Speeches
Press Conference - Woodburn, NSW
17 December 2020
THE HON KEVIN HOGAN MP, MEMBER FOR PAGE: Okay look welcome everyone to actually before I start I will obviously acknowledge the Prime Minister, Premier, Deputy Premier, Deputy Prime Minister and my parliamentary colleagues, especially my good friend Chris Gulaptis.
Wonderful to be here today, we were here, we were all actually almost all of us were here together in our region just over 12 months ago and that was for a much different reason. That was obviously Rappville, just previously had had all the tragedy of the fire, we were in the middle of a debilitating drought and we were getting devastated by the fires and 12 months ago today here we all would have been breathing in smoke and in fack New Italy itself, if you don’t know the story of New Italy check that out too for anyone who’s not local. But if you look around, the scars of the fire are quite are quite recent and visible too soon.
But look today, we are here for a much happier story, the Pacific Highway is a multi-decade story. I mean a tens of billions of dollar story, the Woolgoolga to Ballina section is the last section that is to be done, by coincidence, Woolgoolga to Ballina is literally the length of the electorate that I represent. Which is a $5 billion spend, 144 kilometers. And why have we done this? There is not a person who is local here and I’m sure many of you who aren’t local who do not know someone who has had a very devastating impact whether a fatality or injury on this highway. There have been some unfortunately infamous accidents on this highway and this was all about reducing fatalities on this road. And fatalities on the Pacific Highway are already at multi-decade lows, so that’s what we are celebrating today, yeah the jobs when it was being built are great. The fact that this makes us closer to the rest of the world for the tourists to get here and for our businesses to get their goods and services out there that’s great too but this is about reducing fatalities. This is a wonderful, historic, significant day in our community and I welcome and thank everyone who is here today, the Premier and the Prime Minister said last year that they were going to rebuild and recovery Rappville and this community and they did and they’ve been very big supporters of building this highway as well and I thank them for that. And so on that I’ll pass over to my state friend and colleague.
CHRIS GULAPTIS, MEMBER FOR CLARENCE: Yeah thanks Kevin and again it’s always great to see the PM and the Premier visit the electorate as they did through the bushfires to provide support through the bushfires. But as Kevin said, this is a different day. This is a day to celebrate an incredible infrastructure project that we've waited for for decades. Over 1,000 people have died on the Old Pacific Highway since 1989. In 31 years, a thousand people have died and this morning we were in Cowper to see what the catalyst for the upgrade of the Pacific Highway was all about. When on the 20th of October 1989, a bus crashed with a semi carrying pineapple juice. 21 people lost their lives, 22 people were injured. We never want those sorts of things to happen again anywhere, especially in the regions, because we know those people. We know those people. They're from our community. And look, for us in regional New South Wales, it's really important to have infrastructure like this. We see billions of dollars being spent in the metro areas, which saves 10 minutes on a daily commute but those billions of dollars that are spent on the Pacific Highway save lives and it means that families and family members can come home to their families in the evening. So can I say to the PM, to the Premier and everybody involved in this project. It's a mammoth project and as Kev said, $5 billion dollars between Woolgoolga and Ballina, it’s almost exclusively in the electorate of Clarence and it's something that we've been waiting for decades and it's finally happened. It's finally here and we can celebrate it. So thank you everybody who's been involved in this project because we've looked forward to it for absolutely decades.
THE HON GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN, PREMIER OF NSW: Okay, lovely, thank you. Can I thank the federal and state local members and appreciate what this means for their communities, but today is a significant day for our state. This is the largest road project in the nation and I think it's demonstrated vigilance by successive Ministers and successive governments to make sure that when we set a deadline on an upgrade for a road project which will, which has saved lives, reduced travel times, it's a wonderful boost for New South Wales, especially now when the regions are really so critical in our recovery from COVID and also as they recover themselves for the catastrophic bushfires from last year.
Can I acknowledge the Prime Minister and the Federal Government for their 80-20 contribution. Can I acknowledge my state parliamentary colleagues who have ensured that we've kept up our end of the bargain by maintaining the construction and vigilance in managing the project and to be able to meet it on time and within the budget prescribed is a very positive day for New South Wales and we are going through a difficult time and I always said during COVID we wanted to make sure we kept construction going and I do just briefly want to acknowledge that unfortunately, overnight, in addition to those three cases which the public is already aware of, there have been an additional two cases of COVID on the Northern Beaches, Health will be providing more details as the day unfolds but we're encouraging everybody who lives on the northern beaches with the mildest of symptoms to come forward and get testing. The last, most recent two cases, one of which was in Frenchs Forrest but again, the health authorities will provide further advice. The advice I've received is literally in the last half hour, but we do as we do always in New South Wales, make sure we let the public know as soon as we know so that people can take measures, that people can take the actions they need to take and I encourage everybody with the mildest of symptoms on the Northern Beaches to please come forward and get tested. We have seen an increase in testing overnight. But we really want to get on top of this. We don't want this to concern us leading into the last few days before Christmas. And I'm just urging the public to remain as vigilant as ever.
PM?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much Gladys. It's tremendous to be here with you as always, and of course to Kevin and Chris it’s wonderful to be here as our Local Members, the Mayor of course, and I fully acknowledge [inaudible] again. And I'm so pleased to hear about the restoration and rebuilding of Rappville. Tremendous to see that, when I was here with Gladys in the middle of that devastation, to know of that community’s rebuildings and terribly encouraging.
To the DPM, always good to be here with you, Michael and Barra- John, great to be here with you as well and of course, the Minister.
I grew up, as I'm sure people of my generation know, doesn't matter if you grew up in Sydney or you grew up along the North Coast or northern New South Wales, the Pacific Highway has so many sad stories, tragic, terrible stories, horrible bus crashes, terrible accidents, families going away for Christmas holidays or Easter holidays and it ending in terrible tragedy. And I remember watching on the news when I was younger and as the years went on and people would say somebody needs to do something about this, this has to be fixed. Well, it's fixed, 30 years of hard work, 30 years of commitment now gets us to this stage where we can join together and say we got that done and it was so important to get it done. The fatalities on the section we're talking about here from Hexham all the way through the border. 40 a year prior to all of this, we've now got it down well below 20 year and there's still work to do. We will always keep working to improve all of this but it is such a relief to know, for all of us who remember those chilling and awful images and the calls for something to be done, to know that something has been done, something has got done and I want to thank everyone who's played their role in making this happen. Of course, the voices of the local communities all along the Pacific Highway whose cries were heard and have been answered, to those who lost loved ones on this stretch of road this is bittersweet. I'm sure they're very pleased that their cries have gone answered now. But equally, they remember those who they lost. And as they drive along this separated stretch of road now all the way from Hexham up to the border, of course they will be pleased about that but wish it was different when their own loved ones were travelling through those areas. We can't change that. What we could change is this road and it has been changed.
I particularly want to thank my Coalition family, that's the Liberals and the Nationals, and a broader coalition, which is the Federal Government and the State Government. This is a coalition project that has brought together people over many, many years going back to when John Howard was involved and Tim Fischer all those years ago through to most recently now with Michael and I and of course, with Gladys and John and the team here at a state level. And I'm sure everyone who has played a hand in this will be very pleased to see this now having been achieved.
I'm also really pleased to have been part of a government since 2013 that put the pedal right down on getting this done. Prior to 2013, this was being funded 50/50, but in truth, it was being funded 20/20, less than half of what was needing to be invested in, particularly this last section, which we’ve spent over $5 billion dollars on to get this last section completed. It wasn't being spent and we went to that election in 2013 and we told the people of Northern New South Wales that if you elected the Coalition Government back in, then we would get this done and we would restore the 80/20 funding and that's what we've done and now it is there for everyone to see and more importantly, to be able to be able to use and to use safely. I can't think of a more significant infrastructure project in the last 30 years that has probably had more impact on people's lives than this one, particularly in this part of the country and so I stand here today incredibly grateful for all of those who made it happen, the engineers, the designers, the workers, all of those who made this possible but frankly at the end of the day the taxpayers of New South Wales and the Commonwealth who at the end of the day foot the bill. So thank you very much to them for making that possible.
To Gladys again, thank you so much for the partnership with the New South Wales Government. It's a great partnership. We're getting a lot done. And, but this is a very happy day to say that we got this done and the person who's been driving that for us over many years now is the Deputy Prime Minister at a federal level who's seen through the vision of those who preceded us and made sure this has happened on the ground from a Commonwealth level.
Just before I do that, I do also want to acknowledge very, very briefly but importantly, the terrible loss of a farmer up in the Southern Downs in Queensland who has tragically lost his life as he was looking to shepherd his livestock to safer pastures. It is a terrible reminder that in one year, we will be hit by fires and next year we'll be hit by La Niña and we will be hit by floods and cyclones and those sort of extreme weather events and we're working very closely together obviously with the New South Wales Government, but also with the Queensland Government to ensure that we can do everything we can to support people who are being devastated or impacted by these events. The DRFA funding here for Northern New South Wales has been activated which is a partnership between the New South Wales and the Federal Government and the Premier and I will take the opportunity later today to go and get an update on how things are progressing there.
But on this occasion, it's about a wonderful road that is open and I look forward to plenty of people travelling it safely and particularly those locals who travel it every day.
Michael?
THE HON. MICHAEL MCCORMACK MP, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Well, thank you, Prime Minister and I acknowledge the Premier, acknowledge the Deputy Premier, John Barilaro and he and I are getting things done in regional New South Wales and right across regional Australia there is $110 billion dollars of infrastructure being rolled out right at this very point in time and over the next decade. Acknowledge Chris Gulaptis, the local state member and my good friend and colleague Kevin Hogan and acknowledge also Luke Hartsuyker is here today, who campaigned for many, many years to make sure that this road was duplicated.
It's quite appropriate that we're here today in New Italy because when migrants arrived in Australia, they built things. They were very resilient. They came particularly to regional Australia and regional New South Wales, and they got things done. Yes, the burden was large. Yes, the outlook at times was bleak, but they soldiered on. They knew that they wanted to forge a better life for themselves and their families. How proud would they be today? How proud would the pioneers of New Italy and even those who came before them, be today when they saw that the duplication of the Pacific Highway was complete. And just a few little statistics, at its peak, 3,800 direct jobs, at its peak of construction, 11,400 indirect jobs and all of those jobs mean local procurement. All of those jobs means food on the table for a family, many of them living nearby, many of them locals and they got on and they built this magnificent highway. And perhaps the most important statistic of all, one extolled by the Premier and by the Prime Minister, was the fact that the road toll is now halved in fact more than halved. So you can travel from Hexham to the Queensland border, two and a half hours less travel time, but you're driving on a four lane duplicated highway, not the corridor of carnage that it once was, not the road that the Prime Minister said brought tears to his eyes when he read the stories and heard of the tales, the harrowing and devastating tales and loss and I know I come from Wagga Wagga and I can remember coming up here on summer holidays and the road was a goat trap but we fixed that and that's what Liberal and National governments do. We get on with the pioneering spirit, people who came to this country to forge a better life for themselves. We got on with the job and we finished this highway. We finished this duplication and it is magnificent for all to see. I know it will save lives now and into the future.
And with that I'll hand over to John Barilaro.
THE HON. JOHN BARILARO MP, DEPUTY PREMIER: Thank you, Michael. Can I also just acknowledge the Prime Minister, the Premier, the Deputy Prime Minister, my ministerial colleague Paul Toole, the local members and Kevin and Chris, to all of you and my other parliamentary colleagues that are here today, but also the former colleagues like Andrew Fraser, Luke Hartsuyker who have lived this highway, its stories and yes we can talk about the jobs that we can talk about the bitumen, the concrete, the steel that's been laid to make this road safer but over the past three days we've been in a bus from Sydney. The National Party are using this opportunity in celebration and the opening of the road but as an opportunity to reflect not just on the road itself and the investment but on the communities, communities that have been bypassed but are being refreshed with a new life. Those workers that have been part of the story of rebuilding this road and most importantly, meeting with those families that have lost loved ones. I said this morning we were at the Cowper Memorial where 21 lives were lost. I said that the tears that were- the rain that was falling from the sky was a reminder of the tears that were lost, and the families. Hundreds of families impacted in a way through those deaths and the deaths that we've seen on this road. So it's a bittersweet day that we celebrate an opening of a road but it is right that we acknowledge and respect that lives have been lost and governments have come together and I do have to acknowledge Warren Truss at the time at the federal level, and I have to acknowledge Andrew Stoner at a state level that fought for that 80-20 rule and Andrew Stoner thought that the sale of the Port of Sydney, some of that money must be dedicated to the Pacific Highway and Warren Truss on honoured the 80-20 deal and that's been honoured consistently by all Liberal and National Governments since then. I also just want to acknowledge the loss of Ian Armstrong yesterday, another champion for the region. Someone that wanted to see investment in regional New South Wales. You know, we get, we're lucky today. We're all lucky to stand in to cut a ribbon but there are many before us that fought for this and those that fought for it the most were the community and I got the chance this morning to meet some of those community members, first responders that turned up on the day and today they still can't look at the site or even taste pineapple because there was pineapple being carted on that bus and the reminder of the smell and the look of pineapple in itself is a traumatic event for those people who are reminded of what was a traumatic day for those families and the loss of life, young life, families, mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters who are lost. These are the stories that we should always remember and why there is a change and the community came together off the back of tragedy, united and forced change, forced change in one way shamed government to come to the table but you know, we were willing those before us and now here at the end this is a significant day, a day that I love, that we're reflecting on the why and, of course, we get to celebrate the opening of the road. So with that I just want to say thank you to the community for being patient and working with us. I've got to tell you what, this is the sort of investment that makes a real difference. We can all leave politics one day and say you know what, I've made a difference and I think today's one of those days.
Thank you.
THE HON PAUL TOOLE, MINISTER FOR REGIONAL TRANSPORT AND ROADS: Thanks Deputy Premier and I’d like to begin by just saying that this today is a celebration. We are celebrating the official opening of the duplicating of the Pacific Highway from Hexham to the Queensland border and that's what happens when the Liberals and Nationals are working together for projects like this. So I want to extend that thank you to the Prime Minister, to the Deputy Prime Minister, to the Premier, to the Deputy Premier, but also hard working local members like Kevin Hogan and Chris Gulaptis and all those local members beforehand, those communities that have been a voice about the need for change, about the need to improve this road. Yeah look, it's been 24 years. It's been 24 years. It's been a $15 billion dollar investment but it is an important investment because it's about creating a safer road so that when people get behind the wheel of the car when they're going on holidays, when they're travelling to work, when they're just going home, they'll have a safe road to be able to travel on. To go back to 1989, those two bus crashes that year at Clybucca and Cowper, there were 56 lives that were lost it was incredible to think within a couple of months that there was a second bus crash. Incredible to think that in that year alone there was 123 lives that were lost on this road as the Prime Minister said an average of 40 a year. I can tell you now with the duplications of the Pacific Highway fatalities have been reduced by 75 per cent so that is why the investment occurred into this road. That's why we've seen these improvements and I'll put that in context, if I talk about the next 30 years, in the next 30 years that means 8,000 less crashes. It means 4,000 less injuries, and it means 656 lives that will be saved. So that means a dad will be able to go home to his family. He'll be able to read a story to his young ones that night, not see an empty chair at home. This project has ensured that it is the largest regional road infrastructure project that we've seen in this country. It is now the safest and the most advanced road that we have seen. Again now we've seen communities that have been bypassed. There's 30 towns that have been bypassed through this particular project. Again, those communities are thriving. We've got businesses now that are taking the opportunity to grow. Tourism is booming. People are going to those communities now because they're seeing it as a destination. 600 bridges it's a project worth investing in and that's what everyone has done so along the way. I thank the community, because together we've all done this.
CR ROBERT MUSTOW, MAYOR, RICHMOND VALLEY COUNCIL: Thanks very much, and I just like to start off by acknowledging the traditional land owners the people of the Bundjalung nation and show my respect to their past and future elders and present. Mr Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Premier, Deputy Premier, Minister Toole, Kevin and Chris, it's wonderful to have you back in our area today under better circumstances. Last time it was a tragedy with the fires were sweeping through our local government area. But since then with funding, tens of millions of dollars have come through the state and federal government to help our community and this where we're standing now this venue has received one hundred thousand dollars of that funding for water tanks and also to put a kitchen on the hall it'll make the hall more usable. Also, the road that goes between New Italy and Swan bay has received a major upgrade out of that money and if you go through that bush about 5 kilometres, you'll find that Dirty Wheels off road push bike track. So they received $50,000. They were totally burnt out so they received $50,000 out of that money. So we've spent the money right through our local government area, right up into Rappville, millions of dollars been extended there. On this venue here when the fires were raging, they had to pack up all of their museum equipment and all the displays and move them off site which was a big job. And if anyone's been in there it's worth a look, the history of this place is astounding and what those people went through in those early days is amazing. I'd also like to acknowledge John and Peter from the New Italy, thank you for hosting us today it's much appreciated. Just once again, thank you very much for your attendance. To me the Pacific Highway is what's been mentioned here today between Woodburn and the Iluka turn-off was a black spot all the way along it that will be removed. So it puts all of our community and our emergency service responders who had to attend those accidents a lot of stress and that has gone out of their lives. So thank you very much. And it's great to have you back here under better times. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Happy to go to questions there was an appropriate acknowledgement of Warren Truss, I also want to thank Tony Abbott too, because in 2013 he and Warren took that to the election, got the support of the Australian people and here we are today. So thank you to also Tony. The Premier and I and others are available for questions. Why don't we start on the, on the project and we can move to other topics? I'm sure that everyone always likes to cover other topics as well. Strangely.
Yes?
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] You’ve spoken quite a bit about the highway, I think we’ve all got a lot of grabs on it,
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
JOURNALIST: Can we turn to China if possible?
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
JOURNALIST: When did you last attempt to line up a chat with China’s President?
PRIME MINISTER: This is a constant process for our Government. We're always open to that discussion and we always seek those opportunities and we continue to do that but that is a matter for the Chinese Government. I think it's important for us to maturely discuss the issues that are present but it's also important that Australia continues to act in its own interests, in our national interests and our sovereign interests and we will, of course, do that. The World Trading Organisation, Trade Organisation rules what governs trade, and they need to be adhered to both in letter and in spirit and we've made the decision to take the barley issue forward and considering other matters at the moment. But it's important that we understand that this relationship is not a one way relationship. The relationship between Australia and China is a mutually beneficial relationship and the current tensions are of no value to China or Australia. It is not assisting either of us and so that's why it is important that we work through these issues and we're very happy to do so.
JOURNALIST: When was the last chat? When was the last time you’ve spoken to the President?
PRIME MINISTER: The last time I spoke to President Xi was at the G20, in Osaka.
JOURNALIST: Premier, just on the COVID outbreak, the two cases today, are there a link to those two others on the Northern Beaches? And secondly, are you comfortable with the reporting process which is in place at the moment, very [inaudible]?
PREMIER BEREJIKLIAN: Yep. Firstly on the first issue, Health literally only identified the two positive cases about half an hour before this press conference started. So obviously, they're working overtime to see if there is a genomic link with the previous two cases that were identified on the Northern Beaches. And of course, if there is a link to the air crew or the transport worker, in fact and so all that genomic testing is in overdrive at the moment. But of course in relation to air crew that is a concern for us given hundreds of air crew come in and out of Sydney Airport as they would in Melbourne and other capital cities around Australia and we're working to tighten those protocols but it's very complex because you need to work with every single airline, you need to work with the hotels. But we are confident that within the next few days, we'll have a system which further tightens what's occurring there to reduce the risk. But at the moment the priority is for us to identify the primary source of the infections that have been identified in the Northern Beaches in particular. And we're asking everybody, please come forward and get tested if you have the mildest symptoms and we also know that there are a number of obviously aged care facilities which are very vulnerable in the northern beaches so health will also be issuing a directive to certain aged care facilities on all the beaches. We're recommending no visitors until we identify the source of the infection and feel more confident that we have it under control.
I’m sorry?
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] I think we’re asking the same question.
PREMIER BEREJIKLIAN: Look, can I leave that for Health to explain? Health tends not to provide individual case examples or individual circumstances to respect the privacy of those involved but can I stress again the importance of getting tested as soon as you develop a symptom but also please know that if you are regarded as a close contact if you've been at a venue the same time that other people have been with the infection you may not be demonstrating symptoms, you still need to go and get tested. So please take the health advice. If Health says you were at a particular location for a certain period of time you might not be having any symptoms, but you might have the infection. So please make sure you get tested. Important more than ever. But there's no doubt it’s a concern for us when there are cases in the community which you can’t identify the source of it's always a concern. Unfortunately or fortunately, New South Wales has been down this track before. We've seen our capacity to be able to get on top of it very quickly and that's exactly what we need to do with the Northern Beaches area and we need to make sure that everybody comes forward and gets tested with the mildest of symptoms or if you've been at a venue or been shopping or at a cafe that have been identified please make sure you get tested.
JOURNALIST: Premier, is it important to isolate?
PREMIER BEREJIKLIAN: Oh, absolutely. You have to follow the health advice. So please make sure that everybody is following the health advice and depending on where you've been and what you've done the Health advice may differ depending on how, whether you're a close contact or casual contact. So please follow the health advice. The Health Department and the contact tracers will be giving further updates later this morning and throughout the afternoon. What we pride ourselves in New South Wales is giving everybody real time information. So as soon as we find out, we make sure the public finds out. It's really important for that to occur and I have had advice that overnight a number of people from the Northern Beaches area have come forward to get tested which is great. The previous day we had around 11,000 tests and we're hoping that will be a huge boost today given what's been identified and we don't want to spend the last few days before Christmas anxious or worried about what is going to happen with this current set of circumstances. We do need and ask for the community’s support. The community has been fantastic to date and we just ask that you maintain your vigilance and protect those most vulnerable in particular and and please follow the health advice.
JOURNALIST: Do either of you have concerns about other states moving on borders as the NSW situation unfolds?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, those are decisions that are taken by states but there's nothing to indicate that's about to occur. I think as you look around the country at the moment I mean Australia is going to have a Christmas that few other countries are going to have and I think that's a great credit to the tremendous work that's been done of course here in New South Wales by the Premier but right across the country, Australia is open again and I think Australians really like that. And I think Australians are going to work hard to keep it that way and I think Premiers and Chief Ministers are very keen to achieve that as well. I mean it's one thing that I’m thankful for many things at this time of the year but thankful that Australia is whole again. The borders are up. Australians are coming together again from right across the country. But even more so than that Australians are going to have a Christmas this year that that so many others around the world because of how COVID is present in those communities in other places, that's not going to be Australia's experience this Christmas and that's something I think we can all be very thankful for.
Sorry just one at a time?
JOURNALIST: Just following on from that one, if there is a cautious attitude from the WA Premier following those cases yesterday, how disappointed would you be if WA introduces a hard border?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I don't respond to hypotheticals, I mean Mark’s a cautious guy. I think we all know that, Mark’s a cautious guy. But you know he'll make his decisions based on the advice and things that are available to him. But I know there are lots of people looking to reunite with their Western Australian families over Christmas and I'm sure the Premier is well aware of that and I'm sure they wouldn't want to be seeing those plans disrupted and I'm sure the Premier is very conscious of that.
JOURNALIST: What’s your, how concerned are you about the New South Wales hotel situation. Should and would you lend ADF support to help the NSW Government out with hotels, with -
PRIME MINISTER: It’s a standing arrangement, these are things the Premier and I discuss often as do our Ministers and our Health Ministers and so there is a seamless partnership between the Federal Government and South Wales Government but to be honest, New South Wales is the gold standard. So I don't spend too much time worrying about New South Wales because they've demonstrated why I don’t have to. New South Wales is very conscientious, I think the people of New South Wales, being one of them are also very conscientious. I think the behaviours that have been built up in New South Wales under the strong leadership of the Premier and Brad Hazzard and others means that in New South Wales people are quite conditioned to when things like this occur and they respond quickly and responsibly. And by doing that they not only keep the rest of New South Wales or Sydney on this occasion safe, but the rest of the country. I mean I can't stress to you and I take the opportunity standing with the Premier, and the Deputy Premier today and I'm sure the DPM would agree with me, New South Wales’ ability to stand and remain open during the COVID-19 crisis of 2020 had an immeasurable benefit to the national economy. Where other states faltered New South Wales stood very strong, had the New South Wales economy not remained open in 2020 we would not be seeing the strength of the recovery in the comeback we are now seeing and NSW is our biggest state. It's our biggest economy. Sydney is our biggest city, had New South Wales fallen during that period and Sydney fallen during that period the national implications were extremely significant. So the trial that New South Wales has been through, they’ve come through strongly and that's why I and I think the people of New South Wales and Australia more generally have great confidence about how it's been managed.
JOURNALIST: On MYEFO, how much [inaudible] those numbers is down to iron ore exports and what does that say about how much do we rely on China to survive in terms of [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I’ll let the Treasurer speak to those today with the Finance Minister as they go through MYEFO. I won't preempt any of their announcements today other than to say that we have always been very cautious in how we’ve budgeted and I know South Wales takes a very similar approach. It's a very Liberal National thing to do that,
PREMIER BEREJIKLIAN: Indeed.
PRIME MINISTER: To Budget carefully and not to build Budgets based on iron ore prices into the future. There used to be a Labor government that did that at the federal level and they got themselves into all sorts of trouble. We have had assumptions in the Budget since I was Treasurer of $55 dollars, I mean we are over $130 at the moment, the prices go up and down with iron ore, and particularly in circumstances like we've been seeing more recently. And so we don't count on that. We never have counted on prices being at that higher level and so when they are at a higher level well, that's that's fine. But what that tells you more about is the conservative and cautious nature of the way we manage the nation's finances very carefully and the Treasurer will be able to speak more to that today. But I can tell you the biggest thing that will restore the Budget and has restored it in the past and got us back to balance is getting Australians back in work. That's what balances Budgets, when Australians no longer need income support from taxpayers and become taxpayers themselves. That is the secret to good strong Budget management as well as having a sharp pencil, as Gladys and I know.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] JobKeeper savings go back into the Budget or will they be used to [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: Well the, JobKeeper is, there are estimates and they are demand based estimates and as demand changes will obviously those estimates change.
JOURNALIST: Just on those processes Premier at the airport, are they [inaudible] or are they hotel processes, are they completely state, as well or are they [inaudible]?
PREMIER BEREJIKLIAN: Oh well we're obviously having conversations and we have been for a number of weeks, the challenge is that every airline have a different policy and different hotel where they manage their aircrews. So we are looking at what we can do further to consolidate, please know that the challenges that exists for us in relation to aircrew when people do the wrong thing, it’s not so much the system, but it is when people actually breach the system. So what we need to do is look at how we can better ensure compliance because when you have aircrew in potentially 25 or 26 different locations it’s more difficult to police. So I want to stress it’s not so much the process that’s providing a challenge it's the fact that unfortunately some aircrew are choosing to breach the guidelines, which is why we need to look at how we can ensure stronger compliance. And what we're facing here in New South Wales is a vulnerability all states have and will have but obviously the impact in New South Wales is greater because we're welcoming so many more flights and so many more Australians back every week. If there's anything further we can do we will but I want to stress the challenge for us is not so much the guidelines, but people's willingness to stick to them in terms of overseas aircrew and what we're doing or what we're looking at I'm happy to disclose is at the moment aircrew depending on the airline they work for go to a number of different hotels. So we are looking at consolidating all aircrew into one hotel, so we can ensure that when aircrew are staying in a hotel room they actually [inaudible].
JOURNALIST: Are you concerned with [inaudible] testing?
PREMIER BEREJIKLIAN: Well look we appreciate that that is the case. That is a concern for us, which is why compliance is so critical. So whilst the guidelines in place we believe protect the community of New South Wales and more broadly, Australia if people breach those guidelines that's a big problem for us. And so now we have to assume that we need greater compliance given the couple of examples that we've had and therefore the health and police actually were already provided the directive a few days ago to make sure that we look at consolidating all of, we have to have conversations with every single airline, which is a complex process and we're doing that. But I hope that the final position that stands up in New South Wales can be applied across the nation.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you all very much.
Address, Pacific Islands Forum
11 December 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you, Dame Meg, and to all of our Pacific family, friends, it's wonderful to see you. It's been such a difficult year for all of us and I want to thank you all for your leadership.
I've been able to speak with many of you over the course of this year and sometimes on more than one occasion and we've been very, very pleased to be able to stand with you as you've dealt with the terrible pandemic.
But we also need and we also understand and we are also undertaking the important action that is necessary when it comes to addressing the realities of climate change. Global emissions reductions, we know, are essential for our Blue Pacific.
Our commitment to the Paris Agreement has never wavered. We've made it. We're reducing emissions through practical, clean energy technology, which is also a key part of how our own economy is recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.
These two things go together.
We're committed to achieving net zero emissions as soon as possible. Our long term emissions reduction strategy to be launched ahead of COP26 will provide the necessary detail on our plan. But much has already been released.
We believe the what and the why are really no longer the issue. I think we're well beyond that now. Unless we can actually understand the how, then these things won't be achieved and achieving them is what matters.
The how is so critically important and that's where Australia is focusing our efforts.
When we make a promise, as our Pacific friends understand and family here in Australia, we keep it.
We stuck with Kyoto when others wavered or quit, and we have beaten our Kyoto targets by 459-million tonnes. That is almost a full year of Australia's annual emissions. And indeed it is a full year, I understand, of the UK's emissions.
The overachievement didn't happen by accident. It came through very hard work and cost and sacrifice by Australian families, farmers, businesses who made hard decisions to invest in one of the highest rates of solar panels takeup on suburban roofs of any country in the world. Taking out loans to install efficient equipment. To farm differently to store carbon.
So the credits that have been gained by overachieving on our Kyoto targets were hard-earned. They are the product of Australian’s action.
Australia is translating our climate change commitments into reality through effective action. This is not prospective. This is now. This is what has already been occurring. We are acting now. We are achieving and we are exceeding our goals.
Today, I can announce that Australia is very confident that we will now achieve our 2030 target without the need to draw on our carry over credits that Australians earned from overachieving on our Kyoto-era commitments.
Just in the last year, this is the effective equivalent of reducing our carbon budget out to 2030 by nine per cent. Again, almost a full year of Australia's national emissions.
In fact, in the last just two years, our 2030 position as we proceed towards that target has improved by some 639-million tonnes.
Now, to put that in perspective, that is the equivalent of taking all Australia's cars off the road for 15 years.
This is not a small achievement.
Australia's action and performance also compares favourably around the world. On data from 2005 to 2016, the OECD cut emissions by nine percent. Here in Australia, we were down by 13 percent. Off our 2005 figure, we are currently at 16.6 percent down on the 2005 levels and on our peak emissions, which were achieved in 2007, it is just under 19 percent.
Ambition is of course important and we share it. But it's only the action and results that change the outcomes for the world.
Emissions don't have accents. They don't have nationalities.
The ocean, the environment, none of it recognises where those emissions come from, just their cumulative impact. It doesn't distinguish between emissions that come from developed countries, advanced economies or developing countries.
We believe that developing countries need practical pathways to lift their living standards without increasing their emissions. The way to do this is through making low carbon, zero carbon and in fact, sub-zero carbon technologies viable and at scale.
That's why we're working with Japan, Korea, Singapore, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States to develop clean technology supply chains. I've appointed a new special advisor for low emissions technologies, Dr Alan Finkel, who was just about to retire as Australia's Chief Scientist and is well regarded all around the world who will spearhead our global efforts.
Our technology roadmap will guide $70 billion in investment to scale up clean energy technologies and drive outcomes.
Now, these are very important targets, and I want to stress this, if you can achieve this, then you can reduce emissions.
Hydrogen produced at less than $2 Australian per kilo, long duration energy storage at less than $100 per megawatt hour, green steel produced at less than $900 per tonne, and green aluminium at less than $2,700 per tonne. CO2 compression transport and storage at under $20 per tonne and soil carbon measurement at less than $3 per hectare.
Global targets are important, but unless those practical targets can be met with these types of technologies, then they will only remain ambitions and the emissions will continue to rise, particularly in large developing countries.
Getting these technologies right will help those developing countries able to change the nature of their economies just as they are changing the Australian economy.
But beyond that, I agree with so many who have spoken today about the need to adapt and build resilience, mitigation and adaptation.
Scientists estimate climate impacts will continue for many years to come and we know that here in Australia. We've just had our Royal Commission into the Black Summer bushfires, which have noted the stored up impact of climate change to date will mean that we will be dealing with that on its own without any change to emissions for at least the next 20 years.
So we need to invest and are investing in these important technologies.
Today, I announce that we will extend our 2015 to 2020 $1 billion climate finance commitment. We will increase that by 50 per cent to $1.5 billion between 2020 and 2025.
Now, this includes and builds on the $500 million that we pledged last year for climate and disaster resilience in the Pacific, not through some other fund. Directly, bilaterally, directly to our Pacific family partners.
This also complements the Asia Pacific Rainforest Partnership and the International Partnership for Blue Carbon, which deliver innovative solutions to combat climate change and build resilience.
We do stand with our family, our Pacific family, to scale up mitigation and ensure adaptation support for countries that need it.
I also want to thank Prime Minister Natano for convening this event, and I thank the other leaders that have been in contact with me since I've written to you recently thanking Australia and we stand with you as we move forward with this most significant global challenge.
Thank you very much, Dame Meg.
Remarks, National Federal Reform Council
11 December 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much, Your Excellency, and thank you for joining us here today and receiving myself and Premiers and Chief Ministers last night at Yarralumla.
Your presence here today I think says a lot about the efforts that we are engaged in here as a Commonwealth, and as a Federation. And I also thank you, Cheyne, for your wonderful and [inaudible] words of welcome to Ngunnawal land, this is where our country meets on Ngunnawal land. And we acknowledge elders past and present, and of course the future. Where there is so much hope.
Can I acknowledge any serving men and women of our Defence Forces and veterans who are with us here today, and thank them for their great service to our nation.
To my colleagues, to the Premiers and Chief Ministers, to the Treasurers, who join us today as part of the National Federation Reform Council, and in particular can I welcome Sydney City Councillor Linda Scott, of the Australian Local Government Association who is also a part of the National Federation Reform Council.
This is our first meeting as you know Your Excellency, and I think it’s fitting that we meet here in this building. The last time our country faced the sort of crisis that we've faced this year, was when our Commonwealth Parliament met here in this building. When the likes of John Curtin and Sir Robert Menzies occupied these halls and these chambers. And here we find ourselves again all these years later, dealing with a significant crisis as we have all laboured over the course of this past year.
To save lives, and to save livelihoods.
They were the tasks that those before us had to face at that time of great crisis. Australia was tested in that time and Australians was proven in that time. And I think we can say together, and collectively that Australia has been tested again and Australia has been proven again. Not just as a nation, but I must say also we've been proven as a Federation and the leadership that has been shown by those who sit around this table, whether it be those who lead governments, those who manage the finances of governments, that are so important in the running of our governments and indeed at local government level as well.
All of us have had a role to play this year. But I think our greatest thanks as a group is not to each other, even not to those wonderful officials and directors generals and others who support us in our roles and the great expertise that we've had to guide us in the many decisions we have made over this past year.
But our greatest thanks is to our people. The Australian people.
From whatever background, from whatever - whatever the language background, indigenous or non-indigenous, regional or urban or peri-urban. It doesn't matter where they’ve come from or what their experience is. Australians have shown a strength this year that leads me to believe that this is the absolute proudest I’ve ever felt of my country. In my life.
We are privileged to lead an amazing country. And we are privileged to gather here around this table. So I extend my deep gratitude to my colleagues who sit around this table, but my deepest gratitude to the Australian people who have enabled us, who have supported us. And we look forward to 2021 where they will realise I think, their hopes for the future and we will be able to support them in their endeavours.
And with that, we’ve got a busy agenda. So I’m going to ask the media to depart.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
11 December 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you all for joining us and can I start today by, you will be pleased to know, that the National Cabinet is a red tape cutting organisation and we have agreed today that I will make a brief statement at the start and then we will go to questions. The old COAG arrangements would have had us here most of the afternoon at this press conference making statements. So I thank the Premiers and Chief Ministers for further streamlining action by the National Cabinet.
Australia is working together, we are working together and Australia is coming back from COVID-19. On the health front, on the economic front and so many and I want to thank my colleagues who are here with me today and Premier McGowan joining us remotely for the amazing job they have all done individually in their own jurisdictions in Australia’s toughest year in generations. But I also want to thank them for their tremendous support working together with each other but also with ourselves as part of the Commonwealth as part of this innovation of the National Cabinet. This has been a very important group, a very important leadership group for this country, bringing together our Federation, seeing it work in a way that this country I don’t believe has ever seen. And so I am indebted to all my colleagues here. We all run our own Governments, our own cabinets are paramount in decisions we make, federally here and, of course, in each of the state and territory jurisdictions. But the way we keep coming together, we get in the room, we get things done and I thank my colleagues very much for their cooperation and support.
We're also joined by Professor Kelly and the ACT Australian of the Year, Professor Brendan Murphy. I’m sure the ACT Chief Minister will give a big shout out to Brendan and they will be joining us to answer questions on vaccines and the normal health issues that come up at our post-National Cabinet briefing. Today we have the opportunity to discuss the vaccine issues that the Health Minister and I reported on earlier today and talk through further issues about the vaccine rollout. We are making very good progress there and I am sure you will have questions but we are on track for that rollout and working closely together with the states and territories for what is a very unique rollout of the vaccine. The states and territories are always partners in the administration of any vaccine and we absolutely trust them, as you would expect us to, because we are partners in the delivery of health services around the country. This is a very unique vaccine and a very unique rollout so the bespoke arrangements we have here continue to build on that partnership.
We also agreed today on the need to tighten some arrangements, particularly around aircrew and as well as on diplomats. These are the vulnerabilities that I wouldn’t say are at a great scale but they are important vulnerabilities. As the year goes on and as our success continues, the states and territories become even more laser-like focused on the areas where potential vulnerabilities can emerge and so we have had good discussions on how we can tighten arrangements in both those areas, working both bilaterally with the Commonwealth as well as together.
It was also very important today we agreed that we could go forward on developing bilateral arrangements for seasonal workers in Australia. Each of the states and territories are confronted by different circumstances on the ground and different capabilities and capacities. In Queensland, for example, there has been a very, very successful on-farm quarantine for seasonal workers program that has been under way and it has really been supporting the Queensland agriculture sector and the primary producers. But now we want to ensure that we can move to other arrangements in states and territories where that need is critical. Premier Andrews, I know, it is a very important issue in Victoria presently, as it is in many other states and we have agreed that bilateral arrangements will be made on health orders that will be applied to seasonal workers coming into states and that will unlock the ability for the Commonwealth to then provide seasonal worker visas which will confine those seasonal workers in those jurisdictions so they remain completely under the health control of those states and territories and that will be resolved in the bilateral arrangements that exist between the state and territories and the Commonwealth.
We also agreed on very practical emergency services, fire services protocol for the upcoming and we are very much in it now, summer season and that is just a very practical set of arrangements because you know we move emergency services and other volunteers and workers around the country in the course of our disaster seasons and that has been a piece of work under way by officials for some time. Just a very cooperative and practical piece of work.
Other issues, we agreed on the economic front today the progress of the JobTrainer program. It is now operational in all states and territories bar the Northern Territory and that will be very soon implemented in the NT. This is a game changer for young people in particular but all people of all ages who are changing careers, additional places. It is a big partnership, it’s a big financial partnership, a billion-dollar partnership between the Commonwealth and the states and territories on top of our existing commitments to vocational education and training and data sharing is important to ensure that program stays up to the mark.
We also agreed today on two important regulatory congestion busting initiatives that we’ve discussed on earlier occasions. The first one is with the EPBC Act which is as you’ll know federally the subject of changes that we are seeking to pursue as a Commonwealth government. Premiers, Chief Ministers and I agreed today that the first priority, the first priority, is to ensure we streamline the administrative processes. Samuels Review, which will be released soon, will make recommendations as the interim report has flagged, on the environmental standards at a Commonwealth level. But what is important in the first tranche of legislative change and the priority is to ensure that the existing standards that relate to the existing legislation and regulation, no more, no less, must be codified and that we can streamline the approvals process to a single touch decision that occurs at the state level. Now, we estimate that a Commonwealth level a few years ago, to be costing the Australian economy almost half a billion dollars every year for projects which should go ahead, they should comply to environmental standards and the regulations. That will occur. There will be important reporting arrangements that ensures compliance with those standards as they are administered by the states and territories but we all agree it needs to happen faster and it needs to happen in accordance with the standards that we have now. A second phase, after we are able to legislate those arrangements, is to take into account the recommendations of the Samuels Review that may make recommendations about any improvements or changes to those standards more broadly. But we do not have to solve that problem in order to solve the first problem, which is making things go faster.
To that end, we also agreed today that the Commonwealth has supported to lift the threshold for Infrastructure Australia assessment of co-funded projects by the Commonwealth from $100 million to $250 million. This will free up Infrastructure Australia to focus more on the big projects and it will de-clog the process of getting these projects moving sooner. We want to see these projects on the ground because it is are a critical part of the economic recovery that will continue in 2021. And today, seven states and territories, and I don’t think it will be too long before ACT comes on board as we resolve a couple of issues which are quite bespoke to the ACT and its geographic arrangements more than anything else, is mutual recognition of occupational registration. This doesn’t sound like a terribly illuminating issue or one that is going to capture national attention but I can tell you that if you are tradie and you need to have multiple registrations, as an electrician or some other worker, because you're moving between states and territories, it is a pain and it costs you money and it slows your business down and it costs jobs. And I want to particularly thank the treasurers as part of the Council of Federal Financial Relations who have done the heavy lifting on getting that agreement today and seven states and territories have committed to that and, indeed I understand, signed it today.
Next year, we will stay focused on the recovery, both on the health side and the economic side. The National Cabinet, we all agree, is a great privilege to be involved in. Each and every one of us, we take those responsibilities and our respect for each other very seriously and that will continue to provide the platform for what I think has been a game-changer in the Australian Federation this year and we want to see that game-change3 impact so many other issues. This afternoon, the Federation Reform Council will meet and an issue that is close to every single one of our hearts is mental health and the need to work together to address the gaps that occur in mental health across Australia. We all have responsibilities here and this year has taught us just how important people’s mental health is in this country. It’s reminded us of that again and we look forward to applying this very effective mechanism to solving those difficult challenges. With that, I will throw to questions.
JOURNALIST: On bringing people into the country, and hotel quarantine, what is the thinking in National Cabinet about the capacity of the system to bring in more people and I am not just thinking about Australians who want to return home, I’m thinking about workers and also foreign students that the universities want for next year. I know there are different views around National Cabinet but what is your thinking - is there any consensus about what happens next? And are there any Premiers, for instance Queensland and Victoria who might want to comment on the capacity of that system?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I will speak briefly and then my colleagues will as well. Our first priority as a Commonwealth Government is Australians, and Australians returning home and I want to thank all the Premiers and Chief Ministers for the work they have done. And I must say, particularly NSW because they carry half the burden for the country, and they are not all NSW Australians returning, they are Australian’s from all across the country who find themselves coming through NSW. Victoria has begun again and the Premier and I are looking forward to see that uplift in the New Year as we work through the capacity and have quarantine fully functioning again in Victoria, that will add additional capacity, Queensland and WA are both up to their capacity and this is a very productive I think working relationship but what we all understand is, there are physical limitations on the hotel quarantine capacity, but that is the safest and most effective way for people to come home and quarantine. I think we all agree that the health standards on quarantine is the most important issue. Where we can create capacity for people to return who are non-residents, who are not Australian citizens, such as on seasonal workers, then we can develop the bespoke arrangements which Queensland is particularly done on on-farm quarantine, which provides over and above capacity to see those economic needs met. But the first priority is the quarantine capacity for returning Australians and residents and that will continue to be our focus. Where we can create additional net capacity above and beyond that, that doesn't prevent an Australian returning to the country, well, we remain very open to that. But I’ll leave it to others to make comments.
THE HON. DANIEL ANDREWS, PREMIER OF VICTORIA: PM, I might just add quickly, the first thing to do is on behalf of all Victorians thank, principally, New South Wales but all other first ministers from across the country who have been required to have more and more people in their hotel quarantine systems because ours was closed for a period of time. It has now reopened. The Prime Minister and I had a conversation last night about us lifting our numbers and we're very confident we will be able to do that. But that has got to be done safely and I think we will get to the end of the summer and we will certainly be processing more people. I think significantly more people than we are now. That has just got to be done in a steady way. On workers, particularly for our horticulture industry, if we want to guarantee economic activity, we want to guarantee that those crops are in fact harvested, that fruit is picked, stores are full, and people can buy the products that they love at anything like an affordable price, then we have to find a way forward here. We need 15,000- 20,000 workers and no hotel quarantine system will be able to cope with that. But we have had a really good, really good discussion last night and again today and I am very grateful, Premier Palaszczuk shared her best in class system of farm quarantine with us, we will learn from that. We are also continuing to work with Dr. Kelly around some other countries where a bubble might be able to be set up. Again, always safe. We have reintroduced hotel quarantine, we're growing it, but I really just wanted to take the opportunity, and your question allows me to, to say thank you to my colleagues for having shouldered more of the burden and they probably expected to.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] what was your response when Mr McGowan said he would not be attending in person? He is the only leader not to. Is it disrespecting the National Cabinet process?
PRIME MINISTER: Not at all. Not at all. We were heartbroken of course that Mark couldn't join us here.
THE HON. DANIEL ANDREWS, PREMIER OF VICTORIA: Almost as much as him.
PRIME MINISTER: Almost as much as him. It's OK, WA gets to keep the GST, there’s not a… But of course, Mark and together with all my colleagues here have made great contributions to this group. And we understand every state and territory has its rules and those rules need to be held up to and so we understand, but obviously miss our colleague and look forward to him joining us next year and we look forward to, I look forward to coming to Western Australia again and seeing him there. We wanted to get Australian Open by Christmas and we are going to achieve that, I believe. We are going to achieve that. And that has been made possible, I think, by the patience and the steady work of everyone you see here in front of you, and I think that should be a great encouragement to Australians. Even when we disagree from time to time we keep moving forward. We keep looking to the next thing we have to do and things that have happened behind us, they stay behind us because, frankly, we've got too important a job to do. So we miss you, Mark, we miss you.
JOURNALIST: You pointed to- for seasonal workers, we know the New South Wales Premier is keen to see international students back in Australia, very important for the economy, can you see a scenario where there are bespoke quarantine arrangements on university campuses and we have also heard potentially that there may be some sort of plan for that in Victoria. I know there’s a few questions there. But we would be keen to hear your plan for international students?
PRIME MINISTER: Again, it is Australian citizens and residents returning first, that is the priority for hotel quarantine in Australia. Of course we want to see a resumption of so many aspects of the services trade that Australia has, and international students are an important part of that. But that cannot come at the cost of Australian citizens, who have every right to return to their home country, particularly when we see around the world the great distress that the rest of the world is. I mean, here we sit as a group, presiding over, with the great efforts of Australians, Australian businesses and workers and health workers and everyone who has done such an amazing job and you compare that to what is happening around the rest of the world, then Australia is in a very select group of countries and that is through no small effort from those who sit around me here, around this table. And so on international students, where net additional capacity can safely be established, then that is something we have always been open to. But that must satisfy the public health requirements of the states and territories who have jurisdiction over those things and it can't take away from an Australian's ability to come home and that is our requirement. So where that can be achieved I think the guard rails are set pretty clearly on that. I know states are keen to see that international services opportunity return, but I know they also are very committed to seeing Australians come home.
But Gladys, did you want to?
THE HON. GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES: Sure. Thanks, PM. As you know we are bringing back 3,000 Australians every week through New South Wales, 45% of those actually go on to other states, and 55% are staying in New South Wales. The Prime Minister has made his position very clear, which I support, in relation to getting Aussies back home. But I would like to have a conversation next year not just about international students but also about skilled migrants. That is a conversation we can have next year. But clearly the priority is to try and reduce the list of Aussies coming back home. And I completely support the PM in that. But I do think at some stage next year we need to broaden the conversation. I'm not happy to see the quarantine system move out of the hotels at this stage. I think that would be too high a risk. That is just New South Wales, I know other states do have other arrangements. And so for that reason the cap of 3,000 is not going to change in New South Wales and so it's a question about when Victoria comes online and other states come online, how far can we eat into the 39,000 Aussies that are still waiting to come home and once that is dealt I’m sure there will be opportunities for us to consider all those other categories which will boost our economy and prospects for jobs in the future.
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah. And we agreed to come back to that in January and we are constantly monitoring that level of Australians who are seeking to come home. But I can confirm that 45,954 Australians have returned since the 18th I think it is of September. And at the time you will recall there were 26,200 Australians who were registered to come back. So we have got home 45,954. We still have, right now registered overseas, some 38,655. But we will continue to monitor through contact directly with people overseas about their need to return home. That may change over the next month. That may change as vaccines are introduced, particularly in the United Kingdom, which is one of the key areas where Australians are seeking to come home from. The biggest area, the biggest number of people seeking to come home is from India. There are over 10,000 there. There is around about, just under 5,000 in the UK and there are a range of other countries.
Andrew?
JOURNALIST: Can I ask about contact tracing. In recent months you have been complementary of New South Wales and Queensland's systems. You’ve been less complimentary about Victoria. Are you now confident that the system of contact tracing is consistent and of good enough standard across the country? I would like the good professors at the back to venture a view on that. But also with regards to the fellow on the screen, do you think WA is match fit when it comes to contact tracing as well?
PRIME MINISTER: I am going to throw that to both Paul Kelly and Brendan Murphy. Because my view on that is based on their advice. And, in Australia, particularly over the last six months, there has been an absolutely significant investment that has been made by the states and territories, looking and learning from each other to ensure that their contact tracing systems are world standard. And New South Wales, I have been very clear about, I think has led the way in that area. What we have seen most recently and Premier Marshall might want to comment on this, particularly in relation to Western Australia, one of the things the contact tracing system I think has achieved more recently is the ability of its federal capabilities and by that I don't the Federal Government, I mean the states and territories swarm to support a problem. When we had the issue in South Australia the state that actually did the most in support of South Australia, it is fair to say, was Western Australia. And the match fitness of Western Australian's contact tracing system was one of the key things that was assessed in the Finkel review which we have reported on previously. But there has been an enormous amount of sharing and learning between jurisdictions in this issue. That's not to say every system has been perfect and I wouldn't agree with the way that you suggested I had characterised other systems at all. I have tended to focus on the positives. What I think is important though is all the states and territories have worked together, learnt from each other, supported each other and now where I have a great confidence is if it happened in Queensland or in Western Australia or in the Northern Territory, there is a national effort that can be brought to bear on contact tracing with the support of one system to another.
But Paul, did you want to speak about that?
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thanks, PM. So just to echo the PM's summary there. We did have Professor Alan Finkel, the chief scientist, lead a national review of contact tracing and looked at all of the elements of testing, tracing, and isolation, and his conclusion was that all the states were actually strong. We have learned through this epidemic and we are supporting each other. There were 22 recommendations in that report and we are working through those. Some of them are completed. Particularly the issue of data exchange across borders, and so Victoria, New South Wales, and the ACT have progressed that work with the Commonwealth over the last month and so all of those things gives me great confidence in what we can do as a nation, but also in all of the states.
PRIME MINISTER: Jono?
JOURNALIST: What is your position on vaccinating Australians currently overseas? And once Australians have been vaccinated here, will they be free to travel at will overseas to holiday and for work?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, on the latter point, these are still decisions that are still to be taken, and to that end I might throw to Professor Murphy who is leading the Commonwealth's vaccination strategy and also its roll out. Brendan?
DR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: Thanks, PM. I think we still don't know what the vaccines will do in terms of complete prevention of transmission of the virus. So the vaccines can prevent disease. We know that very clearly. The extent to which they will effectively prevent, for example, asymptomatic transmission or people bringing the virus with them when they travel, we still have to find out. So this is an evolving place and there may well come a time when we have evidence that vaccines are very good at preventing people contracting the infection and in that circumstance it may be appropriate to allow quarantine free travel. But this is an evolving space and we just have to watch and wait as it develops.
JOURNALIST: Any idea what the time frame might be to make a decision? Because lot of people would like to start planning for the future and such.
DR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: I think over the course of next calendar year, as we get more and more information on more and more vaccines we will have a much clearer picture.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, given the Pfizer vaccine has received approval in the UK and the US, why can't Australia now also give the vaccine approval and Greg Hunt mentioned this morning that 10 million units was appropriate for Australia. Why? Don't we need to buy more of this vaccine?
PRIME MINISTER: Again, I will direct that to Professor Murphy. On the issue of the accreditation approval of vaccines in Australia, we will do that on Australian rules with Australian officials and on the Australian timetable. Australia has one of the highest rates of vaccination in the world. The reason for that is we take these issues incredibly seriously and we have the best people in the world making those decisions to protect the safety of Australians. We want to ensure that Australians, and I think all of us feel very strongly this way, have full confidence, absolute full confidence that when it gets the tick, they can get the jab. And they can make that decision for themselves and for their families confidently. So we are aware of what is happening in other states and in other nations around the world. We have a front row seat, frankly, as they go through that and work through any potential issues that may arise in the data sharing arrangements that we have, particularly with the United Kingdom, will be very instructive, I think, as they are the first ones to go around the block on this full. But there is a difference between what is happening here in Australia and what's happening overseas. Overseas vaccination is the only thing they’ve got, frankly, now to address what is a level of communication of the virus that is happening in the community in those places. Because of the hard work done by Australians here and the arrangements that have been put in place by all those you see in front of you and our governments, Australia is not in that situation. So that means we can make this decision in the same way we always would, carefully, based on the best science, so when I tell you that it's safe to happen, I can do that with the greatest possible confidence that I can and that is what I owe to every Australian and particularly every parent.
Brendan, did you want to add to that?
DR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: Just to say, as the Prime Minister said, we are not in the position of having to do emergency use registration for a vaccine, which is how the Pfizer vaccine has been reached in those countries. We have the time to take our normal process through the TGA. We continue to look at the mRNA vaccines around the world, but I wouldn't underestimate the huge value of what we announced today, that we are now having full population coverage of an onshore manufacture of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Onshore manufacturing is a very precious thing in terms of getting good access over the course of next year. So we will continue to look at the mRNA vaccines over time as well.
JOURNALIST: Why were the warnings about the likelihood of a false positive HIV – for the University of Queensland vaccine – why were those warnings ignored and how much taxpayer dollars has been wasted?
PRIME MINISTER: I will let Brendan also speak to the medical issues here. Every cent we have invested in getting the best and most early available and safe vaccines for Australians in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic has been money well spent. Every single cent. I mean, there are no guarantees when it comes to vaccine development and if you don’t put investment in across a range of opportunities and options, then you don’t get one come out the other end. And I think the expectation that they would be 100 percent success rate across these is naive. It is just not true. Australia has made the right investments in science. We have made those decisions based on best scientists and expert medical advice on where we should place those investments and the net result of that is now not just three vaccines which would administer doses to Australians and I should say vaccinate them fully under those programs twice over. But on top of that, we have ensured that we have enforced our manufacturing capability for important vaccines. I'm advised today that Australia is only one of 20 countries that can manufacture these vaccines. One of 20 countries. So once again, we enter into an elite circle of countries that has been able to respond on behalf of their population.
But Brendan?
DR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: Thank you. So no warnings were ignored at all about the possibility of false positives was raised by the University of Queensland researchers very early on and was seen as a very, very unlikely possibility because the fragment of the HIV virus molecule was small, very unlikely and it was unfortunately an unexpectedly high rate of false positives that resulted when the data came in. This was very clearly known at the time and the risks were appropriately taken and unfortunately it just became a bigger problem than anyone had anticipated.
JOURNALIST: PM, just in terms of the broader picture here, with three of the leaders around you have had elections this year but we now seem to have a window, a clear window ahead expect for Mr McGowan next year who has an election. But we have a period now of sort of relatively free of election politics. Is there any recognition amongst the group either at dinner last night or the meeting today or even this afternoon’s gathering that this is an opportunity to tackle a bit of serious reform in the Federation with regard to the economic challenges you all face as state leaders and as Commonwealth? That no-one has the immediate pressures of an election to contend with and you might be able to, you might be able to you know, take a few sticky decisions.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks Phil. I am happy to defer to my colleagues on this as well. One of the standing items on the National Cabinet agenda, which was agreed and suggested by the Premier of New South Wales, who has been an advocate on this front as a Treasurer, as a Premier and we've made quite a lot of progress, I've got to say, this year, having it's not just about whether they're elections or not. It's, frankly, if you've got the right systems in place to achieve it. And the National Cabinet now and its six priority reform committees that sit beneath it on energy, on regional Australia, on skills and a range of other areas. They now provide, I think, the proper structures and systems which actually can deliver more and so there is a standing item. I mean, today, what we're doing with occupational licencing. It seems like a small thing, but it's actually a very big thing. There are bigger things that we are very keen to discuss which go to the switching of what Commonwealth may do and what states may in important areas and we've undertaken to look at those areas for next year. But I think we've got the structure right to achieve that, whether there's an election or not. I think we've got the model right for how we can get through some of those decisions.
But Gladys, did you want to make a few comments?
THE HON. GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN MP, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES: Thanks, PM. I just wanted to echo the PM's comments. I think we do have a great opportunity to keep the momentum going in reducing red tape and streamlining, improving, modernising state-federal relations around a whole range of things. And I was pleased the PM's putting as a standing item that agenda item, so that if there's anything we want to put on there, we can actually resolve it. And I think National Cabinet has demonstrated our ability to get things done more quickly. And what COVID has taught all of us, the state jurisdictions nut I think also as a national government, is that you can do things better and differently and let's use this opportunity to keep improving the quality of life of our citizens and streamlining our processes. I think we've also had an extra bit of confidence to say Australia can actually punch above its weight in terms of responding to global issues like this and let's use that confidence and that momentum to make real positive change and I'm delighted that that's what we will be doing moving forward.
THE HON. ANNASTACIA PALASZCZUK MP, PREMIER OF QUEENSLAND: I might just add to that, I think we shouldn’t gloss over the fact too that this National Cabinet has worked in the best interest of all Australians. That, you know, we haven't met face to face for nine months but during that time, we've had 30 National Cabinet meetings. We have been provided at all times with expert advice on health and at all times expert advice on the economy. So that has been absolutely critical to the way the National Cabinet has worked and how I think it's going to work into the future and as long as there's that goodwill amongst everyone, you will see substantial change that's happening with the cohesiveness of this group working together.
JOURNALIST: On environmental protection and biodiversity, you’re speeding up the administrative processes. How will that single touchpoint work at the state level? What projects and sort of industries do you think might benefit? And given that the states control a lot of the levers in this area, can I ask the Premiers of Victoria and Queensland, how committed are you to actually speeding up project and business kind of approvals in this area, given there's often a lot of pushback from environmental groups and progressive activists?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the first part, a single touch approval process means exactly that. There's a single touch. It will be done by the states, ensuring that they reference and ensure that the federal standards are adhered to in the decisions that they make on projects. Now, this will relate to any projects that require federal approval under the EPBC Act. And this means you go through one process, you go through one decision maker. There will be an overarching assessment that is done on each state and how they're fulfilling that over the course of the year. But that's not an appeal jurisdiction and that's not done on a case by case basis. That's just to ensure that the Commonwealth continues to have the assurance that the standards that are there and that is set at that level are being appropriately addressed. So this is going to be a very big change, I think. We've tried to do this before and that hasn't succeeded and that's why I really want to thank all the Premiers and Chief Ministers for their commitment to see this done faster. The standards have to be kept and in the first step, we’ll make sure that the standards that we have right now that are part of existing laws, that won't change. That will be done and codified for the states to see next month so they've got a clear idea of what those standards are. And then it is my great hope that when the Parliament returns next year, we will be able to see passage of the legislation that can give effect to giving that authority to the states and territories. But I'll leave it to Dan and to Annastacia to speak to that.
THE HON. DANIEL ANDREWS, PREMIER OF VICTORIA: This is a logical extension of changes we've made at a Victorian level where we do planning and environmental effects assessments at the same time. So we run a dual track system so that instead of completing one and then beginning a fresh new process at the end of that and taking basically twice as long to build the road, rail, hospital, school, important, fundamentally important infrastructure that we need now and for the future, we've sped that up. Now's the time to make good decisions, but make them as quickly as you can. Because our economy and communities, not just in my state, but across the nation, need those jobs, that confidence, that sense of momentum. This is a really important change and one that we're pleased to support. It's about how you make the decision, not the decision itself. It'll still be against the highest of standards, standards that I think we at a jurisdictional level and nationally are very well known for.
THE HON. ANNASTACIA PALASZCZUK MP, PREMIER OF QUEENSLAND: Yeah, I think you can see the results of those standards to make sure that there is confidence out there in the public that they are high standards. And in some cases, everyone can sometimes say, oh, the states are holding up things. But in other instances we've got projects where we're waiting on federal approval. So I think it works both ways and a streamlined process is, I think, going to be well received by everybody.
PRIME MINISTER: The standards, just to be clear because you'll be aware of the Samuels Report, the first set of standards will be the standards that effectively are there now and they need to be codified very clearly, not a comma more or a comma less when it comes to those standards. The second phase would relate to addressing recommendations of the Samuel Report, which require a broader discussion on, I suppose the overall substance of the standards themselves. We've got time for two more. I'm sorry, because we've got other meetings this afternoon.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I ask you, do you want to put a stop to Victoria's Belt and Road agreement with Beijing and Premier Andrews can I ask you, what is it you want to get out of the Belt and Road agreement and do you think it presents a sovereign risk?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we will follow through on the legislation that has passed the Parliament in accordance with the process, which will sit there and make the appropriate assessments and then make any decisions from there.
THE HON. DANIEL ANDREWS, PREMIER OF VICTORIA: And I'm happy to add that, that agreement, like all agreements that Victoria enters into and I expect the Commonwealth and other states are no different, it's all about making sure that more Victorian product gets sent to our biggest and smallest customers. Whether it's to China or any other part of the world, it's all about jobs. It's all about jobs. And I'll leave the Commonwealth Government to make their assessments.
JOURNALIST: Premier [inaudible] is what I'm asking.
THE HON. DANIEL ANDREWS, PREMIER OF VICTORIA: We are comfortable with the arrangements we have in place. But I'll be, if I can put it to you, I think that we'd be probably better off in our relationship if all of us focused on the fact that I think the Prime Minister and I and all of us that you're looking at, even the professors, are all about having the best economic partnerships with customers large and small in every part of the world, because that means jobs and prosperity and profitability for families back home.
JOURNALIST: On this issue to another one, border battles have obviously dominated National Cabinet. Have the New South Wales and Queensland Premiers managed to resolve your personal differences? You've been feuding via duelling press conferences. And do either of you have regrets about the decision you made on the borders?
THE HON. ANNASTACIA PALASZCZUK MP, PREMIER OF QUEENSLAND: No.
JOURNALIST: You would do it all again? Your response?
THE HON. GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN MP, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES: My response is contrary to what might be out there, we have constructive dialogue within National Cabinet and I've made my position on borders very clear from day one and I maintain that position and I guess that's the beauty of the Federation. It allows, although from time to time we won't agree on everything, it allows us to come forward with our own views on how to move forward. And I'm pleased now, as the PM said, the important thing is we’ll all be open by Christmas and I think that's what our citizens want and expect and I hope that this is sustained until the end of the pandemic. So we don't want to go backwards.
PRIME MINISTER: When Australia – and we’re going to have to leave it there - when Australia was established as a nation, it was done to federate states. If, when Australia was established as a nation, the idea was that it should be only one government in the country, well, that's what they would have done but they didn't make that call. They made the call to have states and territories. And as a federal nation, I think one of the things that we have demonstrated this year is that, of course, there's going to be differences between states and territories from time to time. I think the assessment that is made that if there's a difference of view or a disagreement then somehow the Federation is not working is again, I think a very naive view. The Federation is working, the Federation has worked for Australia and most importantly, it's got Australia working in one of the most important years that we've had and the challenges we face in many generations. Thank you all very much.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
11 December 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. I'm joined by the Health Minister, Greg Hunt, and Professor Murphy, Secretary of the Department of Health but, most importantly, leading our technical advisory group when it comes to Australia's vaccine policy and strategy. So, welcome to both of you gentlemen this morning. The platform, the foundation, of Australia's performance during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the strong health system that Australia has and that we have strengthened over the course of this COVID-19 pandemic. A strong health system federally, a strong health system at a state level. And I thank all of our state and territory jurisdictions. I'm meeting with them later today as part of the National Cabinet for our last meeting this year. It has been a team effort as we've worked hard to provide that strong health platform upon which Australia's economic comeback has also been conditional upon. The key part of that process of ensuring that our health system has been strong is that we've had a clear plan, and that plan has been based on the best possible medical advice and scientific advice. And it's a plan that has enabled us to move swiftly and decisively in response to events as they have unfolded. The COVID-19 pandemic writes its own rules. We don't get to write those rules for it. We need to be able to adapt and respond, consistent with the plan that we've developed in partnership with our medical and scientific experts.
Our vaccine strategy and our vaccine policy had identified four vaccines that we believed, based on the scientific advice, had the potential to go through to the end of Stage 3 trials and be available here in Australia. At no stage, can I assure you, that we believed that all four of those vaccines would likely get through that process. If that had occurred, that would have been truly extraordinary, based on the process of vaccine development not only in this country, but anywhere else. So that's why we spread our risk. That's why we backed important projects. And that's why we pre-prepared to ensure that we could deal with any issues along the way. The advice that we have received, and the National Security Committee of Cabinet met this week and made the final decision yesterday, is that the University of Queensland vaccine will not be able to proceed based on the scientific advice, and that will no longer feature as part of Australia's vaccine plan.
I do want to thank, though, Professor Paul Young and all the team up there at University of Queensland for the amazing work that they have done in getting the vaccine to that stage. And we will continue to support and fund the work that they're doing on molecular clamp research on vaccines, which has application in many other areas. They're doing great work. They are amazing. I'm incredibly proud of all of our scientists for the awesome work that they've been doing to support us this year. And so I congratulate them and thank them for all the hard work they've put in this year. But as part of our strategy, it means that we've been able to reposition and redeploy both our resources and our capability to deliver these vaccines. And so we are increasing our production and purchase of AstraZeneca vaccines from 33.8 million to 53.8 million, and we're increasing our access to the Novavax vaccine from 40 million to 51 million. So that's an extra 20 million doses of AstraZeneca, and an extra 11 million doses of Novavax. The AstraZeneca vaccine, of course, is manufactured here in Melbourne by CSL.
Safety and health - that has always been the starting point for all of our responses when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic. Having a clear plan. Getting clear advice. Making decisive decisions to ensure that we can put the health interests of Australians first. That lays the platform for the economic recovery that we are undertaking right now as we end this year and go into 2021. I particularly want to thank the Minister for Health, whose leadership in this area over the course of this year has been exemplary. He is one of the standout Health Ministers of the world in terms of how he has led our response and put Australia in such a strong position to be where we are as we go into this Christmas. He has obviously also been ably assisted by Professor Kelly as the Acting Chief Medical Officer and Professor Murphy as the Secretary of the Department of Health. They're a great team, and I thank them for their work and I'll ask the Minister to speak and then Professor Murphy.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: Thanks very much, Prime Minister, and Professor Murphy. The hallmark of Australia's outcomes this year at a time when we see over 600,000 cases a day, agonising losses at record levels in terms of lives around the world, and Australia, by comparison, in the fortunate position of most days zero cases of community transmission. That's been driven by the combination of following the science and scientific advice, and planning, planning, planning. Today is another step in that. The vaccine rollout in 2021 is an important part of providing insurance and protection and saving lives and protecting lives here in Australia. The net result of the decisions taken and the next evolution of the scientific advice is that we will have strengthened our position in two vaccines and discontinued the process in relation to one vaccine which is, of course, the University of Queensland. The final outcome from all of that is that there is the potential for slightly earlier completion of the vaccine rollout for Australians in 2021. So that net result is a very important outcome for Australians.
Very briefly, I think it's important to understand that we planned, in all of our contracts, for the potential either to discontinue, based on the scientific advice and gateways, or to expand the number of vaccines. So, for example, as the Prime Minister mentioned, we're increasing our AstraZeneca purchasing by 20 million units. That was envisaged within the contract. Those 20 million units have now been agreed in conjunction with CSL to be produced onshore here in Australia, which is what allows us to potentially bring forward the completion of our vaccine rollout in the course of 2021. At the same time, the Novavax contract allowed for us to expand, and we've done that. In addition to that, the contract with regards to the University of Queensland recognised a series of gateways, and the simple answer is that, in relation to that, it's been shown to be safe, it's been shown to be effective. It's a powerful and important breakthrough as a platform, and we thank our scientists for that. But the issue, which by mutual agreement with CSL led to the decision not to proceed to Stage 3 trials and, therefore, not to move to a purchase, is that there was the risk of false-positive HIV results. They are false. It comes from the protein that was used. And as a result of that, the scientific advice is that the risk to vaccine confidence was the principal issue here, and we made the decision unanimously as a National Security Committee, the scientific advice was unanimous, the agreement with CSL not to proceed was mutual. And this is the scientific process working. It's the planning process working. It's an honest explanation of some of the challenges we've had. But, at the end of the day, 31 million new vaccines purchased for Australia, and the potential for a slightly earlier completion of the rollout with the commencement process still on track for March, subject to the approvals and the news on our vaccine candidates is strong.
Just to let you know, all up, the Australian vaccine portfolio is 53.8 million AstraZeneca units. That's enough to cover the whole of population. 51 million Novavax units, that's enough to cover the whole of population. 10 million Pfizer units, which is the advice that we have is appropriate, and 25.5 million units available under the COVAX facility. So, all up, over 140 million units of vaccine available to Australia, and the advice I have is that this is one of the highest ratios of vaccine purchases and availability to population in the world. So we're in a strong position. We're in a slightly better position at the end of this week in terms of having shored up our candidates. But also having made decisions as to what we proceed with and what we don't, and the potential for a slightly earlier completion during the course of 2021. Professor Murphy.
DR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: Thanks, Prime Minister and Minister. So, we are in a good place in Australia with our vaccine strategy. Of the four vaccines that we did advance purchases on, two are probably the most advanced in terms of Phase 3 data and likely to be, or already are, registered in other parts of the world. We went into this with the potential that none of the four might actually get through to the clinic. That's why we had the COVAX facility to back us up. So to have full population coverage of two vaccines, and local manufacturing of one of the most promising vaccines so that we can guarantee we'll get it when we need it. And we've got also that wonderful position, we are in a Australia, where we can take our time to do the proper regulatory and go through our normal regulatory process. We don't need emergency approval, we're in a good position because we've controlled the virus. So I'm very confident now, very confident about the successful vaccination strategy that we'll be facing next year.
Clearly, the discontinuation of the UQ vaccine by mutual agreement. It was likely to be a promising vaccine. It was likely to work. But we knew that we didn't want to have any issues with confidence, and this false-positive test may have caused some confusion and lack of confidence, but it was a very, very good technology, it was looking like it was going to make antibodies, and it probably would have worked very well as a vaccine. But we can't have any issues with confidence, and we are as a nation now, with a good portfolio of vaccines, able to make these decisions to best protect the Australian people. I'll leave it for questions.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] there could be this HIV false-positive of results, if you will. Right at the beginning of trials. So this has been known about CSL's tests for a long time. So why decide to pull the pin now, after hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent?
DR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: So I think the risk of actually getting a false-positive was seen to be extremely low at the outset, everyone was very surprised at the unexpected prevalence of the false-positive. It's only a small portion of the HIV protein that's in the vaccine as the molecular clamp. The modelling at the time thought it was a very low theoretical risk on that basis, that's why people were informed of that risk. But it was very surprising to CSL and UQ the incidence of the false-positives. So it was very unexpected.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what's your message to Australians who might be worried about how quickly these vaccines have been rolled out? Is this a good example of the fact that Australia won't be rushing this process if there is any risk - the government won't allow these vaccines to proceed?
PRIME MINISTER: I think today, and the decisions we've taken should give Australians great assurance, that we are proceeding carefully, we are moving swiftly, but not with any undue haste here. At the end of the day, the Therapeutic Goods Administration - like with any vaccine in Australia - it must have their tick-off. Without the tick, there's no jab, when it comes to vaccines in this country. That is true for the COVID-19 vaccine, as it is true for any other vaccine that is administered here in Australia. And the assurance, I think, of both the scientific and medical advice that we have going into this process - led by Professor Murphy, who I know Australians have great confidence in, but also Professor Skerritt and the whole team - we are moving as promptly as is responsible, but our processes will not be compromised. And we've all had vaccinations at various times in our lives. I have. My children have. And we take those vaccines in great confidence of the system that we have here in Australia. What you're seeing here, is the system at work, protecting Australians, and making good decisions in the public health interest. So that's why we were so keen to keep Australians up to date here this morning - so you know where we're at. But the truth is, we're on track. The system's working as it should. And Australians are protected, as always.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, until this morning, the UQ vaccine was the highest in terms of dosage - 51 million doses across your four. So there's no doubting this is a significant blow. And given the concerns over global manufacturing, how confident are you that the agreements you've now reached to boost the supply of Oxford AstraZeneca, particularly in Melbourne, can be reached?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, it can. But I disagree with the premise of your question. I think what this demonstrates is the effectiveness of our strategy. And what we can do is vaccinate our population twice over. And we have one of the highest ratios of availability of doses of any country in the world. So this is a demonstration of the success of the vaccination policy and approach that we have been following. We have prepared for this. We have planned for this. And now we're making decisions in accordance with this. And so I think this does demonstrate both the science that we have available in Australia, but also the manufacturing capability. CSL is a leading manufacturer in the world. The Minister and I have both visited the facility there, and I want to thank everyone down at the plant there because they're going to be busy, they're going to be producing those vaccines. And as the Minister said, the net out-take of this is we are more likely to have the entire population vaccinated earlier rather than later, by the ability to bring this manufacturing capability forward. The process for manufacturing the molecular clamp vaccine - actually more complicated than it is for AstraZeneca. So this is basically adding on to the existing run, as opposed to a completely different manufacturing process. So that puts us in, I think, a strong position.
JOURNALIST: A question on the science I think for Professor Murphy, and on the timing,
PRIME MINISTER: On the what sorry?
JOURNALIST: On the timing, on this issue of being slightly earlier - how do we know that the same kind of issues aren't going to come up with those other vaccines contenders? What's the difference between the platform at UQ and what you've got, or what the other contenders are, with Nova, and with AstraZeneca? Because if there is this ambition to be slightly earlier with the timing, that seems to be counterintuitive. Shouldn't this experience be a cause for greater caution and a slowdown?
DR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: Well, I think the AstraZeneca vaccine is now, with published Phase 3 trials. So it's very close to being, having emergency registration in the UK, we believe. So that vaccine - which is the one that's being now produced at CSL - it's coming off the production line at the moment, has very, very good data. So we're pretty confident that an issue like this is unlikely to happen because we've got the Phase 3 data. The Novavax platform is very different. It doesn't use the same molecular clamp - it uses a different approach. There's no reason why we would expect the same thing. And they've published their Phase 1 studies, and they haven't realised any of these sort of issues. So the confidence about, that Minister Hunt talked about - because the AstraZeneca vaccine is more advanced in its development than UQ was, and because it's now in production, by making more of it, we can bring forward whole-of-population coverage with the AstraZeneca vaccine much earlier. The Pfizer vaccine - the other one we have - it has also got Phase 3 trial information that the company has released. It's also gone through regulatory approval in, now, two countries, and a third coming up today. So it wouldn't have got through that if an issue like this had happened. So we're very confident we won't see this issue with the other vaccines. Novavax still has to publish Phase 3 trials, and we'll await those. But we know that Pfizer and AstraZeneca are in a very strong position.
JOURNALIST: Do we still have to pay the full amount even though it’s been, the trials been abandoned now?
PRIME MINISTER: Well we are continuing to support the research at a scientific level with the University of Queensland and I do want to say again to those UQ researchers, I mean, they will certainly be disappointed because they’ve worked so hard at this. But a key part of their scientific work continues. But all of this is done within the fiscal envelope that we have set aside for our vaccination policy. So there's no additional cost here. But as we've worked through the vaccines, I think it's important to just get a dose of reality on this: COVID-19 - many uncertainties, developing vaccines - many uncertainties, and you make calculated decisions about how you pursue particular vaccines based on the best scientific advice. And that is done on the basis of, in the full knowledge that not all of them, the likelihood of all of them being able to proceed, that was not our expectation. So what has happened today is not a surprise to the government, but what is important is that the plan was in place to deal with this, and that was inevitable, most likely that there would be these types of decisions along the way. And the fact that we could move our production, that we have put ourselves in a position to be able to change the number of doses and increase them from the various options that we have, I think demonstrates the importance of the policy and the approach we've taken.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: And just on your point, the structure of all of these agreements is that they have what are called milestone payments. And so obviously there's a fee in relation to the research, which we were very happy to contribute. But we don't have to make all the other payments because it hasn’t proceeded to phase three, let alone production or distribution.
PRIME MINISTER: [Inaudible] very cautious contracting.
JOURNALIST: And how much is that worth?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: Within our vaccine envelope, even with the new acquisitions. So at this stage, there's no extra cost to Australia.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister It seems that the extra supplies that we've ordered to make up the 51 million shortfall from CSL. Why is Pfizer not part of this new order? And are there any concerns about the supply of the Pfizer vaccine, considering President Trump signed an executive order this week mandating that US pharmaceuticals prioritise the US?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I don't have those concerns.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: No, we’ve spoken with Pfizer. I've spoken with the Australian CEO, their advice to us only in the last few days is that they're still on track for delivery in Australia. Our volumes and our vaccine selection are based on the scientific advice and we're very happy with the balance that we've got. And again, a reaffirmation from the Australian CEO that we're on track for first quarter delivery from Pfizer next year.
PRIME MINISTER: [Inaudible] got a deal.
JOURNALIST: Can I just clarify the timeline. So you knew that there was potential for these HIV false positives, but there was a slim chance of them happening. When did you find out that they had occurred? How many occurred? And when did you find out that information enough for you to make this decision?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: So this week was when we had a briefing in relation to the potential to advance to stage three. We had that on Monday, considered in terms of the National Security Committee, which immediately requested advice from the Scientific and Technical Advisory Group, which is led by Professor Murphy. And then that advice was provided yesterday to the National Security Committee, which made the decision in conjunction with CSL not to proceed.
JOURNALIST: ...216 participants returned false positive?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: So I don't have that information because there's a mixture of people who receive the vaccine and those that have a placebo. And amongst those that had the vaccine, they would have been different results. So that would be for the University of Queensland, I apologise.
JOURNALIST: ...vaccine diplomacy going on around the world. China moved its vaccine into Indonesia in fairly large quantities earlier this week, you've announced money in the Budget to go towards Pacific Islands, South East Asian nations. Can you tell us what the plans are for those countries? Who's going to get it and when would they get it in terms of the priority against Australians?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Australians are obviously our first priority. There's no question about that. And what I'd, I'd describe it more this way. You heard me say this some some months ago. And I've said it at G20 summits and many other places, whoever develops the vaccine has got to share it with the world. There's no politics in this. This is helping the rest of the world and particularly the developing countries of the world, to get access to vaccines. So we welcome, we welcome, whether it's China providing support for vaccines in Indonesia or Australia providing supports to the Pacific Islands community or South East Asia or European countries supporting in Africa or the United States in South America or wherever happens to be. This is the world at work to try and ensure that we can provide the best possible health support to people wherever they are in the world. And I think it's a great determined effort across all of these countries. So we welcome all of that. We have a particular responsibility here with our Pacific family, and our production and our securing of vaccines, plus our participation in the COVAX facilities and other purchasing arrangements, means we will be able to provide that support to Pacific countries. And I can assure you, and I'll be meeting with them tonight on another issue, but they are very appreciative of that support and they know they can trust Australia to be there for them. And we certainly will be there when it comes to supporting them with the vaccine.
JOURNALIST: A follow up on Tom’s question, so if the- if Donald Trump doesn't want the Pfizer vaccine out of America, you know, hypothetical scenario, do we have any manufacturing deal with the Pfizer vaccine in Australia or are we reliant on manufacturing in the US and exports out of the US?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: So Pfizer's an RNA vaccine and the world has never had MRNA, any MRNA vaccines prior to now. And so this is one which is manufactured overseas. We have the capacity, obviously, with CSL to do the AstraZeneca work and it also has the capacity to do other non-MRNA vaccines.
JOURNALIST: When it comes to vaccines we do see a fair bit of disinformation on social media. And I suspect that with this news about the false HIV test positives, we're going to see similar today on Facebook and Twitter. Is there a role for the government to start rolling out a public information campaign ahead of the vaccine, to start instilling confidence? And how important is it for politicians to take the lead when that vaccine does become available?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, last night the Premiers and I discussed that very issue in terms of when we would take the jab, and we will take it as soon as the medical advice suggests that we should and in the order and priority that is set out in the strategy. And so you can be assured of that. Of course. And that is not new. I've said that for this platform on many occasions, of course, we will have a public information campaign to do that. I don't suggest that people take their medical advice from Facebook or Twitter. I think that would be pretty stupid to do that. And I know Australians aren't stupid. I know Australians- and a high rate of vaccination in Australia is a demonstration of the wisdom of Australians and their confidence in the vaccination programmes we have in this country.
Earlier this week, I was speaking to the Netherlands Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, and we were discussing the issues of vaccines and the sort of rates that we would hope to hit. And I was able to share with him Australia's great success in vaccination programmes and that we are in the 90s, 95 per cent. These are figures that other countries only hope to achieve. And one of the reasons for that is, I think is the very experienced way we go about it, the strong trust that Australians rightly have in our health professionals and administrators who make these decisions to keep them safe. And of course, we will engage in that public information campaign. The states strongly support that as well, and they'll be partners in its rollout. Today we'll have a good discussion at National Cabinet, as we did indeed last night, about how we're now working to roll out that vaccine. We're well advanced on that in the discussions with the states and territories, there was a meeting, I think, yesterday, Brendan, with all the health officers and other senior health officials from the states and territories working through the planning phase now of that of that rollout. So, yes, absolutely. But listen to the official advice on vaccinations, as always. Nothing new about that. Always go to the official advice. Always go to your doctor. Always go to the medical advice, not to social media on something like that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just further to that, just to clarify, are there any other concerns with this vaccine, apart from false-
PRIME MINISTER: Which one?
JOURNALIST: The University of Queensland vaccine, or maybe this is better directed at Professor Murphy?
PRIME MINISTER: It certainly is.
DR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: None at all.
JOURNALIST: So that’s the only?
DR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: every other aspect of its development was going really well-
JOURNALIST: So this is a question of public confidence only? When you had an effective vaccine, was that a difficult decision?
DR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: We don't- we know that it was producing very good antibodies. It was likely to be effective in phase three trials. We hadn't done those phase three trials, but it was all the evidence would suggest it was going to be an effective vaccine. But we cannot risk public confidence. We just can't. And given that we have other successful candidate vaccines, this was a very difficult decision that CSL and we made together. But it was important to keep that public confidence. But I emphasise it was excellent research, it was a good platform, and it was likely to be an effective vaccine at preventing coronavirus, we think. But we haven't got the phase three data.
JOURNALIST: Does that feel like a waste then? All this research, all this money, all this time?
DR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: Well, we knew that we had to have redundancy. We knew that we had to get public confidence. Anything that risks public confidence is too great an issue for us when we've got this challenge of getting our population vaccinated. It was a hard decision for everybody.
PRIME MINISTER: But that’s the scientific process. The scientific process is always to research, to test, to trial. And you need to spread your investments to give as much opportunity for the most successful vaccines to go forward. This is the normal scientific process, and it always makes sense to invest in the science and that research process to get the best possible health outcome. So I'm very pleased we made these investment decisions. I'm very pleased we backed the world class researchers at the University of Queensland. And my message simply to them today is thank you and all the best with your continued work. You are life savers and we're incredibly proud of you.
JOURNALIST: Just a final one, the international climate summit this weekend that Prime Minister Johnson's leading, you seemingly confirmed at Question Time yesterday Australia hasn’t been granted a slot. China has, I mean, Kazakhstan has, what does it say about the summit and what does it say about Australia's climate credentials if we're not speaking but they are?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there are many countries that are not speaking, I mean New Zealand is not speaking either. So Australia's policies, when it comes to reducing emissions, are set here in Australia, in Australia's national interests. And our responsibility is to set that in a way that is consistent with the demands and needs and views of the Australian people and the science that supports that. And we have got a great track record. And I'll be sharing that track record again with Pacific Island leaders this evening. And that record is one which has seen our emissions fall by 16.6-percent since 2005. Australia is getting on with the job of reducing our emissions. We've worked hard to do that. Our over-achievement of the Kyoto targets for more than 430 million tonnes, I think of overachievement. They've been hard earned by the way, those credits that have been earned, they've been earned by farmers investing in changes in their farming practices and they've invested to achieve those earned credits. And what that means is that Australia is well on track to hit our 2030 targets and our reliance on those issues, I'll have more to say about that in the not too distant future. But the credits have been hard earned and hard won. And they're important, and I thank particularly our agricultural community, households, for putting solar on their roofs and so many others that have seen Australia perform so well. I wish them well for the summit. I'm sure it will be very nice and I think it'll be a successful summit from that perspective. But Australia will just continue to get on with the job. See that's what we do. I mean-
JOURNALIST: Was it frustrating Prime Minister I mean Prime Minister that they seem to want you there. And then they had this diplomatic push back to stop you attending?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I don't think there was as much theatre in that as you suggest David at all. We have many issues we'll continue to work on. I mean, at the moment with the UK and the EU, we're very focussed on the free trade agreement with both of those countries. And I've had many discussions with both the EU and the UK and particularly Prime Minister Johnson, on those issues. Look, what matters here is what you get done, not what you talk about. Australia's getting it done. And I'm very proud of what Australians are achieving. And I'm very thankful for the support that we've had both from households around the country as well as industry and farmers. They have all worked so hard to achieve what have been very, very good achievements on emissions reduction. Our technology plan going into the future is about continuing to achieve. See I really think we've got to the point now where it's not about the if, and it's not even about the when, it's about the how. What matters now is how we achieve emissions reduction. I said at the G20 recently, what matters is if you can produce hydrogen at $2 dollars a kilo Australian, if you can do that, then all of these targets take care of themselves. And so we're focussed on the how, and how you get it done. And I'm particularly encouraged by the enthusiasm of, whether it's in Japan, or in the United Kingdom, or Germany, or other places. They want to work with Australia on our energy plan. They want to work with us on our energy technology plan. Prime Minister Johnson and I agreed that we need to go forward with a technology agreement on energy, just like we are doing with Japan. And so we'll just keep getting it done. And I wish them well for their event over the course of the weekend. But I must admit, I'm particularly interested to be joining with our Pacific Island family tonight, to address not only how we're meeting our commitments, but also how we're supporting them when it comes to climate resilience and adaptation. This is the other, as I set out at the start of this year that some of you will recall - in addressing climate change, reducing emissions is incredibly important, and that's why we're doing what we're doing. But the reality is we have to address climate resilience and adaptation. And Australia is making significant investments in our own country on that front. And we're also making very significant investments in our region as well. And so we're moving on all of these fronts. But right now, the front I have to move on is the National Cabinet and enjoin them for our last meeting of this year and we will be joining you a little later as the members of that National Cabinet for a press conference on those issues. And I'll catch you then.
Thanks very much.
2020 Valedictory Statement, House of Representatives Australian Parliament House, ACT
11 December 2020
Prime Minister: Mr. Speaker, as we do this it was I think apt last weekend, I had an opportunity to be out in south western Sydney I was at Buxton with indeed the local member, and we were there on what was both a happy but also very sad occasion at the same time, because we were there to unveil, open a memorial playground in honour of Geoff Keaton and Andrew O’Dwyer. And we were there and joined by his, their many friends from the Horsley Park Rural Fire Service, captained by Darren Nation, a great Australian, but importantly, most importantly, by Melissa and Jess, their partners, and of course, Charlotte and Harvey, their son, and their daughter.
And Mr Speaker, it reminded us of the journey we have been on, and on the 19th of December it will be one year since we lost Geoff and Andrew and we lost many more over the course of the year that followed, 2020.
We've lost those to COVID, we've lost those in bushfires. It has been a year of great loss for Australians. Terrible loss.
Losses that will leave deep scars on Australians and on our country. They are deep and they will take a long time to heal.
That healing process, Mr Speaker will come and will flourish from the care and compassion and the love and affection that is provided by their fellow Australians.
We will see the visible evidence. We will see the superficial evidence of things improving, Mr Speaker. But we know for many years, 2020 will be something that will take Australians many years to get over. Their mental health support in the years ahead, the regrowth of our economy, the restructuring of our economy so it can grow again and realise the lives and livelihoods that Australians aspire to.
And so that is the year we have been through. And so as we come to the end of this parliamentary year and as we look forward to the Christmas period and the New Year period, we do look forward with a sense of hope.
We do look forward with a sense of gratefulness that despite everything that has happened, despite everything that has been lost. That we can look forward and know that things will regrow, that things will rebuild, that lives will be restored and our nation as we come, particularly now to Christmas Mr Deputy Speaker, has come together again as borders have come down and and families will meet again right across the country from coast to coast, from north to south, Australians will come together again over this Christmas period.
And this was an important goal. And I'm so pleased that it is being realised.
There are many people to thank, Mr Speaker, as we come together. I particularly want to thank all the members of this place as I start. All the members of this place. We have all in our way, carried leadership responsibilities this year. Whether in our local communities and the many other ways we serve and our families and in our roles here as members of this parliament and those in the other place.
We have been supported by so many in those jobs and we have sought to support so many in the great works that they have been doing in our community, whether it is the many that were referred to and thanked in Question Time today in our defence forces, our frontline health workers, our teachers, our businesses, our employees, those who have taken great risks, those who have helped out and reached out to others in times of need, we will need them all.
And as we go into this holiday season, let's hope it is a good one, there will be many who will continue that job over that break. Lifeline and other services, and volunteers, those who'll be preparing things for Christmas Day, food and shelter and comfort, help and support or simply company.
The doctors and nurses and medical staff who will be on call, the police and the paramedics and the ambos, the surf lifesavers, which will be on our beaches, and the Rural Fire Service volunteers who will be ready to go again on call, ready to go, and indeed, in so many places already, even in this season, have already been called out.
Those looking for looking after elderly Australians, many of whom, completely alone and isolated, and will know the loving touch and care of those who work in our aged care facilities.
Our defence forces who continue in Operation COVID-19 assist, the 1,500 Defence Force personnel who continue on operations all around the world. We thank you for your service and we are proud of you and your service.
I also want to acknowledge the incredible support and actions, taking on the commendation of the Member for Lingiari to our Australian public service. They have had, I believe, their finest year during the course of this COVID-19 pandemic, never before, and certainly in my experience in this place and I think for many generations, have we called upon our Australian public service to do more in the interests of Australians than we have in this past year. To work promptly, carefully, effectively. To advise. To assist. To support. To implement. To deliver. To be candid and to ensure that as a government, we could stand with Australians at their time of greatest need and as a parliament we could do the same.
The Australian Public Service have had their finest hour in so many that we can remember, and I'm deeply grateful to them. And I don't want to single any of them out, Mr. Speaker, because it is a shared commendation for them, they have all from the quietest service to those that I would meet with on a regular basis in my office, or the many Ministers here.
All of you in the public service, whether serving here in Canberra or or elsewhere around the country, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, on behalf of a very grateful nation.
Mr Speaker, here in the parliament in particular, can I thank all of those who have worked so hard in what has been an extraordinarily strange year for us to gather.
To you and the president of the Senate, these are not things that I'm sure there was a guidebook for you to deal with, as we sought to work through this year and keep our parliament functioning in the way it has. And I thank the opposition for their support in ensuring that that was made possible. Particularly, I want to thank, of course, the Clerk of the House. Thank you very much. The deputy Clerk and the clerk's assistants. So to Clarissa and Catherine and Stuart Woodley, Jerome Brown and Peter Banson thank you for your tremendous work this year. To James Catchpole, the Sergeant at Arms. Thank you for your tremendous work that you have done to ensure that we've been able to continue to function in a parliament over the course of this most difficult year in the way that we have and to do it in as normal as a way as we possibly could. Thank all of the attendants in particular to Luch and the whole crew, Luch we know well but we know them all and we thank them all for the great job they do, looking after us in all sorts of ways this year. And they've gone above and beyond the call of duty I think this year and looked after us tremendously well. The new innovations here, the video link, which I even got to appreciate, looking over the chamber from back there and observing Question Time for the first time in a very long time Mr Speaker, rather than being here in the chamber to participate. So thank you to all the technicians and all of those who made that possible this year, not just for how things worked in this chamber, so particularly for our members and senators in Victoria, especially, who were unable to be here in this parliament, that they are able to participate with questions and through other contributions and also through the committee work that is so important and to that committee work to continue during the course of COVID. So thank you to all of those who are involved in that.
Mr Speaker, can I thank our own Whips, led, of course, by the Member for Forde. Bert, you've done a tremendous job. He's doing that job right now outside as he always is, making sure that under what are quite extraordinary arrangements and I'm sure the Chief Opposition Whip who sadly can't be with us and we understand why and we wish him again all the best. But having to arrange the changed seating arrangements and all of those issues, Mr Speaker, added additional challenge and complexity. And I want to thank the members for Boothby, Grey, and Nicholls and Flynn as well, also for your great teamwork, our Whips, our Whip’s- here he is, thanks Chief Whip, our Whips either on the government or the opposition, though, just don’t ensure that this parliament moves as smoothly as it possibly can, as I'm sure the Leader of the Opposition would agree, our whips provide a great pastoral support to members in this place. The whips office is a safe space where you can go and you can speak to colleagues, you can get the support you need, you can share things and stresses that may be pressing upon your service here in this place. And it is as true on the opposition side as it is on the government side. And we thank the whips and the staff in the whips offices as well, providing that comfort and that support to all of us.
Mr Speaker, can I wish the Leader of the Opposition and his family all the very best for the Christmas period, whether either of us get a break over the summer, well, we'll see. Where we're needed to be, we will be. But I do hope to you, Anthony, and your family, that you'll be able to enjoy some good time together and have a break. And we can all return for what will be another very busy and very full year over the course of 2021.
We're looking forward to a very happy 2021. When we say Happy New Year to each other as we come to a close of this year, there's going to be a special meaning I think this year, we're going to really mean we're wishing for a very happy new year in 2021, something incredibly different from what we've experienced during this year.
I also need to acknowledge Mr Speaker, Stephen Boyd, who is retiring from the Department of House of Representatives early this year after 26 years of service. I remember sitting on the House Economics Committee many, many years ago in opposition. He was the chair- he was the secretary to that committee at the time. And he has served in many in many, many committees.
Mr Speaker, can I thank the manager for opposition business and all opposition members and their staff.
Can I thank, Mr Speaker, my team, who I've had the opportunity this week to thank and to get around to say thank you to you. Can I particularly thank the Deputy Prime Minister. Liberal and Nationals have been together for a very long time. 75 years Mr Speaker. And we always served together and we always bring our perspectives to the table together and we're always strongest when we're together. And that has particularly been on display this year. And I want to thank all of my Liberal team and through the Deputy Prime Minister, all of the Nationals team for the way we have come together for the nation over the course, particularly of this past year.
Can I think the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and the Treasurer, it's pretty tough coming into a job which your boss used to have. He's always got plenty of suggestions and always a very unique perspective on it. But I really want to congratulate you, Treasurer, not just on the extraordinary work you did on the economic recovery plan this year. But I particularly want to thank you because as so many other Victorian members of this place. And I acknowledge the Minister for Health also in a similar way. That you had to be so often away from Amie and the kids and to be here well beyond parliamentary sittings, but to be here constantly isolating on a couple occasions, I think it ultimately was, and to be there in a way, I know how much that was impacting on you, but you kept your focus. You kept your commitment, you kept your discipline, and you stayed on the task. And to Amie and the kids, we thank you and we hope you'll enjoy some good weeks with them over the break.
I particularly also want to acknowledge the Minister for Health very similarly. These were the, these were the portfolios that were really drawn upon this year. And people had to stand up. And he's not that tall a fella, but he stood very tall this year. He was a giant, almost as tall as the member for Groom, who we welcome to the House.
Mr. Speaker, can I thank the former leader of the government in the Senate, Mathias Cormann, for the great work he did this year. He's now engaged in another great enterprise. I heard from again this morning. But can I thank the new leader of the government in the Senate, Senator Birmingham.
Can I thank also his new deputy leader, Senator Cash, for getting off to such a great start. And after a particularly busy night last night and making sure that the chambers are working effectively and working together with their team.
I want to thank again all the Coalition member’s staff, I had the opportunity to do that this week in a special phone hook up- a very large number. And I'm so pleased we're able to do that. And I hope they will get some peace and some downtime over the course of the break as well.
Can I also add my thanks to my own staff and led by, of course, by Dr. Kunkel, by John Kunkel, I thank him for the tremendous work he does in driving our government, working, of course, with the Secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Phil Gaetjens and all the team there.
It's been an interesting year in our office this year. There have been many prodigious contributions, but that has also included 7 children born to my staff over the course of this year. We've got baby girls, Evelyn, Evie, Vera and Matilda, and we've got boys Xavier, Anthony and Hugo. I think even Hugo might be in the chamber, he was a little earlier, and two more are arriving very, very soon. Here he goes- Hugo’s up there with Sonia. So that's absolutely tremendous.
To the Leader of the Government in the House, to the Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations. This is not a job, I can assure you, that he craves. It's not one that he seeks, but it is one that is clearly done with a sense of duty and responding to the call to service. And he does it in his absolutely impeccable way. And I want to thank you, Christian, for the tremendous job which you continue to do even as we speak, and making sure that the parliament has worked so well this year.
So whether it's the federal police who look after me and my family, or the Minister for Home Affairs and his family, or the Treasurer and his, or others who look after us from time to time, thanks very much for your efforts this year.
To all the security in this building, to all the caterers, to the library, Hansard and support staff, even to the media in the building, which has been a very strange year for you, too. And we thank you for the jobs that we all do to make this place what it is.
To the cleaners around the building and particularly those in my office, Anna and Maria, they are, they are sisters and Luzia, all have clocked up some 30 years in this building. They've been cleaning up a lot of mess for a long time, Mr Speaker. And I suspect they will continue to for some time still to come. And we thank them for their great smiles, which greet me every single day.
Mr Speaker, let me conclude by saying there are a couple of things we missed in this building this year. One of those was the school groups I'm sure, it was great to wave to them across the glass here today. But to see those schools coming back to our parliament, it's a bit like the birds that return after a storm Mr Speaker, we're passing through that storm as a country. The signs, the signs are there.
And I think as we go into this time of Christmas, Mr Speaker, it gives us the time to reflect on the renewal that will take place. And it will take place, Mr Speaker, it will give us encouragement as we go forward into the future.
Australians, my prayers for you and your family this Christmas is that you will find that peace in a year where there has been little, and that you will find the hope and you can cleave to that hope as you go into 2021.
God bless you, Australia, and thank you very much. And Merry Christmas and a very happy 2021.
Virtual Address, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
8 December 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much, Ray. Thank you for that very kind acknowledgement and welcome to join you here this evening. To Nola and to James, to a very long time friend, Paul Nicolaou, and so many other friends who I see on the screen who I've known for many, many, many years. To Kate Carnell of the Small Business Ombudsman but to all of you. Can I particularly give a big shout out to all the Western Australians on the call, as I just said, to the Western Australian Chamber President, welcome back to Australia. I don't think you really ever left us in spirit, but it's great to be connected up and to be whole again as a country. Australia wasn't meant to have internal borders, we all know that, and it's been a difficult year. And I'm so pleased that as we come to the end of this year, one of the great goals I've had this year is to see our country come together again. I've understood why there has had to be separations at times. But I've got to tell you, as a Prime Minister, it has really affected me that at all times this year we weren't able to completely be connected as a country and I couldn't tell you, my Christmas wish has come true in seeing Australia come together again.
And can I also acknowledge the Ngunnawal people where I'm speaking to you from this evening, to acknowledge their elders past, present and future. And particularly this time, can I acknowledge any serving men and women who may be connected up to this call. Can I acknowledge any veterans who have served our country and say simply thank you on behalf of a very grateful nation. And could I say to all those businesses online who are here with us tonight who employ veterans, who have placed their faith in veterans, you know that by employing a veteran, your business has been greatly assisted. You know the value of them. But thank you for acknowledging them and thank you for putting your trust in them. We trusted them in uniform. We trust them today. And so many businesses around the country are rightly and are being rewarded for the trust they put in our wonderful veterans in this country.
I said at the start of the pandemic, and I've got to tell you, over the course of this year and many trips out to that courtyard, I would consider very carefully what I was going to say to the country. Never have we experienced in such a long time when what we would say is a government, not just myself, but of course, premiers and others in a position of leadership, the country was seeking guidance, support, strength and courage. And on each and every occasion, I would consider very carefully what I would be saying. Now, on that occasion, I said that Australia was a strong people, but we were about to discover just how strong we were and we are. 2020, everyone has stepped up. Families, communities, businesses, unions, governments, we've all come together. Ideology just didn't matter. Past grievances, differences, didn't matter. And I think Australians can take great pride in what we have achieved together.
I've never been more proud of my country than now as we come to the conclusion of this year. What an amazing people we are. I'm so proud. We worked to clear goals. We said we needed to save lives and save livelihoods. This is a set of objectives which were then actually taken up around the world. And it was interesting at the G20, these were repeated back to me by leaders from all of those nations. Our strong economic foundation meant we could make immediate investments in our health systems, partnering with our states. Sadly, 908 lives have been lost. This is a terrible tragedy, but it's a mortality rate that is a fraction of what we see around the rest of the world.
The strong economic supports were delivered, over half a trillion dollars. It is unthinkable, unimaginable if we took ourselves back 12 months ago to this time, more than a quarter of the size of our economy. We saved, we know, some 700,000 jobs while at the same time supporting another three and a half million. Last week, we learnt that our economy grew by 3.3 percent in the September quarter. That's the single largest increase since the mid 70s. Though, while the comeback has begun, the journey of recovery continues. So much more needs to be done. But the lesson of 2020 here and around the world, stay the course, stay vigilant. We know a vaccine is close, but that does not give us a leave pass to continue on in the way that we have during the course of this year.
Our goal as a government as we lead the comeback is jobs. And I know it's your goal, too. That is best delivered by a business-led recovery. More than eight in 10 jobs in Australia are in the private sector. And our plan has always been about businesses. I don't want government at the centre of the economy. My government does not want government at the centre of the economy. It wants enterprises. We want Australians doing what they have always done to make us the prosperous country we are. And so our plan has been about backing the plans of Australians and their futures and particularly of those who run businesses in this country. Because that's what will create jobs not just now, but into the future. Claiming new ground. I agree with the McKinsey assessment. They said in 2020, the management teams of Australians deserve to be massively proud of themselves. But 2021 really matters for setting up businesses for the next decade and we have to keep going.
That's what our JobMaker plan was all about. In the midst of the hardest times of the COVID-19 recession, we started to outline that JobMaker plan. And that was not just about as how we would recover and how we would cushion the blow, but more importantly, how we were going to build the future in responding to the challenges of COVID. In the short time, we've driven business investment and job creation, including incentivising workers to shift to faster growing sectors in the longer term, delivering the economic growth needed to create wealth to pay back the debt and respond to future economic shocks. JobMaker is about providing the policy support for rebuilding our economy and the recovery. The tax relief, temporary full expensing, the COVID loss carryback measures, which I don't need to explain to this audience. You know how important that is. Businesses that made losses through no fault of their own, who went into this into this COVID-19 recession doing well, paying tax. We became shareholders, if you like, in Australian businesses by saying take those losses, set them off against the tax you pay from your success going into this recovery, into this recession, and that will aid your recovery because we will benefit from that. Cutting the red tape, supporting the delivery of reliable, affordable energy. So important not just in our major cities and urban areas, particularly our regional areas. Investing in the major infrastructure projects, driving the uptake of digital technology, which we've seen advanced at a rapid rate.
A key part of our JobMaker plan that I talked about at the Press Club so many months ago now, it seems, was the need to deal with what happens in our workplaces. Like you, I want our workplaces to be places of cooperation and not conflict. I want them to be places of partnership, not partisanship. At the start of the pandemic, we quickly realised the rigidity of the Australian industrial relations system, not something was lost on yourselves, and that this would actually be a barrier to overcoming the jobs challenge that confronted us. The system just simply couldn't function during the COVID collapse with those rules. The flexibility wasn’t something that was desirable. It was necessary to save lives and livelihoods. And so through the JobKeeper legislation, we actually addressed that. But to the credit of all businesses, unions and government, we did adapt. We did make compromises. We did find a new way through. We did reset at a very important time. And why? Jobs. It's that simple.
Through the JobKeeper legislation, we made temporary amendments to the Fair Work Act twice. I thought it was hard getting it the first time. In fact, we came together with the ACTU. We enabled that and it smoothed its passage through the Parliament. But then I had to go back and we got there again with Christian Porter and this played a vital role in allowing businesses to survive and keep people in jobs. And on the second wave of those changes, you will recall, as businesses came off JobKeeper, remember two million Australians and more came off JobKeeper at the end of September, 450,000 businesses employed those more than two million Australians. And what we said to them is that as they stood them down, that they would continue to need flexibility in the workplace to keep people in jobs and we got that through and the best news I've had on the economy has been the fact of that graduation of 450,000 businesses out of the COVID-19 recession and the JobMaker need, where two million Australians no longer had to rely on taxpayers for income support and that businesses were beginning to stand on their own two feet again and there was a great sense of pride about that. So I'm not surprised that today we learnt that consumer confidence is at a 20 year high and that business confidence is about a two and a half year high because they have passed through the fire and they've come out the other side.
I was determined to take the opportunity COVID presented to address some of the longer term problems that we have in the system in a collaborative way. In June, we established five industrial relations working groups to look at well-known issues within the IR framework. It wasn't a talkfest. It wasn't a debate. It was a get together to get things done initiative and I have greatly appreciated, James and Ray, ACCI’s constructive engagement throughout these final negotiations. You guys turned up. Tomorrow we will be addressing into the Parliament a package of legislative reforms that will move us forward, employers and workers and our economy. The agreement making process, of course, needs fixing. We all know that. So we're simplifying the process by ensuring approvals hinge on the agreement substance rather than the technicalities or hypotheticals that hold us back. We’re clarifying the application of the better off overall test. This will ensure the overall benefits and views of employees and employers are considered in a practical and sensible way. It will provide certainty for COVID-affected sectors by extending for two years some of the temporary flexibilities in the Fair Work Act. And we're letting part-time workers more easily take on additional hours of work in these sectors at the usual rate of pay, should it be both employers or the employee's interests. Separately will ask the Fair Work Commission to prioritise reviewing a number of priority awards with a view to simplifying their operation, including consideration of loaded rates and lastly, our reforms will provide certainty, clarity and fairness around casual employment. That matters so businesses can have confidence to create more jobs.
I think in picking up the theme, everything for me as Prime Minister as we pursue our economic recovery plan, is jobs. If someone wants to work with me to create jobs, they have a seat at my table and we will work together to do just that. This is a genuine attempt that you've been engaged in with some one hundred and fifty hours of discussions in a way that provides shared benefits, and we've seen that reform is possible when the benefits to all sides are clearly understood and there are appropriate safeguards and protections. Now, you'll be the first to tell me, no doubt, that, of course, there were other things you would have liked to see, and there always is. But this was about getting stuff done. This was a time to fix things, not fight about things, and you came to the table with that spirit and Minister Porter and I are very grateful for the good faith way in which you have engaged and will continue to engage. I think we're building something, I really do, a new way of dealing with industrial relations, stepping back from the old way of partisanship and ideological battles and we're getting back to focus on what it's all about. And that is that Australians can have livelihoods.
This year we've seen also tremendous ways of change that have taken place in work and how people work, where they work, what skills they need, how they manage change. In every business, we’re experiencing change in a much higher speed. For example, 90 per cent of Australian businesses took on new technologies. Yesterday's report by the National Skills Commission examined the nature of these workforce changes and as importantly, looked at the workforce we will need in the post-COVID world. That work is going to keep changing and our challenge is to have the skills available that we will need in the future and for federal and state systems and incentives to be pointing in the same direction. This is about anticipating the future and planning for as best we can. It's what ACCI has been saying for many years. So I hope you're encouraged by what we're doing.
This year through the National Cabinet, we delivered the JobTrainer fund to provide over 300,000 free or low cost training places in the areas of identified need. All states and territories have signed up. Training is already available and viable in Queensland and Northern Territory, not too far off. As well, we’re also supporting on the job training and backing all those businesses that are employing workers as they build up their skills. Early on, we stepped in with wage support for Australian businesses that retained their apprentices and trained trainees by paying half their wages. So far, this has supported over 100,000 apprentices and trainees, including 20,000 brickies, chippies and joiners, 50,000 electricians, 10,000 plumbers, 5,000 hairdressers and 8,000 automatic mechanics and electricians. We've also extended wage support to employers taking on a new apprentice or trainee with an additional $1.2 billion to deliver 100,000 new apprenticeships. This is the right decision given the data of the Skills Commission that 48 per cent of job losses this year were young people. The good news is the number of apprentices and trainees in training contracts recovering to above where it was in March. We're also working with the states and territories to deliver a standard VET system through longer-term reform. I'm pleased that the National Cabinet has agreed to work towards a new national skills agreement by next August. We're meeting on Friday, the first time in person since that day back in mid-March, and I can tell you we're very serious about working together to get this skills package right. There's a lot of goodwill and good faith going into this. We're really directing our attention to it.
On other topics, too, like mental health reform and things like that and there's been a few brickbats that've gone to the National Cabinet this year. But I can tell you, at the end of the day, things should be judged on their successes and their outcomes and the National Cabinet this year has ensured that we've been able to manage so many difficult issues. And while there are some disagreements, the fact that we can pull together a National Skills Agreement in just over a couple of weeks when normally, in my experience, that would have taken several years, just shows how we learnt to do things so much better as a Federation during the course of this year.
I want to pay special tribute to the efforts of Australian small businesses - determined, resilient, flexible and passionate. They put their head down and they just kept going. Of course we have stood with them because combined, they are our biggest employers. And backing them in with JobKeeper, the JobMaker hiring credit, the cash flow bonus scheme which has provided over $34 billion to help around 800,000 small and medium businesses stay afloat. The small and medium sized enterprise guarantee scheme, supporting up to $40 billion of lending increase. Time-limited tax incentives, including the full expensive measures and temporary loss carryback I mentioned earlier. Expanding access to a range of small business tax concessions, helping distressed small businesses restructure and improving the digital capability. All of this backing in the confidence of small businesses.
This year has been one of the hardest in living memory. We all know that. As we look around the world, we can't be naive about the prospects for a fast global recovery. But here in Australia, we have one of the best records of any country in the world. It's something you can all be pretty proud of, incredibly proud of. Our comeback will take time. There is cause for optimism. Confidence grows. Our JobMaker plan is about our recovery. It's about our rebuilding. And it's about the future. It's about building an economy that's more advanced, more adaptive and more creative and importantly, more resilient than ever. It's about continuing our wonderful Australian success story.
So as we come to the end of what has been a very difficult year, I'm full of hope. I'm full of beans about 2021. I'm very excited about it. I'm excited to see what's happening in my country, as I'm sure you are, too. I'm totally energised by the tremendous resilience and spirit of Australians and as we go into Christmas, I pray that we will have a great time of blessing amongst our families. And as we look forward to 2021, I know it's going to be a happy New Year. Thank you very much for your kind attention.
Virtual Speech, Singapore FinTech Festival
8 December 2020
PRIME MINISTER: G’day from Australia!
It’s fantastic to be part of this world renowned FinTech festival.
For many years, I have been an enthusiastic believer in the potential of this dynamic sector.
Because it’s demonstrating its ability to drive change, growth, innovation and productivity, most importantly, across every field of economic endeavour, and even more broadly than that.
This is a sector that can transform lives - by unlocking the financial system, by giving more power to consumers, fintech is a boon to small businesses and start-ups, but also families.
This sector is proving that we are only limited in this day and age by our imagination.
These are extraordinary times - and today I want to speak to you about the times we live in, the innovation these times are driving within our Government and governments, and what I believe is the compelling Australian FinTech story.
The times we face
The world over - we have all faced the health and economic crises generated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
2020 is a year none of us want to repeat.
In Australia, we have used our strong balance sheet - built up over many years of discipline, to support and provide our health system with the additional resources, record levels, it has needed - and to provide major, unprecedented economic supports for households and businesses - providing much needed strength and resilience to the economy to both cushion the blow and to recover.
On the health front - the virus has been largely suppressed and contained here in Australia. But sadly, like so many other countries, we have lost lives. 900, just over here in Australia.
Our efforts have successfully suppressed the virus - and we are now focused on ensuring there are no more outbreaks, and that they are contained in the event that they occur.
On the economic front, our actions have saved 700,000 jobs - and many of the jobs that were lost are returning. In fact, around 80 per cent of jobs that were either wiped out or people’s hours were reduced to zero, have now been returned to our economy.
We’ve had one of the lowest falls in our GDP of any of the advanced nations. Only last Wednesday we learned that in the September quarter our economy rebounded with 3.3 per cent growth.
The strong results is a credit to all parts of Australian life. It’s by virtue of the great contributions of workers, employees, of governments, of businesses, of employers.
Through some of our businesses, though they were frozen in place by virtue of the pandemic restrictions, they are now coming back to life. And many are accelerating at warp speed.
Fintech and JobMaker
Nearly 9 out of 10 Australian firms took on new technology to cope with new conditions here in Australia.
McKinsey has estimated that in terms of business and consumer digital adoption, we vaulted forward some 5 years in just 8 weeks.
Now that’s supercharged change.
I am determined, here in Australia, that we don’t lose that momentum.
And that’s why we had our JobMaker Plan put in place, which is all about our recovery plan, the rebuilding, rebuilding our economy for the future.
And that comeback is on. It is happening right now in Australia.
Building an economy that is more advanced and adaptive, more creative and resilient than ever before.
That means modernising our digital architecture.
Getting the regulatory settings right and governments leading by example in how we do business.
It’s also about supporting businesses to take up that new technology, to apply it, to adopt it, and become digital by default.
Ensuring our cyber security settings though are fit-for-purpose is critical to underpin the confidence that is needed for Australians and the businesses they run, households they’re part of, to engage in that digital technology future.
Encouraging unimagined innovation by removing barriers to entry, we have been doing through regulatory sandboxes here in Australia.
And building on consumer data rights - which I started work on when I was the Treasurer.
These are landmark reforms to our economy, some of the biggest reforms we’ve seen.
Vital to giving customers, consumers power, more access and control over their data, where data has become a commodity in this digital age.
This year, we launched it in our banking sector, as part of our banking sector reforms, our open banking reforms. And other sectors will soon follow, particularly in energy and other utilities.
The whole sector relies on partnerships in FinTech - connecting different parts of the eco-system - and that includes government. We’re no exception here.
Our Partnership with Singapore
Australia and Singapore are Comprehensive Strategic Partners and I greatly value the relationship I have with Prime Minister Lee and that Singapore has with Australia. It is very important to us.
It is a deep friendship, it is a deep partnership, and it is based on such clear values and an outlook on the world and our economic futures that is highly aligned.
In August this year, Australia and Singapore signed a ground-breaking Digital Economy Agreement - one of the first of its kind.
The Agreement is a digital bridge that features modern, upgraded rules to free up data flows and increase compatibility for online trade.
It gets rid of unnecessary restrictions on where data has to be stored, while at the same time protecting personal data and consumer rights.
It makes government information also easier to access, and government rules easier to follow.
It covers everything from AI to ID; e-invoicing to e-certification; data protection to protecting our children from online harm, from online predators.
It’s a massive step forward, and a new global benchmark for digital trade for others to follow, and for both of us to pursue with other partners around the world, so we can all become linked up.
FinTech is a big plank of this digital bridge.
We’ve opened the way for collaboration between FinTech and RegTech enterprises and industry bodies to explore business opportunities, and develop standards for open banking.
And all of this, it’s just the start.
The Australian Acceleration
FinTech, it’s not a destination or a one-size fits all approach to modernising policy.
It’s not a buzz word, it’s real.
It’s all about government taking on the same flexibility as well, and adaptability and willingness to experiment and innovate - just like business does when it wants to flourish.
I want the pace of change in our government to continue to accelerate in these critical areas.
And it has this year. Dramatically.
On the FinTech front, we’ve seen great work with our Parliamentary Committee into FinTech headed by Senator Bragg and the work of our Assistant Minister for Financial Services and Financial Technology Jane Hume - and my message to my colleagues across government is: don’t let up, keep going!
FinTech is integral to the economy we are rebuilding.
And there are plenty of fronts where we have so much still to do - particularly in deregulation, taxation, and especially skills development.
We have a fantastic Australian story - and I am incredibly proud of what our Aussie start-ups and early age ventures are achieving, as well as our well-established unicorns and what they’re achieving.
You know some of them: Atlassian, Airwallex, Afterpay, Judo Bank, Athena Home Loans.
In fact, “Buy Now Pay Later” Is an Australian innovation.
As a people, we are very keen adopters - it’s just how we are, it's part of our psyche - and that means it's easy to create a customer base here.
Australian’s get this.
We’ve seen that this year in the Medtech space - with a massive roll out of telehealth services throughout the pandemic. So far, over 40 million telehealth consultations have taken place - providing medical support to 11.9 million Australians.
Now when you think of Australia, we’re a vast country. Vast spaces, populations far removed. And so our geography, our society, our passion for delivering essential services right across our country, it produces this type of innovation.
We have difficult problems to solve here in Australia, and these tools help us solve them, which demonstrates why we are a country that really does understand the future of FinTech.
As the world’s only nation continent, we always have to be outward looking. You don’t get rich by selling stuff to yourself. Singaporeans certainly understand that.
It’s why we always look beyond our own borders for our economic opportunities.
So half of our FinTech firms actually have a presence overseas.
Last year, 7 Australian companies were named among the world’s top 100 FinTechs.
And for Australia, we know that continued acceleration requires greater attention to skills.
This technology, it doesn’t invent itself.
As your conference theme reminds us, technology is as much about talent as it is about tools.
We need more highly-skilled people to develop and commercialise the next wave of cutting edge innovations. And they are welcome here in Australia, if this is where you wish to come to further you FinTech’s opportunities.
Some countries are worried about the brain-drain - we’re focused on the “brain gain”. That’s about attracting talent and global businesses to Australia.
This can be your place of great success as it has been for millions over many generations.
A country that is reliable, safe, stable and free. Resolutely free. And, although I might be a little biased, it is a beautiful place to live, and to raise a family.
And we can comfortably pitch for that talent - because we are the most successful multicultural nation on earth.
No one has greater diversity across its population and more successful cohesion of the many cultures, of the many language groups, of the ethnicities and heritages that come together in this amazing Australian nation.
So we are building our skills locally as well as attracting skilled people from overseas.
That’s an invite by the way!
To help us do that, I’ve appointed a Special Envoy for Global Business and Talent Attraction, Mr Peter Verwer AO.
Peter’s an experienced business leader here in Australia, but he is also experienced overseas. He’s based in Singapore, with deep commercial, academic and cultural networks that reach out across the world. He’s spent much time there.
His team is scouting for talented people to come to Australia and work with us.
His message, and mine as he is my Special Envoy on this issue, is that Australia is a great place to do business - and yes, it’s the best place in the world to live.
We have a blossoming tech sector, a digital bridge to Singapore and the region, a culture of innovation and collaboration, and a fierce determination to keep building on what we have already achieved.
We are also keen to work with our global partners to ensure international policy rules keep pace with the needs of the communities that we represent.
And we want to set that pace too. We’re looking for pace setters here in Australia.
I hope many of you will want to work with us. I hope many of you will want to join us. And I hope that we’ll be able to welcome you for that purpose.
So thank you, everyone. I hope enjoy the festival of FinTech.
It’s an exciting part of what’s happening in the world today, a real bright spot. Something that I think our countries, our populations, our citizens can gain great hope from.
Thank you very much for your kind attention.
Speech, Buxton RFS Memorial Opening
5 December 2020
Well, thank you very much. It's a great honour and privilege to join with you all here today.
Can I commence by acknowledging, of course, the Dharawal and Gundungurra people. And thank you for the welcome to country today and the just wonderful singing of our national anthem in Dharawal. That is something that young children in my electorate in the Sutherland Shire have done for many, many years. And my children grew up singing in Dharawal as well at their local schools. And I can only think of Harvey and Charlotte growing up and learning the anthem in that language as well. It is absolutely beautiful.
Can I acknowledge the elders past, present and future. Can I acknowledge any veterans serving men and women of the Defence Forces who are here with us today. And say, just simply thank you for your service.
To all those volunteers, particularly the rural fire service who are here with us today, thank you for your service.
To the Premier Gladys Berejiklian, thank you for your leadership in such an incredibly tough year here in New South Wales. You've been a great supporter, a great colleague, and I greatly appreciate the strength that you've shown here in our largest state.
To Angus Taylor, the Member for Hume, he is here in that capacity today, thank you for your leadership here on the ground during the terrible Black Summer of fires that was endured. And to Nat also to you the Member for Wollondilly the same, Councillor Robert Kahn the Mayor of Wollondilly Shire, Commissioner Rob Rogers thank you Rob for your leadership that extends now and into the future. But of course, if you would join me in acknowledging the former Commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons from Resilience New South Wales. And it's great to see you both here today.
To the O'Dwyer family and the Keaton families, to Melissa and to Charlotte, to Jess and to Harvey, to the parents, to the brothers and sisters, of all the extended family that comes together today and of course, to the members of the Horsley Park brigade and to Darren Nation, a champion of a leader who is an example to so many right across the brigade and of course, the local Buxton brigade here as well, and all the RFS members who fought those fires together.
Thank you for inviting me to mark the formal opening of this Memorial Park in honour of Geoff and Andrew.
There have been many moments of sadness in this past year, and I hope as I have already conveyed, that this is a day that might have a light of joy for you on this long road.
It's another step in the journey, a tough journey I know for the families. I hope this is a day that you can look back on as a day of some joy.
Children have a great capacity to bring love and to create joy, and to generate laughter.
I want to thank the Buxton community and the Wollondilly Shire for their efforts to make this day in this wonderful place a reality.
It was a generous action, one supported at all levels, so the children could come and play, so they could establish a new hope.
Children can heal us in a way that we can never understand or explain.
And so this place will be a place of healing.
It'll be a place of peace, of quiet reflection, but above all, a place to play. A place for children like Charlotte and Harvey, who I know have given their very strong seal of approval, earlier today as I watched them play.
It's great to see them here today. They’re fantastic kids, who I know bring great comfort to their families through all of this.
I'm sure, and I hope, your dads would have loved this place as your mums, I'm sure do.
We all wish that Geoff could have chased Harvey through this fire truck behind me, and that Andrew could have lifted Charlotte up to help grasp the monkey bars. While Jess and Melissa watched over enjoying a cup of coffee and a bit of a catch up.
I hope this is a place where Harvey and Charlotte and their mums and their broader families can feel the presence of Geoff and Andrew.
It is said that one of the meanings of the word Wollondilly means a place where spirits dwell. I'm sure that will be true here in this very special place.
Anniversaries are difficult, particularly anniversaries of the nature that we mark here in coming times.
Australians will never forget all of those who served so valiantly, our volunteer firefighters and what they did for us during our Black Summer.
I'll personally never forget Horsley Park’s decision, under Darren's leadership, to honour their colleagues by getting back out there on the fire trail.
A while back, I had the privilege of speaking and addressing and honouring some veterans of World War II. And I said to them, we pledge to always be a country as good and as courageous as you.
Good and courageous. That's Geoff and Andrew.
Let's make the same pledge to them again this day. And not just to them, but to David Moresi too, and Sam McPaul and Bill Slade and Matt Kavanagh and Ian McBeth, Paul Hudson and Rick DeMorgan Junior. Those who we also lost in the Black Summer.
And good and courageous is how we would also describe our RFS volunteers and particularly those at Horsley Park, and of course here in Buxton.
I’ve mentioned Darren Nation a few times, I want to acknowledge him here today, personally, he has been a constant source of encouragement and strength and an inspiration to me over this past year, and I thank you, Darren for leading locally and encouraging nationally.
All of you keep us safe and it's everyone who supports them beside- behind the scenes as well gathered here today, spouses, kids who are all too familiar with the interrupted dinners, the hasty departures of birthday parties and the sounds of pagers or phones going off, you are all good and courageous.
So today, again, I feel sad for the loss, certainly. But also I'm reaching out to that joy that is there for all of us to take, in this wonderful playground.
A place of pride, pride in the selflessness of Geoff and Andrew, pride in the brigade and the community who have rallied here together, pride in the good and courageous people who protect us every day.
I'm sure the Premier feels the same way. And the other Ministers, representatives of the community here.
I have never felt more proud of Australia as we draw to the end of this terrible year, as I do now.
I've never felt more proud of our country and of my home state of New South Wales.
So, for many here. You did not get a Christmas last year. And again, Christmas this year I'm sure will be difficult.
There will be grief, but also, hopefully, the joy of the wonderful message of Christmas for all of you.
I hope and pray that the buds and sprigs of laughter and joy will be found again in your lives this Christmas and beyond. That’s my Christmas wish and prayer for you all.
It's a great honour to be with you all here today.
God bless.
Remarks, NSW Police Attestation Ceremony Sydney Cricket Ground, NSW
4 December 2020
Prime Minister: Thank you very much, Ben. I hadn’t planned on making remarks today but I must admit, looking upon New South Wales’ finest, I couldn’t resist. I acknowledge the Gadigal elders past, present and future. I acknowledge the servicemen and women and veterans who are here with us today. But most of all I acknowledge you. I acknowledge the great men and women of the New South Wales Police Force.
My father stood where you stood decades ago. He would be very proud to look upon you today. He was passionate about community policing, as Commissioners past and present know. You are part of our community. You protect our community. You are pastors of our community. You promote our community. You will stand in the places where our community fractures and breaks. You will see and hear and feel things, and experience things that those of us who do not wear that uniform never will. You stand in that gap for our community. You will find no more noble service than what you are undertaking here.
Today you have taken an oath, and we are placing our trust in you and you have accepted that trust in that oath, and we thank you for that. You have joined the gold-standard of police forces, not just here in Australia, but all around the world. I know your family will be bursting with pride, as I burst with pride for my father’s service. Thank you so much and God bless you.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
3 December 2020
Prime Minister: Good morning, everyone. It's great to be back and can I welcome Minister Hunt, Greg Hunt with us here today and the head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Professor John Skerritt, who also joins us today.
Australia faces many challenges. This has been a very hard year for so many Australians. The world's not getting any easier. The challenges aren't getting any lesser. But the way we deal with things in Australia is we always seek to do them very much in our own Australian way. And a key part of doing that is always working hard to get the right balance. There's no doubt the problems we face are complex, they're difficult. They have many dimensions. They can't be simplistically explained or dealt with. And I understand that Australians get that, too. They know there aren't easy fixes to the challenges that we face as a country, and they expect governments to wrestle with the pressures that are facing our country and seek to strike the right balance to get that balance right.
And that's what we've been seeking to do on so many issues, but none more, none more greatly than our government's response and Australia's response more broadly to the global pandemic and the COVID-19 recession that has resulted from that pandemic. Whether that's getting the balance right when it comes to our economic response, which yesterday's National Accounts has demonstrated that Australia's response has been right, that it has been timely, that has been proportionate, that it has been well targeted and the results are there to see. But yet there is still a long way to go. And that's why our economic programmes stretch out across the forward estimates across the next few years in particular, a very strong portfolio of initiatives, particularly those announced in the recent Budget, which will continue to support our economic recovery in the years ahead.
I think one of the great proof points of the success of that plan, of that strategy is the fact that some 450,000 businesses in Australia have graduated from JobKeeper. 2 million Australians, in fact, more than that, are no longer depending on taxpayers for their income support through JobKeeper, they've graduated from that also. At the same time with JobSeeker, we have not seen an overall increase in the number of people in JobSeeker. In fact, we've seen a moderation of that. And I think what this demonstrates is the economy is changing gears again and we are moving forward again. The figures themselves quite specifically show that the Australian economy is literally moving - transport, accommodation, hotels, restaurants, people in Australia are moving again. And that's good for the economy as we see the borders come tumbling down around the country as we hoped would achieve. But that's being done safely to safely open so that we can remain open safely. This is incredibly important for our recovery.
Our economic recovery, though, is built on the platform of our health response. This is so critical, as we've seen around the world, that our health response creates the economic opportunities and the two work together hand in hand, whether that was the build up in the early phase of our ICUs, our PPE equipment, the testing reagents and other things which the Minister was so critical in securing for the safety of Australians, or working through the hotel quarantine challenges together with the states and territories or indeed the testing regimes as they've been rolled out on an industrial scale. And, of course, the arrangements for tracing that have been extraordinary.
Now you'll be aware of the reports this morning in New South Wales. I've been in touch with the Premier this morning. She'll be speaking later today. But as always, I have great confidence in the New South Wales government's testing and tracing capabilities, their gold standard, not just in this country, but anywhere around the world. They've dealt with these issues in their stride before, while keeping their economy open, 6.8 per cent growth in New South Wales, along with Queensland. Both of them have strong tracing and testing regimes in those states, which enables us to remain open safely. But the other challenge, as we've worked past these last few months, has been to prepare Australia for a vaccine. The arrangements have been put in place to secure access to four vaccines, all of which, all of which are proving to be very promising but still have stages to pass in the months ahead. And that's why Professor Skerritt joins us here this morning. But as is the case with the vaccine and the many other challenges that we face, we've got to get that balance right and we will implement the vaccine here in Australia according to Australian needs and Australian conditions and the challenges and opportunities we have here.
Our COVID-19 situation at the moment, I would describe as very stable. With the protections in place to ward against and to deal with any outbreaks as they arise, as we've seen in recent weeks and months, but that said, as we move into the vaccine period, our first priority is that it be safe, it must be safe for Australians, and that's what they would expect of us. So the vaccination policy has been established. It has been agreed by Cabinet and it has also been endorsed by the National Cabinet. The vaccine strategy is now in its advanced stage of preparation, and that will further be considered by the Cabinet, the federal Cabinet. And we are working closely with the states and territories and the roll out plans that stem from that strategy. And so I've asked the Health Minister to join me today with Professor Skerritt to take you through those next steps.
You'll be aware of the decisions that have been taken in the United Kingdom no doubt, the UK will need to deal with their situation and their circumstances in their way. Of course they should. And it's been a consistent theme around the world, that each nation has had its own set of unique challenges. In Australia we are in a very strong position and that enables us to get this right, to get the balance right, to ensure first and foremost the safety, which enables us to then roll out the vaccine successfully across the country. Australia has one of the highest rates of vaccinations anywhere in the world, and the reason for that is standing to my right - the Therapeutic Goods Administration and the important processes that they put in place to protect the safety of Australians.
So with that, I'll hand you over to Minister Hunt.
The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health: Thanks very much, Prime Minister. It's good to have him back, although, to be honest, he never left us.
But to Australians, I want to say this: firstly, thank you. What you have done in terms of helping to fight the coronavirus pandemic this year has been extraordinary. The media have played a hugely important role. Our states, our territories, our health professionals, the Australian public and in particular, our regulators. And so we welcomed the news overnight of the next phase of the global development and support for the rollout of a safe, effective international vaccine globally.
Australia is doing magnificently, but we will not be truly safe at home until the world is safe. And that's why vaccines at home and abroad are so important. Very significantly, what we've seen from the United Kingdom and I'll invite Professor Skerritt to provide more information on that, is that they’ve put in place an emergency authorisation. And John is in fact, the Vice Chair of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authority. So he is one of the people in all of the world who is at the heart of the global assessment, approval, and roll out process for vaccines. And so we're very fortunate to have not just a regulatory agency, but a chief regulator of such standing.
In particular, we know that around the world there's a seven day moving average of over 580,000 cases and agonisingly over 10,000 lives lost. In the United Kingdom alone, a seven day moving average of over 14,500 cases. And in one country, on any one day, they're seeing an average of 460 lives lost. So in those circumstances, what they have done is something which we recognise as being absolutely critical. Equally for Australia, we have one of the strongest regulatory processes in the world. As the Prime Minister said, we’ve put in place actions with regards to testing, securing of PPE, of ventilators, all of which has been according to a plan. The next part of that plan is the vaccine roll out. And there are 5 stages to this. The first was the selection of vaccines. And we're very fortunate that we've been able to select and then acquire, which is the second stage - four vaccines, 134.8 million units, the AstraZeneca vaccine for 33.8 million units, the Pfizer vaccine for 10 million units, the Novavax vaccine, 40 million units, and Australia's own CSL - University of Queensland vaccine for 51 million units, as well as 25.5 million units of access through what's known as the COVAX International Facility. Then there is the regulatory approvals process, that's currently underway. John will give you an update on that, but that's at an advanced stage. We're moving quickly but safely, and we're making sure there are no compromises because the safety of Australians is the number one priority.
But frankly, the work that's being done in the UK will give Australia and the world very important data, very important lessons both on the rollout and the efficacy of this particular vaccine. But vaccines more generally, and it's an extremely positive and important development for the world. Then we move to the actual roll out itself, the priorities of ATAGI, The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, have been published by the National Cabinet. The Australian government retains the lead, but we've been working in a very productive way with the states and territories and we thank them. I also think the opposition, who have been very constructive in supporting, just this morning the Australian Immunisation Register bill, which reaffirms that vaccination is, in Australia is voluntary, but that reporting of that vaccination will be required, which will give us important public health data and each individual will have that data that they can access as they need in regard to their own vaccination history, which is a really important thing for families around Australia and every individual.
And then I would note that finally there is the post vaccination regime where we are doing the work on that stage. So the final stage of selection, acquisition, approvals, distribution, and then post vaccination and that's the final stage of the vaccination journey. That's being considered now. All of which, though, is ahead of schedule. We are on track for decisions on the early vaccines by the end of January. We are on track for first vaccinations, beginning with our health workers and our aged care residents subject to approvals, in March.
Lastly, I'd like to comment on New South Wales. I was briefed early this morning by the New South Wales Health Minister, Brad Hazzard. I want to thank Brad for his advice. They have, as the Prime Minister says, not just the gold standard of testing and tracing in Australia, but a globally leading contact tracing programme and that has swung into action. It's being given great priority by the Premier, the Health Minister, the New South Wales Chief Health Officer. And we are confident that just as they've done in the past, as Victoria did only yesterday with the waste water case out of Colac and I conveyed my thanks and congratulations to the Victorian minister, Martin Foley, as South Australia did recently, and as Queensland did when they had the cases that came from Victoria. The contact tracing systems are swinging into action. They are ready. They've been reviewed. Professor Alan Finkel, the chief scientist, has reviewed them. And there will be cases that Australia faces inevitably whilst we are in contact with the outside world. But we've got this, we've got this as a nation and that's the work of Australians.
With that, I'd be delighted to invite Professor Skerritt to update on the vaccine approval process.
Adjunct Professor John Skerritt, Deputy Secretary Health Products Regulation: Good morning and thank you, Prime Minister, and thank you, Minister. So, Australia, we've provided three vaccines with what's known as provisional designation. Two of them are vaccines are amongst the four vaccines that the government has procured, the AstraZeneca vaccine, the Pfizer vaccine, but also a vaccine, that could also be made available, and remember, there's a private market for those who wish to invest in vaccines, from Johnson and Johnson or Janssen. In each case, the companies have given us a reasonable amount of data. We have not got complete data on any of them because globally these companies are still assessing their final data. And that's why in the UK, the decision is what's termed an authorised- an emergency authorisation. It's not a full regulatory approval. We will when the final data is in for safety and efficacy, and I'm hoping that will be in the coming weeks. But we are at the mercy of the companies, work through the summer period unfortunately, my staff have been told to put away their swimsuits and towels and to work as quickly as we can, but also in significant depth with parallel teams of doctors, scientists, toxicologists, engineers, facility inspectors, pharmaceutical industry experts looking at the data which runs into the tens of thousands of pages if you were to print it out. We are still hopeful, but if we receive a full submission in the next week or two, that late January, beginning of February, well ahead of the March date the government has mentioned that we will be in a position to approve one or more. I've been asked which of the three horses is leading the race, well, it changes by the day and it often depends on the progress and completion of clinical trials run globally.
The other thing that's important to know is that globally there are many hundreds of vaccines under development and about a dozen, that are in reasonably late stages.
And we also, confidentially, have been talking to many of those companies. Because this Government, as did many other governments globally, did the sensible thing of investing in a range of technologies. While the early results from several technologies are very promising, it'll give us and will give, more importantly, health care professionals a range of options. Let's say, for example, one vaccine is better tolerated in pregnant women, we will have that option because we've invested in a range of vaccines. And so I want to reassure the Australian public that safety, as well as performance, efficacy and the quality of these vaccines is front of mind. I also want to assure the Government and the people that while we are a country of 25 million, that's a small number globally and by integrating, as Minister Hunt said, with global groups of regulators, if, for example, there is some unusual result in one person in the whole of the United States of America, we will get that information overnight. We'll get that information in real time and so we'll be able to see how these vaccines work, not just in 25 million, but in tens or hundreds of millions of people in the coming months. Thank you.
Prime Minister: Thank you. I’ll start with Samantha.
Journalist: This vaccine is being rolled out in the United Kingdom according to a hierarchy, so obviously older people first and people with underlying conditions. I’m wondering where children fit into that in Australia? And while it's not compulsory, we will the vaccination be linked to Australia's no jab, no pay and no play rules?
Prime Minister: I'll ask the Health Minister to address that.
The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health: Sure. So thanks, Sam, a couple of things there. Firstly is that we've already set out at through ATAGI andthe medical expert panel that's led by Professor Murphy, a provisional guideline of health workers and elderly first. So it is a very sensible approach that the UK's taken. There's a next layer of that which is being considered by ATAGI and they’ll respond. So that’s the Australian medical expert panel for vaccinations, but it's unlikely to be different in any significant way from the United Kingdom. The second thing is that they will consider the position with regards to children and vaccinations. But at this stage, it's been indicated that it's unlikely that children should be at the front of the process, that there have not been many global tests in relation to children and safety becomes the paramount concern. And then finally, we've said previously that it's going to be voluntary and that at this stage, there are no plans to impose or to draw upon other programmes, such as the no jab, no pay.
Journalist: Prime Minister, how do you want the central register to work? There are companies like Qantas which wants people to prove they're vaccinated before they can board a flight. Is this going to be a central records system where companies can gain access to do a check on somebody? Or is it going to be a system where we all have to carry cards to prove that we've been vaccinated before we can board a flight and so forth?
Prime Minister: Well, I'll ask Greg to speak that in just a second. But the legislation that has been introduced and it forms part of the plan to addressing these very issues. I'm very keen also more broadly, globally, and I raised this in my discussion with the European Union Commissioner and President last week from isolation at our annual Virtual Summit, well this year, hopefully next year it won't be virtual. But there is, I think, a great need for working together globally to ensure that there is a common set of recognitions around vaccines. That's going to be very important because obviously in countries around the world, there's going to be different vaccines in Indonesia, in Malaysia, in the United States, potentially across Europe, China and so on. And so it's important that there is a common understanding globally about vaccines, their efficacy and what will satisfy standards. Because that would otherwise mean John and all of his equivalents all around the world will have an even more difficult task than they need to have. Now, we've indicated that we are very happy to engage in such a global effort and I think we have a lot to contribute in that area because we are quite well advanced in this area, being one of the world's leading immunisation nations and we've one of the strongest regulatory systems of anywhere in the world. But Greg?
The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health: Thanks, PM, and thanks David. So the immunisation register already exists. Think of it as a digital yellow book. Many of you would have had the World Health Organisation yellow books growing up and, like me, you've probably lost it over the years. And so this is an online version that actually exists already. And the change here is simply that whilst we maintain as an absolute article of faith voluntary but strongly encouraged vaccination, we have mandatory reporting of vaccinations for flu, for the National Immunisation Programme, for diseases such as mumps, rubella, pertussis and for COVID-19 vaccines. That's very important, whole of nation public health information. But it's also critically important information for individuals.
Journalist: Can companies get access to it?
The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health: No, no, it's private. It's your- it's your medical record and it's nobody else's.
Journalist: Prime Minister, how confident are you as to the absolute safety of the vaccine, given how quickly they've taken to be developed? And when could we see the international borders thrown open or won't be that speedy process, we’ll still have a lot of restrictions in place for a long time?
Prime Minister: In Australia, we put our confidence in the Therapeutic Goods Administration and we put our confidence in the incredible professionalism and expertise, the medical and scientific expertise of Professor Skerritt and his colleagues. As we do not just on this vaccine, but on every vaccine. When you take your child or indeed yourself to be vaccinated now, that's where we put our trust and that's why we have built these institutions in this country to ensure that Australians can have that confidence and that confidence is borne out by the incredibly high immunisation rates we have in this country. And so the question is one of confidence in the institutions and systems that we have. Whatever vaccine comes forward, I have great confidence in the Therapeutic Goods Administration to be able to critically assess those and to advise the minister and I and the premiers and chief ministers about the safety of those vaccines. So it is about getting the balance right on the timing and there's an understandable urgency about that. But at the same time, on the health requirements, which are sacrosanct, and we don't cut any corners on that, but we also have to deal with the circumstances in our own country.
It would be an error for there to be an analysis that because something is being done in one country in a particular way, that it should be done in another country. In the UK, they are dealing with their set of circumstances according to their rules and their laws, which are actually different to ours and Professor Skerritt can take you through the differences in those two regimes. But here I have confidence in the very fine public servants that we have to be able to make these assessments and this isn't a prospective confidence. It's a standing confidence because I've trusted them with the vaccination of my own children to date.
Journalist: International borders sorry?
Prime Minister: On international borders, I still think we're some time away from that. I mean, my priority at the moment is getting Australians home. And some time ago, back in September, there was 26,700 Australians who were registered and I said we needed to get that many people home. We've actually got 40,000 people home since that time. We have set up additional quarantine facilities both in the Northern Territory as well as in Tasmania. We've raised caps, we've run additional flights, we've put some $60 million of support to Australians in need all around the world and that has been a great team effort and I want to thank both the consular staff who've supported that initiative, the airlines in particular, and the cooperation of our state premiers and chief ministers and their health ministers as well, and police ministers who have been important for how we operate all of these arrangements. And particularly states like Tasmania and Northern Territory who've had to do this from scratch and set these things up. So that's the focus now. But as the world becomes vaccinated and as Australia becomes vaccinated, then those opportunities arise. We already have travel from New Zealand. We already are looking at the ways that we can assess potentially safe countries for green lane travel. We have not activated any of those. But what we've been doing the work on is making sure that we know and have a very good process for determining what countries could be green lane countries. And I had, you know, we had discussions with Japan about that, but we're still some time away from that and I wouldn't want to raise expectations. Health first, because that's what is underpinning our economic success. I'm just going to work around.
Journalist: Prime Minister, your Foreign Relations Bill…
Prime Minister: I’m going to just stay on health for a second. I am happy to come back to other issues, I know there are many, because then I will excuse Professor Skerritt.
Journalist: Can I ask Professor Skerritt a question. The Minister has described you as one of the world's chief regulators. So you're obviously getting all this information, you're assessing it. Would you have given this emergency approval based on what you know about this vaccine? And can I ask you also, is it that Boris Johnson may have in some way done the world a service by having a massive real-time trial, turning people into guinea pigs, we all watch that and see whether it works and then draw our conclusions about what we do ourselves?
Adjunct Professor John Skerritt, Deputy Secretary Health Products Regulation: Well, I wouldn't want to use the word guinea pigs with the UK. We all have friends, family and relatives, or many of us do, in the UK, and we're deeply concerned about the situation there. Essentially, these vaccines were developed so quickly because of - again, it’s an overused word - the unprecedented investment of billions of dollars and governments across the world essentially at risk, taking supporting companies and researchers to be able to do several steps at once. Because we know that often vaccines fall along the wayside. They don't meet particular steps. And governments across the world stepped in and said, well, we'll put up that $100 million to allow you to do pilot manufacture and so forth. The second reason is it became the main area of focus for researchers and companies, most major companies. And so we've never seen an area of health where globally in one year everyone moved to focus on one thing. Thirdly, we were able to build on what we learnt from SARS and MERS and some very similar conditions. And so things like the Pfizer vaccine actually came out of some of these earlier developments, as did the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. So in that sense, we're building on a lot of knowledge about safety and so forth. Our situation, as the Prime Minister has said, is different from the UK. What it will enable is that, let's say come late January, February, we actually not only will have the data from the clinical trials of 10 to 40,000, depending on the type of trial people, but we'll also have the real world experience of several hundred thousand people having had the vaccine, and that'll enable us to know whether or not it's suitable, for example, if you have multiple sclerosis and certain conditions. It'll actually improve the quality of the advice that we can give for Australians.
Journalist: Would you have given it approval?
Adjunct Professor John Skerritt, Deputy Secretary Health Products Regulation: There is no regulatory process in law in Australia for an emergency use authorisation similar to the UK or the US. And as the Prime Minister has indicated, Australia's situation, thanks to the efforts of everyday Australians and governments, is very different from the UK.
Prime Minister: So we'll have a front row seat, working with a very close partner. And to be able to learn from their experience and no doubt the swapping of important data and information amongst the clinical experts here and with other countries around the world. I think this will be an important next stage.
Journalist: Prime Minister, just on the health front, the case in New South Wales has brought that could possibly lead to a delay in Western Australia opening its borders. Is there any reason why this case should lead to that or to Queensland closing its borders again?
Prime Minister: Well, I'm not going to speculate on that. I mean, the Premier will in New South Wales will provide an update. She may be doing that even now as we speak. And New South Wales has one of the world's best tracing systems, that is already demonstrated, and we are moving again in Australia and we're seeing the great hope and confidence and optimism that that's producing and I'm very keen for us to remain on that path, as I always have been.
Journalist: Prime Minister, the CDC in America says that the quarantine period to seven to 10 days. Is that a realistic possibility for Australia before wide scale rollout of the vaccine? And could I ask also the Minister and Professor Skerritt, what's the prospect of rapid fire antigen testing here for different flights and things like that before a vaccine or some sort of complementary method as well? Or is that off the table?
Prime Minister: Well, I've offered a comment on sort of all of those collectively, really. I mean, all the things that you've raised have been constant issues for examination by the medical expert panel led by Professor Kelly. And it is a constant issue we revisit with him as we gather around both the Federal Cabinet, working with the Minister, but also around the National Cabinet. And if we ever thought that there was sufficient clinical and expert advice to support that, then you could expect us to do it. But I would just assure people that all throughout the pandemic, we have been considering all of these things. We don't leave any stone unturned in finding ways to get Australia back to as normal a situation as we possibly can and I think that's been one of the strengths of our responses. But we haven't been ones to just simply cut and paste from other places. I think that's not a good approach because Australia has different challenges and we are very conscious of that and so we look at this very much in an Australian context and look for the opportunities where they can be proven and proved up and where they're not, we're patient. Greg?
The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health: Two things very briefly. Firstly, exactly as the Prime Minister said, that we have referred both of those questions to what's called the AHPPC, the Australian Health Protection Principle Committee, and Professor Paul Kelly is the Chair of that. And at this stage, they haven't advised any change in either quarantine or the introduction of antigen testing. That is in evolution though, and so that's under constant review. They’re exactly the same questions that the PM and I have asked and referred to them, as well as I think some of the premiers, but they continue to review and where they see the evidence, they'll change. The second thing in terms of backing Australia's evidence and advice. It's worth remembering when we closed the borders on the 1st of February, the World Health Organisation did not support that, but our medical experts did, and that made an enormous difference to the course and trajectory of this virus in this country. And dare I say, I think that that single decision of following the Australian regulators and the Australian medical advice might have saved countless lives and for that, I want to thank, on this occasion, Professor Murphy.
Journalist: Prime Minister, with Pfizer - I don’t pronounce it very well - is the 10 million doses currently purchased enough? Or do we need to increase it, given how advanced the UK is and also where will yourself and other politicians be in the order of who gets the vaccine?
Prime Minister: Well, I'll let Greg cover off the broader issue and then I can come back to the other one.
The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health: OK, so Pfizer, thanks. Pfizer for the 10 million doses. We have followed the medical advice on that because it was an MRNA vaccine. They wanted to make sure that we had three different platforms, four different vaccines. That was very much the strong view of Brendan Murphy and Paul Kelly and all of those with whom they're working. All of our vaccine contracts have the ability to purchase more if more is recommended. So we'll continue to follow the advice of that medical expert panel. So there's the capacity to purchase more of any of them, if that's recommended. We built those into the deals. And very happy for you to address the other question. Let me say something first. We have been asked this. This is an honest question that we're considering. I've actually had this discussion with Chris Bowen on the basis that none of us want to be jumping the queue. We are quite acutely aware of that. But nor do we want to mean there's any lack of confidence. So the honest discussion I've had with Chris Bowen is it may be that there are some from both sides, but not as a class, we don't, there's no medical advice that we should have a special exemption. But it may be that there are some of us who on both sides and indeed all sides of the chamber are put forward on a voluntary basis as demonstration and I would be very happy to take any vaccine that the medical regulators deem safe for Australia.
Prime Minister: My view is the same. We will follow the medical advice on those issues, like all other Australians. I'm very keen to see the Australian Parliament be able to function in its normal way and there may well be issues that the health advisers may consider when it comes to enabling that and obviously immunisations can assist that. But again, all through this we have been very disciplined in hearing the medical advice, listening to it very carefully and evaluating that and making decisions as a government. And the premiers and chief ministers have done the same thing and we will follow the same approach on this as anything else. But I share the Health Minister's view. If Professor Skerritt gives it the tick, then I'm happy to take the jab.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese has said that you presided over a complete breakdown….
Prime Minister: There's a lot of interest in health. I know we want to get to those issues and it's good to be out and I'm happy to share with you for longer. But any more on health? We're going over here and then come here.
Journalist: You said before that the national immunisation [inaudible] individual level, but is there any work underway for us to provide that information to, say, Qantas or other airlines to view that data, through an app or something?
The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health: No, there's not any prospect of it going directly from the government. It's a matter of individual control of individual records. And I reaffirmed that in the Parliament this morning.
Prime Minister: Last one on health, yep?
Journalist: Prime Minister, you’ve said that more vulnerable Australians will get first priority. Will you include, like, Indigenous Australians in that vulnerable cohort, given that group often has underlying health issues?
Prime Minister: The issue for Indigenous Australians is a very important one and I must say, and Greg will recall this, Indigenous Australians were one of our greatest concerns at the start of this pandemic. Not just by my government, but of the states and territories as well, and there were long discussions. Particularly, I’ve got to say, with the Northern Territory Chief Minister and Queensland Premier, Western Australia, where there are quite large remote communities, relatively speaking, for indigenous Australians. And so they always have been a very clearly defined, vulnerable community, like Australians with disability, like older Australians, and our plans and policies have reflected that. So this is a key issue to be addressed in the strategy, in the rollout plans, and I'll ask the Health Minister to comment on that. I should also say this is something that the Indigenous Australians Minister has also been taking a close interest in and given his pre-politics health background, that is proving to be enormously helpful. Greg?
The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health: Look, it's actually a very simple answer, and that is - the medical expert panel is expressly considering the appropriate place for Indigenous Australians in the rollout, and they have total freedom to recommend, and whatever their recommendations are in relation to the priority, then we'll be adopting those.
Prime Minister: It also goes to the distribution challenges also with remote communities and being able to use the networks of health professionals and how that can be best leveraged to guarantee the safe distribution and administration of the vaccine. Yep?
Journalist: Prime Minister, just on China…
Prime Minister: We’re still on health. Yep, one last one, Kath.
Journalist: In the party room meeting this week, Craig Kelly and George Christensen raised issues about the application of the compulsory register. They said in the meeting that they were considered this would supercharge the antivax movement, enliven them as it were. So given that is an obvious risk and you guys have been labouring safety in this press conference this morning, what is the Government proposing to do counter misinformation from activists in the antivax movement?
Prime Minister: Well, I will ask the Health Minister to add to it. I wasn't in the party room meeting this week but I obviously had a very good and full report and I understand there are a lot of great contributions in that debate. That's the nature of our party room. And Perrin Davey made a great contribution about similar issues along a different line, which was really very much about how helpful these sorts of registers can be for parents. And, you know, so getting the balance right again on these questions is really important. There are lots of different views that you have to take into account and ensure that you're focused on getting the right health outcome. What's going to get the best health outcome for Australians? Greg?
The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health: So, as I say, firstly the register, of course, is something which already exists. What we're doing is making sure that everybody will have full access to their own data but that it's only those people that have that access. I think that reassurance was very important to those that raised, I think, important questions. Secondly, as we look forward, we will be having a public information campaign, as we should do with vaccination. But one of the surprises this year is that with all the lockdowns and all the challenges of COVID, the five year old immunisation rate went to a record level 94.8 per cent in the June quarter and then up to a record level again in the September quarter of 94.9 per cent for the general Australian population and 97 per cent for Indigenous Australia. So the antivaxxers perhaps are getting more coverage, but they're having less effect, and so I've got to say that we're aware of them, but frankly, they're not winning their case. But we'll continue to prosecute ours. I spoke with Ian Frazer, the great professor Ian Frazer, the chief developer of Gardasil, which is saving lives around the world, and he's willing to put his name to supporting this vaccination process and many others will be doing it and joining us.
Prime Minister: So there'll be a clear communications campaign, Kath, which will, you know, inform people. People need to know. I mean, every Australian takes their health very seriously and particularly when it comes to making decisions about the health of their family and we’ll be doing everything we can to make sure they have as much information as possible. And as you say, if misinformation or disinformation is being presented, we will be also seeking to proactively address that through official channels, which you'd expect, and I think that's very important.
I think we're going to move to other issues now. And with that, I'm going to thank Professor Skerritt for his attendance with us today. Greg, you’re staying. Greg?
Journalist: Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese said that you have presided over a complete breakdown in China relationship. Can I get your response to that, please. And also the Foreign Relations Bill, seems like passing in the Senate today. Do you think that China will see that as yet another poke in the eye?
Prime Minister: Well, in relation to Mr Albanese, I'm disappointed, but not surprised. You can't have each way bets on national security and what Australia does to protect its national interests. That's really all I have to say about that matter. Australia's policies and plans and the rules that we make for our own country are made here in Australia and according to our needs and our interests and we will continue to do that. But I'd simply make this point, following on from my media conference earlier this week, and that is that my position and my Government's position is to seek constructive engagement. The relationship with China is a mutually beneficial one. It supports both our countries, it's good for both of our countries and it's good for the interests of both countries, I think, to constructively engage and Australia has been very clear. We've been very consistent. We’ve sought to be very respectful. We will continue to do that and we will seek opportunities for constructive engagement.
Journalist: Prime Minister, some of the criticisms of the Government seem to be about tone with China. But we now know, because they've given us a list, they've got 14 grievances and they're all about substance. And they start with what we do with our Foreign Investment Review Board, through to the banning of Huawei, to foreign interference laws. Are any of those things up for negotiation or any discussion with China?
Prime Minister: Well, I've been very clear about Australia's position on those issues, and I don't think that's surprising. And I should stress that Australia's policies and positions have been consistent for decades and certainly under this Government and they follow on from many of the positions held by the previous government. And what has changed is obviously circumstances and events and the environment that has developed over many years and that just means that we simply will continue to work to have opportunities for constructive engagement. But Australia's interests are very clear, and I think Australians understand that my Government will always be very patient and clear about those interests. We know what they are. We feel very strongly about them. But that is no different to any other country around the world. And what we need is the opportunity for leaders and ministers to engage directly and that is something we have always sought and will continue to do so and we'll see what opportunities present. I think these events are an opportunity, I think, for us to get together and discuss these issues. But clearly, Australia's national interests will remain our national interests and I have no doubt that the Chinese government, as part of the relationship with Australia, that their interests will remain theirs.
Journalist: Prime Minister, you would have seen overnight news out of the United States that they're going to send more of their naval assets to seas around Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, those seas. What's your understanding of that plan? And what's your advice or advice to the Australian Government whether that redistribution of the enormous US naval force will survive the changing of Presidency?
Prime Minister: Well, I think you're overestimating any real change in direction there, Andrew. I would say that there's always been constructive engagement of the United States in our region and I think that is welcomed across the region. Australia participates in that, as we have most recently with Japan and India, together with Australia and the United States. These are not new developments. These things have been the case with the United States engagement in our region for a long time and it's been bipartisan. It's been something that both sides of politics have always understood, the alliance between Australia and the United States. There's always been an understanding of the need for engagement of the United States in the Asia-Pacific and they have been here for a long time and their presence is welcome and not just by Australia, but the many countries of our region. So I would expect that to continue in the same way it always has, regardless of the administration. I think there's a universal view about that in the United States, not just at a political level, but at a system level as well, and that provides a continuity and a consistency which is always helpful to stability. Phil?
Journalist: Given the events of the recent seven days, the wine duties and then the Tweet on Tuesday, are you prepared to hazard a guess what China’s endgame is? It’s a question no one seems to be able to answer.
Prime Minister: Well, I can tell you what Australia's…
Journalist: We know what ours is.
Prime Minister: Well, but that is something I have control over. I don't have control over the ultimate objectives of other nations. What I have control over is what Australia's objective is and our objective is to have a happy coexistence, as I described it earlier, one that has a mutually beneficial relationship which can and has been, and can be again achieved through our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, where we stand on that partnership which provides the opportunities for leader-level and ministerial dialogue, and to abide by the rules-based international trade system and to work through issues that present in that way. And that, I believe, will lead to greater stability in the region. It will lead to greater prosperity in China and in Australia mutually and I think that's in both of our interests. And so our objective is to see that achieved and I would invite others to share in that objective and I would hope that that would be theirs also.
Journalist: Just further on the Foreign Relations Bill, how quickly does the Government plan to use these powers should they pass today? And will Victoria’s Belt and Road deal be the first to be axed?
Prime Minister: We’ll just pass the Bill first. It will go for Royal Assent and then it'll go through the normal processes that are set out for analysis of all the various agreements that are impacted by that. And the Foreign Minister will make a determination in good time.
Journalist: Prime Minister, given the WeChat message was censored, how worrying is this for the Chinese diaspora who's left that sort of regime to come to a country with democratic values? And what reassurances can you provide to Chinese Australians that they are not targeted in all of this?
Prime Minister: Well, my message, which has been made public not just on WeChat and I think over 60,000, I assume Australians, actually had the opportunity to read it. And it was a message of thanks and appreciation for the amazing contribution made by Australians of Chinese heritage to this country. I have consistently, right from the outset, Greg in particular mentioned what happened in February, and I remember being down in Box Hill in February with Gladys Liu and going down the main street and speaking to some local businesses there and speaking to the local Chinese Australian community there. And they were already practising the self-isolation and social distancing and the many other behaviours so essential that prevented that first wave in Australia being as mild as it was in comparison to other countries. And I have a deep appreciation of that. They played a critical role in Australia's health success and, as a result, our economic success. And so any Australian of Chinese heritage here in Australia, I know and want only to feel as valued as any other Australian because we are the most successful multicultural immigration nation on Earth. It is not debatable, it is not arguable. It's a fact. And we're very proud of that. And whatever nationality or ethnicity any Australian comes from, that is all part of the great Australian story and the great Australian journey. And I just simply sought to remind our Chinese Australian family, as part of our great Australian family, of how appreciated they are as a member of that family.
The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health: If I can add, just to give a personal anecdote. In February, obviously, we were working together every day on the pandemic and one of the things the PM said is, we have to reach out and show our Chinese Australians how we value them, how we care for them and we love them. And he walked that talk, he visited Box Hill, he made that case. And I remember going down to see Tommy at the Wok on Bay in Mount Martha, still serves the best prawn crackers on the Peninsula. And we all reached out and said how much we cared about our Chinese Australians and we do. They make us who we are and we're proud and honoured to have them with us. But it was the PM who said to all of us, these people are us. We care about them. They're so fundamental to who we are. Let's reach out and support them.
Prime Minister: Well, it sounds like we've got prawn crackers for the Cabinet drinks for Christmas. You’d better get onto Tommy.
Journalist: Prime Minister, we heard last night from Bridget Archer. She’s got some serious concerns with the cashless debit car. Has she raised those with you and your office previously and is it actually more widespread and if I just may, what do you think about a film being made about Martin Bryant?
Prime Minister: Well, first of all, yes, I have discussed that with Bridget. We are in a period of our Party's experience and history in this place, and Greg has been around here longer than I have, that we have not known for a very long time. There is a great sense of unity and connection between all our members from our class of 2019 going back to the class of 1996, and indeed possibly beyond with Kevin Andrews. And one of the reasons we've achieved that stability and unity in our parliamentary party, which I pledged to regain when I became Prime Minister, is we have room to breathe. We are a confident Party that is confident about allowing our members to breathe and express their views as they do. But equally, that comes with the responsibility of being a member of the team, which ensures that the Government is able to continue to progress its agenda, as we indeed will in this area. But I've spoken to Bridget again today and thanked her for honesty, for her sincerity, because that's why she's the Member for Bass. That's why she's here. All my members are like that. They know that they can walk into my office at any time and raise issues. And do. And I think giving each other the space in our party room and the respect that comes with that is the reason why the Australian public is seeing a government the most united we've seen of any government for a very long time. And so I'm going to continue to follow that practice and trust and respect my members and that that will be my approach.
Now, on the other matters, it's a free country, thankfully. We all celebrate that. And I must say, I am unnerved about the revisiting of the Martin Bryant case. It's a long time ago, but it seems like a few days ago even still, such was the horror of that day. It has scarred us as a nation deeply. So people will make films, that's OK in this country, that's fine, we think that's a good thing. Even if it unnerves a prime minister or many others, that's the society we live in. But I hope when this is done, and for those who choose to see it, we will remember the victims and their families and the torment that they have endured for all these many years since the wonderful work that has been done in this area, no greater than the incredible courage and strength of John Howard and Tim Fischer, who set this right. Australia leads in so many areas. It's why Australia, you know, is so respected and supported around the world, why people are so easily able to commend Australia, because we know what our faults are and we deal with them openly and transparently. But when it comes to challenges that we face, we confront them and we find the way through and we do it together. This year has been another example of that. And as this year comes to a conclusion, I have never been more proud of Australians than I am now.
The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health: I will just add something very briefly on that, just in relation to the party room. It was something we were discussing before. I've been around here, not as long as some, but a little longer than others. I first came to this building in 1994 and I have never seen the party room more unified. And I say that genuinely and there are ups and downs. But one of the most important guarantees of that is to have safety valves. And the safety valve is to respect the role of individuals as MPs to act as members of the Parliament of Australia under the Constitution of Australia, to speak openly. That can be a little uncomfortable sometimes and all of you will have seen it. This building thrives on difference. But what I've seen is the most unified party room since, definitively, since the mid-1990s and I would say arguably since the mid-1960s.
Journalist: Prime Minister, I’d be interested to know what's weighing more on your economic decisions at the moment between the dangers of running up extraordinary debt and the dangers of scaling back too quickly the financial support. What weighs more on your decisions there and are we in a recession or not?
Prime Minister: Well, technically, the recession has obviously concluded, but that's of no comfort to those who are still trying to get back into jobs. The comeback of the Australian economy is clearly underway and that's recognised just not by the National Accounts but, of course, by the Governor of the Reserve Bank and many other commentators, both here and overseas. That's understood. But the humility of the Government is necessary in understanding that there is still a long way to go and there are many Australians still out of work. There are some Australians who have recently lost their jobs as the economy goes through this next transition. And it is our objective, if they have lost jobs in one area, that we'll do everything we can to get them into jobs in new areas as the economy opens up. And so it is not an easy path ahead of us. It is a challenging path ahead of us and we will negotiate those challenges in the same way we have successfully broadly to this point in time. Our portfolio of measures to address the economic recovery is not singular. There are many. There have been the emergency measures that we put in place immediately which cushioned the blow. There are those ongoing measures through JobKeeper and the JobSeeker COVID supplement that extends out until the end of March. But then there are measures like the hiring credit, which extend well beyond that. There's the instant expensing measures that go to June of 2022. There are the infrastructure investments that are being made and when we meet together on Friday week as the first meeting of the Federation Reform Council and National Cabinet will meet before that, that is one of the issues we'll be discussing, is the continued rollout of those infrastructure plans by the states and territories in partnership with the Commonwealth. And so our economic plan is very comprehensive and our plan is also agile in that, as we've seen this week in addressing the quite specific needs of the travel agents and the need for a bridge to be provided for them to get to the next phase, there are parts of the economy which will remain more COVID-affected than others. But the way you deal with that is by becoming more bespoke, by becoming more targeted, to ensure that you're reading the information correctly that is coming back to us from the data on the ground. We've always been careful not to get too far ahead of ourselves on some of the decisions that are made because the situation has changed rapidly this year. And so you've got to get the settings right. But your question is the one that we've been addressing from day one, and that is you've got to get the balance of the short term support, the medium term recovery and the long term growth right. And I believe we are getting that balance right and I think the evidence supports that. But we're only in this phase. We will go through another gear change in the first quarter of next year. We'll go through another one after that and another one after that. But our economic road to recovery here is well underway and I think that brings Australians great confidence and comfort as they go into the break and they look forward to next year. Last one. Someone- Michelle?
Journalist: Prime Minister, are you making any representations to WeChat about taking your message down and any representations to Twitter for failing to take the offensive tweet down?
Prime Minister: On the latter, we've made our views clear on that, and I'll leave that for them to explain their actions and I'll leave WeChat to make an explanation of their actions if they choose to make one. What's important is the Australian Government has made its views very clear on these issues. But what is most important is despite the events of recent months and weeks and indeed years, Australia remains committed to constructive and open and regular dialogue at leader and ministerial level to address the tensions that are clearly there in the relationship. It's in our interest to do that. It's in the Chinese government's interest to do that. We remain open to do that. We will be patient. We will continue to be clear. Our national interests have been clearly articulated and the Australian Government's position on those are well understood. Thanks very much.
Virtual Address, Investiture Ceremony for Ordinary Seaman Edward 'Teddy' Sheean VC
1 December 2020
Prime Minister: On this day 78 years ago, a young man from Tasmania was bound for Timor. A farm labourer who would become a gun loader. An Ordinary Seaman who would do an extraordinary thing. "None of us will ever know what made him do it" said one of the survivors of the HMAS Armidale.
Today, as our country awards its most sacred military honour, we ask ourselves the question asked all those years ago. Why did Edward 'Teddy' Sheean make the choice that he did that day? To help free a motorboat, but decide not to board it. To forsake a possible rescue, climb a listing deck, and strap himself in to fire at enemy aircraft until he slipped beneath the waves.
To say Teddy Sheean gave his life for his country, really doesn't quite capture the fearless grip he had on it until the very end. Everything he did was deliberate, it was determined, to save his shipmates from being strafed in the sea. Why would anyone expect the youngest and most junior sailor on the ship to take the actions that he did? Maybe Teddy yearned to live up to the example of his five older brothers who joined the services before him. Maybe in the cramped confines of the Armidale he felt the same bonds of affection that he felt sharing a home with many of his 14 siblings. Or maybe the lessons of the Sisters of Mercy stayed with him, 'Greater love hath no men than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends'.
Truth be known, the motivations and braveries and intricacies of the human heart are a mystery to us all, and even more so when someone's actions reflect a strength not imagined. Whatever it was that caused Teddy Sheen to act so decisively and determinedly on that afternoon of blue skies and calm seas, we find ourselves being inextricably drawn to it, prompting us to ask ourselves, how can we lead lives as meaningful, as selfless, as courageous as the young life of Teddy Sheehan and the generation he more broadly embodies.
We see in him and we see in them the highest values, sacrifice and stoicism, courage and abiding inner strength.
But there was a great cost. Teddy Sheean never saw the end of the war or the peace he helped secure, when former enemies became lasting friends. He didn't marry his sweetheart Kathleen or enjoy the long life that many of his shipmates did. That was the price of his valour that day.
Though Teddy Sheean's bravery and name has always been known, we all know this honour did not come easy. And it is to the credit of his family and supporters that they lived out the motto of HMAS Sheean - 'Fight on'.
Six decades after Teddy's death, that submarine named in his honour made its first trip to Devonport, not far from where Teddy grew up. It is said that his sister Ivy watched it quietly enter the Mersey, and she said she felt as if Teddy had finally come home.
Today, almost eight decades on from Teddy's brave actions, we know his story grows with the ages. He now takes his place as one of the guiding lights of the country he indeed served to save.
Teddy would have turned 97 this month. His life brings to mind the words of the British officer and poet Thomas Mordaunt - "One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name."
The name, the example, the glorious life of Edward 'Teddy Sheean' VC will always be remembered.
Lest we forget.
Virtual Press Conference
30 November 2020
Prime Minister: The post made today, the repugnant post made today, of an image, a falsified image, of an Australian soldier threatening a young child with a knife. A post made on an official Chinese Government Twitter account, posted by the Director Deputy General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr Lijian Zhao, is truly repugnant. It is deeply offensive to every Australian, every Australian who has served in that uniform, every Australian who serves in that uniform today, everyone who has pulled on that uniform and served with Australians overseas from whatever nation, that they have done that. It is utterly outrageous and it cannot be justified on any basis whatsoever.
The Chinese Government should be totally ashamed of this post. It diminishes them in the world’s eyes. I want to make a couple of points about this. Australia is seeking an apology from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from the Chinese Government, for this outrageous post. We are also seeking its removal immediately and have also contacted Twitter to take it down immediately. It is a false image
and a terrible slur on our great defence forces and the men and women who have served in that uniform for over 100 years.
There are undoubtedly tensions that exist between China and Australia. But this is not how you deal with them. Australia has patiently sought to seek to address the tensions that exist in our relationship in a mature way, in a responsible way, by seeking engagement at both leader and ministerial level to ensure that we can openly discuss what are clear sources of tension in this relationship. Points that Australia feels strongly about, in terms of our own sovereignty and our own independence. The way to deal with those is by engaging directly in discussion and dialogue between ministers and leaders. And despite this terribly offensive post today, I would ask again and call on China to re-engage in that dialogue. This is how countries must deal with each other to ensure that we can deal with any issues in our relationship, consistent with our national interests and respect for each other's sovereignty, not engaging in this sort of deplorable behaviour.
I would hope that this rather awful event hopefully may lead to the type of reset where this dialogue can be restarted, without condition. That we can sit down and start talking sensibly about these issues because this type of behaviour is not on.
Now, it’s not just about Australia, countries around the world are watching this, they are seeing how Australia is seeking to resolve these issues and they are seeing these responses. This impacts not just on the relationship here, but with so many other sovereign nations not only in our own region, but likeminded countries around the world, who have expressed similar sentiments to Australia about many issues. And so it is important that these things end and the dialogue starts.
Finally and most importantly, I am extremely proud of all Australians who pull a uniform on for Australia. I am proud of their service. I am proud of their dedication. I am proud of their loyalty to this country and it’s values.
And those values determine how we deal with difficult issues as a country and difficult issues as those that have arisen in the Inspector General’s report on the ADF. It is a fact that Australia’s transparent and honest way of dealing with this issue is a credit to this nation. And it is a credit to all those who serve this nation in uniform. Where there are alleged events that have taken place that require action, well we have set up the honest and transparent processes for that to take place. That is what a free, democratic, liberal country does. Few countries around the world, I suppose, would have dealt with this in the way that we have. I would hope there’d be many. But in a liberal democracy, this is how you deal with issues such as this. You don’t engage in disinformation and the ugliness that we’ve seen in this post on the Chinese Government Twitter account today.
So I am proud of their service. The alleged actions of a few do not, do not define the tremendous service of the great many, and the processes we’ve set up will uphold that principle. They will uphold the principle of innocent until proven guilty. There will be a fairness in the way that this is addressed. Because those, those are the values that our Defence Force men and women have fought to uphold.
So today is not a day for Australia in any way, to feel wrongly about how we conduct ourselves. Even with this difficult information to deal with, we are dealing with it in the right way. The only thing that has brought shame today, is this appalling post by the Chinese government.
I’m happy to take a couple of questions.
Journalist: Prime Minister I accept and understand what you’re saying about the tweet- Prime Minister Andrew Clennell Sky News, I accept and understand what you are saying regarding the tweet-
Prime Minister: Andrew, you’re just going to have to wait one second because I’m genuinely not getting audio, I can see you’re speaking- normally I could probably hear you from all the way from there, just need to get this turned up-
Journalist: Can you hear me now Prime Minister?
Prime Minister: Not yet, I apologise for the delay, I sincerely do, we thought that was arranged-
Journalist: Okay, I’ll keep talking, you tell me when you can hear. Is there anything? Yep?
Prime Minister: Not yet I’m sorry.
Journalist: Can you hear?
Prime Minister: Go ahead and I’ll see if I can hear Andrew.
Journalist: Okay
Prime Minister: Speak up.
Journalist: Okay. I accept and understand what you are saying about the tweet and how offensive it is, but what is the end game in terms of our relationship with China, there have been a number of announcements around foreign investment laws, cyber security, our unilateral call for an independent review, we’ve been quite strident in relation to the rhetoric on China, what is, that works for you domestically, politically, but what is your hope in terms of the end game of where we end up with China here?
Prime Minister: Well my end game, and my view, is the same today as it was in John Howard’s time, the happy coexistence of two partners under our comprehensive strategic partnership. But one that respects the sovereign interests of both countries. I mean the matters that you’ve referred to are all entirely and rightly within the domain of Australia as a sovereign country, they should cause no offence, that Australia would set its own foreign investment rules, would have its own arrangements in relation to cyber security, and I note that at no time have I ever made any allegations against the Chinese government in relation to cyber security issues. And as for issues of the pandemic, well that was a motion that was supported by over 130 countries and joined with the European Union, not as a unilateral, but one done in concert with the European Union, so Australia will seek to pursue this relationship of mutual benefit. And that has to involve an understanding on Australia being able to conduct itself in accordance with its own sovereignty, its own values, and its own laws. And that is not an unreasonable position for the Australian government, or any other government, whether that be the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Japan, Indonesia, or any other country - to be able to have a relationship that respects those fundamental positions. I sincerely respect them in the terms of the Chinese government, to be able to set rules and laws in their own country, Australians aren’t freely able to invest in China that is understood. But when it comes to our laws, and our rules, and the values that we hold, we’ve always been very clear about them. They are not new positions Andrew. They have been positions that Australia has held for a very long time. These decisions to post what we saw today, and other acts, are decisions of another government, not of Australia.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Andrew Probyn, Prime Minister, Andrew Probyn from the ABC. These sorts of matters often have to be resolved man to man, woman to woman, or woman to man for that- if this is allowed to fester, at what stage will you pick up the phone to speak to President Xi?
Prime Minister: Well we have consistently sought those engagements Andrew. And I don’t know why you would think we hadn’t. This has been a constant process of Australia remaining open and seeking that dialogue, whether it be at Minister to Minister level, or leader to leader level. And that’s why I renew that call today. Australia is available for that. Australia has always been available for that, and Australia has sought to arrange that, and so it really is a matter I think to ensure that even as appalling as these events are today, I think it highlights the need for Australia to do exactly- and China- to do exactly as you’ve discussed, and Australia remains available for that.
Journalist: [inaudible] write to the President directly so that he has to reply?
Prime Minister: Well Michelle, you assume that there hasn’t been such interactions. We’ve constantly sought that engagement. This is not new.
Journalist: Prime Minister, David Crowe here from the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age, have you called in the Chinese Ambassador in Canberra to put these concerns directly to the Ambassador to convey them directly to President Xi?
Prime Minister: No, this is being done, both conveyed to the Ambassador here, in China through the process you’ve suggested, through the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and we’ll also be communicating that directly through our Ambassador in China, in Beijing.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Clare from the Daily Telegraph here, since the Brereton report came out, veterans have expressed concern that the entire Defence community will be tarred with the same brush of a few. Clearly this is an extreme example of that where a vague representation of an Australian soldier has been depicted in this horrific way, what more can the Government do to support the rest of the Defence community given the global attention on the very few that potentially committed war crimes, and might that include reconsidering revoking the Meritorious Unit Citation which appears to condemn the entire special forces when they were in Afghanistan?
Prime Minister: Well I’ll leave it to the CDF to make further comments on the last matter that you made, but no decisions have been made on that. And were decisions to made on that, that would only be following a further process and that is where that matter rests right now, as is my understanding. The best thing we can do, is to ensure that we have a fair process, that deals with this both in terms of issues that need to be dealt with within the Defence Force, because as you rightly say- regarding the conduct of a small number and those who were in positions of command that would have been relied upon to ensure that such conduct was not undertaken, but also through the justice process that has been set up with the Special Investigator, and that is how we deal with these issues in Australia. We deal with them according to the rule of law, the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, and in accordance with the administrative processes that operate within the Defence Force regarding conduct within the Defence Force.
Now those processes are there for a reason. And they are there to protect people, their innocence and their rights, as well as to uphold the standard and integrity of the Australian Defence Force. That is what the government is seeking to do, that is what the Chief of the Defence Force is seeking to do, but it will be a difficult process, and there will be patience necessary. But I would stress again, that the actions of a few, whether in command or those on the ground, do not reflect on the many thousands of others who serve today and who have served before. Our Defence Forces have earned this, they have earned the rights that they now call upon, and they have earned the respect for which we all rightly afford them. And there can be no taking away from that. And that is certainly my view and the Government’s view.
Journalist: Josh Butler from the New Daily. Can I ask you about, you’ve said that you want Twitter to take action on this. On what grounds have you appealed to Twitter and are you confident they would actually take action on this considering that Twitter has consistently decided not to take action against Government accounts in this way in the example of Donald Trump’s tweets, for instance? Would you hope that they will take action on this?
Prime Minister: Well, I certainly would. It is absolute falsehood. It is an absolute outrageous and disgusting slur and it wouldn’t be the first time that social media have censored posts. In this case, I would think that in the interests of decency, they should take it down.
Journalist: Samantha Maiden from news.com. Can you just clarify in relation to Clare’s question, the process. You’re saying the decision on the meritorious citation is a matter for the CDF. The Defence Department have put out a statement over the weekend saying it is a matter for government. Now, when they say government, do they mean it is a matter for the Governor-General? Do they mean it is a matter for you? And is there any conflict of interest in the Governor-General making a decision on this, given he himself, obviously, held a leadership role in the Defence Force during that period?
Prime Minister: Well, as always, Governor-Generals take advice from their Prime Ministers and in addition to that, I would simply note the oversight panel that was appointed by the Minister to oversee the action being taken by the CDF and the ADF in relation to actioning the recommendations that have come out of this report. And that is the process that we established to reconcile, I think, the issues that you have raised, Samantha. I think that is the way that these matters are able to be addressed and I would hope that there would be no real difference, at the end of the day, and that the difficulties that you have touched upon wouldn’t arise. And what I am saying is that that process is not completed yet and so the issues that have been raised are not ones that are current.
Journalist: Phil Coorey from the AFR. Just a week ago you gave a speech on China and the Chinese Foreign Ministry. It was relatively positive, it sort of had some positive comments in there. It was probably the first favourable comments we had heard from China for quite a while. This has happened a week later. What, in your view, has caused this shift from the same department of government? What do you put it down to?
Prime Minister: Well, I don’t put it down to anything. I don’t make the same assumptions about the connectedness of all of these responses, Phil, would be my first one. Whether it was that or any other responses we have seen in the past week. I think that would be over-assuming. Secondly, I would simply note what I said in my speech last week. It was not extraordinary. I have consistently, as both a Member of Parliament, a Minister and a Prime Minister and Treasurer, consistently said that Australia has not followed a policy of economic containment of China. I have consistently said that China’s economic development has been a positive for Australia and for China, pulling more people out of poverty than in the history of the world. I think these are positive things. Australia has played a role in that. That is why a positive relationship between China and Australia is so possible, even given the changes that have occurred over the last 10 years. I can assure you, Australia has remained the same. It is possible, it is in our mutual interest to achieve it and Australia will continue to pursue that, consistent with our own sovereign national interests. Now, I don’t think any Australian would expect us to make any compromises on those national interests. Of course they wouldn’t and nor should they and nor should they expect the government to do so. But there is mutual benefit in us being able to work through these issues in a way that can see those mutual benefits continue. That is in both of our interests to do that. What is not in our interests is for this type of conduct to go ahead. This sort of conduct is not conducive to any relationship and that is why I think it is so important in our mutual interests that this egregious act be dealt with in the way that I have suggested.
But with that, we are going to have to set up the system for the first Question Time by these methods and I hope the audio works better in Question Time than it has in the one I have had with you this afternoon. Thank you all very much.
Virtual Address, NSW State Council
29 November 2020
The Hon. Philip Ruddock, NSW State President: Ladies and gentlemen, we are now in a position to welcome the Prime Minister of Australia, the Honourable Scott Morrison to address the meeting. Scott, you are welcome. We greatly admire what you and your team have been doing and look forward to hearing from you.
Prime Minister: Well, thank you very much, Philip, and I join you here from iso in Canberra after a very successful meeting with one of Australia’s greatest friends and partners in so many things in Japan. It was quite a privilege to go to Japan and reflect on the fact it was a Menzies government all those years ago that put in place that commerce agreement in the late 50s, of course, followed by so many other great advances in our relationships within the region, but one that is often forgotten. That is one that started, in particular, out of the great work of the Menzies government and all of the Liberal governments that followed. So in many ways, I believed and felt as if I was continuing what is a very strong Liberal tradition, one Philip, that you're very familiar with. And so the price of that in the short term is 14 days here at The Lodge and being able to engage with so many of the other commitments that we've had, whether that's at APEC or the East Asia Summit and the G20 and many other bilaterals that we've had over that period of time. And next week, that will include, of course, joining the Parliament for the first time in Question Time remotely. So we do live in different times, but very enabled times too, which is a positive because it means I can join you all this morning.
This morning, I'm joining you from Ngunnawal country. So I acknowledge their elders past, present and future. I also acknowledge, as I always love to do, the amazing work and service of our serving men and women and our veterans. And I particularly want to acknowledge them at this very difficult time and thank them for their service and we respect their service. That respect has been earned in the most arduous and demanding of circumstances. And for that reason we, particularly at this time, recognise them and their wonderful service to our country and to any veterans or servicemen and women who are joining us here on this link up and in the meeting I particularly thank you also, as I especially acknowledge the many veterans who serve in our parliaments around the country.
Can I also obviously acknowledge you, Philip and Chris Stone and the great work you do in stewarding our great party in New South Wales and a very happy 75th birthday to all of us as we gather for this State Council in these unusual circumstances. I also acknowledge my colleague Gladys Berejiklian, Premier of New South Wales, who has always been a great colleague as we've worked closely together over many, many, many years in different roles that Gladys and I have shared and have formed a great friendship and a good working relationship as well to boot, particularly when we served as treasurers and now as Prime Minister and Premier. And she's been an invaluable support and contributor when it comes to the National Cabinet process we've been engaged in. But I'll return to that.
To all my fellow Liberals, to the members and the volunteers and the supporters. Thank you so much for maintaining your belief in our great cause and our great movement and how we believe things should be done in this country. And right now, in particular in New South Wales and federally, we have an opportunity that we've been able to execute now for a period of time, which we believe is making New South Wales stronger and is making Australia stronger because of the Liberal values and principles that we hold. And to that end, I thank all of my colleagues, whether in the Cabinet or more broadly in the federal parliament, and particularly at this time I want to acknowledge our next most senior member of our federal team in the federal parliament from New South Wales, and that's the Foreign Minister, Marise Payne. These are challenging times, I'll also return to that. But Marise's steadfastness, her consistency, her professionalism, her incredible work ethic has secured many achievements for Australia in this and her previous roles. But working closely with our consular team, with our diplomatic officials, other agencies of government, the return of Doctor Kylie Moore-Gilbert this week was a moment of pure joy. It was one of the really good days. And Marise's efforts in leading that effort to secure Kylie's release and see her come home to Australia is just absolutely tremendous. My other colleagues, of course, I welcome and I thank them for all of their great contributions, too many to name or single out at this time. But they are all doing an absolutely fantastic job, keeping our country safe, keeping our country together and keeping our economy and our country more broadly strong at a time of great challenge.
Can I as well as acknowledging the Party's history, I also at this time want to acknowledge, as I'm sure you have today, Philip, acknowledge again the sad passing of former premier and former federal finance minister John Fahey. John was an extraordinary fellow, and it was a great personal and professional, I must say also, privilege to be able to join with Colleen and her family at John's Memorial Service at St. Mary's. It was a very moving ceremony, a very moving service, which reflected on John's deep faith, his great conviction and his passions and his sense of service. Values that we all share and we saw exhibited in John. And we are thankful for John's life and we are thankful for his service and we are thankful for his leadership. And it's appropriate for us all to mark our great respect for John and Colleen as well and thinking of her and her terrible loss. They were an incredible partnership. You know, serving in politics in whatever role you have, whether as a volunteer, whether as an office bearer, indeed as a member of parliament or indeed a minister or prime minister or a premier, wherever you're doing it, you need the love and support of those around you and John certainly had that from Colleen. And she shares in all of his significant achievements and I'm sure all Liberals across New South Wales would acknowledge that.
Can I also recognise the outstanding work of our now retired federal president, Nick Greiner. Not only did he do an outstanding job for New South Wales as a very successful premier, but Nick backed up in his service by taking on the role of federal president at a very important time for our Party. And that led, of course, to supporting and doing a great role in our most recent federal election victory. Nick has now retired from that position and has been succeeded by John Olsen. Once again, Nick, I've had the opportunity to say this in many forums, but thank you very much for your great service to our federal party, of course, coming from New South Wales.
We have been going through a great storm this year, friends, a great storm. And our response has been one that has taken the notice of the world. Just to put this year in perspective. Firstly, the human scale of the loss. The human scale of the loss of COVID-19 around the world is arguably without precedent when we think of the sheer scale of lives lost as a result of a global pandemic. In terms of volume, obviously the Spanish Flu of 100 years ago as a proportion of global population, well, the mathematicians can make the comparisons. But whichever way you look at it, the sheer human cost and scale of that cost has been absolutely devastating all around the world. Here in Australia, we have avoided the worst of those impacts and I'll touch on that in just a moment. When I reflect particularly on this, I think about the situation in the UK where around 55,000 lives have been lost. That is more than were lost during the Blitz during the Second World War. That is a very sobering figure. Now, of course, the causes were very different and the devastation inflicted more broadly through the Blitz and the destruction and the other non-fatal casualties were extreme and those circumstances were very different. But we do have to take into account the context here. Our relative success here in Australia sometimes shields us from the sheer scale of the devastation that has occurred elsewhere around the world and perhaps can cause us not to fully appreciate the strength of Australia's response in these circumstances.
But it hasn't just been on the health side, on the physical human toll. It has been on the economic side. And to put this in context, in terms of previous economic hits. During the global financial crisis, world growth fell by 0.1 per cent, 0.1. This year, the OECD expects global growth to fall by4.5 per cent. The economic crisis we have been dealing with was 45 times worse than the global financial crisis and one of the reasons that is the case is because this recession globally has reached literally every corner of the Earth. The GFC had far more devastating effects and was more focused on the North Atlantic. Here and all around the world, COVID has had its brutal impact. But here in Australia, because of the measures, because of the resilience, because of the effectiveness of the actions taken principally in the economic area by the federal government, but ably supported by the New South Wales government and the other state and territory governments as well, I should hasten to add, there has been a very bipartisan effort at a state and federal level to ensure together as leaders of governments, Gladys and I working together. But with all the other premiers, of course, there's been disagreements here and that's only natural. It's the Federation.
But at the end of the day, you must assess the effectiveness of these things by their outcome. And the outcomes in terms of cushioning the blow, where we have seen in particular falls in GDP in the UK of almost 20 per cent and here in Australia that was limited to less than half of that. When you look at the debt situation that we currently face, where we are sitting in a position which is still the envy of the rest of the world. Net debt as a share of the economy will peak at half of what it is in the United Kingdom, a third of what it is in the US and a quarter of what it is in Japan. So even though, yes, we've taken on quite a load and necessarily so, what was the alternative other than to see Australian lives and livelihoods crushed? There is a time for government to act in these ways, but that time is quite specific and it has clear start and end points. And this is where I think Liberal governments understand that. That being a Liberal and having an economically conservative view about how we deal with the country's fiscal challenges is about understanding the necessity of action, but also the limits of that action and how you have to both gear in and gear out of these rather unusual periods of time. And I think Australians have responded well to that. None of us likes the fact that we have had to take on now such a heavy load. But it is necessarily so and I think Australians have heavily supported us in that, which means we will seek their support as we then put that load on a sustainable footing and so that it can be carried by a stronger economy into the future.
I also want to note that it's been the twin managing of these challenges that has been successful. The economic and the health going together. Certainly, there are countries that have done mildly, arguably better than Australia when it comes to health, but that is actually a very contestable space. Indeed, New Zealand has had a very strong health response to the crisis, there's no question of that. But their economy, their economy fell by 12 per cent in the June quarter, almost twice what happened in Australia. So balancing these economic and health interests with great success, I think has been the mark of Australia's response. It has been a response led by the federal government, of course, but one done in total partnership and synchronisation with the state governments and in particular New South Wales, who have understood and I want to pay credit to New South Wales and to Gladys in particular, and to Dom Perrottet and to Brad Hazzard and to all of the New South Wales team. They, more than any other, I feel, have understood that you have to work your way through this crisis. And I mean that.
Keeping people at work, the health issues and the health challenges in New South Wales have been greater than any other state or territory, greater. No doubt about that. The major single point of entry into Australia, the key point of vulnerability for the virus to come into Australia through Sydney. And so the risks of outbreaks in Sydney, the risks of New South Wales going the way of all of so many other countries in the world and the great cities of the world, whether it be New York or whether it be Paris or whether it be right across the world in other great cities. That risk was greatest in Sydney, it was greatest in New South Wales. And so in proportion to the significance of the challenge, so has been the response in New South Wales, steadfastly building up the resources and the capabilities to respond and to stay on top of every challenge that came their way. Sure, like with every other state and territory and federally, there were things that had to be learnt along the way. There was no rule book or guidebook here for Gladys or I or anyone else. We had to make our way through together and that involved a constant stream of communication. It involved learning from mistakes where they were made quickly and making sure that only made our response more strong in the months that followed, where the challenges became even more intense. And so to you, Gladys, and all of your team. I want to say thank you. Thank you very much. Not just for what you've achieved. Because if New South Wales had fallen like other states, particularly Victoria had, then that would have been a blow to our national standing, our national wellbeing, our national economy. That was frankly unimaginable. And so New South Wales held that position at the most important front line there was for our nation and for our economy. And that remains the case now as Gladys and I fully understand, and that's why we are so supportive of the efforts they're taking and balancing again, keeping New South Wales open safely so it can remain safely open, not just for the people of New South Wales, but for the entire country.
Our response, you know well more broadly, it ranged from the outset of putting in place the international border controls which remain to this day through the building up of our health system, some $18.5 billion invested by the federal government to shore up everything from our mental health supports to respiratory clinics and supporting with personal protective equipment. And there is a long list, and I won't delay the meeting with running through that list. But it was a great national effort and a great national undertaking. And the same work was being done and matched with significant expenditure by the state government as well in particularly building up that ICU capacity early on in the period which required an industrial effort and innovation which pulled together not just health ministers and premiers, but I know many others as well. It also meant understanding what the challenges may be different in regional areas, and shoring that up as well. And the work that has being done by Commissioner Fuller in coordinating effectively that emergency response for the New South Wales government working with the Premier and the Deputy Premier, I think has been an exemplar for all other states and territories to follow. As I said, New South Wales is and has been and continues to be the gold standard when it comes to how this crisis has been managed at both a health and economic level.
Our economic response in supporting New South Wales, almost $20 billion provided to businesses in New South Wales on JobKeeper, some 350,000 businesses in New South Wales. $9.5 billion in cash flow boost to some 280,000 small businesses. 740,000, just under that, accessing early release of superannuation. It's their money. They needed it and they needed it right then and now to ensure that they could lean on their own resources, as well as those provided by the Commonwealth government and the state government to ensure that they could see their way through and put themselves in a position of resilience. You know, we've protected the homes of some half a million Australians, it has been estimated by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. Half a million Australians still have their homes today because of the economic interventions we undertook. Some 700,000 Australians never lost their job because of the economic interventions that we put in place as a government. And on top of that, we've now seen 75 per cent of the jobs that were lost as we move to the pit of that point of the pandemic recession, they have now been recovered. The effective unemployment rate, which is different to the measured unemployment rate, which is usually quoted, that has fallen from its peak of around 15 per cent at the worst part of the crisis. That takes into account people who had to walk away from the job market, whose hours were reduced to zero. It takes all of that into account and we had around 15 per cent of our labour force and more that were out of work. That has now halved to 7.4 per cent in the space of these months that have followed that pandemic.
That is the evidence of a strong set of economic and health policies that has seen Australia pull through. The coronavirus supplement has been a necessary temporary measure. But along with JobKeeper and the many other things that we've done that has to gear out as it has geared up and what we have seen as we've gone through that well considered, thought through staged process of that support changing is we've seen businesses graduate. We've seen them and as I've met them around the country and in New South Wales, proud of the fact that they no longer need that support. Businesses don't go into business to be supported by the government. They go into business to support themselves. That is one of the great entrepreneurial values of Australians. That's why they do it. They don't want to be dependent on someone else for a job. They want to make their own way. They want to make their own future. They want to realise their own opportunities. It is not the mindset of Australians who run businesses, set up their businesses and work with them tirelessly, with their families and take on risks and do all of these things. They don't do it to be dependent on the government. They do it to be self-reliant. And that's why they are the great heroes of our economic recovery and our economic success that will continue to come in the future.
So we look forward to next year with great optimism because of the hope that has been built through our efforts over the course of this past year. Optimism is something I feel very strongly about. I am a naturally optimistic person. That is my disposition. But hope is something better, hope is something different, hope is something that is built on an achievement. It is built not just on the aspiration that things might go well, but a confidence and a knowledge that is rooted in the assurance of the way we plan to get to where we want to get to. And a key part of that plan and the qualities that we have as a nation has delivered a programme of vaccines for next year, which is exceeding our expectations. We are invested heavily in four vaccines, all of which are progressing extremely well. This basket of vaccines, the Novavax, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and of course, the University of Queensland vaccine. The UQ and AstraZeneca to be produced in Australia in an historic agreement will also see our vaccine production capability in Australia greatly enhanced, one of the legacies of this COVID period. They are all testing well. They still have to pass the final tests of the Therapeutic Goods Administration, the TGA, because we need a safe vaccine, not just a vaccine, and we are working to achieve that. And the Health Minister and I and Professor Brendan Murphy, who heads up our expert medical panel that is advising us on vaccines, are very confident about where this is heading. They should roll out in the first quarter of next year and roll out over the course of the year. At our last meeting of National Cabinet, we agreed the national policy on vaccines and we are now working through the more micro strategy of the rollout plan and so there is still time for that work to come together. But I want to assure you and all Australians that that work is going exceedingly well and is setting up a 2021 which will be very different from 2020, which I think will be a great relief for all of us. A year when we acted to save lives and to save livelihoods, those twin goals, driving all of our directions, bringing Australians together in an unprecedented way, has enabled us to get to where we are now.
So once again, Australia and Australians have proven their resilience this year. We have proven it. I said at the outset from the Prime Minister's courtyard that we like to think we're a strong people. But this year that will be tested and Australians have passed that test. And I'm sure Gladys would join with me in our gratefulness, the big thanks that we have to offer for the outcomes of this year is indeed to the people of Australia and to the people of New South Wales. Their patience, their tolerance, their care for each other, their understanding, their adaptability, their strength in dealing with difficult circumstances has been extraordinary and I think has been guided by that same spirit that existed in previous generations of Australians and those from New South Wales. So this will be something that won't be just required for a short time. Because as we emerge from the pandemic and the comeback has well and truly started and we are making our way once again, next year will prove to be even stronger. But I want to say that that does not mean that the world will present fewer challenges in the future. Of course, it will continue to present great challenges for Australia. There are great uncertainties out there and we are resilient people. And we need to be to meet those challenges that are ahead and are even present now so we can secure our opportunities and we can secure our future.
The world is and remains an uncertain place. Since the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall, this has been an exception, I think, to this rule. A new era of stability and certainty, sadly, has not been the product of that time. There has been a pause, a relative pause in the level of uncertainty that is experienced at a global level and that has brought about a great prosperity and has brought about a great connectivity in the world. But we are now seeing and have seen for some time now the return to the uncertainties that Australia has always had to deal with. Global competition and tensions we see again. Strains on our rules-based order around the world. All of this requires the careful engagement of Australia, consistent with our values and our national interests. But this is not new for Australia. There's nothing new about this. Australians have dealt with these things before. We have dealt with the economic shocks of global oil crises. Indeed, Australia has dealt with in the early 70s and it took some time with the establishment of the European Common Market, which massively disrupted Australia's trading outlook and the markets upon which Australia relied upon for our future. But Australia adapted. Australia got better at what we were doing, and we were able to create new opportunities and we were able to move forward.
We've dealt with the booms and busts of resource cycles and commodity cycles. That has been a part of Australia's history since John MacArthur and Elizabeth MacArthur started running sheep out in south western Sydney and other places. This has always been part of Australia's experience, to manage the cycles in which our economy moves, some states more than others. We are no stranger to that. We are no stranger to the need to adapt to these things and should never feel in a way that these things can overwhelm us. They don't. They never have. And I have great confidence that they never will. We have dealt with Cold War tensions in the past for protracted periods. This was one of the great successes, particularly I think, of the Menzies governments and those that followed. A careful and deliberate positive engagement with the world, building up new friendships like the one I mentioned with Japan, but maintaining incredibly strong alliances. It was the Menzies government that signed ANZUS that we will celebrate the 70th anniversary next year. I would suggest probably the greatest achievement of that government and one that I think we as Liberals can rightly understand our place in that great relationship between the United States and Australia. It was a Liberal prime minister and a Democratic president that signed that arrangement. It will be a Liberal prime minister and Democratic president next year which will mark that anniversary. That relationship with the United States goes beyond politics. It is deep, it is enduring, and it is based on a common set of values about our societies and that is what sustains it and it will continue to be sustained into the future.
We have dealt also with regional conflicts as a country, whether it be Vietnam or other places. These things have caused great upheaval to our country. But at the same time, through all of these challenges, Australians have remained resilient. We have remained true to who we are. We have remained true to our values. And together we have always been able to come through and find our path. So for us as a government in supporting the resilience of Australians during what are difficult times and will continue to be in the international setting beyond this pandemic, our plan is to continue in accordance with these values and principles that have made Australia so resilient and strong. We will remain an outward-looking, open and trading sovereign economy in the world. We have moved our country from a position where 26 per cent of our two way trade was covered by agreements to facilitate that trade around the world to 70 per cent. That has opened up the path for diversification that Australia has never known before. Most recently, the conclusion of the agreement of the IA-CEPA as it is known with Indonesia, the digital agreement with Singapore. Just the other week we concluded our participation in what is effectively a new regional economic community through the RCEP agreement. We continue with the work and I have met just in recent days with the European Union over our free trade agreement with Europe, as well as are moving quickly with a new agreement with the UK as it pulls out of the European Union. There has not been a government more committed to opening up and developing myriad trade opportunities than the government that was elected in 2013 and continues to serve strongly to this day. And I acknowledge the trade ministers, particularly Andrew Robb, who did so much of that groundbreaking work. But that follows through to Steven Ciobo and Simon Birmingham, all of whom have continued down the consistent path that was set out under the Abbott government when we began in 2013. We have provided those pathways. Those pathways have proved to be more important now than perhaps we first understood when we went down that path together as we sat around that cabinet table and I remember it vividly in 2013, knowing that this is where our future lay to continue to broaden and deepen the nature of trading relationships that we have around the world.
We will continue to leverage and build on our strengths. Our energy strengths, our advanced manufacturing strengths, the skills and ingenuity of our people. Programmes like JobTrainer, the technology roadmap for developing new energy technologies. The manufacturing strategy that was in the Budget, some $1.5 billion built on an economic platform of productivity. This has been well received and it's timely and I commend the ministers for their work in this area and the support that it's received. We will continue to pursue policies that provide equality of opportunity and reward for effort. The fair go for those who have a go. That's what I promised at the last election. And through lower taxes, support for small business, increased training opportunities, some 30,000 new university places that will be available next year. We are living up to that promise. Providing the support and opportunity that is needed for all Australians to achieve their potential where they're prepared to step up and seek to realise their potential.
We will continue to do all we can, all we can, to ensure that our economy is match fit and competitive in what is a competitive trading world. And our productivity reforms which were outlined in the Budget, many of which I've already mentioned around energy and manufacturing and skills training, our infrastructure programme, working with the states. All of this is designed to ensure that Australia is match fit. Our digital transformation strategy, some $800 million announced in the Budget to lift our economy into the digital world so we can compete as strongly and better, hopefully, than any other nation when it comes to enablement digitally. And then, of course, that we will care for those, we will care for each other as a country through the guarantee of essential services that we all rely on that are made possible by a strong economy and the hard work of Australians and that we’ll care for our country. Whether that's in our absolute commitment to ensure that we can achieve net zero emissions as soon as possible, but not through higher taxes, but through smart technology and innovation that sees us achieve what is a worthy aspiration, a worthy goal, but not at the cost of our industries, not at the cost of jobs. This is not a cost that has to be paid to achieve those things. We can do it smarter than that. And that's what we're seeking to do, working with partners around the world. Or it's indeed the landmark work we've done on recycling technology and recycling efforts, the removal of plastics from our oceans and all of these important environmental objectives, which Sussan Ley is leading so well and making our country more resilient to the great environmental challenges that we have. The Black Summer bushfires only underscored these things. Australia is no stranger to bushfires, but as the Royal Commission demonstrated, the risks that present are locked in and we need to continue to build our resilience, not just to ward off against great natural disasters, but we're very familiar with those in this country. And we will continue to work hard together with the states to build our resilience and our recovery capacity in response to those events when they inevitably occur.
So, friends, we do all this by upholding our values, never trading them away, making sure that they always light our path for the way forward to ensure that Australia remains the resilient and successful country. Seeking to make our own way, having our friends, having our partners, but seeking to make our own way as an independent, sovereign nation, based on those liberal democratic market-based values that have secured our success for a very, very long time and will into the future. As Prime Minister and my government, we are custodians of that and we do that consistent with the Liberal Party's values, which are so rooted in that notion of resilience and respect for our institutions and respect for the values that are served so well by our defence forces and are exhibited so well by our small business people who go out there and try and make Australia a stronger place every single day.
So I thank you for your shared commitment to these things. I appreciate your patience as I've run through what are some very important issues today and be confident that the faith that you have placed in our government and the people who run it is respected, is appreciated, and we won't let you down. Thank you very much for your kind attention.
Australia UAE Business Council Launch
26 November 2020
Prime Minister: Well thank you very much Christopher, and my apologies to all of those who are assembled there, we have had a very lengthy Cabinet meeting today and I’ve literally just walked out of that and we’ve just concluded there. And I thank you for your patience, as we prepare for this last sitting fortnight there, as Christopher will well recall, there is a lot of business to get through at this end of the year and in preparations for those last sitting, that next sitting fortnight which begins next week there are some very urgent issues we had to attend to and there’s no shortage of things going on in our world today. Which you will all be as familiar with as I am.
So good evening, everyone and I’m really delighted to be with you, even though it is virtually.
I wish I could have been there with you personally, that was my original intention when my good friend Christopher invited me to be part of this, I, it was straight away I think Christopher, I agreed to do it because I understand the importance of this relationship and I’m very pleased to be able to be here.
Even if it is from, as we call it, ISO, ISO has become known this year as the Australian dictionary word of the year apparently. And so I think that says quite a lot about 2020 that such a word would define a whole year here in Australia.
Can I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners on the land where I’m meeting tonight, where I am in Canberra are the Ngunnawal people, and pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging.
Can I also acknowledge as is my custom any members of the Australian defence force personnel or indeed veterans importantly who have joined us today, as Christopher just said, there are many who have served in our defence forces in the Emirates, and just simply say to them, particularly at this time, particularly at this time, thank you on behalf of a grateful nation for your outstanding service for our country.
Can I of course acknowledge your co-chairs His Excellency Badr Al-Olama, and of course, someone who I know would love to be known as His Excellency, Christopher Pyne, but we’ll just know him as the Honourable Christopher Pyne, and indeed he is, who together are the driving force behind this new Australia UAE Business Council.
I also recognise the presence of His Excellency Abdullarh Al Subousi - the UAE Ambassador to Australia.
There’s a saying that, when trouble strikes, you find out who your true friends really are. Christopher and I know that very well. And trouble has certainly struck this year, and through it all, the United Arab Emirates has shown itself to be a true friend of Australia.
When the bushfires were raging over the Black Summer, we were so grateful for the UAE’s support.
A message of solidarity was projected onto the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
And there was practical support as well, even a fundraising appeal, fittingly called ‘mates help mates’.
All making a difference. But the message it sent, even more special.
Of course, this year hasn’t got any easier. COVID-19 has been a calamity for the world, a global health crisis, and a global economic crisis. I described COVID-19 as being akin to an economic meteor hitting the global economy.
Yet in these most trying of times, Australia and the UAE have responded well.
We’ve successfully limited the spread of the virus, and we have strengthened our economies to respond and absorb that shock. To cushion the blow.
Still, the human and economic toll has been severe, and the way back will be hard. So we do need to keep working together, more closely than we ever have before. And I know the Australia-UAE Business Council will play a central role in this collaboration and partnership.
This is the first-ever business council between our nations, it’s hard to believe really given the strength of relationship and the commerce that occurs. And it’s very timely.
Of course, Australia and the UAE already have a strong economic relationship that’s not news. And we do so in part, because we get each other, we understand each other, and importantly we trust each other.
We believe in open markets and the need to provide conditions for business to succeed. We believe in a business-led recovery of our economies both here in Australia and in the UAE, and around the world.
We share a spirit of optimism and hope, and an enviable capacity for innovation.
And we know that trade is key to our future prosperity.
None of us gets rich selling things to ourselves. One in five Australian jobs relies on trade, and the UAE is our largest Middle East trading partner.
Our businesses export high-quality goods and services, supporting the Emirates’ most prized industries.
You sell premium cuts of Australian meat in your fine hotels and restaurants. Which is what’s demanded by your guests.
Our construction experts helped create the wondrous theme parks of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
And remarkable Australian technology keeps the windows of the towering Burj Khalifa clean and shiny.
Today, there are over 350 Australian companies operating in the UAE, everything from steel trading to banking, freight services, marine manufacturing, and many more.
Likewise, we welcome Emirati investment in Australia.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority — one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, has invested in our ports, our motorways and our energy grids.
And other UAE-based firms have entered our agribusiness, tourism, health and aged care sectors.
Just last month, two Abu Dhabi-based companies, Masdar and Tribe, signed up to a new energy‑from‑waste project at the Maryvale paper mill in Victoria.
The project will divert some 325,000 tonnes of waste from landfill and reuse it to generate steam and electricity. How good’s that?
And it’s expected to create 500 jobs. Even better.
These examples represent just the beginning of our partnership.
Next year is the Golden Jubilee of the UAE a great moment in history with World Expo coming to Dubai.
Like so much, it has been impacted by COVID. But I’m sure it can be a road marker for the world, a marker of hope in the road to recovery.
I’m pleased that Australian businesses are making major contributions to the Expo itself.
I believe one of the opportunities before us is in agribusiness.
We share similar climates, so we can learn from each other about managing water scarcity and growing food sustainably. Sharing the latest innovations in aquaculture, urban farming and hydroponics.
We can also do more when it comes to the digital economy, the real gamechanger. COVID accelerated everything, with artificial intelligence, fintech, cloud computing and e-commerce all creating huge opportunities.
As technologically-advanced economies, we’re well-placed to collaborate here.
We are also seeing shared opportunities in education, with the University of Wollongong, Murdoch University and Curtin University already setting up campuses in Dubai.
But again, we can do so much more.
I want our educational institutions to give young Emiratis, and students across the Gulf region, opportunities to gain experience in the Indo-Pacific region. A region which will define the world in the decades ahead.
And our educational institutions can help provide a steady stream of trained professionals for the UAE’s thriving knowledge-based economy.
Aerospace, a relatively new industry for Australia and the UAE, is another area of massive potential.
Our nations have bold ambitions, and we’re committed to working together to achieve them.
Early last year, the Australian Space Agency signed an agreement with its Emirati counterpart, which is driving cooperation in communications, robotics, technology and space medicine.
We are like-minded partners as we look to grow our national space economies.
Australia has a goal to triple the size of our space sector by 2030, and partnership with the UAE will be important for us to achieve this.
And the UAE is a shining example for Australia, breaking new ground globally, having launched a mission to Mars in July, and sending its first astronaut into space in September.
These are truly historic achievements.
And it’s not just me who’s excited about it as the Prime Minister, as the National Space Agency - the Australian Space Agency is based in Adelaide, in Christopher’s home city. And, Premier Marshall, you will not find a more excitable person, and passionate person when it comes to the development of the space industry in Australia than Premier Marshall. Only Trekkies I think have a more enthusiastic passion for space than Premier Marshall, he has really taken this up in a big way. And he’s a huge part of the partnership which is making our space agency work.
Australia is working hard to make sure our businesses can take advantage of all these opportunities.
And we are working to eliminate the barriers.
We’re deregulating cross-border exchange with a Simplified Trade System reform agenda.
We want to get rid of the unnecessary costs that are holding back our 56,000 exporters, and 387,000 importers, many of which are doing business with the UAE and the wider Gulf region.
As part of our JobMaker Plan, we’re starting a comprehensive overhaul of trade-related regulations.
We’re also starting work on a Digital Verification Platform, to move towards paperless trade internationally, and, in the longer term, a Trade Single Window to enable importers and exporters to tick off any regulatory requirements in just one go.
COVID-19 has played havoc with international freight routes.
So we’ve also taken steps to help our agricultural and fisheries exporters move their produce into key overseas markets.
The Budget which we handed down last month provided more than $317 million to extend the temporary International Freight Assistance Mechanism until the middle of next year.
This is helping to restore global supply chains and keep international freight routes and flights operating.
I’m pleased that Emirates and Etihad are both supporting this initiative, helping to send fresh Australian produce, like meat, seafood, fruit and vegetables, to Emirati consumers.
Now in conclusion, of course, we’ve still got a lot to do to get through all of this.
But when trouble strikes, mates help mates, as UAE has demonstrated to Australia over the course of this year. And so many others.
That’s what we’ve done this year, and now is the time to take our partnership to the next level.
I believe our relationship is full of possibility, and our people and businesses are eager to do the best they can, and make the most of it.
I’m very confident that the Australia-UAE Business Council will open doors in the years ahead and I’m very pleased to be with you to launch this new great venture, and I congratulate all of you for being a part of it as we’ve kicked it off today. And look forward to its great success in the future.
Thank you very much for your kind attention.
Congratulations on this new venture.
Virtual Press Conference
26 November 2020
Prime Minister: I'm very pleased to be joining Foreign Minister Marise Payne in this virtual format to make the most exciting confirmation that Doctor Kylie Moore-Gilbert is coming home. This is a great day for Australia and it is obviously a wonderful day for Kylie and her family. Obviously, her family have asked, as has Kylie, that we respect their privacy as Kylie returns home and makes what will be a very significant adjustment. This has been a consular case that we have been working on now for two years and I particularly want to commend Foreign Minister Marise Payne and all of her team, both within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Ambassador on the ground and her team, but also many other agencies and their officials who have supported this incredibly important task. Australians will find themselves in places of great difficulty and I can think of few greater places of difficulty then an Iranian prison with a sentence over you of 10 years for a conviction that Australia has always rejected and, of course, Doctor Kylie Moore-Gilbert has always rejected. These arrangements in seeking to secure the release of Australians are very difficult to work through and they are very complex and for the reasons are protecting the safety of all other Australians who potentially can find themselves in difficult situations, the Australian Government’s practice, regardless of what side of politics we are from, has always been to deal with those issues with the greatest deal of discretion. But what is true is that Kylie Moore-Gilbert is coming home. She was facing another eight years in an Iranian prison, wrongfully imprisoned there and wrongfully convicted, and it is incredibly essential that we did the work that was done to secure her release and see her coming home.
Now, I'm sure there are many issues that are raised by these events and I'm going to hand over in a minute to Foreign Minister Marise Payne to speak further on this matter. But what I do want to say is that I'm just so thankful, as I know that Kylie Moore-Gilbert is, to all of those who assisted her release. She is an extraordinarily intelligent, strong and courageous woman. She is an amazing Australian who has gone through an ordeal that we can only imagine, and it will be a tough transition for her, as it has been for others in similar experiences in the past. I know she will get tremendous support from her friends and family and she will, of course, get tremendous support from the Australian Government, both in her return home, as well as the counselling and other support and debriefing and health support that she will need as she makes that transition. Both Marise and I spoke to Kylie earlier today and we were in touch with each other, Marise and I, last night when we first got the news. There have been a few false starts on this in the past ,but we have got there now. Particularly over the course of the last few days, we saw how these events were unfolding and we kept up the hope, we kept up the prayers too and as I said on morning television this morning, I have always believed in miracles and I'm just so thankful for this one as well to see Kylie coming home. She seems to be, in our own conversations, in quite good spirits, but I imagine there is a lot of processing of this to go through yet and as she returns home to Australia and adjusts to life here again.
So, finally to you Kylie, you are amazing. Your strength and your courage is an example to all Australians in what has been an enormously difficult year at home but compared to what you have been going through, well, that is a whole another experience entirely. So I am going to handover to Marise now and to you, Marise, congratulations on how you have led this effort, for your passion and commitment to this. It just couldn't have been greater. Your determination to see this happen today is a great testimony to the great work that you do as our Minister of Foreign Affairs. Marise.
Senator the Hon. Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women: Thank you very much, Prime Minister. I am extremely pleased that Doctor Kylie Moore-Gilbert has been released from her unjustified detention in Iran and is safely on her way home. Doctor Moore-Gilbert will soon be able to resume her life with her family and her work colleagues and this is cause for great relief and also great joy today. I have spoken, as the Prime Minister said, to Doctor Moore-Gilbert on the phone this morning. She is healthy and she is in good spirits. On her return, she will enter quarantine, but she will not be alone and she is well supported. I am not able to disclose the location of her quarantine, nor any other private details. We would all understand that Doctor Moore-Gilbert has adjustments to make, some plans to consider, so this will be a period of privacy and one expects, decompression. Doctor Moore-Gilbert and her family have, as the Prime Minister said, asked for privacy at this time.
Her release has been an absolute priority for the Government over more than the last two years. We have consistently rejected the grounds on which the government of Iran arrested and detained Doctor Moore-Gilbert and we continue to do so. These are points I made strongly to Foreign Minister Zarif during multiple meetings on this issue. Of course, every case of this nature is considered individually and the best strategy is carefully considered each and every time and indeed reviewed through that period. We draw on experience, we draw on the professional judgement of DFAT and other officers. Doctor Moore-Gilbert's family agreed with the Government's advice that the best outcome was likely through diplomatic channels. Our officials followed that strategy with professionalism, with diligence, with commitment, and with great care to secure her safe release and return.
I also want to acknowledge Doctor Moore-Gilbert's faith, her steadfast endurance and her resilience. I want to thank her family. I want to thank her family for the trust, the confidence they have shown towards our diplomatic and consular officers. I also thank her employer, Melbourne University, and her academic colleagues for their support and cooperation. I also, especially, thank this morning Australia's diplomats for their assistance to me and to the Government in securing Doctor Moore-Gilbert's release. The Australian people can be absolutely assured that their diplomatic corps has served us all with utmost professionalism and discretion. This has been a long process. Their commitment and their focus has endured every step of the way. As long as I have been engaged on this, they have been engaged on this. This outcome demonstrates, for me, and I think to Australia, the value of professional, determined, discrete work of officials in resolving complex and sensitive consular cases.
As I said, I am very relieved to know that Doctor Moore-Gilbert is safely out of detention and will be returning to Australia and I've very much look forward to hearing the news of her reunion with her family. Thanks, Prime Minister.
Prime Minister: OK, let's go to questions. If I could get the vision of the press conference back and I’m going to have to rely on, we might just go around the room, I think is probably easiest, unless you have agreed on some order. So let's take those questions and I will respond and then pass over to Marise as appropriate.
Journalist: Thanks, Prime Minister. Andrew Tillett from the Financial Review. Kylie Moore-Gilbert is not an isolated case. There were two Australians last October that were released in similar circumstances of effectively a prisoner swap. What is your message for the Iranian regime about this hostage diplomacy that they engage in, and is it just unsafe for Australians to travel to Iran when the COVID-19 travel restrictions are ended?
Prime Minister: Australia's warnings about travel to Iran have been consistent, about the risks that present to Australians who are travelling in that area. And you are absolutely right, we did have earlier cases, we were also able to successfully arrange for their release as well, as we have in this case with Doctor Moore-Gilbert. Now, we don't confirm or make any comment on any of the suggestions that surround her release or the others. That practice is there for good reason and that is because Australia works through diplomatic channels to resolve many issues of this nature, so it would not be in Australia's interests or for the safety of other Australians who from time to time may find themselves in this situation. To acknowledge or confirm in any way, shape or form, so you can draw no conclusion from those arrangements. That is how we are able to best work to secure people's release. But our message to the Iranian government is the same one that I wrote to the President about and the Foreign Minister has raised directly with the Iranian Foreign Minister and that is the detention of Australians for no reason that can be substantiated is just not on. It’s not lawful, it is not recognised by Australia and we won't accept it and we will do everything to ensure we can, in Australia's interest, to secure the release of people who have been falsely detained. Marise, did you want to add anything to that?
Senator the Hon. Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women: Prime Minister, I would remind everybody that our travel advice on Iran is very clear. Firstly, we advise; do not travel to Iran and particularly at this point in time due to the COVID-19 outbreak. That is common across our formal travel advice. But we also add that the security situation remains volatile and there is a high risk that you could be arbitrarily detained or arrested. We are very careful with the application of our travel advice and those warnings are there for good reason.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Chris Uhlmann from Nine News. You would both be aware about how this is being reported in Iran. It says an Iranian businessmen and two Iranian citizens who were detained abroad on baseless charges were exchanged for a dual national spy. I know you can't speak directly to this case, but don't prisoner exchanges encourage rogue states to take hostages?
Prime Minister: Again, I will give the same answer I just gave to the previous question, and the Australian government doesn't acknowledge or confirm any such arrangements, regarding any release of any other persons in any other places. If other people have been released in other places, they are the decisions of the sovereign governments in those places. There are no people who have been held in Australia who have been released and so what is important is that Australians are obviously careful in places where they travel to and comply with the travel advice that has been offered by the Australian Government. But we live in an uncertain world and we live in a world where there are regimes that don't act in relation to people's liberties and rights and with the freedoms that we enjoy here in Australia and that is just a sad reality of the world which we live in. And Australia has to deal in that world, we have to take actions in that world to secure the safety of Australians and we will always seek to do that in a professional way. But I can assure you, we don't do it in a way that compromises Australia's national interest, Australia’s national security or the safety of Australians.
Journalist: Mark Riley from the Seven Network, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. Working on a bit of a theme here, but the US President-elect Joe Biden’s talking about reviving the Iran nuclear deal. In doing that, I'm wondering first whether we agree with that, and secondly, as part of that, could it not be a condition applied by the US that Iran stops this practice of state sanctioned hostage taking for ransom and starts to act responsibly in the international community to have sanctions eased?
Prime Minister: The JCPOA, you will recall, we looked at as a Government. We are not a party to that agreement but we did look at that agreement and we expressed support for that agreement and undertook that review and continued in that position. But in doing so, we have not been uncritical about the effectiveness of that arrangement, and have said openly that we believe there are improvements that can be made to it. So to that extent, Mark, we would welcome any improvements that would lead to the more lawful behaviour of states like Iran, whether it's on those issues that you’ve just mentioned or more broadly in relation to other activities that Australia obviously does not accept. And so I think there are always opportunities to improve these arrangements. That arrangement has come under a lot of criticism but I think the balance of judgement on that, and Marise will add to this, has been that it is better to have it than not to have it. But it could certainly be a lot better and more effective than it is. Marise?
Senator the Hon. Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women: Prime Minister, I think that covers most of the issues. Of course, not being a party to the JCPOA means that others will be engaging in those negotiations and those issues. But we have been consistently clear that we encourage compliance with the provisions of the JCPOA itself. We have been clear in urging Iran to remain within the bounds of the plan of action, which includes workable provisions that deal with disputes and disagreements, so there are mechanisms in that instance. But in terms of rejoining, from the United States' perspective and as the Prime Minister said, there may well be opportunities to consider other issues such as the one you have raised.
Journalist: Tamsin Rose from the Herald Sun here. There are lots of other Australians in prisons overseas, including Melbourne man Karm Gilespie who is currently an China facing the death penalty. Do you have an update on his case and could the same strategies that we used to get this release today be used to get him back home?
Prime Minister: I will ask Marise to give an update on Mr Gilespie’s case, but let me just say more broadly that Australians find themselves in situations for a range of different reasons. And whether they be on criminal matters or they be on political charges, effectively, or espionage charges or things of that nature, so I would say and it has been our experience, that every case is unique and you deal with the circumstances of each case on its merits and seek to find a pathway to resolution as best as you possibly can, and that is what we do in each case. Now, it is impossible for the Australian Government to give any guarantees on these cases about resolution. That is why it is with joy that we welcome the fact that Kylie is on her way home, because there are no guarantees in this situation, nor is there in the case that you have mentioned. But we will continue to apply ourselves assiduously to this and I will ask the Minister to comment further.
Senator the Hon. Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women: Thank you, Prime Minister. It is absolutely the case that every sensitive consular case is different and the facts and the circumstances of each case really guide us and are part of our planning and how each is handled. It is literally a case-by-case strategy. In relation to Mr Gilespie, his matter is still in part of a legal process within China. We continue to seek consular access to him to ensure that we can provide that consular support and, of course, to seek to ensure that he has access to lawyers as well. To be very clear, Australia in all cases, at all times, absolutely opposes the application of the death penalty. That most certainly holds in relation to the cases that you have raised and any other case, in fact. There are many Australians around the world who find themselves in detention for a vast range of reasons. At any one time, Australian consular officials can be dealing with over 200 cases of people in prison globally, and those reasons are as vast as you might imagine. Some are the sorts of circumstances we have seen Doctor Moore-Gilbert deal with. Others, where charges have been made in relation to drugs issues. Others where domestic criminal laws in the countries in which Australians find themselves have been breached and they are dealing with appropriate legal processes there. Every single one of them is a difficult case in its own way. Every single one of them takes considerable consular time to engage on and to provide support for, and we take all of them very, very seriously.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Andrew Probyn from the ABC. You would have noticed that Kylie Moore-Gilbert made a statement outside Evin Prison talking about the Zionist regime, according to one translation. Would you be worried if the making of such statements was a condition of her release and, secondly, and perhaps this is for Senator Payne, have we expressed our thanks to the government of Thailand for their assistance in this matter?
Prime Minister: On the second point you have raised, you are making assumptions, Andrew, that the government does not confirm. So that would be wrong for us to make any comment on that matter, one way or the other. So I think that rests at that point. In relation to the debriefing of Doctor Kylie Moore-Gilbert, that will be done when she returns and goes through quarantine and receives the health support that will be necessary for her to make this difficult adjustment and we will work through these issues, I’m sure, in due course, Marise?
Senator the Hon. Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women: Thank you Prime Minister, I think that covers off those issues.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Pablo Vinales, SBS news. Can I just ask you on stranded Australians, some of them have told the COVID committee this morning that at the current rate it is going to take seven years get some of those 36,000 stranded Australians back home. You said you want them home by Christmas. What needs to change for that to happen? Are you still confident that will happen and to Minister Payne, can you assure those Australians that you are doing everything possible to get them home by Christmas?
Prime Minister: A couple of things. Of course we want to see Australians get home and we are very aware, as we have been all year. Over 400,000 Australians have returned home over the course of this pandemic coming back into Australia. When I made the statement, I was making reference to the 26,800 I think it was, Marise, the numbers that we currently had registered at that time seeking to come home. That was in the mid to late September, about 35,000 have arrived back in Australia by now. And there will be more who will arrive home in Australia by the end of the year. So in relation to the commitment I made at the time, I think we have been making good progress against that.
Obviously, the ability to get people home to Australia depends on the available quarantine capacity here in Australia. As you know, the state governments have requested to have caps on the number of Australians and number of arrivals who can come back into Australia, particularly in this time where quarantine is under pressure and that is the greatest risk of transmission of the virus into Australia. So we understand that. I appreciate, particularly in New South Wales, who have carried the lion's share of the load of people coming back to Australia every week, about 3,000. But on top of that, we have had increase in the caps out of Perth and out of Queensland and I thank them for their cooperation. Tasmania also is doing its bit and South Australia, they will return to taking people back on Monday and we welcome that and in Victoria, they will commence again on the 7th of December and there will be about 1,120 who will be coming in, I think it is, a week out of there, and Victoria obviously will be able to take a lot more but they are coming back into the process gently to ensure that their quarantine systems are not breached.
This is why I made it clear to states and territories and particularly those that were saying they would like to bring international students in and that they wanted to have a share of their international arrivals to be dedicated to students. We simply cannot do that because our priority is to get Australians home. I will ask Marise to go through the many flights and we have got some happening even as we speak. The setting up of the facilities up there in the Northern Territory, and the number of flights, I think there are almost 70 flights, assisted flights, that the Australian Government has been involved in getting Australians home this year. Should almost be about 40,000 specifically have been directly facilitated through that process, over the course of this year. So I can assure you, Australia is moving everything we possibly can to get as many Australians home. But there are obviously understandable constraints to that because of the caps on quarantine capacity. We provided Defence Force support for that, the AUSMAT teams have also provided support for that and it is not just the physical space in hotels but it is also then the police resources that need to be dedicated for those tasks and ADF resources that have been made available, as well as medical support provided by the state governments. So there are constraints. But so far, there are just under 27,000 we wanted to get home. 35,000 have already come home but more and more Australians are looking to get home. We’re also, through Services Australia, directly contacting all of those who have registered with our missions overseas to get updated status on their situation. Many of those have recently told us, well no, we can come back next year. But many are saying no, our situation has become more vulnerable and urgent and they have been prioritised in the way we deal with those sensitive cases. But Marise?
Senator the Hon. Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women: Thank you very much, Prime Minister. Pablo, I can absolutely assure you we are doing everything we can through the consular crisis division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. As the Prime Minister said, currently with the support of Services Australia to do everything we can to return as many Australians as possible, as soon as possible. That includes having run 24-hour consular teams for months and months now. Using very significant DFAT resources to do that, connecting with and contacting as many of those Australians who are overseas as we can to determine the best support we can provide them to determine how we can assist with access to flights, which in the context of the current international aviation environment, is of course challenging in itself. Then, of course, to determine if they need support in place and we have announced and are administering a hardship program through DFAT, which has so far distributed about $9 million to over 1,700 applicants that can assist in covering the cost of accommodation, of subsistence and of flights. We have been organising facilitated commercial flights from Europe and India during the last month or so, seven of those have arrived in Darwin and Perth, carrying over 1,000 passengers. They obviously have to be staggered through the quarantine and the caps process as well. But there are more to follow over the coming weeks from both New Delhi and London and other locations. We have a flight arriving in Canberra today, for example, which will fly from Singapore, bringing an extra 120 passengers going into hotel quarantine in the ACT, which is my understanding that is the first time the ACT has participated in the quarantine process for returning Australians. So, it is a complex process. We are contacting all of those Australians, family by family, to determine the best processes for them to work with them on that. As the Prime Minister said, some are keener than ever to return because of their family circumstances. Others are changing their positions and views. We will work with all of them on that and our role is in providing that support. What effect the consular officials who are doing this work, both in Canberra but also at countless posts around the world where they have been working on helping Australians who have been impacted by COVID-19 since March and April this year. It has been an enormous undertaking. We have seen 426,000 Australians returned from overseas since the Government first recommended that people reconsider the need to travel overseas on March 13. Many of those have been supported and assisted by the consular officials at DFAT.
Journalist: Daniel Hurst from Guardian Australia. Prime Minister, you have not acknowledged any linkages and he said release of prisoners as a matter for those sovereign states. So let me put this another way. Why should these Australian people not be concerned or have any security concerns about the release of at least two Iranian men in Thailand who are convicted of terrorism charges and given that those men were part of an attempt to assassinate Israeli diplomats in Bangkok, have there been any consultations with the government of Israel about this matter and have any concerns been expressed by the government of Israel to Australia about the release of these men?
Prime Minister: I will leave it to the Foreign Minister, whether she has received any information from Israel on that matter. I'm not aware of any that has come to Australia in my capacity. My answer is the same as to what I said to you, where another sovereign state has made a decision about the release of prisoners, that is a matter for them. Again, as Australia manages these sensitive issues, the reason we do it so sensitively and ensuring that Australia's, the safety of Australians and Australia’s national interest are not compromised. They are clear guardrails for Australia in how we manage these matters and this is important for other Australians who can find themselves in difficult situations. I do understand the interest. I do understand the reasons why, rightly, these questions will be raised. I totally understand that and I know the Foreign Minister would as well. Equally, in our responsibilities, we need to keep Australians safe in a whole manner of very complex and difficult arrangements and that is the reason why we are so discreet about the handling of these matters because it can put other Australians at risk. Potentially in the future. So, it would not be responsible for us, I believe, to engage in that level of detail. Marise, did you have anything to add on Israel?
Senator the Hon. Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women: No, Prime Minister, I'm not going to comment on diplomatic discussions with other governments in the context of the return of Doctor Moore-Gilbert. What I will say is my absolute focus in this entire process for such a long time has always been to endeavour to secure the release of Doctor Moore-Gilbert and to protect the rights, freedoms, safety of all citizens and to consistently act in Australia's interests. I can absolutely assure you that is the premise from which we start every day.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Sarah Ison from the West Australian. Just turning to the Chinese relationship, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday that Australia was solely to blame for the current rift, that Australia has caused difficulties in the bilateral relations and urged Australia to face up to problems and correct mistakes. What problems could they be speaking about and what mistakes have been made? Senator Payne, is it to do with the international inquiry you called into the origins of COVID-19, could this be classed as the mistake they refer to?
Prime Minister: Well, the other day the Chinese Embassy here in Australia outlined a list of 14 points and those 14 points go to the way that Australia makes its own laws in its own interests. That it engages on issues of global concern, consistent with Australia's values about transparency and human rights and issues of that nature and it also goes to the fact that Australia has a free press and a democratically elected Parliament of members who can freely speak their minds. I mean, these are fundamental sovereign interests of Australia. And so I can assure Australians that all of our views on those issues remain and are absolute. The other evening I gave a presentation to the Policy Exchange where I outlined I think fairly clearly what Australia's ambitions are here. We acknowledge, of course, the great economic success of China. I mean, no country in the world has pulled more people out of poverty than China has. That is a remarkable modern achievement of which they should be rightly proud and of which Australia has played a key role in. Not unlike the dramatic transformation of Japan during the post-war period. And indeed of the war-torn countries of Europe, who were able to reconstruct and rebuild on the basis of free market trading principles that make them the strong nations they are today. That said, that is why we want to have a happy coexistence, a good positive relationship under our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, one that is mutually beneficial. So the relationship between Australia and China is not one way. It is not just Australia who benefits. China greatly benefits. We greatly participated in their economic success. There is a wonderful people-to-people relationship between Australia and China and we share a passionate, deep and abiding interest in the success of south-eastern Asian nations pulling their nations and their people out of poverty. Particularly some nations that are newly developing, like in Myanmar and places like that, so we share those objectives for the region and want to work together on those things. That interest sits alongside our interest in maintaining the healthy and wonderful alliance we have with our friends, the United States, and we will make our decisions based on our interest. They will not be determined by countries outside of Australia. It is in our interest to seek to manage each of these relationships to the best possible way we can because that is what is in our national interest. I think Australia’s position has been clear and consistent. Both Prime Minister Howard and indeed the former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer made it pretty clear after my presentation the other night. Australia's position has not changed. The policies are the same. And they continue to be worked out and the actions we have taken consistent with those positions. So I think there has been a very clear and very consistent position from Australia and we would happily welcome a dialogue again, at a leader level and at a ministerial level. Australia has always been open to that and remain open to it now.
Journalist: Anthony Galloway from the Sydney Morning Herald. This is probably one for the Foreign Minister. But now that Doctor Moore-Gilbert is coming home and is safe, are you able to confirm any more details about what were Iran's actual baseless allegations? Are you able to confirm that central to the allegations were an alleged connection to Israel?
Prime Minister: Marise? Well, it seems like we might have had a technical problem with the Foreign Minister’s feed into the media conference. And, again, on these issues, they are not really things that we are going to get drawn into at this point. I mean, there were the issues that were publicly reported at the time. The bottom line is, is they were false. They were false allegations. She was not being detained for any, in our view, any legally appropriate reason. It was appropriate that she be released because she had done nothing wrong and she should not have been detained the way that she was. So that is why we couldn't be happier that this period has ended. But, Marise, do we have you back? If not, we might go to the next question.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Chloe Bouras from Network Ten. Just on another matter, bushfire season is upon us again. The Bureau of Meteorology is about to give its outlook for bushfires. Has the Federal Government implemented or actioned any of the recommendations that were made by the Royal Commission and if so, which ones?
Prime Minister: Well, the Royal Commission brought down a range of overarching governance-type arrangements and we will continue to work through the implementation of that and you have our response to that. We released that a week and a half ago. Much of the operational preparations have been ongoing now for some time. I mean, I had the National Cabinet briefed on the Bureau of Meteorology's forecast for the upcoming disaster season. That doesn't only deal with bushfires, but particularly because of the risk with La Nina, the risk particularly on the east coast is around flooding and cyclone events. That is one of the reasons we had to redeploy ADF to ensure they were preparing for any role they may need to play in the upcoming season, regardless of what type of a disaster may befall us.
In the west, the risk was greater on issues like bushfires, as they were in the north and so we have been working with state governments in readiness for those events as well. In terms of the firefighting fleet, aerial fleet, the planes, the same process with the additional financial support of the Commonwealth continues. It is the fire chiefs who make the recommendations about what they need and that is what has been provided and we will continue to take their advice. That was an area of difference between the Royal Commission and both the state and territory governments and the Commonwealth, that the system they had of the fire chiefs from the state whose have operational responsibilities making the recommendations about how their state fleets need to be supplemented with additional resources. That is why we put the additional funding in for and made that permanent to ensure they can reliably access those resources. So the work continues, as it does every year. There have been many learnings from last year's bushfire season. Some are longer-term changes. A big part of the change that was recommended to the Royal Commission is that we have to look more on the recovery side of things and on the climate resilience side of things. It is very important, of course, that we reduce our emissions and Australia is, and successfully, and meeting our commitments and our targets and in fact we are exceeding them. But on top of that, dealing with climate change is also about building climate resilience for locked-in impacts and regardless of what happens in the missions in the next 10 or 20 years, the existing impacts that are locked in to the system rely increased effort on climate resilience. Not just here in Australia too, by the way, but Pacific countries and that is where a big part of our support effort, some half a billion dollars, goes into that assistance.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Josh Butler from The New Daily. Thank you for sticking around until the end. On hotel quarantine, South Australia and Victoria both this week announced they are strengthening their systems. New rules around restrictions on workers and medical guidelines. The Chief Medical Officer said last week that hotel quarantine was Australia’s major risk of reintroducing COVID to the country. Especially considering more Australians are coming home now and the surge in cases overseas, do you believe the broader system of hotel quarantine would be strengthened in other states? And just a quick related one to follow up on Pablo’s earlier question, is that goal of getting all Australians home by Christmas a bit too difficult?
Prime Minister: Well, let me deal with that one first. The goal was to deal with the caseload that we had back in September and that was around 26,700 people. And we’ve already got 35,000 home. So we are well on the track to deal with the scale of demand that we had at the time. In fact, we have exceeded it in many respects with the number of people that have come back. There have been more who have joined that queue and so having effectively, really achieved the scale of movement that we were hoping to achieve over this time, there are more people who want to come and we just need to get as many people home as quickly as we possibly can using the methods that the Foreign Minister has indicated. Now, the biggest constraint on that is the scale of quarantine resources that are available for people to come back and it is logical that the area of greatest risk of COVID coming into Australia is from those returning Australians. Now, that was the case back in March. It is true today and the quarantine system, which was introduced in late March, has been incredibly successful. Yes, there have been a number of outbreaks that are caused from quarantine, but when you think of hundreds of thousands of people who have come back through this system over the many months, that is why your back-up system of tracing and isolating and testing are so important. There is no one solve to this. All of these things work together. That has been the consistent advice provided to National Cabinet and that is why, whether it is was Jane Holton's review of the quarantine system that I think has informed many of the changes that you are seeing and the assessment that she did across all of the state and territory jurisdictions and gave them a pretty good score, I have got to say. But there is always room for improvement and that report was released publicly. That has been provided to the states, so they can make further improvements in their quarantine arrangements. But on top of that, Dr Finkel and his report that I released after National Cabinet - where the recommendations of that report were adopted by all members, all premiers and chief ministers - that also goes to the further strengthening of our tracing system. We did see that in place and working in South Australia. I mean, 4,000 people were identified and isolated in the space of less than 48 hours. The tracing system swarmed and kicked in very quickly in South Australia and they were able to avoid a much more serious situation. I can appreciate that people were concerned about the level of lockdown that occurred, based on the information they had at the time, but the fact that it could be removed so quickly and that outbreak contained so fast and the isolation testing and tracing that was done shows the significant improvement, I think, in the systems that are there. When you look at Australia compared to the rest of the world, well, frankly, there is no comparison. Australia is in a handful of countries that stand out, not just for how we’ve suppressed the virus, but how we have mediated, mitigated I should say, the economic impact on Australia. I mean, Australia's economy has withstood this better than almost any other advanced economy in the world. That is a great credit to the perseverance and the determination of Australians to see through one of the most difficult years in their lived experience. But, Marise, did you want to add anything further to that or on the other matter before we lost you?
Senator the Hon. Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women: No, Prime Minister, I think that is very clear in terms of the returning Australians and the endeavours that we are making to assist wherever possible through the airlines, through the worker's consular and crisis team, through so many other ways at posts and ultimately to have as many Australians back in Australia before Christmas as we can.
Prime Minister: Thank you, everyone. I appreciate you joining us for this virtual media conference and the key thing is Kylie is coming home. How good is that?
Our Watch Virtual Forum
25 November 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Well thank you very much and it’s good to join you this morning, and I am speaking to you from ISO here at the Lodge, which is a bit extraordinary but we have all been getting used to that this year. As some of you may well be as you are joining us today.
Can I also acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, on whose land we meet where I am, and to pay my respect to their elders, past and present. And I also, given the nature of this event - can I specifically acknowledge all of our indigenous women leaders around the country who do such an amazing job, you know when I talk to those who are involved in programmes on the ground, they talk about how important it is to engage with female leaders in communities, and to sit and to listen.
And it doesn’t matter whether I’m talking to people working out of the Federal Police, people who are working in homelessness, people who are working in health, and I’ve got to say when I used to work in New Zealand many years ago, it was the same there. In engaging with Indigenous health, Maori there and other Pacific cultures. [Inaudible] to engage and understand the challenges [inaudible]. Have an amazing bravery and an amazing [inaudible] and a protective character which is truly inspiring.
Can I also acknowledge, as I always like to, all the serving men and women who serve in our Defence Force and particularly at this time dealing as a country with some very difficult, hard news and I want to thank all veterans and all Defence Force personnel for their service [inaudible].
I also acknowledge our parliamentary colleagues who are joining us here and fellow leaders with us today - and particularly acknowledge the Co-convenors of the Friendship Group - Senator Waters, Dr Aly and Dr Martin. Thank you.
We come together on this day [inaudible]. There are some issues which we will [inaudible] with hammer and tong, but on this issue, and I’ve been around this place for a while now. There is agreement across the divide. There is a sense of frustration and anguish across the divide. There is no dispute and no lesser level of conviction across any area of policy in this country when it comes to dealing with this issue.
Natasha, I want to thank you once again, we’ve been working with each other for a while on this, back from when I was Social Services Minister in particular many years ago. And I thank you for your introduction today and the issues that you’ve raised. And I particularly want to congratulate you on your appointment to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. So congratulations [inaudible].
You know, we all come to this with different perspectives. I grew up as the son of a police officer, and you know, when you grow up as the son of a police officer, you don't grow up with any illusions about true nature of the society in which you live. They know. My father was a good cop, and he was a good man and he saw the worst of society and he would see it every day, particularly when he was a younger officer. He worked the beat like anyone else when he was a young officer. And that was back in the 60s, not today. And we all know that while there are terrible, awful, atrocious things that continue to happen today, spare a thought for 30, 40 years ago when it was even more silent than it is today. And they would see this, and they would live with this. Good men and women who were aware of what was happening.
So I grew up in an environment where I was not disabused with any sort of fairy tale view about the absence of violence in our society, the absence of the things that we know that we are still dealing with today. I thank him for not, and sparing me the grisly detail a young boy, but I could see how he carried these things over the course of his working life and his mates who dealt with similar things.
So I come to this with no illusions about the reality and the honesty of the situation and how we have to confront it. But I also come to it with the legacy of so many others who have served in my role and served in so many other roles, including the brave women who have entered our parliament. And are here joining with us today from all sides of politics.
But this year we had the passing of two amazing women who did so much. And I'm talking about of course Senator Susan Ryan and Dame Margaret Guilfoyle. Dame Margaret was the first woman to hold a Cabinet portfolio and she said this of her ethos, equal participation of women in the parliament and the whole community of life can only lead us to a better understanding of humanity and the fulfilment of aspirations that we would have for a civilised society. Dame Margaret’s point was clear, we can't separate how our country treats women from what our country actually is. And I share that view. Susan Ryan expressed the same sentiments, she she demonstrated the same passion. She also fought to claim ground, on behalf of my daughters I thank them both.
That they will inherit a world and a country that is better than the one that my mother, when she started work and the idea that someone would be working, wasn't necessary, at a time when one mother, she had my brother and I, they couldn't understand why she would then go back to work. And when we lost my father earlier this year, a lot of these stories came back and we discussed them as family. And I could see quite a bit of the change that is taking place, but so much of the change that is still to be achieved, which is why we come together today.
This year has been a hard year for all Australians. With COVID-19 and the stresses and strains and anxiety that it has placed on people. And we, of course, and this was one of our greatest concerns at the outset of the pandemic, the Premiers and chief ministers myself alike, all through the federation that we knew that the virus, and shutting down communities and keeping people in homes where we know home is not always safe for a lot of women in this country.
That was one of the hardest decisions we had to make because we knew that there would be circumstances that potentially would potentially put women at great risk. And when you talk about hard decisions about containing the virus, that can pretty much destroy your country. And also at the same time, trying to protect women and children in vulnerable situations. This was one of the toughest decisions. And then we, and we agonised over them, and the only response was to do what we did, but at the same time ensure we doubled down as much as we possibly could on the services that would be necessary to support vulnerable people in these situations.
And this was a joint effort, it was no one single issue. It was a shared commitment and concern that we were acting on and state and federal governments working together to do whatever we can. There were no lines when it came to how we were going to protect women and children in vulnerable areas during the pandemic. There were no spats between the feds and the states. It was ‘We’ve just got to get this done.’ And I want to thank all the premiers and chief ministers and the health ministers. I know Greg Hunt will join me on that and Marise Payne in thanking them for the work we've done together.
But all too often, and that has continued to be the case over the course of this year, we have seen these behaviours that persist and seek to silence, control women in so many cases. In this country, we know that one woman is murdered by her current or former partner every nine days and that one in four women experience physical or sexual violence. One in four. You know these figures, we all know this because we say these figures and they cause us to shrink when we hear them. But this year, when Hannah Clarke was murdered and her three young children, I think for so many Australians, these weren’t numbers. A beautiful, young, strong woman, a mother and her three children killed in the most violent way I can imagine. You just can't get it out of your head. And when I attended the funeral and I looked at those beautiful faces of Aaliyah, Laianah and Trey and I looked at Hannah putting her arms around her children, well, it was hard to cope. And I hope this stays with me, and I'm absolutely certain it will. And others as we seek to deal with this issue. Because we do focus rightly on the prevalence of this issue and the statistics and that's an all important part of the evidence-based policy, as you rightly say, Natasha, that needs to drive our decision making. Of course, it has to drive our decision making and how we apply funds, where we do it and where we understand the problem will be the greatest and the contributing factors to be most prevalent. We need to understand all of that. But we also can never lose sight of just the sheer emotional scarring, torment, torture. And that also has to drive us. That's also what has to sustain us, and I can assure you, it sustains my commitment to this and the members of my government and I believe every single member of parliament and opposition and wherever you sit.
How many times have we all heard the news report and said to ourselves, not again. And we know that has to change. It’s violence caused by a twisted view of masculinity that thinks masculinity means control. It’s about control, it's about power. We know that to be the case. Healthy masculinity is not threatened by equality in the workplace, at home or anywhere else. Healthy humanity is not threatened by these. Whether it's people of different backgrounds or sexuality or colour or views, healthy humanity is not affected by these things and healthy masculinity is not either when it comes to issues of women. And to the credit of all sides of politics in the states and territories as well, the journey on this for Australia is well and truly on. We've been tackling the systemic challenge since 2013. We have committed more than a billion dollars to programmes and activities that seek to tackle violence against women and their children. We pick up from the work that was done by the Rudd-Gillard governments and the packages that were put in place and those responses. This is a continuation of that work with equal passion.
And this here, in the early days of the pandemic, we did put in place, as Fiona said, $150 million for the COVID-19 domestic and family violence support package, providing needed support for crisis accommodation, frontline services and intervention programmes. We did put additional funding for the 1800RESPECT counselling services. When I was a social services minister, I visited those places and the calls were made and the calls were taken. In September, we announced our Safe Places Emergency Accommodation Programme, which provides 58 safe emergency accommodation in remote regional and metropolitan areas, and the government is still considering a number of those proposals now having dealt with the others. We're proud to fund Our Watch to the tune of $21 million from 2019-2022 to support vital preventative activities.
But alongside the vital programmes must come a fundamental change in attitudes to Australian lives. There has, of course, been progress, but not nearly enough and the evidence tells us that attitudes which justified or condone gender inequality are a driver of violence against women. To prevent violence and inequality, we have to challenge those beliefs, to call it out, and behaviours that excuse justify or condone it. And this year, as part of this International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Our Watch is focusing on sexism and disrespect towards women that happens online. Because more and more, we live our lives in this space, and particularly over the course of this past year during the pandemic. Australia has led the world with an e-safety commissioner, Julie Inman-Grant, who does an amazing job. She's awesome. To help protect us all women, kids in particular as well. She is a champion. I'm glad Julie Inman-Grant is out there protecting my kids online and I'm glad she's protecting Jenny, I’m glad she's protecting all the women on this call today and elsewhere in the country. And she's there to stop the trolling, the abuse, the vile attacks on dating apps, the unwanted sharing of private images, and, yes, the everyday sniping on Twitter that all seeks to silence women politicians, women journalists, women academics and commentators, just like those who tried to silence Dame Margaret and Susan Ryan long ago as well.
So there is, friends, still so much to do. Attitude change, behavioural change, continue to renew support services that support women. I want to assure you that my Government is committed to that work and all the members of the House. Now, as many of you know, the current national plan will end in 2022. We've already begun work on the next one, just like we did last time, picking up on the work done by previous governments. The preeminent human yearning in all of us, men and women alike, is to be safe. And for too many women we know that fundamentally is not being met. That's why keeping Australian’s safe is the first priority of our Government, because it's the foundation of a civilised society.
So on this International Day of Eliminating Violence Against Women, I recommit and rededicate my and our efforts to keep women and their children safe. I really want to thank Our Watch for all your efforts and I look forward to seeing the outcomes of today's meeting. I thank you very much for your kind attention.
APS200 Virtual Forum
25 November 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much, Phil. And and to Peter as well and to all of those who are joining us here today. These are very extraordinary times. And to be joining you in this way from isolation here in The Lodge is certainly unique, but it's great that we can continue to connect up. The government doesn't skip a beat as we continue on, regardless of these rather extraordinary circumstances.
Can I also acknowledge the Ngunnawal people and their elders past, present, and emerging. And as you know, I always like to acknowledge our veterans and our serving men and women, particularly at this time, as we're dealing with some very difficult issues, which we're all very aware of. We owe them a great debt and we thank them on behalf of a grateful nation for their service. But to all of you, thank you for your service to our country. Last year, I addressed the leadership of the APS, at the event at the Great Hall, and I said I wanted the APS to be professional, capable, flexible, technology enabled and citizen focussed, and open also to outsiders and diverse points of view, both within and without. And I believe this year has been a year of great delivery for our Australian public service, in spades. On behalf of the government, I want to thank all of you who have served so well and say thank you.
This year, the Australian Public Service and the entire public sector stepped up, and Australians needed you to, I needed you to, I said last year that more than advice, implementation and execution was key. It remains my view, in 2020 we witnessed strong implementation and execution by the APS during the most difficult crisis we've faced in certainly in my lifetime and in many generations. Silos fell. They dissolved, real substantive and fast collaboration occurred. You should all be enormously proud of what we've accomplished this year. We faced twin national crises in real time, a health crisis and an economic one, to save lives and to save livelihoods. There was no rulebook. There was no set of procedures for the broader actions that were undertaken by our public service, certainly when it related to our pandemic plan that was implemented. But the broader activity of the public service and what I saw occur, you've written that book now about how it should be done, through your actions. Decisions that once might have seemed absolutely impossible, like closing the national borders, quarantining Australians - including a Prime Minister - closing pubs, gyms, schools, theatres, weddings and funerals limited, a very difficult decision, shutting up places of worship. All these were made in a matter of days, difficult decisions made decisively, but also based on clear medical advice.
Thousands of members of the APS were redeployed. Within 24 hours, hundreds were seconded to Services Australia answering calls. We even had a Service Australia call centre operating out of Parliament House. All up, processing hundreds of thousands of claims in weeks. We saw functions and apparatus like the National Cabinet and the National COVID-19 Co-ordination Commission quickly and supported almost instantaneously. We witnessed incredible action in the earliest days of hearing of COVID-19 in Wuhan. DFAT staff drove 12 hours from Beijing to Wuhan to coordinate getting Australians out. And our consular staff around the world have been working tirelessly since. We all shared a goal this year, the executive, the parliament, the bureaucracy, and that was to save lives and to save livelihoods, and be COVIDSafe ourselves. And that's still our goal.
This year we've tragically lost 907 Australians to this virus. Our performance though as we all know has been very strong, but we can't bring those Australians back. But it's worth remembering that the mortality rate around the world has been more than 4 times greater than ours. And in the US and the UK and many European countries, it's been 20 times greater. Ours has been an $18.5 billion dollar health response. Every part of our medical response has been like an interlocking piece of the jigsaw. The national medical stockpile dispensed over 82 million masks, the purchase of thousands of ventilators, the deployment of emergency resources, a pathology ramp up some 700,000 COVID tests, 150 pop up COVID clinics, the absorption of the private hospital system into our COVID response, mobilising over 30,000 hospital beds and 105,000 skilled workers for our national response. Decisions about elective surgeries, accessing a wider pool of medical professionals, rolling out telehealth. A 10 year reform rolled out in 10 days with 38 million telehealth services provided so far.
The dramatic expansion of mental health funding and support further expanded during the Melbourne lockdown. Targeted support for indigenous communities, dozens and dozens of critical health decisions working hand in glove with the states and territories and of course, the incredible work that continues to ensure Australians can access a safe and effective vaccine in 2021.
There have been massive decisions on the economic front as well. You delivered JobKeeper. The biggest financial lifeline in our nation's history. This happened in weeks. $100 billion dollars, in fact, a bit more than that. 3.5 million jobs supported, 700,000 jobs saved. Now, I've been around this place for a while and many of you watching on have been around even longer. I find it hard to think of any single act by a Commonwealth government that has had a bigger impact on more lives in this country than JobKeeper. It has been a defining, game changing moment in our nation's history. It was the product of Ministers, particularly the Treasurer, working together with myself as Prime Minister, the then Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, working together with Treasury officials, led in particular by Steven and Jenny, to produce an extraordinary programme. I'm proud of many things during my time as both Prime Minister and in other Ministerial roles, but I'm going to be hard pressed to think of something that has had a more transformational impact and we couldn't have done it without you.
There were major supports for households and businesses, pandemic leave, JobSeeker changes, cash flow support for small and medium sized businesses, keeping a country going through a pandemic, over $500 billion dollars support in total, representing over 25 per cent of our GDP when combined with the monetary measures of the Reserve Bank, major decisions on visas, tenancies, childcare, aged care and so much more. Done professionally, done carefully and done quickly. Proving what I said last year, meeting the standards of high quality implementation and execution, you helped keep this country's head above water while so many other countries were plunging. You know, when you decided to join the public service, I suspect it was to be of great service to our country in moments just like this. This year, you've realised that vision for yourself, and I hope you feel incredibly proud of your service.
Now, we're expected to have one of the lowest falls in GDP across the advanced economies in 2020 across every area of government, people adapted and responded in areas most don't know about. And perhaps we'll never know. The National Measurement Institute, which if you didn't know, measures things by the way, ramped up its efforts to take testing masks, people and instruments and tests for labs and frontline staff. The engineers in the ADF who'd already demonstrated their great skills on so many occasions during the bushfires and the drought, rebuilt and refitted mask machines in the Med-Con factory in Shepparton as a result of that, that factory now has an output capacity of 200 million masks per year. All part of a tremendous effort by the ADF in 2020.
I said in the Parliament at the start of this pandemic that this year we would find out as Australians how strong we really are. And I can happily report to you that the quality, depth, skill and commitment of our public service met that test. It is strong. It really is, and I'm very proud of it.
This year, our country has witnessed the Australian public service at its very best. This virus we know is a common enemy all around the world. And like an enemy, when it engages, it seeks to disrupt our plans. But you have met that disruption head on. And now I'm going to ask for something from you once again, and that is more next year.
We are rebuilding what we've lost. We are reclaiming the jobs, the investment, the exports, the businesses and the hopes of millions of Australians that were crushed this year. And they're rebuilding. We are now, and as we go into next year, we are in the comeback phase. We are in the recovery and rebuilding phase. And you have as critical role to play in that, as you have had in the phase we've gone through this year as we've cushioned that blow and carried Australians through and ensured that we can get to the next stage.
To put it in perspective, the amount of support in particular we have given in our support of Victoria in this year alone, over about $35 billion dollars, that's more than a third of their total Budget this year. That is extraordinary.
And going forward, the recovery and rebuilding the plan for achieving that is our JobMaker plan, creating the settings for Australians to make decisions with confidence. Starting a business, getting training, building a home, having a family, even going on a local holiday. Our Government is about a business led recovery. We want businesses to drive this recovery. Now, that doesn't mean that there's no role for government. Quite the opposite. But what we have to be clear about is that we are enabling, through our policies, through the work that you're doing, a business led recovery. Because that's what is sustainable. Governments can't carry countries forever in our economy. Our economy will be driven by businesses. And so our policies and our implementation must be about spurring those businesses on to make those decisions, to plan for their future with confidence, and to move forward. There has been an important time for government and for government to step up, but we are very clear that it was temporary, that it was targeted, that it was proportionate, and it used the existing distribution channels to ensure that it didn't fail and it hasn't. Government has done and is doing the essential job that it had to do in the midst of the crisis. But we must graduate from that phase and allow business led recovery to take us forward into the future. 2021 is about ensuring our country recovers from the worst economic shock in our lifetime and businesses will carry that forward and we're already on our way. Major decisions on manufacturing, on skills, on energy, on cutting red tape, reducing the cost of business through deregulation. And of course, the Budget, which is our blueprint, our recovery plan from the COVID-19 recession. We're looking ahead to 2021. We'll need to keep our foot on that accelerator.
This year is coming to a close, but we all know the crisis is not yet over. We need to keep bringing Australians also home. Thousands more are still stuck overseas, wanting to get home to lives and loved ones here. And I want to thank those, whether they be in the Department of Home Affairs or the Department of Transport, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Those over at Services Australia who are also assisting in this effort, contacting people overseas. This is what I'm talking about, how all of these agencies have worked together in the past year. Let that be your take out from this. You know, a lot is said about this town, in particular, and I know we have federal Commonwealth public servants all around the country. But a lot's been said about it in the past, about how it only looks inward at itself and it doesn't connect with the rest of the country. Well, I think the Australian Public Service has done a lot this year to disprove that. And what it's also disproved to itself is that everyone doesn't have to stay in their silos for this to work. You've demonstrated how when you come together, you achieve great things. So that's got to be our take out. Let's take that as the learning and the legacy from what has been a very, very difficult year. That coming together does work. It does get better outcomes. It does increase the productivity and the outcome delivery of our public service for all Australians.
So we need to stay vigilant. We need to stay the course. And whether it's on our COVIDSafe behaviours and social distancing and hygiene to prevent second or third waves of this disease from taking hold or maintaining the course and supporting the business led recovery. Next year we’ll be delivering that COVID-19 vaccine. We've got a strategy that puts Australia at the front of the queue for a safe and effective vaccine. Whether it's one we bring here or one we develop here, and our elderly, health and aged care workers and other vulnerable people will be the first to get it. In a year of recovery and rebuilding, we will be asking for fresh thinking and new ideas and delivering for Australians just like this past year. My message to every member of the APS is that you demonstrated this year that together you are stronger, more effective and more capable than I think perhaps you imagined as well. So let's step out in that in 2021. And I need you fresh in 2021 as well. So use the Christmas break to recharge.
Just in finishing, let me make two points. Recently I set up the Policy Implementation Committee of Cabinet. You all know that the Expenditure Review Committee and the National Security Committee are the big subcommittees of Cabinet which drive a lot of the Government's agenda. The establishment of the new Policy Implementation Committee sits at equal status with both of those Cabinet subcommittees. And what they're designed to do is to ensure that we stay on track for delivering what we have developed and sought to put in place through our budgets. How we deliver is, frankly, more important than even the planning phase. It's the execution, as I said last year, that is most important. This Policy Implementation Committee of the Cabinet provides a venue, a channel for accountability of performance against what we've set out to do. And I can tell you honestly, the inspiration for it for me was in the major changes we made to Closing the Gap this year. And I want to thank particularly the team that worked on that and Ray and everyone there. Because working together with the Indigenous leaders, what we came up with was a set of metrics, not about just what we wanted to achieve. Whether it's reducing the mortality rate for infants in Australia from Indigenous communities or the school attendance rates or any of these things. But it set out what the things were we had to track well on to achieve that goal. It actually set out a clear pathway and a set of metrics and a dashboard that said if you want to achieve this and if we want to know we're tracking towards achieving this, then right now we know we need to be achieving this. And that's how the Policy Implementation Committee, that's how I want it to work.
One of the things I need to be looking at right now as Prime Minister and the other ministers is to know that we're going to hit this mark in two years time, ten years time, indeed 20 years time when we think of long term defence procurements. It's fine to talk about the absolute outcome metrics. But there are metrics we need to satisfy every single day to know we're on track. Now, you are the professionals about knowing what those are. That's where your skill and your expertise comes into being. And that's just not the role of central agencies. It is the responsibility of every department for you to be supporting your ministers so they can know how we're tracking against what we as a Government have committed to do. I take delivery and my commitments very seriously to the Australian people. That is a bond you have as a Prime Minister with the community, and I'm relying on you to help us ensure that we can deliver on those commitments and knowing what we need to do each and every day.
Final point I wanted to make was a personal reflection, but it's far broader than that. I'm sure Phil would join with me in welcoming the nomination of Professor Brendan Murphy, as the Australian of the Year from the ACT. Brendan is a very humble guy. You all know that. And he has possibly the worst jokes in the public service, I suspect, having had to endure many of them over our many meetings. He's a wonderful man and he's a great Australian. I'm so proud of you, Brendan, that you've been nominated. But the thing about this is when I tease Brendan constantly about his notoriety, is I know that he accepts this nomination not for himself personally. I know that he feels he's accepting it on behalf of all of you. He represents the tip of the spear in so many respects, supported by Paul Kelly and so many others who have worked so hard over, particularly in the health area this year. He is the tip of the spear of the entire public service effort during COVID-19. In so many ways, he's been the face of the public service. And I know every time, as it's been also true with Paul, we've stepped out there and particularly in those early days of the pandemic and we faced the nation and we said it's going to be okay, we're going to get through this. Of course, they look to a Prime Minister for that. But to be flanked by one of you, by a member, a professional member of our public service, that's said the same thing. I think that said a lot about the partnership that you and I have in our commitment to serving the Australian people. So congratulations, Brendan. You're up in a pretty good field, I've got to say, with Shane Fitzsimmons and many others, but I appreciate the way and the humble way in which you received that order on behalf of everyone here in the Australian public service. And I wish you all the best and I look forward to more of those jokes, I suppose.
Thanks, everyone.
PHIL GAETJENS, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET: Thanks, Prime Minister.
UK Policy Exchange Virtual Address
23 November 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much and I’m pleased to join you from Canberra this evening. I want to start, as is our custom, by acknowledging the traditional owners here of this land the Ngunnawal people and pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging.
And as is my custom, I also acknowledge any Australian defence force personnel or veterans who have joined us today, and say on behalf of a very grateful nation, thank you for your service.
I would also like to extend the same gratitude to any participants in today’s discussion and those watching on who may have served in the British or other allied defence forces and I extend our thanks to you also.
I also want to thank my good friend Prime Minister Boris Johnson for our great relationship and I look forward to being able to see him in person again. We spent the weekend at the G20 Summit virtually.
Boris is known for his many enthusiasms, too many to review in my time tonight.
But one striking characteristic is, I think, his unshakeable belief in the British people.
He has great ambitions - global ambitions - for Britain. He is rightly proud of Britain’s contributions to the world, making it a better and a safer place. From the resilient institutions of Westminster democracy and our justice system, to the defiant and resolute role played in defending those freedoms, at great cost.
We remain true partners in these great endeavours, Australia and the United Kingdom, and many more.
We welcome, in particular, the transformational defence and security agenda Prime Minister Johnson announced last week which we will partner with, as we implement our own Defence Strategic Update we announced earlier this year.
We commend his ambitious new economic plans - including for engagement in the Indo-Pacific through direct bilateral trade ties, as well as including through the UK-Australia FTA and potentially joining in on the TPP-11.
We also share his ambitions for the G7, and appreciate his invitation for Australia to attend again next year. To align the interests of the world’s great like-minded liberal market democracies, to preserve and promote the primacy of private sector, business-led growth to drive the global economic recovery out of this pandemic recession, and to ensure that the liberal worldview of economic and political freedoms continue to underpin global peace and stability, as they have done successfully since the Second World War.
We are also pleased to partner with the United Kingdom on our shared task to create a pathway to net zero emissions driven by practical, scalable and commercially viable technologies, not economy destroying taxes.
Boris and I share an ambition to chart a course on emissions reduction, consistent with our values and priorities as leaders of Governments from Liberal/Conservative traditions.
We are also already working on a similar partnership with Germany, Japan, Singapore and Korea.
As I said to the G20 this week, effective action in this area is no longer about if or when, but importantly how.
Our focus on technology reflects our firm belief that targets must go hand in hand with practical action and a clear pathway to their achievement, or they risk becoming only symbolic.
It is why my Government has launched a Technology Roadmap to drive our efforts of reaching net zero emissions as soon as possible.
I also noted at the G20 that emissions, they don’t have accents, they don’t have languages or nationalities.
To achieve global reductions in emissions, we must also have technology-led practical solutions for developing countries that will not impede their development.
If developing nations believe the global climate change agenda is likely to make their nations less competitive and lower their living standards of their peoples, well their response will be obvious and straightforward. They will simply turn away.
So we look forward to working with the UK to make COP26 a major step forward in dealing with the
challenge of climate change.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great delight and indeed a humbling honour to be with Policy Exchange and to accept this very kind inaugural Grotius Prize.
I want to particularly thank the Chairman of Policy Exchange, Dean Godson and of course the Chairman, the great Australian Alexander Downer, for the invitation to speak with you today.
Few Australians, if any, are as well versed in the practical realities of modern statecraft as Alexander, our nation’s longest serving Foreign Minister from 1996 to 2007 and our former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
It is nearly now 400 years since Hugo Grotius published The Rights of War and Peace.
Grotius wrote most of the book while imprisoned in the Loevestein Castle, in the south of the then United Provinces, now known as The Netherlands.
Given that I join you today from quarantine isolation, having recently returned from Japan, I hope my own isolation will be nearly as productive.
The backdrop to Grotius’ work was the Thirty Years War, a catastrophic political and sectarian conflict in which nearly a quarter of the population of Central Europe died from combat, disease or starvation.
Grotius’ work, one reviewer noted, was “a triumph of intelligence over irrational impulses and barbarous propensities.”
The late Hedley Bull, the eminent Australian international relations scholar, wrote that Grotius gave us the idea of international society: the notion that states and rulers are bound by rules and form a society or community with one another, of however rudimentary a kind.
Grotius advanced the idea of a community of nations built around common understanding of international law.
An example was his view that the oceans are international territory which all nations are free to use for trade.
Shortly after his death, the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 established the notion of international community composed of individual, sovereign nation-states, on the platform Grotius had laid down.
This development should not be underestimated.
Nation-states mattered then and they matter now.
The task is not to subjugate their interests through international activity, but to channel them wherever possible into mutual benefit, either individually or collectively.
For this purpose, nation-states are the building blocks of an international order and community, established for their welfare and to protect against the Hobbesian nightmare.
So we, as nation-states, are not simply boats being tossed around in an angry sea.
We are all participants, with agency and purpose.
We can shape our destiny, individually and collectively.
We can make our world more Grotian and less Hobbesian.
And that is the key point I want to draw out today, this evening here in Australia.
Why the collective efforts of like-minded nation-states can make a difference.
Why our alliances and structures of collective security are so important.
Why groupings and institutions like the G7, the WTO and the OECD matter in a turbulent world and indeed the G20.
Why it is critical that like-minded liberal democracies work together in common cause.
To maintain the peace and security, to keep our economies open, to tackle common challenges, consistent with liberal, market-based principles, whether that be COVID-19 or climate change.
International institutions are most effective when they are driven by, and responsive to, accountable to, the society of sovereign states that forms them.
Their task, those institutions, is to align interests and achieve an order through consensual participation.
Their only authority is that afforded to them by sovereign states.
This is especially true for liberal democratic states, where no authority can ever rise higher than the people who elect their own governments.
As I said in a speech to the Aspen Institute in August, well-functioning international institutions are a symptom of an international society, not the cause.
The challenge is to ensure that sovereign nations, working in concert, create deeper habits of co-operation on economic, security and global environmental issues, while exhibiting a natural preference for rules-based solutions.
Freely submitting to such rules because it is in their broader national interest to do so.
This is a world where there is no need to build global spheres of influence in order to secure economic opportunity or exert influence, previously only secured by great militaries.
Our international institutions can now provide this access.
Where states willingly honour the rules-based order, both in letter and spirit, importantly, by their actions. This removes any necessity of containment. This is desirable, as containment only serves as a negative energy in the global system, reducing the sum of the whole in which we all benefit.
Now this means in an age of institutions we can reduce and remove such constraints, whether in trade, health, technology, education or the many other areas of progress and facilitate cooperation.
This is the pragmatic compromise demanded for success in our international order.
So what does that mean for us at the end of 2020, a truly remarkable year, and not for good reason.
We are confronted by a range of formidable challenges.
After a ‘unipolar moment’ lasting just two or three decades, a new era of geopolitical competition is underway.
It is a form of geopolitical contest though, that different to the Cold War.
The world is not divided into two blocs, each with their own economic realm.
One world, our world I should say, is one shaped by decades of growing economic interdependence.
At its peak during the Cold War, trade between the two major superpowers was around $2 billion per year.
Today, the value of bilateral trade between the US and China is $2 billion per day.
Today, the two biggest powers are the largest or second largest trading partners for most of the world.
This economic interdependence and openness has created unprecedented wealth and prosperity and lifted billions of people out of poverty. Importantly, it facilitated the economic rise of China.
Now that is a good thing for the global economy. It is good for Australia. And, of course, it’s certainly good for the Chinese people. Australia is not and has never been in the economic containment camp on China, no country has pulled more people out of poverty than China. And Australia is pleased to have played our role in the economic emancipation of millions of Chinese through the development of the Chinese economy.
In our newly globalised economy, the real time interaction of geopolitical, economic, technological, information and ideological dynamics is creating new dilemmas in our international relations, arguably even more complex than those during the Cold War.
Most significant is the challenge of dealing with the complexities of new tensions between the world's largest economic and military powers, the United States and China.
The global competition between China and the United States presents new challenges, especially for nation-states in the Indo-Pacific.
Like other sovereign nations in the Indo-Pacific, our preference in Australia is not to be forced into any binary choices.
Our present challenge in the Indo-Pacific though is a foretaste for so many others around the world, including the United Kingdom and Europe.
Australia desires an open, transparent and mutually beneficial relationship with China as our largest trading partner, where there are strong people-to-people ties, complementary economies and a shared interest especially in regional development and wellbeing, particularly in the emerging economies of Southeast Asia.
Equally we are absolutely committed to our enduring alliance with the United States, anchored in our shared worldview, liberal democratic values and market-based economic model.
And at all times, we must be true to our values and the protection of our own sovereignty.
These are our Australian national interests.
Pursuing these interests in the midst of strategic competition between the United States and China is not straightforward.
It is made more complex by the assumptions sometimes cast on Australia’s actions.
Our actions are wrongly seen and interpreted by some only through the lens of the strategic competition between China and the United States. It’s as if Australia does not have its own unique interests or it’s own views as an independent sovereign state. This is just false. And worse it needlessly deteriorates relationships.
If we are to avoid a new era of polarisation, then in the decades ahead, then in the decades ahead, there must be a more nuanced appreciation of individual states’ interests in how they deal with the major powers. Stark choices are in no-one’s interests.
Greater latitude will be required from the world’s largest powers to accommodate the individual interests of their partners and allies. We all need a bit more room to move.
Our international institutions also have an important role to play as circuit breakers. To provide the space and frameworks for meaningful and positive interaction to be maintained, as a bulwark against any emerging divide.
All of this is further complicated again, by having to deal with the stresses and strains that COVID has brought to global politics.
The global recession was not caused by structural weaknesses in our global economy.
The world has been hit by an economic meteor in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic and the failings of our global public health system to provide an effective warning and an integrated response.
For this reason, I support a global pandemic treaty as proposed at the G20, to ensure we are better prepared next time.
But nor is the pandemic recession the product of the failure of world capitalism or liberal, free market-based values.
It is actually these values that have provided the platform for the greatest period of peace and prosperity the world has ever known, and has underpinned the very global institutions that has helped sustain it.
It is these values that must now drive our economic recovery out of the pandemic recession.
These same values are also the best way for us to pursue greater economic inclusion and poverty alleviation as a result, the empowerment of women, environmental sustainability, climate resilience, as well as continuing to combat transnational crime and extremism, terrorism in all its forms.
We don’t need to ‘reset’ our economic agenda, we just need to get on with it.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a moment for concerted leadership and action by like-minded liberal democracies.
For inspiration, there is no finer example than the Atlantic Charter, signed by US President Franklin Roosevelt and UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill on the deck of the USS Augusta anchored in Placentia Bay off the southeast coast of Newfoundland in August 1941.
Eight common principles.
Just 347 words.
Commitments to the “right of all peoples to choose their form of government.”
To the “fullest collaboration in the economic field.”
That “their countries seek no aggrandisement, territorial or other.”
And respect for the ability “to traverse the high seas and oceans without hindrance.”
Principles that resonate so strongly with us today.
The Atlantic Charter galvanised and arguably laid the framework for many of the norms, rules and international institutions that have guided interactions between democratic nations in the post-World War II era.
To achieve our common goals, we must strengthen and reinforce existing networks and build new habits of cooperation and partnerships.
The institutions we need to bind our shared interests, they already exist.
The World Trade Organisation.
The G7 and the emergence of the G7-plus, and I look forward to that UK stewardship of the G7 in 2021.
Then there is the Five-Eyes arrangement, the contribution of which has never been more important and consequential.
One of the most promising recent developments is how quickly the co-operation among Five-Eyes nations has extended beyond its traditional security to the economic realm.
In the Indo-Pacific, many other nations are stepping up.
Last week I had the pleasure of meeting, being the first leader to meet with Japan’s new Prime Minister, Suga Yoshihide, in Tokyo – the first of what I hope will be many such meetings.
Australia and Japan are Special Strategic Partners committed to fundamental shared values, and to an Indo-Pacific that is free, open, inclusive and resilient.
And I agree with Yoshi - as he invited me to call him, that way - when he said:
“In the Indo-Pacific region, the security and defence cooperation between Japan and Australia, having the will and capacity to contribute to regional stability, are becoming increasingly important.”
So together we announced in-principle agreement on a Reciprocal Access Agreement for our Defence Forces, a landmark treaty that will facilitate even closer co-operation on defence and security between our two liberal democracies.
We also reinforced our commitment to the Quad, where we join with our US and Indian friends in supporting a strategic balance in the Indo-Pacific, underpinned by agreed rules and norms.
Under Prime Minister Modi, India’s contribution to regional peace and stability has never been more influential, while its economic weight has never been more consequential.
But there are some notable gaps to fill.
In recent years, two large regional trade agreements have been forged in the Indo-Pacific, including the 11-nation TPP in 2017 and the 15-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, just a few days ago.
Unfortunately, two of the most important economies in our region – the United States and India – have decided not to join the TPP or RCEP respectively.
Of course, we respect those decisions. But they both remain welcome to join. Our response is straightforward.
Working with our partners, we plan to make the TPP such a powerful force, a compelling force for open trade and investment that the US and, in the future, India and others will join without reservation. And that also includes the United Kingdom.
Interestingly, President Xi Jinping has also now expressed at the APEC gathering on the weekend, an interest in China’s possible participation in the TPP.
The critical thing about the TPP is that it developed WTO-plus disciplines in key areas of intellectual property, digital commerce and state-owned enterprises.
These are some of the areas where the WTO has frankly fallen short.
As a former director of the OECD wrote recently:
The TPP has the potential to be the best mechanism for a solution to the biggest global trade problems.
The OECD also has a critical role to play in support of open trade and market-based principles.
The world will not recover from the COVID-19 recession if we trade and invest less or relinquish hard-won lessons on market-led wealth creation.
The world’s 38 open market democracies that comprise the OECD have a responsibility to lead the way.
Australia takes this challenge so seriously and values the OECD so highly that we have unusually nominated one of our own for the job of the Secretary-General, former Finance Minister, Mathias Cormann, to replace Angel Gurria when he steps down as Secretary-General of the OECD next year.
Now, Mathias is a compelling package.
I worked together with him for seven years, around the Cabinet table. and many years before that.
A German-speaking Belgian native, who studied in French and Flemish, Mathias emigrated to Australia at the age of 24 to become, in time, Australia’s longest serving Finance Minister.
It’s a great Australian story.
And he brings a unique perspective that can bridge Asia, the Americas and Europe in this outstanding liberal market based economic institution.
Now closer to home, Australia welcomes the UK’s acknowledgement of the strategic significance of the Indo-Pacific region and a renewed interest in their own involvement.
In 1941, Europe was certainly in the cockpit of history.
Now, in the 21st century, the Indo-Pacific will shape the destiny of the world.
It is a point made well in the timely publication by Policy Exchange’s Indo-Pacific Commission, A Very British Tilt: Towards a new UK Strategy in the Indo-Pacific region, published I understand today.
The report notes that “the time is right for Britain to shift the weight of its strategic policy toward the Indo-Pacific as it reviews its role in the world.”
I couldn't agree more and have conveyed the same to Boris.
And I endorse the report’s vision for “a reinvigorated community of free and independent nations with a single overriding goal”, namely: reinforce a sustainable rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific that is resilient but adaptable to the great power realities of the 21st Century.
So what does success look like?
I find it hard to improve on the goal once articulated by former US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.
A strategic balance of power that favours freedom.
A judicious balance of the Hobbesian, Kantian and Grotian traditions.
American leadership will always be indispensable in pursuit of that goal.
And the commitment of the incoming Biden Administration to multilateral and regional institutions is critically important. He’s relayed that to me in our first conversation.
For decades, American leadership has been essential to the success of collective efforts in support of peace, security and open markets.
And US alliance arrangements - whether with European nations and others through NATO or the bilateral alliances with Indo-Pacific nations - including ANZUS with Australia, will remain the bedrock of our security.
US weight and convening power is vital to preserving the rules, norms and standards of our international community, including in the Indo-Pacific.
European engagement will also be critical.
We need an outward-looking Europe that recognises that its interests extend beyond the Occidental.
We welcome the United Kingdom’s aspiration to engage more actively in the Indo Pacific.
Both in the pursuit of peace and security and economic prosperity.
The Johnson Government’s response to the Integrated Review is an exemplar for others to follow.
It recognises, as Boris Johnson put it, that we all depend on the world’s oxygen pipes remaining open - shipping lanes, a functioning internet, safe aircorridors, undersea cables and tranquillity in distant straits.
The UK’s commitment is also demonstrable through its pursuit of new trade agreements, most recently with Japan, soon with Australia and the United States and, in the foreseeable future, with the Trans Pacific Partnership.
So in conclusion, it was in April 1973, then US Secretary of State Kissinger gave a speech in New York making the case for a new Atlantic Charter, more than 30 years after the one drafted by Churchill and Roosevelt.
He was worried about the impact of Cold War détente on the unity of Western nations.
He feared complacency and drift. And the corrosive impact of petty disputes.
The nature of our challenge today is maybe different in many respects.
But the importance of unity and shared purpose amongst like-minded sovereign nations has not diminished.
The UK and Australia have an important role to play here.
More than 400 years ago, Grotius dreamt of a new framework for inter-state relationships.
We can take from his analysis the encouragement that our path is not fixed.
Free nations, liberal democracies, we have a fundamental role to play in securing peace and stability, fostering commerce and trade, and solving the global challenges we cannot solve ourselves.
We have done it before. We can do it again.
We have a rich history of co-operation to draw on. We must all play our part.
Thank you for your very kind attention.
Virtual Press Conference
21 November 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Well welcome everyone, and particularly welcome to Premier Andrews. It’s good to have you join us in this way Dan and I appreciate you making these arrangements given the isolation that I’m now in day 3, all going well. It was good to see you also earlier this week when I was able to get down to Melbourne and talk over many many issues.
And the reason we are here together today is because of a very important issue that the Premier and I have been working together on as have our Ministers, for a protracted period of time. And of course earlier this year, as COVID-19 hit and frankly just before it, in fact the night before I think it was Dan, before we had the COAG meeting out in Western Sydney, these were the very issues we had been discussing together. But since that time there has been quite a lot that has occurred. And that has meant that these important announcements about the Melbourne airport rail link and the and the first phase of the Geelong faster rail projects, we have taken some further time to ensure the issues around the route and private sector proposals and other matters were able to be progressed and resolved, to bring us to the point where we're at today.
Both of us, I'm sure, would like to have been in the position to be making this announcement many, many months ago. But I commend you Dan and your team for the way that we've all been able to work together to get Victoria up and standing again, and which means that we can get on with things. And the Premier and I have always had a very strong relationship, particularly when it comes to delivering infrastructure and world class infrastructure in Victoria. And these projects, I think, are shining examples of that.
Today, we’re, you already will know, that we've both committed $5 billion dollars to deliver the Melbourne airport rail link, also that we've committed $2 billion dollars to realise the first stage of faster rail between Geelong and Melbourne. These are vital projects that both connect a growing part of Victoria and Geelong, but also one of the key national projects connecting Melbourne Airport to Melbourne's CBD itself and to do so in a way that will reduce travel times for that important connection to less than 30 minutes.
Now, none of that is new because we've made those announcements before to work together to those ends. And the 11,000 jobs that are created by these projects combined. What is important is we've been able to settle on that route. And I thank all of the team in Victoria for the way they've worked through what are incredibly difficult issues where you do have to balance up, how it's built, how much it costs, the best way to deliver on the objectives that we have, with all of these projects, whether it's the faster rail in Geelong where we would both agree, we'd like to shave even more time off that journey. But you have to get on with, what you can deliver on the ground. And we're both very committed to doing that and working together to ensure that projects meet both of our objectives and the significant financial commitments that we're making in partnership on this programme.
So slashing travel times, busting congestion, opening up the opportunities that are there, particularly in Victoria, in linking both a growing and thriving part of Victoria to the CBD, as well as, of course, the long overdue link between the Melbourne CBD and the airport. These are the sorts of projects which combine together through our investment some $14 billion worth, are the types of projects which will drive our economy nationally and at a state level over the next decade and then set up further opportunities beyond that.
We often talk of productivity and what it means to see higher wages in the future. Well, critical infrastructure that makes our cities work better for the, for its residents and its citizens is exactly how you achieve that. And these are the big flagship projects that we both feel very passionately about.
So, again, Dan, thank you again for the partnership. Looking forward to getting on with it. The intention is that we get this underway in 2022 and there's still a lot of work to go between now and then. But it's great to reach this next stage and I'll hand it over to the Premier.
Thank you, Dan.
THE HON DAN ANDREWS, PREMIER OF VICTORIA: Thank you very much PM and at the outset, can I say on behalf of all Victorians, thank you for the partnership, that is how we get more things done and we can get them done faster.
Today's all about building the transport system that Victorians voted for and creating the jobs that Victorians need, whether it be the airport rail link, which in many regard- in many ways perhaps should have been built decades and decades ago, but has fallen to us to get on and get this done. And because we're equal partners, because we're working together very closely, we'll be able to deliver the jobs and that direct link, that heavy rail direct link that has never, ever been there. In terms of Geelong, faster rail. This is a really exciting project and I'm really pleased to be able to confirm that in our Budget next Tuesday, we will match the $2 billion dollars billion that your government has put forward. So it'll be $4 dollars billion, an equal partnership so that we can get the travel time from Geelong into Melbourne down to 50 minutes. That's a 15 minute travel time saving by building new track and the route is 8 K’s shorter. So it's about more trains more often and more people getting from Geelong to Melbourne and Melbourne to Geelong much faster than they otherwise would.
In terms of the airport rail link. And just as you and I both noted many, many times, and I think many Victorians have noted, this has been talked about for decades. The fact that it's going to become a reality because of our partnership is is a proud moment and a very important moment, because what we've done is we're going to build this in a uniquely Victorian way, connecting the airport via the Metro Tunnel, a project that is transformational, fully a year ahead of schedule, taking people where they where they want to want to go, those new metro tunnel stations in the heart of the city where people work or people live, and of course, because this connects directly out the busiest train line, the Cranbourne Packenham line direct to the airport, that's the busiest train line to get from home to the Melbourne airport without having to change a train. Every other metropolitan line will only have to do one change and they'll find themselves at the airport. This is really, really important for jobs, for productivity, for congestion on our roads and fundamentally doing the things that we said we would do. That's what Victorians want. That's what Victorians deserve. And I'm very grateful and very pleased to have such a strong partnership between my government and yours. That's how you get things done.
Just in terms of the Geelong faster rail project, if you'd spent $2 billion on your own or if we had spent $2 billion on our own, there's no way that we would deliver this sort of outcome. Because it's a four billion dollar shared effort, and a true partnership. We can create the jobs and we can deal with one of the fastest growing regional cities anywhere in the nation. And we can also provide for that inner western and even outer western corridor on the western edge of our city, one of the fastest growing parts of our country as well. So this is a really important day, exactly what people voted for. In fact, more than that and exactly what we need right now and into the into the future. So I think there's been a technical briefing already this morning I think PM, but I think it's probably best if we if we go to questions now and I'll do my best to answer any of those technical questions that people might have.
PRIME MINISTER: OK, well, let's do that. I understand we're going to start with the press room down in Victoria first.
JOURNALIST: Premier Reid Butler from Nine News here, the Sky Bus takes 22 minutes and this service will take half an hour and be completed in 10 years. Could it be faster, do you think?
PREMIER ANDREWS: I think it's about making sure that you're taking people where they want to want to go, and the fact of the matter is that very few journeys start and end at Southern Cross Station. That is to say, very few people want to begin or end their journey down at Southern Cross Station and then have to get a tram or another train to where they want to ultimately go, because this connects the airport to the metro tunnel all of that, so whether it's the park fill precinct for the cancer centre, the Royal Children's Hospital, University of Melbourne, all the way down into the centre of the CBD, all the way down to the shrine at Anzac Station and that st kilda road precinct. This is this is the best of both worlds. You're getting to the centre of Melbourne, quicker. You're using a service that simply isn't available now and you're getting where you want to want to go rather than everybody having to hub through Southern Cross Station. We don't think that's the best outcome. 30 minutes is still a very a very, I think, a very, very efficient service. And of course, it's giving people an option they don't have at the moment. Some people might continue to use a Sky Bus type service. Some people might still drive their own vehicle and use long term and short term parking. Some people might get a cab, but many people, many, many people will now be able to use a rail option that's been talked about for decades, but it will be delivered because of the partnership between our government and the Commonwealth.
PRIME MINISTER: And let's not forget the international travellers, too. And they will be coming back. They will be coming back and hopefully we'll see that next year. But those international travellers have an expectation of world class cities that such infrastructure would be in place. And it's exciting that that will now be realised for Melbourne.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] from Seven news, just wondering how long you anticipate the Geelong rail will take to complete?
PREMIER ANDREWS: Yeah it’s a little bit, I’ll start and the PM might want to add to this. Obviously, we're going to have construction underway in 2023. And this is in some respects, a simpler project than Melbourne Airport, because it'll be done above above ground, but it has to be done right. So it's just a little bit longer for us to be able to put an end date on this. But we'll certainly be underway in 2023 and you'll see various milestones throughout ‘21, ‘22 will be out to market and we'll be within the ground, as it were, in terms of 2023. So it's simpler, the Metro Tunnel or Melbourne Airport rail, but it'll be done as fast as we can possibly do it. And it'll mean instead of taking 70 minutes to get from Geelong to the city, you'll be there in 50. That is a really significant travel time saving and one that I think will see more and more people on the train, not on that very busy Geelong road. And it'll allow us because we're building brand new track, and separating the services will be able to run more trains, which means more people can get where they want to go and get there faster. And of course, 2,800 jobs is a really good outcome, too.
PRIME MINISTER: I'd agree with that. And simply add that one of the issues we were dealing with before we went into COVID-19, when we would discuss the schedule of projects in Victoria, not just rail but road and others, was I think we Were at the Monash upgrade announcement Dan and getting our head on the ceiling in terms of the capacity and the capability on so many of these projects. Well, that's a very strong sign of the incredibly ambitious infrastructure programme we have. And it's not just the regional rail projects down into Geelong, of course, but there's the $320 million for the Shepparton rail line upgrade. There's the $208 million for stage two of the Warrnambool Rail line upgrade. There's $292 million for the Barwon Heads Road. And so there's a lot of projects going on, both federally supported and state initiated and state only. This is a lot of work that's got to get undertaken over the next decade, but that will underpin the economic recovery out of COVID-19 and then sustain it. And delivering the workforce for that is also a big thing that the Premier and I also spent a lot of time focussing on.
JOURNALIST: Timna Jacks here from The Age. This is a question for the PM and the Premier. Both of you had indicated in the past that dedicated airport rail tracks would be needed between the city and Sunshine. You had $7 billion dollars on the table from a private consortium to build it. The upgrade would have delivered really fast airport rail services and Geelong Services. Why did you not go with that option?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll leave that one to you Dan, because you guys did the work with the private proponent.
PREMIER ANDREWS: Well Timna, we've had a team of transport experts and finance experts working through the market led proposal that had come forward to us. And we're very grateful to the private sector for coming to us with innovative ideas. But you've got to work through these things in a really painstaking way. You've got to work through methodically. And the fact of the matter is that what we're putting forward, what the Prime Minister and I have agreed to build, will be will be built at less cost to the taxpayer. I think greater value, it'll be done much faster. And it allows us to take people where they want to go. Those five metro stations at the busiest train line so you can be in Packenham and get to the airport without having to change trains. That just makes sense. The other thing, too, that, this is $10 dollars billion. That's not a small project by any stretch. But the difference in the cost to the Australian and Victorian taxpayers is, well, more than $7 billion dollars. So you can have money on the table. But if the overall project cost is indeed more than that, then they’re the very fine judgements that we've had to make. I'm not being critical of that part of the private sector for coming forward. We're very grateful to them and I would be very confident that we can continue to work with that particular group. We thank them for all that they do. And I think there will be many, many opportunities for us to work with them. But you just got to work through these things in a very a very careful, a very methodical way. And when your transport experts and your finance experts are saying we think we can make better use of existing, that is to say, the soon to be completed Metro Tunnel connect people where they want to go, do it quicker and have better value for taxpayers. That's pretty hard to say no to. That's why we've said yes. And that's why we're going to get this thing done and we'll be in the ground underway by the end of 2022.
JOURNALIST: Premier Alex from Channel 10 here, obviously, Victoria needs these jobs immediately. How many of those jobs will be actually starting in the coming months?
PREMIER ANDREWS: Well, I think Alex it's important to acknowledge that this is one project, the Budget that will be delivered on Tuesday will have many more projects, both large and small. Some of those begin almost immediately. For instance, the $5.3 billion in social housing that I announced last Sunday, the first contracts, the first tenders, sorry, will be out to market in just a couple of weeks time. So we'll be employing people literally within weeks. Some projects to take a little bit longer. But it’s both employment and stimulus right now, but it's also about sending a message to that part of the market, large and small construction companies that they can they can establish themselves, they can invest with confidence that there's a pipeline of work. And confidence is everything in terms of economic activity and building that that's sentiment that this is a place where things are happening. This is a place where things are getting built. This is a place to invest. I don't think we can overstate just how important that that is so, look, this is a mix. Some things from very small school upgrades. They employed people literally within weeks of the of the funding being made available. Other projects take a little bit longer, but these jobs are very important and confidence in this market arguably has never been more important. You've got to give them an order book. And that's what we've always done. And this just adds to it. And yes, it creates some some pressure to find the right the right staff to find enough companies. That's why the partnership the prime minister and I have on skills and particularly TAFE and training. That's why that's so, so important also.
PRIME MINISTER: The other point I'd make, the National Cabinet, when looking at the economic recovery from COVID-19, has been working quite hard to try and coordinate, align our economic support activities. The state governments and territory governments are the ones who build the infrastructure. We obviously support those projects through our funding arrangements. And so getting the scheduling of that all right, I think is pretty critical. And I'd agree with the Premier that there are projects and investments that both governments are making, which impact right now. But then there are the longer term investments which build for the future. And our response to COVID-19 is both. It is about the here and now, but it is about tomorrow and the future. And that's why I would welcome, particularly the announcement the Premier's made about the social housing investment in Victoria. That is something state governments do, welcome that, that what we do is support through the first time loan deposit scheme and in particular the Home Builder programme, which has seen tens of thousands of homes built as well. So when you combine these things together, which is what we're seeking to do through this cooperation, then you're delivering jobs now and into the future.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] And my question is probably mostly for the premier but the Prime Minister, might want to say something as well, with the Geelong project that's budgeted for about $4 billion dollars. Could you explain why that's $4 billion dollars, which is a much more simple project compared to the airport rail, which is about $10 billion dollars, and do labour shortages, labour costs and material cost contribute to any of sort of the pressures around this?
PREMIER ANDREWS: Oh look they’re certainly different projects and whilst you might say that the Geelong faster rail project is simpler than airport rail, or metro tunnel, it's not simple by any means. So we've gone through this and and worked very hard to get as close to the done a lot of work to to get that number, that $4 billion dollar number. That is our estimate. We've got to go through a detailed planning process, got to go through detailed design. Of course, we have to go to the market and see what what what bids we get back. It's not a simple project, but it's a critically important one. Those travel time savings will really change the personal experience and the productive experience for so, so many people. This is not just a faster service. It means because we're separating the tracks and building a new piece of track, we'll be able to run more services. So that's more and more people. Instead of cramming people into less train services to get from Melbourne to Geelong and vice versa, we'll be able to run more trains more often and they get there faster. This is an absolutely fantastic project. It isn't simple. It's simpler than some, but it's by no means simple and it has to be done right. And that's what we've done, a power of work to get us to this stage that we can both commit the $2 dollars billion each, but there'll be many more milestones, lots more planning. And and when we when we get to all those points will be more than happy to share some of that work with you. I don't think labour shortages are a contributing factor at this stage. We think we can get this done, but we'll, for instance, will come back to you with when we think it can be finished. It's a little bit uncertain at the moment. That's not a bad thing. It just means we've got more work to do. Let's do that work rather than guessing it, guessing at things.
JOURNALIST: Premier Reid again from 9 news, just a quick question on the Australian Open, there's reports this morning saying that it could be pushed back a week or even into March or April. What is that a possibility that the event will be postponed?
PREMIER ANDREWS: Well, look, I think there's been lots of reports about Australian Open tennis. I would simply say to you that we're working very closely with our TA, their in turn working very closely with their global partners, their broadcast partners, sponsors. This is not a simple issue. What was very important yesterday was to confirm that from the 7th of next month, we can have flights return to Melbourne, our Hotel Quarantine System reset will be set up at that point. This will, this is not a simple thing, though, to have many hundreds indeed potentially well, more than a thousand athletes and others who support them, media being here for a very important event that has to be done safely has to be done right. I'm very confident that we'll have we will have we'll have an Aussie Open in the early part of next year. The exact timing of it, the exact arrangements we put in place, they’re not settled yet. As soon as they are settled I’ll be more than happy to share with you. But I wouldn't read too much into some of the reports there’s a lot of people doing a lot of talking about these things at the moment while they are talking, we're getting on and doing the work so that we can have one of our most significant major events, not just for our state, but indeed for our whole nation, happen as close to normal, as normal as anything can be COVID normal as possible.
PRIME MINISTER: OK, well, we might now take it to Canberra if there's any questions on the projects that you wanted to raise, particularly with the Premier while he's still with us, if there isn't questions on that from Canberra. I'm sure for many bureaus that will be covered off by your Victorian colleagues.
If there isn't, I might thank the Premier very much for joining in what is a rather unorthodox moment, but in COVID Australia, a far more normal one these days. So thank you very much, Dan, and thank you for the partnership. And we look forward to picking up where we left off before COVID really hit Australia. And there's so much more to do on so many other projects and and I wish all Victorians well with the Budget coming out and of course, and getting people back into work and seeing Victoria, can I also particularly thank you for the work that's being done to get the international arrivals happening again. Over a thousand people coming in a week, that will greatly assist us in getting Australians home. And we'll look at that again after about 4 weeks and see how we go from there. But we appreciate that getting back on well, in the context of today's statement on the rails, again, that's tremendous. And the more Australians we can get home before Christmas, the better. So thank you very much. And have a good weekend, mate.
PREMIER ANDREWS: Terrific. Thanks very much. PM.
PRIME MINISTER: Okay we’ll go to Canberra.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Andrew Green from the ABC, if I can take you to the Brereton Enquiry this week,
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
JOURNALIST: Have you had time to reflect on why none of these rumours or allegations had been picked up earlier by the ADF command? Do you think that they were, had their eye off the ball in terms of these allegations? And can you give us an update on the compensation that Australia may be paying victims of some of these atrocities?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think on the latter point, there is nothing for me to comment on on that matter. That is not a matter that's currently being considered by the government at this stage. My first reflections on this, though, I must say, of course, like all other Australians, the contents of that report are disturbing and distressing. I said that over a week ago when I was with you in the very room you're in now. And I warned Australians that it would be hard news to hear. But my reactions to that were the same as they were when I was last with you there. And that is to say that we need to ensure that the seriousness of the contents of this report are dealt with under the Australian justice system, by Australians in accordance with our laws. And that's why we are moving quickly to set up the office of the special investigator and ensure that that is put in place so it can take carriage of those issues forward in a proper process with the presumption of innocence, obviously, which is so essential to how we deal with this matter, our justice system, our rules, our laws, and doing that appropriately. The other element that I've been most anxious about is ensuring that all our serving men and women who put on a uniform, all those who've served, in no way feel reflected upon by the actions, alleged, of a number, a small number within our defence forces. And it's important that we provide all our men and women in our services and our veterans with absolute support, they have earned the respect which we rightly provide to them and should. And our support for veterans is incredibly important at this time. And I would remind veterans who may be listening to this that you're aware of the many services that are there to support you. The other issues that you raise, they're very good questions and they're matters that the government, of course, will have to work through as part of the process of absorbing what is an exhaustive report. And they're legitimate questions and they're matters that we, of course, we will work through with the Defence Forces for the most important reason that these things don't happen again, these things cannot happen again. And we're very, very committed to work, not just with the defence forces, but across the government to ensure that governments can know about these things and can take actions when they should. But ultimately, these are matters that the Defence Force will be addressing through the CDF and the oversight panel that has been established. We will keep that process on the track that it needs to be on and that there's appropriate accountability there. And I think the issues that you raise will come up in that process as well.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Kerrie Yaxley here from the Nine Network, the CDF said yesterday that this to a degree puts fuel into the can of extremists. Do you share that view? And are you concerned about reprisals against Australians?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we took all the necessary precautions. As I largely indicated when I first briefed the media on this and the process that we're setting up, we ensured that between that time on the receipt of the report and the announcement of the findings of the report, that we engaged a lot with our overseas partners. I in particular spoke to President Ghani and let him know about how seriously we're taking these matters and the processes we'd put in place under our justice system to ensure that they were dealt with properly. And he was very appreciative, both the courtesy of that call, but the actions that the government has taken to deal with this extremely seriously. So, look, there are always risks out there, and it's always important that Australia stays on the front foot to get ahead of those risks. And I can assure you that in our handling of this report that those types of issues were carefully considered and preparations as necessary were taken.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Chloe Bouras from Channel 10, the recommendations in the report also outline granting immunity for some of those involved in these alleged unlawful killings so that essentially they can dob in their superiors. Is that something that the government would support? And how do you think the Australian public would react to that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the thing about a justice process is you must let it run its course and those that you've charged with running that justice process, the office of the special investigator, they're the ones who need to conduct those enquiries and and make the judgements about how they deal with witnesses and and and what, if any, arrangements they put in place for those witnesses. They are their judgements, it is not appropriate for the government to involve itself in the course of that independent investigation. In that case, any more than it is with any other investigation that the AFP might undertake. And so it would not be appropriate for the government to be making commentary on those matters. It's appropriate for the office of the special investigator to be able to deal with those issues in accordance with their expertise and Australia's justice system, and the rule of law.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Jennifer Duke from the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, there's been some reports around this morning about Ben Roberts-Smith. Do you think that he should lose his Victoria Cross? And also, in terms of Kerry Stokes, is it appropriate that the chairman of the Australian War Memorial is bankrolling some of the legal defence of those involved in alleged war crimes?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, first of all, in relation to any individual, the government, i.e. the Ministers, myself, we have only received a redacted version of the report. So in relation to any individuals, the government is in no position to offer commentary on what is in that report, as it may or may not relate to individuals. And that is intentional because the justice system is what has to deal with this issue. Not, you know, we don't want this process dealt with as a media trial or anything else like that. And it's important that the justice system deals with these very serious issues and in relation to any individuals, then the government would be making no comment on those matters. And I'm not aware of anyone else being in a position to do that either, other than the office of the special investigator and the judgements that they would make about any particular matters that are contained in that report. In relation to others who may choose, for whatever reason, to provide support to anyone in their legal defences. Well, it's a free country and it's a matter for them about how they choose to provide support. That is not uncommon in this country. And these matters are extremely serious but let's not forget, these are Australian citizens who will be going through an Australian justice process. And they deserve all the rights that sit with that process regarding how they should be dealt with. And that certainly would not preclude anyone who may wish to assist them with their defence. And I'm puzzled as to why there might be a suggestion that there should be such a restriction, especially applied to one individual as opposed to anyone else in the justice system.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Josh Butler from the New Daily, on a different topic on robodebt, 400,000 people had money wrongfully taken or claimed from them. Amongst them would be some of the most vulnerable people in Australian society. You're paying the money back. But considering the mental anguish, distress, some families have linked even suicides to this process, would you consider extra meaningful compensation for these people, for these victims of robodebt? And if not, why not?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we've done is we've acted on the knowledge that income averaging as a way of raising a debt and let's be very clear here, that is what this is about. And that practise has been engaged in by governments on both sides of politics for a very long time. And income averaging is, has been found not to be a way of raising a debt that can be relied upon. And the government has changed its practice. And we've addressed the situation by ensuring that all of those payments and debts that have been raised in that way are no longer valid. So over $700 million has already been paid out of what we estimate to be around $1.2 billion. And I think Australians would think that would be the right thing to do, to ensure that if a debt was raised improperly on that method that had been in place for a long time, then that would be addressed. And that's what we've done. And as for any other processes that are underway, well I’ll allow those to complete their course. But when it comes to the individuals, I mean, the reason that we provide social services support in the community is because we want to have, we have one of the greatest safety nets of any country in the world. And we should be very proud of that. But we also need systems to ensure that where the safety net is taken advantage of, then governments need to have processes in place to ensure that if there are overpayments or there are debts that they're dealt with. Now, that is not, that has been a common practise by all governments. And that's exactly what we and previous governments have sought to do and where it's found that any one way of raising those debts is inappropriate, then we'll make the changes as we have. And I've made other comments on this in the parliament, which I'd refer you to.
JOURNALIST: The government settled this case though, that surely means that you've accepted there's some degree of wrongness here. These people don't deserve extra compensation for? You would have heard the stories of of people linking this to suicide, to self-harm, to mental anguish, distress over many years. These people don't deserve extra compensation?
PRIME MINISTER: We're resolving the issue by ensuring that the money is paid and $1.2 billion. Now, in many cases, they are debts which may not have actually even been called in, but have been cancelled. And in other cases, payments have been made swiftly and to ensure that those funds can get paid to people as quickly as possible. And let's not forget that $700 million dollars has been paid at the same time that Services Australia has been dealing with the unprecedented demand of getting people support through JobSeeker in particular, but the many other payments through the worst recession Australia has seen since the Great Depression. And so I really want to commend Services Australia for the way they've been able to move so promptly to get $700 million dollars paid out to people. And but the total amount, we expect to be around $1.2 billion.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Kerrie Yaxley again from Nine. I just want to ask you about APEC, the joint statement, can we read that as a positive shift, the fact that there is one in the relationship between the US and China?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think, I welcome the fact that for the first time in a couple of years, obviously last year in Chile, they weren't able to hold the APEC meeting for reasons, domestic reasons at the time. In PNG I was there and it was a very difficult meeting and they were unable to come to a conclusion on the draft of that text. And so it was good that last night, in the early hours of the morning, I think we finished up at about 2:30am this morning, Australian time, even worse for the Kiwis it was 4:30am in the morning for them. But it was a very positive meeting. And people are very focussed on vaccines and the affordable early access of safe vaccines, not just in developed countries, but in developing countries, we were very focussed on that last night and on the recovery that would, that trade will play such an important role in going forward. I mean, since the Bogor Declaration was made 25 years ago, we've seen the average amount of tariffs on goods traded in the region fall from 14 per cent, I think down to 5. That's a pretty big- that's a pretty big drop. And I think it says a lot about the success of APEC and that will be important, we had the Malaysian Putrajaya declaration last night, which I think really in many ways refreshed that commitment for APEC to focus on keeping trade doors open. And of course, part of that is making sure we all individually seek to engage with each other, to deal with any issues as they arise, which is a point I made last night.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Andrew Green from the ABC. Is General Campbell the right person to lead this process, given he was in a position of command that failed to uncover some of the allegations we saw in the Brereton report?
PRIME MINISTER: I have no doubts about the integrity of General Campbell. I've worked with him closely over many years, and I thought Australians could see for themselves as he dealt with probably the hardest day for the Defence Forces in a very, very, very long time, and he dealt with it with a lot of integrity, a lot of honesty, I think, a lot of compassion and a lot of dignity. And so, yes, I have great confidence in General Campbell. And I think I think many, if not most, if not all Australians do.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Jennifer Duke from the Sydney Morning Herald again. Are you concerned about the treatment of whistleblowers that you've sort of heard about through the war crimes process?
PRIME MINISTER: I think it's very important that those issues are addressed appropriately. And again, it's the Office of the Special Investigator, I think will have a critical role there. But when it moves beyond the role of the special investigator, the Attorney-General's Department and others, I think have important roles to play there. I think there's been a lot of courage shown by those who have come forward through this process. That would not have been easy. And I think what that reflects is a deep respect for the values of the ADF and what and the aspirational nature of that. And our Defence Force people more than any, want to hold themselves to a high standard. That is their code, and that's why we respect them so much. And so we will continue to work, I think, closely through our departments and with the Office of the Special Investigator and the ADF itself to ensure that this process is one that Australians can be proud of. You know, this is a terrible, terribly disturbing, distressing report. But the thing about Australia is, is we'll deal to it and we'll deal to it under our law, under our systems, under our justice. And I think that says something about Australia and our defence forces that this is what we do with news like this. We deal with it and it's hard. It's terribly hard. And I particularly feel for all of those who have been harbouring and dealing with these issues for many years. And I think of our veterans on this most of all and the things that they must be carrying. And the thing I don't want to happen is every time they go out into the community, every time that they might be at a remembrance service or something like that, I want Australians to look at them in the eye the same way they used to with nothing more than respect and thanks, because that is exactly what they deserve.
Thanks, everyone, appreciate your time today.