Speeches
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
22 March 2020
PRIME MINISTER: ...all members of that National Cabinet have reaffirmed our commitment to just how important the National Cabinet is to ensure that all governments are working closely together to put in place various arrangements and supports to ensure the Australian people can come through this together over the very difficult months ahead. I want to thank all members of the National Cabinet for coming together this evening and to work through the many issues that have been raised, particularly over the course of the day so I can stand here tonight with the Chief Medical Officer and provide some clarity as to a number of issues that has arisen over the course of the day.
So the National Cabinet, I want to assure Australians, is working and will continue to work and all of its members are very committed to its processes and its decisions. Secondly, the measures I'm going to take you through tonight relate to two particular areas. The first one is in relation to places of gathering, of social gathering, and I want to take you through some new rules. Stage one of those rules which premiers and chief ministers will go into further detail tomorrow as they move to legislate and regulate the changes we're putting in place. The second in relation to schools and I want to reinforce, as the Chief Medical Officer I'm sure will, that there has been no change to the advice, the health advice, in relation to schools. I said earlier today, and as the Chief Medical Officer has been stressing also at all of our presentations, social distancing, keeping the healthy distance, healthy physical distance between individuals as you're practising here tonight, wherever that is, is our biggest weapon in fighting this virus, saving lives. And we need all Australians to be following the health advice when it comes to keeping a healthy distance and observing the limits that relate to gatherings, whether they be outdoor or they be indoor. This is incredibly important. The failure of our public to do that will put people at risk and make it extremely difficult for governments to be able to take actions that can control the flow and spread of this virus. Governments must do their bit and we are, but we need Australians to do their bit. On the weekend, what we saw was a disregard of those social distancing practices as people turned up to the beach in large numbers, crammed venues in our major cities. As I flagged this morning, this sent a very clear message to premiers, chief ministers and myself that the social distancing practices are not being observed as well as they should be.
Now, I want to thank all of those Australians who are doing the right thing, those Australians who are engaging in the self isolation, particularly when they've come back from overseas. I want to thank them for doing that. But what I am seeking and all the premiers and chief ministers are seeking is that Australians will do better than they have been on this and to hold each other to account. I might just ask if we don't do flashes, if that's OK, because it's a bit distracting. Thank you.
So what's important is that we now need to take action because we can't have the confidence as a group of leaders that the social distancing guidelines and rules that we've put in place won't be followed to the level of compliance that we require to flatten the curve and to slow the spread and to save lives. So the premiers and chief ministers together with myself tonight agreed that there is a need to move to more widespread restrictions on these gatherings in indoor spaces and I want to run through them with you. I want to stress that this is stage one of this response. Premiers and chief ministers are also very clear that they want these rules to apply state-wide, territory-wide, in each of their jurisdictions. They are stage one, and they will be reviewed on a monthly basis. But as I have stressed and the Chief Medical Officer has stressed and others have also, that once you start putting these sorts of arrangements in place, we should have the expectation that they will remain in place for at least six months. If the health situation changes and enables us to reconsider those arrangements, then that can be reconsidered. But I wouldn't want anyone to get the impression that these arrangements are things that will be in place for a couple of weeks or a month and then will be discarded and everything will be OK. These are very significant measures and they are done, regrettably, because it will mean for many people that the places at which they go to work, they will be unable to do that in the way they were before. And it makes it even more important, the measures I announced earlier today, to provide support to those individuals who may be affected by these changes. This is what I mean. When we all don’t do the right thing, then it has real implications for others.
Stage one would see that in enclosed spaces for gatherings in the following facilities to be closed as of midday tomorrow: registered and licenced clubs, licenced premises in hotels and pubs. So that is in the licenced area, not in the accommodation area, but in the venues that sit within those hotels where their licenced gatherings and gatherings that will also be excluded- that will also be closed. Off licence parts of those premises for bottle shops, that particularly applies in places like Tasmania and in Queensland, I understand, they will be excluded from these arrangements. They work like any other retail premises. They are not a place of people gathering in an off licence bottle shop. Entertainment venues and cinemas, casinos and nightclubs. Restaurants and cafes will be restricted to take away only. Indoor sporting venues. Places of worship. Enclosed spaces for funerals and things of that nature will have to follow the strict four square meter rule which will be enforced. Home deliveries, takeaways, all of these things will continue as I know many of these catering businesses are already adjusting their business models in anticipation of things that they believe would potentially take place. The fact that we're having to do that at this point, I've gone into the reasons why and I am deeply regretful that those workers and those business owners who will be impacted by this decision will suffer the economic hardship that undoubtedly they will now have to face. That is a very, very regretful decision, but a necessary one in the view of the premiers and chief ministers and myself to ensure that we can control the spread of this virus.
This should highlight to all Australians how serious this is and how hard we all have to work together to get this right. In remote communities, there will be specific rules that will be defined by the chief ministers, premiers in those communities and they'll be worked through tomorrow morning. The premiers and chief ministers together myself will be considering stage two potential restrictions in this area. But what we first want to see is we want to see the public respond to these very serious measures. We're dealing with the principal places of social gathering where we saw people coming together on the weekend. If we don't get on top of that, then we look at a much more difficult health scenario into the future.
Now on the issue of schools, children should go to school tomorrow. There is no change to the medical expert advice in relation from the AHPPC panel, the medical expert panel from the states and territories in their advice to the National Cabinet in relation to the health advice. That said, I also want to thank all the teachers and all those working in our schools who've been doing that under a lot of pressure. The principals and deputy principals, the teachers, the teachers aides, all of those have been working in the school communities under a lot of stress and strain as this debate has raged on. The health advice has been clear and they've remained open and this is important because - I want to stress this - I don't want to see our children lose an entire year of their education. That's what we're talking about here. This is very serious. If you're a four year old child at pre-school, you don't get your four years old year back. You only get it once. Early childhood education is incredibly important, as is all the years of school education. And we want to ensure keeping Australia running means ensuring we can keep up to the mark with our children's education as best as we can and where there's health advice which says you can get to school and you can be taught then it's important that we do that for as long as possible, except where health circumstances would change that arrangement.
What we will be doing, though, is allowing parents to the end of this year's school term to be able to keep their children home where they choose to. But for all of those parents who wish to send their children to school for an education at the school, those schools will remain open. In addition, schools will seek to provide learning at home in a distance learning framework. But you cannot be assured that that will come in place immediately. That will take some arrangements from those schools, particularly the public schools, in many independent and Catholic schools, they may choose to move to those models, as some already have. But what's important here is if you’re a parent and you want your child to go to school up until the end of this term, then the schools should remain open and must remain open is the instruction until the end of that term. Now, Victoria has already taken the decision to end the term over the course of this week, their term was due to end on Friday anyway and they've brought that forward to Tuesday, which is actually a pupil free day for the teachers. And I understand they'll also be working on how they will be able to deliver potential distance learning models in the future. The premiers and chief ministers all have the same view that schools should reopen on the other side of the term break, subject to the health advice at that time. Parents who make the decision for their children to remain at home must take responsibility for those children. Those children are staying at home. It's not an excuse for them to go down the shopping centre or to go and congregate somewhere else or potentially put themselves in contact with the vulnerable and elderly population. If you choose to keep your child at home, you are responsible for the conduct and behaviour of your children. That is always the case for any parent. But particularly in this case, it is important that they observe the strict social distancing arrangements that have been advised to the public. This term break will be like none other. This won't be a holiday as it's normally known for the break in term. There won't be trips interstate. There won't be those holiday normal type arrangements. There won't be congregating up at the trampoline venue or whatever it happens to be. That won't be happening. It won't be a holiday as anyone has ever known it. And it's important that I think families and households understand that, because over the course of the term break, we need to ensure that we continue to follow the very strict rules around social distancing. This is a critical time, an absolutely critical time. The decisions that parents make, that we all make, over the course of the next few weeks in particular, could very seriously determine the trajectory that Australia continues to go on in relation to the coronavirus. So I would seek and implore Australians to follow this advice. You will be saving lives and you'll be saving livelihoods. Already as a result of the measures we have been forced into taking this evening, there are many livelihoods that will be impacted as a result.
So they are the measures that we've arrived at tonight. It was an important discussion to have and we've been able to come to an agreement between all of the states and territories as to how we proceed on those issues. We will meet again on Tuesday night. There are many other issues we have to discuss. The tenancies legislation is a key issue that comes up on Tuesday night and there are many other matters that are before us. We are going to keep working together. We are absolutely committed to this process of the National Cabinet. It is a key tool for helping Australia work through the difficult challenges that we have. So with that, I'm going to pass over to the Chief Medical Officer and he's going to make some comments on these things. I'm happy to take a few questions.
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thanks, Prime Minister. If Australia is going to get through the challenge of this pandemic over the coming months, we have to live differently. We’ve been making that point very clear over the last week. But it's also clear that some people haven't got it. And I'm particularly talking to young people who may think they're immune to the effects of this virus. And it's true, most young people don't get significant disease. But as a young person, you don’t want to be responsible for the severe and possibly fatal disease of an older, vulnerable Australian. We have to stop the rapid spread of this virus. There has been very significant increase in cases over the last few days. Still a lot of imported cases, but definitely some community transmission. As the Prime Minister has said, people have not been getting the messages and we have had to take, we've recommended unanimously, that these fairly dramatic and drastic recommendations be put in place because we have to stop those situations where viruses pass readily. We've had some events in Australia where 35 people have picked up the virus from one particular function. We cannot allow this sort of spread to happen. We have to all, in every aspect of our life, practise social distancing, good hygiene. These measures have to become our routine. We are going to live differently if we're going to get through this virus without serious impacts on the vulnerable in our community and serious impacts on the health system. We can do it. These measures are sustainable for as long as we need to. We can still get on with living, but we have to live very, very differently. I can't emphasise that enough.
I do want to say again that many of the cases that we have seen in the last few days have been from international travellers. We've seen some irresponsible behaviour from people who were told to quarantine and have not and they have spread the virus. We now have to be absolutely rigid. If you come back from anywhere, a cruise ship or a plane and you come back to this country, you go home and you quarantine for two weeks, no exceptions. You are putting your fellow Australians at risk if you break that rule. So please, every one of us has to do our bit. We have to save our vulnerable Australians from what could be and we've seen this in other countries, fairly devastating impacts if we get a widespread pandemic in this country. We can control, we can contain and we can, as the Prime Minister said, bend and flatten the curve. But every single Australian has to play their role in doing this. Thanks, Prime Minister. Thank you.
JOURNALIST: With the shutdown of nonessential gatherings, we’re going to see people flood the supermarkets. Panic buying is going to increase. What are you going to say to those people? How can you stop that?
PRIME MINISTER: There is no need for that. There is no need for that. What we are doing is closing down gatherings even in pubs and clubs and things of that nature. We are not putting in place lockdowns that put people and confine them to their home. That is not a measure that has been contemplated at this point and so there is no reason for anyone to do that. There is also no reason for anyone to rush to any of those venues tomorrow before midday. That would be highly irresponsible. And I would just simply ask Australians to get a hold of themselves if they were thinking of doing something of that nature.
JOURNALIST: Right now, shopping centres for example…
PRIME MINISTER: No, shopping centres are not closed. I have not said that tonight. I'll go through the list again - closure of pubs, registered and licenced clubs, excluding bottle shops attached to these venues, the off licence component, hotels in their licenced premises and their venues that are at their hotels but excluding the accommodation, gyms and indoor sporting venues, cinemas, entertainment venues, casinos, nightclubs, restaurants and cafes which will be restricted to take away and or home delivery as any other venue can, religious gatherings, churches and places of worship and for funerals or things of that nature in enclosed spaces, it must be within the four square metre rule to apply to those venues . The point we are making is this - if people move into those shopping centres tomorrow, they would not be observing the distance principles and social distancing principles that we're imploring Australians to follow. And so I would ask them, there is no need for them to do that. There is no need to go and hoard, buy or do any of those things. That is not necessary. And Australians should exercise some restraint when it comes to that, because as we've just made very clear, that when that doesn't occur, then more dramatic measures have to be introduced. So I would just simply ask Australians to be calm and exercise some sensible judgement.
JOURNALIST: There seems to have been a critical conflict here between the advice that’s going to the Victorian government with regards to schools. Victoria, which has one in one in four students in Australia, and the advice that’s coming to you and I'd like you both to answer it. How can you explain the conflict between the advice that you're giving to the nation tonight and the clear view from Victoria that schools should close from Tuesday?
PRIME MINISTER: The position that I've outlined to you tonight has been agreed by all Premiers and Chief Ministers as part of the National Cabinet and it is based on the consensus advice provided by the medical expert panel, which the Chief Medical Officer convenes.
Brendan.
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: So the AHPPC had a long discussion about schools today. We reaffirmed our position that the risk to children of coronavirus is extremely low. We've had hardly any cases in children, in primary school children and the international experience is that it is a very, very low risk of symptomatic infection. We don't know whether children may be transmitters, there isn't good evidence on, and there haven't been evidence of published cases where there's been significant transmission in a school. There are some people who believe that closing schools may contribute to social distancing. Our view, the consensus view of all of the Chief Health Officers that we signed up to today, was that at this time schools should stay open. We are talking about measures for the long term, for several months, and that's why we made that decision.
JOURNALIST: Just a bit of clarity on schools. So, for example, the ACT government said today they were shutting all schools from Tuesday indefinitely and putting in long distance learning. Is it now no longer the case as a consequence of tonight's meeting? And realistically, what chance do you think Victoria will reopen it’s schools at the end of the school holidays? When they said they’re going to, quote, review, unquote, the situation.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'll deal with the second point first. And the Premier has reaffirmed his commitment this evening that is the intention of the Victorian government to reopen schools subject to the health advice at that time. And that's the same for all schools. I mean, this is a matter that's being reviewed on a regular basis, as I think has been evidenced. In relation to the ACT schools, they'll be following the same practise that I've outlined today, and that is where schools do choose to move to some distance learning arrangement, they will also keep the schools open for parents who wish to send their children to those schools. Now, for many parents, for those who may be both parents who are working, those that might be essential occupations, particularly nurses and doctors and police and paramedics and things like this. This is very important, but even more important is we want our children to continue to get an education. There are many things that we're going to have to sacrifice because of this coronavirus. One of the things Premiers, Chief Ministers and I are very keen to try and avoid is having to sacrifice the education of our children.
Michelle?
JOURNALIST: So this, just to be absolutely clear on this, the guarantee from all the leaders tonight was that the schools would reopen after the holidays…
PRIME MINISTER: Subject to the health advice.
JOURNALIST: Subject to the national health advice, not their own health officer?
PRIME MINISTER: What we have continued to commit to tonight as a National Cabinet is to work together on all of these issues. And that means receiving the advice from the AHPPC and to seek to address and resolve these issues amongst the National Cabinet. And that's what we did tonight. So we could stand before you this evening and provide that advice on the issues that were as a matter of discussion today. And I think that's very helpful and I thank them for the ability to come to those conclusions this evening.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned stage two of this shutdown. What is it and what triggers it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well stage two has not been defined and it has not yet even been defined if it will be necessary. Stage one… see, what we're doing here is we're dealing with the principal places of social gathering. Okay. We don't now have any confidence that people would refrain from gathering in those ways, in those places, pubs and clubs and nightclubs, and Dr. Murphy has made it pretty clear that that is principally amongst the younger community. We have no confidence that that will be followed. So unfortunately, because guidelines can't be followed then for public health reasons, we now need to take a further action which shuts those gatherings down. Now, they are the principal places of social gathering which are our greatest risk. They have been identified over the course of today by the medical expert panel. They are been considered by Premiers and Chief Ministers and myself tonight. And that is the list of venues and gatherings that will not be able to take place from midday tomorrow. The states, the territories, the Commonwealth, the National Cabinet reserves its position to take any such further matters into consideration as it needs to. So we will just continue to deal with this in a sensible and calm way through a disciplined process of the National Cabinet, working together and seeking to provide as clear advice as we can. But the key point is this - please cooperate with the health advice. Where that health advice is complied with, then it means that we can take measures which have less impact on the everyday functioning of the community and people's jobs and livelihoods.
Yes, over the back- you’ve already had a question, yep?
JOURNALIST: Professor, the AHPPC met earlier this afternoon. What are these stage one measures were discussed and agreed upon them or were they only brought up after two states came out and said they were going to basically do those anyway and further on that, given that this is in response to people not practising social distancing, the Government's information campaign explaining what social distancing is only launched this weekend. How can you… by your own concession, this is going to be for months, based on something that a lot of people didn’t know about until this weekend?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: So the National Cabinet tasked us on Friday night to consider these measures and that was planned for this afternoon. The announcements of various governments had nothing to do with that. We did what we were asked to and we considered that as previously scheduled. I agree that social distancing is a concept that people have to get to terms with and the communications have been going out. We've made the message very clear in the media last week and we made it very clear that people needed to keep their distance. We've been talking about keeping a metre and a half distance for a lot more than the last week. So the other thing that's happened over the weekend, obviously, has been the significant rise in cases. And so there is a greater urgency to make measures now that we might have considered a bit later had the rise in cases not occurred.
PRIME MINISTER: Andrew, I'm sorry, you've had several questions... Andrew, I'm sorry, Andrew. I know, but you don't run the press conference, Okay? So I'm going to go to other questions of members of the group. Katharine hasn’t had a question. I'm happy to return to you, but let's just keep it civil.
Katherine?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister I think it's clear but again, just for perfect clarity. New South Wales and schools, they are the same as the ACT. Schools will be open for the remainder of the term yes?
PRIME MINISTER: Correct.
JOURNALIST: And also, again, I think it's clear but I’m checking, because things have moved a bit today. So businesses like hairdressers, beauticians…
PRIME MINISTER: They remain open.
JOURNALIST: All of that remains open?
PRIME MINISTER: The only ones that can't remain open and provide those services are the ones that I've listed to you this evening. Only those ones. Only those ones. I'll come back to you now, Andrew.
JOURNALIST: Dr. Murphy, a couple of weeks ago, you were at the same podium, although admittedly a bit closer to the Prime Minister, it could have been, actually, Greg Hunt, but you said this, that the children were super spreaders. There is an inconsistency, it seems to me, between having kids at school potentially exposing themselves as super spreaders to older teachers, with the statement of the Prime Minister whereby he does not want children who are kept at home wandering through Westfield shopping centres. There is a clear inconsistency. Can you answer that? Are they super spreaders or not?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: We don't know whether children spread this virus. There is no data on that. I've never said that they are super spreaders. I've said that for influenza they are, they can be super spreaders. There is no data internationally anywhere in the world that shows that major spreading of this virus has occurred with children. We're not ruling that out. That is possible. But we think the risks and benefits are on the other side. I agree with you. And we have been asked again by the National Cabinet to consider next week which members of the workforce, both schools, health care, aged care, who are vulnerable because of their age and comorbidities, should not be required to go to work. That is a very important issue. We need to protect the workforce in every scenario.
PRIME MINISTER: One last one, and then we’ll call it a night.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, tonight you were asked about whether the health system could keep up with the impacts because of this virus. You said it was up to Australians. What did you mean by that?
PRIME MINISTER: I mean if they practise the social distancing, if they follow the medical advice, then that will assist the country, slow the rate of transmission of this virus through the Australian community. When we slow the rate of transmission through the Australian community, that will put less pressure on the health system. This is why I stress to you it is so important that these measures are effectively followed and where they aren’t being effectively followed, then states and territory leaders and myself will have to take further decisions.
But look, I appreciate today has been a long day and I understand and there'll be many more days where there will be issues that need to be clarified and there'll be many questions and there'll be anxieties, there'll be frustrations. And we will address them and we'll come and we'll discuss these issues with you and we will communicate as clearly as we can. The leaders will continue to meet. We are meeting every couple of days. This has never happened before. Premiers and Chief Ministers have never met on this schedule in any of your working lives in this building, I suspect. So it is quite different. It means we're going to have some challenging days and there are going to be some issues that there won't be clear answers to because of the nature of this virus. The medical uncertainties alone present many challenges. But I would ask people just to exercise calm, to just work with us, work with each other. And if we do that, then we will be maximising our opportunities to ensure all Australians get through this as in the best possible position we can be and we bounce back strongly.
Thank you for staying back this evening. Thank you.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
20 March 2020
PRIME MINISTER: There is a way through this. We all need to keep going. I need all of you to keep going. And we're going to keep going to keep Australia running. All Australians have a role to play as we make our way through. And there is a way through. There is a bridge over this. And if we continue to work together in the way we are, all around the country, then Australia will bounce back strongly, you will bounce back strongly, your family, your business, your community. There is a way through.
Life is continuing to change. And together we're going to have to continue to adapt to those changes to keep Australia running. Australians, we will all continue to see more information. There will be additional cases. This is something we should be continuing to expect. This is anticipated. The presence of additional cases is not something of itself that should cause alarm, because at the end of the day, you don't stop this virus, but you can defeat it by slowing it down. And that is how we save lives. Today, the National Cabinet met again on our commitment to work together to keep Australians healthy as we can, to protect them, and to ensure that we keep Australia running together. Today, we made further decisions, many of which we've had flagged from our last meeting, that are both scalable and sustainable to ensure that we can continue to implement for the many months ahead. As I've said we're looking at at least six months to be working through over the course of this year. Of course, it could be longer. No one really knows, but we're taking decisions on the basis that we need to move at least through the next six months. At today's meeting, we began with this focusing on the the economic issues and with the presentation of the Reserve Bank Governor, Dr. Lowe, who briefed Premiers and Chief Ministers and myself on the measures that were announced yesterday, as well as providing a general overview of how the Reserve Bank was seeing the economy and the impacts. And this was also done by the federal Treasury through Dr. Kennedy, who provided the same advice.
We were able to share information between states and territories on what we're each doing to provide support in our economies, the various stimulus initiatives that have already been announced and further work we were doing together to ensure that we could provide further support. Now, as you know, as I said here with the Treasurer yesterday, we are working on a package that will cushion the blow over the next six months and will provide the necessary support so people can get on that bridge to get them to the other side. That is focusing heavily on small, medium sized businesses, sole traders, and it is also providing for the income support that will be necessary for those most directly impacted by the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus. I want to particularly welcome the decision which the Treasurer will go into in more detail that was made by the banks today, which showed that they are pulling together with everyone else to ensure that we can get Australians through this. These are important decisions that will provide real and genuine relief. It's a great start and we will continue to work closely with the banks and all others to ensure we all work together to provide the most support to Australians as we can to get them through this over the next six months at least. States also agreed today, and further work will be done on this, are working to identify how relief can be provided for tenants in both commercial tenancies and residential tenancies to ensure that in hardship conditions there will be relief that will be available and ensuring the tenancy legislation is protecting those tenants over the next six months at least. That work will be done by states and territories as it is a state and territory matter, and that work will be led by Western Australia, together with New South Wales, working with all the other states and territories to bring back some model rules that can be applied in hardship cases. So understanding what the trigger might be and how in those circumstances that tenants would be able to maintain their tenancies. Now I know that will mean something for landlords, just as the decision taken today means something for banks, just like the decisions we have already taken as a Commonwealth Government means things for our balance sheets and as a people for the Commonwealth Government as it does for the states. It will also mean something for those, who sadly, might be stood down from their employment and have to look at their annual leave arrangements and sick leave arrangements. All Australians are going to be making sacrifices obviously, in the months ahead, and everyone does have that role to play and that will include landlords, at the end of the day for people who are enduring real hardship.
It was also agreed today that putting Budgets together at this time with the great uncertainty that exists is not something that any Commonwealth or State Government should be doing. As a result, we've already decided that we will not be now handing down a Budget until the first Tuesday in October, on the 6th of October. The Treasurer will be having a bit more to say about that. All other states and territories will be working to similar timetables. The idea that you can actually put together any sort of forecasts around the economy at this time is simply not sensible. And as a result, we will be putting in place the necessary measures with the support of the Parliament on supply and other continuances to ensure the proper functioning of government services and the continuation of vital programs. On Sunday, I will be meeting with the Leader of the Opposition and the leaderships of both the Government and the Opposition. I spoke to him earlier about this today and we'll be working through those practical issues around the functioning of the Parliament, both now and over the next six months. And I think the Leader of the Opposition for his support on those arrangements as we work them through.
On health, and I ask you to bear with me as we go through this, and Dr. Murphy will be joining us to answer questions, also make some statements on these matters. The rise in the number of cases means we need to continue to take action to suppress the growth in these cases and to flatten the curve, which is something more Australians are becoming more familiar with. That means we've got to work even harder to keep a healthy distance between us all. We agreed to further rules today regarding indoor non-essential gatherings. Earlier, I announced the 100 limit on non-essential indoor gatherings and I went through the list of those things that were essential. I won't do that again today. It's the same list. But what we are now moving to is an arrangement for gatherings of less than 100, is that there would be 4 square meters provided per person in an enclosed space in a room. So that's 2 meters by 2 meters. So for example, if you've got a room, you've got premise, if you've got a meeting room or something like that, that's 100 square meters then you can have 25 people in that room. Now in addition to that, you should continue to practice wherever possible the meter, meter and a half of healthy distance between each of us to ensure that we are limiting the contact and limiting the potential for the spread of the virus. Now these are quite practical rules. Out there in the community, whether it's licencing laws or fire laws or anything like this, there are already these types of arrangements. The number of people who can be in outdoors seated areas that relates to noise controls. So these I think are very practical and sensible arrangements that venues and others and commercial premises and in public premises that we can manage. It just simply means understanding how big the room is and then simply advising how many people can be in that room at any one time. And we'd also be seeking the cooperation of patrons and others to ensure that they can do the same thing. If you're looking after your behaviour, you're saving lives. You're helping other people who are more vulnerable. In many cases for the young and the healthy, it is true that the majority of cases, 8 out of 10 people only have a mild illness. But if younger people in particular, and those more generally in the community follows these rules, it won't be all life saving because you'll be fine, you'll be healthy. But by you doing the right thing, you'll be saving the life of someone who is more vulnerable. So do it for your fellow Australians. I know these rules will take some time for people to get used to, but I'd ask people to move as quickly as they can. I know it means a lot of change for a lot of venues, whether they be cafes or restaurants or clubs or any of these other places of public gathering, including in this building here. We'll be working to ensure that people know how many people can be in the various meeting rooms in this place. Next week, the Parliament will have less than 100 people in it at any one time in the Chamber. So even in essential areas, it is practical to try and observe these, but that won't always be possible for... essential gatherings - they have an even higher purpose and in some cases that will be more difficult to implement. But if we do it more broadly, then we're slowing the rate and we are saving lives. I also want to make the point that self-isolation means self-isolation, and Dr, Murphy will be speaking more about that issue. We are hearing reports of some who are saying they're in self isolation and they're out and about. Self-isolation means exactly that. For older residents also, earlier this week, we also provided the advice through the AHPPC, through the medical experts panel, that older residents should be refraining more from public contact than others in the community. That doesn't mean they need to self-isolate. It just means that they should practise greater caution than those else otherwise in the population. Now on travel, there'll be further discussion about travel issues before the school holidays. The National Cabinet is now meeting every Tuesday night and every Friday morning. That's what we've done this week and we think that's a good rhythm of meetings to ensure we can consider all the recommendations that are coming up through our various agencies. The advice is to reconsider the need for unnecessary travel. And if you're unwell, stay at home, unless seeking medical advice. Further advice has been taken to the National Cabinet next Tuesday night, and that will be available before people go on school holidays. And so we'll be considering those issues further, and I'm just flagging that for next week when we consider those issues on a broader scale.
In relation to schools and preschools, the situation has not changed. It is in the national interest to ensure that we keep schools open. I want to thank all of those schools who have been putting those arrangements in place. For those schools who have moved to distance learning for their students, I want to thank those schools who have ensured that even in those circumstances, they have arranged for students of parents who have essential responsibilities, they may be nurses or doctors, child care workers, they may be teachers themselves. They are providing for the students to be able to continue to receive lessons in that facility, and that is what we want to see happen.
On aged care, the Government, the Commonwealth Government, made a number of decisions yesterday and to further support the workforce in aged care. We are providing $444.6 million. I’ll say that again, we're providing $444.6 million of additional funding from the Commonwealth to support aged care facilities. Now, that is on top of the more than $100 million that I announced last week in relation to workforce support across the country for aged care. That includes $234.9 million for a retention bonus to ensure the continuity of the workforce for staff in both residential and home care. There's $78.3 in additional funding for residential care to support continuity of works or supply. There is $26.9 million to supplement the viability of residential aged care facilities, including in the national Torres Strait Islander aged care program, and the multi-purpose services and homeless providers. There's $92.2 million being provided in additional support for home care providers and organisations which delivered the Commonwealth home support program, including for services such as Meals on Wheels and $12.3 million to support the My Aged Care Service to respond to the needs of older Australians. National Cabinet agreed that states and territories will also issue nationally consistent public health directions on visitor restrictions for aged care facilities to complement the regulatory standards adopted by the Commonwealth. This additional funding is being focussed on those who are most vulnerable, to get them the additional support so they can get access to the essential things they need, particularly through things like Meals on Wheels and home care support and the other things older Australians will need going through this time.
Another very significant issue, which I flagged earlier in the week that we’ve been considering is in relation to remote Indigenous Australian areas. Under Biosecurity Act, we'll be using the Health Minister’s powers to ensure that we've taken action to restrict travel into remote Indigenous communities to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The way this will work is states and territories will nominate prescribed areas, that is communities in consultation with Indigenous communities as an emergency requirement as determined under BioSecurity Act that will restrict persons from entering or leaving those prescribed areas. Now there will be a number of exemptions that will apply for the purposes of obtaining medical care or medical supplies into those communities, in the event of an emergency, including the purposes of providing medical care. That would include things like medivac, of cases or others who are seriously ill from those communities, for the purposes of applying or undertaking critical services, such as medical care for mental health or domestic violence support, police and emergency services, food and medical supplies, educational and maintenance and repairs of essential services. And there are a range of other measures there which are done at the discretion also of the relevant exempting authority in those states and territories. So that will be a further important set of measures, and I particularly want to commend Minister Wyatt and Chief Minister Gunner up in the Northern Territory, working together. They've done an outstanding job and working through those issues, consulting with Indigenous leaders where they can, but you'd understand, given the urgency of this issue, that that consultation has had to be quite short circuited. Now, I thank people like Pat Turner and others who've been very helpful in working with Ministers to come to these appropriate arrangements.
As you can see, again another long list of issues discussed today. There are also issues discussed relating to prison populations, as well as coordinating action in relation to supermarket supplies, food chains and supply chains across the community. And that is everything from a consistency of tracking laws to enable deliveries at any time of the day. I appreciate all the states and territories moving on those issues, on trading hours arrangements, and again, the states being very constructive when it comes to those matters.
What's next? Where do we go next? What are we considering? Well as I said on Tuesday night, we'll be considering further decisions on travel advice prior to the school holidays and there'll be further advice on managing critical hospital resources - an enormous amount of work has been done there. There is work we’ve tasked to the medical expert panel about what we would call localised responses. Now bear with me as I just make this point. There will be, as we have already seen, parts of cities or places that will be more susceptible because of quite localised outbreaks. What we've asked for advice on is the density of those cases, how many cases in a particular area that triggers actions over and above what these general rules are that apply to those areas, and that would be staged up according to the level of that outbreak and what needs to be done wherever possible to shut that down. Now, the reason I say that is we need a consistent approach to how this would scale up in the event of outbreaks in particular parts of particular areas, because that means just because you might see under those rules something being done in Tuggeranong or in Tamarama, or anywhere else, that doesn't mean those rules need to necessarily apply in Gymea Bay or down in Hawthorne or anywhere else. Where there are more specific outbreaks, there will be more advanced measures that would need to be put in place. And we want a clear set of rules across the country to support states and territories to make those rules and that advice will be coming forward on Tuesday evening. We'll also be considering the needs of other vulnerable groups. We've been focussed on aged care and remote Indigenous populations, but the Minister for the NDIS has been doing an extraordinary amount of work with the disability community and we're expecting further work to come forward on that, as well as more general discussions about maintaining continuity of supply and essential services in areas like telecommunications and energy and so on. But I must say at this point, the reports and advice that I've been receiving on these issues is at a reasonable level. And better than that, I'd have to say. But as time goes on, we'll keep a close watch on that. So I thank you for your patience again. I'm gonna pass you over to the Treasurer to make some comments on the measures put in place by the banks and then Brendan, Dr. Murphy, will speak on the matters I've raised and they're happy to take questions and I'll get round everybody as best as possible.
THE HON JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER: Well, thank you, Prime Minister.
Yesterday, the Reserve Bank and the Australian Government injected $105 billion of new funding into our financial system in a move that Standard & Poor's described as decisive and coordinated action. The Australian people can be reassured that our financial system remains strong and our actions have made the system even stronger.
Today, the Australian banks have stepped up to the plate and are playing their part in Team Australia. Their decision to defer payments by small businesses for six months will be a substantial boost to confidence and the spirit of millions of Australian small businesses. It's a game changer and it's part of our efforts with industry, with the states to build a bridge to the recovery, to the time after the global pandemic, the coronavirus, has hit. We have also seen a need to make some changes around regulation of lending to business. And we'll be cutting some red tape because it's critical that businesses not just have access to capital, but the speed at which that capital is delivered by the banks is as fast as possible.
Finally, the Prime Minister referred to a new date for the Budget. Forecasting for Budgets is difficult at the best of times, let alone when we're in the midst of a global pandemic. And I understand the states are making similar arrangements and it's important that we are able to deliver a Budget at a time where there is more certainty about the economic environment and that is planned for the first Tuesday in October.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Josh. Congratulations on the work you've done with the banks. They've worked closely with you. And I appreciate your rather determined approach to ensure the outcome. And I think the banks also for stepping up. Brendan?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thanks very much, Prime Minister.
So as the Prime Minister said, we've seen significant further growth in cases of coronavirus in Australia. We expected to see that. That's why we've been taking and announcing measures over the last week. And before that, it's important to note that we are still seeing a large number of imported cases from other countries. We've now stopped foreign nationals coming into the country, but there are still a lot of Australians coming home, some of them coming from countries with a high risk and outbreaks that we think are probably higher than reported and a high risk of importing the virus into the country, as we have seen in the last few days in every state, pretty much, in this country. So this issue of quarantining when you come home is serious. This is not an advisory. This is your civic duty to your fellow Australians to stay home for that entire 14 days if you've come back to Australia, no exceptions. And if you see anyone who is not abiding by that, a recent traveller, make sure they do, because we are really serious about that. Is it such a big impact on our outbreaks in the last few days? But we have also seen community outbreaks in a number of states. Again, we expected them. That's why we put in the social distancing measures first announced late last week and progressively further announced this week. They are expected to start hitting in about a week, a week after they were first announced. We always expected a bit of a delay. But as the Prime Minister's announced, we have to make sure that people are very clear about what they mean. What we mean is that you should be distancing yourself from every fellow Australian where possible. That's why we have guidelines for people in gatherings of less than 100. It's no point having a gathering of 20 people if it's in a tiny room and you're all together, you've got to practise social distancing. Keep that metre and a half away from each other. Practise good hand hygiene all the time and stay away from work or the community if you're unwell. This is also incredibly important. Whilst people who are high risk of contacts and return travellers if they get symptoms must be tested there will be cases of community contact where it's not suspected and they might just get a sniffle or a cold. The sort of thing that many of us have soldiered through and gone to work in recent years. We can't do that anymore. Nobody should be going to work or mixing with society or friends or going out if they're unwell at all. Stay at home if you're unwell, only go out when you're feeling well. Go to work when you're feeling well. Practise good hand hygiene and practise that social distancing at all times.
This is critical now, we have to slow the curve, as the Prime Minister said. We are well prepared. We've had very few deaths so far, they're tragic, and we've had very few people in intensive care. But there is there's a risk that if we don't do what every one of us has to do as our civic duty to control this spread it will grow significantly greater. Thanks, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Brendan, remain there, if you would mind. David?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister there are, [inaudible] Australians who are very worried about their job, and have to face the prospect of being unemployed, what’s your position on whether you could increase the Newstart allowance by something like $95 which is what some people have called for? But also really to make it easier for people to get it, because there will be so many people who won’t have navigated the Centrelink system before, can it be easier for them to get it? Can it be increased? And can the mutual obligation requirements be waived?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, David, these are exactly the issues that the Expenditure Review Committee, together with the Treasurer and I, that we have been addressing in a great amount of detail as we've worked through those. And indeed, we'll be meeting again this afternoon, be putting the final touches on the package of measures that are designed to provide, to cushion the blow for exactly the blow that you're talking about.
There will be Australians over the next six months who, through no fault of their own, will find themselves with less work, with less income. And in the worst case, without a job, that is that is going to happen. And that's going to happen to quite a number of people. And it's our job to ensure that we do as much as we possibly can to cushion that blow and to put the other arrangements in place, like what has happened today with banks and others and what we’ll seek to do working through the states and territories for landlords and so on, to ensure that we can provide that support to people through these difficult next six months, through this transitional period, through this temporary period. And I can assure you, David, we are giving very close attention to the very things you're talking about, because it will be a difficult time. People who have never known themselves to be out of work will be confronted in some cases with that prospect. And we want to make sure that we can help them as best as we can through what will be a difficult period for them and their family.
Chris?
JOURNALIST: PM there’s the Ruby Princess off the coast of New South Wales at the moment. It had confirmed cases of coronavirus, it let some people off in Sydney. This is the same liner that had the Diamond Princess experience before. So a couple of questions. What are the plans? What do you do with the Ruby Princess? Is there anything that we can do about this company? Has it behaved in an irrational way in continuing to run cruises? And of course, we, like you, are hearing stories from Australians who are now around the world demanding that the Australian government get them home. What's your message to those?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, first of all, I mean, we will apply the same rules in relation to this vessel that have been applied to people getting off planes and things like this. There's the 14 day isolation. There are a small number of cases, my advice is, that were identified on that ship, four I understand. Three individuals and one crew, where there are Australians on that ship were disembarking well they will be going into self isolation, which means self isolation. Just do it. Would be my message on that, to support what the Chief Medical Officer is saying and those who are internationals will face different rules.
So we have got the international ban now coming into place around the country in relation to cruise vessels, and that will be enforced. In relation to those Australians who are in other places, as I said earlier this week, Qantas will continue to be maintaining flights out of a number of key hubs - and that's Los Angeles, and London, and Hong Kong I understand, and Auckland and a few other places around the world. And we thank them for continuing to do that. And we are encouraging Australians to make their way home. Air New Zealand I understand, will continue to operate and the arrangement that Prime Minister Ardern and I came to yesterday means that Australians can transit through Auckland from other places and across to Australia, and likewise Kiwis can make their way home through Australia on the same basis. So we will just continue to respond to each challenge as it comes is my response.
We have a good framework for dealing with it, a clear set of rules and we'll seek to apply them. There'll be some exceptional circumstances and cases here and there, but for those Australians who are finding themselves isolated in parts of the world, well the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, I'm particularly aware of the issue that was raised with me yesterday around Lima, where there are Australians who are in places which have already been cut off and you can't get a flight up to L.A.X. or something like that, then the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Foreign Minister are bringing forward some matters for consideration by the National Security Committee.
We'll just go around, so I’ll go to Phil and then I’ll come back here and then over to you Mark, we’ll get around to everybody.
JOURNALIST: You’re sort of flagged further restrictions if you like on travel pending the school holidays. Should people who have flights booked, domestic flights booked now start seeking refunds in anticipation of what you might announce next week? And just sorry, if I may. Secondly, on the potential lockdown of some neighbourhoods and so forth that you flagged, would that be confining people to their homes, closing businesses, that sort of thing?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, let me deal with the first one. If there were further advice for me to provide on travel today based on the National Cabinet, I would have certainly done that. We are saying that people should reconsider any unnecessary travel. That's what, that is the clear advice. And that comes also with the backing of the medical experts panel but we will consider further advice on that and we know that is necessary in, to do so in time for the school holidays. And we agreed today that we need to do a bit more work on that and we'll be getting that back on Tuesday.
I should stress a couple of things around travel, as I did earlier in the week, as Dr. Murphy has said, the risk of being on a plane is very low. It is very low. The issue is not being on the plane, the issue is moving to different parts of the country and potentially large volumes of populations moving around the country. Now, states and territories are, as you've seen, the, Tasmania has already made their decision about how that will be treated. Other states may take those decisions for particular parts of their states, and that is entirely appropriate that they may consider doing that. And that's why as we work through some of those issues, we'll have further advice after the meeting on Tuesday night.
JOURNALIST: Just on schools, a year 8 student in Adelaide got the virus from a teacher. How can you leave schools open when this sort of transmission is occurring? And what's your concern- what's your response to concerns from teachers, particularly, 40 per cent of which are over 50, that their well-being maybe isn't being considered?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I might let the Chief Medical Officer respond to that question. But in terms of the decision of Premiers, Chief Ministers and myself in taking that advice, that outcome that you mentioned with a single transference, that would not be unexpected when you've got the number of cases increasing. But it still remains the case that the facts are that the incidence of cases amongst younger people is much lower than for the rest of the population. And it is still very much the case that 30 per cent of our health workforce would be compromised if schools were to be shut around the country. Now, we will continue to take advice and we'll continue to monitor the situation closely. But the very clear decision of premiers, chief ministers and myself is that schools should remain open. Did you want to add to that, Brendan?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: So I think it's really important to recognise that, as we said before, we think the risks to children with this virus is very low. Only 2.4 per cent of all the cases in China in Hubei Province were under 19. And there have been very, very, very few significant cases. Obviously, we do have some concerns that children may have a role in transmission, but most children who get the virus seem to have got it from adults, as you've seen in this case. We think that keeping children at home when there's relatively low community spread is probably disproportionate, given that they probably won't stay at home anyway. They may be cared for by elderly grandparents. There may be circumstances where outbreaks in an area are such that we do need to close schools for a period of time. Our view at the moment that this long haul strategy for the next six months, it is in the best interests of everybody to keep schools open and we think that risk is proportionate.
PRIME MINISTER: I think Mark was next.
JOURNALIST: Dr. Murphy, can I just ask you, and I have a second question, a few cheeky one. But Dr Murphy, what is the latest advice on whether once you've recovered from COVID-19 that you can contract it again and my second question is you talk about indigenous communities being particularly susceptible. What arrangements, if any, are being made in Alice Springs where you do have a particular arrangement with the Americans where they can, Americans can fly in without quarantine or customs to service Pine Gap? What are we doing there? Are we expecting more of the Americans, given that the United States has been a big cause of infection around the world?
PRIME MINISTER: Let me deal with the second question - no, is the short answer to that question. The rules we are applying, we are applying across the board. But in terms of going into more detail about that facility, you wouldn’t expect me to do that. Brendan?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: So in terms of re-infection, we can't be absolutely sure, but we think it's very unlikely. There have been a couple of cases of people who have supposedly tested negative and then tested positive, been reported around the world, including one in Japan. But they are very isolated cases. We think it's unlikely that a virus like this that isn't mutating a lot, you would be susceptible to re-infection. But we don't know for sure. Our assumption is that once people have had the infection, that it's unlikely they will get it again.
JOURNALIST: What is sort of a tenants relief are you looking at? Would it be rent deferrals? Would it only apply to people who lose their jobs or the businesses are in distress? And when you want the states to have a decision on this, so it can be enacted?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm not going to go into too much detail there because the states are only just commencing the work. New South Wales has been doing already quite a bit of work on this and so I’m going to allow them appropriately to take the lead on that and to define, I think, a lot of the issues you're sitting out there, Mark, and in what circumstances, what would be the hardship triggers? Would this relate to waivers or deferrals? Would it relate to deductions or there are a range of different issues, remembering also that those who become eligible, I should note, this sort of I think goes to a point I think one of you were asking, I think it was you, David, that in those circumstances you would also trigger if you were to go on a Newstart payment or this jobseeker payment, that you also trigger eligibility for a range of other things like the family tax benefit for rental assistance and things like this. So it's not just the Newstart payment, as important as that would be, it is also a range of other payments that you become eligible for. Even if under the Newstart taper rates, your eligibility for the actual Newstart payment is relatively low. You still trigger all the other eligibility to a range of other payments, which can be quite helpful. Michelle, Michelle and then I will keep going.
JOURNALIST: There's been speculation running that the government might be willing to take over, to nationalise large companies if the crisis reaches that point, like Virgin for example. What's your comment on that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have no plans along those lines, Michelle. I mean, what we are seeking to do and in a number of cases where we've provided great assistance to private companies to support important supply production in Australia, it is essential. And the Minister for Industry, Karen Andrews, has just been doing an outstanding job and in progressing a number of those issues. Those broader questions, Michelle, at this stage, there are no plans from the government. I wouldn't want that to be misinterpreted. I mean, we are in unprecedented times, but we have no plans to be involved in those sort of nationalisation programs. That is a response that is not justified by what we're seeing or anticipating at present. Kath? Make way, clear some healthy space.
JOURNALIST: Will workers be able to access their superannuation savings as an income support measure during this crisis?
PRIME MINISTER: Again, we'll be making further announcements on the next round of measures to cushion the blow for those who are directly impacted, whether they be small businesses or individuals soon. We continue to consider the composition of that package and when we're in a position to make those announcements, we will. Sorry, over here, we haven’t had questions over here.
JOURNALIST: Dr. Murphy, do you mind if I ask a slightly personal question, you've been working on this coronavirus since January. Are you finding the pace of the job exhausting?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: It is very intense, but it's such an important job to provide advice to our governments collectively. And all of the state's chief health officers, all of the experts we have have been very consistent and unanimous in their advice. So it's a cause that's worth pursuing, but it is pretty intense.
PRIME MINISTER: We’re working hard to keep up with him, that's what we're doing. But also, I want to say this. I want to thank all of those members of the medical expert panel and Dr. Murphy and Dr. Kelly. There's been quite a lot of commentary about them, but by all means, have a crack at politicians. We're used to it, we've got broad shoulders. These guys have got a very important job to do and I would ask you to support them very strongly. We're relying on them so you can rely on the decisions we're making. The medical experts are giving us incredible advice, very timely. They're working very hard and they are carrying great responsibilities. They deserve our great respect and our support.
JOURNALIST: On the charity sector, so the charities and non-profit sector employs around 10 per cent of Australian workers at the moment. They're estimating that their donations and income streams are going to go down by about a third, which translates to potential job losses of around 300,000 people. Is your government going to be doing anything to support them, given that at the moment they're saying that they can't access business grants?
PRIME MINISTER: I understand. A job is a job and we’re going to support people in jobs and if people find themselves out of work, regardless of where they've been working, then obviously we're seeking to support them. But we're taking a very broad view of the economy. I mean, these are not ordinary times. That means the ordinary rules and the ordinary measures that would apply in these circumstances will need to be changed to reflect that. And so that is very much in our thinking here.
JOURNALIST: Just to get a sense of the scale in terms of the indoor bans, this courtyard would be less than 100 metres long and it’s certainly less than 100 metres wide. Are you saying if we put a roof over it, there are too many people in here at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER: Not right now, I wouldn't have thought, on quick maths, but this is an outdoor gathering, so 500 people could technically be here. But let me but let me say this. These are rules that we're putting in place, I think, to support people making good decisions and enforce appropriate healthy distancing, social distancing to slow the rate. But you have a role to play, too, as does everybody in how they congregate together and ensuring that appropriate distance is being maintained between people. Sure, governments have got to put rules in place and we want to see that enforcement in place. But equally, every Australian has a role to play to slow this virus. Don't wait to see a sign. Don't wait for any other specific instruction, do the right thing, do the common sense thing and support each other and you will save lives. Over here.
JOURNALIST: On the testing criteria, is there going to be any discussion around relaxing them? It's still a set of people overseas….
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: So we are looking actively at relaxing the testing criteria. We are now testing all aged care workers because aged care is such a crucial area. We will be testing healthcare workers with influenza like illnesses, all people presenting to hospital with pneumonia, in addition to the usual criteria of return travellers and contacts. And we will look at all, as this pandemic develops, we will be continually reviewing the testing criteria.
PRIME MINISTER: I’m going to leave it there because we have some other meetings to get to this afternoon. The key thing we’re saying today is we’re going to keep Australia running. There is a way through this and we need everybody to keep going forward. We need every single Australian to do what they can, whether they're a parent, whether they're a teacher, whether a nurse, whether a member of parliament, whether a journalist, whatever your job is or whatever you're doing. I need you to keep doing it as much as you can, because if we keep doing it, if we keep holding together, then we will continue to make our way through this. We will get to the other side and on the other side, Australia will be stronger. Thank you all very much.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
19 March 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to be joined by the Treasurer.
Our plan is to ensure that over the next six months, or as long as it then takes, that we can effectively build a bridge to ensure that Australians, Australian businesses, those that are impacted, we can bring them across that bridge and get them to the other side. Which is where on that side the economy is rebounding, Australians health has been rebounding and Australian life can go back to what it was. As a result, there are a range of measures that we continue to put in place. Measures that address both the health issues, matters in our aged care, as I addressed earlier this week. And importantly, there are measures that we have to put in place in relation to our economy and the Treasurer will speak to some of those. As you know, the Reserve Bank has made some important decisions about this this afternoon. The Reserve Bank Governor and the Deputy Governor met with myself and the Treasurer yesterday afternoon. And this notion of the bridge is what we discussed. It was described in these ways by the Reserve Bank Governor, and he's absolutely right. Because there is a period through which we will have to move. That will be difficult. And the best way to get there is the measures that we're putting in place on a sustainable and staged basis. So that we can do them and scale them up as necessary to ensure we bring as many people as possible with us and to ensure that we minimise the impact on their lives. But as I said, there will be impacts and we'll be seeking also to cushion those impacts along that journey. The Treasurer and I will be making further announcements about that in the next few days, and we've had another important day as we've worked through some of those more specific things that the Government will be able to do that will cushion the impact for as many as we possibly can as a result of the economic impacts of what we're seeing with the coronavirus. But let me just announce a number of other measures that we’ll be moving on and then I'll hand over to the Treasurer to deal with the issues that we've already issued a statement on regarding the office of the Australian Office of Financial Management.
After further consultation with the National Security Committee this afternoon, tonight we will be resolving to move to a position where a travel ban will be placed on all non-residents, not Australian citizens, coming to Australia. And that will be in place from 9:00 pm tomorrow evening. We have already seen a very significant reduction in the travel to Australia by non-citizens and residents. It's about a third of what it normally would be at this time of the year. And we've seen reductions, even in the last few days when we put in place the bans which required people to self isolate for 14 days. And so as a result of that decision, we've seen that the traffic reduce quite significantly. And we believe it is essential now to take that further step to ensure that we now no longer will be allowing anyone unless they're a citizen or a resident or a direct family member in those cases, as is applied to all the other travel bans we've put in place previously. Now, this is a measure that I've been consulting also with the New Zealand Prime Minister on. We've been seeking to align our arrangements across the Tasman and I appreciate the consultation that I've had with Prime Minister Ardern over these many months when it deals with these issues.
This arrangement will enable, over the next 24 hours or so, for people to make other arrangements if they were intending to come to Australia. We won't have people then and the vast majority of cases who will find themselves on planes en route here, unless they are going along a rather protracted route, and that means they will be able to make other arrangements. Now for Australians, of course, they will be able to return and they will be subject, as they already are, to 14 day isolation upon arrival back in Australia. Now, the reason for this decision is consistent with the decisions we've already made on this issue, and that is we now have around 80 percent of the cases we have in Australia, that either are a result of someone who has contracted the virus overseas or someone who has had a direct contact with someone who has returned from overseas. So the overwhelming proportion of cases in Australia have been imported and the measures we've put in place has obviously had an impact on that. And this is a further measure now that will ensure that that can be further enhanced. I want to thank Qantas also who are offering to work with us to ensure that they maintain flights from particular parts of the world that can assist Australians to return to Australia. And we'll be working closely with them and those Australians who are overseas. We've been encouraging them to return to Australia. Those that are in more remote parts of the world that could prove more challenging. But for those who are in other places, then it is our intention to ensure that we can maintain flights to enable them to come home as soon as possible.
Now, there are other measures that were announced today by the Deputy Chief Medical Officer to reduce panic purchasing of medicines at community pharmacies. Specifically, what is being provided there is that pharmacists enforce new limits on dispensing and sales of prescription and over-the-counter medicines. I won't go through those measures again. You've heard the Deputy Chief Medical Officer outlined them to you earlier today.
I also want to say to Australians that there are no issues with Australia's food supply. What there is an issue with is the behaviour of Australians at supermarkets. That is what is causing the stress and the strain. The food supply in Australia, from the meetings that we continue to hold, is something that I think we can feel quite confident about. And if Australians can respond to that in a responsible way, then that won't lead to the sort of shortages that they've seen on shelves. And it will mean that all Australians will be able to get access to the things they need when they need it. And I would ask Australians for their cooperation on those issues.
Now, finally, the other matter I'd respond to before throwing to Josh, and enabling others to ask questions, is the actions taken by the Reserve Bank today, I'd simply say we welcome. They are highly aligned, completely synchronised with the actions that we're taking as a Government and that increasingly state and territory governments are also acting to address the issues that we're finding in our economy. Their actions of over $90 billion to support credit within the financial sector in Australia, topped off by the additional $15 billion from the Commonwealth means that this is a very significant injection to support Australians, to support our economy, to support business, to support jobs, as we all go across on this bridge together to the other side, where on the other side we know that the Australian economy will be stronger, Australians will be healthier, and Australian life can return to what we knew it to be. Josh.
THE HON. JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER: Thank you, Prime Minister. Well, extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. And today, the Australian Government, together with the Reserve Bank, have injected more than $100 billion into Australia's financial system. It reflects our collective determination to do what it takes to support Australian jobs and Australian businesses. And acting in concert with the prudential regulator APRA, we are not only supporting Australian jobs and businesses, but we are doing what we can to lower the cost of credit and to increase the flow of credit.
Now today the Reserve Bank made four significant announcements. The first was to announce a reduction in the cash rate to a quarter of a percent. The second was to target the yield on three-year Treasury bonds to also a quarter of a percent. That is below what they have been trading at. The third is the $90 billion dollar term funding facility for the banking system, which will focus on lending to small and medium sized businesses across the economy. What the Reserve Bank has endeavoured to do here is not only to increase the flow of credit, but to incentivise the banks to even provide more money to the small and medium-sized businesses across the country. The hairdressers, the mechanics and all the other small businesses that form the backbone of the Australian economy. And finally, they are increasing the interest paid on exchange settlements. Now all of these measures, as I said, are designed to do two things. To decrease the cost of credit and to increase its flow. As the Prime Minister referred to today, the Government has also acted by allocating up to $15 billion to invest in residential mortgage backed securities as together with other asset backed securities. This action, again, in concert with the Reserve Bank of Australia, is totally complementary to what they are doing because it ensures that some of the non-bank lenders are getting support to provide extra finance to the SME sector. This is a very volatile time in global equity, debt and credit markets, but Australians can be reassured that our financial system remains well capitalised and strong. It was referred to today by the Reserve Bank Governor in his statement. The Australian financial system remains strong, but the measures announced by the Morrison Government today and the Reserve Bank and the Prudential Regulator will even enhance this strength further.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Josh.
JOURNALIST: Just to explain to the viewers, listeners, in easy terms to understand, if you’re say, Betty, a hairdresser, and people, your business dries up. No-one's coming, because they're scared of human-to-human contact or whatever happens in weeks ahead. Betty’s got no customers. How does this, how can she borrow money to pay the employees? How in practice would it work?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, let me make one point and then Josh I'm sure, will make further points. Now and already, what we decided over just over a week ago was through the measures that would enable small businesses to get access to up to $25,000 in grants that will support their small business cash flow. When in the case you're talking about, that business would certainly have eligibility when it comes to those payments and that always can assist. That's not going to cover all the bills. We understand that. But it is going to go some way to provide some assistance, because that payment is actually linked to how many people they employ, ultimately because it's done through the BAS. What today's announcements do, is actually making sure that the banks themselves are in a position to get access to money at a lower cost, which means they're going to be in a better position and stronger position to be supporting small and medium sized businesses in particular, around the country. What they've said today to the banks is we're going to let you get money at a much lower cost, and you know, if you go and help and support small business, you'll be able to get more money at a lower cost. When the banks can get it at a lower cost, then obviously that's good for those who are in a position to seek it. Now, not every business is going to be in that situation. And we will have more to say about the broader measures that we want to put in place to cushion the blow and to support small business and to support individuals directly impacted by the coronavirus’ economic impacts. Josh?
TREASURER: Thanks, Prime Minister. Well, the interests of small business and the banks are aligned. The banks want their customers to be there on the other side of this and the small businesses want to survive and get through this and they want to continue to provide jobs to the millions of Australians that they employ. So the banks are working with their small business customers to ensure that that money is available. What today's announcement makes clear is more money will now be available to the banks to lend. And the best illustration of the significance of today's announcement is that the Commonwealth Bank has announced a reduction of a full percentage point in their small business lending rates, a full percentage point. Now, the bank, the Reserve Bank, has only reduced the cash rate, while significant, by a quarter of a percentage point. Commonwealth Bank has gone four times bigger than that today with small business lending, and that's a direct result out of the announcements today.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister can you ensure all COVID-19 pathology requests from GP’s are being processed and tested and that everyone who needs a test is getting one?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've had some, we've had 85,000 tests that have been conducted, and I think that's a good indication of the answer to your question, because people are getting tested. Those presenting for tests who need tests are getting tested. And the Health Minister has been working with industry and others to ensure that the supplies continue to be made available for those who need tests. But I would say this to people, have a test where you need to have a test. And the rules for that, have been well set out, I think in recent times. And these testing resources are not ubiquitous, nor are they designed to be. They’re there for those who need them most. And so we would continue to encourage both the medical profession and others to use those testing kits where they are most needed.
Phil. I’m going to Phil, thanks for your question, I’m going to Phil.
JOURNALIST: There's been speculation in the banking sector about the prospect of the government even possibly underwriting a proportion of existing small business loans, a bit like the Bank of England, is that something you were entertaining or that, have you drawn a line through that?
TREASURER: We are talking to the banks about a number of measures to continue to support their activity. No decisions have been taken. But what our focus is on, is supporting those small and medium-sized businesses, get through this health crisis, which is having a significant economic impact. So we continue to look at a range of measures. And as the Prime Minister has said, our second package will be substantially different to the first package. In fact, since that time, we have seen the economic impact globally as well as here in Australia become much more significant than was evident even just a week, or two weeks ago. And so our second package is designed to support, in the words of the Prime Minister, to cushion, you know, the challenges being faced by many Australians, to support them through this. And that includes backing small business.
JOURNALIST: I appreciate this is a work in progress and you will have more to say, but for the Qantas workers today they're probably worried about their incomes in future. So are you working on income support and Treasurer, obviously, are you talking to the banks about not foreclosing on people's mortgages?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the answer to both of those questions is yes. That's exactly the sort of thing we're working on. That's what cushioning the blow is all about. Now, my understanding of the arrangements that Qantas have gone into, when I was able to speak to Alan Joyce, there is a period still for many of these employees, about four weeks at the very least, in which their existing entitlements and things of that nature will mean that they'll be in a position, at least for that short period of time. For others, that can be up to three months. One of the things that Qantas, I understand is doing, is seeking to keep people on and connected to the company. Because they want to ensure that on the other side of this, that when the business returns and the flight's return, then they can quickly activate their workforce on the other side and that's very important. What we're seeing here, as I understand, as it's been explained to me, is the stand down of quite a number of staff simply for the obvious reason that Qantas planes aren’t flying anywhere. And what this means is for a period of time, they won't be drawing a salary from Qantas, for those who have exhausted their leave under their leave arrangements.
So what that has meant for the government is when we say we want to cushion the blow, we're looking at those issues around income support. We're looking at the issues around people's obligations and working really constructively, whether it's with the banks or whether it's with businesses or others, to ensure that we're putting them in a stronger position to look after people and where they're not in a position to be able to do that, then the government is stepping up where they can, to try and cushion that that impact as much as we responsibly can. Josh?
TREASURER: Well, thanks, PM. Chris, talking to the banks, day and night, about what can be done to bridge the circumstances that many Australians find them in, themselves in to that point of recovery, and that includes for the banks to be very generous towards their customers at this difficult time, because it's in the banks interests, it's in the economy's interest. It's in Australia's interests that the bank stand by their small business customers.
JOURNALIST: New Zealand's also announced it's closing its border to non-citizens. What does this mean for a million Kiwis living in Australia? And did you discuss this with Jacinda Ardern before you made this move today?
PRIME MINISTER: The New Zealand arrangement, in the same way as it has in the past, doesn't apply to Australians living in New Zealand as New Zealand residents and equally for New Zealanders who live in Australia as Australian residents. They are the same rules that have applied to all of those travel bans whether they were imposed for China or Iran or South Korea or Italy. These are the same rules that apply in both countries and we have worked today to align what we're doing. And I appreciate that openness. Sorry, just one for everyone if we can?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister yesterday, you were as blunt as you could be about hoarding in supermarkets and you've said, you’ve shared your thoughts on this again today. I mean, this morning here in Canberra, we saw a huge queue of people waiting for Costco to open. Is it that people are just not heeding your message? Is this because of the lack of trust in democracy we've seen over the last couple of years? What more can you actually do?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think it's because people are anxious and we all need to work hard together to reduce people's anxieties. And I think we all need to sort of encourage all Australians to act responsibly. There are not supply issues that relate to these items and nor, as I said yesterday, is there a need to hoard them. That is just simply not necessary. And we will just each and every day, calmly go about the business of assuring people about these supplies. And what I'm very pleased about, though. And while I did have a few stern words to say - and my daughter said to me yesterday, it sounded like that's what you sometimes say to us, Dad. And it was a bit like that, I gotta say.
But what I am pleased about, some of you may have heard me make remarks on this in morning radio today. I'm also seeing amazing acts of generosity and kindness. And I'm hearing those stories and I would encourage media to, it's not a criticism, I just encourage you to tell more of those stories. You know, neighbours looking after elderly neighbours and making sure they've got things that they need, or if they need meals cooked for them, and that's being provided that wonderful story about the note in the lift; if you need help, call this number, I live on this level - I think it was something like that. These are the wonderful stories of Australians.
Yeah there's some Australians who, frankly, aren't giving Australia a very good name at the moment with their behaviour. I understand they're anxious. I understand all that. But for the next six months at least, we need to work through this together. So we do need to moderate our behaviour. We do need to understand that things have changed. Things are different. Life is not like it was before. But the phones still work and they will, the power still goes on, the buses still run, the hospitals are open, the shops are open, the trucks are getting to the shops. All of that is there. What we're dealing with here is a virus, and the virus will slow the country down. It will mean people will have to self isolate. It will mean we’ll have to behave differently. And that will happen for quite a period of time. Six months, I believe, based on the advice I have, at least. So we can do it. I have no doubt we can do it. We just have to apply ourselves to it and encourage each other to do the right thing. Kath?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister it's obvious from what the government's been saying for a couple of days and what, certainly what you’re saying today, that income support is on the table for the next tranche of economic support. I deduce from what you, the answer you gave me yesterday that it'll be delivered within existing programs, so for current beneficiaries, people who are currently on Newstart before this, before this crisis hit. Will, whatever the new arrangements are, also apply to current beneficiaries or only to a cohort of recipients who have lost their jobs temporarily as a consequence of this economic shock?
PRIME MINISTER: When we've completed the important work we're doing at the moment, and we're working through very carefully the design of these measures, what I know is that for those Australians who have been on what has been known as Newstart, going to the job seeker payment is that one of the things that has always been available previously in the economy with the very strong growth we've had in employment, is that the task of the government is to get people off the job seeker payment, off the Newstart payment and get them into a job where they are much better off. Now, we understand that certainly over the next six months, that is a very different looking economy. And when the facts change, when the circumstances change, you need to adjust your packages and the way you're delivering support in the community to reflect that. So we'll have a lot more to say about these things in the not too distant future. But just like last week, we're working hard to get the detail right. So when we say something is going to be done, it will be done and it can be done and it won't be attendant with lots of other different new forms and new processes and things that can go wrong. And we can ensure that the support and the cushioning impact of this can get to people in the best and the most effective way that is possible. But Josh did you want to add to that?
TREASURER: Well, obviously, the details of our package are being finalized right now. But as I said earlier, the situation has changed and it's got much more difficult across the economy since even two weeks ago. But our focus has always been on getting to the other side and getting Australians to the other side.
PRIME MINISTER: Last one here.
JOURNALIST: PM are you aware of the situation of Australians stuck in Peru and some other countries where there are local lockdowns?
PRIME MINISTER: I have become aware of that issue. And there will be Australians in many places around the world who will find themselves finding a lot harder to get back to Australia than otherwise. The coronavirus has been a matter of public record now for several months, and many Australians have taken wise decisions to get back home sooner. In a number of occasions, Australia has had to put in place flights that have brought people back obviously from Wuhan but as well as from the Diamond Princess up in in Japan. We're working with Qantas to ensure that we continue to get a flow of flights and keep flights open for a period of time so Australians can make their way back. But those who find themselves in an, a more remote location than we're obviously going to have to work closely with them through our consular offices, like our very professional consular officials do on each and every day. So there are no specific responses on that matter just now. It was only brought to my attention very recently, but what our DFAT, wonderful DFAT team, has been doing, they will continue to do and they'll seek to assist Australians wherever they practically can.
But there are obviously limitations to what can be done. But we would hope they were safe and, but they are finding themselves around the world in circumstances that all people around the world are finding themselves. And I think people hopefully will be able to provide assistance in those, in those settings. But we're going to leave it at that because the Reserve Bank Governor, I understand, is making a further statement. I think he's made an outstanding point on us all getting to this bridge from here, where we are right now to the other side. Where on that side the economy comes back, people's health comes back, and Australia bounces back stronger than ever.
Thank you all very much.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
18 March 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning everyone. Life is changing in Australia, as it is changing all around the world. Life is going to continue to change as we deal with the global coronavirus. This is a once in a hundred year type event, we haven't seen this sort of thing in Australia since the end of the First World War.
But together we are, of course, up to this challenge. All Australians, governments, health workers, teachers, nurses, journalists, broadcasters, mums, dads, kids, grandparents, aged care workers. We're all up to this. We're all able to deal with this, but we just need to continue to keep our heads, focusing on the right information, making good decisions, helping and supporting each other each and every day to make the changes that are very necessary as we deal with this very real situation.
We are going to keep Australia running. We are going to keep Australia functioning. It won't look like it normally does but it is very important that we continue to put in place measures that are scalable and sustainable. There is no two-week answer to what we're confronting. There is no short-term quick fix to how this is dealt with in Australia. The idea that you can just turn everything off for two weeks and then just turn it all back on again and it all goes away, that is not the evidence. That is not the facts. That is not the information and it's not our way through this. And it's not what you see in the measures that we've already announced and the measures that we will continue to announce.
They need to be scalable and they need to be sustainable. As I said on the weekend, we are looking at a situation of at least six months for how we deal with this. It could be much longer than that. It could be shorter. That's unlikely, given the way we're seeing events unfold. So what we're doing you've got to be able to keep doing and you've got to be able to sustain that. And that has to be something that is achievable for all Australians, so we can keep our country running in the best possible way in the interest of all Australians.
We also need to continue to work together and I want to thank again in particular the State and Territory Premiers and Chief Ministers - I'll come to their decisions in a moment. But the cooperation, the collaboration, the support, the candidness and the way people are working together in a true spirit of national unity is exactly - exactly - what you would hope to be seeing from all of your national and state and territory leaders. And I thank them very much for their support and their leadership as we work through these difficult decisions and as we seek to relay them to the Australian people in the most simple way that we possibly can.
We are taking action across a broad range of issues. Obviously, the first of those is the health response, which is comprehensive, and every resource that is necessary to support that health resource at a Commonwealth, State and Territory level is being provided and I think Australians can be very confident about that and we're continuing to coordinate the deployment of that resource. That includes into aged care facilities and other areas where health services are being provided.
But we're also dealing very seriously with the very significant economic impacts. And as the measures that are put in place, as the protections are put in place to protect people's health, they obviously have, in some cases, quite severe economic implications as Australians sadly are already experiencing, particularly in areas that are in the most hit sectors, in the travel, the tourism sector, the aviation sector, places like this, the external sector which has been feeling it first because they were the first to impact from the travel bans and the shut down of global movements. But that is spreading more broadly across the economy. In essential and critical services is another area where the national coordinating mechanism, what's that? That is the Department of Home Affairs working with the states and territories, working across everything from supply chains into supermarkets, to ensure the continued support of telecommunications and essential services and energy and fuel supplies and all of these issues. My ministers have been working on those issues for days, working with the sectors to ensure we're on top of all of those issues and the reports there, so far, are encouraging.
And thirdly, in workforce management. This is critical. Wherever possible, we need to keep Australians working. Working on the essential services and the economy that Australians need to get through this. And this is a critical - a critical - issue in ensuring Australia can keep functioning and importantly keep delivering the important services that are necessary, which at the end of the day mean that we can support the most vulnerable in our community who are at most risk from the effects of the coronavirus.
Now, as you've heard me say many times and you've heard Dr. Murphy say on many occasions, for most people, those of us who are blessed with good health and are in good condition, then this is a mild condition. For the more vulnerable, for the elderly, for those who have other health challenges, this is a far more serious condition for them. And so it is important that we who are healthy, those of us who will contract this and experience a mild illness, that we do what we can to limit the spread to ensure that those who are more vulnerable are not affected. If we slow the spread then we do save lives, and that is very much the strategy the governments of Australia are following as we move through this crisis.
Now, the National Security Committee met yesterday, before the National Cabinet. They made a number of decisions, one of those has been enacted this morning by the Governor-General, and that is that a human biosecurity emergency was declared under the Biosecurity Act by the Governor-General, and that regards the recognition of the threat, the coronavirus, and the need for the Federal Government to take actions under the Health Minister and myself as Prime Minister in relation to limiting that spread. Now, I don't want people to be alarmed about this. This is what these measures in the Biosecurity Act are for. You have already seen, as I said on Sunday, that states and territories have been enacting the similar powers that they have under their various public health legislation to put similar arrangements in place. All of those arrangements are now in place in the states and territories and we have rounded that out this morning by ensuring that those measures are now in place and approved by the Governor-General.
Secondly, we are upgrading the travel ban on Australians to level four for the entire world. That is the first time that has ever happened in Australia's history. The travel advice to every Australian is do not travel abroad. Do not go overseas. That is a very clear instruction. For those of you who are thinking of going overseas in the school holidays, don't. Don't go overseas. The biggest risk we've had and the biggest incidence of cases which we've had, which Dr. Murphy can go into, has been from Australians returning from overseas. From many countries that you wouldn't have expected that to be a source. And so it is very important that Australians do not travel abroad at this time. And that is an indefinite ban, but as you are seeing from other countries around the world, they're putting similar restrictions on entry, just as Australia has on others coming into Australia, and you would expect that to be in place now and that's the stage we've reached.
Thirdly, yesterday, and you would have seen this announced last night, we put in place waivers of a series of aviation-related charges and they'll be waived out over the next six months from the 1st of April with a rebate on those that have been paid back from the 1st of February. This will provide much-needed support for our aviation sector who has been the hardest hit from these arrangements, as you've seen from the various announcements from our major airlines, but don't forget the smaller regional airlines as well. They're also hit by this. So things like regional security fees in regional airports on those regional airlines, they are being waived as well. They don't necessarily change the world for those airlines, but they do provide some support at a very difficult time for those airlines who are dealing with issues of staffing in their organisations and how they're supporting those staff at this time.
We have also made a decision yesterday to lift the restriction on work constraints on student nurses who are in Australia. That's some 20,000 international student nurses who are in Australia, have been in Australia for some time. We're not importing the nurses into Australia, that would obviously be against the travel advice and bans that already have been in place for some time. But those 20,000 student nurses that we have in Australia, they're going to be available to help and support the health effort right across the country, as directed by our health officials and they can be engaged for that purpose.
Now, the National Cabinet met last night, as I said, til quite late in the evening, it was a late night here and for them around the country. They received advice from the AHPPC and they've made the following decisions and there will be further decisions to come at the next meeting of the National Cabinet, which is on Friday. The decisions they have made is to put a ban on gatherings, for non-essential gatherings, a ban on non-essential gatherings, of persons of 100 or greater. So a ban on non-essential gatherings of persons 100 and greater in indoor areas. So in outdoor areas, it's 500. Indoor areas, it's 100. And that is effective now, as of today, and those arrangements in terms of the legal enforcement of those measures are being put in place by the states and territories.
Now, fair question is, well, what is an essential gathering? So as to define what is a non-essential gathering. Well, there is a baseline that has been established amongst the National Cabinet, which reflected in a lot of the legislation that was put in in relation to the outdoor ban. And that's an airport, public transportation, which includes public transportation facilities such as stations, platform, stops, trains, trams, buses, etc. These are essential. Medical and health service facilities, emergency service facilities, disability or aged care facilities - I’ll be coming to aged care and the constraints we're putting on aged care shortly. Correctional facilities, youth justice centres or other places of custody, courts or tribunals, Parliaments, food markets, supermarket, grocery store, retail store, shopping centre that is necessary for the normal business of those premises, office buildings, factories, construction sites, mining sites necessary for their normal operation.
Now, particularly when we're talking about workplaces, I want to commend the employers of Australia, whether they're in the offices of our capital cities or elsewhere, who are already putting in place quite sensible rostering arrangements in their workplaces, as indeed public service employers are doing as well, and I'm quite sure that amongst the media you're doing similar things, which is sensible. That does two things. It ensures social distancing practices are being followed in the workplace, but equally it is changing the strain and providing for greater social distancing on essential travel, particularly in public transport and things of that nature. This also relates to schools, universities, education facilities and child care facilities, hotels and motels and other accommodation facilities, which can include things like mining camps and other places where people are transiting. So, in the Bourke Street Mall, Federation Square, Martin Place, those types of places. They are essential places, where there are essential gatherings. Non-essential is everything else. States and territories have the ability to add to those lists as they see fit based on the advice, and we're obviously seeking to coordinate that.
I apologise for the length that I've got to go through here, but there's a lot of things that were decided and it's important that we convey that information. Further measures on gatherings indoor of less than 100 people are being worked on by the states and territories in terms of their practical implication. I want to commend the Premiers and Chief Ministers for this. We together want to be very sure that when we say there will be a limitation, then we need to be able to explain it to ensure that the rules are very clear for people to follow. We can put in place a rule for 100 indoors. It's fairly straightforward. We can also put in place a rule for 500 people outdoors, that can be followed. But the other issue that we need to follow is the principle of social distancing, whatever gathering you're in. As you can see, Dr. Murphy and I are practicing social distancing right now. I'd suggest the rest of you might want to think about that as well. It's important that we try and observe those social distancing practices, which is a metre and a half apart, wherever that is practicable to ensure that we can contain and limit the spread of the virus. So those principles are very important.
On travel, what we have agreed is that the advice is that air travel, domestic air travel, is low risk. We have, as Dr. Murphy will be able to I'm sure tell you, we have not seen a lot of evidence of people contracting this virus on aircraft. It's when they've arrived, or where they brought it from. And so the issue is not people, necessarily, being on planes as a great risk. The issue is people moving around the country. Now, to that end, states and territories working together with their health advisors, there are parts of this country that it would not be wise for people to visit. Just as it is important for people not to be visiting aged care facilities in large numbers, it is also important that they’re not visiting remote indigenous communities or remote parts of the country. And there are other parts of the country that are similarly sensitive. Now, we are working on a list of those areas that can be declared with the states and territories, and that will be driven by the states and territories because they have the best information on what the sensitivities are. So it's not about going on a plane or not going on a plane. It's about where you are going to. And there'll be further advice and there'll be further information on that that will be provided in the days ahead as those issues are finalised. But in places like the Northern Territory, Minister Gunner, the Chief Minister, there is already taking action on those issues appropriately and I commend him for doing that.
In relation to schools. Schools… so on public transport, I should say, that remains essential travel but social distancing should be sought to be practiced wherever possible, and that also means that the states are already putting in place proper hygiene processes in terms of cleaning of public transport. If you're getting in a cab or in an Uber, sit in the backseat, don't sit in the front seat. These are just sensible things that people should be following and Dr. Murphy can talk more to those or if you have any further questions on that.
The health advice is that schools should remain open. That is the health advice. Interestingly, this is also what Singapore has done. Singapore has been one of the more successful countries. In Singapore, the schools are open. In Singapore, they've been quite effective in managing and limiting the transmission of this virus in that country. The health advice here, supported by all the Premiers, all the Chief Ministers and my Government is that schools should remain open.
Now, there are a number of reasons for this, and Dr. Murphy will particularly go into this. The first one is that the virus operates very differently amongst younger people. It has a different manifestation amongst younger people and that presents a very different health challenge to the broader population. And so in terms of the health and welfare of our children, many of us here are parents and obviously we are concerned about the health of our kids. And the health advice that I'm happy to follow for my kids, for Jenny and my kids, is the same health advice I am asking all other parents around the country to follow. We all love our kids and there's nothing we wouldn't do for them. And I'm telling you that, as a father, I'm happy for my kids to go to school. There's only one reason your kids shouldn't be going to school and that is if they are unwell. And as parents you are in the best position to know if your children are unwell. Don't leave it to the teacher to work that out when they arrive, or the school administrator, or whoever is on drop off. Make sure if your child is unwell, that you are taking action to keep your child out of school. That's your responsibility. Schools will obviously try and operate to their best ability to limit children who may come who are unwell, but let's not forget our responsibility as parents in this process. And Brendan can say more about that.
So, that's the health issue. There are also, please know this, whatever we do, we've got to do for at least six months. Six months. So that means the disruption that would occur from the closure of schools around this country, make no mistake, would be severe. What do I mean by severe? Tens of thousands of jobs could be lost, if not more. The impact on the availability of health workers? A 30 per cent impact on the availability of health workers is our advice. That will put people's lives at risk. So let's keep our heads as parents when it comes to this. Let's do the right thing by the country and by each other and follow the proper advice. There is a national public interest here in keeping schools open, and our advice is that is not being done at the detriment of the health of any child. If that was different then obviously, and if that became different, then Premiers and Chief Ministers and I would certainly come to a different view. But right now that is the advice and we need to ensure that when we're putting these scalable and sustainable measures in place that we are doing things that improve the situation, not worsen the situation and lessen our capacity to deal with this.
Now, aged care. Some very sensible recommendations, and I know these will be difficult. Having been through this experience in my own family recently, I know this could be very difficult for families. The following visitors and staff, including visiting workers, should not be permitted, will not be permitted to enter an aged care facility:
Obviously, those who’ve returned from overseas in the last 14 days.
Those have been in contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the last 14 days.
Those with fever or symptoms or acute respiratory infection symptoms.
Those who have not been vaccinated against influenza after the first of May.
The facility must also implement the following measures for restricting visits and visitors to reduce the risk of transmission to residents:
Limiting visits to a short duration.
Limiting visits to a maximum of two visitors at one time per day. These may be immediate social supports, family members, close friends or professional service or advocacy workers.
Visits should be conducted in a residents room, outdoors or in a specific area designated by the facility rather than communal areas where the risk of transmission to other residents is greater.
There should be no large group visits or gatherings, including social activities or entertainment, to be permitted at this time.
No school groups of any size should be allowed to visit aged care facilities.
Visitors should also be encouraged, as all Australians are, to practice social distancing where possible, including maintaining the distance of one and a half metres.
Children aged 16 years or less should be visiting only by exception, as they generally, it says they, kids won’t necessarily follow the hygiene measures all the time like adults will.
Any parent will understand that, but also children can be asymptomatic and so they may be no knowledge of whether the child has been exposed to the virus or has the virus or not. And so that is just a sensible thing, it's about protecting the residents at the end of the day.
Now, in cases of end of life, I know that people will want to see their elderly parents or relatives or others. I totally understand that. And aged care facilities will have the discretion to put in very strict arrangements to enable people to visit their loved ones if that's the situation that that resident finds themselves in. Those rules will have to be done on a facility by facility basis and obviously it needs to conform with the general principles around social distancing and the other measures that I've outlined. But in those cases we all know how distressing that can be and so the aged care facilities will be asked to put in place sensible arrangements to facilitate those types of visits on a compassionate basis.
ANZAC Day. It was a busy night, as you can see. ANZAC Day, well, this has largely already been determined by RSLs around the country, but ANZAC Day events and ceremonies should be cancelled due to the high proportion of older Australians who attend such events. But there will be a televised national event here in Canberra, at the War Memorial. States and territories may also do one without public gatherings as well, which can also be available for broadcast, and that will enable people to be able to join those services at least remotely on what is one of the most important days, if not the most important day of the year, for Australians as we honour those. And it will be quite a solemn day because the last time, as I said, we're in a situation like this, it's after our diggers returned from World War One.
Now, on bulk purchasing of supplies. Stop hoarding. I can't be more blunt about it. Stop it. It's not sensible, it's not helpful and I've got to say it's been one of the most disappointing things I've seen in Australian behaviour in response to this crisis. That is not who we are as a people. It is not necessary. It is not something that people should be doing. What it does is it is distracting attention and efforts that need to be going into other measures to be focusing on how we maintain supply chains into these shopping centres. There is no reason for people to be hoarding supplies in fear of a lockdown or anything like this. As I've said, we're putting in place scalable and sustainable measures. I'll read you specifically what the AHPPC has said to ensure that there is absolutely no confusion. “The AHPPC advises against the bulk purchase of foods, medicines and other goods. We discourage the panic purchase of food and other supplies.”
I am seeking Australia's common sense cooperation with these very clear advisory positions. Stop doing it. It's ridiculous. It's un-Australian, and it must stop. And I would ask people to do the right thing by each other in getting a handle on these sorts of practices.
Also, do not abuse staff. We're all in this together. People are doing their jobs. They're doing their best. Whether they're at a testing clinic this morning, whether they're in a shopping center, whether they're at a bank, whether they're at a train station, everybody is doing their best. So, let's just support each other in the work that they are doing. And I encourage you please, if you see someone who's doing that, just call it out and ask them to just refrain from doing that. That's the right thing to do.
Now, moving on to the other matters that I had to raise today, then I’ll throw to Brendan. The Government is considering, quite extensively, further economic measures that will deal with the strength and the strengthening of our safety net and cushioning the even greater impact of the coronavirus on the Australian economy, particularly on small businesses and individuals. Last week, we focused very much on the stimulus-type activity. Encouraging investment, encouraging demand into the economy, providing support to small business. The measures that we are focusing on now are of a different nature. They are focused more on the cushioning impact of the safety net for individuals and on small businesses. The Reserve Bank has been involved in our discussions on those issues. They’ll obviously make those decisions independently as is appropriate, but we are putting in place further measures and we will announce them once they've been properly designed, and they can be properly implemented. We are not delaying, we are moving with great haste on this. But we're doing it carefully to ensure we get the design of those measures right so they can be implemented as quickly as possible and provide that support.
On the health side of things, 80,000 tests have now been completed, and we've been able to source additional supplies of tests, testing kits, which is very welcome and further supplies are being secured, and that includes having domestic solutions to the supply issues that relates to the testing equipment. The same is true for personal protective equipment, and that does include and I want to thank those in the Defence Forces, they have also been very helpful with supply chains and logistics and other measures that we're working on now. As we found during the bushfires, they are an amazing group of people who are able to come up with some incredibly innovative solutions and they have been worked on particularly when it comes to supply chain measures around personal protective equipment. All of that means though that while, yes, we may have been able to successfully secure additional supplies, when it comes to medical supplies, when it comes to personal protective equipment, when it comes to testing, it's important to follow the rules around these. These are critical resources, they shouldn't be used where it's unnecessary to use them, and I would encourage people to continue to follow those practices.
Finally, you'll be pleased to know, there's a lot of misinformation out there. There's a lot of ridiculous stuff circulating on text messages and the internet about lockdowns and all of this and sadly, there's even been cases of wilful fraud and misrepresentation and fraudulent preparation of documents, even recordings, alleging to represent Cabinet meetings and things of this nature. Don't believe it, it's rubbish. Go to health.gov.au. Go to the relevant state health websites to get your information on what's happening. Avoid all that nonsense that you're seeing on social media. There are a million experts, it seems, but the experts that the Government is relying on, one of the most important is standing next to me here and now, all of the state Premiers and Chief Ministers and myself are working with those experts, whether it's in supply chains, whether it's in workforce management, whether it's in health, whether it's in power or telecommunications, they're the people we're getting our information from. We’ll continue to update you as regularly as is possible with clear decisions on what we're doing, but on the misinformation - just ignore it. If you hear it from me, if you hear it from a Premier, if you hear it from Dr. Murphy, if you hear it from those official sources and websites, that's the information you should follow. If you’re hearing it from someone just saying whatever pops into their head or whatever their opinion is on a particular topic - opinions are interesting but everybody has them. Facts are important. Information is what we need to make proper decisions on and you need to make property decisions on, and that's why we'll give you the information as best we can and as regularly as we can. I thank you for your patience and I'll now pass over to Dr. Murphy.
DR. BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thanks, Prime Minister. So there are now about 454 cases of COVID-19 in Australia and we do, we have increasing numbers each day. But it is important to remember that the majority of cases in Australia, majority of new cases, are still imported cases or direct contacts of imported cases. And our focus for those is still the same. We are getting on top of them, identifying them, isolating them, contact tracing, that remains a very, very important part of our response across every state and territory.
But we know that there is community transmission. It is low level at the moment and we know that the way to control community transmission is social distancing. The AHPPC meant for two days this week, and like the Prime Minister said, we have a unanimity of opinion across this country. Every state and territory Chief Health Officer, plus our invited experts, plus our advisory technical committees are united on our approach.
Social distancing is really important to prevent delay transmission in the community of this virus over coming months. But be clear, a short term 2-4 week shutdown of society is not recommended by any of our experts. It does not achieve anything. We have to be in this for the long haul. As the Prime Minister said, it could be six months, more, that we have to practice these new ways of interacting. So therefore our measures have to be sustainable. There is no way that we can lock down society, make everyone stay home, and then in a month’s time undo that because the virus will just flare up again without any real long-term benefit. So we have to have sustainable measures, but they have to be serious measures. They have to be effective and that's why we've put in a range of measures that the Prime Minister has outlined with more information to come later.
But the first thing I would say is that it is every individual Australian’s responsibility to practice good social distancing. Keep away from each other where possible, practice really good hand hygiene, wash your hands with soap and water at every opportunity you get, if you've been on public transport, if you’ve been touching things that in a common area, if before and after going to the toilet, if you've been having a meal. Social distancing and hand hygiene is really, really important. But we also have to do things at a societal level, and that's why we've put in those recommendations that governments have accepted to restrict non-essential gatherings. We know that the actual numbers of infected people in our society is very low now, but if you get a lot of people together in close contact that's the way you can spread the virus. So we need to avoid those large gatherings and limit them, but we also have to keep society functioning. So we are very focused on these measures being sustainable and allowing us to keep going as a nation whilst this virus is with us.
I'd like to specifically address schools. In China, only 2.4 per cent of the cases reported in Hubei province were in people under 19. Children have very, very few instances of clinical disease and even if they do, of even more severe disease. This is quite different to influenza and other respiratory viruses which have quite severe disease sometimes in children. We know that if, even in influenza, school closures are a controversial issue. We believe very strongly that it's in the best interest of our children and the nation at this time to keep schools open. There may be occasions when there's a big outbreak in a community that some local school closures might be necessary, but at this time across the community our view is that schools should stay open.
Now, there obviously are measures that we can take to reduce potential transmission in schools. It's interesting in China that, again, most of the children who are infected were reported as having picked up the virus from adults in their household. But we don't know whether children may be a vector of asymptomatic or transmission with low levels of symptoms. So we need to make sure that our schools are made as safe as possible. We need to make sure that no sick child goes to school. We need to make sure that no sick teacher goes to school. We need to try and avoid large assemblies and other gatherings at schools. We know also that it's not really possible for children in a classroom to keep 1.5 metres apart from each other and we know that we've got to be practical about that. But schools should practice very good hand hygiene too. Very hard to do in the school, but we can trust our teachers to do it. Children should be washing their hands regularly, particularly when they're eating, and particularly when they're touching common areas. So it'll be hard for schools, but it would be much, much, much harder for society if our schools were closed. We want our children to be looked after in schools, if they were at home, we know that they probably wouldn't stay at home, they would probably congregate anyway and if transmission were occurring it would happen, or they may be looked after by vulnerable elderly relatives who are the people we are worried about.
As the Prime Minister has said, most people with this virus have a mild disease. The people we worried most about our elderly. That's why we've taken these measures in relation to restricting visits to aged care. But there’s no sense in completely locking down aged care. Again, things you could do for a month and then stop would have no long-term benefit. We've got to protect our elderly for the long haul, for six months, and you cannot completely deny access to an elderly person in a residential facility to their closest next of kin, but we've got to make sure that those interactions are safe, very limited, and again with good social distancing.
So my final message is every citizen now has to think about every interaction they have with another person during the day. No more handshaking, no more hugging, no more - except in your family, you can do that in your family, because you're already close to your family - no more scant attention to hand hygiene, wash your hands all the time, use hand sanitiser, and just practice sensible practices. And also, as the Prime Minister has said, we are in a situation now where there are mainly important cases, small numbers, there is no need for us to be in a state of heightened anxiety, but we do need to be prepared, and we all need to practice this social distancing. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you.
JOURNALIST: Could we get a bit of clarity for religious groups, churches, synagogues, mosques, on how these rules pertain to them? And also, what's your view of the footy, should it go ahead with empty stadiums, both the AFL and NRL?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, first of all, the rule is quite clear. Internal gatherings of no more than a hundred people. And so churches, mosques, synagogues, or others, should comply with that. Before the end of this week, we'll be considering further the rules that are established amongst smaller gatherings. There are very practical issues that we have to work through there, and the states are working on that right now. We would also suggest, as I'm sure Dr. Murphy would agree, that you would practice the sort of appropriate social distancing in those types of arrangements, and that means they're having separation and distance between people who are seated, except for amongst family groups, that might be in any of these places.
I know church, I know in my own experience, my church is putting in place practices. I mean, some are moving to online type services and things like that, and that's a sensible practical measure I think that people can put in place. When it comes to the, whether it's the AFL, the NRL or any others, that's a decision for them to make in accordance to the rules that have been established - no gatherings of more than 500, no internal gatherings of 100 or more, and there'll be other measures that will follow. So they need to make their own decisions about how they manage that. We'll focus on our responsibilities as Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers and Premiers, and the Commissioners of the NRL and the AFL can make their decisions based on what they believe is best for their game. But they must comply, obviously, which they will, with all the health rules and guidelines that are being established.
Sorry, can we just everyone, just… yep.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, is it necessary for the states to enforce new laws to stop hoarding?
PRIME MINISTER: To..?
JOURNALIST: Hoarding. To stop hoarding.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look we'll continue to... What I want to welcome is the practical responses that have been put in place by the supermarkets themselves. I think that's sensible. I think putting in the arrangements for elderly to be able to visit shopping centers and things like that and supermarkets. That's just good common sense and I would encourage them to continue to do those sorts of things. I would at first appeal to Australians to do the right thing. Obviously, there are measures that could be moved towards if we had to do that, but to be honest, I'd be very disappointed if we had to do something like that. I think Australians are better than that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you’ve said that this is going to go for about six months, maybe more, can you rule out there's not going to be any widespread school closure in that time?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, no, we can't do that. Right now schools should remain open. That is the clear and crystal health advice from the AHPPC and that is the clear and unified position of all the states and territories, Premiers, Chief Ministers and myself. These situations will be monitored on a regular basis. The AHPPC meets every day. Premiers and Chief Ministers at this week will have met on three occasions. My Ministers are meeting every day on these types of issues. I'll be having further discussions today with independent schools, Catholic schools, and others, about these arrangements and talking them through with them. School holidays are coming up soon, and then schools will reopen after school holidays, that was the clear position of the Premiers and Chief Ministers and so this is an issue we’ll constantly continue to monitor but when it comes to managing this, it is about being scalable and sustainable. Any measure you put in place, you must be prepared to put it in place for at least six months - it could be longer, and that means you've got to do it and make sure that you continue to to have a functioning country. Phil.
JOURNALIST: Travelling overseas, is it likely or possible you may tighten the restrictions on people entering the country, either citizens abroad or non-citizens beyond the 14 day isolation period?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, that is possible, and I frankly though, practically it'll largely do that on its own, because the whole world is doing basically the same thing we are. So the great risk now and the actions that we have taken on our borders to-date have been very effective, and that has put us in the advantaged position we are in right now. But this challenge now, as it inevitably was going to when you reach global pandemic phases, remember we called a global pandemic, and it was particularly Dr. Murphy you did more than two weeks out from the WHO. So we started on that basis. Now the challenge now is moving from the border to the community, and managing how this is done in the community. So things about the 500 limit, the 100 limit, and other rules that would come from that. That’s about managing this in the community, and that's where a lot of the focus is and that's why the National Cabinet has become so important, because up until the other week, well issues of borders and so on is the clear province and domain of the Federal Government, but once you start moving to managing issues in the community, it needs much greater coordination between the states and territories. And I can't underline to you enough how important the Premiers and Chief Ministers feel it is to have a consistent application of what they're doing across all their jurisdictions. They're very committed to this and they're very committed to supporting each other in this, and I think that is to be commended. Yeah, Andrew. And I’ll come over -
JOURNALIST: You talked before about hardening up defences of remote Indigenous communities. Pat Turner, she’s on the Indigenous Advisory Board of COVID-19, she's been saying that the system chronic shortages of PPE equipment, swabs and test equipment, and there's a lack of advice on combating the disease. Perhaps this one's for you Dr. Murphy, but what can you, what assurances can you give that suppliers will get that? And I also want to flag that when you've exhausted questions about, on COVID-19, I would like to ask about 4 Corners and the SAS video, but we can do that -
PRIME MINISTER: Well I might come back to that on another occasion Andrew, to be honest, I mean, I think there's a lot of questions on COVID-19, and I have a Cabinet meeting to go to. So I'm happy to deal with those issues outside the press conference.
DR. MURPHY: So on PPE, we know that internationally there are shortages. We have a very aggressive procurement program, the Minister for Health has been driving that. We are getting significant new stocks of PPE and we will make it available as necessary. Some people are anxious that they don't have reserve stocks, but we're obviously have to keep control of our stocks, and we have an active program with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander response led out of the Health Department by one of our senior doctors, and there's a lot of work that's been happening. And Pat Turner and her team have been involved with that. So we know that there's anxiety about PPE, but we are getting lots of PPE in, and we are even looking at the Prime Minister's direction, at local manufacturing. So we need to be prepared, but we cannot waste what we've got at the moment.
PRIME MINISTER: Sam.
JOURNALIST: Obviously, have symptoms or not have symptoms and be contagious as well.
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry?
JOURNALIST: Adults can obviously be asymptomatic as well, and we've seen in the last 24 hours confirmation that a Liberal Party donor who attended a Liberal Party fundraiser last Tuesday night, with you and Peter Dutton, before Peter Dutton was exhibiting symptoms, has now contracted the illness. Now of course, he doesn't know exactly how that occurred, but the only known contact he had, who had the coronavirus was Mr. Dutton. Do you think now out of an abundance of caution that it is worth yourself being tested, Cabinet being tested, just to ensure that you know, there is nobody who is actually spreading that within the community, having potentially contracted it from Peter Dutton?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the Cabinet is following the same rules as every other Australian. I mean, last night I had a medical checkup and my health is being checked on a regular basis, by one of the doctors here. And that involves the normal things that you’d expect and if I'm advised by my doctor to get a test then I will. What I'm saying is, is that there can't be one rule for me, and another rule for the rest of the country. Our testing equipment is an important resource and I'll follow the rules like everybody else. I've already put in place arrangements with the Cabinet. We're meeting now virtually, and we're not gathering the Cabinet all together in one room. The contact tracing on that event has already been undertaken and so where that has led to the need for tests to be undertaken where people are exhibiting symptoms and have had contact, then people will undertake those tests. There have been a number of Cabinet Members who have had tests, not in relation to that incident specifically, but where they have satisfied the case definition, which has been set out by the Chief Medical Officer, and I can assure you in all of these cases where there has been a question arise as to whether that should be done, we’ve consulted either the Chief Medical Officer or the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, and I'll just keep taking their advice on what's the most important thing to do, and I’d encourage all Australians to do the same thing. But I was pleased that I got a good tick last night from the doc, and I appreciate that, but I intend to see him fairly regularly in the weeks ahead, because I intend to stay as fit and active as possible.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how do you characterise the number of cases in Australia? And how do you characterize the future trajectory? Are you seeing what you expected?
DR. MURPHY: There is no clear expectation. I think at the moment, our, as I said, we are seeing a growth in case numbers, and they are obviously concerning, but as I also said, they are still largely fueled by important cases. We expect imported cases, as international travel declines to drop significantly. The challenge is to reduce those community transmission that we're seeing, in small pockets at the moment, and that's what the social distancing is about. So obviously every increase in cases concerns us. We would be more concerned if the increases were all community transmission, but even with imported cases, that presents opportunities for further communities transmission and we are concerned in getting on top of it. But there's no right, there's no one prediction that you can make.
PRIME MINISTER: Let’s go to the back here and then over here, and then over to Kath. We’ll try and get through as many questions as possible.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you mentioned six months. We're already seeing industries struggle. We're seeing parents anxious, people lose their jobs, people fighting in supermarkets, mental health charities are saying they're seeing a spike in services as a direct result of this virus.
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
JOURNALIST: How as the Federal Government, can you as your primary job, keep Australians calm?
PRIME MINISTER: This is what we're doing here right now. Making good decisions based on good advice and communicating them as clearly as we possibly can, and to keep focusing on the issues we need to make decisions on every day. We are meeting every day in either in full Cabinet or groups of Cabinet Ministers and Ministers, and working with industry groups, working with all the bodies that you're talking about, identifying the issues that are starting to present. This thing that is moving very, very quickly. Engaging with international leaders, and we've had quite a bit of progress in the last couple of days, particularly on moving towards a meeting of the G20 Finance Ministers meeting and central bankers. The Reserve Bank is considering measures over the course of the next sort of 24-48 hours. We're staying on this. We got ahead, but you've got to work very hard to stay ahead. We’re learning from every bit of advice we can, we can, we can get, and we're keeping people together. And again, the National Cabinet is so important in a coordinated national response to these events. I hope, and it is certainly all of our hopes, as members of that National Cabinet, that Australians would take confidence from that. That all issues of politics, and doesn't matter, what party you're in in that National Cabinet - there are five Labor members and there are four Liberals - and we are working together as one united team to do with the issues that are, that we have been sworn in to deal with. You know, when you go down to the Governor General, or you go to your State Governor and you take an oath to say you're going to do the right thing by the people of your state or the people of your nation, that's what we're doing, and you're seeing that exhibited in the way that this National Cabinet working together.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on communication, you've acknowledged that false information is gaining significant momentum online. Do you actually have, and would you implement some kind of proactive coordinated communications strategy to target and basically refute some of those claims, or are you still relying on people just finding their way through the health.gov.au that, which by most accounts, is fairly un-user friendly?
PRIME MINISTER: Well that's your view. What we will continue to do is upgrade our communications campaign and ensure that we're getting the best possible information to people out, and that campaign is being upgraded on a daily basis in terms of how it can respond to some of the issues. It's disappointing that we would have to try and refute and correct a lot of the information that is out there, and I just simply appeal to media to ensure that they're going to the official sources of advice, and not reporting Twitter as if it's news or anything like that, because it's not. It's not real. It’s gossip and nonsense in most cases, and it's important that we report the facts on these things. So everyone's got a role to play, I think to help ensure that people are getting the right information. And we will seek to counter those things directly as I've done here today. But whether it's in the part of the social media campaign that's been run by the Government or indeed the direct communications campaigns we're doing, it's all designed to get that information out to people.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will you now consider direct payments to all Australians following Donald Trump's moves in the US overnight? Or do you still prefer a much more targeted approach to social payments?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have a far more wider and more effective social safety net than most countries in the world. I think it's one of the I think the great boasts of Australia, it’s not just our medical system, our health system, and the way that operates, equally our social security system, it is a well-developed one. And it's both targeted in nature, but also has a broad safety net benefit to the population, and we'll be announcing further measures on these matters once they're finalised. Kath.
JOURNALIST: Just sticking with the stimulus, and I’ve got a question for Dr. Murphy as well. But you said, I think, that before that round two would be announced once it's properly designed. Does that indicate that you're looking for round two? That there might be new programs that round one you delivered all within existing programs, tax transfers etc. Are you looking at new programs for round two? And also Dr. Murphy if I may, you said that your group the AHPPC, is that right? Sorry. Met for two days this week and there was a unanimity of views. Did anybody within your group express a view at any point that the crowd limit of 100 should have applied before today? As in a couple of days ago. Should have been applied a couple of days ago?
PRIME MINISTER: Let me deal with your question first. The same principles that applied to the policies we announced last week on the economic stimulus measures are applying to the measures that we're now working on. And there's a very practical reason for that. They work. If you deliver them through existing systems and mechanisms, they get to people quicker. And so those design principles are the same ones we’ll be applying for those arrangements. The task is different to the one that the Treasurer and I spoke of last week. The task of this next set of measures is really about trying to cushion the impact. I can't understate the significance of the gear change that occurred last weekend. The gear change, when we were moving to far more widespread social distancing and bands on gatherings and all of this, this has a much more profound impact on the economy. And there are many things that will be hard to predict going forward, but as we adjust and upgrade and scale our response, then that will also require adjustment to other responses that we're making. And I think in the area of the economic impact, what we're seeing here is we haven't seen this for a very, very long time. Certainly in living memory and that's for some who have lived a very long life. As I said, we haven't seen a pandemic on this scale globally of something of this nature going back to a 100 years ago, and so it was a very different world back then, and today that puts us in quite unprecedented response territory. But I'll allow Dr. Murphy to deal with the other matter.
DR. MURPHY: So, last Friday, AHPPC was strongly of the view that it was time to really up the ante on social distancing, and we have been since then talking about both internal and external gatherings. At the time on Friday, our recommendation to the National Cabinet was to implement the mass gatherings for 500 people externally and we were instructed to come back and look at internal gatherings in this meeting over the next two days, and that was what we did.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can you guarantee at this point that the Budget will be held on May 12?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we, that that is the current plan Shane, but if that changes then we'll make a decision on that. These are things that, I mean all of these issues are up for review right now. Right now, the key economic package that I'm focusing on with the Treasurer, and the Finance Ministers, and the other members of the ERC, we spent quite a lot of time together, some, most of us by telepresence, on working through those issues. And so that is that is the package that we're most focused on at the moment. And when it comes to the Budget, there are no plans to change that at the moment, but if that changes then we'll let people know.
JOURNALIST: Doctors have said that, have asked the Premier in WA to consider closing off WA, trying to limit the spread in our state, you know it’s very far away from everywhere else obviously. Does that have merit, in your opinion? And Mr. Morrison I understand this may have been brought up by Mark McGowan yesterday.
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry?
JOURNALIST: To close off WA, if that’s something that would be considered?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, first of all, that's not something the Western Australian Government has supported, and that's not a measure that is being recommended by the AHPPC, or any medical officers. The only issue of closing off particular areas, is a sensitive area. So you know places where essentially there's remote Indigenous communities and this already happening in parts of the Northern Territory. And that if anything in some of those communities, it's about keeping teachers and others in those communities, and ensuring that people don't leave and come back. So, you know, the issues that have to be addressed here are principally around health, and if there's a health reason that you'd want to isolate particular areas of the country, well the powers exist for that to happen now. And as I flagged in my opening statement, the Premiers and Chief Ministers are working together with the Commonwealth to identify what areas of the country need to be subject to such an exclusion zone. As I said, it's not being on the plane that's the issue, it's where you might be coming from and going to. Now take that as a general rule, next week the Parliament will resume. There'll be 60 less members in the House of Representatives and there'll be 22 less or thereabouts in the Senate. That means there will be less than 100 people in the main Chamber during the course of next week's sittings. And those pairs, which is basically 30 each, for both the Government and the Opposition - I thank the Opposition for their agreement to these arrangements, and I spoke to Anthony Albanese yesterday morning - that will mean that we'll be able to deal with the essential legislation, but those particularly relates to this event and both the economic and health measures that need to be passed. We will have a Question Time. The Opposition have asked for that. Happy to have a Question Time on the days that the Parliament is sitting, but the intention is, is to get through that legislation as quickly as possible. But the people we are saying not to come to Parliament next week, are particularly those for some of those more remote areas like the Northern Territory, North Queensland, parts of a remote, South Australia or Western Australia. We're encouraging those members, particularly those who may be more elderly members of the House or the Senate also not attend, and obviously those who are in self isolation or things like that. Brendan.
DR. MURPHY: It is impractical to fully isolate a large part of the country. This virus will spread, but as the Prime Minister said it is really important to isolate vulnerable people. So our focus is on trying to protect age care facilities, remote communities, anywhere where there are vulnerable people getting this virus coming in. To protect a large part of the community, isolation might delay entry of the virus or community transmission, but it will not prevent it.
PRIME MINISTER: Okay. Thank you very much.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
15 March 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon everyone, today was an historic gathering and I welcome Dr Kelly as well to be with us here today, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer.
An historic gathering of the first ever National Cabinet, bringing together the Premiers and Chief Ministers of our States and Territories concurrently, together with myself as a part of the national response, the coordinated national response to the spread of the coronavirus here in Australia. The many things that we have to do to continue to contain the spread of the virus here in Australia, it goes across both federal and state governments. And so ensuring that we're working incredibly closely together, that we are highly aligned both in the information we're receiving, it’s understanding the actions that we need to take is incredibly important as we implement the measures that will keep Australians safe into the future, and ensure that we come through this together.
It's always important to be extremely clear and up front with Australians, and that's certainly what we've sought to do as a government. I commend Dr Kelly and Dr Murphy, who have been doing an outstanding job in providing regular briefings to the Australian people about the issues in relation to the coronavirus and indeed their state and territory colleagues as well. They've been providing that information. As you know, the National Campaign, Public Information Campaign is out in newspapers and televisions and things today and social media has already been in place now for several days and we initiated. Several weeks ago, I announced that we were putting in place and activating the Australian health sector emergency response plan for the novel coronavirus COVID-19. We've commenced that plan with the initial phase and today the National Security Committee met before the National Cabinet, and we've moved now to the next phase, which is the target action stage. And there are major decisions that were taken today that reflect changing where we are heading. The facts and the science, the medical advice will continue to drive and support the decisions that we are making as a National Cabinet, as indeed as a federal Cabinet at the Commonwealth level. But the truth is that while many people will contract this virus that it’s clear, just as people get the flu each year, it is a more severe condition than the flu, but for the vast majority, as I said last week, for the majority, around 8 in 10 is our advice, it will be a mild illness and it will pass. However, for older Australians and those that are more vulnerable, particularly those in remote communities and those with pre-existing health conditions, it is a far more serious virus, and that is our concern. Our aim in all of this is to protect the most vulnerable. The most at risk. And I want to take you through again the decisions we're taking today and we have been taking.
We know that the virus cannot be absolutely stopped. Of course not. No one can do that. But we can slow the spread and we anticipate that will be what our task will be over about the next six months. No one can know for certain how long this will run. It could be shorter than that. It could be longer than that. But the measures that we're putting in place as a government is making those types of assumptions. But that is being updated on a daily basis.
Now what I have here, this is, there are a range of different scenarios that are pulled together by modellers around the country and none of them is a prediction, all of them just simply show the possible spread of the virus and what that could mean ultimately, when we work through things like ICU beds and ED presentations, and GP’s and so on. If you don't take measures that seek to contain the spread, and mitigate the spread, then you have scenarios that look like this. You have scenarios where you get a very severe effect on the spread of the virus. You may move through it much more quickly, but what happens is the virus reaches more people, and that puts maximum pressure on your health system. And that obviously has far more drastic implications for the most vulnerable in our community.
Now the extent of that peak depends on the rate of transmission you might see in some countries where there's a much higher rate of transmission by any one person then the peak would be higher. And the impact will be more severe, but in other scenarios like this, it is still significant, but it can be less in terms of how many people it reaches. The job of our plan, the job of working together is what we call a flattening the peak, and to get this result as opposed to that result, what we're looking to do is manage the flow so we suppress the demand on our health systems and ensure that we can continue to provide the care that Australians need.
In this sort of scenario, which is what we're working to achieve, this means with some changes to the way that ICU departments are managed and things of that nature. The advice we've had to date and the excellent work that's being done by the chief medical officer working with the states and territories, means that that can be dealt with. That doesn't mean there won't be busy times in our hospitals. It doesn't mean there won't be stresses on the system and there won't be days where patience will be required, and there won't be frustrations. It's not what it means. What it means is, if we continue to manage the spread of how the virus impacts in Australia, then we will be able to ensure that we can continue to provide the services and support, particularly to the most vulnerable Australians who are most at risk from the Coronavirus. So slowing the spread, you free up the beds. That's what happens when you get this right and we've seen other countries going down this path. Australia has also been going down this path and the way we've been managing everything from travel bans to the way we've had quarantine arrangements in place and self-isolation, these arrangements have been ensuring that the number of cases we’ve had in Australia up until now, and they are growing now, they have been kept well below what we've been seeing in many other countries.
We have a first class health system here in Australia, but no hospital system on its own can deal with this at its most extreme position, whether that's in the United Kingdom or anywhere else. And last night, I had the opportunity to talk to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and we were talking through these very types of scenarios and and it was important for us to be swapping notes on those issues as I was with Prime inister Arden yesterday, as we discussed the arrangements that she put in place yesterday in New Zealand. And indeed, we've been considering ourselves.
We're going to have to get used to some more changes in the way we live our lives over the next six months or so, there will be further intrusions. There will be further restrictions on people's movement and their behaviour. But the point is, you do it in a timely way. You do it in a managed way. You do it in a careful way. Just because something is not necessary today doesn't mean it won’t be necessary in 3 weeks from now or 3 months from now, just as something we're announcing today wasn't necessary 2 months ago.
Today, as the rate of community transmission starts to pick up, then new measures are put in place. And what you simply do as I’m explaining, as you put these new measures in, as you see these curves unfolding, then you can flatten the curve as you move forward. Some places, schools, workplaces, others will make various decisions along the way. And they can work off the best advice that they have available. Australians are smart people, they're commonsense people. Occasionally, in recent weeks and months, we've seen some examples, not of that behaviour, and that's regrettable. But for the vast majority of Australians, they’re commonsense people and we have to rely on their judgment as well. The government can't manage every hour of your life and tell you what to do every hour of the day, but we can't ask you to listen to the information and make your best judgments as you care for yourself and your family and those around you. We're relying on that Australian spirit of looking after each other, as we get through the difficult months that are ahead.
Today, I now want to move to the decisions that we have taken that were consistent with the plan that I’ve outlined to you. First of all, the National Security Committee met before the National Cabinet today and we resolved to do the following things; to help stay ahead of this curve we will impose a universal precautionary self-isolation requirement on all international arrivals to Australia, and that is effective from midnight tonight. Further, the Australian government will also ban cruise ships from foreign ports from arriving at Australian ports after an initial 30 days and that will go forward on a voluntary basis. The National Cabinet also endorsed the advice of the AHPPC today to further introduce social distancing measures. Before I moved to those, I just wanted to be clear about those travel restrictions that I've just announced. All people coming to Australia will be required, will be required I stress, to self isolate for 14 days. This is very important. What we've seen in recent, in the recent weeks is more countries having issues with the virus. And that means that the source of some of those transmissions are coming from more and more countries. Bans have been very effective to date. And what this measure will do is ensure that particularly Australians who are the majority of people coming to Australia now on these flights, when they come back to Australia, they're self-isolation for 14 days will do an effective job in flattening this curve as we go forward. Similarly, the arrangements for cruise ships will have the same effect in specific cases where we have Australians on cruise ships. Then there will be some bespoke arrangements that we put in place directly under the command of the Australian Border Force to ensure that the relevant protections are put in place. We're seeking to assist Australians to come home by ensuring that the flights continue to run, but when they come home, they'll be spending another 14 days in self isolation. And so I’ve covered also the issue of the cruises.
When it comes to social distancing I want to read to you the key sections of the advice that we've provided today to the National Cabinet. The AHPPC believes that social distancing measures are now required and will need to be introduced progressively to reduce disruption. This has the most benefit in delaying transmission. The AHPPC advises, as we flagged last Friday, that in general non-essential gatherings of more than 500 people should not occur. They also advise that at this early stage, not to prevent the operation of essential functions, including schools, universities and workplaces, or prevent the operation of public transport. However, the principle of social distancing should still apply in these settings. The AHPPC advises, is for static non-essential gatherings of persons that they should not go ahead, if there are more than 500 people you'll be in such a gathering. Now what do I mean by that? A static gathering is when you're sitting as you are here in this room for prolonged periods. That would occur at a stadium, it would occur in a theatre, that would occur in events such as those where people are together in close proximity for a sustained period of time. The advice is that those gatherings should not continue at that scale. The AHPPC advises and Dr Kelly may wish to touch on this, but that includes how you can mitigate those events, when they are in much larger rooms that obviously reduces the risk. If the gathering is outdoors in much more open gatherings, well, obviously that reduces the risk.
There are a lot of common sense principles which should be fairly obvious, I think. And the way people respond to those I think will be very helpful. So what the National Cabinet has agreed today is that we will adopt that recommendation and we will be preventing non-essential static gatherings of more than 500 people occurring across the states and territories. The states and territories will be moving to put in place the appropriate arrangements under their state based legislation to ensure that is supported. They’ll be doing the same thing in relation to the self-isolation requirements of Australians and others coming to this country by air to support the decision of the National Security Committee. Now that legislation is a matter for the states and territories. They'll be working on that promptly. But from here on in, from Monday, it's important that people act in accordance with that advice. Now, the obvious question is, how would that be enforced? Well, the states and territories wisely are not going to create event police or social distancing police or things of that nature. That would not be a wise use of police resources around the country. But the legislation impact would mean that if a person did fail to observe the 14 day self-isolation or if an event was organised, that would be contrary, once those provisions are put in place to state law, and there'd be nothing preventing I’m sure the states from ensuring that that was dated from Monday. But they will be specific details that the states will naturally work together on and ensure as much consistency as possible across their jurisdictions.
A few other things that were decided today, was about the priorities of what we must be addressing as a National Cabinet in the days and the weeks ahead, having addressed the issue of mass gatherings of 500 persons or more And let me be clear. That obviously doesn't mean, as I said on Friday, it doesn't mean train stations, it doesn't mean shopping centres. It doesn't even necessarily mean markets like Salamanca down in Hobart or things of that nature. These are static mass gatherings where people are together for long periods of time. For large events, very large events like the Royal Easter Show, which has already been here in New South Wales, cancelled, I mean that is an event which was cancelled, as the Premier reminded us this morning, to prevent people coming from all around the state into t Sydney and potentially being exposed to the virus through that type of an interaction and within the Easter Show you are together with large groups of people for long periods of time. So there will still need to be a lot of judgement exercised at a state and territory level in relation to specific events. That will include Anzac Day. We will be putting out specific guidelines working together with the RSL about those gatherings and particularly regarding the participation of more vulnerable Australians out of our more elderly veterans community. We had a long discussion about what the most important priority is now having made that decision about mass gatherings, the first of those is putting in arrangements and restrictions around the visiting of aged care facilities and the AHPPC is working on that today and they'll be providing us with further advice about how that will work. They are also doing work on remote communities, particularly that is going to affect the parts of South Australia, Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland especially. And so they're doing some important work there about the arrangements and protocols that would need to be in place. They are also doing work on further restrictions on gatherings in enclosed spaces. And the National Cabinet will meet on Tuesday night and consider that advice so I can stand here before you on Wednesday and provide you with further announcements in terms of the further decisions that are made in relation to aged care and gatherings involving enclosed areas.
We also had some wide discussions today about schools, and I can totally understand, as a parent of two daughters in school here in Sydney, that people are naturally anxious about the issue of schools. As the British chief medical officer observed just over the last couple of days, the issue of wide-scale closure of schools, it might be anti-intuitive, but the advice is this could actually be a very negative thing in terms of impacting on how these curves operate. That happens for two reasons. When you take children out of schools and put them back in the broader community, the ability for them to potentially engage with others increases that risk. And that's the understanding we have. There's also issues of herd immunity that relate to children as well. And Dr. Kelly, might want to touch on those issues. The other issue is the disruption impact that can have and put at great risk the availability of critical workers such as nurses and doctors and others who are essential in the community because they would have to remain home and look after their children. And so while it may seem counter-intuitive, there is very good reason why you would not be moving to broad scale closures of schools that could actually make the situation worse, not better. And so the states and territories are not moving in that direction. We will consider this again further on Friday at our meeting, after Tuesday night, to consider further advice on those issues. So for now, the continuing practice, which is especially being put in place in New South Wales and Victoria, where they've had the most experience of this, individual decisions are made on particular schools based on the cases that are presented there and the circumstances that exist in those communities. And that is done in conjunction with their state health officers to make the right decisions in those very specific locations.
So with all of those matters, I think I've touched on all the decisions that we've made today as a National Cabinet and as a meeting of the National Security Committee, and we will continue to meet regularly. There was a very strong spirit of unity and cooperation. And again, I want to thank the premiers and the chief ministers for their support in bringing together this national cabinet. It has now been established formally under the Commonwealth government's cabinet guidelines. And it has the status of a meeting of Cabinet that would exist at a federal level, as does the meetings of the AHPPC and the national coordinating mechanism, which is feeding up into those arrangements.
So some important changes today. There will be more changes in the future. We'll be seeking to forecast those for you as much as possible. Remember, when we're taking these decisions, we're taking them to allow time for people to adopt them. These are not absolute measures that if they are introduced today then, if I were introduced the day before, that Australia was put at risk that's not the case. What we're doing is implementing the measures well in advance of where they might have otherwise been done. What we've seen overseas with some of the restrictions that you've seen in many of those other countries, they were introduced when the number of cases and the amount of spread in their communities was far more advanced than where we are in Australia today. And so what we're introducing today means we're getting well ahead of where those other countries have been when they've had far greater numbers of cases. So we'll continue to stay ahead of this. We'll continue to keep our heads when it comes to this. And we will continue to take the medical advice which will guide what is first and foremost a health crisis in this country.
One last point I should have made, is the states will also be considering moving their movement to public health emergency status under their various state arrangements. in some places like Queensland they've already moved to that some time ago. Now, the other states are now working over the next few days to make their own decisions on that. That is entirely a matter for those states and territories. And they'd be seeking to align how they do that over the next few days. And I think that's a productive thing they can do and ensure we’re getting on a consistent footing. But with that, I'm gonna hand over to Dr. Kelly.
DR. PAUL KELLY, DEPUTY CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thank you, Prime Minister. So that's a lot of information there. I won’t give too much more, just to reiterate the Prime Minister's statement that what we are doing and as we've always been doing throughout this, as we've learnt more about the virus, how it spreads, the effect it has on people's health, and particularly the issues that are pertinent to Australia as distinct from other countries in the world. This is a proportionate response. And so what we are doing is the proportionate response, staged and informed by the information as it progresses. So things are changing on a daily basis. And as the Prime Minister has said, that doesn't mean that it was wrong yesterday. It was right for yesterday, today is a new day. And the next day will be another new day. We'll have more information and we'll be able to go forward. The Prime Minister has mentioned the modelling that is being done. It is continuing to be redefined and and be more accurate as it goes forward. But it is not, it's not the definite future it is to guide the decisions that are being made, that the graph that we see on the right hand side, your left, is the graph we see when there is a new virus entering our community where no one has immunity against that virus. That is the issue with this coronavirus. It's not like flu. It's not like any other viruses and diseases where we have vaccination. And that important issue of herd immunity that we talk about a lot in vaccination is exactly the challenge that we have at the moment. There is no herd immunity. Everyone is susceptible to this virus in Australia. And so that's why these unusual and proportionate measures that we are taking now to prevent the worst case scenario, which is that very high peak, is really important. And as we go through, there will be other measures that may need to be introduced depending on how things work out in the coming weeks or months.
What is different about Australia, of course, is that we're not yet in winter. All of the places where we're seeing this virus really escalate very quickly now through other parts of the world, are in the northern hemisphere. They’re in the in the in the later part of the winter months, they have flu seasons as well. And all of the environmental elements that allow viruses to spread quickly are actually there in North America, in China, in other parts of northern Asia and across to Europe. We've seen exactly what has happened there, and in particular, not taking enough action, probably early enough in most of those countries. And we can see the effects on the healthcare system and the unfortunate death rates that we're seeing around the world. In Australia, we now have almost 250 cases. That doesn't sound like a lot. But if you think back just a week, that's quite a few more than we had last week. Next week we'll have more. At the moment it’s mostly in relation to travel. And so those new restrictions and new measures that have been put at the border in terms of 14 days quarantine for everyone coming back from overseas, from whatever country is the next proportionate step to take to decrease those travel related illnesses. But we are also starting to see, particularly here in Sydney, but also in other other cities and into our regional areas, some human to human transmission in Australia, not necessarily related to travel. That will be the next step, more proportionate measures will need to be taken as that develops. So these are difficult times and the disruption to society is very much felt by us in the health side of government. But we are continuing to give our measured advice to government and we're very happy that that's being listened to and put it into account with the other measures in terms of social, economic and other considerations. So Prime Minister I might leave it there.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Dr. Kelly. And just on social distancing also, that means that the social distancing practices that we're encouraging are being expanded. So there's no more handshakes. That is a new move we've moved to, and that's something that I'll be practicing, my Cabinet members, that you expect to see leaders and others now practicing. This was not something that was necessarily a key requirement weeks ago, but it's just another step up now. It's a precautionary step. And we'll be practising that. The Cabinet itself will now be meeting more regularly by video, by video conferencing, rather than all Cabinet members being in one place that will apply to the national security committee, and National Cabinet, as it did today, met through video conferencing, similarly leaders and other politicians you can expect to see not travelling as much as they were before. Not engaging as many public events. I’ve cancelled a number of events for next week. That is just simply to try and manage the normal process- as you'd expect, too, as we move into this next phase which we’ve agreed to do today. I'll be working particularly with the Speaker and the President of the Senate to look at the, they've already been working on that for some time, actually, about the arrangements we’ll put in place, obviously consulting with the Leader of the opposition on those issues. We have important work to do when Parliament resumes on Monday week. We can focus on that and get that done in very practical arrangements to achieve that. Questions?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how long will this travel, new travel arrangement last this ban?
PRIME MINISTER: It's indefinite. It's reviewed every week.
JOURNALIST: Explain to us how does it work? How do people self isolate? They come off, out of the airport. They get in a taxi they stay in a hotel room for two weeks? And an Australian goes home and stays in their bedroom for 2 weeks?
PRIME MINISTER: That's it. And Australian Border Force will be moving over the course of this weekend to ensure that people statutorily declare that if they're entering the country, that they understand that that is the requirement. What will happen, Chris, and this is what we've seen in other countries that have done this, is that the visitor traffic will dry up very, very, very quickly. And it's important that the flights keep going because they bring Australians home. I should also note that Pacific Islanders who are on their way home, to their home country, will be allowed to transit through Australia. They won't be allowed to remain in Australia, they're allowed to travel. Otherwise, they have no way of getting home and that's us being part of the Pacific family and helping them. New Zealand put exactly the same set of arrangements in place for Pacific Islanders coming home by New Zealand. The arrangements I’ve announced today are those that were put in place by New Zealand yesterday, and they in fact will come into effect at the same time.
JOURNALIST: Will there be a central database Prime Minister, that state authorities can access so they know who's been overseas. And if they should be self isolating, I just don't understand how it's going to be policed?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, again, I mean, this has been in place now for many months, for over a month now in terms of travellers coming from China and other places. And the truth is, the self-isolation has worked out in practice quite well because Australians have followed the instructions. And up until now, that has been a voluntary arrangement. There has been no potential sanction that might apply against a person for not following that requirement. Once state authorities are in a position to give that its legal enforcement then that will be a change. I mean, so if your mate has been Bali and they come back and they turn up at work, and they're sitting next to you, well, they'll be committing an offence. And so I think it's up to all of us to ensure that, we are ensuring this is put in place.
I mean, Australians will exercise common sense. They have been to date, and this provides the backstop of a legal enforcement but the the idea that there'd be significant resources dedicated to that task would not be practical, because remember, when you get an overwhelming number of people following that advice, then you're getting the effect which you want, which is that.
JOURNALIST: What's the penalty for committing the offence of not self-isolating?
PRIME MINISTER: That will be a matter for the states and territories under their own public health [inaudible].
JOURNALIST: [inaudible] What would would look like though? Would that mean fines or is it jail time?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes. Again, it's a matter for state authorities as to what penalties they place on that. The National Cabinet ensures that we have some coordination, but ultimately states and territories will make their own decisions.
JOURNALIST: Sorry, will there be any screening at borders of temperatures or anything like that? Or just all be self-isolation?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes. No no there will be. And there has been already. And for those for those, for those persons who come back and present with symptoms, they will be directed through the Australian Border Force to be given protective equipment. This group that we're now applying this requirement to is low risk. And we also do think, and the health advice is, is this that to provide the PPE equipment to everyone who comes through our airports would be an unnecessary depletion of that resource. We know those resources from our stockpile for health workers, those working in aged care facilities and so on. And so they will be able to return home. They are at a low risk, is the assessment. But for those who may be presenting with some concern or symptoms then they'll be provided with that equipment at the airports, as we already are for those who are coming from Iran or those who are coming from China, from South Korea and Italy.
JOURNALIST: What measures will the government be taking to prevent the spread by public transport?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, already the state governments have been doing a fair bit of that. And that is a matter that I know will be sort of worked on through the national coordinator messages which feeds up to the National Cabinet about what experience and best practice can be shared. The National Cabinet, yes, it's making decisions on things like I've talked about today to support with legislation, self-isolation arrangements and things of that nature. But the other thing that the National Cabinet is doing is sharing this practice information about how state governments are just practically dealing with; whether it's transport or indeed the very helpful discussion we had with both the New South Wales and the Victorian Premier sharing their experience about how they're dealing with schools. The Northern Territory Chief Minister, Michael Gunner, has some very specific issues that he has to deal with about access of essential services and workers going into remote communities in the Northern Territory. And he's already working with us. And so the Northern Territory and the arrangements that are there will become the model for what is done in remote indigenous communities in many other states and territories. So this is a highly collaborative process and we're all learning from each other and all supporting each other.
JOURNALIST: How will social distancing be instructed to schools and kids in schools. Will schools be given specific advice to tell their kids or will it be up to schools. How this health, social distancing, as you mentioned, is going to work?
PRIME MINISTER: The national information campaign is already running with information that will be available to all Australians, but it's pretty straightforward. A metre and a half. We're about a metre and a half away. Ensuring that, you know, you refrain from that sort of physical contact, which might be the handshake or even something a bit more intimate unless you’re with your close family and friends. It's all common sense. You know, we don't need to tell Australians how to get out of bed in the morning and how to put their shoes and socks on and things like that. Australians understand. And I'm not making light of this, I'm not. These are important, normal, common-sense social interaction measures that people can take. And they are very intuitive. And it's all about reducing the amount of direct physical contact that you have with others. That's a clear principle, which I think Australians can understand. And I would expect teachers, or those at preschool, or in churches or wherever. I know I got a message from my church during the course of the week after Friday and they were putting measures in place and good for the. School clubs and others are doing the same thing. It's just Australians getting together, working out how they're going to adjust. See, I really want Australians to get on with their lives as commonly as possible. But there will be disruptions and they will adjust. Australians, of course, can adjust. But what I hope won't happen, and I'm sure it won’t, is that we won't lose our sense of Australian-ness in all of this, we will support each other. If you've got someone who's in self isolation particularly, there might be an elderly person who might live in your apartment or down the road, and they would be wisely exercising even greater precautions about their social interactions. So make them a casserole and leave it on the door or things like this. I think just Australia's helping each other out over the next few months. You know in the shopping centre aisle, you know, make sure someone who might be a bit more vulnerable than you can get what they're looking to get as well and I think just being good to each other is the right thing to do.
JOURNALIST: PM on the new travel arrangements, have you had a chat to, I know you said you spoke to Boris Johnson last night, but have you spoken to any other world leaders and specifically the White House? Because we're seeing a lot of cases coming from the US?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah well it’s our major source now coming out of the United States. And yes, we have had a lot of interaction with the United States and we will continue to, the Foreign Minister was only there this week. She returned yesterday. And so we've had a lot of interaction with the United States with the UK. The Five Eyes groups, and New Zealand I speak to the Prime Minister almost every other day. And one of the things I should mention that I spoke to Prime Minister Johnson about is when it comes to the G20, I'm also aware that Prime Minister Modi is keen to organise a link up between all the G20 leaders. I think that's, I think that's a commendable initiative. Australia obviously supports that. I've communicated that. That's a matter for the Saudi government who’s the President of the G20 this year. But the Prime Minister and I agreed last night that an even more urgent meeting that could be needed would be a further meeting of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors. This is a health crisis, but it has very serious economic impacts. Those economic impacts have been clearly affecting financial markets. To date, that has been managed, but we've seen some highly volatile and quite disruptive activity on our financial markets. We want to be assured through our cooperation, as occurred through the GFC amongst that very G20 group, that we can make sure that there is no further damage or undermining of financial markets and the Central Bank Governors and Finance Ministers are the best place to do that. Truth is that they only had a meeting a few weeks ago and at that meeting, things were at a very different stage as they are today. And I think that demonstrates I mean, there's a lot of wisdom in hindsight at the moment. But what we have to realise is this has been a very fast moving event. And so far, the decisions we've taken has put us in a good position. But you've got to stay in that position by constantly making additional decisions. And that's what the National Cabinet was set up to do.
JOURNALIST: When it comes to shopping and gathering supplies, what's the advice there? Because Victoria's Chief Medical Officer said 14 days of supplies are required. The federal chief medical officer said this morning, two to three days. What is the official advice?
PRIME MINISTER: I refer you, I understand, to the comments of Premier Andrews, made this morning that the medical officer in Victoria, I understand, has been misrepresented in what he said about that. And what you've heard from Dr. Murphy this morning is consistent with what the view is around the states and territories. But I'd refer you to, I understand Premier Andrews brought this to my attention today. What was said has been misrepresented about that 14 day arrangement. And I mean, people should exercise common-sense. See, the thing is, the shops are going to remain open. You know, the electricity companies will still be selling the power. The phones are still going to work. The lights are going to continue to come on. The schools will continue to come together. The trains will continue to run. The airports will continue to function. This is not a cyclone or a physical event like that that shuts down parts of our cities in terms of a physical sense. It is something quite different. This is a biological virus that is affecting human to human transmission. And so I think we just need to get that into some sort of perspective in terms of how we moderate our response.
JOURNALIST: The NRL, though, says that it is actually not in that category that is in danger of being closed down. And they're now asking for potentially hundreds of million in support from your your package. But is that something you'd entertain?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, we’ll look at all of all of those issues. I understand that already today, I think over half a million they’ve put into the clubs, and there’ll obviously be a lot of disruption, whether it's the NRL or the AFL or any of the large sporting competitions, but equally in the cultural community as well. They'll be there'll be events that won't be able to go ahead, there’ll be cultural events that won’t be able to go ahead. And it's important that what we're saying on the banning of gatherings of more than 500 persons, that is going to be supported by state legislation. So it's it's not an advisory. It's not, there's no discretion. There'll be requirements. And that has obvious implications for things like insurances, things of that nature. But we'll deal with those issues one after the other. Right now, though my real focus is on the further mitigations we have to put in place. The most important, having made this decision about further isolation of people coming to Australia. That does ensure that we have the strongest borders anywhere in the world when it comes to these sorts of issues. Australia has always been well known for its border protection on all matters and it’s certainly the case when it comes to managing this issue. But in addition to that, it's also about ensuring that as a government, we keep taking decisions which keep us ahead of the curve.
JOURNALIST: What happens to, people who are going on domestic life, reconsidering that travel is a domestic flight, one of these static locations that you're talking about?
PRIME MINISTER: That's not our advice. Dr Kelly you might want to talk about flights?
DR. KELLY: Yes. So that wouldn't be the advice at the moment, but as I said before, we'd be looking at all measures as they go forward. There are both, domestic flights and generally short although there are some further destinations which are longer. But at the moment, there is no advice about restricting domestic travel.
JOURNALIST: When you have a look at those graphs, and the feeling in the community at the moment is, is one of anxiety, should Australians be afraid?
PRIME MINISTER: Australians should be careful. Australians should be listening to the advice that is provided, Australians should be exercising their common sense. But the thing I'm counting on more than anything else to achieve that outcome rather than that outcome, is that Australians be Australian. Now Australians can deal with this, we can deal with some change to our daily lives. We can deal with the surprises that may come as we get further information. We can deal with making common sense judgments every day. We can deal with looking after each other. We can deal with having to show a bit of patience from time to time. And the odd frustration or disappointment Australians can deal with all of that. So long as Australians keep being Australian we'll get through this together.
Thank you all very much. Ta.
Press Conference - Parramatta, NSW
13 March 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Welcome everybody. Earlier today the Council of Australian Governments met amongst first ministers. But the events of the day, I think, has produced a series of considerations by premiers, chief ministers and myself, which is leading to a number of announcements we'd like to make to you this afternoon.
Firstly, I'd note that the communique for COAG has been agreed and that's been circulated. We've dealt with a number of important issues today. Obviously the most significant of those was the briefings we took earlier today on the issue of the national response to the coronavirus, considering both the significant health issues that are associated with that response, as well as the the economic issues, and you'll be familiar with the announcements that have been made on those matters.
We were joined, of course, by the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Brendan Murphy, but as well, the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Dr. Phil Lowe. And in addition to that, Dr. Steven Kennedy, the head of Treasury, as we worked through the many issues that were associated with the national response to the coronavirus. Paul Grigson from the Department of Home Affairs also joined us this morning. The Department of Home Affairs has been bringing together the national coordinating mechanism, which is the process through which all state and territory governments are working together with the Commonwealth to coordinate our response to the many issues that are related to the management of the coronavirus and its impact in Australia.
In the course of today, a number of things became very clear based on the advice that we received from the the Australian Health Protection Principals Committee, which is the health officers, chief medical officers of each of the states and territories, and of course, the Chief Medical Officer from the Commonwealth. There was growing evidence, as we were receiving, particularly overnight and over the course of today, of greater community transmission of the coronavirus throughout Australia. There has also been, as a result of what has occurred in the United States and across Europe, the disruption of some international supply chain, matters that deal with some of the medical equipment, which we now will be addressing over the course of the next few days. These issues are not constrained to Australia. They are impacting around the world. And they are matters that now need to be addressed here in Australia like they are in many other countries.
As a result of the advice which was pulled together today by the HPPC, what we have resolved to do is to form a national cabinet to deal with the national response to the coronavirus. The national cabinets will be made up of the premiers, chief Ministers and myself. We will be meeting on a weekly basis to ensure that we get coordinated response across the country to the many issues that relate to the management of the coronavirus. First and foremost, that is about the health and wellbeing of Australians and managing the health response. In relation to the key goal of that group, it is really to ensure that at first we seek to contain, but then we seek to manage how the coronavirus impacts across Australia.
There are many measures that can be taken, and the Commonwealth government, together with the states, have already been taking, to both contain and slow the transmission of the virus in Australia. Now, this is incredibly important because as we slow it, as we manage it, that ensures that the national health system, health systems run by states and territories will be able to accommodate the increasing demands that we'd expect to see as a result of the coronavirus spread throughout Australia. That goes to issues about how you managing ICUs, how you're managing emergency departments, how you're managing it in terms of GP presentations and the like. The goal here is very straightforward, and that's why we've been going about it in a very careful way and there's been an abundance of caution in our approach. It is simply to slow the rate of transmission of the coronavirus within Australia. And that is done through the containment mechanisms that have already been put in place, whether in New South Wales, Victoria or anywhere else.
The containment processes of self isolation, identifying and tracing of contacts, all of these measures worked to successfully slow the rate of transmission of this virus. And that's why Australia right now is in a position where we have low rates of this virus and the number of cases that have presented. But we've always known that the number of cases will rise. And as we continue to work together to slow the rate of transmission, then that means we will get through this. Australians will get through this and we'll be able to get through this with the support of a health system, a world class health system which will seek to minimise the level of disruption that would be seen by the Australian population.
Now in relation to that in particular and based on the advice we've received today about the increasing number of cases and the evidence of community transmission, it has been recommended to us that we move to a position by Monday where we will be advising against organised, non-essential gatherings of persons of 500 people or greater from Monday. Now, that, of course, doesn't include schools. It doesn't include university lectures. It doesn't mean people getting on public transport or going to airports or or things of that nature. These events that we're seeking to advise against and restrict is for non-essential, organised gatherings of persons of 500 or more. Now, there will be many issues to work through between now and Monday as we get the precise advice about the implementation of that advice to Australians around the country. And that is what the HPPC will be working on, the national cabinet, which will be providing and managing this response now on a weekly basis. We will be meeting again on Sunday to consider that further advice on the implementation of those arrangements, and we'll provide further advice at that point once those recommendations have been considered.
Now, as we go forward from this point, it has been timely for us to meet today, because clearly the coronavirus requires responses from all governments at all levels. And it is important that we act together. And I want to thank the premiers and chief ministers today for their strong sense of unity, cooperation and purpose that has been present all the way through, as we've seen over what has been a very difficult summer, where we've been working together on many other issues and that has now transferred into the issue of the coronavirus.
And so the members of that cabinet is who you see before you here today and we are going to be working very closely together to ensure there's a consistency of response, that there's a coordination of response. And we simply say to the Australian people that we will manage this carefully in your interests. What we're announcing today is just another step. It's precautionary. It's getting ahead of this to ensure that we can minimise the impacts on your health and we can ensure with confidence the ability for people to be accessing the health services that they and their families will need.
The national coordinating mechanism, which I referred to before, will be feeding up to the national cabinet every week, issues that can then be coordinated between states and territories. It will deal with issues such as schools and universities and all of these types of things that prisons which we even discussed today, practical issues about the management of the national response to the coronavirus. Each and every state and territory that is represented here is completely sovereign and autonomous in the decisions that they make. But what we've agreed to do together is to work together and be unified and to be as consistent and coordinated as possible in our national response. That means from time to time sharing resources, it means if there is a need to assist each other with various needs, then this group will work closely together to achieve that end.
The principal advising body to this national cabinet will be the Australian Health Protection Principals Committee, which are those medical officers. There will be many others who will be advising through to the group on the other matters that I've referred to. But that medical advice, the best medical advice, will be the basis for the protocols and the guidelines and the decisions that will be made by premiers, chief ministers and of course, myself as prime minister together with our respective cabinets.
So with those matters, I'm going to ask Brendan Murphy to speak to this arrangement today and provide some further explanation. I also want to say that we've also decided today through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade that we now advise all Australians to reconsider your need to travel overseas at this time, regardless of your destination, age or health. If your travel is not essential, consider carefully whether now is the right time. So we're effectively putting in place what is called a Level 3 Travel Advice for travel of Australians overseas. This is done to protect their health and to limit their exposure, given we have so many countries now that are affected by the coronavirus. Only essential travel should be considered if you're going overseas from this point forward. And we would encourage Australians to heed that advice. And if you need further information, then you can look to the SmartTraveller website where you will find further information on those issues. With that, I'll pass you over to Professor Brendan Murphy. Thank you, Brendan.
DR BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thanks, Prime Minister. So Australia has always remained ahead of the curve in this coronavirus outbreak. We certainly introduced very aggressive measures early on in the exported cases from China and have been very effectively responding to the second wave of imported cases.
But as the Prime Minister has said, there is now early evidence of community transmissions, very small cases, not widespread. We're still not saying that there is a significant risk at all to the Australian community. But all the international evidence suggests that if you have some community transmission, the way in which it can be spread more rapidly is in very large events. You might only have one or two people at a very large event who might be carrying the virus, and the chances of that being spread at those large events accelerates the rate of progression of this virus. So this is a precautionary measure on the basis of the numbers slowly increasing over the course of the last week in Australia. We have seen increases in numbers every day and we feel that they will be at such a point over coming weeks that it's time to take precautionary advance measures to limit those large events where the incidence of transmission can be supported. We're not suggesting that people should interrupt their normal daily work. It's just avoiding those particular circumstances where transmission can be accelerated.
This is the unanimous advice of all of the chief health officers. We understand that there will be a range of implications of that advice. But as the Prime Minister said, it's advisory and we are suggesting this at the moment. We'll work through the implications of that over the coming days and present them to ministers. The risk to the Australian community in general still remains low. Most of our cases still are imported, but we know that some of those imported cases have led to some communities spread. We want to be as far ahead of the game as any country and control the spread of this virus and make sure that we keep its outbreaks in Australia to as limited as possible. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. Well, we’re happy to take some questions either to myself or any of my colleagues here. The normal process of a COAG press conference I think we’ll suspend with today, but I commend to you the communique, because there were very many important agreements today One of which I should particularly note is that the national partnership agreement on the COVID-19 health response was agreed today as was a matter in relation of emergency management and waste management, but I’ll refer to those documents to you for later reference.
JOURNALIST: Professor Murphy, why 500? And also would people travelling through a large train station come in contact with a range of different people? Why is that any different to going to a footy game?
DR. MURPHY: Generally speaking, we're talking about a static gathering where people together for a period of perhaps up to two hours is generally where you have a high risk of exposure. Casual exposure, walking through a train station or an airport is much, much lower risk. So we're talking about those constant periods of contact. 500 - the epidemic modellers around the world have suggested that at the state that we are, and other countries are, that is a reasonable number. There is some arbitrariness about it, but other countries around the world have chosen that number. It's based on the best available scientific modelling.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, is there a reason why this ban is not, why the recommendation is not for, gatherings over 500 people was just a recommendation why its not compulsory?
PRIME MINISTER: Because this is a scalable response. What we're doing here is taking an abundance of caution approach as we have all the way through. What we're seeking to do is lower the level of overall risk and at the same time ensure that we minimise any broader disruption that is not necessary at this stage to engage in. So what that means is this is why we've said non-essential organised gatherings of 500 or more people. Now there are a range of those and you'll be very familiar with what they are and those not proceeding at that point, and that's an advisory, will reduce that risk. In the same way introducing travel bans, reduce risk. It doesn't eliminate all risk. This is not an absolute measure. We are still in the early phases of this and community transmission is still at a very local level. And as you've just heard from the Chief Medical Officer, that remains the case today. This is a matter of state and territory governments, together with the Commonwealth, exercising an abundance of caution in the interests of Australians. It's also why we have agreed today to join together in a national cabinet. A national cabinet for an emergency response to these issues that enables us to manage this on a day to day, week to week basis. And where further measures need to be considered and where further advice comes forward than we can do that on this basis and we can take the decisions that are necessary in Australia's national interest, and particularly to protect the health and wellbeing of Australians.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, why does this recommendation come in on Monday and will you still go to the footy?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I do still plan to go to the football on Saturday as I said, because this is an arrangement we're putting in place for next week as a precaution. This is an early stage action that we're undertaking to make sure we get ahead of this. And I would be going along on Saturday because I had previously planned to. And these are measures we're putting in from next week. And there'll be further measures that will come in overtime, I would expect. I said last night that there will be many challenges when I addressed the nation, and there will be. And we’ll respond to those challenges. And we together, as a cabinet of leaders from around the country, will be taking those decisions together to assist and support each other in managing the response. And so that's why I think there is every reason for calm. There is every reason for people to go about their usual business. And the national cabinet working together with each of the constituent governments, their cabinets will continue to do all of their jobs. I know mine will. I know all of my colleagues’ will as well. But it's important that we see this as just a further common sense precaution to ensure we can manage the transmission of this virus in the most effective way possible.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you’re willingly going to a game this weekend, which from Monday a mass gathering which you recommend people don’t attend and they are not held. How is that responsible?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think you misunderstand the point of what we're doing on Monday. These are stepped responses. We are not of any great concern right now in terms of where those gatherings might be today. But in the weeks ahead, in the weeks ahead, this will change. This is a matter of scaling our response. The fact that I would still be going on Saturday speaks not just to my passion for my beloved Sharks. It might be the last game I get to go to for a long time. And that's fine. In the future, I suspect we might be watching them on television, and that's okay as well. My point is there is, there is absolute reason for calm. There is absolute reason for proportionally responding to the challenges that we have here. I'm very comfortable about it. My colleagues are very comfortable about it. Governments will take decisions, sports bodies, other organisations, will take sensible decisions. But right now, there is not that great risk. There is not that immediate threat. But these are things that will be scaled up in the weeks ahead.
JOURNALIST: Professor Murphy, was Your advice to Government that there should be this two-tiered approach, things that are essential to go ahead above 500 and then non essential [inaudible]. And Prime Minister, will Parliament need to change? Up to 6,000 people in a sitting week coming up. Is there a concern that there could be a spread there?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I would consider Parliament essential. And it certainly will be when Parliament resumes at the federal level, because we'll be passing the many measures that relate to the economic stimulus package as well as the health response that we've articulated this week. I think there will be issues to work through between now and then regarding the public galleries and things of that nature - that's just common sense planning - and that will be done as I imagine many venues will do the same thing. And over the course of the next couple of days, the AHPPC will be providing further revised that so we can provide further guidelines and instructions to the community about how this will be worked out on the ground. But Parliament's essential. Going to school’s essential. Going to work’s essential. Going, and going and getting about your normal business, taking your kids to preschool, all of these things will continue. Going to university lectures. This step we're taking today, we're flagging for Monday, is just about a scalable, precautionary response. Brendan, did you want to -
DR. MURPHY: Yeah, and the recommendation was very much non-essential. This is a proportionate, early response to get ahead of the curve. And so that the AHPPC was strongly of the view that it should be non-essential.
JOURNALIST: what is the threshold though? You see things like schools closing down in lockdown, like we have seen in Italy. When is the time when that would need to be done?
DR. MURPHY: Well, that sort of measure would be considered when there's much more widespread community transmission.
PRIME MINISTER: And that type of the decision would be made by the states and territories. But helpfully, that decision, because of their strong determination and commitment and unified support today, would enable them to make that decision based on a consistent approach that you can see right across the country.
JOURNALIST: Gladys Berejiklian, if going to school is essential, what does that mean for the schools that in your state that, in your state Daniel Andrews as well, that have shut down because people have tested positive. Will schools now remain open or should all schools be shut?
THE HON. GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN MP, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES: Certainly today’s announcement or decision from Monday doesn't change at all. What's been occurring in New South Wales, and I daresay in other states, if someone, if a student is identified as having the virus, we’ll go into the normal process we've been adopting, which is shutting down the school until we've contained, contacted all the close contacts of that person and reopen the school when we're ready to do so. That doesn't change. But what is really critical is, is school is essential. It's safe to go to school. And when it's not, we'll shut down that particular school and work with the school community to reopen at the appropriate time. And the other important thing is I do want to commend our authorities that the feedback we've had from parents and the school community is about the communication is critical. It's really important during this process to make sure that if there is an identified case, that's dealt with appropriately. But today's decision from Monday doesn't impact at all our existing policy. In fact, it puts all of us on alert to make sure that we continue to be strident and vigilant. We're managing the spread appropriately. We want to reduce it further. And that's why today's announcement is so important.
JOURNALIST: So you’re not considering any further mandatory shutdowns of schools, particularly in some of those hot spot areas, like North, North West?
PREMIER BEREJIKLIAN: No. There's no reason for us to do that. But I do want to stress this is an evolving situation. If we feel that anybody's health is compromised, if we feel there's a great risk to the community, we'll take those decisions. What we decide today may be different from next week and the week after. We have to make very clear that it's an evolving situation. But at this stage, there's no reason for us to change the existing policy we've been adopting in New South Wales. But again, that's really advice we'll take from the health experts. And to this point, we'll continue to maintain that policy.
PRIME MINISTER: We've got a question over here.
JOURNALIST: In hot spots, should people be avoiding busy shopping centres?
PRIME MINISTER: Well again, people can go about their normal, essential business that they do each day. That's the advice we're receiving from the AHPPC. We will continue to maintain a very pragmatic, but cautious approach to manage what is occurring with the virus in Australia. You take incremental steps. You take those based on the best medical advice and the best way, I said last night, everyone has a role to play in this. And one of those roles is to ensure that people just remain calm about these things. Take the advice that has been provided about when it's being put in place and to work cooperatively with that, to be patient, to understand that we understand that this would mean there will be some events scheduled into the future which will be disrupted and that will cause some inconvenience. And we understand that. But this gives people the time to respond to this, to plan for it, to organise for it. That's why it's not a snap decision that all comes into effect on one afternoon. It's not that nature of a health sensitivity. It's not that nature of a position that has been put in place that requires immediate effect. It's about a scaled-up effect that can enable an easily administerable transition.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what advice has Treasury provided about the impact that this will have on the economy? Just yesterday you announced $17.6 billion worth of stimulus. Is that now enough?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we had always anticipated, well yes, we believe that the, what we've put in place just this week was designed to deal with these types of impacts. We've always known that the economic impact of this health crisis is going to be significant. And that's why the measures that we've put in place, that we've announced this week are important. But as we discussed today, and indeed and Dan might want to speak to this, but the the Governor of the Reserve Bank made it very clear this morning that the levers of fiscal policy need to do their job here, and that the automatic stabilisers that kick in to your Budget - which is the welfare spend and these sorts of things, which will put great pressure on all of our budgets, they should be allowed to do that job. And the additional investment that needs to be made by governments at the moment to support the economy, to support jobs, to keep businesses in business, to see us through this period, that is all very important. And there was a very clear and resounding advice that came both from Dr. Lowe this morning and Dr. Kennedy, that that's what our Budgets need to do at the moment. We need to put our Budgets to work to keep people in work. But Dan you might want comment -
THE HON. DANIEL ANDREWS MP, PREMIER OF VICTORIA: Yeah, I think the Prime Minister summarises very well, the presentation that we got from senior officials, at both the Governor of the Reserve Bank and the head of Treasury level, all of us have to keep on investing in roads and bridges and hospitals and schools and all the kind of stuff that we do each and every day. That's how we will try and stabilise what will be a really big shock to the Australian economy, to the global economy. That's why the stimulus package announced yesterday was such good news. That's why the health partnership that we've been able to agree to today. All too often we squabble about health, not at this COAG. We are all united. We are all absolutely determined to work together to make sure that we keep people well, that we have less incidence of this virus and this disease than would otherwise be the case, and therefore have less people die. That's what's driving this unity. And I think it's a credit to this forum that we're able to do that.
PRIME MINISTER: Hang on, we've got another question down here. We’re just sharing them around.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you’ve touched on this potentially being your last NRL game, does that mean that they will be behind closed doors after this weekend?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm sure that Todd Greenberg, and others from the AFL, I'm sure they've been considering various scenarios that they would have to work through as to how their competitions would run under this type of an arrangement. And I'll leave those decisions to them as to how they put those in place. You know, we run many things, standing, sitting at this table at the moment, but the NRL and the AFL aren't one of them. And we'll leave them to make their decisions about how they manage those issues. But we'll set the ground rules about how these events can be run in the future. And I have no doubt that there'll be strong cooperation from all of the codes as to how they manage it.
JOURNALIST: What about churches? There are some churches that have a lot of people, well over 500 every Sunday, are they essential or non-essential?
PRIME MINISTER: I know. Well, again, that is an organised gathering. And while I always consider it essential for me to go along, I think any of those social gatherings that are organised, that don't involve your daily work, or your education, or things of that nature, then obviously I think church organisations and church groups are going to have to make arrangements as well, in relation to how large their gatherings are. Now, I know because I go to one of those churches where there are a lot of people that go along. I suspect they'll do something common sense, like hold multiple services at different periods of time, over the course of a weekend, so all of their parishioners can come along. But having more than a particular amount in one place at one time, I would have no doubt that they would honour the advice that is being given to them about how many people should get together in one place on an organised basis, as Brendan says, for several hours.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister does that mean that you won’t go to your normal church service?
PRIME MINISTER: No. I have no doubt that the church services that I go to regularly will be able to comply with the instruction that will be given, and I am pretty sure that our pastors would put some pretty common sense arrangements in place.
JOURNALIST: Why Monday? And Brendan is that the day that you advised?
DR. MURPHY: It was the advice of this, as we said before, we are getting ahead of the curve. We think that by that time we'll start to see again a few more cases of community transmission. We’ve, there's no immediacy about this, but we need to get ahead of the curve. And so the recommendation was Monday, and the Premiers and the Prime Minister agreed with that. It wouldn't have mattered if they'd made a decision one or two days either side. It was felt that that was a reasonable time to progress.
JOURNALIST: Has the advice been passed on to the NRL and the AFL and other codes yet?
PRIME MINISTER: We've just literally made these decisions in the space of the last hour. And so the first people that we've communicated that to is directly to the Australian people.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what are the factors that might lead to this ban coming to an end? Or the recommendation coming to an end?
PRIME MINISTER: Medical advice. I mean, this is how we're making these decisions. We're making decisions on the basis of the best expert advice and that it will, certainly the case when it comes to the medical issues and the health issues we have to consider. But as the National Cabinet continues to to meet week on week, I have no doubt we'll be receiving recommendations, and advice, and policy advice across a whole range of issues that need to be managed in response to the coronavirus; Supply chain issues, economic issues, things of that nature, we'll be sharing a lot of information. I mean, each of the Governments obviously still have to make all their own decisions, which they're all incredibly competent to make. But what we're doing here through this National Cabinet is ensuring that we're getting a genuinely national response. That we're getting a consistent response. And I think, and importantly for Australians, to reassure you that everybody is working together to keep you safe and to try and disrupt your daily life as little as is necessary.
JOURNALIST: Can we expect a mass public education campaign on this? And is it acceptable that there hasn’t been a large-scale in the past two months?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this, this coronavirus event has been scaling up over the course of the last few months. That is true. Every single day you've seen the Chief Medical Officer, or his, or the Deputy Chief Medical officer providing this advice. I thank the media for the way that they've been reporting this information. Social media campaigns on behalf of, on a public information basis, have already commenced. The Federal Cabinet has already put $30 million into a campaign that won't be too far away when it comes to public advertisements and information packages. The website health.gov.au contains very clear advice at what people can and can't do. The travel advice when it relates to Smart Traveller has also been very clear. The public information and messaging you've seen at airports have also been very clear, and I do thank businesses and others, who have been displaying this sort of information in public areas, and I think that's been very helpful. So this will continue to scale-up. And this will still be many months ahead of us, as we work through this. And what you've seen, is governments right across the country getting ahead, working together to stay ahead. And I can tell you, we've all going to keep our head.
JOURNALIST: PM, you announced a sizeable stimulus package to combat the impacts of this, the virus yesterday at the federal level. Here in New South Wales, the most populous state and the one with the most cases of COVID-19. Should the New South Wales Government be putting in its own stimulus plan? And in your view, Premier Berejiklian, is that something you can do?
PREMIER BEREJIKLIAN: Certainly. Today can I say, we were very grateful to learn about the details of the Federal Government's package, but also to hear directly from the Governor of the Reserve Bank, the head of the Federal Treasury, and to get up-to-date information, which myself and my colleagues were appraised of. And they gave us good direction on the type of initiatives we should be looking at. So we will now take back that advice to our State Treasuries, to our State Treasurers, and formulate our respective responses. But all of us are committed to doing our bit. All of us want to make sure we get it right. And it is more important for us to get it right than pond resources where it's not going to make a difference. And the key thing for us as an economy, at a state level, and obviously at a national level is to keep the jobs going, to make sure that if there is any downturn in activity, that we keep jobs growth there. To make sure that at the end of this process we can have a sustainable growth projection because we know the next two quarters will be very difficult.
JOURNALIST: Will you, will you follow Donald Trump –
PRIME MINISTER: Hang on, I think John had one. He's been very patient there.
JOURNALIST: Thanks. [inaudible] Premier, with respect, coming along here today you’ve only just discovered that there might be a need to stimulate the economy?
PREMIER BEREJIKLIAN: Not at all. And can I just say New South Wales, we've recently put in an extra $2 billion of stimulus in regard to the bushfire recovery. We also have in place already payroll tax cuts which cut in and give back $400 million to business. We have already a number of things in place. However, off the back of the advice we've received from the federal stimulus package, because the really important thing is for us not to be working in counter to each other, but together. So now that we have a good picture of what the federal stimulus package looks at, we can now then make our own assessments as to how best we can put our additional resources. But if you're talking about the existing arrangements, we have in New South Wales, let me assure you, we've probably spent over and above in excess of $2 to $3 billion in the last few months alone which in itself provides some level of stimulus, but clearly with the new developments will consider more arrangements as well.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible] are we going to [inaudible] travel ban to Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's not the advice that we have at present from the AHPPC. What we're saying today is that Australians should reconsider any need they have to travel overseas for non-essential travel. I think that's, given the spread of the coronavirus to so many countries now across Europe, including to the UK, the United States and throughout the world, I think this is a very common sense measure to put in place at this point. Up until this time, that has not been the advice. But, you know, even a couple of weeks ago, we were talking about the number of countries through whom the coronavirus had spread was less than 50. It's well over 100 now and more are added each and every day. And so as you see things move to a pandemic phase, then these are the sorts of measures you put in place and you do it at the right time.
Australia called the need for a response to a pandemic situation more than two weeks ago. The World Health Organisation called it yesterday. So we have been ahead of the curve on this. And what Dr. Murphy is saying today in the advice that we've had from the AHPPC is you've got to stay ahead of the curve. And it's much easier to implement what we're talking about today, which is for non-essential, organised public gatherings of 500 or more. Much easier to do that right now where the level of risk is very, very low, very low. And you can get that practice in place. People can become accustomed and used to it, because in the months ahead, that issue would become, you know, more acute and more urgent. And we will already have those arrangements in place, and whatever other measures are considered necessary.
JOURNALIST: Do you anticipate you will ban travel from Europe as the US has?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the advice we've had from the AHPPC has been not to do that. See, after a while, what happens with incoming travel is we're seeing the level of travel around the world significantly reduce. And we have moved very quickly to ban travel from areas that were most affected. Obviously, firstly, it was Hubei and then mainland China and then Iran and South Korea and Italy. Those issues, as Dr Murphy I'm sure would explain after time, have a diminished return on them. I mean, to give you an idea, when we started this process, there was about 10,000 people coming from China every day. That number today is around about 100 or less. And they are Australians and residents returning. That significantly reduces the risk of people who may be exposed to the virus coming into Australia. So what we've announced today is no different to that. If you don't have a large number of gatherings of people of more than 500, that is not essential, and that is organised, then that just reduces the amount of opportunities there are for the virus to be able to spread. So it's just quite a practical precautionary step that is a very common sense thing to do at this stage of the cycle where it is much easier to do, where the sensitivity and the acute need is very low.
DR BRENDAN MURPHY: So I think travel bans only affect non-citizens and permanent residents, and you can't stop your own citizens coming back. And most of the people now travelling to Australia are people coming home. So they're all, most of the cases were imported from Iran and there've been a number, have been Australian citizens coming back. So as the Prime Minister said when you've got well over 100 cases, if you're just putting bans on all of these countries, would do very little to stop importation because most of the importation we're seeing is Australians coming home.
JOURNALIST: Does that mean Donald Trump is wrong [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: He's been making decisions for the United States. We'll make decisions for Australia. It's not our job to do commentaries and what other countries are doing. It's our job to protect the health of Australians, to keep Australians in jobs, to keep business in business, and to ensure that as a nation we bounce back strongly on the other side. That's what this National Cabinet is going to do.
JOURNALIST: Can I clarify what medical equipment is, you mentioned there was supply chain disruptions to medical equipment [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll ask Dr Murphy to speak to that.
DR BRENDAN MURPHY: So there is an issue with some of the consumables, a temporary issue with what are used to do the COVID-19 testing at the moment across the world. There's been a huge call on it. And so we in part in Australia, that's been precipitated by the fact that we've done a lot of testing in the last few weeks on people who probably didn't meet the testing criteria. They were worried, people who hadn't been returned travellers. So we're working through that. We're working through a new testing paradigm so that we can make sure that doctors only refer those people who have a reasonable prospect of having a positive test. And we're also working through ways to significantly improve that supply chain issue. It's a temporary issue, but it relates to the fact that a number of countries have, where these consumables are made, have probably put export controls over them to keep them for their own use and we'll work through it. We've got world leading medical technology and we will fix that issue. But it has caused a temporary issue with the scale of the testing that we can do at the moment.
JOURNALIST: Professor Murphy, does what has been announced here differ in any way to what you recommended behind closed doors? And secondly, what will be the test or the threshold for community transmission that would see mass gatherings banned rather than making a recommendation they don't go ahead?
DR BRENDAN MURPHY: So the recommendation is exactly as decided by AHPPC before I went to meet the premiers and the Prime Minister. Their recommendation is that we state that mass gatherings of 500 should be encouraged, as the Prime Minister has said, to be not proceeded with. We are going to work, as the expert advice, over the weekend to work out what the implications of that are and to give advice to governments on the finer details of that. We haven't thought that through fully yet and that work is going on and we'll be presenting that to governments. In terms of, there is no magic figure about what would precipitate further advice. One of the things we have learnt in any pandemic we learnt in the swine flu pandemic, is that every outbreak is different. It will manifest itself differently in different cities. You might take decisions in one city or state that are different from others at a particular time. There's no magic number. We have to look at the proportionate risk. That's why we meet every single day. We have met every single day for the last two months and as has the CDNA, the technical advisory group, meeting every day. So our governments expect that and they expect us to respond according to the changing circumstances.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm going to wrap it up there. Can I again, thank all of my colleagues here today? Can I thank you for your commitment to the national project here and the national task. And as I said, we'll be meeting each week as a National Cabinet to address these issues. And obviously we'll be providing further information as we make decisions and as each jurisdiction makes their own decisions in their own areas. So thank you all very much.
Address to the Nation
12 March 2020
Good evening Australia.
Tonight I want to talk to you about the global coronavirus, what it means for you and your family and what the Government is doing to see Australia through. This virus began in China and has now reached some 114 countries. More than 124,000 have contracted the virus, including 140 here in Australia. The medical experts tell us that for most Australians in good health, who contract the virus, they will experience a mild illness. That said, this virus is also highly transmissible and for those Australians whose health is more vulnerable, especially the elderly, the risk is more severe.
While this is a global health crisis, there are very real and significant economic impacts. For all of these reasons, we have been taking the Coronavirus very seriously. I want to assure you and your family tonight that while Australia, cannot and is not immune from this virus, we are well prepared and are well equipped to deal with it, and we do have a clear plan to see Australia through. Our plan has three goals.
Protect Australians’ health
Secure Australians’ jobs and livelihoods, and
Set Australia up to bounce back stronger when the crisis is over.
Firstly, to protect Australians, we were one of the first countries to recognise the seriousness of the coronavirus.
We quickly established travel bans from the most affected countries, and scaled up screening on our borders.
We evacuated Australians from virus hotspots and set up quarantine facilities
And we have funded a $2.4 billion national health response plan to
set up more than 100 pop up clinics
and to provide support for aged care
Increase funding to Public hospitals, and
boost our National Medical Stockpile of essential medicines and masks.
Secondly, to keep Australians in jobs and businesses in business we have today announced a $17.6 billion economic stimulus plan:
we’re subsidising half the wages of 117,000 apprentices in small businesses
providing one-off $750 payments to more than 6 million Australians to spend in our economy now. Almost two and half million pensioners will receive this support.
there’s direct cash support of up to $25,000 for small and medium sized business that employ over seven million Australians, to boost their cash flow
And we’re backing businesses to keep investing by increasing tax incentives to help them buy new equipment now.
And thirdly, once the virus has run its course, we are making sure Australia can bounce back strongly. For the most affected regions and industries, like tourism and Upper North Queensland, there is a special $1 billion fund to support targeted local recovery plans. And as our economy bounces back, which it will, so will our Budget, because we have not loaded up spending off into the future. We can take this action now because we have worked hard to bring the budget back into balance, to maintain our AAA credit rating and work with State Governments to provide a world-class health system.
Now I know, many Australians are anxious about this and we still have a long way to go. But be assured we are taking action and we have a clear plan.
The months ahead will present many challenges, and we will respond to them. We will continue to keep you updated and take decisions based on the best possible medical advice. And if you have questions please visit health.gov.au or talk to your local GP.
We’ll get through this together Australia. We all have a role to play. Employers, nurses, doctors, teachers, scientists, friends, family and neighbours. I know we’ll all do our bit.
Thank you for listening tonight and good night Australia.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
12 March 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Well good morning, everyone. Jobs. Australians in jobs. This is something our government has had, and continues to have, a vibrant passion for. More than one and a half million jobs have been created over the last six years or so since we first came to government. Our policies are designed to get people in jobs, to get young people into jobs. People as they move through the years, and they go even in the older years, getting them into jobs, as careers change and transition. Jobs provide people with choice. Jobs are just so important. And as we confront the challenges of the Coronavirus, as its impact is felt, not just here in Australia, but around the world, jobs are so important as part of our plan to ensure Australia moves through these difficult months ahead. Yesterday I was here with the Health Minister and we announced and outlined our plans to deal with the health challenges associated with dealing with the Coronavirus, some $2.4 billion, in a series of well-thought through measures dealing with everything from the needs of remote Indigenous communities, to the pop-up clinics, and the testing procedures and facilities that were available. It is a health crisis, but it's a health crisis with very significant economic impacts. We set this out very clearly two weeks ago, when as a Government, I stood here in this courtyard and said we were preparing for pandemic. Today, the World Health Organization has made that declaration. We called that two weeks ago. Back in January, we also called the Coronavirus as an issue that warranted and needed our very careful attention. And ever since that time, we have been planning, preparing and responding with the travel bans and the other actions that the Government has taken. But the fiscal stimulus that would be necessary, and is necessary, to deal with the economic challenges that the country will face in the months ahead has been an important part of our plan for Australia to move through the challenges of the Coronavirus in the months ahead. This plan is about keeping Australians in jobs. This plan is about keeping a business in business, particularly small and medium sized businesses, and this plan is about ensuring the Australian economy bounces back stronger on the other side of it, and with that, the Budget bounces back with it. Today, we're announcing a series of measures. Those measures are designed to achieve those outcomes. They are heavily focussed on understanding that it is businesses that keep people in jobs. And those businesses will confront challenges when it comes to cash flow and and demand impacts, particularly in the short term that need to be addressed by this package. I'm going to ask the Treasurer to go through the specific measures, but to say that simply that this package over the course of the Budget and the Forward Estimates will inject some $17.629 billion into the Australian economy in a series of measures which are designed to support cash flow, boost investment and provide immediate demand stimulus to the Australian economy. More specifically, both this financial year and in the next two financial years, the gross impact of that stimulus is $22.9 billion - that's 1.2 per cent of GDP. This is a significant investment. We have taken the decision to put this stimulus in place that has the obvious impact on the Budget outcome for 2019-20. And Australians understand that, Australians know that this needs to be the priority, and our Government agrees with that priority. And that's why we've taken the decision to put these measures in place. The measures deal with supercharging the instant asset right off, backing business investment with an accelerated depreciation scheme, which the Treasurer will work through. A cash flow boost for employers, this is small and medium sized employers and making sure that they can get grants for up to $25,000, and that will support some 690,000 businesses across Australia. Wage assistance for apprentices and trainees, 117,000 apprentices who are out there on the tools today will be getting the support of that payment to their employers to keep them in their apprenticeship, and that that support will run over a period of nine months. Households will receive a stimulus payment of $750 right across the full gambit of those who receive all sorts of benefit payments. The biggest beneficiaries of that will be pensioners, and they comprise around half of those who will receive those payments. But they also will be extended to those in family tax benefits, which obviously goes to those in earning households. And there will be a coronavirus regional and community fund. There are businesses across this country that will be more impacted than most and there will be regions and communities across this country that will be more impacted than others. Those in particular are in more remote areas. Those who are particularly exposed when it comes to the external sector of our economy; the tourism sector, the travel sector, parts of our export sector, in cray fishing, in places where that is a predominant activity and there is a significant exposure. We’ll be establishing a one billion fund, which will be led by the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Minister Birmingham. And that will include things like waiving marine park fees and national park fees at Kakadu and other places. But these will be targeted measures and I'll be looking forward to discussing that fund with the Premiers and Chief Ministers when we meet together tomorrow. Everyone has a role to play here, to get us through this. I particularly want to acknowledge the way big business have responded over the course of this week.
You've heard me referred to what Qantas has done and what the banks did to pass through the rate cut. Yesterday, I was advised that Telstra are also going to be supporting their casual employees, should they be in a position where they're affected by Coronavirus or self-isolation. I also want to provide this assurance to Australians, already under our welfare system, a casual employee who would be impacted by the coronavirus and for medical reasons, who would need to self-isolate or indeed contracted the coronavirus, and would not be able to work, they can access what is currently called the Sickness Payment. That payment is going through a change of name, but it's the same payment. And what we'll be doing is waiving the waiting period for people to access that, what is currently called the Sickness Payment, will be called the Jobseeker Payment, but it is a Newstart level payment. And people who are casual employees that wouldn't be able to go to work or because they have to self isolate or indeed have the virus, they would be able to access that payment. The normal assets test rules apply to those as they do to these payments, but the waiting period will be waived to enable them to access that payment. And that will provide that support. Many other countries don't have that in their system. I note that the UK has made some announcements on that. We already have a system that deals with that and we're going to make sure that that payment is more readily able to be supported. The Treasurer and I have also indicated today that there's been changes to the deeming rates, that is not technically part of the stimulus package, that is a response to the early decision by the Reserve Bank. But that will also, I think, come at a welcome time for the arrangements we've put in place to date. So it is a comprehensive package. It's one that we, we believe, is well-targeted. Importantly, these measures do not extend beyond the 30th of June next year. And that means that gives the the Budget and the economy the opportunity on the other side to ensure that we can bounce back strongly. How long the virus runs for, well that is a matter that is still, scientists and health professionals are advising us on. But it does have a finite life. There is another side to going through this issue, and it will be stronger on the other side, and the global economy will recover on the other side. And the Treasurer and I, and the Government, want to be in the best possible position for our businesses, holding onto their employees, ensuring they're continuing to train up, ensuring that they are maintaining their investment plans, because on the other side, they're going to do well. And we're going do everything we can to ensure their best positioned to bounce back strongly on the other side. Thanks, Josh.
THE HON. JOSH FRYDENBERG MP, TREASURER: Well thank you, Prime Minister. This is a substantial package in response to a significant economic challenge. The package is designed to support confidence, to encourage investment and to keep Australians in a job. The package is worth $17.6 billion, $11 billion of which will go out the door before June 30th. And as the Prime Minister said, this is on top of the recent health package, which we announced of $2.4 billion in measures.
Importantly, $3 out of every $4 spent will go to backing business and keeping Australians in a job. $3 out of $4 being spent is going to backing business and keeping Australians in jobs. There are six key measures. Each measure is temporary. Each measure is targeted. And each measure is proportionate to the challenge that we face. There are two measures that are directly supporting investment. Both measures apply from today and to 99 per cent of Australian businesses, namely those with a turnover of up to $500 million. The first is an increase in the instant asset write off from $30,000 to $150,000. Any such purchase from now until the 30th of June, including a truck, a tractor, a shop fitout, can be written off immediately.
The second is a 50 per cent accelerated depreciation deduction over and above what businesses can already deduct in the first year and is available for 15 months to the 30th of June 2021. These two measures cost $3.9 billion over the Forward Estimates and are designed to keep Australian businesses investing, as well as rewarding them for investing more. We want to keep Australian businesses investing and we want to reward Australian businesses for investing even more. There are two measures that are designed to boost cash flow to small and medium sized employers. The first is a payment of up to $25,000 to businesses that employ people and have a turnover of up to $50 million. The payment will be delivered automatically through the tax system, so no new forms will be required. And these payments are tax free, so they'll be delivered automatically, and these payments are tax free. The second is a 50 percent wage subsidy for apprentices and trainees in businesses with less than 20 employees. Employers will receive up to $21,00 per apprentices and 117,000 apprentices will have additional job security as a consequence of this measure. These two measures, which cost around $8 billion, are designed to keep businesses in business and Australians in a job. The Government will also deliver a one-off stimulus payment to households with six and a half million Australians receiving a payment of $750. This includes recipients on Newstart, the Disability Support Pension, Carers Allowance, Youth Allowance, Veterans Support Payments, Family Tax benefits, the Commonwealth Senior Health Card Holders, and 2.4 million aged pensioners. This one-off payment, which cost $4.8 billion will flow automatically from the 31st of March and provide additional income to millions of Australians that will be spent across the economy. A new regional and community support fund is also being established with an initial allocation of $1 billion. And this will be designed to target those areas and provide assistance that are most heavily affected by the spread of the Coronavirus. This will include the waiver of certain fees and charges for tourism businesses operating in Commonwealth National Parks and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, increasing domestic tourism promotion and additional assistance through Austrade to help identify alternative export markets and address supply chain breakdowns. As occurred with the bushfires, the ATO will also be providing relief for those significantly affected with the deferral of various tax obligations by up to four months. In addition, as the Prime Minister foreshadowed, in addition to the stimulus package, the Government is lowering the deeming rates at a cost of $600 million to reflect the recent changes in interest rates. Both the lower and the upper deeming rates will be reduced by half a percentage point, benefiting around 900,000 Australians, including 560,000 age pensioners.
These are challenging times, but the Australian people and the Australian economy are up to this challenge. Our economy has continued to grow and our economy remains resilient. The genesis of this economic shock was outside of our control, but our response is not. And our disciplined and careful budget and economic management over the last six and a half years has put us in a position that we now have the fiscal flexibility, we now have the financial firepower, to respond to this economic shock. This package of measures is both substantial and considered, and it stays ahead, it assures Australia stays ahead of this global challenge as it does continue to unfold.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Josh. Kieran.
JOURNALIST: Will this package be enough to save the nation from recession?
PRIME MINISTER: We have worked carefully Kieran, to make sure that we have got a proportionate response here to meet the challenge. Now, this is, as I said 1.2 per cent of GDP. To give you some comparison, when the initial stimulus was done for the GFC many years ago, those payments equated to some 0.88 per cent of GDP in that first package, which, as you know, was supported by the Coalition. And that used quite similar measures in that first stimulus. It was payments through the payment system. That was 0.88 per cent of GDP. The difference with this package is A. about $3 out of $4 of what's going into this is, is actually going into business cash flow. It's going into keeping people in work. It's going into ensuring that investment continues to be made in the economy with purchasing of new equipment, and the wheels of the economy turning. This is, I think, a key difference, is that we understand that for the Australian economy to continue to move forward, businesses need to continue to go forward and do what they do each day. But that also requires the support of a demand stimulus as well that is effectively and very efficiently delivered. And that's what the $4.6 billion payment is doing, sorry $4.7 billion payment is doing. And it's going through to those people, which we know from past experience, are most likely to churn that into the economy quite quickly.
So as Josh said, we can't control the source of this problem, being the Coronavirus, which has come from elsewhere, but we can control our response. This response, as I've said as a key principle, is also scalable. The Budget will be in two months time. We believe these measures are the measures that can do the job and we will continue to monitor events as we go forward. But we've, we got ahead of this early. We've worked very hard to stay ahead and that challenge grows each and every day. And I think Australians are really starting to come to terms of what the economic implications of this are. I believe very strongly that they will support our decision to actually make this stimulus the priority at this time for the Australian economy, because it's about their jobs, their livelihoods, and it's also about their future, because on the other side of this, we will bounce back stronger. Mark.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Budget now is obviously back in the red. What's your promise on a surplus? When will Australia see one?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we’ll update the Budget when it's handed down in a couple of months time - But hang on. Can I answer Mark's question? The Budget is obviously updated in May, Mark. And what we need to look carefully at over the next few years is how the broader global impacts will impact on the Australian economy out over the next three or four years. But importantly these measures are designed to ensure that at the end of this next financial year, then there is actually a positive impact that comes from the bring forward of expenditure on accelerated depreciation. So we have positive impacts on the Budget in 2022-23 of $1.6 billion based on this and $3.7 (billion) in 2023-24. The way we have designed this stimulus is to ensure that it doesn't have a fiscal hangover down the track, that it doesn't bury the Budget for a decade. This is all designed to put the stimulus in now, in a very efficient and effective way to deal with the problems that are here and now, and I've got to say, problems that we know to be the issue here in Australia. We're not looking to cut and paste from people's problems in other economies. This is based on our diagnosis of what is happening in the Australian economy and the best way to deal with it. Lanai.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister given the level of panic around coronavirus, how can you ensure that people will actually spend their $750, rather than just banking it?
PRIME MINISTER: I believe their common sense is if they’ve demonstrated in the wake and in response to previous situations like this sort of speaks for itself. I mean, the advice that we have on this has been proven by these experiences in the past. I think what's important is Australians go about their business, is that they know and they can see through what we've announced today, that this is a very comprehensive, a very well thought through, a well-targeted plan, which is designed to support the Australian economy and jobs and businesses through the difficult months ahead. And in addition, the health plan that we've announced, and the support we're providing to the states, so people can go about their lives in response to the Coronavirus, can give them that confidence. This is a very clear plan to see us through. And the plan is based on Australians also working together. We all have a role to play, whether it's the Commonwealth Government. I'm looking forward to discussing these measures with the states tomorrow and looking forward to their responses as to what they would do in addition to this. With this information, they can now add to this with their own plans. But the health side of this is also critically important. The health plan, working together with the economic plan, I think can give Australians the confidence they're seeking. Phil.
JOURNALIST: The payments to the welfare top-ups are going out at the start of the June quarter. Is that a recognition that the March quarter is cooked or that the June quarter is what the focus is on now? And could you just explain how the $17.6 billion becomes 20 -
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, sure.
JOURNALIST: ...I think 22, or whatever it was over ...?
PRIME MINISTER: Well and Josh you could do that as well, I mean, but it's $22.9 billion for 19-20, 20-21 and 21-22. Now, that includes some $9.2 billion in fiscal impacts of the instant asset write off and the backing business investment measures. And when you bring forward investment, if you're writing that off, investment, a lot quicker, then obviously you can't be making depreciation deductions for the same investment 3 years from now. And so we're bringing forward the benefit of those depreciation, those tax measures to businesses now, that means down the track when the economy is improving, then we can expect to see some improvement. And that's the difference between the two. It's the timing issue of the impact of the depreciation and the instant asset write off measures. But Josh did you want to have a go?
TREASURER: Well, Prime Minister, I mean, the money will start to flow to these households from the 31st of March, $750 going to 6.5 million Australians, Australians who are on Newstart, Australians who are on the carer's allowance, Australians who are getting family tax benefit. These-
PRIME MINISTER: Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.
TREASURER: Commonwealth Senior Health Card holders. 6.5 million Australians will be getting a check for $750. Now, it's not for us to tell those Australians how to spend their money, but what we do know from experience is that they will spend that money and that money will encourage economic activity. And the more economic activity that we see through the June quarter in particular will be important, because in the June quarter, just as we've seen in the March quarter, the spread of the Coronavirus has had an impact, has had an impact across the economy. It's disrupted, end to end supply chains. It's obviously had an impact on the tourism sector, on the international education sector and more broadly.
PRIME MINISTER: The cash payments, the cash payments have two purposes. And they're both important. Of course, those who receive it, that is obviously a benefit to them. But but more importantly, frankly, it is about a cash injection into the Australian economy, which supports small businesses and supports medium businesses. So the cash payment works together with the cash flow support that we're putting in to small businesses. And that in turn supports the jobs, which means people can continue to participate positively in the economy and have greater confidence going forward. Katherine?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister can you explain a little more about how this fund for tourism and other businesses work, do people have to apply for it? Are there particular criteria around what people can apply for it or not? I just don't understand how it works?
PRIME MINISTER: This fund is one that we will have to work through with the states and territories. I'm not saying that means it's a dollar for dollar fund, I'm, what I'm saying is that there's a lot of work being done at the moment to identify those areas which are most critically impacted. And look, and this is an unfolding story day by day. We're obviously concerned about the impact in places like north Queensland, for example, and that's why we've made the decisions on things like the marine park fees and things of that nature. What we envisage is that the same type of assistance that you've seen provided in the most affected bushfire areas. And there is a range of grants and other payments that have been paid into those environments. In those circumstances, then we would look at how those same types of grants and supports could be provided in to designated areas that are more affected as a result of this Coronavirus. Now, on top of that, as the Treasurer has said, there's things like domestic tourism promotion and things of that nature. And so far, at least in relation to the bushfires, we've seen some positive results from that investment we did out of the National Bushfire Recovery Fund. So it is applying a similar type of process that you would see in a disaster recovery arrangement, being applied in specific areas that are particularly affected, but that has to be properly defined. I want to work closely with the states and territories on that because there are measures that I'm sure they would be looking at in their more affected areas. It's creating a fund to draw those initiatives out of and for them to find, particularly working in close consultation with those sectors themself. I mean, Geraldton, that's where that's where the crayfish are exported to Chinese restaurants in China. They've obviously had a big impact on on that town and on that sector. Now, Austrade has already been working with them to try and diversify their markets, to get their product into other places. But they're also impacted by the fact that there are fewer planes going between Australia and China and you need the bellies of the planes to put the crayfish in. So that means that we're going to need quite targeted plans working closely with people on the ground. And this billion dollar fund is creating the resource to fund those initiatives. It works different to the others. It has less of an immediate stimulatory impact. And that's why it is talked about as a community fund. It's about relief, but it is also about recovery.
JOURNALIST: Treasurer, the Reserve Bank Governor, had an urgent meeting with central bankers from around the world into the early hours of this morning, do your concerns around the ineffectiveness of lower interest rates bear much on the size of the stimulus that you're announcing today?
TREASURER: Well, I think one important aspect of all of this is the alignment between monetary and fiscal policy. And that's really important because as the Prime Minister said, this is a $17.6 billion package, the bulk of which is going out the door before June 30. And we did welcome the fact that the interest rates were passed on by the banks. I've spoken to Phil Lowe actually today and he continues to watch very closely what's happening with debt yields. What's happening with bond yields, what's happening with credit spreads, what's happening with liquidity in global markets. He's made some comments about that. And obviously, monetary policy is the is the remit of the independent Reserve Bank of Australia. But I think it's important to understand that this is very different to the GFC in a number of respects. This is not a financial system problem. This is not a liquidity crisis. This is a health crisis. But one of the other differences is that with the GFC, there was a lot more room with monetary policy to respond, this time monetary policy globally is pretty much exhausted, and we did see the Bank of England substantially reduce their rates down to I think a quarter of a per cent overnight. So it's a different situation. But there is an alignment between this government and the Reserve Bank about getting money out the door to support jobs and growth.
PRIME MINISTER: David.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said you believe this will do the job. Is the job to avoid a recession? And is the advice of Treasury that this is enough to avoid a recession?
PRIME MINISTER: The job is what I outlined when I stood here with the Treasurer just 10 minutes ago, and that is to ensure that we keep Australians in jobs, that we keep businesses in business, and that we ensure the Australian economy is a position to bounce back strongly on the other side. That is the task. That's what we've designed this package to do. If more is required, more will be done. And we'll watch that closely like you do with any plan and you get the best information and you continue to make good decisions. I think we've made some very good decisions here. And this boost, as I said, 1.2 per cent of GDP, particularly in the initial phase. And even stronger than that actually this year as you look at, it was about $11 billion going out the door effectively by the 30th of June. That's when it's needed. This is very front end loaded. It's done that, we've done that on purpose because, you know, we anticipate that particularly over the next three months or so, then that's when we're really going to see the most significant impacts of the Coronavirus. Now, the medical advice may extend that, and and we will address that in due course. But take the apprentice's measure, for example, the apprentice's measure that is going to support people who are an apprentice on the 1st of March and they will get a backdated payment from having that apprentice in in in work from the 1st of January. And that will run out over a nine month period, which takes us to the end of September. Now that's a pretty significant period of time. And I think if you're a young apprentice at work today, I think you're gonna feel a lot better about that. And if one of them is one of your kids, you're going to feel a lot better about that. I've got a nephew who works as an apprentice for a plumber down in the Shire. And, you know, Warren or Wazza as he’s known, he he has a small business. It's a plumbing business. And I think it's great that small businesses take on apprentices. And at a time like this, the best way for me and the government to thank those small and medium sized businesses for those decisions is to back their decision to back these apprentices.
JOURNALIST: Is Treasury telling you they reckon this will stop the recession?
TREASURER: Well what, David, we've done throughout this process and the Prime Minister has been very focussed on having a considered response, not rushing out a response. We've been working on this for a couple of weeks. And in that process, we've been working very closely with Treasury and taking their their best advice. Their preliminary estimate is that this $11 billion dollars of injection of funds through to June 30 could add up to 1.5 per cent to growth to GDP, to GDP in that June- in that June quarter. But of course, the unknown is how does the virus evolve from here? And you heard from the Deputy Governor of the RBA just yesterday, I think, to to the to the conference at the AFR, he said it's too early to be definitive about what the impact is on the June quarter from the evolving impact of the virus. Now, that's also Treasury's view. But what we have done here is to put a significant amount of money into the economy, to support businesses, to support jobs and to support people with those cash payments.
PRIME MINISTER: Sarah.
JOURNALIST: Can I just clarify, when you say more is required, the Government is prepared to spend as much as necessary to avoid Australia falling into recession?
PRIME MINISTER: The government will always engage in responsible financial and economic management. And if we believe that what is in the interest of the Australian economy, which is why we're investing 1.2 per cent of GDP in this package over the next couple of years, then they’re the actions that will take but we will always be measured about it. This package wasn't sort of cobbled together over a weekend in response to events, two weeks ago I said that we would need to have a fiscal package and we've carefully gone about the work and it has been an exhaustive process over the last couple of weeks. And there are plenty of ideas as to how you might do this. And, but you've got to test them all, and you, and the tests that we set for this package were very strong. And one of the most important was, not coming up with, you know, fancy new schemes that would have to be set up with application forms and there'd be integrity issues and they had the potential to spin off into all sorts of directions. That would have been a very careless action and a reckless action. We knew that the package would need to have a significant volume to it. As you've, you can see here in what we've announced today, but it also needed to be carefully targeted and designed and we've taken the time to get that right and we will continue to monitor this situation every day. And the Budget, as I said, is in two months time and we'll continue to to be working on these issues and we'll continue to take the responses in the best interests of Australian jobs. I've got to share it around a bit Kieran,
JOURNALIST: Can you explain how the cash flow payments to businesses that employ workers. How will that help the 1.5 million sole traders, small businesses that don't employ anyone?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're focussed on businesses that actually employ people. We're not making, we're not making any sort of bones about that. We're supporting some 690,000 businesses that employ Australians. And because, as I said, it's about keeping Australians in work. That's what it's about. It, and what the $4.7 billion dollars of demand stimulus that's going into the economy is going to be supporting sole trader businesses. That's what it's there for. It's designed to actually improve the cash flow that is going in the economy and that, of course, supports those sorts of businesses. On top of that, the instant asset write off is equally applied to those sole traders as well. In addition to that, though, so is the 50 per cent write off rates that we've put in place for all those businesses, but the cash flow boost we're targeting towards businesses that employ people because our goal is to keep people in work. Shane.
JOURNALIST: On the instant asset right off, you've both mentioned that there's a supply shock to the economy. How will a business get capital equipment out of China, South Korea, Japan, which is almost all where our capital equipment comes from? Is there a problem there that you might run into that the businesses themselves may not be able to get the capital in to take advantage of the..?
TREASURER: So working through this with Treasury, obviously there are inventories that are in existence. And so this will, car dealers will have cars to be sold today and people will go out and buy them now and write them off directly. The other bit of good news is that we're hearing from particularly Australian businesses who have got a presence in China that people are starting to get back to work, now that's more so outside of Wuhan, of course but you know, talking to some Australian business-
PRIME MINISTER: And including in Wuhan for some businesses.
TREASURER: Yeah, exactly. But talking to some Australian businesses with thousands of employees in China, are talking about having 95 to 97 per cent of their workers now back into the factories and supply chains starting to pick up. So I don't want to understate the significance of the disruption to supply chains, but I also want to point out that there are some positive signs that are coming out now out of China, as people get back to work.
PRIME MINISTER: On the instant asset write off too I’d note this, I mean, of the many things that have happened over the last few months, which have been, you know, very hard for Australians. One of the things that has been a bright spot in the last couple of weeks has been what we've seen with rainfall in the areas that have needed it to and the fact that people are going to be putting in winter crops, there’s a lot of activity that goes around putting in a winter crop and you've had drought affected farmers, that just wouldn't have been a position to take on I think some of those investments, they're now looking forward and they're now looking forward at that activity. And I'm looking forward to seeing some of this, really supporting those drought affected communities that finally have a have a bright spot on the horizon and now this comes where they can write up $150,000 per item and get it done as they're seeking to get these crops in. And that's that's contractors coming and working with them, this is this is a welcome, a welcome development and for people, frankly, who've been doing it so incredibly hard, it's just so pleasing. They sent me a picture from Quilpie up at the Tully's property where I was at, you’ll all remember, it was a dust bowl when I was there and it is now green, and they promised me it would be green again. And so to all of those out in rural and regional communities which are looking out on a very different landscape today. We are so pleased for you. Yeah John.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Treasurer's just said that this package in the June quarter alone, Treasury expects, will add about 1.5 per cent of GDP to the economy. So by admission, that must be about the approximate estimate that Treasury must think that is going to be detracted from growth from the Coronavirus?
TREASURER: Well, John, it's very -
PRIME MINISTER: That’s quite a leap John. Nice try though.
TREASURER: It's unclear, to be honest. It's unclear what the full impact will be in in the June quarter from the spread of the Coronavirus. This thing is developing you know, quite quickly, obviously. And so this is obviously a very substantial package. And if you look at $11 billion dollars, that's equivalent to just over 2 per cent of of GDP in that quarter.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on casuals. Are you confident that Centrelink is actually going to be able to handle all of those requests if people do get sick? And what is the timeframe once people have to go into quarantine or stay home from work, what's the timeframe they're actually going get that money from Centrelink on those sickness payments?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we're doing is we're waiving the waiting period. There's the normal processing timeframe, which the Minister for Government Services tells me is about five days in terms of the processing time and that would apply for someone going on to Newstart or anything like this.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm saying it's about a 5 day period for processing in order, you put your application in, and then it takes about five days, I'm told, by the Minister for Government Services. Now, previously there was a waiting period that you would have to wait out and then make that application. We'll be waiving that waiting period and that will be applied to waiving that for Newstart as well, by the way, for those who find themselves in a position of having to access Newstart. But this is a good element of our system. I mean, there are many other countries in the world that don't have this, and I can understand the concern that casual employees would have had. I'm encouraged by the early response from large businesses, and I would hope other large businesses will follow the lead of Telstra, and I suspect they will from some of the some of the messages that I've had. But the government will be doing its bit by supporting that program and waiving the waiting periods to provide that support at the Newstart rate. Just behind you, Michelle, and then we'll come to you.
JOURNALIST: South Australia has already announced $350 million dollars as a stimulus package. Do you expect this level of investment from all of the states, and it's based on a construction agenda so is this the kind of projects you hope all the states will invest in?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm not surprised at the leadership of Steven Marshall and the South Australian government, he's always been on the front foot on these issues. And and I commend him for that. And I have no doubt that when the Premiers and Chief Ministers gather tonight, as we do for our traditional dinner before the COAG meeting, this will be the topic of conversation. I spoke to all the Premiers and Chief Ministers last weekend as we were preparing these, these packages. And nothing in here is being done on a dollar for dollar basis. What we're doing here, fully funded by the Commonwealth, fully administered by the Commonwealth. This is us doing the heavy lifting when it comes to addressing the the the the real tough months ahead when it comes for the Australian economy and businesses. But I would expect that state governments would be looking at what they can do to complement that, and I think that's what businesses and and their own citizens in their states would be expecting them to do, so a big shout out to Steve Marshall for the message- for the measures he's already taken. I'd also note that in Queensland was it about a week ago, they announced they would have a payroll tax deferral. That's not a payroll tax relief, by the way. You just still got to to pay the money, and what we've done with our measure, which effectively is like a payroll tax type of relief, is to provide them with an actual grant. And so that's tax they won't have to pay. And where we can give greater support to small and medium sized businesses than that does two things, it keeps people in jobs and it keeps businesses in business. And I'll be looking forward to working with the states. This is this is a time to work together. Michelle?
JOURNALIST: One of the features of this crisis, distinctive features, is that a whole lot of activities and events are going to be cancelled for health reasons and we're starting to see that. Do you have any forecasts of how extensive the effect of that could be? And do you have any advice to those looking to whether events should go ahead or should not go ahead?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's very simple. You follow the health advice. I'm going to the footy this weekend and I'm looking forward to it. And I'm sure many Australians would. And I encourage you to, unless you're ill and unless there's reason that with your own, if you're in self isolation for medical reasons or you're actually ill, that I wouldn't suggest you go. But the health advice is not for that to happen at this point.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the organisers should take the health advice both from their state health officers and that is available and certainly at a Commonwealth level. Then Dr Murphy has been providing advice on those issues and there have been no suggestions from those body of health advisers for that to occur at this point. Now, we can't know the future and at, if at some point in the future the health advice were to change then I'm sure they'd give that advice. But right now, I would continue to say I think there's 120 odd people who have contracted the Coronavirus in Australia. About a fifth of those have already cleared the virus and almost half are close to clearing the virus. Those numbers are low compared to what we're seeing in other countries. But that's not to say it'll stay that way. But as Dr Murphy has said on numerous occasions, for most Australians who might contract Coronavirus, then they are likely to have a mild effect from that virus. Those who are more at risk, of course are the elderly, particularly those who are in aged care facilities and potentially those in remote indigenous communities. And that's why we put in place the health measures that I announced yesterday. But I think, Michelle, it's it's helpful not to speculate until things are known. And at this point, the health advice is not ad vising that. But obviously down the track, depending on how events unfold, then that advice might prove to event organisers having different plans.
JOURNALIST: When you declared the Government, when you declared the budget was back in black, do you believe maybe you were counting your chickens before they hatched?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, which of you understood the Coronavirus was going to occur when we handed down the Budget last year? A quick show of heads, of course of course, no one did.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible] Labor after GFC?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, let's be clear about what happened with Labor's 4 ‘surpluses we announced tonight’. That was in 2012. The GFC had passed, Labor promised 4 surpluses based on an iron ore price of US $180 a tonne, forever. They didn't achieve a surplus because their forecasting and their estimates and the construction of their Budget was flawed. What is occurring here is the government has made a clear choice, having brought the Budget back to balance, which was demonstrated in the mid-year statement, and the mid-year statement showed even with more conservative forecasts that we were on track. We were right on track. And the coronavirus has had the obvious impact and it has required the decision the Government has taken to put in place this significant economic stimulus. And I believe Australians agree with those priorities. We will always do what is right for the Australian economy. What is always right for the Australian people, their health, their wellbeing, their livelihoods. And to ensure that whatever we face as a country, we will always bounce back stronger.
Thank you all very much.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
11 March 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, everyone.
I said yesterday, in 2020 is one focus: the health and wellbeing of Australians, their livelihoods, their jobs and ensuring that Australia bounces back better on the other side. That's our focus. That's what the Government is intently been working on. From the outset, back in January we moved to get ahead. We've been working hard to stay ahead, and it's important that we keep our heads as well when it comes to how we're addressing these issues. Every Australian has a role to play, whether you’re in a government, federal, state, local, whether you're an employer, whether you're an employee, wherever you happen to be. We all have a role to play. To stay together, work together, to work through this very challenging time. And importantly, on the other side, because there is another side, that we bounce back stronger than ever. The health response has always been our first response to the COVID-10 crisis that has been enveloping the world. It's a health crisis. It's a health contagion. It's a virus. And that's the first thing that around the world countries are working hard to address and to ensure that the health responses are in place to support our people. There are many other implications of this and the economic consequences of this are very serious, as I've already outlined on numerous occasions. And tomorrow the Treasurer and I will be making announcements in relation to that response. But today it is to outline the first response, which is always on the issue of our health preparedness and what we're putting in place to protect people's health. Today, $2.4 billion is being committed in substantively demand-driven programs to support the health and wellbeing of Australians. Just under $1.2 billion of that will actually, we anticipate, be spent this financial year, particularly as the virus and its impacts ramp up in the months ahead. That health response covers the areas of primary care, support in aged care, support in the hospital system, which I announced last week with the Health Minister, that $500 million in shared support with the states and territories matched 50/50, which the Premiers and I and Chief Ministers will be discussing again on Friday. And investing in research, everything from telehealth to testing, to clinics, hotlines, ensuring people can get access to the medicines, ensuring importantly that the most vulnerable parts of our community are very much in our attention and that not just means those who are elderly or frail and in care facilities, but those who are in remote parts of the country, particularly those in Indigenous communities. And there are specific measures that we're announcing today that go to those issues.
We have a world-class health system. That is one of our great advantages. We have an economy and we have a balance sheet that enables us to address this crisis, both in terms of providing for the health response as well as the many other responses, in particular the response that is needed to address the challenges in our economy. Of course, this system will come under stress and it will come under strain. That is to be expected. These will not be usual times and usual demands on our health system. And so I anticipate there will be times where that will come under great stress. That is not a reason for alarm or concern, because a plan and the resource and the preparedness and the professionalism of our health system will attend to those needs. And so it's important that as we go through the months that are ahead, that we all have confidence in that plan. I have great confidence in those, particularly, obviously, Dr. Murphy, and the tremendous advice that he’s provided, together with all of his state and territory colleagues over these many weeks now. The state governments are also very focussed on this, the Premiers, the Health Ministers, of course our Cabinet led in the health area by Greg Hunt is doing exactly the same thing. It doesn't mean there won't be stresses and strains. It won't mean there won't be difficult times or days, and waiting from time to time. But the surging of these resources into our health system, some 2.4 billion. And as I said, the majority of this is demand-driven. And that means if the demand is greater than the resource will be provided.
One other point I'd make today is we received advice from the AHPPC today regarding Iran and sorry, regarding Italy. And that advice is that the situation in Italy is now commensurate with the other countries where we've previously had travel bans put in place. And so we'll be extending that travel ban to Italy now. That ban will come into effect at 6PM this evening. That's what Border Force has advised me. And effectively though, I think it's important not to overstate this, I mean, Italy itself has effectively put itself into lockdown with travel now, and this largely closes that loop. We already had the enhanced screening measures that are in place. This of course will mean that any Australians, residents or others who are obviously exempt from those travel bans, would be subject to the same 14-day isolation period that applies to the other countries for which there are travel bans. So health first. That's always been our focus. This is a health crisis. We have to address the health issues and that's what this package of measures is designed to do today. I’ll hand you over to Greg and then to Brendan.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: Thanks very much, Prime Minister and Brendan. Today's package is the next step in supporting and protecting the health of Australians. It flows from the medical advice and it's designed to cover the four pillars of the Australian health system: primary care, the aged care system, the hospital system and research; as well as providing national support underneath all of those. In terms of the primary care system, it's a $615 million package, but as the Prime Minister said, uncapped in its elements. And that is focussed on expanding the capacity of people to have treatment, diagnosis and testing. And at present, people ordinarily have access to their General Practice or to the Emergency Department at a hospital for those in more serious circumstances. This is adding to that existing capacity. And so in particular, we will be creating a Medicare telehealth item. What that means is that you will be able to get telehealth for coronavirus patients up through, from the home. And by being able to get telehealth from the home, it both deals with the situation of patients who are isolated, but it also protects the health system. There will in fact be two groups who can qualify for this. Those that are in isolation, but also on the medical advice, those that do not have coronavirus, but are vulnerable patients. And I think this was a very important piece of advice that came out of the primary care roundtable last week by working with the medical community. They were able to give us that additional advice, and Brendan, I want to thank you and everybody involved in that, and that means for our elderly, for Indigenous Australians over the age of 50, elderly over the age of 70, for people with chronic conditions, and either pregnant mums or parents with young children who are isolated at home, they can also receive advice over the phone. That means that they don't necessarily have to go into a General Practice or hospital environment if they are immune-compromised.
The next thing is, of course, we'll be expanding the respiratory clinics, so these are what are sometimes called pop-up clinics. They will be there in addition to the General Practice, the Emergency Department and the telehealth. Just over $200 million will be provided, but if more is needed, more will be provided, and that is to develop 100 clinics across the country. And in addition to that, there will be many General Practices that simply seek to have a drive through or another entrance and we'll be able to assist them as well. So we're expanding the ways in which people can seek assistance to make it easy for people and to support our magnificent, magnificent doctors and nurses.
We're also creating a new Medicare pathology test, that's a specific test for coronavirus. It will be delivered in conjunction with the flu tests. So it will add approximately $170 million of support, again that's uncapped, and that will include both the capacity for individuals to be given those tests on the advice of medical professionals and we will be testing in aged care homes. And so these two things come together to provide that maximum support. We've spoken with the pathology companies overnight and that's been very well received. Upgrading of the national hotline up provision of home medicine services, which is an important system, I mean we're expanding that capacity and that will assist people who are isolated. And then also remote community preparedness and retrieval, where you might have an Indigenous community, for example, where if the virus were to break out, we have the capacity to treat, and to transport, and then to assist. And so those are extremely important things. In aged care, we'll be providing additional workforce support of just over $100 million. That's to ensure if there are temporary shortages or additional costs over and above those which they would ordinarily have. The hospitals, the Prime Minister announced last Thursday, of a 50/50 share with the states on their in-hospital coronavirus-related health activities and their public health and related activities in the community.
In terms of research, we will invest $30 million in research into vaccines, antivirals and immunotherapy or respiratory treatments - that's a very important step, and we'll be working with the research community on that. And then finally, we'll be investing over a billion dollars in national support across the country, and that funding goes to the national medical stockpile, to the incident room, to modelling, in particular to workforce and communications, so all of those things go together. The last thing is, today's goal is very simple. It's to support our magnificent doctors and nurses and to allow the public to have multiple avenues in, to receive the advice and the care that they need, they deserve and they will get.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Greg. Dr. Murphy.
DR. BRENDAN MURPHY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thanks, Prime Minister and Minister. So these packages are really important. And as Minister Hunt has said, they were designed in partnership with the sector. We've had very good engagement with this, this is what the sector has been asking for. So they're very important to respond to the current demand. But even more important to be prepared for future demand. And I do want to briefly talk about demand. We have seen over recent days a number of people seeking testing who don't need it. We are, it's clear that there is some anxiety in the community with over 100 cases. But I say, as I've said on many occasions, a couple of things. Most of these cases are related to imports from overseas. There is only one element of significant community transmission and that's small and controlled in Sydney.
There is no point being tested at the moment if you have not travelled or if you've not been in contact, even if you have flu-like illnesses, we are not saying to people who get acute respiratory symptoms, a cold or flu, to go and get tested for COVID-19. We are saying that if you've come back from a return traveller or you've been in contact with someone, who has been a confirmed case, then you should be tested. But other Australians do not need testing, and all they are doing is putting an unnecessary burden on the testing. But the testing is being expanded and the new package will substantially increase our capacity to test with the clinics and the new pathology service. The only other people we are looking at now is whether health care workers who have significant febrile illnesses might also be tested simply because of the impact of a sick health care worker, but we're seeking further advice from AHPPC on that. So the number of Australians who should be tested at the moment is well within the capacity of current testing, but we are expanding and getting ready, and I'm just trying to tell people to stay reasonably calm about this. We've got small numbers of cases at the moment. We do expect more, and I've also said on many occasions, for most people who get this virus, it is a very mild illness. Certainly we are worried about the elderly. Certainly we are worried if we have a large outbreak, that that would put pressure on our hospitals, as the Prime Minister and Minister have said. But at the moment, there is no reason for community panic in Australia.
JOURNALIST: When will these pop-up clinics appear and who will be responsible for building them?
MINISTER HUNT: Already we've seen the states establish clinics. We have, for example, four out of Melbourne hospitals up, which the Victorian Government has established. South Australia has pioneered a very innovative drive through model, I think featured on the front of one of the papers today. We have the Royal Adelaide Hospital, and New South Wales, Queensland, and other states are already doing that. So we'll be building on those. And we're now working through what are called the primary health networks on identifying those practices that wish to be part of this. And so we'll continue to roll them out as soon as a practice is ready. We're in a position to support.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible] going to be based in existing GP clinics, or they’ll -
MINISTER HUNT: So there’s a number of options here. So we're, what we're doing is entering into a flexible situation. Some General Practices may choose to become dedicated respiratory clinics, and in that situation, there'll be very significant funding. Some, such as the example of the great innovative Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, have established a drive through clinic, and we’ll provide funds for that. He'll continue the ordinary practice work in his practice, but where funds are needed to assist with that supplementary work. So we're creating flexible models. And that's why the primary health networks will work with GPs across the country.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, a few weeks ago, I think it might have been a fortnight ago, we were being told that the expectation was it was going to peak in about April, coronavirus. What's the latest? What are the latest modelling on how many people might be infected at its peak in Australia, given that states like Victoria are preparing for tens of thousands?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Andrew, I’m not sure what that April figure is you’re referring to because the Government has not been providing that type of information.
JOURNALIST: It was being discussed at an international level.
PRIME MINISTER: Okay, fine. But in terms of what the Australian government has been saying, we have not indicated those types of horizons. The government is continuing to do modelling on these issues and working closely with the states and territories, because the profiling of how the virus extends in the weeks and months ahead obviously has implications for ensuring that you can deal with any sort of peak capacity requirements. And that is the, that is the very planning phase that we're currently engaged in. One of the challenges to date has been that the data that has been available and these models depend on the data that goes into them, and so it's important that when you're making those sorts of decisions, you're getting a quality of data. And more recently, I'm sure Dr Murphy would agree, the sort of information was seen coming out of Korea where you've got a very wide scale testing program where you have a much better handle on what the level of, number of people who actually have the virus, and that relates also to the mortality rates. I mean, the mortality rates we're now seeing in Korea are much less than what we've seen based on other data. And I think that's as a result of the better read that you're getting on this. So at this stage, we're looking for the best data to make those assessments. But the government is not making any public statements on that at this point. I think that would be speculative at this point. But the government is working on the various scenarios that would ensure that we can work with the states to meet the demands that we would anticipate. But Dr. Murphy, did you want to add to that?
DR. MURPHY: Yeah so modelling is a very tricky science. And one of the things that we've had in Australia is that we have, by very early and quite aggressive containment methods, we’re behind the curve of many other countries and we are still in containment mode. How long we stay in that mode depends on the success of our public health interventions over the next few weeks. If we develop sustained community transmission, then the models can predict how long it might take to develop a peak. And again, those models depend on how well you contain during the development of the sustained community transmission. So there are a variety of potential models, but a pandemic or an epidemic in Australia could last as short as 8 weeks, or as long as 14 to 16 weeks. But we don't actually know when we are going to enter that stage if we do have sustained community transmission. So it's really hard to predict and certainly it's very unlikely that we will peak in April.
JOURNALIST: Dr Murphy, how far away are we from a vaccine? Are there any encouraging signs that you've seen?
DR. MURPHY: A lot of research scientists are very positive about getting candidate molecules. The challenge is taking a candidate molecule through animal testing into human testing and the best estimates that that would take a year or more. Some researchers are much more optimistic. Researchers, I used to be one, we're always optimistic. And you never know what might happen. But I think it would be very unrealistic to expect a vaccine is going to be here to do anything to impact on the current phase of an international outbreak.
PRIME MINISTER: There’s also a lot of work that’s being done on anti-virals as well which support the treatment, so there's the issue of the vaccine, which deals with the virus. But then there's also the issue of the treatment that can be available, which can moderate, obviously, the severity of the impact. And that's important, particularly when you're talking about older patients as well. So, and the private sector equally is investing quite a lot on that front as well.
JOURNALIST: Minister Hunt, the spike in general, members of the general public getting tested unnecessarily was somewhat sparked by a misinterpreted comment of your own on Sunday. The line, ‘If in doubt, get tested’, which was obviously specifically in the context of if you were one of the at risk groups or a medical professional, does that in your mind highlight the importance of very clear public messaging and as a result of that, when can we expect the public health campaign to launch?
MINISTER HUNT: Look I think that's a very important question on two fronts. One as you've noticed, a particular news agency, not yours, had to issue a clarification that they had excluded the very conditions which Professor Murphy set out, that if you've been in a high risk area or if you've been in contact and you have symptoms, then that's appropriate and that's the time to to seek the advice and the testing. Unfortunately, that organisation excluded that. It took a while but we got the clarification. And I, and so this is a message to all of us. And it wasn't intentional, by the way. It's a message to all of us to make sure that we're reporting carefully and fully, but equally for us, we've already begun our communications in terms of what we're providing online and the advice, but that will roll out progressively over the coming period in terms of further online, radio and electronic and other means of communicating with Australians. So that's that's an ongoing process.
PRIME MINISTER: Mark?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister can pensioners and other welfare recipients expect to get some form of cash payment or other benefit from your stimulus?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ll have more to say about that tomorrow with the Treasurer, and that's when we'll announce those measures. We're still finalising some of those measures after what was a very lengthy meeting yesterday. The Treasury, together with other departments, have been working very solidly on pulling together what is a very well balanced package. Obviously, stimulus will form part of that. I've been very clear about that. And those who've been around this place for a long time will know that the Coalition actually supported stimulus back in the first round, in response to the global financial crisis. And that's exactly what we did. There were two tranches to that stimulus at that time, the first one acted and worked through the existing payment mechanisms, and that was able to be able to put through fairly quickly. The Coalition supported those measures at that time.
So, you know, these are measures that the government has been looking closely at. I have said from this platform and others that we need to address the demand side and supply side. But what the package is all about, is keeping Australians in jobs, keeping business in business and ensuring that the Australian economy and the businesses that form that economy bounce back stronger on the other side of this. It's important to understand the economic impacts of this are highly connected to the health crisis and the life of the virus. These viruses have a trajectory. They have a life cycle. And that is not indefinite. How long that is is still not clear. But it is clear that these have finite lives and it will have a finite impact on the economy. And that's why the principles that I set out yesterday, that there is a clear fiscal exit strategy, that the measures are timely but targeted, that they're proportionate. This is what has been carefully weighed up by the government as we prepare to put that in place. And what will happen is we'll announce those measures tomorrow. I'll have the opportunity then to take specifically the Premiers and Chief Ministers through that on Friday. State governments then will make their own decisions, as some already have, about what role they want to play and what role they can play. I mean, they have payroll taxes, they have a range of other things and levers that they can pull. They have local governments, they have roadworks, maintenance programs. They have a range of things that they have available to them. And I'm sure they will consider those in the same way. But I think it's important that they can do that after they've seen the totality of what the government's response has been.
The legislation that will support all of those measures, that will be developed over the course of the next week and when parliament returns, we’ll be able to move quickly to take that through the parliament. We might go over here? Sorry Michelle.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, or I don’t if this is for you Dr. Murphy, but do you think it's likely that America will become the next big problem country with this disease?
DR. MURPHY: I think America has significant, has more more cases than we have. And I think they were, by their own admission, a bit slow in getting testing. But they have a very good, robust centre for disease control and public health systems. And they're working very, very actively now at trying to contain the outbreaks in America. So it's a little hard to predict at this stage, but obviously we're watching that closely.
MINISTER HUNT: I will just add one thing there, Dr. Murphy referred to testing. The latest advice we have from the National Incident Centre this morning is that we have now had approximately 20,000 tests in Australia, which puts us very much at the global forefront.
PRIME MINISTER: That's right. Michelle?
JOURNALIST: Senator Rex Patrick has suggested that the parliamentary timetable should be changed. Can you envisage any circumstances in which you think that should be done?
PRIME MINISTER: We have no plans to change the parliamentary sitting schedule based on the information that we have. Andrew, you’ve had one go, I’m happy to come back to you but there’s lots of people here.
JOURNALIST: Just on your aged care package, there are some reports of insufficient personal protective gear in aged care centres. Is there specific funding for that, or will they be prioritized in terms of the national stockpile?
MINISTER HUNT: So I can answer that, so we have capacity to assist through the national stockpile and where there any organisations that do have issues, there's the capacity to work through the primary health networks. And if they do have shortfalls, we'll be assisting them.
PRIME MINISTER: Andrew? He’ll burst if he doesn't get it out.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister what do you say to employers who believe that a declaration of isolation, self isolation, perhaps a declaration by Brendan Murphy himself, lifts the obligation of them paying a wage to their employees?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look everyone's cases will be different depending on what their health situation is. I think that's fair to say. I'm just going to repeat what I said yesterday, when I spoke to the business group in Sydney, all of us have a role to play. And large businesses in particular have an important role to play. Large businesses have much stronger balance sheets, they're in a position to take actions to support their employees. I've highlighted I think the example of Qantas is a very positive one, and one that is seeking to make use of the flexibility it has, when that's whether people are taking leave or things of that nature, where people are in a position where they have to isolate, either have an obligation to or otherwise, I'd be encouraging employees to take a flexible and forward leaning approach in supporting their employees during this process. They'll need their people on the other side. And businesses, particularly large businesses, they will be watched closely I think through the months ahead. You know businesses spend a lot of time talking about the value and integrity of their brands, well their brands will be defined in these months ahead.
The government will be leaning heavily on its balance sheet that we've taken great care to put in good order in bringing the Budget back to balance to be able to to respond to this. Equally, large businesses are in a similar position. And that's why, again, I give credit where it's due in terms of the banks passing on the 25 basis point rate cut, the first time all four of them have done that in five years. And I think that is a demonstration of, I think, their willingness to do that. So I look, I would urge people to be practical about these things, to be sensible about these things, to act with a sense of good faith to both towards employees and towards employers, about how you manage these issues.
Getting through this is all of our responsibility, acting with a sense of common sense. I think, with a sense of patience, with calmness and having, I think an assurance about the arrangements that are being put in place, whether at the government level or otherwise.
JOURNALIST: Dr. Murphy, what is Australia's testing capacity? How many tests can we get through in a day or a week? And can you explain a little more about the plans to extend testing, please, to aged care and doctors?
DR. MURPHY: So at the moment, most of the testing has to be done in our public health labs. But with these measures announced today by increased Medicare funding, all of the private laboratories, many of whom have already started doing testing, they are all scaling up rapidly to do testing. And they will do as many tests as we require. They have huge capacity, these can be automated assays and they can scale up enormously as needed. So we haven't set a number on that, they'll do as many as needed. What we want to have is the capacity for people to get a test with essentially a same day turnaround. And that's going to be our aim throughout this. In terms of aged care we will be specifically looking, because we don't want to have difficulties in aged care getting testing, we will be looking at pathology companies, possibly going into aged care facilities, taking the tests and coming out to make it easier for the facility and for the residents. But we're working through those measures.
JOURNALIST: What about symptoms in aged care?
DR MURPHY: No we're not testing people without symptoms at the moment. There is no value in testing people without symptoms. Currently our approach is testing - and that's the international approach - is testing people who have respiratory symptoms and who have been a return traveller or who are a contact.
JOURNALIST: So just to clarify, your efforts to limit the number of tests is not about sort of a limitation on the number we have available? It's about the same day turnaround, is that correct?
DR. MURPHY: So same day turnaround is important. But what I'm saying, we're not testing asymptomatic people is because there's no value. If you if you think you've been in contact with someone and you have a test that’s negative, it doesn't mean at all that you're not incubating the virus because you may not shed the virus until you're symptomatic. So that's why we're not favouring doing tests on asymptomatic people so that the challenge- we want to test the people for whom it's appropriate to test and to get quick results.
JOURNALIST: Just on Indigenous Australians, just on Indigenous Australians, can you explain why those specific measures are being taken to target those at risk groups?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ll just ask Greg,
MINISTER HUNT: So one of the things which is is very clear, is that we know that in many indigenous communities in particular, you can have health challenges and also in a close community, transmission can occur easily. The primary health systems have emphasized the importance of that. The chief medical officer and the deputy chief medical officer and also working with the states and territories, so we've all recognised that. That's why we're providing two additional forms of support. One is the telehealth capacity for the over 50 indigenous Australians based on the relative health position, and then secondly, the preparedness and retrieval and treatment support for remote communities.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will the government in the stimulus package -
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry couldn’t quite hear you Katherine?
JOURNALIST: Sorry, just referencing your answer before about business, and stepping up and doing the right thing. Will the government provide any support to businesses in the stimulus package to cover entitlements for work, for casual workers, for people who are not not, you know, don't qualify for sick pay?
PRIME MINISTER: Tomorrow the Treasurer and I will -
JOURNALIST: I'm sorry Prime Minister, I have another one.
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, yep?
JOURNALIST: Another one, sorry. Bridget McKenzie says she made in her statement on Thursday night, says she made no changes to either the ministerial brief or the spreadsheets in relation to the sports grants after April 4, the audit office told Senate estimates that changes were made to the spreadsheets on April 10 and April 11, one at the request of your office. So who made these changes after April 4 and on what legal authority, given that my understanding is ministerial advisers cannot cannot make decisions in the way Ministers can make decisions?
PRIME MINISTER: Ministerial authority for the program was with the Minister for Sport, that is the position. On the other issue that you raised, tomorrow I'll be back here with the Treasurer we’ll be outlining what I believe will be a well-targeted, proportionate, appropriate response to address the very real economic challenges that are being presented by the coronavirus here in Australia. Importantly, it will be a response that is focused on the challenges we have here in Australia. We're not trying to solve problems that are occurring in other countries or in the dimension of the economic challenge there in other countries, we’re tailoring this to deal with the challenges that we face here in Australia. And that program is comprehensive. It addresses both supply and demand side issues, it deals with investment issues. It ensures that we can put Australia in the best possible position to bounce back, to bounce back strongly economically, to support people's jobs, to keep business in business, and to ensure that we are even stronger on the other side. Thank you very much.
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.