Ministers welcomed the expansion of collaborative activities under the Australia New Zealand Science, Research and Innovation Cooperation Agreement. These include agreement to establish a shared Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) network to assist trans-Tasman trade and transport, exploring opportunities to collaborate on artificial intelligence, progressing potential areas of space cooperation under the Arrangement Regarding Space Cooperation for Peaceful Purposes signed in October 2019, and implementation of the trans-Tasman cyber security research program. Prime Ministers warmly welcomed the start of a bilateral dialogue on Women in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in November 2019.
The Prime Ministers recognised the importance of the trans-Tasman food regulation system, which has been in existence for almost twenty-five years. They emphasised the value of modernising the system, as endorsed by the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation in November 2019, to ensure the system remains at the forefront of best regulatory practice.
The Prime Ministers agreed that SEM priorities for 2020 should also include work towards mutual recognition of digital identities and business identifiers. They directed officials to develop options for their consideration at the next Leaders’ meeting on influencing international standards and norms for emerging technologies. Prime Ministers also underscored the importance of the SEM agenda remaining forward-looking to meet the future economic needs of both countries. Promoting streamlined government services, removing barriers across the digital economy, and building productive, well connected and liveable cities, were areas to which the SEM agenda should make practical contributions.
People-to-people ties
The Prime Ministers discussed measures to improve the unique Pathway to citizenship for New Zealanders living and working in Australia. Australia will reduce the number of years in which applicants must meet the minimum income threshold, and will publicise the scheme and its rules to New Zealanders. The Prime Ministers agreed to review the Pathway in 2022 when more data becomes available, to determine whether further improvements should be made.
The Prime Ministers welcomed the signing of an Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand Indigenous Collaboration Arrangement recognising the ancestral and spiritual connections of indigenous peoples to traditional lands and waters, and their unique contributions to our nations, cultures and economies. The Arrangement is a natural culmination of our close, long-standing and mutually beneficial relationship on Indigenous matters. The Prime Ministers expressed support for the two countries’ collaboration on culture, leadership, well-being and economic development, including through a joint Indigenous business mission to promote trade with Asian markets.
The Prime Ministers remain committed to the initiative of reuniting people with their lost retirement savings. Australia will progress amendments to extend this initiative to New Zealanders who worked in Australia as part of its broader retirement income legislative program.
The Prime Ministers welcomed the joint Australia-New Zealand bid to host the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023. The bid is the first proposal for co-confederation hosts, and if successful would lead to a FIFA Women’s World Cup being held in the southern hemisphere for the first time. They agreed this tournament would help amplify the work to encourage more female participation in sport in Australia and New Zealand, and support football development around the Indo-Pacific region.
Regional Economy, Security and Environment
The Prime Ministers reiterated their shared commitment to support an Indo-Pacific region of sovereign, resilient and prosperous states, with robust regional institutions and strong respect for international rules and norms. To this end, they recommitted to close coordination and cooperation, as allies and partners, on current and emerging economic, security and environmental challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Prime Ministers reaffirmed the benefits of open markets and inclusive regional economic integration in the Indo-Pacific. They undertook to work constructively together to finalise all outstanding negotiations relating to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) ahead of signature in late 2020, as well as negotiations to upgrade and modernise the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) and to support early conclusion of commercially meaningful negotiations with the Pacific Alliance. The Prime Ministers expressed their commitment to promoting full and timely ratification and implementation by all signatories of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) as well as the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) Plus. They recognised the importance of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in supporting the expansion of trade, economic integration and prosperity in the region and welcomed the opportunity presented by New Zealand’s hosting of APEC in 2021 to pursue shared interests and share SEM initiatives with other APEC economies.
The Prime Ministers agreed on the importance of strengthening regional institutions in the Indo-Pacific that promote habits of cooperation on shared challenges, reinforce respect for international law and ensure that all countries, large and small, have a voice on regional issues. They acknowledged in particular the central role played by ASEAN and the forums it convenes in supporting the rules and norms that have underpinned regional security and stability for more than 50 years. They reiterated their strong commitment to the ASEAN-led regional architecture, particularly the East Asia Summit. They welcomed ASEAN’s adoption of its Outlook on the Indo-Pacific and reaffirmed their commitment to supporting its practical implementation.
The Prime Ministers expressed serious concern over developments in the South China Sea, including the continued militarisation of disputed features, and destabilising behaviour at sea, and urged all claimants to take meaningful steps to ease tensions and build trust, including through diplomacy and dialogue. They reaffirmed the importance of freedom of navigation and overflight and urged all claimants to resolve maritime disputes peacefully, in accordance with international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). They underscored the importance of UNCLOS dispute settlement mechanisms and called on all parties to respect and implement any decisions rendered through these mechanisms. The Prime Ministers noted negotiations towards a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea and reiterated the importance of any Code being effective, substantive, and consistent with international law, particularly UNCLOS; not prejudicing the interests of third parties or the rights of states under international law; and supporting existing, inclusive regional architecture.
Prime Ministers shared their concerns over North Korea’s continued development of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions. They reaffirmed their commitment to enforcing sanctions, and encouraged North Korea to make a sustained commitment to dialogue and to take concrete steps towards complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation.
The Prime Ministers agreed that working closely with our Pacific partners remained a top priority for New Zealand and Australia. Both countries shared a fundamental commitment to supporting a stable, secure and prosperous Pacific region, which underpinned Australia’s Pacific Step-up and New Zealand’s Pacific Reset. The Prime Ministers agreed to closely align their respective efforts in the region, in support of Pacific island country needs and priorities. This includes in infrastructure partnerships, labour mobility, timely ratification and implementation of the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER Plus), negotiation of maritime boundaries and on closer regional security engagement. The Prime Ministers reiterated that regional security engagement will continue to reflect the broader definition of security articulated by the Boe Declaration and through various regional initiatives, including the Pacific Fusion Centre and Australia Pacific Security College. They welcomed the coordination of Australian and New Zealand responses to the measles outbreak in Samoa, and directed officials to continue coordination of humanitarian assistance in future outbreak responses.
The Prime Ministers agreed on the need for strong support and cooperation in regional architecture in the Pacific, particularly the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) as leaders appoint a new Secretary-General. They commended the Papua New Guinea and Autonomous Bougainville governments on the successful conduct of the Referendum on the future political status of Bougainville, and agreed to continue to support the peace process.
The Prime Ministers welcomed the Kainaki II Declaration agreed at the Pacific Islands Forum in 2019, the strongest statement the Pacific Islands Forum has ever issued collectively on climate change. They acknowledged the strong history of collaboration between Australia and New Zealand on climate change. It included supporting the Pacific in agricultural and oceans research, in climate negotiations, through exploring cooperation in green hydrogen energy and ensuring the integrity of UN rules for implementing the Paris Agreement. The Prime Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to the protection and the sustainable use of the world’s ocean and to developing opportunities in Pacific fisheries, including through countering illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, which damages the environment and economies. The Prime Ministers agreed to strengthen collaboration in the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) to promote sustainable agricultural production in the Indo-Pacific. They looked forward to Australia assuming the Chair of the GRA Council in October 2020 and undertook to support participation of Pacific Island countries and territories.
The Prime Ministers directed officials to share lessons and collaborate on transitioning to a circular economy, in particular on waste management – both to tackle similar domestic challenges and to influence the region and supply chains. They recognised achievements in continuing capacity building in Southeast Asia and the Pacific for the implementation of vessel biofouling biosecurity measures, through the delivery of regional workshops and taskforces as part of the International Maritime Organization’s GloFouling Partnerships Program.
Global Trade
The Prime Ministers emphasised their longstanding commitment to the multilateral trading system and underscored the importance of a well-functioning World Trade Organization (WTO) in promoting global economic growth and prosperity. They recommitted to working closely to advance WTO reform efforts, including with respect to the dispute settlement system, and to secure ambitious outcomes at the forthcoming 12th WTO Ministerial Conference in Kazakhstan in June 2020. They committed to work together to achieve a successful conclusion of multilateral negotiations to prohibit harmful fisheries subsidies. They welcomed progress in the Joint Statement Initiatives on electronic commerce and services domestic regulation and expressed support for ongoing multilateral efforts to cap and reduce trade-distorting agricultural subsidies.
International Security
The Prime Ministers recalled their shared commitment to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, and acknowledged the valuable work of the joint Australia-New Zealand Building Partner Capacity mission in Iraq, through which Australia and New Zealand have trained more than 47,000 Iraqi Security Force personnel since 2015. They also acknowledged the Australian and New Zealand Defence Forces’ continued contribution to coalition efforts to secure peace and stability in Afghanistan.
The Prime Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to advancing the Christchurch Call to Action, and encouraged digital industry to continue driving reform of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism. They directed officials to continue working together with industry and civil society on online crisis response coordination, including the Christchurch Call to Action Shared Crisis Response Protocol, and with the OECD too on developing the Voluntary Transparency Reporting Protocol (VTRP). The VTRP brings together industry, governments, academia and civil society to establish a common protocol for online platforms to implement regular and transparent public reporting on what steps they are taking to prevent, detect and remove terrorist and violent extremist content.
Doorstop - Australian Parliament House, ACT
25 February 2020
PRIME MINISTER: I’ve just got time for a couple of questions. Fire away.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister just on the ASIO speech last night, the Director General made specific reference of right wing extremism, what specifically is the government doing to counter right wing extremism in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the Director General last night I think was pretty clear that this is a priority and it's one of the things that they've been looking at not just recently but over a long period of time. I mean terrorism comes in, and extremism comes in, in many different flavours and many different colours and it's important that all of our efforts are keeping Australians safe. That's why we've been putting the funding into ASIO. That's why they are getting the support they need, the tools they need, to keep Australian safe every single day and that's what's been happening. I thought it was an outstanding presentation and it underscored the commitment that they're receiving from the government as a very high priority, to keep Australians safe.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible] responsible for foreign interference?
PRIME MINISTER: We'll deal with this in Australia's national interest, in the way we believe that's best done.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister is the biggest threat in terms of espionage, and foreign interference coming from China?
PRIME MINISTER: We deal with foreign interference in all its forms wherever it comes from, and each and every day we ensure that our agencies are well resourced to counteract that threat. The legislation we’ve put in place, the resources we’ve put in place, and we'll keep doing that, every single day to protect Australia's national interests.
JOURNALIST: You're spending billions of dollars on submarines, are you convinced that this will be delivered, this project will be delivered on time, on budget? Is the Defence budget now getting out of control?
PRIME MINISTER: This is an enormous program and it's a program that the government committed to and it's part of our commitment to bring defence spending back to 2 per cent of GDP and ensure that we have the capabilities within our navy, but not just there, I mean that's the Attack class submarines program, but there's the frigate building program, there’s the Land 400 program. I was just up at Tindal last Friday and that's ensuring that we have a strong Northern air base to support what Australia needs, to ensure that we're pursuing the strategies that we believe are in Australia's interests in the Indo Pacific region. So on all of these projects, Chris, what they are a demonstration of is our government's commitment to keep Australian safe, to ensure our defence forces have the capabilities that they need to keep Australians safe.
Now, the previous government dropped the ball on this, I mean defence spending as a share of our economy fell to pre-second World War levels under the Labor Party. So, yes, we've taken on ambitious projects Chris, we've taken on big projects. I mean the naval building program is arguably one of the biggest any country has undertaken for a country of our size and it has its risks, and it has its challenges but I'm confident in the ability of our defence forces and our defence industry here in Australia, working with our partners, to deliver the projects.
JOURNALIST: Domestic violence was a really big focus yesterday...
PRIME MINISTER: It was.
JOURNALIST: ...we had even parliamentarians like Anne Aly share her story, in The West today, are you going to do anything more in this space, even hold another national summit to put this on the priority or is it you know, exactly what we're expecting?
PRIME MINISTER: Countering domestic violence and dealing with family violence is a priority every day for my government. Not just on any one day. Every single day. Because every single day women are confronted, and children, with horrendous family violence. And so each and every day we are putting in place the plan, the fourth national action plan, a process that was actually started by the previous Labor government, and in a few weeks’ time COAG will be coming together again and this will be one of the many topics that will be on that agenda, working together. We have record funding going into this from the federal level and there will be a fifth action plan and a sixth action plan, and that will be done by working together. This issue doesn't know politics. It just knows that there is hurt and pain and tragedy and devastation to families and every day addressing that is a priority for me and my government. Thanks very much.
$1.6 Billion to Upgrade RAAF Base Tindal to Protect Australians and Create Jobs
21 February 2020
Prime Minister, Minister for Defence, Minister for Defence Industry
The Morrison Government is investing $1.6 billion to ensure the Australian Defence Force (ADF) can continue to deliver a potent air combat capability from the Northern Territory.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Government had approved a further $1.1 billion program of works at the RAAF Base Tindal, on top of the $495 million already invested in New Air Combat Capability infrastructure.
“This investment is all about keeping Australians safe and putting Australians in jobs,” the Prime Minister said.
“Over 300 jobs will be created in the construction phase alone. The investment is part of the $8 billion we are spending over the coming decade on Defence facilities in the Top End, as part of the Defence White Paper and under our Developing Northern Australia initiatives.
“It will be integral to our Alliance with the United States, and increase the reach of Air Force capabilities in the Indo-Pacific.
“As part of these upgrades, RAAF Base Tindal will be able to deliver enhanced air-to-air refuelling and air support capabilities, ensuring we can support critical ADF operations – everything from air combat missions through to responding to natural disasters both at home and throughout our region.”
Under the redevelopment projects, $737 million will go towards upgrading the airfield including extending the runway, building a new air movements terminal, parking apron and extra fuel storage facilities.
An additional $437 million will provide critical base infrastructure upgrades, particularly engineering services on the base including power, water and sewage, as well as 108 new live-in units for Australian Defence Force personnel.
Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon. Linda Reynolds CSC said RAAF Base Tindal is one of our most important Defence bases.
“The 2016 Defence White Paper identified Northern Australia as strategically important, both for national defence and as a forward base for regional engagement," Minister Reynolds said.
Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon. Melissa Price MP said Defence’s managing contractor will be required to maximise the involvement of local industry from the Katherine region and wider Northern Territory.
“Hundreds of locals will be employed to deliver these projects, with many more set to benefit from subcontract packages and supply chain work,” Minister Price said.
Public information sessions are scheduled for 27 February 2020 in Katherine and the following week in Darwin.
Subject to Parliamentary approval, construction is expected to commence from mid-2020, with completion expected by the end of 2027.
The Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Industry will open the recently completed $495 million New Air Combat Capability facility.
The completion of this facility will support the arrival of Australia’s cutting-edge F-35A Joint Strike Fighter aircraft at RAAF Base Tindal in the years ahead.
“Under this project 64 percent of the total work packages were awarded to Northern Territory businesses, representing some $242 million being injected into the Territory’s economy,” Minister Price said.
“These completed works also contributed to local Indigenous employment, with an eight percent Indigenous workforce participation rate and three sub-contracts, valued at $27 million, awarded to Indigenous companies.”
Further detail on the proposed works can be found at https://www.defence.gov.au/id/RAAF-Tindal/Default.asp.
Visit to Australia by the Prime Minister of New Zealand
21 February 2020
I am pleased to announce I will host New Zealand Prime Minister Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern in Sydney on 28 February for our annual Australia-New Zealand Leaders’ Meeting.
New Zealand is an exceptionally close partner and friend to Australia. Our successful, collaborative relationship is built on shared history and values, and it grows stronger every year.
Our close cooperation was demonstrated during recent disasters including the Black Summer bushfires in Australia and the fatal Whakaari/White Island eruption in New Zealand. Our two countries continue to coordinate on our response to the outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
During the visit, Prime Minister Ardern and I will discuss Trans-Tasman cooperation and issues of common strategic interest, including regional security, international trade, and cooperation in the Pacific.
I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Ardern to Australia.
Visit to Australia by the President of the State of Israel
20 February 2020
I am pleased to announce His Excellency Mr Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin, President of the State of Israel, will visit Australia from 21 to 27 February 2020.
This will be the second visit to Australia by President Rivlin, and his first as President. His visit follows on from the recent successful visit of Australia’s Governor–General to Israel earlier this year.
Australia and Israel have a long and respectful friendship. Our relationship is underpinned by our shared interest in democracy, open and outward-looking economies and strong historical people-to-people links.
The President’s visit will be an opportunity to build on this relationship, discuss further cooperation and help us forge new and lasting connections.
The President will also be joined by a delegation of senior Israeli business leaders, to help further our already strong trade and investment ties.
I look forward to welcoming President Rivlin to Australia.
Continuing Travel Ban to Protect Australians from the Coronavirus
20 February 2020
Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Health
The protection and safety of Australians is our highest priority.
The National Security Committee of Cabinet has today decided that the continuing coronavirus infections in mainland China make it necessary to continue the travel restrictions on foreign nationals entering Australia for a further week to 29 February.
This decision, as with all decisions taken by the Government with respect to the coronavirus outbreak, has been guided by the expert medical advice of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, made up of the Commonwealth’s Chief Medical Officer and chief medical officers from each state and territory.
The committee has advised that there are signs the spread of the coronavirus in Chinese provinces outside Hubei province is slowing. We will need to watch closely whether this positive trend continues as people return to work after the holidays.
Unfortunately, the number of infections and deaths in Hubei province itself continues to grow.
The AHPPC has also advised that the number of cases in Australia remains at 15, indicating the Government’s precautionary approach to preventing the spread of coronavirus on our shores continue to be successful.
The continuation of the travel restrictions means that for a further week, foreign nationals – excluding permanent residents – who have been in mainland China will not be allowed to enter Australia for 14 days from the time they left mainland China.
As before, Australian citizens and permanent residents will still be able to enter, as will their immediate family members (spouses, legal guardians and dependants only).
We continue to require Australian citizens, permanent residents and their families who have been in mainland China from 1 February 2020, and who return Australia, to self-isolate for 14 days from the time they left mainland China.
People who have been in contact with someone confirmed to have coronavirus must also self-isolate for 14 days from the time they were in contact with that person.
We will continue to consider developments in China and advice from the AHPPC as they meet and review health and travel arrangements on an ongoing basis.
Our government continues to work closely with state and territory authorities as well as our international partners to ensure we keep Australians safe.
National Royal Commission into Black Summer Bushfires Established
20 February 2020
A national Royal Commission into Australia’s devastating Black Summer bushfires will be established following agreement from the Governor-General, His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd).
The Morrison Government has today released the Terms of Reference for the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements, informed by feedback from states and territories.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the scale of the Black Summer bushfires presented new challenges for all levels of government, which required a detailed national inquiry.
“My priority is to keep Australians safe and to do that, we need to learn from the Black Summer bushfires how nationally we can work better with the states and territories to better protect and equip Australians for living in hotter, drier and longer summers,” the Prime Minister said.
“In particular, we need to consider the need to establish new powers for the Federal Government to declare a national state of emergency to trigger direct Federal Government responses to national disasters, including the direct deployment of the Australian Defence Force. Currently, there are no such powers and Federal responses are supposed to only be undertaken in response to State requests and authorisations.
“During the Black Summer bushfires, we entered a constitutional grey zone by directly initiating defence force deployments, utilising the first ever compulsory call out of Reservists, with over 6,500 ADF personnel serving in support of state and territory response efforts. But we did that without clear rules.
“The inquiry acknowledges climate change, the broader impact of our summers getting longer, drier and hotter and is focussed on practical action that has a direct link to making Australians safer.
“That’s why we need to look at what actions should be taken to enhance our preparedness, resilience and recovery through the actions of all levels of government and the community, for the environment we are living in.
“The overwhelming majority of the actions to protect Australians from bushfires are undertaken at a State level. Everything from resourcing our fire services and hazard reduction, to land clearing and planning laws. Even the declaration of emergencies, the areas that are designated to receive payments and in most cases the assessment and delivery of those payments, even when they are funded by the Federal Government, are all undertaken by the States.
“I believe Australians are wanting us to look at ways we can work together to give Australians greater assurances at a national level that these important tasks are getting done.
“I want the Royal Commission to begin as soon as possible with the final report due back by August 31, so recommendations can be acted upon before our next bushfire season.
“I want to thank Premiers and Chief Ministers for their consultative and collaborative approach in drafting the Terms of Reference. We have listened, valued their input and made changes to take on board feedback where appropriate.
“The national response to these devastating Black Summer bushfires is a shared responsibility of the Commonwealth, states and territories. We all have one goal – to protect people, property and wildlife.”
The Royal Commission is not going to duplicate the work of other inquiries. It will work with other inquiries announced by the States and it will also review the work and recommendations of previous inquiries.
This inquiry has a national focus and will look at three key areas:
Improving natural disaster management coordination across all levels of government;
Improving Australia’s preparedness, resilience, and response to natural disasters, across all levels of government;
The legal framework for the Commonwealth’s involvement in responding to national emergencies and how that works with state and territory legal frameworks.
The Royal Commission will be led by Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin AC (Retd), who will be joined by:
The Hon Dr Annabelle Bennett AC SC, former Federal Court Judge, and
Professor Andrew Macintosh, a specialist in climate risk and impact management.
“The three Commissioners are respected leaders in their fields and they bring a mix of expertise to the inquiry, including judicial, military and environmental planning and management backgrounds,” the Prime Minister said.
“The Commonwealth Government is already acting, providing whatever support is needed to bushfire impacted communities.
“We will do what is necessary to ensure communities rebuild, recover and build up resilience to these bushfires. That’s why we set up the National Bushfire Recovery Agency and gave them a $2 billion fund for clean-up operations, tourism support, wildlife recovery, local government assistance, small business reconstruction, primary producers, farmers, graziers, and families, as well as vital mental health support.
“This is in addition to over $100 million already provided in emergency payments for impacted individuals and families and payments for volunteer firefighters.
“It’s a long road ahead and we will be with these communities every step of the way as they rebuild.”
The Prime Minister has written to all State Premiers inviting them to issue concurrent commissions under their respective legal frameworks for Royal Commissions.
The Terms of Reference are attached.
Doorstop - Oran Park, NSW
20 February 2020
PRIME MINISTER: While we’ve been here for what is a very happy occasion for Ricky and Vicki as they move into their new home, Australians all over the country are just shocked, saddened and devastated about what has happened in a suburban street just like this up in suburban Queensland, where Hannah and her three children so senselessly and maddeningly murdered in what has occurred in a terrible act of violence. And it just grieves our hearts terribly today and our thoughts go out to those who are close to the family, those who are just unable to come to terms with this terrible horror. And I know Australians all around the country will be feeling the same way, just shaking their head, but full of empathy, full of love for those who are close to this family and their friends. So if there is anyone out there who needs help, get help. There are services and supports available to you to help you and if you’re in a position to help, then please help. But today Australians just look at each other and just give thanks for each other and at this terrible, awful event, our hearts are just full of grief.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what’s your message to women living in Australia after this tragedy?
PRIME MINISTER: Today, honestly, I am just so saddened by these terrible events. Just so saddened by these terrible events. Thank you all very much.