Media Releases
National Cabinet Statement
10 February 2022
National Cabinet met today to discuss Australia’s response to COVID-19 and the Omicron variant, the ongoing safe reopening of Australia, resumption of cruising in Australia, approaches to test, trace isolate and quarantine and the vaccine rollout and booster programme.
The Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly, provided an update on the spread of the Omicron variant. Overall case numbers continue to decline in Australia and the Omicron case variant continues to be the predominant variant in Australia and globally. Omicron continues to show greater infectivity than the Delta variant, but with much less severity in terms of hospitalisations, ICU and ventilated patients.
National Cabinet noted that the Omicron wave has peaked in most states and territories. Since peaks in mid-January, cases have fallen to 20 per cent of peak levels, hospitalisations to 63 per cent of peaks, ICU admissions of peaks and ventilated cases to 54 per cent of peaks.
Since the beginning of the pandemic there have been 2,462,729 confirmed cases in Australia and, sadly, 4,431 people have died.
Globally there have been over 402.6 million cases and, sadly, over 5.7 million deaths, with 2,241,749 new cases and 11,664 deaths reported in the last 24 hours. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge in many countries around the world.
National Cabinet noted that since the COVID-19 Rapid Test Concessional Access program began, approximately 6.8 million Rapid Antigen Tests have been distributed to 1.6 million eligible concession card holders through community pharmacies.
Lieutenant General John Frewen, DSC, AM, Coordinator General of the National COVID Vaccine Taskforce (Operation COVID Shield) provided a detailed briefing on Australia’s vaccination rollout.
Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout continues to expand. To date 51.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Australia, including 215,521 doses in the previous 24 hours.
In the previous 7 days, more than 1.3 million vaccines have been administered in Australia. More than 95.8 per cent of the Australian population aged 16 years and over have now had a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, including over 99 per cent of over 50 year olds.
More than 93.9 per cent of Australians aged 16 years and over are now fully vaccinated, including more than 98.4 per cent of over 50 year olds and more than 99 per cent of Australians over 70 years of age.
Over 9.5 million booster doses have been administered to 46.3 per cent of Australians. More than 75.7 per cent of Australians aged 70 years of age and over have had a booster in the last 14 weeks since the booster program commenced.
More than 46.4 per cent of 5-11 year olds have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in the first month of their vaccination program.
National Cabinet will meet again on Friday 11 March.
Phase D of the National Plan
National Cabinet noted the epidemiological advice that the peak of the Omicron wave has passed, with significant falls in the number of cases, hospitalisations and ICU admissions across most states and territories.
National Cabinet discussed the progress to Phase D under the National Plan to transition Australia’s National COVID-19 Response. The Commonwealth, states and territories will progressively transition to Phase D including further reopening of international borders and changes to domestic health settings to reduce restrictions on social and economic activities, while safely living with COVID-19. The Commonwealth, states and territories will make decisions over the near term on options to transition to Phase D, with further consideration by the next meeting of National Cabinet.
Resumption of Cruising
National Cabinet discussed the resumption of cruises in Australia, noting that there are shared responsibilities for the resumption of cruises between the Commonwealth, states and territories. National Cabinet agreed that following a decision by the Commonwealth to lift the bio-security orders that currently prevent cruise ships from coming to Australia that states and the Northern Territory would then determine when recommencement of cruises would occur in each jurisdiction, consistent with the previous agreement of the National Cabinet of 5 November 2021.
The Commonwealth, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland agreed to work with the industry to implement new protocols to enable the resumption of cruising over coming months.
Managing Public Health Restrictions on Residential Aged Care Facilities – Interim Guidance
National Cabinet endorsed new Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) advice to improve access to aged care facilities for families of residents.
The guidance considers the current context of the pandemic, and recommends revisions to allow greater flexibility in balancing the need to reduce transmission and the impact of social isolation on residents living in residential aged care facilities.
Specifically, the guidance more effectively balances the implementation of appropriate infection prevention and control measures with a resident’s right to live their life with minimal restrictions including through increased contact with family and loved ones.
National Cabinet endorsed the AHPPC statement on mandatory booster vaccinations in aged care facilities. Implementation of booster shot mandates will be made consistent with arrangements already in place through state and territory public health orders and equivalent arrangements. Vaccinations of aged care workers is being prioritised through Commonwealth in-reach clinics, primary care and state clinics.
ATAGI advice on defining ‘up-to-date' status for COVID-19 vaccination
National Cabinet noted that the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has updated their clinical advice to include that all individuals aged 16 years and over are recommended to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose to maintain an ‘up-to-date’ status.
Consistent with current arrangements this booster dose is recommended from 3 months after the last primary dose and will now be recommended to be administered within 6 months of completing the primary schedule. Boosters are not recommended for children aged 5-15 years of age and ATAGI will continue to review the evidence on the need for a booster dose in this age cohort.
ATAGI has advised that a booster can be given safely and effectively at any time after 6 months to become ‘up-to-date’ in the event that the booster had not been received earlier.
In its advice ATAGI acknowledges that this change in definition of up-to-date status for COVID-19 vaccines may impact the status of an individual’s COVID-19 immunisation certificate, and sufficient time should be provided to support implementation of changes. ATAGI has recommended they be made effective by the end of March 2022.
National Cabinet noted ATAGI’s advice that these ‘up-to-date’ requirements be applicable for domestic situations and policy settings and noted the Commonwealth Government’s decision that the existing arrangements and definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ for the purposes of overseas travel and arrival into Australia will continue to be that individuals must have received a complete two dose primary course of a Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved or recognised vaccine to be considered ‘fully vaccinated’. People entering Australia will not be required to have had a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Back to school
All jurisdictions provided an update on the successful return to school, supported by the Commonwealth’s 50:50 cost share with jurisdictions for rapid antigen testing.
National Cabinet further noted in the context of schools returning, that health system capacity continued to be maintained, and cases, hospitalisation and ICU numbers continued to fall across most states and territories.
Winter National COVID Preparedness
National Cabinet endorsed the Prime Minister’s recommendation for a Winter National COVID and Influenza Preparedness report for all jurisdictions to be presented to the next meeting of National Cabinet by the Commonwealth Department of Health.
Doorstop - Kingston, ACT
Prime Minister of Australia
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, everyone. I always enjoy at the start of the Parliamentary year that we can come together in this way, and I particularly want to thank Archbishop Makarios who I know very well, and Jenny knows, and to see him here this morning was great. It was particularly nice to be here in a, in a Orthodox Church today. First time we've done that, and it reminded me, as we consider some of the big issues of today and the Parliamentary year, that people from all around the world have come to our country. And they've so often come from many different faiths and many different backgrounds. They’ve come from places where they were discriminated against for that faith and for that belief. And as Bishop Tarabay from the Maronite Church often reminds me, so many of those who came from Lebanon, in particular, came here because they wanted to get away from the persecution and discrimination that they suffered in their home country.
For so many Australians, their faith and their religion is their culture. You can't separate them. And when you listen to their stories, as I often do, they will tell stories over hundreds of years and even longer about how they as a, as a people of faith and religion have survived through some of the worst things you can possibly imagine in countries all around the world. But they came here to Australia so they could get away from that and they could start a new life. And so they could have their religious faith and they could have their belief and they could have their community and they could have their culture, and that they would not be discriminated against. I don't want them to be discriminated against, and before the last election I said I wanted there to be laws in place that ensured their freedom from that discrimination. And that's what this is about.
There are many other laws in our Parliament, many other laws that deal with many other things. And there's time and place to deal with those. But on this day, it's important that we remember that for so many Australians - it doesn't matter whether you’re Hindu, whether you're Sikh, whether you’re Christian, whether you’re Muslim, whether you’re Jewish, whether you have, choose to have no religious faith at all - that is also important to protect this country because we sing, ‘Australians all one and free’. And I hope that means something today as we gather together and we seek to put in place the opportunity for those who wish to live their religion here in this country and live their faith, which has such an important contribution to our country and always has - binding Australia together, not forcing it apart. This is why I made that pledge before the last election, and that is why I continue to stand very strongly on this point.
Now this will be a year where we will be faced with some very big choices. We’ll begin the Parliament this year by acknowledging the terrible events that have taken place in our own Parliament, and that began an important conversation in this country about how Australia can be better when it comes particularly to the treatment of women in our workplaces, in our society and in our lives. And I welcome that. It's been a difficult journey and an important one, a very important one, that our Government has embraced and I believe the Parliament has embraced, not as a political issue, but as one of shared objective and shared purpose. And so I look forward to that being progressed today.
More broadly, though, as we go into this year, Australians will be making an important choice about a strong economy and how to keep it, about how to keep Australians safe and our borders secure, about how to ensure that we grow together and not apart, as we ensure that that strong economy upon which everything else depends - the essential services that Australians rely on, the very safety that we have in this country - all of this will be the issues that I'm sure will weigh heavily on the minds of Australians this year as we work through to when the election is held.
But today is a time of prayer and reflection before we begin what will be, I think, a very important year for Australia, on which our future will be determined. And for our Government, it's about keeping Australians in a place where our economy is strong, we’re keeping Australians safe and we're keeping Australians together. And with that I’m happy to answer a few questions.
JOURNALIST: Are you confident that the Religious Discrimination Bill will pass before the next election?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm confident this is a very important bill, and I stand by it 100 per cent. And I'm standing with the millions of Australians for whom this is such an important issue. I gave them that pledge and I'm honouring that pledge, and I'm calling on the Parliament to honour it also. Australians at the last election elected our Government. We were very clear that this was a bill that we wanted to see passed, so it will go to the Parliament.
JOURNALIST: Will religious schools be able to expel trans students under the proposed amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act?
PRIME MINISTER: Well this bill does not provide for that. You’re referring to an existing law that was introduced by the Labor Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus. That is the Dreyfus law that you’re referring to. He put that in place. This bill does not seek to endorse that arrangement. That is an existing law. What we are dealing with here today are not those matters. They are going through a process with the Australian Law Reform Commission, as you know. What we're dealing with today is discrimination against people for their religious belief and faith. That's what that bill does. That bill does not do the things that you’re saying. That is an existing law that was introduced by the Labor Party when they were in Government.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, if you can’t get major legislation like this through the Parliament, isn't that a sign that your leadership is weak?
PRIME MINISTER: Let’s just see what happens.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how do you plan on uniting your party on the Religious Discrimination Bill, and will you be listening to Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins’ speech at the National Press Club this week?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's going to be a busy week, I don't get the opportunity to listen to all those speeches, but I’ll certainly ensure that I’m aware of what they have said, and and I’m certainly, like the rest of the country, very interested in the contribution that they make and the contribution that they have made. I think the contribution they have made, as I said, has brought forward some very important issues that we’ve had to deal with and we should deal with and were long overdue, and I’m very pleased that they have been in the actions we're taking together as a Parliament to address those very serious issues.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you’ve had a, you have had a rough start to the year. You’ve had assaults on your character by members of your own side. You’re behind in the polls. Do you believe that you can turn things around yourself politically this fortnight?
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely.
Chinese Media Online Briefing
8 February 2022
Prime Minister of Australia
The Hon. Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs: Hello, everybody, and welcome. My name's Alex Hawke, I'm the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. Thank you for joining us. I just heard from the Prime Minister. We're just waiting for him to join us. He's just finishing something right now with his office. So I thought might just get underway and obviously start by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the lands as president emerging that we're all meeting on today and welcome you all from the various elements of the Chinese and multicultural media here in Australia. And thank you again for the work you're doing in communicating through the pandemic. Important and vital information in language through to communities about the needs of people and their health in this difficult time.
It's been a tough two years, so thank you for persevering and working with the government and our agencies and the health departments around the country to get that information out. And, and we really do appreciate it from the Australian Government. We've had a good vaccination rollout here and a well-received health programme, and I think that's a large, a large amount of the credit goes to the multicultural media in Australia in the work that you've done with communities and communicating so effectively. So thank you.
But also in the meantime, Happy Chinese New Year and Kung Hai Fat Choi, we had a great night yesterday with the Prime Minister at Strathfield and my colleague Fiona Martin. You know, while there are, I think there's probably about a third of the Lunar New Year events normally on, and most of them are cancelled due to Omicron. We're trying to get to those that are on and they are a little bit less, well, well attended than usual. But people, I think, are celebrating in other ways at home and working ways to celebrate with family and in communities. But it's a little bit more muted than usual, unfortunately, like everything during the pandemic, but we're still celebrating. And I know in the Year of the Tiger will draw great confidence and inspiration, and I wish all of you personally and your outlets all the very best success and prosperity for the year ahead.
And from my role as Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Minister, I do want to again highlight what a difficult time we've had for many communities in Australia. I think we all remember when the pandemic started, we had a conversation internationally about where the virus started in China and how it started, which impacted upon the Australian Chinese community here. And I know the Prime Minister went out of his way to communicate through to the Australian Chinese community, in particular our trust and understanding of them and their decisions, and ask for their advice and help in dealing with that conversation. And we did a good job there together as a community, as a country, people and government, the Chinese community here and offshore in, I think moving that conversation on and getting on with the very difficult times that we've had since then. But it was hard. And since then, I think, you know, we've also seen other things impact upon family based communities, the Chinese communities, the same as many other multicultural communities in Australia, reliant on family, reliant on community. So there are limits and restrictions and requirements to not see family, to not get together as a community have certainly impacted hard. And we're certainly starting to see people enjoying coming together again and slowly through on the Omicron get back together. So I know you are trusted outlets and sources of news. I just say to you, we've still got a lot of communicating to do about health messaging, and there's a lot in the booster programme with kids between five and 11 and a lot more health information. There's an appetite for health information for parents, for people who have custody of children and, of course, general appetite about what will happen next on travel, the return of family. And I know you've got some questions around that today, but you know, we together, I think we've done a lot. I know there's always more we can do. There is more in-language we need to be doing. And I appreciate your advice and your questions today. So I know the Prime Minister is going to join us very shortly and will welcome that. I just think if we will take a few minutes.
I don't know if people wanted to start with a question to me, I don't want us to waste time here while we're just waiting for the Prime Minister to join us. So our emcee isn't with us either. So I wouldn't mind. I don't know. I know some people wanted to ask some questions, but I'm happy to go straight to people who have questions of me just to answer a question while we wait for the Prime Minister. And I think there was, it was it who was first in relation to that. I don't really know if there's an order. I could be a SBS Cantonese. Was it Winmas, are you there Winmas?
Journalist: Yes, Mr Hawke. Good afternoon. Thank you for time today. My question is in regards to PR. visa pathway for Hong Kong [inaudible]. Our audience, especially those from the Hong Kong community, has been very interested in the new policy, and some of them has actually expressed their gratitude to the Government for taking such steps. But with the pathway for those who has just started to consider moving to Australia or is going to apply for us, for example, a student visa that would take sort of, at least I would say at least five years, six years until they can actually apply for the PR pathway or the Hong Kong stream, streams with the 189 and 190. I'm just wondering if, if the Government can provide a sort of timeline on whether, whether you can guarantee, for example, how long this policy can be can remain there or if not whether the government would provide some sort of three years in advance notice for those who are actually planning to follow the pathway. Thank you.
The Hon. Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs: Yeah, thank you Winmas, and I know you've had a long interest in this issue and you've certainly kept our Department of Home Affairs accountable at various periods in identifying our pathways in Government announcements and some gaps in them and things that we needed to think about. So thank you for your work in journalism and keeping us to account. We don't have any plans to change the pathway in the near future. From the Morrison Government's perspective, we were happy to offer a pathway to permanency here for people onshore. We've made, I have made on behalf of the Government some announcements about BNO holders, passport holders offshore, adding a few categories to that. And this will be a stable situation. People will qualify under these permanent residency pathways, but they'll have access to them, but we won't shorten them other than the announcements that we've already made, and I think I brought one forward by about one year. In relation to the length of time taken from application to completion and that is, it is a lawful permanent residency pathway. It's a non-controversial measure. We've been able to do that and provide that option for people from Hong Kong if they wish to take it up. And those people offshore who might be BNO holders and others who might want to come to Australia without, I think, creating controversy. So it's been a well-received announcement. It's a stable announcement, and I don't see any Australian government in the future, regardless of who it is changing that. However, the Morrison Government has made a commitment for the long term that we will have that offer for people from Hong Kong in place.
Journalist: Thank you, Minister.
The Hon. Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs: Thank you. Was there another question? I think we you know. Yes, thank you. Who's next?
Journalist: I have a question.
The Hon. Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs: Yeah, just wave to say your name because I'm trying to find you on the screen.
Journalist: Raymond Chow from Sameway Magazine. But I think I'm in previous meetings with us about the AMEP, the AMEP undergoing reform to change from a linguistic approach to replaced by a settlement approach. I want to know would the government support or consider mobilising co-organisations to receive funding to pilot new approaches to deliver AMEP, which can integrate support from the local community groups to help the new migrants learn to acquire English to settle in Australia. Is this some put? Will you consider this to be some kind of plan in future to involve the or decisions?
The Hon. Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs: Yeah, thank you, Raymond, this is an important question, and this issue is very important to the Government. We know that the more, all migrants can get get on top of their English, the better they do and the better access they have to work and social activities and other performance in Australia in relation to their prosperity and their success, education and otherwise. So we did invest in the AMEP, as you know, we unlocked for the first time the number of hours, that's working very well, although it does take time for us to get results meet, given the number of years to see how strongly people take up the opportunity of unlimited English language tuition and what that means for people. Your suggestion is a reasonable one. We need to think of how to enhance English language take-up, especially the people who don't have any English from communities, especially with older migration populations that can often be the case, although you know it's not age limited the AMEP and sometimes formal tuition, as you point out, is not the only answer in relation to improving language skills, so we're not close minded about options to for communities to assist. Obviously, the first part is the, is the tuition. And uncapping it, I mean, we put aside up to a billion dollars for this, we've really invested in this. This is something that that investment in that English language tuition for all adult migrants to Australia will be a huge investment in their success. But we do want to look at how we work with communities to make sure where some people might not find formal tuition, the best pathway that will probably be the next piece of the puzzle Raymond, so it's a it's an important issue you raise. I would say, you know, under the AMEP, we've got service providers that are connected to deliver these models as well, there are some complex arrangements. I won't go into those today, but I'll certainly provide some details to you. There are community organisations that offer language in different settings. We have migrant centres, often inside different migrant resource centres and other opportunities. I've seen some in Western Sydney, for example, but you're also suggesting community organisations and small organisations, even in migrant resource centres, as I understand your proposal. So I think it could work. We're open to looking at it. We're certainly investing in it. So, you know, it's a conversation we’d consider Raymond.
Journalist: OK, thank you.
The Hon. Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs: Yes. Who's next and just please speak up so I can see you there.
Journalist: Good afternoon Minister this is Fred from Sydney Today. I’ve got a question in regard of WeChat's. We know there are some controversy between Prime Minister Office and Tencent, and WeChat recently, and many federal MPs are calling the Government to ban WeChat. We'd love to know where the federal government stands on this issue. Are you considering banning WeChat in Australia?
The Hon. Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs: Look, this is a question for the Prime Minister. He might want to say something about it more formally, and I might let him do that. We, I have WeChat. I certainly used it prior to the last election. From the last election, we had some difficulty in relation to using WeChat. A lot of people have experienced this, accessing their accounts and using it. And you know, that's a shame because, you know, it is a very well utilised communications platform. A lot of people in Australia are on it. We would like to access it. And I think there's work to do. The Prime Minister will obviously have something to say about his account and what happened there. I've decided not to use my account until we can resolve some of these issues. I mean, I think the Australian government would absolutely love to be involved in WeChat and to be utilising it to communicate with Australians it’s very frustrating that we can't and it's very frustrating that there's interference. So we want to reach out and resolve that and have cooperation about that because communication is vital and you've got to be communicating where people are and you've got to be talking to people where they'll want to want to be communicated at. And it's no different to any other of the social media or other communications platforms. But I know a lot of MPs in the parliament are quite frustrated that they're, at the terms of service and the way the accounts operated. And, you know, as a government and as a country, we're trying to resolve those issues. But you might want to ask the Prime Minister that question about his account as well.
Journalist: Thank you.
The Hon. Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs: Thanks. Thanks. And I think next one was from Kevin, is that right, Kevin did I see you there from the Chinese Herald. I thought I saw Kevin, but I might be wrong. OK. Who has a further question, I'm sorry about the delay, the Prime Minister will be with us pretty shortly.
Journalist: Hi Minister Hawke, this is Keith from Australian Chinese Daily might have a question that you could answer in regards to this, with, just just received not long ago the good news about international students and the press release with regards to visa workers and all that. I guess it's great news. Our readers would be receiving that well. The concerns that that might come from that is, I guess it goes back to COVID and Omicron them coming in might cause some angst within the communities, whereby would they be bringing the strand in. What are the current steps in preventing that as well what might be the next steps to ensure that that is being contained?
The Hon. Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs: Yeah, thank you Keith this is an important question. I think you're referring to my release that I've just put out actually today on the latest numbers on students and backpackers. Many of you will have seen it. If not, I recommend it to you. We are seeing student numbers return in good numbers, even 7000 more in the last week, and we're over 50000 heading towards 60 and further since our announcement late last year. We welcome them back. A lot of them are coming from China, obviously, but also India and other places. We required up front and you know, we obviously had the same requirements double vaccination. We've got the long recognised lists of vaccinations. That was an important decision. But another important decision was we decided to open the borders gradually. So we've put working holiday makers, students, but not visitor visas, not hundreds of thousands of tourists at the same time. And that was in recognition of the, you know, the economic benefit of migrants like students and working holiday makers and the exchange that education provides internationally and the importance of it to people. So by graduating the border opening, we've addressed some of that upfront. What you're concerned there with the community because it's not all open and it's not all shut, it's just phased in. And as the health advice evolves about Omicron, we're getting more advice about the plateauing of the wave in Australia and various states that have had it for a while and the hospital systems response to it. So we're looking forward to more advice in coming weeks about when we can unlock more cohorts, but it has worked very well so far. The numbers are increasing week on week of each cohorts, especially students, which I still think we have about 130,000 or 40,000 off shore student visas. And we would like them to come, you know, the Prime Minister recently announced incentives. We waived the visa fees. We've got a tourism campaign from our Trade Minister internationally saying, you know, we're open, students, we'd like you to come and working holiday makers, that's working very well. And we've spoken to the education providers, universities, the private providers about how they can take intakes throughout the year, given we've had two difficult years where they've been unable to take them. So we're, we're trying to work with the sector to be flexible and adaptable. And I've asked the Immigration Department, the Home Affairs Department to priority process students to do it in a timely fashion to make sure that we're meeting the demand as it comes through. So we believe we've prepared well. The balance has been struck well at the moment. We've got an eye on it that from the medical advice of how the health systems are performing. But the requirement for double vaccination means less risk. The graduated border opening means less risk. And you know, at the moment, we're just happy to receive more students and more working holiday makers as demand requires. And there is the reception you mentioned. I mean, if I talk to anybody in any business in the country at the moment, the only thing they want to ask me about is, you know, can you bring in some foreign students to come and help us working in our in our business? It doesn't matter what industry it is, it doesn't matter what sector it is. It doesn't matter what part of the country it is. So the reception is very warm at the moment. They want them to be here studying, they want them to be working. I think we have missed our foreign students as a country and I think business knows that and people are very receptive to, I mean, people in jobs as students are consuming. I mean, obviously, they bring offshore money. It's a virtuous cycle. The education is high quality. The diplomatic relations between Australia and the country of origin is high. You know, we have missed this exchange and that's why we put it first in the opening, the student opening, and it's the right decision. And at the moment, the balance is struck right, but we've got an eye on the on the volume versus the health system.
Journalist: Thank you.
The Hon. Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs: Thank you, so the next question, I think is from Cecil, is it.
Journalist: Yes, hi, thanks Mr Hawke. Just on foreign workers, what about skilled workers? What's the plan to get them back to fulfil all this nationwide skills shortage?
The Hon. Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs: Thank you. Yeah. So skilled workers are opening a lot of skill categories as well. At the same time, I didn't cover them in that previous answer. The numbers are OK. A lot of skilled workers during the pandemic who had visas, who were unable to enter Australia, what we're finding is because of their skills, they will have sought employment elsewhere or got another job, a lot of them. So we're now doing fresh applications. Demand is strong for skills to come to Australia now that we're open. But that might be a bit slower to continue the influx of skills because skilled people have a lot of options. If you've got a skill in demand in several countries and we were shut for a while, they were able to, you know, obviously go for another, another, another option. Although I will say this to you in terms of incoming applications demand is very strong at the moment now that we've been open. So again, the department's working to process those, our regional skills visas very strong and very in demand, and we're seeing that now that people [inaudible] offshore. And as I said, when we get the health advice which we take regularly, week in and week out, we'll be able to open up four more categories as well. But skills is a top priority meeting those skill shortages, especially in regions where they're a little bit more pronounced because you've been unable to move across state borders or unable to move across international borders for quite a long time. And at the same time, we've got unemployment at a record low and more Australians getting jobs at 4.2 per cent. But we've had huge demand for people in jobs and skills. We're very alive to that and we're working through the challenge of getting those skilled visas processed and through just recognising a lot of the ones that applied sometimes went to another country. Does that answer your question Cecil?
Journalist: Thank you very much.
The Hon. Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs: Well, I think I see your hand there Raymond, is that a second question?
Journalist: Yes.
The Hon. Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs: Yeah. Go ahead.
Journalist: Minister, I want to, i don’t know if it’s better to ask you or the Prime Minister, but I think this year the COVID pandemic enters a new stage. In an interview last month with the Victorian deputy CHO Ben Cowie, and he agreed that the present COVID pandemic story was a very complicated story, and more life education to the CALD committees must be done instead of just making public policy announcements to help Australia to fight this long term battle. So do you agree with this and view the federal government plan to give funding to support education through the CALD media to educate their audience and readers?
The Hon. Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs: Yes, this is a great question. I mean, I agree. We have done a lot during the pandemic and a lot more than sometimes people understand. We don't advertise this necessarily, but we have given millions and millions of dollars to small organisations to communicate in language directly about the pandemic and what was required. We had SBS translating to over 50 to 60 languages, all kinds of health information, I think, because of the pandemic and the nature of it. The Australian Government and all of our agencies have been more attuned to the importance of good quality translated materials. Good quality communications through outlets like yours, and we've been spending some money even to smaller organisations. We went through FECCA as well, giving money to community groups and other things to communicate. It has taught us, though some communities are very organised. Some people have very strong internal structures, community structures, family structures and they work very well and others have, have needed more support. So certainly it's not an even experience across the board. But yes, we I think we've learnt a lot during the pandemic about cultural communication, about working together, government and communities and also communities with different elements of the health department. And I would always agree with you that we need to prioritise that, especially where we're dealing with a health message. So Rosa I’ve just seen you come back on now, does that mean?
Host: Yes. Good afternoon. Sorry for the delay, everybody. I've got the Prime Minister, he should be just about to appear on the screen.
The Hon. Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs: All right, so we might break in that question, whoever asked me, is it better to ask me or the Prime Minister, I would say it’s better to ask the Prime Minister.
Prime Minister: Can you see me Alex?
Host: Not yet, Prime Minister. I can see you on there, but not your picture yet. Got you, Welcome. We've just been having a good chat.
Prime Minister: Excellent. Excellent. Well, did you want me to say a couple of words first?
The Hon. Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs: Yes please over to you PM.
Prime Minister: Well, Xin Nian Kuai Le and Kung Hai Fat Choi. We were out in Burwood last night with Alex, but also with Fiona and our team, David Coleman and others. And it's simply, that precinct has developed up to those from Sydney up there in Burwood. It was so good to see so many families out together again. It's been very tough during the pandemic and and on how many occasions now have we said I'm sorry, people can't come together at this time of year, and this year they've been able to do so far more. And I think that's that's just great. There was young kids, there was families, there was food, there was everything. So that was really exciting to see. It was very, very pleasing. And I'm looking forward to engaging in a bit more of that over the next few days.
It has been a difficult time right around the country, but in Australia, our economy continues to perform incredibly well in the face of the pandemic, and our management of the pandemic has seen us have one of the lowest fatality rates from COVID anywhere in the world. One of the strongest economy, with our unemployment rate falling to 4.2 per cent and heading to low four per cent. And we've got youth unemployment now [inaudible] now at 10, we've got record numbers of trade of printing and we're seeing confidence start to lift again. As we've come through this, Omicron latest wave. Our biggest states are coming through their peak and the pressure's coming off our hospitals. Other parts of the country can, but lessons learnt in in the east coast in December and early January will play out well in those other states that will now go through it. So while we can never be overconfident when it comes to this virus, it has a habit of rewriting the rules on us constantly, which makes things very challenging. And we keep this moving ahead and a couple of areas where we would move ahead. Most importantly, in the last couple of months has been the reopening to students and to and to working holiday makers. And that's tremendous. I mean, that's important to us, both from the economic side for Australia in terms of having those students and visitors. But it's also very important in terms of the labour force challenges. One of the discussions I was having with some of the business owners last night was, you know, the challenges of the workforce and backpackers and our students are important parts of our labour force, particularly in the hospitality sector and especially, I've got to say, in a multicultural community. So those are those elements only opening up again has been positive. And as you know, we've reopened the borders completely to Singapore with New Zealand and more recently with Korea and with Japan. Now we're looking to opening the borders to balance of visitors, I hope, in the not too distant future, but we just want to be, we're getting some medical health advice on what we expect the impact of that might be on the hospital system and we just want to be a bit more confident about that before we take that next step, but that we will welcome that when that occurs. And that will, I think, set us up strongly as we we deal with the the other side of the peak of the Omicron variant and we do all we can through the booster programme and so on to get it back to as much normality as we can this year. And I know for so many families who have families back in China and Hong Kong that they have missed them terribly and have those connections, particularly at times of the year like this and to be able to, I think, move into a place where we'll be able to see each other again. Families can be reconnected and reunited, then that's what we're all looking forward to.
But from an economic point of view, we've got a very strong plan. It has five key elements to it. First of all, lower taxes and cutting regulation. Secondly, it's about investing in infrastructure and skills development. Our workforce needs in Australia are very important and so our migration programme has always been made a positive contribution to that challenge and skills migration to Australia has been one of the important pillars of economic success in this country since the Second World War. So this is important to our economic plan. It's not just as it is investing heavily in the skills development of Australians, as I said, we've got those record numbers of trade apprentices and trade training at the moment, 220,000. But it is about the education of our own population. But that being supplemented by our highly successful skilled migration programme, which Alex runs. The third area, is to ensure that we have affordable, reliable energy that, as you know, we have committed to net zero by 2050. But with a plan that's about technology, not taxes. And we've built important technology partnerships with many countries around the world and invested $21 billion in developing hydrogen technologies, carbon capture storage technologies. We're building new energy generation capabilities up in the Hunter with gas plants, Snowy Hydro Affordable Energy in Australia is critical to our economic growth, particularly in our regional areas. Electricity prices under our policies have actually fallen by eight per cent over the last two years. The next part of the plan is making sure Australia is a top 10 digital and data economy by 2030, and we're well on the way to that. And that's in all areas of activity of, whether it's in the finance sector, whether it's the way small and medium sized enterprises harness digital technology. Over the course of COVID, we have seen an explosion of capability in our SME sector, which has taken on new data and digital technology. And that is particularly been the case, I believe, with multicultural, small and medium sized enterprises. One of the great dimensions of contribution of multicultural communities, particularly the Chinese community, is their entrepreneurialism, and you’re into business, you're in tech and that is really helped fuel that ambition. And I think there is a big [inaudible] data and digital connections with businesses from the multicultural communities of Australia. And finally, it's about the fifth point is about building up our sovereign manufacturing capability and having secure supply chains. And a big part of that is the linkage which we just announced when I announced it at the Press Club two days ago of our accelerator programme and our Trailblazer Universities programme. Now what this is about is we want research entrepreneurs in this country. China has them, the United States has them. They are in Singapore, they're in Japan. There are many places and we want more of them here in Australia, and we want to see a stronger connection between our researchers in our universities and the incentives in place for those universities to see those researchers become entrepreneurs and connect up with business. And so there are many opportunities there, I think, for foreign students who are participating in Australian universities. So, you know, it's more of the Harvard model where people want to go and study, not just because they're going to get a great education, but they may well start a business and develop technology or other innovations that set them up for the future. And they'll, they'll find those here in Australia who can they can work with to that end. So there are five things that are driving unemployment down to less than four per cent, and we've got a lot more to do. And, and as we look to the future, keeping Australia's economy strong is the key to a stronger future for all Australians. And that's where we're very focussed. So I might leave it there, Alex, and happy to take questions.
Host: Thank you, Prime Minister. The first question is from Michelle Zheng from a AUWE News. Go ahead, Michelle.
Journalist: Hi Prime Minister, my question is, do think all the visitors from all countries, including China mainland, could come to Australia before Easter holiday?
Prime Minister: I do. That's what I hope for, subject to the health advice we're currently waiting on, that is certainly my ambition to see that happen, of course. So what quarantine requirements by the states and territories would be a matter for them, but they would, of course, be the requirement for full vaccination to enter Australia. And that's, that's the requirement now. But I believe we're moving towards that and we're living with the virus here in Australia and quite successfully. And so, yes, I can see that occurring, but we're not quite there yet, but I don't think it's too far away.
Journalist: Thank you, Prime Minister.
Host: The next question is from Wendy Huang from Daily Chinese Herald. Go ahead, Wendy.
Journalist: Thank you, Prime Minister, for your time today. I was actually going to ask a question about the economy, but you've given us such a good overview, so I hope you don't mind me asking another question about China's new Ambassador, Xiao Qian. He's expressed a willingness to repair the strained relationship between China and Australia. I was wondering whether you've spoken to him yet and what your plans are to rebuild this relationship?
Prime Minister: No, we haven't spoken yet, and look we’ve always wanted a positive relationship with China, where we can trade with each other, but that must come without any strings. The Chinese Government has set out 14 points that is causing them concern and and they're not points that, that we could ever, that we could ever appease, so and nor would we plan to. But that said, that position of Australia and that of China, I don't think means that we still can't work together, particularly on humanitarian issues and many other issues and economic issues. And we had done that previously very successfully. And frankly, we continue to, the trading relationship continues. We are currently subject to a range of what we believe are a very unfair and targeted actions against Australia. And there hasn't been any dialogue between ministers at a political level in, with Chinese government for some time now. But that is not, there is no barrier to that occurring for Australia, and we are happy to meet and discuss matters and resume those discussions at any time. But the only condition on that is that we're not about to go and accede to any of those 14 points, which I suspect you're all very familiar with. And we think that's entirely reasonable from our point of view. And so, but we remain very interested in that engagement, as many countries do with China. And we would and our economic relationship to that end continues. But we would like to see that occurring at the at the political level and whether it does or not is, is really, I think, in the hands of the Chinese Government because the offer for us to talk has never been removed.
Journalist: Thank you, Prime Minister.
Host: The next question is from Yuye Lu from SBS Mandarin program.
Journalist: Thank you. Hello, Prime Minister. So my question for you is regarding your WeChat account. So your office has set up the WeChat account to better engage with Chinese Australian communities during last election but with the two thousand and twenty two year election coming up, the account was reportedly hijacked and renamed. So I know your office is working to get that account restored, are there any updates if the account does get restored are you going to use that as a channel to connect with Chinese Australian voters in the next election?
Prime Minister: Well, we'd love to, but we don't control WeChat, effectively that is ultimately goes all the way back to the Chinese Government. So we were using that as a, as a vehicle to speak with the Chinese community here in Australia. And I understand it is a common platform used for that purpose. And so you know where, where Australians are, I'm very happy to engage with them in those places and on those platforms and particularly Chinese Australians. So that was a good opportunity for us to speak through that channel. And I hope there might be an opportunity for that. But given the way that effectively that account was, was we were denied access to that's very, would be very difficult for us to, I think, move forward on that. But if there is an opportunity, then perhaps we will do that. But at the moment, all I can say is that I'm very disappointed that, that I have been censored in that way, In wanting to speak to Australians here. I mean, Chinese Australians love Australia, passionate patriots who love our democracy, who love the opportunities and have built families and businesses over generations and generations and generations, but also have a very strong ethnic linkage back to their, to their country of ancestry. And I respect and understand it, and we celebrate it, we’re celebrating it at the moment. And I think that's a wonderful part of Australia. But where democracy, where there's freedom of speech and and the ability to speak to each other in an uncensored way. And that's what Australia is about. But that opportunity is not being afforded to me as the Prime Minister of the country, but I notice it's being afforded to my political opponents, but people can read into that what they like.
Host: Thank you. The next question is from Fred Zhang from Melbourne's today. Go ahead, Fred.
Journalist: Good afternoon, Prime Minister Sir. Good to see you again.
Prime Minister: Nice to see you, too.
Journalist: So my question, I was planning to ask about a China Australia relationship, and you have an that properly, so I want to ask with the federal election approaching, many Chinese Australians feel they are not properly represented in the federal level, especially in the parliament. They are looking forward to see more Chinese Australians in the parliament, do you welcome more Chinese Australians, regardless of which party, to support in the federal political level.
Prime Minister: Well, I welcome more Liberal National parliamentarians in the parliament, and and what their ethnicity and origin is is is also important. But I don't welcome having more Labor members in the parliament because I don't want I don't think a Labor government would be good for the country. I wouldn't be good for the economy. It wouldn't be good for Australia's national security. It wouldn't be good for our taxes and stronger support for small and medium sized enterprises and all of the things that I know are so important to the Chinese Australian community. But that said, Gladys Liu is a wonderful part of our team, and where there's the opportunity for more people of Chinese background and ancestry to join our team and be part of our team well I welcome that with open arms. But you asked me the question, would I welcome that if it were from members of the other side of politics, well, my my objective is to ensure that we can continue to serve this country, as its government. And while I welcome the diversity that we're increasingly seeing in our parliament, that's tremendous and and in particularly in terms of the contribution of Chinese ancestry Australians. But first and foremost, my request to the Chinese Australian community is vote Liberal vote National.
Journalist: Thank you, Prime Minister.
Host: The next question is from Hannah Zhang at ACB News. Go ahead, Hannah. Hannah you must be just on mute. We'll just get you unmute please. Sorry, Hannah, we can't hear you. I might let you just see if you can fix that and we'll just go to the next question. Keith Tan from Australia Chinese Daily. Go ahead, Keith.
Journalist: Good afternoon, Prime Minister, and thank you for the greeting and the praises that you have provided to the Australian community over your Chinese New Year messaging for the year of the Tiger. You've answered quite a lot of good questions, especially with regards to the relationship and also about the five pillars of approach that you have for businesses and researchers and, of course, the improvement in the labour force. One comment, I guess in this as well, a question from the community are the Chinese business owners in itself have and would like to receive more confidence from the government, whereby we in Australia being Australians should be protected in that sense and will be also looked after and that the relationship, no matter how it is currently or in future, we are still being affected by the Australian Government. So the question might be is how could you provide more confidence to them?
Prime Minister: One of Australia's great strengths is that we're a stable democracy, governed by the rule of law and people's property rights, none of these things are arbitrary. They're secure because that's the nature of our constitution, and that's the nature of our, of our government and and how Australia runs. And so certainly, I mean citizens are citizens. Their ethnicity and race is irrelevant in terms of their rights and obligations and and all of those things. Our constitution is blind to that and it should be. And and so the investments and commitments that Australians of Chinese ancestry have made are no different to any other Australian and are as secure as those as their neighbours as it should be. Because Australia is the most successful multicultural nation in the world and we are, I'm very confident of that. I don't think it's arguably I think it is. And I think, you know, daylight is second and when it comes to that. And one of the reasons for that is I think we see every Australian as an Australian first, what their ethnic background is or racial background or first language is or ancestry or any of that, what their gender is for that matter, that is secondary tertiary to them being an Australian first. And so I would give you that absolute confidence. And I think Australia is in a position to do that when it comes to the investment in Australia by Chinese investments from overseas, where we have a very thorough process to regulate foreign investments. It's a it's blind and non-discriminatory in nature. And as a result, when decisions are made to allow investments and those investments can be made and we manage those issues of sovereign risk very, very carefully. And so any decisions we make on foreign investment are very carefully made because we want people to have that certainty and where the rules are, we set them out. And Australia has one of the most liberal foreign investment regimes in South East Asia. I mean, we [inaudible] most of the countries in East Asia, particularly China, like you can in Australia, and the certainty that you're afforded through your investment in Australia is many times over that what you could I'm sure, see in in China. So I mean, I think Australia is is an absolute refuge for certainty, refuge for certainty when it comes to people's economic investments in this country [inaudible] firmly and deeply and strongly, because that's what makes our country strong.
Journalist: Thank you.
Host: Thanks Prime Minister, I believe Mr Hawke has to leave us now, so.
Prime Minister: Thanks, Alex.
The Hon. Alex Hawke MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs: Thanks, Prime Minister. Thanks, everybody. Thank you for everything you're doing and helping us communicate on the pandemic as well. As I said earlier, the Prime Minister deeply appreciate it, we’ve a bit more to go. We'll keep working with you and all your outlets on on that communication. Thank you all. Thank you PM.
Prime Minister: Thanks mate.
Host: Prime Minister, I know we're coming to time, but if we can just try to get Hannah back, Hannah, can you hear us and can we hear you?
Journalist: And sorry about that. Can you hear me now?
Prime Minister: Yes.
Journalist: Oh, great. And good afternoon, Prime Minister. This is Hannah from ACB News. Thank you so much for hosting this event and having us today. ACB an investment and finance news provider, so we have more focus on the economy. And today we have a question regarding to regarding the economic recovery plan. So the economic recovery plan in 2020 to 2021 provided tax incentives for eligible businesses, such as tax refunds for losses against prior year’s profits. Temporary full expensing extension. Those tax incentives will be extended to 2023. And apart from the tax incentives, we also see a patent box for encouraging investment in Australian medical and biotech technologies company. Would you please introduce more about the patent box as many Australian Chinese are working in this industry, and many of them are interested in investing in medical and biotech technology companies? Thank you very much.
Prime Minister: Well, thank you. Further details on tax issues and many of the programs which you rightly referred to, which have played a very significant role in Australia's economic comeback. One of the reasons that Australia's economy is strong, has had a stronger recovery. It has performed stronger than any other country in the G7, both in employment terms GDP. We really are, I think, taking things forward and that the tax incentives which we put in place have contributed significantly to that. There are many others that the research and development tax incentives you mentioned the, of course, the loss carry back investment allowance measures for full expensing. All of this has seen a very strong surge in investment. And what's great about that is even through a pandemic, when we've seen such impacts on consumer demand here, businesses are investing and they're investing because they're confident about the future of the Australian economy and where it's heading. And that's, that's a great vote of support, I think, from business and investors in Australia. And it's not just from those in Australia. I mean, we're hearing that from investment houses all around the world. They're looking at our performance and saying that's a safe place to be, and there's some very good opportunities. But you rightly say that we need to further develop other new opportunities in these new sectors, and that was the fifth point of the plan I set out on manufacturing. Now the patent box, which we announced in last year's budget that is there to encourage investment in medical and biotech technologies, and it will reduce income tax from innovative research to encourage businesses to undertake R&D here in Australia, which I suspect, you know, and this programme is very early in its in its development and implementation. But we see that combining with the measures that I announced just this week some $1.6 billion and to drive research efforts in our universities together with our entrepreneurial sector. So I'd be, I would be encouraging the partnering up on research programmes with university partners and ensuring that's part of a commercial model here in Australia, which sees an ecosystem develop, which we're very keen to establish. So there'll be more to be said about all that, particularly once we get to the budget. But we take investment, particularly in these new tech sectors, to support the development of our manufacturing sector in Australia. Under our opponents one in eight manufacturing jobs were lost under Labor when they were last in office. One in eight went. We've turned all that around and we know that to drive those manufacturing jobs and opportunities and income earning opportunities, then we need to invest more in our R&D, in our technology, in our infrastructure and our skilled labour force to ensure that they are able to support a growing manufacturing sector with new products and new innovations.
Host: Thanks, Prime Minister. We have come to a time now, so if you'd like to make some closing remarks before you sign off, please.
Prime Minister: Well, sure. Thank you, Rosa, and thank you for joining us. I'm sorry, I was a little delayed coming on to the call. I want to finish where Alex did, and that is to thank you for your communications to Australians in the Chinese Australian community throughout COVID. Australia has saved more than 40,000 lives through COVID. And you know, I never tire of reflecting on that. Our response to COVID had it not been the way that we had done things here and it had gone the way of what we'd seen in countries just like Australia, in Europe or the United States or North America or UK, 40,000 Australians would have been dead right now. And so that is something Australians have achieved together and I will never forget after the virus started and was coming out of Wuhan. The incredible work done by the Chinese community, where there were many people coming back from China and the precautions they took in their own communities and isolating and wearing masks and being very, very considerate but also very careful. I believe that provided a very significant role in how Australia was able to avoid where so many other countries went with COVID and the communications into the Chinese Australian community have been critical to maintaining that. So I'm very grateful to you and all of your publications. You've kept your, your subscribers and your readers safe. In many cases, I'm sure you've kept them alive by the work that you've done, so I thank you for that. Moving forward, we're one of the most vaccinated countries in the world, strongest economies and lowest fatality rates. And that sets Australia up, I think, to be very successful in the years ahead. But that will only come from the strength of our people and our Chinese Australian community is a powerhouse for the Australian population. It is just always been a massively contributing, entrepreneurial, hardworking, strong values based community that has really, really added so much to our country. And so I'm very passionate about our Chinese Australian community. I love the family values that are part of the Chinese Australian community. I love the work ethic that's there. I love the entrepreneurial spirit. I met a young bloke last night, Burwood, he's 21. He started his own business. It's, it's the Smiling Noodle out there in Burwood, I'll give it a plug. If you're out that way, I suggest you look it up. It was pretty good. Young people in our multicultural community, starting businesses that just lights me up, it really does and I see it more in our multicultural communities, particularly in the Chinese Australian community, than I see in most. And that's to be celebrated, and that's one of the things I celebrate when we get to Lunar New Year. It's that contribution and that's, that passion that Chinese Australians have for our country. So I'm keen to connect with more as much as I can, and I thank you for the opportunity that you give me to do that. So thank you again, Xin Nian Kuai Le again and Kung Hai Fat Choi.
Defence Surges To Support Aged Care Sector
7 February 2022
Prime Minister, Minister for Defence, Minister for Health and Aged Care, Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, Minister for Sport
The Morrison Government will deploy up to 1,700 Australian Defence Force personnel to support staff in the aged care sector.
This immediate support through the Department of Health will help stabilise outbreaks and support staff shortages in residential aged care facilities.
Over the weekend, ADF personnel undertook induction training with healthcare provider Aspen Medical and joined civilian staff in aged care facilities that afternoon.
Defence will deploy four Quick Response Support Teams this week. These teams will consist of nurses and general support staff and will expand to a total of 10 teams from next week.
Defence is readying specialist teams of 50 personnel in the four states experiencing greatest pressure (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia) from 9 February. Defence is ready to expand this commitment to up to 200 personnel in each state and territory, or up to 1,700 personnel, if required.
The ADF is not a shadow workforce and cannot replace skilled aged care workers, but they will assist across facilities including logistics and general duties tasks. For example screening of entrants to facilities, providing companionship to residents, supporting with meals and other non-direct care functions to take the pressure off qualified aged care workers and medical staff. Where they are medically qualified, ADF personnel will assist with those duties.
This effort builds on the significant contribution Defence has made to help the effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic including more than 24,000 ADF who have contributed to Operation COVID-19 ASSIST including quarantine compliance and management, contact tracing, ambulance driving, delivery of food to vulnerable Australians, and during the outbreaks in aged care in Victoria in 2020.
This ADF surge is in addition to the work already underway to support the aged care sector. That includes delivering 10.7 million rapid antigen tests to facilities since August, provision of 42.9 million masks and 15.7 million gowns and covering more than 80,000 shifts with our Government’s surge workforce initiative.
Under an agreement with the private hospitals, additional staff are being made available for aged care and the changes to furloughing guidance is providing additional capacity. This is on top of a successful program to recruit retired staff to return to the workforce and re-deploying staff on other aged care programs to assist with on the ground support.
It follows interim guidance to the sector, issued in early January, which set out advice to residential and home care providers aimed at protecting the workforce and limiting exposure risks through strengthened screening, including use of rapid antigen tests and additional PPE requirements.
By the end of today, 100 per cent of aged care facilities across the country will have received a booster clinic.
Our whole of government effort will continue our work to help provide safe and quality care to vulnerable older Australians.
Morrison Government to deliver reduced premiums through reinsurance pool
7 February 2022
Prime Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia, Minister for Emergency Management and National Recovery and Resilience, Minister for Regionalisation, Minister for Regionalisation, Regional Communications and Regional Education, Assistant Treasurer, Minister for Housing, Minister for Homelessness, Social and Community Housing
The Morrison Government has finalised the design of the reinsurance pool for cyclone and related flood damage, following consultation on the draft legislation.
The reinsurance pool will be backed by a $10 billion annually reinstated Commonwealth guarantee and be administered by the Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation from 1 July 2022.
Over 880,000 residential, strata and small business property insurance policies in northern Australia are expected to be eligible to be covered by the reinsurance pool for the risk of cyclone and related flood damage.
The pool is expected to reduce insurance premiums by up to $2.9 billion for eligible household, strata and small business insurance policies over 10 years. Homeowners in northern Australia with the most acute cost pressures are expected to benefit from up to 46 per cent premium discounts, strata properties up to a 58 per cent discount and SMEs up to a 34 per cent discount.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the establishment of a reinsurance pool would deliver on the Government’s commitment to maximising northern Australia’s potential and to ensure Australians in cyclone-prone areas have access to affordable insurance.
“We’ve listened closely to our team including Warren Entsch and Phil Thompson so we can cut the cost of insurance for households, strata and small businesses,” the Prime Minister said.
“This is about making northern Australia even more resilient and liveable.”
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said that the Government was committed to the benefits flowing through to policyholders as soon as possible, and had directed the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to undertake price monitoring.
“As a critical integrity measure, price monitoring by the ACCC will provide transparency on how the benefits of the pool are being passed onto policyholders,” the Treasurer said.
Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia David Littleproud said by reducing the insurance premiums in northern Australia, the Government is removing an obstacle to development so the great potential of the region is achieved.
“This will save households money and give them greater financial freedom and it will give businesses access to more capital to invest and grow,” Minister Littleproud said.
Minister for Emergency Management and National Recovery and Resilience Bridget McKenzie said this is yet another significant investment by the Government to ensure we are better prepared for disasters - before they strike.
“Northern Australia is particularly prone to extreme weather events and we want to support people and communities to mitigate against the damage that is caused when cyclones and flooding hit the region. This investment will give communities confidence that the Government is backing them to be better prepared,” Minister McKenzie said.
Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar said that the Government had listened to the feedback it had received throughout the consultation and design process and has made key changes to ensure the reinsurance pool delivers on its objectives.
“The Government has committed to expanding the pool to provide coverage for small business marine property insurance from 1 July 2023. We have also made adjustments to ensure that more strata properties will benefit from the pool,” Minister Sukkar said.
The Government intends to introduce legislation for the reinsurance pool in the first week of Parliament in February 2022, with the pool on track for the scheduled 1 July start date.
Reopening to tourists and other international travellers to secure our economic recovery
7 February 2022
Prime Minister, Minister for Health and Aged Care, Minister for Home Affairs, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment
Australia will reopen to all fully vaccinated visa holders, welcoming the return of tourists, business travellers, and other visitors from 21 February.
These changes will ensure we protect the health of Australians, while we continue to secure our economic recovery.
Australia’s health system has demonstrated its resilience throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, including though the recent Omicron wave. With improving health conditions, including a recent 23 per cent decline in hospitalisations due to COVID, the National Security Committee of Cabinet today agreed Australia is ready to further progress the staged reopening of our international border.
Visa holders who are not fully vaccinated will still require a valid travel exemption to enter Australia, and will be subject to state and territory quarantine requirements.
Today’s announcement will give certainty to our vital tourism industry, and allow them to start planning, hiring and preparing for our reopening. In 2018-19, tourism generated more than $60 billion for the Australian economy, with more than 660,000 jobs dependent on the industry.
Since the Morrison Government commenced Australia’s staged international border reopening on 1 November 2021 we have seen almost 580,000 arrivals come to Australia including to reunite with loved ones, work or study.
The Commonwealth continues to work with States and Territories on the safe resumption of the cruise industry and looks forward to further announcements on this in due course.
Doorstop - North Parramatta, NSW
6 February 2022
PRIME MINISTER: My great privilege for Jenny and I and my family to join with the Abdallah and Sakr families on what is always a sad day, but it's also a day of hope. I forgive. These are powerful words. And the Abdallah family and the Sakr family have brought them back into our language as Australians. And they've demonstrated the power of them. As prime minister, you learn a lot about human frailties as you move around this country, but you also learn a lot about human resilience and the strength and indeed the faith of so many Australians who have gone through such difficult times. But the grief and the sadness and the sorrow that the Abdallah and the Sakr families have known and live with is unimaginable. But you've seen their great faith and grace on display, and it is a lesson to us all. I4Give is a very important day, and it's one that I hope continues to grow, not just here in this country, but something uniquely Australian that catches on far beyond our shores because the power of forgiveness is as those of us who know in our own lives, it is incredibly transformative. As Danny says, you have a choice to be bitter or to be better. And I think that's an encouragement for all of us.
Today, I also want to pay my respects and give my thanks to Her Majesty today with that remarkable length of service. I've had the great privilege to meet Her Majesty on several occasions, and I have never met anyone more impressive, more remarkable. Her wisdom, her kindness, her sense of duty is something that I think all of us here in Australia can be very grateful for. And so to you, Your Majesty from Australia, thank you for all your many years of service. And may God save The Queen.
And finally, as we go into this parliamentary week, there are many important matters that we'll be addressing. One of those we will be addressing very early on is the issue of the opening up of our international borders to international visitors again. As people will know, we have already opened up our borders to skilled migrants and backpackers and students. And that has been happening now for some months. And we are considering the further opening of the borders to international visitors as many of our states now move through and pass their peaks. The key issue that we have been examining and I have asked for advice from our health officials now over recent weeks, is how that decision could impact on our hospitals, which has been our primary consideration. But the previous opening up of the borders has gone very well and we are looking forward and to be able to make that decision to open up our borders and welcome visitors back to Australia again as soon as we safely and possibly can. But I really do not believe that is far away.
Challenges in aged care and so many other areas continue. I thank all of those who continue to work so incredibly hard to deal with the situation, which is so incredibly tough, and now I'm happy to take a few questions.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible].
PRIME MINISTER: Well, quite easy, actually, because, you know, politics is a brutal business and anyone who pretends it's not and anybody who pretends that from time to time, people don't get angry or bitter and don't act like other human beings, then if you can't accept and understand each other's frailties and be forgiving in those circumstances, then frankly, that says a lot more about you than it does about others. And so that is what my faith is always informed me to do the same as it has so many others, and I'm thankful for that. You know, politicians, they're no different to anyone else. And people say things and people feel things. People get angry, people get bitter. Of course they do. That's all of us. And so who am I to be judging someone else?
JOURNALIST: And how are you going to keep the public [inaudible].
PRIME MINISTER: No, I don't believe so, because our record speaks to our working relationship. And I think as I said yesterday, we have both surprised each other. We hadn't had a close relationship in the past. But as we came together, him as the leader of the Nationals and I as the leader of the Liberals, as the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, we have to continue to combat this pandemic. We've landed the biggest international security agreement Australia has been able to deliver since ANZUS itself, and we continue to drive the unemployment rate down below four per cent. These are the achievements of our government as we fight a pandemic and have one of the strongest economies going through this pandemic. One of the lowest death rates of any country in the world and one of the highest vaccination rates. So together, Barnaby and I are getting on with it. We understand the frailties of all individuals and human beings. And if people think it's any different in politics to their own lives, they'd be mistaken. So we'll just get on with it the same way Australians get on with it.
JOURNALIST: If the Deputy Prime Minister thinks you're a liar, why should voters think differently?
PRIME MINISTER: Because he doesn't think that. And he made that very clear yesterday.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible], when you were a Minister, [inaudible], changed observation?
PRIME MINISTER: We work together directly, a prime minister and a deputy prime minister work very closely together and his observations of me, and that relationship has completely transformed his view that he had as a backbencher at a time when his head was in a very different place.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible], liar and a horrible person, why are members of your own party turning against you now?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I don't believe that's the case. And my record with my party members and my party in the parliament has been the most united Liberal Party and the Coalition that we have seen. I mean, we've worked together to achieve a net zero commitment by 2050. Everybody said we couldn't have done that as a Coalition. But the Deputy Prime Minister and I, we agreed that. We have our differences when it comes to issues and we work through them and we get to results as we have on that issue. So our record is one of working together and working for Australia. Now, I'm sure if anyone went out there and checked what everybody has ever said about them, including all of us here, you will find people who will say not the most pleasant things about you. No one is immune to that. The question is, how do you respond to it as an individual? And today, on I forgive day, I think we get a very good lesson about that. I think this day is all about understanding human frailty. Human frailty, it's real. We all share it. We all live with it and we all need to be more understanding of it. Politicians are no different to people watching me now. People asking me questions now. People anywhere around the country. We all need to be more understanding of each other in that way. And that's certainly the approach that I adopt, especially with my colleagues.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible] what is being said about you. What about those who are leaking? What's being said about [inaudible] how do you forgive that?
PRIME MINISTER: None of them are in my Cabinet.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible].
PRIME MINISTER: I don't let them distract me. We're facing a global pandemic which we've fought for the last two years. We fought through fires, through floods, through pestilence, cyclones, and we've been leading this country through one of the most difficult times we have known since the Second World War and the Great Depression. What people send around in texts, I frankly could not care less about. And frankly, Australians are far more interested in their jobs and their lives than what people are sending in text messages to each other. I'm focused on what they need. I am focused on their needs. I'm focused on their frustrations and focused on continuing to lead this country through this pandemic and to the strong economy and a strong society I know we will have on the other side. And we have the plan to achieve that. That's the plan that's been taking us through. And that's the plan that will continue to take us through. But today is all about remembering Antony, Angelina and Sienna and Veronique. It's about remembering the incredible act of grace by the Aballah and the Sakr families. It's about learning from their terrible experience and taking those lessons to ourselves and finding the strength within us all because we're all suffering from the same human condition. And finding the way forward and a huge part of that is to forgive. Thanks very much, everyone.
Acknowledging The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
6 February 2022
oday marks 70 years since The Queen’s accession.
Understandably, The Queen traditionally does not mark this day with any joy, as the day marks the anniversary of the passing of her father.
So later in the year, there will be appropriate celebrations to mark the Platinum Jubilee.
Still, today marks an extraordinary milestone.
For over half of our history as a Federation, The Queen has been our monarch. Most Australians have known no other sovereign. She has been a constant presence in a changing world.
The Queen’s reign has spanned 15 Australian prime ministers with Sir Robert Menzies being the first.
Australians have a deep respect and affection for The Queen.
The Queen has carried out her duties with diligence and dignity, always upholding her deep faith as well as her respect for the constitutional tradition she was born into.
On this anniversary, I extend the gratitude of the Australian people.
Tonight, iconic buildings and monuments in many parts of Australia will be lit up in royal purple for The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. This anniversary is a truly remarkable milestone in a remarkable life.
Interview with Gareth Parker, 6PR
3 February 2022
GARETH PARKER: Joining me on the line is the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison. Prime Minister, good morning.
PRIME MINISTER: G'day Gareth.
PARKER: It's been an interesting couple of days for you.
PRIME MINISTER: It always is mate.
PARKER: It's sort of the summer apology tour after the Omicron wave in the eastern states, which so far we've avoided the worst off in Western Australia. My sense is that most West Australians are thankful for that. Did Mark McGowan do the right thing by deferring the planned border reopening?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, I think he did. I mean, Omicron, as we learnt over the summer, is a completely different virus. I mean, the things we're doing before don't work the same way under the Omicron virus. And as a result, you've got to reset and you've got to rethink the things you were doing. On the eastern states, as you've been seeing while you've been over here. We have changed how close contact rules work because that impacts then on the workforce and how many people you have working in health and aged care and in food distribution centres, driving trucks. So you've really had to completely change and that's what we were doing over the summer and that had some pretty significant impacts. But you know, Omicron is what brought that about. And I think that's the big lesson from the eastern states for the West when they inevitably move, as the Premier, Mark, has said into this Omicron phase that the lessons from the East Coast would be applied there and that when his health system, he believes is ready to go, I'm sure he will take that next step.
PARKER: So, so when's the right time for us to join back in there because I was talking to Anthony Albanese about this earlier. He's been in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales just in the last week. Many West Australians would like to be able to travel unencumbered for their work or to see their family or even maybe take a holiday.
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, I have no doubt about that, but I think what we've seen in the West is they want to do that. They want to do it safely, too. And that's why we've been investing heavily to support Western Australians over the course of the pandemic. I mean, we put more than $14 billion in direct economic supports to Western Australians over the course of this pandemic. And importantly, we've been supporting them with their hospital funding as well. I mean, you may not realise, but 50/50 of all the expenditure on COVID in Western Australia is done 50/50 with the federal government, whether it's buying tests or whatever, that might be additional costs in hospitals, even manning and having people at the testing clinics, that's being funded 50/50 with the Commonwealth Government. It's a joint effort and the figures on the vaccinations in Western Australia are encouraging. I mean, you've gone over that 90 per cent on two dose mark, you know you're over 40 per cent on on the on the booster shot as well. In fact, your double dose rate in WA is now higher than Queensland, and that's a that's a great effort. Because you haven't had the spread of the virus in WA, like eastern states have. So I think that's a pretty stunning effort from Western Australia to catch up and to be where they now are on boosters.
PARKER: But Prime Minister, are you saying that it's safe to travel from Brisbane to Melbourne or from Adelaide to Sydney, but not from Perth to anywhere?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm saying that's the Premier's call. That's what I'm saying. And he has to make that decision based on what he thinks his health system is ready to absorb. Now we've been investing in that hospital system, and you and I have spoken many, many times about the boost to the WA state budget from our GST deal, which I put together and argued for and got across the whole Commonwealth of states. I had to argue that case for the West in the East. No one did that more than me, as you know, and we landed that. And that has put Western Australia in a very good position to be investing in their hospital system and get it ready. But at the end of the day, Mark McGowan is going to make that call and we've been supporting him.
PARKER: I'll come back to you on East versus West in a moment because there's something quite important that I want to just get your view on. But but just just perhaps one more on COVID. The Premier Mark McGowan has emphasised almost daily the number of COVID deaths over this summer Omicron wave in the rest of the country, running at sort of 40, 50, 60, 70, sometimes more a day. Thankfully, it looks as though that level is coming down. Is that level of death acceptable to you?
PRIME MINISTER: None of these deaths at the end of the day, whether here in Australia or around the world, I mean, that's what the virus has done, and we have to remember that this is the virus doing this and it's doing it all around the world. And Australia has one of the lowest death rates from COVID, including from Omicron, of anywhere in the world. And yes, every single one of these deaths is heartbreaking for those families. But equally, every life we have saved is a great blessing. Now we've saved over 40,000 lives in this country and many of those in Western Australia. Now that is something that Australians can say we've been able to push through and achieve. Many, many tens of thousands of lives saved. So, you know, the Omicron variant is not as is not as severe, but it is far more far more contagious. And so while its its severity is low, because so many people have it, then obviously it has that greater volume of cases and some that become more severe. And that is the battle with Omicron. It is a very different virus that behaves differently. And so that's why when Western Australia, when Omicron, it will get there at some point. The Premier understands that, we both understand that looking at how you manage that when it's there is very different to what it was with Delta. And that's the lesson from the East Coast and particularly around close contact rules, because the virus can do worse things with rules that don't work than the virus can do on its own.
PARKER: We're seeing that at the moment with the 14 day quarantine rules for schools, for example. I just wonder whether you think that that should change quickly to 7 days like the rest of the country.
PRIME MINISTER: I mean, the Premier has been sitting around our national cabinet table with us and seeing what's been happening. The East Coast and the virus has had a very different course in different parts of the country, and that has been most stark in the West. And so that means what's happened there has been different to the rest of the country and I've always acknowledged that, just like, I've always understood how the Western Australian economy works differently to the rest of the country, why I thought the GST is different, so I've always recognised that. So it is different. But I think the point is that when they're ready then they can move. But ultimately they need to get ready and learn from lessons.
On 14 days, now we dropped that in the East Coast because that was taking people off trucks out of distribution centres, out of hospitals, out of schools. And we've got kids back now here in New South Wales and my kids are back. You know,I got an alert the other day saying oh, there was a case, they're back at school today, they left first thing this morning and will be back home this afternoon. They're doing their thing. Their education is continuing. We're living with it here, and our experience in the East is different to the West, and the West has done incredibly well. And I commend Mark for that and the work that we've done together. We're working together right now on the challenges regarding the rail lines. I appreciate the strong cooperation we’ve had on that. We always work together to try and solve these problems and understand that it is different in the West.
PARKER: And that's exactly the issue that I wanted to go to. And I think there's been way too much east versus west rhetoric from both sides over the last two years. My view has always been that we need each other, you know, the East needs the West and the West needs the East.
PRIME MINISTER: I agree.
PARKER: This rail line is exposed a significant vulnerability has it. Paul Scurrah from the rail operator Pacific National earlier this week called for more money to be spent on the rail line so there's more resilient to future flooding events. Is that something the government will consider?
PRIME MINISTER: We'll work through all these issues, particularly with the Premier, the South Australian Premier as well. Barnaby Joyce has, you know, just flew straight into gear on attacking this challenge and working with both premiers, and we're getting through it. And we've made some changes to regulations around trucks and licences and things like this. And that means things can keep flying, but it's going to take a little while to restore that line, and I think people understand that. But it does highlight those vulnerabilities. It's one of the reasons, you know, go back to the other side of the country. When you look down in Tasmania, they've got the Bass Strait and the what is called the [inaudible], which is that basically an extension chord between Tasmania and the rest of the country, you know, that's it's a similar sort of issue. And what we do there with shipping and the West, you know, it's a land sea in effect between the West and the East and and you know, those connections are incredibly important. I think COVID has highlighted that as well.
PARKER: The starters gun has sort of been fired in the election campaign, I think, this week. That's my observation. You've been saying May for months and months now. So that's I presume when we're going to the polls. But and we alluded to this earlier event, we've all had revelations this week that apparently some colleagues in the Liberal Party think that you're a horrible person and you're a psycho. There's ministers currently stood down over personal conduct. We've got the issues over the RATs, cost of living emerging as a big issue for households. And then there’s Newspoll. How do you convince West Australians that you're the man for the job for another term?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think there are two very important issues, and, you know, there's a lot of politics that goes on in between elections and that's true and I'm looking forward to the opportunity I'll have to come and speak to West Australians directly. But when it comes to their job and the security of their job and their future, when it comes to, you know, getting people into a home, we've got 300,000 Australians into their own home over the course since the last election through our home guarantee scheme, the homebuilder scheme. When it comes to getting that education, the skills, we've got 220,000 apprentices in trade training at the moment around the country, so many of them in Western Australia. That's the highest level since 1963, and we've got unemployment heading to below four per cent and youth unemployment below 10 and a million more women in jobs. So we've had the plan to get those jobs and we've got the plan to keep those jobs and keep growing those jobs, whether it be in our manufacturing sector, our resources sector, we've always stood up for the resources sector. We've never had an each way bet on that like our opponents. So we have the plan to keep that economy strong and take Australia forward from small businesses to large.
And then it comes to the issues of national security. We live in an incredibly, incredibly more dangerous and uncertain world, and we've stood up for Australia in the middle of all. We’ve had our critics, including in the West. But we will always stand up and not appease for Australia. What we will do is will stand up for Australia. We won't trade away Australia's values or interests. And we've been very clear that investments in defence, cyber security, national security, standing up to the big tech companies when they undermine our society, people can trust us to run the economy, run the finances and ensure that we stand up for Australia's interests in a very, very changing and often hostile world.
Now the other thing that's going to happen on the other side of the election, whichever way you're voting. Mark McGowan's the Premier the next day. So it's not a state election, it's a federal election. It's about who do you want to be prime minister? You've got Mark McGowan. He was strongly supported at the last election, and he's premier either way, the next day after. And we've always worked very well together.
PARKER: So you don't want a contest of Scott Morrison versus Mark McGowan. You want a contest versus Anthony Albanese.
PRIME MINISTER: And that's because it's not one between Mark and I any more than it's a contest between meaning any other premier. I've met 65 times in the national cabinet, calling them together. That's more than any prime minister has met with any premiers, any time in our history to deal and work together through this pandemic, and Mark's been an important part of that. And he's openly acknowledged that process and has been a keen advocate for it. And it's been good to have him around the table and to have that perspective and for the eastern states to understand that perspective. So it's not just me standing up for Western Australia, we're together on that on many occasions.
PARKER: Well, Prime Minister, I hope the next time that we talk on air, it's in Perth. We hope we can get you, or at least somewhere else in the western third of the continent. We'd like to see you on our side of the country ASAP.
PRIME MINISTER: You and me both. Looking forward to it.
PARKER: Good on you, Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Entries Open For Prime Minister's Literary Awards
3 February 2022
Prime Minister, Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts
The 2022 Prime Minister's Literary Awards, which celebrate Australia’s outstanding literary talent, are now open for entries.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said each year the Awards attract exceptional entries from our many talented and diverse writers.
“The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards recognise excellence, and every year they showcase to the nation and the world a collection of unique works of great quality and appeal,” the Prime Minister said.
“I strongly encourage Australia’s authors, illustrators, historians and poets to put forward their stories for this year’s Awards, as we celebrate the significant contribution that their works make to our story as a nation.”
Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts Paul Fletcher said the Awards importantly recognise and celebrate the diverse role writing plays in shaping Australia’s cultural and intellectual life.
“These Awards acknowledge the benefits we all receive from the intense, arduous and sustained creative work done by writers,” Minister Fletcher said.
“Their work entertains, informs and educates. In short, it enriches their readers’ lives.”
The Awards are presented in six categories – children’s literature, young adult literature, fiction, poetry, non-fiction, Australian history – with a total prize pool of $600,000.
Entries, which close on Friday 4 March, are sought for books published in the 2021 calendar year.
For more information about the Awards and to apply, visit: www.arts.gov.au/pmla
Interview with Paul Murray, Sky News
3 February 2022
Paul Murray: Prime Minister, nice to see you again.
Prime Minister: Good to see you, Paul.
Murray: Now before we get into everything, I've got a selection of breads here, I need you to rank them from most expensive to the least expensive. We might do that a bit later.
Prime Minister: Sure. We'll make some toast.
Murray: Our mate, Chris Kenny has a great line about the National Press Club that it's it's a home game for Labor people and an away game for Liberal people.
Prime Minister: Sure.
Murray: They came at you really hard yesterday and that's fine. People can come hard, but it seems so personal. So what's happening inside you when it's that personal?
Prime Minister: You have the same human reactions as anyone else does, Paul, but at the same time, you know, I never let that sort of distract me. I know what they're trying to do. And yes, it was one of the more brutal outings at the press club. I've been there many, many, many times and there's been some experiences there, and that's okay. But I just expect them to apply the same blowtorch to the to the to my opponents. And if they do that, fair enough. But if they don't, well people make up their own mind what that's all about.
Murray: Why do you think when people go you that it is always personal? It's very rarely about the idea or the policy, or it's always seemingly personal?
Prime Minister: Well, I remember they used to do the same thing to John Howard, remember? And so, you know, when you've got unemployment down to 4.2 per cent, when you've got youth unemployment to under 10, you have 220,000 trade apprentices in training, the highest level since 1963. You know, you've got one of the lowest fatality rates from COVID in the world, strongest economies, highest vaccination rates. Well, I'm not surprised they're going to come after me on personal attacks, and that's what my opponents have done over the last three years. I mean, they've had one job get up every day and sledge me. The jobs I've had over the last three years are about keeping Australians safe. I mean, COVID has been a big part of that. But one of the things I said yesterday was COVID hasn't been the only thing going on, and we can't forget that. I mean, the world we're living at the moment, we know, I'm not just talking about Ukraine, I'm more significantly talking about what's happened in our region, while we're battling COVID, we were putting together AUKUS. While we were battling COVID, we were finalising an agreement which took us three years to do with Japan on defence. These were the things that were going on at the same time, as well as obviously dealing with big challenge with veterans services, aged care reforms, the royal commission response. So it's been very busy. And when you go to the press club, these are the things you like to talk about. But instead, we talk about, you know, text messages between people somewhere else. But what does that mean for someone's job? Nothing. The stuff that we were talking about and I brought to the press club yesterday was about things that put people in work. And, you know, we're looking at an unemployment rate with a 3 in front of it. That hasn't happened for 50 years.
Murray: So can you do that as well as eventual international border changes? Or is that something that can only happen when you know the February numbers come in and we're past the Omicron stuff? How do we get to 3?
Prime Minister: One of the things that is honestly kept inspiring me over the pandemic has been how quickly our economy has bounced back after each of these shocks, whether it was the initial waves, whether it was the lockdowns, whether it was, you know, what we're even experiencing now and the resilience of the Australian economy. Now that didn't happen by accident. When the pandemic hit, the Australian economy was strong and we worked very hard to achieve that. And the balance sheet of the country, you remember that we brought the budget back into balance and got there just before the pandemic hit. So that meant we could respond and invest. But the things we've invested in, not just keeping businesses alive and people in work. We've been investing in manufacturing capability. We've been investing in our defence capability. We've been investing in our agricultural sector and soils and these issues and making sure that our ag sector there is doing well. We're investing in energy, we're building, we're building gas fired power plants in Kurri Kurri. I've always been for it and we'll build it the way we designed it …
Murray: And each way is now on board with it, it's okay!
Prime Minister: Well he is, he is. But you know, you know, next week could be a different thing. Who knows?
Murray: Yeah.
Prime Minister: You know, all about it. But all of these issues are building the economy. And the reason we're on our way to an unemployment rate with a 3 in front of it is because of that economic plan that we have been implementing and now expanding.
Murray: When you talk about the alternative, is that they've got runs on the board from when they weren’t in government 25 years ago, but when they were there last time with Rudd-Gillard-Rudd-Rudd, good luck with KK on the borders. Good luck with, you know, the brother of the union bloke in defence versus Peter Dutton.
Prime Minister: Yeah.
Murray: You name it, but these are always, a lot of people talk about presidential campaigns. They all are to some degree. But how important is people seeing what comes with the alternative?
Prime Minister: Oh, well, I think it's vital because you've gotta weigh both of them up and that's, you know, everyone has a role in I think bringing that to the fore so Australians can understand the choice and the consequences of those choices. But you make a very good point about the team, and I've got a great team and I'm very proud of my team. I mean, we've been able to take Australia through this very challenging time because I've had very good people doing their jobs and doing them so faithfully each and every day. And you do have to line up well, who's the Defence Minister for my team? Well, it's Peter Dutton. Theirs is the guy who was one of the failed immigration ministers, Brendan O'Connor. I remember because I was the shadow minister at the time, who was one of their worst, arguably their worst. He couldn't secure the borders. And Anthony Albanese thinks he's the right bloke to defend the country. So there's a lot of them. Josh Frydenberg has delivered three budgets now. We've done those together and he has done a terrific job, whether it's JobKeeper or very targeted ways we've spent. Now I know a lot of your viewers are going, gee, you guys have had to spend a lot. It's not something we do instinctively, but we've been able to maintain our AAA credit rating. And when they look at your AAA credit rating and what they assess, because as a Treasurer, I remember it, I did three budgets of my own, they look at not just what the level of spending is, but what you're spending on. So take JobKeeper, for example, saved the economy, saved businesses, saved lives, I believed. And they looked at how it had a start date and a stop date. Now our opponents, they were going to keep going, $11 billion a month. They wanted to keep going and said, well, we're going to fall off a cliff. That didn't happen. Employment actually went up. Same thing, $6 billion to pay people to get a vaccination they've already had. And this stuff goes on and on. There's the discipline of the way Josh has crafted this, this investment, and particularly we are talking about young apprentices. That's an investment. That's a big investment. That is why they've looked at how we manage the finances and said, you've been making the right calls. We know the debt is increased. We know you've had to spend more, but you've done it in a disciplined way and you have turn off points. You know, this is not for government to be in there forever, and you're protecting your longer term budget by turning a lot of this stuff off when it's no longer needed.
Murray: So last question, a lot of people watching this show are deeply invested in your prime ministership. They want you to go around for another three years, so talk to them about why they should fight just as hard as they did last time, this time.
Prime Minister: Everything we said at the last election remains true. All the things that we were fighting to ensure we could do for this country remain exactly the same challenges we keep fighting now. And there are many of them. But the two big ones, I mean, at an election, the country will go in one of two directions. Paul Keating said that. Change the government, change the course of the country. And that's true.
So what is the course we're on? The course we're on is an economy that's bouncing back and coming back strongly with a strong and resilient health system. We're investing in the essentials that Australians rely on in the health system and their education. But what makes all of this possible is a strong economy. And strong economic management is more important now than it's ever been, and we have the runs on the board here. We've got the experience and we've got the plans that are achieving those results. So that is at stake.
What else is at stake is the security of our nation and the safety of Australians. Now, no one doubts my resolve when it comes up to standing up to those who are going to have a crack at this country. I always put Australia first. I never take an each way bet on national security. I don't think, I saw what Anthony Albanese said the other day when he talked about how we should be dealing with China. Oh, you know, we'll have to get rid of some of those things. So what is he saying to the Tasmanian lobster farmers or the beef producers up in central Queensland, up there in Rockhampton or the wine growers down there in South Australia? Which one of these is he going to trade off? Because in national security, there are only really two courses you can go down. You can appease or you can stand up for what you believe in as a country. And no one has any doubts, I think, about our government when it comes to which path we take.
Murray: PM, nice to talk.
Prime Minister: Thanks Paul.
Interview with Sabra Lane, ABC AM
2 February 2022
SABRA LANE: Prime Minister, welcome to AM.
PRIME MINISTER: G’day, Sabra.
LANE: You've acknowledged many Australians are frustrated with the Government, and that perhaps you raised hopes for a summer that were dashed. But you're appear unwilling to say that you're sorry. Why is sorry the hardest word for you to say?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I remember in the vaccine rollout, we, I said exactly that. I said, but, and I said that and and then said, we've got to get on and fix it, and that's what we did. And that's one of the, one of the things I referred to yesterday when I said we didn’t get everything right. I mean, if, I think if we'd had the Sir General Frewen’s operation there from the start, I think that would have made a big difference. Now, I remember the day I made the decision to call him in because we were having those frustrations, and it did make a big difference. And I said last year that we'd hoped to have everyone being able to be offered that vaccine by October. And we ended up achieving that by about, I think it was about the 23rd, 25th of October. So despite all those challenges, we were able to turn it around, and that was really my point yesterday. You learn lessons along the way, you work problems, you fix them. That's what happens in a pandemic. We're all sorry about the how the pandemic's impact on our livelihoods and our lives, and it's happened all over the world. No country’s got everything right, and Australia has got more of it right than most countries, and that's demonstrated by having saved 40,000 lives, one of the strongest economies in the advanced world, and one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. So on the, on those big ticket items, Australia’s performed very well.
LANE: Former Premier Peter Beattie made an art form of saying sorry, and voters seem to really value that and reward him for it with re-election. Are you worried that voters might punish you for not saying sorry?
PRIME MINISTER: I think I’ve been very honest with people. I was very honest with them yesterday where I thought the lessons were …
LANE: Sorry, usually usually when people do take responsibility for a problem, they say sorry.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what I think’s important is the experience that you get from working through those challenges. That is what helps people actually work through the next set of challenges. And that's what I was explaining yesterday. Of course, nobody gets everything right, and I don't think anybody expects everything to go perfectly for any government. And I think it's an unrealistic expectation, as people would expect. And, so, look, I'm just getting on with the job. And, of course, as a Government, we're sorry for, you know, the impacts of the pandemic on everybody's lives and livelihoods. I mean, in particular as we went into that summer, yes, we were optimistic. The vaccines that we'd all, all Australians have worked hard on to get done over that course of the year were meant to protect us. And then Omicron came along and completely turned that on its head, and no country picked that, no country at all.
LANE: Current current polling has Labor leading the Coalition 56 to 44 per cent on a two-party preferred basis. Your personal figures have have slumped. How do you turn that around in 10 weeks?
PRIME MINISTER: At the end of the day, the election will come and people will focus on that, and they'll focus on the choice they have to make. And there is a clear choice.
LANE: And your record.
PRIME MINISTER: There’s me, there’s me as Prime Minister and and the Liberal Nationals as a Government, that will see, we believe, unemployment go to having a three in front of it for the first time in 50 years, and the experience that we've developed in dealing with this pandemic, and there are many challenges still ahead. And economic management, national security, these issues and whether there kids can get a job, whether there businesses will be able to thrive with good strong economic management, keeping downward pressure on the cost of living, interest rates. All of this, which we're doing - getting apprentices into trade training, highest level that we've ever seen in recorded economic history in Australia. Or the alternative, which is Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party, and …
LANE: But what about your record? Your record is also on the line.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, exactly. And and that's a record of of job creation. It's a record of economic management. It's a record of having balanced the Budget before the pandemic hit, so we could respond in the way we have. A record of having the lowest, one of the lowest rates of fatality from COVID in the world. One of the strongest economies, a AAA credit rating that has been maintained - one of only nine countries to do so in the entire world - and one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. We've got people, and we’ve got young people in particular, who were kept in jobs through the pandemic, particularly the apprentices. So we haven't lost a generation of skills that would have otherwise gone through the pandemic. We’ve got record levels of funding into education and health. In particular yesterday, I highlighted that our mental health response to the pandemic was one of the, if not the, strongest in the world. A billion dollars invested, and while we had surging demand for mental health support services, the investments we made saved lives. Every life lost by suicide is a terrible tragedy. Unthinkable, unspeakable. But every live lost, every life saved, is a blessing. And the death by suicide rate during the pandemic actually fell. So Australians have achieved quite remarkable things over this pandemic, and at the same time, we've been keeping Australians safe in our region, and you know very well, and your listeners know very well, the great uncertainty that is occurring in our region. And we’ve stood up, we’ve stood up to those who threaten our interests.
LANE: Sorry Prime Minister, we've got a few subjects, we’ve got a few subjects to get on with.
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, you asked me why they would like to support me at the election Sabra, I was very happy to answer the question.
LANE: Ok, well, let's talk about the bonus payments - $800 for aged care workers. They've been welcomed by many, but many in the sector say that's just not enough. The starting wage is about $800 a week. Why don't they deserve a permanent boost?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that is being dealt with by the Fair Work Commission, and that's the appropriate place for that to be determined. But what we announced yesterday …
LANE: But the Government's, the Government's not intervening there. Why can't the Government actually bring itself to say that these workers deserve more?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have a process for setting wages. And what we've and that is being done through the Fair Work Commission, and where we intervene is what we announced yesterday. And it's not the first time we did it, and we did it earlier on in the pandemic. And I remember when we did that, the same union leaders criticising us now were the ones who, when we did it the first time, said it was a very good initiative. So I think people can see through that. Our challenge right now, though, Sabra, is to ensure that we're providing that extra support to keep people there in these aged care facilities, because the workforce challenges in those facilities in the pandemic is very stressed. And that’s what we need to do right now in this pandemic, and that is what we are doing.
LANE: If you’re hoping for an unemployment rate with a three in front of it, if that happens, thousands of jobs might become available and aged care workers might simply just walk away from the sector to a job where they can earn the same pay without all the stress of trying to care for people with COVID. We heard on AM yesterday people are leaving already. How confident are you that that bonus payment will stop that from happening?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the bonus payment is there to deal with the situation right now. The longer term issue is being addressed by the Fair Work Commission. And I'm sure that the very issues you've raised are the ones that they'll be carefully considering.
LANE: The sector is buckling. BaptistCare says it can't push through, that workers must receive fair and competitive compensation for the critical work they do, and endlessly isolating residents in their rooms and preventing visits from friends and family is not sustainable. It wrote an open letter to you about this last week. How do you respond?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that that help has been coming, and it'll continue to flow. It's incredibly tough in the aged care sector, aged care sector during this pandemic, and the support we’ve provided - some eight million rapid antigen tests, that's going back to to August. The support we're providing through PPE equipment, additional the training that's been put in place, the wage subsidies, support for vaccinations. Ninety-nine per cent of those aged care facilities, the priority, have been visited, and we've been vaccinating both the workers and the residents at the same time. Seventy per cent of residents have taken up those vaccinations and have been vaccinated. But I'm not disputing the fact that it's really tough for the aged care sector providers. It's really tough for the staff. It's really tough for the the Government officials who are working with them every single day to try and give them as much support as we possibly can.
LANE: What more? What more? You can’t do anymore?
PRIME MINISTER: Where more can be done, we will be doing it and finding that, working with the sector the way we always have. But during the course of this pandemic, again, while it doesn't soften the blow, I think the international comparisons are relevant. Right now, outbreaks in Canada in aged care facilities are 13 times higher than they are in Australia, and they have the same vaccination rate as us. In the United Kingdom, back when we go back to what happened during the very difficult days in Victoria, I mean, the rates of infection in UK aged care centres was eight times what it was in Australia, and that was before we had the vaccines. And while there was terrible loss of life here in Australia, we saved many, many, many lives by working together with the aged care sector. So I'm not denying it's tough. Pandemics are tough, they're really tough, and they've been toughest on those working in our health sector, and especially those in aged care.
LANE: A text message from Gladys Berejiklian about you was read out at the National Press Club yesterday saying that you were a horrible, horrible person, and a Channel 10 reports that a Cabinet Minister apparently said that you were a psycho. Ms Berejiklian hasn't denied sending that text. She says she has no recollection. Will that harm you? It adds to the assessments of you like that given by the French President.
PRIME MINISTER: Anonymous sledging that neither of us know anything about, as Gladys herself has said. That's certainly not been my experience with the former Premier …
LANE: She she hasn't denied sending the text.
PRIME MINISTER: There’s, that’s not my experience with the former Premier. It's certainly not been the subject of any discussions that we've had, and we worked very closely together through the pandemic, through many other challenges - restoring the New South Wales economy. We did work closely together. So, you know, I can't speak to it really because I don't know anything about it, and Gladys doesn't know anything about it. And those who are raising it, well, there’s frankly a lot of questions being asked of them at the moment.
LANE: How confident are you of re-election?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm confident in the Australian people making good judgements about their future and understanding the consequences of this next election. And as we get closer to that election, they’ll weigh it up and they know there's a choice. It's not a referendum. It's a choice between two alternatives - a Government that has shown the experience and has shown the record on the economy to keep it strong and keep Australians safe, and working hard, particularly in regional Australia, and not selling them out. You won't hear me saying one thing about the coal industry up in Queensland and another thing about the coal industry in the inner city suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne. And but that's what you hear from Anthony Albanese. He just tells everybody what they want to hear and has an each way bet on everything, and you can't have an each way bet on Australia's economic future and our national security.
LANE: Prime Minister, thanks for talking to AM this morning.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks a lot, Sabra.
LANE: The Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Interview with Ray Hadley, 2GB
2 February 2022
Ray Hadley: Prime Minister, good morning,
Prime Minister: G’day, Ray. Yeah, yeah, you know, I think that's pretty fair. You and I, from time to time haven’t always agreed, but it's always great to come on the program, mate.
Hadley: You know, we’ve had some barneys, some very good ones and [inaudible] ones in fact.
Prime Minister: Very good.
Hadley: We’ve been in the same cartoons from time to time when I [inaudible], but I’m not [inaudible] today.
Prime Minister: They have. Here we are together.
Hadley: Now, yeah, just on this. I don't often feel sorry for people, I felt a bit sorry for you yesterday. Some of the questioning that you were subjected to was in a manner to try and embarrass you and cause you as much pain as they possibly could. And I've been critical of you, premiers and anyone else during the last two years, and you admitted yesterday you haven’t always got it right. There are different things you’d do differently, and there different things you’d say differently. But at the end of the day, we've got through it almost, almost, bar Omicron, and we're travelling alright. But, I mean, I just don't know why the left want to attack you in the manner they did yesterday, when Anthony Albanese, your opponent, gets a rails run. That's not his fault, by the way, but that's the way things seem to work out.
Prime Minister: Well, that’s, look, I'm I’m happy to face the music. I've been doing it all throughout my political life. And always happy to turn up and do that. So there really, the real question is, yep, it was pretty brutal yesterday. But, you know, I thought it would be, frankly. And if they're prepared to apply the same blowtorch to Anthony Albanese, then, fair enough. And, so, that's really a matter for them. You know, there's a big decision coming up for Australians, and there's a lot at stake. I mean, we live in a very uncertain world. We're continuing to deal with the pandemic. We're not out of it yet. And there's still challenges and you never know where the next turn in the road’s going to come from. But that's only one of many things. I mean, what we're seeing with the pressure on inflation over the United States and in the United Kingdom. Here in Australia, those pressures are less, but they're still there. So how we manage our economy through this, keeping that downward pressure on interest rates, keeping electricity prices down, which are down eight per cent over the last two years, that economic challenge is very significant. And then you've got the security challenges in the region, very significant, whether it's the contest between United States and China, what we're seeing in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, what's happening in Ukraine. This is a very, very dangerous time, and and the ability to manage and stand up for Australia's interests in this, be prepared to stand up to those who would bully us, is very important. So Australians will focus on that when they get into a ballot box. Answering a telephone call on a poll, yeah, people will express frustration, no doubt. And you know, I understand that frustration, as you've already said. So when you walk into the ballot box and you vote for Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party, that's what you get. And then you've got to live with it, and what that does to the economy and Australia's national security interests. And you can't take an each way bet on these things, but he's happy to have one every other day.
Hadley: As is evident by Kurri Kurri announcement this week.
Prime Minister: It will cost an extra $1.6 billion I hear for that. So he's really racking the spending up too.
Hadley: Currying the favour in Kurri Kurri. I have suggested to him previously that Kristina Keneally needs to be put into witness protection. The last time she was trotted out by, the Newspoll, by the way, was saying the same thing in 2019. You were going to get bashed up, and it didn't turn out that way.
Prime Minister: Yeah.
Hadley: And she played a role in that. She's the most unsuccessful Labor Premier ever in the history of New South Wales politics. And then I keep saying to people, and I said to Paul Murray last night, If you vote for Anthony Albanese and, you know, you think he's going to be a pretty good Prime Minister, well, the package includes Kristina Keneally, Chris Bowen and Bill Shorten. Good luck with that.
Prime Minister: Well, I’d keep going, and I think they’re the, they’re the right, the right comparison. I mean, when it comes to economic security, I mean, Josh Frydenberg has now delivered three Budgets and they've been very good Budgets that have helped us get through this pandemic and have one of the strongest economies coming through the pandemic. And we're now looking at getting unemployment down to having a three in front of it, the first time we've achieved that in 50 years. In more time than that we now have, and I know, I know lots of tradies listen to you Ray, because they tell me, there are more apprentices in trade training right now - 220,000 of them. That is the highest level that we've seen since records began in 1963. And one of the things Josh and I did right at the start of the pandemic is we were incredibly concerned that we were going to have a generation of lost skills, because the first people that were going to get put off site were the apprentices - first on, last off. And we said we can't let that happen. These these young people, and not just young people, people in mid-career transition and so on. I’ve met plenty of of middle-aged apprentices. We needed to keep them in their apprenticeship. And so we increased the wage subsidies for them. And I've spent the last two years meeting those apprentices, many of them now finishing their apprenticeships because they were two years’ in, and they're still on the tools, they're still in the job. And they are now going on, you know, to be full, fully paid employees on their own ticket. So, on economic security, you’ve got Josh Frydenberg, or you’ve got, or you’ve got Sneaky Jim. Or you’ve got on Defence, you've got Peter Dutton, who's a regular guest on your program, doing an outstanding job as Defence Minister, and someone most people wouldn't have heard of, Brendan O'Connor. But you might remember this about Brendan O'Connor. He was one of Labor's failed Immigration Ministers that couldn't control our borders. And Anthony Albanese thinks he's the guy that should be standing up for Australia's interests and Defence Forces in the most difficult circumstances we've seen since before the Second World War. And then you're right to say, when it comes to Kristina Keneally, well, her record in New South Wales is well known. But who do you trust to protect those borders, her, or Karen Andrews from Queensland, together with myself, and we've shown our resolve on those issues. So you can go right across the board, right across the line up and you see all of these contrasts. You vote Labor, you get Labor.
Hadley: Just one final thing, I know you're pressed for time, but I've been concerned, as has many people in New South Wales, with your State Executive here. Philip Ruddock issued a direction, we thought, which was voted down by the State Executive, where people like Alex Hawke, Sussan Ley and others have to go to preselection. We are getting closer to May. When are we going to have somewhat of a definitive answer in New South Wales as to who's going to stand, and get rid of this nonsense that's coming from the State Executive, which seems to be, you know, promoting the fact they want you not to be Prime Minister by their actions, and disregarding the, you know, the directions of someone like Philip Ruddock, who's forgotten more than most of them know about politics.
Prime Minister: Well, it is very frustrating, and there's some childish games going on there. You know, people who play games in politics rather than, and can often forget what it's all about, which is getting an unemployment rate down with a three in front of it, protecting Australia's security interests, and getting Australians into jobs and into trade training. And they need to sort this out. And if they can't sort it out, well, frankly, the Federal Executive, we're talking, Sussan Ley is an outstanding Cabinet Minister, and she's one of eight female Cabinet Ministers I have in my Cabinet. That is the highest number of females in a Federal Cabinet in Australia's history. And she's a standout, and she's been great for the people of Farrer, too. She is a great Liberal advocate for the bush and regional towns like Albury and and places like that. And so she's been magnificent. Now if they can't endorse her, well, they should get out of the way and let the Federal Executive ensure that we can get that done. But those playing games in the New South Wales Parliament, the Liberal Party, I should say, the the organisation need to ensure they focus on winning this election for the goodness of the Australian people and forget their factional rubbish.
Hadley: Ok, when are you going to take the big stick to them then, if in fact they still are recalcitrant in the coming days, let alone weeks, when do you pull the pin and say, no, the games are over, this is what's happening?
Prime Minister: Well, there's a process to follow, but, you know, I've been working closely with Dom Perrottet on this and he's been very supportive of what we're trying to achieve here as well. And so it's time for those who, you know, don’t do this for a living, to really allow those who really need to get on for the sake of the Australian people here. Now, I don't often talk about these things, Ray, as you know, very openly, these organisational matters.
Hadley: No.
Prime Minister: But you've raised it. And I think it's very important, for all Liberals out there, particularly New South Wales, to ensure that we're all very focused on the job we have. And that is to ensure we keep Australia's economy strong, we keep Australians safe, we grow together and not apart through our economy, keeping our region strong, and that's what we've all got to be focused on. That's what my team’s focused on. I know that's what the overwhelming majority of Liberal Party members and supporters want to see happen. And so I'm sure that the President there, Philip, and Chris Stone, will do, will get this matter on, sorted out. There’s there’s ample time to sort this. And we will. And and I’ve got to, you know, I thought I'd be candid with you in answering you honestly.
Hadley: Ok. Now one final thing. I thought the best comment this morning came from Karl Stefanovic, my friend and colleague on Today, when he concluded the conversation with you by looking at Ally and saying, ‘Can I see your phone and look at the text messages you send to your friends after we finish a shift?’ Because I'm sure, knowing Karl is cuckoo, they're not very complimentary, and I'm sure that if I encountered some of my colleagues over the last 40 years I’d find, well, texts weren’t around 40 years ago, but more recently, I’d find some very unkind texts about me as well, as I’ve sent some very unkind texts about people.
Prime Minister: Well, you know, I thought that was pretty funny when I heard it later as well, and it goes to, you know, what people send as texts to each other, what does that mean for someone's job or whether their kids are getting training or what that means for the cost of living? I mean, these things that get focused on, they’re they're not the things that matter to people. I'm sure those listening in right now, they want to know we're focused on them. I am. And and what scuttlebutt goes around really doesn't distract me. You know, all you’ve got to do is look at anyone's Twitter feed and you can see more vile than you can imagine, that comes through, which is another problem. But, you know, you just, it comes with the job. You know, you're in public life. We’ve got big shoulders. We know it comes with the job, that this stuff flies around. So long as you keep focusing on the things that matter, that's what Australians expect of us, and that's what I've always sought to do. Whether it’s stopping the boats or dealing with reforms in welfare, balancing Budgets and now coming through this pandemic, that's the experience I believe Australia needs to go forward. And as we get closer to the election, I think Australians will really focus on that and they'll know there's a real choice here. With Anthony Albanese, what you see is not what you're going to get. What you see on the other side of the election is what you’ll get. And he's been very sneaky in not telling you about what he's about, and Kurri Kurri is a good example. He was against it. Now he’s for it. He's got to spend another $1.6 billion on it. I mean, the guy’s all over the shop. At least problem no where I stand, even if they don’t agree with me.
Hadley: Well, my Twitter feed’s called The Ray Hadley Morning Show. Prime Minister, thanks for your time.
Prime Minister: Good on you Ray, good to chat.
Hadley: All the best. Scott Morrison, the Prime Minister.
Interview with Allison Langdon, Today Show
2 February 2022
ALLISON LANGDON: Prime Minister, good morning.
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Ally.
LANGDON: I'll tell you what, bit of a bad day for you in the office yesterday, wasn't it?
PRIME MINISTER: Every day I get to serve the Australian people is a good day. It has its challenges, it goes with the job, and you keep pressing ahead and get things done.
LANGDON: Some days are better than others, I'm sure. But look, I mean, that text exchange yesterday was pretty shocking to hear, and you were put on the spot. It was live on television. What was running through your mind?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I don't know the status of that. I never accept at face value that things are put to me, particularly when they're done anonymously. I mean, there was no context to it or any really details behind it. It was clearly done for sensationalist purposes. That's what happens from time to time. It was a pretty robust day at the the press conference. I'm sure the Press Gallery will be just as hard on my opponent as we go into the election. They were pretty rough on me yesterday, but that's alright, that goes with the job.
I was happy to face those questions and importantly, what yesterday was about was setting out very clearly that economic plan, which I believe will see unemployment get to a three in front of it, which we haven't seen in 50 years. I mean, our jobs performance during this pandemic has been extraordinary. We've got a million more women in work since we were elected, and this is really transforming people's lives. Jobs change people's lives, they change families, they change communities. And that's why I'm so focused on getting people into work. Unemployment's at 4.2 per cent. We've got more trade apprentices in training today since 1963, when records began. So our economy is performing strongly through the pandemic, and that means Australians can look forward to the future with confidence, and economic management means more than ever before.
LANGDON: So you must have been so dirty that this is something, when you're trying to get that message out there, this was deliberately leaked to damage you, and this goes to your character. It goes to your trustworthiness. Who does that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, someone who we don't know, and I just don't really let it fuss me, Ally. I mean, in this job, you take the brickbats and you take the bouquets. I mean, go and read my social media feed. There's no shortage of people who vent, and there's no shortage of people who say nice things. If you're going to spend each day consumed by that, you don't get the important work done for the Australian people, which is about putting pressure down on the cost of living. I mean, electricity prices have fallen by eight per cent in the last two years. You've got 300,000 Australians, I said yesterday, that we have directly helped into buying their home since the last election - 300,000 through the Home Guarantee Scheme, through the HomeBuilder program. You know, Australians have been getting on with things. I'm getting on with things. We're going to push through this pandemic. We've got the lowest death rate, the highest vaccination rate of most countries in the world, and one of the strongest economies. And on those big issues, our pandemic response measures up very well. But it hasn't been perfect, and I was fairly honest with Australians about that yesterday. No countries’ has, but I'd rather be in Australia than anywhere else.
LANGDON: Look, I can understand why you’re wanting to dismiss this, and I agree that I think people sitting at home, they don't really care about what people within your own party have to say about you for too long, anyway. It’s not what sticks with them.
PRIME MINISTER: It doesn’t affect their job, it doesn’t affect the price of things that they're paying for. It it doesn't affect their futures. So, you know, you have big, broad shoulders and you learn from experience, and experience is going to count in the years’ ahead and the ability to push through and stand up to those in, whether in our region or elsewhere, that really do threaten our interests.
LANGDON: But there is still someone out there, though, there's still someone there trying to do you in. It doesn't get a greater betrayal than that, does it?
PRIME MINISTER: I really don't care, Ally, what people who want to anonymously throw this stuff around. I mean, the journalist who raised it is facing his own questions. So, look, I'll leave others to carry on about that. There are too many other important things for me to worry about who's gossiping about me.
LANGDON: Yeah, look, good point. And you raised it yesterday, you admitted that you made mistakes with the pandemic. If you take responsibility, what is the drama with apologising?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, last year, when the vaccine rollout was not going as well as we had hoped, I did exactly that, and we said we were going to get about and fix it, and that's what we did. And what I said yesterday is, you know, in hindsight, we would have brought General Frewen in at the outset, not when we were dealing with those problems. And that turned it around. A year ago we said we wanted everyone to be offered a vaccine by October. We ended up meeting that mark in October. And, so, we did turn it around. And that experience through the pandemic is going to be very valuable in the years ahead. I mean, the years ahead, there's some really big challenges. There's the economic challenges that we have. We've got inflation running at seven per cent in the United States. Thankfully, here in Australia, the inflation pressures are a lot lower at 3.5 per cent. We've got, it's five per cent in the United Kingdom. You know, we've got those electricity, those electricity prices down, and these are the things that we're going to be facing - great global insecurity in the region, particularly with the tension between China and the United States and what that means for security. You can see what's happening in Ukraine. You don't, you want to have someone who knows how to stand up for Australia's interests and to be able to push through a lot of these challenges and make sure Australia can come through.
LANGDON: Hey, Prime Minister, do you know the cost of bread today?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, I do. But, I mean, which one do you want? Do you want the rye bread, do you want the multigrain?
LANGDON: The one with the seeds.
PRIME MINISTER: Do you want the sourdough? And if we're going to get on to milk, are we just going to be the ones that come from dairy? Or is it the almond? I mean, you go to most family's fridges, they've got three types of different milk. I don't know what you put in your coffee, but, you know, look, honestly, the gotcha stuff from Gallery journalists, whatever. I was honest with people yesterday, and people know that. And yeah $2 bucks 60, $3 bucks 40, $1.60 to $1.80, you know, a litre, yeah, that's what it is. But what matters is the economic policies and the plans that we have to keep putting downward pressure on costs of living. That's what matters. And that's what we're doing. And I think those electricity prices figures demonstrate that, the number of trade apprentices we've got in training, the jobs that have been created, particularly for women and young people. This has been very important. It's transformational. We are pushing through this pandemic.
One of the things I said yesterday is people know I'm a very optimistic person. And the reason for that is I have a great faith in the Australian people and their resilience, which I know is what I've relied on for Australia to come through. So I was honest with them yesterday. There are big challenges ahead. The experience we've gained as a Government is going to be invaluable to meet the challenges before us. But the record we have, as I said, 40,000 lives saved, and in particular, the work done by our mental health counsellors, where we put a billion dollars into our mental health support program. Very few other countries understood the mental health challenge like Australia did, and while every life lost through death by suicide is a heartbreaking tragedy, every life saved has been a blessing, and the actual death by suicide rate during the pandemic has fallen. So there is a lot we've got right. There are some things we could have done better, but in Australia we've done better than most in the world.
LANGDON: Look, and I think people appreciated your honesty yesterday, and I think a lot of people understand that the job that you face, you're not the one out there buying bread and milk. So for your honesty, that was great. But there is this drama there, and I think people have at home, where there is a thought, are you out of touch when your cost of living expenses, they are going up. Mortgages are going to go up if interest rates go up, what happens there, and wages are stagnant. So you say this is going to be election that's fought in regards to the economy and the cost of living, and that is something that is a very big pressure on most households right now.
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, I agree, and that's the point I'm making, and that's why we've worked so hard to get those electricity prices down. And I agree with you, economic management and who's best able to manage the economy and deal with the serious threats that are out there in the economy is very central to the next election. And there's a choice. There's our record and our experience. You know, as Prime Minister, I've done three Budgets. As Treasurer I did three. I've sat around the national security table for some of the biggest challenges our country has faced since the Second World War for the last eight years. We've put in place the historic agreement with the United States and the United Kingdom in AUKUS to keep Australians safe, while locking down agreements with Japan on defence and comprehensive partnerships with India, South Korea, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, ASEAN. I said yesterday one of the key lessons when you go through the pandemic is you, not all the rest of it stops. All the other threats are there. So you're absolutely right. Who can best manage the economy and who can best stand up for Australia's interests in a very insecure and unsecure world, that's very much central to the election.
LANGDON: Yep. Look, we've definitely got an election coming. And just quickly, Prime Minister, have you spoken to Gladys Berejiklian since yesterday?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I haven't. But I did see her statement yesterday, and I appreciate that. As you know, I took a very strong public stance, you know, defending her when she was under those attacks, which I thought were outrageous. And I stand by all of that.
LANGDON: Is she still a dear friend?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course.
LANGDON: Alright. Well, look, Prime Minister, you know, no one can write you off. I know they tried at the last election. There’s going to be a busy couple of months ahead and no doubt we'll be talking again soon. Thank you for your time this morning.
PRIME MINISTER: No worries, enjoy your sourdough toast.
LANGDON: With with the little seed bits, they cost extra.
Interview with David Koch and Natalie Barr, Sunrise
2 February 2022
DAVID KOCH: Prime Minister, morning to you.
PRIME MINISTER: Morning, David.
KOCH: Have you spoken to Gladys Berejiklian about those texts since yesterday?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I haven’t had the opportunity to do that, but I appreciate what Gladys said yesterday. In our own dealings with each other, it's always been very positive and I think we've worked very well together, as a Premier and a Prime Minister, to do very great things for for New South Wales in particular, whether it's building the Western Sydney Airport or getting the unemployment rate down, and particularly through the pandemic, we worked very closely. So they’re the results. I can't speak to the other things that are all anonymous and and and as Gladys has said, she doesn't recollect it, and it's certainly not a conversation her and I have ever had.
NATALIE BARR: Yeah. Did that hurt?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, no one cares if the Prime Minister's feelings hurt, and that, I understand that. It doesn't matter. I mean, of course, people say nasty things about you as Prime Minister all the time. They say nasty things about people in the media. Just, you know, switch on your social media feed and you’ll get yourself quite a giggle. And, you know, I get one all the time. It goes with the job. But the job isn’t about, you know, what people say here and there. The job is about getting unemployment down. And yesterday, unemployment rate, as you'd know, both of you - a three per cent, with a three in front of it. We have not seen that for 50 years. Equally, we haven't seen the number of young people, particularly apprentices in trade training at 220,000, we've never had a figure like that in economic record, and that goes back to 1963.
KOCH: Ok.
PRIME MINISTER: So we are getting people in training, we are getting people in jobs, and an unemployment with a three in front of it, that that's fight, that's worth fighting for, and that's what we have been fighting for.
KOCH: Yep. We will get to that, because the economy has bounce bounced back incredibly well. But yesterday you were very honest. You admitted to mistakes in the vaccine rollout, saying you would have put it under a military operation earlier. But wasn’t the real mistake this time last year, you saying, it's not a race. You know, we can wait for the vaccines, that we didn't order enough from the very start and get it rolling quick enough, because it turned out to be a race.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, as I said very clearly yesterday, we had two big challenges. One was, of course, the blocking of the supplies that we had ordered. And there was also, later on, the big challenges of the AstraZeneca vaccine being limited into whom it could be provided for, because we had invested in ensuring we could manufacture that vaccine in Australia. The challenges we had early on around distribution was overwhelming how things were being managed at Health. And so that's why I brought in General Frewen and it turned around. I mean, I said a year ago that we had hoped, under the original plan that was taken both to my Cabinet and the National Cabinet, that everybody who wanted a vaccine would be able to get one by October. Now, we ended up hitting that mark in the mid to late October, and, so, we turned it around. And that was my point yesterday, David - that where you come across setbacks, you deal with them, you fix them, and you get on with it, and that's how you manage the vaccine. And that's what we've done.
BARR: Yeah, look, and I can appreciate that. But it's like The Hunger Games out here, the last couple of years. I suppose you you then had to get it off other countries. So, other countries have it. And it's like the RAT tests. The Doherty Institute said there are new variants coming. We're going to need these RAT tests, and other countries had lots of them. It feels like we're the last in line every time.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, other countries’ experiences are different to us. And I said this yesterday also. Over in the United Kingdom, they already had RAT tests because they had cases running at 30 and 50,000 a day for a very long time. That was not our experience of Delta. And there was no health advice that had come forward from any officials, no request from any state, that had foreseen the fact that we would have a variant but, for which the vaccine would not prevent transmission. And that's what changed in Australia. What happened in late November, remember, rapid antigen tests were only approved for home use in early November.
KOCH: I know.
PRIME MINISTER: And then we had a meeting five days later of the National Cabinet, National Cabinet. Well, you know, our regulatory authorities make decisions in the best, best health interests of Australians…
KOCH: But in the meantime, in the meantime …
PRIME MINISTER: David, if you wouldn't mind letting me finish. Rapid antigen tests were approved by the TGA. The TGA are the ones responsible for ensuring that they make the best health decisions for Australia. Now, right throughout this pandemic, it's been put to me over and over again, are you following the health advice? Have you listened to the health advice? The health advice was that the TGA would need to approve that, and they didn't approve it - and I'm not criticising them at all because rapid antigen tests are not as good as PCR tests.
KOCH: Well, you should be.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, no, because PCR tests are reliable, and in the Delta phase of the variant, in the Delta phase, PCR tests were the best thing to do.
KOCH: Ok.
PRIME MINISTER: Omicron changed all of that, and no country in the world picked Omicron, no country. So Australia has …
KOCH: Well, well, they were preparing though, because our only factory, producing 100,000 RATs a day, has said, is selling them all to America. The Americans beat us to our own factory and, in fact, the Americans have said to this Brisbane-based company, we’ll fund you to open a factory in America, and the Poms have done the same, and we just ignored it.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, hang on a sec, David, no, no David, no, it wasn't ignored. There was no application from that company at that time that had been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration. In fact, one of the companies that people have spoken about actually had their approval pulled by the FDA in the United States. Now, we do have a company that makes rapid antigen tests, they’re out in Western Sydney, and they're doing that right now.
KOCH: [Inaudible] yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: But- and the one in Brisbane is still before the TGA, and they're being asked to give the data to show that their tests are actually reliable. Now, we know in the United States, one of those companies actually had their approval pulled. So I understand the frustration. Believe me, I understand it very well. But Australia is not going to compromise on the health standards and the health advice that protects Australians. And the same was true of the vaccine, because they had to approve the vaccine for use in Australia. And they did it quickly, but they did it right. They didn't take shortcuts. There was no emergency authorisation of the vaccines. They went through all the checks, and they did it for kids too. Because when kids get their jabs, I want parents to know that it's been through every check and every test. That's how you keep Australians safe. We've saved over 40,000 lives in this country through the way we've managed the pandemic. We've got one of the strongest economies and one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. And so when you look at those measures compared to the rest of the world, I know where I'd rather be.
BARR: Ok, let's talk about one of the other things yesterday. You were asked about a very common question that a lot of politicians, particularly prime ministers, get asked - the cost of basics like bread, like petrol, particularly RATs. I think a lot of people would forgive you, a lot of people don't know the exact price of a loaf of bread. But on rapid antigen tests, you're arguing with Anthony Albanese about whether everyday Australians should pay for these, and for you not to know that we're paying out here $15, $20 or more each for one of these. That's why people want them subsidised. Don't you think you should have?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they are subsidised, first of all …
BARR: For four million people, but not for most people …
PRIME MINISTER: No, no, for 6.7 million people, actually, and to every Australian who goes to a public testing centre when they need that test. But, to be honest, I heard bread and milk in that question yesterday. It was a pretty robust and torrid time at the Press Club yesterday, and I must admit I didn't hear that the question about RAT. That's just the honest truth. Didn't hear it. It's about $15 to $20 bucks and can be, can be less than that. And as the ACCC said yesterday, if it gets above that, then they’re, they'll be coming after those who are price gouging. So, you know, to be honest, I didn't hear that part of the question. I heard bread and milk. And, you know, for the record, I mean, but it depends which bread. I mean, how many different types of bread have people got in their homes these days? How many types of different milk? I mean, not even all the milk actually comes from a cow anymore. I mean, there are so many different things that people have available, but, you know, if it's $2 bucks 60, $3 bucks 40, you know, you go down to my electorate, you'll get petrol for about $1.60 to $1.80, sorry, $1.60, $1.80, that’s what it is.
KOCH: Alright.
PRIME MINISTER: So, you know, it’s one of those old things they do at the Press Club to, you know, make a bit of a headline. But what's important, and this is very important - inflation in Australia and the pressures on inflation in Australia are not what they are in many other advanced economies like the United States, where inflation’s running twice what it is in Australia, and in the United Kingdom around five per cent. And that means there is less pressure on interest rates in this country because of how we're managing the pandemic. We've been ensuring that the Reserve Bank and the Federal Government have been aligning our policy on monetary policy and fiscal policy, and that means the two work together. And that's how you keep pressure on interest rates, which means you're dealing with the cost of living issues. I mean, electricity prices have fallen eight per cent in the last two years, eight per cent.
KOCH: Yep.
PRIME MINISTER: Now, that's because of what we've been doing to get those prices down. So when it comes to cost of living, you know, people, there are all sorts of different prices of bread and milk. But what matters is the Government has policies which puts downward pressure on them, and that's why economic management is so important.
KOCH: Ok. Prime Minister, I know you've got to go. Thanks for spending time with us. Appreciate it.
PRIME MINISTER: No worries, enjoy your almond latte.
KOCH: For the record, for the record, no, I'm rye bread, at $5 a loaf, Burgen. What about you? Are you a sourdough, or a, a multigrain?
PRIME MINISTER: Is that to me?
BARR: Yeah.
KOCH: Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER: I’m just normal white bread, white bread toast. That’s me.
KOCH: Oh you’re, you’re a fibber. Alright, thank you.
BARR: He’s off bread. Thank you very much, Prime Minister.
Questions and Answers, National Press Club Canberra, ACT
1 February 2022
Journalist: Thank you, Prime Minister, for that very extensive address. It's a new year. So a good opportunity to clear the air. You've acknowledged today you didn't get everything right and that you understand the frustration people have felt over the summer. But do you want to take this opportunity to actually say sorry for the mistakes you've made as prime minister? Not just about COVID. Everything from going to Hawaii during the bushfires, to not having enough rapid antigen tests in place, even as you foreshadowed the switch to a greater use of them and for failing to live up to your pledge to hundreds of thousands of people on the NDIS that you will make sure the scheme was fully funded, uncapped and demand driven. And will you apologise to people who've had, the hundreds of people, who've had funding arbitrarily cut under the scheme?
Prime Minister: Well, thanks for the question.
Journalist: Always happy to ask questions, Prime Minister.
Prime Minister: We're all terribly sorry for what this pandemic has done to the world and to this country. These are the times in which we live and I've set out today, I think very clearly the challenges that we've faced. But I'm also very proud of Australians and what they've achieved in enabling us all to come through this, despite the setbacks and the challenges that we have faced. In terms of the things when I say we haven't got everything right. Let me reflect on a couple of them for you.
First of all, as we went into this summer, we were optimistic. I was optimistic. We were all desperately looking forward to a great summer. And one of the things we learn again is that the virus has a way of bringing you back to Earth. And I think as we went into the summer, I think we were too optimistic, perhaps, and we could have communicated more clearly about the risks and challenges that we still faced. And I think in raising those expectations about the summer, that we heightened the great sense of disappointment that people felt. And as we had to make massive changes because of Omicron, as I said, the rapid antigen tests had only actually even been approved for use by the TGA earlier in November, we agreed at the meeting of National Cabinet about how they'd be funded and who had to go and get them. And so we moved quickly because we hadn't anticipated that we would have a variant that resulted in the vaccine not being able to stop the transmission. We had invested so much and Australians invested so much in getting those vaccinations, and over November and December, we were focused on the booster programme, the children's programme. And at the same time, Omicron came and completely turned things on its head. So we moved quickly and I've set out the steps that we've taken to work that around. And in our communications, we have to be clear about that because we can't lift people's hopes and then disappoint them. And I think that's what happened over the break.
Secondly, on the vaccination programme, if I had my time over, I would have put it under a military operation from the outset and not later in the year. But we’d all worked up the plan together. Going through cabinet, our cabinet, been through the National Cabinet and set out the timetables. We'd had the goal of ensuring that everyone who wanted a vaccine, could be offered one by October, the record that was achieved on the 25th of October. And as we went through those early months and we had the challenges that we have with the health department and us dealing with many, many issues, I took the decision to send in General Frewen and changed the way we did it and set up a change in the command structure, how logistics were managed, how it was planned, and it worked. But I wish we'd done that earlier, and that's a lesson.
In the aged care sector we knew, I should say we learnt, that the interface between the aged care sector and the public hospital system was blurred. And so when the storms of COVID hit, that created some real challenges and in the aged care sector, and I remember it was one of the hardest days of the pandemic, was St Basil’s, and we had a whole health workforce stood down because of COVID rules, so understand that, left an aged care facility with no staff and I had to send the military in that night. The interface and whether patients could be moved, how and when from aged care facilities and to hospitals to private and public that emerged earlier in the pandemic. And so that could have been done better between both the states and ourselves.
But as you can see, these are not simple issues with simple solutions. They're complex and events can work against you. What I say to Australians on every occasion where something hasn't gone exactly as we'd hoped or we've got it exactly right or where we would like to have turned out, we've crushed together with the problem, solved it and moved forward. And that's what Australians expect of us. I don't think they expect perfection, but they do expect you to keep working it every single day, and that's something I'm very proud of my government has done.
Now on the NDIS, we are fully funding the NDIS. It's one of my great passions as people know in this place and I will never let people down if I can help it, in the NDIS. It's a huge programme. It's a programme that is well expanded beyond what the Productivity Commission said it would. Well beyond the design of it and how it was set up. It's contributed massively to the costs and those designs, we're not having much success in convincing those at state level, Commonwealth level and through the Parliament as to how that can be best managed. It's going to be a big challenge in the years ahead, the NDIS. But people know I'm totally committed to it.
Journalist: So you don't have to say sorry about any of those things?
Prime Minister: I think I've explained my answer fairly fully.
Journalist: It was very full. Chris Uhlmann.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Chris Uhlmann, 9News. The cost of living is a daily concern for most Australians. You talked about the dream of home ownership, with the median house price hitting a million dollars in three cities, that's become a nightmare for many young Australians. Is there anything you can conceivably do about that? The cost of petrol rose 30 per cent last year, now that's set by international marketplaces, but you do control excise. Would you, like John Howard, consider pausing excise if it continues to rise. And what about the price of gas? You must have considered the possibility that Russia will invade Ukraine, cut Germany's gas supply and the price will skyrocket. Can you conceive of making sure that Australian gas prices don't follow world prices by having some of the market kept here?
Prime Minister: Well, you've rightly set out Chris, the economic uncertainty that we're facing globally, and that's very true. The global economic situation is full of challenges and plenty of surprises and many threats to Australia. And that's why economic management, I think, is more important than ever. So I mentioned the inflationary pressures on Australia are building, but they are not like we are seeing overseas. And how you manage inflation principally is, particularly how you manage the national finances. They are things that we have control over and the fact that in the course of this pandemic, we've been able to maintain our AAA credit rating despite having to spend significant amounts. Those who have looked at our fiscal plans and made assessments about it, could see what we were doing, how we were seeking to target it. It was time limited. Others wanted us to keep spending. They wanted us to extend JobKeeper. That was running about $11 billion a month. They wanted us to pay for things that people were already doing on vaccines. They wanted us to just spend money some $13 to $18 billion on things that were better targeted to those who needed concessional access and need it on those tests. So how do you manage your budget is very important about how you control inflation, and we have a good track record on that.
On home ownership, it's always hard to buy your first home. It's terribly hard and particularly in the city, in Sydney. I remember it. Jen and I remember it ourselves. It's hard and it's still hard and I'd argue even harder. And that's why at the last election we came up with, I think, some very effective programmes. We can't manage what happens to house prices, but we can help people get into homes. And our Government has helped 300,000 Australians to get into homes. 300,000. And Australians have wisely built up their own store houses during this pandemic to deal with the shocks that are coming. They are 47 months on average ahead of their mortgage payments. That's discipline. That's wise. And so Australians together with the government are going to continue to, I think, to exercise responsible judgment about our finances, invest in the things that help grow our economy because a strong economy then enables you to guarantee the essential services that Australians rely on like the NDIS, like health, like aged care. If you don't have a strong economy, you cannot pay for the NDIS, so that's why these things are important. So I acknowledge, Chris, that these are great pressures. An eight per cent fall in electricity prices. Who was predicting that three years ago? But we said we were going to get electricity prices down and the measures we put in place have helped that outcome. So we'll keep pursuing those policies and there'll be more to help people get that first start in their home, as we have seen, and to ensure that we keep downward pressure, whether it's on inflation or interest rates, to ensure that Australians can continue to get a go. If you lose control of the financial and economic management levers, then Australia's worst fears on the economy would be realised.
And the issue of Ukraine, of Ukraine, I should say. This is a very distressing and concerning situation. You've asked specifically about what it means for gas prices, well we have the security mechanism here in Australia and we know how that can be used. Australian gas must be for Australians, but there are also opportunities for our gas producers who have invested billions and so on both of those issues, I think we will manage them carefully and in Australia's national interests.
Journalist: Clare Armstrong.
Journalist: Thanks Prime Minister. Clare Armstrong from The Daily Telegraph. Many Australians viewed the responses to the events in Parliament last year as representative of the experiences in the treatment of women everywhere. You've had multiple reviews. You've got the Jenkins Report on your desk. There's been a staff training video and a hotline. But what actually makes Parliament and political offices more safe for women now than they were 12 months ago?
Prime Minister: Well, I'd say the most important thing that has happened is we now have an independent complaints mechanism. This was one of the key recommendations and the one we have acted on, and we've done that together as a Parliament together and that I think assists everybody who works in that building, not just the politicians and their staff. That process that we examine closely that let down so many a year ago and before has been significantly changed and for the better. And we have learnt from those times and I believe it's safer today than it was a year ago because of those changes and the brave stands that people have taken on these issues. And I've listened carefully to them and reflected on them and will continue to work to ensure that those processes work for people. Because if you find yourself in that situation, it's incredibly important that there are those out there to help you and support you to be able to make good decisions for you and to address the things that you need addressed to make the place safer. And so the independent complaints mechanism that we've put in place and the counselling support and the other things that sit around that, I think provides an environment, should, God forbid, that ever happen to anyone again, that they will find the situation very different to the one Ms Higgins found herself in.
Journalist: Just before we go to the next question, Prime Minister, are you happy to keep taking questions?
Prime Minister: Absolutely.
Journalist: Thanks. And for our viewers at home after 1:30, the ABC News, the ABC main channel will cut out, but you'll be able to continue watching on ABC 24.
Journalist: Mark Riley.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Mark Riley, 7 Network. Are your bonuses for aged care sector workers, which have been generally accepted as a good thing, although some suggest in the shadows of an election, they sound like how to vote cheques. The sector says, the workers say what they really need is an increase in their base rate of pay. These are appallingly low paid workers doing extraordinary work, not just in the pandemic, obviously much more obvious during the pandemic, but every day for our older citizens. Labor says it will intervene in the Fair Work Commission case to argue for an increase in their base rate. Why won't your government do that?
Prime Minister: Well, let me address your first question. The $400 payments, retention payments, that's what they effectively are. We've already done this once before. And we know it works. And with the the workforce challenges we've had, particularly Omicron, that's why this has come about, not for any other reason suggested. What we're doing here is helping the aged care providers give that support to aged care workers during this pandemic to be able to keep them there working in those facilities, which is incredibly important. That's what it's designed to do and we know it was effective last time and we believe it will be effective again and it needs to happen now. And it has been done in consultation with the industry as well. One of the things that they have called for as we've responded to the Omicron variant. So that is why we're doing this. We've done it before and we’re doing it again, and we believe that will help manage the significant demands on those workers themselves as well as the aged care facilities.
Now the other matter, I've noticed the suggestion made by the Leader of the Opposition. I haven't heard how he proposes to fund that. I don't know what he estimates the cost of that will be and how he would work that through. So that's for him to explain as to how he can pay for the things he tells Australians he thinks he can do. I've always been, I think, pretty upfront about that sort of thing, and there's a process underway and we will let that process follow its course and we'll of course, have to absorb any decision that is taken there. And that's the way I think these things should be dealt with. But you know, we've all had experience with those who have worked in aged care, particularly if you've had a parent who's been in palliative care, end of life care. And we're incredibly grateful. And there are many things we want to do in this country and we want to encourage them to do that. And the aged care workforce strategy, which has been worked together by the Minister for Health and Aged Care and the Minister for Workforce Stuart Robert, will further address our plans to support the aged care workforce. We'll have more to say about that, and I can assure you our plans will be costed, our plans will be funded and we'll know how they work.
Journalist: Andrew Clennell.
Journalist: Andrew Clennell from Sky News, Prime Minister, we've got up to 100 Australians a day dying with COVID, a low booster rate, inflation, indoor businesses in Sydney and Melbourne on their knees without your support. What are you going to do about these problems? Have you lost touch with ordinary Australians? And on that theme, off the top of your head, can you tell me the price of a loaf of bread, a litre of petrol and a rapid antigen test?
Prime Minister: Well, let me talk to you about a couple of things on that point. First of all, through the pandemic, you can't pay for everything, because it all has to be paid for. Over the course of this pandemic, we have provided over $100 billion in economic support. JobKeeper being the most significant and that has saved businesses across this country. And we're doing that at a time with the COVID disaster payments as well, when we had shut businesses down. Not the virus. The Government took decisions to shut businesses down. And of course, in those circumstances, one of the things we have to be very mindful of Andrew is that this thing isn't over yet. It's not over. The next variant could have any number of permutations to it. And so when we decided to do JobKeeper, we said it's going to start and it's going to finish. And people asked the Treasurer and I the same question that you are asking me now, why are you pulling JobKeeper away? Because that's what you do when you're responsible and running a government. You can't say yes to everybody all the time, and you have to do things which ensure that you've got your government and your bank balances of government able to deal with the next challenge. I mean our opponents wanted to keep it going. They would have spent $11 billion a month to keep going, they would have spent $6 billion paying people to have a vaccine they already had, and $13 to $18 billion on tests when free tests were already available to those who needed them and those who were on concession cards who needed them and have equitable access to them.
So these are hard choices, Andrew. They're very hard choices and you make them every day in a pandemic. Now, I'm not going to pretend to you that I go out each day and I buy a loaf of bread and I buy a litre of milk. I'm not going to pretend that I do that and I'll leave those sort of things to you mate, and you can run it. But the point is, I do my job every day to ensure that those things are as affordable as they possibly can be for Australians every single day. As I said, our inflationary pressures in this country lower than what we're seeing in other countries. And it's important that we ensure that people are able and have the resilience to deal with those economic pressures coming, just like my answer earlier. It's going to be tough in the months and years ahead. There's going to be strong economic challenges. And you've got to make decisions in real time and ensure that you've got the capacity to deal with the challenges that are yet to come. And that's what people will get from me. That's what responsibility looks like. Not saying yes to everybody and telling them everything they want to hear, saying one thing to them in weone part of the country and another thing to them in another part of the country. You don't get that from me. I've got it from both of my previous opponents politically, and I think Australians make a judgment about that, about whether they actually have the responsibility and the discipline to carry what is a very weighty office.
Journalist: And I just remind my colleagues that we are asking one question each, thank you Andrew Clennell. And Andrew Probyn.
Journalist: Andrew Probyn from the ABC. As you've indicated in your speech, you recognise that people are very disappointed, angry over summer. Your colleagues say the anger with you is very high on the ground, too, and that your disapproval rating recognised in the Newspoll was on 58 disapproval, to remind you, net negative 19 percent approval rating and that you are a drag on the Coalition vote. Why are you the best person to lead the Coalition to the next election?
Journalist: I have a great trust in the Australian people. I think they're very wise, and I think they're very discerning. I think they take elections very, very seriously because they know the consequences. And there's a difference between answering a phone and walking into a ballot box and making a decision that has consequences. And I know from my own experience that they will weigh these things up in the months ahead, and I will make careful judgements about what's important. And they know that the times we face are very challenging. They know that the security situation we face in the world today is very challenging, and they'll be saying "who has the economic plan and economic management experience to ensure that I can stay in my job and my business can succeed, that can get electricity prices under control and bring them down, that will best support me in saving for my retirement, that will ensure that my kids are getting those skills training like those record apprentices in trade training that we've been able to put in place, and who has that experience and who has that understanding of the complexity of these challenges to make all that work and the way that unfolds”. And they’ll weight that up. And they’ll wonder with what we're seeing in our region and the threats to our security, well, who's shown that they're able to stand up for Australia's interests, whether it's standing up to other countries in our region, standing up to the big tech companies, standing up to the banks and the energy companies? That's my form ...
Journalist: And thinking here of your colleagues or voters?
Prime Minister: I understood the question. And so I'm talking about Australians because they're the ones who will be voting and as they assess all of these things they will make this choice, Andrew, at that time, and between now and then, they'll have the opportunity, not to vote in a referendum this year, it's not a referendum on the government. This is a choice about who's going to lead the government after the election, and there are two choices and they'll be able to see the differences between those two choices and I think, weigh up the consequences of those two choices and they'll carefully consider it. Australians, you know, in between elections, they tend not to focus that much on politics because they are focused on what matters most to them, not the political goings on of this place. They're focusing on getting their kids through school. They're focused on running their businesses and staying in their job and paying the bills and looking after and caring for family members. And that's what they're focused on. But the time for the election will come, and when it does, they'll weigh these things up and they'll quietly go about their business.
Journalist: Peter van Onselen.
Journalist: Peter van Onselen, Network 10. Prime Minister, at the start of your speech, you mentioned your close friendship with Marise Payne. I wanted to ask you about another close friend, Gladys Berejiklian, and that’s somebody that you wanted to run actually at the next election. I've been provided with a text message exchange between the former New South Wales Premier and a current Liberal Cabinet Minister. I've got them right here. In one, she described you as, quote, ‘a horrible, horrible person,’ going on to say she did not trust you and you're more concerned with politics than people. The Minister is even more scathing, describing you as a fraud and, quote, ‘a complete psycho’. Does this exchange surprise you and what do you think it tells us?
Prime Minister: Well, I don't know who you're referring to or the basis of what you’ve put to me, but I obviously don't agree with it, and I don't think that's my record.
Journalist: Katharine Murphy.
Journalist: Apologies, that changeover was less than, less than elegant. Prime Minister, I want to take you back to aged care, which you referenced a moment ago. Now, more than 400 aged care residents have died of COVID since the beginning of January. There are active outbreaks in about half of residential aged care facilities as we sit down to lunch today, and the booster program for aged care is running behind where it needs to be. Now, a second ago you acknowledged the problems in aged care in the first wave. Obviously there were hundreds of deaths then, and you presented aged care as a, as a lesson learned.
Prime Minister: Yeah.
Journalist: Doesn't this suggest that the lessons haven't been learned? And in terms of taking responsibility, that was an important theme in your speech. You've got to know what you’re responsible for and what you're not. Aged care is absolutely the responsibility of the Commonwealth. You fund it and you regulate it. So why do these errors keep being repeated for a cohort of Australians who are frail, vulnerable and at risk during the pandemic?
Prime Minister: Well, thanks Katharine. As of now, 90, let me say this first, every single death, some 3,750 of Australians that we have lost, is a terrible loss. Every life saved is a great blessing, as I said, also. In the course of this pandemic, many lives have been lost. In the course of this pandemic, many, many lives have been saved. That is the reality of a global pandemic. And I think Australians understand that. You made some points regarding the booster shots. Ninety nine per cent of aged care facilities, I'm advised, have been and will be around today, will have been visited to offer those booster shots. We have not mandated the taking of boosters by aged care residents. We have for aged care workers, but not for aged care residents. Some 61 per cent, as you, as you know, and every death is tragic in aged care, have been with those residents who are in end of life care, and the balance also have other serious underlying health conditions. And so that creates a further challenge. We've had it from memory around 566 deaths in aged care since our first Omicron case. In the first terrible wave we had back in 2020, there were, there were more, but I suspect there’ll be more now, and that is terrible. And so the booster shot, we encourage people to take. But where families have decided and where individuals have decided not to take it, then it's not for me or the government to tell them about the decisions they're making in that very sensitive time of their life. I've been in that situation, you may have too. They’re they’re sensitive situations where families make decisions, so I'm going to honour and respect their decisions. With aged care, with the boosters, as I said, 99 per cent out there and visiting, and they'll be going back again and encouraging them to get those booster shots. And in the outbreaks themselves, the provision of the testing kits that have been an important part, the acquiring of the additional PPE to support the aged care facilities, I think has been incredibly important in what we've been able to do. Some 12.8 million masks, five million gowns, 14.7 million gloves, 3.6 million goggles and face shields and 7.7 million rapid antigen tests have been sent out there over the course of 2021 to aged care facilities. So that's they're the tools you have to try and ensure that these outcomes don't occur. And that's what we're doing each and every day. People going into these facilities - whether it's the aged care workers, those running the centres or others, making sure we get the workforce. But it's very difficult and it's very challenging. And so we're going to keep fighting away on this and trying to save every life that we can.
Journalist: Phil Coorey.
Journalist: Thanks, Laura. Prime Minister, just a quick question. You've talked today about lessons learnt, things you may have done better, and you you had your time again, and so forth. Would you be open to the prospect, should you prevail at the federal election, to some sort of national assessment of how, of the way the nation has handled COVID, like a royal commission or some other enquiry, as Anthony Albanese flagged in this venue a week ago.
Prime Minister: Well, right now we're fighting the pandemic, and that's where I'm very focused. And there'll be a time for that. One of the first things we did in the start of the pandemic, and I offered it to the Leader of the Opposition, is we set up the Senate Enquiry. So we've actually had a Senate Enquiry effectively following and enquiring into our handling of the pandemic right from the start, concurrently. So not something after, we actually set up a parliamentary enquiry. We have, you know, those who are not our, are on our political opponents, who’ve had the opportunity. There have been some 56 hearings of that Committee, some 211 hours of cross-examination of health officials and others who've been involved in our response. So I would say that has set up, I think, a very transparent process. Everything from vaccinations to aged care to the important challenges of addressing the needs in our Indigenous communities. So we have shown right from the outset a preparedness for that to be available. So we're already doing that and have been. What will be required into the future, well, I think we can deal with that at a later time because, right now, I think those two things in place are doing that job - accountability through the Parliament, through the Senate Committee, and us getting on with the job each and every day of fighting this pandemic.
Journalist: Sam Maiden.
Prime Minister: But, you know, what, we haven't ruled that out Phil, as, to the point. It's just not a decision for now.
Journalist: Samantha Maiden from News.com.au. You made the point that it's pretty tough purchasing property in Australia right now, but it's a lot easier if taxpayers are paying you $291 a night to sleep in your own home, which is how the current system works for MPs. So most of the MPs and Ministers in this room, if they stay tonight, they'll be paid $291 a night to stay, not necessarily in a hotel, but in their own home. Now, if you work for the Defence Force, you're not allowed to do that. It's described as suitable accommodation. You can't claim that money. So how is it fair that you're prepared to pay up to $800 bonus in two tranches to aged care workers who have been literally working among the dying and the dead during the pandemic, but you're going to pay all of these politicians $873 to sleep in their own beds for three nights when they come to Canberra.
Prime Minister: Well, for the record, I only own one home, the one that Jenny and I own back in the Shire. I don't own three homes, I don’t own five. I don't have a problem with owning homes, people investing, trying to do things for their future. That hasn’t been my experience. We've rented all the time I've been here in the Parliament, so this is not something that I've had any direct involvement with. Others may have, and I make no judgment about that.
Journalist: Why not?
Prime Minister: Well, because what I would expect to happen is that the independent process that is set up to look at Members’ entitlements - and that's the wrong way to talk about them - that the support that is given to Members and Senators to come and do their job and be here in Canberra and so on, that is done independently of government, and it should be done independently of government. It shouldn't be a matter of of of of of political football. It should be one where those who can look at the circumstances fairly and make judgments about it. And then this is not something that just I have done as a Prime Minister. I think every Prime Minister has done that and certainly has moved towards that to make these decisions, you know, one step removed from politicians …
Journalist: So you won’t ask your MPs not to claim the money if they own their own home?
Prime Minister: I expect all of my Members and Senators to comply with all the rules that are in place. I do, I expect them to do that.
Journalist: Thank you.
Journalist: David Crowe.
Prime Minister: If those rules need to change, then I'm sure those who are responsible for ensuring those rules are fair and reasonable would bring forward recommendations to that end. That's what I would expect them to do, as that's their job.
Journalist: David Crowe.
Journalist: Thanks, Laura. Thanks, Prime Minister for your speech. David Crowe from The Age in Melbourne and The Sydney Morning Herald. One of the symbolic issues around the summer outbreak for many Australians, a practical and symbolic issue around preparation, was a shortage of rapid antigen tests. What went wrong at the federal level last year? Because you've always said that future waves would arrive, future variants would arrive, there would be new challenges with this pandemic. And yet, there were not enough rapid antigen tests in stock in Australia when that, when that threat arrived over summer. And related to that, do you have any intention, willingness, plan to invest in local manufacturing of rapid antigen tests? And if so, would that actually be able to help ease the shortage before the federal election?
Prime Minister: Let me start with the last one. Already happening. It's already happening. I mentioned one of them in my speech today where that's already occurring. There are a couple of companies up in Queensland that as yet haven't received TGA approval for that, and they were the subject of of some issues over in the United States, but the TGA have been working through that, so people can't manufacture something that isn't approved by our regulators. In fact, as I said before, the TGA only first approved first home self-testing of rapid antigen tests on the first of November last year. So prior to that, and in many states, they were actually outlawed. They were outlawed.
Journalist: Were the TGA too slow?
Prime Minister: The TGA have been doing their job, and they've approved more rapid antigen tests for home testing than they have in the United States. I think some 47 or so tests off the top of my head, and that is a large amount to get through. They've also been approving vaccines, they've been approving oral treatments, they've had a work load like none other. And they're still doing all the other things that aren't related to the pandemic. So no, I wouldn't I wouldn't make that criticism. I think Professor Skerritt and his team have been working under enormous pressure, but having they're not, rapid antigen tests, the medical advice going back to October of 2020, both the CDNA and AHPPC, the medical expert panel, recommended against the use of rapid antigen tests. That happened again in February of 2021. The medical advice to the government was not to use rapid antigen tests, and then we in August commenced a trial and purchased rapid antigen tests for aged care. So we began that in August of last year. As the cases, and then in November, as I said the approval came through on the 5th of November. National Cabinet met soon after that, a few days after that to consider what should then happen. Now, remember, at that time there was Omicron. The medical advice was that the right testing process was PCR tests, not rapid antigen tests. No medical body, no state government, no one anywhere came forward and said these tests should now be used for this purpose, who were responsible, providing that advice to government, okay. And the reason for that was we were in Delta and we were focused on getting the vaccinations in place because that what was that is what would prevent the transmission because it was effective against transmission. What happened with Omicron is that flipped it completely and it did it within a matter of weeks. And so there had been no suggestion that rapid antigen tests from any official health advisers to the government was was something as a priority over children's vaccinations, over the booster shots, which was our primary tool to stop the spread and enables to go into that summer. Now Omicron changed all that and it changed in almost in an instant. And there were many other complications, particularly for workforce. And those early weeks in December were very difficult because we were trying to get from the medical advice, and there wasn't a lot of data around at that point was is this virus actually less virulent? Is it is it less impacting, severe than the Delta strain? And until we could know that we kept the rules in place around its seven day close contact and all of these things? And that then impacted the workforce. But we hadn't yet got the health advice definitively, and we were asking every meeting because we were meeting weekly and we were saying, is it less severe, is it less severe, and when we learnt that it was, then we could start to address those changes in its seven day arrangements close contacts, essential workforces. Had they not done that then and it had proved to be more severe or as severe, you'd be asking me different questions today. So the rapid antigen test challenge was one that was brought on by the Omicron variant because the PCR tests couldn't keep up with the rapidly increasing cases. There had not been leading up to that time at the end of November an expectation that cases would soar to those levels, under the Delta strain, and under the Delta strain that wouldn't have occurred.
Journalist: But anybody would have seen that, that coming wasn't, isn't that the point of government at a state level, at a federal level to plan for that, to plan for another outbreak?
Prime Minister: Well, no country did pick that. Which country did?
Journalist: The UK had plenty of rapid antigen tests.
Prime Minister: This is the difference. The UK had already been dealing with very high case numbers, very, very high case numbers through the Delta strain and the earlier strains. And in the UK, the volume of that challenge had already moved into rapid antigen tests. PCR tests were still the right standard they had to, during the early phases, which Australia did not have to do because we didn't experience the waves that the previous countries had done previously. That was a a step they took in the early strains because the virus had spread far more widely. That didn't happen in Australia, so we could keep using the right tests, the PCR tests. The reliability of rapid antigen tests is not the same as PCR. The South Australian Government has been able to keep their focus on PCR tests, and I commend Steven Marshall for that. They've been able to keep that gold standard. Rapid antigen tests are things that you only go to when you have a volume challenge that we had not had and we would not have had under Delta because of our high rates of vaccination. That's why that wasn't anticipated, but became the issue when Omicron struck. As I said, Omicron was like dealing with a completely different virus. It changed so many of the rules and it had its impact. And that's what we experienced over summer and over the summer, we'd been all working to turn that around. There are more rapid antigen tests available now. There are more treatments available, and the case numbers have been peaking in many of our states and territories, and our supply chains are being restored.
Journalist: Final question is from Greg Brown.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Greg Brown from the Australian. Ahead of the 2019 election, the Coalition like now was in real political trouble and you successfully exploited two advantages. You were a more popular leader than Bill Shorten, and Labor had a lot of big, scary policies for that you tore apart. Three years later, you're an unpopular leader, and Labor has got a small target strategy. So where does the political winner come from? Can we expect, can voters expect tax cuts over and above what's already been announced, or will there be a big spending commitment?
Prime Minister: Well, it's a similar answer, Greg, to what I gave before. As to our policies and commitments going forward, people know we're a low taxing government, people know we want people to keep more of what they earn. They know that because they're experiencing it. We said we'd do that and we're doing it and they are receiving that now and they're keeping more of what they earn. And so if you want taxes to remain low, then vote Liberal and National, don't vote Labor, because they're form on taxes is the opposite. They've already opened the batting on their higher taxes, and they've already started that. And once they get started, you know, they can't stop when it comes to taxing you. But this election again is a choice, and every election is and this choice isn't about a referendum style choice. A yes and no on the government. It's about do you want the Liberals and Nationals, myself as Prime Minister with our record on economic management and national security, it keeps Australians safe, keeps our economy strong, that pays for the NDIS that pays for aged care that enables us to battle this pandemic. That shows responsibility even when responding to those challenges with the nation's finances, which means your job, your business and all of these things are more secure. Or do you want, Anthony Albanese as Prime Minister and the Labor Party and their policies and their record on having an each way bet on the budget, and each way bet on national security. That is the choice of an election, and Australians will have the time to weigh these things up, and they'll make that decision very carefully. They'll be very aware, I think by the time we get to the election about the world we will face and the country circumstances that we will face in the years ahead. They've been quietly getting about their their lives these last three years. The things that we said we do, we've done, we have. But we will get on with that job and they'll make their judgements about who they think is best able to deliver them a strong economy and a stronger future. And our government's record and my record as Prime Minister and as Treasurer, I think speaks to both of those things. When you talk about experience, well, I've delivered three budgets as Treasurer. I've delivered three budgets as a Prime Minister, with the Treasurer. I've sat around the national security table dealing with some of the biggest challenges this country has faced over the last eight years. I've sat around the Expenditure Review Committee of Budgets for the last seven budgets. That experience counts when it comes to dealing with the challenges that Australia is going to face. And it's not just me. I look around this room at Marise, Peter, Karen, Angus, Barnaby. I look around the room of people who've been in the trenches battling this pandemic in the hard circumstances we're facing regionally over these last, particularly three years. Standing up for Australia, standing up to those who would seek to injure our interests. It requires strength, it requires a calm experience, and Australians will make that choice. And I'm looking forward to it.
Journalist: Prime Minister, thanks for your time today. As is often the case, we will be giving you this very nice card as a guest speaker to be a member of the club.
Prime Minister: Thank you.
Journalist: And we're just wondering whether you will take up the opportunity of debating Anthony Albanese here or in any other place during the campaign?
Prime Minister: Well, it's interesting you ask, because I remember standing right here with Bill Shorten and Sabra was, it was over here, was it? And and Sabra asked me, would you agree to have a debates commission? And I said yes. And Bill said yes. Now, Special Minister of State is sitting at the back there, Ben Morton, and he has developed such a proposal and has been working as I'm sure you probably know with the media and and with others, the political parties to seek to establish such a commission. I support it. Anthony Albanese doesn't. So I'm sure there will be debates and we will have to go through the usual process that happens. I think it's better to have an independent process like the one that we were recommending to avoid all those shenanigans and games that opposition leaders like. I don't know why he doesn't support an independent debate commission. I think it's a good idea. I said I'd do it. Bill said he'd do it. Anthony says he won't.
Journalist: Will you do a debate though?
Prime Minister: Of course I will. Of course I will. We'll be debating lots.
Journalist: Please thank the Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you.
Australia's Economic Accelerator To Propel Economy
1 February 2022
Prime Minister, Acting Minister for Education and Youth, Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business, Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction, Minister for Science and Technology, Minister for Defence Industry
A new $1.6 billion economic accelerator will turn Australia’s leading research into world-beating businesses as part of the Morrison Government’s focus on building the country’s resilience.
Australia’s Economic Accelerator (AEA) features as part of a $2.2 billion package to focus the commercialisation of the six national manufacturing priority areas – resources and critical minerals, food and beverage, medical products, recycling and clean energy, defence and space – bringing the country’s brightest business and academic minds together.
Together with a new $150 million expansion of CSIRO’s Main Sequence Ventures, the AEA will reshape research funding to emphasise projects with high potential for commercialisation that are directed at National Manufacturing Priorities and industry engagement.
The Prime Minister said the AEA would invest in projects as they progressed through the stages of their development.
“Stronger commercialisation of research and ideas will mean a stronger economy and a stronger future for Australia,” the Prime Minister said.
“This is about funding projects to bridge the ‘valley of death’ where early-stage research is often not progressed due to higher levels of risk and uncertainty.
“The AEA will drive our universities and businesses to work hand-in-glove through the stages to prove projects’ viability and potential.
“Expanding the CSIRO’s Main Sequence Ventures program then takes this further, incentivising the additional venture capital investment support needed to progress innovative new products and technologies through to market to become the new businesses and employers of the future.”
Acting Minister for Education and Youth Stuart Robert said the AEA would boost investment in two critical stages of experimental development: proof of concept and proof of scale.
“The AEA will become a critical source of competitive funding support for innovating new projects with high commercial potential, and will take a lot of the risk and uncertainty for universities out of the equation,” Minister Robert said.
“We will start with a big range of contenders – a contest of ideas.
“But as we progress to stage two, the number of applicants will diminish and the value of the funding to each will increase.
“For example, stage one will involve nearly 100 grants a year of up to $500,000. Recipients will be required to engage industry through in-kind support or even co-location.
“In order to be one of the 36 recipients attracting up to $5 million in funding as part of ‘stage two’ projects, industry will need to put more skin in the game with a 50 per cent co-investment.
“At stage three, up to 50 companies will be supported through the Main Sequence Venture, where we are providing $150 million in two successive co-investment funds.
“This investment is about new jobs, increased wages, and creating products that make life easier, more efficient or even more interesting,” Minister Robert said.
Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said the grants were an investment in Australia’s future industries and smart manufacturing within the Morrison Government’s National Manufacturing Priorities.
“By working with industry and researchers, the government is helping to ensure our economy benefits from our world-class research, both now and well into the future,” Minister Taylor said.
Minister for Science and Technology Melissa Price said the $150 million expansion of the CSIRO Main Sequence Ventures program would back start-up companies and help create commercial opportunities from Australian research.
“The Morrison Government is prioritising investment in research and action to turn Australia’s best ideas into new industries and strengthen our future prosperity,” Minister Price said.
“The expansion of the Main Sequence Ventures will further support the development of spin-off and start-up companies with high commercial potential arising from local research.
“Over the past four years, Main Sequence Ventures has invested in 39 companies that are commercialising deep tech opportunities that have created more than 1,200 technology-related jobs.
“Our new investment in this program will ensure it can play a bigger role in our economy and help develop the next generation of great Aussie companies and products.”
Minister Robert said the Morrison Government would also invest $296 million in industry focused PhDs and fellowships to support its research commercialisation goals and drive greater university-industry collaboration.
“This new scheme will generate 1,800 industry PhDs and over 800 industry fellows over 10 years to fundamentally reshape the workforce of Australia’s universities,” Minister Robert said.
“PhD students will benefit from the experience of undertaking research within industry settings, creating employment pathways beyond academic roles.
“Industry will benefit from the opportunities to host PhD students, bolstering their ability to harness ideas and concepts for innovation, as well as to open the pathway to the recruitment of high-calibre graduates. This will be further enhanced by a new suite of ARC Fellowships that will recognise and reward our academics who collaborate with industry, helping to drive the translation of their research, creating new pathways for their work.
“These initiatives will change the culture and the focus of research across Australia’s universities – building greater engagement with industry and ensuring that innovation is at the core of our economic future as a nation.”
https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43766
Record $50 million for koalas
29 January 2022
Prime Minister, Minister for the Environment, Federal Member for Fisher
The Morrison Government will invest a record $50 million to boost the long-term protection and recovery efforts for Australia’s koalas.
The Prime Minister said the funding would bring together the best of the best researchers, land managers, veterinarians and citizen scientists to protect one of the most special species in the world.
“Our $50 million investment will enhance the protection of koalas by restoring koala habitat, improving our understanding of koala populations, supporting training in koala treatment and care, and strengthening research into koala health outcomes,” the Prime Minister said.
“Koalas are one of Australia’s most loved and best recognised icons, both here at home and across the world, and we are committed to protecting them for generations to come.”
The additional $50 million investment over the next four years includes:
$20 million for habitat and health protection projects – grants for large-scale activities run by Natural Resource Management and non-government organisations, industry, and Indigenous groups, as well as state and territory governments.
$10 million for community-led initiatives – grants for local habitat protection and restoration activities, health and care facilities, and citizen science projects.
$10 million to extend the National Koala Monitoring Program – to identify trends over time, increase the number of sites sampled, and support the participation of citizen scientists.
$2 million to improve Koala health outcomes – grants for applied research activities and practical application to address health challenges such as retrovirus, herpesviruses, and chlamydia.
$1 million for Koala care, treatment and triage – expanding and continuing national training for veterinarians and nurses to care for and treat koalas.
This new package will take the Morrison Government’s koala investment to more than $74 million since 2019.
Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley said the $50 million package would also provide significant flow on benefits for other native species.
“Importantly, the extra funding will build on work already happening across the koala range to restore and connect important habitat patches, control feral animal and plant species, and improve existing habitat,” Minister Ley said.
“Current funding is already supporting eight strategic habitat restoration projects that target thousands of hectares in significant koala areas in Eastern Australia.
“Dedicated teams are working side-by-side with landholders and using drone and Artificial Intelligence technology to seed habitat, with another two projects to begin soon.
“Research is underway to reduce the disease threat facing many animals including a world first genome sequencing program to determine the genetic strength of populations and how unique DNA variants can provide resistance to diseases such as chlamydia.
“More than 3,200 vets and veterinary nurses have received specialist bushfire trauma training, with new programs to be funded as we continue to work with major zoos to support research and treatment.
“Our $200 million bushfire response has provided a catalyst for science based, long term initiatives to help native species and highlights the particular importance of protecting our most iconic animals, and the Koala is clearly one of those.”
The Federal Member for Fisher Andrew Wallace welcomed the announcement.
“Whenever Australians think about the Sunshine Coast, they think about our beaches, our lush hinterland, and the native plants and animals that live here,” Mr Wallace said.
“Like me, I know that the Morrison Government is determined to see that unique environment protected.
“With the Federal Government’s support, Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital is one of the busiest facilities of its kind in the world and is renowned for its treatment and rehabilitation of injured koalas. I am sure that with this important announcement dedicated Australians like the Irwins all over the country, will be able to do even more to preserve our native wildlife.”
Interview with John Mackenzie, 4CA
28 January 2022
John Mackenzie: Now we're very fortunate because on the line, actually he is in Cairns here today, is our Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Good morning.
Prime Minister: G'day, John. It's great to be back up here in far north Queensland.
Mackenzie: Well, it's a pity about the weather you brought with you, but you know, it's interesting news. I've got to say it once again, jobs up here. You would be fully aware of the crisis we've got in accommodation, the tour boats going out. In fact, I've just had a call when I said you were coming on from one of the operators who said, please tell the prime minister, go down to the Reef fleet terminal and just see all the boats tied up. Nobody's out on the reef because there's fundamentally nobody to take up there. So we've got those crises. Look, can I just ask you firstly, what was the motivation for this commitment over nine years of 1000 million dollars to the Reef?
Prime Minister: To protect the Reef so we can protect the jobs and we can protect what is a national treasure. And that's always been our motivation. This billion dollars comes on top of the $2 billion we've already invested in all the programmes you were talking about in your introduction. Water quality is a huge part of this and you've run through those issues, as well as reef management and conservation funding to research reef sites, which demonstrates that our Reef is well cared for. It's well looked after, it's well looked after by those who work on it, who visit it, whose livelihoods depend on it, and it is one of the world's leading environmental attractions. And so important for this part of Queensland. But also, John, there's important funding there for partnerships with traditional owners and community led projects, for species protection, habitat restoration, citizen science programmes, all of this. So it's really about enlisting the whole Far North Queensland community, the science community, the tourism community, the agricultural community, working with the cane farmers who do a fantastic job providing jobs and exports and everything we need in this country. So it's about maintaining and supporting the way of life in Far North Queensland. At the end of the day, that's what it is.
Mackenzie: Now here's a big whack of this, $580 million for water quality. I've got to say we've been focusing on this for years now, and the cane farmers were certainly under the pump here. They seem to, seemingly have done very well in adapting. Now it does say here, yes, it's going to be reducing nutrient. Yes, it's going to be reducing pesticide runoff. There's been a lot of work done there already and more to come, but this is interesting too, remediating erosion. Every time we get these huge floods out here, people are horrified, they look at them filthy water, look at all the mud running down the rivers and out onto the Barrier Reef. There is going to be a focus, though, on remediating erosion in this money.
Prime Minister: Yeah, that's right. And that's incredibly important. And you do that by working with those who are working the land. That's how you do it and you do it in partnership and you achieve both objectives. For those who are farming on that land and caring for it and ensuring that, you know, we've got the right sort of programmes in place to put in place their strategies, which means that the soil erosion, that doesn't help farmers either. And so we have a shared objective in keeping that good soil on the land and not running out into the Reef. So I mean, that's a shared project.
Mackenzie: There was, of course, this business, it's come around again. We've got to get our all, our information and everything in line for UNESCO because they're going to be requiring another progress report. Apparently, that's got to go in next month ahead of the next review. When this was happening, not that long ago, people in North Queensland were holding their breath. Why? Because as soon as UNESCO says, oh well, there's real doubts about the health of the Great Barrier Reef, their jobs are very much under question, under a cloud. So how are you feeling about this report that's about to be submitted? That's a preliminary report. Are we looking good enough to hang on to our status? Because I've got to tell you, there's a lot of people up here desperate to get their jobs back.
Prime Minister: Well, we believe so, and we've had a lot of success on that, as you know, to date, John. Not just on this most recent occasion that you referred to, but previously as well, Sussan Ley has done a great job, she's up here with me today making these announcements, when Greg Hunt was the Environment Minister he achieved the same outcome. So it's a, you know, it's a constant battle. But what we keep demonstrating, you know, when we get to the science, when we get to the facts, when we get people seeing what we're actually doing, then they can see the great job that our reef managers are doing. They're the best in the world and we are leading the world in reef management around the world. And you know, we're showing the world how it's done. And so the Great Barrier Reef is a great story about how you deal with the challenges of what's happening in climate and how you adapt to that and you protect this incredible natural asset.
Mackenzie: I've got to say, I saw your Minister, Environment Minister Sussan Ley on, I think it was ABC television just after five o'clock this morning. My God, is she a quality communicator or what?
Prime Minister: She's great. She passionate too, and she's been up here many times. And the great thing about Sussan is, like Warren, you know, everyone loves up in Far North Queensland is they listen, they understand and then they act. And that's what today is. I mean, Sussan has pulled this package together with great input from Warren in particular, who knows this place backwards. And that has led to this. I mean, I mean, last, time before last I was here, I think, when I was up here, you know, we announced the big reinsurance pool for insurance and reinsurance up here in Far North Queensland, I mean, that was, you know, that was Warren working away knowing what people need in this part of the world and us listening to him and getting these very big changes in place. So well done Warren and well done Sussan.
Mackenzie: I'm glad you touched on this because Warren Entsch not that long ago invited out to Australia these officials that were prepared to make decisions without having seen the Reef. He took them out to the Reef off Port Douglas. They went into the water, they snorkelled around or even dived on the Barrier Reef, came to the surface and said, Warren, we had no idea how beautiful it is, and the condition it’s in. Let me finish this point too, because we've got the legendary Ben Cropp. I think he's 88, if I remember rightly, maybe 86. He's still active. He's still out there diving on the Reef. He was on the programme this week and he said, John, it's never looked better. At the moment, the Great Barrier Reef is in beautiful, pristine, recovered condition. So if we can get that word out to UNESCO etc, hopefully we're going to be safe for another year or two of our job security up here, attracting international visitors to North Queensland in big numbers again.
Prime Minister: Well, I believe that's right. And that's why getting the positive science I think out there, John, is very important. I mean, that is the truth of the matter. I mean, we found that, you know, when it comes to emissions reduction, we've reduced emissions in Australia by over 20 per cent on 2005 levels, and that's five times what they've done in Canada. It's more than 10 times what they've done in New Zealand. And when you actually get this information to people around the world, particularly in Europe, they're surprised to hear it. And many Australians might be surprised to hear it. Emissions aren't increasing. They're falling under the policies we've put in place to reduce emissions, which is good for the Reef as well. I mean, we're achieving those outcomes, and we're going to keep doing it because we're passionate about it.
Mackenzie: Now this is, this is the only one that really took me by surprise until I talked to Warren Entsch and he went to a lot of detail about water quality involving a much better sewerage, sewerage system, whereby at the moment we're putting in too much phosphorus out onto the Barrier Reef and nitrogen. So that's going to have to be eliminated. But that was fairly complex. But illegal fishing, why is that such a prominent part of this programme?
Prime Minister: Well, that's all about maintaining species diversity within the Reef. But that said, we've always had a keen ear to the practical suggestions from, you know, the commercial fishing industry in Far North Queensland and to understand that getting the balance right between supporting livelihoods and supporting the health of the Reef. Because the two go together and smart commercial operators have always understood that, you know, my connection with the tourism industry up here going back 20 years, they've always understood that too. They understand you look after the Reef, it looks after you. And that's our approach to this challenge. But you've got to do it together. The Government doesn't do it all. You know, we've had partnerships with the Reef Trust. I mean, they've pulled in. I mean, you remember we were getting bagged for giving money to the Reef Trust, the Reef Foundation. We gave them $443 million. They've leveraged another $217 million from outside of government into that investment. And they've got 425 partners with over 200 projects. The Labor Party wants to get rid of that. Well, they just want to throw that extra $200 million away, which goes into the reef help just because they've got a problem with working with people who aren't in government.
Mackenzie: Now, I'm glad you just brought up your background in tourism many years ago. I just had Perry Jones on the line. Perry runs Ocean Free and Ocean Freedom out to the Barrier Reef normally every day. At the moment, he said, if you're talking to Scott Morrison, ask him to drop by the reef fleet terminal because he'll see all the boats are in port. Why? Because there's nobody here at the moment. They've got to survive through till Easter these operators, not just the operators, to the reef people taking tours up to the Daintree, etc. all the accommodation. It's slim pickings. There's no doubt about it. He even said to me a few minutes ago, he said, "you know, I just borrowed $800,000 over the last two years and it is the last I'm allowed to to borrow and I've got to hang in there and I can't keep my staff, or I'm struggling to keep my staff because there's no money coming in, we've got to get through to Easter, then we've got to get through to the end of the second week in June, can you pass this on to the prime minister, please, we're struggling."
Prime Minister: Yeah, no, we're very conscious of that. I mean, the visitation to the entire Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is down 52 per cent and for many operators far worse than that. And we have put some programmes in which you'd be familiar with. As part of this package, we had that $3.2 million in the tourism industry activation reef protection initiative that's been now extended by $15 million. But the other thing we've done recently, John, is we've lifted and opened the borders to students. We've opened the borders to backpackers. And we've also now providing a rebate, if they come in the next three months, that is the backpackers, then they will get their visa application fee refunded when they get here. So we're encouraging them back. I mean, it's difficult getting people travelling at the moment. The operators up here would also know that even some of the domestic business has been hard to get because of the borders and all of the other COVID issues and people being cautious about moving around so they'd be aware of that. But we're, you know, we're opening those borders up now and particularly those backpackers, which is great as they travel up here and. they work up here too, which is very important for that. I mean, we will see it turn around and you know, we're looking forward to a stronger year this year. We've got challenges with with Omicron right now. But you know, that will peak. It's peaking further down south now. I was talking to Premier Palaszczuk yesterday and you know, Gold Coast has sort of come through their peak, Brisbane's probably going through it about now and in the north, they'll see it a little later. But, you know, we'll push through that. But getting those backpackers back and I look forward to international visitors more broadly, tourists coming back. And that's our next, that's our next hurdle. And we're working away to just get the timing of that right, and I don't think it's too far away.
Mackenzie: Just expand a little bit more, please, because I was told, you would have dealt with Mark Olsen and he's been wonderful at leading the tourism industry up here. But we were talking yesterday I think it was about the international borders, when the international borders will open up entirely, for example, the tourism visa holders, etcetera. He said well, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, we're already there. How much longer do you think Scott Morrison will be before we can get those international borders completely open for tourism visa holders?
Prime Minister: Well, I can't give you a specific date yet John, and that's because we're just watching how Omicron is is sort of washing over the eastern states at the moment, but with Omicron peaking, that then starts opening up opportunities, we've got kids going back to school now, now in New South Wales and in Queensland very soon and we want to make sure that goes off successfully. As I said, we've already got those backpackers and students coming back and we're seeing arrivals now back into the country, you know, going back up very, very quickly. And we're seeing it more in the southern ports. And the relaxation of the quarantine arrangements in Queensland will mean more people coming into Queensland directly. At the moment, they're all going into Sydney and Melbourne. And so as those arrangements relax for fully vaccinated arrivals, then you're going to see people coming back. And with that in place, then, you know, international visitors being able to return becomes very possible. So I don't think it's too far away, to be honest, John. But we've just got to get some medical advice further on that, bit more work to do with the states to make sure we're comfortable about it. And then I'd like to see us get there soon, certainly before Easter, well before Easter.
Mackenzie: Music to the ears, Prime Minister. Thank you, it has been a very worthwhile update.
Prime Minister: Well, it's been great. It's great to be back up here, John. I love being up here. Jenny's with me today too, so it's great to be here together and we've got some very exciting announcements and I'll be checking things out down at the Marina, mate.
Mackenzie: Excellent work. Prime Minister Scott Morrison, thank you for your time, in the studio, on the line today, not in studio, because we can't have people in studio at the moment, but hopefully in a few weeks time that'll be reversed as well.
Billion Dollar Reef investment backs Queensland communities
28 January 2022
Prime Minister, Minister for the Environment, Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef
The Morrison Government will invest an additional $1 billion in protecting the Great Barrier Reef, while supporting 64,000 Queenslanders and their jobs which drive the Reef economy.
New funding will back world leading marine science, the deployment of new climate adaptation technology, major investments in water quality programs, and state of the art on-water management practices to reduce threats from Crown of Thorns Starfish, protect key species and prevent illegal fishing.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the new investment would extend the Federal Government’s investment under the Reef 2050 Plan to more than $3 billion.
“We are backing the health of the reef and the economic future of tourism operators, hospitality providers and Queensland communities that are at the heart of the reef economy,” Prime Minister Morrison said.
“This is already the best managed reef in the world and today we take our commitment to a new level.
“Funding will support scientists, farmers and Traditional Owners, backing in the very latest marine science while building resilience and reducing threats from pollution in our oceans and predators such as the Crown of Thorns starfish.”
The additional $1 billion package over the next nine years includes:
$579.9 million for water quality – working constructively with land managers to remediate erosion, improve land condition and reduce nutrient and pesticide runoff.
$252.9 million for reef management and conservation – additional support for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to reduce threats from Crown of Thorns Starfish (COTS), implement advanced health monitoring systems and the prevent illegal fishing.
$92.7 million to research and deploy world leading reef resilience science and adaptation strategies.
$74.4 million for Traditional Owner and community-led projects including species protection, habitat restoration, citizen science programs and marine debris.
Environment Minister Sussan Ley said the record level of investment in the Reef was being driven by the best science and engagement with local communities and industries, and through working with Traditional Owners.
“From breakthrough science in coral seeding and restoration, to improved water quality, the latest on water management and compliance systems, as well as the protection of native species, we are working across every aspect of the reef,” Minister Ley said.
“Our farmers, tourism operators, and fishers are our reef champions and we are supporting them through practical water and land based strategies that will contribute significantly to the health of the reef.”
Federal Member for Leichhardt and Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef Warren Entsch said the Morrison Government was working hand in hand with Reef communities.
“The people in Cairns and Far North Queensland care about the Reef more than anyone,” Mr Entsch said.
“Our tourism operators, local communities and Traditional Owners are invested in the health of the Reef and this funding supports their commitment and the future of the world’s greatest natural wonder.
“The Reef is an amazing place for people to visit and, particularly as local businesses start to recover, I encourage people to come up and see that for themselves.
“This funding will help us keep it that way and ensure that we remain the best Reef Managers in the world.”
Reef vision available on this link: http://downloads.gbrmpa.gov.au/files/fwd6pdjhn