Speeches
Press Conference - Collaroy, NSW
20 February 2021
JASON FALINSKI, MEMBER FOR MACKELLAR: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for coming to Collaroy today. I'd like to thank the prime minister and the minister for coming to God's country. As you know, we saved Christmas this year for the rest of Australia by going into lockdown. And ever since then, we've been inviting people, we've been having people come back to our beaches and it looks like we have a few more today. And so thank you, Prime Minister and Richard, for being part of those, that group. One of the reasons that this is God's country is because we have the most number of surf lifesaving clubs of any area in Australia and the work that surf lifesaving does both here and around the country and indeed in many parts of the world, to make sure that people can come to beaches and swim safely and have a day out safely is extraordinary, the sense of community that they bring to those places in which they operate. We've seen here on the northern beaches during our lockdown, where we had 70,000 people in one day going to get tested for COVID. And the reason for that is volunteer groups like Surf Lifesaving, where everyone knows they're not just doing it for themselves, they're doing it for the rest of the community and for everyone else around Australia. And I want to thank my community for being part of that, the community that I'm proud to represent. And Prime Minister, I especially want to thank you for coming up here today to make this important announcement.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Jason. I'm also joined of course by Minister Colbeck and Senator Bragg, but importantly Graham Ford who’s the President of Surf Life Saving Australia, who's a Bronte boy as we know, he and I have known each other for many years. You might ask as the local member for Cook, why I'd be coming all the up to the northern beaches today to make an announcement about surf lifesaving. And that's true. We have also the finest surf lifesaving clubs of anywhere in the world down in the Shire.
And it was great to see so many young kids from the shire today. But the reason I wanted to come here today is I wanted to thank the people of the northern beaches, as Jason and I were speaking during the course of the summer break. And I have on a number of occasions now expressed my appreciation to the tremendous response and patience of the people of the northern beaches that not only kept themselves in their own communities safe, but in doing so they were keeping the rest of the country safe. And I know it was a very tough period for the people on the northern beaches. And working through that, over a time when you would have wanted to be here with your family and doing the things that families and friends do over the summer. And the people of the northern beaches put that aside and did what was right for their country and for their community. And so it's, I think, very fitting to be here and saying thank you to the people of the northern beaches Jason. Here at a surf lifesaving club, because I know from my own experience that there is nothing that is more central to a community that lives along the coast of this amazing country than our surf life saving clubs. They are not just a place where 173,000 dedicated members come to and provide a service to their local community they are the very beating heart of the community itself, from the young nippers and the families that come around those, the social events that occur as a community here in this club and at so many other places, the way our surf lifesaving to bind and knit our communities together I think is extraordinary.
Of course, there is the athleticism and the competition and the healthy lifestyle message that goes along with being a member of a surf lifesaving club. But on top of that, the values that are taught at surf lifesaving clubs, the respect for each other, the respect for community service, the respect for training and the discipline that goes with that is teaching our young people a tremendously important lesson. So I want to say thank you to those more than 173,000 members of our surf lifesaving community and the over 300 surf lifesaving clubs, some are large like this some are small, like down at Burning Palms, in the Royal National Park, very small clubs. They've got a great mud pass team, by the way, Graham which I'm sure you know. But they all do their bit and we want to help them do their bit even more.
Recently, we've already committed over $20 million dollars to support the surf lifesaving community, doing the amazing job they do, looking out for all of us when we come here for a day of leisure with our families. And today, we're announcing a further $9.7 million dollars. And that is going to two very important parts of what our surf lifesaving community does. Firstly, it helps them with the gear that they need. I just went through, I don't think I was with the gear steward, but the gear steward I'm sure would talk about the importance of the equipment they have to help save lives. And I saw some of the new equipment they've been using, which they've got from the United Kingdom, which certainly helps with their training in preparing for rescues. This gear is very important and clubs will be able to access up to $10,000 dollars a year in getting the gear they need to keep you and your family safe at the beach. But the other thing we're doing today as part of this package is we're investing even more in the training. When you see those men and women out there in the red and yellow, of course, you want to know that they've been as trained as best as they possibly can to assist you if you find yourself or your family members in trouble or friends down at the beach, and the training, the time that goes into training and clubhouses like this is even more often than what goes into standing on that beach each day when they're on patrol. And so we need to give them more support on the training, the tools that they need to train and to ensure that their trainers are of the best possible standard. And I'd say our trainers are the best surf lifesaving trainers of anywhere in the world and sets the standard. So I'm very pleased to be able to be doing this today. I'm a passionate believer in the surf lifesaving movement here in Australia. I think it is quintessential to who we are as Australians because it's about community, it's about service, it's about lifestyle and it's about values. And I'm happy to back that every single day of the week.
And so thank you again to all the northern beaches clubs, and there are a lot of them up here Jason, there's heaps of them up here and they're all great clubs and they all do a great job. But to the I think of 314 there is around the country. Thank you to all those, and particularly the ones that I'm involved with down in the Shire they've had a difficult time over COVID.
And just before I pass over to the Minister. During COVID, it's been community groups like this that has got us through to where we are now. And so I'm really looking forward, as I said yesterday, to the vaccination programme formally starting on Monday, that will formally get away on Monday. And we'll be sending the clearest possible messages about the importance of that vaccine, the safety of that vaccine. That vaccination means that as this year progresses, the normality of life that we enjoy as Australians, which includes coming here, getting together as part of the community, getting out there and our great Australian environment, and particularly on these amazing beaches that we have all around our coastline, we want that to return to normal, that vaccination is the pathway back to that normal. And so I just want to continue to encourage, I'll be leading by example on that front. And it's important that we all engage with that process, understand the information, become informed from the from the true sources, from the authorised sources, the best medical experts in the world here in Australia designed this programme, running this programme to keep you safe and to ensure the Australian comeback in the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Richard?
SENATOR THE HON RICHARD COLBECK, MINISTER FOR SENIOR AUSTRALIANS AND AGED CARE SERVICES: Thanks, PM. Thanks, Jason and Andrew, good to be here with Graham, who was sharing some time in Parliament House just a couple of days ago, this is a really important announcement, as the prime minister has said, it provides additional capacity over and above the relationship that we already have with the surf lifesaving movement around the country. And in just simple practical terms, rather than being able to access up to $5,000 dollars a year, a club can now access up to $10,000 a year for their gear and that will make a big difference. It's been a very, very tough summer, as we've seen over recent weeks. So this is an important announcement. But I see it as also being very timely. 248 deaths last year, lives lost around our coastline and as the Prime Minister said it is really a part of coastal life, and as a senator for Tasmania where the water's colder and you've got to be a bit more intrepid to go in it's still an important part of life. And I was talking to some friends the other day, they were often to Clifton Beach for the state championships that weekend and they were really looking forward to their participation in their community sport and their community events, so the additional capacity with respect to the kit that they need, the prime minister talked about being so important, but also that training and the the the equipment that supports the training. So, at an important time where we've had a really, really tough summer, some additional capacity and support for the surf lifesaving movement, I think is really important. It's timely and it will make a really important contribution to all of these communities that we see up and down our coastline, around our coastline, around the country. Those 314 clubs, over 170,000 members are very, very important, and move within the context of our community cohesion and as the prime minister sais, as we come out of COVID and as people flock to our beaches as we're allowed to move around the work that they do becomes even more important and the lives that they can support and save are obviously, being able to save those lives is a really important thing for the families of those who have supported. So really good to be here. Thanks for having us on [inaudible].
PRIME MINISTER: Graham did you want to?
GRAHAM FORD, PRESIDENT SURF LIFESAVING AUSTRALIA: Okay thank you Prime Minister, and Minister, and Jason and Andrew, this is a very special day for Surf Life Saving, as the prime minister said we've had a lot of challenges over the period of COVID. And the increase in finding that's going to our clubs, doubling the amount of money that we're going to receive for the equipment funding is so important. The Prime ministers just had a look at the equipment shed, there's so much equipment we need to protect the people when they come down to the beach and so on behalf of the 314 clubs, I thank the prime minister and the government for your generosity. I would also like to just say that the vocational education funding was initiated by the prime minister three years ago. And over that three year period Prime Minister we've given 25,000 national vocational education awards. Which is a significant achievement for our organisation. As the Prime Minister said, yes we see the surf life savers out there today, they seem to be standing around, but the amount of training that goes in to ensure that they are rescue ready to go and rescue someone who gets into trouble is an extraordinary contribution, not only for the trainers, but also the assessors. over the last year our surf life savers rescued 11,000 members of the public.11,000, our 47,000 volunteer patrolling members. They also conducted 1.6 million preventative actions, and 68,000 first aid treatments. As the prime minister said, we're there on the front line looking after the public, ensuring that they are safe. And finally, I'd just like to say that we have a programme which we run, which is called Our club is your club, in other words, our clubs sit here, we are very grateful that we have the good locations we have, but we also are part of a community and our communities are inside our club, we have a Silver Salties programme where we bring people from around the area, perhaps at my age Prime Minister to become part of our club, join in the club activities and that's been funded by the Australian government. It means they don't have to go out and do their Bronze Medallion but they could they could just be part of an amazing community. So on behalf of Surf Life Saving Prime Minister, thank you again we are very appreciative for all of the efforts that we saw [inaudible].
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, why don't we just quickly or at length if you'd like, deal with the announcement made today and then Graham's obviously available to answer questions on that and then as always happy to move to other events of the day that you'd like to raise.
JOURNALIST: Yeah, didn't have any questions on the announcement.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm pleased to see there's strong support for the announcement today and it's well received. Thank you Graham. Thank you very much. Thank you for being with us here today. Happy to take other questions on other matters.
JOURNALIST: You spoke just there about, you know, the importance of authoritative, trustworthy information right now, given the vaccine rollout and pandemic, I saw one of the Facebook executives was apologising today about inadvertently blocking health and emergency services. Do you think it is enough that they apologised, are you angry about how this has happened, could they face legal action?
PRIME MINISTER: Well look I expressed I think very clearly my views about this over the last few days. What I'm pleased about is that Facebook is back on the table, they're back at the table that's what we want to see. We want to work through this issue. And so I welcome the fact that they're back engaging with the government as they should. And those actions were completely indefensible. I appreciate the apology that's been provided, but my job now is to ensure that we get on with those discussions and that we bring them to a successful conclusion. The Australian government's position is very clear. People would know the strong support that has been provided internationally for Australia's position. In many ways. Well, in every way, Australia has led the way. When it comes to this issue, as we have on other occasions when it comes to the tax treatment of goods that Amazon were selling in Australia. Or the display of violent extremist material on social media platforms, we led that charge together with New Zealand, particularly Australia, through the G20. And so we're no strangers to taking the lead on this. And so I'm pleased to have both had the international, the strong international support that has come forward. But I'm also pleased that Facebook has decided, that it would seem to tentatively friend us again and and get those discussions going again.
JOURNALIST: Has Facebook opened itself up to a class action by removing charities and health organisations?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I'll let legal minds go over those issues. My focus, though, is to get this issue resolved positively, to ensure that the protections that we want to put in place, to ensure that we have a free and democratic society here is supported by an open news media can continue. That's a very important part of who we are. And I think this is what has motivated me and my government to do this.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what's your initial reaction to the story that a second woman alleges she was raped by the same man who accused of assaulting Brittany Higgins?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm very upset about those circumstances, and particularly for the young woman who, I don't know who that is. And nor do I need to know who that is. That is a very distressing event. I can only say that at all times the ministers who had knowledge of this incident that took place at Parliament House at all times sought to have that matter taken up by the police and for it to be investigated by the police. I welcome, very much welcome the fact that that is now occurring. That has always been what we sought to encourage. And I'm glad that that investigation is now once again underway.
JOURNALIST: At what point was your office made aware of these second allegations?
PRIME MINISTER: I read about when they were in the media.
JOURNALIST: On the first alleged incident has Phil Gaetjens finished checking which of your staff knew and when?
PRIME MINISTER: No he hasn't.
JOURNALIST: Have you got a time frame on that?
PRIME MINISTER: As soon as possible.
JOURNALIST: That second woman says that her attack would never have happened if your government had dealt with Brittany Higgins' allegations properly in the first place. Does that argument have merit?
PRIME MINISTER: I'd simply say this. We at all times, the ministers who had knowledge of this matter and those who in a senior position in the staff that had knowledge of those matters in those offices at all times sought to have this matter fully investigated by the police. Now, that is not something the government can force. We cannot do that. And as a result, it had always been our position to encourage that, and indeed, Minister Reynolds facilitated a meeting with the federal police to enable that process to commence.
JOURNALIST: Does Minister. Reynolds still have your support to remain as Defence Minister?
PRIME MINISTER: of course she does.
JOURNALIST: Once those enquiries are finished could there be any action against senior staff and Ministers?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I'm going to wait and see what the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet presents so I'm not going to pre-judge that. What's most important is that as a result of these shocking events, which I think have traumatised many, particularly those around the Parliament building and those who work in that area, but I have no doubt that these events will have triggered the experiences of many, young women in particular, but women and men around the country who have gone through similar experiences and that is deeply distressing and I, that is why I'm seeking to try and address this as swiftly,but as effectively as we possibly can. I'm looking forward to Minister Birmingham completing his consultations with the other parties and the independents, the crossbenchers and others, to finalise the terms of that review that will be independently done. I'm looking forward to the input coming into that process about how it should be done, current members of staff, former members of staff contributing through the processes to ensure that that's done thoroughly and properly. I absolutely agree that there is significant work that still remains to be done in the Parliament House work culture. That is absolutely the case. This has been a challenging issue for many, many years. And I think we would be naive to think that it's not a challenge that other workplaces face all around the country, but I agree the parliament should be setting the standard.
JOURNALIST: Have you asked your staff what they knew about Ms Higgins claims?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course I have.
JOURNALIST: Is there a systemic failure within the Liberal Party itself or it is broader than that?
PRIME MINISTER: I think we've got a problem in the Parliament. And the workplace culture that exists there. That we must continue to improve. I mean, in my time as a member of parliament now, I have seen improvements over that period of time. The former Prime Minister, and I particularly in relation to the conduct of ministers, for the first time, put the most stringent of controls on ministers, who would face dismissal if they were to have sexual relations with a member of their staff, that never existed before. And that I think set a very strong standard and set a very strong signal. And I was very pleased to support Prime Minister Turnbull on that and I maintained it as Prime Minister. So these events truly do sicken me. They do sicken me, as they should anyone and so what I must do and continue to do, is focussed on ensuring that the needs of our staff are addressed, that they are safe, that those who have suffered the trauma, and horror of events like this in the past, are respected. And that we give every support we can to ensure that the police authorities can take up these matters as discreetly as they possibly can. So as not to discourage in any way, shape or form anyone who might want to bring forward a complaint. This is a very complex issue, I think Australians do understand that. It is very hard to address these issues, I'm very resolved to do so together with all the members of the Parliament. This is an issue that all parties in some way, shape or form have had to deal with, whether it's here in state parliaments, in other places. Members of the media will be very aware of that. And it's true that members of Parliament staff, aren't the only staff who work in that building, too, and live in a very similar culture. And so we've got a big job to do, I'm resolved to deal with it.
JOURNALIST: What is your message to young women who might want to get into politics and see this and are just horrified by it. What's your reassurance to them about getting involved in the Liberal party or other parties?
PRIME MINISTER: Well whether they want to be involved with my party, the Labor Party, the Greens or anywhere else where frankly there have been issues in all of these areas before, is that those who are there now will be doing everything we can to make sure that this workplace is as safe as possible, just like I would hope every employer in the country is doing everything they can to make their workplaces as safe as possible. And that is the commitment I can give. And that's what I'll follow through on. I feel very strongly about these issues. I always have. And we must continue to do better.
Press Conference - Camperdown, NSW
19 February 2021
The Hon. Gladys Berejiklian MP, Premier of NSW: Good morning, everybody. I'm extremely pleased to be here at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney alongside the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, the New South Wales Health Minister, Brad Hazzard, and many, many key staff, our front line workers in the New South Wales health system.
We are all extremely pleased and excited that the vaccine rollout will commence on Monday here in New South Wales. And RA will be one of three hubs where within the course of three weeks, 35,000 frontline workers in quarantine and throughout our health system will receive the vaccination. It is a complex but simple process for us, for those of us who will eventually get the vaccine, and especially for those people who will get the vaccine on the first few days. The Prime Minister, myself and minister Hazzard have just had a walk through. And I want to thank all of the staff involved in the process. They've gone through a number of processes of dress rehearsals for want of a better term to make sure everything is precise and ready, and also to make sure that especially with the first vaccines that are administered, that we have good observation, good data and good information to support everybody through the process. It is a mammoth task, but a critical task and a game changer in dealing with the COVID pandemic.
I'm incredibly proud of team New South Wales and the way everybody has worked together. And the vaccine rollout is an example of that. And I want to thank the Prime Minister and his team for facilitating the supply of the vaccine, but also working with us in making sure it's distributed as efficiently, as safely as possible. And it is no doubt going to change the way in which we live with COVID. It does change the way in which we will think about the restrictions and life. However, in the meantime, until there's a critical mass of our population who've been vaccinated, we all have to stick to the rules as strictly as ever. We can't be complacent during this time. We're in a transition phase. We cannot be complacent. The second that we're complacent, community transmission will occur and we will go backwards. And that's something we don't want. What we need to make sure is during this transition phase that we continue to follow the health advice. We continue to get tested even if we have the mildest of symptoms, and that we make sure that when we're available- we have the opportunity to take the vaccine, that we should take it. And that is really important. As you know, both the Pfizer vaccine and the AstraZeneca, when they, when that arrives as well, have different ways in which we need to store them and get them out to our communities. And that's obviously a factor - That's okay, it’s a medical emergency - But obviously that also has a factor in how the vaccine is distributed in the cohort of the population that will be invited to have the vaccine.
I believe very strongly that the overwhelming majority of our population in New South Wales will be very keen and eager to get the vaccine. But I also understand that people want confidence in the process, confidence in the efficacy, and can I assure you that when my turn is here, I will be getting the vaccine as quickly as I can. I think it's an extra line of defence. And the more of us that get the vaccine as soon as possible, the better it is for everybody. And can I thank the federal government for the supply, they've made sure that there's enough doses for everybody and we're looking forward to be able to roll that out in New South Wales.
Obviously, the PM will say a few words and then we're happy to take a few questions. Thank you.
Prime Minister: Thank you, Premier, thank you, Gladys. And thank you, Brad. And particularly thank you to you for the work that I've seen here is as impressive as anywhere you will find it, I believe, around the world. You know, I've said on many occasions I've never felt more proud to be an Australian, but I'm very proud of my home state, too, I've got to say, Gladys, the leadership you've shown together with Brad and the whole team, but particularly the health professionals and workers here of New South Wales, have done I've got to say, I think the best job in the world. And, you know, you think about a city as sophisticated, as amazing as my home city of Sydney and what Sydney in particular has been able to achieve over the course of this pandemic when you compare it to places like New York and London and Paris and so many of the great cities of the world. And I tell you what, Sydney shines on a bright day, as we all know, but it certainly has shined here during the course of this pandemic under your leadership, Gladys and Brad and to all the amazing health workers that we have here in this state. So I thank you very much for that. And so we've seen that on display here again.
We're ready to go. That's the clear message when it comes to rolling out this vaccine. We have been preparing. We have been planning. We have been dotting the I's. We have been crossing the T's. The best medical experts and professionals in the world have both signed off on these vaccines. So you can be confident. But then the best medical experts and professionals in the world have been designing the process and have been preparing for this process. As you've seen that just upstairs, they are ready to go. What particularly impressed me today when I saw this process is how sympathetic it is. How human it is. Yes, it's a jab and yes, there's a lot of technology and yes, there's a lot of science, but what I'm particularly pleased about is the care, the concern that is being demonstrated to Australians as they'll come through this process. I know for many this may be a very anxious process. And I think the plans here have taken that into account to reassure, to calm, to encourage, to observe, to make sure everybody's okay. So it's just not about the health protection of the vaccine. It's the care that is being put into this and the care that is being provided to every Australian through the amazing processes and systems that have been built here, that are on display here.
Now, that'll be the case as we move from these initial phases with Pfizer. And we moved in the AstraZeneca phase and it will go out more into GP's and there’ll be pharmacists and it'll get into remote communities and all of this. And so the care that has been put into the planning and the preparation I'm seeing matched by the care that is being provided to each and every individual. So you can feel confident, you can feel safe and you can bring your family. And I'm looking forward to those vaccinations starting very soon as is I know the premier and the other premiers because as she rightly says, as this programme rollout, it does change how we can ultimately manage this virus in this country. This does change it. And that's why it is our government's biggest priority, particularly now as we prepare the country to engage in the vaccination process and to ensure that we can significantly reduce the risk of serious disease.
That's what this is about. When Gladys and I sat around a table almost a year ago now, our biggest concern was serious illness and fatalities. I mean transmissibility at that point was certainly an important topic of conversation. But what we were concerned about were those horrific scenes that we were seeing of people dying, some with ventilators, some without, in the most awful of conditions, this vaccination deals with that risk. And as a result, that changes how we can confidently go ahead managing the virus in Australia into the future.
Still a long road. But again, I want to just thank everyone who's been involved in the meticulous health planning here. But the thing I've really got to thank them for most is the care that they're putting into this, the care.
Now one last thing I want to ask everybody to do to support the vaccination process and the digital process that's associated with that. Go to my.gov.au today, particularly if you're in those early phases of the vaccination rollout, please go on there. Please update your details to ensure they're accurate because of that process, actually is supporting the certification process for the vaccination more broadly. So it's a simple thing. Those who know that they're in that first wave, that's important. Of course, those who are elderly, we've got 240 facilities that are in towns right across the country, 190 locations around the country, which will be in that first wave of vaccinations, we're protecting our most vulnerable, protecting those who are working on the front line, protecting our health workers who have been working with this not just today, but for the full last year. And their courage and bravery well we all know.
So happy to take questions, of course, of the clinicians who are with us as well.
Journalist: Are you confident that once everyone is vaccinated, the programme is completed, that we can open up our borders to the rest of the world?
Prime Minister: What I've always been confident about is taking one step at a time when it comes to managing the virus. I'm confident that as we move through the vaccination process, we can significantly change how things are done here in Australia. And I think the very suggestion you've made is very possible. But I've never got ahead of myself on this, on the science. We wait for the evidence. It's not just Australia that's getting vaccinated here. It's the rest of the world. And some countries like Israel, we've seen some fantastic results coming out of Israel. But when we're thinking about countries in our own region, in Indonesia, for example, in India, I was talking to Prime Minister Modi about these things yesterday. There are big jobs to be done there. But look, I think it is a reasonable expectation that as time goes on, as the vaccination rolls out across the world and here in Australia, you should rightly expect that things will change in how we manage the virus. Why? Because the risk of someone getting seriously ill is addressed. There are plenty of viruses that are dealt with here each and every day. And we don't have the sort of controls that we have in place to protect against those viruses in the community that we do for COVID. So I think you can expect to see that normalise as time goes one.
Journalist: PM on that issue, travel etc and the borders. Once we start having these vaccines and we take the details down and take all people’s information down in the system have we got any further yet on the vaccine passport to enable that travel to one day happen? Has that got any...
Prime Minister: You mean internationally?
Journalist: Yeah.
Prime Minister: Look, this is a process that we're still working with, with international partners, ICAO and others. And what we want is a proper accreditation process which can load up into that system. Now, we obviously have very good systems here and we've worked hard on them. We know what our systems can do and we can be confident about those. It's about getting to a level of confidence across many jurisdictions that would enable that outcome. So once I think we get a greater understanding of everybody's systems, that can give the airlines in particular because they are the gatekeepers here largely on this, they can have the confidence about what's being loaded up, who's had a vaccine, what vaccine have they had, who approved that, what's the role of the WHO. So there's a fair bit of work to still go there.
Journalist: Prime Minister, the premier has said earlier this week that people working in hotel quarantine will be chosen based on their willingness to get the vaccine, is that something you support?
Prime Minister: Of course, of course.
Journalist: Do you think everyone working in hotel quarantine system should have to get the vaccine?
Prime Minister: Well, we’re strongly- strongly encouraging it yeah.
Journalist: is there, you’re strongly encouraging it, is it going to be mandatory?
Prime Minister: Well, I'll let the premier speak to that. But when it comes to particular occupations, whether that's hotel quarantine workers, whether it's the ICU workers here at RPA or it's people working in aged care facilities. Our chief health officers and the chief medical officers have already had discussions about this. And their advice at this point is that there would be no requirement for that. But they are watching that very carefully. That can only be enforced through a public health order under state laws. But what I thank all the premiers for, and particularly Gladys, is that should that be necessary, we would seek to do that on a nationally consistent basis, exercised through consistent public health policy. Gladys?
Premier Berejiklian: Oh, yes, certainly I have overwhelming confidence that sufficient numbers of people who work in our quarantine system or have the potential to work in the quarantine system will be vaccinated. All the feedback I've received from the workers that I come into contact with is that the vast majority are enthusiastic and feel it will give them an extra protection, not just for themselves, but also potentially for their families and loved ones. We know the greatest risk to New South Wales is through the hotel quarantine system and people working in the system know that. And I want to express my deepest gratitude because these are our men and women who are on the frontline every day protecting the rest of us. And I think it's only fair that people who are in that situation are offered the vaccine first. But also I understand and appreciate that the vast majority will want to take it. And if they don't, my strong preference is that people who have the vaccine are the ones that work in the quarantine system. There's thousands of people from whom we can, we can make sure that's the case because that allows us to move forward and reduce the risk for everybody. And we don't like to make things mandatory in New South Wales. If you look at the way in which we've dealt with the pandemic, it's been a lot of trust between the public and our health experts and the government and the business community. We've all worked together on trust, and I have absolute confidence that sufficient numbers of people will come forward who are offered the vaccine and take the vaccine, because we know that it helps us reduce the incidence of serious illness. And there's also studies to suggest it reduces the rate of transmission potentially as well. And these are all pluses. It's an extra line of defence, a very important one, and especially for that for those people on the front line. The feedback I've had from those I've spoken to is overwhelming enthusiasm to take the vaccine.
Journalist: Do you have any plans to write that into the public health order?
Premier Berejiklian: Well, we you know, for us, it's early days. It's watch and see for us. But I have confidence that the vast majority of people who are offered the vaccine, especially the health workers, because they appreciate what the virus can do, some of them have witnessed the horrific consequences of severe illness. Some of them have been nursing our COVID patients. Some patients are in hospital for months and come back to hospital after they've had a mild case. And then return for months and months, so we know the severity of the disease. We don't want anyone having to go through that. And we also know that you can't predict how someone will react once they have the disease. But the vaccination will prevent serious illness. It will reduce, we know reduce the rates of serious illness and that’s what we need to get to, it will be in due course very similar to how we treat and react to the flu vaccine. I mean, the flu vaccine is there. It reduces the incidence of mortality, reduces the incidence of serious disease. And the success of us dealing with the pandemic is getting to a stage where we can live with COVID, where the vast majority of people who might get the disease don't end up in hospital. They don't get it severely. They don't die from it. And that's why the vaccine is so important. My strong message to everybody is, please, please take the vaccine.
Journalist: Would you consider offering incentives to make sure that people do take it and if so what incentives would you consider?
Premier Berejiklian: Yeah, I'm completely happy and comfortable for there to be incentives for people to take the vaccine. I think that's a positive way to do it rather than penalising people who haven't taken the vaccine. I would like to see incentives for people who do take the vaccine because it is a good thing for our community. I know there are some, a minority in the community that don't feel that, but the vast majority of our residents, I think, will welcome the vaccine's arrival. Appreciate what it can do in our fight against COVID. And also, this is what I've really been, really been buoyed by during this process, is that all of us aren't just thinking of ourselves, but we're thinking of our loved ones. We're thinking of people around us. And getting the vaccine not only helps us keep ourselves healthy, but also those around us. And that's really important as well.
Journalist: The Victorian Premier has added the families of quarantine staff to his list of priorities to receive the first jab, would you do the same?
Premier Berejiklian: Oh, we’re definitely looking at that. But please know that we are the state that is lifting the majority of the burden. And we've got 3,000 people coming in every week. I'm not sure where Victoria's up to, but we've got 3,000-
Prime Minister: Zero.
The Hon. Brad Hazzard, NSW Minister for Health and Medical Research: Zero.
Premier Berejiklian: Zero at the moment. We've got thousands and thousands of people working in our hotel quarantine system. And when it comes to organisations like the New South Wales Police Force, they have a roster. So potentially thousands and thousands of police officers can be rostered on. And of course, with our health workers, we have thousands and thousands of them involved in the process. So please know that, of course, we're going through the list of priorities, but our main priority is to protect those on the front line. But also to reduce the likelihood of community transmission and that’s what really matters for us and please know that the reason why I’ve been probably the loudest advocate for that amongst all the Premiers is, it's because New South Wales is doing the heavy lifting on that.
Journalist: The AstraZeneca vaccine, has got the TGA approval now we saw the pictures released earlier in the week. It’s rolling off the production lines, why are we waiting till March to get that one out, why aren’t we starting that straight away?
Prime Minister: Well, there are two AstraZeneca vaccines, as you know. There is the ones that are coming to Australia from, that are being imported and the ones that we're manufacturing. And so we are as you know, the AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved here in Australia. And so we are looking forward to the arrival of the AstraZeneca vaccines in Australia very, very soon. And then it'll follow the same process for preparing for its rollout as it has with the Pfizer vaccine. And so we're close.
Journalist: So no reason why we couldn’t roll it out tomorrow?
Prime Minister: Well it’s not here, the very good reason for it not to be rolled out tomorrow is the AstraZeneca vaccine has not yet arrived in Australia,
Journalist: But the one we are making has started the production, it’s there?
Prime Minister: But that goes through a further approval process by the TGA. What Professor Skerritt said earlier this week on Monday is he approved the AstraZeneca vaccine that is being imported from overseas. And there are two parts to an approval. There's one that basically deals with the vaccine science of the vaccine itself. And then there is an assurance around the manufacturing process to produce that vaccine. So the manufacturing process for the imported AstraZeneca vaccine has been concluded and it has been approved. They will now continue to go through the approval process for the Australian manufactured vaccine for AstraZeneca. So that's that's that process.
Journalist: On another topic if possible?
Prime Minister: Well I’m going to just stay on health for the moment. And then once we're finished with health, then I might excuse our clinicians.
Journalist: Premier just to Alice’s question, could you provide a specific example of what an incentive might be?
Premier Berejiklian: Oh, look that will be up to private organisations. We, you know, I presume that airlines might say that they would want people vaccinated when they go on international flights. There could be some hospitality venues that may be able to ease restrictions further if you know, patrons have- I mean, look, there's a whole range of options. And I don't want to speculate, but I am very much of the view that rather than penalise people who don't have the vaccine, we should be thinking about ways in which- sorry, there's another plane.
Prime Minister: Signs of life returning to normal.
Premier Berejiklian: Rather than penalising people who don't get the vaccine, I think we should be considering incentives and, but it may not be government led. There may be private organisations that choose to have those incentives. But as I said, if you look at our track record in New South Wales, we don't like forcing anybody to do anything. But what we can do is give the strongest advice, the strongest recommendation and our preferences. And we just ask the community to respect that. And I think the vast majority of our citizens will, because they'll appreciate that the sooner the vast critical mass of us get the vaccine, the sooner we can lead to a more normal life living with COVID. And we know COVID is going to be around, unfortunately for some time, for years. But just like the flu, the secret of success will be treating it as much like the flu. The flu can kill, obviously not at the same rate and not of the same severity. But we have to get to a stage where we can live with COVID without having people worried about getting to hospital or dying. And that's why the vaccine is very useful in that process. But until we get to that level of critical mass, we have to keep with all the restrictions. We need to get tested with the mildest of symptoms. We need to make sure we are keeping the hand sanitisation as well. And of course, our quarantine workers can't let down their guard more than anybody. We know that a second of distraction or a second of letting your guard down can have tragic consequences. And now we actually, during this transition phase, as I call the vaccine rollout, we need to be more vigilant than ever because the risk of the vaccine- or the risk of the disease seeping out into the community is great. And we need to be on our guard every single day until a critical mass of the population has access to the vaccine.
Journalist: What if people don’t sign up to mygov health, they haven’t opted in, is that going to create problems in keeping track of the vaccines and for future?
Premier Berejiklian: Well, clearly, we just ask everybody to follow the health advice in New South Wales, every state has their own booking system. So as we start with the early cohorts of health officials and police and cleaners and frontline workers that are getting the vaccine, we have a booking system which you go through. But obviously, it's really important for us to have national data on who's getting the vaccine, what the consequences are. And that is important research for us to be able to use in the fight against COVID. So I ask everybody to follow the instructions you are given to log on to the national website, but also to make sure you follow instructions in your state in terms of the rollout. And that's what people have been doing in the main already. There's nothing new there, but it's important for us to have national data as well as state based data, and that will help us not only fine tune the rollout, but also fine tune our response to the pandemic.
Journalist: Prime Minister, when are the doses at CSL in Victoria-
Prime Minister: When are the doses at CSL in Victoria expected to be approved?
Prime Minister: Well, Professor Skerritt outlined that on Monday, and that really is in his hands and we anticipate hopefully that will occur next month. But at this point, that is completely in their hands. And I can assure you I won't be doing anything that would seek to place any undue pressure on them going through the proper medical process that they should follow. That is so important. Now, our Therapeutic Goods Administration is the world standard and that is critical to Australians having confidence. And I just want to reinforce the points the Premier has just made. I think one of the reasons, if not the most important reason that Australia has done so well and indeed New South Wales has done so well under the most strain, I should add, is because Australians have responded so well, Australians have been sensible, they've been cautious, they've been sensitive, they've sought the information. They've made good judgements. They've supported each other. And, you know, we're backing that in. And that's why I can be confident about how I believe this process will roll out. It’s not just because Teresa and Paula, they're doing an amazing job. And our health workers are doing an amazing job. But, you know, Australians are doing an amazing job. The turnout I remember, Gladys, on the testing, when everything that has happened and whether it's here or whether it's the turnout on testing in Victoria or Queensland or anywhere else, Australians are going, yeah, we get it. We know what we have to do we get it. And that can be a bit inconvenient at times. But we get it. And we know if we keep following the advice and doing the things that are being asked of us, we're going to keep ourselves in the best possible position. And that's, I just continue to encourage Australians to go down that path and being themselves, because that's their natural, their natural inclination.
Journalist: Prime Minister once there is the initial phase after the three weeks, do you think the vaccination is enough to convince other Premiers, Ms Berejiklian hasn't done this, to enforce quick lockdowns when there's just a handful of cases?
Prime Minister: There is no doubt that the vaccination programme being rolled out, particularly once you're dealing with that sort of first line of defence of frontline workers, protections around in aged care facilities, which is part of the first week’s roll out, the quarantine workers. And so on, there's no doubt that that provides a big change to how we assess risk around COVID in this country and all the measures that we have put in place across the country, whether be it nationally or whether as independently determined in each of the states. Those decisions, as they have said themselves, are based on the assessment of the risk as advised by their health officers, but not just by the health officers, because premiers as the Premier knows, and leaders, we have to make decisions that take into account all of these factors, whether it's the health advice, the economic advice, the industry advice, critical supply chains, safety on roads, all of these sorts of things, we're charged with the responsibility of taking that broader view. And the work that I commenced with the Premier’s very strong support at the last meeting for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to go away and work with the Directors General of all the states and territories to answer this question for us. Okay, the risk is going to change, i.e. it's going to go down with the vaccination. It's going to go down because of the improvement in practises. So when the risk goes down, what does that mean for the other responses that states have been using up until this time? I mean, you only use a tool for as long as you need that tool. And if you don't need that tool anymore, well, you can put it back in the box. And I think we're getting to that point on this and I'm looking forward to it. And I know the Premier is very supportive of that as well.
Journalist: But does that happen after the next, after the initial three week rollout or are we talking, vaccination?
Prime Minister: Well, I'm going to let, I'm going to let those officials do their job and to calibrate that and to understand it and advise us on that. Because, you know, every step of the way, we have been careful about how we've done this. We've just taken, you know, cautious steps, informed steps. We've sought the information. We've listened to the experts. We've talked it around. We've discussed it, we’ve sat as cabinets, state cabinets, federal cabinet, National Cabinet, and made decisions. And we'll continue to do that.
Journalist: Will you be getting vaccinated on Monday?
Prime Minister: I'll be getting vaccinated very, very soon.
Journalist: PM I’ve got to ask too, we've got the state rollout on Monday obviously and the federal roll out on Monday with the aged care versus quarantine etc etc, who’s going to go first?
Prime Minister: Well, what is important who goes first, are those who need to be in the front line of dealing with this. And we've already said who should go first in the national vaccine strategy. That's who should go first. I think it's very important, and the Premier and I were discussing this earlier today in the first round, I'll be taking the Pfizer vaccine and so will my Chief Medical Officer. The Premier will be taking the AstraZeneca vaccine because I think it's important, as will my Health Minister, be taking the AstraZeneca vaccine. I think it's important. These are all great vaccines, they're not better than each other. And it's important for us as leaders and this is my health advice, that I demonstrate I'm happy to get it. Very happy to get it. I think it's important people understand it's safe. And there's no way I can say that more than rolling up my sleeve and getting the vaccination.
Journalist: Prime Minister, there’s quite the pressure you’re facing, the world is watching and waiting to see what you’ll do if Facebook don’t back down and return the news pages?
Prime Minister: Well, I might thank them for this. Thank you so much. Good luck, you're doing a great job.
I've been in this space before. You know, Amazon told me when I was Treasurer, you know, we don't - we’re not paying tax. You know, we're not going to be subject to paying tax on, on products of less than a thousand bucks. We're not doing it. We’re going to pull out of the country. I said, you go right ahead. You go right ahead. But the law of our country and who pays tax is made by Australians. They came back within three months. And when we dealt with those horrific, those horrific scenes in Christchurch of the, of that terrorist attack there on that mosque. The first thing we did, apart from consoling our Kiwi brothers and sisters was to say that can't happen. And we called them out and I said to them, you know, you can get an ad to me on your platforms in about two seconds, but you're telling me you can't identify violent and extremist material and you can't get rid of it. I'm calling you on that. I took it to the G20, got all the leaders of the world to agree with that position. There was also the Christchurch process, which Prime Minister Ardern led with President Macron. And the world came together on that and we called them out. This is the same process. Look, I applaud Google for the way they have engaged. They have respected this process, yeah they had some concerns about it. They said a few things early, negotiations work like that. But I would just say to Facebook, this is Australia you want to do business here you work according to our rules, and that's a reasonable proposition. We're happy to listen to them on on the technical issues of this, just like we listened to Google and came to a sensible arrangement. But the idea of shutting down the sort of sites they did yesterday as some sort of threat. Well, I know how Australians react to that. And I thought that was not a good move on their part. And they should move quickly past that, come back to the table and we'll sort it out. But our record as a Government is on, is resolve. We've demonstrated that before. I've worked with these other organisations before. Threats are made. And that's not a good way to deal with this Government.
Journalist: You had international support on the Christchurch agreement, will you get more support on this one as well Prime Minister, you’re ringing India’s Prime Minister for instance.
Prime Minister: Well, let me just be clear about that. I mean, well, I was speaking to Narendra Modi yesterday. We were talking about a whole range of other issues, as you'd expect us to. But this is one issue we discussed because there's a lot of interest in it. People are looking at what Australia is doing. I've had these exchanges also with Prime Minister Trudeau, and I know Prime Minister Johnson is very interested. I've spoken to President Macron about these things, in the same way we talk about that they should pay tax too. And we discuss that a lot. And so there is a lot of world interest in what Australia is doing. And so that's why I, I invite, as we did with Google, Facebook, to constructively engage because, you know, they know that what Australia will do here is likely to be followed by many other Western jurisdictions. And Prime Minister Trudeau has made that exact point. They're already going down this path and they're looking precisely at it now, you know, I suspect by the time the G7 and the G20 comes around, I suspect this issue will be long addressed. So I don't think, I haven't made any suggestion that I'd be taking it up in those forums. I would hope that we would have resolved it long before then. Long before then. But it's not okay to unfriend Australia because Australia is very friendly. We'd like to remain very friendly and it's time for them to friend us again.
Journalist: Prime Minister, you've previously said that you were unaware of the Brittany Higgins incident, but a text message revealed today that one of your staffers knew about it and he said that he told you about it back in 2019?
Prime Minister: No, that's not what the report says at all. It says nothing about him telling me anything. That's not what the report says at all. It refers to-
Journalist: So did your office know about it earlier than this week?
Prime Minister: Well, the matters that, I'm aware of those reports and those matters are in the scope of what I've asked the Secretary of the Prime Minister and Cabinet department to actually look into within that scope. And we've had that conversation this morning. And I would expect that to be considered in the scope of what he is already doing. But I set out in the Parliament this week the timetable of when I'm advised my office knew about it. And I can tell you I knew about it on Monday and frankly, it shattered me. It absolutely shattered me. I mean, of course, the many ramifications of this, but frankly, the one that shattered me the most, it was just the sheer humanity of what has occurred here. And that was deeply distressing, as I'm sure it was for everybody when they were first confronted with this news.
Journalist: The messages aren’t [inaudible] though, [inaudible] The messages aren’t a good look though, have you misled the Australian Parliament or has your office misled you about it?
Prime Minister: I certainly have not. I've sought to be as open and honest as I can be about this matter, I've told you everything I know about this matter and I will continue to. This is devastating. This is awful. And there are many who I know, anyone who has been confronted with this information, I'm sure would agree. But, you know, the thing that's most important is, are the issues that Brittany has raised. And I've been listening to those carefully and seeking to address them in the best possible way I can. So and I'm just going to continue doing that. We have to deal with issues of culture, which I'm sure you would agree are not confined to the, you know, the offices of Parliamentarians. I mean, this is an issue that every workplace deals with, and we have to make workplaces safe. I have no doubt it occurs in the media, in the media workplaces and media workplaces, offices in law professions or whatever it might be. This is a big problem. And we've all got to do what we can to change the culture of all of our workplaces. And that is what I'm committed to do. I'm horrified by this. It has been deeply distressing, but it's, whether I'm distressed is not the issue. It's about Brittany at the end of the day and anyone else in that situation. And that's what I have to maintain my focus on. And that's what I am focussed on.
Journalist: Are you disappointed though that your office didn’t tell you in April of 2019 when they found out, apparently found out?
Prime Minister: Well, that is not a matter that's been established. And my advice is, is exactly as I set it out in the Parliament. And that's why I've asked the department to within the scope of what I've asked them to do to look at these matters in terms of the advice I've received, which I think is the appropriate thing to do.
Journalist: Why do these messages suggest otherwise then?
Prime Minister: Well only you can- that is for you to interpret, what I'm telling you.
Journalist: Isn’t it for your office to interpret?
Prime Minister: Well, I've received the advice from my office and I've asked my department to actually look into that advice so I can be assured. I would like to know if there was anything different here, I would like to know. I want to know. And that's why I've asked the Secretary of my department to actually test that advice that I've received. That's how I go about understanding these matters fully. And I will continue to be open and honest. But the most important thing is to focus on what we have to fix, because that is an ongoing task. It has been an issue for a very long time now I hope, and I would hope that is improving. But, gosh, we've got a lot more to do as a community.
Journalist: Premier one issue in regards to a state issue, there’s been criticism from Jodi McKay about the appointment, the potential appointment of Mick Fuller the Police Commissioner to the NRL Commission, apparently you have given your approval? What’s the situation?
Premier Berejiklian: Oh, look, there's nothing come across my desk and if anything of that nature came across my desk I would make sure that there was no conflict and everything was okay before anything like that preceded.
Journalist: Do you think it would be a good appointment to the NRL Commission?
Premier Berejiklian: I don't want to answer hypotheticals. That's a matter if and when it materialises. Thank you.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
16 February 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, everyone. I am joined by the Minister for Health and Aged Care Greg Hunt and Professor Skerritt, who heads up the Therapeutic Goods Administration. I said several weeks ago at the Press Club that our top priority this year was to roll out the vaccination programme here in Australia. This is an enormous exercise. There has been meticulous planning undertaken for an extensive period of time to make sure we get this right, so Australians can have absolute confidence in the programme that's being rolled out here in Australia. The vaccination programme is critical to our ongoing management of the COVID-19 pandemic. And the vaccines that we have, they address the critical issue of serious disease and indeed, the risk of fatality that can arise from COVID-19 and increasingly we're seeing positive signs about its impact on transmissibility as well. This is an enormous exercise that requires many steps. The planning of the strategy, the securing of the vaccines, going through the important approvals process which can give Australians confidence. I said this morning when we take our children to be vaccinated, it's Professor Skerritt who says that vaccine is safe for your children to take. This is the same Professor Skerritt who is telling you when it comes to these vaccines that they’re safe to take and it's in your interests and in the public health interest of the nation.
That's why I'm pleased to say today that the Therapeutic Goods Administration has today approved the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for use in Australia following a full and thorough assessment process. The vaccine has met requirements for standards, for safety, quality, and efficacy, and will be provided free to Australians and it means that Australia now has two safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines available. Initial supply into Australia will be imported from overseas. In the coming months, the AstraZeneca vaccine will be manufactured here in Australia, as the Minister for Health and Aged Care and I visited the facility in Melbourne just last Friday. And that will mean Australia is one of the few countries in the world that can manufacture its own COVID-19 vaccine here by CSL.
Our vaccination programme is on track. Our vaccination programme has the backing of Australia's best medical experts and that means that we can proceed along the path that we have set out and I look forward to working with all the states and territories and medical health professionals across the country, those involved in the logistics supply chain, to ensure we can get this out right across the country and it's going to make a huge difference to how we live here in Australia this year, and in the years ahead.
I will pass you to the Minister for Health.
THE HON. GREG HUNT, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Thank you very much, Prime Minister and Professor Skerritt. AstraZeneca is cleared for lift-off. What I can say is that the TGA has approved the AstraZeneca vaccine for use in Australia on the basis of all ages and a second dose at 12 weeks. They have taken the best advice from around the world. They have also had the opportunity to examine the advice and real world evidence gathered from the emergency use provisions in other countries. In particular, the Lancet Journal said very recently in an article published on 3 February 2021, ‘COVID-19 vaccine AstraZeneca confirms 100 percent protection against severe disease, hospitalisation, and death in the primary analysis of phase three trials.’ That's the Lancet. And then overnight, the World Health Organisation in its statement for authorisation of use noted that the AstraZeneca vaccine was shown in clinical trials to be safe and effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 with no severe cases and no hospitalisations, more than 14 days after the second dose. Now, the world will obviously continue to gather evidence on safety and efficacy, but from the Lancet journal, from the clinical trials, from the World Health Organisation, the strongest possible advice. Our Australian officials have taken advice from the United Kingdom.
What that means is that the vaccine rollout is on track. Yesterday we mentioned the Pfizer vaccine, I can confirm today we're expecting at least 240 aged care facilities to be included in the vaccine programme next week. That's a very important step forward in protecting our older Australians. The AstraZeneca vaccine, on current advice, we hope and expect that it should be able to commence subject to shipping confirmation, which we can now proceed to, in early March, if not earlier. In early March if not earlier. And then, of course, we move to an increase in total numbers with the CSL Australian-made AstraZeneca vaccine due subject to TGA approval to commence in late March at one million doses per week to be made available. So that programme will help keep Australians safe.
Then finally I would note that around Australia, we have seen two new cases of community transmission, both within Victoria, both already on the advice I have, within isolation. Seven states and territories with zero cases and a total of 55,000 tests around the country at a time when we know that there were 374,000 cases and 8,200 lives lost around the world. So our containment is strong. But we always have to remain vigilant. The vaccine rollout is on track and today's another important milestone. I particularly, thank John, before asking you to speak, want to thank you and all of the team at the TGA that have worked extraordinary hours to tick every box, to assess everything, to make sure that safety, safety, safety, is the number one priority. They and our medical professionals and all the companies involved have worked literally around the clock for a long, long period. Thank you.
PROFESSOR JOHN SKERRITT, HEAD OF THE THERAPEUTIC GOODS ADMINISTRATION: Thank you, Prime Minister, and Minister for supporting the work and the announcement. So this is the second vaccine that we have approved for COVID-19. We are also the second, only the second regulator in the world after the European Medicines Agency, with whom we work very closely. We have a preferential, long-standing collaboration and relationship, and it's been strengthened under COVID times. But we're the second medical regulator to have actually done a full conditional approval of the vaccine. There's a number of other countries such as the UK, you're familiar with, Brazil, and so forth, who have authorised this vaccine in emergency authorisation.
As the Minister said, just overnight, the World Health Organisation confirmed its support for an emergency use listing for this vaccine. They also confirmed a couple of things I want to tackle head on, because I know they've been the subject of some discussion, both in the medical fraternity and the media. The first relates to age. And our approval of this vaccine does not have an upper age limit. While the data for this vaccine in older groups is limited, and that goes back to the original design of the trials, where AstraZeneca targeted their initial trials towards health care workers, who obviously are of working age and usually under 65, and only included older people later on. But our analysis of the data gives us no reason to suspect that the vaccine would not be fully efficacious in older groups. Secondly, the experience in the UK, in the rollout, and we've got to remember they have been vaccinating with the AstraZeneca vaccine now for more than a month, and their experience is also of very good results obtained with both of the major vaccines in older groups. And of course, their rollout has been targeted, not only towards front-line health workers, but towards those in what the British call care homes. So there is real world evidence of the vaccine going well in older groups, and also there's evidence from blood tests looking at the response of the immune system to these vaccines, which again shows a strong immune response in people over 60, people over 65, and so forth. Yes, more data on a lot of things will emerge as months and weeks and years go by, including the duration, how long these vaccines actually provide protection for. But on the balance of the evidence, we have no reason and we felt there was no reason to limit its use to particular age groups.
The second thing I want to tackle head on is efficacy, because a lot has been said about this vaccine. As the Minister said, a recent study just published a couple of weeks ago in Lancet, one of the world's top medical journals, showed from a more detailed analysis of trials, because as time goes on, you have more people who may or may not get COVID from these trials, more people whose data can be assessed for safety and performance of these vaccines. And it showed 100 percent efficacy against severe disease, illness and death. More importantly, it showed that when there was a 12-week interval between doses, and this is what ATAGI, the advisory group has recommended, there's 82 percent at least protection from those groups. And what is important with that 12-week interval is it seems if you leave it more and more weeks, that you do get greater protection. And frankly, there's not a difference when you go into the real world whether something is 82 percent or 90 percent. So I would emphasise that a lot of the discussion on numbers is not particularly relevant. What is important is to get vaccines into people's arms. AstraZeneca gives us a vaccine that can be used not only in major facilities, but also in primary care through GPs and potentially through pharmacy practices. And having a vaccine accessible in a country as wide and brown as ours is absolutely important. All this information has now been published. If you go to the TGA website as well as the main Health Department website you will see that information.
Finally, I will mention a little bit about pregnancy and vaccines. As a group of international regulators, this is something that's obviously keeping a lot of us thinking. Now, like many clinical trials, vaccines are not tested in pregnant individuals, whether it's a new medicine or a new vaccine. Generally, if you're known to be pregnant, you can't volunteer for a clinical trial. It's just a safety measure, a precautionary measure. However, there were a number of people who didn't know they were pregnant or became pregnant during the trials, and there haven't been reports of adverse outcomes. The other thing that regulators worldwide are doing is recognising, especially in countries like the UK, US and Europe, some of the hospitals cannot afford to take their pregnant nurses and doctors off the front-line, when we're in a crisis situation with a sheer number of cases. So many of those people have exercised personal choice by being vaccinated. They're being closely followed on a register. Obviously, those babies are yet to be born and so forth, again, there's no evidence of anything untoward such as miscarriage or illness during pregnancy. But as the weeks and months go on, we'll know a lot more about pregnancy with these vaccines. The aim, of course, is as time goes on we'll know more about the vaccines in all the groups in the community, including children.
I’d also just like to close by saying that each of the major vaccine companies has now commenced studies in adolescents or in some cases in children as young as six. Thanks very much.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Professor Skerritt, and thank you again to you and everyone at the TGA for the extraordinary job they have done for their country over these many, many months. I seek your co-operation as usual, because we have Professor Skerrit with us, why don't we focus on the vaccine and the announcement first? I'm sure there's other issues you want to raise and we can address those then. So on the vaccine. David?
JOURNALIST: On the science, and possibly Professor Skerritt could answer this one too, but you mentioned that there was a stronger efficacy with the 12-week delay between the first and second jabs. I thought we were heading towards a rollout that was a 3-week gap. Is that changing, what is going to be the approach on the gap?
PROFESSOR SKERRITT: So the 3-week gap relates to the Pfizer vaccine. The recommendation on the gap for the AstraZeneca vaccine is 12 weeks. That will add complication to the logistics. This is something that the rollout team, part of our same Department of Health, we’ve been meeting just today, Brendan Murphy and I and the others met to discuss that today. Now what we said at TGA, is you could give the second AstraZeneca jab anywhere between 4 and 12 weeks. Because let’s say sadly if you had to start chemotherapy in a few weeks' time, you might want to bring that jab forward. So it’s efficacious as soon as 4 weeks after, the AstraZeneca, but the recommendation, routinely, is to leave it 12 weeks.
JOURNALIST: Professor Skerritt, the TGA information on the jab says it should be a case-by-case basis for older people you’ve just said that there's no upper age limit. Can you explain what that means? And should older people get the AstraZeneca vaccine?
PROFESSOR SKERRIT: So we recommend that older people should get the AstraZeneca vaccine. The wording "case-by-case" I guess relates to a discussion of really, it comes down to what old means. I'm 61, when I was 40, I thought that 60 was old. Now I've decided that 61 is very young. So old is always in your mind. To be fair, what, I'm going to get into trouble now. To be fair, we were aware and there were reports globally of deaths in Norwegian aged care facilities. Now it turned out that sadly, hundreds of people in any state or territory die per month in aged care facilities of what we used to call old age. So the issue about old people for any medicine or any vaccine or indeed any surgical procedure is look at what doctors call futility. If someone only has a few weeks to live, you don't give them a hip replacement and you may not give them a vaccine or medicine. So that's where we’re hinting at, but the vaccine is recommended for use in all ages.
JOURNALIST: Given the 12-week gap here, does that mean reaching your goal of having everyone vaccinated by October, you would expect every Australian to have had at least their first jab by the end of July, and if I may Professor Skerritt, how does that gap interact with people getting the flu vaccine? Do they have to wait until they've had both doses or could they get it in the middle?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll let Professor Skeritt deal with the second question and then Greg can deal with the other one.
PROFESSOR SKERRITT: I'll talk with respect to the flu vaccine and again, this is an issue which has occupied the minds of regulators worldwide. Because we're wanting to identify whether there are particular adverse events related to the COVID vaccines, or the flu vaccines for that matter - if you give both of them together, you don't know which one may have caused the problem. Not that we're seeing significant problems. There's well known issues such as headache, temperature and sore arm and so forth, but nothing that seems to be really very serious. So at the moment, it's recommended that you have your shots 14 days or so apart. So if, for example, you're in a phase 1A group, if you're say a front-line quarantine worker or whatever and you have your shot in the next couple of weeks, we'd recommend them to wait a couple of weeks until they have their flu shot. But they don't have to wait until the end of 12 week or the end of both shots to have their flu shot.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Just in terms of the timing, what it means is that more Australians will have more vaccines earlier. That's a happy by-product of the decision. It also means that we are absolutely on track, so every Australian who seeks to have the vaccine will be in a position to have had at least the first dose. We'll look at what it means in regards to the second dose. But frankly, it's very, very good news. It means higher efficacy. It means more Australians earlier and it means a position where every Australian who seeks to have it will undoubtedly have had their first dose. We will now remodel what it means in terms of the tail But I would say - it doesn't mean we're on track. It means that we're ahead of schedule for where we intended to be.
PRIME MINISTER: One here, and then we’ll come over the other side.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Can only deal with 12 weeks.
JOURNALIST: Sorry just on the AstraZeneca vaccine for over 65s. Are you breaking away from precedent in terms of lack of data? Would this have been approved if we weren't in a pandemic?
PROFESSOR SKERRITT: No we're not really breaking away from precedent. It's perhaps not very well known, but many vaccines are actually approved on what are known as immunological correlates. In other words analyses of blood samples, so let’s use the seasonal flu vaccine. As many of you will know, every year, because the flu vaccine mutates or drifts - the flu virus mutates or drifts so much, we need to bring in a new flu vaccine. Sometimes it has four components. Sometimes one changes, in a bad year 2 or 3 or, we’ve never had all 4 change thank god, but 2 or 3 can change. So it changes every year. Now, we simply can’t, don't have the time to wait to a flu season happens to see people get the flu and whether the vaccine works. And so, we use a lot of tests with blood and cell samples. And so, it's quite well established in vaccines to look at that evidence from blood and cell samples, and it showed quite a strong immune response in the over 65s. And so, it's very similar to what we've been doing with other viruses such as the flu virus for a long time.
JOURNALIST: If we had either one or both of these vaccines last month or the month before like we have seen in other nations, Melbourne would still be in lockdown, other state capitals would have gone into lockdown, and with that in mind, was it worth it to go through the slower approval process rather than going through the emergency approval process?
PRIME MINISTER: Look I appreciate the question. Firstly, there has been no slow approval process. This has been, I think, the most efficient and timely process that the TGA I think has ever undertaken for any vaccine. And they've done it in a way which has cut no corners, ensured every inquiry that they would have undertaken in relation to a vaccine would have been undertaken. And that was the safest way to conduct that process and to arrive where we're at today. So the option of doing something different was not present without putting at risk the safety of the process. That is sacrosanct I think to the effectiveness of the vaccine. And let's not forget that the significant success that Australia had over the course of last year in comparison to other countries created the space, Australians created the space for Professor Skeritt to be able to do the best job that they are capable of doing. And I've got to tell you - Australia's TGA’s best is the best in the world. And so that enabled them to do that. So that was the right decision. That was the right decision to do that and that's why we proceeded on that basis.
Phil?
JOURNALIST: I’ve just got one on IR, can I just ask about IR, that...
PRIME MINISTER: Unless there’s vaccine questions? Because I’m going to excuse Professor Skerritt.
JOURNALIST: Professor, obviously dealing with something new in terms of a multi-dose vial. What wastage are you building into the supplies, obviously we are over supplied by raw number? And are there any circumstances in which you can envisage a particular person getting both vaccines?
PROFESSOR SKERRITT: As you’ve mentioned, the Government has procured many more vaccines than the whole population of Australia requires. And it may well be that we're in a position to share them with our Pacific neighbours in the coming months once we get to a situation of vaccine rollout in full swing. In terms of wastage - this is something that the group working on the rollout is very focused on. And I won't steal their thunder by going into detailed strategies, but they have detailed strategies to make sure that there's going to be enough people present and available, for example to use up the entire Pfizer vial. One of the advantages of the AstraZeneca vial, and that's why I said earlier - it's important to remember that approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine will really help with people getting vaccinated. Because this is a vial that can go- if you use half a AstraZeneca vial in a GP's practice, it can go back in the fridge overnight and then it can be used again the next day. You don't have to throw it out. So there's a lot of advantages to this product - including less wastage.
JOURNALIST: Are there any circumstances in which someone could get both?
PROFESSOR SKERRITT: We're encouraging people and this is a consistent message globally, we're encouraging people with your two shots to have two of the same thing. We don't have a crystal ball and what we don't know, especially with the emergence of variants or maybe these vaccines provide two years of protection but not life. Whether in 2022-2023 people will have to have a booster. No-one knows that, again it’s something that we are looking at fairly closely. The immune response seems to be pretty durable but there's only one way that we will know next year whether people have to have a booster and that is wait until next year. It may be then that a different vaccine is ideal to use as a booster. There actually are some trials starting in the UK and one or two other countries where they're deliberately using two different vaccines to see how well that combination works.
JOURNALIST: Professor Skerritt, people who've already had coronavirus, will they be receiving either of these vaccines? And Prime Minister, today, Victoria's announced it's going to be building its own quarantine facility, which could spell the end of hotel quarantine. Given that we've just approved two vaccines, and we're starting the rollout, is something like that necessary? And will you be providing any federal assistance?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ll let Professor Skerritt do the first one.
PROFESSOR SKERRITT: I'll do the first one short. Again, the advice, there is no advice saying don't have it. And of course, in Australia, we're fortunate that the numbers are fairly small. But a number of other countries are vaccinating people who have had coronavirus, there is no adverse event. In fact, what we're suggesting is that some people may only get off with one shot because in a way, what the vaccination does is give a further boost to the natural immunity you may have had from catching the disease. But time will tell with Australians. That's one area that our hospitals and doctors will carefully monitor. They'll take particular interest in people who have had coronavirus and then they give a vaccination to.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Professor Skerritt. The other issue, of course, we will work with the Victorian government, the New South Wales government, the Queensland government on all these issues, as we always have. I mean, we've provided significant support to all the states, particularly through the Australian Defence Force. And when it comes to supporting those quarantine arrangements in New South Wales, they've operated hotel quarantine at triple the capacity of when Victoria was actually open and they've been able to do that quite successfully through hotel quarantine. I note also that the New Zealand government, which doesn't operate as a federation, have also consistently used hotel quarantine as the most effective way to enable people to come back and for those facilities to also provide an appropriate quarantine period. But we'll continue to work with states on these issues as they wish to pursue them. Also seeking to get as many Australians home, I should stress international travellers are not allowed to come to Australia. Australians, residents and citizens are allowed to return home. And that's what we're seeking to do, in many of these cases we look at these as supplementary capacity to hotel quarantine. It is true, even though on an international scale, the number of incidents in the Victorian situation are few. They've, of course, had a pretty significant impact, particularly last year. But it is also true that in seven other states and territories they've had, they've had great success in managing that inflow and also preventing both breaches. But where breaches occur, their systems have been very strong, whether that's in Queensland or Western Australia, of course, New South Wales or other places. But we'll work with them as we always have. And I know the Victorian government has always appreciated that support. Yep? Greg?
JOURNALIST: These facilities- are you saying they should not be used to replace hotel quarantine but complement it,
PRIME MINISTER: We’ll work with the Victorian government That's all I said, Greg.
JOURNALIST: Are you concerned that Victoria, through this announcement today and through the language of Dan Andrews over the past week, that he is shifting away from the hotel, preference for hotel quarantine?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's just not clear yet based on the information that's in front of us. But, you know, the objective, the task doesn't change. Our focus as a government is, of course, on delivering the $6 and a half billion dollar vaccine programme, and that's where the Commonwealth has been putting in our effort around these issues and we've worked with the states on the many other issues, so 2021 can prove to be a far more open year than 2020 was.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister you said this morning that I'm not happy about this being brought to my attention about the Britney Higgins,
PRIME MINISTER: Sounds like we’re moving onto other issues which I'm happy to do but I don't think we need to detain Professor Skerritt for that. But Chris, did you have one more for Professor Skerritt?
JOURNALIST: On travel, as you roll out this vaccine and people are vaccinated, are you going to change your disposition towards Australians travelling overseas and returning who have been vaccinated?
PRIME MINISTER: Not clear yet, and we have to wait on the evidence for that and the success of the vaccine and what that means in terms of transmissibility and other issues, that obviously we don't rule that out. But those decisions will be guided by the medical advice when they're ultimately taken. But I look forward to that day.
So we're going to move away from those issues. Professor Skerritt, thank you to you and all your team. Doing a great job, thank you very much.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister you said, I'm not happy about the fact that this, the Brittany Higgins matter was not brought to my attention. And I can assure you, people know that, amongst those people, I assume, is Defence Minister Linda Reynolds. Are people from your office also, have they also been spoken to, with your disquiet about this?
PRIME MINISTER: People, people know, people know and they should know. And these are issues that I would hope would come to my attention. And that is one of the many things that that I've asked the deputy secretary of PM&C to look at is as we work through the issues that have to be worked through and we want to make sure that those systems are up to the standard that I would expect.
JOURNALIST: Will heads roll over this?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ve answered the question Andrew thanks.
JOURNALIST: The question though, Prime Minister, Brittany Higgins says there were three very senior people in your office who knew about this alleged rape within days of it occurring? And you found out almost two years later, these are people you talk to on a daily basis. Why did they not tell you? Were they protecting you? What was the reason for you not being informed?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, in terms of three people, well, I should stress that the chief of staff of the minister's office at the time was not in the Prime Minister's office. They came and worked in the Prime Minister's office at a later time. So they were not there working directly to me or to Dr Kunkel in my office.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there is I should stress that in relation to my principal private secretary, there is nothing that has been put in front of me, nothing, including phone records or anything else that suggests that that indeed was the case. So there was an issue of a security breach which was dealt with at the time. And the alleged perpetrator was sacked, removed, quite swiftly over the security breach, in terms of the allegation of a sexual assault that was not in front, I'm advised, of my office at that time. And so that that matter came later and was being dealt with within the Minister's office and on an anonymous basis ultimately. And so that matter was not at that point brought to our attention because the matter then didn't proceed to a police investigation. And that's why today I've expressed my concern about how these matters didn't progress to a police investigation, because that is always that would always be my wish that that- should that be what Brittany wanted.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible] didn’t express that? They didn’t tell you, were they protecting you?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I know that Minister Reynolds expressed that wish directly and that it was her wish that this matter be taken forward for investigation. But ultimately, ultimately, that was a choice made at the time.
JOURNALIST: Why didn’t the Minister tell you Prime Minister, why do you think the Minister didn’t tell you?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I understand Minister Reynolds will say something further about this, but I understand there was a judgement made about the balance of protecting Brittany's privacy at the time and a judgement was made on that basis. Now, that judgement can certainly be commentated upon. It can certainly be judged. But that was my understanding of what occurred at that time. I want to stress again that this awful incident, this terrible incident, those who were around Brittany at the time were endeavouring to support and to help her. Now, as I said this morning, over the passage of time, clearly that was not effective. And I accept that. I accept that absolutely.
JOURNALIST: Picking up what you said about phone records then, do you not believe Brittany, that she was contacted by a senior person in your office to be checked in on in the wake of similar reporting? But why would someone from your office check in with her following the reporting on Four Corners around that issue if it wasn't because they were aware of it being beyond a security issue?
PRIME MINISTER: The point I'm making to you is that is not the recollection or the records of my staff on that matter. It's just not, so I can't really speak more to it than that. I understand that over time, particularly in situations like this, that information can become confused over time about who makes contact and things like that. I accept that. So I make no judgements about that. In fact, one of the things that has concerned me most about this issue is that clearly the trauma that built up over a period of time well after the incident itself as well. And I think that's one of the key things I want to hear from the Deputy Secretary about how we can ensure that support is immediate, effective and ongoing. Because on those three tests, particularly the latter one, clearly that support wasn't provided in a way that supported Brittany. As I said, that's something I would expect for my daughter and I should have no lesser expectations for Brittany and that's why I've taken the actions that I have today.
JOURNALIST: Was she mistaken in her recount that she is making?
PRIME MINISTER: I can’t comment on it because I wasn’t a party to either of the conversations.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, God forbid something like this was to happen again, how quickly would you expect to be told if one of your ministers was aware? And who would you expect to be told by?
PRIME MINISTER: There are two points there. The first one is and this is what I've referred to the Deputy Secretary and I flagged this, that in cases like this, there is an argument for a mandatory advice to the relevant department, which in this case would be the Department of Finance. But I just add a note of caution on this, that I would not want to have anything done in this process that in any way might create a triggered action that might lead to someone like Brittany in this circumstance not wanting to proceed. So I want to be very confident that any of these things that we might do around this event would in no way impede the agency of the victim in these cases and someone like Brittany in these cases. So I'm not going to rush to or any knee jerk reaction here. There is best practise in a lot of other jurisdictions, in a lot of other workplaces. And I would like them to look at that and carefully advise us about what the automatic response should be. Now, it is also possible that in circumstances like this, a terrible incident like this, can be advised to me, both by the Minister and through my office in an anonymous way. And I think it is very important to protect the privacy of individuals in these situations. And it is my absolute understanding that that was the intent of Minister Reynolds.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what is your advice on the exact time your office knew about this alleged rape? What is your advice on that? You've obviously been speaking to people in your office about it.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, my understanding is that that precise matter was within the last couple of weeks.
JOURNALIST: Can I ask on IR, PM. Minister Porter has announced you have dumped that provision pertaining to the better off overall test in order to secure the rest of the Bill. Labor is unmoved by this, saying if you get re-elected, you're going to try and bring it back anyway. Can I get your response to that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the reason that we've decided not to proceed with that element of the package is because we've been engaged in good faith discussions with parties in the Senate and that those good faith discussions have arrived at the point where if we want to go further, then it's important that that provision no longer be pursued. So we think in good faith that that is a good one. Now, that shouldn't come as a surprise. We were very clear that in trying to get things through the Parliament, we would work with good faith partners. Now, the Labor Party hasn't sought to engage with us at all. We've got more engagement out of the union movement than we've got out of the Labor Party. And so the question now is, given that seemed to be the issue they had, well, why are they now going to vote against a Bill that actually ensures people get paid and that there's a pathway from casuals to permanent? I mean, is Labor going to drop the politics now and get on with it so we can get people back into jobs? Or are they going to cling onto this as a way of continuing to engage in a political debate here in Canberra? It's really a matter for them. But now, once we go through this package, then that's the package that we'll put and that's the package that we will legislate. I've always been very clear that we're seeking to get things done here. Where things can't get done and the Parliament doesn't support things, then why would we put people through that process?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on the review you've announced this morning, the one by the Deputy Secretary and one from Celia Hammond. What's your timeframe for those reviews and will you commit to making the finding of them public?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm going to wait for further advice from both Celia and Stephanie about both of those issues on the timing. I mean, is this new. I want them to consider what they need to do, how long it would take for them to do that job thoroughly, and so I'll wait for further advice on both of those questions to come from both of them as we work through the process of having this set up and established. Today in the party room, I had a fair bit to say about this issue with my colleagues and the responsibility on all of us. But as I said in my earlier press conference today, it's just not on the Government members of Parliament to ensure that it's the right environment here in this place. It's incumbent on all members of Parliament in this place, they're all employers. And frankly, everybody who holds a position of authority in this building, whether they're running a news agency, they're running the prime minister's office or they're running an MP's office, we all who work in this building have an obligation to try and make it as safe as possible for everyone who works here. I'm going to have to call it then after that one, because Question Time.
JOURNALIST: Jacinda Ardern is not very happy with you and your Government for the stripping of citizenship of someone who went overseas potentially to be recruited by ISIS. Can you give us the background to that? And what assurances are you going to give Jacinda Ardern that what Australia did is in New Zealand's interests as well as its own?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, my job is Australia's interests. That's my job. And it's my job as the Australian Prime Minister to put Australia's national security interests first. I think all Australians would agree with that. Now, the legislation that was passed through our Parliament automatically cancels the citizenship of a dual citizen where they've been engaged in terrorist activities of this nature. And that happens automatically. And that has been a known part of Australia's law for some time. I understand that the New Zealand government has had some issues with that, and I understand that. And the Prime Minister and I are scheduled to speak later today. We speak quite frequently. This is an issue we've discussed before. So I'll leave how we practically deal with those issues to our discussion later today and I'm sure the many others that we'll have. There are still a lot more unknown about this case and where it sits and where it might go to next and so I think that will also be a subject of our discussions. But Australia's interest here is that we do not want to see terrorists who fought with terrorism organisations enjoying privileges of citizenship, which I think they forfeit the second they engage as an enemy of our country. And I think Australians would agree with that. Thanks very much.
Speech, Ovarian Cancer Australia Teal Ribbon Parliamentary Breakfast Australian Parliament House, ACT
16 February 2021
Prime Minister: Thank you, Jane. Thank you, Caitlin. You can’t put it more simply than that and I'll return to that in just a minute.
Can I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, their elders past and present and emerging.
Can I acknowledge my parliamentary colleagues who are here with us today and of course the leader of the opposition, Anthony Albanese.
To you, Jane, and to you, Marina, thank you for the amazing job you do in leading this tremendous organisation in your search for hope. And to all the women wherever you are here today or perhaps watching or hearing this later, fighting. And their families, and those who love them, those who are caring for them, turning up every day, supporting the treatments, being there to hold their hand later. Fighting together, every single day for something incredibly precious, the most precious gift of all things, and that is life.
We've heard now from Caitlin, we look at Kevin, and Lilith and Willow. We can all tell stories of inspiring parents Lillith and Willow, that have impacted our lives. I know my colleagues can tell those stories, but I'll tell you what, I think you top them in the way that you can look at your mother and her tremendous courage and what she's done here today. You heard her passion, her strength, her determination, her caring nature, and we’ve seen her tears. And we've shed a few, I'm sure this morning, as others have at so many other times.
She walks in the footsteps of other very courageous women who have come here and many of us who join here today and have done so for many years now.
I remember here two years ago, hearing from Jill, and from Kristen, talking with them, seeing their courage and that emotion, they are terribly missed. The memory of that day stays with me. And I'm sure all who’ve made this an important part of our involvement here in national life.
The legacy lives with us, not just this day of your message, but each and every day.
And you're right, Caitlin, the past year for the country has been extraordinarily difficult and amazing things have been achieved.
We've all learned something about ourselves over the course of the past year and we're still learning.
We've done it separately, individually, but we've also done it together. And we have learnt that we are a little bit stronger than we perhaps thought we were.
But I'm sure that's something you discover each and every day.
We've learnt about the incredibly talented people in our medical research sector, in particular, and how they've been able to accelerate and drive change when supported and the focus while it has been on COVID, the lessons learned apply to every endeavour in medical research.
One of the things we've all experienced in the past year was the joys and frustrations of zoom and remote meetings. We all at some point had problems with a mute button.
One of the people I met remotely was Jacinta who lives in the Shire, in my own electorate. It was the first time we'd interacted, we got on really well, on her 59th birthday Jacinta was diagnosed with a serious ovarian cancer that had already spiralled into her bowel. It was a terrible shock. Her symptoms had only been around for a matter of days. There she was living a normal life, a wife, a proud mum of two adult children. Then, bang, she was thrust into two major surgeries and gruelling rounds of chemotherapy. And that's the diabolical thing about this cancer, as you all know, too well, by the time you know about it, it has already got a head start. One minute you are thinking about making school lunches, getting to work, going to the office, the next minute none of that matters anymore, as your doctor lays out what lies ahead of you and the grim challenge you face.
Speaking to Jacinta, because she is one of the beneficiaries of one of those decisions that are made in this place, shared decisions by all members of our parliament, which was to expand access to Lynparza under the PBS.
As you said, it's a life changing medication that will help a further 300 Australian women each year. Each course would normally cost around $140,000. And because of that decision, Lynparza now only costs $40 dollars, or $6.60 on a concession card.
The listing of life saving and life changing medications on the PBS is one of the proudest achievements, I think, of any government. This is why we have advanced societies. This is why we have advanced economies. This is why we have institutions of government. This is why we pay taxes, to do these things. But as you’ve reminded us, progress we have made is still not complete and there is still a very long way to go.
Jacinta was able to tell me she'd been able to return to work and she's back running, and can once again enjoy her husband Oliver’s wonderful cooking and best of all she told me she can laugh again.
She's still doing well. And she has reminded me we have to look to the future, as Caitlin has also here this morning.
So we must increase our efforts, the challenges you’ve set down this morning Caitlin I'm happy to take up, as we have in the years that have led up to this time, and I know that burden will be shared by the others who have joined me here today.
We make progress, but there is more to make.
We are the single biggest funder of cancer research in Australia, as a government. Invested more than $71 million in ovarian cancer research through the National Health and Medical Research Council.
And we're supporting the sort of high quality research that will improve diagnosis and treatment, as well as our understanding of its causes. This was noted earlier, Jane, some $16.9 million from the Medical Research Future Fund has been invested in groundbreaking ovarian cancer projects like the work done by Ovarian Cancer Australia. We are also supporting that fantastic traceback project, which identifies and offers testing to women and their families not previously tested for BRCA 1 and 2 gene mutations associated with breast and ovarian cancer.
We've been proud to fund the Ovarian Cancer Case Management Pilot, which we announced at this breakfast two years ago, which has led to the Teal Support Programme. That Pilot means that if you're diagnosed with ovarian cancer, you can have access to support and care no matter where you live. And you rightly make the point about those living in regional parts of the country, throughout what can be a terribly harrowing journey, this access has never been more important.
Around 200 women across Australia are getting that help right now. And I'm pleased to announce today that we're providing an additional million dollars to extend the pilot for a further 12 months.
That will keep going.
We'll just keep going, because we want you to keep going.
To Ovarian Cancer Australia, in this year, your 20th, you are everything that is being expected of you. And I know your work is greatly appreciated and I thank you for the great work you do.
It's a pleasure to be with you supporting this vital cause.
I'm sure my colleagues agree that we have a great privilege to do what we do each and every day in this place.
We have the privilege of meeting Australians from every walk of life, dealing with the full gambit of challenges that people face in their daily lives.
We meet them here in this place. We meet them out there across our land.
But I've never seen more courage than in the women who've spoken from this podium each and every year.
Statement on the Anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations
15 February 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Mr Speaker,
We gather to mark the anniversary this past weekend of the Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples.
And we do so here, in the Parliament on Ngunnawal land.
It is fitting we do this here in this place where the Apology was given and the place which free people believe can embody a nation’s best hopes.
Today, as we reflect, we first give honour.
I honour the local custodians, the Ngunnawal people and the first peoples across this great continent.
I thank them - and their elders, past, present and emerging, for 65,000 years of continuous stewardship of our land.
I honour the Minister for Indigenous Australians, and the Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians both of whom are making history here in this House.
Amidst the cut and thrust of this vibrant Chamber, we all share a deep respect for their journeys to this place - and the contribution that they make.
I also honour Senator Patrick Dodson, and Senator McCarthy, Senator Thorpe and Senator Lambie.
Every one of you is a testimony of resilience and strength, and a reminder of the journey our country is making.
And I honour the Indigenous Leaders who have joined us - and representatives from the Stolen Generations whom I met with earlier today. Wonderful people with very powerful stories.
It is 13 years since Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister gave an apology on behalf of the nation in this very place.
There is nothing special about that number.
In the span of the 65,000 years of Indigenous habitation of this continent, it’s a heartbeat.
But nations are a living continuum of past, present and future.
In all of us, the loves, losses and traumas of our past, live on in us.
They linger, they have their own life, and they are passed on.
Nations, too, try to make sense of their past - to reconcile it - with truth, justice and with one another.
As Sir William Dean said a quarter of a century ago “true reconciliation … is not achievable in the absence of acknowledgment by the nation of the wrongfulness of past dispossession, oppression and degradation of the Aboriginal peoples”.
Earlier today, I found some quiet time to reread parts of Bringing Them Home.
Children forcibly removed from parents.
Mothers chasing after police cars that had taken their children.
Siblings separated.
Adoptions without consent.
Forced servitude.
Welfare institutions - cruel - devoid of warmth, love or care.
Parents searching for lost children.
Grief.
Trauma.
Endless pain that cascaded through generations.
All actioned by the state.
A state that seized absolute control over Aboriginal people’s lives: where they could live, where they could travel, who they could marry, and what children, if any, they could raise.
Actions of brute force carried out under claims of ‘good intentions’, but in truth betrayed the ignorance of arrogance, ‘knowing better than our Indigenous peoples’.
In acknowledging that fact, I repeat the words of my predecessor, Mr Rudd: I am sorry.
Truly sorry.
Mr Speaker, in past years, we have on this anniversary reported on our efforts to improve the life expectancy, health, education, and economic outcomes for Indigenous Australians.
But, as with so much that had been tried before, our efforts were based more on telling than listening.
More on grand aspirations than the experience of Indigenous peoples.
So while there was no lack of money, will or work, our targets were unmet.
And while there was some progress, our ambitions were unfulfilled.
Mostly, it was because we were perpetuating, the very idea that has plagued our country for so long - that we knew better.
We had to move in partnership.
And so, in July last year, we signed a new National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
An agreement reached through a historic partnership between Australian governments and Indigenous peak organisations.
A new chapter in our efforts – one built on mutual trust, respect and dignity.
It not only sets new targets – it changes how we achieve them, and who’s driving them.
Following this momentous achievement, all governments and the Coalition of Peaks will deliver their implementation plans in the middle of this year—twelve months on from the National Agreement.
And from here on, reporting on our national progress will occur mid year, but my hope is that this anniversary will remain a poignant reminder in our national life and parliamentary calendar as it should.
Mr Speaker, as we recall what happened in this chamber - and in the life of our nation 13 years ago, we should also remind ourselves of the hope of that day.
After Mr Rudd and Dr Nelson had spoken, Aunty Lorraine Peeters, a member of the Stolen Generations, presented the Parliament with a gift.
Think about that - a gift after being wronged.
The gift was a coolamon.
The coolamon carries newborns.
It carries life itself. The future. And with it, our hopes.
The coolamon was accompanied with a message “On behalf of our people, thank you for saying sorry”.
What grace. And hope. The message went on to say:
“We have a new covenant between our peoples, that we will do all that we can to make sure our children are carried forward, loved and nurtured and able to live a full life”.
Mr Speaker, on this anniversary, we reaffirm that new covenant and that shared hope.
Press Conference - Parkville, VIC
12 February 2021
STEPHEN MARLOW, GENERAL MANAGER SEQIRUS: Well, welcome. I would like to welcome the Prime Minister and the Health Minister here today to Seqirus facilities in Melbourne, it's a really proud day for CSL. Today we're marking the announcement of going into the final stages of vaccine production next week. Australian made vaccine, enough for all Australians. And we're really proud that CSL is making such a strong contribution to the nation's health. So we're very proud. I'd like to take a moment just to recognise the people of CSL. This hasn't been a 9 to 5 effort. We've been working around the clock. It's been a 24/7 activity, we’ve had our CSL Behring site in Broadmeadows, up the road and here in Parkville at our Seqirus facilities. We start the final stage of production early next week. So we deeply thank the people at CSL, it’s not only been a priority in their work life. But we know, we've asked them to work long hours and having to work weekends. It's also been a priority in they home life. So we thank them and we hope their families for the commitment. I’d also like to thank AstraZeneca. It has been a fantastic collaboration to get to where we are and the TGA for their support in getting us to this position. We're about to make enough vaccines for every Australian, right here on Australian soil. We know there's a long way to go, but we're ready. We're ready to step into that responsibility and we feel very proud to be able to make that contribution. On that note, I'd like to welcome the Prime Minister to say a few words.
Prime Minister: Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here today and to be also joined by Greg Hunt, the Minister for Health and Aged Care. To Brian, to you and the whole team right across the CSL family, particularly Seqirus here. You know, this facility has been doing this for around, more than 100 years right here where we are. And they've seen plenty of challenges in the past and they've met them and they're doing it again here today. Our vaccination programme and strategy is on track. And that's confirmed again by the visit that the Minister for Health and I have made here today. I also really want to thank all of the workers in the process whether out at Broadmeadows or they are here or anywhere along the chain. I want to thank the Therapeutic Goods Administration and all of those doing the work that they're doing to make sure that the work that has been done here, can forward and ultimately receive, we believe, the authorisation that will come from them
I've often said through this pandemic that I've never been more proud of Australians. And I can tell you as I walked around that floor today and I spoke to those who were going through that final stage, filling those vials and making sure they're going out safe, secure, to support the health and the recovery of Australians and to see the pride in their own eyes about the job they're doing for Australia. I tell you, it hits you. It really does. And, you know, that's the response of Australians right across the country. It's small businesses keeping their show together, keeping their employees on, finding their way through, understanding the challenges. Same is true here, the professionalism, the dedication, the very long hours. People here have been working long hours for a long time to deliver this, and they're doing it to deliver for Australia. And I want to thank them very much for that.
So our vaccination programme, it's on track and it's sovereign. We're doing it here in Australia, right here in Melbourne. And that is something that few Prime Ministers and Presidents around the world can say, because we are one of a handful of countries that made the decision to be able to ensure we had this capability here in Australia, by Australians. Brian, to you and the whole CSL family, I want to thank you for your dedication to see that realised here for your country. So within a matter of weeks, starting next week, as they finish, they do the final stage of that process. I call it the bottling process, the scientists have another name for it. But what that means is they bottle it and then they check it, and they check it, and then they check it again to make sure that when it goes out and when you go to your GP clinic or the place that you will go to get your vaccination, you can have great confidence not just in the vaccine itself, but the Australian production process that actually got it to that clinic where you received that vaccination for you and your family.
So it is another important day today. That final phase of that production process starts here Monday. Of course, they'll be working 24/7 in March, mid to late March, they'll be rolling more than a million doses out of here a week. That's a big production effort and that is going to change the country for the better. And for those who are producing that here, we just simply say thank you for the service that you're providing to your country.
Before I hand over to Greg, I’ll just make a quick comment on the challenges we're currently facing in Victoria regarding the most recent cases. We've dealt with these before, got on top of them before, dealt with them in the last few weeks, in Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth. And so a proportionate response by the Victorian government, which I understand from what we've been hearing this morning and the Health Minister's been in contact with his counterpart here in Melbourne, a proportionate response that enables those tracers and others to be able to get on top of it and get the same successful result that we've seen in other states that can and will be achieved here. Our role as the federal government is to support those efforts, to support Premiers, to support health ministers, to support the health workers here, to ensure that they can do the best they possibly can in the job that they have. So we thank all those who are doing what they're doing at the moment. I thank Melburnians and Victorians more broadly for their patience over many, many months in the past. I know you don't want to see Victoria go back into what you had to endure last year. And I can assure you everyone is doing everything to ensure that that is not replicated again on this occasion. There's no reason that it should, as other states have demonstrated, we can get on top of this pretty quickly, and I have reason for confidence that they can do the same thing by following that same process. So with that, I'll pass on to Greg.
The Hon. Greg Hunt, Minister for Health and Aged Care: Thanks very much, Prime Minister and Steve, CSL is a great Australian company doing great things for Australians. Their workers, as the Prime Minister said, literally working around the clock. Many of them have barely seen their families. They're doing it because they believe in their work. They believe in the value of what they're doing to bring vaccines to all Australians, to protect all Australians. And it couldn't be a more noble cause, it couldn't be a more professional group of highly trained Australians who are focussed on safety, safety, safety and ensuring that they keep Australians safe and that they deliver vaccines that will protect them. And so I really want to offer my personal thanks, I think in years to come when we look at the course of the pandemic in Australia, and every day we see the agony and the tragedy around the world, cases which thankfully are beginning to come down globally, but still often over 400,000 a day and sometimes over 10,000 lives lost. We compare that with where we are in Australia. No lives lost this year, which is almost inconceivable. And we see that we've done an incredible job as a country. But the next phase is on track. It's been planned. It's been prepared. And that's the vaccine rollout. We are on track for the Pfizer vaccine to commence in late February, on track for the AstraZeneca international- subject to the TGA approval to commence in early March and most significantly, on track for the AstraZeneca-CSL Australian made vaccine to commence, as the Prime Minister said in late March, subject to the final tick of approval from the TGA. All of those are proceeding, and that means we are on track to complete this vaccination programme for Australians by the end of October. Thank you very much.
Prime Minister: Okay. We’ll take some questions.
Journalist: Had you considered emergency approval for this vaccine, the Pfizer vaccine, given the situation we’ve been seeing in Melbourne?
Prime Minister: No, there is no advice to us that that will even be necessary. See, we haven't gone through emergency procedures here in Australia because we've been able to prevent emergencies here in Australia. And that has been principally through, I think, the great sacrifice and patience of Australians that put us in the strong position to follow the normal procedures. Now, that's important, I think, so I can stand in front of Australians and give the assurances that I have been giving, and Greg Hunt has been giving. But our process has been the normal process, the one where every ‘i’ is dotted, every ‘t’ is crossed, all the relevant medical professionals ask all the relevant questions they have to and have the time to make sure they get the answers so that when they give it the tick, you can get the jab.
Journalist: Prime Minister sorry to detract from positive news this morning, but Pete Evans is making a run for the Senate, do you think that will undermine the confidence in the vaccination rollout?
Prime Minister: No.
Journalist: Would the government consider asking CSL to look at producing some of the other vaccines which have been proven to be more effective?
Prime Minister: Look, I've- happy to cover that but I might let Greg,
The Hon. Greg Hunt, Minister for Health and Aged Care: Sure, what we’ve learned from CSL is that CSL can do just about anything. It was almost impossible that they could retool, that they could divert their entire processes and they've done this. So we'll continue to work with CSL and other companies on what's needed. At the moment we're in the fortunate position of we've secured 20 million Pfizer mRNA, I think that's what you're referring to. We've also just signed a major, multi-year deal, best part of a decade and beyond with CSL for vaccinations- vaccines and antivenom. And that in turn is allowing them to invest in a new plant. So we'll let them talk about their new cell based manufacturing. But they will be producing in Melbourne a state of the art new vaccination plant because of long term. So we'll continue to be guided. But right now, we had to get the vaccines in, the world has never had an mRNA vaccine. So we've got the best vaccine production overseas and the best vaccine production in Australia.
Journalist: Prime Minister, are you going to be leaving Victoria as soon as possible, considering we might be locked down tonight or tomorrow or in the coming days?
Prime Minister: Well, I was here yesterday and I was here today to be here. So after [inaudible] my programme here, I was heading back to Sydney that was my plan.
Journalist: Are you, have you been- or are you aware what is going to happen? Have you been briefed by the Victorian government at all?
Prime Minister: No, as far as I’m aware no decisions have been announced, and so I'm in the same position as you at this point that I've been touring a facility for the last sort of half an hour so there hasn’t really been that opportunity.
Journalist: What would be a proportionate response that you’d stand for?
Prime Minister: There have been proportionate responses offered in other states. But look, I'm going to leave it to the Premier to make his announcement. I'm not here to run commentaries on Premiers. I'm here to support Premiers in keeping people safe and keeping their economies as open as possible to support people's jobs.
Journalist: Would you say that same message to other states? In considering whether to announce border closures with Victoria?
Prime Minister: I support proportionate responses by other states as well. And I've always said my hope is that states do that.
Journalist: So a three or five day lock down as we’ve seen in other cities, do you-
Prime Minister: I’m not going to speculate on what the Premier may or may not do, I’m going to let the Premier make his announcements and to weigh up the things that he has to weigh up, in making any decisions that they will make here in Victoria. I don't think it would be fair for me to be making comments in advance of what he may or may not announce. I think that's the right thing for public confidence.
Journalist: Has he spoken to you in the last 24 hours?
Prime Minister: Sorry?
Journalist: Has he spoken to you in last 24 hours?
Prime Minister: We texted each other yesterday. I was in Melbourne, and we texted each other yesterday.
Journalist: When do you expect the AstraZeneca vaccine will be approved?
Prime Minister: We're moving very swiftly on that in accordance with the normal protocols. I don't want to pre-empt that. But I mean, Greg may want to offer further comment, but we're getting close. Now, remember the AstraZeneca vaccine? There are two authorisations that will come from the TGA. There is the authorisation that will come for the imported vaccines, that will come through. And then there is the authorisation that will come for the AstraZeneca vaccine and the manufacturing process here in Australia. So they are two separate decisions. The second one obviously builds on the first in terms of the actual vaccine itself. But as the TGA should, it then also needs to enquire into the process itself and be absolutely satisfied that it can give authorisation for the Australian manufactured vaccinations as well- vaccine as well.
Journalist: Do you think this could have been avoided if hotel workers, frontline workers had been able to get that vaccine earlier?
Prime Minister: The vaccination programme will commence first with hotel workers, quarantine workers, those vulnerable populations, you're familiar with the rollout plan, I think it is unrealistic, unrealistic to think that any quarantine programme, wherever it's run, has some sort of a 100 per cent failsafe. And I think we just have to bring some reality to the understanding of this issue. We have had breaches before and we've got on top of them quickly. That is my belief of what will happen here in Victoria. 220,000 people. 220,000 people have been through the quarantine system around this country and there have been a very small relative number of breaches. Handful of breaches, breaches is one thing then what you do to contain them is the next ring of containment, and the social distancing and all of those other measures, all of that has proven, particularly over the last month where we have had some tests of the system and the system has held up. So as the year goes on, Australians should and can feel more confident. And if they hear of a case number here or there, they should do as they've done in the past. And increasingly, I think the tolerance for risk and the responses that are required will moderate over the course of the year. And that is greatly assisted, of course, when individual cases are not represented as something quite catastrophic. That's not the case. The systems are there to deal with it. And that's what will happen here in Victoria.
Journalist: Prime Minister just on Crown Resorts. Are you confident that they can clean up their act and they can operate their casinos around the country without being a source of criminal activity?
Prime Minister: Look, really, that's not a matter that the federal government is directly involved in at all. That's a matter that state based regulators are involved in. That’s right, and that's why we have state based regulators that do that job. And so they are familiar with the precise issues that need management within Crown. And I would expect Crown under their board to ensure they deal with all the issues that have been raised in those licencing processes. That's what I'd expect them to do. That's what that regulation is for. And that's run by competent state authorities.
Journalist: Prime Minister with the final touches of the vaccine, particularly the manufacturing process, can that go ahead still without that final tick of approval from the TGA, do we basically get right up to the point of having the jab? Is that the only point that we need to really have the TGA ticked off on?
Prime Minister: Well, for anyone to have the vaccine, obviously, it's needs the TGA’s approval, but I mean, we've been working on this process of producing these vaccines I mean, I was last out at Broadmeadows in November of last year. We have been getting on with it and that means that once TGA approval is in place and then you've got the distribution and you've got all the testing that is going on in parallel to all of that, then that will enable us to to implement the vaccination strategy as we've outlined it to.
Journalist: We’re talking about the biggest vaccine rollout the nation's ever seen, are you not concerned about an anti-vaxxer running for the Senate?
Prime Minister: Well, that all depends how much publicity you choose to give him. I'm not going to give him any, so I don't propose you do that.
Journalist: Just on the CSL on this vaccine that’s being manufactured here, do you think the countries at a greater advantage have the vaccine?
Prime Minister: Can you say that again?
Journalist: Do you think the country is going to be at a greater advantage having a vaccine manufactured here that can be transported at about, I think it was 7 degrees Celsius, is that right? As opposed to the minus 70 degrees for some of the other vaccines.
Prime Minister: Look all of, each of the vaccines have their advantages. And obviously, AstraZeneca’s vaccine does for a large country like Australia. Have that advantage of being able to reach further and further into the country, particularly into remote areas, particularly in supporting our indigenous communities and rural and remote communities. There's no doubt about that. It's a different logistical challenge. But that doesn't at all mean that the logistics of the sub 70 degree temperatures that Pfizer has to be dealt with are not overcome either. We've got a distribution process for that which deals with that challenge. And, you know, when I talk to other leaders on these issues, which we often do, the discussions get very practical and we all use different phrases, eskies, chilly beans or, you know, whatever the other more technical terms are. But they are the practical issues leaders are dealing with the distribution of those vaccines. But I tell you, one thing I'm glad we've got here in Australia is that they're Australian made and they're being produced here. The early phase of the vaccination programme obviously drawing on the import of those vaccines and we’re getting very close. And I want to particularly, again, thank all of those who've done the great work in ensuring the continuity of those supply chains, of the vaccines that we've been able to procure and I want to acknowledge Minister Hunt for the fabulous job he's done in keeping all of that together and on track. My message today is very simple. Our vaccination programme is on track. It's safe. It is being produced by Australians to keep Australians safe.
Thank you all very much.
Press Conference - Officer, VIC
11 February 2021
JASON WOOD: Thanks, everyone. Right to go? My name's Jason Wood I’m the federal member for La Trobe. It's absolutely fantastic again to have Prime Minister Scott Morrison in La Trobe and here today in Officer South can I also acknowledge, having read here, the CEO of Simmons Homes and Denita from the Master Builders Association, and in particular to Thalia and Mitchell, this is your home. Congratulations. They were here under the or used the HomeBuilder programme. $25,000 dollars to get them in to the new home owners market.
La Trobe, you may not be aware, is in actual fact the fastest growing federal electorate in the country. For those who have driven along the Monash Freeway today, that was an announcement when Prime Minister was Treasurer back in March 2016, $500 million dollars. In actual fact, we've even put more federal funding into that, extra lanes from Clyde Road locally to Cardinia Road, but also South Gippsland Highway to Warrigal Road.
There's a lot of new infrastructure obviously going in to La Trobe. From new car parks to keeping people employed during this COVID pandemic has been something really important for us locally. So it's been keeping the tradies, especially from areas like Pakenham and some are on site here today. The HomeBuilder has been really important for us, not only locally, but nationally. And again, that's just fantastic to have the PM here today. A regular visitor to La Trobe. Thank you so much PM.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much. Well, thank you very much, Jason, and particularly to you, Mitchell and Thalia, congratulations not only on taking on this wonderful opportunity you have here to build your first home, but congratulations on your engagement and your wedding next year, which is also tremendous news. And god bless you with all of that, I hope, you look forward to the preparations, I think planning a wedding can sometimes can be more difficult than building a house you might find over the course of the next year. But that's tremendous to be here with you. And to Denita, thank you also for joining us here today.
Australia's response to the pandemic is working. And it is working, and that is being recognised, particularly when you compare how Australia's response to the pandemic plays out to the experience of so many other countries around the world. That pandemic response has, of course, been about the extraordinary effort and the response that has gone into the health impacts of the pandemic. But it has also been about the response that we've put in relation to the economy. We said at the outset, save livelihoods, save lives. And we are doing both of those things. Our responses, the policies we put in place, the programmes we've put in place, are working and we're seeing the evidence of that. In January, we saw 100,000 Australians come off JobSeeker. We saw at the end of September, some 2.1 million Australians come off JobKeeper, some 450,000 businesses back on their feet as the comeback of the Australian economy continued. It’s lights, camera, jobs when it comes to the support and incentives we've put in place for our film industry as the rest of the world are seeing Australia's response to the pandemic. And they're saying that's where we need to be. That's where they're getting it right. And you know, whether it was JobKeeper or JobSeeker, the cash flow boost or the many other things that has seen Australia come through this with the strength that we have to date, HomeBuilder was one of those key projects, one of those key policies. And, you know, when we announced that policy, it had it’s septics, it had its critics. They said nobody was going to take this on. Not only did they take it on, but they've taken it on far beyond our expectations. Some, just shy of 82,000 applications. This is a pipeline of work of some $18 billion dollars, a residential building and construction industry, which you see on display here and so many places like it around the country was looking at a chasm at the end of September or thereabouts of last year. And now it is looking at a pipeline of two years at least of new work. That's a product of confidence. It's a product of the right policy settings. We just saw in the confidence statistics released yesterday, once again more optimists than pessimists in Australia about our economic future. That's because of the resilience and great optimism of Australians, no doubt. But backed in by the policies that they can see are working and are working for them, they're certainly working for Mitchell and Thalia here, as they can realise their dream of their first home as they move into it later this year. And then they are married next year. So that's exciting as a Prime Minister, it's exciting as a government to see that when you design these programmes that they get these types of results. This is what it was intended to do. This is what it is doing. And I think that is giving Australians great confidence. Now that's not to say there won't be bumps along the road still, that there are still not challenges, of course there are. But we are taking them, those challenges. We're dealing with them. There are sectors of the Australian economy that continue to have real challenges. The aviation sector in particular, as Secretary Kennedy was remarking earlier today, that's true. But we'll work through those issues and challenges, just like we've worked through all of the others, getting Australians back into work, getting businesses back on their feet, getting Australia moving forward strongly again. And that comeback certainly started last year. And I expect over the course of this year, over the course of this year, we will see that momentum continue. You know, we're taking Australia out of crisis. We're taking us beyond the crisis. A crisis we want to be behind us. And I think all Australians feel that way. And our policies are leading us out of crisis and they're leading us into growth. I'm going to ask Denita to say a few words and then we're happy to take some questions.
DENITA WAWN, CEO MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA: Thank you, Prime Minister. Denita Wawn, CEO Master Builders Australia. It is no exaggeration to say that the industry was going to fall off a cliff when we put a proposal to the federal government in April about looking at incentives to try and get people back into the industry and back building homes. We saw contracts cancelled and sales dry up. When we announced HomeBuilder and I was thankful to stand there on a frozen, cold Googong morning, we in our wildest dreams never expected the success that we've had. But what has it meant? It has meant that we've seen, as the Prime Minister said, 82,000 applications, has resulted in around about $2 billion spent by the government. But let's look bigger picture. That means $18 billion to $20 billion worth of building activity. But it goes further, that then equates to $60 billion dollars worth of economic activity in the community because the residential building industry has a three times multiplier effect of economic activity, the biggest of any industry. So this is not just saving the jobs of our industry, but it is also saving the jobs of the building supply companies. It's also saving those guys, selling the bacon and egg and the coffees at the local store. It has had a significant impact throughout the community and we are very grateful to the federal government in providing this incentive and secondly, extending it. It is a pipeline of work that has meant we can keep hundreds of thousands of people in their jobs, but more importantly, create new jobs. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. I'm happy to take some questions, Denita is sort of joining us for questions on this programme. And then we can move to other economic issues, if you'd like, or other issues as you'd like. Any questions?
JOURNALIST: When will the HomeBuilder programme come to an end or do you intend to keep running it right throughout this year?
PRIME MINISTER: The programme settings have been finalised now, so it has had a role in getting these sort of important projects brought forward and happening. And so the settings have now been finalised. So those opportunities that have been put in place, people have realised them. And the whole point of these programmes, whether it's JobKeeper, whether it's HomeBuilder, whether it's the COVID supplement on JobSeeker, all of these were designed as temporary, targeted, proportionate measures to stand in the gap during the crisis and then enable the economy to stand on its own two feet. We're not looking at renting an economy in the future. We're looking at having an economy that stands strongly on its own two feet.
JOURNALIST: Many of those incentives end next month, what's your plan to make sure the economy doesn’t fall off a cliff after that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there's $240 billion dollars, in fact, $251 to be specific more broadly, that has been pumped into the Australian economy in a record period of time. That money is now sitting on the balance sheets of households and businesses all around the country. Confidence is what unlocks that and then takes the Australian economy into the next phase. But the measures we still have in place, very important ones. The Job Hiring Credit, the JobMaker Job Hiring Credit, the apprenticeship support initiatives they continue, the instant expensing which continues, which drives the investment, as the Reserve Bank governor himself has said. The challenge now is about the investment that comes from the private sector. There is a point of handoff where the private sector stands up and that means the government sector has done its job. Supports that we provide more generally over time they continue, of course they do, the social safety net, a strong and effective incentivised tax system, R&D concession, those sorts of things. They keep the investment flowing. And when you look at particularly our manufacturing programme, $1.5 billion dollars, investing in critical manufacturing industries, the investment we're putting into new energy technologies, all of this continue to support what we're doing as an Australian economy, working together, governments, business, research institutions, scientific community and so on. So our plan is for the Australian economy to stand on its feet, for the Australian economy to get well clear of the crisis. You don't run an Australian economy on crisis settings when you’ve got through the crisis. We still have some challenges ahead of us, but we are certainly moving beyond that.
JOURNALIST: Speaking of the challenges, here in Melbourne are you concerned by the outbreak out of hotel quarantine, [inaudible] Holiday Inn at the airport. And are you concerned at all by the government's handling of that, given that they have said repeatedly that Victoria's hotel standard is the gold standard?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I would be here if I wasn't confident. I’ve just flown down from Sydney today. That's why I'm here, business as usual for me being in Melbourne here today. But I'd say this. Look, I seek to support every state to be as successful as they possibly can be in what they're doing to manage the health issues around the COVID pandemic. So, you know, I don't have a favourite in any of this. I'm not looking to score them. I'm just looking to support them in what they're doing. And that's what Australians would expect of me. And so, you know, how they talk about each other is up to them. I'll leave that to them. But what Australians, I think, want to see is us working together. And I've got to say, the states and territories do, they do work together. They might have the odd state sledge here and there. But honestly, at the end of the day, that's not something I'm particularly interested in. I'm more interested in how they're doing things on the ground. We're putting significant support in to support the Victorian government here, as we did when Victoria hit the wall in the middle of last year and we worked with them to get Victoria out of that situation. We'll work through them on this situation. But as I said last Friday, the risk, the risk matrix is changing this year and our responses will change this year. You know we understand what happens and we learn from it and it gets stronger and stronger and stronger. So I believe our system is stronger today than it was 3 months ago, than it was 6 months ago, than it was 9 months ago. And that's why it gives me and I think Australians greater confidence to step forward into 2021. We'll manage these things along the way. We have, and I suspect that will continue.
JOURNALIST: And the European Union overnight gave approval for vaccines, Pfizer vaccines to be shipped out, does that now give a clearer timeline for when the first jab will be?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll have a bit more to say about that in the not too distant future.
JOURNALIST: Can’t say it now?
PRIME MINISTER: Not today. I won't be saying that. But I want to thank my ministers in particular, Ministers Hunt and Minister Payne and all of their teams in the Department of Health and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. We have worked through those issues constructively. We have very good relationships with the European Union. I, of course, have spoken to Ursula von der Leyen on many occasions over the course of the pandemic. And, you know, I've spoken to a lot of the European leaders, too, and I'm very aware of the extreme pressure that has been on them in relation to their access to vaccines. So I think Australia has done very well to maintain our supply lines here as has been confirmed by the European Union. So, you know, we're on track.
JOURNALIST: Did you have to intervene to get those ships on the way?
PRIME MINISTER: This is a- no, I wouldn't, no I wouldn't put it in that way. No, I wouldn't. Basically, the supply lines have been kept open as we expected them to.
JOURNALIST: They did put a ban in place so what got them to-
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that was an interpretation of what that ban meant for Australia. And I think that was misread.
JOURNALIST: So there wasn't a ban on them heading to Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Australia wasn't the issue.
JOURNALIST: Is there any discussions around the borders given what’s going on in Victoria?
PRIME MINISTER: With who?
JOURNALIST: The borders, any border closure- any discussions, are you aware of? Given South Australia has closed their borders to us?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, they're matters for states, as you know. And as you know, I've always been an advocate of the hotspot approach and making that as localised as possible because that's what keeps Australia open. My objective is to keep Australians safe and to keep Australia as open as possible, because that's what builds the confidence and unlocks $250 billion dollars that the Commonwealth government has put in to support and strengthen the economy over the next year and beyond, including with projects like this programme here with HomeBuilder. And so it is a partnership, I think, with the states to ensure that we maintain that momentum and the risk tolerance that I think is within the Australian community. And I should say the risk resilience that has now been built up in states right around the country, has been on display. We had those shocks earlier this year and the systems passed the test. Now, that's not to say there won't be the odd issue here in this facility or in that state or in this place or that place. But the, I think the implications of that, particularly as the year progresses, will change and therefore the responses will change as well.
JOURNALIST: Is it time for a fundamental change to hotel quarantine?
PRIME MINISTER: No. I mean, the hotel quarantine programme has seen some 211,000 people come through it. And we're talking about a handful of cases. I mean, this is a system the rest of the world wants to replicate. And this is a system that has been very effective in protecting Australia. And that's why all the states and territories agreed last year that this was the right way to go and it has proved itself to be the right way to go. That doesn't mean there still aren’t challenges now, particularly as we've seen additional strains. But I applaud the work that's been done, whether it's by the Victorian government here with the changes that they've made over these last few months in particular, I think they're good changes. I think the way that they've moved on testing of quarantine workforces, good changes, and that information has been shared with other states and territories. We've established the National Resilience Facility at Howard Springs in the Northern Territory, which is what the recommendation was of the review that we undertook. And we'll consider other options if we think they're viable. But that's the facility that we've focussed on and that's the one we're expanding and that's the facility we bring the majority of our charter flights through so as not to put those charter flight pressures on other states and territories. But the hotel quarantine system has certainly had its shocks along the way. But when you step back and you look at the scoreboard in terms of how Australia has fared compared to all the other countries in the world, now, it's good for us to be hard marker's on ourselves. I'm not saying we shouldn't, and we should try and get to as perfect a situation as we possibly can. But I've got to tell you, Australia's got about as close to that mark as anyone else has in the world. And the states have done, I think, a tremendous job in doing that. And of course, you know, I'm grateful to New South Wales for taking the lion's share of that load.
JOURNALIST: Paul Kelly, did yesterday or the day before announce a review into the hotel quarantine system. What's that going to achieve though if you’re saying,
PRIME MINISTER: No I wouldn't describe it like that. I mean, there's a constant process going on with the medical expert panel, a constant process going on as to how they can continue to improve things and learn the lessons from what's happening. It's not a static process. It's a dynamic process. And it's been that dynamic process since this began in March, which has seen its constant improvement. So, no, I wouldn't describe it in that way. I'd just say it's just them doing their job, as they have been doing all along.
JOURNALIST: Just back to Cassie’s point, on the border closures, have you been briefed on the truck crash that occurred at Serviceton on the South Australian - Victorian border overnight? There’s been some indications that was-
PRIME MINISTER: No I haven’t had any full briefing on that. I've been in transit obviously since early this morning, and I haven't had that opportunity. So it wouldn't be appropriate for me to make comment on that.
JOURNALIST: Just on the economy. Will you commit to lifting the rate of JobSeeker? There are people who will struggle when that, when the Coronavirus supplement is removed?
PRIME MINISTER: These are matters we're still considering. And when we're in a position to make a statement on those, then we will.
JOURNALIST: Just on industrial relations, Labor says your changes to the better off overall test will see workers conditions and wages slashed. How can you guarantee that won’t happen?
PRIME MINISTER: Labor is engaged in massive overreach and their claims are simply untrue. We saw yesterday the leader of the opposition, we saw Labor demonstrate that they just don't know how to think things through. I mean, they weren't that flash on policy when they were in government. I think they've got worse in opposition. They just don't think through the consequences of what they're saying. And then they would leave you to bear the cost of those consequences because they haven't thought of them. You know, government requires you to think through those things. And that's what we've done. You know, we thought through the impacts and the implications of our policies to respond to the pandemic and how it would all come together, and that's why we set out at the start of the pandemic some really clear principles to guide us. Temporary, proportionate, using existing delivery mechanisms, engaging and effective with other arms of policy, monetary policy. We set all this out, and that guided our decision making. I've got no idea what's guiding the Labor Party, and I don't think the Australian people do either.
Thanks very much, everyone.
Remarks, F-35 Induction Event
8 February 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Well, let me start by thanking you, Uncle John, for your wonderful welcome to country here today. It’s great to be here with the Worimi people and our blessings also to your people and thank you for your warm welcome. We acknowledge the Worimi people, elders past and present and those emerging. Can I also acknowledge all of our Defence Force personnel who are here with us today, and there are a lot. It’s great to see you here today. And also to any veterans who I know work amongst those here at BAE or the many other partners. Veterans are the best type of recruitment you can make, particularly into these industries, but so many others. And can I just simply say to all, thank you for your service. Of course, the Minister for Defence, the Minister for Defence Industry, Linda and Melissa, it’s great to be here with you again. Chief Air Marshall Hupfield, wonderful to be here with you. Senator Hollie Hughes, to Gabby Costigan and Joe North from BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin. It is a long list of dignitaries.
We walked into Top Gun, the soundtrack, and I think many people are looking forward to the next edition of that movie too. But I'm frankly more excited by what I'm seeing here. And everyone who's involved in this project is a top gun in my view because it requires all of you to perform at the highest possible standard and to be the very best at what you do. I just met some of those amazing people who are part of this programme just in the other hangar just a few minutes ago. The best at what they do.
We're here today to mark another milestone in our step, our big step forward, that's about keeping Australians safe in a very uncertain world. Another important day in our $270 billion plan to shore up the nation's security in an uncertain world and what better place to do it than here at RAAF Williamtown. The base was established during World War II, a grim time as conflict came closer and closer than ever before. The base was set up to protect the port and steel operations of the Hunter. The first servicemen here at Williamtown lived in huts. The base was a war-time improvisation. The lesson of those times when we had let defence spending fall to record lows prior to the Second World War in the mistaken belief that others would save us, is that Australia must always, must always, be prepared. Always prepared. Looking to the future to be prepared and to act in the present. We always innovate and this base has always done that.
First, there were the meteors and the savers and the postwar years followed by the mirages. Some of us old enough to remember the F/A-18 Hornet’s recordbreaking journey from the US in the 80s. Those classic Hornets served as well for more than three decades and they still have a vital role at RAAF Base Tindal for some time. This year we mark quite a number of milestones, very important for our country. The 70th anniversary of the ANZUS alliance, the bedrock as President Biden said to me just last week, to peace and security in the Indo-Pacific. This Base's 80th anniversary, something that will be celebrated by the RAAF and its broader RAAF family, but also I believe of the Hunter community. And, of course, the centenary of the RAAF that we will celebrate next month.
But today's milestone for the first time we're inducting an F-35A Lighting Fighter to be maintained and modified right here at BAE Systems Australia Williamtown facility. Now, this is a huge step. It puts Australia at the centre of the fifth generation global Joint Strike Fighter programme, a vital, crucial component of our sovereign defence capability, underscore sovereign defence capability. It's also an achievement for Australian industry on a global scale. Eventually this facility will maintain all F-35 aircraft in the South-East Asia region, not just our RAAF fleet. This is another example of how the JSF programme is providing longer-term job opportunities in our nation.
Every single F-35, and there are more than 600 of them around the world, has a bit of Australia in it. Australian-built components. Now, this includes where they are made. In fact, at QuickStep facility at Bankstown Aerodrome in Western Sydney which I have had the opportunity to visit and see exactly Australia's broader role in this amazing programme. Some 50 Australian companies are providing parts and systems into the global Joint Strike Fighter programme and those contracts are worth $2.7 billion to date. We're not kidding. We're not mucking around here. We are a serious, serious part of this undertaking here in Australia and we're very proud of it.
We launched a new Joint Strike Fighter industry support program in December to further maximise the industry opportunities. In December, we also awarded a sovereign F-35 training support services contract valued at over $70 million to Lockheed Martin Australia and subcontractor Mill School, a wholly-owned Australian company. It's delivering 70 jobs in the Hunter and the Tindal regions. Lockheed Martin is also partnering with RDA Hunter and TAFE New South Wales through the STEM Start initiative to ensure there is a job-ready workforce to support the industrial technologies of the future, particularly here at Williamtown and BAE. We're all part of one big family driving this major change in the skills pipeline of this exciting region.
The sustainment of F-35s are predicted to generate around 750 jobs directly and indirectly across the country by 2025 and this will grow to thousands as more F-35s arrive in the region. Skills, jobs and new beginnings also, which the Hunter is no stranger to. I was pleased this morning to meet, as I said, some of those new recruits with Gabby that have now completed their initial training and will soon be hard at work maintaining and sustaining the growing fleet of F-35s.
It's a very successful project so far and we know it will continue on time, on budget, part of our plan to keep Australians safe. I said at the Press Club this time last week or thereabouts in Canberra, the protecting and securing Australia's interests in a challenging world is fundamental, fundamental, to what our Government is all about. I spoke of the conversation I had with President Biden last week and I was able to say to him as I have said many times before, Australia looks to the United States, sure, but we don't leave it to the United States.
We're a nation that has sovereign self-respect when it comes to our defence forces and our defence industry that support them. We do our share of the heavy lifting and I'm very proud of the heavy lifting that's being done here by BAE, together with the RAAF to ensure that we have that capability which at the end of the day means, as Australians even growing up this day, that for decades and decades to come, this programme will be keeping them and their families safe and growing jobs here in the Hunter. Thank you so much.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
5 February 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Afternoon. I’m joined by our well-rested Chief Medical Officer, it's great to have you back. And thank you to Dr Kidd for the great work he did as acting officer in your stead.
National Cabinet has met today. We were pleased to receive an update from Premier McGowan regarding the bushfire situation in Western Australia. We're hopeful of a better day today. But obviously this is subject to events. Yesterday was a very difficult day. Confirmed about 81 homes that had been destroyed, affected, and that is terrible news for those who are impacted by that. And we still have many, many firefighters out there doing their job. It was also good to acknowledge the cooperation that occurs around these arrangements, particularly in terms of the aircraft, which is all part of the national system that is supported by Federal Government funding arrangements, but in particular the states and the assets they have, which are moved around in accordance with the process that has been established for some time and has been very effective.
Today at National Cabinet we received important briefings from Dr Kennedy from Treasury, the Reserve Bank Governor was appearing before the parliamentary committee, but Dr Kennedy was able to cover all those issues off, and there had already been a presentation from the governor this week, which was well-known to us all. As well as the usual updates from Professor Kelly, but also from Professor Skerritt, as well as Professor Murphy on the vaccines. And it was good to have those updates on both where the TGA approvals were at and the rollout programs and the preparations that are being done with states and territories.
The combination of those briefings reinforced a very important point. And that is, now that we're in 2021, the risk environment, or the risk matrix - as we spoke about it today - has shifted. It has altered. There are a range of new forces, new trends, new influences on that risk matrix that will require us, as a National Cabinet representing state and territory and, of course, the federal governments, about the policy implications of that changing environment. Now, the risk environment changes for a range of reasons. First of all, it changes because the strength of the systems that have been on display, particularly over this past month - that has so far averted that third wave in Australia - a month ago, when we went into that very quick response in Brisbane, there was much we hoped for, but at that point that was yet to be seen on the ground in terms of how the community responded, and how the system stood up. Now, the good news is a month on from that, as we've gone through, whether it’s what we've seen there or Victoria or New South Wales or other places, that hope was confirmed, and that gives us a lot more confidence, even more than we had at that point. So, the systems are better, the responses we're getting from the public - including in places like Western Australia, or Queensland, where there hadn't been those types of instances as regularly as we've seen in, say, New South Wales or Victoria, where they have been managed - and we were very pleased about that. So, that has a downward impact on the risk. But, equally, where we've seen new strains and other new information coming forward, that can increase the risk. And then, of course, there is the impact of the vaccine itself. And as we're reminded today, vaccines are one thing, vaccinations are another. It's vaccinations that actually change what is happening on the ground and the risk environment in which policy is set, and in which responses are made in response to events that can occur.
On vaccinations, there are two parts to it, and Professor Murphy will speak more to this. There is the very strong evidence with the vaccines that go to issues of serious disease and the prevention of serious disease, and we spoke about that here yesterday. Then there is the issue of a vaccination providing support to prevent transmission of the virus. That also has a very profound effect on the policy environment and the response and how we manage the virus going forward. Now, when you reduce significantly the impact on severe disease - and, indeed, fatalities that result from that severe disease - there is the potential that then the virus can, over time, be considered in a very similar way to other viruses that are in the community. And there are many, and, indeed, some of those viruses ultimately, for the very frail, can result in fatalities. So, the point is that the vaccination program, over months, as it's rolled out, can change the nature of how Australia then manages the virus. And the point was made, it's less than about cases as it is about presentations at ICU or seeking significant treatment. And that we can potentially move to a situation where we manage the virus potentially like other conditions that are in the community. Now, we're not there yet. We're some way off that, as Professor Kelly will tell you. But that risk environment is what we now, as leaders of governments, need to define, understand, and ensure that our responses to things that occur are proportionate - as we saw with the Victorian response just the other night, some modest changes for a brief period of time. As we saw when there were situations in the Northern Beaches of New South Wales, Queensland did not shut that border completely to New South Wales. Proportionate responses, where there is greater certainty of what that will be, which will feed into the certainty and confidence that enables Australians to move forward. Both socially and economically. And this ties in very importantly to what Dr Kennedy was saying. The significant measures that have been put in place, particularly by the Commonwealth Government, which is the overwhelming lion's share, backed up by supplementary measures from the states, of economic supports, they will all be more effective in a policy environment that creates greater certainty. And that is understood by premiers, chief ministers and I, and as a result we've tasked Secretary Gaetjens to work with the directors-general of all the other premiers and chief ministers' governments to report back to us as soon as possible, having considered the various options and implications of this changed risk environment, and what the implications of that can be for policy settings and responses, and over what time. Now, they will draw, no doubt, on the expert advice of the AHPPC and Professor Skerritt and Professor Murphy to help inform what those options can be. But, equally, they will draw, I'm sure, on their own economic experts at a state level as well as here at a federal level to best understand how that can impact on logistics and how markets operate, and how the employment sector can continue to grow, and what maximises the least disruption to that.
So, I think that was a very important conversation for us to have today. It's changing. We're going to better understand that change. And that can have changes for the way, positively, how we manage this pandemic going ahead into the future.
The other matters considered today: It was agreed once again that the return of Australian residents is the priority, in terms of arrivals to Australia. We must remember that our borders are actually shut. No-one can just come to Australia. To be able to come to Australia, you need to be an Australian resident or citizen, or have a particular exemption in a particular occupation or something of that nature, which is handled through Border Force, to enable someone to come. And that is only a small proportion of the arrivals that come to Australia.
It was also agreed that from 15 February, the caps will return to the previous levels for New South Wales and Queensland. So, we will see that capacity lift again. And I particularly want to thank both of those states for that. As we know, New South Wales has always done the biggest share of that lifting, but, I've gotta say, Queensland in recent times also has been above the odds in terms of the caps that they've been working to. And so we welcome that returning on the 15 February. South Australia is also increasing what they'll take to 530. Victoria will increase to 1,310. And Premier Andrews and I will be having further conversations about where it goes after that. And, of course, I'm still working through arrangements with Premier McGowan. They're obviously still working through some of the issues of this latest case, and so we just want to make sure that that's appropriately paced, about when they might be able to return to those previous caps in Western Australia.
The states are continuing to work to improve hotel quarantine around the country. There is a continuous program of principle that were set out by the AHPPC. It was good to receive the reports on how that is being implemented, whether it's the closed circuit TV within those facilities and how that's operating, taking into account some of these more recent information about airborne transmission. And Professor Kelly, I'm sure, can respond to that if you have any questions on that. But hotel quarantine is the primary, and remains the primary system for running quarantine in this country. It has been incredibly effective, as I said to you yesterday. Over 211,000 people have gone through that process, and the number of breaches we've had - albeit, when they do occur, they're serious - is incredibly small in comparison to that large volume. There isn't a country in the world, I suspect - bar a handful - who wouldn't want to trade places in terms of the issues that we manage here on COVID for the ones that they do. And our hotel quarantine system has been incredibly effective in protecting Australia over this period of time.
That said, of course, we continue to act on the recommendation of Jane Halton in relation to other facilities, which was the Howard Springs facility, which is what the former secretary Halton had recommended, and we have been following through and acting on that. And we are looking to expand the capacity further of Howard Springs. Already expanding it to 850, and potentially well beyond that, which would involve a more than doubling of that capacity at Howard Springs. We will also continue to assess the proposal in relation to Toowoomba. But we are still seeking a lot more information on that proposal, and the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet has pulled together the various agencies that need to assess that proposal. And there is a lot more information we're going to need before we can get to an assessment of how we go forward on that. And it's not just about understanding what the costing arrangements, but it is understanding the workforce arrangements to run a facility like that and how that can be delivered in that location, what the impact is on other local health facilities in a regional location like that. I know that they are issues that locals have been raising, and we have got to be very mindful of that. So, we are acting on that recommendation of Jane Halton, and what we also realise is that the hotel quarantine system, which can continue to be improved - and we can continue to supplement it with other options - but that remains the way in which we will continue to facilitate arrivals back into Australia of Australian residents.
And with that, I'll pass you on to Professor Kelly.
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thank you, PM. So, just briefly on the current Australian situation. As of midday today, there's been six new cases in the last 24 hours, all in hotel quarantine. No locally acquired cases continuing that very positive trend.
Just to pick up on the PM's view there that we should be thinking beyond cases but to the effect, the serious effects of the disease, there's only 9 people in hospital in Australia right now. And recognising that some of those are in hospital because that is the way that positive cases are dealt with in a couple of the jurisdictions. There's very few people that are seriously sick. In fact, virtually none. There's no-one in intensive care, and we haven't seen a death in Australia from COVID for some months. Contrast that with other countries, in the week up to the 3 February, I spoke to National Cabinet today about that, in the US they had over 1 million cases in that week, and over 20,000 deaths. We are in a very different situation. We have been all along, and that is - a lot of that is to do with the strength of our hotel quarantine systems and our border controls. So, we continue to have a good situation here. In the last week, up to the 3rd of February, we only had 42 cases overall. All but two of those were overseas-acquired, and the other two, as we know, as has been reported in WA and now in Victoria in quarantine workers.
So, it's a very different situation. We also talked today about the variants of concern, and the Australian and New Zealand experience in relation to that. And again that's a very different situation to what we've seen with that extra - that increased transmissibility of the virus in other settings. So, in the UK, in the US, in South Africa, we've seen those variants that have cropped up in those countries, but are now spreading in other parts of the world, to cause major concerns in terms of the epidemiology of the disease. Here in Australia, we've had cases - not of the Brazilian strain yet, but certainly the South African-originating strain, B1.351. We've had 15 cases of that. We've had 76 cases of the UK strain, UK strain B117. Both of those are more transmissible. We've had only two of those cases out of that entire group have been in the community. They've both been in quarantine workers. So, up to the 3rd of January. And then there's one extra one now.
So, we've seen the South African strain in New Zealand and how that has emerged from their quarantine setting. Again, with the very strong public health response in New Zealand, as we've seen in Queensland, as we're seeing right now in WA and in Victoria, it's come under control. It's a very different setting. So, we have the virus which is more transmissible, but very different settings here in Australia, and indeed in New Zealand, in terms of the public health response, other responses, as we've seen in different states have been slightly different, but that public health response has been important, and the response of the community. So, we've seen again in WA, who haven't seen cases for many, many months, when the community has been asked to wear masks, they wear masks. When people are asked to go and get tested in WA, in a few days they went from 500 tests a day to over 17,000 tests in a day. Extraordinary response. And that's an incredible, wonderful thing for the community to be responding like that, but it's the key to these variants for us. It's getting on to it quickly, dealing with it quickly. The response from the community also reflecting that. And that makes us, as the PM has said, much more comfortable with those variants at the moment. But, of course, we need to continue to learn from these issues.
Quarantine, as the PM has mentioned, we discussed. There is absolutely a need to continually improve the quality of our quarantine. It is already really top-class. We've seen only a small number of incursions from quarantine, and we need to understand these are complex systems with humans, and there is always an opportunity or a chance of human error. There is also chance issues like two doors opening across a corridor, as has seemed to have occurred in the Victorian situation. So, we do need to continue to look at these things. At the National Cabinet, I think it was a month ago, I think it might have been earlier, a set of general principles were agreed. We can look at those again to make sure all of those things are being done. But the system has worked very effectively up to now, and continues to work very effectively. And it's a range of matters, not only the variants of concern, but the way people move, the way people are working within those environments, and a range of measures that we can do to continually improve that. And we're absolutely going to do that and give our health advice from the AHPPC into this new group that the PM has mentioned.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, I listened carefully to what you were saying about Steven Kennedy, and it's a bit unclear as to what you've actually asked him to do. What is the problem that you've asked him to solve?
PRIME MINISTER: I haven’t asked Steven Kennedy anything, I've asked Philip Gaetjens.
JOURNALIST: Sorry, he was chairing a group looking into the DGs, wasn't he?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: OK, sorry. Wrong fella. What's the problem you're trying to solve, talking to the various DGs?
PRIME MINISTER: What I've asked Secretary Gaetjens to do is to lead a process with the directors-general of all the state and territory governments to advise us on how the risk environment has changed in relation to the management of the pandemic, taking into account all the factors I've mentioned - the new strains that are emerging, improvements that have been made in how things are managed both on a testing, tracing, quarantine system improvement and public response, and thirdly the impact of the vaccines on the risk environment. And to advise us how we can have any change to the policy settings of the response to how we manage the pandemic. Now, that can include any number of things. That can potentially, over many months, can include how we respond to a breakout of a case. Now, right now, a breakout of a case has a particular context. Three months from now, when vaccinations are occurring, where there is a downward pressure on the risk of serious, serious illness, then the risk is different. And so it is about trying to recalibrate. I'm asking them to advise us how we recalibrate the risk settings on what our responses are.
JOURNALIST: Is it the impulse to close borders that you want to better manage?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I want to understand the risk settings better so we can better manage the pandemic and ensure our economy can grow and Australians can return to as normal life as possible.
JOURNALIST: As the vaccine starts to be rolled out, Prime Minister, and the vaccination rates increase, obviously perhaps the load on hotel quarantine will be reduced. But in that case, do you then look at home quarantine, on-farm, these other so-called bespoke options?
PRIME MINISTER: All these things I think become more possible, Mark. But they have to be assessed in terms of what the new risk environment is. Now, those things weren't possible last year. Mind you, on-farm quarantine is for seasonal workers, and that's proving quite effective up in Queensland. But one of the reasons why we did hotel quarantine was because we didn't consider home quarantine was effective enough in the risk environment we had. Now, over the next three, six, nine months, that could change based on all of these things that are impacting on what's happening here. Now, Australia, though, I suspect will be ahead of the world in our risk environment, as we already are right now, and that may enable us to do some things that they can't do in other places. I mean, New Zealand, I think, will be in a fairly similar place. Their vaccinations start some time after ours do, but largely I think we're looking at a pretty similar outlook.
I'll just move around.
JOURNALIST: PM, is essentially, sticking with Mr Gaetjens' work, is it essentially a path to normality, return to the new normal, what will be, you know, and less disruption for people and things like that?
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
JOURNALIST: Is that essentially the work you're asking him to do?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes. And to get an understanding. They will be able to present us with some options that will be relevant in various stages of how that risk environment changes over time. But I do want to stress, while there has been some really good developments in terms of lowering that risk, there is also the negative developments in terms of new strains and what can be happening overseas. We can be doing really well, but overseas things can continue to be quite difficult, and so, you know, we've just got to take that all into account. But I'm simply saying that, over the last month, things have changed, and we think the focus, the shift of the risk is there and so we need to fully understand what options does that give us in the months ahead.
JOURNALIST: Would your hope be that all states all follow the same rules? So essentially it's one national play book? We get a case in Brisbane and everyone reacts the same way?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, ultimately you'd hope so. But, I mean, that's not to say that there could be some small variants to that. What's important is increased certainty about what happens, when event X happens, what is the response going to be? So, businesses can understand what's happening, employees can understand what's happening. This is a key factor that Dr Kennedy and others have consistently raised. You know, we have been able, from the Commonwealth's perspective, to transfer over $250 billion on to the balance sheets of householders and businesses in this country. Now, in many respects, as he was noting today and as I have noted to you, and the Treasurer has, unlocking that, because you know the savings rate has increased, that is the key to the further waves of support in the economy - is unlocking that. And he talked about a consumption-led recovery in the weeks and months ahead, and that's reflected in what we've seen in the uptick in retail sales and building approvals and things like that. So, unlocking the support will continue to drive those further waves of improvement in our economy. And confidence, as Chris Richardson often says, is the cheapest form of stimulus there is. And you can improve that confidence, I think, with greater certainty about responses.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you mentioned before that Australia could do things differently that other countries might not be able to do under this risk environment. What are some of those examples? What do you want to see, in your vision, happen to Australia once the vaccine rolls out?
PRIME MINISTER: It's too soon for that and it's not right for me to speculate. What we need to do first is properly inform ourselves of how the risk environment has changed, and what flexibility that gives us in the future. So, let's just do it one step at a time. That's how we have been so successful to date. We don't get ahead of ourselves, we don't speculate, we don't lead people on, we don't raise their hopes unnecessarily. What we do is do the work, and that's what's going to happen now on what is a new phase we've already entered.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Australia has fairly well-developed plans to roll out vaccines across the region, but there are also other countries, particularly China, which are seeking to get their vaccines into places like Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands and so forth. What would you say about our approach compared to those of other countries in terms of actually getting those vaccines out into the community? And, also, what do you make of a proposal by a Chinese company to build a large mega-city across the Torres Strait?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll make two points. What we're doing in the Pacific is we’re not competing with anyone. We're just trying to help our Pacific family as best as we possibly can. When I told them this week that we would be spending $200 million across the Pacific to support their vaccination rollout and programs and as you know, we have been able to secure 150 million doses, which puts us in a very strong position off our own resource to be able to support those vaccinations, not just in the south-west Pacific but also across South-East Asia, where we're investing about $300 million, or thereabouts, to support that programme. One of the things the Pacific family said to me of leaders, was the great respect they have for our Therapeutic Goods Administration. And what I have said is I want to make sure that, particularly in the Pacific and developing countries of our region, that they get the best dose, they get a dose in Indonesia, would be my preference, in Papua New Guinea, in Samoa or any of these places, which is as good as the dose that my kids will get, or I'll get, or my family will get. That's very important. And they trust Australia's approval processes and regulation processes. So, I think that creates a natural preference in those countries, that if our TGA has given it the tick, then they're feeling a lot more confident about the jab. And I think that's a credit to our TGA. Look, on the other matter, I think that's very speculative at this point. I have a very close relationship with Prime Minister Marape, as I've had with previous prime ministers in Papua New Guinea. We regularly discuss the various pressures in our region, and I think we're very much on the same page about those issues.
JOURNALIST: Are you concerned though that Chinese companies are sort of going out there and trying this sort of thing...
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not surprised by it, but I think at this stage it would be best to file it under speculation.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Prime Minister, so when the vaccine is rolled out widely by later this year, will our risk tolerance need to inevitably increase so that, for example, the goal of zero daily cases, or putting entire cities of millions of people down into lockdown from a handful of cases will not necessarily be sustainable, we'll need to learn to live with this virus?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't know if I quite describe it that way. What I'm saying is that the risk environment is reducing. So, even at the same tolerance level, more things can be done, because the risk has declined because of the various things that are being done to achieve that very outcome. What it means is, I mean, if I take you back to March last year, as we stared into that abyss both from a health point of view and economically, we were extremely concerned about tens of thousands of Australians dying. Now, we don't have those concerns now. We are not concerned about the overrun of our emergency departments or ICUs. We're not concerned about that. We are still concerned about people, particularly those most vulnerable, suffering severe disease that can result in fatality. But the vaccinations will certainly address that. And that means that, ultimately, with vaccinations the virus can present a similar risk to many other viruses that are already out there in the community. And we know what our tolerance for that is right now. So, I'm not making any comparison between those at this point. But what we want to understand is the potential for us to reach that point. And so you're right - once you get to that stage, the number of cases isn't the issue. I mean, we don't stand up every day and talk about the number of cases of any other virus, flu or others, every day. That's not to say that those viruses don't result in ultimately fatality for vulnerable people either. They do. But we manage that a different way to the way we're currently managing this pandemic. So, I think it is about how those two lines come back together. Just as an aside, can I say one line we were very happy to see coming together in our reports today is that the calls to 1800 RESPECT on domestic and family violence, for the first time we've seen in a very long time we've seen what we had on the previous 12 months start to come back together to what we've seen more historically. I welcome that. I'm sure we all do. And I hope that continues. But as we agreed all today, whether those lines are together or apart, they're all still too high. And it was a reminder today that there are many things we have to work on as a National Cabinet, not just the vaccine, and family and domestic violence is very high on our list, as is mental health.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you mentioned a proportionate response and being happy to see that…
PRIME MINISTER: The what, sorry?
JOURNALIST: A proportionate response to outbreaks, mentioning New South Wales and Victoria.
PRIME MINISTER: Yep. And Queensland.
JOURNALIST: Looking back now to the beginning of the week, do you consider WA's response proportionate? Would you be happy with a response similar happening in the future? And on quarantine, WA's quarantine situation, was that discussed? Because on Tuesday, McGowan made some comments saying that, well, technically, quarantine is a federal responsibility as in the constitution, in response to Minister Dutton's criticism. Was any of that canvassed?
PRIME MINISTER: Not really, no. There's a lot that’s sort of reported in papers in the lead-up to National Cabinet, and then National Cabinet proves to be quite a constructive and collegiate meeting. Of course, we talk about quarantine facilities and how we’re running them and the improvements being made, of course we talk about the vaccines and their rollout and work through issues of that nature. But I've got to say, I mean, the Premier had made comments last year about whether we should be using places like Christmas Island and things like that. And our advice has been very consistent, that those are not conducive to the task. That's why we're at Howard Springs. I mean, the national resilience facility there, as it's called, that was the response to what Jane Halton recommended, and we put that in place. And we're looking to expand it. And, you know, we're not averse to other options as well. But they've got to be able to stack up. And they're always a supplement. They're not a replacement. That's what I want to be very clear about, the things that we're doing nationally are to supplement, because- and that's why our charter flights go through that facility. And that takes the pressure off what's happening in the states themselves. Getting other Australians back into the country. So, it's an additional capacity. It's not a replacement capacity. And, look, countries around the world are now putting in place our system in other countries. And others will argue whether that should have been done earlier. Well, we did do it earlier - March last year - and look where we are today.
JOURNALIST: And has WA's response been proportionate, in your view?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I've maintained that over the course of the week. I mean, but again we've learned - I mean, the risk in Western Australia when this happened - and thankfully, again, no cases, great - same was true in Brisbane. The difference between Brisbane and Perth, and Victoria and New South Wales, is Victoria and New South Wales have dealt with cases and we were very confident about how Victorians and New South Wales residents would respond to things of this nature, and come out and get tested, and, you know, the very strong registration system, of course, in New South Wales. And all of that. So, we knew their systems were very good. And, equally, you know, both Western Australia and Queensland hadn't had as much game time for their systems, with their contact tracing and things like that, as the other states had. But what's been proved to be the case over the course of the last few days, whether it was Western Australia or, indeed, Queensland earlier in the piece, they stood up. So, we would hope that next time there wouldn't be such a need. Because they know their systems work.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, we've seen the Vice-Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific in Fiji essentially detained and then deported as well. This is an institution which has been described as a pillar of the Pacific. It's also an institution that you've spoken at, and it's also one that Australia's poured a substantial amount of money in over time. Has Australia expressed any concerns to the government of Fiji about this action? What were the nature of the concerns expressed, if they were? And do you view it as a blow to Pacific regionalism?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, there have been a number of issues in relation to the University of South Pacific, which has been the topic of much discussion among Pacific leaders and Pacific countries. I'm not going to say anything here that would seek to add to or seek to complicate that. We'll continue to work through those issues through the normal diplomatic channels.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, this week you drew a line in the send with Craig Kelly's comments. Liberal Senator Gerald Rennick says he is unsure if he will get the vaccine because he is too young to get sick. Do those comments undermine the government's efforts to get Australians vaccinated? And can you explain what the threshold is for free speech on this issue?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I think I can best answer that question, that the comments you have attributed to Senator Rennick, he has advised me this morning that that's not what he said. So there's not much more I can say about that given the premise of the question Senator Rennick disputes.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, are you suggesting that it is an inaccurate,
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry?
JOURNALIST: That the report by news.com.au is inaccurate? Surely it’s, if they’re direct quotes,
PRIME MINISTER: Well all I can tell you is what Senator- all I can tell you is what Senator Rennick has told me.
JOURNALIST: What did he tell you?
PRIME MINISTER: He told me that that was not, did not reflect his view.
JOURNALIST: And are you concerned that Craig Kelly has resumed posting about COVID treatments on social media since your chat?
PRIME MINISTER: I've seen a report about that and I don't think it represents the type of thing that is being suggested but my position is the same - I think a little less on that front is helpful.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can you give us any indication how big the activity at Toowoomba could be under the plan that’s being discussed, would it be perhaps similar to Howard Springs and what would the costs to the Commonwealth be?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we don't know about the costs, because there is no indication of what the costs are. That's one of the many things that needs to be spelt out and clarified as part of the proposal. I'd describe the proposal, at this stage, as a very - as an outline and there is a lot more to fill in. We are keen to do that, with the proponents and with the Queensland Government and look forward to working with them on that. I know locally concerns have been expressed, that what does this mean for local health services, and the local community. Fair questions. And we’ll just have to work through those. And we worked through those up in Howard Springs as well I should note. But Howard Springs is close to Darwin, which is a different proposition to what Toowoomba is. So none of these circumstances are exactly alike but we're looking at it on its merits and not opposed in principle to things of this nature. By our very actions up in Howard Springs, we’ve demonstrated that. But we have got to look at what the relative merits are of how we expand those types of capacities. And we know that there is a lot more capacity that we can realise up at Howard Springs. That may prove to be a far more effective way to achieve that given that you're bringing in charter flights then if you're adding to an existing facility in an existing place, then you're also not exposing new areas of health risk you are actually just keeping it focused where you’ve been able to demonstrate you can maintain and manage that risk.
JOURNALIST: Did any of the Premiers lobby you to extend JobKeeper and were there any fireworks during National Cabinet about who takes in how many international arrivals and hotel quarantine caps?
PRIME MINISTER: No, there were no fireworks. I mean, honestly, we're professional leaders of governments. We get on with the job as people would expect us to do. And I, to be honest, I think some of the dramatisation of these things in the lead-up to these meetings is a bit overstated and I think probably the public understands that. We take these issues really seriously and we work together constructively to achieve the outcomes we have achieved together. Which is Australia, in the leading bunch of countries of the world, both economically and from a health perspective. That is a shared achievement of all of us. But, most importantly, by the Australian people, who we serve. When it comes to - what was the other, first point you raised?
JOURNALIST: Did any of the premiers lobby you to extend JobKeeper?
PRIME MINISTER: On JobKeeper they received the same advice from Dr Kennedy that I had and that is the schedule for transition on JobKeeper should be maintained. And they, we had, I wouldn't say much of a discussion but we've always made it clear as a government that where there is tailored, proportionate, targeted assistance that we can provide together with the states, because I note again that - I mean, New South Wales and Victoria, I'd say, have had a particularly large fiscal response. Other states have been not at that level. Proportionally, a state like Tasmania has made a very large fiscal response. Other states have been different. States we noted are in a bit more of a flexible position in terms of providing more tailored localised supports, for example, under our tax system we can't discriminate between one part of the country and another. States are less constrained than the federal government. So I think what we resolved was where you can and need to provide additional support in particular areas then you need to do it in concert with each other. And it wouldn't be a matter of just one side of government - ie federal government. I mean we have put in $251 billion worth of fiscal support into the Australian economy on to the balance sheets of Australian’s households, families and businesses. That is more than double the combined fiscal support of all the states and territories put together. So I think we're doing our fair share.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, back on the risk profile that you talk about. Can you envisage a circumstance where Australians who get the vaccine don't have to then do two weeks in hotel quarantine? I'm thinking about you're going to get a jab, hopefully go and visit Joe Biden in Washington. When you come back, is there a circumstance where you don't have to then do two weeks of isolation?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm going to ask Professor Kelly to speak to that but at this stage, the answer is quarantine continues until further notice.
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: I think ‘yes’, is the answer to that. The main issue is although we've had some preliminary evidence over the last few days in relation to the AstraZeneca vaccine, so it does appear that it does actually influence transmission, we don't have that sort of evidence at the moment for Pfizer or Moderna or any of the others that are in the transition towards being used in other countries. So, at the moment, that two-week quarantine in hotels as has been so successful up till now remains regardless of vaccination.
JOURNALIST: Is there a proven theory at all of the percentage of the population that needs to be vaccinated before you can change the settings?
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Certainly, that will feed into the Phil Gaetjens group the PM has mentioned. That's a very key point, actually. What mix of vaccines, how many vaccines, in which parts of the community and how that affects it. I mean, to be very clear, we're starting - we've got our prioritisation settings we've talked about many times at this podium and others which is looking at those at most risk of exposure. At the moment that's our quarantine workers and anyone working in that stream from airports through to people being cared for in hospital in relation to the borders. They're the ones at most high-risk of exposure and those that are at most risk of severe disease, which is our older Australians, particularly those in aged care facilities, health care workers as well are in that set. That’s our number one priority, we’ll start with those and that will really change that conversation about if we're looking to mainly make sure that people aren't getting severe disease, mainly not dying from COVID-19, that changes a whole range of things and that's where this committee will be really important.
PRIME MINISTER: Last question. Then I have to go.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, who in your mind has primary responsibility for hotel quarantine? Is it you or is it the premiers and the chief ministers?
PRIME MINISTER: The states run hotel quarantine consistent with the public health orders that are in place with each of their states and territories. That was the decision we made last March. And that was also made after having advised how the federal biosecurity laws work. And so, that's why it was agreed that that was the most effective way of putting that into place and it has been extremely effective.
Thanks very much.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
4 February 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you for joining us. I’m joined by the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, and the Secretary of the Department of Health. We'll be making a number of announcements on vaccines and I'll come to that in a moment.
But let me deal with two other important issues. First of all, the bushfires that are threatening lives and property in the Perth Hills. I provided an update to the Parliament yesterday. The further update I have today is the situation is going to continue to be very dangerous. The bushfire has impacted northern and north-east suburbs of Perth. There still remains the potential for gusts of up to 60-70km/h, which may cause embers to carry ahead of the main fire, which we have been seeing, several kilometres ahead, those embers were blowing forward previously and those weather conditions continue not to be assisting. As I said yesterday, confirmed reports of at least 71 properties and two firefighting vehicles have been destroyed. The burn scale now 10,000 hectares. Over 1,300 homes and businesses are without power and there is significant damage to the electricity network, including 800 poles and 100 transformers and there are disruptions to telecommunications due to the loss of power. Residents have been evacuated in some WA communities, but fortunately there are so far no reports of serious injuries. Our concerns remain, of course, for those who are fighting the fires, noting that a number of firefighters have received injuries, minor injuries, which does occur in the course of their dangerous work and they understand that. But we nonetheless are concerned for their safety. There are two large air tankers that will be assisting with fighting the fire in Western Australia, under the National Aerial Firefighting Arrangements. There were meetings yesterday that further addressed those issues, and taking the advice on what was necessary. Those arrangements ensure that those large tankers and other assets, which are either owned by states or shared between states, and they're deployed in accordance with the expert advice of where they need to be, and other issues regarding further reagent and those sorts of things are also addressed through that process. There are some more than 500 career and volunteer firefighters who are out there working together against the fire, and the aerial support has been sent to support the ground crews. So, it remains a concerning situation. We're working closely with the Western Australian Government, amongst all of our officials and myself directly with the Premier, as needed. But they know they will get what they need and I think they're doing a very good job, as well as dealing with the other challenges that they're presently facing in Perth.
On a more positive note, today I had a very warm and engaging call with President Biden. And we appreciated the opportunity to have that conversation in an early phase, amongst the many nations that have been engaged with early on in that process. As he said to me again today, he sees the Australia-US relationship as providing the anchor for peace and security in our region. And that is true. We share that view. In terms of our relations between Australia and the United States, there's nothing to fix there, only things to build on, and we intend to do just that. We talked about the stewardship we share, a stewardship that has been held by prime ministers and presidents over a very long time, and particularly this year. Some 70 years of the ANZUS Alliance that we will celebrate in September of this year. I spoke to former prime minister Howard when we were at Doug Anthony's funeral the other day, and he reminded me that it was 20 years ago in September, when he was in the United States to address the Congress on the 50th anniversary of ANZUS and, of course, while he was there, it was September 11. And so we spoke about that today, remembering that it is 20 years since September 11. And we stood with the United States then, as we always have and always will. We spoke of the fact that Australia looks to the United States, but we never leave it to the United States. We do our share of the heavy lifting in this relationship, and that is absolutely respected by the President and appreciated. And so a very warm call.
So, we affirmed our commitment to the things that absolutely always matter - those relationships, particularly the alliance relationships, but also the Five Eyes relationships and the broadening of that agenda on the Five Eyes. The Quad relationship, a high priority for the Biden Administration as it works with Australia and its partners within the region. And what we refer to now as the G7-Plus dialogue. Australia is not a member of the G7, but that's not the point. We have now been invited on three occasions while I have been Prime Minister, and there have been other occasions in the past. And that G7-Plus dialogue enables a broader discussion of issues amongst like-mindeds, liberal democracies, market-based economies, and this is a very positive move and deals with everything from technology, partnerships, supply chains, the security of those, the economic recovery, COVID issues, and cooperation. So, we will continue to work together on the key global and regional challenges in the Indo-Pacific, and there is an absolute affirmation and understanding that we are in this together, we are absolutely in this together. Whether it's on COVID and whether it's on the economic recovery, global and regional security issues, the multilateral initiatives and reforms that we are partnering in, but also, as we discussed today, achieving a net-zero pathway through technology, and the cooperation that is needed to do that, and the work that has already begun from the discussion between Special Envoy Secretary Kerry and Minister Taylor, we picked that up today and we're very keen on pursuing that relationship and the technology partnership. And I had the opportunity to discuss how the United States, and as Secretary Kerry said the other day and I said it in the Parliament, that it is a game-changing statement to understand that our goal is global emissions, not just emissions in some countries. Global emissions reduction, and that is how you solve the problem. And so appreciated their leadership there.
So, a very warm and engaging conversation. We're looking forward to further engagements over the course of this year. Again, he was invited to join us for the celebration of the 70 years of ANZUS. He told me he needs no special reason to come to Australia, he loves the place. But they would very much like to be in Australia at some point, and we'll see how that progresses. But a very keen enthusiasm to come back to Australia, which he knows so well, with Dr Biden and, of course, the other summits and various things coming up over the first half of this year. So, that was the very warm and engaging call that we had between myself and President Biden.
Now, to the issue of vaccines. Australia has secured an additional 10 million Pfizer doses. We have been able to contract securing those vaccines. That brings to now 150 million doses, what Australia has been able to secure, to not only vaccinate Australia but to ensure that we're doing our bit in this part of the world. Yesterday I joined the Pacific Island Leaders' Forum, and we were able to give the good report of how we're working with them, together with the United States and France across the Pacific, and this as much potentially assists that task as it certainly assists our task in the rollout of our vaccine. These additional vaccines have been secured consistent with our requirements under the Strategy. I want to commend again Minister Hunt and Professor Murphy for the great job they and their teams have done in continuing to fulfil our commitments when it comes to delivering this vaccine in Australia. It is the big agenda item for us, obviously, because it provides the pathway to so many of the other things we wish to achieve this year. They can speak more to the details of that. We are still, though, on track to commence later this month. That puts us in a very good position, particularly with our sovereign vaccine production capability, ahead of many countries, like New Zealand, for example, we understand, won't commence until April, I think it is. We're working with them as well and I had a good discussion with Prime Minister Ardern on that just the other day.
But Greg?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Thanks very much to the Prime Minister and Professor Murphy. We know that the pandemic continues to rage around the world. Fortunately, we have seen some reduction in global numbers in recent weeks in terms of the daily cases, but sadly the number of lives lost continues. In Australia, one community case today on the advice that we have from the National Incident Centre, obviously within Victoria, and no lives lost. No lives lost in January against a global figure of approximately 400,000. And those figures put into perspective the situation in Australia. Safe at home but challenges abroad. And against that background, the vaccine rollout is the next critical step in protecting Australians. As part of that vaccine strategy, we have followed the advice on purchasing from the scientific and technical advisory group, or SCITAG, led by Professor Brendan Murphy. They provide the advice and we implement. As part of that, they advised from the outset that we should build an option, subject to the determination by the TGA, into our contract to purchase additional doses if the TGA were to approve the use of Pfizer, because it's an mRNA vaccine, because the world has never had an mRNA vaccine. We did that, we did that quietly behind the scenes. Once the TGA approved the Pfizer vaccine, we triggered that option, and I am pleased to be able to announce that Australia has purchased an additional 10 million doses of Pfizer. That is the advice that was provided to us by Professor Murphy's Vaccines Committee and it's been implemented in full. That's important for Australia. It provides additional support over and above that which was already in place. As the Prime Minister said, a total of 150 million vaccines. 20 million Pfizer, 53.8 million Oxford-AstraZeneca, where we've seen some very positive results, which Professor Murphy will take you through from around the world. 51 million Novavax. Again, positive results in recent days. The strategy in terms of the choice of vaccines set by the Vaccines Advisory Committee is proving to be very valuable and well-informed. And then, of course, 25.5 million units under the COVAX International facility. All of those things are coming together. Shortly before joining you, I spoke with both AstraZeneca Australia and Pfizer Australia and both have reconfirmed that, at this point in time, the vaccine rollout remains on track, respectively for the last week of February for Pfizer and the first week of March for AstraZeneca, subject to the TGA, in terms of AstraZeneca. Subject to shipping in both cases. But both have reaffirmed their guidance only within the last two hours. So, I think that's very important.
Finally, there are two other elements that I want to highlight. Uptake of the vaccine is very important. And the more Australians we have vaccinated, the better. In particular, we want to work with culturally and linguistically diverse communities and we will accordingly be allocating $1.3 million for additional funding to multicultural peak bodies to assist in information to culturally and linguistically diverse communities to support the vaccine rollout. That will include advertising into 32 languages, a vaccine explainer in 29 languages, the campaign builds on 63 languages on the Department of Health's website. That's very important. But the last element which we considered is that we need to make sure that everybody who's on Australian soil is safe, and everybody who's on Australian soil has access to protection. So, on the advice of the medical experts, the Government has determined that we will offer vaccines to all people living in Australia to achieve the maximum level of coverage. That means the Government will provide COVID-19 vaccinations free to all visa holders in Australia. And this will include refugees, asylum seekers, temporary protection visa holders, and those on bridging visas. People currently residing in detention facilities will also be eligible, including those whose visas have been cancelled. So, that's making sure that there is the maximum possible coverage in Australia. And today is another important step in the vaccine rollout and in building on that work that Australians have done, of keeping each other safe. They've done an amazing job, but the vaccine rollout is what will help us in a world of enormous numbers of global cases, and sadly lives lost daily.
Professor?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: Thanks, Prime Minister, and Minister. So, this additional purchase gives us additional insurance and additional options. On the advice of the committee that I chair, there was always an option to increase our stake in the mRNA vaccination, should registration and trials be successful. We are now in the wonderful position of having three vaccines rolling out this year - two of them early, the Pfizer and AstraZeneca, depending on the TGA registration, of course, of AstraZeneca, and then Novavax later on. All of these three vaccines have now been shown to be highly effective at preventing clinical COVID disease, and particularly severe COVID disease. That is a position that we wouldn't have dreamt of a year ago, six months ago. It is a very, very nice position to be in. As Minister Hunt alluded to, there is also some early encouraging, yet unpublished information from the UK suggesting that the AstraZeneca vaccine is showing some evidence of preventing transmission. We always expected the vaccines would do that, but we haven't got really good data on that at the moment. So, this additional purchase, as I said, is insurance and options. It won't change the strategy which we've outlined. We're starting initially with Pfizer later this month, and then with AstraZeneca in March, and then our local supplies of AstraZeneca from CSL come online in later March, and we'll have plentiful supplies and we'll be scaling up with the aim to vaccinate the population by October. I am incredibly pleased with the position we're in with vaccines at the moment. Thanks, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks, Brendan. Yes, Phil?
JOURNALIST: In your conversation with President Biden, two things. Did the current difficulties with our relationship with China come up and did he invite you to his climate summit I think in April and do you intend to go if he has?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, as you would expect, we discussed regional issues in the Indo-Pacific fully. And in relation to the other matter, there are invitations coming, and we'll be addressing those once they're received. We spoke positively about these initiatives and so we look forward to being able to participate.
JOURNALIST: Just further on that, did President Biden ask you or discuss any further, I guess, more ambitious climate targets, and Australia committing to net zero as a target?
PRIME MINISTER: No. We had a very positive discussion about the path we're on, and the commitments that we've made and, more importantly, how we have been able to exceed those commitments. The strong level, particularly of solar in households take-up in Australia, which is the strongest in the world. And also to talk about what we've achieved in terms of our emissions reductions since 2005, which indeed is higher than what has been achieved in the United States and almost double that of the OECD. We're very focused on the technological challenge, and joining together not just Australia and the United States. I mean, they are going to be investing significantly in those technologies and I was pleased to be able to say we were doing exactly the same thing, some $18 billion over the next decade, and that we would achieve even more through partnerships between the United States and Australia. And I was able to talk about the way we are pursuing those same partnerships with the United Kingdom, and with Germany, most recently, in the discussions we've had, where we already have those relationships with places like Japan. So, you know, they're very focused on the big challenge here, which is the technologies which transform our economies, so you maintain and build on jobs, support your industries, so people have that future to look forward to, and address the broader global climate challenge.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, from that conversation, do you think that the Biden Administration will have a different attitude towards China, or will it be a similar view of China? Can you give us some more specifics on that part of your conversation?
PRIME MINISTER: I believe strongly that the position that has been taken by the United States over quite a period of time, obviously there are differences in how that's expressed and the nuances that are there. But I think in the United States, Australia has, and remains to have, a very, very strong and effective partner on these issues of Indo-Pacific security.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on hotel quarantine, we've got another case of a hotel quarantine worker being infected in Victoria today. Is the hotel quarantine system sustainable as it stands? Do you need to consider more bespoke arrangements, like Dan Andrews is suggesting, such as emergency housing?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, let me make a couple of comments on this, and Greg and Brendan may want to add to it. Some 210,000 - to be specific, 211,550 people - have returned to Australia through hotel quarantine arrangements since 31 March last year. 211,500. Now, there have been a number of cases, in a handful of cases that have resulted in those quarantine arrangements not always being 100 percent perfect. But one of the things that have characterised our response to the pandemic is that we have been proportionate. We have understood the context. We have sought to calibrate what is a reasonable risk that we have to manage. To give you an understanding of the difference in the risk situation Australia is facing to overseas, last month 30,000 people died in the UK because of COVID. In Australia, no-one did. And so I think we've got to get a bit of perspective on the challenges that we're facing.
Our hotel quarantine arrangement, which was what was agreed at National Cabinet as the most effective way to ensure that we could continue to receive Australian residents coming home to this country, and enable the public health orders that state governments had put in place regarding quarantine - very sensible public health orders - that was the most effective way of meeting those objectives of public health, but also ensuring that Australia could continue to function. Now, the Commonwealth has put in place, at some significant cost - some $243.7 million - for the provision of COVID quarantine arrangements at the Howard Springs quarantine facility for organised national repatriations of Australians. We did that last October. Now, we’re working on that having a capacity of having 850. And the Commonwealth is open where there are good proposals, very comprehensive proposals, where that supplementary capacity to deal with emergency situations, or indeed the repatriation flights that we ourselves have organised for those other facilities to be used rather than having to draw on the hotel quarantine arrangement. But when we discussed this as a Federal Government, and took the advice also from our agencies, whether it was Home Affairs or Health or others, it remains the case that the most effective way to deliver at the scale that Australia needs to deliver these arrangements, that hotel quarantine remains the most effective way to do that. And that remains the advice I have from my experts and the alternative is not that clear to me.
I mean, we could go and try and rebuild the Labor Party's immigration detention network that they put in place during the border protection crisis under their administration, and we all remember what a debacle that was. And so if that's the option, then I don't find that as persuasive. But when there are specific proposals, and we're working through one in Toowoomba at the moment. We're not working through and we've looked at the Gladstone option and we don't believe that is a sensible thing to do. There wasn't a lot of detail on that, but the broader risks were not ones that we thought were ones that were economically, or particularly from a health point of view, could be appropriately covered off. But the Toowoomba option we're looking at as a supplementary capacity, and writing back to the Queensland Premier today about that. But this idea that you can replace the hotel quarantine system, bring Australians back home, manage your health agenda effectively through some other mechanism, I think we have to keep a sense of realism about this and a sense of proportion. 211,500 people have come back, we've had a handful of cases that haven't been completely contained within that. But I can tell you what, if Europe achieved that, if the UK achieved that, if the United States had achieved that, they wouldn't be looking at the situation they're looking at now, they'd be looking potentially at the sort of situation that we as a nation have achieved.
Greg, did you want to add?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Yeah, I will. Look, very briefly, as I mentioned, in a world of in the last 24 hours, 439,000 cases, there's a pandemic. And yet we have to keep a perspective. One community case. We just went through a period of 12 days with no community cases. The world looks on at Australia and says, "How have you done this?" And that perspective, I think, is very important, because that translates to lives saved. And so long as there's a pandemic, and unless Australia were hermetically sealed, no Australians returning for funerals, for families, for work, no Australians returning for weddings or births, no Australians being able to go overseas with the expectation that they'd come back after meeting up with their own families, no trade, no wool, no wheat, no iron ore going abroad, no critical medicines or fundamental foods that weren't available in Australia coming in. That's the only way to hermetically seal Australia. I'm not sure anybody is actually proposing that. In that situation, we have to be aware as to how we bring people home. And that bringing Australians home is what we have to do, and to do that safely. And to think 211,000 Australians have come home through this system, most days we're getting zero cases. Sometimes there will be challenges and anybody who says there won't be cases in Australia isn't understanding the nature of the pandemic. But if we do that, then what we've done has saved lives and protected lives. But we'll always work on continuous improvement.
PRIME MINISTER: We’ve had a few over that side, I'll come over this way. Katharine?
JOURNALIST: Accepting your very valid points about proportionality, isn't the moving part in the risk assessment, though, that now people returning to Australia are returning with more contagious strains of the virus? And does that influence the risk assessment? And does it make the case for arrangements that you were not prepared to countenance in the past, for the reasons you've articulated?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, look, I've asked Professor Kelly to work with the AHPPC to give me an update on the risk assessment from what was advised a month ago, when we had the Brisbane case. Now, when that occurred, both his advice - and, indeed, Professor Murphy's advice on that occasion - was fairly stern about the risk that presented at that time. But since then we've come through Brisbane - extremely well. Thank you, Brisbane. We've come through Victoria. Thank you, Victoria. We're there with a case there today. We've come through the Northern Beaches. We've come through all of these situations. New Zealand has come through theirs. Without those risks being manifest, and the systems have held up extremely well. And so I've asked for that, sort of, updated assessment of a risk that looked very unknown and very concerning a month ago. But I think the experience of the past month, if anything, has shown that the systems have been able to mitigate that risk. Brendan?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: So I think it's important to note that whilst these strains are more transmissible, the management in quarantine is essentially the same. It's containment. And the states and territory health authorities have done a huge amount of work in tightening and improving hotel quarantine. The most particular advances have been daily testing of all the quarantine workers, so you can pick someone who might pick up the virus very quickly, insisting on PPE, good-quality CCTV, moving some people in some states when they are positive to a hotel that doesn't mix them with negative people. So, there's continuous improvement in that space. I would just reiterate what the Prime Minister and Minister said. Given the volume of people returning, a 1% positivity rate in returning travellers now, a very small amount, small amount of cases that have escaped, and all have been brilliantly managed by the state and territory response.
PRIME MINISTER: Clare?
JOURNALIST: When do we get those 10 million extra doses, and when will we find out beyond that first shipment of 80,000 what the rate of delivery is going to be for the Pfizer vaccine?
PRIME MINISTER: Brendan, Greg?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: The 80,000, that's for the early weeks. And we'll receive additional advice from the company. I spoke to them today. They're still looking to provide advice in the middle of the month, globally. So, what they're doing is understandable. They're looking at their global numbers. What we've seen out of Europe in the last week has been a significant improvement both with the flows of Oxford-AstraZeneca and with the flows of Pfizer. So, some of those issues which caused global challenges both with regards to supply and the diplomatic relations between the UK and EU appear to be under way in being resolved. Secondly- so we'll get guidance in the coming weeks. Secondly, we'll receive guidance on the time frames from the company over the coming weeks and months. But the guarantee is that all of those doses will be here during the course of 2021.
JOURNALIST: Can you explain how, to Australians, how it will be decided what specific jab they get, can they go to their doctor and say ‘I would like the Pfizer jab’ or ‘I would like the AstraZeneca jab’? How does it actually work?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: So at the moment, as we've said, the Pfizer vaccines will be distributed via dedicated state and territory-run Pfizer hubs. And they will be prioritised to the highest-risk population at the moment. So, in the initial strategy, we will be offering the Pfizer vaccine to border workers, quarantine workers, very exposed front-line healthcare workers, such as ICU, emergency department, and most importantly, the most vulnerable people - people in residential aged care, residential disability care, and those workers. The majority of the population on our plan will have access to the AstraZeneca vaccines, which will be run then in a much larger number of clinics, through GPs, eventually pharmacies, other state-run clinics. So, in the main, there won't be a choice, and I think both vaccines are extremely good, and I would be very happy to have either of them.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you know which vaccine candidate you'll be receiving? And will you receive that first dose before the end of this month?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the plan is for that to occur, and that would mean the Pfizer vaccine.
JOURNALIST: It's been reported today that you had a conversation with the global head of Alphabet, Google's parent company. I wonder if you can give us insights into that conversation? And also do you support Microsoft's CEO today saying that it's important that technology companies engage and support the press in sort of being an important part of democracy?
PRIME MINISTER: I do, in relation to your second question. And in relation to the first question, I thought it was a constructive meeting. I have been able to send them the best possible signals that should give them a great encouragement to engage with the process and conclude the arrangements we’d like to see them conclude with the various news media organisations in Australia. And that is the best way to enable that matter to be settled. We discussed some of the specifics of elements of the code. They raised those matters, I think, very respectfully. But I think we have been able to get that into a much more positive space about the ability to continue to provide services here in Australia. But at the end of the day, they understand that Australia sets the rules for how these things operate. And I was very clear about how I saw this playing out.
Hang on, one on- you had one Andrew, to be fair I’ve got to go to...
JOURNALIST: Just on the vaccine, the Minister spoke just before about getting more advice over the coming weeks. You're talking about getting a timetable by the end of February with this vaccine. Where is the first Pfizer vaccine that Australia is going to get? What date is it going to get here? When it comes to distributing it, we know that in particular areas, you’re looking at aged care, as Professor Murphy said moments ago. What about remote aged care facilities? Places like Queensland, if they've only got six facilities set up along the east coast in major cities, how do you propose getting the Pfizer vaccine to vulnerable people in those remote communities?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I would urge those who have those sort of questions, these issues are addressed in the vaccine strategy. They are addressed, I think, in myriad occasions in the questions that we've answered on this matter. Of course, there are some uncertainties that are obviously there regarding supplies, particularly from overseas. And they relate to some issues that sometimes are beyond our control. But at present, our advice is that this is holding, so I can- Greg and Brendan can speak to that. But you raise good questions. And that's why these materials, that's why the information campaign that we are, will be rolling out - and you've already seen elements of that already - that is there to answer the very genuine, real, sensible questions that Australians will be seeking to understand as they make their decisions. And we encourage as much vaccination as possible. But Greg?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Thanks, Jonathan. Two things. Firstly, we said late February. Reaffirmed today by the country head of Pfizer that we're on track for that. The second thing is with regards to remote areas - I think that's a really important part of the strategy. And remote areas can be supported in a number of ways. There are five principal vehicles. Firstly, general practices. Secondly, pharmacies. Thirdly, Aboriginal and community-controlled health organisations, they're really stepping up. And we thank them. Fourthly, what we're able to do up there is to ensure that there are state vaccination clinics. And fifthly, we have a surge workforce. If there was a community which wasn't covered with one of those, then the surge workforce - the contract which Professor Murphy and the department put together, with four providers - assists with outreach. And that, in particular, relates to - whether it's the Pfizer or the AstraZeneca, Pfizer comes in temperature-controlled remote-sensor storage vessels. Or as John Skerritt from the TGA famously said, "dry-ice eskies". And so they can be transported around the country. That system was specifically designed so as we could address rural and remote Australia. So, you can see the layers of planning that have gone into this. Rural and remote Australia was something that the PM said very early on, absolutely equal access. In the same way - and I've mentioned this before - when Brendan and I were with him in February of last year, he said, "No Australian will go without a ventilator." In this phase of the fight against the pandemic, it was equal access. And that's what we're doing.
PRIME MINISTER: James, last one.
JOURNALIST: PM, look, a question, while Australia has a relatively good handle on this pandemic compared to most countries certainly in the region, there's a developing view amongst experts that it's going to be here, the pandemic in a global sense, well beyond 2021. Particularly given the sort of mutating strains we're seeing developing around the world. What work has the Australian Government, the Federal Government, done to enable CSL to be able to manufacture mRNA vaccines going forward? I mean at the moment obviously AstraZeneca is not mRNA, and that's the only one we're making?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I will let Brendan speak to that specifically. But your broader point, about how long is Australia looking at this? The first key thing that's going to determine I think longevity on this will be the success of the vaccines that are currently being produced, and distributed around the world. We had that discussion around Pacific nations yesterday. That will depend on their success in countering transmissibility of the virus. Now, there's been some good data that's come through just in the last 48 hours which is indicating something a lot more encouraging than where we were about a month ago. If the vaccines continue to show that sort of successful path on transmissibility then that obviously has a big change in terms of what the future management of the virus is not just here in Australia but all around the world how people can travel, how they can move about, how they can go to concerts, how they can- life can potentially return to normal. So that is the next big question that will be answered, but beyond that, you make a good point about sovereign capability, when it comes to the production of vaccines. Now not only are we producing the vaccine here in Australia for AstraZeneca but we are also investing with CSL in their products and capabilities not just on virus vaccines but anti- venom vaccines and a whole range of other vaccines so here in Australia we can have a much greater confidence about our vaccine production capabilities but mRNA vaccines are a particular challenge. And I’ll let Professor Murphy speak to that.
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: Thanks PM. So mRNA vaccines have surprised the world in how successful they have been, so clearly they will have an ongoing role beyond COVID-19, maybe with COVID, we don't know how long the successful vaccines we are getting will last, or whether people will need more doses, and so it is obviously sensible to plan for that and clearly CSL who are our sovereign manufacturing company are looking at that, government has commissioned some research to look at that, to look at what the potential is, so it's an active consideration matter at the moment.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks everyone, thank you very much.
Statement On Indulgence - Australian Parliament House ACT
3 February 2021
Prime Minister: On Indulgence,
As we gather today, hundreds of fire-fighters are responding to fires in Perth’s North-East.
The thoughts of all in this House I know are with the people of Western Australia - and especially with the firefighters who are working around the clock.
Over recent days - and as most recently as just the past hour, the Premier and I have been in regular contact. As have our respective ministers.
I can report that the Australian Government’s Disaster Response Plan has been activated, which means the Commonwealth has all of its resources ready to assist upon request of the Western Australian Government.
The Minister for Emergency Management has also activated the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment and the Disaster Recovery Allowance.
The Disaster Recovery Payment will allow impacted individuals to receive an immediate cash payment of $1,000 for adults and $400 for children. This will be available through Services Australia from 8am tomorrow.
The Disaster Recovery Allowance will provide income support payments to individuals whose income has been affected - it includes employees, small business persons and farmers.
We are also working with the Western Australian Government on activating the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, which will provide further support for impacted families.
A short time ago, I was also briefed by the Director General of Emergency Management Australia, Joe Buffone, along with the Minister for Emergency Management, and the Members for Hasluck and Pearce.
And I’ll just update you briefly on those fires.
I can report that over 70 homes, 71 at last count, and properties have been destroyed in the Wooroloo bushfire.
The fires have burned through over 9,400 hectares.
Thankfully, at this point no lives have been lost, and no one is believed to be unaccounted for - and for that we are deeply grateful.
Hundreds of people spent last night in evacuation centres, and we thank all of those - the Red Cross, volunteers providing support and kindness in those centres.
But there is danger still ahead.
As we speak, an emergency warning remains in place as the bushfire continues to move rapidly.
Adverse weather, including hot temperatures and gusty winds, is forecast to continue.
And as we speak, more than 220 firefighters are currently attending that fire.
Aerial support has also been sent to assist ground crews.
I can report that six firefighters have incurred injuries fighting these blazes - and our gratitude, love and support, and best wishes go out to them and to their families.
To everyone in those affected areas - we simply say, as you know, to please listen to and heed the advice of the official warnings and authorities.
And of course, as always, please look out for each other.
I know that it has been a hugely trying few days in Western Australia - not just with these terrible fires but of course the lockdown as well.
Everyone living in the Perth metropolitan area and the Peel and South West regions have demonstrated great patience and forbearance - playing their part to prevent the spread of COVID.
Our thoughts are with our West Australians as they respond to the challenges before them.
Every Australian is standing with Western Australia.
And as always, we will get through this together.
Address, Parliamentary Last Post Ceremony - Campbell, ACT
1 February 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Australians one, Australians all.
We meet today on the ancient land of the Ngunnawal people, one of the many First Nations people who have cared for this country since time immemorial. I pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging.
I honour also all the servicemen and women who are here with us today and their veterans and I thank them for their service to our country.
We are gathered in what I like to refer to, our nation's most sacred place.
A monument to all who have served, a shrine to those who were lost, and a solemn landmark for those of us who serve the Australian people in Parliament.
The vista of those who visit Canberra always points to Parliament House, a shining reminder of our liberty and freedom.
But our vista, as parliamentarians, points to this sacred place, an ever present reminder of how our liberties and our freedoms were won and paid for, especially by those whose names line these walls.
Flanking the entrance that we walk through today are those two stone lions. They are proud symbols of Australia's war history and a gift from the Mayor of the people of Ypres in Belgium. For decades, these lions stood at Menin Gate in Ypres.
During the First World War, Australian allied troops in their thousands marched through this gate on their way to the front. For many, it was their point of no return. The final mark of civilisation before the mud and the mayhem of Passchendaele.
One of those who would walk through the Menin Gate was 45 year old Second Lieutenant Bartholomew James Stubbs. He enlisted for service in early 1916 and was described by a Duntroon classmate as a brave, capable and conscientious officer. But he wasn't only serving his country on the battlefield. While he was, while he was fighting on the Western Front, he was also serving as the Labor member for Subiaco in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly.
A soldier legislator, while he was in service, his constituents offered him a unique honour. On the 12th of September 1917, Second Lieutenant Stubbs was re-elected unopposed, appropriately, for the seat of Subiaco.
But just two weeks later, he was shot and killed by a sniper during the battle of Polygon Wood, you will hear more about that battle later. The then Western Australian Premier said of Stubbs, he heard a call that was greater than the call of party.
He certainly did.
He wasn't our only soldier legislator either. Others heard a call greater than the party also, Lieutenant Colonel George Braund, the son of a merchant was from the conservative side of politics, the Liberal Reform member for Armidale in New South Wales Parliament. He was from the bush and he was passionate about cutting taxes, from that same Parliament Sergeant Ted Larkin, the son of a coal miner and the Labor member for Willoughby, also signed up. Larkin was from the city and a proud socialist.
These men came from very different backgrounds and more different - very different political stripes, and they fiercely contended for their beliefs.
Yet somewhere between Sydney Harbour and Albany and Egypt, and then Gallipoli they discovered that what they had in common mattered much more.
Like Second Lieutenant Stubbs they too made the ultimate sacrifice, falling at Gallipoli, two of our original Anzacs.
The note, The Sun newspaper wrote of them, they were elected and stood on the threshold of public careers, the limits or ends of which it was impossible to forsee. There was no place in the public life of Australia that was not open to either of them.
Like all who serve forsaking thresholds without limits for the country they love, it is right that we visit this memorial at the start of our sittings to hear that voice of our country, to be reminded of our duty and our sacrifice, and the threshold's forsaken for us, and to be reminded in the words of a modern soldier turned legislator of our responsibility to uphold the men and women who run to the sound of guns. And who, through their physical and moral courage, protect us all from harm.
Colleagues, and especially veterans, and friends, years after the entrance way at Menin was destroyed a memorial gate was built. That gate bears the names of 50,000 allied soldiers who were killed in the vicinity of Ypres and have no known grave. Amongst them, are 6,178 Australians, including Second Lieutenant Stubbs.
The memorial was inaugurated in July 1927 by Field Marshal Lord Plummer, who comforted the relatives of the missing soldiers with the words: he is not missing. He is here.
As we gather today at the Australian War Memorial we can say the same. They are here.
The 102,000 men and women whose names are on these walls.
They are here with us, their names and their memory. Part of the soul of our nation in this most sacred of places.
Their memory carries on from generation to generation.
So later, as the bugle rings out and we quietly look down Anzac Parade towards our home of democracy. Let us recommit ourselves to let us live up to the example that they have set before us.
Lest we forget.
Address - National Press Club, Barton, ACT
1 February 2021
Prime Minister: Thank you very much, Laura, and to everybody who is here today.
I, of course, begin by acknowledging the Ngunnawal people, their elders past, present and the future.
Can I also acknowledge any veterans who are with us today, serving men and women of our Australian Defence Force and say to them thank you for your service.
Can I also acknowledge today the beautiful Abdallah and Sakr families on this first national i4Give Day, as we remember their four beautiful angels - Antony, Angelique, Sienna and Veronique - who were taken from us this day a year ago.
I also welcome the very many of my colleagues who are here today. Of course, led by the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. It is great to have you all here today and I acknowledge you all and the great job you have been doing and I know you will do over the course of this year.
In 2020, I said we would not let this virus break our Australian spirit.
It hasn’t, and it won’t.
I said we always believed ourselves as Australians to be a strong people but we were about to find out just how strong we really were.
And we did. We found, our generation, the same strength, good humour, resilience and mateship that enabled past generations to rise to the challenges of their time.
Today, Australia stands out across the world in our response to the pandemic.
We continue to report zero or negligible cases in community transmission.
We have mercifully so far avoided a third wave over this summer. We have the third lowest mortality rate from the pandemic among G20 nations.
And our record on saving lives is matched, importantly, by our record in saving livelihoods, where we have outperformed economically the world’s most advanced economies.
With more than 90 percent of the jobs lost already back, our comeback has not just begun, it is gathering pace.
As Chris Richardson from Deloitte Access Economics observed earlier this month, ‘You’d rather be here than almost anywhere else.’
Now, that is my default setting, I’ve got to say, regardless of the circumstances and I’m sure it is for most Australians. It’s very true now.
But there is still so much more to do, though.
The pandemic is still raging. It is not petering out. The virus has not gone anywhere. Indeed, it is morphing into new and more virulent strains.
So we must remain vigilant.
We have all learned a lot over the past twelve months and we have also led the way in so many areas.
We must take these lessons into 2021 and continue to make our own way through this crisis.
Our Australian way.
That respects our liberal democratic values, our expert institutions, our business-led market economy and the responsibilities and accountabilities of our federal system.
An Australian way where our decisions to protect public health are guided by our respect for science and expert medical advice. And I acknowledge Brendan Murphy who is here amongst us today.
An economic response driven, as the Treasurer and I outlined, by clear principles to navigate uncertainty.
A response that is proportionate, timely, scalable and targeted.
That is aligned with other arms of policy, in particular, monetary policy.
That uses existing delivery mechanisms wherever possible to avoid mistakes and delays of the past.
And a response where emergency measures are temporary and accompanied by a clear fiscal exit strategy.
You can’t run the Australian economy on taxpayers money forever.
And finally, a response that lifts productivity to enable the Australian economy to sustain an even stronger growth trajectory on the other side.
But you know, above all, our Australian way depends most on the character and resilience of Australians.
Each of us understanding we have a contribution to make. And for that, I say thank you to the Australian people.
Australians have made the difference.
So to our focus in the year ahead.
There are five priority areas that I want to speak about today in relation to 2021.
Suppress the virus and deliver the vaccine;
Cement our economic recovery to create jobs and more jobs;
To continue to guarantee the essential services that Australians rely on;
Protect and secure Australians’ interests in a challenging world; and
Care for our Country
So let’s talk about the virus and the vaccine.
We enter 2021 in a relatively strong position and I acknowledge the great leadership of our Health Minister, Greg Hunt, in taking us through this difficult period.
Our 2020 achievements have bought valuable time on vaccines, to ensure they are safe and can be effectively rolled out across our population.
But even with the roll out of the vaccine, there can be no let-up in the three vital suppression measures that have served Australia so well in 2020 and must be the focus of continuous improvement throughout 2021.
Our international border restrictions and robust quarantine system.
Our high rates of testing, our contact tracing systems and our management of outbreaks in localised hotspots.
And physical distancing and sound hygiene practices.
In 2021, these suppression measures which must be exercised, I stress, in a balanced way to also protect jobs and livelihoods, will be complemented by the COVID-19 vaccines.
This will be one of the largest logistics exercises ever seen in Australia. We will be vaccinating more than 25 million people, having secured over 140 million doses, enough to cover the Australian population several times over.
The TGA recently approved the Pfizer vaccine for people aged over 16 years here in Australia. Unlike other jurisdictions around the world, this was a formal approval, not an emergency one.
We are one of only a handful of countries to have gone through such a comprehensive and thorough level of oversight to ensure the vaccines are safe.
And we have wisely planned for the unexpected.
That is why we took the decision to take out the insurance of securing our own sovereign supply of vaccines, by investing in COVID-19 vaccine production here in Australia.
Australia is one of a small handful of countries, once again, to have sovereign vaccine manufacturing capacity. Subject to TGA approval, we expect to be able to supply COVID-19 vaccines to the entire Australian population through CSL’s manufacturing plant in Melbourne.
Today, we are releasing further details of the Government’s COVID-19 Vaccine and Treatment Strategy, setting out how vaccines will be rolled out to the Australian people.
Our aim is to offer all Australians the opportunity to be vaccinated by October of this year, commencing in just a few weeks’ time.
Our guidance, I stress, is that first vaccinations remain on track to be in Australia, ready for shipping and distribution to priority groups, from late February.
However, the final commencement date will ultimately depend on some of these developments we’re seeing overseas, which we will continue to monitor closely and update the Australian people accordingly.
Now, the Strategy is backed by an initial allocation of around $1.9 billion in new support for the vaccine roll out. This is on top of more than $4.4 billion allocated for vaccines purchases, medical research and support for our partner countries. It is a big job. This brings the Australian Government’s total support for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments to $6.3 billion.
While working closely with our partners in the states and territories, we are also working with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the Australian Medical Association, the big logistics companies including DHL and Linfox, and general practices and community pharmacies from around Australia to administer the vaccine.
We'll have thousands of points of presence across Australia - Hospitals, GPs, Pharmacies, Respiratory Clinics, Aboriginal Health Services and a specialist surge workforce. This will ensure we get the vaccine to all Australians, including people in rural, remote and very remote areas and others who are hard to reach.
Initially, we will need to prioritise the most vulnerable and those likely to experience a serious disease, as well as frontline health and care workers and other essential service workers.
We will then extend vaccination to the balance of the population as quickly as possible, building towards protecting the entire community by the end of this year.
We want as many Australians vaccinated as quickly as possible and as safely as possible. The COVID-19 vaccines will be made free to all Australians and we strongly encourage all Australians to get vaccinated.
We are working with states and territories and will be providing guidance for employees, employers, customers and industries on the vaccine shortly.
And, as Maris Payne knows and Zed Seselja knows also, we have not forgotten our overseas partners, our family here in our region. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for International Development and the Pacific are already working with their counterparts on a dedicated vaccines program designed around the needs and health systems of our Pacific family and Southeast Asian neighbours.
On the economy and jobs, the comeback in Australia’s economy is already underway and betters the experience of most advanced economy nations in the world today.
Now, Australians are now voting with their feet to join the economic recovery that is occurring here in Australia.
The unemployment rate has fallen from 7.5 percent in July last year down to 6.6 percent in December.
And importantly, the effective rate of unemployment, that takes into account hours reduced to zero and people leaving the workforce, has also fallen to now be in line with the headline rate at 6.6 percent, after hitting almost 15 percent at the height of the crisis.
Almost 800,000 jobs were created in the past seven months and it is very pleasing to see women taking up the majority of those jobs.
90 percent of the jobs lost to COVID-19, as I said before, had returned by the year’s end.
Our participation rate has recovered and reached a record high of 66.2 percent.
While consumer and business confidence has recovered as restrictions have come off and this will be further supported by the vaccine rollout.
Our task now is to continue our economic recovery by sticking to our Economic Recovery Plan and, importantly, exercising the fiscal discipline necessary to ensure that we do not overburden future generations and continue to spend taxpayers’ money wisely.
We are not running a blank cheque budget.
While our medium-term strategy remains to stabilise and reduce debt, low interest rates are alleviating debt servicing pressures as lower rates not only apply to new issuances but our pre-existing debt as it rolls over.
Because our debt is getting cheaper to service at a faster rate than it is getting larger, that means our net interest bill will decline as a share of the economy. We’ve got this.
As this chart shows, our $251 billion in direct economic support, unprecedented in this country, while largely delivered in 2020, has a long tail in providing ongoing support. It’s put gas in the tank.
Treasury analysis has shown that our direct economic support measures are expected to result in economic activity being 5 percent higher in 2020-21 and 4.5 percent higher in 2021-22 compared to if no support was provided at all.
Now, we know that our temporary JobKeeper payments and our many other supports have helped to boost families and businesses balance their balance sheets by more than $200 billion. This has been a game changer like no other we have seen in this country, JobKeeper, for millions of Australians.
It saved not just livelihoods, it saved lives.
There is now a large sum of money available to be spent across the economy and that is what is going to help to create jobs and maintain the momentum of our economic recovery and that is where it needs to be right now, those funds - in Australians’ pockets.
Indeed, in 2021, the Government will continue putting more money back into Australians’ pockets, protecting more of what they’ve earned, to support their families and businesses.
The legislated Low and Middle Income Tax Offset, the tax cut from 26 to 25 percent for small and medium businesses. Full expensing for new business investments, creating jobs, and our loss carry-back, providing a much needed cash flow boost for those businesses who continue to do it tough.
And from today, the first round of JobMaker hiring credit claims can be lodged.
It is important to remember, employment of those aged 15-34, as you see in this chart, remains 3.3 percent below pre-COVID levels, while those aged over 35 are back at their pre-COVID levels.
Working through the National Cabinet in 2021, this will be a year of generational change in our skills and vocational education sector.
This is a big piece.
It includes:
$4 billion to help employers retain and take on new apprentices and trainees through wage subsidies, with support for up to 100,000 new apprentices.
Our national $1 billion JobTrainer Fund is providing over 300,000 training places to help reskill workers for the COVID recovery.
A new skills agreement to provide more transparency and better link funding to actual skills needs will be done this year.
Minister Cash is going to be very, very busy.
We are also providing for up to 30,000 more university places and 50,000 more short courses this year.
In the Parliament, we will be seeking that support for the changes we believe are necessary to help businesses to put more people back into work in the post-COVID recovery for the changes we need to make in industrial relations.
Nearly $29 billion in infrastructure investment will hit the deck this financial year and next. That includes bring forwards as part of our pandemic recovery plan, which will especially assist rural and regional communities, including our new road safety initiative, which I know the Deputy Prime Minister is especially passionate about. Investments made through the national water grid will add further to this effort.
Our economic recovery plan, I should stress, is underpinned by something incredibly important, and that is delivering affordable and reliable energy in a way that positions Australia to be successful in the lower and ultimately net zero emissions global economy of the future.
Our goal is to reach net zero emissions as soon as possible, and preferably by 2050.
But when we get there, when we get there, whether in Australia or anywhere else, that will depend on the advances made in science and technology needed to commercially transform not just advanced economies and countries, but the developing world as well.
Science and technology will, as it always has in these areas, set the pace and in the developing world this is important because it is in those countries that dominate the emissions horizon.
In Australia, we will do this by investing and partnering in the technology breakthroughs needed to reduce and offset emissions in a way that enables our heavy industry in particular, industry more broadly, jobs and living standards, especially in regional Australia, to continue and to keep energy costs down.
In Australia, my Government will not tax our way to net zero emissions. I will not put that cost on Australians and I will particularly not ask regional Australians to carry that burden.
Getting to net zero, whether here or anywhere else, should be about technology not taxes and high prices.
In Australia, we’re not waiting on this, we’re getting on with it.
Emissions fell by 3 percent in the year to June 2020, to their lowest levels since 1998, meaning we are now nearly 17 percent below 2005 levels. These are the facts. Now, this compares to reductions of approximately 9 percent on average across the OECD, 1 percent in New Zealand and less than 1 percent in Canada. So we’re not waiting.
This year our $18 billion technology investment roadmap gets going, and I commend Minister Taylor for the great job he has done in pulling this together. With a $1.9 billion commitment to develop clean energy technologies such as hydrogen, green and steel and CCS.
And we are taking the roadmap global, pursuing ambitious partnerships with countries like Japan, the US, the UK, Korea and Singapore.
We are implementing our multi-billion dollar energy and emissions reduction agreement with NSW and other states are following.
Agreements are in place to accelerate major transmission projects in NSW and Tasmania, with Victoria and South Australia to follow this year.
We are building Snowy 2.0.
We are rolling out our $200 million program to build new diesel storage facilities.
The Beetaloo strategic basin plan has been released, with four more coming The pipeline market will be further improved as will the liquidity of the Wolumbilla gas hub. All important changes.
Affordable and reliable energy is also the cornerstone of Minister Andrew’s $1.5 billion manufacturing strategy.
Now, this plan focuses as you know, because I spoke to it here, on the priority areas of resources technology and critical minerals processing, food and beverage, medical products, recycling and clean energy, defence and space.
Our priorities are clear. We’re investing, we’re encouraging others to do the same.
This will be backed up by the implementation of our $5.3 billion Digital Business Plan that will accelerate 5G application development, build the digital skills of our SMEs, strengthen our cyber security and expand the Digital Identity Program.
And, of course, we will continue to work across government to cut red and green tape, and that includes the single touch approvals for environmental assessments with state governments that are before the Parliament.
Guaranteeing the essential services Australians rely on has always been a passion of mine, and you will recall it, from when I spoke about it as Treasurer. The economy is for something and it provides the services Australians rely on.
In 2020 our health, disability, aged care, social services and education systems successfully adapted to a new COVID operating environment, and I thank all of those Australians who made that possible, from the front line to those in the management offices.
Everybody had to change a lot and they had to move fast and they did an extraordinary job and they were aided by significant federal funding to help them get that job done and I know it was appreciated. We were doing our bit and they were doing their bit.
Now, this will continue as we manage the ongoing impacts of COVID-19.
But this will not, through the pandemic, interrupt our pre-pandemic agenda of the investments to guarantee the many essential services that Australians rely on.
The additional funding for public hospitals and schools, that’s continuing. Guaranteeing Medicare and the listing of affordable medicines that save lives through the PBS. Record investments, that continues.
And the continuing to roll out the NDIS which, by the way, now has approximately 412,000 participants – an increase of around 100,000 participants over the past 12 months. That’s what getting on with the job looks like in a pandemic and I commend Minister Robert for leading that process.
In 2021 our Government will deliver step-change reforms in important services areas. Aged care, mental health, while continuing the work of Closing the Gap for Indigenous Australians.
In this year’s Budget, we will deliver the Government’s response to the Aged Care Royal Commission’s Final Report, a Royal Commission I initiated.
This response will add to the significant steps already taken, including an additional 59,105 Home Care Packages I have announced and out in place since I announced the Royal Commission. That’s a 47 percent increase in in-home care places since we announced the Royal Commission. It's around tripled since we first came to Government.
A key focus of our response to the final report will be growing and upskilling the aged care workforce. Workforce challenges are some of the biggest challenges Australians face economically and it is essential to both our economic agenda and services delivery agenda to meet demand.
COVID has only strengthened my commitment also to mental health and suicide prevention ‘towards zero’ goal.
This year, there will be a new National Agreement on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. And I am greatly encouraged by the strong support I am receiving from premiers and chief ministers on this as well. We’re looking forward to moving on with those issues as soon as we’re able to come to agreement on those matters.
It will provide the foundation for a comprehensive, coordinated, consumer-focussed and compassionate mental health and suicide prevention system as we learn the lessons of COVID.
And after bringing together a landmark new National Agreement on Closing the Gap with peak indigenous groups - that was a big change - later this we will release those fully funded, further implementation plans that put that Closing the Gap agenda into place.
To protect and secure Australians interest has always been a core, if not the most important, objective and responsibility of the Federal Government. It is made even more difficult in the challenging world in which we live.
The challenges of COVID-19 are not only testing us at home.
Australia must use its agency to shape the world in our interests .
This starts in our own region.
This week I will join our Pacific family Leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum, where we can speak to another strong year of delivery in our Pacific Step Up program, led by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for the Pacific.
The same is true for our engagement with ASEAN, which sits at the heart of our vision for the Indo-Pacific.
With Indonesia, we will continue to implement our new IA-CEPA economic partnership agreement and provide support with their vaccine programme.
We have also recently upgraded our relationships with Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand just last week and have a new digital commerce agreement with Singapore.
For the third year in a row, I have been invited as a guest to the G7 Summit, which will be held in June in the United Kingdom.
This is an important recognition that Australia’s contribution is valued.
Co-operation between like-minded liberal democracies, market economy nations has never been more important than it is today.
That is why I asked Mathias Cormann to be Australia’s candidate for the role of Secretary-General of the OECD. And we’re doing pretty well.
As the world grapples with the recovery from COVID-19, this grouping, the OECD, of 37 market-based economies has a fundamental role to play in keeping markets open, bolstering the rules-based system and modernising rules for the digital economy.
The geopolitical environment will remain very challenging.
I am confident that our alliance relationship with the United States, which will turn 70 this year, will grow even stronger in partnership with the Biden Administration.
The defence relationship will remain the bedrock of that partnership, as we know, and our commitment to playing our part is reflected in our pledge to invest $270 billion on defence capability over the next decade.
Our work in the Quad, which embraces the US, Japan and India, has been deepened and broadened, as evidenced by mine and Minister Payne’s recent visit to Japan.
Our cooperation with Five Eyes nations has also grown, extending into new areas of common interest, particularly with the Treasurer’s involvement, areas in the economy and technology.
We need to work with close partners to develop and protect sensitive critical technologies, including quantum computing and artificial intelligence.
We will also need secure critical minerals supply chains for the new clean energy technologies of the future.
The evolution of the United States relationship with China will shape the geopolitical environment in the foreseeable future, as it indeed has in the past.
For our part, we remain committed to engaging with China.
Our peoples have benefited greatly, both ways, from the depth of our economic ties.
But it’s not surprising that there will be differences between two nations with such different economic and political systems.
Our task is to ensure that such differences do not deny Australia and China from realising the mutual benefits of that partnership, consistent with our own respective national sovereign interests.
China’s outlook and the nature of China’s external engagement, both in our region and globally, has changed since our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership was formed and going further back than that, certainly in the decades that have led up till now.
We cannot pretend that things are as they were. The world has changed.
An enduring partnership requires both of us to adapt to these new realities and talk with each other.
That begins with dialogue at both Ministerial and Leader level.
A dialogue focussed not on concessions but on areas of mutual benefit, committed to finding a way for our nations and peoples to beneficially engage in the future.
Now we, of course, Australia is open to such a process.
We will continue to create new opportunities for our exporters and I know Minister Tehan is chomping at the bit, already out there, via a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom and their potential involvement in an expanded Trans Pacific Partnership. And I thank Minister Birmingham for the great job he has done in setting up all of the opportunities for Dan to now go and complete.
It is also about accelerating our negotiations on an ambitious and comprehensive agreement with the European Union, especially targeting barriers for agricultural goods.
And, as always we will keep Australians safe.
Countering the threat of terrorism and extremism with stronger laws and record investments in our key agencies.
Countering the threat of foreign interference and espionage in defence of our national sovereignty.
Keeping our borders secure and taking down organised criminal gangs.
And protecting families, businesses and national infrastructure safe from malicious cyber activity with our record $1.7 billion investment in cyber security. It is a big agenda.
Finally, caring for our country. For millennia, Indigenous Australians have lived the principles of caring for country.
I believe those principles must underpin how our Government exercises our environmental stewardship.
In addition to carrying on the work on:
emissions reduction;
climate resilience;
implementing our export ban on waste plastic, paper, glass and tyres and;
rolling out $600 million in funding for new and upgraded recycling facilities around the country to build a world-class waste management sector.
This year we will turn the spotlight on agriculture and the environment - soils, water and oceans.
Australia’s soils are estimated to store some 3.5 percent of the total global stocks of soil organic carbon against our 5.2 percent of global land area.
Native vegetation clearance and poor soil management have, and continue to result in, the loss of soil organic carbon. That’s what makes the National Soils Strategy so important.
The Strategy will be delivered as part of the 2021-22 Budget the Treasurer will hand down later this year. It will include practical actions and focus on the development of a national monitoring program to assess the condition of Australian soils, research and development, and to assist with implementation, capacity building and extension.
It will be a fitting legacy to the great work and advocacy of our former Governor-General, and national soils advocate, the late Major General Michael Jeffery.
The National Soils Strategy is one pillar of our Ag2030 plan that’s backing the sector’s ambition to be a $100 billion industry.
The importance of investing in the health of our soil, water and landscapes was borne out by the recent independent review of our national environmental legislation, and by the findings of the Bushfires Royal Commission.
While we have always contended with extreme weather, our new normal is increasing and more severe droughts, floods, fires and storms. We will continue to harness the natural resourcefulness and innovation of Australians to ensure we adapt and build resilience to these challenges.
This will be a project that both Minister Littleproud and Minister Ley will work on together.
In 2021, we will also continue the roll out of the $1 billion ‘Phase Two’ of the National Landcare Program that supports regional communities through controlling weeds, improving soil health, fencing off sensitive waterways and remnant vegetation, and re-planting species. Practical stuff that makes a big difference.
2021 will also see the first phase of our healthy oceans plan, giving effect to our commitment to sustainably manage 100 percent of the ocean within our national waters.
The ocean supports almost 400,000 jobs in Australia.
Our unprecedented $1.9 billion commitment to reduce runoff and pollution flowing into the reef, control the Crown of Thorns starfish, and deploy cutting-edge science to secure the reef’s resilience to marine heatwaves is more than just a drop in the ocean.
100 percent of fisheries managed by the Australian Government have a sustainable management plan in place. And we are supporting our Indo-Pacific neighbours to manage waste, protect coral reefs and mangroves, and crack down on illegal fishing.
Ladies and Gentlemen, you have been very patient. Despite one of the toughest years in our nation’s history, Australia stands strong at the start of 2021.
There is still much to do, but we know our comeback is underway.
The actions we take this year will continue to recover what has been lost and enable us to build again for the future.
In 2021, I am supremely confident and optimistic that we will continue as a people to make our own Australian way through the challenges ahead and that Australians will once again emerge stronger, safer and together on the other side.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Speech I4Give Day Launch Sydney
1 February 2021
Prime Minister: Thank you, Michael, and thank you for the Welcome to Country.
Thank you, Sayedna, for leading us in our prayers this morning.
To the Abdallah and Sakr families, to Danny, Leila, Bob, Bridget, Craig, to all of the children.
It is a great privilege for Jenny and me and my family to join you here today.
Forgive us our trespasses, we have just prayed, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
We've said these words a thousand times, probably more. We know them by heart. We think we knew what they meant.
But when you have to face it, when you have to confront pain and suffering in the extreme, then you realise how truly difficult that is.
And to see someone not only say these words, but live them, even in the midst of continued pain and grief leaves, me in awe.
When Antony and Angelina and Sienna and Veronique were taken one year ago tomorrow, our whole country was shocked. We were devastated. We couldn't believe it. And we, with you, we grieved.
They were great kids, beautiful kids, blessings, as all children are.
On a footpath going out for a summer ice cream. An ice cream. What could be more innocent than that on a hot Australian summer’s day?
And then the horror came out of such ordinariness. It was incomprehensible.
And then in the days that followed, to hear from Danny and Leila the words of faith and forgiveness, well, that was breathtaking.
We live in an age of anger and outrage.
When so often people hold onto bitterness, but worse still, take pride in their resentments, we saw this beautiful family, these families, choose to take a different path and show us the way.
You chose not to hate, but to love.
You chose to be a light in darkness.
You chose grace.
You trusted justice, not vengeance.
And because of that, we might be tempted to think that there is something more than human about you.
But you would be the first to tell us that that is not the case because you are humble, honest people.
Jenny and I have had the privilege of getting to know you, especially Jenny, and becoming friends we know you hurt, we know you suffer and we know you doubt more than we can ever know and in a way that I cannot completely comprehend.
You have grasped the depths of the words Father, forgive them.
Now you share that message of forgiveness with our country.
As Danny says, we grieve alone, but we heal together.
With i4Give Day, you inspire us all to take the path of grace, to choose light, to keep the memory of your precious children as gifts to you, alive in countless acts of love.
I may finish with a prayer, Sayedna. The Prayer of Saint Francis.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, Faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I might not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in the giving that we receive and it is in the pardoning that we are pardoned. It is in the dying that we are born to eternal life.
God bless you, Danny and Leila, Liana, Alex, Michael, Bob, Bridget and Michael and all your families.
Thank you for inviting Jenny and me to be here with you today, along with the other leaders who are here.
We are honoured and we love you.
Australia Day National Flag Raising and Citizenship Ceremony
26 January 2021
Prime Minister: Well thank you very much Your Excellency the Governor General and Mrs Hurley. To the Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese who joins us here today, good to see you. To Danielle Roche the Chair of the National Australia Day Council, Karlie Brand the CEO. My Ministerial colleagues, Minister Colbeck and Assistant Minister Morton. To our Australians of the year, to Grace, to Isobel, to of course Rosemary and Miriam-Rose, you express Australia like none I can imagine and I am so proud of you being here with us today.
But to Australians all, one and free. I start today by acknowledging the Ngunnawal people and I thank you for the welcome to country today.
I pay my respects and of all Australians to elders past present and emerging for the future.
And I acknowledge all those who have served and are serving today, our nation, in our defence forces and to say to you thank you for you service.
As Australians, our fates have always been bound together.
During this past year, we have been reminded once again of our shared fortunes. How much we indeed depend on each other.
In a year where much of the world has struggled under the strain of the global pandemic, Australians, together, have prevailed, in our own Australian way.
Australians patiently doing the right thing.
Health workers collecting samples and tracing the virus; nurses, aged and disability care workers tending to our elderly and to our vulnerable; the medical teams, our defence forces, the police running our quarantine facilities; the farmers, and the truck drivers, the wholesale and the retail workers keeping our supermarket shelves stocked and all those even now working to produce our vaccine.
And, of course, the many business owners of Australia, small and large, struggling with the uncertainty of a pandemic, keeping their show together and Australians in work.
On this Australia Day, we say thank you to the many who have once again pulled Australia through.
But you know, this is not a new experience for our country.
From whatever our beginnings or our circumstances, Australians have always demonstrated our ability to overcome. To rise above. To better our history. To create our future.
Today, on Australia Day we reflect on that journey, the price that has been paid for our freedom, the lessons of our history and the privilege of being able to call ourselves Australians.
We do it on this day when the course of this land changed forever.
There is no escaping or cancelling this fact. For better and worse, it was the moment where the journey to our modern Australia began.
And it is this continuing Australian journey that we recognise today.
Our stories since that day have been of sorrow and of joy. Of loss and redemption. Of failure and success.
We are now a nation of more than 25 million stories, all important, all unique and all to be respected.
Whether it is the story of our first nation peoples’ strong, ancient and proud culture and their survival in the face of dispossession and colonisation.
Or the forsaken souls who came as convicts, not to start a new world, but because they had been banished from the old one. Condemned and outcast by empire, they too overcame.
The settlers and waves of immigrants who have followed seeking a better life for themselves and their families, creating a nation in the process, including the 12,000 people from over 130 nations who become citizens today.
These stories do not compete with each other, they simply coexist. They weave together to create Australia.
Today we reflect on how far we have come, but importantly we humbly acknowledge the work still ahead of us.
We have risen above our brutal beginnings.
We have overcome, survived and thrived.
We have learned but yet we are still learning.
And as the many peoples of the world joined our journey, we have become even stronger,
The most successful and cohesive immigration and multicultural nation on earth.
The home of the world’s oldest living human culture.
A modern, prosperous and generous nation. Fair minded, hard working.
A standard bearer for liberal democracy, in a world where authoritarianism is once again seeking to push itself forward.
An honest nation that continues to confront the truth of our past and to reconcile this with our future.
Much to appreciate and to be thankful for.
And this year we will face many more challenges.
But it is Australian to be optimistic and look forward.
It is a choice we make to believe in hope.
Our optimism has always enabled us to push past the adversities we have faced and overcome.
We have been made extraordinary gains, these extraordinary gains by the extraordinary contributions of ordinary Australians.
In 2021 we will be relying once again on all Australians to be at their best.
To once again exercise their responsibility and make their own unique contributions to our success.
In our families, in our communities, in our places of work, and education and of worship and in our environment, caring for country.
The exercise of these responsibilities and contributions are the ones that will continue to make for a successful and resilient Australia.
We do this, because in Australia we believe in the unique value of each Australian as individuals, rather than seeing or indeed allowing ourselves to be defined solely through the identity prism of our age, or our race, or our gender, our ethnicity or our religion.
As Australians we are more than any and all of these things, and together we share and steward our Australian inheritance.
As Australians we write our own story. We create our own future. And we will do so again this year, together.
Happy Australia Day.
Australian of the Year Awards
25 January 2021
Thank you very much for that very warm welcome.
We gather in Ngunnawal country at our National Arboretum, whose elders past and present and future we acknowledge and respect.
A place where we can wonder at the breadth and the diversity of our land - amongst the 44,000 trees are hundreds of plant species from across our nation.
Our Arboretum looks out across much of our capital - our parliament and its freedoms, our War Memorial and the price paid for those freedoms.
We can see far from here.
And this year, the view is different from last.
The bushfire scarred landscape is recovering. The greyness of the Australian drought is giving way to a new green tinge.
If our land teaches us anything - it is that if we persevere - we can withstand, we do recover and we do renew.
And this land - the home of the world’s only continent nation - has a seamlessness about it that accommodates so much difference.
Nature reminds us there is a place for everyone and everything in our land.
We know from our first Australians that our country teaches us much.
It is a country that requires us to listen to it, and most often, to contend with it.
This past year, we faced adversity again - nature confronting us in a different form - beckoning us again to persevere.
And we have – and we continue to do so even now.
The story of Australia is of a people who persevere and overcome - who know that reward and effort, enterprise and fairness, justice and hope, accompany each other.
Our stories now number more than 25 million Australians, they are all important, they are all respected, woven together to make us strong.
We are a people who contend and prevail.
And we prevail, always by looking ahead - through debate, effort and striving - drawing out the very best in each other.
These awards are an annual reminder of just what Australians can do and achieve.
Of what we can build together - as a country one and free.
The nominees here tonight, like the land they are drawn from, are diverse and different - men and women who strive, and study, they argue, they give, and they engage, they love, they care.
Who share a yearning to make a good Australia an even better Australia.
Like the eucalypts, wattles, the cassias, the wildflowers and grasses that surround us, and the capital that is below us, the nominees here tonight are diverse.
All playing a part. Doing their bit.
Nominees, who when brought together, give us a glimpse of who we are, and even more importantly, who we can all aspire to be.
It is a great pleasure to be with you tonight - to honour you, and the tens of thousands of people who you embody - and to thank you for everything you have done and will continue to do for all Australians.
Happy Australia Day.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
25 January 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, everyone. I am joined today by Health Minister Greg Hunt and the ACT Australian of the Year, Secretary for Health, Brendon Murphy, Professor Brendan Murphy. We will be bringing you an update today on vaccines.
But before I do that, I have spoken to Premier Marshall this morning regarding the bushfire on the outskirts of Adelaide, adjacent to the Adelaide Hills, as those waking up in Adelaide this morning will be very aware of that. The smoke haze is very visible and very real. He indicates to me that they were able to move quickly last night but there is still work to be done to get this under control. We have offered Federal assistance. None is required at this stage and so we just look forward to a day in Adelaide where they are able to get on top of that and everybody can remain safe. But it was a very positive report from the Premier and we wish them all the best today and we thank all of those volunteer firefighters. It is quite difficult terrain where this fire is and so there has been difficulties accessing the area. But no doubt they will overcome, as they always do, and I thank them for their very selfless service today.
It is a year today since the first case of COVID-19 in Australia. What an extraordinary year it has been over these past 12 months. A year on from that fateful day Australia, we know, has done better and managed this together, working together better than almost any other country in the world today. As we look at the terrible situation being experienced in many parts of the world, some quite close to here actually, some further afield, our thoughts and support is with all the nations of the world, as we seek to get on top of what has been a calamitous event for the world over these last 12 months and indeed longer than that in some cases. So far, over the course of this summer, despite some very serious threats, working together we have so far been able to avoid and prevent a third wave of COVID-19 here in Australia. Now, we can take nothing for granted as I said after the National Cabinet meeting on Friday but that effort, whether it was in Brisbane with the strain, the new strain that had been able to get outside the quarantine facilities in Brisbane and being able to move quickly and having been in Brisbane late last week and there as the restrictions started to ease, or having returned to Sydney on the weekend for the first time in about six weeks and to see how people continue to manage with the easing restrictions there and how they have been able to get on top of the outbreak and, of course, the outbreak that also occurred in Victoria. Once again, systems tested, once again Australians tested, once again Australia and our systems have passed that test. So I have a simple message to Australia - thank you, thank you Australia. Thank you that you have put us in a situation that is the envy of most countries in the world today. We intend to keep it that way. We intend to remain vigilant. We intend to continue to set the pace and set the standards by which we can ensure that we keep Australians safe and we save lives and we save livelihoods which have always been our twin goals.
Now, a couple of weeks ago when I stood here with the Health Minister and the Secretary, we gave you an update on where the vaccines were at, at that stage and we undertook to keep people updated on that and it is important that we be as transparent as we possibly can. This is a global challenge like none we have seen in a very, very long time. There will be challenges along the way and we are addressing them. Just earlier today, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Professor Skerritt, announced they had approved the Pfizer vaccine for people aged over 16 years here in Australia. I note this is not an emergency approval, as has been done in some other jurisdictions around the world. This is a formal approval under the ordinary processes of the TGA and we are one of the first countries in the handful of countries to have gone through that comprehensive and thorough process here in Australia to ensure the approval of that vaccine. Now, their work will continue as it has been in parallel regarding the AZ vaccine as well and we look forward to their thorough work but also their timely work as they have demonstrated in getting us to where we are today on Pfizer.
Now, we remain on track to have those vaccines in Australia and ready to go from very small beginnings, I should stress, very small beginnings, starting small. We scale up as we outlined in the plan that we advised to you some weeks ago. We are more looking at late February now than mid-February because of the challenges that we have seen in the production and delivery for both AZ and Pfizer around the world. You will be very aware of the situation and pressures that we are seeing globally. This day last week I was holding a further video conference meeting with quite a number of the national leaders throughout Europe and also in Israel and they are under considerable strain and stress there, in countries that are experiencing large numbers of fatalities every day and their vaccination programs under extreme stress. Australia has taken the time, we have been watching and learning from the experience overseas and so we remain within the guard rails of the timeframe that we set a few weeks ago but, obviously that is going to continue to come under challenge for events and circumstances that exist well beyond our shores.
It was for that reason around August of last year that we took the decision that we didn't want to be in a situation where we were completely reliant on the production of vaccines overseas. So we took the decision, we put the arrangements in place with CSL and AZ to ensure that we would be able to produce our own vaccine here in Australia and that is happening now. It is underway now. Yes, we paid a premium for it. Yes, we had to put the capability in place with CSL to achieve that and, yes, we're involved more broadly in the development of their production facilities in Melbourne. But that was the right decision for Australia because, as much as you can you want to be able to control as many things as you can in this country when dealing with COVID-19. That has been our form. That will continue to be our form and with that I will ask the Health Minister and the Secretary to give you some further detail.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Thanks very much, Prime Minister and to Brendan. Today's another very important step forward in protecting Australians, in saving lives and protecting lives. As the Prime Minister said, it's a year to the day since the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Australia and it is worth reflecting on that journey briefly. We know that the world is likely to reach 100 million formally diagnosed cases within the next 48 hours. We know that the world has already lost formally 2.1 million lives and no doubt the real figure will be higher because of undiagnosed or unrecognised cases. In Australia there have been seven consecutive days of zero cases of community transmission. Nine out of the last 10 days have had zero community transmission. There have been no lives lost in that time and we are back to zero Australians on ventilation and zero Australians in ICU because of COVID-19. At the same time in the last 24 hours for which there are full figures there were 570,000 cases globally and 14,000 lives lost and 6 million cases over that last 10 days and over 125,000 lives lost. That comparison is almost unbelievable, the difference between where we are in Australia and overseas. What it shows though, is that with those numbers with a pandemic raging across the world we have to be prepared for and we have to presume that there will be new outbreaks. We hope there won't be but we have seen South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland all face outbreaks in the last two months, all be tested and all pass that test. That's a testimony to the work of all Australians, all Governments and all health officials involved in all of the chains of the containment and capacity process that we set out in February. That structure remains the guiding light.
As part of that, one of the things which we saw yesterday was that our 5-year-old vaccination rate for the first time, past the 95 percent mark, 95.1 percent for the December quarter. So through the pandemic vaccination rates have actually gone up which if you had asked me at the outset I would have thought with all of the challenges would have been almost impossible and yet Australia remains a great vaccination nation. A critical part of our COVID-19 strategy is a focus on safety and the delivery of vaccines. That is why I am delighted and we're delighted that the TGA, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, which I believe is arguably the best medical regulator in the world has approved the use of the Pfizer vaccine in Australia. It has approved it now for Australians 16 years of age and older. I think when last we spoke we were anticipating it might be 18 years and older. That is a broader range of population than anticipated. That changes our vaccination strategy, so as those 16 and above will now be included in phase 2b. So this is an example of the evolution of that strategy as the approvals and facts and science are developed.
We have on the advice of the committee led by Professor Brendon Murphy and ATAGI, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, which is led by Professor Allen Cheng and a very distinguished team secured 140 million vaccines one of the highest dosing rates per head of population in the world. The commencement remains on track for February, as the Prime Minister has said. The completion remains on track for October. This approval by the TGA is one of the earliest in the world for a full approval. We know that the European Medicines Agency and the Swiss have already made such an approval but Australia is amongst the earliest. I spoke last night with the regional and Australian heads of Pfizer and they indicated, as the Prime Minister has said, that we are likely to have on their shipping advice which they have now been able to confirm, first vaccines in Australia ready for distribution in late February. So within the guidance that we previously provided. That is likely to start with approximately 80,000 doses per week, if not more. But let's be more conservative on that. Further guidance for March and beyond will be provided across the globe by Pfizer in mid-February. So they are making global decisions on those allocations but continuous supply was their goal, objective and their anticipation and guidance as of last night.
With regards to AstraZeneca, the international AstraZeneca supplies in Australia are likely to commence slightly earlier than had previously been anticipated, early in March, and if there is more guidance on that we will obviously provide it. That is subject both to TGA approval and to shipping. I think that's important and the domestic AstraZeneca production via CSL is likely to see supplies of approximately one million doses per week commencing in late March. So that's an incredibly important part of it. Both companies have experienced global supply challenges but we are in a fortunate position as a country because of the decisions that have been taken and our ability to focus on safety. In particular if you asked me for the two most important decisions of the whole pandemic, one, the 1st of February last year, the advice that Professor Murphy gave to both the Prime Minister and myself and the National Security Committee that we should close the border with China. But secondly, the decision to pay a premium for an onshore, secure, sovereign vaccine manufacturing capacity via CSL. That puts Australia in a vastly more secure position than almost any other country in the world. I think that's probably, of all the decisions, the one which I reflect upon and that was a difficult, challenging decision at the time and we had to work very hard to have that onshore vaccine manufacturing capability. But CSL and AstraZeneca have stepped up.
Now we move to the next steps now and we continue this. I do want to thank the TGA, the Department of Health, the states and the territories, people who have worked right through Christmas, New Year, summer, right through weekends. In many cases right through, right through the night with documents being completed at 1.30am and forwarded. So we focus on the continuous assessment, the continuous procurement, the shipping, the distribution, working with the general practices, with the RACGP, the AMA, the states and territories on that rollout. But we’re in a very strong position. I want to thank as the Prime Minister did, all those Australians who have helped keep us safe and all our extraordinary researchers, medical professionals, contact tracers, pathologists that have prevented, so far a third wave. But precisely because of the global risk, that’s why we have to proceed with a safe, secure vaccine program but Australians can have confidence. If the best regulator in the world, it approves the vaccine, it is safe and effective.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Greg. Brendan?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: Thanks, Prime Minister and Minister, I will be very brief. I think this is a very special day for Australia. We are in this wonderful position of still having no community transmission and yet we have approved, through our normal, proper processes the first vaccine. We can now get that vaccine shipped to Australia, do the batch testing and start our vaccination program, according to our schedule. As Minister Hunt and the PM have said we also have one of the few countries in the world that have this luxury of having onshore production. We know that the whole world will be competing and there will be supply chain difficulties for vaccines manufactured offshore for every country in the world. We are already seeing that around the world. So once we start to get our, once fully registered our AstraZeneca vaccine and as I have said many times, it is a very good vaccine. It is a very good vaccine to prevent, both the vaccines are excellent and both prevent COVID disease effectively and prevent severe disease. So once we get the local onshore production going, we will start to have a totally reliable supply chain. I should emphasise that the next few weeks, while we're waiting to get the final doses and get approval, is being spent 24-hours a day in preparation. The preparation that is going on for this vaccination journey is huge. We intend to get it right. We have got major logistics issues vaccinating 26 million people. We are working very closely with our partners in the states and territories, we are doing very careful planning about starting up those clinics, gentle clinics so that we can get going first with the border workers, the quarantine workers, the health care workers at risk of COVID and the elderly and disability people in care and their staff. We are ready to go. We are planning, very exciting and very exciting that we have not had to do this in an emergency way because we have a crisis to deal with. We can do this in our normal safe Australian way. Thank you.
JOURNALIST: PM on the timing, I was under the impression that mid-February might have been possible but we are talking late February. There have been issues in Europe with Pfizer. I had the impression we were getting the Pfizer vaccine out of the US manufacturing rather than European manufacturing. Have we been affected by any of the Pfizer manufacturing capacity issues or is the delay something else? And is there still a possibility that we could get more than 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine or is that not possible or not necessary?
PRIME MINISTER: I will let Greg cover that. First of all, I should say, no Australian vaccines i.e. vaccines destined for Australia, have been diverted anywhere else let me be clear about that. But there are challenges for all these big producers around the world for the reasons that I said before but I will let Greg take that.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Sure. On timing, our guidance was always mid to late February and that would depend on the shipping dates. We had the shipping dates provided last night. I note that, I think it is actually valuable to bring everybody into the confidence of the discussions with Pfizer. They have had to pause some of their supply to major nations and that has had an impact on some of their programs. For us, we are commencing in exactly the window. Though we had not put a specific date I think on multiple occasions to questions to many of you here, we have indicated that the date that we would have would be dependent on approval and then on shipping times and those shipping times were provided last night, which means we are in a position to commence in late February and our guidance has always been for a window. I would say that has undoubtedly been influenced by Pfizer's global capacity and the fact that we are within our window is indicative of a very, very strong contract and a very, very strong position. So they reaffirmed to us that they are on track to complete all of their contractual contracts, time frames and obligations. Second thing is on the selection and purchase of vaccines, we are guided by the medical expert panel. This is one where you would absolutely want the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, led by Professor Cheng, and the Scientific and Industry Technical Advisory Group, led by Professor Murphy, to be the ones making the selection of vaccines. It is an entirely medical choice and we have followed their guidance and if they recommend more of any particular vaccine, then we will secure it and we are in a position to be able to do that.
JOURNALIST: Have we secured enough vaccines to vaccinate our population three times over, has the Government confirmed what percentage would potentially be going to our Pacific or Indonesian friends?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, the Foreign Minister and the Minister for the Pacific and International Development have been, they have commenced the process of working with our Pacific Island neighbours and the first step of that is to prepare them to be able to administer the vaccine and so there is a fair bit of work going in aid support to ensure that they are in a capacity to actually deliver the vaccine. We are going through the rollout timetables and programs with them now. Obviously, they don't start the same time as we do here. But the first thing we need to do is ensure that they are equipped to be able to administer the vaccine across their population. That is the first step and I have had some fantastic messages back from our Pacific family leaders over the course of the last week. Those calls have been very well received. The Pacific leaders are appreciative of the proactive role that Australia has taken to ensure that they will be in a position to administer that vaccine.
JOURNALIST: Following what happened in Norway, will we be giving Pfizer to elderly Australians or terminally ill Australians?
PRIME MINISTER: I will let Brendan talk about that.
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: So the TGA advice, and we have obviously been concerned about this, for the very elderly and frail, that will need a very careful clinical decision. That is something that would need to be, where the risks versus the benefits of vaccination need to be carefully considered. So the vaccine is registered for all ages over 16 but there will be specific advice that ATAGI will be producing around particularly people who are very frail and close to end of life, which is that group that had the issues in Norway.
JOURNALIST: Minister Hunt, just on the distribution being ready by late February. Does that mean in terms of people getting the injection, that is likely to be early March? And just secondly, you said approximately 80,000 doses per week is the plan at the moment but let's be more conservative on that, so is the figure revised down?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: No. Sorry, firstly we are expecting that, at this stage the first vaccinations will be delivered in February and the 80,000 is the conservative figure. It could actually be higher but we will presume 80,000 doses per week is the initial distribution and then as I have said, Pfizer is around the world and I think this is quite understandable, looking at all of their available production and then they will provide guidance in mid-February for March and beyond on a weekly basis.
JOURNALIST: So how many doses will be coming out in that first shipment, for example?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: We are looking at 80,000 plus per week at the initial outset and that is why we are presuming 80,000 would be available. Then, as we have indicated, later on we will have AstraZeneca international from early March is the current guidance and then AstraZeneca domestic at the volume of approximately a million a week on the latest advice that we had over the weekend.
PRIME MINISTER: I want to stress though, what we are telling you here today is what we know today. This is a very challenging global situation and if there are any other things that occur between now and then, we will stand here and explain what is happening and I think that is the appropriate way to engage in this vaccination program. We are going to be very up-front with Australians about the vaccine, about its timing, about its rollout. We will be communicating very clearly about what the vaccine is and what families will want to know about the vaccine and to make their own choices in an informed way about that. It is a topic that we discussed somewhat last Friday at National Cabinet and we are all working together to ensure it can get out there on the ground. It is a very significant logistical challenge, one that is even more challenging in a country like Australia. In speaking to Prime Minister Netanyahu, they have also had some challenges there and they have been quite innovative in the way they have been dealing with its distribution. So we're learning from everybody and they are learning from us.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Government's had a goal of four million doses by the end of March. Assuming that we get the late February start at 80,000 a week, you are going to have to very quickly increase that rate to get to four million by the end of March. Are you confident that that goal is still realistic and if we can we get some detail about what kinds of weekly figures you would be expecting by effectively the second or so week of March?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, look, I think it is difficult to predict these things and the events of recent weeks I think will mean that four million position will be something that is going to be achieved in early April as opposed to late March. That is the reality of dealing with international arrangements. These are things that are beyond our control with these initial shipments. So that is understandable and it is a combination of the issues of AZ and Pfizer. That is why we are updating you today. Greg, did you want to add anything to that?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Sure. I think we are on track for the February commencement, the October completion, slightly earlier start for the AstraZeneca international than we would imagine, slightly earlier start for the CSL production domestically than we had imagined. The one variable here is AstraZeneca globally advised us yesterday that as we have seen, they have had a significant supply shock and so that means we won't have as much of that AstraZeneca international in March as they had previously promised, which is precisely why I maintain that the two most important decisions are the 1st of February, China decision and the AstraZeneca onshore. That means, as the Prime Minister said, that April will be the period where we complete the four million. But the start, the commencement, are all on track. Slightly earlier commencement for AstraZeneca international and slightly earlier commencement for AstraZeneca CSL domestic.
PRIME MINISTER: There will be swings and roundabouts on this process. You can expect that and what you can also expect for us to explain those as they occur.
JOURNALIST: Does that mean that the fact that it will be extended to people as young as 16 won't affect the delivery timetable at all?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: No, that doesn't because those under 18 were included in the last of the five stages already but they will be able to come forward to the general population stage, which is stage 2(b).
JOURNALIST: Minister Hunt and Professor Murphy, where are negotiations up to on securing the Moderna vaccine and what have been the struggles that have made it currently not possible to secure that deal?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: People have different views and I will turn on the science of it to Professor Murphy. But from a policy perspective, what we have done is taken the views of the medical expert panel. I understand there are many people with different views. I would have to say that our medical expert advice has arguably been the best in the world. I have got here the Australian Academy of Science release of last week, ‘The Academy supports the current Australian Government vaccination strategy, informed by the best available expertise in science.’ and it was headed Academy Statement on the pandemic Vaccines and Misinformation. It was concerned that there were many who were going or some who were going outside of the expert advice to give widely available, freely available opinions. The opinions that we listen to are those of the medical expert panels, ATAGI and SCITAG. One led by Professor Cheng and one led by Professor Murphy and if they recommend a different vaccine, if they recommend additional doses of the vaccine, then we will pursue their advice and we have followed their advice so far.
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: So the Scientific and Technical Advisory Group is meeting regularly and we are continuing to re-evaluate at every step a vaccine profile. Remember, we have got the Novavax vaccine, we’ve still got whole population coverage of Novavax. We haven't seen phase 3 trial date for Novavax yet. We don’t know that may well be as good as the other vaccines that we have got. We are also looking at our mix of the MRNA vaccines, the Moderna vaccine is very similar to the Pfizer vaccine. There is not much difference between the two. But we are looking at the MRNA vaccine profile, our protein vaccine profile, our adenovirus profile all the time and this panel, which is comprised people with deep expertise from the pharmaceutical industry and the medical and scientific industry, feels that our profile at the moment is the right one for us, but we will re-evaluate and make advice to Government and every piece of advice that that expert panel has given to Government has been accepted.
PRIME MINISTER: I’m giving everyone a go, I’m just going to keep moving across in the normal way.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just in lieu of the other questions asked and the follow-up on Moderna, have you tried to sign a contract with Moderna and is the Government struggling? And once we ramp up production, will you be looking at or why aren't we looking at doing a 24-hour vaccination program like other countries if we have the surplus stock? Why don't we try and get through the vaccination program faster?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ll let Brendan and Greg,
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: We are not in a crisis mode where we have to. We will obviously be looking at vaccination clinics that may well function after hours but we are not in a situation of having to do 24-hour vaccinations. When you set up a scale like that, there are risks associated and we want to make sure this is very, very risk-free. We want to make sure our supply chain works. We want to make sure our cold chain works, we want to make sure we have the right numbers of appropriately qualified vaccination workforce. So we are standing up a rapidly expanding vaccination workforce. When it is up at full speed, matching the supply of the onshore production of vaccines, it will be vaccinating a lot of people.
JOURNALIST: On the Moderna contract, have we tried to sign one with them?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: We are continuing to evaluate and in discussions with all of the major companies. Those discussions are commercial in confidence. We are continuing discussions with all major vaccine companies.
JOURNALIST: One of the groups that has expressed concern about the lack of data from trials for the Pfizer vaccine and a lot of vaccines is pregnant women. Are they approved for this vaccine?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: So we will be getting specific advice from ATAGI on that. There is really no data on, theoretically, the risk of this vaccine, Pfizer or AstraZeneca on pregnancy is probably very low. I note that the US and UK have different recommendations about pregnancy. We will be getting advice from ATAGI and it is advice that is really just going to be based on the best guess of what the risks are at the moment and that is coming very shortly, before the vaccine is administered.
JOURNALIST: For the Health Minister and Professor Murphy, has Pfizer have advised they can ramp up beyond 80,000 doses to Australia? We have seen in the UK they are stretching out the period between those doses. Has Pfizer said they can move faster, can they ramp up over time?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Yes, they have. They will provide the advice mid-February. It was a very valuable discussion. They operate on what they call pandemic supply the at moment. Normally they like to build inventory, make sure they have reserves, for example when we have the flu vaccine, the manufacturers ensure they have reserves, that we have reserves, we're able to roll it out continuously. Around the world they are producing and then distributing. I think the question before was our source, our source is Europe and they are producing, they are distributing, usually it is within 24-48 hours of manufacturing and so in mid-February, they will provide guidance on volumes for subsequent months but, as of last night, the discussion was about continuous supply and then progressively ramping up.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: The advice from the regulator is 21 days, approximately, and Brendan can give you more advice on the windows on either side. But our regulators recommended 21 days and that is what we are planning to do in Australia.
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: Because we have got the luxury of doing this properly, we plan to make sure that we have enough vaccine to give everyone the second dose at the recommended time. We are not planning to manipulate the revaccination times. We are doing our planning on the basis that we can give people the recommended doses at the recommended intervals.
JOURNALIST: In relation to the AstraZeneca vaccine, they were originally looking about having 1.9 million doses in January and 1.9 in February. Is that being delayed? Is that part of the supply shock you refer to? And Prime Minister, just in relation to Anthony Albanese's proposal to get former Prime Ministers Rudd and Howard involved in resetting the China relationship, do you have any perspective on that?
PRIME MINISTER: I might come back to that. Let’s deal with the health questions first and I’m happy to come back to other questions.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: On the international supply, that is the one variable that has changed because their entire global supply has changed. So at this stage, we are expecting about 1.2 million doses of AstraZeneca international. But knowing that, these figures can increase in any one day or decrease if there has been a supply change, so that was the advice as of yesterday. I spoke with the country head for Australia and they were apologetic about that but it is not anything to do with Australia, that is their global challenge which I think was widely reported on the weekend. So that is the variable in Australia. But at the same time, being able to deliver the international doses slightly earlier than anticipated and the domestic doses slightly earlier than anticipated and at major scale.
JOURNALIST: Can we talk about what the vaccine can do and can't do? Because for people watching today and will think I can stop wearing a mask, I can go to Bali, I don't have to quarantine and that space, can you just explain to people is this a sterilising vaccine that stops people from getting infected or is it a vaccine that stops people dying and getting sick and what are the implications of this? Can you transmit the COVID-19 virus even if you have been vaccinated and you are showing no signs of the illness?
PRIME MINISTER: They are very good questions and I will ask Professor Murphy to deal with them. Before he does that, I think the answer to these questions are important because it is important we understand the expectations of what the vaccine does. Let me be very clear, this year 2021, will require us to continue to be vigilant, it will continue to require us to be engaging with all sorts of COVID-19 arrangements that can further mitigate the risk of transmission and keeping Australians safe, keeping livelihoods, keeping Australia as open as possible. There are limitations to these vaccines. There is far more to learn about these vaccines. In many cases, as I have been advised, there are positions where there is not enough evidence to say it definitively does X but that doesn't mean it won't. It just means the evidence at this point is not in a position and that has been a discussion we have been having with international leaders now for some time. So it is important to understand that once the vaccines start, that doesn't mean you can jump on a plane to Bali the next day. It doesn't mean that the masks disappear if that is what the public health arrangements are in a particular state or territory or the quarantine arrangements for return into Australia will end or anything like this. This will build, it will start at small scale, it will build up and it will happen over a period of time as we have outlined over the course of this year. Of itself, it is not a silver bullet because there are still limitations to what these vaccines can do and the best person to explain what they are is Professor Murphy.
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: Thanks Prime Minister, these are really important questions and the population really want to know them. What we do know is that the two vaccines that we are rolling out now are both very good at preventing clinical COVID disease and particularly severe disease. That is great, that is going to stop people getting clinically sick and hopefully people getting sick and needing treatment and unfortunately dying. We don't yet know how effective they are at preventing the transmission of the virus. Those original studies that were published, the phase 3 trials, are based around prevention of clinical disease. We will be progressively getting data over the coming months about the impact on transmission of the virus. It stands to reason that these vaccines will also prevent, to some degree, transmission of the virus but we don't know how effective they are at doing that. Our strategy at the moment is to protect the population, to protect people from getting sick from COVID. Then we will re-evaluate what the impact is on transmission. See how widely vaccinated our population is at a particular time and look at that in terms of the vaccination in other countries. I have said to the Prime Minister, I think about a year ago, I wouldn't want to predict more than three months ahead with this pandemic and that still stands. I think at the moment, the strategy is that we are going to be pretty much in our current situation for the next three months, while we ramp up vaccination. We will progressively re-evaluate the situation at the time. So we think they will be effective. The other thing we don't know is how long the immunity of these vaccines will last. So it may be that people will need additional doses of vaccines, possibly even annually. These things are completely unknown at the moment.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] doesn't that mean hotel quarantine will have to stay in place for possibly at least another year or, I mean, essentially even if people are vaccinated and they come to Australia, they could still be carrying the virus, transmitting the virus?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: We don't know that yet. That is the data we have to get from the experience of the world's vaccinations over the next what we call the phase 4 data, the real time experience and we will know that probably within three months, we will have pretty good data on how effective the vaccines are at preventing transmission and that will give us the potential to re-evaluate things like international travel and hotel quarantine. So it is a progressive, real time re-evaluation of the public health situation.
PRIME MINISTER: That is the approach we have taken the whole way through. We prepare for what we know and we deal with what is in front of us and we constantly re-evaluate, we talk to each other, we listen to the expert medical advice and then we take the actions that are necessary. So in terms of the question you ask, Sam, that may or may not be true. It is just not in a position to be able to say that. I don't think we should leap to any conclusion about what things look like six months from now, nine months from now, just like this time last year, people were making predictions this time last year and in the months that followed, well they proved to be horribly wrong.
JOURNALIST: Special arrangements were made last year for the Indigenous communities and they were very successful. I just wonder where are they being placed in the queue for the vaccine and are there going to be special programs rolled out to protect them as fast as possible?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: The answer is, yes, they have been specifically contemplated. The Indigenous Australians over 55 years of age will be in Phase 1b, again on medical advice, and Indigenous Australians under 55 years of age but over 16 will be in what is known as Phase 2a. In addition to the general population distribution mechanisms, being the hospitals, the state vaccination clinics, the Commonwealth vaccination clinics, the role fundamentally with the AstraZeneca vaccine for general practices and we thank them from Phase 2 for the pharmacies. The Aboriginal community controlled health organisations or the Indigenous medical centres will be providing support to Indigenous communities around the country.
PRIME MINISTER: Nothing on health? Ok, we will go general on other topics.
JOURNALIST: On vaccines, a follow up to Michelle, what about people in rural Australia, people in big country towns? If you are in Ballarat, or if you are in Bathurst, the Pfizer vaccine is so hard to ship, you may not have it at your local hospital. Will people in country Australia have to drive to the big smoke to get that vaccine? Or should they just wait for AstraZeneca?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: I think we'll find that there is likely to be a very short difference in time between the rollout for the two vaccines. So they will be approximate within a matter of weeks, if not days. So our whole approach has been to make sure that regional Australia is treated in the same way as urban Australia. That was something that the Prime Minister was absolutely insistent on from day one. I remember this time last year, Brendan, he was focused on making sure that no Australian missed out on ventilation. I remember that conversation. It was a very firm conversation. Equally, he's been absolutely focused on making sure that equitable access is a fundamental tenant of this, which is why we'll have over 1,000 points of presence. We went out to a tender to general practices around Australia to invite all general practices to do that, and we'll be going out in the coming weeks, if not days, to pharmacies, to invite all pharmacies to participate, each subject to meeting the technical and training requirements. So there will be multiple points of presence, state vaccination clinics, Commonwealth vaccination clinics, general practices, pharmacies and Indigenous medical centres.
JOURNALIST: With that phase is 1a how, do you actually choose which aged care residents and which quarantine workers get the vaccine first?
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Obviously, there will be a process of ensuring that we work outwards. But at this point in time, the Department of Health is working on making sure that we have a rapid distribution to as many as possible. By definition, somebody has to be first. And we will celebrate every vaccination, and we want as many people to be vaccinated as possible. So, every vaccination will be a cause for celebration. Let me say this, we know that as you vaccinate a country, it will take time and some people will want to be earlier. We've seen some examples of that. But the medical advisors who have protected us over the course of this last year, exactly this last year, are the ones who are continuing to provide the advice on the vaccine rollout.
PRIME MINISTER: OK, we'll go to other issues and I'll pick up the question that you asked before. The Australia-China relationship is important to Australia. The China-Australia relationship is important to China. And we will, of course, remain absolutely open and available to meet, to discuss, any of the issues that have been identified. But those discussions, as I've made clear won't take place on the base of any sort of pre-emptive concessions on Australia's part on those matters. I don't think any Australian would want their Prime Minister to be conceding the points that they've set out. Our position on that is very clear, it's very honest, it's very transparent. But, of course, we value the trading and more broader comprehensive relationship, and we will be taking up whatever opportunities we believe is going to best position Australia to be in a position to advance that relationship. Now, this is a matter that the former Prime Minister Howard and I have discussed on many occasions. As you know, I speak to him pretty regularly about these and many other things. It's a topic that some time ago, and even more recently I was connecting with Prime Minister Rudd about these matters. So I'm always open to those who are very experienced in these areas and both of those former Prime Ministers are very experienced in those areas. But how this is done, well, we will continue to pursue that through the ways we are doing that. It's an important relationship, but it is a relationship that will be pursued on the basis of Australia's national interests, and without in any way compromising Australia's sovereignty.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, one of the world's biggest drug dealers has been arrested in the Netherlands, Tse Chi Lop, his organisation Sam Gor network is considered, perhaps putting 70 precent of methamphetamine on Australia's streets, on to the marketplace. How important is it that he be tried in Australia? Is there anything that you can tell us about his extradition?
PRIME MINISTER: I can't add much to that other than to say congratulations to all those Australian officers who did a fantastic job in pursuing this case. And it's a good example, Chris, of the areas in which Australia and China cooperate. Whether it's on issues of organised criminal gangs, counter-terrorism, biosecurity issues, these types of things. Australia has had a very good working relationship with China on those very important global matters. And we would look forward to having increasing good relations with them on issues of environmental management as well, not just around matters of climate, but particularly around energy technology. But I'd also say in terms of the health of our oceans and plastics and these matters as well. So there are many areas where we work together and cooperate. This is another one. But you're right. This individual has been responsible for shattering the lives and destroying the lives of an untold number of people, including here in Australia and he should be brought to justice, as he is, and he should pay for his crimes. OK, time for a couple more, but because we have our Australians of the Year gathering and I think you'll be up there for that and there's one amongst us.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, a survey has found that most Australians don't want the Australia Day date changed. Can I get your reaction to that? Are you surprised?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I'm not surprised. No, I'm not surprised.
JOURNALIST: Going back to the vaccine, sorry, just briefly. The Pfizer vaccine requires two doses and with the volatility in the global supply, are you making any contingencies to ensure that whoever gets the first 80,000 in the first week can get their follow-up in the state of time? And what is that recommended time that Australia will be pursuing between the two?
PRIME MINISTER: Greg answered that before in terms of the time-frame and that is why we've been so careful, because you've seen in other places where these things have become...
JOURNALIST: But does that mean the whole [inaudible].
PRIME MINISTER: See, we had this discussion last Friday as well and Brendan was in that discussion with the Premiers. You don't start what you can't finish, and finishing the job involves two doses. And so it's not only just that you can get two doses, but it's also the process of where you get those two doses. The digital system that is being used to ensure we know where they get them and so it's good for people to go to exactly the same place, the same GP or the same clinic. So that is the best way of ensuring the continuity of that system. So that is what has gone into our vaccination plan, and as the 21 days, Greg, as I understand is the time, and that's what we've planned for.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: So 21 days and we're planning exactly that.
JOURNALIST: Sorry Minister Hunt, Prime Minister, could we see vaccination passports for international students later this year? Or do you agree with Daniel Andrews and Minister Tudge that it is very much a 2022 proposition?
PRIME MINISTER: It's just too early to say. I don't want to create any false expectations there or false hopes. The whole issue around vaccination passports is one that the EU is very focused on at the moment and the way that you can accredit a particular vaccine and how that may potentially apply to broader movement of peoples over the course of the year as the Health Secretary said. At this point, there is no clear evidence about transmissibility, so that, of itself means that the question at this stage is somewhat premature. Our priorities in terms of entry into Australia I think are very clear. We're doing everything we can to get as many people back to Australia as we can, safely, without compromising the pressures that can be placed on our own quarantine systems. I had a good meeting with Premier Palaszczuk on Friday, in terms of what I would describe as a bit of a supplementary capacity that potentially could be done. But that only relates to an overflow capacity around charter flights. It's not an alternative. We looked at the issue of broader expansion of facilities like Howard Springs earlier in the year. I mean, if you want to get at least 5,000 people into Australia a week, which is what we had been achieving, then the idea that you can build some sort of national set of camps that can accommodate that, well, that's not a practical way to achieve it. The advice was, and I think it was right, and it was agreed to by the states and territories, that the best and most effective and safest way to do that is to take advantage of the accommodation capacity that sits through the hotel quarantine system that has been used. And that was the advice and the other options were considered. I mean, if people are suggesting that we rebuild all the detention facilities that were built under the previous Government in relation to the border crisis, well, we all know how much that cost, and we all know how that worked. So this has been a very effective way and successful way of doing it. I mean, over almost 80,000 Australians have come home since mid-September and that's been done very effectively by the states and territories. Of course, there have been some instances where quarantine hasn't been perfect but to expect perfection on that, I think in a global pandemic is unrealistic. What matters is then, is the supplementary supports that go around through tracing and other measures, which have proved to be very effective, particularly over this summer. Again, I thank Australians. Over this summer, we could have gone into a third wave. We could have been facing, right now, as Australia sort of kicks in again after Australia Day, people going back to work, we could have been going in and in the midst of a very serious third wave. Australians, to date have beaten that third wave. But the fight goes on. Last one.
JOURNALIST: On George Brandis coming home to holiday on the Sunshine Coast, while so many Australians can't come home from the UK, what's your opinion on that?
PRIME MINISTER: First of all, I'll simply give you the facts. He came back for meetings here in Australia, like many other heads of mission. He did not take the place of any other Australian. He got on the same planes that anyone else would. He spent two weeks here quarantining before he engaged in those meetings. He actually had a meeting with me when he was back, which is the case for most of the Heads of Missions of our senior posts around the country, as well as with the officials and DFAT and other ministers. He's an Australian and he spent some time with his family in his home state while he was here. They're the facts. That's what happened. OK, thank you very much.
Remarks, Australian of the Year Finalists Morning Tea
25 January 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Well I’m sorry to interrupt the conversations you are having with Jenny. It’s a great thrill for Jenny and I to be here with all of you today.
Can I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, their elders, past, present, and particularly the future that give us so much hope.
Can I acknowledge also any veterans or serving men and women of our defence forces who are here with us today or may be watching this from elsewhere and just say thank you, as we do thank all of those who serve our community each and every day even now and I’m mindful of those serving us down in those, near those Adelaide Hills with the fires that are there and those all around our country, thank you for you service.
To the Honourable Ken Wyatt, Minister for Indigenous Australians, a great Australian. To Richard Colbeck, Senator Colbeck, the Minister for Aged Care services, Senior Australians and Minister for Youth- sorry and Sport. To Ben Morton, my Assistant Minister.
To Dani Roche and all of the members of the National Australia Day Council, Dani thank you for the tremendous job you do year in year out. You bring together this amazing family of people and you shepherd them around and you connect them up and they love it, can I tell you, and I know you love it even more. There is always a smile on Dani’s face on this time of year, and I know the joy that she extracts from that is seeing the recognition of you but also the opportunity for you each to share your stories with one another and to encourage, and to encourage each other in the tremendous work you do.
Today we are honouring you for the choices you have made in your life.
Your choices to serve, your choice to speak up.
Your choice to study, learn, and work hard, to make a difference.
Each year, I meet the nominees together with Jenny, and inevitably, as you have again today, you always tell me ‘oh but there are others who have made bigger contributions’. Or, ‘why have they focused on me this is all terribly humbling’.
Your humility is one of your great virtues. But I am going to ask you to set aside that a bit today, I’m going to ask you to allow us to penetrate that humility, and honour you.
Because you deserve it.
And you should reflect on that.
And you should feel good about that.
I know that you will feel uncomfortable about that, but allow us to praise you and to put our honour upon you as a country.
You are each and every one of you remarkable.
Australia is more than 25 million stories, all important, all to be respected, all to be sought to be understood because they weave together to make this amazing nation that we call home.
But your stories are of course remarkable.
And I want to share them with you, I’ll start with someone who I’m used to standing next to, and that’s Brendan Murphy. He has been at my side for many many months now, including this morning. He is calm, measured in approach, and his voice of expertise has helped us achieve what few countries have in the course of this past year.
He got used to being in Australians’ lives and living rooms and he’s brought them I think great assurance and comfort – so much so, that one little girl asked him how he managed to get out of the TV.
He has been a public face of reassurance to Australians at one of our most difficult hours.
Like Kirby, in Bendigo. When the disposable gowns ran out three weeks in, you invented a new kind of washable gown – and you got them to 750 GP clinics in regional Victoria.
Donna, also from Victoria, helped the homeless as they endured the lockdown. And Tara, has worked with the homeless here in the ACT.
From South Australia, Richard advocates for Australians with an intellectual disability - and he worked to ensure they had a voice as we responded to COVID.
For so many others of you, the pandemic was another layer of the complexity and the challenging work that you already do.
So many of you work with Indigenous Australians and the communities, making a real difference.
Helen, our first Indigenous doctor - doing tremendous work with young people facing trauma.
Miriam-Rose, the first Indigenous teacher in the Northern Territory. Not only leading a school, but helping other schools infuse art and culture into every child’s learning.
Stuart, also from the Top End, is about to become the first Yolngu registered nurse. I hope I got that right. What a terrific milestone. Something to truly celebrate.
Tanya, the first Indigenous executive on the AFL transforming the AFL from the inside, and from the very top.
Isabel, the oldest living survivor of the Stolen Generations, overcoming, overcoming unimaginable suffering to raise awareness and stop it from ever happening again. Thank you Isabel.
McRose up in the Torres Strait Islands, nurturing families and communities, and educating people about climate change.
To Richard, he has done incredible work bringing Indigenous culture and traditions into the centre of our national life.
And Wendy a globally respected expert in Aboriginal health, working for decades in East Arnhem Land to make communities healthier and more resilient.
And there’s Pat, influencing policy and research over decades.
All of you have devoted your time to making life better for Indigenous Australians, our first nations people, to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
We are also seeing tremendous work to make our own country a better place for Australian women.
My friend Tayla, a great sportswoman. In decades to come her image will be in the museums of Australian history - that kick, that kick. And she’s been nominated for her work stamping out online bullying.
Like Tayla, Russell is a legendary figure in Aussie Rules in South Australia - and he has been nominated for his efforts against domestic violence - and supporting people with a disability.
Erica, a police officer from the Northern Territory - involved in her community keeping women and children safe.
Rosemary is doing the same thing with migrant and refugee communities. Keeping women safe.
Bich for over 35 years has been working with Vietnamese women and children. Helping them across so many areas of their lives and to realise what they hoped Australia would be for them.
To Isobel, she’s just 18 and she is breaking down the stigma about women’s hygiene. And is a real leader for the future.
There are the two Graces:
Grace Tame from Tasmania - what an inspiration she is. A woman of immense moral courage and strength - leading the #letherspeak campaign, and we were just speaking earlier - giving voice to survivors of sexual assault.
Grace’s work is a reminder, as is the work of so many of you - that Australia is not perfect. And the way to make it better is to work for it into the future as all of you are.
And then there’s Grace Forrest - championing an anti-slavery message in countries all around the world.
To Dinesh and Nathan, undaunted, are making our country a more level, welcoming place for Australians with disabilities. Overcoming.
And Daniel and William supporting endangered orangutans.
Tim and Rebecca are working on a cause close to my heart – we were just speaking about it then, dealing with plastics and landfill.
There’s Toby - from Tasmania, championing a more sustainable future.
And of course Shane from my home state, following in your father’s steps fighting the fires not just of this Black Summer but of many summers and many times, a great national hero.
To Natasha and her Drought Angels bringing relief to thousands of farming families many of whom I only saw in this past week up in Queensland, going through heart-breaking drought.
And Edna - a volunteer for 40 years. Most Christmasses she’s organising hampers for families who need them.
And Brian, 50 years- 50 years with the Scouts serving young people in this country.
This is an incredible lineup. And I thank you for your patience as I read through all of those contributions.
Amazing stories that can only make you humble and proud to be an Australian.
You all do different things, but what all of you have in common is that you saw a need and you went to meet it.
Perhaps you didn’t even know you could. Or you even had those capabilities.
You just saw the need.
And whatever you had to acquire or whatever capabilities you had to build within yourself, they built on the most important platform and that was the care and compassion you had for the need that you saw and that you sought to meet.
You decided to give it a go and as a result you have made our country better, you have made our country stronger.
And we are indeed thankful for your tremendous service.
I’m grateful, and the country’s grateful that your nominations are before us.
They are all richly deserved.
A few of you tonight will be especially recognised but that in no way diminishes anyone’s achievements tonight.
I’m sure even those, and I see our former Australian of the Year here with us today, know that you largely serve as an ambassador for the many stories who are represented here amongst all of those tremendous efforts that have been made right across our country.
So all the best tonight, I noticed that Minister Hunt is with us today as well I particularly want to acknowledge you Greg for the great work that you’ve done as well.
But, I hope you enjoy tonight.
Allow us the opportunity to honour you and thank you and be comfortable in that moment.
And as you return to where you’ve come from all across this great land, I’ll look forward to the many contributions that you’ll continue to make.
So thank you, and God bless.
Press Conference - Brisbane, QLD
22 January 2021
Prime Minister: This meeting was convened two weeks ago when we were facing a very serious set of circumstances, particularly here in Queensland. And particularly in greater Brisbane. And we agreed that we would meet again in a fortnight's time and hopefully not be in a position where we were dealing with an escalation of the crisis that we saw two weeks ago and hopefully seeing a set of circumstances that we are now seeing today. This followed a month of combatting outbreaks in New South Wales and Victoria and successfully so. Australians have responded in these last few weeks and indeed over the last month and a half in response to the outbreaks that we've seen, in a way that we are very grateful for as Premiers and Chief Ministers and indeed as the Prime Minister. Queenslanders responded, greater Brisbane responded, in New South Wales they responded, in Victoria they responded. And as a result, right here, right now, so far, we have been successful in avoiding a third wave of the virus in Australia.
Now, there are no guarantees as Professor Kidd can tell you. But as I met earlier this week with European leaders and the Prime Minister of Israel, and we've seen the terrible situation that they're facing in so many other countries. The response of the Australian people, the response of Australian governments, the outstanding work done by our contact tracers, the Australians that are coming forward for testing and observing what were quite genuine restrictions on their mobility and other things that they could do, but those actions has once again put Australia in a very strong position. And I want to thank all Australians once again, for the response. We're not out of it yet. Virus still hasn't gone anywhere and we need to maintain that vigilance.
I was particularly pleased here in greater Brisbane where there had not been cases for some time, but the quickness of the response and the cooperativeness of the response in relation to that latest lockdown that we've had here in greater Brisbane, in Sydney and Melbourne in particular, where- much bigger cities in terms of inflow of people coming in, as we've seen, that has obviously put those cities under great stress and strain. And so there has been a greater sense of awareness of course in those cities. But here in Brisbane, it shows that even though that hadn't been the case, people did respond very quickly, just as they had in Sydney, just as they had in Victoria. So we are very grateful for that. So now five days of no community transmission, across Australia and I haven’t got the updated figures for today. Professor Kidd was just checking on those before we came out. But I'm sure the states will be confirming those over the course of the day.
And so two weeks on from where we were after the last meeting of National Cabinet, then once again, I think we can show that the systems have been tested. Australians literally have been tested in large numbers, but we have passed that test over these several weeks and indeed over the last month. But it wasn't the only thing that came through over this period. Yesterday, we learnt of the jobs figures in December, which showed 50,000 more Australians in jobs in December. What that says is the way that Australia together, the Commonwealth together with the states and territories have been fighting this virus continues, to save lives and it continues to save livelihoods.
Today's meeting of the National Cabinet really as a result, provided an update and an opportunity to discuss progress across a range of fronts. We have reviewed the status of the situation in preparation for that vaccine, and we reviewed the arrangements as they relate to passenger caps coming to airports, we’ve made no changes there, but those arrangements go back to their earlier settings on the 15th of February. But there is the opportunity for me to engage with individual states and territories on a bilateral basis if we believe we can create additional capacity. But that is not an indication that that will occur. But we are seeking to have a flexible arrangement with states and territories between now and the 15th of February to meet those demands.
Pleased to see that those Emirates flights have come back only after a week or so of saying they’d go, we’ve got the other 20 flights moving. And we've been able to be quite successful in continuing to get many Australians home despite those challenges. Just to note that specifically there have been 78,876 Australians that we’ve been able to get home since the 18th of September of last year, which is when the National Cabinet set that as an urgent priority. I note also that just under $20 million dollars has already been paid out of that fund of the special overseas hardship to support Australians both in getting home as well as supporting them in place where they may be and unable to be getting on a flight and coming back to Australia. So those arrangements, those additional 20 flights, they will continue as we work through these issues over the next month.
The only other point I'd make as a result of our discussions this morning, I mentioned when we were in Canberra two weeks ago that we tasked the AHPPC to look at the potential national position on mandatory requirements for particular occupations and people working with vulnerable people - in particular, specifically in aged care. The AHPPC has not recommended to require that at this point, obviously the vaccine programme hasn’t started yet, but that is an item they'll keep under review. That doesn't mean to say that a later point they may reconsider that. But at this stage, the rollout of the vaccine and the programme there is deemed to be sufficient to ensure that the issues that would be present there would be accommodated.
With that I’ll ask Professor Kidd to make some comments.
Professor Michael Kidd, Deputy Chief Medical Officer: Thank you, Prime Minister. So as the Prime Minister has said, good news across the country and we've had 28,750 cases of COVID-19 reported in Australia to date. But as of 12 o'clock yesterday, that was our fifth day with no reports of community transmission. This, of course, in a world where the most recent figures show we've had over 96-million people reported as being diagnosed with COVID-19. And very sadly, over the last week passed that milestone of over 2 million people being reported to have lost their lives from COVID-19 right around the world. So good news in Australia, but we, of course, still need to be on our guard and we still need to have all the precautions in place, which we've had operate so successfully and demonstrated to operate so successfully over the last few weeks.
We had 92 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Australia over the last 7 days. 91 per cent of those cases were overseas acquired, those people all in quarantine arrangements across the country. The number of active cases of COVID-19 has also fallen to 186, down from 296 this time last week. So, again, a reflection of the reduction in the number of cases that we're seeing. We still are seeing at least 1 per cent of all international arrivals coming into Australia being diagnosed with COVID-19, which reinforces the importance of our quarantine arrangements.
One of the areas which is causing the AHPPC concern is the new variants appearing around the world, the B-117 variant initially identified in the United Kingdom has now been identified in 48 countries around the world. And we've had 48 cases of that variant in people arriving in Australia since that was first identified. The B-1351 variant, which was first identified in South Africa, now has been identified in 13 countries. And again, we've had 12 cases of that variant in people who have come into Australia in hotel quarantine. There's a third variant which is causing concern globally, the B-11281 variant, first identified in Brazil has already been identified in Brazil and Japan to date. One of the concerns with these variants as you’d be aware is the concern about whether they lead to increased transmissibility of COVID-19. Fortunately, they don't seem to be causing more severe disease, but more at risk of being transmitted from person to person. And as a consequence, the AHPPC has increased the isolation requirement for people who are diagnosed with these new variants from 10 days to 14 days before they are considered for potential release from isolation. Prime Minister, I might stop there.
Prime Minister: Happy to take questions on the National Cabinet, then I’m sure there may be other issues you wish to raise.
Journalist: Mr. Prime Minister, in regards to the Premier’s, Queensland Premier’s plan for quarantining people in regional Australia, did she present a case to you in National Cabinet today or give you any further update or indication about what the plans for that?
Prime Minister: It was briefly referred to, but as a matter for us to discuss later today when we meet.
Journalist: What do you personally think of the idea? You’ve made some comments about some concerns raised up in Gladstone? What do you think of the idea?
Prime Minister: Well I haven’t seen a proposal. So it's very hard for me to respond to a proposal I haven’t seen. And so I look forward to getting further details of that today. I mean, I keep an open mind. Obviously, as the government keeps open mind on things, all I’ve simply done is reflect the views of those I spoke with when I was up in Gladstone, and they were views that were candidly expressed to me and there are a lot of questions that have been raised in particular by the Labor mayor up there in Gladstone and they're issues that obviously would have to be addressed in any proposal. This is a proposal which I anticipate getting more detail on today. It's been brought by the Queensland government. So it's a matter for the Queensland government to work through those issues in their proposals, I think, with those local communities, as other Chief Ministers and Premiers have done on these types of issues.
Journalist: So it will be discussed when you meet with Ms Palaszczuk later today?
Prime Minister: Yes. I look forward to getting the proposal.
Journalist: [Inaudible] has indicated,
Prime Minister: Sorry I missed the start of that?
Journalist: Countries overseas have indicated there are issues, supply issues with the Pfizer vaccine. Will that affect Australia's rollout?
Prime Minister: Well the Health Minister and others will make further comment on this. I mean, there's no doubt in the discussions I held with the European Prime Ministers and others earlier in the week, that there are some difficulties that they're encountering. And so we're watching that very closely. We were able to provide as much as possible today to the Premiers and Chief Ministers. So they know what we know. And there are some things that are within our control and some things that are not. One of the reasons that we saw- and paid a premium for ensuring that we could produce the AstraZeneca vaccine here in Australia, was to ensure that particularly over the course of the year, we would not be as exposed to the vulnerabilities of those supply chains and producers in other countries. And so that is a very significant capability that we've invested in, which will prove up our situation particularly over the course of the year. But in the early phases of this, we're obviously reliant on the delivery of the vaccines from those producing countries, in that early stage. But I think we've been very careful to, I think, be clear about expectations here. And we know that we'd be starting at a small scale before moving to a much greater scale. And we’ve set out indicative timeframes where we would hope to commence in mid to late February. But that will obviously change and be subject to any impacts on production schedules, overseas. I know that Pfizer is retooling, upgrading their capacity in Europe to produce and increase the output of what they're doing there. There are huge demands across Europe from other clients. So we'll just continue to work through that and we'll update the Australian people as we have information available to us, but Michael do you want to add to that?
Professor Kidd: I think that's very fair and reasonable. Obviously, the priority groups which have been identified for all of the, for the vaccine are moving ahead. And it's important that we get the vaccine out to those priority groups, the residents in aged care, the people who are working in quarantine and on the borders. And, of course, our front line healthcare workers.
Prime Minister: It was always our plan to start small and build up. And when that can ultimately start is going to be conditional upon those delivery arrangements and the capabilities of those producers.
Journalist: Do you have assurances from Pfizer that you'll get it on time?
Prime Minister: Well, these are part of our contractual arrangements with them and we are in a similar situation to many other countries.
Journalist: Prime Minister, just on- you referred to Emirates before,
Prime Minister: We have contractual arrangements with Pfizer for the supply of vaccines, let me be very clear about that.
Journalist: You referred to Emirates resuming their flights earlier, but given that they had pulled out, have their spots that they've been allocated been allocated to other airlines? Can they just snap back?
Prime Minister: They'll be able to resume their flights. They have those air rights and can resume those flights. In the meantime, what we were seeing, passengers on their flights being able to move on to capacity on other services that were coming through and of course, the additional charter services that we were putting in place. So we've been able to maintain the capacity. And so, but Emirates coming back in is welcomes. It's great because remember, it's not just those who are coming on these flights. I mean, these flights also carry important supplies, there’s freight that are involved in these air services. And they're going into our major capital cities. And that is important for supply chains on a whole range of different goods and services.
Journalist: And just on the 20 repatriation flights from the U.K. the first two sold out within minutes. Are there any plans for additional flights at this stage?
Prime Minister: We’ve facilitated so far 70, and now we put on an additional 20. As I said we've provided some almost $20 million dollars in hardship support to people overseas. Our first priority as premiers and chief ministers and I reaffirmed today, is the health and safety within Australia and then to seek to bring and support as many Australians seeking to come home as possible, and we've been able to maintain that, as I said, we've had some almost 79,000 people that have been able to do that since the middle of September. And at that time, at that time, there were only around about 26,000 odd who had registered to come home at that point. So we've significantly exceeded the amount of people we thought we'd be able to get home over that period. But of course, there are more given the deterioration of the situation around the world since that time that are seeking to do that. And that's why we are supporting them through the hardship fund, the additional charter flights and seeking to maintain as much capacity as we can. But ultimately, that's also going to be conditional on the quarantine requirements, we have to put the public health and safety within our borders first.
Journalist: If there's no mandatory requirement for aged care workers to receive the vaccine, does that leave aged care residents at risk if they may be being treated or dealt with by people who don't have that additional level of protection?
Prime Minister: Well, I'll ask Professor Kidd to comment on this, but let me be clear about what Professor Kidd and the AHPPC have said, at this point, they are not recommending that be the case. But that doesn't mean that that mightn’t be a position in the future. And so we will take this step by step. And I have no doubt if there were concerns about the well-being of vulnerable Australians, particularly elderly Australians, that they would make such a recommendation. Michael?
Professor Kidd: So let me be very, very clear. We are actively encouraging the residents of aged care and people who are working in aged care, both the staff of the facilities, but also the people coming into the facilities around the country to receive the COVID-19 vaccine when it starts to roll out into their areas. And we are anticipating a very high uptake amongst both residents and staff in order to protect the residents from COVID-19. At this point, we're not looking at a recommendation of mandatory vaccination. And the rationale behind this is because firstly, we haven't yet rolled the vaccine out across the country. So we don't want to be excluding people from aged care because they haven't been vaccinated, because they don't fall into one of the priority groups that has been, we want our residents in aged care to be able to see their loved ones regularly, of course. And we also are still learning a lot about the vaccines and about how effective the vaccines are at preventing the transmission of COVID-19. We know the vaccines from the clinical trials are very effective at preventing severe disease and preventing death amongst people who may be at risk from COVID-19. We're still learning about transmissibility and we're still learning about the duration of the immunity which is provided by the vaccines.
Journalist: Prime Minister, there seems to be some speculation this morning about whether the Tokyo Olympics are going ahead. Have you heard anything about that? And are you confident they are still going ahead?
Prime Minister: Well, there has been some rumours floating around today, and I've seen no official confirmation of those, and the situation in Japan right now in terms of the spread that’s occurred there more recently, is quite different to even when I was there in November. And so I can understand that that's putting some real pressure and Prime Minister Suga, like I here or any Prime Minister anywhere has to put, I think, the health and safety of their populations first and what could be managed. So we'll watch that. I think it would be very disappointing for the Japanese people and of course, Prime Minister Suga and former Prime Minister Abe if that were the case. But if that were the case, then I could understand those circumstances. And only feel for them. I imagine that would be quite, quite disappointing for them. And I would certainly be in touch with the Prime Minister to extend that, our thoughts to them at that time.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Google has this morning threatened to disable its search engine in Australia if the media bargaining becomes law. Is this an acceptable threat against Australians?
Prime Minister: Let me be clear. Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia. That's done in our Parliament. It's done by our government and that's how things work here in Australia and people who want to work with that in Australia, you're very welcome. But we don't respond to threats.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Margaret Court, former tennis player has been recognised in the Australia Day honours. It’s apparently been leaked earlier than Tuesday. What do you think of her being recognised?
Prime Minister: Well, I can't comment on an award that is done through an independent process that hasn't been announced, or I have no official knowledge of those things. This is a completely independent separate process and those announcements will be made on the appropriate day. And it's a system that recognises Australians from right across the full spectrum of achievement in this country. And it's, so I can't really offer comment on something that is speculative.
Journalist: Prime Minister mental health initiative to assist our emergency services, is it needed and should there be more?
Prime Minister: Mental health has been one, I think, of the signature elements of the Australian response, not just to the pandemic, but as you know, over the course of these past few days, I've been out in regional Queensland, outback Queensland, and the lessons that we learned from the floods in north Queensland, as I shared with the communities there, were what we applied during the COVID pandemic. And with the terrible losses in those floods, one of the things that didn't occur to the best of our knowledge is it didn’t result in death by suicide specifically, relating to those issues, and I think in part that is been because of the enormous resilience of those communities supporting each other, but the actions that we took together with the state governments to provide those mental health services and reaching out to those states, and to those properties and to those communities. Now the same has been true in our response to the outbreaks that we've seen of COVID over the course of the last year in response to the drought. So mental health, particularly on COVID, has been a signature part of the Australian response and recognised so when I was attending the G20 summit, and the East Asia Summit recently, as each country talked about the response we had, I was able to make reference to how mental health is a key part of our response. And it was actually the Sultan of Brunei who was the other leader who was particularly focussed on that issue and I commend him for doing so. Our emergency service workers, our police officers, the paramedics, they see things and deal with things, that thankfully the rest of us don't. I’m the son of a police officer and my brother's a paramedic. My brother-in-law was a firey. So I've got some understanding of what they go through each and every day. And things have changed a lot when it comes to mental health support for our emergency service workers since when my dad was a beat police officer working at Kings Cross in Sydney. And so I think that's a good thing. But, you know, for people who put themselves in harm's way for us, it really is an issue of just making sure we do what we possibly can.
Journalist: With the issues being faced by the Pfizer vaccine, are you confident we can still see January approval, end of January approval and mid-February roll out?
Prime Minister: Well, I'm not going to speculate on that today, when we're in a position to make decisions and announcements about these things, then we will. I think it's very important that we don't speculate on those matters. There are some uncertainties which we've already discussed today. But what I can tell you is this, that the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Professor Skerritt and the whole team they will be making sure it's safe, in terms of that- those vaccines. And when they say it's safe, when they give it the tick, then I'll take the jab. And I think all Australians can, too. And, but our process is world leading. It's world class. It's a process that I believe Australians can have a lot of confidence in. We're not rushing this, nor are we delaying it. We are getting it right. That's what matters. We're getting it right. And by getting it right I think Australians can have a lot of confidence. We're learning a lot from what's happening overseas. And you've got to get all your ducks in a row on this because remember, there's two, there's two shots in the vaccine. You don’t go and give the first one, if you haven’t got the confidence about the second one, and that can put a lot of pressure on your system. So the refrigerated storage, the logistics, the transportation, the training of the workers, the clinics where they'll be, all of that is being worked through in precise detail. But the first step in all of that, of course, is for the TGA to give it the tick. And they are dotting every ‘i’ and they are crossing every ‘t’.
Journalist: Those logistics that you speak of, so you think that they're more challenging for a place like Queensland where our population is spread over such a vast area?
Prime Minister: Well, I think WA would probably claim some special challenges with the remoteness of populations, too, as with the Northern Territory and in all states and territories. I mean, Australia has a different challenge to a very small country like Israel for example, and many of the European nations. So we have a different set of challenges to others, and especially I would say, whether it's here in Queensland or elsewhere, remote indigenous populations, which has always been a very keen focus for us on COVID-19. And that's why the planning is so important, to get it all right. It's tough, but we're good at this. Australians are very good at this. And I think in the way that we've managed COVID up to date, I think that will only be demonstrated further in how we manage the next stage of the process. But you're right, it's not without challenges. Of course it is. It's going to be a very big logistical challenge. And that's why we're spending the time to get it right. Professor?
Professor Kidd: Oh just saying, as you know initially the vaccine will be rolling out through the hubs, for the Pfizer vaccine but then there'll be up to a thousand sites, including general practises right across the country, which will be involved in distributing the vaccine to people right across Australia.
Prime Minister: I think we have time for one or two more?
Journalist: Just on the remote work camps again Prime Minister, acknowledging that you said you haven't seen a proposal yet, but what additional solutions is the Commonwealth working on to take the pressure off hotel quarantine and to get more Australians home?
Prime Minister: Well I just talked about the 20 flights bringing Australians home and we’ve expanded the capacity of Howard Springs to do that as well. And we are looking at what provides additional capacity and the additional capacity could come through raising the caps again, when that's safe to do so. And that's what we'll discuss specifically with Premiers and Chief Ministers over the next, over the next week or so. The hotel quarantine system and the volume, I mean, you look at in New South Wales in particular, that has taken three times, three times what has happened here in Brisbane and the way they've been able to successfully manage, I think, that flow over a long period of time. And so the hotel quarantine system remains incredibly important to getting Australians home and but where there are other facilities we've been able to put in place, particularly in the Northern Territory, that's proved to be quite effective. We will work with states and territories on their quarantine arrangements. We'll look at this proposal. But I just note the issues that have been raised up in Gladstone by the mayor, the legitimate issues that need to be considered as I said yesterday, and one of those factors is that there is an enormous amount of maintenance work done on all the industrial plants up in Gladstone over the course of this year. One of the reasons Australia has done well economically over the course of COVID is we've been able to keep our heavy industry going. And the prospect of that being impacted by something in a community like that needs to be carefully considered. So, you know, the Commonwealth is not- keeps an open mind on all of these proposals, but equally where proposals have been put forward they need to be rigorous they need to address the concerns of local communities. I think that’s only fair.
Journalist: You caused a bit of a stir yesterday when you said that the convicts arriving on the First Fleet didn't have a particularly flash day either, some people suggesting it was creating a false equivalence with what Australia's indigenous population endured during European settlement. Do you have any regrets about the way you phrased that or what you said?
Prime Minister: I think it was false to take that implication. I was drawing no equivalence between any of these things. I was simply saying this: you know, Australia is more than 25 million stories, more than 25 million. And each of us here can trace our own stories back into our experience in Australia, Indigenous Australians, First Nations people also, all the stories are important. All the stories should be respected. And on Australia Day, that's an opportunity to do that, understanding the loss, the gains, the successes, the failures, the hardships that were encountered. I mean, Australian stories are unique in this country. And, but the thing that I celebrate most about Australians, despite the hardship whether that be that of dispossession, and the terrible disease and destruction that was faced by First Nations peoples, or whether it's the convicts who came or the settlers that followed, the immigrant waves that come over the course of our nation's history, all of those stories are important. They're not competing with each other. They're just part of who we are. Thanks very much.
Press Conference - Yarwun, QLD
21 January 2021
Ken O’Dowd MP: Well, good morning, everybody. It's a pleasure to have with me today the Prime Minister who spent quite a bit of time in the last few days in northern and central Queensland. Welcome you to Gladstone today, with him is Keith Pitt, the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia. Also the Managing Director of Northern Oil, Mr Tim Rose. It’s a pleasure to be out on this site. You know, this site is the most modern plant in the world, in the world for recycling of waste oil. In this plant, they recycle waste oil. Take all the impurities out of the oil and return it back to base stock. So this is a great success story and it has a great future in Australia, the number one recycling plant in the world. There are other overseas countries who are looking at this plant to duplicate it in the other countries where they want to go into the recycling of oil. But with that, I'd like to hand over no to, two exciting announcements we’re going to make today, the Prime Minister so I’d like to hand back over to them over the him for the announcement thanks to. Thanks.
Prime Minister: Thanks Ken, it’s great to be here again with Keith Pitt, always good to be here with Keith Pitt and Ken and Shirly and it’s been great catching up with a lot of people last night here in Gladstone and Tim, can I congratulate you, too, on the amazing, the amazing development of this world class, world leading facility here for oil recycling here in Gladstone. You know, this is probably some of the most important industrial real estate anywhere in this country. It's a long way from where many Australians live. But I can tell you what happens here, impacts on all Australians. And it's very important to understand the value of that to Australia and its critical importance to Australia going forward.
But before I make a few other comments, I just wanted to start off by congratulating President Biden and Vice President Harris on their inauguration in the early hours of Australia this morning and to wish them all the very best. Australia and the United States are the best of mates and the best of allies. We have been through everything together over a very long time. And this is a relationship between Australia and the United States that has been stewarded by Prime Ministers and Presidents of all political persuasions for a very long time and to the great benefit and the great success of both countries. And this relationship is even more important today than ever before, certainly at any time since the end of the Second World War. And I appreciate the sort of very warm sentiment that we're already getting back from the Biden Administration and the many challenges that we have to work together on, both within our Alliance, both more broadly in multilateral fora with like minded countries, whether in the Quad, the G20, G7 plus, the OECD. There's a lot of work for us together, whether it's on climate, on energy, on international security, and importantly, regional security here in the Indo-Pacific and the great partnerships we have with the South Pacific nations, with the South East Asian nations, in ASEAN. These are all the big issues that President Biden and I will continue to address together as Prime Ministers and Presidents always have. But I particularly warmly congratulate Vice President Harris on her inauguration. That is an historic moment and one that I think as a father of daughters, you can only celebrate. And I wish her all the best in her very important duties as well.
Turning to today, though, here in Australia gas is key to the COVID-19 recovery. It's the key to jobs, it's the key to a manufacturing industry here in Australia and heavy industry here in Australia that will underwrite our economic fortunes for generations to come. We are now well into the transition of energy future, not just here in Australia, but all around the world. And as all countries recognise, including in the United States, where they've demonstrated most significantly, gas is a key, if not the key transition fuel to ensure that we can make a transition to a net zero economy into the future. And we can do it while at the same time maintaining the heavy industries and the jobs that are so important, both here in Australia, especially in regional communities, as well as right across the country. Got to get the gas, has been my message. And getting that gas, it's important to partner with our big LNG exporters. Australia leads the world together with only a very small handful of countries in exporting of LNG, and that market is becoming even more competitive. And no one does it better than Australia, but it's also important that Australia gets the gas as well and that Australia pays a price for gas that is commensurate with what is happening around the world. And that's why the agreement that we extend now with the three big LNG exporters will ensure that uncontracted gas gets offered to Australians at comparable netback price opportunities to ensure that Australians can benefit from the significant gas reserves of this country.
Now, this arrangement is only one of many parts about getting the gas strategy and one that is part of our broader JobMaker plan. And that's involving the support of the transmission and pipeline networks, the Wallumbilla hub producing those gas hubs, which can provide greater certainty and stability in pricing and supply of gas around the country. But it's also about this agreement and it's also about getting the gas up from underneath our feet to ensure the prosperity and jobs of Australians. And to that end, I continue to welcome the recent decision by the New South Wales government, supported by the federal government, of getting the gas there in western New South Wales. That gas is critical to our manufacturing plan, which I announced last year. These arrangements are critical to getting the price of gas down. Our manufacturing plan is based on ensuring that we get more competitive and better priced access to gas as feedstock, particularly for our industrial producers around the country here, Tim tells me it's around about 80 per cent of his final energy demand here, 80 per cent. That's a big part of your overhead. And as we saw in the United States, through their gas revolution, they see- they saw a manufacturing renaissance in the United States off the back of their gas revolution. And we want to see the same thing happen here in Australia. And that is part of the path to net zero carbon economy here in Australia. We want to achieve that. And we're working hard to work out when that can be achieved by- not through taxes, but by technology and the smart innovation of companies and researchers and scientists here in Australia as part of our technology roadmap. And one of those is Tim’s business here. We're standing in an oil recycling business, best in class, in fact, leading the world. And this brings together two of our great ambitions and strategies of the government; both to ensure that we are keeping heavy industry going in this country, but we're operating in a circular economy and what they've been able to achieve here and where they're moving in biofuels. This is a Sub-Zero emissions plant and business we're talking about here. You can get it done and you can get it done through smart investment and technology, not by lumbering on taxes, on jobs and the Australian people.
So they’re our plans, later today, Ken and I will be turning the sod on the School of Manufacturing up here in Gladstone, and that goes with the School of Mining down in Rockhampton. And getting the skills is an important part of our manufacturing strategy, and that means getting the skills into industries like the one we're standing here right now. So congratulations, Tim. I'm very excited about Australia's future this year. And getting the gas is a huge part of it.
And I’ll hand you on to Keith Pitt.
The Hon Keith Pitt MP, Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia: Thanks PM. Well, it's great to be back in the heart of industry here in Gladstone, Ken O’Dowd country, better known as the bulldog in the parliament. His bark is as bad as his bite, I've got to say. But once again, we're here at a local industry delivering local jobs off the back of Australia's resources, and in particular, that key consumable, which is gas. You know, the Commonwealth has a plan to deliver more gas into the market at a competitive price. We want all of our businesses to be internationally competitive. And the gas price is a key part of that, as is the electricity price. So another tool in the toolbox, the signing of the heads of agreement between the Commonwealth and the three Big East Coast gas exporters. What that deal does is ensures that all uncontracted gas is first made available to Australian domestic consumers before it is exported at a competitive international price. More gas means lower prices. And as I've said, this is just one part, one key, one tool in the toolbox, along with the ADGSM, the domestic gas safety mechanism, which I as minister can activate if there is a shortfall. Now, that hasn't been necessary in the past. I don't expect it to be necessary in the future. But it is a tool which is there and available. We add that with the five key strategic basin plans we are developing, the first one being the Beetaloo in the Northern Territory, which is now well advanced. And in fact, we were in the Territory just last week committing another $170 million dollars to road infrastructure that goes along with $50 million dollars to support exploration in the Beetaloo, to firm up that resource and business will do the rest. Quite simply, confidence is what drives these types of projects and processes. We know the world is watching Australia very closely. And I want to ensure, as the PM does, as Ken O'Dowd does, that we continue to deliver Australia's gas and resources for Australian users and maintain our reputation internationally as a reliable supplier of energy and resources right around the world. So we are focussed on ensuring we can bring manufacturing jobs back. We can maintain manufacturing jobs in places like Gladstone and the fundamentals of business remain the same, consumables and your input prices being competitive, skilled and available workforce- technology that's leading the world. All of those things are available not only in Gladstone, but right around Australia and in particularly here at Northern Oil. And it's been great to come and see it again first hand. And I thank Tim Rose, we might ask you to make a brief comment as the local CEO, Australians producing some of the best technology that's recognised, that’s sought, that’s looked for to be delivered to overseas markets, to some of our competitors, but once again, in the interests of the environment and keeping that balance right. And that is exactly what we are striving to achieve when it comes to gas in this country, a balance between producers and manufacturers and making sure we get that balance right. And we have.
Tim Rose, Managing Director Northern Oil Refinery: Thank you. Look, we draw waste oil from anywhere between Darwin and Adelaide, everywhere east of there, there are 48,000 pick up points all around the country that we've got to collect that oil from and bring it back to here. It's quite a massive logistical challenge. And but we do it, we do it every day, 400,000 litres without stop 24/7. And to do that, you need plants like this. And when you've got plants like this, you also need gas. So I fully endorse all the comments that have been made up to now because it's just critical to this sort of infrastructure.
Prime Minister: Congratulations, $100 million dollars of capital right here, the last 6 years it’s very impressive. Greg?
Journalist: Prime Minister, manufacturers and the AWU say you’ve squibbed it on price controls, putting price controls in this agreement, why are there not specific price controls?
Prime Minister: Because we're a market economy. And what we want to see is the market operate well here. And we don't want to put a floor on the price. We want that price to be able to go where it needs to go, which will be driven not just by what's happening here in Australia, but the price pressures, which is putting pressure down on prices. I mean, we don't want manufacturers in Australia to be quarantined from lower prices and the market forces that are happening in the international gas industry will mean that that's where the pressure is coming. And the whole point of this is I want manufacturers to get lower gas prices. And that's what this, that's what this mechanism that's what this set of arrangements have already been supporting. And when you combine it with the strategic basins policies, when you combine it with the transmission and the pipelines policies, when you combine it with what we're doing here to ensure that the first offer on uncontracted gas gets to Australians on the netback price arrangements, then that is the way to drive a sustainable market into the future. You know, governments don't have to get involved in everything. You know, we can't have an economy that's run by the government. You need to have an economy that's run by people who are investing their own money and making decisions about where they can get that return. That's what Tim’s done here, done it all here in Australia, $100 million dollars is standing behind us right here. And he's made that a reality.
Journalist: Is a $4 gigajoule price, is that doable? That’s what’s been called for my Andrew Liveris, producers say it’s completely un-doable, what’s your view?
Prime Minister: Well, look, it's a great aspiration to have and Andrew said that to me in the many conversations I've had with him. And when I sat down with Andrew as we were going through the co-ordination commission's work, the COVID commission's work that fed in so heavily into our manufacturing strategy, he said, if you can't get gas prices down, then you know, everything else you try and do in the manufacturing sector is going to be held back. And so that's why the gas plan is such an important part of our manufacturing strategy. So, sure it’d be great to get there where, where, where it gets to ultimately, the market will determine. But I think, you know, if we're all working to strive to get those prices down, then the sort of mechanisms we're putting in place here. I think, you know, if that is doable, then this is how you do it.
Journalist: If not $4 then I guess what are you anticipate a price will be?
Prime Minister: Well, I'm not going to speculate on it, all I know is the things that we're doing is putting downward pressure on the prices. That's what we can do. What happens next is how that plays out in the marketplace. But what we're doing is putting pressure downward on prices. And that's what the purpose of the government policy is.
Journalist: A similar agreement 2017 saw about a $5 figure drop per gigajoule, I mean that’s a pretty big cut to the price, do you-
Prime Minister: Well and we welcome that. And there are many factors that are driving gas prices, I mean, right around the world, see I've been puzzled at the pushback we've had politically and otherwise on our acknowledging the critical role that gas plays as a transition fuel in our economy. I mean, what's their alternative? To sit on our hands for a decade or two? That's not how you get there-
Journalist: [Inaudible]
Prime Minister: Well, that technology isn’t going to deliver what gas can deliver in the next 10 years.
Journalist: So it’s not ready?
Prime Minister: So, you know, that all has to be developed. That's what our technology roadmap is about. But you don't sit on your hands while you're waiting for something else to turn up. We don't just tell everyone here to shut up the shop and go home and come back when some other technology is ready. You've got to keep the show on the road. And we're going to live as a generation in a transition energy economy to a net zero economy into the future. And we want Australia to be prosperous through that transition, not for Australia to go out of business during that transition, for the jobs to go. And the whole world gets this, because they are all looking for gas and they are all looking to plug into the gas, whether it's us, whether it’s in Russia, in China, the United States, all around the world, they get it, we get it. And I’d call on others to get with it to.
Journalist: Tourism and transport forum has a report out today suggesting that the domestic border closures cost the tourist market $7 billion dollars and if JobKeeper isn’t extended for that industry would lose 318,000 jobs including about 100,000 in Queensland. Doesn’t that show that they domestic tourist market can’t keep going and we do need some sort of JobKeeper or new replacement programme after March?
Prime Minister: Well, I think it's too early to make those calls. And that's why when we've made calls on these things. We've always done it based on the best information at the right time. And I'd also say that when it comes to the impact of the domestic market here in Australia and the impact of border closures domestically, of course it's had that cost. I mean, I've pointed that out for months and months, and that's why it's always had to be the judgement of the Premiers to to make the judgement call, to get the balance between the appropriate protection of the public's health and the necessary functioning of their domestic state economies.
I mean, to raise the issue of the impact of the cost is fair and it's right. But equally, you know if there'd been a repeat over these last months, over this last month of what occurred in Victoria with the second wave, then I'll tell you what, the impact would have been far worse. So, you know, there's two sides to that coin, and that's what managing COVID is all about. It's about managing risk. And there are costs involved with all of these decisions. And as Premiers and I as Prime Minister, as we have regularly sought to do, you've just got to try and make the best calls on the best information that you have. But, you know, equally, businesses have got to make calls themselves about what they're going to do. I mean, the next year, I believe it's going to be better than last year, but it's still going to be a challenging year. And individual businesses are going to have to make decisions about how they're approaching that. And what we've sought to do is create as much certainty as possible about what the support arrangements are. We've set them out right now and we're making those transitions. I think Australians would agree that taxpayers money can't be used endlessly to run the Australian economy. That is not a sustainable way forward. That just piles up debt. And we've got a lot of it now that was necessary to do. But I, my approach on these things is every dollar you need to, but not a dollar you don’t have to. You know, you've got to get that balance right for the taxpayers. And I think that's been the right balance we've struck.
Journalist: As you said the businesses need that certainty, they need to start planning ahead. Don’t they need to know whether there will be supports in place after March [inaudible]?
Prime Minister: Well, at this stage the settings are as I've set them out and people should work on the basis of those settings unless they're reviewed.
Journalist: And that's that JobKeeper will end in March, they won’t get JobKeeper after March? They should work on that basis?
Prime Minister: Well the settings we’ve set out for a long time, Greg, and we haven't made any changes to those.
Journalist: [inaudible]?
Prime Minister: Sorry?
Journalist: Will there be a review to that? Potentially extended it, if businesses are saying-
Prime Minister: Well, the assumption that is being made is there are not other things being done in the economy to drive the growth that supports businesses coming out the other side. And as I've stressed at many press conferences now, for months, the same dire predictions were made when we cut JobKeeper back and cut JobSeeker back. We were going to go off the edge of a cliff. It was going to be the end of Australia's recovery, 450,000 businesses stepped off JobKeeper, and more than 2 million Australians got off taxpayer support.
More jobs were created. The JobMaker hiring credit is putting more Australians, particularly younger Australians, back into work and onto apprenticeships. There's work that is continuing to come out and build in Australia, particularly in regional areas, particularly in regional areas. There are skills that are needed in places like Gladstone. Kenny was telling me, we're going into a big maintenance year up here in Gladstone over this next 12 months. And that means, you know, those mining camps are going to be full of people coming in to do the services work here in Gladstone. And they're going to need a lot of those skills. So there's going to be more work in Australia in 2021. And we need our economy to get back on its own feet. And everything we're doing from infrastructure to lower energy costs to the skills reforms we're putting in place, the changes to industrial relations that we need to get in place when parliament returns. All of that is going to get Australians back into work. That's what we're for.
Journalist: On, international travel would you foresee a situation where it's a gradual reopening, more bubbles for example, [inaudible] bubbles in the Pacific [inaudible] could there be bubbles with other nations in Asia with low COVID cases, is that the likely way forward?
Prime Minister: Well, we've been working to a Pacific bubble for many months now, and the premiers all know that because they've been briefed on it at National Cabinet by the chief medical officer, and the chief medical officer and the health team have been assessing the COVID risk in Pacific countries now for many, many months and have reported back to the premiers about those issues. And the news is pretty good across the Pacific. And it's largely COVID free pretty much, except in countries like Papua New Guinea. The challenge is, though, is that the health systems in those countries are obviously different to what it is in Australia, and the testing regimes are not what they are in Australia. That's to be expected. So that does create a bit of uncertainty that we have to be mindful of. But it has been our policy, just as it was, you know, we were the first as a federal government to be talking about opening up travel to New Zealand. We were able to convince states that that was a good way to go. I think that shows our track record that where you can do it, we'll do it. And I think particularly with the Pacific, I would love to see that because the remittance income that goes back to those Pacific countries is very important to them for their economies and for the seasonal labour that we need here in Australia it's also very important. So, you know, there's no new idea about a Pacific bubble. That was something the Commonwealth government has been working on for months. And the states know that very well.
Journalist: And more broadly outside of the Pacific, countries like Singapore with low cases, is that something [inaudible]?
Prime Minister: I think that's a bit tougher, Greg, at the moment. But look, you know, you just deal with, what you don't do in a crisis is speculate. What you do is you just act and you make decisions on the information when you think it's in the best form it’s in to make those decisions, I’ll leave the hypotheticals to the journos. And I'll just focus on the facts and the decisions I have to make.
Journalist: Speaking of, quarantine camps here in Gladstone, there’s been a bit of a hotly, a hot discussion at the moment. A lot of federal members are saying that they don’t support it whereas the Deputy PM came out and said that he did support Calliope for example, if that was to happen I mean would the federal government commit to bolstering the health services?
Prime Minister: Well, look, this is a proposal from the Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, that I haven't seen the proposal yet. I'm not aware that it has even come forward to the federal government. I spoke to the Labor mayor here last night. He didn't, he hasn't seen a proposal yet either. I mean, Kenny and I've been talking about it and Keith, and I spoke to a lot of people overnight as well. And I think there are clear concerns here in Gladstone for a lot of, you know, quite sensible reasons. I mean, many of those were things we had to work through in the Northern Territory. But the way Michael Gunner dealt with that is he went and sorted that on the ground with the local communities, provided the assurances, brought forward a proposal that we were able to support ultimately. But he did the groundwork. And I tell you, I mean, for something like that to be even considered, I think the Premier would have to get the local Labor mayor on board for a start. And I don't think that's happening at this point. I think they've got some quite genuine issues that they're raising.
Most significantly, I think, is the point that Ken has rightly raised, which is the point around so many people coming into Gladstone over this next 12 months, coming to do the big maintenance works. Now, we can't afford, there's not a great risk tolerance there, because that work needs to happen and if you imagine that went through in such a critical year for this region, I think there are also concerns that people up here don't want to see Brisbane's issues dumped on those in the north. I think you hear that a bit about a few issues up here. And they want to see that, they have issues around what it means for local health. These are all very legitimate questions. And I think any proposal the Premier would want to bring forward, I think they would have to square those off with whether it's, you know, the local members here in Ken, and I know is very happy to engage on those issues. But I'm sure the local Labor mayor too I mean, he's not on board yet. So I think that's a bit of a way to go.
Journalist: What was your conversation like with him about issues regarding Calliope camp, what did he say to you?
Prime Minister: I just told you, I mean, that's, they’re pretty much the same issues. I mean, he didn't raise the issues around the maintenance works, I mean Ken was more across that but- I had, there would have to be some sort of net positive for Gladstone I would have thought. We were talking about seasonal workers. And if there was, I mean, I was talking to one of the producers around here last night. Who does one of the biggest on farm quarantine operations. And, you know, if there was additional seasonal workers that were perhaps coming through something like that, which had a direct benefit to this region, rather than just transferring a problem from one part of Queensland to another, well, maybe that might be something that the locals could see some value in. But look, it's not really for me to get in the middle of this. It's a proposal that the Queensland Premier, I understand, is going to put forward. But having been up here and done a bit of listening. There's a few questions that I think are going to have to get squared away before that can go too much further.
Journalist: And just on US politics, will the new US president, Joe Biden, be easier and more reliable to work with than his, than the previous President?
Prime Minister: Well, regardless of who is in the White House or whoever's in the Lodge, it's always been a good relationship. And because it's just, it goes beyond the politics of any one country. And I can tell you, you know, as a Prime Minister and I know this would be keenly felt by Presidents, you understand that responsibility and that stewardship responsibility to work together for both countries interests. You know, we look to the United States, but we don't leave it to the United States. And that's why I think we're so respected as a partner by the United States, is we do our own heavy lifting in the relationship, whether it's been in defence or intelligence or security or indeed the important humanitarian work we do around the world. I mean, President Biden and I share a lot of views when it comes to issues of energy technology, carbon capture and storage, the role of gas in our economies. I mean, we're talking off the same song sheet there. So I think already there's a fair bit for us to get together on. And later this year, certainly at the G7 plus where I'll be with him, but we'll see the interactions we hopefully will have well before then. There's a lot for us to get on and do, as I said at the outset in my remarks. So I'm looking forward to that. But the relationship is very strong. And as always, with this relationship, it's best days are still ahead of us.
Journalist: When do you plan on speaking to him?
Prime Minister: Well, as soon as that becomes possible in the normal scheme of events.
Journalist: On civics and citizenship testing, sorry for year 10’s, the results is just 38 per cent passed. Are you a bit concerned that students really don’t know enough about Australian, obviously I guess, history as well?
Prime Minister: Well, look, you know, as we've just seen in the United States, you can't take democracy for granted. It's something you've always got to work hard to value and uphold. And that's certainly what we do in this country. And Australia Day is an important day to celebrate that. You know, on Australia Day, it's all about acknowledging how far we've come. You know, when those 12 ships turned up in Sydney all those years ago, it wasn't a particularly flash day for the people on those vessels either. And I think what that day to this, demonstrates is how far we've come as a country. And I think that's why it's important that we mark it in that way. It's not about that day so much. It's about how far we've come together since that day. You know, you can't just airbrush things that have happened in the past. I think one of the great things about Australia- and I think we're respected for this is we're pretty upfront and honest about our past. The national apologies that have been put in place shows that we're prepared to deal with our past. But more importantly, we don't allow it to get in the way of our future. And we've got to always remain focused on that. We are such a blessed country. We are such a country that is enabled to achieve things, that is the envy of the rest of the world. And we want to keep doing that.
Journalist: Unemployment dropped to 6.6 per cent, what’s your thoughts on that? What does that show about the economic [inaudible]?
Prime Minister: That's happened is we've been standing here, so I'll get the opportunity to have a closer look at the numbers. But jobs, jobs and jobs, that's what we're about. That's why we're standing here. That's why we've done this arrangement on gas. That's why we've supported the recovery in northern Queensland after the floods. That's why we've stood by farmers through the drought and the livestock industry to ensure that they can rebuild their herds right across Queensland. That's why we've stood by Australians all throughout this pandemic and backed them in, in their decisions and their resilience and jobs is our focus.
Journalist: Speaking of Australia Day, Cricket Australia has said that they’re calling a big bash game on Australia Day, ‘January 26’ not ‘Australia Day’. What's your reaction to their dropping ‘Australia Day’ from the game?
Prime Minister: Well, it's not cricket, that would be my reaction. Look I think Australian cricket fans would like to see Cricket Australia focus a lot more cricket and a lot less on politics.
Journalist: Pfizer recently announced it's boosting the number of vaccines it produces this year, has Australia managed to secure any additional doses?
Prime Minister: Look I’m going to leave commentary on Pfizer to the health minister. He’s been involved in direct discussions with Pfizer, including over the course of this last week. And there are a few issues that we're dealing with there at the moment. So I don't want to pre-empt anything that the health minister might say, at this point. But, yeah, I think I'll leave it at that.
Journalist: Prime Minister, you’ve had great success in this part of the country at the last election. Got some popular members stepping aside, Ken O’Dowd one of them, Warren Entsch as well, do you think that this is going to be a more competitive election in central and north Queensland?
Prime Minister: Well you know Greg, I’m going to leave all that to you and you never know I might be able to twist Kenny’s arm over here, I was talking to Shirley last night mate that maybe I’ll have to recruit Shirley.
O'Dowd: She’d be pretty good.
Prime Minister: But look, this year, let me be really clear about this. We've got a very, very full deck here in 2021. We've got a lot to do in 2021, the economic recovery, the health recovery, the very significant challenges that we have in our region, we’ve got a new President in the White House, the relationships that we're continuing to build up with our Quad partners in the G7 plus, the work of the global recovery, the work we're doing on everything from recycling to manufacturing to energy, all of this. It's a very big year. That's what I'm focused on. I'll let the journalists and others focus on politics. The election’s due in 2022. Jobs are due in 2021. And that's what I'm focused on. Thanks a lot Greg.