Speeches
Speech, AFR Business Summit - Sydney, NSW
10 March 2020
Well, thank you very much Stutch, and welcome everybody. Can I first also thank you also for those comments, Ken. Can I also acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging. And I also want to acknowledge, as I always do, if there are service men and women here and any veterans who are here today, and simply say thank you for your service.
To Stutch, thank you again, for the invitation to be here again this year and the Australian Financial Review for bringing together this group at a very important time in our country.
In 2016, I said this – I was Treasurer at the time – I said, “we must take action to strengthen our economic resilience to deal with the shocks that will inevitably come - to get debt under control by returning the Budget to balance, through disciplined expenditure restraint, and a tax system that supports growth and provides sustainable revenues.”
Since I said that, the final Budget outcome in the past three Budgets exceeded the Budget Estimate on the night by a cumulative total of $37 billion. Year on year, bettering the mark that we set in each Budget.
Last year, the Budget was restored to balance. And now here we are. What we spoke of has now come before us. This is what I was talking about. This time we are in right now, was what I was talking about back in 2016.
We confront today a new, complex, hydra-headed and rapidly-evolving challenge. The coronavirus, COVID-19.
And while we all know we’re not immune, so far, as a nation, we have been able to get ahead of this. But to stay ahead, we must work together and continue to take decisive and timely action.
This is one of those national interest moments.
Whatever you thought 2020 was going to be about. Think again.
We now have one goal, together, this year - to protect the health, the wellbeing and livelihoods of Australians through this global crisis, and to ensure that when the recovery comes, and it will, we are well positioned to bounce back strongly on the other side.
All Australians have a role to play, in Australia successfully moving through this crisis.
Large businesses, in particular, have a huge role to play. And I particularly want to commend Qantas, who I was with yesterday, who have already played an important role in those three flights that they were able to put on. I was down at their headquarters yesterday thanking all of those staff and the Qantas team and all of those from DFAT and others who were involved in those operations. And credit where it’s due, I want to thank the banks in order: Westpac, Commonwealth, NAB and ANZ, for passing through the 25 basis points in response to my call the other week.
We need your perseverance, your planning, your enterprise. We need your common sense, we need your calm, we need your commitment. But we need your patriotism, as well.
We need you to support your workers, by keeping them employed. Hold onto your people, because you will need them on the bounce back on the other side. Wherever possible, support them - full-time, part-time, casual, including with paid leave if they need to take time off during the course of the virus.
We need you to support your small business suppliers by paying them promptly. Pay your suppliers not just in time, but ahead of time, especially now.
You know what, you want to know what you can do to keep Australians in jobs? Keep businesses in business? And support Australia through this crisis?
If you are a large business, go back to your office today, pay your supplier invoices and commit to pay them even faster for the next six months.
That is what sticking together looks like.
How you support your customers, your suppliers, your employees during the next six months and potentially beyond, will say more about your company, your corporate values and the integrity of your brand, than anything else you’ve likely done as an organisation.
We also need your investment, looking ahead to the opportunities that are on the other side. Take the opportunity to invest in the skills of your workforce or in the capital projects that will provide the pathway for a new season of growth that will be there.
As the Fin Review has stated on more than one occasion, this is a ‘team Australia’ moment.
The Government will soon announce our economic stimulus package geared to the unique nature of the challenge we face in the wake of the COVID-19 health crisis.
And what I want to do today is outline the dimensions of this challenge, the principles that are informing our response, and why Australia is strongly positioned, not just the Government, more so than virtually any country in the world today – not just to ride out this crisis, but to emerge stronger and more productive on the other side.
Australia’s economy ended 2019 solidly in the face of a difficult global economy and domestic challenges, not least being the devastating drought that the country has been in through for many years now. And there’s been no greater sight that I’ve seen more recently than where we’ve seen that rain falling.
Employment was growing strongly, more than twice the OECD average and faster than any of the G7 advanced economies.
Tax cuts for individuals, small and medium sized business, as promised, infrastructure spending, including the bringing forward last year of some $4.2 billion of projects into the forwards, low interest rates, strong trade and external performances - including three historic quarters of current account surpluses, rising house prices after a stagnant market for some years. These were all supporting the pick-up in growth that was borne out in last week’s National Accounts. Up to 2.2 per cent in the December quarter through-the-year, up from 1.8 per cent in September.
Internationally, the US and China has inked a phase one trade deal. Very welcome. The prospects for an orderly Brexit has risen, and there were early positive signs of manufacturing activity and trade improvements.
In short, we were heading into 2020 with growing domestic and international momentum out of last year.
The Reserve Bank had drawn the same conclusion, as many commentators have. The turning point had been reached, the Governor said, advising Cabinet early this year that 2020 was set up to be a much stronger year.
The mid-year economic and financial statement, released in early December, confirmed that the budget was back in balance and heading for a clear surplus in 2019-20.
This was not achieved through reckless forecasts of US$180 a tonne for iron ore, indeed the MYEFO assumptions were even more conservative at the time of December last year than we even had in the Budget. No, this was done through careful stewardship that saw Budget Estimates bettered by tens of billions year after year after year.
After seven years, the structural integrity of the Budget had been restored and Government was once again living within its means, as we promised. Expenditure was under control, at less than 2 per cent growth per year, and the revenues needed to guarantee the essential services that Australians rely on, were being produced by our economy, not through higher taxes.
This could not have been achieved at a more important time for our country.
Within a month of that mid-year statement, the bushfire crisis intensified and COVID-19 struck.
Occurring simultaneously, they have dramatically impacted Australia’s economy and finances. In the March quarter alone Treasury estimates around a 0.7 percentage point hit to growth.
In response to the bushfires, the Commonwealth committed an additional $2 billion to support individuals, small business, primary producers, tourism operators and communities most affected.
That $2 billion was initial and additional over two years and was in addition to the national disaster recovery assistance that flows and will continue to flow from pre-existing disaster funding arrangements.
Already $360 million has been paid out by the Federal Government to support bushfire-affected communities in just the past couple of months. More than $200 million of that has come from the $500 million that was profiled to be spent from the $2 billion National Bushfire Recovery Fund by the end of June. There’s no suggestion that the $2 billion was going to be spent in two months. It was intended to be there over two years. To actually be there, not just for the response, but for the recovery.
And just as the intensity of the bushfires started to abate, and parts of the country that have been in drought for many years and finally saw decent rains, the coronavirus hit.
The first cases of pneumonia thought to have been connected with the coronavirus were detected in Wuhan, China, in late December.
Cases of the coronavirus, officially named as COVID-19 by the World Health Organization on 11 February, started spreading throughout China and across the world.
And as of this morning, there are 113,210 cases of COVID-19 globally, across 108 countries, more than 3,975 lives lost, including 3 in Australia. Those lives lost, to date, are larger than SARS and MERS put together by multiple. So, it clearly is a global health crisis.
Australia moved quickly, and we got ahead of the rest of the world. Our swift and decisive action to initiate travel restrictions on the basis of expert medical advice has helped to first contain and now slow the spread of the virus in Australia.
And these timely measures have bought us time to prepare for the anticipated next phase of community transmission that we have now entered.
For the first time ever, we activated the Emergency Response Plan for Communicable Diseases Incidents of National Significance.
We have also fast tracked the Australian Health Sector Emergency Response Plan to prepare ourselves to respond to a more rapid spreading of COVID-19 within Australia, and that is a phase we are now looking into.
We have prepared the National Medical Stockpile, and the Commonwealth has committed to a 50-50 shared health funding deal with the states and territories to address additional costs incurred by state and territory health services as a result of the diagnosis and treatment of patients with, or suspected of having, COVID-19. Our initial estimate, is together, that’s at least $1 billion.
Last Thursday, the Government stood up the National Coordination Mechanism within the Department of Home Affairs to support pandemic preparedness beyond the health system. And this body will coordinate activities across the Commonwealth, state and territory governments, beyond the health response, as well as industry to ensure a consistent national approach is taken to provide essential services across a range of critical sectors and supply chains.
And this morning, the Attorney General and Minister for Industrial Relations, Christian Porter, is holding a joint industry-trade union roundtable focusing on workforce and industrial relations implications of the coronavirus.
And Wednesday, the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Karen Andrews, will hold an industry roundtable on emerging supply chain impacts as a result of the coronavirus.
So the response is whole-of-government. It’s at all levels of government. COAG will meet later this week. Our early intervention to contain the virus, has so far, enabled Australians to go about their everyday lives, and continues to be our goal.
COVID-19 is a global health crisis, but it will also have very real and very significant economic impacts, potentially greater than the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), especially for Australia. The epicentre of this crisis, as opposed to that one, is much closer to home. The GFC impacts were centred on the North Atlantic, and back then China was in a position to cushion the blow for Australia.
The initial outbreak of COVID-19 in China saw consumers stay away from shops, and many workers stay away from work, and that continues.
Manufacturing output in China fell sharply in February as the [inaudible] showed, with the official measure plunging to the lowest level on record.
Relative to SARS in 2013, China is substantially larger and more interconnected with the global economy including to Australia, magnifying the reverberations throughout the world.
An early sign of the hit to our economy was the sharp fall in demand for our rock lobsters, which make up about half the value of Australia’s seafood exports.
Our tourism sector, in which many businesses were already reeling from the bushfires, has been hit hard by the collapse in travel with broader fears of contagion sharply curtailing global tourism.
Our education sector is also obviously being significantly affected. Over 100,000 Chinese international students were not in Australia when the travel ban was actioned. This is not just about the fee revenue for universities and colleges, but even more significantly, the second round impacts for the local economy.
The consequences for other countries are just as significant, given the integral role China plays as a source of final demand for goods and services and as part of the global supply chain.
As I said, that spread now goes well beyond mainland China to over 100 countries.
The OECD released updated forecasts last week and downgraded their expectations for global growth and across all major economies.
Australia of course, was not excluded, but got favourable mention, and you saw both the Reserve Bank and Treasury release estimates last week of the significant direct impact of COVID-19 on growth, particularly in the March quarter.
Now as they do in times like these, and we’ve seen this obviously in the last 24 hours in particular, financial markets have sought to move to respond and seek to seek to reprice the risk that they’re seeing. This is giving rise to particularly sharp movements in global equity and financial markets, off record highs, sure.
But the impact on investors and retirees and no doubt the sovereign wealth fund Peter, which is so ably managed - the Chair is with us today. It’s real. Uncertainty has led to volatility in financial markets, however Australia’s financial markets continue to operate effectively and the Reserve Bank Governor has noted the RBA will ensure the Australian financial system has sufficient liquidity.
There is the potential for heightened risk aversion to flow over into reduced business and consumer spending, reduced demand across our economy.
These effects would be greater if coronavirus were to have a significant impact on the health of our workforce, which is what we need to plan for. And that’s something we’re working very hard to prevent at the moment.
Now this all means that the challenge we confront today is very different in nature, as I’ve argued, to the Global Financial Crisis.
The financial crisis started with excessive risk taking in the financial sector and involved the collapse of financial institutions, the disruption of credit, the impairment of balance sheets and a prolonged recovery.
The situation we face today is a health crisis that has moved quickly to weaken demand, disrupt supply chains, crunch cash flows, especially for small and medium sized businesses and especially in those sectors and locations most exposed and hardest hit. However, we must remind ourselves that the problem is temporal not structural. It’s about a biological contagion, not a financial one.
In our response, we must be careful to solve this problem, the one we’re facing now. Not the last one. And we need to solve it for Australia, for our circumstances, and not appropriate the diagnosis for other economies elsewhere in the world. We need our response, here in Australia.
We also need to learn from the mistakes made from the Global Financial Crisis – especially when it comes to a clear fiscal exit strategy.
The range of possible economic outcomes will depend on the spread, severity and duration of this health crisis and its interaction with demand-side and supply-side effects. Now that means, to fix our problem, our health response must be the primary response.
From a health perspective, our focus is to slow the spread of the virus, and to resource and manage scaled-up demand on our health system, and I’ll have more to say about that this week also. And more broadly, to coordinate the efforts to maintain continuity of services and supplies and to minimise civil disruption.
Let me turn now to our fiscal response.
As we finalise the Government’s fiscal response in coming days, and the Treasurer would have otherwise been here, but he was with Treasury officials until late last night as we continue to work through these issues. Our objective is this, keep people in jobs, keep businesses in business, and ensure we bounce back stronger on the other side.
It’s about supporting community confidence, employment and business continuity. This means boosting domestic consumption, reducing cash flow pressures for the most vulnerable businesses, and supporting new investments to lift productivity.
Now there’s seven principles that will guide our response, and the first of those is that measures must be proportionate to the degree of economic shock and the impact on the economy.
Secondly, they need to be timely and scalable, so they can be adjusted appropriately as the health and economic effects evolve. This a dynamic situation we’re in.
Third, the response needs to be targeted to address the specific issues we are confronting, supporting those most affected, and delivered where it will be most effective. We must not waste taxpayers’ resources.
Fourth, the response needs to be aligned with the many other arms of policy and activity, in particular monetary policy, and with the responses of other governments, particularly at a state and territory level. The Government is working closely, as you have seen with the Reserve Bank, the Governor and his team. And as you know the Bank moved last week to cut the official cash rate by 25 basis points. Now all of the four major banks and many other financial institutions have passed this through in full, and I acknowledge and commend them for that again today.
Fifth, we must use existing delivery mechanisms, wherever possible. That’s where it goes pear-shaped, if you get that design wrong, as we learned from the last stimulus. We saw those mistakes of trying to rush a range of new programs in response to the GFC. This is why we’ve been moving swiftly, but patiently, to ensure that the response that we announce can address these issues.
Sixthly, the measures must be temporary and accompanied by a fiscal exit strategy. We cannot bake into the bottom-line, this response for years to come, holding the Budget under water.
And finally, we must favour measures that will lift productivity. To enable the Australian economy to sustain an even stronger growth trajectory than we were on prior to the crisis.
By following these principles, we believe we will protect the structural integrity of the Budget and we will maximise the impact of our measures to protect the livelihoods of Australians and our economy during this difficult period. And in doing so we will prevent the need for future governments to spend the better part of a decade restoring the fiscal position and even longer paying back the debt.
When the economy bounces back, our plan is that the Budget bounces back as well. The stronger the recovery, the stronger the economy, the stronger the Budget.
Now, Australians have good reason to be confident that we are one of the best prepared in the world to mitigate both the health and economic impacts of COVID-19.
Australia has a world-class health system – our hospitals, doctors and nurses, laboratories, medical researchers are amongst the best in the world. The Doherty Institute down there in Melbourne, a classic example. Attracting funds from philanthropists, like Jack Ma and others, to find the vaccine. World-class. And they’re able to scale-up their response and certainly will be with the support we’re providing.
We also have a remarkable history in this country of economic resilience. And we need to return to those values. This is due in no small measure to the strength of our institutions and our policy frameworks, including an independent, credible central bank and a flexible exchange rate. As I mentioned, monetary policy is working in concert with fiscal policy to support the economy. Our banks are well capitalised and awash with ample liquidity, and our financial system is resilient. We have been working on that as well.
Not only are banks well-placed to lend at low rates, our businesses also have strong balance sheets, providing a strong foundation for investment. It’s not just the Government’s restored balance sheet, which will support us through this crisis, it is the stronger balance sheet of businesses, of banks, and indeed households.
Our exchange rate is also playing its usual shock-absorbing role in the face of an external shock, providing a welcome boost for our exporters. And household balance sheets have also strengthened, as I just mentioned in recent years with mortgage holders now on average around two and half years ahead of their mortgages, based on offset account and redraw facility balances.
A strong fiscal position has also been core to our ability to respond to shocks like these. Our debt to GDP is one of the lowest in the developed world, and that didn’t happen by accident. Over several years, we have taken the hard decisions needed to rebuild our fiscal strength, and in doing so, in the face of also coming off the back of the mining and investment boom that ripped $80 billion out of investment in our economy, retaining our AAA credit rating.
We didn’t rebuild our fiscal strength by increasing taxes or cutting essential services. Instead, we went on path of strengthening the Budget by restraining growth in recurrent expenditure and growing the economy.
We resisted repeated calls for cash splurges as part of an unwavering plan to rebuild our fiscal buffers so we could respond when it is truly needed, which is now. That time is now. This is the time we have been preparing for.
While much has changed in the last few months, though I want to give this assurance to Australians, as I close. We do face some tough and uncertain times ahead. We will get through this. And we will get through this together. But let me also assure Australians, there is plenty that won’t change over the next year, over the next three months, over the next six months and beyond, under our Government.
Our guarantee of funding for the essential services that Australians rely on, including record schools and hospital funding, that remains.
We will continue to announce new PBS listings for life-saving and life-changing medicines.
We will continue to make it quicker for people to enter the NDIS Scheme or to have their plans reviewed. You know some 50,000 people have come onto the NDIS since the last election alone, until the end of the year I understand.
We will continue to roll out our $100 billion infrastructure plan, including the bring forward, that we acted on last year, to bring forward some $4.2 billion worth of projects forward, so they can be hitting the ground right now, with additional investment that we worked through with the states last year.
We will continue strengthening our defence force in line with our commitment to return defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP, and that will be achieved next Budget year. That is also providing important opportunities for investment and growth, and indeed stimulus in many parts of the country.
We will continue to look for practical actions to curb the suicide rate with our towards zero plan. A core objective of our Government, particularly amongst our veterans, amongst young people, amongst Indigenous Australians.
We will continue to work with the states to progress the Fourth Action Plan and our record $360 million to reduce violence against women and children.
We will continue to help communities rebuild from the devastating drought, and to deliver the much needed support in response to the bushfire crisis of our black summer.
We will press on with the vital work of closing the gap for Indigenous Australians.
We will continue to ensure the tax system rewards hard work, fair go for those who have a go, supports investment and doesn’t hold our businesses back.
And we will set Australia up for an energy future with a real plan that supports jobs and industry - one that is reliable, affordable and sustainable. A plan based on technology, not taxation and ‘never-never’ targets.
We will continue to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to meet our international commitments without increasing taxes, or electricity prices, or compromising the jobs of rural and regional Australians.
We will do our bit to get rid of the plastics in our oceans, not just on our coasts, but throughout our part of the world, and take care of our own waste.
We will enable Australians to grasp the opportunities of the digital economy and to extend our competitive edge in new technologies and industries. Whether it’s the space industry down in South Australia and across the country, whether it’s in cyber security, or in medical technologies, and of course fintech.
We will continue to open international markets and advocate for the benefits of open global markets and the rules-based trading system, and the reform of that.
We will continue to lower regulatory barriers to investment, through the work that Ben Morton’s doing, with our renewed deregulation push.
And we will progress practical and sensible reforms of the industrial relations system, not driven by ideology, but driven by common sense, to ensure the system remains fit for purpose and supports a strong economy.
And we’re serious about reforming the VET system, so we can ensure Australians are trained with the skills businesses need, so those Australians can get a job and the business can get ahead.
And we will ensure our universities collaborate with business to undertake research that grows our economy.
These remain the plans that will continue to guide our Government into the future, so that Australia rebounds quickly and emerges stronger from today’s challenges.
So, of course, we’re not immune to the coronavirus, but I want to assure the Australians that we are taking every step to protect their health, to protect their livelihoods, and to protect our economy, to ensure that we bounce back even stronger on the other side.
Now is the time when we do need to pull together. And I have every confidence that we will. That’s what Australians do.
Our planning, our preparations, are well advanced. Our action is there to see.
Our institutions are strong. Our people are strong. Our Budget is balanced.
Most importantly, we face this challenge with the greatest asset, which remains undiminished – that is the common-sense resilience and ingenuity of the Australian people.
Australia will pass this test, and it will pass it strongly. And we will be stronger on the other side.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Remarks, Qantas Recognition Event - Sydney, NSW
9 March 2020
Well thank you Bathy, good to see you, Allen thank you for the welcome to country, I’m going to appropriate some of those stories I can tell you from time to time. It’s wonderful to hear, to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation and elders past, present and future. It’s also wonderful to be able to recognise any veterans who are with us here today and serving men and women of our defence force, including our reservists and I’m sure there’s plenty of those at Qantas as well, and just simply say thank you for your service.
To Alan and Richard thank you for the opportunity to come here today. Alan and I were speaking on the phone a little while back and he talked about an opportunity like this. There’s still a job to do, mum and dad always taught me never forget to say thank you. And that’s why I’ve come here today.
To Michael McCormack, the Deputy Prime Minister, who has worked so closely together with the transport sector, and the aviation sector more broadly, to times like this when, the Big Mac as I sometimes call him, I turn to him and say, mate we need to do this- do you think Qantas would be up for that? Absolutely, and Michael can say that with a great level of confidence and I know that to be true. So it’s great to have Michael here with me today to say thank you.
To all the Qantas staff who are here, not just the ones who live in the Shire, but to all of them - but especially the ones who live in the Shire. All Qantas staff who are here today, it’s wonderful to be here with you.
To all the DFAT team who are here, those from the Department of Agriculture, the serving personnel of the ADF who took part, the Federal Police, Border Force, and those- amazing team at AUSMAT.
To representatives of state agencies, what an amazing team that came together to pull this off, and it is the purpose of today to simply, to say thank you.
To Qantas, as well as all involved in helping bring our people home - and to bring them home safely.
To Qantas - thank you for stepping up.
We’re going through a very difficult time, we’ve gone through a terrible summer, and now we are facing what is a genuine global health crisis with the coronavirus.
People are going to learn a lot about companies in this country over the next six months.
And what Qantas has already said, tells you everything you ever knew about the company, its spirit, its commitment, its patriotism, answering a call.
But most of all, they love to bring people home.
That’s what you love doing, that’s what your business is about.
And when I walk in here I feel like I’m at home.
And when I get on a Qantas plane, I feel at home.
And I think Australians feel that all the way, all around the world, as the song says.
I want to thank you for demonstrating what it is to be a good corporate citizen.
I want to thank you for living up to your corporate values.
You know all those boring workshops people go to, and they write things up on the white board, all those values - that doesn’t matter, that doesn’t mean anything unless you do what you’ve just done.
Those values are written into every single employee of this organisation and you should be commended for that Alan, in the way you’ve led that together with your board.
It is saying, what you’ve done, what you understand your duty to your country is.
Of course you have a duty to your shareholders and I’m sure the board would rapidly agree.
But Qantas put Australians above the shareholders in responding to this, as we all have to as we go through this difficult period, to say count me in, not out.
That’s what you’ve done.
And so we honour staff today and across Government too, who were so instrumental in these assisted departures as was the technical term but we all know what they were, they were evacuations out of both China and Japan.
Government and business working together.
And we’re going to have to see a lot more of that in the months ahead.
Stoicism, courage, the judgment that was exercised, the expertise, the determination, all of this came together.
And it gives me great encouragement as I look into the months ahead, which will also be challenging.
It will demand from all of us many different things - more patience, more willingness to step up again.
For some, that will simply be self-isolating, for others it will just be checking in on a neighbour.
It will require many businesses to do the right thing by their customers, by their employees, by their suppliers. And that will be difficult.
But we will see the best in each other as we're acknowledging the best of you here today.
Our country's story is not going to be written in the aisles of shopping centres having tiffs over toilet paper.
That is not going to be the story of this country through this crisis.
The story of this country is going to be what you have already done.
And I know, what so many Australians are going to do in the months ahead.
The DFAT officers who volunteered to travel into a city effectively locked down to help other Australians out of Shanghai, and then themselves had to go into quarantine.
People like James Russel and his DFAT team, they travelled up to 14 hours by car to Wuhan.
On the ground for twelve days.
And there were volunteers like Shevaun Marks.
Shevaun was on leave from DFAT, but had accompanied her spouse on a posting to Shanghai. And she put her hand up to go back into service. And put her hand up to travel to Wuhan.
Our doctors and nurses, who faced their own risks. The AUSMAT team who are with us today - thank you so much.
Around Australia today, there are tens of thousands of medical professionals watching out for our people.
Our Armed Forces, our doctors and many medical staff take an Oath. I thank them for keeping it.
Today, I am here to thank our national carrier for doing the same thing.
A “national carrier” is not a term you can buy.
It is not a term leased, patented or tendered out.
It’s not even a legal responsibility.
It’s a moral one.
It’s that willingness to stand in the breach, and say we have a responsibility to Australia and we will fulfil it.
And Qantas earns that each and every day and no more so than on this occasion.
This DNA of Qantas is something we’re celebrating 100 years of, and while I agree with you Richard, it’s been a pretty difficult way to acknowledge the sacrifice and service of Qantas but at the same time it’s quite appropriate that at times like this it’s the true spirit of this wonderful company that is shining through in these difficult times.
That’s actually what we’re celebrating. That’s what we’re marking.
Qantas pilots dropped supplies to the frontline during World War Two.
The Skippy Squadron took our troops safely to and from Vietnam.
Qantas launched the Flying Doctor service, and helped evacuate Darwin from Cyclone Tracy.
Over our ‘black summer’ of bushfires, Qantas carried thousands of firefighters and tonnes of equipment around the country.
And again and again, Qantas steps up.
And as a leader of a Cabinet that’s looking to people to step up at the moment, around the country, Qantas has set an example, I thanked Alan earlier not just for the fact they ran these flights but it really helped me convince the banks to pass on the cash rate cut the other day. So all those mortgage holders, thank Alan for that one too!
Under your wings, 680 passengers returned home.
244 passengers, including 89 children, were on the first flight from Wuhan to Learmonth.
In the weeks that followed, Qantas made two more rescue flights.
One — from Wuhan to Darwin — carried 266 passengers, including 136 children.
The other — from Tokyo to Darwin — carrying 170 passengers, all of whom had been on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
Of course that wasn’t easy.
There was the aircraft that was unexpectedly delayed in Hong Kong - with the officials and staff having to remain on the aircraft for 24 hours.
And they commandeered business class and broke out the cheese boxes I understand, to get them through. How very Australian! Very Australian.
And it was the same ingenuity that saw some of our government staff on the second flight run an impromptu crèche for the 136 children on board.
But more than anything, what captures what Qantas did is best was expressed by the passengers.
When the first flight landed at Learmonth - QF 6032 - the pilot said “Welcome to Australia'' - and the passengers cheered and clapped.
That’s what sticking by each other looks like. That how, more importantly, it feels like.
Nowhere better than home.
So let me say, it wasn’t just Qantas that stepped up. It was a broad team as Alan and the whole team know.
I also want to acknowledge Skytraders as well who supported the transfer of passengers to and from Christmas Island.
I want to thank also, Air Nauru who assisted with these flights as well.
Whilst my focus is on our work here at home, I also want to acknowledge the Chinese authorities and embassy in Canberra, the Chinese embassy for their constructive approach to helping us facilitate these flights.
That is deeply appreciated.
This disease doesn’t have an accent, it knows no nationality, this virus, it has no borders. And so governments keep working cooperatively to address it.
Here in Australia, in China, Japan, and in so many places around the world.
I know Alan is very proud of his staff, as he should be - and the extraordinary things that you have achieved.
I am also, and your country is also.
To the wonderful public servants here as well today - I am especially proud of you.
Not just the work that you have done.
But the work you are continuing to do now.
Planning for every eventuality.
Thousands of public servants doing their jobs - DFAT, Border Force, AFP, those in our health department, doctors, nurses, aged care professionals, child care workers.
Every level of government - the private sector too.
Incredible work.
Working together.
I said before the Australian people, we’ve got ahead of this, we need to stay ahead of it.
We’re not immune from it.
But I can look the Australian people in the eye and say, we will get through this.
And the reason I can say that is because what you proved on those three flights.
Thank you very much.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
6 March 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you for coming together this morning. Just have a brief announcement today, and that will be followed by the Minister for Health and Dr Kelly to update on a couple of other matters. Yesterday I said that we will be working closely together with states and territories to ensure that we had a fair set of arrangements to ensure we work together to meet the costs, particularly the public health costs in responding to the coronavirus. Last night, Treasurers linked up by phone hook-up, and today that was followed through by Health Ministers, as a result. Following those meetings, I've indicated to Premiers and Chief Ministers, just prior to this meeting, through a contact that we would be forwarding an offer for a standalone national partnership agreement on a joint COVID-19 public health response, where there would be 50/50 cost sharing between the Commonwealth and the states for those additional costs for public health, in relation to responding to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Commonwealth on upon executing those agreements, will immediately put $100 million down as an advance through the normal distribution mechanism to the states to ensure that they’re in a position to immediately meet those costs. This arrangement, I should stress, relates to expenditure incurred from the 21st of January 2020. So, we're obviously reaching back into costs that already would have been amounted up until this time. But of course we are anticipating that going forward that those costs would be greater. Now this is a standalone arrangement. It's not linked to any other hospital funding agreements. There are other matters we're pursuing with the states there. And there is no suggestion, I don't want there to be any connection between those issues. This is about dealing with the coronavirus, and making sure that the states can have confidence that they're leaning forward and responding, that we're leaning forward and responding with them. We are anticipating, although it's a demand-driven arrangement, the costs will be what the costs are. But we are estimating, based on the advice we have at the moment, that this could be as much as about a billion dollars, $500 million each, that we would at least have to be allowing for. I hope it's not that much. It could be more. But we, at least I think, have to enter into these arrangements having some sense of the scale of what we're dealing with here. I know that's a significant amount, but as we have said to you in numerous briefings over recent weeks, we have to be prepared. We've got ahead. We've got to stay ahead. And a funding arrangement like this I think enables and equips the states to be able to move forward confidently to deal with the challenges that exist, whether it be in the public hospital system, or the normal type of public health response that they provide in the event of an influenza outbreak. And so, just so you get an understanding of how this might be different to normal arrangements, the current hospital arrangement is a 55/45 split. The Commonwealth normally pays 45, we're upping that to 50 percent as part of that arrangement. And normally, if you've got a public health response in an aged care facility, or in a childcare facility or something like that, normally the states pay 100 percent of that public health response in those areas. And we'd be very happy to shop shoulder those costs 50/50 with the states, because of the serious nature and very specific nature of this virus.
Now it will be administered in the normal way by the Independent Hospital Pricing Authority and by the administrator of the National Health Funding Body. I'll be formally writing to Premiers and Chief Ministers today, and I hope after discussing it over the course of the week, we'll be able to tie this up by the end of next week when COAG meets in Sydney next Friday. So I really do want to thank the state Treasurers and Health Ministers for the work they've done. I also want to thank, of course the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, and the Health Minister Greg Hunt, for the work they've done, both last night and today, and all the cooperative input and participation of all of the Health Ministers and Treasurers around the country. Everybody's working together on this. We all understand the challenge that this presents. And I think it shows a great sense of assurance to Australians that governments at state and federal level are working together, dealing with the things we need to get to, so you can go about your business in your usual way and be confident about the preparations that are being made, and that the resources that are being made available to support this. And we're obviously in a position to do this, because having brought the Budget back to balance, this is why we do these things, so we can actually respond in this way, and give the states the assurance they need as they go about the important work in delivering the public health system. Greg.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: Thanks very much, Prime Minister. Our first task as a Government is to keep Australians safe. And as part of that, working together with the states and territories, with the community, with the health sector, to ensure that there's a seamless approach. Today, we see that there are significant health roundtables, which the Chief Medical Officer is leading, in regard to primary care with our general practices, with our allied health workers, with representatives that Professor Kelly will take you through, and with the aged care sector. We're working right across those fronts. A critical part of that is to make sure that there is confidence and support for the funding of those arrangements, which is why we've offered and set out these unprecedented arrangements today. It's not just the fact that it's 50/50 funding for public health in hospital. We're now reaching outside of hospital for all of the coronavirus challenges. And we do this knowing that what we have done together since the 21st of January, includes the successful containment of all of those cases that came from China, the evacuation of three flights, two from China and one from Japan, and the successful quarantine and the great work of our AUSMAT teams in treating and protecting those people who were within the quarantine facilities. And then we have had the critical work of ensuring that we are contact tracing all of those that have been affected by the cases from Iran and others which have emerged in the course of the last week. So that's something that I think the nation should rightly feel comforted by, that through all of those stages, we've been able to cooperate and deliver these. What we're doing now, is to make sure that our fundamental task of supporting our primary care, our hospitals, our public emergency, our public health response is covered. Today, the work that Professor Kelly and Brendan Murphy is leading, includes looking in primary care and a variety of avenues. At telehealth, at in-home visits, at supporting our GPs, at specialised respiratory clinics and our emergency departments. And to be able to do that work, gives confidence to the Australian people that what we've done so far in having a plan, but the actions to support it is being backed. And this allows us to go forward seamlessly, delivering the services that will protect Australians.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Greg. Professor Kelly.
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, ACTING CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thank you, Prime Minister and Minister. Yes, so today as the Minister has mentioned, there are two very important workshops with key stakeholders right around Australia. So the one this morning is primary care, there's over 50 people in a room in Woden right now talking with key officials within the Department of Health and looking at vulnerable populations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations, at our people with disability, and the more general population. What is it that we can actually do to operationalise this next part of the plan? So we have our plan that's been announced before. We're working through that. We've been concentrating on the border and beyond, and on containing the cases that we know that have come from high risk areas around the world. There is a next phase, that's in the plan as to what might happen in the wider community. And so that's what we're preparing for today. And it's fantastic to see the cooperation and the willingness of people right around Australia from these peak groups being part of this, not only the planning, but more importantly, operationalising this plan over the coming weeks. I might leave it there, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINSTER: Thank you, Professor. John.
JOURNALIST: Much of the language on the looming fiscal stimulus response is focused on the supply side of the economy. That’s good, because that’s where the initial [inaudible] is. It does seem apparent though that this could quickly seep into the demand side of the economy. We’ve seen very weak retail sales figures come out...
PRIME MINSTER: Down 0.3 for January.
JOURNALIST:. So what proportion of your package will actually focus on the demand side of the economy, particularly given that could weaken as well?
PRIME MINSTER: Well John, you’re right to say that these events are moving quickly and there is more evidence coming forward about the economic impacts. And as you say, the retail figures for January, after we'd seen much stronger figures obviously over the December quarter. And that's in part played into the figures the Treasurer was able to announce earlier this week on the national accounts. Obviously, things have changed very significantly as we've moved into the March quarter. And at that stage, we were really only looking at the bushfire effect, which the Treasury Secretary outlined as an 0.2 percent hit on the March quarter figures, he believed. And then of course, there was the 0.5 figure that he'd cited as the estimated impact of coronavirus in the March quarter. So, that is why we have been very careful and very iterative in the way we've been pulling this plan together. We are moving swiftly, but I wouldn't say we're moving with undue haste. We've been careful to get this right. To make sure it's targeted, to make sure it's measured, proportionate and importantly, that it's scalable, John. Scalable is important because we will continue to see different types of disruptive impacts of this in the months ahead. And we want to leave ourselves in a position to be able to continue to respond to those in the months ahead. I've already made it clear that our initial response will be set out well before the budget. There will also be the budget, and whatever opportunities and whatever initiatives are required after that, then we will continue to respond in a proportionate way. But to date, we've been very decisive. To date, we've been very proportionate. We are seeking to really understand fully, the impacts. This morning, I met with the head of Tourism Australia and the head of Austrade, to be talking about what were some of the areas that were more significantly being impacted as a result of the Coronavirus, as well as to get an update on the progress of the measures we'd already put in place for the tourism industry, in response to the bushfires. And I'm pleased with the progress they've been making, particularly on the domestic tourism promotions. Mark.
JOURNALIST: On the operation of this partnership agreement, the billion dollar fund, will it just be that somebody who presents at a hospital as a patient who has coronavirus will be funded through this program? And how do you prevent the states from just absorbing some of this money for recurrent costs of running hospitals?
MINISTER HUNT: I’m happy to deal with that. Normally, if somebody presented at a hospital without something such as this, we would pay 45 percent of the costs, and they would pay 55 percent of the costs. We'll have what are called the Independent Hospitals Pricing Authority and the National Health Funding Body administrator review the materials. They seemed generally comfortable with that approach, because that's what we do at present, to ensure that these items for coronavirus activities are accounted for separately. So they come out of the hospitals. It's a very, very good outcome for the states. I think they recognise that. And in addition, whereas a hospital agreement literally covers what happens in hospitals, we will deal with all of the public health items outside of hospitals. An example, in talking with the West Australian Government today, was that say they had to, say there was a remote community which they would normally have to evacuate for health reasons if there was an outbreak in that community, they would pick that up 100 percent. Now we would pick up 50 per cent of that, not just the, if it's health-related and coronavirus-related, we would do that. And that's in my experience, unprecedented.
PRIME MINISTER: We're all entering this Mark in good faith, and I think that's what the Australian public expects. This isn’t an arrangement to gain. This is an arrangement to engage with, and to do so in good faith. And I have no doubt, we all understand the challenge here, we all understand the need to put aside what whatever other funding discussions that are had between the states and territories and the Commonwealth. And you know, we have them all the time. We all understand that. There's a bit of a business as usual about those discussions. But this is why I've separated this agreement out from all of those other discussions. We're not seeking to tie anything else in this, to this agreement. This is about COVID-19. This is about doing what we need to do, doing it swiftly, so everyone can just get on with the job.
JOURNALIST: Just in the context of working with the states you're looking at at the moment, tax measures to improve cash flow for business and so forth. Would you like to see other states follow the example of Queensland and even local government to provide what tax relief they can in the form of rates and payroll tax and things is it..?
PRIME MINISTER: Well we’ve all got to do our bit, as I said yesterday, every Australian has a responsibility in how Australia gets through the Coronavirus outbreak, and that's as true for how we manage the health issues and support each other as it is with how we manage the economic issues. I'm pleased to hear that as a result, particularly in relation to the bushfires that we are seeing more people going back into those areas that are affected. And good on you for doing that. People taking up their own action to support those communities. States, likewise, their economies will be directly impacted by this. And of course, I would expect states and territories to be looking at what measures they would put in place. That's not conditional on anything the Commonwealth is doing. We're working on our own package of measures. I would certainly be expecting them to be considering those issues in their own state contexts as well. And in that case, you know, I commend the Queensland government for what they've done on the affirmative payroll tax. That is a good initiative. And I'm sure to be I'm sure it will be welcomed. We'll be looking at a series of measures. I'm not confirming one way or another what those measures are today, because as in my response to John, we're looking at the evidence carefully and we're making sure that we get this right because let's understand what's needed here. This is something that is needed for a fixed period of time, that can be delivered with maximum effect. That also, at the same time, does not undermine the structural balance of the Budget over the medium term. So when the economy bounces back, which it will, when businesses bounce back, which they will. The Budget will bounce back in the same way.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister the number of cases in Italy has surged again overnight, by about 40 percent, and close to 4,000. Did the Melbourne Formula One Grand Prix make any representations to you or your office over the travel restrictions on Italy in discussions yesterday?
PRIME MINISTER: Not to me. And I couldn't tell you if they had to my office and certainly none were relayed to me if that were the case, and that didn't bear into our thinking. As I explained yesterday, the decision on the travel bans that we announced yesterday were based on our ability to deliver enhanced screening capabilities at the airports. And the advice we had is we could do that for Italy. And that was our preferred response for Korea as well. And if we were in a position to immediately put those enhanced screening arrangements in place for the Republic of Korea, given that they had five times the level of arrivals that we had from potentially people coming from Italy, then the Italy response was one that could be done. The Republic of Korea response through the airports was not something that could be immediately implemented. Now, it may well be the case that over the course of the next week or two, that the Border Force Commissioner will be able to advise the National Security Committee that he would be in a position to put those arrangements in place. And this is what we've communicated to the Korean government as well. It is our preference to have done that as through enhanced screening at the airports. But where that's not possible, I'm not taking the risk and that's why the travel ban was placed on Korea. Katherine? Katherine and then Michelle.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister just on sports grants.
PRIME MINISTER: I’m dealing with coronavirus. Michelle?
JOURNALIST: Dr. Kelly, you've got discussions with the aged care sector today. Obviously, at some point this virus won't be able to be contained from spreading in the general community. But what’s your level of confidence that you will be able to contain it from spreading through the aged care facilities generally and also through indigenous communities?
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, DEPUTY CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: It's a very good question and we're very focussed on those most vulnerable populations that we have. And those two that you mentioned are definitely front of mind. In terms of aged care facilities, what we know from around the world with almost 100,000 cases now and over 3,000 deaths, is that people that are elderly and people with other diseases, chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, lung disease and cancer, are more vulnerable to this virus. They are the ones that get the more severe end of the spectrum. For most people, 80 per percent of people, it's a mild illness. And I need to keep stressing that, there is a lot of discussion about this in the community. But for most people that get this infection, it will be like a cold or a mild flu. For older people, it's a particular issue. There are other issues, of course, in aged care around dementia and the ability to use personal protective equipment, both for the staff and also for people that might be affected in those communities. So that is a particular challenge. And that's why we're having the meeting today on that. In Aboriginal communities, again, for those people that are living in remote areas of Australia, very difficult challenges about what you set up for diagnosis, for treatment, for screening and so on. And they’re things that we're working through today with the primary care group that I've mentioned, but more, in more detail in other fora with Aboriginal communities, with the Aboriginal controlled health sector and others. In fact, I was sitting next to the representative from the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association, and he kept whispering in my ear about not, don't forget the Aboriginal sector and we're definitely not.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the billion dollars that you’re setting aside...
PRIME MINISTER: That’s just an estimate. It’s a demand driven programme.
JOURNALIST: Yeah, so is that based off, can you just talk a bit about what scenario that’s based on in terms of spread, how many people would contract the virus under that scenario? And also, the British Chief Medical Officer said that they are expecting 50 percent of cases within that three week period, 95 percent over a 9 week period, is that the same?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah I saw that. I’ll ask the Health Minister to respond.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: I’ll deal with the general, and on the epidemiology that's Professor Kelly’s actual discipline so we’re well equipped there. Now, in terms of the general, what we're looking at is the most likely scenario, I apologise but we're not at this stage in a position to put out particular figures because the modelling is evolving all of the time. But our estimate of the most likely range of costs for the states and territories is in the order of a billion dollars. With us picking up half a billion of that, and that is, as we say, completely separate from the hospitals agreement, then of course, there are all of our ordinary responsibilities for which we have 100 percent responsibility, whether it's been the evacuations, the border protection, all of the Medicare work and the potential for more Medicare items which are being discussed today, such as an expansion of telehealth, the focus on additional pathology services. The focus on telephone lines. The focus on additional information for the public. All of those extra responsibilities where we carry 100 percent, that's not part of that billion that's over and above.
PRIME MINISTER: Professor Kelly did you want to?
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, DEPUTY CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Just quickly, so I’m not going to speculate on numbers either. I was speaking to my counterpart in Public Health England this morning and we're always comparing notes at least a couple of times a week. England is in the middle of a flu epidemic in the middle of their winter. We're in a very different situation and we'll just have to see how that develops over time. We're getting the best modellers in Australia who are linked in again with that international community to look at a variety of scenarios. But as Minister Hunt has said, the most important thing at the moment is finding cases, finding their contacts and isolating. That is the way we slow down the epidemic and decrease the number of cases in our community. And that's what we're committed to. And this funding announced today will obviously support that.
JOURNALIST: As this virus continues to spread around the world, we see the number of cases multiply, here and in countries across Europe. The Olympics is looking pretty shaky isn’t it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well that's not a decision for the Australian government. I’ll tell you what we're focussed on. We're focussed on Australians, protecting Australians, their health and their wellbeing. Protecting Australian’s livelihoods and their jobs, their incomes, and most importantly, giving Australians the confidence and assurance so they can look to the other side of this virus, knowing that we will get through this, and we'll get through this for a range of reasons. One is we're going into this, we've come into this with a balanced Budget, which means we're able to deploy the sort of resources that we are doing right now. That's why you do that work. We're able to do it because we have an advanced health system, one of the best in the world, which means we've been able to get ahead and stay ahead of this. And particularly the advice that we've received from our experts means that we were calling this a week ahead, two weeks ahead of countries in many other parts of the world. And that's put us in a strong position for now. But we are not complacent about that. And what we are now seeing with the additional cases we're seeing in Australia is what we anticipated when we stood in my courtyard just the other week and we talked about having to be ready for a much higher level of spread of this virus, including in Australia. We're starting to see that now. And that's why I keep saying to Australians, we've been able to get ahead of this and anticipate the impacts it’s having both on a health and on an economic level. And we're going to continue to respond and keep ahead of it. And when we come to announcing the package of stimulus measures that will be applied in this area, that will also be done to get ahead of that curve as well. And so at that time, I think people will see that it will be targeted, it will be measured, it will be proportionate, it will be scalable, and we'll be able to move more into the future. So other countries, they'll have some difficult calls to make, like the ones you're talking about. And I wish them well with those decisions. They'll be very difficult decisions. We've got our own, and we're focussing on those and we're focussing on the Australian national interest. And that is first and foremost in my mind. Time for one more.
JOURNALIST: Just on the travel ban. You said just before that, you would have preferred to have put the enhanced screening measures in place for Korea as well, the Korean Government has said that it regrets that Australia has put a travel ban on people coming from there, do you, what impact is this having on our international relationships?
PRIME MINISTER: I don’t believe any. I think we all understand that these are not usual times and we regret having to be able to do that as well. We'd prefer not to be having any of the travel bans. We would prefer not to have coronavirus spreading around the world. We would prefer not to have any of these happening. And I think there is an understanding that each country has to make its own decisions in its own national interest. I mean, Australia has been very clear in our communication with our partners and our friends as we were yesterday. We've been very clear that, about the circumstances of this decision and if we're able to make a change to that decision in the next week or two, well, I think that would be good. I think that'd be great because there are, you know, there are Australians who are in Korea and and likewise, there are Koreans who are in Australia looking to return. And that has an impact on the availability of flights and all those sorts of practical issues. But the Coronavirus has had this disrupting effect on people's movement all around the world. And, but we’re going to stay on top of it. We're going to stay working together. That's the most important thing. And we, again, really appreciate the co-operative relationship that is on display with the states and territories. I mean, they will increasingly share a lot more of the direct responsibility of deploying through their health systems, the doctors, and the nurses, and the treatments, and the responses on the ground. They run the health system. But what they should know from what we've offered today is we'll be there with them shoulder to shoulder, 50/50 with an even stronger set of funding arrangements than we would normally have, because this is not business as usual. This is something very different. And, but we will get through it. And because we have the right partnerships in place, we have the resources ready to go. And we are spending all of our time focusing on what the next step needs to be and ensure we can take that next step in the national interest. Thank you very much everyone.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
5 March 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, everyone. The National Security Committee met again this morning, around three hours, to consider a lot of the report-backs on the matters that we considered last week and to continue on with their preparedness under the national emergency plan for the coronavirus. The first point I want to make is this, every Australian, all of our citizens, whether you’re the Prime minister, the Minister for Health, the Chief Medical Officer, mums, dads, school teachers, nurses, paramedics, childcare workers, boys and girls, we all have a role to play in containing and managing the spread of the coronavirus and ensuring that Australia is best prepared and best able to deal with this global virus. We all have a role to play. We all have responsibilities to play. To support each other, help each other, inform each other, assist each other, as we all get through what will be a difficult time in the months ahead.
The Minister for Health and the Chief Medical Officer will speak to the various statistics on what we're learning around the world. But we all have a role to play. Today we made a decision in relation to travel bans to, of course, continue the travel bans in relation to mainland China and in relation to Iran. We have also today decided that we will put in place a travel ban in relation to the Republic of Korea. We will also put in place what are enhanced screening measures to deal with those travellers that come from Italy. And I want to be very clear about what those enhanced screening measures involve. Travellers will be asked mandatory questions at check-in and anyone failing those checks will be denied approval to board. If anyone gets sick on board, biosecurity and health will meet the plane on arrival and manage those people directly. On arrival, travellers will not be able to use the smart gates. They will have to be dealt with directly by an officer and they will be asked further detailed questions. They will undergo health screening at the airport, which involves temperature checks and associated checks. If necessary, Health will make a decision on what is to happen with that passenger and Border Force and biosecurity officers will also be placed in the baggage halls to conduct a further questioning and checking. These are the enhanced screening measures. They are they require a much greater deployment. The cohort that we're seeing coming from Italy, as opposed to the Republic of Korea, we have about five times, in fact, just over that five times the number of people coming from Korea than we do coming from Italy. The other issue is that with Italy, this more broadly feeds into the issue of Europe and travel from Europe more broadly. And we'll be watching closely those developments over the days and weeks ahead. In relation to the Republic of Korea, we will also be upgrading the travel advice to Level 3, which is to reconsider the need to travel to the Republic of Korea, and it will be at a Level 4, which is do not travel, to the province of Daegu. Now in relation to Korea, the reason we've taken the decision to put the travel ban in place is because of the much higher level of visitation and travel we are seeing from Korea, than we have from those who are coming out of Italy. And that means the ability to immediately put in place the enhanced screening measures that I've talked about for Italy, to do that for Korea would be far more difficult. And so the better decision is to put that ban in place, because we believe that affords the best protection and will enable us to, as has always been our objective, to slow down the rate of transmission, which means that the health system and all the other plans that we're putting in place will be able to deal with the virus here in Australia.
Today also, the National Security Committee has reviewed the progress on potential pandemic preparations. That has gone from everything from the availability of surgical masks, in particular to working with the aged care sector. Tomorrow, there will be a rather intensive workshop with aged care sector to be working through the issues in relation to aged care. Later today, I think even as we speak, there's one currently going on with Indigenous community, to ensure that the plans we have in place will be effective in those communities. We're also standing up from today what is known as the national coordination mechanism that is being stood up through Home Affairs. They’re the arrangements that are normally put in place through Emergency Management of Australia in relation to national disasters and things of that nature. That will coordinate together with the states and territories, the whole-of-government responses to what needs to be addressed outside the direct health management. So issues around hospitals, and primary care, and working with the aged care sector, that will continue to be a direct responsibility working out of the Department of Health. But broader issues, when it comes to power, continuity of services, working with state governments, the execution of powers, all of these types of things, ensuring we're supporting workforce needs and how those issues can be managed on the ground, and working with state and territory police forces. There are a broad range of other issues that have to be managed which are not directly health-related, and this coordination mechanism will mean that we'll have the best possible interface with states and territories well ahead frankly, of many of these issues which are not present at the moment, but if they become an issue that has to be managed into the future, we will have mechanisms in place to be able to address those issues. So Australia, as I've said many times, we've got ahead of this early. We intend to stay ahead of this. The measures that we've announced today following the NSC meeting will assist us to continue to stay ahead of this issue. But I say to all Australians, you can help too. You can help by keeping calm and going about your business. You can help by supporting those who may be undergoing self-isolation. I think it has been an extraordinary thing to see Australians who have complied with and cooperated with the self-isolation requirements that we've put in place. We've got tens of thousands of Australians who've been subject to those. And indeed today, those who are quarantined under the Diamond Princess will be returning to their families. And I know they'll be looking forward to that. And I know their families will be looking forward to seeing them. We want to thank them for their patience and cooperation, and all of those who have been involved up there in Howard Springs and providing support and care to them. And I particularly want to thank the Northern Territory Government as well, for the great job they have done in supporting us as we've put these quarantine arrangements in place.
So to all Australians, let's get through this together. Let's help each other. Let's stay calm. Let's go about our business. Let's continue to enjoy the most wonderful country in the world in which to live, and that doesn't change under these circumstances. And we've always worked well together. We've always understood what our responsibilities are. And we've always gone about our business with common sense. And that's what we're known for. So let's do that, and I'm sure, I have no doubt, Australians will get through this like we get through everything else. Greg.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: Thanks very much, Prime Minister. Let me start by thanking all of those involved in the Howard Springs temporary quarantine process for the passengers from the Diamond Princess. I particularly want to thank, as the Prime Minister has, the Northern Territory, but also Australian Border Force and especially the AUSMAT team. The Australian Medical Assistance Team, where many of them have been within the quarantine environment themselves. We know that there have been 10 patients who have been diagnosed during the course of that, none for some days now consistent with the incubation period. Because they were in quarantine, two things happened. Firstly, they were able to be cared for and given the best care immediately. Very sadly, of course, we lost one gentleman, Mr James Kwan from Western Australia, but that care has helped save and protect them, and at the same time it has helped protect the broader community. And there were questions at the time as to why we imposed that quarantine. I think it's now absolutely clear that it was the right, and sensible, and appropriate thing to do. More broadly, around the world, we see that the coronavirus COVID-19 has spread to 80 countries now. Over 95,000 cases have been diagnosed, but we expect that the real number is somewhat higher than that because of undiagnosed cases. We know that very sadly, over 3,250 people have lost their lives. In that context, Australia has experienced its second life lost, the 95-year-old woman who has been in the Baptist Care aged home from Sydney. I referenced her case yesterday. That has now been confirmed as being related to coronavirus. And so, we are very sad for her and her family. And at the same time, we know that the total number of diagnosed cases in Australia has now reached 53. I want to thank all of the health authorities involved, not just in that case, but particularly New South Wales health and the Government there in assisting, but around the country. The state and territory Health Ministers and health departments for taking their role in helping to provide care and protection. And we're working with primary care, aged care. We're working with our dental community, we're working with all of the different health and medical providers around the country in constant communication. But we've further plans to, and this builds on the work which the Chief Medical Officer started in January, the travel bans that we put in place. Today's actions are the latest step in what is a carefully considered plan, which is being implemented as circumstances require.
DR. BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thanks, Prime Minister and Minister. So, clearly the community has had some concerns about the outbreak in Sydney. The small community outbreak. But this is a very small cluster of cases. It's being very actively managed by New South Wales Health. I have the highest confidence in New South Wales Health - all through this outbreak, the Commonwealth, all of the states and territories have been working closely in collaboration, and I have great confidence that they will chase down, track the source of that outbreak and contain it. The risk around the rest of Australia, as I've said on many occasions, all other cases have essentially been imported cases. There is no other evidence of community transmission anywhere else in Australia. The importation risk, as we've also said recently, has been significantly greater outside of China in recent weeks, particularly Iran, where we've seen most of our recent imports coming from. We are very worried about Iran. But clearly the two other highest risk countries are South Korea and Italy, where they have large case loads. And in the case of South Korea, where there is significant travel to Australia.
We know that we will get more cases. We are seeing a couple of cases identified every day, but we have very robust systems to detect. As we've said many times before, we've tested well over 10,000 people. The great majority have been negative. We will continue testing anyone with a return travel history, or indeed now as New South Wales Health did, people with us who may have had been in contact with someone who have a suspect disease. We need to broaden our testing capability. But we need to also remember the most important thing, and I say this every time I talk to the media, is that any return traveller from any part of the world, where there's a COVID-19 outbreak, who develops symptoms, should isolate and seek medical attention. That is the most important way we can deal with and stop spread in Australia. But at the moment, and I’ve said this on many occasions too, there is no reason to put a mask on when you're walking around the shops. There's no reason to stop going to football matches or community activities. There is no reason to denude the shelves of lavatory paper in the supermarkets. We should continue our normal activity. We will watch the development of this and we will focus on any outbreaks and control them. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Dr Murphy. Questions?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the travel ban, I presume only applies to non-citizens and residents -
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, same arrangements in place for mainland China and Iran.
JOURNALIST: Will there be the enhanced screening measures or self-isolation requested of Australian citizens returning from Korea?
PRIME MINISTER: Correct.
JOURNALIST: And is that enforceable?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, in the same way that the arrangements have been put in place so successfully for mainland China and Iran, which has been very effective, and I would expect people to be absolutely complying with those very, very straightforward requests. Mark.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, considering what the RBA and Treasury have said about the potential economic costs of this virus and the spread of the virus, are you now reconsidering perhaps direct stimulus through families and seniors in addition to the support for businesses and the affected sectors? Or are you keeping up your sleeve for a second phase?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I've said all along that what needs to happen is targeted, I've said it needs to be measured by proportion, and it needs to be scalable. And that's certainly the response that we're working on at present. You would have heard the evidence provided today, the report provided today by the Secretary of Treasury. You have heard from the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank last night about the impacts certainly in the March quarter that they anticipate. And not only just from the coronavirus, but also the bushfire affect as well, you have heard from Secretary of Treasury today. So for the coronavirus, a serious global health crisis that has very significant economic impacts are equal to that that we could have anticipated really from what happened with the Global Financial Crisis many years ago, but with very different causes. And the task that we have is very different from the one that was in place 12 years ago. And that's why we're working very swiftly to put those measures in place. And we're considering a wide range of options. And when we finalise that, then we’ll obviously make our announcements.
JOURNALIST: With the Grand Prix coming up in Melbourne, the announcement today of the Republic of Korea and Italy will have impacts on that. Are there any special arrangements being made for that? And perhaps one for the Minister, do you have any plans for the production of face masks and any additional measures for nursing homes?
PRIME MINISTER: Well firstly in relation to the Grand Prix, obviously that's a matter for the Victorian Government, how they're managing those things on the ground. But in terms of the travel ban, well it has an obvious impact for the Republic of Korea. That kicks in from 9:00 o'clock this evening. In relation to visitors from Italy, which is less than a fifth of the sort of travel that we're currently seeing out of the Republic of Korea. And so I'm not really anticipating any great impact there in terms of what we've seen up until now and the level of travel.
We all need to remember that as this virus has gone on, we're already seeing very significant reductions in the number of people travelling, regardless of travel bans. Australians will be travelling less out of the country. Those coming to the United States, they're travelling less out of the United States, out of Europe, out many parts of the world. So we're already seeing a reduction, and that will obviously have the impact on major events and tourism and those things, and that's part of the economic impact that we're going to see. But those enhanced screening measures will be in place for those as visitors have been coming through Italy, and indeed Australians that are coming back from Italy, and those self-isolation arrangements will apply to them. So in terms of what the Victorian Government is seeking to put on the ground, then I'm sure the Premier would be able to elaborate further. But on the masks issue, I’ll throw to the Health Minister.
MINISTER HUNT: So currently, we have 20 million masks as part of the national medical stockpile. We've made supplies available to general practices through two rounds of allocation to what are called the primary health networks, where those general practices that have needed them for their purposes have been able to obtain them. Part of tomorrow's work with the general practices is to identify any further and additional needs. So I think we have already been assisting in allocating. Tomorrow we'll be looking at additional needs. And I'll explain it this way, that we're making very good progress on any additional procurement requirements for Australia.
JOURNALIST: Based on the current information that you have in terms of spread and transmission, do you have any figures as to how many people are estimated in Australia to contract the disease? And what the health system is facing?
PRIME MINISTER: I might ask Dr Murphy to speak to that.
DR MUPRHY: So there’s a range of modelling. Modelling is just mathematical predictions. But we, and we've got those predictions from best case scenario to worst case scenario. And then looking at what impact that would have on every part of the sector. Primary care sector, emergency departments, ward beds, critical care beds. And we're looking at our current capacity, and we're going to compare that with the model capacity. But we're looking at scenarios from the most benign through to, you know, some millions of people being infected over a period of several weeks, and we think our health system is well-prepared to cope with that. But we're making sure, the Prime Minister has been very clear to us, that we need to be sure that we plan for every eventuality and build capacity where we think it may be under pressure if we have one of the worst case scenarios.
PRIME MINISTER: So yeah, we've been careful not to be speculative about this in the public domain. What we have done all the way through this global health crisis, I think, to be very candid and upfront with the Australian people, and we’ll continue to do that. But what we won't do is, I think is be speculative about these sorts of things because we were not in the position of creating unnecessary anxiety. What we're in the business of doing is making plans to ensure that we can deal with any gaps or suspected shortfalls or have contingencies in place that address what we may be seeing coming through the modelling. But the modelling at this stage, you know relies on a lot of data. Some of which is being sourced from experiences we're seeing overseas, where you have to have a degree of scepticism about a lot of the assumptions you put in place. Katharine?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just back on the travel ban, just for a sec. Can I get the rationale for it, because I may have erroneously thought that once there were community transmissions, or once we were in a period of community transmissions that bans were no longer effective in the sense that the horse had already gone and so forth. What is the rationale for the Korean travel ban? And also, if I may, just to Professor Murphy, just picking up on something you said in Senate Estimates yesterday, just that we would need more pathology capacity down the track for testing. That we might have to go into the private system in order to have that capacity. I’m just interested in whether or not the Government’s done any costings of what that might cost?
PRIME MINISTER: Sure, I’ll allow Dr Murphy to address that issue. That was another issue that we actually considered again this morning.
DR MURPHY: So we're actively engaging with the private sector over the coming days. We will be expanding the testing capacity into the private sector. Commercial tests are available. They're keen to help. And we're just working out the logistics of how to make that happen. At the moment, the public labs are coping brilliantly with the load that they have. But if they're- we will need the private labs, we're going to do more testing as further cases emerge. So that's being finalised and sorted out over the next few days.
MINISTER HUNT: Both Dr Murphy myself have spoken with the private sector and as he says, they are very willing and keen to do their bit for Australia and to help. And so that's not just an option, that's a plan which we are seeking to implement and we'll be able to do that.
PRIME MINISTER: So they'll be bringing back estimates to that effect and then we will be moving to act on those. But it's quite clear that this will enhance the capability for testing. But as Dr Murphy says, I mean people if they are turning up to their GP, or going to an emergency department, or if they’re indeed in an aged care facility, and there's a test that's being conducted, that's being turned around within a day. And I think the public labs are doing a great job on that. But it will certainly help to get more labs involved in this process.
On your other question Katharine, the AHPPC, you're right. They have said that travel bans, once you get into sort of broad community transmission, you know, have it have a different effect. And Dr. Murphy I’ll ask to speak to that specifically. The issue for the Government though today was the ability to put in place enhanced screening measures for both the Republic of Korea and Iran. I’m sorry, Italy. And given that the volume of travellers coming out of the Republic of Korea was more than five times what it is out of Italy, that may well be possible, within a matter of days or weeks to be able to ensure that we can deal with that. Right now, when I put the direct questions to Border Force about what can be stood up, absolutely, they can do that in relation to the volume we're seeing coming out of Italy and we'll do that. And until such time, they'd be able to do that for the Republic of Korea, then certainly the ban is the best way that the Government felt was that was the way to go. But you might want to speak to the advice that we received, Brendan.
DR MURPHY: So certainly the AHPPC advice, as you said, is that at this stage, travel restrictions won't prevent all new entry. But certainly the AHPPC were of the view that the Iran travel ban was a good delaying tactic. And in this case, I think Government's decision, as Prime Minister has said, was based on- the Government was very keen to introduce enhanced border screening, because Italy and South Korea are high risk countries. AHPPC has confirmed that they're the two highest risk countries. Government was keen to put in enhanced border screening and because Border Force felt that that would be difficult to do for both countries at once, a travel ban does stop about half of the traffic coming and it just makes it easier for Government to do the border screening.
JOURNALIST: Financial markets are sort of hanging on your words around internal restrictions on travel and activity. They want a sort of a yardstick or a number of deaths or a number of infections, at which point you would start to become more strict about using the Commonwealth's powers of restricting activity or people's movements.
PRIME MINISTER: Within Australia?
JOURNALIST: Within Australia. Can you give them some sort of yardstick or a number of deaths at which point you start to think more severely about that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I can understand the interest, but what is also important is that we're dealing with a situation which has a lot of unknowns in it. And I think it would be unwise for the Government to constrain itself in how it would deal with this issue going forward. There are clear powers, but the purpose of briefings such as this is I think to set out what is the context. And the context at present remains, and I'll allow Dr. Murphy to comment on this, is that compared to other countries around the world at the moment, we are not experiencing some of the more difficult challenges that they are. And the work that is being done both by the Federal Government and the state and territory governments in containing, and particularly in aggressively tracing any cases to contain them also, has been very effective to date. But there are obvious limitations to that. And I think Katharine's question goes to those limitations. I mean, as the Health Minister said, 80 countries now. That's double what we were talking about last week. And so, when it moves to that level, then obviously, as we predicted, I mean, what we're seeing now is what we anticipated would happen. That's why we took the decisions we took last week. It's why we took the decisions we did in advance of the rest of the world some weeks ago. We will continue to do that. And what I think investors, what I think the markets, I think what business can be confident about, is that the Government is acting on the best possible advice. We're getting access to the best of possible information. We are meeting regularly as a Government, as a National Security Committee of Cabinet. The national coordination mechanisms that we put in place today further extends that coordination and management of the Government's response. So for example, in more extreme situations when you would have to deal possibly, but I certainly don't see any risk of that at this present time, on issues around mass gatherings, for example. I mean, there are no suggestions there should be no mass gatherings in Australia. The only advice that I think Dr Murphy has wisely said is the only people who shouldn't turn up to mass gatherings are those who have got symptoms. They should do the right thing by their fellow Australians, exercise their responsibility that they have as citizens, and follow the medical advice to prevent the spread of the virus here in Australia. So we've got good plans in place, good responsiveness, good preparedness. We've got the resources to be able to address both the health requirements and the economic impacts and the goodwill, and good faith between ourselves and the state and territory governments to do what is needed to be done. Phil?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on the measures you’ll be announcing in your stimulus package. Do any of them require legislation? And if so, I think there’s only one Sitting Week after this in the next couple of months, would you envisage maybe to bring back Parliament for special sitting too?
PRIME MINISTER: Well Phil, when we've finalised the package, we’ll make announcements about the package and any arrangements we would need to put in place to ensure that we could get those things in order. Michelle?
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, Michelle. Dennis [inaudible]. Michelle, and then we’ll go to Dennis.
JOURNALIST: Mr Hunt, can you update us whether there’s been a solution in the argument between the New South Wales Government and the Federal Government about, I think, financing any temporary workforce?
MINISTER HUNT: So I'd respectfully characterise that very differently. Last week at COAG, there was agreement between the Commonwealth and the states to work very constructively, and in partnership, and that was recorded in the COAG Communique. I know that the –
JOURNALIST: Isn’t New South Wales complaining now though?
MINISTER HUNT: With respect, I know that whilst we're in NSC, Senator Colbeck, on my behalf and his own as Aged Care Minister, had a very constructive conversation with the New South Wales Health Minister. And I believe we've made very significant progress on that. And I know that the Prime Minister has spoken with the Premier. So we're working in partnership with all of the states and territories. What actually happened yesterday was the plan was implemented. There was an aged care facility which did have an issue because of transmission. What occurred was New South Wales Health delivered on what had been agreed and what had been prepared for, and their response was exemplary. And I want to thank and honour them for that. And what that means is that the first thing, our great task, is to protect everybody and to put human health and safety above all else. And then as we agreed with COAG last week, we're actually making very significant progress on ensuring that we're sharing the responsibility.
PRIME MINISTER: And so, to add to that answer, we will share the costs of what is necessary and we will do that constructively and cooperatively, and we'll do it in good faith. The Premier and I had a good conversation about those things today. The Treasurers will work through those details. This is a challenge for both Commonwealth and state governments. We all have our special responsibilities that we have to meet, and there are those that we have to do on our own. We'll meet the border arrangements. We'll deal with all those sorts of issues. We'll deal with the national stockpile of masks and so on. And we'll also share the burden with states on our shared costs that we have, whether it's in the hospital system or other places. But what I want Australians to be very encouraged by is everybody's working together. There's no quibbling about this sort of stuff. We'll just get on and do it, because that's what we all owe it to you to keep you safe. And I can assure you that leaders will continue to operate in that way in good faith. And I want to thank all the Premiers and Chief Ministers - I've had a lot of interaction with them lately, constant communication on these things. And they're focusing on what they need to do in their states, and so we're not tripping over each other. They're doing what they need to do. They know what we need to do. And this national coordination mechanism, which I announced today, which is being stood up, will only make that even more effective on things beyond the health responses. That coordinating mechanism supports the health responses, but it extends across to a broader range of issues that are really joint responsibilities, or supportive responsibilities, between state and territory governments. Dennis.
JOURNALIST: I was actually going to ask questions as Michelle, but given all of this great federal-state cooperation on the coronavirus, is that actually continuing with the bushfire recovery that you're not being distracted by coronavirus?
PRIME MINISTER: Not distracted. And the cooperation continues in relation to the bushfires. Absolutely it does. And I pay credit to former AFP Commissioner Colvin. I mean he's out there today doing exactly that. I made comments yesterday in the House about the work we're doing, working with the states in revising the, particularly the small business program. But the other areas of the program, particularly for primary producers and so on, that's progressing very well. The states do all of those assessments, and determine the eligibility, and make the payments, and the Commonwealth provides the resources for those payments. So, you know that, that I think is progressing well. And that will be obviously another issue that we'll discuss. I mean COAG meets at the end of next week and these will be substantive items on our agenda next week.
JOURNALISTS CROSSTALK
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry. You guys sort it out and then decide. Well done.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned there would be intensive workshops for aged care providers. Are you able to give any detail of what you're actually, practically going to be advising them? And also, back on the issue of broader education, you’ve mentioned there’s no need for panic buying, but when can we expect the Government's public health campaign to really kick off in terms of that mass media messaging to actually get people, I guess, doing the right thing? Both in terms of health and also other social behaviour?
DR MURPHY: So in terms of the aged care, we clearly need to work with the aged care sector to look at their needs in managing outbreaks. As we've seen in that facility in Sydney, there are demands on a facility when they have to isolate people, they have to make sure they have the right protective equipment and that we have to look at how we can support them in the workforce space. And those are all of the things we're looking at. Looking at how they would test people, which people if they became unwell, would be transferred to hospital, which people if they were very mildly unwell might be able to be nursed in the facility. Because as we know and we've said many times, a lot of people with this condition have very, very mild conditions. In terms of the communications package, the Prime Minister might want to talk to that, but he's authorised a very significant communications package, which is being developed at the moment across the whole community, not just the healthcare sector, but the broad community.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's correct, and that's being developed as we speak. It's an important priority for all the reasons that you've said. But I would like to pay credit to not only Dr Murphy, but Dr Kelly, the state health officers that have been, I think very upfront, holding regular briefings and that information is being reported by you all, and hopefully helping Australians as they seek to understand what the ramifications are for them. And the truth is right now, the ramifications for individual Australians, except if you've been in an area where there's been outbreaks of the virus or if you happen to be more elderly or have other frailties, then for the rest of Australians, right now there really isn't any great impact on your daily life, other than, for you personally, and your own health. Obviously, the economic impacts are certainly there, and that is why the Government's pulling together a package. And we'll be announcing that once that's finalised and that will be sort of addressing the needs of business in particular, for people to stay in jobs, for business to stay in business, and for business to invest, to ensure that on the other side of this, because we will get through this.
MINISTER HUNT: So I'll just add one thing here. From the very first day that Dr Murphy made the declaration of this as a disease of pandemic potential, we've been engaged in public information, both in terms of the decisions. Informing people, I think we made the decision to be transparent, early and frequent. And so those three principles of transparency, early provision of information, and frequency, have governed what we've done. We've also engaged in direct communications with the Chinese community, which was the most affected from the outset. We are working with different communities throughout it, and then providing specific information as we have worked with all of the medical sectors throughout. So we'll continue to do that. The aged care and primary care roundtables are tomorrow. But in addition to that, what the Prime Minister has signalled is that there’s further direct public communication in terms of express information, on top of the daily briefings that we've been providing.
PRIME MINISTER: Mark, I think we have time for one more. Mark.
JOURNALIST: It’s in relation to that. Does that mean a mass communications program along the lines of what the British Government's launched? Advertising just to ensure that people don’t panic?
PRIME MINISTER: It’ll be a comprehensive communications program, Mark. And that's important to give people practical information about what's occurring. And the whole purpose is to ensure that Australians can go on about their daily lives.
As I said at the start of this briefing, we all have a role to play, to ensure that Australia comes through this coronavirus, a global crisis. So that on the other side, we're healthy, we're together, that our economy bounces back and bounces back strongly. Of course it's a big challenge. And the Government will do what it needs to do, and we have been. We got ahead, we’re staying ahead, working closely with the state and territory governments. But all of us as Australians have a role to play, by staying calm, by supporting each other, by listening to the advice, by acting on that advice. And for those who are affected by the virus, helping them out too. If people are in self-isolation the Deputy Prime Minister was saying today that if someone is in a rural and regional area, you know there isn't the same access to UberEats for example, as there might be in cities. So, you know, make them a curry and take it around if they need one, and so they can be looked after if they're self-isolating. That's what communities do, and I have no doubt that's what Australians will do. We all have a role to play. And together we'll get through this. Thank you very much.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
3 March 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, everyone. Key in the government's response to the coronavirus is being upfront with the Australian people, and again, I want to thank Dr Murphy and the Minister for Health for the regular briefings they've been providing to the Australian people, information that they can trust, information that they can rely upon. And that is something that is very much needed. There's plenty of speculation that goes out there, all sorts of stories people can look up on the internet and all the rest of it. This is my trusted source of advice. That's where the truth is coming from and how the government is actually responding to this crisis. And I would encourage Australians to be seeking out those official sources of information and advice when it comes to addressing their concerns. The 24/7 info line, which I recall visiting almost in the first day or so as this issue really began to emerge back in January, 1800 020 080. I’ll say that again, 1800 020 080. That's where you can find out the information that you may be seeking as you seek to come to some understanding of the issues that are being confronted.
As we've also said, Australia is not immune as we've learned, but we are well prepared as any country can be. We will get through this together as a country and we are working this issue together as a country. States and territories together with the Commonwealth, the expert medical advice that is around the country, the private sector, the government sector, all pulling together. Just before coming into this press conference earlier today, I spoke to both Coles and Woolworths just to get an update on their arrangements. And I appreciate their response and the steps they're taking to assure people and their own customers. And it's important that as we continue to deal with this issue day by day where there are clearly many uncertainties. But at the same time, Australians are common sense people. They respond with common sense solutions. I've been particularly pleased with the way that Australians, particularly as they've returned from various parts of the world, and we've had the instance up in the Gold Coast most recently, where they became aware of their own condition, moved quickly to go home, to make contact and then to self isolate. As I’ve said we’ve had over 34,000 people returned from mainland China and self isolated. We’ve run three successful quarantine programs, and we will continue to put in place the sensible measures. And so when it comes to people going about their daily business, I would encourage them to continue to do just that.
The emergency response plan was activated, as we said last week, and that was in anticipation of where we understood the broader global Coronavirus was heading. We're now in some 75 countries, I'm advised, around the world where this is impacting. And that is what we anticipated this spread would be. And that's why we took that early action well in advance of most other countries. We are seeing in particular the most significant and most severe outbreak outside of mainland China now occur in Iran. And that's what has also been behind some of the more recent cases that we've seen in Australia. The National Security Committee will be meeting again this week. It's met on, I think, 14 or 15 occasions over the course of the past, sort of five weeks or so, as we've continued to get regular information and updated advice and respond to that advice. And the National Security Committee will receive both from Dr Murphy and as well as from the Education Minister and Home Affairs Minister and Foreign Minister on a range of fronts, issues that we've asked them to report back on in putting in place the emergency response plan.
I've also today asked that issues around travel and border controls also be reassessed again in relation to higher risk groups from nations that obviously includes looking at the issues in the Republic of Korea and in Italy. But I would note that those cases are quite different to some of the others because we're dealing with more advanced health systems in those places. And we will continue to look to the health advice, which has not been, up until this point, to make any changes to those arrangements. But as is always the case, we will keep looking at it each, each and every day. There have been 34 cases in Australia. 21 of those cases have fully recovered. 21 out of the 34. And sadly with Mr Kwan, we have had one fatality and that came from the group that returned from the Diamond Princess. There are a lot of common sense things that people can do in how they just go about their daily interactions, and Dr Murphy can take you through those. They are not extreme measures. You can continue to go about your daily business as I've said. I'm looking forward to getting to places of mass gathering, particularly if it involves too my football team playing or going to kids concerts or doing any of these things. Australians should continue to go about their lives in their normal way and just exercise common sense in the same way you would during a severe winter season where they may have where there may be an outbreak of flu or something like that. I mean, that is not uncommon and people exercise the same normal common sense decisions they would. And that's all we encourage people to do.
More than 10,000 people have been tested in Australia. I think that demonstrates the seriousness with which we've been putting those arrangements in place. They've all been done in public laboratories, on many cases that's been referred from private laboratories where the testing is conducted in a public laboratory. And we're now working with the private labs to see if we can expand that capability so more private labs can conduct those tests. There's also been some very good work done over the course of the last week with the aged care sector. Remember that in particular circumstances, if and in particular locations, if we had concerns, there's the ability to lock down aged care facilities out of protection for the residents in those aged care facilities. And so I want to thank again Dr Murphy and the state and territory health agencies for those engagements with the aged care sector, because that's obviously a more vulnerable sector with people with potential comorbidities. The other thing that has occurred is we've been engaging with Indigenous leaders, because in remote indigenous communities if the virus were to get to those places, obviously there was a real vulnerability there. And so we've been reaching out to those communities to work through how preparedness can be put in place. The Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme has also been engaging in the disability sector and the NDIA to be looking at the issues that need to be addressed, particularly for Australians with disabilities.
As I said, I spoke to Coles and Woollies on the way in. They would send the same message that I'm sending you today. That is, it is important that people just go about their business and their normal processes in a calm manner. And they've spoken to me about the arrangements they have in place around their supply lines and things like this, but I would just urge people to be going about their business in their normal way when it comes to those matters.
On the economic response, the Treasury is working closely together with the other relevant agencies of government to address the boost that we believe will be necessary, which I will have more to say about once we've worked through the details of that plan. It will be a targeted plan. It will be a measured plan. It will be a scalable plan. It will be targeted on the real diagnosis of the economic issue we're looking to confront here. We will ensure that we do not make the same mistakes of previous stimulus measures that have been put in place. There is a lot of learnings from what happened last time, and it's important that as the business sector bounces back, as it will on the other side of this, this is why this health crisis with significant economic implications is different from a global financial crisis.
There's no problem with the banking system. There’s no problem structurally with the stability of the economy or things of that nature. This is a health crisis which has had serious disruptive impacts on the travel movement of people and of goods around the world. And that obviously disrupts supply chains and has a suppressing impact on demand. And what we are focusing on is jobs, cash flow and investment. It's important that on the other side of this virus, which will happen, it's still uncertain at this point, of the development of the virus, about how long that would run for. But what's important to know is that there is another side to this. And on the other side, you would expect normal transmission to resume when it comes to the global economy. And what that means is we want to put our businesses in the best possible position to bounce back and bounce back strongly when that opportunity presents itself. So we will continue to work to get that right. If you don't work to get the details of a package like this right, then it can have very serious implications, both economically and more broadly. And frankly we saw that last time and we don't intend to repeat those mistakes.
Finally, we have been working closely, as I mentioned in Question Time yesterday with the Reserve Bank. We had a hook up yesterday, the Treasurer and I, and the Finance Minister along with the Treasury Secretary, with the Governor of the Reserve Bank and the Deputy Governor. We are highly aligned. Highly aligned in our understanding of what the challenge is here and understanding of the arrangements that can be put in place. We obviously both have different responsibilities and different ways of impacting on that, and I'll leave what the Reserve Bank does as entirely a matter up for them to do that independently. But I would just stress that we have been working closely to align both our understanding of the issue, and the necessary responses that can be put in place. Now the bank later today will obviously make a decision, as they always do, on the cash rate. And I'd make two observations. The first is cash rate falls have been 75 basis points since the last election. And our advice is that 70 basis points of those reductions have actually been passed through to consumers, either directly or by consumers getting better deals and actually exercising their own choices. So while not all of those rate cuts were passed on by banks, and you know my view on that, I applaud Australian consumers for taking matters into their own hands and making sure that they get the better deal. Now, there's no doubt if the bank were to take a decision today on cash rates that the Government would absolutely expect the four big banks to come to the table and to do their bit in supporting Australians as we go through the impact of the Coronavirus. That is why if the bank were to go down that path, they would be going down that path. And honestly, I don't see it any different to what Qantas did. When we called out to Qantas and we said we need your help. We need to get some people out of China. We need to get some people out of Japan. And Qantas showed up. Frankly as they always do. Great Australian company. And this is the same call out on behalf of Australians, that if the bank at a move today, then I would expect they would do the right thing by those Australians who are looking to see any support that the Reserve Bank would be seeking to provide at this time for these reasons that the big banks would do their bit, just like Qantas did their bit, and that they would follow through.
So with those introductory remarks, I'm going to pass onto the Minister for Health and then onto Dr Murphy. Thank you.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: Thanks very much, Prime Minister. Globally, we've seen now that over 90,000 cases, for the first time, have been diagnosed as being confirmed with coronavirus. In addition to that, almost 3,100 lives have been lost. And as the Prime Minister said, we now have 75 countries or regions where the virus has been confirmed. That includes Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Portugal for the first time in each of those cases. Within Australia, shortly before coming here, we were advised that a 34th case has been diagnosed in Queensland. I believe it's a 20-year-old male who has been in Dubai. The Queensland Health authorities will provide further detail, but we have been advised that contact tracing has immediately begun. So contact tracing has immediately begun, and that patient has been isolated and to the best of our advice, is stable.
As the Prime Minister has said, important news today is that we now have 21 cases that have recovered. That means the initial 15 who had come from or been associated with Wuhan and then six of the 10 Diamond Princess cases, with of course the very sad loss of Mr Kwan. In terms of our actions, following on from the decision of the Prime Minister and the National Security Council to implement the coronavirus pandemic preparedness plan, we have met with the states. We are now working through the primary care, the aged care and the medical programs, in particular. With regards to the primary care, the Chief Medical Officer led a roundtable yesterday focusing on additional items to equip our GPs. Focusing this week on the aged care sector, which is our very, very high priority because of the vulnerability of the elderly - that's my number one priority for this week, is to focus on our aged care sector. And we're making sure, as is the Treasurer, that supply lines are maintained in Australia. The last thing is that in terms of the hospitals, each state and territory continues to focus on the preparedness of their own hospitals. And they've been doing, I think, an excellent job so far. Brendan.
DR. BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thanks Prime Minister and Minister. So I'll be fairly brief. This extra wave of cases we've been seeing is what we predicted when we talked about it last week with the international development. In this phase of our pandemic plan, we are focussing on containment, isolation through the state and territory public health officers, as we did with the earlier cases. And all of those cases are being appropriately managed. Whilst there were two very isolated cases of apparent transmission between people in Australia in New South Wales, there is no evidence of sustained or widespread community transmission in this country. So, as the Prime Minister said there's no reason for people to stop going to mass gatherings or going about their normal business.
Clearly, our focus is now on returned travellers. If you've come back from one of the countries with where coronavirus is particularly a high risk country, they're the people who should be taking precautions. Particularly as we've said, for if you've come from Iran, which is one of the highest risk areas in the world at the moment, we are requiring a formal 14 day quarantine. But if you've come from other countries, we've asked you to take sensible precautions, practice good hand hygiene, practice some keep keeping away from large crowds. But particularly anybody who’s a return travel or has been in contact with anyone who developed symptoms such as fever, cough, very mild symptoms in many cases, but it's people who have symptoms who are largely infectious. So if you've come from an area where you might be at risk or you've been in contact with someone, isolate yourself, ring up your GP or your local hospital, tell them about your travel history and get advice about being tested. The sooner we isolate and get people tested, the better we are at controlling the spread of this disease. As Minister and the Prime Minister have said, we do have a very advanced pandemic plan. We're working across every part of the health system to make sure that we're prepared for any eventuality. But at this stage, we have small numbers of cases that are controlled, and that the community can be reassured that there's no reason to change normal behaviours. There's no reason to go and panic buy, and do things that are unnecessary. So we're working very closely as a unified health system to deal with this issue. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Can I also thank you Brendan? Dr Murphy also briefed the Opposition and the Government party rooms today, and they were very informative sessions. Phil.
JOURNALIST: You spoke about leaving business in the best possible position re: the recovery and investment being one of your focuses with whatever you are going to announce. Are you, would you be prepared in that field before the May Budget [inaudible] investment allowance or something like that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well Phil, I mean I’ll obviously have more to say about that once the measures that we've finalised are agreed upon. And when we're in a position to make those announcements, then we will.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you say that Australians are common sense people. What do you say to those common sense people who are going to Coles and Woolworths and clearly buying up stocks? Do you say to them that it is not common sense to provide their household with goods and food for at least a fortnight?
PRIME MINISTER: What I'm saying is, is that the common sense response is to go about your business as normal. That's exactly what you heard from the Chief Medical Officer. I can understand the anxiety that's out there in the community. That's why it's important to get information from the trusted official sources. That's why I've suggested, whether it's through the information line in the incident response centre, not to be responding to what I've seen as a rather wildly speculative reports that are out there. That's not helping anybody. People running around, making all sorts of wild speculations. That's not helping anybody. What helps people is just getting access to the right information. And the source of that information is coming well through our health agencies, both at a state and a Commonwealth level. And that's what people should base their decisions on.
MINISTER HUNT: Can I just add?
PRIME MINISTER: Greg.
MINISTER HUNT: I might just add something to this which Brendan could assist with. One of the very important reassurances for families is about the, on the evidence we have, are limited transmissibility to children, which is very important for families and parents, and then the mild impact on those children are on the evidence across the globe. Now, obviously, more will be developed, but I think that reassurance for parents, Brendan, might help and assist with parents and families to have a significant measure of comfort.
PRIME MINISTER: Now I might ask Brendan to comment.
DR MURPHY: Sure. So I think the evidence around the world is that when children are infected, they are incredibly mild, in fact, so mild that they almost don't have symptoms. The only child we've had in Australia infected fulfilled that criteria. We're not entirely sure the extent to which they get the virus, but we do know that symptomatic significant disease is not a feature. And we've seen very little evidence of a significant problem in children and that is quite different from flu, where we often have some quite sick children. So that is a good positive message.
PRIME MINISTER: Jane.
JOURNALIST: Sorry, Prime Minister or Dr Murphy. Yesterday New South Wales was suggesting people no longer shake hands. Is that the official advice coming from the Commonwealth and are there other social isolation measures people should be taking? Like what kind of examples could you give?
DR MURPHY: So we have, the medical advice would be that the social isolation should be focussed on people have returned from high risk countries or people who've got symptoms that might suggest that they've picked up this. Same as you would if you’ve come, if you think you've got flu, you’ve come back from South Korea or Italy or Iran. Then we certainly would want you to practice some social distancing, not go to mass gatherings, and in that context, shaking hands, good hand hygiene, is probably best to be avoided. But we're not suggesting that those practices should be considered by the broader general community.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what initial advice [inaudible] Murphy has just said contradicts what the New South Wales Health Minister said yesterday, which is that everyone should stop shaking hands. Is that a failure of the Government to not have consistent public health messaging that could have prevented some of the panic statements from official figures like the state Health Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: I just simply want to acknowledge the really good working relationship we've had with states and territories on this issue and I'm not about to get into the running commentary on those sorts of things. We’ll continue, as we are here today, providing the Australian public with the best information and advice that we have. And I really want to thank all the state governments, New South Wales included, for the great way they've been working with us. Mark, Mark.
JOURNALIST: Can I ask a question about the sports grants scheme?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm going to focus on coronavirus at the moment. If we've exhausted the interest on coronavirus, I'm happy to deal with other matters. But I've got to say, I think the coronavirus is an issue of much greater concern to Australians today than the politics of Canberra. John.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible] retail banks to do the right thing. Is doing the right thing passing on the entirety, for example a [inaudible] rate cut?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on supply lines. There’s stories we’re hearing about kids not being able to get football jumpers, because they're ordering them in from China. Are you worried about the fuel supply and other essential goods if we do hit a [inaudible] mass outbreak here in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look at the moment no. We're not about those sorts of issues. But these are all the issues that go into our preparedness and these are the things that we are constantly looking at as a government to have the necessary precautions in place. But if supply lines have been disrupted and whether that's to kids, footy jumpers or other supplies, it can include important building materials and supplies that are going into the constructions of people’s homes. So my point is that the health crisis with economic impacts is different because what it does is it disrupts the normal economy. It disrupts supply chains. That is what its economic impact is. And so that will have impact on cash flows. That will have an impact certainly on external demand and can have impacts on domestic demand as well. And so that's why in seeking to pull together a package, that's what we're trying to address. Keeping businesses in business, keeping Australians in jobs, and making sure that on the other side, because there is another side. There absolutely is another side. I mean, at the recent G20 Finance Ministers meeting in Saudi Arabia, there was a view that there was a V-shaped economic trajectory to this issue. Now it's probably looking more like a you than a U than a V at the moment. And that's because it's changing. And what that says to us is you can't, what you don't do is solve last week's problem, you solve today's problem, or the problem of 10 years ago. This is not the same issue as the GFC. It's a very different set of economic circumstances and issues we're seeking to address. And the most important thing is the cash flow, particularly of more vulnerable small and medium sized enterprises, the workers, those who work for those businesses, and ensuring that they're in a position to be there on the other side when the economy bounces back. And our economy is going to bounce back, and Australia is going to bounce back, and I want it to bounce back stronger than anywhere else in the world.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible] mentioned the mistakes of the past. The stimulus of a decade ago was 50, 60, 70 billion or more, and some of that, a lot of that, went on infrastructure which was slow to get built. Is that an example in your mind of what should not be done this time?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I was in the Parliament at the time, and I made the observation at the time that the second wave of stimulus that was put in place by the Government at that time was not something the Opposition supported. And I think that we were born out to be right about that. I mean, what you have to be able to do is put in place things that can be done straight away. Now, we brought forward $3.8 billion worth of infrastructure projects last year. And I sat down together with the Infrastructure Minister and the Urban Infrastructure Minister with states and territories to identify those elements of the supply pipeline and our infrastructure program to get as much of that into this next, you know this six months and the next financial year. Now, I'm pleased we did that, because that means those projects are now being accelerated and that will play a part in what can be made to occur. And if there are any elements of that that we can move more quickly, fine. But it's not a simple thing to do. You can't just turn on an infrastructure project, not even necessarily one that's even underway in terms of ramping up its level of activity. I mean, they will have issues about supply lines as well. And so what you have to focus on is that is the things that can move more readily. We're dealing with a very time limited issue here, because the demand and supply disruption impacts will appear for a time. And when the health issue is addressed and passes, then the economy will return to what was a more structurally sound basis. And it's important that when you address the budgetary issues, you also keep in mind the structural integrity of the Budget. And what that means is, I mean, the reason we've been able to get Australia back into the position where we can address not just this crisis, but also the bushfire crisis we've just been through, and to provide the support we have through the drought is what our Government did to restore the Budget was to do two essential things. And that was to get out the growth in expenditure down to a manageable level, and that fell down to less than two per cent per year, which was one of the greatest achievements of expenditure restraint we've seen in this country in 50 years. And at the same time, after getting our expenditure under control, we did the things that supported the growth in the economy. And we've had tremendous growth in employment, and what that did was lift revenues without raising taxes. And that's how the structural integrity of the Budget has been restored. And I intend, along with the Treasurer and the Cabinet, to ensure that we maintain that sort of discipline. And that the structural integrity of the Budget that we've been able to rebuild means that when the economy bounces back, then the Budget will similarly benefit. Yeah, Ellen.
JOURNALIST: In terms of the inbound passengers, are you looking at fast tracking the way you collect the flight manifest? And why are we still relying on handwritten arrival cards?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the work that is already being done on border controls actually works with airlines to identify passengers prior to embarkation. That's actually how the border control system works. And so that's why people who were trying to board flights out of mainland China to Australia can't get on. It's not that they're turned back once they get to Australia, they get turned back before they even board. So when we put in place the Iran travel ban just on Saturday afternoon. That's right. On Saturday afternoon, that took and the first question I had when we considered it to Mike Outram is how quickly can you get this in place Mike? In terms of ensuring the airlines are able to provide that pre-embarkation ban at the other side? And he said we'll have that in place by the morning. So that's not what is necessary relied on. What we have is we do have to get access to manifests. It's one of the advantages that Australia has in managing a situation like this is for people coming from many countries, then they're in the air for some time and that gives our authorities the opportunity to review those manifests if they haven't already been able to identify those who are seeking to get on in the first place. At the back.
JOURNALIST: What was the reason for your discussion with Coles and Woolworths this morning? Can you give us some more details about those conversations? Are you concerned about supply chains?
PRIME MINISTER: No. I'm concerned, but I thought it was important to have an understanding from those major companies about the processes they're putting in place, to manage how they're continuing to be able to deliver services to the Australian community. And what they were able to feedback to me, I think was very positive. And I'm pleased with the plans that they have in place. The prolific nature of this is by being presented on social media and things like that is not as widespread as those images suggest. And they've got measures in place to deal with that. There are obviously some lines which will be more tested in the short term, but they're working on those. The other thing which I'll be doing, is working with the ACCC. And this is something that we did actually during the recent bushfires to ensure that we enable these companies to work together a bit to ensure that they can maintain supply. Now, a very good example is, is Kimberly Clark, which produces toilet paper. They have now opened up their line of manufacturing in South Australia. I welcome that. And that's a direct response, having worked with the retailers about what they need. And I'm sure that will come as a great life to everybody, that that's how this works. That's the economy in motion. That's private companies actually assessing their own risk plans and responding to them. But what greatly assists, I think, is Australians, as I said, just going about their business in the normal way. We have got ahead of this. We are staying ahead of this. And to keep staying ahead of it, we need to keep responding in the way that we are.
You’ve already had one mate.
I couldn’t quite hear, sorry.
JOURNALIST: The Victorian Government has announced today $6 million for vaccine development to the Doherty [inaudible] Institute. Is that [inaudible] the $2 million grant pool that you announced a couple of weeks ago. Is the Federal Government considering increasing funding for vaccine development? And if not, why not?
MINISTER HUNT: Firstly, we welcome the Victorian government contribution. We're actually providing $75 million at present through the NHMRC and through other measures to directly support the Doherty. In addition, there was specific funding for vaccine development right now. But the broader funding of $75 million underpins the work of the Doherty, their capacity to do research work, their capacity to do investigative work, and that's supporting their research. That's supporting their role as the National Reference Laboratory, and that's allowed them to become the first institute in the world to the best of our knowledge to grow and share the details of the virus. So they're underpinned by an extraordinary Commonwealth contribution.
PRIME MINISTER: And Jack Ma, I think just put out I think it was about three or four million dollars to support the Doherty Institute. I take that as an amazing recognition of the incredibly bright minds we have in Australia that are working on this. And I congratulate the Doherty Institute. Greg and I and Brendan were there a few weeks ago, and where we spoke to them not just about vaccine issues, but the broader issues about antivirals and how they saw these virologists, the virus actually extending in the weeks ahead. And that information was enormously helpful. So we have the best people in the world actually working on a vaccine. They're getting tremendous support from the Government, the state government. I commend Dan Andrews for doing the same. It's not a competition. We're working together. We're all trying to solve the same problems. And together with those in the philanthropic sector will eventually crack this. But right now, it's a matter of dealing with the more immediate impacts security. John.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible] slightly upgraded your stimulus language. Last week you said it would be modest, now you're saying it's moderate. Is that acknowledgement that modest won't be enough? And is your objective to avoid a negative quarter of growth in the Australian economy?
PRIME MINISTER: My objective is to support Australians through a very difficult challenge. To keep them in work, to keep their businesses in business. That's my objective. I mean, what other objective could I possibly have? I mean, what we're doing in responding to the coronavirus, is to firstly prioritise the health of Australians. And then we are working to ensure that the disruption that has caused as a result of the the health crisis that we're seeing, is minimised as much as is possible. But we've been very upfront with Australians about this. I mean, every time we've come to these lecterns or come to the dispatch box, I think Australians can have great comfort that the Government is being very upfront with them. And the truth of this matter is, yes, this is a significant virus and it's taking hold around the world at a very rapid rate. But Australia is in a very good position to respond to this. We're not immune from it, but we will get through it. We will get to the other side of this. And on the other side, you know, I have every confidence that we will see the economy bounce back and Australians to be able to thrive once more. But we have to get through it together. And that's what our focus is. Mark. Last question to Mark.
JOURNALIST: On the basis of life going on as usual, a question on another subject. Previously, you've said that the involvement of your Office in the sports grants project was passing on representations from other Offices. In evidence to the Senate last night it was revealed that one of the final spreadsheets was changed by your Office to extract one project and to add another, after the Government went into Caretaker mode. And subsequent to that, another nine changes were made by the Minister. So haven’t you mislead the Australian people on this issue?
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely not. I’ll repeat exactly what I've said before, Mark, and this is exactly what occurred. This is what I said to the Parliament and I'll say it to you here, as I said at the National Press Club, my Office provided information based on the representations made to us, including information about other funding options or programs relevant to project proposals. The authorisation of the projects was provided by the Minister for Sport. She was the one authorised to provide those authorisations, and that's what she did, and that is the fact. Thanks very much.
Speech, National Plastics Summit - Australian Parliament House, ACT
2 March 2020
Well thank you for that introduction and welcome everybody here today.
Can I particularly start by acknowledging the Ngunnawal people on whose land we meet, and we are reminded in this very special place on Ngunnawal land today and can I acknowledge elders past, present, and those importantly, who are emerging in the future and thank you very much for the acknowledgement and welcome to country today.
Can I also acknowledge any service men and women who are here with us today, and veterans, and just simply thank you on behalf of a grateful nation for your service.
But to the kids who are joining us, where’s Molly? Can you put up your hand Molly? She’s a champion as all these kids are champions. And it was her advocacy work up there in north Queensland that Warren Entsch some time ago brought to my attention, all the girls and boys that we’ve got here are champions of this issue and I want to thank you very much for joining us here today and being part, because it’s all about your future, and the Australia and the world we want you to grow up in that is the focus of all of our efforts today.
To the scientists that are here today, to those in industry who are here today, to the community leaders who are here today, to the investors who are here today, to everyone who is here today, you’ve come here today because you are part of the solution we’re working on together.
And can I particularly acknowledge all of my colleagues who are here today, there are too many to mention, but particularly Sussan Ley the Minister for Environment, together with the Assistant Minister Trevor Evans, who are leading our initiatives.
I’ve lived pretty much all of my life by the sea.
By the beach, and my electorate today in the Southern part of Sydney where my family and I have lived for all of my kid’s life, until very recently, we’ve always grown up by the sea. And my first awareness of issues regarding the environment were about the quality of our oceans.
And when I was a kid, and you went to the beach after school, down at Bronte, it wasn’t always the surf report you have to be mindful of, you had to be aware of the waste report back in those days. And I won’t tell the kids what we had to avoid when we were in the surf after school.
But that was a problem. And it was a really big problem.
But it's a problem that engineers, and scientists, and governments, and industry, worked together on to come up with a solution, and deep ocean outpours were developed and today when you go and swim at our beaches they are some of the cleanest of any you’ll see in the world today, particularly our metropolitan beaches.
And so I’ve always been a passionate believer that you don’t come to conferences like this to spend all your time analysing and celebrating the problem, we know there’s a problem, what we have to focus on are the practical solutions.
And what I particularly, why I’m particularly drawn to this agenda more than most is, it’s those who are involved in this are very focused on the practical things that can be done. And Ian Kiernan, the late Ian Kiernan was a great example of that.
He was all focus on the answer, and the practical things that each and every one of us could be engaged in.
Each and every one of us could play a part in.
Because we all have a responsibility. We all have responsibility.
Can I also acknowledge here today, because it’s a problem that we need to solve not just here in Australia but particularly around our region, can I acknowledge the Director-General of the Secretariat of Pacific Regional Environment programme, Kosi Latu, who has travelled to be here with us from Samoa. And it’s wonderful to have you here with us today.
I am particularly aware, and conscious of the challenge this present in the Pacific Island communities amongst our pacific family.
And there it’s not just an issue of the waste itself but how that impacts on people's health in Pacific Islands, how it impacts on their livelihoods in pacific Island communities, and so this is a very existential challenge for the people of the pacific, that is part of our pacific step up. It represents a big component of where we’re seeking to play a role to support our pacific family.
At the heart of what I believe - be it the economy, our defence, our education, the state of our cities, or the health of the environment - is that we have a responsibility to leave our children better than what we inherited.
There’s a the pact between the generations, honouring our past and our traditions as we have with the Ngunnawal elders, but also striving to leave the next generation something more than we ourselves have enjoyed.
It’s a standard. And implicit in that standard is a determination to not diminish what we have ourselves have been granted by careful stewardship of others.
Our Indigenous communities understand this through 60,000 years or more of environmental stewardship, gifting to us the quality that we have before us today.
We have to see this land the same way - and our misuse of plastics is a scarring on our land, and a scarring on our oceans.
For something that does so much good, as we were hearing just before. It does not always do that good.
Plastics, they are remarkable:
They keep our food fresh.
It is vital for our medicines, our health system.
It is lightweight, it's inexpensive and it’s part of our everyday lives.
But therein lies the problem.
Plastic that is designed effectively, used correctly, recycled reliably, and remanufactured creatively can stay in the economy almost indefinitely with little environmental impact.
But too often plastic products are not designed to be re-used or to be recycled.
They are not collected carefully, or are difficult to sort and process commercially. Or the market doesn’t support remanufacturing into valued products.
And that’s what we have to change.
The change we need is so substantial that the only way forward is in partnership - working with our neighbours; in our region, state, territory and local governments; industry - manufacturers, supermarkets, customers; waste operators; everybody, communities included.
Today I want to clearly outline the three pillars of our plan as to how we believe this can be addressed as a government.
Firstly, it’s our waste, it’s our responsibility. Taking responsibility for our plastic waste.
Expanding industry capability, secondly.
And thirdly, encouraging demand for recycled products.
It’s about making Australia a world leader in how we manage our waste and recycling.
Firstly on the issue of taking responsibility.
Every year we export some 1.4 million tonnes of waste plastic, paper, glass and tyres.
Some of this material has been sorted, processed and will go on to form a valuable input to a commodity supply chain overseas, that’s true.
But much of it is of low value and destined to find its way into the environment through waterways, or into our oceans.
Waste sent to developing countries, usually by developed countries, for recycling is often dumped in poor villages, picked through by those living in poverty and the remainder burned or washed into rivers and then out to sea.
Every year, 8 million tonnes of plastics ends up in our oceans.
And developing countries are sick and tired of having to deal with developed countries’ waste. And so they should be, and that’s why we’re acting.
In the Pacific alone, there is an island of floating plastic waste which is nearly three times the size of France.
Now when someone first told me that, I found that hard to believe. I actually wanted to see a picture. And you hear lots of factoids in this job and people present numbers to you all the time, and that one sounded pretty far-fetched. But I’ve seen it. I’ve seen the images of this and it’s true, it’s there.
And it’s an indictment on all of us.
The vast bulk of this is estimated to have come from 8 rivers in the East Asian region.
Our Pacific family has not caused this problem, but they have to deal with the impacts of it on their fisheries, on their wildlife and islands.
We are choking our oceans.
Scientists estimate that in just 30 years’ time the weight of plastics in our oceans will exceed the weight of fish in our oceans.
Just think about that for a second.
Taking responsibility means recognising the problems we are contributing to - and it also means keeping faith with the Australian people who recycle because it is the right thing to do.
When we take the time and effort to sort, clean and dispose of something in the recycling bin, well it’s pretty reasonable that we think that it will be recycled.
Only 21 per cent of plastic waste we put in our yellow bin for recycling is actually recycled.
We’re getting ripped off.
There’s a promise that is sort of implicit - you’ve got the bin, you put it in there, and you expect the right thing to be done with it.
And it’s important that when we have programmes in place that deal with that material, that that promise is honoured. Otherwise people will give up on it. And they’ll stop doing it. And the problem will get worse.
Australians don’t expect their waste to be exported to someone’s village or waterway where kids can’t then swim in the rivers, or swim in their own beaches, that’s not right.
Scientists estimate that in just 30 years time as I’ve said, there is this terrible, terrible situation we will face when it comes to the weight of plastics in our ocean.
In two weeks I will meet with state and territory leaders at COAG to finalise the details of a ban on the export of waste plastic, paper, glass and tyres.
Which we announced, I announced when we were up in North Queensland- up in Cairns at the COAG meeting being held there last year.
I’m not talking about banning exports of value-added recyclable materials, I have to stress.
Where our materials can actually go into production chains, in other places, whether that be in New Zealand or in other parts of the world, that’s fine, that’s practical, that’s part of the solution.
I’m talking about the materials that end up doing so much harm to the environment.
Australians are doing the right thing and we can only keep faith with them by transforming our waste and recycling markets.
Which leads me to the second pillar - which is industry uplift.
Only last week, Infrastructure Australia listed National Waste and Recycling Management as one of five new national High Priority Initiatives, and I agree with them.
The state of our recycling and remanufacturing facilities, as well as the economics behind our collection systems, are under severe strain.
We need to invest in this industry - invest in the technological innovation that maximises the value of the recycled product and minimises the costs as well.
The Australian Council of Recycling observed that only 8 per cent of the $2.6 billion collected by states and territories through waste levies has been reinvested in recycling infrastructure and technology.
People are putting and paying fees on waste management levies that isn’t finding it’s way into recycling infrastructure and technology. And that has to change.
I will have more to say on this closer to the up-coming Budget, but the Commonwealth stands ready to work with the states, to co-invest in these critical infrastructure facilities, and with industry.
We are working with state and territory governments to identify and unlock the critical upgrades that will lead to a step-change in their recycling capacity. And we will invest in these facilities with governments and with industry on a 1 to 1 to 1 basis.
Equal partners to build that capability which is essential to actually drive change.
Investing in the sector isn’t just good for the environment, it's incredibly good for our economy as well.
The waste sector in Australia employs around 50,000 people and generates around $15 billion every year.
For every 10,000 tonnes of waste sent to landfill, 2.8 direct jobs are created. But if we recycle the same waste, as mentioned before, 9.2 direct jobs are created.
According to the Australian Council of Recycling, recycling more domestically could create more than 5,000 new jobs.
The global recycled plastics market is expected to grow at 7.9 per cent annually over the next decade, they are phenomenal figures, and be worth almost $67 billion in 2025.
Industry is not blind to the incredible potential here.
And neither is our Government.
Last month, waste management group Cleanaway, packaging maker Pact, and beverages giant Asahi announced they were building a new plastics recycling facility in Albury, in the Minister for Environment’s seat.
This facility will turn 900 million used bottles - or 28,000 tonnes of plastic - into new bottles every year.
Now I’m excited about that at a whole range of levels. But one is an important economic driver in rural and regional parts of the country as well.
These facilities can be in regional towns, and create regional jobs. It doesn’t just have to be in the big cities.
Diverting waste from landfill also, and creating 30 new jobs in regional Australia.
Coca-Cola Amatil is exploring options with waste management company Veolia for a recycled plastic processing plant in Australia. Meaning our plastic bottles could be processed here, instead of being shipped overseas for processing and then returned.
Again, more jobs, less waste.
And as we know, the long-term sustainability of any industry is found in demand.
Which leads to that third pillar: which is about building demand for recycled plastics.
We know that banning the export of waste plastics will keep more of the raw stock here for use, and lifting industry capacity will increase our ability to use these materials constructively.
But to make the system really hum, we need to build the market.
Through months of consultation with industry, customers, retailers and brand-owners, the one issue everyone comes back to is the need to increase demand for recycled products.
Different countries have tried this in different ways but, true to our principles, my Government will not take a top-down, tax and punish approach to this.
We think Australians will respond to better incentives.
And we want to encourage and incentivise the best.
We want to support recycled products to compete in the market.
We want to see industry step up and be part of the solution which they want to do also.
And government must be part of that as well.
That’s why I am pleased to announce the first of a number of measures my Government will take to build demand for these recycled products.
We will be strengthening the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines to make sure every procurement undertaken by a Commonwealth agency considers environmental sustainability and the use of recycled content as a factor in determining value for money.
We’ve used Commonwealth procurement policy to energise our Indigenous businesses and we’ve had tremendous success - in a couple of weeks time, I’ll be up in Townsville where we’ll be opening the new stadium in Townsville.
They were setting records on indigenous businesses and indigenous employment in the construction of that facility, and I’m sure JT is pretty happy about that as well.
And we’re having success by using the way the Commonwealth spends money to actually support those changes which means businesses can then invest in the technology and the processing and the systems that they have, to respond to that demand.
In any market, you increase demand and the industry will respond.
And respond it ways you never imagined.
Last year, I visited a recycling facility in Western Sydney that turns recycled plastic into asphalt.
A one kilometre, two-lane stretch uses up to half a million plastic bags.
Less waste. More jobs.
Across Australia we are seeing tremendous innovation - recycled fence posts; crash barriers and noise walls built from recycled materials; and so much more.
These are all things that governments actually get involved in buying and procuring which can underwrite, effectively, the market.
Sydney-based technology company Licella is an example of what is possible.
It has developed chemical recycling technology that converts end-of-life plastics into waxes, diesel and new plastics.
Last month, it announced a partnership with an American bioplastic manufacturer to commercialise this technology.
Mildura-based company Integrated Recycling is also innovating.
It’s produced picnic tables, bollards and gardening products — all from recycled plastic. And now it’s making railway sleepers for Victoria’s rail network.
These are all examples of home-grown ingenuity which we can be really proud to export.
And a key part of the work that we do with our partners all around the world, and Karen Andrews as the Minister for Industry, Science, and Technology will know, that the work we’re seeking to do, and the United States, and other places as part of our partnerships is getting our scientists together and not just the scientists that work for big public institutions like the CSIRO, but the scientists who work for companies, and getting them to work together. To work out how they can develop more of these products and do so in a way where people will buy them and when that happens you’re really starting to move.
Meaningful change will be multifaceted, and there is much to do.
Of course it will require education; changes in behaviour, but most importantly, a willingness by all of us to step up.
Molly stepped up.
We’re stepping up.
Everybody who’s come here today wants to step up.
And I think that’s absolutely brilliant and I’m sure as we continue to focus on the practical things that we need to change, the practical things that enable us to move forward on what is one of the biggest challenges that we’re facing environmentally, particularly in our part of the world.
We are a continent surrounded by the ocean. Our waterways are our lifeblood. And the same is true for our pacific family and as you move up through the Asia-Pacific region, this is such a big issue for our part of the world and for our future, and for the kids who are here with us today.
I’m so pleased to see them here as part of what’s happening here today along with the scientists and all the others who are joining us here.
I want to thank you for making the effort to be here, and I’m looking forward to what some of the outcomes will be from you today, and I wish you well for all your discussions.
And I want to conclude again by thanking Minister Ley and Assistant Minister Evans for the way they’ve been driving this agenda, together with the Department of Agriculture, Water, and the Environment, to ensure that we are doing the practical things that are necessary to drive the change that we all want to see.
Thank you all very much for your attention, I wish you all the best for this Summit today.
Press Conference - Kirribilli, NSW
28 February 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Kīa ora, g’day. It’s wonderful to welcome Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern here on our annual bilateral engagement together and it’s particularly wonderful to have her here in my home city of Sydney on a spectacular Sydney day and wonderful to have you all here with this tremendous vista behind us which carries, I think, a very strong tourism message, as much as anything else to say, Prime Minister but it is wonderful to welcome you here.
The spirit of friendship that exists between Australian and New Zealand is long, it has been borne out of years of friendship but also, in particular, dealing with significant challenges and through those challenges, we have always stood side by side to face whatever comes our way. And in recent times, together we have had a lot that has come our way. We're approaching the anniversary of the Christchurch massacre and those times still ring very much in the minds of Australians and no doubt, of course, of New Zealander and once again, we extend our great condolences and sympathies to all those who, even a year on, as they will in that life-changing moment, will be dealing with that atrocity throughout the course of their lives.
We also have been more recently involved together in dealing with the terrible tragedy at White Island. I want to thank you again and the people of New Zealand for the tremendous care that you provided to all of those Australians and the deep sympathies that were expressed. But the care to the families that was provided and the prompt way in which all the New Zealand authorities acted so swiftly to come to the aid of those who were in terrible, terrible distress. And more recently, of course, our Kiwi cousins have been here, more than 400 of them, coming to our aid during the recent Black Summer bushfires. They were involved at all levels, whether it was fighting the fires, or in emergency services, through their Defence Force, the number of times I went straight out of the tarmac to chat to some Kiwi chopper pilots, and the work they were doing, and just to receive their encouragement and I know what they were delivering on the ground was delivering great encouragement to Australians going through some of their worst times ever. That's the nature of this relationship.
Today we have had the opportunity to speak on many issues that are part of the strategic relationship, the Defence relationship, the economic relationship, and most importantly at the moment dealing with the Coronavirus. Sharing our borders and ensuring those borders are well maintained, together with New Zealand, Australia and New Zealand have got ahead of this issue and we're staying ahead of this issue. And that means we will get through this issue together, Australia and New Zealand and we will be able to provide what we believe is the best level of preparedness anywhere in the world. This part of the world, in Australia and New Zealand, is safe when it comes to these issues. We're not complacent about it. We're taking the steps that are necessary to ensure that our citizens are kept safe. I want to thank the New Zealand Government and Prime Minister Ardern and all of your officials, your health officials, and others who have been working so closely with us. Most recently, that included an Air New Zealand flight, which brought Australians home from China, and equally, Australians under a Qantas flag bringing Australians home as well. So it's been a very productive meeting, as usual, and it's an annual gathering that we tend to do a lot more together as the course of the year unfolds, whether it is on making the internet safer, holding terrorists to account when it comes to their proliferation of obscene content through the internet. That has been another highlight of our cooperation over the course of the past year.
But with that, I will ask the Prime Minister to make some opening comments and then we, I understand, have a process for taking questions from the New Zealand and the Australian media. Prime Minister.
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Kīa ora. Thank you, Prime Minister Morrison. It is indeed a beautiful day here in Sydney, but with a wind that would rival Wellington. Which I don't think is having quite the same effect on you as it is on me. It is a pleasure to be here for our annual meeting. It is fair to say that since we last met, as the Prime Minister has mentioned, tragedy and disaster have befallen our two countries. They say that in moments of that nature, the true character of an individual comes to the fore and I believe the same could be said of nations too. In that vein, Australia has proven again to be the closest of friends to us. The eruption of Whakaari White Island had a devastating impact and you lost your own in that tragedy. Yet, Prime Minister, you and Australia could not have been more supportive of New Zealand in that time, from the offer of specialist staff, the collaboration on incredibly complex Medivac operations, right through to the mere fact that those Australian families who lost loved ones still had the heart and extraordinary kindness to send letters back to New Zealand, acknowledging the people who had touched them and at Whakaari and that Aotearoa would be connected to them.
I acknowledge too that this tragedy occurred in the backdrop of your own tragedy, as Australia battled bushfires of such devastating intensity. We were devastated by the scale of what your country was experiencing. There was an incredible desire to help. During the season we contributed, as you have said, 276 firefighting personnel, a number of Defence assets that included 139 personnel there, and additional staff. As we watched the smoke reach our shores, it only furthered our desire to do everything we could to support Australia and my message today is that we remain only a phone call away - quite literally, as Prime Minister Morrison and I showed in a recent press conference, that he inadvertently dialled into but these are only recent illustrations of the way we are connected and the way we work together and Prime Minister Morrison and I discussed those other areas today in quite some detail, whether it's work in the Pacific on climate-related issues, boosting the circular economy and improving waste management, coordination and support of one another as we tackle COVID-19, which did dominate discussions today, our ongoing commitment to make it easier for our businesses to transact with one another, including E-invoicing, biosecurity detection, Indigenous collaborations we signed - and the list goes on.
These are all indicative of a friendship that is grounded in our history and a friendship that we value. But friendships aren't just reaffirmed in times of tragedy. They must stand up to the test of politics too and in the face of politics, the New Zealand and Australia relationship is being tested. We appreciate that many Kiwis have taken up the opportunity to live and work in Australia. Many more than has happened in reverse. Not every Kiwi migrant will be perfect but evidence shows that the vast majority are providing a net benefit to Australia. They earn more, they are more likely to be employed, and they pay more tax than their Aussie-born counterparts. They are Australia's best migrants. But rather than them being given security to keep contributing, in return their rights are being eroded. Simple rights like assistance from the National Disability Insurance Scheme, even though they pay into the scheme's levy. Or the ability to join the Defence Force, or even become a federal civil servant. Kiwis want to contribute to the place that is now their home but they are not being given the potential to do that to their fullest.
Separate again is the issue of deportations. Australia is well within its rights to deport individuals who break your laws. New Zealand does the same but we have a simple request - send back Kiwis. Genuine Kiwis. Do not deport your people and your problems. I have heard countless cases of individuals who on any common sense test identify as Australians. Just a few weeks ago I met a woman who moved to Australia, not much older than 1 year old. She told me she had no connection to our country, but had three children in Australia. She was in a crisis centre, having returned to a country she did not feel was her own. I have heard from those who work in our judiciary that they have seen cases before our courts of individuals who are failing attempts to reintegrate or rehabilitate, because the success of these rehabilitation programs are reliant on a network of people, a network of family, and they have none of those. Now, I'm not asking that Australia stops this policy. But you have deported more than 2,000 individuals and amongst them will be genuine Kiwis who do need to learn the consequences of their actions. But amongst those 2,000 are individuals who are too young to become criminals on our watch, they were too young to become patched gang members, too young to be organised criminals. We will own our people. We ask that Australia stops exporting theirs.
I want to conclude by just reaffirming something I have said often. We will continue to maintain rights for Australians in New Zealand. We do not wish to have a race to the bottom. We do remain confident that in time by working together we will find solutions that reaffirm just how important our relationship is to us and testament to that relationship is the fact that we can raise these issues frankly and we do. Finally, again, PM Morrison, thank you for the chance again today to discuss these issues, issues that are important to each of us and I again say that I have no leader I can confidently work so closely together with as I do with you and that has proven so important in our darkest of hours. May we look forward to better times ahead.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Prime Minister now we are going to go to New Zealand journalists first, and then Australian journalists. So, I will ask Prime Minister Ardern to call the first question.
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: I believe we have Anna Bracewell-Worrall from Newshub.
JOURNALIST: Is the deportation policy corrosive to the New Zealand-Australia relationship and was there any decision today to shift on the policy?
PRIME MINISTER: I take it that’s a question to me. The Australian Government's policy is very clear - we deport non-citizens who have committed crimes in Australia against our community. This policy is applied not specific to one country, but to any country whose citizens are here. You commit a crime here, if convicted, once you have done your time, we send you home. That's what the Australian the policy is and that policy is framed in Australia's national interests and we would have no objection to any country, anywhere, who would apply the same rule in terms of Australian citizens who commit crimes in other places. We would think that was totally understandable and we wouldn't take any offence.
JOURNALIST: You will not be changing the policy?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Look, I have been absolutely clear - this is corrosive to our relationship and I have shared privately what I have shared publicly today with PM Morrison. We are not arguing that Australia should not have a deportation policy. They should. We do as well. What we're asking for is a reciprocal arrangement. New Zealand does not deport those that we consider for all intents and purposes to have established themselves as New Zealanders. We only ask that Australia does the same and the Prime Minister used a key word in his reference just now - he said that after they have served their time he sends them "home". The example I used demonstrates that we have countless who have no home in New Zealand, they have no network, they have grown up in Australia. That is their home and that is where they should stay.
PRIME MINISTER: Melissa?
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] clearly this issue of deportation is a very big sticking point in the relationship. We have heard strong language from you, Prime Minister Ardern, and pretty strong language from you, Prime Minister Morrison. How can the relationship stay as strong as you both claim it to be when there is this underlying issue that there seems to be no way to resolve?
PRIME MINISTER: There is one simple word and that's respect. Our countries respect each other. We respect our sovereignty of each country to make rules that are in the best interests in the view of their governments and that those are done in the national interests. I would totally expect that the New Zealand government would always make decisions in their national interest and would take no exception to their sovereign right to do so. Australia will do the same thing. I respect the positions that are put forward by Prime Minister Ardern but in our government's view, that is not in Australia's national interest to not deport non-citizens who have committed crimes in Australia. As I stressed, we deport non-citizens. New Zealanders, who come here, people who were born in New Zealand, they have the opportunity to become citizens, to become residents, and then become citizens, as countries and nationals come here from all around the world and one of our greatest days is when Australians are sworn in for the first time as citizens and they have come from all around the world. Kiwis become citizens, Indians become citizens, Chinese nationals become citizens and when you become a citizen, well, you have joined the club and if you violate our laws at that point, then that is on our watch and Australia has to take care of those situations, but if you're a non-citizen, our very clear view and our government is well-known for our clear views when it comes to issues of immigration and border security, if you have committed a crime and you're not a citizen of Australia, then you have no right to stay.
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Oh you want it from both? Look I absolutely agree with Prime Minister Morrison that our relationship is based on respect and we have - we do have a respectful relationship and that adds strength to it but a value that New Zealanders also share with Australians are notions of fairness and I draw a distinction that unlike other countries that when they migrate into New Zealand or Australia, citizenship is treated differently. You know when you travel from abroad outside of New Zealand into Australia that you have to go through a particular process to have rights and obligations similar to other Australians. Those rules historically have not applied between us. Which is why we have a cohort of individuals in Australia who have grown up believing they are Australians. Who consider themselves Australians because that has not been determined by a piece of paper, but by their experience in this country and for some, it will be a shock to find themselves deported to a country they do not know as their own. So, yes, respect is absolutely a founding principle and will continue to be a founding principle of our relationship. We just are invoking the simple principle of fairness.
PRIME MINISTER: I think we have a New Zealand question.
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Yes. Quick indication of… oh sorry, Brian?
JOURNALIST: Prime Ministers did you discuss climate change and what do you each make of the other’s climate change policy with bringing down emissions?
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Look, both PM Morrison and myself are very clear on the different domestic policies that we each have. We understand and have knowledge of each other's policies. Where our discussion points often coalesce around climate change is how that is playing out in the Pacific and our dialogue with the Pacific, so one of the things I did today was relay some conversations that I've had in recent times with Pacific Island leaders, and an ongoing discussion that we've had as part of the Pacific Island Forum but these are ongoing discussions that we have at this level.
PRIME MINISTER: We respect each other's sovereignty to set those policies in our own countries and to pursue the commitments that we have made. We're both signatories to the Paris Agreement, we both made commitments under that agreement and we both intend to meet them and beat them, I'm sure, just as we have around the Kyoto agreement and so we share in the international participation on those goals but Prime Minister Ardern is right, when we come together, much of our discussion on these issues focuses on the region in which we have special responsibilities to our whanau, to our vuvale and throughout the Pacific region. The participation and Australia in particular has over the last several years we have invested some $300 million in supporting climate resilience throughout the Pacific and at the recent Pacific Island Forum Australia committed a further $500 million to those projects. We look forward to continuing to work with New Zealand where they are also supporting those types of projects throughout the region.
JOURNALIST: So you don’t [inaudible] each other over domestic climate change policies?
PRIME MINISTER: Why would we?
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: We each know each other's policies. New Zealand's taken its position. Australia have taken theirs and we discuss the expectations on both of us that the Pacific rightly has of both of us.
PRIME MINISTER: Both countries understand the need to take action on climate change. That's not an issue that's in dispute between our governments or our countries. We understand it. We are both seeking to take action. Yep?
JOURNALIST: Greg Norrington from the Australian Newspaper, Prime Minister Ardern, further on climate, how can your government pursue meaningful policy on climate change when you exclude agriculture which is your country’s largest emitter, and to Mr Morrison, how can Australia with Australia’s great friend New Zealand, have a meaningful discussion about climate change when it seems that on the other side of the Tasman, agriculture is off the table?
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Well I’ll correct you there, in fact we -
JOURNALIST: I know that there’s a formula, I realise that.
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Well, actually, the thing I'm going to correct you on is that actually we're on track to become at this stage the first country in the world who will have at farm by farm level, a pricing mechanism for agricultural emissions. We've set our ourselves this - the goal by 2025 that we’ll have a mechanism in place to measure and price at a farm by farm level. In our view, that is the most direct way that we can incentivise a reduction in emissions within our agricultural community. The thing that I'm very proud of is that we have done that collectively and collaboratively with our agricultural and primary sector leaders. That's a world first and it is world-leading. I'm very proud of it.
PRIME MINISTER: The Australian Government is committed to our Paris 2030 goal and we have a man to achieve it. At the last election, some $3 billion was invested in the Climate Solutions Fund to ensure that we were addressing the issues that enable us to reduce emissions. Our emissions have fallen by 13.1% on 2005 levels, already and so that gets us slightly over halfway to our 2030 target right now. On top of that, we will comfortably meet and beat our Kyoto commitments with policies that we set out a decade ago before we came to government. We will beat that by 411 million tonnes, which is about 80% of Australia's annual emissions to give you a sense of the scale of that overachievement. Now, as you look out into the future, that is why to meet our goal, we're following the technology - not taxation path - following a path that would see us invest together with Japan and state governments some half a billion dollars in hydrogen technology, investing billions of dollars in our pumped hydro arrangements in the Snowy, Snowy 2.0 as it’s known, the investments that we are putting in to transmission lines and in particular to connect the mainland to Tasmania and the Battery of the Nation project which is another large-scale pumped hydro project, which provides the firming capacity, in particular, for the record investments that we've had in renewable energy in Australia. Our renewable investment in Australia has been at record levels and we welcome that. And so when we look forward, we seek to reduce emissions, as we are, and we seek to ensure that we protect and keep the jobs, that we don't put electricity prices up. That we don't put taxes on Australians to meet those goals, and, finally, that we understand the pressures that exist in rural and regional parts of our countries and the industries they rely on. New Zealand and Australia aren't the same. We have much in common, as people, but our geography and our lands and our economies are extremely different and I commend Prime Minister Ardern for recognising that as they have set to put in place their policies when it comes to addressing their commitments and she's outlined some of those to you in relation to the agricultural sector. So, it is important to think about the structure of your economy, to think about how you might meet the commitments that you make. Having a plan is the important thing. The target is the outcome, but the plan is what actually makes the difference.
JOURNALIST: To both Prime Ministers, I’d like a response to it, um going back to our Prime Minister’s contention don’t export your problems, does the Australian Government feel in any way responsible for example the Comanchero gang that have become established since this deportation policy came into effect and is causing havoc in parts of New Zealand, and secondly Brenton Tarrant the man who is accused of the Christchurch Mosque shootings, would you be happy for him if he’s convicted to be deported to Australia to serve out his time?
PRIME MINISTER: Let me deal with the second question first and I want to deal with this very sensitively, because this is a matter that's before the courts in New Zealand and there is nothing I would want to say or do here and I'm sure the Prime Minister would agree, that would any way compromise that process. That's an incredibly important process. And I want to commend all of those who have been involved in that process, involved in the justice process that is underway there. But without talking specifically about that case, the principle here is that where an Australian citizen, anywhere in the world, whether in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, anywhere in the world responsible for committing a crime, particularly one as grievous as that, well I would expect the same rules to apply that Australia applies to citizens of other countries who commit crimes in our country. It is true that we have deported non-citizens to countries all around the world. Particularly to the United Kingdom as well and those deportations have involved people who only came to Australia when they were 1 or 2 years old out of the United Kingdom, and they are deported in the same way as any other nation's citizens are under Australia's policy. So, our policy is not directed to any one country or any one nationality whatsoever. It is a statement of Australia's immigration and border laws that if people who are not citizens commit crimes in Australia, then they have violated the terms of being in this country, and after they have served their sentence, then they will return to their country of citizenship.
JOURNALIST: In terms of the alleged Christchurch gun man?
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Look in terms of the case that’s currently before the courts, what I am mindful of is that that is the most important process right now. Seeing through that part, in that very important part of our justice process and thereafter I’ll be quite mindful of what victims families will be seeking, and it’s not clear to me yet what their hopes are, but that for me is a really key factor in any decision making post the justice system being seen through.
PRIME MINISTER: Mark.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister you said in your comments that you wanted to send people back home, how do you send someone home when blind Freddy can see that their home is here?
PRIME MINISTER: We can’t have two classes of citizens in this country. Those who have, were born in Australia or who have become citizens through our formal process, citizens of Australia enjoy the rights and entitlements and obligations of being citizens in Australia, no-one else. Anyone else who doesn’t hold the title of citizen of Australia does not get a special deal. Doesn’t matter how long you’ve been here, it doesn’t matter whether you turned up yesterday or many years ago. If you are not a citizen of Australia, and you violate our laws, then under my government’s policies, you will not be allowed to remain in Australia. You will be returned to the citizenship, nationality, which is what I define as your home. Thank you.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
27 February 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon. Keeping Australians safe - that is the priority of our Government as we deal with what has been an emerging situation with the coronavirus. Each and every day there are new developments in relation to the coronavirus and I want to thank Dr Kelly, I want to thank Dr Murphy, I want to thank all of those who have been involved in providing advice to the Government, also at the state and territory level with the medical offices there. Earlier today, the National Security Committee met for three hours to consider the next round of advice and the information we've been receiving in relation to the coronavirus. What has occurred, in particular, in the last 24 hours or so as the data has come in is that the rate of transmission of the virus outside of China is fundamentally changing the way we need to now look at how this issue is being managed here in Australia. Now, I want to reassure Australians that as we speak here and now we have had 15 cases that have come from Wuhan and all 15 of those cases have now been cleared and are now back in the community, having been able to move on from the virus. There are 8 other cases that were imported from those who came on the Diamond Princess. There are no other cases here in Australia and there has been no community transmission, as Dr Murphy would say, here in Australia.
So the actions that the Australian Government have taken and that included getting out well ahead of the World Health Organization at Dr Murphy's, I think, very insightful advice with the measures that we initially took at a time when the WHO had not even declared it in the context that it has now been declared by them. The advice that we've received today is very similar to that. And that is that based on the expert medical advice we've received, there is every indication that the world will soon enter a pandemic phase of the coronavirus and as a result, we have agreed today and initiated the implementation of the Coronavirus Emergency Response Plan. As you can see, it's a very comprehensive document and I want to commend the Department of Health and all of those have been involved in ensuring that this plan is in place and ready to go.
So while the WHO is yet to declare the nature of the coronavirus and it's moved towards a pandemic phase, we believe that the risk of a global pandemic is very much upon us and as a result, as a government, we need to take the steps necessary to prepare for such a pandemic. And so earlier today, I instructed through the NSC the Minister for Health to be engaging with the state and territory ministers to be bringing back the plan to identify any gaps in capabilities at the various stages or levels at which a pandemic may proceed to. I want to stress that these actions are being taken in an abundance of caution. We have always acted with an abundance of caution on this issue and that has put Australia in the strong position we are in to this time in being able to contain the impact of this virus. So the actions we're now taking in being prepared even further is to ensure that we can respond immediately when the virus moves to the next level.
We’ve also asked the Commissioner of Border Force to be reporting to us as quickly as possible on additional measures that would be required at our various ports of entry to ensure we're able to identify any persons coming from wherever in the world that may require additional information in terms of being self-quarantined or other forms of quarantine that may be necessary as this issue continues to roll on.
In relation to schools, I've tasked the Minister for Education to engage with the education ministers from the states and territories. I want to stress, and I'm sure Dr Kelly will reinforce this point, there is no evidence before us that children are in any greater risk as a result of what has occurred more recently, but we do believe to take care of our kids, that we need an even greater abundance of caution to ensure that should the coronavirus move to a very extreme level or there is any particular risk that is associated with children, particularly those attending school, that we have the preparedness and the arrangements in place with states and territories. And I want to thank all of the state and territories for their engagement, whether it's on this issue on schools or the many other issues, the health issues, that are associated.
I've tasked the Minister for Home Affairs to be working with his counterparts in the states and territories to ensure continuity of service, continuity of operations plans are in place and that we're aware of any gaps that would need to be filled at any and every level of what the virus may extend to. Again, I know the states are already working and are well advanced with their own plans on these issues and I commend each of the premiers and chief ministers for their leadership in ensuring that they're taking the same actions as we are to ensure continuity of service in more extreme cases.
There is no need for us to be moving towards not having mass gatherings of people. You can still go to the football, you can still go to the cricket, you can still go and play with your friends down the street, you can go off to the concert, and you can go out for a Chinese meal. You can do all of these things because Australia has acted quickly, Australia has got ahead of this at this point in time. But to stay ahead of it, we need to now elevate our response to this next phase. I said the other day, this is a health crisis, not a financial crisis. But it is a health crisis with very significant economic implications. The Treasury Secretary and of course the Treasurer who is a member of the National Security Committee was part of those discussions today and he and I made some comments on these matters several days ago. What the Treasurer is working on with the Treasury is the advice is that if we are to take any actions here and that is still subject to advice from Treasury, which has not confirmed their advice, that any such measures would only be effective if they were targeted, modest and scalable. And we are quite aware of where the virus is impacting in particular sectors more than others. Obviously, in the travel sector it's having a very big impact, in the education sector, but also as I mentioned the other day the impact of supply chain breakdowns, not just now between Australia and China, but in a more broader global pandemic stage those impacts would also be quite relevant. And so we're aware, particularly in the export industry, in the marine sector, there are particular issues there especially in North Queensland, but these problems are presenting in many other places and Treasury is doing that work now and the Treasurer will be leading a response to that.
But the advice is also very clear that as Australia goes into dealing with this issue, the financial stability that is present is a big plus for Australia. Of all the countries that are prepared and are in a position to be prepared, I'm glad we're in Australia and I'm glad we're in Australia where we're able to have these types of responses. We have the financial stability to address this and we have one of, if not the best health system in the world to deal with the great challenge that can come with a global pandemic. So as the Health Minister is known to say, we are not immune to this but we are well prepared and we are going to be even more prepared as a result of the actions which I've initiated today as part of the National Security Committee process. And that means getting on with the plan. We’ve got a plan, we're going to get on with the plan, because at the end of the day, it's about people's safety and that is our top priority and we will continue to work with those around the world, particularly like-minded countries of similar economies. We're working with our Pacific community and we're working with our Indo-Pacific partners to understand the challenges that are there. But there are some challenging months ahead and the Government will continue to work closely based on the best possible medical advice to keep Australians safe. Greg?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: Thanks, Prime Minister and to Dr Kelly. What's happened this week, of course, is that we have seen outbreaks in South Korea and Japan, in Iran and in northern Italy and indeed from Iran and in northern Italy, there's significant evidence that cases associated with each of those countries have led to cases in neighbouring countries. Whether it’s been in Croatia or Switzerland, whether it's been in Kuwait or other countries within the Middle East. As I mentioned earlier, in the last 24 hours we've seen four continents have first in-country cases confirmed and when that involves Africa and West Asia, Europe and South America, that's a very significant moment. On the 21st of January, Professor Brendon Murphy as Chief Medical Officer got well ahead of the world and declared that this was a disease of pandemic potential. That triggered a series of actions for which we had prepared in terms of the National Incident Center, the National Trauma Centre, the work of the Australian Health Protection Principles Committee. It's led to cooperation with the states. It also involved the development of the pandemic preparedness plan for coronavirus. Given the events of this week, as the Prime Minister said, the National Security Committee today heard of the high likelihood, the high probability, that the world was going soon, formally, into a pandemic stage which has led to the invocation and the implementation and the activation of the coronavirus pandemic preparedness plan. That means we're now at the first stage of that plan and tomorrow I'll be meeting with the state health ministers, territory health ministers. I want to thank them, as the Prime Minister said. In particular, we're looking at the elements in this part of the plan. We're taking advantage of a meeting which I think is important to acknowledge what was already on the agenda. Coronavirus was already on the agenda but as a consequence of this we have sent out inquiries to all of them to fill the items which we want to look at - supply chain management, to make sure that there's surge capacity if required further down in relation to our hospitals and our medical facilities, the preparedness of state health systems, preparedness of critical medicines - they're all the things that we now move towards. The preparation of potential fever clinics if case this were to evolve still further.
Having said that, we have achieved containment so far in Australia. I think that's very important. We have achieved containment so far but when we say we're not immune, we say that for a reason. Because now that it's spread to 42 countries, the high likelihood is that somewhere, sometime, there is a further round of cases that may make it to Australia and if this becomes a truly global event, a truly global pandemic, then it is overwhelmingly likely to have some effect. But we say that to say to Australians we've sought to anticipate, to plan and then to activate. Today we are activating something which we had anticipated for which we planned and that ultimately is about saying to Australians we'll get through this, we will keep you safe, we'll do all that we can and as a country, we are well prepared.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Greg, and I should have mentioned earlier that - it sort of went without saying - obviously, the travel ban for China will continue a further week and that continues to be monitored on a weekly basis. Dr Kelly?
DR PAUL KELLY, DEPUTY CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thank you Prime Minister, Minister. I think the main issues that were discussed at the National Security Committee of Cabinet have been talked about by the Prime Minister and the Minister. We are prepared. This plan that was activated today builds on many years of planning for similar events in relation to Pandemic influenza. So all of the elements that are in that plan are very similar to our pandemic influenza plan. We learned from the pandemic ten years ago when we had our swine flu epidemic, we looked at that plan at that time, we modified it on the basis of what we learned, and now that we know more about this virus over the last few weeks, how it spreads how infectious it is, how likely it is to cause severe illness and in which type of people it may cause severe illness. And I would stress that for 80 per cent of people, it's a mild illness and so we're preparing for all eventualities in terms of when it may or may not come to Australia, how many people might get infected, and particularly and very importantly in this early part of the plan activation is to really concentrate on what we can do to decrease the number of cases coming and spreading through our community. That's the best way to relieve the pressure on our health system and all of the other systems that the Prime Minister has already pointed out and also the Minister of Health. I might leave it there, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Dr Kelly. Phil?
JOURNALIST: Can you clarify what this means in practical terms? The Minister rattled off a couple of things but does it mean we actually set up these fever clinics now and does it involve the granting of special powers to quarantine people and things like that? Could just be a bit specific?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: Sure. So the position in relation to quarantine powers actually came with the activation of the Biosecurity Act and the Chief Medical Officer’s declaration on the 21st of January. What this does is it now moves to a full preparation phase for all of the supply chains, the medicines, we're working on the national inventories, the national medical stockpile. Tomorrow as I say, we'll meet with COAG. What the Prime Minister has also done is authorize other ministers such as the Education Minister, Home Affairs, to work with their parties. So at this stage whilst we're actually in containment. We're also in another role and that is preparation for the possibility of a much more significant event. So primarily now it moves to a formal engagement with the states where we are doing all of that work across medical stockpile, personal protective equipment, supply chain, in particular personnel. One of the things we're most focused on is to make sure that we have the personnel capacity if there is a surge within our hospitals and medical system.
PRIME MINISTER: In the event of a pandemic, in the event of a pandemic the challenge... the goal is to slow it's spread if it gets to Australia, but with the number of countries that are now affected, we have to be realistic about the likelihood of containment strategies into the weeks ahead. Now, our effort at the moment is focused on ensuring that it doesn't but we need to ensure that we know what the gaps are if indeed we move to that phase and so what we're in at this phase is understanding what they are and moving quickly to close them. Of course, COAG will be meeting in just over two weeks from now and all of these responses that I've initiated today, they're tasked to come back in time to address that at COAG within just over a fortnight's time. Yeah, John?
JOURNALIST: [inaudible] possibility of any fiscal action you say it will be a targeted modest and scalable.
PRIME MINISTER: Correct.
JOURNALIST: Who or what would it be targeted at, how modest are we talking? Less than one per cent of GDP as a benchmark and what do you mean by scalable?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you need to be able to build on plans. That's what's scalable means and the Treasury and the Treasurer are working on those presently. So those responses, those recommendations are not yet before the government but they've been tasked, and that's an important part of our preparedness in looking ahead over the next few months. And you do this against a range of possible scenarios. The Treasurer indicated just a few days ago and confirmed that again today that Treasury has not yet finalised what their initial assessment of what they think, believe, the potential impact could be, whether that's over this first March quarter of the year. But you would obviously expect it to have a very real impact with the level of decline that we've seen obviously in travel to Australia, this is not unique to Australia, it's obviously happening everywhere and of course the number of students that haven't been able to arrive in Australia at this point for the beginning of the year. And that's not just the fact that they're not in a university, it means they're not in the country which means they're not participating in the economy and the second-round effects of these issues is what can be impacted. So that is what is being addressed now, John, and that's the work that is being tasked. Michelle, you've been very patient.
JOURNALIST: On those issues, are there any more carve-outs for them from the extension of the travel ban or is that travel ban going ahead with no carve-outs?
PRIME MINISTER: No carve-outs. Yes?
JOURNALIST: In regards to the pandemic, once it is formally declared will that trigger a reconsideration of the travel ban, given it will be harder to contain the virus once that occurs?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're effectively operating now on the basis that there is one, a pandemic. Now that is not precisely the case now, but it is likely on the basis of the medical advice that was provided by Dr Murphy this morning and he was right last time. And I'm prepared to back him in and the advice that he's given on this, because he is proven to be very right, as has Dr Kelly and that's why their advice has been so important. But we will continue to monitor the travel arrangements on a weekly basis, but the advice we received today was that on the balance of risks further travel bans were not recommended. Yes, Ellen?
JOURNALIST: With regards to Border Force’s involvement in this, I think you said you want to be able to identify people coming from anywhere in the world. Will you be screening everyone off every flight that looks sick?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is what we've tasked the Commissioner of Border Force to come back to the government with a plan as to how he proposes that this risk be managed through our ports.
JOURNALIST: Would interstate travel looked at being limited if there be a rise in cases on, say, the west or the eastern seaboard at all, would you look at limiting interstate travel?
PRIME MINISTER: There is currently no plan for that, but the thing about this plan, and as Dr Murphy reminded us this morning, the key to plans such as this is they need to be flexible, they need to be able to respond to events and data as it presents and so you can be assured that the constant management of that plan, the constant communication is a key part of the plan itself. So you can consider scenarios as they present but at present, there is no suggestion of that, there is no specific planning associated around that type of event and we would deal with those events as they presented. But we would know as part of this process how you would go about that if it was necessary. David, David and then I'll go to Dennis.
JOURNALIST: ...and Mr. Hunt also, given the meeting with the states tomorrow, the federal government doesn't run hospitals, do you want, or will you be asking the states whether they can suspend leave for staff, for instance, recall people, set up dedicated clinics in every hospital so that they're ready for this?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: I think that's very important question. What we've been doing is meeting with the states every day through the meeting of the chief health officers, it's called the AHPPC. In addition to that, the Commonwealth and State health ministers have now had three rounds of preparedness meetings, all by teleconference including on Sunday, and so David what you asked for was what we primarily went through then. Tomorrow, we now go to the next phase. So what we want to know - and I have to say they've done a great job and I particularly want to thank the Northern Territory and Minister Natasha Fyles who has helped establish the Howard Springs temporary quarantine facility - but what we’ll be looking at tomorrow is that they have the surge capacity and how they manage that is up to them. They have been preparing really well and I think that's very important. Right from the outset, I remember speaking with them very early on in the earliest part of February when we had the first of our preparedness meetings, they were already onto it, but at each stage we've gone further and then tomorrow we’ll make sure that we have most importantly in terms of the hospitals, the surge capacity. They've already identified all of the isolation wards, I think Paul's played a huge role in that.
PRIME MINISTER: Paul, did you want to add to that?
DR PAUL KELLY, DEPUTY CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: I’ll just point to the remark I made earlier about this being based on planning that we’ve had for a long time and indeed it's in a sense exercised every flu season. So every flu season, we expect a surge in flu cases during the winter months and those things like where do we get extra staff, how do we rearrange wards in our hospitals, do we need to consider some ways of diverting people away from emergency departments, how does primary care play a role, what do we do in aged care facilities, all of these things are in this plan but they're really an extension of what we do every year. And so hospitals and health departments are very familiar with this type of arrangement and they'll be built upon as we go through the next few months and will be scaled and flexible as the Prime Minister has said.
PRIME MINISTER: Dennis?
JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese suggested that you're acting politically and without decency by not briefing the Opposition before you made this announcement. How do you react to that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I react in a very disappointed way. I'll allow the Health Minister to go through the briefings that we provided the Opposition quite regularly. But I've got to say today I was very disappointed. The National Security Committee met this morning. It became apparent fairly early in the sitting day that the Opposition was keen to be very disruptive in the Parliament today. I understand that, that's politics. We asked the Opposition whether pairs could be provided for myself, the Health Minister, other House members of the National Security Committee, which meant that we'd be able to undertake that meeting uninterrupted. Sadly, that request was declined by the Opposition and they proceeded to go about their business which resulted in seven interruptions to that meeting today. At a time we were trying to plan for the impact of a global pandemic on the coronavirus, well, they chose politics. Greg?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: Just in terms of briefings with Labor, on the third of February, we briefed the Opposition and these would generally involved either the Chief Medical Officer or the Deputy Chief Medical Officer and members from my staff. On the 3rd of the February, Senator Keneally, Senator Wong, Joel Fitzgibbon, Jim Chalmers. On the 4th of February, the Opposition partyroom. On the 12th of February, the Leader of the Opposition. Between the 12th and the 23rd of February, regular briefings with, in particular, the Shadow Health Minister's office. On the 24th of February, Shadow Health Minister Chris Bowen and last night, a briefing for the Leader of the Opposition and Chris Bowen. I understand that at the last minute, the Leader of the Opposition was unable to attend last night's briefing. At approximately 7:30pm, his office was present. Chris Bowen was there. I'll leave it to the Leader of the Opposition, I believe approximately 7:30 last night, and we will continue to provide those briefings and it is appropriate for the National Security Committee to meet. Today it would have been, ideally, if it had been able to meet uninterrupted because they were notified that we were meeting for this very purpose but we'll continue to provide those briefings and they will have to explain their actions.
PRIME MINISTER: And can I just thank Zali Steggall and Rebekha Sharkie who have agreed to support the government on any procedural motions that they may have been engaging this afternoon to enable the Minister for Health and me to take this press conference. Yeah.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, I missed it from the noise.
JOURNALIST: On the economic front, in terms of what you’re preparing for and the housing industry implications of this supply chain issue, is there a potential for a commercial housing industry slowdown here and really significant flow-on effects to the economy from that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, obviously the impact of a breakdown in supply chains or travel or right across the many sectors, there will be an impact on the economy and I anticipate it will have a very real effect. The scale of that we are already living through right now within this quarter and the challenges that we face - and I think this is different to SARS - we have been dealing with this issue and looking at it from an economic point of view as a SARS-like event, but what we are seeing with the coronavirus is a very different type of virus. Its transmission rate is much higher. Its mortality rate may be a lot lower but when you have so many more people who are contracting the virus and it spreads very quickly, obviously the absolute number of fatalities are actually much greater. Already, coronavirus has taken more lives than SARS and MERS put together but the mortality rate on both of those previous conditions were much higher, but there were fewer people who contracted them. And so the advice from Treasury is that we need to be looking at this event quite differently to those others and that advice is very recent. Only as recently as just a few days ago, there was a very different view about how this was likely to play out economically, which is no surprise then that Treasury are taking further time to finalise their advice to government about the potential economic impacts. So as I said, it's a health crisis, not a financial crisis, but it's a health crisis with very real economic impacts and the government is extremely mindful of that and we want to be able to get our responses right. I can say, though, in terms of broader larger fiscal stimulus-type responses, that is not the advice we're receiving from Treasury. In fact, quite the opposite.
JOURNALIST: Minister Hunt, with regards to the national stockpile…
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, I’ll come here and then we’ll go there. Katharine, we’ll go to Katharine.
JOURNALIST: Just with some stockpiling and supply chain issues, are we confident that given the disruptions to supply chains in China and other locations where manufacturing occurs, that we have sufficient quantities of panadol, ibuprofen, basic drugs to control temperatures. Because obviously we don't have a vaccine or another form of medicine so do we have sufficient quantities of those basic drugs to get us through a very high infection?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: So firstly, we have a national medical stockpile which is very well stocked. Secondly, the work of the TGA - and actually Dr Kelly is the person in the country who oversees this - is to look forward to seeing whether there are any risks for particular medicines. So we're doing a survey of that. At this stage, we have no reports. We are intensely aware, though, of any supply chain risks. Paul?
DR PAUL KELLY, DEPUTY CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: So that's part of that planning phase that we've been talking about and indeed we didn't start for today, we've been thinking about that for quite some time. It's no secret that we get a lot of things from China, including medicine and medical devices, masks, all sorts of things that we do need to continue our normal business in health, but also particularly to deal with this new phase of coronavirus. So certainly that's part of the work that we're embarking on now to look at all of that.
JOURNALIST: With regards to the stockpile, apart from masks, what do we actually have that is of use specifically dealing with coronavirus, given there's very little that can be done to treat it? What do we have that will work?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: True, we don't have a cure and we don't have a vaccine at this stage. That's a global challenge. On the medical items, Paul, I think this is directly in your domain?
DR PAUL KELLY, DEPUTY CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Yes, so mainly it's masks. The medical stockpile has other things that are there for other reasons and other purposes. But it's the masks that are the most useful for this particular issue.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: But also the way the hospitals are set up, why is that the 15 people have been able to clear the virus? One was the degree in severity in relative terms of what they had as opposed to some other cases, but secondly, our hospital systems are our principal treating network and what they are they are as well-equipped as anyone in the world in terms of managing people through fevers, in terms of making sure that they have the hydration, that they have the protection against other forms of infection. And so key to this is what's called the primary healthcare network and then the hospitals network and our hospitals have been prepared for pandemics, as well as the seasonal influence around outbreaks, but now they've gone to the next level and I've got to say, you know, all of the states and territories that have delivered patients home have given us hope and an example and a pathway to the way through.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I want to thank everybody. The key message that I really want to get across to Australians today is because of the actions we've taken on the coronavirus, we've got ahead. We intend to stay ahead and together we will get through this. Thank you very much.
Remarks, Vigil for Hannah Clarke and Children
26 February 2020
Thank you very much for your welcome. We acknowledge the Ngunnawal people past, present and [inaudible] future. We gather here tonight, there are no parties, there are no aisles, there are no MPs, or Senators, staff, it is just people who are grieving and shocked and saddened, angry, frustrated.
And the only words I can offer tonight are four names, Hannah, Aaliyah, Laianah, and Trey.
We must speak their names.
We must remember their names.
We must remember them, their souls, their lives, their hopes, their dreams, their strength, their courage.
All of that was taken away in a murderous act of violence, which none of us here can comprehend.
We’ve just sung Amazing Grace and I can only think that the only response is to seek to understand this, is just to understand grace [inaudible].
The families of Hannah and her children, they have shown such strength and such grace, and we want to stand with them here tonight.
We stand with them, with our hearts and everything we have to let them know that they won’t stand alone.
But to all of those others who face the same dangers this day and every day, to those who have had the same thing stolen from them through murderous acts of violence in the past, we also remember you here tonight.
And we gather, and we remember.
We give thanks for what we each have, because times like this remind us of [inaudible].
I want to thank everybody for coming here tonight [inaudible] and the spirit in which we come.
It’s a good thing we do tonight, and I thank those who’ve gathered us here tonight.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
25 February 2020
PRIME MINISTER: As each week passes, the impact of the coronavirus, COVID-19 is becoming more apparent to everyone, not only here in Australia but all around the world. But the assurance I can give Australians is this, we are not immune to the coronavirus and its impacts, but we are as best prepared as any country can be in the world today. And the evidence of that has been demonstrated in these many weeks now that have passed since the coronavirus has become an even more significant issue as each week has passed. We are learning more and more about the virus, and the government's decisions from the outset have been exercising an abundance of caution. And that abundance of caution, I think, has been rewarded in the outcomes that we have so far been able to achieve. But we're not complacent going forward.
So far, our measures have proved to be effective. I can confirm that of the 15 cases that had previously been identified here in Australia that were sourced from Wuhan, all 15 of those patients have now been discharged and have overcome the virus. There are, as you know, 7 other, what the Chief Medical Officer advises me, are mild cases from those passengers on the Diamond Princess. And they are the only remaining cases that we have in Australia today.
I'd note that there are some 30,000 Australians and more, and Australian residents, and close family members and others who have arrived under the existing travel ban since the 1st of February of this year. As you know, there were exemptions put in place for those Australians and those other groups. There has been no human-to-human transmission of the virus outside of the groups that I mentioned before from the Diamond Princess and those of the group that came from Wuhan. So outside of those groups, there has been no human-to-human transmission in Australia. Now, what that says is, is the self-isolation that we put in place for those more than 30,000 Australians to date has proved to be very effective. And I want to thank all of those Australians for their cooperation and for their diligence in following through and acting on the advice that we provided to them when they returned home to Australia.
We have had three successful flights, including the Air New Zealand flight, and there's been the additional flight for the Diamond Princess, of those first three flights they have now all cleared quarantine and the arrangements we put in place in both Christmas Island and Howard Springs in the Northern Territory. And I want to thank all those who have been involved in the delivery of those quarantine services in both of those locations. And I want to thank those who had to go through the inconvenience of taking part in those quarantine arrangements and for the good spirit and good faith in which they did that. We understand the disruption to their routines and daily lives and particularly the concern that other family members would have had being separated from their family members. And that continues for those who are still subject to that quarantine in relation to the Diamond Princess, in the Northern Territory today. I want to thank particularly the Territory government in the Northern Territory for their great assistance in managing this issue as we've been pursuing those quarantine arrangements.
So Australia has not been complacent. In fact, Australia has been proactive with the measures that we have put in place in relation to the coronavirus. And that has been to address the health risk. And the swift action means that we can report to you what I've just outlined to you today. Over this period of some weeks now we have also sought to be particularly, and I want to commend the Chief Medical Officer and the Health Minister, and all of the state and territory health officers for the very open and transparent way that we have all sought to address this issue with the Australian public. We understand very much the anxieties and the concerns and indeed the fears that people have in relation to the coronavirus. Australians are not alone in that. This is occurring all around the world. And I think the clear and very factual advice which the chief medical officer has been providing to the Australian people and other ministers of Commonwealth and state level, has hopefully greatly assisted Australians as they’ve sought to respond to these threats and go about their daily lives. Because the truth is in Australia, there is no great risk at this point in time when it comes to human to human transmission. Given the 15 cases that were identified have all been cleared. And the remaining 7 are mild cases and they're in isolation, receiving treatment and the quarantine measures have been effective.
We have taken the best possible medical advice and we have relied upon and sought out I stress, the best possible information to make the decisions that we have been making on this issue. And we will continue to do that.
I also want to note because I'm joined obviously by the Treasurer today who has just returned from the G20 Finance Ministers meeting in the Middle East, that the health impacts of the coronavirus are not the only impacts of this virus on the global economy and indeed on the Australian economy. We are very mindful of these impacts. These impacts are not limited to the education sector and the tourism sector, as you I'm sure be aware, this is affecting global supply chains. It's affecting the building industry. It's affecting the manufacturing industry. It's affecting our export industry. When planes aren't coming in, plans, planes aren’t going out, and the bellies of those planes aren't taking Australian produce into those markets. This is not like a global financial crisis. This is a global health crisis. And the world economy has become increasingly interconnected and interdependent over many, many years. And what this impact is, is putting up walls and blockages between those connections between all of these countries. Even without a travel ban, there would have been a significant reduction in the movement of people, as we're seeing all around the world. And that also means the movements of goods and services. That's why our focus is actually on addressing the cause of this issue, and that is the virus itself. And that is why our focus is first and foremost on containing that virus and addressing that health issue as the top priority. If we can overcome the virus, then in time we can also address the longer term and medium-term economic impacts.
So I'm going to hand over now to the Treasurer and the Health Minister and the Chief Medical Officer to update other matters. But I want to stress this again. Of course, Australia is not immune, but we are in the best position that any country could be in responding to the global impacts and the domestic impacts of this virus in Australia. And we are responding on the basis of a strong platform of a resilient economy, a very strong health system that has put Australia in this position to deal with what is a very serious challenge. Josh.
THE HON. JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER: Well thank you very much Prime Minister The Australian economy has been facing a number of economic shocks that have been beyond our control. The trade tensions between the United States and China, the ongoing drought, the fires, the flood, and now the impact of the coronavirus. And at the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ meeting in Riyadh, this issue about the impact of the coronavirus was the top priority. And there were concerns expressed about the shutters going up on the global economy. And it wasn't just those countries that were geographically proximate to China, namely Singapore, Japan and Korea, but it was also economies and countries further afield like Italy that were feeling the effects.
The International Monetary Fund has stated that they see and of course, this is preliminary work, that the impact on the global economy will be about 0.1 of a percentage point in the year 2020. That would see the IMF’s forecast for global growth come down from 3.3 down to 3.2 per cent. Here in Australia, the economic impacts have been significant, as the Prime Minister referred to, not just the tourism and education sectors, which together contribute around $16 billion dollars to the Australian economy, but also agriculture and their disruption to end supply chains. And as the Prime Minister referred to, I've been talking to people in the building industry, who have expressed some concern about their ability to get product in the event that the Chinese factories remain closed for a period of time.
But our message today is that the Australian economy is remarkably resilient. It's in its 29th consecutive year of economic growth. In fact, that was something that was marvelled upon by other nations at the G20 meeting in Riyadh. We've seen our labour market remain relatively strong in recent months and we've seen more than 1.5 million jobs being created. We've seen our housing market stabilised. We've seen strong export volumes and our commodity prices have held up as well, even in the event of the coronavirus So Australia, with its triple-A credit rating, with its, in its 29th consecutive year of economic growth, with our economic plan that we continue to implement, we'll continue to see Australia remain strong despite the economic challenges we face.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Josh. Greg why don’t you just, I’ll just step back here.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: Thanks very much PM, Josh and Brendan Murphy. As the Prime Minister said, we're not immune, but we are as well prepared as any country in the world. And when you think of the domestic situation in Australia, it's very important to look at the latest news today. Of the 15 cases, as the Prime Minister has said, that had been diagnosed in the general population, all have now cleared the virus. We received that advice from the National Incident Centre just prior to coming to this briefing. That's very important for the individuals and their families.
Similarly, what we have also done is to declare, as one of the first countries in the world, to declare this to be on the 21st of January, a disease of pandemic potential. And that meant that we triggered all of the actions which were prepared in contingency. The National Incident Centre stood up. The national medical stockpile was readied. We have the National Trauma Centre, which runs the extraordinary AUSMAT or Australian Medical Assistance Teams, was put on standby. And it has been mobilised now for each of the three flights, as well as overseeing the quarantine processes at Christmas Island and at Howard Springs. And we've put in place the contingency plans with regards to the overseas flights and then the quarantine. And already, as the Prime Minister has said, three rounds of supervised quarantine had been conducted and cleared and those people have returned to their homes. And so that's a very positive sign.
In relation to the Diamond Princess. What's occurred is that exactly as we foreshadowed, the continuing infections onboard the ship translated to the risk of infection for those passengers who were discharged. That's why we brought them home. But it's also why we made sure that they are in supervised quarantine. That was a very hard decision for those people and their families. But it has been done to protect them, and done fearlessly to protect the broader Australian community. All of those 7 have mild cases, as Brendan has said, but nevertheless; isolation, supervision, med-evac to their home states.
So what we're doing is following this plan and we're doing it because globally now it's over 79,000 cases, 2,626 lives lost. It's seen in Japan, Korea, Iran and Italy, amongst others, increasing outbreaks. And what that says is no country has a guarantee. No country is immune. But by following a plan, by saying to the Australian people, there is a very clear plan and proposal for all stages of this disease. It's important for you to know that we are prepared. We are focussed on health security above all else. And the steps we have taken have been following a plan; long-established, long prepared for, but now being implemented. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Greg, Dr. Murphy.
DR. BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thank you, Prime Minister and Ministers. So briefly, as discussed already, our concern at the moment does relate to those countries outside of China where there have been significant outbreaks in recent days. So particularly the Republic of Korea, Italy, Japan where there is an ongoing outbreak. And whilst the numbers aren't very high in Iran, the death rate would suggest that the numbers are probably higher than being reported. So all of those countries are doing everything they can to contain those outbreaks, including some quite dramatic measures in the Republic of Korea and in Italy. But obviously, those developments are of concern to us. As I've said on previous occasions, the situation in China is much the same. There is still ongoing significant issues in the Hubei province and the city of Wuhan with continued increase in numbers and deaths. But that province is locked down. And outside of that province, there has been a bit of a slowing in the growth in case numbers, suggesting some containment efforts are having effect outside of China. So the focus that we have at the moment is on those significant outbreaks outside of China. HPCC, the committee, the peak advisory committee to governments, all the state and territory chief health officers under my chair, we meet every day, get advice from our communicable disease experts and continually update our advice to government. But I do need to repeat what's already been said by the PM and the ministers -there is no community transmission in Australia at the moment, but we are not stopping our preparedness. Because if there is a global pandemic, then we will be prepared. Our health systems; we have plans, we have plans that existed for years. We've updated them. And every health part of the health system is now working on its plans so that we're ready if things develop further in the future. Thank you.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, with controlling the spread of Coronavirus in Australia, will the government look at travel bans from other countries outside of China?
PRIME MINISTER: We have no advice from the medical experts to suggest that that should be done at this point.
JOURNALIST: PM, a double-barrel here, you talk about the success of the self-isolation in Australia, does that give you cause maybe to lift the travel ban earlier than you may have anticipated? And secondly, Mr Frydenberg, you’ve given us the IMF estimate on growth, what is Treasury telling you on the domestic impact, what is their best guess at this stage?
PRIME MINISTER: On the travel ban, we are reviewing this, as you know, every week. And we will continue to do that and we will continue to act on the basis of the expert medical advice in looking at those issues. What I can say, and I think you're right to note this, Phil, when you think about the fact that more than 30,000 people have returned to Australia since the 1st of February and the self-isolation process has worked very effectively. I mean, that gives me a lot of encouragement about the commonsense of Australians and how seriously they're taking it and the community support for that as well. And I can't go past acknowledging, again, the wonderful efforts made by the Chinese-Australian community all around the country and again, I reach out to Australians to support them in their communities whenever you get that opportunity. And I would say to the Chinese-Australians living in those communities, I know that they receive a lot of information from mainland China, which suggests that they should stay at home. They have relayed that to me directly when I've met with them. They don't need to stay at home in Australia unless you've returned to Australia within the last 14 days after being in mainland China, well, then obviously you have to self-isolate, but everyone else should be out at Box Hill and enjoying a lunch like I did last week down there at a fantastic local restaurant. That's what helps the economy. That's what actually helps us get back to business as usual. Business as usual can be maintained here in Australia within our domestic economy. But the challenges, the interconnectedness of the Australian economy, we have always been an economy that's looked beyond our shores for our prosperity, and we've been very successful at doing that. And Chinese trade accounts for around about 7 percent of our economy, which is a significant number. Of course it is. But it's also shown the wisdom of the approach the government has been taking for many years now to diversify our trade base and to plug our economy into more and more economies around the world, particularly throughout the Indo-Pacific. We recently had the President of Indonesia just here. I'll be going to India again soon to take up the discussions that we were hoping to have in January. And I think that shows the wisdom of that approach. Josh?
THE HON. JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER: Thanks, PM. Phil, Treasury have told me they haven't finalised their advice on the economic impact of the virus. They say there's considerable uncertainty around what exactly that impact will be, but they are continuing their discussions with the key players in the economy who are impacted. But the message is very clear - the impact will be more significant than the bushfires and it plays out more broadly across the Australian economy.
JOURNALIST: Are you in a position to be able to guarantee a surplus in the Budget, given this situation?
THE HON. JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER: As I said in its standing in this spot just a few weeks ago, Dennis, the numbers will be updated in the budget in May. They're updated twice a year, MYEFO which, as you know, had a surplus in the 19-20 year. But the fires have occurred since then. The virus has obviously taken hold since then. But our focus has always been on getting the support to those communities in need. That's why we announced the $2 billion National Bushfire Recovery Fund without increasing taxes. The money's going out the door right now. And that is why in relation to the Coronavirus, it will continue. It will have an impact on the economy. But our focus is, of course, ensuring that the broader fundamentals of the Australian economy remain strong.
PRIME MINISTER: As we work through this crisis, what we've been seeking to do and I'd encourage others to do the same - speculation doesn't help anybody. Information and facts do. And when we stand here before you and we talk about these matters, what we relay is the information and the facts that we have. And we're not going to speculate on these matters. We've got a process that we're working through to consider the economic impacts, but also to continue to look at those ways that we can seek to alleviate some of those impacts where we can. But that is not a simple exercise because the impacts are economy wide. Mark?
JOURNALIST: I was going to ask Dennis’ question but on the basis of that, there was certainty in your utterances earlier about a surplus and the balance of the Budget, we've now withdrawn from that. I can hear from the Treasurer's language you’re not talking with any level of certainty. So we need to prepare ourselves for the budget not being in surplus and the realities of this virus and the other impacts on the budget, is that the message?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not drawing any conclusions at this point, Mark. I mean, what we've noted about the impact of this global virus is that the information changes almost every day, both on the clinical side as well as what we're learning about the the economic impacts and the duration of what the impact of this virus will be and its impact around the global economy is also not known at this point. So, again, we can respond to questions where the answer is known. In relation to that matter, well, obviously at this point, those variables can't be fully considered and by the time we get to - I haven’t finished my response yet, settle down - what I'm saying is we will deal with that at the time of the budget. Now, when we framed the budget a year ago, I mean, hands up those who thought there was going be a coronavirus epidemic when the budget was released last May? Of course, no one did. These are unknown global shocks. And so we're dealing with those shocks and we're processing that through how we look at the budget as we go into May and beyond.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you spoke of some the options to alleviate the budget impact? What are some of those options?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they're very limited, I've got to say. But in the domestic economy, the work that is being done, particularly in supporting the domestic tourism campaigns, 75 percent of the tourism industry is domestic. And even the response we've already seen as I've moved around the country, particularly last week and speaking of those affected by the bushfires, a lot of those domestic campaign activities have been quite effective. I saw that in the Adelaide Hills when I was meeting the tourism operators down there. They're the things that we can continue to do and that can address some of the demand impacts. The truth is that when you go through a global virus such as this, remembering this is a health crisis, not a financial one, that Australians will travel less overseas, obviously, and the rest of the world is doing exactly the same. So the Australian economy will depend a lot more on its domestic elements and it won't have the same impact from the external components because of the disruption of supply chains and trade impacts and the movement of people. That's to be expected. But for how long that occurs, Tom, that is not clear. But I can assure taxpayers, who really that question is being addressed to at the end of the day, that we're not a government that engages in extreme fiscal responses.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Australian Olympic team doctor has raised concerns about preparations for the Olympics. How concerned are you that as that as a potential vehicle for the further spread of the virus?
PRIME MINISTER: Brendan?
DR. BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: So I think it's too early to make any judgement about that. Clearly, Japan has a significant outbreak and we still haven't seen the full impact of the Diamond Princess cruise ship outbreak. The Japan health system is strong. They're working very hard to try and contain their outbreak at the moment and we'll be watching that situation closely. I think it's too early to predict.
PRIME MINISTER: Chris?
JOURNALIST: Yeah, just to the Chief Medical Officer, given it's now an outbreak in a number of countries and it appears to be highly contagious and as you say, in Iran, the number of deaths suggests that perhaps there are more cases than they’re saying. How does this not become a global pandemic now?
DR. BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: The technical definition of a global pandemic is sustained community transmission in a number of countries. The question will evolve over the next few days to see whether the transmission in those countries can be contained or it's sustained. If it is sustained in those countries, as it has been in China, I suspect the WHO would make such a call. But at the moment, they're not making that call because those countries are trying to contain.
JOURNALIST: Days rather weeks?
DR. BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: I think we're just... one of the things I've learned about this virus is it's very hard to predict anything other than we're making a daily evaluation of the facts.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, yesterday Dr Murphy was going through some of the drastic measures that can be taken in the instance of a pandemic, closing down workplaces and forcing people who haven't even been overseas to remain isolated. Would you hesitate in using any of these powers, which I understand have never been used before?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you, Andrew. Look, the government doesn't speculate on these types of responses, and I don't think it's helpful to go down that path and to speculate about those sorts of things. What the government has to do is to be aware of the various risks and that would include, at a global level, if this moved to a pandemic phase. And there are many different ways to manage pandemics. Pandemics, particularly if the condition is a mild one and with flu pandemics, for example. I mean, we deal with those from time to time. And that's not done by shutting the borders or sending people home from work. That is done by ensuring there is treatment in place and people can get access to that. And one of the things, and I'm sure Dr. Murphy will correct me, is that what we're seeing with the coronavirus is that it has a very high rate of human-to-human transmission compared to other things like SARS and MERS. Its mortality rate is obviously a lot, lot, lot lower. But that said, it is obviously higher than what a flu is. And so they are the issues that I'm sure our medical officers would be weighing up and providing advice if it ever got to that stage. Now, the government obviously has to be mindful of its potential to do that. And as Minister Hunt said, it was back in January that we understood that it could have that potential and that's why we moved so quickly to ensure that we pursued a containment strategy, which to date has been very effective. Globally, if the transmission achieves much higher rates and moves to pandemic phases in other places, then as we have done all along, we would just have to act on the best medical advice at the time. Katharine?
JOURNALIST: Just on the economic impacts, my recollection is you told your state counterparts at the end of January or thereabouts that there was no need to come together to discuss the economic impact until April. That obviously feels about three years ago now, is there a need to bring up that discussion?
THE HON. JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER: Well, we have regular meetings of treasurers. That's the CFFR meeting. That's in April, it's in Perth. That will go ahead as planned. And I have to say, Katharine, I'm also talking bilaterally with my state counterparts. I actually met with Dom Perrottet on Friday. We talked about the overall health of the New South Wales and Australian economies and issues such as these. So I'm continuing to talk to all my colleagues at a state level and the next meeting will be at CFFR in April.
PRIME MINISTER: I'll go to Andrew because I think he's going to burst if he doesn't get this question out.
JOURNALIST: Do you believe Australians will forgive you on this occasion if you don't deliver the surplus, given the situation with the coronavirus?
PRIME MINISTER: Andrew, it's not my job to speculate on that, as I've said. I don't think that's helpful. What the Australian people are looking for as we deal with this crisis, as we've dealt with many others in recent times, is just the calm, measured information, fact-based approach. Being upfront and honest with the Australian people about where we see things each and every day. The Chief Medical Officer has been doing that on a daily basis with his counterparts now for many weeks. I think Australians are better placed, I'd argue, than most of anyone in the world today in understanding what is happening in their own country when it comes to how these issues are being managed. So we're just going to calmly, maturely, soberly continue to deal with these issues as they arise each and every day. The budget will be brought down in May. That will include the full assessment of the information as we know it at that time. But I can tell you this - Australia would not have been as well-prepared for dealing with these series of crises that we have been dealing with now for months, were it not for the calm, sober and methodical financial discipline that we've put in place over the last six years. We didn't rush to any panicked solutions or panicked options. I remember last year, people last year in October, in August, in September, telling us to splash money around on goodness knows what. We kept our heads at that point and we've kept our heads as we're continuing to move through these crises now and we will continue to keep our heads because that's what the Australian people elected us to do. Thank you very much.
Remarks, Ovarian Cancer Australia Teal Ribbon Breakfast
25 February 2020
Well, thank you very much and good morning everyone.
Can I start of course by acknowledging our traditional owners the Ngunnawal people on whose land we meet today, their elders past and present and emerging and to any veterans and serving women and men in our defence forces who are here with us today, thank you for your service.
But particularly to Meghan, to Robert, your family and to the survivors who are here and those who do so much great work in supporting women across the country who are combating this most horrendous, and this most hideous of diseases. I share your hope Meghan, two daughters, I want them to have the same thing as yours, and I thank you for your courage today in speaking, and for your family to be here with you today who I can see are such an enormous encouragement and strength to you.
Can I thank also the Ovarian Cancer CEO Jane Hill for your welcome, and others from the organisation who are here today.
Can I also acknowledge the chair, Marina Go and thank you all at Ovarian Cancer Australia for the terrific work you do.
I want to thank also my parliamentary colleagues who are here today from across the aisle, cancer doesn't know politics, it only knows what it does to the lives of Australians. And in doing that I want to acknowledge, of course Chris who is here today representing the opposition.
Both Greg and I were here last year. It's an important event this one. And we heard Jill, and we heard Kristen speak and we spent time with them and we saw their courage and we saw their emotion. They were extraordinary women, despite their suffering and the sacrifices that were made not only against their lives, but the privacy of the lives that they were seeking to live out in the days that they had.
They chose to publicly live out their disease. And to be an encouragement and be a strength to others. Because they wanted to make a difference, as Meghan here today is clearly doing. To offer a brighter future, to all those women confronting ovarian cancer right now and in the generations to come.
Jill and Kristen are terribly missed. This is a particularly sad day. And our thoughts are with their loved ones.
As a government, we are committed to a brighter future that they campaigned for. No amount of funding can ever be enough in this area and that's why I think it will always be true to say, there can always be more that can be done.
But as the single biggest funder of cancer research in Australia, we're making every effort to support advances in genome sequencing, immunotherapy, radiation therapy and we'll keep going until we find those answers and there's more to do and more will be done.
Jill and Kristen were catalysts for the sort of action that has delivered the government's $20 million investment for ovarian cancer medical research, in $15 million dollars to clinical trials into gynaecological cancers, we've also provided almost $3 million as was mentioned to the Traceback project identifying and offering testing to women and their families previously not tested for the BRCA1 and 2 gene mutations associated with breast and ovarian cancer.
Our great hope is that will mean lives are saved. As well, we're subsidising patient costs by spending around $25 million dollars on ovarian cancer treatments through the PBS health system each year and we've also invested $1.6 million to trial psychosocial support for ovarian cancer patients, as I say there is much more to do.
Jill's daughter Malia said at the memorial service that her mum had taught her and I quote, “to fight injustices with raw unabated ferocity”, I saw a bit of that last year when we met.
It's not fair that 4 Australian women are diagnosed and 3 women are dying from ovarian cancer, cancer isn't fair, every day.
It's not fair, so the fight will continue. Both in Jill's name and in Kristen's name who fought for every breath and every moment that she could share here with all of us.
So everybody here today, we're all here together to stand in support of those who are fighting this terrible disease and as Meghan put it so well, to hold on to the hope, to keep walking towards the hope. To choose hope over the fear. To choose love over the fear, and allow that love to sustain you.
That is the greatest gift we can provide.
Thank you.
Statement on Indulgence - Domestic Violence
24 February 2020
Thank you, Mr Speaker, and on indulgence and as consulted with the Leader of the Opposition through our offices today. As the Member for Barton just spoke in this place of these terrible, murderous events, the sad truth is that they are not isolated incidents. They have happened on just so many occasions. And before Question Time undertaking this indulgence today as we reflect, in particular, on the terrible crime that was committed against Hannah Clarke and her children Aaliyah, Laianah and Trey. We also speak of the terrible murders of so many others - mothers and children. Murder - that's what it is. Murder that again last Thursday shocked our country. When Jenny and I spoke about it, we just couldn't get our heads around it, as I'm sure is the case for every single parent, and it doesn't matter if you are a parent or not - you can't imagine it. It is just too horrible to contemplate. The act itself and that somebody could perpetrate that act, particularly as a father. It is incomprehensible. An act of such depravity that only makes you ask - how does such evil happen in our land?
To the Clarke family, all of us extend our sympathies and our love. But I must wonder if that could ever be enough to cover the profound grief. They have shown incredible resilience and character in the worst of all possible circumstances. As best we can, we also send the country's love to you. In your grief, you have every right to be angry, furious, because everything we have done across this country to protect women and children didn't protect Hannah and her children from this evil. I believe state, territory and national governments, all of us, our agencies and importantly the judiciary must all reflect again on these terrible murders. We must reflect on how and where the system failed Hannah and her children, as it has failed so many others. It is so frustrating. It is so devastating. While this was the action of a depraved and evil man, we know enough of the circumstances leading up to the murders to know this should not have happened, and there will rightly be an inquest in Queensland, and I commend the Queensland Government for taking that action as they should. It will speak the truth, I have no doubt, as so many others have spoken the truth, and we already know this - Hannah deserved to feel safe and be safe, and to watch her joyous and wonderful children grow up. Aaliyah, Laianah and Trey deserved to have a childhood that was innocent and to have lives that were long and joyous.
For most of us in this chamber, for all of us, the words family violence just jar. Saying those words together - they should never be together. They have nothing to do with each other. Quite the opposite. Because our families should be the safest place in all of the world, particularly for our kids. But sadly, all too often, they are not, we know that, as hard as it is to believe, one woman is killed every nine days by a partner or a former partner. One in six Australian women have experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or former partner since the age of 15. We know these figures. We have spoken of these figures I don't know how many times in this place. Regardless of who has sat on this side of the chamber or that side of the chamber, we know these figures, or on what side of the chamber or the other side of the chamber at every state parliament in this country. Every 2 minutes somewhere in this country, police are called out to a domestic violence incident, and as Members we know that commonwealth and the states and territories, we do work closely on tackling violence against women and children, and we must continue to do this together.
This has been, I think, one of the shining lights of bipartisanship in this chamber and in so many chambers around our country. I acknowledge the work, as I have done, and others have done, on the establishment of the first action plan, under the national plan to reduce violence against women and their children from 2010 to 2022 that was commenced under the Rudd and Gillard governments. That was a great initiative. Now, as part of the fourth action plan, that spirit continues, that partnership continues - a partnership that exists not just across this aisle, which is closed by our commitment to addressing this, but between the state and territory governments and the Commonwealth as well.
A record $340 million has been provided under this plan for frontline services to protect and support women and children. In total since 2013 some $840 million has been committed to addressing domestic and family violence, carrying on the work that was initiated by the previous Labor government.
In August last year COAG agreed to the fourth action plan, and in November we released the national implementation plan it includes funding for prevention strategies and frontline services including for groups which needed additional support, funding for safe spaces as well as funding for 1800 RESPECT, and that 1800 RESPECT line is open 24 hours to support people impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence and abuse. When COAG comes together in a few weeks time, this will once again be on our agenda.
But it is a time for us all to reflect. But to reflect together. There are never any excuses, there are none, or justifications for the evil that Hannah and her children experienced, never, not under any circumstances. With the states and territories, and together as a parliament we will continue to work together to translate these words that I'm sure the Leader of the Opposition will also state with the same passion, into actions and changes that make a real difference for women and children.
Mr Speaker, the violent crime, the murder that sought to deny a woman her voice and future, let me read one of Hannah's last Instagram posts which expressed a hope. She wrote, "I am a strong woman" - no doubt she was. “I don't sit around feeling sorry for myself, nor will I ever let anyone mistreat me again. I am a survivor, not a victim. I am in control of my life, and there is nothing I can't achieve. My girls will grow up being strong women, who understand their worth." This hope was crushed when Hannah and her children were murdered.
We must work together, as we have been, and as, for as long as it takes to restore that hope, to those we know right now, today in this country, who are living in exactly the same danger as Hannah and her children.
Bushfire Memorial Service
23 February 2020
Can I begin also acknowledging the clans of the Eora nation as we gather here today for this, our sorry business. We pay tribute to their elders past, present and the future. To distinguished guests, colleagues who are today but most importantly, the families of the 25 wonderful souls we have lost, our deepest condolences and sympathies to you again on this day. To those here who have served, to those who are watching on from other places today who have served, our fire services and emergency services and our defence forces and in so many other roles. We gather here today and simply say thank you for your service.
But to also reflect on a black summer that started in spring. A summer where the dark sky turned black and sunsets only signalled another night of terror. Where the fire crashed on our beaches from the bush that surrounded them and the scorched high country that turned white and on this occasion black. A season of air you couldn't breathe and of orange skies that wouldn’t rain and unforgettable trauma absorbed into our very beings, and of unrelenting grief for our land and our wildlife and our families.
Children kissing the coffins of their fathers, proudly wearing their helmets, mothers and fathers who should never have had to bury their children. Friends who came to our aid, who travelled across the water to support us but to return home under their nation's flags. Families sifting through the ashes of lost homes and livelihoods, towns and places that came to embody both our loss and our strength.
And towns that came to embody both our loss and our strength: Batemans Bay, Nerriga, Cabramurra, Tinpot, Cobargo, Nerrigundah, Malua Bay, Lake Conjola, Batlow, Balmoral, Kangaroo Valley, South Arm, Bilpin, and a thousand more. Markers on our maps.
And it was a time when neighbours opened their homes to neighbours and anyone needing shelter. And Australians: be they city or country; Christian, Sikh, Muslim; Indigenous or immigrant; old or young; rallied to each other. In this room there are thousands of stories - of loss, chance, grief, courage, generosity, and above all, love. And many more beyond, known and unknown. We see those in those stories a reflection of our humanity.
Across this land, and here in NSW, we witnessed the most extraordinary actions by Fire and Rescue, the RFS, our paramedics, our ADF, our defence forces, and almost every community group our country could muster to this effort. Standing by each other and willing each other on. Not individual efforts, but efforts of crews, of teams, of communities - discovering and demonstrating once again that we are always stronger together.
On Australia Day I told the story of the Wingello Brigade, who I was able to meet just the other week and say thank you in person. Near night’s end on their night of terror, Brigade Captain Mark Wilson said it felt like “we were losing”. But in the morning the town had been saved. A similar story was told in Batlow - of courage, loss and achievement and in so many other places. Amazingly, Mark had arranged for his daughter to be looked after by her mum, he told me, while Mark was called on to lead his Brigade. Mark told me he thought she would be out of harm's way. She went to Cobargo, only to see her mum’s business destroyed as the fire hit that town, even before that terrible night in Wingello.
These fires offered little if any respite or places to seek refuge, as they burned and burned and they burned across our state and our country. And I’m sure Commissioner Fitzsimmons, who has led this effort so incredibly well, could tell us many more stories - and I’m sure he will - and these stories will be told amongst brigades for decades to come.
In every case, our firefighters confronted the fear by relying on the love that was behind them. On New Year’s Eve, two firetrucks from Fire and Rescue’s Strike Force Golf were immobilised fighting a fire near Nowra. Eight firefighters trapped. It was dire. All eight firefighters sent texts to their families. Trish Doyle recounts receiving a text from her 20 year-old son. Just 20. He texted, “I don’t think we are going to make it. I love you, Mum”. In the midst of fear, chaos and confusion, and a thousand thoughts, this son’s heart and those of his comrades turned home towards the people they loved. For two and a half hours these families waited. Despite their trucks being destroyed, these firefighters survived and we are thankful.
We lost firefighters, aviators, farmers, and civilians alike this summer, all carried within them even until the end, the DNA of our universal language: I love you. We know all who were lost, who fought, who served, who volunteered, drew strength from who they loved and who loved them. What lay before them was not as strong as what was behind them, which continues to sustain us all now, as the fires go out.
And from this we witnessed thousands of extraordinary actions. We have heard of the Horsley Park Brigade who lost Deputy Captain Geoff Keaton and firefighter Andrew O’Dwyer in December. Just like Sam McPaul, they were young family men. The morning after Geoffrey and Andrew’s loss, the Brigade met. Under Darren’s leadership they wept, they remembered but they made a decision to return to the fireground. As one firefighter said: “It was the only place where we felt we could honour the bravery of our friends”. And so they did. They went back out and faced another day - but still relying on each other, sustained by the love of those they left behind.
That’s a lesson for all of us who have lost this black summer - to rely on each other as we stand to face another day, often without those we love. It’s Sunday, so let me finish, indulge me, with a reading from Isaiah 58:11-12, which I’ve turned to on quite a few occasions lately.
The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
This is my prayer this day. As a nation let us stand together - repair the broken walls, restore the streets with dwellings, let us heal, let us rebuild. And most importantly, let us never forget, especially those we have lost, who can never be replaced. God bless you all.
Remarks, Official Opening of the New Air Combat Capability Facility - Katherine, NT
21 February 2020
Thank you very much. It's a great pleasure to be here at Tindal and to be joined, of course, by Melissa Price, my ministerial colleague as the Minister for Defence Industry, and Senator Sam McMahon, Senator for the Northern Territory. Can I also join in welcoming Air Commodore Phil Champion, Colonel Len Rouwhorst and Wing Commander Tim Ferrell. Can I also thank all the team here from Lendlease and all the contractors and those who built this wonderful facility. It is tremendous to be here sharing this day with you. Can I also acknowledge the traditional owners, our Indigenous peoples and elders past, present, future, particularly any who are here today is, as I know they are because they've played such a huge role in the development of this facility. A peak engagement of Indigenous Australians in the work that's been going on here at 11 per cent and that is a tremendous achievement. And to see the skills that have been built up in our Indigenous communities here in the Territory and how that is being drawn into this project, not by accident, but on purpose with a determination to see where you are involving indigenous Australians in this tremendous project. I thank all of those who were very involved in this, the consulting firms and those who came in and were on the tools, those who were training others who are going to have a bright future in the industries that they have chosen that this project has enabled them to. And as I always do, I want to acknowledge - there are lots of them here today - serving men and women in our Australian defence forces and also any veterans who are with us because we so often know that it's the veterans after they've served will find themselves in many of the roles that are involved in defence industries, as Melissa knows. You will not find a better employee working in your business than one that’s served their nation in the defence forces. So we want to thank them all very much for their service.
Keeping Australians safe, keeping our economy strong. These two things go together. And if you're serious about both of those tasks, which our government is, then you invest in both of them. And what we've done here, what we've been doing here, and more importantly what we're going to keep doing speaks to both of those objectives. The Joint Strike Fighter program isn't just about getting the planes, the fighter planes. It's about facilities, it's about the expertise, it's about the industry, it's about the training, it's about the people, that all needs to come together to make that capability a reality. And that's what we're seeing coming together here at Tindal. Our government made a commitment that we would return this country to 2 per cent of our economy being invested in our nation's defence and its capability. Australians deserve that and Australians who serve in our defence forces who keep Australians safe, who stand up for our values, stand under our flag and wear our uniform, they deserve that too. They deserve to have the capability and the support and the facilities that enables them to do the job, a very difficult job, that we ask of them. And that's as true as the most recent deployment through Operation Bushfire Assist and this morning, I had the great privilege to speak to many who've been involved in that Operation, all the way from up here in Tindal.
And it's just as true when we're standing here in Tindal and the very important job this place does in Australia's broader Indo-Pacific strategy and the work we do with our partners in this part of the world and particularly in the northern part of Australia and the partnerships we especially have with the United States. This rebuild is based on the white paper strategy we set out a number of years ago, which is seeing some $200 billion invested in our defence capability over the next decade. And we're ensuring that Australian industry content is maximised in all acquisition and sustainment projects to ensure a sovereign industrial base that supports high-skilled Australian jobs and local investment. And I'm so thrilled with the high proportion of jobs that have gone into this project today out of the Territory, not just Australian jobs. Because I’m sure Sam would agree, Territorian jobs and seeing that Territorian experience being really put to the test. It's not easy to build these facilities up in parts of the country that deal with the climatic challenges that we have in this part of the country. But I'm always amazed at the ingenuity of Australians and great companies like Lendlease who have led this project and all the contractors, some of whom I've had the opportunity to meet today, bringing their special Territorian know-how to meeting the challenges of building this facility here on this site. And for those who need those sort of projects done, maybe a bit further north in Indonesia or across Malaysia and throughout our Indo-Pacific partners, well, there are great Australian companies that have proved themselves here working with our defence forces and I have no doubt, whatever the project is across the Indo-Pacific region, Australians are able to stand up and show what they’re capable of doing.
This investment we're putting here is important. When I was in the United States last year and was with the President and was meeting with the Secretary of Defence Mark Esper and the Secretary of State and many others, I was so proud that we can say unreservedly that Australia holds up its end when it comes to our defence commitments and the role we play in our part of the world. And we don't just look to the United States. We don't leave it to the United States. We look to ourselves and our own capability and we do the things that we need to do as a country to measure up when it comes to our defence force capability and what you have to invest in to make that a reality. Plenty of people want to talk about targets, well, I can tell you, when we set a target as a government, we meet it and the 2021 reaching the target of 2 per cent of GDP being spent on our defence forces and standing in the middle of all the facilities that our expression of that commitment. That's real stuff. That's real commitment. That's real jobs. That's real defence force capability, which is keeping Australians safe.
We’re investing a total of $1.6 billion at RAAF Base Tindal. Tindal is strategically significant as a forward operating base to provide support to Australia's air combat capabilities and with our allies. Our investment will enhance air combat capability and our engagement with allies through the conduct that joint exercises, particularly with the United States Air Force. The Australian Government has improved $1.1 billion to undertake a seven-year program here at Tindal, which I’m here to announce today. These works will upgrade the airfield, increase aviation fuel storage, reinvest in ageing base engineering services and provide additional living accommodation for the posted Air Force personnel. The 80s accommodation, which you are very used to, there'll be some new millennial style accommodation, which I'm sure those living on the base will be very appreciative of as we move forward, in particular the families that are coming and living here. People who come and get deployed to Tindal often come back because of the wonderful community that exists here amongst the defence forces themselves, but also their contractors and suppliers to the base and the family that exists here at Tindal.
And we're investing in Australians, as these works will provide strong economic benefits for the region over an extended delivery phase, with significant opportunities for the local construction industry to bid for those subcontract packages. Over the last few years, our government has invested $495 million in new Air Force combat capability facilities, which we’re opening here today to support the arrival of our Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, which will be operated by the amazing 75 Squadron. This project is enhancing defence air combat capability with the introduction of the service of the fifth-generation F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters and the facilities work at Tindal here are due to be fully completed in just a few months time.
So I want to say to you all, thank you for what you're doing for our country, whether you wear a uniform, whether you fly a jet, whether you serve the meals, whether you install the air condition, whether you lay concrete in the middle of the night to deal with the climatic factors that are evident here, if you’re putting the ceilings in, whatever you are doing, you are doing a great job for your country. And I want to assure you that my government is committed to you and there's $1.1 billion worth of investment to back that commitment up here alone in Tindal, on top of what has already been invested out of the defence white paper. And I can do that because I have confidence and my government has confidence in you as Australians to get this job done. I have confidence in Australians who are serving and working as part of these projects that I can stand before other leaders around the world and say Australia will always be able to step up because we have got the people to do the job and we've put our investment in the facilities and the supports that enables them to do the job.
We are a reliable nation when it comes to our own defence and our own security, and that makes us a reliable partner, able to work with others to keep our region safe. Because, you know, when you have a stable region which this place is critical to achieving, then people can enjoy prosperous lives. They can live out their time in peace in our region and this is a very important time where we are underpinning that as a nation. We've got such an important job to do. You are so much a part of that job and I want to thank you for your service in assisting in all that we're doing as a government, as a nation, in this very important time.
So I'm going to look to those who are running the show here today and ask is it time for us to unveil the plaque? Thank you very much, Len, a great pleasure. I declare the new facilities here at Tindal officially opened.
Press Conference - Sydney, NSW
20 February 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, everyone. There is no more important job for an Australian Prime Minister, and indeed Premiers and Chief Ministers of states and territories, than to keep Australians safe. After the devastating Black Summer bushfires, we are still in that summer as we speak. I said some weeks ago now that it would be necessary for us to move forward with a national Royal Commission. At the same time, states and territories are proceeding as we anticipated and as they said they would, as is appropriate, with a series of inquiries that they're running at the state and territory level, as is appropriate. Today, the Governor-General issued letters patent to establish a national Royal Commission into the Black Summer fires. That Royal Commission is about three things: improving natural disaster management coordination across all levels of government; improving Australia's resilience and adaptation to a changing climate, living in hotter, longer, drier summers in this country; and, importantly, a legal framework as is necessary for the Commonwealth's involvement in responding to national emergencies. One of the great challenges of the Black Summer fires has been how they impacted on so many different states and territories, often at the same time. We all remember the day that a state of natural disaster was declared in Victoria. It was on the Thursday, I recall. We'd had the terrible fires that have been raging also through New South Wales to such devastating effect. By that Saturday, two days after we had the first compulsory call-out of the reservists, which saw our numbers increase from 890 to 6,500 in a matter of weeks. As the Commonwealth, we decided to take leadership and to put more boots on the ground. And I am sure everyone all over the country that is affected by those fires was so grateful to see those boots on the ground. And I want to thank General Ellwood and everyone who has been involved in that operation, which continues to this day, Operation Bushfire Assist, for the way they've been conducting that operation, providing tremendous support to communities and great relief across the country.
The Royal Commission will be led by the former Chief of Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, and he will be supported by two other commissioners, a former Federal Court judge, the Honourable Dr Annabelle Bennett , and by Professor Andrew Macintosh, who is a specialist researcher in climate change mitigation and adaptation. This Royal Commission accepts, it acknowledges, it understands the impact of climate change more broadly on the climatic conditions that Australia is living in. What this Royal Commission is looking at are the practical things that must be done to keep Australians safer and safe in longer, hotter, dry summers in the conditions in which Australians will live into the future. So that's dealing with the practical things that need to happen, on everything from preparation to response and importantly recovery. In framing these terms of reference, we circulated and sought comment from the states and territories and I thank all the Premiers and Chief Ministers for their feedback and input into that process and we listened carefully to those responses and we've made adaptations as necessary to ensure that the Royal Commission will enable the commissioners to look at this issue very much from the position of the national perspective. And that national perspective, as I said, will look at what is the arrangements when you could have a national state of emergency or disaster declared? There is no such power. There is no such declaration that currently exists and therefore no consequent powers, authorities or actions that would flow from such a declaration. And so it's important to discuss through, particularly when you have natural disasters that are occurring across multiple states, how that would be put in place, what would be the conditions? What would it then do and how would that integrate and work with the state and territory effort?
It’s also important, I think, as Australians have said very clearly that they want a greater national perspective on these issues. And so it is important to ensure that when we're talking about issues like hazard management, hazard reduction, when we're talking about vegetation, native vegetation management, when we're talking about building standards and controls and planning land-use laws, that we have a greater national consistency in our understanding of what the best practice is and what the standards are and what the plans are and what the accountabilities are using common methodologies so Australians can get a national picture of how we're tracking. These are clearly and absolutely and should forever be the responsibility of states and territories. This isn't about changing who does what. This is about how we work together even more effectively and we build on the disaster recovery arrangements that have been put in place by previous governments that have been tested on this occasion because of the multiple-jurisdiction nature of this disaster. We've also seen, across these latest fires some inconsistency in how the application of the various category A, B and C assistance has been declared in different states and territories. When you're only operating in one state or there's only one jurisdiction that's been affected, well, those inconsistencies don't present because they’re declared by the states. But when you have it happening at Kangaroo Island and you have it happening up in Canungra, you have it happening in Batemans Bay or East Gippsland at the same time, then obviously it's important that Australians should have the same expectations of the level of support that they might receive in those circumstances.
Now, we've worked together to do our best to ensure that they’ve been as consistent as possible, and I make no criticisms at all of the state and territory governments and, in particular, those who led the first line of defence, the first response in combating the fires themselves. The volunteer fire brigades, the emergency services departments and all these organisations. This is an opportunity to have a national Royal Commission which looks at the ways that the national coordination, the national consistency, the national standards of the national measure and the national powers and authorities that need to be put in place and that those questions can be considered and they can be assessed. Now, it is important that this be done in a very rapid fashion, as the states are also doing. So six months have been set aside for this inquiry, that needs to report back by the 31st of August of this year. That will also give them, based on the reporting timetables for the state and territory arrangements, a month to consider the recommendations and the inquiries that have been undertaken at that level.
This isn't an inquiry as to whether the truck should have gone down that road, or gone down some other road. The states are looking at those operational issues and that's why it's important that there be close collaboration between this national Royal Commission with the State-based inquiries, particularly that are occurring in New South Wales, South Australia and in Victoria. And I would hope that that would be the case, because the more they work together, the quicker they can get the job done, the quicker the Premiers, Chief Ministers and I and the relevant Emergency Services and Management Ministers around the country can get on with the recommendations that they would bring forward.
Now, I want to go to one other item on corona before we go to general questions, if it's not inconvenient. I can confirm that 170 people did depart Japan and they've arrived back in Australia at Darwin and they have been transferred to Howard Springs. I can confirm the Australian Embassy in Tokyo continues to provide consular support to 47 passengers in Japan who have tested positive to the coronavirus, the Covid-19 virus, as well as those who chose to remain behind in Japan and those who have opted to finish their quarantine on the Diamond Princess. So those arrangements have been put in place. I can confirm that there are still only 15 cases in Australia. But I can also say that 10 of those cases have now recovered. So we have five who are in an active part of the virus and the containment arrangements that we put in place as a government continue to be very effective.
Now, as you know, we are reviewing the travel ban on a weekly basis. We'll be doing that again today and over the course of the next 24 hours, when we have concluded that consideration a statement will be issued about the next steps. I can say that not a lot has changed between this time when we considered this issue last week and today. But one of the other things that we're also looking very carefully at is the mitigations and the things we can do to try and minimise the impact on particular sectors, particularly in the education sector. There's been a lot of discussions going on between the university and school sector and Minister Tehan and Minister Hunt, and we'll be considering some of those arrangements over the course of the next 24 hours as well.
So it continues to present a significant challenge. The good news is, if you can call it that, is that we're getting better data now because of the number of cases that exist outside mainland China and that is another set of data that can be used by the researchers and by the medical experts who are advising the government. That's giving us a clearer insight on the severity of the virus and issues like mortality rates and how that compares into intensified zones like Wuhan where the mortality rate outside of Wuhan, particularly outside of China, are far less than what we're seeing in those places. And particularly when you remove the impact of the Diamond Princess, which was a particularly significant cohort group, which was skewing the broader international numbers, we can get a better sense of what the threat and impact of this virus is going forward, because we have- first priority, whether it's bushfires or coronavirus or anything else, health and welfare of Australians is the first priority. We're also very mindful though of the significant economic impacts of this virus, but that's not restricted to Australian that is happening globally. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, isn't this Royal Commission about justifying your argument in the dispute with New South Wales in early January, about sending in the reservists and also about showing the states haven't done enough on hazard reduction, isn't it about saying the states aren’t up to it and in particular, New South Wales? Justifying your position?
PRIME MINISTER: No, it's not Andrew. It’s got nothing to do with that. That's a pretty cynical view. What it is about is ensuring that the Commonwealth and the States have clear, clear understandings of the legal arrangements that enable the Commonwealth to act, for the states and territories to act, for us to work together. I'm not making any criticisms of the states and territories. I was pretty clear about that in my opening statement. We're working together with the states and territories. When you have a devastating impact of the Black Summer fires that we've had. You've got to learn the lessons and you've got to look at the ways you can do things better. And when we moved to put 6,500 Defence Force personnel in boots on the ground, we did that in a constitutional grey zone but with the great permission also of the states and territories so those issues didn't arise. So I'd expect Mark Binskin as a former CDF to know what the sensitivities and the legal issues are here and what the practical issues are, this is about assisting us all, Andrew, to ensure that we can make Australians more safe in longer, hotter, drier summers in the future. It's not about conflict. It's about action and it's about making people safe.
JOURNALIST: But you believe that New South Wales were recalcitrant, they did the wrong thing, don’t you, that's your personal view?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: So it was okay for them not to request that? Those reservists at that time?
PRIME MINISTER: Andrew, I'm not going to have you put words in my mouth. What I'm saying is we need to know the answers to these questions. Australians, their safety, needs the answers to these questions so we can better protect them. It’s not about politics. I know the media likes to focus on politics, obsessed by it, but Australians are interested in their safety. And this national Royal Commission is about their safety.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how would state of national emergency laws have changed the Defence Force's involvement in New South Wales during the recent bushfires?
PRIME MINISTER: What we are seeking to understand is how our defence forces can be in a more proactive position to provide support, not to fight the fires. There is no suggestion here that defence forces would be trained in fighting fires. The people who fight fires in this country are overwhelmingly our volunteer fire brigades, supported by state governments, resourced by them, trained by them, run by them, under their command and control, and they do an amazing job. I think one of the clear lessons from the recent disaster has been that where we've been able to get those Defence Force personnel in more quickly and more promptly, then that has provided great relief and comfort to those communities. And I don't think the states and territories have any issues with that at all. And so this just enables, I think, a more effective partnership.
JOURNALIST: Would these laws have seen then come into New South Wales, though, into fighting that or being involved in that effort sooner?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, I think that's a retrospective analysis that the commission will certainly look at, as they should. But what's more important-
JOURNALIST: What's your view?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is why I've commissioned a national Royal Commission. I'm interested in them doing the work and providing that advice. I'm doing this because I want them to inform the answers to those questions, appropriately. And I've asked a former judge, a former Chief of the Defence Forces and a scientist, a professor who has experience in dealing with climate change adaptation. So these are experts who can give us all, shed a lot of light on this. Working with what the states and territories are doing, I think it’ll help us, give us a lot of answers to help make people safer in the future.
JOURNALIST: But you were frustrated with New South Wales weren’t you?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I’m going to let you be frustrated for one second Andrew and let PVO get a question in.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, would you like to see the Royal Commission hear evidence from the former Fire Chiefs who tried to warn you about the impending catastrophe before it happened but couldn't get access?
PRIME MINISTER: It's up to them who they call, and how they call and when they run their meetings and how they run their hearings, they have the powers to conduct those open hearings. And that'll be a matter for the royal commission.
JOURNALIST: But do you think they should hear from them?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't give the Royal Commission a running guidance on how to, they run their commission. That's for them to do. It's an independent Royal Commission. The idea that the Prime Minister would somehow be seeking to direct them in any way like that I think would be highly inappropriate. It's up to them.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister is 6 months enough for this inquiry, given the devastation of this summer's bushfires?
PRIME MINISTER: Well it’s the same length of time that has been done for the state inquiries. And they'll be looking at a lot of operational matters in particular. It's important that we get this done quick, because we need to ensure that we have advice coming back to us, particularly as we go into next season. There's already been an enormous amount of work that has been done here by previous Royal Commissions. And one of the things they've been tasked to do under this terms of reference is to effectively audit the implementation of those recommendations. And I am aware that there's been a lot of good work already done in the research community and scientific community on those issues. So I think they'll be able to draw on that quite readily and to be able to move forward into the other areas of the inquiry.
JOURNALIST: Would you give evidence yourself if you've called upon? Do you anticipate that occurring?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, actually, it's, it's not that usual, but the royal commissioner has those powers.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, I know you're damned if you do and damned if you don't in some respects but-
PRIME MINISTER: No surely not.
JOURNALIST: But did you think, did you, did you think really hard about whether to go down the royal commission path or not? You know, this idea of having so many royal commissions, a lot of people wanted it. Some people didn't.
PRIME MINISTER: I did. I thought very deeply about this as we were actually working through the recovery arrangements. And let's not forget, as I said, a state of disaster declared on the Thursday in Victoria, reservists called out compulsorily for the first time ever on the Saturday. On Monday, the National Bushfire Recovery Agency had been stood up, it had a head and it had a budget of $2 billion dollars. More than half of that had already been committed in a matter of weeks soon after that. At the same time, I was also considering how we needed to move to the next stage of learning from what had been a devastating bushfire crisis that had resulted in the loss of many, many lives. And those lives lost, whether there were those who were fighting the fires or those who were the victims of them, deserve these answers and their families, they deserve these answers and they deserve it at that level. And so I believed it was important to establish something at that level, at the right time. I didn't want it to begin while particularly the agencies were very involved in the direct bushfire fighting response. And I think both the states, particularly New South Wales and Victoria, and ourselves, we didn't rush to putting this together, but we knew it would be necessary. And so coming to the view it was then about, well, what should it be focussed on? It doesn't need to overlap. I don't believe does, with this terms of reference with what is being done at the state level. What it's doing is trying to understand from the national perspective - what are the things that nationally the federal government should be focussed on, in how it responds? And they fall into three areas, as I said one is whether there should be a national state of emergency at a statutory level that engages particular powers for responses, and certain responsibilities, and there need to be clear safeguards about how they can be used. That will have implications for our defence forces and how they prepare and their command structure on these issues as well. And I flagged that when I spoke at the Press Club.
The second one is, how can we ensure as a federal government that nationally Australians can have a greater sense of confidence that things like hazard reduction targets are being met and are being measured on the same basis, as well as the many other practices that are managed at a state level that they are meeting standards and they are reporting against them and Australians can have that confidence, that sunlight is a very good way of doing that.
And the third area, is to acknowledge that we are living in hotter, drier, longer summers. And that means building our climate resilience both in responsiveness and preparedness, as well as the longer term arrangements we need to do with adaptation. So that's what we have to focus on, and this Royal Commission will assist me greatly and the rest of the Cabinet, in responding to those issues, as I believe it will support COAG and the leaders of the states and territories.
JOURNALIST: What's the cost, what's the cost of the royal commission?
PRIME MINISTER: That's still being finalized. But to give you a guide, the 12 month cost of the Banking Royal Commission was just over $50 million, this is going for about half that time.
JOURNALIST: Just on the issue of coronavirus,
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
JOURNALIST: The Australians remaining in Wuhan are desperate to get out, why isn't it possible to arrange another evacuation flight just as you have for the Aussies in Japan?
PRIME MINISTER: Well as I said at the time on the first flight, I said we wouldn't be in a position to guarantee a second one. We were able to achieve that. We've just finished a third flight this time from Japan, and that has been quite an undertaking, and to the AUSMAT team and anyone else who's been involved with that, again Qantas, the amazing job they've done, to Australian Border Force in standing up Howard Springs and how that's being managed, I mean, this has been an extraordinary Australian effort here. But as as seamlessly as that has has been able to be undertaken make no mistake about its complexity, make no mistake about the complexity of getting into these areas and the various arrangements you need to put in place with those authorities. So at this point, we don't have a plan to do a third flight. We don't have that plan currently. But as I say, the National Security Committee is meeting every couple of days. We'll meet again today, on this matter in particular and consider particularly the issue of the ongoing travel ban. But that may not result in a firm conclusion today. There may be further that is needed before a statement is issued on that matter.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you believe security agencies such as the AFP need the help of the Australian Signals Directorate to hunt down paedophile and serious criminals online?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'll tell you, I've always said that what happens in the real world, should happen in the digital world. Now, if I thought someone was abusing a child somewhere, I’d kick the door down, I'd go and try and rescue that child. And so those who want to abuse children shouldn't get to be able to hide in the internet. And if they're doing it, I'm going to use every tool at my disposal to try and protect that child.
JOURNALIST: So do you, what tools do security agencies currently lack when it comes to finding those criminals?
PRIME MINISTER: They'll get what they need to protect the kids. Thank you very much.
Address, Australian Space Forum
19 February 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much, Steven. Can you congratulate and thank Steven Marshall, Premier of South Australia, for his extraordinary leadership when it comes to what we're doing here today and what's going to excitedly happen in this country in our space, our civil space industry over the next decade and beyond. It has been so much Steven's drive when we were pulling together the National Space Agency and the pitch that he was able to make and to now have Dr Clark here and to have the space agency open this morning, on time, on budget and getting on with it is tremendously exciting. So thank you very much for your leadership and partnership on this, Steven, it has demonstrated just how well we can work together and get things done, not just here in South Australia, in Adelaide, but right across the country. Can I also acknowledge Karen Andrews, the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, and popularly known as the Minister for Space in a place like this today. To Dr Giorgio, the President of the Italian Space Agency, it's wonderful to have you here today.
I think, Steven, when you combine South Australian wine and South Australian restaurants, particular Italian restaurants, I mean, when we put the space industry together with that, it was a compelling proposition. They had to come. There was no way they could have resisted with that magic combination, I'm sure. To Dr Megan Clark and all of your wonderful team here at the space agency, it's wonderful had you here. And to all of the honoured guests who are here with us today, particularly those from the diplomatic corps. Your Excellency, the Ambassador from Italy, it's wonderful to have you here as well. Can I also acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Kaurna people and their elders that are past, present and that are emerging for our future. Can I also acknowledge any servicemen and women who are with us here today and can I thank you and the veterans who are here today for your tremendous service to our nation. And of course, as I mentioned this morning, those who have served in our military in our defence forces and those who've served overseas in other foreign services, the space industry is tailor-made for the skills that they have developed and they have learned in their service of their country. And we're very excited about the crossover between the defence industry and space agency. And as always, it's great to see Andy Thomas here, a great Australian.
We have just come, as Steven has said, from the official opening of the space agency headquarters at Lot Fourteen and I’m sure this will be a topic of conversation here at the space forum. One thing that must be very strange for you, in one way, I mean, this is the only conference where the words ‘it's not rocket science’ will never be mentioned amongst you. It is rocket science. It's not easy what you do. It's very complicated. The other thing you won't hear at a conference like this is ‘it can't be done’. That's, I think, one of the most exciting things about the space industry and the space perspective on the world. The sky's not the limit. It's nowhere near the limit as Andy reminds us. Space has no limits and it has no limits economically, either, for us as a nation and the opportunities that we can pursue.
What we have announced this morning is another example of the close partnership and deep collaboration that exists between the South Australian government under Premier Marshall and our government federally, working together on a plan for jobs. As I said this morning, this is a plan for jobs. It's a plan to radically open up and see our space industry realise its potential objectives. But ultimately, this is a plan for jobs. Yesterday morning I was in Melbourne and I was at the Doherty Institute and there they were the first team to grow and share the coronavirus and share that with the world. And so you can imagine how exciting it is for me as a Prime Minister - as difficult as that issue is, the coronavirus impacts on the globe and its particular impacts here in Australia - that Australian scientists are the ones who are the first to grow and share that virus and understand its componentry and actually invest in the ways that we can better understand that and develop the antivirals and ultimately we put $2 million down yesterday to work on a vaccine and that work will be done globally.
But here I am today launching the Australian Space Agency and it says a lot about where Australia is today and where we're going as a country and at the end of the day, it means this, it’s a plan for jobs. And to show us how serious we are about this as we open this morning, I'm not going to do any Star Trek puns today or any Captain Kirk jokes or anything like that, you'll be pleased to know. I'll leave those to Steven, he's much better at that than me. And Karen's already given the big salute this morning on morning television. But the new headquarters alongside a SmartSat CRC and CSIRO will anchor our coordination with the states and territories and act as the front door for our international engagement. It gives the agency a base in a thriving, innovative city that can lay claim to a growing number of space businesses, added to, it would seem, almost every day. And this is great news for Adelaide and for Australians.
Last September, when I was signing an agreement and observing the signing of the agreement with NASA at their headquarters in Washington, the headline actually was ‘Beam Me Up Scotty’ at the time. But the tendency for some to think that the space industry is some sort of novelty act, that it isn't about the serious economy, well they have another thing coming. It isn't just about showing retro footage about what happened in the 1960s and the incredibly proud role Australia played back in that time. It's not about that. It's not about the past, as rich as our past is and our involvement in the space industry globally has been. And we've got a great heritage. But I tell you, we've got a much bigger future, a much more exciting future. It's a vital piece of the economic architecture of our country.
The space industry is worth $350 billion US globally and it's projected to increase to over $1 trillion dollars by 2040. Our goal is to triple the size of our space economy to $12 billion dollars and to create 20,000 new jobs by 2030. Jobs for space, jobs in space. Our work is to transform Australia into a major space player. We're not mucking around with this. We're not playing around with this. We are fair dinkum about this. You don't put $600 million down on a dud bet. You know what you are investing in, you know what its potential is, and that potential is exhibited in the growth of this room alone over the nine occasions in which you've come together about how serious this is. And in just 18 months, the agency has runs on the board. Already, the agency has signed agreements with nine overseas space agencies; NASA, European Space Agency, the Italian Space Agency, as we've already celebrated, and it has signed up to 16 industry partners: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Myriota and Nova Systems. Its work is about helping our businesses gain a bigger share of the growing global space market because in this sector, like so many others, scale is vital. Mass is vital. Critical mass is vital, which is what we're achieving here with the space agency in Adelaide. It's like someone going past a strip of shops. There's one restaurant and it's always empty. Go past one where there is five, seven and ten when things are moving and you understand what critical mass really means to draw the eyeballs and to gather the attention of the world space industry.
Our target for jobs and investment aren’t an end in themselves. They're about growing our space industry and seeing the economic benefits that flow from the creation of these clusters and we're building on an existing foundation. Work undertaken in 2018 showed that South Australia is home to 70 space-related organisations, companies and educational institutes with a workforce of over 800 and already active in the industry and working on remarkable challenges. To give an example, the government is investing to establish a world-class satellite positioning capability in Australia. So currently, your GPS accuracy is within five to 10 metres. The new system will deliver accuracy of within three centimetres. That’s extraordinary. It’s mind-boggling. In areas with mobile coverage in at least 10 centimetres elsewhere. It means everything from precision agriculture for farmers and in a climate, which is the climate we know we're going to be living in, climate action now is about investing in space. That's what it is. Investing in the technologies that help Australians deal with the changing climate. And this is why I welcome the broader debate that hopefully we are now having about the climate in which we are living, because it's not just about one issue, it's about many, many issues, and investing in the capability of our technology and our space industry is a key part of that.
It means delivering better yields, more efficient use of chemicals and new systems to avoid accidents on construction sites, workplace health and safety is helped by space. And think about what it could mean for visually impaired people who could be given confidence in every step they take. You combine that with the investment we're making in the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which actually invests in technologies for Australians living with a disability. Combine that with the technology and lives are changed. You’re in the life-changing business, not so the economy changing business. And what happens in this industry is it spills over into just about every other part of modern life. It's a driver of technological improvement and productivity across our economy. Our businesses have so much to offer in new communications technology, earth observation, robotics, automation and so many other fields. As we were learning last night, Moon to Mars. Why are the Americans interested in Australia? Because we know how to dig holes. We're good at it and the technology you need to do it well and to do it precisely, particularly when lives are at stake, in terms of being able to create that capacity for people to be able to live on another planet. This is the stuff we do and we do it extremely well and that's why people are looking to Australia to be partners in these incredibly exciting missions.
That's why we committed, already, $600 million to grow the sector. Now, that includes $150 million that I announced last year to support Australian businesses to access supply chains for NASA's mission to the Moon and Mars, and had the great privilege of discussing that both with President Trump and Vice President Pence when I was in the United States last year - an incredibly ambitious project. But that ambition is driving enormous innovation. $55 million also for the SmartSat CRC and based out of Adelaide and $200 million for Geoscience Australia to build world-leading satellite positioning infrastructure.
Now, these are economic investments that will benefit Australia over the medium to long term. You know, many years ago, the late great Neil Armstrong watched a movie that most of us have seen. It was called The Dish, which I'm sure you're all familiar with. Subsequently, Neil confessed he had mixed feelings about it. He was, in his own words, a technical person and many of the details weren't quite correct. Who would have thought? Who would have thought that they were taking issue with the dramatic representation of a movie. For science and engineers and astronauts, precision matters. But for Neil Armstrong, he went on to say that for most of the viewers of the film around the world, those were not the details that they would remember. What they would remember is that down in Australia, there were some very dedicated people that did remarkable things that were instrumental in the success of man’s first flight to the moon.
Now, these words about Australia's space capability couldn't be truer today, and they're going to be incredibly true in the future. It requires a similar disciplined focus in engineering, a willingness to step up as a country and as a sector and that's what we're bringing to this task. We’re determined to lean in and with a national effort and to be a serious international player and I know Australia's space industry will grow enormously in coming years. Now, I look forward to working with you all as we continue to go out there, on this incredibly exciting mission together, which at the end of the day will improve the livelihoods and the wellbeing of our fellow Australians and people all around the world.
This is an exciting plan, Megan. This is a very exciting plan. It's a plan for jobs, it’s a plan for the future of our country, a plan that I passionately believe in my government does too. We’re going to invest in it together here with Steven Marshall and the wonderful work that Karen Andrews does right across science and technology and industry and with our international partners, whether in Italy, the United States or elsewhere. Let's go.
Remarks, UN International Women's Day Breakfast - Australian Parliament House, ACT
13 February 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much, Janelle. It's great to see everybody here this morning and it's great to be here at the UN Women Australia Parliamentary Breakfast in honour of International Women's Day on March 8. Can I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Ngunnawal people and their elders past and present and, of course, emerging. The day before Australia Day, as I mentioned yesterday, we went down to the water's edge here in Canberra and were met there by the elders and Ngunnawal women who spent time with me and my family. I want to thank them again for the lessons we learned on that day and their great grace and kindness to me and my family.
I also want to acknowledge many veterans who are here today, serving men and women in our defence forces, and I want to say thank you for your service. And I want to say thank you to the tremendous service that women are playing in our defence forces. I'm sure the Chief of Defence Force who is here with me today would agree. Just seeing them out in the field, in operations all across the world and the tremendous work that women in our defence forces have done, particularly in recent months as part of Operation Bushfire Assist, they've done a tremendous job. And Angus, please pass on our great thanks to all of them.
To my many parliamentary colleagues who are here with us today, and, of course, including the Minister for Women, Marise Payne. She also happens to be the Minister for Foreign Affairs and she does a great job with both of those. And Marise, it's great to be here with you this morning and together with the leader of the opposition, Anthony Albanese and the shadow minister Julie Collins is here with us as well. Wonderful to have you here. There are so many of my female parliamentary colleagues from across the aisle and within the government and it's great to see so many of my female cabinet ministers who are here today along to be here to support this important event.
The story of Australia is, as much as anything, it's a story of strong women in our country. Courageous, trailblazing women. Women committed to their rightful equal place in society and prepared to stand up for that. Women who lead, as I said on the Australia Day weekend, I spoke about the all-Indigenous, all-women Lake Tyers Fire Brigade, led by a team of Gunaikurnai women in East Gippsland. Their brigade vehicle bonnet featured a colourful artwork entitled ‘Working Together’. And it strikes me that working together speaks directly to the generation equality theme of this year's International Women's Day. It sums up the efforts that you're all making and the government is making, along with the change-makers of all ages, all genders, all generations, to build a strong and powered future for Australian women and girls. This is what I believe. When women and girls have freedom of choice and opportunity, when they receive the same merits for their hard work and ingenuity as men and boys.
Recently at a memorial service I was at, my brother was talking about the day when my mum came home and she said she just got a job. And she said to my dad, ‘I'm going to get men's wages’. Now, this was a long time ago. This was several decades ago. And for my brother at that time, the idea that men and women, as a young boy, got paid differently - he didn't understand it. And he talked to my mum about it and she recounted the story to me just the other week at my dad’s memorial service. A lot has happened since then. A lot's changed since then. And this is an issue that's been around a long time. When both men and women are on an equal footing as decision makers, when that happens, not just the individuals, but whole communities benefit. Societies are more cohesive, respectful, cooperative and peaceful. Economies are more productive, diverse and enlightened. Prosperity is lifted.
Here in Australia, there's much progress to celebrate in this year of generational equality. Under our government, we’ve created more than 1.5 million jobs through the hard work of Australians each and every day, the majority of which have actually been taken up by women. It's what a strong economy delivers, the jobs that create the choice and the opportunities for women to utilise their talents and skills and achieve their goals and for them to prosper. Women's workforce participation is at a record high of just over 61 per cent, and that gender pay gap is now at a record low of 14 per cent. And we've got a lot more work to do, though. We’ve achieved equal numbers in the number of women and men in the Australian Senate for the first time in history. And I'm very pleased to say we’ve moved within a hair's breadth of equal representation of Australian Government boards. As of June 30 last year, women held 47.9 per cent of these positions. That's an all-time high. This is now the highest percentage of women in government boards since public reporting began in 2009. Our women's economic security statement, which we introduced in 2018, will continue to concentrate us on the issues we need to keep working on. Backing women to start their own businesses, increasing flexibility through paid parental leave, supporting entrepreneurship opportunities for women and STEM programs for girls. My daughter told me this morning she gets her bunsen burner licence today and so perhaps a great career in science is about to start on this historic day.
We've also turned our attention to the changes and challenges of returning to the workforce after timeout for caring for family and children. We've committed $75 million over four years to our mid-career checkpoint, helping up to 40,000 people who've taken time out of their career to care for their family with tailored career advice, coaching and training. Many women, in particular, take a career break to start a family or care for older family members and are looking for that bit of extra help as they re-enter the workforce. The skills and experience gained in those unpaid family roles is regularly and often not properly acknowledged. This pilot will start with a thousand participants across the states, New South Wales and Queensland, from the 3rd of April of this year before the full rollout begins in July. It's two-tiered, designed to help those who are stepping back into the workforce, as well as supporting the career advancement of those who have already returned. In other words, stepping up their careers. So whether you’re stepping in back in or you're stepping up after time out of the workforce, as a carer we want to give you every persistence to make that transition. Because it's a good thing for yourself, your families, for our nation.
And yet there remains no greater imperative than the safety of women and children. We've made the largest ever Commonwealth investment of $340 million to support the Fourth Action Plan of the national plan to reduce violence against women and their children. Now, this was an initiative started by the previous government. This is an initiative that has shared commitment across this Parliament. The action plan process on the national plan to reduce violence against women and their children is one of the most important initiatives that we as a Parliament together have been journeying on now for many years together. And that must continue to be the case, because when it comes to violence against women, there can only one acceptable outcome, and that is for it to stop.
I want to thank the UN Women Australia for hosting this breakfast today and for your dedication to eradicating gender inequality in all of its forms. I've been so pleased to see the work that UN Women has been doing particularly within our Pacific family and with the support of DFAT. And I want to thank you, Frances, too for the great job you doing there with all our people at DFAT supporting this great work. Projects like Markets for Change in Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are helping make markets safer for the members, the vast majority of whom are women based in rural areas. They often travel long distances to sell their produce and crafts, which means they need secure accommodation. They need toilets, they need clean drinking water at these markets. These are very practical things. Making a living and participating in your local economy shouldn't come at the price of your health and your safety. So thank you to UN Women for working with the Australian Government to support that project, as well as the many others, including Safe Cities in Port Moresby and the Pacific Partnership to End Violence Against Women and Girls.
Back home, I want to assure you all today that as a government we will continue to create, prioritise and back pathways towards a safe, secure and fair and equal status for women in our economy and our society. It’s our stance. It's my commitment. I want to thank you very much for your attention today, and I wish you a great International Women's Day next month. Thank you.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
13 February 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. I’m joined of course, by the Minister for Health and the Chief Medical Officer Dr Brendan Murphy, I thank you again, Brendan and all the senior medical officers, chief medical officers, of our states and territories, who have also met today and are providing very important advice to the government in relation to the coronavirus.
The advice that we received this afternoon at the National Security Committee from that panel of the chief medical officers is that Australia's arrangements to protect Australians from coronavirus here in Australia are working, they're effective, they're doing the job. And it's important that we ensure that that continues to be the case. And that's why this afternoon we've agreed to accept the recommendations that have been provided to us to maintain the ban and the entry restriction on foreign nationals who have recently been in mainland China for a further week to protect Australians from the risk of coronavirus. So this is something we will continue to review on a weekly basis and consider all the medical evidence that has come forth. There's an enormous amount of work that is taking place between Australia and many other nations who are working together to ensure we have the best information available to us to make the best possible decisions.
This decision was made following the receipt of the expert medical advice and we did not take this decision lightly. We are very mindful also of the disruption and economic impacts of these arrangements. But I note Australia is one of 58 countries that has introduced some form of travel restrictions. And I just want to assure all Australians that we are doing everything we can to keep Australians safe at this time and to ensure that we are mitigating everything that is possible to address any of the threats. I'm going to ask the Chief Medical Officer and the Minister for Health to go through some other matters, but I want to make a couple of other points.
I'm very grateful for the constructive approach that the Chinese authorities have been participating with Australia. I'm very appreciative of the role of their embassy here also in Canberra and I’d like to thank also the Chinese Australian community for the way they've been engaging, and respecting the quarantine arrangements and the self isolation. The Chinese Australian community has been absolutely fantastic. And I think it's very important that all Australians reach out and support them at this time in particular, as we go into the weekend, I’d encourage you to go and support businesses. Particularly those Chinese Australian businesses, and to provide that support because they really have been doing a tremendous job under what have been very stressful and trying circumstances for that community. They are such an integral part of Australian life and it's important at this difficult time, particularly for the Chinese Australian community, that all Australians are putting their arms around them and supporting them in every way they can. I also want to ensure that we keep our thoughts also on the people in China as well. This is a very devastating impact in China and particularly in Hubei province and in Wuhan where the impacts are very significant. Australia and China, we are bound by ties of family and commerce, and education and so many things. And this disruption happened at a very important time of the year in China around Lunar New Year. But we know the Chinese people are incredibly resilient, and we know they'll bounce back and we will bounce back together in our relationship with China as we get through this very difficult time and we make decisions consultatively and together and listening to each other and doing what we can to help each other as we manage our way through what has been a difficult period. But the key thing is, is that the decisions the government has taken, the way we’ve gone about that, how we’ve gathered the advice, made decisions, is keeping Australian safe when it comes to coronavirus.
And I particularly thank the Minister for Health, as well as the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Home Affairs, the arrangements both up in Howard Springs in the Northern Territory as well as on Christmas Island, have been working very effectively. I thank particularly the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, who I just spoke to a few moments ago, to advise him of this decision as I’ve also sought to make contact with all the other Premiers and Chief Ministers, those arrangements are working very well and I leave it to the Minister for Health and the Chief Medical Officer to take you through a few more of those details.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: Thanks very much Prime Minister and to Dr Murphy, as the Prime Minister says our approach to the coronavirus is keeping Australians safe. Two sets of figures underline this, firstly and sadly, overnight, we have seen some very significant growth in the figures, particularly out of Hubei Province. Now over 60,000 people are confirmed as having coronavirus. The vast majority are in Hubei and very sadly, the number of those who have passed away has increased to 1,357. Against that background, in Australia, we remain at a figure of only 15 people who have been confirmed with coronavirus. Now we have 5 that have formally cleared the virus and I understand there’s a number of others are increasingly [inaudible]. So that means that the measures that we have taken are protecting Australians. But the advice from the Chief Medical Officer and the chief health and medical officers around the country was to continue those measures for the time being. So we accept that advice. I will also note that the latest advice that I have out of Christmas Island and Howard Springs is that there are no confirmed cases in either of those facilities. In Howard Springs, where there is ongoing testing, a further four cases have been tested and cleared. And this remains good news and it says that the advice of the medical officers is keeping Australians safe and the decisions that we’re taking are assisting in that. Brendan?
DR. BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thanks Prime Minister and Minister. So as the Prime Minister and Minister have said, we've recommended the continuation of the travel ban for an additional week at this time. As Minister Hunt said, there's been significant growth in Hubei, in other provinces of China there has been slower growth and perhaps not at the same rate that we saw earlier, but still growth. That is of concern because there are still evidence of community transmission in other provinces and that's the reason we would like to maintain the travel ban at the moment. Other countries in Asia have had some growth in cases, particularly Thailand, Japan, noting the particular case of the cruise ship in Japan, which is of course, [inaudible] there. But we believe that those larger numbers in some countries are also well controlled at this time. Our major focus is on what is happening in China. As we've said on many occasions, Hubei Province is well locked down despite the very significant growth in cases there. But our concern is to make sure that in those other provinces of China, the Chinese are getting on top of the outbreaks, which are much smaller, and hopefully they will be able to contain them and at that time hopefully we'll be able to review the travel bans. As the Minister and Prime Minister have also said, perhaps the best news is that we’ve had no further cases in Australia, all of the 15 cases that are here, have had some association with the Hubei Province or from someone who's come from that province. We haven't had anyone who's come from China, since the travel ban was introduced, develop the disease. And so we still have, obviously, our citizens and permanent residents coming here and they have behaved impeccably with self-isolation and I congratulate them on that. So I think we’ll leave it there thank you.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, given there’s sort of uncertainty about how long these bans may continue, have you discussed at a sort of leadership or Cabinet level or NSC level, the possibility of some sort of financial assistance that directly affected sectors like the universities, is that something that you can give [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: We’re working very closely together with the university sector and also the secondary school sector. Because there was a small number of those who were affected by this. And the Education Minister has been in pretty much constant contact. On the universities issue it is still some four to six weeks before we’ll reach a period of time where that can really start to impact on the year and they’ve put in place a number of measures, online learning and these types of things that can address that now. But as I’m sure, as Dr. Murphy will tell you, that the challenge in managing this is you don't know what you don't know, and at the moment there is a lot that is still unknown about this virus, we have seen its transmission outside of Hubei, as Dr Murphy said, not accelerate as greatly as it was. And that's welcome. And that the level of severity outside of Hubei is certainly different to what you've seen inside of Hubei. And we have not had any cases in Australia that have come from mainland China. Now since the start of the travel ban there’d be in excess of 25,000 people who would have arrived over that period of time, Australian nationals and so on who are returning. And that is welcome news. So we we are taking a cautious approach, but a very mindful approach, mindful that these bans do have an impact on a number of sectors. And in some sectors like tourism it's a double blow because of the impact because of the bushfires. And as we know, that bushfires didn’t only impact the directly affected areas by those bushfires and the tourism sector. They did affect the country more broadly. So we're very mindful of that. This is why we are on a weekly rotation on the review of this. And we are looking at all options that are available to us to mitigate the impact where possible.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister how long can the Australian economy really sustain this travel ban. Given that Chinese tourists alone, you've just referenced the tourism industry, bring in, there’s about 120,000 that come every month and spend, they’re the highest spending tourists that come to Australia. So how long is it realistic that this lasts and will you get on the phone to President Xi Jinping to express you know, Australia’s regret for this crisis occurring in China right now?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, two points. The first one is, our first responsibility, my first responsibility is the health and wellbeing of the Australian people, particularly here and where Australians have found themselves isolated, vulnerable and impacted we have undertaken measures that would assist them. Now, I don't just mean the assisted departures of what were effectively 3 flights with Australians also on the Air New Zealand flight, but also support for those currently on cruise ships and the additional assistance we're putting in, we’re looking to get a medical officer up to there. But also we have a mental health hotline, and providing what support we can through consular support to those Australians who find themselves in this situation. But let’s make no mistake, my job is to protect the health of Australians right now. That is the government's top priority. And we are very mindful of the economic impacts of this. But the threat that could otherwise present to the health of Australians is of a level that has led us to take these decisions on the best expert medical advice. So we will constantly continue to monitor this very, very closely. And as I said to Phil, mitigate the impact on the economy where we can with sensible measures that don't put the health of Australians at risk. We've just been in contact with the Chinese embassy just now to convey this latest decision, and as I said in my opening comments, we're seeking to support China in any and every way we can as they deal with this crisis. This is a terrible crisis for them to manage. And I know that with so many Australians who have Chinese heritage, they will be concerned about family members back in China. And so our message, the only message I have for China is one of empathy, and one of support.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said you’re considering sensible measures to mitigate the impact. Could that include financial assistance to the university, tourism, or hospitality sectors?
PRIME MINISTER: No, they’re not measures currently before us and nor are they measures that are currently being sought. But we are approaching this the same way we have the entire time. And you deal with the information that's in front of you. You deal with it in a very measured way. And you take the steps that you believe are necessary based on the best advice and you keep consulting, you keep listening, you keep understanding what the impacts are on the ground and you take your best measures to be able to address those.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister are you considering expanding this travel ban beyond China, the Philippines we understand has now banned people coming from Taiwan and Hong Kong. Would Australia look at a similar measure? Given that’s [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: We haven’t made that decision.
JOURNALIST: Professor Murphy, can I ask you, the Diamond Princess, each morning we wake and it seems to be more people being carted off that ship with coronavirus, from a microbiological point of view, is there a possibility that thing is acting now as an incubator that people may be better off that ship than on it?
DR. MURPHY: So it's a good question, I think at the moment it, ships are known as incredible places where infectious diseases can be transmitted. At the moment the period of time the quarantine has been in place is still consistent with everyone having been infected before the quarantine was put in place. But if further cases continue to come you'd have to wonder about the quarantining. So we're sending a public health expert hopefully in the next few days to go there to look at the issues and to provide advice to us in terms of the Australians there.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister on another matter?
PRIME MINISTER: I just, I just want to make sure that while we have the Chief Medical Officer here you address any questions you’d like to him.
JOURNALIST: Just to follow up on my question sorry Prime Minister, you said haven't made a decision about extending the travel ban to other countries. Are you considering that though, is that actively under consideration?
PRIME MINISTER: Well there's no recommendation, of course, to that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what was the reaction of the Chinese embassy with regards to the news that the ban was being extended, they expressed some unhappiness last week with regards to that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I wasn't on that call personally, that that has been done through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade so, but my understanding is that they would understand these decisions. And again, that's why I stress my appreciation for the way that China and Australia are working together on this. China is dealing with countries all around the world. I can only imagine that task, that while they’re dealing with what is a very real and serious domestic crisis of their own. So we simply want to support as as best we can, but I'm sure they understand that the Australian Government, like all others, will be taking decisions in their best interests and their top priority is the health and well-being of their own citizens.
JOURNALIST: Indonesia still hasn't confirmed any cases, and there was a man who passed through Bali and was diagnosed with the virus back in China. Indonesia insists that he didn't contract it while in the country. Are you satisfied with the way that that's being handled?
DR. MURPHY: So the Indonesians are conducting tests, and they're expanding the testing at the moment. My reading of that person who went through Bali was it's consistent with that infection being being picked up in China. So that, obviously we're watching the situation in Indonesia, but they are doing a lot of a lot of testing and they're expanding it at the moment.
PRIME MINISTER: We’ve got a lot of cooperation between Indonesia and Australia on these issues. It was it was one of the many issues that I discussed with the President earlier this week. OK. I’m going to let, give Brendan a leave pass, I’m sure the other matter you wish to ask me about are not ones he can assist you with.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on the issue, are you concerned about the development recently that Anthony Albanese was being called to be a witness in the criminal prosecution case against, several former New South Wales Labor powerbrokers?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, all I can really given the nature of this matter, and that is before the courts, is that it's obviously a very serious matter that Mr Albanese has been called before, to appear as a witness on this case. And witnesses will go before this court process and they'll have to answer questions about what, what information they have about these very serious cases that have been considered, involving these matters.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister can I just go back to Lanai’s question about the impact on the tourism sector, the Australian Tourism Council wrote to you earlier this week seeking some financial support, are you open to considering that request?
PRIME MINISTER: Well it's early on in terms of understanding of the longer term impact. Our first response is really to put the energy in behind the campaigns that we're running, particularly domestically. And that is the first line of defence in terms of addressing the demand deficit that will come from the fall in the number of visitors that will be coming from China. So that's the first line of response. And given we'd already moved in that area in relation to the bushfires, we can add additional effort to that. And so the Tourism Minister is pursuing that with Tourism Australia and working closely with the states and the territories. There have been a number of issues that have been raised also by colleagues, this week as over the course of the parliamentary sitting weeks, particularly those members like Warren Entsch up there in northern Queensland and others who are seeing the impact in their own communities. And it's not just the tourism industry up there, is the seafood industry as well. There’ll be those impacts in other parts of the country. So when I say that we're looking at ways to mitigate the impacts of these on the ground, well, we're open to all the options that are there to do that effectively and to do that responsibly and that there is nothing more I can do that at this point.
JOURNALIST: But no direct financial support to the states?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I just said there's nothing further for me to add to that at this point.
JOURNALIST: Does the Government have modelling on the economic impacts, including on those specific industries like tourism and education if this crisis continues in the weeks and months ahead?
PRIME MINISTER: The Treasury has been doing a lot of work. Obviously, with the Treasurer and the Treasurer has written to all the state and territory Treasurers about that work, I think to the Premier’s directly about that work that’s being done. I think we have to understand that it's still very early in this virus and a lot of the impacts are still unknown and so while you would have any number of scenarios that could potentially play out, it's important at this stage, I think, not to get ahead of ourselves, to be taking the steps that we need to take, firstly to deal with the health and wellbeing of Australians, and then look at what the broader economic impacts are and the things we can do to mitigate some of those things, sensibly, and consistent with the health advice. But beyond that, looking to, on the other side, how you can rebuild.
Now, as I think I told you in this room on, one of the previous press conferences, I think we had an 11 per cent fall in the national visitor arrivals during the previous SARS and MERS cases, and that was followed up in one quarter with a 16 per cent increase afterwards. And so it is different in that there is the ability for this to ramp up on the other side. And over the course of a year, then you can have potentially some spreading out of those impacts. But I don't for a second discount or underestimate what the real pain and impact of that is right now, and in Australia, this is why I say particularly to our Chinese Australian community, this weekend, get out and about there. And there's a domestic economic response that all Australians can make in where they go and what they do, and I want to encourage them in doing that. And I think that’ll be a good thing.
JOURNALIST: As you did allude to Prime Minister, the Treasurer has asked his department to put together modelling on the economic impact of coronavirus, have you seen that yet? Has that been put before you in NSC or Cabinet? Has that been presented, has it been finalised?
PRIME MINISTER: Not in the final stage.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Audit office has just given evidence to the audit committee suggesting that because the grant, the sports grant process took so long, that 43 per cent of the projects that received funding were ineligible. You've defended the administration of the program by saying that all projects that received funding were eligible.
PRIME MINISTER: I was quoting the Auditor-General.
JOURNALIST: So the Audit Office has just said that that is, that 43 per cent of projects were in fact ineligible.
PRIME MINISTER: I haven't seen evidence, I haven't seen that statement. So I will review that. Thank you very much.
Remarks, UN International Women's Day Breakfast - Australian Parliament House, ACT
13 February 2020
Well, thank you very much, Janelle. It's great to see everybody here this morning and it's great to be here at the UN Women Australia Parliamentary Breakfast in honour of International Women's Day on March 8. Can I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Ngunnawal people and their elders past and present and, of course, emerging. The day before Australia Day, as I mentioned yesterday, we went down to the water's edge here in Canberra and were met there by the elders and Ngunnawal women who spent time with me and my family. I want to thank them again for the lessons we learned on that day and their great grace and kindness to me and my family.
I also want to acknowledge many veterans who are here today, serving men and women in our defence forces, and I want to say thank you for your service. And I want to say thank you to the tremendous service that women are playing in our defence forces. I'm sure the Chief of Defence Force who is here with me today would agree. Just seeing them out in the field, in operations all across the world and the tremendous work that women in our defence forces have done, particularly in recent months as part of Operation Bushfire Assist, they've done a tremendous job. And Angus, please pass on our great thanks to all of them.
To my many parliamentary colleagues who are here with us today, and, of course, including the Minister for Women, Marise Payne. She also happens to be the Minister for Foreign Affairs and she does a great job with both of those. And Marise, it's great to be here with you this morning and together with the leader of the opposition, Anthony Albanese and the shadow minister Julie Collins is here with us as well. Wonderful to have you here. There are so many of my female parliamentary colleagues from across the aisle and within the government and it's great to see so many of my female cabinet ministers who are here today along to be here to support this important event.
The story of Australia is, as much as anything, it's a story of strong women in our country. Courageous, trailblazing women. Women committed to their rightful equal place in society and prepared to stand up for that. Women who lead, as I said on the Australia Day weekend, I spoke about the all-Indigenous, all-women Lake Tyers Fire Brigade, led by a team of Gunaikurnai women in East Gippsland. Their brigade vehicle bonnet featured a colourful artwork entitled ‘Working Together’. And it strikes me that working together speaks directly to the generation equality theme of this year's International Women's Day. It sums up the efforts that you're all making and the government is making, along with the change-makers of all ages, all genders, all generations, to build a strong and powered future for Australian women and girls. This is what I believe. When women and girls have freedom of choice and opportunity, when they receive the same merits for their hard work and ingenuity as men and boys.
Recently at a memorial service I was at, my brother was talking about the day when my mum came home and she said she just got a job. And she said to my dad, ‘I'm going to get men's wages’. Now, this was a long time ago. This was several decades ago. And for my brother at that time, the idea that men and women, as a young boy, got paid differently - he didn't understand it. And he talked to my mum about it and she recounted the story to me just the other week at my dad’s memorial service. A lot has happened since then. A lot's changed since then. And this is an issue that's been around a long time. When both men and women are on an equal footing as decision makers, when that happens, not just the individuals, but whole communities benefit. Societies are more cohesive, respectful, cooperative and peaceful. Economies are more productive, diverse and enlightened. Prosperity is lifted.
Here in Australia, there's much progress to celebrate in this year of generational equality. Under our government, we’ve created more than 1.5 million jobs through the hard work of Australians each and every day, the majority of which have actually been taken up by women. It's what a strong economy delivers, the jobs that create the choice and the opportunities for women to utilise their talents and skills and achieve their goals and for them to prosper. Women's workforce participation is at a record high of just over 61 per cent, and that gender pay gap is now at a record low of 14 per cent. And we've got a lot more work to do, though. We’ve achieved equal numbers in the number of women and men in the Australian Senate for the first time in history. And I'm very pleased to say we’ve moved within a hair's breadth of equal representation of Australian Government boards. As of June 30 last year, women held 47.9 per cent of these positions. That's an all-time high. This is now the highest percentage of women in government boards since public reporting began in 2009. Our women's economic security statement, which we introduced in 2018, will continue to concentrate us on the issues we need to keep working on. Backing women to start their own businesses, increasing flexibility through paid parental leave, supporting entrepreneurship opportunities for women and STEM programs for girls. My daughter told me this morning she gets her bunsen burner licence today and so perhaps a great career in science is about to start on this historic day.
We've also turned our attention to the changes and challenges of returning to the workforce after timeout for caring for family and children. We've committed $75 million over four years to our mid-career checkpoint, helping up to 40,000 people who've taken time out of their career to care for their family with tailored career advice, coaching and training. Many women, in particular, take a career break to start a family or care for older family members and are looking for that bit of extra help as they re-enter the workforce. The skills and experience gained in those unpaid family roles is regularly and often not properly acknowledged. This pilot will start with a thousand participants across the states, New South Wales and Queensland, from the 3rd of April of this year before the full rollout begins in July. It's two-tiered, designed to help those who are stepping back into the workforce, as well as supporting the career advancement of those who have already returned. In other words, stepping up their careers. So whether you’re stepping in back in or you're stepping up after time out of the workforce, as a carer we want to give you every persistence to make that transition. Because it's a good thing for yourself, your families, for our nation.
And yet there remains no greater imperative than the safety of women and children. We've made the largest ever Commonwealth investment of $340 million to support the Fourth Action Plan of the national plan to reduce violence against women and their children. Now, this was an initiative started by the previous government. This is an initiative that has shared commitment across this Parliament. The action plan process on the national plan to reduce violence against women and their children is one of the most important initiatives that we as a Parliament together have been journeying on now for many years together. And that must continue to be the case, because when it comes to violence against women, there can only one acceptable outcome, and that is for it to stop.
I want to thank the UN Women Australia for hosting this breakfast today and for your dedication to eradicating gender inequality in all of its forms. I've been so pleased to see the work that UN Women has been doing particularly within our Pacific family and with the support of DFAT. And I want to thank you, Frances, too for the great job you doing there with all our people at DFAT supporting this great work. Projects like Markets for Change in Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are helping make markets safer for the members, the vast majority of whom are women based in rural areas. They often travel long distances to sell their produce and crafts, which means they need secure accommodation. They need toilets, they need clean drinking water at these markets. These are very practical things. Making a living and participating in your local economy shouldn't come at the price of your health and your safety. So thank you to UN Women for working with the Australian Government to support that project, as well as the many others, including Safe Cities in Port Moresby and the Pacific Partnership to End Violence Against Women and Girls.
Back home, I want to assure you all today that as a government we will continue to create, prioritise and back pathways towards a safe, secure and fair and equal status for women in our economy and our society. It’s our stance. It's my commitment. I want to thank you very much for your attention today, and I wish you a great International Women's Day next month. Thank you.
Address, Closing the Gap Statement to Parliament
12 February 2020
Mr Speaker, when we meet in this place, we are on Ngunnawal country.
I give my thanks and pay my respects to our Ngunnawal elders, past, present and importantly emerging for our future.
I honour all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here in this House, and right across our great continent.
I also acknowledge our service men and women, our veterans, and particularly acknowledge our Indigenous servicemen and women, and our Indigenous veterans - as we did just last week at the Australian War Memorial.
Service that for so long was not acknowledged, but who served not for recognition, but because of their faith in who we could become as a country and as a people. We are still on that journey and I thank them on behalf of a grateful nation for their service.
I also acknowledge and honour our Indigenous leaders who are also the democratically elected representatives of the people:
The Member for Hasluck, the Honourable Ken Wyatt — our very first Aboriginal Minister for Indigenous Australians.
The Member for Barton, the Honourable Linda Burney.
Senator Patrick Dodson, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, and Senator Jacqui Lambie.
I also welcome Convenor Pat Turner, and all members of the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations. I thank you for your partnership, your strength, and your leadership.
Mr Speaker, for 12 years, I have sat in this chamber and listened to Closing the Gap speeches.
It’s a tale of hope, frustration and disappointment.
A tale of good intentions. Indeed good faith.
But the results are not good enough.
This is sadly still true.
Last year, I opened this address with what I believe is a national truth and a national shame: that our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Australia today do not have the same opportunities as all other children growing up in Australia.
They never have in Australia. Never.
This is the ultimate test of our efforts. That every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boy or girl, can grow up in this country, with the same opportunities and expectations as any other Australian boy and girl.
Over decades, our top down, government knows best approach has not delivered the improvements we all yearn for.
When it comes to the welfare and advancement of our Indigenous peoples, I don’t doubt the good hearts and the goodwill of those in this chamber and those who have served here, including former Prime Minister Rudd who began this process with the National Apology, indeed the day before I gave my first speech in this place 12 years ago.
The National Apology was an important milestone, but it did not pretend to be the solution.
It was important for many reasons Mr Speaker, but for me, it was most important to me, was that it was most important to our First Australians. It mattered to them, and so it mattered to me.
Despite our best intentions, Closing the Gap, as an initiative fell victim to the same type of thinking that has hampered our efforts in the past.
We seemed to think that somehow if our aspirations were high enough, the rest would just take care of itself.
This is not a challenge of aspiration. It is not a contest of earnestness. It is not about who cares more. It is not about symbolism.
There has been no shortage of money or will. The Productivity Commission estimates that in 2015-16, total indigenous specific expenditure of all levels of government was $6 billion. And the share of mainstream programs that all Australians share was a further $27.4 billion.
Over the forward estimates, we are providing $5.2 billion for our Indigenous Advancement Strategy, $4.1 billion for targeted efforts to improve Indigenous Health as well as significant payments to the states and territories for Indigenous specific programs.
Closing the gap is a very practical challenge, and a very difficult one. Getting people into jobs so they can lift up their eyes from seeing hopelessness and see a future that they can direct.
Ensuring young children are healthy, in school and well educated to realise their potential. That is how generational change occurs.
Ensuring that indigenous Australians are safe in their homes and in their communities. Where they can have the same expectations of the rule of law, to go about their own lives unviolated, as any other Australian in any other part of the country.
Having watched and listened, we are now making the change to how we go about this task. It’s not a judgement of our past efforts, but an honest and humble learning.
Despite the best of intentions; investments in new programs; and bi-partisan goodwill, Closing the Gap has never really been a partnership with Indigenous people.
We perpetuated an ingrained way of thinking, passed down over two centuries and more, and it was the belief that we knew better than our Indigenous peoples.
We don’t.
We also thought we understood their problems better than they did. We don’t. They live them.
We must see the gap we wish to close, not from our viewpoint, but from the viewpoint of indigenous Australians before we can hope to close it, and make a real difference.
And that is the change we are now making, together with indigenous Australians through this process.
We all have, in our own way, sought to grapple with the consequences of two and a quarter centuries of Indigenous disempowerment.
What I know is that to rob a person of their right to take responsibility for themselves; to strip them of responsibility and capability to direct their own futures; to make them dependent - this is to deny them of their liberty - and slowly that person will wither before your eyes.
That’s what we did to our First Nations people - and mostly, we didn't even know we were doing it.
We thought we were helping when we replaced independence with welfare.
This must change.
We must restore the right to take responsibility.
The right to make decisions.
The right to step up.
The opportunity to own and create Australian’s own futures.
It must be accompanied by a willingness to push decisions down to the people who are closest to them. Where the problems are, and where the consequences of decisions are experienced.
That is what we must do.
On the afternoon before Australia Day, my family and I once again visited a group of Ngunnawal elders, this time down by the lake for a water blessing.
It was hot, there was smoke from the bushfires in the air. I was grateful for the generosity and grace displayed by the Ngunnawal people to host a Prime Minister and his family at a poignant time when they reflect on their own long history since time immemorial.
Yet on that afternoon, my Ngunnawal friends were more concerned about what they called my Sorry Business Time and the recent passing of my father. They were concerned for my girls and their loss.
They had words and space for grief - and we sat together. I want to thank Aunty Agnes Shea for her hospitality and kind words.
Be it grief; the protection of our lands against bushfire; an understanding of our native ecosystems; or the inter-generational responsibilities to the land and to each other; there is so much we learn from Indigenous communities and peoples.
So I ask: what have we been too proud to learn? What must we learn so that we can grow together?
Our new approach to Closing the Gap provides some of the answers to this question.
An approach that is built on partnership. On giving back responsibility.
An approach of listening.
Of empowering.
Of government providing the capabilities, so that Indigenous Australians can make their best choices.
Of all governments accepting their own accountabilities.
And of owning up to a path, that despite the very best of intentions of all Governments, hasn't worked.
Mr Speaker, today I make the final report on an old approach, as well as the first report of a new era.
Here, then, are the results against the targets set since 2008.
Two of the seven targets are on track to be met this year, and in 2025.
We are on track to halve the gap in Year 12 attainment and that is a tremendous achievement.
What that means now, and in the future, is more Indigenous doctors, nurses, teachers, tradies, police officers, engineers, scientists, mathematicians, farmers, IT specialists, musicians, artists and CEOs and business leaders.
Excelling in every field of endeavour.
Lifting our communities.
Indeed, this is the biggest improvement over the past decade.
The proportion of Indigenous Australians reaching this milestone has jumped more than 20 per cent in 12 years.
The biggest leap forward has been in our major cities, where 85 per cent of Indigenous 20-24 year olds have attained year 12 or equivalent.
We’re already doing more to close that gap.
In last year’s statement, I announced $200 million in extra support for Indigenous students through the Indigenous Youth Education Package.
Already, funding agreements for 30 projects valued at $190 million are in place.
This year, the package will assist over 20,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students stay engaged in secondary school through mentoring, cultural or other supports.
We are also working in partnership with local communities in remote and very remote communities to identify community projects that encourage school attendance. These projects are being developed
This year also, we are on track to have 95 per cent of Indigenous four-year-olds enrolled in early childhood education by 2025.
The preschool years are so important in preparing kids for their school journey and beyond. And we are seeing more Indigenous kids getting that advantage.
In 2018, the figure was 86 per cent — an almost 10 percentage point rise on 2016, and well ahead of where we needed to be to hit that target in five years’ time.
So at both ends of the school spectrum, we have made great strides in getting more kids into school and through school.
Nothing should diminish how significant these gains are.
However, the four expiring targets that were supposed to be met by 2018 were not met.
Halving the gap in child mortality.
Closing the gap in school attendance.
Halving the gap in child literacy and numeracy.
Halving the gap in employment.
The final target — closing the gap in life expectancy within a generation — is not on track to be met by 2031.
This is a stark and sobering report that I have tabled.
I welcome the gains, I honour the hard work across every front.
We must be careful not to speak of our First Australians as a broken people. Because they are not.
So many of our first Australians, are out there making their way, despite the disadvantages they have faced and overcome. Setting goals, making choices, living their lives, and showing bravely the way to others.
But I don’t shy away from the failures.
I see the shortcomings.
The targets that were set for Indigenous Australians, not by Indigenous Australians, do not celebrate the strengths, achievements and aspirations of Indigenous people.
They don’t tell you what’s happening on the ground, or stirring under it.
They don’t tell you how realistic or achievable these targets were in the first place.
They reinforce the language of failing and falling short.
And they also mask the real progress that has been made.
We must be careful not to adopt a negative mindset.
Because on most measures, we have made progress.
I am saddened that we have not met the target for child mortality. But I draw hope and resolve from the fact that we are making progress in tackling the risk factors.
More Indigenous mothers are attending antenatal care in the first trimester and more are going to at least five antenatal sessions.
Fewer Indigenous mothers are smoking during pregnancy.
We know that if we can shift these risk factors, we can keep more Indigenous babies and children alive.
We may not be on track to fully close the life expectancy gap in a generation – always an ambitious target – but mortality rates have improved by almost 10 per cent.
This is mostly because we’ve made progress in tackling the leading cause of death: the big circulatory diseases like heart disease and stroke.
This is progress.
But, as I said, we have not made as much progress as we should have by now.
There remains much to do.
And we will do it differently.
By working together.
By moving from a fixation with what is going wrong to a focus on strength.
By going from good intentions and sky-high aspirations, to local, practical action that’s driven by local leaders and local needs.
With clear accountability and responsibility.
With a clear line of sight to the community.
And we’re acting on a commitment — by all levels of government — to work together.
For federal, state, territory and local governments to work together.
Not just the Indigenous portfolios but whole governments, at every point of contact.
Mr Speaker, every Minister in my Government is a Minister for Indigenous Australians. And the Minister for Indigenous Australians is the first amongst equals in this cause.
More importantly, for governments to work with local communities.
In partnership with the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peaks – known as the Coalition of Peaks, and with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
We’re making that commitment real.
This is what our Closing the Gap refresh is all about.
It’s what all governments agreed to at COAG a little over a year ago.
It’s what we agreed to in March last year, in our unprecedented Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap between the Commonwealth, state and territory governments, the Coalition of Peaks, and the Australian Local Government Association.
It’s what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been saying for a long time.
They want a partnership where we listen, work together and decide together how future policies are developed — especially at a regional and local level.
A partnership that respects their expertise, and acknowledges their place as the First Nations people of this continent.
So we’re bringing more people into the process.
We are finalising a new National Agreement on Closing the Gap, a formal agreement between COAG and the Coalition of Peaks. We expect this to be considered in April during Joint Council in Western Australia.
Just last month, the Peaks and I sat around the Cabinet Table and talked about how we’re making this commitment real.
Even meeting together like that, I’m advised – the Ministers and me, along with the heads of 14 community-controlled organisations, representing almost 50 different community-controlled organisations – was unprecedented.
It was historic - but it shouldn't have been.
This partnership is generations overdue.
At that meeting, I listened.
The Indigenous leaders were telling us where the gaps are, where the needs are, where the strengths are.
The success stories.
The empowering stories.
The stories of hope.
And our shared priorities are clear:
· expanding the opportunities for shared decision-making
· building the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled services sector
· making sure all mainstream agencies provide high quality services to meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Mr Speaker, in days that some in this chamber will remember, the Government had absolute control over Aboriginal people’s lives: where they could live, where they could travel, who they could marry.
Government files held details — often brutal in their brevity — that the people themselves were not allowed to know.
Mr Speaker, I have one such file with me.
A file of the Native Welfare Department. File 1690/68.
The file is for a boy. A teenager.
In this file are notes about funding for school uniforms.
And there is a memo to the Commissioner of Native Welfare about whether the boy should be provided pocket money of 75 cents a week.
75 cents a week.
Bureaucrats making decisions for what they paternally called ‘a good type of lad’.
Think about a life where even the most basic decision making is stripped away from you - by governments thinking they know better.
Fortunately, that boy was bigger than the times, and I’m honoured that he now sits behind me as the Minister for Indigenous Australians.
He knows that responsibility and empowerment is freedom.
He is one of almost 800,000 Indigenous Australians — in the West, in the East, from Tasmania to the top end.
As I have stated, it is time we defined the gap we want to close from the viewpoint of our Indigenous Australians. They are the Australians who should be setting these goals.
Mr Speaker, a vital part of empowering Indigenous communities, is giving them the data and information to inform their decision making.
That’s why we’ve just committed $1.5 million to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led data project.
It’s about supporting local decision-making, and it’s supporting the Coalition of Peaks in partnership with the Indigenous Data Network at the University of Melbourne, to develop regional profiles for Closing the Gap targets.
It will mean having richer and more localised data to inform programs designed by and for local communities.
And a commitment of states and territories, all governments, to report publicly on Closing the Gap into the future.
These new arrangements underpin the future of Closing the Gap.
One of the things we’ve learned from the last 12 years is that the way we deliver services matters as much as what’s delivered.
That’s why we changed the funding model for the Indigenous Australians Health Program.
The new design is focused on delivering primary health care that’s appropriate to the unique languages and cultures and circumstances of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
I’m very hopeful that a new approach that’s more locally-led and more collaborative will take us much further than the top-down, one-size-fits-all, government-led approach ever could.
We know that when Indigenous people have a say in the design of programs, policies and services, the outcomes are better - and lives are changed.
For a young mother, it’s the difference between antenatal care that’s too far away or not culturally competent, and getting the care she needs from a local Indigenous service.
For a young child, it’s the difference between getting a patchy education and getting the right support to stay in school.
For a jobseeker, it’s the difference between giving up on getting a job, and finding a service provider that won’t give up on them.
For an older person with a chronic health problem, it’s the difference between missing treatment, and turning up to a friendly face and a familiar touch, getting the care they need in the way they need it.
That is our goal. Services that make a meaningful difference.
Last year, I said that we must make an impact on one really important area: and that’s in education.
You get the education right - skills, jobs, security, health, prosperity, and longevity all follow.
And it’s the area where, as I already noted, we’ve been seeing the most encouraging signs.
Think about those four-year-olds just starting early childhood education this year. On the very threshold of a whole life of learning.
In 2020, the Government has committed almost half a billion dollars to preschool education, so that every Australian child can have access to a quality early childhood programs in the year before school.
That includes every Indigenous child.
One program in particular is having an impact on helping those kids get that good start.
The Connected Beginnings program is in 15 Indigenous communities across Australia.
In Alice Springs, it’s seen more kids actually enrolling in preschool – shifting from around half to three quarters.
In the Jordan River community, more Indigenous kids are participating in childcare and playgroups, and more are getting referrals to the health and specialist services they need.
In Doomadgee, teachers are seeing Year 1 students who are now much better prepared for school.
Together, we need to accelerate our efforts in these early years to make sure every Indigenous child across our country grows up safe, resilient and ready to thrive throughout life.
That is why I’ve asked the Minister for Indigenous Australians to lead the development of a national Indigenous early childhood strategy this year. To design a new way of working together to achieve our shared goal.
To prioritise these actions that matter most to parents and carers – the ones who live the experience.
To partner with experts, families, frontline services and communities.
And to have a more coordinated effort across the Commonwealth and with our state and territory colleagues.
Mr Speaker, we are also seeing great connectedness between our universities and young Indigenous students.
For school-leavers in regional areas, it’s sometimes harder to see where the path leads next.
It’s harder to go on to further study if that means uprooting everything you know and trust.
That’s why Regional University Centres are so important.
They help Indigenous students in regional places take on certificates and degrees through any Australian tertiary institution they choose.
In the Northern Territory, the Wuyagiba Bush Hub saw nine students successfully complete their university preparation course last year.
Five of them have been offered places at Macquarie Uni, and four at the Territory’s Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education.
In 2020, the Bush Hub is expanding its offerings so more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island students can study on-country.
It’s run by the Wuyagiba Bush Hub Aboriginal Corporation, and I apologise if my pronunciation is inaccurate, together with a local elder and an academic from Macquarie. It’s a real success story.
Then there’s the Indigenous Student Success Program, giving nearly 20,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students access to scholarships, tutoring, mentoring and other cultural support to help them succeed at university.
With the support of this program, Griffith University in Queensland has helped more than 300 students get degrees in the last couple of years, and also supports about 160 regional and remote students to succeed.
We know that whatever we can do to get more kids in school, finishing school, and going on to further study – it all helps to set them on the path to a better life.
That path must lead to a job.
One of the success stories of recent years has been the Government’s Indigenous Procurement Policy. This policy is about encouraging Indigenous entrepreneurship, and job producing businesses.
In 2018-19, Commonwealth portfolios and their major suppliers awarded contracts to 775 Indigenous businesses with a total value of $754 million dollars.
Since July 2015, the Indigenous Procurement Policy has seen $2.69 billion in contracts awarded to 1,842 Indigenous businesses.
This means more jobs, rising incomes and greater economic security for Indigenous communities.
From 1 July this year, we will introduce a target of three per cent of the value of Commonwealth contracts to be awarded to Indigenous businesses. This will add to the existing target of three per cent of the number of Commonwealth contracts that go to Indigenous businesses.
This is consistent with our belief that strong local economies always underpin local healthy communities.
It is economic opportunity and a culture of responsibility and empowerment that provide the foundation for the transformation of local communities.
Mr Speaker, sadly, in recent years, Indigenous youth suicide has taken so many young lives.
Indigenous young people are almost four times more likely than their non-Indigenous peers to take their own lives.
Tackling suicide - all suicides - is a national priority.
In tackling this national priority, we are using targeted strategies.
We have unveiled Australia’s largest ever Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention package.
Two of the 12 trials being funded are for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people specifically.
In the last Budget, we committed $4.5 million for Indigenous leaders to work on an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Plan.
A plan that recognises the value of community and provides services that are culturally safe and accessible, and are well connected to each other and the broader community.
Out of that came a body called Gayaa Dhuwi – “Proud of Spirit” – that will support Indigenous leadership in suicide prevention.
We are also working alongside community members in front-line services, who serve their communities selflessly, with strong and open hearts.
Rangers and Community Night Patrols.
Indigenous liaison officers.
Indigenous doctors and nurses.
In the last three years, nearly 5,000 people in more than 180 regional and remote communities have completed Mental Health First Aid training, a program we expanded in the last Budget.
As well, 89 local people were supported to become accredited instructors so they can deliver that training.
We are making progress with solutions that empower, that are local and developed in partnership with Indigenous communities.
Finally, Mr Speaker, I want to be clear, as Prime Minister I respect their honest yearn for Constitutional Recognition.
In 2018, the Joint Select Committee into Constitutional Recognition relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples delivered a bipartisan report.
Our Government adopted the four bi-partisan recommendations in this report.
In particular, JSCCR Recommendation 1.
In order to design a voice that best meets the needs and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the Committee recommends a process of co-design between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and government be initiated in communities across Australia to design a voice that can help deliver practical outcomes for that community.
This is our Government’s policy.
It is clear from the Committee’s report that more work needs to be done on a voice proposal.
The Government has always supported giving Indigenous people more of a say at the local level.
We support the process of co-design of the voice because if we are going to change the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples on the ground, we need their buy-in to the matters and policies that affect them.
The Committee did not make recommendations as to the legal form of the Voice, constitutional or legislation.
It recommended considering this matter after the process of co-design is complete and that’s what we are doing. We support finalising co-design first.
We also support recommendations about truth telling.
Australians are interested in having a fuller understanding of their history. Both the history, traditions and also the culture of course of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and also contact between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.
Mr Speaker, well over half a century ago, Bill Wentworth, a man called by some an ‘incorrigible backbencher’ began to build the case for a national institute to capture Indigenous languages, art and culture, which he feared would be lost for all time. Ultimately that vision would become AIATSIS.
His belief was that a loss of Indigenous culture was a loss to us all, because Indigenous culture embodied our shared humanity.
In time, Bill Wentworth would become our first Minister for Aboriginal Affairs.
He had a belief that as Australians began to understand and embrace Indigenous culture and our Indigenous people, then we transform the way Indigenous people see themselves - and not only that, it transforms the way we see ourselves as a people who share this continent.
This goes to the heart of who we are.
In partnership with Indigenous Australians; with respect for their wisdom and capabilities; and appreciation for their grace towards their fellow Australians, we are beginning this next chapter in Closing the Gap.
To see the gap, to see the challenges, to see the opportunities, to understand the hope, to see the way, through Indigenous eyes.
A chapter which allows us to believe in a day when the Indigenous children of this land have the same opportunities as every other Australian child.