Speeches
Address to the Australia-United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce London, UK
14 June 2021
Prime Minister: Thank you very much George and thank you also to all the staff here at Stoke Lodge for looking after us this morning. We greatly appreciate that and George thank you to you and your team for the tremendous job you're doing here in the UK. The relationship we have with the United Kingdom is about as long as any relationship we care to mention of all of our great partners around the world and I appreciate the Chamber coming together again here today.
As George is right, this is the third occasion I've had the opportunity to address you, and so a very warm welcome to all of you for being here on what is an absolutely gorgeous London morning. Particularly to Sir Lynton Crosby, a great friend of mine over many years.
I know this is the third speech he's had to listen to from a Chamber event. It's great to be here with you, Lynton and Dawn, and congratulations on your tremendous success here in the UK.
There are a couple of things I wanted to mention. I had some prepared remarks today, but I really wanted just to share a couple of views. The first of these is the relationship we have with the United Kingdom. It is strong for many, many reasons. I was remarking last night about my own family’s history in going back to the First Fleet and I had the opportunity to go and visit - very briefly - the little village from which William Roberts came from, over 230 years ago. He didn't come of his own volition to Australia at the time, it was the compulsion of the state, but he never returned. Those family links are obvious to the United Kingdom and that's always obviously been a part of the relationship. But Australia's diversity and multiculturalism, we are the most successful immigration, multicultural nation on Earth. And this is a great statement that we make, full of pride actually, that social cohesion in Australia, across such a broad multicultural community, I think is a great model, and it's something I appreciate being able to talk about with other nations. But the real bond that occurs between the United Kingdom and Australia is the basis of our liberal democracies and the export of the UK model in the Westminster system and so many aspects that have underpinned Liberal democracies all around the world. That is the basis. That is the platform. That is the bedrock of the relationship that we have between the UK and Australia. That has played out over the centuries, as time and again that is the platform upon which we've fallen again and again, and that is what has sustained us through some of the most difficult times and that is of course even true now.
On the weekend I had the great privilege to join the G7 Plus Dialogue in Cornwall, the third invitation I'd received over the last three years, to be participating in a grouping of liberal democracies and advanced economies. Coming from the Indo-Pacific, I was able to report on the situation there and how important it is that liberal democracies actually work together across a number of key platforms. The first of those, of course, is our defence and strategic partnership, which with the UK and Australia we are seeking all the time to take that to another level, to the next level, in concert with our partners like the United States and others we work closely with on those Indo-Pacific challenges - Japan, India.
The second area is, and I'll say a little bit more about this, ensuring that we deal with the reinforcement of our economic strengths between our economies. Now, that takes many forms - it's investing in our critical supply chains, in critical technologies and ensuring that the economic strength and advantages that we have in our partnership go further, go higher to reinforce the jobs and the success of our economies in what is a very, very challenging period.
The third area is to ensure a collaboration, a cooperation when it comes to our engagement with the many multilateral institutions, whether they be smaller ones, like our Five Eyes-type relationships, which we could loosely describe in those terms, through to the G20 and our engagements with the United Nations, the ITU, and the many other bodies that run the rules-based order. A rules-based order, which I stressed on the weekend, was based on liberal principles. That's what underpinned the world order that was created after the Second World War. And I quoted - or paraphrased is better to say - Benjamin Franklin, when speaking to the other leaders, when he said 'a world order that favours freedom, if we can keep it', as Benjamin Franklin spoke about the Republic at that convention, constitutional convention, many years ago. So we have to tend that garden of the liberal democracies of the world and we have to stand up for them in a way that ensures that we demonstrate that they work and that they do bring peace and they do bring prosperity, and they do improve the wellbeing of people all around the world.
And so we have that job together, the UK and Australia, probably more so than any other partnership potentially that we have. The UK, as the custodian of those principles that have been exported all around the world, I think for the world's great benefit. And in each of our liberal democracies we’ve got to show that they work. They work at home, with the services and the quality of life that we're able to afford to our citizens. That they work in the regions where we live, and for us in particular the Indo-Pacific. And that they work more broadly, when we deal with the big challenges that the world is facing, be it Covid-19 or dealing with climate change. And so that is the challenge that we have, speaking particularly about reinforcing each other's economies. There will be other occasions where I can speak about our defence partnerships which are growing, partnerships on the Hunter Class Frigates and things of that nature, which are very big commercial elements of the relationship between Australia and the United Kingdom.
But reinforcing our trade relationship is a great opportunity for this moment. Of course we have to get the right deal. But it is important, I think, that we work as hard as we can to get that right deal. And as the United Kingdom moves into a completely new generation of their trading relationships with the world, who better to start that journey with than Australia? Who better understands the challenges of moving in that environment, where Australia has blazed quite a trail when it has come to securing positive effective trading relationships with so many countries around the world? Because at the end of the day there will always be hesitancy, always be hesitancy when any country enters into a trade arrangement with any other country - that is quite normal. We have quite a lot of experience in that, we've been able to secure many of these arrangements. And of course, you need to explain them to your populations, but the ultimate explanation is jobs. We either are passionate about growing the markets in which we can operate, providing opportunities for our own producers and suppliers and services, or we will stay in a situation of being unable to take up those opportunities.
And so it is an important time, and we are very respectful of the process that we know the UK will be going through at this time. It is a different world to move beyond, where the UK has been a part of the EU for all these many years. We remember in Australia very vividly the impact of the UK going into the common market back in the early 70s. That had a devastating blow on Australian producers. The Brexit that has occurred is an opportunity for us to pick up where we left off all those many years ago, and to once again realise the scale of the trading relationship that we once had. And who better to do it than with Australia at this time.
Who better that would understand the various sensitivities and issues that have to be worked through. Who better to be able to partner in managing those together to ensure that, in both countries, the benefits of doing this are well understood and can be well advocated and managed and shared together. So, that is a special opportunity, for what the UK often referred to in other contexts as ‘special relationships’. This indeed is a special relationship, and one of course that I think would be greatly enhanced by these additional steps, but we will be patient for them, as I'm sure the UK will be as well. We must be patient to ensure that we get these things absolutely right and I'm looking forward to those discussions with Prime Minister Johnson this evening, as I've already had discussions as Trade Minister Dan Tehan has.
Can I make a couple of other points before I finish though - about Covid and about the challenges of confronting climate change into the future.
Firstly, on Covid, Australia has had relatively great success, and this was repeated back to me, very often, in the last couple of days, meeting with other world leaders, where in their own countries they have experienced, including here in the United Kingdom, a calamity and a devastation that has just been absolutely heartbreaking, and Australians felt for the rest of the world. Particularly here in the UK as we saw those rates climb, and we saw the terrible fatalities that were occurring here. It really did break our hearts, as I have no doubt it did here as well. As we've learnt and as we've progressed through Covid our economy is now bigger today than it was before Covid hit. There are more people employed in Australia than before Covid hit. Our AAA credit rating from S&P's has been upgraded after our interventions in the economy, which have demonstrated that in Australia we always understand growing your economy is the best way to guarantee the essential services that our citizens rely on. If you grow your economy, which means expanding your trade, keeping your taxes low, building the infrastructure that’s necessary, ensuring that you have a workforce which is trained and skilled for the industries both of now and for the future, that you have workplace arrangements that enable the workforce and the manager to get on and get things done, and you build that infrastructure that enables.
If you grow your economy, then your economies can support important social services systems, whether it's here with the NHS in the United Kingdom or in Australia with Medicare and the National Disability Insurance Scheme. These worthy, world-leading services that we provide in liberal democracies to our citizens depend, not just on our good intentions, not just on our compassion - they absolutely depend on our ability to run strong economies. And so, if someone tells you they support the NHS here in the United Kingdom, then supporting a strong economy in the United Kingdom is what is necessary for it. Just as it is in Australia, and I use that by no means of criticism, no means at all, but in Australia it is the same. So getting these economic fundamentals right, making sure the world trade system works, making sure these trade arrangements are in place, that is the best guarantor of ensuring the essential services all of our economies, all of our countries rely on, and our citizens rely on, can be achieved.
So we will work through the Covid crisis, and we will do it by ensuring, not that we should just save lives, but we save the livelihoods of our citizens as well. And that is the twin goals that Australia set out to achieve when we confronted Covid some 18 months ago.
On the issue of climate change, I made a parallel yesterday between tackling Covid and addressing climate change. The way we needed to attack Covid was to find a vaccine, and to ensure that that vaccine can be rolled out as quickly and efficiently across our population as possible, and there has been great success here in the United Kingdom. That success has obviously been supported by the dire health situation, which provided a very potent motivation for that vaccination program here.
In Australia with virtually no cases most of the time, it's a different challenge, but we're getting through that challenge and our programme is really lifting off now. But the vaccination was the solution, those vaccines will need to continue to evolve as new variants and strains come into being. But it was focusing on the scientific solution that was the key to addressing that problem. And our view in Australia is climate change is the same thing. We’re all heading to the same place. We all understand the importance of a net zero, carbon neutral economy. That's all we want to get to. The 'if' is not the issue, the 'how' is the issue. Just as you need a vaccine to deal with Covid you need energy technologies, and other carbon neutral technologies to drive our industries, keep our regions open, keep the trade flowing, we need to keep making things and we need to keep the lights on, and to do that requires significant technological breakthrough.
And that is why Australia has taken the technology not taxes approach to dealing with climate change. We want to find those solutions and we want to lead in finding those solutions. We want to deliver them with our partners around the world. We have announced agreements with Germany, with Japan, with Singapore, we're very close to announcing one here in the United Kingdom. These partnerships are about finding the solution to live in a Net Zero carbon neutral economy around the world. It is certainly coming, the financial markets have already determined that. Australia understands that and that's why we have a history of being one of the most successful energy exporters up until now, we intend to be the same in the future, but that will be about hydrogen and many other technologies that will support that economic approach in the future. Rio, BHP, Fortescue, all of these companies are already making these changes with the technological advances that they're making. We will keep backing them in, particularly when it comes to hydrogen and I think across the spectrum of what I mentioned today, our partnership, our cooperation, from defence, to science, to technology, to trade and to a world order that favours freedom, that's a great partnership to be part of. And I'm very pleased to be sharing with you an update on where that great partnership is at this morning. Thank you very much for your attention.
Press Conference - Newquay Airport, United Kingdom
13 June 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, everyone. I was very pleased to join with the G7 and the other extension partners over these last few days. I said it would be an important time to be sitting around the table with the leaders of the world's largest liberal democracies and advanced economies to address some of the most significant issues we've seen in a very long time. Whether it is how we're handling COVID together and the many challenges that are still ahead in relation to COVID, dealing with issues of a fraying system under stress when it comes to world trade and the rules that sit around that. Ensuring that we are understanding the need to be working together in multilateral fora. But also importantly, understanding the challenges to stability in the global system, in particular in the Indo-Pacific.
I was very encouraged, very encouraged by two things. Firstly, the strong support that Australia has received, both in acknowledging the relative success we've had in handling difficult issues like COVID, but also the very strong support for the stance that Australia has taken very consistently in standing up for liberal democratic principles and in our own region in the Indo-Pacific. Over the course of the last few days, both with the direct bilateral exchanges and trilateral indeed, as well as in the fora of the G7 Plus, we have had the opportunity to pursue so many issues that are essential to Australia's interests. Whether it was our commitment to supporting the dose contributions that the G7 are making as a result of this latest gathering and as well as through the COVAX facility and the Quad commitments that Australia has already made and the work we're already doing in our region to strengthen transparency and accountability when it comes to managing potential future pandemics. We made very strong cases. We have for some period of time now, both in alert systems of potential pandemics at the outset, as well as the importance of ensuring the follow through of the investigation process, that are still necessary and need to be undertaken as recommended by the WHO team that was brought together to investigate this pandemic, for no other reason that we are better prepared to deal with future pandemics. It was an important opportunity to share and understand the experiences of the other countries, large countries in particular, in how they're handling the pandemic and the various methods that they've been using to manage it from a day to day basis. But there was considerable interest in the success that Australia has had and we'll be watching carefully, particularly as we go into this European summer, as we've seen the additional strains that are coming through on COVID-19 and what the implications might be for Australia as we understand the experience here as it plays out over the next few months.
Importantly, today we spoke about the importance of having open economies and open societies. The most significant element of the gathering that you've seen here in Cornwall over these last few days is it is a gathering of like-minded countries, countries that understand that the world order that has favoured freedom for so long has been so beneficial to so much of the world, to usher in a period of peace and prosperity like the world has never seen before. And it's important that we tend to that and ensure that the world order that supports freedom continues and that we address the challenges that are there, whether it's big issues such as climate change or COVID, or ensuring that operating across everything from the ITU and the WHO and the many other international fora which are there to support those arrangements are working effectively. But I suppose the big thing, which President Biden said when we met together is a group of Quad leaders, is it demonstrates we need to demonstrate how liberal democracies, how democracies work, how they work in their own countries for our own people, how they work in the regions in which we need to support and engage countries in our own regions, but also globally on the big issues such as climate change and on managing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just briefly, on climate change. There was the opportunity today and over the last few days to make the announcements that we've had. New partnerships, new technology partnerships, you're already aware of the announcements we made in Singapore en route to the G7 Plus dialogue, but also with Japan and Germany and soon also with the United Kingdom. Today, there was a very strong focus, just like with COVID, where there was the need for the world to focus on the solution of a vaccine, to address the challenge of COVID-19, so to the challenge of achieving net zero requires the technological solutions which work as effectively in an advanced economy like Australia's or Japan or Germany as it does in an economy like India or South Africa. And finding those technology solutions and ensuring that commercial, scalable, affordable, achievable and adaptable right around the world, that is how you get emissions down. And as you would have seen in the statement that was released today, the communique, there was a very strong focus on the technology led process that is needed to achieve those ambitious net zero goals. So a very productive and efficient few days here together. But most importantly of all, it is about coming together as like-minded democracies in advanced economies to address the big issues that we all must face globally as well as locally within our own domestic settings.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Italian Prime Minister said to you this morning 'the only difference of views was the intensity of the message to China.' Was he referring to your view as opposed to his or were there other countries that weren't as keen as you and America and the UK are on such an intense message?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, he was referring to the G7 discussions. He wasn't referring to any discussions that Australia was involved in. As you know, the G7 communique is produced by the G7 nations and Australia is an extension partner. But look, we had very frank discussions about those issues today in the Indo-Pacific. We had very important discussions yesterday in the trilateral meeting that I had, that we initiated and sought with both the United States and the United Kingdom. So these issues were very present at this gathering, particularly for countries like Japan, ourselves and India, where the Indo-Pacific is our home.
JOURNALIST: Do the Europeans have a different view than to the rest of the G7 countries?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they have a different perspective because of their geography. They have a different perspective because of their economies. We have a different perspective because we live in the Indo-Pacific and so our economies are integrated into the Indo-Pacific differently to what they are in Europe. But that's changing rapidly. What I detected was an increasing and significant awareness of the impact of tensions in the Indo-Pacific for the broader global system. And that in particular relates to Europe. There was a very high level of awareness, high level awareness and a very strong level of support for what has been a very consistent and clear stand that Australia has taken consistent with our liberal democratic values, which are shared by all of those who joined in the discussions these last few days.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, is it accurate that you brought up China's 14 grievances in the open society session? If that's right. What did you say? How did the leaders react?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it is true that I did make reference because it is no surprise to leaders who gathered in Cornwall that Australia has been in a position of some tension with China now for some years. And there was obviously a lot of interest about the reasons for that. Well, as you know and others know, the issues of contention were set out in that statement from the Ambassador and from the Embassy, Chinese Embassy in Canberra. And so to have set those out and there is not a country that would sit around that table that would seek a concession on any of those 14 points as something they also would tolerate. So I think you just set out very clearly that there are differences in world view here and they may never be able to be resolved. But living with China, which is the goal, also requires us to be very clear about what our values are and what our principles are and how our countries are run and and how we will continue to run, free of interference.
JOURNALIST: Were they shocked by that list of grievances? Is that something that's never happened? Is that a unique experience that Australia is going through on that front?
PRIME MINISTER: I mean, it certainly wouldn't be of any surprise to those who have had similar experiences as Australia and particularly those who are more familiar with the region and have had greater engagement with the region. There are European countries that have been through similar periods that Australia has been. But the way through that is just to be patient. The way through that is to keep seeking what the ultimate goal is. To be consistent, clear and resolute in the positions that you hold, but with the objective of getting to a point where we once again can engage in the dialogue and the partnership that we have in the past, but not at the cost or the price of any of the issues that are set out on those 14 points being conceded.
JOURNALIST: I asked you yesterday who's idea was the trilat? Penny Wong said it's disappointing you didn't have a bilat with Joe Biden, that you didn't have that. What's your reaction to that? And can you tell me who's idea it was?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it was ours. I said that yesterday. We initiated the trilateral. It was important to discuss the issues, I was seeking discussion in relation to the Indo-Pacific, both with the United States and the United Kingdom. And so that is what we sought and that is what we did. And I think that is, that was a very useful meeting, as you know, it went double time for what we had first allowed for. So I'm very appreciative. I mean, the President has a busy schedule at these meetings, and he was very generous with his time. And we also had the opportunity to speak one on one to each other at that meeting as well and afterwards. So it was very constructive. We share the many challenges in the region and we're great partners and allies in addressing those challenges in the region.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, a short time ago, Joe Biden said that the G7 countries have agreed to end the public financing of unabated coal generation. And he said that the G7 Plus countries, which would include Australia, have agreed to work in that direction as well. What have you agreed to on that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the G7 is the group that makes decisions about these things. We're not a signatory to the G7 communique, and we participated today very positively in the discussion about climate change. And we were able to demonstrate once again that Australia's performance speaks loudly. 20 per cent reduction in emissions, over 50 per cent reduction in emissions intensity per unit of GDP. $20 billion being invested in finding those technology breakthroughs, particularly when it comes to hydrogen, because hydrogen and the other technologies are vital as you bridge out of the very technologies that you're talking about into the new one. Australia, particularly in Asia, has had great success over generations in being one of the primary energy exporters into our region. And what I said today is I'm very confident we will be in the new energy economy in the future. And when it comes to those new energy technologies being hydrogen or others, I mean, Australia's coal fired generation fleet obviously has an economic life. And that will run its course, just like the coal fired fleets in Germany and many other places will run their course. And I think the wording that was used in that statement about unabated, I think talks of a level of scale and Australia has no plans or is not pursuing anything that could be described in that way.
JOURNALIST: And just [inaudible], yesterday you said that you rely on health advice to help guide your COVID policy. Overnight, the advice from the WA Health Department has been that the Murugappan family should be reunited in Perth. Is that something that you're willing to accept the advice on?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we take our advice from the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Home Affairs, and we have medical experts as part of the Department of Home Affairs and supporting the work of the Australian Border Force. And so those issues are always carefully considered in all of these sensitive cases and indeed will be on this occasion. That is why members of the family are already in Perth receiving that medical attention, and that is our number one priority and providing support and care to that family and other options, too, that both are consistent with the government's policy when it comes to these matters, as well as the need to provide the appropriate humanitarian and health support are being worked through right now.
JOURNALIST: So will they be settled in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, when we have more to say on that matter, well, settled? Well, that wouldn't be government policy for a pathway to permanent settlement. That is not the government's policy.
JOURNALIST: Well [inaudible] or some other visa?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I just said there are options that are being considered that are consistent with both health advice and the humanitarian need and the government's policy.
JOURNALIST: It sounds like it's possible.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'll let you commentate. I'm just telling you where we're at right now.
JOURNALIST: Did you receive any pressure from leaders over the last few days over your climate policy?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: No one told you to make your targets for emissions more ambitious?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, today's communique calls climate change a, quote, 'existential threat'. Can you tell us whether you agree it is an existential threat? And just on tax, if I could just ask a quick second one. The G7 has also endorsed a few reforms, including a minimum corporate tax rate of 50. Obviously, that doesn't worry us because Australia is at the higher end of corporate tax in the OECD. Do you have any appetite, interest, desire to revisit Australia's corporate tax rate with the intention of lowering it other than what has already been legislated. Does Australia need to revisit that issue?
PRIME MINISTER: On the first matter, of course, we need to address climate change and we are. And for all the reasons that are obvious and we are making great progress, in fact, greater progress then many of the countries we sat round the table with today.
JOURNALIST: Is it an existential threat, though?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, of course, we heard today from David Attenborough and I mean, the science on these matters, we understand all very well. And what is more important now, as I've been saying for some period of time, the destination is clear. I've made it very clear that we are moving towards net zero. And I talked about a carbon neutral economy. This is a reality. The new energy economy is coming. It's a reality. You'll see it working through financial markets. You'll see it through working through so many different areas of the financial system. And I had a very, very, very informative discussion today with Mario Draghi, not only Prime Minister of Italy, but he used to be the head of the European Central Bank, which is where I knew him when I was Treasurer. And we had a very good discussion today about the direction of financial markets, bond markets and how they are working and pricing in and positioning for the new energy economy. So they're economic realities that Australia has to address. But my ambition is to ensure that Australia is as successful in the new energy economy, as we have been in the old one, and to make the transitions that both address climate change, but also ensure that the jobs of Australians, the price of their electricity, it is affordable and reliable, the lights staying on and we address these environmental challenges, our regions thrive and our heavy industries come through. And so that's my task.
On the other matter, I've referred to that fact in Australia on a number of occasions. But you're right, the work that was done by the G7 finance ministers, largely rounds off some work that's been done, even going back to the [inaudible] process through the G20 and the OECD, which I had involvement in again when I was Treasurer. And that sort of moves into a next phase with that minimum tax level, which, you know, we anticipate might have a small positive impact in Australia from a revenue point of view. But that is really about trying to ensure that large multinationals pay tax, in a jurisdiction. And so I think that was a positive development. In terms of where Australia is, we always think our taxes are good for the Australian economy. But I think the Australian Parliament and has made their views on these things pretty clear. So I tend to focus my efforts on things where I think I can make greater progress.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has said that a sensible person wouldn't discount that the COVID-19 came from a lab. Is that your agreement as well? And how quickly does this second probe need to get started? Can you put a timeframe on when you want to see action taking place on the second?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's already overdue. I mean, the panel that already reported, recommended that there'd need to be further investigation. Now, I can't tell you how it's sourced, I don't know. That's the point. We don't know. And all the potential sources should be obviously understood and for no other reason so we know how we might be able to handle this better in the future. Now, the point I've been making now quite consistently and as we saw when the virus spread early, and particularly when it moved into Europe and particularly into Italy, had there been more early warning and had countries been able to do what Australia did, which was put up our borders, and as a result today, we've sadly lost 910 people to COVID in Australia. But, I've been sitting around the table today and yesterday with countries that have lost tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people. And that is not Australia's experience, so an early warning system, an early radar system as was described by others, I think is very important and transparency is important. You'll see the word transparency in the communiqué. That transparency is talking about ensuring that there is an openness, that there is a an obligation, if you like, a duty for any country that finds itself potentially at the commencement of an outbreak of a seriously transmissible virus or disease, that they will put up the flag, that they will let others know so other countries can take precautionary actions and to prevent the spread of the virus. Now, these viruses can start anywhere. If they were to happen in Australia, if they were happen in South America, if they happen in other parts of South East Asia or Central Asia, wherever it would commence, it's incredibly important, we believe, that there is an understanding that any country in that situation would advise, would alert. But in addition to that, that the WHO should have greater authority to be able to investigate these matters and for the purposes of informing the world, which is their job, about the nature of these pandemics, so we can better handle it. It's a very practical task, and that's why it's urgent that it gets underway in its next phase as soon as possible. And I will let the investigators investigate as to what the cause was. We would just like to be informed.
JOURNALIST: I mean, how quickly?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, of course, as soon as possible. As soon as possible, I can't underscore its urgency more than that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the line in the communique around decarbonisation of coal fired power stations by 2030 (inaudible), do you think that's achievable?
PRIME MINISTER: What's important is that we develop carbon capture technologies that enable us to make the progress in the area you just talked about and to do that at an affordable scale. Now we have a technology roadmap which sets out a stretch target on carbon capture, at $20 per tonne of CO2. I went through all of our technology target costs, whether it was green steel, green aluminium, and I put it in US dollars. $1.50, we're talking about $2 Australian for hydrogen per kilo. These are the things that need to be achieved in order to achieve the goals that are being set for emissions reduction. It's the technology, it's the soul, it's the solution. So that is why Australia is reaching out and putting agreements together with like minded countries in particular, like Germany, like Singapore, like the United Kingdom, like Japan. And we had a very good discussion with President Moon as well in South Korea. These are positive, really positive developments because we're looking to find the answer. As I said, dealing with climate change isn't that different to dealing with COVID-19. COVID-19, you need a vaccine. Climate change, you need technologies that enable you to run your economies at net zero emissions. Keep the jobs, keep the power, keep the lights on and keep your industry. That's my goal. And I was pleased there was a great deal of support for that approach and many others that were shared around the table today.
JOURNALIST: Do you want to come back to the G7 next year?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's three invitations in a row. So these are, these are matters for hosts to determine. But Australia has found, I have found once again, this forum, very, very important for Australia to be at. Australia is well respected in this forum. And I've greatly appreciated the opportunity to share our views, to share our Indo-Pacific perspective, along particularly with Japan as well as Narendra Modi, who joined us virtually. It's very important for the Indo-Pacific view to be expressed from the Indo-Pacific. And so the many countries of the G7 can have that report direct from the ground. Anyway, I'm going to have to go. Thank you very much.
Remarks, Bilateral Meeting with He Moon Jae-In, President of the Republic of Korea
12 June 2021
PRIME MINISTER
Your Excellency, it is wonderful for us to meet again in person. It has been some time but I am very grateful that we have been able to speak in between times as we have combatted one of the biggest challenges our nations have had to faced.
South Korea and Australia have come through COVID incredibly well. I commend you on your strong leadership in South Korea both in suppressing and containing the virus but also on very strong economic performance.
Both Australia and South Korea have come through COVID to date with stronger economies than before the pandemic while at the same time having considerable relative success in suppressing the virus and its devastating health impact on our communities. So I congratulate you, Your Excellency.
PRESIDENT MOON
Mr Prime Minister, it is a great pleasure to meet you in person in this meaningful year that marks the 60th anniversary of our diplomatic relations.
Australia has elevated the status of the Asia-Pacific region with Mr Mathias Cormann being elected as the Secretary General of the OECD.
Australia’s response to the COVID crisis has become a model for the world under your strong leadership.
I know that we are pleased that Korea was invited to the G7 Summit this year together with Australia, our everlasting friend and partner and our two countries will contribute to make the G7 Summit a huge success as we work to build a more inclusive international order.
Amid rapid changes in the international order with the outbreak of coronavirus and transition to low carbon and digital economy, co-operation between friends and partners with shared values has become more important and I hope [inaudible] work together in ensuring the stability of supply chains and strengthen partners with a low carbon technology and hydrogen energy.
And I also hope through our meeting today we will be able to further upgrade our friendly ties and jointly contribute to regional peace by working hand in hand firmly in infrastructure as well as defence and defence industry areas.
PRIME MINISTER
Thank you, Your Excellency. I look forward to discussing all of those issues with you here today. That is a very full agenda.
One that I also hope we can discuss is that we will be able to welcome you to Australia soon at some point. It is a matter we have discussed before. Perhaps hiking in Tasmania! [Inaudbile] particularly in our 60th year, which we join in celebrating with you.
https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43449
Press Conference - G7 Carbis Bay, United Kingdom
12 June 2021
Prime Minister: Well apologies everyone, it has been a very, very busy day. But it has been a very, I think, important day for Australia to have the opportunity, as we have over the course of today, to be sitting down with the leaders of the largest advanced economies and liberal democracies around the world. Today, we particularly addressed issues around the COVID pandemic and preparations for should there be future pandemics and the commitment that we need to make now to ensure that the world is ready to deal with such eventualities.
In addition to that, it was also a great privilege to meet with the host of this Summit, with Prime Minister Johnson and talk about the many issues that we're working through at the moment, including as we continue to work to reach agreement on our free trade agreement and in addition to that, and to have the rather unique opportunity for a trilateral meeting between President Biden and Prime Minister Johnson and myself. That is not a usual opportunity that we have had in these meetings in the past and very much welcome the opportunity to do it here in Carbis Bay.
Journalist: How many times did the word China come into the trilateral meeting?
Prime Minister: Well, you wouldn't expect me to go into any detail about the specific discussions. What we had the opportunity today was to discuss the Indo-Pacific situation more broadly. Australia has no greater friends than the United States and the United Kingdom. And we've been working together on our respective security issues for a very long time. And so we had a good opportunity to talk about those today and look to see how we can further cooperate in the future. Situation only reinforces the need for us to have deeper cooperation.
Journalist: It's been reported that Joe Biden's concerned about liberal democracies coming under threat and autocracies, I guess, like China in particular, and Russia rising. Are meetings like this about addressing that, trying to give liberal democracies a bit more oomph to keep going?
Prime Minister: It's a great opportunity, I think, for liberal democracies and advanced economies alike to be able to align their thinking and their outlooks on how they are seeing issues around the world. And that relates to how we're responding, particularly on COVID. And today, the 100-day plan to be put in place in response to any future pandemic, I thought was an outstanding achievement by the UK, working together with the Gates Foundation to put that before us. And that received a very good response, including from ourselves. But whatever the issues are, whether it's dealing today with issues of the pandemic or dealing tomorrow with open societies and market economies, this is a good opportunity for advanced economies and liberal democracies like us to to share our views and to share our outlooks.
Journalist: Who's idea was the trilateral? Making it a trilateral rather than a bilateral?
Prime Minister: No, it was an opportunity that presented because we're all here and so it was mutual. But we were particularly keen to have the discussion with both parties.
Journalist: And it was addressed this morning, the lab leak, in your earlier press conference, the theory around the virus leaking from the lab. What's the US view on that? Can you give us a guide as to whether they think that's a possibility?
Prime Minister: You'll have to discuss that with the United States. But, I didn't make any comment about the lab leak this morning. I was simply today referring to the recommendation that came from the report that was done for the WHO and it recommended that further investigations be undertaken into possible sources. And we support that being done and we support there being greater transparency around all of these issues. Not because of any issue of politics, but because it's essential. This was a key issue today that we discussed. We need to know how we must learn from this pandemic. This is what we are focused on doing. Whether it's the preparations that need to be done for ensuring manufacturing and technology, transport for manufacturing of vaccines, not just in the developed world, but in the developing world. It was tremendous today to have Prime Minister Modi still being able to join us very much from the frontline of the pandemic and to be sharing the lessons that are needed to ensure that in the future, both the developed and the developing world can respond to serious and major and global health issues such as this.
Journalist: Prime Minister, China this week accused the US and Australia of trying to flex their muscle in the region. That was in relation to two Navy vessels, I think earlier in the week. Beijing, generally responds to any criticism with shrill commentary and disinformation. As Australia's largest trading partner, how does the government manage the security, cyber and strategic threats while maintaining that economic relationship with China?
Prime Minister: Well, I think to just be consistent and we are for a stable and peaceful and open Indo-Pacific. That's in everybody's interests. It's in Australia's interests, it's in China's interests. And for the free trade that can occur throughout the region. Australia has benefited greatly from China's economic success. China has benefited greatly from from Australia's trade with it. And, of course, we want to see that continue. We have a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with China and partnerships are about managing issues that occur within the relationship. We, of course, would like to see the dialogue that was occurring to continue again and start again. But that's very much an issue for China.
Journalist: Is that relationship status quo or is it going one way or the other? How do you define [inaudible]?
Prime Minister: Well, I always remain optimistic, but at the same time, I mean Australia's position on the 14 points that have been set out by the Chinese embassy in Australia is crystal clear, crystal clear. But Australia is always ready to sit around the table and talk through how our partnership can be made to work. And that's in the interests of everybody in the region. And that's where our focus is.
Journalist: Did Boris Johnson and Joe Biden talk to you about climate change? And are they pushing you to sort of announce medium term targets before the Glasgow? I mean, was that raised today?
Prime Minister: Oh, we've had those discussions before. Those weren't the subject of our discussions this afternoon. But they are the subject of tomorrow's sessions at the G7 Plus. And we look forward to participating in those and setting out once again, Australia's position and our performance and our achievement in reducing emissions. Australia has a strong record of achievement. Performance matters as much as what one's ambition is and our ambitions will be realised and will be met and they'll be exceeded. Our commitments out to 2030 are a floor on our ambition, not a ceiling.
Journalist: Was the meeting today, was it a formal, relaxed sort of meeting or was it a serious meeting? Was it, I think I saw Boris heading down to his residence, I thought, maybe it's not in one of these rooms, it might be sort of, how do you describe the sort of [inaudible]?
Prime Minister: I would say it was a meeting of great friends and allies who share a view on the world. It was a great opportunity for my first meeting, of course, with the President, I mean I've known Boris for many years. And there was a very easy understanding amongst the three of us and as liberal democracies with a great history of friendship and partnership and a shared view on the world and its challenges and strategic challenges at that. And we're very conscious of the environment we face. But whatever that environment is, we'll always face it together.
Journalist: Have they got your back on China?
Prime Minister: Well, I think I would put it this way. Our alliance with the United States, the relationship we have with the United Kingdom, has never been stronger. We see the world in similar ways. And that's not surprising given our history. And we see the challenges in similar ways and we stand together always.
Journalist: Do you need to, among the other G7 leaders, do you need to stiffen any spines to get them to have your back as well?
Prime Minister: What I think this meeting is a very good opportunity to do, is to pause and to take stock of the pressures that are present in the Indo-Pacific and the broader implications for that, for global stability. And there'll be opportunity to do that specifically, I think more tomorrow on the session we'll have there. Today's session, though, focused very much on ensuring there was greater transparency. A transparency letting the sunlight when it comes to understanding how this calamitous pandemic has impacted on the world and again, not seeking to apportion blame. It's not about apportioning blame, it's not about politics. It's not about anything. It's how could this have been avoided? And in the future, how could we avoid it then. Australia has fared through this pandemic better than almost any other country in the world, both from a health point of view and from an economic point of view, and for that, we, as I speak to countries, who have lost thousands, tens of thousands of their citizens. And in Australia, 910 souls we mourn, of course. But Australia has come through this pandemic very strongly compared to other nations. And so we are just so concerned to ensure that we're working with other countries that in the future that they wouldn't suffer as they have on this occasion.
Journalist: There's two, there's two issues here. It’s how it originated. And I take it you must think there's a chance it came from the lab because...
Prime Minister: Well, I don't know. I don't know.
Journalist: And then there's the issue of China not informing other countries quickly enough. I think that's one of the things you're talking about transparency now.
Prime Minister: Well, what's important in the future is that should there ever be an event, should there be a seriously communicable virus or disease, that the world acts swiftly. I mean, I thought the 100-day plan that we set out today was brilliant. And the leadership of the UK Chief Science Officer who was, who played such a strong role in putting this together, that's tremendous. But if we can act even earlier and if the WHO can have the authorities that require that, then I think that's very positive. I mean, I've been making this point for a long time that a WHO needs that independent strength and the parties to the WHO need to have obligations and accountabilities that ensure that we all do whatever we can to avoid what has occurred on this occasion in the future.
Journalist: And that needs a treaty, does it need a treaty?
Prime Minister: There was discussion about that today. And we've always been positive towards that idea. These things always come down to the details. But, we've seen in the past where in different areas, where there have been serious events, I'm not talking about health, but in other areas, that changes have been made to the way the world works together and the obligations that individual sovereign nation states take on. That is an important lesson that I think you take out of those events. And there are important lessons to take out of this one. And I think one of the key ones is a WHO that is independent, that is strong, that has the ability to be able to know things sooner and that there are obligations on all of us, that if we think there are events that are occurring within our own borders, that we share that as soon as we can to save as many lives and to prevent the loss that we've seen. OK, thanks.
Press Conference - Commonwealth War Graves St Illogan, United Kingdom
12 June 2021
Prime Minister:
Good morning, whenever I have the opportunity to pay respects to Australians who have fallen in defence of their nation and in defence of freedom, I always welcome the opportunity to do so. I want to thank the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for giving me the opportunity to pay respects to eight young Australians who are laid to rest here, a long way from home and to read the messages that their families have ensured are engraved on those stones is always very moving. And so I very much thank the War Graves Commission for that opportunity today. Wherever they may lay, we will never forget them and I do appreciate the opportunity to pay our respects.
Earlier today it was also a welcome opportunity once again to meet with President Moon. These international events provide great opportunities for us to re-engage once again face-to-face, person-to-person. Throughout the course of COVID-19 it has been very difficult to maintain those direct personal contacts with leaders around the world. President Moon and I have spoken on many occasions during the course of COVID but the last time we had met had actually been in New York as part of the UN Leaders’ Week. And for us to be able to meet face-to-face again today and in our 60th anniversary of our diplomatic relationship, it was an important opportunity because we share a region, we share an outlook, we share those liberal democratic values which is the reason why both President Moon and I together with the other extension partners have been invited here this weekend to participate in the G7 discussions. So we look forward to progressing those, whether we are here as extension partners or indeed the members of the G7. This is a very important time for these discussions and I am very pleased to be able to take part.
Journalist:
Prime Minister, do you hope to get a meeting with Joe Biden today? Has anything been locked in?
Prime Minister:
We will be meeting later today.
Journalist:
What are you hoping to get out of that meeting?
Prime Minister:
It is an important meeting that will focus on what is Australia’s largest and most important ally and friend. Together, we have been forging the liberal world order that has been so important for peace and prosperity all around the world. The liberal democracies that gathered here this weekend have been stewards of that over these many, many years. None less so than the United States. So our defence partnership, security partnership, the important role we have to reinforce the strength of our economies.
Australia is one of few economies, together with South Korea in fact, whose size of our economy is bigger today than before the pandemic began. And equally, we have more people employed in Australia today than before the pandemic began. But the strength of our advanced economies is liberal democracies. The supply chains, ensuring that we maintain the pace on technological advancement, the role that things like critical minerals and rare earths are playing in supporting what is a new energy economy. The economic discussion that we have reinforces our defence and security discussion.
Then there is, of course, our responding to the global challenges whether that be in climate change or indeed addressing COVID-19. We’ve had very different experiences of COVID-19 but at the same time we have banded together whether it is at this forum here at the invitation of Prime Minister Johnson or indeed the Quad where we have been a very active participant in supporting the initiative there with vaccines and supporting the health needs of our region in the Indo-Pacific. So we have a very broad relationship with the United States and it hasn’t skipped a beat in terms of ensuring that we continue to focus on both of our respective interests but those interests are very merged and I think that is what we will see here today.
Journalist:
PM, the Summit is expected to have some sort of discussion on COVID origins. Do you want G7 leaders to call for a new independent investigation given some of the developments in US intelligence particularly? And as the country that first called for an Inquiry does Australia now have a preferred view on the natural origin theory or the Wuhan lab theory?
Prime Minister:
Well the first Inquiry, the first investigation we called for, which Helen Clarke amongst others were part of conducting, that recommended that there be even further work done. And that further work should be done and there will be the opportunity to discuss that at this afternoon’s session. It is very important that we understand the origins and there has already been discussion around our preparedness for any future pandemic that the world can move quickly on issues like vaccines. But equally, it is important that we have an early warning system, that we have a way of being able to alert the world to when these types of viruses originate and so we can move quickly to stem any transmission, which is what we saw of course at the start of this pandemic. Australia moved quickly and we shut our borders and as a result and the many other measures we’ve taken, it has ensured that Australia has come through from a health perspective and indeed an economic perspective far better than most countries around the world. But having that opportunity to be able to identify these pandemics at their very early onset and to be able to take very quick action relying on very good and reliable information – this is a key lesson I think out of this pandemic. So the purpose of these inquiries is to understand. It’s got nothing to do with politics or frankly blame or anything else. It is about understanding it so we all on a future occasion should it occur can move quickly and can respond and avoid I would hope on a future occasion the absolute carnage that we’ve seen from this pandemic to both lives and livelihoods all around the world.
Journalist:
Do you regret that China has politicised the investigation that you’ve just described?
Prime Minister:
Well that is your commentary. What I am simply saying is that the process that we called for is not yet done and it is recommending further work and it is recommending that there be further powers for WHO officers to be able to identify these things early and to ensure that that information is reliably passed on it a timely way. The transparency around these things is incredibly important just for health and safety, for nothing else and I made similar comments at the time of calling for that Inquiry which was ended up being supported by over 60 nations around the world. But their work is not yet done and I know that is a view that is widely shared.
Journalist:
There is talk among some of the G7 leaders around living with COVID. You’ve been here in Britain for more than a day now, you’ve had lunch at a pub in a country with as you’ve identified thousands of cases a day but also a very high vaccination rate and the British government says that leads to low deaths and hospitalisations. Can Australia not learn from Britain about living with COVID?
Prime Minister:
Well I would rather be living in the arrangements we have in Australia than anywhere else in the world to be honest.
Journalist:
But people can’t travel overseas?
Prime Minister:
What they can do is that they can go to sporting games. They can go to work. They can live in an economy that is bigger today than before. That hasn’t seen the terrible number of deaths that we’ve seen in other parts of the world. Of course, the purpose of the vaccine is to ensure that there is not serious illness and indeed death.
We’re already seeing that here in the UK – that high level of vaccination is preventing those hospitalisations, which is its purpose and that’s welcome. But we are also seeing very high numbers of cases and at this stage of the pandemic it is not clear where it goes next. And the additional strains that we are seeing coming in through the pandemic as we see the pandemic rage through the developing world and the potential for new strains and other things to occur there means that there is still much we don’t know.
Now, in Australia we’ve been in a position where we have been able to suppress the virus and keep it out. That sadly hasn’t been able to be achieved here and across Europe and the United States and so there experience has been very very different. And so we will continue to take an Australian path on this which protects lives and livelihoods and learn from the experiences of other countries.
Journalist:
What will you tell President Biden in the meeting this afternoon if he pushes you and encourages you to adopt net zero by 2050?
Prime Minister:
Well we’ve made our position very clear that we are seeking to achieve net zero as soon as possible and preferably by 2050.
Journalist:
Do you think he’ll be happy with that?
Prime Minister:
Well it is Australia’s policy.
Journalist:
But the US and the UK want you to go further – that is very, very clear.
Prime Minister:
Australia’s policies will be set for Australia’s interests. And I will listen carefully but it will also be the opportunity for me to be clear that Australia’s performance on emissions reduction has been very strong.
Australia has cut emissions by over 20% since 2005. Now that exceeds many of those that will sit around that table today. It’ll exceed many who have made commitments for far greater than that in the future but those countries as yet have not achieved that. See performance should count as much as ambition. Australia’s performance makes clear that when we make a commitment, we keep it and we deliver on it. And I think that ambition is very important – that is why I’ve said what I’ve said in terms of what we would hope to achieve in terms of a net zero or carbon neutral economy.
We understand, as does the rest of the world, that the energy economy is going to change dramatically over the next thirty years and Australia intends to be part of that. And not just part of it but being incredibly successful in it. Australia has played a huge role in being an energy provider into the Asia Pacific region for a very long time. And, as I said to President Moon this morning, we intend to keep doing that but in a new energy economy and that is why is why we are moving very quickly in areas such as hydrogen development and the technology that sits around hydrogen.
We intend for Australia to be a leading player in that field as well. So Australia is focused on getting the technology right which will actually transform the world’s economy to a new energy economy. That’s what gets emissions down. What gets emissions down is when companies and businesses and industries and individuals use different energies into the future because they are affordable, they are reliable and they get the job done. And so Australia is focused on ensuring that we have the technologies that support that. Not just in Australia but it is commercially viable to do so in Indonesia and in Vietnam and in China and in many other places. Because unless those technologies and those new energies are used right around the world, well the problem doesn’t go away. As John Kerry himself said, the United States could reduce their emissions to zero but if China didn’t do that it wouldn’t make a difference. So it is important that we get the technology solutions that are commercial, scalable, affordable and viable. That is why we have invested $20 billion over the next ten years to leverage about another $80 billion of investment to ensure those technologies are exactly what the world needs and what Australia needs for Australian jobs.
Journalist:
What percentage of Australians will need to be vaccinated before you’ll allow them to travel like you are today?
Prime Minister:
We haven’t set any mark on that.
Journalist:
When will Australians be able to travel?
Prime Minister:
When the medical advice suggests that we should.
Journalist:
The free trade deal with the United Kingdom. Will that be finished in time? And is it a waste of a trip if it is not ready to have something to sign?
Prime Minister:
There has never been a more important time for Australia to be sitting around the table with the world’s leading democracies and leading advanced economies with the issues we are currently facing – it is the pandemic, the recession it has caused, the strains on the world trading system and the international order which has been in place since the second world war. The challenges we are facing around supply chains and, in particular, the defence and strategic challenges in our own region and climate change.
So there has never been a more important time for Australia to be at the very tables that we will be at over the next couple of days. I look forward to meeting again with Prime Minister Johnson early next week when we are in London. This deal is important, of course it is, but I am patient for the right deal not any deal. It is important I think for both countries that we get the right deal and so I will be patient for that and if we are able to achieve that in the next few days – great – and I am sure Prime Minister Johnson would welcome that as well. But Australia is looking for the right deal, not any deal.
Press Conference - RAF Brize Norton, United Kingdom
11 June 2021
Prime Minister: While there are many challenges back at home, this is a very important place for Australia to be today as we touch down here in the United Kingdom to join the G7 Plus dialogue. This is the third occasion that we had the privilege of being invited to be a part of these discussions – and there is a lot on the agenda for Australia. There has never been a more important time for Australia to be sitting around such a table. Dealing with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the recession that it has caused, and the recovery that we are building. Particularly at home in Australia with our economy being bigger today than it was before the pandemic hit. There are more Australians employed today than before the pandemic hit. Working together on ensuring the rules-based order that protects our trade but also protects our seas and protects the way our country can live and work together in a positive way all around the world. Taking on the big challenges of climate change and the new energy economy, which Australia is determined to be a very positive part of. And, of course, the Indo-Pacific and securing a free and open Indo-Pacific – so central to Australia’s interests – but increasingly so much more central to global stability. These will all be important topics of conversation as I engage with the leaders who are assembled here in Cornwall over the few days.
A big part of that discussion will be the big commitment that has been made and led by the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, to vaccinate the world. Australia will be doing its part, as we already have been, committing some 20 million doses as part of that effort here at the G7 Plus in Cornwall. That comes on top of a very recent commitment of $100 million USD in support of the COVAX initiative, working together with the Prime Minister of Japan, Yoshihide Suga, and I commend him for his great leadership on that initiative. That of course comes in addition to the significant work that we are already doing in our region supporting our Pacific family and in Timor Leste and throughout South East Asia. These 20 million doses will go to support cases in our region to ensure that we continue to exercise our responsibility as part of a broader global responsibility to combat this virus.
Just before I take questions, I want to assure people that we continue to stay in close contact with the situation in Victoria. In particular, the terrible floods which have already claimed two lives and we extend our sincere condolences to the families who have lost loved ones there. If it is flooded – forget it. That is the clear message. The Federal Government is working closely with the State Government. The Acting Prime Minister back in Australia, Michael McCormack, is engaging closely with the Victorian Premier to ensure [inaudible]… And also pleased to see that more than 150,000 doses of the vaccine – a record day, a record day. We are almost to a million doses in 8 days now and we are going from two in five Australians who are eligible for the vaccine – we are getting pretty close to a quarter. So we continue to surge forward with the roll-out.
Journalist: Prime Minister, there have been reports that Joe Biden is going to lobby the G7 to rebuke China over a number of issues with the treatment of Uyghur people but also economic coercion measures against Australia. Is that your understanding of what is going to occur and what is your reaction to that?
Prime Minister: We always welcome the great friendship and support we have from our ally, the United States. We have stood with them firmly over a very long period of time. We greatly appreciate their leadership and the alliance that we have. Here in our discussions over the next few days we look forward to particularly pursing our relationship when it comes to our Defence co-operation, our technology co-operation, the work with energy technology and supply chains all around the world. The G7 Plus isn’t about a club. It is about ensuring a world that favours freedom, an inclusive world order that ensures all countries can engage, trade with each other and all countries – wherever they are, whoever they are – can do so without coercion and can do so consistent with their sovereign interest.
Journalist: The cases here in the UK have gone up from 3,000 a day to 7,000 a day. You are coming to a country which is living with the virus. Do you have any concerns about that?
Prime Minister: Well I’m sure that all the normal health protocols will be observed. No doubt about that. It is a big undertaking to pull together a Summit of this nature in a pandemic. And I commend the UK for pressing ahead and doing it this way. We’ve met on so many occasions over the past eighteen months over screens. There is no substitute for leaders getting together and doing what we are doing now. And there has never been a more important time to be doing that. That said, it is a timely reminder about how the pandemic is raging whereas back in Australia at the moment I understand – my latest report – is that there were zero community cases in Victoria today and we welcome that – absolutely welcome that. Here in the UK, there are 7,000 cases a day in a country that has a vaccination program of first doses well over 70%. Now I welcome the fact that we are not seeing in this latest phase in the UK the level of fatality that we were seeing on previous occasions. I think that goes a lot to what the vaccine does to protect against serious illness. But any suggestion that vaccination rates in their 70s doesn’t lead to a higher number of cases, that’s not the UK experience (inaudible).
Journalist: On the 20 million vaccines… [Inaudible]
Prime Minister: [Inaudible] we have put in place supply contracts many times over what is needed for the Australian population we did that to ensure we were covered for as many bases as we possibly could. So that puts us in a very strong position – as we always hoped to – to be supporting not only our own region but I think what is quite unique about Australia’s contribution here and the 20 million doses is where we are going to send them. These aren’t going in large warehouses which essentially without going anywhere. We want to ensure that we are taking responsibility for our region, our family in our region. We’ve done that all along. I’ve had many discussions in recent weeks with Pacific leaders and the leaders of South East Asia and I know that’s greatly appreciated that Australians are doing its bit in our region but also as part of a global effort and I really do commend Prime Minister Johnson for bringing us together to put even more effort into this area because the virus doesn’t know boundaries, the virus goes where it will. And the more places we can frustrate it, the better we can stop it and the sooner we will be able to return to a world that we once knew.
Journalist: What do you make of Mr Johnson’s commitment of trying to get the world vaccinated by the end of next year. Is it too ambitious?
Prime Minister: Well, no one is ever going to accuse the Prime Minister of Great Britain of lacking in ambition when it comes to anything, I think. That is one of his great assets. He is a big bold thinker and he gets out there and I’m happy to get in behind him with this and I am sure the other leaders are. It does require that concerted effort and I think he has laid down that marker quite firmly. I think it is a good thing and very consistent with his well-known character.
Journalist: How’s the free trade deal?
Prime Minister: Still got a bit of work to do yet. Look forward to seeing him next week particularly. He’ll be very busy over the Summit over the next few days. That’s why we’ve arranged a time on the other side of the Summit to spend quite a bit of time together.
Press Conference - The Istana, Singapore
11 June 2021
His Excellency Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore: Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Ladies and Gentlemen. Good evening to all. I bid a very warm welcome to Prime Minister Scott Morrison to Singapore. I am very happy that he decided to stop over here on the way to G7 in Cornwall, and that we have been able to meet in person after quite a long time.
Naturally, PM Morrison and I discussed the COVID-19 situation. Australia and Singapore have similar approaches to keep the virus out of our populations, and to keep our people safe.
We have strongly supported each other, especially to get through the early days of the pandemic. Our health authorities shared information on the virus. We helped to bring each other’s citizens home from abroad, especially early on when flights were getting cancelled. Singapore Airlines maintained passenger and cargo flights to and from Australia throughout the border closures.
Now, the world is moving into the next phase of the fight, with vaccinations becoming more prevalent, and countries beginning to open up their borders. We discussed how two-way travel between Singapore and Australia can eventually resume, in a safe and calibrated manner, when both sides are ready. Before COVID-19, many Singaporeans travelled to Australia for business, for holidays and to pursue their education, and vice versa. We need to resume these people-to-people flows to maintain our close and excellent bilateral relationship. We need to prepare the infrastructure and processes to get ready to do this. It starts with mutual recognition of health and vaccination certificates, possibly in the digital form. When all the preparations are ready, we can start small with an Air Travel Bubble to build confidence on both sides. Relatedly, our health ministries have signed an MOU to collaborate in healthcare and health technologies.
Our overall cooperation has been anchored by our ten-year Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP), which is now at its halfway mark. Both sides have made progress on the five pillars of the CSP: economics and trade, defence and foreign affairs, science and innovation, people-to-people; and last year we added the digital economy as a fifth pillar of our comprehensive strategic partnership.
Last year, in December, our Treaty on Military Training and Training Area Development came into force. This was a milestone in our longstanding defence partnership.
Singapore greatly appreciates Australia’s generous and sustained support for SAF’s training. Over many years, in many air bases and camps all over Australia.
On the digital economy, we had a bilateral Digital Economy Agreement which also came into force last year. This was the fruit of our forward looking, open and progressive attitudes towards trade and the future economy. Building on the Digital Economy Agreement, PM Morrison and I have agreed to commence discussions to develop a FinTech bridge between our two countries.
In science and innovation, we are exploring collaborations on low-emissions solutions to support our climate change efforts. This is another key domestic priority for both of us, and it includes a public-private partnership on low emissions fuels and technologies for shipping and port operations, based at Nanyang Technological University’s Eco Labs. We are also exploring a broader partnership on a green economy agreement. This will facilitate trade and investment in environmentally sustainable goods and services, and strengthen environmental governance and our capacity to address climate change.
Once again, the Prime Minister and I are very happy that we are able to meet again and that our relations have continued to grow and prosper in these challenging times. I look forward to continue working with him and his government to take our relations even further forward and wish him a safe and productive trip to Cornwall in the UK for G7.
Prime Minister Morrison: Well, thank you and thank you, Prime Minister Lee, for your very warm welcome to be back here in Singapore with you again in this magnificent property. And to be here with our friends in Singapore is a great thrill after such a long time. Can I also thank you for the opportunity that we have had to continue our engagement over the course of the pandemic to date, even though we haven't been able to meet physically. But today is a great opportunity that is presented to us to be able to renew that association in this way, but also to press forward with the many areas of our very productive partnership.
Australia and Singapore share many things. We share history. We share trust. Most significantly, we share ambition. And that ambition, I think, is reflected in the comprehensive strategic partnership we have that is now being demonstrated in the many granular agreements and memorandums that have been completed in so many parts of this relationship. Whether it's what we're doing together in defence, in technology, in addressing climate change, and importantly, working together to ensure the stability of our region, that all of our prosperity, all of our safety depends. I particularly want to thank Prime Minister Lee, you, for your great leadership within this region and particularly as one of the longest serving leaders, particularly in the ASEAN partnership. I thank very much, Singapore, for the way you have supported Australia in so many different areas of our relationship. But I never seek to not take the opportunity when I can to gain the insights of Prime Minister Lee on his views on on the region, ASEAN more broadly, but particularly Singapore, is very central to Australia's view of the world. This is where we live. This is where our primary relationships are. And we greatly respect the region in which we live and how we work those relationships on a day to day basis in very practical ways. The Prime Minister has mentioned those already.
The fintech bridge is something I'm particularly excited about. Previously, as a Treasurer, we were able to secure such a bridge with the United Kingdom. And now to have one with Singapore, I think is tremendous. Singapore is one of the leading economies in the world when it comes to financial technology. And for Singapore and Australia to connect up in this way will only add further to both of our countries’ success in realising the great advances that can be achieved for our economies through financial technology. Equally cooperating on low emissions technologies, especially hydrogen, which is the key game changing fuel of the future. Australia has always played a very significant role in meeting the energy needs of Asia and particularly for South East Asia. And we intend to continue to do that by ensuring that we are achieving the breakthroughs in technology which will enable us to continue to support our many partners in the region and their energy needs. I particularly welcome the fact that we're making so much progress with projects like Sun Cables Project, which can see the homes powered here in Singapore from solar panels in Australia. That's an exciting new development amongst many, but particularly the work we're now doing on maritime and port use for hydrogen. That is an obvious place of partnership between Australia and Singapore. And we look forward to the great results that I know will come from that partnership.
Prime Minister, we thank you again for your hospitality and we look forward to the many other areas the relationship will continue to give us opportunity to pursue. But the one above all at present, which we are very focussed on, is the challenge of COVID. I commend you for the tremendous job you've done here in Singapore. Singapore is a country we've often looked at the experience of here with COVID and we have discussed that on other occasions. We have sought to learn from Singapore and how they've combatted COVID and I'm sure there have been lessons that have gone both ways. That's why I welcome the fact that we will now work together to put the infrastructure in place, to put the systems in place, to enable us to open up in a similar way that we've been able to open up to New Zealand from Australia, when we're both in a position to do so. There is still some time before we reach that milestone, but there is nothing impeding us, as we've discussed today, from getting on with the job of putting systems in place that will enable such a bubble to emerge between Singapore and Australia as it does now occur between Australia and New Zealand. But in addition to that, as we've discussed, Prime Minister, giving a priority, a priority to students from Singapore to be able to return to Australia, to complete their studies and to engage in their studies and for the students from Singapore to be a first opportunity to see increased travel between Australia and Singapore realise and for that to occur sooner rather than later. So thank you very much.
Journalist: Good evening, I am Hariz from the Straits Times. My question is for both prime ministers. How soon can we expect this air-travel bubble to take off and what's the progress made on the mutual recognition of health and vaccine certificates? And also will vaccine rates of community cases be used as indicators for this air-travel bubble? Lastly, is there a tentative timeline for this air-travel bubble?
His Excellency Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore: Well, our officials are discussing the air-travel bubble and they're also starting to discuss the mutual recognition of health and vaccination certificates. And we will have to resume this in a safe and calibrated manner when both sides are ready. Certainly vaccination rates and transmission rates will be part of that consideration. I would say that in Singapore, we're making good progress with our vaccination programme. In Australia, they are also vaccinating the population. And I think once the majority of the population is vaccinated, it becomes much easier for us to contemplate these openings up. It's not the only consideration. The prevalence, transmission rates, will certainly be a factor, we watch it carefully, I mean that's how the arrangements between Australia and New Zealand work right now. What we want to do, is to get the preconditions, the infrastructure, the vaccine recognition, what are the standards, what are the decisions. Then the actual decision to do it, that is a political decision. But let's get everything teed up, so that we can be in a position to make a political decision when we want to do so.
Prime Minister Morrison: Thank you, Prime Minister. Singapore is the first country outside of New Zealand that Australia wishes to engage in a travel bubble with. And we want to get it right. To get it right in Singapore, which we know we can do, because of the very sophisticated systems that Singapore has. Our digital certificate on vaccines has just now going live. And so that provides another important building block that is necessary for these arrangements to work. But the sophistication of the systems both in Singapore and Australia, I think will enable both countries to ensure that we can get a system that works incredibly well. And once we have that capability, then, as the Prime Minister says, it then becomes a second consideration, we consider all the various medical issues and the various risks that we have to manage as leaders to ensure that we can go to the next stage successfully. But I would note and some encouragement Prime Minister Lee, we really do want to focus on those students coming as a first wave, first tranche, as part of the exercise pilot, if you will, how these systems can work most effectively when we get to the next phase, which would be more broadly. But the timing of that is still some way away.
His Excellency Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore: I raised this matter with the Prime Minister specifically because I know quite a number of Singaporeans study in Australia and some of them have come home during this COVID period and are now in Singapore unable to go back to Australia to resume their studies. And there is urgency for them, I know, and especially for those of them who have clinical attachment or those things and to be unable to pick them up is very, very disruptive for their studies. And so I raised this with the Prime Minister and Prime Minister Morrison was very generous to say yes, it is [inaudible] on this mind and he's minded to do that as a first priority. And I said, well, that's one way to test out our systems and get a pilot going, so that we can widen the project and later on we have a full travel bubble between the two countries. So, there's no timetable, but we hope it can be done as soon as possible.
Journalist: My question is for the Prime Minister Lee. Prime Minister, you've spoken before about your concerns about the US and China hardening in their positions against each other. In Australia, we can't even get a Minister to Minister dialogue with China anymore. As the Australian Prime Minister heads to the G7 Plus, what is your advice to Australia and the G7 on how to handle relationships with China?
His Excellency Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore: I think that's a very big question to deal with in a 3 minute answer in a video interview like this. But I would say that the relationship with China is one of the biggest foreign policy questions for every major power in the world. You need to work with the country, it is going to be there, it is going to be a substantial presence and you can cooperate with it, you can engage it, you can negotiate with it. But it has to be a long and mutually constructive process. And you don't have to make it- You don't have to become like them, neither can you hope to make them become like you. And you have to be able to work on that basis. This is a big world, in which there are different countries and work with others who are not completely like minded, but with whom you have many issues where your interests do align and where your mutual cooperation is necessary. There will be rough spots and not few and you have to deal with them, but deal with them as issues in a partnership which you want to keep going and not issues which add up to adversity, which you are trying to suppress. And that's speaking in very general terms. But I think that from Singapore's point of view, how you have the best chance of developing a constructive relationship and avoiding very bad outcomes.
Journalist: Thank you, Geoff Chambers from The Australian. Prime Ministers, Boris Johnson will tell G7 leaders he wants the world vaccinated by the end of next year. Is the production and distribution of vaccines into developing nations into the Indo-Pacific happening fast enough? And do you have concerns about the rise of vaccine diplomacy?
His Excellency Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore: Well, I think faster is better, producing enough vaccines is a challenge both for all countries, especially in India certainly, and even in China, even in Russia. I think in the US they’ve now got enough supplies for themselves and are looking to donate supplies internationally and I think President Biden intends to say something about that at G7. But globally, the supplies need to grow and the vaccination efforts also need to be scaled up commensurately. It’s not just producing the vaccine, it’s being able to administer them and get people to take them - nationwide, nation by nation, in nearly 200 countries in the world, seven billion people, and that is a massive effort. And countries will certainly use vaccines in order to win friends and influence people. But as long as it helps in the end to vaccinate the global population, well, that's to be expected and par for the course.
Prime Minister Morrison: Well, thank you, I’d make a couple of points. First of all, Singapore and Australia have made very large contributions to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment. This facility has already delivered some 13 million doses to South East Asian countries. In addition, Australia, going to the point the Prime Minister has just made, it’s not just about the doses themselves. We've invested some $623 million, not only to provide doses, but technical advice, training, cold chain storage to support countries across South East Asia and the Pacific. That is wrapped up also in the contribution that Australia’s made as part of the Quad vaccine partnership with Japan, the United States and India, which aims to provide some one billion doses to the Indo-Pacific by 2022. So there are myriad ventures that nations are engaged in in the various partnerships they have. Australia, in particular, as the Prime Minister and I were discussing today, takes a particular responsibility when it comes to supporting vaccination in the South West Pacific and in Timor-Leste, but also increasingly now in South East Asia.
And so it requires all, particularly developed countries, to step up and continue to step up, because once, as we know in our own countries, once you go through the two doses and ensure that is made available for, as everyone who wishes to be vaccinated, then next year you're moving into issues of boosters and new variants and what might come next. So this is an ongoing global task. It is not something that started and finished at any time. It is an ongoing task that we will have globally. Right at the outset I remember saying that whoever comes up with the vaccine will need to share it, and that still remains my view. And that sharing is not just about the intellectual property and the chemistry of these vaccines, but the manufacture and distribution and that we must avoid any form of vaccine protectionism as much as possible. So I look forward to participating in those discussions with Prime Minister Johnson and so many others, because I know these views are shared.
His Excellency Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore: I thank the Prime Minister for highlighting COVAX. Singapore also [inaudible] COVAX and has made substantial donations to the facility. And we are also cooperating with Australia in efforts to help the region get their vaccines. And I told Prime Minister that we’re very happy that Singapore is able to be in the hub for distributing vaccines to the region, which Australia is producing. And we have also got fill and finish facilities so that if Australian producers want to use those in Singapore to make the vaccines here, make the vials here, in order to ship off from Singapore, we're happy to do that. It has to be a multilateral effort and all of us, each of us has to do our part.
Journalist: Hi, good evening Prime Ministers. My question, my first question is for both of you. So what do various deals show about the future of bilateral cooperation with the prospects of COVID becoming endemic, and specifically plans to beef up pandemic response and health care front and cross border travel [inaudible]. And additionally, this is for Mr Morrison, are there any specific targets on vaccination rates you’re looking at for safe travel to resume? And also since climate change issues will be on the agenda at G7, what are you hoping the outcomes to be for this bilateral deal with Singapore [inaudible]? Thank you.
His Excellency Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore: Well, COVID has not hurt our bilateral cooperation. In fact, the ties remain strong and it's presented us with opportunities for cooperation in new areas. For example, in health, and we’ve signed this health MOU. It’s to facilitate exchange of information, knowledge and expertise. We do that [inaudible] and the Australian Department of Health, and particularly in areas of health, technology, assessment, and relevant strategies to manage the high cost of patented medicines and devices. There are no radically new ways to fight the virus. We know what we need to do. You need to test this [inaudible] the cases, you need to contact trace to find new cases. You need to vaccinate people to prevent them from becoming so easily infected, and you have to do this at scale. And you also have to find therapeutics to treat people who are sick so that they recover and they don't get sicker and die. And I think in all these areas, countries are working together. And Singapore and Australia we both have substantial research efforts in this and we’re working together on that too.
Prime Minister Morrison: Thank you, Prime Minister. I might, first of all, I mean, neither of us have identified a benchmark rate on vaccination when it comes to the decision that we’d be taking around a travel bubble. But this is something that I think will continually be informed by the medical evidence as time goes on. I think one of the reasons both Australia and Singapore have been successful to date, we should, I think, just take a moment to note that success, not just from a health perspective but from an economic perspective as well. Both of our economies, both of our economies have performed well, relatively, through this pandemic. In Australia's case, our economy is larger today than it was before the pandemic began. There are more employed Australians today than there was before the pandemic began. Our AAA credit rating from S&P has only just been upgraded further as we come continually through this pandemic.
So it is constantly, I think, a challenge to balance the economic and the health objectives that we have as leaders. And we've learnt a lot from Singapore in that process, and we will continue to. And I think one of the most helpful things throughout the pandemic has been whether it's been the exchange that Prime Minister Lee and I have had or I have had with many other leaders. Largely no country has a mortgage on what the answers are, but we all have the opportunity to share that experience. Prime Minister Lee and I joined a group of countries early on in the pandemic brought together by the Chancellor of Austria, and I continue to participate in that group. We would share our experiences, whether it's rolling out vaccinations, running contact tracing systems, how digital certificates work. All of these tools, as Prime Minister Lee says, are, they're not novel to one country, but they all need to be achieved successfully in each country.
So that will continue, I think, to be one of the great learnings of the pandemic, the need to share experience, technology, information, learnings about this, about any pandemic, and to be able to move quickly as possible. We both run similar quarantine systems. We both run similar tracing systems. And that is, I think, a lesson for how we will deal with this in the future.
When it comes to emissions reduction and issues of climate change, I'm very excited about this energy technology partnership that we're putting in place here in the maritime sector. In the same way that Singapore benefits greatly from the world's great maritime vessels making their way here and taking goods from here, being able to do that with hydrogen powered ships is extremely important for emissions reduction in the future. It is a practical, technological, commercial partnership that will change the world. In the same way we want to power large ships, we want to power large mining vehicles, mining trucks, ore trucks in Australia. And so what we are simply doing here again is demonstrating Australia's commitment to technological advancement to reduce emissions. Australia's carbon emissions have fallen by over 20 per cent since 2005. We have the highest rate of rooftop solar take-up anywhere in the world, and our rate of renewable development in our country strips that of most developed countries. Now, this will continue for one simple reason, and that is continued developments in technology. So this partnership demonstrates, and I'll be very pleased to share it with those attending the G7, that this is how you deal with climate change. You work on the technology. You work on the technological solutions and hydrogen in particular, and the partnership we have here to develop new hydrogen technologies will be critical to solving that problem.
Address, Perth USAsia Centre - Perth, WA
‘A World Order that Favours Freedom’
9 June 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you for that very warm and kind introduction, Gordon. And to the many distinguished guests here today, we’ve already called the role twice, so I don’t propose to do that again, other than to particularly welcome my many colleagues – Linda, Ken, Ben, Andrew, Stephen and many others. The great and good of Western Australia have assembled here in Perth.
Stephen particularly, it's great to see you again. Clearly post-politics life has treated you very, very well and you're looking very well, as of course is Richard Court who did a tremendous job not only as Premier of Western Australia but the work he did on behalf of the Australian Government in being Ambassador to Japan through some incredibly important engagements we have had, particularly moving towards the RAA, our defence agreement with Japan which we're looking to finalise over the course of this year. Richard and I worked pretty closely on that, and very pleased with the progress that we were able to make.
And of course, when you've got a former Chief Justice sitting next to you, it's important to recognise his great service to our country.
Can I also thank the traditional owners. I was recently in New Zealand, and as part of our dialogue with the New Zealand Government one of the things that we share in common with New Zealand is we both draw on rich Indigenous histories. They're different, but they are ancient and they have much to teach us. And so I join with Gordon in acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and their elders, past, present and importantly the future.
Can I also acknowledge any Defence Force members who are with us here today and any veterans who are with us also and simply say to them thank you for your service.
I have just noticed Nev Power over there as well, thanks for the job you did on the COVID Taskforce, an extraordinary job which I have mentioned before when I've been here.
It is true, I'll be heading over to Cornwall very, very soon, and I've got to tell you I'm not unhappy about the weather and I'll tell you why. Last time I was in Perth, and it was bucketing down, I was at this very stadium, New South Wales was playing Queensland, as they indeed will tonight, and New South Wales had a thumping win.
So I'm going to take that as an omen that I'm back in the same stadium today. It's raining in Western Australia and that should provide some look forward to what I hope to see later tonight, wearing my blue tie, of course.
Everyone is looking at me going ‘what on earth are you talking about in Western Australia?' So the rain doesn't bother me, Ashley. I take it as a good sign for the Blues tonight.
I'm heading to Cornwall, and it's been a long time since one of my family was in Cornwall. It was my fifth great-grandfather. He came out in the first fleet on the Scarborough. He stole some yarn in Cornwall and the rest is history. Over 200 years of it, here in this country. So it will be interesting to be going back there. But not for that reason, many others. Many, many others.
Because my speech today does come on the eve of a very important international summit. The G7 summit in Cornwall hosted by the United Kingdom.
And I was delighted when my good friend, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson invited me to attend as part of what is being referred to as the G7 Plus.
One of only four outreach partners together with India who, sadly, Narendra Modi won't be able to attend because of the COVID outbreak in India. But also the Republic of Korea and South Africa. And this is the third occasion on which I have been invited as Prime Minister, third year running, for Australia to participate in this G7 Plus dialogue as a partner in that dialogue.
And there has never been a more important time I believe, for Australia to be at the table with the world’s largest advanced economies and liberal democracies than right now. We very much need to be there because there is a lot at stake, for Australia, for our region, and indeed the world.
We are living in a time of great uncertainty not seen since the 1930s, outside of wartime. The challenges we face are many.
The global pandemic of course, the recession it has caused and the business-led global recovery the world now needs to restore lives and livelihoods.
A global trading system and rules-based order that is under serious strain and threat.
A new global energy economy is rising with profound implications for Australia, as the world deals with and addresses climate change.
How we succeed and prosper in this new ‘net zero emissions’ economy, without putting at risk our resources, manufacturing and heavy industries, the jobs of Australians, especially in regional Australia, without imposing higher costs on Australian families and how we keep the lights on, and not surrender the economic advantages that Australia has had, is where Australia’s national interest lies.
It’s not an argument about climate change. It’s about how Australia best advances our interests as part of a world that is dealing with climate change. It’s not about if or when. Protecting and advancing Australia’s interests in a new net zero global energy economy. In that context it is about the how.
However, above all, the defining issue I believe, for global and regional stability, upon which our security, our prosperity and our way of life depends, is escalating great power strategic competition.
Rapid military modernisation, tension over territorial claims, heightened economic coercion, undermining of international law, including the law of the sea, through to enhanced disinformation, foreign interference and cyber threats, enabled by new and emerging technologies.
A lot to talk about in Cornwall. As we meet together in Cornwall, our patterns of cooperation within a liberal, rules-based order, that have benefitted us for so long, we know they are under renewed strain.
As American scholar Robert Kagan has warned, ‘the jungle is growing back’.
As leaders of some of the world’s largest liberal democracies and advanced economies, we must tend to the gardening with renewed clarity, unity and purpose.
Our challenge is nothing less than to reinforce, renovate and buttress a world order that favours freedom.
Meeting this challenge will require an active cooperation among like-minded countries and liberal democracies not seen for 30 years. The COVID-19 crisis merely underlines the urgent need to deepen and accelerate our shared endeavours.
For inspiration we should look to the years immediately following the Second World War. A world in flux. Competing models for economies and societies.
A time when President Truman called for ‘the creation of conditions in which we [the United States] and other nations will be able to work out a way of life free of coercion’.
In many parts of the world (old and new), anxious peoples craving peace, stability, prosperity and a sense of sovereign control over national destinies.
Then, a remarkable generation of far-sighted policy-makers, under American leadership, set out to bring order to this uncertain world; and importantly order informed by liberal values and grounded in rules-based institutions.
I believe the challenges we face today demand the same common purpose for this new era.
Australia brings its own distinctive perspective to global challenges, informed by where we are and who we are - our principles, our values and of course our national character.
Our interests are inextricably linked to an open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific region. That is our interest. And to a strategic balance in the region that favours freedom and allows us to be who we are – a vibrant liberal democracy, an outward-looking open economy, a free people determined to shape our own destiny in accordance with our own national sovereignty.
Today, I want to explore five areas of Australian advocacy and agency to advance these important issues in meetings in Cornwall. The broad themes are:
Supporting open societies, open economies and our rules-based order;
Building sovereign capacity, capability and resilience;
Cooperating on global challenges;
Enabling renewed business-led growth and development, and
Demonstrating that liberal democracies work.
Now, I want to be clear about what we are seeking to do, of course. I also want to be clear about what we are not seeking to do.
This is not about drawing, as we gather in Cornwall, a closed circle around a particular club. That’s not it.
To the contrary. It’s about ensuring we maintain an open, rules-based global system that supports peace, prosperity and aspirations for all sovereign nations.
A world order safe for liberal democracy, yes, to flourish, free from coercion, reinforced through positive, collaborative and coordinated action.
We are facing heightened competition in the Indo-Pacific region. We know that because we live here.
The task is to manage that competition.
Competition does not have to lead to conflict.
Nor does competition justify coercion.
We need all nations to participate in the global system in ways that foster development and cooperation.
Australia stands ready to engage in dialogue with all countries on shared challenges, including China when they are ready to do so with us.
Now, let me turn to the five areas where I believe liberal democracies should be stepping up with coordinated action.
The first is supporting open societies, open economies and our rules-based order.
The foundation for deeper cooperation amongst liberal democracies lies precisely in the shared beliefs and binding values we strive to live by.
Our belief that open, pluralistic societies provide the fundamental freedoms and rich opportunities our citizens need to reach their full potential.
That democratic elections, the rule of law, freedom of thought and expression, independent judiciaries and accountable governments deserve our allegiance based on their intrinsic merit and on their capacity to deliver better lives for our people.
That open, business-led, market economies provide the best means for generating shared prosperity in a world of rapid change.
And that, working together, our countries can support, defend and (where necessary) renovate a liberal, rules-based international order that supports universal human rights and opportunities for all.
A world order that favours freedom over autocracy and authoritarianism.
We can't be casual about these values and beliefs. They are inextricably linked to our way of life in this country. We can't be passive about them. We can't expect others to advocate for us for them. We live them, we must speak up for them.
As we battle the COVID-19 pandemic and look towards recovery, I’ll be making the case for business-led growth globally, just as we have done so here at home. Our relative success is a broader proof point.
Australia’s strong economic recovery in the past year has demonstrated the critical role governments play in a crisis, but also the enduring importance of policy settings that put the private sector at the centre of the economy.
Doing what it does best – driving growth in our economy, innovating, creating jobs, seeking out new opportunities.
Australia will be one of only two countries [in Cornwall], together with the Republic of Korea, that can point to an economy larger today than it was at the start of the pandemic.
Now, this hasn’t occurred in Australia through more regulation, more tax and more government directives to the private sector. That has not been the Australian way through this crisis. It has come about through greater tax incentives, as Christian Porter would know who is also here today, in his new portfolio in industry. What we're doing in our modern manufacturing strategy is all about providing incentives, not greater taxes. Regulatory reform, continued support for open trade and a recognition that government overreach can misdirect resources and impede the creation of good, durable, high-wage jobs.
As always, we will be an advocate for a free and fair rules-based system for international trade founded on open markets.
Australia’s prosperity rests squarely on maintaining our position as an outward-looking, open trading economy.
At the G7, we will be working with others to buttress the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and to modernise its rulebook where necessary.
A well-functioning WTO that sets clear rules, arbitrates disputes objectively and efficiently and penalises bad behaviour when it occurs. This can be one of the most powerful tools the international community has to counter economic coercion.
In my discussions with many leaders I have taken great encouragement from the support shown for Australia’s preparedness to withstand economic coercion in recent times.
The most practical way to address economic coercion is the restoration of the global trading body’s binding dispute settlement system.
Where there are no consequences for coercive behaviour, there is little incentive for restraint.
The G7 meeting provides an opportunity to point a way forward on Appellate Body reform by the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference in November this year.
This will not be easy – Australia shares many of the concerns that have been raised around the operation of the Appellate Body.
But restarting practical and serious-minded negotiations is the essential first step in identifying feasible and effective solutions that address the needs of all economies.
Another area where enhanced multilateral cooperation is essential is around data and the digital economy. Coordinated action by liberal democracies is necessary to ensure future global standards reflect the specific needs and values of open societies.
Australia has been a global leader in advocating strengthened accountability and transparency of online platforms (especially in support of women’s safety and in combatting violent extremism and terrorism and protecting our children from child abuse) and we look forward to working collaboratively with other liberal democracies on international standard setting.
Building our own sovereign capability and resilience is central to our efforts to enhance cooperation for global security and stability.
Australia’s strategic environment has changed significantly over recent years. Accelerating trends are working against our interests.
I really want to stress that. The view the world hasn't changed in the last five years, is disconnected from reality. Things have changed. Accelerating trends are working against our interests.
The Indo-Pacific region – our region – is the epicentre of renewed strategic competition.
The risks of miscalculation and conflict are very present growing. And the technological edge enjoyed historically by Australia and our allies is under challenge.
In last year’s Defence Strategic Update, our Defence Minister at the time Linda Reynolds, our Government committed an additional $270 billion over the next decade to our defence capability growth.
Australia has never sought a free ride when it comes to our security. We may look to our allies and partners but we never leave it to them.
We bring agency as Australians and critical sovereign capabilities to our partnerships. We add value to the combined effort, with our partners. This is why we are respected. This is why we are at the table.
We must intensify our own efforts and cooperation with others to meet the complex security challenges we face. There is much more to do. Because Australia does, and must, play an active role in securing our own future, using all the tools of statecraft we have available to us.
Australia has been working hard in our region, building on the strong cooperation with the United States, Japan and India. Stepping up in the Pacific. Supporting Southeast Asia and engaging ASEAN as a steadfast partner.
I look forward to discussing the strategic challenges of the Indo-Pacific in Cornwall with our longstanding and unshakable allies and friends.
The Biden Administration has made its focus on the Indo-Pacific region very clear and the region is already the focus of our alliance. My first face-to-face meeting with President Biden will provide the chance to further cement our alliance partnership, built on the bonds and the values that are shared between our two peoples.
An ever closer security and defence relationship has become a signature part also of our Special Strategic Partnership with Japan. I look forward again to affirming our strengthened bilateral security cooperation when I meet with Prime Minister Suga in Cornwall, as we work towards signing our Reciprocal Access Agreement, agreed in-principle last November.
I welcome the United Kingdom’s commitment to engage more deeply in the Indo-Pacific following the Integrated Review announced by Prime Minister Johnson in March. When we meet in the UK, it will be an opportunity to discuss how we can deepen cooperation also on security and defence issues.
And of course, I look forward to sharing perspectives on the Indo-Pacific region’s strategic challenges with other leaders at Cornwall, and with President Macron when I visit France on my return to Australia.
A key focus of discussions will be ensuring that markets for new and critical technologies develop in ways that reflect our shared values.
Growing security challenges surround the development of secure and resilient supply chains for critical technologies. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, quantum computing and other technologies have enormous potential to support the prosperity, security and well-being of our people.
But they do carry risks.
We need these technologies to be reliable, affordable, resilient and importantly secure, as well as governed by rules and norms that reflect our liberal democratic values.
A further priority is the development of secure and diverse supply chains in those critical minerals, essential for clean energy technologies and military applications.
This challenge, and the related opportunity, is perhaps better understood here in Western Australia than anywhere else in the country.
At present, the supply chain for rare earths is not diverse - a single nation currently accounts for about 85 per cent of the world’s refined rare earths products.
And given its endowment in critical minerals, Australia has a responsibility to contribute to greater diversity of critical minerals supply, as far along the value chain as possible.
The same can be said for lithium.
That effort will yield both a strategic and economic dividend for Australia.
I also look forward to discussions on broader supply chain issues as they relate to our economic, health and social resilience.
Australia is a keen advocate of efforts to keep supply chains open, transparent, competitive, trusted and diverse.
We’ve joined India and Japan to establish a new Supply Chain Resilience Initiative and at home we’ve set up an Office of Supply Chain Resilience.
We’ve launched a $107 million program to remove key supply chain vulnerabilities. At Cornwall, I will point to supply chains for critical medical equipment, PPE and vaccines as key examples where we need enhanced cooperation and I think that view is broadly shared.
Importantly, sovereign capability does not mean we must produce everything we consume here. No economy can or should be self-sufficient in all products and services.
That is why reliable supply chains with trusted partners are so important.
Cooperating on global challenges will be the third focal point of Australia’s participation in the G7 Plus.
We will continue to battle a global pandemic together and there is much more to do to ensure countries ravaged by COVID-19 can respond, particularly with the sharing of vaccines.
Each month, Australia is delivering tens of thousands of vaccines to the Pacific and to our Timor-Leste family to respond to serious COVID-19 outbreaks.
At the same time, we’ve been working with our Quad partners – India, Japan and the United States – to synthesise our financing, research, manufacturing and vaccine access and delivery strengths to help vaccinate our Southeast Asian neighbours.
Our discussions at Cornwall will also focus on the need to do more to prevent a pandemic like COVID-19 happening again.
I will lend Australia’s weight to growing calls for a stronger, more independent World Health Organization with enhanced surveillance and pandemic response powers, as I have articulated before.
And I strongly support President Biden’s recent statement that we need to bolster and accelerate efforts to identify the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. Having led calls for such an inquiry, an independent inquiry, it remains Australia’s firm view that understanding the cause of this pandemic has nothing to do with politics, it is essential for preventing the next one, for the benefit of all people everywhere. It is a very practical, sensible perspective.
Australia also looks forward to participating in discussions on climate and the related energy challenges.
Australia has a strong record of setting, achieving and exceeding our commitments to responsibly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
We are well on the way to meet and beat our Paris commitments, as we indeed meet and beat our Kyoto commitments. This will see emissions per capita fall by almost half, and our emissions per unit of GDP by 70 per cent. We will release our Long Term Emissions Reduction Strategy in advance of COP-26 in Glasgow.
Performance must count in this agenda, as much as stated ambition when it comes to addressing climate change.
In Australia, we have reduced emissions by 20 per cent since 2005. That’s more than Canada, New Zealand, Japan and the US.
In 2020, Australia deployed new renewables eight times faster per capita than the global average, and nearly three times faster than the USA, China and the EU. I don't make those comparisons to reflect on any other nation but more so to highlight the performance that Australia has achieved. And is underappreciated.
We have the world’s highest uptake of rooftop solar – one in four households have rooftop solar systems in this country.
As technologies continue to advance, supported by our $20 billion investment in our technology road map, we expect to do even better than this and will regularly report on our progress. We're one of the few countries in the world that report quarterly on how we perform in this area.
Australia is on the pathway to net zero. Our goal is to get there as soon as possible, preferably by 2050. But we will get there through technology that enables and transforms our industries, not taxes that eliminate them and the jobs and livelihoods they support, especially in our regions.
That thinking drives our plans to pursue technology partnerships with the US, UK, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and reject carbon tariffs, which is simply trade protectionism by another name.
Enabling renewed business-led growth and development is how we restore the global economy.
As leaders of market economies, we must want a business-led recovery, not a government centred and government dependent economic recovery. That is certainly not the Australian way.
To achieve this outcome, advanced liberal democracies have a profound shared interest in rebuilding the growth and dynamism of business-led growth in developing economies in the wake of the pandemic.
Specifically, part of bolstering economic recovery in a post-COVID world should be a stronger offering when it comes to infrastructure investment, particularly in our region.
We need to get the foundations right. Infrastructure that lacks appropriate standards — or that is too expensive, or isn’t environmentally sustainable, or that comes with onerous conditions — just isn’t worth having.
Projects should be high-quality, affordable, and with no strings attached. They should meet real needs and deliver sustainable economic benefits. And they should not compromise countries’ resilience or sovereignty.
G7 and outreach partners can play a very crucial role here, both through our bilateral development programs, and as the major stakeholders of the multilateral development banks – especially by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.
And we can leverage private sector financing and mobilise capital. Ultimately, our efforts should be about giving developing economies options and choices to best meet their needs.
More also needs to be done to provide for a coordinated and transparent approach to resolving the debt challenges faced by many developing economies – and to provide alternative sources of financing.
Absent this safety net and transparency, our neighbours face obstacles to open economic development and can become vulnerable to debt diplomacy.
Finally, as we affirmed at our first meeting of Quad leaders, we must continue to demonstrate that liberal democracies work.
This was a key focus of President Biden. I'd say it was his primary focus when he called the other three leaders together in the first meeting of Quad leaders.
Liberal democracies will always be, in our view, most persuasive based on the power of our example, not our pitch or our preaching.
As Mathias Cormann often reminded us, a great Western Australian and of course now the head of the OECD, he used to remind us around the Cabinet table and many other forums - West Berlin shone bright in an otherwise desolate economic landscape he would say. It was one of the most compelling arguments for freedom that ultimately tore the wall down.
This lesson is one that Australians have long understood.
We know that our influence with others rests overwhelmingly on our success at home – on our open, democratic society; on our belief in freedom and a fair go and how we put that into effect; and on a strong and resilient economy that enables us to fulfil our promise to the Australian people and project leadership abroad.
Our open economic outlook, a vibrant civil society - this underpins our resilience in tough times, and continued stability and prosperity in the long run.
Our success also gives us the confidence and the means to protect and defend our liberal, pluralistic society. To push back against coercion, to maintain our sovereignty and to support others to make decisions that are in their own long-term sovereign interest.
At Cornwall and beyond, our challenge is to show that liberal democracies work for all.
That we can and do find solutions and do deliver for the common good.
It is in Australia’s interests to be dealt into these big discussions about where the world is heading, with our fellow like-minded nations, and I can assure you we are. We are part of the solution.
Our elevated standing in global affairs, our stature amongst our colleagues around the world, has placed us at this table in Cornwall and it is no accident.
We are there because we stand true to our values.
We are there because we have a capability to add value.
And we are there because we are connected and respected, not just within the Indo-Pacific region, but the broader global family of like-minded nations who favour freedom.
So, there will be an Australian voice in Cornwall.
It will be clear and direct.
It will be positive and constructive.
And it will be respectful and confident of who we are as an Australian people – our values, our agency and the positive contribution we make.
Thank you very much for your patient attention.
Press Conference - Sydney CPO, NSW
8 June 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Well, good morning, everyone. I’m joined by the Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews and also by the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police Reece Kershaw and FBI Legal Attaché at the US Embassy Anthony Russo, and welcome, gentlemen. It’s good to have you with us today.
Today, the Australian Government, as part of a global operation, has struck a heavy blow against organised crime - not just in this country, but one that will echo around organised crime around the world. This is a watershed moment in Australian law enforcement history. And at the heart of what our Government has been seeking to do ever since we first came to Government. When we first came to Government, one of our first actions was to ensure that Alex Vella went. Then, the head of one of the most notorious outlaw motorcycle gangs in this country was cut off from Australia and he's never returned. We fought that in the courts and won. Ever since that time, that has set the tone of our Government's approach to dealing with organised crime in this country.
Since then, we have set up the anti-gang's taskforce. We've updated Australia's telecommunications legislation to ensure our agencies can track and take down criminal networks. We boosted the AFP's capabilities to detect, deter and disrupt terror threats and transnational crime with an extra $500 million. Our 2020 Cyber Security Strategy set down $90 million for the AFP to better protect Australians against cyber crime. We have set up the AFP-led Centre to Counter Child Exploitation. In our most recent Budget, we gave the AFP more than $1 billion for a seven-year plan that will help them effectively tackle the risks our community faces from organised crime, criminals and terrorists. Everything we've been doing has been to keep Australians safe.
When I became Prime Minister, I said we needed to keep Australia strong, we needed to keep Australians safe and we needed to keep Australians together. And while the country has faced so many challenges in recent years - floods, fires, cyclones, and, of course, the pandemic, we have never taken our eye a day from the threats that are presented, not only by organised crime, but the threats of terrorism to this country. We have maintained the pace. We have maintained the urgency and we've maintained the application. Our investments to back in our law enforcement agencies, in particular the Australian Federal Police, has enabled them to work as part of major partnerships all around the world and take a leading role to spearhead this assault against organised crime. This has been made possible by not only our belief in our law enforcement agencies, but by backing up that belief with the serious resources they have required to have the confidence to go forward and take part in these significant global operations. But not only take part, but take a leadership role and as I said to be the spearhead against organised crime indeed around the world, as a result of the support that we've provided.
Operation Ironside has now charged hundreds of alleged offenders. Seized millions of dollars in criminal proceeds. Removed weapons from our streets and saved lives. And will continue to. It is an ongoing operation. The operation puts Australia at the forefront of this fight against dangerous organised criminals who peddle in misery and ultimately, it will keep our communes and Australians safer. More than 4,000 police officers across Australia have been involved in this operation. And to their families, we thank them as well, it's tough on occasion and many times, to be in the family of those involved in law enforcement. I know that and I'm deeply thankful to those families who provide some support to our police officers to enable them to do the great work that they do. Today, it is a day to be very proud, those families, of the work that those police officers, your fathers, your sisters, your uncles, your cousins, your mothers, you can be very proud of the work that they're doing today. And I'm incredibly proud of all of those who are wearing blue in this country today.
I might leave it there to pass it on to the Home Affairs Minister to make further comment on the operation. But what's important as we go forward from this point is not just the support that we continue to provide that you see in the budget, but we need to continue to provide our law enforcement authorities with the powers and the authorities that they need to do this job.
I'll go into this later in questions, if you like, but there is a series of pieces of legislation that we’ve been seeking to move through the Parliament, not just in this term, but in some cases over three terms. They need these powers to do their job. The AFP and our law enforcement agencies and other agencies that support them, need the support of our Parliament to continue to do the job that they do to continue to keep Australians safe. Our Government won't shirk from that and we call on all of those in the Parliament to back them in, as we have done for such a long time, and to get the results that in particular we've seen today. Karen?
THE HON. KAREN ANDREWS MP, MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS: Thank you, Prime Minister. Australians should be very proud of the Australian Federal Police. What has been demonstrated today is that here in Australia, we have world-leading policing capabilities. Our Australian Federal Police has worked hand in glove with the US FBI to bring down some of the most significant criminals - not just here in Australia, but right around the world. Of about 9,000 officers that have been engaged in this operation across the world, over 4,500 of those officers came from right here in Australia. The relationship that we’ve been able to draw on particularly with the FBI but other agencies across the world has led to the most significant operation in policing history here in Australia. Some of the statistics, and I will ask Commissioner Kershaw to go through those in more detail, but some of the statistics are, quite frankly, astounding. There have been over 500 search warrants executed. Already, there have been over 200 offenders who have been charged. And the charges laid amount to over 500 themselves. There have been 21 threats to kill that have been disrupted and stopped. 104 firearms have been seized. And there has been over $45 million in assets and cash seized. So this is a considerable operation. We are very fortunate in this country to have police enforcers that are of the capability of the Australian Federal Police. And I will ask now Commissioner Kershaw to add some more detail in terms of the operation that has taken place.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. Commissioner.
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: Thank you, Prime Minister and Minister. The AFP's Operation Ironside has allowed the AFP to inflict maximum damage to serious organised crime, with devastating consequences to those who seek to do harm to Australians and Australia's interests, and today, Australia is a safer country because of this unprecedented AFP-led operation. As the Minister stated, more than 4,000 officers from law enforcement in Australia have been involved in executing over 525 search warrants in every mainland state in Australia. And Ironside has arrested and charged, who we allege, are some of the most dangerous criminals to Australia. We allege they are members of outlaw motorcycle gangs, Australian mafia, Asian crime syndicates and serious and organised crime groups. We allege they've been trafficking illicit drugs into Australia at an industrial scale. Sadly, criminal gangs are targeting Australia because it is one of the most profitable countries in the world to sell drugs, and for three years, this operation has been covert. Australian law enforcement has been arresting and charging alleged offenders and we have prevented tonnes of drugs from coming onshore. We have arrested the alleged kingmakers behind these crimes, prevented mass shootings in suburbs and frustrated serious and organised crime by seizing their ill-gotten wealth.
As of today, we have charged 224 alleged offenders, including 525 charges laid, shut down six clandestine laboratories and acted on 21 threats to kill, including saving a family of five. And seized 104 firearms and weapons and almost $45 million in cash. And these figures are likely to increase over the coming days. Collectively, these alleged offenders are facing jail terms that could run into hundreds of years and some of the charges they are facing carry life imprisonment.
Can I thank the Police Commissioners across Australia who have provided their support and resources for this unprecedented operation in the AFP's 40-year history. And Operation Ironside has been enabled by the extraordinarily smart individuals within the AFP and the unique global reach the AFP has with law enforcement based in 33 countries. Globally today, this operation has seen over 9,000 law enforcement officers deploying to the effort and essentially, the long arm of the AFP has to get longer to keep Australians safe at home and develop the next Ironside. This Operation was brought out of the close long standing relationship between the AFP and the FBI. Our relationships and international networks were mobilised and it is these partnerships that have made this operation a success. Partnering with the AFP, the AFP had access to a new encrypted application named ANOM. And began running it without the knowledge of the criminal underworld. And the AFP provided the highly skilled technical staff and the capability to decrypt and read these encrypted communications sent over ANOM, real time. Giving law enforcement an edge that it had never had before. Essentially, we have been in the back pockets of organised crime and operationalised the criminal takedown like we have never seen. The use of encrypted communication apps presents significant challenges to law enforcement and ANOM has given law enforcement a window into the level of criminality that we have never seen before on this scale. This was a small platform compared to other encrypted platforms and we know that other bigger encrypted communication platforms are being used by offenders to carry out their crimes, and we will work with governments and other agencies to combat the enduring threat of organised crime, ensuring we can continue to innovate and have the technology to disrupt and arrest those who seek to do Australians harm. And I have a message for the criminals targeting Australia and Australia's interests - the AFP will be relentless. We will outsmart you. We will be a step ahead. Operation Ironside is just the beginning. And the AFP is living up to our maxim of keeping Australians safe.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much, Commissioner. I'm going to ask Anthony Russo to make some remarks.
ANTHONY RUSSO, FBI LEGAL ATTACHE US EMBASSY: Good morning everyone. I'm proud to represent the FBI and stand here today with our Australian colleagues. As you've heard this morning, the law enforcement action that has taken place throughout Australia are as a result of significant multi-agency, multinational investigative activity. In today's world, crime continues to transverse international borders. The threats we face are too diverse and too complex for any one organisation to tackle alone. The FBI and our law enforcement partners across the globe recognise this significant challenge and continue to evolve to overcome the complexities presented by the transnational crime that affects us all. Over the years, we have learned that working together is not just the best option - it is the only option. Partnerships are at the fore of everything we do. In just a few hours, you will be hearing from our partners at Europol, including the FBI Assistant Director from our criminal investigative division to discuss what has been happening in Europe during the course of this investigation. And, when you wake up tomorrow morning, the press conference in San Diego, California will have already concluded. Special agent in charge of our San Diego field office, Suzanne Turner, will have explained the origins of the investigation and you will know how we got to where we are today. It has been said that the most effective weapon against crime is cooperation. So, I want to close by thanking the AFP for their commitment to fighting organised crime, their partnership and dedication to addressing this global threat. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you Mr Russo. Just in conclusion and then we'll take questions on the operation, while Mr Russo and the Commissioner are with us. People sitting at home might be thinking - ‘what can we do to help the AFP, in this battle against organised crime in this country?’ I want to make a few comments about illicit drug use in this country. There's nothing social about illicit drug use in this country. It fuels organised crime in this country. It fuels human misery in this country and in many parts of the world. There's nothing social about it. It's dangerous. And all of us have a responsibility, all of us have a responsibility in our own relationships and our own families, in our own communities, to be doing what we can to encourage positive behaviours. Positive behaviours that don't indulge illicit drug use. Illicit drug use ruins lives and it fuels organised crime. You heard it from the Commissioner himself - the reason Australia gets targeted by these criminal gangs is because they believe they can sell their wares. They believe you will be a customer and that you would be inviting them to come and peddle this in our country. On our streets, in our cities, in our regional towns, this reaches right across the country. It's a very serious issue. The AFP will do their job and we'll make sure that they're resourced to do their job. But we all also have a job to do. We all have a role to play. Let's keep Australia safe. Let's ensure that illicit drug use in this country does not steal our futures and particularly for our children. Let's take questions on the operation, of course the Commissioner and Mr Russo will join us to answer any of those questions.
JOURNALIST: Commissioner, who actually set up this app? Was it set up by law enforcement? Or did they later gain access to it? And is it legal or ethical for law enforcement to be controlling an app which uses [inaudible]?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: First of all, it's legal. And we did use the TOLA passed in 2018 for the first time, that's that legislation that we have here in Australia, in combination with a legal authority from the FBI. So there were legal authorities used in relation to this app.
JOURNALIST: Who set it up?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: So the FBI had the lead on this. We provided a technical capability to be able to decrypt those messages.
JOURNALIST: Initially, the FBI could not actually analyse what was being communicated. That's where the AFP stepped in?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: Yeah, as Anthony Russo said, we worked in partnership and we provided a technical capability to be able to do that.
JOURNALIST: Was it true as we read in the paper today that it was done over a couple of beers, from 2018 between the FBI...
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: I wasn't there, but apparently, as you know, some of the best ideas come over a couple of beers and that’s [inaudible].
JOURNALIST: Commissioner, if it was so effective, why reveal its existence now? Why not let it run?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: Part of it has to do with legal authorities. And also, just the scale and the speed of the organised crime and the threats to life and the harm that was being done, it was an operational decision made jointly with all the international partners, including the Europol Operation Taskforce, which is run out of The Hague.
JOURNALIST: Can you expand on the legal authorities part of your answer? Was it that the FBI or the AFP or Europol only allowed this operation, or only authorised it to run for a set period of time? Can you explain that?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: That might be something later on. There is going to be a technical briefing by Assistant Commissioner Ryan. But yes, there was a legal time frame on this operation.
JOURNALIST: Do you think that the people you were targeting had any idea that you were listening and watching?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: No, and these messages... Let me be clear. When you get access, and it will come out in court, you'll see that all they talk about is drugs, violence, hits on each other, innocent people who are going to be murdered. A whole range of things. So there's nothing about... It would be like, "I need 1,000 kilos at this price." Very brazen. We haven’t seen it done like that. No attempt to hide behind any kind of codified kind of conversation.
JOURNALIST: It was there to be seen?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: It was there to be seen, including we’ll have a speedboat meet you at this point, this is who will do this and so on.
JOURNALIST: Commissioner, when this began, did you have any concept of how big it would become?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: We always had intelligence, with the
ACIC, ABF, our other Home Affairs partners and state and territory police on the scale of organised crime. But what we've seen is that our targets offshore are moving at an industrial scale. So this is a business, a global business. So for us, we're going to be attacking their three main arms, which is their logistics, their finance arm and their comms. And the communications, knocking out their communications has been a key part of us disrupting the organised crime and keeping Australians safe.
JOURNALIST: Commissioner, you said that you disrupted a mass shooting in a suburb. Is that a terrorism prevention, can you explain that?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: It's organised crime. So that particular case will come out later on where they were using a machine gun and potentially at a cafe where people would have been no doubt harmed. We were able to, with the cooperation of that particular state police force, take out that individual before they were able to do that.
JOURNALIST: Can you reveal where that was?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: Not at this stage because of the fact that we're still compiling and arresting people in relation to that, and also, there's some matters before the court already.
JOURNALIST: A family of five, you mentioned?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: Yes, a family of five. That was part of the 21 sanctions that we saw. What we call threat to life.
JOURNALIST: Was the family removed? Can you elaborate?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: We were able to get that individual off the street.
JOURNALIST: What information was held back over the years because you didn't want to give away and show your hand?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: We did about approximately... we're still getting the stats. There was probably about 100 relevant arrests over the last couple of years in relation to this operation. Just they weren't necessarily attributed to the AFP and may have been state police arrests.
JOURNALIST: Commissioner, from the feedback you've had from investigators over the past little while, I presume now some of the people that you have got in custody are learning about how it is that they came to be arrested. Just how furious are the criminals that they have been duped?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: Well, they all turn on each other. The other thing that we learnt is that they actually do a lot of business behind each other's backs, including the presidents of various groups and organisations for personal wealth. So there's going to be a whole lot of disruption there, and our state police colleagues are on alert for that. Because there's no doubt going to be some tension within the whole system about who owes what drug debt and so on. So that was pretty brazen to see that they were actually disloyal to their own groups.
JOURNALIST: Can I ask the Prime Minister a question. You're heading overseas to G7. How can Hakan Ayik, who has been on the radar for ten years and everyone agrees that this is one of the people who has been targeted is in Turkey and has been there for quite some time. And he’s still operating as an organised criminal. Have you taken this issue up with Turkey, the Turks, and to try to get him back to Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: I wouldn't go into any specifics other than to say that whether it is there or anywhere else, Australia uses all of its agency to ensure that we can seek to protect Australians. And so, whether it's there or anywhere else, whether it is trying to ensure that we are countermaning any terrorist or any criminal threat, there are multiple engagements we're having at any given time on any number of issues.
JOURNALIST: We talk about this person all the time and he’s the kingpin, everyone says the kingpin and is still operating. Commissioner, what can be done about it?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: I think given the threat that he faces, he's best off handing himself into us as soon as he can.
JOURNALIST: Why?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: What you're seeing is that he was one of the coordinators of this particular device. So he's essentially set up his own colleagues. And my view would be the sooner he hands himself in and to look after his family, he's a wanted individual, the better for him and his family.
JOURNALIST: So he's marked at the moment?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: Probably, yes.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I ask you, has Operation Ironside revealed weaknesses in our border control as far as drug importation is concerned?
PRIME MINISTER: There are three things that we need to do. One of them does relate to air and the transport security laws that are in this country. The first one is there's a surveillance legislation amendment which is about identifying and disrupting, and the AFP and the ACIC powers to combat serious crime on the dark web, and in circumstances where anonymising technologies making detection and investigation of serious crime increasingly difficult. We have a law in the Parliament at the moment which does not have bipartisan support, which we need support for, to give them powers to do that. The Telecommunications Legislation Amendment International Production Orders Bill. That's cross border access to electronic data, enhancing the effectiveness of Australian investigations and protection of prosecutions of serious crimes, including serious terrorism offences. That bill is there. That does not have bipartisan support and we need it passed. And the third one is the Transport Security Amendment of Serious Crime Bill. That is the bill that is needed to stop organised criminals getting access to our wharves and to our airports. We have sought to have this bill passed through three successive Parliaments. And it still continues to be opposed by Labor. Now, this is critical to ensure that criminals don't get on to our wharves. That they can't access security credentials and things of that nature. I don't know why they're being protective. I can't give you an answer to that. We want to shut it down. We've been trying to do it for three terms of Parliament and it's time that these three bills get bipartisan support through the Parliament so the Commissioner and the other Commissioners around the country can better do their jobs. But that said, we have significantly increased our investment in detections at the border. We have significantly put in place the scanning technologies and the many other technological means, budget after budget after budget, to ensure that we can give not just the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, but also of the Australian Border Force, which we established, to do that very job. But when our laws, which we don't have bipartisan support for changing, allow criminals to be able to get credentials and to be able to be on our ports, then that is something only the Parliament can shut down and that's what we need to change and it should be passed now.
JOURNALIST: In Australia's ports and airports caught up in this operation, were communications with these people nabbed in this?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: Yes. So, I can't go into specifics because that's ongoing. But we've certainly established that serious and organised crime have been able to infiltrate that supply chain. And that's something we'll be working with the Border Force, Home Affairs and the ACIC on the wash-up as part of our intelligence and there probably, as I said, will be more arrests in relation to this.
PRIME MINISTER: Can I just add to that. And further to your earlier answer. There was a 2019 assessment done in December by the ACIC. It identified that 227 individuals holding an ASIC or MSIC, the security permit required to work in sensitive areas of airports and sea ports are recorded on the national criminal intelligence target list, including 167 outlawed motorcycle gang members and associates. That's why we need to change that law. And that's why I need it supported by the Parliament.
JOURNALIST: Commissioner, did this uncover any corruption?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: When you say corruption?
JOURNALIST: Like police officers or other high-ranking individuals?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: We have been working with the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity. So where we had intelligence in relation to that, we passed that on to them. That will be something again that down the track, we'll be able to come back to you on with what's occurred there. But, we have seen that trusted insider threat and we've identified some entities and some individuals.
JOURNALIST: Commissioner, is it fair to say that there were police officers or law enforcement officers who had downloaded this app or were using a handset, thinking that it was an encrypted app?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: To my knowledge, not law enforcement officers, no.
JOURNALIST: Commissioner, what kind of inroads has this operation allowed you to get with ransomware? Because obviously that's cutting edge in terms of organised crime at the moment.
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: Well, obviously, ransomware is probably a whole different, cyber crime and we know that that is on the increase. We just encourage Australian individuals and businesses to report it. We think that it is under-reported. There's some allegations and we have the Bureau here, but I don't want to get Mr Russo out here to answer this, but we know that there's some state-sanctioned ransomware attacks by organised crime and we know that they live in hostile countries. But again, we're working in a partnership way with all of our international agencies when we get a complaint.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, a couple of years ago, Australia passed in some circles considered a controversial legislation to do with accessing encrypted messaging apps. Is it the case that America has chosen us as a partner in this operation because of our, perhaps, legal capability, rather than our technical capability? In other words, were we able to do things that other countries were not able to legally able to do?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll leave it to the United States in their various media statements to say what they wish to say. What I know is that the Australian Federal Police and our state law enforcement forces are the best in the world. And that's why countries such as the United States choose to partner with us. And certainly, as a Government, we make no apologies for ensuring that our law enforcement authorities have the powers and authorities they need to stop criminal thugs and gangs.
JOURNALIST: You said in the statement there that there's likely to be extradition requests and we were talking about a certain individual earlier. But can you go into any more detail on who will be sought from overseas jurisdictions?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: Look, not at this stage, given the fact that there's resolution happening within Europe and across the world. So once that's complete, we'll be in a better position to be able to put something out publicly or once we do go overt on some of those targets.
JOURNALIST: Commissioner, are you able to clarify on those laws whether Australia was in a better legal position than many other countries to assist with this operation?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: I think that we've used the laws, operation and successfully, to protect Australians. That's a start. And as the Prime Minister stated, we're really encouraging the Parliament to pass that select bill in particular and the IPO bill, because we need to be ahead. We need to be a step ahead and encrypted comms and going dark on the dark web, as you know, there's multiple crimes. If you go on there right now, you can purchase whatever you want. There's proliferation of child sexual abuse material on the dark web. It's an absolute disgrace. So for us, that's a criminal marketplace that we can't actually penetrate without that legislation.
JOURNALIST: Were these arrests carried out already in Europe and other parts of the world? Or in the States, since this?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: In Europe, yes, there has. And they'll put out their statistics because there's about 18 different countries who have been involved in this operation.
JOURNALIST: And arrests have been made in those 18 countries?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: Yes.
JOURNALIST: Commissioner, a question for you and the same question for Mr Russo immediately afterwards, please. This must provide for law enforcement, a huge reset for organised crime - not only that they have had this app taken away from them right now, but everybody will be looking over their shoulder wondering who has been compromised by your capabilities right now and wondering who they can deal with. You would imagine that business is going to slow very, very quickly, at least for some time?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: Yes, so it will be interesting to see what the response is. But to give you an idea, too. One local chapter we discovered an RMCG were making $20 million net a month out of the peddling of drugs into this country. So we know that that is going to hurt them. And it will be interesting to see what the response is. But one of the things we're going to do now is, as I said - this is just the beginning for us. We're going to push through now. There will be more arrests. There will be a whole range of things we're going to be able to do as a result of the success of this operation and working with the Bureau.
JOURNALIST: Perhaps Mr Russo, from a global perspective, in terms of organised crime and the transnational link between Europe, Australia and Asia - how much will business slow now because of this?
ANTHONY RUSSO, FBI LEGAL ATTACHE US EMBASSY: Well, I'll say this. The criminals should be on notice that law enforcement and partnerships all over the world are resolute in their dedication to collaboration and to continue to evolve our capabilities. And for any organisation to function, no matter what it is, legitimate, criminal or otherwise, the members of that organisation have to be able to communicate. And all of those communications cannot be in person. So when criminal organisations have to engage in the logistics of moving their illicit materials, their money, organising violence, all of that activity has to happen over a communications platform of some kind. And today's announcement and the subsequent announcements over the course of the next day and a half or so, should put them on notice that indeed, there is a robust network of international law enforcement agencies that are resolute in combating this global threat.
JOURNALIST: They would tend to be paranoid by the very nature. We were just hearing from the Commissioner about people doing side hustles behind their boss's backs. The fact that this has exposed so many names. Will this not have every criminal who might’ve been, or even who haven’t used this app, be wondering if someone they're dealing with has, and whether they're being looked at? It must create a good degree of paranoia and a freeze on business.
PRIME MINISTER: Well said! That is certainly our intent, and as a Government, our intention is to ensure our law enforcement agencies, working with their partners around the world, are attacking these organised criminals at every single point. Seeking to frustrate them in every link of the chain. And it is our intention that they are looking over their shoulder, because our law enforcement agencies and the partnerships we have around the world are bearing down upon them. That's what we're doing. We're bearing down upon them. But you know, this isn't over. This is a long way from over. Others will seek to rise up where others have fallen. And as they seek to take it out on each other as criminals inevitably do, there will be others seeking to take advantage. And that's why the resources will continue to flow. The support will continue to be there. And the authorities that they need to do what they do every day and to ensure that Australia can keep winning this fight against organised crime, that will be provided by our government. Now, we've got probably time for maybe one or two more on this matter and there are other, as you can imagine, it is a busy day for the Commissioner and Mr Russo and I'll have to excuse them in a sec.
JOURNALIST: Commissioner, how many people in Australia were using this handset and app combination?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: So we identified around about 1,600 to 1,700, which is a decent figure. It's only 5 per cent, though, of the encrypted comms used in this country. And then about 9,000 globally.
JOURNALIST: And has that number rapidly increased in recent months? When did you see a surge in the use of this?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: It has increased recently and that's partly on the way that it is distributed, which is by hand. And you've got to know someone and you've got to pay a monthly fee to the syndicates who hand those devices out.
JOURNALIST: The irony of course is that the monthly fee was being paid to law enforcement, wasn't it?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: Well, we certainly... I can't go into detail on that. But we certainly were able to see every handset that was handed out and attribute those to individuals.
JOURNALIST: You said 5 per cent, that means that there's 95 per cent that’s not being monitored?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: Yeah you’ve got other platforms, other encrypted comms.
JOURNALIST: There’s a lot going on, so this is a start?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: It is, as the PM said.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned the technical briefing but if we can ask you here. Can you clarify, was the app originally set up as a legitimate enterprise and subsequently taken over by law enforcement? Or was it entirely set up from the start by law enforcement as a sting?
REECE KERSHAW, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: This goes back to, if you remember, Phantom Secure, which was distributed from the US and the Mexican cartels and other organised cartels as a secure comms platform just for criminal networks. This is just the evolution of that product.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much, Commissioner. Thank you, Mr Russo for the tremendous work that you've done together. Time for just a couple more.
JOURNALIST: The Tamil family, how long are they going to remain on Christmas Island? When is a decision going to be made either way?
PRIME MINISTER: As you know, this is a matter going through the court's process that they've initiated and there are some present medical issues involving the family. And they will continue to receive every medical care and that care and where they are treated will continue to be determined by doctors, by the medical professionals who advise us on these matters.
JOURNALIST: Minister Andrews, are you not allowed to intervene and make a humanitarian decision based on what they're going through right now?
THE HON. KAREN ANDREWS MP, MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS: As the Prime Minister has said, there is already a matter before the court in relation to the issue with the young child. That child is now receiving appropriate medical care in Perth.
JOURNALIST: I asked though with the family when they will be released? Court or no court, does the Government have the discretion to make a decision on this?
THE HON. KAREN ANDREWS MP, MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS: We are going through the process now of investigating a range of resettlement options in relation to a number of different circumstances here in Australia. I can't make public commentary on that at the moment because I don't want to disrupt those negotiations.
PRIME MINISTER: And that applies across all cohorts, across all groups, not specifically.
THE HON. KAREN ANDREWS MP, MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS: Yes.
JOURNALIST: We’ve seen the case of Victorians who are unable to go to Queensland even when, for example, a family member who is in ICU or people in Victoria, sorry, in the Queensland quarantine system, who are unable to access to see a new born child. Do you think that that treatment is cruel for those families?
PRIME MINISTER: I've made comments on this in the past. These are decisions for the Queensland Government to make and for the Queensland Government to justify. And I'm not seeking to make any justification of those decisions.
JOURNALIST: They’ve got two cases today. It seems to be in control. Do you think that they should just push the button and open it up?
PRIME MINISTER: I make no secret of fact that I want to see restrictions lifted in Melbourne as quickly as possible. And as safely as possible. The case numbers today are, I think, are very welcome, and I'm sure that that is encouraging to people in Melbourne. In particular today, people can gain access to that Commonwealth disaster payment, the temporary COVID disaster payment and I'll already note that this morning, many have. And that is available online now and through the information that has already been provided. We do want to see it open up as quickly as possible. We do want that to happen safely. And I think that we need to get some perspective, as I said yesterday. Daily in the UK, I'm just about to go and meet with G7 leaders. In the UK, there are 4,695 cases of COVID a day. In Germany, there are 3,026. In Canada, there are 1,962. That's a day. In France, there's 6,563. In Japan, there's 2,510. In Italy, there's 2,346. And in the United States, there's 14,845. In each of those countries, people are dying every day. In this country, you know what the case numbers are. You know how Australians are living safely every day. And that is certainly something that we want to protect. But we've also seen today that S&P have upgraded Australia's triple A credit rating because of the work that Government has done to support businesses and individuals around the country to take us through the COVID crisis, to ensure that our economy and our employment is bigger today than it was before the pandemic started. Australia is stronger today than before the COVID pandemic hit. Now, there are few, if any countries, that can make that claim and have it backed up by what we've seen in that evidence. That will continue so long as we get the balance of risk right in our judgements when it comes to any lockdowns. And it must be proportionate. It must be targeted. It must be temporary. And it must be relieved as soon as possible, and that further restrictions around the country should either not occur at all, or for a very, very narrow set of circumstances. That is how Australia will continue to be successful. And there can be no doubt that Australia has had great success because of great resilience and actions of Australians around the country.
JOURNALIST: Looking back, do you think that Victoria has gone too hard? We're now almost two weeks. Do you think that it was disproportionate to what it should have been?
PRIME MINISTER: I wouldn't draw that conclusion necessarily, and at the end of the day, that is a judgement for the Victorian Government to make. There is nothing to be profited from the Commonwealth Government and State Governments relitigating those decisions. They have to make them. They're their calls and they're responsible for them and it's for state governments to explain and articulate that to their state populations. We are stepping up, once again, as we did during the most difficult days of the pandemic. With support to households and that household support is available right now based on the Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer's assessment of where there is a hotspot and that hotspot determination still remains in place for greater Melbourne.
JOURNALIST: A question about Afghan interpreters please. Translators employed by Australian troops have been put on a Taliban kill list. I'm sure you're aware of this. What is your response for calls for them to be urgently granted protection visas? And what's the time frame for processing humanitarian visas?
PRIME MINISTER: This is something that the Government is very aware of and is steadfastly working through. This is not the first time that we have had to support in these circumstances, bringing people to Australia under the appropriate visa arrangements for humanitarian visas that are in place. We have done this before safely. And we will be able to do it again. But it would be very unhelpful for me to elaborate any further on that issue. We are very aware of it. And we are working urgently and steadfastly and patiently to ensure that we do this in the appropriate way as we have done on earlier occasions. I was the Minister responsible at the time, last time we were doing this, when I was in Immigration, so I'm very well aware of the sensitivities and the need to move swiftly. But also, there are many issues that need to be covered off in how we achieve that.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible].
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not going to offer any further comment than that. Thank you very much everyone, appreciate your time.
Press Conference - North Richmond, NSW
7 June 2021
MS ROBYN PRESTON MP, STATE MEMBER FOR HAWKESBURY: Morning everyone, I’m Robyn Preston, Member for Hawkesbury. This is a serious day for Hawkesbury, we're very excited. There's a $500 million dollar investment in infrastructure from the Morrison and Berejiklian Governments. I have got to say, Hawkesbury people are very excited to find a solution here that gets them off the roads and back to the dinner table in time at night. So I might, Councillor Sarah Richards, if you'd like to stand forward.
COUNCILLOR SARAH RICHARDS, HAWKESBURY CITY COUNCIL: Thank you Robyn. Yes, I am Sarah Richards, a Councillor on Hawkesbury City Council, and in fact a local that lives just a few streets that way. So, very invested in this project and thankful that both governments, state and federal, have come together to deliver this funding for our local community. It is my pleasure today to introduce to you the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, the Premier of New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian, Marise Payne the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Paul Fletcher the Minister for Urban Infrastructure and Andrew Constance the Minister for Transport and Roads. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you Sarah. It's great to be here with so many colleagues here today for a very important infrastructure project for Western Sydney. This is part of a $110 billion investment that we're making right across the country and over the course of the last 18 months, as the Premier knows all too well, we have had many challenges to face. Those challenges, of course, have been in confronting COVID, but it has also been confronting the economic challenges that have flowed from the COVID pandemic. But a mainstay of our economic effort has been continuing to invest in important infrastructure all around the country. That is why today Australia's economy is bigger today than it was before the pandemic started. It is why there are more Australians employed today than before the pandemic started. It wasn't just because of the significant financial support provided through JobKeeper and JobSeeker, cash flow boost, these many projects, but also because of, we've maintained the pace and in fact accelerated the pace of going forward with major infrastructure works all around the country.
Now, it was [inaudible] ago that we stood here as we announced that we'd be committing to this project and we said there'd be more work to do as we would consult with the community and find the best way to ensure that we had this crossing and the various other supporting infrastructure works in a position to go forward. That work's been done. There's a bit more to do. But what we're here to announce together with the New South Wales Government is today that this will be a half a billion dollar project. $400 million of that funded by the Commonwealth Government. And the balance, 20 per cent funded by the State Government. Today, we're amping up again, some $200 million into this project to ensure that this could go ahead. This means getting people home sooner and safer. It means getting to the job site sooner and safer. It means ensuring that the village communities of this part of Western Sydney are preserved and maintained. There's still work to be done to continue to consult and work with the local community. I want to thank the Local Government. I want to thank the community groups and everyone who's worked so closely with this consultation process to ensure we've been able to get to where we are today and we need to keep going down that path to ensure we can have the support project in place for Western Sydney.
This is how you retain your triple-A credit rating. This is how you retain a strong and vibrant economy in the middle of a global pandemic which is raging around the world. This is how Australia continues to go forward and Western Sydney continues to go forward by ensuring that we keep up to the pace with projects and the infrastructure needs that are so urgent and always have been here in the growing regions of Australia and none less so than here in Western Sydney. So I want to thank Premier Berejiklian for her great support on this project. We work together on so many projects and this is just another of them, whether it's out at Western Sydney Airport, the road and rail infrastructure that supports that massive investment here in Western Sydney or indeed this one here that we announce today. But with that, I'll pass you onto the Premier.
THE HON. GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN MP, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES: Thank you, Prime Minister, can I firstly thank you and the generosity you've shown in supporting 80 per cent funding of this project in the State is kicking in the 20 per cent, which is often the case. But, the Federal Government, again, has demonstrated their vision for making sure that infrastructure in New South Wales is achieved. And one thing I'm incredibly proud of is even though we have had our challenges in the last 18 months in New South Wales, there hasn't been a single day where we've had to down tools on our infrastructure pipeline, we've made sure we've kept construction sites open, we've made sure our infrastructure pipeline has been followed through with. So the people of New South Wales can be assured, that when the PM and I announce a project’s being delivered in New South Wales, it will actually happen and we're looking forward to getting on with the job and looking forward to providing relief to the community of Hawkesbury, a community that's been very patient, that's had to go through its own challenges of late. But now can be confident in the knowledge that we care about how much time they sit in traffic, we want them to spend more time with their families or at work, or doing whatever else they want to be doing, and looking forward to getting cracking on the project. I want to thank everybody who's been involved, obviously the Federal Government for their financial contribution but also, the planners at both a state and federal level that have made sure this project is coming to life.
THE HON. PAUL FLETCHER MP, MINISTER FOR URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE: Thank you, Prime Minister and Premier, it's great to be here at this very significant announcement of $500 million in funding for this crossing at the Hawkesbury River. As the Prime Minister mentioned, when the project was first announced, there was a $250 million commitment. But a lot of consultation done on how this project could best meet the needs of both people travelling across the Hawkesbury River, but also the communities of Richmond and North Richmond. And what that has ended up with, following that extensive consultation, extensive design work is a much more extended solution, which bypasses the town centres of both communities. That's a better outcome for people who live in those communities, the significant historical communities. Also, a better outcome for those travelling on this route. There will be time savings of some 12 minutes, multiplied by the 31,000 vehicles that are using this, that's a very, very significant aggregate time saving. Now the Morrison and Berejiklian Governments working together very closely on this project as we are on so many projects across Western Sydney. Western Sydney Airport, the Western Sydney infrastructure plan and so much more. And certainly I work very closely with New South Wales Transport Minister Constance on the details of many of these projects. So I'll pass now to Andrew to tell us a bit more about the project.
THE HON. ANDREW CONSTANCE MP, MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND ROADS: Good morning everybody and to the Prime Minister and Premier, thank you also for backing in what is a wonderful project for the Hawkesbury. I know certainly in terms of the advocacy of both Robyn and Sarah is second to none. This is about returning the villages to the villages and getting the through traffic out of those villages. If you think about 31,000 cars and the choke point that exists currently on the road network, it's about providing that third river crossing. It's about speeding up, the through traffic. And as I said, getting village life back to local residents. This is an 11 kilometre bypass, one which will have a third river crossing of around 250 metre bridge, six intersection upgrades, of course also improvements to the existing road network. It also doubles the flood resilience as well, which is also critically important. And it is the major connection point between the Bells Line Road and of course the Sydney basin. The project itself, will start in terms of major works next next year. There is still some degree of consultation which is happening over the next month, which is really important for locals. And then, of course, at the same time completing the reference design work and getting on with the work next year. Certainly in terms of jobs, this is an infrastructure led recovery when it comes to the pandemic in New South Wales with its, you know, in excess of $100 billion over the next four years, $72 billion into transport and roads is generating some 150,000 jobs in transport, roads alone, in projects like this. This one, 850 jobs. That'll be jobs in Western Sydney, jobs for young people in particular, in some cases apprentices and trainees, who will be working for the first time on a major project like this. So, it's very exciting for all concerned. And I know from the local perspective it's one that will just ease that enormous traffic burden that exists currently.
PRIME MINISTER: Happy to take some questions. Let's talk about the project first, and if there are other matters that others wish to raise, the Premier and I don't mind responding.
JOURNALIST: Did the flood crisis of earlier this year maybe bring this project forward, was that part of the thinking?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I wouldn't say that. This project has been on the consultation path for sometime now and it's been a very exhaustive consultation process, many options have been identified and talked through and I have no doubt there are still some fine points still to be worked through. But that said, doubling the scale of this project in terms of investment from the Commonwealth and State, I think has indicated our willingness to understand what the challenges are, what the community is looking for. You make sure to design a project as best as you possibly can to ensure that it's meeting the needs of the community, providing jobs, supporting the lifestyle, which is very important in Western Sydney, in these areas, and to ensure that at the end of the day, it's helping western Sydney be even stronger than it is today.
JOURNALIST: Some of these people are upset about where this is being announced today, [inaudible], what's your message for them directly? They believe this is the wrong spot and not necessarily [inaudible].
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I understand and I'll ask Andrew, who is best placed to deal with that, but as I say, we'll keep trying to resolve every issue we can. It's a very important project for Western Sydney and we're keen to get going.
THE HON. ANDREW CONSTANCE MP, MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND ROADS: Alex, certainly, I'm going to meet with some of those residents afterwards. But the key point and the reason we're here is about that river crossing and this point, that we are now going to see another river crossing. There is no doubt with the through traffic, it is a major choke point here. And as I said before, we want to return village life to the Richmonds and North Richmonds in terms of those communities, which is what this is about. So that bridge is just there is an example of the choke point that exists currently with those 31,000 cars and that's why we're standing here.
JOURNALIST: We saw during the floods that the Windsor Bridge had been dubbed 'flood proof', and we saw that it wasn't, will this be flood proof?
THE HON. ANDREW CONSTANCE MP, MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND ROADS: I think it's fair to say, I mean, ultimately it's not just about bridge crossings and what have you, the entire road network is subject to floods and in particular the floods that we saw recently, major floods. So the beauty with this, this bridge is going to be six metres higher than the existing crossing. And, you know, ultimately, when you have major flood events, everything gets disrupted. But in terms of this bridge, it is higher, but we've also got the existing challenge in terms of the entire road network. And that is what we have in place, a very comprehensive strategy around dealing with the flood prone nature of the road network in Hawkesbury and making sure that when we do see major events, that we're able to see that infrastructure be resilient and be open as quickly as possible after those major events.
JOURNALIST: How many homes and businesses will be acquired to build this?
THE HON. ANDREW CONSTANCE MP, MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND ROADS: So, in total, there's going to be 21. We have a combination of partial acquisitions and full acquisitions, but I'm going to talk to some of those residents after this and some of those commercial property owners.
JOURNALIST: They're pretty upset. There are some homeowners here that are finding out through this press conference, basically, if they're going to lose their home.
THE HON. ANDREW CONSTANCE MP, MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND ROADS: So one of the challenges is, when we make major infrastructure investments like this, we have to do it in a timely and concurrent way because we have seen and we don't want to see gaming, particularly amongst developers across the city, with such a large infrastructure program. If I had a way in which we weren't able to disrupt people's lives to to build major infrastructure for everybody, I'd love to do it. I know that certainly in terms of the impact for those residents, I'm really sorry that this acquisition process has to happen. One of the things we want to do is firstly make sure that we support them with the appropriate property manager. We handle it sensitively and where possible, particularly through reference design, if there is some slight changes we can make, we'll work through that. But I'll meet with the residents after.
JOURNALIST: Just to clarify, and I note this is [inaudible], there's no toll?
THE HON. ANDREW CONSTANCE MP, MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND ROADS: No, there's no toll. It's like the other motorways we're building at the moment, in Gateway and M12, there's no toll on this road either.
JOURNALIST: The story today in the Herald in regard to Transurban, is a move towards distance based travelling across the board, a potential?
THE HON. ANDREW CONSTANCE MP, MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND ROADS: I'd say this, I mean, first of all, Transurban, like anybody else, can bring an unsolicited proposal to Government, I mean this is a response to a Parliamentary Inquiry. But I'd just say this in relation to to Mr. Minns. He belongs to a party which has delivered more toll roads than any other in the State's history, including the longest tolling concession in 38 years, but also the highest toll. So I mean, unlike Labor, this Government has put in place a regime to support motorists with tolling concession benefits, and at the same time, so many cost of living measures as well. So, ultimately unlike Labor, when he was a staffer in that Government, they tunnel funnelled on the Cross City Tunnel, they tunnel funnelled with the Lane Cove Tunnel so he hasn't got a particularly good track record. And I'd ask everyone to look at the history of the former Government in relation to tolls before taking a lecture from Mr Minns.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible]
THE HON. ANDREW CONSTANCE MP, MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND ROADS: Well, again, this is part of the process, so I'll have a chat to them afterwards. The community has till July to continue to [inaudible] the project. That's important. What we did first up was go out with four route options for the community to consider, part of this and again the key challenge is we do want to try and mitigate against property banking, wherever we can, because I know it's disruptive. And ultimately, I'm sorry we have to go through this, so I'll talk to those residents afterwards.
JOURNALIST: Do you think it's fair though that it's being addressed in a public manner rather than speaking to them before the announcement?
THE HON. ANDREW CONSTANCE MP, MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND ROADS: Well the point out of this is, we do this concurrently, because there's a principle here. We ultimately have to make the announcement jointly, because unfortunately across this city, you don't want to be giving, particularly developers the upper hand in terms of land banking, where we might actually build infrastructure. That's why we do it concurrently like this. And I know it's hard, but ultimately, we have staff who go out and knock on doors and start to talk to people about the process.
LOCAL RESIDENT: [inaudible].
THE HON. ANDREW CONSTANCE MP, MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND ROADS: Yeah, let me talk to you afterwards and we'll let the journos ask the questions.
LOCAL RESIDENT: [inaudible].
THE HON. ANDREW CONSTANCE MP, MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND ROADS: Let me talk to you afterwards.
LOCAL RESIDENT: [inaudible].
THE HON. ANDREW CONSTANCE MP, MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND ROADS: Let me have a chat to you afterwards, but I mean, everyone, as I said, I mean, ultimately with investments like this, everyone is seeking to a) return village life to the locals, b) deal with the through traffic. So I will have a chat to you [inaudible].
JOURNALIST: Premier, on the vaccine. You made comments too this morning in regards to Victoria’s proposal, with the Prime Minister here, are you able to talk about the allocation fairness?
THE HON. GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES: Sure. I mean, look, the PM has to worry about the entire nation, I’ve just got to worry about New South Wales. I’ve just been public about this from day dot and the PM knows, we just want to make sure that New South Wales continues to get our fair share. I mean, we’ve been through outbreaks, there’s going to be more outbreaks. We’re in a pandemic. And look, I appreciate the pain and angst that our Victorian citizens are going through, and our thoughts are with them during this very difficult time, and I appreciate that other states will potentially go through this at different times during the pandemic. We have to be open to that. But at the same time, I think as the Premier of New South Wales, the PM would expect me to say New South Wales should get its fair share during the course of the pandemic. I mean, the Avalon cluster, we had over 170 cases, 30 in one day, we’ve been through rough times in New South Wales and I just say, you know, we're trying to do the heavy lifting with bringing back 3,000 Aussies home every single week. We haven't stopped. We keep bringing Aussies home, 3,000 Aussies home every single week, and I can't tell you the stress that puts on our system to keep everyone safe. So, I think the PM would be disappointed if I didn’t speak up on behalf of my state. I’m simply saying New South Wales has done the heavy lifting. We'll continue to do that. Forty five per cent of people we’ve processed through our state quarantine system are actually citizens of other states. We do that because we're Australian as well as New South Wales citizens, and all I'm arguing, which the PM would expect me to do, is say that New South Wales during the course of the pandemic, in relation to vaccines, doesn't matter which one it is, should get its fair share.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, is it fair that Victoria is now getting this advantage with the extra doses?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, a couple of things. First of all, none of the additional doses that are going to Victoria are coming at the expense of any other state. That's the first point. New South Wales is receiving over 80,000 doses of Pfizer a week this month. That will go to over 100,000 next month. There's an additional 50,000 doses that are going into the GPRC system, and that's as a result of discussions we’ve had with the Health Minister here in New South Wales. An additional 50,000 coming in this month also to New South Wales into the GP system, and I think that's a positive. And what is also very good news is that on the weekend we just went past the five million mark in terms of the number of people vaccinated with a first dose. That's one in five Australians. Now, it took us, it took us over 45 days to get to that first million. It took us 10 days to get to that last million, to get us to five million. So the time taken each, each benchmark is getting shorter and shorter and that's as the rollout continues to gather pace. Now we’re over 800,000 in a week, and that will continue. And I concur with the Premier, New South Wales has done the heavy lifting when it comes to bringing people back from overseas. Over, around 3,000 people a week, and on occasion, more than that when there’ve been special circumstances, such as when we were dealing with repatriating citizens from Lebanon during the terrible explosion last year and New South Wales was the first to provide that support. So we appreciate that. And so, we are continuing to provide those doses and providing further information on the program going out over the next 10 weeks, that should happen in the next few days. But as I said, additional 50,000 going into New South Wales in the GP system. More than 400,000 will come in this week at over 80,000 a week. And next month, that will go up to over 100,000 a week, and the key factor then is for people to come and take those doses.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, [inaudible] would you consider a dedicated quarantine facility at the Richmond RAAF base considering that it kind of fits the criteria, plenty of land, federally owned, 30 minutes from Nepean Hospital, is that something that you’d consider?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, first of well, I’m sure the Premier would concur with me, New South Wales is neither asking for an additional quarantining facility here in New South Wales and nor are we seeking one. 3000 people are coming through every single week here in New South Wales. And that is being done at an incredibly high success rate. So there’s no difference in our view. We’re neither seeking one, nor is New South Wales seeking one. I mean, if borders were in a position of opening in a years time, that is a different situation but if we are in a position to open borders, then the requirement for quarantine will be very, very different to what it is today and I think that is a very speculative position at this point in time. There is also the key requirement in that criteria that we tabled on Friday that it doesn't impact on other Commonwealth activity. Now, it's a RAAF base and it needs to operate as a RAAF base. It's not a medical facility, it’s a RAAF base. And it’s first job is national defence and the work it does to support emergency support and other operations that impact not just here out in Western Sydney but more broadly across the state. So there are no requests for additional quarantine facilities here in New South Wales. New South Wales has been doing the heavy lifting without complaint for many months, indeed over a year and from a national point of view, we are very appreciative of the role they played.
JOURNALIST: Premier, your thoughts on [inaudible]?
THE HON. GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES: Yeah certainly, the point I was making yesterday is not only are we bringing in 3,000 Australian citizens home every week, but currently in our hotel quarantine system, we have over 5,000 residents, 5,000 Australians in hotel quarantine at the moment. The point I was making is we are at our operational capacity, we have no capacity to do more. So if there was any proposal in the future, it wouldn't come from us because we are at stretch point now. The Health and Police have told me, the expert advice is, New South Wales once you get over the 5,000 and sometimes we have creeped up to 5,500 at any one time, once you creep up over that, you really are at a very high risk point. We never want to get to that. That’s why the point I made was, we certainly wouldn't be putting on a request to operate any additional facility because we don't have the capacity, we are at capacity now. We’re doing our bit. However, as the PM said, down the track, quarantine will look different once the majority of our population is vaccinated, and our international borders are open, that is a different question. But at this point in time, we don't have capacity to operate any more than we are doing, that's the point I was making. To equate to what New South Wales is doing, you would have to build 10 such facilities in New South Wales. So whilst no system of quarantine is perfect, it doesn't matter where it is, it doesn’t matter what it looks like, who builds it or who operates it, it's a risky proposition and we do it every day knowing it but it’s the right thing to do.
JOURNALIST: A number of backbenchers and some Ministers have serious concerns about the cemeteries reform. How committed are you to delivering it as announced and will you consider changes to appease backbenchers?
THE HON. GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES: Look, we're always looking at every policy position on every matter and I will continue to consult with colleague on that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on Victoria, with the spike in numbers again today, do you think the lockdown in Melbourne should be extended past later this week?
PRIME MINISTER: That would ultimately be a decision for the Victorian Government, as it always is. The Commonwealth will determine its position through the Chief Medical Officer. We are seeing the cases that are being identified, are occurring in quarantine, and where they are presenting in other areas, they are in contained situations. Let me just sort of give you some context. Every day in the UK at the moment, there are 4,393 cases. That is in a country that has a 75.8% vaccination on first dose. 4,393 cases. In Canada, there are over 2,000 cases every single day. They have a vaccination rate of 67% on first doses. In Taiwan, we are seeing over 450 cases a day. In Korea, we are seeing over 600. In Japan, over 1,700. Here in Australia, we are living in a way with this virus like few, if any other countries other than New Zealand are, in the world. And this is a challenge in Victoria but it's one that will be overcome and it will be one that hopefully will see Victoria opened again soon, particularly for those parents who are having to keep the kids at home away from school. Kids have lost enough time out of school over the course of the last 18 months. It's very important we get those kids back to school as soon as possible. So I am hopeful that these restrictions in Victoria will be lifted as soon as possible, as the Premier herself said, when similar circumstances were faced here in New South Wales the restrictions were contained to a very specific part of Sydney, and so I would be urging that we move towards lifting those restrictions as soon as possible. We will be in a position tomorrow for Victorians affected in Melbourne, to be able to go online and make those applications for the payments I am advised, and there will be further updates provided by the Minister for Services Australia later today to confirm those arrangements.
JOURNALIST: Annastacia Palaszczuk had her injection of the Pfizer vaccine despite being over 50 because she said she wants it in case she goes to the Tokyo Olympics. You had plans to previously go to the Olympics. Are you going to go to the Tokyo Olympics?
PRIME MINISTER: No. I have no plans to go to those Olympics. I'll be looking forward to seeing the Yoshi Suga, the Prime Minister next weekend, this weekend coming, I should say, at the G7 plus meetings which will be incredibly important for Australia, incredibly important to sit down with the leaders of the greatest liberal and largest liberal democracies in the world and some of the largest economies in the world. They have a big impact on where the world is heading, so I am looking forward to those meetings, including with my very good friend Prime Minister Suga and we wish them all the best with the hosting of those Olympics. Could you imagine having gone through all those preparations for hosting the Olympic Games, and then having the world struck by a pandemic. That I know was quite heartbreaking for the people of Japan and so we wish them all the best as they persevere and put these games on. I think that shows tremendous resilience and strength on their part and I will be encouraging the Prime Minister but there are many other issues we will be discussing as well while I am there.
JOURNALIST: And you think it is appropriate to leave at the moment to go to the G7 while Victoria is in a COVID crisis?
PRIME MINISTER: These are incredibly important meetings for Australia's national interest and these matters are being well managed in Australia and I'll be in constant contact with the situation, whether in Victoria or anywhere else, but when you are sitting down with the President of the United States, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, the President of France, the Prime Minister of Japan, our biggest allies and partners around the world, and to have been invited to do so, Australia is not a member of the G7. This is the third year in a row that I've been invited to participate alongside my global colleagues, to focus on the biggest challenges the world faces. COVID and the pandemic, the recession that it has caused, the challenges around climate change, all of this will be key factors in the discussions that we have and, most importantly, global security and regional security here in the Indo Pacific. These are important responsibilities of the Federal Government, the Australian Government, and so I'm looking forward to the opportunity to discussing and progressing these important matters with our global colleagues over the course of the next week. Thank you.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
4 June 2021
Prime Minister: Today, we held the 42nd meeting of the National Cabinet. Our next meeting will be held in person, in Darwin in early July and we look forward to that. It was, again, a very positive and very constructive meeting, dealing with the challenges of COVID-19 together, working together to deal with those challenges and to deliver solutions and responses in a collaborative and cooperative way.
Today, the Premier of Victoria and I concluded a memorandum of understanding to develop a new quarantine facility in Melbourne. That facility will both assist with the Victorian Government who will run the operations of that facility. We will develop the facility together with the Victorian Government, but the Commonwealth Government will meet the capital costs of that and the Victorian Government will meet the operational costs and run the facility. This will both assist them and the risk management of the various groups that they are providing for in the quarantine system as well as delivering additional capacity for the quarantine system in Victoria and that is a very welcome process that we have been through with the Victorian Government. A very, very good proposal. One that I was very pleased with when I first saw it and I want to thank our officials and the Victorian officials working so quickly through to the agreement we reached today.
We also noted today, the temporary COVID disaster recovery payment that I announced yesterday. We discussed the cost sharing arrangements and have agreed nationally across the country that the cost sharing will work on the basis that the Commonwealth will provide the direct personal income support, that is through the temporary disaster recovery payment for COVID and that state and territory governments will meet the cost of business support that are as a result of lockdowns that may be put in place by state and territory governments, so it is a very clear allocation of responsibilities. We will do the individual support after seven days, consistent with a hotspot, as I announced yesterday. For business support, that will be the responsibility of state and territory governments to ensure that there is as much uniformity and consistency in those business support arrangements that has been referred to the meeting of treasurers who will seek to get some consistency in the business support provided in those circumstances. But we are all agreed that the best thing we can do is ensure that we open up states, territories, cities as quickly as we possibly and safely can and I know that is the objective of the Victorian Government and all other state and territory governments to ensure that such payments are not necessary because we are keeping Australian open and keeping our economy moving ahead as the national accounts have demonstrated as we found out over the course of this week.
We also referred to the medical expert panel, the AHPPC, the post-quarantine testing arrangements, that is a matter that the AHPPC has considered on many occasions and in review of events over the last few weeks, it was considered appropriate the AHPPC consider some uniformity between how those matters are considered by states and territories and I’ll ask the Chief Medical Officer to speak more on that when he makes his remarks in a few moments’ time.
We discussed the vaccine rollout. I would say it was a positive discussion about the vaccine rollout among Premiers and Chief Ministers and the Commonwealth today. It has been another record day, I can say 143,659 doses delivered in the previous 24 hours. We are now over a million doses in ten days. We are now over three quarters of a million doses in the space of a week and that is a significant improvement from when I brought National Cabinet back together back in April and we put in place those new arrangements, which has seen us grow from about 320,000 a week, now to three quarters of a million a week. So that has been a significant improvement. And I thank the states and territories and the Commonwealth agencies that have been involved in ensuring that we can move to that level of dosing and both the Health Minister and the Secretary of Health will make further comments on those matters. In particular, it was agreed today there will be further simplification of the arrangements on the vaccination programs and that will include bringing forward access to 40-49 year-olds for their doses by June 8 and I’ll ask the Secretary to speak more to that.
On aged care, a very clear message from all states and territories together with the Commonwealth. It is very important, it is a high priority for those who are working in residential aged care facilities to be vaccinated. That is why, both through the Commonwealth and the state and territory governments, priority is being afforded to those workers to get vaccinated through the many points of presence afforded to them and that includes fast lanes, green lanes, priority lanes that are put in place by states and territories as well as through the GP program for them to have priority with appointments. In addition to that though, we agreed to an in-principle disposition - now, what does that mean? We are leaning heavily into this, make no mistake, we are leaning heavily into this as leaders of governments and myself as Prime Minister, to see us move towards a mandatory vaccination for aged care workers. We have had further advice from the AHPPC, which means we have tasked the AHPPC to advise us how this can safely be done including a suitable timeframe by which that could be achieved and so we will be expecting prompt advice back from the AHPPC about how we can introduce such an arrangement. For vaccinations to be made mandatory for aged care workers, that has to be done by public health orders at a State level, as it's done for flu vaccinations and followed in many states and territories around the country. Ultimately, that is finally a determination of the states and territories but there was an agreement and I can assure you, I was firmly of this view is supported firmly by states and territories. But there was an agreement and I can assure you I was very firmly of this view and supported strongly by states and territories, that we need to look at how we can do this safely. But the first point is, if you're working in aged care, indeed working in disability care, I should have noted that both of those have been referred to AHPPC, we encourage you to go and get that vaccination. There are numerous points of presence, numerous places where you can go to receive your vaccination. But, the first priority of course was to ensure that residential aged care facility residents themselves were vaccinated because they were the ones most at risk and I will ask the Aged Care Minister, who is also the Health Minister, to make reference to those issues.
The vaccination certification, and this has been a topic of some conversation over the past month, the vaccination certification is already present within the Services Australia system, but it will soon be available through the Medicare app and ultimately in the form of a digital wallet that can be used by citizens. That will be available in July, there is already the Medicare reference that you can get through the Medicare app which we anticipate to be available this month. That is a tool that can be used by states and territories, in particular we discussed the many exemptions that states and territories provide, when we’re in a situation exactly like we are now, with Victoria, and there are states and territories that are providing, sorry, that are imposing restrictions on people’s ability to travel and it will be open to states and territories to include an exemption if they so choose. There was no agreement on this, there is simply the opportunity for them to take this up if they wanted to provide an exemption in those circumstances where people had their vaccination in place, then they can do so.
On the issue of caps, I appreciate the work that has been done by States and Territories to maintain the air access for people coming back to Australia. I particularly thank the Western Australian and South Australian Governments who joined New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria in welcoming back repatriation facilitated commercial flights from India and they will be joining those in the week ahead and that is enormously helpful.
We also discussed the success of the India pause. The India pause proved very effective. It came at exactly the right time and its intent was to prevent a third wave in Australia and while we have a challenge in Victoria, it would not be described in those terms and, what is important is that pause has seen the effect of reducing both the number of cases that have been presenting in quarantine and the caseload of cases in quarantine came down dramatically and that has enabled us now to move to the position where those repatriation flights have been coming in, the use of rapid antigen testing means that we are getting very high levels of occupancy of those flights, the take-up of those flights coming back in repatriation and that is a positive thing and I thank again the states and territories for their support in supporting that pause and they were also appreciative.
We also had today Adrian Schrinner, the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, representing the capital city mayors, discussing the very important issue of how we need to revitalise our CBDs. And Premiers and Chief Ministers and I have a very simple message, and that is it’s time to get back to the office. Obviously not in Victoria at present but even coming into the recent lockdown in Victoria, moving in that direction, almost entirely around the country. State Government employers and the Federal Government employers are saying it is time to come back to the office and here in the ACT in particular, with Commonwealth employers we have been saying that for some time, as other states have in other jurisdictions. But, the challenge is that we have got many corporates, particularly corporate headquarters of companies that are headquartered globally overseas, who are using US or European or UK rules regarding people's presence in the office, they are not appropriate to Australia, they should be indigenised to Australia, we have been encouraging them to standardise the working arrangements to be consistent to what is happening here in Australia and not overseas. I know the BCA supports that position very strongly. We would encourage private employers to move in that direction. That will be good for jobs, good for the beating heart of our cities and I thank very much the Lord Mayor of Brisbane for his presentation today and it was well received by my colleagues. Also following from that, is we are going to be referring to the AHPPC to review the impact of those density guidelines in offices to ensure that that is not presenting an obstacle to people coming back to the office and they will report shortly.
Now, before I hand you over to the Health Minister and Aged Care Minister to comment further, as our vaccination program is now moving into a further phase and following the pending retirement of Health Associate Secretary Caroline Edwards, I'm pleased to announce today the appointment of Lieutenant General John - better known JJ - Frewen as the head of the National COVID Vaccination Task Force. JJ Frewen, Lieutenant General JJ Frewen has been leading the operation COVID Assist within Defence now for some time and with Caroline's pending departure, and I want to thank Caroline Edwards for the great work that she has done not just during the course of these past four, five months but indeed right throughout the course of the pandemic, as Brendan would know and Brendan was in the role as CMO, she was acting as Health Secretary during that period for much of that first phase of the pandemic and did an extraordinary job and we wish her all the best and thank her for her work. This change though gives us the opportunity to step up another gear. Some years ago, you might recall, there was an operation called Operation Sovereign Borders, I put in place at that time with Prime Minister Abbott, a completely new organisational structure to for getting a whole of government effect on a very big problem. It worked on that occasion and I think moving that footing now will further improve how we’re working in the vaccination program. Lieutenant General Frewen will have direct operational control across numerous government departments for the direction of the national vaccination program and all of those working in that program, from communications to dealings with states, to the distribution and delivery of vaccines and all of these matters, and the ramp-up, the scale-up, the working with the GPs, pharmacists and others, this will all come under the direct control of Lieutenant General Frewen. Commodore Eric Young will continue in his role as head of operations at the Commonwealth vaccine operations centre. So, this is in addition to, not in replacement of, and we much appreciate the work that Commodore Young has been doing and so we're stepping that up to another level. The single goal of the taskforce is to ensure as many Australians are vaccinated as early as possible and within the available supply and so look forward to Lieutenant General Frewen taking on that role and I think that very direct command and control structure that has proved to be so effective in the past will add a further dimension and assistance as we step up in this next phase. Thank you very much. Greg?
The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Heath and Aged Care: Thanks very much, Prime Minister, and I’ll address briefly the rollout, the taskforce and new rules in relation to aged care. In relation to the rollout, as the Prime Minister said, another record day - three record days of vaccinations in a row. Australians are stepping forward and I really want to thank them. We ask them, we challenge them to come forward and not to wait, and they’re doing this in record numbers and they’re protecting themselves and they’re protecting all Australians. As part of that, as the Prime Minister mentioned, 143,000 Australians came forward yesterday and over 4.78 million Australians so far. We have now reached 20 per cent of the adult population having had first doses across the country. Very significantly, what we see is that the states have been doing a tremendous job - over 1.75 million doses - and over three million doses delivered through the Commonwealth programs of primary health and aged care. Primary health is now at 2.66 million. Very significantly, we have seen over 37 per cent of the over 50s vaccinated around Australia, including 40 per cent in Victoria, and over 56 per cent of all Australians over 70 vaccinated, including 57 per cent in Victoria. In recognition of the rates that are occurring in Victoria, we will be providing 142,000 Pfizer doses over today and next Friday. So, 71,000 today, 71,000 next Friday, to Victoria. Our latest inventory is that they have approximately 320,000 doses on hand - 160,000 Pfizer, 160,000 AstraZeneca. And for the primary care, our GPs, we will be increasing the weekly doses available from 91,000 this week to 142,000 next week. So Victoria is doing a great job on all fronts. It’s the public that are coming forward, whether it’s the state, whether it’s the GPs, it’s a tremendous outcome.
Just in terms of the taskforce, delighted to welcome General Frewen. His work through Operation COVID Assist and leading the Defence Force where I’ve had the privilege of working with him. Caroline Edwards has been one of the great servants of the nation. She’s retiring and I’m really desperately sad about that, but in the darkest of days last year, she and others were working 20 hours, sometimes 24 hours, and the gruelling pace is just incredible. And so whether it’s Caroline or Lisa Schofield or Lisa Peterson, obviously Brendan and Paul, I want to say a special thanks. It is unbelievable, the service and the pressure that these people have given, these genuine public servants, in the best of the term, and Caroline embodies and exemplifies that. But we have General Frewen, we have Commodore Young, we have the team that’s in place, and what this does is it allows us to move to the next phase of strengthening the operations as we move in July with greater Pfizer coming on board, recognising that the over 50s, at some point, will begin to meet their demand, which will moderate the over 50s, and that’s why the Prime Minister and National Cabinet have moved to open the over 40s within the available supplies of Pfizer.
Then, finally, I want to say that to support the decision taken by National Cabinet to refer the question of mandatory vaccination and the disposition of National Cabinet to refer the question of mandatory vaccination for aged care workers to the medical experts, overnight I have taken the decision, which has been done in consultation with the aged care sector, that to make mandatory from 15 June the reporting of all aged care worker vaccinations. So we know that at this point in time we have 78,000 vaccinations of aged care workers, but aged care workers can also be vaccinated outside of the facilities and so we have asked all facilities to step forward and they will, it will be mandatory for them, where an aged care worker has been vaccinated outside that facility, to provide that information so as we have a full accounting for every facility for every aged care worker. Thank you very much.
Professor Paul Kelly, Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer: So, the epidemiology this week has, which I reported to National Cabinet, has obviously been dominated by issues in Victoria, with a twist this morning. The Victorian Public Health, Chief Health Officer and Professor Sutton did talk about this, I believe, at a press conference earlier, that the case that has been identified, the family that was travelling in New South Wales and in Jervis Bay appears to have a different genomic structure to that virus, and so that’s another mystery for us to work on, and right now the AHPPC is meeting to discuss that. There was a meeting earlier today with Commonwealth, ACT, Victoria and New South Wales Chief Health Officer's or representatives on that meeting to discuss that. But this is another new variant. It appears it’s the Delta variant, that’s one of the others that is associated with India, but different to the Kappa variant that has been circulating in Victoria over the last couple of weeks.
The other update I gave, and the PM’s already mentioned this, the issue of returnees from India. Highly successful in what is happening on the ground in Delhi, and I certainly would give credit to Qantas in relation to what they are doing with the Australian Government on those facilitated flights. And there’s further discussions with other commercial providers to do something similar. But those pre-testing arrangements, the bubble hotel in Delhi, and the mask wearing on the flights appear to be successful, in conjunction with the decrease in the cases in India over the last few weeks. And so we have seen a very low number of positives that have come in the large number now of facilitated flights that have come back from India since the pause was completed. To the point, we’re seeing less than one per cent positivity, which has been our average throughout, from all countries around the world, during the pandemic. So that was the issue.
Do you want me to talk about the aged care workers? Yeah. So just in relation to the work that AHPPC has done in relation to aged care worker vaccination and mandating that, there were a few issues that were raised and unanimous with the group, and I think it’s important to understand that. We are all, of course, wanting to protect our most vulnerable Australians. That’s largely been done in relation to the rollout throughout the country to every residential aged care facility, and high rates of vaccination there. But this extra protection is important. And I would join the Prime Minister and all the premiers and chief ministers today in really asking all aged care workers to go and get vaccinated. We need to and we are making that access as easy as possible, making that availability there as well. The issue of knowing how many people have taken up that in a voluntary capacity, Minister Hunt has spoken to. That will be much improved with that mandatory reporting from employers, and that’s important to see. But we also need to balance that unintended consequence potentially of affecting the workforce in our aged care facilities of course. And we saw this last year when large numbers of workers were furloughed because of contact with COVID-19. That can have a devastating effect on all of the other elements in relation to caring for our most vulnerable Australians in that setting. So we need to weigh that up. The Prime Minister and their first ministers have given us that task, to go back and say that, give adequate warning, and as much as possible make the vaccine totally accessible to that staff, and if it needs to be mandated after that, then that’s the task at hand. Thank you.
Prime Minister: Thank you, Paul. Brendan.
Professor Brendan Murphy, Secretary of the Department of Health: Thanks, Prime Minister. I'll be brief. I'd like to start by also saying that I welcome General Frewen, working with him. I’ve known him for a long time, he’s a great colleague, and my team in the Department of Health will be really pleased, the 400 wonderful people who have been delivering the vaccine rollout, will be very pleased to work in his leadership. And I also want to acknowledge the great contribution that my dear friend Caroline Edwards has made to basically saving the nation over the last 18 months.
Minister Hunt’s spoken most about the vaccine rollout, I'll be brief. But it is going very well. We have, we will be close to five million doses by the end of this week. People are turning up. And it is unfortunate that complacency had to be shaken up a bit by a small outbreak in Victoria, but that’s the silver lining in that cloud of our friends in Victoria, that people are turning up.
I want to particularly address a statement that I made at a press conference on Monday. I want to talk to our over 70s, who are the people who have a 10 per cent risk of dying if they get COVID. We have seen in Victoria that outbreaks can and will occur. We’ve vaccinated, as Minister Hunt said, well over 50, or over 50 per cent of our over 70s, but we need all of you to turn up. We need all of you to turn up. Don't be frightened. The AstraZeneca vaccine in the elderly, we have, it’s a very, very rare side effect. And as I said on Monday, you are 10,000 times more likely to die of COVID than get a clot from AstraZeneca vaccine if you're over 70. And all of, nearly all of the over 70s we've seen have had very mild instances, so please protect yourself and turn up and get vaccinated, particularly our over 70s who are at a very, very high risk of a very bad outcome from COVID.
Just on the changes to the rollout, it’s basically a simplification, many states and territories have started offering access to Pfizer for the 40-49s. We now have enough capacity in our Pfizer clinics to make that a nationwide process. We’re also ensuring that all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders from over 16 can now access vaccines because of the higher health associated risks even in people under 40 in that group. And we’re also allowing full access to people on the NDIS and their associated carers, if they’re over 16 years of age. So they’re simplifications. We will look at what happens over coming, coming weeks with the over 40s uptake, and in future we will make further changes endorsed by National Cabinet. So I’ll stop there PM.
Prime Minister: Thanks Brendan. Mark.
Journalist: Prime Minister, we remember you well telling us that Operation Sovereign Borders was needed because our borders are being allowed to run out of control. Why shouldn't this announcement today be seen as an acknowledgement by your Government that applying that template now means that the vaccination rollout is in crisis?
Prime Minister: I wouldn't describe it like that, Mark. That’s, I simply wouldn't accept that proposition that you’ve put forward. With the retirement of Caroline Edwards, there’s an opportunity to scale up again. And as we’re going to move into the busiest phase of the vaccination program in the second half of this year, particularly as we lead into that very significant rollout that will occur largely, we believe, from about September through to the end of the year when the Pfizer doses, and Greg might want to join me here on this, it is important to ensure that we’re got every focused effort we can have on this program. One of the reasons why Operation Sovereign Borders worked so well was because it really did integrate the whole of government approach, and as we move into that phase, this is a great opportunity to take that next step. And that’s exactly how I’d describe it. We are taking the next step and we’re going to the next level.
Journalist: [Inaudible] disposition, as you described it, and perhaps Professor Kelly could help on this, what is it that the AHPPC hasn’t already told Premiers that they need to know before they issue one of these orders, and did we see when Premier McGowan mandated quarantine workers in WA last year to get vaccinated, were there any sort of effects, adverse effects on the workforce caused by that?
Professor Paul Kelly, Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer: So I think I sort of talked through the issues that were occupying the minds of the AHPPC. There will be a formal statement published from the National Cabinet. Just to quote the last line, “AHPPC will continue to monitor the situation and provide advice to National Cabinet including on any evidence supporting a future move to mandatory vaccination.” The issues that were occupying them was, the most important one was that balance I was talking about before of unintended consequences. The last thing we want is, and this relates to your question about the security guards, there was an issue, that was mandated with security guards in WA using a public health order. Some people chose to leave the industry. Now, we know that that could be an issue so we don't want that to be an issue. Want people to come forward and volunteer to be explained what the issues are, make sure we are really focusing on our culturally and linguistically diverse workforce that are often working in these particular settings to make sure they have the full truth and understanding of the vaccine. Do all those things. Get the data, was the other thing. Is this really an issue? Are people actually coming forward? And others have mentioned that we will have much better data in coming weeks in relation to that. And then, if that extra thing is needed, we will definitely go to that point.
Journalist: What sort of a time frame are we looking at, like when will you need ...
Prime Minister: What we have asked the AHPPC to do is to advise a suitable timeframe in which a mandatory vaccination of aged care workers would be suitable and safe from a medical perspective and taking into account the balancing risks that you would have to consider and the issue of putting strain on a residential aged care in particular and disability care workforce, ensuring we have enough of those workers. If that not there then that can present other risks to residents. And so we want to be confident that that risk wasn't realised. And so what is an appropriate time frame over which you could put in place a requirement for mandatory vaccination, that is one of the specific things we have asked the AHPPC to tell us. And so we’ll let them have their consideration and advise us what would be a safe period to have such a mandatory vaccination time period.
Journalist: Will there be consideration for the aged care workers of how to get the vaccines for them, pop-up clinics or something like that so that they’re not having to try to get into see a GP? And just, I wanted to ask about the payments, the emergency payments as well.
Prime Minister: Go ahead.
Journalist: Yesterday, you said you were hoping to, that the cost sharing on the emergency payments would end up being split 50-50 on those income payments you announced yesterday and today you’ve said the Commonwealth is going to be picking up 100% of the tab for those, so what happened there?
Prime Minister: No, I think you've misunderstood me. What I said yesterday was that we would work out the arrangements between states and territories. What was important is that people understood a payment was going to be made. Now, I was clear very yesterday. There is a cost sharing arrangement. What I was proposing yesterday was there were two options that we considered, and I outlined these yesterday at the press conference. We either go 50-50 on both payments, 50-50 on the business and 50-50 on the individuals payments, or we do the individuals and the states do the business. And I was happy with either outcome because both of them involved cost sharing between the states and territories. And so it was believed that the most straightforward way to do that was simply for states to do the business and we will do the individual payments. It that was agreed that it was important we have a universal position across the country on that issue. And that reflected the fact that it is the Commonwealth who will be doing the individual payments and it is the states and territories who are actually doing the business payments. So the citizen facing side of this, people would have seen no difference to either way. It is just how the accounts were reconciled at the end of the day. So I think this is a very fair arrangement, states are looking after business payments and we will be addressing individual's payments after that seven day period. But Greg, on the other matter?
The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health and Aged Care: So just on aged care workers, what we’ve wanted to do is make sure that they have multiple options and ways in which to be vaccinated. So there are five different channels for aged care workers. Obviously, the in-facility vaccination. Now we also have established roving clinics, in New South Wales it’s pop-up, in Victoria its roving, which is appropriate for the circumstances. There should be 50 vaccination services provided during the course of this week through the roving clinics. Then for individuals who seek to get their own, they can go to the GP, they can also go to Commonwealth clinics or they can go to the state clinics, and some states and territories, in line with the decision of 22 April of National Cabinet, have set up priority pathways and we thank them for that.
Journalist: Prime Minister, you’ve decided to go against the advice of the AHPPC when it came to pushing for these to become mandatory for aged care workers. Why did you decide to go against that advice on this occasion, and did states and territories all agree on that and I also wanted to get a question to the CMO if I could on, is AstraZeneca less effective on the Delta variant?
Prime Minister: On the first point, we have not gone against the advice. What we have said is we have referred back to the AHPPC this question, on the basis of our disposition which was the view right across all states and territories, about how this can be safely done. And so ultimately this is a matter that we are seeking the AHPPC's medical advice about how that can be safely achieved. And the issues that the Chief Medical Officer has raised are very valid issues. They are the same points that both the Health Minister and I have raised when we have addressed the issue of aged care workforce before. But there was a very strong view that whatever we can do to encourage the take-up of vaccines amongst the aged care workforce and disability workforce then we should be doing that. And this is one such option, but we want to do it safely and that is why we have referred how to do it safely to the AHPPC. So I wouldn’t share the view that the National Cabinet at all has gone against medical advice, we are actually seeking it. Paul?
Professor Paul Kelly, Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer: I think I’ve [inaudible] on that one. So the Delta.
Journalist: Is [inaudible] less effective on the Delta variant?
Professor Paul Kelly, Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer: So, the Delta variant, so back story, there is now a decision during this week by the WHO to simplify the way that these variants of concern that have been emerging around the world are being labelled. So this is the third attempt. One was where they were first being found, the second was a very long series of numbers and letters which was becoming difficult to remember even for epidemiologists. So I welcome that simplicity. So both the Delta and the Kappa variants are ones that have arisen from India. We have seen a little bit of both of those variants here in Australia, you might remember the gentleman from NSW probably about six weeks ago now, that was a Delta variant. So we have seen that but very rarely in Australia. The Kappa variant we hadn’t really seen until this current outbreak in Melbourne. In terms of vaccine, so these are variants of consent usually for three reasons. One is they are more transmissible or they’re more severe, cause more severe illness or they interfere with vaccine efficacy. This one we know is more transmissible, and that’s been discussed a lot in relation to the Victorian outbreak. In terms of severity, we’re not seeing that, we haven’t seen a large increase in hospitalisations. In fact, most of the people that have been picked up in Melbourne have been asymptomatic or mildly ill, so that’s good news. In terms of vaccine efficacy that is to be seen. There is some preliminary work out of the UK, where they have been seeing this variant which suggests that there may be a lower efficacy of AstraZeneca but it is not zero and that is very preliminary laboratory work. We know that we need to wait for that real world experience which comes only when you have large outbreaks which I'm really sure that we won’t be having in Australia.
Journalist: Prime Minister, on the vaccine rollout, it’s good that we’re having record days but we also spent $24 million on ads, millions on management consultants, and we’ve still got a roll out that’s slower than comparable countries, supply issues, vaccine hesitancy. Was it a mistake to outsource so much of that rollout to the private sector? And why are we not getting bang for our buck here?
Prime Minister: I would say that today, we have a situation with three quarters of a million doses are being delivered a week, which is more than double what we were seeing about six weeks ago, and we’ve got doses running at more than a million every ten days and this continues to scale up. And in relation to comparable countries, I mean, when you look at comparable countries to Australia's COVID experience, like New Zealand in particular, I think that is a very good comparison to make but there are others, and when you look at those countries where there hasn’t been a prevalence of community transmission and you’re faced with those challenges, you’ve seen vaccination rates which are much lower. So I wouldn’t agree with your summary and would simply say that the task ahead of us is still great and I welcome General Frewen to come and take on this role which will take us into the next phase. This is just about dealing with challenges, dealing with issues and ensure that we continue to strengthen it and the roll out gathers further pace. That’s what’s occurring. And we will use every resource, private, public, GPs, right across the country, to get the job done. And that’s what I am focused on. I am just getting the job done. Working with the states and territories to get the job done. That’s what Australians care about. Australians care about us just getting it delivered, getting it on the ground, increasing the points of presence, bringing it into as many parts of the community as we possibly can, as quickly and as safely as we can. That’s what we’re doing. Last question.
Journalist: Have any of the states raised concerns about mandatory vaccinations for aged care workers, and what were those concerns? Quick one for the Minister as well, given the current demand for vaccines in Victoria, will you ask other states and territories to redirect some of their allocation to Victoria?
The Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Minister for Health and Aged Care: So we’ve just announced additional vaccines for Victoria from the Commonwealth supply. As I say, we've gone from 91,000 to 142,000 for the primary care. There are 320,000 vaccines on inventory, on supply within the Victorian Government system and as I have mentioned, we are providing 71,000 Pfizer today and 71,000 Pfizer next Friday to Victoria and so, as well as an additional 130,000 AstraZeneca to Victoria. So that is our part. If other states and territories wish to provide, if they had surplus, that would be a matter for them. But it’s our job to meet demand and to supply within the existing supplies, and that’s what we’re doing. I will just say one thing, supply determines the roll out and we are working to that maximum capacity and as supply has increased so has the roll out and so has the uptake and I think that is a very important thing. The other thing is just to say what we have done all along, what’s protected Australia, what’s allowed us to have no lives lost this year from cases caught in Australia, and of course that can change in any one day, it’s that we have always adapted as quickly as possible. We’ve followed the medical advice but we’ve led in and we’ve adapted. And those are the two things which have allowed us to be where we are.
Prime Minister: And on the other matter, there was another part to the question, all states and territories are in agreement with the in-principle disposition on mandatory vaccination of aged care workers as I described it to you today, and the reference of that matter to the AHPPC for further advice. Last question.
Journalist: I’m sure you’ve seen that report that Fairfax and Nine newspapers are reporting that the ABC bosses blocked a Four Corners episode linking you to a QAnon figure. Are you concerned the ABC is involved in so-called vigilante journalism, were the allegations put to you, and what is your connection to the man at the centre of that story?
Prime Minister: I find it deeply offensive that there would be any suggestion that I would have any involvement or support for such a dangerous organisation. I clearly do not. It is also just very disappointing that Four Corners in their inquiries would seek to cast this aspersion not just against me but by members of my own family. I just think that is really poor form. Thank you very much.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
3 June 2021
Prime Minister: Thank you, everyone. I'm joined by the Treasurer and the Minister for Emergency Management, to make some announcements regarding support for locations defined as a Commonwealth hotspot that are impacted by state public health order decisions that extend for more than seven days.
We don't have to fear this virus. We haven't got where we are till now by fearing this virus. The success Australia has had compared to so many other countries around the world, both from a health perspective and from an economic perspective, has been achieved because we worked together. Australians have been resilient, they've gone about the things that have been asked of them time and again that can be very demanding and come at great personal cost. And they haven't done that out of fear, they've done that out of determination and resilience and out of strength and their good character. And that's what we as a government continue to rely on and draw upon as we continue to make our way, our Australian way, through this COVID-19 pandemic, which as we know, continues to rage and it continues to seek out opportunities here in Australia to spread. But it is not something we fear, it is something we fight. It is something we address and we do it safely, we do it effectively, we do it collaboratively and we do it together and that is why we have had so much success to date. But the challenges keep coming, as we have seen and Victoria, as we saw indeed earlier this year, whether it was in the Northern Beaches of Sydney or south-western Sydney, up in Brisbane, over in Perth, and now again here in Victoria. And we know that Victoria, more than anywhere, has suffered greater than any other part of the country. That is a simple fact. And they are going through that even again now.
What is important, is that we ensure that the decisions that are made are commensurate with the risks that are faced to avoid any unnecessary hardship on Australians and that there is a balance of those risks assessed so that the harm we seek to prevent is not exceeded by the harm that is imposed by the various measures that could be put in place. And that is a decision that governments honestly have to make. We respect those decisions. Commonwealth, State Government, Territory Governments, all have got to make those calls. Doing it on the basis of the best possible advice and the judgement of those who are making them. The Commonwealth doesn't seek to intervene in those decisions of those of the state but as we have demonstrated over the course of this pandemic we have stood strongly with the Australian people to support them through this. JobKeeper, JobSeeker COVID supplement, cash-flow bonus, all of these things, have played such a huge role in Australia get into where we are now, that our economy is bigger today than it was during the pandemic and there are more people employed than there were before the pandemic. So we have always understood the role of the Commonwealth.
And what we are proposing to do in this situation, in fact what will be done in this situation, is we will be putting in place a national framework for circumstances where there are lockdowns imposed by state, public or health orders in areas that are defined as a Commonwealth hotspot by the Chief Medical Officer. Those arrangements will provide support for periods of time where the lockdown has been greater than seven days. So the first seven days, they are matters entirely for state and territory governments, as they wish to provide support. If a lockdown, as a result of a state public health order continues in an area that is also defined by the Chief Medical Officer of the Commonwealth, then we will be providing support for payments for those affected in those affected areas. Now that could be a particular suburb, defined by postcodes. It could be an entire metropolitan area as is indeed the case in the Melbourne metropolitan area right now. Or even more broadly, if the Chief Medical Officer was of the view that a hotspot encompassed an entire state jurisdiction. So the Commonwealth's decision to provide that support will be based on the medical advice received by the Chief Medical Officer of the Commonwealth, which is only reasonable, given that the Commonwealth has no part in the decisions made by state governments when they are coming to their view as to how they might impose their restrictions. Now, clearly, the Chief Medical Officer works closely with the Chief Health Officer of every state and territory jurisdiction and is in a position to fully understand the basis of decisions made at a state and territory level, and that can assist and inform their decision, and it is indeed the case that the greater Melbourne metropolitan area is a Commonwealth hotspot and is expected to be so over the next seven days for the extended period that is being announced by the Victorian Acting Premier.
So, what we will be putting in place is what we are calling the temporary COVID disaster payment. The temporary COVID disaster payment is made on a week by week basis. It is using the disaster recovery payment framework, which I will ask the Minister for Emergency Management to go into more detail on. That will be a payment of $500 for those who would ordinarily work more than 20 hours in a week and $325 for those who would work less than 20 hours a week. It will be available to a person who is an Australian resident, or holder of a visa class permitted to work in Australia. The person is 17-years old. The period occurs from the date of activation for an area which has been locked down for more than seven days. I should stress, this is a similar arrangement that exists in New Zealand where their payments for this type of support kick in after seven days, not before. The person resides or works, resides or works, in the area defined as a Commonwealth determined hotspot, the person was immediately prior to the state health order and Commonwealth determined hotspot, engaged in paid employment and is unable to attend work and therefore unable to earn an income as a result of state health restrictions.
Now, you'll be aware that we already have a pandemic leave payment for people who are required to isolate for a 14-day period. And that could be because they are a close contact, testing or any other number of reasons determined by the State Government. The person self-declares that they would normally have worked in the relevant period. The person self-declares a loss of income for the relevant period. The person will not be required to use annual leave, and must have insufficient other appropriate leave entitlements, including special pandemic sick leave and have exhausted those entitlements. So you don't have to get into your annual leave, but if your employer is already providing you leave for these types of purposes, than it is reasonable that people would use those in these circumstances. The person self-declares that they have liquid assets of less than $10,000. Remember, we are talking about somebody getting through the next week, who would ordinarily be in an economic situation where every dollar counts. Where those have independent means of supporting themselves for a week then I think they would agree that reaching out for Commonwealth taxpayer funded assistance is not something they would consider reasonable for such a short period of time. The person must not be receiving an income support payment or pandemic payment. So, if you are already receiving support from the Social Security system, on JobSeeker, remember we have relaxed the rules around JobSeeker, you're getting your support through that channel. If you want support through this channel, then this channel is not available to you. And the person must accept and acknowledge that they meet the above criteria with the possibility of retrospective compliance activity, as you would expect as we apply in all of these circumstances. The financial arrangements for this, I discussed with the Acting Premier last night and the Treasurer has discussed with the Treasurer in Victoria.
Victorians just want to know that they are getting help next week. That is what matters and they will be able to do this from Tuesday, in making an application online with Services Australia and there will also be a number they can contact and there will be further information provided about that. They want to know they will get that support and if you meet that criteria you will get that support next week and you will get that payment next week. It will be provided into your bank account as all of these payments ordinarily are. Who is paying for it and how that is being worked out. Well, there are two options and I will be discussing these with National Cabinet tomorrow. Costs should be shared. Presently the Victorian Government is doing that directly and 100 per cent with the business support they are providing. What I put to the Acting Premier last night was that we should split 50-50 both payments. Go 50-50 on household and go 50-50 on business. Alternatively, the states can agree that in these circumstances they will always provide the business support and we will always provide the household support. Either way, we will work it out. And at National Cabinet tomorrow, we will have a good discussion about it. What matters is that businesses get the support they need and households get the support they need and the politicians don't need to have a discussion in public about how that is going to get done. They just need to know it is going to get done, they’re going to get that support and we just need to get on with it to ensure they have the confidence about moving forward into the next week. Now I would hope, and I know that the Treasurer as a Victorian would certainly hope, that these restrictions go for as limited a time as possible and be lifted as soon as possible. The Emergency Management Minister would also know as a regional representative that we are pleased that restrictions are being lifted on regional Victoria. But there are still very strong restrictions in Greater Melbourne. In fact, the kids won't be going to school next week up until Year 11. That is going to be tough on families, tough on people working from home. That is going to be tough on essential workers who still need to go to food processing jobs and health jobs and nursing and aged care and all of those health support. That is going be tough, and so of course I'm sure the Acting Premier agrees that we need to get to a position where we can lift these restrictions as soon as possible.
Now, where a Commonwealth hotspot is no longer applied, then the payment ceases, which is reasonable and I discussed that with the Acting Premier last night and he had no objections to that and it's understood. We will work through those details with the Acting Premier, as will the Treasurer, but what is important to understand in the same way that as we step up when it comes to floods, when it comes to cyclones or when it comes to bushfires or any of these other areas and payments are made through this channel, this is where this temporary COVID disaster payment is made. Just before I hand over to the Treasurer, I am pleased to report that 141,000 vaccinations took place in that last 24-hour period. That takes us and continues to keep us over 700,000 doses over seven days and that is a third of those over 50 and half of those over 70 who have had that at least first dose of the vaccination. This is welcome news and I want to thank Victorians once again for going out, getting tested. Going out and getting vaccinated. Thank you, thank you. Resilience, strength, character, determination. That is what beats a virus, never fear. Josh.
The Hon. Josh Frydenberg MP, Treasurer: Thank you very much, Prime Minister. These are very difficult days for more than 6 million of my fellow Victorians. Kids out of school, families apart and of course businesses that have been closed. It is a painful reminder that the pandemic has not ended but neither has the support from the Morrison Government. The Morrison Government has already delivered more than $45 billion to Victorian families and businesses. This is around three times the amount that has been provided at a state level and more on a per capita basis than has been provided to any other state. Now, the Budget delivered just over two weeks ago assumed there would be more outbreaks and indeed lockdowns. That is why we kept the foot on the accelerator with $41 billion of further COVID-related support. And that support continues to roll out. And that support has helped see the Australian economy, as the Prime Minister referred to, recover so strongly, where we have seen yesterday in the national account numbers, Australia outperform the rest of the world. Now in Victoria, the economy and Victorians are remarkably resilient. Unemployment reached a high of 7.4 per cent last year but came down to 5.5 per cent just recently in April. This fourth lockdown has hit Victorians very hard and that is why the payment the Prime Minister has announced is so important. It is going to support Victorians at a time that they need that support. We will all get to the other side of this crisis and the Morrison Government will help Victorians and Australians do exactly that.
The Hon. David Littleproud MP, Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management: Thanks PM, thanks Josh. Today the Australian Government takes its next step in standing shoulder to shoulder with those impacted by this insidious virus. We are using the disaster payment mechanism because of its agility and speed to be able to provide dignity and respect to those who have been impacted. This is a long-held mechanism that has been proven through natural disasters, and abates any need for having to bring any legislation through Centrelink. So therefore we can build on their relationships, the partnerships that we have with the states, but be able to do this with speed and agility to those who need it most. To that extent, we'll be working with Services Australia to make sure that [inaudible] those people impacted that are in the defined Commonwealth hotspot will be able to contact Centrelink and to be able to make their application. This is a well worn path. Unfortunately, we know very well over the last couple of years from the disasters that we have faced as a nation. But, as a nation we have come through each and everyone of them but this is another step we will have to take and there will probably be more. But what we're trying to do is provide that speed and agility that is required to make sure that nobody is left behind, and obviously we'll be working with the states to make sure that this partnership is national. And that is something I think as a nation should be that in times of tough episodes in a nation's history, we have all come together and we have made sure that we work together. This is the opportunity the Federal Government has seen as we see this virus evolve and our response is evolving, and so Centrelink is ready to go and they will have their people ready to move on Tuesday morning, so that these dollars can hit people's accounts as quickly as possible. Obviously, Centrelink is making sure that they have the resources. We would have liked to be in a day or so earlier but there are some upgrades taking place over the weekend that were already in place to be scheduled. And so therefore it has actually been delayed a day or so. People can be rest assured that the money will be in their account as it was during the fires, floods, cyclones and bushfires.
Journalist: Can we get a reminder of what the Commonwealth hotspot definition is and will you talk to the States about this tomorrow? Is it a take it or leave it deal [inaudible] given James Merlino didn’t sound too happy a little while ago?
Prime Minister: I will refer you to the official definition of the Commonwealth hotspot, the number of cases average over a number of days - i think it’s 10 per average (sic) day over three days off the top of my head. On the other matter, look, I think this is a very sensible and fair proposal. I’ve already had the opportunity to discuss this with other premiers who consider either approach as a reasonable way to deal with this. It was our hope, and I'm sure it was every Premier and Chief Minister's hope that having lockdowns for a period of greater than seven days is not something any of us would like to see. As a result, being able to deal with a few days, as has been the case for those post the end of JobKeeper where those other states and territories made no request of the Commonwealth. They dealt with those in Queensland and Western Australia. And in this case I think this is a fair way of doing it and it's using a very practical mechanism to get the job done. And whether we do it by sharing both costs of both payments or a portion each payment, one to the state and one to the Commonwealth, I think they’re practical ways of doing it and they don't need to be issues of controversy or conflict. I think we can sort it out.
Journalist: The statewide lockdown is statewide at the moment, but your position is that the hotspot definition, so I presume that wouldn’t include areas like Mildura which the Treasurer has mentioned before, is an area in lockdown but has no cases. So are we going to see differences of opinion between Canberra and states about whether an entire state should qualify for the emergency payment?
Prime Minister: Regional Victoria isn't being locked out post seven days. Regional Victoria is not going into a second seven days. Metropolitan Melbourne is. So there is an alignment in the defined areas between what the state is doing. I see nothing wrong with there being the Commonwealth where we are making the payments, we have no part in the decisions made by state governments and they can choose to do as they remind me regularly what they like to do, when they like to do and for how long they like to do it. Where it comes to federal taxpayers money in place, we will be relying on the medical advice of the Chief Medical Officer. Rosie?
Journalist: Isn't today’s announcement an admission that the Federal Government is at least partly responsible for the lockdown in Victoria?
Prime Minister: No, not at all. It's an admission that the Commonwealth responds to disasters. That is what it is an admission of. The Commonwealth responds to disasters, whether they are floods, fires, things that are beyond the control of individuals and they are suffering loss and they need help. It is an admission that the Commonwealth Government understands that and is prepared to do what is necessary to support those Australians who need our help.
Journalist: You say that resilience, strength, determination and character are what is required to beat this virus but isn't it the case that only path out of the situation is the vaccine, and given James Merlino has said the vaccine rollout is woefully slow, and Allen Cheng saying they are running short of the Pfizer vaccine and the rest of the world is starting to travel between their countries because of their vaccination rate, what more is the Government doing to expedite the vaccine rollout?
Prime Minister: I'm pleased that when we brought National Cabinet together back in April, when we had weekly vaccination rates of 320-330,000 a week and we put in place a plan together to address those challenges, that has now seen that rise in the space of one month to over 700,000 a week, and that has been a very significant scaling up and we've done that together with states and and I appreciate the work states and territories have done. On not one occasion has the Acting Premier raised the issue of doses of vaccines with me, I've had several discussions and the only time it was raised was when we provided the additional 130,000 and he then assured me of that point that they had no further requirement or no further ask and he hasn't made one since then. They get around 71,000 Pfizer per week and as they understand on the most recent information that was released on Monday, I'm sure some of those have been used since Monday, but someone 180,000 doses available right there in Victoria as we speak, but if there are issues that need to be addressed there then we are happy to address them. As we said, 130,000 will be made available immediately to support those requests. We are working closely with the Victorian Government. That’s I think what people want to see.
Journalist: Three linked cases today in Melbourne, like, not many cases. Is your personal view that maybe they don't need to lockdown for another seven days or is that the view of the Commonwealth CMO?
Prime Minister: The Commonwealth CMO has confirmed to me that that hotspot arrangement will be in place, he expects for the next seven days.
Journalist: Prime Minister, I note that [inaudible] starts tomorrow at National Cabinet, the attribution of costs. But do you have an estimation about how much these disaster payments will actually cost over the next six months?
Prime Minister: Certainly not the latter, because we have no way of knowing what likely lockdowns might occur over that period. I hope there are none, that is my hope. I hope we are able to move through any challenges that may present, that is often what occurs in New South Wales, there will be some cases and they will get on top of it fairly quickly and a lockdown hasn't proved necessary. And in other states they have had different experiences, that is just a summary of an observation of history. It is our hope and expectation that lockdowns would be unnecessary in many, many cases and that they won't occur. The Budget itself though, as the Treasurer has confirmed on many occasions, expects that this will happen from time to time. In relation to this payment, no we don't have an estimate of what this one might cost over the course of the next week. That's the same as when we are faced with any other disaster payment, isn't it David? We don't ask that question when it comes to helping people who are in immediate need and we don't do it in a cyclone, we don't do it in a fire, we don't do it in a flood, we make those disaster payments available and we seek to do that as quickly as we possibly can, and that's the model we are using to provide this support on this occasion because we think that best reflects the circumstances that Victorians have found themselves in, through no fault of their own and as a result they will receive that support in the same way.
Journalist: Sort of a linked question, what is the best estimate of the six million that you talked of, Treasurer, who would be benefiting from this, and if the CMO, I'm just wondering, what is the guesstimate there, given that a lot of people will still be working from home and if the CMO were to change his view on a hotspot during that week and people go back to work, do they still get the payment or is it always on a week to week basis?
Prime Minister: It’s done in advance. So, people will go online next Tuesday, there will be a 1800 number as well but the most effective way to do it is online and for most people that would be the most convenient way to do it. That payment will be made. It will be paid for that seven days from this Friday forward over that seven day period, and if things go beyond that, then a further payment would have to be initiated in that process, done again in some form, but it is not our expectation that those restrictions would be in place beyond that next seven day period. I don't believe it is remotely the expectation of the Victorian Government that that should be in place and the Acting Premier and I discussed last night, that would not be something that they would welcome, not something that they would be hoping would occur and I would share his view about that. I want to see kids get back to school, I want to see people being able to go back to work and to do that safely and those case numbers, as you say Andrew, have come down and that is much better than the alternative, I can assure you, and that's great. That's great. So let's hope that continues and people can get back to work and importantly kids can get back to school, but on the other point, Treasurer?
The Hon. Josh Frydenberg MP, Treasurer: Well Andrew, it is a demand driven program as the Prime Minister has said. For every 100,000 people that will be $50 million per week. It is the estimate, there is around a half million casuals in the metropolitan Melbourne area and obviously bearing in mind that this relates to the Commonwealth definition of a hotspot, so Treasury and Finance are working the numbers through, but as the Prime Minister has indicated, it is a demand driven program as other emergency payments are.
Journalist: Picking up on what you said about available doses across the state, there has been a huge spike in people taking up the vaccine in Victoria but that hasn't really been reflected in other states where there is that availability. Are you concerned that a motivator like a lockdown seems to be the only thing driving people en masse to these vaccine sites? Is it time for something else the government can do to get people to access what is already available in other states before they get to a lockdown?
Prime Minister: We will continue to promote it, we will continue to work with GPs around the country, we will continue to work with state and territory governments and continue to urge all Australians who are eligible for receiving the vaccine at this time to go forward and do so. There are many points of access where they can do that and we would be strongly encouraging them to do that, and we certainly hope that they take that up. I would say though, Clare, that even prior to this, we had already seen the weekly vaccination numbers rising very steadily and that was in response to a series of decisions we took about bringing forward over 50s. We have now supplemented that with work on those who are getting it between the ages of 40 and 50. There has been the opening of those additional sites. In fact, the Victorian Government, I was only commending them when I was down there, when they were opening up a further one that will increase in the rollout. Of course that was always going to go out over the course of this year and it will continue to hasten as the year progresses and particularly as those Pfizer doses start rolling in and much greater numbers in the second half of this year.
Journalist: The liquid assets test, will that apply to just those individuals assets or will that be household assets?
Prime Minister: Individual, which is the case for social security.
Journalist: Should Dr Cheng be surprised that there was a shortage of Pfizer, he was so [inaudible] AstraZeneca can be handed out to over 50s and would you catch a football that was kicked into a crowd by a Victorian?
Prime Minister: Well, I would attempt to. Josh would be better style at catching, I think, because he plays that code and not badly, I understand. But yes I certainly would and I'd be happy to handball it back too, but on the other matter, I can't speak to his state of surprise or otherwise.
Journalist: Prime Minister, when are you going to bring the chemists in? Because for many people, the chemists are a much more easier access point than a doctor, and secondly, are you satisfied now that the rollout arrangements for aged care are adequate?
Prime Minister: On the first matter, it was in the second half of the year that I'm advised that we had been preparing to include pharmacists in that arrangement, and that is still our understanding, and we will continue to monitor those arrangements, but I think when we are able to bring in that tier of points of access, that will be very useful. That is not part of the rollout at this point but it was always intended to be part of the rollout at a later point. We have 4,000 GPs, mass vaccination centres that are there, so there's plenty of points of access for vaccination.
With aged care, are you talking about residential aged care facilities? In the case of Victoria, every single one of them that are the Commonwealth's responsibilities have been provided those first dose opportunities. With the residents, at the meeting of National Cabinet some six weeks ago, this was discussed, and that's why we created the additional points of access for workers such as aged care workers which most states and territories have been doing since that time and I welcome the fact that Queensland is now doing that as well and that greatly assists. The issue often comes up about whether aged care workers should be mandated to take the vaccine, as in many states, not Victoria, I understand, on the flu vaccine where it is not mandated either, whether that should be the case. That has been put to the medical expert panel on another occasion most recently and my understanding is their advice does not support that recommendation and that that is something that I think Premiers, Chief Ministers and I, will need to consider when we meet together on Friday. We've always listened carefully to that medical advice. I know that in Western Australia, Lanai will know this, that Premier McGowan, when there were challenges in getting quarantine workers vaccinated and that occurred in other states, he introduced a public health order there quite swiftly to ensure that that could be done. Premiers can introduce public-health orders any day of the week to do that, and they would be relying on the advice of their Chief Health Officer to do that. They could do that unilaterally, independently if they so wished. They don’t have to rely or wait on any decision of the National Cabinet. Although it has been our discussion as a National Cabinet, but wherever possible, you would try to make things of that nature as nationally consistent as possible. So the challenge with aged care workers is the same for many important workers in the community, and we need to continue to encourage those. But the most important is the ring of protection that is provided around the aged care residents themselves. They have always been our top priority, that’s why they have always been part of the program that was involved in inreach services to ensure that we were able to get through those as our first priority and that has by and large been achieved, and particularly in Victoria, there will always be difficult cases towards the end of any program of this size and there is any number of reasons why, on occasion, a centre may not have had their first dose offered on a particular day. That can range from everything from flu vaccines to gastro situations that we have had in particular facilities, that is very specific, that is very granular and you just work those issues.
But to conclude, you just have to keep working the problem. Just got to keep focused on supporting Victorians and Australians in a nationally consistent way. We don't have to fear this virus, we just have to keep beating it. And we have been beating it and we will keep beating it and Australians will keep beating it when their governments continue to work together as the Commonwealth with the states and territories all the way around the country and focusing on what Australians need, whether they are businesses or trying to keep their employees in work, whether it's employees who are trying to keep in jobs, families ensuring they can support their families and get kids to school, and people supporting elderly residents, elderly parents or others in their family or those with disabilities, remote Indigenous communities. Royal Flying Doctor Service out there, some 80,000 Australians benefited by the work that they are doing. We have just got to keep working the issue, working together, working collaboratively and keep Australians safe, save lives and save livelihoods. Thank you.
Remarks, Minerals Council of Australia Parliamentary Dinner
3 June 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much Helen. To the Ngunnawal people, can I acknowledge them here tonight, their elders past and present and, of course, for the future. Can I particularly acknowledge the extraordinary work done by the resources sector in partnership with the Indigenous people, all around the country. Tremendous opportunities that are being afforded with decent jobs, a real future, transforming remote, and particularly Indigenous, communities all around the country.
Can I acknowledge any veterans, who are with us tonight, so many veterans who work across our resources industry. When I was up on the Pilbara recently and I was staying on site overnight, the significant number of veterans who find a break-in point in the resources sector, where their training, their skills, their experience, their values, their code, I know is appreciated by the resources sector. Greatly appreciated, and valued, by the resources sector. So to any veterans that are here, or serving members of our defence forces, can I simply say on behalf of a grateful nation, as I always do, thank you for your service.
To Helen Coonan, Chair of the Minerals Council, it’s great to see you again Helen and thank you for your leadership. Can I extend the same thank you to all the directors of the Minerals Council of Australia.
To Ambassadors and High Commissioners, members of the diplomatic community here tonight. Our partners in the resources sector all around the world. Particularly, who I saw on the way in, the Ambassador to Japan, great to see you here, I’m looking forward to seeing Prime Minister Suga very, very soon. And the tremendous relationship we enjoy with Japan.
To Ms Tania Constable, the CEO of the Minerals Council, to my many colleagues who are here tonight, I’m not going to call the roll, but I’m certainly going to acknowledge the Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, who is here with us this evening. Michael, thank you for your support not just in the resources sector, but for regional Australia, you’re a great, passionate advocate for regional Australia wherever you are. Keith Pitt. If you’re going to get stuck in a lift on a mining site, he’s the guy you want to be with. We had that experience some time back up in north-western Queensland. I’m glad he knew how to get us out of that lift, and to all of those who helped us on that day, thank you. Keith and I get to many of these places together and Keith gets to so many more. As the Minister for Resources you want to have someone who has his background as an electrical engineer, understands the industry so incredibly well, incredibly well. And thanks for your passion Keith, you really do a great job. I know it is appreciated, certainly by the sector.
Chris Bowen is here this evening, I acknowledge him – the Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy. To the many other Ministers, Senators, and colleagues who are joining us here tonight – and Ian Macfarlane, my old mate. We used to have dinner pretty regularly together when he served in this place, the CEO of the Queensland Resources Council. Can I also acknowledge Tina Arena, that was a nice surprise. No finer talent in this country. I am a self-appointed patron of the Tina Arena appreciation society. Not just in this place but anywhere else. We enjoyed the concert on Saturday night, Jenny and I, Tina, and I heard she may be singing again so I’d like to thank her very much for having me here tonight. I’ll say a few words before she joins us again.
I don’t need to tell you how important the resources sector is. I don’t need to tell myself how important the resources sector is. The Government doesn’t need to be reminded, we know, we get it. We’ve always got it. It’s in our DNA. Today’s National Accounts backed it up again. Mining investment contributing to the recovery. Just like all sectors I note today. Consider National Accounts that showed not only are there more jobs today in the Australian economy than there were before the pandemic, but the Australian economy is bigger today than it was before the pandemic. This is an extraordinary contribution that has been made by the Australian people, this is an Australian-led recovery. What we saw in the household sector, what we saw in dwelling investment, but particularly what we saw in business investment. The supports that we have put in the Australian economy, over the course of the past 18 months, and particularly the past 12 months, as we’ve moved through the pandemic in Australia has saved lives and livelihoods, arguably better than almost any other country in the world today. Our economic supports to save livelihoods was all about ensuring that we could restore a business-led economy. Our plans are not designed to put government at the centre of the economy. Our plans are not about government being at the centre of the economy. Our plans were always about ensuring that businesses, as they have led our economy to great prosperity in the past, will continue to lead our economy to great prosperity in the future for the benefit of all Australians.
And so as the Government stepped in as was necessary and as the second pandemic Budget indicates, we continue to lean in. Our objective though is quite different, as to what some might seek. And that is that we would continue to see business strengthen and as business strengthens, it relies less and less and less on the taxpayer. With initiatives such as the instant expensing initiative and so many others that invest in business investment across this country, we are seeing business stand tall on its feet again. We’re seeing the Australian economy stand tall on its feet again. But this was in no small part due to the extraordinary work done by our resources sector over the course of the past 12 to 18 months. It was a great privilege for Melissa Price and I, in her electorate, to be in the Pilbara, and to stand there with mine workers and say thank you. Thank you for being on site, thank you for being on the job. Thank you for persisting through the difficulties of being separated from family, often because of border closures. People who haven’t seen their families, if they lived in other states, for a long period of time. But they stayed on the tools. And because they stayed on the tools, the Australian economy has seen its way through to this great point where we can say on the basis of the National Accounts that our economy is bigger today than it was before the pandemic hit. Now they can’t say that in the United Kingdom, the United States, or so many other advanced economies around the world. They can’t say it, it hasn’t happened there. But it has happened here. And a key part of that has been the contribution of the resources sector over the course of this past 18 months. Now we intend for that to continue. We intend for that to continue.
And our plan to support that is pretty straightforward. Firstly get the fundamentals right. Lower taxes, only the regulation that’s necessary, affordable energy, the skills you need to do the job. These fundamentals set resources companies up for success and ensure that they are competitive. It’s no small thing to do what the resources sector does and every, every inch you can take, every inch you can take in improving the performance of that site. Prices change, they’re high, they’re low, they come, they go. But the basis of the success of any resources operation is how they work, and how hard they work to ensure it costs as little and to produce as much as they possibly can. That is what the resources sector can achieve better when they’re not being loaded up with higher taxes as some would like to do and have in the past. Or hold them back through legislation or regulation that cripples investment and stymies investment, the fundamentals have got to be right for the resources sector to perform. To strengthen our access to markets in an uncertain world. To support diversification, both in markets and sector strength, that is the second tier of what we are doing. The third is to drive more value add here in Australia, including capitalising on our resource base to support new industries as we lower global emissions.
This is about future proofing the industry in a world of strategic uncertainty and sweeping economic and technological change, including what we know is a far-reaching transition in the global energy economy, or what I call new energy. It’s real. It’s going to have a significant impact on the operations of all Australian businesses both now and in the future. We are preparing Australia to be, not just able to survive in that economy, but to thrive in it. And to be successful in that economy.
This plan is being pursued on many fronts. $20 million in this Budget for the Global Resources Strategy to diversify exports and find new markets. Unlocking and accelerating development through the Strategic Basin Plans. Which all of my members in my Government support, I can assure you. Ensuring the sector has the workers and skills it needs through the National Resources Workforce Strategy which was announced in February 2021. $124.5 million to expand the Exploring for the Future Program to drive investment by providing industry with data about potential mineral, energy and groundwater resources. $100 million in this Budget to expand the Junior Minerals Exploration Incentive Scheme. And this builds on taking a proactive approach in last year’s Budget through our modern manufacturing scheme. And through assistance from the export finance Australia, and working with partner nations on off-take agreements, particularly on the modern manufacturing strategy, the resources sector, is a key sector that we've highlighted as an area of strategic importance. It's one of our six key sectors, where we are focusing on channelling our efforts of support. Now particularly in these latter areas, Lynas has been leading the way. But there have been many other projects that have taken shape. The Albermarle lithium project at Kemerton. The Iluka rare earths project at Eneabba. And many others like the Arafura project in the Northern Territory and the ASM project in Dubbo.
Now, I want Australia to show the world how resource manufacturing and heavy industries can work in a low emissions and indeed a net zero economy when it comes to emissions. I call this the Frank Sinatra approach. We're going to do it our way in Australia, the Australian way. If we can do it in the Pilbara, if we can do it there, we can do it anywhere, as Frank used to sing about New York. And this is the approach we have to take, Australia is going to lead the world in low emissions production in the resources sector. And the very sector, the very sector, that many far from here might suggest, might suggest that is a reason why Australia, they would allege, is not making the commitments that are necessary. Quite the reverse will be proof. In the resources sector, you will demonstrate, as you already are, how Australia will be successful in the new energy economy in adapting in new technologies, in new fuels, in new methods, in new partnerships, in new supply-chains. You will demonstrate, in fact, the resources sector, in my view, will be the pin-up industry in this country for how Australia will be not just making commitments as many will want to do, but importantly are meeting those commitments and beating those commitments. Australia has already reduced emissions by over 20 per cent on 2005 levels. Over 20 per cent. That's a fact. That is something that you have helped achieve. And the commitments that we’ve made out to 2030, you will help us meet. And more than help us meet it, I think you will showcase how Australia is beating them. And so the very industry that many have sought to use to try and talk Australia down when it comes to these issues, is the very industry that will prove Australia is a leader when it comes to new energy, that Australia is a leader in job generation and job creation. The Australian way, which says we can make these commitments and not forsake our heavy industries, not forsake our mining industries. And most importantly, not forsake the people of regional Australia, who others would seek to have us ignore for the sake of pursuing those commitments. We believe both can be achieved and will be achieved, because I have great confidence in the skills and capacity of the resources sector to achieve that. We want to produce amongst the cheapest green hydrogen in the world by 2030 and 2050.
The Budget included $275 million in additional funding for clean hydrogen export hubs. Hydrogen hubs could be located in areas facing transitional pressures and nearby transmission assets making them prospective sites for alternative energy-related uses. Examples of projects include: the Alinta-Fortescue Chichester Solar Gas Hybrid project, which will displace 100 million litres of diesel generation annually from the Pilbara. The Rio Tinto Gudai-Darri solar plant, which will reduce Rio Tinto's annual CO2 emissions by about 90,000 tonnes, and create 2,000 construction jobs and 600 operational jobs. Aurizon is investing some $50 million in low carbon technologies, including battery and hydrogen power for its trains. Kirkland Lake Gold is investing $100 million in technology centres to reduce its carbon footprint. Methane capture at Anglo American’s metallurgical coal operations is generating 140MW of electricity, powering 90,000 homes and reducing emissions by 5 Mt of CO2-e per annum (that’s 1 per cent of total emissions in Australia). Glencore’s carbon transport and storage project will show how carbon capture can work on an industrial scale. The Budget has $265 million to support the development of CCS technology. No nervousness or defensiveness from my Government when it comes to carbon capture and storage. We don't need to [inaudible] at all. I'm a huge supporter of these efforts because they demonstrate a very practical Australian approach.
The types of projects I've said to you, are the Australian way. We will make our path to net zero. But, we will set it. We will not have it determined by others. We will do it in accordance with Australia's national interest and the interests of Australian jobs and the young people of this country who know they could have a future in the very industry represented here tonight all around the country. That is the path that we're setting. We will set it together with the Australian people and the industries that employ people all around this country. And we will not put those industries at risk or those jobs at risk to pursue it, because we know that that is not necessary. It just requires the application of the approach that focuses on championing technology, which has always transformed industries and has always transformed economies.
The Budget backs this up, with solid initiatives. It provides some $565 million for low emissions international partnerships. In just the next couple of weeks, I'll be meeting with the G7 leaders and others, including President Moon of South Korea. And these are the issues that I'll be discussing with them, amongst many others. And I'll be able to talk about what Fortescue is doing in seeking to change how they operate and partner with those who are looking to make steel in different ways all around the world, and all around this country, and so many other innovations that I have already referred to. Because I will be demonstrating that Australia is making its path and we are getting results and we're going to continue to do that into the future. But there are things also that can put this at risk. Practical things. We're a practical government. And we know that the EPBC Act needs reform and we currently have those reforms before the Parliament. Reforms that pose a simple question. Does Labor want your projects to go ahead or be held back by unnecessary red tape? That's the question we're putting to the Opposition in the Parliament.
Now, when we brought together these reforms, and I acknowledge Minister Sussan Ley who is with us here tonight, who brought those reforms together. No one is debating about reducing the environmental standards that apply. The industry is not debating it either. They're just simply saying "they're the standards, why does it have to take so long?" Uphold the standards, apply the standards, ensure they are followed. And that is our government's view. Absolutely, our government's view. The proposals we're seeking to have legislated aren't about changing the standards one way or the other, they're ensuring that decisions get made faster and consistent with those standards. When I took this to the National Cabinet, all states agreed that this was an important reform. Labor, Liberal states, Chief Ministers, Premiers from all the states and territories said this was an important regulatory reform which should pass the Parliament. But Labor is standing in the way when it comes to that legislation. It's important that legislation passes. It's important that those who are seeking to invest in this country, invest in a country which now because of the various tax incentives and other arrangements we put in place that means tax on new investment in this country, it’s not 30 per cent, it's not 25 per cent, it is 21 per cent, according to the work done by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. But you can create incentives, you can [inaudible] and you can put it in your boardroom. But when you have to start engaging with a process that is long winded and costs you money and costs Australian jobs, well, that's not OK. And our proposals are designed to change that.
So if people want to stand at this platform and tell you they're for the resources industry, they need to vote for this Bill. And if they don't vote for this Bill, you can't believe them. You can't believe them. They can give as fine-as speeches as you like here, but if they don't support this Bill that actually brings forward investment decisions that means jobs in the resources sector, that uphold the environmental standards then they don’t really support it. They do not support resources.
We are also focused on changes to the ARENA arrangements, to ensure that we can provide support for energy efficiency projects, carbon capture technologies, including backstop technologies like direct air capture, clean hydrogen projects to reduce emissions in aluminium cement and steel, soil carbon technologies. And we want ARENA to be able to do that. And those projects are all incredibly important to the resources sector. If you're for the resources sector, you'll support those changes. If you're not for the resources sector, you'll vote against them. The Labor Party is going to vote against them and they're terribly riven within their own ranks when it comes to those issues. On our side of politics, in my government, we're all for it. We're all for it. Because we want to see these investments take place and these technologies emerge and we want to see Australia be competitive in the new energy economy.
Gas basins - we're focused on unlocking those new gas basins. Beetaloo basin, in particular, for example is one of the world's largest undeveloped onshore gas resources. We're for it. Absolutely for it. We understand the important role gas will play, particularly over the next 30 years and more. We're all for it. But not everybody in this place is for it. If you're for the resources sector, you're for it. If you don't, you're against it. Our greenfield agreements. We sought to have those greenfield arrangements legislated through the Parliament. We'd like to see them still legislated through the Parliament. They're important for investment, they’re important for jobs, they're important for the resources sector. We're for it. We've always been for it. Our opponents in this place are against it.
You may say, "why has he come along and been so partisan and talked about these issues?" I'm talking about the policies, I'm talking about the things that make a difference in your business. The policies my Government is seeking to put in place to ensure that [inaudible, you can earn more for Australia, in the same way that you have over the last 18 months, which has seen this country and our economy perform better than almost any other advanced economy in the world. You did that. Australians all across this country did that. We enabled them to do it. We did our part and you did your part. This Parliament needs to do its part to ensure that you can keep doing it. The sorts of changes I've talked to you about tonight, these important legislation, on regulation, on new energy technologies, on greenfield sites developed, on gas basins being opened up. This is all critical to Australia's economic future. And we will fight for this. And we will continue to pursue this. Because we believe in your sector. That is the test, if you're for the resources sector and regional jobs in this country. If you're opposed to those things, you are seeking to have no part in the future of regional Australia and industries that support it.
A lot to get done. You're doing it. We greatly appreciate the partnership we have with the sector all across the country. But mostly, as I conclude, I'm just incredibly grateful. Incredibly grateful for what you have done over the course of these last 18 months. For those working on site, for those working back at the head office, for those seeking the additional finance, for those keeping the show on the road. For every single one of those days, you are a partner in the great result we saw today for Australia, in our economy being stronger than it was before the pandemic because of your efforts and there are more Australians in work today than there were before the pandemic because of your efforts. Thank you very much for your contribution to Australia.
Press Conference - Queenstown, New Zealand
31 May 2021
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Kia ora koutou katoa. Nga mihi nui kia koutou and welcome Prime Minister Morrison and welcome to all of you, including our guests from the Australian gallery. You've just seen that we've exchanged jerseys as we look to celebrate New Zealand and Australia's successful bid to host, co-host the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, which is one of the largest sporting events on the planet and I know PM Morrison and I were both very actively engaged in that bid and it's a delight to have that prospect of hosting together on the horizon.
I also want to just acknowledge the significance, as we've done throughout this visit, of our ability to speak face to face, to be here in person, and neither of us take that for granted. And as I mentioned last night, that's not to say we haven't been in close contact. In fact, over the last, you know, 15 months or so, our contact has only increased and that has been, I believe, certainly to New Zealand's benefit and I'd like to think to Australia's also, as we've shared our learnings, information and work collaboratively as we navigate COVID-19.
The COVID challenge that we all face is writ large at the moment and I did want to acknowledge the people of Victoria and just say everyone in New Zealand is thinking of you at this time. We've had our fair share of challenges and we understand what it's like when you, when you reach another hurdle, but we have absolute faith it's a hurdle that you will come out the other side of and we look forward to welcoming you back on our shores again soon.
The trans-Tasman relationship, as we've said many times, is New Zealand's most important. We are family and the pandemic has underscored that in, in many ways. You've seen the scenes of people being reunited but there's also been the cooperation during COVID. The fact that we have worked as collaboratively as we could around the disrupted supply chains that we have experienced, we've seen the value of a highly integrated economies between us, and we continue, we will endeavour to continue to work together on the challenges that we face.
We've had a wide-ranging discussion today across a varied agenda, which is somewhat captured by I think a 10-page leaders statement, so you will have seen the diversity of the agenda. We discussed everything from climate change, to trade and security issues, to our commitment to see the rollout of the vaccine in the Pacific and really checking in that we between ourselves felt like we had the breadth of coverage to ensure that we were supporting our Pacific neighbours in that rollout. We talked about managing our borders and the work that we can do collaboratively together as we write the rulebook for that next phase and look, when it's safe to do so, to reconnect with the world. We talked about our single economic market agenda, including our work on digital trade in the circular economy, and also the opportunities that exist to see intangible outcomes for APEC. Whilst that won't be a face to face meeting, I have invited PM Morrison to join me face to face in New Zealand for those virtual meetings if he so chooses.
We also discussed Australia's deportation policy and opportunities for people who move across the Tasman to access a pathway to citizenship - a concern and an opportunity that we have highlighted consistently for a number of years. As with any family, we will have our disagreements from time to time, but those disagreements are still undertaken in the spirit of openness and ultimately friendship. We are much bigger than our differences and the last year has taught us that. I note Scott that following your visit we have Dame Patsy Reddy our Governor-General visiting, and then myself in July, very much looking forward to visiting to be able to pick up again a number of exchanges across tourism and trade and to demonstrating our ongoing commitment to our relationship. Hand over to you now.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you Prime Minister, and kia ora. It is a great privilege to be able to come here together, as leaders of two countries that share an incredible history. And to come from lands which have an ancient Indigenous history as well, and we can learn so much of that as we chart our way through what are largely uncharted waters, I think, for both Australia and New Zealand. And as the Prime Minister has said, we think particularly of those going through great stress and trial, even now, whether it is back home in Australia in Victoria as we face our most recent challenge with the outbreak there, or indeed, not far, not too far from here in Christchurch and the the floods that are present. Australia is no stranger to floods or fires or cyclones, or indeed even mouse plagues. We have, as both countries, endured a large amount of challenge over the course, particularly of these last few years, and the relationship the Prime Minister and I, Jacinda and I, have had over that period of time has been incredibly helpful for us to work through these many issues.
And we have been on a journey as two countries, not just from the beaches of Gallipoli but the way through COVID as well, and it has been that constant dialogue, that very honest and open dialogue that we have been able to share. I remember one occasion, I remember you called, we were working through the TGA approval of the vaccine at the time. And I was out outback near Quilpie, and so wherever I happen to be in Australia or Jacinda happens to be in New Zealand we are always within close reach to be able to address the many issues we're facing together. Because we have pursued a very uniquely Anzac path, I think, through COVID-19, and we will continue to do that. And we had much sharing of those issues. But we also must continue to pursue a very Anzac path through the many other challenges we face, whether it's to regional security, the many other, the many other pressures that are placed on both of our countries to secure our way, to secure our prosperity and the jobs and the safety that we want for all of our peoples.
Today we, as the Prime Minister has said, we've committed further to the work we're doing in the Pacific, to provide not only the vaccines in our own countries, but, of course, to support the vaccination programme, whether it's in Fiji or whether it's in Tonga or many other places. We are covering the challenge that exists there. And as well for Australia, up in Timor Leste as well.
The supply chain dialogue I think is very important and goes to the closer economic relationship on our economies. As we're coming through COVID, the Australia and New Zealand economy is fused together more today than I suspect it has been over my lifetime. With our borders affected and largely closed, effectively closed, it is of the Australian and New Zealand economy which is sustaining each other. And so the opening up of the travel arrangements between Australia and New Zealand is good for both countries, as we always knew it would be. But in our discussions today, and with other business leaders, they are pursuing even more opportunities, I think, to see greater and more effective outcomes, while the rest of the world is closed off to us at this time. I think we will increase our appreciation of the economic ties that we have between Australia and New Zealand.
It is true that we are making changes to the pathway to permanent residency, reducing the five-year arrangement to prove on the income test down to three years, and also providing the leniency around the proof of that test around the impact of COVID, and that is welcome. And we will support New Zealand in their stewardship of APEC, which will come at a very important time when it comes to pursuing a free and open Indo-Pacific, one that is sovereign and one that is resilient. And trade is a key part of that agenda. As the world opens up again, and it's still too soon to say when that might occur, as we discussed that at length today, what will be important is the multilateral arrangements we provide to trading economies, trading countries like Australia and New Zealand to be successful when that occurs, and for us to continue to pursue that success, even now while our borders are closed.
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Thank you, Prime Minister Morrison. We're now going to open the floor for questions. I believe that those have already been registered. I've been given the list, so you'll forgive me, we're narrowing down the [inaudible] job to myself today. So, starting off we have Newshub.
JOURNALIST: Hi, Prime Minister Morrison, [inaudible] from Newshub. You've said Australia's sovereignty is not for sale when it comes to China. Do you believe New Zealand sold its sovereignty to China, and is that jeopardising our relationship with Australia and our other Five Eyes partners?
PRIME MINISTER: No, is my short answer. Australia and New Zealand are trading nations. But we, neither of us would ever trade our sovereignty or trade our values. We have stood side by side to defend and protect and promote these values. So not just on the beaches of Gallipoli, but in Afghanistan and in so many other places around the world. This is a commitment that we share and that we honour, and that will always be our approach.
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: I have SBS.
JOURNALIST: Thank you, Prime Minister. Pablo Vinales, SBS News. Prime Minister Morrison yesterday flagged the possibility of the Pacific bubble expanding into countries like Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga and the Solomon Islands. What would be the requirement for this to happen in terms of vaccination rates, and those countries their capacity to deal with the potential for outbreaks, and do either of you have a timeframe?
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Both Australia and New Zealand share an enthusiasm for, where it is safe to do so, exploring additional options for expanding the trans-Tasman bubble. However, we both acknowledge that we want to maintain the freedoms we have. That means maintaining the very high bar, that between ourselves we have said we don't want to jeopardise the freedom that we have within our own countries to move about freely and to protect the health of our citizens. So in this early phase while we still do not have widespread vaccination in either the Pacific, our own countries, or indeed even broadly across the international community, we would need to satisfy ourselves that there wasn't the risk of COVID entering into our community. So there is a high bar. There are Pacific countries where that would potentially be an option. Some of them are not exploring it at present, but we keep that option open and available and it's most likely to be with our Pacific neighbours that we'll next look to.
PRIME MINISTER: I agree with that. Pacific nations play important roles within both of our economies, particularly when it comes to seasonal labour and things of that nature. And so where we have opportunities to pursue at least that, at least that in a safe way and with appropriate quarantine arrangements, I think they're the early steps that can be made in that area, and Vanuatu is such a country that has been raising that with Australia. But you've got to do it safely, and not just safely for Australia. We are very mindful that across the Pacific, where COVID has had and will continue to have the potential to cause terrible devastation in those communities, and by and large, they have done incredibly well. But we are very aware of the health risks for our Pacific family, as much as we are in Australia and New Zealand.
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: TVNZ.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Morrison, [inaudible] from TVNZ. What's the latest on Suhayra Aden and is it appropriate for you to export your problem to New Zealand when we're supposed to be mates?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Suhayra's not an Australian citizen. But we have spoken today about her children and the pathway that they have eligibility for in Australia and to stand ready to address those issues. On the broader issue, which is one often raised when I come to New Zealand or indeed when we meet in Australia. Australia's rules, laws regarding criminal acts by those who commit them in Australia, in violation of our laws when they're not citizens, are deported on the conclusion of their sentence. Now, that's not a law that applies specifically to New Zealand or any other country. It is a universal position of Australian law. Australia is, together with New Zealand, some of the most, I would argue, the most successful immigration countries anywhere in the world. And one of the reasons you are able to achieve that is that you're very clear that when people come to your country that they have to abide by our laws.
JOURNALIST: Was it appropriate though to revoke her citizenship?
PRIME MINISTER: It is our law, and we believe it was.
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: We, of course, reiterate our ongoing view on the issue of the cancellation of citizenship, on issues of deportation. Prime Minister Morrison and I have had these exchanges before. He's very clear on New Zealand's view.
I've come to The Daily Telegraph.
JOURNALIST: Clare Armstrong from The Daily Telegraph. Prime Minister Ardern, your recent positioning on China has alarmed Australia and western allies. Are you worried your country's Five Eyes membership could be downgraded? And Mr Morrison, China says New Zealand is more wise and sober in its dealings with Beijing than Australia, but doesn't Australia and Five Eyes need friends who will stick with us?
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: So, the short answer to your question would be no. And in fact, you know, at no point in our discussions today was, did I detect any difference in our relative positions on the importance of maintaining a very strong and principled perspective on issues around trade, on issues around human rights. And you'll see that Australia and New Zealand have broadly been positioned in exactly the same place on these issues consistently. So I really push back on any suggestion that we are not taking a strong stance on these incredibly important issues. When it comes to the matter of Five Eyes, we remain a committed member, that is not in question, not in doubt.
PRIME MINISTER: I concur with the Prime Minister. I think as great partners, friends, allies and indeed family, there will be those far from here who would seek to divide us. And they will not succeed, because as we've stood resolutely together for the values and principles that Australians and New Zealanders have stood for, and indeed fought for, that will continue to be the case. So partnering successfully as we've always done, whether it's in the Five Eyes in particular or more broadly in our great cooperation. Most significantly, whether it's in the OECD or the multilateral fora, the World Trade Organisation or indeed the work that we've done through the World Health Organisation, where we share very strong views. And so we will continue to work together in that way. And I have no doubt there will be those who would seek to undermine Australia and New Zealand's security by seeking to create points of difference which are not there.
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: I've got Radio New Zealand.
JOURNALIST: Kia ora, Jane [inaudible], Radio New Zealand. Prime Minister Morrison, what's your assessment of the possibility of armed conflict between Australia and China, particularly in flashpoints like Taiwan or the South China Sea? And if that did eventuate, would you expect New Zealand to back Australia as a traditional Five Eyes ally? And who are you talking about when you are saying there are those who seek to divide New Zealand and Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Let me make a couple of points. The first one is the world is being characterised by increased strategic competition between the United States and China. That is a self-evident fact. But I would say that our shared view would be that such strategic competition doesn't need to lead to increased likelihood of conflict or other pressures, whether they be coercion of any nature or interference. That is not necessary. What we both pursue through the many ways we work together is a free and open Indo-Pacific. Where countries can trade, sovereign, resilient, and to go about what they wish to pursue in their national interests for the benefit of their people. A peaceful Indo-Pacific. So that's what our objective is. That's what our goal is. And whether it's cooperating ourselves, and particularly through the ANZUS Alliance, which is obviously guiding all ultimate decisions that are made in the context of that alliance. What we're also pursuing through the many other fora that we're working in – the United Nations and elsewhere – it's all about achieving that goal. Of course, the world is uncertain. Of course, the world has risks of conflict and tension. Our efforts are designed to mitigate that, to calibrate against that and to ensure that we're working together for a more peaceful Indo-Pacific where we acknowledge the realities of strategic competition, but do not accept as any foregone conclusion where that competition may lead to.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] and my other question, who are you talking about when you say others are seeking to divide us?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, well there are many others, people are always trying to divide Australia and New Zealand all over the place, but they will not succeed. And as I said, the ANZUS Alliance arrangements are fairly clear.
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: We've got Nine News.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Ardern, Fiona Willan from Nine News.
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Kia ora.
JOURNALIST: Are you concerned that New Zealand relies too heavily on Australia and others for defence and intelligence sharing. And is that why you appear to be cosying up to China? And Prime Minister Morrison would you say that's a fair description of the situation?
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: If I had the ability, I would ask for some examples or evidence of the claim that you've made, but you've already heard me speak directly and strongly to refute the assertion that we are doing anything other than maintaining a very principled position on human rights issues, on trade issues as they relate to China. And in fact, I think you'll find very little difference in many of the messages that we've been sending relative to Australia. So that would be my first point.
On the question of whether or not we rely on others. You know, in our view and my very strong view, we carry responsibility for ourselves to ensure adequate investment in our defence forces and equally, that we carry our weight as a member of the intelligence and security community. Having said that, we have always operated at a regional level where we support one another. There will be parts of the Pacific for whom we will be, for instance, better placed to engage in search and rescue, to engage in fisheries monitoring, to engage in monitoring trade sanctions than Australia, and vice versa. We work together, but I reject the suggestion that we don't carry and deliver on our behalf and towards the international community.
PRIME MINISTER: I share the Prime Minister's views. Australia and New Zealand obviously have different capabilities in these areas and we have different programs, but we have interoperability, which is, I think, incredibly important. Because that interoperability has been on display in so many theatres of conflict and peacekeeping and emergency response all around the world, and particularly in our own region. You'd be aware that Australia is continuing to increase our investments in these areas with our capability, we see these very much in our national interests. And we believe that Australia, acting in this way, also provides great stability and support for the region as well. And I know that's welcomed. And so interoperability, we each have different jobs to do, we each have different capabilities that we bring. It's our job as prime ministers to ensure that that comes together in the best way possible for the security of our own nations and our national interests, but also in the broader family role that we have across the Pacific.
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: We've got Newstalk.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] for Newstalk ZB. I'm just wondering, the United States is bringing pressure on not just the Australians, but on others to join in an inquiry to find out the source of COVID, whether it came from a laboratory in Wuhan or an animal base. Will you go along with that enquiry? This is for both of you. And just a follow up to you Prime Minister Morrison, your recent trip to Melbourne. [inaudible] exposed, but did you, how seriously did you think before coming to New Zealand about being in Melbourne so recently.
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Might start on the WHO and the enquiries that are being undertaken there. I think it was very clear from the outset, from the perspective of the international community that was really tranche one. That was the beginning of some of that investigatory work in which we all will benefit from understanding the origin of this current pandemic. We have, of course, long supported and continue to do so, the work that the WHO is doing to investigate the origin of the pandemic. And it was also a given that there would be a second tranche. We'd be concerned at any suggestion that we weren't able to complete that work, because as an international community, how are we going to protect ourselves from a further outbreak in the future if we don't understand what happened in the first place? So, yes, absolutely. We'll continue to work with others in encouraging and supporting the WHO to complete the mission that we are all very reliant on.
PRIME MINISTER: Can I start by acknowledging the work of former Prime Minister Helen Clark. As one of the countries that were there at the outset with the investigation that was led by the former Prime Minister, we were very pleased when she was appointed to that role. That gave us a lot of confidence that this was an exercise to the best of her ability and in the circumstances that she was dealing with, that she would not hold back in seeking to get the truth of what has occurred here. Now, there's clearly a lot more work to do. And I would share the view put forward by the United States. It's important that we understand this for public health. This has nothing to do with global politics. This has nothing to do with anything other than ensuring that the global pandemic, which has caused such havoc around the world, stealing lives and livelihoods, that we understand how this occurred so we can do everything we possibly can to ensure that that does not happen again. So many of the conversations we as leaders have, both with each other, but with many leaders around the world is, yes, we need to deal with what's happening in this pandemic, but what are the lessons from this pandemic for what is likely to be another and in what form it might come? And so that's why this process is so important and why it should not be impeded and why it should be so transparent. To ensure, we owe it to people all over the world to ensure that this is understood in the best way. So I do want to pass on our thanks to Helen for the work she has done and the other members of the panel there were Australians also involved at the officials level in that process. And I think this is a question that the world needs answered for their own safety and their own protection in the future.
On the other matter, of course, I complied with all the requirements of the New Zealand government regarding my travel to New Zealand as all Australian should and as all New Zealanders should when they come to Australia. It is a big challenge for the Victorian people at the moment, but they're coming through it strongly as I had no doubt they would. And we are working to ensure we open Victoria as soon as possible, so Victorians, Australians in Victoria can go about their lives again as the rest of the country has, and indeed as New Zealanders are here.
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: 10 News.
JOURNALIST: Chloe Bouras from Network 10.
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Kia ora, Chloe.
JOURNALIST: Australia deports Kiwi criminals. Should we accept back an Australian criminal, the Christchurch terrorist? Mr Morrison, you've previously said that you're open to discussion, Ms Ardern, have you put in that request and do you think that fair given Australia's policy?
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Well of course, one thing I'd say is that our view sometimes Australia deports Australian criminals. The issue though of the Christchurch terrorist. What we've always said is that so much about the future there and those future decisions really needs to come from the guidance of the community. And whilst we haven't undergone any formal consultation on the future imprisonment or where the terrorist will see out the end of his days in prison, certainly some of the informal feedback has been a desire for the terrorist to remain in New Zealand. And I understand that, there's something about the proximity and ensuring that the sentence that was handed down is served. But I do want to acknowledge just the open dialogue that I've had with Prime Minister Morrison on this question. There's never been any issue with me being able to raise the issue generally. But at this stage, I'm certainly not detecting at this stage any desire or strong desire from the community for there to be a change
PRIME MINISTER: That would be our view also. We are deeply sensitive to the New Zealand people, particularly the community and the families that are affected that I have met with and, of course, the Prime Minister has. And we want to respect their wishes and their interests, and we're always open to those dialogues should they wish to come forward. But at this point, that is not the plan.
JOURNALIST: Do you accept our Prime Minister's premise that you deport Australian criminals?
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Look, we won't get into ad libbing there Barry, just because it's not fair on everyone else. But just to conclude, Prime Minister Morrison is under no doubt on my views on these matters.
PRIME MINISTER: And likewise.
THE RT HON. JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: All right everyone, thank you so much for joining us today. Safe travels to those of you who have travelled today. Unfortunately I'll be bidding Prime Minister Morrison farewell here so I can make my way to some of the floods affecting New Zealand. But thank you again, PM Morrison.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much, great to be here. Thank you everyone.
Remarks, Bilateral Meeting with Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand
31 May 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much Prime Minister. Kia ora. It's very good to be here in person and to have these discussions in person. We've had, we've had many many over the phone over this past year and a half, and when we last met it was in Sydney for, for our Annual Leaders Dialogue. So I'm pleased that, that our Annual Leaders Dialogue has not lost its pace and to be able to meet face to face again. It demonstrates exactly what you've said.
People often ask us, is this a partnership, it's far more than a partnership. It is a family relationship between Australia and New Zealand. We have some very serious times that we're dealing with, not just from the health point of view but obviously from a regional security point of view and Australia and New Zealand take a very prominent role in the Pacific, and I thank you for the relationship we've had working on particularly those issues in the Pacific.
It is true that Australia and New Zealand has done very well in the course of COVID. But as you can see in Victoria now, those challenges persist. And equally in Fiji, they are dealing with the challenges, and Papua New Guinea, they are dealing with challenges. We're supporting all of our Pacific family through our vaccine dose delivery into those regions and supporting them in their vaccinations.
But the broader issue of the Indo-Pacific and a free and open Indo-Pacific is something Australia and New Zealand feels very strongly about. And working with our like-minded partners all around the world, the United States and the United Kingdom, and as we're discussing across Europe, Japan and India, all of us have a big stake in ensuring a world that favours freedom and a free and open Indo-Pacific. And so we greatly appreciate the partnership we have to achieve those outcomes.
So with those issues all on the table today, we should, we should move on and get on with it. I really appreciate the direct personal relationship and dialogue we've had and, and that will only continue because we have common challenges, there are common threats, and that has always I think eclipsed everything when it comes to the strength of the working family relationship. Thank you very much.
Remarks, Business Reception - Queenstown, New Zealand
30 May 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much, Prime Minister. I'm going to follow the same practice that you have. Jacinda, it’s wonderful to be with you and Clarke. Jenny and I are very pleased to be back here in Queenstown. Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou, katoa, kia ora, g’day.
It’s great to be here because it's always great to be amongst family. And can I acknowledge Ngāi Tahu. Can I acknowledge also the Ngunnawal people, which is the land I have just come from here today. As we were just remarking and what was a very moving welcome by Ngāi Tahu, Jenny and I, earlier this afternoon. It was truly wonderful. And we both share an Indigenous heritage in each of our lands, different as it is, but spiritual, informative, ancient and I think a guiding light to both nations as we continue to find a path through, as the Prime Minister has just said, in a world that has no rule book, it would seem, and particularly when it comes to the pandemic. And so I acknowledge the Ngāi Tahu and their elders past and present, as is our custom in Australia to acknowledge our elders past and present and our Indigenous peoples, and importantly, the future, importantly, the future.
Many years ago, as Jim will recall, and I knew Jim many years ago when I was here in New Zealand twenty years ago. It’s great to see you again. The work that Ngāi Tahu have done on the South Island of New Zealand, building up the tourism businesses, whether it’s whale watch and my great old mate Wally Stone and others. Sir Tipene O'Regan, a real great elder who’s done so much for New Zealand and for his people. But building those businesses, getting young people employed, from Ngāi Tahu. It was inspirational to me when I was here at the time and saw how it worked and I went back home to Australia and I must say my experience working with Maori across New Zealand all those years ago has greatly informed how I have sought to engage with Indigenous Australians as well, and we’re seeing success there too. And I think it's a very simple [inaudible]. So I want to thank, I want to thank Ngāi Tahu very much for their leadership role amongst Indigenous peoples, not just here in New Zealand but I think all around the world.
Can I thank also the team that has been pulling together the work of the business dialogue, Greg Lowe and Ann Sherry. Ann’s been doing this for many years, and thank you very much. Can I also acknowledge Patricia Forsythe, our High Commissioner here to New Zealand, and of course Dame Annette King, who's been a great interlocutor in Australia. When Jacinda and I could only speak over WhatsApp on the phone and Annette was always there, as I’m sure Patricia has been for you as well, for Jacinda and the New Zealand Government as well, and thank you for the great work that you've all been doing. I understand her Worship Steve Chadwick, Mayor of Rotorua, is also here, and that’s wonderful that we’re joined as well.
Look, I didn’t want to say too much tonight, but I do want to acknowledge exactly what Jacinda has. While we face the pandemic, and have been over these last 18 months, even now we're reminded that there are things that are occurring that keep our focus, whether it's the floods here in around Christchurch and Ashburton - as I remarked to a group, which is where my grandfather was born, many years ago - or indeed what we're seeing in Victoria as we take on the latest challenge in the pandemic, because there is always the next challenge the next day in this pandemic. And what I believe Australia and New Zealand has been able to achieve in these last 18 months is quite extraordinary on a global scale. And I think it's a testament to the peoples of New Zealand and Australia. It's an Anzac path that we’ve chartered through this pandemic. We have gone our own way in this part of the world and we've demonstrated, I think, people's great resilience, which has been our form over a very long period of time. And we've been able to both save lives and save livelihoods. We find ourselves in a situation with the relative strength of our economies to the rest of the world and indeed the, our health strength when it comes to COVID, which stands out amongst the nations of the world. And I know Jacinda and I, when we speak to foreign leaders, they remark constantly about how Australia and New Zealand has been able to chart its way through.
But one thing we know is it's not over yet. And for towns like Queenstown, which is not unlike - although the temperature is a little different - Cairns, both towns that have been heavily reliant and have been built on world renowned tourism industries. And I know it has been the tourism industries more than most that have had to, have had to suffer the most through this pandemic, because whilst even we might be able to ensure that our domestic tourism industries can move forward, and that's great, that's tremendous, but so much of the international businesses support places like this, and as you saw the lines at Fergburger get shorter and shorter over the course of the pandemic - it’s the Fergburger index, [inaudible] international tourism industry, which tourism operators will know well - yet you persisted, yet you persisted.
So I’m, as Jim was telling me, when the bubble opened up, where we were able to achieve that just before Anzac Day, and, and they were high fiving Jim in the streets because this was opening up again. That's tremendous because we have a shared prosperity, Australia and New Zealand. That's what the closer economic relationship has always been about. It's about a shared prosperity. And that shared prosperity, I think, is realised through what we've been able to achieve both through COVID and now opening up. And let's just see how much further that can go. But for now, we can't be complacent. For now we need to focus on the work ahead, not just the human biosecurity but indeed the animal biosecurity as well, that’s an important part of our discussions, ensuring our prosperity, but also keeping Australians and New Zealanders safe during this time.
So Jacinda and Clarke, thank you so much for having us here in your home country and we look forward to the discussions over the next day and we look forward to returning again on another occasion. Last time we were here Jenny jumped off the bridge. She's the more adventurous, she's the bungee jumper in our family. She’s probably going to be the only one, I suspect. That was on a happier day at another time when COVID wasn’t occurring and we were here many years ago with some friends. But here, over these next 24 hours, there is much work to do, isn't there Ann and Greg, and we will get about that over the next 24 hours. And I want to thank you all for your attendance here tonight and look forward to having a chat with some of you where we get the opportunity. Thank you very much.
Press Conference - Canberra, ACT
27 May 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm joined by the Health and Aged Care Minister and President of the AMA Dr Khorshid, who was here to be with the Health Minister and Aged Care Minister on another announcement today, and I appreciate you joining us today Dr, given the other matters that have been escalating over these last few days.
Once again we're faced with the challenge in our ongoing battle against COVID. A challenge and a battle that we've faced many, many times, and on each occasion, together we have overcome. There are no certainties, there are no guarantees in a global pandemic, and against a virus, an insidious virus such as this. Our defence has always been the steadfast resilience of the Australian people, working together, putting in place the best possible set of protections and systems that has seen Australia been able to come through and protect lives and livelihoods like few other countries in the world today. But that, of itself, provides no guarantee or certainty about the way that the virus will continue to seek to strike anywhere around the country, as it has again on this occasion.
The next seven days in Victoria will be very challenging, and of course we are very mindful of the distress and the difficulty that this will impose upon people right across Victoria as a result of what has been described, rightly I think, by the Acting Premier as a circuit breaking lockdown, a circuit breaking lockdown. And a lockdown for seven days that hopefully won't go as long as that, as the Acting Premier indicated to me today when we spoke earlier this morning. They'll be reviewing this regularly and the progress that they're making, and I thank him for that engagement we've had over these last few days as we've been working through these issues. This is important though not just for across Victoria but also important nationally, and we'll demonstrate, I believe again, how well Australia deals not only with the day to day issues, but when challenges come, how we respond to those challenges together, work through it together, get it done, and make sure that we can move to reopen Victoria as soon as possible.
Right now the AHPPC, the medical expert panel, is meeting, as you'd expect them to, and that's why Professor Kelly is not here with us today, and he will stand up later this afternoon, after that meeting, and can provide you with further updates. Right now every support is being provided to the Victorian Government that they have sought, and that has not only included the additional vaccines, which the Health Minister indicated yesterday. We have 218 ADF personnel who are in Victoria, Victoria, continuing to provide support under operation COVID Assist, and I've made it very clear to the Premier that any other additional support that he requires that he will receive, and he has indicated to me that he's seeking nothing further from the Commonwealth at this time.
I want to commend the Victorian Government and the Acting Premier for their efforts over recent days, in particular, and I especially want to thank the contact tracers in Victoria for the very difficult job that they are engaged in. With so many different points of contact that we have here, being able to work through that information and the many thousands of contacts that they're working through, I think they're doing a tremendous job and I commend them for the job that they are doing, remembering that there are many rings of containment to deal and protect Australia, deal with the virus and to protect Australians from the virus. There is of course our international borders, there is of course the work that is done enforcing those public health orders in the states through the quarantine system or otherwise at Howard Springs, and then there is of course the contact tracing regime that has been so effectively used, not just now in Victoria but in other states that have confronted these exact same challenges, and Australians have been able to come through.
So, once again, we will come through, and no matter what our success has been to date, that is no guarantee or certainty against a very challenging virus that continues to test not only here in Australia but all around the world. I particularly want to thank the 40,411 Victorians who yesterday got tested in a record day. I also want to thank the 30,426 Victorians who got vaccinated yesterday. As the Acting Premier said yesterday, and again today, there are ample vaccines for those who will come forward and receive those vaccines in Victoria, and our simple message to you, to them is, is to please come forward and do that. Their restrictions allow Victorians to go forward and get those vaccinations, whether it's through the GP networks that are present, or otherwise through the state facilities that have been established. What we need to do now is what we've done on every occasion, we just need to focus on working the problem, working the issue, and working together. That's how we've come through on every occasion. That's the way the Commonwealth Government, my Government is addressing this, together with the Health Minister and our officials and experts here, and that is the nature of my engagement with the Acting Premier James Merlino, working closely with him, cooperatively, productively, together to ensure we deal with this latest challenge and to work to ensure that we get Victoria opened up again as soon as possible. Greg.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Thanks very much Prime Minister, and to Dr Omar Khorshid, the head of the AMA. Today is a difficult day for all Victorians and we recognise that these are highly regrettable but necessary restrictions under the current circumstances. We've been through this before, we'll get through this again. And our task is to support, as we do with each and every state, every time there is a challenge in one of the jurisdictions, to support Victorians now. And on that front, as the Prime Minister has said, the Commonwealth is chairing the AHPPC or the medical expert panel. We've provided the manifests for over 2,260 flights out of Victoria in recent days, asymptomatic testing has been triggered, 130,000 additional doses have been allocated for Victoria, with the first 20,000 of those being provided today, in addition to the 71,000 Pfizer doses that are due for delivery tomorrow. The Victorian Aged Care Response Centre has been stood up, and contact tracing through the National Incident Centre has also been offered.
As the Prime Minister mentioned, yesterday was a record day for vaccinations. It's simply a sign that Australians are coming forward and we thank them for that - 111,388 Australians came forward to be vaccinated yesterday, and all up that's 3.9 million Australians who've been vaccinated so far. So that rollout is accelerating, as supply has allowed. We have so far been able to provide 666,000 doses to Victoria. We note the comments of the Premier yesterday that there are significant supplies within Victoria, and that's just to the Victorian Government, and 853,000 vaccines to primary care sites. Yesterday, just over 30,000 Victorians were vaccinated. In coming days, there are more supplies which will be provided.
And then, lastly, I want to acknowledge two things, and this was actually why Omar was joining us today, we've already opened up additional doses - we acknowledge that we have tripled doses for small general practices, doubled doses for medium-size general practices, and earlier this week we added more doses again to those that have had high utilisation rates. Today we're announcing that we are opening up expressions of interest for up to 900 additional general practices to participate in the rollout around Australia, and I think that's a very important sign. As supply comes on board, we'll be opening up to the national immunisation practices which have not been within the current accredited group, and I think that that will give them more opportunity in more places for more Australians to be vaccinated. And we're also announcing $2.6 million for doctors' mental health and for health professionals' mental health. Our doctors and our nurses and our allied health professionals, Omar, have been the frontline. They've worked relentless hours, they've saved lives and they've protected lives, and on this difficult day it's worth recalling that around the world there've been 557,000 cases and an agonising 12,900 lives lost. But for our doctors and nurses, Australia could have been a very different place, but their stresses have been great, their pressures have been ongoing, and their needs have been silent in so many ways and it's our privilege to be able to support our medical professionals. Omar.
DR. OMAR KHORSHID, AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT: Thank you Minister and thank you Prime Minister. Firstly, I'd just like to say that the thoughts of the AMA and of course the whole medical profession in this country are with Victorians as they face this challenge. We know they've done it before and we're confident that Victoria will succeed again. I only have one thing really to add to what's been said by the Prime Minister and the Minister on COVID, and that is around vaccines. Now we know that Australians, many Australians are concerned about the vaccination programme. They've been waiting, they've been wondering, you know, is it right for me? Can I wait a little longer? Will there be a bit more data that tells me whether this is a good decision for me or not, and I think the events of the last few days have demonstrated that COVID is a real and present threat to all of us, all the time, despite our excellent arrangements at the borders, despite our great track record with COVID, this is a threat, particularly to vulnerable Australians, and it's pleasing that over half of the over 70s in the country have now had their first vaccination. That will improve their safety significantly. But for the rest of us, this is a wake-up call, it's a reminder that COVID is real, it is here now, and the best thing that you can do as an Australian, not just for your own health but the health of the people around you, is to go and get your vaccine as soon as it's available to you.
Can I just make one more comment, if I could, just about the very, the very generous announcement just then by the Minister on a significant investment to doctors' mental health. Around $1 million of that will enable the AMA through its DRS4DRS health service, to support those frontline doctors who have been at the frontline of our response to COVID, and of course, work in a very difficult circumstances, even without a pandemic present. It will allow us to bring the standard of mental health support to medical practitioners up to the same level around the country, and it's something for which the AMA is very grateful to the Government for that support. There's additional support for us to continue our psychology telehealth service, which has been funded so far by Government, and the continuation of that funding is also a very significant step and we are very thankful for that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, is it your view that if the vaccine rollout had been implemented more swiftly Victoria wouldn't be in the situation it faces now and wouldn't have had to have gone into a lockdown?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's hard to reconcile that with the international experience. When you look at countries around the world, which had far worse COVID experiences and of course entered into their vaccination programme in emergency measures, well before Australia, whether that's in Canada, whether it's in France, particularly now what we're seeing in Singapore, then it's hard to marry that with the international experience, but what is important is exactly what Dr Khorshid was just saying, and I have said and the Health Minister has said, and that this is another, a further reminder, I think, to Australians about the importance of getting vaccinated. I'm pleased that we are now over, well over 100,000 now who were vaccinated yesterday, and we want to see that continue. I am pleased that, particularly in Victoria, more than half of those aged over 70 have been vaccinated, but also right around the country. As I indicated we'd be able to achieve would be over, around about four million by the end of this week we expect, but there's still a long way to go. It's important though that we understand that there are many rings of containment here that need to operate. One of those rings of containment is in effect right now, with the work being done by contact tracers. And what we've all learnt through the course of COVID is there is no single one measure that provides any guarantee or certainty here, it requires all of these measures working together, but more importantly it requires governments to work together, patiently and cooperatively, and for Australians to work together to ensure we overcome this latest challenge, because in the COVID world the challenges will come. We've always been very upfront about that. No system is absolutely foolproof, and that means that when challenges like this come from time to time, you address them, you address them together, you address them calmly, patiently, understanding of the difficulties that this clearly is going to impose on Victorians over the course of the next seven days, and seek to minimise that disruption and that dislocation as much as possible. Phil.
JOURNALIST: On that, on that issue, notwithstanding what Minister Hunt's just announced, do, given vaccination now seems to be the only way out of this, the road out of this, is there a need to turbocharge the programme? And did you, were you premature in taking National Cabinet off that war footing that you put it on a couple of weeks ago?
PRIME MINISTER: No, because we put the measures in place which brought all of those things forward, which states were keen to do and we were keen to support them to do as well. And so, you know, bringing forward the over 50s, which we have done, bringing forward the greater state based vaccination clinics, which was particularly done in Victoria. When I was in Victoria last week they were opening a further one of those, and I commended the Victorian State Government for doing that as of other state governments move to do this. The challenges that the Health Minister in Victoria and indeed the Acting Premier noted about the programme to date related to the supply issues out of Europe, and the advisory groups, ATAGI's advice, regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine. They are the reasons that were identified by the Victorian Government, and they're right to identify those. So, you know, there are ample doses there in Victoria and indeed in parts right around the country for people to go and get their vaccination and we would encourage them to do just that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, 29 nursing homes in Victoria are unvaccinated. Considering that nearly 700 aged care residents died in the state during Victoria's second wave, has your Government been as proactive as possible to try and protect this vulnerable population? And can you guarantee that there will be no COVID related deaths this time around?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'll start and then pass you. Well, we will do everything we can to protect the lives and livelihoods of Australians, and we've lost 910 souls to COVID already during the course of this pandemic. Now, of course that is not anything near what we've seen in so many other countries. You've heard me mention it many times - had we had the same experience here, then we'd be talking about numbers in the thousands, in fact over 30,000. But we do everything we can to ensure that we protect the life of every Australian because every life here is important, and the Health Minister can update you actually on the matters that you've raised.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: So 97 per cent of residential aged care facilities, both around Australia and in Victoria, have been vaccinated so far, which is an extraordinary effort by all of those that have been doing it. 582 out of 598 facilities in Victoria have been vaccinated, so that's significantly advanced on yesterday again. Seven further today and the remaining nine tomorrow. And so what we are doing is making sure, as we have been, with a 97 per cent rate of facilities having been vaccinated around the country, we've rolled that out and we've provided those protections, and all 16 of the facilities within the city of Whittlesea, I am advised, have had both doses.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you commended the Victorian Government earlier and you said then that the Victorian Government talked about the ATAGI advice and, you know, vaccine hesitancy and all the rest. But they also seemed to indicate the Federal Government could have gone faster on vaccines, James Merlino, and Brett Sutton said pointedly in that press conference that hotel quarantine, hotels in cities weren't the right place to quarantine people. How do you react to those comments?
PRIME MINISTER: Well firstly, we're working closely with the Victorian Government, so my sole purpose is to work with them to address the challenges that Victorians are facing right now, and in the private conversations I've had with the Acting Premier that I know is his intention in working with me, and indeed the excellent relationship between the Health Minister in Victoria and Greg Hunt here federally. So I want to assure Victorians that the Victorian and Federal Government are just working hand in glove here to get this job done to focus. The only thing that matters to us is their health, their safety, their jobs and protecting them and getting them through over these next few days ahead. We are working with the Victorian Government. They have put forward, as I've said, a few weeks ago I think a very useful proposal. I discussed this yesterday with James Merlino. We are highly favourable towards this. We think it can be done actually quicker, that's one of the things we're working through with them now. I think one of the really useful elements of this proposal is that it adds to the capacity - it's not in place of hotel quarantine, that's not what the Victorian Government is proposing, they're proposing this to be there in addition. And I also want to commend the Victorian Government for keeping the repatriation flights going and not reducing their caps to ensure the flights can also keep coming as we're seeking to bring Australians home, even in the midst of the challenges they're facing over the next seven days. So I would describe it as a highly cooperative arrangement focusing on the problems ahead of us and working together to address them.
JOURNALIST: What's your response to the border closures of WA and South Australia? Do you still think that contact tracing are not … What's your response to the border closures being enforced by WA and South Australia against Victorian travellers? Do you still think that contract tracing rather than those border closures are the way to go, or what's your response?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they're matters for state premiers to make in accordance with their own public health orders, and that has always been the case and there's no change there. Straight after speaking to Acting Premier Merlino this morning I spoke to Premier Berejiklian and I spoke to Premier Marshall as well as the, as the border states. And, as you know, where there is essential work that's being done by Victorians who need to go into another state, they're allowed to do that and return and they're not impacted by that. And my understanding, well certainly from Premier Berejiklian, is that that will be enabled also from the NSW border side, and so there will be no need for those border bubble arrangements because people would, where they have to be able to move, and they're moving in accordance with those lockdown arrangements that have been - I haven't finished my answer - where they're acting in accordance with those arrangements that have been put in place by Victoria, that won't create any impediment on the New South Wales border side, and Premier Marshall has given me similar assurances, but they already have arrangements that enable people for those types of essential employments to be able to move across those borders so, for those purposes. But, you know, at the end of the day, this is a federation, the states have their authorities and their powers and they will make decisions as they see them in the best interest and the health interest of their state and territory.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, for several weeks now Pfizer have delivered 350,000 doses, AstraZeneca more than a million. Even if you took half of those aside for second doses, the rollout has not hit those kinds of levels, even with 111,000 a day on average that is not the equivalent of half those doses. What is the hold up, who, is it hesitancy, is it the ability of GPs to rollout, and can you commit to being more open with the forward planning of when those doses are going to arrive so that communities and businesses can understand when they might expect enough supply in the system to be able to plan for things like a lockdown?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, just before Greg answers, I mean I can only quote to you back the Victorian Health Minister today: 'We've got very good certainty for the next foreseeable period when it comes to those doses,' and they are getting very, very accurate and very regular information on the supply of those doses to the state governments, which is very important because obviously they are a partner in the vaccination programme. But, Greg.
THE HON. GREG HUNT MP, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Sure. So, thanks very much to Clare. Firstly, just to give you the facts in terms of the inventories. In Victoria as we speak we have delivered 666,000 doses to the Victorian Government. I understand the administered figure as of last night was 398,000. And this is why the Premier yesterday made his point that they had significant supplies. Equally, we've provided over 853,000 doses to primary care in Victoria. Then in terms of the weekly arrivals, weekly arrivals, we've now, we're now receiving approximately a million doses of AstraZeneca. I've previously indicated in what will be week 17 of the rollout they'll be doing line maintenance which has an impact on the weeks 17 and 18, so we've provisioned for contingency. This week, in terms of the supply, approximately one million, almost one million doses will be in transit, for the course of this week for next week. And that means that we have 2.7 million in contingency, which allows for both second doses but also the fact that there'll be a rundown in contingency in coming weeks. Forward plan for Pfizer, approximately 350,000 doses a week are arriving at the moment. They boosted it up for this month, next month is approximately 300,000 doses, and then over the July, August September quarter we will have the equivalent of 600,000 a week. Those specific weekly amounts have not yet been confirmed, so it's a quarterly figure. Then that again is replicated in the last quarter of the year with an additional 20 million on top of that.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned again today the need to work together closely with the premiers, which you mentioned on April 12 when you put National Cabinet on that operational footing or war footing, as Phil said, to meet twice a week. Since then it met one week, twice, and has met four times, not 12, in the past six weeks. What's happened to National Cabinet?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, at the last meeting we all agreed that there was not the need to continue that sort of tempo. We met first twice a week, then we went to once a week, and they believe we agreed that we could then return to our usual schedule, and we'll meet again at the end of, on Friday week, and if we need to meet sooner than that then we will. We talk to each other quite regularly, particularly here this is a matter that requires the Victorian Government and the Commonwealth Government to be working closely together. But we got through so much in that first week, Mark, we were able to bring that plan together so quickly and then focus on implementing it in the weekly meetings afterwards, that that was doing the job. I mean, we don't hold meetings for the sake of it. We hold meetings to get things done. We were getting things done and we continue to get things done together.
JOURNALIST: Would it be useful though having premiers talking together about the border closures and what's happening in Victoria and whether it's necessary to close borders?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what occurs is the AHPPC, the medical expert panel, they are meeting now, and they're the chief health officers of all the states and territories, and they're working through that medical advice, and that is what is being relayed back to the premiers. But the premiers have long had a position which is, come as no surprise to anyone here, that they retain full autonomy about what they do in terms of border closures. They are solely decisions for those state premiers and chief ministers. There is no authority at a Commonwealth level to take them down any different path, and so we work together, we work off the same information base through the medical expert panel, and then they all make decisions that they believe are in the best health interests and economic interests of their state or territory.
JOURNALIST: Will this outbreak shock people, Australians out of a sense of complacency with COVID-19, and is the Government planning to speed up, to ramp up an ad campaign because of what seems like a real palpable sense of hesitancy in Victoria, around the country?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I am pleased that the numbers each week have been growing and growing and growing. It wasn't that long ago we were talking about weekly vaccinations of around 350,000, now we're talking about well over 500,000, and that will continue to build, and in the weeks and months ahead, and particularly when that's supported by the additional supplies that are coming through from Pfizer, which is, you know, the next big jump that we will be able to see in seeing those vaccination rates elevate in the weeks and months ahead as we move towards the end of this year. There is no doubt though, as I've moved around the country, that while it is wonderful and enviable around the world that Australians can live like we are living here in this country, notwithstanding the very significant difficulties Victorians will face over the course of the next seven days, that that way of living can of course lead to some hesitancy when it comes to coming forward on those vaccines. These events, I think, will set out, I think, very clearly that this is an insidious virus, it hasn't gone anywhere, it's not giving up, it continues to attack wherever it can and wherever it will, and it continues to be as dangerous and I would argue even more dangerous today than it was a year ago, because what we are seeing now is as the virus has ravaged the developed world, it is now ravaging the developing world. And with that and the multitude of cases that we can continue to expect to see in places, as we already see in India, and as you know we took some very strong decisions on India to protect Australians, and we will continue to see this occurring in the developing world. This week I've spoken with the Prime Minister of Vietnam. We had this very conversation in supporting them with additional vaccines over the course of the second half of this year. I was speaking to the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands yesterday and the support we're giving them, to them on vaccines, as well as the Prime Minister, once again, of Papua New Guinea. This virus will continue to see different strains emerge, and it means that we will continue to combat this. So our urge, urgings to all Australians - it doesn't, whether you're in Victoria, Western Australia, up in far north Queensland, I'm sure Dr Khorshid would agree, our simple message to you is: the vaccines are there, make a booking, talk to your doctor, please get vaccinated. Thanks very much, everyone.
Remarks, Ravenswood Child and Family Centre
22 May 2021
Prime Minister: Thank you very much, Bridget. It's great to be here. Can I acknowledge the Indigenous owners of the land and the elders past, present and future. As always, any people who have served in our Defence Forces, thank you for your service. But particularly, I want to thank Bernadette and Brave for the tremendous work that you do.
And it's great to be here in Ravenswood with Bridget. This is Bridget's community. This is where you grew up. And this is, I know, a very special place for you to be here in Ravenswood, before at the neighbourhood centre just down the road not too long ago. And I always love coming here with Bridget because I just see the passion for her community and the strength of her community. And it's on display here Bernadette, when we're standing here in front of the Centre and we see the strength and the resilience which is being built into people's lives here.
You'll often hear me talk about essential services and when I say that people often think I'm just referring to hospitals and schools, aged care facilities, and of course I am. But the community facilities and the supports that are available across our country, I think is a great testament to the character of our nation. But they're only made possible because of the amazing people who come and create these incredible spaces. Sure, the buildings and other things are supported by governments and as they should be, whether they are local, state or federal. But the one thing that none of us can do is create Bernadettes and the many other great people who work here and provide support. Volunteers and in particular, the wonderful community, people who come along here to receive that support and get the encouragement that they need to be able to go and do the best they possibly can, not just for themselves and their own futures, we’ve met many of the mums here this morning, but especially for their kids. And there is nothing, I think, more encouraging and more inspiring than seeing the pure determination of parents to do the best they possibly can for their kids, whatever circumstances they find themselves in and how that lights up their life and how that inspires them. And I think that's what you’ve really tapped into. And you know a lot about that, Bernadette. So I also want to thank Wendy Askew. Senator Askew, she’s going to become a grandmother this year, she tells me. So she's been rehearsing those skills for later in the year with the kids here today.
It's wonderful to celebrate the work, the foundational values of Brave Foundation - inspire, support and encourage our community to dream - that’s the first one. Empower, champion and resource individual potential. Connect, establish and strengthen collaborative relationships. Include embracing diversity and combating prejudice. And innovate, find and make a way. When I think of those values, they are clearly being lived out here by Brave. But I've got to tell you, I think they’ve been lived out by Bridget Archer. I'm so proud to have Bridget as part of our team, because what Bridget brings to our team is an appreciation and an understanding of whether it's communities like Ravenswood or many others. And that enables me and my senior team to have a good appreciation of just how important services like this are in supporting community, building community and building up individual lives and families and to make them stronger. Because at the end of the day, our country is only as great as every individual Australian, every individual community across our country, each and every family across our community. That's where Australia's strength is. It's in the individuals and the families of the communities. And this space, this organisation is filling that space massively in making Australia a stronger place.
One of 60 organisations around the country, Brave is one of those that are receiving grants amounting to some $40 million as part of the Women's Leadership and Development Program. And as part of that, Brave Foundation will receive $6 million as part of what we've put in the Budget this year. And so we're very hopeful and very confident that that will be put to enormously good use across Brave Foundation. The grant will support the work that you do, particularly for young mums and in many cases for young fathers as well, and to navigate their way through school during and after the birth of their child.
I was remarking also that an important part of our mental health package, $2.3 billion program that is in our Budget this year, is particularly focusing on families. Young families in particular, after they’ve have kids, because we also know that that can be a key point of massive anxiety and stress and pressure for Australians and can be the trigger point for many mental health challenges that families can have. The mental health program that is in this Budget has a heavy focus on early intervention to ensure that people can go through those periods of their life. Of course, there’s great stress, of course there’s great anxiety, because it's quite normal for them to be under stress in those circumstances. We've had young kids, regardless of what their circumstances are, you love them. You love them more than you can say. But they can try you, on a daily basis. But that's the stuff of life, which is fantastic.
So it's great that the support is being provided here to enable people to get the help they need to go through those times and to come out stronger and to be able to have the opportunity. Because sometimes in situations where families might be created, parents may not be able to always have the opportunity to pursue their own education and skills opportunities and things like that. These programs are helping people realise that, while managing the very difficult challenges they have in raising a family.
In Tasmania, the Women's Leadership and Development Program grants are also supporting Relationships Australia Tasmania. There is some $1.2 million to work with women who have experienced psychological, social and generational barriers to employment. And the funding is also going to Big Heart. There is $200,000 there to support disadvantaged young women aged between 13 and 20 to build new pathways to science, technology, engineering and maths education, STEM and careers. In other parts of the country, we’re supporting programs that help women into non-traditional trades and helping them to reach leadership roles in their careers and help break down substantial barriers due to systematic disadvantage.
So these programs we're very excited about, they form a big part of our Budget. They're enabled by the work we’re more broadly doing to ensure that Australia comes through this pandemic as strong as we possibly can and continue to emerge from this. We’ve still got a long way to go, but while we've got to combat these sort of broader issues of viruses and things like that, the day to day challenges haven't changed. The struggles that families will face, whether it's here in Ravenswood or anywhere else, they're there, whether there's a pandemic or not. The challenges are there, whether the economic conditions are great or the economic conditions are not so great. And there can be nothing more precious than ensuring that our kids get off to the best possible start in life and that we can support parents also through those very difficult and challenging times.
So, very pleased Bernadette to join you this morning and thank you for the great work that Brave is doing across the country. And we really do feel quite privileged to be able to come along here this morning to do our bit, because we know you always do yours. Thank you.
Remarks and Q&A, Burnie Budget Lunch
21 May 2021
Prime Minister: Well, thank you very much, Josh, and thank you also to you, Gav, and I acknowledge Richard who’s, he's here with us today. Of course, we also have Ian Jones from Business North-West. It's great to be here with you, Mr President. Of course, Steve Kons, the Mayor of Burnie and Gina Gunn, the General Manager of CPA Australia Tasmania Divisional Council. I also acknowledge the Palawa people, elders past and present and emerging. Can I also acknowledge any veterans or serving men and women who are here with us and I appreciate the acknowledgement that's already been made today, but particularly in acknowledging Gav and his great service to our country over around 20 years, and now he's putting that to work for the people of Braddon. According to Betty, he's doing a pretty good job so I'm pretty happy about that. And there are so many people like Betty who I've met over the course of not just this last week, as Josh and I have travelled the country and talked to Australians and listened to Australians about the Budget that we handed down, he handed down last week, but there are so many of those Australians who over the course of these last 18 months in particular, but a lot longer than that, have just been getting on with it, facing the challenges that they face, each and every day. They don't talk too much about it that often, but when they get the chance and they can get your ear for that short period of time, they'll have a chat with you and they'll tell you how they're going, and they'll tell you that it's been tough but they'll also tell you that we're making it through. That's a bit about what I want to talk about today.
Some of you will remember that song from the 1980s ‘Once in a Lifetime’ –
And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
I can certainly claim the last one, but the song goes on to say, ‘Well... how did I get here?’ And then it says, ‘Letting the days go by.’ Some of you may know the song by David Byrne. But that's not how we got here. What Josh has just spoken of and where Australia is today and where we could have been today was no accident. We didn't get to where we are right now as a country just by letting the days go by. If we'd let the days go by, then indeed we may have seen, as Josh said, some 30,000 souls lost during the course of this pandemic. If we just let the days go by, then what happens up here in north-west Tasmania around about a year ago? Well, that wouldn't have ended the way that ended, and we could have seen the entire state riddled with COVID were it not for the strong leadership shown by Peter Gutwein at that time, supported by Gav and the whole team here, working together - health professionals, public officials, members of the Government - all working together to ensure the support was there. It has not been the policy of our Government to just let the days go by, because if you let anything else go, you can let plenty of other things go by as well - jobs, opportunities, the wellbeing of people in our country.
The reason we can say today that Australians are living - whether here in Tasmania, in the north-west of Tasmania, or anywhere else in the world - so different to almost every other part of the world at the moment, I want to tell you what the secret ingredient has been. As Josh and I, together with Michael McCormack and the rest of the Cabinet, supported by our Government team, confronted and looked into what was the abyss just over a year ago, we knew there was one thing that we could count on. We didn't know what the pandemic was going to look like. We didn't know how the virus would seek to wreak its havoc around the world, although we had a fairly good understanding of what its fury would be. We had to rely on one thing and that one thing was you. Every single Australian. We made the assumption, and it was a good one, that the Australian people were strong, they were resilient, they were practical, they’d work hard, they’d look after each other, they'd do everything within their power, everything they could do to ensure that they could secure their future, their community, their family, their business, their employees, their customers. And it was a good assumption because that is what has seen Australia through to this very point. Not letting the days go by, but Australians doing what Australians do, particularly those quiet ones who just get on with it, doing what Australians do when they encounter adversity. Now, this was not a revelation to them, or to Josh, because, as Governments, we are here at a state level, but at a Federal level together, but at a Federal level we had seen the calamity of drought, the calamity of bushfires, the calamity of floods, as it struck the nation and we saw the character of the nation prove time and time and time again as to how Australians respond to a challenge like we've seen with the COVID pandemic. So, this was a good assumption, and it was an assumption well made and it was an assumption borne of experience.
So, what was our job, knowing that Australians would do theirs? Our job was to back you. Our job was to ensure that we gave you, as Gav said, the confidence to get up tomorrow and face that next day of challenges, not knowing what that would mean. I know small businesses, large businesses, community organisations all around the country at that time woke up the next morning totally unsure about what the day would bring, only that they would have to confront it and that they would have to make decisions, often difficult ones, to ensure that Australia came through. So, we set about it, and we carefully put it together in accordance with a series of very important principles about how we would provide this support to the country. This was not Government being the answer, friends. This was not Government being the answer, and Government is still not the answer. Australians are the answer - Australian businesses, Australian employees working together, family leaders, community leaders, getting through each and every day. So, we designed a series of supports, JobKeeper being the most significant.
And JobKeeper, you know, is a uniquely Australian innovation, uniquely Australian. And I would argue strongly, and I know Josh and Gavin would agree with me and so would Richard, it's a uniquely Liberal-National innovation. Because this is how it works. We knew that with the demand on income support that would come from what we knew Treasury were telling us, Josh, that they thought unemployment would rise to 15 per cent, we would see millions of people out of work and we knew that the income support system through the welfare system would not be able to cope with that level of demand, and that was becoming very clear as we moved through those early phases and those lines grew. So, we said we need to come up with something even bigger and better, so we came up with a unique partnership. We said to the employers of this country, ‘Do you want to keep your employees, as many as of them as possible?’ They said, ‘Absolutely.’ Good. We can build on that. We said to the banks of this country, ‘Will you back them in, because we want those employers to go to the banks and borrow their next payroll, the whole lot and we need you to loan them money?’ and the banks said, ‘Yes’, because they knew they knew you, they knew your business, they knew the shock that was on your business was not something caused by you. This was an economic and viral meteor that hit this country. They knew your business was sound and they knew your track record and how hard you worked and so they extended that loan to you. It wasn't a loan from the Government. You went and applied for it and you had to be accountable for it and what we did was back that in. And we said, ‘We'll square that off at the end of each month.’ An important partnership.
See, Government helped, enabled, backed it in, but the first person that had to do something to save those jobs was you as an employer. You had to decide, ‘I need my staff, I'm going to stand by my staff, I'm going to stand by my employees, I'm going to keep my business going and I'm going to fight this and I'm going to make sure we get to the other side,’ and that's what you did. You took the first step and, as a result, 3.8 million Australians were supported by that programme, 3.8 million people were supported by that programme.
Now, the other thing we did to make it uniquely Australian was there was people were saying to Josh and I at the time, they were saying, ‘You need to adopt this program that has been done by other countries.’ Now, we said no to that and I'll tell you why. One, they thought taxpayer income support should be given to people proportional to their income, so if you lose your job and you earn, you know, a higher amount of money, you should get more taxpayer support than someone else over here who's lost their job or their hours reduced to zero, and they should get less. That's not how we do things here in Australia. That's not how we do things here in Australia. We're all in this together. We were not going to give some level of higher income support to some people and lower to others. Everybody was in the same boat. The virus hit businesses right across our economy and hit jobs right across our economy and we were going to say, ‘No, we're going to do this the Australian way,’ and this provided a fairness in the way the JobKeeper was designed by our Government, because that was an important value of our country. I said at the start of the pandemic, ‘We're going to do this the Australian way. We're not going to carbon copy what's being done in other parts of the world that have different systems. We're going to do it our way and we're going to get through.’
And the other thing we did with JobKeeper, which is a very Liberal-National thing, we said, ‘We're going to have to borrow heavily to do this,’ and we did, and without it, we know what would have happened. But we said, ‘If you're going to make the hard decision to commit to that, you also have to make the hard decision to get out of it when you have to get out of it.’ And we did that too. When we set it up, we said it was going to start and it's going to stop. This support was going to be there while it was needed, but not beyond that, because we know as a Government, we know as a Liberal-National Government, as a Coalition Government, we know that if you leave those sorts of supports in when they're no longer needed, they hold the economy back. They take away that important enterprise-led incentive. They take away what drives a business-led economy. See, we wanted a business-led economy on the other side of the pandemic. We didn't want a Government-led economy. There are others who want that - not us. We want a business-led economy with the dynamism of a business-led economy. So JobKeeper was designed to be there when you needed it most to do what you needed to do, and Josh and I moved around the country, and I'm sure it was true here too Gavin, as you moved around the businesses here, the smile on the faces of people when they graduated from JobKeeper. See, so many Australians when they're faced with great crisis, whether they've been struck by floods - I was over in Western Australia where they were struck by cyclones; in New South Wales at the moment the mice plague, devastating rural communities - so many Australians when they face that adversity, they find it incredibly hard to accept the help and the support because they're proud people. They're self-made people. They're the ones usually helping other people and now they need help, and they find that very difficult to do. And as a Government, we've tried to lean in to ensure that people have taken that support when they need it, but the look on people's faces when they no longer needed it was also great. The pride of graduating out of JobKeeper - and then we, as a Government, graduated the nation out of JobKeeper. When it came off at the end of March and we committed to that, and others wanted us to keep extending it, the Labor Party wanted to keep going and going and going - no, we've got confidence in Australians, the same confidence we showed when we put it in place in the first instance. This value, this assumption Australians can get themselves through, and when they need support, we'll provide it, and when they can get on their own feet, they will want to walk and run on their own feet. And that's what JobKeeper did. They were the values that underpinned it. That was the purpose of it, and look where we are now. The cashflow support, the additional supplements that we provided for COVID, you know, since JobKeeper finished – Josh will correct me if I get the numbers slightly off - 120,000, is that right?
The Hon. Josh Frydenberg MP, Treasurer: 132,000.
Prime Minister: It’s 132,000, even better. 132,000 Australians have come off welfare support since the end of March and the unemployment rate has fallen from 5.7 per cent to 5.5 per cent. Now, we had confidence in Australians that that could be achieved. Others didn't. Others thought you'd need to extend this forever and put businesses on the taxpayers’ dollar forever. That was not our view. That was not our view, and I think what's been borne out by the experience is that judgement and that belief in individual Australians, rather than Government as the answer, has proved effective.
Now, another part of what we've done now as we go into this next phase, because in this Budget, which is all about securing Australia's recovery, there's another important assumption, and it's one that we've been making for a long time as a Government. And that is, you keeping more of your hard-earned money is better than the Government taking more of your hard-earned money. Does anyone else agree with that? I think a lot of people agree with that. Small business taxes are down to 25 per cent on 1 July this year. Australians are paying less tax this year than they were last year. They'll pay less tax next year too under the programmes that we have to ensure that we keep taxes low in this country. You keeping more of what you earn whether you're a business or you're an individual or a family. We think that's the right way to back Australians in for them to ensure that we secure this recovery. See, it's the same plan, the same plan that has got us through the pandemic to this point is the same plan that will keep us going out of this pandemic and into what still remains a very uncertain future, but it all rests on the same assumption and it's you, and that's why we believe in lower taxes, and that's why our Budget has lower taxes. So you can keep more of what you earn to reinvest it in your businesses, reinvest it in the people who work in your business, the instant expenses initiatives, the tax loss carry-back, a very important initiative. All of those businesses in this room, if you had a loss during your COVID year, no fault of yours, demand basically vanished overnight, and you may have had a loss in your business that year. Now, under normal tax arrangements, you would have to wait several years as you rafted yourself out of that difficult situation to when you were able to make profits again that you could actually offset that loss against that earned profit income. Not under the plan we put in place. Under our plan, you can offset those losses that you have incurred in COVID against tax you already paid, tax you already paid on the profits that you were making before you went into COVID.
Now, why have we done that? You might say, like Betty, you might think we're good people, and I'd like to think we are, but there is real purpose in why we're doing this, because we know if we can get that money back into your pocket and give your business right now, you will buy that piece of equipment, you will take on that apprentice, you will take on that trainee, you will seek out that new market, you will develop that new product, you will do what you do. And that's our method and that's what's in this Budget. This Budget is designed to keep inspiring, we hope, but certainly encouraging businesses to go and do what they do best - to go and invest what they've earned to build their businesses and put their people in better and better and better jobs. And at the end of the day, as the Treasurer knows, that's how you, ultimately, restore a Budget.
We're often asked, well, the pandemic has put a huge hit on the Government balance sheet and that's true. It has. But I can tell you just like it's better to be here than pretty much anywhere else in the world when it comes to living with a global pandemic or when it comes to the level of employment in this country, which has been restored to its pre-pandemic levels, it's also true that even on these major issues of debt, we are at half of the levels of debt that you see in the UK and the United States, and a third of what you see in economies like Japan. That's no accident either. That's because we went into this crisis with a balanced Budget. We went into this crisis having done hard work over six, seven years to ensure that Australia was in a position that we could deal with it. And so that's what we've been doing.
But I'll tell you how we're going to fix it going forward, and that's just by growing the economy. It's a very simple equation. If someone is in a job then they're paying tax, and under us, less. If someone isn't in a job, they are receiving the payment from a taxpayer, and that's how you turn your Budget around. You get more people off welfare and into work. You get more businesses investing, creating jobs. A growing economy can support a stronger Budget and when you've got that Budget strong, then you can invest, as Richard knows, in important services, as we are committing to because we have a plan for that stronger economy. See, a strong economy is great, people in jobs, people earning more, communities with more money in those communities moving around to support the businesses is a positive cycle, but the purpose of a strong economy from a Government such as ours is that the resources that are raised from that we can invest to make living standards even better, and that's by having an aged care system where people can age in this country with dignity and respect.
I want to commend Richard for the great job he's done in the reform and policy work that's expressed in this Budget, with a $17.7 billion - we've never seen a package this big for aged care, have we, Richard? This is the biggest package to address the problems in aged care that we've been dealing with for 30 years. And as a Government we have really stepped up to address those challenges and there's a lot of work to do. It's a five-year plan backed in by this investment to achieve that, but it's also in mental health. We've got $2.3 billion invested to support the mental health of Australians that came under such stress during the COVID pandemic. Support for veterans, support for disabilities, an increase even in the JobSeeker payment - the first time that's happened almost in living memory, to support those for whom life is still tough and who are still finding their way back into jobs.
So, friends, I want to thank you for having me here today. I could have given you a list of infrastructure projects that we're building here in the north-west. I can, if you like. But I'm going to leave that to Gav to do on many other occasions, because our infrastructure spending, our investments in job training, in apprentices and traineeships here, to all the programmes that are outlined in this Budget - I commend you to have a good look at it, because what you'll find in there is one message and one message only: We are backing you. We are backing your spirit, we are backing your enterprise, we are backing your hard work. We see you as the answer, not the Government, and that's what we'll always see from a Liberal-National Government. Thank you so much for your attention.
Q&A
Host: Thank you, Prime Minister. We're now going to launch straight into our Q&A and we've received a number of questions after our request out to our ticket holders a couple of days ago, and the first question, can I ask people to come over to this microphone and ask their question, Dr Andrew Clarke.
Question: My name is Dr Andrew Clarke. I'm the Chairman of the North-West Veterans Welfare Board and I'd just like to thank the Prime Minister and the Treasurer on behalf of the Tasmanian veteran community for the Budget which will spend $5 million on veteran welfare hubs in Tasmania. I'd also like to say a big thank you to Gav publicly for his tireless work in this area in the background and without so, his constant ...
Gavin Pearce MP, Member for Braddon: … Throwing my toys out of the cot ...
Question: … of the right areas, I don't think we would have got a good result. So, Prime Minister, can you provide an update of where we are regarding the Royal Commission into veteran suicide and what measures you're taking as a Government in the meantime to support veterans in our region?
Prime Minister: Well, thank you very much for the question and thank you for the work you’re doing here in veterans also and that wellbeing centre, a very important part of the network of wellbeing centres around the country. I've got to tell you we've got quite a group of veterans and ex-service people who are part of our Coalition, of which Gav is one of them, but there are many more, aren't there, and that is a tremendous [indistinct], that is a tremendous resource for Josh and I to be able to draw on their experience and their networks of understanding the veterans community and the many anxieties and pressures and daily struggles that they have, but it's also a way of understanding just how well many veterans also do. We've got to be very careful and what we try and do - and Darren Chester, the Minister, refers to this often - yes, we absolutely need to reach out to those veterans who are doing it tough and provide them with the support. That is really the very least we could do to honour their service, but at the same time we need to celebrate the great work that veterans do in our community, the leadership they provide, the businesses they run and the great work they do as employees. Every employer is well served if they take on a veteran in their ranks. I'm certainly well served in having one in mine and many more. So, I would urge you, because that is one of the many programmes that we do support, which is the Veterans Employment Program, getting veterans into work and dealing with the issues that might be preventing them from getting into work. The [indistinct] about half a billion dollars in this Budget, which is all designed to try and keep improving turnaround and service times for veterans to get customised support and help that they need to deal with the challenges that they face.
We've been working hard over many years through various ministers who have really put a lot of effort into this, going back to Dan Tehan and others, and that is reducing the core waiting times for veterans when they're needing that help. We've extended additional support into the medical help provided - free mental health care for veterans no matter how long they served, where they served, whether they served overseas or not - all there. Increasing the payments that are available for particular types of therapy used to support veterans. When it comes to the Royal Commission on mental health, that will work alongside, I think, the many initiatives we have already taken when it comes to supporting mental health of veterans and their wellbeing, and it will also work alongside another initiative that we're pursuing to have in place even right now and we have been now for some time, and that is that we have a permanent Commissioner that is looking into every single terrible occasion where regrettably a veteran may die by suicide.
See, Royal Commissions are great and we are finalising those Terms of Reference now. The Minister is consulting on those Terms of Reference and they will be finalised and then we'll announce those next month and then that will lead to what will be, we anticipate, about a two-year process. But as that process goes on, and I believe that will have a positive impact for many who I think will welcome the opportunity to go and share with the Commissioner their experience, their story, because every veteran's journey has been different, and to recognise that in how the Royal Commission addresses it and highlights the needs that will flow from that will be very important. But alongside that, I want to ensure that beyond the Royal Commission that we have a permanent capability that actually deals with issues raised by the Commissioner, that deals with every single terrible event that can occur with a veteran’s death by suicide now. The Royal Commission is looking into what happens, of what happened in the past, but we need to be in the present and we need to be in the future to ensure that we are learning and addressing every single time this occurs.
So, all of this goes together. The Royal Commission will soon be underway. I would hope the permanent Commissioner will be established through the Parliament, and then the ongoing programs that have been done by the Department for Veterans’ Affairs. We're actually putting more people into the Department of Veterans’ Affairs so there can be a continuity of connection between the veteran support that they're seeking so we can achieve a higher level of veterans dealing with more than a single point of contact. So, these are the challenges. They're difficult challenges, but they're ones that we're very committed to because there are few, if any, members of our community for whom we owe more.
Host: [Inaudible]
Question: Treasurer, the recent Budget had several significant policies related to women’s health and women’s economic situation. Would you like to elaborate on those a little bit further for us on the importance of those policies please?
The Hon. Josh Frydenberg MP, Treasurer: Well thanks Jenny, there was a special women’s statement within the Budget, you would have to go back more than a decade to find a document of significant length and substance here than that. In terms of women’s economic security, one of the big initiatives was the changes to child care. We announced $1.7 billion of additional funding which focuses on families where they have more than one child in child care and providing an additional support for the families. So if the parent wants to choose to work an extra fourth or fifth day, then they’ll be able to do so. We’ve also made some changes around superannuation to boost retirement savings of women, because the retirement savings of women on average are lower than men. And we have put in place some additional places for women to get into what is called science and technology, engineering and mathematics courses, and to support women going into non-traditional roles. And, for example, I was in the Central Coast of NSW recently, Terrigal, I met an electrician who introduced me to his first female apprentice electrician that was taken under our Government’s 50 per cent wage subsidy. So that was women’s economic security issues. On women’s health initiatives, there’s a significant number of new drugs that were listed on the PBS, including drugs for breast cancer, more treatment and awareness for breast cancer, and a range of other support initiatives on women’s health. Women’s safety has been a big focus for our Government, domestic violence is a scourge on society and we put in place in this Budget extra funding that will provide safe places for women, extra funding that will provide legal assistance for women, extra funding for counselling, as well as financial assistance. So if a woman is fleeing a domestic violence situation [indistinct], they can receive actual grants from the Government which will help them with accommodation, will help them with other emergency needs. There’s quite a comprehensive series of measures, to enhance women’s safety, enhance women’s health and enhance women’s economic security.
Host: Our next question is from Chad Smith, [indistinct] Christian School.
Question: Good afternoon [indistinct]. Good afternoon, Prime Minister. Good afternoon, Treasurer. Being a Principal at Devonport Christian School, It’s our hope that we can prepare the next generation of learners and people who can hopefully all become your employees in the future. My question relates to STEM and lessons and subjects, learning especially in the area of robotics and coding are absolutely crucial for our students and their future. How is the Government prioritising this? And what initiatives are you putting in place to support or you could say could support our response to prioritising STEM?
The Hon. Josh Frydenberg MP, Treasurer: He can pull rank on this one. Look, again, this comes back to our desire to get more people into STEM, but including more women, because the jobs of today and tomorrow are going to be around the digital economy. And the Prime Minister gave a speech which I’ll commend you to read before the Budget about our digital transformation strategy. More than a billion dollars for various initiatives. I think one of the big take outs of COVID, or one of the ways the economy will change as a result of this pandemic and permanently, is the acceleration in the take up of technology. You’ve probably all discovered the Zoom meeting, some of you for the first time. That’s going to replace people hopping on a plane and going to another state for a board meeting or another meeting. People are now shopping a lot more online. I visited Australia’s largest global retailer, Cotton On recently. They’ve seen an explosion in the amount of online sales, so what are they doing? They’re investing in their distribution centres. And then, of course, more people are going to probably work from home permanently on the other side of this, of this [inaudible], because everyone has gotten used to working from home in a digitally enabled way. So, technology has accelerated rapidly through this crisis and it’s going to be here to stay, and so we need to prepare young people and older Australians, we need to prepare them to be digitally enabled and digitally capable, and it starts with science, technology, engineering and mathematics. And you know, Gav was in the Australian Defence Force, he probably doesn’t talk about the things he was doing there, but one of the things he was working on was cyber threats and those technology threats. And whatever they were when he was in ADF, they are a lot greater threat today. So we are going to need many more Australians, men and women who are going to understand science and technology, engineering and mathematics, so we can fulfil these roles across the economy. And that’s why we have invested millions of dollars in this Budget to actually do those sort of things and those sort of courses.
Host: Thank you, Treasurer. We hope you have time for one more question, and it is a man of very few words and it is definitely for the Prime Minister. Mr Collins, could you ask your question please?
Question: Thanks Ian, and thanks to the Prime Minister and the Treasurer for coming today. On behalf of the community - as you are all aware, this is a marginal electorate and every election we get peppered with lots of money, but the question that comes out of this electorate is - we haven’t had someone in Cabinet from the House of Representatives for a long, long time. Can we get commitment today that we will get one in the near future?
Prime Minister: I should be able to see the handwriting on that question, because it sounds suspiciously like Gav’s. Look, I have the great privilege to lead an amazing group of people, and Josh as my deputy I know he would agree. We have brought such great talent, and to have Gav joining our team at the last election, together with Bridget Archer just not far from here over in Bass, and I would very much like to see more Tasmanians [indistinct] in the House of Representatives from Tasmania, and that makes it, you know, I’m spoilt for choice in putting my Cabinet together and putting the Ministry together. John Howard used to have a very good rule about first time MPs, and that was that they needed to very much focus on their first responsibility, and that is as the local member. And Gav has been doing a tremendous job there, and as has Bridget. And so, when people keep working hard, and people keep doing great jobs, that, that only further push their names forward when opportunities present. And so I think, I really do think that they’re doing a great job and it’s great to have that increased representation from Tasmania back in our Government, particularly after the last election. Very much look forward to seeing that expanded. Jonno Duniam was doing a great job and he’s joined our executive most recently, and I think he’s doing a terrific job in the portfolios and the opportunities he’s been given, but the harder you work the luckier you get, that’s, I think, a good rule whether it’s in politics or wherever else, and so you know, I would agree with you when it comes to Gavin’s talent, but it’s not just his talent, it’s his experience. Richard, I see there, he’s been in my Ministry from day one after I became Prime Minister. He’s taken on some of the hardest jobs, particularly in aged care, we’ve seen. I greatly appreciate the work he’s done. So we get great input from our Tasmanian members, not just in our executive, but as we sit together in our Party Room or boardroom. The experience Gav brings is, not just of course his great experience in the military and from a Defence Force perspective, or indeed his farming experience and his understanding of agriculture issues. I’ll tell you why people really rate Gav, up in Canberra, amongst our colleagues. He’s a big man, but his heart even bigger. And I think Betty got that right. Gav has a massive heart, and it’s very obvious to everyone that when you’re sitting opposite Gav there is a beating heart on the opposite side of the table. And it is very much focused on your welfare, and what you’re trying to achieve. He’s a very humble man, so just as well you had this [indistinct] through today, because he wouldn’t do it himself, it’s not his nature. He just focuses on the job at hand and what’s ahead of him, and so I’m very grateful to have so many people in the team like that.
Host: Prime Minister and Treasurer, thank you very much for your time today.
Remarks, Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple - Carrum Downs, VIC
19 May 2021
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very, very much. Thank you very, very much. Well, can I also say thank you, and can I start by acknowledging the Indigenous owners of this land on which we gather today, the Bunurong people. To veterans of Australia from our Defence Forces and thank you for your service, to any serving men and women who are here with us today.
Can I say and acknowledge, say thank you to and acknowledge the priests of the Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple. The welcome we received as we went through the Temple is something I'll never forget, and it's been tremendous to be welcomed in such a way. To the President of the Temple, Rangarajan, it’s wonderful to be received by you here today. To Secretary Ratnam, thank you also for all of the work that has been put together to bring us all together in this wonderful way at this magnificent Temple and community facility which is here.
Can I also acknowledge Hindu, Sikh, Gujarati, Tamil, Malayali and Indian and Sri Lankan community and temple leaders from all around Victoria who are here today, and the leaders of the other faiths who have joined us here as well. It’s special to have you joining us.
To my Assistant Minister for Customs, Community Safety and Multicultural Affairs Jason Wood who has been such a tremendous friend and supporter of communities right across the country, not just here in Victoria. He's doing an outstanding job. I know how passionate he is about this. It’s why I gave him this job. This is his dream job. [Inaudible].
And to you, David, as well, it’s great for you to be joining us here.
So Namaste, Namaskarom, Vanakkam, Sat Sri Akaal. Friends, it is great to be with you today. It’s, it is with great honour that I join you here. This is the most successful multicultural immigration country in the world today. There's no doubt about that. And that has been achieved by the many millions of people who’ve come from all over the world, all different faiths, many different beliefs, many different ethnic backgrounds, language groups, and here we all are here in this wonderful country, Australia.
When I talk about multiculturalism in Australia I often talk about it in the, as if in the context of masala. And you’ll think about a masala, a wonderful masala and how it brings together all the different spices and the smells and the colours. And they all come together, the different tastes, the bitter and the sweet, and then it makes something as you taste it, and you smell, and the aroma is something wonderful. And then you mix it in with your onions, and your chillies and your garlic, and I'm looking forward to the cooking. And it creates something absolutely magnificent. And this is, I think, a wonderful metaphor of what multiculturalism is in this country. And in particular, I think what the Hindu community and Sikh communities and so many other communities of faith bring to this country.
This has been a very difficult time for Australians over the last 18 months, but not just here as we know, all around the world. And, you know, when things are difficult, when peoples patience are tested, and when they’re suffering hardship and going through great difficulty, particularly when you have so many family and friends who are in other places, a long way from where you are. It's tough. And in those times, you don't look to governments, you look to each other. You look to your community, you look to your faith, and it has been your faith and it has been your community, it has been your friendships that have sustained you so magnificently over the course of this last 18 months.
And to you Mr President, I thank you for your leadership of the Hindu community, but I'm sure you would agree with me that it’s each and every member of that community that makes it so incredibly special, and that they bring something to it, and the way that communities, faith communities like your own, have reached out and supported each other and that people have been able to find comfort and reassurance in their faith as they’ve gone through such difficult times.
The tragedy that we see in particular in India, at the moment, and throughout the developing world, is so hard. It is so hard to see occurring. And for so many of our family and friends caught up in what is a terrible humanitarian tragedy, all I can say is that Australia will continue to do all we can to provide support to our friends, not just in India, but in other places where we know that we can provide some support. Our consular staff are providing support right now to roughly 11,000 Australians who are registered to return to Australia, including 970 who we know are particularly vulnerable. But over the course of the pandemic, more than 20,000 Australians we’ve been able to bring home from India, 20,000. And that has included almost 40 facilitated flights to bring Australians who have been in India back home to safety here.
But we know it's not just the Australian citizens and residents and direct family members that you have concerns for. I know that your concerns go far broader than that, and they go to the Indian people more broadly. And that is why that Australia has continued to provide support. We’ve now had our second assistance flight that has gone to India, carrying oxygen concentrators and ventilators and personal protection equipment and all of these supports. And as I’ve spoken to other leaders around the world, as well, they have equally, they have equally been wanting to provide that support.
I spoke to Prime Minister Modi just a few weeks ago, just over, just over a week or so ago. And he spoke to me in appreciation of both the prayers and support that is coming from the community here in Australia. He knows the community here in Australia very well and he speaks fondly of it every time that he and I speak together. And he knows that there’s such wonderful support coming back to the Indian nation from right here, whether in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland or wherever the community is gathered together.
So we do have great friends here. We will continue to provide that friendship to India and all of those countries that continue to be affected so terribly by what is happening in COVID around the world. But for now, it's for me just simply to say thank you. Thank you for the great support that you’ve provided to one another. Thank you for the love and care that you’ve extended, not only to your own family members, but community members of what is such an integral part of the Hindu faith and so many of the other faiths is you welcome people in, and on those special days and providing that hospitality and that warm welcome, and it doesn't matter whether it is Diwali or Holi or the end of Ramadan or Easter, or whatever it happens to be.
People of faith in this country draw great strength from that faith, and I think it's so important that it is such a protected and safe part of Australian life. Faith and Australian life go firmly together. And as Prime Minister this is something that is very dear to me. So the fact that you can come together and be here safely is very important to me. But it’s also very important to me that you keep doing it, because from that are the bonds of community that continues to carry Australia through what has been a very difficult time. Thank you so much.