Press Conference - Richmond, NSW
2 February 2022
Ms Sarah Richards, Liberal Candidate for Macquarie: Good morning. I am Sarah Richards, part of the PM's team here in Macquarie, here at the Airbus facility on RAAF Base Richmond. RAAF Base Richmond is so important to our local community, and it's also important to me. I grew up living here on RAAF Base Richmond, just around the corner, with my military family. My dad was in the Royal Australian Air Force for over two decades. And I want to say thank you to all the men and women who serve, protect Australia, who protect us as Australians, and also prioritise our national security. I also want to thank the men and women who have previously served, our veterans, like my dad, who even though he's retired, still suffers from the effects of war. We will be eternally grateful and you are, we are forever in your debt. It is my honour to now introduce to you the Prime Minister of Australia, here in Macquarie today, Scott Morrison.
Prime Minister: Well, thank you, Sarah, it's great to be back here with you in Macquarie. And thank you for the tremendous work you've been doing here in the local community over a long time as a Councillor, and particularly during the floods that came through here, and working with you on those issues. But I join with Sarah in thanking all of those who’ve served and serve today.
Just behind us here, this was one of the Hercs that went in, actually the first one that went into Kabul, when we completed the airlift of some 4,100 people, brought to safety in one of the most dangerous environments you could possibly imagine. Last year, I had the privilege to be in the UAE at AMAB, and meet with those who flew on those flights who actually evacuated those out of Kabul. And I thank them, because so many thousands of those who were liberated and evacuated at that time are now living in Australia safely with their families. But it was a big team that ensured that we could conduct that operation successfully and safely, from our Chiefs in the Defence Force, through to those who were on the flights themselves, the Home Affairs officers that were on the tarmac, processing visas, the Foreign Affairs officials, diplomats and others, who are working tirelessly to bring people to safety. But back here, the civil contractors, like Airbus, they ensured that these planes could be in the air, and they do that every single day, supporting our Air Force, just like they do with other civil contractors in our Navy and in our Army.
Our defence industry is an incredibly important part of our sovereign defence capability, and no government, no government has done more to lift our defence spending than this Government. We have restored our defence spending to above two per cent of the size of our economy, having inherited it at its lowest point that we had seen since prior to the Second World War. So we have been rebuilding our Defence Forces. We have been rebuilding our defence capability, and we have been rebuilding our defence industry. And Airbus here and all the crew that are here, Lockheed Martin, the whole team, all of them here supporting our Defence Forces to do the often very dangerous job that they do saving lives, as they did with these very aircraft at Kabul.
But the other thing that is happening with our defence industry is they're creating jobs. They're creating jobs. They're creating jobs for young women, for young men, for those at all stages of life, for apprentices, and ensuring that they are getting the skills that not only keep our country strong with its defences in facilities like this, but ensuring that our communities are strong and they have the skills that often then relocate to other industries, and keep our economy strong.
We have a five point plan to grow our economy that we've been working through, which has ensured that Australia has one, had one of the strongest economies in the world through this pandemic, by keeping taxes low and cutting red tape, by ensuring they're investing in the skills and infrastructure, and growing our workforce that a growing economy needs. We've got unemployment down to 4.2 per cent. We've got a million more women into work. Youth unemployment is now below 10 per cent for the first time since 2008, and we've got our sights set on an unemployment rate with a three in front of it this year. And we can achieve it because of the plan that we have put in place to take Australia through, and our economy through, this pandemic.
We need to ensure that Australia has the reliable and affordable energy that we need, while reducing our emissions to net zero by 2050 and keeping electricity prices down, which are down eight per cent in the last two years. We need to be one of the biggest and most successful digital and data economies in the world, in the top 10 by 2030. And the investments we're putting into cyber space and cyber-crimes and keeping our cyber world safe for Australian businesses, while investing in the infrastructure and the skills and cyber technicians that are needed to realise that, and ensuring that we're investing in the new start-ups with the tax reforms that support them.
And finally, it's about our manufacturing capability. I'm very proud about what our manufacturing industry is achieving, and a big part of our manufacturing industry is our defence industry. Here what you see is how they maintain what they build, and we build stuff here in Australia. We make stuff here in Western Sydney in particular, and we look after it here in Western Sydney as well.
And yesterday I announced another big part of our manufacturing strategy, which is about fusing together the great ideas of our wonderful world-class researchers - not far from here at Western Sydney University and the many campuses they have - with our best entrepreneurs. And I have no doubt that those research entrepreneurs that we will see come out of this plan, many of them will come out of here in Western Sydney and they will start businesses here in Western Sydney, like so many have before, and they will employ hundreds and thousands of Australians. That's how you get unemployment with a three in front of it in the middle of a global pandemic. And that's what this is all about. It's about jobs. That's what we're focused on. One of the strongest economic recoveries through the pandemic of any country, advanced economy in the world.
So I thank those here at Airbus and Lockheed Martin. I thank them for helping us save the lives, like we did in Kabul - 4,100 people airlifted in our biggest airlift in Australia's military history - and I thank them for training a new generation of skilled people, who’ll be building things in this country and maintaining them for a long time to come. Happy to take questions.
Journalist: Are you worried that someone in your own team is trying to undermine you ahead of the election, by leaking personal messages, attacking your character?
Prime Minister: No.
Journalist: Have you spoken to Gladys Berejiklian since the Press Club yesterday?
Prime Minister: No, I haven't had that opportunity, but I do welcome her very kind comments that she made yesterday, and that very much reflects the strong working relationship we've had that, I think, has been so important to ensure that New South Wales and their economy, in particular, but also their record in saving lives has been extraordinary.
Journalist: Prime Minister, are you confident that the Minister in that text exchange with the former New South Wales Premier isn’t sitting in your Cabinet right now?
Prime Minister: Yes.
Journalist: Have they come forward and confessed to you, to the texts?
Prime Minister: No.
Journalist: Have you asked your office to investigate who that Minister is?
Prime Minister: I'm not fussed.
Journalist: Do you have a warning for your inside about disunity, and are they handing Labor a free hit?
Prime Minister: What matters to the Australian people, as we go forward to this next election, is their job, their security, their health and wellbeing, the strength of their community that they rely on. And Sarah Richards here in Macquarie has spent her time doing that as a member of the Council and a member of the community for a very long period of time. And that's the choices Australians are going to make. The scuttlebutt that runs around Canberra, who cares? What matters to people and their jobs, what matters to keeping the cost of living down, electricity prices down by eight per cent. What matters to ensure we keep downward pressure on interest rates. Now we've kept our AAA credit rating in this country from all three major agencies in the middle of a pandemic, and at the same time, having to do the biggest single economic intervention for income support in our nation's history. And there's only nine countries in the world that have achieved that. And what the Governor of the Reserve Bank has been doing on monetary policy and what we've been doing on fiscal policy has worked together, and that continues to be the case. We're not pulling in different directions, as occurred under Labor. We're pulling in the same direction. And that's what helps you keep downward pressure on the cost of living, what keeps downward pressure on interest rates. How you manage the economy, how you manage the nation's finances, that's what matters to the Australian people, because that impacts them. What people say in text messages and on Twitter, frankly, doesn't matter anything to their job, to what they pay for at the supermarket, or anywhere else for that matter. And so I'm focused on keeping Australia's economy strong, keeping Australians safe, and standing up to those who would jeopardise and threaten Australia's interests. I don't have an each way bet on national security, and I don't have an each way bet on the economy. We've got the experience to demonstrate that.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Prime Minister, coming off the back of a disappointing Newspoll and the likely loss of seats in Western Australia, considering that the seat of Macquarie here is held on the thinnest of margins, it’s an obvious target [inaudible]?
Prime Minister: As we go to the election, Australians will start to focus on the choice. Over the course of any Parliamentary term, Australians quietly go about their business, as I said last time. They’re focused on their own challenges. They're focused on making sure their kids’ education gets kept up or caring for a loved one who may be elderly or have a disability. They've been pushing through their own economic trials and circumstances. But as we get closer to that election, they will take this incredibly seriously, as I know they always do, and they will focus on the choice. And there is a very clear choice - the demonstrated economic track record and experience of the Government that I have led, together with the Nationals, with me as Prime Minister, or the Labor Party led by Anthony Albanese with what you see at the moment is not what you'll get on the other side. Very sneaky to not telling you what he's up, going to be up to. But you'll find out on the other side of an election, and you can go on their form before on higher taxes and fiscal mismanagement. He was part of all of that when he was in government.
But the other thing they'll focus on is what's happening here locally, and who's been doing a good job. And here in Macquarie with Sarah, you've got someone who I know is heart and soul Macquarie, heart and soul for her community, and will fight every single day for her community. And she's one of so many in my team, all around the country, who have been doing that work, fighting for their communities, standing up for their communities. And at the end of the day, that's what this will come down to.
Journalist: Prime Minister, if you’re sure that that Minister in the leaked text messages isn’t sitting in your Cabinet, what makes you sure?
Prime Minister: I have confidence.
Journalist: Prime Minister, is Australia on track to have an unemployment rate below four per cent, regardless of who’s in Government, because of [inaudible] over the past two years?
Prime Minister: Australia is on track to have an unemployment rate with a three in front of it because of the economic policies and management of the Liberal National Government. That's why it's on that direction. That's why it's going to get there, we believe. That's why we can say that the five point plan that we've been working to, that plan of keeping taxes low, getting rid of the red tape. Secondly, ensuring that we're investing in the infrastructure, as we are here in Western Sydney, and the skills that Australians need. Highest number of trade apprentices in training - 220,000 - since 1963. To ensure we're delivering the reliable and affordable energy. You won't hear me flipping and flopping on whether we should build a gas plant up in Kurri Kurri and then putting the rider on it. You've got to spend another $1.6 billion. You won't hear me saying one thing about the coal industry in central Queensland and another thing in the, in the inner city suburbs of Sydney or Melbourne. You won't hear me doing that. I didn't do it at the last election. I haven't done it as a Prime Minister. What you hear for me is the same in the Hunter, as you hear for me in the inner suburbs of Melbourne. And, so, there’s five points, so, you know, there's two more to go. A data and digital economy which is top ten in the world, and a manufacturing industry that ensures our sovereign capability.
Journalist: Prime Minister, are you going to change anything to do with the border before the election, and what are you waiting for?
Prime Minister: The key issue that I’ve tasked the health officials to advise me on in opening up the border to international arrivals is what impact that might have on the hospital system and the pressures that could come from additional people coming into the country at this time. We have had a very successful opening up already over the summer to backpackers and to those on the economic migration programs, and and opening up to Singapore. And we've already been open to New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. That has gone very well. And so the next step is opening up to international. I I totally empathise with the comments of Alan Joyce on this issue, and he knows my very strong commitment to getting to that point as quickly and as safely as we possibly can. So I'm looking forward to making progress on that issue. As always, I just want to be confident that before we take that decision that we are confident about the situation that our hospitals are in, which have been performing extremely well under great pressure, particularly here in New South Wales, but as well in Victoria, I must say. And in addition to that, as we've seen the peaks of Omicron, I think, come through in both of those states, then that is starting to open up that opportunity. So I'm optimistic about that, but cautiously optimistic, as you'd expect me to be.
Journalist: Just about aged care. There’s 11,000 cases in aged care residents in New South Wales. There’s been weeks in New South Wales where a third of deaths have been coming in aged care in New South Wales. Only one in ten have had a booster shot in New South Wales. Do you take responsibility for that?
Prime Minister: We have visited 99 per cent of all aged care facilities and offered all residents in those facilities a booster shot. Seventy per cent of them have taken up those booster shots in those facilities. That's the advice that I have. Now, regrettably, the figures that I have, as recently as yesterday, is we have lost around 566 people in our aged care facilities through this most recent wave. Over the course of the pandemic, some 61 per cent, sadly, of people who’ve lost their lives in aged care facilities that have been attributed to COVID, were in end of life care. They were in palliative care. And the balance also had, as you'd expect for people at that advanced age, had many other medical decisions. And yes, when they passed away, yes, they did have COVID, but they also had many other, many other health issues that they were battling with. And every life that is lost is a great sadness. But every life that is saved is a great blessing. And in Australia, when we look at the outbreaks, they are 13 times greater in Canada than they are in Australia. When we went through that terrible second wave in Victoria, when it was around 760 from memory Australians that we lost during that period, in the UK, the incidence of COVID in the aged care centres was eight times greater. So I agree every life lost is a terrible tragedy. But in this country, we need to remember that through this pandemic, we have saved 40,000 lives. And together with the colleagues I've worked with in my own government, the officials and the state premiers and chief ministers and their teams, we’ve worked together to achieve that result with the Australian people. We've got one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, including amongst children, I must hasten to add. In just a few weeks since the 10th of January, we have vaccinated 41 per cent of children aged five to 11. That's faster than the United States. It's faster than Germany. It's faster than Israel. And we are one of the few countries that actually can be vaccinating children down to age five. It has been a rapid rollout and we have got those doses out there in the pharmacies and in the GPs and in the state clinics that enable anyone who wants to vaccinate their child to be able to get that vaccination.
Journalist: Amnesty International says that Israel is committing apartheid.
Prime Minister: Sorry, I couldn’t hear you.
Journalist: Amnesty International says Israel is committing apartheid. As a close ally, will you condemn Israel and will we, Australia reassess its, its relationship with Israel in light of this comprehensive report detailing [inaudible]?
Prime Minister: Australia has been one of the closest and strongest friends of Israel of any nation in the world, other than the United States. And we continue to be a very strong friend of Israel. No country is perfect. There are criticisms made of all countries, but I can assure you that Australia and my Government, in particular, will remain a staunch friend of Israel. Thank you.
