Speeches
Remarks, Recognition of Business Excellence - Paddington, QLD
18 May 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much Trevor. Can I start by just acknowledging the Indigenous owners of the land on which we meet, elders past, present and future.
Can I acknowledge any veterans that are here with us, and serving men and women from our Defence Forces.
Of course, can I acknowledge my colleagues, James and Trevor, great to be with both of you. Great to be in Queensland these last few days, I'll be very, very sad to leave, which is not too far away, but going down to the cooler climes. It's been great being up here, in Gladstone and across Brisbane over these last few days, and looking forward to coming back.
Karen, can I commend you for your great community leadership here on display. It's a rowdy bunch. But, it's great to see and I want to talk about that a bit more in just a second.
Carl, to the whole Broncos team that are here today, Darren and everybody else, Christine. I can only echo what Trevor said.
Everyone knows I love my footy, but footy is only part of it. Whether it was the programs which Trevor has spoken about here through the Broncos and what's happening here with the academy. You go up to North Queensland and see what the Cowboys did during the floods.
Sport is about community, at the end of the day. And the sporting clubs are about community. They're about reinforcing the bonds of community. And I really commend you, Carl, on the way that you've led the Broncos in that way. We're both down the wrong end of the table at the moment, the Sharks and the Broncos, but that's going to turn around over the course of the season, I have no doubt. We'll surprise them all over the rest of the season.
So, look friends, I just want to say one thing. It's pretty simple.
Thank you.
That's what I wanted to come here and say to you today.
And Karen's said very kind things about the role that our government has played over the course of these past, very difficult last 12 to 18 months.
It's two years today, in fact, since we at the last election were returned. And none of us could have foreseen what we have gone through, particularly over these last 12 to 18 months but even before then. The drought continued to rage, particularly affected up here in Queensland. We had the floods that were still devastating the northern part of this state and more floods to come, as we've seen in other parts of the country. The bushfires to come. A mouse plague that has also impacted significant parts of the country. Cyclones have ripped the roofs off houses over in Western Australia. And, of course, the pandemic has raged.
At the start of the pandemic, I remember standing in the courtyard fully aware of looking into what was an abyss at the time, in terms of what the pandemic would mean for this country. And I said – we like to think we're a strong people in this country. We're about to find out just how strong we are.
Now, I never doubted there'd be anything other than the affirmative answer to that question. And so while, yes, as a Government, we have done the things that you've said. Yes, we had to, and we did, respond quickly when it came to the JobKeeper, the supplement for COVID to the JobSeeker program, the cash flow boost, the HomeBuilder program, the mental health supports that we put in at record levels. Now, some $311 billion of support that we've put in to both health and economic supports into Australia, to ensure we save lives and we save livelihoods.
But I'll tell you what the secret was. What actually made sure that today in this country, we have avoided what so many other countries have befallen. That, for example, includes that had we gone down the same terrible path that others had to endure, the same average fatality rate in countries just like ours, 30,000 more Australians would have perished in this country.
Together we avoided that. We prevented that.
And we have more people in work today than there were before the COVID pandemic hit. And there are very few, if any, advanced economies in the world today that could say that.
But I'll tell you how it happened.
The policies that we put in place, through the process that Trevor articulated, listening hard, not rushing to failure, thinking carefully about what we needed to do.
Very clear principles – they were about backing Australians.
You were the secret ingredient that ensured Australians got through.
See, we didn't think Government was the answer. We believed you were the answer.
Businesses had to stay together and intact. Because we knew there’d be another side.
Employees needed to stay in the businesses as much as possible. We knew we had to train kids who were coming out of school at the end of last year and wondering, what is my future? So over 300,000 training places were established. 30,000 additional places in universities. All of this was based on understanding that Australians would work together to get through.
And what we had to do was just back them in.
Community groups would rally and support each other. People would check on their neighbours and their friends. Small businesses and their employees, in particular, would understand that things were going to be a bit rough for a while, but we all had to stick together. And JobKeeper and the many other programs helped that happen over the course of that period of time.
And so we are where we are today because Australians actually are strong, are resilient, have persevered and have been supported, as you rightly would have expected us to do in these extraordinary circumstances. And all of those programs have worked.
So where to from here? We’ve got to keep doing what’s working. We’ve got to keep sticking together. We’ve got to keep ensuring that particularly small and family businesses continue to support their communities, in the way that you’re able to. Because I know you love what you’re doing. You love what you do. Of course, you’d like to turn a profit and from 1 July, you only pay 25 cents in the dollar on tax, which is another good tax change. Lower taxes - good idea, don’t you think? [inaudible] Particularly now in the midst of all this, but you do it because you love it. You love your customers, you love what you're doing, you love what your business is about, it's not just a business for commercial purposes, it's a way of life. And it’s a way of life you’ve chosen because you’re passionate about it.
And so I'm just so pleased that the Australian economy has come through so intact and in a way that now can really go forward. And so this year, as we release this year's Budget, securing Australia's recovery is all about ensuring that we can keep you guys working. Keep going further and we’ll make sure that Australia not only stays where we are right now, relative to the rest of the world. We will keep building from here. And I can tell you the secret ingredient will be exactly the same, which is you.
So thank you very much for all of your efforts, everything, your patience, your perseverance, some sleepless nights on many, many occasions. And thank you for pulling through and staying together so strongly as a community.
Remarks, Visit to River City Labs - Fortitude Valley QLD
18 May 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much for that introduction. It's very exciting to be here with Assistant Minister Stoker in particular, but with all of you and to launch this very exciting program. And can I also acknowledge the Indigenous owners of the land and their elders, past, present and future and can I acknowledge any veterans who are present with us as well.
The work that we did, found in the research undertaken in developing this program, that 40 percent of young women are inspired to start a business having seen another woman do it. And that shouldn't be terribly surprising. Doing the sorts of things that you’re doing here is not easy and it takes courage. It takes a high level of confidence to be able to put yourself out there. And say I got this idea. I think it’s a great idea but I’m not sure everyone else will think it’s a great idea. And how am I going to convince other people to come and back this idea and invest their funds and their resources in realising this. Because we know you can't do anything necessarily on your own. You have to work with others. And I think what's great about places like these is they provide those skills, they provide that encouragement. They provide that shared experience as people come through pretty much all the same fears, concerns, excitements and opportunities all at once. And when you have mentors as well that can seek to guide you and encourage you down that path, who have done it before and provide you with that example, well, I think it's a time honoured formula and that produces a tremendous success. And so to kick-start a program which will enable you to compete for that, amongst others, $60,000 or thereabouts, which is a program which I think will greatly encourage five successful entrepreneurs will share a portion of $60,000 seed capital funding to help their businesses come to life as result of this program. And that's something worth having a go at. And, of course, that of itself is not going to see that idea of itself realised. But I think the opportunity for that recognition is incredibly important.
We've already seen through the first enterprising girls program, which was for girls under 18, 12-18, [inaudible], move into the next program. $5 million in this most recent Budget, which is backing in women with skills in this area but more importantly, passion and ideas and the energy levels I think to actually realise what they see as their vision. We all to aspire to different things, we all have vision for different things. Earlier today, I was talking to people buying their first homes and that was their vision and that was their dream. And they were realising it and that was fantastic. You’re pursuing your own vision, your own dreams, when it comes to realising that tech start-up or that tech innovation. And it can have many motivations. Of course, there's the commercial motivation, but in my experience, I've got to tell you, working with people in the tech sector, people are more excited about what this thing can do and how it can change lives, change livelihoods, change how the world works. Whether it's ensuring that we have a cleaner, greener future. Or whether it’s releasing the potential of people or massively reducing the amount of effort it requires to do something and relieving the stress burden on families or enabling small businesses or agricultural producers to get through tough times and particularly we’ve seen that through drought. And I think, Queensland in particular is a place where the ag tech sector is so important.
In the Budget this year, we put in $1.2 billion to support the digital transformation of our economy and ensure that we are one of the leading digital economies in the world by 2030. Now we're already making, I think, tremendous progress in this space, one of the first countries in the world to introduce the consumer data [inaudible], establishing the open banking system 24/7, a new payments platform which enables so much technology to take place. What we’re seeing in the ag tech sector is revolutionary and world-changing. This investment focuses on things like artificial intelligence, ensuring that the Government interface, so when you’re working in reg-tech, that those tools can be used to ensure that compliance with important standards doesn't become an impediment to people actually going forward and doing business that they’re going to do. Now that comes on top of $800 million that we put in the Budget just last October. So, I can assure you that the digital transformation of our economy is one of the biggest challenges we've got for our economy to continue its recovery.
Three areas I’m focused on and one is workforce. The skills, the abilities, the training that are necessary and those skills to bring from overseas too. There’s no doubt about that, importing the knowledge and some of the best talent from around the world. We have the global talent programme at the moment, where Peter Verwer who heads up that programme for the Government, is seeking to secure and hire basically, some of the best and brightest minds and tech companies around the world today that sit and plan with our six big areas of focus of our modern manufacturing initiative. They seek to bring them out here and put them in our universities and create these ecosystems across our economy. Workforce, so important. Digital transformation of our economy, also so important. And at the end of the day, also energy, affordable, reliable and low emissions energy. These are the challenges, that I think are most important in driving our economy and jobs. And we want all Australians to be equally benefiting in the opportunities that are there and I think the Enterprising Women programme does that. It gets you on the platform, it gets you in the space, it gets you the opportunity and once I think, you get that fair go to have a go, then I think you’ll take it from there and that's what this programme is all about.
So can I congratulate all of you for what you’re doing. I’m pleased this is going to have the boost I think it’s designed to give you and I look forward to seeing wonderful things coming out of Queensland and out of the Enterprising Women program more broadly. Thank you.
Address and Q&A, Federal Budget Lunch Sydney, NSW
14 May 2021
Prime Minister: Thank you very much Angus, thank you very much for that very generous introduction. I can only return the compliment, Angus. I’m greatly served by a wonderful Cabinet of which Angus is a very important part. Our gas-fired recovery, technology not taxes to reduce our emissions, the agenda of investment, the agenda of technology that we will see achieved in this country over the next 10 years and beyond is very much a result of Angus’ incredibly hard work.
Can I also acknowledge, before I commence, all my other colleagues here, but I particularly want to acknowledge David Coleman who’s with us here today. You would have noted in the Budget the very significant announcements that we have made on mental health, and David, together with myself and Greg Hunt as Health Minister, were the architect of those, and I know it’s something both he and I have a deep passion about, and this was certainly I think a wonderful piece of work, David. And I want to commend you and acknowledge you here in our hometown together. So it’s great to have you here with me as well. To all of my other colleagues who are here.
Can I acknowledge first and foremost though the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and elders past, present and emerging. Can I also acknowledge any veterans who are with us, any Defence Force personnel, indeed, who are with us, and simply say to you thank you. Thank you for your service to our country.
Can I also acknowledge not only my colleagues who are here today and my state colleagues, Damien, as well, but can I acknowledge of course Philip Ruddock and Chris Stone who steer our division so ably, and not just from a federal point of view but I’m sure Damien would agree from a state point of view as well, and we greatly appreciate the work of all our party members and of the New South Wales division, which is my home division, and it’s very nice to be home, Philip, amongst friends and amongst our divisional supporters. And I thank you all for being here today in your support for what we’re doing.
I said this during the course of the week in Budget. To so many of our supporters and friends who were there, you assist our agency. You have enabled us to be successful politically, which means that we can do the things that we know are so necessary for the nation's future, and in joining us in this way, you were part of that. You were part of what we’re doing. You’re enabling what we’re doing, and I want to thank you very much on behalf of all of my team, the New South Wales division in particular, but my broader team right across the country for the great support that we receive.
It’s been about a year, in fact a bit more than that, since COVID crashed into the globe, and the virus today and the pandemic we face today continues to rage. In fact, it’s worse now than it was at this time last year. And we live in a world that is increasingly uncertain, and I want to echo what Angus has just said. We have to deal with the times we’re in. We have to deal with the world as it is, not as we’d necessarily like it to be. And I think that is the practical nature of Liberal National Governments, and always has been. Whether it was the Menzies Government originally that was dealing with the rebuilding process after the Second World War, or as the prosperity period that was enabled under the Howard Government, we are dealing with the pandemic times, and having to take the decisions consistent with liberal values that enable us to take this country through. And I want to talk a bit today about those values and how they apply to the decisions that we’ve made and the decisions we are making as part of Australia’s recovery plan.
Right now, here in Australia, we are living like few countries are in the world today. The average fatality rate in the OECD countries - so I’m talking about the countries that have similar health systems, similar advanced economies - the average fatality rate in OECD countries is 1,314 per million. In Australia, that figure is 35.7. Now, what that means is, had Australia experienced the same rate of fatality from COVID as countries like us all around the world, there would have been more than 30,000 more fatalities here in this country. That’s what together as Australians we have worked together to avoid, wherein so many other countries around the world they could not, and it swept over them. And it overwhelmed them. And it wreaked great havoc and great devastation. But not here, not here.
And equally, as you can see on the chart, which sets out - that top right-hand corner - that’s where you want to be. Where your economy is finding its way through strongly through the pandemic and you’ve minimised, as far as possible, the health impacts of the pandemic. So there we sit, amongst a handful of countries in the world today that have been able to find their way through the complete uncertainty that we faced.
I’ve mentioned it many times when I stood with the Treasurer or the Health Minister or so many others in the Prime Minister's courtyard in Canberra. And I said, "We are staring into the abyss,” and we indeed were. The uncertainty has been of like no other time I’ve certainly experienced, and for so many others. Those who are more senior to me will remember those awful times of the Great Depression and the Second World War, but for most Australians today, these are things we read about in the history books, they’re not things we lived through. But we’re living through these times.
And so when I look at that and the employment record that Angus referred to, where there are 13.1 million people in work today - and you might flick that forward to the next slide - 13.1 million people employed in Australia today. There were 13 million employed before we went into the pandemic. More people in work today than there were before the pandemic hit. And as you can see from the chart there, once again, no other advanced economy of that scale can lay claim to being in that position right now. So we are indeed fortunate. Anyone who’s of my age will remember the song by Talking Heads, David Byrne, wrote ‘Once in a Lifetime.’ And he talks about you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack - you don’t have to sing along, I’m not going to sing it - beautiful house, beautiful wife, I can certainly [inaudible] on there. And he brings it all together and says, “Well, how did I get here?” And the song goes on to say that in the days go by, but that's not what has happened here with Australia. We haven’t arrived at this point right now because we just let the days go by. No. We took action. We were active, we leant forward. We looked at the challenges and we practically set about getting this right, and as right as we possibly could.
Now, that doesn't mean we've got everything right. Sometimes there's that expectation. Certainly, certainly by my critics, certainly by our political opponents. But on every occasion we have sought to act in accordance with a set of principles, and from the outset we set them out. And I remember doing it in March of last year, not far from here. And we said we'd be targeted, we'd be proportionate, we'd be practical, we’d have a road in and a road out, when, on terms of major spending initiatives and things of that nature. And we’d use things that we know work, not things that we would trial and experiment with. And we followed those principles, and here we are today.
Our policy responses were, have also been about not putting government the centre or seeing government as the solution. That's what our opponents see. Our response, our solutions were designed to do one thing and that was to enable every Australian to do what they needed to do to get Australia through this crisis. Keep someone in work. To be in work. And so our policy responses were all geared towards backing Australians in, not seeing government as the answer but seeing Australians as the answer, and our government has that in common with the Howard Government, has it in common with the Menzies Government. This is what Liberal National Governments have always backed in the individual enterprise and initiative and determination and resilience of individual Australians, their families and their communities. Government is not the answer. Government is the enabler. And at a time like this where monetary policy is spent and, regrettably, borders have to remain closed and we don't have population growth and immigration, then in those circumstances, in those times, a responsible Government will act in the way that we have.
I want to talk about two programmes, in particular, to demonstrate this. The JobKeeper programme. This was a uniquely Australian programme. I had no interest in the programmes which were being pushed upon us by our opponents - untested, untried systems that didn't exist in this country and we were urged to be adopting them. But we took our time, but we moved at the same time with great haste and we developed a programme of income support that was uniquely Australian. Very practical, we were using existing channels - the Australian taxation [inaudible] - and we knew it would work. We weren’t going to try and come up with something new. That's when you get overpriced school halls or people's houses burn down when you put batts in their roof. That's not what we did. We paused. We looked at the experience and we came up with things that would work, because we know they already worked. So we used the existing distribution channels, and fair, too. Some of us said we should have had an income support system which was handed out as a percentage of your total income. And I said, “We’re not doing that. That’s not the Australian way.” If you're getting taxpayer support, then your need is the same as everyone else's. You're not entitled to a higher level of need than someone else because you've lost your job and someone else next to you has lost your job, or you're reduced to zero hours. You're in the same boat, and we’re going to give you the same support.
And so we took the decision to do this in a fair way and a practical way, and we did it in a way that was also proportionate to the challenge. And we did it in partnership. JobKeeper would not have worked were it not for the strong confidence of Australia's employers and their employees to trust their employers, and the financial relationship they had with their banks. Because we basically said this - you want to keep your employees? Employers said yes, yes I do. Employees, do you want to still be with the business? Yes we do. Okay, this is what can happen. We need you to go to your bank, we need you to go and borrow next month’s payroll and we'll sort you out on the other side. And for employers, we know that means that's, that's a big thing for you to take on. But we'll back you in. And for employees, yes, you may not have the hours you had before and, yes, you may not have the income you had before, but this is going to see you through. And they said, yep, we’re in for that. And we went and changed a number of industrial relations laws, which gave us the flexibility so they can all work together and work this through. That's the liberal way. That's the Coalition way. This wasn’t Government being the answer, making you come along to a Government office to get a Government cheque. This was done in partnership and this was unique.
But importantly on JobKeeper, and this is what's important about how we're doing these things, we knew we had to start and we knew we had to stop. And there were plenty of people, particularly our political opponents, who would say, “No, don’t step, don't step it down. Keep it in. Keep it going forever.” And that's what they would have done. And while we carry a massive debt now, which we don’t deny, had we followed the advice of those who said if you had to you couldn't turn this off, it would have been far worse and it would still be billing even now. And it would have taken resource that we couldn't put then into the programmes we are now investing in in this most recent Budget. So you know, you know when to get in and you know when to get out. And we held firm to that decision and I think that said a lot about the way that we seek to manage Budgets and work with others.
Now here's another one, and that's called HomeBuilder. The residential building industry was facing falling off a cliff in September of last year. So earlier in that year we put the programme together, which would have seen $25,000 to support Australians who wanted to build their own home. The programme was so successful that now some $2.7 billion has been invested in this programme, which is leveraging some $39 billion worth of construction activity in our residential building sector.
And our opponents backed us, they said it won’t work. It did. Big time. Years of pipeline of work to our construction industry, and the flow on effects of that when the home is built and you buy your fridge and you get your carpet and you buy your car. [Inaudible]. The multiplier effects of that and the confidence that builds - $2.7 billion investment, $39 billion outcome advised by the Master Builders, more than 100,000 homes have been built because of that programme.
Now we backed that in, of course, by backing Australians’ decision to want to go and invest that and to go and be that - a first homeowner, a homeowner, a home builder. We put $25,000 down. They put down the other $300,000, $350,000, $400,000. We leveraged their decision, their enterprise, their costs. We didn't [inaudible] it, we unleashed it by making this investment. And one of the things, and I know John Alexander who’s passionate about people owning their own home, constantly invoking to us as leaders the Menzies ambition of home ownership, which I think our party can speak so strongly to. We have now the highest level of first homebuyers in March in 11 years, as a result of this programme, the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, the First Home Super Saver Programme, and one third of all owner occupied lands in the March quarter were for first homebuyers. We haven’t seen that in quite a while. I know it’s still hard, very hard to buy your first home, it’s really hard, it’s really hard to save for that deposit, very difficult. But more Australians are achieving that at the moment than we’ve seen in a very long time because of the programmes we put in place.
But it's not just in that private housing market. The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation, which I established, we established when I was Treasurer, that organisation in just three years has directly, through its activities, seen 2,700 new affordable housing dwellings financed through that programme and refinancing some 6,500 more affordable homes. Working with the community housing sector, directly in partnership with them, with the [inaudible] model and the [inaudible] National Housing Infrastructure Fund, which it does enabling infrastructure to ensure that other housing developments can proceed, and supported, this is just in three years, more than 4,400 new dwellings across the country.
Again, not Government just being it, working with community organisations, with partnerships who are also putting equity and their own effort into these things to realise it. We’re enabling, we’re leveraging. We're not replacing. We’re not saying, “Sit down, we’ll do it.” We’ll say, “We’ll stand next to you and then we’ll do it together.” That's the Liberal National way.
Now we saw an alternative to this last night where the Leader of the Opposition, the leader of the Labor Party, said he’s going to build 30,000 homes. But this is the math. This is the Albo-nomics maths. A plan for housing, when you compare it to HomeBuilder, that will spend four times as much and get two thirds less houses. It’s what it is. Four times as much and two thirds less. And you wonder why they always want to increase taxes, because the gap between that, that's how they [inaudible]. Now they said though, “Oh, no, we’re going to pay for it by the dividends out of the, out of the Future Fund.” Now, I think Peter Costello’s a pretty amazing individual, and I think he does an amazing job of the Future Fund, but in order to meet those targets the Future Fund has to double the rate of return, double the rate of return on a fund that could draw down, as opposed to the existing fund where all [inaudible] is reinvested.
The maths don’t just add up. The sentiment is genuine, I’m sure, no doubt. It’s a sentiment we share, ensuring that Australians can get affordable homes. But when it comes down to it, you need people who know how to make things happen, and whether it's HomeBuilder or the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation or the many other initiatives we’ve put in place, we're getting this done. And I think that highlights how we're going about these tasks. So our policies, our responses to leverage the efforts of Australians sets out how we need to keep going about this. We need to keep doing what works. We need to go even further, because that's what's required to secure Australia's recovery.
And this Budget is a plan to secure Australia's recovery. And what that should tell you is that we know it can be lost. We know we can lose the gains. We know we live in circumstances, as we've seen in so many other countries, Europe going into a double-dip recession. We know that everything Australians have worked so hard for over the last 18 months and the big decisions that have had to be made. The great gains can be lost with the wrong approach. They can be lost if we don't hold our nerve. They can be lost if we don't maintain the direction that we've set ourselves in these many months, going to where we are now.
So our economic recovery plan, and I'm not going to go through every one of these points, you’ll be pleased to know. You can read all about it in the Budget, but that plan - lower taxes, a highly skilled workforce, reliable, secure and affordable energy, cheap by technology not taxes, a transformative digital agenda, which I spoke of a few weeks ago, understanding the future of the digital economy and how that's going to drive Australia's success in the future - $1.2 billion in this year's Budget. It was $800 million in last year's Budget. Two billion dollars in the space of seven months committed to Australia's digital transformation. Easing the regulatory burden, cutting the red tape for businesses, record infrastructure investment, our rolling $110 billion dollar plan, prioritising the dynamic industries of the future. Our Modern Manufacturing Initiative, only launched last October, as those roadmaps are now out and the funds are now available for application. These are critical sectors which are so important to Australia's future. This Budget sets out once again further investment to make things here in Australia and keep making things here in Australia and making smart things here in Australia.
But so fundamental to this plan is lower taxes, as Angus said. We are the party of lower taxes and in this Budget we set that out again. We went to the last election fighting on the basis that Australians should keep more of what they earn. We made that commitment and we legislated that after the Budget, after the election, I should say, and those lower taxes, that principle which says a dollar in your pocket is better than a dollar in the Government’s pocket. You're more likely to turn that into ten dollars than the Government is, I can assure you, and that's why I want it in your pocket. Because in your pocket, you’ll invest it. In your pocket, you'll look after a family. In your pocket, you'll build a home. In your pocket, you'll make a difference with it. And that's what lower taxes mean. And that's why when some say, “Oh, but now we need to increase taxes because of the great weight of the things that are needed to be done by governments.” I say, “No, this is the worst time.” And as I saw those recommendations come in before the Budget and people saying, “Oh you need to raise taxes to do this or raise taxes to do that.” No. The Australian economy is recovering, is, is strong. And stronger than almost anywhere else in the world. But it is not immune to bad policy and bad policy is higher taxes when you're seeking to recover and grow your economy and build it for the future again.
Now, there are many measures in there, of course, the extension of the LMITO - the low and middle income tax offset - which will be a further stimulus measure in the economy, as it has been this year. So it will be next year. It's a stimulus measure, unapologetically. But the temporary full expensing provisions that are in there for business, which are seeking to drive investment, are incredibly important. It will cover some $320 billion of investment. It supports 99 per cent of businesses and the 11 and a half million Australians who work. And the spending on machinery and equipment, already now this is its fastest rate of increase in seven years from the tax incentives we're already providing for investment right now.
Now, you will know that the Australian corporate tax rate has been 30 cents in the dollar for a very long time. For the first time now for those businesses under $50 million, from the first of July, that will fall to 25 per cent, and that is welcome. But that's not all, because across so many areas of the tax system where we provide support, particularly for firms and businesses that are investing, firms that are investing in technology and research and development and so many other areas, there are myriad tax incentives that play into an even more advantaged tax position for businesses who are looking to invest and to grow and to employ.
Now, in this Budget there was new arrangements for digital gaming [inaudible], for medical and biotech companies with the new patent box initiative, which I think is incredibly exciting for innovation and technology in those sectors, and look forward to how we can bring that into the clean energy sector and rolling it out in those areas. And we're seeing an enormous investment take place, I think, in those areas now, and that will only increase into the future. But when you take into account all of these various incentives, work done for, under the global talent programme, which is led by Peter Verwer, he’s had some work done with [inaudible] and they’ve worked [inaudible], shows that the effective tax rate in Australia right now, because of all the measures that we've put in as a Government, the effective tax rate for new investment in this country is 21 per cent, not 30, not 25, 21 per cent. Now that’s [inaudible]. And I’m not putting those taxes up because I need that tax rate to be at that competitive level to attract the best and brightest, investment in the firms, lift our productivity as we go out around the world, through this initiative.
You can see it in the step down chart, which I won’t take you through, but whether it's a biotech company, a small capital [inaudible], when you, when you throw in the supports on R&D, and amortization and depreciation and instant expensing, when you throw them in on top of that, what we're doing in the Modern Manufacturing Initiative and the other supports that are there, and now with the patent box. I mean, for some [inaudible] we will see, particularly in the biotech, research, innovation sectors, an effective tax rate for new investment of somewhere between 10 and 15 per cent. Now, that’s competitive, that’s a reason to move your business here and now, and you can move your business into a country that has one of the most successful records on both the economy and health of any country in the world. And that's what we mean by the [inaudible] programs are doing, even as we speak.
It's an exciting new programme which was initiated by our Government. It's focussed on attracting high value modern enterprise and exceptionally talented individuals - 30 per cent, 30 per cent of our attraction so far in the digital, digitech sector. A quarter are researchers and entrepreneurs in health and life sciences. That includes a global expert in SARS-CoV-2 and research into Hep B. Twenty per cent is in pioneers, particularly in research and clean energy.
So friends and supporters, thank you for being here today. The Budget is a plan to secure Australia's recovery, and it's the right plan, ground deep in Liberal and National values that have served the nation on so many occasions in the past, whether it was the challenges of the Menzies time or the Howard time or indeed our time now. These values will guide us, and it says that it's Government supporting the initiative and enterprise and determination of individual Australians, enabling, standing with them, not seeking to replace them, hold them back, or tell them the Government knows better.
Government can do good things, but I tell you what, the Australian people can do better. And that's what we want to leverage, and that's what our Government is about. Business-led growth - eight out of 10 employees are in the private sector, and that's where the further job growth is going to come from. And it's not going to come from the Government getting in the way of that. It's going to [inaudible], it’s going to come from Government enabling that, to backing it, to support it. So you can do the many challenges that you have.
So we will keep going on that path. We will ensure that through this Budget we will stay on top of COVID-19, we will ensure that we continue to create jobs and build our economy for the future, guarantee those essential services that Australians rely on, whether that be in aged care, mental health in particular, which received such treatment in the Budget, or protecting women's safety, and indeed to ensure that we make sure Australia is resilient and secure in a very uncertain world. And I think with all of that together, this Budget, I think, meets the challenges of the times, consistent with the Liberal and Nationals values that we hold dear. Thank you very much for your attention.
Q&A
Question: Prime Minister, thank you for your good management, your good Government and your great leadership. We live in very uncertain times and I think we all expect and need to be kept safe. However, Australia is a very successful, diverse, multicultural society, and there are many Australians with linkages right around the world. What would you say to those Australians as to when the borders may open and when families could be reunited?
Prime Minister: Well, thanks, [inaudible]. And in particular, right now, we are readying the planes, those Qantas planes, they're on their way over to India as we speak, very shortly. And they're taking with them the next round of emergency supplies of oxygen concentrators, of respirators, and the many other forms of medical support and assistance we’re providing to India. And they will bring back Australians - Australian residents, citizens and close family members - and they will be bringing them back to Howard Springs at the National Resilience Facility, quarantine facility, that we have there in partnership with the Northern Territory Government. That is going to happen this weekend because of the very strong action and decisive action we took several weeks ago. That pause has done its job. The number of cases that we had up in Howard Springs at that time was over 50. It's now down to four. [Inaudible]. And also around the country we saw the number of those, of active cases in quarantine, fall from 292 to 171. So the system’s ready to respond. Had we not undertaken that pause, then I think we would have put ourselves in a position where that just wouldn't have been possible, not just for a couple of weeks, but months and months and months. But importantly we can now do it and do it safely, and we can do it consistently and sustainably. And I'm pleased that we're going to be able to do that. And these are the challenges [inaudible] we’re going to have to keep working with, over the course of the many months ahead. Your borders just don’t one day open up and, it's not that binary. It's, it's a step by step process. The Health Minister and I have talked about it, whether it's green lane opportunities, which we already have with New Zealand. I've already mentioned that the next country we’d love to do that with is Singapore. We already have a process where we're engaged with our health officials and expert health advisers to understand, with the states and territory, whether we can be in a position where we're, where you’re vaccinated in Australia, that you would be able to travel and return and have an alternative form of, of quarantine, preferably in your home, and for a more restricted period. Now, that still has to be worked through. The health has to be right. We don’t want to let this thing back in. Once it’s in you can’t get it out. And with the new variants and new strains, they’re going to be with us for some time. Many other countries in the world, it’s too late for them to try and achieve what Australia’s achieved. They can’t get to where we are. And so they’ll make their decisions. But here in Australia we’ll make the decisions which, which are right for this country. And that means ensuring that, particularly internally within Australia, we can keep, while our borders are open, internally as much movement, as much activity as we possibly can. And I believe over the course of this year we will see an even more proportionate response, I think, to the challenges that come our way with the inevitable breakouts that you will have from time to time. As all states, none better here than New South Wales have dealt with so, so successfully. So that will see us, I think, then move to others in the critical workers area, where we will be able to, I think, make more progress there. Last time I was up in the Northern Territory a few weeks ago, I was talking to the Northern Territory Chief Minister about a project he asked us to work with him on there in relation to workforce entry into Australia and we're working with him on that. I noticed that was something that was the centre of the Leader of the Opposition was mentioning yesterday. But the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory had already engaged me on that some weeks ago. So we'll continue to work on those programmes with the states and territories and be very practical. But we've got to be very careful here to understand that as much as we'd like the world to be different, it's not. The pandemic rages more today than it did a year ago. And sadly having ravaged the developed world, it is now ravaging the developing world. And that brings with it a whole series of new challenges, new variants, new strains. I was talking to Prime Minister Modi just, just last week, and he is dealing with a challenge which is hard for us to conceive in this country. And so we’ll give them every support. But it's important that when we bring people home, we bring them home safely. And we'll continue to do that and we’ll work with the states on other capacities that we think we can build together. But we are in it together, and I'm sure we will continue to maintain the success of what we've already spoken about today. But I [inaudible].
Question: Yes, look, thank you so much for that, Prime Minister, and what a fabulous and very generous Budget it is. And, and as you say, it's certainly a Budget for the times. And one of the things that I think, and this was kind of an underlying theme for your, of your, of your speech, was that we have to have confidence in where we are now and where we’re going to. And unfortunately, often, confidence is undermined by misinformation. And so I just would wonder if you could kind of share with us where, where the vaccination programme really is, and what the, where it's been and where we're headed to.
Prime Minister: Well, look, thanks for that question. And I've just got to look it up because I get my daily updates from the vaccination programme. And today’s vaccination update shows that there were 85,874 people who were vaccinated yesterday. That brings us now to a total of 2.98 million people have been vaccinated across the country. That means by about now, I think, we’ve already crossed the three million mark, in terms of the vaccinations we were expected to happen today. We thought we'd reach that mark by the end of this week, and we certainly have. And what we are seeing is the vaccination programme, despite having some early challenges with accessing supplies, particularly the AstraZeneca supplies from Europe in those early phases, and much is said about four million and one million, basically there were three million doses that didn’t turn up. That's what happens in a pandemic. And while others might want to make political advantage out of that, we’ve just got to deal with the reality of this. And then after that, of course, we had the TGA advice on AstraZeneca, which was not something that had been contemplated. And that, of course, led to some initial hesitancy. And now the AstraZeneca vaccine will only be used for those aged after 50. We got together with the National Cabinet, I brought them back together and got them back on that COVID operation tempo, and we worked through that programme. We brought forward over 50s vaccinations to just, that started right across the board last Monday week, and on next Monday will be available through all GP clinics that are providing vaccinations right around the country. Our GPs are doing an amazing job, by the way. They’re the ones administering, they’re the overwhelming portion of vaccine doses that have been delivered in this country. But we're now running well over 400,000 a week. We will see that number I think continue to increase, as extra doses are going into the GP clinics next week. And we'll have a bigger population with [inaudible] to, to go to those GP clinics for the over 50s. And then we will move into the next phase, which deals with those who are under 50, and the additional Pfizer doses that we were able to secure, that was an additional 20 million, that was due for the fourth quarter of this year. We're working hard on how we can bring that forward and then, Greg Hunt’s doing a good job on that. There was also the additional mRNA vaccines that we were able to secure this week, and that was for both this year, some 10,000 doses, and that also involved 15,000 additional doses that deal the boosters. So that's to deal with the variant strains next year, and things of that nature. We’re already thinking about not just the doses we're hoping people can have this year, but the doses people are going to need to have next year, because we're not seeing this as something that is ending any time soon. And so we’re still seeking to stay ahead of that, at the same time while supporting, particularly our regional neighbours. I was speaking this week to both the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea and the Prime Minister for Fiji. Fiji is having a particular challenge right now but Frank’s, I think, all over that, and I think they’ll do a great job sorting that out. But we've got tens of thousands of doses which are going into those countries to support their vaccination programmes. And that's also an important part of what we're doing. So after some initial challenges which related to medical reasons and supply reasons, this happens, we will continue to have other shocks, I imagine, and other variables. That's why we're cautious about when we’re saying things will get done by. It will happen as quickly as possible, and we greatly value the work that’s been done by the states and territories, particularly here in New South Wales and the clinics that are being set up here in New South Wales. And with the support of Brad and Gladys, I think that's working extremely well. And we'll see those rates of vaccination further increase as the year goes on. And I believe we’ll, I think the assumption that it's likely we’ll get there by the end of this year, I think that’s a reasonable assumption. But at the moment, it's still just an assumption. And there's a lot that has to happen between now and then, just like we had early on in the programme, I suspect there'll be a few other things that will come our way, and we'll deal with it then just as the way we have already.
Question: Thank you, Prime Minister. [Inaudible]. My question concerns the Middle East and last night on Chris Kenny the former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said that he believed that the [inaudible] is precipitated to counter the success of the Abraham [inaudible]. I'm not going to put you in the difficult position of asking whether you agree, but what I would like to ask is whether you believe that the momentum that Abraham beholds is now over, because of the, of what's going on in the Middle East?
Prime Minister: Well, thanks for the question. It's obviously a deeply sensitive topic and it's one that both personally and our Government is deeply concerned by the terrible and escalating violence that we're seeing in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. And, as always, we'd urge all those involved to exercise restraint, to restore calm, and so people can live peacefully and to avoid any unilateral actions that might destabilise peace. That said, that said, Israel unquestionably has the right to defend itself and its people. Unquestionably. And, equally, Palestinians need to be able to live safely. As a Government, we believe in the two-state solution. It seems now in politics here in Australia that is no longer a bipartisan view, and I think that's disappointing. That is certainly our Government's view, and we stand strongly and always have with the nation of Israel, with its many challenges over many, many, many years. Indiscriminate attacks with want and disregard for civilian casualties perpetuate the cycle of violence and bloodshed. The protection of civilians remains paramount, and it's just very important that I think we continue to be mindful of the human beings who are in positions of great danger and uncertainty and fear. The world is not like we'd like it to be. It is as it is. And within that I think we have to recognise the [inaudible] rights of nations like Israel, and the right to defend themselves. But also our shared obligation to ensure that all can live peacefully in the region, including in [Palestinian territories]. Thank you.
Multicultural Press Conference
12 May 2021
Prime Minister: Welcome everybody. I'm glad you've been able to join us. Last night's budget was a very important time in Australia's history as the world confronts the worst global pandemic we've seen in a century, a pandemic that is worse today and more threatening today than it even was a year ago.
As we look around the world, we see the terrible impacts and toll that it is taking in so many countries. But yet here in Australia, we are living life like few countries are, and our economies is strong like few economies are, including developed economies around the world at this point right now, we have more Australians in work today than we did indeed have before the pandemic began. There are virtually no advanced economies, developed economies around the world that find themselves in that position today.
In addition to that, we continue to have success in fighting the pandemic, protecting Australian lives and protecting the health of Australians. If the OECD average of the fatality rates that we've seen across those countries had been realised here in Australia, some 30,000 additional Australians would have perished during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic to date.
So Australia can stand here today on the basis of some extraordinary achievements by Australians working together, doing what they needed to do, supported by very effective government policies, governments working together to keep Australians safe, but to keep our economy together and performing at one of the most difficult times we've faced or indeed any country has faced since the Second World War and the Great Depression.
So the budget is a plan for securing Australia's recovery. We don't take that recovery for granted. We know that that recovery will be built on ensuring we keep doing the things that are working, that we remain diligent and that we remain focused on, especially driving employment, driving unemployment down, driving employment up, getting Australians into work, because that increases their means and ability to be able to deal with the impacts of the epidemic here in this country.
So I'm happy to take some questions Rosa, and we'll go from there.
Rosa Stathis: Thanks PM, the first question is from Suzan Horani from Radio 2Moro, please go ahead Suzan.
Suzan Horani: Good morning, Prime Minister. How will this budget help small business employ more Australians? You've been talking about infrastructure, but how does it help small businesses.
Prime Minister: Well small businesses for a start, the tax rate is now 25 per cent, 25 per cent used to be 30 per cent when we came to government. And so we've reduced the tax burden on small businesses. In addition to that, we're engaged in a more than 400 million dollar program to cut red tape for businesses and the compliance costs that involve everything from putting an additional person on or if they're working in the agricultural sector and many of the regulations and other things they have to work to get their products to market. Now, on top of that, we've also got the increased investments in our digital economy and digital transformation plan that's supporting small businesses in particular to realise the opportunities of the digital economy and to ensure that Australia is one of the top 10 digital economies in the world by 2030. On top of that importantly, we've got further extension of major tax incentives for investment in this country. TheCOVID period against the tax that you've previously paid, previously paid prior to the pandemic when your business was performing much better. Now, that gives you cash flow right now, right here, right now. And then we double down on that by putting in place the instant expensing initiative and keeping that going out into the future. And what that means is you can take that cash from tax you've already paid before rather than having to wait some years for those losses to be realised in your annual tax returns, you can then ensure that you've got that money now and you can invest that back into your business as you're seeking to take advantage of the opportunities that are there for Australian companies as we speak. Now, in addition to that, their is support for small and medium sized businesses in particular to take on new apprentices and trainees with the wage subsidies that are in place. Small and medium sized businesses have been champions of taking on young Australians in particular, and those of the apprenticeships and traineeships, 170,000 of those supported throughout this Budget. So whether it's the tax system, whether it's the training system, whether it's the, the support we're providing in cutting red tape and supporting small businesses into the digital economy, all of this is designed to continue to back them in. And that comes on the back as we know, over the last 18 months, where JobKeeper saved those businesses. There would not be those small businesses here today were it not for the interventions that were undertaken to support small and medium sized businesses through the first waves of the pandemic here in Australia. So I'm pleased they're here. It was our intent to ensure that they would still be here, and it's my intent to ensure they're getting even stronger in the years ahead through particularly the tax incentives and regulation reduction and red tape reduction and costs of compliance that can hold them back and to see them also realise the opportunities of the digital economy.
Suzan Horani: Thank you so much, Prime Minister. Hoping for another opportunity sometime soon.
Prime Minister: Thank you.
Rosa Stathis: The next question is from Fred Zheng from Melbourne Today. Please go ahead Fred.
Fred Zhang: Good morning Prime Minister.
Prime Minister: Good morning Fred.
Fred Zhang: Thank you for all your efforts of keeping Australians safe. We'll have noticed the winemaker's receive a considerable amount of tax relief in the coming budget. And this is an industry that suffered a lot from our relationship with China. My question is, what about other industries suffering loss from this relationship for example, meat export, fishing and agriculture export.
Prime Minister: Well, we've already diversifying our markets and while we want to have a very positive trading relationship with China and work closely with China and, and ensure that the region as a whole continues to go forward with its prosperity we are very, very open and supportive of such a relationship indeed that's the spirit in which the China Australia free trade agreement was put together. And we want to see that continue to be realised. And so there is there is no obstacle from Australia's perspective in realising that going forward. And and we hope to to see that realised into the future. But we've already seen whether it's barley or many other sectors we've seen through the support of of our trade agencies working together with the sector. We're already seeing the diversification take place. We're already seeing new markets being found and a key part of that, particularly in the agricultural sector, is the work that is being done through biosecurity. Now, why is that important? Because Australian produce is clean. Australian produce is the best in the world and our biosecurity and border protections, which keep out things like African swine flu and various other things that are ravaging many other countries. The quality of our exports depend very much on the health of our biosecurity regime, and there's additional investments in this budget. But there's also work being done and additional support for agricultural offices, scientific officers and others to ensure that we can gain the market access and ensure we're complying with other countries regulations to ensure that we can get our products into those markets. So right across the board, we have always pursued a policy of trade diversification. We have not put all our eggs in one basket when it comes to our trade. And indeed, right now we're seeking to finalise a trade agreement with the United Kingdom, still working hard this year to seek to finalise an agreement with the EU. These are very important markets, particularly for our agricultural sector. And I was just a beef week up in Rockhampton and people were raising with me the issues that they wanted me to focus on were those agreements, understanding that some markets from time to time will they will have their peaks and they will have their cycles. And it's always been a good policy I think for Australian exporters to to have a a good basket of trading partners that they're engaged with to ensure that the I think the ongoing security of their production and their businesses
Fred Zheng: Thank you, Prime Minister. Thank you.
Rosa Stathis: Prime Minister the next question is from Argyro Vourdoumpa from The Greek Herald. Please go ahead Argyro.
Argyro Vourdoumpa: [Inaudible] here today, after their Budget night, that a considerable amount of money of this year's Budget will be spent to support women. How will this budget specifically, is specifically supporting the well-being of women from migrant communities, who were hit hard by job and income losses Prime Minister.
Prime Minister: Well look, I thank you for that question. And you're indeed right. The Budget does take significant steps to improve both women's security, their physical security and safety, as well as it does their economic security. And regardless of what your background is, tax cuts of childcare support and these measures provide support for people of all backgrounds in Australia, obviously doesn't discriminate. A particular area we focus in on, on the safety of women has been support for women from in migrant communities and migrant backgrounds and refugee backgrounds who can be exposed to violence and economic coercion from partners here in Australia and providing additional support for them to be able to be kept safe and protected more in those circumstances. This is something I've been aware of for a very long time, and we've taken a lot of measures to try and address those issues more fully. And we have again in this budget to provide that support for particularly migrant women in terms of their physical safety in the community. But more broadly than that, I think one of the great things about Australia's migrant communities is that they're the most entrepreneurial and they're the ones starting businesses and women in migrant communities, even more so. And so all the measures I was talking about for small business before in particular, I think go very much to the heart of the opportunity for women in the Budget. But it's also about developing the entrepreneurial skills of women, which I think will be of great value to particularly migrant women in this country, because we know when people come to this country, they come to make a contribution and not take one. And that means they're looking for opportunities to be able to develop their skills and opportunities in the entrepreneurship and established businesses and become networked into the Australian economy in the Australian community. And that's what that's what these programs are there to support. So migrant women are small business women. Migrant women are working in the care sector and we've got additional support going into the care sector to ensure that we can meet the big challenges we have, both with the aged care reforms that were announced in this budget, as well as supporting the needs that we know are present in the National Disability Insurance Scheme. And a very significant portion of our of our labour force that goes to support those care sectors actually comes from migrant communities and particularly comes from women. And so ensuring that they can get the training that they need to continue to be able to work in that sector and do what I know what they want to do and that is provide the best possible care they can to those who are in their care. Now, this is especially true for aged care in migrant communities themselves. As we know, when people age and they suffer from dementia, there is a need to ensure that we have people working in our aged care facilities who have language skills for those particular migrant communities. When one suffers from dementia, you often revert to your first language, and that can make someone feel even more isolated there’re in an aged care facility, there’re speaking and no one can understand what they're saying. I can only imagine the sense of isolation you would feel in that circumstance. So our aged care reforms are about getting the right workforce for the right places. And Australia's migrant communities are going to play an increasing role in meeting the care needs of the Australian community.
Argyro Vourdoumpa: Thank you, Prime Minister.
Prime Minister: Thank you.
Rosa Stathis: The next question is from Neeraj Nanda from the Fiji Times. Go ahead Neeraj.
Neeraj Nanda: Hello. Hello, Prime Minister. How are you today?
Prime Minister: I'm very well. All my best to my dear friends in Fiji.
Neeraj Nanda: I'm not in Fiji. I'm in Melbourne.
Prime Minister: You're in Melbourne but you're writing for the Fiji Times.
Neeraj Nanda: No, no, no South Asia Times.
Prime Minister: I'm sorry I heard that wrong anyway.
Neeraj Nanda: OK, Prime Minister, my question is, I'm sure because I haven't read all the Budget papers at all. I just read the media release. There is provision for to help other countries hit by the pandemic. And you have helped India with the first consignment between New Delhi and welcomed over there. My question is, India has been pressing for one very important thing along with hundred other countries, as to who will work for the vaccine patent. Yes, so can you enlighten us on that. What is Australia's view on that?
Prime Minister: We are leading into this. And I said that Narendra Modi last Friday when we spoke and to speak about the serious challenges that India obviously currently facing with the pandemic right across India, which is a heartbreaking story. But our thoughts and support are with the people of India right across the country, not just those Australians and Australian residents and their immediate families who are caught up in this. But, but Indians more broadly, and we are there, as you've said, with whatever support we can continue to provide from oxygen concentrators and respirators and other medical equipment, we are there and will continue to provide that support. But on the issue of the patent, I made it clear to the Prime Minister that this was something that Australia was disposed towards. In my address to the United Nations General Assembly about a year ago, I made it clear that during the course of this epidemic that whoever finds the vaccine needs to be able to share it with the rest of the world. And that remains my view. So I understand that process has been worked through, through the WHO. There are many countries that have to get on board with this. But as I indicated to the Prime Minister, this is something that Australia has as a deep level of sympathy for.
Neeraj Nanda: Thank you.
Prime Minister: And, and I commend Prime Minister Modi for the, for the for the leadership stand he's taken in in pursuing this.
Neeraj Nanda: Thank you, Mr Prime Minister.
Rosa Stathis: Prime Minister the next question is from Cecil Huang from 1688 Media Group. Go ahead Cecil.
Cecil Huang: Good morning, Prime Minister. In terms of a broad economic prospect, what impact would the tension between Australia and China have on Australia's economy and how do you think this tension can be resolved?
Prime Minister: Well, China remains a most important trading partner with Australia. But what I'd stress is, is that this is good for China and this is good for Australia. There's a mutual interest here. This is not a one way street. This is not a relationship that only benefits Australia and I think it would be a mistake to characterise it that way. And so it's in both of our interests to maintain, I think a healthy and positive trading relationship. And I believe that's possible. And Australia is fully committed towards that. We obviously would like to see the, the disruptions to our trade, in particular products and commodities. We would like to see that come to an end. Of course we would. These are decisions that are not taken by Australia and we're seeking to work with the processes that are established to address those, those disruptions that have have arised, arisen I should say. But Australia will also we have you know, we are a very broad trading base. Overwhelmingly, our two way trade is covered by agreements not unlike those that we have with China. And so we will just continue to engage, be open to that engagement, be available for dialogue, to address the issues, I should say that have been raised by the Chinese government. We enjoy a very positive people to people relationship with China. I think we enjoy a very positive business-to-business relationship between Australian companies and, and Chinese companies, including state owned enterprises. And so I would like to see the good spirit of that relationship prevail and extend at the political level. And Australia is obviously very keen to support that. But to do so, consistent with who we are as a liberal democracy, consistent as a sovereign nation, consistent in being able to express ourselves and, and to be able to function in the in the region and the world more broadly and to ensure that we run our democracy here free of any interference, that our foreign investment rules are matters for Australia's decision in the national interest, not other countries, and as the same as it is in China. So look I remain optimistic and willing to engage, and I think that's the way to approach it.
Rosa Stathis: Thanks, Prime Minister. The next question is now from Navneet Anand from Fiji Times.
Prime Minister: Now we've got the Fiji Times.
Navneet Anand: It’s the Fiji Times, be with the times. Good morning Prime Minister, my name is Navneet Anand, an Australian citizen with Indian heritage. One thing I wish to say, we all are very, very fortunate to be living in this country Australia, amid the pandemic I think we are the most safe on this earth. Thank you so much.
Prime Minister: Thank you. I've got to say, they're doing a great job in Fiji, too. I'm talking to the Prime Minister I think, later today. And we've stayed in contact over the course of the pandemic. And they're rolling out their vaccination program there and we're, of course, supporting them to do that. And so I think I think Fiji's also done very well.
Navneet Anand: I'm from the Indian heritage born in India and being [inaudible] in Australia my question Prime Minister would be there is a shortage of workers in hospitality sector as we all know, because no more international students have come to this country probably in over a year now and we don't see them to be coming back before July 2022. Do we see any way to get more international students coming in the country, maybe with extra quarantine and different facilities, at least have these workers for the hospitality growth?
Prime Minister: Well, what we've done is we've extended the work rights from 20 hours to 40 hours. And I think that'll be very important for the large numbers of students that have remained in Australia in the numbers as far greater than I think people appreciate that have actually have remained in the country. And that's a very welcome labour force here in the country, but also that they continue to pursue their studies here in Australia. And we've been able to maintain so many of these student numbers through the, the online and digital delivery streams of our education system. Our Government has always been open to the university sector, which has very significant capital reserves and an ability to engage in establishing the types of facilities that could facilitate what you're saying. We've got state governments, particularly New South Wales and South Australia, who I think are very open to working with the sector to achieve that. The suggestion, though, that this will somehow be all done by the Federal Government and subsidised by taxpayers I think is unreasonable. The universities have much to gain from doing this, and I've always encouraged them to come forward and, and put forward proposals that would enable them to be able to see some students come into Australia. And I think that is achievable. It's not all going to happen in one go. It's not going to happen of a switch on, switch off sort of binary way. But we do have state governments in the country who are willing to engage. And I would hope that we would see the students coming back, but not all in one hit, because that could prove to be very risky and we'd want to be confident about the arrangements for their entry. But you know, I think we have a positive disposition towards all of that. It will just take time.
Navneet Anand: As you say, a lot of students are doing their studies online while being in the home countries, but for international students it's not only the formal classroom study that they're looking to. They also want to have some of the international experts are coming to countries like Australia, meeting with people from different countries.
Prime Minister: I agree.
Navneet Anand: Any chance at all, any chance at all to have quarantine facilities for international students itself, maybe in a third country at all.
Prime Minister: In a third country, well look, there's been nothing that's been presented to us in a third country that has in any way been seen to be acceptable by the states and territories from a public health management point of view. In terms of the universities themselves stepping up and being prepared to fund the sort of thing you're talking about. I also haven't seen any great interest from them doing that either, but they have a lot to gain by doing so.
Navneet Anand: Looking forward to it. Thank you so much joining us and thank you.
Rosa Stathis: Prime Minister, we have time for one last question from the Australian Chinese Daily, go ahead Keith.
Prime Minister: Keith. I might have to move on Rosa.
Rosa Stathis: Might have to move on from Keith, sorry about that. I have another tech issue. It’s from Susanna from Korean Today. Unfortunately, she has an issue with her sound, she's submitted her question. Prime Minister she would like to know, according to the ABC report, the Treasurer mentioned that the Budget assumption on this is conservative regarding the border opening. Could you please elaborate more on the border opening.
Prime Minister: Well, it's an assumption it's not a policy. When the Treasury seeks to make estimates for a whole range of things, revenue and so on, and has to make some assumptions. So please don't please do not confuse assumptions with government policies or government forecasts of when things my may or may not occur. That is just a simple transparency of what the budget is assuming. The reopening of international borders is something that is very hard, very, very hard for us to put a sort of finite position on. The pandemic is worse now than it was a year ago. Australia has been successful because we've run a successful border control policy, and I'm not about to put that at risk at a time when COVID is now going to rage through the developing world. And so to secure our recovery in the plan for our recovery that we've set out on last night's budget, it's very important that the international borders and the security of those are maintained for the foreseeable future. Now, I think there will be, as the Health Minister has said, attempts to try and ease some of the restrictions that occur around our borders. For example, if vaccinated Australians are able to leave the country and return under different quarantine arrangements. That's something we're working on. But at this stage, no state or territory is open to that at this point. Equally, for Australians who are vaccinated and returning residents and their close family are returning from places overseas if they have been vaccinated, that they similarly could be, could be able to go through a different channel when it comes, particularly if they're coming from what you'd call a green list country where COVID has had less impact. So I think there are steps that can be taken, but we have to take them one at a time. And the truth and sad truth of the global pandemic is, as it stands today, is it's far worse and I fear it will continue getting worse. And so we need to do everything we can here in this country to ensure we can keep living the way we are, because living the way we are is also good for our economy. And that's why the Budget plan that we released last night is all about securing that recovery in those borders are an essential part of that. If behind secure borders, we can open our own economy up more and more and in critical areas, we've talked about students, but also in other forms of important labour that needs to be brought into the country to support our economy where we can do that safely. Well, we will continue to do that and we'll continue to provide new opportunities for that. We will also ensure that here within the country, those who have come from overseas, who are on various temporary forms of visas, are in a position to do more, work more and support our economy, particularly at a time when we don't have any migration program really operating externally. And population growth, migration growth has always been an important part of Australia's economic story. Our migration has been successful migration in Australia, skills based migration in Australia has been a key reason for our prosperity over generations. Now, we haven't lost sight of that. But the health imperative for the time being says that will be constrained. Then that's why our economic recovery plan focused so much on government leading into the various programs tax cuts and investment incentives that I've spoken to you about today. We have to do that. We have to keep leaning in because of the absence of a migration program effectively and monetary policy have been more, more or less exhausted as an option to support the economy. So we are conscious of how we accommodate, mitigate the impacts of being unable to bring more people into the country and indeed allow Australians to leave. But those international borders, we would like we would like to get to a place where we can have a more liberalised arrangement. But for the foreseeable future right now, that is not on our immediate horizon. What is on our immediate horizon right now is ensuring that we continue to suppress the virus and we ensure that our quarantine system is reliable. And it has an almost impeccable record, ninety nine point ninety nine per cent effectiveness there is not a country in the world that I think can, can talk about those sorts of success rates and then the rings of containment that go beyond that with the testing and tracing regimes. So I appreciate whether it's Australians who have family, particularly parents or others who are overseas. I can understand the difficulty there is in not being able to see them, particularly if you've got young children and you want them to be able to see their family members, you want to see that. I understand that. We all understand that. But the reality is we're living in the worst pandemic in a century, and that means that there are certain things we used to be able to do, which is just simply not sensible or safe to do for a period of time. And that period of time will extend for as long it needs to, to keep Australians safe and to ensure that we can keep our economy moving forward and the recovery that we've all been able to achieve as Australians is not put at risk. Where we are right now is quite extraordinary, but we could lose it all if we do not stick to what is working and we do not stick to the plan that is delivered the environment and the situation we're in now. Migrant communities across the country have done an extraordinary job, CALD communities, an extraordinary job. And I thank them all very much, whether it's been faith communities, language communities or others communicating, engaging with people so they understand the services and supports that are available to them. I deeply appreciate, particularly on the vaccination program and encourage you to continue to work with us to ensure we're getting those messages out to encourage vaccination. And we want to keep supporting those countries for whom we have such big Australian populations here. The Indian community foremost amongst those at the moment as we're reaching out to support, but equally in our Pacific communities and our South East Asian communities as well, reaching out through our vaccination program with support, whether it's to Timor Leste or across the Pacific. Anyway, thank you for your attention today. I thank you for your questions. This is an important part of Australia's future. This recovery plan will ensure that we can stay on track. And I greatly appreciate the involvement in the many communities across Australia of people of so many different backgrounds and the contribution they're making to that. Thank you all very much.
Press Conference - Sydney, NSW
7 May 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, everyone. Earlier today I convened the National Cabinet meeting while I was at Williamtown and I was joined by Professor Kelly, Chief Medical Officer. The National Cabinet has been meeting more regularly over the last month or so to address particularly the issues relating to the rollout of the vaccination program. And it was another very useful meeting today as we received updates, not only on the vaccination program, which Professor Kelly will speak more to, but also in addressing the very serious issues regarding the terrible pandemic breakout in India. I was able to advise, as I indicated earlier in my remarks in Williamtown, that of the National Security Committee decision taken yesterday afternoon, where we noted that the biosecurity order and the pause was successfully reducing the caseload and risk regarding the arrival of persons from India. That the biosecurity order would remain in place, with no change, until its intended completion date of May 15. That the repatriation flights, the facilitated commercial flights we been running for a considerable period of time, that assisted some 19,000, just around 20,000 in fact, people who returned from India already, they would resume on the 15th of May. That first flight is scheduled to leave India on the 15th of May. There will be three flights coming in this month into Darwin. That will be supported by the national resilience centre at Howard Springs in Darwin. That is the facility that was recommended to be established by Jane Halton's review into the quarantine system across the country. That now will have a capacity this month of 2,000 persons, up from 850, and that facility has been supported by the Commonwealth Government to the tune of around half a billion dollars.
I advised that while the pause in direct flights from India would be further reviewed next week, it was likely the Commonwealth Government would not be resuming direct commercial flights from India, and instead invited states and territories to participate in receiving additional repatriation flights, facilitated commercial flights, into their states. And I was very pleased to have the initial response straightaway from New South Wales as well as VIctoria and Queensland, who indicated they would be responding positively to that invitation. South Australia is also considering it very favourably. They have a flight which is due to come in from Malaysia on the 15th of May, I believe it is. We anticipate there will be people onboard that flight who will have already been in Malaysia for a period of a week or two perhaps, and they want to just carefully assess the infection rates that are coming from that flight. But I want to thank South Australia for their consideration. Western Australia will be considering. Of course, into Tasmania, there is not the opportunity for that nor in the ACT.
So I want to thank particularly New South Wales, that previously had been receiving commercial flights, direct commercial flights from India, for their very quick response, together with Victoria and Queensland. So that’s double the amount of repatriation and facilitated commercial flights we will see this month from three to what we anticipate six but those details will be confirmed with those states and territories and those arrangements as we work together on that over the course of the next week. Those charter flights will, of course, be focused on bringing those Australian citizens, residents and families who have been registered with our High Commission and consular offices within India. And it will also be targeted on those 900 most vulnerable of the group. I have asked DFAT to do a review of those registrations of all of those who have been registered in India to ensure they are current and that will assist a proper prioritisation of placing people on those flights. The charters will be undertaken by Australian crews, and they will require rapid antigen testing prior to departure. By arranging these returns to Australia, through what is the most secure channel we can provide for, that will mitigate the risk of potentially higher rates of infections presenting on arrival in Australia and ensure the quarantine system will be able to receive continued repatriation flights in the weeks and months ahead.
Sensitive third country transit points will also be monitored very closely after the 15th of May for the infection rates of those arriving from those transit points. The arrivals and potential actions that we will undertake to mitigate the risk is particularly in Colombo. We will be working closely with the Sri Lankan government and the airlines in Sri Lanka to ensure that we are seeking to put in place rapid testing before uplift on any of those flights into Australia. So we will be working closely with them. I spoke with the Foreign Minister last night and she has already started that process through DFAT to engage with the Sri Lankan government and with the airlines to ensure we can support those flights continuing to come to Australia. I would also note we will be monitoring the flights coming in from other transit points, although in most other cases we are not anticipating, at least our advice is presently, to see significant volumes coming through those other channels.
All of this is about sensibly preventing a third wave of COVID-19 here in Australia, doing that responsibly while at the same time doing everything we can to sustainably bring Australians home from what is currently its most significant hot spot for those travelling into Australia of anywhere in the world right now. The biosecurity order is doing its job. It is doing what we intended it to do. It will run for the term we intended for it to run, and then that will be replaced by arrangements made beyond that point to ensure we can prevent the third wave. I want to thank, in particular, in Australia our Australian community of people who are of Indian descent, the Indian community here in Australia. I thank them for their patience. I want to thank them for the understanding. I want to thank them for the opportunity that we have had over the course of the last week and longer to be able to convey directly to them, to explain the decisions the Government has been taking, and I know there will be welcoming the fact that these repatriation flights will be returning once again. But also that we believe we will be able to do that because of the actions we have taken on a sustainable basis. I know also from the Foreign Minister's engagement with her counterpart in India in London in the last 24 hours, that Australia's support for India at this time is greatly appreciated. And there was a very positive meeting held between Foreign Minister Jaishankar and Foreign Minister Payne while they were both there for the G7 meetings in London. And in addition to that I will be speaking to Prime Minister Modi later today, and I know the support that has already been provided to India directly, whether it is in oxygen concentrator or respirators or PPE equipment, all of these things is being positively received and we intend to provide as much further assistance as we possibly can and I look forward to discussing that with Prime Minister Modi this afternoon.
On the vaccination program, I will leave that largely to Professor Kelly to speak of. But I will just note a couple of encouraging points there. Some 2.5 million doses have now been delivered. Over 80,000 yesterday, more than 10 per cent now of the population aged over 16 has received their first dose, and that’s very welcome. We are also making very positive progress with those Australians aged over 70. As you know, on Monday week, GPs will also be involved in vaccinating those over the age of 50 through their clinics. GPs are now accounting for well over half of the vaccinations done in Australia. Our GPs are doing an absolute Herculean job, not just in administering the vaccine, but I think sitting down with Australians, talking them through the vaccine, giving them the reassurance and comfort they need in taking that vaccination. I want to thank all of our GPs, and particularly want to thank, as we know, there are so many GPs out there of Indian heritage, they are doing a fantastic job. People of Indian descent make up a significant proportion of our health community, of our health workforce. Whether it is doctors and GPs or across the health system and our aged care system. I particularly want to thank them once again for their concern of what is happening in their home country originally, and the devastation we are seeing there, here they are in Australia, doing a magnificent job as Australians. National Cabinet has been meeting regularly, particularly to address the vaccination rollout. We agreed today that having stabilised the rollout, we will move now back to our regular cycle of meetings, which is on a monthly basis, and we will do that and can be more regularly as required. Paul?
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thank you, Prime Minister. So first, the good news in Australia again, another zero day, no deaths and no community cases And that includes here where we are in Sydney where there is still that mystery about the two cases that have been reported over the last couple of days, the man and his wife, and there has been plenty of discussion about that. I have full confidence in the disease detectives in New South Wales Health, who have always been the leaders in chasing down these chains of transmission and working out what has indeed happened there. But certainly, important that anyone in Sydney right now who has been asked to get a test, please get a test. If you have been asked to isolate, please do that. If you have even the mildest of symptoms, wherever you are in Australia, but particularly in Sydney over the coming days, do get tested, because that is the way we will find out how this has occurred.
The vaccines, I think, PM, you have touched all of the headlines, but it is important to note that milestone, 2.5 million. It is continuing to go ahead, it is continuing to accelerate, the numbers every day are increasing. Yesterday, over 81,000 doses were given, including over 50,000 in general practices, GP respiratory clinics and the Aboriginal community controlled sector. That key group, the two key groups, if we think about in terms of vulnerability, that we really want to get high amounts of doses and high coverage. The over 70s, now over 30 per cent have had their first dose. So, please, if you are in that age group, make that booking, go to your GP if you have concerns about the vaccine, talk to them about it. But please, the benefit of the vaccine absolutely outweighs any risk, and it is really important, particularly as we have seen with the case in Sydney. This is the time to get that vaccination to protect yourself. In terms of aged care facilities, residents, that is also going extremely well. By the end of the month, the first doses will have been given to every single aged care resident. That is our aim and we are going very well to complete that particular matter.
In terms of how we are going with the issue with India and Australians returning, the PM has mentioned that. I absolutely stand by the advice I gave to the Health Minister this time last week in relation to that. With the data we had in terms of the increasing cases coming from India, where they have had over 2 million cases in the past week and the week leading up to that and this weekend again with thousands of deaths. That contrast between their experience and our experience, and I joined the PM in my heart going out to people in India and those with loved ones in India. But we had to take that into account to protect Australia, using the data we had last week , and it's working. We have seen cases, for example, in Howard Springs decrease from 50 to 21 during that period. That real pressure that was happening in terms of positive cases in our Howard Springs facility has been relieved and will allow us in the coming weeks after the biosecurity determination sunsets on the 15th of May to increase those flights into Howard Springs and bring our Australians home. I’ll leave it there.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much, Paul.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how quickly do you expect those 900 vulnerable Australians will be repatriated?
PRIME MINISTER: We will work through the details of the manifests for those people who will be able to board on those what I believe will be six flights this month. There will certainly three flights that the Commonwealth has been directly involved in, and that involves those flights into Howard Springs. That is why I am very appreciative of the very quick response we had from the states and territories to also take, I expect, what will be at least three flights there. So these are flights of around about 150 people, and so whether that will be all, because you have family members, I need to stress, of vulnerable persons as well, and it's not our practice to splitting up families as they’re being repatriated back. So those prioritisations will be undertaken by our High Commission and consular officers there. But you don't get 20,000 people back overnight, that has taken us some time to achieve that. And in the same way we have been able to return some 11,000 people back from the UK, that has taken time to work through the processes we have there. And so by making available more of these flights, doing it within the capacity of our system, we have been doing it safely to prevent a third wave here in Australia. But we are doing it sustainably as well. I think people want to know that those flights are still going to be there a month from now, two months from now, and that they can make those arrangements. And that is why we are working hard to ensure we do it in a sustainable way and safe way.
JOURNALIST: Given Australians who have COVID-19 cannot be repatriated, are you comfortable leaving some of those vulnerable people in India?
PRIME MINISTER: Australia is not alone in that requirement that we don't uplift passengers coming into our country who are infected with COVID. That is a clear port of entry requirement. And will be holding the line on that just as we are holding the line when it comes to the biosecurity determination which was put in place rightly and will run until the 15th of May with no changes. So that is what our High Commissioner and consulate team do every single day of the week, all the time, not just during COVID, but any given time. And where there is support that is needed to assist with medevac and private insurance arrangements and other arrangements, our consulate team will do what they do every day, providing as much support to Australians in a distressing situation as they possibly can. I stress also there is the hardship fund we put in place last year, some $30 million of that fund, in fact a bit more than that, has already been disbursed, not just to people who are affected in India but many parts of the world and have found themselves in a position of stress and distress in terms of being able to return to Australia.
JOURNALIST: You’ve spoken obviously about the extra measures the Federal Government is taking when it comes to quarantine. Did any view the state and territory leaders express a desire for the Commonwealth to take a more active role when it comes to quarantine, and what was their general mood around the India travel ban as well?
PRIME MINISTER: It was supported, as I flagged with them last Friday at National Cabinet. I indicated I intended to make recommendations and discuss with the Health Minister. It was ultimately a decision for the Health Minister based on health advice about taking potentially further action under the Biosecurity Act. That was followed through last Friday and it was certainly understood and that has been supported over the course of this week, and again today has been an appropriate measure. There are obviously measures for the Commonwealth and measures that are undertaken by the states and territories and they respect that is the Commonwealth's position, a position they know that has put them in a much stronger place today. They had great concerns about the alarming rise in cases being presented on arrival in Australia and they rightly expected the Commonwealth to take some action to prevent that, which we have done and that has been appreciated. On the broader issue of quarantine capacity, no, it wasn't a topic of discussion today. As you know, there is a proposal for Victoria which I have indicated in numerous press conferences this week in various parts of the country that is something we are closely considering. I think it is a comprehensive proposal that recognises that state and territory governments would be running such facilities, having the workforce and medical capabilities to do that. But we will assess that, and once we have concluded our assessment, we will work something together, with the Victorian government, and we will make our view known.
JOURNALIST: Would you consider another federally run quarantine facility?
PRIME MINISTER: That is not a recommendation at the moment. It was recommended we established one by the Jane Halton review and we did. A capacity of 2,000 people, up in the Northern Territory, originally established by AUSMAT and now in the process of transferring its operations to the Northern Territory government. I had the opportunity to be there last week. It is an incredibly well run facility with a 100 per cent success rate. But when you move around the rest of the country, they have a 99.99 per cent success rate in quarantine facilities, and that is an enviable position for any country in the world. I note from time to time when there are outbreaks, that can cause real concern in the community and I understand. But let's not forget those breaches are a rarity in Australia compared to what we see overseas. And let's not forget, as Professor Kelly was just remarking, it's not just if there is a breach. It's about your other rings of containment that prevent an outbreak. And that is done, in particular, through the testing and contact tracing which, particularly in New South Wales they have taken to an elite level, as I would say also in Queensland and Western Australia has proved similarly up to the task in recent times in tracking and tracing what had to be done. So it is a series of measures that protects the country from an outbreak. And quarantine is one element of that. The border closures are another element of that. Tracing and testing regimes I think are also incredibly important, as well as the many other registration processes to support them. So here in New South Wales the Premier I know has a ready noted, that we do need to see those registrations using the QR codes get back to their match fit levels that we haven't seen in a long time. And I think what we;ve seen both in Western Australia in New South Wales recently, they are on it, they have got it, as they have on so many occasions, but they obviously require continued operation of the population and they’ve been getting it on every occasion. I'm very thankful to Australians for their patience and calm cooperation when these events occur.
JOURNALIST: Is it sustainable to continue this level of hotel quarantine for, say, the next 18 months, as your ministers have indicated today that that may be when international travel is still closed for?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, so far it's proved to be enormously successful. And that's been over one of the most intense periods of demand and stress on the system. And, so we'll continue to assess these as time goes by. I mean, a year ago, when we first put these arrangements in place, remembering National Cabinet agreed, premiers, chief ministers agreed, that the best way to do this was through state public health orders. So they are administering and enforcing their own public health orders, put in place at a state and territory level. We established the National Resilience Facility, with a capacity now of 2,000. And if there is further actions that we need to take then, then we're certainly considering those. But the suggestion that defence facilities can be used and immigration facilities, they have all been assessed before and they have been ruled out as inappropriate. Those facilities are not available to be used. They're not there just sitting idle and otherwise could be being used for that purpose. That is not the case. And so if there were other purpose built facilities that would be necessary, then that would be something the Commonwealth would consider. But we’d need to do that comprehensively, and in a very
detailed way. That's why I welcome the proposal from Victoria, it is a comprehensive proposal. It is detailed. It does give us something, I think, to consider very carefully.
JOURNALIST: Dr Kelly, could we, have you got an indication of the situation in New South Wales, an update for us, on the latest COVID case, and have you heard anything about a potential case in Manly?
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: So I don't have any details on that. But all I know there was no new cases when the AHPPC met just a few minutes ago, that were reported at that time. But of course they’ll continuing to do a lot of testing and people are coming forward to be tested, which is fantastic. And the more that we see, the chances are we may see some more cases and we certainly need to make that, work out that chain from the person we know arrived on the 24th of April, to our, the Sydneysider and his wife that have become positive without an obvious link there. But clearly it's the same, it’s the same virus.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you all very much. Sorry. Last one.
JOURNALIST: Oh sorry. What can you tell us about this concern about the Marrickville sewage detection? I believe it's higher levels than what we’ve seen previously.
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Yeah, so the wastewater testing that’s done in NSW is very reliable and has previously shown when there has been cases. You do need to remember that it's very, very sensitive. So someone who’s returned from overseas, for example, has been in hotel quarantine, positive, but no longer infectious, can still lead to a positive in that wastewater testing. So they'll continue to monitor that, as they've been doing for many months.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you all very much. Thank you.
Address, Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce
6 May 2021
Prime Minister: It is great to be at a function where there are so many people in this country who can come together in the way that Solly has just mentioned. Thank you so much, Solly, for that very warm, welcome and introduction. It is tremendous to be here with so many of you here today.
Can I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Bunurong and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.
Can I also acknowledge , as I always do, any men and women here who have served our nation in our defence forces and now are veterans, or those who have served us and are continuing in our defence forces and thank you for that service to your country.
Can I thank Leon Kempler, whose energy is inexhaustible and for his great work here as Chairman of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce. It is wonderful to be back here amongst so many friends.
Soloman Lew, Solly, you’re a great Australian who has done amazing things for our country and your generosity today is incredibly humbling.
To Ron Gerstenfeld, Israel’s Deputy Head of Mission, to Shai Zarivatch, Israel’s Trade Commissioner.
Of course, to my parliamentary colleagues. I begin with the one who is not here today, because as Sol said, he is there working hard putting the finishing touches on the Budget. Josh Frydenberg, you may know him, you may have come in contact with him at least 100,000 times in the last few years, as I joked at the United Israel Appeal event last week and there will be quite a number of you who are in text communication with him even as I speak. Say hi to him from me, if you’re currently doing that. Josh, you’re doing a wonderful job, mate, and I know you'll be back here next week at the end of next week to be talking about the budget you'll be bringing down.
To Jane Hume, Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and the Digital Economy. To Stuart Robert, who is the Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business. To Katie Allen, the Member for Higgins, one of our great recruits at that last election, and a team of stunning new members of Parliament to come in, of which Katie stands, I think, very tall.
Before I go much further, though, can I also deal with two important matters of business for the Australia-Israel Chamber. First, in acknowledging Mark Leibler, can I also mark the sad passing of Isi Leibler. I met Isi many years ago in Jerusalem and he was an amazing Australian and he was an amazing world leader of the Jewish community and his loss is a great one, a great one. And we pay our respects to him, Mark, and to the entire Leibler family.
But as I was talking to Mark as we came up, I thought there was something I should put to rest. Not that it should come as a surprise from me and my Government, but in 2009 and 2011, we did not attend the Durban Declaration meetings. We will not be attending them going forward. Our position is unchanged, a position that successive Coalition and Labor governments have reinforced since 2001. We will not associate Australia with one-sided and contentious language that singles out Israel or an event that champions such language. This is entirely consistent with my Government's very strong voting position on UN General Assembly resolutions in the Human Rights Council and elsewhere. We will continue that same approach to Durban for later this year. As I said at the Sydney Institute in December 2018, I do not accept that anti-Semitism, cloaked in the language of human rights, serves any justified purpose nor the cause of peace. Just in case anyone was in any doubt.
Look, it is wonderful to be back here amongst friends at the Chamber. Last time, as Solly said, in 2019 it was also the Monday after the Christchurch terrorist attacks. We were all numb. It was a time to reflect on civility and community and the shared bond between us all. I built on the theme and that address last week at the United Israel Appeal in Sydney. I speak there about human dignity and what flows from that - respect, responsibility, how each and every single Australian, every individual is valuable. Now, these values are all essential foundations for the building of healthy communities.
Today, I want to speak about another foundation for building caring, healthy, confident, enterprising and ambitious communities. It's our economy. Our economy. Because I believe our economy is all about people. Where people live. They live in the economy. The jobs people have that support them and their families, they’re in the economy. The confidence people have, the confidence to buy a home, start a family, invest in a business. The skills people have and the doors those skills open, the incentives people have to work hard and prepare for the future. That is the economy.
Our economy is therefore also about the essential services that people rely on and that's something I've stressed since my days as a Social Services Minister and a Treasurer. Because only by ensuring a strong economy can we guarantee the essential services that Australians rely on. Hospitals, medicines, schools, disability services, aged care, mental health support, infrastructure, the pension and so much more. And not just to fund them now, but to sustainably do it into the future. If you care passionately about those services that I've just spoken of and how important they are to individual Australians and families and communities across this country, then I would encourage you, as I'm sure you already do agree, that we must have an equal passion for the strength of our economy, because that's what enables it.
That's why our Government is so focused on ensuring that all we do can strengthen our economy and you have seen this commitment through our response to the global pandemic, the greatest threat to Australian lives and livelihoods since the Great Depression and the Second World War. Our economic response and the recovery plan we put in place in last year's Budget has placed Australia in a unique situation in the world today. Economic health supports provided by the Commonwealth are more than double the combined investments of all state and territory governments put together and more. Add it up, double it, go further and that equates to the $267 billion in health and economic budget support provided by the Commonwealth as at the last Budget and that has carried us through this crisis in Australia, with complementary actions indeed by states and territories as part of a comprehensive national effort.
JobKeeper, the largest and most successful programme to keep people in jobs in Australian history, income supplements for vulnerable Australians, childcare support, cash flow support for small businesses, targeted packages supporting local government, tourism, travel agents, charities not for profit sector, the arts. We even kept zoos open. The result? Jobs. Jobs, and those jobs are back, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. In March 2020, just before the full force of the pandemic hit us, there were 13 million people employed in Australia. 13 million. Within the next two months, around 900,000 Australians lost their job. A year on, the official statistics for March this year shows that there are now 13.1 million Australians employed, some 74,000 more than when the pandemic struck. And that sounds hard to believe, I know, after everything we've seen around the world and we continue to see now. But it's true. It's a fact. More Australians are employed today than before the pandemic hit. Unemployment in March fell to 5.6 per cent.
Now, I'll tell you why that figure really caused some strong reaction in my office the day I heard it, in a very positive way, it is because that is 200,000 jobs more than we were projecting just in the mid-year statement in December. 200,000 more people got a job by that period of time in the first quarter of this year than we genuinely believed would be able to be achieved. There was a smile on my face from one ear to the other. And the reason for that was because Australians were back and jobs. Consumer confidence at a high level, its highest level, in fact, in a decade. This is no reason for complacency and it's not even reason for congratulation. It's a reason for being encouraged and being confident. You know, in March as JobKeeper was concluding, job ads rose to an all-time high.
All this means that our plan is working, friends. Our plan is based on believing, though, in each and every Australian and backing them in to get the country through. This plan is not something that sees government as the answer. This Government's plan believes you are the answer. Our Government's plan believes we've got through what we've gone through over the last 12 to 14 months because we believed in every employer, every employee, every parent, to be able to get their family and their businesses and their employees through. And that's what our policies and plans were designed to achieve. We need to stick to that plan. We cannot put that at risk or go with those who would offer us some other direction. And next Tuesday, Josh, the Treasurer will unveil the next stage of our economic recovery plan for Australia in his third Budget and our third Budget together.
This Budget will be all about securing Australia's economic recovery in a world of continuing uncertainty. And it will be a Budget that continues to be framed by the brutal reality of a raging global pandemic. This virus is raging. Almost 700,000 new infections are being reported every single day. The outbreak in India is an unfolding and awful humanitarian tragedy. According to John Hopkins University worldwide, there were more COVID cases reported last week that in the entirety of the first four months of 2012. Anyone who thinks things just because we can put 100,000 people in the G that this thing is over is wrong. This thing is still on and it's not going away.
As long as the virus is a threat, it remains a threat to the world economy and indeed ours. And as we've done so right from the start of the pandemic, we must in Australia remain ahead of the game. We must stay ahead of this virus and pandemic as much as we possibly can. And that means investing in infrastructure, that it means investing in a better approach to skills. It means keeping taxes low. It means more affordable and reliable and lower emissions energy to support our industries in the new energy economy. It means less red tape. It means building a faster, moving economy that is more responsive to the opportunities in the global economy, because by securing our economic recovery, we can guarantee the essentials that Australians rely on, which is the point. When you're running a government, you care about those services that Australians are depending on you for. Guaranteeing those essentials is something I and my Government are very committed to. And one area where we are doing this is the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
The NDIS, as it is known, is a world first, and I pay credit to Prime Minister Gillard for initiating this, that Australians can be rightly proud of. It has been embraced from the outset from both sides of politics. It is based on the guiding principles that people with a disability have the same rights as all other members of Australian society and should be supported to participate in and contribute to social and economic life to the full extent of their ability, or a fair go for those who ever go. I have always been a strong supporter of the NDIS for this very reason. I am because it is about enabling Australians, it's about backing them to be the best they can possibly be.
The NDIS is now supporting some 450,000 Australians. I pay credit to the work that Minister Robert has done in his former portfolio and getting us to that point. More than 50 per cent are receiving support for the very first time in their lives, including 70,000 children aged six and under, and almost 11,000 are receiving support via the early childhood early intervention gateway. I wouldn't be surprised if there are parents here in this room for whom that service is providing support to their children. Now, this is vital work and it's difficult work. And next Tuesday's Budget will show that the Commonwealth's contribution to the National Disability Insurance Scheme will increase by some $13.2 billion between 2021 and 2023-2024.
Now, in its original report on the design of the NDIS, the Productivity Commission forewarned of sustainability pressures, as the scheme matures with wage and cost increases. And at the moment the costs of the NDIS are increasing more than was ever contemplated or expected by those who first framed it. The continuing growth in the number of participants combined with higher cost per participant means participant supports are tracking to exceed the $22 billion annual estimate at full scheme by the Productivity Commission back in 2017. Scheme costs are now estimated to exceed $26 billion next financial year. This is a big scheme. Participant utilisation is now over 70 per cent and it's trending up. Scheme growth beyond earlier forecasts is a cost to the Commonwealth as contributions and growth are fixed for the states and territories on full scheme agreements.
So what that means is when the previous government put the deal together with the states and territories, they got a fixed amount that they were paying into the future. They know what their costs are every year. The Commonwealth, under that agreement, carried all of the risk of the scheme, which means we carry the responsibility to ensure that the scheme is sustainable and can continue to deliver for Australians who need it into the future.
Incorporating the Commonwealth additional contribution in this Budget, this financial year we expect the Commonwealth will meet 55 per cent of the participant support costs nationally and next year, that will increase to 58 per cent. So our share will only go up. The Commonwealth also meets 100 percent of the NDIS's operating costs. Now, while the growth in numbers was masked in the earlier periods because of slower than expected transition of participants from state systems into the federal system, the escalation in costs and in equities in planned funding have been clear for some time. And that's why the NDIA commenced a reform agenda, particularly under Stuart's stewardship some years ago.
Firstly, trialling independent assessments in the first pilot in 2018 and more recently, with the commencement of a number of sustainability actions. The average payment per participant has increased by almost 48 per cent over the three years from 2017 to 2020 and the average plan for individuals' budget has increased by 22 per cent over the same three years. At the same time, the number of participants is expected to reach 530,000 in coming years. So while some of the cost increase is driven by increased participant numbers, good, most though is driven by higher average payments per participant. And the last three years, the average payment participant has grown by 12.5 percent per year, which is well above inflation and 1.5 to 2.5 per cent this year, and the assumptions in the 2017 Productivity Commission review of around 4 per cent a year.
So this has got much larger than the early vision intended. That vision was a good vision. It was a compassionate vision. It was a caring vision. But to remain caring, you've got to make it work and you've got to make it sustainable and you've got to ensure that it can keep delivering. The growth in payments is in part the result of planners not having access to consistent quality information when making their funding decisions, as well as a lack of clarity on what is and what isn't paid for under the National Disability Insurance Scheme. You'll hear plenty of others who will argue that the sky should be the limit but we all know that that is not a realistic objective. To ensure the NDIS is here for generations of Australians to come, I intend to protect it. I intend to sustain it. And I intend to exercise my responsibility to manage those increased cost pressures.
Reasonable and necessary supports obviously come with some boundaries and boundaries to ensure the scheme is affordable. But more importantly so it's fair for all participants, the ones who need it now and the ones who need to know it’s going to be there in the future. The boundaries which protect the rights of individuals and boundaries, which allow flexibility, provide choice and control and the changes through independent assessments and personalised budgets, these are designed to make the NDIS fairer and more sustainable into the future.
We're committed to doing it. We are committed to finding the NDIS as a demand driven scheme. And so you will hear others who say that the cost should be higher, there should be no constraints, but that will only serve to ultimately undermine what has been one of the most important social reforms this country has seen. And it takes a Liberal-National Government to ensure that we can protect this Scheme through the responsible management of that Scheme. Of course, we can only make these commitments off the back of strong economic management. Over $13 billion in additional costs and investments we made in the NDIS because of the estimated changes in demand and the cost of medevac. The way we will meet that cost is ensuring that we have a strong economy.
A strong economy is the best friend the National Disability Insurance Scheme can have. And that is also why today I was pleased to announce in the Budget we will be further laying out plans to drive our economy forward and to secure our economic recovery. We've already announced quite a number of measures. Today I want to share the next phase together with Jane Hume and Stuart Robert of the digital economy strategy, which is critical to our economic success. One of our biggest challenges and opportunities turns on how we respond to digital transformation that is occurring in every sector and every facet of our lives. Productivity Commission Chair Michael Brennan spoke to you in March about these opportunities, and he made a reference to that time in Australian life when we went from candle light, to kerosene, to electricity in a generation.
Every business in Australia is now a digital business. And if you don't think you are, you haven't worked it out but you will and your customers will tell you. The tradesmen or woman who works through Airtasker, the landscaper who finds new business through social media, the farmer who I saw up at Beef Week at Rockhampton this week who keeps track of their herd with electronic tags and drones and the data that feeds back into the algorithms that do the analysis. The local Thai restaurant that sells through Ubereats or Menulog or any one of half a dozen other different food apps. The gym where members book their classes though an app. Every Australian business is a digital business.
This transformation is not merely a national one that needs to happen. It's a global one that is happening. According to Adobe, global e-commerce is closing in $1 trillion (USD) a quarter - up 38 per cent over the past year. According to the World Economic Forum, an estimated 70 per cent of new value created in the economy over the next decade will be based on digitally enabled platforms.
PWC has estimated that increased digitisation by business could add $90 billion to our economy and create up to 250,000 new jobs in the near future. Australia’s place in the world will be defined by how we respond to this now. The next 10 years will determine our success. As Telstra’s Andy Penn has said, “We are on the cusp of potentially the next industrial revolution, supported by the digital economy”.
A pace setter in this space is obviously the nation of Israel. The highest density of start-ups in the world, an ecosystem of innovation, dramatic innovation and investment in R&D, and the highest rate of engineers and scientists anywhere in the world. These drivers have transformed the Israeli economy. The lesson for the digital economy here in Australia is clear, accelerate, peddle down, or you’ll get left behind. That’s why in this year’s Budget will be providing a further $1.2 billion in new funding initiatives as part of our Digital Economy Strategy. That builds on the $800 million we put in the Budget just last October.
In 2019, I established the Digital Technology Taskforce in my Department to start the task of laying out what needs to be done to make Australia a leading digital economy by 2030. In the last Budget, we released the first phase of that plan, setting out how we are working to support the digitisation of Australian businesses. Investing in NBN upgrades, support for 5G, e-invoicing, digital identity, streamlining regulation, growing fintech and regtech. All underpinned by the $1.67 billion Cyber Security Strategy.
In December last year I elevated Senator Jane Hume to be the Minister for the Digital Economy and lead the next phase of our digital plan, which has come together again in this years Budget. This next phase is about strengthening Australian businesses and encouraging new ones to emerge. It’s about driving job creation now and into the future and ensuring simple and secure service delivery and transactions between people, business and Government. It’s about accessing the skilled workers and technology that Australian businesses need to compete and protecting Australians from cyber crime and abuse.
Australia’s Digital Economy Strategy recognises that the Government is an enabler, and that the true drivers of the digital economy will be Australians and Australian businesses. The strategy has three pillars. One, putting in place the foundations to enable the digital economy. Two, building our research and industry capabilities in the emerging technologies. And thirdly, digital growth priorities where we want to see collaboration and strategic investment to drive digital growth, jobs and investment across the economy.
In the time remaining let me just deal with those. The first pillar and the most important is for Government is to build the foundations that enable the digital economy to grow. It’s the digital infrastructure, building a skilled workforce, improving cyber safety and security, supporting digital trade, and putting in place the right systems and regulation. Data needs processing just as oil needs refining. But unlike oil, data doesn’t need huge refineries, it needs smart people and businesses. RMIT and Deloitte have found that 87 per cent of jobs in Australia require digital literacy skills, and Alphabeta estimates that the average Australian worker will need to gain an additional seven new digital skills by 2025 to keep pace with technological change.
That’s why our Digital Economy Strategy includes over $100 million in new investments to build the digital skills the Australian workforce and businesses need. The Budget includes a Digital Skills Cadetship trial to deliver work-based learning opportunities for in demand digital jobs, while also undertaking formal training of three to six months. I acknowledge the Business Council of Australia for their advocacy on this proposal.
We will also work with CSIRO and universities, many of them here today, to invest in scholarships for graduates in Artificial Intelligence and other emerging technologies to build the advanced digital skills needed by Australian industry. And finally, we are improving the quality and availability of cyber security professionals with a $43.8 million investment to expand the Cyber Security Skills Partnership Innovation Fund.
All of this builds on the major reforms we are pursuing to make our skills system more responsive to the needs of the economy, which Stuart Robert is working on with our states and territories. We’ll be making further investments in the Budget next week in that area. To build the research and industry capability in emerging technologies, I want Australia to be at the forefront of understanding and preparing for all of us to drive future productivity and prosperity. Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Data Analytics, Blockchain, Quantum computing, these are changing our society.
This is the second pillar of our strategy, and is underpinned by a $124 million investment in Artificial Intelligence capability over the next six years. The great potential of AI is not in removing human endeavour. On the contrary, it has the potential to create better jobs, transform industries, improve lives and protect our environment. Here in Melbourne, some of the country’s leading medical research minds are already working with AI to improve breast cancer screening. At Advanced Circular Polymers in the north of the city, they are using AI and robotics to support high quality, innovative plastics recycling at one of the most advanced facilities in the country. CSIRO’s Data61 notes the benefits of AI could be worth up to $22 trillion to the global economy and that’s by 2030.
A key part of our AI plan is to invest in a National Artificial Intelligence Centre led by Data 61. The centre will coordinate Australia’s AI expertise and capabilities, supported by a further four AI and Digital Capability Centres across the country. Together, the centres will help foster collaboration with industry and drive adoption of AI across the economy. We are also making funding available for businesses and researchers to develop AI solutions to problems in our regional areas, and to address national challenges like energy costs and cyber security.
Digital growth priorities, the final pillar of our strategy. That is about ensuring we use digital technology to drive growth. We have identified four priority areas that will be our focus for collaboration and investment. Lifting digital capability and adoption in small and medium Enterprises, the very firms that Solly was talking about before. Supporting industry sectors at the digital frontier, such as manufacturing, mining, agriculture and construction. Building our emerging technology sector and start-ups. Digitising government to deliver simple, secure and trusted services for Australians.
A major new industry opportunity for Australia in the emerging technology sector is digital games development. According to the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association, the global video game industry is estimated to be worth $250 billion a year, but Australia earns just $144 million of that. We have the potential to grow a $1 billion industry within the next ten years alone. As part of the Budget, we are establishing a new 30 per cent digital games tax offset to drive investment and growth in the sector, as well as to help attract and build the creative digital skills needed in the economy.
We are also strengthening the Government’s own digital systems. myGov currently has 20 million accounts. It’s a vital portal that most Australians use. We are investing $200 million to make it simpler and more tailored to Australian’s individual needs. The time saved alone from the new functionalities and capabilities will generate benefits worth an estimated $3.6 billion across the economy over the next ten years.
And finally, one of the most important priorities in our driving strategy is digitisation of small and medium sized businesses. There is $12.7 million to expand the Australian Small Business Advisory Service to support 17,000 such businesses with digital advice over the next year. And we are investing $15 million to drive uptake of e-invoicing in the public and private sectors which will help small businesses get paid sooner and save up to $20 per invoice in costs.
Now, I appreciate that at a large lunch of 650 people, this may sound like a bit of a dry topic with some of the detail I have run over with you today. But that is what Governments have to focus on. The details. And that’s what my Government does. We put our head under the hood on this stuff. You might hear just some rhetoric about the digital economy from me but what you’ll hear from me and Jane and Stuart and Josh and Simon Birmingham and other Ministers, is you’ll hear quite specific detail and credible plans that we have spent a considerable time consulting and working on to ensure that they can work.
It is a comprehensive strategy. We’re very serious about it. As serious as the Israeli Government was when they set out this task. We intend to do this and we believe we have a plan to achieve it and that plan is about inspiring you. It is about enabling you and giving you the confidence to go forward and do the things that you know how to.
We have faced much as a country over this past year and we have achieved much as well. Our experts, our public health officials, our public servants, our business leaders, our employers, our employees, all world leading. We must continue to foster that ambitious, outward looking spirit as we face the challenges that are still ahead.
We must bring the same unrelenting focus that we have all had in the past year to building the Australian economy of the next decade. To keep delivering on our plan to secure Australia’s economic recovery. To continue to manage the economic impacts from COVID-19 as successfully as we have. To support the creation of more and better jobs. To guarantee those essentials that Australians rely on like the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and to build a safer, more resilient Australia in a greatly challenging world.
That is what next week’s Budget is all about. Now more than ever we cannot afford to risk the alternatives. We have come so far. We have learned so much. We must keep doing what’s working, and prevent losing what has been gained through so much hard work and effort from so many Australians.
We need to stick to the plan and we will continue to see Australia through this crisis and beyond. Stronger, safer and together.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Address, Townsville Chamber of Commerce - Townsville, QLD
5 May 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much, it’s a very generous introduction. It’s tremendous to be here with everybody today and to the other six people who graduated as economic geographers back in 1989. I’m sure they will appreciate your very sound exposition of what we were doing for those four years at university, back at New South Wales University, all those years ago.
Can I begin today by acknowledging the Bindal and Wulgurukaba people, and pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging. Can I also acknowledge, particularly here in the garrison town of Townsville, any serving men and women who are with us, as well as any veterans, and of course Phil Thompson being one of many of them, and to say thank you on behalf of a very grateful nation for your service. I also want to salute the men and women who are here today and throughout this great city who are ADF Reservists. We have called on our ADF Reservists so many times through various operations and responding to natural disasters, bushfire assist, COVID assist, flood assist, all of these operations so well led, but on so many occasions it’d involve, and in one case with the bushfires, compulsory call up of Reservists, and they have responded. And I want to thank their employers as well, for the great support that they have given to our Reservists in being able to answer the call of their nation.
It’s always great to be here in Townsville, it’s one of my most favourite places. You might think I say that everywhere I go and it’s pretty much true. Australia is my favourite place, and every corner of it. But I have a particular affection here, so much so people from the Shire like it so much here that Chad Townsend has decided to move to Townsville next year. We’re sorry to lose him but I know he’ll be warmly welcomed up here and I look forward to visiting him up here. He’ll be wearing a different jersey and I do hope that his old jersey will be more successful.
Can I thank the Chamber of Commerce for hosting today, and to give Michael and the, and your leadership here of the Townsville Chamber of Commerce. Can I acknowledge of course Phil Thompson, the Member for Herbert, Senator Susan McDonald. Susan is here somewhere, I’m sure. She’ll give me a wave in a sec. I know she was down at Beef Week as well, at Rocky, as has been Minister David Littleproud and I acknowledge him up here in Queensland, of course. To Joe Buffone, who is here, who heads up Emergency Management Australia. He’s doing an amazing job. Joe was who we sent down into the second wave in Victoria when COVID hit, and he did an extraordinary job there leading up the Aged Care Response Centre under tremendous strain and trial and now Joe is heading up Emergency Management Australia and he’s doing a terrific job. We were out in the floods, out in Western Sydney a few months ago, and it never stops, sadly. To Shane Stone, my dear friend over, over a long time now. It’s great to be here with Shane, anywhere, but I want to thank you Shane for your leadership of the North Queensland Flood Recovery and Drought Agency and the evolution of that agency, together with the National Bushfire Recovery Agency led by Andrew Colvin, it’s the reason why I’m here today to make the announcements I’m making. But I want to thank you Shane for your tremendous leadership, particularly here in North Queensland where I know it has meant so much to so many people.
I want to speak about national resilience today, and I’m speaking at a Chamber of Commerce event because as you’ve said, Michael, prosperity, the economy in Northern Australia is so dependent on our national resilience to disasters. And so I think it is a very relevant economic topic here in the north, and one foundational I think to life here in the north, and that is why I have chosen to be here in northern Australia to make these announcements today.
Resilience always starts with people, with people, families, individuals, communities. In March Jenny and I were visiting the stricken areas of Western Sydney that had been hit by the floods. Joe and I had been up in the chopper not that long before and surveyed, once again those floodwaters as it wrecked havoc across our country.
The scale of that disaster was immense and that day Jenny and I met an amazing family, the Magnisalis family. Nick, 83 and 70 year old Irene. They had built their dream home more than 40 years ago, raised their family there. As they gathered together on that afternoon, it was a Sunday afternoon, they were there with their family. I think they were having Kentucky Fried Chicken, they told me. And then the waters came in and then within hours, a few short hours, their home was underwater and they lost everything.
But the way their whole family gathered together following that event, working day and night on the clean up, demonstrated they had built something far more significant than the bricks and mortar of the home, the gardens that were there, in their wonderful place that they had built together. They had built an amazing family, something that floodwaters couldn’t take away. And I remember saying that to Nick as we stood there together looking at the devastation of his property, and then looking at his family, and said, mate, that’s not something floods can take away. But what you have built in your family and the resilience of your family.
I’ve seen this time and again and so often here in North Queensland when Australians are challenged we see the best in them. It was on full display when the raging floodwaters swallowed North Queensland several years ago. On that occasion I visited Robert and Jacqueline Curley at their property Gipsy Plains outside of Cloncurry in the wake of those devastating February 2019 floods, which took away 2,500 of their cattle in 48 hours. Another 1,500 calves died from frost or exposure. I will never forget the smell of those carcasses. I could smell them from the chopper on the way in. I keep the mask that I was given by the Defence Force on that day [inaudible]. I keep it in my office. I told Jac when I saw them at Beef Week yesterday. I said, I still haven’t washed it, Jacqui, because it reminds me. She goes, you probably, you probably want to give it a wash, after two years. But it reminds me and it’s important for us to be reminded.
And after the election in May of 2019 I came back, and I visited the Curley’s again. And while there is still a massive rebuilding and restocking job ahead of them that will indeed take an entire generation to fully restore and they understand that, it took them a generation to build it, to come back and see their fighting spirit, truly extraordinary. And as I said I saw Jacqui yesterday in Rocky at Beef Week, and there she was smiling with her friends, talking about what they were doing to rebuild.
I was also here in Townsville with Phil as the North Queensland floods hit here in Townsville. Monsoonal rain, flooding rivers sweeping away homes, herds, lives. In addition to the Curleys I met many other families as they were returning to devastated properties. I met the men and women of the RAAF and the Army – the 3rd, 6th, 17th Brigade and the 1st Division who were helping evacuate people and move sandbags, even when their own homes were under water. The Cowboys were out too, North Queensland Cowboys, they were out there. They were out there supporting their community, such an amazing community club.
It was extraordinary. It was humbling, and it always is when you come face to face with the combination of grief and courage and compassion, that blends together in the wake and during a disaster.
Days later, I was at the other end of our country with then Premier Will Hodgman. While Townsville was under water, Tasmania was on fire. Bushfires roared through the Huon, and through more than 210,000 hectares in total, much of it in World Wilderness Heritage Areas. And hard as it was, Australians had experienced regular bushfires before, and we’re no stranger to those extremes.
But then the Black Summer hit, shook our country to its core. Thirty four lives claimed, destroyed over 3,000 homes, burned more than 30 million hectares and killed or displaced nearly three billion animals. It scarred our land, it disfigured our skies and sent a pall of smoke across the country that lingered for months on end.
Former AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin was called back into Australia’s service to head up the National Bushfire Recovery Agency, and I thank Andrew and all of his team for the tremendous job they have done. Shane Stone and his team continued to lead the National Drought and North Queensland Flood Response and Recovery Agency, particularly here in North Queensland, and the work that was being done here by drought-affected communities all across the country, and I again thank you Shane for the leadership of you and your agency.
David Littleproud, the Minister for Emergency Management, also did a herculean job, ensuring there were no gaps in our response. Disaster payments, small business injections, grants and loans, support for primary producers, tourism support, mental health support, back-to-school assistance, rural financial counsellors, local government infrastructure investment, support for local charities and community groups, roads cleared, properties cleared.
That continues today in Kalbarri, in the west of our country, and North Hampton and surrounding districts, after Cyclone Seroja tore through communities in Western Australia’s midwest. I was there recently with Melissa Price. Roofs peeled back like sardine cans, a holiday town known to so many in Perth and across Western Australia.
Kalbarri Boat Hire owner Kat Deadman and her nine-year-old son Lachy came up to me while I was at one of the food support centres. Kat’s business was totally smashed, she’d lost two-thirds of the boats. But her resolve had not been lost and her determination was very much there, as it was in her young son Lachy. The resolve of that little community to want to restore, that’s going on now, and they will make it better, so accurately and admirably summing up the grit and spirit in the heart of every Australian when confronted by these crises. Resilience and resourcefulness.
Our capacity to pull together is quite unique. It’s a truth about Australia, we draw that strength from each other, we draw it from the communities we create, individuals, each and every one of us. We draw it from the communities we create and the communities we sustain together. That’s our strength. But we’ve got to go further.
Longer, hotter, drier summers, more extreme in our weather, we know this isn’t going away. Addressing our collective resilience to natural disasters is a core component of our Government's response to climate change. The severity of these disasters, and in particular the Black Summer bushfires, was the reason I called the Royal Commission with clear terms of reference and called on Mark Binskin, former head of our Defence Forces, to be able to investigate.
We had to ask ourselves if the right institutional support was available? Could we be better prepared? Could our response and recovery be better coordinated? Mark Binskin has given his report of the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements, and I thank him and all of his team for their work, and it is his report now that leads us to the announcements and the actions that we will now take as a Government.
For most natural disasters, primary responsibility for response and recovery does sit comfortably and ably within the capability and responsibility of states and territories, and they do a tremendous job. This model works very well most of the time, and I commend those state and territory and local government counterparts for working together to help communities in those circumstances. And of course the Commonwealth has also always stood ready to assist with recovery funding. But for those extreme fires, floods and storms, or the events that clearly cross borders and jurisdictions, the Commonwealth does step up and we do play a more prominent role in how recovery is delivered and how risks are mitigated.
And I’ve got to say that is particularly the case in supporting our agricultural communities. I remember standing in the dairy shed along the Manning River on the mid-north New South Wales coast in those recent floods. This is, this went beyond their ability to mitigate what came on that day, and so much of our effort, as Shane’s agency and Andrew’s agency has shown, has not just been restoring the towns but ensuring that we restore the income producing capacity of our regions and our agricultural communities.
The Royal Commission noted no single government or organisation controls all the levers when it comes to disasters. We’d like to think that was different, and I think sometimes in the community there’s an expectation that as a Prime Minister or a Premier, you can wave a wand and all of these things can come to bear quite specifically. No, our federation means we work together on these tasks. And so national coordination and leadership is crucial.
And so, taking this forward today, I am very pleased to announce that we are establishing the National Recovery and Resilience Agency. The Agency will be led by the Hon. Shane Stone and will have locally based staff in communities all around the country. The new agency will oversee a $600 million Preparing Australia Program, which will be in next week’s Budget. The new program will enable the Commonwealth to directly fund projects that mitigate or reduce risk, that minimise the impact of large scale natural disasters like floods, bushfires and cyclones.
These programs will both support the locally identified and locally led risk reduction projects and help address risks outside communities’ control. It will be informed by the Australian Climate Service, given the underlying impact of climate change as a driver of disaster risk. The new Australian Climate Service will draw on the expertise of our best and brightest minds from the Bureau of Meteorology, Geoscience Australia, the CSIRO and the Australian Bureau of Statistics to help the Government to better anticipate, manage and adapt to the risks that a changing climate will bring.
It will help us better prepare for natural disasters well before they occur, by not just looking days ahead but years and decades ahead, and that is critical. When a cyclone is bearing down, communities and businesses here in the north will better know where the strongest winds and worst flooding will be, what roads will be cut and for how long, and who in the community will be most affected. We will better know in advance what the impacts might be on food supplies, water, sewerage, fuel, electricity. It will help us prepare alternative routes and transport methods and backup logistics that can get our community back up and going again much faster.
The National Recovery and Resilience Agency, Emergency Management Australia and the Australian Climate Service will work together to support national decision making in a crisis and beyond. It will help us better target our spending under the Preparing Australia Program. It will also build on the existing five-year $130 million Disaster Risk Reduction Funding Package and the $50 million per annum available from the Emergency Response Fund for risk reduction, preparedness and resilience.
The program will comprise two elements, Preparing Australian Communities and Preparing Australian Homes. The community initiatives will be locally identified and locally risk led, and will help address risks outside communities’ control. In the Home Program we will work with the insurance sector to identify priority activities and projects that will support beneficial reductions in insurance premiums.
The Agency will coordinate and align Australia’s national capability to build on Australia’s natural resilience, and better prepare for natural disasters and recover from all hazards. This will be locally led, it will be locally understood, it will be locally implemented.
The Agency will play a critical role in the recovery phase for severely impacted communities while working to design and revise policies and programs that will limit the impact of future disasters. It will bring together expertise in disaster recovery, working with affected communities and all levels of government, industry and not-for-profit organisations. The Agency will continue working with people and businesses and communities affected by the 2019 North Queensland Monsoon Trough, the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires, and the drought. Those programs aren’t changing, they’re going ahead under the coordination and direction of the new Agency.
It will also start the important work of supporting the long-term recovery of communities in NSW and Queensland hit by the March storms and floods. And from 1 July, the Agency will incorporate the disaster risk reduction and recovery functions from the Department of Home Affairs, and its regional network will expand to include Rural Financial Counsellors.
The important role of Emergency Management Australia will continue under Joe’s leadership to guide how the Commonwealth responds initially to disasters. So we’re going to beef up EMA to ensure it has near real time situational awareness of events as they unfold, and give it better tools so we can improve how we manage and respond to national scale disasters. And EMA will work hand in glove with the Agency, as EMA already does with the predecessor agencies.
After the floods hit here in North Queensland I turned to Shane, who I’ve known for many years, and I asked him to come and help, and he didn’t, he didn’t tarry. He was there straightaway. And so as now again that I’m turning to Shane to lead this Agency, to further coordinate our response.
In his evidence to the Royal Commission, Shane said there were three things that we needed to do. First, the nation must have a mandated single Agency to oversee recovery and resilience. Tick. Second, we must be consistent in the way we respond and operate regardless of which government agency is involved. Through this Agency, tick. And third, the approach to recovery must be locally led, locally understood and locally implemented. That is their mandate. Tick. The Agency delivers on all these objectives and so I can think of no one better to take on the role than the person who suggested we go in exactly this path.
The most defining aspect of the way the North Queensland Flood Response and Drought Recovery Agency has operated is I’ve been, I think fundamentally to bring hope, and to deliver it in a timely and effective way. Cut through log jams of congestion around designing grants and loans, as indeed Andrew Colvin’s agency has also, the form filling, monies paid, clearing the way on this. They do not claim to have a mortgage on all the answers and what works, but with their level of cooperation and partnership with local government and agencies here in Queensland like QRA and QRIDA, who I think did a, have done a fantastic job. All of this, working together to find those solutions has been, most significantly, applauded by those who have survived these disasters. The Bushfire Recovery Agency led by Andrew took a very similar approach.
The new single agency will bring together those experience across so many different disasters. We know it takes years, many years, for people to recover from these disasters, long after the coverage has passed, long after the evacuation centres have closed, long after the support officers are there and the cash payments have been made in the middle of the crisis. It takes years. The trauma, the dysfunction and disadvantage manifests itself in so many ways, as Shane has shared with me and his officers, foremost mental health issues, poor school results extending over years, underemployment, domestic violence, marriage breakdown, business collapse, the demise of rural and regional communities. That’s what disasters do and the impact is not just immediate. In fact, the longer term impact can be far more devastating and often far more deadly.
People who have been hit by a disaster or two and are struggling under the heavy weight of prolonged drought, they want to talk to a real person, they want a beating heart on the other side of the table to talk to, someone who understands what they’re going through. And that will be the heart of the National Recovery and Resilience Agency. It will have boots on the ground, and I’d add to that Shane, hearts at the table, through a national network of Recovery Support Officers who come from and live in and work in the communities they are part of helping and restoring.
These Support Officers will make sure people get the information they need and direct them to the help and support that is right there for their situation, connecting them to the support. Our experience has shown that having someone to talk to that understands the issues at a local level and what can be done to address them makes all the difference.
A key task of the Agency will also be to continue to provide advice back to me. Shane has my number and he knows how to use it, I can assure you. And not just to me though, to Minister Littleproud, the Cabinet and all their offices, and the feedback we get directly from the ground. This is what will help us prepare as well for future disasters.
The challenge of rebuilding and recovery, the importance of investing in resilience, that also is a massive task of this Agency. Shane was reminding me last night the Insurance Council of Australia says, as a nation we spend some 97 per cent on the clean up and 3 per cent on mitigation. Think about that. That’s not a good equation. That doesn’t add up. That has to change. And what we’re announcing here today is about changing that equation here in this country. Of course we know living in this country we can never flood, cyclone, drought, fireproof our nation completely, but we can be better prepared and we’ve all got a responsibility.
Many are not prepared. In NSW, 13 per cent of households had no home insurance. In Victoria, it’s eight per cent. In QLD, particularly here in the tropics, the situation is worse and a consequence of high cost of premiums, and so I thank you Michael for your recognition. I want to particularly commend Phil Thompson and Warren Entsch and others who have worked so hard on this. This is an important package, the Northern Australia Insurance Package. The package places a $10 billion guarantee on the reinsurance pool here in the north. Not just here in North Queensland but right across the north, the Top End, Northern Territory, up there in Kununurra, all across northern Western Australia and through the Kimberleys.
This package is important for resilience. It enables businesses and families to live successfully, vibrantly, in the north of our country. It includes the establishment of the reinsurance pool, but also we’ve committed $40 million for the North Queensland Strata Title Resilience Pilot Program. And these measures represent significant Commonwealth action.
Local communities also must seize their responsibilities in these areas and understand the risk. State governments, also local governments. Nothing should be off the table. Betterment is the order of the day.
Engineering strategies and drainage should be front and centre in flood zones. Levee banks, water diversion, dam redesign, as controversial as they might be that warrants a frank and informed conversation. Enforcement of fire reduction strategies must not be negotiable. Reducing the fuel load is not negotiable. Consistent town planning around flood prone areas is long overdue. Cyclone management including storm surges and saltwater intrusion in wetlands demands a consistent and coherent response across state and territory borders. Cyclone shelters in remoter parts of Australia and adequate cyclone proofing building standards should be the order of the day. It’s a pretty long list and we’re all involved in doing it.
We have a generational opportunity I believe to address the many challenges we as Australians face. I’ve gone into too many communities and seen the devastation as Prime Minister. People often say to me, it’s been quite a run for you as Prime Minister. It’s not about me. But whether it’s from standing in the floodwaters at Gipsy Plains at Cloncurry, or most recently in the ripped off roofs of homes in Kalbarri, we’ve seen it too many times and I fear, of course, we will see it again. But we have an opportunity to prepare ourselves better and put in place stronger defences to deal with what’s coming and to ensure that, in particular, that we learn from what has particularly occurred over these, these generations, and particularly in most recent times. That’s what we owe to those who have suffered so much and lost so much, whether it’s through floods or cyclones or droughts, bushfires, COVID. We owe it to all of those who have lost so much that we learn from those terrible sufferings and that we ensure that we seek to mitigate it as much as we possibly can in the future.
Australia has proven in the last year who we are, once again. I firmly believe that Australians have stood up in the past year and a half and, and longer. We have not so much rediscovered our great resilience and strength, we’ve just proved it again, and the world has watched it. They have seen it and I think they look on at Australia and the way that we deal, dealt with all of these challenges and they can do nothing but admire our national character, as indeed we admire the characters of other nations that have dealt with such significant calamities.
We’ve shown as a country we can do it, we will do it, because we know we must do it. We can’t stop a cyclone, we can’t stop a flood or any natural disaster, but we can learn, we can invest, we can prepare, so that when that disaster strikes, we are as ready as we can be. Thank you very much for your attention.
Remarks, HMAS Cairns - Portsmith, QLD
4 May 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much, Commander, and it's great to be here with you all. Can I just start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and their elders past, present and future. Many of you will know, I hope, that it's always my practice to also thank any serving men and women who are with us, and that's the crowd today, all of you. So it's wonderful to be here with you today and, and to thank you for your service, and any veterans also who are joining us. Can I also acknowledge my Cabinet colleague, Melissa Price, the Minister for Defence Industry, is doing a terrific job and I'm glad she took the opportunity to be here with me today. This is very important to the Deputy Chief of Navy, it’s, I'm sure it's a great thrill for everyone here to have you on base here at HMAS Cairns. To Warren Entsch as well, who knows this place very, very well and knows the, its importance to the local Cairns community.
It was, it was quite a thrill to go past the Guardian Patrol Boat and to see our Pacific family there as part of a broader service that we're all engaged in here in the Pacific, and to see that they're getting their support right here out of HMAS Cairns and doing their work in their Pacific, in the great blue Pacific, protecting their waters and the operations that they're on to protect their fisheries. But as I look out on all of you, and I thank you for your service, which is so varied across all the various vessels that are, that are serviced out of here and based here. And I thank you for the tremendous work you do.
What our Government wants to do is ensure you're getting even better support for the job that you're doing. And so here we are investing $155 million dollars in redeveloping this base and through the wharf and I’ll let Melissa, she can speak more to that, as I'm sure you probably know it better than anyone. But this is going to be a major revamp of the base here. It's a very important part of our broader defence infrastructure around the country, and particularly up here in northern Australia. That investment will see peak of some 150 jobs on site, which will be a further boost to the local Cairns economy. Your presence alone is a significant boost to the Cairns economy, and, and the role that you all play here in the local community when you're based here I think is incredibly positive.
So it's an exciting period of time, it'll all be done by 2025, I understand, Deputy Chief. And, and we're looking forward that being done as, as efficiently and effectively as possible to give you the base that you need to do the great work you do for your country. And so I want to thank you again for your service. And I want to thank you for taking the decision to put on that uniform and to be part of Australia's Defence Forces, in whatever capacity you're serving, in whatever role and whatever your future holds. I really commend you for the decision to serve. And I, I trust that it's a very rewarding time that you are having as part of your service, and you can look forward to many years ahead of being able to pull on that uniform and serve your nation in the way that you do. So with that, I want to pass on to Melissa, and she can talk a bit more about the project. But again, thank you all for your great work. Thanks for your service.
THE HON. MELISSA PRICE MP, MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY: Thank you Prime Minister, and hi everyone. Thanks very much for a very warm Cairns welcome. Our Government has a very ambitious shipbuilding program, as you know, new OPVs, which will be home to you once we have the new wharf, frigates, submarines, new hydrographic vessels. And we do this because we want you to have the best kit that you need to be able to defend our nation. That, ultimately, is why we invest in defence capabilities.
But it's not enough just to have the best bit of gear. And so I just want to acknowledge the Watpac team who's over at the back here and congratulate them for their I think $155 million dollar contract, which is going to enable us to demolish the old wharf, build the new wharf which will enable the OPVs to be homed here. Congratulations to Watpac. They've committed to an 80 per cent local content with their contract within the Cairns and broader region, also a 10 per cent target with respect to Indigenous employment as well. So well done to Watpac, great injection of new jobs, a new bit of economic activity here in Cairns. We all know how Cairns has been doing it so tough because of COVID, so we're just so pleased to be here today. And again, just want to acknowledge the Watpac team because the work's all ahead of them now. Thanks very much.
Address - United Israel Appeal Dinner Randwick NSW
29 April 2021
LINK TO VIDEO: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tbrekig5i45eymq/AADu25K5TLaAFs-AgZkJec9Va?dl=0
Prime Minister: Thank you very much. Please be seated. Shalom. It’s wonderful to be here with you all this evening.
I want to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we gather, the Gadigal and Bidjigal people of the Eora nation.
I want to acknowledge, also Steven has just mentioned, our veterans or any service personnel serving who are with us this evening and say thank you on behalf of our nation for your service.
To Steven and to Judy, your leadership of this amazing Keren Hayesod organisation, the UIA Board of Trustees, world board of trustees, is a testament to the esteem in which you are held globally by the Jewish community. Your leadership here in Australia and your family’s leadership here in Australia is in the pantheon of great contributors to our nation that have built this country and as a nation we are deeply grateful to you and for the wonderful work you are doing now.
To Lance Rosenberg, President of UIA Australia, thank you so much.
Jillian Segal, lovely to see you Jillian, President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry. Thank you for your leadership.
To Ambassador Jonathan Peled, the Acting Ambassador of Israel, it is wonderful for you to be here tonight as you always are amongst the community, Your Excellency, and it is wonderful to be joining with you here this evening.
I’m joined by some of my colleagues here tonight. One of them I’m not joined by tonight is the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, you may know him. In fact, I suspect about seven of you are in text communication with him right now and that you didn’t initiate it. Josh is a dear friend and a great colleague and he is doing a tremendous job as he prepares for his next Budget.
But amongst all of that, there has been a passion project for Josh, which I want to acknowledge amongst the community here this evening. And that is the work that he has been doing to provide funding for Holocaust museums. Those we know of already in New South Wales, an outstanding museum and Victoria also. But the $20 million that we worked together to ensure was provided to support the museums in South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, Queensland and the ACT.
That is important but I’ll tell you what’s more important - that means across the whole country now, Holocaust education will now be taught across the curriculum. No better way to remember than by teaching your children and I want to commend Josh for his leadership.
To Stuart Robert, the Minister for a very long list of things, Employment, Workforce, Skills, and Small and Family Business, another great friend of Israel who is here tonight and you know Stuart very, very well.
Dave Sharma, the Member for Wentworth who is here, a former Ambassador to Israel, known to you incredibly well. Doing a wonderful job in the community.
And Julian Leeser, who is here with us, the Member for Berowra and Joanna, it is wonderful to have you here. I will talk a little bit more about Julian in just a second.
To everyone else who went to Sydney Boys High School who is here, I know there is a lot of you because I went to school with you. It is wonderful to be amongst friends.
Tonight I want to talk about a topic that I know is very dear to you. My father was a big believer in community. He was Mayor of Waverley, he was on the Waverley Council for some 16, 17 years and he taught me a lot about the importance of community. And he learnt it all from you because my father would tell me, if you want to understand community, understand the Jewish community, which he loved passionately and dearly.
And they cared for him at Wolper in some of his last months as my mother was recently cared for there. She is fine, by the way, she just had a back operation. But the care, the community of the Jewish community, has deeply impacted my family and my father taught me that.
And so I want to talk about a topic tonight that is dear to your hearts - community. Community of individuals, we heard it on the video, a nation of individuals.
Now, as some of you may know and as Steven has mentioned, I have been deeply influenced in recent years by the writings of the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks and Julian is responsible for that, because he has thrust Jonathan Sacks works into the arms of anyone who he can get a book into the hands of, rightly so and I am very grateful that he did.
On one occasion, he said because I was consuming this, that you’d better be careful, you might become Australia’s first Jewish prime minister. And I said, don’t tell Josh.
But his books Lessons in Leadership, Covenant and Conversation, and Morality, his last work, have given me a more textured understanding of Judaism, my own Christian faith and what unites us all as human beings. I shared some of these learnings with my own church community last week at the Gold Coast with Stuart Robert at their national conference.
In his works, Rabbi Sacks wrestles, a bit like Jacob, wrestles with the practical complexities of our modern pluralistic world and finds, through the tenets of his faith, as he did, a pathway to the common good.
At the heart of our Judeo-Christian heritage are two words.
Human dignity.
Everything else flows from this.
Seeing the inherent dignity of all human beings is the foundation of morality. It makes us more capable of love and compassion, of selflessness and forgiveness.
Because if you see the dignity and worth of another person, another human being, the beating heart in front of you, you’re less likely to disrespect them, insult or show contempt or hatred for them, or seek to cancel them, as is becoming the fashion these days.
You’re less likely to be indifferent to their lives, and callous towards their feelings.
Now, those of Jewish faith understand this. As Rabbi Sacks said, “The purpose of Judaism is to honour the image of God in other people.”
Reflecting the Psalmist: people who are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Such a beautiful idea. And one shared by many other faiths, including my own. Appreciating human dignity also fosters our sense of shared humanity.
This means that because we are conscious of our own failings and vulnerabilities, we can be more accepting and understanding of the failings and vulnerabilities of others.
True faith and religion is about confronting your own frailties. It’s about understanding your own and our humanity. The result of that is a humble heart, not a pious or judgemental one.
This has certainly been my experience. It has also been my privilege to appreciate the commonality of this view in deepening my ever connections with so many other faith and religious communities across Australia.
Christians from all denominations. The Eastern Orthodox faiths, Maronites, Catholics, Anglicans, and then of course Judaism, Hinduism, Muslims.
Seeing the dignity in others means we can see others as imperfect people striving to do their best.
And, you know, in a liberal democracy, there is no greater liberal democracy than the ones that are shared here and in Israel. Human dignity is foundational to our freedom.
It restrains government, it restrains our own actions and our own behaviour because we act for others and not ourselves, as you indeed do here this evening. That is the essence of morality.
de Tocqueville agreed. He said, “Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith’. Hayek the economist said the same thing, “Freedom has never worked without deeply ingrained moral beliefs.”
Acting to morally enhance the freedom of others ultimately serves to enhance our own freedom.
So it is no surprise then that Rabbi Sacks concluded in his final work, Morality, “If you lose your own morality, you are in danger of losing your freedom.”
The implication here is very important.
Liberty is not borne of the state but rests with the individual, for whom morality must be a personal responsibility.
In Lessons in Leadership, he quotes distinguished American jurist Judge Learned Hand, to argue this point:
I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws, upon courts .. believe me these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women, when it dies there, no constitution, no law can save it.
Freedom therefore rests on us taking personal responsibility for how we treat each other, based on our respect for, and appreciation of, human dignity.
This is not about state power. This is not about market power. This is about morality and personal responsibility.
Now, morality is also then the foundation of true community.
The place where we are valued; where we are unique; where we respect one another and contribute to and share one another’s lives. Where we pledge faithfulness to do together what we cannot achieve alone.
Sacks describes this as the covenant of community.
The determination to step up and play a role and to contribute as you are indeed doing this evening as part of this amazing organisation. Not leaving it to someone else, to another.
That is the moral responsibility and covenant, I would argue, of citizenship. Not to think we can leave it to someone else.
But there are warnings. Where we once understood our rights in terms of our protections from the state, now it seems these rights are increasingly defined by what we expect from the state.
As citizens, we cannot allow what we think we are entitled to, to become more important than what we are responsible for as citizens.
Teddy Roosevelt argued this more than a century ago in his famous ‘Man in the Arena’ speech. But I’m not going to quote the section that is most known. Arguing that going down this path of entitlements of citizenship, as opposed to the responsibilities, is a very dangerous one, and it indeed jeopardises national success in a liberal democracy.
He said, “The stream will not permanently rise higher than the main source; and the main source of national power and national greatness is found in the average citizenship of the nation.”
He said, “In the long run, success or failure will be conditioned upon the way in which the average man, the average woman, does his or her duty, first in the ordinary, every-day affairs of life, and next in those great occasional crises [and we know a bit about that] which call for the heroic virtues.”
Now together and individually we are each responsible for building and sustaining community, and we each have something unique to bring. Because community begins with the individual, not the state, not the marketplace. It begins with an appreciation of the unique dignity of each human being. It recognises that each individual has something to offer and that failure to appreciate and realise this, as a community, means our community is poorer and it is weaker.
In short, to realise true community we must first appreciate each individual human being matters. You matter. You, individually.
And in this context I would also argue we must protect against those forces that would undermine that in community, and I don’t just mean, as I’ve recently remarked, the social and moral corrosion caused by the misuse of social media, and the abuse that occurs there. But I would say it also includes the growing tendency to commodify human beings through identity politics.
We must never surrender the truth that the experience and value of every human being is unique and personal. You are more, we are more, individually, more than the things others try to identify us by, you by, in this age of identity politics. You are more than your gender, you are more than your race, you are more than your sexuality, you are more than your ethnicity, you are more than your religion, your language group, your age.
All of these of course contribute to who we may be and the incredible diversity of our society, particularly in this country, and our place in the world. But of themselves they are not the essence of our humanity.
When we reduce ourselves to a collection of attributes, or divide ourselves, even worse, on this basis, we can lose sight of who we actually are as individual human beings - in all our complexity, in all our wholeness and in all our wonder.
We then define each other if we go down that other path by the boxes we tick or don’t tick, rather than our qualities, skills and character. And we fail to see the value that other people hold as individuals, with real agency and responsibility.
Throughout history, we’ve seen what happens when people are defined solely by the group they belong to, or an attribute they have, or an identity they possess. The Jewish community understands that better than any in the world.
So my message is simple: you matter, you make the difference, you make community. And together with family and marriage and the associations of clubs and community groups, faith networks, indeed the organisations we’re here celebrating tonight, and so much more, they are the further building blocks of community on that individual, providing the stability and the sinews of society that bind us one to another.
And upon that moral foundation of community we build our institutions of state. Within that moral context we operate our market place.
To your great credit, this event is an affirmation that morality always starts with individuals seeing the dignity and need in each other and deciding to act. You are demonstrating by your own actions that morality can never be outsourced, because when it is we rob ourselves of that precious agency and we deny the strength and goodwill that comes from building community.
You matter. Community matters. In a democracy, it matters especially. It’s a tremendous source of strength and it’s why foreign actors seek to sow discord online, in many other ways, inflaming angers and hatreds and spreading lies and disinformation.
Of course, the right to disagree peacefully is at the heart of democracy, I’m not referring to that. But democracy is a shared endeavour, and the civility, trust and generosity, they are the currency that mediates our differences.
As I said to the Australian-Israel Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne a few years ago, in the aftermath of the Christchurch massacre which broke our hearts and tore our souls, what we need is not to disagree less, in a liberal democracy like Australia, we just need to disagree better.
I’ve been so incredibly heartened to see people from across the country show the best of us as a nation this past year. As Teddy Roosevelt said, those heroic virtues that were called upon at such a time.
Drought, bushfires, floods, cyclones, pandemic - Australians have found ways to support each other and stand with each other. Checking in on each other, keeping jobs there for your employees, volunteering, helping neighbours with their shopping.
Tonight I’ve spoken of Rabbi Sacks and I think his description of community could be well applied, I think, to the best of what we’ve seen in Australia over these past few years.
There’s another Jewish leader who’s also influenced me in recent times, and on this occasion it was Josh Frydenberg thrusting a book into my hand. And I know he’s had a big impact on Josh and I know, I would say everybody in this room. And that’s the Holocaust survivor 101-year-old Eddie Jaku.
Eddie’s book “The Happiest Man on Earth” is a gift to us. I think he’s taking the title of what I might have called my book sometime. But it is a great gift to Australia. He is a great gift to Australia.
The book is a love letter to this country and I thank those of you who have come up to me tonight. As Prime Minister, not me personally, but just representing the Australian nation and saying your thanks to what Australia has meant to you and your family.
Of course Eddie’s story is harrowing but it’s also hopeful. Of life in the Nazi concentration camps. Of surviving Auschwitz, Buchenwald and the Holocaust. And of course losing his family. But never losing his faith in humanity. Finding friendship even amongst the absolute ruins.
And after the end of the War, Eddie found a home here in Australia where he was welcomed with open arms, as so many of you or your family have been.
Many of you know Eddie, because he’s guided tens of thousands of people through the Sydney Jewish Museum. Eddie says of our country, a land where opportunities abound. And it is.
Julian Leeser has made the wonderful point that Australia is one of the few places on earth where Jewish people have not suffered persecution.
We’re not perfect, no country is, but we do have much to be proud of. We are a liberal, free people, one of the oldest continuous democracies on the planet. We have an Indigenous heritage and a rich multicultural character, both adding a brilliance and joy to our national life and character. We seek to be a good neighbour in our family here in the Pacific, and a good citizen in the world, playing our part, doing our share of the heavy lifting, meeting global challenges. We stand as a sovereign and free nation in an increasingly uncertain part of the world. We value and strive to preserve a liberal world order where the strategic balance favours freedom, always.
And we stand by with like-minded friends, such as the Jewish people and the State of Israel, who is a great friend to Australia and we are a true friend of Israel. A country that is sovereign, that is independent and free. A modern state, born anew in an ancient homeland.
Australia is a proud and faithful friend. So friends, continue to stand by each other.
When President Rivlin visited Australia, he described Australia’s Jewish community as the ‘living bridge’ between our two countries and that is indeed what you are.
You have created a bridge that has enriched Australia beyond measure.
Though numbering only about one per cent of our population, Jewish Australians have made a remarkable contribution to our national life and our story.
You have sought to be a light unto the nations, performing the mitzvot or good deeds according to the Law of Moses.
Good citizens, good neighbours and good friends, who understand through their own faith and history and sufferings that life is not what you accumulate but what you give, what you contribute.
People like John Monash, Isaac Isaacs, Sir Zelman and Lady Cowen, Linda Dessau, Susan and Isaac Wakil, and Judy Cassab.
The amazing Sir Frank Lowy.
Isi Leibler, the late Isi Leibler, who we know passed away earlier this month, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family. He was a great blessing to this country.
My dear friends, my deputy leader and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, another great contributor, as is Julian Leeser, making his mark.
So many outstanding Jewish Australians. So many stories of giving back.
That’s what you are doing tonight.
I know Steven is hoping the focus of that is giving. But you will, I know, because that has been your custom. To give and to give back.
In my church, we talk about blessed to be a blessing and that is what you’re doing here tonight. So being among you tonight, I’m deeply honoured to be here, I’m deeply grateful for your contribution to our nation.
I honour you as Australians, and as people of a rich heritage, a great culture and a tremendous faith.
I take to heart the words that you live out: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May all who love this city prosper.”
So I conclude with the words of Eddie Jaku and his blessing to so many:
“May you always have lots of love to share, lots of goodwill to spare, and wonderful friends that care”.
Thank you and God bless you. Shalom.
Remarks, Darwin Tourism Industry Morning Tea - Darwin, NT
29 April 2021
PRIME MINISTER: It’s great to be here and to Sam, it is great to be here with Senator McMahon, Senator for the Northern Territory in our Coalition team, the CLP. It’s great to be here with the Northern Territory tourism family, a family I'm not a stranger to. I was here working with friends in tourism long before I went into politics and back to the days of Tony Mayell and others around here many, many years ago. Some of you, I’m sure, remember.
What I've always admired about the Northern Territory tourism industry is its passion. The seasons, they come, they go, the weather comes and goes, there are shocks, there are issues, of course, like we’ve all had to deal with, but particularly here in remote parts of the country with COVID.
But what has always sustained this sector is everyone absolutely just loves what they do. They're incredibly passionate about it. They're purposeful about it. So many who have come to the Territory to establish businesses in the Territory have done so because that has been their life’s dream, that has been their vision, where they want to be and what they want to do. Particularly around ATE and things like that when I was working at Tourism Australia. The Territorian crew were the most passionate, I think, and the most out there, which always would attract attention from the international buyers and all that sort of things, which is exactly what you want.
Because as you know in the tourism industry, you're providing your services in one of the most amazing parts of the world. But you know that what makes the difference is how you do it and that is when personality and the vibrancy and passion of what you and your staff do. That's where the experience of it comes from. It takes place in just an awesome setting but when your visitors leave, what they take away as you know is what you’ve imparted from person to person, personality and character, passion for the place, and particularly when it comes to respect for Indigenous communities and the timeless land which we have the great blessing to live in, and we acknowledge those custodians, as you do. We do that when we speak as Members of Parliament, I do it as Prime Minister, acknowledging those elders past, present and future. You do it every day in how you run your tourism businesses here in the Northern Territory. You acknowledge that history, that culture, how it is just completely enmeshed in the experience of being in the Territory and I know you appreciate the wonder and spirituality of that as much as your visitors do and that’s what comes across, I think, in why people have such memorable experiences when they do come to the territory.
But there's no doubt, it's been a tough year, one of your toughest, and standing here last year which I was unable to do because we couldn’t come to the Territory and what you were facing I know that there would have been great anxiety. I know that JobKeeper made a big difference here in the Territory. I know the many other supports that the Government put in through cashflow assistance and the many other measures that we put in place. That kept the industry whole, kept it intact, kept people together and kept businesses being able to tick over. It kept the programming, the scheduling and the skills that are all necessary. It kept them all together.
Because the time was going to come and has already arrived, certainly from a domestic point of view when those visitors were going to come back. And what was very important to me and to Josh and to Michael McCormack and Sam and the whole team was that you would be in a position to capitalise when it happened and that when the business started coming back it would need six months to ramp up again, to go and get staff back to try and get lease premises again, get your capital and all the rest of it. We wanted to make sure that that could all remain in place so when the time did come, when people would be travelling again, you’d be able to get back on your feet quite quickly.
And so in graduating from JobKeeper, now seeing the visitation coming through. Just listening to about what occupancies are, bookings are strong going forward, the half price tickets that have seen those 800,000 tickets put out into the marketplace. These have been going extremely well. Over 50,000 I’m aware of directly coming into the Northern Territory. And I was so pleased when I saw that because this is where we wanted it to work in particular. I mean, a long way from a lot of places and it is not a two hour drive from Sydney. Like many places, if you’re going up to the Hunter or down to the South Coast or if you’re down in Melbourne, heading out into the wonderful surrounds there or driving out in the countryside, or in Queensland heading up the Sunshine Coast. In more remote parts of the country for tourism operators, far North Queensland, tropical North Queensland, over at Birubi, parts of Tasmania, it is a lot harder. So the flight access is absolutely critical.
It takes me back to the, I mean, the idea that idea that came from something, many of you might know Ron Murray. Ron has been a friend of mine from my tourism days and I remember when Ron was at Tourism Australia, he said the one thing you’ve got to do, mate, is make sure that air access is good and it’s cheap. If people can get on that plane and come to Australia, then they’ll come, because that is often the barrier. And so that was the thinking that went behind the idea that if we could just get these cheaper flights into the market, that would unleash the pickup that was there and we’d particularly be able to get people into the more remote parts of the country. When often is the case the international side of the business is a much bigger proportion of the business.
So I’ve been pleased to hear today how you’ve been able to absorb that. Now, you’ve got a different set of problems. Problems you’d prefer not to have but much better than the problems we wouldn’t want to have ie no tourists. And so the challenge now is workforce. Backpacker workforce is particularly important in the regional parts of the country, in remote parts of the country and that is certainly the case in the Northern Territory. It’s not just a matter for the hospitality sector, although it is a big issue for the hospitality sector. During the course of the last 24 hours, not surprisingly, when with Sam what we’ve been hearing is that’s true in construction, it’s true in the horticultural sector, in the ag sector, in the fisheries sector. It is a big challenge and the workforce challenge we have right across the country, but particularly more acute here.
So I’ll take a lot of that feedback I’ve had on that. Some great suggestions too, you always get practical suggestions in the Territory and direct ones. They don’t miss. They don’t miss, and nor should they. And so I think that’s been really good, Sam, to get that very candid feedback, positive and appreciative of the support the Commonwealth Government has provided but also, OK, we got through that bit, now we’ve got to get through this bit and that means getting staff in, getting people with skills to come and do this work, how are we going to achieve that. All Territorians want to keep the Territory safe from COVID, they don’t want to see COVID becoming present here in the Territory, like anywhere else in the country. And in Australia, that is one of our big positions and that is that we’re living life here like few countries in the world. Everyone has played a huge role in that.
Let me finish on that point. I want to just thank you. I want to thank all Territorians for that. Yesterday I had the opportunity along with Sam and the Chief Minister to go out and thank all of those workers out at the Howard Springs facility. They have done an amazing job in enabling us to bring Australians home but also protecting the Territory in the way that they’ve done it. Zero breaches, (inaudible), they’ve done a great job out there. But I want to thank Territorians and I want to thank the hospitality industry for just holding it together and that took a lot of character, it took a lot of passion and it took a lot of belief for you just to hold it together and push through what was those very, very difficult months. Now, now you can see much more light and I’m really pleased to see a few smiles on some faces today. But the odd furrowed brow when it comes to getting staff and all of those next challenges which we’ll work together on solving that problem too, just like we worked together on dealing with the other issues.
So thank you all very much for what you’ve been able to achieve for the Territory, for the country and I know that increasingly Australians will be making their way up here to have what is arguably one of the most unique experiences you can get in Australia or anywhere in the world. I say that from my background in the sector. The north of Australia is just unimaginable to so many, particularly from the south, and they should take that opportunity to come and do it whenever they can and particularly in the school holidays coming up, you’ll have to book. It’s pretty chocka up here. But I’m sure they’ll be able to find room one way or another. OK, thanks very much, great to talk to you.
Remarks, Howard Springs Quarantine Facility - Howard Springs, NT
38 April 2021
PRIME MINISTER: It's great to be here with Michael Gunner, the Chief Minister, because it's great to thank the Northern Territory for the amazing job. Michael, that is been done here at Howard Springs. This facility has been running for some time now and we are about to go to a whole new level. But I think what you've all achieved here, Cath and to Len, has been truly extraordinary. I would quite confidently say that I suspect this is the best run quarantine facility for COVID anywhere in the world. And that's happening here in Australia. It's happening here in the Northern Territory. It's happening right here at Howard Springs - I was going to say Humpty Doo. And that is a great credit to your professionalism. It's a great credit to your skill. But I think beyond all of that, it's a great credit to your compassion and your care for your fellow Australians who are going through a very distressing and very anxious time, whether it's dealing, as we were discussing, with mental health issues, concerns about family that are left behind, the stresses they've been dealing with over a long period, the health challenges that they're indeed facing, particularly if they’ve attracted COVID themselves. And so I just want to thank you for the service that you've provided to your country. I'm very proud of what you've achieved and I know you'll keep doing that job for the country. It's incredibly important for us because you're one of the key reasons we can get Australians home and get them home safely. So on behalf of them and all of their families and all Australians, thank you very much.
MICHAEL GUNNER, NORTHERN TERRITORY CHIEF MINISTER: Thank you, Prime Minister. This has been a partnership. I think everybody is here because we genuinely want to make a difference and look after people and it's been over a year. It's extraordinary to go back in time but that first phone call about can we look after Australians stuck in Wuhan? And ever since then, people have been here doing it pretty tough. It's not an easy climate to wear PPE in and you’ve done an extraordinary job. It is gold standard, not just for Australia, but for the world, genuinely led the way. And I've never been prouder to be a Territorian than I have during this pandemic and seeing all of you do everything you've done. We are the safest because you are the best. Thank you all and thank you, Prime Minister, for all your support. This could not happen without the Australian Government getting in behind and making this work. So it is very much genuinely a partnership. Thank you all. Thank you, everyone.
Press Conference - Sydney, NSW
27 April 2021
Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Women
Prime Minister: Good afternoon. I’m joined by the Foreign Minister. Can I begin on behalf of Marise and I in extending our sincere condolences to the Baird family, Judy Baird who passed away earlier today and she will be missed, of course, by our dear friend Bruce Baird their family, Mike, Julia and Steven and their families. Judy was an absolute saint and an angel and she will be sadly missed.
Today the National Security Committee met and we were considering a large number of matters, as is normal for the National Security Committee, but in particular we met today to address the situation in India and the terrible humanitarian crisis that is unfolding in India. We recognise that this has been a very significant outbreak in India and we know for Australians who have family in India at this time that they will be very distressed. From the scenes we are seeing from India, they are truly heartbreaking. India is a great friend of Australia and a comprehensive strategic partner. We share so much in common as peoples, as democratic nations, and we extend our deepest sympathies and condolences and our support to the nation of India and the people of India and the Prime Minister of India, Prime Minister Modi. They are dear friends of Australia and we will stand with them during this terrible crisis and for all Australians who are caught up in this terrible set of events.
The number of cases continues to increase. 325,000 new COVID cases on April 25, on Anzac Day, and over 2,800 deaths. There are significant shortages of key personal protection equipment, medical equipment and oxygen supplies and a severe disruption of the production capabilities of India because of the impact of COVID on their population. Australia, by contrast, has obviously had a different experience and that places us in a unique position among many countries to lend our support to India at this time. India has also been determined to be a high-risk country under the process we have put in place for the purpose of travel arrangements. Not only do we need to reach out and support our friends and family and all of those across India but we also need to take appropriate steps to ensure that we, here in Australia, we have border protection arrangements upgraded, and put in place, to deal with the risks that clearly present from travel from India.
Today we agreed, in addition to the measures that were announced after the last National Cabinet meeting, to pause direct passenger flights between India and Australia until the 15th of May. It will be reviewed prior to that time in terms of any further extension of that pause in those arrangements. This will impact directly on two passenger services from India into Sydney and two repatriation flights from India to Darwin, this impacting around 500 arrivals. The passengers on all future flights, when and if these flights are resumed going forward, will be required to have both a negative PCR test and a negative rapid antigen test prior to uplift. Further flights to India will be considered, as I said, prior to the 15th of May with a focus on supporting vulnerable Australians, in particular in relation to charter flights that have been put in place by the Australian Government. For indirect flights, that is another way that people who may have been in India would come to Australia, and already it has been announced and we are advised that indirect flights through Doha, Dubai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, we are aware flights to and from these transit points and India have been paused by the respective governments. So that third country entry point into Australia has already been closed by those key embarkation points to Australia. That will obviously have impacts, in a positive way, in terms of restricting the inflow and in fact in most cases eliminating it and for places like Perth and South Australia and ports that do not have direct flights.
In addition to the existing, this is all in addition to the existing arrangements that we put in place, including restrictions on outbound travel to India as a high risk destination last week. But we also have to reach out and support India. As many countries are doing, what Australia will do is we will provide an initial package, I stress this is an initial package, there will be more to follow, of support and to deliver this as soon as possible. 509 ventilators, 1 million surgical masks, 500,000 P2 and N95 masks, 100,000 surgical gowns, 100,000 goggles, 100,000 pairs of gloves, and 20,000 face shields. We will also agree to commence procurement of 100 oxygen concentrators, along with tanks and consumables. DFAT will manage the movement of this equipment over the course of the next week. I will ask the Foreign Minister to speak more to the support we’re providing to Australian residents who are in India. We are standing with those Australians in India and recognise the very serious difficulties that they face. A hardship program which has been in place for many, many months now continues to be available to provide support to Australians in those circumstances and consular support continues to be available. I particularly want to commend our High Commissioner, Barry O'Farrell, for the great work he and all his consular team are doing in India right now. As you can imagine, they have been getting considerable requests, and the work they have been doing to respond and support Australians in India is highly commendable.
I also want to note, over these weeks ahead, the Australian Government will be reaching out through the Department of Home Affairs directly through the Minister and the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, to engage with the Australian community with Indian descent and reaching out to them, listening to them, engaging in roundtables with community leaders to keep them informed of the information we have available as well as listening to them about what they are hearing on what they are understanding of the experiences of family members and friends and other associates in India. It is very important we remain in close contact with them over the course of what will be a highly stressful period for those Australians who are caught up or have family members affected by this humanitarian crisis in India. And we are very keen to make sure they know that we are standing with them during what is an incredibly difficult time for them and their families and communities.
So with that I will pass you onto the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Senator the Hon. Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Women: Thank you very, prime Minister, and like you I want to start by acknowledging Judy Baird and her family. Coincidently and completely serendipitously, I have known Judy Baird since I was a teenager, she was my careers counsellor at school, at high school. So I know this will be a very, very difficult time for the whole Baird family, who have been great friends of ours for many, many years and my warm sympathies and thoughts as well.
Prime Minister, I also want to send our thoughts to our friends in India. This is no doubt a very difficult time for many, many people. I have been in touch with my very good friend and colleague Foreign Secretary Jaishankar in relation to these issues and assured him of Australia's very best wishes and our strong support, which we are commencing with the announcements from today. I also want to reaffirm the great leadership and generosity that India has shown to the global community throughout this pandemic. They have, in fact, exported over 66 million WHO approved vaccines across the world. I know in our own region how important this has been, and in the Pacific, it includes gifting vaccine doses to Nauru and Fiji. It has also manufactured vaccine doses for Papua New Guinea, for the Solomon Islands, being delivered though the COVAX facility and we warmly acknowledge that generosity. As the Prime Minister did, we also know that for Australians in India and their loved ones, this is a very difficult time. For Indian Australians, many here in Australia will be very concerned about family as well.
Prior to the current outbreak, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had eight planned flights from India in May and because of decisions we have made today, of course, they will be paused. They are part of our continuing support to Australians to return safely. Those restrictions will be under regular review but since these efforts have begun, we have seen over 19,400 Australians return from India since March of last year. We currently have just over 9,000 Australians registered in India, 650 of those are registered as vulnerable. As you would expect in the circumstances, this number will certainly increase in the coming days and weeks as people's circumstances change. Since March last year we have facilitated 38 flights out of India, 28 flights with Qantas from Delhi, from Chennai, from Mumbai and from Calcutta, which have brought back 5,000 passengers and when circumstances do allow through this temporary pause we will resume those flights and if possible seek to increase the frequency if we are able to. I particularly want to acknowledge the efforts of those at our High Commission and our consular posts in India. I have spoken again today to High Commissioner O'Farrell and thank him and teams across those four posts for what has been a very significant task, not just in recent weeks but in fact since March of last year. I want to absolutely assure those Australians in India and Indian Australians here that our four Indian network posts remain staffed by Australian diplomats. They will continue to provide that consular assistance to Australians in distress, including through the DFAT’s financial assistance program, and that has of course been in place for many months now. Our posts will also be redoubling their efforts to maintain contact with Australian citizens in India to make sure they are informed about travel settings, any changes and about any changes and about assistance programs. That has been part of their work for many months now, but certainly in the current circumstances, those efforts will as I said be redoubled.
I want to advise again our consular contact numbers for those who may need to make contact. From Australia the number is 1300 555 135 and from outside Australia, it is of course +61 62613305. We have seen some increase in registrations in India from Friday and across the weekend. As I said, I expect that to increase but we will stay in close contact with those Australians and provide the support we are able to.
Journalist: Prime Minister, what's the reason for this? Obviously you didn't go so far last Thursday, has the WA lockdown been influential? Is our hotel quarantine system unable to contain this many cases?
Prime Minister: What is concerning is the increase in the percentage of cases in hotel quarantine which have their origins in India. While up until last week, the total number of cases that have occurred in quarantine from Australians returning from overseas has not left above levels which we have been experiencing over the course of this year, it has only actually been in the past week, on the week commencing on the 16th of April, that we started to see a jump. It went from 90 the previous week to 143 the following week, from the most recent week. Now, we have seen numbers of 90 and above, 95, 98, before this in the course of this year. So within the total number of positive cases, while the proportion of Indian arrivals had increased, the overall number of cases in quarantine had not markedly changed. In this past week we saw that rise and that was particularly in areas such as the Northern Territory and in New South Wales, where we have direct flights coming in to both of those areas. Proportionally, we saw higher numbers in Western Australia and South Australia, but in terms of the total number of cases originating in India, then the overwhelming majority of those were in New South Wales and in the Northern Territory and as a proportion of the cases in the Northern Territory, which is where we have the national quarantine facility, that had got to the point of almost 95 per cent of cases. So it's important to take this pause to enable those quarantine facilities, particularly in the Northern Territory, to be able to work through the system and return to lower levels, so we will be able to resume supporting getting Australians home in those direct flights that we have been using to repatriate Australians. But equally, in New South Wales, which has been carrying the lion's share, not just of arrivals right across the country, but also because they have a direct flight from India, we thought it was necessary to put in place just over a two week pause. I spoke to the Premier about that on the weekend and she supports that, thinks that’s wise, as we just allow the system to rebalance. But one of the challenges is going forward is the testing regime for those embarking on flights, and so having the rapid antigen testing in place will support that, but that will give us several weeks to put those arrangements in place with commercial operators. Qantas has already indicated they are able to do that, but working with other operators, we want to make sure those mitigations were in place. So this is a rapidly escalating situation. We took a series of decisions last week and we believed to date we needed to go further with the pause and I welcome the fact the third country entry points to Australia, embarkation points I should say, into Australia, have also closed off. Which is I think what was driving the concern, particularly in South Australia and Western Australia. There weren’t direct flights going to those states and so those flights coming from Malaysia and other places were carrying Australians back from other parts of the world, where the risk is not as great as in India, so that means Australians will still be able to come home through those flights under the cap arrangements we have. Western Australia has reduced their cap. Queensland is now only starting to return to where they were and Victoria, we are pleased to have them back in the system but they obviously have further ability to increase the number they are taking.
Journalist: During this two week pause, there are vulnerable Australian citizens who are in India who may catch COVID-19 and may pass away. How do you feel about it and what are you going to do for them?
Prime Minister: It is a humanitarian crisis and it is one that is gripping the world. This has been the case around the world over the course of the last year, that is the nature of a global pandemic. That is why we have been repatriating Australians from India, some 20,000 or thereabouts, over recent months, indirectly contracted flights as well as facilitated flights the Australian taxpayer has supported to get as many people home safely as we can. But the need and the risk continues to grow in a place like India and that is very sad for the people of India. But I don't see this as a problem that we’re trying to solve, I see this as a group of people we are trying to help. I don't see those Australians of Indian heritage as a problem we had to solve, not at all, and I am concerned that is how some may have been seeing this. No, these are Australians and Australian residents who need our help and we intend to make sure we are able to restore, particularly the repatriation flights, and those repatriation flights focus on the most vulnerable and that's what the High Commissioner and their team is working through to ensure that when these flights resume and the Northern Territory facility can take them again, as well as direct flights into Sydney, then we will be able to do that in the appropriate way. But, Marise, did you want to add anything?
Senator the Hon. Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Women: No, Prime Minister. I spoke, when I spoke to the High Commissioner this morning we touched on this challenge. Absolutely, there are the people that I’ve referred to today, those registered, those registered as vulnerable. They are also all over India, literally in every single corner of the country. There is not a significant concentration in one place or another other than New Delhi, and that does make the process challenging, but we will stay in touch with them as I said, redouble our efforts to do that and provide any support we are able to.
Prime Minister: So we will be looking to restore flights safely with even stronger protocols to ensure that we’re protecting arrangements around our borders. We don't think the answer is to forsake those Australians in India and just shut them off, as some seem to suggest. That’s not what my Government is going to do. We will stand with the Indian community here and our friends in India, as one of our closest and most strategic partners.
Journalist: Prime Minister, it’s disingenuous to say that you’re not forsaking them and that you’re standing with them, when in fact if you’re saying it’s this massive crisis and you’re suspending these flights for three weeks. How do you say that that’s not forsaking them and standing with them?
Prime Minister: Well, this is the difficult challenge in a pandemic. You don't get the perfect of all situations. And what you have to do is you have to ensure you have the integrity of your quarantine arrangements, which have withstood any number of challenges, and we need to ensure that the load in those quarantine facilities is manageable so we can take more people in down the track, which is what we definitely intend to do. We will resume the repatriation flights from India. That's exactly what we will do, and we will work through our consular offices in India to ensure that we're focusing those repatriation flights on the most vulnerable who need our help.
Journalist: Prime Minister, Mike Pezzullo's comments on Anzac Day about.
Prime Minister: Why don't we just stay with India for a minute.
Journalist: Prime Minister, I was going to ask you if, we’ve had the states calling for Commonwealth quarantine facilities. Is the Government considering any further ones like Howard Springs at RAAF air bases? And also Greg Hunt has kind of suggested the appropriateness of Queensland's Wellcamp proposal, he’s questioned that a bit, and wondering are you going to be looking at that further or not [inaudible]?
Prime Minister: Well if I had told you a year ago, just over a year ago, when the National Cabinet agreed unanimously to put in place a system of hotel quarantine, and that would be done to enforce the state administered and imposed public health orders that require that quarantine, and if I was to tell you that that would achieve a 99.99 percent success rate, you wouldn't have believed me. No one in this country would have believed me. I would have found that hard to believe. That is what the hotel quarantine system has achieved. If we look only, particularly in recent times, from the end of October to the 22 April, we have had some 140,355 people go through hotel quarantine. Thirteen, only on 13 occasions have there been incursions, and only on around two occasions, such as in the Northern Beaches, has there been a broader impact in terms of the spread of that virus, and on that occasion it had to do with a superspreader event that was at a major entertainment venue. See, hotel quarantine is the first ring of containment. While 99.99 percent success rate I think is pretty good. I think there's not a country in the world who wouldn't want a quarantine system that has been working as effective as that. But it is not 100 percent foolproof, and in 0.01 percent, in fact less of cases, you will see occasional breaches. So I make no criticism of any state and territory government that on occasions we will see breaches. The challenge is as we've seen Western Australia respond to particularly on this occasion, but other states respond on other occasions, particularly here in New South Wales, is the ring of containment that comes into place with their contact tracing system. And that's what’s been achieved again. This is how the system works. I mean, a system that is achieving 99.99 percent effectiveness is a very strong system and is serving Australia very well. Now, when the Commission in Victoria looked at quarantine facilities, they made a number of recommendations, and that meant that quarantine facilities need to be near major hospitals, tertiary hospitals. And so, that is a key requirement. There is also need to have these facilities that are near appropriate workforces, both health workforces and the other workforces that are provided, both through the Defence Forces, local police and others, and to ensure that support is in place as well. They need to be close to our major airports because that's where the planes come. And that's why these arrangements worked so successfully, and they can always be improved. When Jane Halton did her review some time ago, she made a number of recommendations which have been taken up by the states and territories. One of those was to establish a national resilience facility, which we have done. And that is in Howard Springs and that's been done in partnership with the Northern Territory Government, and towards the end of next month that will have a capacity of 2,000 people to be able, and that is there to take the charter flights that we're using to repatriate Australians and for that not to have to be accommodated within the hotel quarantine arrangements with the states and territories and the other major [inaudible].
Journalist: Should WA have not locked down?
Prime Minister: That's entirely a decision for the WA Government.
Journalist: But you must have a view, as Prime Minister.
Prime Minister: No, I back the decisions of the states. See, I’m working with the states and territories, Andrew.
Journalist: But one case is enough to lockdown?
Prime Minister: I have sought to do that all the way through this pandemic. They have their responsibilities and they have to make their calls and their decisions. And it has not been my practice to give a running commentary on the decisions and the responsibilities that they have. Australians expect me to work together with the states and territories, to work together to ensure Australia is best protected through this pandemic. So you won’t find me squabbling about this. You will find me supporting the states and territories. And so what we've seen in Western Australia is a quick response, their contact tracing system kick in, and I'm sure there’ll be lessons that they will pick up from how they look back at the issue that occurred and I'm sure there’ll be improvements.
Journalist: When the repatriation flights do resume, Prime Minister will there be any, when the repatriation flights with India resume, will there be any prioritisation for Australian cricketers who are currently playing in the IPL, or will it be basic, just done on vulnerability?
Prime Minister: No, it's done on vulnerability. And they’ve travelled there privately under those arrangements. This wasn't part of an Australian tour, and they're there under their own resources and they'll be using those resources to, I'm sure, to see them return to Australia in accordance with their own arrangements.
Journalist: Do you agree with Michael Pezzullo when he says the drums of war are beating?
Prime Minister: My goal as Prime Minister, and I know the Foreign Minister feels the same way and the entire Cabinet, is that our objective is to pursue peace. That's what we're doing. We're pursuing peace for a free and open Indo-Pacific. And all of the agency that we have as a country and as a Government is designed to achieve that. But it's also at the same time designed to ensure that Australia's national interests are always advanced. And of course that's why we have invested considerably to ensure the capability of our Defence Forces. Two percent of the, our economy each year, the size of our economy, is spent each year now ensuring that we have a capable Defence Force in this country. That's a significant increase from where we were when we came to Government, when the size of our investments in our Defence Forces fell to below the levels before the Second World War. We have restored that and we have done that to ensure that Australia's national interest can always be protected. But our goal is to pursue peace and our region, it’s to pursue peace and stability and as I’ve said before, a world order that favours freedom.
Journalist: What do you make of his comments then?
Prime Minister: You're the commentator Andrew, not me.
Journalist: Given Mr Pezzullo’s comments, would you consider increasing that two percent to say three percent or?
Prime Minister: Well we're already above two percent. What we've got is a platform and a program of defence investment that stands this Government out against its predecessors and ensures that Australia can meet the needs that we have. And I refer you to the strategic update that I gave last year, which highlighted the new areas of focus that we have as part of our defence plan and that in particular related to strike capabilities at that time, and I’ve made subsequent announcements about that as well. But the purpose here, Australians want us to pursue a peaceful outcome because that's what’s in their interests, ultimately, and that's what the Government is doing, working with our partners in the region, working with ASEAN, working with our Quad partners, working with our comprehensive strategic partners, which includes China, and working together to ensure that we can have an open, trading, peaceful community in the Indo-Pacific, because that's what is in the interests, I believe, of all countries in the region.
Journalist: When will the list of high risk countries be finalised and when will the new testing regime be introduced, the 72 hour test?
Prime Minister: The 72 hour testing regime, that's for third country arrangements for high risk countries, which at this stage has only, has only listed India. The Chief Medical Officer has worked through all the countries and while, when you go to a red list like they have in the United Kingdom, remember in the United Kingdom this is about where they restrict entry into the country just for citizens. So they currently allow travel into the United Kingdom for non-citizens. And so the red list, as I understand it, applies to where they restrict to citizens. Now, Australia already has that in place for every country in the world. You can't come to Australia, you can't do that unless there's a specific exemption which is granted by the Border Force Commissioner for any number of quite specific purposes. And so India is the only country of major point of embarkation into Australia that has been identified as a risk, at this point, at that level. They’ve looked across a range of other countries. It wasn't that long ago that we were having serious concerns about Papua New Guinea, and what we've seen as a result of the pause we put in place for arrivals out of Papua New Guinea into Queensland is we've seen the proportion of cases of Papua New Guinea originated infections drop significantly. And that has meant that the system in Queensland has had the stress come off it from the Papua New Guinean arrivals and that's proved to be very effective. So, what we've done all throughout this pandemic, is you’re just learning every day. You know, you make decisions, you monitor them carefully and you seek to repeat the successes and to improve them, and this type of a pause arrangement will give, particularly the facilities up in the Northern Territory and New South Wales, the opportunity to ensure that they can deal with the infection cases that currently exist in hotel quarantine and then enable us to step off from a stronger position in a few weeks’ time.
Journalist: Prime Minister, just on the Brisbane Olympic Games, can you explain to us the deal between the Queensland Government and the Federal Government, why there’s an oversight body that is needed?
Prime Minister: Well what the, what we're doing in Queensland with the Olympics, and let's note this, we're standing in Sydney today and I don't think there's a Sydneysider or an Australian who won't recognise that, what the Sydney Olympics did for Australia as a country. It was a massive success and it really did elevate Australia's standing all around the world, and as it did many years ago for Melbourne, and now Brisbane we hope will join that list of Olympic cities, and that will be good for Australia. When the Sydney Olympics were on well, the Federal Government's involvement with that was quite modest and was quite limited. What we've done in relation to the Brisbane Olympics is we've agreed to enter into a 50-50 arrangement. Now, that means a 50-50 on everything. This is not just 50-50 on funding. This is 50-50 on decisions, 50-50 decisions on appointments to organising committees. What we want is for this to be a people's games in the national interest. That means we have to take it out of the relationship of state and federal governments and any federation tensions, we've got to take it out of politics. This is an Olympic infrastructure authority that we anticipate would need to be established probably by statute at both state and federal levels, with equal representation in governments from the federal and state governments, and that means there would be a joint decision on what projects, where, what the scoping is, the costings, the contracting, the delivery. And this would be a highly competent agency, a lot like what we saw here with the Olympic coordination authority in New South Wales. The difference then, that was run by the State Government because the State Government was paying for it. In this case, if it’s a 50-50 arrangement on funding, there’s a 50-50 agreement on governance of how that infrastructure and how that agency will operate, as well as an equality when it comes to the appointments of persons to the organising committee between the state and federal governments. So a genuine 50-50 partnership is exactly what we proposed to the Queensland State Government and that's what I understand has been accepted by the Premier's comments over the last 24 hours.
Journalist: Back to India, you rightly pointed out that 99.99 percent of arrivals are fine and there's been a miniscule number of incursions. Isn't this a massive overreaction to entirely ban citizens from coming back, given the risk is so low. Why are we so risk averse? And also I understand the Northern Territory facility hasn't had any incursions, to my knowledge. I think that's correct.
Prime Minister: That's correct. It's been a very successful facility. But 95 per cent.
Journalist: And so why can't they go there?
Prime Minister: Ninety five percent of the cases currently of what has arrived into that facility have originated in India. And so working closely with the Northern Territory Government, as well as our medical advisers up around that facility, their advice is we need to slow that pace significantly over the next few weeks to ensure that we can maintain the health of people in that facility. So we're acting on medical advice, as we always have, when it comes especially to that facility. This will also give some breathing space to the New South Wales arrangements and allow in New South Wales people from other countries to come back and go through that quarantine system. So you’ll see just as many people coming through the New South Wales system. There will be less in Western Australia because they’ve asked to halve their capacity. There are increases in Queensland on the way and I hope also in Victoria. So we'll see more Australians coming back. But those over the next couple of weeks coming directly from India we will have a pause I think for very sensible health reasons, and that is also based on the advice of our Chief Medical Officer. So I think this, we have always taken a cautious approach. Australia can speak of a performance during the global pandemic on COVID-19 that few countries can. And one of the reasons for that is we’ve always listened to the medical advice. We take our own decisions, whether it is I as Prime Minister and the National Security Committee, Foreign Minister, the Health Minister and others, or that we do that as a National Cabinet. And that has I think, put Australia, I think, in a very strong position of so many nations when it comes to our handling of the pandemic. In Australia, we are living like few countries in the world can and do at the moment. I'm very determined that it remains that way. Thanks very much, everyone.
Remarks, Anzac Day Commemorative Dawn Service
25 April 2021
Prime Minister Scott Morrison: Australians all one and free.
We gather again.
Here in our nation’s most sacred place, and in thousands of places across our land, to reflect, remember, give thanks and draw strength.
Here at the Australian War Memorial we gather on land which is the local Ngunnawal people. They consider it as a ‘cradle’ - a place where the elements are constrained by Mount Ainslie, Mount Taylor and Black Mountain.
These hills stand watch over the Australian eucalypts and the New Zealand hebe plants that line the Anzac Parade and lead to this, our national place of remembrance and memorial.
This time last year - like so many other times in our history - we faced a defining moment as a nation.
A moment of uncertainty and danger when the future seemed so uncertain, masked by fog.
We couldn’t gather, indeed. But we held candles in driveways and on balconies and we played the Last Post on radios and iPhones, as some, especially in our West, will do again today.
And together we called on our past to light up the dawn.
And in doing so we rediscovered a deep truth about who we are - our strength is found in each other. When we are threatened, when our peace and our safety and our security are imperiled, in these moments, our differences fade away.
On this Anzac dawn we remind ourselves of the sacrifices, the courage, the selflessness which helped make our country what it is today.
Some might think that our Anzac story began on this morning 106 years ago, as quiet rowboats waited just off the peninsula at Gallipoli.
Now that is true, that’s when we entered our first conflict as one people.
But the story of those times - and all the times since - didn’t begin on battlefields, on land, at sea or in the sky.
It began in the homes and the farms and the towns and the suburbs across our great country.
It’s in those places that selflessness, duty, respect and responsibility were learned. Where love of family, the community and country is warmed and is kindled in the youngest hearts and the oldest minds.
It is also where the pain of loss is felt most acutely.
In the words of the poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal, who served in the Second World War, “Let us not say the past is dead, the past is all around us and within.”
Gallipoli, Villers-Bretonneux and Beersheba; Tobruk and Changi; Normandy and the Coral Sea; Kokoda and Crete; Bangka Island, Hellfire Pass; Kapyong, Borneo, Long Tan; Dili and Honiara; Kuwait, Baghdad, Tarin Kowt. These are not just places on a map, they are places that exist in the very Australian soul.
These memories are passed from one generation to the next.
They are entrusted us, to us to remember and to renew, and to remind us of who we are but also who we can be.
Sergeant Ricky Morris understands this better than most.
Ricky served in East Timor and Afghanistan.
He is a descendant of the Lovett family.
A member of the “fighting Gunditjmara”.
An Aboriginal family from western Victoria.
Proud of Country.
Proud of family.
Proud of uniform.
Men and women, in Ricky’s words, “who stood up”.
Five brothers, including Ricky’s grandfather, served in the First World War.
Four of them again served in the Second World War.
More than twenty family members have seen active service, that’s woven its way from Pozieres, Passchendaele and Amiens, to Japan, Korea, Vietnam, East Timor and Afghanistan, and with the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force.
Ricky says “every medal tells a story” - whether it's worn over the heart of a veteran or carried by one of their loved ones.
And that matters so much, especially today.
“Sometimes you feel alone … On days like today you want to be with your mates,” says Ricky.
This Anzac Day another chapter in our history is coming to a close, with the announcement last week of our departure and that of our great friend and ally, the United States, from Afghanistan.
Australia has been a steadfast contributor to the fight against terrorism.
It’s been our longest war.
The world is safer from the threat of terrorism than when the twin towers were felled almost 20 years ago. But we remain vigilant.
However, this has come at great cost.
Forty-one Australian lives lost in Afghanistan, whom we especially remember and honour this morning.
More than 39,000 Australians have served on operations in support of Australia’s mission in Afghanistan, many carrying the wounds and scars of war, seen and unseen.
They are the bravest of this generation.
Sergeant Andrew Russell served in Iraq, Kuwait and East Timor, before being deployed to Afghanistan.
He was the first Australian killed there, when his patrol vehicle struck an anti-vehicle mine.
He was 33.
He left behind his wife Kylie and his 11-day-old daughter Leisa.
Leisa is now 19 and studying criminology.
Kylie says she is, in so many ways, just like her Dad - she lives with a strong sense of duty.
Duty, that sense of self that seeks to build a better world. Expressed in courage, endurance, mateship and sacrifice.
The duty of Sergeant Andrew Russell is part of our national story, as is the duty of Sergeant Brett Till.
Brett was killed in Afghanistan while trying to disarm an improvised explosive device.
He joined the Army after the 9/11 terror attacks.
His wife Bree, who Jenny and I have come to know well, says Brett “was good, humble and honourable, with unequivocal, uncomplicated intentions”.
He and his wife Bree were expecting their first child together, to join their wonderful family with Brett’s older children Taleah and Jacob.
Their child Ziggy will be in high school next year, and I know Brett would be so proud of all his three children and the amazing job Bree has done to raise them.
Today we also honour the children, spouses, partners, parents and loved ones of the men and women who have served our nation in Afghanistan, and all the families of all who served at home and abroad.
Their love, encouragement and prayers have sustained our soldiers, sailors, aviators, nurses, padres and peacekeepers.
They have helped shoulder the burdens that follow service too.
Fellow Australians, shortly the bugle will sound again.
That sound is much a part of the Australian landscape as the birds we hear awakening at this dawn underneath our great Southern Cross.
Our Anzac Reveille, in the words of Her Majesty The Queen, is our “call awakening and rededication”, our reminder “of the standards for which we should all strive when we are called upon to do our duty”.
May we continue to be strengthened by the duty and example and memory of all who have served and continue to serve.
Lest we forget.
Remarks, Leaders Summit on Climate
22 April 2021
Prime Minister Scott Morrison: Well thank you, Mr President, and very much to you for leading this Summit and can I also acknowledge you Mr Secretary as well as Special Envoy Kerry.
It’s right to speak to our ambitions at this Summit, it’s also right to focus on performance.
Australia has a strong track record of setting, achieving and exceeding our commitments to responsibly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and playing our part to keep the 1.5 degrees within reach.
We have met and exceeded our 2020 Kyoto commitments and we are transparent about our progress through our annual projection updates and quarterly carbon reporting.
We are well on the way to meet and beat our Paris commitments and will update our Long Term Emissions Reduction Strategy for Glasgow.
Achieving our 2030 target will see emissions per capita fall by almost half, of our emissions per unit of GDP by 70 per cent.
Already we have reduced our emissions by 19 per cent on 2019- on 2005 levels I should say, more than most other similar economies - and by 36% when you exclude exports.
We are deploying renewable energy ten times faster than the global average per person. We have the highest uptake of rooftop solar in the world.
Australia is on the pathway to net zero. Our goal is to get there as soon as we possibly can, through technology that enables and transforms our industries, not taxes that eliminate them and the jobs and livelihoods they support and create, especially in our regions.
For Australia, it is not a question of if or even by when for net zero, but importantly how.
That is why we are investing in priority new technology solutions, through our Technology Investment Roadmap initiative.
We are investing around $20 billion to achieve ambitious goals that will bring the cost of clean hydrogen, green steel, energy storage and carbon capture to commercial parity. We expect this to leverage more than $80 billion in investment in the decade ahead.
In Australia our ambition is to produce the cheapest clean hydrogen in the world, at $2 per kilogram Australian.
Mr President, in the United States you have the Silicon Valley. Here in Australia we are creating our own ‘Hydrogen Valleys’. Where we will transform our transport industries, our mining and resource sectors, our manufacturing, our fuel and energy production.
In Australia our journey to net zero is being led by world class pioneering Australian companies like Fortescue, led by Dr Andrew Forrest, Visy, BHP, Rio Tinto, AGL and so many more of all sizes.
It is also being pioneered by our agricultural and marine sectors through soil science and sustainable fisheries.
Marine protected areas in Australia are approaching 40 per cent of our waters.
We have already funded over 100 cutting-edge projects to safeguard our global treasure, the Great Barrier Reef, and are committing a further $100 million to protect our oceans, coastal ecosystems and pioneer blue carbon initiatives to mitigate climate change.
We are also providing $1.5 billion in practical climate finance focusing on our blue Pacific family partners in our region.
Mr President, we want to work with others on the ‘how’, through our new international technology partnerships programme, led by Australia’s former Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel.
My Government is committed to playing its part in making COP26 a success in Glasgow, and you can always be sure that the commitments Australia makes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are bankable.
We have proven performance, transparent emissions accounting and transformative technology targets to unlock pathways to net zero.
Future generations, my colleagues and Excellencies, will thank us not for what we have promised, but what we deliver. And on that score Australia can always be relied upon. Thank you for your kind attention.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
22 April 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you for joining us this afternoon. It’s been another very positive meeting of the National Cabinet today. We've made a lot of progress over the course of this week in putting together the new recalibrated arrangements for the vaccination program, which I'll ask Professor Murphy to speak to. Professor Kelly is available to answer questions on any of these matters. But let me begin by telling you today, if I can have the first slide, these are today's numbers. Just under 1.8 million Australians have now been vaccinated and I can tell you one of them is my mum. She was vaccinated today. She went down to her GP on the regular Thursday clinic and she has had her vaccination today. Some 67,591 Australians were vaccinated in that previous 24-hour period. And we're pleased to see that those numbers have been staying in those mid sort of 60,000 each day and that's good to see. It's also important to note that over half now, over half of the vaccinations that have been done in Australia have now been done by our general practitioners. If I go to the next slide, you can see since the general practitioners came on board, we have seen the vaccination program reach the levels that it has now, just less than 1.8 million.
If I can have the next slide, what you can see now is Australia which is here, has been steadily moving up the board. We are now at 7 per 100, which puts us ahead of the European Union, ahead of countries like Belgium and France and Italy and of course, countries like New Zealand and Canada at the same time of their vaccination rollout. And I want to say a big thank you to Australians, particularly those aged over 70 including my mum who have been out there, heeding that call to importantly go and ensure that they are getting vaccinated because that population in particular aged over 70, is the most vulnerable when it comes to there being any potential outbreak.
Today, National Cabinet agreed the following and I'll ask Professor Murphy to go through this in more detail. Once again, we enforce that Pfizer would be prioritised, the doses available for those under 50 in those 1A and 1B groups. They will also be prioritised to those in residential aged care facilities and disability care, in remote and very remote locations, and for quarantine and those essential front-line workers who are working in those areas which are vaccinated by the states and territories. We also agreed to bring forward for over 50s, so outside 1A and 1B, over 50 Australians. This would be vaccination for AstraZeneca and that would be brought forward for the GP respiratory clinics and state and territories from the 3rd of May. And from 17th of May, for GPs, in the broader GP clinics that are available, just like the one my mother went to today. That will give them ample time for them to gear up for that and it’ll also give them more time for those GPs to focus continually on that over 70 population where they're working through very effectively this time and we thank them for that. State and territory Pfizer vaccine rollouts, which are currently being done, will also be available to workforce in residential aged care facilities, as well as disability care. Now, that's not for disability care residents with complex, highly complex needs. They will continue to be vaccinated through the in-reach services that are provided by the Commonwealth. And once again, National Cabinet affirmed the importance of GPs being the principal way in which we're seeking to vaccinate the country and the fact they've already done half that job and that it is only continuing to grow, I think underscores that.
We also considered today another emerging and important issue and that is dealing with returning Australian residents and citizens from high-risk countries. Now, as time goes on and the pandemic continues to rage, there are countries that are frankly of greater risk than others. And we've seen in particular most recently an increase in the rate of cases in our quarantine system at a state and territory level for arrivals from India. What we have agreed to do, and this particularly relates to the chartered services we're running into the Northern Territory, we will be reducing by some 30 per cent the numbers coming through our chartered services in the months ahead. We will also be limiting the departure exceptions for Australians travelling to high-risk countries and the one we're nominating at the moment and there will be others and we'll be working through that over the course of the next week to India. So those who may have been going for, sadly family events such as weddings or sadly funerals, these were things that were restricted in Australia for Australians in this country. So regrettably, there are some exemptions that are provided in these circumstances and we'll be instructing the Border Force to ensure that only in very urgent circumstances would an exemption be permitted for someone to travel to a high-risk country. To give you an idea about high-risk countries, the United Kingdom, who allows people to enter have got a list of red list countries that only residents, sorry, only citizens can return from. While we're not adopting that list, that gives you somewhat of an idea of the type of approach we'll be seeking to put in place from those high-risk countries and the Chief Medical Officer working with others and DFAT will be seeking to put a list of high-risk countries in place.
We will also be reducing by 30 per cent over the course of this week and we'll be advising that on a later date, just to flag, the reduction in volumes in direct flights from India into Australia. There are only direct flights into Sydney. So that would be a 30 per cent reduction and we will announce once we're in a position to do so, which shouldn't be before too long, to advise when that will take effect from. We will also be looking to put in place for high-risk countries and we'll work through that over the course of this week coming. An arrangement whereby if you have been in a high-risk country in the previous 14 days before getting on your last point of embarkation to Australia, then you would need to have had a PCR test 72 hours before leaving that last point of embarkation. So, if you had been, this would apply to India. If you had been in India when you had arrived in say, Kuala Lumpur or Doha or Singapore or some place like that, in those countries and we have to work through the arrangements with officials and others before we put this in place but in the interests of transparency, what we're saying in that last point of embarkation which would be Doha or Singapore or Kuala Lumpur, you would need to have had a PCR test 72 hours before getting on that plane. That deals with the problem, I should say the issue, that is being addressed in places like South Australia and Western Australia, to a lesser extent Victoria and Queensland, where they don't have direct flights. No what this will do is ensure that in those places, that those seats would then be taken up by other Australian residents and citizens seeking to return who won't be coming from high-risk countries. These are difficult decisions we've had to make but the increasing risk that we've seen from some countries, we believe necessitates managing that risk in the best way possible. But also maintaining the volumes of those who can come under the cap arrangements we currently have. With that, I'll pass you over to Professor Murphy.
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: Thanks, Prime Minister. Could I have the next slide, please. So I’m just going to go over the recalibration of the vaccine program and first it's important to re-emphasise the principles upon which this recalibration has been undertaken by the states and territories and the Commonwealth officials, working very closely over the last week. So the major driver of this is clearly the ATAGI advice in relation to this rare but significant adverse effect, thrombosis, with thrombocytopenia, which occurs more commonly in younger people and for whom the risk benefit of vaccination is different at different ages. And ATAGI advice to recall, is that Pfizer is now the preferred vaccine for those under 50. So that means that we really have two vaccines divided by age with some exceptions. A bit like how we have two flu vaccines. One group for 65 and over, and one group for under 65. So that's made a big, significant impact on our program as we have previously outlined.
The other principle is we that must continue our course to protect the most vulnerable to severe COVID as soon as possible and our goal to protect them by the middle of the year is unchanged. People like the Prime Minister's mother. Age is the single biggest risk factor for severe COVID but we know there are others and that group is our priority at the moment. To get them vaccinated as soon as possible. In doing so, we have to maximise the vaccine doses we have available at this time. And obviously at this time we have more Pfizer, more AstraZeneca I should say, coming online from CSL, but still steady but hopefully increasing doses of Pfizer. So we have to plan the program to maximally use those vaccines we have available. Clearly we have to encourage Australians to get vaccinated. We have to make sure that we have a program that is credible. We have communication that gets out to the population, to make sure that people understand the importance of vaccination, to make sure that we understand that we are in still a very dangerous world. There are many countries in the world, the Prime Minister was talking about India, that are in very serious situations with COVID and the risk of COVID importation and outbreak in Australia is ever present. We cannot be complacent.
Clearly, the other principle is this huge logistic program must be collaborative and it's been so the whole way through. It has been very collaborative in the last week as we've sought to recalibrate the program. The next slide up. So what are the key principles or the key changes. So as I've said, Pfizer vaccine is the vaccine for those under 50, with a few agreed exceptions. We have to finish off residential aged care. It's nearly finished. Only a few more weeks to go and we have very, very efficient teams going in there giving Pfizer to our aged care residents. We will soon have them completely protected and they are the single most high-risk group in this country and all around the world from COVID. There are some other exceptions that the Prime Minister talked about disability care, where most people are under 50, in a small disability home. We wouldn't want to go in with two types of vaccine for only four or five people. There are some border and quarantine workers who need to be protected, to be able to go to work and that protection for two doses three weeks apart is much easier to achieve with Pfizer. But with a few exceptions, Pfizer is now restricted to those under 50. Until we get more Pfizer supplies later in the year, so for those people who may choose not to have AstraZeneca, as the Prime Minister has always said, it is a choice. We recommend that AstraZeneca, the risk benefit for over 50 is vastly in favour of being vaccinated. But people always have a choice and more Pfizer will be available later in the year. But at this stage we will not be making Pfizer available to those 50 and over.
We need to ensure, because of this new age split that a range of people under 50 who are eligible at the moment, such as aged care workers, disability care workers, those people with underlying chronic medical conditions, emergency service workers and broader healthcare workers from all settings, can have access to Pfizer at the state Pfizer clinic. So they will now, the first Ministers have agreed, they will open up all of their state Pfizer clinics equally to every single Australian currently eligible, it's only in those groups in 1A and 1B at the moment to access Pfizer in those Pfizer clinics. That increased demand on the Pfizer clinics to cover that whole population essentially under 50 will require an expansion in those Pfizer clinics in the states. That will need to expand both in geography and size, depending on the available Pfizer doses which are coming in and which we hope to increase in coming weeks. We will also down the track consider further expansion of other state Pfizer points of presence and potentially when we get more supplies of a Commonwealth Pfizer points of presence. The AstraZeneca vaccine is the vaccine for people 50 years and over. Because the states and territories will be no longer providing AstraZeneca to under 50s in their clinics, that will free up more AstraZeneca to go to primary care sites. And they will be able to increase many of the GP sites who as the Prime Minister said, have been vaccinating very efficiently, many of our over 70s say they can do more. We'll be able to increase their dose supply in coming weeks and we'll be able to also make sure that the states and territory clinics focus on their core over 50 groups in their AstraZeneca clinics but they may well pivot from AstraZeneca clinics in the states and territory to doing more Pfizer because that's been their primary role.
As the Prime Minister said, we also now have the capacity, because we're not giving under 50s AstraZeneca in the GP clinics and in some of the state clinics, we have the capacity now to bring forward some of the other people in phase 2A who would have access to AstraZeneca, those between 50 and 70, for people 50 and over can get access to AstraZeneca in coming weeks. As the Prime Minister said, that will globally take place from the 17th of May but earlier from the 3rd of May in state and territory clinics and the GP respiratory clinics.
So that's essentially the program recalibration and I just say again, it has been a significant reset. It's been very collaboratively worked through and we hope that Australians heed the call to come out and get vaccinated.
PRIME MINISTER: So we'll meet again next Friday. There isn't a need to meet earlier than that. If an issue another emerges then of course, we will. But the progress we’ve made this week, and I want to thank all the Premiers and Chief Ministers but also the health ministers in each of the states and territories, the officials. A lot has got done over the course of this week and has put us in this place and we'll review progress and implementation against all of that next Friday. Questions. Rosie.
JOURNALIST: Changes to high-risk countries. When will they actually take effect? So if you're in India now, what's the message to returning Australians there? How quickly do they need to try and get home? Can we also get your response to two pretty shocking cases of domestic violence in recent days? Kelly Wilkinson, who was burnt to death by her estranged husband, and now it looks as though a young baby who has been taken to her death by her father. What's your response to those incidents and you've got a Women's Safety Summit in the middle of the year. Would you commit the Commonwealth working with the states to look at how states are responding to AVOs and showing some sort of national leadership on that issue?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course. Of course. My response is one of profound sorrow, like it would be for all Australians. These are horrific and sadly they're not the first of these sorts of terrible and awful events that have taken place. And already, up until this point particularly for protecting women against violence, the national plan that was put in train by Prime Minister Gillard a decade ago continues on, a billion dollars of investment made into that program and there will be more. You'll see more investment in the Budget and you will see more initiatives coming from that Summit that is occurring in July and that work continues. There has been tremendous work done across all levels of government but these events once again tell us shockingly that whatever efforts we have been making, they can only be further increased. And that's what I believe would be the response of all governments in this country. It is truly awful. And my heart is just profoundly sad at this terrible event and of the impact on the families that are involved, the friends. The trauma of this will be unspeakable. And we must continue to just further increase our efforts to do all we can in these circumstances. The events that lead to this is hard to understand and how people can take these such violent and appalling acts, but it is something our society has been sadly living with for too long. So we’ll continue to do all we can to try and prevent it and I think the work that's done in the community is so important to that end. There are people who work in this area, whether they're on the end of phone lines with 1800RESPECT or they are working in the community, these services are incredibly important. And there are so many contributing factors. They are incredibly complex issues and we must continue to commit ourselves to the actions that are necessary there.
In relation to the, I wouldn't be suggesting anyone from a high-risk country be rushing back to Australia. And we will be looking to put this in place very soon. But we do need to work particularly on the PCR tests that would be required within three days in those transit countries. We just need to work through some details through our officials to put that in place. We wanted to announce it today to be very transparent about the actions we are taking, but the reductions in relation to those charter flights, those actions were already put in place because they're obviously directly within the remit of the Commonwealth because we're arranging those flights. But you can expect a decision in the very near future in relation to those direct flights into New South Wales and I would expect that will occur in 24 hours.
JOURNALIST: What do you say to Australians who are stranded in India right now and going through this crisis who might look upon this decision as one that their own country has abandoned them? And does this decision today reflect a lack of confidence in the hotel quarantine system which is built on the presumption that people with COVID might be returning?
PRIME MINISTER: No, it doesn't reflect any lack of confidence in that at all. It reflects the fact that we're in the middle of a global pandemic that is raging. And Australia has been successful throughout this pandemic, working together with the states and territories, to have very effective border arrangements. Countries that didn't follow that practice have found themselves in the situation they're in. Australians are living like few others anywhere else in the world and we take those border arrangements very seriously. So this is a way of managing that risk. We have seen the proportion of total cases from that one particular cohort rise from about 10 per cent to 40 per cent of cases. That's not something we could ignore and so we have to take actions to mitigate that risk on behalf of all Australians. We have been working hard to get Australians home, particularly since last September, and we've seen hundreds of thousands of Australians return home. Through assisted flights, through tens of millions of dollars the Commonwealth has put in place to support the most vulnerable. So we will continue to do that and there will continue to be the opportunity for those to return from places like India but in very controlled circumstances.
JOURNALIST: PM, can I ask about your message to the Summit in the US. What will be the core of your message to that gathering and will it include any commitment to up short-term or medium-term targets?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, my key message is that Australia is committed and Australia is performing. I mean, we've had a 19 per cent reduction in our emissions since 2005, and that betters many of the countries that are appearing tonight. We set commitments and we meet them and we beat them. Many countries make commitments but none of them I think, can claim the same record of achievement that Australia consistently has, whether it's across Kyoto and where we're tracking in terms of our commitments to Paris. And already we've seen, when you exclude exports, Australia have a reduction in our domestic emissions of some 36 per cent. Our targets for Paris are a 70 per cent reduction in emissions when measured in respect to our size of our economy, so that intensity measure. So Australia has serious commitments and we're meeting them and will beat them. We're keen to ensure that there's a transparency. Australia is one of the few countries in the world where we actually report our emissions every single year. We update it every year. The reason I can only tell you that we're doing better than Canada, New Zealand, Japan and the United States from 2018 is because other countries don't update their figures like Australia does. And so we're very transparent about our performance and performance matters. But the most important message is this, when is not the question anymore. How is the question. Our commitment to ensure that we develop the technologies, for example, that can see hydrogen produced at $2 a kilo Australian, that is what gets you to a net zero economy. Unless you're committed and committed to working together with whether developing or developed countries, to put in place the commercial technology that achieves net zero, then these are just media statements. And Australia is backing up our commitments with the serious investment. You've seen just in this last 48 hours, over a billion dollars worth of investments going into building the hydrogen valleys of the future, the hydrogen hubs, the carbon capture and storage. Over half a billion that's been put into the technology partnerships with many of those who I'll be joining tonight. The $18 billion we have committed over the next 10 years which will leverage some $70 billion to $80 billion of investment. It's exciting to see our biggest industrialists putting in place the technology and the research and the science that's needed to transform their sectors. And I think that is going to send a big message around the world over the next decade that Australia, through particularly our resources industries and our manufacturing industries, demonstrating to the world how you do this. And so I think Australia's got a very strong story to tell and what we have achieved so far sets us well ahead of so many others. I mean, and in addition to that, the ambitions that we have, our ambitions we know we'll achieve and beat.
JOURNALIST: Do you agree that by not extending the low and middle income tax offset that you'll be leaving millions of Australians worse off, particularly at a time when they're already doing it tough?
PRIME MINISTER: I believe that the Liberals and Nationals are the party of lower taxes and the Budget is in May.
JOURNALIST: Mark McGowan was talking about a pause on travel from India, a complete pause. We’re talking about a scaling back.
PRIME MINISTER: Mark McGowan was fully supportive of the arrangements we put in place today and welcomed our suggestion in particular, that the Commonwealth brought today about having these transit country PCR test arrangements put in place because that's what actually is needed to address the situation in Western Australia. There are no direct flights to Western Australia. So it needed an innovative way of dealing with that and the Premier was very appreciative of us addressing that issue. Yes, Kath?
JOURNALIST: Ahead of tonight, a Biden administration official has described Australia's abatement trajectory, sorry, I can't speak, I have become frozen, as insufficient. That's a direct quote. So I'll repeat Phil's question to you which you didn't answer.
PRIME MINISTER: No, I did answer it.
JOURNALIST: No, no, you didn't answer the direct question.
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, I did. I was asked what my main messages were and I told you what they were.
JOURNALIST: He also asked you whether Australia would update its targets for 2030 either tonight, and I’ll add a couple, either tonight, at the G7 or at COP?
PRIME MINISTER: Well what we do later in the year we'll address those at that point. We won't be doing as you've said, this evening. That was not our plan to do that this evening. We're making a range of commitments that we have already announced in terms of our investments in critical technologies and partnerships which we’ve been discussing in particular with the United States. The last discussion I had with former Secretary Kerry the Special Envoy, was about the partnerships we were putting together with the United States on energy technology. That’s what they’d been seeking to put in place with Australia, and we’re very keen to pursue that. But I'd make this one comment on the anonymous report, and that is the trajectory to any net zero outcome is not linear, and anyone who thinks it is I think doesn't get it. The way technology works is there is a long lead time into its development and commercialisation and once the technology is in place you can see a massive transformation. And so your achievement of net zero over time has more of that type of a curve, not that type of a curve. And if you think it's linear, then that just doesn't, that isn't supported I think by the science or the research.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, today New South Wales reported 80 per cent of their appointments for vaccines have been cancelled in the last couple of weeks for Phase 1B. For Australians that are 51, 52, 53 years old, that are in that priority cohort, what is your message to reassure them that a few years either side of 50 makes AstraZeneca safe for them? And if I can Professor Murphy, do we have any idea on what the numbers of Pfizer and AstraZeneca are going, doses coming in each week for the next few weeks is going to look like?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the best people to assure people about these things are our medical experts who advise me. So I'll leave it to Professor Kelly and Professor Murphy.
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: So, I’ll just start. Look, I think those cancellations have not been seen to the same extent in primary care, where I think the state clinics were doing a lot of health care workers and a lot of younger people. And we’re seeing pretty stable uptake in primary care. The, I think our over 70s are getting the message that the risk of COVID is far, far, far, far greater than this very rare condition. But I think the message I would give is that we have a very good expert panel, ATAGI, who are constantly evaluating the risk. And they have currently said that the risk benefit is such that over 50, or 50 and over, the risk benefit, or the benefit risk ratio I should say, is vastly in favour of getting vaccinated. All the three suspected or confirmed cases likely, or confirmed cases in Australia, have been under 50. But, as I said before, people who for one reason or another don't feel like having AstraZeneca and I think they should, I've had it and I feel quite comfortable about having it. But people will have access to Pfizer later in the year. But those who are absolutely at the front-line, the border and quarantine people, the people in the COVID wards, they are still getting access to Pfizer to protect them.
JOURNALIST: The numbers?
PROFESSOR BRENDAN MURPHY, SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: The numbers, sorry, the numbers, those numbers are reviewed on a weekly basis. We have to be very careful about these forward projections. But what I can say is we're very confident that the Pfizer doses will continue to increase month by month in future months. But I'm not going to give you an exact prediction because they are confirmed almost every week by the company.
JOURNALIST: Your Government has torn up Victoria’s Belt and Road deal, why did you think it's an important thing to do and why do it now?
PRIME MINISTER: Australia under our Government, will always protect Australia's national interests. It is our job as a Commonwealth Government to ensure we protect those national interests. And that there is one foreign policy of this country. And the Foreign Relations Act that our Government put in place was designed to protect our national interests by ensuring that there were no other agreements entered in to by any other level of government that would conflict with Australia's national interest. So what we have done is we have followed through. And there have been four agreements that the Foreign Minister has terminated in line with that Foreign Relations Act, that power that we were able to attract from the Parliament. And so we will always act in Australia's national interest to protect Australia, but to also ensure that we can advance our national interests of a free and open Indo-Pacific and a world that seeks a balance in favour of freedom. And that's what our national interest policies are about and that’s what today's decision has ensured that we have done because we ensure that our national interest foreign policies are consistent across the country and it is the Commonwealth Government and my Government that has ensured that we have protected that arrangement.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on the vaccinations for remote communities, we have been told that in the Torres Strait, vaccinations will be on hold until at least June. They're very concerned that is going to increase hesitancy in that population, especially given the community's vulnerabilities and their proximity to PNG. What is the Federal Government doing to assist them in the vaccinations?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'll ask Professor Murphy and Professor Kelly to address this. But the Queensland Government has been vaccinating, has been vaccinating, people in the Torres Strait and this in fact is one of our key priorities very recently because of the ring of containment we're seeking to put around the Torres Strait, especially because of the challenges that we're currently facing in Papua New Guinea. But I'll ask Professor Murphy and Professor Kelly to add.
PROFESSOR PAUL KELLY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Thanks for the question. So there has been extensive vaccination in the Torres Strait using AstraZeneca. So obviously the announcement on 8th of April has caused us to recalibrate that but I don't have any up to date information on that. I’ll take that up with the Queensland Government.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much.
Press Conference - Berkeley Vale, NSW
21 April 2021
LUCY WICKS MP, MEMBER FOR ROBERTSON: It’s always great when I’m able to welcome the Prime Minister of Australia to the Central Coast, and this afternoon has been a really exciting opportunity. I’d like to welcome the Prime Minister, I’d like to welcome the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction. I’d particularly like to thank Star Scientific for hosting us here today, to acknowledge the Chairman Andrew Horvath, but also to acknowledge the incredible work that a business based here on the Central Coast is doing in such an emerging industry such as hydrogen. This is really exciting technology, we are seeing investment like there’s no tomorrow in an organisation like this. And one of the exciting things that I heard today was that this company is growing from 25 employees to close to another 200 employees by the end of the year. This is an exciting newsday for the Central Coast in terms of an announcement from the Federal Government. But what I'm really excited to see is that it’s organisations and businesses here on the Central Coast that are really driving the innovation that is going to help us to deliver cleaner energy sources, more reliable, affordable energy and also making sure that we do continue to drive economic growth in terms of jobs here on the Central Coast, as well as of course ensuring that we do have a better environment tomorrow than what we have today. So this is exciting, it is wonderful to have the Prime Minister and the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reductions here today. And I’ll invite the Prime Minister to make the formal announcement.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much, Lucy. It’s good to be here with Angus and you, Andrew, and all of your team here. It was great to meet you. Lucy, I know you must be very excited to see what’s happening here on the Central Coast. It's great to be here on the Central Coast. We are seeing people commuting to the Central Coast for the jobs that are being created in these wonderful businesses and these innovative businesses that are actually pioneering where energy is going into the future. Australia has always played a huge role in meeting the energy needs of our region. That’s what Australia's economy has been known for, for a very, very long time. And we’re committed to ensuring that Australia continues to be doing that into the future. The world is moving to a new energy economy. A net zero economy when it comes to energy. And Australia will play a huge part in that, and the way we're going to play a huge part in that is ensuring that we are backing in the best scientists, the best entrepreneurs, the best pioneers and those who are doing that in our heaviest industries. See, there’s a myth out there which says that you can't use the sorts of things that are being done in a business like this to power major industry. See this is the exciting challenge that we have in Australia, that we get to solve for the net zero energy future what that means for heavy industry, for manufacturing, for what’s going to spin those massive turbines, for what’s going to power those enormous resource trucks up in the Pilbara or in other places, what’s going to fire up the recycling glass plants around the country, what’s going to protect and support the jobs in Gladstone to Bell Bay, to over the Pilbara, up here in the Central Coast and the Hunter. All of those jobs are going to be supported and they’re going to grow even more in the new energy economy because of the investments and because of the science and the technology, the energy technology, that is being delivered right here in Australia. And it’s our Government's plan to ensure that we’re meeting that challenge through technology, not taxes. We're not going to tax our way into the new energy economy, we are going to ensure that we achieve it through our investments, our smart investments in the energy technology that will power up Australian industry well into the future. And a huge part of that has been the technology roadmap which Angus Taylor has been leading, supported by Australia's best scientists, people like Alan Finkel, who used to be our Chief Scientist, and others, and Alan is now continually involved in this project going forward.
There are two elements of this energy technology that are so essential for Australia's future. One is the development of hydrogen. I want Australia and hydrogen technology to be synonymous around the world. And it’s a key point I’ll be making at the Climate Summit over the next few days, that Australia is really putting the flag right out there when it comes to ensuring that we lead the world in hydrogen technology. The hydrogen that can fire up furnaces that used to be done by other forms of fossil fuels, that can run those trucks, that can run long-distance transport, and do all of the things we need it to do, solving for these problems. So today we are announcing $275 million thereabouts in additional investment in four new hubs for hydrogen hubs. And Angus will tell you a bit more about how that works but what it basically is is bringing together, in particular parts of the country where there’s the ability to generate the hydrogen, to use the hydrogen, to innovate around the hydrogen and you create, and hydrogen it’s, what it is it’s zero emissions gas. That’s what it is. Hydrogen is zero emissions gas. And ensuring that that, in those ecosystems as you might call them, those communities if you like, those industrial communities, whether it’s in Gladstone or whether it’s say in the Hunter or other places, that’s what this does. It’s creating that. You wonder how Silicon Valley started, it started by creating a community of people who are innovating in technology and using technology and changing the world. That’s what these hubs are and we’re investing in creating more of them, after the investments were made in the last Budget.
Now the other announcement we’re making today is some $267 million in carbon capture use and storage. In a net zero future, there will still be carbon emissions that come from particular industries. Planes will still fly, I don't know anyone yet who’s going to get on a plane that is not being flown with fuel. And so there will be emissions in the future and there will be in 2050. And carbon capture use and storage is essential to ensure that that can be accommodated. Up there in the Gorgon Project, Angus can talk more about that, but that is one of the world's largest sites for carbon capture use and storage, with some four million tonnes, I think it is, already. A real project, actually happening. And so Australia has to pioneer both of these technologies and be right out there in front. That’s how you get there, that’s how we achieve what we’re all trying to achieve. A lower emissions future, sure, but not at the price of taxing our heavy industries off the planet. Not at the price of taking away the jobs that I’ve seen right here. You know, in this very plant what we're seeing is people bringing all sorts of skills together. People who make things, people who research things, people who administer things, all making this happen in this amazingly innovative business, with some of the most amazing, innovative technology that is going to make a big difference. So I’m very proud Andrew of what you’re achieving here, and our plan through the technology roadmap is to ensure that we get there through technology, not taxes. And I’ll allow Angus to fill you in more.
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: Thanks, PM. It’s great to be with you here Lucy on the Central Coast with the Prime Minister and with Andrew and his team of world beaters, because that’s what this organisation is, and like so many across Australia, we have world leaders in energy technology and we always have had. We always have had. We’ve built some of the greatest energy supply chains and industries, exports, in the world and we will continue to do that, exactly as we’re seeing here today. Now, the face of bringing down emissions and delivering affordable, reliable energy in Australia, and around the world, is what we see here today. It’s entrepreneurs, it’s innovators, it’s not tax collectors. And this is the key. It’s not about imposing taxes, it’s not about eliminating industries, it’s about creating jobs and it’s about harnessing the smarts, the capability, and the skills of Australians right across this great country. In the technology investment roadmap, we committed to five priority technologies and they include technologies where Australia has the potential, or is already a world beater. Whether it’s soil carbon, or indeed in aluminium and steel, low emissions aluminium and steel stored energy. The two in particular that we’re focused on today, investing $539 million in total, of course are hydrogen and carbon capture and storage. And as the Prime Minister has said, hydrogen is a fuel that already is used today but has enormous potential in bringing down emissions and delivering that affordable reliable energy we need, and not just energy for production of electricity where it will play a huge role, as we’ve seen here today, but also in production of heat and as an industrial feedstock for critical products like fertiliser that puts food on our tables every day.
Low-cost, clean hydrogen is where Australia has the potential to be a world leader in energy, just as we have been and continue to be in LNG, in coal, in other crucial resource industries. That’s where our future lies, alongside those fantastic industries that we’ve built over such a long period of time. This commitment will focus in particular on creating hydrogen hubs and carbon capture and storage hubs, and hubs are a collection of businesses that work with each other to bring down the costs, make those industries efficient, build those supply chains across the world and most importantly create jobs and drive investment. Whether it’s in hydrogen hubs that collect together manufacturers using the energy from the hydrogen and the feedstock from the hydrogen, producers of the hydrogen, and producers of the heat from the hydrogen. Those collections of businesses are how we will build hubs and build competitive advantage in this industry, as not only a user in Australia of hydrogen but also as an exporter of hydrogen and related products to the world. And carbon capture and storage, as the Prime Minister has said, enormous opportunity for Australia. We have the biggest project in the world right here in Australia, 60 projects going across the world but we are a world leader. And across all of these technologies we’re a world leader which gives us a privileged position, not just to bring down our own emissions but to help bring down emissions across our region and across the world. Australia has a special role to play in this, and in doing that we will create jobs and opportunities for great people like we see in this business here today. Thanks.
ANDREW HORVATH, CEO, STAR SCIENTIFIC: I’m very, very proud to have the Prime Minister, the Minister and Lucy Wicks here today with us. On behalf of myself and my team it’s been a pleasure to show them the next innovation in hydrogen. The HERO system produces a great deal of heat, and it’s little-known but heat is about 60 per cent of the CO2 problem. It’s not just power, it’s heat in industry and HERO can cater for both. The announcements that have been made today are revolutionary because they place Australia at the cusp of having hydrogen hubs and hydrogen intensive communities that allow businesses like us to interact with other businesses, much like we do with the University of Newcastle now, and other businesses in the area. This is really important and I really back the Prime Minister and the Minister when they say this is technology driven. It really is technology driven. Hydrogen is now, hydrogen will be the future fuel. It’s inexhaustible, it will dramatically drop in price and it will become the base fuel of the planet. So once again, very, very proud to have you all here. On behalf of myself and my team, thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. Happy to take some questions. Why don’t we start with the announcement first and then move ...
JOURNALIST: Obviously what you’ve seen here today is on a smaller scale. Is there a timeframe that you would like to see hydrogen being used, as you said, to power heavy industry?
PRIME MINISTER: Of course, and this is already occurring. When I was up in the Pilbara last week they’re already looking to have hydrogen powering their trucks as little as the next half of this year. So this is a reality, this is already occurring. It’s already occurring in many places, but what’s exciting about the technology here is, as Andrew was saying, you need heat to make things. You need heat to drive turbines because it needs to create the steam that drive the turbines. I mean, the technology that is being developed here means you can plug this in to what is currently a coal-fired power station and drive the same turbines, so just think about the implications of that. But you’ve got to get it to scale, and the way you get things to scale is you create these communities. The Central Coast hub could become like you have a Silicon Valley, you’ve got a hydrogen valley, in bringing together the expertise, the entrepreneurialism, the resource, and the use, significantly the use of the heavy industry. That’s why it’s so exciting for regions in Australia, because it sees their regions not just propelled, but transformed along the way. So, yeah, we want to see that happening as soon as possible, the whole world does, because it’s a huge part of the solve, it’s a huge part of the answer to the question we’re all trying to ensure that we can address. That’s what I’ll be joining President Biden and many other world leaders over the next couple of days, and where I'm seeking to focus that conversation, it’s now about the how, there has been enough conversations about the when, it’s about the how, now. And Andrew and his team here, they’re delivering on the how, and what we’re delivering on is on the how, and that’s the technology and scaling it up. The challenge is to scale it up, because when you scale it up, and you get the demand for that, then you can drive down the price. The more you drive down the price, that means in countries not far from here, whether it’s in Indonesia or Malaysia or India or indeed China, if you want to deal with global emissions, then you need technology that’s commercial, and that developing nations around the world will adopt, which means that they can get the same jobs, which is a fair ask on their part. They want the technology that enables them to create jobs in their economies and we want them to have that too, and the way you achieve that is by improving it, making it right, and that’s what these hubs achieve.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] One of the issues still pending is the PEP-11 licence. I think the Central Coast community is really anxiously awaiting a decision. Can you have a bit of light on when that will be, and how you feel about that?
PRIME MINISTER: I think I made it pretty clear what my Government's view was about that. I mean that will go through processes, but I’ve made it absolutely crystal clear that that’s not something I support, and you can expect my view on that to be rock solid.
JOURNALIST: And is there enough room now for a Central Coast University? You talked about research and development as very important. There’s been a lot of growing interest in a Central Coast University. Have you heard about University of Newcastle, but it’s Newcastle, we’re not Newcastle.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, I’m going to ask Lucy to speak about that because the truth is Newcastle University is a regional university that is reaching right across this region, and not just in the areas we're talking about here in this ecosystem but also I know in the health space as well. Lucy has been doing amazing work here for years to create health hubs here, and health science hubs, in the work that she’s been doing with the universities, but Lucy you might want to comment on that.
LUCY WICKS MP, MEMBER FOR ROBERTSON: Thanks PM. The University of Newcastle is strongly committed to the Central Coast region and has been for a number of years. But it’s also strongly committed to the importance of the Central Coast having its own voice, and that’s why our Central Coast Medical School is going to be called exactly that, Central Coast Medical School, with the first intake of students coming in in July of this year. A world-class medical institution, and medical research institution, right here in Gosford, available for students on the Central Coast, students around Australia, students to be able to come and study and gain access to the best possible education in terms of health care and the best possible opportunities for their future. We’re not stopping there. The Prime Minister knows this, that, you know, we do have a dream to see university, university campus expand, a dream to see young people who choose to study an education degree of their choice, have the opportunity to do so right here where they live. Not to have to go to Sydney or Newcastle or London or New York or anywhere else they may wish to, that they may need to go, but to at least have the choice to be able to study where they live. For too long, people here on the Central Coast have not had that choice, but that is changing. It’s changing not just in education can I say, it’s also changing in terms of job opportunities and we are seeing that, a great example of that with Star Scientific here, a great example of an investment in hydrogen, in the technology around hydrogen, in the hydrogen economy, and this is great news for the Central Coast and Hunter region.
JOURNALIST: Obviously the hubs that you mentioned that are going to be developed, a competitive process on that. Do you think that the Hunter or the Hunter Central Coast region is a frontrunner in that? You’ve heard the links with the university here, obviously we have the CSIRO in Newcastle, and the port. Are we a frontrunner?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think you’re a very, very strong contender. I mean, I don’t want to, you know, intervene in the proper process that is going through, but what’s exciting about, I think, the places that are obvious candidates, I mean the reason we are expanding is I think there’s more than one, there’s a lot more. Whether it’s Bell Bay down in Tasmania or it’s the Pilbara as I’ve said, or up around Gladstone, or here in the Hunter, or there are many other parts of the country which are well-suited to that, and what Angus has done in bringing this forward, and I will ask him to comment on this, is that he’s enabling more of these hydrogen valleys, these carbon capture use and storage valleys, to be all around the country. But, Angus ...
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: Thanks, PM. We announced some months ago the first hydrogen hub, [inaudible] what struck us very quickly is how much potential there is in Australia to build these hubs. On the back of a hydrogen industry that already exists, the Hunter Valley already uses hydrogen to produce fertiliser for instance, to help put food on the plate of Australians. So the potential there is enormous. That’s why we expanded from a single hub out to five hubs, and in addition to that, carbon capture and storage hubs, where, indeed, the Hunter Valley and this region is playing a very significant role already developing technology for carbon capture use and storage, which are world leading, just like the technologies we have seen here today. In terms of the process, it will be a competitive grant process that will open in the coming months, and we are looking to make announcements in the first part of next year.
JOURNALIST: What’s part of that process, what do they need to do to prove ...
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: We very much want to see great projects brought forward, and great projects involve collections of organisations working together, the hydrogen producers, the hydrogen users, the energy generators, all of those different parts of the hub, as well as the potential for the right skills to be brought to bear, all of those components that make a successful hub, coming forward in the proposals. Ultimately it’s a competitive process, but the fact that we are now going to award five, not just one, says to you, says to everybody, that Australia is a place where we can really lead the world on this, and Australia has technology, skills, and indeed the existing energy hubs which form the foundation of what will be, we think, fantastic hydrogen hubs for Australia and for the world.
JOURNALIST: Is there any specific announcement designated for the Central Coast or is it Australia wide?
PRIME MINISTER: It’s Australia wide, and it goes to those hubs, the Central Coast, Hunter, we encourage them to be involved. I think it can be transformational here, and you’ve clearly got the base to do it from, so I think there’s a very exciting opportunity there.
JOURNALIST: Do you believe that Australia can make hydrogen at a commercial international level without emitting greenhouse gases?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, yes I do. I do. We have got to do it at the right price. We have got to get hydrogen being able to be produced at $2 per kilo. That is actually going to change things dramatically around the world. I know that with Fortescue Future Industries who I was with last week, Andrew Forrest, his organisation is working on those challenges, not just here but in other parts of the world. They have a similar target, in fact even more ambitious than that, which is very much like Andrew, so you have not only got to be able to master the science and the technology, which is what Andrew and the team here are demonstrating, you’ve then got to master the price. That is why those technology targets, those energy technology targets, the hydrogen technology target, are the targets that actually bring about the change. That is what actually deals with the challenges around climate change, that is what actually deals with how that impacts on industries, particularly in regions, and that is why we are so focused on that. That is why we're talking about energy technologies all the time, because we know that is the ticket to the jobs, that is the ticket for the heavy industries that are so important to our regions, that is the ticket for Australia to be able to lead.
JOURNALIST: Just on another topic, Brittany Higgins has this afternoon tweeted saying that she has not heard from your office since they initially made contact on the 6th of April. Why hasn’t a meeting been set?
PRIME MINISTER: That is in process, we heard from Brittany last week. It is an important meeting, I’m looking forward to having it, and we’ve been obviously following up on that now, and I look forward to having that meeting arranged soon.
JOURNALIST: Vaccines, I’ll move to another subject. Will the Government commit to ensuring there’s a mRNA facility in Australia, and if so what is the earliest date that could happen?
PRIME MINISTER: This is exciting technology as well, and I welcome states and territories, as well as the Commonwealth also, will be moving in this area. mRNA, no one is going to be in a position to be able to manufacture through mRNA to deal with the needs we have this year. That is not the discussion. A year ago, mRNA vaccines were a theory, largely, around the world, but COVID and the vaccine of mRNA production has made that a reality now. And mRNA vaccines will be important for vaccine development in the future. And Australia’s going to be part of that. And my Government’s going to be part of that. State governments are going to be part of that. So we welcome that. This is about establishing that manufacturing capability here, not so much specifically to deal with COVID, although, because I think COVID will continue to be with us for some time, and there will be further evolutions of vaccines in that area, so we will move to do that, but more importantly, in terms of vaccine production, as a manufacturing capability in Australia, to be able to do what was only theory last year and to bring that into reality here in Australia, at present you can only do mRNA vaccines in the United States and certain parts of Europe, so it is a very new area of science when it comes to vaccines. So whether it is there, or the sorts of things we’re talking about today, our modern manufacturing strategy is about ensuring that Australia has a lead in those core areas that we think we can be successful in, and in the medical area that is certainly one.
JOURNALIST: Do you support Victoria's decision to commit $50 million to try and set up a local ...
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely, I think it is great. I mean, I think it’s great. That is not done in place of the Commonwealth, it is done, and I'm sure as other states will look to establish this capability as well, that’s what state governments do, that is part of their job. Certainly the Commonwealth will be seeking to support what we can do in this area as well. It was the Commonwealth who were able to ensure that CSL was able to produce and be one of the only countries in the world, only about 20 of us who actually can produce COVID-19 vaccines. We are one of a handful of countries that can do that. So I think that as a Commonwealth, as a Government, we have already demonstrated our capacity to move, we did that last August for an adenovirus vaccine. The mRNA is a much more complicated set up, and so we moved on the one that could be done most swiftly, and certainly with mRNA vaccines that is a competency and a capability that I want Australia to have.
JOURNALIST: A Central Coast woman passed away [inaudible] blood clot. What about the security and safety of these vaccines? [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: This is the constant focus of our medical advisors and the TGA, and the many other expert groups that advise the Commonwealth Government, and of course state and territory governments. So we have been informed by the advice all the way through managing COVID-19. I have to, every time, we reflect on these things, Australia proceeded very carefully to go through the approval phases of our vaccines. This was important, whether it was Pfizer or AstraZeneca, there were others who were saying that we should rush, there were others who thought that we should just go into emergency type approvals of our vaccines, and we chose not to do that. We chose to stick with the very careful and tested process of approving vaccines in this country. We didn’t cut any corners, we made sure we ticked every box. We made sure we got hold of the evidence and the information that enabled, I believe, the best regulators, if not the best regulators in the world to make their decisions on the vaccines that are being used in Australia.
Other countries were not able to do that. Other countries, like we see in the United States with 1,000 people dying every day, every single day, Australia, our relative success in ensuring that we suppress the virus meant we could get the process right, and we followed that advice and so therefore the vaccines that are available here in Australia, particularly those being administered to over 50s for AstraZeneca, and the most important population of those over 70s currently, and I'm pleased to see that the number of vaccinations each day staying well above north of 60,000 a day, and the general practitioners who are administering those doses are talking to their patients and giving them that confidence. I want to continue to encourage, particularly those aged over 70 at the moment, to make that appointment, go and see your GP and the GP practices that are administering the vaccine, and ensure you do that, because if there is a COVID outbreak in Australia, you’re in those vulnerable groups and you are at great risk from COVID. We saw that with the second wave in Victoria. Over 600 Victorians died who were in those vulnerable groups when the second wave went through. I do not want to see that here in Australia again, and the protection against that is the vaccine, the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is safe and effective for those over 50. That is the clear medical advice that we have received, and particularly for those aged over 70, it is important for your public health, for your health, that you take those vaccines, so I encourage you to do that. Thank you all very much for your time today.
Address, Business Council of Australia Annual Dinner - Sydney, NSW
19 April 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Well, g’day everyone, or should I say kia ora because today the Tasman is open. In a few weeks’ time, maybe a little later than that, I’ll be going across the Tasman for my second international visit this year, after visiting Western Australia last week. Now all the Western Australians in the room, I told that joke in Western Australia last week, as well. I say the same thing on one side of the country as I do on the other.
It’s a great privilege to be here with all of you tonight and seeing so many of you here, and I want to join with Tim, and thank you Tim for that introduction and Jennifer for the great work that is done here, in, for saying thank you for the wonderful job that businesses across Australia have done, particularly over the course of these last 18 months.
Before I go further, can I also acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and thank you very much for the welcome to country this evening. Can I acknowledge their elders past, present and emerging.
Can I also, particularly this day, when I have announced our intention to call a Royal Commission into defence and veterans’ suicide, acknowledge any servicemen and women who are with us here tonight, or perhaps looking on, but any veterans who are here tonight, and simply say to you on behalf of a very grateful nation, thank you for your service.
To Tim and to Jennifer, and Jennifer thank you for moving the flowers, they would have gone in about the first 30 seconds I think, so good call.
To all of my Ministerial colleagues who are here, my very good friend Josh Frydenberg, who joins us here tonight. Josh and I, together with Birmo and a range of the ERC Ministers are very heavily involved in the final stages of the Budget preparations, and so we will be meeting again in the morning, as we have been so regularly. And thank you Josh for your leadership, in particular, of our economy over the last 18 months. It has been a great team effort from my team, so many of whom are here with me this evening, but Josh you have led that from the front as Treasurer. I know a bit about that job, and you have been doing an outstanding job.
Senator Marise Payne who’s with us here, our senior NSW member, amongst many other great accomplishments of Marise. It’s wonderful to be here with you. To Stuart Robert who’s here, Jane Hume is here as well, of course Angus Taylor who I’ll speak a little bit more about. We were in South Australia together yesterday. Senator Zed Seselja is here tonight, as is Ben Morton. And I want to thank all of you colleagues for joining me here this evening. To any other parliamentary colleagues, I saw Trent on the way in here, I’m sure there are many others.
Can I particularly acknowledge here tonight the former Governor-General Sir Peter and Lady Cosgrove. Peter and Lynne, and I’m sure they don’t mind me referring to those in those ways, they have served our country so famously. They are both friends and former neighbours of mine, over in Kirribilli, and I’m so pleased the service that they have continued with after leaving that high office, and they are tremendous friends and they are great Australians and they give us all tremendous encouragement.
Many members of the Reserve Bank Board who are here this evening, my favourite Dr Phil is here tonight, Dr Lowe, it’s good to see you here, as well as so many great and distinguished guests who gather.
Tonight I want to touch on what we have achieved as a country in what has been the most challenging of circumstances that we’ve seen in our country in some 75 years. And I also want to draw attention to some of the key areas of policy focus as we embark on, in the Budget, the second phase of our economic recovery plan. Now the Treasurer, of course, Josh will have much more to say about that on 11th of May in the Budget, and I don’t want to steal his thunder too much this evening.
The world is in the grip, still, of a raging global COVID-19 pandemic. Sometimes hard for us here in Australia, I think, to appreciate the scale of that. It’s raging around the world. More than three million people have lost their lives. Right now there are an average of 750,000 cases of COVID every single day.
That is not Australia’s experience today. If Australia had experienced over the course of this past year the same fatality rate from COVID-19 as the average of the OECD, sadly we lost 910 Australians during this time. If we had had the average of the OECD, 30,000 more Australians would have died. Just let that sink in.
In most other countries they don’t talk about someone they know who might know someone who had COVID. They talk about someone they know who has died of COVID. That has not been Australia's experience. Australia is leading the world out of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global recession it has caused. That is a sobering achievement. In a global pandemic, there is nothing to celebrate, I think, because the loss is so great. There are achievements to acknowledge, and I look forward to you doing that this evening.
But this state that Australia has arrived in has not been the product of luck. It was not luck that meant we entered this unprecedented crisis from a position of fiscal strength, with the Budget back in balance in the first time in 11 years. It wasn’t luck that saw Australia be among the first countries to close our border to mainland China, under great criticism including here. It wasn’t luck that saw Australia call the pandemic early, some two weeks before the rest of the world. It wasn’t luck that led our federation to come together and respond decisively – and I remain to this day very proud of the work of the National Cabinet, as indeed I know all the members of the National Government, as heads of Government, do feel that confidence in the work that they continue to do and the shared purposes that they have demonstrated, and I thank them each for that, and the cooperation we’ve had and continue now to protect Australians in a time of crisis. It wasn’t luck that saw our Government, together with the Reserve Bank and the business community collectively step up to the task, firstly of economic survival, followed so quickly by economic recovery. And as Dr Lowe and I were discussing before, a lot of those charts I’m looking at at the moment Josh, they look like v’s to me. It wasn’t luck that resulted in world-leading policies, Liberal Coalition policies like JobKeeper, that actually brought together Government, business, employers and banks together, to save the livelihoods of over three million people. That was innovation, and alongside the critical fiscal supports where Australia has invested heavily to preserve the fabric of our economy through its most significant challenge. These are things that aren’t the product of luck, and it wasn’t luck that meant we kept industries operating in a COVID safe way. That was your efforts - mining, construction, manufacturing, agriculture. Or that we were able to keep those vital supply lines that Tim referred to operating, everything from supermarkets to freight.
And in that context let me acknowledge, in particular, the great work done by Nev Power, who is here with us this evening, and the National COVID-19 Advisory Commission on these very practical tasks. Nev and his colleagues answered the call when they were needed and have worked so incredibly hard to support the Government’s plans for managing the virus and to lead our economic recovery. Nev is someone who knows how to get things done, that was his reputation, and it was him that I turned to at that time as the pandemic was ravaging. And his work at Fortescue obviously and in many other projects since, a great Western Australian and a great Australian, so thank you very much Nev for your tremendous work.
Tonight I stand here with the Australian economy that has so far recovered 85 per cent of its COVID-induced fall, six months earlier and twice as fast as we might have expected in last year’s October Budget.
Jobs are now above the level they were before COVID-19 and we have continued to maintain our AAA credit rating - one of only nine countries in the world to do so. In the last 10 months alone, 947,100 Australians have gone back to work - 947,100 Australians have gone back to work. There are more Australians in work today than before when COVID hit.
Unemployment has now fallen to 5.6 per cent, down from the recent peak of 7.5 per cent in July of last year, lower than it was when we came to Government and that is after a global pandemic and recession. But we all know that figure doesn’t capture the full extent, with the effective unemployment rate hitting 15 per cent at its peak at the start of COVID. The participation rate, people are voting with their feet, has risen to a record high of 66.3 per cent. Female workforce participation, as I know my colleagues would be very pleased to hear, particularly Marise Payne, is now at a record 61.8 per cent, Jane also, above pre-COVID levels.
JobKeeper, the coronavirus supplement, the CashFlow Boost, support payments to millions of pensioners and others on income support, have helped cushion the blow, as we said, but it’s also, as Dr Lowe said at the time, helped build that bridge that we’ve been travelling across over these past 18 months to ensure that Australia’s economy now is outperforming virtually any other major advanced economy in 2020. There are some, obviously, who are in that club, but it’s a very small club. Importantly, the fiscal support we have provided does not just end suddenly. There is not just one measure. It has a long tail, as those balance sheets of households and businesses have been filled again through this support.
But the pandemic has not changed our view that the private sector should remain the primary engine of growth in our economy. Of course in the middle of a pandemic it is the task of Government to step in, as John Howard reminded Josh and I on I don’t know how many occasions, in a pandemic, in a global crisis, in a crisis there is no such thing as ideology. You do what you need to do, and that’s what we did. But we did do it in accordance with Liberal values and Coalition values.
Today, business conditions are at their highest level ever, according to the NAB index, and consumer confidence is at its highest level in a decade. And with a growth rate last quarter of 3.1 per cent, Australia continues to lead the world out of the global COVID recession. But there is no room for complacency or even congratulation, as I said before. None. And my Government is a humble Government and we don’t think that way. There remains much more to do.
We have a long way still to go to deliver the jobs, to guarantee the services that Australians rely on and keep Australians safe, both now and into the future. And our economic recovery plan, the second phase of that which will be in the Treasurer’s Budget, is geared to keeping our economy on that right track. To protect and preserve those lives and livelihoods, but also to build a strong and durable recovery for the future. Not one that depends on the taxpayers’ continued subsidy, but one that is based on a robust, vibrant, business-led economy that can stand on its own two feet. Stage Two of our National Economic Recovery Plan will be in that Budget in a few weeks’ time, and it builds on the strong foundations laid in last year’s October Budget.
A plan that retains a clear focus on lower taxes, competitive policy settings for Australian industry, sensible industrial relations settings, deregulation, open trade, open markets. A plan that does not sacrifice our traditional industries in regional Australia by seeking to tax our way to lower emissions and a net zero economy. A plan that invests in our people and new technologies – whether it be in our manufacturing plan, our plan to become one of the world’s leading digital economies by 2030, and our plan to take full advantage of the big global energy transition that is taking place around the world. A plan that very much puts business and the private sector in the driver’s seat for a durable and strong economic recovery.
Now let me illustrate what I mean in just a few key areas in the time we have remaining. I’ve spoken in many forums about the nation’s workforce challenge. I consider this the single greatest economic challenge that Australia faces to date - workforce, workforce, workforce - and the particular trends coming out of COVID-19 that we need to respond to in relation to workforce.
To make the obvious point, the way you approach this challenge is critical to your capacity to meet it, and from the outset, going right back to when we commissioned the Joyce review - prior to the last election - into vocational education and training back in 2018, we have made it plain that our Government is prepared to invest more, as we have, particularly during COVID but not just then, in skills and training, in a better system. Not the same broken system. I’m not going to pour money into a dud system that hasn’t been working the way we wanted. We’ve got to fix the system and we will invest more in it, as we’ve already demonstrated our willingness to do. To fund a responsive model, not a unresponsive, supply-driven model geared to providers rather than the needs of employers and the employees who need the skills to work in those businesses. That’s why we’re determined to make our VET system more responsive to the needs of employers and employees, so it meets their needs.
The new Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business Stuart Robert has taken that mantle now from Michaelia Cash, who is now our Attorney, and he is working to deliver a new National Skills Agreement that reflects the needs of employers and employees.
Initiatives that in just a five short month period, through our apprenticeship scheme, saw 100,000 apprentices and trainees get a job in five months. 100,000 apprentices and trainees got a job in the middle of a global pandemic coming out of a recession in five months. We thought it’d take 12 months. Jennifer’s always been a passionate advocate for skills in the workplace, and BCA’s advocacy on this did not fall on deaf ears in this government. And I’m so pleased, as I’m sure Jennifer is too, to see just how strongly the economy responded to those messages. My worst fear at the outset of the pandemic before it had really materialised in its most horrendous forms, is that we would see apprentices and trainees lost, those who’d spent two, three years already in training, the first to go as the storm hit. We kept them with the retaining apprentices initiative and then got 100,000 more and we’ve extended that program out for the full year.
Now, at the same time, Stuart’s working to finalise a new Employment Services model better tailored to the needs of jobseekers. This is about making our institutions more responsive to what’s needed, the demand that’s there out of employers rather than focusing on the needs of suppliers.
Now under the leadership of Senator Jane Hume, working with other Ministers and the private sector, Jane’s here tonight, we are delivering on our strategy to make Australia a leading digital economy and society by 2030. Now we’ll have more to say about that between now and the Budget but tonight I just want to say COVID-19 we know accelerated the take up of digital technology and highlighted the role it can play to support and enhance business operations and the delivery of government services.
And the Budget again will go further. The next phase of our plan, building on the $4.5 billion invested in upgrading the NBN, our $1.7 billion in our Cyber Security Strategy and our $800 million following through on the commitment I gave at this very platform several years ago after the election saying the digital economy we wanted to lead in, that plan was delivered in last year’s Budget and prior to that. $800 million and there’ll be more to come.
This is in addition to the significant investment the Government is making in digital skills. Digital jobs have been identified by the National Skills Commission in the top 25 emerging occupations and it will be critical that we continue to deliver the skilled workforce that can fill those jobs.
The JobTrainer Fund, together with the states and territories $1 billion, support for apprentices and trainees, together with the Advanced Apprenticeship program, additional university places – 30,000 there, 300,000 on the JobTrainer program - short courses upskilling the current workforce.
The next Skills Agreement will ensure we continue to deliver the skills for the future workforce, together helping businesses develop the skills they need to engage in the digital economy.
On energy, Angus Taylor’s here tonight and I want to commend Angus for the great job he’s been doing on energy and emissions reduction. Major climate summit occurring this week, I’ll be joining with President Biden. Now as a Government, we are also charting our own course to ensure Australia is well placed to prosper through the great energy transition of our time, consistent with the strong action on climate change. To ensure we can get to that net zero economy as I said as quickly as possible and preferably by 2050 and I’m increasing in confidence with the plan that we’re developing to achieve that.
The key to meeting our climate change ambitions is commercialisation of low emissions technology. We are not going to meet our climate change targets through punishing taxes. I am not going to tax our industries off the planet. We are going to meet our ambitions with the smartest minds, the best technology and the animal spirits of our business community.
We need to change our energy mix over the next 30 years on that road to net zero emissions. Last week I was in Western Australia and saw first-hand the ground breaking work that Andrew Forrest and Fortescue are doing as part of our energy transition as a way of sustaining jobs in the resources sector.
The work that’s being done on green hydrogen is already attracting considerable interest from many countries. I spoke with Ken McKenzie earlier today, here this evening, about the work that BHP is doing to unlock the potential of CCS and introduce emission-free surface mining vehicles in their fleet. Have no doubt Rio Tinto when we meet soon will be telling me similar stories.
We’re seeing AGL and Idemitsu Australia Resources near completion on an early study for a pumped hydro energy storage facility in a former coal mine in the upper Hunter, ensuring these sites can continue to generate investment and jobs.
We’re not going to achieve net zero in the cafes, dinner parties and wine bars of our inner cities. It will not be achieved by taxing our industries that provide livelihoods for millions of Australians off the planet, as our political opponents sought to do when they were given the chance.
It will be achieved by the pioneering entrepreneurialism and innovation of Australia’s industrial workhorses, farmers and scientists.
It will be won in places like the Pilbara, the Hunter, Gladstone, Portland, Whyalla, Bell Bay, the Riverina. In the factories of our regional towns and outer suburbs. In the labs of our best research institutes and scientists. It will be won in our energy sector. In our industrial sector. In our ag sector. In our manufacturing sector. That’s how you get to net zero.
That’s where the road to net zero is being paved in Australia. And those industries and all those who work in those places, will reap the great benefits of the changes they are making to the businesses they work in and that they are pioneering.
We are seeing creative solutions already being put in place in so many industries. The combination of our natural resources and the strength of industries presents a huge opportunity to capitalise on the new energy economy.
Through our Technology Investment Roadmap, that Angus has driven so well, we are helping drive down the cost and accelerate the deployment of low emissions technologies.
And let’s not forget that Australia already produces many of the products that will be in growing demand as part of a low carbon future – from copper to lithium.
It is this practical approach of making new technologies commercial that will see not only us achieve our goals, but those we work with around the world, in the developing economies of the world. And without taxing the life out of industries that are a source of high wage jobs to so many Australians, especially in regional areas. And we are making real progress. We have met and exceeded our emissions reductions targets for Kyoto in 2020, we are well advanced on meeting and exceeding our targets for 2030.
Our current target will see Australia – this is for 2030 - reduce our emissions by 70 per cent per unit of GDP on 2005 levels, and halve it when considered in per capita emissions.
Already total emissions in Australia are 19 per cent lower at the end of 2020 than they were in 2005. 19 per cent. That’s a further improvement on the 13 per cent reduction by 2018. How does that compare? Well in Canada it was zero, in New Zealand it was eight (sic: 1%) per cent, and Germany, Japan and the United States it was 10 per cent over that same period. So don’t let it be said by those who want to talk Australia down in what we’re doing on emissions that we’re not carrying our load. We are, and we are leading the way. Our domestic emissions have already fallen by 36% from 2005 levels. That sounds to me like Australia doing its heavy lifting in our part of the world.
Australia has deployed renewable energy ten times faster than the global average and four times faster in Europe and the United States. One in four rooftops have solar, more than anywhere else in the world. We take our emission reductions targets very seriously. They aren’t proclamations, they are commitments. And we don’t make commitments lightly in this country. We prepare our plan to achieve them and then we follow through. And we meet them, and we beat them. That is how we are addressing the challenge of the future net zero carbon economy which of course is coming. And we will be ready for it, and we will succeed in it.
Now the other area I wanted to talk about tonight was deregulation. A pillar of our recovery plan, again with its core of how we do things as a government, as a Liberal National Government. It’s led by Assistant Minister to myself Ben Morton, who’s also here.
From well before COVID, deregulation has been an integral part of our economic plan. I’m tempted to say this is not a topic that excites many, including our political opponents, but it is one that our Government believes in very deeply because we know how important it is to businesses doing business every day. We are determined to take unnecessary regulatory burdens off business, off employers, to unlock investment and to create jobs.
Our Deregulation Taskforce has produced initiatives to make it easier for small businesses to do the following - put on their first employee; bust congestion for agricultural exporters; modernise Australian business registers; establish a 21st century environmental approvals process, in the first instance in partnership with the Western Australian state government in WA; and to establish a modern export documentation system and a new trade information service.
In taking this agenda forward, I’ve asked Ben to really get under the bonnet on this, working across Government with all Ministers, with my authority, to come up with solutions in a very granular way. You’ve heard plenty of people talk to you about deregulation and cutting red tape, that’s fine, but you need to have the detailed plan of what you have to change. And to my mind, there is no real substitute for that.
You can have all the lofty communiques about regulatory reform you like, but ultimately it means working through the detail with those who have to live with this depressing level of regulation that prevents you from employing more Australians. Obstacles that need to be stripped away in order for you to grow your business.
And so, a few examples. In the Budget, $120 million will be invested in a deregulation package that I am announcing tonight.
The benefits to businesses, individuals and not-for-profits in reduced compliance costs under this package are estimated to average some $430 million annually.
As part of reducing the regulatory burden for business interactions with government, we’re streamlining reporting under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme. This will dramatically reduce time spent preparing reports in some cases by around 70 per cent, benefiting more than 900 companies reporting on 7,500 facilities every single year.
We’re also streamlining digital services in the health sector. This will reduce the regulatory burden on around 400 companies that currently lodge 2,000 applications annually in the pharmaceutical, medical technology services and medical software industries.
We’re helping an estimated 1,220 commercial fishing businesses meet data provision requirements to enable more informed decision making. And at the same time, we’re improving electronic monitoring systems that will assist around 610 fishing businesses to more efficiently meet their regulatory requirements.
One that I know sounds dreadfully technocratic, but that is very meaningful to people in this room, we are improving the technology neutrality of the Treasury portfolio legislation. Regulated entities across banking, insurance, superannuation and capital markets will benefit through increased flexibility for regulators to obtain information without prescribing the method of communication.
We’re also making it easier for business to get Australians into jobs, including providing additional assistance to small businesses with RegTech solutions to help them comply with modern awards, cutting costs and improving compliance.
A further measure vital to our recovery in supporting the implementation of Automatic Mutual Recognition. This will mean ultimately, if we get this right, that around 124,000 Australians who currently require multiple occupational licences – so you need a license to be an electrician in Queanbeyan and then you need another license to be an electrician about 100 metres or a kilometre down the road in the ACT. Go figure. That will no longer be required, and a further 44,000 individuals are now likely to work interstate who would not have done so otherwise. That’s going to help portability of skills, that’s going to make a big difference.
These are granular things, but they make a big difference to the operations of business which means you can invest more confidently and you can employ more confidently.
Now of course our economic plan is working in tandem with our plan to stay on top of the virus to rollout vaccines. We continue to work in partnership with the states and territories on this critical task and this afternoon – I won’t delay us all tonight by running over all of that, it’s been reported – we met again and we remain fully aligned on that task of vaccinating the most vulnerable members of our community as a priority.
The medical advice remains – and this is important - that AstraZeneca is a safe and recommended vaccine for Australians over 50 and today National Cabinet further agreed in-principle to a series of changes to the Strategy that will be put forward for approval at the next meeting of National Cabinet. This includes options to bring forward the commencement of vaccinations for over 50s under priority group 2a, and to establish readiness the states and territories to operate - vaccination sites from additional sites to mass vaccination sites as we move through the year.
National Cabinet reinforced that general practice will continue to be the primary model of rolling out vaccinations for Australians over 50 years of age, and with states and territories to consider options to supplement roll out through expanded state vaccination centres.
Our vaccination strategy is being delivered at the same time, we continue to implement our national health response and our successful suppression strategy across the country in partnership with the states and territories that have continued to keep Australians safe during this pandemic.
So ladies and gentleman, Australia’s comeback is well under way but there’s further distance to travel. From the depths of pandemic despair a year ago, here we are, fighting our way back. Fighting our way back.
The Budget next month will lay out the next phase of Australia’s economic recovery plan, to grow our economy so we can deliver the jobs and guarantee the essential services that Australians rely on, and continue to keep Australians safe.
Press Conference - Sydney, NSW
19 April 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, everyone. I’m joined by Darren Chester, the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs. Before I come to the first day’s announcement, today is another major milestone. The Tasman is open. It's been six months since Australia first opened up to New Zealand and in time for Anzac Day. We've seen the Tasman open up and we welcome that, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand and I issued a statement earlier today in that spirit of trans-Tasman cooperation, and we look forward to the operational side of that arrangement continuing to be successful. It's a win-win for Australia and New Zealand and I think this is going to be very important for the tourism and travel industry on both sides of the Tasman, as well the very practical issues of families being able to reconnect. There are so many connections between ourselves and our Kiwi cousins. And so that is a welcome next development.
But as I said, it's in time for Anzac Day. As you would know, on every occasion that I come and speak before Australians, particularly when I am speaking formally, I do two things. I, of course, acknowledge, as has been our practice for some time now, to acknowledge Indigenous Australians as we should. Their elders, past present and future. But it has also been my custom to acknowledge the serving members of our Defence Forces and any veterans and to simply say on behalf of Australians thank you for your service. Every single day, the service of our veterans is something that has pressed on my mind because the very fact that we can live in a country that we can live in here in Australia is as a result of their sacrifice. It's as a result of their service. It's as a result of the decision they took to join the Defence Forces and to serve and to defend our values. To stand up for what Australia believes in and to ensure that Australians can be kept safe. Their service finds themselves in many theatres. As I announced last week, it has seen them for the last 20 years serving in Afghanistan, and so many other places. The humanitarian effort equally has been extraordinary. Most recently when it came to cyclones throughout the Pacific, including right now, supporting with COVID in places like Papua New Guinea. Our servicemen and women do an amazing job. And when we commit to major deployments, particularly as we've seen in Afghanistan and Iraq over these past two decades, when those decisions are taken, of course, we consider, as governments must on both sides of politics when we've made those decisions, we understand what the cost of those deployments can be in terms of putting those boots on the ground where we do and the planes in the air and the ships to sea.
But there is a far greater cost that is borne beyond those deployments and that is the mental toll taken on our veterans after they return. And that is something that I think governments in the future must be increasingly cognisant of at the time of making the decisions they do about the deployment of our Defence Forces. It's not just about the great risk that our Defence Force personnel are put at when they engage in those deployments. That immediate risk that is there, that is rightfully and well considered when those decisions are sensibly made and wisely made, we hope, by governments at the those times. But increasingly, we must also understand the long tail of cost, and I just don't mean the financial cost. More importantly, I mean the human cost. And that cost is most significant when we see it in the death by suicide of our veterans. We have been taking many steps as a Government, as governments before us have as well, to address this very serious issue of death by suicide of our veterans and our serving Defence Force personnel. There have been many initiatives but the problem is still with us. The grief of the families, the hardship of the comrades, as they have fought together and then have to deal with the aftermath of the fight when they return here to this country and they find it so hard to adjust. I've heard those stories directly from men and women in my own electorate. The work of 2nd Commando is without peer anywhere in the country in terms of the effort that they've put in place, particularly in relation to Afghanistan, and the toll has been great. There's no politics in this. I think that there is a genuine will and commitment from all members of the Parliament, from all sides of politics. We all want to do what is right for our veterans. We all want to assist them in the transition that they make, whether it's into civilian life, or even just transitioning back from an overseas deployment back home as they re-engage with their families, which they can find so often very, very difficult. And the hardship and stress that puts on families is extraordinary.
Earlier this year, we sought to have legislated in the Parliament a National Commissioner. Now, this was an important reform and it remains an important reform to ensure that on an ongoing, permanent basis, that we have all the powers of a standing Royal Commission legislated by our Parliament to ensure that every single time that, regrettably, there may be such a case of death by suicide of a veteran or a serving member of the Defence Forces, that every single case is acknowledged, every single case is understood, every single case ensures that learnings are made. But there is equally the task of dealing with the many, many deaths by suicides that have occurred. We've sought to do that through the National Commission and haven’t been able to see that supported in that form. So as a result, having worked through and listened carefully, worked with veterans groups, and particularly listening carefully to the veterans who serve in our Parliament, those veterans who have served overseas, we have listened carefully to them. And I do not want to see there to be any delay in moving ahead with examining these issues. But also putting in place the permanent arrangements that are necessary.
That is why, today, we are announcing that I intend to convene and recommend to the Governor-General a Royal Commission into death by suicide of veterans. We will be releasing a draft terms of reference today that we will consult on over the course of the next four weeks, in particular with the states and territories but of course with the veteran community. Such a Royal Commission will need the support of joint letters patent by the state and territory governments, because naturally, the services and supports that are provided to veterans in our community go well beyond the Federal Government and, of course, involve the work of state and territory governments. We want this to be comprehensive and I have no doubt that that will get supported. I've already informed the state and territory premiers and chief ministers today and it will be noted, I'm sure, later today at the National Cabinet meeting. But we will work as we have on other Royal Commissions where we've been able to get agreement on joint letters patent on other very serious issues that have been the subject of a Royal Commission.
The Royal Commission will have a mandate to examine the systemic issues and any common themes and past deaths by suicide of Australian Defence Force members and veterans and the experience of members and veterans who may continue to be at risk of suicide. It will examine all aspects of service in the Australian Defence Force and the experience of those transitioning from active service, the availability and quality of health and support services, the pre-service and post-service issues for members and veterans. Members and veterans, social and family contexts such as family breakdown, as well as housing and employment issues for members and veterans. The Royal Commission will have regard to and build on the valuable work already done in this space, such as the Productivity Commission's report on a better way to support veterans inquiry from 2019, matters that also continue to be addressed through the Budget context. The Government will also seek, as I said, the support of joint letters patent from the states and territories. We understand and recognise that some families and others, many, may not wish to share their experiences and the inquiry will be respectful of that. And given the sensitive and personal nature of the issues that witnesses may face, the Royal Commission will be authorised to hold private sessions. The inquiry will not be about making findings of civil or criminal wrongdoing, and it will not make findings on the manner or cause of death in relation of a particular death by suicide. The Commission will have the full range of compulsory powers available to it to summon witnesses, hold public hearings, take evidence on oath or affirmation, compel the production of documents and witness statements and receive information in evidence in private session, similar powers to what was to be established under the National Commissioner. I've asked Minister Chester to lead that consultation process, which he will do. I also note that the Government intends that the Royal Commission and the National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Prevention will be established together. That is the Government's intent and we will be bringing forward amendments to the Bill that is currently before the Parliament to ensure that these two initiatives work together, established together, to operate in a complimentary way.
The Royal Commission will look at past deaths by suicide, including suspected suicides and lived experience of suicide risks from a systemic point of view, while the National Commissioner will have a forward looking role, including overseeing the implementation of the Royal Commission's recommendations. That is, indeed, something that I have not seen before when it comes to a Royal Commission of that nature. Establishing a statutory, National Commissioner, to take up the recommendations of a Royal Commission and to ensure that is put in place in advance. The Royal Commission will be able to consider any past death, as I've said. While the Royal Commission is ongoing, the National Commissioner will retain those functions as provided for in the Government's Bills. This will be an important process for the families, I believe, to be able to come and to put their case in whatever form the royal commission provides for. I think and I hope it will be a healing process. I hope it will be a process by which veterans and families can find some comfort, but it obviously can't replace the loss. We understand that. I think this will be a process that will assist in the comfort that those families have been seeking. And I understand, from listening, that that is a key objective, a key reason why they have sought such a Commission to be established.
I'll pass you over now to the Minister to go through some further matters relating to the Royal Commission but I also want to give this commitment to veterans. The Royal Commission will not be done to replace the need for ongoing work. The ongoing work must continue. We can't stop the changes and the investments that we're making pending waiting for action some 18 months to two years from now when the Royal Commission will bring back its recommendations. We must continue to act now on death by suicide of serving members of the Defence Forces and, in particular, for veterans for whom the rate of suicide, death by suicide, is much higher. So we will continue to take those actions. $11.5 billion a year the Government commits to support veterans and their families every single year. As a Government, we've extended free mental health care, uncapped and demand-driven. In the last Budget, a further $101.7 million was dedicated to bolster mental health support for veterans. $30 million was put in place to establish six veteran wellbeing centres across the nation, in partnership with ex-service organisations. We continue to support organisations like SoldierOn and work closely with the groups like the RSL and the work they do across the veteran community. We've established the Joint Transition Authority, almost $20 million, to do that with Defence. One of the key changes that has already been made is from the day a person signs up and pulls on that uniform with our Defence Forces, that is the day our Defence Forces begin the work of assisting them for transmission for the time that comes ultimately when they leave the Defence Forces. That is not something that has happened in the past. That is something that has been put in place by our Government. Preparing our veterans for life after their service from the day they commence their service and ensuring there is a seamlessness in that support that is put in place. Of course, there's the veterans' employment program, the new veteran's family advocate that has been established, the veterans' card and there will be many further initiatives that will be put in place as we move into this next Budget. The work of supporting our veterans never ceases because their commitment to this country and the service they put in place was without reserve. With that, I will pass over to the Minister.
THE HON. DARREN CHESTER MP, MINISTER FOR VETERANS’ AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE PERSONNEL: Thank you, Prime Minister. Can I also begin by recognising any veterans in the room today but also any veterans or current serving personnel who are listening at home and say to you thank you for your service. In particular, can I acknowledge the members of the House of Reps and the Senate who have served in uniform and thank them, Prime Minister, for their often robust advice they provide to both you and me. It was very important in terms of informing our decisions in the veterans portfolio. I thank you, Prime Minister for your announcement today. This Royal Commission I believe, is an opportunity for our veterans to grab with both hands and to work together on our common aims. We’ve often said in the community that the things that unite us are greater than the things that divide us and today really is an opportunity for us and the veteran community to reset the agenda and unite the veterans community in what has been a very difficult, sensitive and incredibly complex issue for our veterans and their families. This announcement of a Royal Commission is another step in our ongoing efforts to build confidence, to build trust, but perhaps most importantly, to restore hope for those who've suffered or are still suffering today. We do understand and we do understand that some people in our veteran community and their families will not heal until we have this Royal Commission.
I need to stress, Prime Minister, and you've heard me say this many times before, that service in the Australian Defence Force for the overwhelming majority of people is a very positive experience. They develop values and skills in mateship, mission focus, problem solving, leadership, teamwork, their resilience. They're all skills that help them transition well to civilian life. But there is no question, there is a risk of physical injury but also the risk of impacts on their mental health and wellbeing. Australians can take comfort, Australian civilians can take comfort from your words today Prime Minister, that $11.5 billion of taxpayers' money is provided in what is a world-class system to support veterans. But there is room for improvement. The point of the Royal Commission is to help try and find that room for improvement. We have focused on mental health in recent years, more than $230 million per year provided directly for veterans' mental health. And so there is a lot of work that has already been undertaken by Liz Cosson and the team at the Department of Veterans' Affairs and the ex-service community, and I thank them for that work.
So the consultation which you have instructed me to undertake begins today. We're not starting from scratch. The work will continue with DVA and the work will continue in partnership with our ex-service community. I am confident that our ex-service community, ex-service organisations, volunteers, the state governments and the DVA itself, the work they're doing right now is already saving lives every day. We have to keep up that good work but we have to listen to the veteran community and their families and find room for improvement. As we approach Anzac Day, Prime Minister, I join with you in saying that our message to all Australians is it is all about respect, about respecting and recognising those who've served in the past, those who serve today, and the sacrifices they've made and the sacrifices their families have make. We have to instil in them some confidence, some hope and optimism for the future and for any veterans who are listening today or troubled by the conversation, I just urge to you to contact Open Arms on 1800 011 046. That’s Open Arms on 1800 011 046.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you've been dragged into this by the Parliament and your parliamentary colleagues haven't you, after Government MPs threatened to cross the floor over it. There was no other course of action for you?
PRIME MINISTER: I just want to get things done, Andrew. We were seeking to get that done through the National Commission, which provided the same powers that are established by a Royal Commission. So we still want to get things done. That's what's always driven me on this issue. I'm pragmatic to get the right outcomes for veterans. That's what we're doing right here. This is what's important, getting the Commission in place to address the many issues that I know families want to be able to engage with a Commission, to tell those stories, to say what happened, to share that experience. And to ensure that the Government continues to learn from each and every experience. The National Commissioner does that, the Royal Commission will do that. They will work together. That's what we're achieving here. We're combining these initiatives together. We're working together to achieve what I believe families and veterans want achieved. That's what a government should do. That's what I am doing.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister on working together, Julie-Anne Finney says she feels burnt by the Government. What lessons have you learned from this in terms of the fact that a Royal Commission is being announced now so long after the families called for one?
PRIME MINISTER: I've never been opposed to one, I should stress that. That's a matter of public record. We sought to achieve exactly the same answer through the work of a National Commissioner which would have had a very similar I'd say almost identical process, for addressing these issues. I think there is a perception in the community that a Royal Commission provides that acknowledgment that I think families are seeking and I acknowledge that. And secondly, provide that process I think, for healing. That process to share their stories and experiences, which a National Commissioner would have also done. But I think by sharing that workload respectively by the National Commissioner and by undertaking the Royal Commission, we will get all of, all of that work done. We've listened carefully. It is a highly sensitive and complex people. I think people understand that. There are deep, deep emotional scars that relate to these issues. We have listened carefully and at all times sought to do what is best for veterans and their families.
JOURNALIST: Why the announcement today? When do you think hearings will take place? When’s the earliest they can take place? I guess you don’t even have a Commissioner for us yet?
PRIME MINISTER: Well Andrew, what we have to do first is consult on the Terms of Reference. I want to make sure the Terms of Reference are addressing the need. And importantly, as I've just said, that the Royal Commission must also be supported by the states and territories with joint letters patent. That's what we've achieved in other similar Royal Commissions, and you don't impose that on states and territories. You consult with them, and that's the process we're beginning today. We anticipate that that consultation period will take the next four weeks. After that period of time, they'll be drawing those consultations together and finalising a Terms of Reference and making a recommendation to the Governor-General, and at that same time putting forward a recommendation for the Commissioner or ers that would then undertake that Royal Commission. It would take the Royal Commission I anticipate, somewhere between 18 months and two years to complete. That's based on the breadth of the Terms of Reference that are before us and our experience in dealing with other Royal Commissions. We've seen it whether in disabilities or aged care in particular, this will take some time I think, to work through the many issues that I know families and veterans will want to raise, and so we're making that, we’ll be making that time available. So I would hope that this would at the latest, be able to be up and running by the start of the next, in July, and it may well be able to be established before then. The timetable for hearings and things of that nature, well they're set by the Royal Commissioners. It’s not for me to predetermine those things. That's something that they must consider in the normal way. So this is the commencement of what will be another long journey over the next couple of years as we work through those issues. But we won't be waiting two years before taking any further action. We'll be taking further action within weeks. The Budget is within weeks, and we've already taken considerable action in all of these areas and we will continue to take that action. There are many things we have already learned. There are many things we've already put in place and we'll continue to do that in the years ahead and I think the Royal Commission work will support that.
JOURNALIST: Have you been surprised when they’ve, we‘ve been having this national debate, at the trauma and damage serving in the Australian Defence Force has done to individuals and their families?
PRIME MINISTER: Sadly no, because as a Federal Member of Parliament, in a part of Sydney that has quite a number of veterans and those who have suffered the greatest losses and rotations of any of the members that have served, sadly I know too much about this, as many Australians do, but not as much as the veterans and their families know. Not as much as those who’ve served themselves with others know, and we know all too well the deep wounds that are inflicted by these deployments. And that's why I make the point that when we make decisions about deployments, I think it's very important that we have a view to the long tail of support that will be necessary for those we ask to go and serve. And I can't, I can tell you that has not, that has not been a matter that at least at a technical level has been before governments in the past, and it's certainly one I intend to be in front of should we God forbid, ever be in a position where we’d have to consider a deployment in future, that we need to understand this. I mean over the last 20 years, our deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq have seen a whole new generation of veterans. The Department of Veterans' Affairs who I pay credit to today, the RSL, I pay credit to them also, are dealing with very different set of challenges to the previous generation. Young families, widowed families, fatherless families, a whole new generation of service is now seeking that support. Now as Darren says, those who serve in the majority of cases have their experience and do make that transition and go on to have very successful lives and making great contributions, but there are some for whom the burden has proved to be overwhelming and that's where we need to take that action to support them. And we are, and we lift our work rate on this every single year.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, National Cabinet today, this ‘war footing’ as your people have described.
PRIME MINISTER: Just before we move to vaccines, I'm keen to address the issues of veterans first. Happy to move to the other issues.
JOURNALIST: Can I ask on that, then, war’s not new. So are you going to put any programs in asking people or helping people before they join the Defence Force that this could be the outcome?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that is exactly the process I was talking about before. One of the big changes we have now made is that everybody who now serves in the Australian Defence Forces when they join, that includes the process of joining, but particularly when they join, we begin the process then of preparing them also for their life after their service. Now, that is not something that was happening 10 years ago. It was not something that was happening 20 years ago and 30 years ago. That is a new initiative of our Government, to do that. It's recognising that people will serve for a period of time and when you serve during that period of time, you will confront things and experiences that are not things that you would normally encounter in your normal civilian life. And there will be services and supports available to you, and it will assist you transition to your life after your service. Now, just while I was up in the resources industry up in the Pilbara, I met quite a few ex-service people and who have found working in that resources industry with that team and mission environment something they felt very comfortable with. That is a fairly positive transition that they find when they, defence veterans go and work in other industries, it’s much more of a change. So I think these processes are new but I think they’re quite significant. And it is our hope by making those changes that veterans in the future will lead the service far better prepared than they ever have before. You may not know this, but prior to, I think it was 2017 I think Liz, that prior to that Departments of Veterans' Affairs were not able to know who’d served. And so actually knowing who veterans in our community are has been a challenge. In many cases there are veterans who are suffering in silence because they're not known to be veterans to the Department. They will only be known as veterans when they come forward and seek support. Now that makes it a challenge to reach out to veterans, and so we've worked with the RSLs, we’ve worked through the Veterans Employment Program, with the veterans recognition programs, and that has been a way of drawing veterans in so we can engage with them and let them know the supports and services there. All of this is new, all of this is new, so I think there are a lot of positive changes here. But I think what we're dealing with right now is we see the number of presentations increasing, the demand for veteran support increasing. Of course it’s a function of the deployments over the last 20 years and that is the challenge the Government is dealing with now and I think we're dealing with it very positively.
THE HON. DARREN CHESTER MP, MINISTER FOR VETERANS’ AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE PERSONNEL: Just two quick points just to build on your comments, Prime Minister. It’s not well understood that the average length of service in the Australian Defence Force today is about seven or eight years. So we're talking about young Australians who serve, train, perhaps deploy and then transition to civilian life. We need to make sure that transition goes as smoothly as possible because they've still got another 40 or 50 years where they’re going to be making a contribution to the Australian community. So that's an important part of the work we’re doing in terms of transition. And the other point in terms of knowing our veterans, this year for the first time in the Census we’ll include a question on, ‘Have you ever served in the Australian Defence Force?’, and we expect that will inform our decision making after this year as well.
JOURNALIST: Just on COVID-19 vaccine rollout?
PRIME MINISTER: Nothing further on veterans?
JOURNALIST: The NSW Premier’s indicated that she’d like everyone from aged 50 up to get AstraZeneca from now. Is that actually possible? Could you put a month on when that could come into place? And on mass vaccination hubs, can we just get a bit of a who, what, when, where. So who would that involve in terms of the age groups, which type of vaccine would it be and when could those be [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, these are the discussions we're having right now. That’s, these are discussions we'll have this afternoon, and I don't intend to pre-empt those discussions because there is a lot of work that needs to go into how those will be planned. There are strong, strong arguments for the bringing forward of over 50s with the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is a safe and effective vaccine for those aged over 50 and particularly important for those aged over 70 who are already in that priority group that we need to ensure we’re getting vaccinated across Australia, protect them, because if there is an outbreak anywhere in the country, if you're aged over 70, you are at risk. We saw that with the terrible second wave in Victoria and the terrible casualties we saw of those aged over 70 in aged care facilities and that’s why that’s our priority. But, yes, the option of bringing forward over 50s is one that is being discussed but I’m going to work that through with the premiers and chief ministers about how that can be achieved in a most orderly way. I want to stress that the role being played by GPs is central to that delivery. That is the primary, primary pathway through which we're administering vaccines to the public, particularly AstraZeneca. And that would be the case as we move into potentially those groups aged over 50 and any bring forward we had there.
Your GP is the person or the GP who you can go to for administering that vaccine is best-placed to talk through any of the hesitancy you may have, talk through the health issues that are involved and to take you through that process. And that's why we're, that's why our GP rollout is the primary delivery method.
Now you asked about mass vaccination rollouts. That we have discussed particularly in the context of the fourth quarter of this year. That will be dependent very much on the stock of Pfizer and Novavax that we're expecting, at this stage, contracted to be made available in the fourth quarter of this year. That is where we're predominantly talking about those under 50 and that, for that age group, that would be more suited to that type of vaccination process. And so there's a lot of work to be done given that would be effectively, if we wished, a 12-week sprint to be able to do that safely and effectively, and there'd need to be plenty of planning to achieve that. Now states and territories currently, I know, I was with Premier Marshall on the weekend, and they're already moved on some of their GP clinics as well and their clinics, vaccination clinics. We welcome that. And we can work to ensure that the supplies available can get to the places where they need to. We are currently at 1.586 million vaccinations, as of the most recent information that will be released today. And as you'll see from that, the Commonwealth and, in particular, through the GP vaccination network, is what is really driving that process now.
JOURNALIST: Just on the supply then, just sorry, on the supply. So obviously it all comes down to supply of stock.
PRIME MINISTER: Yep.
JOURNALIST: So have you got an update on how many Pfizer vaccines are now in the country? There was talk that it was about 100,000 per week. When does that start ramping up?
PRIME MINISTER: Well that's lifting and that's where it was, and we'll be going through with those supply issues with the states and territories this afternoon, as we understand it right now. And that will obviously inform the other programs that we're working through together.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Gladys Berejiklian said this morning, she said, "We need to really crack on with it. I don't know how long I’ve been saying New South Wales is ready to step up. I don't agree with the comments last week even if vaccinated we can't travel." She is seeming to say there that the Federal Government’s been going too slow. Do you stand by your earlier comments on this that it's not a race and everything's fine?
PRIME MINISTER: We will vaccinate Australians safely and effectively. The rate of vaccination in Australia is at the same pace, at the same stage as the vaccination program in Europe and the European Union. It’s higher than New Zealand at that same stage, it’s better than Canada, it’s better than South Korea, it’s better than Japan, it’s better than France ...
JOURNALIST: If it’s so on track, why do we need twice-weekly National Cabinets?
PRIME MINISTER: Because we are very focused on ensuring that we’re maximising the supplies that we have available and getting them out in the most effective way, Andrew. That’s, that would seem to me a very sensible thing to do. We have had a particular shock to the system as a result of the medical advice that we’ve received from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisations. That has obviously had an impact, I’ve been very clear about that. We'll be getting further information on that today. The head of the AMA will be joining us this afternoon to be talking about the GP rollout and the importance of that distribution mechanism for the vaccination program. And we'll be moving as quickly as we can, with the supplies that we have available, and ensuring they're getting it to the priority populations that need it most urgently.
Our vaccination program has had some early challenges but so have the vaccination programs of almost every country in the world today. Right now in Australia, we are living in a way that the rest of the world is not. Vaccination will be an important mechanism to ensure that remains the case. But I must stress this also, the international borders are also an incredibly important protection for Australians and I'm not about to relax those restrictions lightly. I'm not going to have Australia's way of life changed by an incursion of cases into the country, and seeing lockdowns occur again and see border closures happening internally, and our international borders, provided we continue to rollout the vaccination program, provided we continue to have the effective suppression mechanisms we have in place that will enable people to continue to go to restaurants, continue to go to pubs, for businesses to remain open, for hairdressers to remain open, for all of these businesses in our domestic tourism industries to be able to reap the benefits of Australians travelling at home, the opening up of the Trans- of the Tasman is another boost to that sector. We're already over, well over half of the number of the discounted tickets that we made available through our travel program. This is great news, it’s tremendous news. So we will proceed carefully and cautiously. We will keep Australians safe, and international borders are an important part of that program, and I think Australians value that safety and what it is affording to them in the way that Australians can live here. They can see what's happening overseas, Andrew. They can see, they can see the pandemic raging. More than three million people have died as a result of this pandemic and Australians don't want to see that coming to Australia. And they can be assured that I’ll be taking decisions that keep them safe.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the vulnerability of the over 70 age group. Why are we having a conversation then at National Cabinet this afternoon about opening up to over 50s? Shouldn't we remain on the plan that you've announced and put in place of getting the most vulnerable protected first? Stage 1A and B, and not even thinking about going to stage 2A yet?
PRIME MINISTER: Well what's becoming clear is that we can actually do both. And so the priority is exactly as you say, and there'll be no lessening of effort on focusing on that most important vulnerable group, as well as the frontline health workers that are part of the 1A and 1B program. But we don't want to see one vaccine that's rolling off the line and going through the approval processes and the batch testing sitting in a fridge. We want it, if there is someone over 50 who is there and wants to take that vaccine, we'll be looking at how that can be achieved today and in what type of timeframe we might commence that process. But you're absolutely right, Chris, the top objective is to vaccinate the most vulnerable, and my gaze will not shift from that group.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, [inaudible] Wallace from A Current Affair. We’ve spoken to a man whose myGov vaccination record has updated with two jabs of the Pfizer vaccine, even though he hasn't had it and doesn’t qualify. Does that concern you?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, it does. But with 1.586 million vaccinations which also includes registrations on the program, I'm not going to say to you that in every single, 100 per cent of cases, there’s not the opportunity for something to be misentered. And so that's why Services Australia is reviewing the case that you referred to and I’d expect them to be identifying if there are any issues there that need to be addressed, then that they should. But let's not forget, we're close to 1.6 million vaccinations. And one case, as you've stated is, that's concerning, of course it would be to me, and I'd want it thoroughly investigated, which it is.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, WA’s already indicated that they’re not convinced by the home quarantine arrangement. Is it conceivable that some states embrace the home quarantine scheme whilst others don’t?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, of course it is. I mean, when you look at how states have reacted over the course of the last year, many of them had different positions on these issues. I would seek to achieve as much national consistency as we possibly could, but you rightly point out that public health is a matter of state jurisdiction and the Commonwealth is not in a position to direct that in any way, shape or form. And that’s why, you know, while others may be jumping ahead to other decisions, there’s a fairly fundamental decision that would have to be arrived at first and as the vaccination program continues, that if Australians who are properly vaccinated have their two doses are able to travel overseas and return and have an alternative form of quarantine, it would have to be safe, it would have to go through all the medical advice to ensure that the systems are in place, to ensure we kept those protections there so we didn't see the introduction of COVID, then I would hope premiers and chief ministers would, I'm sure, respond to that medical advice and take what practical steps they could. So if at any time into the future, and look, I think, as I said yesterday, I mean that is many months away from being achieved. We still over the next few months will be working through those priority populations of vaccinations. So there was no suggestion in anything I said that that would be something that would be achieved imminently or soon. Just simply, if you want to get to that position, that can take many months and there is a lot of work that you have to do before then to ensure that if you did go down that path you could do it safely and you could do it effectively. And that's what I would hope, but let's get the work done, let's work together and see where we can get to. That's the reason I'm pulling National Cabinet together to ensure that they can work through these issues together and not in isolation because many of the decisions that will ultimately be made will be made in the states.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on international travel, what’s, what is the trigger for reopening borders? What is the threshold you want to see? What are the things that you want to see in Australia and internationally for us to be able to return to international travel?
PRIME MINISTER: Well that is the exact question we put to our medical advisers, that was the exact question I tasked them with when we last met as a National Cabinet. And I think right now I think we need to be clear that the pandemic is raging globally, it’s raging. Now we’ve got somewhere between 600,000 and 800,000 cases a day. It is raging. Here in Australia, that is not happening. And I'm quite certain Australians want to see that continue. I can assure you as Prime Minister I want to see that continue. And so I think we can't get ahead of ourselves here. I think we have to make sure that we can keep living life here in Australia in the midst of this raging pandemic, like we are right now, and if that can be done even better, great. But let's not lose what we’ve achieved, because I can tell you if there are further lockdowns, if there are further restrictions that have to be brought in or are brought in by states and territories because of the introduction of COVID into Australia, then that won't be good for the economy, it won't be good for jobs, it won't be good for people's health. And so what I'm focused on is ensuring that we maintain the trajectory we currently have, that we continue to ensure that Australians can live the life we are living in Australia right now. We are the envy of the world. And so I don't intend to do things that might get in the way of that. So we will be patient in relation to that question. We will get the evidence, we will get the answers, we will consider those and they'll be weighed up, of course, against the many other things that premiers, chief ministers and I as the Prime Minister have to contemplate. But right now, let's ensure that Australia keeps living the way it is and we continue to be successful in managing the virus here in Australia, which we've been very successful at, and we've done that and ensured the jobs have come back. We've done that and ensure our economy has grown. We've done that and ensured that Australians have been protected, and particularly our most vulnerable. That's our mission. We'll get on with it. Thanks.
Press Conference - Clare, SA
18 April 2021
PETER BARRY, JIM BARRY WINES: Welcome everybody, and I certainly welcome Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Steven Marshall, a great friend of tourism and a great ambassador for South Australia to my family winery here in Clare. It’s a special day to have all these dignitaries. I’m surrounded by my family and I’m surrounded by dignitaries and friends. So, thank you very much. And South Australia’s in good state and we’re in good strength, and we’re lucky to have these great ambassadors promoting our wonderful industry, especially Anne Ruston over there who’s a great friend of the Australian wine industry. It’s lovely to see you Anne. I’ll hand you over now. On behalf of my family, thank you very much.
ROWAN RAMSEY MP, MEMBER FOR GREY: Well, thanks very much Peter and thanks very much to the Barry family for opening up the winery and turning on the sound system for us … Anyway so it’s a great pleasure to be here this morning. Particularly thank you to the Barry family for opening up their winery so we can have special visitors here. Of note, the Prime Minister, the Premier, the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor, and we’ve got Dan van Holst Pellekaan here as well, who is the State Minister for Energy. And as far as, you know, the Clare Valley’s only come into my electorate at the last election and I’m very pleased that it has. So I’m still familiarising myself with the leaders in the wine industry, but it is such an important part of South Australia, not just for wine production but the Clare Valley itself is a very important tourist attraction, and at the moment everything, I can tell you, in regional South Australia tourism is just jumping off the page. And it’s come about because other policies that the Federal Government’s had, the State Government, but largely the JobKeeper program, which is winding up now. But it’s so good, it’s always good to have any Minister on your patch. It’s even better to have the Prime Minister and the Premier on your patch. So I’m going to hand over to the PM now, and thank you very much.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much Rowan, and it’s great to be here with you and everybody who’s joined us here today, particularly Premier Marshall, it’s wonderful to be standing here. He’s been a tremendous partner for the Federal Government in everything we’re doing, and we’re so pleased to see the positive impact it’s having here in South Australia. But to you Peter and your wonderful family, this past week I’ve met some great pioneers who I’ve known well and it’s been a great privilege to come and meet you and your family. The Barry name is synonymous with Australian wine, it’s synonymous with quality, it’s synonymous with South Australia, in particular, and the great pioneering spirit of South Australia. It was great to be able to take the opportunity to sign one of the big vats in there, and simply say thank you for the contribution the Barry family has made to Australia. So it’s a great privilege for us to be with you here today.
But I’m joined by my Energy Minister and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor for a very important reason, with his counterpart here in South Australia, to announce the third energy deal that we have put together with the states and territories. Following New South Wales and Tasmania, the Premier and I and our Ministers have agreed this important energy deal, which is about something pretty straightforward - more affordable, lower costs, more affordable energy for South Australian’s. Lower prices, reliable energy. It’s about having the gas that is needed to drive manufacturing and support industry and to support the transition that we are making to the new energy economy into the future. This deal is a billion-dollar deal and it’s a billion-dollar deal which brings both of the parties to the table to ensure we are doing everything we can to ensure that South Australian’s get lower cost, more affordable, more reliable energy, to support lower costs for their households and their family, to support more jobs and the businesses that they run, but importantly also, lower emissions for the future, both here in South Australia and more broadly, by backing in the incredible technology that Australia is and will continue to lead the world in. Hydrogen in particular. Hydrogen, that fuel, Australia is being known as the hydrogen nation. Australia is being looked to, to transform how hydrogen is developed and used, particularly in business and in heavy industry. The big gains that will be made towards getting towards net zero are going to be made because of the innovations and technologies, and particularly in the area of hydrogen, because that is what can drive large-scale achievements, large-scale industries, large-scale heavy industries, by both lowering the cost, lowering the emissions profile, and ensuring greater reliability. So that is our pathway, and this deal today with the South Australian Government ensures that we achieve that.
There’s a component, and I’ll let Angus go into the detail, interconnectors, Strzelecki Highway, investing in new technologies out of the various funds that we’ve established at a federal level and dedicating that towards the important projects, whether it’s on carbon capture, use of storage and the other many important technologies that will see Australia get ahead, but keep our industries industrious, to keep our businesses in business. And this will be demonstrated here in South Australia. This is a smart state, and it’s great to be here. We’re usually at Lot Fourteen talking about cyber and space and the other wonderful partnerships, but this is an important partnership which drives all of the others, because without lower cost, affordable, reliable energy, with lower emissions then, that is what is necessary to drive this state forward and Australia forward. So I want to thank the Premier for his great partnership on this and so many other issues. The Australian Government and the South Australian Government is working together like we haven’t done, I think, for decades. And I think the approach of the Premier here in South Australia to work with the Australian Government, rather than the alternative, I think is delivering real dividends for South Australia, and I thank him for his leadership on that and I’m happy for him to now speak to the South Australian component of the deal.
THE HON. STEVEN MARSHALL MP, PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Well thanks very much PM, and it’s great to have you here in the Clare Valley, a very beautiful part of our state, but also a very productive part of our state. And you’re quite right, energy is absolutely critical. When we came to Government we had the highest priced, least reliable grid in the entire country. We have been working very hard. We’ve cut out all the fake fights, this is the crucial thing. We’ve cut out all those fake fights, those ideological fights, and we put the people of South Australia first. Energy prices are coming down. This new agreement for energy and emissions reductions is going to take us to the next level. It is all about lower cost energy, it’s about lower emissions, and importantly it’s about creating jobs in the renewable sector here in our state. And there are a range of projects that we will be looking at, federal and state together - projects like hydrogen export, projects like carbon capture and storage, and of course this MoU underpins our ambition for an interconnector between South Australia and the most populated state of Australia, New South Wales. Lots of gains have been made. In fact, in many ways South Australia leads the nation. We’ve got 60 per cent of our energy which is now coming from renewable sources. This is going to increase in the future, but we've got to do it in a way which is going to ensure that we keep our prices affordable so that we can maximise the number of jobs in our state. I really want to say a massive thank you to Angus Taylor, to Dan van Holst Pellekaan, and their departments - the energy departments, federal and state - working together, putting the people of South Australia, the people of Australia first, putting the people first, cheap, reliable, affordable energy here in Australia. It is going to be absolutely crucial to making sure that we can continue to roll out from this coronavirus that has affected not just Australia but the entire world. So more affordable, more reliable energy, lower emissions, and more jobs in the sector is the focus of this. We’re very grateful to be working with the Federal Government once again and now I’ll pass over to Angus Taylor.
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: Thanks, Steven. PM, colleagues, fantastic to be here to announce what is a terrific deal for South Australia, for the Commonwealth, but most importantly, the more affordable, reliable energy for South Australia as we bring down our emissions in South Australia, and as Steven said, South Australia is delivering. We've seen sharp reductions in prices across Australia - nine per cent in the last 12 months - and South Australia is leading the pack on that from a starting position, when Steven came into Government, which was very different. We are seeing extraordinary gains. We have seen a 19 per cent reduction in emissions across Australia since 2005, and South Australia is pulling its weight on that one, and we’re doing that through practical plans, through technology, not taxation. And this billion-dollar deal is a step forward to further reducing electricity prices, making sure they’re reliable, and of course bringing down emissions at the same time.
Now let me point to a few features of this deal. The first is a $400 million commitment from the Commonwealth to emissions reduction by investing in practical technologies that will bring down emissions. Hydrogen of course is one of those, the Prime Minister’s talked about, carbon capture and storage, energy efficiency. We’re here on a, at a vineyard where we have seen very significant energy efficiency gains in recent times and we are seeing this right across Australia, a major contributor to how we are bringing down emissions across the country. A $50 million commitment from the Commonwealth Government into the interconnect between South Australia and the eastern states. There’s a commitment here from the South Australian Government to get more gas into our network - 50 petajoules of gas by 2023 and up to 80 by 2030. And this is all about making sure we’ve got the gas we need to firm up our grid and support manufacturing in this country, which is so reliant on gas, which over time will include hydrogen, of course, an enormous opportunity for South Australia. Included in the deal is over $100 million committed to energy storage and solar thermal, and this is an important part of our commitment to making sure we've got that backup and storage that’s needed to keep the lights on and drive down prices. A big thank you to the South Australian Government, a big thank you to Dan who has been, of course, instrumental on the South Australian side in achieving these outcomes and most of all, this is a great day for reliable, affordable energy as we bring down our emissions.
THE HON. DAN VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN MP, SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MINISTER FOR ENERGY AND MINING: Well thank you, Angus, and thank you very much to the Barry family for hosting us here today for this important announcement. Wonderful to have the Prime Minister and the Premier here and my friend and colleague Minister Angus Taylor as well. South Australia is leading the nation and in many ways leading the world in our transition to cleaner and cheaper energy. This is not just about emissions reduction. It is actually about emissions reduction while also bringing down the cost of electricity and making the supply of electricity more reliable. So we really welcome this partnership with the Federal Government to allow us to work collaboratively together for the benefit of our state and for the benefit of our nation. $660 million from the Federal Government, $422 million from the State Government to work towards this transition, things like interconnection, electric vehicles, hydrogen, carbon storage, building efficiency and much, much more to make sure that we transition in a responsible way that works for energy consumers. We know that gas will be with us in South Australia and Australia for a long time to come, but we also know that we’re well down this path of transition. Right now in South Australia we use 40 per cent gas for electricity generation. In 2025, four short years away, we only expect to use 22 per cent gas for electricity generation in South Australia. What that means is while we remain and intend to remain a key gas producer by national standards [inaudible] in South Australia, we will be able to free up significant amounts of gas for the eastern states which are following us in this transition. We are leading and they will, with our help and the Federal Government’s help, also be able to do the things that we are doing in South Australia. Cheaper electricity, more reliable electricity and cleaner electricity. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: I can assure you that this [inaudible] had nothing to do with the [inaudible] negotiations, purely unrelated incident I can assure you. Happy to take questions. Please focus questions at first on the announcement today and then obviously happy to deal with any other matters.
JOURNALIST: Certainly. Prime Minister, do you expect that energy prices could be an election defining issue over the next 12 months?
PRIME MINISTER: It’s a defining issue for Australians and Australian businesses and that’s what matters. That’s why this deal was put in place, that’s why we’re so focused on it. Australia, I believe, will lead the world in transformational technologies, particularly those serving heavy industries and large industrial operations, including ones like this. I mean, what Peter was telling us when we’re here is that when he started out many, many years ago, and it is still very much the industry practice, wine is kept at about 18 to 20 degrees. Here it’s kept at four. Now that doesn’t happen by accident. That happens by a company, a family company, business, deciding that they want to embrace new technology, take on that science, invest it into their business. You can see the significant capital investment which the Barry family has put in. Now that investment pays off because of deals like this because it drives down the cost, creates more opportunities, it builds the quality of the product and it makes Australia more competitive. So the issue is one of lower prices for the families and households for their electricity bills, but it is also unleashing the opportunities amongst our entrepreneurs and our business pioneers and guaranteeing and underwriting for the future the heavy industry in Australia.
JOURNALIST: And you’re here today because of this investment making announcement in the Clare Valley, you’ve chosen to Jim Barry Wines for the work they’ve done?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, that’s right. The reason we came here today is they are transforming their business by electrifying it. I mean, there are few older industries or businesses in the world than winemaking and it has gone through many generations. Particularly in the Barry family, as we can see the young girls here are going, heading on to a new generation as well. But this is a business that is highly science-led and highly technology-led to maintain Australia’s edge. Australia’s wines aren’t just the best in the world because of what we grow out of the ground here, it’s what happens in the laboratories here and the work they’ve done to put in the new equipment, the new kit and that is so dependent on the technology that is used to drive energy in Australia. You’ve got the new ammonia cooling system which is over here, you’ve got an electrification to the system in the refrigeration you can see right through all these tanks, and so on. So this is a practical demonstration of why lower cost, more affordable and reliable energy is so important because it underwrites the jobs here. Now the jobs here and so many other parts of South Australia were underwritten by JobKeeper over the past 12 months and I really appreciate what Peter had to say about that. But that’s to deal with the crisis. To deal with the challenges ahead, you need deals like this in place to underwrite the jobs that are here and back in the pioneering spirit the Barry family has always exemplified.
JOURNALIST: Further to jobs in regional South Australia Prime Minister, another energy intensive industry is the steelworks in Whyalla. How prepared is your Government to step in if needed to rescue that facility?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I’ll let the Premier give you an update on that. We’re working very closely together. When you work on projects like this you have to do it as a team with one plan and we all understand our roles in that plan. We’ve played a major role as Rowan will know. We’ve been working on this for five years now Rowan, we’ve been through a few of these. And our procurement policies with the major rail investments has been a lifesaver to Whyalla. We’ve been working closely with the South Australian Government, dealing directly, also, as they have been, working to the one plan and working together to get the right outcome because we are committed to ensuring that Australia makes steel. We’re committed to that, and I know the Premier’s committed to that as well. So I’ll let Steven give you an update on where that’s at.
THE HON. STEVEN MARSHALL MP, PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Thanks Prime Minister. Well obviously the GFG business is very important to us here in South Australia, but more importantly it’s a critical capability that we need continuing here in Australia for our nation. Steel manufacturing is absolutely crucial to our ambitions as a nation. Now obviously with the situation with green steel going into administration, that’s put a huge pressure onto the GFG businesses here in Australia and right around the world. I think I am feeling cautiously optimistic at the moment because I think the fundamentals for the Whyalla business are right. If you look at the iron ore price at the moment it’s through the roof. You look at the production rates of that plant, they are almost best ever. We know that they have a very full order book, courtesy of the Federal Government, with some massive, massive contracts and we’re seeing their creditor payments come down, not blowout. So I think the fundamentals for this business are right. We obviously are working with Sanjeev Gupta and his GFG team in Australia. It’s a real collaboration between the Federal Government, the State Government and obviously the GFG team. We hope that we will be able to hear some good news ahead of that May 6 deadline when the NSW Supreme Court will be hearing that application for administration. But I'm quietly confident. When I spoke to Sanjeev Gupta this time last week he was increasingly confident that he will be able to get that credit arrangement in place.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, a question for you if you don’t mind about vaccines. National Cabinet is obviously meeting tomorrow. When will you outline the Government’s new vaccine strategy and when will Australians know which phase of the rollout they’re going to be a part of?
PRIME MINISTER: Well which phase everyone’s part of is already known. That’s set out in the vaccine strategy that was released earlier in the year, the 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, that is, that all remains. There are no changes to that. And what those priorities demonstrate, is where we must focus our efforts, particularly now. Right now, the focus is on vaccinating frontline health workers, those working in aged care and disability care, vaccinating our vulnerable populations, particularly our elderly over 70. I think Mum’s due to get hers this week. And those who are in aged care facilities, we’re making great progress on all of that. The AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and recommended for use for those aged over 50. There’s no change to that. That’s confirmed again by the TGA advice that has come through. And so it’s very important that we vaccinate our elderly and vulnerable populations and it’s also important that we do that through our general practitioner network. There are over 4,000 GP sites now that are out there and they have the doses to administer those doses to those most vulnerable populations. What we’ll be discussing tomorrow is how we will be dealing with the under 50 population in particular and we’ll be looking at the rollout that we’re seeing consistently come through from Pfizer and that’s been welcomed. The Pfizer rollout has been meeting expectations, as we’ve understood them, over the last couple of months and we need to keep monitoring those suppliers. The GPs are principally responsible and they’re doing more than, well over half, in fact they’re the dominant vaccination outlet now across Australia, as was designed to be.
We will talk about the 50 to 70 population tomorrow, and we are working those issues through together. We have plenty of doses of Astrazeneca to be able to focus on the 1A and 1B priority populations and that’s where we’re focused right now. None of that rollout changes, we just keep going and doing that and encouraging people, particularly the vulnerable and the elderly, to get those vaccinations because otherwise you are at risk. If there is a COVID breakout in Australia, in any state or territory, then those who are most at risk are over the age of 70. We saw that in Victoria. When the breakout occurred in Victoria it was the elderly, where we saw the terrible fatalities, and that’s why it’s so important that if you are in that age group, then please make that booking, go and see your GP or a GP that’s administering the vaccine in your area, your local MP can help you with that if you need that help and ensure that you book in. There’s plenty of time to get that done, there’s plenty of doctors to get that done. We’ll be looking at the rollout over the back part of the year, the second half of the year, and that’s where the Pfizer doses will come in greater quantities. We secured those extra 20 million doses on top of the 20 million we already had, which are already flowing through, supporting the vaccination both in aged care facilities and within frontline health workers, which is being done by the states and territories. And in the back part of the year, particularly in quarter four, if we have sufficient stocks of those vaccines in quarter four with the Novavax vaccine, then that will lend itself to other vaccination models, particularly mass vaccinations. Now I know some states are very interested in supporting larger vaccination programs now for people aged 50 to 70 and we are very open to discussing that with the states and we’re looking forward to that discussion tomorrow. But what I’d stress is, is that process would be to supplement, would be in addition to what the GPs are doing. It’s not a matter of moving doses from GPs to states and territory distribution. It’s a matter of using those additional state and territory opportunities that are there to add to the capacity for those populations. So there’s a lot for us to work through. We’re bringing, you know, we went into this together in COVID-19, we’re coming out of it together and we’ll continue to rollout this program together. And so I welcome the great support I’ve had from the premiers and chief ministers to get us back on the operational tempo of meeting to resolve some of these issues and get those plans. I’m going to ask the Premier to also comment on this because he’ll obviously be joining me tomorrow for that meeting.
But on a couple of other issues just while we're on vaccines, and I know it’s something that I’m sure others might want to talk about, Australia is in no hurry to open those borders, can I assure you. There are three million people now who have died from COVID. The COVID pandemic is raging around the world. And you know when we can fill stadiums here, whether it’s at Adelaide Oval or where I was at Optus on Friday night over in Perth, or back at the G a few weeks ago, where the G now is full, and that’s happening all around Australia. We can gather together like this. The Barry family can come together in their great numbers and we can live like this in Australia and that’s fantastic, and I can assure Australians that I will not be putting at risk the way we are living in this country, which is so different to the rest of the world today. The issues of borders and how they’re managed will be done very, very carefully. And must be done in partnership with the states and territories. In terms of how the quarantine program works, public health orders control what is done with quarantine of returning Australians and residents. And so we will do that in partnership with them. We can take small steps, I think. Not ready to take those steps now for Australians to be able to travel and return without hotel quarantine. We’re not in that position yet. We’re simply doing the planning work, understanding what the health risks are, understanding how that can be successfully done and in a few months from now, well we’ll see where we’re at. But we’re going to proceed very, very cautiously on those borders. But Steven, did you want to ...
THE HON. STEVEN MARSHALL MP, PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Thanks very much, Prime Minister. You’re 100 percent right. I think Australia is now the envy of the entire world. We’ve seen that our economy has bounced back much stronger than anybody was predicting a year ago. A big part of that is our strong international borders and our quarantine hotel arrangements. Of course now we’re embarking upon that next phase, we need a safe and effective rollout of the vaccination program. It’s fair to say we had a curveball a couple of weeks ago when ATAGI, the Australian Technical Advisory Group, the experts, if you like, said that the AstraZeneca vaccine remains perfectly safe and effective for those over the age of 50, but in abundance of caution, because we have the Pfizer available in Australia we’ve switched to the Pfizer vaccine for those under 50, and the Prime Minister quite rightly said, let's pause, let’s recalibrate. It is a big logistical exercise. Professor Brendan Murphy has repeatedly said it’s the largest peacetime logistical exercise in the history of the nation. We’ve got to get this right. Now the workhorse for the vaccination program has been and will remain the GPs. They’re the right ones to be doing that, but we stand ready as part of this overall recalibration that we will be doing at National Cabinet this week to put those mass vaccination clinics in place, particularly towards the end of the year when we get those additional Pfizer doses coming into the country. We’ve already said that we will have our first of these available, which will do about 3,000 per week at the Wayville Showgrounds. That will be ready and in place by the end of this month but it is a real partnership between the Federal Government and the state governments. It is a real partnership between GPs who are, if you like, the workhorse, on the frontline, our primary health carers here in Australia, working together with the Commonwealth and the state for this overall, very important vaccination program.
JOURNALIST: Premier, just with regards to borders. It’s clear from what the Prime Minister’s just said that they’re going to remain shut for a while to come. When would you like to see them reopen?
THE HON. STEVEN MARSHALL MP, PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA: Look we would like to listen to the expert advice. I think we’re very fortunate in Australia to have a group of people, whether they be the health minister’s or the AHPPC, advising National Cabinet. They’ve kept us safe, they’ve kept our economy strong to date. We’ll continue to listen to them. We don't want to lift those international borders a bit too soon and then have a big second wave, so we’ve got to through that vaccination program before we even consider massively easing those international border restrictions. Now, we've made some initial steps and I think the initial step with New Zealand is very much welcome by people. There could be some other opportunities but we've got to be prudent, we’ve got to be cautious. We are the envy of the world at the moment and we don't want to do anything that’s going to put that in jeopardy.
JOURNALIST: Just on that, Prime Minister, if I can ask you a follow-up. Does that mean South, or Australians rather, are going to have to prepare to do quarantine potentially for years to come as they come and leave the country?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I don't think it’s helpful to speculate years out in advance. I mean, with COVID, you know, you’ve got to expect the unexpected, and that makes those sort of issues, I think, very hard to forecast. That’s why I say we just take it one step at a time. I mean, here in South Australia we're working together on a very, very small pilot arrangement with some students. I mean, if we can get ourselves in a position perhaps in the second half of the year where Australians for essential purposes can travel and return to the country without going into hotel quarantine, if they have been vaccinated, good incentive to get vaccinated too, I’d stress. The other issue is then that would potentially open the door later for returning Australian residents to have a successful home isolation quarantine, but we have to make sure that that will work and that will be as effective as the hotel quarantine. Now, we’ve got to do a lot of work together with states and territories and the Commonwealth to make sure that works. Now, if that works, then that means you’ve freed up your hotel quarantine, and that means essential workers can start to come in. Potentially we can do more with other populations in a very controlled and very safe way. But the idea on one day that everything just opens, that’s not how this is going to happen. It will happen cautiously and carefully, working very hard on the medical and health protections in place because I'm not going to put at risk the way that Australians are living today. We can see all around the rest of the world. I say about going overseas for essential reasons, you know it could be compassionate reasons. There are many of these things in place now. Why anyone else would want to go anywhere else at the moment, when there’s so many great things to do in Australia. Australians are embracing their own country now like they haven't in a long time and I tell you what, they’re not disappointed. As we've been talking to the Barry family this morning, they’ve certainly been rocking up here, particularly over the course of these last few months. So I think Australians are really taking it up. The response of the 800,000 discount flights has been extraordinary and that’s going to be a real shot in the arm for the tourism industry as well.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, this morning there are reports that the Federal Budget will feature an extra $10 million for the aged care sector. Will that include extra cash for in-home care?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the Budget’s in May and I’m not about to announce the Budget here at the Barry winery in South Australia. The Treasurer will do that in May. But I made it very clear that our substantive response to the Royal Commission would be made in the Budget and that’s where it will occur. I stress again that $450 million we’d already committed to those, that initial response to the Royal Commission in a lot of urgent areas so that was, that was important. That comes on top of the massive increases we’ve been putting into in-home aged care places. I mean, we’ve gone from 60,000 when we came to Government to 190,000, much of that in the last couple of years. So we have at every single opportunity, back from when I was Treasurer, whether it was a half-year statement, a Budget, we have always just been putting more and more and more into in-home aged care because we know that is the increasing choice of Australians. We have to deal with substantial quality control and delivery issues in residential aged care, which is where we’ve seen the bulk of the very concerning reports that came through the Royal Commission. It is a very big task, it can't all be done, I think, in one go. Working with the industry, it will take some time, and the Royal Commission I think set that out, that there they were talking about over a five-year plan, at the very least, that we’d needed to be able to do that. So there will be a, of course, the response in the Budget, that I’d already flagged. Lots of people will speculate about that, as they do every year in pre-Budget season. But it will be an important part of what we’re seeking to do. Australians rely, and I think it rightly, have been able to rely on our Government to deliver the jobs that Australians need. More people in work today than there was before the pandemic began, and that is a great achievement for Australia. But they also rely on us for the services. Jobs and services are things that our Government has I think demonstrated a great commitment to, not only in terms of achieving them but delivering them.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, are you considering paying superannuation on the Government’s Paid Parental Leave scheme?
PRIME MINISTER: Again, Budget’s in May. I’m not going to go into speculation about the Budget. But whether it’s on important issues of women's safety, and I acknowledge Anne who’s been doing a great job, Anne Ruston, in working together with the states and territories on women's safety, protecting women against violence, and that is an enormously important agenda for our Government, and together with I know with the state governments. We’ve announced that our National Cabinet meeting in July, we’ll be getting a process to have a national plan on women's economic security. We already had one, Julia Gillard set up the first national plan on the protection of women against violence. We have invested over $1 billion in that plan ourselves, supporting that. So I'm looking for a bipartisan path on women's safety and women's economic security and that path with the states and territories, which are crucial to delivering on this, we will sit down in July and start working through that. We will be doing that up in the Northern Territory.
But just before I depart, can I just say, this is the first opportunity I’ve been in front of you to pass on my sincere condolences to the Peacock family for the passing of Andrew Peacock. He is a great, was a great Australian. He made a great contribution to this country. He also made a great contribution to our region. He was instrumental in the Independence of Papua New Guinea and post-Independence period, and that is something that I know he is held in great esteem for across the region. He was an extremely compassionate man, he was an extremely charismatic individual. He could charm the birds out of the trees. He was such a charismatic and engaging fellow. You never left a conversation or a time with Andrew Peacock not leaving cheered, in my experience. That was the sort of guy he was and I know he’ll be sadly missed by Australians, by his wife Penne. I spoke to her this morning in the United States and we’ve offered to the Peacock family a state funeral, of course, for Andrew Peacock. There will be a private funeral for Andrew in the United States this week and that will be followed up by a state memorial service in Australia in his beloved Victoria, no doubt, and at a time that is convenient and will be arranged with the family. So we send our love and we send our thoughts and prayers to you at this time as you come together as a family and mourn the loss of one of the towering members of your own family, and I know for Penne, a wonderful husband, and she was just telling me of their wonderful shared life together and she said it with such joy in her heart. So we send our best to you and all of the Peacock family and all of Andrew's children and their broader families, and in the meantime, Australia will mourn his loss and look forward to having the opportunity to do that as a nation at an appropriate state funeral. Thank you all very much. It’s great to be here with the Barry’s.
Address, Karratha Business Breakfast - Karratha, WA
16 April 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Peter, and thank you Uncle David, for that wonderful welcome to country and can I also acknowledge the Ngarluma people, elders past and present, but like you, to acknowledge those emerging leaders that are coming through – not just here, not with the Ngarluma people, but right across the country, we're seeing that. And I know that must be very encouraging both to you, but I think it is to the entire country. If there are any servicemen and women here today or Defence Force veterans, can I say thank you to you for the incredible service you've given to our country and acknowledge that, and thank you on behalf of a grateful nation.
It's great to be here at the Pilbara. It's great to be here in the community of Karratha. And that's what I want to underscore – this is a city, this is a living city and a city with great aspirations and great vision. We're standing amongst some of that vision – the Red Earth said it and I can tell you, I've got red earth on my boots today, having been out at Fortescue, the Christmas Creek mine, and spending some time there with the many workers out there overnight and today. And Melissa makes an extremely important point, whether it's in that part of the resource sector, Peter, or many others that you mentioned so disparate and diverse here, based here out of Karratha. It has been the resources sector of Australia over the course of the last 18 months, and particularly here in Western Australia, that has underpinned, underwrote so much of Australia's economic performance over this most difficult time. Other sectors have been devastated. And that devastation, frankly, over the last 18 months and a bit longer hasn't just been because of COVID. We have had floods, we have had fires. And very sad to hear more recently, we've had cyclones and Melissa and I will be going down to Kalbarri later today and touring those most affected areas. But despite all of that, all the tempests, all the pandemics, the resources sector here in Western Australia, and particularly here in the Pilbara, has pushed on and underpinned what has been a remarkable performance by Australia more broadly, so that we can say today there are more people employed in Australia today than they were at the start of the pandemic. And we can say that also about Western Australia. And I think that is a great achievement of our nation over what has been one of the most difficult times we've faced in 75 years. So, we emerge strong from the pandemic and the recession that it has caused. What I appreciate about the Karratha community, as I said, is it's just that – this is not some fly-in fly-out town. This is not the mining town as those of us suburbanites from the east coast or other places might think of things like this. This is a living community with great resources, with a vision for where it wants to be in the future, for families to come and live and raise their kids and enjoy the best of life here in Western Australia. And that's our vision as well. That's why we've invested here, and when the former Prime Minister came and gave that, I was happy to be the Treasurer that gave him the cheque that he could bring. And our investment in regional communities all around Australia is something that I, and the Deputy Prime Minister as well, feel very, very strongly about. And Melissa as your representative, representing about two-thirds of the state of Western Australia, it's an enormous area for any other Member of Parliament to get their head around, particularly when you come here and you see it on the ground. But it really is about ensuring that vibrancy in these communities and it's really about ensuring the diversity of economic opportunities. And so whether it is the, sort of, the living city infrastructure you need in a place such as this, or it's the Headspace facilities that we were able to establish that Melissa championed to ensure that the important social services that are put into communities are there to sustain and support communities. There are different challenges here for mental health in particular that we'd see in a regional community like this, than we would see in the suburbs of Brisbane or other parts of the country. And so one of the marvellous things about Headspace is it does have that local understanding, that local knowledge and is integrated and works with the local community to address those very, very real anxiety and mental health challenges that younger people face. And so putting these services in place is a key part of what we do. I said to the miners this morning, as those miners went out onto the job this morning, that they weren't just going through their daily workday. Wherever you're working in Karratha today, wherever you're working in the Pilbara today - what that is enabling is the services that make the whole of the country stronger, those services, whether they be in our health system, our education system, whether our mental health supports, any of these things – all of this is a function of the wealth and the earnings that's generated, particularly by places like the Pilbara. And so, in many senses, those who are working in the resources sector are like our doctors and nurses or our teachers or others, because what they're doing is enabling those types of services to be able to be delivered on the ground, whether it's in individual parts of the country or more broadly. I am looking forward to mingling, but on some of those issues that you raised, I mean, and most recently the cyclone, I think it's been a reminder that people who live in Karratha don't need a reminder about cyclones, sadly, or many, many other things that you face.
We have gone through a period in this country where the resilience has been tested and a key focus of the Government, and you'll see more of this in the Budget and announcements in the weeks ahead, it's about addressing a lot of those practical issues. It's about understanding the environment in which we now live, and the climate which we now live. And there are things we can and must do to address Australia's climate challenges – taking actions on emissions reduction and taking action when it comes to ensuring that we meet the commitments that we make in these important areas. And here, whether it's hydrogen, which is, you know, Australia is becoming widely known as the country that is championing hydrogen into the future. And here in the Pilbara, we are already seeing that leadership, whether it's the projects I will see today or we're I've just been. And this is really important to make these commitments and make these changes in large resource heavy industry parts of our country. Because people would have heard me say earlier this year that I want to see Australia achieve net zero and to do that as soon as we possibly can and preferably by 2050. But what I have to be able to do, and what we have to be able to do, in meeting that challenge is demonstrate how we can do that and ensure that the heavy industry, heavy industries that exist in our country are part of that solution. And that they're there in 2050, and not just there, but stronger than they are today. I think one of the genuine concerns that people around the country have about those types of commitments is that they see it being achieved at the expense of the sorts of jobs and the industries, the big earnings that come from those industries that we see here in the Pilbara. My commitment is to ensure that we meet these commitments and at the same time and going further, continue to see a stronger, heavy industry, whether it's in manufacturing, whether it's the resources or the many other sectors that are so reliant on an energy economy. And our energy economy is changing, and we want to be part of the new energy economy and we want to translate the jobs and the economic performance of our heavy industries, particularly in resources to that new energy economy. And we want to position Australia for that time. And that's the conversation I'm having with Australia about these commitments. We have the smartest people in the world that are working on our energy future. We've got passionate entrepreneurs that are putting their own money and their own credibility and their own reputations behind projects like hydrogen. We've got the best scientists who are working with them on the ground and pursuing their ambition. Australia has a very proud record about how we're transitioning our economy and transitioning into a new energy future. But we're doing it a way, I think, which is different to the rest of the world. We're doing it in a very Australian way, a very practical way, finding smart technological solutions, which ensures that we can keep doing what we're really good at, and at the same time be a major energy presence in the future economy of the world. Now, that is good news for Karratha, I believe. I think that's outstanding news for Karratha, and the argument about achieving this and where it is achieved is not in the suburbs of Sydney, or the suburbs of Melbourne or Brisbane or indeed Perth. This is won- This is won here. It's won in our resources sector. It's won in our energy sector. It's won in our industrial sector. It's won in our manufacturing sector, and that's where I'm looking to work with Australians to get those solutions in place and we crack that, and the vision that you have for your community here in Karratha is a long term one, and it's an exciting one. And it's one that will only go from strength to strength and I can see the living city, Peter, that you have a vision for realised here.
So I just wanted to share that with you while we're here in the Pilbara. There are a few places like the Pilbara anywhere in the world, let alone here in Australia. And it is important in places like this, we understand the contribution that has been made and particularly over these last 12 and 18 months, but importantly, what will be made in terms of Australia's future, not just our economic future, but our environmental future. And I'm going to tell you, I’m more than overwhelmed and impressed by the commitment of the resources sector to be a partner in meeting these challenges – their resourcefulness, their innovation, their commitment is second to none. And so I'm looking forward to chatting with you, particularly about some of the more community based projects and things like that that are occurring here. There are many challenges. We will continue to build that resilience in the north of Australia and we will continue to work with communities to achieve that. And I'm looking forward to having those discussions with you in just a few moments. Thank you very much.